Author's Note: This chapter jumps ahead in time. I thought completely fleshing out Katana's entrance into the Academy and the progression of the school year would be a bit, hm, tedious. This chapter opens with her relationships with other characters already established. Only the important ones i.e. Naruto, Sakura and Ichigo had needed to be cultivated and fleshed out.

PART 2

Tsuki Ni Muragumo
(Clouds Over the Moon)

Ten Months Later

"I'm getting really sick of this rain."

"Tell me about it. At least we found shelter in time."

"… True." The man in ANBU style fatigues wearing a bird mask turned away from the mouth of the cave and nodded to their silent companion. "Oi."

The third man glanced up. He was dressed exactly the same as the other two men save the wolf mask that denoted his codename. He had been staring into the rain vacantly for a while now, still as a statute.

"When this lets up, you're point man. I need to know what's up ahead before I send my men through that pass."

Wolf nodded.

The man in the bird mask turned to the second man who was wearing a dog mask thus his name being Dog. "You cover his back, clean up whatever he misses…"

"Hn."

"Might miss." Bird rolled his eyes under his mask. He didn't know why the man was so hypersensitive to criticism - and it wasn't his business to ask or care. He was just happy to have someone like him as part of the group, even though he was doing it out of obligation rather than because he actually wanted to be there. Too bad nothing was riding his ass, Bird gave an inner grumble. Win or lose, it didn't matter to him. Even if he hadn't said so himself, it would have been an easy guess.

Dog poked Wolf in the side with a muted chuckle. "Don't be a stick in the mud. I don't want to be here anymore than you do. I mean, I do want to be here, it's just… Shit." He abandoned the train of thought. "Look on the bright side," he said cheerfully, "after this you'll get to go home."

The man shifted from a crouch to a full sitting position, one knee up. His normally toneless voice held a hint of longing. "I haven't thought of that word for a long time now."

Bird leaned against the cave wall and eyed him through his mask's eyeholes. "Yes, considering." Pause. "Well, what about her?" he suggested offhandedly.

Wolf looked at him again and waited for the other elaborate.

"Isn't she worth going home to?"

The man looked away again. "Yes."

"But…?" Dog prompted, hearing the unsaid hovering in the air. When the man didn't reply, he poked him again. "Come on, you ain't getting out of answering. Spit."

At length, Wolf relented reluctantly. "There are… conflicting circumstances."

"Such as…"

"Me."

Bird tilted his head to the side, faintly amused. "Heh. Never thought you'd change your mind."

"What are you talking about?" Wolf's query was deadly, measured.

"Well, the last time you were with us," Dog pointed out, "that's not what you said. What you're saying now is completely different. Now you're saying it's you."

Wolf did not reply immediately. "I don't see how this is relevant."

Bird shrugged. "It's not. Just sounds like you're making excuses… You know what I think?" He inclined his neck and grinned wide under the mask. "You're afraid."

He felt the other man's glare this time.

The rain let up then and the three masked men were finally able to leave the cave, which they did swiftly and silently. The downpour had cost them valuable time and they continued their mission with great haste.

I've always believed time was an illusion, almost like the way some people think age is just a number. You know it's not pertinent to your condition until it catches up with you all in one go. I suppose the Fifth had realized this while she was pretending to fish around for the next Hokage… playing the bait along the bottom, watching the one she had chosen as her successor a decade ago try to swim hard enough and long enough to catch up. For long now I'd known this was a part of their quirky relationship: make him wait and wait and wait until he blew his top.

But he surprised me because Naruto wasn't what I liked to call a patient man. Believe me, if you were the one who did maintenance on his place for a small sum and had to be the one to tell him, sorry, there are some things that I can fix and then there are some things where, well really, I'm not your fucking plumber. Well, you just knew.

In so many words at least, I couldn't actually say those things to him. Oh I could, he wouldn't get mad at me, but there were few reasons why. One, he was sponsoring my education out of his own free will. Two, his son was my best friend/boyfriend. Three, I had the world's biggest crush on him.

I know how it sounds, a crush on my boyfriend's dad. How's that for sick? I didn't even know that's what it was until my female friend, Hyuuga Tomoe, witnessed me talking to him one day while she was with me and when he walked away, she stared long and hard at me. When one of those Hyuugas looks at you out of penetrating silver-white eyes, it's not a pleasant experience. I pretended not to notice, though I knew I damn well couldn't fool her.

She confronted me about it three days before graduation during a spar. Tomoe had her foot on my chest, positioned right between my ribs where if she wanted to, could press down hard and crack about three of them in one go. At the beginning of the semester, that wouldn't have been too farfetched. She had hated me something fierce, partly out of ignorance and partly out of jealousy. The boys had descended like vultures the minute I sat down in that classroom. It was scary, it was flattering as hell and naturally it made most of the other girls absolutely despise me.

Naïve little me just thought initially, wow, I can't believe so many people want to be my friend. At the time, I didn't understand the female subculture at all - so thus was hurt and puzzled as to why I kept getting treated like crap by my own sex. I didn't understand why Ichigo got so tight lipped and possessive while we were at school, often getting into fights with the other boys. There was once an up roar because he tangled with the top rookie and almost wound up in the hospital. I was puzzled, of course… perplexed. I hadn't known the guy was even interested in me. When I finally approached him and asked him what was going on, he just lifted his chin defiantly and said, "Uzumaki just made a stupid assumption about my interest in you. I am interested in you but not for relationship reasons. Best you make sure that gets through his thick skull before he mouths off again otherwise I won't be responsible for what happens." Message received.

But after that incident I took note of my surroundings and found all of it - the social structure, the back biting - to be petty and irritating. This insane cloud of jealousy and resentment following me around was ruining my life (and Ichigo's although respectively most of it was his own doing). So I endeavored to end it once and for all and did so in one momentous incident.

One of the most sought after boys approached me during a break from a class survival exercise. I was reading a book, totally engrossed as usual, and only gave him a token glance when he drew near. Ichigo had been sitting up a tree across the way talking it up with two other guys on the ground.

This boy, whom out of respect for his family I shall leave nameless, became impatient with my lack of interest in his regaled presence and snatched the book out of my grasp. Out of my grasp. He actually took the book OUT OF MY HANDS WHILE I WAS READING IT.

Ichigo's mouth dropped open.

My gaze slowly rose up and my eyes narrowed in barely suppressed rage. Screaming at all of my senses to remain calm, I stood up gradually and politely asked the creature for my book back. Thinking he was playing hard to get, or being cute, whichever, he refused. I asked again, this time more firmly and less patiently. He still refused.

I took a deep breath. Found my calm center. Lost my calm center. By this time everyone was watching us. This is what immediately went through my mind: Fuck this. If this baka was going to lower himself to act like those assholes I used to have to deal with out in the world then I was going to treat him just like them.

Using that feared Uchiha speed, I punched him out cold took my book back and just went back to reading. Everyone heard me mutter, "Moron made me lose my place."

Needless to say the Academy was not happy with me after that. If several students hadn't spoken up for me and offered their support, I might have gotten a sharper reprimand. About the only embarrassing thing that happened was when they had to call my sponsor in about it. I think I spent that whole conversation with him hiding behind my hands.

Anyway that was how I won Tomoe's respect and eventually her friendship. She was a worthy spar of course, coming from the Hyuuga clan (the Branch House) and they trained their offspring to be exceptional in the art of ass kicking. Affectionately we called each other rivals although we preferred being friends. Any and all tough talk was just for show and our personal amusement.

So it was with me at her mercy that she stated it frankly: "You have a crush on Uzumaki-sensei."

Was I the only person who didn't call him that? I pushed off her foot and pulled myself up until I was sitting Indian style on the ground. There was enough sense that she didn't knock out of me that I had the wit to play dumb. "I have a what on who now?"

The brunette leaned forward, her high ponytail swinging around her head a little with the movement. "Don't be dense, Katana, doesn't suit you. Maybe your clueless boyfriend hasn't noticed yet but I have. You don't need a high level of insight to see the painfully obvious."

I folded my arms and set my jaw. "I do not have a crush on Naruto."

Her eyes lit up. "You called him by his first name!"

"Stupid. He told me to." I stood up and brushed myself off. "That doesn't mean I have a crush on him just because I call him by his first name." I exhaled. "What would it matter if I did, it couldn't happen even if I wanted it to."

Nose wrinkle. "Oh nonsense. In nine years you'll be twenty-one and he'll be about thirty-five. It won't matter then."

Were we actually having this conversation? I gave her the same look I usually reserved for Ichigo when he said something lingering on the fringes of Moronville. "Will you listen to yourself? I admit he isn't bad to look at… and he has really nice eyes…" My stomach did flip-flops and my voice almost wavered. "But I don't like him like that."

"Katana…"

"I don't!"

Tomoe just shot me a very frank look of disbelief. "Uchiha, that is registering as a positive on my Bullshit Meter."

Heh, so she had one too. "Hn. It doesn't matter." I moved toward a small bleacher stand and sat on the last row. She joined me. "A crush is a crush. They come and they go. Besides I like Ichigo a lot and, well, he's my age. What we have goes deeper than a crush."

Tomoe raised an eyebrow at me. "Really? Deep? Ichigo? Girl, you are reaching. The deepest thing about that guy is when he's licking the bottom of a ramen bowl. I'm surprised he even knows what a girl is."

I leveled a glare at her. "He knows what a girl is, Tomoe." I didn't add to the effect of why I knew this so confidently.

Her eyebrows climbed at the implication. "Ooh really? Is he some kind of closet Romeo? You practically have your pick of men and you date… the dobe."

"Said dobe is graduating," I pointed out. "He can also hold his own well in a spar. Give him credit where it's due." A tiny stab of guilt appeared in my gut then. I never praised him like this to his face even though he had no qualms about giving me enthusiastic reviews in front of me to other people. I attributed it to our odd dynamic and left it at that.

Tomoe shook her head. "I'll admit he's formidable… when you can get him to fight a woman. Honestly I just don't see it. It's been one of the great mysteries of this school year: why does the class beauty date the class clown? Although," she grinned wickedly, "it's been so much fun watching the guys spout steam over it."

Perhaps it's because I had a pure upbringing uncolored by the biases and inherent insanity of societal whims. Why any sane member of the human race would care about the dating politics of Ichigo and me will remain a continuous source of perplexity to me. I settled my elbows on my knees and folded my fingers under my chin, studying Tomoe thoughtfully. "You are so weird."

Left field. "Huh?"

"You are. How come out of your entire family, you're the only one with a personality? That relative on your side, what's-his-name, Neji?" Nod. "If he wasn't human I'd swear he was descended from granite."

She laughed behind her hand. "Heh, you're not exactly living up to my expectations either, Uchiha."

My eyes characteristically narrowed. "How so?"

Tomoe laced her fingers together and folded them behind her head. "Well," she leaned until her back encountered the bleacher seat behind her. "I did my homework. Somehow the words 'elite' and 'feared' just don't come to mind when I think about you."

"Oh? Then I'll being see you on the battlefield in the Chuunin Exams," I mock-threatened.

Semi-amused she cut me a sidelong glance. "You'll be the first Uchiha to take it in a decade, you realize that? All that attention you've gained this year will be nothing compared to what will happen once the word gets out."

Reign in the parade. I gave an indecisive sniff. "Doubt it. I'm not a legitimate heir. I have no contest to the money nor the estate, however the real estate agency is being very understanding." The sarcasm rolled off my tongue. "They can't kick me out but they can make me pay rent. Rent for living in my father's house." I stretched out my legs to get the strain out of them and to prevent the muscles from locking up.

It probably didn't help telling that agent you spoke with to go screw himself.

Tomoe tapped her chin. "Wow. I suppose living like a missing nin wasn't appealing, since you're actually putting up with all of this. Life with an infamous criminal must have been hell."

I bristled. I liked Tomoe but sometimes she really pushed my buttons. "My father is not a criminal. He's made a lot of bad choices but he is not worthy of condemnation. Not if you really knew him."

Tomoe watched me solemnly. "Were you guys close?" she asked quietly.

I shrugged. "More or less. I mean, he's my father." My gaze drifted to the blue sky.

Withholding a mirthful snort, my friend nodded. "Indeed." I smiled at her and nudged her with my foot. She smiled back and rocked to her feet. "It's been real, Kat. I need to get home before the old people sixty-four me."

I got up too and we exchanged a brief hug in the female way before she took off. I sat back down again and wondered at my friendship with this strange Hyuuga clan deviant. She truly was a colorful person. If you met the rest of that strangely stoic bunch, you'd have sworn the stork dropped the wrong basket on the front stoop. Tomoe told me it was because the clan head, Hinata, had influenced her to be more expressive and not follow common "emotional" conventions just because everyone else did. I believed it, since I had the honor of meeting her once and she struck me as a sweet sensible woman.

Except for her infant son. That little bastard pulled out two chunks of my hair. Tomoe nearly died laughing while I held the demon at arm's length and begged for someone to take him away from me. I wasn't much on kids or babies and, unless they were my own, I didn't want anything to do with them in the future.

Alone on the training grounds now I wallowed in the comfortable silence that followed Tomoe's departure. My eyes slid shut and my arms looped around kneecaps and my head gradually dropped down in the cradle of my arms.

I must have sat there for twenty minutes before I felt and then heard someone approach. He stood in front of me for a moment before climbing up the bleachers one, two, sat behind me before immediately leaning over and embracing me from behind, tucking his chin over my left shoulder. I shivered at his touch and fought back a trembling grin. Our relationship was combative and most of the time I acted like I'd rather drop kick the bastard than stand one more moment of his irritating presence. Yet I also couldn't deny the same part of me that was driven crazy by him was also crazy for him. There were times I couldn't believe how deeply he'd gotten his hooks into me and how fast. But this moron had done it.

"What is that?" he began at length.

"What?" I opened my eyes.

"Are you wearing perfume?"

"Ichigo, I can't afford perfume. Why would I be wearing it?"

He pulled me halfway around and before I could protest, his lips were on mine. Since we'd been officially "going out" for most of the year, we'd had lots of practice (especially after a good long spar). That awkward first time was but a fond memory.

After a moment, I started laughing, interrupting the intimacy and he pulled away, mildly peeved.

"You know it's really hard to kiss you when you do that," he pointed out logically. Playfully I pinched his nose, still in his arms. He responded by nuzzling my cheek before pulling away to sit beside me, although he kept one arm about my waist. Ichigo was the touchy-feely type.

"So what are you doing out here?" he asked amiably.

"I was kicking Tomoe's ass. What have you been up to? Your mom still driving you crazy?"

Ichigo exhaled a hurricane of a sigh. "Please. It was all I could do not to chuck kunai at the wall just so she'd yell at me. Is it possible to die from your mother glomping you?" He stretched out his legs and arms. "At least she's happy… I'd rather she glomp me than be like that Ino friend of hers, crying uncontrollably from sheer joy." He shuddered. "She acts like a real aunt so much it's scary. Mom II."

"Aw," I cooed reaching out to pinch both of his cheeks - hard, "poor baby."

"Ouch! Let go, baka!" He knocked me off him with one arm. Ichigo rubbed his red pinch marked cheeks and glowered at me. When he did that his green eyes positively smoldered - something that in later years he used to his great advantage during crucial moments.

I backed off, smirking. "You're such a pussy, Uzumaki. Aren't you sick of wearing the dress in this relationship?"

"WHAT!"

Chuckling in a low evil manner, I leapt neatly away to avoid the retaliatory fist. Ichigo's brain stopped working when a key insult hit home and prompted him to kick the ass of the offender regardless of whom it was. Any girl finding him reluctant to take to a fight with her quickly caught on to this.

Naturally I was the first.

I backed away slowly, teasingly as Ichigo stalked toward me. There were three ways this could go down. He could challenge me to a duel, insult me back, or do both at the same time. With Ichigo you just never could tell what he was in the mood for.

His unusual bout of silence egged me to continue. "I hit too close to the mark, huh? So what is it you do in your spare time?"

He pounced. Watching his descent, I simply sidestepped and watched him crash rather ungracefully in the dust at my feet. I shook my head in mild amusement. If you asked me, Ichigo would have a better chance of becoming a sideshow attraction than a respectable ninja. Today he was wearing black pants, a black shirt that was open over a white shirt bearing another one of those "witty" kanji messages. This one read If I Look Like I Don't Care I Probably Don't Care.

God, and he wonders why everyone picks on him!

After spitting out the dirt, he rolled over onto his back and gasped as my foot came down hard on his chest. His head thunked back against the ground. Ironic, my upper lip curled. Wasn't I on the receiving end of one of these not too long ago? I leaned over on my knee and smirked into his scowling face.

"Just you wait," he growled. "I'll beat you in front of everyone."

I batted my eyes at him flirtatiously. I let him knock my foot off. Straightening I put both hands on my hips and waited while he picked himself up. "Ichigo," I sighed through my nose loudly. "Until you can push past that barrier that bars you from attempting to hurt me, you are never going to beat me."

"Ne? Barrier? What the - A barrier, there's no barrier!" he fumed, folding his arms stubbornly.

Taking two steps that were more like hops, I entered his personal space. By reflex he blinked when I tapped between his eyebrows, traced down to the tip of his nose and gave him another little tap. "Yes… there… is…" I sang gaily. More seriously I added, "You give your all when we fight but when it comes down to pulling the final punch, you lock up. I've seen you do this on too many occasions to blame it on bad focus or lack of stamina."

"I do n-"

I didn't let him finish. "And continuing to deny it is going to get you killed." I took his chin in my hand and kissed him quickly. "I don't want to see some chick drown you in shame because you're too torqued up to hurt her."

Ichigo's wide ardent eyes blinked owlishly. "Do you really think that?" He looked so innocently curious I had to put my arms around his neck. "Do you really think I'm too… nice?"

"Aa." I let our foreheads touch. "But you know what?" I whispered close to his ear. "You got the girl anyway so don't you go being a jerk after this, ne teme?"

"Just so long as you don't go turning into a abazureon'na."

"Too late."

We laughed.

Three Days Later

The sound of someone's fist pounding on a door jerked Naruto out of what had been a nice long afternoon nap. He had figured since getting back from the last mission (hopefully the last mission… after this year's Genin teams got announced and established, Tsunade planned on stepping down) he was entitled to sprawl out on his couch and conk out for a few merciful hours.

What he hadn't planned on were two teenagers invading his personal space. But really, he had to be used to that by now. Giving a resigned sigh, he turned over without sitting up to peer disinterestedly down the hall. An irate Katana standing in front of a closed bathroom door greeted him.

"I swear you take longer than a girl!" she yelled through the door, fists clenched at her sides. "We're graduating in an hour and a half and I need to use it. Move your ass."

"In a minute!" came his muffled reply.

"I've given you sixty already!"

"Well, wait longer!"

"Piss off!" Katana kicked the door, leaving behind a black skid mark before stalking into the tiny living room. "I hate men," he heard her mutter causing him to grin ear to ear. "They're all a bunch of inconsiderate assholes…. Oh, um…" Katana saw that he was awake and flushed crimson.

He shook his head and crossed both arms behind his head. She terminated her train of thought and merely sat cross-legged down in the middle of the carpet, continuing the waiting game. "You know," she began, deciding to take her frustration out on the nearest set of willing ears, "he's lucky I even put up with him. If he'd been with any other woman, he'd be dead now."

"Wouldn't doubt it." The little thing reddened again and he almost laughed. Any person with two working eyes in their head could see it … even he, the crown king of density, had noticed. He found it cute and flattering at the same time. She'd get over it soon enough.

While she waited he figured that now that they had the time, he'd talk with her. It'd been some time since he'd been able to converse with the girl and his paternal instincts were scolding him that it was something he needed to do more often. Though in his heart he felt it wasn't his right to parent the child (that belonged to a certain someone else), his sense of responsibility as her sponsor demanded attention. But duty wasn't the only reason. He truly was fond of the girl. In only a short period of time she had worked her way into their lives, thanks to Ichigo. Thirteen was very young to fall in love but the boy already had thrown his everything into her. Hating to do it but knowing it had to be done, Naruto warned his son that while, yes, she was a nice girl and probably loved him about as much as he did, not to place her on a pedestal. He already knew very well the folly of hero worship and being in love wasn't much different.

Kids liked it when you were casual and easy with them, so Naruto started off light. "So… you nervous?"

Katana shrugged. "I suppose. A lot of people are going to be there and big crowds do tend to make me nervous. But I think I'll be fine." Absently she drew a lock of dark hair between her fingers clearly dissatisfied with the state it was in. While Naruto saw nothing wrong with the girl's mane, she obviously thought there was. "How's your air conditioner been working?" she asked suddenly, eyes going to the large contraption stuck in a window.

"Good. It doesn't whistle anymore." He adjusted his position, sitting up a little more. "It seems like you can fix anything."

Katana rocked back on her hands, unconsciously moving her head so her long hair fell neatly behind her. It reached clear to her rear now, so much to the point that she often sat on it. Sakura had advised her more than once to have it cut but she only responded by pinning it up. Apparently she was very proud of her tresses.

"Not anything," she replied. "Just the usual maintenance things require but most people don't administer to… or have the know-how. There's a reason some things come with directions, you know."

"And you what," he smirked, "memorized an entire household appliance manual?"

"Yes." He blinked. "Well, sort of," she amended. "A month before I came here, I copied an entire book on how to fix pipes, doors, water heaters, cable connections, light socket fixtures and light switches. It was pretty cool stuff. Heh," she snickered guiltily, "I almost stole it but then Otosan caught me and gave me hell." She noticed his quizzical expression. "What?"

"Ne, it's nothing, really." He thought about it. "I'm just wondering why you're a ninja, you can do so many other things just as well and most of them let you have a longer lease on life."

Katana's lips tightened to a grim line. "For me becoming a ninja was a necessity, not a choice. If I didn't want to die, I had to learn how to protect myself." But a smile soon softened her features. "I do like it though and I'm good at what I've been taught so what the heck."

Naruto tilted his head, watching the dark girl thoughtfully. It was almost too bad he still had his Genin team to concentrate on, he wanted to see for himself what she could do. Sakura had trained with the girl and said she'd seen the child perform the strangest jutsus. The one that impressed her the most was one that apparently produced a blasting of blinding light from both palms that could be concentrated into a beam of heat that could be directed into the enemy's eyes. Sakura described the sound it made as if one very great bird of prey was crying out right next to her ear. It was a sound she claimed had sent shivers down her spine. It took half of the girl's chakra to complete the jutsu successfully. Being only the third wielder of the Rasengan, he understood well the uniqueness of nearly unheard of abilities.

Almost as if she were reading his mind, Katana spoke up. "I've never seen you train. Most respectable shinobi seem to defer to you and Ichigo's told me some stories. If I believe everything I hear, it makes you sound like some kind of ninja god." Her depthless eyes scrutinized him as he coughed embarrassedly and drew a finger sheepishly under his nose. "So… just what the hell are you?"

She would never know how familiar those words would strike him. Naruto hit it back and played it cool. "I'm special." His eyes gleamed mischievously.

"I figured you'd dodge that."

Shrug.

"Hn."

He grinned.

"Seriously."

Naruto shook his head. "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Wink.

That ended it. She made a phst of annoyance, waved her hand at him in disgust and got to her feet. "I'm not waiting anymore. Tell that idiot I went to his mother's place. At least she's got hair conditioner and shaving cream."

What and I don't?

He nodded, raising his hand in farewell. The Uchiha girl smiled and departed quickly with that little wave she was always giving people. A flush of heat filled the room for a moment before the coolness rushed back. The apartment grew silent again. Naruto took this refuge and closed his eyes again, trying to recapture some semblance of peace. Easily he ignored the minor incidental noises coming from the other room.

Eventually Ichigo stumbled from the bathroom, fully dressed in his usual, hair still somewhat damp. Looking around, his face furrowed and he entered the living room. "Dad," he announced. "She leave?"

Naruto didn't move from his position nor did he open his eyes. "Yeah. How long did you think she was going to wait?"

Ichigo fidgeted.

His father opened one blue eye and regarded his son. "You do take longer than a girl. What did you do in there? Pluck your eyebrows?" He snickered. Yeah, he thought he was so funny.

The boy crossed his arms and glared down at the Jounin, not amused. "Drop dead." His left eye twitched with his next question. "Okay, um, I know this sounds girly but do I look all right?"

The other eye opened. "You mean you were in there for an hour and you couldn't decide that?"

Clenched teeth. "DAD."

Naruto sighed, resigned himself and made a show of wearisomely pushing to sit all the way up. "You look fine. Okay, okay, don't give me the death glare." He reached up and ruffled the scowling boy's hair affectionately. "Ne, why does it matter? Graduation isn't that kind of big deal."

"I know but…" Ichigo lowered his head. "Just wanna, you know, make a good last impression. I'm probably never going to see most of those guys again."

He sounded truly subdued, as if he believed it was an inescapable inevitability. Frankly it shocked his father - really, he hadn't expected brightly optimistic Ichigo to take the nosedive into realism before the fact. Better early than late, still, someone so young shouldn't let the frightening prospect of the future sully his outlook on life.

"That's more than likely to be true," Naruto began, moving his legs to the side so his son could perch on the middle cushion. "Life is just, well," he shrugged, "you know, it sucks." He swung his legs over the side and sat up. "Let me give you some advice for the long run. I used to believe that by being strong I could protect everyone I cared about all the time. Used to think if I tried just a little harder, then people wouldn't die. But hey no one's invincible and not every battle's winnable."

"What do you believe now?" the boy asked, looking up at him.

He put an arm around the boy's shoulders and gave him a friendly shake. "You do what you can… and be the best at it."

Ichigo gave him that all too familiar 'you are full of it' look. "Gee thanks, Uncle Solomon, that was really useful."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oi, you don't have to take my word for it. Follow your own ninja way. Just remember us old folks when you're standing at the top, ne?" he grinned widely.

"Old?" Ichigo tightened his lips, fighting back howls of laughter. "Whatever you say, Hokage- man." He stood and moved to go.

His father made a face. "I'm not Hokage yet."

"Heh." Ichigo paused at the door, hand on the knob. Something seemed to weigh on his mind then. He bit his lip and then turned to face the older man. There was no preamble. "Why won't you marry Mom?"

It came out of the blue and struck its unsuspecting target true just the way the boy had meant for it. Naruto's ever-present grin vanished. Eventually his eyes averted to the side and he looked down at the floor between his feet. What brought this on? At length he mumbled evasively. "It's complicated."

"Why?" Not how, but why.

"When you're older you'll understand." He berated himself for cashing in on the worn cop-out adultism. It seemed easier than explaining the reasons as to why Sakura-chan and himself could never come together honestly. Even if the boy were aware that a marriage would be a lie he probably wouldn't care so long as his parents were 'together' and living under the same roof. But they wouldn't… not if they came together like that. It would destroy everything. Sakura-chan knew this and found refuge in meaningless relationships with men she didn't love and her work at the hospital. Naruto knew this and found refuge in his Genin team and his ambition for Hokage. The only love they shared was this boy. And that was supposed to be enough.

But it wasn't.

Ichigo darkened and his green eyes became hard and brittle. "It ain't that fucking hard to understand." He opened the door and slammed it behind him.

That hurt. Naruto felt the slamming inside his chest and quietly clenched his teeth together. His eyes screwed shut and he slowly shook his head. In so many ways he could see it, in so many little ways it was revealing itself. He hadn't wanted to believe Sakura-chan when she spoke of it.

They both really needed to take some time off.

abazureon'na (when referring to a woman) - bitch