A/N: It's been forever since I've done an author's note. Oh well. Writing this to let you guys know, I've written many funny short stories with Caliko and I's OCs as little kids, and I thought I was done with that and then I ended up watching an episode of "Fairytail" where the main characters were turned into little kids. The difference was they could control themselves, in the old stories our characters were unable to communicate like adults. They were stuck talking like little kids. So I ended up doing something funny with this chapter with something like that. And also, I may not be updating "Taylor" as often this school year. I've got an AP class so I'm guaranteed homework every single night, and I'm going to try not to write as much in class so I may not have as much time to write this year. Oh well. I thought I'd at least tell you guys what's up. Thank you, and enjoy LOL.


Taylor

テイラー

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Chapter Twenty Nine
Stop Being So Childish!

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Taylor woke up at quarter to ten and realized she was back home. She didn't feel the migraine anymore, so that was good. But...why didn't Dalzen wake her up to go home? She sat up and scratched her head. He's even stranger than he was two years ago. I guess that's what growing older does to a person. Heck, when I first met him he wasn't half as strange as he is now. Is it because he's been around me a lot more? Maybe.

Sighing, she forced herself out of bed and dizziness overwhelmed her, knocking her back on the bed. Shaking her head, she stood back up and crossed her floor to her small dresser for a set of underclothes and socks. Sighing, she left her room to take a shower. When she got into the bathroom, she shut the door and stripped out of her clothes, keeping the top and pants because those were still relatively clean. She set the clothes on the lid of the toilet seat and turned on the shower. When it was warm enough, she stepped inside and dampened her hair and reached for her hair soap. She suddenly heard a knock at the door.

"Taylor?" That sounded like Sakumo.

"Yeah?" she started massaging the soap onto her scalp.

"Do you want anything in particular for lunch?" he asked.

"Hmmm..." Taylor thought for a moment. "Pork udon?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay. Hey, Kakashi is gonna stop by in a few minutes with a suit for you. He wants to make sure it fits."

"Okay," So glad Daddy and Yuu-san aren't forcing me into a dress. Then again, they want me to feel comfortable...

"I'm gonna make lunch now."

"Okay."

Sakumo left and Taylor rinsed the hair soap out and rubbed conditioner on the ends of her hair. After a few moments, she rinsed that out and reached for her sponge and drizzled lavender-scented body soap on it. She began cleaning her body and also shaved her legs and her under arms. After she got out, she dried off and rubbed green tea lotion on her legs.

Once she was clothed, she stepped out into the hallway and headed down to her room to get a notebook and a hair tie. She selected a red hair tie from from her very small collection of hair ties, thanks to the cat getting ahold of them, and accidentally dropped it on the floor. Out of no where, her cat Maho ran over and pounced on the hair tie. Taylor stepped back as he picked it up with his mouth and run out.

"Hey! That's the sixth one you've stolen!" she exclaimed, then groaned, reaching for a green one. She slid it onto her wrist and sighed, "I have to buy another pack of them now..."

Sighing, she grabbed her notebook and left to eat and write her new novel. When she left her room, she went into the kitchen and sat down to write. As soon as she flipped to the page she was on, Kakashi walked through the front door. She looked up and saw him walk in.

"Aw man, now?" she muttered under her breath.

"You need to try this on," he walked over and handed her the suit.

"Okay," she didn't protest. She took the suit and stood up and left to try it on.

"No protest?" Kakashi asked.

"Not like you were forcing her into a dress," Sakumo winked.

"Hm...good point," Kakashi nodded. He turned to Sakumo, "Does Dalzen-San have a suit or a tuxedo?"

"I don't think he does," Sakumo shook his head. "I'll take him out to get a suit, though. I need to get a new one anyway. The one I wore at Setsuna's 'funeral' and Hiruzen's was donated to a friend."

"Okay," Kakashi nodded.

Taylor came back in her suit and Kakashi looked over her.

"You feel comfortable in it?" he asked.

"Feels a little tight, but really just feels fine, I think..." Taylor answered.

"Where does it feel tight?" Kakashi asked.

"Up here," she put her hands on her chest. "Because...you know..."

"Oh, well I'll see if I can find a slightly bigger top then," Kakashi nodded. "That's good. You can go change back now."

"Okay," Taylor bowed and left to change. Suddenly, Kakashi saw the cat rush past him, playing with the hair tie he snagged from Taylor. He stepped back before the cat could run into him. He chuckled.

"This little guy doesn't let his amputated paw get in the way of his fun now does he?" he asked Sakumo.

"No, he doesn't," Sakumo laughed. "He's stolen all of Taylor's hair ties for the most parts."

"Sheesh."

"Yeah."

Maho ran past Kakashi and dashed down the hall and into Dalzen's room. Dalzen woke up with a start after the cat jumped onto his chest and pawed at his face. He opened his eyes and glared. The kitten meowed and Dalzen sat up, picking the cat up by the scruff of his neck.

"Shouldn't you be antagonizing Taylor?" he grumbled tiredly.

He stood up and carried the cat out of his room and saw Taylor heading down the hall with the suit folded neatly in her arms. Sighing, Dalzen set Maho down and Maho dashed over to Taylor. The Morino sighed heavily and Taylor heard him. She turned and saw Dalzen walking towards her.

"D-Dalzen! Did I wake you up?!"

"No," he shook his head. "However, your cat seems to think it's okay to jump on me while I'm asleep."

"Huh?" Taylor looked down at her cat. "Maho! Ugh, I'm sorry Uncle Dalzen!"

Dalzen shook his head, "No, I should have my door closed at night."

Taylor sighed and they went into the living room and then the kitchen with Dalzen. She handed her suit back to Kakashi and he smiled.

"I will get this fixed for you," he said.

"Thanks, Daddy," Taylor smiled.

Kakashi nodded and Maho jumped on the couch and got comfortable. Dalzen stared at the cat and wanted to be mad at him for waking him up but he couldn't bring himself to be mad.

"Little shit," he muttered, then looked into the kitchen. "Morning, Kakashi-kun."

"Morning, Dalzen-San," Kakashi returned the greeting and bowed. "I was just about to leave. Had to make sure this suit would fit Taylor's tiny frame, but apparently it's too small for her chest!" He grinned and poked Taylor.

Taylor glared at him and shook her head.

"She is rather tiny, it's a surprise you found something too small for her," Dalzen grinned.

"Oh shut up Dalzen," Taylor groaned.

"i'll just go now," Kakashi bent down and kissed Taylor on her head. She blushed as he walked away to the front door and then he left.

Sakumo looked at Dalzen, "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I'm used to little to no sleep."

"I'll make you tea so you can at least have energy," Sakumo said.

"Okay," Dalzen shrugged.

Taylor turned to Dalzen, "Hey, did you carry me home last night?"

"I had no desire to wake you up, so yes, I did," he answered.

"Why not?" she asked.

"You were exhausted, as Ibiki told me," he said. "Had I woken you up, you would've clung to my arm just to keep yourself walking."

"He's right, you know," Sakumo agreed.

"Oh..."

"So Taylor, why don't you tell Sakumo why you were tired," Dalzen suggested.

"I had a migraine," Taylor said. "It made me sleepy. I don't see why —"

"How'd you get the migraine?" Dalzen clarified.

"O-Oh..." Taylor looked down and Sakumo looked at her with concerned interest.

"How did you get a migraine? You've never had one before," Sakumo worried.

"A-A...a bolt of lightning...struck me..."

"You should be in the hospital!" Sakumo exclaimed.

"I should, but all I did was get dizzy and lightheaded...and literally shocked Dalzen," she shrugged.

"And it wasn't static electricity like you'd get from a plush blanket," Dalzen said.

"Or rubbing your socks on carpet and then touching the doorknob," Taylor said.

"Hm, that is rather odd," Sakumo said. "I don't know what to make of it...but why the hell were you outside in the middle of the storm?!"

"Oh, tell him what Jiraiya told you," Dalzen remembered.

"Jiraiya?" Sakumo wondered. "He's back?"

"I dunno," Taylor shrugged. "He was in the village last night to tell me someone is planning on crashing the wedding."

"What?!" Sakumo was surprised. "Who would do such a thing?!"

Taylor went into detail about what Jiraiya had told her and when she finished, Sakumo sighed.

"It would be easier to trap the bad guys if we let them attack in all honesty," Sakumo agreed. "I'll definitely help out. You can count on me not telling neither Kakashi nor Yuugao."

"Great," Taylor smiled.

"Alright, you two sit down or something, the soup won't be done for another forty five minutes," Sakumo said.

"Okay," Dalzen and Taylor decided to sit down at the table and Taylor started writing like she had originally planned to do. Dalzen glanced at her.

"What're you writing now?" he wondered. "Doesn't your hand hurt from writing so much?"

"Another book, and yes, sometimes," Taylor answered.

"How many books have you written?"

"...Five, I think," Taylor answered.

"Wow," Dalzen remarked.

"Jiraiya has written some books too, but you do not want to read it," Taylor mentioned.

"And why not?"

"Really romantic," Taylor answered.

"That's the clean way of saying it!" Sakumo exclaimed.

"Oh..." Dalzen did not want to know now.

"Take it from me, you do not want to read it," Taylor told him.

"I will take your word for it," Dalzen nodded.

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After a few days of resting, the youngest Hatake and eldest Morino were running some stuff around for the Hokage since there weren't any missions at the moment. Of course, Kakashi took the last one! After they had finished their errands, they stopped to have lunch inside of a sushi bar. Dalzen told stories of their friends and Taylor laughed a few times about Saru and Coushander. Then there were a few about her grandpa she loved to hear. The ones about Sakumo were the best. (Next to the stories about Saru.) After they ate, Taylor left Dalzen alone for a few moments to use the restroom.

When she came back, she couldn't see him.

"Dalzen?" she looked around. He can't be that damn hard to find, he was so tall! And he was just sitting at the bar drinking water.

Taylor saw his vest laying on his seat and she picked it up. That's weird, he wouldn't take off his vest and leave.

"Dalzen!"

There was a tug on her Konoha green sweater. It was a rough tug, like whoever was there was irritated.

"Taylor-chan!"

Taylor looked down and saw a little kid that resembled Dalzen. He was about 3'3" and had the same dark, jaw-length hair. He was even wearing the same clothes...

Taylor gasped — "Dalzen!?"

He nodded and Taylor crouched down to be at his height. After a few moments of silence, she suddenly scooped him up and hugged him tightly.

"Oh my gosh! You're so cute!" she squealed.

"Taylor..." Dalzen strained. "Let...go...of me...I can't...breathe..."

She let go, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Dalzen sighed heavily and Taylor scooped him up in her arms gently, "So...how did this happen?"

"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "I had stepped out a moment to see if the clouds were showing signs of rain and the next thing I know I'm a whole three feet shorter!"

"Uhm, you're not just three feet shorter, you were turned into a little kid," Taylor stood up and walked to the window to show him. "You look exactly like you were a little kid."

Dalzen looked at his reflection and put his hands on the window to get a closer look. Taylor was right! He wasn't turned into a chibi, he was turned into a kid!

"Holy shit..." he drew his hands away and stared at himself. "I haven't seen myself in the mirror as a kid in...ninety years?"

"That makes you sound so old, Uncle Dalzen," Taylor laughed.

He shot her a glare.

"But..." Taylor laughed nervously. "Uhm...you're really chiisai and cute!"

Dalzen's expression softened, "So what do we do?"

"Maybe we should ask Tsunade, she could know what to do," Taylor lifted him up and placed him on her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You've carried me before, I might as well return the favor," Taylor folded Dalzen's vest over her arms and ran out with him on her shoulders. He put his hands on her head and tried to keep from falling.

When they found Tsunade standing outside the Hokage building, Taylor called out her name and as she turned, she suddenly disappeared in a cloud of dust. Or so it seemed.

"Tsunade?" When the dust cleared, they saw a little blonde girl holding Tsunade's haori. The girl looked at Taylor with coffee brown eyes and she looked really confused.

Taylor looked up at Dalzen and he looked down at her.

"I think she's..." he started.

"Tsunade..." Taylor finished. She looked down at Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade?"

She looked up blushing heavily and Taylor sighed.

"What the hell just happened?" Tsunade asked, slurring her words.

"You sound like you're really drunk," Taylor muttered. "I never really catch you when you're drunk."

Tsunade looked up at Dalzen riding on Taylor's shoulders.

"Is that Dalzen?" she wondered.

"Yes," Taylor nodded.

"He's so chiisai!"

"And so are you," Taylor pointed at a clear puddle. "Go look."

Tsunade looked and then looked back at Taylor.

"Yer playin' tricks on me!" she growled.

"I promise I'm not," Taylor held her hands up in defense. "You know my father raised me better than that."

"I think we should go," came Dalzen's voice. His voice luckily didn't change, and Taylor was slightly thankful for that.

"I agree," Taylor bowed and left Tsunade quickly. They probably shouldn't have left her there alone, but Tsunade being drunk was never a good thing.

"Who should we try to find next?" Dalzen asked.

"I don't know," Taylor looked around. "I'll just walk around, maybe we'll find someone..."

"Hopefully nothing happens to you," Dalzen hoped.

"Yeah, and you prolly just jinxed me," Taylor sighed.

"Sorry," Dalzen apologized.

"Are you sure I can't hold you like a teddy bear?" Taylor suddenly asked.

"You're funny," Dalzen rolled his eyes.

Taylor looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

"Pleaseeee Dalzen?" she begged.

He glared away from her, blushing.

"I don't get why you're so embarrassed," Taylor told him. "You've already embarrassed yourself once...or twice...I'm not sure."

"I just think it's a weird idea," he grumbled.

Taylor looked down and pouted. Dalzen sighed, "Fine! Just don't hold me wrong."

"Yay!" Taylor reached up and plucked Dalzen off of her shoulders and she held him close.

"You just enjoy hugging me," Dalzen muttered.

Taylor looked around, "Nah, you actually look like a big plush doll I can carry around."

"Riiiiiight..." Dalzen glared down at the ground in embarrassment. He could just about hear Saru-Shin and Coushander laughing at him. Heck, they were.

Taylor suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked absolutely horrified. Dalzen looked up at her.

"What?" he followed her misty gaze.

"Everyone...is a little kid," she whispered in shock.

Dalzen saw that too. He quickly found Teal and Hoshi, then he found Inoichi running over to probably Ibiki.

"Oh shit..." he whispered.

"Y-Yeah, you can say that," Taylor suddenly looked over towards a bench and saw Jakobe and Kaede making out. "Ah, they're kissing. Wow, come on there's kids here."

"Seriously?" Dalzen glanced at her.

"I'm kidding," Taylor said, then she sighed, "Should we go home or go to Intel?"

"I think Kakashi would prolly want you to get home before you became a little girl," Dalzen told what the father inside of him would do. Hell, if he really had to he would turn into a father for Taylor just to get her to stop being stubborn.

"Sounds good to me, actually," Taylor agreed.

"Let's attempt to go back, then."

"Yeah," Taylor turned and headed home with Dalzen and suddenly looked up at the sky.

"Looks like it'll rain again," she muttered

"It rains a lot in Konoha," Dalzen reminded.

"It does," Taylor agreed.

She felt a chilly gust of air rush past and she hugged Dalzen tightly and shuddered.

"But it shouldn't be chilly, it's only a few days past the equinox," she told him.

Dalzen tried to breathe through her tight hug.

"Y-Yeah," he strained in agreement.

"Sorry," Taylor loosened her grip.

"Just set me down," Dalzen said.

"You'll trip though," Taylor argued. "You're used to seeing at a different height and your senses are screwed up."

"Taylor, just set me down!" Dalzen exclaimed in irritation.

"Okay!" Taylor set him on his feet and saw he barely reached past her waist. She bit back a smile and held her hand out and he grabbed it. "I won't let you fall."

Dalzen nodded and they began their walk back to avoid Taylor accidentally getting turned into a kid. Soon, they saw Haruki running up to her.

"Taylor-chan!" he exclaimed.

"Haruki-kun!" Taylor remarked. "You're not a kid!"

"Neither are you," he looked down at Dalzen. "Hey, aren't you the person Taylor brought back from the dead?"

"I am," Dalzen put his hands on his waist. "Who're you?"

"A teammate," she flashed a warning glare at Haruki. He acknowledged the warning glare as a, "Don't you dare try to kiss me in public again" glare.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Everyone is a little kid!"

"I don't know," Taylor said. "One of my stories better not have escaped my head!"

"You wrote a story like this?" Dalzen asked.

"I couldn't sleep so I wrote something random down for two hours," Taylor shrugged. "It was for the 'Legend of Besevera'."

"You better hope that didn't leave your notebook," Dalzen growled.

"Hey, don't be so mean, Dalzen," Taylor muttered.

"What should we do?" Haruki asked.

"We'll go to Intel...once this is over with," Taylor said. "My dad would want me home right now so we're headed back."

"Right," Haruki agreed.

"Don't turn into a kid," Taylor turned to begin walking away and as she lifted her foot to move forward, it happened. In a cloud of dust, she shrunk down to about Dalzen's height and immediately tripped over herself and face-planted into the hard dirt. Startled, Haruki and Dalzen looked at Taylor, who was now on the ground, face-first in the dirt with the chance she broke her nose. Or wrist.

"Taylor!" Dalzen exclaimed.

Haruki crouched beside her and touched her shoulder gently, "Are you okay?"

Dalzen put his hand on her shoulder and tried to look at her face.

"Taylor?"

She lifted her head slowly and her lips trembled. Dalzen saw the bloodied nose and then the tears well up in her eyes.

"Oh no, don't cry!" he exclaimed. "You won't be able to breathe if you cry!"

She reached two tiny hands up to her nose and touched just underneath it and saw the blood on her little fingers. She cried.

"Taylor, don't cry!" Dalzen exclaimed.

She shook her head as she cried from the pain.

"You can't breathe if you cry!" Haruki told her. "Your nose could be broken."

"I-It hurts," she whined.

Haruki looked at Dalzen and he nodded. Gently, he scooped Taylor up in his arms and cradled her. Dalzen picked up his vest, which she'd dropped. While Haruki tried to settle her, he looked at Dalzen.

"Want me to carry that?" he asked.

"Sure," Dalzen nodded and handed it to him. "It'll drag with me holding onto it."

Haruki took the vest and rubbed Taylor's back, "Hey, I don't want you to suffocate. Let's see if we can find Kaede-chan."

"Kaede?" Dalzen thought back to the brown-haired girl in the red jacket kissing the boy with black hair and glasses. "I think we passed them not too long ago."

"Oh really? They must be out still," Haruki stood up with Taylor in his arms, trying to stop crying so she could breathe. She'd managed to stop crying, but then she began hiccuping. Dalzen shook his head in disbelief.

"She manages to stop crying, but ends up hiccuping," he muttered.

"Show me where you saw them, they may still be there," Haruki told Dalzen.

"Of course," Dalzen nodded and quickly broke into a run with Haruki following behind him. Dalzen led him to their teammates, Jakobe and Kaede. They were still sitting on the bench, but they were just joking around about them being little kids.

"I wonder if our kids would look as adorable as you!" Kaede grinned.

"I thought you couldn't have kids," Jakobe wondered.

"I don't know that for sure. I hope I can," Kaede smiled. "If not...Taylor could totally help out with that."

Jakobe raised an eyebrow, "I don't see Taylor carrying around a child inside of her just for us."

"Don't be silly, I only meant she'd donate her eggs," Kaede smiled.

"Do we really need another Hatake running around?" Jakobe asked.

"Taylor is so adorable though! Maybe the kid would be as adorable as the both of you," Kaede swooned.

Jakobe sighed and laughed, "Sometimes I can't believe we're in love with each other."

"What about me donating my eggs?" Taylor suddenly stopped their conversation.

Kaede looked at them, "Oh my, I didn't mean..."

"It's okay, I trust you with them," Taylor grinned.

"What'd you guys come here for?" Jakobe asked to quickly change the awkward subject.

"Uhm, well if it isn't obvious, I think Taylor broke her nose," Haruki said. "Her nose is bleeding a lot."

"Oh! Okay, just sit her down and I'll see if I can still fix it!" Kaede gestured beside her.

Haruki sat down with Taylor in his arms facing Kaede. Kaede held both her hands up to her face and a green chakra surrounded them and she began healing Taylor's nose.

"So what even happened?" she asked.

"I fell face-first into the ground," Taylor answered quietly.

"Aw!" Kaede awed.

Jakobe looked at Dalzen, "Hey...who are you?"

"I'm Dalzen. Dalzen Morino," Dalzen answered. "Taylor calls me her uncle Dalzen, but only she's allowed to do that." He gave a wry grin.

"Oh..." Jakobe acknowledged.

Dalzen looked at Taylor and Kaede, "Looks like medical ninjutsu works still."

"Seems like it," Kaede nodded.

Taylor inhaled.

"I'm a little kid," she looked at Dalzen. He nodded.

"I bet that's why you fell the way you did," Haruki said. "You tried to reach your leg out to walk but when you transformed you hadn't stepped like you'd thought so you ended up tripping over your feet when you moved your other foot to walk forward."

"That does seem logical."

"And you were worried about me tripping over myself?" Dalzen teased. "We should all be worried about you tripping!"

"Shut up," Taylor grumbled.

Haruki smiled, "That's okay. That's what makes you different."

Taylor glared down at the ground and blushed.

Kaede drew her hands away from her nose and poked her nose. She didn't flinch, so Kaede smiled.

"Good! It's fixed."

"Alright, so what do we do now?" Haruki asked. "Getting you home isn't going to help anything now."

"You're right," Taylor put her hand on her chin.

"I have a suggestion," Jakobe put his hands on his waist. "The library may have something"

"Why not Intel?" Dalzen asked.

"The library has a section of written records," Jakobe said. "Maybe something similar has happened before, here or in another village. We should have it."

"Sounds good to me," Haruki said.

"I suppose," Dalzen crossed his arms.

"Let's go then!" Jakobe hopped off the bench with Kaede. Dalzen hopped down and Haruki stood up with Taylor in his arms and she squirmed.

"Please put me down," she said. "I'm perfectly capable of walking."

"I think what she means is that only Kakashi, Sakumo, and I are allowed to carry her," Dalzen teased.

"Hey!" Taylor blushed. "Not true."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dalzen grinned. "I forgot Ibiki."

"Ibiki's never —" Dalzen glared at Taylor.

"You think I wasn't watching when I was dead?" he asked.

"It was once!" Taylor exclaimed. "I was half-out of it and Inoichi was the one who carried me first, then he handed me over to Ibiki-sama."

"Talking about the explosion at Intel nearly six months ago?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah," Dalzen nodded.

"Oh, well that reminds me...Taylor-chan, do you still have nightmares?" Kaede asked.

Taylor hid behind Haruki's arm but he ended up setting her down so she could walk clumsily.

"N-No," she scratched nervously behind her head as she started walking awkwardly. "Er, sometimes I do. It isn't as bad as the first month after it. My daddy did not sleep well for at least two weeks after that."

"That's good, that you only sometimes have bad dreams," Kaede chuckled nervously

They approached the library and when they walked in, they saw another adult who hadn't been turned into a kid. He was about Haruki's height but a bit shorter and he had to be a few years older than Kakashi. Maybe 42? His hair was a very light brown, almost blonde and he had hazel eyes that seemed to give him a sad appearance, however he seemed happy to see them walk in. Dalzen studied him and for some reason, he seemed like a familiar face. Why is that? Just who was he?

"Hello," the man greeted in a cheery voice. "How may I help you?" he looked at the kids, "You look like you've got a handful."

"Oh no," Haruki shook his head. "These guys were adults that were turned into little kids again. Everyone was...except you and me...oddly enough."

"Perhaps that's why everyone who has walked into here for the past hour was a kid," the man realized. "I'm assuming you've come to research and see if this has happened before?"

"Y-Yeah," Jakobe nodded. "Can you point us in a good direction Mr...?"

"Nekai," the man said. "Dura Nekai. And sure."

Dalzen's eyes widened. That's why he was familiar!

"Dura Nekai!?" he exclaimed. Taylor looked at Dalzen in surprise.

"Uncle Dalzen?"

Dura looked at Dalzen, confused.

"Y-You're Harou's son!" Dalzen remembered.

Everyone looked at Dalzen, but then Dura recognized Dalzen.

"You must be Dalzen, if I recall correctly," Dura was startled to see him. "But, hadn't you died?"

"Er, yeah but it's kinda complicated," Dalzen answered.

Taylor tried to remember Harou while Dalzen chuckled.

"Damn kid, you are the spitting image of your father," Dalzen remembered Harou before he died. Whenever that actually was.

Dura smiled, "Teal looks just like his father too."

"Y-Yeah, so I've noticed," Dalzen scratched his head.

"Wait, what's going on?" Taylor wondered.

"He's your uncle Saru's best friend's son," Dalzen told her.

She looked over Dura and tried to remember his father. She may have passed his father going into the village the very few times she actually went when she was in that time period with Coushander. She tried to stay inside Coushander's house as much as possible, only going out with Dalzen to get out of the way. She looked over Dura's shoulder and she swore to the goddess that she saw the ghost of his father. That was Harou Nekai.

"Oh my goddess," she whispered. "I think I see him..."

"See who?" Dalzen glanced at Taylor with unease.

"Harou-San, I think..." Taylor took notice of the old-style, brown vest. That had to be him, right?

Everyone looked at Taylor.

"You okay, Taylor?" Jakobe asked.

Harou looked over Taylor with a kind but curious look. He'd possibly seen her once or twice before, but only in passing. This had to have been the first time he'd actually caught her face. She had a rounded face and mist-blue eyes that were round. She had her hair pulled back just like Coushander's and she was very small, just like Saru. Was she Hatake? He noticed her eyes looking at him, She sees me. But...how is that possible?

"I think I'm hallucinating," she whispered. "I think I need water, is there a water fountain around here?"

Dura nodded to his left, "Just up those stairs near the children's section."

"Thanks," Taylor dashed off and Dalzen sighed.

"Sorry, she's Coushander's great-granddaughter," he apologized. "Naturally, she's crazy. I'm sorry — a lunatic."

"It's alright," Dura said. "Crazy people are good.

Dalzen nodded and watched as Taylor jumped on a stood and drank the water and out of the corner of his eye, he too caught a glimpse of the elder Nekai walking towards Taylor.

Naturally, he was curious about her. He'd spent so much time watching Dura he'd not noticed there was another Hatake heir, or two. And the fact that she saw him meant maybe the could perhaps communicate.

"Well, let's see what we can find out about the possible jutsu that's been turning adults into kids," Dura suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Haruki smiled.

Dura led them to the stairs and up to the jutsu and history sections. Taylor stayed away to calm herself and drink. When she looked up, she saw Harou standing beside her. She almost choked on the water in her mouth when she saw him. He panicked.

"Ah! Did I scare you?" he asked without thinking.

Taylor covered her mouth with her wrist when she nearly choked again.

"Holy shit," she coughed heavily. "I can still see the dead!"

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