Yo kitten's.

It's been a crappy wedding anniversary today so I thought I'd write a bit.

Here's to hoping that the masses enjoy the chapter. Sorry if it sucks.

Happy Halloween ya'll.

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Iruka kept stealing glances at his adopted sibling during breakfast in an attempt to gauge whether or she was upset about their past being brought up. He knew he would be in her place. But then she had lost far more than he had that night five years ago.

And he was at least partially to blame. If not wholly to blame.

After all if she hadn't come to save him, she never would have been injured by his claws when he had lashed out. And then maybe she wouldn't have miscarried her baby...

Uzu caught him looking at her and frowned as he quickly tried to hide the fact that he had been watching her by giving her a somewhat strained smile before Sakumo had asked her how her food was. The polite question drawing her back out of her shell a little bit as she told the former wolf alpha that she was having pancakes. They were either lumpy or not, either way she still intended to eat them.

Which she did, much to Iruka's relief.

Thankfully his adopted sibling wasn't one to wallow in self pity or grief for terribly long. He was glad that she didn't bother depriving herself of food since she had a whole gaggle of males who would possibly try to force feed her if she so much as attempted to push her plate away before more than half of her food was gone.

Which wouldn't end well since he liked his mate intact.

The former wolf alpha and the current- well, they could take care of themselves if they invoked the female's wrath. Especially since he wasn't going anywhere near her when she was pissed. He'd already witnessed what she could do when upset and he still had nightmares about the people she had killed.

Even though they had attacked him and were torturing him- he wouldn't wish being turned into a pretzel against one's will on anyone. Not anyone living anyways.

Besides, he still had nightmares about the snapping of their bones and the screams of agony and terror that had echoed through the night before she had returned to his side and been injured by him.

Everyone finished their food and tried to engage in pleasant conversation. Sakumo and Kakashi taking turns asking Uzu various things. Like what was her favorite past time. Kakashi said that she probably had much that she liked to do. And Sakumo bet that she liked reading. Maybe even sitting down from time to time to write her own stories for a little bit.

Iruka's lips twitched at the former wolf alpha's comment since it was pretty close to what she did.

Aside from the painting and art gallery that Uzu ran and owned, she also wrote books of poetry, supernatural romance novels, movie scripts, even lyrics for music. But that was only a few of the things she was into. She also used to play in a band, designed and made jewelry that she sold on various web sites...

All in all, his adopted sister was very well off and didn't really need to work. She merely did so because she got bored easily if she wasn't occupying herself.

That and she tended to fall back into old behavior patterns that weren't good. Not good at all.

Iruka worried sometimes about how she would manage those behavior patterns if someone pissed her off enough. Somehow he doubted that anyone would appreciate it if she began dropping bodies. Especially since a majority of the people who lived in shifter town were animals at their core and would be able to smell any blood or decay on her or around her home.

"Uzu, I was wondering what you were planning to do for the next few days."

"Probably check out the town and see if there is anyplace that I can set up shop at."

"Oh?" Iruka said, his tone somewhat curious as Sakumo asked what kind of shop she was planning to set up before he could even get the question out. Shooting the interfering old wolf a glare, he waited for his sister to answer him.

"I was thinking either a music studio or a jewelry store or maybe a book store. What do you think Iruka?"

The panther thought for a minute before slowly saying, "I think it depends on what sort of products you have. Do you have anything that you can sell right away?"

"I have a trailer full of plastic storage boxes and such full of nothing but semi precious jewelry, display cases, gift boxes and so on." Uzu said.

"Sounds overwhelming."

"It would be if I didn't manage to sell so damn much of the stuff on the internet."

The three wolves sat in silence, merely content to listen and file away the information provided as the two talked. To say that they were shocked or surprised by Uzu's words and how much they revealed would be an understatement. Apparently the girl was interested in far more than just reading.

"That's cool. What amount was your last commission check?" Iruka asked, not noticing that the others were eerily silent.

"I got twenty nine thousand for the jewelry. Fifteen thousand for my latest book. And around forty thousand for three of my movie scripts which I was told will be turned into a movie series."

"Seriously?" Iruka said a huge grin on his face as Uzu smiled at him.

"Yup. I'm told that the horror gene should do far better than the romance. Frankly I'm hoping to get my favorite actors for each of the movies."

"That would be so cool!"

"Hn-hm." Uzu said as she picked up her drink and took a sip as she took a moment to note the various stunned expressions of the rest of their companions. Kotetsu wasn't as easy to read as Sakumo and Kakashi were. The man almost looked bemused as he eyed his mate and then the former wolf alpha sitting next to him.

Both father and son seemed...well stunned by what she did for a living. Apparently they hadn't yet realized just what sort of person she was. She wondered what they would think of her if they ever found out.