Chapter 6: In Which Kitshiba Shuts Down A Construction Site with the Power of Sherlock Holmes

So, for those of you who missed it, this entire story works off the assumption that Naruto is a post apocalyptic world created by higher powers to give humanity a second chance. Kitshiba is a big fan of the twenty first century, or our time. There will be modern inserts, but the ninjas will have no idea what they are, Kitshiba's basically a time traveler. Also, Sasuke never went rouge, but the Akatski still exist.

The story's going to change in tone for bit, being more about Naruto and his isolation than anything else, but I hope you enjoy anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Naruto woke the next morning with an unfamiliar weight on his feet. Thinking someone was sitting on his bed, he sprung up, the kuuni he kept under his pillow in hand. What he found at the foot of his bed however was a wolf cub, still miraculously asleep. The events of yesterday came back to him and he withdrew the hand he had extended to pet the small creature, remembering what exactly that little animal had done to his village just the other day. Talk about big things in small packages.

His head was as quiet as his room, he noted as he got dressed, so Ritsuku wasn't awake either. In truth, he had known the deamon's true name and nature long before Kitshiba's arrival and that wasn't all he'd known. The fire fox was a good story teller and had regaled a young Naruto of his adventures and his family when he was too afraid to sleep at night. Ritsuku had warned him not to speak of such things in public, Kami knew he had enough to deal with without the villagers knowing he was friends with the fox that had destroyed their village. But he treated the deamon like the brother he would never really have and as far as the fox was concerned, Naruto was part of the family.

He knew it too, hidden deep in his nin pouch (as he was to scared to leave it at the ratty apartment that people trashed and tried to burn every other day) was a small piece of paper that no one but he and Ritsuku had ever seen. It contained the whimsical hope of a child who had never known love. It was embarrassing and he had tried to throw it out once, but Ritsuku had insisted on keeping it. Well… he hadn't put up much of a fight… It was actually a wonder that no one had ever found it.

He felt the stirring in his head that signifies Ritsuku waking and soon enough the rumbling voice of the demon.

"Morning Kit."

Naruto only smiles, knowing the fox would get the message. Looking towards Kitshiba, he mentally asked the demon in his head why the wolf had not awakened.

"She's exhausted. A portal then three changes in a day. A full blown temper tantrum and panic attack and then playing politics until long past midnight. She'll probably get up soon, but give her time."

Well, when he put it that way… As if responding to her brother, the wolf cub on the bed stirred and yawned, small pink mouth showing little (but sharp) teeth. Bright eyes and a wagging tail gave the non-verbal impression of a cheery 'good morning!~'.

Naruto expected her to change back into a human, or at least something bigger, but she simply weaved between his legs with a grace that really fit better with a feline and waited for him to begin moving. Shrugging, he grabbed his nin pouch and opened the door and waited for her to pad through it before leaving himself.

Rather than jumping across the rooftops, today he walked on the pathway, watching the builders try to repair the damage from yesterday. He ducked with practised ease as some random repair man hurled a hammer in his direction. The Kitshiba gave him a little whine and he bent down to scratch behind her ears. Suddenly, she seemed to stiffen before taking his hand in her mouth (gently, but he could feel her teeth on his skin) and began to pull him in another direction. He didn't follow at first, so she dug her teeth in a little.

"Ow!" he yelped. "What's gotten into you?"

"You are going to meet your teammates. I don't think she trusts them too much."

"Well then she'll just have to get used to it." He said firmly and tried to scoop the small animal off of the ground. At first, his eyes widened because dear Kami, she was heavy (like horse drawn carriage, horses and all heavy) and his arms almost gave out, but when she realised what he was doing, that weight ebbed away. He suspected more for his sake than hers but no matter. She seemed very tense, so he mutter comforts to her as he ran his fingers through her fur. She soon gave in and put her head on his shoulder and a low purring sound worked its way into her throat. It was nice, he thought, having a (physical) companion he could open up to, even if it was another demon. He just kept walking where he was going until he reached the bridge where them seven always met. Sakura had a small burn on her left cheek, but she had escaped yesterday relatively unscathed. Sasuke had a relatively large gash where Kitshiba's claw had dug into his chest, reduced to merely a scar by the medical nin that had whisked him away later in the day. Naruto snorted at this, knowing that if that had been him the hospital would have turned him away.

"You're late, dobe."

Naruto grinned and shrugged, mask falling into place as easily as breathing. He could see the disappointment radiating off of Kitshiba and feel it from Ritsuku. He wonders what their problem is, it's not like the mask is really him, right? They fall into a routine they've done so may times that it takes Sasuke and Sakura a few minutes to even register the animal in Naruto's arms.

"So cute!" Sakura cooed, reaching out to pat the small cub. He felt Kitshiba tense beneath his fingers, a low growling making the chest pressed against vibrate.

"You already know her. I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, wincing as Sakura almost lost her hand to the snapping jaws of the youngest tailed beast.

Throughout the exchange, Sasuke had been staring. Naruto glanced at him.

"What do you want teme?"

"You're acting different."

"No I'm…" Naruto drifted off, realising that the minute the discussion had drifted to his demonic companion, his mask had completely slipped. He had been to worried about Kitshiba mauling Sakura to focus on keeping it on.

Damn.

It occurred to him that the wolf had probably kept him occupied on purpose. He glanced down and got the wolfy equivalent of a cheeky grin.

"You sly fox… wolf. Whatever."

He could hear Ritsuku laughing in his mind. the sound echoing the sewer like caverns the fox resided in, thankfully, he was saved by Kakashi's appearance.

"Yo." The jonnin greeted them with his typical line and Sakura replied with the typical:

"You're late!"

"Sorry, but there was this old man…"

"Save it." Sasuke muttered, "What are we doing today?"

"All able hands are helping with the restoration, that includes the nin. The academy is top priority, so they have your entire year group helping out there."

"That's fine, I can say hi to Iruka-sensei, provided you don't maul the other genin," Naruto said, directing the latter comment towards Kitshiba, accompanied with a harsh glare. She simply wagged her tail and let out a happy little woof.

xX Line Break Xx

As it turns out, Kishiba did have the self control not to go wild at the sight, but she did turn back to the womanly form from before. Once again clad in her wolf skin kimono, she was a big help as the rest of the civilian builders had been told to remove themselves as to not get in the way of the more powerful ninja.

They worked in a strained but companionable atmosphere until a distraction came in the form of children. The academy students, ages ranging from nine to twelve had gotten out of class for lunch and were gathered around to try get a glimpse of the agile nin helping with the building, clambering over the equipment in an attempt to mimic the graceful leaps of the graduates using the structure as some sort of oversized jungle gym as they worked.

The ninja had succeeded in working around them, until Kiba let out a loud "Look out!" A beam was falling from the roof of the unfinished building and straight towards a gaggle of children who were doing nothing more than stare. Only the quick actions of Naruto, who was working nearby saved the small crowd from being crushed as he held the large wooden beam over his (and subsequently theirs' too) head. After all the young nin in training had moved out of the danger zone, he let it fall to the ground. "Can somebody please distract these brats!" He yelled, shaking out his arms to rid them of the uncomfortable sensation of the sudden weight they had just had to endure.

Shooing away the children was easier said than done. Since the teachers were no help and trying to coral them was like herding cats. When asked to leave, they were met with a great many variations of "I don't wanna!"

"Okay then." A quiet voice came from behind the mass of heads as Kitshiba smiled gently. "What do you want?"

Some of the smaller children considered this before requesting a story. "About pirates!" Cried one while another requested romance and another a fairy tale. Several genres were thrown around before Kitshiba seems to come to a decision.

"Okay, I've picked one."

The children gathered around and settled off to the side, out of the way of the ninja. Once they were still and quiet she began.

"In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go throug-"

"Wait." A particularly young girl in the front row interrupted. "Aren't you going to read from a book? Mama reads from a book, but Dad doesn't and her stories are always better than his."

Kitshiba smiled and shook her head. "This is from a book young one, but I have read it enough to not need the book in front of me to recite it. It is one of a very old but very famous set of stories from long ago, sadly they were lost to time, but luckily I know them well."

The nin were too far away to hear the story but continued with their work, thankful for the movement of the disruption. Not three minutes later the children were enraptured with the story the demoness was weaving around them and when Kakashi came within listening distance to the female-inclined wolf he found himself listening too.

"-a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure"

Kitshiba's voice was low and expressive, describing the events to an intimate level, as if she had truly been there rather than just read and reread a book over and over. The jonnin knew he had to get back to work, but he wanted to know what it was the man was so pleased about and Kitshiba's voice was really quite nice to listen to, nicer than manual labour certainly, and so he sat and decided to listen.

Just for a little while.

xX Line Break Xx

""This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken."

"And there is no clue?" asked Gregson.

"None at all," chimed in Lestrade.

Sherlock Holmes approached the body, and, kneeling down, examined it intently. "You are sure that there is no wound?" he asked, pointing to numerous gouts and splashes of blood which lay all round.

"Positive!" cried both detectives.

"Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual-[8] presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of the circumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in the year '34. Do you remember the case, Gregson?"

"No, sir."

"Read it up-you really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.""

It has been several minutes since the demoness began her tale and by this time there is a sizeable crowd around Kitshiba, her initial means of keeping the people away from the site foiled as the workers and nin themselves became locked within the realm of old London and allowed the wolf's voice pull them along after the great consulting detective in his element. At some point Naruto had joined her up the front, he and many of the children mocking out a small crime scene, mimicking the story as Kitshiba told it. The nin and academy teachers (who had come to see what the fuss was about) sat around the demoness, all given up on the false pretence of not listening and were watching the small session of make-believe with varying degrees of amusement.

So engrossed were they, that nobody realised the approach of three o'clock, and by extension, the arrival of the parents of the children. Seeing their precious offspring surrounding the demon child and yesterday battle's main antagonist, they went into uproar, physically snatching their young and hauling them away, ignoring their protests at not hearing the end of the story. Many hissed and spit at the two demons as they passed.

The friendly atmosphere had been shattered with the arrival of the parents. Story time was over.