Presenting yet another point of view...we talked to the gasoline before...now we talk to the jar...

Kyuubi : The beast held within

In a lot of ways, I've always felt damned from the moment of my birth. Before I was even old enough to do much of anything, I was aware of the fact that I didn't feel loved.

The stares some people gave me made me feel worthless…as if I was in the way and nothing more. Some others looked at me with hatred. Then there was another look I couldn't quite name. For years I couldn't figure out why it seemed like everything that could possibly go wrong for me did.

After a while, you learn to let go of such things…and just learn to deal with the truth. That's what I'd done for so long…I'd stopped asking why I was hated and just decided I would deal with it. If these folks thought I'd never be a good ninja, I would prove them wrong…I'd be a great ninja…the best Hokage Konohagakure ever had! That'll teach them for insulting me…

That was my drive for becoming a ninja…well, that and I eventually was going to have to pay for this apartment, I'd assume. Someone was being nice enough to let me stay there, but I never got to see the real owner of the place and discuss a bill for…oh…say…the last 8 years? Living alone might be one of the few things that kept me sane…it got me away from the hatred…and all the looks I didn't understand.

Then in one day my entire world turned upside down. The day I became a ninja was the day I learned of it. I had always felt that something inside me was…foreign. As though there was some other creature within me, pulling at my emotions. Now I knew the truth. People didn't hate me because of anything I'd done…they hated me for the accursed kitsune sealed within me…Kyuubi. People hated me for the fact that I was a cage--a cage many of them believed should simply be destroyed to end the fox's life.

It wasn't until I knew about the kitsune within me that I noticed the 3rd strange look I had been getting. I recognized it plainly now…it was fear.

Darn fox. It's the reason for most of the crap that happened in my life. The reason I have no real friends…their parents know even if they don't. Darn it…the reason I kept failing bunshin no jutsu. Kyuubi's chakra stopped me from being a good ninja for so long…I had more life force than I could ever effectively control, and it made my bunshins(clones) pathetic. I hate it.

But...no matter how much I tried to sell myself into hating it, I couldn't go that far. It hurt me, but I never would have learned to control my chakra at the academy anyway. I simply never put in the effort, so it's as much my fault as his.

That's another thing all this has taught me. No matter what, I won't allow myself to be a child of my circumstances. For that reason, I won't hate any of them...no matter how much they hate me. And…meh…I don't know enough about Kyuubi to hate it.

All those incidents with Haku and Orochimaru where I lost control…I could feel his chakra leaking out of me. That was one thing I'd learned over the years…if I was out of control, the fox had a way of making me worse. But then Ero-sennin flung me off of that cliff, and I was forced to use its chakra. That was the first time I consciously used it. I had to knock on the kitsune's front door and collect rent…

I don't think I'd ever been more scared in my life than that first time I came before Kyuubi's spirit, requesting aid. Thank goodness for the strength of whatever it is that holds the fox in me…it's unbelievable. That creature could tear me to shreds easily if it were free. But still…I never thought the thing would actually listen to me until I just went ahead and did it.

And just like that, everything changed again. The thing that was my crutch for years and years, ruining my life, is finally earning its rent. The chakra that had made me suck is on my side now. With the extra chakra, I can do things no one else is capable of yet…my stock's on the rise!

Don't get me wrong…if I could get this thing out of me I would do it in an instant. But…it feels weird to say this…it feels more like a teammate now than a barrier in front of me. And it's more trustworthy than Sasuke.

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Molotov

9 tails and 9 whiskers…
and hatred that pierces the soul
a fierce beast assaults…
in a way that no man can stand…
lives and memories are lost…

The beast that once destroyed hope now lurks within…
Acid and fire within a tainted container…
A physical war turned mental
The demon tries to break its container…
The container, to crush the demon…

The world curses the union…
yet each is damned to the other…
Hatred slowly retreats
and resignation sets in…

Soon, like a reflection in disturbed water…
The will of the boy…and strength of the fox…
Suddenly don't seem so different…
Each smiles at the surprise…
And the union finds its place…

Volatile and delicate…a boy of glass…
A mighty demon and fiery spirit…
Sealed with a rag of pent-up anger…
And thrown at the greatest enemy…

What a fierce Molotov cocktail…