AN: So yeah, this chapter is more than a little late. What can I say? Real life is killing me at the moment. I'm still working on this as much as I can. Updates will continue, but they will likely be more spread out than before. The next few chapters may also be a little awkward as I try to get through some important conversations, but I have an action scene coming up soon, so please bear with me. ^^

As always, thank you for your encouragment and support and I apologize for the delay.

No one had much interest in training after the snake debacle. All good humor that Sasuke might have had was long since gone. He was back to being his broody bastardly self. Sakura wasn't much better. She was quiet and thoughtful, that great brain of hers re-examining everything that had just happened, Naruto was sure of it. And Harry…Harry was pissed at Sasuke-teme for some reason. He was also twitchy. It was funny for all of about 3.5 seconds watching Harry startle at every little thing, but then it just got worrisome. They were still in Konoha. There was nothing Harry should have to worry about. Not with Team 7 watching his back!

Kakashi-sensei cut them loose with a drawled command to stay out of trouble. That left the four of them walking slowly back towards the enclosed sections of the village. Naruto worked at stretching out the stiffness in his right shoulder as he examined their merry little group. Everybody was frowning. Naruto sighed. Great. Maybe Sasuke-teme really was contagious. In that case, they were all doomed to be depressed moody bastards at this rate.

"Oi!" he exclaimed loudly. "Ramen?" Because, really. What could possibly be wrong in the world if there was a large steaming bowl of ramen in front of you?

Sasuke didn't even grace him with a glare. But Harry's eyes flicked up at him before very deliberately looking away. Naruto grinned. He knew what that kind of look meant. They were so getting ramen whether or not Sasuke liked it.

"Come on," he wheedled. "It's practically lunch time. We all got to eat any way, and ramen makes a great lunch!" It made a great dinner too, and breakfast, but he'd learned that neither Sasuke-teme nor Sakura-chan would ever see the light.

One of Sasuke's eyebrows twitched. He finally looked up enough to glare at Naruto. "Let's go," he snapped as if he were leading his troops onto a particularly gruesome battle field.

But it was still willing consent and Naruto couldn't resist a small whoop of victory. "Alright! Ramen here we come! And we can introduce Harry-kun to old man Ichiraku."

It was late morning by then, and the streets of Konoha were full. Just as it was a good day for sparring, it was also a good day for selling. Mothers led their small children through rows of stalls as off-duty shinobi wandered leisurely through the village they worked so hard to protect. Naruto led them eagerly through it all. He knew every route to his favorite ramen stand, and easily led them around the more congested streets.

Before Sasuke had a chance to change his mind, Naruto had the four of them standing just outside the greatest place in all of Fire Country.

"Naruto!" the owner called out merrily once he spotted them. The old man wave them forward with the large spoon in his hand. "How are you? Haven't seen you around the passed few days."

Naruto smiled brightly. "I know!" he gushed. "I had to go days without anything decent to eat. It was horrible." He didn't need to explain that he'd been on a mission. Instead he smiled even more and quickly pulled Harry-kun to the front. "I want ya to meet somebody," he announced. Both Ichiraku and his daughter looked up from their work, taking him seriously with the same kind of genuine acknowledgement that they always did. "This is Harry-kun," Naruto told them solemnly. "He's Sasuke's cousin!" he whispered after that.

Their reaction was all he could ever hope for. Old man Ichiraku even dropped his spoon, while his daughter looked torn between disbelief and fainting dead on the spot. "Cousin?" Ichiraku asked weakly.

"Dobe," Sasuke hissed, moving to stand beside his cousin like he seriously thought the ramen shop owner and his daughter presented some kind of threat.

"What, teme?" Naruto snapped back. He hadn't lied. Harry was Sasuke's cousin. It wasn't like it was supposed to be a secret. Itachi already knew. There wasn't any harm in at least letting a few good friends know. Besides, Naruto had every intention of dragging Harry-kun here with him as much as possible. It was only fitting that they be properly introduced.

But Sasuke was Sasuke, and had to make a big deal out of everything. "I do not need you announcing it to the whole damn world, you idiot," he hissed.

"Oh, get over it," Naruto replied before pointedly turning away to lead Harry to a seat. "What'd ya think they're going to do? Feed him to death?"

"That's not the point!"

"What's going on?" Harry demanded. He'd stopped moving and was holding himself awkwardly half pushed into a seat. He was also glaring in a very familiar way.

"Nothing," Sasuke snapped. "Clan business."

"But it involves me," Harry replied stubbornly.

Naruto edged slightly backwards, eyes darting from one Uchiha to the other. He hadn't really meant to cause a fight between the two of them. It only made sense that Sasuke and Naruto should fight about everything. That what they did. But Harry and Sasuke were supposed to be family now, and family wasn't supposed to fight with each other…excluding Itachi. And Neji and his family issues. And Gaara's family…

Sasuke growled quietly but managed to keep his voice something close to polite. "It's not your concern. I'll take care of it."

Harry didn't accept what for Sasuke was a rather significant attempt at appeasing someone. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and growled back. "I'm getting really sick and tired of people not explaining things to me because they somehow think it's better for me. Because of course not knowing what the bloody hell is happening is going to help me, oh, so much, in knowing what to do when things get dicey."

That…made a whole lot of sense. Naruto nodded sagely before turning to see how his teammate would take it. It was the kind of logic Sasuke usually loved, so that ought to make everything better between the two of them. For a moment, it looked as if Sasuke would argue. But he snapped his mouth shut. "Fine," he sneered before huffily claiming the seat next to Harry.

Wow. That coming from Sasuke was almost as good as a written apology. Naruto smiled before flopping down on Sasuke's other side. "Miso Ramen for me!" he announced to Ichiraku. "What kind of ramen do you want, Harry-kun?"

Harry seemed a little flustered by Sasuke's agreement too, and it took him a moment to answer. "Um, pork?" he said hesitantly.

Ichiraku grinned back at him. "Coming right up," he announced once Sasuke and Sakura had placed their orders.

"I've never had ramen at a restaurant before," Harry commented quietly when the silence dragged out.

Naruto leaned forward so that he could see around Sasuke. "Wwwhaat?"

Harry blinked back at him. "Is it different from the stuff you buy at the store?"

"Is the sky blue?" Naruto retorted. "Instant ramen may be one of the tenth wonders of the world, but it has nothing on Ichiraku's ramen! He makes his noodles fresh every day with his special super secret method. His broth is literally famous through out Fire Country. He even makes vegetables taste good!" Which was a very good thing, because Ichiraku ramen was about the only time Naruto willing ate vegetables.

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh," he replied. "I guess you're right. That doesn't sound like the same thing at all." He smiled ruefully. "Which is good, because I think I've had enough instant ramen in my life to last me forever."

There was certainly no such thing as too much ramen, but Naruto let it slide. Harry, obviously, had led a very deprived childhood to not know the wonders of freshly made ramen.

"What do you normally eat?" Sakura-chan asked from Harry's other side.

Harry laughed a little and reached up to smooth his bangs down again. He did that all the time, Naruto had noticed. Maybe they needed to get him a haircut, or a headband of some kind. Harry shrugged before answering. "I guess I do eat a lot of ramen," he said. "That and macaroni and other cheap instant stuff. It's not so bad."

Sakura-chan smirked. "You can't cook either, can you?" she asked with a sigh.

But Harry shook his head. "Actually, I'm a fairly decent cook, if I may say so. I do most of the cooking at home."

Sakura stared at him in surprise before grinning broadly. "Really?" she asked. When he nodded, her grin turned even more feral as she looked passed him to Naruto and Sasuke. "See? Harry-kun can cook. The two of you don't have any excuse," she informed them before turning her attention back to Harry. "These two idiots can't manage anything. They can learn some of the world's most complicated jutsus practically overnight, but they both manage to burn rice half the time."

Harry laughed. He glanced over at the two of them with a touch of sympathy but didn't object to Sakura's accusations. He wasn't foolish enough to pass up on being in Sakura-chan's good graces. Traitor.

Sasuke was back to frowning, even if he'd seemed more relaxed sitting between their playful bickering. "If you cook so much, why do you eat junk like ramen?" he asked.

"Ah, that's – um, kind of complicated," Harry replied. His smiled had disappeared now too. He reached out to fiddle with a set of chopsticks on the counter and didn't explain any further. The silence was so heavy even Naruto could feel it. He sighed and grabbed his own chopsticks to play with restlessly. Snapping them apart, he set to balancing one on top of the other, then adding a seasoning jar on top of that. It took all of a few seconds for him to get a small tower going, but the simple physical activity helped him think.

While he didn't see anything wrong with living off of instant ramen alone, he was mature enough to realize not everyone felt the same way. Harry had already expressed a lack of appreciation for the wonder of instant ramen. And it was weird that Harry would spend so much time cooking other food if he wasn't going to eat any of it. But Harry also clearly did not want to talk about it. Which was stupid, because how could they help him with whatever was wrong if he wouldn't tell them what it was. But then again, Sasuke-teme was very much so the same way.

Families were so complicated.

Sasuke was already turning towards Harry, that look on his face that said he wasn't happy and wasn't going to hesitate to start something. Crap! The two of them couldn't start fighting again! The food hadn't even come yet. Naruto dropped his chopsticks and started waving his hands at Sasuke, trying to get his attention. The crashing sound of flying utensils and salt shakers did the trick for him.

Sasuke spared him one withering glare and Naruto scrambled to come up with something to say now that he had the other teenager's attention. "Ah, um, what I mean is – Oh! Ramen! Hey, look guys, the ramen's here!" Naruto announced happily as Ichiraku slid a steaming bowl of noodles in front of each of them. Ah, saved by the ramen. Ichiraku had perfect timing.

Harry seemed to feel the same way because he didn't hesitate to dig in to his food. He stirred his noodles thoughtfully after the first bite, then smiled passed a glowering Sasuke at Naruto. "You're right, this is pretty good."

"Damn straight!" Naruto agreed before attacking his own meal. He had his face half buried in his bowl when Sasuke finally regrouped. He'd been hoping the other boy would just let it go for once, but Sasuke seemed determined to start a fight. He hadn't even looked at his food.

"You didn't answer the question," Sasuke growled.

Harry, in what Gai-sensei surely would have described as a very hip and cool move, did not even look up. "And you never answer any of mine."

"That's different," Sasuke snapped.

This time it was Harry who growled. He dropped his chopsticks and shoved his bowl away. "How?" he demanded, half turning in his seat so that he could glare at Sasuke. From Naruto's advantage point behind Sasuke he could easily attest that it was a pretty decent glare. Definitely right up there with the Uchiha "I-have-had-enough-of-your-stupidity" glare. "How is it any bloody hell different?" Harry continued. "You won't ever explain anything to me. I'm not an idiot, you know. I've had enough experience being lied to to know when someone's full of shite and when someone's hiding something. How about you start actually explaining things to me and I might just tell you something!"

Naruto quickly slurped up the last of his noodles, barely managing not to choke only due to years of experience. "Hey, hey, now, guys, no fighting at Ichiraku's!" It was a golden rule, after all, not to start trouble near Ichiraku's, and if that kept the two cousins from going at it, then Naruto had no problem calling foul.

Except everyone just ignored him.

"It's not your responsibility to know – "

"Like hell it's not!"

"You're just a civilian and – "

" – you're a stuck up prat – "

"This is not up for debate! Stop being such a child."

Harry slammed his fist down on the counter and the entire frame shook ominously. His ramen bowl even cracked dangerously, a thin trail of tasty broth leaking out the side. "Go to hell, Uchiha!" he shouted. "I didn't ask for your help and I don't want it!"

"That's enough!" Naruto shouted over them. "Both of you!" He was on his feet already, empty ramen bowl forgotten. He got a handful of the back of each of their shirts and tugged. He had them across the street before either of them could manage to twist free. They both glared at him, all of their anger now directed at a new and convenient source. Good. Let them whine about it all they wanted. He was not going to let them ruin old man Ichiraku's stall.

"You're both freakin' idiots!" he told them. "You hear me? You both got this amazing one time chance to fix something and actually have a family and you're both too damn stubborn to get it right. Sasuke, stop acting like such an almighty-jerk and actually let someone help you. And you, Harry, stop acting like we're the bad guys here! In case you missed it, we're trying to help. And if the both of you don't start acting happy about all this, I'm going to pound both of you into the ground, I don't care who you are or are not!"

There was silence up and down the entire street. People were staring. Sakura-chan was still sitting at Ichiraku's, twisted around to watch them, eyes wide. Ichiraku was busy trying to clean up the mess Harry had made of his bowl and deliberately not looking at them. Sasuke's forlorn bowl was getting cold. Naruto didn't care if he looked like a raving lunatic. He was right, and that was all that mattered. With a firm nod, he grabbed both of them by the shirt again and yanked them back to the stall.

"Eat," he ordered both of them before shoving them back down onto their stools. He stalked over to his own just in time to see Ichiraku place a fresh bowl in front of his chair with a wink. He blushed a little at that. He didn't mind saying what needed to be said, but it was kind of weird having someone else so clearly support him. He brushed it aside, however, and followed his own advice and dug into his food.

Another bowl magically appeared before Harry. He flinched again and finally broke the heavy silence. "I'm sorry," he said with a face so stricken there was no doubt that he was.

Ichiraku, being the great guy that he was, just smiled and waved it off. "It happens," he said before moving away.

It didn't seem to make Harry feel much better, however. He sighed, and merely stirred his soup in lazy circles.

"Is there something…in particular, that you wish clarification on?' Sasuke finally said into the silence that hung over the four of them like a thick genjutsu. He didn't look up from his food when he said it, but he too was stirring his noodles aimlessly.

Naruto watched the two of them unknowingly mirror each other as he slurped up his own noodles. At Sasuke's words, Harry's head jerked up to stare at him. Sasuke took no notice of him, even as Harry grinned a little. At least one of them was quick to forgive.

"There's a lot of things I don't understand," Harry said. "And I don't like being helpless with no idea what's going on."

"The intention was not to disable you," Sasuke conceded.

Naruto grinned brightly. He caught Sakura's eye from her place on the far end and they shared a smile. "See? No problem," he mouthed at her silently. She just rolled her eyes and relaxed her shoulders.

"Will you explain some of this clan business stuff to me?" Harry asked. "I'll admit I don't know much about stuff like that."

Sasuke just nodded sharply. "There's no reason to expect you would," he replied but he managed to say it almost civilly. If it came out sounding a little more like a mission leader briefing his team and less like a cousin, then that was still alright. Progress was progress. "The more complex aspects of clan politics don't really apply to us any more seeing as there really isn't a clan any more," Sasuke trailed off, seemingly a little lost in his own words. The hesitation didn't last long, however, before he quickly continued on passed things that were better left unsaid. "Don't agree to anything with any of the other clans, and don't accept anything from them either. They might try to trick you into an alliance we don't want."

Harry thought about that for a moment before nodding "Alright."

"And don't go anywhere with anyone alone," Sasuke added after a moment of thought. "As in, make sure one of the three of us is with you at all times. Or Kakashi. But no one else."

Harry frowned this time. "Why?" he asked.

Sasuke scowled at the question, but it was his thinking scowl. Harry's eyes narrowed in response and Naruto quickly tried to smile reassuringly from behind Sasuke's big head. "The sharingan," Sasuke finally explained. "It's a particular kind of blood-limit. Which means it's tied to the physiology of the Uchiha clan." His eyes darted quickly to Harry and back again. "Your father was incapable of ever developing it. That was why he was sent away."

Harry didn't glare or scowl. He just looked really sad all of a sudden. "That's it?" he asked in a quiet and lost voice. "They just got rid of him, just because of that."

Sasuke looked up then, confused. He seemed to know he was walking into a mined field, but he suddenly looked like he'd walked into the wrong one. Naruto scowled. What had he been expecting? Or could he really not understand what it must have felt like? To be brushed aside like that. Didn't he understand anything? Naruto might never understand the pain Sasuke felt in losing his family, but Sasuke still needed to understand that there was a whole other level of pain from not even being wanted by your family. Harry seemed to get that. If Harry got it, then why couldn't Sasuke?

Naruto frowned. There was something important about that, but he just couldn't figure out what. Harry's Aunt had seemed like a real pill, but she was still technically his family. They let him live with them and everything, so if couldn't have been too bad. But it was kind of bothersome how much Harry seemed to know what it felt like to never be wanted.

"It was better that than the alternatives," Sasuke said slowly. He seemed to be picking his words very carefully. "Most clans would have simply killed such a child," he said coldly. Harry's eyes widened, but it was the truth unfortunately. Naruto had seen enough of the messed up interworks of various clans to know many of them wouldn't hesitate to kill one of their own if they thought they had to. Sasuke continued, however, really sticking to his word of trying to explain things. It was probably the most Naruto had ever heard him talk in one sitting when there wasn't a mission involved.

"Without the sharingan, it would have been unlikely that he would ever have been able to properly defend himself. But as a part of our blood, he still would have presented far too tempting a target to our enemies. If such a child is not killed, it would likely eventually be taken, experimented on, dissected, then destroyed. Leaving behind the possible knowledge of a weakness in the blood-limit that could then place the rest of the clan in mortal peril. Sending him away was a kindness, at the risk of the rest of the clan if he was ever discovered."

Harry stared, wide eyed and opened mouth through out Sasuke's blunt description. Being on the genin team of a blood-limit user, both Naruto and Sakura had been aware of such a disturbing possibility since they were very young. They had been made aware of their responsibilities to their teammate and his clan if the worst should happen. The body was not to be left behind. As shinobi, even as genin, they had had enough awareness to understand the importance of such a gruesome task. Poor Harry looked like he might lose what little of his lunch he'd had.

"That's why you were so worried about someone finding me?" he asked.

After a minuscule moment of hesitation, Sasuke nodded. It was true, it just wasn't the whole truth. And Sauske-teme seemed determined, even in the middle of his attempt to be more cooperative, to hide things from his cousin. "You are now in the same risk that your father was."

"And a risk to you, as well," Harry added.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. If an enemy could find something useful, it would likely be too late to affect me. And even if it did, it would only show that I am not as strong as I should be. They, however, may not see it as pointless as I do. And what matters is more what they think they can get from taking you, and less what they actually can."

"Oh," Harry replied quietly. It wasn't everyday that you found out people were willing to kill you. Harry took it pretty well, in Naruto's opinion. He didn't freak out the way most clients did and he didn't get angry the way some shinobi did. He just nodded and went back to his lunch as if nothing in the world had changed. Naruto glanced at his teammates nervously. Sasuke was watching Harry, but he didn't seem disturbed by the lack of reaction. He had that distant look he sometimes got when he was thinking too much, but he didn't press the point. Sakura-chan looked anxious, but she too seemed distracted by other thoughts. Naruto sighed again. This family thing was taking entirely too much thinking.