A Hound Should Never Want for a Fox

Chapter 6

"I understand you get along quite well with young Kakashi, here. If you ever need anything, I trust you know how to find him."

The Hokage's words echoed in Kakashi's skull. A week. A week had gone by since those words were spoken. Since the fox had revealed itself as a summons, of all things. A week since he last saw Naruto.

Was it possible to go into baby withdrawal? It sure felt like it.

"I should have taken him the instant it became clear his guards would rather watch him starve than touch him."

Kakashi clenched his jaw so hard it hurt. She was right. Kakashi had never touched Naruto in the year since he was born. He'd wrongly assumed that his fellow anbu were seeing to the infant's needs and selfishly used the child to soothe the aching hole in his heart. Looking at him was almost enough to convince him that sensei wasn't gone. A piece of him and Kushina was still in this world, so they weren't really dead.

It wasn't like he wanted to neglect the child. He wanted to reach out and hold him, but every time he mustered up the courage...something stopped him. Ghostly fingers gripped his heart and his lungs struggled to function. He had no choice but to keep his distance, or else drown in the cloying panic that filled his sinuses with the scent of blood and fear and chakra that burned—!

He ran a hand over his face, gloved fingers digging into the flesh of his cheeks hard enough to bruise. The Hokage had dismissed Naruto's anbu guard and taken Kakashi's only excuse for violating the no contact order keeping anyone who might care for the child from doing so. It was probably for the best. Everyone he held on to ended up dying. Letting Naruto go was for the boy's own good.

The familiar sound of claws against wood floors didn't immediately catch his attention. It was only once he remembered that the pack was back in the summoning realm, enjoying some much needed rest after a hard mission, that he dismissed his melancholy with practiced ease, burying it under predatory alertness. He lay deathly still on his bed and listened. Whatever animal was walking across his floor, he didn't recognize its gait. That ruled out any of his comrades' summons. He took in a deep breath and choked on the scent of fox. How had he missed that?

He rolled over, coughing, and met the animal's unimpressed blue eyes. It was a little fox, like the one that had led him across the Village. A clone, then.

"How did you get in?" It was a serious question. There were seals on his apartment, placed there by Minato-sensei, himself. Not even a flea could slip through.

The fox rolled its glowing eyes and sniffed disdainfully. Its fluffy tail swished back and forth in agitation, not unlike a cat's.

...could only the big one talk, then?

"What do you want?" A sudden thought had him leaping out of bed. "Is Naruto alright? Did something happen?"

The fox's silence was damning.

Kakashi didn't even put on his shoes before launching himself out of his window.

"I don't need anything from humans."

That's right. There was no reason for the fox to seek him out. It had never needed him, in the first place, except when Naruto's life was in danger. Knowing that, it wasn't hard to leap to the worst possible conclusion.

Naruto's window was open to the night air and he let himself in easily. No one was in the nursery and his heartrate spiked as panic really started to set in. The only things in Naruto's cot were the stuffed dogs he and Gai made together. Another bad sign. Where were the fox toys?

A wail broke the silence and Kakashi rushed out into the hallway, kunai at the ready. He stepped into the living room and—.

There were no enemies. No blank masked intruders. Instead, there was only a young woman with a child in her arms, bouncing and cooing to try and stop his crying. She turned on her heel to glare at Kakashi, glowing eyes boring straight into his soul. This was his first time looking directly at her, as the last time she took a human form in front of him he was a little preoccupied with protecting the Hokage from a potential threat. He could see, now, why the older man had asked her if she came from the Land of Wind. She was dressed in the thick, heavily embroidered fashion of the desert's nomads, every inch of skin covered below the neck. If he cared to look, he was sure he would recognize how delicate and skillful the needlework was, but his eye was focused elsewhere. Her clothing aside, her coloring was very rare in the Land of Fire. Blonde hair and blue eyes on their own weren't totally uncommon, but the golden undertones she and Naruto shared were an instant mark of a foreigner. Her eyes were large and took up much of her small, round face. The artificial lights highlighted the freckles on her cheeks as she stomped angrily up to him.