Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Naruto, Disney or any of its affiliated properties. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I?
"The connection of our hearts…" : Speech (Bold for yelling ,Bijuu, or massive creatures)
'The connection of our hearts…' : Thoughts
Lord Adam's Castle, early evening…
Naruto and the girls were treated to a fine tour by Mrs Potts – the castle was a fine example of French bourgeois architecture, with fashion emphasized to the point that Naruto had to question the true functionality of the items in question (he had a double take when he saw the chandeliers in the ballrooms – the sheer amount of glass hanging overhead was basically a deathtrap waiting to happen). She took them to see the various parlors, the kitchen, the stables and the gardens before finally taking them back to her kitchen to feed the hungry waifs (she was generous to a fault and in her eyes, children forced to trudge through the forest for hours on end were veritably an inch away from death…Tinker Bell's 'rustic' fashion only solidified that conclusion in her mind).
"Oh, how selfish of me! I was so taken with the feeling of being your tour that I didn't notice that it was getting so late!" Mrs Potts said, patting her cheeks with a flustered expression as Ariel and Snow gave her a comforting pat on her back while Naruto and Tinker Bell snickered at the old woman's antics. In their short time together, they had quickly come to the understanding that she wore her heart on her sleeve, with nary a mean bone in her portly body. Combined with her peculiar accent, it took all Naruto and Tink had not to break down in a fit of deranged snickers each time the woman talked.
*Snrk* "Nevermind that Mrs Potts, we've definitely seen worse. You're just too enthusiastic at being nice is all…there's definitely worse things to be ya know…" Naruto said, waving off the apologies as the children smiled at the blushing woman as she scurried behind the kitchen table. Not too long after, the positively divine scent of mushroom and venison soup suffused the room and the children were now fighting a whole different kind of impulse!
"Oh man, I haven't had a sniff of a more appetizing meal in my life! Maybe simply focusing on simple foraging and survival off the land isn't all there is to life~…" Naruto said, wiping a faint line of drool from his lips while absentmindedly doing the same for Tink (who had a Niagara falls situation with her drool). Thankfully, Ariel and Snow (being raised as princesses with access to the finest cuisine their kingdoms could offer) were more composed and were enjoying the sight of their companions squirm in impatience.
"Now, now darling, you simply must keep yourself together – surely with all your adventures, a simple dinner shouldn't have you this excited right?" Snow said, sauntering over to Naruto before tapping his nose and giggling coquettishly (off to the side, Ariel gave Tink a friendly shove, knocking her out of her daze). Scoffing at Snow, Naruto only gave her a poke in her side (enjoying her squeak of surprise) and looked towards Mrs Pott, who was quickly approaching the group with a big pot of soup and a plate of barley bread. She had a tag-a-long this time though, as the girls noticed a little boy sneaking looks at them behind his mother's dress.
"Here's the food! I hope you've mustered up an appetite because I sure brought all the food you could ever want – and I've also brought along a new friend for all of you. Chip, don't be shy, introduce yourself!" Mrs Potts said, sighing and giving a nudge to her son(she loved the boy to death but his shy attitude really made meeting new people a pain – that's why she took extra pains to introduce him to any kids she met).
"Yeah, hey there kiddo! Quit hidin' behind the skirts and come say hello! Ya know, the first step to being a man is to have some courage!" Naruto said, pounding his chest a few times as the girls next to him all smiled and watched the cute little boy gather the courage to take a deep breath and introduce himself.
"H-hello there, m-my name's Chip! N-nice to meet you!" Chip said stammering a little before yelping when Naruto tousled his hair as the girls grabbed him before playing with his cheeks, ignoring how the flabbergasted kid waved his arms crazily.
"Aw, looks like they like you Chip! Maybe you can make some friends now and stop trying to follow Lord Adam around!" Mrs Potts said, happily divvying up the soup and distributing the bread as the group started to eat…
…or at least they were, if the kitchen door wasn't pushed open forcefully, shocking the people in the room.
"Mrs Potts! Stop what you're doing! Call Fifi and Cogsworth! LUMIERE! Stop whatever you're doing and get over here!" Adam said, walking into the room while carrying a deer on his shoulders that he dumped onto the table, knocking the food around. Mrs Potts jumped to attention, quickly grabbing her son and scurrying away to do her master's bidding and the girls quickly hid behind Naruto, who looked unamused at the arrogant behavior of the castle's lord.
"Hey hey there tough guy, how's about you don't throw a freakin' corpse on a table while people were eating?!"Naruto said, crossing his arms as he looked at Adam, who had a dumbfounded expression at the perceived gall of this 'peasant' before he, very crossly, tried to slap him.
Now, bear in mind, Lord Adam was a handsome young man who was a hotblooded youth (he was sixteen years old currently,and in the prime of his life). Having yet to meet anything to curb his self absorbed nature and arrogance, Adam's first retort was to slap the impertinent brat before him.
"Foolish boy! Do you know whom you have the honor of addressing? I am the master of this household and a member of nobility!" Adam said, his hand swinging towards Naruto.
Now, what one would expect from this altercation would be shocked yells (which were provided by Ariel and Snow) or maybe an angry response (which Tink was all too ready to ready to give, judging by how she was rolling up her non-existent sleeves to give Adam a good walloping) but what everyone didn't hear was the sound of a meaty smack of flesh on flesh – Naruto had caught Adam hand mid swing, no looking even unimpressed with this up jumped excuse of a noble before him.
"Okay – while you may be a noble and all that but doesn't that mean that you should be more refined than us, the so called unwashed masses?" Naruto drawled out as he watched Adam struggle to free his hand from Naruto's firm grip. By now, Fifi, Lumiere, Cogworth, Mrs Potts and Chip had arrived in the room and couldn't believe their eyes! They all respected and loved their lord but they knew better than to try and speak up against him – now seeing the new arrival rebel so openly had them shaking in their shoes! What would Adam do? Have them drawn and quartered? Thrown in the dungeons…perhaps executed (okay, that last part was a little exaggerated but French nobility were nothing if not that in this time period)?!
However, their lord's response surprised everyone (yes, including Naruto)…
"Hmmm…that's a firm grip you've got there boy. Do you train your body perchance?" Adam said, his eyes sharpening as he looked over Naruto's body. While the peasant before him was rebellious to a fault, his keen gaze caught the tell-tale signs of a finely tuned set of muscles – perfectly balanced between strength and speed. The boy also seemed to be close to him in age and that made him perfect to act as his squire, training dummy/sandbag and hunting partner (Lumiere was a fop through and through and he was getting tired of him to be honest).
"Errr…yeah, I do. You have to be strong if you want to keep your precious people safe after all!" Naruto said, releasing his hand before the girls came closer to him and snuggled closer to him. Adam had to raise an eyebrow when the blonde girl stuck her tongue out at him but admired the strength of their family bonds (remember, to the casual onlooker, Naruto and his companions looked like adopted siblings).
"Heh, how quaint. Tell me boy, how did you come to be here, sharing a meal with my servants?" Adam asked as Naruto closed his eyes in silent exasperation.
"Hey! His name's not boy, it's Naruto! Get your hoity toity attitude fixed up and maybe my friend here won't mess you up!" Tinker Bell said, waving her tiny fist at Adam (to the amused expressions of everyone in the room).
"Yeah, that's a long story there fella. You sure you've got the time for that? Looks like your quite the busy guy?" Naruto said, only to watch Adam wave off his concerns before gesturing to his study.
"Nonsense. I alone can judge what a 'waste' of my time is. Now come with me – your friends can come as well. What do say you tell me your grand tale over a proper meal in my study?" Adam said, guiding the wayward group to his room. There, Naruto recounted a doctored version of his adventure to the inhabitants of the castle.
And so, Naruto and his group secured a home in the castle of Lord Adam, at least for the next few months – after all, winter was coming and with said winter would bring with a certain woman. A woman would cast a spell so powerful that it would thicken the plot and unknowingly promulgate the agenda of the Grimm Lords…
And that was chapter 72! I wanted to make a cosy, homely chapter this time (it's been a while since we've had one of those) to set the tone of the budding friendship between Naruto and Adam before he gets cursed into becoming a Beast. But what if I told you that there wouldn't be just one Beast in this story? Curious? Stay tuned to find out how that works!
If you'd like to support me you can find me on Patreon on the 'search for creators' bar under DudeWithaMac (I only get free time on Sundays since money's extremely tight-details on Panacea chapter 14). Alternatively, you guys can follow this link:p#at#re#on.#com/DudeWithaMac (remove the hash tags). Reviews and comments are always welcome!