Yeah, we are nearing the end. Next chapter is going to be the last. Don't know when I'll have it done, cause school is a killer, but hope you all like. Also, thanks to you who nice enought to wish me well on my test or asked about them. I really don't know how I survived all of them, but I did.
Someone asked me to tell them about the Tsunade referance, I'm not going to give the exact quote, but it's in the part where Sasuke hits his head and the Uchihas' call in the family doctor (who can understand Mikoto when she's speaking in Japanese...hint-hint).
It was tranquil. That was the first thing he realized as his conscious weaved in and out of awareness. His mind hazy and wouldn't focus, yet he knew there was something important he had to remember. He needed to remember, the tip of it just slightly out of reach. He kept struggling, trying to reach the allusive thought and he was just about to grab it, but then the footsteps came. Just like every other time he was about to catch the memory and then he would be sent back into the darkness, where he couldn't think at all.
He didn't want to go back there. The darkness scared him, encircled him and refused to let go no matter how much he struggled. He hated it there. In the darkness there was no worries, no memories; no nothing. He couldn't even remember his name, he didn't know who he was; he was ignorant to the world. But the darkness was anything but a bliss nothingness. It was nothing. He was nothing confined within his grasps.
His thoughts fled him when he felt the begin of the darkness creeping into his mind. He screamed and hollered, but he knew no sound ever left his mind, and once again the void captured him again. He was nothing once again.
This had gone on for awhile, he couldn't actual say when because he had no idea how much time passed by when the darkness consumed him. But he never gave up, each chance he got to reach for his allusive memories he fought to grasp hold of them and each time he failed, his faith wavered ever so slightly. Yet there was always a new hope that would surface within him that he would reach it next time. However, he didn't know how many more times he had failed before there was a change.
The footsteps had come, but the darkness had not come right away like it always had. No, instead there was people talking, he couldn't make out the words, his mind was too much in a mess to make sense out of the heated conversation. The next thing he knew was the sounds of fighting. He knew those sounds well, he didn't know why—his memories inaccessible—but they brought fear to him and small whimper escaped him throat. It was then, for the first time the darkness had caged him within its grasps that he finally was able to remember who he was before he drifted off again. This time he didn't drift off into the void, but into a much need restful state of mind. The knowledge of who he was never to escape his grasp.
He was Naruto Uzumaki.
The next time he had any conscious thought, Naruto's mind was still clouded, but not as hazy as it was before. He could think, though his mind tended to jump from topic to topic, without having—unknowingly to him—an adverse reaction to an experiment drug that sent him in to a coma. Still, there were some of his memories just out of reach that he knew he needed to remember but couldn't quite obtain.
Naruto had tried to open his eyes several times, but they wouldn't obey him. They felt as if someone had glued his eyelids together with superglue and then, just for the heck of it, filled the rest of his body up with lead. There was a dull pain in his chest, right over his heart and his side would throb with ever beat of his hear. He was slightly worried that there was no feeling coming from either of his arms or legs. However, after much perseverance, the blond was able to make his fingers twitch lethargically and in an instant pain shot through his arms. An agonizingly painful cry wrenched itself from his throat as his body seemed to start burning ruthlessly at the simple movement.
A cold object was placed on his head and it took the Uzumaki a moment to realize that it was a hand. A hand which was jerked away from his head and hastily replaced with what he only assume was a wet cloth. Droplets of excess water began to trickle into his hair, cooling his scalp, while some flowed into the crevasses of his eyes. To Naruto, they almost felt like tears, wonderfully chilly tears against his too hot skin.
Tears. The simple thought sent his brain spiraling as the memories that he couldn't reach came crashing down on him. He saw the tears leak out of violet eyes, pleading with him not to leave, that everything was going to be alright when Minato had come home in his most violent drunken spur ever and he had tried to hide Kyuubi away in the back of his closet. But he couldn't stay, there wasn't enough room for the both of them to fit inside and close the door too. He would have had them escape through the windows and make a run for it; if it hadn't been for the fact of the iron bars across the window that were supposed to keep burglars out were now keeping them jailed within their own house. Naruto remembered everything from Minato find him and the beating to when the drunkard tried to forcefully exercise the demonic Kyuubi no Kitsune from his home.
He bolted up, the wet cloth falling from his head and his eyes snapping open, scanning the room. Looking for his brother and his abusive father in their dark, trashed—thanks to Minato—home, hoping he had not failed Kyuubi. However, all he found was whitewashed blank walls and different medical supplies all scattered across the room; neither his father nor Kyuubi anywhere insight. It took a second to click that he wasn't even in his house and that the only person in the room other than him was a woman with dark black hair. The white outfit she wore exposed her status of a nurse and features foretold of her Asian descent.
Naruto tried to call out his brother's name, but all that came out was a cry as his chest gave way to excruciating pain. His right arm coming up to grab hold of his chest. He didn't get the chance as the same cold hands as before restrained both his arms, keeping them away from his chest area.
"No, stop that Naruto, you're going to hurt yourself," the nurse tried to soothe the blond. She needed to keep his hands away from his chest, the blond had to be under constant watch because of Dr. Orochimaru and Kabuto (both in jail waiting for trail on both federal and criminal charges). The drug they had been using the Uzumaki as a test subject for had not only put him in a coma, but was highly addictive. Naruto had gone through withdrawal symptoms when he wasn't administered the drug and at one point, he had scratched his arms raw when he was in an unconscious state. That's when Tsunade had put him on the high alert list and made it mandatory for someone to be in the room with him at all times.
So when she had seen Naruto's hand moving towards his chest, Shizune immediately restrained his arms so he couldn't do anymore harm to himself. She could feel the gasp of pain that escaped his body and the whimpers that followed and as carefully as she could, the brunette laid the blond back down onto the bed. She quickly filled up a cup of water and grabbed the tiny plastic container filled with pills by the bedside table. Propping the teen up once again, she coaxed him to take the pain killers Tsunade had instructed all the medical personal watching over Naruto to give him upon waking and made sure he didn't choke as he greedily drank the chilled liquid.
Shizune barely caught the words of thanks rasped out and a slight smile spread across her face. "You're welcome." Ignoring the glare from the artificial lights coming off the clock, the brunette took note that it a quarter to eleven at night. She knew that she should call Tsunade—the woman had made it clear that if the patient were to wake up she was to be notified immediately—yet, she was a little nervous at leaving the blond's side for even a moment after seeing what he had done to his arms; and that had been when he was asleep. She was afraid to see what he would do to himself when he was awake.
Thinking that if she hurried, nothing terrible would happen to the patient, Shizune turned on her heels towards the door. She didn't get fair, as a clammy hand lightly wrapped around her wrist in an effort to stop her.
"Kyuubi," Naruto wheezed out when he knew he had the nurse's attention. His throat dry and scratchy, bothering him somewhat, but he continued. "My brother, whe-re, where is he?" The words were asked in between desperate gasps for air. "He's-s not hu-urt, is he?"
"You're brother's fine Mr. Uzumaki," Shizune replied, not sure what else to say. She knew little about the situation of the extent of the patient's injures, but she knew from gossip that the blond had sustained most of his injuries protecting his brother and his friends. That was it.
"A-and, Sasuke and Itachi? Are they ok-kay too?" the Uzumaki persisted, his voice becoming a bit stronger by wavering as well.
"They're fine as well."
"Good," Naruto said, his grip on Shizune letting go as he rested his head against the pillow once again. His fears fluttering away as he drifted off to sleep once again.
When they got the phone call at twelve thirty at night, Fugaku was about to murder the person on the end of the line for waking him up. He had just fallen to sleep, but when he heard Tsunade's voice on the end of the line, he was instantly alert. Their conversation was crisp in tone and to the point, the call was purely professionalism. His wife, who had been disturbed from her sleep by the ringing of the phone, had woken up in a matter of seconds upon hearing Fugaku's voice hard. Only hearing one side of the conversation, Mikoto began to worry.
The woman didn't say a word until the phone was resting back in its cradle on the bedside table. Even then, she didn't have to say anything, one looked into her husband's eyes and he said all there was needed to say. It was still go to hear the words spoken though.
"Naruto's awake."
The two had decided, when—not if—the teenager had awoke, they would take their sons and Kyuubi to the hospital. Fugaku and Mikoto didn't know the blond personally, but they knew what any person would need. It didn't matter what it time was, Naruto needed to know that there were people out there who cared about him. People who wouldn't physically abuse him. It was human nature to want acceptance and feel wanted, something that they would give him. He needed a stable environment; they would give him that too. Most importantly, he needed a real family and they would definitely give him that too. After being physically abused for years and looking out for his brother, it was time someone looked after him.
"I'll go wake the boys," Mikoto whispered softly, shuffling out of the bed and pulling one a robe.
Fugaku nodded his head in understanding as he slipped out of bed and headed towards the mahogany desk where his laptop rested. Pushing the power bottom on, the Uchiha waited for the modem to load up before opening up his files and skimming through them until he reached the file labeled Uzumaki. Clicking open the file, the man began to type down the date and time. He tagged the information for later use, saved the document, and closing down the laptop all before Mikoto got back.
The file was his little pet project, unknown to the rest of his family, him, Kakashi, and Obito were working up a case for Naruto and Kyuubi. They were going through his and Kyuubi's history to form a lawsuit against Minato for child endangerment (the state would charge the Namikaze for attempted murder) and then they were going Orochimaru and Kabuto for Naruto on the count of medical malpractice. When he was through with the all of them, they would have a long stay in a maximum security facility—too bad that they death penalty wasn't still in use—and the Uzumaki brother would be very rich, compensation money for their suffering and such.
"Fugaku-chan, the boys are getting ready," Mikoto stated as she reentered the room after informing all three teens what was going on. "You better get ready to go too."
"I am," Fugaku said, pulling some casual clothing out of the dresser adjacent to his desk, making it look as if that was what he had been doing all along.
The drive to the hospital had been made in silence, no one knowing what to say, but it was longer than some would have liked. The anticipation of what was to come not as exciting as it was frightening. They did not know what Naruto's reaction would be; Mikoto and Fugaku had both had to deal with similar cases. After a drastic incident, a person would totally change, becoming someone entirely different because of trauma and such. Then there was the fact the teen was abused since his brother was born and there was no doubt in Tsunade's mind that the blond had some type of mental trauma. The standing question was how would it change who Naruto was?
Mikoto and Fugaku both hoped nothing changed too drastically in the Uzumaki, for their boys and Kyuubi's sake. Not when Kyuubi had finally started to act like himself for the first time since the accident. Fugaku had heard Itachi praising Naruto a couple of time, his oldest son being impressed with the blond's abilities and respected him as a person, now more than ever before. And Sasuke, Sasuke looked up to the older Uzumaki. Mikoto wasn't blind to her sons either, she knew that both of them held a soft spot for the Uzumaki brothers in general, but she also knew that where as Itachi had taken a special liking to Kyuubi—even admitting it to the whole family—Sasuke liked Naruto and not in the platonic since either. She could see that her youngest son was falling for the oldest Uzumaki, but he wasn't ready to admit it. Not yet anyways.
When they finally arrived at the local hospital, Kyuubi was the first to jump out of the car, even though it wasn't fully parked yet, and was running to the building. Itachi was the next one out, calling after his boyfriend to wait but the redhead either didn't hear or wasn't listening, forcing the older Uchiha sibling to chase after the Uzumaki. Sasuke was running after them, having been caught by his seatbelt and the damn device didn't want to seem to release at first. Once he was free he dashed towards the hospital as well. The adults having to lock the doors to the car and speed walk in hopes of keeping up with the boys and not fall behind.
It was no surprise when Kyuubi was the first to come skidding to a halt in front of the entrance to his brother's room and flinging the door open with such force that a loud bang ricocheted off the walls. The first thing that he saw, was the doctor that the Uchihas had specially hired to look after Naruto standing in front of the bed, blocking his view of its occupant. He could hear her voice talking, the words not registering in his mind, as she was drawing blood and when she moved aside, Kyuubi was able to get a profile glimpse of his brother and he couldn't stop himself.
He was hugging Naruto with all his might, tears flowing down his face and nonsense coming out of his mouth. Kyuubi himself did not know when he crossed the room, but he didn't care either. He was hugging the one person that cared enough about him to put his life before anything else, even if it meant the blond's own life. He never wanted to let go. Kyuubi was afraid that if he did let go, Naruto would disappear. That he would relapse in to another a coma or this was all a sick horrible nightmare and his brother had yet to wake up. However, when he felt a hand brush through his loose wild locks of hair and looked up into deep aquatic blue eyes with his own tear filled violet, he knew this wasn't a nightmare, it wasn't a dream either. The gently reassuring smile directed solely towards him and the sweet coos whispered to calm him down told the redhead otherwise.
Slowly, with some hesitation, Kyuubi reached a shaky hand up and ran his fingers across his brother's face, where bandages use to reside. The slightly raised scar tissue against his callused fingers making him whine softly, knowing it was his fault the blond had them. Minato had made sure that he watched as he cut three lines on either side of Naruto's face—making six in total—to mark the blond as the Jinchuuriki he was, or at least that was what the drunken man had slurred out.
"I'm sorry." Those were the first coherent words that Kyuubi uttered and he himself meant to say.
A hand lightly grabbed a hold of the redhead's wrist, pulling it away from the scars. "Never be sorry, I'm not," Naruto replied, locking eyes with his little brother's. "I would do everything again; gladly die even, if it meant you would live. All of you." The last part was directed towards the two Uchiha brothers standing just outside the doorway, not wanting to intrude; nevertheless, when the oldest Uzumaki's eyes turned towards them, they both knew it was a request to come in and they eagerly joined Kyuubi next to the bed. "Besides, I don't look like him anymore."
It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was talking about, and three boys would have fallen into their desolate thoughts and memories of just why Naruto was in the hospital in the first place if it wasn't for the sunny grin that crossed over his face. The others could help but smile back, the dark thoughts pushed away into the deep recessives of their minds.
"They make you look more like cat than anything else," Itachi decided to put in his two-cent worth. Sadly, that just earned him a glare from his boyfriend and a thump on his head.
"No they don't! Felines are horrible menaces! Anii looks nothing like them!" Kyuubi barked out. "If anything, he looks like a…a…a-" The redhead was at a lose for words, he couldn't think of an animal that hand whiskers and wasn't his most hated nuisance.
"Kitsune," Sasuke finished the sentence without even thinking. For him, that was what he had recently been seeing Naruto as, a kitsune. The oldest Uzumaki sibling had the ability to trick others—he made them see him as a perfectly normal teenager with no problems in the world when he was definitely not—he was undeniably a faithful guardian towards his brother and a good friend as well. His eyes held wisdom the youngest Uchiha had never noticed before now and his hair was gold, the color a kitsune's fur would turn when it gained its ninth tail. The only aspect that didn't match up with the folklore, at least from what Sasuke knew, was if Naruto made a good lover and wife, foxes were sensual beings after all.
"Yeah! Exactly, a kitsune!" Kyuubi continued to chastise Itachi for even thinking to call his beloved brother a cat, not noticing any alternative meanings behind the youngest raven's words.
It was at this time that the older Uchiha couple finally caught up and entered the room. Naruto was the first to notice them, since the younger teens were all facing him and away from the door, and tensed up. An action which went unnoticed by Itachi and Kyuubi since they were held up with their conversation, but Sasuke certainly didn't overlook the action. Following the blond's stare, the young Uchiha found that the beautiful blue eyes were locked on his parents as they entered the room. He couldn't understand the Uzumaki's reaction.
Then again, he could.
However, as the couple came closer and into the light, Naruto calmed down. It was exactly as Sasuke had suspected, the lights on in the hallway were dimmed so they wouldn't bother patients but still light enough for the nurses and doctors to see where they were going. On the other hand, the lights on in Uzumaki's room were all the way on, making a shadowed area in the doorway and it was his father who was the same height and build as Minato to cross the threshold first. Shrouded in darkness and in his current state of mind, Sasuke knew that Naruto had assumed the silhouette to be his father and his body tensed in response. Only when he saw that it wasn't the psychopath did the injured teen calm down.
Itachi was none too gently elbowed in the side by his little brother, effectively breaking up his conversation with Kyuubi and indicated for him to shut up. The older sibling was about to lash out at the action, but upon noticing his parents' presence, he immediately halted. Stepping aside, the Uchiha brothers made room for their parents while Kyuubi stayed at the front of the bed.
"Hello Naruto," Mikoto greeted the blond first, a smile on her face. Fugaku gave his own greeting, a nod of his head, and turned his lips upwards in a fashion that wasn't exactly a smile but not a smirk either.
Seeing the kind gestures, a slightly strained smile appeared on Naruto's face in return and uncertainty clouded his eyes. "Hello…uh, not to be rude or anything, but who are you?"
"Anii, this is Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha, Weasel-chan and Sasuke's parents," Kyuubi introduced, seeing the uneasiness in his brother's eyes and knowing that the blond would trust him. "They've been really nice to me the last couple of weeks and have taken care of me too. And they've also helped you too; they're paying for all the medical bills."
Naruto was a bit wary of the two dark haired adults, but when his brother explained who they were, he became relaxed. When the redhead went further with his explanation, the older Uzumaki sibling felt indebted to the Uchihas for taking care of the only family he had left. That they were even taken care of his medical bills just had dumbfounded Naruto. He could understand them helping Kyuubi since he was Itachi's boyfriend and they knew him from the amount of time the redhead spent at the Uchiha household, but him? He gave them no reason to help him. He didn't even know them save from hearsay. That was it. There was nothing more between the blond Uzumaki and the older generation of Uchihas.
"Thank you for everything you've done," Naruto expressed his gratitude towards the couple in front of him. "I'll pay you back somehow, I promise."
Tears started to form in Mikoto's eyes as she listened to the teen. Here was the boy that saved both her sons' lives as well as his own brother's and he was thanking them. He was thanking them for taking care of his brother when it wasn't even necessary. They were repaying him and he wanted to pay them back. Naruto was truly a precious soul.
"No," Fugaku's strong voice denied the blond's offer. "You've done enough. You don't needed to do anything more."
"But-," Naruto tried to argue with the lawyer. He wasn't going to win. His odds of winning dropped down even more when Mikoto joined in.
"No buts and no more arguing," the female Uchiha stated; her tone absolute. "You don't need to pay us back and that's final, got that?" Naruto opened his mouth to disagree, but one glare from Mikoto had him snapping his mouth shut.
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good. Now, Daibo, is there any changes we should know about Naruto-kun's condition?" the raven haired woman asked. Her personality doing a complete one-eighty as her voice went from hard and final to soft and caring.
Tsunade, who throughout the whole time was standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene unfold in front of her, nodded her head. "There is."
Motioning towards the door, the doctor asked Fugaku and Mikoto to follow her to give the teenage boys room to talk while they had some privacy of their own. Exiting the room, the three adults didn't go far, just out in the hallway, right before the open door so that Tsunade could keep an eye on her patient.
"So what's wrong Tsunade?" Fugaku asked, watching the blonde woman's face for any gesture to indicate if the news was good or bad. He always found what he wanted when looking a person straight in the eyes seeing as the eyes reveals all about a person, and it was even easier with the Senju since she couldn't hold a poker-face. He didn't have to look hard at all, not when the emotions played across Tsunade's face.
A grimace spread across the doctor's face as her honey brown eyes flickered over towards the blond who was attentively listening to the redhead. "Honestly, I don't know. His injures are healing okay, but his chest needs more time to heal along with his side. He shouldn't do anything too extraneous now that he is awake. However, I'm more worried about the drug Orochimaru was testing on him."
At the mention of the snake's name, Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"From what I've been able to determine, the drug Orochimaru was testing was to help speed up a person's healing. Instead, the drug has been fighting against Naruto's immune system and in result, his healing was actually being slowed down," Tsunade explained her reason's for concern. "And then, we don't know what—if there is any—side effects the drug will cause in the long run. In the next couple of weeks, we'll have to keep a close eye on the boy."
"Understood," the head of the Uchiha household stated, turning his attention back into the room where his wife's attention had been focused for a while.
Inside the room, Kyuubi was handing over the once torn orange blanket over to his brother who had tears sliding down scarred cheeks and Mikoto couldn't stop the tears well up in her own eyes. She had helped the redhead mend the soft material when she had found him sitting on the floor one night trying his hardest to sew the pieces back together with tears flowing down his cheeks. When she had asked him what was wrong, he had told her how his mother—even though he had never meet her—was an excellent seamstress and both times she was pregnant she made a special blanket; a bright orange blanket for Naruto and a red blanket with foxes on it for him. The pieces of cloth before him were all that was left of the only gift left from their mother to his brother. It meant the world to him and now it was in pieces.
"And mentally?" Mikoto asked, turning her attention back towards her godmother. "How will he be mentally? You said that there might be negative repercussions because of the child abuse."
A content expression spread across Tsunade's face as relief spread through her. "As much as I hate being wrong, I'm not this time. Naruto is not weak minded or else he would have broken a long time ago under his father's beatings. He has something to live for and connect him to reality," at this the blonde made it a point to look towards Kyuubi who was currently sitting next to his brother on the bed, stroking the blond hair since the older teen was fighting off sleep and losing the battle. The Uchiha brothers were standing around the bed consulting with the Uzumakis. "As long as he has a connection to life, he will pull through this unscathed. That I can assure you."
A loud chirping noise awoke the sleeping blond and he had to stop himself from groaning. His body was still tired and he wanted to go back to bed, but as other birds started tweeting as well, Naruto knew that he wasn't going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon. He had stayed awake up until three-thirty or so in the morning before sleep finally overcame his willpower to stay awake to be with his brother and the Uchihas. Most of his time was spent talking to Kyuubi about random topics which either Sasuke or Itachi would join in on every now and again. Near the end of the early morning visit, Dr. Tsunade had given all of them a quick overview on his condition; though, Naruto knew that there was more to it than what she said, since the doctor had told him the full extent of his injuries before his visitors had arrived. He also knew she had taken the older Uchiha couple aside and told them the full extent as well, which he had no problem with. They were paying for his medical bills after all.
As the birds continued their early morning chattering, insisting he should wake up, the Uzumaki slowly opened his heavy eyes, not having to shield them from any intense light since there was none. All the lights in the room were off and the curtains to his room closed, only letting a sliver of the sun's rays through to rest upon the wall right above a chair. Just by looking at the chair, Naruto knew the piece of furniture had to be uncomfortable as hell. He couldn't understand why anyone would be willing to sit down on the ladder-back seat. Neither could he comprehend how someone could fall asleep in it, but there was someone doing just that.
An older man with white hair—or was it silver? He couldn't tell in the poor lighting—was slouched in the chair, lightly snoring. A book teetering in his left hand, threatening to fall at any given second from the lax grasp on the spine, and a cup of cold coffee rested at his feet. It was the wrinkled police uniform that got Naruto really wondering. Why was there a cop in his room?
After going through all the logical possibilities, as well as eliminating them all, of why the police wanted to see him, the Uzumaki was only left with one option. "Ano, uh, Jiji, wake up," Naruto called out to the white haired cop without any hesitation. Not caring that he was mixing Japanese with English, the blond did so on purpose so that the police officer wouldn't know he had just been called an old man. Sadly, the cop won't wake. He only groan and dropped his book to the floor before falling back into his original state of sleep. A twitch developed above Naruto's right eye. "OI! JIJI! Wake Up!"
Startled at the sudden noise, the man sprang up, only to have his legs collapse on him since they were asleep and him crashing to the floor. The coffee cup was tipped over in the process and the contents spilling all over the floor where the nice dark blue officer's shirt proceeded to soak up the liquid. Even more interesting was the fact that the book the man had been reading had ended up cushioning the policeman's head seeing as how his face was buried into the pages, literally. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the man's predicament, even though he was trying so hard to hold back his full blown laughter.
Hearing the chuckles, Kakashi picked himself up semi-gracefully and turned his attention to his godson. His own godfather had given him a call around two in the morning, informing him Naruto had finally woken up. However, he had the graveyard shift with Obito and couldn't leave work. It didn't help that he was on the other side of town either and by the time he could go through all the necessary procedures to get someone to cover his area, it would already be the time for him to go. He had ended up finishing his shift and Obito had dropped him off at the hospital on their way back to the station, his best friend and blood-brother promising to clock him out so he didn't have to worry about it.
By the time he finally reached the hospital, it was almost four in the morning and he had just missed his godparents and the rest of the family leaving according to the nurse on duty. Naruto was sleeping when he entered the room and he decided to only stay for a little while, to check up on the boy. To keep himself awake for his short visit, he had gotten himself a cup of coffee from the vending machine down the hallway and to the left and decided to read his Icha Icha Paradise book. At least until he was finished drinking his coffee, then he would leave. Being as tired and drained as he was, Kakashi had ended up falling asleep instead.
His wake up call was not expected and the results unwanted, but seeing his godson before him, holding back his laughter the best he could, smiling, Kakashi would have had it no other way. He could see the little blond haired blue eyed tyke still inside of Naruto. The little boy that Kakashi fear Minato had stripped away from the boy. He had been afraid for Naruto. But it seemed he needn't be. His godson was still there and he would do everything in his power to give the boy what he needed.
"Who are you, Jiji?" the blond asked, once his chuckles had died down.
This time, it was Kakashi who developed a twitch above his right eye. "I am not old, gaki!"
"Well, your hair tells me otherwise," the reply was emphasized with a figure being pointed at his white hair.
"Yeah, well, I was born with white hair, it's a family trait I suppose," the cop replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders.
"That still doesn't tell me who you are," the blond pointed out from his bed as he struggled to grab a glass of water sitting on the rolling tray next to his bed. The damn thing was just out of his reach and he was dying of thirst, or at least that was what it seemed like to him.
Seeing the teen's distress, and knowing that the boy would only end up hurting himself even more if this kept up, Kakashi picked up the glass and handed it to Naruto. "I'm Kakashi Hatake," at this part the man paused to let the blond finish the water and to make sure he had the teen's full attention. "Your Godfather."
Aquatic blue eyes blinked a few times in disbelief and Kakashi feared what his godson would do as his eyes began to flicker. "Honto ni? Really?" All the Hatake could do was nod his head, not trusting his voice when he could hear the slight mistrust in Naruto's tone. The blond then closed his eyes, a thoughtful expression covering his face. "You were at my mother's funeral. You're the only one that gave me any notice that day. I remember you smiling at me before I lost sight of you in the crowd," the teen stated, his brow scrunching up as he tried to remember his childhood. "I remember being happy to see you, but disappointed when you left." Finally, blues eyes were revealed once more and Kakashi could have sworn they were staring straight into his soul. "Ka-ka-shi-shi?"
A small smile spread across the white haired man's face at hearing his godson repeat the nickname he had been dubbed with when the blond was a tyke. "Hai."
"You know, I like calling you Jiji better," Naruto stated, a smile on his face as he watched Kakashi's eye twitch again.
"Gaki," the cop growled out, glaring at the grinning teen; though, neither of them could keep a straight face for long and both of them ended up bursting out in laughter. For the rest of the day, the two became reacquainted with each other. They joked with each other and just talked. Kakashi tried to refrain from asking about what Minato did to Naruto and Kyuubi, but it slipped out. He tried to retract the question, but the blond, with a bitter smile on his face, answered him truthfully. He told his godfather explicitly what he had gone through living with the alcoholic and the man keep on apologizing for never being around to help. In fact, Naruto got so sick of hearing him apologizes and reassuring his godfather it wasn't his fault that every time Kakashi did apologize he had to give the Uzumaki a dollar.
So far, Kakashi owed Naruto forty-two dollars and fifty cents on top of the ten he already gave him. The fifty cents coming from the halfway said sorry the white haired man let slip out.
It was nearing the end of the day, the sun having long since set, that the Hatake even thought about heading home. "Jiji," Naruto called out as Kakashi was heading out the door, his stained uniform top draped over his shoulders and the white shirt he wore underneath his regular attire seen, "before you go, can I ask you a favor of you?"
"Anything, Gaki," his godfather answered, a smile on his face. "You name it."
Question for this chapter: Does Sasuke seem a little perverted to anyone? After all, he's thinking about Naruto being a kitsune as a sensual lover.
Shi no Tenshi 902
