A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows.


'What are you doing here, child? What happened to you?'

The words of the Hokage echoed in her ears as the doctors checked on her. The sight of the despair in Shigaraki's eyes haunted her, still lingers whenever she closed her eyes. Were the doctors talking to her? Or was it someone else? Blue eyes faded as Eisuke slammed the hospital door open, green eyes flared with both anger and concern.

"You're safe!"

Eisuke wrapped his arms around her and let out a sigh of relief. He breathed in her scent, nose pressed against her hair and hand rubbing her back. She took in a deep breath, trying to rein in her emotions. The world might be silent, might be in despair for the destruction that happened but she needed to pick herself back up. She exhaled. Life must go on and she must never let her emotions overwhelm her.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto finally asked.

Her cousin let go of her and stared at her, eyebrows raised at her question. She tilted her head, eyes focused on the television screen blaring with life. Headlines announcing All Might retirement grabbed her attention as her teacher stood in front of a couple of reporters. She chewed on her bottom lip. Was it her fault he had to retire? He had been fine during the fight but Naruto did sense he had been exhausted from the fight.

"Why wouldn't I be here? You are my baby cousin." Eisuke took a seat beside her. He removed his sword from his waist, dropped it to the ground and pressed his hands against his forehead. "I came here as soon as I placed your classmate in the police station."

Naruto avoided her cousin's eyes. "You found Bakugou?"

"I found Bakugou with your friend from Konoha." Her cousin leaned closer to her. Green eyes locked on hers, conveying to her about the amount of love and care he had for her. Naruto's throat tightened as it always did whenever someone showed her that they cared for her. "Were you ever going to tell Dad or me that Konoha made contact with you?"

"I thought I can handle it by myself," Naruto admitted. "I was going to tell you and Uncle Kenji but Bakugou's kidnapping happened and I thought my problems could be put in the backburner. Besides Hinata-chan doesn't plan to force me to go back to Konoha…she just wanted to make sure that I am happy and Kiba and Shino follow wth her wish."

"And the two sleeping off in the other room?" Eisuke questioned. "Will they listen to your desire?"

I don't know. Naruto chewed on her bottom lip as the television continued to talk about the impact of All Might's retirement. Three years ago, she would like to think they cared about each other to the point that they wanted each other's happiness. Now she was just uncertain about everything. Her memories and thoughts about Hinata had been true but Sakura and Kakashi? She could never know.

The two of them had in their own ways made it clear she meant less compared to Sasuke.

"You are scared of them." Naruto furiously shook her head but her cousin just frowned, his green eyes not convinced by her actions. "I am going to tell the doctor to keep them away from you until the police question them…"

"I am not scared of Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan!"

Eisuke jerked his head at her, eyebrows knitted together at her outburst. Naruto clenched her hands around her blankets, took a couple of deep breaths as her heart pounded against her chest. Her eyes gazed into her cousin's eyes. She prayed her eyes would be enough for him to understand that she was not and would never be scared of her teacher and teammate.

She was just exhausted from the thought of talking to them about everything.

"If you aren't scared of them then why did you avoid my eyes? Why didn't you answer my question? Let me understand what is going through your mind, Naruto." Her cousin pleaded. "I know I didn't grow up like you or Dad. I was lucky to be born and raise here but I just want to be there for you, Naruto. Dad isn't here to knock some sense into you so please talk to me."

"Because I don't know what they plan to do!" She yelled. Eisuke blinked his eyes at the outburst, eyebrows raised at her words. Naruto slumped her shoulders, shoulders hunched back at her words. She took in a deep breath. "Eisuke, my bond with my teacher and teammate is strange. No matter how much bullshit I have to deal with, I still give a shit about them because before I had you and your family…I saw Team Seven as my family."

"You love them despite everything."

Naruto pushed her tongue against her cheek and contemplated Eisuke's words. It would be easy to say she hated them for not thinking about her feelings for just one day. Did she hate how they treated her? Sometimes. Did she see only the bad times with them? No. They ate together, teased each other in their own ways and a part of her adored them.

She loved them and that was why Naruto could never bring herself to throw their team's photo away.

"We have one fucked up bond." Eisuke snorted and the whiskered girl sighed. "I can't even understand it myself. The bond I share with the three of them…it can't be explained with words or anything. Maybe I care about them because I felt like they were one of the first people to try and connect with me or maybe I am a sadist."

Eisuke flickered his eyes to the television. "If they ask you to go back to Konoha without any force, would you do it?"

Naruto shook her head as images of her smiling friends, co-workers and Shouto flashed before her eyes. For the first time in her life, she felt completely happy with herself. Was it so selfish of her to want and stay here? To experience more of this kind of bond.

"Japan is my home now and nothing in the world would change it."


"Since you are here to watch my baby cousin, I am going to go and get some real food!"

Todoroki could only blink his eyes as Eisuke dashed out of the room with a cheeky smile playing on his lips. The teen shook his head and sat down on the empty brown chair right beside Naruto's bed. If Endeavour hadn't been so busy scolding him for being in the city, he would have been by his friend's side earlier. H"e flickered his eyes to the fruit basket, head tilted when he saw it was from Hinata.

"You came." Naruto pushed herself up, wincing slightly from the force. Todoroki stood up from his seat and helped the girl up into a seat position. She flashed him a smile but he could not bring himself to smile, not when all he could do was remember the scene on television. "Where are the others? Team Eight visited me a few hours ago and well they wanted to stick by my side but they haven't seen Yokohama…so I begged them to go and do some sightseeing for me."

Todoroki pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Kirishima and Bakugou are sleeping," he informed her. "Bakugou's parents are coming to pick him up later in the afternoon with Kirishima's parents."

Naruto smiled. "That's good."

Mismatch eyes stilted at the sight of the smile. Todoroki pulled his chair closer and regarded his friend, his eyes never leaving her own. The smile wavered but not enough for her to show him exactly what was going through her head. He closed his eyes, willing for himself to control his temper. This was not the time to yell at her for not running away when she had the chance.

He knew it was not the time but…

"What the hell were you thinking, Naruto? Why didn't you run away when you had the chance?" He demanded.

Naruto's smile dropped. "I came out fine, didn't I? It isn't a big deal."

"Not a big deal? It looked like the bastard wanted to take you away." Blue eyes widened at his use of coarse language but Todoroki was not going to apologize for his words. Just because he didn't swear like Bakugou doesn't mean he couldn't lose his temper. "You caused an explosion just so you could go and rescue Bakugou! What if that seal messed up, did you ever stop to think about it?"

"You wanted me to just sit there until Hinata tells me that they were going to torture him?" Naruto snarled.

Todoroki took in a deep breath. "I want you to use your head, Naruto! There were a million ways in which you could have done to save him, which didn't involve you causing an explosion! And why didn't you run when you had the chance? Why did you let Bakugou and Inuzaka run? Inuzaka told us that you ordered him to run while you stayed there…"

"I am here and I am safe now." Naruto reassured him. Todoroki chewed the inner corner of his cheek to tell her that they had no idea if she really was safe now. Her teammate and teacher were in the other hospital room, still recovering from their exhaustion from their battle. For all he knew, they might just attempt to talk to her and that was the last thing he wanted to happen for her. "You should just say that you were scared out of your mind for me."

He raised his eyebrow at her.

"Okay it was clear but you should make it even more clear to me," Naruto grumbled, folding her arms against her chest. He shook his head at the girl, mismatch eyes lingered on the whisker marks decorated on her cheeks before travelling to her blue eyes. There were so many emotions flowing through them. Happiness was one of the most prominent emotions in her eyes but there was another emotion he could not make out.

A sense of warmth enveloped him and Todoroki looked away.

"I am fine, Shouto and you don't need to worry about my mental health." Naruto reassured him. She placed her hands on his face and turned it towards her. Blue eyes shone with understanding. Todoroki felt his throat dried when he saw her smile. "I'm not going to close myself off if that is what you are worried about."

Has Naruto's hands always been this warm? The more time he spend with Naruto, the more he learned interesting things about her. Not only did she have overprotective male guardians, hate vegetables, had an unhealthy obsession with ramen but her hands were so warm.

Naruto's blue eyes grew large and before Todoroki could blink, the girl jerked her hands away, her usual tan cheeks flushed pink. He blinked at the loss of contact, mismatch eyes regarding his friend. Todoroki frowned and tilted his head, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to make sense of what just happened.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend, Naru-chan?"

Todoroki jerked his head away from Naruto, cheeks flushed red as his friend spluttered at the comment. Kakashi let out a laugh from the opposite side of the room, back leaned against the wall and arm folded against his chest. There was no sign of Naruto's other teammate and Todoroki presumed that the girl was still recovering from the fight.

"Shouto isn't my boyfriend, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grumbled, avoiding his mismatch eyes. The man raised his visible eyebrow at them. His lone eye seized him up as if he was trying to make sense of him or rather like he was judging him for something. Todoroki stared right back at the man, eyes blanked. "And shouldn't you be in bed? You just suffered from chakra exhaustion."

"I want to have a talk with you." Kakashi admitted, his lone eye flickered at him. "Preferably alone."

Todoroki flickered his eyes to Naruto. A large smile was plastered on her face, telling him just how much she did not want to be alone when they talked. He mentally nodded and placed his hand on her shoulder, blue eyes blinked at the action. He stole a glance at her former teacher before looking back at his friend, who smiled at him.

"Whatever you want to say, you can say in front of Shouto." Naruto smiled. "He knows everything about me…even about the Kyuubi."

Kakashi regarded the both of them, lone eye not revealing his emotions about the matter. There was only silence between the three of them, the three of them not losing their eye contact to each other. Kakashi slumped his shoulder, his hand reached for his clutch before limping towards them.

Todoroki stood up from his seat and allowed the man to take a seat beside Naruto.

"Why did you run away, Naruto? I have been trying to understand what have been going through your head for the last three years. Is it because of what Sakura said? Because I have already scolded her about it before the trip."

Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line. "Sakura-chan's words did hurt me…I won't lie but she wasn't the cause. If she had said those words earlier then I would have been able to ignore it and put it down as her being upset at the fact Sasuke was gone. It was the villagers and the way they kept telling me that I should have never came back from the mission. It was the fact that no matter how hard I work and trained myself, I will never be good enough in the eyes of the villagers, of Sakura-chan…and you."

"Naruto, you are my student! Of course I care…"

Todoroki frowned and interjected. "If you cared about her then why did you ignore the fact that Naruto was being abused? She might not have been physically abused but emotional and verbal abuse is just as bad."

"Shouto!"

He raised his eyebrow at her, asking her if she truly wanted him not to remind the man about the hell she went through. Naruto scowled and nodded while Kakashi's eye grew large at his words. He tore his eyes away from them, focusing on the television screen. His lips curled into an even larger scowl when the television announcer discussed about Endeavour being the number one hero.

"At the time I gave Sasuke more priority because I thought his trauma was even worse," Kakashi admitted. "You were always so good in fooling people to thinking that you were fine or maybe I wanted to believe you were fine…but Sasuke was always a flight risk. The Hokage made it clear to me that I need to keep an eye on him and guide him to the right path. You never showed any signs that you would betray the village and even now I don't think you can betray the village. This is no excuse Naruto but that was my reasoning at the time."

Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line. "I might be angry for the village for their treatment but I never blamed you for focusing on him unlike a certain somebody."

"It needed to be said."

Kakashi regarded the pair of them, his lone eye almost seemed to be in another place. The man shook his head, eye fixated on him as if he was looking at him for the first time. Todoroki squirmed under the lone eye which seemed to stare at him with both understanding and amusement. This man had no clue about the platonic nature of their relationship.

"Naruto, I really did care about you but I thought you needed some tough love." Naruto avoided her teacher's eyes while Todoroki rubbed Naruto's shoulder, eyes still focused on the man. "When you became a kunoichi, you were very rough around the edges and you did things a shinobi should never do."

"You scolded me for worrying about Sasuke during the Chunin Exams." Naruto's voice held no bitterness nor anger. Tiredness was the only emotion that seemed to seep out of her voice. She leaned her head against his right hand, telling Todoroki that she was trying to find comfort from his fire side. "You left me to be trained by that closet pervert."

Kakashi grimaced. "Your basics were terrible at the time, Naruto. Ebisu was the best person…"

"You didn't even have faith that I might win against Neji!" Todoroki tightened his grip on the girl and Naruto jerked her head at him. He gestured for her to take deep breaths and the blonde did as he suggested. He grimaced when his friend curled her lips into a tight smile. "I mean if you did then you would have trained me as well or found someone better. If Sasuke lost and I won the match against Neji…how would have I defended myself? He could have killed me! I was lucky Ero-Sennin was in the area!"

Kakashi didn't say anything but Todoroki could only stare at him. Was the man so focused on one student that he would disregard the other? His throat tightened as images of his friend's corpse came to his mind. He loosened his grip on Naruto, clicked his feet together and narrowed his eyes at the man that Naruto still care for.

"Sasuke might have witness his whole family being murdered but Naruto went through abuse throughout her life," Todoroki informed the man. He ignored the tugging of his sleeve from his friend, mismatch eyes focused on the man right in front of him. "In no way are their trauma similar but she needed you just as much as Sasuke needed you. The villagers ignored her, called her names and refused her the right to live…wouldn't it have been your job to comfort her? To tell her that she was more than those words. Was it so hard for you to care for her? Because it is easy…she makes it easy."

He focused his eyes on Naruto, ignoring the contemplating look from her teacher. Blue eyes blew up wide at his words and she chewed on her lips as if she didn't know what to make sense of his words or actions. Why did she seem surprise by his actions? Didn't she defend him from his shitty old man? It was only fair he did the same for her.

When she had been dealing with her own shit, Naruto took the time out to defend him from his old man. Instead of focusing on her own match, his friend comforted him. Even though there had been days when she struggled with her emotions and health, Naruto went out of her way to spend time with him. Despite all her claims for not liking Bakugou's behaviour, she still went out of her way to save him. She even avoided telling their classmates because she wanted them safe and sound.

Naruto would do everything in her power to protect the people around her.

Didn't her teacher know this? Was it so hard for her teacher to love her?

'It is so easy to love Naru-chan, don't you think?'

Mismatch eyes widened and he jerked his head at Naruto, who stared wide eye at him.

Images of their interaction flooded before his eyes as his brain processed what he was about to say to her teacher. The small smile when he gave her the plush fox toy was one of the most prominent images in his brain. The laugh she always made whenever he didn't get a joke. The slight crinkle in her nose whenever someone tried to make her eat vegetables. The way she flushed red whenever he made a comment about her appearance.

He could only come to one conclusion about the question posed by Hianta.

'Yes.'

His eyes took in the smile of his friend, allowing him to burn it in his memory.

She makes it easy to love her.


A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.