Caught in the Whirlpool

Part XIX

Kyuumaru narrowed his eyes as he stared down at his prey.

…And his prey stared right back up at him, unrepentant.

:You just got lucky!: the little black fox sniffed and struggled underneath the paw that pinned her to the ground. :You won't catch me again!:

:That's what you claimed the last time, and the time before that, and even the time before that!: Kyuumaru growled. :Every time I let you up, you try to make a fool out of me instead of leaving like I've told you to.:

It had been unnerving the first time that the zorua creature had seemed to vanish into thin air. He'd almost tried setting the hilltop on fire to try and flush her out. But then he saw a rock that didn't belong and a little poking destroyed the illusion, revealing the monster inside.

She'd tried to trick him several times after that without much success. Her scent was faint and subtle so he'd tracked her by sound. The bell jingled every time that she moved and whenever she thought she'd done something incredibly clever she would giggle. Once he caught on to what she was doing and how to keep track of her, it was painfully easy to win her little game.

:Let me up, let me up, let me up!: she cried, swatting ineffectually at his front paw with both of hers.

He pressed a little harder on her chest. :No. If I do that, you'll just make yourself appear to be invisible again and try to make me look silly.:

:No I won't,: she claimed.

:I don't believe you,: Kyuumaru scowled. :This is neither the time nor the place for playing!:

The zorua squirmed and wriggled and tried to get free of Kyuumaru's paw, but her efforts were in vain.

:…Tell me, what is your name?: Kyuumaru demanded.

:I don't have a name,: she denied.

:That bell around your neck indicates differently,: the ninetales snorted. :It tells me that you belong with a human, and humans give their monsters names.:

:Would you get this bell off for me?: she asked, giving him the puppy eyes. :I've been trying to get it off for days!:

:No,: Kyuumaru replied. :Why would you want it off? It has a very sweet chime to it.:

:It ruins my illusions!: the zorua growled. :It's so much harder to hide!:

:When you are under the care of a human, you shouldn't need to hide,: he retorted. :Now what is your name? Or better yet, what is your human's name? And where might I find him or her?:

:I don't know,: she muttered, turning her head away. :All that matters to me is that I got away from him. And I tricked him really good, too!:

A growl of thunder and a gust of cool, damp air interrupted Kyuumaru's response. The ninetales looked skyward and cringed as he saw angry black clouds rolling in. He'd seen all kinds of weather in his long life and those coming clouds promised hours of heavy rain, maybe even some hail.

:You must go,: he insisted. :It's going to rain.:

:Can't I stay with you?: she whined.

:No,: he scoffed. :My den is barely large enough for myself alone. There is no room for guests.:

:What about in there?: the little black fox asked, pointing one red paw towards the stone shrine. :It looks roomy.:

:That is not a place to shelter from weather!: Kyuumaru growled. :That is a sacred site meant for prayer and meditation!:

:So?: she sniffed. :It looks big and dry. Let's hide in there.:

:Absolutely not!: he snapped.

More thunder boomed overhead, louder, clearer, and closer than before. Flickers of lightning flashed through gaps in the threatening clouds. It was clear that he had very little time to find a solution to this problem before it started to rain.

Kyuumaru's mind raced towards a satisfactory solution. He couldn't leave her out in the terrible storm, yet there was no acceptable shelter on the hill. She didn't know where her human was and had no idea how to find him, but there wasn't much that he could do to help her return to where she belonged…

:…You said that you knew the name Uzumaki?: Kyuumaru asked.

:I thought I heard it mentioned a few times,: she muttered, swatting at his paw to try and free herself again. :It's such a weird-sounding name. Why do humans invent such weird words and names?:

He chewed over his limited options again, and came to a decision.

The ninetales lifted his paw, and before the zorua could flee he caught the ribbon around her neck in his teeth. He lifted her off the ground by her scruff and she obligingly curling into a ball even as she started to complain. And then as the first sprinkles of rain started to fall, he took off at a run.

I know exactly where to take you…

…I think.

Inaho cringed as thunder rattled the windows of the Pokémon Center and prayed that the weather wouldn't knock out the power. Since her crappy motel didn't offer an internet connection or a computer terminal of any kind, she'd set up camp here. Now, after making some calls to Komugi and setting him to sifting through all kinds of archives, she was hot on the trail of evidence of a prior relationship between Minato Namikaze and this mysterious Kushina Uzumaki woman.

This nasty weather might actually be a good thing, she mused. If it doesn't knock out the electricity but storms badly enough I won't be able to leave and I'll get to stay here for the night. Since it's an emergency, there's no way that the staff can try to kick me out because I'm an adult and not a real pokémon trainer!

And she'd need as much time as she could get on these computers to gather the information that she hoped to find. The Pokémon League of the Land of Fire had no centralized database for all of the different kinds of tournaments in all the different cities so it was an almighty pain to do the kind of research that she was attempting. To find the correlations that she was looking for, she needed to search for tournaments and dive into the records for each one individually and seek out the names. Komugi was doing most of the searching, since he had a real aptitude for it, but she knew that she had to pull her own weight on this project, too.

Her main focus was on doubles tournaments as that would definitely prove some kind of previous relationship between the two people, but other kinds of tournaments that they both participated in at the same time would also count as evidence. She wanted to know how often they crossed paths, the first time it was documented, and the last time. And once she knew that, she could move on to stage two: digging up whatever she could on the mystery woman herself.

I really hate spreadsheets, she sighed and rubbed at her eyes as she scrolled through a fresh batch of lists. Ugh, my eyes are starting to burn…

Ping!

Inaho blinked and switched browser tabs to check her e-mail account.

"He's got some results already?"

With a shrug, she opened the message that Komugi had just sent her. He'd listed a few tournament names with dates and hyperlinks to the relevant archive pages. When she studied the dates and did some quick and sloppy mental math, her eyebrows rose towards her hairline.

This has got to be the first time that they officially fought together! And if I'm guesstimating right, Minato Namikaze was only a few months into his pokémon journey when this doubles tournament took place! My oh my oh my…

Lightning flashed and a terrific clap of thunder made the desk attendant shriek, but Inaho was oblivious.

I do believe I've found my ticket to a real journalism job!

"But we should keep looking!" Naruto protested as the rainfall steadily increased.

"When the rain stops will get right back on it, and we'll have even more searchers," his mother promised, and then started muttering under her breath. "I wish that we'd gotten far enough to take shelter in the lab… This is going to be awful."

"But Mom—"

There was a terrific crash and a blinding flash as a lightning bolt struck something on the ground a few miles away.

"Eyah!" Sakura yelped and latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"This weather's too nasty," his mother responded. "Wherever your zorua is, it'll be taking cover, too."

Naruto huffed and followed her lead with a pout on his face.

As soon as the storm started to roll in, his parents had put a stop to the search effort. All of the searching pokémon had been returned to confinement, starting off with those that would be most affected by the rain. And then all of them had struck out for Ken-Ichi's father's house at a jog in hopes of staying dry.

The rain had caught them less than a minute later.

"Do you think the storm will end before dark?" Ken-Ichi asked his father, raising his voice a little to be heard over the wind and thunder.

"Maybe," the man shrugged. "Ah, here we are."

Up ahead near the edge of the sea cliffs crouched a house. It was a dark shape with glowing windows that was silhouetted briefly by more flickers of lightning. There wasn't much time for Naruto to study the place as the rain started coming down in heavy sheets and everyone started running.

There was a crush at the door as all seven of them tried to get through the space at the same time. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura managed to get inside first and tried to stumble out of the way of the others while peeling off their puddle-filled shoes, shrugging off their damp packs, and wringing out their soaked clothing. His mother mumbled curses as she squeezed out her long hair and Ken-Ichi's father pushed through the press by the door calling for towels. It was a chaotic mess that somehow brought Naruto into the house's living room with a towel on his head—

Who are these people?

Several adults already were in the living room clustered around a television set that was tuned to a news channel. Two men with orange-red hair and identical faces set on the couch with a black-haired man sandwiched between them, and all three looked confused as Naruto and his group filtered into the room. On a second couch was an old woman in a kimono and stitching away at an embroidery hoop, with a second scrap of cloth and thread sitting beside her. And an old man with a stern face of stone sat in an armchair, studying each of them with the slightest of frowns.

"Sorry, Dad," Ken-Ichi's father sighed as he rubbed at his head with a towel. "I wasn't able to make it to the post office before the rain."

The old man's eyes lingered on Naruto long enough for the boy to start squirming.

"…That's alright," the man in the armchair replied. "It can wait until tomorrow."

A phone rang somewhere in the house and a moment later another lady in a kimono with wavy red-brown hair appeared with more towels under one arm and a phone on a long curly cord in the other hand.

"Kenshin," she squeaked. "It's Suzume for you…"

"Thanks, Akane," Ken-Ichi's father sighed, took the phone from her, and retreated to a different part of the house to talk.

Ken-Ichi watched him go with an anxious look before slinking over to the larger couch where the three men were sitting and squeezed in on the left side of the trio.

"So, Kushina," the old man in the arm chair folded his hands in his lap. "What's all this?"

"Well…Naruto got separated from one of his pokémon and we were helping his friends find it," his mother explained. "And—"

"What sort of name is that?" the man with black hair snorted.

"Didn't you name your kid that?" one of the orange-haired twins wondered.

"That can't be him, though," the other added. "He doesn't look a thing like you."

Naruto stared at them, too confused by the current situation to feel insulted.

"Actually," his mother replied tensely, dropping a hand on the boy's damp shoulder. "Naruto is my son."

The room fell silent except for the droning voice of the news anchor from the television. And then it seemed like all of the strange adults started talking at once. The men on the couch made remarks of disbelief and questioned his hair color, the younger woman in the kimono gushed at how adorable he was, and the old woman paused in her stitchery and scowled at Naruto critically. The old man in the armchair let this go on for a minute or two before clapping his hands twice.

"Quiet down," the old man commanded. He didn't shout, he barely raised his voice, but the effect was nearly instant. He gestured to Naruto's mother. "Please, continue."

"Okay, Naruto's friends are his old classmates: Sasuke Uchiha," she pointed to the black-haired boy, "and Sakura Haruno," she gestured to the pink-haired girl. Then Naruto's mother started pointing out all the strange adults and naming them. "Kids, this is my father"—the man in the armchair—"my brother, Arashi"—the black-haired man on the couch—"my other brothers, Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora"—the twins that sat on either side of Arashi—"my Aunt Asuka"—the old woman on the smaller couch—"my cousin, Akane"—the pretty woman in the kimono—"and you've already met Kenshin and Ken-Ichi…so that's everyone."

Oh, Naruto blinked, so this is Mom's family…

"So where did he get that yellow hair?" Arashi asked.

"From his father, of course," Naruto's mother snorted.

Arashi frowned. "And who is—"

"He's just so adorable!" Akane squeaked, unable to contain herself, and she gathered Naruto up into a hug. "I wish I had a little boy like him."

"Gah!" Naruto yelped and tried to wriggle free. "Hey! Mom, help!"

"Akane," his mother half-growled.

"Could we have some tea to warm up?" Naruto's father asked.

"Oh, of course, of course!" Akane smiled and bustled off to the kitchen to brew some up after patting Naruto on the head.

Naruto pouted and tried to fix his hair, not that it made any difference.

"Arashi, bring in some chairs from the dining room so that everyone can sit down," the old man—Naruto's grandfather—ordered.

"Fine, fine," Arashi grumbled and trudged off to do as he was told.

"So, young man," the grandfather said, putting his full attention on Naruto. "What pokémon did you lose?"

His mother's father didn't look angry or mean, but he also lacked the friendly open face that he was accustomed to seeing on Professor Sarutobi's face. The man was a complete stranger to him, his expression was unreadable to Naruto, and that made him rather intimidating to the young blond. Naruto picked at his damp clothes and resisted the urge to shuffle closer to his mother.

"I lost a zorua, sir," Naruto replied.

The old man frowned slightly. "A what?"

"A zorua, it's a rare pokémon that I got in the Safari Zone," Naruto explained.

"I've never heard of it," the grandfather said.

"Well it's rare and it's only recently become legal to import it to this part of the world so I'm not surprised," Naruto's mother remarked, then started digging around in her pocket for her pokédex. "Here, I'll show you a picture—"

"You let a TV crew into your gym, Grandpa?" Ken-Ichi asked, squinting at the television screen that was playing the news program.

"Yes I did," the old man nodded, looking vaguely embarrassed as he glanced at the TV. "This is supposed to be a 'world' news program, what are they doing talking about me?"

"It's not every day that you lose on the first go-round, Dad," Arashi muttered as he returned, awkwardly carrying a wooden chair in each hand.

"Grandpa lost on a trainer's first challenge?" Ken-Ichi said blankly. "Quit lying to me, Uncle Arashi! Grandpa doesn't lose; he lets them win when he deems them worthy."

"I dunno, I think it's on the news because Daddy's opponent was a famous foreign trainer," Naruto's mother said dryly. Then she glanced down at her son and winked. "Remember, if you want to see the really cool fight that we're talking about, it'll be broadcast tomorrow night."

"Eh?" Naruto cocked his head. "The fight that's supposed to be even cooler than the one you had in the town square?"

"You got into a fight in town?" the old woman—his mother's aunt—asked, her voice sharp with disapproval.

"So what if I did?" his mother challenged, her tone growing cool. "Minato helped me—not that I needed it—and we trounced our opponents easily. It was quite fantastic, actually. It's too bad that you all missed it."

"Fighting, even through pokémon surrogates, is not proper behavior for a lady," the gray-haired aunt scolded.

"I'm not a lady," his mother snorted. "I'm a woman! There's a difference."

The old woman frowned deeply and opened her mouth to respond, but ultimately held her tongue and returned to her embroidery, pulling the colored thread through the fabric with a restrained sort of violence.

"What's up with her?" Naruto asked, tugging a little on his mother's sleeve.

"Aunt Asuka is very…traditional," his mom answered with a grimace.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. What does that mean?

"Tradition is the cornerstone of our culture," the elderly aunt retorted. "Yet you delight in spitting upon it."

"Fine, whatever!" his mother growled. "I'm not going to argue with you while we're all stuck in this house."

"Hmph," the old lady sniffed and again went back to her stitching.

Naruto scowled at the old woman at the far end of the room. "Do you always fight with her, Mom?"

"Pretty much," she huffed as her brother Arashi brought another two wooden chairs in. "Let's sit down."

I think I get it, Naruto thought as he, Sasuke, and Sakura claimed some of the wooden chairs and arranged them so that they could watch the TV. If I had to deal with someone as nasty as this aunty lady seems to be, I wouldn't want to ever come home either.

"Now let's talk about something happy and neutral," his mother suggested with a strained smile as she claimed the fourth chair, but didn't sit in it.

"How many badges do you all have?" his father asked as he propped his shoulder against the entryway to the living room.

"I have seven badges," Naruto announced.

"Seven," Sasuke grunted.

"I have five," Sakura squeaked nervously.

"You possess gym badges?" the old lady asked, as if this was highly unusual and not necessarily a good thing.

There was an awkward silence that was punctuated by the whistle of the tea kettle from the kitchen.

"Um, yes?" Sakura swallowed and tugged the towel draped over her shoulders tighter. "I do have two Battle Contest ribbons, too…"

The old woman pursed her lips and shook her head.

"What's wrong with her having gym badges?" Naruto wanted to know.

"The gym challenge is not a pursuit meant for young ladies," his mother's aunt said and locked eyes with a fidgeting Sakura. "My dear, you would be much better served if you put your energy into Contests alone. That is an arena in which women can employ all their grace and creativity and truly shine."

"My mom's never been in any Contest, she has seven badges, and she's perfectly fine!" Naruto declared, folding his arms over his chest.

"…I suppose that I can't blame you for having such badly skewed perceptions since she's your mother," the old woman sighed with a regretful expression. "But Kushina is not the sort of woman that I would encourage young ladies to look up to as a role model."

Naruto saw red and leapt out of his chair.

"You take that back about my mom you nasty old hag—!"

"Tea's done!" Akane chirped as she breezed back into the room with a steaming teakettle and a selection of small cups stacked on a tray and set it all down on the coffee table. "I made green tea, so—oh!" She raised a hand to her mouth when she saw Naruto glaring and pointing aggressively at her mother. "Are we fighting again? I thought that shout came from the TV."

"Sit down, Naruto," his mother muttered, grabbing his shoulders and gently pressing him back into the wooden chair. "You're wasting your time. You can argue with Aunt Asuka until you're blue in the face and she won't budge an inch because she's right and everyone else is always wrong. Trust me, I know from personal experience."

"But, Mom!" Naruto protested. She's wrong, she's wrong, she's wrong!

"Don't worry about it," she smiled weakly. "I'm used to it."

"So awkward…" the orange-haired twins muttered in an eerie unison.

"There," Arashi muttered as he dragged in two more wooden chairs and returned to his spot on the couch between the twins. "I brought in chairs."

"Can I pour anyone tea?" Akane asked with a nervous smile.

Naruto slumped in his seat and glowered at the old woman. Akane started pouring small cups of green tea and handing them out to whoever indicated that they wanted some. On the television, a peppy ad for a brand of pokémon treats sharply contrasted with the tense mood in the living room.

Kenshin returned from his phone call then, looking extremely tired, and collapsed onto the last open chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Ken-Ichi asked in concern.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "I think I managed to get your grounding repealed."

"Hey, big bro!" one of the twins spoke up. "Did you know that kid is Kushina's kid?"

"Yeah, did you know?" the other said.

"I caught on to that," Kenshin replied dryly. "The big clue was that while we were searching the hills he kept calling her 'Mom'."

"Speaking of this search," the old grandfather said, leaning back in his armchair. "How—"

Scritch, scritch, scritch…

"Eep!" Akane yelped, almost dropping the teakettle. "Something's at the door!"

"Did everyone gather up their pokémon when we halted the search?" Naruto's father asked.

Everyone who had been searching checked their belts but nothing except for the creature that they'd been looking for was gone.

Scritch, scritch, scritch…

"I'll see who it is," Ken-Ichi volunteered and the teenager left the couch for the front door just out of sight of the living room doorway. "Huh, what the—?"

A pokémon slipped past the seventeen-year-old into the house and slunk into the living room. It was a ninetales and it was absolutely drenched—its yellow fur was matted down and waterlogged so that it dripped all over the wooden floor and left it looking horribly skinny with really thin tails. The poor thing looked gross and miserable…and dangling from its teeth was something black and red and equally soaked.

Kitsune?

"Kyuumaru?" almost all of the adults in the room gasped.

Naruto glanced around the room at their shocked faces and frowned.

What? What's going on? Who's Kyuumaru?