As they approached the gates to the Hidden Mist village the gate keepers jumped in recognition of their war hero. One stepped forward while the other went to open the gates, "Welcome to the Mist Naruto-san."
Naruto laughed lightly at Kisames face, he apparently he didn't like being ignored. She nodded in thanks telling them that the other two were with her. She felt kind of weird as she walked through the village. They were looking at her with no hate only as if she was a normal person. But the ninjas who recognized her made a bigger deal of welcoming her.
Kisame was glad to be back here, the salty air and the graveled streets. He missed it, his home. He sent a thoughtful look at his other two companions and frowned slightly when he saw that Naruto was uncomfortable. He glanced at Itachi for any answers. Who just shook his head, 'later' he mouthed. Kisame nodded and went back to enjoying the moment.
Naruto shifted her walk for the hundredth time, she was so confused. It was so different than Konoha, she had to admit that the ocean view was definitely different than the forest. She liked it, she was just waiting for people to start cursing her. She sped up a bit in the direction of the Kage tower and nearly lost her balance when she heard Kurama talk. He hasn't spoken to her for the past few days, letting her get used to Itachi again. He just had to wait for the moment that she was walking a corner, making her run into the corner of the building.
She pouted as she rubbed the pain out of her nose. She opened her eyes when she heard laughing. "Looks like you couldn't dodge the big bad building either." Kisame laughed. (Joke from the past chapter.) That made Itachi laugh a little as well but immediately shut up when he saw the blondes glare. They both had to run to keep up with her.
Naruto pouted as she ran to the Kage tower, "Damn fox. Making me run into a building, who does that?" Kurama sighed, "Kit, you do realize that you did that to them back in that other village right?"
Naruto sweat dropped and sped up even more. Cursing on her way to the door she opened it harshly and grinned when she heard twin thumps on the other side. She carefully opened the door and burst out laughing when the shark and the raven were both on the floor. They glared as she snickered, "Dang guys, what is that anyways? House: 4, you guys: 0?" She rubbed it in.
Kisame and Itachi both tried to glare at her to death but it didn't work sadly. They stood up and followed her into the Mizukages office when they got permission. They awkwardly stood by the door waiting for the blonde to open it. Itachi was about to talk to her when she swung it open with a skip to her step.
Let's just say that Kisame and Itachi both had an issue with running into things that day. But it's fine since it was Naru and not a door that time.
"Mei! Noooo, Zabuza! Why?" Naruto cried when she saw them. Doing it, on the desk. They both shot up at the same time Kisame and Itachi looked up. Itachi at least had the decency to look away when the shark spilt blood. Naruto turned around a few times as she left to wait in the hallway, giving them a look as if scolding a child. "Eww." Naruto muttered when she closed the door. Of all times to walk in, why? She knew that they weren't talking, it was moaning she heard through the door. She cursed her hearing capabilities.
It was awkward, the silence in the hallway. The trio kept glancing at each other as they sat in the chairs waiting for the two obvious lovebirds come out. "That was hot." Kisame said after a few minutes. Itachi chuckled quietly but stopped once again by the look Naruto gave him. Eventually the door was opened by a deeply embarrassed Zabuza. "Um, you guys can come in now. Nice to see you Naruto, Kisame and… whoever you are."
With that the trio followed the other man into the office just in time to see Mei fix her hair into a rather messy bun. Naruto rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She looked at them both as they blushed under her criticizing gaze. She may be younger than them both but that didn't mean that they wanted to disappoint her or anything along those lines. Narutos eyes narrowed at Meis stomach. "You're pregnant." The blond stated making the tension even thicker.
Zabuza jumped and looked down. Mei blushed and grabbed Zabuzas hand in defense. Her stomach wasn't huge by any means she was only a few months along anyways, coincidently around the same time the request was sent for her to help them out again. They knew that she wasn't upset just surprised and maybe even hurt a bit, they would explain their reasons though. Mei softened her gaze, Naruto was hurt probably thinking that they didn't want her to know. Mei sighed and looked at the other two. She was surprised to see the Uchiha there but knew about their weird friendship/ undefined relationship going on. She looked at the other person and squealed when she saw Kisame.
"You came! I'm so glad." Well that did nothing to ease the situation. Kisame gave an awkward smile and glanced at Itachi who felt just as uncomfortable but hid it well. Zabuza and Mei sighed, they didn't want Naruto to feel bad by any means. But, they didn't want to talk about it with the other two there. "How was your trip Na-" Zabuza was cut off by a very angry/ covering hurt blond who sent them both glares that sent shivers down their spine.
"Explain." Naruto stated. What the heck happened in the past year? Did they get married and now they were having a kid, all without telling her? These people were her family, just as much as Jiraiya was. It hurt to not be in the loop, did they not feel the same?
Itachi and Kisame were equally confused. What the heck was happening? They looked at each other and gave small shrugs. Mei coughed. She had to explain and the sooner the better. "How about I tell you where you will be staying for now while I talk to Naruto?" She waited for them to nod, she gave them the address on the paper and told them to give it to the receptionist to assign them a chunin to give them a tour. Even if Kisame originated from here the layout was still new.
Once the other two left Naruto stood her ground but let her hurt show more. They started to talk. Well, talk.
|With Kisame and Itachi|
They both shut the door behind them and stayed for a minute, dazed by their confusion. They both snapped out of it when they heard Naruto yell, her voice cracking; "What the hell you two?!"
That got them moving as they quickened their pace down the hall staying quiet until they had a bit more privacy. They ended up getting two jounin named, Haku and Chojuro. They were going to talk to the Mizukage and Zabuza- dono but they were apparently… occupied. They were both strangely ecstatic and worried when they found that Naruto was here. When Itachi asked why that was they both just said that they would talk later on if they knew Naruto personally.
Haku and Chojuro gave their tour two the other nins. They showed where the academy, library, council hall and a shopping square was. They stopped to get some food really quick before they went to the apartment. When they finished they got to a medium sized building that reminded Itachi a lot of the jounin apartments back in Konoha. When he stated that they laughed and said that that's where they were. There were a few buildings for chunin, a couple for jounin and ANBU.
The apartment was obviously newer based on the cleanness of the halls. They walked down the hall until they came to room 104. They walked in and Itachis eyes grew. The apartment was nice, really nice. There was darker wood flooring, with neutral toned walls. The kitchen was off to the right and was based with lighter browns. The living room, that you first walk into, had a black couch with a sturdy coffee table. There was a four person dining table and a TV all set up already. The walls were bare, which bade well but otherwise seemed to be furnished.
"You guys can check it out. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. You two along with Naru- chan will stay here until Mei-Sama can get something else together." Chojuro announced. The previous Akatsuki members nodded and went their separate ways.
Itachi took his time checking out the apartment. It was much nicer than he would have thought. He went to his designated room and smiled. It was his. It felt nice to have something that he could consider his, at least for a little while. It seemed to be made for him. The walls were a light grey but had cherry wood dressers, nightstands and a bed frame. The bed was a queen sized and was bare so he would have to pick out some bedding, not that he minded; at all. There was a darker red rug under the bed as well that was incredibly soft. He smiled, loving it.
Itachi backtracked just in time to see Kisame come out who had a smaller, fond smile on. They both shook their heads slightly. They finally had a place to call home after so long. Kisame followed Itachi into the living room to see Haku making tea.
"So, will it work?" Chojuro asked. It was one of the nicer apartments but it was the least they could do with their war hero and a previous swordsman. Kisame grinned, "Yeah, it's great. Thanks." Itachi just nodded.
Haku brought the tea over to the seating area and sighed. "That's good. All of the apartments have the basics. They have kitchen and cooking utensils, as you can see. The furniture is also furnished so you only have to make it yours really." She explained.
Itachi nodded again, that made sense, also helpful. He turned to look at Kisame when he spoke up. "So, what was all of that back there? And what was wrong with Naruto when we were walking to the tower? She seemed upset."
Haku and Chojuro both opened their mouths to explain but closed them when they heard the last bit. "Did somebody give her trouble?" Haku asked, worry evident in her features. Itachi sighed when all three looked at him.
"No, that's not it. As you all know she's the jinchurraki for the nine-tails. Konoha was really bad for her, it was terrible when she was younger and it never got better." He said broadly. There was silence. "How bad was it?" Kisame asked. He barely just got to know the blond girl but she was good to be around. Honest, funny, considerate.
Itachi rubbed his face, talking brought up memories. Memories that he wouldn't mind keeping buried. "She was officially kicked out of the orphanage when she was four. Most of the time they would lock her out. She hardly ever ate and was cursed at constantly. She was beaten though, more than I can count. An inch to her life most of the time. The last time I checked her file was a few years ago, she was seven. Right before I had to leave Konoha myself. It was six inches thick, that was with the doctors being honest. Who know how bad it really was, but it was bad."
There was a tense silence. Chojuro's mouth was open and eyes were wide. Haku had her hand covering her mouth and her eyes were wet. The silence was broken by Kisame, "My god, why didn't she leave sooner?"
Itachi couldn't hide his wince even if he tried. He barely whispered when he answered. "It was my fault. I wanted her to watch over Sasuke when I left since I couldn't. She did and it was my fault she went through it more than she had to." His eyes were glazed as he spoke more to himself.
The only sounds that could be heard was the sipping of tea and the faint ticking of a nearby clock on the otherwise bare walls. After a few minutes he sighed and spoke up again, "So what was happening in the office?"
|Back with Naruto|
"What the hell you two!?" Naruto cracked. Mei and Zabuza opened their mouths to talk but was cut off. "W-what? D-did you get married and didn't tell me, were you even planning on it? How, wh-why, wh-?" Naruto cried, holding her head. She pulled her face mask off angrily and gripped it tight.
"Naruto, no. I swear we didn't. Can we explain? Please?" Mei asked feeling bad. Naruto looked at her sharply as if she forgot where she was. She nodded slightly and slumped in the chair. The other two sighed in relief and sat down next to each other.
"Naruto, Mei is only eleven weeks pregnant. We sent the letter as soon as we found out. We wanted it to be a surprise, to be told in person and not over a letter. We were going to write you a letter either way to come to our wedding. Naruto, we aren't married yet, we were waiting for you." Zabuza explained. Naruto grew to be like his little sister, an annoying one at that but family nonetheless. He didn't want her to feel bad.
Naruto dropped her hands from her head, "W-what?" They didn't forget about her? She felt so relieved, slightly embarrassed that she freaked out like that but still relieved.
"Naruto, we aren't married. We are in a few weeks though, we were waiting for you. We wanted to tell you this all face-to-face. We didn't forget about you, Naru." Mei explained.
Naruto nodded and cleared her throat, wiping her tears. "Sorry guys, it's been a long few months." The others laughed and agreed. "So, uhh congrats?"
They laughed and said thanks. They made a bit more small talk until they got to some bigger stuff to talk about. "So, when's the baby due?" Naruto asked excitedly, she always loved kids. The others hid a grin. "October twelfth." Naruto grinned, that was only two days away from hers. "Really? Wow! That's exciting. So you're getting married in three weeks and having a kid around seven months from now. You excited, I'm sure you'll be great parents."
Zabuza blushed while Mei laughed, "Thanks Naru, couldn't do any of it without you though." Naruto shook her head, "No, you would have been fine." Waving off the praise. The other two grinned to each other, she was going to flip! Zabuza cleared his throat and faked hurt. "What do you mean Naruto?"
Mei nodded, same emotion. "Yeah, we had to wait for you. It's not like we can have a wedding without the maid-of-honor. Don't even get us started on having a kid without his/ hers godparent. God, that would just be awful wouldn't it Zabu-chan?" She stated innocently. She had to muffled her laughs at his face turning red, this time with a mix of embarrassment and anger. He contained it though and continued.
"Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Except, I'm just glad that I'll be able to breath a bit more on our wedding and not have to deal with you and your emotions. I don't even want to think about how bad they'll be with you being pregnant at the same time as all of this going on. Thanks, Naruto right now, for dealing with her." He grinned at her fuming.
Mei opened her mouth to retort back to her fiancé when she heard a thump. They both looked over at the blond, having to peer from behind the desk and then lean on it to stop from falling over. She freaking fainted from the news? Geeze! Zabuza than winced when he was hit upside his head. He glared over at the red head and sighed.
"Emotions, really? You want to give me that? You want to start?" Mei countered with a hand on her hip.
|Later that night|
Naruto literally skipped to the address of the apartment as she smiled. She hasn't felt this happy since, she couldn't remember how long. But, it felt nice. She had her best friend back her sister was going to get married to her idiotic brother. She was going to be a godparent! She would make sure to do a better job at it than her own. If the kid needed her, she would be there in a heartbeat. Not that she thought anything would happen to Mei or Zabuza. But she would be there for him/ her anytime they needed her.
She actually had a reason to stay here other than Itachi. Mei and Zabuza wanted her here. So, she would stay.
She ran up the stairs and then opened the door. Only to stop in her tracks when she saw the apartment, it was freaking amazing! She whistled appreciatively, "Dang!" She mouthed. She jumped when Itachi came around the corner. "Oh, hey."
Itachi eyed her carefully. She seemed to be in a much better mood than she was when they left the office. "Uh, hey to you too. You seem to be in a much better mood." He was surprised when she skipped into the kitchen. Did she really just skip? She was 16 not 6, not that he really minded he was just surprised.
"Yup! I don't really have a reason to not be happy. I mean, I'm going to be a maid-of-honor in a few weeks. I'm gonna have a godchild in the upcoming months. We're here to stay, so what's to be upset over?" She grinned manically as she turned to Itachi once she got some ice cream out of the freezer.
Itachi stood there wide eyed. They. Were. Going. To. Stay. They were going to stay! Wait, what? It took him a minute for him to register everything she had said. She was going to be in a wedding, ok. She was going to be a godmother? That was great!
"Congrats, Naru! That's great news. You'll be a great bridesmaid and as a godmother." He congratulated. He was surprised when Naruto jumped into his arms. He tried not to pay attention to how their bodies fit perfectly with each other, or the warmth their bodies radiated off each other. He tucked his face in her neck, while he could without it being weird. "Thanks Itachi." He only nodded and reluctantly let her go.
Naruto nodded to herself and opened her icecream while looking through the drawers for a spoon. "So, since we're going to be staying here I figured I would at least want to get reregistered in the ninja roll or something. Eventually anyway. Well the point is, I got you a meeting with Zabuza. He's apparently the chief of ANBU. They actually combine two, genin with chunin and jounin with ANBU. They have a weird system here." She mused.
Itachi nodded in relief and happiness. This was it, he could finally have a normal life again. There were only two things that he could think about it getting any better. Seeing Sasuke and Naruto, more so anyway. He sighed and shook his head. He was happy with what he could get. "Thank you, I'll make sure to talk with him tomorrow."
Naruto nodded with the spoon with icecream in her mouth as she put the icecream back in the freezer. She licked her spoon clean and threw it in the sick. "That would be… good." She finished as she watched Itachis hand wipe something off her mouth.
'Do not think about how soft his hands are. Do not think about how soft his hands are.' She thought desperately. Her eyes were glues to his movements and how he licked the chocolate off.
"You had some, there. Icecream, I got it but.. yeah." Itahci explained calmly. While on the inside he was freaking out. How did that even happen!? I did not move my hand! Smooth, real smooth Uchiha. What the heck is wrong with you?!
Naruto nodded dumbly, her lip still tingly. "… Thanks." She snapped out of it after a second with a jump. "Yeah, ok so I'm going to go to bed. See you tomorrow. G-good night." She ran off without an answer, beet red.
Itachi stood there in utter embarrassment but awoke to reality when he heard the shower running. He walked over to the cabinets and hit his head a few times. He looked to the dark living room and saw Kisame walk into the kitchen. He groaned, he knew what was coming.
Kisame could barely stop laughing to talk. "… Oh man… T-that was terrible. Real smooth Itachi… That was.. wow… Ju-just wow." With that he slapped Itachi on the back and went to bed. Itachi groaned again and hid his face in his hands and hit the back of his head on the counter again.
Smooth, real smooth.