AN: Thanks for all the reviews! n.n From here on, it won't be the same as Princess TuTu or something like that… perhaps it still has some things from the Little Mermaid in it XD Well, except for the crab and the yellow fish… or… well, everything XD. It just has that theme, that's all XD.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter!

--

The Prince And The Fox

By SmexLemur, worship her!

Chapter 1: Sleeping In The Nude Always Pays Off

Prince Sasuke walked through the forest, hands stuffed in his pockets and head lowered to look at the ground. It was pretty cold for the first day of spring, but Sasuke had never really cared too much for the cold. He preferred it, in fact. He went to the river almost everyday now. To think, to remember—he lived in the past still. He still lived in the time where his mother and father would talk to him, where his big brother would play and train with him.

He still lived in the time where they were all murdered.

He didn't let people be close to him, save for a small fox who would always sit next to him on the small dock. It was an odd creature—most foxes weren't tame, but this one always came to him on his own, whether he had food for him or not. Sasuke let a small smile on his face—he remembered the offended look the fox gave him yesterday, when he declared he hadn't brought any food.

Almost as if it could understand him… odd.

Sasuke didn't really mind the company, how could he? Most people annoyed him by talking to him and the fox obviously couldn't do this. Sure, the creature could be a little annoying by forcing itself on his lap to get pet, or by biting on Sasuke's clothes for some attention, but he didn't really mind.

On one or two occasions, Sasuke had contemplated whether or not he could take the fox with him to the castle.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks when he arrived at the dock that afternoon. There was something lying on it—something with tanned skin and blonde hair. Something naked. Perhaps it was dead? The thing didn't look up when he arrived—then again, Sasuke usually was rather quiet.

He raised an eyebrow as he approached the thing carefully. He crouched besides it and turned it around, only to find a boy about his age blinking up at him sheepishly. Sasuke gasped when he saw his face—this boy was gorgeous. He particularly liked his big blue eyes and those strange whisker-like marks on each side of his cheek.

The boy shivered and Sasuke could see goose bumps forming themselves on his skin, which wasn't really surprising—it was rather cold and lying in the nude right besides a river wasn't the smartest thing to do.

He reminded him of something… a fox? Sasuke shook his head at the thought.

"Uh, hi?" the boy said, sitting up straight and scratching the back of his head. "Eh, what time is it?" Sasuke looked at him with an expression that said 'Are you kidding me?'. Apparently, he wasn't. This boy didn't even seem to know who he was.

"Hn," Sasuke said, stood up and brushed off his clothes. He didn't have time to talk to peasants like him… especially peasants who didn't even wear clothes. Not that he wasn't enjoying the sight or anything, but still. The boy blinked again.

"Not very talkative are you? Guess I should've seen that coming," he muttered more to himself than Sasuke, who had now raised both his eyebrows. "I'm Naruto by the way!" he said, grinning. He stood up, wobbling a bit as he did so (Naruto's excuse for that later on was that 'walking on two legs is harder than it looks!') and stuck out his hand.

Sasuke didn't take it.

He instead turned around and walked back to the castle. He had loved the dock and the river because of its peace and quiet, but now that this boy was here, he knew he wouldn't get any of that.

"H—hey! Bastard, get back here!" the boy said, running after him. But as soon as he was within reach of Sasuke, he fell to the ground. The Prince turned around when he heard the loud 'thump' and saw the boy lying on the ground unconscious, followed by a very loud, rumbling sound coming from his stomach.

Sasuke uncharacteristically sweatdropped.

"That idiot," he muttered. "Hasn't he eaten anything or something?" Of course he hadn't.

He was a fox and foxes were scavengers. But now that he had a human body, it was much harder for him and so he couldn't find himself any food. However, Sasuke doesn't know that, of course.

Sasuke looked around, contemplating whether or not he should take the boy with him. He couldn't just leave him lying there, right? Naruto's stomach rumbled again, this time followed by a loud snore coming from his mouth.

Sasuke stared.

This guy was a wonder when it came to body-noises. He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, his bangs falling in his eyes again as soon as his hand had passed them. He grunted reluctantly, before pulling off his shirt (AN: -droooool-) and lying it over the boy. At least that kept him from growing cold just a little bit.

He then proceeded to hoist him up on his back and carry him all the way to the castle. It wasn't exactly a long walk, but when you had another boy on your back who was heavier than you, it did seem like it.

He mentally wondered why the hell he was even doing this. He didn't know this boy and it was obvious this Naruto person was some poor, homeless person, someone who wasn't even worth his time. So why was he doing this?

He shrugged it off. In any case, he would only feed this boy and perhaps give him a set of clothes and would send him away again. He had no need for unnecessary people like him, especially one who is such a moron. Besides that, he has way too much energy for Sasuke's taste.

Then again, he is beautiful… perhaps he could keep him? It was odd—Sasuke had never found himself being attracted to anyone before.

Arriving at the castle, Sasuke was questioned by many people again, wondering where he went everyday and why and if he was alright. Sasuke never answered these useless questions, save for a glare—Kakashi, his teacher, was the only one who knew and was the only one who was allowed to know. Kakashi was one of those few people he didn't really mind having around and was also his guardian until he would turn eighteen and could claim the throne.

"Ah, Sasuke," said guardian said, raising two fingers as a greeting. Kakashi wasn't very respectful towards him, but that was alright—his father and him had been very good friends. "What do you have here? Since when do you start molesting innocent boys? And why didn't you call me?" Sasuke blushed furiously and shoved the naked boy in Kakashi's arms. "Ah, I can have a go—"

"No, you may not," Sasuke hissed, wishing his guardian would just keep his bloody voice down. All the servants and guards and whatnot were staring at them, some with blushes on their faces, some looking disgusted and some looking rather amused. "Bring him to one of the guest bedrooms, once he wakes up feed him and clothe him." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"And what do I do with him afterwards?" he questioned. Sasuke shrugged.

"Haven't decided yet," he muttered.

"You gonna keep him?" He received an indecisive shrug once more, before the younger boy strode off from the courtyard and went inside the palace, walking directly to his room. He needed some time to think.

--

Kakashi put down the blonde boy on the bed with his eyebrows still raised. It wasn't like Sasuke to bring home nude boys (though the silver-haired guardian couldn't exactly complain). He rarely showed any emotion at all, but, then again, Sasuke hadn't shown any emotion when he brought this boy in either—save for embarrassment.

A loud snore escaped the blonde boy's mouth and Kakashi chuckled softly. Even when asleep, Kakashi could read this boy easily—energetic, happy and maybe a little less bright than Sasuke was. The man vaguely wondered if that was why the Prince had brought him home. But then again, Sasuke didn't really like energetic and happy, huh? Nor did he like idiocy…

Kakashi shrugged and smiled a bit. The boy let out a loud snore again, rolling off the bed as he did so.

"Huh?" the boy's eyes opened slowly, blinking in confusion as he took a glance around. "Ah! Where the hell am I?" He looked around frantically, before his eyes, believe it or not, rested upon his hands and his eyes widened. "What the—Where the hell are my—?" he stopped yelling suddenly. "Oh, right," he then muttered, as if he remembered something. His eyes scanned the room, before they rested on Kakashi, who looked at him with mild amusement and curiosity. "Who are you?" he asked. He knew the man, of course, but not really his name. He was the man with the mask, the one who always came to the river to take away the Prince.

"Hatake Kakashi," he bowed. "I have some clothes for you," he gestured to the white button-up shirt and dark green pants lying on the chair next to the bed Naruto had been lying on. Naruto tried to remember what clothes were—humans put them on their bodies, right? Because they have no fur?

He eyed the clothes and tried to remember the Prince's. The thing with the two tube-like things would go on his legs, and the other one around his upper-body. He grinned triumphantly, pleased with himself that he was able to figure it out on his own, and put them on. He was annoyed when the pants kept falling off and when the shirt didn't want to close properly—honestly, humans couldn't do anything right!

That man—Kakashi—wasn't helping either. He was actually laughing at him.

"Let me help you," he finally offered, after Naruto's fifth try. "You're not used to clothes?" he asked, as he pulled up Naruto's pants and closed the button. The blonde boy shook his head. "Look, see this?" he pointed at the button. "You put it through that small hole on the other side and then it stays, okay? Try it with your shirt." Naruto did as he was told and found it to be very easy.

Ok, so maybe humans could do something right.

"My name is Naruto," he then stuck out his hand. Kakashi chuckled and shook it. Naruto grinned to himself—good, this human did shake his hand. Some of the other foxes had once told him that humans always shake hands when they meet and he had begun to doubt that little fact when Sasuke hadn't took it when he introduced himself.

"Please stay here while I get your food, Naruto," Kakashi said and walked out the room. Naruto had only heard 'bla bla bla FOOD' and so was waiting with anticipation for it—he hadn't eaten since he had been turned into a human and was very, very hungry.

He looked around his room and decided to go lay down on the big thing in the middle—the bed. Foxes had told him all kinds of stories about humans when he asked for them and so he knew most things, what a lot of things were called and how to use them. Naruto had always been fascinated by humans.

He then grinned to himself—if the masked man was here, then that meant the Prince was here too, right? Maybe he was even in the castle!

Having that thought, he immediately jumped off the bed and walked to the large window at the other side of his room. He looked through it and could see the entire human city, Konoha, as well as a big open area made from stone. If he looked to his right, he could see the forest he had been living in until now and also the river and, if he really, really squinted his eyes, he could see the dock where he and the Prince had met.

Naruto saw towers standing close by and guards near the front gate and servants and horses and all kinds of other things—he couldn't believe that this was really happening. He had also met the Prince, if he remembered correctly and had also spoken to him!

… That thought made Naruto frown.

The Prince had been very cold towards him and arrogant. Naruto knew there was something cold about the Prince, but it was slightly irritating—especially the way the Prince had simply ignored him. But, how did he get here anyway? All he remembered was seeing the Prince walk away from him.

"Here's your food, Naruto," Kakashi entered the room again and placed a tray filled with food on the table in the middle of the room. Naruto eagerly bounced towards it and sat down, shoving the food in. Most of it, he had never even seen before but it all tasted so damn good. Humans sure knew how to cook!

"How did I get here?" he asked between bites. He didn't notice the expression on Kakashi's face (since he was too busy stuffing food in his mouth), who had his eyebrows raised, torn between disgust and amusement. If the boy was staying here, he should learn some manners first.

"I don't know the details," Kakashi admitted. "I only know that Prince Sasuke showed up with you on his back." Naruto blushed involuntarily. Was Sasuke his real name? It was very nice and if it really was his name, that meant the Prince really did take him to the castle with him, did that meant Naruto could stay? Before Naruto could ask more questions, there was a soft knock on the door. "Yes?" The door opened and showed a girl.

"Excuse me, but His Highness requests our guest's presence," she said shyly, looking at Naruto. Said boy blinked.

"Thank you, I will take Naruto to him right now," Kakashi answered. The girl nodded and gave a short curtsy, before closing the door and taking her leave. "Finish that," the silver-haired man said, nodding at the food on Naruto's plate. "After that, we'll go see the Prince."

Naruto swallowed nervously—would the Prince actually talk to him this time?

He really hoped so.