Chapter 3
Kurama was truly enjoying being free.
The sun was warm on his fur, the gentle breeze carried the scattered scents of a village at peace, and there was an angry Uchiha squawking at him.
Kurama did not react as the man demanded he remove himself from the gate. In fact he tucked his paws under him so he was more secure on the narrow wood. It would not be so narrow if he shrunk down but he was so enjoying the dangerous creak of wood as it protested under his weight.
He splayed his tails just a bit more, for balance, certainly not because they were blocking most of the entrance to the Uchiha compound.
A few brave souls, children mostly, brushed past his tails to go about their business. It was the older humans that kept their distance.
“You are preventing my clan members from going about their days. Remove yourself at once.”
This Uchiha had yet to resort to yelling but he had developed a delightful twitch in his left eye.
The blond fool arrived in his customary flash of yellow and took in the scene with a critical eye.
Then he sighed.
“Kurama. What are you doing?”
“Fool.” Kurama spit the customary greeting with his customary fury. “Can you not see that I am aligning my chakra with those of the universe. My form is comprised of a delicate balance of all natural energies, to exist in this state I must remain stationary on the exact point were those energies converge.”
The Uchiha’s brows had furrowed deeply. He seemed to believe Kurama.
The fools brows rose to blend into his ridiculous mop of hair.
“That point is right here? On top of the gate to the Uchiha’s compound?” The fool clearly did not believe Kurama.
“Yes.”
Another sigh.
“Fugaku-san, how old is your son again?”
Kurama’s mouth twisted into a grin.
He had never seen a Uchiha look so offended.
~
After much squabbling, almost yelling, and the Fool assuring the Uchiha that he would step down as Hokage if the boy came to any harm, a small boy was brought forward to stare at Kurama.
Kurama knew that human children came in many different shapes and sizes but still this one seemed off somehow.
Kurama sniffed at the air around the kit, ignoring the older Uchiha pulling the little thing back.
“What is wrong with this child? Is it ill?”
“How dare you!”
“Kurama, there’s nothing wrong with Itachi-kun. Right?” The fool looked to the child with a smile that seemed a bit thin and eyes that were suddenly looking with new focus.
Perhaps the fool had realized something was amiss.
In a flash, one of his many tails had wrapped around the boy and lifted him to eye level.
Kurama ignored the glinting red of many Sharingan activating and the sound of weapons being drawn to arrange his tails into a proper cradle for the little thing.
“Speak, Kit. What ails you?”
Kurama made sure to rock his tails gently in a soothing motion that Naruto enjoyed. The kit stared at him with large dark eyes that were only now starting to shine with some emotion.
“I’m not sick.”
Kurama brought him closer to snuffle at his clothes and hair causing him to giggle and laugh, his smell was starting to improve. Kurama would need to investigate this strange illness.
“Uchiha. Why are you not raising this one properly?”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Then beg human. Do you feed it until it is full? Do you allow it to rest when it is tired? Where are its’ playmates? All Kits require socialization.”
The Uchiha’s mouth was now flapping open without sound. Hopefully it was broken.
Kurama turned to the child, now petting at his tails.
“I demand answers.”
The little thing lifted its shoulders. Kurama had seen Kushina do that several times in lue of an answer, it never ceased to frustrate him.
Perhaps Kushina would know the answers he sought.
“Uchiha. I am informing you that I am taking this child to Kushina in order to find the source of its illness.”
Kurama ignored the squawking that followed and settled the child onto his back with an order to hold on tightly. He wrapped one of his tails around the child’s waist just in case it couldn’t follow orders like Naruto and leapt into the air among the high trilling sound of the kit’s laughter and lower pitched screeching of an angry Uchiha.
~
“It is not dying?”
“Nope.”
“Hm.”
Kurama watched the little thing munch happily on its sickeningly sweet treat from atop the counter of a “Dango” stand as Kushina leaned casually next to him.
Her diagnosis of the child, after several questions, resulted in a disease called “sad” that could be cured with a favored treat or activity.
Humans, Kurama decided, really were a strange species.