Blood of the Broken, Scars of the Spiral (there are whirlpools in our veins)

Chapter Twelve

'Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.'

-The Illiad, Homer

//

Naruto sees the Kyuubi again much sooner than he thought.

In the following days, he hadn't been forced to go to school again (yet) in order to let things 'calm down.'

He goes to bed that night but he didn't fall into a dream. Instead, he opened his eyes to the sight of a cage– and, of course, the Fox.

"Hello," he greeted the Fox politely. It glared down at him, its nine glorious tails lashing out angrily from side to side.

"You did not return," it snarled, angry. "Are you already breaking your oath to me?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I could get here withou' bein' as angry as I was," he told it. "If I knew, I would 'ave come back a lot faster, we gots a lot ta talk abou'."

The Fox's tails had stopped moving about quite so angrily, which Naruto took as a sign that it was calming down. "You can return to this mind-scape at any time you choose," it told him, "the first Jinchūriki created this space, with seals and chakra and blood. It is tied to the Uzumaki bloodline. All you must do is close your eyes and reach for me. Not my chakra, me."

Naruto felt his heart beat a little faster, upon hearing that this mind-scape was something he had inherited from his family.

His family. He had a family.

"Thanks for telling me." He smiled.

"Why do you act so kindly?" the Fox asked abruptly. Naruto blinked up at it in surprise.

"Umm...well, cause you're real strong 'n stuff. So like, you have to be a leader of foxes or somethin', y'know!" Naruto rambled, "And you're supposed to be super nice when ya talk ta royalty, dattebayo"

The Fox narrowed its eyes. "You think to win me over with empty flattery?" it hissed, its tails beginning to stir angrily again. "Your honeyed words won't win your any favours, meat sack."

Naruto's eyes flashed with anger. "I didn't just choose to call you that ya know!" he growled, "When I look at ya I see somethin' real powerful. That's why I'm respectful."

"LIAR!" the Fox snarled, guttural and terrifying. Naruto did not move, despite the primal terror that gripped him in the face of the Fox's rage. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, ignoring how his heart fluttered in his chest. This fox was dangerous, and he would not bare his throat.

"I'm not a liar," he retorts, "I say in my head, you can't lie, hmph."

"We stand in a mind-scape," it corrected him harshly, tails thrashing agitatedly.

"Yeah, my mindscape," Naruto countered, "And I say we can't lie, so we can't lie. Do it! Lie to me!" He challenged.

The Fox sneered at him. "I attacked Konoha of my own f–" it stopped. The look on its face was very surprised and Naruto didn't bother to hide his pleasure at being correct "Perhaps there is some reason buried in all your nonsense." The Fox said grudgingly. Naruto smiled sweetly up at it, letting his little fangs show. After a moment, the Fox dipped its head in acknowledgment of his victory, looking darkly amused. "Well played, little fox kit," it rumbled.

Naruto wondered if the new moniker was the Fox's version of a reward, or perhaps acknowledgment. 'Kit' elevated him to a more equal ground to the Fox, after all, and it was a far nicer than 'meat sack' or 'bag of bones.'