Ren eyes his parents suspiciously over breakfast. Neither Mebuki or Kizashi had said anything when Ren had come down from his room. Usually his mother would be humming to herself as she cooked and Kizashi would greet Ren by ruffling his hair and cracking some sort of joke.
Today, they said nothing, simply eyed Ren as he sat down to eat.
Finally he has enough.
"Alright," Ren says, setting down his eating utensils and staring at his parents, "What is it?"
His parents share a look.
"Why do you think something is wrong?" his father asks.
Ren crosses his arms over his chest.
"Well," he says, "For one you are being too quiet, mom isn't humming as she normally does when she cooks and you haven't said a word since I sat down when normally you can't go ten minutes without talking. Now what's up?"
His father cracks a smile and even his usually stern mother looks amused.
"I'm surprised you can read us so well," his mother says, "It's almost like you lived with us your entire life."
"I have," Ren says, doing his best not to think about how he woke up in the body of a five year old and lived with his parents ever since, "Stop avoiding the question."
Kizashi sighs.
"Well I suppose we can tell you," he says, "Since you insist after all."
Ren raises an eyebrow and waits.
His father sighs again.
"We were wondering if we were ever going to meet your team," his mother says, interrupting his father before he could say anything, "It's been a month and you haven't even introduced us yet."
"That's right," his father says, "We've heard you talk about your team but we've never been formally introduced. I'm beginning to think you're embarrassed of us."
"I'm not embarrassed of mom," Ren says, "You on the other hand…"
Kizashi laughs, reaching across the table and giving Ren a light whack to the head.
"Don't be mean to your old man," he scolds playfully, "It's not nice."
Ren rolls his eyes.
"Whatever," he says, "Though I suppose if you really want to meet my team I can ask them over for supper or something."
Kizashi brightens at that.
Mebuki just smiles.
"Of course we'd love to meet your team dear," she says, "Why didn't you ask sooner?"
Ren sighs.
Ren broaches the subject with his team while they're on their way to deliver Tora to the Hokage's Tower.
Again.
Ren swears that cat is a menace.
"My parents want to meet you two," Ren says, casually, his hands stuck in his pockets as he walks in between Sasuke and Naruto.
Naruto turns to face Ren and blinks.
"Uh," Naruto says, "Are you sure?" Naruto pulls on his sleeves like he's nervous and Ren suddenly remembers Kurama stuck in Naruto's gut.
No shit, Ren thinks, It's no wonder he'd be nervous meeting my parents.
"Pretty sure," Ren says dryly, watching Naruto for an reaction, "They asked for both of you after all."
Naruto tenses, but says nothing.
Sasuke, who had been watching them interact finally speaks.
"Do you want us to meet them?" he asks.
Ren shrugs.
"Yeah," he says, "Sure, why not. You guys are bound to meet sooner or later. Might as well meet while I'm there."
Sasuke's eyes narrow.
"Are you afraid of something going wrong?"
"Nah, it's just Dad can be a handful. He might attack you as soon as he sees you just because he wants to test your worth."
"Does he attack you?"
"Yeah, sometimes. He says it keeps me on my toes."
Sasuke is quiet after that.
Ren wonders if he said something wrong.
Kakashi coughs, making his presence known again.
"I think you two meeting Ren's parents is a wonderful idea," Kakashi says,clapping his hands together.
A wicked grin crosses Ren face as he eyes Kakashi.
"You know what sensei?," Ren says, "I think that you should come too. We'll make it a team event."
Kakashi pales.
"No, no," he says, "I don't do family suppers."
"It's technically not a family supper," Sasuke points out, "Especially since Naruto and I will be coming."
"We are?" Naruto asks.
"We are," Sasuke confirms, looking as if he's daring Naruto to argue.
Naruto crosses his arms and turns his stare on Kakashi instead.
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto says, "You gotta come."
"Urgh," Kakashi says, "Kids."
"Urgh," Ren mocks, "Adults."
Kakashi glares at Ren for a moment before relenting.
"Alright," he says, "I'll come."
Ren nods, satisfied he managed to get his entire team to come.
"Good," he says, "Supper is at six. Don't be late."
Naruto is nervous.
Naruto rarely gets nervous. But Ren had asked him to meet Ren's parents.
Naruto had said yes, but only because Sasuke was going too.
It's not like he didn't want to meet Ren's parents. It's just that he remembers the looks civilians give him. Hell, even some ninja give him dirty looks when they think he's not looking. But Naruto notices, just as he notices the whispers and hate that follow him.
Sure he knows the reason so many people hate him now, but that doesn't mean that he's used to it. He's learned to pretend that it doesn't bother him but on some level, it does.
So, he's understandably nervous about meeting Ren's parents.
What if they don't like him, Naruto wonders, what if they hate him because of the Kyuubi?
Naruto has his safe people, Iruka-sensei, the people at Ichiraku, Kakashi-sensei and Ren. Hell, even Sasuke is a person Naruto deems safe to be around, even if Sasuke is a jerk most of the time.
Ren's parents are decidedly not part of that list. He's never met them before, doesn't even know if they know what Naruto is or if they know that Naruto is on a team with their son.
None the less, Naruto picks up a plant from one of the few places that sell to him and names it .
He plasters a smile on his face, and winds up at Ren's house far sooner than expected.
He knocks.
Ren answers the door, dressed in a red tank top and cargo shorts.
He looks at the plant in Naruto's hands questioningly.
"Uh," Naruto says, wondering if the plant had been a bad idea, but he had read somewhere that people brought gifts when they went over to someone's house for the first time. Ren was friends with the flower girl so he must like plants.
Right?
Ren grins then, wicked and sharp and takes the plant from Naruto's hands.
"Sweet," Ren says, "It's an Aloe Vera plant right? The sap from it's leaves is good for burns."
Naruto sighs in relief and grins.
"I didn't know that actually!" he admits, "I just thought it looked cool."
"They do look cool," Ren agrees, "Now get in here, you kept everyone waiting."
Naruto laughs and follows Ren inside.
Mebuki eyes the way her son interacts with his teammates. The way he laughs with the Kyuubi host and teases the Uchiha who always has a retort ready on his tongue. She watches as even Kakashi isn't exempt from her sons teasing.
It seems like he has a good team.
Mebuki is glad for that. It seems like her sons team will do better than her own did.
She's the only one from her genin team that's still alive after all.
Ren does his best to make his team comfortable, he jokes with Naruto and teases Sasuke. Makes fun of Kakashi and watches as his team becomes more comfortable with their surroundings.
Ren knows he's the only one that's not an orphan out of his entire team, but it's only when he sees Sasuke and Naruto's startled faces at the amount of food his mother serves them that he becomes determined to make them a family.
It's the least he can do.