Ties That Bind

Foxes

Naruto wasn't sure when Mito understood what the Kyuubi was, or when he realized that his father was more than just his dad and the Hokage. He and Hinata had never sat him down and explained it, or even made a concrete decision about when to have that talk with him. At some point the boy just understood.

Hizaki was a different case entirely. Within his first week attending the academy he had heard the word 'Jinchuriki', and badgered his parents mercilessly until Naruto was forced to sit the curious boy down and explain what the Kyuubi was. Hizaki was fascinated by the subject, and it wasn't until a few years later that his questions – ranging from 'how?' to 'why?' to 'where is the Kyuubi?' - finally stopped.

Now that Inabi was entering the academy and socializing with children outside of her two older brothers, Naruto's imagination ran rampant. It was only a matter of time before she heard the words Kyuubi or Jinchuriki and came running home with questions of her own, since she was not one to hold back when she wanted information.

It was nearly a month after his spunky daughter began attending the academy when there was a knock at his office door. Shizune peaked her head in and gave Naruto a nervous smile, tipping him off to the fact that something was off before she even opened her mouth.

"Hokage-sama, Inabi is being sent over from the academy and Iruka this." Shizune stepped over to his desk and waved a small piece of paper in the air.

"You can send her in when she gets here," Naruto said, grabbing the note and waiting for Shizune to shut the door behind her before opening the note.

Footsteps approached the door and paused just as Naruto finished reading the note and set it aside. Ever so slowly, the doorknob turned and a messy head of blonde hair hesitantly peaked into his office.

"You can sit over here, Inabi," Naruto said, pulling a chair over from the wall so that she would be sitting across from him. The small girl slowly stepped into the room and shut the door, her head hanging as she walked over and climbed into the chair. Naruto waited for a moment, but Inabi sat with her eyes glued to her lap and her fingers fiddling with a tear in her shorts.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Inabi asked, unusually light blue eyes darting up to gauge her father's reaction. Naruto chuckled, and her shoulders instantly relaxed.

"Iruka-sensei is giving you a week of detention for beating up a classmate-" Inabi's lips perched to the side. "-and he wants me to have a talk with you." Her head dipped back to stare at the tear in her shorts. The normally talkative and curious girl sat with her eyes downcast and feet swinging as if she was waiting for a scolding.

"Do you know what the Kyuubi is?" Naruto asked after a moment of contemplation. With Mito, he didn't even have to bring the subject up, and Hizaki was more than happy to start the conversation by himself. This would be the first time that he had to breech the topic with one of his children.

"Not really," Inabi muttered.

"Iruka-sensei says that you got in a fight at school because... Ryuu was talking about it," Naruto said, looking to the card to make sure the name was right.

She made a reluctant response in the back of her throat to acknowledge this.

"The Kyuubi is one of the tailed-demons." At this, Inabi finally looked up at Naruto with the curiosity that he was accustomed to from her. "And a Jinchuriki is a person who's had a tailed-demon sealed inside of them. Just after I was born, the nine-tailed fox-demon was sealed inside of me," Naruto added with a smile, pointing to himself.

"You have a fox inside you?" Inabi's haphazardly self-cut hair swayed when she tilted her head to the side.

"Well, it takes the shape of a fox. It's not an actual fox."

The girl across the desk from Naruto didn't seem to take that into consideration.

"Foxes are awesome!" Inabi declared happily.

Naruto let out a sigh and sat back in his chair, deciding that the small, wiry girl before him wasn't old enough to understand more than 'daddy is a fox' for the moment.

. . .

Author's Note:

To 'Guest', who didn't leave their review signed: if you send me some sort of contact info I can send you a response.

To everyone: I'm aware that Mito is a girl's name. Do I care? No. It's enough of the name Minato to be a little 'tip of the hat' to him without doing the 'naming the son after the father/grandfather' bit which I'm not a huge fan of. I'm also aware that it's the name of a cannon character. Again, do I care? I would if it was a character that is more well-known (for instance, Kurenai, Izumo...Minato) but it's not. It wasn't until I started looking through fan sites that I found the character, but I hadn't heard of it from the anime before. Therefore...I don't care. : ) If it bothers you then...that's too bad. I like it.