Prologue: Death is the Beginning
Pain. That was the only thing registering through her mind as she let out another prolonged, agonizing scream as she continued onward with all her might. Sweat dripped down her alabaster skin, which was slightly mottled from her stress, and her delicate fingers nearly crushed the hand that was grasping her right hand. She paid no attention to the slight wince from her right as she screamed again, tears almost flowing down her cheeks as she gave one more goddamn agonizing push!
"Kushina-sama, Kushina-sama. You're done Kushina-sama! Look at him, a wonderful son. Your son!" said the medic-nin ecstatically as the woman with hair the color of blood slumped down, as if all of her bones had melted, on her sweat-soaked bed, finally releasing crushed fingers.
"My son," she whispered, her green eyes shining with an unknown emotion as she heard the piercing wail of a newborn infant. The umbilical cord was quickly cut as the babe was quickly washed and wrapped in a fluffy blue blanket, handed with immense tenderness to his new mother.
Green eyes, almond-shaped and piercing, studied the face of her son, who mewled pitifully and curled his tiny little perfect fingers. He had the darker skin of his father with the decidedly sharp features that proudly proclaimed his mixed heritage. The slight fuzz of hair that blanketed his small fragile head was the color of gold, soft to touch.
She smiled tenderly as a pale finger gently brushed over chubby soft cheeks. Her heart seemed to overflow with this newfound creature in her arms, this boy who shared her blood and would always, from this day onward, hold a piece of her heart in his tiny little body.
"He's beautiful," murmured a voice next to her. A young man, whose amber eyes glowed with love as his own finger, larger and slightly littered with callouses, grasped the babe's tender fist. His left hand was currently at his side, looking slightly crooked from where his friend had crushed in fingers. His sand-colored hair fell over his eyes, shadowing half his face, but the new mother smiled sweetly at the exchange between her friend and her son.
"You only saw that because he'd your godson, Remus," she teased as the new mother let her son grasp on of her slender fingers.
"Let me see," said another, more feminine voice, as the man drew away and a woman, pleasant-looking and warm, cooed over the new infant in her sweet gentle voice. Her long chestnut hair, curtained over her own figure and the child as her mild chocolate colored eyes glowed with happiness.
"What will you name him?" asked the man as the darker woman carefully handed the newborn back to his mother. The scarlet-haired woman's face, which had until now held a measure of tenderness, suddenly hardened as she studied her baby closely, memories bombarding her of another child that had cooed, gurgled, and mewled just like her son.
Her golden haired child, as if sensing his mother's discomfort, gave a small wail to which his mother quickly rocked and shushed him, some semblance of her tenderness softening her face once again.
"His name will be…James. James Lawrence."
Both figures at her sides stiffened at the chosen name as the mother cradled her baby in her arms. After a few seconds of silence, the darker woman spoke with some semblance of desperation to her voice.
"Lily, you can't name your son after James! It's…it's…"
"Cruel," finished the man, his eyes blazing its eerie amber color as his face, lightly littered with self-inflicted scars and lines, "It is cruel to name this child after your husband. "
The red-haired woman gave a slight glare at the two figures, her mouth twisting into a slight scowl as she whispered fiercely, "I am his mother! I get to name him. And it is only fair that I honor James in some measure, even if he'll never know of this."
"You…you're going to keep this a secret from James?" whispered the dark woman just as fiercely, her eyes gleaming with shock as she gestured toward the newborn, "You will leave him as soon as our mission is complete and forget about your child?"
At these words, the striking woman in bed subdued, her face collapsing in distress as sudden tears started to make their way down her cheeks. "What can I do Amelia!" wailed the woman as she started to shake slightly, her shoulders shuddered, "This…this was a mistake. I was stupid, drunk, and miserable after a fight. I didn't plan to be a part of his life!"
The man opened his mouth to speak, his face a mask of rage, until the scarlet-haired woman continued, "But…but…looking at him now. I can't leave him. This is my son, my baby, and my precious little boy. I love him so much. I can't leave him."
The woman began to sob as her friends looked on to her small figure with pity. But the man's anger was appeased as the furrows in her brow smoothened. At least, she loved her son. At least she had enough semblances to know that this boy, mistake that he was, was her son and she was his mother.
It was then that the room's door burst open and a man sped in. "My son! I have a son. Let me see him!" whispered the man reverently, his shining cerulean eyes fixated on the blue bundle in the woman's arms, carefully pretending not to notice her wiping away her tears.
The mother smiled as she gently placed the bundle into the new father's arms. The man, his tanned face bursting into ecstatic joy, his golden hair surrounding his bright face like a halo, as he laughed and cradled the boy reverently to his breast.
"Minato-kun," whispered the woman in bed, her voice still a little stuffy from her sobs from before, "You name him. You've been waiting so long for him haven't you?"
The bright man, identified as Minato, smiled sweetly as he looked carefully at the tiny squirming bundle in his arms, taking note of the similarity between himself and his newborn son.
"Naruto," said Minato finally, his smile lighting up the room like a beacon, "His name will be Naruto."
"The ramen topping?" questioned the darker woman, her face slightly laughing as she giggled. The red-haired woman hissed as she heard the translation. "You are not naming my son after that godforsaken food!"she whispered fiercely.
"Ah ha ha," laughed Minato as he gave his finger to the newly named Naruto to grip in his tiny fists, "No, no, my dear Kushina-chan. Naruto, in hiragana, means maelstrom. Also, it's the main character in Jiraya-sensei's book!"
"Oh dear God, please don't tell me it's from those perverted orange pieces of filth," groaned the red-haired lady as she buried her face into her petite pale hands.
"No my dear," said another voice as the former Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen came into the room, his lined face brimming with a happy smile as the newborn was excitedly placed into his arms, "Jiraya wrote an epic once. A story about a hero."
"Naruto was the name of the hero who, against all odds, became the greatest ninja of all time," answered Minato, scratching the back of his golden head in sheepish amusement, "I want my son to be like that. Courageous, determined, gutsy-"
"Our son Minato," said the red-haired woman softly, so quietly that no one really heard except the golden-haired man, everyone else preoccupied with cooing at the infant in the elderly ex-Hokage's arms, "He's my son too. We're both going to raise him."
Minato gazed at the mother of his firstborn child, his sheepish childish face fading as he sat down at the edge of her bed and grasped her pale hand, his face morphing into a gentle smile.
"Kushina," he whispered, as he stroked the back of her hand, "Naruto wasn't expected. But I'm glad he's here today. I'm glad you came to Konohagakure and I'm glad I met you. I love you just as much as I love my son. You are my family now."
The scarlet-haired woman again started to sob, tears pouring down her pale cheeks like crystal jewels. Minato smiled tenderly as he embraced the woman gently, cradling her and whispering words into her ear as she grasped at his back with desperate hands.
The darker woman, Amelia, gazed at her friend and gave a small smile. She was happy that her friend was happy…but problems would only increase with what she saw here. She bit her lip in worry and turned to her male companion, who shared the worried look with her. His amber eyes had also seen the exchange and while he, too, was happy for her happiness…he could only imagine the heartbreak in store.
'HOKAGE-SAMA!" came a voice down the hall, laced with panic and fear, as a nondescript chunin, his face and clothes splattered with blood and dust, came hurtling into the room, his eyes wide with horror, "HOKAGE-SAMA…IT'S…IT'S THE KYUUBI!"
Instantly the warm atmosphere vanished as each of the occupants gazed at the chunin in shock. Sarutobi was the one who recovered first, quickly handing Naruto back to his mother.
"Minato, we knew that the Kyuubi was coming."
"It's to early!" exclaimed Minato, "We're only three-quarters of the way done. We have the method to seal the Kyuubi, but no container. We can't prepare someone's chakra system for that amount of stress in so short a time. Kurosawa! How far is the Kyuubi from the gates?"
"Only an hour or two away Hokage-sama. We are trying to keep it back as much as we can, but many shinobi have already been lost!"
"Perhaps we can try to help," exclaimed Amelia as she whipped out what looked like a stick from her pocket, her eyes flashing with determination, but Hiruzen shook his head.
"The Kyuubi cannot be affected by magic of any kind. No miko or monk can subdue a demonic creature of that magnitude. The only way to get rid of the demon is to seal it away. Only a human can withstand such stress, but forcing such large amounts of poisonous demonic chakra into a man with fully developed chakra coils will most likely kill him and release the beast again."
Minato's heart sank slowly as he was suddenly hit with a brilliant, horrible, idea. Looking at his newborn son sleeping soundly in his mother's arms, the Yondaime murmured softly, "What about a child that has yet to develop his chakra coils."
"Minato! Children start developing their coils the day after they're born! No child is fit enough to handle this type of burden!"
Minato gave an agonizing sigh as he gently took his son from his bewildered mother's arms, "What of a child that was born today."
Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock as the mother shrieked, "Minato! NO NO NO, NOT MY BABY!"
Minato turned and gave the mother of his child, perhaps the only woman he'd live to admire and even perhaps love, the most agonizing, heart-wrenching look she'd ever seen.
"Kushina-chan…Lily-chan," he whispered softly as he placed his forehead against the scarlet-haired woman's, his voice breaking with choked tears as he embraced her and his son, his family, "This is my duty. This is his duty. Naruto will be a hero. He'll save Konoha."
"Minato!" sobbed Kushina…Lily, "Please. He might die! You'll die! No, no, no, there must be some other way. Please Minato, please please. I cannot watch my family die. I love you, I love our son, please don't do this!"
Minato shook with his own grief as he placed gentle kisses on the woman in front of him. One on her forehead, one on each cheek, and finally a lingering kiss on her lips. Bittersweet and tasting of tears, he whispered in her ear, "I love you, my beautiful magic-user. And I love the precious son you've given to me. And it is because I love you that I am brave enough to make this sacrifice."
With one last embrace, the Yondaime drew away from his wife and rushed out the door, taking his son with him. Sarutobi and Kurosawa quickly followed in his footsteps as the last three inhabitants felt the thundering footsteps of the demon grow closer and closer.
"No…" whispered Lily as she tried to get out of bed, her body hopelessly weak, but she managed to get on her feet and try to follow after her son and her…love. When she finally acknowledged that she loved him, he had to leave her.
"Lily, no, you're too weak!"
The red-haired woman paid no attention as she painfully tried to run down the two flights of steps, her companions rushing behind her, tears obscuring her vision.
"Naruto, Minato! No, no, no, no!" she shrieked as she ran, forcing her battered, powerless body to move faster as she just reached the main entrance and heard the mighty terrifying roar of the Kyuubi. She could hear the screams of hundreds as they were slaughtered, heard the shinobi yell the words, "THE HOKAGE! MAKE WAY FOR THE HOKAGE!"
It was just then that she knew what was going to happen. She knew that her lover and her son were going to die. And it was just then her body collapsed, though she struggled to crawl toward the door, let her get one last glimpse before her cherished ones were taken.
"NARUTO," she screamed, "MINATO"
Her friends took her arms and hoisted her to her feet and tried to console her with meaningless words. She fought their strong arms as she tried as hard as she could to go outside and see her son. Let her see them before they died.
She heard another roar that shook her frail body to the bone. She could only imagine the gaping jaws of the fox demon ready to devour a man she'd come to love so much and the child that she'd only held for several minutes.
"Please, please, let me see them," she pleaded to any god up in the heavens, "My baby, my love, please please just one final look!"
Then the hospital was crushed with one swing of a mighty tail the color of blood and the rubble of bricks, cement and concrete rained down on the three. One last piercing scream of despair ringing out before it was silenced.
With a resounding pop, three dirty magic-users found themselves in a quiet green backyard with a thump.
"Lily, oh god, Lily!" yelled James Potter in horror as he ran over to his pale, staggering wife who was covered in dust and had a jagged wound on the side of her head.
Remus Lupin and Amelia Bones said nothing as they gently settled Lily into on the various garden chairs, summoning ice water and a warm washcloth.
"Lily, Lily-flower!" said James in his shaky voice as he grasped her in a resounding hug, embracing his wife tightly as if he'd never let her go, "What happened? Are you all right?"
Lily Potter made no move, her face stuck in bewilderment, her body powerless as she refused to respond to her husband's embrace. It was then that her son, little one-year-old Harry toddled over, grasping firmly the hand of his godfather, who was giving both James and Lily equally worried looks, and gazed with wide eyes at his mother.
"Ma?' he questioned innocently, unable to form the full word "mother," and pulled at the bottom of her bedraggled hospital gown, "Ma!"
Lily, with her confused green eyes, stared at the tiny figure of her one-year-old child and remembered another babe. Mewling and gurgling. Cradled in her arms with his father kissing her on the forehead.
"Kushina…I'm glad I met you…I love you, my dear Kushina."
Tears brimmed her emerald orbs and she took Harry into her eyes, holding him close to her heart, and started to sob.
==
It had been three weeks since Lily had come back from that godforsaken ninja land and she'd still yet to go back to the cheerful, vibrant woman James called his wife.
She still did the housework by hand, still did all the errands, and tended to Harry the same way she had since she'd been assigned that stupid mission from the Department of International Magical Communication and Relations. But her eyes remained full of pain, especially whenever she looked at their son.
James glanced again at worry as Lily, who seemed to be mechanically stirring at the soup on the stove, her emerald colored eyes seemingly gazing into nothing.
For the hundredth time, he cursed Fudge and his stupidity in trying to gain an alliance with those shinobi. They were nothing but barbarians who didn't even use wands and had obviously hurt his wife in some way.
Remus and Amelia refused to give him even the slightest information and for days, James had had to deal with his wife waking up flailing and screaming, tears dripping down her cheeks as she cried out in that foreign damnable language.
"Da," shrieked Harry from his playpen, jarring James out of his thoughts as he rattled the plastic bars of his prison, giggling as his bottle green eyes glittered, making his father unable to do anything but smile.
"My little Maurader is getting to be such a trouble maker, aren't you" said James as he lifted his son and rubbed his much bigger nose against the infant's tiny one, making Harry giggle all the more.
Suddenly, a timid gentle hand fell upon his shoulder and James turned, seeing Lily give him a small smile. Taking Harry gently into her arms, throwing her son into a larger fit of giggles as he tugged at her scarlet hair, Lily grasped at his hand and said quietly, "He's just like his father, isn't he?"
James grinned, half because her comment was true and half because this was the first time since she'd come back that Lily had smiled, and replied, "We can only hope he becomes as intelligent as his mother."
Lily smiled again as she leaned into her husbands arms, cradling her child close to her. Inside her mind, however, was still the ever-swirling turmoil of guilt and shame. The agony of losing Naruto and Minato was still fresh and gaping within her heart.
Minato had been a man whom she'd gradually started to fall in love with. Naruto had been her baby, albeit for a short time, but her mother's love had been strong enough to deal her heart a crushing blow.
It hurt. She still could not go to sleep very often for fear of seeing her baby snatched from her arms over and over again, feel Minato's lips on her own, his soft voice whispering 'I love you' into her ear.
She couldn't bear to go back to Konoha and face her loved ones' cold, lifeless bodies.
One tall and stately, but cold with death and the other tiny, little fingers forever curled up, cold and lifeless. She couldn't bear and for that she berated herself day and night. She was a coward. She should go back once just to see if there was a possibility. Perhaps her son was alive!
But logic pointed to the opposite and her heart ached too much for this burden
As her swelling stomach, which she'd hidden under her robes, and swelled down and her glands heavy with nourishment that should have been for her baby boy, she wept until she fell asleep. For three long weeks the cycle continued.
Tears dripped from her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away before James would notice. Was she selfish, she contemplated, to continue living on when the man she loved and her baby boy, not even a few hours old, were cold and lifeless, buried five feet under?
Looking at James, his tousled ebony hair and warm hazel eyes, Lily felt the immense guilt pile over again. She loved James. She really did. He was her first real boyfriend and they'd married immediately out of Hogwarts, so she'd never questioned her undeniable affection for the mischievous man. And she adored her Harry so very much.
She'd met Minato under less the pleasant circumstances. It's been only a few weeks into her mission; she'd had a less than nice talk with James over the Floo and had gone to a bar to smolder over some sake. He'd merely seen an acquaintance and the two had started to talk. One bottle became four and Lily had found herself pregnant only six months after she'd given birth to Harry.
She'd been made a new identity. Their whole relationship carefully acted out to the village. She'd even married him under Konoha law so her son would have legitimate citizenship. But even through her anxiety, worry, anger, and guilt, Minato had stuck by her, taking responsibility, enduring her torrents of mood swings and insults.
And somewhere along those nine brutal months of pregnancy and acting, Lily had almost forgotten that she wasn't Uzumaki Kushina. She couldn't fall in love with this handsome, kind, intelligent, and utterly thoughtful man. That someday, they would have to be torn apart and she'd have to go back to James, who suddenly seemed far far away. And that was why she couldn't respond to his declarations of love until it was far too late.
She loved James, but she had adored Minato. She loved Harry, but her heart was equally with Naruto. Lily smiled sadly as she remember that brief period of time she had with her son.
"James," she chided herself; she had named her son after her husband as a sort of penance for her sins, yet now she regret it and wished for all the world that she'd just gone along with Minato's choice.
It was too late now. The man she loved and her beautiful baby boy were dead. Yet she had another man she loved and another baby she adored here with her. How utterly selfish and pathetic of her.
Her thoughts were never finished that night as she felt the wards around the house collapse in seconds. She gasped as she held her son close.
James's face grew white as he took a quick look outside the window and cursed. "Lily, LILY! He's here. Go upstairs. I'll hold him off."
"No…nonono. Not again. I will not lose my family again! Not again, not again!"
"James, James, come with me. You have to come with us!"
"Lily, I said go! GO NOW!"
"James, please, no!"
"GO!"
With a sob, Lily ran upstairs, grasping her son to her chest. She could hear James yelling, the door exploding, and a merciless, cruel laugh as she felt a shiver trail down her spine and the sound of something thumping to the floor. Lifeless…dead.
"James…JAMES! Nononono not James, please not James, notJamesnotJames.."
Lily ran into the nursery and locked the door, placing every bit of furniture in front of it before placing her son in his crib. She began to sob as she heard the deliberate footsteps coming up the stairs, slowly, mocking her stupidity and desperation.
"Harry," she cried as she smoothened her son's unruly black locks, so much like his father's, and stared into his innocent emerald eyes, "Honey, it's going to be alright. I won't let him hurt you, my baby…my Harry."
With a crash, the door to the nursery was smashed open and in walked in a man whom Lily both loathed and feared with all her being.
"Give me the boy, woman and perhaps I shall spare you."
Lily turned, tears falling from her cheeks as she held her hands up, shielding her son from this menace, this inhumane monster that was going to take the last bit of family she had.
"No, never! You will not touch my son!"
The figure in the black cloak chuckled, his voice reedy and hissing with malevolence. His crimson eyes full of malice and utter insanity. Here was not a man. Here was a demon.
"How brave, how loyal, sweet filthy little Mudblood scum. Now step aside, foolish girl, step aside!"
Desperation started to kick in as Lily wept, but her stance never faltered. If her death would somehow give her son even a chance of survival, than so be it. For her baby, her son…
"Please, not Harry. Not Harry. You cannot have Harry!"
"Foolish little girl. He will only join you in a matter of seconds. But no matter, Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light shot toward her like a snake with its fangs extended. Slamming into her like an iron fist to the gut, Lily could feel her life draining, the sound of cold, cruel laughter and an infant's screams suddenly distant in her ears. Seconds seemed like hours as she collapsed onto the floor. Suddenly the world was cold, so cold, so dark. Why was it so dark?
She saw a light. A bright warm light. It was so hard to stay where she was. So easy to step towards that beautiful, warm, cheerful light, beckoning to her. And Lily was so very tired.
She saw not a dark haired man, but a warrior with hair the color of gold standing in the light, his gentle face smiling as he embraced her within his arms.
"Kushina, my dear, sweet, beautiful Kushina. You've been so strong, so brave, but now you can rest, my Kushina."
Lily…Kushina smiled and buried herself into this warm, safe, embrace. Her struggle was over. Her guilt, her shame, her worry melted away in this comforting light, in this single man whom in such a short time, she'd manage to fall in love with so much.
"Minato, my Minato. It's good to see you again, my love."
Lily Potter died on October 31st with a gentle smile on her face, a mystery to those who attended her funeral. Why would a woman who was about to be killed die with such an expression of happiness on her face? But as the masses of black quickly vacated the Potter grave, two figures remained.
Remus Lupin knelt down and laid a single white lily on the white marble tombstone. Amelia Bones, though her eyes rimmed red and her face slightly blotchy, a mask of controlled sorrow. Remus seemed gaunt now as he started to weep, heaving sobs that shook his brittle frame. He wept for his best friends. He wept for his godson. He wept because the happy times in his life seemed to be over and only a long, dark, and lonely road seemed to be ahead.
Amelia did not cry. Her eyes were watery and slightly red and her lip trembled, but no tear fell down her olive cheeks as she bent down and traced her best friend's name, too soon inscribed coldly into harsh stone.
"I only hope you have found Minato," she whispered, "I only hope you are happy, wherever you are…"
Suddenly, Amelia felt a warm breeze, odd in the chilly November air, caress her cheek as if her friend had put her hand on her cheek and smiled that devastatingly bright smile of hers again.
Without words, Amelia placed her arms around the still sobbing and shaking Remus and rocked him gently in her arms. She herself still did not cry, much rather, she smiled slightly.
She knew her friend was happy. That was enough for her.
==
So since this is my first story, I'd be much obliged if reviews are given on how my writing is. As you can probably tell, this will be a Harry Potter/Naruto crossover where indeed Naruto and Harry are half-siblings.
To make something straight, Harry was born July 31st. Lily got her commission to go to the Elemental Countries in January. She kept regular contact with James and 6-month old Harry through Floo, but got pregnant around February. Thus, nine months later, Naruto is born! Close-set pregnancies rarely happen, but this scenario, at least I have been assured, is quite plausible.
So Harry is 15 months older than Naruto.
Reviews will be appreciated and constructive criticism would be nice.
NOLZA