mint: Hello once more and welcome to chapter 3! I actually wrote part of this during Christmas and its May now *bangs head on the wall* Sorry… I was really busy with school for the past few months. Also, I don't know if I mentioned it but the idea for the cave is slightly borrowed from Final Fantasy IX's Fossil Roo – a tunnel which connects the Mist Continent to the Outer Continent.

It took such a long time to write this, partly because of my school work load and partly because, I can't seem to find out how to introduce this OC character that will appear in this chapter. I typed the whole thing and then deleted it because it wasn't working for me, hopefully, it's better now.

Thank you for all your lovely reviews! I read all of them don't worry! :D

Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha are not mine. Also, slight crossover with Gathering Blue and Messenger (books which I also don't own). You'll understand later.

CHAPTER THREE: THE DRAGON APPEARS

Naruto wiped the sweat that covered his forehead as he stared at the cottage he built – or rather grew – at the mouth of the cave. He used his control over nature to literally grow a small house. If you can imagine thick vines and branches growing around a small house contouring and following its shape and then removing the house out of the picture, that's what Naruto's new home looked like. The empty structure began becoming more of a home as Naruto released scroll after scroll of necessities, clothes, furniture, weapons, utensils and other stuff that Temari insisted he bring. The most important items he brought were placed in a corner of his living room – a fan given by Temari which was mounted to the wall, a small fox-shaped puppet from Kankuro placed on top of a shallow rectangular glass container filled with sand courtesy of Gaara. The sand, being from Gaara's gourd and covered with his chakra, allowed the red-head to check Naruto from time to time by creating a sand eye. Only for a few minutes or so of course because of the hindrance brought about by the distance. Speaking of the three, Naruto remembered their conversation that led to his settling down in what they dubbed 'Fiend Country'.

FLASHBACK

"But Gaara!"

"No buts Naruto. It is a good idea and it's the best for you," The redhead countered.

"Naruto, we want you to be happy and free and we all know that you feel trapped in Suna," Temari threw in her own opinion.

Naruto tried to think of a good excuse, "What would we say to the villagers?"

"That you settled down. Besides they all know you love nature and there's not much of that in desert," Kankuro shot down the idea.

"If you're really having a hard time accepting this, then treat it as a mission. That it is your mission to help those spiders guard to portal," Gaara added.

The blond fell silent for a minute, "Well… If you put it that way…"

"Okay it's settled then!" Temari smiled.

"Wait but I haven't-" The glare that Temari sent him was enough to shut him up.

END FLASHBACK

He really should've known better. Once those three agree on something, which was rare in itself, there was nothing else he could do about it.

"Naruto-kun you still have to make your dyeing area," Ainara, the old spider brought Naruto out of his musings.

"Yes, thank you baabaa,"

Why all the fuss about dyeing? Well, Naruto don't really know what to do with spider silk. Ainara said he could do anything with it, even sell it since he doesn't have much money. It also seemed a waste if he would just sell it as it is so Naruto decided on weaving. He wasn't a weaver, not at all, and judging by his former dress code, he wasn't that good at putting colors together as well though he's a lot better now thanks to Temari burning all of his jumpsuits. He does have the theoretical knowledge of weaving and dyeing though from all the books that he'd read. Truthfully speaking, Naruto is apprehensive about the random idea but it was worth a shot. Besides, it's a good past-time since he's basically not going to do anything but guard the cave. Might as well make the most of his free time right?

Two years later

In Fiend Country, there is a forest in the south known throughout the lands. The forest was covered head to toe with spider web, the trees look dark and grim, over-all not really inviting and earned the name 'Silkwood'. Deep inside the seemingly dead forest, was a small cot surrounded by a garden and green foliage. Smoke can be seen rising from the house's 'chimney' and a half-demon fox sat outside tending flowers and plants. Beside the house was a kitchen, fireplaces made of stone and earth and over them huge pots upon pots of clay, some bubbling, some just covered. A drying area in front of the kitchen had been set up, strings of colored silk threads already hanging on one and on the other, leaves and flowers were tied securely in place.

"Good morning Naruto," A voice drifted in the clearing making the fox look up.

He took a look at the elder and smiled," You're finally up baabaa? I'll make tea for you,"

"Ah, thank you child,"

The old lady sat down on one of the chairs outside Naruto's flower garden and smiled. Ainara, being the leader – the strongest spider demon in the colony, had always taken care of her fellow spiders. Spider demons don't just take on a human form you see, that privilege is only for the leader. So now, someone taking care of her is a very new concept to the old spider and she was grateful to the fox for it especially now that she was growing old.

"Here you go," Naruto appeared beside Ainara, a cup of green tea in hand.

But that morning, their usual morning was cut short when a young spider scurried near them and started chittering away. Ainara's usually calm face was replaced with shock and then determination.

Naruto looked confused for he could not understand a thing, "What's wrong?"

"A demon is entering the forest again,"

Masahide is a curious demon, it is one of the things his wife Tsuyuki love and hate about him at the same time. It developed when he was a child because of boredom for his parents were strict and never let him out of their dwelling. He was already 54 years old when he was allowed to roam their mountain – but only their mountain. He was educated of course but he wanted to experience – to feel, taste, hear and smell – all the things he was seeing for the first time even if he messes up. Those were accidents though, he assured himself. How could he know that he wasn't supposed to struggle when caught in a Devil's Trap*? He nearly killed himself back then if it weren't for his parents.

Recently, a rumor started to spread about a mysterious demon protecting the Silkwood Forest. The forest which seems to sit on the edge of the world, was not often visited by demons. One, it was quite far, not far for a demon of course, but quite troublesome so most don't bother. And two, the spiders there were really vicious. Masahide heard that those who went inside either came out near-dying or did not come back at all. Spider silk may be obtained by other means, trading or obtaining from other spider demon colonies though he had heard a rumor that the spider silk quality given by the spiders in Silkwood was much greater than the others.

"Okay in we go,"

His first step into the forest was not bad, pretty boring actually. It was like… well, walking through a forest. After a few minutes though, he gradually felt a slight change in the atmosphere. The forest became less and less inviting as he went on. Masahide felt an invisible weight on his whole body, his steps felt heavy though he still walked like normal; his chest felt constricted but his breathing was perfectly normal – it was bizarre. He hasn't seen any spiders yet which was a miracle in itself. He thought the whole place was crawling with them.

The next unusual happening, he hardly recognized at first. Oh, he had noticed that the forest was getting narrower, more vines, shrubs and web, which were beginning to annoy him since they tend tangle in his horns but he thought he was just getting deeper into the woods. He was right of course but wrong at the same time. The first time he saw it, he could hardly believe it. Masahide hadn't meant to look in that direction but he felt strange, a forewarning, he decided. Then he saw it, the twig of a tree straightening itself and ended up grazing his bare arm. Slowly, but surely, a wide mischievous grin found itself in his face. Things were getting a bit interesting.

"Whoops, that was a close one," Masahide said as he jumped away from a flinging thorny vine.

The forest was being very violent with him. The trees were almost impossible to navigate, the bushes were overgrown and covered with thorns, the thick fog in the air made it hard to breathe and he was positive that the pus seeping down from the tree branches above were enough to eat away skin. Fortunately for him though, dragon scales were pretty immune to most harmful substances and it seems that it includes that pus, whatever that was.

"Whoa!" A black blur missed the demon by a few inches.

The dragon followed the black blur with his eyes and saw a spider land gracefully on the ground, its body tense and kept low to the ground ready to attack. Behind it, Masahide saw more of the critters coming out from the shadows and nicks of the trees. One after the other, the not-so-little spiders accumulated fast in front of his eyes and while they are relatively weak, it's hard to handle them all at once. Not to mention the forest is out for his blood as it is.

"This is bad,"

Masahide ran swiftly, almost gliding into the air with dozens or hundreds of spiders hot on his trail. Of course he could fly up and just take a shortcut in the sky but that wouldn't give the experience that he wanted. Not to mention that the tree branches of one tree to the other were already tightly intertwined effectively trapping him inside. There was no other way to go but forward.

"Why is this forest so damn long?" The dragon muttered to himself as he evaded another vine that whipped too close to his face. It was oozing with some purple-colored liquid too which he was sure couldn't be good.

"Ah.. light," Finally, there it was, the light surprised him for a little bit seeing that he had spent too long in the darkness of the forest.

When Masahide finally stumbled into the clearing, he was most surprised to see a young hanyou fox looking at him with hard but curious eyes.

"Who are you?" The fox asked with distrust.

He stood there for a few seconds before realizing the question and he quickly went out of from his stupor, "Masahide's the name,"

The fox only lifted an eyebrow in response, "And?"

"And… what?"

The blonde sighed, "What do you want?"

"Ah so that's what you mean!" Understanding painted the dragon's face as he grinned sheepishly. "I was actually just curious about the rumoured protector of Silkwood,"

The other looked at him weirdly "That's it?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Well yes," The dragon tried to rub his neck but stopped halfway with a wince. In his arm was a long bloody gash that was starting to hurt especially after all the adrenaline had gone from his body.

The fox quickly approached his guest and took a look at his injuries. He was a little worse for wear but nothing too life-threatening. He did not smell any lies on the dragon as well so he had decided to trust him.

"I have nothing to give you other than heal your wounds," He muttered and motioned for the other to follow him, "It's Naruto by the way. Kurama Naruto,"

Masahide quickly shook his head, "No! no! You don't need to do that! It's all my fault anyways and I… uh… I'll just go home and fix myself up!"

"Uh, no. I don't think so. Just come inside and let me heal you," Naruto stubbornly said.

"But-"

"I suggest you just do what he says," A voice suddenly entered the conversation. Ainara emerged from Naruto's hut and approached the two.

"Baabaa!" Naruto exclaimed.

Ainara ignored Naruto for a while and looked at their guest, "I am Ainara and I suggest you accept Naruto's offer. You're going to be in a lot of pain if you don't get those wounds healed,"

Masahide looked at the fox and then to the old spider and between their two hard gazes, he decided that giving in would be much easier, "All right, all right,"

"Finally! Come inside then," Naruto smiled and led him inside "I'm really sorry about the attacks though, I thought you'd be one of those youkai who would like to steal the silk,"

"It's no big deal!" The dragon grinned. Ainara was not convinced however and poked the arm nearest to her.

"OW!"

The old spider scoffed, "Youngsters these days… Too much pride I say," And that even made Naruto more guilty.

"I know!" He suddenly exclaimed, "It's not much but I guess I can give you this!"

The fox quickly opened up a small wooden chest and held up a cream-almost gold colored haori** with a subtle river motif done in different shades of gray. Masahide on the other hand, nearly fainted at the sight of such a priceless piece of clothing.

*Devil's Trap – heavily based on Devil's Snare

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is — it's Devil's Snare!"

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone. New York: A.A. Levine Books, 1998.

**Haori – a loose outer garment resembling a coat and extending to the knee and worn in Japan.

'Haori'. Merriam-Webster. Web. 9 May 2015.

mint:

Gathering Blue and Messenger are books by Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue tells the story of a young orphan girl Kira who was gifted with embroidery. I got the weaving idea from this book but instead of yarn, I replaced it with silk. The one that I've borrowed from Messenger is the Forest. I can't tell you exactly what Forest is but I think I can say that it gives out 'warnings' to people passing by it. The book describes one of the warnings like a twig slowly straightening withdrawing back and stabbing the person like a snake. If the Forest gave a warning, it means you cannot pass it anymore and failure to do so will lead to death. Of course, it is not my intention to borrow that part but the idea of a forest being sort of alive is the one I wanted plus the addition of spiders and webbings everywhere. It's like a cross between Forest (Messenger) and Mirkwood (The Hobbit series – the giant spiders part). There's a reason why I named it Silkwood you know hahaha.