Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Thirty-Seventh Thread

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This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8693.

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"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
― Winston Churchill

0

Given that she feels like shit warmed over, and rightly so, thanks to her bout of genius yesterday in using her Mangekyō ability which left her with mild chakra exhaustion, Ren probably should've stayed in bed. Hana, if she were there, would most likely have made her go back to lay down, but Hana is at the compound half a village away, and Ren feels restless.

Therefore, she chooses to raid kitchen. Well, maybe not exactly raid, but-

Well.

There is that thing about Renee back Then and now, too, that when she's stressed, there are only two things that could de-stress her for sure. First of these things is sex which, for her currently twelve-year-old body is off limits for, at the very least, the next four years. Second, and much more effective in terms of availability and overall results, is, of all things, cooking.

Thus, here she is, at five o'clock sharp, having left the bed without somehow disturbing Naruto and Sasuke while detaching them from her person (and it should be worth mentioning that they had attached themselves to her like limpets, one at each side), standing in front of the fridge and cursing the unfairness of the world that, the one day she did not need to be awake at such hour, she is. Therefore, she decides to indulge herself and, while consciously acknowledging she's in a country that's Japanese to the bone, cook something as British as it gets.

Therefore, Beef Wellington, or whatever close to it Ren could make with the available resources. Actually, she found herself quite surprised; the only thing truly lacking is the puff pastry, so she only has to improvise the outer layer of the dish. Not that she minds, she was never a fan of the delicate, easily broken texture of puff dough to begin with. And then she decides to go a bit further and also bake the Battenberg cake. With a twist, of course, because while she finds the original design of the cake adorable, she figures that making each square of the cake in a different color would make it more attractive to the brats. And if she makes enough, they can share it with others from the Rookie Nine at school.

And since school starts at nine o'clock and she has all the ingredients she needs at hand, she immediately began to cook.

The sponge cake parts for assembly are on the counter, cooling, and Ren is pushing the assembled beef dish into the oven when she hears shuffling coming from her room, and sure enough Naruto emerges from behind the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning widely, trotting towards the kitchen in a slightly zombie-like manner. Ren can honestly relate, except the kid is too young to offer him a cup of coffee.

Except, and Ren dreads what it means for her, she can practically sense that something is not entirely right. Not to mention it's not even seven in the morning and Naruto is one to get every additional minute of sleep he can possibly get.

Therefore, something must be wrong.

"Hey squirt, what chased you out of bed?" she asks. Naruto looks at her, and sighs, rubbing his forearms. So she walks forward and kneels before him, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You can tell me, you know?"

"I-" he starts, and then looks down, shaking his head. "You'll think I'm crazy, onee-chan."

Ren snorts. "Squirt, all the best shinobi are crazy, one way or another."

"Really?" he looks at her, eyes wide in wonder. "I- It's just, when I close my eyes, I can hear something growling, you know? And it's kinda scary, but when I open my eyes there's nothing, only Sasuke-bastard snoring!"

Ren blinks, once, twice, because this- Isn't the Kyuubi supposed to be sleeping at this time in Naruto's life? Besides, how the hell is she supposed to help Naruto with communicating with his goddamned bijuu-

Oh. Okay, she's dumb. Like, really dumb.

"Huh, let's see," she says, tapping her chin. "It growls only when you close your eyes?"

"Yeah!"

"Then how about you sit down in the living room, and meditate a bit?" Ren says. "Maybe try to look for whatever is growling in your head? Tell it to stop, or something? It's your head, after all."

"Oh. Ooh! Okay, I'll do that, onee-chan!"

Ren smiles fondly at the brat as he settles down with his back to the couch, so that she can see him through the hole between the living room and the kitchen. He's sitting very still in lotus position, and Ren sighs, sitting by the oven. To be frank, Naruto working out a truce with the Kyuubi – Kurama, but Ren isn't supposed to know his name, so shhh – earlier would be an ideal situation. Preferably over a decade earlier than when it is supposed to happen.

Ren is selfish, but having Kurama as a guide or maybe even a mentor to Naruto would be a really good thing, especially in this Danzō-ridden world.

Honestly, the cockroach is as bad as Zetsu and as insane as Madara.

When Naruto opens his eyes next, he's in a place that's entirely not onee-chan's apartment. It's a dark and wet place, and it feels like he's floating and swimming all at once, kinda like he feels when he's dreaming. He's standing on a narrow path in a tunnel, and to his side is a small stream of disgusting, smelly water. Naruto scrunches his nose, because what the hell? Where is he anyway?

Shrugging, he presses the sleeve of his pajama to his nose. The last thing he remembers is onee-chan telling him to meditate, and then he's here. Maybe he'd fallen asleep while meditating?

Suddenly, something growls from the direction into which the disgusting water is flowing. It sounds exactly like the growling that awoke him, except it's louder this time, closer. Naruto narrows his eyes in the dark, trying to see past it, breathing the stale air through his sleeve, and jogs down the disgusting stream, towards the growling.

When the tunnel opens before him, he has no choice but to step into the yucky water, since the path ends there. He squirms, making a face, because the water is as disgusting to the touch as it looks and smells, and he can't use his chakra like onee-chan to walk on it yet. He takes off his slippers and rolls his pants up to his knees, before stepping into it. It's shallow, thankfully, but he still squirms in disgust, clenching his hands on his slippers.

There's a growing rumble that catches his attention, and he looks up. There are gigantic bars, from the yucky water up to the ceiling he can't see, and behind them there are two big, red eyes. They're the pretty shade of crimson that onee-chan's and Sasuke-bastard's eyes can turn into, except the pupils are slit.

"That's interesting," a deep voice states, and Naruto squints his eyes, barely making out the silhouette of the owner of those eyes in the dark. Whatever it is, it's big. "You don't fear me, child?"

"Who are you?" Naruto asks, crossing his arms on his chest, fluffy blue slippers still in hand. He doesn't look all too menacing in his seven-year-old, pajama-clad glory, but it's the thought that counts, right? "Where is this?"

"Puny human, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" the giant behind the bars bellows. "And we are in your mind, as I'm trapped within your body."

"What?!" Naruto yells. "Since when?"

"Since a few hours after your birth, brat," Kyuubi says. "It's how Bijuu are sealed into Jinchuuriki."

"Bijuu?" Naruto asks, cocking his head to the side. "What?"

"I won't waste my time explaining things you should already know, human," Kyuubi growls. "Now leave."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto squawks indignantly. "And I'm here to tell you to stop growling!"

"And if I don't?"

"It's my head!" Naruto argues. "I don't know how you got in here, but it's my head and you live here, like Ren onee-chan lives in her apartment, and they have a cur-fee-w hour when we can't make noise anymore, dattebayo! I'll set you a cur-fee-w too!"

"As if I care for your human devices," the Kyuubi says, massive ears twitching. Naruto's eyes, more and more used to the darkness, can make out the shape of the gigantic fox and a mass of scarlet fur.

"Are you lonely?" Naruto asks suddenly, and the fox' eyes widen, but there's no reaction otherwise. "That's why you growl? Because you're lonely here, in my head?"

"Hah, as if I, the Nine-Tailed Demon would be-"

"It's okay, you know," Naruto cuts in, and the fox growls in annoyance. "I was alone, too, before Sasuke-bastard became my friend, and Ren onee-chan let me live with them, you know? I know it's hard to be alone."

"I don't care," the fox growls.

"So I will come here every day, okay?"

"I- What?!"

"And I will talk to you, and you won't be so lonely anymore, okay? We'll be friends and you won't have to growl anymore!"

"What? Brat, no, don't you- Where are you going, get back in here-!"

But Naruto is already gone, and the only thing the Kyuubi can do is stare at the spot his current prison occupied a while ago and think, what the hell.

When Ren walks to the Academy later that day – with an oddly smug Naruto and a somewhat confused Sasuke – she does not expect to be assaulted by a bunch of children the second she steps onto the grounds. Kiba just straight-out barrels into her, and Ren doesn't bother trying to keep her balance, still greatly weakened after yesterday's stunt, so she falls down with only a minimal attempt to mildly cushion herself. Cobalt, the traitorous summon, jumps onto Sasuke to protect herself. It causes some of the children to squeal, and the civilian parents to hastily speed up.

"Hana, would you kindly control your brother?" Ren groans, and as if on cue, she's suddenly assaulted by four puppies of varying sizes,, trying to drown her in slobber. Ren unabashedly shrieks, the most girly sound she's made in a long while, and tries to bat all five assailants away, to no avail. The Haimaru Brothers are growing fast, becoming more and more wolfish with each passing day. And also more and more massive. And Hana? Her dearest friend just stands to the side, smug to Naruto and Sasuke's snickering, and Cobalt's cheerful clicking.

She hates them all.

"Oh Ren, you bloody moron," Hana sighs, kneeling by her as the dogs relent a bit and Kiba sits on her stomach. Hana is definitely irritated, but somewhat fondly and definitely not in a I-will-murder-you-for-your-idiocy kind of way, so it's a win.

"Thank you for your insightful input on my personal qualities," Ren mock-bows her head, which looks weird since she's still on the ground and all, and Hana sighs once, and then twice when Ren makes grabby hands at her. But she does nevertheless help her friend up as soon as Kiba is off and standing to the side. Of course, the second she's standing is the second Hana is all over her, inspecting and prodding.

"Well, be happy it's only mild chakra exhaustion," Hana grumbles. "You'll walk it off in a few days and, honestly, what the fuck were you thinking?"

"Uhhh, saving Shino and Torune from weird masked lunatics?" Ren asks, scratching the back of her neck, and Hana sighs, swatting her head. "How's the cat by the way?"

"Cat?" Sasuke asks, cocking his head to the side and honestly, he looks way more adorable than he should, holding Cobalt in his arms and all.

"I found a stray, and brought them to the compound yesterday," Ren explains. "And ran into some issues on the way, but I'm fine."

"Uh-huh," Hana rolls her eyes. "The cat will be fine to go in a week. All the standard things, fleas, worms, malnourishment, lack of vaccines, spraying and neutering."

Ren nods and then sighs, wiping her face with her sleeve where she's been assaulted by dog kisses. Then, she puts her hands on her hips and looks around and, well, apparently they've attracted a crowd. Shikamaru and Choji are slowly making their way over to them, and a bit farther down there's Hinata flanked by Shino and Torune. What's surprising to Ren, however, is Sakura. Or, more accurately, who she's walking with – because there's Ino, too, hand in hand with each other and chattering happily. Huh.

Well, she did give the brats enough of the Battenberg cake pieces so they can share with Ino, too, so that's not an issue.

The kids wave at her cheerfully as they go into the building, Sasuke hands her Cobalt back and soon all the younger kids excuse themselves to start their lessons. Only Hana and Torune linger with her, and the boy turns to her, handing to her a rather important-looking scroll. Ren takes it, but with no small amount of confusion.

"Father would like to meet you sometime this week," he says and Ren blinks, before it dawns on her – because Torune is adopted by Shibi, after all. "He wants to thank you."

Hana casts her a sideways look in inquiry, and Ren grins, patting Torune's head.

"Don't worry, I'll go tomorrow. Today I have some training with Guy and I will be dead on my feet when I'm done."

"If you over-exert yourself, I will personally end you," Hana growls, pinching the bridge of her nose, and Ren just laughs, winking at her friend, which earns her another eye-roll. "I would go with you, but I have a lesson at the hospital in an hour. But seriously, don't do anything taxing or I will be really mad at you, moron."

"Scout's honor, Hana, I won't do dumb things."

Hana glares at her for a moment. "You think what, I don't know you well enough to believe that?"

"Eh, worth a try."

"Ugh, why. Why must my best friend be such a moron."

"Oh, but you love me!"

"Sadly."