A/N: Embers rule persists.
If folks don't like this, poof! Away it goes.
As ever, reviews are my fuel, my fire, my life.
Without them, I lose all inspiration, all hope, all ability to write. That's no joke. I have so little time to write these days, and silence hurts...
So by all means, speak up! Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback, no matter how small or large, matters! Really, it helps a lot. Its a joy to talk with you all and bandy ideas back and forth; it really is. Sorry if this seems shorter than usual, working on a tight schedule here.
Now, lets answer your burning questions, comments, and concerns:
Q: What are you updating next?
A: Multiple things. Then again, I suppose that depends on you the reader now, doesn't it?
Q: Hurry up and get to the canon timeline! I'm sick of Willow!
A: Rude little thing, aren't you? Rushing would ruin the tempo we've seen thus far. I can't just...jump ahead because one person wants me to. There's a story to tell!
Q:...Naruto's going to be one hell of a dad in this story, isn't he?
A: Yup. With aaaaall the dad jokes.
Q: Who's behind the Menagerie uprising?
A: Come now, you know I can't reveal that...
Q: Will...will Penny...you know?
A: Penny will still appear in this story. Though when and where and in what form, I won't say. I'm partial to her original body, but the second is undoubtedly an upgrade...
Remember, in this story, Watts beat Pietro to the punch and created life before he could. Thanks in no small part to Naruto of course, but the fact remains.
That's not something Pietro's going to forget. For good or ill...well, you'll have to read and see.
Alright then, I've kept you long enough.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes.
Not a wit or a one. Ought to be reeeaaally bloody obvious by now.
"Hello, Winter! Can you hear me in there? Its your papa! I can't wait to meet you!"
~A Proud Parent!
Know Thy Maker
Watts and Pietro weren't pleased to see one another.
Understatement of the century, that. Naruto heard their shouting long before he reached the manor entrance; by the time he found them in the yard, his ears were already beginning to ache. Likewise, he knew he would have his work cut out for him. If they'd both come to see him, only to stumble onto one another...yeah, this was going to end poorly.
"That was my research!"
"Just knock their heads together. Usually works."
Both men were practically butting heads -admirable when one considered just how short Polendina was compared to Arthur- and heedless to everything else. They looked all of a moment from tearing one another apart as he stormed onto the scene. There was a part of Naruto, a small part, that longed to just let them have it out and be done with it. The rest of him knew better. Blast his bleeding heart.
"Hey!" he tried to interject.
"And what of it?!" Watts thundered over him. "I didn't need your blueprints! I made my own!"
His right eye began to twitch. "Listen!"
"Nonsense!" Pietro didn't even hear his plea. "You clearly stole mine!"
"OI!" He clamped a hand on their shoulders. "Will the two of you stop already?!"
"Stole?!" Arthur quivered with suppressed rage. "As if I would do such a thing, you fat fop of a fool!"
Right, enough of this.
Naruto released them and stepped back, inhaled deeply as he did. From there he began to knead chakra deep within his lungs. Blue eyes flashed as his body burned bright. Neither Watts nor Polendina too notice, absorbed in their argument as they were. Fair enough. He hadn't expected them to. It was what came after that would capture their attention.
"GENTLEMEN!"
Kurama's snarl ripped through the yard like a thunderclap as he howled into existence, looming over the enraged scientists in all his golden splendor majesty. Any argument they might've had shriveled on the spot. Arthur saw him first and crashed ignominiously onto his rear, looking like he'd seen a ghost. Pietro's chair jolted, nearly spilling the startled man onto the grass.
"Are ya done?" Naruto clicked his tongue from within his partner's gilded form. "Because if you're not, then by all means." he waved his metal hand at them. "Continue."
Somewhere from the manor, he could've sworn he heard little Cinder shout. "I want that!"
Watts and Polendina exchanged a bland look. Neither dared to speak.
"Good." Releasing his transformation, the blond dropped back to the ground. "Now what's this all about? Why are you fighting?"
Neither answered.
"Honestly, both of you!" he flung up his arms. "You're acting like children!"
"This...scoundrel," Pietro took the initiative before his adversary could, "Absconded with my research and won't admit it!"
Watts scrambled upright and promtply spat upon the ground. "Because I did no such thing, you mountain of lard!"
"Arthur, insulting him does you no credit." Naruto's brow furrowed as he dropped back to the ground. "I thought you were better than that."
His ally well and truly recoiled, mustache acquiver with anger. "I am! I'm more than he could ever be!"
"Then prove it by being the better man." Naruto gave his shoulder a nudge. "Rise above it."
Pietro scoffed. "That's clearly impossible."
"I'm sorry?" Naruto rounded on him with a smile sharper than glass. "Did I say something that you found funny?" Now it was Doctor Polendina's turn to quail under his wrathful gaze. "Wipe that smug smile off your face and act your age. What proof do you have that Watt's stole your technology? What're you even working on?"
Arthur muffled a groan into his palm. "Here we go...
"Why, that's why I'm here!" Polendina preened. "I wanted to speak to you about my Penny Project. Its revolutionary technology, creating artificial souls forged from aura alone." his brow darkened and his lips pursed into a thin line. "And then I stumbled into your associate on the way here. He told me about his A.L.M.A. initiative," he whirled, stabbing a dark finger at Arthur. "Which happens to sound a great deal like mine!"
A scoff answered him. "My work is nothing like yours!"
"Watts isn't my associate. He's my friend." Naruto didn't miss the way the mad scientist perked up behind him. "Watch your words. Alma's done nothing wrong. You're acting like it's a sin that she was born into this world." He hesitated, unwilling to reveal that she'd been essentially made from his own chakra and aura alike. The secrets of chakra weren't something he was about to dole about frivolously. "Say something like that again, and I'll throw you out."
Polendina recoiled, looking pained. "You're taking his side?!"
"I am taking no one's side!" He snapped, flashing his teeth in the light. "I can't go into the specifics, but rest assured, Alma's...unique. You said your Penny Project involves creating a soul from Aura, no?" When Pietro dared a reluctant nod, he barreled on. "Well, there you have it. She couldn't possibly be made from your schematics."
"You sound confident, if nothing else." A curious spark passed through the man's gaze, his anger quelled for a moment. "What makes you so certain of this?"
"Because," Naruto lifted his chin, rose to his full towering height, and glowered down at the portly fellow. "I was directly involved in her creation."
In his peripherals, he noticed Arthur edging forward. It looked like he wanted to say something. He knew what it was.
'Don't you dare!' he shot a sidelong look at him. 'Not a word!'
"She was made with chakra, you fool!" Too late. The man's temper got the better of him. "His chakra! The only kind on Remnant-mmph?!"
Naruto whirled and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Not another word, Arthur!"
"What of her, then?" Pietro rallied in the face of his fury. "Where is this Alma he's so proud of? For all I know, Doctor Watts made her look just like my Penny to spite me!"
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?!" Watts thrashed free and made a noise of pure disgust. "You probably want to dissect her or worse! I'll not have it!"
An ember of anger sparked to life in Naruto's heart. He quashed it before it could take root. "No one is dissecting anyone here!"
"Precisely!" Arthur's hand strayed to his holster, and the revolver sheathed within. "Because he'll die if he tries!"
Pietro clamored back. "Your threats prove your guilt! I should've known better than to bandy words with you!"
Naruto heaved a sigh as their argument wound back up again. This wasn't going to plan. He didn't know what had birthed the bad blood between these two, but it was clearly something that couldn't be fixed with a few stern words on his part. Maybe he should just give them both a smack and tell them to behave.
"Stop!" a thin, reedy voice interjected suddely. "Stop fighting! Stoppit right now!"
He whirled, mildly surprised to find young Alma racing down the steps towards them at speed. He sidestepped quickly, allowing her to hurtle past and thrust herself between the two -quite possibly mad!- men of science before they could come to blows or worse. Each went still as stone.
"Alma!" Watt's face was writ with worry. "What are you doing here?! I told you to stay inside!"
A thought nagged at Naruto as he looked on. 'Why didn't I sense her...?'
"Curious. Maybe its a semblance of some sort?"
'Maybe...
"Don't fight!" Her wail snapped him back to reality and realized that those bright eyes were shimmering with tears. "Fighting is bad!"
"Urk." Arthur flinched, looking like she'd physically struck him. She practically had. "We weren't fighting, my dear. This is merely a disagreement."
"Speak for yourself!" Pietro bridled. Paused. Frowned. Stared. "Wait..."
"Yes?"
Alma pivoted to face him with an curious stare. Naruto considered intervening for a moment, but a strange sense of something stayed his hand. He'd been on the verge of resorting to violence just now, and in truth he yet would if someone tried to lay a hand on this precious little bean. But maybe the daughter of Arthur would have better luck than him. Maybe. Just maybe. Surely it wouldn't hurt to let her try...
"My word." Pietro Polendina adjusted his spectacles, blinking owlishly behind them as he beheld the pale waif before him. "Is this her?"
Watts shifted his body just so, tactfully placing himself between the two of them. "And if she is?"
Alma's head peeked out behind his legs. "Uncle Pietro?"
Silence stretched between the unlikely trio.
.
..
...
And then.
Polendina uttered a wheezing noise and clutched at his heart.
Naruto's shoulders convulsed with stifled mirth.
Watts sputtered. "Do not call him that!"
"But why, papa?" Alma turned guileless golden eyes upon him, not at all comprehending her faux-pass. "You say his name all the time at work, always talking about how you want to surpass him and stuff...doesn't that make you family?" she touched a finger to her lips, contemplating the matter with all the gravitas only a child could possess. "Like brothers or something?"
Arthur slumped against a wall, looking like he was on the verge an aneurysm. "Brothers?!"
Naruto couldn't contain himself anymore. He toppled backward with a shriek of laughter, legs flailing in the air.
"Yes, well!" Pietro coughed into a fist, anger averted. "Perhaps I may have overreacted. She clearly doesn't look a thing like my girl."
"Girl?" Alma whirled to face him. "Do I have a sister?" her voice jumped an octave. "Why didn't anyone tell me I have a sister?!"
Polendina preened anew. "Well, you see, Penny's not quite conscious yet, but technically speaking...
"As adorable as this is," Naruto stifled a snicker as he climbed back to his feet before Alma could truly take control of the conversation., "Unless either of you can build some magic device to help me with Menagerie in a month, I don't really have the time to dawdle about right now." He clicked his tongue when both men bridled as one. "Whatever's going on here, it can wait. I'll just leave you to it, then." he saw his chance to escape and had every intention of taking it. "If there's nothing else...?"
The silence that followed was decidedly curious.
"A month, you say?" Watts thumbed his chin. "Why use such a number?"
Pietro tore his gaze away from Alma with a frown. "I wasn't told you were leaving so soon...
"Yup!" Alma remained innocent of it all, pure soul that she was. "We're going on vacation! Papa, can Uncle Pietro come with us? Please?" she clasped her hands and pivoted to face him in a swirl of silk. "Please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top."
Watts made angry Watts noises and grit his teeth. "If...that's what you truly want, my dear...
Kurama deflated with a sigh. "Eh. Fox is out of the bag. Might as well tell 'em."
...why not? Wasn't like he had anything left to lose.
Naruto did just that. He told them in clear and concise terms, leaving the more vital details of Kali and Ghira's involvement out, while impressing upon them the need for silence and secrecy. Once he was done, a flicker of...something passed between the two men. A spark of competition perhaps. It wasn't camaraderie, not yet,but it was certainly something. Arthur and Pietro looked to one another. Then to him. Back to each other again, now. He wasn't sure he liked the look in their eyes...
"We'll make a contest of it, then."
He wasn't sure who said it first, only that someone did.
Naruto blinked, feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on. "Eh? Contest-what-now?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with. Come along, Alma." Watts took hold of his creation by the hand. "We have much work to do, and very little time in which to do it."
"We do?" His daughter blinked, but let him tug her along. Didn't stop her from waving, though. "Bye-Bye, Uncle Pietro! See you later!"
"It would seem I have work to do well." Pietro adjusted his spectacles, and with one last longing look at Alma's retreating form, bid his goodbyes. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Schnee." Naruto was too baffled to even correct him on the name and limply let him shake his hand. "I'll see you in a month."
In the end, he was left standing on the lawn, head spinning.
Five little words came to his mind.
...what did I just unleash?"
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto flopped into bed that night with a groan. "I hate, hate, HATE being an adult...
"Poor baby." Willow looked up from her novel with a smile. "Long day?"
"Terrible day!" He buried his head into the pillow to muffle a scream. "Watts and Pietro were bad enough, but I spent most of the day training the girls after that!" an angry blue eye peeked up at her. "Cinder and Sienna are vicious! I have bruises where bruises should not exist! Don't even get me started on the paperwork with your father!"
"You look stressed." she cooed. "Here, let me help you."
Before he could think to ask what she was on about, she laid her book down and scooted closer. A hand took hold of his shoulder and rolled him over. At first Naruto didn't rightly comprehend what she was up to...at least her hips straddled his. He perked up. In more ways that one.
"As luck would have it, I just put them to bed." She bent low, lips caressing the outer lobe of his ear. "Summer and the others have a guest room downstairs. The night is ours."
"Seey, you say that," He frowned, "But should you really be...
Willow tapped him once on the nose. "Darling?"
He blinked once. "Yeah?"
Willow tugged down the straps of her down and rolled her shoulders. The gossamer think fabric slid down off her breasts and pooled at her knees. She kicked the rest of if away, hurling it across the room. Naruto's mouth went dry. She wasn't wearing anything underneath. Not so much as a stitch of clothing.
She quirked a pale brow at him. "You were saying?"
"You're right," he swallowed once,"That really is terribly distracting."
Her mouth molded with his marvelously, and they made no more plans that night.
(.0.0.0.)
Days flew by in a wild whirl of activity.
Plans were drafted, discarded, then remade anew.
Everyone spent their remaining days in different ways.
Some studied. Others trained, working themselves to nigh on exhaustion.
Brilliant minds flung themselves into their work with reckless abandon of their profession.
And in almost no time at all...
(.0.0.0.)
"Has it really been a month already?"
"Easy for you to say." Willow made a noise of discontent as she sprawled beside him. "You're not the one getting fat."
Naruto knew bait when he saw it; just as he knew better than to bite. Nearly thirty days before he'd been the one complaining to her. How the tables had turned on them. They'd made their plans and preparations as best they could. They were ready, and their allies with them. Nothing else could done. One last meeting tomorrow with Watts and Pietro, an hour to convene with Team STRQ and that would be it.
In little more than a day, they'd make for Menagerie.
A sudden flight of fancy struck him. Sitting upright, he reached over and ran a hand over the slight swell of Willow's stomach. She made a noise of confusion, one that only grew louder as he leaned in and laid an ear upon her belly. Willow grumbled a little, but didn't resist. Naruto closed his eyes and tried listen. Was it just his imagination, or had he felt a kick just now? Surely not. It was too early for that. Much too early.
"Hello, Winter!" he cooed. "Can you hear me in there? Its your papa! I can't wait to meet you!"
There it was again! He could've sworn he felt something.
"Naruto!" Willow absolutely sputtered. "Stop talking to my belly! Its embarrassing! Cease!"
He grinned up at her. "NEVAH!"
She glowered down at him. "You do realize she can't hear you."
"Nope." his smile was decidedly chipper, even more than he felt. "I know she can hear me."
...what do you think she'll be like?"
"Well," he jibed, "If she's anything like her mother-owowwow!" words piqued into laughter as she tweaked his cheek. "Joking! I was joking!"
Willow huffed, but did push him away. Her palms came down on either side of her stomach, nearly cupping it where she lay. She curled her body around his. Naruto didn't budge, still nuzzling her stomach.
"It still doesn't feel real." he heard her murmur. "You, me, this. Sometimes I wonder if its all just a dream." a faint note of sorrowful awe crept into her voice as she began to babble. "There are days when I wonder if I'll just wake up to find that none of this is real and I...
He pinched her thigh, earning a yelp followed by an involuntary kick. "Hey, don't go talking like that. This is real. Real as you and me."
"I suppose you're right." she smiled. "But if you pinch me like that again, I'll knock you straight into dreamland!"
"Ha! I'd like to see you try!"
She curled a little closer to him and didn't speak.
A peaceful pall of silence stretched on between them.
.
..
...
Across the room, the door creaked open. Cinder's head poked through, eyes squeezed firmly shut.
Willow coughed. "We're decent, dear."
One golden orb creaked open, jusr a fraction of an inch.
...I had a bad dream." she muttered, the words nearly a whisper. "May I...?"
Willow quirked a brow. "Such a demanding little daughter." she cast a gaze into the darkness of the hall. "Well? Are you going to hide out there too, Sienna?"
Sienna's head poked around the corner. "Can I?"
Naruto patted the mattress with one palm. "Might as well enjoy our last night in peace."
Cinder and Sienna needed no further cajoling than that. Not a bit. They all but clamored onto their bed.
A/N: PLEASE READ THIS NOTE, WOULD YOU KINDLY?
And so the month ends.
We're gonna be moving very hard, and very fast soon, so I hope you enjoyed the downtime.
As ever, reviews are the fuel that keeps me writing. That's no joke. I'm sorry the chapters are shorter, but silences hurts more than any flame...
Without them, I can't write a single world. Seriously! So speak up! Every word -and every review!- really does matter!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews.
Potential ones...
...but still!
As ever!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS AHOY!
BEWARE!
(Previews)
"Violence never solves anything."
"Son, you would be amazed at the amount of problems violence has solved...
Naruto grit his teeth. "I hate planes."
Willow groaned into her bag. "I hate them more...
Cinder's small hand massaged her back. "There, there...deep breaths...
"Well, she's still a prototype...but...well. Say hello, darling."
"Salutations!"
...you had to do it. You just had to do it."
Alma shot to her feet. "Did I just get a little sister?"
Watts looked positively nauseous.
"We'll be making a brief stopover in Mistral for a few hours. Its too taxing to just fly from one end of the world to the other...
Ghira wrung his hands. "I may...need your help."
"Is about Kali? Please say its about Kali. Because if it isn't, I'm going to punch you."
"My lord! Its such a pleasure to finally meet you face to face!"
Naruto shrank back, somewhat startled. "And you are...?"
"Why, good sir! My name is Tyrian!" pale hands pumped his, thrashing his right arm up and down. "Please excuse the nonbelievers on the island. They don't understand your godly glory." he turned aside and spat. "You have but to say the word and the faithful will see them put to the sword."
Kurama exploded into laughter. "I knew it! You started a cult!"
...why do you think I'm a god?"
"My lord, what else can you be? No one can do the things you do?"
Raven sniggered somewhere behind him. "You deserve this."
"Birdie, I swear, I will start plucking your feathers."
"That an invitation to fuck me or something?"
Summer slapped her back. "Language!"
EDIT: Once more, it seems folks aren't happy with the length of recent chapters, judging by the flames.
I only have so much time to write these days, I'm sorry I'm letting everyone down T_T
As ever, reviews are my fuel, my fire, my life.
Without them, I lose all inspiration, all hope, all ability to write.
That's no joke.
...
...
...really, it isn't.
R&R~!