Woo finally! Chapter 9!

I actually planned on uploading it today because today's my birthday :D! Yea yay!

Anyways this is a little long at over 6980 words haha. Soooo freaking sorry for the delay but in addition to the gaps I accidentally made a contradiction in this chapter and needed to iron that out. Kyuubi's character became a bit more complex than I thought :P. But typos aside I don't like to upload a chapter when it is less than perfect(as I want it to be anyway lol) so I really, really hope the delay was worth it!

There's a lot more KyuuNaru bits in here. Just saying ;P. Oh and the word 'trust' is thrown around a lot because that is a big hurdle to jump haha.

Anon review reply

Y- Haha I'm gonna excuse Danzo's behavior with the fact that the consequences of Pain's attack actually stuck this time. I don't think he's happy at all about that so prepare for his extreme way of thinking to be taken to a whole new extreme! YES THANK YOU! Sakura is one of my favorite characters so getting her right is a priority! It helps that she's been a focus these last few chapters so I got more to work with haha.

heehee I figured people would like that :P. Now you get to see Kyuubi's view of what happened. Plus some bonus touching at the end ;P.(tho that is not to say the touching in sexual in nature...). THANK YOu for your review :)!

Skip andyyyy- I will always continue :D! Actually MY big hurdle is deciding where to end this monster lol. And yeah one of my worries is whether Kyuubi and Naruto's relationship develops too slow. But with this chapter I think I can strike a balance. I have numerous ideas so I should be able to have them fall in love not too quickly, but not too slowly either.

Thanks so so much for the review :D!

And that's all.

Please enjoy update 3/3!

Poor pitiful child. Kyuubi was almost embarrassed for him really. His trusting nature made this all too easy.

But Kyuubi shouldn't think that lowly of him. He is confident that all humans would have trouble seeing through his ploy. He wasn't an idiot. Humans talk about 'geniuses' often but they haven't seen him at his most clever. Due to how brief their moments together were before, it was hard for him to be manipulative towards Naruto when he had a narrow time slot. But this time around, that wasn't the case.

It was so simple. There is no way Naruto would believe him if he suddenly turned around and started buttering up to the blond. That was too far beyond the realm of possibility. But if he was mean now, waited for Naruto to inevitably do his little heroism thing, and then pretended to be 'inspired' enough to change, that just might get pass his vessel.

Who was he kidding? Might. It would definitely slip past Naruto's defenses. His vessel was an absolute sucker for the redeemed bad guy who has seen the light. He's been aching to have another Gaara in his life since the boy was revived. He wanted to save people and help them and have them join his little hugging community of redemption. After all if the demon kid could convert others to good, then he'll prove that he was good all along to those who hated and spited him in his youth.

There shouldn't be any worries now since everyone assumed Naruto killed Pain, but look at him now.

He won't be satisfied with that. Especially since it wasn't true. Combine it with the fact that Sasuke Uchiha, or the one who got away, resisted his 'be good' speech and Naruto's ego was in a fragile state right now; prime for taking advantage of. All Kyuubi had to do was resist at first, be as mean as he has been. Then once he pretended to be redeemed as a direct result of Naruto's actions, the boy's ego will inflate so much he'll be careless. He might want to add some fibs here and there about his way of thinking as a tailed beast.

Easy. Oh we tailed beast are always kind to those we are indebted to. He could think of a million little myths to say. Best part is there is no way for Naruto to verify it. Kyuubi snickered at how perfect his plan was. He actually couldn't wait to test it out. It might even be easier to rely on that than relying on countering Naruto's sealing knowledge.

That just turned his snicker into full-blown laughter because it was kind of plausible. It did take him a while to find that damn key even though, despite Naruto's whining, he only dipped his hand in there for a quick second. He did not feel him up or 'violate' him like he's sure Naruto imagined. He just carefully stretched up the waistband of Naruto's boxers, saw the key, and grabbed it. No felting up to be done.

Because ew that was too vulgar even for him. And to his vessel? And it was all too hilarious how Naruto worried about that when truthfully; Kyuubi felt the blond's torso up way more. Not out of any perversion or anything but out of excitement...because he realized the key had to be on Naruto's person if it wasn't in the bathroom.

It was 100% Naruto's fault. He was a ninja. He could've used better jutsu or thought of better ways to hide that key. If he did then Kyuubi wouldn't have had to run his hands all over Naruto's upper body while the blond snored in his ear. And then he wouldn't have been pulled into the first hug he had received in who knows how long when Naruto, in his sleep, reached an arm up and onto his back and pulled him down into a weak embrace.

Kyuubi didn't want to admit he was stunned for a few seconds. But he had to because he was stunned...because he was worried Naruto was going to wake up...Kyuubi did manage to break out of the hold when the kid started snuggling him, which in his opinion was WAY more violating than touching the blond's penis.

Naruto started to stir a little and Kyuubi quickly put a pillow in his place and that did the trick. Thinking back to that moment, Kyuubi realized that's when his pity for his vessel reached a level it had never reached before. The boy was seriously that damn lonely. He even had friends now and he could run out of this apartment and be smiled at, complimented, and viewed with admiration instead of disdain. He wasn't ignored anymore.

Even Kyuubi could see that Naruto has improved leaps and bounds from where he started as a small child. He could probably see that better than anyone, even Naruto. Deep down the kid refused to believe that things were really improving. Objectively sure he could see that, and maybe on a conscious level he seems to fully believe that. But a part him of him was terrified that beneath the smiles of his friends were people who still hated him, still feared him, and still haven't apologized for the way they treated him which may mean they don't feel sorry at all.

Kyuubi sees things differently from that part of Naruto. Incredibly enough, he sees things in a more balanced way. Humans may treat him like trash 100% of the time, but he wasn't blind to the way they treat each other. Sometimes. And if Kyuubi got along with his vessel, he'd gladly take the time to help Naruto realize that.

The fox demon snickered at how impossible the idea of getting along with Naruto was. Yeah right. He didn't believe Naruto's little 'people can change' speech for a second...Okay maybe a second but then he realized how wrong that statement was because times were much more different now than back when he was little. People can change alright, but when it comes to him they ALWAYS stay the same. To them, he's an evil power source and the only 'change' they go through in deciding whether he is meant to be controlled or killed. But if Naruto believed some ridiculous positive change was possible then why not go along with it? It was to his advantage. Especially since this sealing stuff was going to take a little longer than he first believed.

There were so many setbacks this morning. In addition to finding the key, he had to find the beginner scrolls and books as well. Naruto was smart enough to just throw everything in a messy pile and mix them up so much it wasn't possible to find the first stuff he needed to read without opening everything and looking at the first few pages. It was crafty, but it was small so of course Naruto could come up with such an idea. Kyuubi wasn't that upset over the wasted time. Much. Kyuubi then realized he was pouting and quickly stopped.

Anyways he tried to read a few books he picked up even if they were advanced, but without the former seal knowledge it was useless. He would think having Uzumakis as containers would be helpful, but thus far only Naruto's seal allowed him to see what was going on outside of his cage and it's not like spending all of those years looking at the seals holding him down did anything other than teach him what he can't do when subjected by them. Humans did too much this time really. The old man only had that one sealing move and that was it. Now humans have added so many different complications throughout the years and to keep up with Naruto he needed to understand all of it. Difficult since by the time he finished organizing the stuff and found what he needed his hunger got the best of him.

His first attempt at making his own ramen was poor as was his second. But like a trooper he ate both of those-blegh-cups. His third attempt apparently went much better but by then Naruto sat up and for some reason wouldn't lie back down. At the time he assumed the ramen was just as bad as the first two so he gave it to the blond. He was banking on the fact that he was even giving Naruto something was enough of a good, trustworthy deed. He didn't expect Naruto to actually like the food.

But oh well. Now he was stuck here, lying on the floor and doing like he has been doing; thinking, moving around, and observing. This was incredibly boring. Kyuubi thought once he was outside the seal a whole plethora of entertaining things would happen and he would never be as bored as he was in that cage. Boy was he wrong. The door was locked. He had a handle on walking, scooting, crawling, and other slow forms of motion. He knew how to stretch this body, though in his opinion that is seriously something Naruto needs to work on. He could stand to be more flexible. For all the other physical things like running and jumping, he needed a wider space and sad as he was to admit it, he too wasn't willing to expose himself while he was like this.

Kyuubi actually found himself wanting to do this mission for his own reasons other than to follow Naruto and make sure he doesn't get killed and steal the sealing scrolls. He just wanted to get out of this place and finally curb his boredom.

Luckily he didn't have to wait much longer. Naruto stepped in at that moment.

But such a pity. He didn't have bags of food with him. Kyuubi can't lie he hoped Naruto would've grabbed something.

"This place is...exactly how I left it?"

"You sound surprised."

"I thought you would mess things up since this place is clean now." Naruto raised a good point actually. Why didn't he think of making a mess? Even if Naruto forced him to clean up, a task he found tedious and annoying, it would've been something to do. Still it was something he could spin in his favor. It wasn't like he was going to let Naruto carry on thinking Kyuubi didn't think of the idea.

"I told you, I'm more responsible than you think. Did the meeting go okay?" He wasn't sure if Naruto fully believed him for the blond looked a little skeptical, but then maybe he did because he was sure Naruto couldn't think of a reason for Kyuubi's behavior beyond earning his trust. Naruto only answered the second part of his statement.

"I got the mission. Did you pack anything? Start packing now we gotta go."

Naruto then entered a trance it seemed. He moved hastily and almost robotically. Pulling out clothes, bags, sleeping stuff, toiletries...ramen, everything except the weapons and stuff which Kyuubi knew was in that training room. The demon didn't have to do anything as Naruto packed everything up himself with the efficiency of someone who's been doing the action for years now. He wasn't really content on waiting until Naruto unlocked the door to do something, but it looked like that was going to be the case. Because he tried the direct route:

"I'm bored."

And was ignored. He tried the indirect route:

"Can't you see me yawning. And scratching myself with my free hands?"

And was again ignored. Surprisingly, this annoyed him more than the other times he was ignored. Enough so that he got up and did something about it. He was about to fall on top the green bag that Naruto tying a sleeping bag to but then he noticed Naruto's open pocket. Didn't he have the key in there? And the blond was so distracted that he wouldn't notice. If he did well, at least he wouldn't be ignoring him anymore.

Kyuubi walked on over and squatted next to Naruto. Nothing, the human was entirely focused on tying up the sleeping bag. So Kyuubi reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the key and finally he got a reaction. A slightly painful reaction in the form of Naruto tightly grasping his wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"It looks like you need some help. I can grab everything you need from in there while you-"

"Forget it! You want to do something? Finish tying up this sleeping bag and tie up this tent. I'll go and pack up everything else we need," Naruto said snatching the key from an annoyed Kyuubi's fingers and standing up. Kyuubi watched Naruto make his way over to the training room and go in before concentrating on the task Naruto gave him.

Well. He did want something to do.

Even though Naruto already started the process, his clumsy fingers didn't do a very good job finishing it. Compared to the blue bag which also held a sleeping bag, Kyuubi's work looked shoddy as if done by, well, a beginner. In his defense, never in his life has he ever had to use his five fingers to tie something. As he stared at the tent Naruto wanted him to tie, wondering if his chakra tail would do a better job, he felt small bursts of chakra coming from the training room.

His suspicions on what Naruto was doing were confirmed when Naruto walked out only carrying a handful of scrolls. So Naruto was putting his knowledge of storage seals to good use? Kyuubi had to catch up quickly. If storage seals really were the most basic things to learn then it shouldn't be too difficult.

"Aw Kyuubi! That's not right geez," Naruto commented setting the scrolls down next to his pack. Kyuubi eyed them like they were a pile of raw meat. Trial and error normally wasn't a method he employed to learn things but he felt this itching urge to just try and unseal those things. But Naruto plopped down next him, silently communicating that he'd ruin any and all of Kyuubi's chances at getting to those scrolls.

"Okay look. You take this string and-" As much as Kyuubi didn't want to pay one lick of attention to Naruto's tying lesson, he had to take advantage of any and all new skill lessons for now. He watched Naruto work with half-lidded boredom-filled red eyes and before long he was thinking thoughts unrelated to Naruto's lesson. By the time the blond finished, Kyuubi forgot half of what Naruto taught him.

"And you didn't tie up the tent like I asked!" Naruto exclaimed crawling over to the tent. The blond grumbled as he started tying up the green cloth.

"Well I messed the sleeping bag up. I just didn't want to mess that up either," Kyuubi tried. Naruto snorted as he finished.

"I'm starting to think you'd mess everything up, even carrying this stuff out of the village."

"Okay then! To prove my worth, I'll carry the sealing stuff," Kyuubi declared standing up. He knew Naruto would say no but it's always fun to try. Sure enough, Naruto rapidly moved to get in front of him.

"Noooooooooooooo you're not! And I still can't believe you got access to them, you know. And why would you tell me that anyway?!"

Kyuubi shrugged. "For once I took a gamble on your intelligence and figured you would've known when you checked the room. And eventually you would've realized you didn't have the key. I just decided to trust you with the information." He winked.

"Well it backfired on you. I trust you even less now!"

Well hearing that he definitely went three steps back soured his mood a bit and at the same time made him happier. Pissing off Naruto he could already tell was going to become a favorite hobby of his along this journey. Still, remembering how sensitive the boy is does mean he'll have to be careful about what he says. He doesn't want to go too far back in this 'trust' progress. But he can fix this starting with getting Naruto to get a move on. This back and forth was getting them no closer to sneaking out of the village.

"But I trust you can get out us out of the village quickly and efficiently! Does that make you feel better?" He praised him at least a little. And Naruto loved it when people praised his skills. Despite what he said before, Kyuubi knew it really didn't matter who it came from. Naruto showed little reaction to the compliment other than an annoyed eyebrow raise-maybe he thought Kyuubi was being sarcastic-but he did finally buckle down and get serious.

"Okay, you're gonna have to be stealthy. I mean plenty of people are walking around now so you have to sneak by them."

"And how do I do that exactly?"

"I don't know! You're a fox crawl underground or something!"

"Not only is that the stupidest plan I've ever heard coming from you, which is saying something, it is offensive. Why don't you shut your mouth if you don't know anything about me!"

Kyuubi felt he was coming off as maybe a bit too offended. But if it got this lunkhead to start thinking clearly and stop with the petty insults so they could actually move somewhere then so be it...crawl underground like a fox the nerve! He never even lived borough...if his memory serves him right. It has been a while since he's lived outside of human but he distinctly remembered mountains.

"Okay okay! Disguise then we'll have to disguise you. Let's see now...you could pass off as one of my shadow clones helping me carry my stuff!" Naruto smiled a large smile, as if he forgot who he was talking to.

And he looked so cute looking so proud of his idea! Kyuubi almost smiled in fake excitement back just to mess with him a little. But thinking about it, the idea admittedly, it wasn't a bad one. Except: "How?"

The smile was quickly gone from Naruto's face. "With uh...you can wear my clothes and uh..."

That's right. Ignoring the fact that they would have to style Kyuubi's hair correctly, Naruto didn't carry any hair dye or contact lenses. And Kyuubi couldn't blame him for this lack of preparedness because why should he own that stuff when he had genjutsu at his disposal?

"Darn! Can't you use genjutsu?"

"Oh yeah. I'm an expert at genjutsu. It's one of my specialties."

"Really? Great then just-"

"Sarcasm you fool no I can't use genjutsu. I can only see through it." Most of it anyway. But Kyuubi decided not to let Naruto know about that bitter, little fact.

"Craaaaap!" Naruto whined pulling at his hair. "We gotta go now too! And you're in a human body now so...Errr how fast can you learn!?"

"Very," Kyuubi grinned. What a pleasant surprise! Now he will have a new technique in his arsenal! Sometimes patience really is rewarding. Not that Kyuubi believed this opportunity happened because he was patient.

"Just so you know, I'm ONLY teaching you a basic transform technique got it? You can't cause any trouble with this."

On the contrary, Kyuubi could cause trouble with anything he knew. Just because Naruto didn't see much use for the nonflashy technique didn't mean Kyuubi couldn't see the many advantages of disguising himself. Many, many advantages.

"Okay just watch me closely and listen to everything I say. I don't have to tell you how to control your chakra right?"

"No no. I've got that down pat now." Sort of. At least it should be enough to learn this.

"Okay good. So first off you..."

"Drop anything and I'll make you disappear," Naruto shouted over his shoulder at him.

They were making their way through the village now. Of course Naruto was carrying the pack with the seals and weapons and the pack with one sleeping bag and the food and he was stuck carrying the tent, the other sleeping bag and pretty much everything else on his back. His shoulders were starting to hurt immensely because really when has he EVER needed to carry objects so heavy in relation to his strength and body weight? Never. Once again he found himself cursing this stupid body!

"Hey!" He whispered harshly so that Naruto could hear him. He was throwing his vessel a bone here by being quiet. Admittedly, it would make things hard on him too if he were to get Naruto and him caught, but by God he was willing to make things really, really hard for his vessel if he didn't listen to him now. "Can't you put these is storage seals too!?"

"What's the matter clone-me? I could carry those things easily so can't you?"

Kyuubi growled at the cheeky and unhelpful response.

"SHH!"

"Don't you shush me. I'll drop everything right now, then what?"

"Ugh. Think of it as endurance training. For this mission you'll have to endure a lot more you know."

Yeah but what was with this needless endurance? If Naruto could just conveniently put everything into light scrolls with his storage seals then what was the point of all this? Kyuubi rolled his eyes.

"I saw that! Come on you said you had something to prove didn't you? Well right now I'm as unimpressed as I can be you know. I know you're used to sitting on your lazy butt all day but this seriously shouldn't be hard."

Kyuubi wanted to strangle him now. Lazy? Him? He was bored and he wanted some fun is all! But fine Naruto wanted him to actually prove himself through such a needless task?

"Alright fine. I'll endure through this just to prove to you something that should've been proven years ago. I'm a good help. After all you've been entitled to my p-"

Naruto turned around and sent him a glare that had him stop talking. "Be quiet! You have no idea who's listening!"

"What does that mean?"

"...I'll tell you later."

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow as Naruto continued walking. He watched the blond reach the front gate and tell the guard the orders from some man named Danzo. For some reason, there was a large spike of negative emotion coming from the blond when he mentioned that Danzo guy's name. And maybe for that same reason, that negative emotion didn't go down immediately afterwards. It sort of hovered there around him for a while. Of course the guard couldn't tell, but to Kyuubi it was incredibly weird. His vessel was no slouch in the 'making enemies' department as he knew first hand, but he loved Konoha more than his loved his own life. The idea of someone from this village drawing not just simple-minded ire or annoyance from him, but this kind of negativity actually struck his curiosity.

Naruto finished talking to the guard and waved him to follow him. They didn't immediately pick up the pace once outside. In fact they kept up their slow, boring walking until they were several feet into the surrounding forest and out of the guard's hearing range. Then Naruto finally stopped and turned towards him.

"Quick tell me which direction Pain is in. We need to get as far from this village as possible."

Oh yeah that problem. Kyuubi actually gave up searching for the guy the moment he could tell Naruto was asleep in favor of searching for the key. He could probably try again later but seeing as how he didn't care about killing this guy nearly as much as Naruto did, Kyuubi didn't mind throwing Naruto off track a little. So he pointed in a random direction and said, "Over there."

Naruto believed him.

"Okay," he nodded adjusting his backpack. "Let's hop through the trees. It'll be faster than just running."

In Kyuubi's mind it wouldn't. He could be pretty fast with just a burst of chakra. But he had no idea where Naruto wanted to stop and with his chakra level so low compared to what it used to be, it's best not to rely on that when he could have to use it for later. Besides, secretly he was kind of curious about tree-hopping. He hadn't been able to hop along anything since he was a young kit. Once he grew up however, nothing short of islands were large enough. And how could he find the time to hop around like he used to when there was hate festering somewhere or some human was trying to control, kill, and/or seal him away?

Naruto expertly jumped into the closest tree and started moving pretty quickly.

Kyuubi's first attempt at jumping into the same tree however, nearly knocked down the entire thing.

Stupid tree-hopping. Kyuubi hated this.

"You canNOT be this clumsy! Come on!" Naruto shouted as Kyuubi jumped and failed yet again to grab onto a branch. He fell and let out an 'oof!' when he hit the ground. On the bright side the packs he was carrying softened his fall. On the dark side, Naruto.

Kyuubi lifted his head and snarled at the blond sitting up in the tree, "Let's see YOU change body types and then exercise perfect coordination! Either have some of that 'sympathy' you almost always have or go ahead without me!" He could easily find him for he could always sense where his chakra-and by extension Naruto-is.

But now came conquering the art of tree-hopping. These damn wooden sticks used to literally be sticks to him. Jumping around with precision wasn't new to him, but jumping and worrying about where he was landing was. He was so big before that it was never really a problem if he missed landing on a house or the edge of a cliff or whatever. 'But now!' Kyuubi thought sighing. This body at least allows him to maneuver on all fours while jumping but that only made the action more comfortable, not necessarily easier.

Once he managed to somehow roll onto his feet he made another leap into a tree. That wasn't hard. Now he just needed to move forward. He readied himself for jumping onto the branch Naruto was standing on. Actually he was surprised his vessel was still here watching him. Maybe he is getting some secret amusement out of his constant failures. Whatever. He'll make it this time. The only thing Kyuubi has failed at more than 4 times was breaking out of his vessels.

So crouching low he spread his legs apart and firmly grasped the branch he was on. Leaning forward he concentrated hard. His eyesight was keen, an excellence far superior to normal human eyesight. But due to his size he realized he needed to do a few more calculations in deciding where to jump. Once he got that down, he decided to add a little chakra to his hands and feet for extra bounciness. He leaped. This should do it.

Or not.

"GAH!" Naruto yelped as he hopped onto another branch. Coward. He could've caught him.

By miracles of miracles Kyuubi actually touched the branch he was aiming for and practically landed on it...only to smash right through it and smash painfully onto the ground. His face got the worst of it. That definitely needed some healing when he stopped eating dirt.

"This isn't working," Naruto finally said slapping his hand on his forehead in exasperation. Kyuubi then felt him hop down and land right in front of him. To the fox's amazement Naruto actually put his hands on his shoulders and pushed him upright. If Kyuubi didn't know any better, he'd almost mistake that as an act of kindness. But surely...Naruto is only helping him up so they could move faster.

The dirt in his eyes was starting to sting and it made things blurry so Kyuubi quickly wiped his face with his hands and at the same time healed himself. Once he could see clearly, he looked at Naruto. The blond then looked grave, as if he just made a great decision. He made a real shadow clone and handed it everything he was carrying.

"We have no choice. We have to get out of here quickly so..." Naruto turned around so his back was facing him and he got on one knee making Kyuubi bemused. His vessel held his arms out behind him and bowed his head. He made one command.

"Get on my back."

"What?"

"Get on my back!" Naruto repeated. "It'll take too long if you keep this up. Just get on my back and I'll do the moving for the both of us."

Was Naruto kidding him with this right now? A piggy-back ride? Of all the solutions he can come up with, this is the best one? Well, this is the same boy who thought his boxers was an excellent hiding place so Kyuubi really can't expect much. But still he'd almost rather run. He hated it when humans tried to ride on him so why would he want to ride on a human? Strange didn't even begin to describe what that would be like.

"Why can't I just run? I can do that MUCH faster than this stupid tree-hopping!"

"Uh-uh! Still don't trust you and I'd rather focus on where I'm landing than whether or not you're still following me."

"I'll follow you!"

"Kyuubi. Shut your mouth, take your arms and wrap them around my neck. I'll be much faster and I'll waste less chakra."

Why insist on this mode of travel for him? And why himself? Surely he could have his shadow clones...no Kyuubi remembered the horrendous pile. Even he would rather stick with the original Naruto. Kyuubi glanced at the shadow clone still standing there holding the backpack and other stuff. It grinned at him and stuck out his tongue. 'Yep...' He thought looking irritated. Sticking with the original Naruto he was. Besides that, the other 'pros', lack of damage to his body and not wasting chakra, also sounded incredibly appealing considering how much he had to heal himself.

He will not be bested by this 'art of tree-hopping'. But he'll conquer it another day. Naruto gets ten times more annoying when he's impatient.

"Come on I'm dying of old age here! Don't make me knock you out and carry you!"

Case in point. But at least, Kyuubi grinned, he was once again the source of his irritation. He adjusted his backpack a little and slowly leaned onto Naruto's back and wrapped his arms around the blond's tender and exposed neck. His tan, fleshy, exposed neck. The shirt he was borrowing from Naruto had no sleeves so he could feel how warm it was. He could even feel the beatbeatbeat of his vulnerable pulse...was it him or was it speeding up a little? Kyuubi then realized that his mouth was right next to Naruto's ear.

He could bite it off. Or blow into it. Or growl menacingly. Or snore obnoxiously into it like how Naruto did to him. Or something. Kyuubi was also hyper aware of what leaning on Naruto's body felt like. The demon already knew how firm his back was but to actually be pressed against it felt...strange.

So...this is what being on a human is like?

He let out a gasp when Naruto wrapped his arms around his legs and hiked him up and then stood up. And okay, it made him nervous to be off of the ground in someone else's hold. His sharp incisor brushed against Naruto's ear which may explain why the blond suddenly stiffened and shouted,

"Watch it!"

But Kyuubi was incredibly nervous because it was hard enough before trusting Naruto to keep them both alive. Kyuubi actually couldn't even do that because he shoved his chakra over to Naruto all the time. And now he needed to trust Naruto would carry him, at a great height, through trees, and not drop him. He was nervous so he blurted out,

"It's a warning! Drop me and you'll lose an ear!" And then Kyuubi, as always, started hating his body. To be specific, he hated his vocal chords. His voice trembled or cracked or however you would describe it and he was sure Naruto could hear the fear in his tone. In his normal body, he would be able to control that. He wouldn't even be scared-nervous. He also would've been able to stop his arms from tightening a little when Naruto suddenly jumped into a tree. At least he didn't scream, although he felt like it because the ground was so far away and he was so small and it was somehow scarier this time around and he was extra positive Naruto could feel his heart beating a mile a minute.

He had half a mind to tell Naruto to PUT HIM DOWN IMMEDIATELY but Naruto then tightened his hold on Kyuubi's legs.

"Don't worry. I won't drop you," he said in a low tone. Not low as in threatening, but low as in...soothing? Was he seriously trying to comfort him? He half expected the clone, who was right in front of them, to be laughing but when he somehow managed to stop staring at the ground and slowly look at the clone, it was smiling at him in a reassuring way.

Well this...was new.

"Loosen your hold around my neck a bit."

Oh. That explains it. Naruto just wanted him to not be afraid so he didn't choke him out of fear or something. Okay. That made sense. It took some great effort to loosen his hold the tiniest bit but Naruto didn't say anything as he and his clone got a move on.

Kyuubi felt like one of his terrified victims at first. How embarrassing. But as the minutes past and he was still on Naruto's back and NOT lying on the ground in pain he grew more relaxed. It took him a while to realize Naruto was even carefully avoiding small annoying branches so that neither of them would accidentally get smacked. He was silent, because he was trying to determine a reason for this. Because he knew Naruto and Naruto was a human and humans are all the same towards him; no kindness allowed. Naruto was silent too.

It would be a good hour or so before he stopped and decided to settle down for dinner and sleep. Then and only then did conversation finally start to flow.

"I was honestly surprised you chose to stick by me and offer assistance. I guess a part of you is still unpredictable to me."

"Tch. It was just getting a bit sad seeing you fall on your face so much. I hate you but once I saw your pride in the gutter I decided you deserved a little help."

"Ridiculous. My pride was just fine."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're welcome! Can't you even thank me for carrying you?"

"...I would've preferred a more comfortable mode of transport and I wished I could've moved on my own."

"Are you insulting me again?!"

Kyuubi grinned lazily and set his empty bowl down, leaning back on his arms. "Still I guess it was simply the best you could offer at the time. Considering your body type."

"My body type?"

"Slender," Kyuubi said. Naruto spat out his food.

"SLENDER?! I'm not slender! Look I'm packing muscles!" And to emphasize this Naruto put down his bowl and flexed his bicep, slapping it with his other hand for good measure. Kyuubi simply chuckled at the cute display and shook his head.

"Relax sensitive. I only mean slender in comparison. Your muscles are decent but in comparison to say, Lee, you are slender."

Naruto snorted with a glare and crossed his arms. "Who are you to judge people's body types?"

"Well, I am a carnivore. Or was. Point is, I used to eye humans every time I dealt with them and ones with the biggest muscles packed the most protein. That's how I'm sure."

"Ewww!" Naruto looked disgusted. Kyuubi shrugged. He shouldn't have asked if he didn't want an answer. For example if he didn't want to know which humans he decided to crush, he really shouldn't ask, "What did you do to the humans you didn't want to eat?"

"I'm also saying 'ewwwww' because of your hair you know. We have to change it I can't stand looking at it much longer. And it'll cause problems if we have to go through a village or something."

"Don't you like my luscious locks?" Kyuubi asked fingering a strand. He had to admit, by human standards his hair looked horrendous. But now that he had genjutsu at his disposal why did it matter? Well, then again...did he really want to be wasting chakra simply for aesthetic purposes?

"You look like a witch that just crawled out of a dark cave for the first time in 100 years," Naruto flatly stated. Kyuubi laughed what sounded like a carefree laugh, like Naruto was a good friend who just said a hilarious joke.

"Well just replace cave with human vessel and witch with 'demon who's never had a human body and thus human hair to worry about' and you've got yourself an accurate description of my situation! My how perceptive you are!" His tone was tinged with a little sarcasm, because he wasn't sure if Naruto's naivety amused or infuriated him more. It was easier to 'think' at least while he was happy and ignoring his anger for the time being and he needs to 'think' as much as he can in this situation.

Like right now, he's thinking but not coming up with any reason for why Naruto was staring at him like that.

"What?" He asked.

"You laughed-um no wait um..." What was his vessel trying to say? Did laughing like an idiot somehow help Kyuubi gain his trust a little? If so he should practice that. But Naruto continued with something else.

"Um what do you mean by accurate?"

"What do you mean what do I mean?"

"I'm not 100-years-old so what cage are you talking about?"

Oh...Oops.

"W-Were you sealed somewhere else-in someone else before me?" Naruto asked. He looked curious. He probably was just curious but it annoyed Kyuubi immensely because why were the questions about his life coming now when there is still no real reason for Naruto to learn about his life? Naruto has never been curious before. Could it be he was only asking because Kyuubi now had a 'human face' and thus it was easier to see him not as a destructive power force, but living being with a past?

Kyuubi knows Naruto. He wouldn't put it past him to think that way.

So he bared his teeth, lied on the ground and rolled over so his back was facing Naruto. If he kept staring at the curiosity on the blond's face he'd do something he'd regret.

"I was lying you gullible idiot!" He snarled.

"No you weren't!" Naruto shouted back to his surprise. He figured by now that insults or speaking angrily would turn Naruto away.

"Don't play me for a fool!" And Kyuubi could just tell without even looking that Naruto was just pointing at him with that righteous glare on his face. "I can tell you're lying right now when you say you're lying!"

Oh bravo, Kyuubi thought rolling his eyes. But when getting into specifics, he wasn't lying. Naruto's body held the first cage-like seal he's ever been in. Bad, but at least he could move his limbs and his tails weren't in a constant state of soreness.

"Stop hiding things from me." Kyuubi could hear Naruto's voice practically tremble, signaling his increasing anger the longer Kyuubi went without answering.

His demands weren't going to be answered anytime while he was alive. Not even for that stupid trust. Kyuubi's past, what he's been through, it just didn't feel like something Naruto needed to know. It didn't feel like something he wanted Naruto to know. No matter how much it directly affected his life so far, Naruto could easily go on living without another thought geared towards this so long as Kyuubi stayed unsealed and got his power back. The masked man and everything associated with him were primarily Kyuubi's problems. Problems he wanted to solve without Naruto's unnecessary and misguided help. And even if what he knew didn't affect Naruto in the least bit...everything Kyuubi knew has to be volunteered to Naruto. It cannot be forced from his mouth.

And right now, Kyuubi doesn't trust Naruto nearly enough to give out that sensitive information.

"I was lying you naive fool! Do you find that so hard to believe? Now drop it!" He was too angry to focus on being convincing, which probably meant he was hardly convincing at all. But he didn't care in the least bit. Anger turned Naruto away and it should work now if he sees that Kyuubi won't budge on this matter. The demon is not saying anything, he refuses to.

Naruto was silent, too silent, for a long time. He was thinking of something,

"Whatever secrets you're hiding from me, I'll find them all out! Guaranteed!"

Oh great. Once Naruto makes a declaration he always follows through know matter what. Admittedly Kyuubi had his own big mouth to blame for blabbing things that he should've known would catch Naruto's attention. But just because Kyuubi knew this, didn't mean he should roll over and give up so easily. For he can be stubborn too and just because Naruto now has a reason to be more annoying than ever, didn't mean he would get what he wanted.

Life's all about not getting everything you want anyway.

And finished!

Yeah the major block I had was Kyuubi's view on humans, specifically on how Naruto's status had changed. He obviously hates them all, but if he's seen everything Naruto has gone through, then had to have noticed that Naruto has improved his standing and made friends who stand by his side. But he hates humans so...I just went for a more balanced view :P.

Kyuubi and Naruto are similar yet different and that is fun. Right now Kyuubi's problem is he's using 'I know Naruto' as an excuse to brush all of his small acts of kindness off as having less-then-kind intentions behind them. He's doing this to justify his 'all humans suck' mindset because if he makes Naruto an exception, won't he have to give exceptions to others? Probably not but he don't know that lol ;P. He just can't individualize humans that way(by power yes he can individualize them. But otherwise no).

..Hm what 'advantages' could Kyuubi be thinking of when it comes to genjutsu?*coughsexyjutsu*cough* It's gonna be fun I assure you!

Also Naruto had quite a turnaround in the middle. It should be pretty obvious he learned something new about Kyuubi then and there and that will be reflected in the next chapter! That's also what I mean about not moving too slow on their relationship development. I DID think of Kyuubi acting a wee bit differently. Okay I alot differently, but then that idea hit me and it worked and was also too good to pass up. Next time they do this(you know if there is a next time :X) you may see a much more relaxed part of Kyuubi's personality come out hehehe!

As for the 'you knows', yeah they'll be peppered throughout Naruto's speech. I find it easier than using believe it and I KNOW I'll get to the Kushina meeting so...that's there.

Finally, as for Kyuubi's plan to use 'myths' to his advantage...LOL guess which tailed beast is going to ruin THAT fun?

Okay so now I will focus my efforts on October 10th. And then after that I will decide between Little Terror, Cheater Cheater, and Seas.

Hope you enjoyed the triple update despite the delay :D! Please let me know what you think!