A/N – Hey guys, I'm so sorry for the amazingly late update. A lot has been going on lately – my 17th birthday, getting my belly button pierced without my parent's knowledge (not smart, I know), and finally working up the courage to kiss the gorgeous blond boy I'm kinda crazy about. It was a cliché kiss in the rain too. I really think the apocalypse is coming… -_-" But anyways, enough rambling! I hope you guys like this chapter, and I apologize for its length and any errors you may encounter. But, regardless, I hope you enjoy! And, as always, reviews? :] Thanks! ~
Demon Unleashed
by dropout kid
Chapter 4 – Fragile
Kyuubi sighed softly as she gently sponged off another deep cut on Naruto's leg. He was lying unconscious on his bed, covered in blood. Kyuubi was trying her best to clean and patch up his wounds so he didn't lose any more blood. His usually tanned skin was already losing its healthy glow.
She froze when Naruto moaned softly, finally coming to. His azure eyes fluttered open weakly before he looked unfocusedly towards Kyuubi, who was staring hesitantly towards him.
"Kyuu," he said softly, his eyes wandering around the room. "What... what happened?"
"You did something stupid," she replied slowly. "You could have died."
Naruto closed his eyes. "What time is it now?"
"4:30," she started sponging off the wounds again, ignoring his hisses of pain. "I know it hurts, but if I don't clean them they'll get infected."
Naruto nodded. "I know. But I heal fast, so..."
"Not anymore," Kyuubi shook her head. "I was the reason you healed so quickly. Now that I'm out here, you're on your own."
Naruto's eyes snapped open. "Oh fuck. Are you shitting me?" He let out a shaky breath. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Give it time, I guess," Kyuubi shrugged. "That's what normal people do."
"But I don't have time," he growled. "I'm supposed to meet team Kakashi tonight at seven."
She scowled. "Night training? Damn, that's inconvenient."
"Whatever," he sighed. "I should try and go -"
"Yeah, if you have a death wish," Kyuubi cut in sharply. "If you lose anymore blood you'll die." She frowned. "Listen, I'll take care of it, okay?"
"Oh yeah? How?" he raised his eyebrows at her.
"I'll talk to them," she said simply. "When you don't show they'll send someone to look for you. I can just make them go away."
Naruto remained silent for a long moment before hanging his head. "Yeah, alright. If you say so."
Kyuubi nodded approvingly. "Good. Now go back to sleep. You need it."
Naruto nodded unquestioningly and shut his eyes.
"Thanks... for everything."
It came out as barely a whisper, but Kyuubi's sensitive ears picked up on it. She stared intently at her sleeping vessel, her red eyes sweeping over his bruised and battered body. It made her furious, just looking at him. All the blond ever wanted was to be accepted. And yet he was always looked over by his teachers and "friends". He tried so hard...
Heaving a deep sigh, she left the room. When she entered his living room, she pursed her lips; it was a mess. If she was going to be living with him, she refused to live in his apartment in its current condition. No way in hell.
She sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. "Now, where to start…"
-
"Has anyone seen Naruto?" Kakashi asked his two students after he arrived on the bridge… an hour late.
Sakura shook her head. "Nope. But I'm guessing he's with Kyuu."
Kakashi looked at her. "Kyuu?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "She's a long time friend of Naruto's who is visiting. He's probably spending time with her."
Kakashi frowned beneath his mask. Kyuu... as in Kyuubi?
"Oh, well then, I'll go get him," Kakashi said cheerily. "Be back in a few!" And then he vanished with a poof of smoke.
-
Kyuubi slowly dropped the rag onto the floor when she sensed Kakashi's chakra approaching fast. She knew that he would be the one to come over; she assumed after hearing the name 'Kyuu' he became suspicious. Not that she blamed him; he was, after all, the Fourth's student.
When she heard him knock lightly on the door, she sighed. Stalking over, she opened the door. Kyuubi's face hardened when she looked into Kakashi's one dark eye. Although Naruto seemed completely oblivious to his sensei's obvious favoritism on team 7, she had quickly picked up on it. And, unfortunately for Kakashi, she wasn't pleased. Kakashi already had two strikes against him - firstly, for being the Fourth Hokage's student, and secondly for being a manipulative bastard towards Naruto. So basically, she hated him.
"Hi," Kakashi smiled at her, his one eye forming that upside down 'u' that Kyuubi knew all too well. "I'm guessing you're Kyuu?"
"Yeah," she nodded lazily. "And I'm guessing you're here for Naruto?"
"Is he here?" Kakashi asked politely. God, she hated him.
"I know damn well you know he's here," Kyuubi snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Don't act coy with me; it really pisses me off. Now what do you want with Naruto? He's sick, and sleeping."
"Sick?" Kakashi frowned. "That's odd. He's rarely sick. It must be serious then. Would you mind if I checked on him?"
"Yes I mind," she growled. "Like I said, he's sleeping. He'll be fine, he just needs to rest. He doesn't need you to look at him. He has me."
Kakashi watched her silently for a long moment. "So I'm curious as to how this happened?"
Her eyes hardened. "Why? Are you surprised?"
"Extremely," Kakashi admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I don't understand. How did you, for lack of a better word, escape?"
"I didn't escape," she snarled. "And besides, how I got out doesn't even matter."
"Naruto didn't let you out, did he?" Kakashi asked quietly, watching her carefully.
Kyuubi's expression revealed nothing. "Tell me, would the Naruto you know ever do something like this?"
Kakashi paused. "No, he wouldn't. He'd rather die than let his demon out."
She smirked. "And that right there just shows how much you know about him." She shook her head, stepping away from the door and into Naruto's apartment. "Which, I should tell you, is absolutely nothing."
"Naruto did this?" Kakashi asked, his expression darkening.
"I never said that," Kyuubi shook her head. "For all you know that damned sensei of yours could have underestimated me and put a weak seal on."
"We both know that's not true," Kakashi said, following her inside.
She shrugged. "Anything is possible. Contrary to your belief, the Fourth wasn't perfect, you know."
"He was as good as," Kakashi defended, his one visible eye hardening considerably.
"And is that the reason he's dead?" She hissed. "Because, in case you've forgotten, I killed him."
Kakashi looked at her for a long moment before hanging his head and letting out a bitter laugh. "You're right. He is dead and you did kill him." He looked around Naruto's apartment. "So, you said that he's doing alright?"
"Oh come on already," Kyuubi growled. "Drop the act. I know damn well you don't give a flying fuck about Naruto. I've known it since day one." Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you keep doing this? It pisses me off. He doesn't deserve this dishonesty."
"He is the Fourth's son," Kakashi said bluntly. "I swore to protect Naruto with my life and that is what I plan to do."
"Yeah, you're doing a great job with that so far," she snapped sarcastically. "But I think you might have missed the couple times that he was practically beaten to death and had to crawl pathetically back to his bed and wait until he could stand again. But other then that, sure, you've done wonderfully."
"Those times were out of my hands," Kakashi began.
"Bull shit," Kyuubi exclaimed, eyes flashing. "You're so full of it, it makes me sick. You know what? I want you to get the hell out of here. I'm taking care of Naruto now. He'll be fine in a few days. He just needs to rest."
Kakashi stared at her.
"Leave," She ordered again in a low voice. "Naruto is going to be my responsibility from this point on. I'll be training him."
"Hmm… I don't think that's such a good idea," Kakashi measured her words, cocking his head to the side.
"I don't care," Kyuubi shook her head. "Contrary to everyone's belief, Naruto isn't even remotely stupid. I would know – I spent 17 years in his head. And since I know him so well, I believe I'm the only one who can train him successfully and bring him to his full potential. Because right now it's obvious you're not doing a very good job…"
Kakashi looked at her guardedly. "I have no reason to trust you."
"I know that," she looked him in the eye. "And you're wise to be doubtful. However, my only motives are to make my vessel stronger. And only the rigorous training and watchful guidance I can provide will bring him to the power he's capable of."
Kyuubi couldn't help smile triumphantly as an overwhelming hush came over the room. She always got her way.
-
"It's not going to work," Naruto said as soon as Kyuubi told him she'd be training him. "Kakashi-sensei will tell the Hokage who will alert the ANBU who will come and capture you and incarcerate you, and interrogate you, and then they might even kill you."
"Nice thought, but…no," she smiled when he gave her a confused look. "There are only three people who know about this – you, me, and Kakashi – and believe me when I say that none of us will tell."
"Why won't Kakashi-sensei tell?" Naruto furrowed his brow.
"He swore to protect you," she said simply. "Now that I've been extracted from you, you're more vulnerable. And if Kakashi informs Tsunade, that bitch Shizune will know as well, and then we'd have a problem, chaos would ensue, and your life would be in severe danger."
Naruto blinked. "I'm confused."
"Yeah, I don't doubt that," Kyuubi sighed. "But none of that matters. Right now, all you need to know is that I'll be training you." She paused. "And it won't be easy."
He swallowed. "What do you mean? Like when I went training with Jiraiya?"
"Not exactly," she shook her head. "It's going to be a lot harder this time."
"Why?" Naruto frowned.
"Because you're not going to have my help anymore," Kyuubi said softly.
"I'm confused…again."
Kyuubi sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay, well, let's put it this way. Before, when you were training with Jiraiya, I was inside of you so you had your own chakra, and you also had my chakra, which made techniques easier for you – like your infamous Kage Bushin no Jutsu. Does that make sense?"
Naruto nodded, so Kyuubi continued.
"Back then, when I was inside of you, you had access to majority of my chakra, right? Now, however, I've taken away most of the chakra you were formerly able to possess, because that's what is keeping me alive out here."
"Wait, so you took away my chakra?" Naruto scowled at her.
"Technically speaking it's my chakra," Kyuubi corrected him. "But yeah, I guess you could say that I did. However, you still have more chakra than I do, which is why you're still in control over this whole ordeal. So theoretically you didn't lose that much, but it's still a significant enough amount where I believe you will feel some of the repercussions, which is why I said training is going to be a lot harder."
Naruto watched her silently for a long moment before nodding. "Right, so, when do we start?"
Kyuubi shrugged. "Honestly, whenever you decide to stop this shit."
"What shit?" Naruto's expression hardened.
"You know what I'm talking about, Naruto," she narrowed her eyes at him. "You need to stop, or I'm not going to waste my time training you."
"It's none of your fucking business," Naruto hissed darkly.
"The hell it is!" Kyuubi cried exasperatedly. "Who do you think always cleans you up when you're literally bleeding to death? Who thinks about you and your safety relentlessly? Who is fucking staying alive and risking their ass to protect you? I do, Naruto, and you'd do well to remember it. I might be the worst thing that had ever happened to you – but right now I'm the best you've got. So I'd advise you against treating me like shit or else you will really be alone."
Naruto watched her silently before hanging his head. "Kyuu, shit… I… I know. I'm sorry, I just…"
"No, just forget it," Kyuubi shook her head dismissively. "I'm sorry; that came out a bit harder than I intended —"
"No, I was wrong to say that," Naruto cut in softly. "See, it's just that –"
"NARUTO-BAKA!!!! GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE NOW!!!"
Both Naruto and Kyuubi scowled towards the front door, where Sakura was currently banging persistently on the front door – which had just been replaced.
Kyuubi snarled. "I swear to fucking god, if that girl breaks that front door again…"
"…I'm going to fucking kill her," Naruto finished, equally fuming.
Kyuubi looked at him out of the corner of her eye to see him angrily pull himself out of bed and storm out of his room. She curiously followed him out.
"Naruto…?" She called out hesitantly.
"I've just had enough of this," Naruto spat, turning to look at Kyuubi. "I'm just so fucking sick of being treated like shit by her, and being walked all over on by people."
"BAKAAAA!" She bellowed again.
"Sakura, shut up, I'm coming," Naruto growled loudly at the door. "Jesus fucking Christ."
She watched in admiration as Naruto flung open the door to reveal a staggered looking Sakura. Kyuubi let out a soft chuckle. Honestly, it was about fucking time.
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