Homecoming
Three people stood just outside the gates of Konoha facing the woods. On the right was the head of the Uzumaki clan, Uzumaki Naruto. To his left was the shortest of the three, his wife Uzumaki Hinata. Her midnight blue hair swayed gently in the soft breeze as she leaned against her husband's arm. And on the far left was Uzumaki Natsuki, her light blue hair trailed down to the middle of her back. She was taller than her mother by a few inches, but still not nearly as tall as her father. She stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest and a rather bored expression on her face.
"When is that brat going to get here?"
A quick hand from her mother lightly smacked the back of her head, causing her hair to flip up as she jerked her head forward.
"Don't call him that."
Natsuki turned her pale blue byakugan eyes to her mother, a smirk that bordered on laughter tugging at her lips.
"I'll stop calling him one when he proves me wrong."
Suddenly the blond man pointed down the road at a steadily growing cloud of dust.
"Looks like he'll get that chance in just a minute."
All three of them turned to watch the approaching cloud in earnest. Well, everyone but Natsuki, who was busy trying to look nonchalant, like she didn't care about her brother's return. Her parents knew better though. They had heard the excitement in her voice whenever she asked when 'the brat' was going to be back. The simple truth was that she missed Kanai. He was her little brother after all, and he wasn't that annoying most of the time.
The dust continued to approach with blinding speed, and just when it got within ten feet of them it came to a sudden stop. Slowly the dust subsided to reveal the young blond slightly hunched over with a white haired girl clinging to his back. He took a moment to turn his head and regard the girl out of the corner of his eye.
"I still don't know why I had to carry you."
She just smiled her smile that ends all of their disagreements and pecked him on the cheek.
"Because you love me."
Kanai grumbled and rolled his eyes as he let the green-eyed girl down from her perch. It was then that he noticed the laughter. He looked up questioningly to see his dad with head thrown back laughing loudly, his sister was hunched over and pointing at him as she laughed, and his mom had a hand covering her mouth as she contained her laughter to a soft giggle. A blush spread across his face momentarily before he took on a rather indignant stance.
"What's so funny?"
His question only caused them to laugh harder. He awkwardly glanced back at Ami who was doing her best to hide behind him, clutching his shirt in her delicate hands. He was just about to ask her what was wrong when he noticed the deep red blush covering her cheeks and realized what was going on. He spun back to face his family and immediately tried to change the subject, anything to get their minds off what they had just seen.
"Aren't you going to welcome me back?"
Hinata was the first to cease her laughing and she quickly made her way over to her son and seized him in a tight hug. At fifteen he was already taller than him, it almost made her sad to think of how fast he had grown up. She gave him a final squeeze before kissing his cheek and taking a step back.
"I missed you."
One side of his lips curled up in a grin as he reached up and absent-mindedly scratched his head.
"I missed you too Mom."
His dad was the next to greet him as Hinata talked with Ami about where she would be staying while in Konoha. Naruto extended a hand to Kanai that he quickly accepted. It seemed like they were just going to shake hands when Naruto suddenly pulled his son in close and gave him a hug, patting his back vigorously. He pulled back and lovingly clamped his hand on Kanai's shoulder.
"It's good to see you kid."
He laughed as he playfully punched Naruto in the shoulder.
"Thanks Dad."
He was just about to continue when a light blue blur nearly tackled him. He looked to see his sister Natsuki, who until a moment ago had been doing her very best to seem like she hadn't missed him at all, was now clinging to his chest and fighting to hold back her tears. She whispered softly into his shoulder.
"Welcome home brat."
Kanai fondly wrapped his arms around her back and held her close to him. He turned his head and spoke softly in her ear.
"It's good to be back."
He then made a grab for her sides and started to tickle her.
"And stop calling me brat."
Natsuki laughed openly as he tickled her, but that was not all she was doing. Without warning she kicked Kanai's legs out from underneath him. He fell in an unceremonious heap as his sister stood over him, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Not until you beat me brat."
He kicked up to his feet before he sighed dejectedly.
"That's not fair. You're six years older than I am."
Natsuki put her hands on her hips and looked at him condescendingly.
"Yeah? So? What's your point? A real man wouldn't make excuses like that."
Kanai shook his head in disbelief, but let it go at that. It wasn't worth arguing with his sister over it. And besides, he would show her who was the brat some day. His silent contemplation was interrupted by his sister's squeal as she rushed over and hugged his girlfriend. He almost laughed as he watched Ami struggle to breathe in Natsuki's vice like grip, but he decided it might be better to help her out. He walked over and tapped his sister on the shoulder.
"Um, Natsuki? Do you think you could let her go now? She's not looking so good."
Natsuki's eyes went wide as she realized what she was doing. She promptly dropped Ami, and steadied her with an outstretched arm.
"Sorry about that. I'm just excited to see you."
Natsuki was shocked as she was suddenly caught up in the smaller girl's arms and lifted off the ground. The air was forced from her lungs as the girl squeezed a little harder. And just as quickly as it began she was set back on the ground and staring in the face of her broadly smiling friend.
"I'm excited to see you too Natsuki."
The two girls laughed slightly before stepping forward and hugging each other again, this time much more gently. By the time they finished Naruto was standing beside them, waiting his turn to welcome his little boy's girlfriend for another visit to his village. Ami smiled sweetly as she gave her second dad a loving hug.
"It's good to see you again Naruto."
The blond man pulled her away from him by his shoulders and beamed openly at her.
"You finally got rid of the san at the end of my name! It's about time. It's not like you're not part of the family or something."
Her smile broadened again and her emerald eyes seemed to sparkle in the light from the setting sun. Then she nodded her head decisively.
"Hnn." She agreed.
"Now come on. Your old room is all ready, so we can drop off your stuff and get some dinner."
In a flash Kanai was standing in front of him, a huge hungry grin on his face. Naruto was about to laugh when he noticed that Natsuki and Ami bore the exact same expressions as his son.
"Ok, I guess we should hurry."
Ami nodded as a cloud of sand formed beneath her feet and immediately lifted her above everyone else's heads. Kanai looked up at her with a mixture of awe and love. He whispered to his sister.
"She's such a show off."
Suddenly a platform of sand lifted him off the ground as well, up to where Ami was floating.
"I heard that."
He just smiled at her as he hopped over to the sand she was on and placed his arm around her shoulders. He kissed her lightly on the cheek.
"It's just one of the things I love about you."
She locked her hands behind his neck and nudged her face closer to his.
"Darn right it is." She murmured as she kissed his lips softly.
And then the hooting and cheering came from below. The couple looked down embarrassed as Naruto and Natsuki whooped and pumped their fists in encouragement and Hinata tried to quiet them down. Kanai just rolled his eyes and turned to face Ami, who was still in his arms beside him.
"Welcome to the family."
A/N: I'm leading up to something. No spoilers but next chapter is going to be exciting. BWAHHAAHAHAHA.
RLnaruhina: Well you finally managed to be the first reviewer. Good work. I'm glad that toothpaste worked for you. It would be tough to convince your Hinata to date you if you had messed up teeth….
Dragon Man 180: Gotta love my tricksy nature. Lol. Hinata will always get the good end in my story. I love her too much to disappoint her.
MichelLover: Well I hope you see it someday. It's a truly great thing. Everyone has a scent. Generally your attraction to someone has something to do with pheromones. Pheromones contain chemical signals as to how your immune system works. So biologically your children will have a better immune system if you have them with someone who's immune system is strong against different things than yours. You will find such a person more attractive as far as scent goes. Of course that is just the scientific aspect. In truth there is more to it than that but I can't really explain it. You'll probably notice it someday. Ja ne.
RawD: Thank you. I absolutely loved that chapter. The loneliness is strong but the hope still exists. Good luck to you my friend.
John Bellamy: Interesting and disinteresting? Ooook. Well I hope the interesting outweighed its opposite.
Thestoneox: You're damn right that was a lot of fluff. I love it. Well as long as both sides of the coin make you happy you won't be disappointed by my random story mood changes. My speed is stupid. Don't feel bad about not updating faster. I just don't have a life. Sigh. The truth hurts. And as for my review for Patient Mountain, well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right? Sure it wasn't an intentional copying of style and I wouldn't stop even if he asked me too (since you can't really own a general style like timeline jumping) but I thought it would be nice for him to know that I respect him and like his style.
Madnarutofan: Glad you liked it. Hmm, perhaps I'll check it out (I'm a little busy usually. But I'll try) Don't worry about dark. As long as you didn't pick off Hinata or Naruto I'll be fine with it. I'll look forward to reading it.
Raziel Tepes: Next chapter my friend. Next chapter.
Warprince2000: I want you to say something different for each chapter. What did you like about it? What didn't you like? Did anything sound odd? Anything but your copying and pasting of the same comment over and over. It's disrespectful of the amount of work I, and all the other authors on this site put into our stories.
Anime/Manga lubber: The best? Really? Awesome! I'm so pleased I may just do a hobo dance. I know I'm not a geezer. I just like to say stupid things sometimes. Ok most of the time.
Danny-171984: I'll do my best to keep the fluff pouring from the pillows in my head. I worship at the altar of NaruHina. Lol. Weeeee.
Elisa7692: Thank you. That's all I can really say. Your review just made me so happy. It's reviews like yours that make me want to keep writing. So, thanks again. I appreciate it. And I hope you find someone who treats you as well as Naruto treats Hinata some day too. And you can't write too much. I love it no matter how long it is.
Hopeless-flame: Big big smile for this review. The fact that you re-read it is a fantastic compliment. You made a slight mistake though. She didn't not hit the ground because Naruto caught her. It was because she woke up from the dream. The fact that the dream was just like reality was the ultra fuzzy ending point. Heh. Sorry about the confusion.
Lunarangel: It certainly is one of the best things in the world. If not the very best. You analyzed that chapter perfectly. It's nice to see someone catch all of my meanings. I can be rather confusing sometimes. Thanks as for reviewing as always. I'll continue to look forward to your nuttiness to compliment my own. Peace.
Kai Otogi: If I had to determine why I have that talent I would have to say it's because I'm very relaxed myself. I go with the flow and smile whenever I can. I'm just doing my best to spread some of that around.
Nonengel: Ah love is in the air, and the bed. Yay!
Blinkin: Hey, you stayed up til almost 5 AM to read my story. I'm not crazy enough to demand that you stay up the rest of the night to read the rest. Geez. I can't say how happy I am that my story can improve your mood. That means everything to me. 51 chapters in 2 days and it managed to maintain a semblance of originality? Well then, my goals have been achieved. Yeah, typos are just a part of life when you don't proofread chapters. Heh. I love Natsuki too. She is quite possibly my favorite OC. Yeah, I introduced Moeko and then never really did anything with her. I'll have to find more ways to include her. I have some plans for that. We'll see how they work out. Well I'm glad my names are right kind of. This is certainly the most educational of all of my reviews even if I don't really understand it (my background knowledge of Japanese doesn't exist.) As for Tsuyomaru, since I use kanjisite dot com for my translations that is just the word that came up for "to become strong" I don't really understand how to convert it to name form or anything. :shrug: Actually now that I look it up I screwed up a little. "to become strong" is actually tsuyomeru. Oops. Oh well. I can't be right about everything I guess. Thanks for the pointers. Hopefully I can come to you if I have any naming questions in the future (muahahahah aol mail tells me your screenname lol). Later my friend.
