Madara stalked silently through the crappy apartment. He had little sympathy for the child who lived here, as when he was the boy's age he'd been living in a freaking tent. As far as he was concerned, the brat's living situation was much better than his had been as both the roof and the floor didn't leak and he was surrounded by four solid walls rather than a bunch of canvas that was liable to blow over at the worst possible moment, especially when the bratling Izuna decided to pull up half of the stakes as a prank. Itachi was out on a mission, and what the little whelp didn't know wouldn't hurt him especially since he was going to make it look like one of the pathetic villagers had done this. He gently shook the child awake, wanting to see fear in the bright blue eyes that were so much like his damnable father's as the final moment came. As he did so, he wracked his brain for something suitably intimidating to say.

"And now my little friend, it is time for you to..." he started when the child was finally aware of his presence.

Wait? Why was he staring at the ceiling? Why was he having a hard time breathing?

"...hadafriendbefore! We'llbebestfriendsforever! Andever! Andever! Andever!" shrieked a rather happy sounding child who was currently latched onto him. The boy's grip seemed to - if that was even possible - tighten with each "Ever".

Snap. Crunch.

Holy Shit! He had to get out of here now!

Madara lay panting on a rooftop. That had been a close one. That kid had broke three, count em, three ribs and punctured his left lung, and the worst part was that the child hadn't even been trying to harm him. As far as he was concerned, as soon as he recovered, This. Had. Never. Happened. He had kept his promise to the Itachi brat, and never went anywhere near the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.

Meanwhile, the Kyuubi growled in his cage. By the time he'd become aware of that damnable Uchiha's presence, the man had already gone and there was nothing he could do about it. The faint whiff of Piss-Your-Pants-And-Not-Even-Notice-It terror he caught when he tuned into the brat's senses and the brat's - who had yet to learn the meaning of "gentle" since the unfortunate incident with Mr. Tibbles was still three months off - whining over the disappearance of his new "Best friend" gave the fox an interesting and somewhat amusing idea. There was a great deal of risk involved, but oh, the potential rewards. If there was one lesson he'd learned from the Uzumaki he'd been forcibly housed in, it was this: Revenge was a dish best served with an unusual presentation.

"Hey Kid." the Kyuubi said, as he did something to get the child's attention. Usually this only worked when the kid was asleep or unconscious, as when he was awake you could run an entire brass band through the boy's head and he wouldn't even notice. It worked now however.

"What?" the boy asked as he looked around his room for the source of the voice.

"How would you like to always be able to find your friend so you could show him how much you care about him?" the Kyuubi asked, barely holding back a snicker. Hey, he was rather short on entertainment, and this promised to be rather amusing if nothing else. He was reasonably certain he wouldn't die, because that asshat with the eyes seemed to be a one trick pony, and would more than likely pull him out of the brat before murdering him.