Chapter Text
She squatted, carefully folding the paper in her hands with a long, delicate crease, using her nails to harden down the edges and make them as pronounced as possible. Saiken had told her it was the trick to making good origami: to have hard creases. Not that she was much better, but she would listen to his advice regardless. Saiken was weak but wise.
She never really got it, how folding paper a bunch could make into something else… but the cute little paper-fox that Saiken had made for her was one of her proudest, most prized possessions… and so she was trying to make something in return. A crane, since she heard it was one of the easier ones to fold. Or was that a frog? She didn’t know. She was just trying to make one. Anything.
“This is hard!” she whined, throwing the stupid paper up in the air and falling onto her ass, huffing, “I don't get it! Stupid Saiken and your bullshit hobby!"
“Get… what?”
Her pupils turned out pinpricks as she turned around- and, of course, the one person who was able to get in contact with was there.
Uzumaki Kushina.
Otherwise known as the Red Hot Habanero. Tomato. Kushi- by that stupid Blonde kid.
Or, even better yet, internationally; as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
But she cared little for these petty names and titles. This woman was known to her by one title: jailor. A human thought she had the right to keep her prisoner here for the very simple transgression of being alive. Well, Mito started it by sealing her away in the first place- but Kushina carried the torch and was thus just as responsible.
“I-” she narrowed her eyes as her tongue twisted.
The hell should she even say in a situation like this?
“Are you… the Kyuubi no Kitsune?” The woman asked, grey-purple eyes flickering upwards to the big ball of… shit, or whatever her seal was made of, Kurama honestly didn’t know or care- cause the chains were empty and the spot Kurama usually sat in was just so.
“Uh-” she said awkwardly, fidgeting slightly where she sat on the floor, butt-ass naked, cause, well, it wasn’t like she needed clothes when she was alone. In her seal. Where only Kushina could enter.
But she usually didn’t .
Kurama should’ve known not to fall into a false sense of security.
Unlike Mito who checked in on her every day (at the very least), so she thought she'd have some privacy, dammit! Thankfully her hair, bright orange and tangled and matted, managed to cover up the more human-sensitive zones of her humanoid body. Not she herself cared much, she never was one for human conventions, but she knew that humans could be rather… sensitive to nudity.
Especially female nudity.
“W-wait, you’re a chick?!” Kushina pointed a rude finger right in her face, and Kurama slapped it away, “the Kyuubi no Kitsune is a chick ?!” She didn't even seem offended by the slap she was so shocked. Idiot.
“I suppose,” she snorted, “biologically I am female...” Though all of her siblings had agreed; no incest would be happening between them. So, it wasn't like that mattered, did it? The sole purpose of biological genders was to reproduce, which she wouldn't be doing. “Gender means very little to me.”
“It… what?! What does that even mean?” Kushina pulled at her hair, “I… is this a dream? What's going on?”
“I…” Kurama bit her lip, “yes, this is a dream,” she said, moving away as if she actually had somewhere to go. She didn’t; her seal only allowed her a cramped little room (thanks, Mito). Of course, she could take advantage of Kushina’s subconscious to spawn in items, but it wasn’t anywhere close to the real thing. They were all just figments of imagination that felt semi-coherent.
“A dream! Ha! I knew it!” the young woman shouted- because, well, she was barely in her teenage years, practically a child. A zygote, not even, in comparison to Kurama who had lived for thousands of years. “But…” The woman then paused, looking at her strangely, “why the fuck am I dreaming of a chick Kyuubi for, y’know?!”
Oh right, and she had that awful a verbal tic. Wow, things were only getting worse.
Kurama let out a harsh puff and grabbed her little wad of paper, “don’t ask me, I don’t know how your insanity works.”
“Insanity! I’m a very rational, sane woman, dammit!” she shook her fist, hair flying everywhere as if it were Kurama’s tails. A mockery, really. Kurama had real tails to do that. They swayed fluidly on the floor.
She just grunted and started working on her paper again, “say that to anybody in Konoha and they’ll laugh their asses off. Oh, wait, they’re too afraid of you to do that.”
“You calling me violent? I don't care who you are! Bring it!” Kushina waved her fists as if preparing for a fight, “come on! Bring it!”
“Shut up. I’m working.”
Kushina’s expression did an entire one-eighty; flipping from furious to curious in just a second, almost as if someone had flicked a switch. Kurama grunted, not liking whatever words would follow that doe-like expression.
“... on what?” and cue the curious child-phase. Suicidally-childish. Teenagers, as she was told (Mito had been an adult when she was sealed), were horrible. Shukaku had del with enough to know. And he had told her. Quite… verbally.
The girl leaned over her shoulder, hair draping down her shoulder and mixing with Kurama’s own, like a waterfall reflecting the bright hues of a sunset.
She hid the paper in her hands and glared at the idiotic human, “why do you care?”
“Cause… don’t, like, things in dreams symbolize stuff? I wanna know! Maybe Mina-kun could help me… yeah, I'll tell him when I wake up! He loves this kind of thing!” she babbled, cheeks flushing.
Great, more mentions to her stupid boyfriend. Kurama had enough of that kid.
“You’re dreaming of a demon…” Kurama said currently, shoving herself away from the prying eyes of the annoying human, “what does that mean? That you’re a demon?” she snarked, obviously sarcastic.
“I dunno! This is why I need Mina-kun, y’know!”
And she was starting to get flustered. That was annoying.
“If you don’t mind having your freak out somewhere else, it would be appreciated,” she sarcastically snipped, “I’m busy.”
“Doing what?” Kushina eagerly asked again, “you never answered me before!”
“I did; I said it was none of your business.”
“You’re sealed in me! And you’re part of my dream… so you better listen to me!” Kushina tutted, like she was speaking down to a child.
Kurama h a t e d being spoken down to. She had enough people claiming she wasn't even sentient, thank you very much. She was serpentine in wit. Rational. And, might she say, intelligent!
Kurama dodged as the girl made a leap for her closed hand, but she was fast, kicking her in the face and prying her hand open with force.
“... paper? That's what you were hiding? What the fuck it paper supposed to mean? Mina-kun! I need your help, y’know!” the girl grumbled, but as she did so, she violated all of Kurama’s efforts by unfolding the paper and staring at it, “it’s blank!”
“Its origami, idiot,” Kurama huffed, standing up and snatching the page, her tail fur standing on end in annoyance, “and I didn't give you permission to touch it or ruin it,” she growled, fumbling with her ruined masterpiece Saikens advice had helped; she could still see her creases… she just, uh, didn't know which order to make them in again. She kind of winged it- and it looked good! Now it was just flat and worthless.
“My seal, mt rules" Kushina reminded her.
“No.”
“ Yes ! And, that doesn't look like origami, y’know,” Kushina crossed her arms and laughed, “well, it looks like somebody who doesn't know how to fold origami tried to fold origami.”
“... shut up,” Kurama evaporated the page (creases be damned) and started marching away- only to once more realize she had nowhere to go and was pretty much stuck with the human until it decided to leave. She let out a brisk sigh, running a hand through her tangled hair. Her claws got stuck on an entire hornet's nest of tangles and knots. Kurama growled, frustrated. She tugged her hand free, hair ripping angrily as she did.
“Why is it so messy?” Kushina pried, coming over to inspect Kurama’s rat’s nest with a critical eye, “what's so hard about brushing it?”
“Because… I do not care for it. It’s a meaningless feature of this body.”
“But it looks pretty, y’know!:
Her heart skipped. A human, complimenting her? Ah, how patronizing! She didn't need a puny human trying to make her feel better; she was a powerful demon, capable of destroying mountains! She wasn't self-conscious. And… she could have taken care of her hair if she wanted to.
She just… didn’t want to.
"Or it would look pretty... if you actually took care of it."
Kurama sneered, “why are you acting so friendly, human? Leave.”
“My seal,” she said for… the third time, was it? It was really getting repetitive. It reminded Drama of when Shukaku was younger… always kept spouting the same nonsense over and over again, trying to get her attention… “my rules. I can be whatever I want! And what I want, is to look at your pretty hair!”
“Stop,” she growled.
Kushina grinned, giddy as she grabbed a (surprisingly gentle) handful of Kurama’s thick, knotted mess, “ah, so nice…” she marvelled, “y’know, this reminds me of my hair! Nobody likes it, but when Mina-kun said he thought it was pretty it made me so happy! Yours is pretty too, so you should take care of it, y’know?!”
Kurama sneered; Shut up. She didn't need a human's pity. Or compliments.
(But she didn't say that, did she?)
Ugh, children. She hated them. Well, she hated most humans. A few were okay... okay in the sense that they left her alone and didn't try to kill her or use her like a rag doll. Like the way Kushina just barged in here, grabbing her hair, and--
(She shivered as the memory of a certain man came to mind. His rough hands digging into her hair. Holding her down. Kushina’s red hair, like his eyes, spinning round and round and round- and then suddenly Kurama was waking up. Chunks of her hair on the ground, blood oozing from wounds that were already closed. The blood staining her form just as the red gaze of his eyes did.)
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Are you… okay?” and suddenly Kushina was in her face.
“No,” she hissed, “there's an annoying human in my space.”
Kushina opened her mouth-
“Your seal, yeah, I get it. Your dream, too,” because she was supposed to be lying to convince the humans that this wasn't real.
She could easily object to the notion later if Kushina ever questioned her. She totally wasn't a girl, and totally couldn’t turn into a human and just slip out of her chains… she was, well, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Known for being big and dumb and slow and a man. It would be insane to ever assume any of those things were untrue.
So then, when Kurama was given the opportunity…
“You looked sad, though. Hmm, is that also part of my dream?” Kushina hummed, looking thoughtful, “ne, ne, Kyuubi- that's you, right? You’re actually the Kyuubi, right?”
“Is it so hard to believe?”
“Well duh! I always thought that if the Kyuubi was a person he would be an ugly old man, y’know?”
“... no?” she squinted, “I am not ugly, nor am I a man. And I’m not human, either. I can just take that form.”
“So this is real?!” the girl shrieked, “oh, shit!”
Right. How could she keep forgetting that? Well, the woman was still half-heartedly slipping her finger through Kurama’s hair… and, somehow, the lack of pain was more distracting than any pain itself.
She couldn't keep her head screwed on today. Maybe she was sick? Could she even get sick?
“... no, it’s a dream,” definitely a dream.
“Oh, okay.”
Moron.
“Can I fix your hair?”
“Huh?” Kurama stared at the stupid human incredulously, “you… what?”
“Can I fix your hair? It looks… nasty.”
“No.”
But Kushian just grinned that stupid, mischevious grin- and as soon as she had blinked Kurama found herself wrapped in a chain and pushed to sit down. Kushina was behind her suddenly, with a comb and a spray bottle in her hands. What even happened? How fast was this woman?
Right. Kushina’s seal, Kushina’s rule. Kurama forgot that she was just a powerless prisoner in this realm.
“I’m gonna do it anyway, because it’s my dream and I can do what I want! If I think about dream reading… me doing something nice for someone I don’t like gots’ to mean something good, y’know ?”
Kurama just grumbled. The tick was starting to grate on her damn nerves.
(But didn't fight back… because the comb brushing through the knots in her mane actually felt… nice. Once more, it was the lack of pain that felt weird. But once she got over it… she saw, now, that the colour of Kushina’s hair and that man’s eyes… they were completely different shades of red.)
“What's your name?” Kushina suddenly asked, humming.
“Why do you care?’ she asked, ears flattening against her head as Kushina hit a particular snag.
“Because… well, I think I should know the name of the demon inside me, y’know?”
“This is a dream…”
Kushina laughed, “a great ‘dream .’”
Kurama didn’t tell her.
(Kushina visited every day for the next two weeks. Eventually, Kurama succumbed to her insistence and gave away her precious name. The only thing she held dear. And they were friends ever since.)
---
Smoke and fire and pain and screaming. Kushina's. Minato’s. The baby’s.
Her own, even. Not out of pain or fear; just horror, at what she was being forced to watch. At the crumbling state of the woman, she had grown attached to just as much as the woman was forcibly attached to her.
Kushina was crumpled and sagging in the arms of Minato.
In the arms of an anonymous Uchiha man with a stark orange mask and a single eyehole was… Kushina’s baby. Naruto. She remembered that stupid name; both from the book of the Toad Sage, and from the favourite food the couple shared. It was so ridiculous. So adorable that it sickened Kurama to her stomach.
(Least it was better than naming that brat after Kurama… which had been Kushina’s first idea. Kurama was, unofficially, the Godmother, after wall. But she hated the idea of sharing a title with that pervert fo a sage so she refused- also Minato didn't know.)
But the sickness wasn’t from that for long; instead, the image of the Uchiha holding a knife to the throat of the child was so much worse. Kurama screamed, the sound bitter and hollow as it echoed across Kushina’s mind.
But there wasn't anything she could do.
All her energy was put into holding on tight- doing everything she could to uphold the seal throughout the entirety of the delivery. Most humans knew that the seal weakened during birth- but nobody knew it was beyond Kurama’s control. She couldn't help it. Could barely stop it. She was being pushed out just as much as the child was; and it took all of Kurama’s control not to be ripped out entirely, killing Kushina in the process.
But now, despite all of Kurama’s efforts, Kushina was still dying. Her best friend was dying. Crumpled and wasted; the delivery taking too much out of her, even with Kurama doing her best to help.
“Give me the Jinchuuriki,” the man commanded. His knife-edged closer to the child’s throat in a silent threat.
Minato, of course, refused. Why give up his wife? Expect, this trade was for the life of his son. How could a person choose? Between the life of their wife and the life of their son? It was an impossible decision, even for someone so mighty…
It was Kushina who made the decision. Not Minato. Not Kurama. Not the masked Uchiha. But Kushina; who willingly gave up herself so that her son could be saved.
The waterfall rushed behind them, the roaring gaping maw of a beast as the water flowed, splashing into the air and splattering against Kushina’s face. But Kurama couldn’t hear it, no matter who defining All she could focus on was the laboured breaths of Kushina and the crying of the baby.
She knew, even with her healing abilities… that Kushina was too weak. The birth had damaged her. The removal of the seal was damaging her even more. It was a miracle that she had managed to survive this far… and that miracle was called the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But with so much of her effort tied between keeping the seal in place and keeping Kushina alive- she could do neither. Until she tethered herself to one, there would be nothing. If she focused on just one Kushina would die, regardless. If she focused on neither, Kushina would die from the strain.
But she knew, either way, they would lose.
If she allowed the seal to come undone then Kushina would no doubt die. But if she stopped using her powers to try and heal the woman, she would die. But if she tried to do both; she just couldn't. The man trying to tear her out of Kushina was too strong- too strong for Kurama to only place half of her effort into. But if she left? She could try to fight; but even if she managed to defeat this man, Kushina would be dead within minutes. She didn’t… they didn’t have that kind of time!
There was… nothing she could do…
“It’s all right, Kura-chan.”
She looked up, tears spilling over her face as she tugged herself onto the seal, hugging it close to herself and refusing to budge, even as the chain locked around her ankles pulled harder, trying to pull her from the safety of her prison.
How ironic, that she was trying to stay. That she was crying for the woman who had held her as a slave for so long.
The woman… who loved her… so dearly.
And who, so dearly, Kurama loved back.
Kushina hugged her tightly, knowing Kurama couldn't spare her hands to do so back- Kurama was about to lean into it, give in… then her hands so, so cold , pulled away to grasp at her face as Kushina had tears in her own eyes.
“You’re in pain.”
“No… I’m…”
“You always do this, Kura. You always lie to me when you’re hurt. When we first met… and even now…” Kushina leaned forward and hugged her tightly around the neck, “it’s okay to admit it… I’m here for you….”
“But… you won't be!”
“But you will. We both know… that if you keep this up…”
Kurama would die.
She knew her own strengths. And seals; well, seals were her weaknesses. They could so easily rip her in half, tear her up and make it so that she could ever return again. While she was a demon, a Bijuu, being mainly made of chakra that someone held sentences. She could survive a number of things, regenerate herself from just pieces… but seals? Seals somehow had the ability to take that all away.
As strong as she was, Kurama knew that she wasn’t immortal. They had thought they were, in the beginning… but then, her older brother…
Her life flashed before her eyes. Her family. Siblings. The Sage. Kushina. Minato. Naruto. Then before; the long years of suffering and torment. Mito. Hashirama.
Madara.
Then before, again. Even further; when it was just her in the forest; separated from her siblings, bitter and disgusted and disgust ing . Alone. Hating all of humanity.
There was such a stark difference between those memories and life she had lived in the last couple of years… that the bitterness of it was almost made sweet. To think, that lonely little kitsune would find a family of her own. Would have warmth and happiness and a smiling face by her side.
That smiling face… now sunken, with large purple bags and wilting, dropping red hair. Blood splatter. Chakra nearly gone. Body crippled. Son crying. Kushina was dying. Kurama was dying.
This… this was the end.
(And there was nothing she could do about it. No matter how strong Kurama became; she was always helpless.)
“But- you’re going to die, Kushina!”
“And so will you, y’know?! And Minato… he…”
Kushina sucked in a breath, “he's already prepared the Death Reaper Seal.”
Her eyes widened, “what? But then- Naruto !” there was only one person here that could take that seal… but then, Minato was planning to- that… that was horrible!
She felt her hands lose grip of the seal.
“You need to live, Kurama! You need to live so that someone can care for our son!” The woman smiled brightly, holding up one arm and slapping other on top for her famous strong-arm pose, “his name is Naruto… and he… he's going to love you, okay? Just like me! You’re loved, Kurama! And don’t give that up, okay? I know it seems hard… I know I’m the first one… but just because of what you are, that doesn't mean you aren't allowed happiness.”
Kurama choked.
“If you found it once then you can find it again. I can't stay with you anymore... I know that. I know that I'm going to die- and so my only hope is that you now help Naruto find that same love in his own life.”
Kushina just kept smiling, even as the brightness started to fade from her eyes, “so, please… keep living… if not for yourself; then at least for him! My son! Your son, Kurama! I know you said no, but... please, Kurama, please be his Godmother.”
What could she say? This was her best friends dying wish. This was the last teather she had to love- and the last chance she had to find it once more.
"I'll do my best, Kushina."
She saw the last shimmer of the warm, bright red of Kushina’s hair. Warmth surrounded her, calming and reassuring. She felt the words before they were even spoken.
"I love you, Kurama."
The wamrth began to fade- and tears pirckled in her eyes before all she could see was the final flciker of bright red hair.
"I love you, Kushina," she whsiperd, hands grasping at nothing-
Before everything when dark.
And she awoke in the belly of a newborn.
Without a father. Without a mother.
Without anyone but Kurama.
Naruto…
She owed it to Kushina, at least. To try.