Aljan Moonfire does not own Naruto, or any other recognizable references.

Chapter I – The Cage

Uzumaki Noriko was a smart child.

She had to be.

And she knew that the world was against her, in more ways than one. She knew that she was different; different from any other child in the village. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she knew that she was.

Other children had parents. Other children were allowed to play with each other. Other children didn't need to worry about where their next meal was coming from, weren't forced to stay alone and out of the way constantly. She had learned over the course of her short life that she was the least important person in the orphanage – in the entire village.

In every way that mattered, she was on her own.

The only exception to this rule visited her every ten days.

He was old, and wore weird red and white robes, as well as an odd hat. He smoked a pipe, and always seemed very tired and sad to her, even when he smiled. But, most importantly (to her), he was kind.

Most people flinched away from her, refused to touch her, refused to speak with her – the only exceptions being an occasional blow, or to scream at her to get away. It was from them that she leaned that physical contact meant pain, that words meant anger; but that such things were only the case for her.

The old man was different though. When he spoke to her, he didn't yell, and it was from him that she learned to speak. When he touched her, he was gentle, and it was from him that she learned that to be touched wasn't always a bad thing. She loved the old man, loved him with the certain desperation that only one who has never been loved can.

But still, the old man was one person – one person that treated her like everyone else, in a cold world that couldn't care less that she existed. A world where everyone she met looked at her with a cold glare that went right through her as if she didn't even exist.

She hated it. Sometimes, she hated them.

But still, she smiled and laughed and hoped that maybe if she acted like the carefree children she watched with envy, that they would, for once actually see her.

But Noriko was smart and she was almost six years old - and she knew that she was different.

.-.

"Stay here." The middle-aged woman commanded, almost snarling, as she practically flung the small blonde child loose into the waiting room.

Noriko immediately scrambled to her feet, knowing better than to leave herself vulnerable in any way in this place. She watched with wary eyes as the woman quickly moved to the door opposite the one they had come in through and opened it. The girl knew that the head matron's office was on the other side of that door, and her being here couldn't mean anything good. For her. She was sure that the woman that had just dragged her here would likely be overjoyed if something bad were to happen to her.

Still keeping her attention on the woman, she surveyed the room for any escape routes, and sighed when she only saw a couple small windows high up on the walls and the two doors, both of which, she could now tell, had people on the other side. The room they had just left still contained the perpetual crowd of children that the orphanage contained, and she could immediately hear the voices of the people in the office when the woman opened the door.

"…no longer has to…"

"…disa…I hope you kn…"

"Hokage-sama, I…her…the other childr…"

She relaxed slightly as the woman left her alone, departing through the door she had just opened, but leaving the door slightly cracked behind her. She could still hear the people in the office, and her ears perked up a bit more to listen carefully when she recognized one of the voices.

She moved closer, sure to keeping her body out of the direct line of sight the cracked door allowed.

"…is no chance of her being adopted!" she recognized the slightly screechy tones of the head matron, and could clearly imagine the head of the assistant that had brought her here nodding in agreement. "Everyone knows what she is, Hokage-sama!"

"What, she is?" she heard a deep male voice ask leadingly, restrained temper in his tone. She smiled as she recognized the voice. The old man was here, as she'd thought.

"Who." The matron quickly corrected herself. "Who she is… Hokage-sama, the child can care for herself well enough; and she is…"

"Enough." The deep male voice paused slightly after interrupting the matron's strident tones. "As much as I hate to agree with you, I can see that keeping her here any longer would only hurt her even more than her being on her own would." She quickly moved backwards to where the assistant had dropped her a minute ago when she heard the sound of someone – likely the old man – rising to their feet and moving closer to the door. She lost the rest of what he said as she did so, though she could still hear the murmur of his voice, but quickly looked up from her position on the floor when the office door opened fully.

"Noriko-chan," The old man said, smiling at her as she met his eyes.

"Old man," She said in reply, and caught the matron emerging from the office behind him as she spoke. "What's going on?" she asked. She thought she knew, from what she had overheard, but she could be wrong.

"Noriko…" She watched as he hesitated, and then crouched in order to be closer to her eye level. "Noriko-chan," he repeated, "How would you feel about not living here any longer?"

"Where would I live instead?" she asked.

"An apartment of your own. You'd have to take good care of it, but it would be yours as long as you did."

Noriko thought about that for a moment. A place of her own, without mean adults or bullying children; where she could do as she liked without worrying about being yelled at, or swiped at with whatever was on hand. A place that would be hers and nobody else's…

Quietly, she said, "I'd like that a lot."

"Alright, then I'll get you one."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really." He confirmed.

She smiled up at him, the first she'd given in a long time.

"Okay."

.-.

"You had better get me that rent by tomorrow or - !"

Noriko shut the door in the landlord's face and quickly slammed close both the dead bolt and the chain - though she had to stretch up uncomfortably to reach them – unwilling to continue listening.

She then locked it more traditionally with a sharp click, and then turned around to face the rest of the room after confirming that it was, indeed, secured. As her gaze ran over the now familiar main room of her apartment, she sighed. She could still hear the man shouting through the closed door, though, thankfully, she could no longer discern the words. She knew that he'd go away soon enough.

The main room she was currently in contained both the small dining area and kitchenette, the only inhabitants besides herself being the small, battered and mismatched set of table and chairs, and the small plant sitting on the windowsill. The kitchenette took up the majority of the room and was, for the most part, clean, if not particularly neat. Across from her the room connected to a short hall that then attached it to both the bathroom and her bedroom, the latter of which was about the size of the room she currently stood in.

Resisting the urge to sigh once more, she set the house keys on the table and made her way across the few steps it took to pass through the hall and into the bedroom. As she entered the room she flicked the light switch, but was unsurprised, though annoyed, when nothing happened. 'Must have cut my electricity again,' she thought, and moved across the room to flop down on her small, creaky bed in the dark, the only soft light coming from the moon by way of her small balcony.

Not bothering to change into something more comfortable, she stared up at the ceiling, and just thought. It had been a month since the old man had gotten Noriko the apartment, and while she was grateful, she sometimes wondered if the small apartment was any better than the orphanage itself. While, yes, she no longer had to deal with cruel matrons, she now had to deal with a mean landlord instead. And, while she no longer had to live with them, that didn't make the older orphans less inclined to bully her either. It just meant that now she had somewhere to hide from them.

And, of course, living on her own made no difference to how the villagers treated her as well. Noriko was beginning to think that there was nothing she could do to change what they thought of her.

But, despite all that, today hadn't been a bad day.

It was October tenth today, and thus, her birthday. While, as she had come to expect, this meant the villagers treated her even worse than normal, the old man had made sure to visit with her today, even though she'd just seen him a couple of days earlier, and take her out to eat. They'd gone to one of the only places in the village that would not only allow her in, but also give her fair prices on their food: Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. While she liked ramen well enough, what she really loved about the place was the way she was treated. While she was there, she was just another customer; maybe even a favored one, if the way Ayame-nee-chan treated her was any indication, though she couldn't be sure.

She'd even gotten a present this year – the first she'd even gotten. At the thought of it, she quickly dug the gift out of her pocket and sat up in order to see it better in the soft moonlight. Noriko smiled, slightly sheepish, as she thought again of what had happened when Ayame-nee-chan had given it to her. Before today, she hadn't even known what a gift was. The old man had looked even unhappier than usual when he'd had to explain it to her, for some reason. He had tucked his pipe away, and smiled sadly as he'd told her that a gift was something that was given to another without any expectation of reciprocation; it was given with only the intention of making the other person happy.

Her smile widened again as she looked at the cute little froggie purse. Her first present. She bit her lip as tears began to well in her eyes. She was happy. She was so happy; she was happy, because, for what seemed to be the first time, someone else wanted her to be.

She smiled through the tears and lay back down, hugging the small purse to her chest as the first fireworks of the Kyuubi festival were set off to explode into the night sky.

She was happy.

.-.

A shadowed form watched as a small blonde girl was escorted to her apartment building by the Hokage himself. He continued to watch as the man returned to his tower, discreetly signaling to the Anbu keeping watch over the girl as he did so.

The figure continued to observe the building, its inhabitants, and it's other watchers, well into the night, even as the festivities around it continued, and only grew more exuberant as time passed. He waited patiently as the moon rose higher into the sky; as the fireworks displays ended, as the celebrations either moved themselves inside or ended for the night all together.

He waited, for just the right moment; for the pre-designed space in between shifts; for the Anbu watchers to leave their posts; for the target to be unguarded, undefended, for the first time since before it was even born. He waited.

And when the right moment came, the shadowed form moved.

Within seconds, he was gone from his perch, and had landed on the small, convenient balcony outside the target's bedroom. Then he was inside, beside the target's bed, and looking down at the target herself. A curtain of blond hair draped across the pillow, and small hands clutched something indistinguishable in a loose grip. The small whiskers across her cheeks were almost invisible in the dim lighting, but he could still make them out. The small girl couldn't be more than six at the most, and the shadow briefly wondered what such a small girl had done to offend his employers so.

Then he shrugged; it didn't make any difference to him. This was a mission: nothing more, and nothing less. Quickly snatching the target's hands up in a tight grip in one hand, the shadow pinned the girl to the bed and slapped a drugged cloth over the girl's mouth and nose with the other.

The shadow watched with narrowed eyes as the girl quickly woke at his harsh touch, dazed blue eyes snapping open in shock, only to haze over again and close once more as the drug did it's work. Once he was sure the blonde was completely unconscious, he quickly lashed her hands together, entirely uncaring of the small object that dropped out of them, and then did the same with her feet. Once he was done, he hurriedly wrapped the girl in a dark blanket in order to keep her bright hair and pale skin from giving him away.

Then he hauled the girl up on his shoulder and was gone, leaping from the balcony, and swiftly disappearing into the night.

Discarded and forgotten on the floor, a cheerfully smiling coin purse with a distinctly frog-like design continued to grin blankly at the ceiling.

.-.

"It is done?" the man asked as the other slipped in through an open window.

The person who had just entered the room through the deliberately left open portal nodded, and carefully set the bundle that had been slung over his shoulder on the ground before himself. He then opened it just enough that blonde hair and a whiskered cheek could be seen before standing again.

"The payment?" the man asked as he straightened. As he did so, his form was partially revealed by the low lighting. Roughly cropped dark hair spiked up from the top of his head, but his face was, for the most part, concealed by a plain mask that markedly resembled those of the Hunter-nin division. Piercing pale eyes glimmered fiercely from beneath it to meet those of the only other person in the room.

The other man was standing on the opposite side of the only piece of furniture in the room, a small table that only served to display small bag that seemed to be stuffed to the very gills with something. Said individual was the very epitome of ordinary, with mud brown hair, similarly colored eyes, and pale skin. His build was on the slighter side, but not skinny, and his facial features could only be described as plain.

The plain man nodded in response and gestured at the well stuffed bag. "Your reward, then." He said.

The masked man swiftly stepped closer to the bag, and opened it. He shuffled around the contents for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. He then removed a small scroll from a pocket and unrolled it on the table before swiftly sealing the bag within it.

"My business here is done then." The masked man murmured then, before stuffing the scroll back into its pocket. He nodded once more at the plain man, before disappearing out of the room again through the window.

The plain man was still for a long moment after the man he had hired left. His eyes then came to rest on the still form that said man had abandoned on the cold floor of the room. Then his face was split by a strange, menacing smirk. He slowly moved around the table to crouch beside the still wrapped shape. He stared at the revealed, whisker-marked cheek for a second, before suddenly, violently, ripping the covering away.

Now uncovered, the awkwardly sprawled form of Uzumaki Noriko was laid bare before his eyes.

.-. `

Noriko woke sluggishly, disoriented and uncomfortable.

She stiffened involuntarily as whispers resounded in ears that expected anything but. She wasn't alone. She didn't open her eyes, but tried to take stock of her surroundings without them. She didn't have much luck, only determining that she was sprawled on the ground somewhere that most certainly wasn't her bedroom (even her floor wasn't this uncomfortable), that both her wrists and her ankles were bound together, and that there were quite a few people in the room with her.

As she continued to try to listen, the whispers suddenly became much clearer, and she could make out some of the words.

"..ing, Hoka…"

"…we'v…planning this…"

"You know you…"

"…hurry…heat…further…"

"Is every…nd…will stuff like…hurt…"

"..can cert…try…"

"It's awake." A clear voice suddenly interrupted. It was deep, and kind of growly.

"Already?" another voice answered, startled. This one was lighter, though still clearly male. "I thought the drug was supposed to last a while longer?"

"It is a demon, though. I suppose we should have expected something like this." Yet another interjected. This voice was a soft alto, and clearly female.

'Demon?' Noriko wondered. Then a large, harsh hand locked around her bound wrists and dragged her half off the ground and her eyes snapped open in shock to meet a cruel, narrowed glare.

"Stop pretending to be out of it, demon." The man growled out. It was the first one who had spoken, but the room was too dimly lit for her to make out any features on his face. Terrified, the girl began to squirm, trying to get away from the frightening man. She only succeeded in getting the man to tighten his grip. "Gimme the knives," he rumbled, dangerously.

Noriko watched with wide, frightened eyes as the man took a gleaming knife from one of the others, and brought it close to her wrists. She tried to squirm away from it, but failed as he gave her a harsh jerk that nearly yanked her shoulders out of their sockets and forced her to cry out in shock. He quickly sliced through the bindings holding her hands together, and proceeded to pin her to the ground.

She struggled further as another person approached and grabbed one of her hands from his grip. "Can't have you trying to run away now," the woman murmured in her ear, before stretching her arm out and forcing her hand to uncurl from its terrified fist. Out of the corner of her eye, Noriko glimpsed the only warning she would get as the raised knife gleamed in the light.

She was screaming before the blade even hit her flesh, but she felt every moment of the pain as the knife pierced through the nerves and muscle that made up her small hand. She almost choked on her own tears as she sobbed and screamed at the pain. It only worsened as the same act was repeated on her other hand.

Slowly, the sharp pain of the injury dulled slightly as she seemed to get more used to it. As long as she didn't move her hands…it was almost bearable. She vaguely realized that she must have bitten her tongue or something, as she tasted blood in her mouth.

The growly man had raised himself back to her feet while she was…distracted, and now seemed to be staring, fascinated, at her hands. "It's trying to heal around the knives, look." The woman said. She was staring at the same thing the man was. Others crowded around as well, to stare, to gawk at her.

"It seems it will take a lot in hurt it permanently," the growly man said.

"All the better," another replied. "That just means we can take our time."

As others jostled even closer, her eyes widened once more as she got a glimpse of the various different weapons they were holding, before closing in despair. Another blade bit into the skin of her arm, and she bit her lip, determined not to scream again. It was the only thing she could do now.

What seemed to be hours, but was probably less, passed as they continued to bite into her with harsh weapons and maddened voices. She could do nothing but listen as they told her that she was the Kyuubi no Kitsune reborn, of everything she had supposedly done, but couldn't remember. Eventually, she didn't even have enough energy or will to even cry as they accused her and passed punishment on her.

Finally, they began to leave off the girl as they discovered that wounds without a weapon stuck in them healed much too quickly for their tastes. Soon enough, though, they found a partial solution to even that. By heating up the blades enough that they glowed with a red hot light, they could, if not leave her with gaping wounds, at least give her cauterizing scars that made her scream even more than the comparatively mundane tortures they had already inflicted upon her.

"As enjoyable as all this is, we don't have much time left." One of them eventually, said, though she was now too far gone to try and identify the voice.

Roughly tearing a kunai from her mangled arm, he watched briefly as the skin slowly healed without a scar left behind. He only got a choked off whimper in response to the renewed pain. The girl watched dully as the kunai was thrust once more into the fire. Soon enough, it began to glow, and was removed from the flames. Gripping carefully, so he wouldn't burn himself, the man raised the kunai above his head. "Now, you will die, Kyuubi!" he shouted. The people still around her cheered as the kunai began its descent. As it rapidly closed in to stab into the girl's unresponsive eye –

Noriko woke up.

.-.

And was very surprised to find herself alive; and not only that, but in a sewer.

She could have sworn she was about to die. Had it been a dream? Was this a dream? Both seemed too real. She floated, confused and stunned, in the water for a very long moment before bracing herself and trying to sit up. When she did, she was shocked to find that she was not in any kind of pain at all.

As she sat up the water reached her chest and she looked around in confusion and noticed another strange thing. Oddly enough, the water didn't feel cold at all. She couldn't smell anything either. Looking around the girl was surprised at how rundown the walls that curved into the ceiling seemed, even if they still looked to be standing strong. Glancing up, she was once more taken aback by the glowing pipes that snaked all over the ceiling. Blue and purple and red interwove in a dense mesh of bright colors that almost seemed to hurt her eyes in contrast to the almost washed out surroundings.

Following the glowing pipes with her gaze, her eyes eventually fell on the glowing intersection only a few yards away. She quickly rose - unbearably curious and trying not to remember what she seemed to have just narrowly escaped from – and trotted towards it, her feet not making a sound in the strangely still water. Pausing in the center of the bright florescent light (that somehow only managed to make things seem more washed out, not less) Noriko then proceeded chose a path at random before slogging again back into the darkness.

She had no way of knowing that in this place, every way leads to the Cage.

.-.

Noriko, beyond bored by now, began humming a nursery rhyme one of her old Anbu guards had taught her under her breath as she continued to make her way through the seemingly endless sewer. The never ending and never changing hallways that stretched endlessly both in front of and behind her were beginning to get very old.

Soon enough though, she suddenly noticed a light in the distance. Wanting to escape her gloomy surroundings as quickly as possible, she made her way towards the strange reddish light as fast as she could. When she reached it, she was startled when she only stumbled into yet another brightly lit intersection.

Confused, she glanced around and soon noticed a hallway that, instead of disappearing into darkness, was instead obscured by a red light she couldn't see beyond. Concluding that this light must have been what she had caught a glimpse of before, she slowly moved towards it. Warily walking forward, she squinted her eyes awkwardly until they were almost shut and tried to shield them from the light with one of her hands. Eventually the light began to dim, and she made to open them again as the glare died down almost completely.

"I was not expecting this. Not yet anyway."

Startled by the unexpected voice, the girl snapped her eyes open completely and looked around, frantically attempting to find the source of it. While low and unmistakably coursing with power, the voice was somehow undeniably female as well; smooth and cultured, with an undefinable accent.

Still confused, and slightly frightened, Noriko took a step back as she finally got a good look at her surroundings. In front of her stood an immense gate; solid and real in a way that the rest of her surroundings just couldn't quite manage to be. It was so huge that she couldn't even determine the where it met the ceiling, it stretched so far up. It was held closed by only a slim piece of paper that didn't seem as if it could keep anything locked, let alone the Gate. It had only the simple kanji for the word 'seal' scribbled clearly upon it.

"Well? What are you just standing there for, girl? Come closer."

The command in the voice was unmistakable. Instinctively obeying for some reason, the child slowly moved closer to gate, and then proceeded to be scared out of her wits by a sudden, terrifyingly loud, roar that sent her tumbling, ass over teakettle, to land in the space she had just moved from with a splash.

Scrambling to sit bolt upright in the, now still, chest deep water, the little girl had an almost comic expression of pure terror on her face. As the voice burst into low, chuckling laughter, she relaxed a bit, coming to the conclusion that it must have been some weird sort of joke. Noriko then froze in terror all over again at the sight that now greeted her from the slowly lightening shadows beyond the gigantic Gate.

Slowly stepping forward, an immense creature with unmistakable nine tails swishing and curling behind it met her gaze as the chuckles intensified once again. They were coming from the nine tailed being herself. "Heh, ha! You should have seen the look on your face! I have not had a laugh that like that since…well, I actually cannot remember the last time I laughed like that." The nine-tails slowly calmed.

Regaining some of her composure the girl, still slightly wide eyed stared in shock at what could only be the Kyuubi no Kitsune. "What," She muttered, and then louder, "What the hell is going on! I –"

"Relax, kit-ling. I have been here your entire life. This is inside of your mind, and you are the vessel of the Ruler of all Kitsune. The Nine-Tailed Bijuu. You are, and always have been, the Jinchuuriki – jailor and host - of the Kyuubi no Youko. I am sure some things make a hell of a lot more sense now, don't they."

Looking back on her life so far, especially the night she had just had – she shuddered involuntarily at the thought - she couldn't help but agree. "Yeah," she said softly, sadly. Bitterly. "But, why were you sealed in me? I thought the Yondaime had killed you?" She practically threw the questions at the massive creature. The Sandaime had told her the story himself.

"There were a few reasons behind it from what I can understand. The first is that it is impossible to kill a Bijuu. Even if you do manage to disperse our forms we simply reappear somewhere else in the world; and I am the most powerful of them all. Your father knew that, so he sealed me inside of you at the cost of his own life instead."

"Wait a minute! My father?! Are you saying that the Yondaime was my father? Do you know who my mother was as well?"

Looking down at the desperate face of the child in front of her the Kyuubi's eyes softened almost imperceptibly and she replied, "Your mother was named Uzumaki Kushina before she married your father in secret. She was one of my Jinchuuriki, before you were born. Your father was, as you have guessed, Namikaze Minato: the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. When I was extracted during your birth I was immediately put into a berserker state and forced to attack Konoha."

Sighing, the giant fox sat back on her haunches and continued, tails swishing restlessly behind her. "Namikaze had no choice but to seal me into you. No other child could have handled the strain. There was also the fact that as long as he had a choice he could not ask someone else to sacrifice something he himself was not willing to give. I can respect that; which is the only reason I do not completely hate his guts for sealing me into a human. Again."

Nodding in a sort of dumbstruck understanding, Noriko collapsed back into the water. Shocked anew by the sensation she asked another question of the fox. "By the way, where are we anyway?"

Noriko got the distinct impression that if she could have, the Kyuubi would have arched a disbelieving eyebrow at her as she replied, "I thought I already said this. This is your mind - your mindscape. It is a reflection of your consciousness. Its state is a direct reflection of your mental health. Considering what it looks like I am honestly still surprised you are not completely insane."

Eyes wide, the blonde child took another look at her surroundings, shocked for a different reason this time at its state. Realizing that it was probably the fault of her treatment at the villagers' hands she suddenly remembered what exactly had been going on with her body in the outside world. "Kyuubi…" she hesitated for a minute before just blurting it out, "am I dead?"

"No. If you were you would not need to ask. However, you soon will be if we do not take some rather drastic measures." The fox said in a rather unreasonably unconcerned tone to Noriko's ears.

"What! Why didn't you tell me that in the first place! We're just sitting here chatting and I'm about to die!" the girl exclaimed rather hysterically. "Why –" the girl then cut herself off and said in a rather irritated manner, "Why aren't you panicking too!" As she met the amused gaze of the massive creature behind the bars she attempted to scowl but it came out as a rather cute pout instead.

"Because, we have some time to think about what we are going to do first. I would not panic too much if I were you. It is really not worth the effort. Why do you not first try to change this place into something a little more comfortable while I change into a more convenient form for conversation?"

Not being able to do anything but stare after the massive figure that was retreating into the gloom beyond the cage for a few seconds the girl then regained her composure and yelled after it. "And just how am I supposed to do that?!" and then huffed and muttered under her breath, "Stupid, lazy fox."

"I heard that." Jumping at suddenly being face to teeth with the being imprisoned inside of her, Noriko gave a sheepish smile.

"Heh heh, heard what?"

Cocking her massive head, the fox snorted, making the girl fall back on her butt in the uncomfortable water. Narrowing her eyes slightly in amusement at the impudent kit, the vixen just made to turn back into the cage before replying. "It is your mind, kit; do what you want with it."

.-.

As soon as the giant Bijuu left her line of sight the girl flopped back down into the water, sighing with relief. Now that she finally had time to relax the events of the day came rushing back to her in a rush. Waking up on her birthday, meeting with the old man, getting some celebratory ramen from Ichiraku's, and then ignoring the looks that most of the villagers gave her as Saru-jiji took her back to her apartment. Thinking, and falling asleep, and then… She avoided thoughts about what had happened next.

She really hoped that the fox had a good reason for being so blasé about all this, but she couldn't help but worry. Was she really about to die? She then thought about the revelations that had hit her one after the other, keeping her totally off balance. She couldn't help but wonder if that was the beast's intention with throwing all of that in her face. The Yondaime was her father? Who would have ever guessed? She could hardly believe it even now.

Then she frowned again. Who could have guessed? She'd bet almost anything that the old man knew. He was the Hokage after all; how could he not have known? She was going to have to have a long talk with him when she got out of this mess. If, she got out of this mess. She'd think about it later.

She then shook her head and turned to the original task set in front of her. "So, I just have to want it enough then?" She asked herself. She then frowned in concentration, closing her eyes and focusing on the most beautiful things she could think of. If this was her mind, then she wanted it to be pretty. Snow and sakura petals drifting gently through the air came to mind.

She then opened her eyes and gasped with delight. She now sat in an expansive field that she could just barely see the edges of. It spread out around her in a far-reaching plain. At the farthest edges of her vision she could just barely make out the towering dark forest surrounding it. Snow covered the ground in an even and untouched blanket without a single blemish, much like the weird water had before. When she moved to stand, she didn't even leave a trace where she'd been.

Looking through the gently falling snow, she glanced up when a flash of the palest pink caught her eye. Towering above her was an immense sakura tree in full bloom. The branches spread out and up from the massive trunk, unhindered by the gravity that should have kept in from reaching such a size. She knew that even a good dozen of her wrapping her arms around the trunk wouldn't encircle it, and from where she was standing she couldn't even make out the top of the tree. Collapsing into the soft snow as she looked around in awe, she was surprised to notice that the snow was just as temperature-less as the water had been before.

After an endless moment spent admiring her handiwork she snapped out of her half trance and moved to lean her back against the tree as she waited for the Kyuubi to return.

.-.

After she had shifted to a mostly human form the Kyuubi snorted and stretched. While this was one of her more favored forms it always took a while to work the kinks out after a prolonged amount of time in her natural form.

As the snow reached her and started falling she materialized a blood-red yukata that complimented the reddish-orange of her fur and wrapped it around herself. Curling her tails around her waist until they resembled a spiraling sash she used them to secure the garment around her waist and sighed.

Turning in the direction she instinctively knew was her vessel's main consciousness she gave a slight smile at the sight of the massive sakura tree in full bloom.

"I suppose the next move is mine. I hope she will accept the offer though. Everything rides on her answer at this point." She then gave another sigh and began a leisurely stroll towards the now sleeping form of Uzumaki Noriko.

.-.

"Noriko. Noriko, wake up." Waking up to the sound of someone calling her name Noriko rubbed her eyes clear and yawned. Glancing around for whoever had called her she was surprised at the sight of the stranger she found kneeling next to her.

She looked to be around twenty or so years old, and had long, reddish orange hair that pooled around her waist where she sat next to her. She wore a blood-red yukata that was secured around her waist with a silky, layered sash the same color as her hair. What really caught her attention though, were the red eyes with slit black pupils and the large fox ears that poked cutely through the hair on either side of her head.

Eyes wide with slight awe she immediately guessed who this was and sat up straight, forcing the woman to scoot backwards a bit. "Kyuubi?"

Tilting her head with a slight smirk and an almost imperceptible twinkle of mischief in her eye said kitsune replied, "Yes, little one?"

"Is that really you?"

"Yes it is kit. Now then," the kitsune's face smoothed seriously, the twinkle disappearing from her eye and the smirk from her mouth, "we need to discuss how we are going to survive the next few hours. I –"

"The next few hours?! What –"

'I had almost forgotten I was dealing with someone who has just reached their sixth year.' Eyebrow twitching in slight irritation at the latest interruption, the Kyuubi interrupted the young girl in turn. "Yes, the next few hours. Now, as I was saying; I have a proposition for you."

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, suddenly remembering just who, or what, it was she was conversing with Noriko replied warily, "What kind of proposition?"

Smiling slightly in approval of the suspicious nature of the child, the woman replied in a serious manner, "Will you become my Heir, Noriko?"

Author's Note

And, the next, next part. Sorry it's so late. I hope you enjoyed it anyway, and the next one will definitely be out sooner; maybe even later-this-week sooner, if things go the way I hope they will.

Now, onto stuff about the chapter itself: Not much of this chapter is the same as it was in my previous story. There were a lot of changes, a few extra, minor elements introduced – that I do hope you caught - and (I hope) a much more believable scenario for Noriko to end up with her scars in. However, the last part of the chapter (the scenes between Noriko and the Kyuubi) were, for the most part, unchanged. I do hope I made the right decision there. I'm looking forward to your feedback on that front the most, I think.

R&R

~ Aljan Moonfire