Sorry for the huge wait for this chapter, mah stoopeed account had an error or something...TT Anyhow, I won't be updating for a week or so, since I'm off to vacation again, so...I'll post when I get back, yes? This is an extra long chappie to keep you going. (loves you all)

Oh yes, and to my faithful reviewers: Heosic-chan, The Procrastinator, Kai's Snowfall, Mydrid Fox, Aliases101, and Weavers, thank you so so so so so so so much for reviewing every single chappie! (cries and wails in gratitude) THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! (hugs you all) And please forgive me if you are a faithful reviewer and I forgot to list your name...(bows in apology)

Chapter 15: Hide and Seek

He was sleeping, slumbering silently in his room when the first attack came. A guard, drenched in blood, barely retained the breath to tell him that they were under attack before his head was taken by a thin thread of invisibility. Hiashi sat bold upright and nearly slipped on the arterial blood that spurted in torrents from the guard's neck; he donned his robe and rushed out into the hall, headlong into what seemed like a scene from Hell itself. Blood had been spattered onto almost every single piece of furniture and wall, and there were terrible screams and howls of pain, agony, and death as the attackers surged in by waves.

There were foxes.

Foxes.

His best guards were battling crazed, maddened animals that suddenly seemed to have taken a mind insane with bloodlust.

He instinctively ducked behind a wall, surveying the scene. Sounds of gore and fighting and madness echoed around the building; a bloodied corpse fell at his feet, locked in paroxysms of death. The crazed animals surged through every opening available; people were falling by the dozens. And the thing that slew his mind, drove him to the point of insanity: not one fox had been killed by the opposite side.

It must have been an otherworldly power derived straight from hell. The animals received wounds, but yet they did not. They simply…bent, for lack of a better word, to the weapons of their foes and didn't sustain a single scratch. Hiashi looked around, eyes wild. He could dimly see Neji battling a monstrous vixen, Tenten running from a maddened dog…

And then he came.

There was a powerful blast, and the whole ceiling was instantly ripped away. A terrible red glow seared his eyes, forcing him to squint, and through the slits of his eyes, he witnessed a fox, a serene, imposing, majestic fire fox that encompassed him in its magnificent aura. And perched atop the fox, in billowing robes of evanescent white….

He was born. He was shunned. He will seek his revenge.

Hiashi screamed and reeled backwards from the vision. No….no….it could not be….but it was real, all too real, and it was here to destroy him. He could recognize the all-too-familiar features, the three slashes adorning each cheek, the fangs, the red-rimmed mouth twisted in a malicious, delicious smile of glory, and the eyes, the terrible, hell-spawned eyes that burned and tainted and corrupted to the point of insanity. The mouth opened and gave passage to a tongue which ran a slow course around the whitened, terrible teeth.

"Well met, Hiashi. Glad to see me?" The voice was twisted, warped, besmirched with a vile, controlled madness that glittered tangibly in the air.

A passing scientist, spattered with crimson libation, looked up into the air and shrieked.

"Hiashi-san! It's him! It's 791-543! He's come back and he'll—" his scream was cut dead by serrated teeth closing in on his throat. The fox twisted once, ripping out sinew and vessel, then moved on to other prey.

791-543…

How all too familiar were those six dreaded numbers.

He closed his eyes and thought back, thought back to a long, long, long time ago…

Arashi…

He gently eased open the door, smiling faintly as the bright patch of unruly blonde hair greeted his vision. Hiashi slid through the opening and silently stole up to the young man completely immersed in various documents and papers. He stood, shifting from foot to foot as the slim figure before him grabbed another sheaf of papers, completely oblivious to his surroundings.

"I know you're there, Hiashi-san."

It took all of Hiashi's finely honed self-control not to jump. The young man turned around, deep blue eyes glittering mischievously as he twisted his mouth in an oddly devious smirk.

"I know you don't mean that," he quipped lightly as Hiashi shot him a reproachful stare.

"Still adamant about that experiment, I see…" the older Hyuuga said with an air of resignation. The blonde man grinned.

"Of course. I'm almost done, you know. I mean, the Kyuubi's body has been altered…but I just have to stabilize…the…genetic imbalance…" He trailed off, then turned to the stack of papers next to him and plucked out a beige-hued report, scanning it quickly.

"Genetic imbalance? This will not hinder this so-called Kyuubi, correct?" Hiashi said apprehensively. Arashi blinked.

"Of course not. At least…" he touched fingers to his lips "I hope not…" He trailed off, looking worried. After a moment's pause, Hiashi dared to venture.

"Will you eventually tell me what this Kyuubi is all about?" He asked with a careful mixture of curiosity yet restraint. Arashi executed an extravagant about-face, his long white cloak swirling lavishly in the process.

"You'll find out soon enough." He said with a most saccharine taint to his tone, winking lightly. "That is…if everything works out…I'm worried about the DNA…" He said, his features reverting back to apprehension.

"Don't worry, genetic imbalances are quite the norm in most experiments. You, the most brilliant of us all, should know that." Hiashi said, earning a mild laugh from the blonde man.

"I know, I know, and thanks for the compliment, but still…because it's such a large specimen…well…if anything goes wrong…" Dark indigo eyes shimmered with worry.

"You'll do fine. Now go home and get some rest." Hiashi reassured him gently. Arashi smiled wanly and packed up his briefcase, exiting the room.

That Night

He was awakened by the cries of the population, cries of terror and sheer fright. Bolting from his bed, he hastened down to catch a glimpse of the source, and was horrified to see a large, looming shape in the general direction of the laboratory. Hiashi bolted from his bed and haphazardly pulled on some clothes, driving like a wild man to the scene of the disaster.

Upon arriving at the scene, no sooner had he exited his car than something large and powerful hit him head on and knocked him to the ground. He dazedly picked himself up only to find himself clasped in an embrace by a frantic, wild-eyed Arashi. The young man's normally sparkling eyes shone with fear and a crazed, manic glint. Tears streamed down his face as he gulped shallow breaths of air. His nails left white-rimmed crescents in Hiashi's pallid skin.

"This…this is…I did this…" He choked out between hiccups. Hiashi gripped his shoulders in a feeble attempt to reassure the frantic man.

"What do you mean?" Arashi's eyes were livid with a macabre glint of utter fear.

"This…this…" he flapped a shaking hand at the rampaging monster that towered menacingly over the screaming city. "I did this. This is it. It…it escaped…something must have gone wrong…they're dying, Hiashi, can't you hear that they're dying?...and I did this…I created it…"

With a jolt of horror, the Hyuuga understood all.

"You mean…this was your experiment?" He asked incredulously. The blonde man in his arms closed his eyes and nodded with an air of desperation.

"And now I can't…I don't…I don't know how to stop it…" He sobbed frantically.

Hiashi turned and swept his eyes to the heavens. A crazed snarl was emanating from the feral image above them, and as spotlights appeared, the Hyuuga's worst fears were confirmed. Looming above them with an air of almost solidified malice was a large, red fox, nine tails sweeping the air with imposing swishes as it bared its lethal canines down at the people. Black slashes cleaved down the middle of its eyes as the bloodred irises glared balefully down at Hiashi's uplifted face. His blood froze to ice as his dark pupils came in contact with the fiend's slitted ones, the crimson liquid slowing to slush, and eventually freezing solid in his veins. The evil that emanated from Kyuubi seemed to suffocate him, squeezing the air from his lungs.

"There might be a way."

Hiashi jerked backwards abruptly as he heard the change in Arashi's tone. The man's formerly terrified voice had changed from fright to resignation as well as a steeled undercurrent of determination. Throwing his cloak behind him in a swirl of white, Arashi turned and stalked into the rutted building.

"Where are you going!" Hiashi bellowed frantically. Arashi turned back and seared one last, reassuringly tranquil look into Hiashi's silver eyes. His voice was calm and soft as he spoke.

"The boy I shall entrust to you…treat him as your own. You must love him as I did, as I still do, as I always will do…promise me you will take care of him. Do for me what I cannot do now, what I will not be able to do in the future." He said serenely, then vanished inside of the building.

Boy…?

Hiashi's brows came together in utter confusion. Boy? As far as he knew, Arashi bore no son…but then…he did faintly recall that the young man had been working on several experiments besides the now mutinous Kyuubi…could that mean…? A blast rocked the earth, and Hiashi was thrown off his feet. He looked up to see another gigantic figure accompany the first, this in the shape of a large toad, but with a small figure on its head.

Arashi…?

"You will not harm again, Kyuubi! I created you, and now I shall destroy you!" The man shouted from atop the large creature, a regal, majestically imposing figure with his hair and cloak blown back from his face by the swirling winds the two animals created.

Kyuubi responded with a roar and coiled himself to attack, saliva flowing freely to the ground. Arashi clasped his hands in a prayer-like gesture, then executed a series of movements. Another seismic blast cruelly blasted the earth, and from the blonde man's hands emanated a pure, soft white glow which steadily grew brighter and brighter until Hiashi's eyes were scalded by the white-hot light. A final, mighty blast shook the terrain once more before the building exploded in a column of blue-white light, illuminating the skies with a gigantic mushroom cloud of charred debris and smoke.

Minutes stretched into hours as Hiashi frenetically scanned the scene for any sign of Arashi's slim figure. At last, as the smoke cleared, a worn and defeated figure slowly walked triumphantly from the rubble, a small bundle clasped in his hands. Arashi smiled wanly as the light flickered in his brilliant deep-sapphire eyes. Summoning the last of his strength, he gently handed the bundle of blankets to Hiashi, the collapsed on the ground in the arms of the Hyuuga. Arashi struggled to breathe as his eyes flickered with the remaining embers of his lively, vivacious spirit.

"Hiashi…" His voice was barely a whisper, barely air on the passing wind.

"Yes?" The Hyuuga responded, cradling the blonde's head in his hands. Arashi turned and lifted a feeble hand, gently stroking the bundle of cloth.

"Take…care……of………him………" He coughed out, then lowered his gilded lids. A wave of panic took him, and Hiashi roughly shook Arashi's weakened form, eyes livid with sudden urgency.

"Arashi! No, Arashi…wake up!" He said harshly, pleading that the man would yet live. Wheat-hued lashes fluttered, and once more were the brilliant irises displayed as Arashi gazed into pearlescent eyes.

"Kyuubi………sealed…in………my child…………" He gasped and struggled for breath, and for a moment, Hiashi witnessed the faintest ghost of a quirk at the corner of the blonde man's mouth, so eerily like the old Arashi he'd knew not hours before.

"Love…………him…………"

Summoning the last vestiges of his energy, Arashi leaned up and tenderly brushed his lips across the blankets, then leaned back and gazed almost lovingly into Hiashi's eyes. For a minute, the fire blazed briefly, illuminating his twin azure eyes so that they glittered and shone with a scorching magnificence that seemed to suck the Hyuuga into a whirling vortex of color, tints and shades of the universe, all the ancient, archaic secrets and legends of the world, the universe…

And then the light dimmed, eternally blanketed by the overpowering gentility of the welcoming darkness. Arashi's head tilted gently to the side, his body limp in Hiashi's embrace.

It was strange. He looked so…so normal, almost as if he were sleeping. Arashi bore a faint smile on his face as he lay lifeless in Hiashi's arms. Oddly enough, the Hyuuga shed no tears for the fallen man; in fact, he felt a sort of uplifting force raise a heavy burden from his shoulders. Gently unwrapping the precious bundle of clothes, he gazed into the face of a baby boy, a blonde-haired boy with three whiskers inscribed in each cheek. The boy opened his eyes and gurgled happily at the sight of Hiashi's face, and in that moment, the Hyuuga could see Arashi's own embodiment in the small, pure frame of the baby. However…deep inside the infant…Hiashi summoned his bloodline's gift to his eyes. Deep inside the boy lay a latent, roiling energy, an evil, wicked energy…and with a jolt of horror, the Hyuuga understood.

The brilliant young scientist had sealed the Kyuubi inside of this boy.

Was it just him, or was this child looking at him with something akin to spite in its sparkling clear cerulean eyes? All of a sudden, a blinding flash of red tore across his vision and Hiashi reeled backwards, clutching his temples in agony. Something…it was faintly blurred…but still…it looked eerily like a vision of the future. One figure, one single, solitary figure had singlehandedly caused the apocalyptic destruction, the end of the world.

Arashi?

Hiashi stifled a gasp as the blurred figure came into focus. This vision…this scene of destruction…Arashi, that benevolent, that kind, handsome, radiant young scientist, was it he who would bring upon the ruin of the world? It certainly looked like him…the same wild, untamed blonde hair…the same clear-cut eyes…even the same telltale twitch at the corner of his mouth…the smirk that was uniquely his…

And then he saw the three stripes cross-cutting each cheek, and realized all.

Not Arashi.

His child.

His child that he begged Hiashi to love, to save, to treat as his own offspring.

This child would eventually bring about the ruin of the world, of life itself.

The young infant gurgled and cooed happily, one hand reaching up to entangle itself in Hiashi's long, black hair. In that instant, the hallucination ended, and suddenly the Hyuuga felt a vile, uninhibited rage encompass the blood in his veins; with a cry of terror and madness, he threw the child from him, hurling it violently to the ground where it tumbled and rolled. The infant, victim to the brutal impact of the ground, surprisingly didn't cry. Cobalt eyes momentarily filled with tears, but quickly dissipated as the child reached out and curiously enfolded between pudgy, clumsy fingers a piece of broken glass, taken by its shiny glittering. Hiashi looked on, an incomprehensible look scrawled over his features, and felt such revulsion that he had to turn away. The child was a demon. Nothing more. He needn't care for such a creature…

Take care of him.

Arashi's last wish…

But it was not to be. The chain had been broken…and there would be consequences to suffer.

All this he turned over in his mind as the wraith himself stood imperiously overhead on his fire-red fox. The animal lowered its head and snarled, then started towards Hiashi at a breakneck run. Naruto laughed crazily, lips stretched over his teeth like an animal as he bared needle-sharp canines in anticipation for the kill. Hiashi's terrorized face loomed closer and closer, until he could almost feel the throbbing pulse of the artery beneath his teeth, the warmth of fresh, arterial blood on his face…

And then his assault was stopped abruptly by a white blur.

Naruto stood on the ground, disbelief written all over his demonic features as Neji shielded Hiashi's body with his own. To his horror, Neji's eyes had turned an even darker red, now almost black, which, despite the freakishly normal appearance it gave the Hyuuga, positively unnerved the blonde. He wanted Neji's clear opalescent pupils back, not these charcoal-colored twin pools of apathy. Still…now wasn't the time to reminisce…he had business to take care of.

"Neji. Step away from him." He uttered in a guttural snarl. Neji's mouth thinned and he pressed himself closer to his so-called uncle, a sneer of loathing twisted upon his elegant features.

"Demon. You don't belong here. Go back to hell where you came from." He hissed.

For a moment, for a single, brief moment, Naruto closed his eyes and almost appeared human despite his fox-like features. Black-rimmed eyes quivered with pain, and a single sphere of saline liquid slowly tracked its way down his blood-stained face, drawing a pure, white line across the thick, black slashes on his cheek. He opened his eyes, and to Hiashi's surprise, the irises were now a milky purple, with the blue starting to emerge in spots.

He's fighting the fox…he's actually attempting to battle the demon's consciousness…

Red suddenly seeped into his eyes, and Naruto reeled back, clutching his head. A shriek burst from his mouth, a long, keening wail that didn't sound human as he rocked back and forth in a crazed attempt to rid himself of the demon.

Kill them. They shunned you. They deserted you. They left you for dead. It is time for retribution.

The fox's booming voice resonated throughout his consciousness. Slowly, Naruto thought back to the years, to what he'd experienced…the endless tests….the constant neglecting…and the cold, ice-cased white eyes of his caretaker….Hiashi, the man who ruled his life…and Neji…his one friend…his only friend…the one person he could trust in the world save for Iruka….

For a moment, for a very, very brief moment, the red fully retracted from Naruto's eyes, leaving a blazing, dazzling blue that cut through the murky darkness.

"Neji…remember…" The words had barely slipped from his lips when he screamed again and clutched his head, recoiling as the red seeped back into his irises.

"Fool that you are! You'll die for protecting him." Kyuubi's deep bass resonated from the depths of the blonde's throat.

Naruto's body suddenly wavered, twitching spasmodically. Surprise registered on his countenance as he suddenly reared back and plunged one claw into his forearm, the blood spurting from the severed veins. Blue dominated once more as Naruto fought valiantly against his inner self, summoning his last efforts in order to regain control. His midnight lashes lightened once more to the pure gold they'd been and the stripes that bound his cheeks crawled back to being mere slashes. Glittering tears cascaded down the side of his face as he took in Neji's tainted gaze.

"Neji…I'm sorry. I'm begging you, step away from Hiashi, or I'll have to force myself to kill you." He said softly. Neji's twisted smirk widened into a sick parody of a grin.

"I'll kill you first before that, bastard." Sensing his chance, Hiashi seized it with full power.

"NEJI! KILL HIM!" Naruto turned away, weeping desperately, but didn't waver from where he stood. Finally he looked up, a cocktail of sadness, bitterness, and desperate anger washing across his eyes.

"Then I have no other choice."

It took all of his efforts just to raise his right foot, to send it set it into motion towards the stubborn Hyuuga. Tears flew from the sides of Naruto's eyes, coagulating into raw droplets that flew behind him like some sort of herald to his mortal journey. Blood ran freely down the sides of his mouth as he bit down hard on his teeth to block out the excruciating pain, the turmoil in his heart as one rigid, vein-lined hand stretched out towards Neji's heart, claws shrieking for blood.

Neji…

There was a sickening crunch as bone snapped, dissolving into dust as it was crushed to pieces.

Naruto let out an agonizing shriek that echoed to the sky. Neji had a steel-clad grasp on his pulverized wrist and was twisting it painfully as a slow, warped grin smeared its way on his face like excrement on poor-quality toilet paper. Naruto bit back another throttled howl as Neji's grip tightened, further forcing the shards of his wrist deeper into his flesh. Neji violently spun him so that his chest was exposed, and drew back with his other hand.

Jyuuken…he's going to use Jyuuken…

He could dimly hear Kyuubi roaring in his mind that he was about to be killed, but Naruto didn't remotely care. It was as if his mind remained detached, lost in its own atmosphere as Neji's lethal fingers started their fatal thrust towards his heart. It was ironic, really, he thought as tears continued their descent down his cheeks. He, Uzumaki Naruto, having survived countless bombs, knives, and basically everything else under the sun, was going to be killed by a pair of fingers. What a fitting way to die, he thought, as twin alabaster digits imbedded themselves deep into his heart, releasing the deadly energy to corrupt his veins. Killed by the one he loved….when he'd survived those who wanted him dead….

One by one, his senses shut down…he could feel his body cease its perpetual tasks, feel his cells make one final attempt to ensure last passage of fluids and substances to their correct destinations before the darkness enveloped him completely, seeping into his brain and clouding his eyes with a dull, engulfing, strangely welcoming mist…

As his lashes came to rest, obscuring the lifeless vision of his pain-filled eyes, he saw something that he would never had noticed before.

The hand of Neji, outstretched to save him.

As his heart stopped its eternal beating, Naruto barely, just barely made out the hint of a tear forming at the corner of the Hyuuga's eye, saw the pure white pupils clouded with horror at the sight before them…and then he sighed and breathed his last breath, releasing a brilliant burst of energy in a blinding explosion of pure, white light.

The brilliant, dazzling, magnificent fox-child, once so bright in his burning, now lay lifeless on the ground.

Oooooooo, I'm ebil, ne? hahaaaaa...cliffie, and this one's huge...hahahaaaaaa...(runs from bloodthirsty reviewers) Ack...until next time...