Chapter 12

Being small and cute certainly had its advantages. Kyuubi snuggled deeper into the girl's jacket where it was the warmest. Not only would he have a comfortable warm place to sleep, but also all the food he could eat! He was looking forward to it.

He wasn't her pet. Oh no, he wouldn't stoop that low. She could do that thing with his ears, that was... oddly pleasant, but he was independent. A lone wanderer. He would do whatever he wanted, like he always did, and not come at her beck and call like some gross dog! He would come and go as he pleased.

Smiling in satisfaction at his own brilliance, Kyuubi took note of where she was going, so he could find his way back again. Being lost in Konoha was not something he was particularly eager for.

She headed up a street flanked on either side by large, fancy buildings. They got steadily bigger and more elaborate as she went.

'Sheesh, got some rich buggers round here...' he mused. The next few minutes were spent happily imagining demolishing them.

Finally she paused before a pair of massive wrought iron gates, embellished with the Hyuuga family crest. Sucking in a deep breath and hitching Kyuubi to her chest protectively, she gently pushed open a concealed door in one of the gates and stepped through.

Kyuubi blinked. 'No way... no way she lives here!'

The house was enormous! And the gardens were beautifully designed, with trees and flowers, ornate fountains with fish swimming around. Even a few tropical birds sang from the branches.

A number of servants bowed to the girl as she hurried past, but she ignored them. She was in a hurry for some reason. Kyuubi didn't care; he stretched his neck round as far as it would allow to stare hungrily at a particularly tasty-looking bird with bright purple plumage. Oh yes. He would definitely like it here.

The gardens disappeared from view as they entered the house.

Room after room after room swept by. Kyuubi tried to keep track, but quickly gave up. It was more of a maze in here than in ANBU HQ. He'd have to explore properly later.

Soon, she reached what must be her room. It was a lot tidier than Naruto's. The bedcovers folded neatly on her bed and all her possessions lined up on her dresser. For a rich girl's room, it was weirdly bare and empty.

Dumping Kyuubi unceremoniously on her bed, the girl hastily tried to catch her breath. He chose not to be annoyed at the lack of respect. She would learn in time.

Smiling down at him, she scratched behind his ears at that tender spot near the base of his skull.

"I have to go, please stay here and be good. Don't go anywhere," she ordered, looking him in the eye. "Please... uh... oh I haven't given you a name..." She considered him for a while, scratching the side of her face absentmindedly. "Hmm, I think I'll call you...."

Kyuubi held his breath.

"... Fluffy."

Kyuubi choked in shock. Fluffy?! He stared at her with the utmost disgust and horror, which told her exactly what he thought of that name. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to catch the hint.

"Yes! Fluffy! That's perfect," she clapped her hands together in delight. "Ok then, Fluffy, I have to go shopping with Hanabi, but I'll be back as soon as I can. Just stay in here and don't attract any attention to yourself," she whispered.

Giving him a final pat, she turned quickly and headed out of the door. She paused before shutting it to wave happily at him, then closed it with a click.

Kyuubi listened as her footsteps sounded down the corridor and were joined by a set of smaller feet. Then they too were gone.

Now he had a problem.

There was no way out of the room. The window was too high for him to reach and doors had already presented a major barrier to him. He growled to himself for allowing the situation to get this far. He really shouldn't have been so tempted by human luxuries. Naruto had made him go soft.

Stretching to relieve the aching muscles in his legs, he jumped gracefully from the bed to the carpet and began to explore every scent and corner of the room.

It was just as boring as his first impression had promised.

Apart from the bed and the dresser, there was a large wardrobe, a desk and chair, and a comfy armchair nearer the window.

Clambering up the armchair, he settled on the arm of it with his forepaws on the windowsill so he could peer out. The garden stretched away below him like an exotic paradise that was just out of reach. He whined in irritation. It was frustrating being stuck inside.

He shifted his hindlegs and a paw met something heavy and hard. Examining the object carefully, he realised it was just a book. A large, leather bound book resting on the arm of the armchair. Overcome by curiosity he tried to find the title, but none was apparent. Very curious now, he nuzzled it gently and eased it towards the edge. With a deft flip of his snout it tipped over and landed with a BAM, open, on the floor.

Springing nimbly to land next to it, he stared down at the contents it had opened to. There were just photos. Of Naruto.

Naruto eating. Naruto laughing. Naruto talking to someone. Naruto getting a telling by Iruka. Naruto by a tree. Naruto doing a faceplant (Kyuubi sniggered at that memory). Naruto just walking down a street.

It was weird. 'Is she a pervert? A stalker?' Kyuubi turned over a page with his teeth. More photos of Naruto doing everyday things. 'She must have followed him around with a camera... definitely suspicious.'

The entire photo album, as he concluded it was, was full of nothing but random photos of Naruto. Nothing perverted though, he was glad to note. Even if he wasn't the brat, he had lived in the brats body and considered it his own possession.

Unless she had them hidden elsewhere!

Determined now, Kyuubi commenced a thorough search of the room for perverted photos, convinced she would have them somewhere.

It had been more fun than she'd thought it was going to be. She and Hanabi had visited a great many shops and purchased, using their father's credit card (Hanabi's give-me-or-I'll-have-a-tantrum expression could come in handy sometimes), more clothes and shoes than they could ever wear in a year.

Several bags in each hand, the two girls laughed and chatted as they passed through the gates into the Hyuuga estate, three servants trailing behind them loaded to the limit with the rest of their shopping.

It felt good talking to Hanabi. She was the only one she didn't stutter at, apart from animals. If only she could muster the courage to talk properly to everyone, she might be able to have a proper conversation with Naruto-kun. Someday.

Bidding goodnight to her sister, they parted ways at their rooms. Hanabi slept in the room a few door down, but their walk-in wardrobes were next door. She left the servants to stack the boxes neatly on one side; tomorrow she would spend time avoiding her family by sorting through it. The perfect plan!

Or it would have been the perfect plan, had her father not been standing outside the door when she turned to leave.

He looked down at her with a barely concealed sneer.

"Young women should not degrade themselves in such a way. Spending should be done wisely, you are a disgrace. There will be no more trips to town this week." With that, he turned on his heel and stalked off to say goodnight to Hanabi.

Sighing dejectedly, Hinata slouched off to her room. She was sleepy; shopping was really a very tiring experience. She was looking forward to her nice, warm...

She stopped with one foot still in the air in shock, her jaw dropping.

Her entire room was smothered in several feet of white fluff and feathers. Her pillows nowhere to be seen and, she noted, her armchair was strangely thinner than usual.

Closing the door behind her, she waded into the middle, searching for the perpetrator. As if on cue, a pair of ears appeared from the fluffy sea and rotated. Like a bizarre periscope. She stepped towards him, intent on administering a deserving punishment of some kind. The ears moved away. She followed.

It would have been really funny to watch. A girl struggling through waves of cotton and feathers to catch an escaping pair of orange-red ears. As it was though, she wasn't finding it particularly amusing.

Finally, with a leap, she caught the criminal in a tight embrace and lifted him up to stare him in the eye.

The little fox blinked at her innocently.

"Now what do you suppose I should do? Hmm?" she tried to give him that angry, disappointed look her father often gave her, but her heart just wasn't in it. He was just too cute. She sighed. "We have to have this all cleared up before someone notices and where are we going to sleep?"

The little fox bowed his head as though feeling sorry, but there was no way he understood what she'd said right? She shook her head to clear it. He was going to drive her insane one day.

A gentle knock sounded behind her.

'Uh-oh!'

"Um... who is it?" she called.

"It's me, let me in I want to show you my new dress!" replied Hanabi.

Tucking the fox under one arm, she edged the door open a little and stuck her head out. "Oh! Its lovely, it really suits you," she said, looking at the dress. In reality, she thought the Barbie pink dress was hideous. Too many bows and frilly bits.

Hanabi narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You haven't looked at it properly yet. Why won't you let me in? What are you hiding?"

"Nothing!"

"Liar. You've never been any good at lying onee-san."

Hinata knew she was fighting a losing battle here. Her sister had always been better at everything than her. Sighing, she retracted her head and opened the door fully to allow her to see that scene in her room.

"What the...?! Onee-san, what happened?"

Without saying a word, she held up the fox by his midriff. At least he had the guts to act embarrassed. In accordance with the rule which states that all young females, when confronted by an adorable furry animal, should squeal like an obsessed fangirl and go all gooey-eyed, Hanabi let out a high-pitched screech and started bouncing and reeling out a string of questions.

"He's so cute! Is he yours? Can we keep him? Did mother let you? It's a fox right? Did he do this? What a naughty boy! Is it a boy? What's his name?"

Hinata tried to keep up with nods and shakes but eventually had to give up. Hugging the fox to her chest, she waited for the questions to stop.

"His name is Fluffy," she said.

"...." Hanabi stopped bouncing. "Fluffy!? What the hell kind of name is that? How unoriginal."

"I thought it was cute..."

"That's just like you onee-san," Hanabi sighed.

"What would you name him then?"

"I dunno. Whiskers? Georgey? Sweety?"

Kyuubi fixed her with a signature death-stare. Fluffy was bad enough, but Sweety? He would rather die first. Thankfully Hanabi picked up on the hint this time.

"Not that then," she smiled, "umm..."

She looked around the room for inspiration, and seemed to come to some sudden realisation. "Onee-san you can't sleep here! Look at it, it would take all night for them to clean up."

"Well I was going to..."

"No no no, this wont do. Where will this little guy sleep?"

She tried to tickle Kyuubi under the chin, but he gently nipped at her finger and she quickly retracted her hand. "You will have to spend tonight in my room," she decided, "come on." She didn't leave Hinata any room for refusal and led the way down the corridor.

Heaving a great sigh, Kyuubi allowed himself to be passed between the two siblings, petted, brushed and made a fuss of. Not that he minded the attention, it was quite flattering, but he was tired and all he wanted right then was sleep. As he began to nod off, his chin resting on his chest, the moment was completely ruined by a loud and annoying "MEOOOOOOOOWMPH!!!"

"Mr Muggles!" squealed the smaller human, reaching down below his line of sight to retrieve the bane of his existence. A plump white cat.

The cat stared back with a smug expression on its, frankly, quite ugly face.

'Oh just you wait, I'll wipe that conceited face into the floor, you'll get what's coming to you, cat,' he silently promised.

The cat, Mr Muggles, gave his tail a swish in unspoken answer, as though taking up the challenge.

"You can share the bed with me onee-san, and this baby can share with Mr Muggles! Don't they make a cute pair? Im sure they'll get along just fine."

'....what? Oh hell no....'

He was squished into an expensive-looking designer catbed alongside the infamous Mr Muggles, who meoowphd again in dismay. 'What? You gotta cold?' There was barely enough room to breathe, let alone move. They eyed each other, sizing the other up. If it came to a fight Kyuubi was sure he would win, but he was still unsure of this new body, he didn't know what its limitations were yet. He couldn't afford to be held back by such an irritation.

He needed to bust out his real body.

Setting aside his disgust for the feline species, he clambered over Mr Muggles to peer over the side of the catbed at the still figures asleep on the bed nearby. When he was sure they were in deep sleep, he extracted himself and headed for the door.

"Meeoooowph."

"Shhhhhhh!!!"

((:D ahhh poor kyuubi

What name do you think he should be given?? REVIEW and let me know :D

Otherwise he shall be cursed with the name "Fluffy" for the rest of the story D

Kyuubi: "NO! NO PLEASE! DONT LET HER DO IT!! ))