Prologue

It was cold. The sky was clear, and the early morning air carried with it the sweet scent of flowers from the lower slopes of the mountain, the trees rustled pleasingly and everything, for a moment, seemed at peace.

The monastery was small with only three main buildings. The one at the centre, where the faint path led up to, was used for sparring and meditation, the second building, with the same base design of a rectangle with wooden walls and floors but smaller, and a sloping roof of clay tiles, was used for sleeping and the preparing of meals, with its own stove and such inside of it, all wood-fired. The final building was still only a single story, and was used to store the weapons and such inside of itself.

Behind the third building was a large clearing, used for sparring and training when the weather permitted it. At its edge sat a single peach tree, only just coming into blossom as the air warmed and the world turned its thoughts to spring and the rebirth of life.

At the base of the tree Naruko sat, dressed in her attire of loose white trousers and a jacket, of a sort, tied around the middle with a dark blue sash. She sat in the lotus position, focusing her attention inward totally, seeking to alter her own flow of chi and mesh it with the world around her, to draw in its energies and contain it, she still had to contain the spirit inside of her own soul after all.

She had been at the monastery, alone, for the better part of a decade now, and since her first day she had fixed it up and trained near sixteen hours a day, to the point of near exhaustion, until she at least partially mastered the various techniques she had seen playing in the Kyubi's own mind, of a time when ninjas were nothing more than myth and legend, and humans that captured spirits were killed for such insolence.

That had changed quickly.

But now she had attained a level of detachment from the material world, and her own past. She belonged in the moment, there was only ever the moment. So the days passed in relative quiet, save for the occasional fleeting glimpse of the spirits that were beginning to gradually appear to her.

Chapter One

"Goodbye"

Naruko watched as her temporary student walked away from her, back down the slope to the life she had left behind almost a year ago now. Naruko had trained her as best she could, but in the end she couldn't, in good conscience, teach her how to better kill people, that was not something she was prepared to do. Despite her detachment from the affairs of the world she had no need or want to spread hatred and death.

"Are you sure that's wise?" a voice asked her and Naruko looked to her side to see a little girl looking up at her, her hands tucked in the sleeves of her kimono, a simple floral piece. The young girls golden eyes looked after the girl that had taken her leave

"She has honour enough to not betray me, Feng, you should know that" Naruko replied softly before turning away and heading back inside

The young girl grinned as a tail appeared from under her kimono

"Of course Naruko-sama" she replied in a sultry tone of voice that Naruko ignored as she stood in the centre of her home and began to slowly move through some of her basic katas

"Shall I prepare tea?" Feng then asked and Naruko opened her eyes slowly while breathing out

"That won't be necessary, I will be leaving in a few days" she said and Feng looked at her closely

"Are you sure that's wise, Naruko-sama?"

"I am, Feng, I cannot understand the world without seeing it for myself"

"If you say so, I shall collect some provisions for you" she said before vanishing, leaving Naruko alone to sink into the depths of her mind once again.

She slipped in easily enough, many years of practise made such a state of mind simple to attain for her. Appearing before a cage of white she walked up to the door and looked into the depths of the blackness

"You again" a voice came out from the darkness, a pair of blood red eyes opening to gaze at Naruko

"Yes" Naruko replied simply, sitting in front of the cage and closing her eyes, as was her routine every time she came here, where her own real demon dwelt

"You should let me out, you've restored my mind after all" the voice said as a figure began to emerge from the darkness

"Feng would also like that, but that will not happen" Naruko replied softly, the white bars of the cage growing wider as she focused, becoming stronger to prevent the force they held in check from breaking free

"Why not?" the creature asked, clear anger in its tone

"You are too dangerous, it would be wiser to gather you all again, and seal you all away permanently" Naruko told the beast as it took the form of a woman with long black hair and beautiful features that seemed to shift constantly, trying to tempt Naruko through a basic illusion, its shifting nature belying the creatures inability to find a single thing to attract Naruko to it.

"You would never be able to" the woman said confidently, gazing down at Naruko disdainfully

"I disagree, I have already stabilised your existence, sealing you permanently would be difficult, but shattering you would not be. You would take several decades to return" she said and the creature sniffed

"You won't do it, the other humans would stop you"

"True, they are…difficult at the best of times" she said and the beast smirked

"It appears you are not that stupid after all"

"Feng could not trick me, you cannot trick me. You refuse to help me despite everything, so I cannot let you leave" she said and the beast suddenly changed, a massive blood-red fox filling the cage as its claw shot out, halted only by the bars on the cage.

Naruko sighed

"You never learn. Very well" she said as she stood and held out a hand "I will isolate you again, may you sleep well" she said, and the bars blurred together, shattering the claw, which vanished into black particles that were swiftly absorbed by the white energy of the cage.

"Damn you!" the demon roared

"Sleep" Naruko commanded "sleep again, Kyubi , when you awake we will talk again" she said and gradually the sounds behind the bars grew less and less until silence reigned.

With her talk concluded, Naruko walked away from the cage, opening her eyes to face Feng who was watching her with a small smile.

"Yes Feng?" Naruko asked her

"Well?"

"Nothing has changed, Feng, you know that" she said and Feng looked disappointed for a moment before shaking herself out of it

"Shall we leave?" she asked energetically and Naruko smiled softly, petting Feng who practically purred at the attention

"Tomorrow Feng, tomorrow" she said and Feng nodded, looking happy at being petted.

For all their power, foxes were rather helpless, in some respects, when it came to monks and others that knew of their existence, though only those who could use Chi were really a threat to them, even ninjas did very poorly, since their methods of dealing with illusions were rather barbaric at best.

"Shall I make dinner then?" Feng asked and Naruko nodded

"If you wish" she said and Feng ran off, briefly shifting into her fox form to run faster into one of the buildings.

Naruko leaned back under the peach tree and gazed through its trees up into the night sky, thinking back of things long since past.

She had found Feng a few years ago now. The young, relatively speaking, fox had been caught in a trap laid out by hunters of the village beneath the mountain, she had called out for help and Naruko had been walking past the area on her way to the small village to beg for food once again that week.

She had entered the clearing and found a young, beautiful woman. She had approached but made no move to aid the woman, she sensed something off with the flow of Chi in the area, and realised that such a trap should not have caught a woman in its maw. They had spoken briefly and Feng had revealed her true nature after Naruko accused her of being such a creature. From then Naruko had spontaneously noticed Feng in the area, gradually things had been done before Naruko could get to them. The path was always swept, the floors cleaned, breakfast had even been made several times and left next to her bed.

A few months afterwards and she had called out to Feng, offering to take her in, and revealing her own nature. Feng had accepted, partly out of debt for the help Naruko had lent her and partly out of a health dose of respect for a human so disciplined, and a container of her peoples most powerful member.

Feng was cheeky, and still sought to pull Naruko from the righteous path and divert her attention, but loyal and had even defended Naruko when she had been attacked by a couple of bandits who thought robbing a monk would gain them something.

Tomorrow morning she would descend her mountain home to visit the lands she had left over decade ago now, she would stop in the town, to help them with whatever they needed, and then she would take her leave, she knew she could entrust the monastery to the few nature spirits that darted from her sight in the early mornings, more foxes no doubt.

The next morning she stood ready to leave. With a bowl for begging, a pouch of herbs and ointments, a few pieces of meat in her pack and the clothes on her back. She slipped on her large straw hat, and picked up her staff before looking down at the fox at her feet

"Lets go Feng" she said before turning to the monastery

"I'll entrust this place to you until I return" she said to the air before walking away, moving down the worn stone steps towards the small village at the foot of the tall climb.

As she walked she took slow breaths and stretched her mind to its limits to view the flow of Chi around her, she could feel the other spirits watching them leave the monastery, some even appeared sad to see her leave. But nonetheless she carried on walking until she arrived at the village, some of the villagers were already out, moving around, hunters were preparing to leave and the farmers were talking amongst themselves

"Naruko-Shishou" a villager said, bowing her head in respect as Naruko smiled kindly and touched her head lightly, blessing her as best she could, she did not believe she had any divine powers, but the villagers thought differently and so she played along, it brought them peace, and sometimes that was enough.

"Good morning everyone" she said as the children gathered around her as she lay her hand on each and every one of them "Feng" she called out and the fox leapt up to her shoulder, the kids looked at it before deciding it was cute and starting to play with Feng who went along with it

"Are you going somewhere, Naruko-shishou?" a farmer asked and Naruko nodded

"It is time for my travels" she confirmed and they looked at one another

"Well, we'll miss you here Naruko-shishou, I know some of the other villages were looking forward to having a real monk to take the festivals" he said and Naruko bowed her head apologetically

"I apologise, I trust, though, your daughter has been well since last winter?" she asked and the man beamed

"Certainly Naruko-shishou, that ointment you used cleared that nasty infection right up, she's still a bit off, but shes alive" he said and Naruko nodded

"That is good"

She spent some time conversing with the villagers, playing with the children by showing them some tricks using Chi, which amused them to no end. But as the sun climbed higher into the sky she bid them farewell

"Goodbye" she called over the shoulder, the villagers chorusing it back along with numerous other statements. With a small smile she picked up Feng, holding her in one arm, and carried on walking towards the next village down the road.

This one is very short due to a lack of time on my part, and the other one I was planning for release isn't quite done yet, so that might be a day ortwo.