Sorry for the late update. I have had a lot to do (school and japanese classes), so I Hav not had the time to update before now :(
Chapter 4.
It took Naruto several more minutes to find another meal. It was much harder to concentrate from his increasing anger.
Once he had figured out the other fox had stolen his intended prey, he had run after it blindly. His hopes had been to catch the black fox and beat it to a pulp for the rabbit, but he could never seem to catch it! There had been a few incidences where he had almost jumped for another fox, but had realized that they either did not have two tails or the violet eyes.
The goose chase had lasted until he had come to enough sense to track the smell. This had led to the horrible discovery that the scent was nowhere in range.
He had reluctantly returned to Kyuubi to continue to look for breakfast. When he had finally caught something, it had not been pretty. Instead of handling the attack gracefully like Kyuubi and the other fox, he had completely over killed the poor creature. Taking all his anger out on it.
He had been on the verge of tossing the little rabbit in the air when Kyuubi had made a comment to "not play with his food". Which had abruptly ended any ill feelings he had towards the meal.
The sun was already approaching the center of the sky as they headed into the clearing. The whole demon village seemed to be alive now. Many were roaming the area; small foxes and children with fox ears and tails were playing now. If he had his eyes closed it probably would have been like walking in any other town.
Whenever they would get close, the foxes would stop what they were doing and would either bow or nod towards the pair. From a distance they would always stare, a lot were directed at him. Naruto suddenly wished his fur were red like Kyuubi's.
Ahead of them a group of foxes near his size ran off in to the woods. Naruto wondered if they were going off to play some sort of game. He stared after them, a familiar feeling clawing its way into his heart once again.
"Kyuubi-sama!"
Naruto's train of thought was thankfully ended by a man's shout. He looked up in time to see a large six-tailed black fox approaching.
Kyuubi stopped their slow pace and laid his rabbit down gently, "Greetings Roiyaru. How are you this morning?"
Roiyaru stopped in front of them and bowed his head respectively. "I thought I would introduce your Kit to my daughter. She's not the best of fighters, but is turning into quite the pretty little fox."
His fox grin appeared and he looked behind himself. A fox peered out from behind the many tails the fox bore. Naruto's fur bristled as he noticed the eyes, violet. "Naruto-san, this is my oldest daughter, Akari." Akari came from behind her father when one of his tails nudged her slightly. He relaxed when he saw that she too only had one tail and as he looked closer, he could see that her eyes were not violet. They resembled more of a dark lavender.
"Hello Naruto-san." She spoke softly. Her voice reminded him of small bells singing in a light breeze.
"Well she is quite the cute thing. Maybe will see her tomorrow? But we must get back to the den for breakfast. There was a mishap in the forest and we have not eaten yet." Kyuubi chuckled slightly, which sounded like a clicking noise. Naruto held back a growl, recalling the morning's events.
"Of course my Lord. We shall not keep you any longer." The black fox bowed once more, as did his daughter, and they both ran off in the direction they had come.
Kyuubi began his pace again, but this time faster then before. Naruto was aware of other foxes that were making their way in the pairs direction.
When they entered the cave Naruto dropped hid rabbit. He looked around for anything that would even resembled a fire pit.
"Hey Kyuubi whe-" a loud crack sounded behind him and made him stop mid-sentence. He turned slowly, praying his thoughts were not true.
The larger fox was lying on the cave floor, head raised as he chewed on a bone from his own meal.
"Oh Kami… You don't expect me too!" Horror struck Naruto as he franticly searched the cave for some source for fire!
Kyuubi rolled his eyes at the little fox's antics, "Kit. Kit it's not that bad."
Naruto whirled back around staring at Kyuubi dumbly, his small muzzle hanging open.
"Naruto. You have eaten worse than this in your youth. You have already carried it here without complaint."
Disturbance filled him as Naruto realized he had in fact carried that bloody creature here without giving it a second thought. But he also thought back to his time on the streets, after the orphanage had kicked him out. He shunned away from the memories of the cold nights pilfering for any kind of food before he was caught. This was nothing compared to what he had resorted to, he supposed.
"Just stay in your fox form. It would look bad if you ruined your kimono." Kyuubi said between bites.
Naruto sniffed the rabbit, it still disturbed him to have to act so much like a demon. Horror filled him once again as another thought struck him.
"B-but Kyuu… isn't this a demon?"
The red fox grunted and looked at Naruto, leaving his meal for a moment. "Yes that is a demon. In your world it would probably be as big as one of your grown males in its good years. In your world it would also be considered the same as myself. However, that is not how it is done here. That demon does not have as much reasoning; it does as it pleases without a second thought. Here it is nothing more then a common animal, much like your own."
Naruto cursed inwardly as his last excuse for not eating the rabbit was torn away. He lied down in front of his catch and sniffed it again, buying time to think of another excuse.
"I would tell you to remove the fur, but you mutilated it so much it does not matter now." Kyuubi chuckled at his own joke.
Naruto was thankful his fur hid the heat that covered his face. His stomach protested loudly and ached from no food for almost 2 days. He swallowed the last of his pride and took a small nibble of the creature. No one would have to find out anyway right? He shuddered at the thought of the villager's reaction if they found out.
Surprisingly the rabbit wasn't bad; a little too soft, but over all it was somewhat tasty. It had a certain spiciness to it and he vaguely wondered if different animals had a different flavors.
Kyuubi transformed into his human form as Naruto licked his muzzle. He took it as a cue and transformed as well. His kimono was dirty from running in the woods and sleeping on the ground, he patted it down to try and make it seem better.
Kyuubi whistled and a minute later the fox from the other day appeared. She was already in her human form and had a bundle of clothes in her arms.
"How would you like to dress today my Lord?" she asked politely.
"Formal attire for myself, Kit, would you like to explore the village on your own today?"
Naruto was taken aback. He wanted to say no, fear from being alone with demons, but then he remembered the foxes that had run into the woods and curiosity won over the fear. He nodded shyly and the nine-tails turned back to their dresser.
"My Kit will need something nice but not formal."
The orange fox began to remove Naruto's old kimono and he fumbled to help. She fitted him into another blue kimono; this one resembled the color of bluebells. The necklace was replaced with another choker; this one was gold but with a sapphire fitted in the center. It was slightly thicker than the other and had little designs winding around the gem. His ankle bracelets were exchanged for cloth wrappings that was the same color as his kimono, it covered the top of his feet and a yellow tie wrapped around his ankles and made an "X" half way up his shins and tied off around the top. She tried to brush his hair but gave up after he kept giggling when she would touch his fox ears. It became very hard to concentrate because the woman also joined in after a couple of fits.
Kyuubi already had his new kimono on. It was the same color as his hair and had black winding designs up one sleeve. She fastened a gold clip to each of his front hair sections that rested over his shoulders. These had a diamond shaped ruby in each. His hair was braided halfway down its length to complete the look.
Even though Kyuubi's look on formal seemed quite simple, to Naruto the Great Fox still managed to look like some kind of God. Naruto wondered if he even came close to looking as good.
Once the fox was done inspecting her work, she bowed and Kyuubi bid her leave.
"Where will you be going in the village Kit?" Kyuubi asked and headed towards the mouth of the cave.
Naruto followed and they stopped at the ledge overlooking the village. He looked across the plain, the whole was bathed in the late morning light and even though the land was brown, it was strangely beautiful. It looked as though it was sunset during fall. The wild flowers and full-grown trees gave away that it was late summer however, just as his world. There were no visible dens on the outskirts of the field, yet it was now filled with demons. The foxes were an array of colors, brown, red, orange, grey, and even a few black and white. From what he could see there was non that were blonde like himself. Kyuubi's words from of "such a rare color" echoed in his mind and made him very uncomfortable. It made him wonder if he was the only one.
The demons moved with a sort of lazy grace, there did not seem to be a routine any of them followed. There seemed to be an open-air market set up across the field. Some foxes in human form were settled on the ground with few things in front of them on display. Kimonos, food and other things were offered, but as Naruto watched another fox gave a rabbit for one of the geese the vender sold.
It was odder to see some as humans and others as foxes. A couple walked together holding hands while a family of foxes basked in the sun. He let his gaze flow over the plain, following the tops of the trees until he spotted a clearing in them. Instead of grass there was a huge scar on the land and no trees grew on or near it. What stood out most were all the young foxes gathered there.
"I think I will go see the outside of the clearing." Naruto answered.
Kyuubi seemed to think for a moment before responding, "As long as you remain within my clan's territory, you may do as you wish. None of the foxes will harm you, but there are a few things you should be wary of."
Immediately Naruto thought of the grey fox. His eyes searched the clearing, taking in every fox present.
As if the large fox could read Naruto's mind, which he may be able to after so many year living in him, and said, "Do not worry Kit, it is nothing dangerous. Only you should not reveal too much about yourself. It is very odd for a leader to disappear and return with a kit. If anyone were to ask where I have been, simply reply that I was retrieving you from another clan. Do not reveal your age, foxes age much slower than humans. Also do not ask someone their's, it is rude. If you want something all you must do is ask, you are my Kit and will be given it. Do not pick a fight with another fox that has more tails than you."
Naruto nodded, relieved with the simple rules. As he turned to leave however he hard Kyuubi clear his throat awkwardly. He looked back to discover the fox with his arms crossed over his chest and looking out among his people still.
"Once you have finished come back to the den… it is not safe to wander by oneself at night in your position." A slight color rose on the red foxes cheeks, like it embarrassed him to udder such words.
This action wrapped chains around Naruto's feet, and he found himself unable to speak. To be worried about and wanted to come back was a new feeling. He played the words in his head once more to make sure he heard right and again for pleasure of it. A grin slowly broke across his face, which seemed to cause the demon king more discomfort. Small laughter spilled from his open lips and he nodded fiercely before running off this time.
"Sale, sale! Over here Sakura-chan!"
Sakura turned to see her friend once again surrounded by cute outfits. The girl had talent for finding the best things.
Team Seven had finally been forced to go on missions again. They were relatively smaller than the last one they had. Kakashi always seemed to make sure the missions did not take them to far from the village for too long of a period.
The team had been offered a day off for the upcoming festival. She and Sasuke had protested loudly, wanting anything to keep them from that horrid building and their own thoughts. Sakura had been regretting the dawn all night, but then Ino had called and offered a girls days out.
Now here she was, arms full of bags and helping Ino with her new look.
"Thanks for inviting me out Ino, it's been fun." Sakura said once she reached the kunoichi.
"No prob! Your one of the only female ninjas of our generation who don't spend all their time training and have a sense of fashion. I was in desperate need of girl time!" Shikamaru always-" Ino jabbed happily about her teammate. While it was true that out of most of the girls, her and Ino still did make time for their looks, but her blonde companion didn't really have to worry about training all the time. She was a natural purebred ninja, easily the best kunoichi of their generation. Sakura suspected out of all the females Sasuke could have chosen, Ino more than likely would have been it for her background.
Said girl was currently holding a knee length purple dress in front of herself. She sighed forlornly and twirled a section of her almost shoulder length hair around her finger and said, "This would have looked so cute with my long hair. What do you think Sakura-chan, do u think Shika-" she stopped mid-sentence and flushed a dark red, "a-a, Sasuke w-will like it?!"
Sakura suppressed a fit of laughter and nodded, not trusting her voice. Ino quickly shuffled though more clothes.
"H-how bout this one?" she grabbed hold of a bright orange short skirt but stopped her fingers lingering on it for a fraction of a second before grabbing the blue one. But it had been long enough for Sakura's well-trained eyes to see. Her gaze traced the orange skirt; memorizing the color and feeling herself follow the pull of memories that came with it.
"Its beautiful…" Sakura whispered, willing herself to look away from the color.
"Hey! You hungry? I'm starved! Lets go look around the village for any early festival stalls!" Ino stammered and locked arms with the pink nin. She quickly paid for the purple dress and blue skirt and drug the recovering girl out of the store.
Sakura breathed deeply once the emerged in the fresh air, letting the wind steal her thoughts.
As she was led through the streets of Konoha, Sakura awed at the decorations of this year's festival. Everyone was still busily working; building stalls, hanging lanterns, and cooking food. Everything was bigger and better the she could remember, everyone happier.
"Can you believe the luck?! We will finally get to celebrate the full riddance of the beast!"
"Thought I would never see the day! I may finally let my wife have that son she's always wanted!" Two men laughed happily, many odd conversations could be heard while Ino looked for a spot to eat.
How could they be so happy? Laugh and smile so freely? Could they not see that Konoha's sun was gone? Sakura's throat closed and her breathing became labored with each smiling face they passed. Why were they not unhappy? She wanted to grab people and shake sense into them. Be unhappy! Be unhappy!
"Sakura-chan?"
Sakura looked up to a bewildered Ino and was surprised to find her knees had given out on her. She was currently on the ground in the middle of the street, some of the people looking at her.
"I'm sorry Ino, but could you take me to the old grave stone? I have to meet someone there and I had forgotten." Sakura whispered, trying to hold onto herself.
"Oh its ok sweetie… I-I forgot I had to meet Shika-kun anyway." Ino said sadly and helped her friend up.
Sakura allowed herself to be led once again towards where she knew her Sensei would be.
Naruto peered through the dense trees into the clearing. There were foxes with 1 to 2 tails covering the rocks and dirt mounds. Loud growling and other noises were coming from inside the crowed demons.
Naruto crept closer, hoping to see what was all the excitement. Before he could get close enough however, a brown two tailed fox spotted him.
"Hey look what we got!" suddenly all noise stopped and everyone was staring at him.
"Its Kyuubi-sama's kit!"
All thoughts to run were foiled as all the foxes quickly circled him. Most were bigger then him, but not many had more tails then he did. Up close like this he could see all the small differences between them. The scars, cowlicks in their fur, even the way their fox faces looked.
"Look at that fur! I've never seen anything like it. Defiantly our Kyuubi's."
"If you are the Kyuubi's son you must be strong right?"
Suddenly they were all talking at once, asking him and each other questions. Finally one came forward and stopped the voices.
"Would you like to fight?" he asked. Naruto realized this was the same brown fox from earlier.
"Fight?" Naruto asked shyly still aware of all the demons surrounding him.
"A match, to test skills between the ages and determine who is to beat. It's for fun and to train. Have you never played?" The brown continued; he seemed to have appointed himself spokes-demon.
"Um no… it was undignified in my old village…" Naruto pulled the excuse right out of the air and prayed it worked.
The group all burst into a fit of laughter however and Naruto's plans to escape seemed to become urgent once again.
"You really are your Mothers Kit!" Don't worry Kyuubi-sama's genes are sure to have shown through!"
"Yeah, just try it. We'll go easy on you sweet thing!"
The last statement pushed all his thoughts to run away and his pride swelled inside his chest.
"Fine, who is the first fox goin' down!?" He barked.
All the foxes seemed shocked for a moment but they soon recovered and grinned widely. The air was filled with growls as they all offered to fight the young prince.
"The festival is soon…"
It was late morning and the sun was beginning to shine brightly through the window. The blonde haired boy seemed to only become golden as the suns rays danced across the sleeping form.
"You would probably be jumping up and down from excitement normally." Sasuke continued to speak to the boy.
Naruto remained silent, not seeming to notice the sun moving over his cheeks, realizing time was moving on without him.
Sasuke imagined what Naruto would be like at a festival, tried to remember catching a glimpse of him at such an event.
He had only attended a few throughout his years, but out of them all he could not recall ever seeing Naruto. It would have been very hard to miss the loud creature. He should have heard rambunctious laughter as he caught sight of him running away from a vender he just pranked. Or saw him trying every kind of food at every stand. It should have been impossible to miss this boy.
As he tried to think of the reasons for Naruto's disappearances, he realized he could not remember him during most of his own child hood. This boy that had done so much to get the attention of people had yet somehow he only came into his own focus now.
Sasuke reached out to the teammate he thought he had known and took his hand, felling the warmth that told he was still alive.
"Where were you Naruto?"
R&R :D