A/N: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
He is alive.
Mikoto could only stare at the man standing before her as the thought rang inside her head. It had been so many years since she had seen Kenji, long before she had Itachi…and now he stood right in front of her. But he wasn't alone. There were three children, one of them seemed to be around the same age as Itachi while the youngest two seemed to be around the same age as Naruto and Sasuke.
She trembled and almost allowed the shock to color her features, but Mikoto swallowed it down. There was no possibility for her to allow the grim-faced man to know about her shock. She had to remain the cold woman that she had been whenever they met each other, but it was difficult. It was hard because…
Kenji reminded her of Kushina and not a day went by that her heart didn't weep for the deceased, sunny woman.
"How are you alive?" she asked, smoothing her apron. Her hand shook, and the desire to smack Kenji in the face for the longest time but she shoved down the anger. A pair of bright, happy violet eyes came, then it was replaced with sad blue eyes, and the rage began to bubble up again. Mikoto took another deep breath and looked to the woman that had her hands around the two young children.
The woman seemed to be younger than Kenji, probably around the same age as her. She was a slender, pale woman, who seemed to be slightly shorter than the man beside her. The one feature about her that stood out about her, wasn't her foreign features but her bright, green eyes that reminded her of the lush, green forests surrounding them.
"It is a very…long story," Kenji explained, clearing his throat. He looked almost awkward, a far cry from the cocky young man that would insult Minato whenever he got too romantic with Kushina. Now, he looked like a broken man. Grief painted his hazel eyes but as soon as her eyes took in the grief, it was gone faster than she could say henge.
It should have been enough for her to keep calm, for her to remain control of her temper but rage threatened to rip out of her skin. Now. Of all the times that Kenji could have came, he chose now. Where was he when Kushina was giving birth? Where was he when Keisuke was murdered and Naruto had to go to some orphanage.
Where was he when Kushina's daughter needed him?
"Explain to me," she asked, balling her hands into a fist. Her tone hardened and Mikoto thinned her lips into a very thin line as Kenji locked his gaze on her. His eyes flickered with hesitance and a tiny part of her felt the urge to let out a bitter laugh but she shoved it down. There were three impressionable children that did not need to hear her swear. "Kushina thought you died! She spent a long time mourning over the loss of your clan!"
The words bellowed out and even to her own ears, she heard the shimmering, cold rage that wanted to blow up. Mournful, dead violet eyes came into her mind and a motionless body came to her mind. How many days did Minato come to her because Kushina mourned for her family? How many times did her best friend offer a fake smile when they all knew she wanted to cry?
"You know if Minato and me have another kid then I think we will name them after Gramps or Kenji!"
Kushina only had Naruto and despite the little tickle of envy she had for her friend's lovelife, Mikoto would never deny that she had been happy for her friend. Her friend, who would sing terribly to her unborn child. Her friend, who had no problem with murdering people but was petrified at the idea of giving birth. The same friend that wanted to give Naruto the world.
The same friend who died to protect Naruto because she knew from glimpse of Kushina's wounds that a claw pierced through her stomach.
"I had no choice," Kenji said with a tightened tone.
He had a choice. They always had a choice and if Kushina was alive then she wouldn't have this intense need to smack her hard in his face but she had been raised better than this. A cold behavior spoke more than her throwing a fit over the sight of him. But it was difficult to swallow down the urge that loomed beneath her hands.
"You always had a choice," Mikoto declared, putting her hand on the door. Her nails dug onto the wooden door, pain erupted beneath her nail but it wasn't enough for her to lose a control. Lips pulled back into a cold look, Mikoto exhaled and leaned back on the door while Kenji flinched as if her words stabbed him in his chest.
A couple of seconds passed and then Kenji looked away from her. "I had to protect the clan, Mikoto and going to any of the Hidden Villages wouldn't offer them the protection that we needed."
The flare of his chakra exploded, filled with so much rage and she took a step back. Kenji blinked and offered her a grimace but she looked away from them. Protect the clan was understandable but not enough for her to forgive or forget about the grief that Kushina endured. She paused, glanced at the two young girls that stared at her with curiosity.
"You could have come here," she stated and Kenji thinned his lips. He did not look one bit convinced by her words, looked at her like she betrayed him and Mikoto took a deep breath. If the man came here then Naruto would have had the support that she needed. The support that she needed because with what happened in the Kyuubi Attack, she was in no position to adopt Naruto.
Fugaku kept reminding her that the elders in the Third Hokage's council would think that they were taking in Naruto for power, not because it was within her rights as her godmother. That girl lost her parents on her birth, lost her grandmother on her second birthday and she wasn't allowed to adopt Naruto from the orphanage.
Kenji had more power than her.
"How could I work in a village that didn't come to our help?" he demanded, eyes blazing with anger and Mikoto stared at him. She wanted to call him selfish but her mind wandered back to Fugaku's plan. The plan that could get them killed if the elders found out about their plans and she couldn't really talk when her own sons' future were going to be taken away from them. "The Second Uzushiokage trusted me to protect clan and village, so I did what I had to do. I had to take them somewhere safe."
The clan must always come before anything else. She understood his thought, understood his desire to give his clan a secured future but at the same time, grief and rage prickled her skin. It burrowed itself inside of her as tearful violet eyes came into her mind. The wails of the past echoed in her ears, a never-ending siren if you asked her.
"And you couldn't tell Kushina that you were fine?" she barked, trying to maintain her composure. "That you and the clan were still alive?"
You couldn't let her last years be filled with complete joy and relief?
Tears scotched behind her eyes, but Mikoto bit her tongue until metallic blood coated her tongue. No matter how much she understood, it was Kushina's teary eyes and Minato's constant looks of concern that came to her mind. It was Naruto's sad eyes that kept charging through her mind's eyes, that brought the fury inside of her stomach and heart.
Her heart howled with fury.
"It was complicated," he whispered, darting his eyes to the three curious kids that kept staring at her with curiosity. Kenji's wife stared at them with eyes that seemed to be flashing with some kind of understanding. But did she understand? She had to watch Naruto struggle and know that the Hokage wouldn't allow her to raise Naruto.
Fugaku wouldn't agree to her idea of having Naruto becoming Sasuke's fiancée or even Itachi's fiancée.
'You want our sons to go through a potential of a loveless marriage?'
He had looked at her with hurt eyes and it reminded her again of the fact that she had been Fugaku's choice, but he had never been her first choice…nor her second choice. But she learnt to love him, maybe not the same intense way that he loved her, but enough for her to bare him another child. Enough for her to support him through his ideas.
"She needed you," Mikoto cleared her throat and stared at him. "Her daughter needed you, Kenji!"
She needed someone to protect her from those villagers. With her throat tightened, Mikoto shifted her gaze to the three children. The middle child looked like a female version of Kenji but her round chin reminded her of Kushina, of Naruto except there was a childish innocence in her eyes. A childish happiness that she had never seen in Naruto.
It was wrong of her but she resented Kenji for having his family while Naruto went through hell.
"I know they needed me!"
Mikoto eyed the children and Kenji's partner seemed to have understand her need for privacy because the woman gently pulled her children near the fence. She watched them carefully, allowed her eyes to linger on the oldest child, and looked back at Kenji. From her inspection, there seemed to be an innocent light in his children. A light that none of her kids possessed, not even Sasuke.
When the children were far enough, Mikoto looked back at Kenji.
"Do you have any idea what Naruto went through?" Mikoto asked, hissing at him. She tightened her grip on the handle and narrowed her eyes at the trembling man. "That is her daughter's name, you know! If Kushina had problems because a few of our classmates dared to remind her that she wasn't born in this village then Naru-chan…"
Her throat tightened and for the first time in two years, she allowed herself to spill the tears out of her eyes. It had been a while since she allowed the tears to come out of her eyes. The last time she cried this hard was when Naruto saw her with the photo of her parents, and there had been a temptation for her to spill everything to the girl. To inform her that she had been born two amazing parents.
But it was painful to talk about it with her.
"Mikoto, tell me what Naruto went through."
Mikoto stared at him and looked over her shoulder to stare at her door.
"You and your family can come in for some tea and I'll tell you what I know, Kenji but I'm still angry with you."
Kenji nodded.
"You can smack me later, Mikoto."
Oh, she was going to do more than smack him.
"So Naruto isn't in class? She ran off!"
Stood right in front of him was Iruka, who folded his arms against his chest, and Hiruzen could only thinned his lips. This was problematic. It had always been problematic when Naruto would skip class but if before, he had to worry about a child throwing a tantrum then now he had to be concern about Kenji finding out about this. The fact that Kenji was within his rights to take Naruto was a deep concern for him.
If Kenji found out about this then he would demand for more things because they messed up.
"Yes, she got into a fight with one of the girls," Iruka admitted, running his hand through his hair. "I couldn't stop her from leaving the school because…"
He trailed off and Hiruzen frowned when he noticed the slight fear in the young man's eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen Iruka had that look when talking about Naruto. Anger and frustration were emotions that always crept into the man's eyes alongside hate, but never fear. Something definitely happened for the man to have that kind of expression.
"Because…what?" Hiruzen pried. What happened for Iruka to allow Naruto to run off again without his permission? He knew the man would have been responsible enough to keep Naruto inside the school and was not biased enough towards the girl, that he would grade her unfairely. Although Naruto seemed intent on pretending that she wasn't smart.
Iruka cleared his throat. "She ordered me to let her go and leave her alone."
"And you just listened to her." He tried to keep the irritation out from his voice but it seemed like he failed because Iruka flinched. This whole thing was a mess if you asked him, a mess that was going to blow up on his face.
The young man took a deep breath and stared at the blackboard. "I know you won't believe me, Hokage-sama but when she ordered me to leave her alone, it felt like I was under a powerful spell that made me want to follow her desire…but it was brief, long enough for her to get out of the door."
A powerful spell? That wasn't the first time he heard such comments. Hiruzen grimaced and rubbed his goatee before darting his eyes to Iruka. The first time he heard such comments was from the Matron in the orphanage, who told him about how Naruto demanded for a hug from her and how it took her three seconds to snap out of it. He dismissed the idea, convincing the woman that she almost hugged the girl because of her angelic looks.
But this was the second time that someone made such comments and something told him that there was probably more about Naruto then he knew.
Once this whole mess blew over, I'll find out about why two people keep using the same description. He would have time to figure out what happened because once was a coincidence but a second time? Something was definitely odd about Naruto. Nodded, Hiruzen cleared his throat and watched as Iruka turned to look at him.
"Do you know why Naruto got into a fight this time with one of the students?" he asked patiently, making his way back to the young man. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of fists being made and someone being declared as the winner. Iruka took a step back and looked at him with wide eyes as if he hadn't thought of the reason. "You did ask her what happened, didn't you?"
Irritation boiled beneath his skin when Iruka flinched. For the past few years, he ignored the fact that Iruka didn't question Naruto because he believed with time that the man would come around to seeing Naruto as a person. But now they were in a position, where they could lose their jinchuuriki if they didn't convince her to stay here.
"Does it matter? She always resorts to violence," Iruka stated but he sounded hesitant. Hesitant when he should have known the answers to the question that he answered, and not for the first time that day, did he want to throttle someone. If this had been any other day, he could give the man a light warning and tell him that he needed to see things through Naruto's eyes.
However, they were on the verge of losing their jinchuuriki.
"It matters at this very moment, Iruka," Hiruzen said calmly. Despite the bubbles of irritation that threatened to explode, he kept his temper in control and took several deep breaths before continuing on, "Because Naruto could potentially leave the village and if you don't try to make things right with her then the whole village will be in trouble."
Iruka froze and then paled. "Do you mean she will un—"
"—No but you would wish that would be the problem," he replied, pulling out his pipe from the pockets of his robe. It had been an hour since he had a good smoke and right now he needed the smoke because he was dealing with short-sighted people. "At this current moment, her Uncle is in the village and the man has made it clear that if he finds out that Naruto has been treated unfairly, been disrespected then he would take her away from here."
Hope flashed through Iruka's eyes and Hiruzen thinned his lips. His whole body ached and a huge part of him understood why the man had that kind of reaction. Just like how he lost his beautiful wife, Iruka lost his parents as well and the sight of Naruto was a constant, bitter reminder that they weren't coming back.
On most days he could forget what Naruto represented, but when it came to her birthday…
He couldn't help but resent her for being the reason that his wife was gone.
"Would it be bad if she leaves?" Iruka sounded almost hopeful and Hiruzen shot him a disapproving look. Satisfied with the man's flinch, the Third Hokage moved towards the window and stared at the children doing their laps. If Kenji took Naruto then they would be seen as a mocking stock to the whole world because they couldn't keep their own Jinchuuriki.
The balance of powers would be gone and whatever defense they had in the village was going to be taken away from them.
"You were young when the Kyuubi Attack happened but there is a reason that Naruto was chosen by the Fourth Hokage as a jinchuuriki," Hiruzen explained once he gathered all of his thoughts. "A reason that will be explained later during the shinobi meeting, but know that if her Uncle succeeds with his wishes then we will be mocked by the other villages for not keeping her here."
There was a long pause and then Iruka looked at him with eyes filled with confusion. I will have to spill some contents of the contract to the shinobis so that they understand how bad this situation could be. It was a terrible position, a position that he wished his shinobi had not put him in because god knew that he didn't want the girl to leave.
"On what grounds can he take her?" Iruka asked, struggling to spill the words out of his mouth. "You are her guardian, aren't you? She is a ward of this village so how can he take her?"
The fact that I was short-sighted to not believe that we would lose our second jinchuuriki so soon and before someone spilled the truth about Naruto. The knowledge of what could be his doom was enough for him to bite back a groan. Kenji wasn't reasonable and he wasn't soft. In a sense, he was a vicious man that looked for any reason to tear anyone down.
A man with so much knowledge and skills on seals, that he could be a threat to the strongest Jounin inside the village.
"I will explain on what grounds that he can take her in the shinobi meeting and the importance of keeping Naruto happy in the village," he said darkly, tightening his grip on the pipe. The young man blinked and Hiruzen allowed his eyes to drip with a warning. "But know that if you don't find Naruto, make things right with her and know what caused the fight, then you will be dealing with the anger of an angry Clan Head."
Iruka paled and looked at him for a good couple of seconds before bolting out of the door, faster than he could even say go.
Hiruzen sighed and looked at the empty classroom. It was cruel of him to do this, to have the people act kind towards the young girl but the village would come first before anything else. Uzumaki Naruto needed to stay in the village or else they would be dealing with the other hidden villages taking advantage of their weakness.
They could not afford to be seen as weak, not when they just recovered from the loss that the Kyuubi Attack brought to them.
"If you knew she went through this then why didn't you take her in, Mikoto-chan? You know Kushina would have taken your kids in a heartbeat!"
The question hovered in the air and all Mikoto could do was stare at Kenji. The red-haired man had been impassive, chakra coiled tightly as if he was trying to control himself, throughout the time that she told him about what she knew about Naruto's upbringing. It was a miracle that the man had been under control but she guessed she had to thank his wife.
The moment about Naruto having her homework stolen and being accused as a liar was when she feared Kenji would spring into action and try to murder the little girl and teacher, who put Naruto through this. If Kumiko hadn't squeezed his hand, whispered something in his ear then she feared that there would be more corpses in this village.
"It is complicated," Mikoto strangled out the words and stared at Kenji's middle child. When it was confirmed Kushina and Minato died, she demanded to take the girl in but the Hokage informed her that Keisuke would take her in, and she accepted it. Keisuke was a good woman, a loving…step-mother and a woman that she knew Kushina would have approved raising her child.
But then Keisuke was murdered and Naruto was sent to the orphanage at the age of 2. When that happened, she tried to adopt Naruto but Fugaku stopped her. We are already in thin ice, Mikoto and if you take Naruto then the whole council will spin a story about us trying to seize power! We cannot adopt her. They argued for days and weeks over it before she relented to his desire.
She didn't see Naruto until the girl was around five, when she made friends with Sasuke. The moment her son declared that he wanted to play in the sandbox again because he wanted to see Naruto, was the moment that she knew she had an excuse to bring the girl over to her house. A subtle way of raising her before it was too late for the girl.
She still wanted her with her but Fugaku would forever refuse the idea of having Naruto become engaged to Sasuke or Itachi.
"Make it less complicated," Kenji ordered.
There was no way she could make it less complicated but she could try.
Minutes passed before she finally found the right words to clarify the bitter position that she was in. Mikoto opened her mouth, ready to spill the complicated position her clan was in, but froze when she heard the door being slid open. This wasn't good. If Kenji saw her husband then they would argue like little children again.
There was a very long pause as she waited for Fugaku to come into the living room. Her heart raced with nerves and she felt sweat forming on her forehead as the footsteps grew louder. It was definitely her husband's footsteps. Itachi was still out on a mission while Sasuke's footsteps always carried some form of excitement.
The door opened and Mikoto steeled for herself at the inevitable shock that her husband was going to give her.
"Mikoto, you didn't tell me that we were…Kenji!"
Black eyes widened when it landed on the tightly-coiled red-haired man sitting on the couch and Fugaku turned his head at her. For a brief second, Fugaku showed no emotion except disbelief and doubt. Doubt because he had never been happy with the way that she had grown close to Kenji during the times that he visited Kushina. It was fair because she did enjoy Kenji's company when they were teens.
However, nothing happened between them and her heart had always lingered on Minato before it shifted to her husband.
"I bet you have so many questions on how I'm alive, don't you?" Kenji asked, raising a single eyebrow at Fugaku. Her husband only offered a wordless nod before darting his eyes to Kenji's wife and children. The three children stared at the man with curious eyes and it didn't escape her notice that Kenji's oldest child kept darting his eyes between them with curiosity. "I'll explain it later, Fugaku."
Fugaku just stared at Kenji. "You are being…civil."
"I may have been…wrong with the way that I treated you whenever I saw you," Kenji admitted, looking almost pained to say those words. Fugaku just stared at the man for a good couple of seconds and then shuffled his way to take a seat beside her. The couch sunk just a little as her husband settled himself on the seat.
Her husband subtly pinched himself before he schooled his expression into a blank one. "You are apologizing to me."
"I'm stating that I should have been nicer to you," Kenji grunted. "You are never going to hear the words I'm sorry from me, anytime soon…ouch! Kumiko!"
The woman offered him a hard look and smiled thinly at him as she removed her hand from her husband's ribs. "It won't kill you to apologize to the man about being a meanie whenever you used to see him."
Mikoto chuckled and tuned the bickering couple out, choosing instead to focus on the youngest child in the room. Unlike Akane and Eisuke, who had the habit of shifting in their seats, the youngest child seemed content to cling onto her mother and trying to read the few books that her sons left scattered in the living room.
However there was something odd about the girl and that was the fact that she seemed to struggle to read the books. Every couple of words and the young girl would turn to her brother, tugging on his sleeves as if hoping that he would explain things to her. The teen would have a bright smile and explain in soft voice about what the various words meant.
It was sweet but it befuddled her at the same time.
"What brought you to our home?" Mikoto blinked and jerked her head at Fugaku. Her husband had a poker face, not revealed any of his current emotions but she knew from the way that he kept staring at Kenji and his children that he was in a daze. Then again, it was still a wonder that the man was still alive with what happened to his home.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Kenji that answered his question.
"Dad is here because he wants to know everything about Naruto-chan," Eisuke explained. He offered the man a frown and Fugaku jerked his head at the red-haired boy. For a brief second, her husband gazed at the boy and Mikoto wondered if her husband noticed the huge difference between their children and Kenji's children.
Did he also see the innocent light in their eyes? The childish wonder that not even Sasuke had.
Kenji gently poked the boy and shot him a disapproving look. "How many times have I told you to let the adults do the talking?"
"You were taking too long to answer," Eisuke explained, shrugged. He rubbed the back of his neck and offered a warm smile to her husband. It was naturally warm, reminded her of Kenji's brother Ren and Mikoto could only stare at her husband. It was strange for an Uzumaki, an Uzumaki that wasn't Kushina, to offer a smile to them.
Fugaku just stared at the young teen for the longest time before darting his eyes to Kenji. "Your son doesn't act anything like you."
"I know."
There was a subtle sense of pride in Kenji's voice and pride shone through his eyes. It was clear to her that her best friend's cousin was raising his children to be different from him, to be more open with their emotions and Mikoto had to wonder what made Kenji decide to allow this behavior. It was a wonder because Kenji never showed such emotions in public, in front of strangers.
Why are you raising your children to be more free with their emotions? That isn't the way of a shinobi clan. She felt the desire to ask stir inside of her stomach but the question died when she heard the loud footsteps of her son. When did Sasuke come back home? She didn't hear the door being opened but it was difficult to concentrate when the dead had came to life.
The living room door banged open and Sasuke slid into the living room, frantic and concerned. His black eyes didn't notice the children nor Kenji, seemed to land immediately on her and Mikoto felt her heart stopped. The sweat and the subtle anger in his eyes told her that something happened in school.
That something happened to Naruto.
"Mom, Naruto got into a fight," Sasuke huffed and clutched his chest as his black eyes locked onto her. Mikoto froze and glanced at Kenji, who stared at her youngest son with blank eyes but she sensed his chakra coiling even further. It threatened to whip out but thankfully, it didn't whip out. "And can you comfort her?"
"Why did Naruto get into a fight this time?" Mikoto asked, flickering her eyes to Kenji. The man seemed frozen while his wife frowned as if she couldn't believe that Naruto would fight. She kept her gaze focused on her trembling son, never allowed it to stray away to Kenji and his family. "Sasuke-kun, what was the reason for her fight this time? Did one of the girls make fun of her appearance again or—"
"Naruto doesn't hit anyone when they insult her appearance," Sasuke grumbled, black eyes flaring up with irritation. "But Ami overheard Naruto talking about some man claiming to be her Mom's cousin and she asks Naruto if her Uncle told her that her parents abandoned her."
In that exact moment, Kenji's chakra pulsated like a tsunami and Mikoto shuddered at the rage pouring out of the man. Her son shivered and quivered with fear while Fugaku made his way to calm down the furious man. To her surprise, Kenji's children seemed unfazed by the rage as if they were used to feeling their father's chakra being whipped into that emotion.
"I'm going to cut our meeting short," Kenji declared in a tone that was so cold that ice seemed to drip out of her words. Pure rage burned through his hazel eyes and the man jumped onto his seat. "I have a niece to see and I'm going to find that…girl's parents and demand for them to teach their kids some manners."
Kumiko eyed him. "I better go and see Naruto because you are in no state to see an upset little girl."
"Aren't we going to ask if Naruto won?" everyone blinked and looked at Akane, who stared at them with curious eyes. "What? Everyone knows that if there is a fight then there has to be a winner!"
Eisuke pinched the little girl on the ribs. "This is not the time for us to know if our cousin won her fight."
"Why not? I wanna know!" Akane complained. "I kinda hope that she smashed her to the ground and—"
"—Neechan, violence isn't the answer to everything," the youngest child answered patiently. For a five year old girl, Mikoto would say that the girl seemed to be the most calm one between her siblings. Akane puffed her cheeks while Kumiko ruffled her daughter's hair. Kenji snorted and flickered his eyes to Sasuke.
Her son just stared at the family with confused eyes.
After a couple of seconds, Kenji cleared his throat and looked at Sasuke. "Did she get payback, kid?"
Her son blinked and hesitated as if he wasn't certain to answer Kenji's question. Black eyes looked at her as if asking her if it was okay to tell them about the answer to such an obvious question. If he is anything like the Kenji of the past then he would be proud of the answer. The amount of times that Kenji praised Kushina for punching her own bullies was way too much.
"You can tell him, Sasuke-kun," Mikoto encouraged. "Kenji is Naruto's Uncle."
Sasuke frowned and took a deep breath, "She tore Ami's hair, scratched her cheeks and didn't stop until Iruka-sensei came into the classroom. Iruka-sensei wanted Naruto to apologize to Ami but Naruto refuse to apologize, even though Ami should be the one to apologize."
There was a long pause before Kenji howled with laughter. His laughter rang in the air, filled the whole living room and Mikoto allowed her lips to twitch with amusement. She is definitely Kushina's daughter. Anyone who knew her childhood friend, knew what Naruto did was something that her mother would do.
"She is definitely her mother's child," Kenji guffawed. "I'll have a talk with her about not using her fist but not after I tear the school apart for allowing a child to make such thoughtless comment to an orphan and not getting her side of the story."
Mikoto nodded and stared at Kumiko.
"I'll go with you to see Naruto," she declared. "You don't know where Naruto goes whenever she feels sad."
She had to comfort her goddaughter because Naruto didn't allow strangers to know about her full extent of her emotions. As long as she was there then Naruto would open up just a little bit, enough to allow people to know what was going on her life.
Did he tell you that your parents abandoned you?
That hurtful question rang through her ears and no matter how much Naruto tried to focus on her beautiful balcony garden, Ami's cruel eyes would flash through her eyes. Her heart ached, throbbed with so much pain, but the tears weren't going to crash onto the soil. It was going to stay behind her eyes because there was no point for her to cry.
She was going to take care of these flowers until she didn't have the urge to tear someone down. That was just one of the many reasons she had to leave school because what was the point of apologizing when she didn't mean it. Why apologize when she hadn't done anything wrong? Why stay when she wanted to scream at the world? There was no point.
Absolutely no point if you asked her.
"They didn't abandon me," she repeated to herself. Her fingers gazed against the orange petals and not for the first time, she felt overwhelming sadness washed over her. It was stupid. She should have faith in the Hokage's words about her parents but doubt kept tickling inside of her and a sudden thought came into her mind.
Maybe they did abandon me because why didn't Uncle Kenji find me earlier? Why did they leave me alone? She dropped the orange petal and dragged her heavy feet towards the couch. It was wrong of her and she should be active but what was the point of doing anything more? The apartment was sparkling from the intense scrubbing that she had done once she entered the apartment.
Her hand burned from the cleaning and her nose still itched, but it was better for her to clean the apartment then for her to weep like a little baby.
She must have laid on the couch for a good three hours, completely numb to the world around her. The birds chirped nor the sounds of the laughing couple behind the door was enough to make her want to move from the couch. All she could do was stare at the ceiling, waiting and praying for the desire to sob to die away.
Monsters like you don't deserve to cry.
Those words stabbed her in the chest and Naruto cradled her legs closer to her chest. It was fine. She could cry now but the numbness was still there. Crying won't fix anything but…hitting Ami didn't help me. She inhaled and exhaled, allowed the throbbing sensation to continue on until it was enough to overwhelm her.
Did her parents really abandon her because of her looks? What was the truth about her? She could ask Kenji about whether or not if her parents abandoned her? He knew her parents so maybe he would know whether or not her parents had truly abandoned her because of her looks. Did they really choose to leave her alone?
Did she do something wrong?
It took her a long time to move away from the couch and the only reason that she moved away from the couch was because of the rather loud knock on the door. The knocks were never-ending, overwhelming to the point that she knew who was behind the door. There were only two people who would make that kind of knock.
Hinata-chan should be back at home, going through her grueling training with her father.
So the only person left was Aunt Mikoto.
With a reluctant sigh, Naruto moved her legs towards the floor and trudged to the door. She took a deep breath and wrapped her hand around the doorknob before pulling it open. She should have been surprised when the door revealed Aunt Mikoto and Aunt Kumiko standing before her but all she could do was offer them a blank look.
"Sasuke told ya, didn't he?" she whispered, lowering her head. There was no need for her to look at Aunt Mikoto, not when she knew the woman always seemed to know what was going through her mind. Not when she knew Sasuke probably spilled the whole story about what happened between her and Ami.
A part of her was curious to know why Aunt Kumiko was here as well.
Warmth flooded her system when Mikoto wrapped her hands around her. She pulled her in for a gentle hug, filling her with so much warmth that she wondered not for the first time if her own mother would comfort her like this. Would she have comforted her like this? It felt so wonderful and that was all she needed to let the tears to flow out of her eyes.
"My parents didn't abandon me," Naruto sniffed, clinging to the woman even tighter. She was acting like a baby but Mikoto never seemed to judge her, never looked at her like she was some kind of monster. She sniffed the flowery perfume of Mikoto and tried to force herself to stop trembling from the sadness. "They didn't abandon me, Aunt Mikoto! The Hokage told me that my Mummy and Daddy didn't abandon me…that they loved me."
Those words were what kept her going for the longest time. It was the knowledge that she had been wanted by someone but what if Ami was right? What if they did abandon her like Ami said? She hated this. She hated how one question from Ami was enough to make her question everything she knew about her past.
The hug seemed to grow tighter and Mikoto rubbed gentle circles around her back. The thundering heartbeat began to fade away and the hollowness seemed to become numb, allowed her to sniffle against the woman's blouse. The constant cooing allowed her to relax her guard and she hug the woman even tighter, clinging onto her like a monkey.
"Naru-chan, I know you won't believe me but your parents didn't abandon you."
She wished she could believe Aunt Mikoto but how could she believe anything when there was no proof that she was actually right, because how could her mother die on her birthday?
(It was a couple of weeks later that Kenji explained to her about what happened and no matter how many times he told her that her parents made their decision, she couldn't help but blame herself).
A/N: For anyone that is curious to know about the changes, Naruto does indeed have a Quirk and it was supposed to be in the one on FFnet but I realized that there wasn't enough foreshadowing for her ability. So for that reason, the Guardian Chronicles in FFNet verse won't have Naruto with that ability. The whole talk-no-jutsu isn't her Quirk because of how permanent it can be but her Quirk is similar to the whole talk-no-jutsu.
Do tell me of your thoughts about this chapter and how you feel about this alternative verse for the Guardian Chronicles.