AN: I've had this idea bouncing around in my skull for a while now, so I ran the original past my pal Mr. AnimeKidd, and we tweaked things around. So now I present the first chapter of: Naruto - Bonds Anew.
One thing I will make clear now: I will not give Naruto more than five Sekirei. None of those five will come from Sahashi Minato's "flock". So no Musubi, Kusano, Matsu, Tsukiumi, Kazehana, Homura, or Kuruse (who apparently exists only in the game). If I took from them it would make my job too easy.
Also must note that this is a side project at this time, my main focus will still be on Master of His Fate.
Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or Sekirei
Chapter 01
A blonde man walked down a small street, wet from recent rainfall that cleared only a few minutes prior. He stood just under six feet in height, with the lithe movements of an athlete, but the body of a fighter. His spiky sunshine blonde hair caught what few rays were peaking through the clouds, and his tanned skin denoted a fair amount of time spent in the outdoors. His cerulean blue eyes held a spark of life rarely seen in this day, and just beneath them were three horizontal marks upon each cheek, reminiscent of whiskers. He wore a simple set of blue jeans with white shirt, gray sneakers and a burnt orange hooded jacket. Around his neck sat a strange green crystal on a leather strap. To finish his look he had an odd looking scroll attached to his belt at the right hip. Over his right shoulder hung a heavy-duty canvas duffel.
Uzumaki Naruto was looking for a place to stay. He had recently arrived in this city of Tokyo, and he had no actual plan in mind for his tenure. He was wandering, paying his way usually through doing various odd jobs for whomever he lived with at any time. He figured he could visit his original stomping grounds. Then he heard something he could not ignore: the sound of a woman crying.
Stopping in his tracks, he took a quick look around and recognized the area. He was in front of a western church, with an attached graveyard. Walking around to the entrance of the yard, Naruto spied a head of violet hair bent over in front of what could only be a new headstone. This was obviously the source of the sound, as there was no one else in the small cemetery that he could see.
He moved over the kneeling woman slowly, and noting her rain-slicked state he quickly removed his jacket, letting it fall over her shoulders. The woman's head snapped up to meet his gaze so fast he momentarily thought she might get whiplash. Raising his hands to show he no other motives, Naruto took a few steps back.
"Whomever this is, I doubt they would want you taking ill because of them. Use that to warm yourself, Ma'am. I'll wait by the entrance, if you would like some company on your way home when you're finished here." His voice was even, measured, and calm. It soothed the stare of the obviously distraught woman.
Nodding her head, the woman turned back to the grave-site with a muttered thanks. Naruto accepted it and moved himself back to the entrance, crossing his arms to retain some semblance of warmth for himself. He didn't know where he had come across this weakness for crying women, but damned if there weren't times he cursed it. In this case though, he could understand.
Naruto had not been born to this world, he woke here, in this very city, nearly six years ago. He had no idea how or why he was there, he just was. The last thing he could remember was his village burning, a madman terrorizing and destroying everything in sight. Then Naruto's beloved Hinata, a woman he had been about to celebrate an anniversary with that same day, threw herself in front of him, followed by an endless darkness. After that he had found himself covered in blood and dirt and filth, in an alley not far from his current location. The priest of this church had discovered Naruto rooting through his pantry looking for something to eat, and looking like the stereotyped homeless teen, just with the addition of blood on him.
Father Hideo, as the priest had been called, was an elderly man with a full white beard and tonsure. He dressed in the black robes of his calling, and made no excuses. He said he was a man of the Old Faith, from before modern idiocies. Naruto had no idea what he spoke of at that time, and it mattered little to him. As far as Naruto was concerned Father Hideo was awesome. The priest had taken him in, cleaned him up, fed him, then began teaching him when Naruto admitted he had no idea what was going on. They shared stories, Father Hideo told him of the world he found himself in, and Naruto spoke of his previous world.
The church doors opened slowly, the same priest from so long ago exiting, probably to tend the gravestones. Seeing the young blonde man his eyes lit up with a life that many would believe impossible in a man of his obviously advanced age. Making his way over to the younger man, the old priest raised his hand in both greeting and welcome.
"Father Hideo! It's a pleasure to see you again." Naruto's exclamation came out hushed, so as to not disturb the praying woman.
"Ah, Naruto. I see time has been kind to you. It does an old man good to see the young doing well." the old man paused a moment to glance where Naruto's gaze was resting. Speaking again, the Father's tone was low and kind, as he too did not wish to disturb the woman. "A tragedy, that. Young man, not much older than yourself, caught in an explosion during the testing of some new super-computer, or so we're told. His wife of only a year, and now his widow, Asama Miya, visits him monthly. Used to be daily, then weekly. Over the past year and a half she seems to be healing. How well though, only she truly knows."
Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto maintained his silence a few moments longer, before offering a full salute to the fallen laying within the yard. He had his own burdens to bear, but he could respect the trials of those buried here, and those they left behind.
"I have the money for the plot of land, Father," Naruto began only to stop at the slowly shaking head of the priest. Tilting his head in question, he waited.
"I set aside that plot years ago, when you first asked for it. Consider it one last gift from an old man, hm?" Father Hideo said, surprising the young man beside him, and for once the elderly priest enjoyed seeing someone gobsmacked.
"I-I don't know what to say, but thank you, Father." Naruto replied a few moments later in gratitude. He had no idea that the old man would do this. Naruto had merely wanted to plot to put up his own Memorial Stone, with all the names of those from his old world that gave their lives for their home. Names no one else would ever know or care about.
At this thought a tear escaped Naruto's eye, coursing it's solitary way down his cheek. He knew he was stuck here, in this world, but he hoped that by having that stone he could lay to rest some of his past. Now all he had to do was finish it. He would carve it personally, it would be meaningless if allowed another to do the work. Besides, despite the spoken languages being the same, from his world and this country, the written forms were apparently just different enough that he would have to do the work himself anyway. It would still be legible to anyone here, but it was otherwise an "ancient" form of the language. Thankfully he didn't have many names left to add.
Taking a quick look over at the woman, he saw she was standing and moving toward the Father and himself. 'Duh, of course she's coming this way, it's the only way in or out without jumping a fence.'
He could have kicked himself for forgetting that.
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While Naruto was getting reacquainted with the old Father, the woman returned to her prayers. However, she found it difficult to keep her thoughts on her deceased husband. The reason? The blonde man that had loaned her the jacket that now warmed her previously cold frame.
Asama Miya was not a woman given to flight of fancy. This young man's sudden appearance in her life should not have had this large of an impact. With that piece of information,the violet haired beauty understood what was happening. The Bond between Sekirei and Ashikabi was being formed.
It shouldn't be possible! Miya was Sekirei Zero-One, the Pillar, the strongest of the Sekirei, and their "Queen". There shouldn't exist a mortal man capable of being her Ashikabi, her true Destined Partner. She had thought that her marriage to Asama Takehito would be the closest thing she would get to the feeling of the Bond, and that marriage was purely a platonic love. Simple admiration, and appreciation. No physical aspect was involved between Takehito and herself, not like there would be with an Ashikabi.
Of course that proved to be a problem for Miya, because it would mean a betrayal of all she held dear with Takehito. She had never been physical with him, not even so much as a kiss on the cheek. The closest she could say they had come was sleeping in the same bed a few times, and even then they had stayed on their respective sides.
Now this young man had appeared, out of nowhere, while she was telling Takehito about the past month's happenings at Maison Izumo, the Inn she now ran in his memory. There wasn't anything really new going on, but she made it a point to visit, no matter the weather. But now... Now she was having a small moment of crisis.
The Bond was undeniable. Should she try, it would only cause her incredible pain and loneliness, and those same issues would reverberate down the fledgeling Bond to her Ashikabi, making the both of them miserable. So she obviously could not attempt to deny it. She could attempt to delay it though. He was obviously without a place to go right now if that duffel she noticed earlier was any indication, and she ran an Inn. She could offer him a place for a while, maybe play it off as gratitude for his concern.
Her mind worked furiously to see just how feasible the idea really was. It held promise, as she wouldn't be outright denying the Bond, she would have time to get to know the man. If she knew anything detrimental about him there was a possibility -unlikely as it was- that the Bond would destroy itself and never fully form. Then she would be able to go back to properly mourning her former husband.
It wasn't as though she disliked the blonde man, but she had never wanted an Ashikabi, and she refused to believe that there was a person outside her late husband that could grant her the wings of her race. Sekirei could only obtain their wings with their rightful Ashikabi, if the forming Bond with this man was destroyed she deemed it fully impossible for any other to ever come close to Winging her.
Bringing herself back to the present she slowly stood and turned to face the man in question, and was somewhat surprised to see him conversing with the aged Father of the church that tended these graves. Father Hideo, if she remembered correctly. She was ashamed to admit she wasn't really paying attention during their talks, she had been concentrating on Takehito's grave or death, or something else to deal with the upkeep of the Inn.
Walking toward the two men at a sedate pace, she tried to form the words she wanted. Her purple hakama and white kimono top were fairly dry now, enough that she wouldn't catch cold -Miya wasn't even sure if Sekirei could catch cold-, but the longer she stared at the blonde the less the words she wanted would form. By the time she had actually made it to them she was able to force a smile.
It was too bad that, judging by the blonde's expression, she was easily seen through. In any case Miya forced herself to remove the jacket -despite her body's protest to losing the warmth of his scent- and held it out to the man.
"Thank you for the use of your jacket, I don't need it any more." Miya's voice was clipped and precise, and without the warmth of the smile that was plastered on her face. This was not going as well as she had hoped. But then she wasn't sure exactly what she had expected.
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Naruto saw the fake smile the woman -Miya, he reminded himself- plastered on her face. He was a Master of faking a happy facade, he held one for most of his younger life, so seeing through such a poorly crafted one was beyond easy. Then there was her maybe-lie about the loan of his jacket, there was sincerity there, just not enough for that smile. So she did appreciate the loan, but there was something wrong. He could feel it.
Naruto had always been one to make bonds easily with others who had been in any kind of situation that created feelings of pain, abandonment, depression, etc. It had been one of his defining traits in his home 'verse. And it hadn't changed since coming here. He could easily tell that the woman was trying to reject something she found painful, and that it probably had something to do with his presence.
The question in Naruto's mind, however, was just what that issue could be. To the best of his knowledge he had never met or even seen this woman before. So what was it about him that was causing her distress? Whatever her reason, he took his jacket back, his fingers brushing hers for a few moments by accident.
Miya jumped and snapped her hand back quickly. Was she afraid of men being in physical contact? He'd heard something about that once. Androphobia, the fear of men. Was it that, or did she just not like being touched? Haphephobia, was it?*
Putting his jacket back on Naruto rubbed his forehead a few times. This was getting him nowhere, just speculating wouldn't help him at all. Well if she didn't want him around, he would leave. He had learned that the plot for the memorial stone was already his, he now needed to find a place.
"Ah, Miya-san, It does this old man's heart good to see you again." Father Hideo spoke up before Naruto could excuse himself. The old priest had taught Naruto many things when he had first arrived, one being that simply walking off was incredibly rude.
"Ufufu, oh Father, are you hitting on this poor widow?" Miya's laugh felt a little strained, as though it was something she would normally use, but for whatever reason there was something else on her mind.
"Oh? Is that what this old man is doing? I suppose I should apologize then." A small twinkle of mirth entered the old man's eye. "I was actually going to ask if Maison Izumo still held open rooms. Young Naruto here, doesn't have a place to stay and I when I saw you I couldn't help but think it was Divine Providence."
A true smile appeared on her face for the fist time since Naruto first laid eyes on her. "Of course, Maison Izumo shall never turn away those in need." Miya's voice seemed to have calmed down. so maybe Naruto was wrong about that phobia idea? Internally shrugging he figured that as long as he had a place to sleep he wouldn't really care much about the eccentricities of his landlord, or landlady as the case may be.
"Well, that shortened my search." Making eye contact with Miya, Naruto gave a small smile. "So I guess I'll be in your care, Miya-san. Uzumaki Naruto is my name, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Miya blinked several times, a small unnoticeable blush coloring her cheeks. Why did he have to be so polite? It was making disliking him that much harder. "No problem at all, Uzumaki-san, as I said, Maison Izumo shall never turn away those in need. Of course, there is still the matter of payment, but the rooms are reasonably priced at fifty-thousand Yen per month." Her voice was cool and sweet, with a small hint of something Naruto couldn't quite place, and it made his heart beat a little faster. Dear Kami, this woman was beautiful.
NO! NO! Bad Naruto! Finish the Memorial, then ogle Landlady! Wait, no that still wasn't right. What was wrong with him all of a sudden? It wasn't like him to just want to push a woman against a building and kiss her til she was gasping... WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!
Shaking his head, Naruto tuned back into the conversation, hoping those strange thoughts would just vanish. A possibly forlorn hope, but it was hope nonetheless. And he had the feeling he was going need all the hope he could get in the coming days.
"Ah, good, good. It does this old man's heart good to see people helping each other in these trying times." Father Hideo sounded impossibly sincere, so obviously he had set them up. This was a man of the cloth? Miya sighed, no this was a bored old man who never got laid. Wait, WHY DID SHE THINK THAT?! She wasn't Matsu! Sex shouldn't be a cure for anything! Maybe she should just take her new tenant and leave before any more un-Miya-like thoughts invaded her mind.
"Well, if that's all Father, I should be going. Dinner still needs to be made." Miya made a graceful excuse to get away from the embarrassing priest. She needed to get away, to be alone with Naruto and ravage his mouth with hers... DAMMIT! It was happening again! Miya was fast becoming annoyed with both the quick-forming Bond, and the young man for being the source of her current problem. She was Sekirei Zero-One! The Pillar! She shouldn't be reacting to anyone!
Miya's frustration was clearly evident as she walked away, followed at a safe distance by the blonde. Naruto's mind was whirling as well, though his thoughts were more focused on the completion of his Memorial Stone. Only a few more names, he could be done sometime in the coming week. Both of them were oblivious to the Father's knowing smirk, oh those poor souls who had lost their way. ... Maybe they should walk a little faster?
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the house-turned-Inn, and upon seeing it Naruto was hit with an air of familiarity. A simple two-story building in the classical Japanese style, strangely reminiscent of his own home in the Elemental Nations, with the second floor for the bedrooms, and everything else on the first floor. An air of welcoming surrounded the building, as if greeting a long-absent family member.
"I like this place already, and I haven't even set foot inside." Naruto's statement was murmured softly, a simple thought meant only for himself. However, it appeared that his new Landlady had very sharp ears.
"I'm glad." Miya had a true smile upon her face, and Naruto decided she looked her most beautiful like that. Turning and giving Naruto a formal bow, Miya opened the front door. "Welcome Home, to Maison Izumo. May you ever find peace within these walls."
Naruto blinked. That was a very old -even in his world- way of welcoming a guest. So old, he momentarily forgot the proper answer, but then again, manners had never been his forte. "Ah, yes. My thanks are given for the hospitality of the house, may you ever be blessed for your generosity." See what he meant? Formal, ugh. Not mention antiquated, that kind of thing hadn't been used in this world for nearly two hundred years according to Father Hideo. It had apparently begun dying out sometime around the Renaissance period.
Why did he have to get the overly formal Landlady?
"Ufufu, I'm surprised you know the proper response, Uzumaki-san. It's a very old greeting, after all." Miya found herself impressed. It was rare to see a young man with such a polite attitude in this day.
"Uh, yeah, the Father used to use something similar a few years back, and I managed to remember it." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He wasn't really lying, Father Hideo did use that kind of greeting in his church, Naruto generally didn't listen though.
They entered the house, removing their footwear in the entrance as was proper, then Miya showed him upstairs to a room labeled '202'. "This will be your room, Uzumaki-san. Breakfast is at seven in the morning, sharp, lunch is served at twelve noon, and dinner is at six in the evening. The rules of the house are simple: no lewd acts, and no violence within these walls. Are we clear?" Miya's voice was deceptively gentle, a dark purple miasma of some sort was forming into a hannya mask behind her left shoulder.
It wasn't really terrifying, but Naruto nodded anyway. He might not be scared of it, but that thing was just plain weird. The less he saw of it, the better. Although he wold admit to a small amount of curiosity as to just how that thing was made. Was it purely illusionary, or was there a physical aspect as well? He might have to study it at a later date. But for now, Naruto silently handed over enough for a three-month stay, certain that he could easily keep up the payments.
Miya left Naruto to his new room, and he stepped inside. Quickly glancing around, feeling as though he was being watched. Searching the room he found no less than ten small hidden cameras, and fifteen small listening devices... Paranoid much? Destroying them seemed to be too easy, so instead he quietly put them away into the drawer of a desk that was provided for the use of the room's occupant. He then applied a small seal to keep the drawer closed, he'd deal with them later.
Trying to spy on a man trained by perhaps the greatest spymaster of all time? Not necessarily the best of choices. Of course, they wouldn't know about that, but still, the pride was there and he had uphold it. Jiraiya would want it no other way. Unless the spy happened to be beautiful, busty, well over-proportioned woman -just down the hall a red-haired person sneezed- in which case his old teacher would have put on several shows just to mess with them.
Naruto looked at the clock on the desk -just how many things came with this room, anyway?- and saw that it was currently four in the afternoon. Two hours til dinner, so he set about putting his things away in the complementary dresser. Then he unrolled the scroll he carried, he looked over the otherwise illegible scribbles -to anyone else- and smiled fondly as he remembered learning to make Seals and such from Jiraiya. The man may have been a pervert without equal -the redhead down the hall sneezed again- but he knew his seals. Shaking the memories away, Naruto went down the scroll, releasing a few items he figured he may want on hand. Most of everything else stayed within the seals though, there were things he either didn't need, or didn't want to be caught with and asked about.
It took him roughly an hour to get the room set up, and seeing he still had about an hour til dinner, he grabbed a set of bath items, and headed downstairs -though not before placing a small locking Seal on his door-. If this place was anything like he thought, it would have it's little bathhouse, in the traditional Japanese style.
Finding the kitchen in his search, Naruto got confirmation that there was, indeed, a bathhouse -or furo as some would call it- on the premises, and that it should be empty at the moment. Perfect. He quickly managed to locate his objective, entered, stripped, and set about cleaning himself of the day's grime, before settling in for a good soak. Though he took the precaution of searching the place for more of those cameras and listening devices, thankfully not finding any.
Later, sitting at the table in the dining room, Naruto reflected that this was as good a place to stay as any before. The fact he was eating alone with his beautiful, widowed Landlady was something of a bonus. The dinner wasn't anything special, just typical Japanese fare, but it tasted incredible. The perks of many years of practice, he guessed.
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All throughout that first week Naruto found himself busy doing odd jobs around the Inn for Miya. Changing light-bulbs, fixing the roof tiles, helping to plant a small herb garden, carrying groceries for her. And in the evenings he would work on carving names into a stone block, taking the greatest care. And all the while, Miya watched him with a strange expression, one part disappointment, two parts frustration, and what seemed to be seven parts interest, as though she was expecting something and got the exact opposite.
The last evening of that week in Maison Izumo found Naruto sitting on the veranda, carving names from his past into a large blue-black stone of unknown material that had been carved into sharp lines, using some incredibly small tools. Each name he carved was done with patience and absolute care. He couldn't afford to mess this up, if he did he would start all over, having to find another copy of this stone. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen, as far as Naruto knew this was the only one of it's kind.
Taking a brief pause in his work, Naruto looked up at the sky. A full moon hung among the stars that he could see. There was something he didn't like about this world; the city lights interfered with star gazing. He had never been an avid watcher, but he did take a certain amount of solace in seeing each one as a flame of hope.
The sound of someone walking toward reached his ears, looking around he caught sight of Miya behind him, a tray with two cups and a pot of tea -he assumed it was tea- in her hands. As she sat down she said, "I thought you could do with a small refreshment."
Pouring the tea -it appeared he had been correct- she passed one cup before pouring one for herself. They sat there for a time, just sipping tea and looking at the stars. And for the moment they were content in the silence and companionship. Then she opened that pretty little mouth of hers, and it dropped straight of the cliff known as "Fuck It All".
"So what are you carving? You've been at it for a wile now." Miya asked, effectively ruining Naruto's peaceful mood.
Suddenly a sombre air filled the silence. "It's a memorial."
"Memorial? To what or whom?" Curiosity was almost rampant in her voice.
"To friends and family lost, never to be seen or heard from again. Each of these names, "Naruto traced a few of the carvings, "is someone who gave their lives so I, and others, could continue to live. This is all I can do for them as, according to the government, not one of us legitimately exists." Naruto wasn't lying in the least. As far as any government of this world was concerned neither he nor his friends existed. They were ghosts, memories left to rot in their home.
Miya had to blink at that. "Do not legitimately exist" was an ambiguous term, one not used lightly. It was typically used only when sending someone on a covert black operation that the government could not acknowledge as being sanctioned. As such they erased the person's very identity from all forms of identification. Was Naruto a former government assassin? Could she finally have found something that would repulse her ever-growing feelings for the blonde man?
Naruto's tracing finger stopped on the latest name he had carved: Uzumaki-Hyuuga Hinata. Miya noticed it was done in a slightly more cursive hand than the rest, as if it had more weight to it. Just by the name she could tell that this person was probably his former wife or lover. Was this perhaps the reason she felt he understood her so well? He too had lost his most-loved person? Or was it still something else?
"Some will be missed more dearly than others. She-she died in front of me, covering me with her own corpse so the enemy would overlook me. Our children were piled on top of us, dead. Then those bastards set fire to us all." Naruto was reciting in a dulled tone of a dead man, Miya's soft gasp of horror going unheard.
Someone slaughtered his home, then set fire to them all? But, looking at the stone in front of him, there were so many names! Each side was filled to capacity in vertical rows of four. The stone itself had nine faces, each face looked to hold so many names it boggled Miya's mind. Then she latched onto an odd piece of his story.
"But, if you were burned, why don't you have a single scar on you other than those 'whiskers'?" Her question was quiet, but it pierced the veil of the night like a spear.
"These aren't scars, Miya-san." He traced the odd marks on his face. "I've had them since birth, they were to set me apart, to mark me as different. The very same power that marked me, is what kept me from being burned to death that day, but you are wrong twice. I do have scars upon my body, Miya-san." Naruto removed his long-sleeved shirt to reveal three other scars. The first, and most noticeable, was almost directly over his heart, with a matching scar on his back. How did he survive that? The second scar that drew her eye was an odd-shaped puncture wound where his right kidney was. Another fatal mark, how did he accumulate these?
The third, and final, scar was the red section of skin along his right arm from his shoulder to just above his wrist, the aftermath of a terrible burn that sloughed off flesh and muscle. Miya's horrified gaze couldn't help but be drawn to these obvious symbols of pain. And yet, even before her eyes she could swear that his arm was starting to get lighter in color, as if it was even now being healed. but that was impossible, he would have to not be human...
Miya's thoughts ground to a halt. Not human. Could it really be that simple? Could Naruto, like her, not come from this world? He obviously wasn't a Sekirei like her, no Sekirei could react to another Sekirei, but perhaps something just as alien. It would make sense, as there was no way she should be able to react to a human as her Ashikabi. That left non-human.
Her heart beating faster still, Miya clasped her hands on either side of his face, bringing her eyes closer to his. "What are you?" Her voice was like a breath of wind, her eyes betraying both excitement and trepidation. "What are you, Uzumaki Naruto, to get my dormant self to react this strongly to you in such a short time?"
Her voice, her very being would not be denied, she admitted to herself that she had come to love this man over the course of the week. She would allow him to become her Husband, her Destined One, but she would also be damned if she didn't get at least this answer from him.
Naruto just looked back into her eyes with all the determination he could muster. "The Last of the Shinobi people of the Elemental Nations."
With that declaration Miya's lips moved in and captured his, bright wings of violet light bursting forth from her back in response. The caring, concern, and sincerity this man had shown in the past week were utterly noble. There was no deception in the words he spoke. A man of honor such as what he had displayed was beyond rare in this day among humankind.
Pulling away slightly Miya looked into the startled cerulean eyes of her Ashikabi. "I am Sekirei Zero-One, Miya. May we find redemption and joy together even as we seek to let go of our respective pasts. From this day forth unto Forever, I shall stand by you. Your enemies shall be mine, and my enemies shall be yours, Ashikabi-sama, my new Beloved."
Naruto sat there, stunned beyond comprehension. Miya, his new Landlady, had managed to get close to him, then somehow forced the words from his lips, followed by a kiss that resulted in wings of light sprouting from her back, and now she was saying something about "Ashikabi"? Yeah, he was lost.
So, Naruto went to his age-old return, a response that never failed him: "Um, wha?" Ah yes, surprisingly verbose, let it not be said that Naruto didn't have a flair for the moment.
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Ending Notes
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Father Hideo is an OC created for this story. He will not have a large role, in point of fact, outside of this chapter I will most likely not even reference him often. As far as I know there is no anime character by the name "Father Hideo", if I'm wrong ... well it ain't him.
*Haphephobia: the fear of touch, is a rare problem and can be devastating to any kind of relationship, whether romantic or not.
I would like to state once more, this is a SIDE project. Whenever something new for this pops in my skull I'll write, but don't expect any kind of regular updates.