Naruto's Best Friend

What's in a name?

Naruto was beyond happy at this point. No one until now had even looked at him in a non-threatening way nor had anyone said such nice things to him before, but this stranger, although an animal, cared about him.

He finally found someone who gave a shit about him, someone to care about his well being and try to encourage him to keep fighting, all in one creature. He somehow seemed to care less and less about the cat's odd features as he pondered on what his new friend said.

As they walked up to Naruto's apartment door, the cat creature looked up at the boy, ready to get to know each other better seeing as they both wanted to be each other's friend.

"Do you have a name?" Naruto asked before the cat could come up with a question. The cat shook its head.

"Yes, my name is Ryoko. It was given to me by my first owner." The creature didn't want to be owned like an animal servant again but was possibly willing to be the blonde's if he asked.

Naruto unlocked his door and walked in with the cat trailing behind, "Alright, Ryoko, you won't be my pet, you'll be my best friend! I mean, you can do what you want, but just help me when I need it, ok?"

He closed the door and started walking into his small bathroom. The two-tailed creature jumped up on the counter, staring at the boy as he pulled out a medkit and bandages.

"What's your name, whiskers?" Naruto stuck out his tongue a little as he tried to reach his back where a pretty big wound was. "Its uh Naruto and I'm going to....." He trailed off a little as he tried desperately to reach his wound but failing horribly. He sighed loudly before turning back to the creature. "I'm going to be Hokage, believe it! Dattebayo" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Well, as loudly as he could since his throat was tight and sore.

"Take off your shirt." The cat ordered lightly, the boy looked at the creature questioningly but did so anyway. Once his shirt was off, the cat examined his wounds.

"Like what you see?" Naruto laughed at his little joke, which caused the cat to roll its red eyes.

"Turn around." Naruto once again complied. It hummed before the boy turned back around to face the creature. "What?"

"Your wounds aren't too bad, but you'll definitely be sore tomorrow. Give me your hand." The cat voiced its thoughts, thanking kami the boy isn't too badly hurt.

Once the boy's hand came near the creatures face, it started licking his open wound, making Naruto flinch from the burning sensation. It was like his cut was on fire before slowly cooling down, sealing up his wound. It hurt a lot but only for a few seconds.

"What happened?" He asked, wide-eyed. The cat gave the boy a closed eye smile before yipping at him while it spoke.

"I healed it! I can clean and heal wounds by licking them." Naruto stared at the creature in awe as its tails wagged happily.

"No way! You can do that?!" He coughed a little before looking back at the creature.

"There's a lot of things I can do. I can grow in size, make fire come out of my mouth, fly-"

"YOU CAN FLY?!" Naruto interrupted only to start coughing violently from his outburst. The cat nodded its head before licking another wound of his. His body tensed before relaxing as the burning sensation died down.

"Yep. Now don't move so I can clean your wounds." Naruto stilled as they kept up their conversation with ease.