All standard disclaimers apply
Chapter 5
Of Sunburns and Card Game Bets
"Wow! You sure got a better house than mine," Naruto complimented in awe after they had eaten a wonderful meal.
While the home of Sunagakure's Kazekage was nothing like the ones Kurama was used to in his end of Tokyo and was outwardly nothing special, the interior decorating was beautiful. Apparently one of the Sand Siblings had an artistic flair somewhere in their battle trained bodies. Probably the older brother, Kankuro, if one judged by his facepaint. When they had arrived there was another round of shocked amazement at Naruto's sudden femininity and another explanation as to why. Although this time they left out the fact that Kurama was also male. Why? Kurama was tired and did not feel like dealing with the reactions it would garner.
"Yes, your apartment is a little smaller than this, I suppose," Gaara said blandly. Kurama could not tell if he was serious or sarcastic. He showed even less emotion than Hiei did.
"Oh yeah, just by a little," Naruto shot back, her friendly sarcasm displayed openly.
Kankuro slid closer to Kurama, a thinly veiled predatory gleam in his eyes. Kurama tried to ignore him.
"So, Kurama-chan," he started. Kurama almost groaned. Who on earth gave him permission to attach chan to the end of her name? "What Village are you from?"
"I travel too much to be attached to a Village, Kankuro-san," she shrugged, trying to ignore him.
"Why is that?" he was curious. Kurama stuck to the cover story that the Hokage had made up for her to use.
"I specialize in a specific type of ki, sorry, chakra that few people possess. I travel to seek out and train those people in the use of that special chakra," she lied easily.
"What type of chakra would that be?" his hand crept to her leg.
"One called youki. Your brother and Naruto both possess youki," she calmly picked up the offensive hand and dropped it back in Kankuro's lap.
"You specialize in training jinchuuriki?" he sounded amazed. Looking at her seemingly frail and fine-boned appearance like it was impossible that she would even know the first steps of chakra manipulation much less one of such a wild nature.
"Yes, and at the moment Naruto-san is my pupil," she said it so matter-of-factly that it left no room for any doubt.
"I'm sorry, I just can't believe that a sweet little thing like you could be a shinobi," he shook his head. Kurama grinned, showing off her white teeth and sharp canines.
"That is because I'm not a shinobi Kankuro-san, I don't even know any more than the basics of the shinobi style of manipulating chakra. I work from another discipline: ki and youki manipulation. It's more deadly. And wild,"
Kankuro froze completely at the look of unholy glee that shone in her emerald eyes. It was even more disconcerting than the look Gaara used to get when he killed. Gaara showed no emotion past annoyance but this woman...
"Oi! Kurama! Can you show me some more cool techniques? Gaara and Temari say we can train out in the back yard," Naruto bounced into the conversation blue eyes wide and hands clasped in a pleading manner.
"Certainly. Excuse me Kankuro-san," she nodded to Kankuro, got up and followed the still bouncing Naruto though the house.
The night air was pleasantly cool and while there were not many plants still living in the yard, what there was perked up happily at the brush of Kurama's youki. She had Naruto sit away from any unsuspecting plants and they started with meditation. Naruto had had a difficult time with this but Kurama was pleased to note that the blonde was finally getting the hang of it, probably with Chitose's assistance. She decided that they would not work on seismic control inside the Village so that left fire.
"What I wouldn't give to talk to Hiei about the finer points of fire control," she muttered, quiet enough that Naruto could not hear. Pushing that regret to the back of her mind she began her gentle coaching, always keeping her voice low and soft but still firmly commanding. She ran Naruto through the basics that they had already gone over such as lighting something tangible on fire and then extinguishing it.
Kurama could feel the eyes of the Sand Siblings watching the lesson and tried to pay them no mind. Naruto ran smoothly though the exercises. He was a quick student, that was for sure.
"Now Naruto," She said, "I'm going to start you on creating flame without a fuel source. It's a little more tricky and burns up youki faster, not by much if you do it right but a lot of you do it wrong. Do you understand? Yes? Good. Now hold out your hands like you are trying to catch some falling sand. That's right, just like that. Now concentrate on the same feeling you know when you burn tangible fuel. Feed that. Yes, like that. Concentrate it just above your hands."
A small, weak flame sparked to life hovering over Naruto's cupped hands.
"Now open your eyes and see what you've accomplished,"
Naruto opened her blue eyes and stared at that flame dancing before her. "Wow," She breathed. Pumping a little more youki into it the flame grew to the size of a golf ball.
"Now," Kurama said, "How confident to you feel wielding these techniques? Could you use them in a fight?" she pulled out her rose whip and grinned wickedly.
"But aren't you at a disadvantage against fire?" Naruto asked, getting to her feet, the little fireball sputtering out of existence.
"Can you or can you not?" Kurama demanded arching an eyebrow. "With none of your shinobi jutsu, just with the youki manipulation I have taught you?"
"I can try,"
"To first blood,"
Both men-turned-women slipped into defensive stances, eyeing each other for a weakness. Naruto, characteristically, moved first, jumping high into the air. Kurama dodged expertly, not bothering to use her whip. It was difficult and tricky to wield it at an upward angle. But when she landed was another matter entirely.
As Kurama lashed out with her rose whip a shrub she had backed up against burst into flames. She yelped and dove away from the suddenly dangerous plant. Naruto pounced landing on top of Kurama. Kurama flipped the blonde off as elegantly as anything Yoko could do.
And poor Naruto had the misfortune of landing in a patch of waiting grass. The grass wrapped around her limbs, the razor sharp edges slicing fair skin when she struggled to roughly.
"First blood," Kurama said, standing a dusting herself off. "That was good Naruto, but did you have to torch the shrub? This country is severely lacking in plant life as it is. Couldn't you have used something else?"
"It was closest to you. Serves you right for thinking you could hide in your plants. Now lemme up," Naruto grinned when the grass unwrapped and returned to normal. Kurama was not even paying any attention to her. She was busy trying to resurrect the burnt shrub. With a knife made from a blade of grass she trimmed the unsalvageable wood away and pumped the still living with her youki, encouraging the growth. Green slowly emerged from within the damaged wood. After that hint of life it seemed that the recovery exploded as the shrub burst with green leaves and new branches.
Sitting back on her heels Kurama examined her handiwork. And saw that it was good.
"Did you fix it?" Naruto asked. Kurama nodded, stood, started to walk and tripped. Naruto caught her around the waist.
"Elegant,"
"I do not believe that I have ever been so far away from the amount of plant life I and Yoko have grown used to. It is disorienting," she muttered to herself, knowing that Naruto and possibly even Gaara would catch it.
"What do you do? Feed off 'em like some kind of vampire?" Naruto asked, stepping back when Kurama had regained her footing.
"Something like that. It is more like we sustain each other. Plants thrive around me and in return they supplement my youki reserves. You will find the same will go for you with fires when you progress some more," she explained. "Thank you for the use of your yard," She bowed to Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. Temari and Kankuro were trying not to stare, and failing dismally. They had witnessed Naruto's battle with Gaara all those years ago, so they understood just how difficult it was to get the willful blonde to submit. Yet here she did and without any loud complaints.
Gaara watched Kurama closely, his green eyes following every nuance and action. This delicate woman – and if judging by how the Sexy no jutsu affected Naruto she probably started out as an effeminate man – fought with a silent power and centuries of experience. Could this be a result of the sealless union between her soul and the soul of the Yoko she spoke of?
Kurama caught Gaara's eye and smiled. Gaara narrowed his eyes, considering, but said nothing.
"What were you two doing?" Temari asked. Naruto looked over at Kurama before he answered with all of her usual energy.
"Kurama's being teaching me how to control youki," she said, "It's been so great! Kurama's a great sensei! Much better than Ero-sannin ever was!"
"Ero-sannin?" Kankuro asked, confused.
"That pervert Jiraiya," Naruto explained, "The one who writes those books you love so much,"
Kurama's eyes snapped towards Kankuro and she started edging away, her pervert-alarm going off full blast. It had been nagging her before, but she had brushed it off hoping the boy to be harmless.
"You studied under Jiraiya-sama?" He sounded amazed.
"For a while, yeah," Naruto nodded.
"What's youki?" Temari asked, not liking the way her brother was trying to steer the conversation.
"Youki is the ki, or chakra, of a youkai," Kurama explained.
"A youkai?" Temari glanced between Gaara, Naruto and Kurama. "How do you know about them?"
"Kurama here was an avatar for a kitsune," Naruto grinned.
"Was?" asked Kankuro.
"Indeed. Yoko has since regained his own body and is now living a happily married and Mated life with his human wife,"
"He mated with a human? How'd he get his own body? Wasn't there a seal?" an confused Kankuro demanded. Kurama stared at him before sniffing.
"Yes, he Mated a human. Married her as well. He got his own body through an exorcism and a highly refined magical healing device. And there was no seal. I was an avatar, not a jinchuuriki as you call them here. Yoko had as much freedom as I did but allowed me to stay in control for discretion's sake," She explained, "After all a six-and-a-half foot tall, silver haired kitsune with fox ears and tail wandering around would have created quite a stir. Even an inhumanly pretty redhead with green eyes that came from neither side of the family looked strange. If Kaa-san hadn't known she'd given birth to me herself I wouldn't blame her for doubting my parentage," she grinned mischievously. "I blame it all on Yoko's influence. He didn't want a normal looking host so he tweaked,"
That explanation lost her a pair of listeners. Naruto was grinning again, probably at something Chitose had decided to say and Gaara had decided to sit down on a stool crafted from sand. A quick glance at the sand found it saturated with the young Kazekage's chakra and youki. So that was what his youkai controlled, Kurama thought. Handy.
"I'm sorry, it is getting late," She apologized, "I believe that I will turn in for the night. Good night," and she calmly fled into the house.
That left Naruto and the three Sand Siblings outside in the back yard. Naruto grinning, Gaara sitting around being his usual angsty self, while Temari and Kankuro were more than just a little confused.
"I'm so lost," Temari admitted. Kankuro nodded.
"Ah, that's okay. Kurama's just like that sometimes. Honestly, she's had to explain that story so many times since she and I met that I'm sure it's getting annoying," Naruto shrugged it off.
"So that pretty little thing had a youkai inside of her just like you and Gaara?" Kakuro asked, pointing back inside the house in the direction Kurama had gone. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, haven't met the guy but Kurama says he was quite the fighter and thief. Kyuubi says so too. Apparently they knew each other before," she blushed a little.
The three, since Gaara didn't join in, talked until early in the morning before finally retiring for the night.
"Naruto," Kurama nudged the lump under the futon covers with her toe.
"Mmph," Naruto groaned, rolling over.
"Wake up," She nudged the blonde again. Naruto did not respond. Kurama shrugged and went downstairs.
Gaara had already gone to his office to take care of the papers he and Kurama had gone through the night before. Temari and Kankuro were sitting in the kitchen munching on a breakfast of some kind of meat-roll. Kurama greeted them and slid into an empty chair.
Both Temari and Kankuro jumped, reaching for their weapons when they heard a terrified scream rip through the morning stillness. Kurama just calmly nibbled on her meal-roll.
"What was that?" Temari demanded.
"Naruto," Kurama said.
"KURAMA! LET ME OUT!"
"Wouldn't wake up when I told her to," she explained, still not doing anything about her student's unfortunate situation.
"WHY WON'T THEY BURN?"
Kankuro, who had beaten Temari to the guest room, gaped at the leafy green cocoon with tufts of long blonde hair poking out. Naruto had been wrapped, futon and all, in writhing vines and was now being rocked a few inches above the floor.
"What in the world is that?" he asked.
"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto. The only flames you know at present are human-world based. They burn things from the human world," Kurama explained, scaring the living daylights out of Temari and Kankuro, having snuck up behind them without their knowledge. "This particular fancy is from the Makai, not the Ningenkai so your mortal flames can't touch it. It will be some time before you are adept enough to control the flames of Makai, so until then it would be prudent to wake when I ask you to,"
"JUST LEMME OUT YOU STINKIN' FOX! I'M SO GONNA GET YOU FOR THIS!" Naruto cursed loudly, her feminine voice somehow making the threat unbelievable.
"Need I remind you that you are a 'stinking fox' as well? And it is doubtful that you, even with Chitose-san's aid, would be able to exact vengeance on me," Kurama sighed as she recalled the plant back into its seed form and stowed it in her hair. Naruto fell to the floor with a dull thud and a couple of unladylike curses. She growled at her sensei and their audience as she adjusted her loose black tee-shirt so that it wasn't twisted up around her chest.
Kurama eyed her student's state of undress and quickly hustled their hosts out of the bedroom. Temari left with no problem, leaving the house to go train. Kankuro on the other hand kept trying to catch glimpses up Naruto's boxers and oogled every inch of bare skin showing. If it would not have been bad manners Kurama would have knocked the pervert unconscious and dragged him outside to bake in the desert sun.
"Hurry up getting dressed, Naruto-kun," Kurama called though the door as she pushed Kankuro down the hall. "We'll be training at whatever training grounds we can get out hands on in a few minutes, got that?"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto mumbled.
"Huh. Sure is different from the ones back in Konokagakure," Naruto commented, hands on her hips as she surveyed the expanse of sand with liberal rock outcroppings.
"Same basic layout as any training ground that I'm used to, just different terrain," Kurama conceded.
"You sure no one's using it right now?"
"Can't sense anyone and if anyone was there I'd be able to smell them at least. Humans don't usually think to mask their smell in a way that youkai can't detect,"
"Yeah, I can do that sometimes,"
"Probably a bleed-through trait,"
"Useful one,"
"True,"
The two stood and stared at the desert.
"I hate fighting on sand,"
"It is difficult to gain a good footing, isn't it,"
"It keeps moving on you and stuff,"
"Well, there are the rocks,"
"I think fighting Gaara has scarred me for life when it comes to sand. I'll never be able to trust it again,"
More silence and staring.
"We should train,"
"Yeah,"
Kurama shuffled out of the scanty shade they had been standing in. Naruto followed close behind.
"Hand to hand? With weaponry but no youki fueled attacks?" Kurama offered.
Naruto shrugged. "What about your rose whip? Isn't that youki fueled?"
Kurama paused. It was, but she used it so often she did not even think about it. Naruto saw the hesitation and waved her hand.
"Ah, go ahead and use it. I'd be a bad sport if I was allowed weapons and you weren't,"
"Thank you,"
They trained long into the day, through the morning and the deadly afternoon heat. Kurama drilled Naruto in different forms of fighting that the shinobi, apparently, did not practice. They sparred, shinobi weaponry against the rose whip. And somehow they managed to attract attention.
In an impressive swirl of sand and smoke four masked Sand shinobi appeared around Kurama and Naruto in an attempt to surround them. Naruto and Kurama paused.
"Who are you and what are you doing in Sunagakure?" one demanded.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted, "What's the big idea! Is this who you treat your Kazekage's guests?"
"The Kazekage has no registered guests visiting," Another said. "Where are your passes?"
"Passes?" Kurama looked at Naruto who was fishing around in her pockets.
"Yeah, Gaara gave them to me last night after you went to bed. Guess he thought something like this would happen," she explained. Finally she found the two blue cards and handed them to the masked shinobi. "These should be what you're looking for,"
The shinobi scanned the cards carefully. Sure enough, there was the Kazekage's seal and signature along with the foreigner's names and description information. He quickly matched the names on the cards to the women standing before him.
"Is everything in order?" Kurama asked as sweetly as she could when the shinobi took longer than she thought necessary to verify the authenticity of their passes.
"It seems so," he handed the cards back to Naruto. "You two should cover up. It's obvious that you are not used to this sun. You could burn badly if you stay out much longer,"
Naruto and Kurama looked at each other both of their faces clearly saying 'Crap! I didn't even think of that!'
"Did you bring...?"
"I take it that you didn't either?"
"Crap,"
"Well said,"
The two women continued to stare at each other, ignoring, for the moment, the shinobi surrounding them.
"Do we happen to have any clothing suitable for this climate?"
"I might be able to borrow something off of Temari, but with your rack you wouldn't fit into anything she's got,"
Kurama blushed. "I am so going to exact revenge," she promised.
"Well," Naruto defended herself, "It's not like it was my fault you ended up with a chest like that,"
"That's debatable," Kurama muttered too quiet to be picked up by human ears. Naruto grinned.
"Well, come on. Let's get back to Gaara's. If no one's there then we go to his office," Naruto shrugged and strolled past the masked Sand shinobi. Kurama, rolling her eyes at the blonde's lack of manners bowed and begged their forgiveness for leaving so suddenly.
They hadn't been indoors for more than fifteen minutes before Kurama could feel her skin heat up. One glance in a mirror confirmed that her perfect pale flesh was now only a shade or two lighter than her hair.
Perfect. Just perfect.
"What happened to you two?" Temari gasped when she spotted her brother's guests. They were sitting in the middle of the living room playing cards, wearing as little as they could decently get away with. Their skin was bright red where it would have shown in the outfits they had left in this morning, contrasting splendidly against the unburned flesh that had been blessedly covered from the sun's unforgiving rays.
"Got any threes? Welcome back, Temari-san. How was your day?" Kurama asked, graciously accepting the card that Naruto handed her.
"My day was normal. What happened to you two?" she repeated.
"Sunburns," Naruto said shortly. "Got any fives?"
"Go fish. Don't worry about us. It was foolishness on our part. I should have remembered to put on some kind of sunblock before we started our training. Nines?"
"I think you're cheating," Naruto grumbled as she handed over another card.
"When did you get back?" Temari asked, setting her pack down beside the couch and sitting to watch the game.
"About three hours ago I believe."
"Any Kings?"
Kurama handed Naruto a card. "Aces? Temari-san, do you happen to have anything for burns?"
"Go fish,"
"Ah, I think so," she scurried to get the salve from the medical cabinet. When she came back they were counting their cards.
"Now I'm sure you were cheating," Narito griped. "How come I only got three pairs?"
"I'm just observant,"
"Observant. Sure,"
"Here you go," Temari handed Kurama the jar.
"Thank you," Kurama smiled. Temari frowned.
"You know, Kurama-san, you make a very beautiful woman. What do you look like in your normal body?"
Kurama hesitated, looking at Naruto. "Well, I don't carry around any pictures of myself and if I changed back now I do believe that I would loose the contest,"
"Oh," She looked disappointed, "Well, sorry for asking,"
"Don't worry about it,"
"Again?" Naruto challenged as Temari beat a hasty retreat.
"You think you can win?"
"I'm home," Kankuro called. Temari called back from the kitchen where she was probably trying to fix something edible for dinner. He heard a quiet murmur coming from the living room just loud enough to entice him into checking it out.
"How about a two?"
"Bah. You have got to be cheating,"
"Now, now. If you can't work under a disadvantage how on earth do you expect to become Hokage, a Village Leader?"
"Sixes?"
Kankuro watched as Kurama, dressed in next to nothing, handed Naruto, also dressed in next to nothing, a card from her hand. He wondered for a second as to why they were so scantily attired. Then he noticed the impressive shades of red colouring their skin.
"What happened to you two?" he demanded. Neither of the players looked up from their intense game of Go Fish.
"Sunburns," Kurama answered. "Do you have any twos?"
Naruto handed over a card. "Not used to training in the desert. Forgot sunblock. Nines?"
"Go fish,"
"Do you have anything to put on it before it peals?"
"Yes, Temari gave us some salve when she came in. Queens?"
Naruto handed over another card.
"Who's winning?" Kankuro asked, sitting back on the couch to watch. Kurama put up her hand before pairing two cards together and placing them face down on her stack.
"Kurama's cheating, I just can't prove it," Naruto declared. Kurama snorted, adding another pair to her stack.
"You need to work on your perception skills. Try asking Chitose-san for help," She threw back, "Just be glad that we're not playing something like poker. I'd have your shorts for breakfast, Blondie,"
"Oh yeah? How's this: if I win the next game you have to ask Temari to take you shopping for anything and everything girly. That means underwear, makeup, fashion magazines, tampons or pads. Got it? And if you win I'll do all of the cooking until we kill Orochimaru,"
Kurama considered the proposition. If she lost she would obviously be getting the shorter end of the stick, but what were the chances of that happening given Naruto's past record with their card games?
"Deal. Let's begin over,"
"I don't believe it," Kurama blinked at the results. "How...? But you..."
"So, you gonna ask Temari to take you girlie shopping?" Naruto leered. Indeed, she had won by two pairs of cards.
"But... how did you..."
"You suggested I ask Chitose. I did. You underestimated your opponent. You lost,"
"I did, didn't I? Well, just goes to show that I'm still human," She smiled slightly.
"Good thing too," Naruto nodded. "It's just creepy when someone's perfect at everything. I hate people like that so I do my best to knock them back down to the mortal realm,"
"Oh? Who'd you manage to do that to?" Kurama shuffled the cards again.
"Let's see. First I think it was Neji. You've met him. He was the creepy white-eyes guy you fought when Baa-chan was assessing you. He's from the Hyuuga clan, one of their 'geniuses', but he was born into the branch house. Long story short he hated the Main Family for his father's death and was taking it out on Hinata-chan, who wasn't really a very good shinobi but she was trying so hard,"
"Why Hinata-chan?"
"She was the heir to the Main Family,"
"Ah. Go on,"
"Well, I beat some sense into him at the Chuunin exams. You were there Kankuro so you might remember," Kankuro nodded. He did have a vague memory of that battle. "Well, after Neji I had to fight Gaara, who at that time was all Grr-I-hate-the-world-and-I'm-gonna-kill-everyone-to-prove-that-I-have-a-point-in-life. So I had to beat him down and now we're friends. Then I had to beat Sasuke when he went all Avenger,"
"Avenger? Sounds like some bad comic book," Kurama sniffed.
"Yeah, it kinda does, doesn't it?" commented Kankuro.
"Well, he'd kinda went off the deep end. His older brother, Itachi, had killed off their clan when Sasuke was little and Sasuke's been trying to avenge them ever since. Orochimaru had burned a curse seal into his neck and was using it to direct that need for vengeance into a need for power,"
"Don't tell me. Sasuke joined up with that dirty snake summoner?"
"He tried. I beat him down and made a deal with him. When he can beat me in a fair fight then I'll let him go off to Orochimaru or to kill Itachi. Until then he's got to stay loyal to Konohagakure," Naruto grinned mischievously.
"But," Kankuro looked confused. "Aren't you worried that he'll get skilled enough to defeat you one day?"
Kurama and Naruto exchanged a humor-filled glance. "I do not believe that that would be possible, Kankuro-san. The point of sealing a youkai into a human body is to make sure that the human with the youkai sealed in their body is next to impossible to be defeated by other humans. The only reason Naruto was able to defeat Gaara-sama is because he had Chitose-san to call upon,"
"Yeah, the old fox comes in handy," She said, waving a hand.
"Old fox," Kurama looked strained. "Compared to Yoko she's a teenager,"
"So," Naruto shrugged, grinning unrepentantly, "That just means that your fox is even older,"
"Don't tell Yoko that. Only Kagome gets to poke fun at his age now," Kurama grinned.
"Well she should. She's the one who married the old coot,"
"Old coot," Kurama laughed. "You would so die for that,"
"Good thing he's not here then," Naruto shot back.
"But it would be interesting to see the look on his face," interjected Hiei.
"Hiei!" Both Naruto and Kurama jump up in shock, instantly regretting it when their sensitive skin burned.
"Hiei, What are you doing here?" Kurama asked.
"Who's he?" Kankuro demanded.
"He's a friend of mine," Kurama explained, distracted. "You haven't popped by in a few days, I was starting to wonder,"
"Hn. The Brat had a mission for us. Pathetic excuse for a toddler," Hiei griped sourly.
"Ah? What was it?"
"Some mid-class oni decided to take up residence in Yuusuke's old neighborhood,"
"They dared tangle with a toushin's home ground?" Kurama laughed. "Bet he didn't like that,"
"Indeed, since his mother is still living there,"
"Oh, and that just adds fuel to the fire. Did it take long?"
Hiei grinned, showing off frighteningly sharp canines. "No."
"Too bad. You look like you could have used some excitement,"
"Hn." He glared for a moment before he noticed something interesting, "Fox, what happened to you?"
Kurama laughed nervously. "This? Oh, well, guess I'm not used to training out in the desert sun. We forgot sunblock and you know how sensitive my skin is,"
"Whatever. Oh, Your mother is doing well, worrying about her precious baby and all that maudlin crap. Yoko and Kagome send you this," He handed over a brown cardboard box he'd had tucked under his arm. "Kagome heard about the bet you have going on with the kid and she thought that she'd send you a few things just in case you needed them. I didn't look, I don't know anything, don't ask. You might want to open it when you're alone though,"
"Is that so?"
"How long are you staying this time?" Naruto asked. Hiei shrugged.
"Oh. I've finished going over those books you left behind last time. I can give you a list of titles if you would exchange them for me,"
"Whatever," Hiei sighed, leaning against a wall and closing his eyes, fully prepared to wait. Kurama scurried up to her room with the box of surprises cradled against her ample chest.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the living room. Temari, coming in from the kitchen, blinked in surprise at their new guest. She glanced at Kankuro who shrugged. She glanced at Naruto who smiled. She shook her head and retreated into the kitchen.
Kurama came tumbling down the stairs into the living room, balancing a stack of books and clutching a piece of paper. Hiei took the books and looked over the paper.
"Is this all?" he asked.
"Well," Kurama ran a hand through her hair, and grimaced. "They are longer than those ones there. Besides, if everything goes the way I think it's going to go I'm going to have a lot more to carry very soon," she sighed dejectedly. Naruto cackled wickedly.
"Dare I ask?" Hiei asked.
Kurama blushed. "Please don't,"
"Please do," Naruto goaded.
Hiei's jagan glowed briefly from underneath the warded headband he wore and his eyebrow rose. "I see," was all he had to say to send Kurama blushing straight through her sunburn. "You might want to go though that box before you begin shopping,"
"She didn't,"
"Oh, knowing the little miko, she did," Hiei smirked. "She's got a mean streak hidden underneath all that innocence,"
"How else could she deal with Yoko?" Kurama sighed, sinking into the couch a wary foot and a half away from Kankuro. "Then again, she did adopt a kitsune as a son, so I shouldn't be surprised. And she's bond sister to the Lord of the Makai so she's tough, but that was obvious from the start when she started bossing Yuusuke around and he couldn't do anything to stop her. Interesting to think that that little woman out ranks a toushin,"
"Outclasses him too, but don't tell anyone I said that,"
"You have my word,"
"Is anyone else confused?" Kankuro interjected. Three sets of eyes locked onto the puppeteer, green, blue and blood red.
"What is the matter Kankuro-san?" Kurama asked politely.
"What in the world are you two talking about?" he started with, "What's a toushin and who is this Kagome?"
"Is it any of your business?" Hiei growled.
"Hiei, it won't hurt to tell them. Let me explain,"
"Whatever,"
"Well, to start let me introduce Hiei. Hiei is an old friend of mine that pops in on me once in a while. A toushin is a type of battle youkai and where I come from I work in a group with a half-human toushin named Yuusuke. Kagome is Yoko's mate and wife. She is a miko from my home town," Kurama explained as shortly as she could.
"A miko?"
Kurama blinked. He didn't know what a miko was? "Yes. A miko. She is a Shrine Maiden,"
"Well, the fox saw fit to rid her of the last part," Hiei snorted, smirking a little. Kurama shot him a glare for interrupting.
"A Shrine Maiden. A Priestess blessed with holy powers of purification. They exist at the opposite end of the spectrum as youkai and historically hate youkai. And technically, Hiei, since Kagome made Yoko wait until after the wedding she can still be considered a maiden since she had not compromised her virtue," Hiei shrugged.
"But Kagome married a youkai?" Kankuro ask, trying to understand.
"That's right. Not that she gave him much of a choice," Kurama smiled.
"Like he was complaining," Hiei rolled his eyes. "He just didn't want to go through a human ceremony,"
"Can't blame him. Would you want to? But he did say that he would do anything to make sure she was his, by the customs of both species," Kurama reminded.
"Wait," Kankuro was beginning to look pained. He glanced at Hiei, "He's not human?"
"Why Kankuro-san," Kurama looked offended, "Whatever gave you that impression?" Kankuro blinked and Naruto smirked.
"Is he human?"
"I most definitely am not," Hiei snorted.
"And there is your answer," Kurama smiled winningly.
Kankuro looked like he was about to wet himself.
"Oi, Kankuro? Is something wrong?" Naruto waved a hand before his eyes.
"No,"
"I may be a youkai, boy, but I have more morals than your brother did,"
The statement made Kankuro blink. "How do you know about Gaara?"
When Hiei didn't answer Kurama did. "Well, Kankuro-san, Hiei has his ways. If he doesn't want to tell you how that is his business. Just know that concerning the safety of this Village he is no threat, you have my word," Hiei snorted and turned away sullenly but did not contradict his friend's words. Kankuro visibly tried to calm down. It was even working. A little.
"So Hiei, you wanna play Go Fish?" Kurama grinned at the psychic fire youkai.
AN: Sun, meet Kurama and Naruto, Girls, meet the sun. It's a good thing those two heal fast! And Kurama has to go girly shopping! HA! I'm going to have fun with that. But I don't think I'm going to be overly cruel to the poor kid. Kurama has had to put up with enough already and there's only more to come.
BUT! Sidestory 1 (Summer Breeze) goes with this chapter. It's back with Yoko and Kagome and deals with that box Kurama got sent! Read read read!