This chapter is dedicated to auraarzadon07! I really appreciate everyone's reviews and questions - and thank you all so much for reading my stories. BTW, I've posted the beginnings of new ones!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. PLEASE REVIEW MY CHAPTERS! I will take advice and suggestions from my readers, (I can always add some fun, especially,) while continuing my story.

Thinking

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Emphasis

Naruto was the only one up early in the morning at the Nara residence so far. She'd had the weirdest dream and just couldn't get back to sleep, especially after Kurama began ranting that both her perversions and nightmares weren't allowing him to sleep either. Rude asshole. The blonde didn't even know what the whole "perversion" thing was about... She only remembered upon waking that in her dream, she had been riding a silver horse bareback and got bucked off. She wasn't sure that even constituted a nightmare. She felt fine about it.

Now she was in the middle of making breakfast for the family. Thank goodness she'd taken to following Yoshino's skills in the kitchen shortly after moving in. Her newly-found love of the art - and she did consider cooking to be an art - led her to meet Choji's mom who was the absolute best chef in the world! Well, she and Teuchi were probably tied for the wonders they could create in their kitchens, but Akimichi-san made more than ramen. The woman could do no wrong in the kitchen - whether it was in their family's home or in one of the family's restaurants. No way she'd ever let Teuchi Ichiraku know her thoughts on all of this, though. Plus, his ramen was divine! She had often thanked the ramen gods for Ichiraku's, but now she's pretty sure that Teuchi HIMSELF is the Ramen God!

There was a light tapping on the front door. Naruto padded over and henged herself as Shikamaru. Whoever was here definitely wasn't looking for that particular Nara, as he would never get out of bed this early. Naruto didn't register the chakra of the person outside, so she opened the door just a crack to get a peek at their intruder. She was immediately delighted - aside from the fact that she hadn't recognized his brilliant white chakra - and dropped her henge.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san! I didn't expect to see you until much later this afternoon, ne?" He was just too cute standing on the porch, hand behind his head looking like he didn't know what to do. She pulled the man inside by his elbow.

"Maa, maa, Naruto-chan: I thought we talked about no honorifics," he said looking down at the floor. "And I just came by to deliver a message. I really didn't expect you to be up," he finished, lightly scratching his scalp through his thick hair. Something smells good…

"I'm the only one living here that would be up at this hour. Well, unless Shikaku-san had duties to attend to or something, ya know? Why don't you come on back and have something to eat?" Naruto asked, already walking back to the kitchen.

Kakashi followed behind his… wife… Still getting used to that, he sighed. As soon as she opened the door, he had realized that she looked really cute in her yukata. Cute? What am I, 10?! Whatever was going down in the kitchen smelled even better as they approached. Looking up from their path, he felt a shiver go up his spine as he watched his wife's ass sway back and forth, just underneath her mountainous display of golden locks. He cleared his throat and tried to look away.

"It's kind of traditional… I mean, a traditional breakfast, ya know? I hope that's okay," Naruto added, looking anxious. It wasn't until she brought Kakashi into the kitchen that she realized that this was the first time she had ever made food for someone outside of the family unless she was in the restaurant. And at Yakiniku BBQ she was in the back, so it didn't seem like something intimate like this. The patrons didn't know who had made their food, thankfully. Plus she always had people with her in that kitchen that she knew. "What would you like to drink? I made coffee and tea, plus we have some juices..."

"Maa, this is a lot of trouble you're going to; are you sure you have enough? And I take my coffee black."

"Aa, the way I take my men." Kakashi nearly choked as Naruto spun around, a blush on her cheeks. "Gomen! That was a joke! Gomen, gomen," she continued, holding her whiskered cheeks in her hands from embarrassment. Saying shit like that to Shikamaru is one thing, but to Kakashi, it's quite another! "Well, I guess it's obvious that I wasn't being serious about liking my men black, considering that you're rather on the pale side." Kakashi did choke out loud at that, watching as his little wife smacked herself in the forehead and quickly turned around to pour his coffee. She made her way toward him blushing bright red, but wouldn't look him in the eye.

"You're a dumb ass. But I'll give you this: you're an entertaining dumb ass." Kurama stated seriously, lying in his cage with his snout propped up in his paw. Damned fox looked like he was watching daytime drama!

"So you'll be taking me then, Na-ru-chan?" he teased, touching her hand with his index finger as she passed him the cup. The poor thing looked like she'd have a meltdown right there! He snickered.

"You!" Naruto tried to scold, unable to get any other words out.

"Impressive comeback. More proof that you are, in fact, a dumb ass."

"Shut up Kurama!" Naruto scrunched up her face and glared at him, which only made him close his eyes. She pointedly ignored the fox's dark mutterings about Uzumakis being unable to successfully attract a mate when they wanted to regardless of their perverted natures. Or maybe he said it was because of those natures. Meh... He was lying, she decided.

Naruto continued piling food high on Kakashi's plate after bringing his miso soup to the table. She was so flustered that she didn't even realize he'd come to her side and was looking at her like she was crazy, one eyebrow high in the air.

"Maa, is that for everyone?" She jumped at the sound of his voice. If nothing else, she was definitely fun to tease! But she is more than that, his mind told him clearly. Go away! Since when do I want to hear from you?! Hmm… Even though it was pretty customary for him, he really didn't like arguing with himself; it made him feel one step closer to being declared clinically insane. He already had enough bull shit psych diagnoses throughout his life to not need that added to them. "This is really good, Naruto," he said after taking his first bite of food. "Did you make this yourself?" She answered in the affirmative and he continued to dig in.

Mini-Shikaku walked in as if he were in a stupor, looking at them both with a grimace on his face. He grabbed an onigiri, glared at Kakashi, then stumbled back toward his room. Naruto groaned. "Please excuse Oh-So-Friendly-san," she said with a touch of sarcasm. "He's really a great guy, but I don't know what his problem is."

Kakashi knew exactly what the teen's problem was, of course. The young Nara's problem was him: Hatake Kakashi. Whether it was because the boy himself cared for Naruto and was unhappy that she wasn't going to be his own wife, or because he really viewed her as a sister and was looking out for her, he didn't know - yet. However… If it were the latter, it would all work out. If the answer to that Nara's attitude toward him was the former, though? Maa, he can go fuck himself!

Is he smirking? It was so hard to know exactly as he had that damn mask on his face… The one that he still had on while eating the food she made for him!

"Do I have something on my face?" Kakashi asked as he looked up at the intense gaze of his wife.

"I wouldn't know," Naru answered with a sigh. Continuing, she pouted, "I was hoping to see your face." Oh, he looks way too happy and confident after hearing me confess that! Maybe there's something good under there? Ooo! So good that he has to keep his face covered or everyone will attack him?! She nearly squealed out loud at the thought. Good thing she was too cool to do something like that! She pointedly ignored her bijuu's scoff.

"Maa, this has been delicious, Naruto, but unfortunately I have to run." Literally, he thought: he was now just over an hour late to meet his team. Fortunately, he had told them to meet up two hours ago, in the dark. He chuckled internally: Tenzo-kun will be pissed!

"I'll still see you later, right? To pick up everything from the furniture store?" Naruto asked as she picked up their plates.

Crap. Her food had smelled so good - and was so good - that he had completely neglected to tell her why he was there so early. "Maa, sumimasen, Naru. I've got a mission I'm already late for. I'll be out for a few days - less than a week - and that's my reason for being here. Breakfast was so good I nearly forgot about it," he said genuinely, smiling at Naruto's blush and thanks. I could've done a lot worse for myself with a girl. So far, so good.

Naruto scooted very close to him. Speaking in just over a whisper she asked, "Ne, Kakashi: will you be alright? I saw that your hands were hurt when you took your gloves off to eat, but didn't know if I should say anything." Big, sparkling blue, concerned eyes blinked up at him with genuine care.

How long had it been since someone asked him that - other than the occasional polite, "You alright?" asked by his colleagues? He couldn't even remember. He tried to come up with an easy excuse for her acting like she cared for him, but realized that maybe she actually did. He tried to shake the thoughts off. "I'm fine Naruto. No worries," he looked down at his hands. "I can still do my jutsus and handle weapons effectively." He cleared his throat. He had a weird feeling in his chest.

There was no way he would tell her that his ninken did the damage. He didn't want to prematurely scare her from them when he eventually allowed them to meet her. It's a good thing it wasn't last night. The pack had been so excited about him getting married and possibly having pups that they'd turned from their warrior-selves to the mischievous puppies he'd had to teach so long ago. Most of the scratches he had were from their sheer excitement, but a couple of bites on each hand were due to the fact that he didn't bring them pieces of wedding cake. Another was from Pakkun, his most mature and lead ninken, who was just pissed that there wasn't a cake to begin with. "What kind of shitty wedding is that, Boss?" Pakkun had whined, which had started the final dog pile and the beginning to the end of Kakashi's abuse.

Naruto bit her lip as she looked at her husband. Husband! "Okay. But, Kakashi… Can you keep a secret for me?" Her eyes were hopeful and warm, yet held some doubt. He couldn't bring himself to speak so he just gave her a nod.

His wife took his hands into hers ever so gently. She looked up at him as if she was afraid, then let out a sigh as her shoulders dropped in surrender. Kakashi didn't know what she would do, but it was definitely weighing on her... He was filled with anxiety, both from whatever could happen as well as the fact that she was holding his hands so tenderly. He looked up at her in question, only to feel a wonderful warmth surrounding his hands. He looked down to realize that they were glowing - a golden glow at that.

"Brat! You just used MY chakra to heal his perverted porn and I-don't-even-want-to-think-of-what-else holding paws! How are you going to explain that?!" Kurama all but roared.

"I couldn't just let him leave hurt," she whined back toward the cage housing him.

"Naruto," Kakashi looked at his hands in astonishment as he fisted them, then stretched his fingers out in a repetitive motion. Looking up at her, he asked in a wonder-filled tone, "What did you do?"

Naruto scratched the back of her head awkwardly. Kami, I hate when Kurama is right. "Well, I can't have you going out on a mission hurt, ya know?" She couldn't even look up at Kakashi's face. Did he realize where that chakra came from? Would he tell someone like the Sandaime? She couldn't do medical ninjutsu at all and had only been able to use Kurama's pure chakra after they finally came to an agreement and friendship during the war at the end of her last lifetime. I sure know how to fuck myself over.

"Kush- Your mother told me about how some Uzumakis have certain healing powers, but I'd never seen it, or even thought it would be anything like this. That was remarkable, Naruto. Thank you," Kakashi said genuinely and with some reverence in his voice.

"He should be thanking me for taking MY chakra! And then he should begin begging me for mercy!"

"It wasn't even a quintillionth of a centimeter of your chakra, baka fox!" Naruto hastily replied back.

"It's still MY chakra." Naruto chose to ignore her bijuu and finally met Kakashi's eye. "Don't ignore me! Do you know how lucky you are that he came up with that Uzumaki healing B.S.? As IF you could conjure up something like that!" Kurama went on ranting and raving even though his vessel didn't seem the least bit bothered by it. "Brat!" The brat had the figurative balls to growl at him: the nerve of her!

"It's no biggie - just had to make sure you were in the best shape you could be out there, ne?" There was a pause. "Please don't tell anyone," Naruto asked timidly, a look of fear on her pretty face.

Before he even thought of his actions, he'd nodded then placed a masked kiss on her forehead. Both of them blushed at his actions - oh, Kakashi could feel his cheeks burning - thank Kami once again for my mask. And of course, it was in that tender moment that Shikaku Nara walked in on. Expecting his neck to be held in a shadowy strangle, he only received a smirk from his commander. That was worse than a shadow jutsu of any kind, really. Jumping up from his chair, Kakashi looked at Naru and Shikaku saying jovially, "Thanks again for the meal; see you in less than a week! Ja!" He was gone in a sunshin, leaving an exasperated Naruto to clean up the leaves he'd left behind. Shikaku laughed out loud as he began to pile up food on his own breakfast plate.

Naruto, on the other hand, was pulled more-than-firmly away from the kitchen by a completely infuriated Shikamaru. "I saw what you did!"