So, it's been a while. Sorry for the wait, and here's my offering of continuation. What took me so long was the concept of another story banging around in my head. I won't release details, but look for it in about a week or so. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters depicted in this work of fiction. The same goes for any characters from spider-man.

A New Demon

"Do I what?"

There was a pregnant pause, bereft of the same confidence it had once been so full of. Now, it gave birth to something much more daunting. Something Kakashi had not yet considered. What if Naruto did not think he needed a father anymore? After all, the lad had been alone since he could probably remember.

What if he was wrong?

"I would like the chance to be a family with you, Naruto."

Naruto blinked, his eyes fixed squarely on the cycloptic Jounin's face as if he'd told a joke in poor taste. As if he'd been offended. As if, in this moment, Kakashi had wounded him far more than anyone ever had.

As if this was not a reality to ever be considered.

Kakashi's smile began to fade the longer the silence from the young man continued. Then, it was over. And Naruto turned his gaze on his god father and his eyes sharpened so much that if looks could kill...

... the man would be minced upon the floor.

"And what do you have to say about this?"

Sarutobi puffed his pipe, a bead of sweat formed on his right temple. He hadn't considered this turn of events. He hadn't thought that perhaps... Naruto had considered Jiraiya family, even though he hadn't been there. But why? he'd so viciously reprimanded him for feeling abandoned when he'd found out that was the case.

But maybe it hadn't mattered.

Jiraiya shrugged. He hadn't considered that maybe Naruto would want his take. It wasn't something that made him happy to realize that he might be navigating a minefield.

"I think you should do what your heart tells you, gaki. You should know that I will definitely still be your god father, though."

He could see something relax in Naruto, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he could simply... exist.

It was liberating to them all, but none more than Naruto. In his mind, Natsumi was with him and trying desperately to soothe his chaotic emotions. She wasn't talking, but it was enough that she even bothered.

"You really should take some time to think this through. I don't think any ill intent was meant, Naruto-kun."

Kakashi sighed and nodded his head, as if he'd heard Natsumi. However, that was impossible and to Naruto, what it felt like Kakashi may have heard...

... was his heart.

Natsumi chose not to comment after that unfiltered thought. She was also grateful that he was too mentally and emotionally distracted to feel just how much that thought had meant to her. For his part, Kakashi stood and walked over to Naruto to settle his hand on his shoulder.

Naruto jumped so hard he might as well have been on the ceiling.

"I may need some time to think about this. It's not that I dislike the idea, Kakashi, but It's just been me and Natsumi for so long that I don't know how to have a father. I don't... know what to do. I'm sorry."

Kakashi eye smiled.

"It's perfectly fine, Naruto. Take all the time you need."

Sarutobi cleared his throat, his pipe coming away from his mouth. he had a lot to think about, in regards to Naruto's mental state. A lot of self reflection to consider for being the one who had screwed it up as badly as it was.

So much shame to be felt... and not enough time to repent.

"It seems that we will need to reconvene at a time of young Naruto-kun's choosing."

Naruto turned, awkwardly, and walked back toward the window as if to leave. As he put his foot up onto the sill, Kakashi spoke.

"I just want you to know that I mean absolutely the best for you, Naruto."

"I know that, I really do. I'm just... feeling weird about all this, and I need to find out why."

Before anymore could be said, Naruto was out the window and bounding across rooftops on his way to... wherever he decided to go.

As he ran he considered his feelings. Trepidation. Fear? No, not fear... Anxiety.

But why?

As he tried to consider his emotions, to take stock of everything... he began to feel a slow churning dread building in the pit of his stomach.

An ever growing wall of darkness, black as the starless sky.

So distracted was it, he nearly ran past his intended target... his personal training ground, really just a small meadow surrounded by a dense outcropping of trees, and had to brake hard so he could hop out of the trees and into its stillness.

Then that dread became an explosion of fear.

"Naruto-kun?"

No answer, he sank to his hands and knees, hyperventilating so badly his vision began to swim.

"Naruto-kun!"

He couldn't hear her.

He was too busy just trying to breathe. He could feel himself thinking, trying to move but it just felt like someone else was taking control... something was wrong.

Then, that dread that he felt began to take form.

He began to see two pools of white, growing in the dark... and as they came into the vivid clarity that came with reality, a macabre assortment of teeth as sharp as knives joined them in a grin so vicious they seemed to threaten even before the image began to focus.

A hulking figure, swathed in black so dark shadows could not compete formed before him.

Naruto could not move, could not even breathe as this figure took form. He could not fathom that the image of him lying in the grass, mouth eyes and nose streaming black fluid... was real.

Let alone this menacing figure.

The shape was humanoid, two arms and two legs, though it had no toes and each finger was tipped in a claw that looked as sharp as Sarutobi was smart. Its eyes were twin pools of white that seemed impossible to see through, yet... it carefully observed him with a grin full of razor sharp fangs that glinted in the light of this peaceful afternoon. What should have been skin was instead the same material from all those years ago... now moving as if it had no need of Naruto.

No need of his flesh.

Naruto was desperate to move.

Desperate to breathe.

Desperate to live.

Each breathe he did finally get clawing its way into his chest only to be wrenched from him like a stolen possession. When the last of the black slime like material fled his orifices, his chest nearly went concave with the breathe that he took of life giving air. He felt weak, as if someone had stolen every ounce of his chakra and replaced it with lead.

Only now did he hear Natsumi, desperately calling for him.

In his minds eye, in that moment he truly took in the horror before him... he saw that Natsumi had been strung up in black webs like some twisted monument to Naruto's despair. She was just as helpless as Naruto was, bound and gagged, a tendril locked around her throat, throbbing with a hellish orange light every few seconds.

It was stealing her chakra.

He tried to call out, but the only thing that escaped him was a dry heaved rasp that rattled his throat and chest like rusty old can being blown down a highway. He blinked and its face was inches from his, a snake-like tongue worming its way past the razors decorating its smile to slither along his jaw and back again, saliva warm as its breath washed over his face in a twisted irony. They always said the breath of death was cold.

This must be hells warmth, then.

It lifted him, easily, its clawed appendage gripping the front of his vest and easily lifting him from the grassy ground so that when it finally stood upright again... his legs were dangling somewhere near its waist. His gaze filtered down... and across its chest formed, in white, the image of a great spider with legs splayed and reaching all the way around its rib cage.

"What... are you..?"

Naruto's voice surprised him, he hadn't thought he had enough wit about himself to even think, let alone make a sound. There was a rumbling growl in answer, its maw gaping just a tiny bit as a voice of gravelly dual timbre filled the weakened Naruto's ears.

"wE aRe VeNoM."

Author's Note: So, here's what I need to know. Should I devote more time to this story or the new one? I'll still post stuff for either or, occasionally, but I only have so much time to do stuff and it's taking me a while to get back into the swing of things. Feel free to leave some of those tasty Reviews so I'll know what you guys think. Flames, as always, are not needed as I stress over this enough as it is. Thanks in advance.