Living Twice: Altering the Present

Well, it's the latest chapter, fjclay823. Delivered as promised.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

25.

"So you know what to do, right?" Anko asked.

Kin nodded.

The Mitarashi grinned. "Good. Keep your boyfriend from getting pissed and causing the village to be destroyed. Easy." She reached in through the doorway and pulled the door closed, leaving Kin alone in the bedroom all alone. Well, not entirely; Naruto still lied on the bed, knocked out with sleep. And there were the fact that there were probably some ANBU posted in the room. It wasn't just because it was the Hokage's house, obviously. She was still a dangerous liability, as far as the higher-ups were concerned. She was running mostly on what could be called a recommendation, and the fact that Naruto might be reliant on her. Involuntarily, of course, but it did make her feel…stronger.

She ambled off to the Uzumaki's bedside and sat in the chair next to him. "He's not my boyfriend," the girl muttered. "But it's kinda close." She looked down at the boy; he didn't look like he was having a restful sleep; perhaps whatever they had done to put him under was too radical. To some extent, she entertained the idea of waking him but she hesitated. Seeing his rather feral features deterred her quiet a bit, not to mention, the proverb 'let sleeping dogs lie' kept coming to mind.

Then he started growling.

She quickly recoiled in fear, wondering if she had done something wrong. Cautiously, she reached forward and rested a hand on his shoulder, before drawing back and forth in a rocking motion to wake him. "Naruto-kun. Wake up."

He didn't show any immeadiate signs of waking. Was he just a stubborn sleeper? Or was it related to how his abilities tied in with sleep? Or even because of what they did to him to make him sleep in the first place?

Would she get into trouble for waking him, if the last was the case? Or would it be to his betterment?

Kin tried again, but this time, kept at it harder for longer. "Naruto-kun! Wake up! Y'hear me? Wake up!" She shook him vigourously by the shoulder and in her fit, finally smacked him once on the cheek, punctuating her final word. "Wake…UP!"

"Ow!" Red slitted eyes burst open. "Damn it! Take it easy, I'm up, I'm up!" He leaned up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes; they softened once he saw Kin in his room. "Kin-chan? They let you out?"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded. "I guess someonefinally convinced the hokage. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

He got the hint and nodded sheepishly. "Great!" His right hand flew up to embrace his cheek. "But 'ow'! You've got a mean hand, though. One could say that you were heavy-handed?" Naruto laughed at his bad pun while Kin rolled her eyes. "Anyway, how've you been?"

"Obviously better than you." She stared at his eyes and briefly missed his ceruleans. "You look like a beast."

"I know. I was trying to use a henge earlier to cover it up." He formed the ram seal, ready to call forth his chakra to make the transformation jutsu again, but she grabbed his hands and pulled them apart. "Huh? What is it?"

Kin was about to tell him the reason, but she stopped herself; she paused to think a while. "You don't know why?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Um…I only foresaw a few hours, not the whole day. I went to bed at around midnight, around the same time when you got arrested. Speaking of which, you spent the night okay?"

"Well enough. I dreamt normally for the first few, then I started this 'living twice' (1) crap," the girl explained. "But the one-eyed man-"

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto offered.

"-Right," she took the interruption in stride. "Kakashi-san. He said that you should refrain from using chakra. It might make things worse. Like how he said you made a henge, and it made the Hokage's attempts to keep the Kyuubi's influence negligible."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, I guess it's not working right now, so why can't I keep using one? Damage's done already, as far as I care." He was about to try again, but she deftly slipped her hand between his, keeping him from perfectly forming the ram seal.

"Stop. It's not like you're with anybody who's going to judge you for how you look."

He smiled at this; it was a tiny thing, but it showed on his face nevertheless. "Thanks for that."

Kin grinned in response. "Sure." The grin soon fell as she contemplated something from earlier. "Hey, we both must've only foresaw a few hours. Why?"

"You think the time got halved to share for the both of us?"

"Hmm…I don't think so." Kin shook her head. "But the first dream I had was weird."

"Well, mine too!" Naruto gushed as he leapt off the bed. "I dreamt about my dad! It's like I could remember him from when I was a baby!"

"Oh yeah? And who's that?" Kin inquired. "Who's your father?"

Naruto was about to tell her, but wavered, wondering if they were truly alone; privacy was key, not to mention the fact that it was still pretty big news. He decided to go vague. "I wouldn't know his name. I was the baby, you know."

"Oh. Okay." She accepted the lie. "What happened?"

"Basically, I dreamt about mom and dad arguing. Then dad kicking someone's ass. Then the Kyuubi got sealed in me. The end."

Kin was flummoxed. "That's it? That's all there was?"

"Um…yeah," Naruto shrugged. "He also told me I'm going to fuck up things for me and everyone else."

"Really?" The girl slapped her one forehead in annoyance. "What kind of father tells their own son that-"

"He then said that I should have faith." The boy continued softly. "He said that I should have faith in everything that I do. To have faith that things will turn out okay. To have faith that I can do what I need to do. To be who I need to be. Faith is tantamount to belief, confidence and hope. Crap, maybe it's just one of those dreams where my own brain is trying to tell me something important or other." After this, he clammed up, leaving Kin to mull over his words, before coming to her own realization.

"You're talking about something you did. You changed something important. But what?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe when I…no. I still killed Haku. Um…" Naruto snapped his fingers in eureka. "Sasuke. He was supposed to die in Wave, but I saved his life by saving Sakura myself, instead of allowing Kakashi-sensei to do it."

"If Sasuke died, Orochimaru would have lost interest in your team. Hell, maybe you wouldn't have had a full rounded team in time for the chunin exams, so Orochimaru still wouldn't have any crap to hash with you in the first place. You wouldn't have gotten caught by him and get your seal messed with. But you wouldn't have met me-"

"And I'm glad I did." He pulled her into a hug; the embrace felt foreign to her, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. "I'm glad I fucked up things if I could meet you. Guess it wasn't really a fuck-up then, right?"

"Right." They eased apart slowly, not wanting to end it but doing so to keep up appearances. "But while we're on this subject, I wanted you to know about my dream." She dawdled here, wondering if she should continue with what she wanted to say. After a while, she decided to beat around the bush a bit; just to test the waters. "Do the names 'Mirai' and 'Rekishi' mean anything to you?"

"No." He shook his head in slight confusion. "Why?"

"Really? Not even the name 'Rekishi'? No familiarities?" The girl queried. Receiving another negative response, she began having doubts herself. "Okay. It's fine."

"Sure? Don't you know why?" The Uzumaki was sure that she was just testing him to see if he knew something. She certainly didn't sound like she was trying to find an answer she didn't already know.

"It's okay." She gave up. It was a waste. Besides, even if she told him, how would he react? For better, or for worse? What would be a good reaction, anyway? She didn't even see him in a romantic light anyway, not to mention, she felt that it was the same for him too. "But besides that," she changed the topic. "Do we have to stay cooped up in here?"

"I don't think they'd want me to leave." Naruto mumbled. "I gotta stay put."

"Well, I can't." She got up and headed towards the door. "You coming?" Seeing him shake his head, she put her hands on her hips, giving off a frustrated vibe. "Let me get this straight…you spent nearly a month in a hole and now you want to stay cooped up in one room?"

"Well…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. When she put it like that, it did make him seem foolish. "You're a bad influence," he said accusingly while pointing at her, before his face broke out in a wry smile. "I like that."

Kin grinned when she heard the poke at her history. "Alright! Let's go!" She was about to turn and make her exit but Naruto made a small alarm. "What? What is it?"

"I can't use a henge, right? I'm supposed to quit using chakra for a while, right? So how am I supposed to go out looking like…" He gestured to himself, particularly his face, "…looking like a demonic fox or a possessed beast?"

She walked back over and stood before him. He slightly shied away from her gaze, looking away and refusing to look her in the eyes. They were like this for a while; the silence began to seem enclosing…and…loud…and…awkward…

"Naruto-kun?" She said his name evenly, trying to feel him out for how he felt.

He didn't look up.

"Naruto-kun. Look at me."

Still nothing.

"Naruto-kun?" Kin whispered. In the lurid quiet, he heard her. "Look at me. Please." He obliged; raising his head, he locked his gaze with hers. "Is it because you don't want to upset the civilians…"

"…" No response.

"…Or is it because you don't want them to see you like that? Self-conscious? Are you afraid?" She didn't indict him; didn't seem accusing. Rather, she sounded like she genuinely cared about how he felt about the matter. Empathetic.

"I…" He fumbled with his words. "I don't want them to see me like this. It's hard, you know?" He backpedaled a little and let himself plop onto the bed. She did somewhat similar, and took a seat beside him. "It's hard. All these years of growing up alone, they would always call me a 'beast', a 'demon'. Sometimes, they'd call me a 'monster', and that's only if they were in a good mood. I feel like if I go out there and let them see me like this…" He held up his hands and saw his fingernails looking like claws and knew that his face showed the same feral evidence. "If they see me like this, it'll only prove that they were right." His tone soured at this. "Maybe I really am one."

"Of course you are. You really look like one, so you must be one."

"Excuse me?" He would have expected her to say that he wasn't, but now it felt like she was making it worse.

"You must be a real bakemono. You look like one." Kin said seriously. "But besides that, I guess this is the first time I've met a monster I liked. Just the way he is. Outward appearances don't mean a thing to me."

"Really?" Hope (and slight embarrassment) ballooned in his chest.

"Of course. Besides, if the others don't like you just because of how you look, then that's their problem. But since you feel like this-" She eased herself off of the bed and stood before him. She formed the ram seal to pull on her chakra reserves and performed a henge. As the wisps of smoke cleared from her jutsu, she was revealed as having the same etched whiskers on her face, with red slitted eyes to match. The only thing wrong was that her teeth didn't have the extreme pronounced features that Naruto's fangs, (probably a flaw in the jutsu's execution). "Well, look at me. I mean, I look like a monster. I've got to be one, right? I appear, therefore I am."

"No you don't," Naruto said hastily. "Look, I appreciate a good scolding as much as the next guy, but I've got a literal demon sealed inside me. There's nothing that any of us can do about that."

"Well…now it's a problem?"

"When you put it like that-" He started to defend himself, but Kin interrupted him by grasping his legs and slightly pulling them apart. "What the hell?"

"Excuse me…" She appeared to look closely at his in-thighs. "Just making sure there isn't any bleeding going on down there."

Naruto rolled his eyes in contempt. "Ha-ha. Very funny." He thought her tease to be in poor taste.

"Jokes aside," she leaned back up to peer in his face. "I've had the pleasure of knowing real demons. They had human skin. You might know them as Orochimaru and Kabuto. I think you determine demons by their actions, what they do and the decisions they make. While I can say that you haven't always made the best decision…" She trailed off, letting it hang a bit. It was a massive hint to his actions in Wave of which he constantly kept bringing up.

"I know what you mean. But-"

"'But' nothing, Naruto-kun! All you can do is to let this go." Kin stood up and held out her hand to him. "All we can do is keep making the best of what we've got." Naruto grabbed her hand and allowed her to pull him up as leverage.

"Good speech. Do you also do toasts at weddings and birthdays?"

Kin visibly froze when he said the word 'weddings', but she shook it off quickly. "As if." However, instead of pressing her about it, Naruto shook his head. "Well, arigatou. I guess I can say I'm not that bummed out anymore. But at least let me put on a hood-cloak or something. I'm not too keen on getting run out of the village by a lynch mob. What's more, I can't be too bothered with living life on the lam."

"I guess if I go out looking like you, I'd be in the same boat." Kin mumbled as she glimpsed herself in a far mirror on the wall. "I guess we really do look demonic."

"Turning into a hypocrite?" Naruto asked in an asinine tone.

"I said 'look', smart-ass. I didn't say that we are." She watched him don the clothing before pulling over the hoodie that concealed his head. His face was hidden by (enough) shadow, and she told him so. "Alright. Let's get going." On their way out the door, Kin turned to the 'empty' room. "Hey, ANBU! You coming or what?!"

A few shadows shifted here and there, but there were no audible responses. The girl shrugged. "Whatever."

"Kin-chan? Take off the henge. Seriously. If you're going out looking like that, walk ten feet behind me."

"I wouldn't oust you like that!" Kin defended herself boisterously as she closed the door. "I think I'm okay with it!"

"Well, it's unbecoming. Besides," he placed his left arm around her shoulder while pointing to himself with his right thumb, "I think I wear the look better, anyway. Not to mention, it's my trademark. Now lose it."

"Fine."

=X=X=

Shuriken, by the number of six, cut through the air and slammed into a wooden post, all jostling for the dead center of the target painted on it. Sakura didn't stop to appreciate her work. She continued pulling out the throwing stars out of her pouch and sending them on their way as well. Sasuke trained in silence as well, but that was normal for him. However, tension leaked from the both of them and it made things feel a bit discomfited.

"You saw his henge, didn't you?" She asked quietly. To the Uchiha, it sounded louder than the sounds of their training, and it made him stop.

"I didn't just see his henge, Sakura. I saw through it." He turned fully to her, allowing the girl to see his face. He looked badly disheveled. "I used my Sharingan to see through it. Wasn't the best choice; now, I'm never going to forget it."

"What did he look like?"

Sasuke paused to think. "You recall hearing the adults always whispering about him, or having them telling you to avoid him whenever possible?"

"Yeah."

"I guess you could say that I saw why." He then went on to describe the Uzumaki that he saw, sparing no details. "He must've been wearing the henge this morning to hide himself. The only questions are…has he always been in some sort of disguise…?"

"And what's causing him to look that way in the first place." Sakura scratched her chin. "I think we should try to find out." She went over to the post in which her shuriken littered, before starting to pick them up and re-placing them into her weapon's pouch. "Either we ask the adults, 'cause they obviously know more this than we do…"

"Or we ask Naruto himself." Sasuke finished. "Let's put a rush on it. It's already late afternoon."

=X=X=

"Yeah, Give me a double-scoop," the boy said in response to the seller's question of what he wanted to purchase. He angled his head to face the girl behind him. "Hey, Kin-chan? Want any?" He hoped she'd say 'yes'.

"Of course I want some too. It's no fun to watch someone else eat something you want."

"Well…okay." He returned his attention to the retailer. "You heard her. Give her a double-scoop too. And make it look fancy."

"Okay, okay. What flavor?" The man inside the small dessert shop turned his back to dish out the frozen treat.

"Vanilla's fine for me," Kin called to the man.

"Vanilla? Boring…" Naruto muttered before raising his volume to the man. "I'll take saki-and-raisin." (2) He watched with interest as the man skillfully used his serving spoon to dish out what they wanted.

"Hey, I like what I like, alright?"

"Obviously you like plain flavors. Good thing I sprang for something to decorate yours," the boy remarked as he watched the man stick a piece of pocky in hers. He paid his money and took the ice-creams that the man offered him. "Here you go." They were about to leave, but the vendor called after him.

"Hey…you paid three times the cost. Is that a tip or something? Or do you have too much money to spend?"

"I just paid the amount you charged me last…time…" Naruto trailed off when he realized what was wrong. The last time he came here to get ice-cream, he was Naruto Uzumaki, the village pariah. Today, he was just a normal kid (in a hoodie) getting ice-cream.

Was that an advantage? Or was it that he was no longer at a disadvantage? He supposed that either way worked for him; he was paying less.

"Well, no. I was um…testing you. You're really honest," Naruto stated with difficulty. He retrieved his difference in cash and walked off. "I'll be sure to tell everyone. Consider it free advertising."

The vendor waved at him, wondering if something was off. Nevertheless, he paid them no more mind, and the two teens went their way.

"That was weird."

"No. It wasn't." Naruto rolled his eyes. "He's the only guy who'd sell me ice-cream, but that was the amount he charged me last time. I just forgot that I'm incognito."

"I get it. They hate you like a plague." Kin plucked out the pocky out of the thick cream. When she saw that it had been a red stick, she had high hopes…'Please don't be cherry, please don't be cherry, please don't be cherry….' Then she bit it.

Naruto watched the girl demolish the pocky while he sweat-dropped. "That was apple-flavored pocky, wasn't it?"

"Mm-hmm? What gave it away?" It was as if she really didn't know.

The teen looked away in slight embarrassment. "Um…lucky guess? Maybe because it was red, too?"

"Okay, then," the girl shrugged. "But hey, at least you get to even see daylight, right? You didn't have to stay underground hiding like a rat-"

"-Or snakes?" Naruto said pointedly. "How'd you get to be working for a guy like that snake-teme anyway?"

"Living with my dad on an apple farm-" She was interrupted by the boy's slapping of his own forehead. "What?"

"You lived on an apple farm?" The boy asked, incredulous; Kin nodded in response. "Oh man, that explains a whole lot."

"What about it?"

"N-nothing. Nothing at all," Naruto said cheekily while licking his own ice cream. 'Woo…saki and raisin, huh…good combo…'

"Well, moving on," Kin muttered. "You could say that we had a few hooligan problems. I left to join Orochimaru so I could...you know…"

"Learn how to kick their asses?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. Seeing her remain quiet, he went on. "Gee, how'd that work out for you?"

"Cut back on the sarcasm. Kami, I know I screwed up on that. I mean, what's your excuse for becoming a shinobi?" She asked, thoroughly expecting him to be stumped. Unsurprisingly, he was.

"Well…what else could a guy like me do, huh? I wasn't really good for book-learning. Besides, with the abilities like I do, what else would I do?"

"Go into stock management? Gamble? Become pioneer in the medical field-" Kin started to ramble, before her partner cut her off.

"Since you've got my abilities now too, does that mean that you'd quit being a kunoichi and start doing those things you just mentioned?"

"Well…" She hesitated. "I still have to get back to my father…"

"And just putter along and waste the newfound talents to know the future-"

"Well, at least I'm not wasting my life just going through the motions!" Kin exploded. The public street was now filled with eyes that drew over to them, but it didn't make her even half as self-conscious as it made Naruto did. "You've had it for four years, eight years if you want to get technical! What kind of achievements you've made, huh? Just a bunch of fuck-ups!"

Naruto sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, okay? I…it's just that you were right," he spoke quietly. "It has been a waste. But I've never tried to use it without considering other people. Doesn't that count for something? Not to mention, the whole thing makes me afraid to get out of my comfort zone. The future is…scary. I'm afraid to make changes. I don't know if the outcome I see is always the best one. I don't know if you being here is the future that would have been the best one. I messed up, you got caught in the crossfire and now I'm a walking disaster waiting to happen."

It was somber. The crowd soon lost interest and weaved their way around the two that stood still in the street. But Kin heard him out; listened to what he had to say. "But that still doesn't excuse your decisions-"

"I know. I always had a choice. I just let my fear of change make my decisions for me. I've tried to break out of that shell, make small changes but altogether…well…"

"Yep, the future sucks." They started walking again. 'Except if that first dream I had was true…I guess not entirely."

"If you say so. But I guess we'll just have to make the best of the present, right?"

"Uh huh." She glanced at him eating his ice-cream and made a small frown. "You've got something on your face, there…" She pointed to at the smear of cream.

"Hmm?" He swiped at his face with the back of his hand. "Did I get it?"

She peered closely. "No. It's to the right. Right side."

He rubbed the wrong side. In slight exasperation, she reached out and dabbed at the elusive spot with her thumb. To his fluster, she tasted it and made a face. "Damn…you're right. Vanilla is boring. Especially compared to this."

"You know, if you wanted to taste it," he held out his half-eaten cream to her, "you could've asked."

"Well, since I got the pocky, I didn't ask. It'd make me seem greedy-…" Her eyes seemed to light up. "Wait. Do you think they have apple ice-cream?"

"For your health and my sanity's sake, I hope not." Naruto glanced up to see that the sun was about to set. "We should head back, before they start sending out a search party or something."

"All right." Hardly had she finished her answer when Naruto's watch started beeping in a repetitive alarm. He regarded it with extreme interest while he turned it off, something the kunoichi took note of. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Doesn't look that way. And why did that alarm go off? Don't you normally use alarms to help you wake up or something?"

"Well, why do you have to ask so many questions, huh?" Naruto said shortly.

"Well, why won't you answer them?" Kin defended. "Call me nosy, but yes, it does look like something's wrong, that alarm was meant as a some kind of warning and it sure as hell wasn't being used to wake up anyone."

"Well…you're smart." Naruto finished off his ice-cream and started eating the cone. "Figure it out."

Kin stopped to think a while before her face lit up as she thought she had the right answer. "Well, there's this movie I've heard about. It has some guy who's like, I dunno, the last human being or something. He uses a wristwatch alarm to warn him to go home before dusk, 'cause that's when these nightmarish creatures start prowling-" (3)

"Could you…um…fast-forward to when you'll tell me what you think the answer is?" Naruto started humming as he walked. The way he moved suggested urgency, but Kin lagged behind on purpose. "Hey, get the lead out of your shoes and let's go!"

"Are you imitating that guy?" Kin spoke with conviction.

"No."

"Have to feed a pet you haven't told me about?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Somewhere to go to?"

"Um…home? No. Try again."

Now, she was certain she had the right answer. "You're scared of the dark."

"Nani?! Of course not! I'm brave, dattebayo!"

"Well, you're scared." She said knowingly, thoroughly expecting him to crack if she kept on teasing him about the wrong thing.

"I'm not scared."

"You are!"

"Not."

As they walked along in the falling night, deep down, they knew that they hadn't a care in the world. Of course, issues lingered and problems waited to show themselves once more, but they were safely ignored. Not to mention, their mirth was fairly contagious to other passersby; they took no notice.

At last, Naruto submitted. "Fine, fine! Damn it, woman! It's because it's my bedtime." He glanced at his watch, only to discover that he could barely see the hands; he realized that it was that dark. Dark meant late. "Crap. Six pm came and gone."

"Your bedtime's at six pm? Are you a toddler?" Kin asked, dumbfounded. They cut through the park as Naruto led them by his minor speed surfeit but to his chagrin, the girl took a seat on a nearby bench, maneouvering her tall head of hair to one side so that it didn't impede her.

"Hey, c'mon, get up! We need to hurry!" Tsuchi ignored the boy's episode and remained seated; leaning back comfortably to show that she had no intention of moving. "What do you have against my bedtime, anyway?"

"A bedtime? You see? This is the kind of behavior that shows that you really are a toddler." She looked up into the sky; the ink hadn't fully spilled all over it from the east, but stars were beginning to make themselves seen little by little. While the sun had already set, an orange vestige could still be seen in the far west. "Hmm…"

"I knew you were a bad influence!"

"I thought you liked it." Her response sounded too innocent, perhaps even too coy. "Besides, it's not like you've got somewhere to go to early tomorrow."

Maybe far away from you, was his main thought. He seated himself beside her but didn't dare to recline.

"Just look at it." She pointed up towards the firmament. "Since your little beddy-bye is at six pm, I bet that you've never even seen that."

He followed her finger. "See what, Kin-chan?"

"I'm not gonna get all sappy and start talking about sunsets and whatnot," the kunoichi said shortly. "But I bet you've never even seen night fall. Hell, maybe even a nighttime sky."

"I have seen a nighttime sky before," the boy defended.

"When?"

"Um…times like this when I was smaller. The only thing different is that there wasn't an annoying girl making my life difficult."

"I will use my senbon on you. Don't try me." The threat sounded half-serious. That was enough 'seriousness' for the boy to respect.

"Oooh, scary." He clammed up shortly after that, resolving to just enjoy the silence. She, likewise.

And the company. She enjoyed the company. His.

=X=X=

The Hokage studied the pair. Nothing seemed unusual; that was good. Either that, or his keen eye for observation had diminished. The man silently hoped that he was right about the former being true.

In interruption, the secretary let herself into the room and frowned, one that was severe enough to let the man know that he was slipping up, but not enough to disrespect his office. "Hokage-sama. The paperwork I dropped off on your desk is still untouched. Those need to be sorted out by tomorrow so they can get to whomever they concern!"

Hiruzen got fed up quickly; his anger at this particular predicament had risen ever since Kakashi had basically called him a secretary. Quickly flowing through a few handseals, the man created a small katon technique; he blew fire that reduced the paperwork to ashes in mere moments before turning back to his secretary, as if daring her to challenge what he did. "They're sorted."

The woman shook a little. "Errm…hai, Hokage-sama. They are." She hurried let herself out while he returned his attention to the one document he had purposefully left unscathed.

Kin's report to Anko.

He skimmed through it quickly, sure that it was normal run-of-the-mill recounting. However, he soon found himself reading through it again, far more carefully. Then again. Then again. And again.

"She poisoned her comrades?" He quickly read through her reasons. Yes, she had to neutralize the threat they posed. Yes, she needed to get Naruto's cell key. Yes, it was efficient and easy.

But…

"All we found was Orochimaru's body. There was no one else there. Either the girl is lying…" Sarutobi reached for his pipe and lit up somberly, inhaling deeply on the fired tobacco. "Either she lied, or they're all still alive."

Well, that's scene. The chapter's crammed with a lot of dialogue, a bit of it OOC but hey, the ship set sail, am I right?

1 – (Living Twice) Obviously a poke at the story's title.

2 – Culture violation; Ice creams exists. (Not to mention, saki-and-raisin…? A reference to rum-and-raisin, a personal favorite.)

3 – Kin's guess (about why he wanted to go home early) was a reference to the movie 'I am Legend'. I don't own, therefore, I must be broke.

I believe I've already informed some of you already; I have no intention of continuing this fic into shippuden. Frankly, writing about a Naruto who can fight anyone just by knowing the future would make fights rather boring, anyway. Not to mention, having a girlfriend who could probably do the same thing would make them too frickin' OP.

So rather than to contend with that, you'll have to understand if I have to rush the relationship a bit, to finalize it by the time the fic ends. It's very unlike me, goes against my policy and what-not, but it's going to be necessary. Still doesn't mean I'm gonna put them in bed to start going at it like rabbits just to make them closer, though, especially not anytime soon. Sorry, lemon lovers. Have some cookies in the meantime.

I guess that's it. Take care.

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.