The Child of Prophecy

└ C15 ┐

└ The minute you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on for so long.   —Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail) ┐

"Oi, Fuzzball!"

With a grin, Naruko started to poke the napping Kurama as his nine huge tails moved about in a calm way. She continued to poke him a few more times, but when he wouldn't even spare her a glare, a frown replaced her wide grin.

"Kuramaaaa~! Listen to what I have to say!" She whined as she started to tug on his cheeks, unintentionally exposing the fox's sharp fangs.

For a few moments, only silence surrounded the bijuu and jinchuuriki as the latter stared at the unmoving Kurama. Reaching the end of her patience, Naruko pulled Kurama's cheeks apart even further, whilst the latter remained ignoring her.

Truthfully, Naruko can't really blame him for ignoring her. Being alone, with just the two of them knowing about the past, was actually boring her out... And she just had to take everything out on Kurama.

All her countless whining about boredom was probably annoying him already. Welp, it's not like she can tell anyone else though.

She was just getting anxious. A bit tired, and maybe jittery, but well... mostly anxious.

Don't get her wrong, of course, she's glad that she was given the chance to start all over again. Seriously, thank the Rikkudo Sennin for that!

But what if she makes a mistake? What if.. she ends up losing everyoneelse against Madara again? Will Rikkudo Sennin give her another chance? To begin with, will she even manage to have Sasuke fight alongside her once more?

The troubling questions forming in her head just keep piling up, and all she could do is shake them off with a frustrated look plastered across her face.

After heaving out a sigh, she tried again,

"Hey, won't you hear me out, just for a little while..." She turned her head to gaze at Kurama, and slowly smiled with a soft gaze upon her eyes, her voice coming out in a calming yet also intriguing tone, "...Partner?"

The nickname sent a small shiver down the nine-tailed bijuu's spine.

Partner.

No one, other than this little brat in front of him, has ever called him that. Not Mito. Not Kushina. None of his previous human vessels have ever called him their 'partner'. And neither has anyone else ever dared to do so.

It was always 'monster' this, 'Kyuubi' that, 'bijuu-san' whatever, and blah blah blah. None of them have even called him by his name!

To be fair, he never actually told them that he wasn't simply 'Kyuubi', but it wasn't like any of them bothered to ask him.

Truly, it was strange. Namikaze Naruko -- whom he first encountered as Uzumaki Naruko -- is inevitably a strange existence that just suddenly came into his life, and somehow, there have been a few moments that life actually felt... nice.

So just this once, he drops his guard.

Slowly, one red, slitted eye met Naruko's face. He merely eyed her quietly, just calmly observing and scrutinizing her expression for a few seconds. Before closing his eye again as he let out a huff.