Afraid of the Dark

There is a lot of content in this chapter, and part of it will be told in a “fairy tale” style. Make sure not to skim, or else you will get confused.


Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 6: Fairy Tales

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"The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle." – Stephen King

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"Why, you’re a fairy of course."

"You can’t be serious," Sasuke stated bluntly, looking at his mother stunned.

"I am quite serious. You're a fairy."

Silence filled the room for a full ten seconds before Naruto turned to look at Mikoto and asked very seriously, "What the hell are you two talking about?"

"Apparently, we're fairies," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto incredulously.

"Yes and no. You're a fairy dear. Naruto is a bit...special," Mikoto explained.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Naruto demanded.

"Language, dear," Mikoto said sweetly. Sasuke all but rolled his eyes. His mother was berating Naruto on his foul mouth when she had all these secrets that she'd been keeping from them?

"What’s going on? What are you two talking about?" Naruto demanded. "Does this have something to do with what happened with Itachi going nuts?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, what is going on?" Sasuke asked, wishing he had more strength to properly demand answers from his mother. However his head throbbed and his body still felt like dead weight. While there was a way he thought he might get some more of his strength back, he didn't want to chance it.

Part of him was piecing things together. It seemed that he and Naruto could heal each other to a degree. It also seemed that his mother and Itachi were able to erase their memories. Certain he still hadn’t regained all of his memories, Sasuke wondered what were to happen if he were to touch Naruto. Would he be able to siphon off some of Naruto's strength to help "heal" himself? But he wasn’t willing to risk it since didn't know what the limitations of this newly discovered ability might be. Sasuke was also slightly unwilling to touch Naruto due to the recent and vivid imagery of another way he had touched him.

"Naruto, why don't you sit down next to Sasuke," Mikoto said sweetly, acting her normal motherly self. "And why don't I explain a few things to you two boys."

"I'm doped up on something, aren't I? I was the one who hit my head, and now I'm in the hospital doped up on lots of pain medication that's making me have these trippy dreams, right?" Naruto asked as he sat next to Sasuke on his usual side of the bed.

Just moments before Sasuke had felt upset that Naruto had been placed in his own room. After that strange memory from his birthday, part of him wanted Naruto far away from him. He tried not to let it show when Naruto sat close to him.

"Ah, no. Just let me explain dear," Mikoto said. Naruto looked at Mikoto apprehensively, and Sasuke didn't blame him. His mother was acting very normal while trying to explain something very abnormal.

Taking a deep breath, Mikoto turned and looked at Sasuke. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Before you ask them, let me explain some things, and then I can take your questions from there, okay?"

It was like Mikoto was a schoolteacher about to explain a complex calculus problem. The attitude was simple: wait until the end of the explanation and ask questions then because I might just answer your question during my explanation.

While Sasuke sincerely doubted that his mother would answer every question whirling in his mind, he figured he might get some of his answers faster if he just shut-up and listened. He nodded his head once to let his mother know he would try not to interrupt.

"Keep quiet till she's done," Sasuke muttered to Naruto to hopefully prevent Naruto from interrupting. Naruto rolled his eyes. It wasn’t the first time Sasuke had felt the need to remind Naruto to be quiet when someone else was speaking. Even so, Sasuke had a feeling Naruto would interrupt anyway.

"First, I must say Sasuke that I am very sorry that I was unable to tell you that you were a fairy before. If it makes you feel any better, I would have most likely told you soon anyway."

Naruto gave a snort, and Sasuke could tell that Naruto didn’t believe a word of what was going on. Quite frankly he didn't blame Naruto, but then again, Naruto probably hadn't remembered the things that Sasuke had. While being a fairy wasn't his first choice of explaining the strange things going on around him, it was a start.

"You actually believe her? How can you possibly think you’re a fairy?" Naruto asked incredulous.

"Shut-up, and maybe she’ll explain," Sasuke said. The truth was that the idea that he was a fairy was so ludicrous that there was no way someone could have made that up; it had to be the truth. If she had lied she would have made up a more convincing lie.

"You see, not everyone who has fairy parentage turns out to have fairy abilities. It can also be somewhat frustrating because a parent may have completely different abilities than the child. Sometimes a child may not have any abilities at all. Because of this fact, a parent can only tell her child that he is a fairy if he first notices differences in what he can do, and asks if he is either a fairy, or realizes that he is not quite human. It’s a binding magical law."

She paused, and Sasuke was grateful for the time to collect his thoughts. His mother was basically telling him that she was a fairy, and that there was some sort of rule that made it so that he had to ask if he were different before she would tell him anything.

"Why erase our memories if we could have figured it out sooner? There were clearly signs," Sasuke accused.

"Your memories weren't erased. They were just pushed aside. The brain is a wonderfully powerful thing. Those memories are still in there. And, if I'm not mistaken, Itachi was slowly working his magic, forgive the pun, in order to try and unlock the memories that he hid from you: from the both of you. It will just take a little longer for Naruto's memories to return to him as he has just recently turned eighteen. Like I said, Naruto is a bit special, so he won’t remember as fast. If you recall, Itachi had wanted to hide this from you just as I did, but complications arose because Naruto turned eighteen."

"Wait just a minute. You're telling me that Itachi and Sasuke are fairies and that Itachi has known about this for years? And that now, all of a sudden, because I've turned eighteen, something big is going on?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Sweetie, I know this is a lot to take in, but it's true."

"The only way Sasuke and Itachi are fairies is if the universe is trying to balance things out by counter-acting all the happy-cutesy-girly-stuff with these two angsty-emo men. There’s no way that they’re fairies," Naruto said, crossing his arms firmly.

"Angsty? Emo? I'm not emo!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Boys! Enough. Naruto, the fairies you see on cartoons are not like real fairies," Mikoto explained to Naruto as though that were obvious.

"But-"

"Just keep your mouth shut and let her explain," Sasuke hissed a little more vehemently than usual. He was a bit annoyed by the emo comment.

"Let me start from the beginning with the tale of Daji," Mikoto said. Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke tried to ignore him, his whole attention focused on his mother.

"A long time ago-" Mikoto began, pausing only when Sasuke elbowed Naruto for muttering, "Don't you mean once upon a time?" under his breath. Mikoto began again. "A long time ago, almost three thousand years if you want to get a closer estimation, during the end of the Shang Dynasty in China..."

The last Emperor of the Shang Dynasty, Zhou Xin, ruled for nearly forty years as a decent ruler, as told by the novel Fengshin Yanyi. He was a decent ruler, but was known to be overly zealous about women. This flaw became his downfall. One day he went into the Temple of the goddess, Nuwa. In the Temple he saw a statue of the goddess and felt lustful toward her idol. He said crude and lewd things in Nuwa's Temple. As the goddess sat, watching the occupant of her Temple from her palace in heaven, the Emperor’s lustful and lewd words angered her so much that she vowed that he would be the last of the Shang Dynasty rulers.

From Nuwa’s palace in heaven, she sent down one of her magical servants to deal with Emperor Zhou Xin. It was this servant, a thousand-year-old hulijing, or fox spirit, who caused Zhou Xin's downfall.

At the same time that the thousand-year-old fox spirit attempted to find a way into Emperor Zhou Xin's palace and good graces, a concubine by the name of Daji was on her way to the palace to be presented as a gift to the Emperor.

The clever fox spirit quickly formed a cunning plan and killed the beautiful and kind Daji, taking on the concubine's form and infiltrated the palace in her stead.

The Emperor became enamored with Daji, the concubine-possessed fox demon. He quickly fell under her influence. Of course, he had no idea that Daji was really possessed by a cunning fox spirit, intent on exacting revenge for the goddess Nuwa.

Following Nuwa's orders, Daji made sure that Zhou Xin would become the last of the Shang dynasty by mercilessly corrupting him. She encouraged him to buy expensive things. In order to pay for these exotic tastes, he had to raise heavy taxes on the people, making them angry at the unfair taxation.

Daji was pleased with her work. The people began to quickly despise the Emperor and his unfair taxes.

Daji relished in the misery of the mortals and decided to cause as much misery as possible. She quickly got rid of Zhou Xin’s other wives, and instead of being the head concubine, became his head wife. Emperor Zhou Xin did his best to give his beloved anything and everything she wished for, including entertainment by means of watching others die by being tortured to death.

In order to amuse his wife, the Emperor invented a torture device called the paolao, a bronze cylinder-podium used to torture victims by burning them as punishment. Victims would stand on oil-slicked cylinders that were slowly heated, forcing the victims to shift their weight around on the slippery, burning cylinders. Hot coals were laid below the cylinders, and in the end, the victims would eventually lose their balance, slip into the coal, and slowly burn to death.

Daji truly relished in the misery of others. In fact, watching their deaths made her aroused. Daji would frequently get so aroused that she would approach the Emperor while they watched the victim being tormented and engage in sexual acts. This fueled great disgust amongst the people of Emperor Zhou Xin’s court, and some court officials left the palace because of their public disgusting displays of debauchery.

One such court official was the wise Jiang Ziya. Emperor Zhou Xin and Daji would later come to regret angering him.

Some time later, after the corruption of Emperor Zhou Xin had begun, the Emperor invited the neighboring and lesser King Wen of the Zhou tribe to stay in the palace, along with his son, Prince Bo. Prince Bo was a handsome young man, and the fox spirit fell in love with him – or at least in love with his appearance. As he was from the nomadic Zhou tribe, he was very athletic, and his body was fine toned and well built.

Daji began making advances on Prince Bo, forgetting her duty to corrupt the Emperor. Even so, Prince Bo ignored all of Daji’s advances and was disgusted with her attempts to seduce him when she was already spoken for. Finally, Daji, angered with Prince Bo's rejection, told her husband that Prince Bo had attempted to rape her. She pleaded with her husband to dispose of him, and Emperor Zhou Xin had the prince killed. Prince Bo was forced upon the paolao, where he too inevitably fell off and slowly burned in the hot coals below.

His burned body was mutilated, mashed, and then turned into soup that was then fed to his father, the unsuspecting King Wen.

When his son went missing, King Wen suspected foul deeds at work, but was unable to figure out what had happened to his beloved son.

Not too long there after, King Wen met the former court official, Jiang Ziya, fishing nearby. Now, Jiang Ziya was no ordinary man. In fact, he was a magical sage, and a man who had great knowledge of the Emperor since he had once served in his court. The sage Jiang Ziya quickly befriended King Wen, and using his sage magic, he had visions of how Prince Bo had died. He then used his knowledge and sage magic to tell King Wen how he could defeat Zhou Xin. King Wen sought to seek his revenge after the sage told him how the Emperor had killed his son, and how King Wen had actually eaten his son's deceased body.

Following sage Jiang Ziya’s instructions, King Wen and his army attacked Emperor Zhou Xin’s army at the famed battle of Muye. Finding himself unable to defeat King Wen's men, Emperor Zhou Xin committed suicide by burning himself to death inside of his own palace.

Later on, King Wen had the evil-fox spirit exorcised by Jiang Ziya himself, and Daji too fell to her death. The goddess Nuwa had no more use for her servant; she had served her purpose, and Nuwa felt her servant had gotten herself into the mess by trying to seduce Prince Bo in the first place.

"And that is one of the many tales of Daji according to the novel Fengshin Yanyi. Though I must say that there are various versions of how she corrupted Emperor Zhou Xin."

Sasuke looked at his mother, waiting for more.

"Uh, nice whacked out fairy tale…?" Naruto said slowly, not sure how he was supposed to take the story.

"What does this story have to do with the fact that I am a fairy?" Sasuke demanded.

"Actually, this story has more to do with how Naruto is a descendant of Daji and Prince Bo."

"Eh?! What?!" Naruto screeched.

"What?" Sasuke asked a little more calmly.

"Yes, well, you see, as I said, that's the story according to the novel Fengshin Yanyi. It wasn’t written until the Ming Dynasty, many years later! Naturally there are some adjustments to the actual tale. For instance, while Prince Bo was indeed killed via torture of the paolao, he didn’t completely reject Daji’s advances. Daji was very cunning after all. What made her angry with him was his rejection of her and of their child.

"Prince Bo impregnated Daji. After realizing that she was pregnant with Prince Bo's child she went to him and told him of her news. He didn't wish to claim the child of his own in fear of angering Emperor Zhou Xin. Even though Prince Bo let her warm his bed, he had thought he would be killed if the Emperor found out."

"So she got pissed that he dissed her for getting pregnant and had him killed by the Emperor anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. She then had the child in secret. Daji gave the baby boy to the care of one of her personal handmaids, claiming the boy belonged to the handmaid. Sadly, when the fox spirit was forcibly taken from Daji's body, the fox spirit was unable to survive the removal as she had already killed the human portion, the original Daji. Both Daji and the fox spirit were completely killed. This is where the big problem starts when the half-spirit fox child was carted off to a foreign land by the handmaid.

"In the new land, Daji’s handmaid named Daji’s son Xiao Gang. In Chinese, Gang means little port. The handmaid gave him this name to symbolize that he would be the harbor for revenge against Daji’s death. Daji's handmaid was utterly anguished at the death of her beloved Daji. She fed the child lies, hoping that he would one day seek out revenge against the people who had killed his mother. Despite her words, Xiao Gang grew to be a very kind man. Initially he never sought revenge against his mother’s killers. But later on in his life, the handmaid’s lies would haunt him as he never truly forgot about the people that caused his mother's death: King Wen and the sage Jiang Ziya."

"Wait a minute – didn't Daji have the kid’s father killed? And wasn't Daji’s son also King Wen's grandson too?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Daji's son, Xiao Gang, didn't know that at the time. Remember, the handmaid was feeding him lies in order so that he would avenge his mother's death. I'll get to that later in the story.

"Eventually the handmaid died, but Daji's son did not. He had inherited his mother's ability to live a long life. As the years passed, watching those he came to care about die around him, Xiao Gang became bitter and angry. Years of loneliness, and the blurred lies the handmaid had told him of his mother's murder began to fester in his mind. While he had always felt bitter due to her murder, he was a kind soul at heart. But years of loneliness slowly drove him mad. Without even knowing what had become of his mother’s murderers, he began to plot out wild plans of revenge.

"Since it had happened in a foreign land, Xiao Gang never expected to carry out his wild plans of revenge. He even became angry with himself that he had never carried out revenge when he had had the chance. Also, due to his ability to live for thousands of years, Xiao Gang was sure he had already out lived all those involved with her murder. Nonetheless, he still fantasized about ways he would have plotted his revenge, and the what if scenarios began to consume him.

"Xiao Gang was two-thousand-years-old before he found out that Jiang Ziya, the sage who had exorcised the fox spirit was still alive. Daji's son was finally able to act out one of his many ideas of revenge. He went to the land of his birth, and found Jiang Ziya living in a village where King Wen’s descendants also lived. In fact, Jiang Ziya acted as a sort of protector of the people. Jiang Ziya lived there peacefully with his wife and his best friend.

"To exact his revenge, Xiao Gang first burned the village where the descendants of King Wen lived in order to flush out Jiang Ziya. He did not kill the villagers, but he still made sure to get rid of all of their possessions. Xiao Gang also believed that burning the village would bring Jiang Ziya out into the open. As Xiao Gang predicted, Jiang Ziya came out to battle. Xiao Gang was surprised at how truly strong Jiang Ziya was. Unable to defeat Jiang Ziya in a fair battle, Xiao Gang, driven mad by rage and his own inability to seek revenge against one of the men who had helped kills his mother, killed Jiang Ziya's best friend, Dajiwan. Feeling foolish and angry at himself for taking an innocent life, Xiao Gang turned himself over to Jiang Ziya’s hands.

"What Xiao Gang did not realize at the time was the Jiang Ziya's was a type of fairy. As mentioned before, Jiang Ziya was a sage.

"There are several types of fairies. Jiang Ziya, is known as a sage type, a sennin in Japanese. A sennin is an immortal spirit. Sennin tend to live alone, but they live for many years, but many often seek the comfort of women eventually.

"As he was a fairy, his wife was also a fairy. But unlike Jiang Ziya, his wife was a xiangu, an immortal sorceress and fairy queen. She too had been friends with the man that Xiao Gang killed. She became heart broken at the death of her friend.

"The xiangu’s name was Gangshou. Having lived for many years, and having seen many sorrows, she knew the true tale of Daji and of her son. Though saddened by her friend’s death, instead of seeking revenge, she sought to set Xiao Gang straight. Both Gangshou and Jiang Ziya could see that Xiao Gang was a good man at heart, and told Xiao Gang the tale of his mother's life. Xiao Gang was moved by how neither Jiang Ziya nor his wife Gangshou decided to attempt to take revenge. Of course he was also shocked to learn that he was a descendant of Prince Bo and King Wen.

"In repentance for what he had done, Xiao Gang entered into the service of Gangshou and Jiang Ziya, promising himself to forever be an aid to all types of fairies, and that he would do everything in his power so that no terrible misunderstanding would ever happen again.

"With the sennin and the xiangu's tutelage, Xiao Gang became the most extraordinary ally, not just to the two of them, but to all fairies who came to them for help. Gangshou and Jiang Ziya adopted Xiao Gang like their own son, almost replacing the friend that they had lost.

"Years passed, and Jiang Ziya, Gangshou, and Xiao Gang lived in harmony, working together to keep peace amongst the lands, and amongst the other fairies, just as Xiao Gang had promised he would. Over time, the three of them became a sort of ruling tribunal, helping out other fairies that needed help. Eventually, many of the people that they helped, befriended them. The three of them and all of their followers grew powerful, and they were seen to many as a pillar of strength and stability. They were the unofficial royalty of the fairy.

"Sadly, several smaller fairy tribes –"

"Fairy tribes?" Naruto asked.

"Don’t interrupt. It’s rude," Sasuke hissed. Of course he wouldn’t admit to Naruto that the real reason he was irritated was because he was actually really getting into the story.

"Yes, fairy tribes. There are different types, remember? Fire fairies have always been known for their quick temperament, and several fire fairies began to see the three as a threat. Who had made them the policing force amongst fairies? The fire fairies banded together, hoping to lead an uprising and overthrow the three and their followers. In order to gain greater strength than the three and their followers, they enlisted the help of torooru's, wicked fairies who are afraid of light and feed off of the fear of others. I’m sure you know the torooru’s by another name: trolls. Even after the fire fairies enlisted the help of the trolls they were still not strong enough to defeat the three and their followers.

"Years passed, and the fire fairies began to attack fairies that supported the three. The three always managed to quell the uprising, but it was clear that the fire fairies were resilient in the pursuit to bring about their downfall. Finally, with a bit of luck, one of the fire fairy tribes managed to capture a hulijing, an immortal fox spirit with nine-tails. He was even older and wiser than Daji had been at the height of her power.

"The tribe killed the hulijing's only child, and told him that Xiao Gao had been the killer.

"Now this fairy tribe was very intelligent, but they lacked key information that resulted in their plan backfiring on them. The hulijing, being an old and intelligent fox, even if he was quick to anger, was able to recognize Xiao Gang as a kindred spirit. The hulijing was shocked when he realized that Xiao Gang was also partially a fox spirit. Due to this, the hulijing knew Xiao Gang would not have willingly killed another fox spirit.

"Still, the hulijing was heart broken at the loss of his beloved child. He was over five thousand years old, and his mate had died nearly one hundred years before. After reaching five thousand, the old fox was no longer able to produce any fox children of his own, even if he were to take a human mate. Since the hulijing was old and bitterly lonely due to the loss of his son, he made a deal with Xiao Gang. The hulijing promised that he would not hurt Xiao Gang or any of his followers if Xiao Gang promised to give the hulijing his first-born child.

"Now in all his years, Xiao Gang had never found anyone that he had wanted to take as his mate, so he readily agreed with the hulijing's request as he believed he would never have children. Besides, what other choice did he have if he wanted to protect those he had come to care for?

"Even with their back-fired plan, the fire fairies did not give up. While some felt it was wrong that they had tricked the hulijing and killed his son, many continued to want to see the downfall of the powerful three. The fire fairies continued to attack the three and their followers.

"Five years passed from when the hulijing had made Xiao Gang promise to give up his first-born when Xiao Gang when a great assault was made on his home. After defending his home against the fire fairies, Xiao Gang met a muse-fire fairy who surrendered herself to Xiao Gang.

"She was a beautiful fairy, the daughter of a fire and muse fairy. While she looked like a true fire fairy with her fiery red hair and could sometimes sound like one with her sharp words, her temperament was that of a muse fairy. She was caring, strong, and quite partial to attractive human males as most muse fairies are.

"While Xiao Gang was indeed part fox spirit, his other part was human. The muse-fire fairy had fallen in love with him before ever meeting him in person. She admired his courage, his brave deeds, and everything that he stood for.

"Being young and headstrong, she turned her back on her fire fairy tribe after their failed assault on Xiao Gang’s home, and gave herself over to him. She wanted to prove her love to a man she had never met, but only heard stories about. Once she met him, she worked doubly hard to impress him. She quickly became a legendary fighter, and was soon fighting at the side of the man she had grown to admire and love. At first Xiao Gang was apprehensive of her. She was a fire fairy after all, yet she claimed to love him. Did she love him, or just lust after him? Or even worse, was this all a trick?

"After saving his life in a fierce battle, it quickly became clear to him that she was no ordinary fire fairy, and that she had a great capacity to love. Xiao Gang found himself falling in love with her. But because of the promise he made to the hulijing, he feared that falling in love with her would result in a child, a child that they would have to give up.

"Gangshou, feeling grateful that her adopted son had finally found someone to love went to the muse-fire fairy in secret, and told her what Xiao Gang had promised the hulijing. More determined than ever to win over Xiao Gang’s love, the muse-fire fairy finally convinced Xiao Gang to marry her in secret, hoping that no one would ever find out about their secret love affair. They fled to the foreign land where Xiao Gang had grown up, hoping that their love would remain secret there.

"Naturally, this was not to be. Less than a year after their marriage, the muse-fire fairy got pregnant, and the hulijing found out about this. Enraged that Xiao Gang had hid the child, he attacked on the night of the child's birth, intent on forcibly taking the child. Naturally Xiao Gang attacked back, defending his wife and his newly born son.

"That night, a fierce battle between the two raged on for hours. Magic ripped the air, and the landscape of the forest where they fought was demolished. Yet at the end of the battle, there was no sign of either the hulijing or Xiao Gang.

"The fire fairies' resistance disbanded on the same night of the attack, and some say that Xiao Gang and the hulijing ended up joining forces to destroy them. Others say they were the last of the fox-spirits, and that their death at the same time, that the loss of their magic from the world drained the fight from the fire fairies."

Mikoto paused in her story. By this time, Naruto, instead of looking disbelieving at the story, sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Mikoto with intensity.

Sasuke almost snickered at the look of boyish excitement on Naruto's face as he waited for more of the story.

"And – and then what happened? What happened to Xiao Gang’s son? And what about the fire-muse fairy lady? What happened to her?"

"Well," Mikoto said slowly, looking at her hands, "The fire fairies apparently never gave up trying to get rid of the other two. Even though Xiao Gang was gone, Gangshou and Jiang Ziya still lived. Since being disbanded, they were never on the same large scale as they had been. Even so, it seems they still wished to wreak havoc amongst the two left of the three and the three's followers. Attacks were also made on the baby and baby's mother by the trolls. The muse-fire fairy made sure to get her son to the safety of an old friend, but she too vanished after the trolls’ attack."

"No," Sasuke whispered, his eyes wide as a sudden thought hit him.

"I know! Isn't that awful?" Naruto asked, turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief and met his mother's eyes. He had pieced together what Naruto had not.

"You mentioned that the trolls are afraid of light. They came after the mother and child. They attacked the house. The mother sent the child away, away to an old friend. And the child...he ended up with us. Naruto’s the baby boy," Sasuke said, turning to look at Naruto.

Naruto blinked at Sasuke. A strange look crossed Naruto's face as he finally understood what Sasuke was implying.

"What? Me? No way! Is this some sort of birthday prank? I knew you'd always get me back for putting that toad in your cake on your twelfth birthday, but hey, isn't this a bit much?"

"Naruto, this isn't a joke. And on the day of your eighteenth birthday, you became a legal adult in the fairy world. I had hoped that perhaps your father’s magic would hide it, but the fairy magic in you still made itself known. Once that happened, your fairy aurora, the magic that surrounds you, spiked. There was no way to truly hide that. While I would have liked to have hidden what you are and protected you, I can't do that any more. We were certain that the protective wards around you would hold even after your aurora’s power spiked on your birthday. However, Itachi didn’t believe us. If Itachi had only listened to us, if only he hadn’t tried to take you away, you might have been hidden longer. But your magic aurora spiked even greater when you used your magic to heal Sasuke. Everyone knows where you are now, and there are those who are seeking you for many different reasons. Some want you to help seek out your beloved father, to see if he is still alive. Others want to see you dead."

Naruto shook his head, looking at his auntie as though she were crazy.

"My father’s name was Minato, not Xiao Gang," Naruto said, shaking his head, as though that proved everything.

"Your father’s Japanese name is Minato. It means port, doesn’t it? Gang means port in Chinese. Xiao is just an affectionate term placed in front of many Chinese names. Jiang Ziya and Gangshou are Chinese names, and they are known by different Japanese names: Jiraiya and Tsunade. But we hid from them as well, as your father and I are not exactly their favorite people. Your father and I were part of a fire fairy tribe, but we left them when they slaughtered the hulijing’s son. We are not exactly allies with your father’s friends. I just happened to know your mother. But it is likely that your father’s friends, like everyone else, will find you sooner or later."

"What did you mean by everyone knows where he is?" Sasuke asked.

"For years we have put wards on the house, protecting anyone from finding the house. A ward is a protective spell. Your father's family was the one that found the hulijing. After your father and I saw what happened, we removed ourselves from the rest of the fairies, trying to live normally among humans. In fact, I originally grew up in the same tribe with your mother, Naruto. We were friends. I’m a muse-fire fairy as well. Your mother, Kushina and I were the only two mixed fairies of our tribe. I left our tribe when I married Fugaku. She, as I mentioned, left the tribe to be with your father, Minato. I think she sent you to us because we had left the fire fairies in remorse for what had happened. We hid from everyone magical, even your father’s friends because there must have been a reason she would send you to us and not them."

"So in other words, it's our duty to protect Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes."

"Protect me? Protect me from what? This is nonsense! None of this is real!"

"If you'll just look out the window, you can see for yourself how real this is," Mikoto whispered quietly. Sasuke, who had faced his mother the entire duration of her story hadn't bothered to look out the window. Still feeling slightly drained, he turned his head slowly. Naruto, always full of energy, had turned quickly and then froze in shock. Sasuke's head moved a little faster at the look on Naruto’s face, and he too froze at what he saw outside the window.

There, pressed up against the window, were gray skinned things, looking at them through the window with bright eyes. Sasuke's mouth gaped open, and he realized he could actually hear them, a low hissing sound that he had heard before, a hissing that had once upon a time, made him afraid of the dark.

Their arms covered most of the light from their eyes, but they were still there, their long, clawed fingers grabbing into the house’s siding.

"Trolls," Sasuke whispered.

"There's so many of them," Naruto muttered in horror.

"They're climbing all over the house," Mikoto informed them calmly. Naruto turned wide eyes back to her.

"What're we going to do? How do we get rid of them?" Naruto asked.

"That is a very good question. I wish I knew. For now, we just have to stay inside close to light, and hope they don’t find the electrical box."


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"We don't want the monsters. But sometimes the monsters want us." ~ Jelp

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Next Chapter: To Fight the Fright

Please note that the next update to this fic will be in two weeks.

Just as a side note, a sennin really is a Japanese term for a fairy-type person: an immortal sage to be more specific.

Also, Daji’s story comes from the novel Fengshin Yanyi which is a Chinese novel written during the Ming Dynasty about the fall of the Shang Dynasty. I first learned about Daji’s story almost three years ago in a book called A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought by Wolfram Eberhard. On page 117, it talks about the fox symbol in Chinese lure, and it gave a brief description of Daji (not giving her name), by explaining the myth of how a legendary nine-tailed fox seduced the last Emperor of the Shang dynasty. I got a lot of the information in this story about Daji in Fengshin Yanyi by using google.

According to the story, Jiang Ziya was a sage who exorcised the spirit from her. Now, what I thought interesting was that he was a sage, and that his names sorta reminded me of Jiraiya for some reason. During the point in this chapter when Mikoto says that the story varies from the book, it means that’s where I’ve made everything else up. To my knowledge, there wasn’t a baby between Daji and Prince Bo. All that stuff I made up.

Oh, another side note, toorooru is how you phonetically pronounce, “troll” in Japanese.

I dunno how I feel about the “fairy tale” part of the story. I tried to write it like a fairy tale, but I don’t know how it turned out. X_X Let me know what you thought!! ~ Jelp