Act I, Part XII
Sisters

Just one to two more chapters to go until I finish this Arc up, I hope everyone is enjoying it.

Since I had a couple reviews from Guest so I wanted to answer the questions here. Yep, Gray is a character from Fairy Tail and he has a bloodline limit that controls ice such as he does in Fairy Tail. As for Rune and Lillith, sorry they're more like sisters and won't become a couple though they will grow close to each other as sisters.

Anyways, since I've had several people say I should put warnings here of stuff I use (which I own nothing except my OCs). So here is a list of things I either borrowed names, likenesses, or even ideas and spells and skills from so far. There will be more skills later maybe such as from Nanaho. This is just a list of what has appeared so far:

The Lark and the Wren by Mercedes Lackey

The House of Night (Book Series) by Kristin and PC Cast

Slayers

Fairy Tail

and of course Naruto

Rune Age 14...

A month, a whole month had passed since things went to hell on what started out as the best birthday ever. First of all she lost her best friend and her very first love to the fire daimyo's son. She couldn't really stay mad at him though as unlike a lot of guys that Rune knew, he loved Cherry and cherished her. He was a good man and Rune knew he would take care of the redhead and make her happy.

Of course there was a bright side to breaking down after learning of the engagement as she found out she had an older sister. At first it was a little awkward as Amelia admitted to hating Rune until learning of the younger girl's past and meeting. Rune herself didn't exactly trust the girl at first either as a part of herself believed that Amelia was just trying to draw Rune's attention from her lord and Cherry until they left town. Rune was happy that she gave Amelia a chance as they hung out a lot just chatting and even doing things such as eating out, going to movies and shopping. Of course Amelia also decided to teach her swordsmanship, and with the mirror and shadow clones helping with the training, the weekends that Amelia spent with Rune was more than enough time to train in it. Thankfully the daimyo's palace wasn't so far from town as Rune had even visited there twice to see her sister and Cherry and the second time for the wedding. Rune had to admit that it was beautiful and Cherry made a gorgeous bride with Amelia and Rune as bridesmaids along with Rose.

Speaking of sisters, Rune also got a new sister, well adopted sister that night. Unlike Amelia though, Lillith was spiteful to both Ryu and Rune. At first it wasn't so bad, she seemed angry though not spiteful until she found out that Rune was her little sister. At first Rune believed the girl recognized her, but she didn't though the girl did admit the bard looked familiar. Lillith was pissed that she was stuck in Konoha with her mother while her father was here playing with Rune. At first Lillith had claimed that Rune was just using Ryu, bedding him even, just to get his money. That was put to a stop though when Rune confronted her about it which shut the older girl up, but Rune was sure she still suspected it from the looks given. Now Ryu had taken Lillith and moved into a big house with her and left Rune in the store's apartment saying that the he needed to spend some alone time with Lillith and spend time with both of them at the store during the day.

Spending less time with her papa mean a lot less training with him which hurt a lot more than she believed it could. It was making her feel that he was growing away from her and may even leave just as Cherry had. Ryu had insisted on Rune training, even if just a little at first in order to learn how to protect herself. After the incident with Darius Rune had actually begged for more lessons taking them more seriously so she would be better able to protect her precious people in the future. Now though they had been lucky to train two days a week in anything, jutsu much less music. She had thought about confronting Ryu about it, but she was afraid her papa would get upset and tell her that he didn't need her anymore now that he had his real daughter.

"Will you help me with this already you stupid airhead!" Lillith growled from the stairs as she struggled with an old document box. Rune cursed herself for getting distracted from dusting the shelves and groaned in annoyance as she moved to take the box from the older girl, annoyed that the pink haired bitch needed help with such a light box.

'Don't forget kit, she's a civilian and hasn't built up muscle like you have through training.' Lina reminded her host. Of course looking at Rune one could tell that she stayed in shape, but no one would be able to tell that she had a lot of muscle as being Lina's host made her muscle mass more dense instead of bulky so she kept her more feminine curves instead of the muscle mass some women gained with the amount of weight training Rune had done.

"I guess." Rune sighed mentally, then aloud said, "Where do you want this?"

"On the table, I want to look through them." Lillith demanded as she took several deep breaths after being relieved of her burden. Rune didn't need to ask what was going on as Ryu had told Lillith to go through the books and paperwork and get a feel for how things were done here.

"Aren't you almost done with this stuff? I thought papa only wanted you to go through the current stuff." Rune asked as Lillith sat down and opened the box. It wasn't as stuffed full of old receipt books like the others were. Instead it seemed to have a lot of old letters in it as well as separate receipts at first glance.

"Don't call him that!" Lillith snapped before pulling out a large handful and dumped them on the table. "And I'm going through the old stuff consolidating it and putting everything in order better. I swear I don't know how the hell the old man could still be in business as disorganized as he is."

"Yeah, well, he's well loved around here. A lot of people come here because they know he will give them a good price for good quality work." Rune shot back before huffing and storming away from the girl to finish cleaning the shop front. Today had been a slow day with just a few repairs needed that she personally already did instead of leaving them for her papa as she had learned how to do that first thing as taking care of her instruments was the very first lessons Ryu had given her.

Sometimes she really wanted to just wrap her hands gently around Lillith's throat and slowly squeeze more and more until the girl's head popped off. Of course that would only end up hurting Ryu and if there was anything she wanted to avoid, it was hurting her papa. Of course when she looked deep in the older girl's eyes, she could see a pain and loneliness that startled Rune enough to make her forget how annoying Lillith could be. That is, until Lillith opened her mouth again to make Rune's anger at the girl return.

'What's that noise?' Lina asked as Rune was finishing up with her cleaning and started to put away the cleaning supplies.

"Huh? What noise?" Rune asked as she blinked a few times. She was zoning out again she realized in annoyance at herself. She listened a few moments before she heard sniffing coming from where Lillith was working on going through the box of junk. Hurrying back as she worried about what happened she found the older girl's arm's folded on the table and head on them as she shook with sobs.

"Lillith? What's wrong?" Rune asked worried as she stood over the girl who shook with sobs. Lillith didn't even look up as a crumpled piece of paper was shoved in her face. Sighing Rune took the note and read it, realizing it was in Ryu's hand writing, or at least one side of it was.

I am getting sick of not being able to see my daughter!
Belle, I send you thousands a month to support my daughter.
I love her and have every right to be able to see her.
She has every right to know me and her new sister I adopted.
Look, I still care for you. Hell, I still love you.
Can't we please work something out?

-Ryu

Fuck you, you have no right to see her.
Your nothing but a crippled loser of a man.
And if you stop sending me money, then I guess
I just won't have the money to take care of her.
And don't even think about trying something.
You know the council is on my side.
Danzo is on my side as is the elders.

-Belle

PS Stop sending me letters wanting to see the little bitch!
Only thing I expect to see from you is money!

Rune's jaw dropped reading the letter as she realized just how bad the Haruno mother was. How? How could any mother act like that?

"I knew she was a bitch, but she always told me dad didn't want anything to do with me. Said he was a deadbeat who didn't send money." Lillith cried as Rune say next to her and pulled her into a hug while rubbing circles in her back. "All of these receipts in this box is money he sent to us...birthday...Christmas money he sent to me that she took. She hid it and lied to me!"

"Papa loves you very much, even before you came back here he talked a lot about you. He missed you so much." Rune sighed, hating to admit it to this girl who had been nothing but rude since coming here. She was beginning to see the reason behind that behavior though.

"Do you think he'll forgive me after being such a bitch?" Lillith asked as she pulled away. The vulnerable look in the older girl's eyes made Rune sigh yet again, wanting so much to use a certain Nara's catchphrase.

"Of course he will, your his real daughter after all." Rune said before she realized how that came out. She had to admit it was the way she had felt a little lately as why would the man want a damaged replacement when he could have his true flesh and blood daughter?

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Lillith asked as she grabbed Rune's wrist as she started to get up, managing to pull her back into her chair. With all of the stress and heartache lately, Rune couldn't help feel a shiver of fear as Lillith's tightened around Rune's wrist.

"P-Please let me go." Rune whimpered softly, Lillith barely hearing her.

"Listen to me, I can see how my dad treats you...He loves you. Your just as much his daughter as I am and that...that makes you my sister." Lillith admitted as she realized how stupid she had been. If only she had a more open mind when arriving she could have gotten to know the younger girl better and could have been well on the road of forging a sisterly relationship with Rune.

"Please...Please let go..." Rune begged as she started shaking, her eyes starting to glaze over as she kept trying to blink away the images of the men who attacked her, pinned her wrists down. She knew it was just Lillith, she could hear the girl's voice, but none of that helped.

"R-Rune? Are you okay?" Lillith asked softly as she let the younger girl's arms go. As she reached up to wipe the tears away from the younger girl she screamed and jumped back, tripping over the chair to fall back on her ass on the floor, her legs tangled up with the overturned chair. As Lillith worry grew she got up to check on Rune who kicked the chair away and scooted backwards on the floor where she curled up into a ball in the corner.

"Don't hurt me!" Rune sobbed as she shook uncontrollably while burying her face in her knees while hugging them tightly to her chest.

"Oh shit." Lillith cursed as she looked on at the crying girl trying to figure out what was going on. Biting her lip she went over to kneel next to the girl and reached out to rub the younger girl's back who flinched away but didn't run as there wasn't anywhere for her to get. After a short while of whimpering and begging to be left alone while Lillith whispered comforting and reassuring things, Rune finally calmed down.

"I'm so sorry." Rune sighed, her voice cracking as she rubbed her eyes while avoiding looking up at Lillith.

"Are you okay?" Lillith asked in worry as she made herself more comfortable next to Rune as she pulled the girl into her lap making Rune squeak out in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Rune asked, blushing a little as Lillith cradled Rune's head against her chest while stroking her hair.

"Comforting my little sister." Lillith said as she gently squeezed Rune who sighed tiredly as she let the older girl cradle her. "Want to tell me what that was about though?"

"I...a bunch of guys attacked me before I came here. They...hurt me..really bad. I probably would have died if..." Rune said, stopping herself before mentioning Lina.

"They raped you, didn't they?" Lillith asked as she took a long look at the girl. She didn't really know Naruto that well, or Naru as it turned out, but she knew the girl didn't deserve the pain the idiots heaped on her. A part of her wondered if this was Naru after hearing the meeting with her mother and the idiots who were behind what happened to Naru. It was impossible though as the eyes and hair was different and there were no whisker marks. Okay, so it wasn't Naru, but Rune must have been through hell just as Naru must have suffered through. Rune didn't say anything but the way she stiffened and the small nod told Lillith all she needed to know. Someone hurt her new little sister, and she hoped the bastards burned for it. "I know I've been a bitch since I came here...but we're family now. Family, real family is there for each other d4espite if they share the same blood or not."

"What are you saying?" Rune asked, hope shining in her eyes as she pulled away so she could look up into the older girl's eyes to see if there were any signs of lies there.

"I'm saying that I want us to be family. I was stupid and believed what my mom told me when I knew better. No more, I won't let her hurt me anymore by making me turn away those who love me. Those who I love even if I was too scared to admit it." Lillith said making Rune hug her tightly.

"Your serious? Your really serious?" Rune asked, crying a little though this time it was because she was happy. She gained two sisters and a father when she started with nothing. Then again, she might loose Lillith if the girl found out that Rune was lying about her true identity, especially since they knew each other, if only a little.

"Of course I'm serious, little sister." Lillith said happily kissing the top of Rune's head.

'Make sure you are sure about this, once you do it then it can't be undone.' Lina warns as she sensed what Rune was planning. Rune smiled mentally at Lina while nodding her head.

"I came from Konoha before I found my way here." Rune said softly as she pulled away to sit on the floor facing Lillith while leaning back against the wall facing the older girl. She was getting nervous though as she tried to form the words to confess who she was.

"How?" Lillith asked confused as she cocked her head studying the younger girl. "Your facial features...they look like her, but your eyes...your hair..."

"Don't forget my whiskers." Rune said grinning nervously making Lillith giggle a little as she realized that a ninja from Konoha never recognized the girl before her. They were trained to see underneath the underneath and he overlooked the most wanted girl from Konoha right now. Of course there were still many civilians who was on the fence on what they believed about Rune, but almost the entire shinobi population was searching for the legacy of the fourth when the truth came out. They had to let the general population know a little as they searched for the ex-blonde so if anyone spotted her they could grab her up and whisk her away to the Hokage tower so she could be cared for like she should have been. Of course, they never let it out the kind of pain and humiliation the younger girl was forced through.

"That idiot didn't even recognize you!" Lillith said. She didn't really like shinobi that much besides her sister and a few others she personally knew as many were egotistical and believed civilians below them. Or at least from her experience from the bastards that often visited her home at nights. Nights she was kept up from the noises from the master bedroom.

"You can't tell anyone, please." Rune pleaded.

"Relax little sister, as far as I'm concerned a majority of Konoha can burn to the ground and I wouldn't give a damn. They're mostly a bunch of hypocrites." Lillith said, "Though some people are supposedly getting better. Sakura isn't the little clone of our mother anymore. And from what I heard there was a big shakeup in the council, a lot of them were imprisoned or executed for treason. And...Naru...Rune, your so called godparents came back after the daimyo forced them. From the gossip they had a lot of problems such as Tsunade being a drunk and gambler and Jiraiya a huge pervert. They've straightened up a lot and now they're doing there best to turn their lives around so they can take care of you when they find you."

"As if I'll go back." Rune said with determination.

"Don't worry, most are too stupid to realize its you and I sure the hell am not turning you in." Lillith said.

"The daimyo knows where I am, but his son promised that I would not be dragged back unless I go back freely and on my own. He said they messed up and this is their consequence and they would have to deal with it." Rune explained.

"Good, let those bastards suffer." Lillith said giving a reassuring grin to her younger sister.

"You should tell her." Rose said as she poured herself and Ryu another saucer of saki. They just got the information that Ryu had been looking for ever since finding little Naru and taking the girl in. Neither of them liked the idea of the woman abandoning her own daughter as Ryu explained to Rose about Kushina apparently being alive while the woman's daughter was here. Rose didn't believe that there was something else going on as she believed that Kushina was a bitch that abandoned her baby because of the fox. Ryu still swore that something else had to be going on which is why they used their contacts to see if they couldn't find the woman. Still, it was Rune's right to know and her decision on what to do.

"I was going to until Lillith came into the picture. Now Rune is starting to doubt that I still want her and if I show here the information about her mother she will think that I'm trying to get rid of her." Ryu sighed, "Maybe in a few weeks when Lillith gets settled and things get back to normal."

"Sweetie, I don't mean to knock your girl, but she needs a reality check. She's been nothing but a bitch to both you and Rune." Rose grumbled before downing her saki and refilling the saucers again.

"I know, I should have done something more." Ryu sighed running his fingers through his hair while letting out a long tired sigh.

"And how, Danzo personally threatened you if you didn't leave Konoha and you had no proof. He threatened your daughter if you didn't do what he said. You had no choice." Rose said taking his hand and squeezing it.

"I just feel like I failed my baby girl." Ryu grumbled.

"You didn't fail her, you did what you could sending her most of your money while I've seen you go times without." Rose said as she got up and walked around the desk and sat in Ryu's lap and held his face firmly between her hands while being gentle. She forced him to look into her eyes. "If anyone failed then it was your ex-wife...she's a failure as a human being."

"She's dead you know." Ryu sighed.

"So? She was a bitch in life and she is in death, nothing has changed. She didn't all of a sudden become good, she wasn't an angel in any sense of the word." Rose said.

"I know Rose, thank you. For everything." Ryu said as their faces drew closer and closer, their lips brushing against the others in a kiss.

"You know this is a new desk, right?" Rose asked with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"So?" Ryu asked as he arched an eyebrow, but the way she started moving in his lap let him know where she was going with this.

"It's been forever since we had aloe time." Rose whispered as she nipped Ryu's ear, "Want to break it in?"

It was several hours later that Ryu found himself walking home, tired but happier than he had been in awhile. He had almost forgotten how Rose could make him feel, making him feel better about himself while giving him more confidence. She took away the stress and worry that had been bothering him as they made love on her desk. They loved each other, sometimes as friends while other times as more, but they would always be there for the other no matter what was needed.

As he came to the door of the shop he froze as he heard giggling, the giggling of two familiar girls. A small smile spread across his face as he pushed open the door and called out, "I'm back!"

"Papa!" Rune cried as she bounded out of the back and threw her arms around him in a hug. That wasn't anything new as Rune could go from being very independent to needing to feel the warmth of his arms as he held and comforted her or just to let her know that he was there and loved her. What surprised him was the second set of arms that hugged him.

"Welcome back daddy!" Lillith said with a nervous smile as she looked up at Ryu.

"So what did you two break?" Ryu asked jokingly as Rune smacked his chest softly.

"No, we didn't break anything papa. We just decided we would rather be happy as a family than sad as strangers." Rune said.

"I'm so sorry for they way I acted daddy." Lillith said sadly as she looked down. Ryu cupped her chin and gently tilted her head up to look in her eyes.

"I love you angel, I always had and I always will." Ryu said as he hugged her and kissed the top of her head making her break down in tears as he held her. For the first time in a long time she was truly happy.

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked as she poked the small pillar of ice that formed around the devil cat that was trapped inside thanks to Gray's bloodline limit. She wouldn't admit it, but she was smirking internally at seeing the pain in the ass cat in this position. At first she thought this cat was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, a perfect angel as he sat there licking his paw and washing his face. However when she walked up to reach down and pick him up she was in for a big surprise when she lifted him up to look into his eyes to coo at him. She screamed as his claws flashed tearing up her arms and face as she dropped him and fell to her knees clutching at her damaged face. Luckily Shizune was walking by and healed up the damage since it was minor despite looking...and feeling bad.

"He'll be fine." Gray said smirking.

"Not if I get a hold of him first." Sasuke said, anger in his voice as he glared hatefully at the cat. How dare the little bastard damage Sakura's face like that? Even if Shizune healed the pink haired girl, Sasuke still wanted to skin the little bastard.

"As much as I would love a new fur lined kunai pouch, the fire daimyo's wife will be pissed if we hurt him...no matter how much I want to." Sakura said, sighing as she punched the glass softly causing it to crack and shatter leaving a dazed, soaked and shivering furball on the ground.

"Good job my cute little genin." Kakashi said with pride in his voice as he picked the softly mewling cat up by the scruff of the neck.

"So, what do you think?" Hiruzen asked as he watched into the crystal ball as a red haired woman blinked and blinked again at seeing how well the three did capturing the cat despite the rough start.

"They did okay I guess." Neferet said as she crossed her arms under her breasts squeezing them together a little and lifting them slightly. The small trickle of blood from the old man's nose made the woman smirk.

She had to admit that the team had the best record of catching the latest incarnation of Tora than any other. Despite getting a late start because of what happened to them, this team looked like it had more promise than the others despite all of them trying to become more serious after learning about Naru's circumstances. This team would go far now that they got a reality check up their asses.

"I'll take that as a good sign as you never praise genin." Hiruzen chuckled as the woman did the handseals to henge into the much larger form of what was passed off as the fire daimyo's wife to the newly minted genin. Of course the real Miku would be pissed if she found out that they made her look like this.

"Take it as you wish old man, but mark my words. Those genin will be something special if they continue to grow as both individuals and as ninja. Do NOT let anyone try and take their humanity from them or you will be sorry." Neferet said as she smirked before the office doors were kicked open and Kakashi came in holding a squirming cat with his three genin coming in after them. She smirked as she noticed Gray starting to strip off all of his clothes but his boxers before sitting in a chair against the wall.

"You PERVERT!" Sakura screeched before punching the boy in the head.

"AHEM!" Kakashi cleared his throat, "Lord Hokage, team seven reporting that mission was successful. We managed to catch the fire daimyo wife's cat."

"Oh my baby Tora!" Neferet cried out as she took the cat and hugged it tightly to her before skipping out the door making everyone sweat drop.

"You owe me big time Neferet. I'm thinking at least three cans of tuna." The cat whispered so that only Neferet could hear.

"I'll buy you four." Neferet whispered back to her summons as the door closed behind them.

"Good job on a successful first mission together team seven. I'm proud of you all, you have each shown a large amount of growth in your personal lives as well as you skills." Hiruzen said, truly proud of the people before him.

"Thank you Lord Hokage." Kakashi said bowing his head and putting his fist over his heart before straightening back up. Hiruzen was happy for him as he seemed to move on from mourning his past for the most part thanks to Anko, though he would always regret his mistakes and miss those that he loved who were no longer with them.

Sasuke was another one who seemed to change a lot as he no longer spent a great deal of time brooding as he became a very productive team mate and even grew close to his two live in teammates. He had even started seeing Sakura in the way the girl always dreamed about.

Sakura herself had grown as a person and as a ninja as Tsunade began working under Shizune as her assistant. It was kind of ironic that the student had become the master, though that left Tsunade without an apprentice which she actually offered the spot to Sakura recently. She had also stopped judging everyone by her preconceived notions and instead started to get to know people before judging them. That was unless someone really pissed her off, then the Hokage pitied the fool who would dare do that.

Gray was one who could manage to piss the pink haired girl off, but usually their arguments were just for show as the two loved each other like siblings. He was a bit of a mystery to Hiruzen and the clan heads, but they all agreed that he seemed very loyal to the leaf and his team. His bloodline limit was also very strong able to have a mastery over ice that few had ever been seen to have. Though his memory was still shredded beyond recovery according to the Yamanaka, he still pushed on and lived his life to the fullest with his teammates...his family.

"Good job today team seven, I'll be watching as I expect great things out of you." Hiruzen said giving the four a smile before dismissing him to get back to his paperwork. He had high hopes for the future of this generation of shinobi as they looked to be even more powerful than their parents. He just wished that the girl he saw as a granddaughter was there as he was sure she would have been the best of all of them. He just hoped that she was happy wherever she was.