Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto or Aliens, doubt I ever will.
AN: Once more, I must apologize for the lack of updates on my part. This time, it came with something of a revelation.
I'm addicted to stress. That's the way that I get things done, if I'm not under pressure then I sleep to long, and I hang around like a bum.
For those that know the rest of the song, feel free to have it stuck in your head. For those that don't, look it up, it's rather funny, and there is a good Cowboy Bebop AMV to it ^_^
Now, that actually has a correlation to me and my updates. For some of my long time readers they may recall that at a few times I've had to get armies ready while working and wanting to write. In a week, I had to have a force built and painted, had a job evaluation, and pressure to update.
I got four chapters down for my stories. The army built and primered, and a good evaluation before we found out he was planning on drumming up theft charges on all of us so he could hire new staff for less wages.
Now that I'm jobless, and dont have a lot of people to play against in Warhammer, the pressure is gone. So no real updates.
Until now. I have a pending job interview, and a contest I want to enter for a very spiffy poster for Warhammer. So guess what? ^_^
Light's Last Gasp
Chapter 5: Revelations
Two faces were slack-jawed.
One drawn into a thin line, wondering what would happen next.
The last's was in the shape of a large grin, not really understanding what was going on.
She was just happy to be included with people that were important to her mate.
The violet haired queen looked to Naruto, before looking to Bare Top and Sensei. She could feel a level of unease in the air with them, but really didn't think much of it, nothing was directed to her mate yet, only to her, something she was rather used to, she had seen it a hundred million times, across thousands of worlds, still, the odd thought of the food on the street that had attacked them came to mind, making her grit her teeth and pull closer to Naruto, something that caused the elder two in the room to stiffen even as she pulled his arm up around her waist before snuggling closer to him, almost unconsciously he pulled her closer as her eyes drifted close with a content murmur.
"L-Let me see if I get this straight brat..."
"Naruto."
"Brat, you...somehow, found yourself with this...thin-"
"Murasaki."
"Creature. It, and another protected you...you passed out...then the other day when you got your new house they had somehow followed you...but had grown like ten years overnight..."
"Kinda..."
"They...the very monsters you were shitting bricks about not a week ago...are now your room mates...and this one is somehow laying eggs!"
"In a nut shell...don't forget that she kinda cut off a hand earlier..."
The two elder ninja looked to one another before giving the blond a nervous smile, "N-Naruto-kun...why don't you come stand over here for a moment..."
Said teen looked to his grandfather-figure in confusion, drawing the violet haired girl closer to him and earning a coo from the content woman, the flash of more eggs and the reds echoing through his mind once more. "Why?"
"Just come here Naruto...I want to give you a jutsu I think you can use..." Sarutobi ran the pad of his thumb along one of the many blades he kept hidden on him, taking note of all the places that would be 'soft' on the woman...well what he could see..
Naruto only cocked his head, "Then give it to Anko-sensei, she said she'd teach me everything when the time was right!"
The teacher in question cursed, he had to remember that threat over all the others...not to learn what she didn't say he was ready for..."Come on brat, this is from the Hokage! He knows best after all."
That gave him pause, "Wait...you called him Hokage..."
She arched an eyebrow, "Ya?"
"You said you'd never call him that...What's going on..."
The older leader started to slowly made the signs for a clone, if he was slow, careful, then maybe he could get it made and substituted in time..."Now Naruto, were only worried ab-"
The blonds' eyes suddenly went cold as steel even as Murasaki stiffened, her cloak seeming to shift on its own, "About what? She and Sorairo-chan protected me even when your guards couldn't! They care about me! Murasaki-chan was the one that made sure I was okay when the thing was laid in my chest! They even get food for me in the forest while I'm training with Anko-sensei! They saved me from Mizuki-teme! Their...their even there when I get home..." The last came out in the barest of whispers that, in any other situation would have caused them to be lost in the wind, but not here, not now.
Sarutobi could only flinch, while he had been able to save Naruto for the largest parts of his physical pain, there was nothing he could really do for the emotional, these creatures may have been monsters to him initially, but now that he had learned of them properly, he seemed utterly comfortable, if not attracted, to the creature latched on his side. "N-Naruto, understand, from what you told us t-"
"No! These aren't the same things! Murasaki and Sorairo are smarter! They feel and they learn much faster! I just need help...teaching them to speak and read, if I can do that then we can teach them the laws and what's right and wrong! There won't be any more deaths to the villagers if they just leave us alone!"
"Naruto-kun you have t-"
"NO! I to-"
Finally the old man had had enough, his hands slamming into the table hard enough to send the stacks of paper jumping almost a foot in the air, "Naruto!" That shut him up, and had him putting himself between the old man and Murasaki, who was hissing angrily at the man, Anko herself had never seen the man snap like that, and had jumped higher than the paperwork if that were at all possible. The old man's eyes held an edge, though at the same time seemed to grow more gentle, "Naruto, understand where I'm coming from. These creatures have killed several civilians, two ninja and can with apparent ease kill the creatures in the forest of death! I know you are close to them, but for the sake of the village we have to stop them now before they spread!"
Naruto seemed to be quiet for a long moment, casting hesitant glances to Murasaki, he couldn't deny that the man had a point...that didn't mean he had to like it! "But they were protecting me and themselves...and just eating...no one goes into the forest...w-what if you just watched us? Made sure we were okay? That they wouldn't hurt anyone!"
Sarutobi watched the pair, idly wondering about such an option before his wondering eyes landed on Anko, "You've been awful quiet over there Anko-chan...what do you think?"
The woman suddenly flinched at feeling all the eyes go to her, the purple haired woman eyeing her cautiously, "M-Me?"
"Yes...you've been training Naruto-kun, have you noticed anything out of place with him since their apparent contact?" His eyes suddenly became all business, "Report, Mitarashi-san!"
The Jonin snapped quickly to attention, long years of slipping into 'report mode' making it a habit. "Sir! Genin Uzumaki has actually seemed to calm down significantly over the last week, at first being his brash and rude self, but as the week progressed he seemed to become more serious and quick to follow orders, although he will still question and devise strategies on the fly, I believe that he is shaping up to be a splendid ninja! Sir!"
The old man tried to hold back a chuckle, 'I still got it.' "So your saying that they have been a positive influence on him?"
"He came to tell you rather than trying to hide the fact."
That made him laugh, "True...but I can't let this go without monitoring..."
"U-Um...Jiji? Can't you just send someone by to check on us now and then?"
The elderly leader just shook his head, "Naruto, this isn't like making sure you are taking care of a puppy, or if you got over a cold. You yourself warned us of this threat, I need to monitor you and your...room mates...day and night. The only other options are imprisonment, or extermination."
Naruto flinched at the thought of it, a flash of the humans killing her kind flashed in his mind, making the girl, who had been latched onto his back, stiffen, "J-Jiji..."
"So...for now...I think I will simply need to monitor the situation...as you said, in the time that you have been living in the house there have been no deaths and no missing people. From that I can gather they had only attacked in self defense, however, you will need to be watched. Naruto, do these...women, listen to you?"
He looked a bit nervous at that, "Well...kinda...Murasaki-chan and Sorairo-chan seem to like me...though Sorairo-chan seems to listen to Murasaki-chan more than anything...but Murasaki-chan listens to me, so I think we'll be okay! She's the queen, they have to listen to her! And if she will listen to me th-"
"You'll be the king...interesting..." That set Naruto to blushing, an impish smile on his lips, a king eh? "Anko-chan...I think I may have a ne-"
"No."
The old man arched an eyebrow at her, seeing her arms crossed over her chest and looking away with a childish pout, "Anko..."
"You can't make me! I'm already training him! I dont want to just sit on my ass and watch the little monst-"
"Anko!" That put her on edge, he had snapped twice in one day...a new record...the Third Hokage gave her a hard look before glancing meaningfully to Naruto, the boy having his head hidden a bit by his bangs as he flexed his fingers, the sharper than normal nails almost slicing flesh before he let them relax.
"Oh...Naruto...I didn't mean it th-"
The teen turned and placed an arm around he cloaked woman's shoulders even as she looked ready to pounce on Anko and rip her to shreds. A long, cruel looking bladed tail snaking out from under the cloak, making her eyes widen before she saw Naruto strengthen his grip before just shaking his head. "I-I'm going to head home now Hokage-sama. Don't worry, if people leave us alone, we'll leave them alone." Even as the door started to shut Sarutobi rounded on Anko, but before he could speak he heard Naruto's voice echo back through the room, "I'll see you tomorrow Anko-sensei, sorry for being late today."
Sarutobi slumped back in his chair even as Anko shot him nervous glances. "Anko-chan...you know...I see you as something of a daughter at times...not unlike Kushina...but there are times th-"
"H-Hokage-sama I really didn't mean to-I wasn't think-"
The man let out a sigh as he dropped back into the his chair, "That much is obvious Anko-chan...You know one of the reasons that I paired you together is that I was hoping that you would be able to help each other...everything you suffered at the hands of the villagers would have been a warm sunny day for Naruto."
"Y-Yes...I know..."
"Then why would you refer to someone who Naruto obviously cares about like that? We all knew what they were..."
The jonin threw her hands up with a huff, "Hey! You can't just turn on and off a personality! You know I give everyone nicknames, and I'm blunt at the best of times! I torture things for a living for Kami's sake! You think I can just put on kit gloves just like that!" She snapped her fingers, making the man before her twitch.
"Honestly, yes, I do. You are one of my best, and as such you should be able to at least act like an utterly different person when needed to. Even Kakashi can be energetic when it's called of him. So tell me, why is it so hard for you to try and understand a boy his age!"
That made her shrink back a bit even as she started to gnaw on a lip, when the old man had a point, he had a point. "Loo-I don-damn it! Look, it's because I was his age when...when..."
A look of understanding came over the elderly leader as he moved and collected the girl in warm arms, the jonin stiffening slightly before she seemed to deflate, it was so easy to forget how fragile Anko actually was deep down..."Anko-chan...I know...trust me when I say...I know. If I could go back and stop that man from doing all he had done...but I can't. However, you, Anko, can make sure that his teachings end up in the right hands. Naruto's...and yours. If there is one person I can trust with this, it's you."
Anko could only look into the man's eyes with unshed tears in her own, a steeliness coming into them as she began to process his words. He trusted her, and more than that, he trusted her with Naruto. "O-Okay...you can count on me...jiji..."
The man let out a small laugh, "Oh Kami...not you too..."
She smiled before pulling away, absently scrubbing at her eyes, "Hey...the kid had a good idea with that name...and you said we were supposed to teach each other..."
"I was hoping it wouldn't be that..."
Now her smile became a grin, "Hey, you can hope in one hand and shit in the other, we'll see which one fills up first! Now...I have to go pack, apparently I'm moving...hope the little brat doesn't snore..."
As she vanished in a swirl of leafs the village leader silently made a vow...up the decorum lessons for his kunoichi...
Naruto couldn't help but feel lost, the normally confident boy jumping at every shadow, part of him convinced that the old man was going to still send the ANBU after them, especially when he saw so many in the market making a wide berth for the duo. It seemed that the rumors were already spreading fast, he could only hope that the old man could do a little damage control before things got out of hand.
Yet again he felt his mind assailed with images, the visions of 'food', the glittering or shining things that were catching her eye, more and more people that had wronged him over the years, those he was so desperately trying to forgive in hopes of reaching acceptance.
Just as he was ready to make the turn towards the library he was suddenly pulled up short as his cloaked companion seemed to simply phase in front of him, his mind filled with images of pink and pain.
"Naruto? Is that you?"
The blond had to fight the urge to rush up to the pinkette, the almost constant stream of images from Murasaki were suddenly putting things in to stark contrast for him. "H-Hello Sakura-chan. How have you been?
If anything Murasaki pulled Naruto closer, making sure that while she was shielding him that the teen was close enough so that she could feel the heat of his body on her back. The duo taking note of the small twitch in the bubblegum haired girl's features at the affectionate address, then again perhaps it was due to the woman standing almost a foot and a half over her. Still, she put a wide smile on her face before answering, "I couldn't be better! I got on Sasuke-kun's team! Though there's this creepy kid with us named Sai, but he's got nothing on the Rookie of the Year!"
Naruto gave a small 'hn' at that bit of information, it wasn't surprising to hear that the raven haired teen had gotten the honor, the boy was the golden child of the academy afterall, almost absorbing all the jutsu, techniques and tactics that the academy had to offer. It was one of the things that had frustrated him to no end...he had never really been shown how to learn effectively. No one to correct him, nothing. So when he was mocked for it it had always hurt.
And now he was going to have to teach?
It wasn't going to end well.
Still, it seemed these thoughts were not lost on his violet haired companion, and despite how much he wanted to talk with his crush he knew that the only chance he really had of keeping his new 'family' was to find a way to teach the two at least how to talk. "Um...heh...Sakura-chan?" The girl finally seemed to come out of her self induced fantasy, looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes, though still wary of the girl between the two. "I'm really happy that you got on the team you wanted, but I really have to go, I've got to find a book before tomorrow, or my sensei might kill me..."
That caused the pinkette to quirk a brow, "Sensei?"
The boy nodded and pointed at his forehead, "Ya, I passed a makeup test, but got hurt so I missed team placements. So I got made an apprentice!"
The girl seemed to ignore the proud smile that he was wearing, only scowling slightly, "Wait, you get one on one training? But that's not fair!"
He cocked his head in confusion even as he felt Murasaki's tail brushing at his flank, tickling slightly, "Why? Even I'm learning a new clone technique, doesn't your sensei use clones to give you all one on one training? Anko-sensei said that's what they do on most teams."
That seemed to give the girl pause, so far the only thing that they had really done was minor team building and a few D-ranked missions, after that she and Sai and been sent home while Kakashi had taken Sasuke to get some dinner. She didn't think anything of it at the time, he was alone after all, but now... "R-Really? Ours doesn't do that...we just learn how to work together..."
Naruto felt a slight wave of panic at seeing the girl so down before he rapidly waved his hands, trying to stave off her impending depression, "W-Well ya! I mean you guys have to have a bunch of awesome abilities! I just have me! So of course you have to learn to use them right! Otherwise the teme could cook you while you're trying one of your super cool techniques Sakura-chan!"
An impish smile came over the pinkette as she soaked in the praise, no matter how much she may have hated the little blond she couldn't deny that he would always try and cheer her up. That thought gave her slight pause, she was just now noticing that he was almost half a head taller than her now, when had that happened? Shaking that off she took note of the much taller girl still giving her a dirty look. "S-So who's your friend?"
The blond felt his blood run cold, he never did consider this...introducing them to his friends..."U-Um this is Murasaki-chan, Murasaki this is Sakura-chan!" The shorter of the two extended her hand with a bright smile, earning only a confused head tilt from the taller, "Sorry...she's still new here, I'm trying to find a book to teach her how to talk, where she's from they just use...um...a sign language..." Technically he wasn't wrong, from what he saw their body language was just as important as their memory sharing.
That brought a snort from the girl, "You, teach?"
The blond pouted, "That's what I said! But the old man thinks I can, and if he thinks I can do it then I will!"
"Old man?"
"Ya, Sarutobi-jii!"
Her eyebrow started to twitch uncontrollably, "SHOW SOME RESPECT!"
The next happened in a space of a few breaths, Sakura had balled up her fist.
Naruto's eyes scrunched shut, bracing for the impact he knew was coming.
And Murasaki acted.
Before Sakura could so much as rear back her arm she suddenly felt a set very sharp nails pressed to her neck even as the found herself lifted from the ground and slammed against a wall, even as her head swam from the impact she could hear the hissing and Naruto's shocked squawk, "Murasaki no!" As her vision cleared she could see the purple haired woman looking over her shoulder at Naruto, who had a both hands holding back her other hand, a hand sporting short, but wicked looking claws. "Put her down! Come on! We have to go!"
Almost as fast as it happened Sakura found herself on the ground, absently rubbing her neck as she saw the odd duo vanish down the streets, the only thing that could escape her lips being, "What...the...fuck!"
This, unfortunately enough, was the way it went for Naruto throughout the day, every time he thought he was nearing his goal he would find that one person that Murasaki couldn't help but see as a threat, not that she could blame her. First was the store owner, then Sakura, who Naruto knew hadn't ever treated him well. Then came the smith of one of the local weapon supply stores, thinking it would be ok to 'accidently' strike a bit of hit iron on his anvil without securing it, letting the red hot missile fly, only a quick substitution saving the blond from injury. However, that was the worst of it, at least from a direct action, but the constant dirty looks or the odd person commenting on Murasaki had him, and by extension his companion, on edge.
Finally, after a day of rather fruitless searching. Being barred from the library and then another wanting to charge him far more for even the used children's books, he had resigned himself to what he did best.
Sneaking into a location, and taking what he needed.
It was something he had always hated doing, but the way he saw it, if they had just treated him like any other then he wouldn't be stealing in the first place. Moldy bread that a rat would turn from, well they owed him a few fresh loafs. Not letting him check out a book? Then they get to register a new lost book to the council. Rusted and blunt training weapons...well that was one place he didn't really risk breaking into, but a bit of sleight of hand out the door would at least make sure that his equipment was serviceable.
If only they didn't decide to put those anti-henge seals on the shops...but it seems they had caught onto his way of thinking one day when a teacher saw he had proper food for once.
Still, now he had something bigger to work for, and he wasn't about to be dissuaded, so as soon as the sun started to dip below the horizon he made a bee line for the one place he knew he could find what he needed, ironically the place that never taught Naruto.
The primary school, the common ground before the students decided to go on to be a ninja, or to remain a civilian.
However, if it wasn't for Ayame, he never would have been able to fill out that form that lead to being a ninja.
So, with an urgent image for Murasaki to remain out of sight Naruto went to work. Scaling the smaller side buildings before shimmying across the small space on one of the many wires that connected the buildings. Not for the first time he wondered at the things, wires and pipes that allowed him to easily shirk traveling the streets. I mean, if he, who hadn't yet graduated the academy could do it, couldn't an enemy?
With a small spin he let the momentum carry him to the roof where he headed for the roof access, a small smirk on his lips as he noted that even they weren't stupid enough to leave it unlocked. But then again, when one could break into the Hokage tower, a small locked door wouldn't be something to stop him. A few sets of sturdy wires and a pick made short work of the lock before he headed down into the darkened depths of the school.
This is where one of Naruto's worse habits would tend to act up, namely his mumbling to himself as he snuck about, thankfully this was one of the things his new family had corrected, not though any kind of coaching, or scolding, but simply the fact that their memories had shown with great detail how silence was your greatest ally, and the proper bit of sound in just the right area or the right moment could create the perfect distraction or trap.
Funny, when you consider how simple the concept was, and yet all that was truly taught was the stealth aspect in the academy.
Guess that was one more thing they were planning on saving for the Jonin sensei.
Making note of the signs he started heading lower and lower, a snaking path to the ground floor where he remembered the signs, posters and finger paintings that would mark the room he was searching for.
Too bad he wasn't paying attention to his thoughts, or he may have seen an odd...echo to them.
With a small smirk he finally found the room he was after, though he was a bit confused as to why the door was ajar...then he heard the happy murmur and cursed, there were no lights on, so there shouldn't have been anyone there.
Then he got the flash.
With a sigh he slid open the door to be met with the smiling face of Murasake.
Though she had something...furry...sticking out of her mouth.
Behind her lay the empty cage of the class pet, Lops the rabbit.
"Damnit..."
The trip back was all the faster, now that he had the package most thoughts of stealth had left him, only the burning need to get back remained. And now that Murasaki had gotten a bite to eat she wasn't as distracted either, the duo making the trip back in minuets as opposed to what had been more than an hour getting there.
What he saw there he wasn't expecting.
"Heya gaki! What kept you?"
