Chapter 3

Kakashi cursed himself as he ran around the village. He had been distracted with the destruction and let down his guard. He didn't think that the fox would try to escape and now look what happened. The fox got away. He was about to run past the Uchiha compound when he stopped.

'It couldn't be in here, could it?'

He thought it was worth a check but just as he walked in, someone ran into him. Someone short. He looked down and saw Itachi carrying Sasuke and…

The kitsune.

"Itachi, why do you have the kitsune?" Kakashi asked, startled by the appearance of the Uchiha heir and his otouto with the kitsune.

"Not right now Kakashi," Itachi replied. "I need to get to the hospital."

Kakashi's eyebrows rose up in surprise.

"Why? Are you hurt?"

"I am unharmed but the kit is breathing heavy. Whatever it did cost it its heath."

Kakashi was about to ask what it did but Itachi took off running again. Kakashi started to run after Itachi. He was going to question Itachi more about what he said when an opportunity came up.

When Itachi and Kakashi ran into the hospital, they were greeted with the sight of many civilians and ninjas crying over lost loved ones and some praying that their families were alright.

Itachi walked up to the front desk with Kakashi. Before he got to the desk, Itachi placed a towel that he had snatched on the way over, on the fox. The shinobi had caught the medic-nin's eyes as soon as they walked in.

Itachi and Kakashi. The two people who wouldn't walk in a hospital unless they were fatally injured. The fact that they were here made her automatically concerned.

Itachi, knowing that he didn't have any time to spare, quickly walked up to the medic-nin.

"Do you have anyone who could take care of an animal? A fox in particular?"

The nurse shook her head.

"We don't treat animals here. You should go to the Inuzuka's. They have a veterinary clinic and specialize in canines."

Itachi didn't say anything as he turned around and ran to the clinic, careful to keep the fox's nine tails out of sight with Kakashi following diligently. Itachi wasn't stupid. Quite the opposite actually. He knew that the villagers wouldn't welcome and treat the fox kindly. Despite the obvious differences, they would think of the Kyuubi and try to kill it. He had heard that the Inuzuka family were fairly loyal and let their own eyes (and noses) judge situations. He only hoped that the rumors were true.

When he arrived at the Inuzuka's animal hospital, he immediately ran to the first person in he saw who turned out to be Inuzuka Tsume. She looked up from her work at the new arrivals. She was surprised but didn't show it on her face, after all, she was a shinobi.

"Kakashi-san. Uchiha-san," she nodded to each one as she greeted them then looked at Kakashi.

"Do you need one of your ninken looked at? With the Kyuubi attack, I wouldn't be surprised if one got hurt."

"Well actually Tsume-san, we do need you to look at an animal, just not one of my ninken."

Kakashi gestured for Itachi to show Tsume the kitsune. Itachi hesitated before unrolling the cloth the kitsune was wrapped in. Time seemed to freeze as Tsume's eyes widened. No one moved.

Itachi was getting mad. Every second counted in healing the fox but this woman just stared. Wasn't she a professional? Itachi was about to say something that would, without a doubt, have been something degrading, but stopped when Tsume took out a kunai. Itachi jumped back and shielded the kitsune the best he could with his arms while Kakashi rushed in and grabbed Tsume's arm, stopping her from getting any closer to the kitsune. Tsume started to growl.

"Kakashi. What are you doing? That's the Kyu-"

"It's not the Kyuubi," Itachi spoke up, cutting off Tsume.

"Calm down you two and just listen. Itachi's right Tsume-san. Kyuubi had the most malicious chakra, it burned any who touched it but this kitsune, its chakra is so pure that you can't help but be comforted in its presence."

Tsume looked at Kakashi, trying to tell if what he said was the truth. He seemed sincere but one could never know for sure with a shinobi.

"Fine," she finally gave in. "But I want the whole story after I finish healing him."

Kakashi let go of Tsume, but still watched her just in case, as she approached Itachi. She held her hands out for Itachi to give her the kitsune. Itachi hesitated but a whimper from the kitsune blew away any doubts. He gave her the fox and watched her walk away deeper into the clinic. Kakashi patted Itachi on the head.

"I have to report this to the Hokage. You can stay here if you like."

Itachi nodded. He wasn't going to leave until the kitsune could come with him.

Minato was smiling at him. It looked like a relatively happy smile but Kakashi knew better. He'd seen his sensei use this smile often. Mostly in council meetings. It meant he was seriously pissed off.

"Kakashi. I said to meet up with me at the hospital with the kitsune. It shouldn't have been so hard so how come you, a trained jounin, let the kitsune escape and then find it on the brink of collapse?"

Kakashi winced at the quick flashback of what he saw.

"Sorry. I was…. distracted."

Minato's eyes softened and his smile became genuine.

"It's okay Kakashi. Everyone makes mistakes. Just be grateful your mistake was small and didn't cost you your or anyone else's life."

Kakashi bowed in thanks.

"Hokage-sama. How is Kushina-san?" Kakashi asked.

Minato's face darkened.

"She's very weak. They're not sure if she'll survive or not. Most jinchuriki would die if their demon tenant was removed. Kushina's an Uzumaki so her life energy is stronger than most but she's still human."

Kakashi nodded. He could tell that Minato was worried. He wanted to reassure Minato. Tell him that Kushina would be okay but he knew that Kushina would most likely not survive. There was a slim chance though. He just couldn't imagine the hot-headed, never-give-up Kushina would be taken down by something like this but still, as Minato said before, she's only human. Kakashi decided to change the subject and continue with his report.

"The kitsune is now being watched by Inuzuka Tsume-san. Also Itachi-san has shown interest in the kitsune. I haven't confirmed what happened between them yet but it most likely has to with the kitsune's sudden lack of health. I'm not implying that Itachi attacked the kitsune. Actually I would be surprised if he did considering the way he was acting around it but something definitely happened."

Itachi, despite appearances, was not a patient person. So the fact that he had been sitting in the Inuzuka's veterinary clinic for one hour with no word from Inuzuka-san and only a sleeping Sasuke for company was not appealing to the young Uchiha. He wanted to go find the baby kitsune.

He didn't know when he became so protective of it. At first he thought that he became protective when the kit healed him but it was most likely when he first looked at its eyes.

A green unlike any color.

He wondered briefly if anything else in the world shown with that shade of green. He didn't think so. Itachi didn't know what it was about the kit's eyes that captivated him. Or maybe it wasn't the eyes. Maybe it was the kit himself. Either way, he knew that there was no leaving the kit.

Not that he wanted to.

Harry opened his Avada Kedavra green eyes to a white room. He tried to sit up but then realized he was still in his animagus form. He rolled over from his side onto his stomach and slowly stood up on shaky legs. He felt weak but his magic wasn't nearly as drained as before. For the most part he just needed sleep.

He was jerked from his thoughts when the door opened. Harry jumped slightly in surprise before he examined the woman. She seemed feral and had marks on her face.

He briefly wondered if they were tattoos or face paint.

The strangest thing though, was that she smelled like a dog. As if she was around dogs 24/7. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the kit. She tried to make her face blank of emotions but there was one that that Harry could see clearly. Suspicion.

"You're a fast healer. Kyuubi was a fast healer, too."

Harry wanted to growl. He was nothing like that fox. For one, he wasn't really even a kitsune.

"I honestly didn't know what to do with you. At first it seemed like you had chakra exhaustion but different. I tried pumping chakra into you but it would just flow around you like water. I had to bring a Hyuuga in to check what was wrong with you and although I managed to shoo him away, he'll be back with questions. Anyway, to say the Hyuuga was surprised would be an understatement. Turns out you don't have a chakra core or chakra coils. Instead you have something more like wires. And the clear energy, which apparently isn't chakra, rides on the wires not in it. And, I don't know how but you were getting your energy from nature. The next part was simple. We brought you out back and put you in a field. The grass and trees around you died. You sucked energy from the plants. I'm no Hyuuga so I didn't see what happened but apparently it was very interesting. Later, when you seemed to not be in danger of dying, I brought you in and then here we are, five hours since you arrived.

Harry blinked.

He had no idea how she said all of that in on breath or why she was explaining this to him. She stared at him as if expecting something. He stared right back.

Finally she said, "Kyuubi could talk. Can't you?"

In response Harry yipped.

"Oh," was all she said before she walked out the door.

Harry settled down, curling into a ball, deciding to sleep while he could but before he could even close his eyes, footsteps were heard rushing over and, for the second time today, the door slammed open and in walked Itachi.

Please tell me what you think. Your reviews are very important. Thank you for reading!

Description of Harry's kitsune form:

Size: (Very) Small and skinny but fluffy!

Color: Black with white tips at the end of all nine tails.

Eyes: Avada Kedavra green

Ears: Big and kawaii XD

Nose: Black

Special features: Small white lightning bolt shape spot on fur above right eye.

If anyone draws this and posts it on deviantart (and gives me a link) I will be super happy and will be more likely to post more. If not then whatever. Don't force yourself to draw it if you don't want to. (The long wait this time was because my friend said she would draw the kitsune but never did)