Shanan and Kakashi were having lunch at the restaurant together when Ino came in and told them that Naruto and Jiraiya had just returned.
"Naruto's back?" Shanan said excitedly as she jumped up.
Kakashi jumped out of his seat too, but then felt a little silly when he remembered that this Naruto was his student and not the same kid he used to toss around and play fight with as a toddler.
"Kakashi, you can still be excited. He might think it's weird at first, but I'm sure he'll be fine once we explain everything," Shanan told him.
He sighed loudly. Already a bit dejected. "No, this Naruto will definitely make a huge deal out of any affection I show him. I'm gonna run home and get our gift ready, though. I'll meet you at his apartment in a bit," he told her.
"You don't wanna be there when I see him? I don't know this Naruto," she said worriedly.
He gave her a quick kiss and then pulled his mask up. "You'll do fine. And you'll unlock your memories soon anyway," he said as he turned around. "I won't be too long."
She made her way to the front of the village where Shikamaru was standing and speaking with Naruto and Jiraiya already. Temari from The Sand was nearby as well. Shanan was already a bit nervous.
"Shanan!" Naruto yelled as he ran up and hugged her.
The last time she had remembered seeing him was in the Kaitei when he was still about nine years old. So once she saw how much he had grown, she teared up immediately.
"Oh my goodness... you're so big now!" she said as she smiled and squeezed him tight.
"Finally taller than you," he beamed. "Wow, you look so grown up and different now. Sas-"
"Uh, we should probably tell him..." Shikamaru had interrupted as he moved closer to Shanan and Naruto.
Both he and Kakashi, selfishly, agreed on the fact that neither of them wanted her to know that she'd ever had feelings for Sasuke just yet. She already struggled with knowing about Shikamaru and they were both still not completely over each other. But they acted like they were.
Shanan was a bit confused by what Shikamaru meant. "Tell him...?" she asked.
Shikamaru pulled her aside. "Oh, about the Kaitei," he said in a hushed tone. He didn't know if he even wanted Naruto to know about their relationship.
"The what?" Naruto asked as he watched Shanan and Shikamaru, straining to hear their conversation. He felt like they were both being kind of awkward together.
"Right, we were gonna tell him at his apartment," Shanan said.
"Ah. Do you need me there?" Shikamaru asked her.
Shanan glanced over at Naruto and back at Shikamaru. "He's gonna be confused enough as it is," she said, still quietly before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Why is that girl standing around?"
"Oh, I have to escort her around, we're preparing for the Chunin exams, she's in charge for her village," he whispered as they turned their backs to everyone else.
"Why do you have to do it?" she asked, even though she didn't like that she was.
"Lady Tsunade's orders. Don't worry about it, it's such a drag " he assured her, smirking as he nudged her gently with his elbow.
Shanan looked at him concernedly, she couldn't help but be jealous. She didn't want him walking around alone with any other girl. She remembered when they walked around while he was working and she suddenly wished she could leave marks on his neck the way that she used to.
"Shanan, I'm just doing my job, I promise. Don't be mad at me," he pleaded quietly. "Anyway, you're right," he said louder as he rubbed his nose. "Send word if you need me then," he said as he gave her a reassuring hug. He hated her being jealous. He knew that it wasn't really fair on her part, but he couldn't bring himself to hold it against her and her puppy dog eyes always killed him.
"Well, you two got close," Naruto said under his breath, already a bit confused.
"Way to go, Shikamaru..." Jiraiya said, barely audible.
"Don't you start over there, Pervy Sage! It's not like that!" Naruto yelled at him.
Shikamaru walked away from Shanan a bit exasperated. "Naruto, it was good to see you. Welcome back," he said as he patted him on the back. "Lady Tsunade will wanna see you soon-" he looked at Shanan again- "so try not to take too long with your story."
"What story?" Naruto asked, still very confused.
Shanan laughed a bit nervously at Naruto as she watched Shikamaru walk off towards the Office of the Hokage with Jiraiya and Temari.
"What story?" Naruto asked her again. "Are you and Shikamaru like best friends now? How are you?"
Shanan looked at him, a bit overwhelmed at all of his questions.
"Let's go home, kiddo," she said as she reached out and messed his hair up.
"Kiddo...? Since when do you call me that? I'm taller than you are," he said amused as he hugged her again. "I have so much to tell you."
He did all of the talking on their way to his apartment and Shanan did all of the listening.
When they walked up the stairs Kakashi was already there, leaning against Naruto's door, reading his book with his bag across his shoulder and body.
"Oh hey, Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto said as he ran up to him excitedly. "Since when do you carry a bag?"
Kakashi chuckled a bit. "I've always carried this with me," he said as he patted him on the head. "You grew up, didn't you?"
Naruto didn't know it, but Kakashi was really trying not to cry or show that he missed the kid too much.
"I sure did. Learned a lot too. More than I probably should've..." he added on quietly. "I'm surprised to see you here, Sensei."
"Uh yes... we have a lot to talk with you about," he said gently.
"We who?" he asked, confused again as he unlocked his door.
Shanan and Kakashi looked at eachother anxiously as they followed him in.
Naruto set his bag on his bed and turned to look at them as he sat down.
"So what's this important stuff you apparently need to discuss with me? First you have Shikamaru whispering to you and then I find Kakashi Sensei waiting by my door. So what's going on?" he asked a bit impatiently.
Kakashi leaned against the counter with his hands in his pockets and Shanan went up to Naruto and stood in front of him.
"So um... about nine months ago I unlocked a new Sharingan technique that we refer to as Kaitei," she started.
"That's the word Shikamaru used," he said.
Shanan nodded.
"What'd it do?" he asked curiously.
Shanan and Kakashi looked at one another and Shanan smiled affectionately at him. He always looked like he wanted to kiss her when they told anyone about it and this time wasn't any different.
"Very long story, very short. It put us into a genjutsu where we grew up together."
Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything.
"We were the same age. We went through a lot together. Kakashi remembers both lives."
"Wait, so..."
"I don't."
"But..."
"I know you from the genjutsu. You were a kid the last time I remember seeing you."
Naruto started tearing up now. "You don't-"
"I can remember you," she interrupted. "I just have to use my Sharingan to unlock our memories together."
"Is this another technique?" he asked cautiously.
"Omoidasu. I will never remember things from when I was alone or anything. And I'll never remember someone if they don't let me use the technique on them," she explained.
Naruto took a minute to process everything as he looked down. "So... you guys grew up together? What else?" he asked thoughtfully, even though he was sure he knew the answer.
"We... were married. We had..." they both still teared up when they talked about the twins to anyone, "twins," she said quickly as she tried to hold her tears back.
"Twins?" he asked as he looked up quickly. "So... Oh man. I don't know what to say," he said as he went up to Shanan and hugged her. "I'm sorry." He looked over at Kakashi and caught him wiping a tear away. "You too, Sensei. I'm so sorry."
Kakashi gave him an appreciative nod.
"I can't believe you guys were together, " he said as he let go of her.
"Uh, well, actually," Kakashi started as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense," Naruto said a bit nervously as he looked at them. "So, how 'bout we do this technique!"
"Yeah, but I wanted to tell you one more thing. It's kind of important," she said gently.
"What is it?"
Shanan looked at Kakashi again and he nodded for her to go on.
"It's... about your mom. Kushina Sensei," she said fondly.
"Kushina Sensei? So she...?"
"She was my teacher." She started tearing up again. "Naruto, I was there the night you were born." Tears started falling again. "I saved your mother's life in the Kaitei. Right now, how I remember you, was with her. I'd like to show you and give you those memories. If you want."
Naruto smiled and teared up. "You can show me that?"
Shanan nodded at him.
"I'd… I'd really like to see that," he said softly.
"Take my hands," she told him as she held her hands out.
Naruto took her hands and waited for her to activate her Sharingan. As soon as she opened her eyes he looked into them and they both stood still for a few minutes as she unlocked her memories with him and showed him all of her memories with him and his mother.
She showed him what happened on the night he was born. How close he and Kakashi were. How he and Sasuke were the best of friends. How great of a mom Kushina was to him. How he had never been alone or an outcast. She gave her her memories of him and even unlocked some of his own memories from inside of the Kaitei.
Shanan shifted her eyes as she looked at Naruto again to see tears streaming down his face.
"Hey…"
"She was really great," he said shakily. "And you guys. You were always there for us." He looked at Kakashi and smiled. "Kakashi! We were so close..." he said as he went and hugged Kakashi.
Kakashi hugged him back happily. "I'm glad you remember, kiddo. I made you something you might remember," he said as he opened his bag. "Here."
"You… you remade the book you gave me?" he asked as he took it.
"Flip through it later. I added in a few more important pictures. And I have a big one for you at home."
"Thanks, Kakashi," he said, smiling warmly.
"You should probably go and see Lady Tsunade now," Shanan told him.
"Yeah." He thought for a moment and looked over at Shanan. "What was up with you and Shikamaru earlier?"
"Ah, well… I'll wait outside," Kakashi said nervously as he made his way to the door. "I'll see you later, Naruto," he said a bit ominously.
"Oh, did I say something wrong?"
"No. Not really. It's just kind of a weird subject," she said as she leaned against the counter.
"Well things can't get much weirder. Just tell me."
She waited for Kakashi to close the door completely. "Shikamaru and I were dating before the Kaitei happened. We really love...d each other. And so all of my feelings came back suddenly when I performed Omoidasu on him. It was hard, really hard. It still is sometimes," she explained.
Naruto immediately thought about Sasuke. He couldn't believe that Shanan could love someone else, but he didn't blame her either.
"Shikamaru has always been nice to me. One of my closest friends, even. I bet you guys made a great couple. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that confusion," he paused for a moment as he thought. "Shanan, what do you know about Sasuke?"
"That we were all close. He abandoned the village and left us behind to pursue power. I found this locket with your pictures in it." She opened the locket around her neck to show him. "So I know that I loved you both and that it was just the three of us."
Naruto noticed that she had swapped the group picture for one of him and sighed. "That's what I figured," he said gently. "Well, I should go and see Lady Tsunade. Let's hang out later. We still have a lot to talk about," he said as he hugged her.
Shanan was happy to finally remember such a big chunk of her childhood and one of her two closest childhood friends and was happy to see that her and Naruto were more like siblings. She and Shikamaru weren't really friends when she was younger, so she only got a few snippets of that time from him. And Kakashi had been absent for years, so there had been quite a large chunk missing. It still felt like she was missing a lot, but she had a feeling that Sasuke would eventually fill the rest in for her.