(A few years ago)
"Ow. That definitely broke something," Eren moaned as he cracked his back from where he lay on the ground in pain.
"And yet you persist in attacking me. Is this Reiner's idea of a joke?" Annie chided.
She put little effort into bringing Eren to the ground each time. It was mostly the same move as well with little variation, and yet he hadn't been able to adapt to it for the better part of the afternoon. At first she thought Reiner had done something to get Eren to constantly annoy her but after a while she had realized it was purely Eren's stubbornness which had left him at her mercy. Reiner may have nudged him in her direction but Eren was here purely because of himself. She didn't mind too much however. Annie didn't have too much else to be doing with her time anyways and he was giving her an excuse to do the only thing she was good at, albeit not at a level where she had to exert herself.
Although to be completely honest this couldn't be called a fight. Eren was fast and strong, but it was her specialty to bring down those bigger and stronger than herself with as little effort as possible.
"Aren't you going to point out what I'm doing wrong?" Eren groaned as he stood to his feet and cracked his neck and prepared to attack her again.
"No," Annie replied as she threw him to the ground once more.
"Is that your way of saying you want me to learn through trial and error?" Eren asked eagerly.
"Maybe I just like throwing you to the ground?" Annie asked with her face still as impassive as ever.
"Yeah no, Naruto says the same thing but he still teaches me anyways." Eren answered as he retook his stance and launched himself at her.
Annie frowned in annoyance as she repeated her maneuver for possibly the thousandth time. "Then he doesn't teach very well if this is all you have to offer."
Eren rolled his eyes at her. "If I was doing what he taught me I would be faring better true. But I'm trying to learn what you're doing which is different."
"And how is what I do different?" Annie asked in genuine curiosity, eager for some insight into Naruto's fighting style even if she didn't outwardly show it.
"You stand still and wait for a counterattack of some sort then you latch onto something and use it against me. I thought that was it at first but I noticed you're using my weight against me somehow and I've been trying to figure out how exactly you decide where and when to execute your moves. Getting a bigger, tougher opponent on the ground is incredibly useful and you probably know how to grapple with them on the ground." Eren spoke surely as he surprised Annie with what he had been doing. Instead of blindly charging blindly each time he had actually been dissecting her style. It was a pretty general thing but it changed her opinion of him slightly.
"And Naruto does not teach you to grapple?"
Eren shrugged. "Usually there's no need. He taught us to assassinate first and foremost if possible and not let the battle draw out long enough. They're usually dead or heavily injured before we even consider grappling anyways. Usually I distract someone long enough to get picked off by the others."
Even for Annie, the casual way with which Eren had mentioned killing unsettled her. She didn't mind death or killing, but she wouldn't go out of her way to cause unnecessary deaths. But it did raise an interesting question, if Eren hadn't been fighting to kill this entire time what would it be like if he actually tried?
"Eren, I do not understand. I need you to show me the difference." Annie instructed as she raised her arms into her stance.
"Are you sure? It might become dangerous," Eren said unsurely.
"Don't insult me," Annie said with a glare as she finally let her annoyance show.
Eren's eyes hardened. Annie thought he would nod at her to signal he was about to attack, as he had been doing previously, but this time he shot forward without warning and for a change didn't telegraph his punch either. Annie shifted as he attacked at a new angle that he hadn't used before and moved to the side, waiting to let his fist past her so she could grab his arm. She was caught off guard however when his arm didn't follow through, meaning he hadn't put a lot of force into it, as his elbow snapped back towards her face.
She took a step back just enough to avoid the elbow and made to grab his torso when she noticed that his body was still spinning and his other arm was moving towards her as he leaned back. With his body too far back and a threat in the air Annie waited for his arm to fly over her head as she ducked to aim for his torso again.
She was again surprised when his spinning motion didn't end there either and she was forced to catch his leg. Then in a display of acrobatics she hadn't expected his other leg flew upwards as well, giving Annie no time to take advantage of the leg she already held, as she caught the other limb with her remaining hand. With both his legs in her hands Annie was helpless as Eren bent himself in half and made a slashing motion with the wooden knife in his hand. She could do nothing to avoid it as her arms were still adjusting to the force of his kicks and his weight only dragged her exposed neck down towards him.
He grinned at her even as he fell to the ground once again as she held a hand to her throat with wide eyes. If that knife had been real and he had wanted to kill her she would be dead. Well, she could shift to ensure her healing but she didn't like her chances if she had to shift within the walls. The simple fact remained however that if she had been human and the situation any different she would be dead.
"See what I mean? How fast and efficient that was?" Eren pointed out with a smirk as he twirled the wooden knife in his hand. "Don't question what Naruto's teaching me. I want to learn what you have to offer. Oh and speaking of which do you happen to like my brother? I mean, your eyes kinda lit up when I mentioned him earlier."
Annie narrowed her eyes. That had stung at her pride more than she wanted to admit. And now he was insinuating something she wasn't entirely sure was untrue. Naruto did interest her, but not in the way Eren was implying.
"I underestimated you. That won't happen again. Now come at me."
Eren gulped in nervousness at the downright hostile look that was now in place of the bored look she had been wearing. "You're not mad at me are you?"
"Fight me," Annie ordered.
(Present time)
"Neither of them are thinking straight."
"Yes Temari thank you. I am aware." Armin snapped as he bit his lip and focused on the tag he was making to suppress Naruto's chakra and hopefully return him to normal. Temari, Haku, and Christa were standing guard over him as he worked. Although it didn't seem to matter too much since Eren and Naruto were overly occupied with one another.
The others watched as Naruto leapt into the air and tore off one of the titan's arms like paper, only to get slapped away powerfully by Eren's remaining arm with enough force to obliterate the hand used. Eren's titan roared victoriously however, even as his hand and arm regenerated almost instantly to form another complete titan that then lunged in the direction where it had slapped Naruto.
"That's creepy," Ymir grumbled as the others nodded.
The titan was intercepted by a red blur that shot out of the rubble and blasted off the green eyed titan's legs at the knees before the red blur was snatched up into one of the titan's hands and then slammed into the pavement where it was repeatedly bashed by Eren's fists until all that was left of his hands were steaming stumps. In the second it would take to regenerate however the red blur shot up once again and the green eyed titan's head exploded in a shower of titan matter. The airborne Naruto however was then backhanded blindly, giving Eren enough time to fully regenerate once again and roar loudly.
"This is like watching a rabid dog against a deranged person," Haku muttered almost to herself. "Naruto inflicts damage and isn't getting injured but cannot do any lasting damage, while Eren can't do any damage but he can't be taken out of the fight either."
"Which means it's a battle of attrition. Whoever runs out of juice first will die," Armin summarized.
"Yeah, yes and no." Ymir interrupted.
"Explain shifter," Armin demanded as they all turned to Ymir's titan.
"When we shift, our human bodies reside in the nape of the titan's body. It is probably the reason the mindless have that weakness as well, though we have no idea where these mindless zombies came from. But if goldie gets a lucky shot in and demolishes that nape, I doubt even Eren can heal from that."
Armin cursed as he sped up his work on the seal tag. It wouldn't solve how to take down Eren but at least they had a shifter in the area to advise them. They could worry about the green eyed titan after they suppressed Naruto. But Ymir did have a point.
"Ymir can you get Eren out of that situation?"
"If I get close enough I can bite him out of the nape," Ymir replied with an uncertain look. "But isn't he our best distraction at the moment?"
"I'm almost done with the tag. Mikasa and Temari can distract him enough as long as Eren doesn't die."
"I hate you," Ymir spat as her titan moved to flank Naruto. Mikasa and Temari were shinobi and had ways to get out of sticky situations. If she got caught flatfooted she was as good as dead. But Christa liked Eren. Christa liked Eren a lot. Damn that Christa.
(A few years ago)
"Okay okay! We have it settled that you can kick my ass!" Eren complained, on the ground once again. "But I still haven't learnt how to grapple or anything! You've just been beating me up day after day!"
"And yet you keep returning."
"I said I was sorry for embarrassing you like a thousand times already!"
"This is not about that," Annie said coldly.
"Then what is it about? Can't you teach me anything more specific? I mean I can throw Jean to the ground but he doesn't count! When I go up against Reiner it's like trying to hit a bull!" Eren whined.
"Why do you want to learn what I do?"
"Because it's so cool!" Eren gushed. "And the more I learn about fighting the better I guess," he added thoughtfully.
"Because it's cool? Is this a game to you?" Annie asked dangerously.
"Huh?" Eren said stupidly before Annie landed a harsh kick to his head that knocked him to the ground.
"As much I love seeing my brother get knocked around, I'd prefer if he was learning something while at it," A voice interrupted from a branch overlooking the small training spot Annie had chosen to meet with Eren. It was away from prying eyes in the forest which was why she had chosen it, but apparently it wasn't as private as she had thought.
"What do you want?" Annie asked simply as she settled back into a bored stance and crossed her arms.
The whiskered boy jumped down from the branch and landed silently on the ground as he answered, "Nothing much. I just wanted to see what got Eren so excited that it distracted him during mobility gear training. Slamming into a tree is new, even for him."
He then nodded to Eren whose eyes widened in understanding.
"Have fun you two," Eren called out behind him as he left the clearing.
Annie snorted at the teasing voice Eren had used. She really hoped Naruto didn't get the wrong idea, and she really hoped Eren's idiocy didn't affect her friendship with Mikasa because of his ideas.
"I ask again, why are you really here?" Annie asked the grinning boy. She was slightly nervous but hid it deep down. Despite the façade she knew a killer lurked underneath and if there was any place to do it, it was here. There was no one anywhere near the vicinity and she herself had ensured it. Maybe he had gotten annoyed with her treatment of Eren?
"I'm just curious," Naruto answered honestly. "Why are you spending so much time with my brother?"
"He's the one who keeps coming to me," Annie replied.
"Yeah, that's true. But the fact is that you respond to his requests and even if you don't teach him, you still spend hours humoring him. And don't tell me you were just bored," He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to protest.
"I use that excuse myself quite a bit. So no, you enjoy something going on and I doubt its Eren's lovely personality. So I've watched you both for the past two weeks and what I've noticed is that you enjoy fighting. And don't get me wrong I enjoy a good fight myself as well. But you, you're different. When I fight what I use my movements for are to achieve a goal. I enjoy the thrill of battle. But you, you take pride in your movements. You enjoy executing something flawlessly, especially because you've practiced it endlessly. "
Annie was struck silent by the observation which she couldn't entirely deny. She had responded to Eren's requests for these 'training sessions' which were technically beatdowns primarily because she got to exert herself a little. It wasn't common to find a human punching bag that was both willing to take a hit and able to take damage for extended periods of time.
Noticing that he had gotten through to her Naruto flashed Annie his trademark grin and settled into a fighter's stance.
"May I clarify what we are doing? If this is a fight to the death I would like to be aware of it before hand," Annie said as she brought her hand to her mouth ready to transform at a second's notice. She had seen him fight before, but she no longer knew how strong he was or what he was hiding. They suspected he was a shinobi however. Shinobi were dangerous to all titans with their terrain altering techniques, but above all was their specialty of killing people like phantoms. Shifters were incredibly vulnerable in their human form. Her crystal could probably buy her some time, but she would prefer if they didn't have to fight at all.
Naruto laughed at her assumption, something which confused Annie as it wasn't menacing at all. Instead it put her at ease.
"Annie I'm not here to kill you. Mikasa would kill me if I did that, and it would be hypocritical of me to do so just because you beat up Eren. I mean I beat him up way more anyways. The question is, do I have any reason to kill you Annie?" Naruto asked.
Annie wisely chose not to answer that question truthfully and instead shook her head slowly.
"Then it's settled. You love fighting, and so far the closest you've come to a decent fight is Eren. I'm offering you a chance to unwind and let loose for as long as you want." Naruto said truthfully.
Annie considered it for a moment, the offer too good to be true. "What's the catch?" She asked, trying to hide the suspicion in her voice lest he retract his proposal.
"We can talk about it after. Then you can decide if it's fair," Naruto clarified after a moment of thought.
"Non-lethal?"
"Annie I'm not here to kill you!" Naruto sighed in exasperation. "Just signal me when you're ready and we can begin."
What had followed next had been the most fun Annie had ever had in years. Blow for blow was met with equal force and skill, neither one gaining the upper hand. It continued for a few hours more as the sun set without them noticing.
To her surprise it was Annie who called for the break in the fighting as she was drenched in sweat and unable to continue any longer.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Naruto asked. Annie nodded as she allowed herself to relax. She was pleased to note that he seemed exhausted as well, but what really caught her eye was much fun he had during their encounter. It wasn't one sided. It was the closest thing she had gotten to an all out spar ever since the last time she trained with the man she was forced to call father. This felt different however, there was no harsh critique on her form waiting at his lips, or a painful cane to correct any flaws.
"Did you learn anything?" Naruto questioned as he did a few stretches to prevent his muscles cramping later, something which Annie imitated. She had in fact learned quite a bit about herself. She relied too much on fighting defensively and choosing a spot which she would then refuse to move from. Naruto had taken advantage of that as he had forced her to constantly keep moving and therefore she had always been on her toes, unable to adapt to a new defensive position.
She nodded again as she finished up her stretching routine. "I have. But I am surprised," Annie admitted. "From what everyone was saying about you I thought you would have been able to at least make me concede."
Naruto shrugged as he grinned at her, "I was holding back."
Annie frowned as the words stung probably more than they should have. She had been giving her all in that bout. It was like a slap to the face and even if it was a joke she wouldn't accept it. "You look just as tired as I do. What do you mean you were holding back?" She couldn't help the annoyed sneer that made its way onto her face and bled into her voice. She glared at him and settled into her fighting stance once again, ready to defend her dignity. "Do you not have any respect for me at all as a fighter?"
Naruto's eyes shot upwards in surprise before he laughed at her. "Hold up, before you go all ballistic let me explain. First, let's just say I have a fighting style designed to dismember and kill. I adjusted to your style so that you could get practice in using it. Secondly-"
Annie had no idea what had happened but one minute she had been ready for combat and the next second she was staring up at the treetops into the night sky with no clue what had happened.
"As I was saying, secondly, this isn't much fun now is it? For either of us," Naruto continued conversationally as he held out a hand to help her up.
She accepted his offer and allowed him to pull her to her feet as she dusted herself off in shame. She had been utterly outclassed from the start. She was also painfully aware that if he moved that fast and efficiently then she would not even have a chance to properly practice either, or enjoy it. How the hell did Eren endure two weeks of her practically abusing him as a human training dummy? Even now she had just lost the will to fight Naruto again already knowing the result.
"I get it now. This was all for Eren wasn't it?" Annie sighed. "You want me to effectively teach him and you just proved to me a better way because I enjoyed it and learned something, and therefore Eren will as well if I lower myself to his level."
Naruto's teasing grin softened and he put a hand under her chin to make her look up into his eyes instead of the resigned look she had been wearing as she stared at the ground. "It was partly that, I admit. But this was also for you. I mean Eren is already pretty decent and doesn't really need any more fighting styles but he showed an interest in branching out so I let him. But it was also in part because of you. I know what loneliness looks like Annie, and I know how much that shit eats you up inside."
Annie made to look away but Naruto kept her eyes directed at him so that she could see he was being sincere.
"So when I saw what little fun you had with Eren, I knew I had to help somehow. And if you worry that you're not going to enjoy going down to his level believe me you will enjoy it. I mean I enjoyed what we did here while holding back so that's kinda proof. But another thing is the joy of seeing a student grow, I should know I mean I have a few. There's very little more fulfilling. It's like watering a seed and watching it grow into a fruit tree. Especially for you and your passion for combat, if you decide to seriously train Eren, it might be the most fun you've ever had. Imparting what you love most to someone else. Ever hear the saying you learn even more when you teach? What do you think?"
The girl was a whirlwind of emotions. She was excited, she was scared of the sudden responsibility, but most and above all she felt vulnerable. Nobody knew about her past except Reiner and Bertholdt. And even though there was a mutual hatred between her and Reiner he would never divulge that information, and Bertholdt was too afraid of her to risk it.
"I'm not lonely," Annie muttered almost to herself. Maybe he was pretending to understand her. Maybe it was all a well crafted trick.
His gaze softened and he smiled sadly at her. "Your eyes say something different. When I say we were the same I meant it. I used to see your eyes in the mirror. It hits different doesn't it? We aren't actually alone, but because of isolation or some other reason we feel lonely. This loneliness is a vice on our hearts, squeezing with just enough pressure to be a constant pain. It kills us every day, just that little bit more. It takes the wonder of the world around us and replaces it all with a darkness that overshadows each moment. It is the fuel of our nightmares, as everyone turns away for reasons we don't understand, the lack of any actual connection with human beings. It's like we struggle to breathe as we wonder why we are different, why everyone else gets to have such bright lives around us. Then we ask, where is the limit? How much more of this can we take? When will the point come that someone reaches in to save us? Because we need to know; we really need to know. Don't we?"
Annie felt like a nail was hammering itself into her heart with every word Naruto said. She could relate with everything, and he truly understood what it was like. She had never felt so weak and utterly at someone's mercy before. She hated it. She hated feeling weak and helpless. Hot tears had already begun to prick and burn at her eyes, but unfortunately he wasn't done yet.
"We try to convince ourselves that we are fine, that we can live on like this. But when all we want is a hand to hold or an arm around our shoulders and none comes, the world becomes cold and empty, a slow poison for the soul. We are born to be loved and nurtured, and to do the same for others. We are born to be in tribes with social bonds that last a lifetime. Sometimes we wish that we could just melt in the rain like paper and fade away, anything to stop the ever-present pain. It took a while, but eventually I had an old man and an orphanage caretaker to show me what I needed, and now I have family. Even if I wanted to, I can never feel lonely again. But you've had it much worse haven't you? I can tell. Which is why I did this for you, it's a chance to make the pain go away. But you have to accept it Annie," Naruto finished.
For the first time in her life, Annie felt like it was okay to cry. She couldn't stop the tears that burst out of her eyes as she sobbed. Someone had understood her. Someone knew what hell she went through every day. And he didn't just do that, he had reached out to her. She collapsed forwards to bawl her eyes out, unable to stand in both relief and whatever else was going on through her. Naruto thankfully caught her as she fell and as they knelt together on the ground he pulled her to his chest in a hug.
"Shh, just let it out. Let it all out," Naruto said soothingly to the girl who could do nothing else as she felt a titanic weight get lifted off her shoulders. Her worldview had been shattered and she didn't know what came next.
She didn't know how long she had been there, soaking his clothes. But when she finally ran out of tears to cry she finally realized their position but made no move to remove herself. She was comfortable where she was, and she couldn't help but bask in her first time in someone's embrace.
"You like hugs?" Naruto joked when he noticed that her chest was no longer heaving and she seemed to have snuggled in.
"Can we do this again?" Annie asked softly.
"Do what? Fight, make you cry, or hugs?" Naruto joked.
"You know," Annie answered cryptically.
"Yeah don't worry about it." He replied as he helped her to her feet. His grin widened even further when her leg muscles began to cramp and she shook under the effort to stand. Naruto caught her once again and lifter her up bridal style before she could protest as he made his way back towards the camp. Annie just went along with it, she didn't think she could walk all the way back without help anyways and this was faster and more comfortable.
When they arrived near the dining hall Annie noticed Naruto's siblings waiting outside for him and Annie felt she understood Naruto a bit more when he said he wasn't lonely anymore. His siblings rushed towards the pair when they saw them approaching and Annie saw a look of anger on Mikasa's face and she tightened her grip on Naruto in nervousness. To her surprise however she wasn't the target of the girl's wrath.
"What did you do to her?" Mikasa demanded as she approached them at a light jog compared to the other two boys who took their time walking.
Naruto set Annie down gently, and this time it was Mikasa who moved to support Annie as she slung one of Annie's arms over her shoulder to support her weight. Annie's heart fluttered at the concern Mikasa was showing and she couldn't help but turn to Naruto because she felt that she was intruding in their family dynamic. Sensing her predicament Naruto just smiled and nodded at her to signal his permission and Annie breathed out a sigh of relief as she leaned onto Mikasa.
"I'd carry you like he did but I assume you don't want me to," Mikasa joked in her ear and Annie shot her a near unnoticeable but grateful smile.
"Thanks. My pride can handle being carried by him. But being carried like that by a girl is a little much," Annie replied as she adjusted her weight so that both she and Mikasa were more comfortable.
"Don't tell me you were training her like Eren for her to end up like this," Mikasa said dangerously with narrowed eyes at Naruto who held up his hands innocently. "She's my friend, and not everyone heals as fast as Eren."
"Relax Mika-chan! It was just like one of our spars and Annie didn't want to call it quits until her body gave up on her." Naruto defended himself. Mikasa kept her gaze on him for a moment longer as if to judge the truth value of what he had just said before she decided he wasn't lying.
"Oh my god they totally just had post workout sex!"
Annie and Mikasa looked up simultaneously as they shot glares in his direction. Armin sighed and palmed his face while Naruto just rolled his eyes before giving a look at Eren asking if he was serious.
"What? I mean look at them! She can't even walk! Well done Naruto!" Eren exclaimed as he moved to high five Naruto. The whiskered boy just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as Eren continued unabated.
"Look at their clothes! It's a mess! Sure you can say it's from fighting, but Naruto's shirt is absolutely soaked. He probably forgot to take it off when they wild on each other didn't you?" Eren teased.
Mikasa turned to Annie and she shook her head slowly. "We just fought then had some... alone time afterwards between us."
"See! In other words, they had sex!"
Mikasa thankfully ignored him and nodded at Annie as she helped her towards the dining room. "I won't pry much," she said. And Annie was then again struck at how similarly closed off both she and the black haired girl seemed to the world and she had to wonder if Mikasa knew what she felt as well.
"But I just want to ask, did you cry on him?" Mikasa whispered.
Annie turned a bright shade of red and Mikasa chuckled as she gave a friendly bump to Annie with her hips as she supported her walk. "Don't worry. He's done it to me quite a bit, so I know how nice and refreshing those moments are."
As the two girls entered the hall they heard Naruto grab Eren by the ear and ask conversationally why he was so horny. Annie smiled, maybe Naruto wasn't the only one who understood her.
(Present time)
Ymir's plan to rip Eren out of his titan had not gone as smoothly as she had planned. In fact it hadn't worked at all. She had timed her assault after Naruto had been batted away by Eren once again and had snuck up behind the green eyed titan.
She had used her scream to deafen him and she had hoped it had disoriented him enough so her smaller titan could latch onto his back and rip him out. What she hadn't accounted for was that unlike Naruto, Eren's titan relied on its regeneration and had not been confused enough. When she landed on its back the titan had promptly grabbed her smaller one and threw down her body in front of him with a guttural roar as he then tried to stomp on her.
She was only saved, though inadvertently, by Naruto colliding with the bigger titan once again. The two animalistic berserkers went tumbling down, taking down what few buildings remained around them.
"Ymir! You okay?" She heard Christa's voice worriedly inside her head.
"Tell Armin to hurry the fuck up because there's no fucking way I'm trying that again," Ymir groaned as she considered once again just grabbing Christa and leaving the battlefield.
(A few years ago)
"Annie you need to widen your social group," Naruto ordered randomly after another spar they had. They were both resting alongside Mikasa, who was now also Annie's sparring partner as both girls trained under Naruto.
"I have you and Mikasa. Maybe Eren and I'm not sure about Armin. But I'm happy." Annie replied.
"Which is why you need more friends," Naruto said with a shrug. "Social interaction is healthy. I mean look at me I'm friends with quite a few people. Even Armin has a few other friends outside the group. Eren, well he's the reason we have so many people who want to sit with us."
"And Mikasa only has me as a friend, outside the family," Annie pointed out dryly, "She seems beyond healthy to me."
The girl mentioned just smiled innocently but did not deny it.
"Mikasa isn't the best example then," The whiskered boy laughed. "But still, you either try to make more friends tonight or I reduce these sessions to once a week."
Annie's eyes widened in surprise before she narrowed her gaze at him. "That's not fair. It's not easy to make friends just like that."
"I'm not telling you to go up and craft friends for life Annie," Naruto chided as he patted her on the head, much to her own annoyance. "Just to have more social interaction. And actually Mikasa that goes for you as well. Both of you antisocial women need to become slightly more social."
"Are you telling us what to do?" Mikasa asked as she nudged Annie. The blonde raised an eyebrow when Mikasa gestured towards Naruto with her head and Annie felt a flicker of interest and nodded.
Within a split second Mikasa lunged at Naruto and pinned his upper half to the ground as she sat on his chest and grabbed both his arms to hold them above his head. Before he could use his legs for any sort of leverage Annie had already grabbed his ankles as she sat on his legs, shooting him an unrepentant look from behind Mikasa. He struggled for a moment and seemingly gave up.
"Do you two have any idea what Eren would think if he saw this?" The whiskered boy asked with light blush on his face.
"I wouldn't worry about Eren right now," Mikasa whispered as she leant forward to put her face inches from Naruto's own.
"Still here," Annie interrupted from behind them. "And I'm usually awkward, but this is... definitely awkward."
"Say it."
"No."
"Say it."
"No."
"I'm going to burn your ramen."
"You wouldn't!"
"Say it."
"Okay okay! I can't tell you what to do!"
"Good," Mikasa said as she slightly loosened her grip.
"But I can suggest what I think you should do," Naruto grinned suddenly and both girls found themselves on their backs and pinned by two Narutos, similar to how Mikasa had been restraining him.
"Hey guys Armin just sent me to fetch... um... am I interrupting something?" Eren asked dumbly with his mouth agape at the scene in front of him.
"Eren get out of here."/"Eren Leave."/ "Eren." The trio answered simultaneously.
"So I can't watch?"
A third clone popped into in existence and Eren spun on his heels whistling as he exited the forest. "Have fun you guys! I'll tell Armin not to wait on you three!"
Naruto, or at least one of them since Annie wasn't sure which one was the original, shook his head and laughed as he looked at the girls under him.
"All joking aside I was serious about you guys making friends. Now I know I can't force you but can you at least try?"
The two girls turned their heads to face other from their positions on the ground then looked back up. "Well. There's Ymir and Christa, they might work." Annie suggested after a moment of thought.
"And maybe Sasha for me," Mikasa added.
"Great! Now that's settled let's go get some dinner. I'm starving!" Naruto declared as the other two clones dispelled themselves in poofs of smoke to reveal that the real Naruto had been on top of Mikasa. He helped them up as they made their way back to the camp.
"Oh wow that was fast. I kinda expected the three of you to go at it for longer."
Annie couldn't hold in her laugh when Naruto threw Eren out of the room. Most of their fellow cadets around her inched away, unsettled by the usually stoic Annie laughing. Her job was made easier however when she was approached by a curious Ymir and Christa.
"Whatever the hell goldie is doing to the two of you, spit it out right now." Ymir demanded with a knowing grin and her arms crossed.
"Ymir!" Christa reprimanded and turned back to the other two. "What she was trying to say is that we've noticed the two of you have become more expressive compared to when we first met. We also noticed that goldie, I mean Naruto, is somehow involved. We're just curious what happened if you want to share."
Annie's face returned to its stoic demeanour on reflex, back to its cold gaze. "No," She said despite the puppy eyes that Christa was making. Cuteness did not work on Annie.
"Are you two fucking goldie?" Ymir asked bluntly.
"No."
Annie felt a nudge behind her and turned to see Mikasa giving her a look and Annie sighed. She glanced to where Mikasa had been gesturing and saw Naruto grinning at them. Well they were going to try at least.
"We... spend some... time together in the forest."
Christa squealed in a delighted fashion and Ymir smirked. Mikasa rolled her eyes and elbowed Annie again for the choice of words and Annie just sighed.
(Present time)
Armin was having a bad day. He had been in the middle of a battlefield for the better part of the morning and then come afternoon he had to deal with two of his brothers turning into walking catastrophes. And once again he had to think of something as everyone bought him time. This was fine by him really, since he had already finished the seal to deal with Naruto anyways.
But now Eren just had to go and turn himself into another rampaging monster to deal with. Something was seriously wrong with this family.
Now he couldn't even get the original seal onto Naruto. Not to mention is was getting more and more difficult to stay away from the clash, much less restrain them enough. If only they could isolate the two fighters somehow they would have a chance, to divide and conquer and all that. They could deal with either one separately but right now the situation was bleak.
Ymir had tried to get involved and had almost ended up squashed without even a passing glance. She had decided to stay away afterwards and he couldn't blame her for it, or ask her to endanger herself any further.
Furthermore Mikasa, Temari, and Haku couldn't focus on slowing either one down enough for Armin to place the tag. Whenever they used blasts of wind to slow down Eren's titan and freeze it in place Naruto would use the opportunity to attack and shatter the ice like glass. When they tried to slow down Naruto with concentrated blasts of air to push him into the ground, Eren's titan would interfere and knock Naruto out of their trap. Even Mikasa wasn't willing to put herself anywhere near them anymore as a stray hit would likely be fatal. It was a brawl they couldn't affect much and it was starting to worry Armin because the more they were riled up, the more their respective power tended to scale.
Eren's titan was big enough and fast enough slap, kick and catch Naruto out of thin air. It didn't deal much damage however as Naruto just seemed to grow angrier by the second with every failed attempt. The emerald eyed titan on the other hand continuously suffered horrific injuries that would heal almost instantly and the fight would continue as if nothing had happened. Losing its arm, losing its legs, or head, it didn't matter. Within an instant a new one had taken its place. It was a stalemate of sorts, until Armin noticed that Naruto began to gain the upper hand, dealing far more damage and faster than Eren could heal. It probably had to do with the single red tail that Naruto was sprouting.
"Armin what does that tail mean?" Mikasa asked worriedly.
"I don't know."
Whatever it meant, it wasn't good.
(A few years ago)
Annie slowly opened her eyes as she groggily tried to remember where she was or what she was doing. The last thing she remembered she had been within the interior walls to try and gather information. She had managed to gather that the current royal family was a fake, instead the true hierarchy inside the walls was run under some scientist who only the elite were even aware about. That was when everything had gone wrong and she found herself in the middle of what was a military police raid on the area against what was a notorious gang. With the situation as it was it hadn't been safe for her to transform either and in the chaos she had been mistaken by both sides as an enemy and they had almost succeeded in killing her.
She reached down and pulled the sword out of her chest with a grunt of pain. She had deep lacerations everywhere, a particularly large one on her throat, and a few gunshot wounds as well. If she had been human she would have been dead a thousand times over in her current state. Even as a shifter she was incapacitated as her body did its best to heal the damage.
She focused the healing to her eyes first, so that she would be able to better see her surroundings at the very least, and what she saw shocked her. The ground around her was littered with bodies. Many of them looked like they had been cleaved in half by a gigantic sword of some sort as the cuts were clean and deadly. She recognized a few of them as military police that had been shooting at her, and a few others as part of the gang. The one who had stabbed her only had a head remaining.
Annie caught sight of the culprit who was murdering anyone in the general vicinity. He was dressed in all black garb, and anything other than his eyes was concealed. The problem was that Annie knew those cerulean blue eyes anywhere. It was one thing to know someone was a killer, it was another thing entirely to see them outright massacre a group of people.
She tried to call out to him but realized her voice box was destroyed and sped up its healing instead. "Naruto!" She called out when she was able before she began to cough violently. Her throat had been healed but her pierced lung hadn't just yet.
He flickered in front of her with a myriad of emotions that his eyes wanted to convey. It was probably a mix of worry, relief, fear, and confusion but the next thing she knew darkness overtook her vision once again.
When she opened her eyes again she was laying on a bed, not covered by much other than a blanket. She was in a room that she didn't recognize, but it was a bedroom. They didn't have this luxury of privacy back at the camp either. She had no idea where she was.
"Naruto she's awake," she heard Armin call out from beside the bed. His mistrusting gaze centered on her. She flinched back from the look and waited with bated breath as Naruto stepped into the room as well.
"What were you thinking!?" Naruto roared at her.
Annie lowered her head in shame as she prepared for the worst, unable to meet the disappointment in his eyes. He was mad at her. Scratch that he was downright furious. It felt like all those time she had failed in training and received a beating as punishment, or worse when she had been sent to reflect on her errors without a meal or a bed.
"Why were you even here in the first place? This is way too far to away to be just a decent stop for the night. You told me you wanted to rest for this week from training then I find you here? Forget that, how could you even allow yourself to participate in something like this? Instead of just vacating the area you allowed yourself to get caught up in the fighting. But that wasn't the end of it, no you just had to get yourself practically killed! Do you know what those men were doing when I found them over you? They saw how fast you were healing and they wanted to burn you. Do you understand that? But did I know that no, all I knew was I saw you dead and about to be cremated! If I wasn't there what do you think would have happened to you? Even your stupid regeneration hit its limit and if Armin wasn't here either to heal you then you would have definitely died! You're supposed to be teaching Eren! Not picking up his recklessness!"
"I'm sorry. What is my punishment?" Annie asked resigned to her fate and realizing she may have just burned the one truest connection to another person she had ever made. She knew it had been too much of a good thing to last, the time she had spent with him and Mikasa, and to a lesser extent Eren. Armin had spoken with her occasionally but they had only reached a level where they were comfortable in one another's presence. But now she just wanted to get this over with. The sooner she was punished the sooner she could go back to being alone and avoiding all of this. As much as being lonely hurt, losing something you had hurt even worse. You couldn't miss what you never had in the first place.
Naruto shot her a flabbergasted expression.
"You think this is about punishment? I'm not going to punish you Annie!" Naruto yelled as he moved towards her and forced her to face him. "Do you not understand? You risked yourself for whatever reason. I don't know if you did it just because you loved to fight, but did you not think about how we would feel if something happened to you?"
Annie's stoic facade broke once again as she looked into eyes which she had thought would be full of disappointment, but instead the worry evident in them was on full display and it was something Annie had never experienced before. She had never had anyone to worry about her wherever she went.
"I know this is something new to you, but picture this. What would you feel if Mikasa and I were suddenly killed and you couldn't do anything about it?" Naruto asked in all seriousness. When he saw Annie flinch he continued. "There, that's only a glimpse of what I felt when I saw you earlier. Do you understand now how much it hurts?"
"I'm sorry," Annie said as she felt her barriers break once again. And this time she truly meant it. Naruto sighed heavily when he saw that she understood and he sat down next to her then hugged her tightly with his chin resting on her head.
"Still begs the question of what she was doing here in the first place," Armin said coldly from his side of the room. She heals like Eren does, though not as fast. And why would a simple trainee be snooping around in here?"
"I'm not from within the walls," Annie admitted as she closed her eyes and leaned against Naruto once again, feeling weak and exposed.
"We gathered. What are you?" Armin asked bluntly.
"I can't say," Annie said as she bit her lip.
"Then why should we trust you?" Armin demanded, not moving from his position on the couch.
"Armin," Naruto warned. "That is not important. We all have our secrets." He added afterwards.
"We need to know this for our safety," Armin countered.
"No. But I do need to know only two things. Is what is happening with Eren dangerous for him?" Naruto asked. He continued when she shook her head. "And if we let you keep your secret will it harm us?"
"I'll never do anything anymore if I know it will endanger you!" Annie said with the utmost conviction. The most she had ever felt as she stared into Naruto's eyes, challenging him to argue with her.
Off to the side she noticed Armin visibly relax in the arm chair and let his tiredness from healing Annie finally display itself. "She isn't lying about that at least."
Naruto grinned at her. "See, told ya we could trust her! And she said anything anymore which means she had plans that may have hurt us in some way before but now she's against them!"
"Aren't you the least bit concerned about that?" Armin asked with a sigh.
"Nope! But now this little girl knows that we care for her and we know that she cares for us!" Naruto concluded, his anger at her having had subsided.
Armin just rolled his eyes. "You guys catch up and I'll get some sleep. I'm exhausted."
"How did he know I wasn't lying?" Annie asked curiously.
"Hey we all have our secrets," Naruto replied with a cheeky grin.
"Touche."
"But why were you really here?"
"My homeland sent us on a mission to look for something that can help us but we don't know what."
"Then let us find it together," Naruto decided with a shrug. "I'm much sneakier at this thing than you are. Any idea what we're looking for?"
Annie shook her head.
"Okay then, how about this. Tell me about your homeland outside the walls. It sounds amazing and free."
"Not really," Annie began as she began to tell stories of her homeland and how her people were suffering from a disease and that the answer would be within the walls. She left out the part where they were shifters of course. But said they weren't that free because of outside threats.
"Then how did you get here?" Naruto asked with a puzzled expression. "That's a huge stretch of land in hostile territory and you don't even run very fast."
"Secret," she said with a small smile.
"Oh come on!"
(Present time)
"Temari, I need your wind. Last Resort. You have to direct this tag and land it on Naruto's forehead. Once it activates its possible he may fall unconscious so Mikasa be prepared to rescue him. Temari, Haku, and Ymir can then try to get Eren out of his titan. I can't reach into his mind at the moment and I'm not sure why, but this is all we have at the moment. Naruto might end up killing Eren." Armin ordered grimly.
Temari nodded, just eager to finally have this nightmare end. There was no getting used to this malicious presence that Naruto was emitting. She maneuvered the tag expertly with a few well placed wind currents and managed to barely land it in the general vicinity of his head, but it was good enough.
Armin held up his hands in the ram seal and flared his chakra to activate the tag which glowed a bright blue as chains appeared around Naruto's body momentarily and they disappeared back into the red cloak, along with the tail. The red cloak remained however.
"So... we bought you all that time and all you did was make the tail go away," Ymir growled.
Armin shot her an irritated look, the events of the day catching up to him. "Are you even aware of just how much power that tag sealed off?"
"Enlighten me," Ymir demanded. "Because that shit was our last hope of ending this without anyone getting seriously hurt."
"I designed that tag to suppress an explosion powerful enough to level this entire district," Armin pointed out drily. Once looks of horrified understanding dawned on their faces he continued. "I'm going to make a few more and Eren might buy us time. But I have a feeling Eren may not survive this so I need you to try and assist him."
"Armin?" Christa interrupted shakily.
"What?"
"He's growing another tail."
Sure enough Armin noticed the red shroud begin to morph into another eerie tail and he swore. He swore again as Eren's titan began to smoke dangerously, as if it was no longer healing.
"Is that... lava?" Temari asked dumbly as liquid fire began to leak out of Eren's titan and the atmosphere around them was no longer suffocating just because of Naruto's presence, but because the air was getting too hot to breathe.
"I don't think I can stop either them," Ymir admitted in fright as she backed away.
"I am completely out of ideas!" Armin swore. Not only were they helpless, but the two they were trying to restrain were getting even stronger? They were barely holding on as it was. Eren might now be able to buy them more time, but the clash was getting even more out of hand and even if they did suppress Naruto, he wasn't sure if they could stop Eren anymore.
The two beasts roared at each other their rage as they clashed once again, and everyone aside from Armin could only watch.
(A few years ago)
"I feel sorry for Eren," Annie admitted as she and Mikasa watched Eren and Armin attempt to snatch a pair of small bells from Naruto's hands.
"And why is that?" Mikasa asked as she observed the trio of boys. She and Annie had failed to get the bells themselves and she was watching for anything new she could come up with. Eren tended to come up with some silly but feasible ideas while Armin was sure to come up with something.
"Is there any fight he wins? I mean everyone he trains with just toys with him. He can crush grown men any day but with us he just doesn't quit." Annie pointed out as Naruto grabbed Eren's kick and threw him into a tree with a massive grin on his face.
The pair of girls sat in comfortable silence as they watched, eventually tiring of it as they turned to each other and Mikasa asked regarding Annie's training with her father. She wanted to better understand why Annie liked training with Naruto as much as she did despite her prior training.
Annie frowned. "That man isn't my father," She spat with some hostility.
Mikasa turned a surprised look at Annie's reaction and the small girl apologized with a sigh.
"I don't really know him as a man aside from his role in forcing me to perfect this style of fighting that I have. If people hadn't told me I would have thought the man was simply my personal demon instructor instead of my father," Annie admitted.
Mikasa frowned at that. "That's not what a parent is supposed to be," she said surely.
"Then can I ask about yours if the memory is not too painful?" Annie asked eagerly. "Naruto said he would like to describe it but said he had a grandpa and older brother figure so he wasn't sure. Armin doesn't remember his parents either because they died while he was young, and Eren didn't have the best relationship with his parents."
Mikasa nodded thoughtfully and gave Annie a reassuring smile that it was okay before her eyes unfocused as she drew up the happier moments with her parents.
"Well my dad was the one who made sure we had everything we needed and tried to get things we wanted. He was a hunter and he shot down small prey like birds, rabbits, or sometimes other smaller things. He bought our clothes, maintained our house and kept us safe so that nothing could harm us, at least until the day they were murdered," Mikasa sighed sadly at that.
"He made sure we were happy, always sure to encourage my mom and I whenever we felt down. He also taught me a lot of things that people usually only learn through age and experience. I think he just wanted us to be happy. My mother on the other hand did pretty much the same thing. She taught me all the chores and tasks like gardening, clearing the house, preparing dinner and the like. I enjoyed sewing clothes the most though, and embroidering. We used to sell a few pieces every week but we didn't need money much, it was just a past time for my mother after all. But either way my parents helped me grow and taught me much, but the difference with your parent is that they didn't force me to learn. They encouraged me to do whatever I wanted as long as I enjoyed it and they would help me if they could. They worried about me, cried with me, made me feel safe, and above all just wanted the best for me. I know you don't know what love means yet Annie, but the closest I have to defining that feeling is through your actions. You show you love someone by what you do for them." Mikasa said as she then pointed over to the trio of boys.
"Like there. I know Naruto loves me because he shows it in his actions. He makes sure I feel happy as much as possible, and his training isn't forced. He wants us to get better so that we can take care of ourselves even without him. He provides us with all our little wants and desires. He doesn't want us to get hurt and yet we wish to venture outside the walls. Despite the danger he didn't say no, except that we only leave when we are ready. I show I love him in my actions as well. I would rather die than have anything happen to him, to any of them. And with Eren Naruto beats him up yes, but name one person who can keep him on the floor long enough to call it a victory without outright killing him? And look at Armin, remember how shy he used to be and while it's still there, he takes initiative when he needs to and orders us all around. And that is what a parent is supposed to do for their child, they do things out of love. It may hurt but in the end all they want is their child's well being. I think the ultimate form of love is showing it through sacrifice, because in it you show they matter to you more than yourself."
Annie listened, closing her eyes as she reflected on Mikasa's words about what her parents were like and what parents should be. The man she called father could not fit into that description. All he had contributed to her life was providing his genes and then forcing her to learn to fight. Maybe she was thankful for that, but would she die for him? No. Even if Annie didn't understand him she did not care about the man.
But she also couldn't help but draw similarities to her current situation, where Mikasa's description of a parent fit him. Naruto had noticed her loneliness, and he had done something about it by providing himself and giving her what she wanted and needed. He had reached out to her and had given her the chance to enjoy fighting once again, with different people. He brought her into his fold for her sake. And he hadn't forced her, but he had given her friends in Ymir, and Christa so that she wouldn't be lonely even without his family. He made sure to also develop her combat prowess higher and higher despite not needing to, but because she enjoyed it. He gave her comfort even if she couldn't give the same. He gave her a sense of safety and security she had never experienced anywhere else. He worried about her enough that he had gone on a rampage when he thought she had died. Would he give his life to keep her alive? Annie was pretty sure he would. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her.
After all of these revelations it was hard to ignore the realization that popped into her head.
"Annie?" Mikasa asked as the girl opened her eyes and began to walk towards the three fighting boys. The girl ignored Mikasa as walked over directly to Naruto with an impassive look on her face as she tried to bury the nervousness. Naruto was too distracted teasing his brothers that he almost didn't notice Annie moving in until she was directly behind him.
"Annie?" He whirled around in surprise when he felt her presence behind him and he tensed as she wrapped her arms around his midsection and dragged him closer to her body. He closed his eyes, half expecting his body get slammed into the ground, but after a moment of nothing happening he opened his eyes again and looked down to see Annie's head buried into his chest. And it didn't seem like she was planning on moving anytime soon. The whiskered boy looked up in confusion at his other three siblings and Mikasa shrugged in response.
"I'm not sure if I'm doing this properly," Annie whispered so that only Naruto could hear.
"Doing what exactly?" Naruto asked back just as quietly.
"I don't know how to hug," Annie admitted awkwardly.
Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that it was the first time Annie had ever initiated a hug, or hugged back in general. Despite how much she like being cuddled by either him or Mikasa, it was usually them hugging her and she never hugged back. His expression softened as he wrapped his arms around her as well and rested his chin on her head again.
"Nah it's pretty good if you ask me," Naruto chuckled. "But what brought this on? I mean I don't mind, but I was busy teaching."
"Papa," Annie whispered again and felt her face redden as she tightened her grip.
Over her head Naruto's eyes widened almost comically as he looked at Mikasa's equally shocked face as he mouthed, 'What's going on?' Mikasa shook her head and Naruto glanced over at Armin and Eren who had their mouths agape. They had no idea what was going on either.
"Mikasa was telling me about her parents," Annie continued when she realized he was silent. She was once again vulnerable when she realized that maybe she had gone too far and made a mistake some way she didn't understand. Would this make it awkward between them? Did he not feel the same? Annie was thankful she had her face hidden in his chest so that the expressions of doubt wouldn't show. This was practically a confession if she thought about it.
"And I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you for letting me know what it feels to have a parent. I don't want it to stop," Annie blurted out quickly and shut her mouth immediately. She had never asked of anything for herself before and was treading on new ground here.
"It doesn't have too," Naruto reassured her as he stroked her back. "I understand and I'm honoured that you would call me that."
Annie couldn't help herself and turned towards Mikasa, practically beaming at the black haired girl who was smiling back happily for her friend. She wasn't sure how she had contributed to this but she had known Annie when the girl had been closed off from the world, and now she was initiating hugs.
Naruto got a sense that Annie was about to cry again and laughed. "You know adoptions usually work the other way around," he joked.
"You knucklehead. You adopted her yourself and just didn't realize it," Mikasa chided. "That's a nice way to play with a girl's feelings."
"Yeah he doesn't know how to treat girls," Annie agreed from her position. She then looked at Mikasa with a strange look and Mikasa's eyes widened.
"Don't say it!" Mikasa warned with glare that had no heat behind it.
"Why not?" Annie asked innocently. "You described what a mother does rather well. And you and papa-"
"I can live with being a big sister or something but do not call me that," Mikasa said.
"Mama."
"No."
"Mama."
"Annabeth Leonhardt!" Mikasa turned a bright red with a seemingly affronted look. But Annie knew inside that Mikasa wasn't completely opposed to it.
"Technically Annie Uzumaki now if we're going all the way with this," Naruto chimed in. "And Annie doesn't like being called Annabeth all that much."
Mikasa turned her glare at him and Naruto shrugged. "What? What my daughter wants my daughter gets!"
"I don't have much attachment to the Leonhardt name," Annie admitted. "It will be hard to change the official names though."
"Then don't change it. The important part is that those who need to know acknowledge it." Naruto shrugged carelessly again. "No need to make this all so complicated."
"Well, I was going to be an Uzumaki as well eventually," Mikasa sighed as she let them ponder over the name.
"Mama," Annie teased as she held her hand out to Mikasa to join the hug.
The black haired girl's eyes twitched in annoyance before she gave in and joined them. "Naruto can play at being daddy and you can call me mama because I can't stop you, but I'll still be your sister as well."
Annie just basked in the atmosphere around her.
"This is so kinky," Eren blurted out.
Armin smacked the boy upside the back of his head as he approached the small group with a smile on his face. "Welcome to the Uzumaki family then, Annie," Armin welcomed cheerfully as he joined in on the group hug. "I am now curious how you view me though."
"Uncle," Annie mused as Naruto outright laughed. "I mean you're not always there but it's nice when you are."
"That's fair," Armin agreed. "And I am Naruto's brother after all."
"And I guess that makes me an uncle too," Eren laughed as he wrapped his arms around the entire group.
"Little brother," Annie said immediately and Eren made a choking noise.
"What? Why?" He demanded.
"I'm training you. And all of us here reprimand you for being stupid. You're the youngest." She explained.
"I thought that was Armin?" Eren protested.
"He doesn't act like it." Annie countered.
"This is a very confusing family dynamic," Armin muttered with a shake of the head.
"What matters is we're family," Naruto said authoritatively. "And Eren just because Annie calls Mikasa 'mama' and calls you her little brother doesn't mean Mikasa is going to mother you anymore than she already does so don't take it out on her."
Eren looked like he was going to say something but a look from Naruto shut him up and he shrugged as they all enjoyed a moment together.
"You know I didn't get to experience raising my child from infancy," Naruto mused as he broke the silence.
"You mean changing diapers? Well you can still do that, technically," Eren said thoughtfully as they all turned to look at him slowly. "What? I just thought it wouldn't be so innocent anymore. But if you're calling him papa does that mean all this time while you three were-"
"Eren. What is wrong with you?" Naruto sighed heavily.
"He found that orange book you found and tossed aside," Armin said. "He's been reading it every time he can get. I think it was icha icha something."
"That is quality writing right there," Eren protested.
"It's a poor excuse for senseless smut," Armin accused.
"It's got plot!"
"You need to get laid," Naruto snickered.
"Like you three you mean?" Eren waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Annie stomped on his foot.
"This is why you're the little brother."
"Well you didn't say no."
"Eren," Mikasa said dangerously and the boy rolled his eyes.
"Fine fine, I'll stop." He grumbled.
They were quiet for a few moments again afterwards until Annie asked if they wanted to know what she had been hiding fully. She fully trusted them now, and she wanted nothing to get in the way anymore.
The four shared a look before Eren, Armin and Mikasa all turned to Naruto who shrugged. "We trust you enough Annie and we know you come from outside the walls. You've told us all about the place and why you're here. There's no reason to tell us anything more. Who knows, when we're ready to head out of these walls we might stop by where you live. Just so I can give that man a piece of my mind."
Annie smiled at their trust and decided against revealing she was a shifter for now. She would tell them once they ventured out of the walls together. "I will tell you however that Eren is like me," she finally admitted. She glanced at Naruto and he shook his head slightly. He didn't want Eren to know that Grisha was alive and well and had never even stopped by to check on his son, particularly when he had been the one to send Annie here in the first place.
"Huh? What am I?" Eren asked. "I mean I heal fast like you do, but does that mean we can do something else?"
Annie sighed and stared into his emerald eyes for a moment. He didn't have the glint that marked a capable shifter yet. He hadn't even had his first transformation because there would be an undeniable glint, and multiple transformations would make a shifter's irises shine, especially in the dark like hers did. Bertholdt didn't shift very often for obvious reasons, and Reiner did not have someone to force him to shift multiple times a day.
"I'll tell you when we're ready to leave the walls, and when you're a little more mature." Annie breathed out. A titan's first shift always had multiple elders at the ready to restrain the inevitable wild rages a first shift brought out. She could probably restrain Eren, especially with Naruto's help, but she was wary for the simple reason that the Jaeger tribe and their attack titans were the most lethal berserkers and Eren would definitely attract attention.
"What? Why!? Tell me!" Eren demanded suddenly and Annie made a face at him.
"It's dangerous enough already without your temper. I'd rather risk it when you have more self control."
"How dangerous?" Naruto asked.
"We might need to use a lot of chakra." Annie admitted and even Eren quieted at that.
"Oh," he said before he grinned. "That just means I'm gonna be so awesome!"
"The only thing bigger than your stubbornness and perverseness is your ego," Naruto said drily.
Annie smiled as they erupted into an argument, but there was no heat in it and she relaxed in the atmosphere of her family.
(Present time)
Annie's eyes blinked open as she struggled to push her titan to its feet. She felt as if she had been kicked by a colossal titan with the force she had been hit with and it had taken her out for a bit. She heard a massive roar that shook the ground she stood on and turned towards the sound. That had not been Naruto's demonic roar. It had been the animalistic roar of a titan and it wasn't one she recognized. She narrowed her eyes, knowing only one other shifter in the area and her blood ran cold when a second roar answered the first. This one had definitely been Naruto's.
She broke off into a sprint in their direction, knowing how powerful Naruto currently was and how out of control he had been. If anything Eren was in pretty much the same state and they wouldn't recognize friend or foe. And when two beasts of that level collided one was going to die. Of all the times for both boys to have a first shift, it had to be now. They had been so ready to leave the walls too. It was just two more weeks before they were due, waiting for Naruto to fully stabilize the shelter in the Underworld before he left them for good. But Reiner and Bertholdt had commenced this stupid plan without telling her and she therefore hadn't been able to warn her family. She was going to kill them.
But she couldn't let Naruto or Eren kill one another either. This was her family, and it was her self-given responsibility to keep them safe, even from each other. Naruto had promised her after all, that he would always take care of her as long as she wanted him to. And she wasn't done wanting that, she doubted she ever would be.
"You made a promise to me papa," She whispered as she ran. "And if you can't keep it then I'll be there to make sure you do."
(Present time)
"He's turning the ground into lava. He's actually turning the ground to lava." Armin said disbelievingly as he gazed upon the ground that had began to smoulder and melt. He had only ever read about such a phenomenon as liquid rock but he couldn't deny what he was seeing here.
"That's what you're concerned about? He's on fire!" Ymir yelled and gestured towards Eren's flaming titan which was engulfed in flames. It didn't seem to hurt him however, and due to the fact that he was producing it he was probably immune to it as well.
"I'm more concerned with how little we can actually do to stop this," Haku butted in. "With how things are going we are free to leave, but I doubt both of them are getting out of this situation alive."
"And Armin's tags?" Ymir asked.
"How exactly are we gonna place them?" Temari countered in annoyance. "We can't slow either one down long enough to plant a seal and even if we did, what's stopping him from growing another tail again and again? And in case you missed it, even if by some miracle our plan works on Naruto, the other one's a walking mini volcano which we can't suppress because that isn't chakra and we don't even know how he's doing it!"
"And I thought I was pessimistic," Ymir snorted as she received a glare back in response from the wind user.
The deafening sound as a wall of crystal suddenly erupted out of the ground startled everyone as they all stared at the new addition to the battlefield. It had forced Naruto and Eren apart both by its suddenness and its sheer size as it effectively cut off their view of one another.
"That wasn't me," Haku said when everyone turned towards her.
Her statement was given further credence when despite two enraged beings pounding their fists onto either side of the crystal wall there was no significant damage dealt. Haku's ice was always treated like glass by Naruto so it wasn't hers.
"Then whose is it?" Christa asked.
She screamed in surprise however when a massive chunk of crystal slammed into the ground like a meteor right next to Naruto. The red cloaked Naruto gave a puzzled stare at its sudden appearance, and was therefore completely blindsided by the female titan that charged silently towards him. There were no signs of its approaching movement, and it was completely silent and light on its feet as the ground didn't even shake despite its sprint.
In its hand was a massive mace, made of the same material as the wall, and it collided full force with a confused Naruto, causing him to fly quite a considerable distance backwards from the force as he momentarily disappeared.
A deafening roar shook the ground and the female titan gazed upwards at its source to find Eren's titan that had leapt on top of her wall.
Eren's titan roared in anger at the loss of his prey and dived at the newcomer with his jaws gaping wide. The female titan stepped deftly to the side and let the titan slam his own face into the ground. The green eyed titan recovered quickly enough and lunged at her again, even as his face regenerated. Once again the female titan moved to the side just enough to let the beast's momentum carry it forward before she grabbed Eren's titan in powerful hold and slammed him into the ground.
Armin narrowed his eyes slightly as he noticed that the female titan seemed to be struggling with the heat emitted by Eren's titan while the two titans grappled for dominance on the ground.
Eventually the female titan managed to gain the advantage and locked both of Eren's arms to his sides with her legs and then forced his titan to face downwards as she shoved his head into the lava he was producing. Before he could retaliate further the female titan crystallized her hand and obliterated his head to deprive the green eyed titan of his senses. With the green eyed titan rendered helpless she then proceeded to crystallize the lower half of his body and arms to completely immobilize him to the ground.
"Eren!" Mikasa yelled as she leapt off the roof with a powerful technique ready to be released at a moment's notice to save her brother.
"Mikasa wait!" Armin ordered with another frustrated sigh, having managed to enter the newcomer's mind.
Just before Mikasa intercepted the female titan to prevent it from killing Eren, the female titan looked upwards and cold blue eyes locked gazes with a sharingan. Mikasa froze when the cold blue eyes warmed in response and she pulled off her attack, choosing instead to land on the female titan's shoulder. Mikasa had recognized those blue eyes and understanding washed over her as she recalled that Annie had said Eren was like her after all. They were both shifters.
"I'm glad to see you," Mikasa laughed as Annie's titan expressed something similar to a smile.
With Mikasa's acknowledgement, Annie's titan opened its mouth and proceeded to rip out Eren from his titan's nape. She spat out the unconscious boy into her hand and laid him in front of Armin who gestured for Haku to check him.
"He's should be fine. It was his first shift and they always tend to get messy. Everyone ends up unconscious for a while afterwards, though he may take a couple of days from the damage he has had to heal." Annie informed them through the mental link as Armin connected to her, having recognized her as well. Annie ignored the confusion of the others as she then turned towards where she had hit Naruto. It had become a little easier to breathe without Eren superheating the atmosphere and with Naruto a fair distance away.
"Is everyone in our class going to turn into a titan?" Temari cried out disbelievingly.
"Only two more that I'm aware off," Annie mentioned casually as her eyes roamed over Ymir's titan in suspicion. "Though I doubt they are on our side."
"Why not?" Armin asked seriously. "Ymir and Christa aren't a threat to us."
"I wasn't talking about them, though I didn't know they were shifters either. I meant Reiner and Bertholdt. And I know they aren't on our side as a fact because they are the armoured and colossal titans respectively." Annie offered the information up, seeing no need to hide it any longer since everyone was revealing what they were. She let the information sink into the others as horrified expressions of understanding dawned on their faces.
"I'm going to kill them," Mikasa declared quietly.
"I couldn't warn you because they left me out of their plans. But I'm going to kill them myself for endangering you all," Annie answered back.
"But why? I don't understand why they would need to break the walls? We know you're looking for a cure and maybe Shiganshina was an accident. But why do it again?" Armin asked as he tried to piece everything together.
"Forget it. You can ask their dead bodies when Mikasa and I are through with them. More importantly what's the plan for papa?" Annie interrupted, "For all his current power he still struggles to break my crystal so we can use it to restrain him. I can't form it very fast though. That will be a challenge with his speed. I only managed to hit him just now because I caught him by surprise."
"Using his own techniques against him," Mikasa said with a smile still on the female titan's shoulder. "He would be proud. Though I didn't think silenced running would apply to a titan."
"I was going to make more tags to suppress his chakra, but with how fast he recovers that red chakra and with how fast it continues to grow I don't think it will be enough. I can't get into his mind either because it burns, it's like there's something stopping me from getting in. I can't reason with him. I honestly don't know how to stop him now," Armin admitted.
Temari then turned to Mikasa with an urgent look on her face. "Do you know how to use your sharingan?" She asked seriously. Off to the side Haku widened her own eyes in understanding.
"What do you mean?" The black haired girl asked.
"Sasuke can use it to enter people's minds," Temari said. She wasn't completely on their side, but if Naruto was what her team were searching for, she would definitely feel more comfortable if they could stop him.
"And there's this myth that the sharingan can control deities. It has never been confirmed but all myths have some semblance of truth. The mirror eye either gets its name from mirroring the soul, or from making others' eyes mirrors for it." Haku added.
"I've used it for illusions. But I did not know I could do that. Do you have any more information?" Mikasa asked curiously. Most of what she knew her eyes could do had come from self experimentation.
"All I know is you need to exert your will over theirs. You need a few seconds of constant eye contact and you kind of hypnotize him with your eyes. Once it works you can appear in their mind and control their bodies as well. You could probably calm him down too. But I don't know how this works either so you have to figure it out as you go," Temari said.
"So she needs to get him to look her in the eyes for a few seconds. Yeah how exactly do you get that to happen with how fast that thing moves? We are still fucked." Ymir complained.
"No," Armin interrupted thoughtfully. "This can work. Temari, Haku, Ymir, Mikasa. Try to slow him down enough that Annie's crystal can take effect. Once he's trapped then Mikasa it's all up to you. However you do this is up to you guys and I'll try to coordinate you all."
They didn't get to plan any further than that however as the red cloaked Naruto appeared from wherever Annie had knocked him off towards and he dived upon the remnants of Eren's titan body. He then proceeded to wildly tear it apart like it was merely a stuffed toy. The whiskered boy stood in confusion amidst the wreckage however when his target didn't regenerate as it had been doing earlier. Naruto gave out a frustrated growl before two blood red eyes looked slowly upwards and met with Annie's. His already animalistic face moved even further into a snarl as he arrived at the conclusion that it had been her fault. Annie hated that look on his face, especially when it was directed at her.
"Well at least we don't have to chase him now," she said sarcastically as she formed two crystal shields across her arms. Mikasa wisely chose that moment to leave Annie's shoulder.
With another furious bellow Naruto lunged at her.
This time however Annie was prepared for his movements and leant forwards as she braced for impact. The power of his strike still sent her sliding backwards however, tearing up the ground at her feet as she struggled for traction. Her titan's arms were shaking involuntarily from the force of the impact and Annie frowned inside her titan. Her crystal was preventing any direct hits, but she couldn't aim her crystal to trap him if she was stuck on the defense. She wouldn't be able to continue tanking for very long either, her titan could only take so much damage and while her crystal mitigated the force to some extent her titan was still getting injured.
With that in mind she dived to the side the next time Naruto made to jump at her face. He was fast, but he usually gave away when he would jump at blinding speeds right before he leapt. He also tended to travel in a straight line afterwards and he was almost always aiming for her head anyways. With that in mind she just had to watch for when he was about to jump, then she would move her upper body out of the way. In a way it was almost like having a rabid dog jumping for your neck. She was mindful not to lose a limb either, as she didn't heal as fast as Eren did. Whereas Eren could regrow a limb in a matter of seconds she would need around ten minutes to do so. Against Naruto at the moment she didn't have that luxury. She did have her mental faculties at least, something which fortunately Naruto didn't have or she would be in a far worse situation.
Then again if he had retained his mental faculties they wouldn't be trying to stop him in the first place.
It was a game of cat and mouse, albeit a strange one where the hypothetical mouse was taking down the cat. Annie had to admit, being trained to be a hard target to hit due to constant motion transferred rather well to her titan form as she continued to dive and roll out of the way of the relentless assault. Whatever she couldn't dodge, she blocked with her makeshift shields and rolled with the force so as not to hurt herself.
"As awe inspiring as your display of defensive prowess is Annie, you're making it rather difficult for the others to help." Armin's voice cut in as it entered into her head once again.
"And what do you suggest I do then?" Annie asked as she evaded another attack. She had been enjoying herself after all and maybe she had gotten carried away a little.
"Can you provide him a stationery target so that we don't have to try so hard to hit him with our techniques?" Armin suggested.
"Are you trying to get me killed?" Annie snorted.
Armin brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully as he let Annie carry on what she had been doing. He had to try and assess everything from an outside viewpoint. They needed Naruto to at least slow down somewhat so that they could target him and restrain him even further. But If Annie stood still and absorbed a blow, the excess force would either force her backwards and bring them back to step one, or if she ensured not to move then it would keep Naruto in place long enough for them to hit him with something. Unfortunately that would also put Annie's human form inside her body in a very dangerous position where she would get crushed because the force had nowhere else to go. The only way to avoid that was if Annie somehow diverted the excess force elsewhere in a way that her titan body was under minimum strain. His eyes blinked open suddenly as an idea came to mind.
He told the others his plan and with grudging nods they accepted it was one of the only options they had open to them at the moment. There were still risks, but if it worked then this day would take one step closer to being over.
Annie cut off her own titan's hearing, seeing as she didn't require it for the upcoming plan. It would actually work against her. For the first time in the battle Annie's titan let loose her own deafening shriek that startled Naruto enough to pause for an instant as he reassessed his position, wondering why the silent titan was now making noise. That was all the time Annie's titan needed as she knelt forwards to get her head as close to the ground as possible and hold her arms at a downward angle. One leg supported her weight under her while the other was stretched out far behind her, almost like a sprinter's starting position. Using her ability she crystallized as much as she could of her lower body and connected it with crystal that dug into the ground for added traction. She couldn't absorb all his force, but she could redirect into the ground.
Fortunately in his cloaked form Naruto wasn't too smart or self aware and behaved exactly as they predicted as he burst towards her face, slamming into her forearm shields. The ground beneath them trembled and shattered as the shockwave almost sent the others flying away as Annie directed his power into the ground. It worked however, and while Naruto was still recovering from having his momentum halted completely, Ymir's titan landed beside him and let loose a deafening sonic attack that burst his eardrums. Ymir was immune to her own attack and from within her own titan Annie had crystallized the area around her human body to reduce the effects of what was in essence a crippling attack.
Thoroughly disoriented and clutching at his ears painfully, Naruto was unable to react to the attacks that followed as Ymir quickly vacated the area. The two girls soaring overhead inhaled deeply and ran through hand seals as they set in motion their jutsu together.
"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!" (Water Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field)
"Futon: Atsugai!" (Wind Release: Pressure Damage)
Mikasa formed a large orb of adhesive fluid that had enough strength to resist a large amount of force in front of her. It was larger than her by far, and when she expelled it from her mouth it was blasted downwards with enormous force by Temari's winds. Naruto's body crashed into the pavement when he was hit. The weight and force of the sticky orb was hard enough to crush him further into the ground. Afterwards his entire body remained completely pinned down both by the force of the winds and Mikasa's adhesive that literally stuck him flat against the ground.
"Annie now!" Armin ordered.
Annie complied and her titan's hands wrapped around Naruto. Bright blue crystal began to form and encase Naruto's body. The plan was to leave only his head exposed so that Mikasa could use her sharingan.
Unfortunately things didn't work out as planned. Being trapped and immobilized did not have a very good affect on Naruto's temper as his situation only served to anger him even further. This was proven a moment later when a second and third tail slowly began to sprout from his back and he began to move despite the numerous restraints set upon him. His red chakra even began to eat away at Annie's crystal and she couldn't form it fast enough to keep up with how quickly his red chakra was corroding it.
"Haku!" Armin ordered and handed her what few tags he had been able to make.
The ice user nodded quickly and flickered towards Naruto and slapped the tags onto his forehead before flickering away from danger just as fast. Thankfully the two new tails receded, though it didn't stop how quickly he was about to regrow them. The longer he remained in his trapped state the more he drew on his power as he was riled up more and more.
"Armin we need more tags," Ymir growled out as she grabbed Christa into one of her titan's hands, ready to run at a moment's notice. This had been their best shot and if it didn't work, she was out of here.
"I've got no more! That was all I could make and he still has one tail!" Armin shouted back in a panic.
"I can't keep up this pressure on him much longer!" Temari grunted from her position in the air as she struggled to exert the constant wind pinning Naruto down.
"And he's breaking free!" Annie yelled as Naruto began to thrash around wildly.
"I won't get a few seconds to look into his eyes!" Mikasa added as she circled around.
"Suiton: Suirou!" She called out as a sphere of water encased Naruto.
Mikasa had thought that maybe with her water prison she would either be able to compress the water to a point where he couldn't move or maybe he would run out of oxygen. Unfortunately neither of those worked as his red chakra proceeded to boil the water upon contact and Mikasa was unable to keep her hand in the sphere to maintain the technique lest she lose her hand.
"Armin what now!?"
"Stop asking me! Nothing's working!"
Annie paused for a moment and sighed. "Well I've got an idea. Thinking too much isn't solving anything and so we need a stupid idea. And if Eren was here I know exactly what he would do."
"Annie I already dislike whatever it is," Mikasa warned as she was forced to move away.
"Just be ready mama," Annie warned.
Annie disengaged from her titan form in a burst of steam at the nape and her much smaller form emerged. She shook her head for a moment to orient herself then used her mobility gear to send two cables on either side of Naruto to pull herself to him. She could form her crystal fastest when it was meant to surround her, and at the speed his chakra was eating away at her crystal the only way for her to match the pace was to be in close proximity to him. It would hurt like hell, but she was ready for it. She could always regenerate after all.
One of Naruto's arms suddenly broke free shattered the crystal encasing him before he grabbed one of the cables and hauled Annie towards him with a roar.
Well, that hadn't been how she had envisioned it but her plan worked anyways as her body slammed painfully into his. She didn't waste the opportunity and wrapped her arms tightly around him in some sort of hug as she began to crystallize them both. It wasn't overcoming him, but his rate of destruction was almost evenly matched by how much crystal she was capable of producing and they were at an impasse of sorts. Most importantly however, he was incapable of moving and his head was motionless for first time ever since he lost control.
His chakra was burning her though. The pain was quite literally eating her alive as she felt her skin and clothes dissolve against him from their close contact. Her own regeneration couldn't quite keep up, but she had to channel all her energy into making crystal. She didn't care about the pain however as she tightened her grip on him further to buy Mikasa as much time as she needed.
"Papa come back to me," she whispered as she steeled her resolve to endure the unbearable pain and shut her eyes tightly.
Mikasa grit her teeth, aware of what Annie was going through as she silently cursed Eren's influence on Annie. Though it could also be attributed to Annie finally caring about something enough to willingly suffer this much. She didn't waste any more time however as she landed nearby the pair and was met with another frustrated roar from Naruto who could now only move his head. Blood red eyes gazed into their counterpart as the commas in her sharingan spun.
A few seconds later Naruto's eyes mirrored with a sharingan of their own and his body stilled. The battle between corrosive red chakra and near indestructible crystal was almost beautiful to watch in the empty silence that followed.
"Is it over?" Christa asked as she peeked out from Ymir's hand.
"He finally looks calm. But that red chakra isn't going anywhere and all three of them look frozen." Armin observed at the trio that looked like they were in a picture with how none of them were moving. "Whatever Mikasa is doing however she had better hurry."
It went unsaid among the exhausted group, but all of them could feel the pure agony emanating from Annie's thoughts as she was practically burned alive.
(Mindscape)
Mikasa looked around her in surprise at the sudden silence, her heart still beating rapidly from the rush of battle. Her heart pounding was the only noise present aside from the sound of water dripping.
She tried to move forward to look for the sound but looked down when she realized she was wading through some sort of water that was up to her knees. She ignored that fact and began to look around her to make sense of where she was. It was like she was in a giant, golden sewer of some sort. She looked around at all the corridors that led all over the place and wondered where she should be going. With no clear path outlined for her Mikasa decided to just follow the sound of dripping water and headed in the direction that made it louder.
She was rewarded for her curiosity a moment later when she found herself in a large chamber of some sorts. This was definitely where the persistent sound of water dripping had come from.
What caught her attention most however was the massive cage with the large golden bars. She narrowed her eyes at the large piece of paper that covered the lock of the cage and recognized it as some sort of complex fuinjutsu that she could only barely understand. The only formations she recognized amongst the scribbles were mostly containment and restraining combinations.
Her breath caught in her throat a moment later and she fell backwards into the water in fear when two massive red eyes suddenly opened from behind the cage. Even as she crawled further and further back in fear, it only grew worse as the enormous silhouette of a nine tailed fox materialized behind the bars with a savage looking grin that displayed rows of enormous teeth along its devilish maw. It was big enough to dwarf even the colossal titan by a large margin. Just its arm was almost double the height of the colossal.
"A worthy reaction to my glorious presence, wretched human."
A/N: Yes I am aware of whose powers do what, even regarding Sasuke's eyes. I also want to point out the fanfiction aspect of this story, that while drawing inspiration from the source material doesn't mean it will be followed to the letter. Minor changes here and there really. Also for the review that said Armin can't react to Naruto at full speed, you're right. He can't. But keep in mind that the kawarimi is an academy technique, in other words simple to perform at E-rank. Mastery of a technique also makes the handseals aside from the final one redundant. Furthermore picture this, Naruto is simply jumping at them in a straight line and he can't exactly stop mid air when his target disappears. Afterwards he has to look for his target again, a target who also knows he's about to get jumped on and then substitutes anywhere else. If Naruto wasn't behaving like an animal then yes, Armin's little trick isn't going to help much. Think of it like bullfighting.
And for the cloak? Yeah I have a reason why he loses control even without tails in the next chapter. I know my source material, which is also why I'm taking creative liberty to surprise people since everyone already knows what to expect as shown by the reviews. If you notice I change something, there's a reason for it.
As for the kyubi's size? Yeah I checked. The dude on all fours stands at around 103 metres and stands at a whopping 255 metres on his hind legs and altogether including tails he measures 684 metres. That's 338 ft, 837 ft, 2245 ft respectively if converted. The dude is massive in canon and doesn't really need exaggerating.
But yeah carry on with the reviews, love 'em good or bad!
