Chapter 9: NineChapter Text
NINE
The orphanage was a very different place to the room. The room had been quiet, stiflingly so, and so empty. The orphanage was the opposite; it overflowed, with children, with noise, with toys, with the roll-out mats and blankets used for bedding. Naruto loved the chaos of it. To Sansa's amusement, in the new, busy environment her brother learned how to run on his toddling little feet before he'd even learned to crawl.
The other babes his (their) age immediately took to Naruto, who was so bright and filled with so much enthusiasm and joy, but Sansa kept to herself. She found the orphanage overwhelming at first; she had grown accustomed to small doses of the something she now knew was called chakra, and the orphanage full of children couldn't compare to the intensity of Tsukiko or the Fox's chakra, but being constantly bombarded with it made her head pound until she felt sick and dizzy.
There was also another issue, one that took her a few days to realise. Most of the unclaimed orphans had no surname– they were blank slates. It was a sign of potential, the orphanage staff insisted, ready for the day when they had a family name to call their own. The cold, harsh reality of it, however, just meant they were unwanted. She and Naruto, however, were not just another two unclaimed orphans. They were Uzumaki, not that anyone knew the weight behind such a name; all they knew was that the twins had a family name and there were those in the orphanage who hated them for it.
It wasn't all the orphans who were like that, of course. The younger ones were too innocent to care about such a thing, and most of the older, more jaded and world weary ones had outgrown their bitterness at each other, instead turning it against the system. This in particular was fortunate for her and Naruto, as the orphanage ran on a system where the older orphans had the job of taking care of the younger orphans, who would one day grow old enough to take on the responsibility of looking after a younger orphan and so on.
A girl, maybe three-and-ten, with grass-green hair and crooked teeth by the name of Kanna was assigned to Sansa and Naruto. She appeared to be a nervous, fumbling girl, but she had clever hands– a thief's hands, Sansa realised, and after she realised that, it didn't take long to notice that Kanna's clumsiness was as much an act as Sansa's own youthfulness. Kanna was gentle with them and she was dutiful in her care, so Sansa kept quiet about the loose panel in the wall, behind which Kanna's ill-begotten goods were hidden.
Overall, Sansa was cautiously willing to accept the trade of the headaches that would hopefully ease with time and exposure for Naruto's clear happiness in this new environment when she was faced with a new, unexpected problem. It started with a scream, eight days after they'd been moved from the hospital to their new home. Sansa had been curled in the corner of the room, practicing focusing on Naruto's chakra alone– his was so much stronger than any of the other orphans, so it tended to drown the rest out which eased her headaches– when one of the orphanage workers, Jin, suddenly screamed. Sansa's eyes flew open just in time to see her strike Naruto across the face, hard enough to knock him against the floor.
Her brother lay there, stunned, his blue eyes so wide and watery and hurt. Sansa was over by him in a flash, her body crouched over his as he burst into tears. She turned and bared her teeth at the trembling woman, letting her sharp fangs show, and Jin backed away, lifting her hands up to cover her mouth.
The orphanage matron, Kazumi, rushed in and barked out a demand to know what had happened and Jin raised a shaking hand, pointing at Naruto. "Th-the demon," she whispered, trembling, "it– it was speaking in tongues! I heard it! I did!" Her voice was rising, hysterical.
It only took Sansa a moment to realise what Jin meant. She'd spent the last twelve turns of the moon talking to Naruto in the Old Tongue, not the language spoken by Konoha. Naturally, as she was the only person he spoke to, when he started speaking it was in the Old Tongue. To Jin, it probably did sound like Naruto was possessed by a demon. But that didn't excuse her striking Sansa's precious brother. Sansa would not forget or forgive what she had done.
Kanna scooped Naruto up after the matron led the trembling Jin out, leaving Naruto sobbing on the ground, Sansa still crouched protectively over him. Kanna cooed at Naruto, kissing the whisker marks on his tear-stained cheeks until he stopped crying, sniffling instead and reaching with his tiny hands for Sansa.
"Ko!" he whimpered, not quite able to manage 'Fuyuko' yet. "Ko!"
Sansa patted the "older" girl's leg and Kanna knelt down and let Naruto latch onto Sansa, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Pair of lil' puppies, aint'cha?" she murmured, ruffling their hair. Sansa made a face, reaching up with her free hand to pat her hair back down.
Her red hair already reached her shoulders and their caretaker had taken care of all their basic needs, including washing and brushing their hair, so it was in good condition. Well, it had been. She wasn't sure if she would be able to continue to keep it so. The orphanage had very odd contraptions called "showers" to bathe in; they were like inside waterfalls and were cold, which she could cope with– she had survived the Long Night, she knew true cold– but there was no soaps or oils to soak her hair in.
Sansa loved her hair; she couldn't deny it. It was a piece of her that was the same in this life as it had been in her last life. Kissed by fire, Tormund used to say as he ran his fingers through it. She would laugh and kiss him and secretly love the surprising poetry of it. It was probably the most romantic thing Tormund had ever said to her since she "stole" him.
Oh, their dalliances hadn't been for love. Of course they hadn't, not truly. She was a Queen, and no Queen ever really got to choose a man for love. But Tormund was the closest the Free Folk had had to a King, and after she'd granted his people the land in the Gift to settle in, she'd needed a way to tie them to the North, to her crown. So, she "stole" Tormund, she bore him a kissed by fire son with bright blue eyes and a wild, merry grin that was infectious to all who lay eyes upon him. Her beautiful Torrhen had brought joy to Winterfell, and her darling Robb, named for her brother, the first King in the North since the first Torrhen Stark, had brought laughter to the Keep.
Her hair was her connection to her mother– both Catelyn Stark and Kushina Uzumaki– to the brothers she lost, Robb and Rickon, to the son she loved more than life itself, and to Sansa Stark. It was a piece of her, in a time and place where she had already lost so much.
Seeing Sansa's tense reaction to her touch, Kanna softened. "Aw, sorry puppy," she said. "Won't ruffle ya hair, 'kay? Know ya don' like it now."
Sansa smiled gratefully up at Kanna, gently patting the girl's leg in thanks. By the way the girl spoke to her, she was quite certain that Kanna was aware that Sansa understood more then she let on. It was refreshing, if a little unnerving; children did see more clearly than adults did, she mused.
Kanna carried them both outside, keeping them out of the way of the orphanage workers for the rest of the day. It meant skipping dinner, but Naruto was so entranced by the outdoors that it hardly mattered, and Sansa figured that if Kanna was willing to sacrifice a meal to stay out of sight then it was probably best.
Naruto tumbled about the grass on all fours like one of Lady's litter-mates and Sansa joined in, knocking him over and tussling like a pair of wolf pups. She'd never been allowed to play like this as Sansa Stark. It would have been wildly improper for a noble lady. But rolling around in the grass, playfully growling and nipping as she did her best to pin Naruto to the ground, Sansa felt the happiest she'd been since she'd been reborn in this world.
Kanna coaxed them onto her lap when they finally collapsed together in a heap, exhausted, and the three of them snuggled together under the starry sky. Kanna rested one hand on Naruto's head and curled one around Sansa's midriff and gave a soft sigh. "Ya not demons," she whispered, so quiet Sansa could barely hear her. "Don' listen ta that shit, 'kay? Ya ain't."
Sansa couldn't stop herself from snuggling further into Kanna's soft belly, and she fell asleep to the sensation of Kanna's hand stroking her back.
She didn't fall into a dream though. Instead, she opened her eyes to the sight of the the Fox's godswood– and, of course, to the Fox.
Sansa immediately dipped into a curtsey; after all, courtesy was a lady's armour. "Your grace," she greeted the Fox politely. It glared down at her, its nine glorious tails lashing out angrily from side to side.
"You did not return," it snarled, angry. "Are you already breaking your oath to me, now that your whelp is healed?"
Sansa blinked in surprise. "I apologise, your grace, I did not realise it was possible to reach this place without experiencing that particular... depth of emotion that I felt that night," she told it. "Had I known, I would have returned sooner. We do indeed have much to talk about."
The Fox's tails had stopped moving about quite so angrily, which Sansa took as a sign that it was calming down. "You can return to this mind-scape at any time you choose," it told her, "the first Jinchūriki created this space, with seals and chakra and blood. It is tied to the Uzumaki bloodline. All you must do is close your eyes and reach for me. Not my chakra, me."
Sansa felt her heart beat a little faster, upon hearing that this mind-scape was something she had inherited from her mother. From Kushina, brave, beautiful Kushina, who had sacrificed herself, not for the village, but for Sansa, so that Sansa may live.
"Thank you for enlightening me, your grace." She said softly.
"Why do you call me that?" the Fox asked abruptly. Sansa blinked up at it in surprise.
"It is what we address royalty with, in my first life," she explained. "We did not have the– I believe they are called honorifics? We did not have them, but we had proper addresses for the noble class." Honorifics had certainly been a surprise to learn about during the first few days in the orphanage. Not to mention the social custom of this society to address people and introduce herself by her family name first and given name second. It had been a very confusing few days until Kanna had explained it all to her.
The Fox narrowed its eyes. "You think to win me over with empty flattery?" it hissed, its tails beginning to stir angrily again. "Your honeyed words won't win your any favours, meat sack."
Sansa's eyes flashed with anger. "I did not choose to address you by such a title on a whim," she said coldly, every inch the queen she had been, despite her small form. "I look at you, and I see power, I see strength, and I see pride. I see a caged monarch. That is why I call you 'your grace'."
"Liar!" the Fox snarled, guttural and terrifying. Sansa did not move, despite the primal terror that gripped her in the face of the Fox's rage. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, ignoring how her heart fluttered in her chest like a little bird. She was no little bird; she was a wolf, and she would not bare her throat.
"We stand before a heart-tree," she reminded the Fox. "We cannot lie."
"We stand in a mind-scape," it corrected her harshly, tails thrashing agitatedly.
"And it is in my mind, yes?" Sansa countered. "And I believe that we cannot lie before a heart-tree, so in this mind-scape we cannot lie before the heart-tree. If you don't believe me, try it. Lie to me." She challenged.
The Fox sneered at her. "I attacked Konoha of my own f–" it stopped. The look on its face was very surprised and Sansa had to work hard to stop her pleasure at being proved correct from showing on her face. "Perhaps there is some reason buried in all your nonsense." The Fox said grudgingly. Sansa smiled sweetly up at it, letting her little fangs show. After a moment, the Fox dipped its head in acknowledgement of her victory, looking darkly amused. "Well played, little vixen," it rumbled.
Sansa wondered if the new moniker was the Fox's version of a reward, or perhaps acknowledgment. 'Vixen' elevated her to a more equal ground to the Fox, after all, and it was a far nicer than 'meat sack' or 'bag of bones'. Regardless, she could be humble in her victory.
"Thank you, your grace," she said prettily. The Fox looked amused, crouching down again so its head was closer to her level. Its tails were swaying lazily above it, magnificent and deadly.
"So, a monarch, you say?" It mused.
"I'm afraid I do not know if you have a preference for being called her or him, or if you do not care for either, your grace," Sansa explained. "Monarch is a neutral alternative."
The Fox made a sound like a snort. "Sexes are for you humans, not for the likes of my kind. Though they have always referred to me as 'he'," here it grinned at her, unmistakably mocking, "your people couldn't fathom a being as powerful as I could be a woman."
Sansa knew it was attempting to get a rise out of her and smiled placidly. She'd dealt with worse men and women trying to break her composure than the Fox. Joffrey on a good day, just to start. "Would you prefer 'it' or 'they' and 'them', then?" she asked.
"The second," the Fox decided, and Sansa nodded.
"Then I shall," she said. "I have another question, your grace, if you don't mind."
"You seem to like asking questions," the Fox observed, neither agreeing or refusing her request.
"A valuable lesson that I learned when I ruled," Sansa admitted, "command and they will obey, ask and they will be willing."
The Fox chuckled, the sound dark and cruel. "You think to make me willing, little Uzumaki?" they asked her mockingly, lips pulled back to bare their teeth, razor-sharp and deadly. "You think to make me your pet? You think–"
"I think to make you free from this cage," Sansa said calmly, interrupting them before they could build themselves up to a rant. "And to do that, we will need to work together. In this body I am but a babe and therefore have little to no access to resources. I barely understand this world I have been reborn in. I will free you, I made an oath and I will fulfil it as I have sworn before the gods to do so, but it will be faster and easier with your help. Will you work with me?"
The Fox tilted their head, almost avian-like, as they looked down at her. When they answered, it wasn't an answer to her question at all, but rather a question of their own. "You do not fear me, do you?"
"I do fear you," Sansa replied honestly. "It is as natural for me to fear you, as it is to fear a fire burning me. But if I keep away to stop myself from being burned by the fire, I stop myself from being warmed by it too."
The Fox was silent for a long moment. "What was your question," they said finally. "The one you wished to ask me."
Sansa looked up at them, where they towered over her, and answered them. "I wished to ask your name." She said.
The Fox lunged forward, abruptly furious and terrifying in their rage, until they were pressed up against the branches of the weirwood trees. "You wish to know the name of a monster? You wish to make conversation with me, to pretend that we are friends?" they roared. "You wish to pretend that I am not the demon that destroyed your village?" They snarled.
"Why did you attack Konoha?" Sansa asked.
And more importantly, how can I convince you to do it again?
"Do you really wish to know, little vixen?" The Fox asked her, a vicious smile on their face, those terrible, blood-dripping teeth on display. "Remember, I can only tell the truth here, even if it's a truth you don't want to hear."
"I always want to hear the truth," Sansa replied. "Tell me."
And so the Fox told her. They told her of a madman, Uchiha Madara, who used his Sharingan eyes– a bloodline ability, the Fox explained– to make them attack Konoha in the village's early years. They told her of Uzumaki Mito, her mother's aunt, whose slender hands were splattered with blood and ink when she used her chakra and calligraphy brushes to rewrite the very fabric of the world to her will so as to seal an ancient and angry living construct of chakra within her.
"It was only later they called us demons," the Fox said bitterly, "as if we were oni, stealing their children, raping their women and feasting on banquets of human flesh and blood."
"Those who remain write the history books," Sansa murmured, and the Fox made a bitter sound of agreement, before continuing.
Sansa listened as they described how Mito's husband, the Shodaime of Konoha, hunted down the rest of their siblings. How all eight were sealed and handed out to the other villages, in an effort to balance the power. How it had failed, and instead the Jinchūriki were nothing but instruments of war. Weapons of mass destruction. How their siblings had died over and over within their human hosts, only to reform and be captured again.
The Fox spoke of how Mito grew old and how Kushina was chosen and uprooted from her life in Uzushio and forcibly relocated to Konoha, as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki could not possibly be anywhere but Konoha. How Konoha had rushed the transfer despite knowing it would mean Mito's death, because Mito was old, and so aside from the sealing knowledge which she mostly kept from them as they were Uzushio secrets, Mito had been useless to them, but Kushina was young and could be trained to be a powerful kunoichi; she was a useful tool that they could make even more useful to them. A weapon for their wars. And so Mito had died for Konoha's lust for power.
And finally, the Fox spoke of that night. The night that Sansa had been reborn in this world. Minato's relationship with Kushina had been very hushed, hidden from the populace of Konoha– there was a stigma attached to Jinchūriki, after all, and Minato was the Hokage. Politically, he was too new to office to be married to a woman who was not only officially a foreign kunoichi despite the fact she'd technically lived in Konoha since she was a child, but was a Jinchūriki too. Despite his war hero status, Minato was already a clanless orphan and young, he couldn't afford to alienate the village in any way and as a result only his personal ANBU guard, the Sandaime and his wife, the Council of Elders, Minato's sensei and his only remaining student knew about their relationship.
When Kushina became pregnant, the Sandaime's wife offered to act as midwife. They all knew the seal keeping the Fox contained could weaken during labour, and planned to have her give birth in an isolated place, just in case. They hadn't truly been expecting anything to go wrong, though. Not really. Which was why they hadn't been prepared for when the masked Uchiha appeared, tearing through the guards with ease and taking control of the Fox.
The Fox told her of having their control once again stripped from them, then of a single moment of sudden clarity before the agony of being torn in half. They told her of being trapped by chakra chains and of their sheer desperation not to be sealed again, not to be trapped in that prison, that they'd rather be dead, how they wished they could be killed because it had to be a kinder fate. They spoke of a last, desperate attempt to avoid being sealed by killing the two babes, but failing and killing Kushina instead.
When the Fox stopped speaking, tears were streaming down Sansa's face. They weren't pretty tears either; they were true tears, the ugly kind that made her hiccup and her face turn blotchy and her nose run. "I'm so sorry," she wept, placing her hands over her eyes, unable to even look at the Fox. "I'm so sorry."
"What." They said. It wasn't even a question.
"I'm so sorry," she repeated again. "I will free you, I swear. I will free you, and we'll leave Konoha. We'll leave it and we'll be free. I swear it to you. I do. We'll never set foot in this hateful place again and we'll find your siblings and free them too."
The Fox sighed. It was a quiet, resigned thing.
"That's a nice dream, little vixen," they said, almost gently, and Sansa pulled her hands away from her face to glare at him.
"I don't believe in dreams," she said fiercely, "not anymore. I believe in making plans and then turning those plans into reality. I once crafted a two-decades long plan to steal Six Kingdoms– seven if you include becoming Queen-Beyond-The-Wall, even though the Wall technically didn't exist at that point– and I succeeded." Here, she planted her tiny arms on her hips and ignored what an odd and comical picture they must make as she glared up at the Fox. "I am Sansa Stark, I am Uzumaki Fuyuko, and I will free your siblings. It may take me decades, but I will free them."
The Fox stared at her for a long, long time, unblinking.
"Kurama." They said, finally.
It took Sansa a moment, but when she understood she gave a brilliant smile. "I am honoured to meet you, Kurama." She said, with a deep curtsey.
"You know," Kurama said, in a surprised voice, "I think I might actually believe you."