Disclaimer: I do not o Naruto or any of the characters in this story but please do not copy my story idea. I am sorry about the long wait for this chapter but between two jobs and lack of inspiration but here we go.
Shukaku stood at the kitchen counter as she prepared the ingredients for a light soup since she knew that Kurama's stomach would not be able to handle anything heavy after being in and out of a coma for the last few months. Sasuke's stomach probably couldn't take any to heavy either since he has barely eaten anything since the demon fox first fell ill a few months ago. Naruto's stomach was also probably going to be a bit queasy after such a large chakra transfer all at once. Ever since Naruto and Kurama had helped her and Gaara by fixing the seal that contained her, she has had a soft spot for the two foxes. Her and Kurama are suppose to be enemies, but she wants only to take care of the annoying man. She could not understand the compulsion. She had barely left his side. Making sure he was comfortable, and tended to his every need. She was not use to feeling any of these confusing emotions. Shukaku had always been alone, even before she became known as one of the tailed beasts and becoming a major power in the demon world.
Many people these days like to think that the tailed beasts came from the great sage of six paths but that is not true. He however was the one who freed them from his crazy mother who wanted to use them to destroy mankind for eating from the chakra tree. Instead of doing what he promised and return them to the demon realm, the old bastard instead bound them to this realm to prevent his mother from summoning them again and they could not return home unless their host took them there. She had debated bringing it up to Gaara once the man decided to retire from being the Kazekage, but the man has found someone to love and could not think about asking the man to give up the first person to love him for what seemed like a selfish reason as going back home. It was explained to them that they would not be able to stay in the demon world unless they had a host that willingly took them there and lived there for many years before becoming a demon themselves for them to be able to free.
She knew Naruto and Kurama has been going to the demon world frequently when she met them in the hospital room all those years ago because she could feel the increase of demon's chakra in both men before Naruto disappeared years ago. Even now the sand demon felt the overwhelming pressure that comes from demon chakra rolling off Kurama's host. Shukaku had to admit that she was jealous of the fox demon for a long time but now all she wants to do is stay by his side. She finally understood what she felt for the fox when he collapsed right beside out of nowhere and wasn't getting back up. It was the first time it had happened and she thought it a joke since the man loved to mess with her like that.
Flashback
They had decided to go for a walk down to the market to get some ingredients for dinner. She did not know he could cook before she started living with them. Apparently Naruto taught the fox how to cook after they had merged so the man could fend for his self incase the were apart for any extended period of time. The two of them just finished grabbing the ingredients for beef wellington with a mushroom rice pilaf. They were half way back to the Uchiha compound when he just collapsed right beside her. She at first told him to get up and stop messing around but the man remained motionless on the ground. She knew he was not faking it when after thirty seconds he did not move and he was always moving even when playing dead so to speak. When she knelt down beside him she immediately noticed that he had become extremely pale and was cold and clammy when she touched his neck to feel for a pulse. The demon chakra that runs in their bodies always made their skin hot to the touch and pulse fast but Kurama's pulse was slower then even a humans at that point scaring the shit out of her and made call of the one medic she hoped could help, the Hokage herself. Even she as a sand demon from a different country, she knew how good of a medic she is, added to the fact she knew how much the woman loved the fox's host like her own grandson. She knew Lady Tsunade would do anything to help Naruto and in turn help Kurama since the blonde woman knew that Naruto and Kurama were tied together by their very souls, so if something happened to Kurama to cause his death then it could very well kill Naruto as well.
It took the blonde hokage no more then two minutes to arrive, but for some reason it seemed like hours to the sand demon. Tsunade wasted no time in trying to diagnose the unconscious red headed demon on the ground to figure out what caused the collapse. As the seconds ticked by, Tsunade's face slowly became a frown of confusion as every test she ran came back negative leaving no explanation for the sudden collapse. The only thing she found was a lower body temperature, a slow pulse, and a very low blood pressure. It was determined to she needed to move the fox to run more extensive test to try and figure out what happened. Just as they were about lift Kurama to move the unconscious demon to the hospital, Sasuke Uchiha came running over in his anbu uniform covered in blood and dropped to his knees with a strange dark red chakra coating both of his hands. The raven-haired lover of Kurama's missing host put one glowing hand against the fox's forehead and the other one against his chest. Chakra slowly leeched off of the two hands and seeped into Kurama's pale skin. Minutes passed by as more chakra left Sasuke and went to Kurama who was slowly gaining more color. Shukaku was amazed that the raven was there since she knew he had been out of the village tracking down rogue ninja who still wanted to kill Naruto and Kurama. How did he even know that Kurama needed help. The entire time Sasuke was transferring chakra, Tsunade kept her hand against Kurama's pulse point on the right side of Kurama's neck sitting opposite of Sasuke and monitoring the demon's vitals. Eventually the red chakra on his hands turned to a normal shade of blue that was normal for a ninja and when that happened Sasuke removed both of his hands. She could see the sheen of sweat clinging to his face after handling such a large amount of what she now knew was foreign demon chakra not his own.
"Has he stabilized Lady Tsunade?" You could hear the emotion thick in his voice. You could tell by how fast he reacted that it was not the first time Sasuke had done this and all of a sudden it became clear what happened to Kurama. Shukaku wanted to smack her self in the forehead. Kurama and Naruto have been separated for almost fie years. Kurama must almost be out of chakra but how was the Uchiha able to help the stupid fox.
"His pulse is stronger but still a bit thready. Lets get him out of the middle of the road and take him to the hospital."
"That's not going to do any good. Lets take him back to the compound and in his bed." The raven-haired man said as he slowly got to his feet. He was still breathing heavily and staggered as he when to take a step forward. Shukaku reacted first and had her arm wrapped around his thin waist keeping him from hitting the ground as his right leg gave out. Sasuke just gave her a sideways glance as she put his arm over her shoulder to take most of his meager weight. He stopped eating again it seems. She wondered if Kurama knew or if Kurama was the reason. The fox has been the only thing keeping the man functioning after Naruto disappeared.
Tsunade wanted to protest especially after Sasuke's leg buckled but she knew it would be useless. There was only two people who could make the raven do anything he did not want to. One was currently missing and the other was unconscious on a stretcher beside her being supported by two anbu. The two anbu would follow Sasuke's Orders before hers because they were friends of her missing grandson and the raven limping in front of her with the aid of the sand demon. Hell one of the anbu was dating the kazekage who was Shukaku's host. The other one was her grandson's best friend since their academy days. The shadow user was the only one how knew Naruto was hiding his true self unless he was out of the village. She also wanted to figure out what happened to the red headed demon and knew Sasuke had the answers she was seeking. He reacted to precisely for it to had been a one-time occurrence.
The walk back to the compound seemed to take forever. Sasuke was wincing in pain with each step he took even with most of his weight being supported and every one knew he had been injured in his rush back to the village. Shukaku was berating herself the entire walk back while keeping an eye on Sasuke. How did she miss the signs. She went through the same thing every few months and did know how the fox even made it this long without Naruto. The blonde demon was still trying to figure out Sasuke was able to transfer demon chakra to stabilize Kurama. The only thing that made sense was that they had bonded and started to turn into a demon. The same thing would happen to Neji if he ever bonded with her own host and it would force them to eventually move to the demon realm. Her host was already getting ready for the move to the other world and she hoped the man Gaara loved chose to go with him.
They small group finally made it to the main house of the compound and guided them to the room Kurama occupied. They needed to have a serious conversation with the last Uchiha who was barely conscious and hung limply in Shukaku's strong grip. Shino and Shikamaru walked over to the large bed in the middle of the room and gently placed the stretcher on the bed's edge before carefully moving Kurama onto his bed after Tsunade pulled the covers down black and red covers down. Shukaku guided Sasuke to the only chair in the room which happened to be already placed next to the right side of the bed.
As soon as he was in the chair, Tsunade quickly approached Sasuke with her hands already coated in chakra to run a diagnostic scan on the obviously injured ninja. While Tsunade worked on Sasuke, Shukaku went back into the hallway and found the supply closet where all of the first aid supplies were located. She quickly grabbed the first aid kit that was kept in there for when her and Kurama have patch up Sasuke after almost every mission, normally in the living room or in his own room, and returned the bedroom she had just come from.
Tsunade, while she was gone, had the raven man stripped down to just his underwear and on the laid out on the other side of Kurama's bed once the man passed out completely. The sand demon got her first look at how bad the wounds actually were. Sasuke was covered in wounds. Some were just small cuts. Just scratches really compared to the massive slash to the left side of his torso and a deep slash to his right thigh. How the hell did he even get there and help Kurama is beyond her.
"Here Tsunade. This isn't the first time we have patched him up after a mission." Shukaku passed the medical bag over to her fellow blonde." It seems he gets hurt intentionally when he goes on that type of mission. Kurama is the one who normally patches up. Sasuke seems to hide his pain if you never noticed when he turns in his mission report, but sometimes I think he needs the pain to function, to remind him to keep living. When Naruto first vanished, Sasuke didn't eat and didn't leave his bed for weeks."
"Everyone grieves in their own way, but this is unhealthy. We all took his disappearance hard. Just imagine what Naruto will think when he comes back and sees Sasuke like this." Shino said as he stood out of the way by the head of the bed next to Kurama's head.
"This counts as self harm though. He'll have to come off the active duty roster and get cleared by psych before he would be able to go on any missions. One of these wounds could have easily killed him." Tsunade said. She took the mental health of her ninjas very seriously. Many of her comrades took their own life after the second great ninja war because they could not cope and she herself turned to gambling and alcohol. She even stopped practicing medicine because she froze at the site of blood.
"normally I would agree with you Lady Tsunade but I don't think that's the case here." The shadow user murmured as he held his chin with his thumb and index finger knuckle. His left hand hold on to the right elbow in his classic thinking pose.
"What do you mean Shikamaru?" asked the other brunette in the room.
"I don't think this is self harm. The missions he take are only the ones that are targeting Naruto or Kurama. Those groups are normally A ranked or higher and don't fight fair. They know their target and knows he is a war hero. They probably assume he is strong but don't know how strong he really is. Sasuke has been going out without any form of backup and returned each time. We also don't know if he does what Naruto did and make pit stops to help out others if he comes across trouble on his way back. He may be Anbu Commander but even Naruto came back with torn and bloody clothes." many people missed the wounds the blonde sported since they normally healed before he returned to the village.
" Fine, I wont restrict his from taking any missions but I want some one to shadow him to make sure these wounds are actually for being unable to dodge and purposely not moving out of the way in time. However if Kurama does not wake up soon, he will be taking diplomatic missions with friendly nations only. He is distracted enough already, he doesn't need any more." With that said every one fell into a comfortable as Tsunade finished patching up Sasuke's wounds. When she was done they all relocated to the kitchen where Shukaku made something to eat while everyone waited for one of the two unconscious men to return to the land of the conscious. Sasuke was the only one to wake up and it wasn't until the next morning after everyone went home with the promise of updates should anything happen or one of them woke up. After Sasuke woke up Tsunade was quickly called. Sasuke told them everything he knew about what was happening to Kurama and how the fox told him how to help anytime this happened. He also told theme how frequently this has been occurring and how after every collapse it told longer and longer for the fox to regain consciousness and get back on his feet. How no one noticed him missing for weeks at a time was beyond them.
Flashback End
It was hard to believe that a month and a half has past since that dreadful day. She had managed to get Sasuke to eat for the first two weeks Kurama as unconscious but as time wore on that became less frequent till he only ate once a week if that. The Raven haired man had lost a lot of weight but the sand demon was hopeful that now that Naruto was back the man would finally put some meat on his bones. She had no idea how the man has yet to collapse before now.
The blonde sand demon finished making a chicken and vegetable soup for everyone and also cooked up some chicken for Kistune. She put everything in bowls and placed the bowls on a carry tray as well as some bread to take to Kurama's room. She Knew no one would eat in the kitchen tonight or any meal most likely for the next few days when Kurama would be able to join them. It's a good thing she moved a table into the room when Kurama fell into his coma so no soup would be spilled while they ate tonight. Although Naruto and Kurama will probably eat on the bed since they will need to be touching for a little while till Kurama's chakra becomes stable and refills properly on its own. Shukaku carefully carried the tray laden with food to Kurama's room glad she left the door open when she reached the doorway and spotted the three men on the large bed together.
Naruto had moved so he was sitting up in the bed with his back resting against the headboard, a mountain of pillows behind his back. He had scooted to the middle of the bed so Sasuke could join them on the bed to curl up against the former blonde's right side with his head resting on the muscular thigh as Naruto ran his hand through the raven hair that was slightly long hair that just brushed his collarbone. Kurama on the other hand was laying on his back with his right shoulder pressing against Naruto's hip with his eyes closed as he and Sasuke asked the former blonde questions about where he had been and what he did in the past five years since his sudden departure. She had caught the last question asked and wanted to hear the answer before she interrupted the tender moment between bonded friends and lover at least where the raven was concerned.
"How long are planning on staying here before returning to the demon realm Naruto? I can tell how powerful you have become and feel the demonic chakra coming off of you in waves even after a transfer that completely fill my reserves that were mostly nonexistent after so long a part. I know you can't stay here in this realm any longer because of that." Kurama opened his eyes, looking at the amethyst eyes that belonged to his fox form that somehow transferred to his human form.
"I'll probably only stay long enough to get in contact with the other villages that formed an alliance with Konoha because of the promise of me becoming hokage. Baa-Chan has done really well with making treaties with them that there should be no problems even if she decides to step down as hokage someday. I also need to talk to Gaara about him moving to the demon realm sooner because of the major shift in power with all of the tailed lords being stuck in this realm. Since the war, most of the other tailed demon lords managed to convince their hosts to return to the demon realm. The only ones not there besides Kurama is Shukaku and Gyuki, but Killer B is being stubborn about leaving his bother. Who knows maybe if Gaara and Shino are as serious as I think they are then Shino would probably come as well." Naruto never stopped running his hand through the silky raven locks as he replied to Kurama's question.
Shukaku felt her heart swell with hope of going back to the demon realm. She knew that Naruto would be able to convince the stubborn Kazekage to move to the other world. Hell, he could probably even convince Shino to go as well even though the bug user's relationship with her host has only been going on for a few months. However she was coming to realize that everyone who loved in this village always seemed to stay with the first person they dated. They had a way of finding their soul mate.
The only exception seemed to be the pink haired bimbo playing an being a ninja and medic. Her and Kurama had have been running interference for Sasuke after Naruto disappeared. The blonde was not even gone a week and the bimbo was trying to sneak into the Uchiha compound even after the hokage had informed the girl Sasuke was to be left alone as she had charged Kurama and Shukaku herself when she was in the village to make sure the raven haired male did not do something stupid in his grief. Sometimes it felt like that they were failures with how often they patch the man up even after what should have been an easy mission. Hell, even the bimbo's blonde female friend who she knew had a fan girl crush on the last Uchiha backed off with the disappearance of Naruto and the raw pain that radiated of the pale man and instead managed to settle down with Sai, a raven haired man who use to be a root anbu who worked under Danzo, the former commander of the international anbu.
"it would be nice to go back home. I miss my home and household staff." Shukaku decided it was as good as time as any to enter the room with the food on a carrying and went over to the small table in the room to set the food down. The sand demon then went over to the bed to help sit Kurama up so he could eat on the bed. She also noticed Sasuke was reluctant to leave Naruto's side but he got off the bed. He however pulled a chair over to the side of the bed with a bowl of soup it looked like he had every intention of feeding the former blond on the bed she noticed he was starting to become drowsy and the man would not last much longer. She followed the raven's example and pulled up a chair and fed the fox demon on the bed since he had no strength to do it himself. In no time the two fox demons were fed and once they were laying down, the two were out like a light. Sasuke was still in his chair on Naruto's side of the bed, holding on to the hand that was laying on top of the covers. It looked like he was not leaving any time soon. She took the dishes to the kitchen to wash later then she made the security seals on the compound were engaged before returning to Kurama's side. Shukaku knew soon they will be on the move to settle their affairs before moving to the demon realm permanently. Hopefully she could join them with Gaara and maybe Shino wa