Greetings my friends, again, sorry that I took so long for this chapter, but I've been so, SO busy with work... the slow season came and they upped our production requirements... twice. Also, I moved into an apartment with my VERY SOON to be wife... as in we'll be married on Saturday.

I'll go ahead and get on with things starting with the disclaimer. I, Darious Frost, do not own, or lay claim to any profits from Naruto, manga or anime. I do not profit from this or any of my other stories. The only thing I own in these stories is Darious.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 21

(down the hall with Naruto and Tsunade)
"What did you mean when you called Lee her boy friend?" Naruto asked curiously as he walked beside his god-mother.

"Oh, that? I was just teasing the girl to keep her from getting mad or depressed." Not knowing how directly she had caused her joke to actually become a reality moments later.

"Hopefully it worked. She seems to have become really close friends with him since I left to bring you back." Naruto continued walking with her as they made their way out of the hospital. "So, is there no way to increase his chances of survival?"

"Not that I know of, but I will admit that I don't know everything. I'll do some research and see if there's anything that may have been developed in recent years that I've not picked up yet. If I find ANYTHING that will raise his chances of survival, I'll let you both know." She smiled at her god-son and he smiled back.

"Thank you baa-chan!" Naruto gave her a quick hug.

"Now, if you'll let me go, I have some research to do." The two parted ways unknowing of a new couple sharing a first kiss a few doors back down the hall.

XxXxXxX

A few days later saw Sakura and Lee making their relationship an official thing with their friends. The first of their friends to congratulate them were Naruto and Hana. "I'm so happy for the two of you!" Hana smiled as she took Sakura's hands and smiled with her, pulling her to the side to ask how it all came about. This left Naruto and Lee standing there alone. After being released from the hospital, Lee found himself still bound to crutches. Naruto could see that even with his new found happiness, Lee was still a bit depressed.

"Lee, Tsunade-baa-chan will find some way to increase your chances. You'll see. Now, if you hurt Sakura-chan... there will be hell to pay." Lee couldn't help but smile at Naruto's attempt to lift his spirits by acting like a brother to Sakura and watching out for her safety.

"You have nothing to worry about from me Naruto-san, my Cherry Blossom could be in no better hands than mine. I would surely rather remove my own hands and feet than harm one hair on her head myself!" Naruto only smiled at his new friend. He looked over to Sakura and Hana talking together and smiled again.

"Hey, you two take care, Hana and I need to go visit someone that I've been kinda neglecting seeing since the invasion." With a few good byes and some waves to each other, Naruto and Hana headed off toward what used to be his parents' home. As they came onto the front lawn they heard the sounds of kunai impacting on wood around back. Coming around the side of the house, Naruto and Hana came upon a rather intriguing sight. Standing there in the back yard was Tayuya... and Sasuke of all people standing beside her, seemingly giving her tips on perfecting her aim.

"Tayuya-chan?" Their next surprise came when she turned to see them... and blushed before stepping a little farther away from Sasuke, who just looked over at them.

"W-what do you want Shi... Naruto?"

"It's good to see you too Tayuya-chan..." Naruto deadpanned at his older cousin.

She sighed and slumped a little. "Look, sorry, you just caught me by surprise. It's hard to drop the persona I took up working for that snake bastard."

"That's understandable. So, what's Sasuke doing here?" This time it was both Tayuya AND Sasuke who blushed.

"Well, he's been helping me for the last couple weeks with my aim since I've been depending way too heavily on my genjutsu." She glanced over at Sasuke and blushed a little more again before quickly looking away from him.

Naruto cocked a brow before leaning in very close to Hana "Is it just me, or does it seem that those two have been doing more than just target practice with reactions like that?" Hana simply nodded as a response. "So, is this a date then?" Hana smirked as Tayuya and Sasuke turned another shade of red before they both shouted 'no'.

"It is not a date Naruto!" Tayuya fumed.

"Okay, okay, we believe you... not really..." Naruto whispered the last bit to Hana, who again nodded. "I just wanted to come see how you were doing since I haven't gotten to talk to you much recently. It's not my fault what this looks like."

Tayuya sighed and came over to Naruto and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry. Thank you for coming to see me Naruto. You really didn't have to, but thank you."

Naruto smiled and hugged her back as Hana and Sasuke watched. The four of them sat down and talked for a bit after that, chatting about small things that have been going on for each of them until Naruto jokingly asked if either Tayuya or Sasuke were interested in anyone.

"Well... I actually have a date later tonight." Tayuya spoke up a little hesitantly as she looked over at the couple sitting together across from her.

Hana's eyes widened as did her smile at the young Uzumaki woman. "Really?! Whom with?"

What happened next had Naruto and Hana both laughing a little before genuine smiles crossed their faces. "Well... you may not have interrupted a date by swinging by today, but later tonight..." They watched her look over at Sasuke, who gave a small nod with what looked like a smile. "Sasuke and I actually do have a date."

"As much as I like to make fun of him, the Teme is actually a pretty good guy." Looking over at Sasuke. "I'm not going to give you a warning or anything because I know that Tayuya can take care of herself. Actually, I will give you a warning. Treat her right, or SHE will kick your ass herself." Naruto smirked as Sasuke glanced over at Tayuya with a momentary flash of worry before he calmed completely. Naruto wasn't sure if it was his arrogance from the academy, or if it was confidence born of him genuinely feeling that he wouldn't have to worry about that because he didn't intend to treat her in any way that could be considered badly.

Another hour of now comfortable conversation passed before Tayuya shooed off the couple so that she and Sasuke could start getting ready for their date. This found Naruto and Hana making their way hand in hand back toward the Inuzuka compound. As they made their way, they passed at least a dozen other couples out just spending time together like they were when they bumped into one such couple. Looking up, Naruto found that they had actually run into Darious and Shizune, doing exactly what he and Hana were doing. "Dar-nii, Shizune-nee-chan, what are you two up to?"

The pair smiled down at Naruto and Hana. "Hey Naruto, we're just out for a small walk, enjoying the nice day while it's about. What about you two?" Naruto and Hana went about telling the pair about their day so far and the revelations thus far until Hana took in a small gasp, then a very uncharacteristic squeal as she moved over to Shizune.

"Oh, you noticed that did you?" Shizune smiled as she lifted her left hand for Hana to see the new, silver ring resting on her ring finger. It was a sterling silver solitaire with a pair of pear shaped accents on the sides of the band. "He proposed earlier today at the park!" She smiled and bounced a little on the balls of her feet as Hana bounced with her and looked at the ring some more.

"Congratulations Dar-nii. Finally got the one that got away, huh?" Naruto smiled at his brother figure as Darious smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I'm the luckiest man alive today." Darious smiled over at Shizune as she and Hana smiled and chatted happily as they looked at the ring. "You know, you're going to need to do the same thing eventually if you plan on staying with her. I'll tell you now, it is rather scary planning it, but it is one hell of a feeling if... when she says yes." Darious couldn't help but smile as he looked at his new fiancee, looking as happy as he had ever seen her.

"I think I have a hint of that feeling Dar-nii." Darious looked down to see Naruto smiling, one of those smiles that most people have for 'that' one person in their lives as he looked over at Hana. Darious knew then and there that Naruto would never have eyes for any other woman and smiled to himself as he looked at his happy 'little brother'.

"I'm sure you do brat, come on, let's take our girls out to get something to eat." Naruto looked back at Darious, smiled and nodded his head before they walked over and lead the girls off to get some food on what could be considered a double date.

While Naruto, Hana, Shizune and Darious were out having dinner together, Tsunade was doing some eating as well. Eating of the variety that started with chewing of ones ass. Jiraiya stood leaned against the wall on Tsunade's office while she worked on tearing him a new ass. "What the hell do you mean that you want to take Naruto on an extended training mission?!"

"It's exactly as I said Tsunade-hime. I want to take Naruto out for extended training, he's going to need to be on a completely different level than what he is on now. Even with the backing and support that we already have, he's going to need to be much, much stronger just to take on or at least survive any attack aimed his way from 'them'."

Tsunade stopped and looked thoughtful for a bit before looking up again. "How long are you thinking?"

This time Jiraiya took a bit to think. "I was originally thinking 3 years, but with the way things have been and the new information, as well as our old team mate running around unchecked; possibly 5. We will constantly be on the move, we can keep in touch via summons."

"And what of Hana? Those two are just starting out in their relationship. You think that those two will be able to keep it together being apart for 5 years?" Jiraiya stood there, looking out the window as Tsunade posed a very good question.

"If he's anything like me, he'll be able to." Jiraiya didn't have to look at the reflection in the window to know that Tsunade was now looking right at him, nor did he need to see that she had an astonished and almost pained look as she stared at the man that she knew loved her then, and just received proof still loved her.

"And... if she, were to move on while he was gone?" there was a small tremor to her voice, he could tell she was holding back from letting her voice crack.

"He'll still love her, and come back for her, he wants her to be happy, no matter what it means for him."

"And... if she realizes that she was wrong and wants him back?" he could hear the pain and tears in her voice now.

"Then she only needs to tell..." Before he could finish, he had been spun around and his lips covered by hers in a heated, needing kiss. He softly wrapped his arms around her and held on for dear life as they kissed, the sun slowly setting behind them in the window.

XxXxXxX

So, there we go. A rather short chapter, but I wanted to have one out for you all before the wedding and the honeymoon. Please don't be mad at me for taking so long. SO much going on between work and planning. I'll try and get another chapter out sooner. I hope you like some of what went on in this chapter. Please leave a comment, let me know what you think.

Your friendly neighborhood Dar signing off.