A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell, and my girl came back to me. Even better, My grandmother's all but recovered from congestive heart failure. Alas, my health is still in the red, and the docs say it ain't looking good. So...I just...wanted to let you all know about this. Somehow. Just in case death has plans to take me out of this sickly body of mine...hopefully it won't!

Anywho, I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. It's been great, guys. Really. I'm hanging tough though, despite everything life is throwing at me. Despite all that's happening, I don't intend to die quietly in a bed somewhere! On another note, there was a discrepancy mentioned with Kai Leng's age, but for the sake of that story, I'm tossing that and a few other things out the window. You'll soon see what I mean...

...you'll see. Now, here we go! I worked really hard on this despite my health!

"No matter what, we have to survive...

~?

Pawn

The Illusive man was seated in front of an oval portal that looked out onto the frozen wastes of a planet in the Crescent Nebula. He could see the ruins of an abandoned mining operation in the foreground and a line of jagged peaks in the distance. It was a miserable place, but one that would ensure his privacy, which was very important to him.

It was his privacy and his love of seclusion that allowed Cerberus to exist, after all. Without Cerberus, without him, who would be there to champion the greater cause of mankind into the future? Certainly not the asari and the other people of this realm. Cerberus was a necessary evil, one needed to make and take humanity into the next era. Without it, humanity was doomed.

Experiments that his race deemed diabolical and genocidal would one day serve the needs of all mankind. Would he be hailed as a hero? Or denounced, as a villain? The Illusive man didn't much care. All that mattered to him, was humanity's continued existence and prosperity. That was all that mattered. If he'd be branded a traitor and a coward and fool, than it was the price he'd have to pay. One he'd gladly pay in his own blood if that meant the survival of his race in the times to come. He'd a vast array of pawns and puppets for that very purpose; pieces placed on a chess board of interstellar scale, arrayed against impossible odds.

It took a skilled player to maneuver his

And like chesss, sometimes pawns needed to be...sacrificed for the greater good.

A tone sounded, and a female voice said:

"Doctor Lawson wishes to speak with you, sir."

TIM restrained a small sigh. He already knew what this conversation would entail, having spoken with the man only hours before but he felt obliged to explain the situation nonetheless-to contain the situation-if nothing else. Henry was calling again to demand the capture of Naruto and Miranda, the two teenagers having escaped his facility only hours before and having used a relay to jump to God knew where. What's more, Miranda'd all but disabled the tracker on the shuttle, so there truly was no way of knowing where they had gone. But none of this was a cause for concern.

Events had solidified in the last solar day, events that promised wonderful results for the future of humanity...so long as Miranda's father stayed out of the picture. Unfortunately Henry wasn't the sort to see it that way, so the conflict had to be contained-neutralized-before it even began.

The holoprojector flared to life, revealing the likeness of Lawson, in all his towering glory. He was young yet but the first flecks of gray could still be seen in his thinning hair-scowl lines deeping his youthful face. Lawson was getting old, and it was beginning to show-both in his temperment and his work. They stared at one another for a long moment, neither man willing to speak. At last, the leader of Cerberus grew weary of the silence and cleared his throat, took a sip from his glass of bourbon, and spoke.

"I'm afraid my answer hasn't changed." Simple. Terse. To the point. No pleasantries issued and none given. "I won't be pursuing them."

"Why?" An equally harsh inquiry.

"Because what you're proposing isn't feasible. More importantly, its a waste of time."

"I'll increase your funding, tenfold."

"As I said, the answer is no."

Dissapointment was not an alien emotion for Henry Lawson. Miranda had failed to meet his expectations so many times-and Naruto even more-that he had been forced to learn the value of patience. Perhaps it could be said that he'd even grown used to it. Fury, however, was unaccustomed to him. He didn't know how to deal with it, how to channel it, focus it, as most men would. He felt impotent, powerless, helpless, enraged that his legacy had slipped away right under hise nose, through his fingers, without so much as a second glance. And the Illusive Man refused to do anything about it!

"Why the devil not?!"

"Its not that simple, Henry." The Illusive man permitted himself a small smile as he removed a silver cigarrete case from the surface of the metal desk. The head of Cerberus selected a cigarette, set fire to it and took a deep drag. He liked the process, the taste, and the feel of nicotine entering his bloodstream. Words mingled with smoke. "Two children stole a baby, slaughtered your guards, and escaped from your private facility. This is a personal matter, not a Cerberus one. My resources are sretched thin enough as it is."

Rage knotted Henry's visage, transforming his handsome features into a rictus of fury. "After all the funding I've given you over the years, this is how you repay me?"

"I look after my own." TIM's reply was nothing short of cryptic. His next words however, were not. "You are no longer one of my own."

The larger man bristled, as though he could somehow melt the shadowy operator merely through the force of his gaze.

"I paid for billions of dollars in research out of my own pocket-

"And believe me when I say, Cerberus appreciates your assistance, doctor Lawson. Your funds will be put to good use in the days to come." the words had just lost their honeyed coating. Now, they had an edge, cool and crisp, almost artic in its intensity. "However, I fail to see how the events that transpired under your watch, benefit my organization. I also fail to comprehend just what made you think you could enroll one of my men on your payroll without my knowing about it. Thanks to you and your "legacy" I lost a good soldier today. Perhaps one of the best. Good men are hard to find. Great men, even more so."

Under normal circumstances, Henry might've realized he stood upon a precipiece; that whatever he said next might determine his fate. But he was too angry; losing Miranda and Oriana was one thing, losing Naruto, a human weapon in his own right and the only one of his kind, was another matter. The boy was the last of a great and powerful people, reborn with chakra and biotics that -if properly honed- could crack open a cruiser like a walnut. And now he was gone, out there somewhere in the great void with Miranda and Oriana. To make matters worse, it would take years for him to grow another "daughter" time he suddenly felt that he'd no longer hand. Everything was ruined, not because of him rather, Leng's failure to apprehend the boy. Ruined, everything was ruined...

"Leng was a dog." he snapped, losing himself in a rare bout of emotion. "If he could be killed by a boy, then he clearly wasn't worthy of his salary."

"Leng was a great man." TIM persisted, those glowing eyes burning like hot coals into Henry's skull. "I thought you were as well, once. But I see now that I was wrong."

Despite the distance between them, the room suddenly seemed colder, somehow.

"What do you mean?"

"You have become a liability, doctor Lawson." The Illusive Man continued, taking a silent satisfaction in the way that the color drained from the man's features, his pallid complexion suggesting he'd realized just where this deadly little game was going. "Your fortune has been of great use to us, but I see now that you value your own legacy over humanity. And that, cannot be tolerated." In a rare moment of emotion-surprising, even for him-TIM rose from his chair, beinging himself face to face with the hologram of Henry Lawson.

"I'm terminating our relationship, effective immediately."

For a heartbeat, the multi-millionaire actually felt a touch of fear. Then it was gone, quashed down by arrogance and anger.

"Y-You wouldn't dare."

"I've already taken the neccessary precautions." Even as he spoke TIM returned to his seat, the short-lived outbrurst vanishing with the smoke of his cigar. "Alliance forces are enroute to your compound as we speak-based on an anonymous tip. I'm sure they'll find yours experiments fascinating. Perhaps if you're lucky, they might take you alive." He took another drag of his cigarrette, and the puff of smoke serving to advertise his intentions. "And before you think to negotiate with your soon-to-be captors, I feel I should tell you that any Cerberus cells you may have knowledge of have been shut down or moved elsewhere, any and all data wiped from your computers. It's been a pleasure, doctor."

"You bastard," Henry growled, "You can't do this! You need me! Without my funding you'll be nothing! Do you hear me?! NOTHING!"

"Also taken care of."

There was an audible intake of breath. He activated his omni-tool, opened his account...and felt the blood drain from his face. The billions of credits that he'd accumulated with hics ompany were gone. His vast sums of wealth were nowhere to be seen, scrolling down the list in a series of seemingly endless zeroes

"...what?"

"It seems that "boy" you loathe so much has a vindictive streak." TIM allowed his lips to twitch upward, quirking in quiet triumph. "He's also quite the hacker. He sends his sincere regards...and your wealth with it. Even my best codebreakers weren't able to break into the system. Perhaps he has a place in my organization after all. And if your daughter is as 'perfect' as you claim, I'd gladly welcome her with open arms." He permitted a a single second to savor the look of shock that purpled Lawson's face at those words-the sudden realization that he had truly and utterly taken everything of value from him and discarded all the rest, swiftly proving too much for the man to bear.

"You...you...you...

Something broke in Henry Lawson then; perhaps it was the knowledge that he'd lost everything, perhaps it stood to reason that he'd had nothing to gain by pushing Naruto and Miranda so hard. Perhaps it was even the sound of the Alliance Marines beating down his door even as TIM reached toward arm of his chair to cancel their call. Whatever it was the subsuquent shriek of uninteilligible rage that erupted frm his throat lips sounded as though it belonged on an animal, not a man. He'd lost control; completely and utterly.

"YOU BASTARD! I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL END YOU! I-

"Goodbye, Mr. Lawson." TIM replied, his finger hovering over the switch. "It has been...a pleasure working with you."

"DAMN YOU-

That soft click signalled so much more than the end of their agreement; as the door broke down and a swarm of marines clamored into Henry's bunker. He didn't even have time to raise the pistol in his hand and fire a round into his head; even as it occurred to him that he might do so rather than suffer a life of confinement the first of many bodies struck him, knocking him to the floor. Henry was a man of comfort, he didn't have the strength to fight his captors as they crashed down against him, his body breaking like a sand castle as they beat him into ruthless submission...

(Meanwhile)

Miranda Lawson prided herself on self control. She was good at that. Always had been.

She'd learned to dettach herself from her own emotions; to ignore the pain of being anything less than perfect. Not good enough? Switch it off. Painful? Switch it off. She had always been able to shut down her feelings at a moment's notice wherever her father was concerned; it was the only way to endure the many pressures of being his daughter, of being forced to endure a legacy, a dynasty she wanted nothing to do with. She she simply shut down. And when she couldn't shut down, when those words cut too deep and struck a raw nerve, she could always turn to Naruto.

The boy was a big brother to her in every sense of the word, save for blood. He had been the first of fa-Henry's "children" to actually exist for more than a few days, he was also the first one to be kept. To this very day Miranda still didn't understand why Henry had kept him around all-not only had he been created from a separate sample, he could be downright insufferable at times. But, only to him. Never to her. When she had been "born" Naruto had been her pillar, her strength, something Henry Lawson would've scoffed at. The man wanted to make his damned mark on the galaxy, and he didn't care if he had to break a little girl to get it.

But Naruto did.

More than once she'd gone crying to him when she was younger, clamoring into his bed after suffering a nightmare. Begged him for attention, for the solace her "father", refused to give. She'd lost count of those times inumerable when everything had fallen apart; when she simply broke down on his shoulder, shed salty tears in his shirt when she'd been condemned her for being anything less than what he demanded. Perfection was not a goal for Miranda. It was a death sentence. Something she could seldom achieve and even when she did, no praise was given. It was simply expected.

Naruto might've complained sometimes when she came to him, but he never, ever turned her away. He was warmth and solace, while her father was cold as ice; and perhaps just as unfeeling. Even when his body was so ravaged from the doctor's tests that the mere act of touching caused him physical pain, Naruto was alwasy there for her. There was no way of knowing who-or what-she might've become without his steadying hands on her shoulders, the occasional word of wisdom drifting in her ear, reminding Miranda that life was beautiful; it was not-she was not-some tool, to be used and discarded as scientists saw fit. His defiance was open and constant, an everlasting reminder that they could never truly be controlled.

Then Oriana was born and everything had become...complicated.

Miranda had sworn to master her flagging emotions for her sister's sake, perhaps just as much as her own. More than once her father had threatened physical harm on her or Naruto's person if she did not pass this test or complete this exercise as per his exact instructions. For too long he'd used them as leverage against her. Now that they were free, she'd promised not to let her weakness show. Damnit, she'd promised!

But none of that mattered now; instead of the icy control in which she took so much pride, Miranda found herself on the other side of the spectrum altogether; frantically pushing an empty wrapper of omnigel against the blonde's bloody leg, as though in doing so she could somehow squeeze out the last few drops and close his gaping wound. The gel wouldn't do a damned thing for his broken arm and rib she reminded herself, but Leng's blade had cut deep into the tissue and severed an artery. Coupled with the shrapnel from the grenade and the overwhelming blood loss she was almost certain her companion had -or was- going into shock, his body shutting down after suffering such trauma. That he was still alive at all bespoke of his incredible willpower.

"Don't you dare go like this," she hissed between breaths, her voice hitching with raw emotion. "Don't you dare!"

Oriana's wails of distress could still be heard from the cockpit, further adding to the din raging around in the shuttle as well as her mind. Miranda stubbornly quashed her urge to comfort the babe. There would be time to comfort her sibling later. But Naruto might not have a later. She was left clutching at him now, sobbing, begging him-her only friend-not to go, not to leave her alone in this god-forsaken world. Please don't die, she mentally begged his prone form. You can't die on me. Not like this. Not after everything you've done. Don't leave me alone. Not like this...

The biotic had a mad urge - tears, terror, and all - to burst into giggles at the absurdity of the moment. It hit her all at once. She had come this close to dying, three times. Once, by bullets; then, by biotic/tech attacks; and finally, by a hired assasin. Pretty exciting day, she had to admit. Now if Naruto would just wake the hell up!

"You bloody idiot," she whispered, softly now, fighting the urge to stroke his head with her bloodied fingers. "You can't die on me. Not when I haven't told you..." What followed next were three simple words, words that Uzumaki Naruto might never live to hear. This moment, it was her secret. He didn't know. He'd never know. Here and now, alone in the dark, alone in this broken, battered shuttle. This slice of time was her possession, and no matter what happened in the next hour, nothing could take it away.

"Muah! What the fuck? Who the fuck? Where the fuck?!"

Exceeeeept that.

Bright blue eyes opened with a gasp, those coarse and angry expletitives crackling through the charged air like a whip. Miranda started in surprise, her teary stricken gaze snapping from the blonde's blood-soaked chest to those sapphire orbs she loved so muh. Naruto didn't so much as blink. His stone-faced stare, however, was a reacition all its own. For a long moment they simply faced each other, realizing that neither was in danger yet unable to move. An eternity. Then Miri dashed herself against him, flinging both arms round his neck. When the tears came-tears of joy-Miri was powerless agains them. She clung to him like that for a long moment refusing to let go, refusing to release him, suddenly aware of his own arms encirciling her, tracing small circles of fire through the thin fabric of her shirt.

'Down, girl!'

"Ass," she murmurred in his ear when she finally pulled away, not trusting herself to say-or do-anything else. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Almost did." the blond croaked, levering himself into a sitting position. His eyes scanned the cabin, scathingly. "Say, Leng's blade landed in here, right?"

Ah. He was concerned about that, was he? Yes, it had; flung against the shuttle by the explosion. She'd snatched it up merely as an afterthought-now she was glad she'd done so.

"Here." she nudged the glittering mono-molecular Wakizashi-wielded by Kai Leng mere moments before his death-into Naruto's good hand. The blond accepted it grimly, gripping the handle white-knuckled. He'd always had a thing for swords she supposed; whether that was in his ancestry, or simply something he'd gained Before she'd the chance to ask him what he was doing however, the blond took the edge and sliced into the flesh of his thigh in a sharp, decisive movement. What in the-

"W-What are you doing?!"

"Shrapnel," he muttered without looking up, working the blade against the clots. "Trapped in the wound. Can't heal. Gotta get it out." The disruptor sword hummed and crackled as it cooked away the last of the blood staining the blade. A pained hiss leapt from his lips, and her heart lurched with it. Seconds later he dug something out. Something metal. Then another. And another. And another still. He picked out each piece with a frightening dispassion, seemingly uncaring for the way her emotions wrenched whenever he tugged the shards out. At last he was done, the floor of the shuttle a bloody mess, but the offending pieces of metal picked clean from the wound.

"Beautiful." he murmurred at last, the blade slipping from his fingers, crashing to thefloor with a clatter. "That oughta do it."

Miranda risked a glance at his leg. How could he be satisfied with this? The bleeding had only just stopped!

"But your injury...

"I'm alright." he touched a hand to his leg, and though it came away bloody, it was clear he was no longer in any immediate danger. "See? Medigel kicked in."

"You almost died, you ass!"

Naruto simply took her fears in stride.

"Relax." he finally turned to look at her; his forehead pressing a small circle of warmth to her own in reassurance, his unbroken arm enclosing her in a loose cage of warmth. "I'll be fine." He probably meant the gesture simply to calm her, but the momenth his head brushed up against hers, her hormones leaped into overdrive. It was always like this whenever she was with him; her mind was muddled, constantly out of focus. So when Naruto moved to embrace her, Miri, overcome with joy, simply reacted.

Naruto blinked, wondering why her eyes were glistening, why she reached a hand up to cup his cheek.

"Miri, what're you-

All doubts and fears were tossed to the wayside as their mouths touched softly. Miranda ran her tongue along Naruto's bottom lip, begging to deepen the kiss, and Naruto baffled by the liplock-made the mistake of nigh but parting his lips for his fellow escapee. Her mouth tingled from the contact as her heart hammered in her chest. She'd just given him her first kiss without so much as a second thought, without considering if he even remotely felt the same. She was only fourteen-fifteen in a week-and here she was kissing someone who probably saw her as nothing more than a sister-Oh!

That thought shattered as he crushed her to him with his good wrist, her slim body colliding against his with surprising force. Hope burst within her, a supernova of swelling hope budding within the young girls chest as he held her there, never taking his lips from hers. It suddenly occurred to her that, in all likelihood, this was his first kiss as well. And then it was done, leaving him pulling away while she silently ached for more.

"I...should probably do something about my leg now." he whispered quietly, cheeks burning.

"Y-Yes," she flushed, stammering. "Right. You should probably do that." An awkward silence stood between them after that, broken only by the sound of their breathe, and Oriana's happy gurgling in the cockpit. Finally Miranda broke it.

"Naruto, I-

"Shh." a quiet shush as he turned back to the task at hand. "Let me concentrate."

Naruto grunted and pinched the gaping tear in his leg together as best he could. Steam arose from rthe wound, the scent of warmed flesh filling her nostrils. An urge to gag rose within her, strong and powerful, but she managed to resist, somehow. When he finally took his fingers away, all that remained was a spot of pink skin-a far cry from the ragged tear it had been before. Miranda couldn't think of the fact that he'd just kissed her only moments efore, her mind could only dwell on the fact that there wasn't a hole in Naruto's leg anymore.

"How?"

"Regeneration." he muttered obliquely, his head slumping back into her lap with a pained grunt. "I'll be fine." Right. Henry had kept Naruto for that very reason; he had the uncanny abilitiy to heal from all but the most life-threatening of wounds. It wasn't possible for him to regenerate something like an arm, or even a hand, but a hole in his leg? Quite. Which brought her to the next order of businiess: his head was in her lap. In! Her! Lap! Oh god. Oh christ. Oh gooooood.

Miranda's cheeks burned a bright cherry red, her face aflush as she finally came to terms with the fact that his head was still resting there on her legs, his soft snores sending subtle vibrations coursing up and down her thighs. He just looked...so peaceful. Unbidden, her hand stroked one of his whiskered cheeks. He stirred at her touch, groaning softly.

Naruto cares about me. Naruto is mine. Nobody can take him away.

"Hey, Miri," Naruto muttered quietly. "Anyone ever tell you ya have soft hands?"

His words sent tendrils of warmth shooting through her core, offset only by his dreary yawn.

"Anyone ever mention you have a thick skull?" but the words were weak, and withour rancour. He chuckled at that.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Robbed your dad."

"You did what?!" Miranda barely managed to squeak the last word out.

"Yep," even with closed eyes, his smile was barely contained; threatening to leap right off those whiskered cheeks. "Hacked his account and sent all his funds to some shadowy organization. Cerberus, I think. Hopefully that'll keep 'em off our backs." Neither of them had any way of knowing at the time, but that singular actions had saved their lives, forever setting them on a path they would walk for the next twenty years. But for this moment, here and now, they were just a couple of scared kids, rejoicing in their freedom.

"I'd thought I'd lost you, Naruto." she replied in a panicked whisper, her fingers left fire on his upper bicep. Such a feeling was not uncommon now, they'd always found small ways to touch each other: familiar smacks, taps, pats, and even pinches when the mood was right. Neither of them felt any shame in it. They wanted to touch each other, it brought that desirable fire that Naruto felt melt his bones. He followed after her, turning his head to follow her hand. There were bloodstains there, all his own, thankfully.

"Gonna rest for a bit...

And then he was under again, his chest rising and falling steadily. But not for long.

"Citadel Security!" A deep voice boomed out, reverberating through the bulkhead to encompass the small room. "Come out with your hands on your heads and you will not be harmed!"

Naruto frowned, his eyes scrunching in feigned sleep. "I take it that's the welcoming party?"

"I suppose it is."

Belatedly, Miranda remembered where they were. Right. Of course. She'd set the shuttle on a course to the Citadel as they'd hit the relay. The autopilot must've naviagated them into one of the docking bays while she was tending to his wounds. Without a working comm, she had no way of knowing whether or not they'd been hailed beforehand; her attenion had been fixated upon keeping her companion in one piece until only moments ago. But judging by the authoritave bark and banging upon their shuttle's door, their prescence wasn't exactly welcome here. Oh, God. She suddenly realized that the shuttle had a Cerberus marking on its hull. Security probably thought they were terrorists!

"This is your last warning!"

That flanged tone of voice told Miranda much, a turian, in the service of Citadel Security, or C-Sec or short. Lovely. Human-Turian relations were strained at best, thanks in part to the aftermath of the First Contact War and its fallout. Why couldn't it be a salarian, or an asari? Then again, if they thought they were with Cerberus, She had just enough time for that thought before the door sparked-hacked, no doubt-and whooshed open into itself,

A turian bounded inside, his assault rifle at the ready. "Freeze, Cerberus!"

His bright blue eyes took her in at a glance, then fell to Naruto's prone form, mandibles flutteing in complex motions to form a frown. At least, Miranda assumed it was a frown. She didn't know enough about Turian's to read their facial expressions well. For all she knew he could be smiling. Miranda feared what he might say. What he might do? Would he shoot them just for being in a Cerberus shuttle, no questions asked? Or would he attempt to interrogate them, then shoot them?

Oriana chose that very moment to start bawling again startling everyone into action. Naruto lurched upright only to collapse, clutching at his ribs, Miranda moved to defend him, and poor Ori wailed even louder, utterly upset with the tense atmosphere. Thankfully the officer held fire, seeming to realize two teenagers and an infant weren't much of a threat.

Eventually he seemed to take pity on them.

"Control, I need a medical team, stat!" To her relief, he lowered his weapon and immediately began barking orders into his omnitool. "We've got wounded!"

Huerta Memorial Hospital was well known for its healing atmosphere, perhaps even better for its excellent-not to mention expensive-doctors and services. Many patients were ushered in here daily, some from firefights down in the Wards, others for less detrimental injuries. It was here that Naruto found himself ushered, under armed guard, to be questioned as well as treated for his injuries. He'd been able to regenerate the hole with his leg, but his broken arm and fractured ribs were not so easily dealth with, and Miranda bore some superficial injuries as well.

But why the helll did they have to be in separate rooms?!

"Wha...?"

He blinked, broken from his reveries as someone tapped his shoulder.

"You shattered three bones in your right arm and fractured two of your left ribs." the asari doctor answered him calmly, glancing from her chart back to him. "What did ya do, tackle a krogan?" Naruto visibly cringed, recalling exactly how hard Leng had hit him back in Australia. And he'd been human! A krogan, right. Whatever that was, he never wanted to hit one of those. Ever. A percursory glance at the casts encasing his arm told him he probably wouldn't have much of an arm left if he tried.

"Something like that, yeah." he tried not to stare but...she was purple! And those crests on her head...

"You act like you've never seen an asari before."

Naruto started, realizing he'd been caught staring.

...I havent."

"Goddess, kids these days." the woman muttered to herself. "Well, the name's Tei'a. I'll be in charge of your physical therapy. We've taped up your ribs with some synthetic fibers and a bit of bone weave, so long as ya exercise routinely, you should heal within the week. Until then, you're confined to the grounds. Understood?"

Naruto muttered something under his breath, but nodded at her encouraging stare.

"Good." Tei'a nodded, her emerald gaze swiveling towards the door. "Alright, send them in!"

Naruto didn't have a chance to ask "who" before the door swept open and a harried looking Miranda rushed in, her baby sister balanced on one hip. She'd been patched up with medigel since he'd seen her last, all those minor cuts and bruises still slathered in a damp sheen of the miracle ointment.

"Is he alright?" she blurted out, her dark eyes immediately locking on the doctor. "He doesn't have a radial fracture, does he? Or a shattered larynx? Or-

"Easy kid," Tei'a made a placating motion with both hands. "Don't have a heart attack. Your boyfriend's fine."

"He's not my-" Miranda bit off the last word, cheeks coloring rosy with the implication.

Naruto blinked, momentarily baffled by the knowledge she'd just displayed. Then he saw Oriana.

"Hey, Ori."

"Ba!" she squealed, her pudgy little hands reaching for him.

"No no, Ori," Miranda shushed, "He can't hold you yet."

"My arms feeling fine, thank-you very much." Naruto replied. "But how did you know that?"

She smiled thinly. "I read quickly, my memory is excellent, and I don't sleep a lot."

The doctor blinked. "Smart girl."

"That's funny. You're funny." Deadpan face.

"Alright, alright," Tei'a shrugged. "I can see when I'm not wanted. Gingerly, she laid the datapad on the counter. "Call me if his condition worsens."

"Right."

Miranda waited until the asari had departed the room, then she rose in a blur. Almost before he could ask she reached out and placed her hand on his bad shoulder, massaging soothingly. Oriana contented herself with her hands, reaching down to pull at Naruto's hair while her sister worked. Everything was perectly fine until she decided to plant a kiss on the back of his head. Naruto shivered, fighting the urge to turn around and kiss her again.

"Are you alright?" Miranda whispered in his ear.

"Hey, it happens. But we're all ok, no harm done. So how bad was it?" Miri's hand left a trail of fire along his arm and his tone became laced with huskiness. He was suddenly reminded of their shared kiss on the shuttle back when they were almost certain they were going to die. Only they hadn't. And now he had to find a way to deal with these feelings threatening to explode up out of his chest. Sighing, he resolved himself to answer Miranda's question.

"Nah, I should be fine within a week. The doc said-

He would've said more, had not the doors whoosed open once more, admitting a salarian. He only knew what they looked like because he'd seen them in one of Miranda's books. Reading really wasn't his thing, but this salarian baffled him more than most. It wasn't just the armor he wore; it was the way he carried himself. As if he belonged here. An authority figure then? Great, he blanched, more questions. It took everything he had not to bolt and stand still.

Easy there, we haven't done anything wrong...

"Jondum Bau." the salarian introduced himself rapidly, yet cheerily at the same time. "Special Tactics and Reconassaince." His thin lips twitched in a barely noticeable smile. "Pleased to meet you. You were ones on the shuttle this morning...?" The way he spoke reminded Naruto of a hamster on coffee, it was a struggle just to keep up. Special Tactics and Reconasi-oh fuck! A Spectre! Even he knew what that title entailed-uneducated though he might still be. It meant that this Jondum guy could do whatever the hell he wanted and get away with it. Miranda grabbed his hand and held tight as the alien took up a position on the wall opposite them, his slender arms folded before his chest.

"Escaped from Earth?" Jodum quizzed, his eyes shifting to Miranda. "Related to Henry Lawson?"

The girl choked, but Naruto managed a nod.

"Was arrested by Alliance, today." the spectre supplied, unflinching at their own reaction. "Badly beaten-in critical condition. May not survive. Thought you should know." Miranda barely stifled a gasp of shock; Naruto's smile was positively beatific in its intensity. So there was a god, after all. Good! Bastard got what he deserved.

"Good, good." but the salarian wasn't yet finished. "Affiliated with Cerberus?"

"Us? Um...no?"

"Better." Bau nodded. "Cerberus ties...problematic. Makes interrogation easier. Have some more questions for you. DNA test confirms you have traits descended from shinobi..."

The two teens exchanged a glance and a groan.

It would prove to be a long evening.

A/N: And there we go. Events are already spiralling out of control, Henry Lawson is out of the picture and probably dead-THANK GOD-Naruto and Miranda find themselves on the Citadel, taking the first steps into an unstable, untested relationship, and now TIM is after them. Will they join Cerberus or no? Events are spiralling rapidly towards the center here and though some changes may be minor at first, all will be revealed in time. But what will happen with Cerberus? You decide, dear readers!

So...in the immortal words Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! Guess who we get to see next time!

(Preview)

"Alright," She spat to the side, her eyes were a molten brown. "Who the fuck're you?"

"I could ask you the same question! I saved your ass!"

"He was dead already, just didn't know it."

Naruto glowered at the girl, uncaring of all the eyes in the Citadel watching them.

"Hey...thanks for helping me out with that guy, back there." the girl murmurred half-heartedly. "Coulda taken him myself, though." Naruto seriously doubted that. She was a skinny, scrawny thing, somewhere in her teenage years. Her auburn was long, matted with grease and blood. She looked, for all intensive purposes, like she'd just come out of hell. Naruto found himself empathizing. They had that much in common, at least, besides the obvious. To think, he'd be beating down a robber first day out of the hospital...

"What's your name?"

Chocolate brown eyes met his own, and Naruto nearly flinched. The pain there, the suffering, the horrors she'd been through...it almost made him vomit. Looked like his gift for telempathy was still intact. Damn Henry to hell for cramming all this tech into his head...

The girl's expression told much; as though she'd just bitten into a sour lemon.

"Jack."

Jack looked, well...jacked up, for lack of a better term. Naruto had thought he was in a sorry state.

The child was half-naked, for starters. She wore a black halter-top and matching simple briefs that would look spartan and military in their simplicity if not for their small size. Her only accessory was a simple strap that ran from her left shoulder to her right hip that bisected the modest swell of her budding breasts - and protruding above her shoulder was the hilt of a...the hell? Was that supposed to be a club, or something? And here he'd thought Leng had given him some serious injuries back when he'd escaped...

Jack looked worse. Beyond the arm injury, her upper lip was marked with blood from her nose, and one of her eyes was reddened and in the process of swelling closed, and her bent-forward shuffle was looking like some sort of leg injury.

"Maybe we should get you looked at...

"Naruto!"

Both teens swung around just in time to see Miranda exit a nearby elevator, a fussy Oriana wrapped up in her arms. "I was looking for you...

She trailed off the moment she saw Jack.

"Who the hell's the cheerleader?"

Miri bristled. "What did you just call me?"

Naruto groaned. "Oh, this isn't going to end well...

R&R! =D