Naruto

Heart and Soul

Fitting In

"Ugh…I could use a break…" groaned Makoto as he walked down the hall to the living room, rubbing the back of his head and looking like he was about to fall asleep. Stretching out, earning several relieving cracks from his back and bones, he finally came to the decision to go up stairs and catch some zs. As much of an elite Jonin he was Makoto was as lazy as any ninja in the village, save for Shikamaru's father; now he was lazy! However, no one slept as soundly as the white haired Haruno.

Groaning, the man made his way upstairs up to his room, leaving his wife to cook in the kitchen. While walking down one of the halls with the designated bedrooms and bathroom, he passed by Sakura's room, and at the same, managed to catch the sight of the two children sitting together on the floor. Stopping for a brief moment, the man peered into the midst of his daughter's personal space, to see the two children gazing upon pictures Sakura had painted not too long ago. On top of that, she was also showing off a bunch of photos she had her family had taken to commemorate past holidays and gatherings. Needless to say, she was both an exceptional drawer and adventurer in Naruto's eyes, who shared a laugh with Sakura every time she told a joke.

Makoto chuckled at the sight, before making his way down the corridor toward his room. "Those two are…inseparable…"

Sakura's laughter filled the air, as she pointed at another one of her paintings, showing Naruto every detail written on the white sheet of scroll and seeing how much the boy was interested in it. "You see, and that's my dad fighting Kakashi! I watched those two fight once…but…it was only practice! They are really good!" She exclaimed, pulling up a photo to go along with it. With Naruto sitting cross-legged, he was able to see just about the same dimensions as Sakura, only he wasn't staring at himself. He gazed upon the photo he was holding up, and found to his curiosity and surprise that it was a photo of both Kakashi and Makoto in Post-Op, their arms and legs in casts. They were grinning stupidly at the one who had taken the photo of them lying in their beds, with Sakura and Kinoko standing by their injured family member. Amusingly enough, Kakashi had his infamous Icha Icha Paradise novel opened up beside him, which the kunoichi taking care of him was looking at with slight displeasure. "This is where they went after the fight! Silly dad…they fought so hard they ended up going to the hospital!"

Naruto nodded at this, grinning as well, never losing contact or interest in the girl or her subjects for a second. He was really enjoying himself, and really taking a liking to this family already. For a moment, Sakura smiled at him, but then noticed that he hadn't said much or anything for that matter since he got here. Curiosity overwhelming her, the young pink haired girl leaned forward and tilted her head at him, smiling brightly.

"Why aren't you talking?" she asked innocently, earning a raised eyebrow from the boy. Sakura grinned at him. "You can talk you know. You won't get in trouble for it…"

The spiky haired blonde just smiled at her in response, shying away his face a bit and casting his attention back to the paintings. He gingerly touched one of them, which was one of a cherry blossom tree with her and her parents under it. He figured it must have been another memory she wanted to preserve on paper, and took a few moments to admire it. Sakura noticed what he was looking at, and took the painting and held it up to him. As Naruto took it into his hands, the pink haired girl started explaining the meaning behind the drawing.

"I drew this after one of our walks," she exclaimed, pointing out the people under the tree. "Me, mum and dad went for a walk through Konoha's park a couple of weeks ago, and stopped under this cherry blossom tree. My mom said it was the family's tree, where she and daddy met, and fell in love! It's a very special place to our family…" Standing up, the girl grabbed Naruto gently by the hand and pulled him up with her. Dropping the painting in her haste, he was led towards the bedroom's window, where the girl pointed out over the city towards an area of trees and boulevards in the distance. She moved her finger over the area towards an even larger area of trees, which consisted of a very exotic variety. There didn't seem to be much going on, but the area was lined by a bamboo fence, and had carnival flag lines moving towards the center from all four corners. It was easily recognizable out of the other areas Naruto could see. "There…that clearing in the middle of that park…that's where my parents met…under the pink tree…"

Plain as a ray of sunlight illuminating a sacred area, the spiky haired child could clearly make out the blossom tree Sakura was referring too. He smiled at it and glanced around at the girl, seeing her smiling brightly back at him. With a light streak of pink coming across her cheeks, she reached out with her hand and placed it on top of his. Naruto looked away slightly in embarrassment, and rubbed the back of his head nervously with his free hand.

"Even though you don't talk," Sakura began, still smiling brightly, "you're still very nice, Naruto…"

The yellow haired boy glanced up at the girl, his expression showing his flattery towards her compliment. "R-Really?" he whispered. Sakura nodded her head enthusiastically, that childish innocence never escaping her complexion.

"It makes you seem…I don't really know how to say it…(giggles)…" she stepped over and placed her head against his shoulder, hands on his arm. Naruto leaned to the side in slight surprise, looking down at her as the girl nuzzled the warmth of his arm. "Very…nice …very… warm…"

Naruto scratched his cheek with his finger, blushing a brilliant shade of red while gazing down at the window seal ledge in front of him.

The two stood by the window for a minute or so, enjoying the silence and the aura each of them shared with each other. As kids, they had no idea how to explain the sensations they were experiencing, due to their limited knowledge of it. However, the best way to describe such feelings would be through one word. Love…

Love at first sight. That was the best way to describe what they were feeling at the moment. This just proved that there was such a philosophical theory in existence, and that even at a young age this overwhelming feeling and emotion could emerge.

Once their moment ended, Sakura lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up at him with sparkling eyes. "Wait here, Naruto! I want to show you something else!" the girl exclaimed, before turning on her heel and trotting out of her room. "Don't go anywhere!" Sakura called, disappearing down the hallway.

Naruto did what he was told and remained in his present position, gazing out over the Hidden Village of Konoha, basking in the light of the sun that shone through the window. He found the warmth of it pleasant, along with the accompanying breeze that carried a swirl of oak leaves and blossom petals through the air. The wafting wind carried it right past his window, the boy leaning out to catch the breeze, and follow the trail of foliage as it carried it into the distance. It was then his eyes suddenly fell upon a monument he had seldom seen.

Blinking, the boy leaned out a bit more to get a better look, eyesight glued onto the mountain that was made the landmark of the entire village. It shocked the boy since he wasn't graced with the pleasure of seeing it yet, since his journey to this house caused his back to be turned on the mountainside. Well, now he was presented with an excellent view of the four faces, as well as one startlingly familiar face.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto's memories subconsciously began flowing back into his mind like a stream of running water. Recently forgotten images of a past emerged in his head, causing flashes of two shadowed faces to appear in his very line of sight. The boy shook his head, shutting his eyes tightly to test whether he was being tricked or not. When the painful slideshow of images finally vanished, he looked back, his eyes locked onto the forth face of the massive monumental structure. Upon that final, closer inspection, one last image sprung into his head. This one was of the same two faces, only their eyes weren't overshadowed by a curtain of deceit, and he could finally recognize the stone face carved into the mountain.

A man who had visited him and his mother when he was just two years old at best…

A man who had been the distant but loving role model in his life whom had passed his training down to him…

A man whom he'd almost forgotten completely…

"Father…?" Naruto whispered.

Acting upon urges common for a boy his age, Naruto swiftly leapt up onto the window sill ledge, crouching low before springing out of the room entirely. At that very moment, Sakura reappeared in the room, carrying with her, her prized teddy-bear with a red bow around its neck, similar to the one her friend Ino had given her. The teddy-bear, which was about her size, was snuggled up against her in her arms, her head peaking around with a bright smile as a showoff for her new friend. She was about to sound Naruto's name to introduce him to her friend, but got the shock of her life when she saw the boy leap out of her window.

Sakura cried out in shock, "NARUTO!" She dropped her teddy-bear and rushed over to the window, leaning over the ledge and looking down towards the garden, certain he had landed and killed himself. However, when her eyes became plastered on the garden shrine below, she found nothing, no body at all. This caused her to look upwards, as a chance to see if he was still falling. What she got shocked her even more then when she saw the boy jump out the window.

The pink haired girl saw that her new bedmate was soaring through the air in a long jump of unbelievable height and energy. It was almost like he was flying! But as he slowly began to descend upon the room of the building across from the Haruno's main household, Sakura knew that he wasn't flying. Naruto landed upon the roof, crouched and glaring ahead of him, eyes plastered on the Hokage faces. Without a second to spare, he sprinted forward, leaping onto the next roof and the next, matching speed, agility and feats matching that of a fully fledged Chunin. Sakura was stunned and awed.

"Sakura! Sweetie! What happened!?" Makoto said loudly, appearing in the doorway of Sakura's room the moment he heard her scream. Looking around wildly, the Jonin attempted to assess the problem, only to see that her daughter was at her bedroom window, looking outside, with no Naruto in sight. Immediately seeing the problem stemmed from there, he rushed forward and stopped behind her, also looking out across the rooftops. "What's going on? What happened to Naruto?!"

Responding instantly, Sakura pointed out, following a slowly shrinking yellow blur into the distance. "Naruto took off, daddy! He's jumping from building to building, like you do! He's heading that way!"

Looking in the same direction his daughter was pointing, Makoto's sharp eyes were easily able to catch what she was looking at also, and was thrown into a state of utter surprise and disbelief. He spotted Naruto, and was able to recognize him from this distance, but just could not process the fact that the boy was running off with strengths in the category of a shinobi.

Quickly surfacing from his shock, he nodded and also leapt onto the windowsill, glancing down at his daughter with a frown. "Don't worry honey! I'll bring him back!" Without another word, he leapt out onto the same roof Naruto also jumped onto, which was an astounding 50 meters away. The chase was on, and Makoto was soon on Naruto's tail.

Distancing himself from the Haruno household with every block he covered, Naruto sprinted and leapt over the Konoha residential and entertainment districts like there was no tomorrow. His pace was that of a sprint, but the boy looked as though he wasn't putting any effort into his run whatsoever. He hop scotched over balconies, frog-leapt over chimneys, and jumped in a zigzag pattern from buildings running a length opposite the other side.

When the boy eventually came across a low-riding entertainment district center, where he clearly ran out of buildings to make, he began making use of whatever surfaces were there that would take him to the next high-rise of buildings.

He leapt from the building he had ended at, and onto an umbrella set up to provide shade for a couple sitting at a nearby restaurant table. There were many of them set up, easily creating a lily-pond of circular objects to leap on. He jumped from umbrella to umbrella, easily using their center points and lightly build makes to cross the open area. People were looking up in surprise as they saw the mysterious boy seemingly float over them. Naruto even went as far to use one of the umbrellas as a makeshift sling-shot, which he bent to produce the energy he required in one of his landings, and then reversed that chain to throw him up onto an above power line.

He grabbed it using his hand, and threw himself up, flipping through the air and landing expertly onto it. Naruto slid down its length, coming across an opposing pole creating a support beam to help the wire get around. He easily leapt over it and onto the next one connecting him to the next building. He slid down it again, and leapt onto the building. He then continued on his journey across the village.

Makoto followed him as best as he could, amazed at the boy's gymnastic skills. He didn't dare following him across Celebration Square, which Naruto do with ease. The Jonin instead went around, finding it much easier to hop scotching over people's heads and surfing power lines. Within moments, he was back on Naruto's tale, pursuing him through various apartment blocks, leaping from balcony to balcony, and careful to avoid the clothes lines hanging across the chasm leading to the pedestrian paths below. Naruto was easily able to run down the zigzagging clothes lines, and even dodge people leaning out open windows to fluff their blankets and pillows. Those people got a big surprise when they saw Naruto seemingly fly by.

Makoto however wasn't as lucky as Naruto, when he suddenly came face to pan with a woman holding out bread-crumbs for the pigeons that usually visited her. He flew right into it, creating a nice dent in its surface before falling from the rooftops, letting out a manly scream before hitting the dirty ground below, and forming a nice crater amidst a light crowd of passers.

While Makoto was digging himself out of his human shaped crater, Naruto was able to make it all the way to the building at the base of the Four Hokage Faces. As it turns out, he landed on the very balcony of the Hokage Tower, which didn't seem to disturb the Sandaime who was knee deep in paper-work, and too busy to notice anything happening outside. This gave Naruto to apt time to gaze up at the stone faces for a few seconds, before eventually crouching really low and making a majorly huge jump right towards the nearest face, which turned out to be the third's. Landing against the side of it on the chin, the boy crouched there for the moment, easily able to stick to the side thanks to his chakra control. Eventually, he began sprinting over the face before reaching the head of the forth face.

Landing a top of the head, Naruto then stood there, straight up, hands on his sides and eyes cast downwards towards the massive monument he could scarcely make out due to his position. However, at this proximity to the face, the boy could easily feel a strange connection between him and the stone face, as if that special bond he had shared with that person in the fast remained in this plastered image of him.

To affirm these feelings and this belief, Naruto felt a sudden breeze wash over him from the distance, which carried the same leaves and blossom petals, which brushed against his cheek and chin, and causing him to look up. Feeling this gentle touch against his skin, Naruto followed the whirling leaves and blossom flowers around him, the wind carrying them in a strangely spiritual nature. Eventually, the wind died and gently placed the leaves and blossoms atop of the monument's head in front of him.

Naruto gazed down at the small pile, eyes showing his curiosity, yet knowledge of what this spirit was telling him. Breathing in and sniffing, the boy knelt down on the ground, before eventually lying across the stone surface. Curling up, Naruto closed his eyes, and slowly descended into a peaceful sleep.

"Father…"


An hour later…

Already late in the afternoon with the sun setting, Makoto was still in search for the boy that had run off. Misplacing himself after that knockout run in with the dust-pan, the white-haired Jonin was now retracing is steps and continuing on the trail he had been following. It took him a lot longer then expected, but he eventually found out where the child had gotten too. Leaping up the cliff-side of the mountain with the Four Hokage Faces, the Jonin soon reached the top, where he saw a young, sleeping figure curled up on the head of the Forth Hokage. Smiling in relief, the man leapt onto the head and landed next to the boy, seeing him sound asleep, with his head on the stone cold surface and still dressed in the full outfit he arrived in, sword and all.

Kneeling beside the boy, Makoto placed a hand on his back and gently shook him awake.

"Naruto…Naruto…" the Jonin whispered. "Come on son…wake up. You can't sleep here…"

Slowly, the boy started to wake up, his eyes fluttering open to half-lidded, and his body shifting to adjust. "F-Father…?" the boy groaned slowly glancing up at the man he thought was his dad waking him up. Makoto was sort of touched by the address, but pushed that aside as gently as he helped the boy to his feet.

"Hey there, Naruto," the young man exclaimed, pulling him up by his arm so that they were both standing. As the boy rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes, he looked up at the man beside him as he continued to talk. "Why did you run off like that, son? You gave my daughter quite a scare when you jumped out of her window. Like my wife always says, 'use the door!' It's very uncivilized to just jump in or out of people's windows unannounced!" The man obviously had an uncanny sense of humor surrounding him, but Naruto didn't respond to it immediately.

Catching onto what the older shinobi was saying, Naruto looked up at the man with a rather grim look on his face. "I…I didn't know…my father came from this village…" the boy whispered.

Makoto blinked in surprise. "Huh…what was that?"

Naruto lowered his head, eyes cast towards the head of the Forth Hokage they were standing on. The nod in that direction drew Makoto towards the attention of the stone carving. While their eyes were set on that subject matter, Naruto continued in a far-off and sort of hurt voice.

"My father was a ninja…j-just like you," Naruto whispered. "W-When I was younger, I remember how he told me… so many stories of h-his adventures, and how he protected his…our home village…f-from danger. After he died, my mom continued telling me how great a man he was…and I knew for certain…after everything he told me…that he was…" Naruto said slowly, reaching up and gently grabbing the scarf around his neck. His memories took him into a world of his own, which Makoto was beginning to familiarize himself with. "My dad died, sacrificing his life to save me and mom…and the entire world from a demon…which he sealed inside of me…and insured it would stay. He loved us all too much, enough to make him give up his own life to preserve ours…"

"Wait a second," Makoto interrupted. "A…A demon…inside of you, Naruto?" the man asked, giving the boy an incredulous stare. The yellow haired Genin looked up at the Jonin and nodded, seeing the white-haired adult pull back in sort disbelief. "Y-You mean…you're a host?"

Seeing that the man was confused, Naruto stepped back a bit and lifted up his shirt. When he did, he revealed an athletic toned stomach, with a bit of muscle to be seen. Makoto stared down at the boy's exposed skin for a moment, having half-expected to have seen something. But after a few seconds of waiting, the Jonin was eventually presented with a series of tattoos that suddenly began fading into view, the boy pumping chakra through his system in order to reveal the signs. Black tattoos with a spirally center, and nine black flames surrounding the spiraling seal appeared, revealing to Makoto that the boy was definitely a host to a demon.

The man knelt in front of the boy, placing his hand on the boy's stomach and running it across, reading the markings that had appeared. He mumbled to himself as he made it out, recognizing the seal belonging to the Forth Hokage, which he became familiar with from what he heard from Sarutobi about legendary jutsus. However, there were more to come.

After that first seal appeared, a Japanese Fire Symbol suddenly appeared in the center of the boy's chest, with more flames to appear surrounding it, and then the outline of the Ying and Yang symbol to appear behind it. Makoto immediately expected this to be a flush seal, sort of like a fall back seal in case the first seal was breached. It was a complicated one made by none other then the Yondaime himself. Furthermore, as it turns out, more flame tattoos began appearing down the length of the boy's right and left arms, which ended at the palms where spiral symbols appeared, surrounded by flames extending into the fingers. These were obviously doings of Kushina Namikaze, who was an expert when it came to the flow of chakra through the body. This meant that the powers of whatever demon sealed could be transferred and harnessed at will, with very little and limited use of hand signs. Furthermore, Makoto noted that this further sealed the demon within the body, and when drawing strength from it, it denied the bodily mutation which is usually seen, but allows a glimpse of the demon's aura witnessed.

Makoto nodded his head, glancing up at the boy to see him looking down at him with a saddened face. "These markings…they're all used to keep the demon inside of you?" Naruto nodded in response, making Makoto raise an eyebrow. "Which one is it?"

"The Nine-Tailed Fox," Naruto said.

Makoto smiled, lowering Naruto's t-shirt and drawing the boy into a hug, which Naruto found rather surprising in this situation. The white haired Jonin grinned, chuckling under his breath as he drew away from the boy and looked him in the eyes. "Your father was a great man, Naruto. He sacrificed himself to save you, so that you could live on, and fulfill his dream, which was to see you grow up, grow strong, and live a happy life," Makoto stated, nodding his head towards the surprised looking boy. "And I'm going to honor his sacrifice by taking care of you. But let's keep this demon thing our little secret…" he exclaimed, poking him lightly in the nose.

Naruto, understanding what Makoto was getting across, smiled brightly and nodded. With tears forming in his eyes, the boy leapt at the man and hugged him tightly, earning another light laugh from the Jonin. Returning the hug, Makoto then picked the boy up and set him on his shoulder. Naruto gladly took the comfy seat, and grinned down at the man.

"Come on then, Naruto!" Makoto exclaimed, "Let's get home. Kinoko and Sakura must be worried about us."

"Hai!" Naruto exclaimed.

With that done, Makoto and Naruto together disappeared in a swirl of leaves, taking them back to the city below, back home, where Naruto's new life would begin…


And like Makoto promised, he kept the secret of Naruto's extra soul dweller a secret, but told Sakura and Kinoko about his discovery of who the boy's real father was. Although Sakura held little understanding of the Yondaime, she did know the importance the man held in the village, and was awed by this information. Kinoko was also shocked beyond belief, but resigned to keep this to herself, for if word of this were to get out about this, the entire village would be on top of them for this. She also swore Sakura to secrecy about it. Having the son of a past village defender under their roof, and the greatest one at that, did tend to be a little nerve-rattling when thousands of people knew about this.

Either way, this information was kept locked away.

The following months that was in store for the family past like it was a year. Every member of the family made it count, fulfilling their duties as the new guardians and close-hearted souls of their new household guest. Naruto proved himself to be a loving, kind and friendly face in their family, and brought much delight to them, especially Sakura. The pink haired daughter of the legendary Snare Ninja of the village, also known as Makoto, had taken a very obvious liking of the boy, and was always close to him wherever they went, whether it was outdoors or not. Kinoko also kept a special eye on the boy, also enjoying his company on their outings and indoor activities. He helped with the washing and cleaning whenever possible, and with many of the chores Kinoko most often had to do herself.

As always, to no surprise, Naruto always put his new family's happiness before his own. He always did what he was told, and even did extra things for them even without their consent. He was full of surprises. Whenever Sakura was upset due to bullying, the boy would comfort her and cheer her up however possible, and even went as far as to go outdoors and teach those girls a lesson by pranking them in the most horrifyingly hilarious ways possible. His most notorious prank the girls found out, was setting off extra strong stink bombs, which shot out visible green gas that morphed into snake like entities in the air. In turn, it then stuck its sickening stench to its targets, which lasted for a weeks, and that's with the frequent bath day or two. Naruto was always good for a laugh and a legendary prank, which Sakura came to greatly appreciate.

However, Naruto always seemed to be the quietest member of the family. He barely talked, only smiling and always listening. But somehow, even without words, he always seemed to brighten up a scene with his presence. It was like some magic glow was radiating off of him, causing everything to react in the same way towards him in an equally luminous nature. That smile of his, it was capable of subduing any kind of person into immediate liking of him. It also caused many other people to underestimate him. Take the regular everyday bully for example. At one time, when Naruto and Sakura were spending time at the local park, and Kinoko went off to get some ice-cream for the two of them, some bigger then usual boy and a small gang nearby decided to pick on them. He taunted the pair, even insulting Sakura because of her forehead. That was the bully's biggest mistake. It ended up in his face getting caved in by Naruto, who defended Sakura with an undying defense both physical and mental. That sent the bully's gang running off with their tails between their legs. They were never heard from since.

Over the next few days following that incident, Sakura's bond with Naruto strengthened greatly. So much so, that it was common to see the pink haired girl following the boy wherever he went. She idolized him like a knight in shining armor, which he was in the sense of his presence and actions. He acted upon chivalry, coming to her defense and her need, and he shined her with an ever loving smile and gentle actions of affection.

An extra development also began to occur over the next couple of months, which came to a big surprise for Kinoko and Makoto when they found out…


After yet another radiating day, the entire family was ready for bed. However, it was the two youngest residents of the Haruno household that needed to go to bed, and not the parents. They could stay up for as long as they wanted. It was their duty as parents anyway. So once they were certain it was time, they sent the two children up to their rooms. Kinoko had snuggly tucked both Naruto and Sakura away, and once she was sure they were asleep, she left them to join her husband down stairs. Apparently he had other…plans for the two of them, which they did not want their kids awake to get a sneak preview.

Naruto had just managed to doze off after five minutes, and was knee deep in a peaceful dream, when he suddenly became aware of approaching footsteps heading towards his room. Now, though he was fast asleep, the boy had trained himself to become aware of a presence's approach, and was able to recognize the differences between a regular walk, and a stealthy walk. This person was using a stealthy approach, with no exception. The moment he heard his bedroom door creak open, his eyes shot open.

Slowly, but surely, the figure approached his bed. When she stopped beside the bed, she reached out with a delicate hand and gently placed them on the boy's arm, shaking him awake. Little did the intruder know was that Naruto was already awake, and the moment she shook him he was sitting up, turning to see who it was that had entered his midst. To his surprise, he saw Sakura standing beside him, wearing short-sleeved, two pink pajama pieces, and a frightened look on her face.

"S-Sakura?" he whispered.

"N-Naruto," she began in a shaky voice, one obviously holding a hint of fear. "I…I just had a scary dream. C-Can I…sleep with you?" Sakura asked, attentively gesturing towards the big empty space next to him.

Naruto was dumb-struck for a moment, surprised that the girl he admired would enter his bedroom at this time of night, and ask to sleep with him. The girl he had fallen in love with, asking to spend the night with him. It was too good a moment to pass up, and how could he. He would do anything in his power to help protect her, whether it be from a demon on the outside, or the inside. With a loving smile, he nodded.

"Sure…" he exclaimed, shifting aside to allow her access to his bed space.

Sakura beamed with sudden delight. "T-Thank you!" she exclaimed quietly, jumping into his bed and wrapping the blankets around her. Furthermore, overwhelmed by a great sense of gratitude and affection, the girl cuddled up to the boy and embraced him. With a smile on her face, she placed her head against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling an immediate sense of safety and security overcoming her. Naruto was slightly jolted by her sudden hug, but that shock passed soon after and he smiled, returning her embrace with one of his own. As protective as he was now as he was during the day, the boy held the girl too him tightly, not wanting to let go.

For several minutes, the two remained like that, seemingly sound asleep. Their smiles donned their faces, warmth enveloped their bodies and hearts, and senses of unexplainable emotions drowned them into a drowsiness that threatened to send them into a dream they knew they didn't want to wake up from. It was towards these feelings Sakura just had to announce.

"You're so warm, Naruto-kun," the girl said, her voice quiet and holding an innocence similar to that of Naruto's. "I…I want to stay like this forever…"

"M-Me too…Sakura-chan," the boy replied, comfortably nestling his cheek against her soft, pink hair. He felt the girl's leg rub up against his, and her arms tighten around him, so that they were brought closer together in both body and soul.

Sakura sighed. "N-Naruto-kun…"

"Yes…Sakura-chan…"

"Thank you…" she repeated.

Smiling brightly, Naruto nodded slightly, feeling his heart soar in spirit. Eventually, the two of them fell asleep like that, and would remain that way until morning.

Around the time the two children have been asleep for an hour, Makoto and Kinoko eventually decided to go to bed for some of their own midnight activities. When the couple passed by Naruto's bedroom, it was Kinoko's sharp eyes that spotted the two children in the bed, locked in a loving embrace. The woman's sudden stop caused Makoto to double-back, and when both their eyes were nestled in the room and coming to realization of what they were looking at, they both took up expressions of astonishment.

Seconds later, Kinoko grinned and glanced up at her husband, nudging him in the side. "Quick! Makoto! Get the camera!" she whispered. Nodding, the Jonin rushed towards their bedroom to grab the device ordered on request. When he returned with it, he found Kinoko standing in the room, her left arm folded over her stomach and head rested against her right hand as a prop. The woman was gazing at the sight with a glint in her eyes that showed hope and happiness, an image Makoto hadn't seen since they first admitted their love for each other. For this situation, it was slightly different.

Smiling, the man handed his wife the camera, his eyes also fixed on the two peacefully sleeping children. "Like I said, those two are inseparable…" Kinoko giggled, stepping forward and bringing up the camera. With the flash removed, she was safe to snap her picture.

"Can you believe it, Makoto?" Kinoko exclaimed, "Our little girl is in love…"

"Yeah…heh…it reminds me of us when we were kids…"

Kinoko smiled and snapped a couple of pictures of Naruto and Sakura, capturing the moment perfectly. The moment engraved in her mind, she turned around and approached her husband, stopping beside him and snuggling into him, camera in hand.

"Sakura Uzumaki… (giggles)…the name just rolls right out of your mouth…"

"Those two are something special," Makoto stated. "It's not just the bond they share, but how they act as a couple…"

"I have a feeling that they'll be just like us when they grow up," Kinoko said.

"Hey, don't get any ideas like that," the white-haired Jonin said, nudging her in a playful manner. "They're not old enough to think about stuff like that. Besides, you're the mother, you should be more concerned about keeping stuff like that from happening with our daughter, not supporting it!"

"I know that, you old goose! Now…" Kinoko exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him and bringing their bodies crushing together. The woman was now looking up at her husband with lust in her eyes, a sight which he welcomed with a sharp intake of breath at the look on her face, and the feeling of her thigh rubbing against his private area. "Why don't we end this night while my dirty thoughts are in over-drive…"

"That's all the information I need to send me to bed," Makoto replied, literally swooping his wife of her feet bridal style and carrying them out of the bedroom.

When the two adults entered their room, they missed the sight of both Naruto and Sakura's smiles widening, as an unspoken and almost telepathic reaction of realization crossed their minds. Happiness bathed them in their dreams, and the warmth between them never left…

And they had a feeling that it would never disappear…

TO BE CONTINUED…