Sooo... um... yah:) I read a native american fox myth that was a bit like this and got the idea. Naruto is, of course, reffered to as "The fox" almost the entire story. Tis rather worthless believe me and the story makes me rather frustrated everytime I read it seeing as how this is my second time writing it (i finished it last night, got ready to save and my computer froze and died. Made me mad to tears and Im still cursing that "Every little f-ing thing can just f-ing die." I assure you I dont curse like this often but boy was I mad). But I suppose that is good for you guys, because its better this time around :) As always, my apologies for grammer and spelling errors and all. However, if you can put up with this crap of a story, I have a bit of a treat for you at the end... well.. hopefully...

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anywho, onward...

Mirazhe Presents

Shining Smiles

Its said that long ago, the fox had a small and dainty mouth.

Yes, very small and elegant, with a soft voice to match. Of coarse, with such a small mouth, frowning came easily while smiling did not. But this did not matter, for the fox had nothing to smile about, for he had no friends or family. But even lacking these, the fox wanted - no longed - to be happy like the others, to beam widely with a loud voice to accompany it. However, the fox's soft voice never caught their attention, and when he did, their wonderful, beautiful smiles shrank, frowning, to become small and dainty like his. This hurt the fox, though he knew not how, but every time it happened, his heart wrenched inside his tiny chest.

So the fox, not wanting to be hurt any more in such a way, retreated, watched, and waited. He wanted to learn the secret of these people, how they could always be so incredibly happy, loud, and smiling, while he could not. He watched.

He watched a mother kiss her child's scraped knee as she cried, and his heart drooped.

He watched a father pat his son's back in pride at his excellent Academy grades, and his heart fell.

He watched siblings support and teach each other through troubling times, and his heart plummeted.

He watched friends play, trust, and love each other every day, and the fox was sure his heart cracked.

It saddened the fox, to see others so joyous and himself so lonely. So unfair. Sobbing softly, the fox ran-

-right into what felt like a brick wall.

"Oupf!" The fox yelped, falling to the ground. The supposed brick wall blinked, then rubbed the prominent scar across his nose while smiling an embarrassed smile. The lucky jerk.

"Oh sorry, I wasn't watching where I was..." The man trailed off as he saw what he ran into. Gulping nervously, his smile became painfully forced. How horrid. A faux smile was even worse than a frown. "W-who are you?" He eventually asked.

"U-uzumaki Naruto." The fox replied softly as he climbed to his feet. "Who are you?"

"Umino Iruka.." The fox's eyes glistened with hope. Never before had someone willingly given their name to him before. He barely managed a small grin, but his eyes all but shined with accomplishment. The man noticed this and his own eyes softened and his smile became less forced. Thank the heavens!

"Would you like to go for ramen?"

"S-sure!"

And thus the fox had something to strive for. The man, being a busy Academy Teacher, hardly ever heard the fox's soft voice pleading for him to pay attention. So the fox, with this wonderful feeling of acknowledgement fueling his will, practiced. And practiced. And practiced some more for good measure. Never again, he vowed, would he be ignored. He wanted to be heard, for his opinion counted also, did it not? Never again would his friend of an Academy Teacher accidently pass him in the streets, not noticing his soft pleas for attention. Oh everyone would remember his voice and he would make sure of it.

And So the fox yelled at the top of his lungs and screamed to the heavens. He climbed to the top of the highest point in the village, the Hokage Monument, just to cry out his thoughts and dreams to the village to his fancy and holler his name, so everyone would know it. He roared his insults, shrieked his pains, and bellowed out his pride. The fox's voice grew by the day and eventually it became easier to yell every little thing. Not to mention sore throats and loosing of voice came a lot less often than when the poor fox started. And thus, the fox was heard and people began to recognize his voice. They acknowledged him, if ever so slightly and only for the racket he raised.

But oh the attention. For the fox, it was like an addiction, a potato chip, the more he received, the more he wanted. He near basked in it, negative or (more uncommonly) no, and his grins slowly began to widen for he was happy. Satisfied, the fox nearly left it at that, with his ear poping bellows and ear piercing shrieks,but lacking the gleeful smile that usually acompanied it with normal peoples. However, looking back, the fox remembered his old envy, for the wide and bewitching, toothy grins. Like the greedy little fox he was, he still longed for one. He just had to have one of those wonderful shining smiles, for he knew he would never be totally complete without it, friend and loud voice or not. He absolutely needed one. And thus the fox practiced.

It was hard at first, for unfortunately, the fox still had very little to smile for, but he began to find joys in the littlest things. Ramen, having warm clothes, the weather, or the fact that his Academy Teacher Friend had managed to utter a quick "Hi" as he passed him by that day. The abundent amount of trees rustling in the evening wind, the stary night sky, and the fact the sun never failed to rise and brighten the dark corners of his small, but thankfully warm apartment. His tiny grins soon grew into small smiles, however this was not enough for him. So he found the median between yelling and smiling, which is of coarse, laughing. So the fox laughed at everything, forcefully finding any and all totally and utterly gut wrenching hilarious. Other people, animals, odd looking buildings, and even himself doing a funny deed. He quickly found joy in everything.

And then, oh and then, his mouth widened, becoming unstitched at the seams and slowly tore open to eventually grin easily from ear to ear. Seeing this, the fox was even happier and smiled even wider, lighting up his entire frame, eyes, face, and his world. And thus, the fox's smile became wide, beautiful, and boisterous.

Uzumaki Naruto looked down at Kohona's most recent missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke, with a growing grin plastered on his face.

"D-dope... How can-n you.. be smiling at.. a t-time like thisss...?" The missing-nin managed to sputter out around the growing pool of blood in his mouth.

"At least." The fox's grew into a full beaming smile from ear to ear, toothy and, as always, boisterous, as the violent read glow receded into the hidden spiral painted upon his belly. "I got somethin' to smile about."

End

Yah, so there you go... Sorry, REALLY short.. guess its more of a drabble than a oneshot :) Anyway, I bet you want to know the treat (ok not really). Im thinking about actually doing a long, full length, non-oneshot story, but me lacking any self confidence whatsoever, need approval from the reviewers (which will chalk up to be about... eh.. 3 or 4 reviews lol). Unfortunately, its another "Kyuubi offers Naruto power, they go away for a while, then come back with the strength to kick a hundred hokage butt", thus my hesitant approach to post it, as I always loved to read, but rather bored of these kind of fictions.

HOWEVER!...!...! Kyuubi would have a totally new personality (Oh, did I metion Kyuubi would have his own body and fight with Naruto, not unlike our favourite doggy duo:) ), and the plot would follow the original so loosely its falling off the hanger. Loose as in action starting after Water Country and the entire thing ending after the Chunnin Exams (either that or at sasuke's run) and hopefully still having 6 chapters (6 that would probably chalk up into like.. 3 lol. Im so bad at lengthy chapters). Anyway, I give you a non-edited, spell checked preview, of the temporarily titled "Fortunes Fool"...

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...'I hight thee Kyuubi no Kitsune, kittling. Thou hast fallen into the abysmal pit of dispair, hast thou not? Thou shall listen not the belittlement of thine fellow citizens.'

Naruto blinked in confusion of these words, hardly making out many of them in the first place.

"Wh-who's there!" Naruto called into the dark nervously. Out of habit, the boy began his usuall ,"Y-you should know, Im Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Kohona, s-so-"

'Hark!' The voice interupted loudly. 'None but mine own ears know these words so well. Mine poor, beautiful ears, hast listened to these words many times over, since thou had the wonderous fancy to become this Hokage of Idiots. Fortunes fool, I must be!' The musical voice paused then began again, but this time teasingly, 'Thou must have the intelligance of a thousand fools. Again, I hight thee Kyuubi no Kitsune.'

"K-k-kyuubi!" Naruto sputtered, his eyes darting round franticly as his young mind realized 'I hight thee...' was the equivilant of 'My name is...' But the Kyuubi was killed, by... by.. that one gu- Yondaime! How could he be here? And were the hell was he, wasnt he suposed to be like a billion feet tall?

To the blonde's suprise, deep laughter filled his mind. 'Thine imagination flys over the clouds above. Fortunately for me and mine, I was killed not, but sealed into thine own stomach, for thou ist a vessel. Thine Yondaime Hokage hadst not the strenghth to defeat me, so sealed mine mind and power in thee.' Kyuubi chuckled. 'If mine highth hadst been "a billion feet", I had been the sky itself, foolish kittling. No, the King of Frogs defeats me in mass easily.'

"You can hear my thoughts... then..."

'Yes, kittling, I reside within thee. And for appearance of sanity, if only appearance sake(Kyuubi chuckled teasingly at this), thou shouldst speak only to me only within thy mind.'

Naruto ploped back down to the ground, stunned at this news. The greatest of all demons was sealed inside him, talked like a weirdo (at this Kyuubi protested adimately), and apparently wasn't the bloodthirsty evil thing everyone took him for.

'So... all of this time... Everyone called me a demon and a monster and looked at me mean... because of you?' The poor boy thought carefully.

'And my deepest apologies for it, kittling. Thou hast lived through many evils, because of me, and I shall make it up to thee.'

'Make it up to...'

'Thou harps continueously of thine fancy to become acknowlaged. I shall guide thee to that goal, and beyond. As I was King of the Demons, thou shall be King of the Shinobi, stronger than any and all. I shall also have a strong vessel in mind and body, thus I am fortunate and content.' Naruto could just imagine the smile on Kyuubi's face as his own grew to monsterous perportions.

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Sooo yah.. I know it lacks originality so far, but so help me it will practicly be its own branch off of the real series when im done with it XD. Ok definately not... I also cut off a bit of the very begining to save space. Gosh.. like two stories in one... I feel so bad now, sorry sorry!

If this story does go down, the first chapter wont be posted until I finish the entire story so I can update regularly (how quickly would depend on how many chapters), so even if I do continue it, It wouldnt be posted for a while yet. And no, Kyuubi's way of speech will not change (though, maybe toned down a little if no one can understand) because it was the whole entire insperation. Plus I want Kyuubi to quote shakespear and such :). If you thought Shining Smiles was crap, reply to this so at least I KNOW its crap :).

Edit: yeah, second time writing story, second time submitting it, my deepest appologies --"