Kiraabi: Killer Beauty (UP FOR ADOPTION)

Shame and Trust

Naruto begged, "D-Don't touch me. Please."

Sakura pulled her hand back as if she had been burned. And it did sear her heart to hear Naruto reject her comfort. It was just further proof that she couldn't be good enough.

With kyuubi flooding his senses, Naruto was too aware of Sakura - her closeness, her heat, her scent. When fear and hurt tinged her scent, only then did kyuubi begin to truly recede. He was, they were the reason she was hurting and afraid. The deep seated ache in his heart was echoed by kyuubi's mournful howl.

Naruto was surprised by the sad lonely sound that echoed inside his head. Kyuubi had never howled before...not like that.

Yes, they had howled before in madness, when they rampaged. But this sound was broken and lonely. Inside his mind, Naruto found himself facing kyuubi's cage. But for the first time the demon did not press at the walls and boast of his power. This time Naruto saw him at the far back corner of the cage, visible only as a ball of fur, his muzzle under his paw covered in shadows.

Naruto stared at the sight of this kyuubi. This kyuubi did not inspire fear or boast of greatness.

Lifting an eye to the human youth, kyuubi spoke in a broken tone, "Go away! I do not need you here in my moment of shame!"

Naruto stared on in silence. His first thought was, 'What could shame a demon? Especially the great nine-tailed fox. The most powerful of all the demon spirits.'

Then he remembered his own life. Yes,Naruto had known shame, even before he could put a name to it. It was the way he was treated as a child by the villagers. In the eyes of the villagers, Naruto was dirty, low and unworthy for reasons no one ever told him. How long did he feel a shame he had not understood? Knowing nothing but loneliness and hate. How long did he fight to be free of those bitter feelings that should never have been his?

Now instead of shame, Naruto knew honor. Instead of hate, he knew loyalty. Now his loneliness was replaced by true friends. Now all that he hoped for, all that he longed for and dreamed of was love - a love to call his own.

But still he did not know kyuubi's shame.

"Bah! I know your thoughts, your simpering feelings. I know how these years since our joining, you have felt alone. Weak human. You know nothing. Your life is less than a blink of an eye! Loneliness! Hah! What do you know, human! How many of your lifetimes have I been alone? What do you know of loneliness? A fox should live his entire life surrounded by his den mates. That is something I will never have, as I am again and again trapped in a human prison. I will never know the freedom to truly run free and live a life befitting a demon of my great stature...I will never live as a fox in the company of my brethren and a mate."

Naruto's jaw fell open as kyuubi continued, "...And I will never know love. At least that was what I thought until you, kit...and until her. Never would I have guessed there would be a human that would calm my soul such as that one. She touches not just your lonely heart but mine too. She is not just your mate, but mine too...she is OUR mate."

Naruto now understood kyuubi's shame. To cause the one you treasure above all else to know fear and pain - that was shameful.

In his own way, kyuubi regretted trying to force Naruto on the unaware Sakura. Kyuubi regretted the pain she felt when Naruto had to push her away for her own safety.

"A demon of my power should protect and comfort one so valuable." Kyuubi finished, replacing his paw back over his muzzle.

"Kyuubi, we share that shame. But I will work to fix that wrong, then I will spend my life, our life doing just as you said: protecting and comforting her. That is if she will still have me. If you love her too, treasure her as I do, then do me one favor: help me be the man she needs to comfort her and the protector to keep her safe."