So na...I updated this and changed things around a bit. Hopefully my readers read this. The story will have the same basic idea (with the major center around Naruto's affinity for foxes) but I'm changing some things around a bit. The story line will be better and smoother this way because I have a better idea on what to do.
The three year old child stared blandly at the tiny bookshelf in his bare, white room. His eyes reflected the tiniest flicker of amusement at his caretaker's attempt to frustrate him (the scant handful of books on his shelf consisted of heavily intensive text on chakra control, a rather worn guide of medicinal herbs and how to use them, and other texts that would have bored a child to tears), before falling back into boredom. He had nearly memorized all the books anyway (being locked in a room all day with nothing but a raggedy blanket, an ancient mattress, and old texts left one with very little options to amuse themselves with, thus he had taught himself how to read by painstakingly studying the pictures in the books and stealing the old magazines out of the bathroom when he was actually let out to use it). Though currently bored out of his mind, he had an uneasy feeling that something was going to happen, something different.
Call it instinct.
It may have had something to do with what had happened a few months ago, on his once every other week trip outside (his…caretakers had to keep up the image he was perfectly healthy, right? What other way than to parade him around…). Perhaps in hopes of ridding themselves of him on accident, they had taken him to play outside by the fence of the Forest of Death. Whatever the reason, he had enjoyed it. His child's mind coming to the fore for the first time in months, he had excitedly toddled over to the fence (which had caused his caretakers' faces to light up with hope) and stood in front of it, mouth agape in childish awe and joy. He could hear the calls of the forest all around him, though he was only on the edge.
His awe wasinterrupted by the shine of a pair of eyes staring at him, golden yellow and intelligent. Blinking in surprise, the child could only stare as, gradually, a muzzle, followed by a pair of ears and part of a neck, emerged from the thick vegetation to stare at him through the fence. The ebony ears were perked forward, the head cocked slightly to the side, as the large fox stared down at the surprised child (his caretakers weren't very amused, they looked cross and about to interfere before the fox had glanced at them before returning its scrutiny to the tiny child before it).
The fox seemed to be as interested as the child; it weaved its head to the left and right before lowering it to the child's level, sniffing the air before it in an attempt to catch the boy's scent. The child, meanwhile, was absolutely motionless; stunned that another living creature had taken it upon itself to pay him some attention that didn't include glaring, yelling, or some other form of abuse. Satisfied, the fox yipped its approval. The boy could just barely make out the charcoal black tail wagging in excitement behind the fox.
The boy blinked once more before slowly, tears came to his eyes as he stared up at the only being that had ever bothered to look at him with something other than contempt. This one creature, this fox that had gone out of its way to greet him, was the only being to have ever seemed delighted to see him, to look down at him with amusement and interest. He...he couldn't believe it. As if to prove to himself that the fox really was there, he reached his chubby hands forward, through the fence to grab feebly at the animal.
Quite amused, the fox stepped closer, its snout poking slightly through the fence as the boy grasped the thick fur of its neck. There was a stifled sob as soon as the boy's hands had touched its neck, confirmation that the animal was here and quite real. Concerned, the fox tried to cock its head at the right angle to see what was wrong, but the boy had buried his face into the fox's fur, sobbing at the sheer kindness of the creature. Giving up, the fox gave a purr-like growl as an attempt to pacify the boy before it caught sight of one of the boy's…caretakers approaching. The ebony fox snarled unhappily but the woman continued to approach, undaunted and wielding a shiny pocket knife.
The fox snarled once more before pulling away from the boy, giving him a quick lick on the face before vanishing back into the brush. Confused, the boy looked behind him to see what had scared the fox away only to meet the eyes of his furious caretaker.
Needless to say, he hadn't gotten any meals for a few days after that particular stunt. Still, it had been quite worth it. The fox's kindness had been just the thing he needed to keep going, knowing that not everyone hated him, not everyone would rather have him dead. He could deal with that. He would just have to act as oblivious to the cold stares as he could to ascertain who could be trusted not to hate him and who couldn't.
His eyes were suddenly riveted to the door as one of his caretakers-the woman- stepped in.
"Come on, we're leaving."
Naruto, confused, followed the order, knowing he would get reprimanded should he dawdle. Where were they going?
It was a nice day outside. The sun was shining its brightest, birds were chirping, and a certain blonde infant was smiling without a care in the world. A certain blonde infant with fox-like whiskers on his face and sparkling deep blue eyes. This certain blonde infant was being taken to a small playground by his caretaker, for both his parents had passed away shortly after he was born. The caretaker looked as if she would much rather be anywhere else than looking after this three-year-old, as she kept stealing nasty looks at the oblivious child. How she hated this demon. She really couldn't understand why Hokage-sama put this demon-child under her care. It didn't matter anyway, it would end very soon. No more would she have to care for her family's murderer. Forget the punishment she would get for abandoning the demon-child, anything was better than this.
The child's caretaker smirked as she slowed down and slowly turned around and walked away.
Said demon-child looked around with great happiness and wonder at being outside, for his caretakers (for he had gone through many) rarely ever took him anywhere, reasons the three-year-old could just not understand. However, that did not matter now, as he was outside and he should enjoy it while he had it, why question good things that came to him? His tiny legs moved faster as the playground came into view. That happy vulpine grin grew wider and with an ecstatic yelp of delight, he raced ahead of his caretaker to jump into a sandbox with a kid that appeared to be one year older than him.
He has odd colored eyes, was the blonde's first thought.
The kid appeared a bit surprised when the blonde decided to join him, as he dropped the shovel he had been holding due to being startled in such a way. He had the sudden urge to scramble backwards and hide but was rooted to the spot; nobody ever wanted to play with him. The blonde cocked his head to the side, staring at the kid with his startling blue eyes in confusion. Giving the kid a smile, the fox-boy bent down and picked up the plastic shovel and held it out for the other child in an indication to play. Said child stared at the shovel, contemplating whether or not the shovel and the hand holding it were dangerous. He looked up at the blonde, not seeing any animosity or mischief in his eyes. Maybe this boy didn't care that he was a part of the Branch Family... [1. Shyly, he gave him a small smile before taking his shovel back.
"Can I pway with you?" the blue-eyed blonde asked enthusiastically [2.
The black haired white-eyed boy nodded, his smile broadening, he hardly ever got to play with anyone!
"Yatta!" the blonde squealed before plopping down in the sand across from the other boy, "I'm Naruto, what's youw name?"
"Neji..." was the other boys answer.
Naruto grinned before frowning slightly when he caught sight of thick bandaging on Neji's forehead. Why did he have bandaging on his forehead? It was kind of odd, he had never seen anyone with such wrappings on their forehead, on their legs and arms, yes, but not on their forehead, then again he hadn't seen many people... He pointed to it curiously and Neji saddened immediately. Naruto apologized when he realized his playmate had gotten upset but stopped when the other boy shook his head.
"My father said it was a cuwse seal for the bwanch famiwy. All of the bwanch famiwy get it so the main famiwy can make suwe we stay in line. It huwt when I got it and it bwed, so father put a bandage on it."
Neji unraveled some of it so that Naruto could see it, it wasn't bleeding but it looked irritated. He wrapped it back up once more and sighed sadly. Although Naruto hadn't followed the whole branch family thing, he knew a problem when he saw one, especially one that went farther than skin deep. God knows he had experience in that department. Naruto looked on, wondering how to cheer up his friend. A little light bulb went on in his head and he smiled foxily.
"Oi, oi, Neji!" this grabbed the other boy's attention, "I have one too! Watch this!"
To cheer up his friend, Naruto lifted up his shirt a little and concentrated a bit, trying to get angry. Sure enough, a dark red seal appeared on Naruto's stomach. It looked a little like a sun with a lot of squiggly lines around it. The blonde smiled, he had learned this trick a long time ago when he had gotten angry. He had been quite surprised at first, but found that it proved to ease his boredom. However, he had no idea what it was for...
Neji gasped at the sight, his little hands going to his mouth before grinning once more and reached out to poke it. Giggling, Naruto put his shirt back down.
"See, I have one too!"
Neji was definitely happy once more, he wasn't alone. There was someone else who had a curse seal that was his age! He had been made fun of by all the other kids that he saw because he wasn't part of the main family... Not to mention his father trained his son constantly, though he was only a four-year-old. Obviously, it was very important that Neji surpass the main family heirs. What was the difference of being part of the main family and the branch family? He didn't know, but it seemed to matter to the other kids. Yet, here was this blonde child who didn't care if he was a branch family member or that he had a curse seal. Maybe, maybe this boy could be his first friend.
Naruto must have had the same idea because he suddenly asked,
"Will you be my fwiend? Cause, well, I have no fwiends and-" but Neji interrupted him.
"Hai!" the pupiless eyed boy crowed.
Naruto smiled as well and was about to ask the other boy if he wanted to build a sand castle when he was interrupted by a very tall replica of Neji.
"Neji, it is time to go home now, it looks like there is a storm coming," said the Neji replica.
"Hai! Bye, Naruto, we'll play again tomowow?" he asked hopefully.
Naruto nodded enthusiastically (hoping that his caretaker would take him there tomorrow) as he stared up at what he guessed was Neji's father. The man didn't look at him kindly, but then the man didn't glare at him either, like most of the villagers. Naruto decided he liked this man, better than the villagers anyway. This man had bandaging on his head too, which caused Naruto to look at him curiously. The man didn't seem to notice as he picked up Neji's shovel and pail, gently took Neji's small hand and began to walk away.
Naruto was still in a happy and good mood. Neji and he would get to play again tomorrow! At least, he hoped they would. It all depended on what his caretaker said. He hoped his caretaker would take him here again tomorrow to play. It was doubtful, but it was nice to hope anyway.
He waved as Neji and his father walked away to where Naruto guessed was home. He smiled; he finally had a friend of his own. They would be best friends forever! Naruto had so many ideas for the only person that liked him and decided a gift would be in order. However, now was not the time, for when he looked at the sky he discovered that Neji's father had been right. It was getting very dark and stormy. He had better find his caretaker to take him home! Looking around, he found that no one was in or around the playground. It was completely deserted. His heart sped up, where was she? She was supposed to take him home!
Frantically, he called for her. No answer. Naruto was beginning to panic, he was left alone?! He couldn't walk home either, he had been so excited to be outside he didn't know how to get back home! Another frantic call for her. His only answer was lightening crackling overhead, causing the panic-stricken young boy to yelp and jump. He ran over to the slide and called for Neji, even though he well knew that he had gone home. His body shook violently as he called out for both his caretaker and Neji. He knew that the caretaker didn't like him, but she wouldn't abandon him would she?
Tears began to fall from the frightened child as he began to cry. Rain slowly began to fall, one drop at a time as it slowly became heavier. Thunder roared overhead angrily. Naruto cried out along with it, his voice lost in the storm. His sobbing reached no one. No human ears, that is. The petrified child hugged the pole that held the slide up, staring out into the darkness, his whole body shaking. His mind became near empty in his distress, alone in this darkness. Near mindless with fear, it never occurred to Naruto that he had begun to wine and cry out like a scared fox kit. A small shadow, no larger than a medium sized dog, detached itself from the darkness of the Konoha forest. Naruto stared at it.
It trotted quickly and swiftly over to the terrified boy, a long bushy tail flared out behind it. Naruto didn't even move, his erratic mind reaching out to the creature that had come to help him in this madness. The creature sniffed the hand before licking it. Rain came down a bit harder. Large fox ears twirled back and forth, listening to see if others would come. None did.
It cocked its head to the side, as if deciding before reaching forward and grabbing the back of the boy's shirt and lifting him up off the ground. Naruto didn't even protest, his mind vaguely registering that his savior was a fox. Instinctively, he curled up, an instinct he didn't know he had. Right now, however, he didn't care. His mind was in shreds due to the very fact that he had been abandoned to his own fate by the one person in all of Konoha who was supposed to take care of him. He looked up at the fox mother. She looked down at him and purred slightly to reassure him, much like she would to one of her own kits.
Whatever had called her put her into action quickly to save this frightened kit. Nor did she care that he was actually human, he was a kit in need and she planned to fulfill that need. He smelled like a fox, and that was all the reason she needed to take this orphan in.
Her dark tawny form crossed the empty playground, rain droplets dropping off with each time her feet touched the ground. Rain continued to come down harder as another strike of lightening crashed. The boy she carried shook with fear but another purr from her quieted him. Konoha forest approached and with one leap, the two creatures disappeared into the surrounding darkness.
Naruto wasn't found until an incident six years later.
Sorry I haven't updated in a million years...hopefully I can get my ass in gear and update the rest of the chapters and write a new one. Chapters two and three, as I see it, are going to be combined. The new Chapter Three will be thrust forward in time. You'll see. It'll be better this way. :D