Naruto: The Birth Of Fenrir and his Keeper

Time trickled by swiftly and a few years had passed without anyone noticing the disappearance of the boy named Caleb. The boy who would have occasionally been seen roaming the streets simply seemed to have disappeared and no one appeared bothered by that fact in the slightest. Nothing really changed in the small sleepy town hidden away in the far mountains, but of course Caleb had left that place far behind him.

The past few years had been enlightening for him. He'd struggled for a while but all things considered he'd made the best of a shitty situation. His big break finally came when he managed to land a job as a laborer on a pretty new construction firm and it was enough for him to finally find some stability in life. Of course life still had its ups and downs but things were on a general upward trend for the unrelenting Caleb.

With a stifled grunt Caleb tossed the final bag of cement that he'd been lugging around into the mixer before stretching his aching back. The blaring sunlight made him squint his eyes as he looked around for his partner in crime that had seemingly gone missing for the last couple of hours. As if he had read Caleb's mind a streak of white suddenly flashed from under some of the pipes that had been packed away to the side of the construction site and lunged at him. Caleb barely had enough time to brace himself before the wind was knocked out of him as the white mound of fluff slammed into him.

"Down boy! Come on now Fen, you know no playing when we're on the job." Caleb pushed against Fenrir's snout in an attempt to reduce the amount of slobber that was making its way unto his face, but Fenrir wasn't going to stop until his slobber tax had been paid.

"Still don't know how you managed to get the boss man to let the mutt come on site." One of the others workers who had been sitting off to the side scoffed and spat on the ground. " Back in my day this sort of thing wouldn't have passed. This is supposed o be work site not a  doggy day-care."

Caleb glanced towards his co-worker and on seeing who it was he sneered "Well you might have been right if my boy Fen didn't pull his own weight around here. A lot more than what could be said about you at least."

The disgruntle man quickly scrambled to his feet but was quickly pushed back to the floor by one of the others who had been sitting with him. "When will you learn to leave the kid and his dog alone man. Every other day you always try to stir up some problems." He turned towards Caleb and shook his hand towards him shewing him away. "Your shift was supposed to be over half an hour ago, hurry up and head on home and take your 'support dog' with you."

Caleb finally managed to push Fenrir away and stood to his feet, grunting towards his supervisor before making his way to the office to clock out. He didn't linger long though and quickly made his way towards the exit after grabbing his things from his locker. With his bag on his back and Fenrir's leash in hand he started his trek towards home.

It didn't take him to long to find his way towards the shadier side of town where his one bedroom apartment lay. It wasn't much but it was enough for him and Fen. Thankfully the land lady was pretty negligent and he'd been able to ignore the no pets rule pretty much. It helped that Fen had sort of become the friendly neighborhood pet and the few kids that lived around seemed to like him.

Caleb sighed as he unlocked his front door and the musky smell of his apartment hit him. He scrunched up his nose before throwing his work bag into the corner.

"Home sweet home right boy?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright, alright I'll get you your lunch already you lazy bugger. Not like you had much work to do today anyway."

The two made their way towards the old beaten down fridge where Caleb pulled out two slabs of meat before tossing them onto the waiting skillet. The sound of sizzling meat and the savory aroma of smoking herbs that had been added to the dish started to spread throughout the apartment

"Nothing like a good steak if I do say so myself right boy?" Caleb glance towards Fenrir who's eyes were focused on the stove with his tongue out. "Forget I even asked."

Shortly after the two sat at the kitchen table inhaling the tinder meat with relish. It didn't take long for the two to finish the meal before finding their way unto the old ratty couch in the living room.

“Another day another couple pennies in our pockets  right boy?”

Caleb scratched Fen’s ear half heartedly as the two cuddled up on the couch to decompress from the day.

“A few more extra shifts and we’ll finally be able to move out of the shit apartment and find someplace better. I’ll find someplace next to a dog park too so you’ll have all the space to roam to your hearts content, maybe you’ll make a few friends. Bet you’d like that huh boy.” Fenrir rolled his eyes at Caleb before pawing at the remote on the table.

“Alright I’ll shut up and let you enjoy your show. Still don’t get why you like it so much.” He picked up the remote and flipped on the TV to Fenrir's favorite show, ‘The Great British Bake Off’, before settling into comfortable silence. He kept his eyes open for as long as he could manage but in the end he succumbed to the embrace of slumber.

Caleb opened his eyes to a black room. The Tv was off and clearly the sun had already set. He screwed up his face in annoyance when he realized he’d unfortunately missed his evening shift but didn't let it bother him to much. The fact that he was out of it for so long could only mean that he really needed the sleep. What confused him though was that Fen wasn't curled up on the couch with him. Looking around the living room his eyes settled on the now closed window. Since it had been open the last time he was awake it could only mean that Fenrir had once again accidently hit the wedge that kept the window open when he most likely climbed out the window to do his business or something.

Suppressing a groan as he stretched he quickly hobbled towards the bathroom as quickly as he could before sitting upon his throne. The steak clearly wasn’t agreeing with him anymore and was fighting a war with his stomach that he was sadly losing. He spent quite some time in the bathroom before finally emerging a few pounds lighter.

He looked around the apartment trying to think of something to do now that his schedule was cleared for night before settling on getting some laundry done; he did have a couple weeks worth of laundry that needed his attention afterall. He made his way to his bedroom where he started sorting out his clothes into different piles, the old washing machine that came with the place couldn’t really handle large loads.

The sounds of something rattling made its way to his ears and he stopped to make sure he was hearing correctly. There was a moment of silence before he heard the rattling once again. Thankfully it was a familiar sound which allowed him to let go of the breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding. He sighed in annoyance before making his way towards the living room.

He didn’t bother to turn on the light and made his way towards the window before yanking it open.

“You know Fen, if your going to use the window to go outside the least you could do is not knock out the damn wedge that keeps it open on your way ou-”

His words were cut off when a fist hit him square in the nose with enough force to make him see stars instantly. He was out of it for a few seconds but that was more than enough time for his assailant to climb through the window and sock him in the face a second time. This time Caleb just flopped unto the ground like a marionette who’s strings had been cut, barely conscious of what was happening around him.

A second assailant made their way through the window before speaking to his companion.

“I thought you said the place would be clear!”

“Clearly I was wrong but it doesn’t really matter just tie him up and throw him in a corner or something we gotta hurry up and get out of here.”

“Damn it man there wasn’t supposed to be witnesses.” The second assailant continued to grumble under his breath as he yanked the cord from the pants that Caleb was wearing and quickly tied his arms behind his back before propping him up in the corner next to the window. Once he was finished, he joined his buddy in scouring the house for anything valuable.

Caleb was fading in and out of consciousness and the ringing in his head wasn’t helping much. He was frustrated at himself at how careless he had gotten, he knew what kind of neighborhood he lived in after all, yet he let himself get too comfortable. Thankfully he didn’t have much cash on hand, he usually deposited it straight onto his bank account when ever payday rolled around, and he didn’t own most of the appliances anyway. As long as he kept his head down and let the robbers take what they wanted he wouldn’t have too much to worry about.

He kept his head down listening as the unwelcomed men ransacked the place, hoping  that once they realized there wasn’t much to take that they wouldn’t take their anger out on him. A sudden noise near the window drew his attention and his heart dropped when he saw Fenrir’s face poking through the window, his nose twitching as he noticed the scent of the home invaders. He hoped through the window before making his way towards Caleb rubbing his head against Caleb and licking the blood that had covered Caleb's face from his broken nose.

“Its good to see you're okay boy but you need to go, just head back outside and wait till they leave okay boy? Please you have to go!” Caleb whispered into Fenrir’s ear but the stubborn dog refused to leave his owner. He walked around Caleb before sitting in front of him.

“Please Fen you need to go! I’ll be okay, but if they see you they might do something so you need to go please Fen!” Still Fenrir refused to budge and Caleb could only sit there quietly. He didn’t want to admit it but Fenrir being there helped to calm him down, and he only hoped that things wouldn’t get any worse than they already were.

He didn’t have to wait too long though as a few minutes later he heard cursing before the sounds of heavy boots against wooden floor made there way back towards the living room. Just like he assumed both assailants still had their faces covered but it didn’t take a genius to see that they weren’t too happy with their haul. Both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they turned towards Caleb and noticed the rather large inconspicuous dog sitting in his lap staring back at them with teeth bared. Silence descended on the room as everything seemed to freeze for a few seconds before all hell broke lose.

“The Hell! Where the fuck did that thing come from!”

“Shit forgot about the damn dog.”

“You knew there was a dog? You know I hate dogs!”

The two started shouting at each other and Fenrir didn’t seem to appreciate it He stood over the still tied up Caleb and barked at the two clowns. Caleb’s voices joined the cacophony of noise as he tried to stop Fenrir from antagonizing the robbers further but all that seemed to do was edge Fenrir on.

“Shit we gotta go now, we already made too much noise. Someone’s bound to have called the cops by now.” The first robber brushed off his companion before striding towards the still open window but as soon as he got within range Fenrir pounced on him and latched onto his calf. A roar of pain was all that the robber manage to get out before Fenrir brough him to his knees. A short scuffle ensued between the two as they rolled around on the ground before Fenrir received several well placed blows to the head that made him yelp in pain.

“Fucking mutt!” The robber unsteadily stood to his feet and kicked the now limp Fenrir in his stomach, another yelp of pain was the only indicator that Fenrir was still awake. All this time Caleb had been shouting and screaming but no one was paying attention to him. Yet the sight of a limp Fenrir seemed to light a fire under him and he kept screaming hoping that someone would barge into his apartment, scaring off the two assailants before they could do anymore damage.

“Bro your mask!” The second assailant rushed towards the first to help him stand only to notice that his face covering had been removed at some point during the scuffle. Caleb looked on as he locked eyes with the now uncovered robber and knew that things had only gotten worse.

“Fuck! Things weren’t supposed to go this poorly but fuck it. I’m pissed and we never leave witnesses behind.” The first robber pulled out something from his waist and pointed it at Caleb. Several loud bangs sounded before both assailants hopped through the window, knocking out the wedge as they went.

Several second passed before the pain hit Caleb and he knew he’d been shot, It was getting harder to breath and he could feel as blood, his blood drenched his clothes. He kept gulping in air in an attempt to breath but it was getting harder and harder to breath. He quickly swiveled his head around only to notice that he wasn’t the only one who had been shot. Slumped against the wall the crumpled figure of Fenrir lay, his once pristine coat now blemished with the red blood that seemed unended as it poured out of the holes on his side.

“No no no. Fen its okay boy its going to be okay.” Caleb madly wiggled his way towards his companion, every movement sending pangs of pain through him but he fought through it till he was laying next to Fenrir face to face.  He wasn’t sure it had been his frantic wiggling or if the robber just hadn’t tied him to tightly, but his hands finally manage to come undone and he used his trembling hands to pull Fenrir into him. He stared into Fenrir trembling emerald eyes and the fear in them almost broke him.

“Hey its okay, I’m here with you okay? Remember we’ve got each others back okay. It’ll be okay I’m here for you boy, I’m right here.” Caleb coughed and almost choked on the blood as it rumbled up his throat, but he kept his eyes locked with Fenrir. Slowly he watched as Fenrir’s emerald eyes that always seemed to sparkly slowly lost their shine, the short shallow breaths that had kept Fenrir alive become shallower and the time between each one growly longer and longer until they came no more. Tears made their way to Caleb’s face as he watched his friend fade away. Only when Fenrir took his last breath did Caleb realize how cold he felt. At some point in time the pain had faded away but the cold, this overwhelming cold seemed to over take him, but he didn’t mind. He had made a promise all those years ago to live for Fenrir’s sake and with him gone there wasn’t a reason to hold on anymore. Caleb toke one last look at his fallen friend and companion and prayed that if he managed to have a next life that they’d find each other again, before closing his eyes for the last time.

***

The first thing that Caleb noticed was the warmth. The last thing he could remember was the all consuming cold so the sudden warmth was concerning. Had he been brought back? Did the paramedics arrive in time to save him? If so maybe they managed to help Fenrir as well. Though he doubted it. He waited and waited but nothing seemed to change. Was he in a coma? Hopefully not, he didn’t have the money to pay for that kind of medical bill. Al sorts of thoughts kept bouncing around in his mind, yet as time passed with nothing but darkness and the now all consuming warmth Caleb stopped worry about everything. What ever happened would happen. Besides this warmth was so nice he didn’t really want to leave it anyway.

Caleb silently lay in the darkness his consciousness seeming to fade form time to time but he wasn’t to bothered by it. What ever happened would happen. From time to time he would hear some sounds that he couldn’t really understand, at one point he thought he’d even heard singing but it all seemed to fade away in the warmth. He was happy and content.

That all changed when his darkness was disturbed by a sudden light. It was jarring and he didn’t want to go to it, yet it was as if he had no control over it. The light was getting closer and closer and the warmth was fading away. Then the pain came. It felt like he was being crushed in a vice and no mater how he tried he couldn’t do anything but go with the flow. Finally the pain of being crushed stopped but that was only the start of new torture. It was too bright, his skin felt raw he couldn’t do anything but flail around and scream in protest of the unjust treatment he was experiencing.

Finally the brightness seemed to fade and as his eyes adjusted the first thing he noticed with the large face that seemed to be inspecting him. He didn’t get much of a chance to gather his bearings though as he was quickly covered in something that felt cool against his skin before he was handed over to another giant and then another before finally being handed over to another who’s smiling face seemed to occupy all of his limited attention span. He felt a warmth that he craved and threw everything that was confusing him to the back of his mind and focused solely on the warmth that he craved. Slowly his consciousness once more faded away but only one though kept fighting to be heard in his mind. Why where the giant people wearing that odd metal plate on their heads?