Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Nightmares

October 23, 0295 AtD, 5:33 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Kosuke studiously ignored the phantom ache that sprang up in the missing half of his shortened left leg as he refilled the kettle while he tried very hard not to curse the gods for placing yet another burden on his godson's young shoulders. Shutting off the water, Kosuke snapped the kettle's lid back into place before he transferred the kettle to the stove and ignited the burner. He then made his way back to the table where Kojimaru was nervously playing with his teacup while Inoichi subtly attempted to observe the teen without letting on that he was doing so.

"Where do you suggest we go from here?" Kosuke asked as he reclaimed his seat while keeping one half of his attention on his godson in order to gauge the boy's current mood.

"I've taken the next four days off so that I can help Kojimaru work through the worst of his anger," Inoichi answered as he met Kosuke's gaze across the table. "I've also made arrangements for him to stay with me for the next three or four nights so that I can monitor any nightmares he has to determine whether or not said nightmares run the risk of drawing on his Kekkei Genkai while he is in the throws of a night terror."

"May I ask how you intend to deal with any potential loss of control during the period of observation?"

"Jiraiya has offered to provide me with a large supply of temporary chakra suppression seals and knock-out tags before he leaves the village. I will, of course, only use them in the event that I am unable to talk Kojimaru down from his anger or in the event that his loss of control places himself or another in imminent danger since the goal is for him to be able to control himself; not for him to rely upon temporary stop-gap measures."

"Tenzou said he would be willing to help keep me grounded," Kojimaru interjected as he absently spun his cup and Kosuke nearly sighed when he saw the glint of frost forming on the outside of the heavy cup; a clear indication that his godson was more than a little upset at the moment.

"I will consider including your usual partner in crime after I've determined just how much control over your emotions that you've lost between the rapidly fluctuating hormone levels in your body and the absence of the seal that had been suppressing a significant portion of your emotions."

Kosuke carefully schooled his face in order not to frown when Kojimaru's fumbled with his cup and tipped it over to reveal that the liquid inside of it had frozen solid. Inoichi had obviously noticed that little detail as well as the Jounin sighed wearily as he leaned heavily on the table before he addressed the teen once more.

"I'm fully aware that the two of you have always worked better together, Kojimaru. This is not an attempt to separate the two of you; I know better than to even think about trying to pull something like that on the two of you. However, you also both need to be able to stand alone and stand strong in the absence of the other for those times when circumstances outside of your control pull the two of you apart. You need to be able to rein yourself in without Tenzou's help lest you end up relying so heavily upon him that you cease to be able to function without him."

"I know that. I even understand why it has to be that way. I just don't like it," Kojimaru huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the table. "I also know that no one else really understands why we fight so hard to stay together. I'm sure most people see it as childish behavior on our part but we don't cling to one another out of insecurity or anything like that. Nor do we do it for attention."

"Then why do you? Each time I've asked you in the past, you've merely shrugged your shoulders and claimed that you two were, and I quote, 'far more awesome together'."

"That's because we are far more awesome together!"

"Kojimaru," Kosuke lightly chided in response to his godson's rather childish reply with what was a blatant attempt to deflect the oft asked question.

"Well, we are," Kojimaru muttered as he sank lower in his chair with a small huff. He then sighed and dropped his head backwards to glare at the ceiling before he added, "It feels wrong when we're forced apart."

"What do you mean it feels 'wrong'?" Inoichi asked as his brow furrowed in confusion.

"It's hard to explain… but when we're not in the same room, it feels like there's something crawling under my skin. If we're not in the same house or building, then it feels like there's a hundred somethings crawling under my skin. If we're any further away from each other than that but still within a mile or two of each other, then it feels like those somethings crawling under my skin are on fire. The feeling just gets worse if we're any further away than that and it feels like parts of my soul have been ripped out. It hurts but its not physical pain. It just puts me on edge and makes me irritable."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It's a weakness that can be used against us and we… no, I feared that we'd be split up and kept from one another in order to 'train' us out of the 'dependency'. I was also afraid that we'd be put through a bunch of tests to find out what was causing the wrongness and to test the limits of what it does to us if we're kept apart for longer times over greater distances. I don't want to find out. It kills when I can't sense Tenzou. I don't like feeling as if parts of me have been torn out of my soul while I'm drowning in a burning emptiness that eats away at my mind."

"Was there ever a time you didn't feel like that when the two of you weren't together?" Kosuke inquired as he thought back to those first few years Kojimaru had lived with him and tried to recall if he'd shown any distress when parted from Tenzou.

"Yeah; back when we were still in the Academy. Well, it still felt like there was something crawling under my skin but I thought it was just because I was always excited about seeing Tenzou again when we weren't together. The feeling kind of grew stronger as we grew older. That was especially true after the medics started using our blood for transfusions after missions. Usually it was me giving blood for Tenzou but there was that one time they had Tenzou give me blood."

Kosuke nodded in response to the answer and felt the small knot of guilt that had just started to form in his heart unravel in response to the confirmation that he had not missed the signs of a younger Kojimaru suffering each time he had parted ways with his friend. Part of him also wondered if Torifu had been aware of the physical aspect of the bond that the two boys had shared and if that was why he'd tried so hard to separate them while they'd been younger. If that had potentially been the other man's attempt to prevent the connection from becoming the exploitable weakness it was today.

After thinking about it for a brief moment, Kosuke was very glad that Kasai had not succeeded. Those two boys had thrived over the years due to their close friendship. He did not think they would be half the shinobi, let alone half the young men, they were now if they hadn't been so determined to protect one another from the world. Their bond might be seen as a weakness from one side of the kunai but from the other side, it was their greatest strength because of how well they worked together.

"While I can understand your wariness of being put through a bunch of 'experiments' to determine the limits of the connection you share with Tenzou, it is something that you should seriously consider doing yourself," Inoichi carefully suggested. "If only so you know what to expect and can learn how to function in the worst case scenario. I would also recommend that you sit down and write out everything you already know about the 'wrongness' you feel and add to the journal as you discover anything new."

"Doing so would allow you to keep a record of what you have experienced and better prepare you for what you can expect to face in the future if there comes a time when you are required to work alone or with another team. It would also give those of us who are responsible for your health an idea of what we need to watch out for. Including information on the phenomenon from Tenzou's perspective would also be beneficial to you both. Storing such a journal in a blood based Storage Seal bound by a blood based Security Seal would prevent an enemy from finding and using it against you."

"I'll think about it," Kojimaru grudgingly offered before he climbed to his feet to prepare another pot of tea as the kettle finally announced itself with a shrill whistle in the background.

While his godson soothed his inner turmoil with the familiar ritual of making tea, Kosuke studied Inoichi as the younger man let out a silent sigh and relaxed in his seat. Kosuke couldn't help but admire the blond's courage, tenacity, and tact in pursuing what was an exceptionally touchy subject while knowing that a single misstep could trigger Kojimaru's temper. And while Kosuke himself had never seen his godson lose complete control of his emotions, he had seen the damage that his Kekkei Genkai could do when his emotions got away from him.

He had never forgotten that terrible day when the boy had crossed paths with a territorial wildcat.

And that was when Kojimaru had been a small child without a lick of control.

The amount of destruction he could do now would be far more significant than what he had done back then.

Speaking of which, Kosuke glanced at Kojimaru's back to make certain the teen was preoccupied with the tea before he caught Inoichi's eye and silently signed, 'How much damage did he cause when he lost control earlier?'

Inoichi slid his gaze to Kojimaru even as he replied, 'He made a rather big mess of Kasai's office but the damage was easily repaired by both boys.'

'Was anyone injured?'

'No, Tenzou's quick thinking prevented anyone from being harmed.'

Kosuke nodded in relief. He hadn't really thought that his godson would have harmed anyone but even he knew that accidents happened. It was good to know that he wouldn't have to worry about Kojimaru being eaten up inside with guilt for such an accident though. Kosuke hadn't forgotten the nightmares that the boy had suffered through after he'd accidentally killed the wildcat that had attacked him. Nor had he forgotten the handful of times that his godson had come home weighted down with guilt because he'd taken one or more lives during a mission.

Each death weighed heavily on the boy's heart and mind; even the deaths of those remorseless criminals that had been caught in an act of depravity.

That guilt never stopped him from ending the life of an enemy when circumstances called for it. Kojimaru had been far too well trained to freeze up or hesitate when fighting for his life or for the lives of others. That didn't change the fact that the teen didn't like killing.

The elderly Genin pulled himself out of his thoughts when his godson appeared at his elbow to pour him a fresh cup of tea and Kosuke smiled his thanks. Kojimaru offered a small smile in return before he moved around the table to refill Inoichi's cup. The teen then rounded the table to serve himself before he dropped back down into his chair. The next half an hour would pass in complete silence as Kojimaru nursed his tea while the two adults observed the moody boy from the corner of their eye.

At the end of that half an hour, Kosuke set his cup aside and suggested, "Kojimaru, you should go pack what you need for the next couple of days."

"Hai, Kosuke-oji," Kojimaru reluctantly agreed after eyeing the amount of tea remaining in his cup.

Kosuke watched the fifteen year old push himself up from the table and trudge out of the room before he let out a soft sigh and climbed to his feet so he could pour the rest of the tea into a canteen for his godson to take with him.

October 23, 0295 AtD, 6:29 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Kojimaru silently followed Inoichi through the darkened isles of the flower shop that his family had opened some thirty years earlier towards the stairs that led up to the twin apartments that sat above the shop. Unlike most of Konoha's clans, the Yamanaka Clan did not have a central clan estate where all of their members resided. Instead, the members of the clan had spread themselves throughout the village so that they were ideally placed to collect rumors and monitor the village's inhabitants for suspicious or self-destructive behavior.

The Clan Head of the Yamanaka Clan was also not considered the leader of the clan as was typical of the other clans that made their home in Konoha. The Yamanaka Clan Head was mostly just a figure head that drew attention away from the clan so that the scattered members could go about their duties without interference. The Clan Head acted as a go-between for the clan and the Hokage; the individual members shunting all of the intelligence that they've gathered through their Clan Head and leaving it to the Clan Head to pass that information onto the Hokage and his advisers.

The line of succession for the Yamanaka Clan Head was also atypical in that it wasn't handed down through 'the main line' of the family. Instead, the title was usually passed to the 'strongest' Yamanaka of each generation. That strength was based upon the each member's affinity for the secret techniques that their clan used to delve into and manipulate the minds of others. Inoichi was the strongest Yamanaka in his generation and the first prodigy to be born into the clan in three generations. His father, Inohiko, had been the strongest in the previous generation while one of his distant cousin's had claimed that title in his grandfather's generation.

The Yamanaka Clan was also the only clan to not have a council of elders to advise the current Clan Head. That was mostly due to the fact that the clan was made up of individual families with loose blood ties and a common affinity for the secret techniques that the clan used. It was also meant to allow their members a measure of anonymity to help deflect the attention their abilities would garner them otherwise; since any gathering that even vaguely resembled a clan meeting would garner far too much attention. It would be far harder to collect those rumors that most people didn't want to get back to the Hokage if everyone could identify a Yamanaka on sight, after all.

It was also the reason why the Yamanaka Clan was the only clan to frequently adopt outsiders into their clan and openly encourage their children to marry outside of the clan; the new blood helping to 'muddy' the lines when it came to physical appearance as well as strengthening their blood as they pulled in those people with high intelligence and strong minds. Inoichi's mother had been such an individual. So had his wife, Ayaka; she'd caught his attention when she had fended off a mental attack from him during a friendly training spar five years earlier.

Kojimaru had originally learned about the unique structure of the Yamanaka Clan back when Shikaku had still been his official babysitter. Being the curious little boy he was, Kojimaru had asked the lazy Nara why he never took him to visit the Yamanaka Clan Estate after his third trip to the Akimichi Farms where the Akimichi Clan lived. Shikaku had immediately foisted him off on a couple of the clan elders with a request to satisfy his 'troublesome' curiosity with the history of the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka Clans and the alliance they had formed long before Konoha existed.

Shaking his head, Kojimaru forcefully pushed the information he'd learned about those three clans to the back of his mind as he reached the top of the stairs. He then turned to his left and trailed after Inoichi as the Jounin passed through the door into the apartment where he lived with his wife and daughter. There was another apartment off to the right of the stairs but that one belonged to Inoichi's parents; Kojimaru didn't really know Yamanaka Chiharu (Inohiko's wife and Inoichi's mother) all that well but he had seen Inohiko on several occasions (usually when Inoichi was unavailable to view his memories after completing a troublesome mission).

Kojimaru's thoughts were derailed two seconds later when a human sized kunai plowed into his left leg and nearly knocked him on his butt. Bending in half, the teen eyed the wide grin on the face of a precocious three year old with shoulder length pale blonde hair and bright pupil-less teal eyes. The adorable tyke was Inoichi's daughter, Ino. And while he didn't spend any where near as much time with the girl as he did with Shikamaru, Kojimaru had babysat her more than once over the past three years.

"Oi, Inoichi; did you know you have a leech infestation?" Kojimaru inquired as he gave the little girl clinging to him a small smirk.

"Ino-chan not leech! Ino-chan's a purty flower bud! My daddy told me so!" Ino protested as she pouted up at the teen.

"Are you sure about that? I don't think flower buds are in the habit of latching onto every warm body that wanders through the door," Kojimaru countered as he reached down to pretend to pry Ino from his leg. "They also don't cling so tightly to the people they grab. Leeches, on the other hand, do both of those things. So that would make you a leech."

"Daddy! Tell Koji-baka I not leech!" Ino bellowed at the top of her lungs the moment she noticed the man was no longer in the room and Kojimaru couldn't help but burst out laughing in response to the sheer indignation he could hear in her voice.

"Ino-chan, what has kaasan told you about calling people names?" Yamanaka Ayaka chided as she popped out of the kitchen and fisted her hands on her hips and Kojimaru quickly stifled his laughter when the formidable woman turned her annoyed glare on him next. "And you should know better than to rile her up with your infernal teasing, Kojimaru-kun!"

"Gomen," Kojimaru automatically offered up as he plucked the 'Ino-bud' off of his leg and promptly draped her over his shoulder; upside down. The three year old squealed in surprise over the sudden change in perspective (her little legs churning the air beside his head) while Kojimaru offered up a slightly mischievous grin to Inoichi's wife.

Ayaka rolled her eyes and huffed in exasperation before she ordered, "No roughhousing inside," and retreated back into the kitchen.

"Daddy! Save me!" Ino begged as her father reemerged from the back of the apartment.

"Kojimaru-kun, you appear to have sprouted a small growth since walking through the door," Inoichi drawled as he eyed his daughter's slowly reddening face.

"Nah, I picked up a leech the moment I waded into your apartment."

Ino huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in response to being called a leech again and Inoichi chuckled at his daughter's reaction. Kojimaru snickered when Ino pouted at her dad for not helping her and then spun her around so that she was right side up before he blew a raspberry on the back of her neck that set her to giggling madly as she squirmed in his arms. He spent another minute tickling her before he set her down a split second later and watched as she ran away from him to cling to her father's leg while trying to scowl at Kojimaru through her fading giggles.

"See, leech."

Ino promptly stuck her tongue out at Kojimaru in response to that while Inoichi sighed and consolingly patted his daughter's head. The young Tokubetsu Jounin could see the corners of the older shinobi's lips curling upwards though and knew he was amused by his daughter's antics; the man positively doted on Ino and thought everything she did was adorable.

"Why don't you go put your things in the guestroom?" Inoichi suggested at that point and Kojimaru had to fight to keep the smile on his face even as he nodded in compliance.

It wasn't that he didn't like visiting the small family. He did. He adored Ino (and enjoyed teasing her) and he was rather fond of Ayaka (and most especially her taiyaki). It was the fact that he wasn't really here for one of his random little visits to charm a batch of his favorite dessert out of Ayaka that made it hard for him to smile. This wasn't his first time spending the night 'under observation' either but the last time he'd been there for 'health' reasons had been after his godfather had returned to active duty in the wake of the Kyuubi's attack just two years earlier.

As soon as he reached the guestroom, Kojimaru let the smile slide off of his face as he dropped down onto the bed and buried his face in his hands. From the moment that the newly named Yuri had been led away by Yagi-teichou and he'd had that stupid surprise evaluation sprung on him, his emotions had been see-sawing out of control. It'd only grown worse after the stupid seal had been removed and Jiraiya had said that man's name. If not for Tenzou distracting him for most of the afternoon (once his evaluation had ended), then Kojimaru was certain that he'd have lost it a second time at some point.

Just thinking about his earlier loss of control and the reason why he'd snapped had the temperature in the room dropping rapidly. Slamming a mental door down on his emotions, Kojimaru forced himself not to think of the traitor.

I'm so pathetic, Kojimaru thought to himself as he dropped backwards on the bed and threw an arm over his eyes once the temperature around him had returned to normal. I can't even go two seconds without my thoughts drifting to that traitorous bastard. He never seemed all that important before and now I can't stop thinking about him. I was supposed to have gotten over this last year!

Rolling over onto his stomach, Kojimaru pressed his face into the mattress and clenched his jaw tightly as he fought to hold back the scream he could feel building in his chest. He couldn't afford to lose control. Not now. And not here. Not when Ino and Ayaka were present and unable to defend themselves from his Hyouton if he should destroy the apartment like he had nearly destroyed Kasai's office; good thing the Commander never kept anything important in his office or the destruction he had caused earlier would have gotten him in far more trouble.

Drawing in a deep breath through his nose, Kojimaru held it for a slow count of ten before he slowly let it out through his mouth. He repeated the process several more times until he felt his mind empty itself and his body slowly relax as his frustration and anger slowly bled away with each breath. After spending close to ten minutes in the meditative trance, Kojimaru slowly rolled over onto his side and allowed his breathing to return to normal as he stared blankly at the cream colored wall in front of him. His eyes slid shut a moment later and he allowed his mental and emotional exhaustion pull him down into Morpheus's arms.

His dreams that night would be plagued by nightmares and phantom pains as the fractured memories of his time in Orochimaru's labs freely seeped up through the cracks in his subconsciousness for the first time in years. He'd spend close to four hours tossing and turning as pained whimpers and whines issued forth from his mouth before a firm hand on his shoulder snapped him out of the endless stream of terrible dreams. Kojimaru bolted upright with a strangled scream in response to the sudden touch and unconsciously lashed out at the one touching him while he was still caught up in the nightmares.

The moment his fist connected, Kojimaru heard a sharp verbal curse followed by a nonsensical order before he found himself being flipped over onto his stomach and pressed down into the mattress when he continued to struggle against his captor. Terror immediately filled him due to his difficulty in separating reality from his nightmares and memories and the teen reflexively relaxed his control on his Kekkei Genkai so he could protect himself. Another sharp curse rang in his ear as the temperature around him plunged below freezing while vines of ice and wood attacked his attacker.

He felt a hand slap something crinkly to the back of his neck seconds later and his mind automatically translated the sound into 'seal tag'. That only made him struggle harder because there were only a handful of seals that he knew that could be used in the middle of a fight and any one of them meant death or capture. He went from 'capture and interrogate' mode into 'maim and kill' mode in response to the new threat and almost screamed when he found himself struggling to keep hold of his chakra as he sought to use his Hyouton to eliminate his attacker.

He would be snapped out of his panic two minutes later when a familiar voice loudly cut through the fog of fear that had blanketed his mind as it ordered, "Damn it all to hell, Kojimaru! Stop! It was just a nightmare! No one is going to hurt you! You're safe!"

Kojimaru immediately stilled the moment he finally recognized Inoichi's voice and quickly ceased attacking the weight pinning him to the bed. Reality slammed into him a heartbeat later and Kojimaru choked on a whine turned sob as he immediately realized he'd just tried to kill Inoichi in his panic. He tried to squirm his way free of the older man but found himself firmly pinned in place. He then tried to slap his hand on the wall, thinking to get away using his Mokuton, but soon discovered that he was too far away and while he could merge with his ice and wood creations, they were currently wrapped up around Inoichi and that would have defeated the purpose of getting away from the man.

"Calm down, Kojimaru," Inoichi ordered into his ear; the man's voice calm and firm. "I'm not letting you up until you are in complete control of yourself; I'm not about to allow you to run off just because you woke up fighting from a nightmare."

The artificial redhead went limp beneath Inoichi as he ceased trying to escape as ordered. It would take ten agonizingly slow minutes for his breathing and the erratic beat of heart to smooth out into something resembling normal. Bringing his skittering emotions back under control would take even longer. Once he was in full control of himself again, dealing with his Kekkei Genkai was rather easy as he simply drew his chakra back into his body to withdraw the vines of ice and wood that had tangled themselves around Inoichi as well as the two ice spikes he'd managed to form after he'd been tagged with whatever seal Inoichi had slapped on him.

"Arigatou," Inoichi murmured as he eased his hold on Kojimaru and pulled the tag off of his neck. "Now, so long as you don't try to disappear on me, I will let you up."

The man suited actions to words a moment later and Kojimaru remained face down on the bed for nearly another full minute before he slowly rolled over so he could see Inoichi. He couldn't help but flinch when the faint light filtering into the guest room from the hallway allowed him to see the vivid bruise blossoming across Inoichi's left cheek from where he'd socked the man in his face. The thin line of blood staining the side of his neck from where an ice spike had sliced through the skin made the blood drain from his face as he saw just how close he'd come to killing the Jounin and he made to twist away from the man in shame.

"I'm not so old that I can't defend myself against a little punk like you, gaki," Inoichi blandly drawled as he reached out to snag hold of Kojimaru's chin to prevent him from looking away. "I was well aware of the risks when I stepped in here to wake you up from your nightmare and while that first punch caught me off guard, I was prepared for you to lash out at me with your Kekkei Genkai. I will live."

Kojimaru's seal-induced blue eyes glittered with a sheen of half frozen tears for several seconds before he blinked away the obstruction. The hand on his chin disappeared a moment later before it returned to ruffle his hair. The teen attempted to dislodge the hand with a half-hearted swat out of habit before he sighed and simply endured the indignity of having his hair tousled.

"Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea."

"You suck at making tea," Kojimaru retorted in a raspy voice that was thick with emotion.

"Fine, how about I make you a cup of hot chocolate instead?" Inoichi offered around a snort of amusement in response to the familiar insult over his brewing skills.

"Is there any taiyaki to go with it?" Kojimaru inquired in a hopeful voice.

"Maybe."

"Okay."

Kojimaru then pushed himself upright before he slid off the bed. Inoichi got up next and gestured for the teen to lead the way and Kojimaru silently padded out of the guestroom with Inoichi following on his heels. They reached the kitchen just a few minutes later and Kojimaru silently slid into a chair at the table when Inoichi gave him a gentle push in that direction. He then spent the next ten minutes watching Inoichi heat up the milk, sugar, and chocolate to make the two of them some hot chocolate.

Once he'd finished blending the milk, sugar, and chocolate, Inoichi poured it into two large mugs and topped them both off with a generous swirl of whipped cream. He then carried both mugs to the table and set one in front of Kojimaru while the other was set down in front of the chair beside him before he grabbed a covered platter from the counter and plonked it on the table between the two mugs. Kojimaru automatically pulled the foil off of the platter and let out an exasperated huff when he found it filled with shark-shaped taiyaki instead of the usual fish-shaped ones.

"I found the shark molds at the market and immediately thought of you, Same no Kouji," Inoichi supplied with a chuckle as he dropped down into the chair next to Kojimaru. "Ayaka thought they were cute when I brought them home for her."

"I'm going to pluck Kawanari bald and die his skin bright pink for daring to speak that name within hearing range of you and the others back in August," Kojimaru groused before he bit into the tail-fin of the treat he'd picked up from the top of the small heap. His mouth was filled with the slightly bitter taste of cranberries coupled with the mild flavor of vanilla pudding a moment later and he let out a pleased hum over the pleasant contrasting flavors and textures of the new filling combination.

Close to an hour would pass by in companionable silence as the two shinobi drank their hot chocolate and ate their way through the plate of taiyaki. And while Kojimaru didn't find the chocolate any where near as comforting as he found tea, he did enjoy the soothing warmth and pleasant taste of the rich beverage. It helped wash away the last traces of his nightmares, if not the lingering guilt he still felt over his panicked attempt to skewer Inoichi. At the end of that hour, Inoichi finally initiated the discussion that Kojimaru had known had been coming since the moment he'd stopped fighting the man.

"What were you dreaming about when I woke you up?"

"My memories of the lab. He was there too. He had that stupid smug smirk on his face as he stood above me. And there was an endless stream of faceless people cutting me open and burning me with their chakra."

"Did you notice any difference in the fragmented memories from your time in the lab during the nightmare when compared to what you remembered of them prior to the seal being altered?"

"Yeah, a bit," Kojimaru reluctantly admitted and Inoichi nodded once before he gestured for Kojimaru to verbalize the differences that he'd noticed. "They were sharper. And they felt far more real to me. I could feel the pain from them. It didn't really hurt but every single nerve in my body ached in memory of the pain. I felt hands ghosting over me too. And when you grabbed me… it seemed like part of the nightmare at first."

"How clear were the memories? Could you actually see and comprehend what was happening in them or was it just a jumbled blur of impressions and pain like they were previously?"

Kojimaru shuddered as the memories in question rose up to flood his mind's eye once more before he ruthlessly shoved them back down into the depths of his mind. He did not want to see them again. He didn't want to talk about them either and so he pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head no.

Inoichi sighed heavily in response to his refusal to speak before he quietly stated, "Kojimaru, you can either talk about the memories so I know what I'm working with here or I can go in and view them instead. Either way, you are going to have to face them so that I can help you put them behind you."

The teen scowled and hunched his shoulders upon hearing that. There mere thought of being forced to relive those particular memories just so Inoichi could view them once more made him feel sick to his stomach. After keeping his mouth shut for another full minute, he grudgingly began speaking; his voice cracking ever other word as he tried not to lose control of himself and his emotions yet again.

"They're sort of clearer. They're still just little bits and pieces but I can see more details in each little snippet than I could before. I can see bloody scalpels flashing beneath glaring lights and in some of them I can feel the blades tugging and slicing through me. In others, I can feel my chakra pathways and coils rupturing as a large amount of foreign chakra is forced into my chakra network. And worst of all, is the sound of that man's voice as he stands above me and coldly orders his faceless underlings to 'shut me up' while his fingers are buried two knuckles deep inside of me."

"Kuso," Inoichi muttered under his breath before Kojimaru felt the man wrap an arm around him and half pull off of his chair into a hug. "I'd always known that you'd woken up during some of the procedures that were performed on you but I never dreamed that you'd gotten a clear enough picture of what had been done to you that you would be able to clearly comprehend what was happening to you at the time."

Kojimaru said nothing as he focused on keeping his breathing slow and steady lest he injure Inoichi further due to the way his emotions were once more skittering out of his control. Part of him also felt that speaking of those memories was wrong because they were the one thing that'd he'd never spoken about to anyone, not even Tenzou. Guilt ate away at the fifteen year old as he remembered just how much he'd been hiding from everyone but most especially from his brother and to a lesser extent from his godfather.

Those memories had just never seemed all that important in the past though.

Another part of him just felt weary; weary of being haunted by the past and beyond weary of constantly fighting against himself just to stay in control of himself.

And so Kojimaru allowed Inoichi to hold him close despite the discomfort generated by Inoichi's body heat. The older shinobi temporarily anchored him to the here and now and gave him a reason to cling to that tenuous thread of control he was maintaining by strength of will alone. There was no sense of comfort or companionship to be gained from the embrace though. And Kojimaru desperately wished that Tenzou was there with him.

He would get his wish a mere eight minutes later when Tenzou turned up unannounced and let himself in via the wooden framework of the building.

Inoichi complained about uninvited guests for all of ten seconds before he allowed Tenzou to drag Kojimaru off to the guestroom.

Translations: Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you
Baka – Idiot
Gaki – brat
Gomen – I'm sorry (informal)
Kawanari – one-eyed otter (Kojimaru's otter mentor); kawauso (river otter) + kaminari (thunder)
Kuso – swear word
Oi – hey
Same no Kouji – Shark Bait

AN: Toddler Ino-chan is just so adorable. I tried to make the way Ino interacted with Kojimaru slightly different than how Shikamaru interacts with him (Ino loud and slightly abrasive and Shika affectionate and manipulative) but I'm not certain how successful I was in that endeavor. I also tried to maintain her more forceful personality; hence her calling him Koji-baka instead of Koji-nii. That brief scene also shows just how much influence Inoichi has had on Kojimaru as the reason why Kojimaru called all little girl flower buds was due to the fact that Inoichi called his daughter a flower bud.

I'm also not sure how successful I was in conveying the Yamanaka Clan's secret occupation. They are supposed to be an invisible counterpart to the Uchiha Police Force in that their eyes are turned inwards as they keep watch over the civilians and shinobi alike whiles they go about their lives (whereas the Uchiha are the open watchers and peace keepers). I guess you could call them a hidden spy network that hides in plain sight so they can collect rumors and who only answer to the Hokage.

In any case, there will be more insights in to both the Yamanaka Clan and several of Konoha's other clans scattered throughout future chapters.

Moving on, this chapter had a lot of insights on what makes Kojimaru the person he is at this point in the story. There is still a LOT that is unknown about what is at work when it comes to the bond that Kojimaru and Tenzou share and some of it is impossible for the adults in their lives to uncover simply because Kojimaru's magic is completely unknown to them outside of the information that he'd been born with a secondary energy that was similar to chakra (see chap 3 for details on that).

I am still trying to work some of that information into the story-line but there is some stuff that they will just not learn because they have limited sources available. It also doesn't help that there is no convenient HP adult character to turn up to 'fill in the blanks' because Harry/Kojimaru ended up in a completely different world. I was tempted to have Fawkes forge a connection between the worlds but felt that was far too easy and overdone trick. So, as I said before, there will be NO WAY back for Kojimaru and there will be NO ONE joining him in the Naruto Verse. ~ Jenn

10-18-16: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.