Author Notes: I don't own Naruto, heck I can't even draw the sucker.
FYI this is my first foray into a world that is not Harry Potter. For the record, I do read the manga, and am up to chapter 255, but just so you know, my memory for spellings is terrible, so if things aren't spelled right that's why.
Naruto sat, once again, alone. There were few who would've come to him now. The demon fox had bonded to him, though retained most of his power, he only lived inside Naruto without the cage and seal on him, and things had changed for Naruto. His eyes now looked like a fox's, just like when Kyuubi had helped him in that battle with Sasuke. Things were too different. The people of the Konoha now shunned him even more than usual and some even through things at him. He had never felt so alone, he still had his friends among the Jounin but none were close enough for him to tell them what was wrong. Gone was the cheerful, loud, and obnoxious kid that they'd all come to know and love.
Love…
That was the root of his problem.
Sakura, the girl of his dreams didn't give a damn about him, or so he thought.
He sat, alone, on top of the highest building in the village, staring at the moon. He had finished his training with Jiraiya less than six months ago, and in those six months the war had ended. He had nothing do with the death Orochimaru, in fact both he and Sakura had been away on a mission that was supposed to divert the attention of the Konoha village. Tsunade had been ready for the ambush that Orochimaru had set up and it had been his doom. The immortality jutstu had been broken just so that he could posses Sasuke. His new vassal would be his downfall. Kakashi had been the one to defeat him, with the chidori, the battle had been easy, the one shinobi to die had been from sound.
Sakura was now working with Tsunade to become the ultimate healer. He missed her.
Lee was usually around and so was Shikamaru but they were not the company that he wanted.
Slowly he stood up and walked to the edge of the building, and stood on the ledge, and stood there looking out at Kohona Village.
"Kyuubi…" Naruto said softly, the most of his voice had been carried off by the wind, but it did the trick.
"Hmm…" sighed the demon fox, stirring from his slumber. The as he opened his eye and looked through Naruto's, and was fully awake in seconds. "Hey… What are you doing? Be careful."
But Naruto paid him no heed. He looked across the way, at the building where most of his Jounin friends lived in one giant dorm. He looked at the windows, spotting the face of Lee watching him. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Lee's face disappeared from the window then after a few seconds, most of the shinobi were watching him from there rooms or in the crowd that had formed at the foot of the dorm, all watching him.
"Good bye Kohona… Good bye my friends… Good bye Kyuubi… Good bye… Sakura…" He took one last look at the village, at the people, and at the hospital at which Sakura worked.
Kyuubi made a last ditch effort to fuse his will with Naruto's but, it was no use, Naruto's heart was already set.
He jumped.
…oOo…
Sakura, under the tutelage of Tsunade, had become a master healer on par with the fifth Hokage. They were doing the rounds on their patients, or at least the few ones in critical condition. But there was something odd about this night, Sakura's heart wasn't in her work and the medical jutsu just wasn't at its normal level of power. There was twinge in her heart, something wasn't right.
The flashing lights and Alarms going off in the corridor told both her and Tsunade that, nodding to each other they disappeared in a cloud of smoke down to the E.R.
After appearing in the E.R. waiting room, Tsunade went into the O.R. and Sakura went to get the story. She gasped.
Most of her friends from the 'old days' were there. Lee-san, Shikimaru, Ino, Chioji, even Gaara. Their faces were pale, eyes wide and haunted. This twinge in Sakura's heart returned, they would only look like this if something really terrible had happened. No one said anything.
"Lee-san…" Sakura whispered. "What's going on…"
Lee wouldn't even meet her eyes.
She turned to others in the room.
And still no one would meet her eyes.
No one would say anything.
And they were saved by Tsunade coming back into the room, she was paler than the rest of them, that's when she knew that something was very wrong.
"Sakura…" whispered the fifth. "Come with me…"
Sakura went into the O.R. behind Tsunade.
The sight that met her eyes nearly made her faint.
There was Naruto; he was alive, but barely. From the looks of it, the friends outside had poured their chakra into him just to stabilize him, and even Tsunade hadn't been able to heal him, his injuries were just too severe. He had numerous ribs sticking out of his bare chest, most of his clothing had been cut away preserving no modesty, but her mind wasn't on such things. He was bleeding from too many cuts on his body to count; there was an odd deep red glow on the outside of his body that took the shape of a fox with nine tails.
"Kyuubi…" gasped Sakura, she hadn't noticed that she was the only person left in the room; Tsunade had forced everyone else out and had left along with them.
The Demon Fox turned and look at her, his eyes were different than the last time she had seen it. They were blue, the same blue as Naruto's.
"Sakura…" the fox half growled half gasped.
"Oh Kyuubi, what's happened to Naruto-kun?"
"He jumped off of the Hokage's home."
"Jumped?"
"Yes… I heard his thoughts and his words of good bye." Kyuubi looked down at the kid whom he lived in. "I do know what forced him to that… I can't heal him anymore; I have no charka left…"
"These wounds shouldn't happened if he jumped, tell me how this happened and I'll know how to help him."
"I had to manifest myself… within his body and force outwards so… his organs wouldn't liquefy… I guess I pushed to hard…" Kyuubi chuckled a low rasping laugh.
"How can I save him?"
"There's only one way… but I don't think that you'll do it…"
"I'll do anything…"
"You'll have to bond with me, effectively bonding yourself to him."
"What?"
"I told you…"
"Well that's a better way to tell him than the way I planning too…"
"Tell him what?"
"That I love him… How do I do this?"
"Are you sure?"
"I love him. I'd do anything."
"Take off your shirt."
"Huh?"
"There might be some changes to your… physical structure, but I don't know for sure, just to be safe… You like your shirt… don't you?"
Sakura whipped her shirt off in the middle of Kyuubi's speech, revealing the wrap that tightly bound her breasts, and her skin tight black pants. Kyuubi had reached over to her and had started to envelop her in his charka. She took the situation into her own hands and kicked her leg over Naruto, settling onto his lower torso, but more toward his pelvic region, very careful not to put pressure on any of his wounds.
"Now… place our hands… on his chest… and… will him to be healed… I will take… care of the rest…" Kyuubi's voice was getting weaker.
Sakura's hands were already glowing as she reached out to Naruto's chest, gently caressing his muscled chest. He groaned, she pushed her will harder. The ribs sticking out of his chest began to crack and disappear under his skin. All of his injuries disappeared completely; Sakura forced herself to stay in 'healing mode' just to make sure that everything was the same. As she let go of the charka flow between them and looked up, the glow of Kyuubi was gone.
'Hello Sakura…' Kyuubi's voice came from the inside of her head; she nearly jumped off of what she now thought of as her Naruto.
"What the hell-"
'I warned you that we'd bond together as well as with Naruto' Kyuubi spoke, his voice becoming stronger with every word. 'It's coming…'
"What?"
'Your change… As well as Naruto's'
Before Sakura could reply her eyes unfocused, and there was a searing pain in the base of her spine, her ears, and on her cheeks that didn't last as long as it seemed. As the pain resided she looked up at Naruto. His face hadn't changed… well mostly… the whiskers that had always marked his cheeks were now darker, but there were other changes that drew her eyes.
He had fox ears sticking out of the top of his head, his normal ears were no longer there, but that was covered by the longer hair that he had grown out just like Jiraiya. She bent down over him so that her elbows were on both sides of his face, and caressed the ears between her fingers, they were silky soft. They were a deep reddish-orange with black tips. She smiled down at him and kissed his forehead.
Something twitched down be her knee as she righted herself. She looked down.
He had a bushy fox tail. It had the same color combination as his ears, deep reddish-orange with a black tip. She grinned down at him and stroked the tail, it unconsciously wagged and she giggled.
'You should check yourself next.' Kyuubi interrupted her thoughts.
Sakura was confused for a few moments, then remembered that she would experience some changes of her own. She looked over to the mirror in the O.R. she had changed…
She had fox ears as well, only the fur on her ears… and tail, she just noticed she had a bushy fox tail of her own. Her fur had a slightly pinker tinge that matched her hair, rather than the reddish-orange that was Naruto's. Along with the ears and tail she had the whisker markings on her cheeks, and her eyes… they were the slits of fox eyes just like his.
The world darkened as the drain on her charka caused her to loose consciousness.
…oOo…
Tsunade had watched the whole scene from the two way mirror that she had had set up for training purposes. She was smiling… her favorite student and the boy that she considered her son was going to be okay. For weeks there was something that been eating away at Sakura's heart that would only block her charka flow.
The fifth took her time entering the O.R., making sure that she'd be the only one to enter. Upon entering, Tsunade noticed that, now that Sakura had lost consciousness she had snuggled up to Naruto's chest. Shaking her head, she used a special medical justu to move them onto a rolling stretcher and rolled them off to a private room.
Their friends staring at the two of them as she rolled the stretcher past, and the murmurings that followed her told her that no one had expected this.
…oOo…
Days passed in the Hospital, and Sakura refused to leave Naruto's side for anything, although after a while she did get up to use the facilities, eat, or the change the wrap binding her breasts or her shorts. The first time Tsunade had come to ask her to help out with the rounds of the hospital, to her eternal embarrassment; Sakura had told the fifth were she could stick it. Now those passing the room would read a sign that said: Do not enter. Beware. Vixen very protective of her mate.
Sakura was curled up next to Naruto, one arm under and around his waist, the other curled up above her. Her head was pillowed on his chest right above his heart; every beat of his heart warmed her to the core and made her smile continually like an idiot. She had made sure that she wasn't lying on his tail, which moved without him needing to be awake; it sought her tail out and entwined itself with hers. For the first time since Sasuke had left Sakura felt truly happy and complete.
After weeks of waiting, although it should be noted to the reader that Sakura wasn't complaining, Naruto awoke.
…oOo…
After remembering how he had hit the ground, Naruto waited to enter heaven and meet those people who should've been his parents. He awoke to the feelings of warm lips pressed against his forehead, his cheeks, his eyes, trailing the fox whiskers, and his lips. These weren't the lips of a loving mother but of a lover. For the weeks that he'd been out, there were only the whisperings of the Kyuubi and occasionally the voice of someone who he couldn't place.
He cracked his eyes, and closed them the instant light touched his retinas. He groaned and he heard a distinctively female gasp. The lips returned to his face, desperately kissing him all over his face, his name coming out every other kiss with little whimpers.
"Wha…" he groaned
"Oh… you're alright…" Sakura whimpered. "You're awake."
"Sakura-chan?"
"Yes love?"
"Love?"
"Yes love. I love you, and we saved you."
"We?"
"Kyuubi helped."
"Traitor."
'Traitor indeed. If it wasn't for us you'd be dead.'
"That was the point of jumping off of the building."
"Yes but then there'd never be an "us" now would there?'
Naruto looked at Sakura, his fox eyes wide. Smiling gently she bent forward to his face and pressed her lips against his. It didn't take long for Naruto to take the hint and respond to the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her waist.
He broke the kiss, startled when he felt the fox tail stick out of the base of her spine, it was then that he got a good look at her. He ran his eyes over her face and head and then down. He blushed bright red as he saw what she was wearing, which as practically nothing. She giggled brightly and caressed his face with her hands, causing his left ear to twitch.
"He likes that doesn't he?" Sakura was happier than she ever had been.
"But how?" asked Naruto, his eyes closed in pleasure as Sakura snuggled into his chest.
Sakura wouldn't answer, she just burrowed her head into his chest, and sighed "Hold me…"
Kyuubi took on the job of informing Naruto of how Sakura had healed him and how everything else had happened. As the story went on, Naruto's arms wrapped around Sakura and held on tighter and tighter as the story went on.
"Oh my god…" said Naruto softly. "How could I think of killing my self?"
Sakura just kissed him again, instantly deepening the kiss, running her tongue along his slightly pointed teeth, he responded in the same way, finding out that she had pointed canine teeth like his. They only broke when Tsunade burst into the room followed by Kakashi and Jiraiya, all three of which were shocked still.
"Oh…" gasped the started Tsunade.
Kakashi took out one of his numerous volumes of Come Come Paradise and began to read, just like he normally did during their normal training. Jiraiya was looking as if Christmas had come early, his favorite student had a very pretty girl, wearing next to nothing, lying right on top of him.
Sakura made new records in the blush department, the shade of red now sported by Sakura was so deep that it nearly matched the red in Naruto's tail. She burrowed her face into Naruto's chest and he wrapped an arm around her, hiding her wrap. He was grinning broadly.
Tsunade was the first one to recover her motor skills. Within the blink of an eye, she had appeared next to the bed and was crushing the two of them in a huge bear hug, she had tears flowing freely from her eyes. "You're awake! You're Awake!"
Kakashi still hadn't looked up from his book, although he was restraining Jiraiya from doing anything he might regret (i.e.: trying to feel up Sakura). After a quick running over by both Tsunade and Sakura, it should be noted again that Sakura is much harder to please when it comes to Naruto's health; he was released to GO HOME. No stops for ramen, or the like.
Tsunade pulled Sakura off the side while they allowed Naruto to get some fresh, non-blood stained clothes on. "Sakura, you might want to take him to your apartment and look after him there… You know that if we leave him alone that he'll go off to eat ramen or to train… Keep him occupied… if you catch my drift."
Sakura flushed slightly, but responded confidently, "I plan on it."
As the two of them left the hospital, Naruto drew an arm around Sakura's waist and she entwined their tails together, and they walked out together. The scene on the street was utter chaos…
There were so many of their friends who had taken leaves of absences to wait. AS they walked out, it was so quiet that they could've sworn that if someone had dropped a pin on the other side of Kohona they would've heard it. It was Lee that moved first, he launched himself at the couple, it was nothing for the two of them to dodge it with their new enhanced senses, Lee hit the wall behind them face first… and broke it.
That stopped anyone else from launching themselves at the couple. The two of them unlatched themselves from the other, although their tails stayed entwined, and fell on the ground laughing. Even the stone cold Gaara was smiling, hell, he was laughing as hard as the two of them, he had wanted to get back at Lee for years ever since the ninja had played a nasty prank in him a couple months back.
There were handshakes and hugs all around, but the couple never un-entwined their tails. Although there were those that thought that Naruto didn't deserve Sakura and tried to separate the two of them in the crowd that had surrounded the two of them. Evidently these people didn't know that a tail still has feeling in it. They were lucky that the hospital was only a few paces away, otherwise they would've died, Sakura was that pissed.
Though it took the two of them hours, but the two of them did make it to Sakura's apartment. After going inside, Sakura led him to a large couch and pushed him down on it and straddled his lap. She pressed her lips to his in a desperate attempt to get closer to him, and he responded like any normal male would.
Sakura kept her word. The two of them were occupied for hours with activities that involved kissing, moaning, and giggles, all clothing was optional.
…oOo…
YEARS LATER
Uzumaki Sakura watched her two little ones play with Ino's and Hinata's children. She had never been happier than she was right now; she was married to the most wonderful man in the world, a man who donated his seed to both Hinata when her husband, Kiba had been killed on a mission, and to Ino, when her husband Shikimaru lost the ability to have children. And now, the four of them, complete with fox-tails and ears, a distinctive trait in the Uzumaki Clan, where fast friends and almost never separated, hell they even slept in the same bed after Naruto had Hinata, Ino and Shikimaru move into his new home.
Then there was the fact that Naruto had been announced as the sixth Hokage once Tsunade decides to step down. Sakura smiled as she watched the children build sand castles ten knock them down with an accidental swish of a fox-tail or a kick of a foot. She loved how Ino and Hinata had become really good friends, their children had been the link that had gotten them together.
She smiled as she felt two warm arms wrap around her waist and a pair of warm lips caress her neck.
"Sakura-chan…" whispered the familiar warm voice of a certain blonde future Hokage.
But he never got to finished as their was a chorus of "Otou-san!" and four streaks of small children hitting him in the chest, knocking him off his feet.
"Hey there…" he chuckled. "How was your day?"
The four of them immediately launched into their adventures of the day.
Sakura's smile widened, oh yes… Life was good.
Fin
This story was written by Aengus, my boyfriend, co-author, BETA reader, confidant, pillow, teddy bear, and several other things that I won't mention… He started this, but then gave up on it as the plot died for him, so I took over it when he fell asleep while I was writing. I hope you enjoyed it.
Cheers
Kitsune no Noriko