Chapitre 36: Mini Kurama

Itachi desperately clung onto the bond he shared with Kurama. The Hunter was suffering in an eternally empty place. Without Itachi's constant reaffirmation, Kurama would have been erased and harvested by the grim reaper. The CEO hated every second of it as he continued to pray and communicate with Kurama through their soul bond. Itachi didn't know if soul bonds will weaken over time but he was slowly losing contact with the Hunter. The responses he received were slower and lesser as time dragged on.

Temari was instantly alerted when she felt a familiar presence. The wolves felt a powerful mage intrude their territory and were instantly alarmed. Many fell into battle formation and it took Temari's screaming to get the growling bunch to calm down.

"She's here to help!"

Grandma Chiyo clicked her tongue at the hostile and wary eyes as she entered. Only Iruka seemed friendly enough and offered her a place to sit while preparing tea.

"Youngsters nowadays have no respect for the elderly," Chiyo chided as she sipped on some tea that Iruka served.

Although the werewolves were still very reluctant to welcome such a threatening mage into their den, they didn't have much of a choice. As long as Itachi and Iruka weren't under attack, they had no reason to retaliate.

Chiyo found the human that Kurama the Hunter had made a soul bond with. From the looks of it, she arrived just before it was too late.

"You over there," she called out to Itachi who was drenched in sweat and tears. The CEO responded to her voice and wondered who she was.

"How's Kurama?" she asked and Itachi shook his head. "He's responding but not as often as before."

Chiyo nodded and looked around. First, she needed a vessel to contain the soul. Iruka happened to have many stuffed toys laying around because of his profession and Chiyo simply had to choose one. The old mage decided to settle for a fox plushie. Although it only had one tail, it would be a form that Kurama would be familiar with.

"I need you to keep a tight hold on that bond. We're going to be stealing his soul back from the shinigami and transferring it to this doll here," Chiyo explained.

Itachi didn't quite understand everything but when he heard that Kurama was coming back, he was overjoyed and filled with hope. The CEO nodded and didn't hesitate to let the Hunter know the good news.

In the darkness, Kurama didn't know why his mate was suddenly full of warm hope and joy. Didn't he know that it was impossible? He was fighting a losing battle here. Danzo had won and it was now up to Naruto to do a good job with the fox clan. The only regret he had was not telling Itachi clearly how he felt. However, the Hunter was equally glad that he didn't convert Itachi into one of them for it would surely have killed his human mate. Soul bonds were stronger with demons than it was for humans.

Chiyo activated her bloodline gift and saw the soul strings with her unique eyes. Even Temari had never seen them before so everyone was quiet when that happened. Her silver eyes searched the CEO carefully and Itachi stiffened when Chiyo approached with her sharp nails pointing towards his chest. His heart rate increased but Itachi tried not to run. Chiyo wasn't going to hurt him... right?

Temari nearly screamed when Chiyo plunged her hand into Itachi's chest and the werewolves were ready to pounce when that happened. Strangely, Itachi looked at the hand in his chest with only shock but not pain. Chiyo was searching for something inside his chest, going through the threads that only she could see.

"Hold onto that soul bond," she told the startled CEO who closed his eyes and focussed on that feeling.

Kurama was very weak now and Itachi was worried. Chiyo found the connection growing weaker but it was still there. The mage then held onto that thread and pulled on it, channelling some of her mana into it while chanting.

Nobody dared disturb Chiyo who reached out her other hand. Temari got the cue and passed the selected plushie to the mage who never once blinked throughout the long chant. Itachi shivered when he felt something shift inside of him. Chiyo slowly pulled the thread out and felt around for the other end.

In the darkness, the shinigami didn't realise that Kurama's soul was slowly being pulled away by some other force. The soul was slowly being pulled from the main body. It was too engrossed in harvesting parts from Danzo's soul and the snake lord's screams covered up and sounds made by Kurama's soul and Chiyo's chanting.

Slowly but surely, the Hunter regained his memories after being liberated from his main body trapped somewhere in the purgatory. It was a strange feeling of being very light and liberated when he left the purgatory. Kurama didn't know when it happened but he was back before he knew it.

The Hunter didn't have eyes that function when he came to but he could still see and talk, just not in the way he was familiar with. Chiyo was resting in a spare guest room and Itachi was clutching onto the Kurama plushie in his sleep. It was late at night and the wolves were now asleep, tired from such a long day. Kakashi was bandaged up and cuddling with Iruka on the couch. Gaara and Naruto were in bandages. Kurama looked around and tried to move but found that he couldn't do it easily. Just what was going on?

Not wanting to wake his tired mate up, the Hunter made his way slowly over to the bathroom. For some reason, everything looked really big and it wasn't his imagination either. It took great efforts to try and stand on the edge of the sink just so he could see his reflection in the mirror.

When he finally saw the reflection, Kurama wanted to scream. There was no mistaking it now, the great Hunter was now nothing more than a cute fox stuffed toy.

"How am I going to protect Itachi from now on?" the fox screamed mentally and fell into a spiral of depression. Everyone was asleep now and he had nobody to ask.

Unable to sleep as a plushie, Kurama sat in Itachi's arms, simply waiting for morning to come.

"Actually, life as a plushie may not be too bad after all..." Kurama thought as he snuggled further into Itachi's embrace.