Part One: A Visit

"So you're really going home?" Sai looked up from the small napkin where the outline of a bird was forming. They were sitting in a diner on lunch break, something they used to spend in some random closet or at their apartment in bed. But after about 5 years of being Naruto's boyfriend and another 9 spent in a strange friendship, their relationship had mellowed out. "Why now? You never go any other time?"

"Yeah, but it's been years and my Mom is sick. I have to go." Naruto stirred the contents of his coffee cup. Why did he order it in the first place? He didn't even drink coffee. "The last thing I want to do is go back there, trust me."

"It's because you haven't done anything with your life that you said you were going to, right?" Sai continued on, adding details to the bird with fine strokes, "Especially after you threw it in everyone's faces before you left that you were going to do something meaningful and they were all just going to sit around and rot for the rest of their lives."

"Thanks for summing that up Sai."

"You're welcome." Sai smiled, lifting the napkin for Naruto to see. "You want to keep this?"

Naruto took the napkin, folded it in two, and stuffed it in the side of his jacket pocket. The coffee cup sat in front of him, still filled to the brim and gave him a disappointing whimper when he stood up, "Well, I better go now...bye."

"Try not to kill yourself." Sai waved, pulling another napkin from the dispenser placed on the table.

Should he draw an Anaconda next?

He could turn around and drive back home.

Traveling wasn't a big deal to Naruto, you would think sitting still for so long would drive him crazy but he was so distracted by all the changes in the areas along the way and the assholes who couldn't drive to be worried about being bored. He could just observe, drive, and listen to insanely loud music.

Ten miles away from his hometown, his mind began to swarm with all his mistakes. Forcing him to pull over and turn off his car.

All of his old friends were going to laugh in his face, and there was no one to blame but him. He shouldn't have left the way he did, a dramatic post-graduation moment for him to look back on and shake his head at for the rest of his life.

But there was Mom to think about.

She already knew he was coming, too late to back out now. If he called and said anything he'd only be guilt-tripped into coming again and that would be a waste of money. Maybe he just could avoid everyone? That might just work, his hometown was small, but it wasn't that small, there had to be plenty of new people around to work with.

Yeah right. Naruto groaned, beating his head against the steering wheel, with that kind of thinking I'm probably just gonna run into everyone I knew.

Since when did he become such so pessimistic? Oh right, life hit him.

Naruto glared at the next three passing cars before turning the car back on and getting back out on the road. There could be no planning for this, not even a hint. Whatever happens, he'll just have to deal with it as it comes.

Easier said than done.

Midnight was the name of the hotel that Naruto checked into, it was also the time that he checked in. He was grateful to arrive so late at night and that the girl at the counter was some bratty teenager he didn't recognize who wore her blonde hair in a weird hairstyle and painted her nails a vivid red color, it gave him time to settle in.

The hotel room was nothing special, but the memories it brought with it were unwelcoming. In high school, Naruto participated in something absolutely crazy. An affair with Sasuke Uchiha, who was dating Sakura Haruno at the time. But it was after the break up that changed everything. He met Sai,befriended Sakura, Sasuke struggled to get him back, Naruto struggled to move on and in the end Naruto left to greener pastures and Sasuke ran away to Military school. End of story.

Man, it all sounds so simple when but like that. If only it was then.

Naruto woke up at nine the next morning, fully intending to sneak to his car and drive off towards the hospital ducked down low in his seat just in case someone he knew happened to be looking around at the wrong moment.

A knock on the door changed all that.

At first he thought he was hearing things, but when his door actually started to shake, Naruto knew he had to open it. He approached with caution, trying to rack his mind for what crime he could have committed in the middle of the night while sleepwalking. Naruto swung open the door and found himself crushed in a hug with the loud outburst of "NARUTO!" filling his ears.

Naruto was released and stumbled back into the door, clutching his chest. "Temari?"

A blonde curvy pregnant woman stood in his doorway,beaming at him. "Yep! I didn't know that you were in town?"

"I didn't tell anyone." Naruto arched an eyebrow with a silent plea that she keep it a secret, all she did was arch back and he knew it was safe. "Come in and sit down, why is it I always see you pregnant?"

"Because the lazy ass has too much energy in bed." Temari replied, lowering herself into a nearby chair. "I already have three kids, can you believe it? I don't feel that old? Karura is already 15 going on 16, that makes me...a very big number...This one was a surprise, well these ones were a surprise I should say."

"These ones?" Naruto gawked as he plopped down on the edge of the bed, pointing at her belly, "Multiple?"

"Twins." Temari smiled, hugging her stomach, "I haven't told anyone yet, so you keep my secret and I'll keep yours."

"Just like old times." Naruto let out an awkward laugh and for a moment the two looked each other over. Temari looked older, but radiant, she always did glow when she was pregnant from what he remembered though. He'd aged too, he was already 32 but many people often commented that he looked years younger. So did his Mom,genetics were playing in his favor.

"So how have you been since high school?" Ugh, the dreaded question of what had he done with his life.

"Uh, okay. I dated Sai for a long time but we broke up a few years ago, I still see him every once in a while and I work for a company as a manager, it's kind of been mind numbing but it pays the bills."

"Well that's good! I'm glad that you're a manager, I never pegged you for that." Temari smiled, the hormones must be playing in her favor today, she seemed unusually cheery. "I own this hotel! Shikamaru bought it after he got discharged from the military, he's been really involved with the kids activities since then so he's either hanging around here or filling in as a substitute teacher, teaching chess at the community center or hanging around with Kiba and Choji all day.I think you should talk to him, it seems like I spent half my marriage trying to get him motivated and now he is all of a sudden and there's nothing for him to do."

They were never friends in high school until a few months before the baby was born, he wasn't sure if Shikamaru would be interested in seeing him but Naruto only smiled and said, "Alright, I'm not sure what I could do to help but I'll see."

"Thanks." The smiled dimmed as she shifted in the chair and pressed a hand to her tummy, "The kicking is awful sometimes, ugh!"

"Uh, anything I can do to help?" He offered, rising off the bed, she laughed and shook her head so he sat back down. "So...how's Gaara?"

"He's okay. He just went through a divorce last month, so he's been staying in the hotel." Temari's eyes purposely strayed to the far wall.

"Wait...This hotel? Which room?"

"The one next to yours." Temari cringed as Naruto let out a small whimper, Gaara was his best friend in high school, but in their Senior year Gaara grew more and more distant. Naruto later learned that Gaara liked Sai, really liked him, and was kind of counting on his best friend not to date him.

Naruto let him down.

Losing Sasuke had been a blow but losing Gaara was a whole other issue in itself. "Do you think he would kill me?"

"No." Temari shook her head, "Gaara already saw you when you arrived through his window. He's the one who called me at one in the morning, debating if he should go over to your room or not and if you would lose your temper with him."

Naruto smiled, releasing a sigh of relief. "Thank God, you remember his temper?"

"You mean our temper?" Temari rose an eyebrow, flowing with memories of yelling at Shikamaru to fetch her random food for her cravings in the the middle of the night with creative death penalties spitting out of her mouth like hell-fire. He'd gotten used to it. "Too many things have changed around here. Did you know that Hinata is mayor?"

Naruto's jaw dropped, "Wha-No?"

"Yep, she was elected just this past year." She glowed with pride for her old friends accomplishments, "I never thought she would end up there, but looking back she was always the most diplomatic of all of us."

"That's crazy." Hinata was mayor, she had done something with her life and even with the slightest twitch of jealousy, Naruto was still happy for her. On the other hand, talking about what he'd missed was roaming down a list he wasn't sure he was ready for. "Um, I need to go visit my Mom. Do you think we can meet up later?"

"Your Mom? That's good. How about dinner tomorrow? We'll have a lot to talk about." Temari stood with the strategy of an experienced pregnant lady, "Yoshino called last night and nearly ate Shikamaru's head off through the phone because he hadn't been around to visit her, so we're going over later today. Shikaku passed away unexpectedly two years ago, since then we've been trying to convince her to move in with us but you know how she is."

"Oh, I remember." Naruto nodded, his eyes widening at the terrifying memories as he escorted Temari to the door, "She was a wicked one."

"Bye Naruto!"

"Bye." Naruto sighed against the door, resisting the urge to beat his head against the wood. He was just starting the day and already was heading down the vast path of memory lane.

In Shikamaru's words, it was troublesome.

"My baby!" Kushina glowed, shoving her poor husband off the bed and patting the new available space, "Sit down! Oh look at you, do you eat?"

"Yes Mom, I eat." Naruto grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Your eyes are going to get stuck that way!" She smacked him before pulling him into a hug, "I missed you! Your Father's okay company, but he doesn't have that piece of me inside of him you know? And he doesn't like the comedies I do..."

"I know Mom, I'm here now so we'll watch all the comedies you want." He replied, looking his Mom over. Kushina was wearing a bandana over her head, the chemo had taken most her hair. Despite her sickness, she seemed vibrant and happy. That would be just like her though, why would he be expecting anything else? "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright." Her lips went up in the corner, forming a small smile for a brief split second before she poured into an outburst of Mom behavior, "What about you?! Are you seeing anyone? I want to see grandkids before I pass!"

"Mom." Naruto groaned, cradling his head.

"What?! I have every right to be concerned!"

"I haven't dated anyone other than Sai and Sasuke."

Kushina tensed so much that Naruto could literally feel it. She reached out and took his hand, curling her fingers around his palm, "I didn't just call you down here because I'm sick. Naruto...I'm sorry but Sasuke passed away."

Naruto blinked, craning his head,"What?"

"Just two weeks ago, it was a car accident. The funeral already passed."

"Nobody told me."

"People didn't know how to contact you anymore, and I didn't find out until the other day because of the chemo treatments I was getting out of state." Kushina squeezed his hand, "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Naruto swallowed, patting the side of his pant's pocket as if searching for something, anything. "Uh...I'm going to go, I'll come back and visit you tomorrow, okay?"

Kushina pressed her mouth in a thin line, holding back words, "Be careful."

Naruto managed to make it to the front seat of his care before reality sunk through the shock.

Sasuke's gone.

SO there we have it, if you are reading this without reading the thing before it you're probably like "What Sasuke's dead?!" and if your someone has read Whispers of the Party then you are probably more like "What?! :O Sasuke's dead?!" So see, not much of a difference.

Sorry people. If it helps, I'm not even expecting any good reviews anyway...

*runs to write next chapter*