Chapter 43 - K

Taking a deep breath, he tries to recall the feeling of Naruto's chakra, of his person. He turns again into him, though it's a slightly younger version than the one he remembers. His clothes again are like Mito's but simpler because even if he's weak he's not going to let others look at him with his orange jumpsuit. His ego wouldn't let him.

There are gasps around him but he ignores them as he kneels in front of the kid. The transformation demands more concentration, but it's somehow easier to split that concentration into doing other things. His right hand turns into a less solid yellow and he presses it into the kid's arm. It's harder to heal someone from the outside than it is from the inside, it seems. Harder but still doable. He doesn't have that much energy but that rest seems to have worked as it's not as taxing. Or perhaps is not that strenuous because he's borrowing from Nature.

It seems in the same way Nature it's taking his energy away, he can take some of it back too.

He closes the wound and disinfects it, but does not completely heal it. He then moves to the head and recedes some of the pain to make it at least bearable.

Kurama sits back with an inhuman fluidity as he inspects his work with slightly frowning eyes, posture straight and cold. He then shrugs and stands up, giving his legs a shake to erase the wrinkles that formed in the clothes.

"Is he going to be okay?" Donna asks breathless, her hands somewhat trembling as she inspects his son's wounds. He doesn't know if she's trembling because of what she's seen him do or for the relief.

"Better than nothing, I guess."

"Better than nothing?"

A hand goes to his hip as he turns his head back to look at Adam. He raises an eyebrow. "I'm not going to waste more of the energy I've already wasted. It'll take a while to fully heal but I've seen kids his age with worse and still going to battle. He's going to be fine with that."

Kurama doesn't mention that the kids he's talking about are actually ninjas, child soldiers, but he never claimed to be good at comforting people.

"He seems better, Adam." Donna's hand leaves her son's forehead to look up at him. "Thank you."

Kurama makes a face at the sincerity of her words. Honest gratitude is hard to swallow even coming from Naruto.

"Whatever."

Sasha huffs somewhat shakily. "Not good at receiving thanks, huh?"

"You're getting off lucky, actually. I threw the last guy who thanked me against a wall," Kurama grumbles as he gives her a passing glance, but his lips curl at the memory of Naruto shouting at him.

"I get he didn't die then," deadpans Adam.

Smirking, he glances down at the hand that is solid again. "He's a resilient kid. Hard to kill."

"Is that your friend? We're going in the general direction you told me to."

Kurama's head shots up to look at Sophia, his body losing some of its form at the slip of concentration. He looks from side to side as if a giant red arrow is going to appear and signal him towards the last place he felt Naruto. He spreads his awareness to its limit, ignoring how Nature latches more into him. Adam, who was standing next to him, stumbles. He grabs the car's door to keep him upright but Kurama ignores that as he concentrates, barely registering that he is once again in his fox form.

He feels Naruto. Or at least the vague direction in which he is in. The point in which he used his chakra for the last time is stronger as it left an imprint but he can sense Naruto, too. He can also sense the Uchiha brat but it's an easy to forget dot, just enough to know he's alive, so he ignores it.

There's an answering pulse and something in him warms because that's Naruto going into sage mode. He wants to focus more until he can know exactly where he is but Nature breaks away from his grip, leaving him. The action takes more from him than he'd have thought and Kurama staggers back.

He wants to try again and takes a step forward to do it, but Sophia's "Nine, don't!" stops him. Kurama looks over his shoulder, marveling for a second at the way the world shifts its axis and his vision blurs, his mind moving far slower than normal. He notices Sophia kneeling next to him. He ignores it, choosing to press his head between his paws and groan, cursing left and right, before he looks up again.

The other humans are gripping the car tightly. They look scared. Sophia's no better; she's pale and terrified but determined enough to be that close to him.

"Don't do that again," she says with a hard tone he doesn't remember ever hearing coming from her. Kurama wants to berate her for it but doesn't have the strength to do it. Something tells him he kind of deserves it, too.

"What was that?" Sasha breaths.

"Fucking Nature," he answers, even if he doesn't exactly know what they've experienced. It's still the truth though because fucking Nature.

The silence that forms is broken by Tyreese who clears his throat, making everyone look at him. "Maybe we should go," he says looking around. "Donna's right. We should look for a safe place. More now that the Ben's better. We can talk later."

Kurama's ear twitches as he remembers sensing some empty spaces void of Nature he guesses are houses. He points in a direction with a tail. "There are a couple of houses down to that path. They're are free of walkers from what I could sense earlier."

"You sensed them?" asks Adam, doubt clear in his tone.

Kurama glares at him and answers with a resolute 'Yes' that forbids any more questioning.

Sasha is the one who intercedes, even though she seems quite a skeptic too. "Like a town?"

"No, they were too separated to be that. Cabins, I think is the term."

Sasha hums as she looks in the direction he pointed before she glances at the sky. "It's going to rain soon. If they're separated enough, each must have some sort of generator so best to try it, don't you think?"

Her question goes to everyone and Kurama is kind of relieved everyone accepts. He jumps onto the roof box without prompting. No one tells him to go off so he lies down and waits for everyone to go to their positions and turn on the car.

.

.

Reviews fill my soul with motivation :D

Also if you wanna read chapters ahead, go to:

www - Pat - reon - com - /JorieDS