Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dancing Kitsune ❯ the fox knows best ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Marshmallows ate my ownership. Therefore, I own nothing.

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Gaara had never been patient with children, even when he had been a child himself.

The proposition of having to actually play a larger version of hide and seek played with three children was something he had hoped to never have to take.

He sighed as the three children vanished into the " hustle and bustle" of the village, knowing full well that all three would most likely not be able to hide from him even if they had actually learned to hide at all.

He began to pace a little, biting his lip.

When had his father decided to remarry again?

He hadn't remembered the event clearly, due to his occasional black outs…

True, there had been a few moments when his sister and brother had tried to explain the event to him, but he had ignored them.

It wasn't like he actually planned to get married anyway, he had reasoned with himself, so there hadn't been any more need for him to actually pay attention to the event at all.

Besides, it hadn't been that big of an event in the first place…

There hadn't been much in the way of scenery for a wedding, and it HAD been six years prior. It wasn't exactly current.

He stalked around the first building he came to and found himself staring rather dully at the terrified face of his new mother, a woman who appeared to have married his father only for his influential powers. She was tall and slim, with the sleekness of a weasel and the smile of a hawk; she was a woman he didn't like and didn't find all that interesting.

She stared at him, eyes beady and darting, looking at him like she had seen a snake crawl up his nose.

He tried to go around her, not wanting to waste his breath on her but found it impossible when she raised herself up to her full height like a cobra, staring him down.

" What are you doing back here?" She asked smoothly.

Gaara glared at her, making her waver a little.

" I'm here because I want to be here. It's not like you could stop me if you tried anyway… out of my way you stupid woman." He pushed past her, nearly sending her into a wall.

She gathered herself up, drawing a kunai out of a pocket.

" Who are you looking for?" She asked, edging toward him.

Gaara tried to ignore her further, searching quickly for any signs of the children who had suckered him into playing their little game, but found it impossible when the woman darted forward in an attempt to slash him with the kunai.

He batted her away with a flourish of sand, sending her stumbling head over heels into the farthest wall, unconscious.

With a harassed sigh, Gaara turned and stared at the wall, seeing a small crack in the side that seemed to separate a rather child sized panel from the wall itself.

Had he not been relieved to have found the first of the three children, he would have scoffed at the rather obvious look to the hiding place.

Stalking forwards, he grabbed the board the wretched it from the wall-

A large hole appeared from under the board, revealing that it had in fact been a patch holding the place together.

Gaara's left eye twitched viciously.

" If that wasn't them…" he growled, hands finding their way to his hips yet again.

He looked around the street and noticed that a grey rock sitting beside a rotten, almost falling over food stand was shivering.

Crossing his arms, he stomped over to the rock, picking it up as it tried to scuttle away.

The little boy with red hair peeked up at him, eyes wide and saucer like.

Gaara locked eyes with the boy.

" One down… two to go." He said softly, lips organizing themselves into a frown.

The little boy gulped, shrinking away from Gaara with a look of complete fear plastered across his face.

Gaara pointed at the front of the main house with one finger, casting a small ball of sand in the direction.

" Go the front door and wait there."

The little boy nodded, slinking off with his body as close to the ground as he could get.

Grumbling to himself, Gaara started off down the next street.

Not even twenty minutes later, both Naruto and the little red headed girl were standing along with the little boy, all three standing in embarrassment before Gaara, who obviously wasn't all that astonished by their " hiding skills".

He frowned and crossed his arms, glaring at the trio.

" You three… hid…" he grimaced, choosing his words carefully despite the fact he wanted nothing to do with the small children; he knew the moment he tried to tell them that they were the worst " ninja's" he'd ever see they would burst into tears.

" You hid well… for little children." He managed to spit out.

The three stared up at him in awe, having suspected nothing good from Gaara's opinion.

" Really?" Naruto gasped, clapping his hands together excitedly. The blond ran forwards and attached himself to Sand ninja's legs, giggling excitedly.

Gaara's shoulders slumped in defeat.

He had only been around the boy for a few days and already he was giving up on trying to be angry with the boy.

He dropped one hand down slowly, hesitating, and then ruffled Naruto's head.

Perhaps things weren't as bad as he had first suspected.

At least Naruto hadn't caused him to get maimed or injured in any way…

Yet.

The brother and sister looked timidly to Gaara, confused and frightened by the older boy.

Naruto laughed excitedly, grabbing Gaara by the hand to pull him back toward the pair; he grabbed the little girl's hand and pulled her forward to hug Gaara's leg and then pulled the other boy forward.

" See? He's not mean! He's nice." The blonde said, pleased.

Gaara sighed again, regretting showing kindness to the trio.

I should have stayed at home instead of going to get Naruto, he thought, shaking his head.

The two tiny red headed children squeaked and darted back behind Naruto, peeking out at Gaara from behind his shoulders.

" Are you sure that's Gaara?" the little girl whispered, shaking.

The little boy nodded in agreement, hanging on to Naruto, who stared unblinkingly at Gaara.

He scratched his head confused.

" I don't get it. Why don't you believe what you see?" He asked.

Gaara sighed again, moving forward to rest a hand on Naruto's head.

" Look. I don't get along with my family and it's understandable. I kill people when I don't like them and I don't like my family… I would have killed them, if it wasn't for the simple fact that I don't kill family, even if they do annoy me." He leered that the children, making them back up further, clutching at each other.

" Besides… my father has sent enough assassins to make me wary of dealing with family, and I don't like their mother one bit. So let's just leave it at that…"

Gaara frowned suddenly.

" Damn it. I was planning to do something today…"

Naruto stared ashamedly at the taller man, lower lip set out, pouting.

Gaara let out an exasperated sigh and fell forward to his knees, taking Naruto's chin in his hands, unsure if he was doing the right thing.

" Look. Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." He said, unable to think of anything other then random profanities that he would have loved to shout at the child just for the sake of being able to speak as he wanted to.

Naruto smiled and pushed Gaara's hands away, wrapping his arms around the startled man's neck, hanging off him.

" Ok!"

The sister and brother pair bowed suddenly.

" We have to go now. Bye Naruto.."

They darted off, vanishing into the village, leaving Naruto and Gaara staring off after them in confusion.

Naruto looked up at Gaara, smiling a little.

" What can we do now? I want to go get something to eat- is there any Ramen around here?" he asked quickly.

Gaara sighed and shook his head.

" There isn't really much of anything here that's in any way edible. I can look around-" he cursed in his head, realizing that he was actually proposing to get food for someone other then himself.

Naruto's face fell in dismay.

" No Ramen? That's horrible. Your town must be in really bad shape." He said.

Gaara smacked himself in the head, trying not to clench and unclench his hands.

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Sasuke Uchiha slammed his fist down on his coffee table in utter rage.

Kakashi and Sakura stood on the other side of the table, each with faces of annoyance and anger that equalled Sasuke's.

" He left! Again!" Sasuke snarled, nearly over turning the table as he fumed with unsuppressed viciousness to his furniture.

Kakashi nodded, tucking Icha Icha paradise away in a pouch hanging from his belt.

" Looks like it. I forgot that he gets finicky when he gets denied something… But it didn't occur to me that he would actually leave the house without leaving some note to say where he was planning on going. It's not safe wandering around with Orochimaru still out there, lurking about like some damned stalker."

Sakura nodded, shaking her head when she saw a large pile of dirty laundry laying on the couch.

" I thought he would be mad, but I didn't think he was stupid enough to go wandering off by himself-" she growled, kicking a pair of dirty pants off the couch nearest her so she could sit down without fear of contamination.

Sasuke grimaced, clenching his fists.

" I told you we should have come back to take him with us - we could have taken care of him even if it would have made the entire mission more dangerous, it was after all only the assassination of that fat man who didn't even have any body guards. The only challenging part of it was getting in the village in the first place - Kakashi Sensei, we have to find him before dead last gets himself killed." Sasuke said.

Kakashi nodded in agreement.

" The only problem with this entire disappearance is the fact that there was no one who saw him leave in the first place. I asked Iruka to look out for Naruto the day we left and he didn't say anything about him being missing. Maybe he set something up - " he frowned suddenly when Naruto walked into the room, scratching his head and yawning.

" Naruto. Where the hell did you go-" Sasuke snarled, lunging forward to grab the blond by the shirt.

Immediately, Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, crumbling in Sasuke's hands like a broken plate.

Sasuke's eye widened with shock.

" Well, at least we know why Iruka didn't notice Naruto gone." Kakashi said with a sigh, scratching his head.

" That idiot must have known that we would have had someone watching out for him while we were away! He planned this thing out! If it weren't Naruto, I wouldn't be so surprised." Sakura grumbled grumpily.

" What surprises me about this," Kakashi said, shaking his head again, " is the fact that he managed to convince Iruka that it was him. He's gotten better at his shadow replications… he's stronger then I thought he was…"

Sasuke stared blandly at his teacher, unsure why he was feeling so angry with Kakashi.

" You mean you didn't know he could do something this convincing?" The black haired man said, lips curling into a slight sneer.

Kakashi nodded.

" I knew he had mastered the technique to a level that even I haven't been able to achieve, but I didn't think he had made it quite so far in such a sort amount of time. We'll just have to track him down and drag him back here. It's probably not very hard. All we have to do is stop at every Ramen stand in the area and they should have seen him wandering around somewhere. I just hope this little wild goose chase doesn't lead us to someone we don't need to meet."

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Kazekage, the leader of the hidden village of sand sat rigidly behind a screen of bamboo. He looked at the tall snake like man who was sitting calmly in his private rooms with a look of amusement plastered on his face.

His wife sat beside him, pressing him to begin the meeting, not liking the snake like man very much.

With a chuckle, Kazekage smiled.

" Orochimaru, I am saddened to say that you have failed in your mission to kill off my older children. You missed one." He said lightly, as if what he had just said was no more horrible then saying that he had just had his cat pulled out of a tree.

Orochimaru frowned, but retained a glazed look in his eyes; he examined a fingernail lazily, ignoring the pressuring look Kazekage's wife was giving him.

" That's not my fault. The little brat escaped when I was with a business partner; I thought you said that he wouldn't come back after the little game I put him through. You lied." He said calmly, almost bored with the entire meeting.

Kazekage sent him a dark look and crossed his arms in disapproval.

" you said you would get the job done and you failed; the requirements we made to join the hidden village of sound haven't been fulfilled, therefore we no longer have any business to attend to. That is, unless you have decided to continue with your broken off game. If you kill Gaara, the hidden village of sand will join you again in your fight with the hidden leaf village."

Orochimaru smiled greasily, as if his lips were made of oil.

" really? That's all I have to do? Kill off your little demon son, and you'll give me your hand in this war? I find it amusing that you would join for such a low price. What's the problem? You haven't gone soft on me, have you?"

Kazekage snorted bitterly.

"all I want is the main house back from that little brat; that's all I need to get rid of to make my village strong enough to meet your requirements."

Orochimaru chuckled, standing up; he dusted off his pants and then turned his back to the pair.

" I'll do it. I'll kill your little miscreant son, but there is one thing I would like to do while I'm here in your village. I have noticed that the myth of the maiden of sand has been revealed in it's splendour, and I would like to find the child it chose to awaken it's powers… if that's not a problem with you of course, Kazekage." He said.

Kazekage nodded, waving Orochimaru away.

" Fine. Do what you like, but do not hurt my youngest children. They are young and little, red heads, and I don't want you killing them by mistake. They are important in the survival of this village and if you dare to kill them, I will be forced to have you killed."

Orochimaru laughed shrilly, throwing his head back in glee.

He threw open the door and slid out into the village of sand, whistling to himself.

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Gaara sighed and began to rummage around the kitchen of the main house, searching for food that would satisfy the small child he had been cursed with.

Naruto was sitting on the kitchen table; legs dangling elf like, kicking back and forth while he waited for Gaara to finish what he had been doing.

Gaara threw a pack of old mouldy Ramen noodles into the garbage, finding a fresh pack stuck behind a metal can of coffee grounds. He pulled it out and grabbed an old metal kettle, throwing it on to the stove.

" Alright. I've got your damned noodles Naruto. Now what the hell do I do with them?" he growled, scratching his head.

He had never made instant Ramen noodles before and was at a loss of what to do. Sure, he'd read the instructions that were printed on the side, but they weren't all that helpful, considering they were in some language he couldn't read very well.

He had managed to pick out a few key phrases, such as " bring noodles to boiling water" but he didn't know what they ment by it at all.

For all he knew, they could have been telling him to put the damned noodles IN the kettle.

He shook his head in disgust, vowing to track down the maker of the noodles so that he could behead the person.

Naruto grinned at him, slipping from the table to drop carefully to the ground.

" I know what to do! You have to boil the water, and then you pour the boiling water into the cup up to the little funny line that the put in it; you have to wait for five minutes for it to cook." He said excitedly, grinning from ear to ear with his utter brilliance.

Gaara sighed and tossed the Ramen cup onto the counter, grabbing the kettle so he could drag it over to the sink. He turned the tap and found no water trickling from its tiny spout.

He frowned.

Great, he thought. Just what he needed…

Now he would have to go to the well outside to get water; this ment he would have to either leave Naruto in the kitchen, or drag the boy with him.

Neither option pleased him.

Sighing laboriously, he turned and yanked the kettle from the sink.

" Alright. We have to go to the well outside to draw some water… so much for " instant" noodles." He grumbled.

Naruto grinned and grabbed his free hand, pulling the disgruntled sand ninja toward the door.

Unfortunately, the moment they made it to the well, they found someone waiting for them.

Orochimaru smiled gleefully to the pair, arms crossed in delight.

He was sitting on the edge of the well, resting his back against a wooden beam that seemed to be holding the entire bucket apparatus up.

" Well well. It's a pleasant surprise to find you again Gaara… and who's this? The little one looks so familiar to me…" he cooed.

Gaara dropped the kettle, ushering Naruto behind him, holding his hands out.

" you're not going to get Naruto, you sick weirdo." The sand ninja hissed protectively.

Orochimaru blinked in surprise.

" What? That's Naruto?" he stared at the little boy hiding behind Gaara's legs and nearly fell over laughing.

" That's wonderful! The little runt is the one I was looking for… and to think, he's with you… now I can kill two birds with one stone." He laughed.

Naruto peeked out from behind Gaara's leg, staring at Orochimaru as if he had never seen the man in his entire life. The boy looked up at Gaara expectantly, wanting to know who the strange man was.

When Gaara didn't say, Naruto darted out from behind his legs and stopped in front of Orochimaru, looking up at him with a look of awe and wonder on his face.

" who are you?" he asked.

Gaara moved forward to pull him back, but found himself unable to move.

Orochimaru smiled thinly at Gaara, then looked curiously down at Naruto.

" you really don't know who I am? That's surprising… I thought you would have remembered me… oh well. I, little one, am Orochimaru." He said.

Naruto looked up at him, blinking innocently.

" Orokimaro?" he asked timidly.

" no, " Orochimaru sighed.

" Orochimaru."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him and blew a loud raspberry, crossing his chubby arms.

" Your name's too long. It's Orochi now!" He said.

Orochimaru's left eye twitched a little; he shook his head sadly and turned his attention back to Gaara, who was glaring hatefully at him.

" You, my delicious little sand ninja, are the last thing I have to kill in order to get my ultimate plan on the road to victory… though, I must add, I never suspected you would so foolishly wander back into my hands." He rose, starting forward as he pulled a kunai out of his pocket.

" Now, you die..." he growled.

Naruto kicked him in the shin and stomped on Orochimaru's foot fiercely, running back to Gaara's side.

Wincing, Orochimaru glared at the little boy.

" You little runt. I'll skin you alive." He hissed, his tongue darting out of the corner of his mouth, licking his lips.

Naruto simply stared at him, blinking innocently, unmoving as he stared blankly at the well.

Orochimaru frowned, turning to look at the well, raising an eyebrow in frustration when he saw nothing.

He shrugged his shoulders, starting toward the little boy when Naruto pointed calmly at the well again.

" Look Gaara! It's a baby fox!" he squeaked excitedly.

Orochimaru turned again and looked in the direction Naruto was looking, scratching his head in a rather un-orochimaru like manner.

" A fox? What are you babbling about little leaf ninja? I don't see anything." He grumbled.

Gaara tried to move, struggling to work his limbs out of their trapped stance and failed. He couldn't move an inch.

He had to protect Naruto at all costs.

If the boy were killed it would be on his conscience…

Perhaps, the first thing that had actually triggered his conscience in the first place, he thought sadly.

Naruto began to jump up and down in his place, gesturing wildly.

" it's right there! On the ledge of the well! It … It wants me to follow it!"

the small blond ran forward and scrambled up to the edge of the well, nearly falling down when Orochimaru grabbed him by the leg, holding the startled boy upside down by the foot.

" What are you talking about? There's no fox there, and the moment you try to follow it down that well you'll be as good as dead - mind you, I shouldn't care about it… but I prefer to kill people myself. Letting you drown or crack your skull open would be too easy a death to satisfy me." The sound ninja said softly.

Naruto kicked and flailed in Orochimaru's grasp, struggling to get free when something attacked the man, biting his leg hard.

Shocked, he nearly dropped the boy when he looked down and saw a small nine tailed yellow coloured fox attached to his leg.

He raised an eyebrow, kicking the creature away; he turned Naruto right side up and held the boy under his arm gingerly.

" so he wasn't lying… that's intriguing… perhaps we shall have to follow this tiny fox as you said… it would buy you two a little time…" he said, sounding bored.

Naruto struggled in his grasp, tears of anger streaming down his face.

" let me go!" he bawled, scrunching up his face in dismay.

Gaara's inner demon flared awake, breaking the spell that had been placed on his limbs in flair of power.

" Hand the boy over, Thief." The demon hissed through his lips, taking control almost as if it were protecting Naruto.

Orochimaru frowned, kicking the tiny fox away as it tried to bite him for the second time, making it roll backwards into Gaara's feet.

Gaara ignored it, the demon having taken over his body.

" Give the boy back." He snarled, louder this time.

" Why should it?" Orochimaru purred, delighted by the change exhibited by the sand ninja.

He twirled the kunai around one finger, taunting the sand ninja with all of his might.

The fox yapped viciously, darting forward at break neck speed. It shimmered and began to grow, towering now above Orochimaru, teeth sharp as knives. It snapped at him and nearly took off the startled man's head with its rage.

Gaara's inner demon smiled full force; the veins on his forehead began to pulsate lightly; he clenched his fists and began to stalk forwards.

Dodging the fox again, Orochimaru tossed Naruto through the air, right to the fox as it snapped.

The tiny boy shrieked as the fox's mouth snapped shut, the teeth dropping down to sever the child in half -

Naruto dropped through the fox, landing lightly on the ground with tears streaming down his face.

Orochimaru smiled.

" I had a feeling the bloody thing was a illusion… " He tossed the kunai and it passed through the fox, landing in the ground inches away from Naruto's face.

Gaara lunged forwards and grabbed the crying boy, tucking him under one arm protectively. The demon released its hold and instantly, it was Gaara who urged the surrounding sand up to envelope the sound ninja, trying to perform his desert coffin.

Orochimaru batted the sand away, laughing shrilly at the attempt.

" That's a piss poor attack and you know it. You'll never defeat me with something as vulgar as that." He chuckled and then froze, eyes wide and pupils dilated.

" no…" he said, shaking his head roughly, sending his hair flying back and forth in rage, swatting with his hands at his face as if seeing something trying to attack him.

Confused, Gaara stared at Orochimaru, watching the man shriek and shout in rage, attacking something that wasn't there.

The fox vanished in a waver of smoke, vanishing down the depths of the well.

" Get off me! You damned wench! Get off me!" Orochimaru shrieked, tearing at his face.

Naruto wiggled free from Gaara's grasp and ran over to the struggling man, grabbing his leg to Gaara's astonishment.

" Oi! Stop that! There's nothing there Orochi!" the blond squeaked, tugging at Orochimaru's pant leg roughly.

Orochimaru snarled and continued to swat at the invisible thing that was attacking him, dropping to his knees.

Naruto reached up and touched the adults face; Orochimaru froze.

" Stop it! You'll hurt yourself." Naruto said.

Gaara swooped forward and tried to grab Naruto when Orochimaru waved him away.

" You have nothing to fear from me at this moment… we now have a common enemy…" Orochimaru said thickly, as if being drunk.

" Whom are you talking about?" Gaara growled, standing over Naruto protectively.

Orochimaru smiled thinly, picking Naruto up gently.

He held the boy against his chest and gestured to a faint hazy black glow that was ascending to the heavens from Kazekage's dwelling.

" Your father has tricked us all… he is using Naruto and I as pawns… he has joined forces with Itachi Uchiha… and released the sand dragon of darkness… the king of monsters…" Orochimaru shook his head in dismay.

" That little rat bastard lied to me. He said that he wouldn't dare to release that damned creature… it's a forbidden jutsu, if you're wondering." He turned and gestured to the black in the sky with a look of disdain on his face.

Gaara's face pailed to the colour of cold milk.

He clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes at he strange fog that was spreading out all over the village.

" What do we do now?" he asked, nervously watching the smoke.

Orochimaru smiled sadly.

" We go down that well, just like Naruto's little fox friend told us to. If we don't, then that fog shall transform us all into the creatures harboured in our very souls… permanently. The water will throw it off… but there is still the chance of half transformation…" he grabbed Gaara's arm and stared directly into the sand ninja's eyes.

" do you understand? That Uchiha fool will curse us all…" he jumped lightly into the well with Naruto held against him, calling up to Gaara as he did.

" Jump if you want to live."

Gaara took one last look at the fog as it swarmed toward him and then hurled himself down the well without looking back.

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T.B.C