I do not own Naruto, nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"

'thinking'

Chapter 26:

Naruto was ready to tell Shukaku, Kurama, and even Sasuke the truth about what Yumi did. But then Sai showed up to report about the "Not-an-accident" that killed Itachi and his unborn child. He wasn't alone. A police officer that was introduced as Special Lieutenant Yamato was behind him. They sat Sasuke and Kurama down to "talk." It was Kurama that suggested that both Naruto and Shukaku should be let in on whatever Yamato had to say. It turned out that the suspect had admitted his guilt to the police. Everyone was happy to hear that, but it was obvious that Yamato had more to say.

"He told us that he'd admit that he was guilty of tampering with Sai's brakes, only if we agreed to a plea deal," Yamato explained. Confusion took over Sasuke and Kurama's faces. Shukaku looked like he understood what Yamato was saying while Naruto was a bit lost. "Now, usually it makes no sense for someone to ask us to bargain with them. So we asked him why. He told us that if we could lower his sentence to five years instead of twenty that he'd give us the name of the person that hired him to do it."

"Someone ordered him?" Kurama asked.

Yamato nodded. "Instead of taking his plea deal we tried to find out if Sai had any enemies that wanted him dead. As a wedding planner, he actually doesn't have any. Sure there are some people that hate Sai because he ordered an extra flower for a bouquet or the color of the chairs were jet black instead of onyx." At this, Yamato rolled his eyes. "There was no one that fit the description of someone that wanted Sai dead. That leads to why I'm here. Normally, we'd just take the plea deal and see if what he says had any truth to it. If it doesn't, he end up with twenty-five years instead. But since I know what you have been through, and I'm a friend of Kakashi's, I thought I'd ask for your thoughts."

"You want to know if we just want you to ignore the plea deal and send him to jail for twenty years and be down with it," Kurama said. Yamato nodded. She sighed. Itachi popped in her head. She pictured him holding their unborn child with a smile on his face. Then she remembered the "Not-an-accident" that took them away. She wanted those responsible to go to jail. If there was even a chance that someone else was behind it, she wanted it to be known. "Take the deal."

Sasuke on the other hand wasn't sure what he wanted. He believed that anyone involved should be in prison for as long as possible. "If it turned out he is telling the truth, he'll only be sentenced to five years?"

"Yes," Yamato said.

Sasuke growled. "Screw that! He killed Itachi! He deserves at least twenty years if not the death penalty."

"If there is someone else," Sai asked. "How long would they be facing?"

"It would count as premeditated," Yamato said. "Even though the intended victim survived, two people were lost. The guy would be charged with attempted murder and two counts of manslaughter. That means he'd be looking at the maximum of thirty-one years, a minimum of twenty. They'd also be fined, though I know you don't really care about that."

"I agree with Kurama," Sai said after a few minutes. "Even if the man who tampered with my brakes only gets five years, I'll be happy with the real culprit being behind bars for those twenty plus years."

Sasuke slammed his fist against the table. "It's not enough. All of them deserve to die!"

"I'm afraid that isn't an option," Yamato said. Sasuke glared. "With just Kurama and Sai's permission, I feel fine taking the plea. But Sasuke, I really need a final answer from you."

Sasuke looked at Sai and Kurama. Then his gaze moved to Shukaku and Naruto. Naruto looked back at Sasuke as he wanted to go to him and comfort him. Sasuke sighed. "Take it." He sat back. "Take the fucking deal. But if that son of a bitch is lying, I want him skinned alive and fed to the dogs. He needs to know what happens when he messes with the Uchihas." Sasuke stood up and walked out of the room. A few seconds later, the sound of a door slamming echoed through the air. It was clear that Sasuke was pissed.

"I'll be going then," Yamato said, standing. "I'll inform you of any changes in the case." With a nod, he left.

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A few days later, Naruto knew it was time to tell Kurama and Shukaku about Yumi. He decided against informing Sasuke about it since the man was still locked in his room. Sasuke ate in his office while only focusing on work. Shikamaru and Neji had come by several times over the few days to try and get Sasuke to leave the house and return to the main office. Kurama even tried to convince Sasuke that he needed air. Only Kohaku managed to get Sasuke out of his office when he cried out after one of his nightmares. Sasuke had bolted to the room only to find Kohaku safely in Naruto's arms as he tried to lull the boy back to sleep. Sasuke was glad that Kohaku had Naruto.

Kohaku meant everything to Sasuke and it was Kohaku that made Sasuke realize that is someone else was behind Itachi's death, then that meant the all Uchihas might be targets. He wouldn't allow Kohaku to be harmed due to his mistakes. He doubled the amount of bodyguards around Kohaku. Kohaku and Matatabi didn't know what was going on, and the adults were thankful for that.

"What is it you wanted to talk to us about, Naruto?" Kurama asked. The three of them were in theater room since it was sound proof. "Is it about Sasuke?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it is about Sakura." He tried to get comfortable. "You see, at Yumi's party we…"

Kurama held up a hand. "I know. Shukaku told me about it."

Naruto glanced at Shukaku before looking down. "Oh." He took a deep breath before looking up. "It turns out that we didn't do it. Yumi just made it seem like we did."

"That is one sick prank," Shukaku said.

"It wasn't a prank," Naruto said. "She wanted us to think we had sex so that we'd get closer. Sakura likes me, like more than a friend. Yumi believes that this was going to make me reciprocate Sakura's feelings." He rubbed his fingers against each other. "I understand that Yumi did it because Sakura is her friend and she just wanted her to be happy. But…"

"It messes with your feelings," Shukaku said. "So what if you don't love Sakura? That doesn't mean she won't find true love with someone else."

"That bitch is crazy," Kurama finally said. "She's not only messing with your friendship with Sakura, but she put your love life in jeopardy!"

"My love life?" Naruto asked.

Kurama stood up. "I think she needs a good talking to! Woman to woman!" Without another word, Kurama rushed out of the room. Curious as to what she was gonna do, Shukaku and Naruto went after her. By the time they caught up to her, Kurama had her keys and was heading towards her card. She never liked being driven by someone else so she had bought her own car. She had her license for years after all. Naruto and Shukaku were just about to stop here when a voice stopped them instead.

"Naru," Kohaku called. Naruto turned to see him wiping at one of his eyes while tears flowed from the other. He had been taking a nap since he'd been up late the night before.

Naruto sighed before turning to Shukaku. He could see the Kurama was already in her car. "Go! Make sure she doesn't do anything she'd regret later." Although he knew Kurama would regret anything, Shukaku nodded and got right into the passenger seat. Kurama didn't say anything as she began to drive. Shukaku quickly put on hi seatbelt as Kurama ignored the speed limit sign at the end of their road.

Naruto picked Kohaku up and took him to the bathroom. They cleaned up, after taking a bath that ended in a bubble war. After they were dressed, they left the bathroom only to nearly run into Matatabi. She had a sad look on her face. Naruto knew that Matatabi was feeling left out. Because she was a year older than Kohaku, she was in a different group at their daycare. Lately, Shukaku had been busy looking into getting a job and signing up for night classes. Wanting to put a smile on her face, Naruto came up with an idea that would allow the three of them to have some fun while they waited for Shukaku and Kurama to return. He took ahold of one of each of their hands and brought them into the game room. He called upon a maid and asked her to bring any boxes she could find. When she asked why, Naruto smiled. "We are going to build a fort!"

The maid quickly left only to come back less than ten minutes later with not only some boxes but some sheets, tape, paint, and some random things her and the other maids could find. The six maids left Naruto, Kohaku, and Matatabi to it. Naruto showed them how to put the boxes together. He recognized them as the leftover boxes Kurama had used to move in. After putting together six boxes, Naruto taped three of them together before doing the same to another three. "Alright. Get on the couch and hold the end of a sheet . Stretch it out as far as you can." He handed one corner of the sheet to Kohaku and another to Matatabi. Both of them go onto the couch and carefully stood as far apart as they could. Naruto took the opposite end and laid it down on the floor. Then he quickly taped each corner to a stack of boxes. Making sure they wouldn't tip over, he walked over to the couch. He took Kohaku's corner. "Can you come over here and hold it against the couch?" Kohaku nodded. He jumped off of the couch, ducking under the sheet and stood in front of Naruto. He had to stand on his tiptoes to hold the sheet, but Naruto was able to quickly tape it. He did the same to Matatabi's end. The three of them stood back and admired their work.

"Alright," Naruto said. "We have the roof. Now we need the walls. But what can we use?" Naruto pretended that he had no idea what to use so that Matatabi and Kohaku had a change to come up with it.

Kohaku grabbed a towel. "We can use these."

"That's prefect!" Naruto exclaimed. "Those can be draped over the end with the boxes."

"This?" Matatabi asked. She held up a roll of toilet paper.

Naruto nodded. "If we can cut strips to similar lengths, we can tape each end to the roof to create a wall."

"Ok!" Matatabi smiled.

Naruto took a roll of toilet paper and measure how long each piece need to be. "Why don't you make several strips just like that, Matatabi?" She nodded, happily beginning her job. Naruto turned to Kohaku. "Help me with the towels?"

"Yes!" Kohaku exclaimed. Together, they quickly taped the towels over the side where the boxes stood. Kohaku then joined Matatabi to make more strips. Naruto taped each one up. "Naru! Door!"

"Oh, you're right!" Naruto said. "We need a door." He estimated how much space Sasuke would need to enter the fort and left a few extra inches so he couldn't accidentally hit the sides. It took them another twenty minutes for the fort to have all four walls, the fourth being the couch, and a door. Naruto had cut a box that they could use as the way to get into the fort. One end was left open while he pieced together two slabs to make a door. They would have to crawl to get inside, but that was part of the fun. Overall, for something that took them less than an hour to make, it looked pretty good. Matatabi and Kohaku made their way inside as started to play house. Naruto sat back and kept watch over everything to make sure that the fort didn't suddenly collapse on top of Matatabi and Kohaku.

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The ride to Yumi's only took fifteen minutes, for one that normally took a half hour. Kurama had been speeding the entire time. Shukaku was surprised that they hadn't been pulled over. Yumi live in a small house on the opposite side of Konoha. It was situated at the end of a very long road in which only two houses sat. One was Yumi's while the other was vacant. Yumi's was the furthest away from the Uchiha Mansion. It was two floors with a pool in the back. The pool was sealed off since it was still too early to use.

Kurama stopped the car a few feet away from the house. She quickly got out of it, locked it behind her, and started towards the house. "Wait!" Shukaku called after her. "What are you going to do? Just barge right in?"

"If I have to," Kurama said.

Shukaku sighed. There was no stopping Kurama. He pulled out his phone and dialed Sasuke's number before pocketing it. He could feel it vibrate as it waited for Sasuke to pick up. Kurama pressed the doorbell just as Sasuke picked up the call. Shukaku had to think of how to keep Sasuke on so he wouldn't hang up thinking he was butt dialed. "Naruto probably loves Sasuke."

Although it was random, Kurama didn't seem to notice or care. "Yeah, and this bitch is interfering with that!" She pressed the doorbell one more time. "Dammit!" She began to pound on the door. "Open up!"

"She may not be here," Shukaku said. "I mean would you stay home after tricking one of your friends into thinking she slept with her crush?"

"Only if I felt confident that I wouldn't be found out," Kurama said. She grinned evilly. "And she seems to be just that."

"Hello?" Yumi called, from behind her door.

"Yumi?" Shukaku asked. "It's Shukaku, Naruto's friend. I'm here with Kurama, one of our guardians. We'd like to talk to you about Naruto and Sakura." He knew that this was the only way that Yumi would welcome them in. If she didn't, Kurama would most likely break the door down.

"Alright," Yumi said. She slowly opened the door. "Come on in." Just as she was about to move aside to allow them into her house, Kurama punched her in the face.

"You bitch!" Kurama yelled. "How dare you lie to Naruto!"

"Yeah!" Shukaku said. His fingers brushed against his phone, feeling the heat from it and knowing that Sasuke was still on the other end. "You made it seem like Sakura and Naruto slept together but they didn't!"

Blood ran down from Yumi's broken nose. She glared at Kurama as a hand held her bleeding nose. "I don't know who that hell you are, but you can't just barge into my house and punch me in the face!"

"I didn't barge in," Kurama said with a sickly sweet voice. "You welcomed me in." She leaned forward, over Yumi. "Now, you better have a good excuse for why you did what you did."

"Or else what?" Yumi asked. Kurama grinned evilly, causing Yumi's eyes to widened. If she had been standing, Yumi would have ran for it. Her eyes moved towards the stairs.

"Don't even think about it," Kurama said. She straightened and crossed her arms. "There is no way I'd let you run away."

Yumi gulped. "I did it for Sakura." Kurama just raised an eyebrow at that. "She's in love with Naruto. He's such a good guy that if he believed that he took Sakura's virginity, he'd feel responsible for her."

"Did you think that Naruto would eventually fall for Sakura?" Shukaku asked.

"Yes," Yumi admitted.

"You can't control people that way," Shukaku said. He tapped his phone to end the call with Sasuke. He felt a bit bad for Yumi. She was trying to help her friend, but she went about it that wrong way. Her decision ruined her friendships instead of strengthening Naruto and Sakura's.

"They could still get together," Yumi said. "Sakura should have used it to really sleep with him. Who knows, maybe then she'd get pregnant and be able to keep him that way."

"You psychotic bitch!" Kurama yelled. Letting her anger get the best of her, she tackled Yumi to the floor. Straddling her, she began to smack her repeatedly. Shukaku had to pull Kurama off of her, before she killed her. "Let go! She should pay for what she did!"

"She's suffered enough," Shukaku said. "She lost her friendship with Sakura, Fu, and Naruto as well as a possible love life with Sek-kun. Besides, if you kill her, you'd be the one in trouble."

Kurama barely calmed at that. She knew Shukaku was right, but she was just so angry. Part of her knew that it had to do with learning that Itachi and her unborn child's deaths may have been part of a plot to kill Sai. She was taking her anger of that and mixing it with her anger at Yumi. She sigh and started heading for the door. Stopping just before it, Kurama turned back to face Yumi. "If you ever come near Naruto again, I'll have you buried six feet under." Without another word, she stomped back to her car.

Shukaku let out a sigh of relief. He really didn't want Kurama to go to jail for killing Yumi. He wondered if she'd still call the police and have her arrested for attempted murder. In all honesty, Yumi didn't look too bad. She had a broken nose and would definitely have bruises on her face from the slaps. "You know, I understand why you did it. But instead of helping Sakura, you just hurt her. She may love Naruto, but he doesn't love her. Her heart is now broken because she lost not only Naruto, but a good friend. If you had let things be, Sakura still would have gotten her heart broken, but she would have been able to move on more easily because she had you to lean on."

"She still has Fu," Yumi said with a sneer.

"You're right," Shukaku said. "And Naruto has us." He turned his back on the girl and walked out of the house. He just knew that Yumi's pride wouldn't allow her to call the police on them. Instead, she'd just take the punishment she'd been dealt and move on.

"Let's go home," Kurama said. "I think we should tell Sasuke about this."

"He already knows," Shukaku said. Kurama looked at him. He pulled out his phone, showing his recent call list. "I called him after you got out of the car."

Kurama took his head in her hands. "You are one of the smartest people I've ever met." Then she kissed him. Shukaku's eyes widened before he kissed her back.

When the kiss ended, Shukaku looked into Kurama's eyes. "What about Itachi?"

Kurama smiled. "Itachi would want me to be happy." Shukaku took a second to think about that before he leaned forward and kissed Kurama again.