The Fox Among Us

Naruto: Fox girl NarukoxOC (Fluff):  On a routine morning in Konoha, Enji collides with a cloaked girl whose hood slips,  revealing a pair of fox ears. While he found these traits endearingly cute, the girl - Naruko - seemed inexplicably terrified before she quickly ran away after covering herself. Despite her panic and the villagers' wary glances, Enji couldn’t help but be intrigued by this mysterious fox girl.

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AN: One fluff short for a break, then gonna continue the story cycle, aka TWMR, and then go with the second short.

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The hidden village of Konoha was bathed in bright sunlight, its streets alive with the usual bustle of villagers going about their day. The warm rays filtered through the mighty trees that gave the village its name, casting dancing shadows on the dusty streets below.

Among its many inhabitants was Enji, a young boy who had migrated with his family years ago. He was too young to remember much about moving from Kusa to Konoha - at most, he could recall fragments: the endless fields of tall grass that gave his former village its name, the small white bedroom where he'd spent his earliest years, but everything else was too foggy to remember.

Not that it mattered to him. He had grown to love Konoha, from its towering walls to the stern faces of the Hokage watching over them from the mountain.

Soon he would join the civilian academy, as his chakra coils were minuscule at best - barely enough to sense, as the medical ninja had told his parents. His mother and father had exchanged relieved glances at the news, and since they had never steered him wrong before, he was content with his civilian future.

Today, he was walking back home carrying two paper bags filled with groceries, their corners crinkling with each step. His mom had asked him to get them, mentioning something about making a special large lunch. He didn't know the occasion, but more food meant a happy Enji either way. Maybe, if he played his cards right, he could even convince her to make his favorite anmitsu dessert.

The main street was packed with its usual mid-day crowd, making it increasingly difficult to weave between the villagers without jostling his precious cargo. He shifted to the side, staying closer to the shadows of the buildings until he made a right turn, walked one block, and then ducked into a familiar alley - his favorite shortcut home.

He welcomed the cool shade as the sun no longer bore down on his shoulders. With the crowd gone, he carefully wiggled the bags, trying to reach for the pocky sticks he had secretly bought with his saved-up allowance. 

Mom wouldn't notice... hopefully. 

Though now he was starting to regret putting them at the very bottom of the bag - it was proving trickier than expected to grab them without tearing the paper. Maybe he should have picked the plastic bag instead.

Enji was so distracted trying to grab his sweets that he didn't notice when something - or rather someone - slammed into him hard. 

He yelped as he fell backward, landing painfully on his backside as his groceries scattered across the ground. The paper bags tore open, sending vegetables rolling across the alley while his precious pocky skittered away under some crates. 

However, another pained yelp echoed his own.

Groaning, he rubbed his head, then his back, and finally his sore bottom. When he opened his eyes to survey the damage with an annoyed frown, hoping nothing was ruined, he realized he had collided with another person - a kid around his age. His mother's groceries were spread all around them, and he could already see that some tomatoes hadn't survived the fall.

The other child groaned and rubbed his head, causing his hood to fall back. Enji's irritation disappeared as he found himself looking at a girl with long blonde hair and striking blue eyes instead of another boy. 

But what caught his attention were the unusual features on her face - whisker-like marks on her cheeks and, most surprisingly, a pair of fox ears atop her head. The ears twitched and flickered, reminding him of his neighbor's cat. The sunlight filtering through the alley caught her hair, making it shine.

Shaking his head to clear it, Enji finally asked. "Are you okay?"

The girl's reaction was immediate and startling. Her attention snapped to him, blue eyes widening with fear. She quickly yanked her hood back up to cover her ears, scrambling backward. She even kicked some of the scattered vegetables as she moved away.

Surprised by her panic, Enji took a step back and extended his hand in what he hoped was a friendly gesture. "Wait, I didn't… ummm… sorry?" 

But she only backed away further, her shoulders hunched and tension visible in every line of her body. Her eyes darted between him and the alley's exit.

The civilian boy noticed she was wearing clothes that seemed a bit too big for her - a large brown hoodie and dark pants that had seen better days. There was something familiar about her face, like he'd seen her before, maybe in passing on the streets. He'd definitely remember those special features if he'd gotten a good look at her before.

As she continued to retreat, her foot caught on one of the rolling vegetables. She stumbled slightly but caught herself, though the movement caused something to slip from her own arms - what looked like a loaf of bread wrapped in paper. It fell to the ground between them, and for a moment, both children stared at it.

The bread on the ground made Enji pause. It must have been her lunch, and now it was ruined because they ran into each other. The girl's eyes were fixed on the fallen bread, a mix of hunger and sadness in her expression that made his chest feel tight.

Looking around, he spotted his box of pocky that had thankfully landed nearby. He reached for it slowly, trying not to startle her, and opened the box. 

"Here," he said, holding out some of the chocolate-covered sticks. "You can have some of mine!"

She stayed frozen in place, eyes darting between him and the offered treats. "It's okay! It's to make up for the bread." Enji kept his smile bright despite the situation.

After what felt like forever, she inched forward, her hand trembling slightly as she reached for the pocky. Her eyes never left his face as she snatched the treats and quickly backed away. Taking a tiny bite, her whole face lit up at the taste.

Her happiness was so obvious that her hood couldn't contain it - a fluffy tail popped out from under her robe, and her ears perked up, making little movements under the hood. Enji couldn't help but stare - they looked so soft and fluffy, just like a real fox’s! 

He wondered what they'd feel like to pet.

"Hey, I heard something! Are you okay?" a man's voice called from behind him.

Enji turned to see an old man in a green robe, his balding head reflecting the sunlight funnily enough. When he looked back to where the fox girl had been, she was gone - and so was the bread that had been on the ground.

"I'm fine!" Enji called back. "Just tripped!"

The old man came closer, shaking his head. "A young boy like you shouldn't be wandering in alleys alone." He then helped Enji gather his scattered groceries into new bags he pulled from his robe. Most things were just dusty, but the tomatoes were completely squished.

"Oh no," Enji mumbled, poking at the ruined vegetables. "Mom's gonna be mad..."

The old man chuckled and pressed some coins into Enji's hand. "Here, go get new tomatoes. And be more careful next time, okay?"

"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Enji bounced excitedly, his head bobbing up and down like a bobblehead. His day wasn't ruined after all!

So he hurried off to replace the tomatoes from the same shop he bought. And the old lady was kind enough to give him one for free even!

Enji took the long way home this time, carefully watching his steps and holding the bags close. The new tomatoes were safely nestled on top where they couldn't get squished.

When he got home, his mom was waiting at the door with her hands on her hips. "What took you so long?"

"I kinda fell down," he admitted, shuffling his feet.

Mom's expression softened as she knelt to check him over, her hands gentle as she turned his face this way and that. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nah, just got dusty. An old man helped me pick everything up!"

"Well, at least you're okay. Put the groceries on the kitchen table for me?" She ruffled his hair with a relieved smile.

"’Kay!"

As he arranged the bags on the table, his mind kept wandering back to the girl from the alley. Her golden hair had been so bright, and those fox ears... they'd twitched just like real ones! He wondered if she'd liked the pocky - she seemed to, from how her tail had popped out in excitement.

Maybe he'd run into her again sometime. He had so many things he wanted to ask her, like where she got such cool ears and tail, or if they were real, or why she'd been all alone in that alley. But mostly, he hoped she wasn't too scared to talk to him next time.

He didn’t scare her off, did he?

The memory of her happy expression, when she'd tasted the pocky, made him smile as he helped his mom unpack the groceries.