Dicslaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or To Love Ru franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming
Thanks for reading and please enjoy
Reality Viewing: Naruto the Charming Assassin Charmer
-Chapter 20-
"YOU SOLD ME OFF!?" Everyone in a ten-mile radius jumped when a cry of pure unadulterated outrage and horror tore through the air, forcing many to cover their ears and even causing more than a few windows to shatter.
Meanwhile, back at the source of said shout, Momo was all but hyperventilating as she, her sisters, and everyone else aside from SKU stared at Sephie with dropped jaws. Meanwhile, the pinkette in question coughed awkwardly while wringing her wrists and suddenly finding her shoes to be very interesting.
"Mama, you didn't actually sell Momo, right?" Lala asked softly, her voice quivering and trembling as she looking at her mother pleadingly, her eyes begging that what she had read wasn't the truth.
"What in the hell mom?!" Before the woman could respond though, a very enraged Momo suddenly grabbed the front of her shirt, huffing like an angry bull about to charge. "It's bad enough that dad has been trying to marry us off every chance he has, but now you're telling me that I was already traded away before I was even born? You've got to be fucking kidding me right now!"
"Oh how I really wish that was the case sweetie, you have no idea how much I've hated myself for ever agreeing to this." Sephie muttered softly with her head bowed in shame, refusing to meet her youngest's gaze even as she gently pried herself free of her grasp.
"Then you shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place!" The busty twin yelled angrily before turning to face the ever-stoic faced king while several of the potted plants in the room rapidly grew in size and curled around her in a defensive manner. "And you! I don't care what you have planned for me but don't think I'm just gonna roll over and-"
"Sit." SKU cut Momo off, causing the young pinkette to shout in shock as her body seemed to gain a mind of its own and obediently plopped back down on her bed without hesitation. At the same time her plants went still before flopping to the ground lifelessly, like puppets that had their strings cut.
"…Crap, forgot you could do that." She muttered under her breath, glaring at the pale boy as he rubbed the top of her head the same way one would a pet.
Ignoring the dirty look, which only grew fouler when he took a seat right on her lap, SKU wiggled a bit to get more comfortable before scribbling something down on his notepad for her to read. Behave or I'll give your boobs to your twin
""…You'll do what?!"" Momo and Nana asked at the same time.
In response, the white-haired boy simply snapped his fingers, causing the twins to gasp as the younger's bust shrank to half its normal size whilst the older's grew by the same amount, leaving them perfectly matched. Then with another snap they both reverted back to normal as if nothing had ever happened, though that didn't stop Momo from covering her chest protectively along with the rest of the girls in the room aside from Nana. Meanwhile, the twin in question glanced down at her once more petite chest before sighing in resignation.
Seeing that there wouldn't be anymore interruptions, SKU turned back to Sephie as he scribbled down another note. This would be an appropriate time to start the explanations, I'd suggest starting from the beginning
"That would probably be for the best," The queen muttered before pointedly clearing her throat to get everyone's attention once more. "I'm sure you all are very confused and upset for good reason, but you have to understand that this was not a lightly made decision."
"It had better have not been," Momo muttered under her breath crossly before flinching and covering her chest, glaring at the boy on her lap when she saw her breasts shrink down a few centimeters. "Alright, alright, I'm shutting up!"
"No, please continue sis, I'm sure we'd all love to hear what you have to say." Nana couldn't help but say with a smirk while nudging her sister's side tauntingly, barely resisting the urge to puff out her own chest when it grew ever so slightly. Growling lowly, the plant loving girl opened her mouth with a witty retort on the tip of her tongue, only to quickly snap it shut and bite her lip knowing that's exactly what her sister actually wanted for once.
"Anyway, this all began just a little over thirty years ago, a few months after your father and I had gotten married," Thankfully for her cup size, Sephie continued to speak before the bustier twin could give into the temptation. "Gid had just officially taken the throne as the new king and we were both getting used to the various duties and responsibilities that came with such. Neither of us had been too worried though, things had been peaceful in the empire for years and it seemed like it would have remained that way for years to come… that couldn't have been more wrong."
"As I'm sure you've already figured out by now, the Otsutsuki used to exist here and were just as dangerous as they've been described, if not more so. However, most didn't consider them a real threat since they typically only targeted a single underdeveloped world per millennia, which they generally never strayed from unless provoked. So people treated them much as one does earth bees, as long as you didn't bother them…"
"They wouldn't bother you either," Mea finished with an understanding nod. "Why risk angering someone capable of destroying entire planets with ease when they're already quite happy staying nice and contained on an isolated rock nobody cares about after all?"
"That's horrible though! What about the people on those planets?! They could have been helped!" Lala demanded in disbelief, not wanting to believe that everyone would just abandon an entire planet to be destroyed without even trying to help.
"Horrible as it may sound Lala but it was for the best, the Otsutsuki did not take kindly to those they viewed as lesser than themselves trying to meddle with their affairs. More advanced and powerful societies have tried to do so in the past… they were lucky if everyone they ever knew was allowed to live to regret their actions afterwards," The queen said with bowed her head respectfully. "That was just how things were in those days and how it seemed like things would always be."
"But then something changed, didn't it?" This time it was Mikan who spoke up as she put the pieces together. "Let me guess, they finally went after a more developed world for once?"
"No," To the girl's surprise though, the queen shook her head negatively while a harrowed look appeared on her face. "They didn't go after just one… they went after dozens."
"…Oh." Was all the brunette could say in response, her eyes widening in shock.
"God it happened all so fast, one moment I was going through a new trade proposal with the Solana System and the next reports were flooding in from all over the universe," Shuddering as memories of that day slowly bubbled up to the surface, Sephie was so caught up in her story that she barely even reacted when SKU tapped her forehead, causing a black tiara with a red gem to appear on her head.
"With no warning at all six planets along the outer edges of the empire had gone dark, all communication was severed and any nearby ships gone without a trace. Naturally your father and I sent out a few small armadas to investigate, and it didn't take long to figure out exactly what had happened."
Whilst she spoke, the gem of the crown atop the eldest pinkette's head lit up and a projection of a much younger version of herself appeared before them all. Young Sephie alongside a young man who most recognized to be none other than her husband Gid, were standing on either side of a holo-table with shocked looks on their faces as several live feeds displayed either debris fields or desolate landscapes filled with corpses and dreadfully familiar roots.
"At first we'd thought that this had been a rare case of someone being brazen enough to try something that got on them on the Otsutsuki's bad side, but then it happened again on the other side of the galaxy… and then again somewhere further in… and then it was happening everywhere…" With each statement, the image changed to show an increasingly ragged and horrified Young Sephie and Gid, new feeds showed more and more planets in similar states. "In less than a month nearly twenty more planets befell the same fate, billions were getting slaughtered practically every day and we didn't even know why… that was until Planet Serenity fell."
"Why? What was different about that planet?" Rito asked with a pale face as he hugged an equally pale Mikan and Lala for comfort, both for him and them.
"Because Serenity was the Charmian homeworld, it was MY home," Sephie stated softly, a single tear falling down her cheek as all three of her daughters, Rito, and Mikan all gasped. "I personally went to see for myself the moment that we got the report, hoping to find that it had been a false alarm, that once I arrived everyone would be safe and sound still. Instead I got to witness first hand exactly what had been happening as our kind was driven to near extinction."
The moment the projection changed this time, the image that was revealed immediately caused Rito to turn green before diving for the nearest trashcan, swiftly followed by Lala as the duo lost their lunched for what had to be the hundredth time. Everyone else managed to keep their own meals down, albeit just barely for a few of them, but were nonetheless disgusted and horrified by what they were seeing.
"They did something to the minds of those on the planet, reducing them to rabid animals that would just slaughter themselves while they just watched." Sephie closed her eyes as she spoke, refusing to watch as her younger self was forced to bare witness her own people literally tearing each-other apart on her ship's monitors. Men, women, even children ran through the streets covered in blood and viscera while attacking anyone that got close with no regard for their own well-being.
Those few who managed to survive somehow were then swept up by the rapidly growing roots of a God Tree and encased within bark cocoons. All the while a woman with stark bone-white skin and three small horns on her forehead walked amongst the carnage with a look of intrigue, seemingly muttering to herself as she occasionally stopped to examine the growth of the roots or a particularly violent bout.
"It was then that I finally understood that all of that death and destruction was nothing more than casual experiments for them. My people… my family… my home… used like lab rats for their tests to see how effectively they could make those damned trees of theirs grow." Accepting a box of tissues from SKU with a quiet thanks, Sephie wiped away the tears that were now practically pouring from her eyes. "I don't know how I got away without them noticing, maybe they did and just didn't care enough to do anything, but I fled back to Deviluke and told Gid what I had learned. For months we dedicated every last resource we could to finding a way to stop those monsters from destroying everything, eventually forging an uneasy but necessary alliance with the Eden Organization in the creation of project Salvation."
The memory changed to show Sephie and Gid along with several other men and women working within a large laboratory, the queen reluctantly handing over a small vial filled with small white flecks to the scientists. However, the image vanished entirely after that as the strange crown atop Sephie's head evaporated way into nothingness.
"In the end though it was unneeded once Lord Necromancer arrive," She continued regardless though after she managed to regain her composure. "He appeared one day on one of the most recently attacked planets and simply made the Otsutsuki there vanish with a wave of his hand, before requesting that he be brought to Gid and I with his deal. We give him what he wanted and in turn he'd get rid of the rest of the Otsutsuki as well."
"How oddly convenient of him," Momo said sarcastically, only to quickly regret doing so when her bust shrank an entire cup size. "Oh come on, you have to agree that it's more than a little suspicious. You just happened to show up in time to save the universe and all you wanted in return was me and a stupid rubber duck?"
"Actually, that wasn't entirely the case at first." Sephie stated with a mixed expression of awkwardness and annoyance on her face whilst her youngest raised a brow.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Originally I asked only for a rubber duck, you were added to the deal later on because your father found my first offer to be too insulting SKU answered for the woman, his message causing Momo and all the other girls (and Rito) blink in surprise.
…
"…You're got to be kidding me, right?" The bustier twin asked after a long awkward silence filled pause.
In response, the young looking Naruto simply held up a tape recorder that he definitely hadn't had in his hand a second ago and hit the play button. [Is this some sort of joke to you!? Our universe is worth far more than some mere children's toy!]
Momo could not help but deadpan as she heard none other than her father's voice as he ranted and raved. "So you're telling me I wasn't even supposed to be part of the deal? I was just tacked on because of that?"
Yes
That one word was the last straw for the girl as she flopped onto her back with an exasperated groan and covered her face with both hands. "I don't even know what I should be pissed most about, the fact I'm in this mess because daddy couldn't keep his mouth shut… or that I'm apparently less valuable than a rubber duck."
In your parents defense, they only intended to have two children so they had nothing to lose at the time they agreed to my bargain, neither of them had accounted for the possibility of having twins. And you are less valuable than a rubber duck, no if and or buts
"Well gee, don't you know how to make a girl feel special," She muttered dryly after she uncovered her face to see SKU holding a note over her, before tilting her head just enough to be able to see her mother again. "So is that all or are there any other big bad life secrets you've been keeping from me my whole life?"
"No, once the deal was made Lord Necromancer fulfilled his end and left the same day, thus ended the true Great War. It was an event so horrific that nobody wanted to ever remember it again, so new generations were instead told of the supposed Unification Wars," Sephie said with a shake of her head. "It wasn't until Lala was born twelve years later that I saw him again, and even then it was just to tell me that he'd be back again 'When the oldest shows what may have been'."
"Which leads us to now I'm guessing," Nana said as she glanced at the TV they had been watching all this time, before her face suddenly scrunched up in confusion for some reason. "Wait a second… twelve years, that would have been seventeen years ago. Lala's only sixteen mom, how could she have been born seventeen years ago?"
"Ah, yes, I forgot you were too young to remember," Scratching the back of her head sheepishly, the queen actually smiled slightly at the nostalgic memories. "It's actually sort of a funny tale but to make a long story short one of Lala's inventions malfunctioned when she was six that caused her and myself to skip forward in time an entire year."
"So classic Lala moment, got it." "Yeah, I could see that." "I'm not surprised." "That's definitely something she would-Oh come on!"
"…Skippy-Up-Chrono-Kun didn't malfunction… it did exactly what it was supposed to… just… not in the way it was supposed to." Lala murmured weakly from the trashcan, wheezing a bit as she wiped the dribbles of vomit off her lips.
"I'm pretty sure that's the definition of a malfunction sweetie," Sephie while passing some tissues to her daughter and her future fiancé. "Apparently it was supposed to bring a person from a specific point in the past to the present. However, when Lala tried to show it to me she made the mistake of trying to use it on her own past self which caused a temporal paradox that sent us both forward in time instead. Oh you should have seen Gid, he apparently was we'd been teleported to Prickle again, otherwise known as the planet of Cacti, and spent months searching for us there."
"Daddy looked like a giant porcupine," Lala said with a giggle, slowly getting back up to her seat as Mikan and Yami helped a still green faced Rito. However, as she settled back into her seat, the inventive princess was surprised by SKU setting a note into her hand. "Huh? You want Chrono-kun?"
Yes, I need it for something very important, may I have it please? The pale boy asked while holding a doodle of a smile over his lips, making Lala giggle again at the sheer silliness of it.
"Well sure, since you asked so nicely and I just can't say no to that adorable wittle face. But the only problem is that it's-" A small portal opened up and drops a small white and pink cube with Lala's symbol into SKU's hand. "…in my room. That is a very handy trick."
Indeed SKU 'said' with a nod before tucking the device into a pocket and hopping to his feet, turning to Sephie. This has been fun but I have other matters that need attending to soon, so I shall be collecting my dues now so that I can be on my way
"Yeah, yeah, so what do you want from me then?" Momo asked as she finally sat back up, her arms crossed as she glowered at the necromancer's back. "A sex slave? A personal maid?"
Nothing
"…What?" That was not the answer she had been expecting.
I have already given you my brand, there is nothing else I need from you, you are free to live your life as you please SKU 'stated' without even looking back at the stunned girl, opting to instead walk right up to a very confused Sephie. You're making me my duck, now
"…What?" The queen unintentionally parroted her youngest at the note that the child-looking king held up to her face before placing a hand against her stomach. "Hey, what are you- *Squeak*"
"…Did you just squeak?" Yami asked as she and all the others stared at Sephie with wide eyes whilst said pinkette covered her mouth as her entire face turned bright red. That blush then went completely nuclear when the silent boy's hand went straight down and slipped into her pants.
SKU retracted his limb naught a second later to reveal an egg held in his grasp, roughly the sized of a baseball and pure white in color. It was covered in a slick clear fluid that dripped all over his fingers until he waved his free hand over it, causing it to vanish and then reappear within a glass bottle which he promptly dropped through another small portal.
Yet none of the other occupants in the room were paying that any mind as the egg itself started shaking rapidly, muffled squeaking chirps ringing out before several cracks appeared all over its surface. Then with one last loud crackling the eggs burst, showing bits of shell all over the floor, as a pink rubber duck almost identical to the one Lala had been given was revealed.
However, unlike hers and all rubber ducks in general, this little pink duck was actually alive as it hopped about in SKU's hand, chirping excitedly as its eyes roamed over its new surroundings.
It has been a pleasure doing business with you Sephie-san, now if you'll excuse me I need to make sure that my set matches He 'said' with a small bow before walking backwards into the closet that he had appeared from in the first place, seemingly vanishing into the shadows with one last squeaking chirp from his newborn rubber duck.
…
…
"Well… that was… unexpected? Yeah, let's go with unexpected." Rito muttered as he just stared at the closet, his eyes so wide that they almost threatened to pop out of his skull.
"I'd have gone with completely mind bogglingly insane personally, but unexpected works too." Mikan added in with an identical look as her brother on her face.
"That was a most strange experience for sure," Mea stated in a daze, before the redhead shook her head and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what he meant by making sure his set matches? And didn't he mention something about a brand?"
Snapping out of her own shock, Momo huffed as she turned away from the closet. "Who the hell knows? Everything that guy said was some stupid double meaning riddle. I'm just glad he finally left, the jerk was really starting to get on my nerves."
"Aw, was he really that bad Momo? I figured that this whole event would have been quite enlightening for you, it certain helped me grow into a better person after all." Nana stated smugly, a smirk on her lips as she crossed her arms under her now modestly sized chest.
"Oh stuff it Nana, mine are still bigger."
"That may be true still but only just." The animal loving princess emphasized her point by sidling right up to her twin so that their chests were side by side, showing that they were just shy of being the same size.
Grumbling under her breath in annoyance, Momo shoved Nana away and covered her chest protectively as she moved to the far side of the bed. "Can we just get back to watching the show already? I could really do with something to get my mind off the last half hour of my life."
"For once we can agree." Yami said before using a hair hand to turn the TV on, the sudden movement and the sound of the machine powering up causing the rest of the room's occupants to break out of their stupors.
'Well hopefully this will be something more cheery.' Sephie thought optimistically…
"Heh, the fool didn't even realize I was hiding in the sword."
"You did good work Kisame." Tobi spoke as he and Kisame stood on the fingers of the giant, wooden statue. The Jinchuriki of the Eight Tails in front of them, covered in a red aura as his chakra was ripped out of his body, and the Tailed Beast inside of him.
'Or maybe not…' The queen couldn't help but deadpan as the exact opposite of what she had been hoping for popped onto the screen.
Killer Bee, the Jinchuriki of the Eight Tails, had been able to escape them several times now. Yet, Kisame, had been able to capture the man when his guard was down by fusing with his own stolen sword.
"The old Trojan Horse trick, a simple yet effective way to catch your opponent off guard." Mikan muttered with a nod while giving Bee a pitying look as his face contorted in pure agony.
"... That only leaves Naruto." Tobi spoke with narrowed eyes.
Naruto, a major thorn in his side.
"I just can't wait for the war to start." Kisame admitted with a shark toothed grin. With the Eight Tails captured, and only a few days away from being fully extracted, the last of the Tailed Beasts was their next target. As it was, the only members of the Akatsuki were him, and 'Madara' standing nearby.
Though, Kisame doubted it was the real Madara, just somebody using his name.
Well, there was also Zetsu, but they had an army of Zetsu now, so it didn't really mean much. They were just biding their time as the army started to fully awaken. As it were, most of them were still waking up from their deep state of slumber.
"Hopefully with the intel they got from Kabuto and the fake Naruto that Yami killed, those Zetsu things wont be too big of a problem," A shiver ran down Nana's spine as she spoke. "I'd hate to imagine how bad it'd been if they had no warning at all."
"Considering how much damage just that one almost caused, it would've most likely been complete chaos once the army was unleashed." Mea stated as her mind quickly churned up several different scenarios, none of which ended very well. Just one had almost been enough to beat Yami's counterpart, in fact it would have been enough had it not been for how well the blonde had gotten to know the boy it'd been impersonating.
She couldn't even imagine just how much damage a few hundred could do if given the chance.
'... I wanted to use the Tailed Beasts to fight in the war... but without the Rinnegan, I can't control the Gedo Statue, and maintaining control over 8 Tailed Beasts using my Sharingan will be... far too difficult.' Tobi thought as he held his form. They had been stealing the Eight Tails from Killer Bee for several days now, but with only two of them, it would take much more time than the normal three days. The Eight Tails wasn't going to be extracted in its full state for at least another three days, even after the days they had spent working on it.
That damn Kabuto had caused him too much trouble. Tobi didn't know how, but the man had been able to spy on him and learn his plans. Now, the Hidden Villages were all well aware of what he wanted to do. Without the ability to steal back the Rinnegan, which had been destroyed, he lost most of his military power. He had truly needed those eyes if he wanted to have a real chance of winning the war.
Without the Rinnegan, it would be impossible to revive the true Madara, and it would be impossible to control the Ten Tails.
"Looks like you showing up really ended up putting a big dent in his plans, huh Yami?" Mikan said with a smile as she gently nudged the transforming girl's side. "Guess there was a few more good things that came out of you being there than we thought."
To her surprise though, Yami shook her head as her gaze hardened. "In the short term perhaps, but it's unlikely they'll just give up even after such setbacks. Odds are they'll either bunker down and wait till they can rebuild their forces…"
"So... without your special eyes, what happens when we awaken the Ten Tails, eh?" Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tobi frowned under his mask.
Without the Rinnegan, he wasn't even strong enough to become the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails, or activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"We allow the Ten Tails to run wild, and it will achieve its final form and activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi on its own. We'll just need to stay alive long enough for that to happen." Tobi didn't even know if that would work. The Ten Tails would eventually take on it's final form, which would have its own giant Rinnegan, but that didn't promise that it would activate the jutsu for them. "... We will worry about it after we have the Kyuubi, and if it doesn't work... we use the Ten Tails to destroy this world." Tobi finished off.
Yes, if the plan were to fail, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi became unable to be preformed, then they would simply destroy the world, and everyone on it.
"…Or they become desperate like a wounded animal and lash out at everything in hopes of taking their enemies out at all costs." The former assassin finished grimly while her brunette friend sighed.
"Right, makes sense."
"Suicide, I like it."
Sounded like fun to Kisame, and if they were going to die, then he might as well take a crack at fighting the ultimate Tailed Beast himself as well. It would be fun to die fighting against a being of immeasurable strength.
"So he'd rather die trying to fight a beast that has basically infinite power than surrender?" Momo muttered with a raised brow. "That's… actually sounds kind of badass honestly, bat shit crazy but badass."
"Yeah, crazy guy wants to release a super dangerous planet eating monster just so he can punch it, sounds sooooo awesome." Nana drawled out sarcastically.
"Awesomer than you would be at least, you'd probably just wet yourself like when you-Oof!" The plant loving teen started to say tauntingly, only to be cut off by an elbow to her gut from her scowling twin.
"Don't you dare bring that up you little-Gah!"
Momo giggled vindictively as Nana doubled over clutching one of her breasts after she'd jabbed it right on the nipple. "Guess bigger boobs aren't as great as you thought, are they sis? Bigger boob means bidder target."
"That may be true but didn't anyone ever tell you that smaller boobs… are way more sensitive!" Nana shot back as she nailed Momo in the exact same spot with a jab of her own, making her sister squeal in shock as she fell to the floor.
Of course Momo wasn't one to take that laying down as her tail zipped up and jabbed Nana again, bringing her down as well before both girls started grappling on the floor while repeatedly jabbing each-other.
"That took longer than I thought it would." Mea said with a giggle while idly lifted her feet out of the way as the squabbling pinkettes rolled past her.
"It will be a hard battle... Konan will have told the alliance how my powers work by now, and as strong as you are, you are not invincible." Tobi gave Kisame a narrowed eye. He didn't like their odds of a real victory. At the most, if the Ten Tails didn't act as they wanted it to, then they would have to try for a draw.
They weren't in a good place.
"Just wait till Naru kicks your butts too, then you'll really be in a bad place you bunch of meanies." Lala said while punching at the air in a sloppy yet cute imitation of how Naruto fought.
"How about Sasuke?"
"Sasuke is recovering. It will take time for him to adjust to Itachi's eyes, and their power. Since he killed the girl, his heart has truly sunken into darkness. We won't be able to rely on him as an ally now." Tobi mentioned, since those with dark hearts weren't people that you could trust not to betray you. Even his own heart wasn't as dark as Sasuke's... then again, he felt like he lost his heart a long time ago.
'Man, dude must be seriously crazy if even the guy bent on global genocide thinks he's is too messed up inside to trust.' Mikan thought with a grimace. It was one thing to hear Naruto talk about it, considering that he used to be friends with Sasuke, but hearing actual criminals agreeing that he was too dangerous really emphasized just how… dangerous he was.
Kisame just laughed.
Everything sounded like so much fun.
-With Naruto/Yami-
"Zzzzzzzzzz."
'He's a loud sleeper when not under Genjutsu.' Yami thought to herself as she laid next to Naruto in bed, platonically of course. Her bed was big enough for two people, and surprisingly, Naruto was staying on the side of the bed that she was letting him use. She laid awake and looked at the ceiling.
"Well hello there~!" Hopping up from the floor after giving her twin one last elbow to the gut, Momo's mood perked up as soon as this scene appeared on screen with an ever-familiar grin on her lips. "Now this is more like it!"
Meanwhile, Yami sighed tiredly and covered her face with her hair as Mikan patted her back sympathetically, both already knowing exactly what was coming next.
"Already sharing a bed and sleeping together? I wonder how long till we get down and dirty with the real deal."
Yep, there it was.
"Can you not Momo? Please?" Mikan pleaded, which just made the plant controlling girl's smirk widen.
"I cannot, but I'm sure Yami will help Naruto nut."
…
"…Yeah, I'll admit that one was terrible," Momo said after a long awkward pause. "Sounded way more clever in my head."
Purpose.
Naruto's words were stopping her from sleeping, though she was a light sleeper anyway. She looked up at nothing, just gazing into darkness to the sounds of Naruto's snoring and breathing. She turned on her side and looked at Naruto, sprawled out and seemingly defenseless.
What was her purpose in existence?
Peaking through a gap in her hair, Yami's eye gleamed with curiosity and contemplation as that same question flittered through her mind before blinking when she felt a hand rest atop her head.
"As I've said before that is a question that many do not know, most spend the majority of their lives trying to figure out," Sephie said as she gently ran her fingers through the transforming girl's hair. "You shouldn't worry too much though, I'm certain the answers you are looking for will come to you before you know it."
"…Thank you." To the queen's pleasant surprise, Yami actually leaned into her touch rather than pulling away as she visibly relaxed, even if it was just uncovering her face a bit.
'I've never thought about it before... I've been alone in the universe for most of my life. I just went day to day, taking jobs to pass the time.' Yami questioned herself. For so long now, she had never questioned her life, her choices in life, and where she was going. She never thought about her future, and she avoided thinking about the past. She just existed for the sake of existing.
'And I was trying to force her back into that life.' Despite the apparent amused disinterest she tried to convey, Mea's eyes belied the truth as they briefly flickered towards her fellow transforming teen in regret.
Much like Yami, she had never really put much thought into her life during her travels through the stars as an assassin, simply doing jobs and following Nemesis's orders. At the time she thought she was content with living her life that way, the way a 'weapon' like her was supposed too…
'Then Nana showed me just what I've been missing out on all this time.' The redhead thought with her lips turning into a more genuine smile, her gaze jumping to the girl in question as she settled back onto the bed beside her.
Then, Naruto showed her kindness, and taught her what it really meant to exist, he showed her how much he enjoyed life. He didn't just have a life, but he lived.
"Now that is an understatement, dude spent most of his life dealing with one crap-show after another yet still manages to spin things into the positive for himself," Mikan said in approval before smirking as she nudged her brother and added. "He's kinda like you in that case, just with way more style."
"Gee… thanks sis." Rito muttered dryly.
In comparison, for most of her life, she had just been a walking corpse, going through the motions.
"Mmmmm."
'Why is he even friends with me? I've done almost nothing but hurt him, and he's still showing me so much kindness? If he never met me... would his friends still be alive?' Yami thought as she gazed at Naruto sorrowfully. Her taking the mission to take down Naruto had changed his life, no doubt, and she didn't think she changed it for the better.
Naruto was giving up his dream now.
"Ah, she's being way too hard on herself, there's no way she could have known that all that would have happened," Momo said with a wave of her hand. "I mean how was she supposed to know that a supposedly routine job would end up leading to a life changing adventure of love and discovery, that sort of stuff usually only happens in cheesy soap operas… and Rito."
"Why does everyone keep comparing this to me?"
"Because it fits you to a T, convoluted love life, weird luck, magic and science that defies logic as we know it, constant danger, all that's missing is cool powers of your own and you'd be a textbook anime boy protagonist or something," Mikan stated as she patted her brother on the back.
"Oh, I could-"
"""Don't even think about it Lala!""" Almost everyone cut Lala off when she held her hand up with an excited expression they all knew very well, her 'I got a great new invention idea' look.
Blinking in surprise at the sudden and abrupt shutdown, Lala tried to speak again only for Mikan to clap a hand over her mouth.
"Lala, you are not making something that could possibly give Rito superpowers. That. Is. Final." The brunette stated sternly with a withering glower that caused the peppy princess to shrink back in her seat. "Now Im gonna take my hand away, and the first thing out of your mouth better be 'I promise not to even try making something like that', got it?"
When she got a nod in response, Mikan slowly retracted her limb but kept her gaze firmly locked on the pinkette.
"…I promise not to try to make a machine that give Rito superpowers, even if it would have been really cool." Lala muttered reluctantly before crossing her arms with an overdramatic sniffle as she pouted, grumbling about how amazing her invention could have been.
'Yeah right, knowing her luck she'd have given him powers that cause women's clothes to fly off whenever he looked at them or something.' Mikan thought with an eyeroll, unknowingly mirroring the thoughts of everyone else in the room aside from Mea. Said redhead was instead patting Lala's shoulder as she nodded along with the princess's whining while mentally lamenting at the lost opportunity herself.
She brought nothing but pain as suffering to others, and for the first time, she found somebody she wanted to make happy. The emotions she felt for him, she knew that she was hurting him... but she couldn't bare the thought of being without him now. He woke up feelings that she didn't know she could still feel.
The hell of loneliness that Naruto mentioned to her, his greatest fear... she feared it.
After meeting Naruto, she was afraid of becoming alone once more. Now that she had somebody precious to her, she too was afraid of returning to that hell. She understood his words, but she also understood that she had caused somebody she cared about a lot of pain and suffering.
'Oh no… whenever a topic like this comes up I-'
"Don't be lonely Yami! We'll always be here for you!"
'-End up in a hug sandwich.' Yami lamented to herself when she was glomped by Lala, who's mood did a full one eighty once again, into a hug that smooshed the former assassin between her and Sephie. "Lala I'm fine, you do not need to hug me."
"But I wanna." Was all the pinkette said as she nuzzled her cheek against Yami's, making the transforming girl sigh with the tiniest of smiles.
That hurt her.
'... I've stolen his dreams from him. If I never met him, his friends would still be alive. He's going to lose everything because of me... but I still feel... happy that he's going to come with me across the universe.' Yami knew where part of her guilt came from. She was happy when she knew that Naruto was suffering. She wasn't happy because of his suffering, his suffering did not bring her joy. She hated the fact that she was happy, but at the same time, if Naruto's wasn't suffering, then she was sure that one day she would be forced to be alone once more.
Being alone, without a purpose, had become something she feared now. She didn't even know if she could decide what she wanted her purpose to be.
"Once again not that big a deal, everyone feels a bit possessive now and then, it's totally natural when you're in love. Even Lala has had moments like that and she's practically puppies and rainbows incarnate," Momo said while jabbing a thumb at said sibling, who was still rubbing cheeks with Yami. "Sides, if you really want to make it up with him, I hear a good banging always improves a guy's-"
Yami's hair formed into a giant flyswatter that smooshed Momo into the floor with a solid whack.
"...Ow."
Yami placed her hand up against Naruto's face.
"You're horrible... making me feel this way... When I see you hurting, I feel your pain... and I want to protect you from it... I want to share your pain, and my pain with you. Is this the love you praise so much, knowing you'll eventually get hurt?" Yami whispered, and though her words sounded harsh, she felt no hatred towards Naruto for them.
Love was bitter-sweet, she was quickly learning.
She loved Naruto, and she knew that much.
"Awww~! That's so sad but sweet~!" Lala gushed, both figuratively and literally as her ears started watering, making Yami transform her hair into solid rubber the tears rolled off.
"I-" Momo didn't even managed to get one word out as she was picking herself up before another swat smashed her straight back down. "You can swat me all you want, but I shall not be stopped!"
Without a world Yami swatted the girl once more, this time hard enough to make the whole room shake a bit and keeping the swatter pressed down on the girl.
"…But I can be reasonably delayed."
That seemed to be enough to mollify the blonde as she removed the 'weapon' holding Momo down, thus allowing her to get back to her sweet.
"Well now I know what it feels like to be a mosquito, still don't feel sorry for smoothing them though." The plant loving girl said while stretching in her seat, making her back crackle as it realigned.
She didn't know how she loved him, because her book said multiple types of love existed. She had never felt love for anyone but one other person, and this love didn't feel anything like what she once felt. It was different than that, so she could say she didn't love him like family.
'Why is Yami-chan touching my face?' Naruto groaned, keeping his eyes closed, having woken up to the sound of somebody talking.
"Oh no…" Yami groaned as she vanished back into her hair, unintentionally encasing most of Lala as well with her due to her closeness.
'Oh yes!' Momo thought, rubbing her hands together with an excited grin.
Heavy sleeper or not, it was hard to stay asleep when somebody was talking and touching your face.
"If I stay with you, will I find my purpose? Will I learn about these emotions?"
'Ah... she's thinking about that. I wish I could help her, but she needs to find her purpose herself.' Naruto kept his eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep. They were going to be going back to the Hidden Leaf in the morning, and he was going to get the Key to his seal so that he could start working towards mastering Kurama's power.
Finding your own purpose was more than just learning it, it was the journey it took to find it as well. If he told her the answer, not that he even knew the answer, then it would be an insult to her.
"You know, a lot of people call him an idiot but that boy could put most philosophers to shame with the wisdom spouting from his noggin." Nana muttered with a shake of her head.
"A genius of one thing is still average in another," Mea said, sighing reminiscently as an old memory played in her head. "Nemesis told me that after we went shopping for a new ship once, the salesman almost scammed me into buying one for way too much."
"Im not surprised; car dealers do the same here all the time." Mikan chipped in dryly.
"I think its sweet that he doesn't want to ruin it for Yami-chan." A still gushing Lala said with a blindingly bright smile, squeezing Yami tightly in her grasp as the blonde stayed hidden beneath her golden locks.
"Goodnight Naruto."
"Goodnight Yami."
...
"Oh my…" Sephie cupped her mouth in shock as everyone else in the room froze.
Yami's face turned completely red when she realized that Naruto was actually awake, and apparently was awake enough to reply to her clearly. Naruto's eyes jerked open when he realized that he had automatically responded to her without thinking about it. The two of them stared at each other for a good long while. She stared at him, before she turned over and looked away from him with her whole body shaking in self-humiliation.
Neither of them said anything for the rest of the night
"Heheh hahaha HAHAHAHAHA! Oh god that was just priceless!" Unable to hold it in, Momo fell over laughing like crazy as soon as the buffering screen appeared, clutching her stomach as tears started welling up in her eyes. "Ahahah! I think my ribs are gonna break! Hahaha!"
"Hehehe… I can't say I didn't see that coming. You're really aren't used to dealing with people if you didn't realize you were waking him up." Mea said with a soft giggle, which only grew when she saw Yami retreat even further under her hair in embarrassment.
"Awww, that was so CUTE!" Lala cheered from underneath Yami's hair before she was suddenly ejected by the golden locks, making her pout. "Ah, I wanted to snuggle more."
"Don't worry Lala, you still have Rito to snuggle with." The ever helpful Mikan said while shoving her brother into the peppy princess, instantly cheering her up as she wrapped the boy up in a hug.
'Well at least everyone's in a better mood.' Sephie thought to herself with a smile, giggling as a blushing Rito frantically tried to pull his head away from her eldest's bust and her youngest's laughter eventually got on Nana's nerves, resulting in another fight. 'Now let's just hope it stays that way.'
The last thing any of them needed right now was even more trouble after all.
-Meanwhile, In a universe theoretically in the exact same place-
It was a calm peaceful morning at the Yuki household, the birds were chirpin and the sun was shining. Naruto and Lala were peacefully asleep in bed, and Mikan was getting ready to wake them up in her usual way.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" And all that peace was shattered into a thousand pieces by an ear piercing scream, causing the sleeping duo to jolt awake whilst Mikan stumbled and fell on her ass from surprise.
"The hell? Was that Momo?"
-End Chapter-