Title: Kyuubi the Fox and Uchiha the Raven

Chapter: 3

Autor: Me

Disclaimer: I don't own characters, manga, or anything that has something to do with Naruto. On the other hand, I own the story

Rating: T

Summary: AU. Kyuubi is on the run and now special unit member Raven is on his trail. "It's not your fight anymore. There's only one person I can hurt now and it's you. So either you run or kill me."

Terms:

Blood – to be 'blood' means being born in the bloodline. The clans often adopt talented children from their territories and infuse parts of their bodies with genetic information containing special ability otherwise limited to the bloodline. Bloodline is often very narrow and limited to few people.

Ava – Ava comes from Avatar. Main religion in the Federation is a bastardized form of Hindu worship patched together with elements of vudun and Christianity – people will often use Ava meaning just God or Godly Spirit. (Kami is close enough to Ava in meaning.)

Avel – That's how the main race of the Kingdom of Heaven calls themselves. It's also name of their language that is known to be very hard, very contextual and open to multiple interpretations. In reality, the Avel are a slightly evolved human race and can easily crossbreed with 'normal' humans. Their genes seem to take a medium dominance in mixed progeny.

Burning – Process of constant usage of power that cannot be stopped. In most cases lethal. Through uncontrolled bursts it leads to the Apex – one final surge of power – that ultimately kills the 'burning' person.

Kyuubi the Fox and Uchiha the Raven

Kyuubi sighed. The moment 'The Tear' was ready to fly he terrorized the ship into making a short subspace jump, just out of the system. They needed time to recover full functionality. Damage sustained by the ship was substantial. Generators were to minimum of one fourth total power, engines were on the fritz (he was lucky 'The Tear' did not fall apart mid-jump), he had to seal off part of the cabin due to nano-tears in structure and… Kyuubi narrowed his eyes looking at the occupant of the medical unit. That was another problem altogether. Fox could wonder about what decided that he took the man with him but it would not change the fact he knew why he did it anyway.

He felt guilt, deep unforgiving guilt, and having the power to save or condemn was something he needed. Not that it changed much.

'The Tear' informed Kyuubi that the hull was sealed and waited for him to confirm opening of the whole cabin. That meant the kitchenette was going to be available and he was starving, so he agreed to the request. But then…

"Tear, just heat something. And open the med unit but keep him under. I have to patch what can't be repaired," he ordered the ship. He certainly was not in the mood for a direct dive. When the cover lifted Kyuubi stared at the young man, cataloguing all his standing out features: distinct face, distinct bone structure, muscles belonging more to a trained acrobat than a fighter, callused palms and marks from a glove and a shield on his forearms. So it was a sword, high quality equipment and light armors.

Next he lifted the man's eyelid over his earlier injured eye. It was still mangled and as soon as he exposed it a droplet of pinkish liquid made its way down the brunet's face. If it wasn't healed it was not infused and the kid was clan, and the clans were, in any case, anal about keeping their trade secret. More so, the kid was blood and the genetic information about his eyes was coded through his whole body so there was nothing to restore without the key. But it didn't look like there was anything else left untreated so the eyes were the key to the kid's identity.

Kyuubi returned his thoughts to earlier, when he had the kid under his paw and before he lost consciousness. He remembered the kid's visible eye turning red and the strange pull on his own power.

Red eyes, facial features, body structure, leeching.

Blood Uchiha. Military Ritter career. So much for luck. But the kid might prove helpful later.

He set about dressing the wound since it would have to heal by itself for now. Cauterizing was a bad idea as there still might be some way to recover the nerves and compensate the lack of vision in the right eye. At least until the kid got to his clan. There he would be given a new one.

"Tear, you can start waking him up," Kyuubi finished and wandered to the kitchenette, intent on eating something warm. He was almost curious. "Ava, I feel stupid. I'm really risking too much."

Eating, he observed as the kid started stirring, slowly, with whimpers of pain escaping his lips. Oh, the mind and the body knew there were injuries and made sure the kid felt them all. Kyuubi was sympathetic. Almost. He remembered, distinctly, when he himself woke up in one of those units. He retched for two days.

The kid groaned and twisted, tumbling to the ground gracelessly and landing in a heap. Immediately, he looked up, disoriented, pale face framed by black hair, his only eye wide in shock and pain. It soon swirled red as the recognition set in and there was a frantic glance to the left where the sword stood leaning against the wall.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I can depressurize any second, and while I can survive in vacuum, I'm not so sure about you. No, I didn't think so," Kyuubi smirked as the kid slowly nodded. "At least not without your shield. Don't bother looking, it was broken beyond repair."

The red in Uchiha's eye still swirled madly.

"I wouldn't advise that either. If my vitals go down to a certain cap, Tear here is going to take some preventive measures. You won't like it."

"Why…" The eye changed into black, or rather – almost black. Fox wondered for a second if it was painful to have pupils dilated so much all the time.

"…are you alive?" Kyuubi chuckled. "Simple. You were the only one that survived," he finished his meal. "Sorry about the eye, though."

Tentatively, the kid raised his hand to touch the dressing on his face. Again, he nodded slowly.

"You're blood, Uchiha, aren't you?" Ah. This sparked an emotional response that broke through the shocked daze. "Not hard to guess since otherwise you would have your eye back by now. Satisfy my curiosity. What's a fairly strong Uchiha doing as a career Ritter?"

"…That's for me to know." Kyuubi chuckled. Still slightly defiant while at other's mercy. Pretty impressive. But on the other hand he didn't show any intention of killing or harming the kid.

"So give me your name or code. I'm pretty out of the loop so it won't tell me much."

Hesitation. Finally, after several seconds, the kid decided to answer.

"Raven." Kyuubi's hand moved to the medallion on his chest, fingers tracing the engraved image of a single feather.

"Don't tell me I just cost a goddess her eye," he muttered, recalling that one talk he had with Hinata. If it were to come true it certainly would be the most ironic thing in his life.

"What?" Raven shivered, pain still crawling under his skin.

"Just something one Avel princess told me once. Avels, they have this god, or goddess. Not really a god since they don't worship her, or him, but it's a religion nonetheless. And yeah, she told me I'm going to meet her, or him, eventually."

"And that…"

"And that has to do with you because her name in Avel is Tara."

"I've never learnt Avel."

"Tara means many things, but among those are her names. She's 'the one that comes at the end', 'the black-feathered lady', and, finally, she's 'the raven'."

"Are you fucking stupid?" Came an incredulous reply. Kyuubi just laughed. And laughed.

"I guess so. Try getting yourself a prophecy and then such a coincidence."

Silence, again. Raven observed him, frowning slightly. Finally, there came a heavy, thoughtful question that stopped the time and made Kyuubi's stomach freeze.

"You're burning, aren't you?"