Six Years Too Long

Chapter 29

Third person pov

It occurs to Kurama, as he holds his kit, that he has known the boy for every moment of his existence.

He felt him first in the womb of his previous jailer, a mere flicker of a thing. The beginnings of a concept not yet fully formed, a spark of something that could be larger if allowed to grow. He had watched the fire build. Had watched his soul come into shape, had seen it brighten. Since Naruto's coming into being, they have never been apart.

Kurama wonders if that makes Naruto just as much his an anyone else's. Perhaps that is wishful thinking on his part. Maybe he really is just some sad, old fox. He feels like one rather suddenly, like a coward, an imposter in his own skin. Kurama feels so much like nothing that he thinks maybe he was never much of anything at all.

He's not sure how to explain what he feels when the man comes for him. Ayumu Yamanaka looks different in person. Through Naruto's eyes, he is a towering man with pale hair and eyes. One with a sharp gaze who constantly analyzes, who sees patterns where others do not. He is a pen and a clipboard, and the smell of mandarin oranges.

Through Kurama's eyes he is a grand contrast, one so great that Kurama almost doesn't not recognize him. He's a shaky, puny thing. Not as small as Naruto but comparable, a flea next to Kurama's massive size. He quakes but does not run like most would, and Kurama has to give him credit for that much.

It's a testament to his distractedness that he did not feel him enter. Kurama has always been a somewhat territorial beast, his chakra sensitivity existing on a hairpin trigger. To think this human made it all the way down to the main chamber before Kurama noticed him. Perhaps it's a good thing. He may've expelled him prematurely otherwise. 

(A part of him wishes he had.)

But he doesn't. It would be terribly easy to keep holding Naruto, but the longer he stays here, the more precarious his situation becomes. As much as Kurama wants to keep him in his grasp forever, Naruto is not alive like this. He is stuck in a slumber held by the seal he'd been pulled behind, his body in stasis as Kurama healed his wounds and preserved his health.

It was a relief to see the therapist come in to retrieve him, to hear that Naruto was safe. It meant they'd found him. He was okay, in a secure enough position for them to enter and investigate. The chaos and danger had passed. Naruto would be just fine.

That's why it's rather pathetic that Kurama should feel such complete, all-encompassing dread.

He knows the moment those pale eyes land on him that this is it. After this, everyone will know, Naruto included. He will know what Kurama is. No longer will he be the quote-on-quote 'friendly rat in a cage that helps Naruto heal from his trauma'. He will once again be transformed into the monstrous, demonic nine-tailed fox.

A murderer. Incapable of love, of real thought. A tool, a weapon to be locked away. Kurama feels panic begin to claw at him as he bows his head over Naruto's still form, teeth clenching and breath coming out in heavy puffs. He did not lose Naruto permanently. He will continue to exist in this world, but--

Well. Kurama will be losing him in another way. It is entirely possible, he knows, that this will be the last time he sees him.

It's worth it. Of course the kit is worth it. Kurama is being a coward, is being dramatic and overemotional. He'd known this wouldn't last. He'd be a fool to think it would. He had known this day would come, and that when it would, Naruto would slip from his grasp forever and that would be that. 

It is enough to know he will live. That has to be enough, because Kurama has little else. What he's been given is more than he deserves, and he thinks the memory of it will make the scorn to come, the loneliness, easier to bear. They will seal him deeper after this, may even try to extract and move him completely.