Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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'Person thinking'

"Person talking"

"Jinchuriki talking inside his head with Bijuu"

'Bijuu thinking'

"Bijuu talking"

"Bijuu talking inside jinchurki's head"

Chapter 14 – Acceptance

"Natsumi-neechan!"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Natsumi asked smiling as she put the breakfast plates on the table.

"The academy starts in two days!" Naruto could not hold in his excitement at the thought, which made Natsumi's smile even wider.

"Are you excited about it?"

"Yes! I'll be able to show everyone just how awesome I really am!"

"I have no doubt that they will see just how amazing of a shinobi you can become, Naruto-kun."

Naruto became a bit pensive after that. He looked as if he was gathering his strength to do something important. After a while, he looked at Natsumi with the most vulnerable look she had seen on his face yet and asked "Natsumi-neechan… Will you… Will you come with me at the opening ceremony? I know the other kids will bring their parents and, well, Hokage jiji will be there but he will only be there to give a speech, so, you're the only family I really have."

Natsumi looked at him frozen. She knew this question was going to come up. She tried to prepare herself, but now, facing the situation in real-time, she realized she could never have prepared for it. How could she tell him that, if she were to go with him, he would be seen as not only 'the Demon brat' but also 'a whore's spawn'? He already had it hard enough. She couldn't bear make his life worse by having him associate with her in public. She steeled herself and decided to lie, knowing full well that, while this might protect him, he may also end up hating her for it.

"Naruto-kun… I… I can't come with you. I wasn't able to get off from work on that day. I'm truly sorry."

"Oh… "

"I'll make it up to you, Naruto-kun. I promise."

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter." Naruto's despondent answer was followed by tense silence as they ate. Natsumi hated herself for it. She could see it in his eyes – that dead look that only someone truly lonely would have. After they finished, she tried to comfort him by reaching for his hand. He withdrew it, quietly took the now empty plates and went to wash the dishes. Never before in her life did the sound of silence feel so painful.

"You can go now. I know you're busy." He told her without raising his glance from the kitchen sink.

'No "Natsumi-neechan" in that phrase…' she thought. She rose from the table and made a few steps towards the boy, wanting to hug him goodbye like she always did before she left. She stopped. She did not feel worthy. Upon reaching the door, Natsumi glanced back one last time towards Naruto.

"I will make it up to you, Naruto-kun. I promise."

The boy said nothing. He just continued to wash the dishes in silence.

It's been four days since that discussion and Naruto just kept avoiding her like the plague. Natsumi couldn't blame him. She knew she deserved the silent treatment, but she also knew that they couldn't keep this up forever. One way or another, they had to fix things between them. As such, having prepared an "I'm sorry" meal for Naruto-kun, she made her way over to his flat next door.

"Naruto-kun, it's Natsumi. I need to talk to you."

She knew she heard movement behind the door but it seemed like the little man didn't hear her. She was aware that he had a tendency to act a bit obliviously when he was tinkering on something. Natsumi tried the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. 'Whatever he's working on must have gotten him really excited if he's this sloppy.' She surmised.

Slowly, she made her way in and found Naruto sitting on the floor with the back towards the door scribbling something on what looked like an empty scroll parchment.

"Naruto-kun? I brought you some food." He didn't answer. She went closer and touched the boy on the shoulder. "Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned his gaze away from the scroll and towards her. What she saw terrified her to the point that she screamed in a panic, dropping the bowl of food on the floor, where it broke on impact. The boy's left eye had a blood-red iris with a slit pupil while his right eye was his normal cerulean blue. His whisker marks were a dark red and were much more pronounced than usual. To her, he looked like a man possessed by the devil.

Naruto quickly realized why she was frightened and shouted "Wait! Natsumi-neechan! It's me! I'm alright!" after which he closed his eyes and, focusing, his features returned to normal. His now fully cerulean blue irises looked towards the girl with regret as he broke the silence once more. "I'm sorry I scared you, neechan. I didn't mean to…"

"It's… It's ok, Naruto-kun."

"Neechan, please sit down. I'll clean this up and explain everything to you."

Still shaken from the experience, Natsumi complied and waited uncomfortably for the blond to join her at the table.

After what seemed like forever, Naruto sat at the table as well and Natsumi, having gathered herself a little, decided to break the silence. "There goes my 'I'm sorry' meal."

Chuckling a bit sadly, Naruto answered "It's ok, neechan. I'm sorry I scared you. I guess we're even now, hehe."

"I guess so." Natsumi felt an all too familiar smile creep back on her lips, the smile that only her blond maelstrom could bring out.

"So…" Naruto trailed hesitantly.

"So?"

"About those eyes you saw…"

"And the whiskers."

"And the whiskers…"

Naruto was fidgeting in place, his hands grabbing tightly at his knees, looking down. She could see that he felt afraid, afraid that she might reject him. As such, she resolved to dispel that notion from the boy's mind.

"Naruto-kun. Please don't be afraid to tell me. I'm here for you." That choice of words seemed to have pushed some buttons, because Naruto immediately retaliated.

"Like you were at the academy opening? It wasn't hard to guess you were lying about going to work." As he asked this, Naruto crossed his arms and looked at Natsumi with an expression that spoke of anger and hurt, reminding her of the guilt that weighed on her shoulders due to the choice she had to make.

"I… It's complicated. One day I will explain it to you, but right now, I cannot. It's… difficult for me to talk about it."

Naruto maintained his closed body language but now also closed his eyes. She could tell he was fighting a fierce internal battle. After a while, she saw him calm down. Then, he opened his eyes and spoke. "It's called 'partial possession jutsu'."

"What is?"

"When you saw me with my eyes all weird looking and with the thicker whiskers. That's the partial possession jutsu. It allows Kurama and me to use my body at the same time."

Natsumi at this point was equally fascinated and terrified. Being curious by nature, she decided to probe for explanations.

"So, how does it work and how does it help you?"

"Well…"

Flashback

It was a late afternoon at the end of January. Naruto was trying to study the twelve basic hand seals and memorize them. It was going alright, but he felt that night was coming soon and was frustrated that he didn't have enough time in the day to accomplish his goal. All of a sudden, an idea hit him and he decided to call on his friend.

"Hey, Kurama! You said at one point that you can remember anything you see or experience as if it happened yesterday, for the rest of your life, right?"

"I did…"

"So, if we found a way for you to take a peek at my Shinobi Basics book, you'd be able to remember it perfectly, right?"

"In theory, yes…where are you going with this, boy?"

"Well, I would like to study shinobi basics while in the mindscape as well. That way, I would have more hours in the day. But, because I don't have a perfect memory like yours, I can't recreate it in there."

"So, you want me to be your copying tool. Hah! As if I'd accept that."

"Don't you want to learn about this stuff too though? I mean, you got stuck in a seal made by people who knew ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. I think it would help you protect yourself better if you learnt about these things. Also, I figured we could use this book to see if we can actually pull this trick off."

Pondering for a while, Kurama answered with the least enthused tone he could muster. "As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point. Alright. Come into the mindscape. Once you do, sit in a meditative position in front of me with your back towards me. I will touch your back with one of my claws, in a manner somewhat similar to when I showed you my other memories. Once you feel that we are connected, focus back on the outside world. That should do it."

Naruto did as told. Once he entered and Kurama touched his back, he felt himself being pulled backwards, as if he was pulled into Kurama by his sheer willpower. The boy steadied himself and focused forward, then his focus shifted outwards, back into his room. Once outside of the mindscape, he felt a little dizzy, as if he was not fully in control of himself. He also felt that his left eye seemed to see things with higher precision than his right eye. It was freaky. It felt like he was a passenger and a driver at the same time.

"Kurama, I think it worked. Whoaa, my voice is a bit rougher, more animalistic." Said Naruto.

All of a sudden Naruto's left eye shot up while his right eye stayed focused forward and his left arm raised to touch his face against his will. A moment later, his left eye looked to the left and his left arm shot in the same direction, jerking Naruto to the ground in the process.

"Kurama, what the hell?!"

Smirking, Kurama answered "It seems that the partial possession works. That said, it is also obvious that we will need to learn how to synchronize our movements so we don't move awkwardly while in this state."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" asked Naruto irritated while still lying on the ground.

"It does feel good to be back outside, even if it's just in this limited fashion." After saying this, Kurama started using Naruto's left hand to poke the boy in his cheeks, nose and ears, for his personal amusement.

"Kurama, stop it! It's annoying!"

"For you maybe. I for one find the experience extremely entertaining." As he replied, Kurama proceeded to poke the blond in his sides, much to the chagrin of the latter.

Annoyed, Naruto grabbed his left hand with his right and did his best to keep it in place. "Focus, Kurama. We need to see if you can memorize that book."

"Sigh… You're no fun."

The two then focused and synced in a manner similar to when they rebuilt the mindscape. Using that previous experience, they managed to pull off natural human movement fairly quickly. Having gotten comfortable with that, they picked up the Shinobi Basics book and opened it at page 1.

"Here goes nothing." Said Naruto nervously.

Naruto and Kurama scanned page after page and, after about 10 minutes, finished going through the entire book. They placed the book on the ground, at which point Naruto focused on entering his mindscape again. He got up from his meditative position, thus disconnecting the partial possession and looked towards Kurama, extending his fist in preparation for their usual fist bump.

"Alright. Let's see if we pulled this off."

The duo then steadily recreated the book in the mindscape, using Kurama's memory and Naruto's control over that domain. After they finished, Naruto picked up the book and inspected it to see if it actually included all the details. Sure enough, it was an exact replica of the real thing.

"Yes! It worked! This is gonna be awesome!"

Flashback end

"That sounds incredibly useful, Naruto-kun. It seems you are among the few who can truly say that they have more than 24 hours in a day."

"Hehe, looks like it, yeah."

"I'm sorry I screamed like that when I saw you in that state. I want you to know that I do not see you as a monster. You are my precious blond maelstrom and nothing's going to change that, though I do admit that when your eyes are of different colors and your voice gets slightly raspy, you are a bit scary, so that part will take some getting used to."

"It's ok Natsumi-neechan. That's why I never told you about it until now. I know that I look weird in that state and I didn't want to scare you."

"I understand and I appreciate the thought, but I'd rather know and be a bit scared than not know and be unprepared to support you, Naruto-kun."

"Oh, ok." At that point, Naruto's stomach started to growl in hunger, making Natsumi giggle a little.

"It seems we have to get dinner ready. Wanna help me out?"

"Sure thing, neechan!"