Best Friend (A short Naruto story)

II

"Mother, I want this one! And this one! Gimme this one!"

Blue eyes watched with fascination and curiosity as a girl dragged her mother through the numerous stalls of the market place. Her mother bought everything she asked, even the fascinating masks that caught his attention. He was supposed to stay hidden but he wanted to see the masks from up close. That turned out to be a wrong choice as the shop owner grabbed him roughly.

"You! Are you stealing from me?!" The man bellowed.

"N-no, j-just looking!" He defended himself with his little speech skills.

"You want this one, right?!" The shop owner angrily snatched the wooden fox mask he was looking at from the stall and threw it smack on the boy's head. He exclaimed but nobody cared. "Take it and get out!" The shop owner shoved him away and sprinkled himself with kidney beans to get rid of the bad spirit.

"Look, it is that boy again."

"Look at that, always causing trouble!"

"What are the authorities thinking, letting that to roam the streets?!"

The whispers were overwhelming and the looks of disdain that were cast his way were nauseating. In a heated moment, the boy picked the mask and threw it on the floor. "I AM NOT A THAT!" He yelled, startling everyone, and ran as fast as his legs could carry away from the choking crowd.

Once at the safety of his abode, he curled himself up into a ball. The memories of the girl shouting for her mother came back to him as he sat.

"Mother." He whispered, testing the word on his tongue. The concept felt strange to him. What was it like to have a mother? Father? Friend? What was it like?

He uncurled himself when he thought he heard something. Sure enough, the sound came again. It was soft and laboured, yet a little high pitched like a dog's whimper. The boy stood up from his mat and walked outside his territory towards where the noise came from. The sounds led to a bin. Behind it was a creature with brilliant red-orange fur. It had a black muzzle and fur around its eyes and at the insides of its ears. It was a fox. An injured fox. A nail stuck out from one of its paws which had Naruto concerned.

The whimpering sounds morphed into low warning growls as the boy reached for it. "Not gonna hurt you." He soothed and smiled when he successfully patted the fox's head. The growls decreased into a contented purr and the fox leaned into the small hand on its fur.

The boy eyed the nail in the fox's paw and decided to pull it out. The fox gave a slight yelp and whimpered as the boy soothed the paw by blowing air unto it. "You hungry?" He asked. Without waiting for a reply, which he was sure the fox could not give, he carried the vulpine to his mat and laid it down gently. He gave the fox the fish he found last night and the little amount of water he had left.

He watched as the fox ate and drank. "No more." He spoke when the fox looked at him expecting more. "I am Naruto. You?" The fox wagged its tail and licked the boy, Naruto's chin which caused the boy to release a rich laughter. "Kurama. Your name, Kurama." Naruto smiled.

Kurama let out a yawn and curled up to Naruto. The golden boy lied down and curled against Kurama as his eyes closed in sleep. Newspapers forgotten, that was the warmest sleep Naruto ever had.

"Kurama?" Naruto called. He woke up in the morning to find his warmth gone. Naruto searched everywhere for his companion for a week now but could not find any trace of the fox.

Naruto walked through the alleys calling for Kurama and hoping that he would hear the bark of the fox and see his orange-red fur but there was nothing but the angry shouts of some people. It was evening time when Naruto returned to his den. Maybe Kurama went away after completely healing. That thought saddened Naruto and brought tears to his eyes for once again, he was left alone.