Four redone and I'm still crying.
Disclaimer: I didn't write the song used in this chapter
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"Hell seems like a beautiful place after what happened."
The room echoed with her words. Naruto sat silently; he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.
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The man gasped for air, but said nothing. The air around him was quiet. Silence spread… every breath was harder than the first.
The whole world seemed to be waiting in anticipation.
"My name… my name is Minato Namikaze. I am formally known as Yondaime… the fourth Hokage. My wife, Kushina, is in the hospital. She's having… a baby," the man said. His voice was quiet but strong. Kyuu watched his chest heave. She knew she was breathing hard, too.
"… our precious baby. I'll never get to see him now."
Kyuu looked up. She recognized this feeling. It wasn't silence. It was him.
The man was so powerful that his chakra was seeping out of the pores in his body. What was he doing? What was he talking about?
Kyuu suddenly screeched. An electrifying current rose through her body. Her own fur burned her chest, and she could smell the sickening scent of burning flesh. She couldn't breathe anymore, and her eyes were murky. The only thing keeping her alert was the pain slicing through her body.
'Am I… dying?' she thought.
As she considered the thought, an unexpected breathe swelled into her lungs. She could see again…
The man was still kneeling across from her, speaking in that mysteriously calm voice. When he stopped, Kyuubi looked up, ready to attack.
Minato's blue eyes literally felt like they hit her. She could feel their grip on her. She couldn't move. The eyes were searching for something… something inside her. And when they found it, they mercilessly ripped it out.
Her body drop to the ground, no longer able to support the weight without a soul.
'Where am I?'
Images and people Kyuubi had never seen before exploded before her eyes.
A man waved at her and asked how she was doing. She felt herself answer in a deep and resounding voice. That wasn't her voice.
A beautiful red-haired woman smiled up at her. She was dressed in a beautiful white gown. Kyuu looked down at herself. She was wearing a suit. She felt herself leaning closer to the woman as a man's voice recited "You may now kiss the bride."
What was going on?
The woman disappeared and another image swirled into view. The boy from before… Yuuto… was here. He smiled up at Kyuu.
"I love you, father."
Kyuu gasped and felt herself hug the boy. Tears sprung in her eyes and she responded, "I love you, too, son."
This wasn't her. None of this had ever happened. Where was she?
Kyuu felt the scene change again. The woman from before was there. She was on a hospital bed, smiling through tears. There were people in surgeon outfits standing around. One sat in a chair, exhausted. His hands were bloody.
A baby was crying. The woman was holding him. She patted his blond hair. His eyes sparkled blue.
'Oh,' she thought with realization, 'this must be his wife.'
Bubbling with joy, the woman didn't seem to notice the smell. It permeated the air like rancid trash; No one seemed to notice it.
Kyuu sniffed the air again. She knew this smell… so well her fur reeked of it… what was it? It was bad, but where was it coming from? Why couldn't she remember? It must have to do with that man.
Somewhere far away, Minato's voice fractured Kyuu's thoughts.
"I'm showing you the life I had. You will repay the life taken. My son… he's probably been born by now … take care of him. Guide him when life is too overwhelming. And most of all… protect him. I must be foolish to do this… but it is the only way I know to stop this once and for all. Prove to the world… to me… and to Yuuto that you are not what we think. You say you aren't a monster… you say it wasn't your fault Yuuto died… so show me. Show us! Prove to the world that we are wrong!"
The speech was unexpected. The sudden warmth in his voice… it was like he was talking to a long, lost friend. Kyuu had been right when she'd said this man was different. Instead of trying to kill her, he was giving her a second chance….
Again the stench drifted into Kyuubi's mind. Words returned to her. She knew what the smell was.
"Hey, you! Minato. You're making a mistake. Something's wrong with your wife! You shouldn't be here. She's-"
Again, Kyuu's sentence was interrupted. But this time, it wasn't Minato.
Darkness.
Everything, including Minato's limp form, was fading. The darkness enveloped Kyuu's body; she felt herself slipping into an abyss. She screamed out to the man. She had to tell him, even if it was too late! He was giving Kyuu a second chance, but at the cost of something he would never knowingly pay.
She screamed out again, but he didn't seem to hear her. In fact, as mere seconds passed, he wasn't even there.
Instead, the beautiful woman with tearstained eyes was above her, staring down at Kyuu… at the baby. She was gasping, as if out of breath… and she had that oh so familiar smell to her…
'This can't be real.'
Kyuu looked down. The fur that ordinarily covered her was replaced with chunky pale legs. Her claws were dull and her fingers were small and chubby.
She was human…
'That foolish man… that foolish, foolish man.'
Kyuu looked up at the woman. A mess of red hair tumbled down her neck and glazed green eyes stared past her.
She was smiling but her expression only held for the smallest of seconds, a blank gaze replacing it.
Kyuu understand what had happened.
The man had transported her soul into his child. Technically, she was dead. The village no longer had a monster, and she no longer had to suffer.
But still at too great a cost…
This beautiful baby was born into death. In less than a few minutes, both of his parents were dead.
A weight pushed against Kyuu's… the baby's chest. A crystal necklace slept silently on his small neck, the woman's pale fingers still wrapped around it.
Tears began to fall down her cheeks… no, the baby's cheeks.
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"Heaven collected two angels that day."
Kyuu took a deep breath. She was done…. She'd told her dirty little secret. What would Naruto think?
Thoughts drifted through her head… things she didn't want to see, ideas she didn't want to know.
He would hate her. He would want to kill her. She knew. In the pit of her heart, she knew.
Naruto would hate her until the day he died. She would have nothing left. That lonely feeling would wrap around her with its cold, lifeless hands and choke her until not even tiny wisps of breath could escape her lips.
Kyuu blinked. Two arms were wrapped around her shivering body. They encased her in warmth…
Blankly, she stared at Naruto. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. He was suppose to get mad… yell… scream… throw a fit… but he wasn't angry… he seemed happy. Did she miss something?
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Naruto looked up at Kyuu while burying himself further into the hug. He wanted to hug her as close to his heart as possible. Then, she would know at least a small fraction of what he wanted to tell her.
"I- I don't understand… why would you hug me now that you know the truth? Why would you-"
Now it was Naruto's turn to look stupefied. Kyuu had been holding a very horrifying secret for sixteen years! She'd endured so much for him. The reason why she'd never told him before was because… she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want to be alone.
Naruto knew that pain… being alone. Before Kyuu had come along, Naruto had always been alone. Swirling in self-hatred and misery… it suffocated him at times… it was deadly, loneliness that is… it could kill you all too quickly if you let your guard down…
Kyuu had been trying to protect from that. Naruto had always been called a monster… but that wasn't true. Neither of them were monsters. The monsters were the ones beat him up just because he was different… because they didn't understand him.
Her tears rolled down her cheeks and plopped onto Naruto's soft face. He glanced up at the sudden intrusion of water. Shocked, Naruto asked, "What's wrong?"
Naruto's voice sounded so much like a little child's. It made Kyuu want to laugh and cry at the same time. She'd grown accustomed to this human body… but never had she experienced such emotions since she'd left her animal form those sixteen years ago.
She could die of happiness right now. It was so intoxicating…
'If Minato and Kushina could see the beautiful boy they brought into the world...'
Kyuu looked at Naruto's still questioning face. He was truly like his father. He had the same spiky blonde hair… same cerulean eyes… the same kindness and forgiving nature…
"Nothing, I'm just… I'm just happy!"
Kyuu did something amazing… She reached down and hugged Naruto's tiny frame, just as he had hugged her. Then, she began to sing. She wasn't exactly sure where she'd heard the song before…but it seemed to be perfect for this situation.
"Little child, be not afraid
though rain pounds harshly against the glass…
like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger…
I am here tonight…"
She kept singing as she patted Naruto's head. Even though he was sixteen, he still let her hold him like a little child. Kyuu knew he had been without any type of parental love growing up… so now, he clung to them like strings of hope.
She felt him relax in her arms… and slowly, he began to sleep. For once, it seemed as if he was truly happy. Maybe Minato was right after all.
"Everything's fine in the morning…
The rain will be gone in the morning…
And you'll still be here in the morning."
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I'm officially annoyed with myself. The lyrics were wrong this whole time. Well…. In case you want to know, the song is call "Lullaby for a Stormy Night." It's by Vienna Teng.
P.s. As soon as I'm done redoing these chapters, I'll put chapter eight up. It's already typed and everything. =)