Kakashi eventually found his way to the entrance of Orochimaru's hideout, holding the fox in his arms. He turned his radio on. "Guy, Miro, where are you? I've made it out. I have Nayamae."

"Come back the way we came," responded Guy's voice. "We got the children out."

"I'll meet with you soon," Kakashi replied. He adjusted his hold on the fox and after getting further away from the cave entrance on top of another hill, he turned back just as the entire hillside collapsed on itself, creating a large cloud of dirt and smoke. Ashes and dirt flew gently in the air like snow. He turned his back to the growing cloud and started to return to the group.

When he arrived, they were all seated on the ground, sharing a bit of food and water. Guy was helping a boy with cloudy eyes guide the food to his mouth while Miro sat taking notes of the rest of the children's conditions. One girl had a dark green mark splattered across her right eye and cheek. Another had her fingers webbed together. Another boy had his left arm completely missing, the bandage needing an obvious changing. Kakashi took in the rest of the children as they sat and ate greedily.

"Christ," Kakashi muttered under his breath.

Miro looked up from his notes. "Kakashi! We were beginning to worry."

He shook his head. "Unneeded," he said, carefully sitting on the ground beside Miro.

"Nayamae?" Miro questioned, gesturing to the fox in his arms.

Kakashi nodded. "Orochimaru got a hold of her before we got there. I tried to undo whatever seal he put on her, but I only suppressed whatever it was doing. This was the result." He laid her carefully on the grass beside him. "She'll wake up soon enough, I suppose."

"We need to get back to the village," Guy said, replacing the bandage on the boy's amputated arm. "We can't have these children out here much longer without proper medical attention."

"He's right," Miro said, getting up. "We need to start moving." With little coaxing, the children who couldn't walk were put onto backs, while the rest walked beside the adults as they made their return to their village. Kakashi made a makeshift sling to put the fox into and slung across his middle. The smallest of the children hung on his back.

The trek back to the village was long and slow. It took nearly twice as long to return as it did to leave. It was very late at night by the time the group returned to the village. Parents and families were thrilled to be reunited with their children, but it was short lived. All of the children needed immediate medical attention. Kakashi, Guy, and Miro escorted the families to the hospital before reporting to the Hokage.

After explaining what had happened in finding the kidnapped children, they turned to the other issues at hand: what to do about Orochimaru and what to do with Nayamae. Nayamae was still a fox and unconscious in the sling Kakashi had hung around himself.

"How long will she be like that?" the Hokage asked, moving the fabric of the sling aside to peek at the fox.

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm not sure. Orochimaru put some kind of controlling seal on her. I didn't have time to remove it properly, but I did manage to suppress it for now."

"Hmm," the Hokage hummed with a nod. "No harm in trying again later." He moved to sit behind his desk. "As of now, Orochimaru is still out there. You may have freed those children and that kitsune, but without him, there's no telling if they'll get back to normal."

"Suppose we try using the kitsune?" Miro suggested. "She's worked for Orochimaru for quite some time now and may know how to track him down."

"Explain," the Hokage ordered, folding his hands under his chin.

"She probably won't agree to that," Kakashi interrupted before Miro could continue. "She's still loyal to him on some level, regardless of any experiment he's done to her."
"But you said she wanted to kill him," Miro countered. "I don't think she's as loyal to him as you think."

Kakashi shrugged again. "Maybe not, but we won't know that for sure until she tells us herself."

"You say she's loyal to Orochimaru, what do you mean by that?" the Hokage asked.

"She's a kitsune," Kakashi replied. "She's only capable of being loyal to one person at a time." You can be loyal to different people in different ways. The words she had said to him at the bottom of the pit suddenly echoed across his memory. "Except," he trailed off, lost in thought. He thought of the boy he had seen in her memory, Ryu. Orochimaru had killed him. Was it because Nayamae had lost focus while working for Orochimaru? Did he kill him to remind her of who she was suppose to stay loyal to?

"What?" Guy asked. Kakashi shook his head of this thoughts and repeated what she had said to him long before.

"It sounds to me like she can be loyal to more than one person," he explained. "She just chooses who that is and why she's loyal to them."

The Hokage looked intently at Kakashi. "You should make her loyal to you, Hatake. Get her to trust you completely." Kakashi blinked.

"How do you suggest he do that?" Miro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Out of all of us in here, he's the only one she's consistently seen and interacted with. She seems to at least trust you on some level. He's saved her life more than once, whether she wanted him to or not."

"Yeah, but-"

"It won't take overnight. You'll have to constantly be with her. Do whatever you have to to make her loyal to you until we can use her to capture Orochimaru. It'll save the village and anyone else under his influence." It was hard to argue with such a statement. Save the village. Capture Orochimaru. Kakashi left with Nayamae still in the sling and an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Kakashi entered his apartment, shutting the door softly behind him. He carefully unraveled the sling, lifting the fox out of the fabric. She was very light in his arms, her orange and black fur soft against his skin. Gently he set her on a cushion in the middle of his living room floor. He stood back and watched her for a moment. Make her loyal to you. The Hokage's order echoed in his head. How the hell was he suppose to do that? He didn't think he was likeable enough to be able to do that. As he watched, he couldn't tell if she was dead or if she was still breathing. Her tiny chest rose and fell in slow, shallow breaths.

He turned to his kitchen and got a bowl, filled it with water, and then set it beside the pillow. It was his assumption that she would be thirsty whenever she would wake up.

He decided she would be okay for a little while he changed and showered. When he returned, she was resting her head beside the half-empty water bowl, her snout between her paws, and her eyes closed. Slowly, she opened her eyes, fixing them tiredly on Kakashi as he stood in the doorway of his bedroom.

"So you are alive," he stated, rubbing his wet hair with a towel. "I was beginning to wonder." He had already replaced the mask over his face while his sharingan eye remained closed. Her eyes were still a dark red, but she hadn't moved to attack him like she had before. He sat down on the floor in front of her as she lifted her head. "Do you remember what happened?" he asked. She shook her head slightly. "Orochimaru put another seal on you to control you. You attacked me. Do you remember that?" A flicker of remembrance flashed across her eyes, but she shook her head anyway. He sighed and threw the towel behind him into his room.

Turning back to her, he continued, "Can you talk when you're like this? As a fox?" She shook her head. "Figures," he said exasperated. "Alright then, listen. You're staying here until you're back to normal and we can figure out how to get that seal off of you. Well, normal as in back to being a functioning human." She watched him silently, her red eyes focused on his one open eye. "You stay here. You don't go sneaking off places where I can't find you. You're under my supervision."

She made a face that was obviously a face of displeasure. "It's not my idea!" he defended irritably. "The Hokage thinks you could be a great asset to us. You would act as an informant and go on assigned missions for us. You would report to me what you find. I know it probably doesn't sound great to you, but it's better than sitting in a jail cell." He didn't mention to her what the Hokage had said about manipulating her to be loyal to him. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that. Nayamae snorted, putting her head back down on her paws.

He paused thinking of what to say next. "You could help us a great deal," he continued. "Bring Orochimaru to justice even," he suggested. "Your knowledge of what he does and how he works is valuable." She looked down at the water bowl, avoiding his gaze now. "We could help you," he added softly. He sighed again when she didn't react. How could she possibly still feel loyal towards Orochimaru after all he had done to her? It didn't make sense to him.

He was about to get up and leave the room when he paused. "One more thing, your kitsunebi. You'll eventually die without getting the rest of it back, right?" She glanced up at him, answering with a small nod. "I will do everything I can to help you get the rest of it back without killing those kids. I promise." She lifted her head again, staring at him intently. He had to admit, the color of her eyes still unnerved him, but they didn't hold any killing intent as they had before. They were gentle as they regarded him, looking at his face, down his body, and then back to his face. "Right," he said awkwardly. "Well, good night." He stood and went to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him without looking back at the fox who continued to watch his every move.

Kakashi soon found that having Nayamae in this form was similar to keeping a pet. Although he knew what she really was, he sometimes forgot she was actually a human in the form of a fox, until she would growl at him for sitting too close to her.

At first, she kept to herself, refusing to move far from the cushion she had moved beside the glass door to the balcony. For hours, she would sit and stare out at the village, watching the people walk below. Eventually, she allowed Kakashi to come and sit next to her for a short while, but he didn't see the appeal of looking out a window for so long, soon getting up and finding a book to read instead. A few times he had tried to stroke her fur, earning him a quick snap from her teeth. Only once had she allowed him to pet her for a few seconds before she snapped at him again.

Kakashi realized though that whenever he pulled out a book, she almost immediately became interested in what he was reading. She stuck her nose under his arm to give herself room in his lap just to look at the pages. He wondered if she had ever learned to read, even a little bit. Her curiosity was obvious. He was unsure of when he started to read aloud from his books, but it was clear she was trying to follow along with him. She let out a disappointed whine whenever he closed the book and put it away. She had begun to really enjoy hearing him read to her.

After nearly a month, Kakashi was beginning to get impatient. Nayamae showed no signs of changing back into a human, but was ever so slowly getting more comfortable being around him. He wondered if she had any idea of what he was trying to do, although even he didn't know what he was trying to do. How did one get a kitsune to become loyal to you?

During this time, Kakashi gave the Hokage updates on Nayamae. His reports hardly ever changed. Kakashi wasn't sure what else he could do to gain her trust, and the Hokage gave him a little advice, but his suggestions would have to wait until she was human again. Guy wasn't much help either. He had suggested to try to impress her with his abilities, but Kakashi wasn't sure she would be impressed with anything he could do. Miro had decided he didn't want anything to do with the kitsune and refused to even talk with Kakashi about her.

Another month passed. Kakashi had been getting assigned missions again. While he was gone, Nayamae walked freely about his apartment. It wasn't very big, only with a kitchen, sitting room, a single bedroom, and a bathroom. She was dying to go outside the village again. From her spot at the window, she could barely see the tops of the trees. Kakashi's apartment was closer to the center of the village, dashing any hopes of an easy escape. Although, she had to admit she didn't want to leave. She enjoyed the quiet she had living here with Kakashi, even if she didn't always enjoy his company, but she couldn't quite shake the fear of something bad happening to her. There wasn't any possible way Orochimaru would be able to easily find her, was there?

Nayamae woke up suddenly when she heard Kakashi returning. It was extremely late at night, nearer to morning than the night. He didn't greet her, instead immediately going to cook a meal for himself. He typically ate his meals in the kitchen where she wouldn't see his face, but Nayamae sensed something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but she could sense Kakashi was off. She peeked her head around the edge of the counter to look at him.

She hadn't seen his actual face since she had pulled his mask down to kiss him. As she looked, she saw him staring blankly down at the meal he had made, not moving, tension rising in the air. His mask was still covering his face, chopsticks in his hand. He then shook his head, grabbed the plate, and then moved to the sitting room. Nayamae followed him, unsure of this change in behavior.

She sat across from him at the low table, looking at him as if to ask what was bothering him. Kakashi was typically quiet, but this silence was unnerving. His meal sat untouched in front of him. He stared blankly at the meal with his one good eye. He looked greatly troubled.

"Hey, Nayamae," he suddenly started, not looking up at her. His voice was tense. "Have you ever given advice to someone and found that they had taken it to mean something different? So much so that they killed their entire family?" The question shocked her, but she was confused on how he expected her to answer. He didn't say anything else as he rose from the table, leaving his meal untouched. What on earth was he talking about?

Nayamae was unsure of what to do as he went to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. She went to the door, pressing her ear against the wood. She couldn't hear him inside and assumed he was trying to sleep, but she was bothered by his behavior. Raising a paw to the door, she scratched and whined until Kakashi opened the door suddenly, startling her back a moment.

"What?" he growled angrily. She stared at him before bolting into his room and jumping onto his bed. "Hey!" he exclaimed as she curled herself up into a ball at the end of his bed. He tried to get her to move, but she refused to budge. "Fine," he said, throwing his hands up. "Fine, just take the end of the bed. Fine." He fell onto the bed, throwing the covers over his head.

Nayamae waited several minutes before she heard Kakashi's breath become more even. Carefully, she moved from her spot by his feet until she was near his head. Finding the edge of the blanket, she buried her nose under the cover until she found a comfortable spot against Kakashi's back. She kept her nose out of the cover so she could breathe comfortably, falling asleep beside him.

Woo! Character development! I really hope you're enjoying this story. It's probably not the best or the most interesting, but that's totally fine.

Please feel free to leave a review telling me what you think! Thanks for reading!