AN: I liked this story but as I said when I started it, it was never a fully planned story and as such might end suddenly. As I haven't added to it in several months I decided to write a closing chapter - it's just a summery of how the story closes and what happened after the last chapter. I have glossed over a lot in this but it is really just an end to the story. I hope you enjoy it anyway - thanks for reading.
Looking back over his life Naruto realised just how odd it would seem to someone that had not experienced the things he had. After all how many people had demons sealed inside them? If you include all the minor demons and such it couldn't possibly be more than a hundred. Then of course you could ask how many of them fell in love with the demon? Naruto was pretty sure he was the only one.
He could still remember introducing her to his friends when he let her out, he still smiled remembering the embarrassment Jiraiya suffered for propositioning her and the pain Kiba suffered for asking 'awkward' questions. He could also remember introducing her to the village, it had not gone smoothly but then again no one expected it too, there was just too much hate left over from the attack.
Over time people began to realise that she wasn't a bad person, they began to realise that she was a victim as much as they where – it took one very public breakdown in the market square to show them that. Naruto scowled at that particular memory, some bastard had made a comment about her murdering his family – Kyuubi had apologised, repeatedly, but he just kept shouting and shouting.
Even if it had been painful the breakdown had done a lot to push peoples opinions of her toward the favourable, such a public scene had led to those who had been sat on the fence giving her support and some that had previously hated her to move onto the fence. She was still widely hated but there seemed to be more people that liked her than hated her by the time her freedom had been public knowledge for a year.
There was still hatred for the demon now though it was much more muted, thirty years on very few still carried a grudge. That was the couple's biggest fear twenty-five years ago, people holding grudges and to more exact, trying to take from Kyuubi and Naruto what had been taken from them.
Twenty-five years ago Naoki had been born, their eldest child and a Hanyou, he had inherited his fathers' hair and eye colour but his mothers' eyes, ears and tails. This had proven to be far less of a problem than they imagined, instead of resulting in social outcast the boy had become something of a playboy – his 'features' making him hugely popular with the girls.
Kyuubi explained that it was a type of natural seduction that all Kitsune spirits possess but the combination of being part human, and thus unable to control the power, and possessing a demon lord's level of seduction (if slightly diluted by his human half) made him near irresistible.
Naruto found this quite humorous and didn't mind, as it seemed the boy was responsible enough, his tune changed however three years later when Nayuki was born – his precious daughter. She had inherited everything from her mother, her ears, tail, skin tone, hair colour and that inexplicable air of dignity – the only thing of her fathers was the deep cerulean colour of her eyes.
The reason that Naruto's opinion of the seduction ability of Kitsune changed with his daughters' birth was that he developed 'overprotective father syndrome'. Fortunately she seemed to be rather sensible when it came to boys but the presence of a fan club that would put Uchiha Sasuke to shame scared him witless. Kyuubi would laugh at him endlessly as he paced wholes in rugs whenever Nayuki went out anywhere, saying things like; 'boys can't be trusted!', 'what if he tries to do this! Or that! Or the other – my pore little princess!', or even, 'I'l kill him! I'll force him to marry her and then kill him!'
Despite this Nayuki didn't actually date anyone until she was sixteen, most of the time he was just inventing boyfriends that didn't exist, if she said she was going out with: 'Sayuri, Miki and Sousuke' all he would here would be 'Sousuke' – it was a kind of selective hearing.
However Nayuki was far more loyal than Noaki ever was – she ended up marrying her first ever boyfriend after they had been dating four years and she was twenty. She became Hyuuga Nayuki and had never shown any signs of regretting her choice.
Naruto was quite happy about this too, the man she married turned out to be Neji's son and as a consequence the two saw a lot of each other these days, especially after Neji had to take early retirement due to an accident on a mission that stopped him walking.
While Naruto was worrying about his daughter Kyuubi was much more worried about Noaki, sure he didn't sleep around but he toyed with the hearts of many girls. She seemed to find him on the doorstep being carried by some girls' angry father at least once a week.
She was much happier when he finally settled down; he married at age twenty-four, one year after his sister. The girl he married surprised many people, she was not rich, nor was she exceptionally beautiful, she didn't have a high rank and she didn't possess any political power.
When asked why he chose her he would point to his days in the academy and say, 'did you ever ask any of the girls in my class why they liked me? You would get an answer along the lines of "he's so handsome", "his tails are cute", "His dad is Hokage" or "he's really kind". Ask Shiori the same question.'
Having been prompted many people would then ask his wife what she say in him, she would always smile and give a variation of the following answer, 'because when he holds me I feel like I can never be cold again, because when he looks at me I can tell what he is feeling, when I hear his voice I know what he is really trying to say – even when words fail him. What is most important though, is that I can be me around him, I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not.'
That was enough for Noaki, she was real; she pretend to like his favourite food – she shouted at him for eating it too often, she didn't pretend to love the same music as him – she would criticise his tastes and try to tell him why hers where better. She did not just lay down for him she forced him to bend to her will – apparently Uzumaki men like the dominant type – who knew?
Yes life had been interesting for Uzumaki Naruto, now he sat on his hospital bed with tubes running in and out of him and surrounded by his family. He was only fifty, he had been Hokage twenty-five years now but he had passed on the torch to the seventh, he couldn't do it anymore.
Naruto's chakra pathways where in decay, although she was no longer present Kyuubi's chakra had done too much damage in the early stages of his life. If he had left her in there she would have continued to fix the damage and he would live twice as long as a normal human but it wasn't to be.
To his left sat his wife, her tails drooping downward as she held his hand, behind her, leant against the window, was Noaki – looking sadly out over the village. To his right sat Nayuki, tears running down her cheeks as she sobbed, Shiori, Noaki's wife, comforting her as her husband was dealing with clan business.
Naruto sighed, "Don't cry Hime-sama," He said whipping away her tears with a prematurely age weakened hand, "You know I hate it when you cry."
"But I don't want you to go!"
Naruto chuckled lightly, "We all go sometime, it's my time I'm afraid."
Kyuubi held his hand tightly, "I'm sorry."
Naruto looked at her, "What for?"
She smiled sadly, "For being so selfish, if I had just sat in my seal like I was supposed to you would live for a hundred more years."
Naruto smiled at her, "I wouldn't want to, if I had to chose between living eternity as I was, or a year with this family then I would pick my family every time. If I hadn't let you out then I would never have the idiot over there," he said affectionately as he motioned to Noaki, "Or my favourite little girl," he said pinching his daughters cheek, "I wouldn't give you guys up for the world."
Naruto felt a twinge and knew that the chakra pathway to his heart had just ruptured, it was mystical thing about chakra – you could feel it no matter where it was. Turning to his wife again he spoke meekly, "Take care of them Kyuu-chan – I love you all so much."
With that he let his eyes close, the heart monitor next to his bed flattened out and sank to a dull single tone, two shouts of "Dad!" and a shout of "Naru!" filled the room.
Seconds later doctors and nursed flooded in shouting things they couldn't understand, "He's coding!" was heard, after a couple of minutes two words came that shook everyone in the room further than they had been shaken already, a voice said sadly, "call him".
Moments later a voice was heard from a nearby doctor, "Time of death fourteen-twenty-three."
Naruto's family sat there numb as the doctor explained a lot of things they didn't understand, something about his chakra pathways being beyond repair and finally giving out.
Yes Naruto had led an interesting life, but as his consciousness faded he realised something, for all his mistakes, all his anger and all the stupid little things he had done – he would do it all again… and exactly the same way.
