Kitsune no Yomeiri

“Sasu-chan!” (Kiera-dono…)

“What is it, Naru-dobe?” (Yes, Kyuubi-sama?)

“Will you take me as your bride when we’re older?” (I ask that you be my mate.)

“Aniki says I’m supposed to marry a strong female to produce heirs.” (Kyuubi-sama…)

“But I can produce heirs, too!” (Our union will be a strong one…)

“Alright, Naru-dobe. I’ll take you as my bride.” (Hai, Kyuubi-sama…)

Sasuke…

Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes slowly, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep. He’d had that dream again, the one with his childhood friend and he promising to marry. It had been occurring regularly as he’d gotten closer to his majority. The time was coming for him to find his mate, and Naruto figured that to be the cause of his memory-dream.

It hurt, just a little bit. He’d been taken from his friend’s side not long after their promise and brought to the hidden kitsune village, far from the village of his birth. The fox demons had raised him and taught him the ways of nobility, as well as the customs of kitsune mating. As a kitsune, he had the ability not only to create children, but to bear them as well. If he should take another kitsune as his mate, whether male or female, then he would be responsible for continuing his line. But if he should find a mate outside of the kitsune, as some were want to do, he had a choice: bear the children of a strong male, or impregnate a strong female.

And now Naruto couldn’t stop thinking about his promise to his long-ago friend. He shook his head ruefully. He’d been taken from Sasuke nearly fifteen years ago. ‘I’m sure he’s forgotten all about me.’

A knocking sound was heard, and before Naruto could respond, his shoji door was slid open to admit his vassal, breakfast tray in hand.

“Ohayo, Naruto-sama. Please eat your breakfast while I prepare your bath.” The tray was set on his lap after he’d sat up, and Naruto ate automatically as he watched his servant work. The young woman was slightly younger than him, and completely opposite. While his short, spiky hair was a bright and golden blonde, hers was black with a bluish sheen, stretching down her back and tied tight at the nape of her neck with a strap of leather. While he was tan and muscled, she was pale and lithe, her small frame belying her demonic strength.

When she turned from her task, his blue eyes locked with her solid black ones, and a light dusting of pink shaded the skin covering high cheekbones. As Naruto stared, his mind altered the picture a bit, and where there had been roundness was now soft, yet masculine, if a bit childish, angles; where a light dusting of pink in embarrassment, a light dusting of red in irritation. The pale skin and eyes remained the same, but the hair shortened until it stuck up in the back while the bangs fell into a slightly scowling face.

‘Sasuke…’

“Naruto-sama?”

“Why am I here?” The question, which he’d only ever asked once before, was whispered so softly he thought she hadn’t heard. So he was surprised to feel two wet hands grab his face harshly and turn his head from where it had fallen.

“Because this is where you belong!” The servant’s eyes were harsh and unyielding for a moment, reminding the blonde of his old friend even more potently, when she suddenly yelped and released him. She fell to her hands and knees, begging his forgiveness for treating him so discourteously. He waved off her apology, and with tears in her eyes, she reminded him of his meeting with the elders later that morning and fled his room.

Sighing, Naruto removed the tray from his lap and stood, letting his sleeping robe fall off his shoulders to the floor as he stretched, sharp nails pointing towards the ceiling and fangs bared in a tremendous yawn. He relaxed his body and walked to his bath, cautiously sinking down into the heated water so as not to singe his skin. As he laid his head back against the tub’s rim, Naruto breathed deeply and wished the end of the day would just come. He was not looking forward to his meeting with the elders, for he knew what they intended to tell him. And the more he thought about, the more it broke his heart.

~*~

“More than two decades ago, shinobi of Oto attacked our tranquil kitsune village. And our lady, about to give birth to an heir, was spirited away to an allied village of ninja. There she died while giving birth to the heir. Our great lord, who’d set out to return her to us, mistook the situation for betrayal and attacked the village. As a last resort to tame our great lord, the Hokage of that village sealed him away within his own son!”

‘And that’s why my memories and his sometimes entwine…’

Naruto knelt upon a plush cushion in the middle of the ceremonial hall of the kitsune village. Before him sat the council of elders that would usually advise the great lord on affairs of the village. But Naruto, being far too young to take over the responsibility, readily let them rule in his stead. To either side knelt the most prominent and powerful kitsune in the village, their families sitting quietly behind them.

“Almost fifteen years ago, we succeeded in reclaiming our lost heir, and today we celebrate the twenty-first year of his most honorable life!”

Smiles of joy and pride lit the faces of his people, and Naruto tried to fight off a blush as he gazed into the happy countenance of the head elder.

“Kitsune no Kazahaya, Son of Kiera-dono and Kitsune no Kyuubi-sama, approach and receive the blessing of the gods and the right of rule.”

‘I hate that name…’

Naruto slowly rose, careful to be graceful in the eyes of his soon-to-be subjects, and approached the wizened fox. Gnarled hands reached out and grabbed the sides of his head, bringing his forehead in contact with dry and cracked lips. An ancient incantation, a prayer to the gods, was mouthed into his skin, and when the old demon pulled back, his slightly shaking hands released Naruto and moved to grab something from an ornate wooden box. A glint of gold could be seen between the old man’s fingers as he turned back to the assembled crowd.

“Each great lord is decorated with a symbol of his rule at the time of his coronation. Our late Kyuubi-sama was adorned with the Bracelet of the Blood, and his father before him was adorned with the Circlet of the Moon. Today, we decorate our new lord with the Amulet of the Earth!” The old kitsune then leaned forward and slipped the golden chain over Naruto’s head and let it rest about his neck.

A pleased murmur rippled all around him, and Naruto turned to see his gathered subjects kowtowing to him. He was fighting another blush, not used to such respect, even after fifteen years of it, but soon his embarrassment was replaced by an empty and cold feeling as the head elder continued the coronation ceremony.

“Now Kazahaya-sama, to ensure that your bloodline may continue to reign, it is time to pick your bride!”

Will you take me as your bride when we’re older?

‘I don’t want this…’

“Who will you choose to bear your children?”

Aniki says I’m supposed to marry a strong female to produce heirs.

‘Don’t force me to do this…’

“Kazahaya-sama? What is your decision?”

Alright, Naru-dobe. I’ll take you as my bride.

‘Why are you making me do this?’

‘They cannot, my son.’

‘Otosan?’

‘You are the great lord of the kitsune now. You make your own decisions.’

“Kazahaya-sama?”

“My name is Naruto,” the new lord whispered, head bent down, chin to his chest.

“Pardon, Kazahaya-sama?”

“I said,” Naruto lifted his head, blue eyes bleeding to the red of his father as he faced his people, “My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I will marry the one I’ve loved since my childhood, the one you elders forced me away from for fifteen years!”

The deadly red chakra of Kyuubi-sama’s line flared to life around the young man, and as his subjects looked on in fear and awe, Naruto tipped back his head and roared his first royal proclamation into the air.

“I will marry Uchiha Sasuke!”


TBC