Chapter 5

Flashback and panic attacks: The lullaby of a sad boy

I own Nothing

"Naruto-kun, what's bothering you?" Kurumi questioned, wrapping her arms around her man's mental body, while she kept an eye out on Anko, who was awfully close to HER Naruto.

"It's nothing Kurumi-chan, It's just….." Naruto trailed off, ready to stand only to be pulled back down into Kurumi's embrace with her impressive*cough* *cough* perks pushing against his back.

Over the short time she has seen Anko and been freed from her cage, she couldn't help but become jealous every time that snake temptress put her scaly hands on her Naruto-kun. Not saying Kurumi had any problems with the person Anko is, and she even wanted to thank her for giving her back her old Naruto, the one who was open and honest, and who was even a little perverted at times.

But, like any queen she is protective of her mate and Naruto was HERS, she claimed him first and he will stay where he belongs, in her arms and soon enough, in her bed.

"You can tell me anything Naruto-kun, I won't tell a soul." she purred, "But, If I so happen to tell, I think I would need to be punished, would you be….up to it?" She questioned in a sultry voice, drenched with lust for the snake boy.

Naruto blushed, but began to explain his problems to his beloved fox, "It's just I can't stand the council, or Sasuke, or anyone out there. They all want me to wear a leash, to be tied down and controlled like an animal, but I'm not!" he hissed, balling his fist in anger with enough pressure to draw blood.

Seeing as her Naruto was in such a confused and hurt state, she did what she thought was best and kissed her beloved tenderly on the lips, blowing away any of the dark thoughts that Naruto was pondering off.

At first he was taken by surprise, he had never been one for kissing since he hates physical contact with anyone, but with Kurumi it felt like a shockwave rushing through his body, reviving and stimulating every sense and nerve in his body.

Not wanting to be outmatched he began to kiss back, and with his added vigour the kiss started to become heated. Kurumi pushed Naruto onto his back, now she layed on top of him with his wrist pinned down by Kurumi while she continued to kiss him hungerly.

This action began to jare memories from his repressed mind, times he was forcible strapped to a operation table, the time he was held down in his cell by for girls -empowered with curse marks- and proceeded to have their way with him. Just as Kurumi reached to his pants he let out a scream, now being flooded with images and painful sensations from his time as a test dummy.

Before Kurumi knew what was happening she was thrown from Naruto's body and landed a few feet from the convulsing boy. She was about to run to his side only to see four roots crack the surface of the floor and incase him in a forest dome, effectively sealing him in.

"Naruto-kun? Can you hear me?" Kurumi questioned, worried that she might have hurt her precious person only to hear light grunts coming from inside the dome, he was hyperventilating.

Every time Naruto had a flashback or a panic attack like he is having right now, he locks himself away -either in his mind or physically like a wooden dome like he is now- and begins to try and block off the memory, hoping to get some relief even if just for a few days.

Even though he is making progress physically, mentally he is still the same cold, calculating, broken man he was 3 years ago. He has put on a mask for all to see, from his godfather Jiraya, to his beloved Anko and Kurumi, who started to believe he was showing good progress into becoming a normal citizen.

In truth, he can never be normal. His scars run to deep and they have been left to fester for far too long.

In his darkest times he had Kurumi, the only person -technically demon- that would ever listen to him at a young age, but thanks to Orochimaru, one day while Naruto was sleeping Orochimaru sealed off enough of Kurumi's influence to keep her muzzled.

Only thanks to Jiraiya one year ago was she able to be set free from the seal and allowed to roam free in Naruto's mindscape.

Speaking of Kurumi, she was now sitting next to cocoon of roots and leaves as she began to sing Naruto's favorite lullaby ever since he was a kid.

Lacrimosa dies illa,

qua resurget ex favilla

judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus:

Pie Jesu Domine

(dona eis requiem. Amen.) **

Ah! that day of tears and mourning!

From the dust of earth returning

man for judgment must prepare him;

Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!

Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest,

(grant them thine eternal rest. Amen)

(Song from Lala, -man)

This song, a lullaby heard echoing through the hallways of Naruto's cells was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. It was only played by flute at the time but Naruto decided in his spare time to come up with words, and came up with the song that Kuruma sang to him every night she could when he was trapped in that hell hole.

It reminds Naruto of one of the very few memories he has that are good about his imprisonment.

Flashback

A 5 year old Naruto sat in his clear cell, balled up under his bed as to not draw any attention to his shaking form. his clothes were two sizes too big since he was malnourished, his hair, once a golden blonde, now brown because of the massive amount of dirt and grime he has lived in. His face stained with tears and dirt as he continued to whimper and sob over his predicament. After another long day of painful experimentation Naruto was thrown into his cage and left to heal with not even a single word spoken by his tormentor.

As he continued to cry he soon tired himself out and fell into a deep sleep. He opened his eyes to see he was in what seemed to be a dimly lit sewer which was ankle deep water, or knee deep if you were Naruto's height which was small for a 5 year old since he wasn't feed properly and at times he wasn't feed at all.

Not sure of what to do, Naruto began his long walk through the knee deep water and soon came across a large bar cage, with the Kanji for "Seal". Being the curious boy Naruto was at that age, he continue to walk towards the bars until he squeezed his way through the bars, which wasn't so hard since he was like a skeleton at this point.

Once he was passed the bars he heard a deep growl followed by hard and ground shaking footsteps coming from the darkness.

Naruto quickly did what his instincts naturally told him to do, he bunched up into a ball and dropped down onto the floor, covering his vital organs and tender scars to make the beating hurt less. As the footsteps stopped, mere inches from the boy, Naruto peared out of his protective ball and looked to see what was this thing that felt like it was hovering over him. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw a towering fox on its hind legs, staring down at the boy with red bloodshot eyes and bared teeth, sharp enough to rip through metal like it was paper.

Before Naruto could respond to this new development, the fox leaned it head down and delivered a mighty roar, opening its mouth and showing the boys it's gigantic teeth as the roar radiated through the cage.

Petrified by the foxes action, Naruto just stared at it with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

Believing the boy was scared enough, the fox turned on its heel and began to walk back into the darkness. As soon as the fox took its first steps back towards the corner something attached itself to it's tail, it brought the tail in front of it's nose and saw it was none other than Naruto, clinging onto the tail for dear life.

"Let go of me" the fox growled, shocking Naruto even more.

"Y-Y-You talk" Naruto stuttered, using his limited vocabulary to try and piece together a coherent sentence and failed miserably.

Seeing as Orochimaru doesn't see any point in educating a vessel he kept Naruto as dumb as a rock, or incompetent enough to where he won't ask questions if the vessel has to become a helper like Kabuto.

The fox just bared its teeth in another growl and proceeded to shake its tail rather roughly until the boy's lack of muscle caught up to him, sending him to the ground with a hard thud.

The fox just huffed at the boy's pathetic attempt and started to walk again.

"F-F-Fox" The boy whimpered, getting the attention of the giant.

"What!" It hissed

"Y-y-you fox" He said, raising from the water and began to stumble towards the fox as it started to back up bit by bit.

"Yes, I am. What's it to you?" It questioned, stopping and lowering itself into a pounce stance, ready to scare the boy or eat him if necessary.

"What's fox name?" He questioned, not stopping once he noticed the fox switching positions.

"It doesn't matter. NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!" It roared, sending a shockwave at the boy that smashed him into the neighboring wall, "Baka!" The voice hissed, turning to go towards it's destination.

"W-w-w-what's fox-" The boy whimpered only to be cut off by vomiting up his own blood, "what's fox name?" he finally questioned one more time, again starting to walk towards the fox who began to growl at his persistence.

"You don't deserve my name, you filthy monkey!" The fox bellowed, rushing the small boy who seemed unaffected by her outburst.

Before Naruto knew what hit him, The fox began to spin while using her tails like battering rams, disturbing the water and soon forming a whirlpool look, that mesmerized Naruto. The amazed 5 year old was soon met with a large tail across his face, sending him against the bars which he smashed into and fell to the ground with another nasty thud.

Naruto started to get up only to be pinned by a furry paw, nails dug into the ground to keep Naruto tightly secure in the area.

"Hate me!" yelled the fox, push down on the boy's stomach, opening up the sutured up scars on his stomach, releasing them for real in the outside world.

As the boy screamed in pain the fox began to cry uncontrollably, it didn't seem like it was voluntary since the fox's menacing stare stayed the same. "Hate me already!" It yelled, taking on a more feminine tone, "I want you to know suffering. I want you to see what I see, hear what I hear, and feel what I feel!" she yelled at the boy, slowly shrinking to the size of a normal fox that now stood on Naruto's chest, tears streaming down it's fur.

"Please, hate me" she whispered, "I did all of this to you. If it wasn't for me….you would be normal, with family and friends. So, just hate me please!" The fox hissed, staring Naruto in his milky blue eyes, hoping to see some kind of hatred or anger but was surprised at what she really saw.

Naruto was actually smiling, a small one but it was still a smile, he then began to raise his blood soaked arm up and began to lightly pet the fox who, on instinct, began to purr.

"N-N-Naruto can't hate f-f-fox. N-Naruto like fox" He said lowly, seeing as he was in a huge amount of pain from this beat down.

The fox continued to cry until her legs gave way and she collapsed onto Naruto, burying her face into Naruto's bloody shirt and let out one last scream of sadness which released the heavy waterworks.

They stayed like this for what felt like hours, the 5 year old Naruto comforting a demonic presence that rested on his chest like some regular house cat, but Naruto didn't mind, in fact he quite enjoyed it. This is the only gentle physical contact that he has had in his entire life, most of the time he was beaten and abused by anyone he would let near him, even though five seconds ago this fox was ready to kill Naruto, he felt an underlying problem in the fox, a problem that only he could solve by letting her get it out.

"I hate you, Naruto Uzumaki" The fox whispered after another 15 minutes of silence, "Why" she questioned, "why can't you just hate me like everyone else. Why do you have to try and know my name, or know anything about me? I am just a demon" her words cut deep into her psyche, bring up her deepest and most hated memories.

But, only when Naruto put his hand on her head did those awful memories fade. She looked to the blonde who was still smiling and couldn't help but wonder, she had seen his life on the outside, she has seen the abuse, and yet he can still smile?

"N-N-Naruto could never hate fox l-l-lady." He spoke, shocking the fox. He was the first to actually understand that she was, in fact a female fox.

"W-w-w-whats fox's name?" Naruto questioned once again, slowly raising up while using the bars as a support beam for his back.

"K-Kurumi" she stuttered, sliding into the 5 year old's lap.

"Pretty name" he uttered, "c-c-can K-K-Kurumi be Naruto's friend?" he questioned with the sweetest smile and a fragile voice.

Kurumi was shocked at the question, she had never been a person friend. Hell, not five minutes ago she was trying to murder this boy and now he wanted her to be his friend, he must have gotten hit harder than she had thought.

Not wanting to be hurt again, she decided to test the boy's offer by showing him something she had never shown anyone, living or dead.

"Fine, I will be your friend." she started as Naruto gave a large foxy grin, "But, before you say anything, I have to show you something. It's something that I have never shown a single human before" she uttered before a bright red light engulfs her small fox body.

As the light brightened, the small body of the fox started to morph, the hind legs of the fox lengthened and inside of the backward knees they switched to front ones. He front legs did the same, growing 5 digits on each hand, and the slender frame of a fox soon box out into a womanly hourglass figure.

Last but not least, the fur that covered the fox now reseted into her body and hair grew from her scalp, creating a bright red mane of wild hair that seemed to move on its own with the same rhythm of the fox's nine tails that seemed to not be changed from the transformation.

The light died down to reveal a heavenly woman who couldn't be more than 20 with long red hair, blood red eyes and sharp canines, but what really drew Naruto's attention was her naked form….it was covered in scars.

"Now do you see Naruto?" She questioned, using her arms to cover up her scars, "Over my long life on this planet I have come across horrible creatures, men and women alike. Who have used me for their own personal desires, my body is a testament to my trails. What person in their right mind would want a monster like me." She then dropped to her knees and started to sob, once again being drawn into her depression.

He sobs soon stopped when her fox ears twitch from a sloshing sound coming from the direction of Naruto. She looked to the boy and saw he was shirtless and was walking over to her, handing her his slightly bloody T-shirt.

"Put on, don't want friend to get cold" Naruto smirked while Kurumi was dumbfounded, she just told him and even showed him her scars and he wasn't even deterred. She then looked at Naruto's body and she was shocked to see he was also covered in his own set of scars, some open some closed, some old and some new, it was a collection of scars all around his body from his forehead to his toes.

What was odd about this whole thing was, there was patches of snake scales coming over parts of Naruto, on on his left pec, another on his right shoulder, it goes on and on around his body.

She took the shirt and seeing as Naruto was only 5 it was tight on her -and her very large *cough* perks *cough* didn't help with the tightness-.

She then got an idea, since she is immortal she was given the ability to pick what age she wishes, at this point she was 23 but, if she wanted to, she could be any age she wanted, from 1 to 100.

She soon shrunk to her 5 year old form and giggled at the look Naruto was giving her, his jaw had slammed to the floor and his eyes were about to bulge for his skull.

"Oh, so when i change from a gigantic fox demon to a small fox, then to a 20 year old you just shrug it off. But, when I turn into a 5 year old you're stunned beyond words. Make up your mind kid" she joked, only to have Naruto pull her into a tight hug.

"I have friend" he mumbled, rubbing his face in the foxes underdeveloped chest, getting a blush from her.

She then smiled and hugged Naruto back with as much love as she could muster, "Yes Naruto, you have a friend" she then pulled away just enough so she could give Naruto a innocent peek on the cheek.

Naruto quickly touched his cheek and was soon covered in a blush, "w-w-what that for?" Naruto stuttered, feeling awkward about the whole situation.

"That my friend" she hummed, inching closer to Naruto's blushing face, "was a kiss. A kiss to thank you for what you did for me today" she was about to turn and walk back to her din only to be stopped by Naruto grabbing her by her hand and spinning her to face him.

Quickly, before Kurumi could react she was kissed dead center on the mouth. The kiss was rather rough thanks to his chapped lips but the warmth and care she felt surge through her body kept her there and even made her want more. She then grabbed the back of his head and deepened the kiss, while Naruto mimicked her action making it even deeper, if that was possible.

The two adolescence soon detached themselves for air and looked at each other with a blush rising on their features.

"W-w-w-what was that for?" Kurumi questioned, twiddling her index fingers together in a cute yet embarrassed fashion, Naruto just smirked and said without missing a beat.

"It was kiss, thank you" he said with a cocky smirk.

Flashback end

Naruto soon snapped from his panic attack. He always loved that memory, it pulled him from his darkest of times, it is one of the only things he keeps locked away for special occasions.

After the lullaby ended he decided it would be best if he stopped his pouting and brooding and face not just his beloved Kurumi, but Anko who he can sense he's really close. He dropped his wood style barrier and was tackled to the ground by Kurumi, who had tear stains on her cheeks.

"Naruto-kun" she uttered, "I am so, so, so, sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, or bring up any bad memories. I am a horrible excuse for a girlfri-" But her self-loathing sentence was cut short from a smoldering kiss from her so called "boyfriend" which wiped her memory clean of what she was about to say. They stayed that way for a few minutes till the separated for air, at which point Naruto brushed a strand of red hair from his beloved's face.

"It wasn't your fault Kurumi-chan, I just need to learn to become more comfortable with physical contact. I am sorry if I worried you" he said, kissing her cute little nose which got a giggle from the demon queen.

"It's fine Naruto-kun, take all the time you need" Kurumi mused, "because I am not going anywhere. You're my Naruto-kun, always remember that" she said, giving him one last kiss before his mental body started faded away, bring Naruto back to the present. Before he completely faded from sight he whispered something in his beloved's fox ear, something that made her heart pound and her knees weak, "And you remember that you will always be my Kurumi-chan".

Reality:

As Naruto opened his eyes he saw clear blue skies, ravens flying high above, a pair of breast that were being covered by a fishnet blouse…..I wonder which one seems out of place.

"Hey there Naruto-kun, you done talking to Kurumi-baka?" she questioned, looking down on Naruto wakened form which a minute ago was sprawled out on the ledge, many of times close to falling off.

"Don't call her that Anko, she has been twice as helpful to me today then you have" Naruto huffed out, jumping from the ledge and landing on a windowsill, then backflipping to the next building a few feet away.

As he landed, Anko was already there, sitting on a chimney with a cute pout, "Aww, don't be like that Naruto-kun." she whined, but her plea fell on deaf ears as Naruto ran past her and jumped to the next building.

"Naruto, will you just wait and hear me out!" Anko yelled, seeing Naruto stop in his tracks and turn to her.

"Fine, you got 5 minutes" he said, seeing Anko in mid jump.

She landed on the building and began her explanation, "Look, I know you want me to be on your side but, as a ninja of Konoha I have to enforce the law, even if I don't want you." She stated, "If you had killed Sasuke you would have been tried and sentenced before we were done with the paperwork. I saved your sorry ass and I don't even get a thank you?" Anko mused, crossing her arms and glaring at her long standing friend.

Naruto let out a huff and softened his features from a glare to his neutral mask that everyone has become accustomed to. "I know Anko, I know" he mumbled, "but you didn't even try to understand my side, I know you had to stop me but you have no idea what I was about to do." He stated which got a confused look from Anko.

"You were going to crush his skull in with the heel of your boot, you didn't really leave much room for interpretation in a high tension situation" she stated with a light smirk which seemed to annoy Naruto.

"Who said I would crush his skull?" he questioned, "If you followed the arch of my boot heel, you would find that I was aiming for his right arm. I was just going to crack the elbow, leaving the limb useless for a while." He explained, only getting a sigh from Anko.

"It doesn't matter where you were aiming, baka!" Anko sighed in annoyance, "The council will still be furious with you! They have already called for a meeting about your outburst and how to punish you" she said, rubbing her temples in frustration. "Not only did you break your promise to the council for you to hide your true potential, but you also assaulted Sasuke, their "precious Uchiha", I don't think me or Sarutobi can save you from a punishment this time."

Anko looked towards her boy toy to only see his same neutral face, unmoving and uncaring about the situation. "Hai, Anko-sama. Best not keep the council waiting." Naruto said, turning on his heel and walk towards the edge of the building before he leaned over until he fell from the roof, only to catch himself onto a incoming ledge and push off, heading towards the council building.

Anko just stared at the jumping Naruto, soon disappearing from her sight. "Naruto-kun, I am truly sorry. But, that was for your own good."

Thank you for reading and please review. I have stopped the poll for the last three people to be put in the Harem of this story and the whole harem is...

Anko

FemKyuubi

Mei

Shizune

and Ayame

Also, I would like to clear something up. I know most would think that I was going to put Hinata into the Harem, and trust me, I love that pairing than most of my family but I will not be. I believe the Naruto I am trying to depict here would not be the person Hinata would be looking for, she might be paired with Shino or someone, but not Naruto. Thank you for your votes and I hope you have enjoyed my story.