"WHAT ELSE DID YOU DO WHEN YOU WERE DRUNK?!" exclaimed Naruto, glaring at both Kakashi and I at the same time. "Oh you know… stuff…" I mumbled, a slight blush on my face. Kakashi threw me a look, "That's extremely suggestive!" I shrugged, remembering the fucked up things I did while drunk. "You can't deny that some things happened!" I exclaimed, incredibly embarrassed. "Yes. Horrible, horrible things that will never be spoken of again." we interlaced our pinkies and shook on it. "Wait no. Tell me." said Deidara, starting to get nervous.
"Did you guys fuck or something?" joked Sasuke. When the Kakashi and I stayed silent, Sasuke shot the two of us a blank face, "You didn't." Naruto looked from the jonin to me while Sakura tried to hold in her laughter. "Please tell me you didn't." begged Naruto, a look of hope on his face. I gulped. "W-we don't really know if we did." I mumbled. "We just woke up in the same bed some days." Naruto turned to Kakashi, "You slept with my sister?" he asked. The silver haired jonin gulped.
"U-um… I don't know if I did, that's the problem!" he turned to me, "Anko was with us at that time, right?" I nodded, "Maybe she can tell us what happened." he exclaimed, hitting his palm with the base of his fist. "I mean what's done is done. Do you really want to know?" I asked lazily. "You're weirdly comfortable with all of this." chuckled Sakura, causing me to blush, "W-well it's not like I can rewind time or anything!" Actually you can, you'd just die if you did.
"Let's just go." grumbled Deidara as he dragged all of us out of the house. "We just need to call for her to appear, really." said Kakashi as he used his hands as a megaphone. "YO ANKO! COME OVER HERE REAL QUICK!" a few people on the street stopped and shot us weird looks before going back to their daily lives. "Ay man what's up?" Anko appeared next to us, "Hello, Aelia's ghost." she said with a wave. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." I mumbled. "Can you tell us what happened that time we went drinking and everything became fucked up so I had to stay over at Kakashi's?"
"I don't remember what happens every time we go drink." the woman chuckled. I sighed, "Can you tell me what happened last time we went out for drinks?" the woman chuckled, "So you guys finally decided to talk about it." she snickered as she grossly gave every single detail of what happened that night and many others. "So yeah in the end, Tenzo and I always put you two in bed together and took off your clothes… well I did most of those parts Tenzo just sat back and told me I shouldn't be doing that but he also never stopped me so…" Anko shrugged before meeting my eyes.
"Eh~ Aelia, you've grown." she suddenly appeared behind me and groped me. "O-oi!" I exclaimed, trying to get away from her. "S-stop!" Deidara pulled me away from the woman. "So nothing sexual ever went on between the two of them?" asked Naruto, trying his best to keep me as far away from Kakashi as possible. "Not as far as I know but hey, you should ask them that." Anko winked at me before disappearing.
"So she was very useful." I said with an awkward grin. "Don't think you're off the hook just yet." grumbled Naruto as he pulled me by the ear and into the house. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, owie!" I was thrown into the house. "Hey! Come on, be gentle!" exclaimed Deidara as he helped me up. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, I nodded and hid behind him, the Naruto before me angrily trying to grab me again. "We're going to talk about being responsible when it comes to alcohol!" he grunted as he finally managed to grab ahold of me.
"No! Look nothing happened!" I whined as I was thrown on the couch, Kakashi sitting next to me, knowing he was going to get lectured as well. I took out the flask he gave me and took a sip from it, handing it to Kakashi so he could get a swing as well. "What's that?" asked Naruto as he tried to grab the flask. "Water." I shrugged. The people behind Naruto facepalmed, knowing damn well that whatever was inside was anything but.
"Alcohol is dangerous and sure it's fun to use and…" I tuned out of the conversation not really listening to him speak. Heh, just how many times did you wake up in the same bed as him? Asked Nikolai with a snicker. So many times that I can't even remember. It's become a common occurrence by now. That's just weird. Oh yeah, definitely.
"Hey! Are you even listening?" asked Naruto as he waved a hand in front of my face. "I just don't see the issue." I mumbled, "I mean yeah okay alcohol is bad. It can make you do stupid things and all that shit but I'm old enough to make my own decisions. If I want to fuck Kakashi then I'll do it." I said with a shrug. Naruto, Sasuke and Deidara facepalmed while Kakashi and Sakura snorted.
"That's not what this is about. You didn't even know if anything happened between the two of you." sighed Deidara. "You just jumped over the fact that she said she'd fuck Kakashi if she wanted to." Deidara shrugged, "We weren't together then so there isn't anything that I can do. I can, however, do something about the present and the future so that she doesn't sleep with her teacher." he said in the end. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Didn't you used to say Kakashi was like a father figure to you?" he said in the end. I forze. "Past tense. Besides, all that changed the moment he introduced me to Icha Icha also when he became my drinking buddy. You know what I think it all went downhill when I-" Kakashi covered my mouth with his hand. "Okay I think that's enough of embarrassing each other for tonight. Good night everyone. Aelia will be staying with either Sakura or Deidara, you decide that." he dragged me to the side.
"What are you doing?!" he whisper-shouted, "Are you trying to make me look like a pedophile?!" I shrugged. "Should I remind you that us waking up in the same bed happened when I was eighteen?" reminded him. The man visibly relaxed. "Forgot about that." he mumbled. "Besides," I continued, "Seeing the terrified look on your face each time is extremely hilarious." The silver haired ninja pinched the bridge of his nose and dragged me back to the group.
"After long minutes of consideration," started Naruto, "We've decided that-" I cut the blonde off. "I'll be staying with Sakura. I still can't bear to see that room." I shuddered, images of the blood splattered walls still fresh in my memory. "That's understandable." said Naruto as he shot a look at Sakura, "Is that okay with you?" the girl nodded, "It's been a while since Aelia and I had some girl time." she said with a snicker. I joined her and the two of us shared a look. "I suddenly regret my decision." chuckled Naruto while I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Let's go. I'm sure you're tired." I nodded and went to my now shared room with Sakura. "This makes everything a lot harder." I muttered as I shot a look towards Deidara. The pinkette cocked a brow, "What do you mean? I thought you would've loved having him over." I nodded, "Yeah of course, but there's a higher chance that he finds out now." I muttered, "And I don't think things would go well if he did." The pinkette put a hand on my shoulder. "You're overthinking it. That guy is crazy in love with you. He'd do anything for you." I nodded, a sad smile on my face, "That's exactly what I'm scared of, Sakura."
"I mean…" I continued, "Don't get me wrong, I love him so much. But if he finds out… the truth about me… none of you took it well the first time. Imagine what would happen, the betrayal he'd feel. I've already hurt him so many times… it can't keep going on like this." the pinkette held the door open for me as I entered her room. "You love him, he loves you." said Sakura with a smile, "You've both hurt each other and yeah, maybe he won't take it well. But the longer you wait, the worst his reaction will be." she said with a kind smile.
"Y-yeah about that… there's something I didn't tell you about me coming back from the dead and all." she raised an eyebrow and waited for me to elaborate. "So… when I died… I made a deal with someone…" I started, "It was the only way I could come back so I decided to take that chance…" the girl shot me an encouraging smile, "I… learned a few things about Nikolai. There are different versions of him." the girl cocked her head to the side, "Knowing you, that's not the only thing you learned." I nodded, "Turns out we used to be childhood friends. He was… a God of some sorts apparently and he sent me to this place to give me another chance at life." she nodded. "That sounds like a nice person. What happened?" I shrugged, "You've heard of strings of fate and what not, right?" the girl nodded.
"Apparently," I started, "It is possible to sever them. But when a string is severed, the person who severed the string goes insane. That's what happened with Nikolai. He had to sever all of my strings that tied me to the other world, making him… er… making a side of him go insane. That side of him travelled here with me." the girl nodded, "That is so confusing? Anything else?" I nodded, "So when I died, after learning all of that stuff there was a door. I opened said door only to find the Nikolai from my childhood, chained. Though that was probably for the dramatic effect. Anyways, I'm his jinchuuriki now… thus the makeover I guess." the pinkette nodded, "So you know have a god inside of you." she said, pointing at me. "Yeah… I'm guessing the spade is the seal that keeps him in check but I'm not really sure." I said with a shrug. The girl nodded.
"Do you… feel any different?" I nodded, "It's like having a second chakra I guess? Though when I try to imagine it, it's a warm yellow colour ya know?" the girl nodded, "You never knew Nikolai was a god?" she asked, "You never had a clue?" I shook my head, "I hated god. He or she was supposed to love everyone yet I was stuck in an abusive home, there was sickness, starvation and death around. What kind of love is that?" the pinkette rubbed her chin pensively, "Never really thought of that but then again, I don't really believe in anything."
I nodded, "I gave up on religion a while ago. I mean sure Nikolai exists but at this point, I don't really believe in him to make miracles happen you know?" Hey! Come on man, I can still hear you, you know?! "Perhaps he's as strong as a god? So strong that people started to worship him at some point?" suggested Sakura, "Yeah and that probably leads to some insane god complex, but how would he be alive for all those thousands of years?" the two of us rubbed our chins.
"Maybe he has the knowledge of a thousand years?" suggested the pinkette. "Yeah that makes sense." I mumbled, "What about the afterlife door thing?" Sakura shrugged, "Back to my point about him being powerful." I nodded, waiting for Nikolai to try and debunk our theory but he stood quiet. "Huh… no snarky reply." I mumbled, rubbing my temples. "Ugh, I'm tired," said the girl as she threw herself on the bed, scooting to the side to give me some room.
"You can borrow some of my pajamas since we threw your clothes out." I nodded, "You didn't give shinsetsu away right?" the girl shook her head, "We buried her with your remains." I nodded, "I'm going to have to go back and rob my own grave it would seem." I chuckled as I borrowed the pinkette's clothes, changing into them in her bathroom. When I came out, I noticed that the pinkette was already asleep. "Oh wow." I chuckled as I got in the bed, turning the lights off and I too, drifting off to a comfortable sleep soon after.
I woke up that morning alone in the bed. I got out and went downstairs, meeting the smiles on everyone's faces. "Good morning." I said with a smile as I went to the counter to pour myself some tea. "Good morning, princess." said Deidara as he wrapped his arms around me, making me blush. He kissed my cheek and tightened his hold on me a little. "G-good m-morning." I said, trying not to drop my mug. The blonde's hold on me tightened as Kakashi entered the kitchen. "Morning Aelia." he said with a curved eye, suggesting a smile.
"Good morning." I replied, a small smile on my face and a pleading look in my eye. "Need some help there?" joked the silver haired jonin as he noticed the blonde that was stuck to me. "No she doesn't." said Deidara as he gave my cheek a kiss. "This was cute at the start but now you're just trying to make a statement." I deadpanned with a small chuckle. The blonde blushed but didn't move. "Okay… do you plan on…" trailed off Kakashi, "Sakura told you?" the silver haired jonin nodded, "Eh. I don't know…" I mumbled with a shrug. "Too much work."
"What is?" asked the blonde, now having let go of me, "...kids." said Kakashi after much consideration. "Now?!" exclaimed Deidara, shooting me a look, "No! Not now! We're still young, what the hell?!" I laughed, trying to not make things awkward. "I'm hungry," I said in the end, heading to the dining room to eat some breakfast. I plopped down next to Sakura. "Hey," she said with a suggestive smile on her face, "So did you tell everyone?" I asked, annoyed. The girl nodded. "I think you should tell him." said Naruto, "If he truly cares then he'll just be mad for a while."
That's the moment that Deidara chose to enter the dining room. "Who would be mad?" he asked, sitting down next to me and putting his arm around my shoulder. I glared at the people at the table, daring them to say something. "Oh we were just talking about… Teuchi always giving us free meals. He'd be mad if we paid him." said Sakura as she rubbed the back of her neck, causing Deidara to lift a brow, "You said that someone would just be mad if he truly cares. Were you really talking about Teuchi?" I gulped. Don't tell him, you'll only end up hurting him more.
"Y-yeah." I said with a smile on my face, trying to be convincing. "If you say so." said Deidara, definitely not convinced. I banged my forehead against the table. "I'll tell you later." I mumbled, already scared. He put a hand on my back, "Hey… whatever it is, it's okay you know?" I gulped, "No it's not!" I whined, "You're way too forgiving!" I continued while he chuckled, "Only when it comes to you." he said with a smile, already making me feel like a scumbag.
"I'm not hungry anymore." I mumbled, getting out of my seat only to be pushed back down, "You didn't eat anything. At least eat some fruits." said Deidara, putting a few strawberries on my plate. I gulped, my guilt already churning in my stomach for all the bad things I was going to do to him because of this one secret. "Come on. Do I need to feed you or something?" huffed Deidara before smirking, "I-I'll eat!" I exclaimed, eating three strawberries and dragging the blonde away with me.
"Alright so what is it that you're going to tell me?" asked the blonde, cocking a brow, "U-um… I'm not going to ask you not to be mad. In fact I'm going to ask you to be the complete opposite. Be mad. Okay?" I dragged Deidara to a secluded area of my house while he cocked his head to the side. "Um… I'll be the judge of that. I mean it can't be that bad, Lia." he said with a slight smile and a shrug. I fiddled with my fingers as Deidara waited. "It's going to sound like I'm crazy but I promise you I'm not." I said with a slight chuckle. The blonde could tell how nervous I was, he grabbed my hand and gave my knuckle a kiss.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me. I won't think you're crazy, I promise." he said with a grin. This is making everything harder… Why does he have to be so nice?! "So… I'm not from this world." Deidara cocked a brow, waiting for me to elaborate. I told him the entire story, sparing no detail, even telling him about Nikolai, much to the "god's" displeasure and waited for his reaction.
"I mean… yeah it does sound crazy." said the blonde, "But it also makes sense? All those times you would exclaim in what sounded like gibberish, the 'coded' things that you wrote in notebooks, how you know that most things are going to happen before they do… And besides, coming from another dimension isn't really that strange of an occurrence." he said with a shrug, "The Zetsu's are an example of that." I gulped, "Y-your taking this surprisingly well." the blonde shrugged again, "For one, I love you and for two, I think my brain stopped working because of the shock so…" I nodded and waited for him to recover.
"So…" he started, sitting down on the floor, "Have you ever considered therapy?" I chuckled, "I'm going to therapy already…" the blonde nodded, "Because, if everything that you're saying is true, which I'm having a hard time believing to be honest… I would think that therapy is the best thing that could help you." I nodded, "It's kind of surprising actually… how many people just believed it without question." I sighed as I sat down next to him, resting my head on his shoulder. "You're really not mad?" I asked, getting up to look at him.
The blonde kissed the tip of my nose, "Nah. Just a little concerned is all." I nodded and went back to resting my head on his shoulder, "Man I really don't deserve you." I breathed out, "I've hurt you so many times yet you keep on forgiving me. And believe it or not, I'm trying to stop, I really hate hurting you." my voice broke, "Aelia?" I turned to meet his gaze. He cupped my cheek and rested his forehead against mine, "My heart is yours to break, okay?" I gulped, "D-don't say that like it's alright." I said softly.
"I hate it when I hurt you. It kills me each time…" he gave me a small kiss. "I stand by what I said okay?" he paused to kiss my forehead and pull me into his chest, "I can't believe you've been keeping this secret for this long… does anyone else know? Other than the people mentioned in the story?" I shook my head, "No one other than a selected few know…" the blonde chuckled, "You're making it sound like a story." I chuckled nervously. "Come on, Lia. Loosen up," said Deidara, resting his chin on my head. "You're just way too comfortable with this. Last time I told someone it didn't go well!" I whined, burying my face in his shirt, enjoying his scent.
"Well guess I'm just used to your craziness then." said the blonde with a smile as he kissed the top of my head. I let out a blissful sigh, "Thank you… I love you…" I mumbled, making the blonde flinch, "What was that?" he asked, a slight smirk on his face, "N-nothing!" I exclaimed, hiding my face, "No, no, I want to hear what you said." snickered the blonde, "I-I said that I l-love you…" I mumbled again. The blonde's hold on me tightened as he gave my forehead a kiss.
"I love you too." he said, a slight smile on his face. "W-what? W-why are you smiling?" I asked, a blush on my face, "Just because." replied the blonde, getting up from the floor with me in his arms. "W-wait! Put me down!" I exclaimed, trying to jump out of his grasp. "Hm… Nope!" he slung me over his shoulder and walked back to the dining room. "You're acting just like Sasuke!" I whined, trying to jump off. The blonde chuckled, "I'm not putting you down until you say it again." I blushed, "N-no…" I complained, enjoying it just a little. "Lia, say it, say it," chanted the blonde as he ran around the room, making me dizzy.
"F-fine… I love you…" I murmured. Upon hearing me, Deidara put me down and caught me as I almost fell down, "Head… spinning…" I croaked out, leaning into the blonde as I tried to get the world around me to stop spinning. "You're trying to kill me," I chuckled as I hugged him for support. "Maybe I should do this to you more often." thought Deidara out loud. "No. Never again." the blonde chuckled and gave my cheek a small kiss.
"So you guys are good?" asked Sakura, hopeful. "Yeah. We're good." replied Deidara, hugging me from behind and kissing my lips. "Oh no… No you shouldn't have done that." said Naruto, his anger apparent on his face. "What? This?" he kissed me again, longer this time. "Stop it." ordered Naruto. When Deidara finally pulled away, I was left panting for air with a blush on my face. "Cute." smirked Deidara as he wrapped a protective arm around my waist.
I felt myself be yanked to Naruto's side, "Hey!" exclaimed Deidara, looking clearly annoyed. "My sister." grumbled Naruto, making Deidara groan, "Well she's my girlfriend." I let out a small sigh. Want some help shutting them up? Asked Nikolai, I shook my head. You'd over do it. I know you have a flare for pizazz. The platinum blonde chuckled. Well I agree with you on that one. You'll need to train to learn how to control my powers though. I can't do it for you. I nodded.
"Hey, Naruto. Wanna train together? Kurama versus Nikolai, what do you think?" the blonde jumped up and down in excitement. "Oh yeah! I'm going to beat your ass!" he exclaimed. "I'll see you later," I murmured at Deidara, giving him a quick peck on the lips before leaving. "Gross!" exclaimed Naruto as he wiped my lips with his sleeve. "What the-" he rubbed my lips with his sleeve again, making me push it away. "Okay have you had your fun? Let's train. If you win… I'll pay for your Ichiraku bill for the rest of the year." I snickered knowing damn well that in a month, there'd be a war going on for the next three years. The blonde nodded in agreement.
We shook hands on it and went to the training grounds in Konoha, racing our way to the third training ground. "Alright! I'm all fired up!" I exclaimed, embracing Nikolai's chakra-like energy and letting it consume me. Soon enough, I felt my hair become longer, a platinum blonde colour, the tips tainted in a crimson liquid that the two of us knew was blood. My skin paled, making my black veins visible. Wait, they're black?!
They aren't veins, dumbass. I examined my new found body, a trail of black markings covering my arms, legs and neck, encircling the spade that was situated in my left eye. "Oh I probably look badass! I exclaimed, my veins coursing with energy as I looked at my hands a little closer, noticing a warm yellow lining, similar to light, around me. "Nice glow up." smirked Naruto in his Kyuubi form… well it really was just Kurama speaking at this point. "Hello, hello…" I said with a smile, "Quite nice to meet you, Kura-chan." I said with a smirk, knowing it would annoy him. "You're quite the cute fox aren't you? You look so fluffy!"
"I'M NOT FLUFFY!" exclaimed the fox, already angry. Wow that didn't take much. "Alright, let's get started then." Kurama and I started to fight. I noticed that my fighting style had changed, that I didn't have any openings anymore. "What the…" I dodged a punch from the angry fox and jumped onto his snout. I don't know how I managed to jump that high, at this point I'm blaming my god mode thing… whatever it's called.
"You're so adorable! And your fur is so soft and fluffy!" I exclaimed, rubbing his snout. Kurama had to cross his eyes to be able to look at me. He brought a paw to his nose, trying to throw me off only to hit himself. "Did that hurt-" I couldn't finish my sentence as a huge black ball of chakra smashed into me, sending me into several trees. "Oh shit, I'd really be dead if it wasn't for you, huh?" I asked Nikolai who was in my head for the time being. "Yeah… I'm gonna take it up a few noches." I felt myself being pushed into some sort of jelly texture as I looked up and noticed a huge armor-like cover in front of me and all around me.
"Oh my god it's a giant puppet!" I exclaimed, noticing all the chakra strings I was bound to. I looked up to see that the giant puppet that I was inside of looked a lot like me. "Oh, you've made that to your image as well…" I mumbled as I felt my mind go blank, hearing only Nikolai's voice as he commanded me to use the string bound to my right pinky to punch Kurama.
All I could hear was the platinum blonde's voice as he gave me instructions. "Punch. Punch. Kick. Uppercut." At this point, I couldn't even control my movements. I obeyed Nikolai's commands before he even spoke them. A few minutes passed and I was running out of energy. I noticed Naruto was facing the same problem. "I'm not going to be able to hold any longer…" I mumbled, my eyes getting heavy as all my joints started to hurt. "Alright… I'll be retreating for now."
I was the first one to fall. "M-man I'm beat." I didn't even have the energy to exclaim that. Naruto panted as he landed next to me, "You okay?" he asked, rolling over to my side. "Y-yeah… You might need to carry me home though. My legs won't work." I slowly felt Nikolai's chakra retract into its original flow and let my own chakra course through me, gaining energy slowly. "
Yeah no worries." said the blonde as he put my arm around his shoulder and lifted me up, "Okay… home we go." Neither of us noticed that the sun was setting until we saw Kakashi shaking his head at the gates of the training grounds. "Naruto… you can't just let the Kyuubi out like that. People thought they-" he let out a sigh, "Nevermind that. Aelia was that giant human meat shield thing you?" I nodded, dark circles under my eyes, "I think I might need to go to the hospital…" I said with a chuckle, "I have chakra… I forgot what it's called… it's that thing where you don't have enough chakra because you wasted it. You go to the hospital for it all the time." Kakashi sweatdropped as he realised what I was talking about.
"Okay well let's go to the hospital then." said the silver haired ninja as he helped my brother drag me into the giant building. There, one of the nurses sighed as he saw me enter, "I thought I was done with you for good." he whined, putting me on a wheelchair, "I don't think… you're allowed to say that sir…" I slurred my words as I sat and waited for my treatment. "You have chakra deprivation." said the nurse as he attached a tube to me, "You'll need to stay home for a couple of days and you'll most likely show flu-like symptoms."
I nodded, waiting to be discharged, "No snarky comeback? I think we might need to check your brain for some damage, Aelia." joked the nurse as he turned around at the sound of a knock on the door. "Oh, Kakashi-san. Come in." said the nurse in a displeased tone, "Do I need to hook you up to one of these as well?" he asked, pointing at the tube I was bound to for the next few days. "You're literally the only reason as to why I dread coming here," I said with a smile on my face as the nurse chuckled, "There she is." he said with a smirk, leaving me alone with my teacher.
"Sup?" I asked, sitting up in the bed, ignoring the many bruises and probably broken ribs. "You tried to fight Kurama? Seriously?" he chuckled, "Man, sometimes, I really do wonder if someone just came in one day and stole your brain to replace it with a cabbage." I cocked my brow, "What?" the silver haired jonin shook his head, "Nevermind that. Why did you try to fight the main character?"
I took on an Itachi tone and said, "I wanted to test my capacities." the jonin pinched the bridge of his nose, "The real reason, Aelia?" I let out a sigh, "War will be here soon. We'll be fighting against a literal goddess. I need to see how strong he is…" I mumbled, suddenly remembering one key detail. "Hey Kakashi… There's something you need to know… when it comes to this war." he raised a brow and waited for me to elaborate. "Is this about the time you told me there'd be feelings of betrayal?" I nodded, taking a deep breath in.
"Obito… he's alive."
