A Kitsune Riding on My Shoulder

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I'm not likely to gain ownership of it at any point while writing this story. Or ever for that matter.

Thanks Ookami Youma for beta-ing this chapter! Thank you for getting it back so fast!

"Talking"

"Kyuubi"

'Thoughts'

(Break)

Naruto watched as Katsu open the door in what seemed like slow motion. He had seen the door opened and closed so many times before but this time it seemed unreal. Clutching Ichiro's hand Naruto shuffled toward the now open door and stopped in the doorway, bracing himself for the new world that he was about to enter. Ichiro squeezed his hand silently reassuring him that everything would be alright.

Suddenly realizing exactly how close he was to the world outside Naruto could not hold himself back from leaping through the doorway and landing less than gracefully on the ground outside. Ichiro steadied him as he almost fell over due to never having jumped like that before in his life. Wide blue eyes peered around at the outside world and he couldn't but help being disappointed with what he saw.

White walls formed a hallway that led to and equally white door. The floor was the same as the one in his room and there were no other people around. Were they all in their rooms right now? But there were no other doors in the hallway that could lead to their rooms. When Katsu saw the Kid's disappointed look he couldn't help the small, wry smile that formed on his face before he slipped on his mask and prepared to go to the Hokage's office.

Ichiro slipped his own mask onto his pale slender face from never being in the sunlight. With his mask he could feel the ANBU persona slip on and spread through his entire body. His stance shifted to that of a predator and his eyes darted around the hallway as if in search of enemies. His hand that was gently cradling the Kid's much smaller hand tightened and became firm in order to keep him from trying to run away.

Katsu lead the small group out of the back door in the ANBU building and locked it behind his two companions. Ichiro gave his partner a small nod to show that he was ready before they braved the streets of Konoha.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw what it looked like outside of his room. There was so much color! He was surprised to notice that the building his room was in was black on the outside, the complete opposite of how it looked on the inside. There were trees everywhere with trunks so tall that he couldn't even reach the lowest branch on the smallest one. Everything seemed so much smaller in the books he had seen. With wide eyes he tried to absorb all of the new things that he saw at once, but it was too much for his young mind to take in at once. And then he looked up.

As far as he could see the blue sky spread over the land with large puffy clouds lazily gliding across. Then he saw something that he had never seen in any of his books it was in the sky and it looked really big and bright and if he looked at it too long it hurt his eyes.

"Ichiro," he tugged on said persons sleeve without pulling his gaze away from the strange new sight. Ichiro merely grunted to show he was listening so Naruto took that as an invitation to continue, "What's that?" He asked pointing up at the object in the sky. It was not, however Ichiro who answered him.

"That's the sun, Kid" Katsu informed him from where he was on Naruto's other side. His gaze was sweeping over the street they were walking through as if he was trying to find any threats. Naruto was surprised at how colder the older man suddenly sounded. But when he looked up to figure out what was wrong all he could see was the mask that was emotionless, like Katsu's voice.

"What's that?" Naruto asked pointing at a random object that he couldn't identify, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"A shop booth." Was Ichiro's equally emotionless answer.

"And that?" He asked pointing again.

"A restaurant." Katsu supplied.

"And that?" He was enjoying this way too much.

"A fence."

"And what about that one?" he asked giving the newest one a strange look. It was really weird.

"Some random genin." Ichiro stated without pausing in his stride.

"What!" came the incredulous voice of the genin from behind them as he angrily shook his fist at their back. "I'd like to see you say that to my face!" he yelled pointing at Ichiro angrily. "I'm not 'some random genin' I'm the genin that can beat all of my enemies with my power of youth!"

He clenched his fist and his eyes burned with flames as he got way too caught up in his 'power of youth'. Then he realized that the offending people were gone. His sweat dropped before returning to his genin group with a sigh. Why wouldn't anyone take him seriously?

Naruto glanced back at the figure as they walked away. "He was scary," he told Katsu with a shudder as he remembered the thick eyebrows and creepy haircut.

Katsu's small smile was hidden behind his mask as he shook his at his small charge. The smile dropped off of his face when he noticed Ichiro shift his grip on his kunai before letting it fly with ease that came from years of practice. He followed the path to find what his friend had attacked. When he saw what it was he couldn't help but sigh.

On the side of the road was a figure with brown hair up in a ponytail and a scar across his nose. In one hand he held several rotten tomatoes but the other hand was empty but was held as if to throw something in their direction. And pinned to the wall with Ichiro's kunai was another rotten tomato. Naruto continued looking around at the world he was now in, oblivious to what the older boy had tried to do. Katsu pulled Naruto along at a faster pace. He wanted to get to the Hokage's office before someone else thought to start throwing something more dangerous than rotten fruit.

The Kid was completed unphased with the faster pace he was setting and simply starting skipping to keep up with the older men's long strides. He didn't notice the glares that all the villagers were sending his way or the way that the Hokage's guards tensed up and tightened their grips on their weapons before letting them through. He was too busy watching the birds flit about and listening to their beautiful song. He was pulled roughly back to reality when he was lead into a room. He didn't want to go into another room!

He surprised Ichiro when he started struggling with his eyes locked on the door in front of him. He tried to run away but Ichiro's grip on his hand was too strong. They were just giving him a glimpse of the outside world! He wanted, no needed, to see more of it. Katsu noticed his dilemma and bent down as if to tell the boy a big secret.

"If you're a good boy while we're in here I'll buy you some ramen when we're done." He promised the Kid lifting his mask so that he could look the boy in the eyes. The boy relaxed and stopped struggling.

"So we not stay long?" He wanted to confirm. Katsu nodded and Naruto seemed to think it over before asking one more question, "What ramen?" He asked completely serious as he looked Katsu straight in the eye.

"Let's see," Katsu said to himself as he stepped back a little. He scratched his ear as he thought how to explain the nature of ramen to a small child. "It's noodles and umm tastes really good." He trailed off when he noticed Ichiro shaking with laughter. He glared at his companion for a second before turning back to the Kid. "Well anyway, it tastes really good and you'll like it," he finished lamely.

The Kid looked at him solemnly before smiling brightly, "Okay!" He agreed and grabbed Katsu's hand and rushed into the building. Ichiro followed behind them smiling slightly under his mask. He smiled way too often when he was around the Kid. He just had that affect on people, even the usually heartless murderers that Katsu and he were.

Naruto sat in his chair as he watched Katsu and Ichiro talk with the old man that would visit him every once in a while. At first he had amused himself by looking at all the interesting things that were lying around in the office but now he was getting bored! How long could grown-ups talk to each other without getting bored anyway? This ramen better be worth it. Curling up on the comfy chair he was in Naruto blocked out the voices of the older men and quickly fell asleep.

"Is he finally asleep?" Katsu asked Ichiro when he noticed the Kid slump over. Ichiro walked over and checked to make sure that Naruto was really asleep. He nodded to confirm that the boy had finally gone to sleep. Then he walked over to the Hokage's desk and withdrew the stuffed cat from where it had been hiding in his robes.

"What do you make of this?" He asked, practically shoving the small toy in the Hokage's face. The cat's lifeless eyes stared at some point on the ceiling as it lay on the desk. Sarutobi frowned as he looked over the changes that had occurred to the small cat.

"When I gave this to Naruto it had blue eyes and a blue bow." He stated as he turned the small toy and looked at its plastic red eyes and deep purple bow.

"Put me down you worthless old man!" Kyuubi growled angry at her situation. The monster had finally stopped spinning her around only to stuff her in a constricting pocket in his cloak that smelled like cabbage! What kind of respectable ANBU smelled like cabbage anyway? And now this old man was looking at her like she was some kind of lab rat!

None of the older men showed any signs of hearing her but the small boy twitched slightly in his sleep. Sarutobi poked and prodded at poor Kyuubi as he tried to figure out what had caused the change in appearance. With a sigh he set the small toy cat back onto his desk.

"I don't sense any kind of jutsu on this toy." He told the two ANBU in front of him. "And there's no way that the Kyuubi could break out of the seal. So while this may be slightly disturbing there shouldn't be any danger from him keeping his toy." His voice was distracted as he tried to think of a jutsu that Kyuubi could use while sealed. There were none.

"I'm not just some kind of toy!" Kyuubi exclaimed angrily but once again went unnoticed. "I didn't leave that cage just to be stuck in a pathetic stuffed animal." Now that she thought about it she didn't even know what her new vessel looked like. She hoped she didn't look cute or, God forbid, cuddly.

"Neko-chan?" Naruto's small voice came slurred slightly from his sleep. The loud voice had woken him from his nap. He slid off of his chair and shuffled over to the desk before grabbing his precious Neko-chan and hugging it to his chest. Ichiro went to grab the toy from the Kid's hands worried about what it might do to him but was stopped by the Hokage.

"Let him keep his toy," Sarutobi said in a low voice. "It's harmless, and he could be crushed if you tried to take away his only friend. Ichiro nodded as he looked at the Kid's happy face and the smile that was on his whiskered cheeks.

"Katsu?" Naruto asked looking up at the older man, "Can we go get some of this 'ramen' now?" Katsu smiled and almost agreed before he remembered something.

"Why don't you and Ichiro go ahead and I'll catch up when I'm done here." He suggested with a small smile that was visible due to him having taken off his mask. Naruto looked at the older man suspiciously before deciding that adults talked way too much and nodding his agreement. He walked out of the room with Ichiro, holding onto the older man's hand and ran ahead in his excitement to try something new.

"What can I do for you Katsu?" Sarutobi asked once the pair was out of hearing range. What did Katsu want to talk about that he couldn't in front of one or both of the other two?

"Well Ichiro and I were talking," he began, praying that Sarutobi would agree, "and we want to train the Kid now so that he can protect himself from any dangerous villagers." Of course that wasn't the only reason, the kid just needed to get out more and they needed an excuse.

Sarutobi seemed to realize the hidden reason behind the training but it was still a difficult situation. "Katsu, the child is only three years old." He objected even though he wanted to agree and let the boy enjoy the outdoors.

"Hokage-sama, excuse me for saying so but I don't think the villagers care how old the Kid is, there are still some who would willingly attack a small child in order to get revenge." He defended his cause with ease. He had had some of the same issues running through his head as he thought about.

Sarutobi considered what he said for a moment before relenting. "I expect him to use practice kunai until I proclaim him good enough to use real weapons and no jutsus, his chakra tunnels aren't fully developed yet." He compromised.

"Agreed." Katsu gave a small bow before rushing to catch up with his two companions a small smile on his face. He really needed to stop smiling; it ruined his image as a daunting ANBU. He paused and thought about what he had just thought to himself. That was what his mask was for. So he slipped his mask off and disappeared into the heart of the village of Konoha.

I hope you enjoyed the first beta-ed chapter of A Kitsune on My Shoulder! Is it just me or is it annoying how little Kyuubi has been in these chapters. I wanna write about Kyuubi!(wails) Anyway on to the review responses (I swear this is my favorite part!)