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Konohagakure High School sat on a slope surrounded by pines and various trees; its interior was filled with the rustle of tails and ears from various animals, a place where herbivores and carnivores pretended to coexist in peace.
Naruto Uzumaki was a red fox, but for some reason, he was golden—or rather, yellow—with three stripes on his cheek fur that resembled real whiskers, and blue eyes; his stripes were more like a natural tattoo. He had a restless, furry tail, and long teeth and claws that Naruto tried to pretend weren't there.
Meanwhile, his best friend, Sakura Haruno, was a bunny of an interesting color, pink, with green eyes; despite her small size, Sakura was not defenseless (living up to her powerful punches). Rabbits had a reputation for being defenseless animals, but in reality, rabbits could be quite temperamental, territorial, and even aggressive.
Sakura was being watched, and her powerful ears did not lie.
It was him.
— "Saaakuurraaa-chaannn!!" — he came fast, his large tail wagging near her, with his backpack half-messy and his long ears relaxed.
— "Naruto, stop shouting so much, you'll scare someone" — regarding height, it was a subject Sakura preferred not to think about; two Sakuras made one Naruto.
He arrived at her side out of breath — "I just saw you from afar and got excited, dattebayo" — Besides the verbal tic "dattebayo," Naruto had the famous "fox laugh," which were sounds resembling "HiHiHiHiHi" and happened when he was very excited. She arched an eyebrow.
— "You've seen me every day this week," — she retorted.
— "It's just that your scent changed today" — foxes' noses were very good; rabbits were better at hearing.
— "You're exaggerating," — Sakura was not surprised knowing this fact.
— "Did you change your shampoo?" — he scratched his furry neck, getting embarrassed for noticing.
— "There's no hiding anything from you," — she started walking — "Come... class is about to start," — she said firmly.
— "Are you coming with me?" — he asked.
— "Of course, otherwise, who’s going to stop you from sleeping in class?" — Foxes were nocturnal, and Naruto frequently fell asleep during classes, despite trying hard to sleep at night; but he always stayed up late, being 16 years old. He was still at the orphanage, where he had to follow rigid rules which he totally hated, and he also hated taking the bus to school.
The only thing he liked about the orphanage was Iruka-sensei, a brown horse who was very friendly to him; he was like a father to him. Meanwhile, Kakashi-sensei was a wolf-dog; he was a teacher inside the school and a mentor to Naruto. Being a carnivore, the fox felt at ease.
He smiled and began to follow her.
Sakura was a problem for him, not because she bothered him, but for another reason. He loved her.
.............
Naruto suffered from prejudice.
"Foxes are treacherous"
"They are thieves"
"Foxes aren't reliable"
"Watch out! He might attack at any moment!"
"They are cunning!"
He had never been adopted to this day; he saw other children coming and going while he stayed in the same place. They even set aside a place just for him inside the orphanage; even with the noise of young children all over the place, he felt lonely.
His only friends inside were Iruka and Teuchi, the cook.
Naruto remembers very well: every afternoon, children from 5 to 14 years old had the right to go to the playground; the older ones explored nature, and the younger ones played on the slide and so on.
He had friends: Shikamaru, the Sika deer; Choji, the wild boar; Kiba, the brown Labrador dog; Lee, the capuchin monkey, Gaara; the desert lynx . And Sasuke, the black wolf; unlike him, the wolf had a family, rich, with a legacy—the Uchihas were businessmen, making Sasuke the most popular and perfect at the school, which went from primary to high school, making them know each other very well. Even so, Sasuke also felt loneliness.
And Sakura, the bunny who also went to the playground every afternoon accompanied by her parents and played with the Siamese cat, Ino. Naruto was in love with her, but the bunny liked the wolf. This made the fox sad, despite trying hard to be the bunny's best friend, even against all odds.
One afternoon, Naruto, at 11 years old, discussed this with Shikamaru, who had a relaxed expression while Naruto fidgeted with his tail full of dirt from anxiety.
— "Uh, Shikamaru?" — he spoke hesitantly.
— "Yes?" —
— "I need your opinion," —
— "What trouble is it this time?" — The deer felt suspicious.
Naruto sat beside him at the fountain, tense, with his ears up and tail erect.
— "It's not trouble, it's about Sakura-chan," —
Shikamaru slowly opened his eyes.
— "What about her?" —
Naruto swung his legs.
— "I like her," —
Now Shikamaru was worried.
— "Like her how?" —
— "Like, when she's near, my heart races, and I like when she smiles, and I want to protect her," —
Shikamaru understood everything instantly: the fox loved the rabbit. Loving wasn't wrong. But a carnivore couldn't love a herbivore, not in this society. The deer fell silent, looked around, seeing no one.
— "Naruto... don't tell anyone about this," — he said carefully.
Naruto got confused, and his ears threatened to lower.
— "Why? I just like her," —
— "You are a carnivore and she is a herbivore; people won't understand, and even if they do, they will blame you," —
Naruto felt slightly offended.
— "I don't want to hurt her!" —
— "I know, but the world doesn't care about what you want; if this feeling grows, it will become a problem," — Shikamaru retorted.
— "What do I do then?" — Naruto asked for advice again.
— "Hide it," — the deer breathed deeply.
— "And if it doesn't go away?" —
— "Then learn to live with it silently," —
Naruto totally disagreed. Rules needed to be broken. And genuine feelings, lived.
...........
The wind carried his scent, the strong fox smell; Naruto needed to bathe twice a day. Besides, there was another predator in front of him: a white-maned lion, Jiraiya-sensei.
— "Ero-sennin?... I need your help," — his voice tried to sound casual. Jiraiya was an expert in animal behavior; he wrote many romances and was a father figure to Naruto as well. They met casually on the street when the fox was 12.
— "Uh? You look different today. You didn't come here just to complain, did you?" —
Naruto looked away, hiding his claws behind his back.
— "I need to learn to control my instincts... people say my love for Sakura-chan is hunger, but... I know it's not!" — he said firmly.
Jiraiya didn't laugh.
— "Did something happen?" — he asked seriously and worriedly, a rarity.
Naruto breathed deeply through his long snout.
— "It's just that my stomach churns when I eat meat, because I think it could be Sakura-chan to any carnivore and I don't want my love to look like hunger, ttebayo," — Naruto was a virgin to pure meat, and a virgin to other things too.
The lion put his hand on the fox's shoulder, who was smaller.
— "Naruto, your instincts are part of you; you are a fox," —
— "But I don't want to hurt her! What if one day I can't control it?" — his voice came out louder than he would have liked.
Jiraiya observed the nervousness of the tail.
— "Instinct control is born from understanding, not negation... you came here for fear of losing her, and that already says a lot about who you are," —
Naruto swallowed hard.
— "Let's start now," —
