My Precious People

by xWinorLose

Many years have passed since the end of the Fourth Shinobi War. Now twenty-six, Naruto has returned to Konoha to help someone precious to him. He finds some unexpected changes, among them the son of Hinata whom no one knows who the father is, and a new danger looms on the horizon. Rated M for language and lemons.

29. Ch 28: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

28. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever. - Shane Falco

So yeah, here's chapter 28 for my amazing, loyal readers. I wanted to get it out earlier but I had a problem of where to end the chapter, and what to put into it. The result is this, which is a chapter longer than most of the others. I hope you enjoy my effort.

As I always do, I'd like to thank Titokhan and my anonymous beta for their help and support. You guys are the best!

So, before we get into my standard rounds of shout-outs and credit where credit is due, I'd like to say a few things about the manga...

First of all, OMG NaruHina is finally canon! Can't tell you how happy I was to see this, and ecstatic that Kishi didn't string us along until Naruto: The Last Movie came out. There were some other pairings that happened, and were expected - Shikamaru/Temari and Sasuke/Sakura being the prime examples. But when I saw Ino/Sai I said, "Okay, I could kind of see that." The two that took me by complete surprise were Kiba/Tamaki, and even more so was Choji/Karui. That one came completely out of left field. I'm actually happy for Choji, though - he did alright for himself. Karui seems to love him, and she's smoking hot as well.

Of course, now this means that any story here on FanFiction that doesn't follow what happened could technically be considered AU. Case in point would be this story - Sai and Kankuro are dead, and Kakashi still has the Sharingan, among other inconsistencies - Hikaru being the biggest.

Which also leads me to another critical point.

The thing I love most about writing this story is the fact that it changes as time goes on - there have been quite a few things I've written into this story because of suggestions from those who read it. I've changed and added plotlines based on your ideas and frankly, I couldn't be happier about it because it shows that this story is about everyone who reads it, and not just me and my vision. To that end, I've put a poll up on my profile page that simply MUST be answered. I'll tell you more about it in my author's notes at the end of the chapter.

So anyway, on to my favorite section! It's a little short, but here's some Credit Where Credit Is Due:

MattWilson83: You had a great idea about the interaction between Sakura and Ino, and I used it here. Hopefully it's in keeping with the ideas we bantered back and forth. Let me know if you like it.

Hektols: Your idea about Choji and Ino is used here, although I've made a small tweak based on what happened in the manga. Thanks so much for suggesting it, and you'll see hints of it in this chapter.

Now for some story shout-outs!

Reixe - Making Up For Lost Time: This is a story that I helped Reixe write the description for, and did some beta work on the first chapter only. It's still early (only 4 chapters) but he's pushed the updates out rather quickly. Give it a read if you get the chance.

Softwinds - The Ring That Binds: Yay! An update! This is one of my favorite stories, and if you haven't checked it out you absolutely should. Only one more chapter to go, and I can't wait!

UnqualifiedAuthor65 - Your Smile Is What Saved Me: Now, I recommended this story last chapter, and I'll say that if you're looking for a story where Sakura is an outright manipulative, vengeful bitch, then this is the story for you. It just got updated yesterday and the latest chapter is just so evil and juicy. I can't wait to see what happens when Sakura gets caught. Check it out if that's what you like.

Here's a few more stories that were recently updated, from authors that I've either supported or who have supported me:

Lu Lu-Chan25 - Change is Good, Right?

DeisuiNeko - Snow Angels

Our Ninja Way - Just Retribution

Sparks - tenneyshoes

And now, on to the disclaimer! Even though it's a bit past Thanksgiving, and not every country celebrates this particular holiday, here's one I've been meaning to use for a while now. It's from a very old TV show, but one I watch every year - just like I watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at Halloween:

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And now, let's go to Les Nessman at the Pinedale Shopping Mall.

Les Nessman: I'm here with hundreds of people who have gathered to witness what has been described as perhaps the greatest turkey event in Thanksgiving Day history. And now, there appears to be a helicopter circling over the parking area. Wait! Something just came out of the back of the helicopter. Perhaps a skydiver plummeting to earth from only a few thousand feet in the air... Now there's a third... No parachutes yet... They can't be skydivers...

Disclaimer: Is there any way you can get a better look, Les?

Les Nessman: I can't tell just yet what they are, but... Oh, my God they're turkeys! They're crashing to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just broke through the windshield of a parked car! Everyone's running around, pushing each other. Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! The crowd is running for their lives. Children are screaming for their mothers. I don't know how much longer I can hold my position here, the crowd...

Disclaimer: Les? Les, are you there? Les isn't there. Thanks for that on-the-spot report, Les. For those of you who've just tuned in, the Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys. Film at eleven. (+1 if you get the reference.)

---

Chapter 28 - Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

"Chakra interlacing," Sasuke began, "is the main tenet and foundation to all techniques that are taught within the Mienai Segi."

Kakashi was standing several feet in front of Sasuke, paying rapt attention as the young man explained this new technique. The irony of the situation was not lost on him – he was known as the copy ninja, had hundreds of jutsu under his belt and yet here he was, at the ANBU training grounds being taught under the watchful eye of one of his former students.

Kakashi suddenly felt very, very old.

"A more accurate, yet less technical description would be Reverse Sage Mode, which is what Naruto privately refers to it as." Sasuke continued. "The principle behind it is that you take the chakra in your body and weave it into the natural chakra that surrounds us."

"That sounds very much like sage training to me, Sasuke." Kakashi said mildly. "And if I remember correctly, Naruto said on more than one occasion that if you can't control nature energy, you'll turn into a stone toad. How does this differ, and what are the actual benefits from doing this technique?"

"The difference is that instead of taking nature energy into your body and mixing it with your own chakra, you're doing it outside the body so there's no chance of you turning into a stone toad." Sasuke explained. "And there are several benefits of learning this technique. It enhances any jutsu that you perform, and if your control is good enough, it can also augment your strength and speed to a small degree. Naruto and Freyja can do this, but I haven't gained enough mastery over this technique to do that yet. However, the main benefit is that it makes your chakra signature undetectable to anyone who hasn't had this training, and specifically knows how to look for it."

Kakashi narrowed his eye at Sasuke. "Despite the fact that I've seen some examples of this firsthand with Freyja and know that it works, I'm finding it a bit hard to believe, Sasuke." He said skeptically. "If you mix it with nature energy outside your body, how can it strengthen your jutsu?"

"Because you're not mixing it, you're weaving your chakra into the nature energy. The difference here is that your chakra and the nature energy remain as two separate and distinct items, so when the jutsu leaves your body it's the jutsu that takes the nature energy in and makes it stronger, not you."

"Then doesn't that make anyone who learns this as powerful as a Sage?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, it doesn't. It's a preparation and aftereffect variance. Chakra interlacing will on average make your techniques two or three times stronger. It could be more or less depending on your level of expertise. Sage Mode, on the other hand is exponentially higher because you're mixing nature energy with your own chakra at the source, which is inside your body. The reason why it's much more powerful is also the reason why it's inherently more dangerous."

After a few moments, Kakashi nodded his head. "Okay, I think I understand. But how about a demonstration?" he asked, reaching for his hitai-ate to uncover his Sharingan. "This will probably go faster if I…"

"Don't." Sasuke said firmly, motioning for Kakashi to drop his hand. "I tried the same thing during the first day of my training, and not only did it not work, it actually made things worse. This isn't something you can copy, Kakashi. You have to learn it from scratch."

Kakashi heaved a defeated sigh. "Okay, fine. But I'd still like that demonstration."

"Then let's start with how it makes your chakra undetectable. I'll need you to close your eyes and sense me."

Kakashi did as he was told, extending his senses outward. It took very little effort to pinpoint Sasuke's location. "You haven't moved. You're still about eight or nine feet in front of me."

Sasuke's voice floated towards him. "Now I'm going to start to perform the chakra interlacing technique. I'll do it slow, so you can observe the effects."

His eyes still closed, Kakashi nodded mutely. If he couldn't use his Sharingan to assist him in learning this technique, he needed to ensure his senses remained in a hyper-aware state in order to observe even the most miniscule details. Then with his mind's eye he watched in wonder as Sasuke's chakra began to fade, almost like it was a cloud of smoke thinning itself out on the wind. After approximately ten seconds his chakra had disappeared completely.

"Now I'm going to change my position every few seconds. If you can sense where I am, please tell me."

Kakashi strained, doing his best to detect where Sasuke was moving to. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead with the effort but try as he might, he couldn't do it and after fifteen seconds he decided to give up.

"I can't sense anything." He said, shaking his head sadly.

"Open your eyes." Sasuke commanded.

Kakashi did so, noting that Sasuke was in the same place as he was when he first closed them. He wondered if…

"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no – I didn't stay in one place to fool you." Sasuke said smugly. "I merely moved in a circle around you… twice."

Kakashi mumbled something about smart-ass former students under his breath.

"Now I'll show you the difference it can make with a jutsu." He stopped the chakra interlacing technique, allowing Kakashi to sense him once again. He flashed through a few handsigns and shouted, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Justu!"

A fifteen foot tall fireball erupted from his mouth and barreled towards a copse of trees, cutting a swath through the middle of them. Kakashi was impressed with the demonstration, especially knowing that Sasuke wasn't trying in earnest.

Once the jutsu vanished, he turned back to Kakashi. "And now, I'll start to perform chakra interlacing." He said blandly. "Once again, I'll do it slow so you can feel exactly what I'm doing."

As before, Kakashi felt Sasuke's chakra signature slowly disperse until he couldn't sense it anymore. If his eyes didn't see Sasuke right in front of him, he wouldn't have known the Uchiha was standing there.

"Now observe what happens when I perform the same jutsu as before, utilizing the exact same amount of chakra." Sasuke flashed through the same handsigns as before and shouted, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Kakashi knew the jutsu would be more powerful; he'd expected as much. But when it actually happened, he could honestly say that he wasn't prepared for the result.

This time, a thirty foot high fireball erupted from Sasuke's mouth, rolling through the trench that was carved from the last one. However, it wasn't merely the size of the fireball that shocked Kakashi, but the intense amount of heat it was giving off. When it touched them, the trees that were still burning were incinerated almost immediately, turning to ash and collapsing inward upon themselves. It took a bit longer but the fireball eventually weakened and withered away, just like the previous one.

"That is what happens when you interlace your chakra with nature energy. Keep in mind that my skill level with this technique is barely intermediate." Sasuke said, as if stating the obvious. "Freyja and Naruto are far better at it than I am."

Kakashi stared at Sasuke in stunned silence, his only visible eye wider than usual. If this level was barely intermediate…

"Once you learn how to do this, you need to get to the point where you're doing it subconsciously all the time. It should be as natural to you as breathing the air." Sasuke walked over to the nearest rock and sat upon it, crossing his legs in the lotus position. "We have the rest of this afternoon to work on this, Kakashi. I'm going to teach you the basics, and I'll give you a bit of guidance along the way but the majority of learning this technique will be up to you."

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "Not that I'm complaining mind you, since that's pretty much how I trained everyone that studied with me, but you've made me curious… with something this difficult, why not provide a more detailed instruction?"

"Because that's how I was taught, and I happen to agree with the method that was used. If you want the power to protect others, then you have to work for it, and you have to earn it. It's trial by fire. Nothing is freely given in the Mienai Segi. Understand though, that once you learn how to do this we can move on to the next level, which involves specific meditation techniques and some of the more manageable forbidden jutsu."

Kakashi closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself for what lied ahead. The last time he'd been in a position where he couldn't learn something by using his Sharingan he was nine years old, the Yondaime had been his teacher and Obito and Rin had been his teammates. That of course had been before the incidents where Obito had been crushed by a rock and given him his Sharingan, and Rin had purposely impaled herself on his Chidori to save the Leaf Village. It was also the last time he'd willingly allowed anyone to get that close to him.

He also knew, even without Sasuke saying so that this was going to be one of the most difficult things he'd ever done. The Mienai Segi had a limited number of members for a reason. He was sure that many people had come to Saladin over the years but as he stated in the scroll, most people didn't survive the training. But then he was reminded of what Naruto would say, which is that he'd do anything to protect his precious people.

Kakashi mentally laughed at himself. He'd always protected the village; that's what being a shinobi, and then later as the Hokage of Konoha meant. It wasn't that long ago when the notion of allowing someone to be close to him was an absurd idea; mainly because he was afraid that those who did would inevitably get hurt or killed. He'd said it to himself on more occasions than he could count.

But now that Freyja and Reira were part of his life, he'd come to grips with the fact that he'd been wrong. He didn't want to push them away in the hope that they'd remain safe; he wanted them close so that he could better protect them. His feelings for Freyja and Reira were growing stronger by the day, and he'd be damned if he was going to force them out of his life like he'd done every time before. This time it'd be different. This time he'd be there. This time he'd protect those most precious to him until his very last breath.

He opened his eyes and followed suit, sitting down on the ground and assuming the lotus position. He inclined his head towards Sasuke, giving him the respect that once, many years ago his student had given him, when they'd privately trained in preparation for the chūnin exams.

"Then let's get started… sensei."

---

Knock, knock, knock.

From her seat behind her desk, Tsunade looked towards the door to her office. She'd been lost in thought over the papers scattered in front of her, which were a combination of hospital administration reports and her work with Hikaru on the caged bird seal. Normally she wouldn't have brought such sensitive material to work, but the previous night had been rather frustrating and tiring for the both of them. She thought that perhaps a few extra hours of studying every day might help, because they were running out of time.

One thing she had learned while working with Hikaru was how much he reminded her of Naruto. He was brash, and outspoken. He'd played pranks on people when he was younger – although for a very different reason than Naruto had. Given the chance, he'd train non-stop with his father and Sasuke, who he'd come to think of as an uncle. She found that to be rather strange, since he still couldn't stand the sight of Sakura, and scowled darkly when someone even mentioned of her name.

But he also never gave up on anything, and never went back on a promise. And he'd promised to figure this out before Neji and Tenten's child was born. There was so much riding on this and he didn't want to let anyone down, so he'd been driving himself mercilessly, night after night in the hope that they would find something that worked. She just hoped he didn't snap under the pressure before that happened.

She quickly gathered the papers together and placed the stack in one of her drawers before telling whoever it was to come in. She was a bit surprised to see it was Hinata, her face a picture of worry and concern.

"Hinata? What brings you here today? And why do you have that look on your face?"

"H-Hello, Lady Tsunade. May… May I come in? I-I need to talk with you about s-something." Hinata stuttered nervously, like she used to do when she was younger.

"Of course." Tsunade said, motioning her inside. Hinata closed the door behind her and took a seat, her eyes staring downwards at her hands, as she twisted her wedding ring nervously around her finger.

"Hinata, are you okay? You haven't stuttered in months. What's causing you to start back up?"

"I… I think there's something wrong with me." Hinata said worriedly.

"Wrong? Wrong like how? You mean with the baby? Have you felt any sharp pains, or…"

"No, no… nothing like that. I-It's just…" Hinata lowered her head, hiding her eyes behind her bangs ashamedly. "I…I y-yelled at Hikaru today. Louder than I ever have. In front of his entire class."

"Really?" Tsunade asked curiously, as her eyebrows rose. "People who are pregnant get emotional like that all the time. What did he do to make you yell at him? Crack some joke about your weight?"

"No, he…he got belligerent with me in front of his class, a-and then used the Sexy Jutsu to win an ill-advised bet."

Tsunade stared back at her in surprise. "The Sexy Jutsu? Since when does he know how to do that? Did Naruto teach him?"

Hinata shook her head. "No. When I dragged Hikaru into his office, I asked Naruto-kun about that. My husband swore that it wasn't him, and I had my Byakugan activated at the time. He wasn't lying. That means it had to be Konohamaru, since his penchant for pulling pranks is as bad as Naruto-kun's. I'll be having a discussion with Hanabi later so that he can be suitably punished."

"Then what's the problem? I'd say you were justified in getting angry at him."

Hinata's head came up, and her eyes were full of worry. Tsunade could tell that even though this was perfectly normal for someone who was pregnant, Hinata was frightened of what was happening to her. The Hyūga were known for always being in control of their emotions.

"But that's not me, Lady Tsunade! I mean yes, Hikaru shouldn't have confronted me in front of the class, and he certainly shouldn't have used the Sexy Jutsu no matter what the situation, but… but I've never yelled at anyone like that in my life! Even at my worst – even after the incident with Sakura at the hospital, I've never been that angry! And lately, I've noticed that my emotions are getting further and further out of control. The herbs aren't helping anymore, so I'm thinking something's wrong."

"Well, I'm sure it's nothing but let me take a quick look." Tsunade said, doing her best to ease the young woman's fears. She gestured at the couch in her office. "Lie down and put your hands at your sides. Try to remain still."

Hinata did as she was told, while Tsunade hovered her hands about six inches over Hinata's face. After a moment they began to glow, and she moved them slowly down Hinata's body, giving her a cursory examination and looking for anything abnormal. About halfway through she identified the source of the problem, but she continued the examination, just to be safe.

Besides, with the news she was about to give Hinata, she wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else she needed to worry about.

"Well, that explains it." She said, finishing up.

Hinata propped herself up on her elbows, a borderline look of panic etched upon her face at hearing there was something wrong. "What explains it, Lady Tsunade? Is it my baby? Is it okay?"

"Calm down, Hinata. Your babies are fine." Tsunade said, placing emphasis on the word.

Hinata's body froze, the only movement being her eyes as they blinked owlishly back at Tsunade, who was now smirking at her. "W-What d-did you s-say?" she stammered.

"Babies, Hinata. You're having twins. That's the reason why the herbs aren't working."

"Babies?" she repeated, "A-Are you sure?"

"I positive, since I can sense two chakra signatures that aren't yours." Tsunade's smirk turned into a full-blown smile. "Congratulations."

Upon hearing the news Hinata gulped nervously, thinking of what lied ahead. Twice the back pain. Swollen ankles the size of grapefruits. Double the amount of trips she'd have to make to the bathroom every hour. Irritability and mood swings wilder than Tora on catnip. And a waistline so big, Naruto would have to roll her out of bed in the morning because she couldn't stand up on her own. She'd have to start shopping for clothes at the same place the Akimichi clan did.

She took one long last look at Tsunade before her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she fainted.

Having expected this, Tsunade quickly checked her vital signs, making sure that she fainted simply from emotional overload and nothing else. Once she was satisfied that everything was fine, Tsunade chuckled and once again sat behind her desk, pulling out the stack of papers she had hidden when Hinata knocked on her door.

"Well, that brought a bit of excitement to an otherwise dull day," she said, spreading the papers back out across the top of the desk. "I might as well get some work done while I'm waiting for her to wake up, although I wish I could be there when she tells the gaki the good news. I wonder if he'll shout it from the top of the Hokage Monument or faint, just like she did."

---

A few minutes before five o'clock Sasuke, along with a ragged and dirty Kakashi walked into Naruto's office for their afternoon meeting. Ino was already there waiting on them but Naruto had his eyes closed, and was rubbing his temples in exasperation. Clearly something had happened while they were gone.

"Nice of you guys to finally show up," Ino said sarcastically, "I've been sitting here for the last fifteen minutes."

"The meeting was scheduled for five o'clock, Ino," Sasuke bit back, "so we're right on time. And you were supposed to wait for the rest of us to arrive before talking to Naruto."

"I haven't said anything to him yet. He's been rubbing his temples since I got here, but he won't say why. I was hoping now that you guys got here he might spill his guts about what's giving him that headache he has."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at his brother. "Dobe? Plan on sharing what's bothering you? Or are you going to suffer in silence?"

"Hinata showed up here a few hours ago with Hikaru in tow." Naruto said wearily. "She was livid because apparently, my son decided to talk back to her in front of the entire class, and then he used the Sexy Jutsu to win a bet for a week's worth of no homework."

The room was silent for a few seconds before snickers and snorts of laughter broke out. Naruto glared back at them, clearly not amused.

Ino caught his look and apologized. "Sorry Naruto, I know you don't think that's funny, but it really is. He's definitely your kid. I mean, you used to do that all the time when you were younger and got in worse trouble than that."

"I did it because I wanted attention, Ino." Naruto retorted. "Hikaru gets more than enough of that. And doing it in front of my pregnant wife didn't help matters any, because she accused me of teaching it to him."

"Well? Did you?" Kakashi asked cheekily.

"No, and quit asking about it!" Naruto snapped, not enjoying being interrogated about this. If they kept at it, he'd have to tell them who taught Hikaru the Sexy Jutsu, why he'd learned it in the first place and the reason behind his son's severe lack of sleep, which caused him to make an ill-advised decision to use it in front of Hinata and his entire class at the academy. "Why don't you tell me how your training this afternoon went?"

Kakashi groaned and placed his hands in the small of his back, stretching his spine out. It popped in several places as he leaned to the left and right. "Tiring. It's a hell of a lot harder than Sasuke made it sound. How long did it take you to learn it?"

"Shadow clones and the time I spent at Mount Myōboku made it easier for me. I got it in about three days. It took Sasuke a couple of weeks of non-stop training to get it, but I'm still better at it than he is."

"I've already informed Kakashi about that. No need to rub my face in it." Sasuke replied.

Before Naruto could say anything else Freyja appeared in the doorway with a hardened look on her face. Everyone watched as she made a beeline for the empty chair in front of Naruto's desk and sat down, her eyes never leaving his. The muscles on her jaw flexed for a second before she said a single word.

"Hanari." She said tersely. Kakashi's eye opened wide when he heard her speak.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Hanari. That's my real name. Saladin wanted a normal life for me, right? The only thing left between that and what I have here is my ultimate out in case things turn to shit – my anonymity. So fine… no more masks, no more aliases and no more hiding." She huffed, looking tired and defeated. "I'm… I'm here to stay – Naruto."

Everyone was staring at the two of them in shock, but none more so than Kakashi, who couldn't believe his girlfriend actually revealed her real name – even though he already knew what it was. He hadn't talked to anyone about it, but one of his biggest fears was that she and Reira might up and leave if things got too intense. With everything that happened today, that problem had somehow fixed itself, and he knew Naruto was the one responsible.

"Then I'll say thank you Hanari, for trusting us with something so personal. However, I'm just wondering – with the way you talked to me earlier today, I figured my chances were slim to none of you agreeing with me. So what was it that changed your mind?"

"Actually, I got some really good advice from a friend of mine."

***Flashback***

Kurenai stared dumbfounded at her guest. The story she'd just been told seemed almost too farfetched to be true.

Almost, she reminded herself. With everything that occurred in the years leading up to, and then in the fourth shinobi war, she decided long ago that dismissing something as unlikely or impossible wasn't a good idea.

"Wow, that's quite a story – and frankly, it's a lot to take in." she said, taking a sip of her tea.

"Yeah, I figured it would be. Secrets are part of my lifestyle, Kurenai." Hanari said sullenly. "The less people know about you, the easier it is to disappear and start over, and with all the times I've jumped from place to place because Reira's safety was at risk, I really don't want to give up my ace in the hole. The ability to become nothing but a memory is a nice thing to have in your back pocket."

Kurenai nodded her head in agreement. "I can't argue with that. If Asuma was in danger, I'd do anything to keep him safe. But tell me – and this stays just between the two of us – do you intend to leave Konoha?"

Hanari sipped her coffee, giving her a second to think about it – which she really didn't need, because the answer was crystal clear. "No way," she said, shaking her head, "Reira loves it here, and she's got a thing for Hikaru. She's apparently dead set on marrying him when they get older, whether he likes it or not. And besides, with the exception of Reira, Kakashi is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm not giving him up without a fight, but if things go south again I won't hesitate to choose my daughter over him."

"Do you think it will?"

Hanari immediately thought about Gideon and what she knew about him. She didn't believe for a second that he wasn't coming to Konoha at some point to turn this place into a smoldering pile of ash, but any information about him was still an S-rank secret. She couldn't tell Kurenai even if she wanted to. Playing it coy was her only option at this point.

"No, but that doesn't mean it won't. I don't know anyone that can predict the future – do you?"

"Agreed." Kurenai said calmly, taking another sip of tea. "Then answer me this – if you had the choice to leave Konoha, would you?"

"I just answered that question, Kurenai. Weren't you listening?"

"No, you didn't. You told me what you'd do if you had to leave Konoha. I'm asking with all things being equal – specifically, that there's no imminent danger to you or Reira – and if you had a choice, would you leave Konoha? The difference between the two is your answer. What's more important to you? Your ability to leave or what you have here?"

***End Flashback***

"What I have here is too important for me to just give it up," she said flatly, "and you made a lot of good points earlier. Reira is too attached to Hikaru, and well…" she stopped talking and fidgeted under the gaze of everyone in the room.

"Well what?" Naruto asked pointedly.

Hanari glared at Naruto, feeling like she'd been backed into a corner and hating it – and Naruto stared right back at her with a knowing smirk on his face. Friggin jerk, she thought, you wanna break me down and turn me into one of those weepy, starry-eyed, lovesick females, don't you?

Naruto didn't flinch under her penetrating gaze, even going so far as to cross his arms in front of his chest to show how serious he was about this. You're gonna make me say it right in front of him, aren't you? It only took five more seconds of uncomfortable silence before she finally cracked.

"Fine!" she blurted out, "I'm crazy about Kakashi! He's mine, and no one else can have him! There! Are you happy now?"

"Moderately happy, yes. Kakashi-sensei's probably more thrilled about than I am, though. Was that really so hard to say?"

"You have no idea." She said, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"Well, now that we've had our fun, let's get down to business. Ino, what'd you find out?"

Ino took a deep breath and said, "So, I took a look and you were right – Jackal's mind has been tampered with, but in a way I've never seen before."

Hanari and Naruto leaned towards Ino, seemingly far more interested than before. "Explain," they said in unison.

Ino eyed them both warily… she could understand Naruto wanting to know, but why Hanari? And how was she tied in with all this?

"When you create and implant false memories, you layer them over the real ones. It's done that way so that if you ever need to access them, you can just peel off the fake, made up stuff – in a manner of speaking – and see the original memories, but these were different. They're intertwined and woven together with the real memories, and then strengthened. Whoever did this was either a certified genius or a psychopathic freak."

Naruto and Hanari exchanged a glance. Something passed between them and Naruto nodded, giving her permission to continue.

"It's probably a little bit of both." Hanari said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at Ino. "But I need you to be more specific. Strengthened how?"

"Umm… the best analogy I can give would be if someone decided to exercise, but concentrated only on their right bicep. Jackal believes without a doubt that these are his real memories, and that belief is incredibly strong – almost bordering on fanaticism. But the weird thing is that even though they're strong, they're also incredibly fragile, and that's what makes this so difficult. I thought I might be able to pull it apart, but it's like a twisted mass of vines in there. If I try and untangle them, I'll rip both the false memories AND the real ones to shreds, taking the rest of his mind with it and driving him insane. It's like it has a built-in failsafe against being tampered with, and the only way I can get rid of it is to erase that entire section of his memory and that won't help, because I'll be wiping out what you're looking for in the first place."

Naruto decided to chime in. "No offense Ino, but what about your dad? Think he might be able to do something you can't?

"None taken, and you can feel free to ask him but the answer will probably be the same. This is beyond anything my clan knows how to do – you'd be talking about a prodigy on a level we've never seen before. And reversing whatever was done to him is out of the question – unless you want to turn him into a drooling vegetable."

Hanari turned her head back to stare at Naruto. Another glance passed between them and Naruto said, "It's Nyx."

"Nyx?" Ino asked pointedly, her natural curiosity coming to the surface. "Who's Nyx?"

"Someone we used to work with," Naruto told her. "She's insanely brilliant at genjutsu and mind techniques. Itachi is probably the only other person I can think of who would have been her equal in genjutsu, and she can warp someone's mind better than anyone in the Yamanaka clan."

"So now we know two, maybe three of the people we're up against." Hanari said bluntly. "And we still don't know what their next move is gonna be. What do we do now?"

"My suggestion would be to step up the ANBU patrols outside of the village." Sasuke offered. "Gideon intercepted your message, so he knows you and Freyja… I mean, Hanari are here. As twisted as he might be, he's not stupid – and a frontal attack on this village at this point would have no chance of success. Shikamaru can coordinate the efforts of my men to get maximum results in the shortest amount of time. We need information and we need it fast."

"Who's Gideon?"

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Another person I used to work with, Ino. Can you please stop asking questions for five minutes?" He glanced inquisitively at Kakashi. "You've been pretty quiet since Ino started talking. Is there anything you'd like to add?"

"Not really," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "The last thing we want to do is start a mass panic. Informing the other Kage is the best place to start. You've already talked with the Kazekage, and that associate of yours – Perun is going to talk with the Raikage. You need to talk with the Mizukage and Tsuchikage as soon as possible so that we can utilize their spy networks in conjunction with ours. If we cast a wide net, we're bound to catch a few fish."

"Who's Perun?"

"Ino, for the love of Kami please stop! This information is above your pay grade. I should have kicked you out once you finished giving your report." Naruto took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Ino was making this conversation more difficult than it already was, and he was already stressed out after Hinata and Hikaru stopped in his office earlier. As much as he loved his family, he wasn't looking forward to going home tonight – especially after earlier, when he'd felt a wave of happiness and then an overwhelming sense of fear through the seal on his hand. Whatever that meant, it couldn't be good.

"Sasuke, do me a favor and talk with Shikamaru first thing in the morning." Naruto remembered asking Hanari to tell Shikamaru to go home earlier today, so Temari could give him the good news. Odds are he was probably drunk by now. "Tonight wouldn't be a good idea, since I doubt he's in a position to listen to you anyway. Kakashi, I want you back here tomorrow to discuss options but for tonight, why don't you and Hanari spend some time together?" He grinned broadly as he glanced between the two of them. "I think the two of you have a lot to discuss."

Hanari shot a glance at Kakashi out of the corner of her eye. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess we do."

Kakashi eye smiled back at her. "So, if I heard you correctly a little while ago, you said you're crazy about me?" he asked teasingly.

She glared at him, angry that he'd seen her in one of her weaker emotional moments. She didn't like being seen as lovesick or needy, because it made her feel vulnerable.

"Don't flatter yourself! I just said what Naruto wanted to hear so we could get the damn meeting started!"

"Sure you did. And it's got nothing to do with the fact that my chakra feels like comfortable shoes, right?"

Hanari clenched her fists and growled, "RRRGH! You just HAD to bring that up, didn't you? You're such a jerk!"

"But a jerk you've apparently got a soft spot in your heart for. Would you like to go get some dinner? I know this great place that serves jerk chicken…"

"Kiss my ass, scarecrow!" she shouted, before storming out of the room.

Kakashi chuckled at her antics. It was nice to see her on the defensive for once. "Oh, yeah. She's definitely crazy about me." he stated to everyone in the room, before following after her.

"It's been a long day. I'm heading home to see Sakura and Mikomi." Sasuke stated flatly, smirking at his brother. "I'll talk to you tomorrow after I've met with Shikamaru, and you can tell me the story of how things went with you, Hinata and Hikaru. I have a feeling it'll be very interesting." And before he could give Naruto a chance to reply, he followed Hanari and Kakashi out of the office.

Naruto frowned, and then looked at the last person left in his office – except Ino didn't look like she was ready to leave. In fact, she was staring at the floor and fidgeting nervously, which was surprising because Ino usually didn't get embarrassed or nervous about… well, anything.

"Something I can help you with, Ino?" he asked curiously.

"Umm, I wanted to talk with you privately about something, and this seemed as good a time as any. I… I need some advice."

"Advice?" he asked, somewhat shocked at the request. "You need advice from me?"

"I know. Usually, if I've got a problem that I can't figure out on my own I'll talk to Tenten, but in this case I need someone who's going to be brutally honest with me." Ino raised her face and stared impassively back at him. "That's what you do. You tell it like it is. You don't sugarcoat things. That's what I want right now."

He couldn't argue with her about that. If there was one thing he had in spades right now, it was bluntness. "And what exactly do you want my non-sugary coated advice on?"

Ino stopped fidgeting and heaved a defeated sigh. "Choji."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. Asking him for advice was strange enough, but the subject being about Choji? That was probably the last thing Ino should want his advice on, considering how clueless he'd been for most of his life about the opposite sex. "Choji? What about him?"

"Do… Do you know what happened between me and him? I mean, I know you were out of the village and all, but…"

"Believe it or not, the answer is no." Naruto said, interrupting her. "The ANBU keep me informed of anything major that goes on in the village, but I try to stay out of anything really personal. I think everyone is entitled to their privacy."

"Well, it all started about two years after…" Ino hesitated for a second, realizing what she was about to say might trigger some lingering anger Naruto still harbored, but it was the only real reference point she had for him. "…umm, Sakura and Hinata came back from their 'mission'…"

She was surprised to see that Naruto didn't show any outward signs of emotion – although he became very, very still. "Go on," he prompted her.

She relaxed a bit, and then proceeded to tell the story of how at that time, after her latest boyfriend had broken up with her Choji had approached her. He'd been very sweet and kind, saying he'd liked her for a long time and asked if they could go out on a date. It'd been a lot to take in, and his confession had been so sudden that at first, she didn't know what to say. But after thinking about it for a day she agreed – since anything had to be better than the pattern of men she'd been dating.

For three solid months, Choji treated her like a princess. He was caring, considerate, and attentive – everything she could have wanted in a boyfriend, with one small exception – he wasn't a drop dead gorgeous hunk. He was just a really great guy with average looks.

And that's when doubt started to creep in. The relationship was becoming too comfortable, and she wasn't ready to either settle down or settle for him. She wasn't ready to give in to the ideal that someone like Choji could be the man for her.

When they had talked about it, Choji had been afraid that he'd done something wrong but she quickly reassured him that wasn't the case. She purposely left out the part about how she thought he was average, because she didn't want to hurt his feelings and told him she just couldn't commit to anyone right now. And somehow, through her many explanations and apologies, Choji smiled and said that it was alright. He told her that even though their relationship was ending, he still valued their friendship, and hoped it would continue afterwards. Her eyes were filled with tears as she hugged him, thanking him for being so wonderful and understanding.

"And now you're questioning your decision, right?" Naruto asked, his lips pressed disapprovingly into a thin line. "Every guy you've dated since then has been really good looking, but either treated you like crap or strung you along before dumping you. And with all our friends either settling down or in strong relationships, you're feeling jealous and greedy, because you want what they have. Am I right?"

Ino could only nod her head beneath his withering glare. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in you, Ino. You've always been obsessed with your looks, and you're a shopaholic on a grand scale, but even I didn't think you'd be shallow enough to stop dating someone because of their appearance."

Ino buried her face in her hands, as Naruto heaped layer after layer of well-deserved guilt upon her shoulders. "Gee, thanks. Way to sum that up." She said sarcastically.

"Well, what did you expect?" Naruto said, bristling a bit at her tone. "There's no such thing as the perfect man – you're not going to find a guy that's drop dead gorgeous, as you so eloquently put it, who worships the ground you walk on and dotes on you every chance he gets. Guys like that are only interested in themselves. You can't have it both ways, Ino."

"Why not? Hinata did." She mumbled into her hands.

"Excuse me?"

Ino raised her head, the look on her face slightly jealous as she stared back at him. "I said Hinata got it both ways. She basically hit the jackpot with you. I mean, you can't spend every waking moment fawning all over her because you're running the village, but you've made sure everyone knows you love Hinata more than anything. You told me more than once that you'd give your life for her. And every night, she gets to sleep next to a smoking hot piece of man-meat like yourself."

Naruto had never considered himself a 'smoking hot piece of man-meat' – and he wasn't sure how to feel about the comment, especially hearing it come from Ino.

"I mean, who wouldn't want to be Hinata? Waking up next to a yummy, half naked…"

"Ino!" he barked, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Are you even listening to yourself? You're still looking at the outside, and thinking it'll match the inside. I'm a little flattered that you think so, but the honest truth is that I'm far from perfect. I'm seriously fucked in the head, Ino – the eight years I was away from the village were filled with horrors and nightmares that were either thrust upon me, or I created myself. Thanks to Hinata, I'm better than when I got to Konoha, but I'm nowhere near where I should be."

"When we were younger, no one wanted to be around me – Sasuke was every girls dream, and you and Sakura were part of a legion of fangirls that loved him because he was smart, and talented, and good looking… never mind that he had the personality of a rock. I wasn't any of those things. I was the dead last, the class clown, and nobody wanted to be around me because of the nine-tailed fox. Hinata was the only one who looked past all that, and saw me for what I truly was, and loved me for it."

He raised his hand and pointed his finger at her accusingly. "You need to stop being so self-centered and superficial. Choji is a great guy and if you're doing this because you're jealous of everyone else, that's the wrong reason and frankly, he deserves better than that."

Ino hung her head, feeling suitably chastised. Naruto was right, and she was doing the same thing she'd always done. It was pretty pathetic, when she thought about it. "Sorry."

Naruto sighed and passed a weary hand in front of his face. "Apology accepted, Ino. And I'm sorry, too – I didn't mean to yell at you. It's one of those things I'm working on – a bad habit I picked up while I was gone. It helps in certain situations, but not when I'm talking to my friends."

"Anyway, before you do anything you should think about what you want. Choji may not be a supermodel, but I know he'll love you and always put you first. But if you're happy just being an afterthought in someone's life or simply looked at as 'convenient', then by all means keep dating the same guys you've been dating. However, if you decide you want to try again with Choji then my advice is just go talk to him. Don't get too possessive or handsy; just let him know how you feel." His sapphire blue eyes twinkled as he smiled at Ino. "After all, when it comes to telling someone how much they mean to you, I've been told that honesty is always the best policy."

---

Hikaru was hunched over the desk in his room, sulking at his current predicament. Earlier, he'd been feeling a bit cocky in class and made a stupid, sleep-deprived decision to do the Sexy Jutsu in front of his mom, and now he was paying the price for his bad judgment. She'd grounded him for at least two weeks – after his classes at the academy, he was to come straight home and stay in his room. The only time he could come out was when dinner was served.

Worse, even though he hadn't squealed, he knew his uncle was sure to get in trouble as well. Aunt Hanabi was more pregnant than his mom, and he shuddered to think of what would happen to his Uncle Kono when she found out what he'd taught him.

Stupid Sexy Jutsu. Stupid boring classes at the academy, he grumbled to himself. It's not my fault that dad and Uncle Sasuke already taught me a lot of that stuff. They made me do it. They knew I'd screw up at some point and use it when I wasn't supposed to...

The only good part about all this was that he got a chance to do some extra work on the caged bird seal. He only had about three months left before Aunt Tenten gave birth, he was running out of time and there was no way he was going to fail. He'd made a promise to himself that he'd figure out a way to break that thing before she had her baby, and if his dad never went back on a promise, then neither would he.

He just wished he wasn't stuck in a rut – that was the most frustrating part of all. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get all the seals to work together at the same time. Joining more than three of them together meant he had to add six new seals to make it work, which caused another set of problems, which meant more seals to fix that, which meant more problems…

Between that and what happened at the academy today, the whole thing was giving him a monster headache. He was so engrossed in his work, along with wallowing in his own self-pity that he failed to notice the tiny, blonde-haired visitor when she walked into his room.

"Hello, Hikaru-kun."

Hikaru's head snapped up, only to find Reira standing next to him, smiling innocently and rocking back and forth on her feet.

Ever since her birthday party, he'd been avoiding her as much as he could because it seemed she was turning into a stalker, just like his mom was with his dad. Of course, he knew better than to call his mom a stalker, even if it was true. She'd ground him for another six months if he did that.

He eyed her warily. "Hey, Reira."

"Whatcha doing?"

He glanced down at the papers, and then back up at her. Great. Caught red handed by a six-year old working on an S-rank secret. I can't tell her what it really is; Dad will have my head if I do. I'm gonna have to lie about it.

"It's… It's a school project. Something for extra credit. Lots of it."

"Oh." She looked at the books, scrolls and notes sprawled across his room and over the top of his desk. "It looks really hard."

"Yeah. You could say that." There was a long silence, broken up only by the scratching of a pencil as Hikaru continued to make notes.

"Would you like some company?" Reira finally blurted out. "I mean, I heard what happened at school today from your classmates, and that you got grounded for at least two weeks. I figured you might be lonely, and miss Hinata didn't say you couldn't have any visitors…"

"Umm, I don't know…"

"I promise I'll be real good and keep quiet. Pleeeease?" she begged, giving him the puppy dog eyes he'd come to hate so much. She knew he couldn't say no when she did that!

"Alright, just… try not to bother me. This is really important stuff, and I need to concentrate. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Hikaru-kun!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly before flouncing out of the room. Hikaru wondered where she ran off to, but barely a minute later she came back with a chair and a box of crayons.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

Still smiling, she shrugged and said, "I figured I'd color something. That's quiet and shouldn't bother you, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure. I guess that's fine." He said offhandedly, before turning back to his work.

Reira sat down and put several pieces of construction paper on the desk. She glanced at a few of the designs in front of her, and then pulled out some crayons and started scribbling something. Occasionally, she would replace one of the designs with another from the piles on the desk, before going back to whatever she was doing. Hikaru just let her go, since she was keeping her promise of being quiet and not bothering him. What he was working on was far more important, anyway.

After about ten minutes she stopped coloring and thrust something in front of his face. "Here, Hikaru-kun…" she said bashfully, "…this is for you."

Hikaru drew back a bit and glanced at Reira out of the corner of his eye. He noticed a light blush dusting her cheeks, which was weird because he'd never seen her blush before. Confused, he took the piece of paper out of her hand in order to study it. It appeared that Reira had used the seals strewn about his desk to make the outline of a heart. In the center of the outline were the words, 'I think you're special!', and she had dotted the 'I' in the word special with a heart as well.

Disturbing phrase aside, the way she did the fūinjutsu was kind of neat – it looked like she used the same symbols over and over again to surround… the… words…

His eyes went wide as the insight hit him like a lightning bolt. "Where'd you come up with the idea for this?"

"I don't know. I just thought some of these things on your desk would look pretty if I put them together." She said innocently, pointing to a few of the fūinjutsu drawings. "And I made them into the shape of a heart because I… I thought you might like it."

Stupid Baka! I can't believe I didn't think of this before! Hikaru thought excitedly. I've been going at this all wrong! I've been so focused on either layering the seals, or keeping them in a straight line so that I could break this thing apart at one of those infinity points, that I never thought of simply surrounding the entire thing! That'll solve the problem of getting all the seals to work together, and I can hit the Infinity Loop from all sides. The array will only get more powerful every time I repeat the sequence – at ten times, it just might be strong enough to…

"This… This is awesome!"

Reira beamed at him. "Do you really like it, Hikaru-kun?"

"Like it? I LOVE it!" he exclaimed, as he quickly gathered up his notes, along with Reira's drawing and shoved them into a bag. Grinning broadly, he turned and grasped Reira firmly by her shoulders, causing the smile to vanish from her face.

She stared back at him, her eyes wide with anticipation and just a hint of nervousness. Is Hikaru-kun going to hug me? I hope so. It would be so nice to get a hug from him…

He leaned down and gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Reira. You just saved me from three months of sleepless nights, and made this the greatest day ever!" He jumped onto the windowsill and crouched there, apparently planning to leave. "I gotta go see the old lady. I'm still supposed to be grounded, so don't tell mom where I went, okay?"

Reira nodded mutely, frozen in shock and unable to form any words at the moment.

"Great! I'll see you later!" He waved his hand in goodbye and leapt out the window, leaving her alone in his room.

Reira blinked owlishly at the now empty window in stunned silence. Her hand slowly rose to touch her cheek; her fingertips brushing lightly where his lips had been only moments before. The spot still tingled with warmth.

"He… He kissed me." She said in bewilderment, staring at the hand that just touched her cheek. A moment later, a euphoric look came over her face and she shouted, "Hikaru-kun kissed me!"

Barely a second later, her eyes rolled up in the back of her head… and she fainted.

---

It was pushing eight o'clock at night when Naruto finally walked into his house. Once Ino left his office, he'd thought about going straight home to find out why he'd gotten those conflicting feelings through the seal, but just as he was about to leave Konohamaru showed up, his body shaking and his face ashen.

Apparently, Hanabi had found out that he'd taught Hikaru how to do the Sexy Jutsu and threatened him with a serious amount of bodily harm – showing him a side of his sweet, wonderful, pregnant wife that he didn't know existed. Konohamaru knew that part of her anger was due to her pregnancy – her emotions were like a field of land mines, and one wrong step by him could set off a chain reaction – but the gleam of promised pain in Hanabi's eyes was scary enough that he left without giving an explain or saying a word.

He was hoping he could crash at Naruto's house for a few nights until his wife calmed down and this whole thing blew over – at least that was the plan, until Naruto told him that Hinata was probably the one who told Hanabi, since she'd been in his office earlier and told him how Hikaru had used the Sexy Jutsu in front of his entire class at the academy. At that point he groaned and asked for an extended mission outside of the village…

"How long were you thinking?"

"Oh, I think about six months ought to do it."

"There's no way I'm doing that, Konohamaru. Hanabi's due in about three months."

"Yeah I know, but you didn't see the look she gave me when I ran out of the house. And as bad as she is now, think about how much worse she'll be when she gives birth – she might rip off parts of my body that I'd rather keep attached. Got any missions that'll keep me out of the village for a year?"

After his outlandish request, Naruto had firmly told him no missions longer than a week. Also, he wouldn't assign him any missions until tomorrow at the earliest. Tonight, he wanted Konohamaru to go home and give Hanabi an explanation. Konohamaru started to protest but Naruto interrupted him, telling him that he'd known for weeks that Konohamaru taught Hikaru the Sexy Jutsu, along with exactly why he'd done it. Hiashi had given him a very thorough retelling of the pranks he'd pulled over the course of two months – Naruto had actually been somewhat impressed with their childish creativity.

Naruto felt bad for Konohamaru, but he had his own temperamental wife, with his own set of problems. However, he thought they could both use a shot of liquid courage before they went home. So, they went to The Salty Slug for a few hours and had several rounds of drinks. Konohamaru had far too much, reasoning that his wife couldn't hurt him if he was unconscious. After a couple of hours, Naruto dragged him home to a scowling Hanabi and quickly deposited him on the couch, before heading to his own house to deal with Hinata, Hikaru and whatever punishment she'd given him.

But when he walked through the door, he certainly wasn't expecting Hanari to be sitting in a chair waiting for him. And the scowl plastered across her face wasn't very encouraging.

"Naruto, we've got a problem."

He heaved a long and heavy sigh. He'd had enough problems dumped in his lap since getting back to the village today, and he really wasn't in the mood for one more.

"Hanari, I've had a very long day and the only thing I'm interested in doing right now is spending time with my wife. Whatever it is, can you be brief about it?"

She crossed her arms and stared stone-faced at him. "When I got home, I found Reira passed out on the floor of Hikaru's room with a grin plastered across her face. After I woke her up and asked her what happened, she said she got that way because 'Hikaru-kun kissed me.' When I told her I wanted more details than that, she refused and just went to her room, still in a daze. She's probably still in there for all I know."

Naruto groaned. After the way Hikaru had been avoiding Reira as much as possible over the last few weeks, this was the farthest thing from what he would have expected to hear. As a matter of fact, it was so unlikely that he was having a hard time believing it, even though Hanari and Reira had no reason to lie about it.

"And where is Hikaru? He should have been in his room, being punished."

Hanari shook her head. "Reira said her memory is kinda fuzzy after Hikaru kissed her. All she remembers is him leaping out the window because he said he had to go somewhere."

He rubbed his forehead tiredly. Kurama chuckled in the depths of his mind, before making some snide comment about how females who liked to faint seemed to gravitate towards Uzumaki men.

"Alright, I'll deal with this later. Right now, I'd like to see Hinata. Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah, she's waiting for you in the bedroom. She said she had something important to discuss with you, but my money is on her jumping your bones." Hanari chuckled, and a lecherous grin spread across her face. "Want me to set up a silencing jutsu around your room? Or do you think you can handle that before she attacks you like a rabid dog?"

He gave her a deadpan look. "Nothing like that is going to happen, Hanari. I guarantee it." The thought still gave him the willies. Sure, he had needs and desires like any other man who was married to a drop-dead gorgeous wife would, but the pregnancy thing… he figured if they had sex he'd damage the baby somehow. He could see the kid being born with a large dent in the middle of his or her forehead. So far he'd been able to keep his urges in check, but every day it got a little bit harder…

"Okay, fine. I'm taking Reira out for some fresh air while you supposedly don't have any fun with your wife. Maybe it'll clear Reira's mind and she'll stop walking around in a daze, murmuring about how cute Hikaru-kun is. I can't have her going to school tomorrow like that."

Not bothering to dignify that with an answer, he walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Hanari's comment made him extra cautious. Just because he knew nothing was going to happen didn't mean Hinata had her own agenda. She might be wearing some sexy lingerie, or nothing at all – and he didn't feel like leaving the door open if that was the case.

"Hinata?" he called out. "Are you in here?"

Hinata walked out of the sitting area, and to Naruto's great relief she was still wearing the same clothes as when she showed up in his office that afternoon. The look on her face however, gave him pause. It was a mixture of happiness, love, anticipation and anxiety – and after what he felt through the seal on his hand earlier today, he didn't know which one worried him more.

"Hello Naruto-kun," she said warmly, "I've been waiting for you to get home."

"Oh?" he asked warily. Even though she was pregnant, the way her hips moved as she slowly sauntered over to him brought Hanari's comment to the front of his mind. Her arms snaked around his neck and she drew his head down, meeting his lips in a passionate kiss. There wasn't anything lustful about it – Hinata didn't press her lips forcefully against his, and their tongues didn't dance at all. Yet the emotions she poured into the kiss, which were mirrored by the emotions filling his heart through the seal were so powerful they nearly overwhelmed his resolve. One more push, and he probably wouldn't have the strength to resist her anymore.

Want me to pull up that memory of your mate from the bikouchu beetle mission again? Or how about a few choice flashbacks from the night of that 'wedding' as you humans call it? Either way, I'm sure they'll be more than enough to…

Knock it off, Kurama! Why do you insist on doing stuff like this at the worst possible time?

I should think you would know the answer to that by now, Naruto. It's because I find enjoyment in watching you squirm. Humans are all the same – they may think they are in control, but when it comes to fighting their baser instincts, they are woefully pathetic and weak…

The two of them broke apart, both slightly dizzy after such a powerful kiss. Hinata gazed lovingly into his eyes and asked, "Does my husband know how much I love him?"

"Well, after a kiss like that you left little doubt. Although, I'd have to say I love you more."

Hinata smirked playfully and raised one eyebrow. "Is that so? Well then, I think you'll love me even more after I show you something," she said, taking his hand and leading him gently towards the sitting area. Naruto was still a bit hesitant after what just happened, and his mind was running wild as to what Hinata wanted to 'show him.' They had been slowly converting this part of their bedroom into a nursery; maybe she wanted to show him some new decorations she bought, or a different paint scheme she was trying out… there's just no way she'd think of trying to have sex with him in here…

However, he was a bit surprised and taken aback when he saw that the furniture had now doubled. There were two cribs, two dressers and two changing stations. Everything else remained the same.

"Uh, Hinata? What gives? Did you buy spare furniture in case something breaks?"

She laughed musically. "No, Naruto-kun. I bought them for another reason."

Between the alcohol still swirling in his head, the incredibly passionate kiss Hinata had just given him, and everything that had been dumped on him today since getting back from Suna, Naruto's mind was still in a deep fog. "Oh. Then is there a baby that needs adopting? Maybe someone in the Hyūga clan that can't…"

"Naruto-kun," she interrupted him gently, "we aren't adopting anyone. The furniture is for our children."

His thought process still moving at a snail's pace, Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "Hikaru is way too old for a crib, Hinata. Why would you do something that cruel to him?"

Hinata sighed. Her husband was being unusually dense today. "Maybe I should be more specific, Naruto-kun. This has nothing to do with Hikaru. The furniture is for our babies." She reached out and took his hand, resting it on her stomach. "Our babies, Naruto-kun."

Naruto glanced several times between Hinata's eyes and his hand, which she was holding in place over her stomach. It took a few moments for him to actually register what she was trying to say but once he did, he sobered up instantly.

"Hinata-hime," he said, as a look of sheer wonder came over his face, "do… do you mean that…"

"Yes, Naruto-kun. I found out today when Lady Tsunade gave me an examination. I'm having twins. We're having twins. In about six months, you're going to be a father of two children, not one."

"Really?" he asked, grinning happily. "Really?"

When she nodded he let out a shout of excitement, picking her up by the waist and spinning her around. She laughed merrily at his antics, overjoyed at her husband's enthusiastic display of love and affection.

"Oh man, this is gonna be great! We're gonna have two babies! Two! You're going to be the best mother in the world, and I'm going to be the best father! You can take one, and I'll take the other… you'll have to do the breast feeding on your own of course, but other than that we can split everything else! Dressing them, bathing them – even taking them for walks. Everyone in the village will be so jealous of how cute our kids are…" His grin turned sly as he mischievously said, "…but you're changing all the diapers on your own."

Hinata smirked. "Is that right? And just who made that rule up?"

"I did. I'm the Hokage, and you gotta draw the line somewhere. Mine just happens to be with diapers. The book I borrowed from Sasuke said that stuff is pretty toxic so I'll pass, thank you very much. Maybe you can invent a water jutsu to take care of cleaning them up. By the way, did you tell Hikaru the good news yet?"

Hinata's smirk turned into a scowl. "No, I did not. But we need to have a talk with him when he gets home. I confined him to his room until we could discuss together what his punishment should be, but he disobeyed me and left the house without permission. And have you talked to Freyja? She…"

"Hanari," Naruto said absently.

"What?"

"Hanari. That's Freyja's real name. She told me what it was today. We need to start calling her that."

"Oh. Um, okay. Anyway, Hanari said that she found Reira passed out on the floor of Hikaru's room because he kissed her. Our son is nine years old and Reira is only six, Naruto-kun. They shouldn't be doing anything like that."

"Agreed, but let's get his side of the story before we jump to conclusions. Reira's memory might be a bit… skewed when it comes to our son. And Hikaru wouldn't break his punishment without good reason. He knows how much trouble he'd be in, so…"

Naruto was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming, followed by a voice calling out to him.

"Dad? Dad, are you here?"

"Speak of the devil," Naruto said, enveloping Hinata in a hug and taking a deep breath. The scent of lavender and cinnamon filled his nostrils as he breathed in, and a sense of calm and contentment came over him. His wife was truly amazing. "After your big announcement, I was thinking we could spend some quality time together in a nice, hot bath but I guess that's not going to happen." He gave Hinata a quick kiss on the lips and said, "Let's go confront our little jailbreaker, and find out why he skipped out on his punishment."

Naruto took Hinata's hand and led her out of the bedroom, a serious look on his face. Even though he was elated about the news he just received, he didn't want to give the false impression that he was happy with Hikaru and his behavior today. As they walked out into the living room they were greeted by their son, who was grinning smugly.

"Alright Hikaru, you have some explaining to do." Naruto said sternly.

"You left your room without permission. You know you're being punished for what you did at the academy today." Hinata said, as she fixed him with a steely gaze. "Where exactly have you been, young man?"

Hikaru didn't wither underneath their disapproving stares, and the grin never left his face as he replied, "I had to go see the old lady about something important."

Hinata crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I doubt you can give a good enough answer to justify why you disobeyed me. What was so important that you just had to leave this house?"

Hikaru ignored his mother and stared straight back at his father. "Dad… I got it."

"Got what, Hikaru?" he asked.

"The solution to that problem I've been working on for the last few months. I figured it out!"

"What are you talking about? What solution to what problem?" Hinata asked pointedly. "You're evading…"

"Hinata," Naruto said firmly, "hold on a second."

Stunned that Naruto would interrupt her like that, she watched as he let go of her hand and took a step forward. His look was unusually focused as he stared into the eyes of his son.

"You're sure?"

Hikaru nodded. "I'll need a few more days at the old lady's place to put it all together, but yeah. I'm sure."

"How much?"

"I think I can get it up to a ninety percent survival rate."

Naruto frowned at the number. "You can't get it any higher?"

Hikaru shook his head. "Not in time, no. If I had another six months, maybe… but right now, this is as good as it's gonna get. And don't forget, after this I gotta start working on a replacement for it."

Hinata listened to the exchange between her husband and son with pointed interest, wondering why whatever subject matter they were talking about had been purposely hidden from her. It made her feel like an insignificant afterthought, and it brought to mind her childhood years in the Hyūga clan, where both she and her opinion were considered to be unimportant and irrelevant.

She didn't want that. She wanted to be included in everything. She wanted to feel like a family. Or maybe this was just her pregnancy, messing with her emotions again. She couldn't tell which. "Naruto-kun, what's he talking about?"

"Something extremely important. Hinata, you know I wouldn't normally do this without consulting you first, but I'm suspending Hikaru's punishment, at least for a few days – and we might even lift it depending on what happens." Naruto stared once again at his son. "You think you can have everything ready by Saturday?"

"You bet. That should be enough time for me to get it all together." Hikaru tilted his head in thought for a second and then said, "Hey, why don't we make it a family affair? The old lady should come because she's a good healer, but I think Aunt Hanabi and Mom should also be there. It kinda involves them too, and you can't say this isn't a pretty big deal."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "That's actually a good idea. Hinata, I can tell you're anxious to know what's going on here, but unfortunately you'll have to wait until Saturday to get your answers. But I promise it'll be worth the wait." He turned once again to stare impassively at his son. "But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I have one more thing to ask you, Hikaru. Reira was found passed out on the floor of your room. She said she got that way because you kissed her. Care to explain?"

---

It was Saturday afternoon in Konoha, and Sakura was walking through the market. They were low on groceries, and while she would normally take Mikomi shopping with her, Sasuke had decided to come home early and give her some rare time all to herself.

Of course, she also had an ulterior motive for being here. For weeks, she'd been trying to show everyone in the village that she'd changed… that she was truly sorry about everything she'd done, and realized how much pain and suffering she'd caused in her mad quest to make her dreams a reality. She'd been heavily influenced by advice from her inner voice, but that didn't matter – the decisions she'd made had ultimately been hers. That's what people had seen… and that's what they remembered.

She had extended an olive branch of peace and reconciliation to the villagers, but they weren't so willing to forgive. Because everyone had made incorrect assumptions, Hinata lost her title as heiress and was disowned by the Hyūga clan. For years the villagers blindly followed their lead, treating Hinata and Hikaru like pariahs – all because Sakura had made a point of swearing everyone to secrecy, making sure the truth would probably never be told. Hinata had performed a truly selfless act in caring for Hikaru – the villagers felt duped, and they voiced their anger at her quite frequently.

And the same person who'd been made to suffer unnecessarily was now the Hokage's wife – the most influential woman in all of Konoha. The villagers knew they screwed up, but their pride and embarrassment kept them from voicing the words 'I'm sorry'. So they settled for the next best thing, which was doing anything to help them live with the guilt of how they treated both Hinata and Naruto over the years – and hoping that the Hokage and his wife would leave those memories in the past.

Sakura knew that all these problems were her fault. She had a lot to fix, and it all started with her former teammate, the person who saved her life on a number of occasions – and the man who'd once called her a friend. But no matter how bad things got, no matter how long it took, she'd promised Naruto that she'd keep trying until things were better. And that was one promise she vowed to never break.

She just wished people would give her a chance. Every day, with every outright rejection the weight on her shoulders seemed to get a little bit heavier. It was making things difficult, as well as far more stressful in both her personal and professional life.

Sakura sighed, ready to begin her regular routine of rotating among the various stands in the market, making friendly overtures to see if anyone might look at her with anything less than disgust or hatred. If she could put one crack in that wall; change how just one person viewed her then…

She was broken from her musings as she noticed Ino speeding across the rooftops, heading towards the Hokage Monument. The thing that most caught her attention was the look on Ino's face, because she was obviously upset – and crying.

At that point, Sakura decided to abandon her shopping trip. Ino had told her that day at the tea shop that if Naruto gave her a chance, she'd do the same and that made her the closest thing she had to a friend in the village. Ino looked like she needed someone to talk to, and that was more important than what she was doing. Besides, this might be the chance she was looking for – to do something nice for someone, expecting nothing in return, with the simple hope that others might hear about it and not view her with so much hatred and contempt.

She jumped onto the nearest rooftop and took off, following Ino.

---

When Sakura finally caught up with her, Ino had her back against one of the older oak trees with her legs curled up to her chest. Her body shuddered and jerked as she cried into her knees. The pain and sorrow in her sobs was palpable, and Sakura's heart went out to her. She landed several yards away and slowly walked over to where Ino was sitting.

"Ino." Sakura called out softly.

The blonde flinched, but otherwise didn't change her position. "W-What d-do you w-want, Forehead?"

"I spotted you running across the rooftops when I was doing some shopping in the market. You were crying then, and it's worse now." Sakura explained. "I just… thought you might want to talk with someone about whatever's wrong and I... I was hoping it could be me."

Although Ino's sobs didn't disappear, they lessened after hearing Sakura's tentative offer. She raised her head from her knees, showing Sakura her eyes which were swollen and red from crying. Tears stained her cheeks and she fiercely wiped them away, like she was embarrassed and angry that they were there.

"Why are you crying? What happened?"

Ino sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "I-I went t-to see Choji."

Sakura's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Choji? Why did you go to see Choji?"

"I… I've been thinking a lot lately about the guys I've been dating. None of them have worked out past a few months. There's always something that goes wrong – they all end the same, and I'm not stupid enough that I don't realize it's me that's the problem." Ino took a shaky breath before rolling her eyes in derision. "It's always some lame excuse, like 'it's not you, it's me' or 'I feel like you're more of a friend than a girlfriend.' It's pathetic, they're pathetic and I'm sick and tired of hearing the lies that come out of their mouths."

"Choji… He's the only one who stayed around. He wanted to be with me, even knowing all of my flaws and I stupidly pushed him away. I was so… selfish and stuck up that I couldn't look past the exterior and see what a wonderful person he was… and still is."

Ino sniffed again, and then glanced guiltily at Sakura out of the corner of her eye. "I… I saw Naruto the other day. I wanted to talk with him because he'd tell me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. He told me that I should take a long, hard look at myself and think about what I really want – some piece of arm candy who goes through girlfriends left and right, or someone who's kind, and sweet, and thoughtful, and… and loves me for me, and not what I look like. And if I was only interested in Choji because he was a 'safe' relationship, I should look elsewhere because he deserves better than that. But if… if I decided it was for the right reasons, I should just go talk to him and tell him how I honestly feel."

Sakura didn't show any outward emotion, but on the inside she was cringing. Naruto had given Ino exactly what she wanted – he'd been blunt, harsh and brutally frank, giving her a pointed lecture about how self-centered she was rather than soothing words of encouragement. The guilt washed over Sakura in waves because she knew Naruto was only like that because of what she did to him all those years ago.

"So I'm guessing when you saw Choji, things didn't go well."

Ino chewed her lower lip and nodded, as tears once again fell down her cheeks. "I… I apologized to him and said how sorry I was for being s-so narcissistic. Then I asked him f-for another chance and… and he t-told me that he couldn't do that b-because he's dating someone from Kumo."

"Choji is dating someone from Kumo?" Sakura asked curiously. "Not that I'm in the loop as much as you, but this is the first I've heard about it."

"H-He said they've been keeping it a s-secret," Ino explained, "since t-there's still people in Kumo that won't approve. Old habits of n‑not trusting the other villages die hard, I guess." She started to sob again, as she buried her head back in her knees.

Sakura cringed inwardly as she heard the heartache in Ino's voice. She'd never seen Ino so choked up and upset over someone else, and when you factor in that the person in question was Choji – who looked nothing like the men Ino had been pursuing the last few years – then it was unexpected and downright bizarre.

The problem was that Sakura didn't know what to say. She wanted to be comforting, but she also didn't want to give Ino false hope that everything would work out in her favor. Also, she knew that if a shinobi didn't have their head in the game when they went out on missions, they could end up severely injured or worse, they could end up dead. This was especially true for someone from the Yamanaka clan. If Ino stayed fixated on Choji it could potentially be dangerous, and she didn't want Ino to get hurt, whether it was physically or emotionally.

"Look, Ino…" Sakura said gently, "…maybe this is a sign. Maybe someone is trying to tell you that… that Choji isn't the one for you."

Ino stopped crying and raised her head to stare at Sakura. "W-What was that?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm just thinking that Choji has… you know, moved on. He's trying to find happiness, and you should too. I know you've had some bad luck lately, but I'm sure there's someone out there who…"

The look on Ino's face quickly shifted from shock to anger. "Shut up, Forehead!" Ino shouted, interrupting her. "You think you're some fucking psychologist now? That you're somehow qualified to know what's best for me?"

Sakura took a deep breath, trying not to take the tone of voice or insults personally because she knew Ino was just lashing out irrationally in anger. She reached out slowly, intending to put a comforting hand on Ino's shoulder. "I'm not saying that at all. I just think Choji shouldn't be your only option, and you can still find happiness if…"

"You're trying to lecture me about happiness?" Ino screamed furiously at her. "You don't know the first thing about it! All you really know about is causing pain! You punch people when they piss you off. You'll screw anyone over without a second thought, as long as you get what you want in the end. Face it, Forehead – the only thing you've ever been good at is causing other people pain!"

Her face contorted into a mixture of heartache and rage, Ino quickly got to her feet and leapt away, tears streaming down her cheeks once again as she tried to blink them angrily away. Sakura watched her go, her body frozen in shock, her hand still half outstretched. Within moments she was left alone on the Hokage Monument.

Sakura slowly dropped her arm and crawled into the space Ino had just left, sitting in the exact same position. Her eyes stared vacantly straight ahead, and after a few seconds her lower lip began to tremble and a look of unimaginable sorrow came over her face as she realized that once again, despite her best intentions she'd only made things worse.

"Y-You're right, Ino." Sakura sobbed uncontrollably, burying her face in her knees. For once, she was happy that she was alone, so no one could hear or see her crying. "No m-matter how hard I t-try, all I-I know h-how to do is c-cause other people pain."

---

Knock, knock, knock.

"Neji-kun, can you get the front door? I'm in the middle of cooking dinner." Tenten called from the kitchen.

"It's almost five thirty." Neji said, glancing at the clock. "Are you expecting anyone to join us?"

"I didn't invite anyone over, so no. Just get the door and find out who it is!"

Three more months, Neji grumbled silently to himself, just three more months until the baby is born and the mood swings will stop. Maybe then she'll stop sleeping with a kunai under her pillow.

He opened the door, and was shocked to see Naruto, Hinata, Hanabi, Tsunade and Hikaru standing in front of him.

"Um…Hello everyone," Neji said hesitantly. "Tenten and I weren't expecting such a large gathering of people. Have you come to join us for dinner?" He glanced guiltily to the left and right, before leaning in and whispering, "Although if that's the case, I'd recommend eating elsewhere. Tenten's cooking has been downright frightening lately."

"I heard that, Neji!" Tenten shouted from deep inside the house.

He grumbled softly. If he didn't know better, he'd swear Tenten was part Inuzuka. Her hearing sensitivity had gone off the charts ever since she'd gotten pregnant.

"Nii-san, we didn't come here for dinner. Naruto-kun insisted that Hanabi and I come with him, Hikaru and Lady Tsunade here tonight," Hinata told him, "but he still hasn't told us the reason why."

"We're actually here for something important, Neji." Naruto explained. "Can we all come in? What we have to talk about is rather sensitive information, and I'd rather not discuss it out in the open."

Neji furrowed his brow, wondering what could be so important that could merit members of his family, along with one former Hokage coming to his house unannounced. His curiosity got the better of him and after a moment he stepped aside, gesturing for everyone to enter.

Just as they were all sitting down in the living room, Tenten came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish cloth. Her face mirrored the same surprised expression Neji had worn just minutes earlier.

"Wow. I thought I heard Neji say something about a bunch of people being at our front door, but I wasn't expecting this." Tenten said, a bit puzzled at the gathering before her. "What brings you all here tonight? According to my husband, it certainly can't be my cooking." She finished, casting a sidelong glance at Neji, causing him to wince slightly.

"In all honesty Tenten, the reason why we're all here is because of Hikaru." Naruto said proudly, clapping his son on the shoulder. "So I think I'll let him run the meeting."

Hikaru beamed at his father, thanking him for the honor. "Uncle Neji," he said, smiling coyly, "how would you like to be the new head of the Hyūga clan?"

Hinata, Hanabi, Neji and Tenten stared dumbfounded at Hikaru, shocked that he'd say something so outlandish.

"I'd like to know why you're asking that question Hikaru, because you know that's not possible. Members of the branch house cannot lead the clan, and as long as I'm branded with the caged bird seal, I will remain there." Neji slumped his shoulders, suddenly appearing very tired and defeated. He reached out and placed a hand on Tenten's stomach, and she placed her hand over his protectively. "It is something I cannot escape, and I fear my child will share the same fate."

Upon hearing this, Hikaru reached into the bag slung over his shoulder. He pulled out a brush and a bottle of chakra ink, placing them on table in front of him. Then he pulled out a large, rolled up piece of paper and spread it out across the top. Neji, Tenten, Hinata and Hanabi stared in fascination as there, laid out in front of them was a large scale drawing of the caged bird seal, with another intricate, more complicated seal completely surrounding it.

"Well, in that case Uncle Neji," Hikaru said slyly, "how'd you like to be free from the caged bird seal?"

---

A/N: Well, now - I hope that this helps the story advance a bit, and gives everyone a sense that things will start to move forward at a more brisk pace. I also want everyone to know that the next chapter will be a bit delayed, as I received a partial chapter from gigiree123 that really needs some help, so I'll be working on that for a week or two before I get back to my own writing.

I'm personally thanking both him, and Hendrixson for making good on my call-outs for beta work from the last two chapters. I'm two for two! Now, if I can get xHinaLovex to update her story, I'll have gotten my Christmas gift early.

So there was a lot that happened this chapter! And also, before I get reviews on it I just want to say that Hikaru's explanation of the supposed 'kiss' with Reira was purposely left out. I thought it might be better to leave how that went to everyone's individual imagination. A little interaction from my readers makes for a more compelling story, don't you think?

I would also like to say that the idea for Chakra Interlacing is related very, very loosely to the 7th Sense technique Third Fang uses in his epic masterpiece Yet Again With a Little Extra Help and the follow-on, Take Two Round Two. I honestly didn't see the similarities until after I read his story once again over the last few weeks during bedtime, and even though I thought of Chakra Interlacing all on my own way before this I still feel that his idea, along with his story should get recognition. I'm all about credit where credit is due, and if you haven't read his stuff yet, you should. It's pure epic awesomeness. I AM A LOG WORSHIPPER!

Now, what's coming next? Well obviously, the caged bird seal gets removed. Neji takes over the Hyuga clan, Naruto gets involved with the whole thing and there's further development with the other Kage. Two big fights are coming up - I'll leave you to guess what they are, but I will say that it has nothing to do with the Mienai Segi. Kakashi and Hanari make progress in their relationship. And of course, Sakura has more issues.

Now, here's the thing. Several chapters ago, I got an idea from Hektols on what to do with Choji and Ino and it was about 80% accurate to what happened in the manga. So I tweaked it a bit and put it in the story, but since I like input from my readers, I'm putting a poll up on my profile page. The question is simple:

Who would you prefer Choji end up with? Ino? Or Karui?

Your answers will determine what happens in the story, so please take 5 seconds to head over to my profile page and vote on this one. The manga aside, I'd like to see what you, my loyal readers think.

Recommendation time! Well, with Naruto officially at an end I was thinking about the last color page of chapter 700, where it shows skyscrapers in the background, as well as the page where it shows Naruto using a laptop computer. That suggests to me a more modern feel for where things are going for any future spinoffs, and it brought to mind a story I've been following for some time now.

The story is You Must Believe In Spring by Giada Luna. It takes a slightly different approach on the Naruto Universe, where things are in a much more modern setting. It's a fantastic piece of writing, the plot and flow of the story is top notch and I think people will enjoy it. I urge you to give it a chance, even though it's a bit different. So once again if you're curious, head over there and check it out. I urge you to leave a review and put the story on your favorite/following list.

Here's the link, as usual remove the spaces and you know what to replace the stars with:

www . fanfiction . *** / s / 10276498

REVIEWS! So, fifty five reviews for last chapter. Guess you guys didn't like that as much as Chapter 27 - but I'll still take it. As I say every chapter, I'm extremely greedy for reviews. Writers love them, they motivate us to keep going and help us get better. I've had a huge jump in my numbers for Favorites and Followers this past chapter, and I'm very grateful to everyone who put me on their lists.

I'm hoping that with the subject matter in this chapter, and how it got away from the Mienai Segi for a bit and centered more around the Konoha folk that I can get some more reviews than last chapter. I'm begging and pleading with you guys that you take a minute and leave me a review. I like the long ones but even something like "great stuff!" would be good to see. An early Christmas present would be if I hit 1525 for reviews. Let's see if we can make that happen!

That's all for now. Take care and stay safe.

Serious Sam