Chapter 24:

Hinata put down a fresh tray of cookies to go with their tea as they sat around the kitchen table, her guests and husband informing her of everything. Boruto helped himself to another cookie, sitting beside Himawari at the table.

"Really?" Hinata said, astonished. After hearing the story, she could hardly believe it and was filled with additional questions. "But what about the king? He won't come after Boruto, will he?"

Everyone looked at Naruto who sipped his tea before answering. "Oh, I don't think that will be an issue anymore," he said with a smile.

"But…" Hinata said slowly, unsure and confused. "The king didn't actually release him from prison. That boy did, the guard's son. He doesn't have the authority to do that. And if the others are still mad about what happened…"

Naruto shook his head. "We talked to the king before leaving. We were going to peel out of there but I talked them into having a word with the king before heading home. I thought it was only right. How would it have look, right?"

"And?" Hinata pressed, concerned.

"The king admitted to having his wits about him during our first and second meeting, and said that he mainly took Boruto out of anger, thinking we were tricking him. But our third meeting at his palace and the meeting after that he said he hadn't been feeling himself but could offer no explanation. He blamed the nobleman."

"Rightfully so," said Temari, sitting at the table as well. "That guy obviously did something to the guy. Probably the same thing that happened to those soldiers who showed up at the village and left acting all strange."

Sarada pressed her lips together, listening from the living room with Mitsuki and Shikadai. It was clear that Temari still wasn't aware of what Sugata was or the mirror's abilities.

"The king didn't really apologize, but he wasn't going to make a fuss about it either. He agreed to let Boruto go, especially since it was all the nobleman's doing. Those were his words."

"He agreed to let Boruto go, just like that?" Hinata was still confused and worried. "Are you sure?"

"He realized-"

Boruto leaned forward at the table, cutting off his father, wanting to speak. "I apologized to the king and told him I acted on my own because I was suspicious of the whole deal thing. I told him I was only trying to scare them, not hurt them and that I felt terrible about the whole thing. Sota was right there and said he let me out of the cell so I wouldn't get crushed in case the building came down. He said he forgave me and wanted them to do the same."

"And that worked?"

Naruto grinned nervously. "Sort of."

Things weren't as smooth as they described to Hinata, but the end result was good and one both sides could agree on. In actuality, they had to bargain with the king in order to have Boruto released with no conditions.

Boruto was, in truth, being held captive out of anger and as a bargaining chip. The king had cooled down since the incident and, seeing as how the nobleman had been trying to con him all this time, Boruto was no longer needed for barter. This made it a lot easier to reason with the king but, given the state of his home, and the king's pride, they still needed to talk things out.

While they talked, some members of the group were given medical attention. Shikamaru had several broken bones and lacerations. His broken ribs made it hard for him to breathe. His wife had only minor injuries but was still in a lot of pain. Naruto had the worst of it in terms of mobility. He couldn't move without great pain and any movement sapped what was left of his strength. In fact, they had to carry Naruto out of the building over their shoulders while his body struggled to mend itself.

The king did admit that he was under the influence of something during their third meeting and those after but was unable to tell them what or how. He believed the nobleman was responsible but couldn't prove it definitively beyond what the noble admitted to when confronted. By that time, the king said he had returned to his senses. Naruto believed him because he was a lot more reasonable.

"Upon hearing that Kai had disappeared, leaving a donkey in his place, the nobleman struck a deal with me," the king had said after the palace was evacuated. "He said that the donkey was Kai and he could prove it if I did as I was told. He blamed the young shinobi and said, if pressed, you would restore him."

"He knew about us, then?" asked Naruto.

"I only mentioned that shinobi showed up and he became a donkey. That was all."

"You gave him enough to pin the blame on someone who didn't deserve it," said Shikamaru. "He heard 'shinobi' and ran with it. He could have just as easily convinced you it was someone else."

"What did he promise you in return?" Naruto asked. In all this time, Naruto and Shikamaru were certain the king wouldn't have gone along with this unless there was something spectacular at the finish line. Now that everything was out in the open, they wanted to know what reward the nobleman promised the king.

The king raised his hands in a shrug and told them, "The nobleman said if certain conditions were met, the prize would be more valuable than all the treasure in my palace combined. Something no man could purchase."

"And you trusted him?" Shikamaru said with a raised brow. "If the prize is so great, why would he share it with you? Didn't you suspect something was amiss?"

The king admitted that he had been blinded by the dazzling glitter that he failed to see that until later. Though suspicious, he knew there were people like Kai who didn't want power or control and only worked to achieve approval. Money didn't matter to them either. A part of him assumed the nobleman was the same, however, he knew many people were not and endeavored to find out the man's true motives.

Then, for some reason, he didn't.

The king didn't explain more beyond that and the shinobi didn't pressure him to do so.

"What about the palace that was damaged in the battle?" asked Hinata, wanting to know more. "Didn't he try to pin it on you and make you pay for damages? Naruto, knowing you, you would feel bad and guilty and offer to pay for the cost of damages. Or at least make a donation."

"I saw that guy's kingdom," said Temari. "He doesn't need our help."

"But a man like that, even if he weren't a king, would surely…"

Naruto allayed Hinata's concerns with a smile and explanation. "King Nita knew the nobleman had done something to me and named him responsible. He also bragged that he had plenty of money to fix things. It wasn't the whole palace but a section of it. To show no hard feelings, I did offer him the opportunity to change Kai back but…"

"He didn't go for it?"

"He said I might have been conned by the nobleman as well and believed there was no way to reverse things like I originally said."

Naruto's eyes looked sad but Boruto was happy Kai was no longer a factor in this. It seemed he never needed to do anything from the start.

"And Boruto was forgiven for his actions?" Hinata had to make sure no one would knock on their door demanding her son.

"Well, that was a process, but yeah. Sota really did help with that. The king's more focused on the nobleman right now, so that also worked in our favor."

"Other than the Kai thing, did you have to promise the king anything in exchange?"

Naruto shook his head. "I offered to send some shinobi to help repair some of the damages for free but he declined. Since he blames the nobleman for nearly everything, he intends to make him pay for damages."

"Makes sense he'd want revenge," said Temari. "He also might have softened up on Leaf shinobi since a bunch of us showed up to help his people to safety."

As she said this, Shikadai felt a chill, certain his mother was looking his way. He knew he defied her and that she was still pretty mad at him so he tried to stay as quiet as possible. Even though he had helped, he still disobeyed.

"What became of the noble anyway?"

"Don't know," confessed Naruto. "No one's seen him since the building started to crumble."

"Shikadai helped him escape the building," said Mitsuki, knowing the man they had helped in the hall was the man they were talking about. "After that, we lost track of him. He seemed too shocked to do anything."

"The king's army is looking for him so eventually they'll find him. I wouldn't worry about it," said Naruto.

"That noble should be in jail for what he did," said Temari.

"That's not our call, though. Besides, considering how angry the king is at him, I'm pretty sure it's taken care of. He's of little threat without that mirror."

"Speaking of which, are you really ok letting that kid take off with it?" asked Temari, having seen Sugata leave with the mirror. "Something that powerful and dangerous should probably be sealed away or destroyed."

Sarada stood up, worried and ready to defend Sugata, but it wasn't necessary.

"That mirror's his," said Naruto. "In the wrong hands, his mirror did this. In the proper hands, he can make things right."

"But…"

"It belongs to him. He knows to keep it away from people. Let him have it."

Temari sighed. "Fine, but still. Your call, Hokage."

Hinata smiled at Naruto, relieved. "I'm so glad everything's been addressed."

"Well, almost everything."

Temari and Naruto looked to Shikamaru eating from a bowl on the floor, his arms and legs tucked under his body and two furry ears on top of his head.

Shikamaru knew they were talking about him and lifted his head from the bowl. "Can we please go to the mountain to fix this?"

"Fix what?" Naruto asked, amused. "'Fix' would imply something is wrong."

"Naruto, I'm begging you. It's not funny anymore."

It was his wife's turn to tease. "Before you reverse this, does anyone have some string? I want to test something."

"Please," Shikamaru said with a moan. "Naruto, I'm serious."

Everyone chuckled except Shikadai who agreed with his father. "It's a little weird…"

Shikamaru looked up at Naruto. "Speaking of weird… Naruto, did you notice?"

Naruto's mouth became a slight frown, on the same page as Shikamaru. "Yeah, I did."

"Notice what?" asked Hinata. Her mind immediately went to the safety of her children and husband, but it didn't seem to be about that. It seemed to have little to do with the outcome of the fiasco Naruto and Boruto had just endured.

"That cloth," said Naruto, thinking back. "The king was looking at a cloth that was sent to him in the mail from the noble's city, but…"

"We thought it was a threat of some kind," said Shikamaru, sitting on the floor. "But it didn't seem to come up at all. It got us to the city and we had a run-in with the noble but other than that, there didn't seem to be anything else to it. Makes me wonder."

"Maybe it was a secret code known only between the two of them."

"Dunno." Shikamaru liked it when all the pieces fit but that cloth clue was the only one that didn't make sense. He suspected early on that it could have been a false clue, having nothing to do with their mission, however, after meeting with the noble and knowing what the true motive was about, Shikamaru couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow important. He couldn't prove it and if he tried to make the pieces fit, he was likely to reach the wrong conclusion.

"Maybe we should ignore it for now," offered Naruto. "Everything else has wrapped up nicely and it could be like you said, Shikamaru, and had nothing to do with this. Or a code known only between those two like Hinata said."

"Yeah…"

It really didn't seem to have anything to do with what they endured, but Shikamaru wasn't able to see what went on behind the scenes. He had no idea what happened after they left to find the noble's home any more than he knew what was spoken after Naruto was caged and manipulated. He still had no idea what became of the cat spirit after leaving him at the front door of the palace. He believed the cat returned home but since he didn't see it happen, he wasn't sure.

Boruto grinned, taking another cookie and passed one to Himawari. "See? A simple apology can do amazing things. The king forgave me because of Sota, and I changed Dad back by apologizing to him."

"You make it sound like you're the hero," Sarada told him from where she sat.

"You weren't there to see it." Boruto was partly bragging while also trying to instill a good lesson for his little sister to learn so she wouldn't make similar mistakes and be a decent person. "I apologized to Dad and he changed back. You're welcome."

"I don't think that's what did it," said Shikamaru, deadpan.

Boruto leaned his elbow on the table. "Oh, really? You tried reasoning with him and fighting him and that didn't work. Nothing you did worked. Then I apologized and- poof! Right in the middle of an attack, Dad stopped and returned to normal. I saved your asses."

"While an apology is good and everything, I doubt that's what made him stop," said Temari.

"Naruto's energy was being sapped with every movement. He had been going for quite a while in a state of immense rage. His body was bound to give out eventually, and soon, at the rate he was going. It's just a coincidence it happened to wear off right then," said Shikamaru.

Boruto disagreed. "That was not a coincidence."

"I think it is," said Shikamaru. "He just so happened to run out of strength during your apology."

"My words reached him."

"He couldn't hear anybody in that state, let alone understand what you were saying. He didn't even recognize you."

Boruto folded his arms and sat back with a pout. "I still say I saved the day."

"After you caused it?" teased Shikadai.

He turned around in his seat to yell at his friend. "I wasn't the crazy guy with a magic mirror pointing it at everybody to see what happened!"

Himawari held her father's hand on the table with big, adoring eyes. "You went back to normal because you love Boruto so much, right? Just like in stories, love conquers all."

"Uh, yeah," said Naruto, despite the fact he had no recollection of events during that time and doubted Boruto's words would have reached him. "Of course."

"Coincidence," remarked Shikamaru.

Naruto patted Himawari on the head, ignoring Shikamaru's comment. "I love both of you so much. I love all of you."

Shikamaru leaned over to Temari. "Guy was on his last legs but if that's what they want to believe… I still say it was a coincidence."

The aftermath of the palace assault left many questioning what took place, including the king's own guards. Few had seen what took place and those who became victims, of a rampaging Naruto or a nobleman's borrowed mirror, were left shaken and confused. The mirror's victims knew a spell had been cast upon them but it defied all logic, making them even angrier. The one thing most could agree on was that the nobleman was to blame.

At some point during the chaos, the nobleman had slipped away and had yet to be found. The king divided his soldiers between the reconstruction of his palace and the search for the missing noble. Homes were searched in case he had taken shelter in the city. The soldiers were stretched beyond the city itself to the train station and the docks in case he tried to escape by boat or train. They could find no trace of the noble anywhere and concluded that he had returned to his home; in which case, they would meet again the next time the king did trade in that land. If the nobleman was foolish enough to adhere to his normal agenda and habits, of course.

While searching for the nobleman, the soldiers happened upon a very unusual and jarring sight, finding Kai wrapped in drapery from the garden to hide his nakedness walking up the palace steps looking disjointed and bitter. Having the two-month-missing man show up took precedence and the men saw to him at once.

Last Yuji heard, the king's staff were seeing to the man in a way befitting of the king's pet. Rumors circulated within the hour that this was not the real Kai, that Kai had been trapped inside the palace and finally freed during the bedlam after a wall collapsed, and that Kai and the nobleman were the same person which was why no one could find him. All interesting rumors showcasing the human imagination, but Yuji knew this was the real Kai.

Which was why he felt it best to leave.

It would have been problematic to be within Kai's sight after what happened between them, so Yuji distanced himself from Kai and the city altogether. He didn't want to be in the same city knowing Kai had been restored to his human form.

He also knew that the nobleman had probably returned to his own city, having nowhere else to go. If he hid, the soldiers would find him. Returning home would give him comfort, being around something familiar, and buy him some time. If he had to guess, Yuji believed the nobleman would likely stay for as long as he could, gather his wealth and start fresh somewhere else. Of course, the nobleman, a man who sought respect, wouldn't be so willing to cast aside the life he had carved for himself. He would probably stay in the city, in his home, for as long as he could.

Without the mirror to aid him, it likely wouldn't be long. He could no longer use it to make deals and force those who opposed him to back down. There was little that could be done about those who had already been preyed upon, but he couldn't do it to anyone else. It was also a matter of time before those victims came seeking revenge or found a loophole in the documents they signed, turning their businesses over to him or giving him a share of the profits. The nobleman likely knew this and would seek a way to save himself the trouble. Though, without the mirror, what could he do?

Yuji sighed, pressing his back against a tree, taking a long look at the city he had called home for so long. "That mirror is devastating. A man like that shouldn't have it. And neither should Kai."

He knew the mirror must have restored Kai.

After all, a fickle cat spirit wouldn't have given Kai a second chance. Not if he failed to show some growth. Based on Yuji's interaction with Kai a few months ago, he knew this to be true.

A gust of wind blew and Yuji huddled against the tree, finding it particularly strong. When the breeze died down, he took one last look at the city glittering in the light and smiled fondly at it. He took a deep breath and started walking through the field, forging a new path for himself.

"The mirror spirit's shown himself again," remarked Yuji, his tone imperceptible.

The end!

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