Eight years later

The hustle and bustle of the airport, echoed in his ears as he walked about blond hair shoved about by the heavy duty heaters. A small smile broke onto his whiskered face, as he walked through the doors of the tokyo airport. Blue eyes alight with a happy glow as they trailed the not so unfamiliar airport. A strong winter wind blew past him as if saying 'Welcome back!' only for thunder to crack above like it was yelling 'Now get off my lawn!'.

Chuckling at his own abnormal thoughts he too a deep breath before he gave a whispered "Home sweet home." After all it wasn't every day he came back home after having gone abroad from boarding school since he was Nine. But then again he was only twelve so it wasn't that big of a deal...

He shook his head 'Now what was the taxi companies number…' he thought digging into his pockets. 'Oh there it is', dialing the number on his phone he gave a quick look around. It was just the beginning to get dark, students passing by on the street going home after finishing their Christmas shopping. All decked out in heavy coat and scarves.

He himself was wearing a surprisingly heavy coat, as in both meant for fairly cold weather and very heavy in terms of weight as well. He doubted most of the kids he knew would be able to pick it up at all. Eh the price paid for good winter gear. A cheerful smile made it onto Naruto's face as he noticed the taxi stopping in the airport parking lot.

He gave the driver a blinding smile as he hopped into the yellow vehicle. Telling quickly giving the driver-who as it turned out was a rather well dressed man- the address, they were soon zooming off to their destination. He stared out the window in nostalgia, noticing people exchanging gifts in the street others talking happily as they walked by.

Store full of Christmas decoration, some full of children their parents watching them as they stared at all the new toys, some cheering about new video games. 'It truly has been too long' the blond thought wistfully, as he observed the changes since he had gone abroad. His attention was brought back to reality upon noticing a young girl skipping beside her mother as she apparently asked to be given whatever it was she had bought.

The mother sighed in exasperation as she dipped her hand into her shopping bag extracting a book from within. If he were younger the blond would have froze as she handed her daughter the book. Two memories shooting through his head violently.

An older woman laid in bed a blond toddler sitting wrapped in her arms as she read a book. "And with a great heave the knight stabbed the dragon, freeing the princes it held captive!" she said as the blond child giggled to the story. The woman smiled beautifully as she gave the child a kiss on the head. "Good night." she said as she got up from the bed the child pouting as she left the room.

An old lady scowled as she ripped a book from a young blonds hands "Demons don't get to read!" she screamed as another person held the blonde's wrists with one and lit a match with the other. The child struggled tears in his eyes as he tried to get his hand out of the vice like grip, only for it to be useless as the match burned the palms of his hands. Screams of pain ripped out of his throat. The pair giggled as they moved to burn his other hand.

When he was younger he used to break down crying his eyes out, like any normal child. But Naruto Kusanagi was far from normal no matter what everyone around him liked to think. He had been living with these flashbacks since the car crash/chemical leak that had taken his memories, though they had thankfully become far less common with time. To point that, this was the first one he'd had in years.

Since then he had recalled the entirety of both Naruto Yoshida, and Naruto Uzumaki's lives. He also knew for a fact he was neither of predecessors. He was Naruto Kusanagi the result of Naruto Uzumaki and Naruto Yoshida merging into one being. The Kusanagi knew he was an impossible existence, a being with more than one soul, but two parts of two very different people mixed together. He was being with more than a soul but less than two.

Acting in line with his unusual existence he didn't give the barest hint that anything had happened at all. The only thing different than usual was his somewhat tight smile as he gave a tired sigh. "Just your everyday life of your common sorta dimension traveler, please pay no attention." the blond mumbled under his breath. Grumbling to himself he barely noticed as the taxi pulled over to the curb, his almost two hour drive already over. "This is as far as I can go kid." the driver said gruffly. The blond shrugged, it wasn't that far just down the alley, so it wasn't problem to walk the rest of the way. Throwing some cash at the taxi driver, he didn't pay any attention for the fact he had given double the actual cost, too lost in thought as he shut the door to the cab.

He waved goodbye to the taxi as it drove away, when it was out of sight he turned around and set of a lazy trot down the alley. He didn't pay much attention to the many stores in the alley selling fruits and other things despite the cold along with the coming night. Only to give a mournful half frown, half genial smile that in hindsight probably made him look rather funny. If the looks people were giving had anything to say at least.

He didn't much attention to that though no, he was looking at the sliding door that led to an old shut down book store. The place was a leftover from WWII, that had been added onto three or four separate times making the place a comfortable home, despite all the books that were hanging around in the attic.

'The last time I was here was for aunt Chiyo's funeral wasn't it?' he gave a tired sigh, he had originally started going to boarding school when he was eight. At the time he had been ecstatic, and couldn't wait to go… but then aunt Chiyo had collapsed. It wasn't a week later that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He couldn't name where it was for the specific reason it was all over the place…

Never mind that, the problem was that the week she was suppose to start chemotherapy was a week after he had to be at the boarding school. A school that it was so rare to even be accepted in it wasn't funny. It caused some friction with the family when he had chosen to go at his Adoptive mother's request. For the next year he took every chance to visit her as possible and for the next year she fought cancer. But one night maybe a week or two after his ninth birthday, he was called home for a medical emergency. He wiped an errant tear from his face, as the thought hit him.

He'd ended up rushing from Norway all the way back to Japan, only to arrive in time to have a far too short talk with his aunt before she passed. He remembered the nurses pushing them out of the room. Shizuka-his younger cousin-was bawling the entire drive back home, Godou was being Unusually quiet, while grandpa Ichirou was quietly sobbing as he drove them back to the Kusanagi residence. Naruto himself couldn't really remember what he had been doing during said drive, it was all to much of a blur.

By the time they'd arrived home the blond doubted he could cry much more. They'd all shuffled inside the house, crowding around the living room. But then Godou snapped and proved why bottled up emotions were a bad thing. He'd gone on rant, some things were said that they both probably regretted, and then the usually calm youth had gone and punched the blond in the nose. Breaking it and forever proving that playing baseball really helped you develop a strong right hook.

Of course by the time they'd broken up the fight Naruto had broken both of Godou's arms, so yeah saying things had turned physical was a bit of an understatement… after that day the family was sort of split he supposed. The next day he'd gone back to the boarding school thankful for his strangely fast healing factor, as it meant he didn't have to wear any gauze on his nose. It wasn't completely healed but it wasn't apparent either… off topic.

After that event he'd practically gone out of his way to make sure his name was always at the top of the list for the students staying at the school for the summer. Other than that he'd only ever talked to his uncle Ichirou, and a few sparse conversations with his cousin Shizuka.

Godou… well he hadn't asked over the years, and Godou had done the same, Both them were waiting for the other to apologize first they… were stubborn like that. Things with Asuka- a childhood friend of his and Godou- well they could be better. At some point in time Godou had mentioned that Naruto had broken both of his arms in an offhanded comment. Asuka had let her mind run wild with it, and had gone out of her way to hang up on him after he'd decided to check up on her after Chiyo's passing.

Naruto gave a sigh as he realized he'd been monologuing in an effort to stall, his first face to face meeting with his family in three years… Doing his best to shove down his building anxiety he took the last few steps to the door and took out his key.

He almost chuckled as the thought of what his friends would say upon seeing the usually unmovable blond (being a sorta-dimension traveler really increased your tolerance for ridiculous shit) shaking from the thought of seeing his family. The worse part was that his hand was actually trembling as he inserted his key into the door. Giving a quick prayer in hope that they hadn't changed the locks, he turned the key. The familiar sound of tumblers rotating and the click of the lock as Naruto sighed in relief.

Cobalt eyes glowed in anxious, anticipation as he slid the door open.

Ichirou Kusanagi couldn't help but give an astonished gasp. In all honesty the man never thought he would see His adoptive son enter his home willing ever again, so imagine his surprise when the front door slid to the side revealing a somewhat tall twelve year old with tarnished gold hair, and cobalt blue eyes that stared at him sheepishly.

The blond rubbed the back of his head, a small smile on his whiskered cheeks as he chuckled awkwardly. A large Green heavy coat draped over a white t-shirt with the words "Sanity? Is that a food" surrounded by question marks in the color black, along with a pair of blue jeans.

"Um sorry I'm late?" the blond said lamely, he didn't get a chance to say anything else as Ichirou sprung to feet. Something most people didn't believe he could do anymore as he practically tackled the blond, before he attempted to strangle him with a hug.

He struggled briefly before he simply gave in and hugged the old man back. "Welcome home Naruto, welcome home." Ichirou mumbled as he crushed his adoptive son. The blond in turn sighed as he hugged his uncle tighter. "It's good to be back Gramps."

Neither of them noticed Shizuka until she entered the room a fresh pot of tea in hand… only to almost drop it when she saw the blond.

Naruto Kusanagi knew he was an impossibility-an abnormality within the very worlds existence. But he supposed it wouldn't be a bad thing to try and hold on to his current feeling of being utterly normal. The feelings of warmth and comfort as he pulled it close and held onto it, reveling in it for as long as he could.

If only he knew how short that time would be.