Chapter 12

Naruto was sitting in front of the Kyuubi. Neither of them had spoken very much since he got there. In fact, Naruto had only really given a few pleasantries before sitting down in front of an ever-silent tailed beast. And Kurama wasn't trying to feign sleep either, surprisingly enough. He was sitting up as regally as he could, eyeing Naruto just as intently as the boy was to him. Kurama thought that it was odd that Naruto was the one refusing to talk considering his normally bouncy and hyperactive personality.

Minutes went by in silence before Kurama got too exasperated and gave in. Sighing while closing his eyes, he paced around his cell and laid down, resting his chin on his paws as he did so. "Okay kit, I'll bite. Why are you in here?"

Naruto shrugged. "Honestly? No clue."

If it was meant to pique his interest, then it certainly achieved its goal. "…Then why are you here?"

Naruto sighed explosively and laid back, supporting his back with his arms. "Yugito's right outside making sure I stay and talk to you. I think we're supposed to make a deal or something."

One of Kurama's eyebrows rose. "Oh? What are your conditions?"

"My conditions for what?"

"The… deal you're trying to make?" Kurama asked confusedly.

It was Naruto's turn to look perplexed. "We're making a deal?"

Kurama sat back up and pinched the top of his muzzle the way a human would the bridge of their nose. "I think I'd be better served wasting my time in silence and alone than with you. If you have no goal and only seek to annoy me, then just leave already."

"Can't."

"And why is that?"

"Yugito would just send me right back."

"Then I suppose we're at an impasse here."

"I would suppose we are."

Another few minutes went on with them just staring at each other before Kurama lost his patience again. "What's it going to take to get you to leave?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

Kurama closed his eyes. "If I were to be given the choice between dealing with maliciousness or idiocy, I would have to give that option serious consideration because of you. If you don't know what you need, then leave and ask and come back."

"Okay, one: I'm not an idiot. Two: I know what I need to be able to leave and not come back. Three: it's not possible."

"What isn't possible?"

"A deal."

"Why not?"

"You tried to kill me."

Kurama's premature retort died in his mouth. He let out the breath that was building in his chest out slowly and walked around with his head down. Time was a bitch. It always was. It gave your emotions time to stew and ferment. It made you forget logic. Kurama didn't think he was wrong for what he did, but he also didn't think he was right. He didn't know what he was anymore.

Failed murder-suicides tended to give those results.

In all honestly, he was surprised the kid didn't accuse him of the reason why Gaara died. He was surprised he wasn't being yelled at and was instead being looked at with a sort of disinterested passiveness.

Perhaps it wasn't to the scale that he had felt pain, but the kid knew the sort that he was subjected to as well. Kurama hated being in a cage. He hated being used. He hated that he hated so much. He hated the kid. He hated his siblings. He hated that everyone hated him.

Kurama flattened his ears to the back of his head and looked away. "I'll give you chakra when you want it. But don't think that doesn't mean you'll be able to handle it. Youhave to be strong. I can't be strong for you."

He wasn't looking, so he couldn't see the expression Naruto made as he got up and turned around. He also didn't hear any words spoken or sudden bursts of movement. Just the slogging of water being disturbed around ankles as Naruto left.

Kurama hated.

And he hated that he hated.

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Naruto opened his eyes to the scorching view of the midmorning sun. Thankfully, the burn only lasted a few seconds before it was blocked out by an imposing figure that stepped in front of him. He didn't have to wonder long as to who it was as a slender, fair skinned arm extended its way to him.

He took the offered hand and pulled himself up and smiled a little bit at the look on Yugito's face. It was a mixture of apprehensive, stern, and worried. "How'd it go?" She asked evenly.

He crossed his arms over his chest and beamed at her. "I'm hurt that you doubted me so much."

Though the worry melted away from her disposition, the other features painting her face remained much the same. It was obvious to anyone looking that she had something she felt needed to be said, but she didn't for whatever reason.

And Naruto fell under that umbrella as well. His face hardened when he noticed her reticence. She wasn't normally like that. She was the one who started and ended things, not the one who muddled into them. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She was gripping the edges of her sleeves like her life depended on it. Doubt and worry took her eyes away from his as she tried to figure out a way to say what she needed to say. "You… would you say that we're… friends?"

Naruto blinked in surprise at the simple question. "Of course."

"And… if, hypothetically, something were to happen to me, you'd be worried for me, right?"

A cold hand of fear grabbed at his inner being. He wasn't liking where the conversation was going. Terrible possibilities of what might have happened to her zipped through his mind like armor piercing bullets. He gulped. "Is something wrong?" he asked quickly.

She shook her head quickly. "No, not with me. But… since you would worry for me, do you think it's odd that I would worry for you?"

It took a few seconds for him to realize what she had been trying to do. Then a few more for him to not like it. His face settled on annoyed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't worry me like that," he said.

She splayed her hands to her sides as a look of indignation came to her face. "Well what am I supposed to do? You only ever want to talk if I either beat it out of you or if I physically drag you up a fucking sand dune. Why can't you just, you know, talk about your feelings?"

His lips pursed and he shifted his gaze downwards. "I… It's hard to talk about shit that you don't even... that not even you know about yourself. I'm still… figuring things out, okay?"

Yugito closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise to her considering the similarities in their childhood, but he really did remind her of herself, only younger. It made her want to help him in any way she could, protect him from everything if she had to. "I've found that I always felt better when I opened up to people. Even if my thoughts were jumbled. We're… we're social creatures. It's what we're supposed to do. Now come on," she said as she sat down with her legs crossed. "Talk."

He hesitated a bit before sitting down, though not before letting loose a belabored sigh to show his displeasure. "Talk talk talk talk talk," he said. "I thought I was a man of action."

One of her eyebrows went up. "A man who acts without thinking is no better than an animal."

"It's an expression," he said grumpily. "I think on occasion. I think enough, at least."

"So… what are you thinking?"

"About what?"

"About what's hurting you."

One of his eyes twitched. "Oh, I don't know? Maybe it's because I let one of my best friends die? Maybe it's because- maybe it's because…" he stuttered a stop, his face turning red, but not due to anger. Though there was an edge to his voice, his face was conflicted and at war with itself when it turned red.

"Maybe it's because…" Yugito said slowly. "You and Temari…"

His eyes went wide open with shock and he looked at her like he'd been doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

"You two weren't exactly, erm, quiet, last night."

His face went a brighter red and he looked down. "I… I… My heart feels like it's- it's split into five different parts around my body and each part hurts a lot. I… I don't think I've ever been in love before and now… and now it's like I'm in love in a lot of different ways that don't make a lot of sense. Whenever I try to think about it, I just get sad, or nervous, or… or I feel like I shouldn't feel that way. It sucks. It fucking sucks."

You didn't have to hear about his troubles to know that he was in great emotional turmoil. Everything that needed to be said was said across his face. Yugito didn't think an anecdote was going to help. She didn't know if she could help and that made her feel bad. There was a thing to be said over getting help, but she also knew that there was a component to emotions that individuals had to work out themselves.

She wasn't going to just let that lie, however. She was going to be do her best for him. She was going to be there for him.

Yugito nodded. "You're right. That does suck."

There were tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at her, almost dumbstruck. Then he smiled a little. He couldn't believe how much relief swept over him when someone just… sympathized with him. "I… I think I love Temari," he said. "But… I don't know. We just… last night was… it was confusing."

"Did it feel good?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Did she feel good?" she asked.

He hesitated. "I… I think so. She was… erm, she was moaning a lot."

"Then she probably felt good," she concluded. Before he could respond, she continued with her questions. "So you think you love her?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Then spend time with her," she said, like it was as simple as counting to 2. "Talk to her. If there's chemistry, then there's chemistry. If not then…" she trailed off.

"Then there's not," he finished. "But…" he looked away. "But I still… I think I still love Kurotsuchi. And I like Fu too maybe. And you too. And Mei… I heard about how she followed me when I tunneled into the sewers without hesitating even a little bit. I think I like her too."

She smiled a little. "Okay," she said.

He looked at her with half-lidded eyes. Agreement was good, but it was starting to sound like sycophantry. "That's… But I'm not supposed to, erm, love… multiple people."

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, formulating her answer in her head for a few seconds before responding. "If… if you're completely honest about your feelings from the get go, and so are they, then there's nothing wrong. You may get rejected, or get your heart broken, or… maybe everything ends up okay at the end. You don't know. You can't know. No one can. So just… I know it doesn't really help you much, but the best advice I can give is to tell you to try your best. And I can also let you know that no matter what happens, I'll be here waiting for you."

He smiled. And, if only just for a moment, he felt better.

"So, now that the heavy stuff's over with, let's talk about you and the Kyuubi."

Then his mood soured.

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The council chamber was silent. So silent that if a mouse farted, it would be as audible as a scream. No one spoke because they were all too shocked; like they'd all been hit in the faces with shovels. Not even Baki or Kankuro were exempt from this, which wasn't very surprising when considered with the fact that Temari hadn't spoken to them much before they entered the room.

"Temari," Kankuro said, grabbing her forearm. "Are you fucking mental?" he hissed.

Though his intention was to be quiet, everyone heard him; each and every single councilor on the seat of the council.

"Kankuro," she said with authority and no small edge. "If you'd let go of me…"

His lips pursed and his hand relaxed, falling to his side.

"Like I just said," Temari said, puffing her chest out and speaking with as regal a voice as she could muster. "I would like to formally take over the role of Kazekage from my brother, who has perished a week ago."

One of the councilors sitting closest to her smirked and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. He was a young upstart, only in his seat of power due to political maneuvering. He may have had the power of a jonin, but he hadn't been distinguished from the amount that remained in hidden sand like Temari had. "I'm not sure if you're aware," he said condescendingly. "But there's a tradition we have in sand for picking the next leader, and-"

"Kuzu," she interrupted with a glinting, dangerous smile on her face. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

He faltered, though he didn't let the smirk fall altogether from his mouth. "E-Erm, I was trying to sugg-"

Temari stepped away from the end of the table and walked the short distance to where Kuzu was sitting. "You were trying to suggest that I'm not aware as to how the kazekage is picked. That, even though it has gone to the strongest ninja, there's also a vetting process by the council to determine if the kage is even sane or not, or knows how to lead."

His smirk had turned downward, transforming into a hate-filled sneer. "Looks like the dog knows not to shit on the carpet, but does it anyway. Don't think that just because you're family that means you'll be shown preferential treatment in becoming the leader."

The difference in their height meant that he had to crane his neck up to speak to her. "If there's anybody else you think would be a good fit for being leader, then by all means, enlighten me," she said.

He floundered. "It goes to the strongest. And the strongest is usually groomed by the previous kage."

"And we're not in our 'usual' scenario, are we now?" she questioned rhetorically. Her voice was rising both in tone and in mocking. "As it stands, I'm the strongest wind user in hidden sand, I'm the closest one with the knowledge to lead said village, and I'm also the hidden sand's contract member instrumental in creating world peace."

He stood up violently, his chair clattering to the side. His nose flared and his mouth was set in a line. After roughly poking a finger in her chest, he leaned down and said "Just because you're the whore your brother sent as a concubine for a treaty that won't last, doesn't mean you're fit to rule our village. In fact, I'd argue the opposite."

Not even a smidge of anger appeared on her face. Loudly, so that all could hear, she said "If liking having a giant prick stuffed up my cunt makes me a whore, then yeah, I guess I'm a whore. But I'm a whore that will rule. Not because I have friends in high places. Not because I bullied others into letting me lead. No, I will lead because I'm the most qualified. Now sit down Kuzu, we have a vote to let through."

With that, she stalked away from him and stood back with her shocked brother and Baki and faced the councilors. "All who would vote to let the hat of the kage pass from my brother to me, raise their hands."

There was no movement for a beat or two, long enough for a triumphant grin to spread across Kuzu's face. However, at the back, a single feeble hand was raised. Then another joined his, then two more joined hers. It kept up until Kuzu was the only one who didn't have his hand up, looking around the council room, a ghost of horror etched in his face.

Without a mask of righteousness or an air of superiority, Temari addressed them all with a grateful face and said, while bowing only incrementally "I thank you all for your support in this matter. I will do my best to fulfill my duties to the village hidden in the sand. Although I'm sure there are many other matters at hand, I now have to make myself familiar with the minutia that will be needed of me while I still have the chance." She stood back up. "So, if you'd allow me, I'll be taking my leave."

With Kankuro and Baki in tow, she left the councilors to themselves.

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Naruto didn't think he would ever understand Mei. Her personality and disposition seemingly changed like the clouds in the sky, she often misinterpreted sentences and threatened death afterwards, and she always smiled, whether she was happy or not. She was a hard woman to be around, but also a little bit easy in certain ways. For one, she was very intelligent and of capable of getting her points across in an effective manner. Also, despite her many eccentricities, there rang true a rigidly maintained morality structure in her being. And she helped people. She seemed to like helping people.

Too bad her idea of 'helping' was putting Naruto through a hellish training session.

She was better at fighting than him in almost every way. Whether than be through strength, speed, quality of ninjutsu, intelligence, tactics, agility, or accuracy. She was capable of punching him twice in the abdomen when he only saw one. She was capable of encasing him in a (mostly) harmless lava solution without him seeing it coming. She could quite literally run circles around him.

The only reason he came out on top, in fact, was because she wasn't using 'sharp' techniques, and that his indomitable will and endurance outclassed even that of his Jinchuuriki peers.

It ended with the decided 'thump' of his fist meeting her cheek for the first time after about an hour and a half of sparring left her lethargic and slow… well, slower than usual. She wasn't prepared for it and was set a few feet back, sprawling into the sand. She went to get up, but her exhaustion took the better of her and she slumped down, covering her eyes in the sun.

"You can last long, I'll give you that. But then again, I already knew that," she mumbled from the ground.

Naruto, in a sweat logged sand outfit, wiped his brow and fell on his ass next to her. "Did you talk to Yugito then?" he asked in between heavy breaths of warm air.

She looked at him with her single, uncovered eye. "Just so we don't let miscommunication back into our lives after so short a time without it, please explain what you mean."

He laid down too and covered his eyes with his arm. "We're talking about the fight, right?" he asked.

"The fight?" Mei asked incredulously. "What fight?"

"A few days into the… uh… the contract, I guess, we got into a fight. We even accidentally let our tailed beast chakra take control. You felt that, didn't you?"

Realization struck her vocal chords. "Ohhh, now I remember. That was you two fighting? I wondered about that. What did you two fight over?"

He shrugged, shifting sand around his neck into a sort of pillow. "I don't remember. Stupid stuff. We were both kind of pissed off at the situation we were in, then we let our egos get the better of us. She ended up having to carry me back to the house we were staying at."

She whistled. "Can't imagine that felt good for her pride."

"What? No, we… we came to an understanding during that walk."

Mei harrumphed after a beat or two of contemplative thought. "That woman is so mannish, I tell you."

Naruto sat up, intrigued by this sudden turn of conversation. "What do you mean?" he asked.

The woman hummed disapprovingly to herself. "Perhaps I worded that wrong. I mean to imply that she tackles her problem the way a man would, is all. Not that that's right or wrong. It's just unexpected."

"And how do men solve their problems?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Head on," she said dispassionately. "They tackle them with a sort of gusto and recklessness that's absent from most women. And in a way, I admire that brand of behavior. But it's also easy. What's hard is talking through things with words. Pitting one ideology against another."

Naruto shook his head. "You can't tell me that women are the sort that talk their problems through. I've seen the way women and girls act around each other. It's like… it's all a game to them. They talk, but they don't mean what they say."

Mei hummed again. "Perhaps we got onto this topic of gendered ways of thinking too hastily. I'm sure it's all quite more convoluted than either of us could imagine and it's a topic for perhaps a heavier time. To get back to the start of our conversation, I was trying to imply that you and Temari were going at it for quite a while before there was any hope for me getting to sleep."

Naruto, for his part, was done at getting embarrassed over someone knowing about his sex life. There was enough of that when he talked with Yugito. "We didn't go for that long," he said defensively.

"Was it your first time?" she asked.

"Err… yeah. Hers too."

"Then I suppose it makes sense you'd go for more rounds. Youthful exuberance and all that."

"Why do you talk like you're old? You're 24."

"That? Oh, I lied about that. I'm actually 31."

"Why'd you lie?" Naruto asked, staring up at the sky. His battered exhaustion meant that surprise was left to the wayside. He was still in fighting mode. Action and reaction.

She belted out a sigh and rolled over to her side. "Oh, it gets embarrassing when you get past the age that's okay to get married to talk about your age. And you seemed so dogged in your pursuit of knowledge before that it just seemed easier to lie then to go on that tangent."

"And why are you telling the truth now?"

Mei sat up and got back up to her feet. There was a bit of a wobble from the exertion that took place just minutes prior, but she was steady for the most part. She reached out a hand for him, which he took happily. "My opinion of you when we first met wasn't too good," she said. "But, now that we've spoken a little bit more, it's improved."

He smiled a little bit. "You talk like a robot. You know, you could just say that you're warming up to my ridiculously awesome personality."

She patted him on the back in a particularly sore spot, which she had known, seeing as she put them there. "That's one word for it."

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Naruto stood before the door to her office, hand outstretched, and eyes set in deep conflict. He was trying to think of things to talk about. How to go about speaking to her. What to breach. He feared what she might say and was hopeful of how she might look at him.

"Is there something that you need?"

It was her voice, muffled by the wooden door and slightly annoyed. She was probably busy with something else and he just interrupted her. This was already going so poorly.

Taking a deep breath, he took a hold of the handle and opened the door. The first thing he saw was her silhouette against the setting sun. It was a picture of warm yellow and orange that she was pressed against. Her head was turned down, staring at a paper that she had lifted slightly. He wasn't sure if she knew it was him or not. She seemed way too focused.

He walked forward and sat in the chair opposite and just… looked at her. It made him feel calm. Finally, she glanced up and her disposition was changed in a flash. Gone was the focused, stern, and dour Temari and in its place was the warm, intelligent, smiling Temari. Yes, she was smiling. It wasn't great or big or beaming, but it was genuine. And that made him happy.

"Sorry," she said with a genuine amount of remorse in her voice. "I've had a bit of a busy afternoon. Didn't even know you were at the door. Thought it might be this prick councilor wanting a last word and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of my attention."

He was smiling too. "A busy afternoon is a bit of an overstatement. You're a kage now. I'm… married to a kage now."

She chuckled a little bit. In that moment, the glow from her face was identical to the one of the setting sun's. "You already were married to one. What's Mei? Chopped meat?"

He shrugged. "Guess You're right. Now I'm married to two though. That's a first."

"It certainly is."

It was the sort of talk that didn't mean anything but still felt good anyways. He liked sharing moments with her. It was a feeling that was new and terrifying and hopeful.

And he liked it.

"I…" he tapped his index finger against his thigh a few times. "I missed you this morning."

She looked down, her smiling levelling out. "I… I meant to… wake up with you, but you're such a late-riser and I needed to make myself familiar with all the legal stuff and… and I guess these excuses don't mean much to you."

When she looked back up, all she saw was his smile. It looked forced. Fake. "Temari," he said, gulping. "I… I think I love you."

Silence.

"And," he continued on. "And the reason I say 'think' is because I haven't felt this way before. And… I honestly don't know much about you. But the things I have seen, I like. I don't, erm," his face turned red. "I don't mean, like, your uhm… your body or anything, well, I like that too, but I mean your… the way you face things. The way you look at things. The way you talk. I like them all. And e-"

She leaned over her desk to grab his hand. She was smiling as she sat back down. "I… I think I love you too. Honestly, I thought you were just an idiot who couldn't see anything more complex than black and white, but… you're smarter than that, even if you don't show it often. And you're compassionate. And so sensitive. And… I think I love you."

He clasped her hand in his, smile beaming forth from his inner being. "I… but…" His mouth turned to a frown. "I… I think I love them too," he said helplessly.

Temari blinked. "What?"

"Kurotsuchi and Fu and Yugito and Mei… I think I love them too. Each in… different ways. But, I still love them. And… it… feels like… I feel like it would be wrong, er… disingenuous to... I don't… I don't like that I love them and you at the same time," he finalized. "I feel like… it's wrong to you."

She didn't say anything for a few beats until she took a deep breath and sighed, turning away from him to look at the sunset Temari said "I… I knew that you and Kurotsuchi had something between you two when I… when I, erm, accosted you, let's say, last night. In all honesty, I was expecting you to come through that door to tell me last night was a mistake and I was… preparing for that. So… I'm happy that you don't think so. And if…" she sighed. "I'm in uncharted territories here too. If you love the others, then I can't tell you that's the wrong way you should feel. How you feel is, well, how you feel. And… I… I'll keep an open mind," she said with a note of finality. "But I'll always be honest with my feelings, no matter how brutal or honest. I think that's the sort of thing that's required for something like this."

Naruto got up from his seat and circled around her desk. He got down on one knee and looked her in the eyes. "This is going to be really hard," he said, smiling because it was the only thing he could.

She laughed a little bit. "You're telling me? I don't want to share you."

He leaned in close and kissed her. "But… I'm a pretty big undertaking. If you don't share me, you could get overwhelmed."

She slapped him half-heartedly on the arm. "I'm being serious here," even though she said that with a smile.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "And I'm… trying to be funny. Lighten the mood. Make you feel happy."

She cupped his cheek. "You don't have to say funny things to make me happy. You just have to be here."

They didn't say anything else to each other the rest of the night. They just watched the sun dip down over the sandy horizons and gazed at the stars that came blinking out. And then…

Well, they had the room to themselves…