Summary: Recca, Kagero, and a SI are placed in the world of the Nine Tails
Crossover: Flame of Recca, Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own what other people do. I do own me, though.
Feedback: Sure thing... I like hearing how I can improve :)
Pre-fic Comments: seems to have decided to munch smilies as well, now. Specifically, the caret-underscore-caret ones. Yeesh, anal retentive much?
ranma hibiki: They have only just gotten there, and Naruto himself is only a year old at this stage. Be patient. (I'm also curious as to the background of your nick... Ranma-Ryouga yaoi, bloodbrother, or long lost brother?)
Dan Inverse: Hokage did hint at a trial period for the two accountants... and it would be rude to say to their faces that they would be under surveillance for a while. As for the over-power thing, it does make for a bad story, so I'll do my best to avoid it.
Alex DarkFire: Thanks for the compliment... does your muse take bribes?
Years Pass...
Life had been... interesting, growing up in Konohagakure. When we had been settling in, I would notice Kagero-kaasan looking out the window, smiling briefly before returning to what she was doing. What had been out there? I had crawled to the window, staring out. The texture of some of the shadows moved... perhaps a cat, but more likely shinobi. Well, that made sense. I couldn't see Hokage letting us stay with no checks, questioning or no questioning.
After a year of dating, Shigeo and Kagero had married. I hadn't really expected that, but the manga had indicated a certain measure of empathy between the two of them. In some ways I resented him for replacing Ouka-tousan, even if I had only known Ouka-tousan for a short time. But he made 'kaasan happy, so I ended up happy with the arrangement. Once they married, Hokage-sama pronounced all the world-travellers citizens of Konoha.
Another unexpected event was that Shigeo, Kagero-kaasan and the other two families had been ostrasized to a certain degree by the villagers. I guess their fear of the unnatural had been sharpened by the demon fox. It meant that Recca and I played with Domon and Fuuko more often than not. Fuuko would try and hit Recca, while Recca bopped her on the head with one of the toys, while Domon hit me (trying to, at least), yelling at me to stay still.
How stupid did I look?, I responded.
Now, she had taken Recca and I out to the park in the middle of Konoha, where some of the other children were. I saw a child away from the group, rolling balls of dirt together by some trees.
"What ya doing?," I asked.
"I'm going to throw these at them," the boy said proudly.
"Riiiiight," I said. With his blonde hair, and cheek slashes, he could only be Naruto. "My name is Hanabishi Matora, and yours is...?"
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage and make the village acknowledge my existance!"
I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. While he would become a good fighter, driven to achieve his goal, hanging around him wouldn't accomplish much in the short term. On the other hand, no one else was willing to openly become my friend.
"The Hokage throws dirt at people, then?," I asked, mock innocent. "I thought the future Hokage would be... I dunno, training or something."
"No one'll train me," Naruto muttered, looking at the ground.
"What about scrolls?," I asked. "Isn't there a library?"
"Can't read, guardians ain't taught me," Naruto mumbled.
I grabbed his hand, dragging him from the shade out to Kagero-kaasan.
"'Kaasan!," I called out. "This's Naruto! Can he come home for lunch with us?"
"Is it okay with his mum?," Kagero asked, amusement hidden but still evident.
"They're dead," Naruto said.
"Sorry," Kagero said. "But if it's alright with his guardians, then he can."
"Can I show him the Eikai ball?," I asked.
"It's not a toy, Matora," Kagero scolded.
"But it's cool!"
"I'll think about it. Now, go and play with your brother."
"Okay...," I trailed off, dragging Naruto over to where Recca was, jumping around as Fuuko tried to hit him. "Recca-niisan! This is Naruto!"
"He's a bad kid," another kid contributed. She had long, blonde hair, and was presumably Yamazaki Ino. "My parents said to stay away from him."
"I am not!," Naruto protested.
"Doesn't look that evil to me," Domon contributed. He was slightly taller than everyone else our age, and more heavily built. "Someone that short can't be very good at anything!"
"I'M NOT SHORT!," Naruto roared, launching himself at Domon, fist first.
I groaned as the two of them began to scrap, Domon's experience with Recca and myself winning over Naruto's enthusiasm.
"Domon! Stop picking on him!," Fuuko commanded. "Or I'll tell your mother! Aren't you supposed to be home?"
"She doesn't know I'm here," Domon said sneakily.
"I'm bored," Recca whined. "I say we go find oyaji and get some fireworks off him!"
"'Nii-san, we aren't supposed to go near the fireworks," I noted.
"I don't care! Come on!"
That was the general pattern life took, with Kagero-kaasan starting to take Naruto under her wing. I guess Recca and I had sparked her maternal instincts or something, I dunno. Kagero-kaasan taught him how to read and write before he entered the Konoha Ninja Academy, and he read a handful of scrolls in the Konoha library, although the librarian never let him borrow any.
Me, I just got Kagero-kaasan to borrow them for Naruto, Recca, and I. Not that Recca read much -- he read even less than Naruto, having little use for intellectual pursuits. Ouka-tousan's thoughts on our roles in our relationship had proven slightly prophetic, although Naruto had began to integrate himself into our partnership after Kagero-kaasan and Shigeo adopted him. (Hokage insisted that Naruto keep his old family name, however.)
I tried to befriend Hyuuga Neji, wanting to soften his harsh attitude towards destiny, but he rebutted all attempts. And to tell the truth, their misty eyes creeped me out, bad. It looked like the whole clan had cataracts, and the Freddy Krueger-esque veins they had going when using their eyes was also major evil looking.
The Uchiha clan, though... oooh, that sucked, hard. Itachi still killed most of his immediate family, leaving only Sasuke alive. When Naruto, Recca, and I approached the mourning kid, though, one of the nearby adults immediately elbowed us out, 'comforting' him. In their minds, I guess they were saving their Golden Boy from the social outcasts, the outsider-citizens and the demonic Kyuubi boy. In the end, Hyuuga Hiashi and Mitarashi Ichiro pressured Kakashi into adopting Sasuke.
I made a mental note to, if I ever met him, never introduce Jiraiya to Kakashi. Sasuke would starve to death while those two went on Happosai duty. That was a scary thought, actually, a fight between Happosai, Grandmaster of the Anything Goes from the series Ranma Half, in a grudge match against the kunoichi of Konoha out for blood after having their panties stolen.
As for the techniques I had considered the night we entered this world...
I grinned mentally as the Hokage wandered out onto the roof of the building I was waiting on. After studying his habits for a while, I had noticed that he tended to study the rock faces of the Hokage from this roof.
"Yo, Hokage-sama," I called out.
"Ah... Hanabishi Matora, isn't it? How are you?," the old man said, turning from the cliff to me.
"I'm okay, but I don't get one of Iruka-sensei's lessons," I mock-frowned.
"Oh?," Hokage said. "What don't you understand?"
"Ma, ma, you wouldn't be able to help," I demurred, in order to get him to admit his knowledge.
"I know many things," Hokage said. "One of my names is 'The Professor', after all."
"Really? Well, I don't get Henge," I bitched. "It sucks that we can't actually turn into another creature, just create an illusion that we inhabit with our masked physical selves."
"Well, there is a technique for actual shapeshifting, Henshin no Jutsu, but it is quite difficult, and complex," Hokage said. "You are, after all, changing your body systems to that of a completely different animal."
"How do natural shapechangers like werewolves and kitsune do it?," I asked, curious.
Hokage laughed. "It's a part of their nature, Matora."
"I wish I could be a werewolf, only I'd be a weretiger," I said. Hint, hint. "Tigers are cool."
Hokage laughed harder at this. "With your name, I'd be shocked if you didn't think that. You'd only be a weretiger for as long as you could hold the henshin, Matora, and it take a lot of chakra for a whole new species like that. There are only werewolves in nature."
"Could you do it?," I asked, eager.
"I could," Hokage affirmed. "I don't know what good it would do you, though."
"What if you bit me?," I asked. "That way, I'd be a natural weretiger!"
Hokage was thoughtful at this. "That's a good idea... no one has ever thought of it. Are you sure that you're not twenty?"
Damn, he was onto me! "Uh, I'm eight, Hokage-sama."
"Of course," the old man responded. Ah, good, only joking. "You'd have to ask your mother if you could do something like that."
"Can weretigers do handseals like normal people?," I asked.
"Anyone with fingers and control can do jutsu," Hokage gently rebuffed me.
"Sugoi! Thanks a bundle, Hokage-sama! Ja ne," I called out, bouncing down the stairs in search of Kagero-kaasan.
Hokage laughed as he wandered down after me, to continue his work. "Such a mind... you'll do great things with a mind like that, Matora."
"'Kaasan!," I called out, running to the yard where Shigeo-tousan made his fireworks and Kagero-kaasan helped. "Okaasan!"
"What, Matora?," Kagero asked. She had a smudge of soot on her cheek.
"I want to ask you something, but it has to be a secret," I whispered to her.
"Oh, and what is this secret?," 'kaasan asked, bending down to place her ear next to my lips.
"I want to be a weretiger, and Hokage-sama can make me one," I explained simply.
"What about your brothers, Matora?," Kagero asked.
"He's got his flames," I said dismissively. Recca's flames caused almost as much havoc as his now-trademark use of Shigeo-tousan's fireworks. My vote for his best was when he threw Sasuke in a cupboard with a string of firecrackers. "And Naruto-niisan has the... you know."
"Matora! How did you learn about the you-know-what?," Kagero-kaasan asked.
"Somewhere," I evaded. "So is it okay if I become a weretiger?"
"As long as Hokage-sama and Shigeo say you can," Kagero sighed. "And only if it's safe!"
I rolled my eyes. "Nothing's completely safe, 'kaasan."
Kagero laughed, ruffling my hair. "Can't a mother worry?"
Kiba wandered down one of the side streets of Konoha, pausing as his companion Akamaru the dog stopped at an alleyway.
"What's wrong?," he asked his friend.
"Bark! Bark!," Akamaru responded. Luckily for Kiba, he was of the Inuzuka clan and could understand dogs. There is a strange cat down there!
"Meh, it's just a mangy cat," Kiba said dismissively.
Akamaru edged down the shadows of the alleyway, worried yet curious.
"Akamaru?," Kiba called out.
"ROOOOAAAARRRWWWLLL!," came a feline roar/scream. It sounded incomplete, and under-volume, yet still scared the small dog, and the still-in-training Kiba.
"A-Akamaru," Kiba said, "let's go, now!"
"Bark!," Akamaru agreed. Before I crap myself!
As they ran from the alleyway, I padded out into the sunlight, a catty grin on my striped face. True, I was only a half-grown tiger at the moment, but being a weretiger rocked, majorly.
I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of Konoha. Complex scents of passersby announced their presence and history, and... what was that smell?
It was familiar.
It reminded me of Naruto, for some reason.
Ah! It was ramen!
I shifted awkwardly back into human form, and checked my pockets. Yes, I had enough money to buy some ramen... 'Kaasan would scold me, but Naruto and Shigeo would back me up.