More than one: Chapter Four
Kyuubi sighed as he watched Sasuke, and Naruto spar. Sakura was sitting beside the cloned up personality, she blinked as she seemed to think of something then look at Kyuubi.
"Kyuubi," she started, "how come none of you fight instead of Naruto"
"That's because Naruto was chosen out of us to become shinobi," the orange eyed cloned said as he looked at her, "Eventually we will have to give him our knowledge of events, and disappear into him. It's already started, some of us that were in him are gone already. It would be useless for us to continue this existance, and have Naruto be shinobi at the sametime. Think about it," the cloned version of Naruto said, "if some enemy found out how to pull Tenkai out, or myself in the middle of a battle... The result would be catastrophic for us. I have no fighting skills, I don't know any of Naruto's survival skills. He learned what he did without our help. The only thing we were there for was emotional support, and now that he has that"
"Won't he still need you?," Sakura asked.
"We aren't going away completely," Kyuubi said with a smile, "You can put the pieces back in the mirror, you can melt the glass of it down, so the cracks disappear, but the stress that the object went through is still there. It's still a broken mirror no matter how many times, or how many different ways you fix it"
"I'll miss Tenkai," Sakura said as she leaned on her legs, watching the spar.
"Ahh! You thumbed me in the eye!," Sasuke yelled at Naruto.
"Yep," Naruto said grinning, "Kept you from grabbing my wrist"
Sasuke blinked and rubbed his face with his sleeve, but was stopped by Naruto, noticing the grip was not an attack hold.
"No, you'll make it worse," Naruto said, "let the eye water. That was sort of your mistake with the dirt. When anything hits your eyes, don't rub them. Rub around them to clear anything that may still be there, so nothing else gets in your eyes, then let your eyes water, and just concentrate on dodging"
"What if I am in, on, or near water?," Sasuke asked.
"If water is available," Naruto said explaining, "then splash your face with your eyes closed. If the water is clean, do it again with your eyes open, just once"
"Why?," Sasuke asked.
"That way your eyes will start to replenish the oils the water just took away," Kakashi said as he approached the two boys, "Otherwise your eyes will dry faster, and hurt more. If you are still having problems, get out of the fight till you can recover your sight, or until you get help"
"Maybe I should learn how to fight blind," Sasuke said.
"Not a bad idea," Naruto and Kakashi said at the sametime, causing Sasuke to wander if he had somehow ended up in another dimension.
Naruto was walking beside Sakura, on their way home for a bit. The blonde was staring at the ground as they walked, causing Sakura to stop him.
"What's wrong?," she asked.
Naruto swallowed as he looked up at Sakura, then back down.
"Promise me that you'll listean to everything I have to say before you judge," Naruto said quietly.
'Oh Naruto,' Sakura thought to herself, 'He's about to dig up a lot of pain.' She nodded to Naruto, saying out loud, "I promise Naruto"
Naruto motioned for the girl to sit on a nearby bench, as he paced a little, trying to figure out where to start.
"As you probably noticed, I haven't been asking you out lately," Naruto started to explain. At Sakura's nod he continued, "I never really had much of an intrest to date you to be honest. I just thought that was normal, as I saw the way you and Ino went after Sasuke. I don't have to much of an intrest in anyone really, male or female. I have tried to think about sex before, and also being with someone in other intimate ways. Each time though it sort of feels like I am about to loose everything in my stomach. When you guys found me at my apartment, when I was..." He paused and swallowed shaking a bit. "It was doen by a woman." He noticed Sakura's shocked and somewhat disbelieving expression. "I know it seems impossible, but it isn't. The body can respond to things like that no matter the situation." He paused and sighed, "Anyway, that's one of the reasons I can't really view anyone right now as more than close friend. Being intimate like that just scares me. I mean, I know here," he pointed to his head, "that it's not always like that. However here," he put his hand over his chest, "and here," he moved the hand to his stomach, "just makes it feel wrong. I have tried of thinking of being with you, Sasuke, Shika, Ino, Chouji, Hinata, Neiji, Tenten, and even Gaara, and no matter what it's the same. I can't get over how wrong it would feel"
Sakura noticed the long pause and really looked at Naruto, seeing that now he needed an answer to his unasked question.
"I honestly don't think you are wrong for thinking that," Sakura said, "But I do have one question. Have you been attacked like that before"
"Not all that often," Naruto answered, "But yeah, once when I was six, once when I was eight, then ten, and well this last time. And before you ask, both sexes so"
"That partially explains it," Sakura said, "but it still leaves you unsettled"
"Yeah," Naruto said with a sigh, "normal people are supposed to date"
"What's normal?," Sakura asked, "Seriously, what's normal? I mean being homosexual is not considered normal for most people. I know that there are cultures out there, where having only one wife is not normal. It's like this Naruto, if someone thinks you are worth it, they'll wait. You will be ready at some point, not yet obviously, but at some point I am sure you will be"
"And if not?," Naruto asked.
"Adopt," Sakura said in answer, "If that isn't the reason why you are thinking this, then maybe you should think that maybe you just don't want that. There are people out there who'd rather have friends than bed partners"
"So while it's not abnormal really," Naruto said, his voice sounding somewhat relieved.
"No it's not," Sakura said in agreement, "though if you suddenly stopped asking me out, people might wander as to what is wrong with you"
"I'll make sure to still ask," Naruto said with a smile, "but we both know what it will mean"
"Yes we both will," Sakura said standing up, and gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder.
"By the way," Naruto commented, as they continued to walk from the park, "Kyuubi told me about your conversation earlier"
"Sorry about that," Sakura said with an embarrassed smile.
"Don't be," Naruto chuckled, "You are one of the few to look behind the layers"
"Underneath the underneath," Sakura said with a giggle, then sobered, "Naruto, how is it that your personalities are already intergrating, I thought you needed outside help for that"
"Tsunade," Naruto answered simply, "She spoke to each one, including Tenkai. She explained to them that for me to truly get better, and to be effective in the field, I would need to intergrate them into myself"
Sakura nodded, "When was this"
"About six months ago," Naruto said, which made Sakura stop.
Six months ago
"Yes, but is it...," Kakashi was saying as Sakura walked into the hokage's office with Sasuke.
Sakura noticed the office was a mess, some of the furniture was broken, Kakashi's visible eye had a black and blue mark around it, and Tsunade looked troubled.
"Everything ok?," Sasuke asked.
"Yeah everything is fine, just had a problem with a potential client," Kakashi said, his eye closing the way it did when he smiled.
"We are here for the mission Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, "but we have not been able to locate"
"Naruto," Kakashi said interrupting quickly, "will not be joining us for a while"
Sakura was about to ask why, when a look from Tsunade to the copy-nin, made the question die on her lips. The two genin, and one jounin left the office, not noticing Tsunade holding her head in her hands, one of the hands holding a necklace.
"Don't blame then Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a smile, "One of my more destructive selves came out and did that. Thank god she was untrained"
"Was?," Sakura asked.
"Sometimes intergration requires a little violence between the different aspects of myself," Naruto said quietly.
"So he had to be"
"Yeah... It wasn't pretty. She cursed me the whole time"
"She?," Sakura asked, the shock from rehearing the gender, when she thought she misheard.
"Yes, she," Naruto said, "Just because the outward appearance of a person is male, does not mean that is indeed who they are. I mean, there are guys who marry women, who act more feminine than their wives. Also the opposite is true"
"I see," Sakura said as she continued to walk.
"The old hag had to explain that to me a couple of times before I got it," Naurto said, "She said 'Just think of it as the aspect of the person can be one thing or another.' She also went into an explaination as to why some spirits might seem to have features of both men and women. Because the spirit is made up of energy it really is not bound by rules of needing to procreate"
"That's a weird way of looking at it," Sakura said.
"Well," Naruto said chuckling, "I said that also, until Tsunade explained about how many people claimed their baby was conceived by the help of their dead husband, when infact it was cause the woman was cheating on the husband from the start"
Sakura giggled as they finished their walk to their respective places.
It was two weeks after that, that Naruto asked Sasuke to come over to help Naruto move back to his place.
"What about this?," Sasuke asked as he picked up a box labeled 'Tenkai.
Naruto looked at the box sadly for a moment, before he went back to folding clothes, and packing them. Sasuke blinked then set the box down, before sitting down on the bed.
"Never got to say good bye," Sasuke said, then blinked and looked to Naruto, "did you"
Naruto didn't say anything, he just shook his head, as he closed the bag he put his clothes in.
"What are we going to do?," Sasuke asked.
"Well," Naruto said quietly, "Tomorrow, I am taking the box down to the secondhand store and giving it to them"
Sasuke nodded, as he stood up and turned to look at the blonde boy.
"You mind if I go with you?," the Uchiha heir asked.
Naruto stopped what he was doing, and looked at Sasuke, there was a moment of surprise that passed the blonde's features, before he smiled. Naruto nodded, before setting the bag aside.
"Maybe after, we can get some icecream," they heard a feminine voice say from the doorway.
Naruto looked up seeing Sakura standing there, again there was a moment of surprise, before the blonde smiled more.
"I would like that," he said, eyes tearing up a bit. He looked at the box, then back at the other two. "It was two nights ago, I went to sleep, and the next day when I woke up, his voice was gone"
"Kyuubi?," Sasuke asked.
"He's not sure why he isn't gone like Tenkai," Naruto said with a shrug, "He thinks it might be because he came to be when Kyuubi was put into me. It feels like he is a part of me, but not in someways"
"Maybe," Sasuke said, but paused. He seemed to think about something before looking at the other two in the room, "Well I mean technically Kyuubi did get pulled from his body, before being put into you Naruto. So maybe your Kyuubi is part of both of you. I mean if I got pulled from my body like that, I don't think I could handle it"
Naruto stood there looking dumbfounded for a moment, then started snickering, then laughing.
"Oh boy," Naruto said holding onto his stomach, as he laughed hard, "if you heard some of the things Kyuubi-fox was saying about you right now"
"Hmmm," the Uchiha boy said, "no wonder it feels like everyone from my great grandfather up to me feel like doing this." He then sneezed, which made Naruto laugh harder.
"Is this all one complete item," the clerk asked of Naruto as he handed over the box.
"No," Naruto said with a smile, "No, the items there can be sold seperately. That way the joy they bring can go to more than one child"
The clerk nodded, as she took the box away. She checked each item, cleaned them up a bit, then put the toys on the shelf. The blue plush fox that was there got immediately picked up by a little boy no older than five.
"You sure you want that thing?," The mother asked the boy.
"Uh huh," the little brown haired boy with dark blue eyes said nodding, "It's my foxeh"
"Your foxy huh?," The mother said walking to the counter with the boy, "What are you going to name it"
"Gonna names hims Dash," the boy said as the mother paid for the toy.
"Well Dash," the mother said to the oversized fox plush that the young boy was holding, "Welcome to the family." She then looked to the boy. "And you better take care of him"
"I will mom," the boy said.
"Alright then," the mother said as she lowered her hand, "Let's go home Tenkai."
Notes: Yes I know I ended this chapter cheesily. Hope you enjoyed it.