Chapter 3 - K

A sudden explosion is what wakes him up. His mind is already alert and in search of danger thanks to the loud 'bang'. He first looks down and is glad to see his position has not been compromised. There are no beings near the tree, but he can still hear some groans near. Naruto had once told him how lucky he was that Kurama can feel the presence of other beings by his emotional sense ability, that that way he can always warn him whenever an enemy is near. Though no matter how many times he has explained that what he feels are emotions and not the actual presence of humans, as to how a tracker can, Naruto never gets it. He just grins that annoying and carefree grin and says 'but we all have emotions'.

Well, for one, those beings that walk, emanating the odor of death, don't have emotions, dumbass knucklehead. He's able to smell them, yes, if faintly as the air is not in his favor, but he doesn't know their current position.

He sighs. It's easier to detect emotions than—

Kurama turns his head to where the sounds are coming from. There's a yell among those grunts. A high-pitched and terrified yell. And now that he concentrates, he can sense some emotions, too. There's fright and hopelessness there.

It is not his intention to come closer, his body still hurts and one look at the sky makes him know it hasn't been that long since he has fallen asleep; give it or take a few hours. But the sounds are near and he jumps onto another branch just in time to see a young girl with dark blond hair and a blue shirt running away from those things. She's moving slowly, her breaths are heavy and there's a stuffed doll on the crook of her arm while the other holds some metal object which she tries to grab with a damaged hand. She aims at one near her and the loud 'bang' is there again, echoing loudly in the forest. Her shoulders sag with the force of the weapon and it escapes her hands next to the doll. She whimpers and looks at the side to see more of those beings behind her.

Kurama sees her blue eyes and yes, they are the wrong shade, like her hair, but he senses a familiar determination and bravery. They're laced with fear and hopelessness instead of stubbornness and faith—in himself, in his comrades, in Kurama—, but is similar enough for him to jump and run. He no longer sees the young girl who just fell with tears staining her cheeks, monsters moving closer; he sees a young Naruto crying and he feels guilt.

Kurama attacks. He doesn't have the energy for a bijudama so he uses sharp claws and bites at everyone near until he's covered with coagulated blood and pieces of skin. He hobbles as he turns, and sees wide, surprised eyes directed at him. They're blue and that's enough for him to use what little energy he has to move forward and fall in front of the trembling human, close to her thin legs.

"Let me sleep for a while now, brat," he murmurs before falling asleep.

-o-

The thing about waking up when one's gotten used to being inside another being is that… well, it's strange, period. Not in the sense of it being uncomfortable, though it kind of is. He has been sealed for almost a century. Never waking up to feel the real world around him. Most would think it'd be incredible. Is not. It's disconcerting.

Perhaps it feels like that because Naruto's chakra and his own had been so close that they've almost merged in the war. And even if it only lasted a couple of days, he's now used to the feeling of Naruto's calm chakra mixed with his own. The seal has been open for not long but it has been enough for him to get used to it. Heavy and powerful, sometimes too excited and full of many emotions, but even so, always calm. Reassuring in the way a warm coat would help when it's cold.

Kurama would never admit it out loud though.

In short, even if waking up without that feeling in a place he doesn't recognize with the scent of blood and dust thick in the air shouldn't be enough to leave him aghast, it still leaves a sense of discomfort.

He hasn't got the chance to really think of the abrupt change he experienced when leaving his jinchuriki. Not giving him time to adjust. So… that gives him a good reason to momentarily freak out, right?

It's not befitting of the most powerful of the tailed beasts, but there's no one to see him as he stands up only to fall, his paws covered with some cloth that seems to work as shoes. His face doesn't reach the ground but it's only thanks to some... 'muzzle-thing' around his snout that makes him unable to open his mouth as he wants. He can't reach it with his paws because of the stupid shoes.

Just peachy.

"You're up," a voice murmurs, surprise echoing the soft voice.

Kurama looks up. The girl he remembers helping because of her similarities with a younger Naruto is standing behind a doorframe and looking cautiously at him. And now that he looks at her this close, he can notice that the similarities he found between her and his host are almost nonexistent.

He sighs.

Yeah, apparently, he's losing it.

Looking down at the cloth tied with simple dirt laces around his ankles and the fact he can't sense anyone near (Well, no one alive), he assumes the girl is the one who placed them on him.

It may be because of how his previous hosts treated him, but it doesn't enrage him as it once would. They're easy to ignore, actually.

He knows he should demand to be set free of these contraptions, but he has seen Naruto interact with kids to know that doing that will most likely scare her, and then what will he do? He doesn't have the power to reduce them to ashes. At least not yet, if the soreness and lethargy he feels are something to go by.

He hates this.

"What's your name?" he stars, trying to not put too much gruff in his voice to make it less menacing.

Considering she hides behind the wall, it doesn't work.