Hospital Room
Opening his cerulean eyes, the blond patient was looking around and saw the sleeping figure of Koyuki Kazahana. She had fallen asleep with her head on Naruto's lap and her hand holding his. His eyes scanned the room and saw nobody else was in sight.
"Hey, Yuki. Wake up, hey, wake up." Naruto said in a low tone as he softly rubbed her back. The black haired woman's eyes opened and when she saw that Naruto was awake, she instantly hugged him tightly.
"Thank God you're okay!" Koyuki cried out.
Naruto groaned slightly because his body took severe damage from the battle. "Hey, Yuki? I'm kinda hurting." Naruto said.
The girl let go and looked at him strangely. "What did you call me?" asked Koyuki.
"I'm sorry, Lady Kazahana." Naruto said as he instantly adopted his professional attitude.
"No, it's okay. You know, the only other person to call me that was my father." she said with a soft smile. Naruto looked at her and even though she wasn't a shinobi, she could see the life in his eyes that hadn't been there since they met.
"Do you know how long I need to stay here?" asked Naruto.
"I think they said you had to stay twenty-four hours after you woke up." Koyuki said in a low tone.
"I see. Do you want to get some ramen?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, I'll go ahead and order us some." Koyuki said with a smile until Naruto grabbed her hand and they vanished in an orange flash.
Ramen Shop
Naruto and Koyuki appeared at the ramen shop. "Naruto! You are supposed to wait till you're discharged!" Koyuki declared.
"Relax, I left a shadow clone. Besides, my body recovers at a faster rate than most people. I'll be fine." Naruto said as they proceeded to their section.
"Well, here I thought I'd lose my favorite customer." Said the voice of Tsuchi. "How are you feeling?" asked the older man.
"Honestly, I feel much better." Naruto said.
Koyuki watched the interaction between the two. She noticed that Naruto's attitude and personality had changed. Unlike before, he wasn't the cold and emotionless shinobi. Instead, he started speaking more and showing emotions that he lacked prior.
The two began chowing down. "Man, this is really good." Naruto said.
"Naruto." Koyuki said.
"Huh? He asked as he continued chowing down on his ramen.
"What's going on? You're acting strange." Koyuki said.
"What do you mean?" asked the blond with his mouth still full of ramen.
Koyuki pinched the bridge of her nose. "What happened to you? At first, you were a professional ninja acting stern and showed no life inside of you. Now, it's like you've done an entire flip." Koyuki said.
Naruto placed his bowl down and reached for Koyuki's hand. When placed her hand in his, the two vanished in an orange flash while leaving two empty bowls of ramen with the money to pay for them.
Hokage's Office
"What do you think caused this?" asked Minato.
"I'm not sure. With all the data I've gathered, it seems that maybe the fox was influencing his prior behavior." Tsunade said.
"It doesn't make any sense. Naruto didn't start acting like this until Itachi left. Why would the fox suddenly stop influencing him?" Minato asked.
"I've got a suggestion." said the brown haired woman in black robes.
"What do you mean, Shizune?" asked Tsunade while raising an eyebrow.
"I spoke with Lady Kazahana. While the theory on Kyuubi isn't wrong, it's also possible that being around her has changed him." Shizune said.
"Could you elaborate?" asked Minato with his hands together while being placed against his lips.
"Yes, Lord Fourth. Before meeting Lady Kazahana, Naruto remained his closed off self along with acting as an emotionless tool. However, I believe that with his time spent with her, he's become attached and actually trusts her. He found someone he trusts and I believe that as long as she's around, he'll begin to change for the better." Shizune said.
"I agree. Naruto seemed fairly concerned for her and what she thought about him. He declared to me with the exact words, "I don't want her to see why I'm the cold mask", I never knew Naruto care so much." Kakashi said.
Hotel Room
"Naruto? You're acting strange. Will you please tell me what's going on?" asked Koyuki.
"Yuki, I need a favor from you." Naruto said with a small blush appearing on his face as he looked down.
"What is it?" asked the woman.
"I've fought all kinds of shinobi and have faced death on many occassions. However, I find this to be the most difficult thing yet. Please, don't interupt me. This is hard as it is." Naruto said.
Koyuki's face had a slight blush to it as she sat on the bed in front of the blond. "Okay, I won't interupt you." said Koyuki.
"Yuki, when I first met you, I thought you were just another client. I had no intentions on letting you into my heart. My job was to protect you and your father and escort you here safely. Whenever I requested to remain with you at all times, it was to ensure that nobody would harm you. My reasonings were for the sake of the mission. However, it seems that spending nearly every second with you, has reminded me of how alone I felt.
Ever since my best friend, Itachi Uchiha left and abandoned me, I made a vow to never let anyone into my heart again. It seems that you did exactly what I was afraid of. My biggest fear is letting something happen to you or having you abandon me. For the first time in my life, I was afraid to fight. I was so scared that after you saw what I was, you would never want to be around me again. You see, I contain the nine tailed fox inside of me. It's because of him that I'm hated by everyone.
Even though you saw what I was, I didn't sense the hatred or fear in you. Even Kurama told me he didn't sense it. You were the first person that was able to tell the difference between a kunai in a scroll. Yuki, I love you. Every fiber inside my body desires you. Not just sexually. I desire your company, your personality, your attitude, everything about you. You've become the closest person in my life and I'll never, ever lie to you or do wrong by you." Naruto said.
Koyuki was left speechless. Many guys back in her home had said many things to her. Nobody had opened their hearts up like the blond did in front of her. Without saying a word, she walked over to Naruto and planted her lips against his. The two shared a kiss with each other that felt like it lasted hours.
When the two broke apart, Koyuki was in her bra and pants while Naruto was shirtless. The two pressed their foreheads against each other as they were aiming to catch their breath. "Naruto, I will never abandon you. I feel the exact same way. I love you." Koyuki said as their lips pressed against each other once more.
Namikaze residence
It had been an entire month since Naruto and Koyuki confessed their feelings for each other and while he kept his cold mask and personality, when it came to Yuki, he removed it and was her Naru. They had gone to the Namikaze house for a family gathering. It was thanks to Koyuki that Naruto agreed to go.
Kushina opened the door and was surprised to see the two of them there. "Hello, Naruto, Lady Kazahana." Kushina said with a smile.
"Hello, Lady Namikaze." Koyuki said as she looked towards Naruto and gave him a nod.
"Hello, mom. Thank you for having us over." Naruto said. Hearing this made Kushina's eyes open wide as she pulled her son into a tight embrace. Once she finished, the two proceeded inside.
Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Menma, and Mito where there. When Naruto and Koyuki entered, they were all shocked to see Naruto without his anbu mask along with his hand being held by Koyuki's hand.
Minato entered the living room. "Hello, Naruto, Lady Kazahana. I'm glad you two came." Minato said with a warm smile.
Koyuki bowed. "Hello, Lord Fourth." Koyuki said.
"Hello, dad..." Naruto said.
Hearing this, everyone was in complete shock. Nobody expected Naruto to greet his father the way he did. Naruto then walked over to Mito and Menma. Hello, Mito, Menma. It's good to see you two." Naruto said while giving a small smile.
Mito swallowed hard. "Hi, Naruto. How are you?" she asked.
"I'm good. How are you?" Naruto asked.
"I'm okay. I'm getting ready to graduate from the academy." Mito said with a blush.
"That's good. I hope you've been training hard." Naruto said before turning to a glaring Menma.
"So, you think you can just show up and act like you didn't ignore us all these years?" Menma asked with venom.
"I apologize, Menma. You're my younger brother. I shouldn't have turned either you and Mito away." Naruto said.
"Well, you did! Nobody wants you here! Do you really think everyone is okay with you just showing up like this?" Menma asked with rage taking over.
Kakashi stepped over and placed a hand on Menma's shoulders while looking at Naruto with his one eye smile. "Thank you for coming. We're glad you guys could come." Kakashi said.
Naruto looked at his younger brother. Koyuki and Kakashi could tell the look of remorse in his eyes. "Hey, Naruto? Do you want to see my new jutsu that mom and dad taught me?" asked Mito. Naruto nodded and the two went to the backyard. While the two siblings were outback, Kushina was scolding her son.
"Menma, why did you just act like that?" asked Kushina.
"What? It isn't like what I said was a lie. I don't even know who invited him." Menma said.
"I did." said Shizune. "I informed Koyuki that we were having a small gathering and that she and Naruto should come by." Shizune explained.
Koyuki remained silent. Her eyes kept flicker to Menma and then Mito. She was happy to see one of Naruto's siblings reaching out and was upset to see how Menma was acting. The woman then proceeded outside and smiled at her boyfriend.
"That's really good, Mito. The Shadow Clone Jutsu does more than what normal clones do." Naruto said.
"Huh? Really? Like what?" asked Mito.
"Well, you receive the memories of your clones. This will help increase the rate of your training. Since you have Uzumaki blood, you can produce quite the amount of shadow clones. If you want, I can help you and Menma train." Naruto said.
"Really? Aren't you really busy with Anbu missions?" asked Mito.
"Yeah, but I don't mind. Especially since our father is the hokage." Naruto said.
Evening time came around fast and everyone was sitting around the dinner table. Tsunade and Kushin were scowling Jiraiya for being a pervert while Kakashi and Minato tried to hide themselves by remaining quiet. Mito was speaking with Shizune about Medical Ninjutsu. Tsunade was talking with Koyuki about the land of snow. Naruto sat silently while Menma continued glaring at him.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Naruto asked.
Menma remained silent and looked down at his food. "Menma, why are you being this way towards me?" Naruto asked.
"Just leave me alone." Menma said with a slight growl.
"I'm your brother. I'm trying to restore our relationship." Naruto pressed on.
"Really? It seems when you lost the Uchiha whore, you got rid of us all. You became cold and emotionless like a damn tool. I heard about the stories of Kitsune, the Cold Mask. You've become the nine tailed fox and I just assume not have anything else to do with you." Menma shouted.
Naruto glared at his brother and vanished in an orange flash. The entire dinner room table went silent. Nobody knew what to say. "I'll go talk to him." Kakashi said as he left the dinner table.
Tsunade, Shizune, and Kushina walked over to Koyuki and tried to bring comfort. Jiraiya and Minato decided to have a talk with Menma. The night proceeded on and while many of them were upset about the ordeal, it was decent overrall.
Naruto and Kakashi returned and though he remained silent, Naruto managed to stay calm and shoot his girlfriend an honest smile.