Chapter 3, First Date, First Student

Kitsuna arrived at the shrine. This was where they had first met, both remembering someone, Kitsuna her father, Kakashi Obito. Kitsuna found her fathers name and wiped the falling rain off. She almost felt like crying. It had been 12 years since he died, but the pain was there, sharp as ever. She stared at the name and felt rain falling down her face, and tears. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, then all of a sudden, Kakashi was there, standing over her. "You still miss him."

"Of course I do." She said with her head down.

"You have every right to. He was there for you every time you needed him. Now, he's gone." Kitsuna stood up and hugged Kakashi.

"Thank you. For the two short years I was still at the Village and him gone, you were there, you filled that spot. When I left, you walked with me until I reached the Land of Waves. You even gave me Laria. She means more to me than anything." She dried her tears and let go of Kakashi. "Now lets get out of here, the sadness is killing me." Kitsuna laughed and started to walk away. Kakashi caught up and held her hand, she let him.

Laria panted. "Stupid boy! A rock has more sense than you!" Naruto gasped for air. "Are we done yet?"

"Yes, in fact we are. Let's go to your home, or whatever you might call a cardboard box." Laria swiftly walked away, leaving Naruto to catch up.

"Wait, my home? Why my home?"

"I need a place to stay; Kakashi doesn't like animals in his house." Actually, he insisted that she'd stay, but Laria wanted to inspect the boy's habits.

"Okay, but why don't you go find someone else to live with?"

"I'm allergic." Laria said sarcastically.

"Really! I want to know why!"

"I want to be able to find you faster; I'd need Kitsuna to not look like some forest fox. But if I'm there with you all the time, I'll look okay."

"Fine, just don't touch my ramen."

"Oh, I don't eat human food; I eat raw meat, squirrels, small dogs, cow livers."

Naruto looked sick. "Geez boy! I eat normally, eggs mixed with milk and noodles. It tastes better than it sounds." Laria nodded to herself and sped up.

Naruto and Laria arrived at one of the gates. Laria spoke softly to him, "Remember no one really knows I can talk, if someone asks I'm the Fox Sage's summoning creature. Okay?"

Naruto nodded. He walked through the doors and headed toward to ramen shop. Laria caught up and bit his leg. Then while the blood trickled down she glared at him. Naruto rolled his eyes as his stomach growled. He led the fox into his house and looked through his fridge. "Come on! Fox, why couldn't we go to the ramen shop?"

Laria glared at him and flicked her tails. "You will call me Laria or Laria-sensei. You are banned from ramen except at dinner in the house, you will now eat vegetables and fruits during the day. Tonight though is special, we are going to join some friends of yours at a little joint down town."

Naruto gave her a blank stare, "Which friends? How?"

"While you were making shadow clones, I used a clone steal and made it go tell Sakura, Rock Lee, Hintata, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, Choji, and someone special where we were having a "Just for Nothing" dinner." Laria smiled.

Naruto stared at her with an open mouth. "'Just for Nothing' dinner? Someone special? Are all foxes this cruel?"

Laria acted like she was pondering and answered, "Yeah, pretty much."

"What about the Fox Sage? What's she doing?"

Laria saw no point in lying. "She's on a date with Kakashi."

Naruto's eye twitched.

"Yeah, my response as well. Now find something non dirty to wear, and take a bath somewhere, you stink."

"What about you? Why don't you take a bath?"

"I have my own ways." She wrapped her tails around her, formed hand signs with her tails, and a gush of water came down directly on her, and then she used some more and dried herself. As her fur flattened she said with a grin, "There."

Kitsuna leaned on Kakashi's shoulder as they walked around the park. "I haven't seen Jiraya in awhile, how is the old man?"

"He's been tracking down Ooroachimaru, I think Jiraya was mad that Ooroachimaru defeated, or at least went toe to toe with the 3rd Hage. I was just amazed that Ooroachimaru came out alive. Now he's trying to capture Sasuke. Lady Hage thinks that the village won't be safe until Sasuke is rid of the curse mark."

"Everything has changed, hasn't it? I know I have. I learned so much on my run. I can shoot arrows with deadly skill, use a sword, I know jutsus that some kids dream of, and I learned a lot about myself."

"I have one question before we take this relationship any further," Kakashi stopped Kitsuna, "I heard that you met a man on your travels, people said you two were engaged, is that true?" Kakashi looked at her with such love; it made her heart skip a beat.

"No. I met a man, he broke my heart, and I killed him, end of story." Kitsuna walked ahead.

Kakashi caught up and walked beside her, silent, for the rest of their date.

Laria woke from her nap, Naruto would be back any minute now from his party. Little did he know that the special guest was Iruka-sensei. The boy needed to look at his past, and then run full heartedly toward his future. Naruto opened the door, put leftovers in the fridge, patted Laria on the head while saying, "Lets train harder tomorrow." And then he went to bed. Laria grinned inside. Once his snoring was heard, she jumped through an open window and ran to the forest to join her species for the full moon night.