He only came at night, and only when Naruto was supposed to be asleep in his dark, dank room hidden far back in the orphanage where he was not meant to be seen or heard. It was in this room that the world could pretend that he didn't exist. Konoha could go on never thinking about the little monster that lived in the back of everyone's mind.
He always arrived in veiled mist, and was darker than anything Naruto had seen before. Not black, the complete and utter absence of light. His fur was smoke, and nine tails flagged behind him, his body was midnight flames that burned in the night. The only contrast to its twilight body was two bright blue eyes that matched Naruto's effortlessly. Blue like the ocean. Blue like the sky.
The Kyuubi.
And now it had Naruto pinned down against the ground, its muzzle a scant inch away from Naruto's face.
She hurt you.
Naruto opened his mouth, only to release a sob. He tried to cover his face, but the fox was too fast. Too powerful. Too… concerned. That was the emotion that burned in Naruto's little chest, raw unadulterated care for him. It was smothering. Suffocating. Warm. Gentle. All at once. He could have drowned in it. Willingly.
The fox didn't try to hide it, either. It nuzzled Naruto gently about the chest, and allowed the small boy to hug its snout as tightly as he could. The fox dropped down onto all fours, watching Naruto intently as the boy bawled harder and harder.
I'm sorry you were hurt.
That only made Naruto cry harder, and as the boy buried himself in the Kyuubi's warmth, he wondered why the Kyuubi being there for him always made him cry more.
Because when someone finds another that sympathizes with them, they sometimes cry in relief. You're happy to find someone you can be open with.
At first, some of those words were new and foreign to him, but it didn't take long for their meanings to snap into place in his head. He gave a shuddering sigh, and his crying petered to an end. Finally, Naruto pushed to his feet while rubbing his eyes.
"You're always so nice to me, Kura-kun." He mumbled as he toddled over to the bed. Idly, the boy continued rubbing his reddened eyes.
You showed me a greater kindness first, little one. The Kyuubi stalked after Naruto, and seeing the boy have some trouble clambering into the too-tall-bed, he snapped the back of the boy's shirt between his teeth, and effortlessly hefted him into the bed.
Despite its dour, wispy voice, it was impossible to hide the way his tails wagged in lazy, but honest affection. Slightly smaller than the room, the Kyuubi leaned down to greet the boy with a slight nuzzle to his chest once again.
"You always say that… I don't remember doing anything." Naruto stared up at the fox's matching eyes without trepidation. He giggled when the Kyuubi gave him a small lick to his cheek then settled back on its haunches.
You were younger, and I was very different. Its tails wagged to and fro, bemused delight rolling off of its frame. It was as true then as it is now, wherever the little one goes…
"...The fox will follow." Naruto smiled lightly. It wasn't the first time that he'd finished the fox's thoughts, nor did either one seem particularly surprised.
Naruto sighed, and leaned back in his bed. Happy, content, but still a bit bleary eyed, he turned to look at the massive fox.
"Hey. Tell me a story?"
The fox tilted its head, then lowered its gaze so that his snout was just in front of the child. It licked his cheek again with a careful sort of affection, making sure not to drool all over him. Naruto smiled, and hugged his snout again in return.
Of course. Its eyes rolled up in thought, and then it snorted at the thought. A memory that echoed back to a far more violent time. There once was a boy born into a world of fire.
"Was it scary?"
Immeasurably. The Kyuubi drawled. At first the boy didn't know the word, but the knowledge just as quickly pierced his mind, and he understood. The fire was eating everything and everyone, and no one knew what to do. If they didn't stop it, it would destroy everything. Even the fire wanted to stop, but it couldn't.
"Why couldn't it stop?"
Because it was being controlled… the fire was scared, too; scared of being controlled, scared of being trapped, scared of being chained and alone in the dark again. The Kyuubi smiled, and the boy smiled back. A person of great power stepped forward, and tried to extinguish the fire, but he couldn't. It burned too hot. It burned too quickly. The fire ate the man's wife. The fire ate the man's friends, and in the end, the fire tried to eat him too.
Naruto frowned, "Is this a happy story? This seems really sad..."
It gets happier, I think. The boy was quelled with a quick, affectionate nuzzle, The man reached out and grabbed the fire. The only one of his kind capable of doing so. He grabbed the fire, tore it in half and forced it into the child.
Still, the child pouted, "Hey, hey, you said this got happier! I guess the guy is strong at least… but why did he tear it in half?"
Patience, little one. The fire was trapped again. It'd spent its life trapped inside of different cages, being hated and despised for being caged, and vice versa. No one ever sought to understand the fire, so the fire never sought to understand them. The fire, lonely and lost and embittered… half of what it used to be, buried itself deep inside of the child… but something was different in this cage. The Kyuubi found itself staring at Naruto's belly, After a year the child was just as lonely and lost, and had a darkness growing in him. This, the child reached out to the fire.
"Even after everything the fire did?"
The kyuubi smirked. He was a good child. Far better a cage than the fire deserved. Naruto smiled, bashful and blushing.
Now, the child was gentle, but scared and hurt. The fire was immensely strong, but hated deeply. They made a deal.
"What kind of deal did they make?"
The fire and the child promised to deal with life together, to be each other's strength. The fire and the child reached into each other's souls and pulled them together so that they would never be lonely, and so they would always understand each other. They fit perfectly. The child filled the fire's missing half, and the fire lit the child's darkness. In that moment, they shared everything.
A fleeting, warm thought echoed through Naruto's mind, and the boy yawned. "...And so they would always have a friend, right?"
The kyuubi laughed lightly. It was a strange, strange thing to feel the love of a human child. But there it was, burning brightly in its chest, weighing nothing and somehow crushing in its demand. Like holding a fragile, but infinitely beautiful flower in one's hand.
He greedily held tight to that particular feeling.
So they would always have a friend, little one.
"Mhhm… g'night Ku-" Naruto yawned loudly, and hugged the Kyuubi's muzzle against his chest. "G'night Kura-kun."
Kurama sighed, and mumbled into the boy's chest.
Good night, little one.
He stayed until the boy fell into a deep sleep, and then sank into the shadows once more.
The waited until they heard Naruto's breathing slow before they spoke. Just outside of his door, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood alongside Yamanaka Inoichi. Both men stared at the door with deep frowns on their faces.
They'd heard everything, and the story chilled the two men to their bones.
Could Naruto's connection to the demon really run so deep?
"I will seal the demon further. You must wipe every memory relating to it. We cannot allow Naruto-kun to remain in contact with it for any longer than he has been. Not even an iota of the child's mind must remember it." The Sandaime ran a hand through his hair, "There's no telling the damage it did to the child's mind… no telling how long it's been in contact with him… and I never noticed…-"
"Hokage-sama..." Inoichi stood there a moment, collecting his thoughts before voicing them, "You've asked me here today to use a very specific jutsu to erase the mind of a four year old. Are you sure that this is the path you want to take? Perhaps we could take the night to think-"
"Inoichi," Sarutobi snapped, "Anbu reports that a boy Naruto's age in Suna is accidentally killing people and hears the demon's voice in his head. That boy supposedly holds the one tailed demon. Do you really think Konoha would survive the Kyuubi having a similar hold over little Naruto-kun?" He took a deep breath, "Sometimes… sometimes we as ninja must harden our hearts, and prepare to do what we must to protect those we love."
The situation was dire, but Inoichi rested a hand the Sarutobi's shoulder, "Children are resistant. He will recover from this, I promise. This will be a new beginning for Naruto-kun, one where he isn't tormented and lied to by his burden."
Sarutobi took a deep, cleansing breath, and nodded. "Yes, of course. Let us do what needs to be done then."
The two men walked through the door, and closed it behind them.
When the screams finally stopped, Naruto was left alone in bed confused and lost and afraid.
The sense of being incomplete and torn apart never left him, and all that was left was desperation, dissonance and loss.
His world was in turmoil.