Fate's Garden

Part 2 - Fox Den

Chapter 3 - Sweet Calm

By the time they'd passed their fourth weary traveler, Naruto had gradually reduced his size as a fox to a little taller than a draft horse. The village was no longer in sight as they had descended from the highlands, all Sasuke could see in any direction were more trees. He loosely touched his knees to Naruto's ribs to keep his balance, and lay forward on his stomach. His head rested on his folded arms in between the dobe's shoulder blades. They were moving at a leisurely enough pace, and with his newly regained memories of this same trip, he knew that they would arrive at the village in time for a light lunch.

The breeze was cool on his bare back, and it made him shiver. When it began to get warmer, and the snow melted, Sasuke found it much easier to don only a pair of beat up shorts, and leave his shoes in the cave. Having to routinely take a full set of clothes down to the bathing river and pound stains out of them with rocks he'd found was not pleasant. It took up a good portion of the day and was hard work. Never before had Sasuke appreciated washing machines nearly as much as he did in this life. Once Naruto had reduced his size any travelers they ran into seemed to recognize them and wave, or offer a polite 'hello there!' Sasuke seemed to vaguely recall that yellow was a rather common coat color among fox demons, and not all could control their shape and size. With Naruto much smaller and his very obvious passenger they made a much more recognizable pair.

Sasuke found he no longer was necessarily upset with the dobe, but instead, merely…tired. When he'd reviewed his memories of the years he'd been living with him in this life, he'd been somewhat surprised by what he found. He remembered that the first year had been the worst, especially the first few weeks of that year. The shock of finding out that the dobe had given up on him had worn off and led to frustration, and then an awkward guilt. The worst was the thought of Naruto openly admitting he'd had thoughts of suicide, and that the bane of his existence, Kyuubi, had been the only one to convince him otherwise. No one else had noticed.

He remembered being introduced to the main members of the clan: Ruko, Shii, Kyuubi, and at the time Ruko's newborn kits. The life he settled into was wrought with strangeness, discomfort, and fighting. It took a long time for Sasuke to accept that this was the life he had now, and that all of the demons, except for Naruto viewed him as a pet. He was a lowly human with trivial feelings, and overly complicated rituals that made no sense to them. He sighed.

As the sun glared down upon them from its noontime zenith, they reached the edge of town. The people reacted with varying degrees of kindness, or dislike depending on whom they greeted. Even when they ran into people who didn't particularly like them, they at least showed a modicum of respect to the 'Lord and Lordess' of the presiding fox demon clan. Naruto wove his way toward a respectable looking store and fiddled with the door handle only a few minutes before whining for help. Sasuke snorted, sliding easily off of his back to open the door for them. Upon entrance a short old man was before them offering his assistance with just the slightest stutter to his words.

"Your Lordships, anything in particular you are looking for today?" Sasuke's memories reminded him that he did hold a place of some repute, but still to be addressed in such a way startled him.

This small bespectacled man with a shrew's face and three small wisps of hair combed over his shining head was treating them like nobles. The way he tripped over his words and nervously wrung his hands, honorifics dithered here and there had Sasuke searching through his memories to find out just how important they were.

"Yes, the fox needs some people clothes."

"Ah, yes, Lord Kyros, anything you desire. It's on me, really."

Important enough not to pay for things. Sasuke noted. But Kyros? His memories told him it was the name he took when he became a fox demon. The name that the humans outside of Konoha knew him by. The dobe began slouching his way about the store, nosing through the racks of clothing. Occasionally he would huff and wheeze at Sasuke to pull something off the rack so he could inspect it further. Finally he settled on a modest blue kimono, while he nudged Sasuke towards one of a darker green color. Yip, pant, bark, huff. Backwards wheeze indicating a laugh. Don't think you're getting away with walking around topless everywhere. Sasuke imagined Naruto would say something like that, mostly to mock him and the days when he had a fan club following him around. Sasuke snorted, grabbing one and following the dobe to the back of the shop where the changing rooms were located. Naruto switched forms just as he was moving into the changing room, and it threw Sasuke off for a moment. It might be entirely normal for the dobe, but for someone watching it was a little more disconcerting. He gruffly handed the kimono over and took his into a separate changing room.

The funny thing about having all of the memories of each Sasuke whose life he stole was that they didn't make him feel any older. It was as if he didn't associate himself with that life at all. He viewed the experiences as though they were a filmstrip running through his head that he could pull out and watch any time he liked. But, the time they spent in each life did the opposite. They'd had a whole year in their second life. Now they'd only been here a few months, who said they only spent a year in each life? They could be in this one for decades, they could be killed on the way to Konoha or once they arrived there. How was this alliance between the foxes and the humans of Konoha set up anyways? Did it really mean anything? What did the foxes get out of it? Well, one of their Lords wasn't a criminal in the eyes of the humans anymore. That was nice. He also had to journey quite far back to his village of human origin to talk to them. It seemed like the humans were getting all of the benefits out of this arrangement.

Really? If the dobe decided to call this thing off, what could they possibly do? Sasuke thought. Kyuubi was on the foxes' side. The humans couldn't fight him off last time. What says they could fight him now that he's in his element surrounded by a massive clan of other fox demons that call him their Lord? What if Naruto's a criminal in the eyes of Konoha? It didn't necessarily mean that all of the other villages or the little towns not allied to any particular ninja village would refuse him service. No one in their right mind would look a full-fledged fox demon in the eye and tell them that they wouldn't do anything for them. Especially if that fox chose to look really intimidating.

He pulled the belt snug around his waist and gathered up his shorts from the floor. Then, pushing the curtain aside, Sasuke stepped out to be met by the pained gaze of the dobe. Sasuke felt his shoulders slump a bit as he asked what was wrong. Naruto turned to the side to show Sasuke the puffed out back of his kimono due to his tail. He rolled his eyes and crouched down to gather up the hem in the back. He eyed it appreciatively. It really was a nice kimono, and amazing that they were getting it for free. He thought about tearing it from the bottom up but instead chose to go find the anxious man from whom they'd so kindly received their new clothing. He'd barely made it out of the changing rooms with his shorts in hand when the man found him.

"Would you like a bag for your shorts, Lordess?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke blinked and turned his eyes down to meet those of the shop owner.

"Your shorts, would you like a bag for them?"

"Hm, oh, uh, sure."

Off the little man scurried, around the front counter to get a small paper bag for them to use. Sasuke took his shorts and stuffed them inside. Then he stared at this overly helpful person and tried to remember what he came out for originally.

"Can I get a pair of scissors please?"

The midget looked like he wanted to ask why Sasuke needed scissors but decided against it, "Of course."

Soon he had a nice pair of sewing sheers in his hands and he returned to the changing room. Naruto simply looked ridiculous. Not having a tail of his own, Sasuke had no idea how uncomfortable it could be to have to squish your long fluffy tail into your pants. But, by the look Naruto was giving him, it did not appear pleasant. Through a method of trial and error, they managed to get a hole in each layer of the outfit lined up with each other so that Naruto could fit his tail all the way out the back. He sighed with relief and thanked Sasuke immensely. He shrugged and led the way out of the store, dropping the borrowed scissors off with the store owner. He dithered at them that he was honored to have them visit.

"Alright, I hope it's not like that everywhere." Naruto announced bluntly.

Sasuke sighed but said nothing. There was no point in telling the dobe to not say such things when they both knew that he agreed wholeheartedly. As they ventured about the small village Sasuke noted that fewer and fewer people made eye contact with them. In fact, the crowds parted a bit as they walked making sure not to bump into them in any way. Either Naruto didn't notice this or chose not to voice it. Considering the lives he'd had, Sasuke couldn't really decide which the more likely scenario was. After dawdling a bit and generally wasting time they stopped at their 'usual' place for a quick bite to eat.

The matron, a middle aged brunette with grey streaks lining her hair, appeared to know them quite well. Again Sasuke felt odd as he had to search through the experiences of this Sasuke's life to remember her name and that he actually was quite fond of her. Mrs. Mayes, though she often insisted that he call her Ingrid. She was short and stout like a teapot, but was kinder to them and more at ease in their presence than anyone else in the village it seemed. She sat them down at their 'usual' table and went to start on their meals, which neither had yet ordered. Sasuke shook his head as he let his chin rest in one hand. The dobe was looking at a million different things in the room at once. They were seated in the small restaurant part of a local bed and breakfast run by Ingrid's husband. She was responsible for the management of the restaurant and keeping her sons working in the kitchen. The room wasn't very large so there wasn't much to look at, yet Naruto managed to find something to distract his eyes with.

"Naruto…why are we even doing this?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm?" The dobe squinted at him as though he were crazy, "Whadya mean?"

"Why are we visiting Konoha?"

"Because it's one of the rules of the alliance-"

"What alliance?"

"Between Konoha and my clan." Naruto stated dumbly.

"But what does that mean really? I mean, think about it."

"Okay…"

"Kyuubi doesn't attack anybody, you take time away from your clan during relatively important times of the year to visit a village you're not even a part of any more, just so you're not viewed as a criminal by a bunch of humans that really couldn't do anything about it anyways?"

"The other you said that to the other me once…after the first trip to Konoha since I...I mean other me took other you to the clan's territory." Naruto chuckled as he stumbled over his words.

Sasuke paused awkwardly as he tried to remember such an occasion. As the experience came to the forefront of his mind Naruto reiterated what the other him had said those few years ago.

"We're doing this because you're still human, and you deserve a little more interaction with your kind then just the village people here." Naruto smirked, "And as righteous as your self-sacrifice is, it's still stupid."

On the inside Sasuke was smiling, really, but on the outside he was scowling at being called stupid. He gave a weak 'hn' and affixed his gaze to the scrubbed wooden table and the sundry cuts in it. After that, conversation was cut off between them and neither said anything, or at least, not to each other. Ingrid often came out to check on them while their food was cooking, bringing them tea, and water, and sometimes milk ("Drinking breast milk from the foxes might be fine while you're out in the wilderness but some good ol' fashioned cow milk is good for you and you need to drink some more often."). As soon as they'd finished eating and been 'good bye'd all the way out the door, they headed for the edge of town.

Once they'd gotten well out of view of the people Naruto abruptly cut into the woods and began stripping off his clothes. Sasuke bluntly asked him what he was doing.

"I don't want to tear apart this new kimono when I change, we'd have to go get a new one. Besides, you can just put it in the bag with your shorts."

Thinking of how much hotter it would get while they traveled, Sasuke changed back into his shorts but left the shirt on. He wasn't too fond of sunburns anyways. Once Naruto was back into his horse-sized fox form and Sasuke had changed into traveling clothes they were off. The day was long, and hot, and it seemed that the breeze had died swiftly after they'd finished lunch. Naruto tried to make small talk with him, and while Sasuke could roughly understand him, he didn't quite find small talk with a fox all that entertaining. This did bring on another topic of conversation however that was far more interesting.

"Hey dobe, do you think I could really learn how to speak fox?"

Elongated yowl, whine. I don't know.

"Didn't you say it had something to do with your vocal chords moving different?"

Short bark. Yeah.

"Maybe I could talk to Tsunade-sama about making it so I have the dual vocal chords like your demon form does."

Enthusiastic yip and howl. That would be great!

"I know. You wouldn't have to switch as often. It might make the rest of the clan happier, me being able to talk with them."

Backward wheeze laugh, yip, pant, bark. Probably, but you're still pet so they might not be that happy sharing their language with you.

"Well they'll get over it."

Yawn, pant, confused whine. Why are you so determined about this?

"We don't know how long we're going to be in this life, dobe. I'm living with a clan of foxes; I might as well try and get along with them."

Snort, pant. Yeah, okay.

Sasuke was too lazy to try and argue with the dobe about it. So he kept his caustic replies inside and tried to fall asleep while fox-back-riding. For the most part he was successful, he was shrugged off every few hours so the dobe could take a piss in the bushes to the side of the road. He was never warned. One moment he would be warm and comfortable on top of a moving blanket, the next he would be lying on the ground grumbling in pain at having been dropped from six feet off the ground. Of course, in revenge he would yank on the dobe's ears every few hours to do just the same. It all worked out relatively well.

It took them three days to get to Konoha, as Sasuke had expected. Camping out wasn't some elaborate affair as it was with humans. Naruto went and found a deer, ripped it apart for him and Sasuke to share, and they set about fixing an easy dinner. After that they went to sleep under the clear spring sky. Naruto returned to his typical size, and Sasuke curled up on his furry ribcage. They didn't need to set up traps along the edge of their camp site. No one in their right mind would take a swing at a fox demon and his mate. So, by the time they got to Konoha Sasuke had readily slipped back into his usual living-with-foxes rhythm. The hustle and bustle of town came as a shock.

Naruto had of course changed back into his human form, and his kimono, and Sasuke changed into his presentable clothes as well. Naturally they appeared human and weren't gawked at too much in the crowds. But did everyone have to be so loud? It was bright out, and muggy from the heat of so many bodies so close to each other. Smoke rose up from the tops of buildings and people shouted and laughed and whispered and buzzed. The smaller village near home had been a lot less noisy than this. There were fewer people there. Sasuke was nudged along helpfully by Naruto who didn't appear affected at all. But when they arrived at the hokage's tower and went inside, Sasuke didn't miss the sigh of relief pass over the dobe's lips. He smirked, though inwardly he was glad he wasn't the only one to be startled by the change.

They were greeted by Shizune who asked them how their trip had been. Naruto did the talking, entertaining the woman with small talk while Sasuke gathered his wits about him. He didn't feel like talking. Mostly he felt like getting out of this place. How did Naruto stand it? As they were escorted to the hokage's office, Sasuke glanced around at various paintings on the walls, the people they passed. He was reminded of the feeling he'd had went he'd first entered the clothes store, and then the inn. It felt so strange to be inside like this. The lights on the ceiling felt too bright to him. He didn't like it.

"Naruto, Sasuke, please come in!" The godaime Hokage, Tsunade-sama called to them when they opened the door to her office.

They entered.

"How was your trip?"

"It was fine, Tsunade-sama." Naruto inclined his head politely, "Thank you for asking."

They sat down in the two chairs in front of Tsunade's desk.

"Well, how is the clan doing?"

"Quite well, Ruko should be bearing a new litter of kits soon…I believe Shii will be as well. We've expanded our territory by a few miles around the perimeter…"

Sasuke tuned out as Naruto rattled off recent developments in a business-like manner with the hokage. While he was tuning out he was silently seething. How had he not noticed that Ruko was pregnant? Didn't foxes show or something? He'd noticed that she'd been staying in the cave more, and that the other females had been visiting her often, and daring to enter the cave of their lord. It was important, he'd remembered thinking that. But he hadn't bothered to ask about it. As for Shii…he'd met her once. She was a strikingly beautiful vixen with tawny fur and amber eyes; she was a little stockier than Ruko, and a bit taller. He remembered that she'd been fairly nice to him and spoken with him easily. But as she was Kyuubi's mate he didn't really run into her that often so he definitely wouldn't have heard about her being in whelp.

"Sasuke…?"

"Hn." He turned to face Tsunade, unaware that he was now the subject of conversation.

"Naruto was just telling me about your idea on having your vocal chords adjusted?"

"Oh."

"Well, I think that we could have it arranged. Though it might take a while for me to examine Naruto's and figure out how to modify yours. I expect that we can have the surgery completed and have you back on the road home on time."

"Thank you."

"You might want to talk to Sakura about a bit of speech therapy before you leave though, something as major as altering the vocal chords could really put a shock on your body."

"Alright."

Tsunade nodded and spoke with Naruto about them heading over to the embassy to take the day to relax and that they could handle any other political matters in the morning. Sasuke offered a nod to the hokage as they parted; following Naruto swiftly out of the office. They weren't stopped by anyone on their way to the embassy. If it wasn't the fierce scowl of displeasure on Sasuke's face than it was the agitatedly twitching tail on the fox demon walking next to him that kept people from speaking with them. Sasuke hadn't even thought about their place of residence during the weeklong visit. That was the thing about memories, you don't consciously think about something your mind tells you that you already know about. The building they were met with was in the same section as the other estates used by visiting dignitaries such as the other kages. It was quite nice. It probably had three to four bedrooms, a private study, and a full household staff and sat on a few acres of private land. Sasuke noted that unlike the other estates there were quite a good many trees on the property. The house was barely visible from the front gate due to the literal forest surrounding it.

The two ANBU guards stationed at the gate opened it for them, giving them a respectful half-bow as they passed. As soon as they were a far enough distance from the front gates, and were mostly hidden from view by the lower branches of the trees Sasuke shed the outer layers of his kimono and kicked off his sandals. He ran off the path and through the trees, enjoying the dusky shade their branches offered him. He threw himself onto the ground and rolled onto his back, panting. He stared at the dappled sunshine through the leaves, sighing in content. Closing his eyes Sasuke took deep grateful breaths and ignored the dull buzz of the town that was now more than far enough away. A few minutes later a familiar wet nose was pressed against his face. His eyelids lifted wearily, allowing him to see Naruto in a much smaller fox form. He was maybe three feet high at the shoulders, a tiny big bigger than a large dog. Naruto's eyes were understanding, and somehow exhausted. The yellow furred fox that Sasuke had come to recognize so well collapsed on top of him, blanketing him in a living breathing warmth. The weight wasn't enough to make breathing difficult, but enough to keep him from moving.

"How can you do it? How can you switch back and forth and act so calm?" Sasuke asked.

Sigh, pant, bark, yowl, yip. It's hard, I only look calm. I can barely stand it. It's just practice, is all.

Sasuke sighed. Naruto laid his large fox head on the grass next to his. Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned his cheek on the soft fox muzzle next to him. The staff inside the house was probably waiting for them, but he didn't care. Right now, for the first time, Sasuke admitted that he wanted to spend some time with his mate. Just like this. He wanted to allow their breathing to synch, their heartbeats to echo against each other in perfect rhythm. The gentle breeze underneath the canopy of maples, oaks, and apple trees ruffled his hair and the soft fur beneath his fingertips (which had subconsciously tangled in the thin summer coat on Naruto's sides). But with Naruto's heavy form on top of him he wasn't cold. He let all of these things, along with the distinct feeling that he didn't feel human; lull him into a sense of sweet calm.

TBC…