I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot.
Chapter 7
When Kyuubi regained his composure, he announced that they had a mission to go on. Daisuke of course started ranting about rescuing princesses, or assassinating a tyrant or something along that line, and Chika or course hit him in the back of the head, yelling at him to shut up. Kyuubi just sighed and explained the mission, and that Shadow was going with them, earning a protest from the kunoichi about getting fleas in her hair and sleeping bag. Shadow fumed at this and growled threateningly at the girl, daring her to say that again. Said girl squeaked and attempted to hide behind Hayato, who shoved her, making her fall flat on her ass.
Anyway, Kyuubi said that the mission was a C-rank, and that they were delivering a scroll to a village near the border with the former Rice Country—now it was just a deserted and barren wasteland after Orochimaru moved in and was killed later on. They were protecting it from bandits and other ninja who wanted to get their hands on the scroll for their own use.
"So, any questions?" the nine-tails asked
"Yeah... why is your brother coming with us?" Hayato asked, a scowl of disapproval on his face.
"Because I have nothing else to do, and if I had stayed at the house, Naruto would have dragged me to his office and forced me to sign half of his paper work like he had four times already. I swear, I have carpal tunnel in my left paw from all that writing." the black fox replied. "Besides, if worse comes to worse, and the scroll is somehow stolen, I'll be able to track down the thieves and steal the scroll back, and they'll be none the wiser. And, my sense of smell and direction is twice as good as Kyuu's, so you won't have to worry about getting lost." Shadow shuddered inwardly as he remembered the last time Kyuubi got them lost.
Flashback...
"Kyuubi you jackass! We're lost!" the black fox roared. "I told you to use the map."
"Hey, to me, maps are useless." the younger fox protested, sniffing delicately. "Besides, we can back-track."
"Backtrack?! We've been using branches to travel! It'll take hours to find the scent trail! You're lucky that I decided to come with you." Shadow snorted, and stopped jumping from branch to branch, looking up at the sun. 'Let's see... the sun is just beyond it's peak, so north is that way. And we need to go north-north-east by north-west, so its... that way!' the fox though, calculating how far off course they were. Fifty miles. Joy.
"Well?" Shadow sighed and started backtracking, going south-south-west by south-east for fifty miles, then turning back to the correct path.
End Flashback...
While Shadow had been remembering the... odd times he had shared with his brother, they had set off for their respective houses, getting weapons and extra clothes. Shadow himself decided to leave Black Kitsune Thunder at home, taking his red daggers—strapping them to a back leg each—some extra kunai, and shuriken. Pulling on the crimson collar around his neck, he slipped into a thick vest that would protect him from any fire and lightning jutsu—it was dark gray with a flame design starting from the back left corner and wrapping around his body up to the navy blue collar that was covered up by the collar that he was already wearing—and tightened the Konoha head band around his left front leg. Naruto had given him one, saying that he deserved it and should consider joining the Animal ANBU—a special group of elite nin-animals that went on missions just like humans did—and the fox had said that he would think about it.
He disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared at the north gates. Being the first one there, he decided to take a small nap, at least until the others got there. Kyuubi was the second one there, soon followed by Hayato and Daisuke. They waited for ten minutes for Chika, and were just about ready to leave without her, when she came running up with a huge bag on her back.
"You do realize that you won't need all that make-up. Its just a simple mission, and its not like you'll need to impress anyone." Shadow deadpanned, shaking his head, the gold piercing on his ear catching the light from the sun and creating a golden flash.
"Shut up fox!" she snapped, "And you're one to talk. You're wearing a collar, you have a lip and ear piercing, and a vest and daggers. I suppose you're trying to pull that punk look for some girl."
"No..." he growled, his eyes glowing with hate, "This is how I always look. So why don't you take your pride and make up and shove it. Chunk the make-up or I burn the pack off your ugly back. You only need food, clothing, weapons, and a tent and sleeping bag." Chika fumed at being called ugly, but took all the make-up out of her back pack—that was basically all she packed—and grumbled something about 'stupid foxes and their authority.'
Kitsune's had a lot of authority in Konoha because they had the former King of Kitsunes, his brother, and their Hokage was a kitsune hanyou. There were also a lot of nin-foxes in Konoha, such as Shadow and Kyuubi—of course—and other kitsunes.
Hayato smirked and mentally thanked Shadow for shutting Chika up—he was beginning to like this fox, who wasn't afraid to speak up and talk down to others. True, he had a punkish look to him—as well as attitude—but if you looked past that, he was a big joker, and a softie at that. He had a soft spot for children, but couldn't stand babies or whiny fangirls—coughChikacough—and clingy people.
Daisuke meanwhile scowled at the fox for insulting that object of his affection. He didn't say anything—there was no way he was going to considering what he had heard about the kitsune from legends—but the look on his face spoke volumes. He despised the fox for a) demolishing his pride, b) insulting him, c) insulting Chika, and d) being a prick with the attitude of Hayato plus Kyuubi. The fox was a bit of an ass in his opinion, but he would look around that for the sake of his team.
Anyway, they set out for the village—it would be a week long journey—Chika still grumbling, and Shadow still smirking at his victory over the fangirl. Daisuke noticed that there were storm clouds over head, but did say anything about them. Shadow however noticed something strange about them. There was a demonic aura surrounding the dark clouds, and the fox narrowed his eyes. He stiffened when he sensed a spike in the chakra, and his hackles rose.
"Get down!" he bellowed. No sooner did he say that did a bolt of lightning flash over head where their heads would have been. "Damn... a Rai-neko." he growled.
"A what?" Hayato demanded.
"A Rai-neko. Huge yellow demonic cats with black stripes and a mane like a lion. They control lightning and thunder... extremely dangerous they are. And unfortunately, this vest can't protect me from demonic lightning. We need to get somewhere sheltered... like a cave or something." Kyuubi nodded and they started to creep into the woods, the crimson kitsune knew where a small cave was in this forest, and it wasn't that far from a small village. They could take shelter there until the Rai-neko got bored and moved on. "Heh, the good thing about those fuzz balls is that they can't leave the clouds unless they're in the demon realm."
They huddled together in the cave, as far from the entrance as they could get, watching the clouds warily. Chika started moaning about how her clothes got dirty and scuffed, trying to get Hayato to pity her and failing miserably. The poor boy was just about ready to rip his own hair out—he has red-brown hair—and bash his head against the cave walls repeatedly. Shadow could see the suffering in his dark gray eyes and smirked as he thought of a way to get her attention off of Hayato—problem is, her attention would then be directed at him.
"Well, seeing as a Rai-neko doesn't get bored quickly, and that this cave is excessively small, I'd say that life would be easier if I was smaller." he said. He transformed into a thirteen year old version of his human form, which was even cuter than Sasuke and Hayato put together, and that's saying something. Chika squealed and attached herself to the kitsune, much to his displeasure and Hayato's pleasure. You could see the annoyance in Shadow's blood red eyes as the brunette clung to him, her green eyes shinning. Daisuke meanwhile was boiling over with annoyance, his teal eyes narrowed and his dark brown hair ruffled. Shadow grunted and pryed the girl off of him, but she just reattatched herself to him. "You have three seconds to let go or you're going to be the Rai-neko's lunch." he growled, a huge scowl on his face.
Chika whimpered and backed up, sitting quietly—for once—against the cave wall. Everyone except Shadow flinched when thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed infront of the cave's entrance. Sighing, the fox stood up and stretched, his legs and back giving out several loud cracks that echoed around the cave, making Daisuke and Chika gulp. Creeping to the entrance of the cave, he peered out and tried to pinpoint exactly where the Rai-neko was. Smirking, the thirteen-year-old-looking fox drew one of his red daggers and aimed carefuly. The second the next flash of lightning exited the clouds, he threw the dagger with enough force to cut through a mountain on solid diamond. There was a screech and a pained yowl as the dagger hit its target, and the Rai-neko fell from the clouds to the ground.
Walking up to it, the fox's smirk widened, almost splitting his face, as he recognized the Rai-neko. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Rai tsubasa (lightning wing). I didn't expect to see you here old friend." the cat grunted and stood up. Shadow yanked his dagger out of the cat's side, making him hiss in pain.
"Didn't expect to see you here Kagemaru-san (shadow circle). And in your thirteen-year-old form too." Tsubasa—that's what everyone calls him—grunted as he felt his power being sapped. He was one of the only Rai-nekos that could leave the clouds for a short period of time in the human realm.
"How many times have I told you to call me Shadow?"
"At least once more Kagemaru-san."
"And what are you doing here Tsubasa? Trying to stir up trouble again?" the cat shook his head, trying to concerve his streangth. Shadow sighed and shook his head. "Well, let me get you back to the demon realm at least." he gathered chakra into his claws and slashed the air, creating a portal back to the demon realm. Tsubasa thanked Shadow and leaped through the portal, said portal disappearing an instant later.
"Was that Rai-tsubasa?" Kyuubi called from the cave.
"Yup!" Shadow replied, changing back into his fox form and waiting for the others to gather up the courage to come out of the cave. Once said act was done, they set out for the village that they needed to drop the scroll at. Shadow noticed something shinning in the sky, and it was falling right for them. "Hmmm." taking a great bounding leap, the fox jumped up to where the shinning thing was and caught it in his mouth, coming back down and landing softly. Spitting it out, he was surprised when he saw that it was a lightning orb.
Lighting orbs were some of the rarest jewels in any of the realms, and they are near impossible to find. Those who possesed it could control lighting to a limited extent—not quite as much as a Rai-neko but enough to take out an army of at least two thousand in one shot. Shadow smiled a soft smile when he relized that that was why Tsubasa was here. They had made a promise when they were kids that when ever one found a lightning orb or a fire crystal they would give it to the other. Shadow had already found a fire crystal—a very powerful crystal that alowed the user to control fire to a limited extent—and had given it to Tsubasa. The cat had streanghthened his promise, saying that he would find a lightning orb if it killed him.
Carefuly placing the orb into a pouch in his vest, the kitsune ran to catch up with everyone else, acting like nothing had happened, though Kyuubi could tell by the smile that his brother was wearing that something had indeed happened.
There's chappie 7! In the next one, Naruto gets his blood line and Shadow has some explaining to do. Review!