Kurama unconsciously purred as she snuggled into the sheets of her bed, uncaring for the fact that it technically wasn't her bed, and probably wasn't even real.

It was hard for her to judge how much time had passed due to the lack of a day/night cycle, and also because her body had no apparent need for sleep. Still, ever since her sudden and unwanted arrival to this new body, she suspected it had been at least a week, and she was proud to say that she'd more or less wasted all of it.

She'd mostly spent her time brooding and reminiscing, coming to terms with what had happened and trying to figure out ways to move past and plan for the future. She was successful, for the most part, but she still dearly missed her brother, and knowing that she wasn't very likely to ever see him again hurt deeply.

Following her little tantrum the week prior, Hagoromo had wisely decided to give her some space, but still tried to at least talk to her for a bit every day, and Kurama wasn't prideful enough to refuse to admit that she enjoyed his company, if only because it was the only one she had access to for now.

He'd already promised her that, if she so wished, he was more than ready to allow her the freedom to get out of his body and explore the world, something Kurama was rather grateful for. 

Still, she hadn't quite felt ready. She felt, suprisingly, happy enough wasting her life away in her pseudo-bedroom, the sheer familiarity alone enough to calm her troubled mind whenever her thoughts turned sour.

However, now that she had mostly worked out most of her resentment, sadness, bitterness, and anger at her situation through sheer mind-numbing stress exercises and the occasional bouts of aggression towards the conveniently placed punching bag that would appear whenever she needed it, she felt mentally ready to start exploring this supposed new world.

"Hagoromo?" She called out. She rarely ever called for him directly, mostly because she didn't really want to annoy him by being whiny, but also because she hardly ever felt the need to do so since he was always there when she needed him.

As expected, his demon-like form shimmered into existence, levitating lazily above the carpet next to her bed. "Good morning, Kurama." He greeted, waving at her in a lazy yet somehow also respectful manner. She felt somewhat envious of his people skills, but she didn't care enough to bother with it much.

"Hey. I think I'm ready, so... can I go out?" She asked, unsure of how to word her request. So far, he'd been perfectly gentle and understanding with her, always ready to cater to her wishes, but she never quite forgot the fact that, between the two of them, it was him who held all the power.

That fact alone often made her nervous to ask things of him... Unless her temper got the best of her. In that case, all bets were off.

"Of course. I will have to ask you to remain within a certain range of me, but it shouldn't be too limiting. Alright, I'll teach you the steps needed, so follow closely." Hagoromo said, ignoring her thoughts. She nodded quickly, a wide smile breaking out on her vulpine face.

"Alright, focus your chak--... Fuck." Hagoromo abruptly stopped, cursing himself. "I... I haven't taught you quite yet... Alright, this might hurt a bit then, or it might now, I'm not sure. Whatever happens, remain calm, alright?" He asked. She blinked a bit before nodding, her confidence now waning a bit.

She felt... something tug at her. It wasn't necessarily a physical feeling, and yet, it was, and it was also not. It was immensely difficult for her to describe or understand, having never felt something like it. It was akin to someone trying to scoop out her innards using an intangible hand that somehow felt tangible... She wasn't making much sense.

She forced herself to remain calm, Hagoromo's words echoing within her mind. As he had said, it didn't really hurt, per se, but it definitely felt uncomfortable. Very much so, in fact.

And then, the tug got much stronger all of a sudden. She gasped slightly, whether in surprise, pain, or something else, she didn't know, but when she finally realized what had happened, she realized her surroundings had changed.

She looked around, wild-eyed and confused. She was on what seemed to be a flat plain, a few trees here and there off in the distance. 

"Down here, dear." A voice called out, one she was intimately familiar with. She peered down, and surprise surprise, Hagoromo was there, looking sweaty, tired, and older than he normally looked.

That worried her. She didn't exactly love the man, far from it, but she did at least feel fondness for him and gratitude for all that he had done for her. "Are you okay? You're looking a bit... worn out."

He gave her an eye smile as he stood to his feet, rising from his previous crouch. "I'll be fine in a bit, don't worry." He said tiredly, contradicting his own statement when he abruptly lurched forward, heaving tiredly.

She fussed a bit, unsure of what to do or how to help him, so she just ended up hovering over him awkwardly as he breathed heavily for a bit, feeling like a little shit for not being able to help when he'd obviously been expecting her to do... something.

It took around ten minutes for the old man to recover, and even then he still looked worn out. "Seriously, old man. Tell me what's wrong, please! I know it has something to do with releasing me..." She begged, feeling horribly guilty.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Hagoromo sighed, rubbing his horns. "I do not know for sure, but I suspect that my body has become reliant on your chakra for survival. Your release was... painful, to say the least. I do not regret it, however, so stop giving me that look. It is not your fault I was stupid enough to forget to teach you." He said, sounding as calm and collected as always despite the tired look he still sported.

She couldn't really say anything to that, so she just settled on nodding weakly at him. He shook his head at her expression, a smirk on his face. "Whatever. If you want to, I'd be happy to teach you what I know, but for now, I guess you should go out a bit and explore. When you wish to find me, head to the village over there. I live in the hill right next to it." He said.

She turned around and squinted, her suprisingly sharp eyesight easily spotting the village and the hill he indicated. "... Alright." She said hesitantly. The village... Well, it looked small. The houses looked to be the same size as one of her fingers, which... Well, she wasn't sure what to think about it.

Being a giant kaiju monster wasn't very appealing to her, but at the same time, her inner nerd was squealing. She put those thoughts off for later review, though, since she had more pressing matters at the moment.

"I'll see you later, then, I guess?" She said/asked, feeling great relief when the man nodded. He was her only anchor in this strange new world, and losing him would mean losing any sense of belonging or direction.

She gave the man one last look before walking off, sniffing the ground curiously. Her sense of smell was far, far greater than it had been as a human, but that didn't mean she understood all the odors she was sensing. The best she could do was say which ones were gross, which ones were ok, and which ones she liked, and she didn't exactly need a super-nose for that.

Still, it was an interesting experience. The ground felt soft, her claws ripping long trenches with an ease that was, frankly put, rather terrifying. Her sensitive ears were also practically constantly rigid and twitching, thousands of interesting sounds filtering into her head.

She nabbed a tree, ripping it out from the ground as easily as a child would rip out a blade of grass. She examined it for a bit, trying to find any irregularities from the ones she knew back at home.

While it wasn't a species she knew or could recognize, it didn't seem particularly different from the ones she knew of back at home. Spurred by curiosity, she put the large log with leaves in her mouth and chomped down.

She was unsurprised to see that when she spat said tree out of her now sizzling mouth, it was practically melting, especially where her teeth had touched it.

She grimaced slightly. Yeah, biting things and/or people would be a bad idea. That didn't look pleasant at all.

She sighed and rolled onto her side, staring at the bright sky above as birds gradually began their songs again, having stopped beforehand due to the sudden appearance of a titanic fox cub with ears like a rabbit and clawed hands in the place of frontal paws.

'Am I even a fox? Hagoromo said something about me being a chakra construct once, if I remember right, and since chakra is supposed to be this magical energy that came from the stars, can't I just take whatever form I want?' Kurama mused to herself. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to go about doing that, and she didn't even know if it was possible in the first place.

She laid there for a while, enjoying the pleasant and natural atmosphere around her. Compared to her home, the air was so, so much cleaner, and there was just so much wildlife! While nothing came even remotely close to her, her eyesight and hearing easily located several groups of animals moving around and about.

She was familiar with most of these animals. Rabbits, foxes, a few wolves, deer, bulls, hogs... The list went on. 

It was fascinating, really. She spent the rest of the daylight hours just watching from a distance, her inner child screaming at her to go hug the cute animals while her more adult side warned her of possible dangers.

Not to herself, mind you. She still doubted anything less than meteorites to the snout would hurt her. No, she was worried about the animals themselves, and their reactions to her presence.

By the time night came, though, she'd already gotten bored. Thus, satisfied with her outing for the day, she made her way over to the village that Hagoromo had pointed her towards.

She paused when she heard two human voices. She was still some distance away from the village, so she hadn't expected to meet anyone yet.

Their language was foreign to her, which was... not as strange as she thought it was. This was a different land, after all. She'd half expected to just kind of auto-translate their words, but unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.

She skirted around the two people talking, not quite ready to gamble on whether these people would react nicely or fearfully towards her. Instead, she abused the cover of darkness and slipped past the village, quickly scampering up the hill and onto the large, traditional-looking home at the top.

When she arrived, Hagoromo was already there, waiting for her. He nodded at her in greeting before speaking. "Did you have fun out there?" 

"Ah... Yeah. It was very interesting..." She said awkwardly while she fidgeted a bit. When he raised his eyebrow, she blurted out the question at the tip of her tongue.

"Can you take me back in you?" She quickly asked, almost stumbling over her own words. Hagoromo's brow practically shot up into his hairline as he stared at her.

"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously. "If you're doing this for me, don't worry. I'd rather you stay happy and free than for me to feel marginally less ancient." He cracked a smile at his own joke, and even Kurama huffed out a small laugh.

"No, don't worry, that's just a side benefit. I like my old room, and besides, I'm... I'm afraid of scaring the people down there..." She said, feeling very much insecure.

"Hm... I suppose that could be a problem, if I hadn't already warned them. Do not worry, they're all very nice people." He said gently. Still, she didn't relent, so in the end, Hagoromo agreed with a sigh.

He floated up to her snout, and gently placed his hand upon it. The next moment, the giant fox distorted into a whirlwind of chakra, quickly being sucked into his hand and back into the seal. 

"Tomorrow morning, we'll start some lessons, alright?" He murmured to himself, his voice projecting within Kurama's seal. He felt her approval of his words before she promptly ignored him, launching herself at her comically large bed.

Hagoromo sighed, secretly pleased with how things were turning out. Shaking his head, he made his way back into his house, canceling the Jutsu he'd been using to hide Kurama. Kurama might have been a smart girl, but stealthy she was not. 

He grinned slightly, somewhat eager to see how a chakra-made beast with the consciousness of a girl from another world would interpret chakra. His sons were geniuses, sure, but they weren't old enough to come to their own conclusions, and thus, it was hard at times discussing theory with them.

Kurama, however, would hopefully be different. He was old, sure, but he wasn't quite old enough not to crave knowledge, even if it came from a fox girl less than a fifth his age.