I opened my eyes to flashing pictures of ... forests ... the moon ... the sun ... prosperous villages ... destruction ... dead humans, mountains of dead humans ... a huge red eye with familiar tomoe ... a small orange fox ...

The flashing stopped on an old man. He wore a white cloak with black symbols on it. He had horns and a third eye on his forehead.

I carefully studied him, it seems as though he were alive, but he did not move even one bit. He did not breathe either, yet he still looked so alive.

It was then that I heard a deep and low voice filled with emotion: "Father ...".

Hmm? Is there someone else here?

I turned around and soon saw a huge orange being in front of me. It resembled a nine-tailed fox. One of its eyes was mix of blue and green, the other blood-red.

The side with the blue and green eye seemed totally different than the other.

It seemed bewildered, but I could see a familiar tiredness behind it. Ah. It hit me. That's me. This is a mirror.

The other side was totally different, so filled with hatred and malevolence.

As I was studying it, it turned its eye to look straight at me. It felt as if it could pierce my soul and see right through me. Its gaze burned with hatred towards the world itself.

"Haven't I seen this being before? It seems familiar ... especially this hatred ..." I thought, before my eyes abruptly opened to darkness again.

"So, it was a dream ..." I spoke to no one in particular. There was no one here anyway, just me.

Can I do nothing but sleep? Honestly, this kind of existence ... is even worse than before. I at least had some sort of entertainment in my last life.

I mentally shook my head and soon closed my eyes again.

Not long after, my thoughts quieted again.

---

I was looking at the old man again, though I couldn't move.

Around me were 8 other, huge beasts. All had a different number of tails.

I can't help but think that I've seen them before.

The old man spoke: "My children. You know who you are, but you need not fear your heritage, be proud of it instead. I divided the Juubi in 9 parts. You were born out of the Juubi, but please know that you are, by no means, it. You are all siblings and you are my precious children. My life will end soon, but my existence will continue for as long as it needs to. My mother will be back. Remember, though, I will always be there to watch over you. Be free, explore and have fun. You are my children, you deserve this."

He smiled fondly at us.

The beasts, including the one I was seeing this scene through, laughed and smiled with genuine happiness, I could feel that, deep inside of me.

Then the scene, no, the memory stopped.

I looked around. This wasn't the familiar darkness, though it was still quite dark.

No, this was an actual place.

The ground below me was filled with water and it wet my fur ... fur?

Then it hit me.

I, no, we, are the Kyuubi. The Nine-Tails. The strongest of the nine and the one burdened with the most hatred.

I can feel it. Kurama and me have partly fused to become one.

Our current host is Kushina Uzumaki. 

We can feel it. She is pregnant.

The seal will, inevitably, weaken. And then we will be free. And then we'll kill all that she loves, she deserves that ... stupid woman ...

(A/N: Please know that this is the hatred speaking. I believe that Kurama, especially, is controlled by lots of hatred.)

"All in due time, in due time." I thought.

With that thought, I went back to sleep again.

---

[9 Months later]

I slowly opened my eyes.

I am still inside of the metal-barred, wet, sewer-like seal ... honestly, it has become very familiar after all these months I spent here. Though, even if it is familiar, I do not like this kind of existence. I hate not being free. I had enough of that in my past life. I was always chained to something, it could be anything ... but now, as a chakra beast, I am strong ... I should be free ... I should be able to do what I like doing.

I want to see this world, all of it. The sadness and the happiness. I want to see it all.

Kushina had, from time to time, come inside her mindscape to check on me, but she never talked. I guess she was here for the seal, to check on it. It will, inevitably, weaken when she gives birth. That's the best chance we have at escaping this place. And I won't lie, we made a plan.

Kurama and me are currently one, but not the same. He is asleep deep inside of our subconsciousness.

Across the months I accessed many of his memories and learned of what we can do, right from the source. Of how to form chakra. Of how to form the Bijuu Dama for example.

We have a chance at freedom.

We really do.

I soon closed my eyes and descended into my subconsciousness.

I opened my eyes to a sleeping, small, orange fox. A very familiar sight. I have come to visit him many times across the months. He looks just like he did when I saw him when he was created by his father. That small, cute and kind fox. When the hatred had not eaten away at him yet.

He noticed my arrival and opened his eyes. His gaze held only kindness towards me, just like mine did towards him. He promised to protect me, to love me ... so I'll try to do the same for him.

"Hello Sister. It's been a long time since I was last awake. Being freed of half of this hatred, it has no control over me anymore, it is entirely too weak for that. I am, finally, who I was created to be. My father's son." Kurama said with a foxy grin plastered on his face. 

I love that he calls me sister.

"Hello Kurama. I guess you slept well *giggle*. Hmm... you can feel it too, right? The seal is weakening." I said.

"Yes. Soon, we will be free once more. Do you plan to go through with what you told me about?" Kurama asked.

"Mhm, I'll split our Yang and Yin parts. Then we can both have a body and both influence the outside world. Are you ready? I need your help for this." I asked.

"Please start, I'm already slightly excited for the results. Freedom, it's been too long since I last ran across fields and bathed in lakes. With us both shouldering half of the hatred, we will not be controlled by it. I feel strangely empty without it though. It has always been with me throughout the ages. You understand, right?" Kurama asked while giving me another foxy grin.

"Don't worry, I do. I really do. The hatred ... it has made me stronger. But ... it does not display what I actually feel." I said wearily.

"I have seen it, your former life. Just like you have seen mine, I have seen yours. I know it all. You will never be alone again. I will always be here, as your brother. You can be whatever you want to be, you know? As chakra beasts, we have that priviledge. We can form chakra and our bodies are made of chakra, so we can decide our form. In fact, we are the best at forming chakra. We need to be, right? We are made of pure chakra and intent after all." Kurama smiled at me with a particularly peaceful and happy foxy grin.

I couldn't help but smile back too, with a foxy grin of my own. Don't misunderstand ... I still feel worthless ... and I'm still kind of doubtful of whether this is all worth the trouble or not, but I'll try. 

It is something new. I may actually have a shot at happiness now. And if I do get it, I will let no one, nothing, take it from me. It's too important and precious to let anyone take it from me. Even if I need to destroy that someone.

"Let's start ..." I said slowly.

I closed my eyes and started to feel around for that flame, that never-extinguishing flame. It's my source and I am it.

I opened my eyes again and everything became really colorful. This is it, chakra sight. Brother taught it to me hehe~.

Everything that is alive has chakra. Chakra, is, in other words, life force, but there are also some non-living things that contain chakra, or so brother's memories taught me.

What I am looking for, is the small string binding myself and Kurama together.

It is the connection between his yang-side and my yin-side. By now, I've completely taken over his former Yin-Side. It's mine.

I plan on severing this string. Right now, we are two parts of a whole ... but not for long.

"Ah, found it. There it is." I thought.

I grabbed it with my long, orange, fur-covered hand and pulled.

Kurama did the same and it soon snapped apart.

We both froze, feeling pain. We lost a part of ourselves, right here, right now.

We are not one anymore. We are two sides of a coin now.

The world wouldn't allow this. This, complete severing of our consciousness and chakra. We were essentially two different beings now, albeit, similar. We shared the same origin. We were truly, brother and sister. Yes, I finally get to be female. Yin is mostly thought to be female. It is cold and feminine. This made it easier for me to choose which side to take. I'm so glad that I finally have a chance at being what I needed myself to be.

Soon the ambient chakra rushed towards us. It forcefully created a replica of the other's chakra in ourselves. But it lacked the hatred, it lacked, us.

It was void of personality, it was just pure chakra. Because the world wouldn't allow us to exist as just Yin, or just, Yang. We both needed the other part to exist, but as we severed that deep connection between ourselves, we needed something new to take that place in our chakra bodies.

The pure chakra around us changed its properties to be yin or yang and then flowed into our, still frozen bodies. It formed a new part for each of us and we became whole again. Just, it was different than before. We essentially became separate beings. We were not one, but two now.

This was only possible because, before, we were two intents in one body. The time we spent together made it clear that one of needed to vanish. We couldn't exist as two in one. Our type of existence would not allow it.

Kurama wanted to erase me at first, but as soon as his hatred started seeping into me, filling me with it, he lost his desire to erase me, instead, he was actually peaceful. He actually always was, the hatred just totally clouded his mind. He decided to let me take control for the time being, but he had already started thinking of a way for both of us to exist. He was tired and weary of the hatred controlling him, so he decided to do that in our subconscious.

He did not want to fight for dominance of his former body.

He decided that he would give it to me, if he found no way of separating us. He felt sorry for my former existence and I felt sorry for his. We both saw each other's memories, we truly knew each other.

But I ... did not want his body, if that would cause his existence to end. I saw all his pain ... he deserved freedom, peace from the hatred that always consumed him. When he was just created, he was not this hateful being I had seen in the mirror.

He was innocent. And he deserved to be free of the hatred's influence. So, I decided to use my newfound knowledge about molding chakra and using it, to separate our consciousnesses and to form new bodies for each of us ... in fact we both reached the conclusion that that was the only way to go, if we both were to survive.

I knew the world was not going to accept us and that it would forcefully make us whole again, so I needed to fully sever that string connecting us, we couldn't just be two parts of a whole, we needed to be two different and separate entities.

And I severed that string.

Now we are two. Not one and not half. We are two.

My form changed to be golden, just as I wanted it to. My chakra was easier to control now, and I could influence my appearance. I could even become human, but I chose to stay like this for now because I wanted to feel close to my brother. I have gotten used to this four-legged, nine-tailed form.

His from changed to become a pure white. He is really beautiful. I couldn't help but smile.

The orange color that dominated both of us before, the hatred, was a part of each of us, but it could no longer control our thoughts, that is, if we didn't let it.

Kurama smiled at me: "It worked, sister. We are free. Both you and me."

I like this Kurama, he is kind and he is protective of his siblings. I know that. He always cared about his brothers and sisters. And he cared about his father, his creator. And he cared about all the beings he was sealed in because he knew that it was hell for them too. All this hatred, it controlled not only him, but them too.

But, not anymore.

We left this "subconsciousness". Now that I think of it, it seems that we are still connected, deep inside. But just not through our body. This means that I can always see him when I need to and he can always see me. This made me feel warm and giddy inside.

"My brother is always with me, just like he promised he would be~." I thought.

I truly came to view him as my brother. The months taught me that he really cared about me. We were strangers at first, but I cannot resist obvious kindness ... especially because it was so true, so genuine.

I woke up to see a huge, white fox next to me. He woke up, just as I did and looked at me with a loving and kind gaze.

"She is gonna give birth soon." He said.

"Yes, we will be free. Do you also feel this existence near her?" I asked.

"It's familiar, yet not. Actually... isn't this the same kind of chakra that one guy that controlled me had? What was his name ... ah ... Madara Uchiha? Yes, that's him." Kurama said.

"True. Now that you say it, it might really be him. What do we do? He will try to control you, or now, us, again, right? We must not let him do that." I said.

"Don't worry sister, I will protect you. Now that hatred is not clouding my mind at all times, I have become stronger, more calculating. You know that, right~." He chuckled.

"I do." I smiled at him and giggled. God, I could giggle now. I'm so happy about this, you can't even imagine the way it makes me feel. 

By the way, while changing my form to be golden, it also became smaller and softer, more feminine. I changed my voice to be young, but soft, yet alluring. My brother became a bit bigger and his fur is soooo soft now~. His voice is still deep, just what a handsome fox needs right?~

The hatred had been clouding my mind too. It brought up my deepest fears for human beings. It reminded me of their judging and hateful gazes they sent me in my old world.

And it showed me the gazes they sent my brother too. How could I not hate humans? They robbed us of our freedom. Oh, see. It is still there, the hatred, but it's a part of us now. A real part of us, no one can take it from us again and we are not just that hatred anymore. When we are angry, for whatever reason that may be, it will strengthen that anger a small bit, but it will not control our minds anymore.

It cannot force us to do things we wouldn't do.

As we talked, Kushina finally gave birth and we saw, no, felt, the seal weakening.

The metal bars slowly faded, and we felt ourselves being pulled outwards.

Something was pulling us out.

"Brother, the masked man ..." I said, slightly scared.

"Yes, he is doing something. Don't worry, I'm here." He smiled at me.

He is so confident, so strong. My brother, my kind and loving brother. I ... love him. It felt strange thinking about love. I never quite understood love, but I know ... this, my feelings for my brother ... this is love. 

---

A/N: Another chapter! Hopefully it's readable. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I made any grave mistakes. Again, some parts might not make any sense ... please forgive me. It's my first book, please be gentle :3.

I'd love it if you told me what you think of the current developments.