Tittle: Symphony of Love

Author: Sara Beara Pumpkin

Genre: supernatural/romance

Warnings: Sparse swearing, dark plot, I may make it rated M but probably not...

Beta: Not Your Cup of Tea, (thank you so much for staying with me so long! I had more to betas the first draft, but I have not heard from them after my hiatus.)

READ ME: This story has been edited. Plot has changed, and has become more clear and has a different direction than the original direction it was taking. I've taken off old chapers for revision and will be posting them gradually. Sorry for any inconvenience to old readers. Hope you like it more :)

Home at Last

Naruto was slouching on the living room's old, brown couch while watching television. A rough blanket covered his legs as he lazily hugged a pillow. Afternoon sun lit the apartment's living room, dulling the flickering tv screen, as the volume was low due to his recent awakening. He could hardly hear it past the rattling air conditioner and city-street noises of summer. With low effort, he yawned and stretched, then sunk back into the sofa. His mind was blurry with tired thoughts; he stayed up too late again, so he laid back down and closed his eyes.

The teenager was subconsciously taken back to awareness when he faintly heard the echoing chime of keys from the hall, then the snaps of the unlocking apartment door. Slowly sitting up he reached for the remote and muted the TV, then called to the approaching footsteps.

"Hey! Mom, Dad, how'd it go?" Rather than an immediate response, there were approaching scuffles from walking feet.

His mother, Kushina, was the first to enter the room with a soft smile. Her coral hair ran the length of her body and shimmered vividly as she stepped into a spray of sunlight. She was clothed in a modest, high collared dress with a slender frame; her skin was pale but her cheeks had a natural blush.

"The house is perfect," she stated calm and brightly. Kushina gazed at Naruto, her indigo eyes sparkling in the sun, then glanced over to her incoming husband.

The tall, lion-blond father, Minato, stood protectively behind her and shared the same compassionate face. His eyes were warm with love, cool blue in color. He had a proud chest that never shied back, like a marble statue of a guardian. "It's a shame you didn't want to come see it, Naruto. We really like the place and have decided to move."

"W-what!" Naruto stammered, "We're actually moving? For real this time?" His own figure had slender proportions like his mother and a strong build like his father. Of course, he inherited the man's trademark eyes and electrified hair, but he had the woman's delicate facial features sculpted in a masculine version.

"Yes," Minato replied happily. "Finally, after all this time."

"Three years we've been looking," the mother added, "and now we've found our dream home."

Naruto tried to speak, attempting to force words from his open mouth, but before he knew what to say, Minato innocently stole the moment. "I'm certain you'll like the house. It's really quite an improvement considering where we live now; five-bedroom, three-bath, and plenty of recreational space. Isn't that better than sleeping on an apartment's living room couch?"

Naruto looked into his father's strong eyes, then down at the carpeted floor. "Well, yeah, . . . but I wanted to finish high school here. You guys knew I didn't want to move yet." His fingers met then fiddled with each other as his face crinkled with thought.

Kushina sauntered over and sat beside him, taking a feminine precaution to not sit on her long hair. "Because of your friends?" She asked considerately.

"That, and I kinda don't really like the country. There's nothing to do out there. It's boring." He looked back up when he heard his father talk.

"There are plenty of things to do in the country, Naruto. They're just things you aren't used to." Minato leaned against the wall and observed his son.

"What, like staring at fields all day?"

"Actually, there aren't many fields or farms. It's mostly forest."

"The kind that has daddy-long-legs," Kushina added, shuddering at the thought.

Naruto sat back, crossed his arms and said complacently to the ceiling, "well I can make plenty of M&M shaped friends, then."

"Naruto, it's not that bad." Minato claimed. "We live a few miles from the town, but it's not that small. They have a full elementary and high school; there are enough people around."

"Yes, moving will also to help your college fund. With all the work your father can oversee, it'll help us save for your tuition costs. . . . We'll even get to save money on the house! We bought it for such a great deal. We're really lucky! Besides, it's about time we invested in one. It's been so long since we've last lived in an actual house."

"Not to mention the fresh air and quiet will be good for all of us. . . . Especially your mother; she's been needing the environment to help her write her next novel." As if to prove his analytic point, a driver with a bad case of road-rage honked furiously outside the apartment building.

"Yeah, I see where you're coming from . . . and you've bought it anyway," Naruto muttered quietly. He said with a little more diction, "So when are we leaving?"

The father answered, "We thought you might like some time to get ready for it, so in about a month. That will give us time to get settled in before school starts."

"And," Kushina cut in, "I'll get to pick out all that new furniture from the catalog we've been saving for. I'll buy you a nice bed, Naruto."

"Okay, okay. The move isn't that bad. But neither is the couch."

"I'm happy you're taking this well." Minato said. "Let's get some ramen to celebrate."

"Hell yeah!"

...

It was nighttime, and the teenager was up late again, energetically playing video-games on his Xbox 360. Kushina walked in on him shooting zombies, a game of which she had bought for him a while back, and would sometimes even play with him. The woman placed herself beside him like she had earlier and watched the television.

"Hey Mom, if we move, we won't get to see Jiraiya and Tsunade as much, will we?"

Eyes focused on the screen, she replied, "no, we won't, but we'll still get to see them. I know you love your godparents, so we'll definitely keep in touch, just not as often as we have been."

Naruto sifted through memories of the two, as they were quiet, left to their wandering thoughts and watching the video game.

Jiraiya and Tsunade would always visit. They were his grandparents, only they had problems most grandparents didn't have, like immature and inappropriate behavior. Though they weren't blood related to the Uzumakis or Namikaze, but might have well as been. They were Minato's adoptive parents, and were very close to the family.

Hearing an amused, short hum, Naruto peered at his mother out of the corner of his eye. "What?"

"Oh- nothing really, It's just kinda funny I guess. My thought, I mean.

"What are you thinking about?"

She chuckled and closed her eyes. "Oh, Jiraiya forcing me and Minato on our first date."

Naruto's face was surprised for a moment, then he developed a sly smirk.

When Kushina saw, she said a little over nervously,. "What's that look for?"

"I didn't know that."

"Um, yeah. Because it's like, totally embarrassing . . . er- kinda."

"Do go on, Mom"

She paused for a minute, gathering her thoughts. "Since both Jiraiya and I are in the publishing business, I um, wanted him to review my first novel, but he was . . . well, 'Jiraiya'," meaning a pervert, the unsaid words. "The only way he'd read my story is if I went on a blind date with someone he knew-"

"Dad!"

"Yep. I knew Minato from way back, and then I just thought he was a girly-flake. But little did I know, he was my soul mate."

"Oh. . . . So where was your 'blind date'?"

Kushina's face became a tomato. "W-well it was going to be somewhere more formal, but . . . ."

"But what?"

". . . It was a cosplay convention."

"Mom, I never knew you did that! Dad did it too back then?" Naruto inquired excitedly.

"No! No- um, like . . . uh, you see, I was doing a prank, and . . . well, Minato happened to be the one to walk straight into it."

"Wait, is this the one where you were dressed up as Ariel the little mermaid and you jumped out at him with clothes hangers?"

"Y-Yeah, that one."

"Dad Always jokes that you're Captain the Hook because of that!"

"Yeah. . . . I made a crazy first impression when Jiraiya recognized me a moment later. I couldn't see who was past the bush, but thank god Minato could laugh at the whole thing. I said 'Ahhh!' to try and scare him. He didn't even flinch, and then said, 'Arg Captain, how goes those hooks?'."

"Hm. . . So Dad and Jiraiya were at a cosplay convention? Why?"

"Jiraiya and Minato go way back, as you already know, so they were doing stuff. Minato wanted to ask about whether or not he would be coming out with a new book soon, and he ended up being pulled along to do some god-forsaken 'research' unknown to his will"

Naruto childishly giggled; Jiraiya could easily manipulate most people.

"And since Tsunade married him, she's in the picture too. But with all their sake, gambling, and porn, they aren't the best influence for you," she rambled.

Ironically at the same moment, Naruto landed a particularly gruesome head-shot. "They can be pretty cool . . . sometimes."

His mother held her lips shut, thinking back over the many times they had brought drama and conflict into the household. ". . . So yeah, meeting each other helped us decide to name him your godfather, but the main reason is that we chose your name from a book he wrote, since we've always been so close."

"Oh. Dad mentioned that before. . . . Why did you pick the same name as that character?"

"We chose that name because we, um, wanted you to be like that character. It was Minato's idea. . . . Naruto was someone who knew how to love and forgive, but most of all had a strong will."

"Hm," he thought.

"So, Naruto: are you like that character? You are pretty determined and take after me with the noise and pranks and personality, but I mean, like, . . . do you know how to love?"

". . . Uh, yeah? I love you and Dad."

Naruto could hear her smile morph her words. "I mean, do you know how to love your friends? To love your girlfriend someday? You're in your junior year, so love's bound to come to you sooner or later."

"Um . . . ." The questions had caught him off guard; they were deeper than they typically were when they were just sitting on the couch. "I guess so."

"Well, no matter. You'll learn soon, I'm sure. I hope you can find someday what Minato and I share." A sudden surge of fluff ebbed past the sky in window behind them. It caught the free eye of the mother, who shook her her son's shoulder and pointed. "Naruto, look."

Lightly glowing, the fuzz floated in the dark air, illuminated from parking lot lights. It looked like thick, creamy snow. A gust of wind tumbled the fluffy seeds around, creating swirling patterns in the sky. Stars lightly speckled the pitch covering to the universe like role models in the background.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Cottonwood. The fluff from trees."

"Hm. . . . Love, huh?"

"Maybe it's a sign?"

"Uh, I never really believed in that stuff much."

"It's just a little odd that it would happen so late in the summer. But no matter. I've always been the superstitious one in the family."

Forgetting about his responsibility to an electronic person's well being, Naruto consequently heard his character gurgle and die. He turned back and saw his player on the screen fall, and then the words bearing his demise came into view.

"Damn it. Hey Mom, you wanna play?"

"Sure, and watch that mouth!"

...

The vibrant, magic-mint-blue car cruised down the road. Beside the asphalt pavement, perky forest obscured much of the dirt floor, and above the afternoon sky was bright above the split in the brush. Sunlight poked through the little gaps among the chartreuse leaves and speckled the small four-seater as it passed by. Across the windshield flew the reflection of the leaves above; reflections only one of the three passengers watched.

Naruto impatiently beheld the images that were beyond his parents, of whom were in the front seats, his mother typing, his father driving. He shifted uncomfortably from sitting for so long, and his movement caught the attention of the driver.

Meeting eyes in the small, frontal mirror, Minato said, "Almost there, just a few minutes."

"Oh," Naruto replied, long since unbuckled. He painfully leaned beside a stack of boxes to his right.

In front of him, Kushina pressed a lever-like button that pulled down her window. The breeze entered the car and lukewarm air battered Naruto's face. He jumped when he was whipped by red threads. Promptly, more hairs flew back harshly flicking his skin like a weapon with a mind of its own.

"Ow, Mom, your hair is attacking me again!"

"Oh, sorry." She gathered her carmine waterfall to twist and seal it behind her back. "I thought that wouldn't happen with it being on the other side of me." Still, a few wisps flew around.

Naruto shifted again, too restless and full of energy to sit still. After the road curve came a straight line of road which the car sped down. Each insiders was eager to be released and stretch their sore limbs from riding all day.

"There it is," Minato finally said.

Off in the distance, a white mailbox was visible near a pale trail, of which was the first real break in the forest for about the past mile.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes raring with enthusiasm that had been subdued for too long.

The car slowed and turned into the rocky passage and kicked up dust as the wheels turned. The teenager bounced in the back seat, watching brief flashes of the light-colored house between the maples. Once the trees receded, the full house was revealed and the car slowed at the end of the driveway.

Naruto scampered out of the car on his stiff legs to get a better look at the huge, historic house. "No way." He scrutinized the surroundings while his knees adjusted to a straight posture. "You guys had to have paid more than that!"

The house was painted white and a washed-out yellow; the paint looked old and ready to chip but was rather optimistic for its condition. Large, cheery windows broke the wooden siding often, and appeared thrice in the curved in the towers on each floor. Happily curved wooden shingles embellished the faded black roof. A large front porch invited one to the thick entry door, which flaunted a stain-glass window. The backsides of similar stain-glass pieces were visible in three content, square windows above the woodwork was curved and graceful.

Style wise, the house was close to Victorian with the circular towers; however, it was more modest than a Victorian house, boasting of nothing more than it's soaring roof, spacious insides, and gentle nature. Overall, the house was simple and understated, a harmonious balance to the nurturing and grand character it held; it reminded him of his parents.

Their new home stood proudly within an excessively large clearing, atop the slightest slope of a hill. The dry, unmanned grass continued from the back of the house to a wide, flat expanse of land that was open for harvesting sun. Burly, mature cottonwood trees were randomly planted within the clearing. From the road, Naruto never would have guessed this place resided here.

This was indeed their perfect home.

Naruto charged into the field, loosening his legs and getting a better look at the house. He ran around, finding a curved tower the back right of the house, a freshly built annex on the left, and then back around to another tower in the front left of the house. Naruto ran up the three steps onto the trim porch and saw a rusty swing at one end. He peered back at his parents after he had dumbly tried to open the locked door.

"Mom, Dad, hurry up! I want to see the inside."

"Coming," the father replied, his keys jangling as he swung them around a finger.

His mother, trailing behind her husband and stretching her arms, asked with a smile, "So you like it, Naruto?"

"Yeah! The place is great!" He replied, peering past the door's window impatiently.

"Glad to hear you say that."

Minato unlocked the door and Naruto rudely burst in before him, passing an olive-walled entryway with autumn tiles; then through another threshold to stand in a tall, spacious area. He looked up in wonder at the sight: a large dark wood staircase rested before the entrance with tranquil stain-glass colors showering the steps. The ceiling had to be almost two stories high in the area. To his left was a barren room with two huge windows and the tower from the front. To his right was a room with mostly empty shelves and a fireplace with crimson glaze. The woodwork was simple and slightly luxurious, giving the house a noble feel.

"Wow, this is so cool!" he commented to his parents behind him, then dashed through the red library. He missed his parents chuckle as he swung open a tall door to another room.

The next room had high windows that almost touched the lofty ceiling. It was paneled in white-painted-wood, and was devoid of objects save a black piano. Naruto continued through another door into a hallway, where he flung open three doors; they led to a study, a bathroom, and a staircase leading to the basement. A window with a built in seat was at one end of the hall, at the other was a rectangular arch leading to a white kitchen. He found another arch as he passed the hall that lead to a cramped back set of closed, spiral stairs. Naruto excitedly entered the kitchen, eager to see more of the house.

It was a worthy kitchen, with an added modern touch due to the ashen-granite counter-tops and white cupboards. This was the room that had the three-walled-annex, traced by counter tops on the inside. The appliances were silver and almost regal to match.

"Saw most of it already?" Minato said with a voice of great amusement.

Naruto turned to his parents entering the kitchen from an archway opening to a wooden dining room, complete with polished table and chairs. "Yeah. it's awesome!"

Kushina sighed happily, basking in the delight the kitchen had to offer as she strode onto the wide, linoleum floor, her red hair and blue dress in stark contrast to the surroundings. Sun from the grass bounced back into the vicinity, lightening the otherwise faint shadows. "I love this kitchen. I'll have just the space to cook, it's so perfect."

"And you are a great cook," Minato complemented, following behind. "I can't wait 'till we all have a meal here together."

"Yeah, that sure would be nice to cook in a new kitchen like this."

". . . They sure did a nice job when they rebuilt it."

"Yes. It must have been a little expensive, not to mention the rest of the house."

"No doubt. . . . Say, Naruto," Minato quizzed in his soft and masculine tone, "did you know that there was a fire in this house?"

"No. There was?"

"Yep. About ten years ago. They said the fire started in the kitchen and much of the house had to be rebuilt. It's nice and updated, as you can see."

"Yeah, it really is. I thought you guys said you didn't pay a lot for it."

"The house? No. It's actually a mystery as to why we got such a good deal. . . . For the most part, it's cheap because it's located all the way out here. But the past owner really wanted us to have it for some odd reason. His name . . . Deidara? Even lowered the price when we hesitated. It almost seemed like she wanted to get rid of it."

"Deidara was a he," Kushina corrected.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah," she assured. "He was a man."

"Oh."

". . . He did joke around about the place being haunted," she continued, "though he was kinda serious almost. Said his stuff was always misplaced. Anyway, I've always wanted to live in a haunted house! I thought it would be pretty fun to talk to a ghost!"

"Ah! No, Mom, don't even say that!" Naruto said, horrified.

"What?" She innocently insisted, "he said he thought the place was haunted. He was so off and anxious, it was probably just a bad attempt at humor."

"No! Mom, Dad, ghosts are real!" Naruto sprinted through the dining room and out the front door.

"Naruto, we were just kidding," Minato called after him.

Naruto made it to the grass and yelled, "How could you have bought the house in the first place if you knew it was haunted? You know I hate those movies! I'm not going anywhere else in there!"

"Not so loud, you'll wake the ghost," Minato taunted playfully from the door, as the parents had taken after him.

"Mom, Dad, ghosts are real!" He complained seriously again.

"No they aren't, Naruto."

"I don't know, Minato, I saw ghosts when I was a girl. Not anymore, though." She turned with full eyes, watching his response.

"See, Dad? They are!" Naruto begged, "I saw them all the time when we lived at the old house in Burnsville! I'm not living in there!"

"You were five years old." His father paced along the yard to the car and opened the driver's door. "Man up a little, all kids see things," he assured. "Now, come on. Let's go get lunch and rest up. We need to clean before the catalog comes with our furniture."

Naruto and Kushina followed suit, readying themselves for departure without objection. Naruto crossed his arms in the backseat, distraught that his loving father brushed aside his serious concern so easily. Then the rusty, blue car started off once more.

In the attic's larger tower, a figure watched and listened to the family from the middle window. His starless eyes twinkled with smugness as he observed the flustered teen.