Disclaimer: I do not own Black Lagoon or Naruto, so any of those characters that are in this story do not belong to me. Warning for violence and racial slurs, so you've been warned.

November 17, 1983 New York City, New York Mott. St.

'Mom's gonna need to buy more dishwashing soap soon.' Naruto realized when he squirted the last of the soap onto his dirty plate. He and Becca were in the process of cleaning the dishes that they used tonight for dinner. Naruto's mom was running late for work tonight, so she left it up to both of them to do it. Once they were done with that, the two of them planned to go outside and mess around with Naruto's skateboard again.

They had been practicing almost everyday since Halloween and they were both getting better at it. A few days ago Naruto and Becca were watching TV when a special came on about skaters and it showed some tricks that they hadn't seen before. Becca had convinced Naruto to go out and try those tricks tonight even though they weren't supposed to when they were alone.

"C'mon, let's get going." Rebecca said to Naruto after drying off the last dish. The young man noticed that his best friend was excited and he couldn't help but feel the same. He knew it would be cold tonight but the desire to have fun with her proved to be stronger than any worry for the weather he had.

"Alright, alright I'm coming. You don't need to rush ya know." Naruto told her while he dried his hands off. Rebecca rolled her eyes as she put her jacket on. Truth be told Rebecca didn't want to spend the evening inside playing some board game or watching TV. Don't get her wrong she liked doing those things but she would rather spend her time outside doing something instead of staying cooped up all night.

Naruto went to his room to grab his board while Rebecca waited by the door. The young girl couldn't help but think about how much time she had been spending over here the last few weeks. After Halloween her father hadn't talked to her much, but she had also been going out of her way to avoid him whenever she could. She had assumed that he would have been upset at her because of that but he didn't seem to mind. In actuality a part of her had hoped that he would have been. At least to her that would have shown the young girl that her father cared albeit in a jealous way, but he still cared in some small way.

Rebecca was broken out of her thoughts by a hand being waved in front of her face.

"Earth to Becca, I said I'm ready to go." Naruto smirked to her while gesturing to his board. Rebecca gained a little tint of red on her cheeks and then quickly pushed his hand out of her face. He snickered at her reaction and followed her as she walked out the front door.

With it being the middle of November, it was well into the winter season for New York. Thankfully it wasn't very windy nor had it rained in a while, so it wasnt miserable outside for both of them. Once they made it downstairs and out the building door they made a b-line to the alleyway that they used previously on the day they met. This had been their go to hangout spot on Mott street whenever they went outside, it was their own little secluded spot away from others especially the other kids that lived in the area.

Rebecca eagerly held out her hands as soon as they made it to the alley. "Give it here, I wanna go first."

Naruto held the board away and smirked at her. "Narutoooo." She whined as she reached out and tried to grab it from him, to his amusement.

"Alright, please can I have it?" Rebecca asked him after it became apparent that she wouldn't be able to take the board from him.

"Since you asked so nicely." Naruto replied. Rebecca pouted at his teasing while she grabbed the board. Naruto leaned against the wall and watched Rebecca as she used the board and pushed off down the alley.

A couple of tricks they learned about from the special were Walk the Dog, Switchblade, and Smoothies. These were just some more easy tricks for beginners that the two wanted to try. Rebecca was having some trouble with completing the Smoothies and Walk the Dog, but Switchblades were giving her trouble.

Nartuo had to admit that he was impressed with her progress since they started doing this. She took to it like a fish in water. He was able to do the basic things that they had been practicing for these last few weeks but Rebecca always seemed to get the tricks down quicker than him. She made sure to tease him about it and it didn't bother him for the most part unless he was getting aggravated at a particular trick. It was harmless teasing though, so he took it in stride. The time he got to spend with her doing this is what he enjoyed.

Rebecca played around on the skateboard for about 20 minutes before she gave it to Naruto, so he could have his turn. Naruto started out with Walk the Dog first since it seemed the easiest. Turns out he was wrong and was having more trouble with it than she did. Naruto moved on from it and tried out the other 2 tricks with Rebecca giving him advice to help him. After a bit of practice he was able to get Walk the Dog down but the other two were still giving him trouble even after the advice Rebecca gave him.

'This isn't going anywhere, might as well let Rebecca go again.' Naruto sighed frustrated at his lack of progress.

"Here, you can have it again. Maybe watching you again will help me." Naruto said to her. He reached down to grab the board but Naruto heard Rebecca cry out in pain before he could. The young man whipped his head around and saw two older teenage boys standing next to Rebecca and one of them had grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Let her go!" Naruto yelled at them. He wasn't sure but they seemed familiar to him. The taller of the two guys gave Naruto a menacing smirk and laughed.

"Let go of me you asshole!" Rebecca shouted at the boy behind her.

"Shut up, mutt." He replied.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Two half breeds playing together? How cute." The tall one spat. Naruto finally realized why they seemed so familiar to him now. It was the guy who called him a hafu a few months ago and one of his friends.

"I said let her go, now!" Naruto shouted. He took a step forward to get closer to Rebecca but the second guy pushed her arm up and caused her to cry out again making Naruto stop.

"Shut up, hafu. If you don't want your little mutt girlfriend to get hurt you'll do exactly as I say, understand?." The tall guy threatened as he sneered at him.

Naruto gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. "Fine! What do you want?"

"That's better. What I want is simple hafu. I saw that skateboard the two of you have and I decided that something that nice shouldn't belong to gutter trash like you, so hand it over!" The tall boy demanded.

Naruto was taken aback by what he said. He couldnt believe that this guy was doing all of this over a skateboard and his first instinct was to tell the guy to fuck off. Naruto looked back over towards Rebecca and saw the tears in her eyes. He didn't want to give up the gift his parents worked so hard to get for him, but he didn't want Becca to get hurt.

The skateboard meant nothing in regards to her safety, so Naruto slid the board over to the boy. The tall guy didn't seem to like that though with the frown that formed on his face.

"Pick it up and hand it to me." The racist boy ordered.

"Fuck you, you got the board, let Becca go." Naruto told him in return.

The tall guy didn't appreciate being talked to like that and marched up to Naruto. He grabbed at Naruto's shirt, but Naruto swiftly slapped his arm away. The racist guy quickly threw a punch that landed square on Naruto's mouth and knocked him to the ground. Naruto brought his hand up to his mouth and hissed in pain. He pulled his hand away from his face and saw blood on it.

"Get up hafu and hand me that board!" The tall guy ordered.

Naruto quickly stood up but instead of going to the board he tackled the guy back to the ground. Rebecca couldn't help but watch on in worry. She wanted to help but the fat guy twisted her arm and pushed her to the ground when she tried to break free. He put a knee on her back, and pinned her down. Rebecca tried to squirm out from underneath him but he was too heavy for her to move.

The fat boy cheered on his friend as they watched both of them wrestle on the ground for a little bit. Rebecca felt fear grip her heart when the tall boy was able to get on top of Naruto. He started to rain down blows on him that Naruto had to use his arms to cover his head up for. Rebecca was openly crying now at having to watch this. She couldn't do anything to stop it and it was excruciating to have to sit there helpless as her best friend was getting hurt.

"STOP IT, STOP IT!!" She screamed at the boy hoping to get him to quit.

The racist boy eventually stopped attacking and stood up over Naruto. Her friend was barely moving and was moaning in pain. The tall boy walked over towards her and grabbed her hair. He yanked her head back, so he could look her in the eye.

"Maybe you'd like to be taught a lesson huh? Teach you who your betters are, just like your boyfriend." The racist guy said to her.

The fat guy above her laughed and pulled her up off the ground. He still had a hold on her arm and made sure she couldnt move. The tall boy reared back his arm and struck Rebecca in her stomach knocking the wind out of her. The fat boy let go of her arm as she dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around her body as she gasped for air. She heard both boys laugh at her while she tried to catch her breath.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Naruto was stirring and moving to his hands and knees. She tried to call out to him but the tall boy grabbed her hair again and jerked her back to her feet. She cried out in pain from his actions and clawed at his hand to break his grip. Rebecca saw the boy viciously smile at her before he reared back again to strike her face this time.

Thankfully for her he wasn't able to. Rebecca watched in shock as a metal trash can lid slammed against the side of the tall boy's face. The blow sent him tumbling to the cold hard ground. Naruto quickly jumped on top of the boy and began to pummel him with everything he had. His blows were frenzied but they were still connecting with the boy's face. Rebecca was stunned watching how vicious her friend was acting right now. She was broken out of her shock when the fat boy tried to push her away so he could go help his friend.

Rebecca had never been a fighter, she always chose to just bow her head. It had even become instinctual at this point in her life because of her father. She would rather take the licks than incur an even harsher beating, but all the fear and anger she felt towards these two, who were hurting her and Naruto boiled over. The young girl grabbed the fat boy's arm and pulled him back around. She swung her leg forward as hard as she could and sent his nuts into his throat. The fat boy grabbed his crotch and wheezed in pain while crumpling to the ground. Rebecca didn't let up when he fell down and she continued to kick and stomp on him while he curled up into a ball to protect himself.

Rebecca didn't know why but as she was kicking this boy she realized that she wasn't afraid anymore. She was still angry but another emotion she didn't recognise was there, it felt like an ember slowly burning brighter. She wasn't sure what to make of it but everytime her kicks landed the flame got a little brighter, and it felt exhilarating.

The fat boy was crying and pleading for her to stop but that wasn't what registered in her mind. The fact that it wasn't her down there taking the beating is what she was focused on. For the first time in her life she was the one with power over another. She wasn't the weakling pleading for mercy but the strong one asserting her will and she liked it.

Rebecca would have continued to kick the boy if Naruto had not grabbed her and pulled her off of him.

"Stop! Stop, He's done Becca." Naruto pleaded, trying to calm her down.

Rebecca soon stopped but she was breathing heavily and had a wild look in her eye that unnerved him. He called out to her again to get her attention but she didn't acknowledge him. Naruto gently placed his hand on her arm and shook her to bring her back to reality, it did the trick. Rebecca flinched and whipped her head around to him with fear evident in her eyes. Once she realized that it was Naruto that she was looking at, tears started to run down her cheeks. She threw herself into Naruto's chest and began to sob.

Naruto was very concerned for his friend right now not just because that guy had hit her but also because he had never seen her act that way before. He could hardly believe what he saw when he got up off of the racist boy and turned around to help her. The sweet, shy and fun girl he had gotten to know was beating someone half to death and she had been smiling when she was doing it. He knew that he needed to get her out of here and as soon as possible before they got in trouble.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her and tried to comfort her as best as he could. "It's ok Becca, but listen we need to get out of here now, ok?

Rebecca nodded her head, unable to look her friend in the eye. Naruto let go of her to go grab the skateboard but wouldn't be able to do so.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here!?"

Naruto and Becca whipped their heads around to the sound of the new voice and saw two police officers standing at the entrance of the alley. The cops shined some flashlights into their eyes and quickly grabbed ahold of both of them, pushing them to the ground. Naruto tried to explain the situation to both of the officers.

"Wait! Please! You don't understand. They attacked us! We were just defending ourselves."

"Put your hands behind your backs now!" The officer above Becca ordered.

Rebecca was crying again, scared because she didn't know what was going to happen. She looked at Naruto but he was in the process of getting his hands cuffed and couldn't help.

"Just do as they say Becca. Everything will be alright, I promise. We didn't do anything wrong." Rebecca tearfully nodded her head in response.

They were both pulled towards their feet and one of the officers led them to a patrol car that was parked out in the street. The other officer stayed behind to check on both of the injured boys. Naruto and Rebecca were put into the back of the squad car together. The officer that was with them radioed in for an ambulance to be brought to the street.

The officer left both of them alone and returned to his partner to see how the two young men were doing. Naruto talked to her some more and got her to stop crying but she was still afraid. Rebecca didn't want either of them to go to jail but after the beating she gave the fat guy she felt like it was inevitable. She didn't mean to hurt him that badly but things just spiraled out of control. Naruto kept telling her that they were just defending themselves and that they would be let go soon but Rebecca wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

Not long after that one of the officers came back to the car and opened their door. He told them that the boys were awake and talking to Rebecca's visible relief. Naruto started to tell them what had happened but the officer interrupted him asking about where their parents were. Naruto told him how to get in contact with his mother but Rebecca didn't know of a number to get ahold of her dad. She told the officer that he went to work earlier but that he should be back soon.

After using the radio to have dispatch get ahold of Naruto's mom, the officer began to ask them questions about what happened. Naruto told their story from the very beginning with Rebecca taking over the story when it got to the part where the boys were beating on her. The cop was writing all of this down on a notebook he had while they finished their story.

"Ok I think I've heard enough." The officer put his notebook in his shirt pocket.

"Listen kids, There isn't any need for you to be scared. I believe you, your story matches up with what an eyewitness says happened. Those other boys couldn't get their stories straight and what they tried to say went completely against the eyewitness's story." The officer motioned for Naruto to turn his back towards him so he could uncuff him.

"I'm going to uncuff both of you but I want you to stay here in the car until your parents get here ok?" The officer said while he uncuffed both of the teens. Once he finished with that he left the two of them alone and went back to his partner.

The tension melted away from both of them since they were now in the clear. Rebecca hugged Naruto relieved that they were going to be fine now.

"See I told you everything was gonna be ok." Rebecca knew Naruto was just as relieved as she was by the sound of his voice. The two of them separated but there was an air of awkwardness between them. Naruto wanted to ask her about what happened with the fat boy but he didn't know how to bring it up without sounding like he was upset at her.

Rebecca could tell what was bothering her friend and she didn't know what to say. She couldn't explain what happened but Rebecca knew she was embarrassed and ashamed about it. She was afraid that Naruto would think differently of her or worse maybe even stop being her friend.

"They deserved it."

Rebecca's eyes widened and she looked at her friend and the shock was visible on her face.

"Those assholes attacked us just because we're not fully asian. We had to defend ourselves and people like that deserve what's coming to them." Naruto reiterated to her. She could see the hate and anger in his eyes, but she still felt like she did too much.

"But I went too far, I could have killed him. I should have just grabbed you and ran after I kicked that guy in the nuts." She argued.

Naruto laughed when she mentioned how she kicked him, but quickly stopped when he realized she was serious.

"Becca it's alright. You didn't do anything wrong. You were just scared and anybody else would have probably done the same thing."

Naruto had hoped that saying all of this would reassure her but she still seemed to be taking the blame for it. If anything he was the one that could have avoided all of this.

"If I had just handed him the skateboard we could have avoided it all together, so don't blame yourself for why we're here, and besides someone saw what happened. I'm sure the police would have found us anyway."

Rebecca seemed doubtful about it being his fault but she decided to just leave it at that for now. She was more worried about how she felt when she kicked that boy. Rebecca knew that you weren't supposed to take enjoyment out of hurting people but it just came over her so suddenly.

The car door opened on Rebecca's side, gaining both teens' attention. "There's a man here saying that he's your father. Is that true miss?" The officer asked Rebecca while pointing towards a man on the sidewalk.

They both looked over and saw her father standing there and he didn't look too happy at all. The fear Rebecca had earlier came back in full force once she could see the look in his eyes. It was obvious to her that he was pissed and that never bode well for her. Rebecca nodded her head answering the cop's question, so the officer stepped aside to let her out of the car. The police officer left them and returned to the ambulance to assist the paramedics. Naruto followed her out of the car and walked with her to her dad hoping to help explain what happened.

"Come here." Mr. Lee growled.

Rebecca bowed her head and walked up towards her father afraid of what he might do. Her father glared at her and once she was close enough Rebecca could smell the booze on him. She knew then that tonight was going to be tough, and she didn't dare do anything to make it worse.

"It wasn't her fault sir. We were just-"

"Was I talking to you!? Mind your own business brat!" He barked.

Naruto's eyes widened and he took a step back in shock.

"You stay away from my daughter! I don't want you around her anymore!" Her father snarled. Rebecca felt like she had been punched in the gut. Fear gripped her heart when her father said that, but she had to say something because she couldn't lose Naruto.

"But dad-"

"But what? Are you back talking to me now?" He asked. Rebecca flinched in fear, she heard the threat in his voice. The promise of pain was clear to her and she didn't want that.

"N-no sir."

"You can't do that!" Naruto shouted.

"You shut your fucking mouth! She's my daughter and I could do whatever I want with her!"

"It wasn't her fault! Those guys attacked us! Why are you doing this!?"

"My daughter isn't going to be out, and getting into fights with you again. She should be home where she belongs. I've had enough of you and your family putting your noses into our business."

"But-"

"Is there a problem here?"

Naruto felt a soft hand be placed onto his shoulder and it caused him to look behind himself. Rebecca and her father had done the same when they heard someone talking to them. It seemed Kushina had finally arrived home from work after the police had called her to be just in time for this heated argument.

Mr Lee cleared his throat to answer the woman. "No! I was just telling your child to stay away from my daughter. He's a bad influence on her and I don't want her to get hurt."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what this man was saying. Rebecca spent nearly all of her time with his family and her dad hadn't said a word about it before. "I'm not a bad influence and since when have you cared about what happens to her!?"

Naruto knew what he said struck a nerve as soon as he shut his mouth. Mr. Lee's eyes flared open and he visibly gritted his teeth while taking a step towards him. "You little bas-"

"You don't speak to my son that way! You need to leave, Now! Or I can tell that officer back there that you're threatening children." Kushina threatened as she nodded her head back towards the cop who was helping the paramedics load one of the boys into the van.

At first Mr. Lee looked like he was considering continuing this ordeal but decided against it. He just spit at their feet and took a step back. Naruto looked over to Rebecca and saw that she was crying again. She had her head down but tears were falling from her face. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes too.

"Let's go Rebecca!" Mr. Lee ordered as he grabbed his daughter by the arm.

Naruto watched as his best friend was dragged up and into their apartment building. He couldn't stop the sob that escaped his lips while he wiped his eyes. Kushina turned her son around and got down on a knee to hug him.

She was incredibly worried when she got the call earlier and thankfully her boss let her take the night off. Kushina had planned to admonish her son after this whole ordeal but after what had just happened she knew he needed her comfort right now. They could talk about what happened and what they were going to do about it later once he calmed down.

Kushina and Naruto went to their apartment eventually after Naruto had stopped crying. The boy's mother took Naruto into the bathroom to the medicine cabinet and used the supplies to clean and bandage the cut he had on his lip and cheekbone. She talked to Naruto while she worked on his face and he told her everything that happened earlier.

To say she was disappointed in her son would be an understatement. She and Minato had told Naruto to not go out so late without one of them being home but he disobeyed them. In the end though she was more happy and relieved that her son wasn't seriously hurt.

She was concerned for Rebecca too but as much as she would like to check on the girl she knew her father wouldn't allow it. They could only do so much before he would most likely call the police on them with some wild claim that they were harassing his daughter. Sure they could accuse him of abuse but without definitive proof it would be their word against his. She and Minato had talked about it before and they realized that if the police got involved then there would be a good chance that Rebecca would be put into foster care. They didn't want that to happen to the girl because of the system's poor and lazy condition.

The only legal way the Namikaze's could get custody of her would be if a family member said they could take care of her but Rebecca's father was the only one in the picture now and she highly doubted that would happen.

Naruto was still upset about what happened with Rebecca's father. Kushina was eventually able to reassure him that he would still be able to see and spend time with her at school, so it wasn't hopeless.

Later that evening Minato finally returned home from school and Kushina told him what had happened. Naruto had dreaded his father's return that night but once he was told what happened Minato was more relieved and proud than angry. He told Naruto that he was going to be punished for going out again but because of everything that happened Minato wasn't going to make it too harsh. Minato even told him that he was proud that he stood up to those guys and defended Rebecca, but he made sure that Kushina didn't hear him say that. The last thing Minato wanted tonight was to have his wife get the idea that he was encouraging Naruto to get into fights.

Minato didn't like what happened with Rebecca's father and he knew how much the two kids cared about each other. He had hoped that she would be over for the holiday break. He felt it would be nice to have Rebecca over for Thanksgiving and he knew it would be good for the girl to spend time with people that cared about her.

Either way Minato knew that there wasn't anything else that could be done about it tonight so he suggested that everyone call it at night. His son begrudgingly agreed and carried himself to bed.

Naruto was pretty tired after everything that happened tonight but he still had trouble sleeping. He couldn't help but think about Rebecca and how she was doing. She must have been feeling as awful as he was and he wished he could talk to her right now. His mother was right about still being able to see her at school though, so he knew he could still spend time with her. He would just have to talk to her about what they were going to do tomorrow at school.

Rebecca never showed up on the bus the next day. Naruto was concerned for his friend but he figured that she took the day off because she needed some rest after what happened last night. It was also the last day of school before Thanksgiving break so it made sense to him. He had trouble focusing at school all day. The teachers and students asked him a lot of questions about his injuries and where Rebecca was. He told his teachers what happened so they wouldn't call his parents or the police but he ignored the kid's questions. They were being annoying with how insistent they were and Naruto was ready to go home. He was so relieved when he finally did make it home and away from all the attention.

Naruto was tempted to go knock on her door after her father left for work but he also didn't want to bother her if she was trying to rest. He asked his mom about it before she went to work and she said that it would probably be best if he just waited until tomorrow. That really wasn't what he wanted to hear but he listened to his mom. Tomorrow would be a better time anyway since Rebecca's father worked on the weekends.

Sadly he wasn't successful the next day either. Naruto waited thirty minutes after her dad left to go talk to her but she didn't answer. No matter how long or loud he knocked she never came to the door. Naruto was dejected and confused. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't answer and he wondered if maybe her father told her she couldn't talk to him. Naruto thought that even if her father told her that she would still talk to him once her father was gone.

He tried again later that evening but still no answer. Naruto didn't know what to do and he told his parents what happened. He hoped that maybe they knew of a way for him to get Rebecca to talk to him but they didn't provide him an answer. They just said that she probably wanted to wait and let her dad cool off before she talked to him again. Naruto decided to just wait like his parents said even if he didn't like it.

Three days later and he still hasn't heard anything from her. Naruto was really starting to worry at this point that something was wrong. He had asked his parents and even some neighbors if

they had seen her but none of them had. Naruto was determined to get an answer today and if he didn't he was going to call the police.

Knock-Knock-Knock

"Hey Becca it's me again. Are you there?"

Silence greeted Naruto again, causing him to feel uneasy. He noticed his hand was shaking when he raised it to the door again.

Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock

"Becca, please answer me. I'm starting to get really worried."

Naruto leaned his ear against the door hoping to hear anything inside. He tried to listen for something, even footsteps but he heard nothing. Naruto was incredibly worried at this point and was starting to think something happened to her. He knew her dad was a drunk, maybe he hurt her and she couldn't answer or worse. Naruto decided to try again a little louder and if he didn't get an answer this time he was going to Mrs. Williams and calling the police.

Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock

"Becca! If you can hear me I need you to answer me or I'm gonna go downstairs and call the police."

Naruto stared at the door hoping it would open but nothing happened. He turned and started down the hall to go to Mrs. Willams, it didn't matter if he was just being paranoid. He had to make sure Rebecca was safe.

Before he got to the stairs Naruto heard what sounded like a set of locks and a door open.

"Wait! I'm here Naruto."

Naruto let out a huge sigh of relief and rushed back towards her door. The smile he had faded and his expression changed into confusion once he saw that she had only cracked the door open to look at him.

Naruto knew her father wouldn't be home for a while, so he was surprised she hadn't come out to see him. "Hey."

"Hey." She replied.

"Uh..How are you doing Becca? I haven't seen you in like a week."

"..I'm doing ok, but Naruto you shouldn't be here." What Rebecca said confused him. He didn't expect her to say that.

"Why not? I'm your friend and I wanted to see you. I hadn't heard from you in a while and I was worried."

"I-I just didn't feel like going out or to school, but I'm okay, just tired."

"Oh, well do you want to come over and hang out with me? We could just stay inside and watch something."

"N-no, that's ok. I just wanna go lay down."

Naruto visibly deflated when she said that. He didn't know why she was acting this way and it hurt.

"Becca what's wrong? Why don't you come out and talk to me?"

"U-uh..I can't. I was taking a shower when you knocked so I'm not dressed yet."

Naruto blushed in return. He didn't know that and a few mental images of Becca popped into his head but he quickly shook his head to clear those thoughts.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you." He replied.

She smiled a little bit at his actions, it was funny to see Naruto so flustered but she needed him to leave. Even though her father wasn't home she didn't want to take the chance of him coming back early.

Her father made it very clear that she wasn't to spend time or talk to Naruto again. He even went so far as to imply that he would hurt Naruto if she did. Rebecca knew her father meant what he said and she couldn't risk Naruto getting hurt.

"It's alright. I'm glad you came by to check on me but I'm ok Naruto. You really need to go home though. My Dad is still pretty mad about what happened."

"Well when am I gonna see you again? My mom and dad were looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving."

The sadness in his voice was easy to hear and Rebecca wished she could tell him that she would be there, but her father was too upset about this.

"I cant Naruto, please you need to go." She begged him

"But-"

"I said I cant Naruto!" Rebecca quickly closed the door and locked it again.

She leaned her head against the door as she heard Naruto go back into his apartment. The look of hurt on his face when she yelled at him made her start to cry. She didn't want to be mean to him but she needed to make sure he understood that she couldnt spend time with him.

Rebecca brought her hand up to wipe the tears from her face but winced in pain. The bruises she received the other night from her father still hurt. That was the actual reason she didn't want to open the door and let Naruto see her. Her father beat her pretty bad the other night after he dragged her up here and she knew she couldn't play it off as being something she got from the fight since Naruto knew she only got hit in the stomach.

She had decided that she would have to stay in the apartment until her face cleared up but that still left the issue of what her father told her. He told her that if she went over there again he'd make sure to teach her and her friend a lesson. Rebecca knew her father wasn't bluffing but she didn't want to lose her friendship with Naruto. Once the holiday break was over her face would be cleared up and she'd be able to go back to school. Spending time with Naruto at school would have to do for now at least until her father cooled off. This wasn't the first time he had threatened her like this before but he usually would forget about whatever threat he'd make after a few months.

She finished wiping her eyes as gently as she could before heading back to her room. Rebecca wasn't lying before about wanting to go lay down. After the fight and what her father did she had been sore for days. She had been in bed when Naruto knocked on her door and she was going to go back to sleep.

Naruto's mood worsened after speaking to Rebecca and his parents immediately noticed. After some prying Naruto eventually told them what had happened and it caused both of them to feel sympathy for their son. It wasn't right that his friendship with Rebecca was now in limbo because of her controlling father, but there really isn't anything they could do to change it. The following days their son spent most of his time in his room and when he wasn't doing that he would mop around the house barely saying anything.

Thanksgiving was no different for the Namikazes. Minato and Kushina spent the day trying to cheer Naruto up but any attempt at getting him to laugh or smile ended in failure. This somber atmosphere carried on into dinner, which made it kinda awkward for everyone.

Minato and Kushina noticed as they talked how their son barely touched his food. The young boy was leaning on the table with his head in his hand while he moved his food around on his plate.

"Is something wrong with your food sweetie?"

Naruto blinked and looked up towards his mother. "Huh? What did you say Mom?"

"I asked if there was something wrong with your food? If there is, I can make you something else."

"No, it's good mom, really. I'm just not that hungry tonight."

Minato cleared his throat after pausing from his meal. "I know you haven't eaten anything today, Naruto. You need to eat."

"I know Dad, but I just don't have any appetite."

The older man sighed at his son's response. "I know you're still upset but your mother spent all day cooking this meal for us. The least you can do is eat it."

Naruto wanted to argue but the look in his father's eyes told him that wouldn't be a good idea.

"Honey it's ok, It won't hurt my feelings if Naruto doesn't want to eat right now. We can save it for later."

"It's ok Mom. Dad's right and I need to eat anyway."

Kushina looked at her son and saw him smiling at her. She could tell it was forced but she appreciated the gesture. Things quieted down again after that and Kushina was left wondering about what was said because it gave her an idea. One that she thinks could help cheer Naruto up and maybe Rebecca as well.

"Hey Naruto, why don't you make a plate for Rebecca and take it over there to her after dinner is over?"

Sadly her suggestion didn't have the desired effect she was hoping for. "Becca made it clear that I shouldn't come over anymore, so I doubt she'd answer the door."

"Well you could just leave the food at her door with a note. I don't see how that would be a problem."

Naruto stopped eating and thought over what his mother said. Kushina and Minato hoped this would be helpful for him and they were pleased when he nodded his head and agreed. The mood for the rest of the meal was a little more jovial for all of them. Minato and Kushina picked out a little bit of everything they ate tonight for Rebecca's meal after they finished and Naruto wrote the note for her.

Naruto's parents started cleaning the dishes and table while Naruto made his way out to Rebecca's apartment. He wasn't sure if her father was home or not but it didn't matter he wanted to do this for her and he was determined to do so.

Naruto was about to knock on her door when an idea formed in his mind. He figured that once he knocked on the door he could just move over to the side and hide from the peephole. The plan had been to just knock and leave but this way he could see her and get to talk to her for a little bit when she opened the door. Naruto knew that it could spell trouble if her Dad caught him talking to her but he didn't see the harm in just speaking for a little bit.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Knock-Knock-Knock

Naruto didn't hear anything after he knocked besides a TV that was on. He waited a moment and tried again.

Knock-Knock-Knock

He was sure he heard some shuffling after he knocked but nothing else. He raised his hand to try again until he heard footsteps approaching the other side of the door. He quickly placed the plate of food down with the note and stepped down the hall to get out of sight.

Naruto didn't hear anything at first but soon he heard the sound of the door unlocking. The door opened but nobody stepped out, and a hand reached down and grabbed the plate from the floor. He made his move before the door was shut and saw Rebecca standing in the doorway reading the note he taped onto the foil.

"Hey Becca."

Rebecca flinched when Naruto called out to her. She was so focused on reading the note she didn't see or hear him approach. Rebecca started to smile once she realized who it was that called her but it quickly vanished and was replaced with apprehension. She turned her head down to hide her face but it was too late, Naruto saw the bruises.

"Oh my god, Becca! What happened!?"

Naruto was shocked to see all the bruises on his friend's face. She had a black eye and bruises on her cheek and jaw, it looked awful. Rebecca's head dipped lower when Naruto asked but he could still see the bruises.

Her heart started racing when Naruto stepped towards her. She wasn't expecting to see him right now and she didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure how to handle this, so she decided to play it off as best as she could.

"O-oh t-this? It's not that bad. Those boys got a few licks in before you stopped them."

Naruto furrowed his brows before replying to her. "But you didn't tell me they hit you in the face. You just said it was your stomach."

Rebecca tried to laugh it off while trying to keep her bruises out of Naruto's sight. "I guess in all the excitement I kinda forgot."

Naruto had a hard time believing what she said because he remembered the fight pretty well and he didn't see her get hit in the face at all. He was sure he stopped that boy before he punched her. Naruto opened his mouth to voice his thoughts but before he could do that his apartment door opened.

"Hey Naruto, what's taking so long I thou-."

Kushina gasped loudly in the doorway once her eyes landed on Rebecca. The young girl wrapped her arms around herself once the woman saw the bruises. She felt a wave of shame and embarrassment wash over her as she stood there. Naruto's mother rushed over to her and gently grabbed Rebecca's face to get a better look at her injuries.

"God, dear, what happened?"

"I got them from the fight. It looks worse than it is."

Kushina couldn't believe what she was seeing. These bruises were a dark shade of brown and black and she knew Rebecca was in alot of pain. The mother had her doubts about these bruises coming from the fight because Rebecca's face would have swollen up that night when she saw her.

"Becca I know I didn't see those guys hit your face. I stopped them before they did."

Naruto spoke up from the side. Kushina looked back to Rebecca to see what she had to say.

"N-n-no they did. It was right before you got back up."

Kushina didn't have a reason to believe Rebecca wasn't telling the truth but Naruto seemed sure of what he was saying and the girl did seem nervous.

"Kushina? What's going on out here?"

The three in the hallway looked back to Naruto's apartment and saw Minato looking at them questionably from the doorway. The older man didn't need an answer anymore once he saw Rebecca. It shocked him because it was like looking at a mirror of himself from when he was a young kid living with his parents.

"Rebecca, what happened to your face?" Minato said as he crossed the hallway. Everyone could see the concern etched across his face.

The girl in question stammered for a response. It was difficult to repeat the lie she was telling them with all of them looking at her, but it did fill her with a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time to see so many people worried about her.

"She said those boys from the other night did this to her but Naruto's saying that didn't happen. He says he stopped them before they hit her face."

Minato examined his wife's expression and he could see the doubt in her eyes.

"Yeah Dad. I know I didnt see that happen. I got back up and stopped them before they could." Naruto offered.

Minato took in what Naruto said and Rebecca's demanour. He had his doubts as soon as he saw the young girl and it looked like his wife was on the same wavelength as him. Those bruises looked fresh and he doubted those boys were able to cause this much damage. Naruto's face wasnt this bad after the fight that night.

"N-no, those boys did hit me. It happened right after you fell down, Naruto. That fat one punched me when I tried to break free."

Rebecca tried to give them a believable explanation and Kushina and Naruto were listening to her. Minato was too at first, but he saw movement further in the room and looked towards it. There on the couch by the far wall was Rebecca's father and he was passed out. The man looked like a slob laying there on the dingy thing but that wasn't what grabbed Minato's attention. Minato saw on the man's hands that he had bruises on his knuckles.

Everything clicked for him once he saw that. He had his suspicions as soon as he heard what his wife and son said but this confirmed it for Minato. All these signs pointed to Rebecca's father beating her and he would know because it was so similar to what his own father did to him.

"Rebecca." Minato said, interrupting her frenzied explanation.

The young girl looked at Naruto's father and saw pity in his eyes, it caused her to feel a lump forming in her throat.

"Did he hit you?" Minato gently asked her.

Rebecca's eyes widened in shock and she looked over towards Naruto to see he was the same. She switched her gaze to Kushina to see the woman was looking at her with sympathy. The girl opened her mouth to deny what Minato said but she couldn't bring herself to utter the words. Her eyes began to water and she stumbled over on what to say.

"Y-Y-Yeah."

Rebecca couldn't hold it in any longer. All the years of pain and anguish that she had bottled up came pouring out. She was balling her eyes out with snot running down her face that she tried to wipe away. These people had been so good to her these past few months. The love and care she received from them was something she hadn't felt in years and she didn't want to lie to them anymore about this.

Before another thought could even go through her mind Naruto stepped up and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. She just buried her head into his shoulder and continued to cry, and she soon felt tears on her own shoulder. Kushina lowered herself onto one knee and brought both kids into her embrace. She also rubbed Rebecca's back to try to help comfort the poor girl.

Kushina eventually felt her husband's hand on her shoulder. She looked back and saw a hard look in his eyes that she hadn't seen in some time. The woman knew what he was about to do and she nodded her head to give him her approval.

"Take the kids inside Kushina. I'll be there in a minute."

Minato looked up from the three of them and glared at the unconscious form of Brian Lee. He was going to settle this problem for good and make sure Rebecca's father never bothered her again

A.N.

This chapter kicked my ass. I had a lot of trouble with finding the right way to go about it and there was a lot of deleting and starting over on this one. Thankfully I was able to complete it.

One important note that I need to mention is that I have changed my mind about the date of the story. I've gone back and looked at the timeline of Black Lagoon and with the release of the Eda spin off series. I'm going to change the years to something that's closer to the actual canon timeline. So the A.N. I made a few chapters ago about doing the story in earlier years you can ignore. I'm going to have canon happen around the right time of the mid to late 90's. I know that's probably a pain to keep up with and I'm sorry about that. It's just something that really gnawed at me for a while so I've decided to fix it. All the previous chapters will be updated to show the change and correct years.

Also I want to mention that there is a server that any of you can join if you want. It's full of chill guys that just hang out and shoot the shit. It's got other writers like Aizenthegoat, Kiege, Helghy, Scoopball97, Champ123, Kappa12, ItsDevaxtion, Skairipa, and Itzgatt. If you want to check it out, cool. If not, that's fine too.

https/discord.gg/fqzmsSj9