HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
This chapter is dedicated to HatakeSachico5151 & sgriffin730! I really appreciate everyone's reviews and questions - and thank you all so much for reading and following my stories! Have a safe holiday season and VERY happy New Year!
THIS IS NOT A BASHING FIC! Some of you may wonder considering certain events that take place, but certain people will grow as a part of the story. I hope it will all make sense to you as things progress!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I will take advice and suggestions from my readers' reviews!
Thinking
Biju, etc. speaking
Biju, etc. thinking
Emphasis
"It's not your fault," Kakashi said firmly regarding Lee's father's death from the nine-tails attack. "It's no more your fault than it was your mother's," he continued, looking at her with both of his eyes. She almost felt like he put her in a genjutsu: she immediately calmed so much being held tighter in his arms. He closed his eyes and kissed her gently. It was beginning to really, really heat up when he suddenly pulled back, pulling his tongue out of her mouth without even finishing the kiss! She opened her eyes and wiped off her mouth, to see him looking at her with wide eyes, a horrified expression on his beautiful face. He slid back away from her. "You… you saw my face! Why didn't you… Oh, Kami, this is bad," he went on miserably, now on his feet, stumbling as a result of their drinking. She didn't know what was going on, other than the fact that he only now realized he wasn't wearing his mask. He finally found and grabbed it off the floor and quickly drew it over his head, saying before he sunshinned away, "We're fucked!"
"Naruto," Shikamaru's voice echoed in her head. Naruto sighed heavily after being through so much. Why the hell did I ever agree to have Aniki in my head? Considering the love of her life had once again made an escape from her, she trudged toward her room in drunken misery. "Hold on, Shikamaru…"
"You sound exhausted," he replied.
"Just… just shut up and let me get to a sealed room. Oh, wait…. Did I seal everything?" She paused. "Shika, did I do the seal on the house so that I could seal every room, or what?" Naru asked.
"How the hell should I know?! You put up the seal! Naruto, what's going on? You sound…"
"Drunk. I know, I know…" She'd almost reached her room, and saw Kakashi's door shut, or at least she thought it was shut. He hadn't activated the silencing seals in his room, as she heard extremely loud snoring. "Shika, I can't remember shit!" She made it to her room to see her seals activated, but at the moment didn't trust them. Shikamaru was asking her questions that she ignored as she placed an additional seal up in the room. "Gods, I hope that I haven't inactivated something…"
"Naruto, what the hell has happened?" her brother-figure asked, his worry obvious and increasing.
"What can I say, Shika? So many things…" Her voice trailed off.
"I only contacted you because I wanted to make sure you were prepared for tomorrow, but tell me what's going on NOW!" the Nara heir demanded.
Holy yakitori: she'd forgotten about tomorrow, for the moment anyway. Tomorrow was the day of team assignments! She groaned out loud. "I forgot - thanks for reminding me…" She listened to Shikamaru berate her for forgetting something so important and began to defend herself. "Oi! Excuse the hell out of me! I ONLY just started going through what my PARENTS left for me: stuff I couldn't even imagine ever knowing about or having! Stuff I never got before. Kakashi got me stuck… Never mind! Don't you dare criticize me, Shika! I saw Kakashi's face and he's fucking beautiful!" She heard Shikamaru inhale at that sharply, and told him to shut up and do rather lewd things to himself rather loudly.
Shikamaru sat in his sealed room, wondering how everything had gone so astray from their original timeline, as he listened to his imouto drunkenly rant. His mind focused on one thing: she'd seen Hatake's face? How the hell had that happened?! "What did he do, Naru-chan?"
"Who?" the idiot responded.
"Kami help me: please oh please save me from troublesome morons," he began quietly. He ignored his imouto's retort: something vulgar regarding his shadows and morality… She also refused to let him know what was going on with that perverted former sensei husband of hers, and that was suspicious! She was always fangirling about him, although he'd never use that word in her presence: no matter what, his little sister was one scary shinobi. Soon enough, the rest will see that, too, and hopefully back off. "Naruto, be quiet! Look… You sound like absolute shit and obviously need to sleep whatever you drank off. Can the Pervert help you?"
Naruto was in a haze. She remembered saying that the pervert couldn't help, but not much else. She made her way down to the kitchen and made the hangover cure she always gave her godfather when he was out doing… women. She gagged and finally vomited in the sink. In the state she was in, she somehow managed to not only clean up her mess, but also retrieve the bag of sake from the scroll's room, returning the unopened bottles to her wine fridge. She made it up to her room and passed out cold.
Before dawn, she heard the sounds of what had to be Kakashi doing something. Were their doors open? TEAM DAY, she remembered, flying up out of her bed, Her head began pounding nightmarishly. "Kurama: please!"
"What did I say yesterday, Namikaze?"
She thought about it a little, more focused - as much as she could be - on her pounding head hurting so much. "I don't know!"
"Stupid kit! You expect me to make up for your every error? How dare you…"
Naruto listened to that bastard fox go on and on and on! "But, Kurama: it's team assignment day!"
"Brat, it's your own fault you're in this situation and in pain. I warned you, but did you listen to the strongest of all Bijuu? The most inspiring and awesome being in the universe? No! You did not!"
Gods, how she wanted to tell him to shut the hell up! She was glad that she'd recently learned to block him from most of her more private thoughts like these for a moment, before wondering how he still managed to hear her other thoughts - ones she could only wish to keep to herself. Thank the Sage it's working out for me, for the most part… No doubt she'd somehow be eaten, at least temporarily, if he knew about some of her musings. "Just, please. Please consider helping me, oh great Kurama-sama!" Naruto begged, bowing on her knees, placing her head on the wet floor of her mindscape. The fox rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms across his chest: she wouldn't get him that easily. "At least consider the team placements? I've got to deal with the Bastard after all."
Kurama glared down on her fiercely, and Naruto suddenly felt the alcohol being burned out of her system. She eventually began feeling so much better. He'd fully healed her! She jumped against the cage to hug him, but he only scoffed at her, warning that she had better impress not only her future sensei/husband, but also the great Kyuubi himself.
After having breakfast and leaving bentos with a note for her most likely again-asleep husband, Naruto headed out for the Academy. Joining Shikamaru and Choji, she saw Ino running up to them, out of breath. "Naru-chan! I didn't think I'd catch up!" The boys - well Shikamaru was a man, but Choji nearly looked like one, too - looked up at the paler blonde in slight shock, then smiled at Ino appreciatively.
"It's good to see you again, Ino-chan!" Naruto said. The boys silently watched as the two blondes talked about everything from the plants Naruto had apparently purchased from the Yamanaka's shop, to training, then finally to that idiot Sasuke. Choji gave Shikamaru a thumbs-up behind them, and Shikamaru nodded gratefully. Maybe we've lucked out and Ino will take things more seriously. They all entered the classroom together, Naruto and Ino sitting beside one another, with Shikamaru beside Naruto, and Choji on the far side or their quartet next to Ino.
"Why are you sitting THERE, Pig?!"
Naruto hadn't even noticed Sakura's presence. She was enjoying Ino-chan's company so much as the girl went from topic to topic, interspersing her views on all sorts of things she didn't know Ino was even aware of, to gossip within the village. She wasn't sure she had ever fully appreciated the lighter blonde's intelligence, quick thinking, and wit so much before now. But Sakura? Oh, Sakura-chan…
"I'm sitting with my friend, Forehead!" Ino said fiercely. Naruto would admit, Ino-chan looked frickin scary at that moment! Did Sakura see it? Apparently not…
"You would sit with that monster," she sneered. Ino grabbed Naruto's hand, as Naruto tried to keep at bay the beasts within herself - the one with tails plus that Uzumaki temper that she always tried to reign-in in this lifetime. She sucked her lips into her mouth and bit down as she tried not to listen to the girls' argument until the pinkette said something against her "supposed lack" of a family - along with what she thought of that not-family, and how she'd never have one of her own. It didn't even make sense, but Naruto saw red.
Sakura was struck breathless as her back hit the chalkboard in the front of the class, hard. She hadn't even seen the blonde move! But there in front of her, hand around her neck stood a beyond-furious Naruto. My parents always said Uzumaki Naruto was a monster! She could only hold in the contents of her bladder as the blonde's scarily fierce gaze met her own frightened one.
"Don't you EVER say anything about ANY member of my family, you stupid pink bitch!"
Shikamaru had grabbed her in his shadows, and Naruto was grateful. Upon spitting the words out at Pinky, she needed someone to stop her. What the hell's wrong with me? Sakura-chan's my friend! Or will be… I hope. I guess? She let go of the pain-in-the-ass in front of her just as Iruka-sensei entered the room. Sakura sank to the floor.
Naruto began to walk away, shaking. She felt herself begin to fall forward, and there was that Bastard Uchiha again. Oh, not this time...
The classroom erupted in shouts and cackles as the last (rather unloyal, Naruto thought,) Uchiha locked lips with Kiba Inuzuka. Even Iruka-sensei had to look away and hold in his guffaws.
The potential Jonin-senseis stood in the Hokage's office with the Sandaime, watching all hell break loose in the Academy classroom through a crystal ball.
Kakashi had tensed as his little wife fell face-forward toward the pretty boy. Oh, I'm going to make that little fucker's test today a nightmare! He sighed in relief as what had to be a substitution suckered an Inuzuka boy into the last Uchiha's lips' path.
"She's gotten even faster," Asuma remarked with a chuckle.
"Well, it was an emergency… Wasn't it Kakashi-kun?" asked the Sandaime with amusement. Kakashi simply nodded and willed his blush to either go away or be hidden under his mask. He also reminded himself that the unthinkable hadn't happened, but remembered the Uchiha's foot sticking out in front of his wife. Yes, that little shit will suffer...
Naruto listened to Iruka-sensei's speech, realizing that she had been right before... Her older brother must have mastered Boring at an early age because listening to him now was nearly unbearable. She saw Shikamaru's head down on the desk and decided to join him, only hearing Kiba's continued gagging accompanied by Akamaru's whining as she began to fall asleep.
Chalk hit both their heads as she and Shikamaru sat up immediately. "Troublesome," he said clearly as Naruto slowly laughed. Iruka's big head jutsu followed and she tried to stop laughing but continued to smile. Man is he pissed!
After thoroughly being reamed by their sensei, teams were announced after disclosures that Shikamaru was Rookie of the Year, while Naruto was Kunoichi of the year. They had tied, but Shikamaru had been there for and taken assignments to his absent classmate, so he won out, Iruka explained. Both felt the chill from Killer Intent and saw it coming from Sasuke. Naruto absently frowned at him while once again wondering how their rankings would affect team assignments.
Normally the Rookie and Kunoichi of the year would be paired with the "dead last," and Naruto had no idea who that was now - neither did Shikamaru. Probably Kiba, she thought. I wouldn't mind at all being teamed up with him, but what about Sakura-chan? She knew that Sakura would become a powerhouse in her own right and be desperately needed in the war - Kami forbid it come to that again.
As her team was announced, she sighed: somewhat in relief but also in fear: she could admit that to herself. She was so NOT taking a Chidori, this time. Plus she had to deal with Sakura being a bitch as she is presently. She groaned and put her head on the desk, grateful for the pats on the head from Shika and Ino-chan. She looked up and returned Choji's understanding smile with a pained one of her own as the senseis strode in. She knew Kakashi would be late…
Right behind Asuma and Kurenai-sensei walked Yamato-Taicho. Her breath sucked in audibly and Shikamaru grabbed her hand. The other two senseis spoke, but she didn't even hear them until hearing the words, "Team 7, you're with me. On the roof in 5." She looked at Shikamaru in disbelief. In return, he signed for her to calm down and report back to him. She could only nod, then sunshinned away to the roof.