Blonde-Haired Warrior, Pink-Haired Princess
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, To-LOVE-Ru, or any other series I plan to use in this story. They belong to their respective owners, and I am making no money from this whatsoever.
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Demon Speech"
"Technique/Jutsu"
"Peke Speech"
Chapter 2: Obtaining the Power
"Naruto, there's no need to be so formal…not with your Kaa-san." The now named Kushina said, while smiling at Naruto, though she found herself having trouble keeping the smile when she saw Naruto's stare hadn't lessened in intensity.
"Was there something you needed of me, Namikaze-san?" Naruto finally said after a few minutes of silence, while Lala glanced confusedly at Naruto, surprised at finding out this woman's relation to Naruto, and his distant response to her.
"Naruto, please, I just want to talk to you…how about you and your…'friend' here come by the Namikaze compound for a little lunch?" Kushina tried to reason, while doing her best to keep her smile in place.
"Sorry, but my 'Friend' and I have some important matters to attend to." Naruto returned, using her own classification for Lala to say this, while his tone relayed the feeling that he didn't seem bothered by turning down her request. Turning to face the opposite way of Kushina, Naruto began walking away from the red-head, Lala following beside him, though her confused expression never once left her face. But, Naruto's departure was suddenly stopped, this time by Kushina rushing toward the blonde and grabbing hold of his arm. "If you would be so kind as to let go of my arm, Namikaze-san." Naruto said calmly, but there was an underlying sense of anger in the young Genin's voice.
"Naruto, please…I know you hate me, and Kami knows you have every right to, but I'm begging you to give me another chance." She said, her tone shaky, showing that she was on the verge of tears as she said these words.
"That is the one thing I can't do." Naruto replied, before sliding his arm out Kushina's hands, as her grip loosened and she collapsed to her knees, tears slowly making their way down her face. Naruto didn't even spare her a glance as he continued to walk away, Lala trailing after him.
(Outside Naruto's new apartment)
The rest of the trip had been made in an uncomfortable silence, as Lala continued to give short worried glances at Naruto. After reaching the stairs of the apartment building, Naruto finally released a sigh, before stopping in his tracks and turning to Lala.
"Something on your mind, Lala-chan?" Naruto asked, even though he knew exactly she was thinking.
"It's just…if that woman was really your mother…why would you hate her?" Lala questioned, since the mere concept of hating a parent was such a complex puzzle to her. Another sigh left Naruto, before he turned to look toward the Hokage monument, before turning his gaze back to Lala.
"Because, she may have brought me into this world, but she was the main cause behind me almost leaving this world many times." Naruto said, while Lala looked at him with a confused expression. "Like you were told earlier, I've been hated and scorned for most of my life because of my involvement in the defeat of the Kyuubi. But, while very few people knew the truth behind the sealing, namely that Kyuubi and I are separate; Kushina was one of the few that knew this. But, since her husband, my father, had perished during the sealing, she began to blame me, since the cause of his death was inside my body. I'm not too sure on the specifics, but sometime shortly after you and your father left the village, just before my abilities were sealed, she approached me trying to seek redemption for what she had allowed to happen to me. I won't go into the details of what she allowed to pass, but I can say that those memories won't ever leave me."
"Oh…so, you do hate her?" Lala asked, as her expression became very saddened at this news.
"Some part of me does hate her, mostly because she only wants to be a mother to me after all this time, and probably not for the right reasons." Naruto responded. "I do know that another part of me forgives her for her misplaced anger, since it was her husband that died that night as well. But, while I can forgive her somewhat, I can't fully let go of what happened or forget about it either."
"Naruto-kun…" Lala said, before she hugged herself to his arm again.
"Thanks, Lala-chan." Naruto said, while smiling down at her. "Come on, let's check this place out, and then head out to our shopping."
(Next Morning)
Light streamed through the blinds over the window, and landed directly on Naruto's face, causing the young blonde to awaken from his sleep. As he slowly woke up, Naruto quickly took note of the slight weight pressed onto him, and after opening his eyes slightly, they flew open in shock. Lala was lying on top of him, the blanket he had been using was wrapped around her, but other than that, there wasn't a stitch of clothing on her body.
'Okay, I know I had her sleep in the main bed, while I took the couch.' Naruto thought, while trying to pry his eyes away from the slight rise and fall of Lala's chest when she took a breath. Carefully as he could, Naruto slid himself out from under her, letting Lala rest on the couch itself, and rewrapping the blanket fully over her body. Sighing out loud, Naruto stood up straight, and once again took a look around the room of his new apartment.
It was a large place, the kitchen of it alone easily being the same size as his old apartment, while the bedroom and living room were easily three and four times that size respectively. The place had come fully furnished, with a couch, loveseat, a coffee table, refrigerator, and a king size bed, and it was also fully stocked with lots of fresh food. After taking a short look inside the fridge, Naruto managed to see several small seals on the back of machine, which were actually mass storage seals, which explained the availability of the food, as well as its condition.
Walking toward the bedroom, Naruto opened the door and saw the bed was a bit messy, indicating someone had been on it at one point. Also, near the headboard, Naruto also noticed the still form of Peke, which Naruto could only guess meant the little robot was sleeping. Turning at the sound of a satisfied moan, Naruto returned his gaze back to where Lala was sleeping, only to see her sitting up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes in a very cute manner.
"Oh, Naruto-kun, good morning." She said softly, before curling herself backwards and letting out a contented yawn, showing how well she had been sleeping.
"Good morning, Lala-chan." Naruto said, while turning his gaze away from Lala's form, namely for because of the fact that the blanket had fallen away, giving him an unobstructed view of her body. "Since you're up, I'll start on making breakfast. You can take a shower while I'm doing that."
"Hai!" Lala cheered out happily, all traces of her former sleepiness now completely gone. Standing up from the couch, and not showing a care in the world at her lack of clothing, she made her way to the bathroom, while Naruto had quickly darted into the kitchen area and busied himself with getting breakfast made up.
'Geez, I know Lala-chan and I are engaged, but does she have to be so open to letting herself be seen like that?' Naruto thought, as he pulled out some eggs, bacon and milk. After turning on the stove, he pulled a pan from the cupboards, got some bread from the pantry and set it in the toaster. While waiting for the toast, he went about cooking the eggs and bacon, making a slightly larger amount than two people would need, since his memories of Lala were now easily accessed to him. 'She's one of the only people, besides Chouji, that could actually eat as much, if not more, than me, after all.' He reasoned.
Once he had finished with preparations, he transferred the bacon and eggs onto plates, and snatched the toast out of the air after it had finished toasting. Setting the food on the table, he remarked at his good timing, since it was at that moment that Lala had finished her shower. Walking to the table, wearing nothing but a soaked towel to cover her figure, Naruto had to force the blush back down at this sight, but Lala seemed completely oblivious to this.
"Oh, it looks delicious, Naruto-kun. Itadaki-masu!" Lala chirped, after setting herself down at one of the chairs, Naruto following her example. As he poured a glass of milk for Lala and them himself, Lala had taken her first bite of the food, and an almost euphoric look overtook her face, indicating she like the taste. She began to eat at a much more rapid pace, though she never once spilled a bit of food onto the table. "Ah, Gochisou-sama!"
"Lala-chan, hang on a sec." Naruto said, while reaching across the table toward her face. "You had some eggs on you." Naruto finished, while pulling his fingers back, showing a small bit of egg was indeed there, which he popped into his mouth, while Lala blushed slightly.
"Ah…thank you, Naruto-kun." Lala said, while glancing down at the table, the light pink tint still there.
"So, how about after I finish the dishes and get my shower, we head out to a training ground and see if I can get my chops back up?" Naruto suggested, as he placed his cutlery down onto his plate, and stood up from the table while grabbing Lala's as well.
"Oh, I can do the dishes." Lala offered, while standing up as well and holding out her hands to Naruto, waiting for him to give her the plates to wash.
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I would love to." Lala responded, to which Naruto could only nod dumbly and hand her the dishes, before walking to the bathroom to take his own shower.
'Wow, she is really full of energy.' Naruto thought, as he let the water from the showerhead wash over him, while scrubbing himself clean. 'But, then again, she was the exact same way back when we were kids, so I shouldn't really be this surprised.' Shutting off the water, Naruto opened the bathroom door, and grabbed the nearby towel and began drying off his hair first, but as he finished, an idea struck him. 'Hm, Kyuubi did say my abilities were back, so maybe…'
Deciding to test it, Naruto concentrated his thoughts on what he wanted to have happen, and finally, he got the desired results. A swirling aura of energy, that only went a few inches away from his body, began flowing around him, effectively throwing the water off his body and evaporating it a split-second later.
"Ha, I still got it." Naruto contemplated, but then the aura slipped and vanished, causing Naruto to silently curse. "I guess I don't."
Sighing out loud, Naruto figured it would take some heavy duty retraining, if he ever wanted to regain his former abilities. Dropping the towel from his hand, he quickly grabbed his new clothes, and began to put them on.
After initially checking out the apartment the evening before, and finding another letter on the counter, Naruto and Lala had gone to one of the closest stores that sold shinobi items, and had went on a spree. It had turned out that inside the letter, Naruto had found a special account set aside for him by his father, which had quite a bit of money on it, which Naruto was grateful for. After a short bit of thought, he had decided that the old orange jumpsuit was not useless, Naruto had gotten some other items, namely several pairs of black shorts that went to his knees, and a couple plain black t-shirts. He had wanted some other, more original clothes, but while the shop could do custom work, they were so backed up with their most recent requests; they wouldn't be able to do anything until the next month. So, he had had to settle with the basics, and would wait for the chance to get more specialty clothes at a later time.
"Lala-chan, are you ready to go?" Naruto called out, while exiting the bathroom, and closing the door behind him. Naruto managed to find her again, in the bedroom setting on the bed, almost like she was waiting for Naruto. "Well, are you almost ready?" Naruto asked, while noticing she was still not wearing any clothes, though the way she was sitting and facing away from him hid most of her body from his line of sight.
"Hai, just a moment." Lala responded, before placing a hand on Peke's head and shaking her gently. "Peke, it's time to wake up." She said softly.
"Oh, Lala-sama, forgive me for oversleeping." Peke said, while rubbing where its eyes were, though Naruto idly wondered if a robot could rub sleep from its eyes.
"It's okay, but Naruto-kun and I do need to be heading out." Lala said, as she stood up on the side of the bed Peke was closest too, causing Naruto to turn his head away to give her some privacy. "So, if I could have the same outfit as yesterday?"
"Roger!" Peke called out, as she vanished in a flash of light, and once again, Lala found herself garbed in the clothes that the Sandaime had suggested for her.
"Okay, I'm ready to go." Lala called out happily, as she got beside Naruto and once again hugged his arm to her impressive chest.
"Well, let's get going then." Naruto responded, as the two of them left the apartment.
(Hokage Monument)
"Hm, so this is where Lala-sama managed to get to?" A figure questioned, while he stood atop the Sandaime's head, overlooking the entirety of Konoha. Garbing the figures body was a skin-tight black suit, while multiple pieces of metallic gray armor littered his form. Also, hanging down the figures back was a long purple cape, which was about touching the ground, and was being supported by the shoulder pieces of the armor. "Well, it shouldn't be that hard to find her." As he said this, he pulled out a small device from his belt and flipped it open, which showed a radar of sorts, with a single red dot on it. Leaping from the monument, the figure rushed off in search of his intended search target.
(Forested Area)
"This is the same place I went to after I had taken the Forbidden Scroll and learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto explained, while Lala was seeing the lush forests of this area. "Not many people know about this place, and because of that, we can train in this area without having to worry about any interruptions."
"Wow, this place is so neat." Lala chirped happily, while spinning around to try and take as much in as she could. "Oh, right, I almost forgot, we need to help Naruto-kun awaken his old power." Lala said, as she suddenly stopped, and clapped a closed fist into her other open palm, as if in sudden realization.
"Right." Naruto said, as he walked a good twenty feet or so from Lala, before spreading his legs to shoulder width apart and clenched his fists at his side. "If I can just remember how I tapped into it the first time, I'm sure I'll be able to access it once again."
"I know you can do it, Naruto-kun." Lala cheered happily, as she sat down in front of the small shack in the clearing.
'Okay, I tapped into this power for the first time, when those ignorant councilors were threatening Lala-chan.' Naruto thought, his eyes closed in concentration, as the memory from that specific event came back to him.
(Flashback)
"Demon brat, you better obey our commands and annul the marriage right now!" A random councilman, a civilian one at that, yelled out, the target of the yell being a small, eight-year old Naruto, who even for such a young boy, had a substantial amount of muscle tone.
"No way, not gonna happen!" Naruto shouted back, which only caused the civilians and Elders to become even more enraged.
"We'll ban you from the Shinobi program if you continue to deny us!" Homura called out, hoping that the blondes dream of being Hokage could be worked to their advantage.
"I won't have a reason to be a shinobi anymore, not if Lala-chan isn't there." Naruto responded, angering Homura at his words.
"You'll be imprisoned for the rest of your life, no matter how long it may be!" Another civilian, this one with short cropped black hair, shouted out, but it seemed to have no effect. "Or, we could just as easily execute you for trying to defy the councils!" He continued, thinking this plan would work better.
"Big deal, that would just make sure Lala-chan stays out of your hands." Naruto returned, causing the already angry councils to become even more angered. "Besides, I'd rather die than let Lala-chan be married to some crazy pig you have set up."
"Well, if you feel so strongly about this, I guess you will marry her." Another civilian, this one with long pink hair, though it was very dulled, showing years of attempts to keep it looking young. "But, it would be such a shame if that sweet little girl were to have an 'accident', wouldn't you say?" At this Naruto's eyes widened in panic, before his head dropped down, his bangs covering his eyes.
"Don't…" Naruto began, before he raised his head, causing a gasp to run through the room, namely at the fact that his eyes had become blood-red, with slits for the pupils. "DON'T YOU DARE THREATEN LALA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted out, as his anger unleashed, the energy surge blowing over the desks in the room, and send several of the closer councilors flying.
(Flashback End)
'That's it.' Naruto thought, as he focused on the same feelings of rage he had felt that day, and tried to pull on the already existing power he had.
As this happened, Lala was surprised to see Naruto begin yelling out, and a sudden appearance of a large white aura surrounding Naruto's body, and it kept expanding until it was almost five feet from his body at every point. After a few moments of it being there, she then began to notice that at random points, there would be a slight bit of red energy that would show up, which would grow stronger each time. Finally, after several moments, the red energy overtook the white, and Naruto's body shifted as well, his muscles seemingly growing, while his hair changed from its usual sun-kissed blonde to a deep crimson color. As the new red aura began to stabilize slightly, Naruto's yell ceased, and he took a deep breath before opening his eyes, surprising Lala by the fact that they were blood-red instead of ocean blue.
"There, it's back." Naruto commented, while flexing his body slightly, trying to get adapted to this new transformation.
"Wow." Lala said, as she could only stare at Naruto's new form. "Naruto-kun, that's so awesome." She continued, as she approached her fiancé and darted around his form, taking in his new appearance with an overly awestruck expression.
"Yeah, it might be awesome, but it's been such a long time since I used it, I'm having trouble holding this." Naruto said, while glancing at his clenched fist. "I guess I should get in some practice."
"Oh, I can help you." Lala said suddenly, before placing herself in front of Naruto. "I've heard from Papa that sparring with another fighter helps both of them increase their skill. So, I'll be your sparring partner."
"Lala-chan…" Naruto began intent on asking if she was sure about this. But, his words stopped when he recalled the sheer amount of physical strength she showed yesterday. "Alright, if you're sure."
"Hai, I'm sure!" She responded, while clenching her fists, before throwing out a punch aimed at Naruto's chest.
Acting quickly, Naruto pushed the incoming fist to his right, while spinning with the attack, and swinging up a leg toward Lala's torso. The kick was stopped, however, when Lala spun her own body enough to use her free left hand, and grab the incoming leg. Surprise overtook Naruto, as Lala gripped his leg and threw him upwards, much higher than he had thought she could, before she leapt after him, a pair of black, devil-like wings appearing from the back of her shirt, compliments of Peke.
'She's really getting into this.' Naruto thought, as he continued his ascent, which had decreased in velocity slightly. Flaring his aura again, Naruto stopped himself in mid air, and turned his body back to Lala, who was aiming her own kick at Naruto. 'If she's really going to give this her all…' At this point, Naruto had grabbed Lala's leg, stopping her kick and this time surprising her. 'Then so will I.'
As this thought passed his mind, Naruto increased the intensity of his aura, and quickly spun Lala, launching her toward the ground. At the last moment, she managed to right herself, and gently set down on the ground, while Naruto lowered himself to the ground as well. Even before his feet touched solid earth, Lala rushed toward him again, aiming this punch toward his head. Ducking under the fist, Naruto pivoted his body to swing his leg out to try and take out Lala's legs from under her, only for her to leap over the attack. Shifting her own weight, Lala threw another kick at Naruto's head while sailing over him, only for Naruto to seemingly blur out of her sight.
Her reactions kicked in suddenly, allowing her nimble body to twist in mid-air, dodging the powerful punch that had been aimed for her. Landing back to her feet, Lala turned her gaze back to Naruto, the same red aura still blazing around his body.
"You're really good at this, Lala-chan." Naruto complimented, while keeping his gaze on Lala for any possible attack she might attempt.
"Thank you." She chirped happily, a large smile adorning her face. "And you seem to really be getting the hang of your powers."
"Maybe, but I'm still a long way from mastering them." Naruto replied, but anything else he might have said was stopped by another new arrival, or namely, their weapon trying to cleave Naruto in half.
Leaping backwards, Naruto landed on his hands, before pushing off of them and landing on his feet again, facing the new arrival. It was a man garbed with metallic silver armor, a large purple flowing cape, and silvery-gray hair. In his hands was a large broad sword, but the strange thing about it was that the blade itself seemed to be made of a strange green energy.
"Assassin, how dare you attempt to harm Princess Lala-sama." The figure said, while pointing his sword at Naruto.
"Zastin!" Lala cried out, her tone belaying her complete surprise.
"Huh, Zastin?" Naruto asked, confusion written all over his face, but it vanished, as did Naruto from that spot all together, when Zastin attacked once again attacked, this time the blade smashing into the ground and leaving a larger gouge in the earth. "Damn, talk about a heavy hitter." Naruto commented, seeing the damage done.
"Heh, you might want to take this fight seriously." Zastin said, as he held the blade aloft and pointed it toward Naruto once again. "As captain of the Deviluke Royal Bodyguards, I will not allow you to lay a hand on Lala-sama."
"Ah, Zastin, wait!" Lala called out, trying to explain what had been happening, but the words fell on deaf ears as Zastin once again charged Naruto.
Naruto managed to lean back, dodging first one strike, then another and another. Each time, Naruto continued to back away from Zastin's attacks, while the silver-haired swordsman continued his assault. After a short time of this, Zastin began to realize that Naruto was only dodging his attacks, and decided to up the battle a bit. Leaping high into the air, Zastin drew back his sword, ready for his next attack, which he thought would end the fight. As he dropped to the ground, Naruto finally decided that that would be enough of the dodging game, and it was time to take the offensive.
As Zastin's attack fell toward Naruto, time seemed to slow down, as the silver-haired swordsman neared the crimson-haired fighter.
"Naruto-kun!" Lala cried out as Zastin's attack connected, kicking up a huge blast of dust, obscuring her sight for a brief time. When she did manage to see what had happened finally, her terrified expression turned into one of relief.
The ground beneath where Naruto had been standing had been cratered in, the large hole easily being around twelve feet across in a perfect circle, while being about a foot and a half feet deep. Zastin's expression was one of pure shock when he saw that Naruto was completely unharmed, since the young man was holding Zastin's sword between his two hands, the red aura now blazing to life around him.
Pushing outward, Naruto launched Zastin into the air, while said person flipped through the air and landed back on his feet, while Naruto himself leapt out of the crater that had been made. As Naruto made contact with solid earth again, he stared Zastin down, while Zastin did the same to Naruto.
"Heh, well, I must admit, you surprise me with your skill, human." Zastin said, while a small smile adorned his face. "But, know that I will finish you off with-" His words were suddenly cut off, thanks to Lala appearing behind him and punching him squarely in the back of the head.
"Zastin, just what are you thinking!" Lala shouted out, while putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Zastin's downed form.
"La-Lala-sama, I was only trying to keep you safe from this assassin." Zastin tried to reason, while pointing at Naruto, hoping that she would understand his logic.
"He's not an assassin, he's my fiancé." Lala responded, as she crossed her arms angrily.
"Y-y-your fiancé?" Zastin said, while voicing his obvious disbelief. "But…but I was told your fiancé was a blonde-haired boy." Zastin tried to reason.
Letting loose a breath, Naruto let his transformation drop, changing his hair back to blonde, and his eyes back to blue. The look of surprise seemed to increase on Zastin's face, while he glanced back nervously at Lala, who was still glaring down at him.
"Lala-chan, it's okay." Naruto said, drawing Lala's gaze from Zastin to Naruto. "You don't need to get upset with Zastin. It did look like I was attacking you, to the uninformed person, so I don't hold him responsible for that."
"But, Naruto-kun." Lala said, while Naruto shook his head.
"Really, it's okay, I'm not hurt and Zastin knows the truth now, so it's okay." Naruto said, to which Lala smiled in understanding and immediately glomped him once again. "So, Zastin, I guess we should fill you in on the details of what's been happening since Lala got here."
(One hour later)
"So, you were trying to get re acclimated to an older power of yours, which was why you and Lala-sama were sparring with each other?" Zastin asked, after the lengthy explanation from Naruto, with Lala adding her own insight every now and then.
"Right, the same one that was sealed not long after Lala-chan and her father left the village eight years ago." Naruto finished. "Luckily, the suppressors on my power were removed so now I have full access to my old abilities again."
"True, but with only one month to train, I'm not too sure how you intend to gain full mastery of your abilities again." Zastin commented, getting a sheepish smile from Naruto as the blonde scratched the back of his head. "Well, I think I might have a suggestion for you."
"Huh, what's that?" Lala asked, as she had taken a seat next to Naruto, happily squashing his arm into her chest for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
"Lala-sama, what I'm suggesting is that we take Naruto-dono onto the ship with us." Zastin said, while Lala's expression turned to one of understanding, while Naruto's continued to show confusion.
"Oh, that would be a great idea." Lala said happily, while Naruto was still lost.
"Wait, by ship….you mean?" Naruto began, only to point toward the sky.
"Yes, exactly. You see, Lala-sama created a device a while ago, which can actually distort the flow of time." Zastin said, before he stopped and turned to Lala. "Lala-sama, since you created it, perhaps you should explain it."
"Hai!" Lala happily chirped. "You see, Naruto-kun, this device, Click-Click Time-kun, actually causes a dilation in the time stream, allowing a targeted area to experience anywhere from 2 to 20 times the time spent outside the area."
"So…you're saying this device allows for more time to be spent on whatever you need it for?" Naruto asked, trying to clarify the whole thing.
"Right, that's exactly it." Zastin said. "At Lala-sama's suggestion, we have applied this technology to several rooms in the ship, most of which are training areas. With this method in place, our soldiers are able to get in much more training in a shorter amount of time."
"So, we could do the same for me?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, this way, you could have much more time to spend on re-mastering you powers, and this will ensure that there are no interruptions from any person here." Zastin reaffirmed.
"Well, I like the sound of that." Naruto said, as he stood up, Lala still practically glued to his arm, with Zastin following his lead. "But, just to make sure nothing can be said by the councils, I'd better let Oji-san know about this before we head out."
And, cut.
Alright, another install down and out. Hope you guys like it.