Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Naruto.

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xXx-Chapter 13-xXx

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A quiet moan filled the darkened hospital room. It was almost five in the morning, but Megumi is up instantly, moving to her daughter's bedside. Rin's eyes begin to flutter and Megumi can feel her heart swell with joy. The doctors had said that she could wake up at any time now.

"Mmm… mom?" She mumbles out. She sounds exhausted and confused.

"Hi baby." She whispers softly, gently stroking her daughter's hair, careful not to touch the giant black and blue bruise that covered her face from when she had been kicked.

"W-wha… where am I?" Rin's eyes lazily looks around, unable to focus on any one thing. The pain meds she was currently on, while suppressing any real pain, were also making her high and disoriented.

"You're at the hospital."

"Huh… why?"

"Because you were hurt baby."

"I'm hurt…?"

"Yeah, you got hurt, but you're going to be just fine."

"How'd that happen?" she mumbles confusedly, her face scrunching as she tries and fails to recall what happened.

Megumi's voice hitches for a moment, "Mi-Mizuki, your sensei, was a traitor… He was going to hurt your friends, but you stopped him. My brave girl." Megumi pushes Rin's bangs from her face.

"Oh… that's good."

"Yeah… Are you okay, how are you feeling?" Megumi asks her, wanting to make sure that she truly wasn't in any pain.

"I'm… tired…" Rin groans out weakly.

"That's okay baby," Megumi says as she places a kiss to Rin's forehead, "You go back to sleep, alright."

"M-kay… luv… you."

"I love you too."

It doesn't take more than a couple of seconds for Rin's breathing to even out and for her to fall right back to sleep. The last two days had been hell on earth, waiting for her daughter to wake up. The doctors had said that she would be fine and that there would be no permanent damage, but until Megumi saw her daughter wake up with her own two eyes, she didn't trust what anyone said.

But now that Rin had finally woken up, even if it was only for a minute, she could finally breathe a little easier, something that she hadn't been able to do since Ino had come down stairs and told her that Rin went after Naruto. She liked Naruto and she thought him a sweet boy but he had been suspected of treason at the time and not only that, he was a jinchūriki. She knew that the boy wasn't a demon, but he still carried one inside of him and she knew that the human wasn't always in control. She had had the unfortunate luck to go on a mission once where she had seen what happened when the beast inside took over.

The destruction had been terrible, friend and foe alike had been targeted by the mad beast's rage. It was the one time she could recall Konoha and Kumo ninja's coming together during the war, they had to in order to survive against the beast. It had been in the final months of the second shinobi world war and she had only been a chūnin at the time and was acting as an assistant to one of the jōnin in charge of diplomatic negotiations with the land of lightning. She hadn't seen what had triggered the jinchūriki, causing it to go berserk but she had seen the carnage it had invoked. The humans that contained these monsters weren't always monsters themselves, Naruto was living proof of that, but that didn't change the fact of what they held inside them, or that at any moment it could try to escape.

When she had heard that Rin had gone after a possibly rogue jinchūriki she had taken Ino over to Shikaku's house immediately, he wasn't home but Yoshino was and so she had left Ino in her care. She then went out to find Inoichi and her other daughter. She found her husband no problem, he was at the Hokage's tower helping to coordinate the search, with little luck. She would never forget the look of fear on Inoichi's face when he learned that their daughter had disobeyed him and went after Naruto, it mirrored her own.

All night the shinobi forces of the leaf village searched for Naruto, with she herself looking for Rin. It was as the dawn was rising and people were reporting back to the tower that they finally saw Naruto come rushing towards the tower in distress. The shinobi there were on him instantly but it was Inoichi and the Hokage who had reached him first and when Naruto said that Rin was hurt, she felt like she had died inside. A fear had gripped her like nothing she had ever experienced before, even her experience with the Kumo jinchūriki and the kyuubi attack paled in comparison to the thought of one of her daughters being hurt, possibly dying.

It was later, as they arrived on the scene with the Hokage as well as a squad of medical-nin and Anbu that they found four different Naruto's trying to do first aid on Rin and Iruka and that they learned the whole truth of what had happened that night. About how Mizuki was a traitor, Inoichi later discovering that he was a spy in the service of Orochimaru, and that he had tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll for him. How Iruka had been lured to the area and ambushed and injured, too injured to fight the traitor and how it had been Rin who had faced off against the now deceased man.

The reason that they had so much trouble locating Naruto was because the area was not only very isolated, hidden between official training grounds, but Mizuki had also littered the area with chakra suppression seals to help keep it hidden. It wasn't a rushed job either, he had obviously been planning it for weeks. Iruka had been lead to the place and ambushed by Mizuki who wanted to kill him before he killed Naruto and left with the scroll. However despite Mizuki's efforts to mask the area it had ultimately proved ineffective against Rin's abilities when she began to actively search for her friend.

Her daughter had been in bad shape when they had arrived, she was covered in bruises and cuts, the left side of her face was completely swollen from where she had been kicked as well as her throat where Mizuki had tried to crush it. She also ended up having three cracked ribs along with one of her arms being fractured, but the worst of it all was the injury to her shoulder and all of the blood that was pouring from it. She had looked like a ghost with how pale her skin had become. The Medic-nins had gotten to work immediately. It was close, but they had arrived in time to save her. Rin would make a full recovery and so would Iruka after a couple months of rehabilitation, the wound on his back having nicked his spinal cord but by some miracle it wouldn't leave any permanent damage.

"How is she, any change?" The tired voice of Inoichi asks as he quietly steps into the room, not wanting to disturb a healing Rin or Ino who was currently curled up and sleeping on a chair in the corner. Refusing to leave her twin's side.

Megumi smiles at him and nods, "Yeah, she just woke up for a couple seconds, she was a little disoriented but that's not so surprising."

Relief floods Inoichi's features. He had been sick with worry about Rin as well, but unlike her and Ino, he couldn't wait around and watch over her, he had to get to work immediately. A spy was nothing to take lightly and when one was discovered the security of the entire village had to be checked and rechecked to see what and where it had been compromised. As head of Intelligence, that time consuming job fell to him. She also knew that he was doubly worried because he and Rin had had a bit of a fight before all of this happened.

"I'm glad… if you want to get some rest, I'll watch over her." He offers.

Megumi shakes her head. "I couldn't sleep right now anyway, but you're welcome to stay up with me." She offers holding out her hand to her husband, who takes it in his own.

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xXx-Scene Break-xXx

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When Quinn wakes up she's much more lucid this time around, and also feeling the effects of her fight more thoroughly. Her arm aches and her face and shoulder are throbbing and it hurts a little to breathe. It's not too bad yet, but it was certainly uncomfortable. She looks over and sees her father sitting across from her on a chair and reading a book. It's day time, late in the morning, almost noon if she had to guess, although she couldn't see a clock to know for sure.

"Hi daddy…" she says softly.

His head snaps up at the sound of her voice. He gives her a weak smile and makes his way over to her, resting his hand on the top of her head as he sits on the edge of the bed. "Hey, you're up, how are you feeling sweetheart?" He asks gently.

"I'm… I'm a little sore all over and my shoulder is kind of throbbing but I guess I'm okay."

He reaches over and grabs a little handle with a button on top and places it in her hand that's not in a cast. "Just press the button whenever you need to, it'll give some medicine to help with the pain."

She smiles weakly at him, "Yay, instant high." She jokes as she presses it, the pain and throbbing already starting to vanish. "How is Naruto, is he okay? What about Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto's fine, he's a little shaken up but he'll be okay. Iruka-sensei was hurt pretty badly, but he'll make a full recovery as well…"

Quinn smiles weakly up at her father, "Good… I'm glad."

He nods his agreement as a tense silence falls between them. Minutes pass without either of them saying a word, neither one of them wanting to bring up what they needed to talk about next. Finally it's Inoichi who speaks. "Rin…" He sighs, "You disobeyed me." He says softly.

"I know." She answers back just as quietly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"You put yourself in incredible danger."

She nods.

"You were hurt, you could have been killed."

"I know… and I'd like to apologize but…" Quinn finally looks at him and she can feel the tears building up in her eyes, "But I can't, because I would do the same thing all over again. My friend was in trouble, I had to save him."

"No you didn't, you could have told me where he was and I could have handled it. If you knew where he was why didn't you come tell me?" He asks her gently. He wasn't angry. They had almost lost her and he just couldn't find it within himself to be angry with her, despite her disobedience and despite the danger she had placed herself in. All he felt was relief that his little girl was going to be okay.

"Because you were afraid of him. Not for him, or what might happen to him, but of him, because he was different… because he's a jinchūriki."

"You know." He says it as a statement rather than a question.

Quinn nods her head.

"Did Mizuki tell you?"

She shakes her head, "No… I've known for a while."

"For how long?"

"Pretty early on after we met, I mean it was kind of hard to miss… it took me a while to learn what it was called and what it actually meant, that information was a little bit harder to find, but I'd known he was different for a long time."

Inoichi closes his eyes for a moment and when he looks at her she can see the very serious look in her father's eyes. "I'm not proud of how I felt, I do like the boy… he's a bundle of positive energy and he has a good heart… but…"

"But what?" Quinn asks meekly. She needs to know why her father had been so afraid of him. She was different too, if he ever found out about her, would he feel that same fear towards her? The thought made her feel sick inside. "Shouldn't that be all that matters, what's in his heart?"

"You will never hear me say a word against Naruto, but you have to understand, the jinchūriki is supposed to be their village's ultimate weapon. Konoha is a little different from the rest of the hidden villages with jinchūriki, we don't rely on and weaponize ours the same way that other villages do. But no matter where they're from Jinchūriki tend to grow up leading very isolated lives full of hatred, malice, and mistrust and as a result they often become mentally unstable and sometimes they lose control and the monster inside of them takes over. Friend or foe, very few people who run into one on the battle field live to tell about it, the demons they have inside of them are powerful enough to take on whole armies… Naruto is a very sweet and kind boy, but he houses a demon inside of him.

A demon that would like nothing more than to escape, and if it ever did or if it ever took control of him, the demon wouldn't care. It wouldn't care if you were Naruto's friend or not, it would just kill you and whoever else was unfortunate enough to be in its path. And that is what I was afraid of, Naruto had just taken a scroll containing forbidden jutsu that were sealed away by the First Hokage, and I know he's a bit of a prankster and can be a bit of a troublemaker, but something that serious was extremely out of character for him. I was afraid that the demon had somehow taken control of the boy and that if you had found him, it wouldn't have been your friend."

"But it wasn't the demon, Mizuki-sen… Mizuki tricked him. I had to go daddy, I had to protect him."

"I'm not saying your heart wasn't in the right place, and it was very brave what you did, going after your friend, but it was also very reckless too."

"It had to be me… I had to find him and protect him… it had to be me…" She trails of quietly, her voice starting to quiver with emotion.

"Why sweetheart, why did it have to be you?" Inoichi asks, becoming aware that there was more to this than his daughter wanting to help her friend.

"Because… if it's not me then… then what's the point to all of this?" Quinn's voice cracks.

"All of what?" He asks her gently.

"This, this whole ninja thing, if it's not me then what's the point of it? I became a ninja so that Ino and those I cared about wouldn't have to be, because long before tonight, when you and mom were telling us about all the adventures you'd gone on, I'd read between the lines and I realized just how dangerous this life was." Quinn is crying fully now.

Inoichi begins to gently pet his daughter's head. "Oh sweetheart-"

"It has to be me… I don't want it to be Ino or Naruto or Sakura… I want them to have safe and normal lives… I hate this, I hate this so much… I'm… I'm a killer, I killed him because I knew he was going to kill Naruto and Iruka-sensei. I don't want to be a ninja but I have to be… it's the only way I can protect them, and- and it sucks, because I was right… If I hadn't done this, I would never have been there and then what would have happened? Naruto could have died if I hadn't been there, he's twelve…"

"My sweet girl," He whispers to her softly, as he helps her to sit up and he gather's his crying daughter into his arms, hugging her closely as she cries her heart out. "Honey, that's not you're responsibility-"

"Yes it is," she interrupts him, "Because they don't get it, they think this is fun and an adventure, but it's not… we're just barely even out of the academy, we haven't even been assigned teams yet, and already… already people are trying to hurt them… Who would ever want this? Why would anyone chose this kind of life? I'm a killer and a murderer, and I feel sick inside and my heart aches, even knowing what he was trying to do I still don't know if I made the right choice. But if I hadn't done it… if I hadn't chosen to do this, hadn't chosen to become a ninja, and if I hadn't killed him then Naruto wouldn't be here now… and this is just the beginning, who'll be next? Ino? Sakura? You or mom, I have to be ninja so that I can protect all of you…"

"So that's why you became a ninja, because you were afraid for those that you love, of not being able to protect them as they entered this world?" It suddenly all made so much more sense to him now. He never could quite figure out what had made Rin change her mind about becoming a ninja. She had never wanted to be one when she was little and then one night she had come to them and had suddenly just changed her mind. It had seemed a little weird to him, but she had been so adamant about it that they had signed her up without issue. From then until now she had been keeping this all bottled up inside of herself, his poor sweet girl.

"Rin, I am so sorry that you felt like this was the only path open to you and I am truly sorry that you didn't think you could come and talk to me or your mother about this."

"I couldn't… everyone here is… that's what this place is, it's a ninja village… and I'm just the freak who can't accept that." Quinn whimpers.

"Rin, you are not a freak, don't you ever think of yourself that way. Ever. And sweetheart I promise you, you aren't the only one who feels this way."

Quinn looks up at her father confused, and he smiles sadly down at her as he wipes away a tear. "I'm not?"

"No, in fact you've hit upon one of the biggest philosophical issues that exists in the shinobi world. Ours is a culture of contrasts. Where our reality and ideals often clash with each other and at times seem irreconcilable. We here in Konoha claim to strive toward peace and yet from a young age we teach our people to deceive and to kill, we talk about how life is precious and yet we dehumanize our enemies. We train ourselves to be perfect, merciless, weapons and yet at the end of the day even the seemingly coldest of shinobi is still only human with hopes and dreams and aspirations. Every good shinobi and kunoichi feels this conflict within themselves, a desire to do anything to protect whatever it is that is important to them and yet a complete revulsion of what that may entail and it is so easy to dismiss all of it as just the world we live in, but life is so much more complicated than that.

There's no easy answer here, I wish there was. Believe me, letting you and Ino go into the academy and train to be ninja is not something that your mother and I did lightly, no parent would. It's a dangerous and often cruel life we live, there have been many nights where I have wondered if I was right to do this, to let you both walk this path, but on the other hand… it's like you said if you hadn't been trained and taken up the path of a ninja, what would have happened to Naruto and Iruka-sensei tonight? In letting you train to become a ninja I have to ask myself, what might happen to you if I let you go through with this and what might happen to you if I don't?"

"Then why… how come it always seems so romanticized when people talk about it?" Quinn asks, this was the most in-depth she had ever talked to one of her parents about philosophical aspect of being a ninja. It made her wish she had brought this up sooner.

"I believe that comes about for a couple of reasons, one, there are things about this life that are good. I've made friendships that will last a lifetime and that will pass on for generations, I've also helped people and saved a lot of lives. It's not all murder and mayhem. There are times when ninja's truly are the heroes they're portrayed to be in the stories. I also think that sometimes it's how we cope, we push the bad memories to the back of our minds when we talk about it and try to remember only the good stuff. And for me personally, I know that when I was telling you and your sister stories when you were little, I kept it sweet and adventurous and fun because… well you were my little girls and I wanted you to keep your innocence for a long as possible. You grow up so fast in this life, too fast at times, and I wanted you to be able to stay kids for as long as was possible. Was I right to do so… I don't know, I did the best I could though and I think that's what you need to remember when you think of the shinobi world. That it's full of people stumbling around just like you and me, trying to find meaning in it all and doing the best that they can."

"I just… I don't want to lose anyone… I can't… I'm not strong enough, I can't do it." Quinn says.

Inoichi sighs and kisses the top of her forehead. "Unfortunately sweetheart, loss is a part of life. Not just shinobi life, but all life. We ninja have access to abilities that make us seem more than human, even god-like at times. It's like if I can walk on water or breathe fire then shouldn't I be able to do something about death as well, but we can't. At the end of the day, despite all of our amazing abilities, we're still only human and we're still bound by the same laws of life and death as everything else. Death and loss are a natural part of life and it hurts and it feels awful but… it also reminds us how precious it is, it can be used as a reminder to maybe walk a different path, one that works towards peace rather than war. Like I said there are no easy answers in our world."

Quinn shakes her head as she leans into her father's embrace, "I don't know what to do, I can't… I can't stand it, I killed a man, someone that I'd known for years… I liked him, I thought he was a good person and I was wrong… and I… I killed him, how can I accept that? But the thing is, no matter how hard I think about it, I don't know what I could have done different."

"There's nothing you could have done differently, you were in an awful situation and you had to make a choice. It was either him or it was you and those you were trying to protect. I wish I could tell you that it will never happen again, that you will never be put into a situation like that again but I'd be lying."

"Could you, just this once, lie to me?" She asks him meekly.

He smiles at her sadly and shakes his head. "No, not about this, I'm so sorry. I would love to be able to lie to you, to tell you that you will always be safe and so will those you care about and that you will never be in a position where you will have to take another life again but, you will, especially if you choose to continue on with this. If you are a ninja, this will happen again, there's no getting around it. You could quit right now, pursue a life of peace and no one would think any less of you, no one would blame you, but…"

"But I can't." She finishes softly, and she couldn't, she couldn't let those that she loved face this life alone, not if there was some way for her to be able to help them. "So what do I do? How do I continue doing this, I want to stop, I want to stop so badly, but I would never forgive myself if I did and something happened to one of you, I'd always wonder, you know? Could I have made a difference, protected you… so how do I keep going?"

"Well first of all, you do what you're doing right now, you talk to me or your mother or someone that you love and trust. You don't go it alone, ninja's always work in teams and that means more than just missions as well. One single person could never withstand the weight that being a shinobi places on you, but a team, a village, a family can. Share the load, listen to and help those who are struggling and when you need help don't be afraid to search it out and accept it. It also means finding your own shinobi way."

"My own shinobi way?"

"Yes, your reason for being a ninja. For me, it's about finding out information to stop conflicts before they can happen. To work towards peace without the use of a weapon if possible. That's why I work in information and intelligence, because if the right person with the right information can be at the right place at the right time and prevent a war, well then that's something worth striving for. For you, well that's for you to decide. It's important though, through all the grit and blood and the violence to have an ideal, a goal to strive towards. Something that you cherish more than your own life."

"I just want you all to be safe and happy."

Inoichi places another kiss to her forehead. "Then it's up to you to decide the best way to reach that goal. And now you have to ask yourself, does that mean you become strong enough to protect everyone, to fight every battle so that those you love don't have to or does it mean that you lift and encourage those around you and help make them strong enough so that they can forge their own safety and happiness. Or does it mean something else entirely to you? Only you can know what protecting those you love means to you."

Inoichi helps Quinn lay back down, "You're not alone sweetheart. You can come to me any time day or night and talk to me about this or anything else that is on your mind. You are my daughter and I love you more than life itself."

"I love you too."

Inoichi and Quinn both look over when they hear a light tapping on the door.

Sakura is standing there looking a little uncertain and holding a flower carefully wrapped in a light green wrapper. "Hi, um… is this a bad time?"

Quinn shakes her head. "No come in."

"Hello Sakura." Inoichi says, stepping aside to let Sakura stand next to her friend.

"Good morning sir." Sakura says bowing to him, she then turns to Quinn. "How are you feeling?"

Quinn smiles at her friend. "I'm doing alright."

"I'm glad, I was really worried about you. Oh, um here, I brought you this." She says handing Quinn the flower.

"Thank you, it's beautiful." Quinn says smiling, recognizing the flower immediately.

"It… um, it's a Gardenia, um, I hope you like it." Sakura says blushing.

Quinn brings it up to her nose and inhales the pleasant scent. "I love it, Gardenia's are my favorite."

"I'll go get something for you to put that in." Inoichi says as he leaves the room to give his daughter and her friend some privacy.

"Thanks daddy."

Once he's gone Sakura asks. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You've been crying." She says softly.

"Oh yeah…" Quinn forces a smile onto her face, feeling a little embarrassed at being caught, "being a ninja was just… a little more intense than I thought it was going to be, that's all."

"Especially because you're trying to protect us all by yourself." Sakura says quietly.

Quinn blushes, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough… you know Rin… I feel," Sakura stops for a second, "We feel, all of us, all of your friends… we feel the same way about you. We want to be able to protect you too, it's why we have all worked so hard, so that we could all be strong for one another… I am so honored that you care about us so much that you would risk everything for us, but we feel the same way about you and it's not right or fair to act like we can't be there for you too. You're the strongest Rin, but… that doesn't make the rest of us weak. We can protect you too."

"I don't think you're weak…" Quinn says quietly, part of the problem was that she knew they were strong and that meant that they would keep pushing themselves, even if retreat was a better option.

"Then make a promise to me, right here, right now, that if you're ever in trouble… you'll come to me and let me help you. That you won't do this whole lone wolf thing ever again. Promise me, please." Sakura's voice is quiet but full of emotion.

"Okay, I promise." She would never allow her friends to fight any battle that she could take on herself but… accepting help, allowing them to help her and helping them grow strong too was important as well. Her family, her friends, they all loved her… well they loved Rin anyway, she needed to make sure that Rin was around for a long time, for them.

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xXx—xXx

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Author's Note: So I just realized that I've never really described the character's physically in this story. If you already have an image in your head of how they look stop here, otherwise, this is how I picture them right now.

They aren't all that far off from the anime. Naruto is still in his orange jumpsuit, I know, I know, a lot of the fandom hates it, but I've always liked him in it. Much like Shadow Clone Jutsu, the color orange is just so very Naruto. The only real difference in Naruto's appearance is he has his jacket unzipped instead of zipped up like in the anime. Sakura also is dressed the same, her hair is just pulled back into a ponytail and she wears her forehead protector across her forehead instead of like a head band. Ino looks exactly the same. Quinn/Rin, physically, is identical to Ino, like Ino she wears her hair in a ponytail, but unlike her sister she doesn't have any bangs. Also, unlike Ino, when she's not on duty or training she lets her hair hang long. As for her clothing, it's basically her cheerio's uniform from Glee just without the WMHS emblazoned across it. So red and white. I think the more colorful looks actually fit to a ninja better, I know a lot of people like the camouflage and blacks and greys in Naruto fanfics, but to me, while they'll hide you out in the wild, you will stand out in a crowd.

The whole point of being a ninja is to look harmless, unexceptional. You dress like a "badass," sorry hate that description, and people will keep a wary eye on you. Dress like a normal person, or even Naruto's orange jumpsuit, and people might think it looks ridiculous, but they won't give you a second thought. Anbu uniforms, ninja vests, things of that nature are exceptions of course, and you would obviously dress to the mission. But you can always take off the vest as needed, and I doubt Anbu are doing a lot of interacting with people, so a uniform is okay. But if you're dressed head to toe in "ready for combat, look at me I'm a badass, combat gear," you may as well just wear a big old sign saying "NINJA." If you're out in the wild, just throw on a camouflage poncho or something and your covered, much easier than having to constantly change or maintain a transformation if you're trying to move about a city or town unnoticed.