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The Pink Fox Chapter 1: Lost and Found
Here is the second chapter. It's 90% done. The plot is basically set, but I plan on editing a bit before posting on FF.net =
The Pink Fox Chapter 2: Untitled --Click here to view--
“S-sakura?!”
Sakura, now a pink fox, stopped untangling herself from the human’s soccer jersey and looked up. The male’s facial expression was comical, big blue eyes widened in shock, his mouth hanging open revealing a set of teeth that were unimpressive from the standards of a fox.
Sakura sighed before leaping daintily out of the pile of human clothes and onto the wooden floor. Her fox form, while more familiar, came with its own disadvantages. She should have warned him before she changed back but the transformation always left her slightly disoriented. The human walked closer to her and Sakura sat back, sniffing the air appreciatively. She was hungry, she could smell eggs and she’d like those now, thank you very much.
The human quickly got the hint and knelt down placing one of the plates on the floor. Sakura leapt onto all fours and began eating the egg mixture.
“This is just too weird.”
Sakrua didn’t think it was weird. Magic, specifically curses, seemed to operate as inconveniently as possible.
“I think I’ve finally gone crazy. I must’ve hit my head or somethin’ and I’m in a coma right now—ouch! Sakura-chan bit me!”
Sakura didn’t know why the human sounded so offended, she was helping him out wasn’t she? “Okay, so I guess I’m not dreaming. But I’m talking to a talking fox…well not really; I’m talking to a fox that turns into a human that talks is probably better and—ow!”
Sakura would have rolled her eyes if it were physically possible. It seems her human savior was a bit dense and in need of training. But babbling was a lot better than other reactions she had received from humans who witnessed her curse. She had long since become inured to slurs of ‘witch’ or ‘demon’. She had also learned how to evade the inevitable attacks that followed. Sakura signed again, lying down the ground, the weight of her curse suddenly hitting her full force.
“Sakura-chan, you okay? Is your leg hurting you?”
Thanks to the human, her leg was not debilitating but the dull ache in her chest made it slightly hard to breathe. She was tired of running, tired of always being on guard from predators both human and animal.
There was an unfamiliar weight near the top of her head. It took a second to realize that it was the human scratching the back of her ears. She let herself sink into the warm tingling sensation sighing softly.
“Hey Sakura-chan, we’ll find your mate,” he said, “You can count on me.”
After being rejected and almost killed repeatedly because of her curse, Sakura had stopped reaching out to humans. She knew that placing her trust in this one putting her in a vulnerable position. ‘But,’ Sakura thought as she pushed her head into the human’s warm hands. ‘Maybe this one is different.’
Naruto was nearly a half hour late to his first class and it went downhill from there. He was totally out to lunch during the rest of his classes. His notes, covered in snatches of lecture and doodles of foxes, were equally as useless. He was so far removed from his surroundings he couldn’t even enjoy how his behavior was throwing Professor Orochimaru for a loop. Before he knew it, classes were over and he was walking out of the lecture hall and into the busy hallway.
“Hey Naruto!”
Naruto turned to his left where Ino Yamanaka was walking purposefully down the hall to meet him. Ino was perennially prepared for anything and she made sure she looked that way from her designer black romper and patent leather boots, to her blond hair tied immaculately in a high ponytail that fell that fell down her back. Naruto opened his arms and she leaned into and up, pressing her lips against his. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, pushing her body closer to his, a hand running through her hair, letting her lips distract him from thoughts of curses and transformations.
Ino pulled back with a grin. “So Naruto,” Ino’s hand trailed down his cheek, “glad to see you back in civilization. I was starting to think you were eaten by wolves.”
“Geez Ino, the cabin’s completely safe.”
Naruto let Ino slip a hand into his and pull him out into the courtyard towards the student union. “Yeah, but can you blame a girl for worrying? You’re totally alone up there; anything could happen and no one would know until the 10 o’ clock news a week later.”
Naruto nudged her shoulder, raising his eyebrow suggestively. “I have a king sized bed you know.”
“Sorry pal, these boots were made for only walking,” Ino scoffed, rolling her hips teasingly.
She swung their arms out in a wide arc playfully before stopping abruptly, taking Naruto’s right hand in both hands. “Omigod! What happened?”
“What?” Naruto looked down to see the bite mark on his hand which had began to scab over. “Oh that was Sakura-chan.”
Ino eyes narrowed. “Who is ‘Sakura-chan’?”
Naruto reared back from Ino’s growing ire. “Whoa, it’s a fox I found in the woods. She was scared and my hand was an easy target.”
Ino shook her head, slotting her fingers between his, before resuming her walk. “Oh come on Ino,” she said, easily mimicking Naruto’s trademark cadence, “there’s nothing to worry about in the middle of nowhere. Rabies? Pshh! I’m Namikaze Naruto!”
Naruto laughed and turned around, catching Ino unawares. She stumbled onto his chest. “I’m not sure rabies is contagious,” he grinned, “wanna find out?”
Ino’s eyes widened at Naruto’s mischievous open mouthed grin, and she twisted her face away from Naruto’s lips. She shrieked playfully when Naruto’s mouth took a detour to her neck, the grazing of his teeth against her throat making her shiver slightly. Naruto pulled away quickly, looking smug. He chuckled at Ino’s reddening face. “You jerk!” she cried.
Naruto quickly jogged away laughing from Ino who followed hard in pursuit.
Sakura managed to unlatch one of the windows in the bedroom and wiggle through the small opening leading to the outside. She winced slightly and shifted her weight away from her right hind leg.
She wasn’t about to spend the entire day inside the human’s cabin, it was a better use of her time to do some exploring of her new territory.
The cabin sat on a cliff surrounded by pine trees. The cliff side cut off access from most predators (although some of the larger birds were absolutely vicious when desperate enough) but there was no finding food in that direction. Sakura wasn’t much of a climber and her leg put mountain scaling firmly out of the question.
She turned around and ran down the length of the cabin, which was larger on the inside than it seemed, to the front of the cabin where the ground began to slope downwards. She could hear the faint gurgling of running water.
She was at the bubbling creek, a mile and a half away, within minutes. The water originated from much higher up so it was cold, but Sakura drank her fill with relish. She shook herself dry and began to walk alongside the creek when the smell of citrus filled her nose.
Raising her head, she noticed that hanging high on the tree above her was a cluster of mikan fruits. The smell of the orange fruits was irresistible and Sakura found herself standing on two feet straining to reach one. Her wounded leg protested slightly but Sakura was determined to get her paws on one of the fruits. She leaped up into the air, just missing one of the lower ones.
Back on all fours, Sakura resigned herself to not having a citrusy treat when a gust of wind blew through the tree shaking one of the orange fruits loose. Sakura pounced, sinking her teeth into the sweet fruit.
Raising her head from the gored fruit she realized that the sun was beginning to set. It would probably be best to return to the cabin; Sakura didn’t want her human doing anything stupid looking for her. She was off in a flash.
A gust of wind and the sound of chimes softly rang behind Sakura’s retreating figure. The branch bearing the orange fruit dipped as a black feline appeared from the shadows.
“Interesting…it’s not every day you see a human in a vixen’s body.”
That night, Naruto stayed up to watch Sakura’s transformation. It was bizarre; at one moment Sakura was just a fox with strangely colored fur. But in the next moment, she began to glow with a white light and she seemed to step out of the light and her fox form into the pink haired girl he had woken up in the morning with.
Naruto politely lowered his eyes away from Sakura. So far, Sakura didn’t seem to mind Naruto seeing her nude, but Naruto wasn’t going to push it. “I got you some clothes from the mall today,” he pointed at the pile of neatly folded clothes on his bed.
Sakura scrutinized the clothes with a wrinkled nose before facing Naruto expectantly. “Oh, here let me show you.”
“Normally I help girls out of their clothes, so this seems a bit backwards.” Naruto remarked with a nervous chuckle as he helped Sakura into her clothes.
Sakura was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt which was a bit loose around the chest—he had figured that Sakura was around Ino’s size. The pants fit tightly but they fit and for that Naruto was relieved. “Thank you.” Sakura bowed low.
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Eh, it’s nothing! Come on, are you hungry?”
Sakura nodded and Naruto led them to where a pot was cooking on a hotplate. Sakura raised her head sniffing. “It smells good.”
“Ramen’s my specialty,” Naruto winked, reaching for the pot.
He took off the pot cover and began spooning ramen into it with a pair of chopsticks as if it were a plate. He then presented the pot to Sakura who took it carefully and then proceeded to thrust her face into it. With a gasp of pain she snapped her head back away from the steaming ramen. “Ah no,” Naruto quickly took back the cover, “here.”
Naruto took the chopsticks and with the ease of a master ramen eater twisted a thick stream of ramen. He raised up in front of Sakura. “Just blow on it.”
Sakura looked at the ramen with trepidation before blowing. Then Naruto moved the ramen to her lips. “Eat up.”
Sakura opened her mouth and slurped the ramen from the chopsticks. The wide-eyed look on her face made Naruto grin in response. He offered the pot cover and the chopsticks to Sakura who took them. She was a quick study and soon she was spooning and slurping up noodles like the best of them.
She looked up with a satisfied grin. “You have some on your face,” Naruto said, eyeing the sliver of ramen on the side of her face.
Sakura tried to find it which made her put on an adorable cross-eyed expression and Naruto found himself reaching out to brush off the stray piece of ramen without thinking. Sakura froze, her cheeks reddening slightly. “There, it’s gone.” Naruto said.
He then noticed Sakura’s expression and felt his face flush. Wiping his hands with a napkin, he quickly changed the subject. “So, your mate...”
“I must find him.”
Naruto imagined walking up to someone’s house at two a clock in the morning asking if they were missing their wife. He winced inwardly at the mental image of running away from the cops. Then again, if someone was missing their significant other they would welcome the interruption of sleep right?
“He’s the Lord of the Fire House.”
Naruto cocked his head confused. “The lord of the what now?”
“Yes,” Sakura went on as if nothing was wrong, “I was betrothed to Madara of the Fire House.”
Naruto stared at Sakura blinking. “What?”
Sakura frowned. “Are we not in Fire Country?”
“We are but I don’t think I’ve heard of anything or anyone called the Fire House, but it rings a bell…”
Naruto leaped up and made a mad dash to his backpack where he took out a sleek orange netbook. “Let’s see what this could find!”
Naruto was too focused on booting up the computer to catch Sakura’s dubious expression. “Okay, Fire House…I get a bunch of restaurants, was your mate a cook?”
Naruto looked up to see Sakura’s face. “Okay, guess not. How about Madara of the Fire House..um hey there’s a ninjapedia link.”
“The valley of the end is located in the Hokage Mountain Range between Mt. Shodai and Nidame Peak. It was the location a battle between Madara of the Fire House clan and Hashirami of the One Thousand Hands…hey I recognize that last dude—but are you sure this Madara is the same guy?”
“Yes I’m sure, why?”
Naruto looked up from his netbook. “Sakura…Hashirama of the thousand hands died three hundred years ago.”
Sakura, now a pink fox, stopped untangling herself from the human’s soccer jersey and looked up. The male’s facial expression was comical, big blue eyes widened in shock, his mouth hanging open revealing a set of teeth that were unimpressive from the standards of a fox.
Sakura sighed before leaping daintily out of the pile of human clothes and onto the wooden floor. Her fox form, while more familiar, came with its own disadvantages. She should have warned him before she changed back but the transformation always left her slightly disoriented. The human walked closer to her and Sakura sat back, sniffing the air appreciatively. She was hungry, she could smell eggs and she’d like those now, thank you very much.
The human quickly got the hint and knelt down placing one of the plates on the floor. Sakura leapt onto all fours and began eating the egg mixture.
“This is just too weird.”
Sakrua didn’t think it was weird. Magic, specifically curses, seemed to operate as inconveniently as possible.
“I think I’ve finally gone crazy. I must’ve hit my head or somethin’ and I’m in a coma right now—ouch! Sakura-chan bit me!”
Sakura didn’t know why the human sounded so offended, she was helping him out wasn’t she? “Okay, so I guess I’m not dreaming. But I’m talking to a talking fox…well not really; I’m talking to a fox that turns into a human that talks is probably better and—ow!”
Sakura would have rolled her eyes if it were physically possible. It seems her human savior was a bit dense and in need of training. But babbling was a lot better than other reactions she had received from humans who witnessed her curse. She had long since become inured to slurs of ‘witch’ or ‘demon’. She had also learned how to evade the inevitable attacks that followed. Sakura signed again, lying down the ground, the weight of her curse suddenly hitting her full force.
“Sakura-chan, you okay? Is your leg hurting you?”
Thanks to the human, her leg was not debilitating but the dull ache in her chest made it slightly hard to breathe. She was tired of running, tired of always being on guard from predators both human and animal.
There was an unfamiliar weight near the top of her head. It took a second to realize that it was the human scratching the back of her ears. She let herself sink into the warm tingling sensation sighing softly.
“Hey Sakura-chan, we’ll find your mate,” he said, “You can count on me.”
After being rejected and almost killed repeatedly because of her curse, Sakura had stopped reaching out to humans. She knew that placing her trust in this one putting her in a vulnerable position. ‘But,’ Sakura thought as she pushed her head into the human’s warm hands. ‘Maybe this one is different.’
***********************************************
Naruto was nearly a half hour late to his first class and it went downhill from there. He was totally out to lunch during the rest of his classes. His notes, covered in snatches of lecture and doodles of foxes, were equally as useless. He was so far removed from his surroundings he couldn’t even enjoy how his behavior was throwing Professor Orochimaru for a loop. Before he knew it, classes were over and he was walking out of the lecture hall and into the busy hallway.
“Hey Naruto!”
Naruto turned to his left where Ino Yamanaka was walking purposefully down the hall to meet him. Ino was perennially prepared for anything and she made sure she looked that way from her designer black romper and patent leather boots, to her blond hair tied immaculately in a high ponytail that fell that fell down her back. Naruto opened his arms and she leaned into and up, pressing her lips against his. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, pushing her body closer to his, a hand running through her hair, letting her lips distract him from thoughts of curses and transformations.
Ino pulled back with a grin. “So Naruto,” Ino’s hand trailed down his cheek, “glad to see you back in civilization. I was starting to think you were eaten by wolves.”
“Geez Ino, the cabin’s completely safe.”
Naruto let Ino slip a hand into his and pull him out into the courtyard towards the student union. “Yeah, but can you blame a girl for worrying? You’re totally alone up there; anything could happen and no one would know until the 10 o’ clock news a week later.”
Naruto nudged her shoulder, raising his eyebrow suggestively. “I have a king sized bed you know.”
“Sorry pal, these boots were made for only walking,” Ino scoffed, rolling her hips teasingly.
She swung their arms out in a wide arc playfully before stopping abruptly, taking Naruto’s right hand in both hands. “Omigod! What happened?”
“What?” Naruto looked down to see the bite mark on his hand which had began to scab over. “Oh that was Sakura-chan.”
Ino eyes narrowed. “Who is ‘Sakura-chan’?”
Naruto reared back from Ino’s growing ire. “Whoa, it’s a fox I found in the woods. She was scared and my hand was an easy target.”
Ino shook her head, slotting her fingers between his, before resuming her walk. “Oh come on Ino,” she said, easily mimicking Naruto’s trademark cadence, “there’s nothing to worry about in the middle of nowhere. Rabies? Pshh! I’m Namikaze Naruto!”
Naruto laughed and turned around, catching Ino unawares. She stumbled onto his chest. “I’m not sure rabies is contagious,” he grinned, “wanna find out?”
Ino’s eyes widened at Naruto’s mischievous open mouthed grin, and she twisted her face away from Naruto’s lips. She shrieked playfully when Naruto’s mouth took a detour to her neck, the grazing of his teeth against her throat making her shiver slightly. Naruto pulled away quickly, looking smug. He chuckled at Ino’s reddening face. “You jerk!” she cried.
Naruto quickly jogged away laughing from Ino who followed hard in pursuit.
***********************************************
Sakura managed to unlatch one of the windows in the bedroom and wiggle through the small opening leading to the outside. She winced slightly and shifted her weight away from her right hind leg.
She wasn’t about to spend the entire day inside the human’s cabin, it was a better use of her time to do some exploring of her new territory.
The cabin sat on a cliff surrounded by pine trees. The cliff side cut off access from most predators (although some of the larger birds were absolutely vicious when desperate enough) but there was no finding food in that direction. Sakura wasn’t much of a climber and her leg put mountain scaling firmly out of the question.
She turned around and ran down the length of the cabin, which was larger on the inside than it seemed, to the front of the cabin where the ground began to slope downwards. She could hear the faint gurgling of running water.
She was at the bubbling creek, a mile and a half away, within minutes. The water originated from much higher up so it was cold, but Sakura drank her fill with relish. She shook herself dry and began to walk alongside the creek when the smell of citrus filled her nose.
Raising her head, she noticed that hanging high on the tree above her was a cluster of mikan fruits. The smell of the orange fruits was irresistible and Sakura found herself standing on two feet straining to reach one. Her wounded leg protested slightly but Sakura was determined to get her paws on one of the fruits. She leaped up into the air, just missing one of the lower ones.
Back on all fours, Sakura resigned herself to not having a citrusy treat when a gust of wind blew through the tree shaking one of the orange fruits loose. Sakura pounced, sinking her teeth into the sweet fruit.
Raising her head from the gored fruit she realized that the sun was beginning to set. It would probably be best to return to the cabin; Sakura didn’t want her human doing anything stupid looking for her. She was off in a flash.
A gust of wind and the sound of chimes softly rang behind Sakura’s retreating figure. The branch bearing the orange fruit dipped as a black feline appeared from the shadows.
“Interesting…it’s not every day you see a human in a vixen’s body.”
***********************************************
That night, Naruto stayed up to watch Sakura’s transformation. It was bizarre; at one moment Sakura was just a fox with strangely colored fur. But in the next moment, she began to glow with a white light and she seemed to step out of the light and her fox form into the pink haired girl he had woken up in the morning with.
Naruto politely lowered his eyes away from Sakura. So far, Sakura didn’t seem to mind Naruto seeing her nude, but Naruto wasn’t going to push it. “I got you some clothes from the mall today,” he pointed at the pile of neatly folded clothes on his bed.
Sakura scrutinized the clothes with a wrinkled nose before facing Naruto expectantly. “Oh, here let me show you.”
“Normally I help girls out of their clothes, so this seems a bit backwards.” Naruto remarked with a nervous chuckle as he helped Sakura into her clothes.
Sakura was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt which was a bit loose around the chest—he had figured that Sakura was around Ino’s size. The pants fit tightly but they fit and for that Naruto was relieved. “Thank you.” Sakura bowed low.
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Eh, it’s nothing! Come on, are you hungry?”
Sakura nodded and Naruto led them to where a pot was cooking on a hotplate. Sakura raised her head sniffing. “It smells good.”
“Ramen’s my specialty,” Naruto winked, reaching for the pot.
He took off the pot cover and began spooning ramen into it with a pair of chopsticks as if it were a plate. He then presented the pot to Sakura who took it carefully and then proceeded to thrust her face into it. With a gasp of pain she snapped her head back away from the steaming ramen. “Ah no,” Naruto quickly took back the cover, “here.”
Naruto took the chopsticks and with the ease of a master ramen eater twisted a thick stream of ramen. He raised up in front of Sakura. “Just blow on it.”
Sakura looked at the ramen with trepidation before blowing. Then Naruto moved the ramen to her lips. “Eat up.”
Sakura opened her mouth and slurped the ramen from the chopsticks. The wide-eyed look on her face made Naruto grin in response. He offered the pot cover and the chopsticks to Sakura who took them. She was a quick study and soon she was spooning and slurping up noodles like the best of them.
She looked up with a satisfied grin. “You have some on your face,” Naruto said, eyeing the sliver of ramen on the side of her face.
Sakura tried to find it which made her put on an adorable cross-eyed expression and Naruto found himself reaching out to brush off the stray piece of ramen without thinking. Sakura froze, her cheeks reddening slightly. “There, it’s gone.” Naruto said.
He then noticed Sakura’s expression and felt his face flush. Wiping his hands with a napkin, he quickly changed the subject. “So, your mate...”
“I must find him.”
Naruto imagined walking up to someone’s house at two a clock in the morning asking if they were missing their wife. He winced inwardly at the mental image of running away from the cops. Then again, if someone was missing their significant other they would welcome the interruption of sleep right?
“He’s the Lord of the Fire House.”
Naruto cocked his head confused. “The lord of the what now?”
“Yes,” Sakura went on as if nothing was wrong, “I was betrothed to Madara of the Fire House.”
Naruto stared at Sakura blinking. “What?”
Sakura frowned. “Are we not in Fire Country?”
“We are but I don’t think I’ve heard of anything or anyone called the Fire House, but it rings a bell…”
Naruto leaped up and made a mad dash to his backpack where he took out a sleek orange netbook. “Let’s see what this could find!”
Naruto was too focused on booting up the computer to catch Sakura’s dubious expression. “Okay, Fire House…I get a bunch of restaurants, was your mate a cook?”
Naruto looked up to see Sakura’s face. “Okay, guess not. How about Madara of the Fire House..um hey there’s a ninjapedia link.”
“The valley of the end is located in the Hokage Mountain Range between Mt. Shodai and Nidame Peak. It was the location a battle between Madara of the Fire House clan and Hashirami of the One Thousand Hands…hey I recognize that last dude—but are you sure this Madara is the same guy?”
“Yes I’m sure, why?”
Naruto looked up from his netbook. “Sakura…Hashirama of the thousand hands died three hundred years ago.”
