Chapter 27: Similarities Aren't Always Positive
The next morning was a quiet one. Everyone quickly and quietly getting their breakfast and waiting for the book to start. I think they are hoping this day's chapters will be more action pact. The voice for this chapter is William Shatner. Good old Captain Kirk himself.
XoX
It was well into the night. The moon had risen in the sky several hours ago, it's soft rays barely illuminating the velvety darkness of space. Millions of stars offered the moon aid in granting some luminescence to the city below, tiny pinpricks of light that gathered along the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
Not that the stars could be seen from the office of Izumi Higa. Smack in the center of one of the heavier industrial districts in the western side of Shinto Teito, the millions of lights from cars and signs and office buildings meant that much of the starry view was blocked out. The smog from pollution did not help much either.
"Ugh." Kiba said. "I couldn't handle not being able to see the stars like that." He shivered at the thought.
Higa's office was dark, for the most part. Only the light streaming in through the large window behind the desk and several blinking lights from the security cameras arrayed around the room offered any light to the room. It was just enough to make out the silhouette of the various objects resting throughout the large and opulent space.
Sitting by the door, in one of the few blind spaces of the many cameras, was a small, potted plant.
Of course, it wasn't really a plant, but it did look like one. At least, until it went up in a small puff of smoke, which soon cleared to reveal Naruto Uzumaki crouched down low like some kind of predatory feline waiting to pounce.
Almost as soon as he dropped the henge, the blond Uzumaki went through a string of hand-seals before activating his godfather's infamous invisibility jutsu. Jiraiya had come up with it in his youth so that he could spy on women when they were bathing.
"Ugh." Tsunade said. "I still can't believe he made the jutsu literally just for that. Especially since that ability alone is why he is so good at being a spy." Naruto smirked. He did know how to do that jutsu, but he hasn't told anyone yet.
Tōton jutsu or the Transparent Escape Technique was a surprisingly complex jutsu that bent light particles around the user to render them invisible. Because it wasn't a genjutsu, but a ninjutsu that relied on bending the light around a person or object to render them invisible, it worked on more than just animals and people.
With no fear of being seen by the many security cameras, Naruto stood up and walked over to the desk. Sitting down in the comfortable and ridiculously opulent chair, the ancient yet young looking Uzumaki reached out and turned on the personal computer of Izumi Higa.
The monitor light came on, followed by the screen lighting up. An array of text appeared as the computer went through the booting up process. Soon enough, the password screen to log onto the computer appeared.
Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular device with a small display screen and a USB plug dangling from a cable. Pressing the small button on the top, the screen lit up with a soft green light, prompting Naruto to plug it into the computer.
The device quickly went to work, running through a gauntlet of letters and numbers as it searched for the correct characters to unlock the computer. As the right character was found, the small screen would display it for him to see. In no time at all, the code was cracked: 1Mizuiagih1, not a very original password choice, but what else did one expect from a guy who lacked enough originality to come up with a better 'join me and we'll rule the world' type of speech?
Matsu's eyes gleamed. "I will try that password when we get back." she said. "You never know if it will fit." the rest of the room chuckled at the idea of his password actually working for them.
As the monitor switched to the profile screen with a standard blue screensaver as the background, Naruto pulled device in his hands out and plugged a new device in. It was just a standard looking USB drive, though the program it contained was anything but standard.
Upon plugging this new device in, a small pop up window appeared. Naruto watched the loading bar fill up as he proceeded to download every file on the computer, even those that were heavily encrypted. When that was done, he pulled out a Hiraishin kunai and used it to teleport the object to the Hiraishin seal Naruto had drawn inside of the top right drawer within a hidden compartment on his desk.
With his task done, there was no more reason for him to stay. The shadow clone dispersed into a mass of smoke. When it cleared, the room looked just as it always had. No one would even realize someone else had been in it.
"Stealthy, like a ninja." Naruto said, with a smirk. "That is how we roll." the other ninja snickering at his joke.
XoX
Waking up the next morning was a strangely interesting experience. You wouldn't think that waking up to a woman sleeping soundly in your arms was that interesting, but for Naruto, who had been so used to having all of his Sekirei minus Homura sleep with him every night, it was.
Naruto found himself lying on his side. That was the first thing he noticed that was different between now and when he usually woke up. Most of the time, he ended up falling asleep on his back and waking up on his back. It was the best way to ensure maximum mass was available so his Sekirei could each be in some form of physical contact with him.
The second thing Naruto noticed was Tsukiumi, the Sekirei he had fallen asleep with had, at some point during the night, turned around and was now facing him instead of facing away from them. As a consequence, one of his hands he was using to hold her had buried itself in her thick curtain of silky blond hair. The other was attached firmly to her small, perfectly formed left cheek.
Tsukiumi's arms had also managed to work themselves around his torso. She was squeezing him tightly, not as tight as Musubi, but certainly enough that he could feel it. Her head had also tucked itself under his chin, and Naruto could feel both her nose and lips pressing against his collar bone. Every now and then she would purse her lips, almost like she was unconsciously trying to kiss him.
Tsukiumi started blushing. Who knew she was so grabby when she was asleep.
He had to admit... it felt nice. While this wasn't the first time he had woken up with a woman in his arms, or even the one thousandth time, it was still a very novel experience.
He suspected the bond was involved. Now that he was aware of it, Naruto had taken to studying how the bond worked. He still didn't have much, because none of the equipment he could use to test such a thing was available and wouldn't be for a while yet, but he had made careful observations from watching Uzume and Chiho as well as interacting with his own Sekirei.
One of the things Naruto noticed the most about the bond was that it got more powerful when in physical contact with the Sekirei you were bonded to. It was almost like acts if intimacy revved the bond and made it stronger. He was almost tempted to have sex with one of them just to see if the act made their bond anymore powerful than it already was. The only reason he didn't was because he did not want sex with his Sekirei, especially their first time, to be a science experiment and not an act of love.
"I don't think Matsu would agree with that." Homura. "She is always wanting to experiment on Minato, so I think she would not mine her first time to be an experiment on her bond." Matsu just kept doing her lobster impression with her skin color. She knew she couldn't refute what the fire sekirei was saying. It was true.
Using the skills he had gained from spending many a night with a clingy woman, Naruto managed to successfully extricate himself from Tsukiumi's hold by replacing himself with a pillow. Sometimes, he really loved being a ninja.
Tsukiumi frowned as her mind appeared to subconsciously realize that the thing she was now holding was not Naruto, but thankfully, she did not wake up. Which meant he was free to get his day started.
Wanting to get some kind of exercise in, Naruto quickly got dressed in a pair of black pants made out of an absorbent material that stretched across his form like a second skin. Despite how tight they were, they were very comfortable.
Deciding not to bother with a shirt or shoes, he made his way downstairs and out onto the veranda.
"My, oh my," a voice that was tinged with equal parts amusement and lust spoke up. Naruto could actually hear the leer in her voice. "Look at what we have here."
"I bet that will be either Miya or Kazehana." Anko said. Naruto figured it would be Kazehana but stayed silent. He is thinking she might be winged soon by him.
Even though he didn't need to turn around to know who was talking, he did so anyways. It was no surprise to him when he saw Kazehana sitting down on the veranda, casually leaning back against the wall with a lazy posture. She was staring at him, taking in his body with her eyes. If Naruto didn't know any better, he would almost say she was actually eye raping him.
"Morning," Naruto greeted as he turned back and stepped onto the grass. Raising his arms above his head, he bent the left one at a ninety degree angle so that he could grab a hold of his right arm at the elbow and begin to pull, stretching out the latissimus dorsi muscle. "I didn't expect anyone else to be awake this early."
"I don't sleep much," Kazehana informed him, her eyes never leaving his chest and stomach as he went through a series of routine stretches. "It's difficult to sleep peacefully without a warm, loving body laying next to me."
"Is that so," Naruto assumed she meant it was hard for her to sleep without an Ashikabi. He had read up on his profiles and knew that this woman had actually tried to convince Minaka to become her Ashikabi, but he rejected her. After that, she left MBI and, according to reports, went on a world wide Sake tasting tour. "I wish I could say I knew how that felt."
"That was true for me as well." Kazehana said. "Both the rejection and the sake tasting tour."
The truth was, even before he met Musubi, he had never really been wanting for companionship. If he felt like finding some female to warm his bed at night, he would. It was as simple as that.
Of course, Kazehana was talking about love, something he had not experienced in about fourteen hundred years, and something he was only now beginning to re familiarize himself with. It probably wasn't fair to compare the two.
Kazehana snorted. "Well, I suppose you wouldn't, with all the Sekirei you're with." She took a long swig of her sake, swallowed, then gave a heavy sigh. "It must be nice being surrounded by so many people who love you."
Naruto thought about correcting her, but decided not to. There was really no point, and it wasn't like he owed her anything. If he wouldn't tell his own Sekirei or Miya about his past, then there was no way some random female who showed up on his doorstep would be learning it any time soon.
"Awww." was heard around the room. It seems that everyone was really wanting to know about the book Naruto's past.
"I'm sure you'll find someone eventually," Naruto replied to her cordially as he finished stretching out his legs. Coming up to a standing position, the blond gave her one last look before heading further into the backyard. "Just because the first person you reacted to decided to reject you, does not mean everyone you react to will."
Curiously enough, Kazehana stood up and followed the blond as he walked over to the tree. "And what do you about my rejection?" she didn't seem angry, despite her words, just curious. "Do you know what it feels like to be rejected by the man you loved? The one you thought would be the single most important existence in your life?"
"Considering I'm a male, and straight, I can't say I know how it feels to be rejected by a man," Naruto spoke dryly as he planted his hands on the ground exactly shoulder width apart, drew his feet up onto the trunk and made sure they were secure, then began doing push ups. He did not bother to count, as he had no need to anymore. Instead, he would keep going until he was tired.
For some reason, Kazehana actually seemed to find his snarky reply amusing. She snickered a bit, before plopping herself down in the grass to sit cross legged several feet away from him as he worked out.
"You are going to try to get him to wing you I bet." Anko said. "Can't say I blame you. If I was around a hunk like that," She points to the screen that is showing the workout with a shirtless immortal. "I would try to as well." she tossed a smirk as Hinata, who had visible tick mark appear for a second before she calmed herself down, knowing Anko is trying to rile her up for something. (Anko didn't miss the 'my Naruto' reference from the day before.)
Several long moments passed before either one of them spoke again. Naruto had begun to work up a light sweat, and Kazehana was simply too busy admiring his glistening body to speak. It seemed that even if she wasn't reacting to him, the woman at least knew how to appreciate an attractive male specimen when found.
"I noticed you never mentioned anything about knowing what rejection feels like," Kazehana pointed out after some time. Her words caused Naruto to stop doing push ups and crane his neck to look at her.
"No," he said at last, then got back to doing more push ups. "I suppose I didn't."
Kazehana frowned as she watched Naruto complete his work outs. He was very methodical in how he exercised, working fast enough that his heart rate stayed high, but never so fast that he could not complete an exercise without cutting corners. It was actually very impressive to watch a human (at least to Kazehana's eyes) complete over two thousand reps of each exercise correctly and still not even look anything more than mildly winded.
"So do you know what it feels like?" Kazehana asked Naruto as he finished up all of the exercises he had begun dong each morning. Now he just had to take a bath before Miya woke up so they could begin their routine.
"So just outright asking him?" Minato asked. Kazehana smirked. "When subtlety doesn't work, I prefer to use the direct approach."
The blond stood still for a moment, considering the woman in front of him for a moment.
"There was a young boy once, who thought he knew what love was," the blond began. "For the longest time this boy had a crush on this one girl in his class. Everyday this boy would ask the girl out and everyday her answer would be the same." Naruto chuckled mirthlessly. "No."
"So what did the boy do?" asked Kazehana, already enraptured by the small tale. "Did he give up?"
"No," Naruto shook his head. "The boy refused to give up, refused to believe that this girl would never be interested in him. And so he kept trying, kept asking her out to the point where the girl would actually get annoyed with him and hit him every time he did so. Even still, this did not deter the boy. He continued to doggedly chase after her."
Sakura realized she was the girl in the story. She had quietly apologized to him for hitting him so much. Naruto waved her apology off. It was water under the bridge by now and he did not hold any grudges against her for it.
"Of course, the girl was in love with someone else, another classmate of theirs. Like all the other girls in their class, she had a crush on the school star, a boy who was consecutively at the top in class as well as possessing those dark, mysterious and bishounen good looks some women go for. To top it all off, he had a very tragic past, being the sole survivor of a family that was massacred. And so, while the boy chased after the girl, the girl chased after someone else entirely. Someone who, much like the girl kept rejecting the boy, kept on rejecting her in the same manner."
Naruto paused for a moment in his story telling, not for any need to increase tension, but simply to remember those simpler times. Things back then had been so much easier. He had never had to think of anything other than getting stronger, beating Sasuke and convincing Sakura why he was so much better than their black haired, black eyes teammate. Even with going through things like an A-rank mission while he was still a genin and fighting against Sannin and Bijuu alike, those times remained some of the most simple and lighthearted days of his life.
There was a reason he often kept the earliest memories of his past closer to his heart than the more recent ones, which were filled with more abject failures than he could count.
"Sounds like they had a very odd dynamic among them," Kazehana mused when the silence became too unbearable for her.
"That's one way of putting it," Naruto said dryly. "Dysfunctional would be closer to the truth, however. The boy the girl loved cared nothing for such an emotion. To him, love was a weakness. All he cared about was getting revenge on the person who killed his family. The girl thought she could heal the boys broken heart if she kept hounding him in the same way the boy who crushed on her kept doing, and that he would find succor in her loving embrace."
"Isn't the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over, while expecting different results?" Matsu asked. She didn't know that Sakura was that girl, since her name was never given. She never really paid attention to how she acted towards Sasuke for the short time he was here.
"And the boy who loved the girl?"
"He just wanted to be noticed," Naruto said. "He was one of those people who others tried to ignore because he was a reminder of a past tragedy that happened at the same time he was born. They pretended he didn't exist, so he did things to get noticed. It was his belief that if he could just get this girl, who was beautiful and smart, to fall in love with him, he would be able to prove to the people who thought he was nothing but a trouble maker that he did exist and they were wrong about him."
Kazehana frowned. "So he didn't love her? Was he just using her?"
Sakura wanted to know that answer as well. While she wasn't in love with Naruto, she did love him as a brother. An annoying brother, but a brother all the same.
"No, he did love her," Naruto corrected. "He loved her very much, but it wasn't until much later that he realized this. And it wasn't until much, much later that he realized what he felt wasn't the love one would feel for a spouse, but the love one feels for someone they consider family."
"In the end, the boy never did end up getting with his childhood crush." Naruto shrugged. "They became more akin to brother and sister and ended up supporting each other through all the hardships they faced together." At least, they did until the girl died tragically by the hands of the very man she claimed to love. But that was a different story, and not one he would tell this woman.
Sakura paled to almost pure white. 'Sasuke killed me?! Th-th-th-that BASTARD' Sakura started screaming and railing in her mind. She was also being hugged my Kiba at the same time. At least her obsession with Sasuke is well and truly done.
As Naruto began to walk back into the house, Kazehana's voice once more caused him to stop. "Did the boy ever find love?"
Naruto stopped, turned his head and looked at her. There was a smile on his face, but even it could not hide the tinge of bitterness in his eyes. "He did, but it wasn't until much later that he found it. And of course, as is the case with most things in life, the love he found did not endure and, much like winter causes the autumn bloom to wither and die, this love eventually shriveled up until there was nothing left."
The ninja were all wondering if it was Hinata or someone else.
XoX
"Come on, Chiho-baby! You're doing really good!"
Chiho blushed as she continued walking with the assistance of the young man in front of her. It probably had something to do with the way Uzume was cheering her on. That girl was seriously loud, especially when it was something she couldn't help but be excited over. Naruto could see why Chiho would be embarrassed by her Sekirei, even though they were the only three in the room.
"Just ignore her," Naruto said as he tried to keep Chiho's attention on him. Chiho's muscles had finally gotten to the point where they could begin working on getting her body back into shape. Currently, this involved Naruto walking backwards in a circle around Chiho's and Uzume's room while holding the younger Ashikabi's hands to keep her from losing her balance. Already, they had done a good number of laps, more than the last time, so he knew she was improving. "Uzume's just allowing her childishness to get the best of her."
"That's not a very nice thing to say, bro," Uzume said from her place behind Chiho. Her job was to make sure that her Ashikabi did not fall over or anything. If she did, then it was her job to keep him from falling over by catching her before she could hit the ground.
"I am surprised she isn't trying to be pervert now." Matsu said.
Of course, Uzume being Uzume, was using this time as an excuse to stare at her Ashikabi's ass. The girl was quite perverted like that.
"Ah." Matsu added. "There it is."
"I'm not being childish," the pony tailed Sekirei continued, her eyes still focused solely on her Ashikabi's cute little derriere. The girl was practically salivating even though Chiho was only wearing a pair of jeans. Naruto could see the busty brunette stripping the younger girl with her eyes as if they had X-ray vision. Too bad she wasn't a Hyuuga. "I can assure you, my thoughts right now are anything but childish."
This caused Hinata's blush to go full nuclear, almost to the point of causing her to pass out.
"U-U-Uzume-chan!" It seemed Chiho was capable of reading her Sekirei's mind, or at least reading the mood. She knew exactly what Uzume was thinking. "Must you always say such embarrassing things?"
Uzume's unrepentant grin may have gone unnoticed by Chiho, but Naruto certainly saw it. "You know you like it."
"Th-That's not the point," Chiho muttered with an embarrassed blush. Her eyes traveled up to Naruto, then looked away again just as quickly.
"And there she goes corrupting her ashikabi with her beastly urges." Miya said, with a small smirk. She is planning on having fun messing with that pair later on. Minato is just happy Miya will have another target to mess with besides him.
"Oh hoh!" Uzume grinned victoriously, as if she could sense what her Ashikabi had done. She may very well be able to. Naruto did not know how powerful the Sekirei bond could become, but he would not disregard the possibility of experiencing shared vision. "So you're just embarrassed that I'm talking about this in front of bro here? Could it be that Chiho is embarrassed by our talk from yesterday?"
At the mention of yesterday, Chiho's blush went atomic. She also ended up losing her footing due to her not paying attention to where she was walking and ended up accidentally tripping over her own feet. This resulted in her falling forward, directly into Naruto's well muscled chest.
"Woah there," Naruto caught the girl easily enough. It was a simple matter to wrap his arms around the tiny girl's thin waist.
Of course, this did not help Chiho's situation as she found her head being pressed directly against Naruto's chest. From where she was, Chiho could feel and hear Naruto's heartbeat as it thumped against her ear. It was much different than her own heartbeat, which felt like it was going so fast it would explode.
"Are you alright?" asked Naruto. The girl didn't respond, mainly because she had lost the ability to speak.
She did, however, nod against his chest. It wasn't much, but he supposed it was better than getting nothing.
"Somehow I have a feeling those two will try to or even succeed in have that threesome that Uzume was talking about." Naruto said.
Naruto looked over at Uzume, who was staring at the two of them with a grin. He knew she had planned this. Or at least, tried to bring about a scenario similar to this. The last Uzumaki did not know if it was due to her own perverted desires, or if she was just playing a prank on her Ashikabi. Both were viable possibilities.
"I think we're done for the day," Naruto said, still holding Chiho against his chest. It wasn't like he could do much else anyways. It seemed the girl's legs had turned to jelly at some point and were no longer supporting her.
"Well damn," Uzume cursed, though the grin on her face told him she was not too upset. Yep, she was definitely pranking her Chiho. "And here I was thinking we could go on for a little while longer. Maybe if we kept at this long enough, Chiho-baby could finally give into her desires and the two of us could ravage you."
"MEEP!"
Letting out a mouse like squeak, Chiho jerked backwards, out of Naruto's hands as she tried to get away from the blond in as quickly as she could. Naturally, since her legs had already given out on her, this caused her to fall backwards, directly into Uzume.
The Ninja started laughing. Situations like these are often found in Jiraiya's books.
"Well, hello there, beautiful," the number ten grinned at her Ashikabi partner as her arms wrapped around the girl's lithe waist, her hands resting on Chiho's stomach. Skilled fingers began to gently caress the girl through her clothes, eliciting an embarrassed moan from the girl. "You must have missed me so much that you couldn't wait to be back in my arms again, am I right?"
It was actually kind of amusing to watch the girl's reaction to her Sekirei's ministrations. First, she turned beat red, then her entire body seemed to shudder from head to toe, and finally, she relaxed so completely that it looked like she had passed out. Only the lyrical sigh that escaped her lips and the glazed over eyes let him know she was still awake, sort of, she just wasn't all there.
"Could you please not seduce your Ashikabi while I'm still here?" Naruto asked dryly. He was both amused and surprised when Chiho did not even respond to his words. She was really out of it. Uzume must have incredibly talented hands to accomplish such a feat. "I would rather you at least wait until I leave."
"What's the matter, bro?" Uzume gave him a lecherous leer. "I thought you liked this kind of stuff. You could use it as inspiration for your next story." Her eyes became half lidded and her grin turned positively seductive. "Maybe you could even join us. I'm sure a big, strong, man like you can handle two girls at once."
Naruto smirked. "With my clones, I can handle dozens to hundreds of girls at the same time. One or two would not be an issue." Hinata's mind was going in overdrive due to all of the rated x scenes in her head that include Naruto and his clones with her and other women.
"I could handle well over a dozen girls at once," Naruto freely admitted without an ounce of pomposity. Uzume actually blinked at the completely undeceitful tone. "But unfortunately, if I were to do that, you and poor Chiho would end up being on the receiving end my own Sekirei's fury." He gave her an exaggerated wink. "And I'm sure you don't want to deal with Musubi when she's angry. I hear she can be quite scary."
Uzume guffawed loudly at this. "Get out of here you, before I change my mind and decided to just rape you."
Naruto chuckled a bit before leaving the room. It was always fun hanging out with Uzume. The girl reminded him a bit of himself when he was younger. At least personality wise. Always having a good time and laughing, and she was a prankster to boot.
Making his way to the veranda, Naruto found Akitsu and Kusano outside in the backyard where they usually were. Naruto had tasked the girl to make the flowers in the back grow and shrink as a basic training exercise for her powers. So far she could make them grow, but not shrink.
"I can do that?" Kusano asked. She had never even thought about shrinking the plans back to seeds, or saplings.
Akitsu was there to make sure the Green girls powers did not go out of control.
Plus, she seemed to enjoy spending time with the tiny tot.
"Akitsu, Ku-chan," Naruto walked over to the two as both turned to face him. Akitsu's face remained mostly bland, only the way her eyes lit up at the sight of him would reveal how happy she was to see him to anyone who was not bonded to her like he was.
"Ah." A pause. "Ashikabi-sama."
Kusano's reaction was much more enthusiastic.
"Onii-chan! Onii-chaaaaaan~!"
Like a heat seeking missile, the tiny blond girl smashed full tilt into the older blond male. It was a good thing Naruto had ninja like reflexes (pun very much intended), and was able to scoop her up before she could actually damage herself by doing something like smashing her face into his shin.
He had very hard shins.
"I am sure that is not the only part of him that is very hard, huh Hinata?" Anko said. Hinata squeaked and her blush cane back with a fury.
"Onii-chan!" Kusano said excitedly, her eyes sparkling with the kind of enthusiasm only a child could muster. "Ku-chan made the pwants shrink! They got smaller!"
"Did they?" Naruto cast a quick glance over at Akitsu, who correctly interpreted the look and gave an almost imperceptible nod. He quickly focused his attention back on Kusano and flashed her a proud smile. "That's very good, Ku-chan. Pretty soon, you'll be as strong Aki-nee in no time." Finishing this, he planted a small kiss on her forehead, causing the young blond to flush with warmth at the praise and contact.
"I want to try to shrink the plants." Kusano stated. Miya told her they will be working on that when they get home, as they do not have access to their powers here. Kusano excitedly bouncing on her seat, which happens to be Akamaru still. It is a good thing she is light and Akamaru is very strong. Her bouncing is not even a bother to him.
She really did love her onii-chan.
As the little girl buried her face in Naruto's shoulder, the Uzumaki in question turned to look at Akitsu.
"I'm making lunch. Would you like to join me?"
Akitsu tilted her head for a moment, then gave a very small, almost completely unnoticeable smile.
"Yes."
As the two made their way back inside, Naruto immediately noticed that Kusano's breathing had evened out. She was asleep.
Sighing, Naruto frowned for a moment as he closed his eyes. Within his minds eye, he could make out several different chakra signatures.
Mind's eye of the Kagura was an ability developed by the Uzumaki clan long ago for those who had developed a natural sensing ability. Uzumaki who were particularly talented sensors like Karin had actually managed to develop that ability on her own.
Naruto was not a natural sensor. In fact, except for his ability to sense the negativity and intent to harm from others due to his unique circumstances, he had no natural sensing ability to speak of.
"Well, none outside of sage mode, and negative emotions." Naruto said.
Thank god for Kage Bunshin's.
With his ability to now use Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Naruto was more than capable of sensing everyone in the house without needing to rely on Sage Mode.
His own Sekirei were the easiest to find. Tsukiumi was in the bath house. Judging from the way her chakra was fluctuating, he deduced that she was using her abilities over water to clean the room. Knowing her, she was also more than likely complaining about it as well. She never liked doing chores, feeling they were beneath her. Matsu was in her little hidden room, typing away on her computer. She was likely accessing all of the files his clone had downloaded from Izumi Higa last night. Homura was in his room. With his mind's eye technique, Naruto could tell that the fire user was reading a book of some kind. And finally, Musubi was out front, watering the flowers on either side of the walkway leading to the entrance.
Then there were the other Sekirei in the house. Plus one other Ashikabi. Uzume and Chiho were still in their room. From what he could derive from their chakra, the two were in the middle of a very heavy make out session. If he was reading the signs right, and he really hoped he was, Uzume was currently grinding herself against Chiho's leg and fondling her Ashikabi's right breast as they played a game of tongue tug of war. It was incredibly hot. Were Naruto a lesser man, the sight his chakra reading allowed would have given him a massive hard on.
Hinata was definitely feeling something underneath her getting a bit stiff. Both her and Naruto were trying to not blush. Didn't mean they were succeeding though.
The only other person in the house right now was Kazehana, who was technically not in the house because she was on the roof, drinking sake. Miya wasn't home, having left earlier that day to visit her husbands grave. Apparently, it was the month anniversary of her husbands death and she would always visit the grave sight to pay her respects.
Thinking about Miya's need to visit her husbands grave reminded him of another person he knew that had trouble moving on from the past. Hatake Kakashi, his first sensei and the man who taught him what may have been one of the most important lessons he could have learned back then.
Kakashi stilled completely. He was nervous as to what the book was going to say about him.
In truth, he had not been a very good sensei until after Naruto's return from his training trip with Jiraiya, but Naruto had never begrudged him for that. Kakashi was a person who had suffered far too much for someone so young; his father died after committing sepukku due to a mission gone wrong, Obito had died in Kakashi's mind from being crushed by a boulder, Kakashi had been forced to kill Rin after Kiri ninja sealed Isobu into her, and all this was followed by the death of his sensei, Naruto's own dad and the closest thing to a parental figure Kakashi ever had. And that wasn't even going to learning that Obito had actually survived and gone insane thanks to Uchiha Madara.
"What?!" Kakashi shouted. "He is still alive?!" No one had ever seen him lose his cool like this. It was very unnerving. The others were surprised that the book mentions Naruto's dad, especially as Kakashi's sensei. They filed that away for later to talk to him about.
When Naruto was younger, he had always thought his sensei was tardy just so he could rile them up, it was only years later that he learned Kakashi was actually late because he would spend hours staring at the memorial statue wallowing in guilt.
Thankfully, Miya did not seem to be anywhere near as bad as Kakashi. Still, it did worry him a bit. Before Miya left, he had easily sensed the negative emotions rolling off her. He hoped she would not wallow in guilt like his first sensei had.
As if Naruto was one to talk.
Shaking his head, the blond immortal refocused on the task at hand. Since there was no one around and he knew that Matsu did not bug the hallways, the blond put his fingers up in a cross seal and muttered a quick, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," to create a clone, which he handed Kusano off to so he could put her to bed.
Turning, he looked at Akitsu, who had not reacted to the clones presence other than to blink. Out of all his Sekirei, she was the one he knew could keep a secret. He offered her a smile and stretched out his hand.
"So you are finally trusting some of s with your abilities?" Homura asked. Naruto shrugged shoulders saying he guesses so.
"Come on," he ordered. Akitsu looked at the hand, twin beacons of red appearing on her suddenly flushed cheeks, then took his hand in her own.
"Yes."
Making lunch that day was a bit easier than usual. Because everyone else had their assigned chores, it was just him and Akitsu, and as inefficient and slow as Akitsu was when it came to cleaning vegetables, her snail-like pace and methodical method of doing everything was perfect for stirring the broth he had made.
The two worked in complete silence. Neither really needed to speak to feel comfortable. Akitsu was usually silent anyways and Naruto had learned a long time ago that sometimes silence was more golden than any kind of noise could ever be.
"I'm really sorry about this, Karasuba-sama!"
"Oh I remember this day." Musubi interrupted. "Karasuba came to check in on me. We had made a promise to fight each other at the end of the sekirei plan. She comes to chek up and see how I do every now and then. Usually she comes by to see me when Miya is not home, or she stops me when I am out on errands to talk."
Naruto's advanced hearing perked up at the sound of the front door open and closing, followed by Musubi's voice as she spoke with someone.
"It's fine," a benevolent voice replied. "I'm actually glad. It's nice to see you haven't changed, Mu-chan."
Naruto turned to look at Akitsu, who was still slowly stirring the pot of boiling noodle broth. It was unlikely she had heard the sound. "I need to get something," he told her. Akitsu looked up at him. "Could you watch the noodles while I'm gone?"
"Ah..." Akitsu looked down at where the noodles were being cooked, then back up at Naruto. She nodded, once. "Yes, Ashikabi-sama."
Naruto cast the snow woman a quick smile before walking out of the kitchen. He hurried his pace as he moved down the hallway. He could hear the sound of Musubi's incessant chatter as she and the woman she was with made their way up the stairs. Very soon, Naruto caught up with the pair and made his presence known.
"Musubi, there you are," he started, "I was just about to tell you that ― oh!" The blond paused and made himself sound properly startled. "It seems we have a guest." Hmm... that sounded an awful lot like something Miya would say.
The sekirei were laughing at Naruto's attempt to imitate Miya.
"Naruto-sama!" Musubi greeted her Ashikabi cheerfully. "Naruto-sama, I want to introduce you to Karasuba-sama." She turned to look at her friend. "Karasuba-sama, this is my Ashikabi, Naruto-sama."
Musubi completely missed the reaction Karasuba had when she laid sight on Naruto, but Naruto most assuredly had not. All animals, be they human, Sekirei or otherwise, had instincts that caused them to react when in the presence of a predator much stronger than they are. Some reacted defensively, some made to distract and escape, and some reacted violently even if they knew they could not win.
Karasuba's reaction to his presence was very telling. There was an almost imperceptible widening of her gray eyes, her hand jerked down towards where Naruto assumed her katana would normally be situated but at the moment was not there, and her stance began shifting into that of a neutral pleasantness to combat ready. It was only for a moment though, and before Musubi could notice the change in her friends demeanor, the silver haired woman had reverted back to her amiable persona.
How interesting.
"Oh not good." Matsu says. "If Karasuba was already going for a weapon now, it means she will be either fighting or trying to kill you at some point." Naruto was unconcerned. He didn't think Karasuba would be able to beat his book self. Especially since Miya was supposed to be the strongest Sekirei, and it is already stated that his book character is Stronger than Miya.
"So you're the famous miracle worker I've heard so much about," Karasuba said with a pleasant smile that reminded Naruto a little of Miya. The woman before him was, like all Sekirei, an extraordinary beauty. She had long silver that was tied into a pony tail (it was also dripping wet for some reason) and was wearing a tight black leather top and miniskirt, along with a pair of black stockings. Thrown over her shoulders was a gray haori with the Sekirei crest imprinted upon it. Much like her hair, her clothes were also soaking wet.
"So I've been told," Naruto said cheerfully. He bowed in greeting. "I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance, Karasuba-san."
Karasuba gave an amused smile as she copied his actions. "Likewise."
Naruto then turned to Musubi. "I just came up here to tell you that lunch will be ready in a few minutes. If you could also inform the others, that would be nice."
"Okay, Naruto-sama!" Musubi chirped happily.
"Your friend should also join us for lunch while her clothes are drying," Naruto continued, "I assume you are going to let her borrow one of your bathrobes."
"Yes!"
"You are going to try to mess with her, aren't you?" Anko asked, smiling the while time.
Naruto nodded as he looked at Karasuba, not giving any hint of what he was thinking away as he smiled at the woman. "When you have finished getting dressed, please come down to the dining room."
"Well, thank you, but I think I'm going to have to pass." If Karasuba was worried about her predicament, she was not giving anything away. Aside from that small moment at the beginning, which seemed to have made her slightly wary of him, she was not reacting in any way other than casual. "The landlady who owns this place doesn't really get a long with me, and I only came to see Mu-chan here. It would probably be best if I leave as soon as my clothes finish drying."
"Nonsense," Naruto's smile widened, so much so that his eyes were forced to squint shut. "You are a guest here, and I would like to know more about the person who Musubi-chan seems to hold in such high regard. Besides," he added, his lips pulling back in a grin that allowed just enough of his teeth to show to reveal the long, sharp, pointy canines he had. "Violence is not allowed at Maison Izumo. I doubt Miya-chan would break her own rules, even if she did come back to find someone she is not particularly fond of in her house."
Karasuba blinked for a moment, then began to chuckle. "Miya-chan? She actually lets you get away with calling her Miya-chan?" Naruto just continued to smile pleasantly, waiting for the woman to recover. When she did, Karasuba cast the blond an amused glance. "Alright then, I suppose I could stay for a few minutes. Just don't blame me if Miya comes back less than pleased."
"Oh, don't worry," Naruto replied, his eyes dancing. "I won't."
"Only you, Naruto," Matsu started, "Wold invite that psycho nut to lunch, then turn and use Miya's own rules against both her and Miya at the same time." Anko merely gave Naruto two thumbs up and a bright smile.
XoX
Lunch was an extremely tense affair. Everyone was sitting around the dining room table, even Matsu had come out (Naruto had managed to convince her with promises of extra experimentation), but only Naruto himself, Karasuba, Kusano and Musubi were actually eating. Tsukiumi was too busy protectively holding his arm to eat, Akitsu was too busy watching Karasuba like a hawk to even look at her food, Homura was also warily watching the swords-woman, even Kazehana did not seem to be hungry.
And Matsu? She was just too petrified to eat. Which made sense, since she was sitting with one of the few Sekirei who would have no compunctions about killing her and was working for MBI.
"This is really good," Karasuba said honestly as she twirled some of the noodles around her chopsticks. Placing the wooden utensils in her mouth, she easily ate up all the noodles on it. "I've had ramen before, but none of it ever really appealed to me."
"Well, Karasuba was just elevated to best friend status." Kiba said. "Anyone who likes ramen is automatically put there."
"That's because the ramen you ate was probably half assed shit made by people who don't the first thing about making good ramen." Even the cup ramen in this day and age was just a poor imitation of the true delights that was ramen. It was just one more reason for him to hate humans, even if it was admittedly a childish reason. "This ramen was made using the secret recipe of a family who owned a ramen stand in the town I grew up in." Naruto moaned happily as he slurped up the strand of noodle that was sticking out of his mouth. "They were the best ramen makers in the entire world."
"You really like ramen, don't you?" Karasuba looked amused.
"Ramen is the food of the gods," Naruto said seriously. He looked serious too. Far more serious than any of his Sekirei had ever seen him. "There is no food that can compare with ramen."
Karasuba snorted into her bowl to hide her laugh. "Mu-chan certainly picked an interesting character to become her Ashikabi."
"Naruto-sama's amazing!" Musubi added. The girl had no trouble talking about her Ashikabi. "He's kind and strong and he can fight against Sekirei!"
"Can he now?" Karasuba turned a predatory gaze on Naruto, who continued eating as if he had not heard a word Musubi said.
"Musubi!" Tsukiumi hissed angrily as she leaned in to whisper into her friends ear. "You shouldn't give away our husbands abilities so easily!"
"Eh?" Musubi did not bother lowering her voice. "Why not?"
As Tsukiumi sputtered in surprise that Musubi actually needed someone telling her why she shouldn't reveal information to the enemy, Naruto ignored the pair as he answered the silver haired swords-woman "It's not as hard as it looks. You Sekirei tend to look down on Ashikabis for being human. It's very easy to defeat a being much stronger than you are when that persons not even taking you seriously."
"That is true." Kiba said. "Sometimes, all it takes is for them to not take you seriously until it is too late to do anything."
"Hmmm..." Karasuba smiled in response, taking a moment to eat some more ramen before speaking. "I suppose that is true..." Unspoken was that she probably knew otherwise. Naruto did not doubt that even now the last member of the original Discipline Squad was wary of him. Unlike Miya, who was more of a protector than anything else, Karasuba was clearly a killer, pure and simple. A cold blooded predator who got off on maiming others. Someone with that kind of record could no doubt sense his suppressed power, as well as the blood of the millions of people whose lives he personally ended on his hands.
"So why don't you tell me a little about yourself," Naruto invited. Karasuba smirked at him, her face making it clear that she was more than a little amused.
"My, how forward," she purred. It sounded more like the purr of a predator going in for the kill than a seductive purr used to tease. "Planning on trying to add me to your little group? Sorry to disappoint, but I already have an Ashikabi."
"I was doing nothing of the sort," Naruto didn't bother taking the bait. It wasn't worth it. "I merely wanted to know more about Musubi-chan's friend." He gave the silver haired Sekirei a cheerful smile. "That's all."
Karasuba tapped her chin, looking mock thoughtful. "What do you want to know?"
"Well," Naruto tapped his chin. "I already know a bit about you. You know, like the fact that you were one of the original five members of the first incarnation of the Discipline Squad, as well as that you are the current leader of the third incarnation and was also on the second incarnation under Yume. But I don't really know much more than that."
"Aren't you well informed," Karasuba smiled, her predatory eyes going over to Matsu, who gulped when she saw them land on her.
"It pays to know as much as possible about people I may be forced to compete against," was the answer she got.
"As calm as he is around her, and even in how he speaks. It is as if she is no real challenge to him." Homura said. "That is terrifying all on it's own."
"There's not much else to tell, to be honest," Karasuba finished her bowl of ramen and leaned back as she used her hands for support. "Most of what I do is involves my work in the Discipline Squad. I've got two newbies for partners and they constantly need me to hold their hands. My life is pretty much consumed with my work."
It looked like he wasn't going to get anything useful out of this woman after all. Everything she told him was something he already knew. How disappointing.
"That's a bit disappointing," Naruto did not seem all that sympathetic. Mainly because he wasn't. It's not like he actually cared about this woman, but it would have been interesting to learn about the person who, for all intents and purpose, was the boogie man ― or was that woman? ― for most Sekirei. "So you don't have any hobbies or anything?"
"I do have a few," Karasuba admitted with a grin, "But I think most of them are a bit too... mature for this audience." As she finished speaking, the so far well mannered killer cast a glance over at Chiho, who was seated directly behind Uzume just in case she decided to attack.
Naruto also cast a glance at Chiho, though unlike with Karasuba where she hid herself behind Uzume even more, she ended up flushing under his gaze.
"I guess," Naruto said with a sigh. He perked up a second later. "Well, whatever." He then cast a glance at all the other Sekirei sitting around the table, frowning as he noticed that none of them had even touched their food. Now that just would not do.
"Never waste ramen around Naruto." Hinata said, quite seriously. She shuddered at what the rumor that went around involving Naruto and some jounin after said jounin called ramen trash and threw Naruto's bowl into the wall. That jounin was never found again. The other ninja heard of that rumor, and Tsunade knew what happened to that jounin, but never told anyone.
Suddenly, all light seemed to get sucked into a black void that appeared behind Naruto. An inky darkness that was even darker than the deepest shade of black surrounded the blond as a terrible and terrifying malevolence made itself known. This caused dark shadows to be cast upon the blond's face, presenting a terrifying balance of harsh angles and negative space on the planes of his face.
"I suggest that you not let this delicious ramen go to waste," Naruto's voice said, sounding distorted. It was a deep, terrifying baritone with a sharp growl that made one think they were in the presence of a horrible and malevolent god sent to kill them all. It did not help that there was a strange entity behind his back, one that they had never seen before.
"I told you he learned it already." Matsu said. "And this new version is even more terrifying than Miya's is."
None of his Sekirei could have prepared for it. This feeling of absolute dread, like they were standing within the presence of a beast whose mere whims would determine whether they lived or died. It was too much.
Chiho had buried her face completely in her Sekirei's bosom, having somehow maneuvered so that she was seated on Uzume's lap. In return, Uzume was hiding her face in Chiho's hair. Sitting next to them, Musubi and Kusano were holding tightly onto a petrified Homura, who was staring at the thing behind Naruto like it was something out of a Lovecraft novel.
On either side of him, both Tsukiumi and Akitsu had moved away and somehow found themselves in the arms of a gawking Kazehana, whose face had paled like she had just seen a ghost. Or a very scary apparition that was so far beyond comprehension that the very reality her beliefs had been based on were shattered.
When no one did as he 'suggested', Naruto growled.
"WELL!?"
The reaction was instantaneous. All those who had not been eating, were now eating with the kind of enthusiasm never seen before. It was like they were possessed.
Naruto's smile turned genial again, the darkness dispersed, the stars realigned, and all seemed to be right with the world.
He looked over at Karasuba. "Aren't you going to finish eating, Karasuba?"
Karasuba blinked. Slowly, she brought her hand away from where it was currently trying to grip a sword that was not there. She sat back down, her expression one of stumped befuddlement.
What the hell had just happened?
"Good," Naruto's smile widened. "Eat up everyone. I would hate for this ramen to go to waste. Wouldn't you?"
Miya started giggling. "You actually made Karasuba scared. She was never scared of my mask." Miya was really liking the blond a lot more.
XoX
After dinner, Karasuba said her goodbyes to Musubi, asking the naïve shrine maiden if she still remembered their promise. Naruto was curious, but decided not to pry. If Musubi wanted to tell him, she would.
As soon as the so called Black Sekirei was gone, most of the Sekirei inside of the dining room regained some of their courage. One of them just happened a particularly opinionated fire user.
"What... what the hell was that!?" His emphasis on 'that' made it clear to everyone what he talking about. As if his emphasizing the word 'that' did not make it clear enough, he also made wild hand gestures at Naruto.
Said blond tilted his head as he stared at the glaring Homura in confusion.
"What was what?"
"Don't you what was what me! What was that... that..." Homura gestured over at something behind Naruto, who turned his head around to look behind him in confusion. "... That thing! That creature! That monster! What was it!?"
"It was more terrifying than Miya's hannyas," Uzume sounded like she didn't know whether to be horrified or awed by what she had seen. "I didn't think anything could be scarier than those things. It didn't even have bleeding eyes!"
"Husband," Tsukiumi swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "I too am curious to know what that... creature, was."
Naruto was outright laughing. He knew they would ask, as he knew he wouldn't tell them. It just looked awesome. He can't wait to figure out how to do it himself.
Naruto blinked, then blinked again. After a few seconds, he smiled, his eyes closing as his whisker marks stretched across his face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Homura's right eye began to twitch violently while Uzume looked at Naruto in horror.
"Oh no," she whispered, "Please don't tell me we've got another Miya on our hands. Please."
"Tch," Homura growled a bit before standing up. "I'm going to take a bath," he declared. Having said this, he spun on his heels and marched off, presumably towards the bath house.
"Me thinks Homura's a little angry," Naruto commented airily.
"Gee, ya think?" Uzume's voice was so laden in sarcasm it couldn't even be sarcasm. Naruto gave her a small grin.
"So... think he's PMSing? Maybe it's that time of the month for him."
Uzume chuckled while the others who knew what that was reacted with various forms of indignation, namely Tsukiumi and Chiho, as Musubi and Kusano did not know what PMS was and Kazehana just didn't care.
"Hehehe... that time of the month... hahaha... bro, you are so awesome!"
"I know."
It was just another day at Maison Izumo.
"That sounds like a normal day in Konoha for us. Only a lot crazier." Tsunade said. Not to mention all the paperwork his antics caused her.
XoX
Naruto sighed as he found himself sitting outside on the grass, his back leaning against the tree as he stared at the growing colors of dusk.
Miya had returned home in something of a fit. From the way she had been stomping into the house, muttering curses under her breath, the blond could only assume she had met Karasuba sometime before arriving home. There seemed to be some bad blood between them, though Naruto was not sure why, and he wasn't about to ask either. It wasn't like whatever had happened between them was any business of his.
Still, with Miya so angry, he had decided it may be best to stay out of the house until she calmed down. He doubted she would do anything to him or anyone else for Karasuba being there, but Naruto knew from experience that when a woman was angry, it was best to give them some space to calm down, lest they snap at you for the littlest of things.
"Also distracting us with plenty of gifts will help, also dango." Anko said. "The More dango, the more your punishment gets reduced."
Yes, it was much better to just not be inside at all while Miya was raging. Safer that way too.
"There you are, Naruto-sama!"
"Musubi," Naruto greeted as the busty young woman walked up to him and sat down in seiza directly in front of him, their knees practically touching. "Is something up?"
"Musubi just wanted to tell you that Ku-chan has been put to sleep." That girl slept a lot. She had already had a several hour nap this afternoon before Karasuba arrived. Then again, she was a little girl of six. They needed more rest than adults.
Kusano was not happy with her book character being younger than she was. (AN: Yes I am making her 8 instead of 6.) "I am not six, I am eight." She said holding up nine fingers.
The sound of a helicopter's propeller chopping through the air caused the pair to look up to see a pair of MBI military grade choppers. Ever since Minaka declared Shinto Teito locked down, MBI's military had been completely mobilized.
Minaka must really be getting into this. Sending out military grade helicopters to do sweeps across the city couldn't be easy. Shinto Teito was a big place. It would take at least several dozen helicopters to do a proper sweep of the city.
Of course, the ground forces were being mobilized to, which really just meant more troops that people would have to be wary of.
Naruto wondered how long it would be before the next stage began.
"Hey!" Naruto looked over at Musubi to see the girl's face light up as she realized something. "This is the first time Musubi and Naruto-sama have been alone in a while, isn't it?"
Naruto tilted his head as he realized she was right. He had not been alone with Musubi for a good while now. With all that had happened, this was not so surprising. They had been rather busy recently.
"I guess it is."
"Then this is the best time."
"Best time for what?" Naruto furrowed his brows as Musubi gazed at him.
"This is something Musubi wanted to tell you about, but there was never a good time," the Shrine Maiden told him, sounding surprisingly serious despite still speaking in third person. "It's about a promise I made with Karasuba-sama."
"Your promise to be the last battle in the sekirei plan?" Naruto asked her. Musubi nodded, with a smile, but said nothing.
"I see," Naruto perked up. This was interesting. He knew a little bit about Musubi's past with Karasuba from the reports Matsu managed to swipe from MBI's database, but there was surprisingly little information on it. Someone had deleted the files and what few remained were sketchy at best. "What was the promise?"
"That Karasuba-sama and I would be the last two Sekirei standing, and that we would fight during the last stage to prove which one of us is right."
A single eyebrow rose on Naruto's face questioningly. Her words had sparked his curiosity.
"Right about what?"
"Karasuba-sama has always told me that humans are an unnecessary species," she started. Naruto blinked. That was an interesting bit of information. Surprisingly enough, a part of Naruto agreed with Karasuba. But then, Naruto knew he was being biased.
Naruto ignored the all the stared that were aimed at him. That was not his feelings on the matter, just his book self's. He just ignored them and waited for the book to continue.
Besides, even if he didn't like humans, he didn't want to kill them. The blond was lonely enough as it was. There was no need killing off the only species that could keep him company.
"But I don't think they're unnecessary at all. We need humans to survive." She gave a gentle smile as she looked at him. "You are my Ashikabi and a human. Just by being with you, I know that I am right. I want Karasuba to realize this too."
Naruto wondered what she would say if he told her the truth. Genetically speaking, the body he lived in was a human body, possessing all of the muscles, bones and organs that human bodies had, but he could no longer truly be considered human. He had stopped thinking of himself as human a long time ago.
"But that's not the only thing I want to do," Musubi exclaimed. "I want to free all of the Sekirei who have been defeated." She clenched her fist and brought it up to her face as a solemn expression graced her fair features. "Being separated from their Ashikabi's is a fate I would not want to befall anyone. That's why I'll be the last Sekirei standing."
There was something niggling in the back of his mind. Naruto could not help but think that there was something familiar about Musubi's speech. He recognized it from somewhere... now if only he could remember where...
"She sounds like you, far too closely to be just coincidence." Tsunade said / complained.
"I love you so much, Naruto!"
The exclamation startled Naruto out of his introspection. He looked up to see Musubi gazing at him with an expression he had seen many times before in the past few months. Her eyes were warm and her cheeks were pink. The smile on her face made his heart hammer against his chest.
While he was distracted by the girl's look, Musubi grabbed his hand and brought it to her chest. She placed it against her so that his palm was pressing against the swell of her bosom. Naruto could feel her nipple hardening under his fingers from the simple contact, and at the same time, an electric feeling raced from the tips of his fingers all the way to his toes.
"Do you feel that?" asked Musubi, her breathing had picked up and made the words sound far more sensual than they had any right to. It was even worse since he knew this was not her intention. "Can you feel how fast my heart is beating?"
"I can," Naruto whispered. Despite the size of Musubi's breasts, he could easily feel the increase of her heart rate. The tune of her heart was playing a thunderous beat, much like his own.
"My heart is beating like this because of all the love that I feel here," Musubi continued. "I'm grateful. Not just for this great house, but for all of you here. For Miya, and Ku, Matsu, Tsukiumi and Akitsu. And of course, you, Naruto-sama." She looked down, missing the expression of surprise that crossed Naruto's face. "This feeling that I have, this overwhelming love for all the people that I am blessed to have in my life. I want Karasuba to feel it too. She doesn't know how wonderful this feeling is. So I want to convince her to open her heart and experience this wonderful feeling."
"I have a feeling that task may be more than she is capable of." Miya said. "Karasuba lives for carnage and battle. She cares nothing for love. She only got an ashikabi but it makes her stronger."
Her words struck Naruto like a lightning bolt. Realization crossed his mind. He finally figured out why Musubi had seemed to familiar to him when they first met. Why she reminded him of someone, even if he could not remember who.
She was like him. If Akitsu reminded him of Haku, then Musubi reminded him of himself. Of how he used to be before the weight of several thousand years worth of failures set in and made him what he was today. The words were different, but the meaning and dedication she had.
"You and your dumb arguments! That's something I really hate about you! Quit it with your stupid reasoning! I meant to say that I'll stand any pain for my friends! I'm not gonna give up on them! Maybe I'm just being selfish, but… not having my friends here… is the most painful thing for me. Period!"
"Now that sounds like Naruto." Kakashi said. The other ninjas agreed with him, chuckling at what usually happens after one of his speeches.
Love. Musubi believed that love was the ultimate power. That protecting the people you loved was what gave you strength. That by having people to love in your life gave you meaning.
"I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindō: my ninja way!"
Even their mannerisms were almost identical. Naruto had never been the smartest of people back then. He would even admit that he had been an idiot.
Growing up all alone, being forced to fend for himself and having no familial figures meant that no one was there to teach him the life lessons that were left to parents. In the same way that he had been a naïve idiot, Musubi's isolated life at MBI had made her grow up to be similar to him. Naïve and kind of air headed in all the ways that mattered.
Sakura never really understood her blond teammate before. Now with hearing this story, she might understand him on a more personal level instead of just him in combat. She was regretting not actually trying to be his friend more in the past.
And yet for all her naivety, she had an unbending will, an indomitable spirit that refused to back down no matter what she faced. Even if she were confronted with overwhelming odds, Musubi would recklessly charge in head first because she believed that she could take on the world so long as the people she loved were by her side.
Just like he had, so long ago.
"I don't care who I have to fight… If he rips my arms off, I'll kick him to death. If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death. If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death. And if he gouges out my eyes, I'll curse him to death… Even if I'm torn to shreds… I will take Sasuke back!"
"Huh. That is oddly inspiring." Sakura said. 'But after what I learned about him since we arrived here, I will most likely kill him the next time I see him again.' she added after to herself.
And if Musubi was like him, than Karasuba was her Sasuke. Lost in her own darkness, unable to see the light. Musubi was willing to fight in order to prove to her friend that she was wrong to hate humans. She was willing to take in her friends hatred in the hopes that her friend would be able to get over her hatred.
They were so similar. Her story was one he was intimately familiar with because he had already lived her life.
Did that mean her story would end in the same way? Destined for failure? Unable to make her friend see how wrong she was? Would Musubi be forced to watch as all that she had worked towards, all that she cherished burn in a conflagration of war and hatred?
"If there is one thing I learned since I became a ninja, is we all make our own destiny." Naruto said. "Fate will not control me, and if she tries, I will change her myself."
"Naruto-sama?" Musubi's startled and concerned voice snapped Naruto out of his daydreams. He looked up to see the brown haired beauty staring at him in concern.
"Yes? Is something wrong?"
"Are... are you alright?"
Naruto blinked.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
In response to his question, Musubi reached out with a single hand and gently swiped her finger along his cheek under his eye. She then brought the hand up for him to exam.
"You're crying."
She was right. There, sitting idly on her finger was a small droplet of water. Naruto stared at the liquid like it was a foreign object, then reached up to his face and realized that yes, he was actually crying. The realization just made him produce more tears, even as confusion set in.
Why? The question echoed in his mind. It had been so long since he last shed tears. Fourteen hundred years, to be precise. Since then, he had promised himself he would never allow himself to get hurt enough to cry again. So why was he doing so now?
"Naruto-sama?"
He looked up. Musubi was growing more concerned by the second as he didn't answer her. The worried expression on her face caused his heart to clench.
"Naruto-sama? Are you ― eh!?"
Grabbing Musubi by both shoulders, Naruto pulled her forward. His legs spread apart so that she could fall between them. The Shrine Maiden with the fetish for fighting found herself being embraced by her Ashikabi. His hands slid down her shoulders to move underneath her arms where they proceeded to wrap tightly around her waist.
After a moment's surprise, Musubi returned the hug. Her arms came up and rested against his shoulders, elbows tilted at a ninety degree angle so her hands could bury themselves in his spiky strands of blond hair. She used those hands to pull his head down so that his chin was resting on her shoulder, their cheeks almost touching.
Musubi. It had to be Musubi. Her life was so close to his own past that he couldn't help but pity her. He felt sorry because he did not think she would be able to save her friend. These tears, they were for her.
"Naruto-sama?" her voice was quiet. "Are you okay?"
How could he okay when he had been unable to save his own best friend from darkness? How could he possibly be alright when all he could think after hearing this was how impossible Musubi's task was? He was most definitely not okay.
"I'm fine, Musubi," he lied. "Just fine."
"You could just beat Karasuba yourself ad give her the ramen talk. That had never failed to work even on the most battle hardened enemies." Sakura said. She was remembering the countless of people they have met, that started as enemies until Naruto gave them the ramen talk.
XoX
It was a strange evening. For starters, Miya had found herself washing the dishes on her own. That was actually very unusual these days. Often times, even when Naruto did not cook, he would help her wash the dishes. That, or she would force one of his Sekirei to wash the dishes. But not today. This time, he had left almost as soon as dinner was finished, presumably to take a bath. She had thought about... convincing, one of his Sekirei to help, but they had all seemed so preoccupied that she just couldn't find it in her to do so.
And speaking of Naruto, he was another reason this evening had been so strange.
After getting home, Miya had not been in a very pleasant mood. She'd had a run in with that disgusting woman, Karasuba, and nearly come to blows. Had it not been for the fact that neither had a sword on them, it probably would have.
A good thing neither had a weapon. Her boarding house would have been destroyed if they did... as well as most of Shinto Teito.
"Yeah that sounds about right for Kage level battles." Kakashi said. "They always tend to rearrange the very land around them."
Not wanting anyone to bother her while she was angry and inadvertently push her buttons, Miya had secluded herself in the kitchen almost as soon as she got home. Because of this, she had not seen Naruto all day. Maybe that explained why she had been unaware of the strange melancholy that surrounded him until dinner.
A frown marred her face as she thought of dinner that night. It had been far too quiet for her tastes. Usually, dinner at Maison Izumo was always so loud and rambunctious. If Miya were honest, she rather liked how lively it was now. The way everyone conversed at the table, the amusing arguments between Tsukiumi and Musubi, and even Uzume's lecherous intentions towards her Ashikabi brought a warm feeling to her chest. She could not help but think that this was what a family should be like.
"That is one messed up family, Miya." Anko said, before smiling. "It does sound like fun though."
That was not how today went. It may have started out like that, when it was just Uzume, Chiho and Kazehana waiting at the table, but the moment everyone else had joined, it had become deathly quiet. Not even Uzume and Musubi, the two most cheerful people she knew were willing to speak. Even Kusano seemed to sense the atmosphere and ate quietly.
The reason for the atmosphere was, of course, the blond haired enigma known as Naruto. His entire countenance at the dinner table had been vastly different from what she had grown used to. She wouldn't go so far as to say he was gloomy or depressed or anything like that, but there had definitely been a sense of melancholy and maybe even numbness surrounding him.
She had watched him for much of the dinner and determined that the reason for this was Musubi. Throughout the entire time they were eating, Naruto had constantly looked over at the normally happy-go-lucky girl, his expression one that was both thoughtful and sad. Something had happened between the two between the time she left to visit her husbands grave and the time she finished cooking dinner.
A sigh escaped her lips as she finished scrubbing the pan she had used to bake the glazed teriyaki chicken in. She wanted to ask Naruto about what was bothering him, but was almost positive he would not tell her. Even though he had become much more friendly and open with everyone at Maison Izumo, he was still a very closed off person when it came to talking about his feelings or past. She could count the number of times he'd actually gave in and confided in her about anything on one hand and still have fingers left over.
The only thing she could do was offer her support. As much as it bothered her to not be capable of helping someone who was clearly suffering in some way, it just wasn't possible to help them when they refused to open up at every turn.
"You could just prank him." Kiba said. "Usually when he is down, a good prank on him cheers him up. And then he pranks you back ten fold for what you did in the first place."
As Miya finished cleaning the dishes and proceeded to dry her hands on a small towel, the doorbell rang.
"Oh my," she said to herself, "Who could be coming at this hour?"
Deciding to find out, Miya made her way to the front door and opened it up.
"Good evening," she greeted politely as she looked at the two people standing before her. The first was a rather plain looking boy with brown hair and green eyes. He was very skinny, almost frail looking. Combine that with the bags under his eyes and it looked to Miya like this poor boy had been run ragged.
The other person was someone who she, while not intimately familiar with, was at the very least, someone she knew by presence alone. She was a very petite girl with short, messy blond hair and blue eyes. Like her partner, she was also looked like she had been forced to go several days without sleep. The poor girl was even swaying like she was about to collapse.
She was also a Sekirei. As a pillar, Miya could sense all the little birds under her care, and this one was definitely one of hers.
"Do any of you recognize her by that description?" Sakura asked. The sekirei shook their heads.
"Oh my," raising a hand to her lips, she began to play the part of a concerned hostess. "Are you two alright? You look exhausted. Why don't you come in and sit down while I make a cup of tea and you two can explain your situation to me."
The male of the two blinked, then looked at his Sekirei, Kuno if she was not mistaken. After a moment or two, the brunette boy grabbed his Sekirei's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Thank you," he said, looking very relieved. Miya judged that the boy had been on the run for a while now and was nearing his last leg. It was clear to her that both of them had been running from something, or maybe someone, and had not gotten much sleep because of it. Had she not been the kind of person who would never turn away someone in need of help, they may have very well not survived to see another day.
"It's no problem," Miya smiled as she moved aside and opened the door wider so as to let the two walk into the boarding house. "Come on, I'll show you to the living room so that you can relax some and tell me what brought you here." She could tell these two had come here with a purpose. What that purpose was, Miya did not know, but she knew their arrival at this boarding house was not a coincidence.
The only question she wondered about as she guided her new guests into the living room, was whether that purpose would bring fortune or misfortune on those of her household. She hoped it was the former, but with how things had been happening around here, she would not be surprised if it was the latter. The only thing Miya could do was pray that nothing bad happened to those under her care.
"As if anyone would dare attack you in your home." Kiba said. "only one that would even have a chance would be Karasuba, and she won't if it means Musubi might get injured, thus preventing their fight later on."
Absently, her mind went out to Naruto. More than anything else, she did not want something happening to him.
She brushed aside the soft warmth his name brought with nary a thought. He was her tenant, and someone she was respected greatly. It was only natural she would worry for him.
Right?
Everyone got up for lunch, though Anko kept smirking at Miya, while whispering quietly to Kakashi. Everyone else is talking about this new arrival, guessing as to why they are there, and who could be chasing them.
