"One day, you'll give in to her,"
"Or she to me," he replied.
Sasuke nodded. He looked to his surroundings, an empty world devoid of people. One of Kaguya's own dimensions that was to be his banishment. A self-imposed exile.
"What will you tell them?" Sasuke asked.
"That you're dead,"
"I can ruin that farce immediately. What would others think of that?"
"doesn't matter," he replied. "There are other Ootsutsuki coming, you know that?"
"As you mentioned, the day they do, they'll be dead on arrival,"
Naruto wasn't certain the next time they would talk. They shared the last few words, of releasing the tailed beasts. There were no goodbyes, no farewells to all those memories in the distant past. It would never be the same or come close to those times.
He didn't spare a look back, and he stepped into the portal. The white of snow and the village popped into view, nestled and hidden away.
The snow crunched beneath his feet and he found a fallen log to rest on. He swept the snow off and sat and stared at the village. For once, he could appreciate the view that wasn't blocked by a building.
He felt her lingering presence behind, and she walked into view. Her hair was so long, it dragged across the deep snow and left a light trail. The shade of her hair seemed to blend with it. The cold didn't seem to bother her.
She did not sit with him, instead standing ahead in his view of the village. The horns she possessed was otherworldly. Her back faced him, and she said nothing until he broke the silence.
"How do you feel?"
It was a long while before she responded, "I want to be more,"
Spooky.
He blew a raspberry, he expected no immediate recovery and improvement. He crossed his arms, and he didn't bother to stand. He supposed he should tell everyone that Sasuke had been dealt with, but that could wait.
"Is that an urge from that Ten-Tails?" he replied. Of course, she no longer possessed the Ten-tails, or at least the full embodiment that came from all the tail beasts coming together. Yet, just as Kaguya had deeply affected him, the Ten-Tails had left its mark on her.
"I do not know," she replied.
"Anything else to add?"
Silence. Of course, she had said nothing else when she'd taken his hand. No reassurance, or anything of the sort. He didn't want to press it, simply because he wanted to see it come to fruition on her own.
"In any case, you're not going to try and murder everyone for their chakra anytime soon, right?"
She angled her face, enough that he didn't have to strain to hear her. "It's a fleeting thought,"
"That's a relief," he muttered. He felt his shoulders sag, "Can you at least promise that you won't do it on a whim?"
"It wouldn't do well to eliminate chakra."
"We both know what I mean, I want an absolute."
"I wouldn't have a need for it if you were to defeat my clan."
He laughed, "Well, that's a pending thing. Unless you want to show me the door to where they are?"
Nothing. Nothing but the rush of wind.
"Damnit! I'd figured by now, you'd at least say a little more," he spat. He hung his head, "It would be better wouldn't? You wouldn't have to wait, they would be out of the way, or I'd die, and you would've been right all along. It would be willing to do so many things just for you,"
More stillness of winter wild. Oh, she was like the cold bite of the wind, but he also felt it inside him.
"A waste of a life,"
Damn it. Just like that.
Of all his foes, none had bested him, none had done other than wound him with bruises and cuts. A temporary pain, superficial. None had troubled him the way his loved ones had. Kaguya was lodged so deeply, he wasn't sure he could recover if it was ripped out; it would be easy for her to do.
A pain worth bearing to discard solitude.
"You don't want me to go then?" he said, if only to confirm it.
"I don't."
He took a deep breath and looked to the sky. There were golden cracks in the grey clouds, a little sunshine. It started to snow light fluffy flakes, dancing in the air as they fell. He liked the winter.
"Well, to tell the truth," he sighed. "I'm not entirely sure what to do next."
He supposed he could tell the others that they were free from Sasuke, but that didn't seem so pressing.
The village? He didn't know which of his friends had survived, he had heard little about them. He thought of the times when it was simpler. For ages, surviving was the only thing he could do. He never got the chance to say goodbye to those last days.
"Tell me, since you didn't tell me before, were you in the illusion as long as me?"
"Half the length,"
He truly lost count of how long he was in there, but either way, Kaguya was with him for a long time too.
Naruto felt the chill seep in, he guessed he would need to figure out a couple of things. A place to stay but being in the village seemed to dangerous. Kaguya would probably kill anyone who got in her way. It was best to take that slow.
"So, Uh, I'm guessing you're going to stay around me, or something like that?"
"For now,"
It felt like the conversation he had with Sasuke.
He supposed he had to some things to do. To prepare for them, there was some excitement that he felt. But he was glad for this.
Captain Yamato built this house for him. Of course, he had asked questions as to why, but Naruto had answered that it was important. That everything that happened had changed him. Yamato didn't push any further after that.
Of course, he had asked about Kaguya, but no one knew about her. The only surviving people who knew about her were himself and Sasuke.
It was a distance away from the village, above on the nearby mountains, and as he found out, nearby on the dilapidated shrine he had built for Jiraiya.
Naruto had been enraptured by his cooking that he hadn't realized that Kaguya had left the living room. He usually cooked for them.
He wandered through the house, but she wasn't in her room, and not his own. Naruto found her out in the patio. He slid the glass door open and stepped out to join her. Her hands clutched the wooden railing, brow furrowed at the distant sounds that emanated from the village.
"What's below?" she asked.
Darkness covered the world, but fireworks lit up the sky over the village. The blasts echoed throughout the horizon and splashed rainbow colors below. The distant music was almost lost with the howls of wind.
He had to think about why they might be doing something like this. He was a little more conscious that he aged now. Yet, days blurred and mixed one after the other. What was it? A year after his fight with Sasuke?
Of course, he gotten an invitation some time ago. It was that time already? To celebrate him freeing everyone from Sasuke's control. It had been winter when he freed them all, and it was to the day now.
"They're celebrating. Something about a new awakening, almost like new year's, I guess."
"So often," she said. Her eyes reflected the fireworks, but her eyes narrowed, and a hint of annoyance. "They seem so fascinated with explosives,"
"Food's ready," he muttered. She nodded and left inside.
She despised 'humanity' as she said, but she found him tolerable enough. He was a reminder –the words didn't seem right– of her lost humanity.
So, she stayed with him, but she had her own room. She wasn't the talkative sort, he talked enough for them both.
He stared at the fireworks, and strained to hear the music. Get them away she said to him when one group that had wandered too close. She didn't need to say that a horrible would have awaited them if he didn't shoo them away.
He returned inside, and she waited for him on the table. She had placed their food on the table for them. He sat down across from her on the small table.
"Thank you," he said. It was a small thing, but it was meaningful.
They ate in quiet; a familiar routine. Sometimes, he did missions if not to keep the cupboards full and having nice things in the house. Stuff that he enjoyed in his free time that maybe she would enjoy too. Cards, television, and some other games.
Cooking was something he greatly enjoyed. If he had leftovers, which was often, he went to the village and stopped by the orphanage.
They finished, and she left for the living room. She sat on a large zabuton. He played some music. She was fond of the koto, or the modern string instruments. Sometimes, she would hum along to it.
"Feels a little early, but how do you feel now?" he asked. "Do you feel a little more, 'human'?"
Her eyes found him. "ha," was released from her lips, an almost laugh. "A little would be correct,"
Naruto smiled, and sat across from her. "Are you interesting in more? Or at the very least, those old emotions you used to feel?"
"Like love?" she asked. "We've established that,"
"Well, a reminder," he said. He scratched his chin and looked away. How actually was this supposed to go, was he supposed to go for it, or just ask? "I was thinking about something more obvious,"
"Such as?"
"Something like a kiss?" he rubbed the nape of his neck. He was so unfamiliar with this, he was trudging new ground here. Despite being stuck in a world in which any dream could come true, he had never thought about romance and love for himself.
Besides, it felt so alien. In what was supposed to be his greatest enemy some years ago to now. Something like that was impossible to picture. Maybe it had to be that she hardly seemed feminine.
"Perhaps,"
Awkwardly, he leaned in closer, she didn't move but instead stared. He swallowed that nervous lump and ignored the flipping in his stomach.
He planted a soft kiss upon her lips. It was searing to his own, and he could feel his lips tingle when he withdrew. His heart raced.
"It was pleasant, yes," she replied. A soft sigh escaped from her.
"More?" he asked. An almost imperceptible nod.
They had all the time in the world, but he wanted progress as quickly as she could manage.
He read the words aloud, so that she'd listen along. She seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes, he would read aloud these novels that he bought, like now. She sat on the floor, a large soft carpet that she had requested.
Otherwise, she would simply take a seat and listen to music.
Naruto wasn't paying much attention to the book. He just read line after line, only to realize by the end of the page he hadn't remembered a single thing about it. He kept reading, as he decided it wasn't too important.
Strange. He remembered in his youth, life felt so slow, each day a crawl and it would reset with the sun. Now, he barely noticed that weeks had passed, a life living in fast-forward. How old was he now? Twenty-two? He felt much older.
He doubted he'd ever feel like he did all those years ago. In fact, he wanted to be with Kaguya for a long time. He would live eternal with her.
"I can hear it," she said.
"What's that?" he asked.
Kaguya moved a stray piece of her white hair out of her eyes, and stared into a piece of art. He waited for her to continue.
It had been bare inside this room, so he had decorated it with paintings. She had said nothing about it, so he assumed she liked it enough. This one was a simple, a winter creek with the morning sun reflecting off its stream.
Kaguya turned her gaze to him, "It's less of a voice, and more of a hunger," hey eyes went dark. "Perpetual, I feel as nothing can possibly sate it. On occasion, it disappears, but it's always temporary."
"When does it go away?" he could take a couple of guesses.
"I suppose, when my emotions get the better of me,"
He hummed. He hadn't seen her furious since their time in the illusion, it was an easy emotion and often easily distinguishable.
"When I kiss you, does that help?" he said. "Even if for a little?"
Instead of waiting for answer that wouldn't be acknowledged, he kissed her. More passionate, and deeper than their first one. It left them both breathless. He craved more, what she said applied to him. He hungered for her presence.
He continued, but his lips left hers, and trailed down her neck, and he felt her hands curl in his hair. The more he did, the more her breathing grew deep and labored. He relished how her skin felt against his, soft and flushed.
He wounded up on top of her, and he could feel the heat of their bodies. A heated stare, half-lidded with desire. Her impossibly long hair was strewn everywhere. She was both lovely and deadly.
One day, she left. At times, he wasn't certain about his feelings about this; one pulled him one way, another the opposite. That he wanted nothing more than to be at her side. The other being that he felt pathetic that he depended so much on her.
Months passed without so much as a word or hint of her presence. No sighting or any sort of news of her. She still despised others, loathed them with all her heart. It was always a fear he carried that one day he would awake to something disastrous. That day never came.
He worked, completing missions that was assigned to him. He saved a good portion of money when he completed a mission. Each night he returned, he had a lively step, hoping that it was the day that he would find her there. It was more than a year when he had started to sleep in her room–when she was still around.
It was in the dead of night when she returned. At first, he thought it was a dream.
She turned on the light in the room, and it was blinding for a moment. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, the sight of her sent his heart racing. Finally.
"Where have you been?" he asked. He sat up from the bed. His voice rough with sleep.
She said nothing, and it was only when she sat next to him, when he realized she held something protectively in her arms. A bundle of blankets, or so he thought.
"Her name is Kaiya," she said. "That acceptable?"
"Kaiya?" he swallowed hard. He focused on the bundle and found a baby. He saw the small, blond mop of hair. A little whimper.
"I'm…A dad?" what a fucking strange word to say. She nodded, and she carefully passed the precious bundle to him.
There was nothing he could say. He had prepared no words of this possibility. Of all his time, in all of his dreams, he had never thought of a family. He wasn't prepared for the emotion that swelled inside him as he stared at his daughter.
"A great name," he muttered. His voice thick, he had to force those words.
"Her birth was on twentieth of March,"
Kaiya slept peacefully, but she stirred when he held her. She looked so tiny in his arms, light and delicate. This was beyond his wildest dreams, and there had been many of them.
He couldn't help but lean into Kaguya to feel her warmth.
"I love you," he muttered. She was the love of his life.
Kaiya affected him. Her presence was a wonderful boon. Whenever he was away, each moment was spent trying to get back to her. When he was with her, he treasured each small moment, no matter how insignificant.
"As I found out," he muttered. "Your mother has a bit of a sweet tooth."
His only audience was Kaiya, several months old and placed in a basket carefully set away from his cooking. She gazed at him with wide, white eyes of her mother.
"Not chocolate or candy though, but something a little fruitier. Like Lemon cakes, or strawberry cheesecake, or what I'm making now, a smoothie. Things like that. I wonder if you'll be the same," he pondered. He moved the ingredients into the blender, a wild berry smoothie.
He kept a careful eye, each coo Kaiya sounded out made him smile. Once he finished supper and Kaguya's dessert, he called out to her that everything was finished.
Kaguya came down to the kitchen table. She wasn't too fond of modern clothing, instead she wore similar styles of her original wear. This time she wore a red kimono, with a large white obi tied around her waist. He couldn't help but stare.
The first thing that Kaguya noticed was the smoothie that he had made for her. A pleased smile followed by a nod of her thanks. He wanted more, but he settled for this.
They ate together. Kaiya had fallen asleep. Hopefully, she wouldn't be up all night again.
"I must leave," Kaguya announced.
Stirred from his thoughts, he dropped his fork, and it clattered against the plate. "What do you mean by that?"
"I can't quell it," she replied, her eyes were resolved, "not for much longer."
Of course, he remembered what she meant. From some of their previous conversations. He frowned and glanced at the sleeping form of his daughter.
"When I decide to gather power again, you will be the first to die,"
He wasn't dead yet. "No, you can't do that. I don't want you to go. What about our daughter? I need your help, I can't do it alone."
"It would be best to seal me away, this is a fear that cannot be mended until it is gone,"
"please no," he replied. He wanted to yell, but he kept his voice quiet. "Don't, please,"
He was pulled away, suddenly, he was brought within Kurama's seal. The open seal, and within it sat Kurama. Larger than previous times, he was now whole.
"Never would I have thought she would be the reasonable one," the fox said. It leaned in closer, it's massive snout some arms length's away. Its giant red eyes bored into him.
He gritted his teeth and swore under his breath.
"Don't think I haven't felt all those emotions you had all these years. I know despair when I feel it, the hurt and helplessness."
Naruto didn't want to reply to that question, of course, Kurama could sense negative emotions. Truth be told, he forgot that he could borrow that power too. "It's been a little while,"
Kurama frowned, as much it could with fangs.
"Do as she says, "Kurama said. The eyes narrowed, "For once, think of what it means. She's worried for you, and of her daughter. To volunteer herself to sealing, I didn't think it was possible. She may not care for any one else, but for her, the two of you are good enough. "
"I don't know,"
"hmph, Once, you said that you would make it a little less mad. When you got out of that technique, I was sad for you, knowing that circumstances brought you down. If you can no longer bear it for the sake of the tailed beasts and your friends. Then perhaps you'll do it for your daughter, and perhaps Kaguya will be a little more convinced too."
He tried to not weep. He just got his family, and now? It was being taken away from him far too soon. He could take any opponent, no matter how powerful, and he would find a way to beat them. He wasn't strong enough for this.
Kaguya had taken him, wrapped her arms around him. Some of the few acts of intimacy that she would do.
"I don't want you to go," he cried.
"One day," she said.
He wasn't sure how long that would be. Kaguya had been here for such a long time, waiting for those of her clan to come again. How long would that be? One year? A hundred? Time was different for those with a long life. A large flame died quicker.
Already, he felt an intense blinding hate for those of her clan. He wanted to tear them apart.
Things had slowed considerably. It felt a lifetime ago since he last saw her. He didn't like to think of it, but it was difficult with her living reminder. He often wandered if she would be proud.
Yet, no matter how it was. This was for the best. Kaguya's hatred of humanity would have been passed down to Kaiya, as much as he believed it wouldn't.
He saw a few people that he recognized. Old friends that he'd mistaken for strangers at some point before he came back into the village. Shikamaru, and Ino. They had noticed him too, waiting with the other parents in front of the academy. He had reconnected with them, but they also noticed his change.
Shikamaru had looked at him, a quick, single wave before he left with his son in tow. He shared a few words with Ino before she was swept away by someone she knew.
Until, finally, his daughter found him, and they left on their way back home. It was a strange thing. Those times without her, seemed to sweep past awful fast. Now, since the last six years, it seemed to be a strange mix of going too fast or preciously slow.
He had done his best to care for her.
"How was school?" he asked.
She frowned, and he could see the hurt within her eyes. Her hands inched up to her head to trace one of her little horns, a little noticeable. An inch high. "W-Why do I have these?"
"Why? What happened?" he replied. Clearly, it hadn't gone as well as he hoped.
She tore off her little bag and dropped it. He had to pick it up for her. She looked to the ground, "Some made fun of me,"
He swallowed a lump and tried to not frown. "Did they…call you names?" she shook her head, and he had to quietly release his sigh. It would break his heart to hear something like demon, "how about friends? Did you make any friends?"
"Uhm, you know them," she sighed. Obviously, Shikadai and Inojin were a couple that she grew up with. "Why do I have these? No one else has them…"
Naruto bit his lip. "When we get back home, but they're from your mother,"
There was still a lot of people. Many people of the village had realized he preferred privacy, but there was the occasional tourist eager to meet him. Of course, he had since moved back into the village. Children needed friends after all.
She gasped, her eyes widened. "Promise?"
"Of course,"
They arrived home quickly. He hadn't been looking forward to the day she finally asked about her mother.
"So?" she had taken off her shoes and arranged them.
He went into the kitchen and put back the pan on the heat. She had followed him.
"Don't be ashamed of those horns," he replied. He scratched his cheek, "You might not have these, but those are from your mother,"
Suddenly, she went wide-eyed. "My momma?" she asked. "Everyone has one…"
Naruto had to wonder about her shy, almost anxious nature. Where had she got that from? Maybe he had passed it on from his own fears. From his fear of never seeing Kaguya again, that she would grow in a war-torn world, or when those from the Ootsutsuki clan would arrive.
Her white eyes directed elsewhere, and she scratched at her head where one of her horns grew.
Kaiya resembled her mother, even at her young age. There were still clear differences, features that she inherited from him. The eyebrows, the shape of her eyes, the hair color.
He felt a lump in his throat and his stomach flip. He refocused on preparing supper for her, a perfect excuse. It already had been cooked before he had picked her up from school.
"Well…" he didn't quite know where to start. Her mother wasn't perfect, far from it. "Ask away. You want to know about your mother, right?"
"Where's my momma?"
"She's gone," he replied. "I'm not too sure when she'll be back,"
He wasn't certain if he wanted it to be soon, or later; that brought problems on its own.
"Why?"
Kaiya was silent for a moment. Enough that he had finished the pasta and sauce and poured them on a plate for them both.
"She's sick,"
He expected the questions, and he thought he would be prepared for them, but he was wrong. It felt like needles puncturing into his heart. He stayed composed, at least outwardly. He missed her, he yearned for their reunion.
"How?"
Of course, she wasn't done with her million questions a minute and he wouldn't try to not answer.
His mind went blank at that question. How to frame his answer that her mother wanted to murder everyone on the planet minus her.
"It's not like when you get sick…" he rolled his tongue, trying the right words yet none of them felt right. "I tried to help her not be sick, but I think that's only something she can do,"
Of course, he wouldn't share his fear that Kaguya would never get better. "Y'know, she liked sweets like you do too. " Of course, it didn't help that he made a lot of them.
"Oooh," she cooed. "My momma, what's my momma's name?"
"Kaguya,"
"Wow! Do you love momma?"
"Of course, I do, almost as much as I love you,"
She smiled so widely, and it was infectious.
One day, he had realized what they both meant to him. Once, he thought that Kaguya was the sun in his life, but that was wrong. She was the moon, the only light in total darkness, even if she brought the darkness. It was Kaiya who shone the brightest, brought color and light to everything around him.
He would do everything for her, his flesh and blood, and he hoped their daughter could be Kaguya's light in the world too, one day.
Those of her clan weren't the only problem, it was of the ten-tails. It's beastly instincts had imprinted. No matter how small it was, and whatever that was left of it, he would slaughter it, until then, sleep well beast.
END
A/N: Well, I wasn't certain of the length when I first started. I actually intended for the time within the illusion to be nearly the entire story, ending when Naruto died. The length being longer than written. Of course, when I did put it to paper, it ended up being far shorter, not that I minded.
Of course, there's still some unresolved things. So I can't say I fully wrapped up everything. I would say that time had finally normalized for Naruto. It might be a change of how things are presented, provided if/when i do a sequel.