Chapter Three – 'Sins of the Fathers'
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Alright folks, here's the deal – I love reviews, and even better I love reviews when they have lots of meat and content to them and talk about what their favourite sections are, etc., or point our inconsistencies or criticise beyond 'baw my favourite character isn't potrayed to be perfect'. So the more reviews I get, and the better they are, the more inspired I am to update quickly. People, writers like me THRIVE on reviews, it gives us that sense of satisfaction to know someone likes our work and hopes for more. So for great justice, review! Or else I'll steal a leaf from ToxicManipulator's book and be more subtle.
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Even though she was only six years old, Kachu liked to think that she had a good sense of perception, and in all honesty she did. That was how she knew that something would soon be occurring one late spring morning. The Nakamura matriarch, who had just finished her priestess duties for the day, was nervously pacing around. Kachu had never seen her mother do that; Nakamura Rin was always bold and confident in her affairs, and was not one prone to being called 'indecisive' or 'meek'. That the priestess-turned-kunoichi-returned-priestess happened to right now be acting exactly like that worried the younger female deeply.
Kachu had decided to let it be for now, and hope her mom, who in all honesty felt more of an older sister than anything, would finally open up as to what it was that troubled her. She was right to wait; the situation finally came to a head in the afternoon as Kachu was spreading out the strawberry jam for a peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich delicacy. Her small ritual was interrupted as Rin walked into the kitchen. "Kachu-musume..." Rin said, hesitating after speaking the red-haired girl's name, "We need to talk about something."
"What is it, kaa-san?" Kachu wanted to know what was going on right away, but was denied that privilege; instead, she was quickly hushed as Rin ushered her into the small living room that they had in their flat, with a large window pouring in light from the late-morning sun. Obviously this was something important if they couldn't even casually discuss it in their kitchen area.
Rin sighed, clasping her hands together in a habit Kachu noticed was only done when her oldest sister slash mother was anxious, before she finally managed to look Kachu in the eye. "Do you remember me mentioning that your father was once a member of a village, and died defending against an invasion?"
Slowly, Kachu nodded, not quite sure that she liked where the conversation was going, before something clicked in her mind, connecting two prior conversations together. "You said tou-san was a martial artist, but weren't you a kunoichi? So was he a ninja as well?"
The purple-brown-haired woman nodded. "Yes, a martial artist was only part of what he was. Minato-sensei was well-versed in all the varying arts of chakra usage common to the shinobi, as well as the esoteric arts of fuinjutsu, though he never really taught us that." She sighed, letting out a breath that had an almost bitter quality to Kachu's interpretation. "I was on a team of three genin under your father, but one of my teammates died while we participated in the Third Great Shinobi War."
"Oh?" Kachu asked, slightly interested in hearing more about her father, but not really inclined to listening to war stories. Although, the name 'Minato' seemed to click in her head as being somewhat familiar. "What was he like?"
"Ah, Minato-sensei was a good man," Rin responded, a wistful look in her eye and a nostalgic tone in her voice. "He had a strong sense of will, and hated to see any sort of injustice being done. He took great care to reform my other teammate, who had a troubled past. But as for who he was? Well, your father was a man who has been covered to some detail in Fire Country history." Rin took another deep sigh. "Kachu, your father was the Yondaime Hokage of Konohogakure no Sato. Your real name is Namikaze Kachu."
Wow. Having out of habit sucked in her breath for whatever detail the biological Nakamura was about to reveal, Kachu sharply exhaled it, while the rest of her body was paralysed in shock from the information that had just been parted to her. She knew who the Yondaime was. Even up here in the Shrine of Fire, who didn't? Namikaze Minato, the genius ninja who had become the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha at the age of 25, only to three years later lose his life while defeating the invading Kyuubi no Kitsune. Come to think of it, she had never actually see a picture of the Yondaime before, just 'her father', so no wonder she had been unable to connect the two.
It took a few minutes for Kachu's mind to get over the surprise, but when she finally came back down to earth, she had only one question that she could really come up with. "But...why?" she asked quietly. "Why wasn't I raised in Konoha? Why here?"
That was an easy question for Rin to answer, though she had to put it in terms that were simply enough for the redheaded girl to understand. "While your father was seen by many as hero, he also gained several enemies from the war. Villains who would like nothing more than to get revenge on him." She sucked in her breath, unknowingly copying Kachu's earlier action. "With Minato-sensei dead, they would turn their attention to his reputation, or if they had known you existed, his family." Unsure if Kachu would have been able to understand it easily, Rin gave her explanation slowly, practically drawling out the words.
Fortunately for her, Kachu had understood it; perhaps too well, as a form of clarity had struck the redhead. "So I would have been killed if I stayed in Konoha?" That was a chilling thought, death was just that to her, death, total non-existence. She wanted to live! That she might have been killed when she was born was scary.
"Not killed," Rin idly corrected, not wishing to scare the poor girl too much with the information she was imparting. "However, your safety could not be guaranteed. You take far too much after your mother in regards of your looks, and your mother was a foreigner to the village. Anyone who knew her well would be able to tell right away that you were her daughter, and Kushina was well known as being Minato-sensei's wife. If somebody hated Minato, and found out you were his daughter, well, you know..."
"So they would be barbarians," Kachu replied, wrinkling her nose. "Wait..." she trailed off in mid-sentence, before giggling at something else she had remembered, unsure if it was a legitimate reaction or a coping mechanism to onseting hysteria, "So you think the Kyuubi was a barbarian?"
Rin waved her hand in mockery, knowing what Kachu was talking about. "An embellishment," she said, deliberately using a word Kachu didn't know, "I didn't want to scare you with the truth so early in life." In a motherly fit, she got up and hugged Kachu close to her chest.
Kachu let herself be pulled into the hug, but even then she was already thinking at a quick pace. When Rin moved back, to her chagrin Kachu was at it again with a difficult question. "Why now, then? What was so different from a year ago?"
Rin sighed, and walked up from her position to the lone table in the room, and picked up a piece of parchment off the surface. "The Sandaime Hokage, who was the man who took over the leadership of Konoha after the Yondaime died killing the Kyuubi, was also the one who asked me to take you with away from Konoha. Only a handful of people knew about it at first, but recently another person found out about it, and wishes to meet you. Sarutobi, that's the Sandaime, sent a messenger telling me to prepare for this visitor to come within the next week."
All of this new information was almost too much for Kachu. Finding out that her father had been the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, who had killed the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life (idly, another thought she would have to pore over later) and that she had been sent away to the Shrine of Fire with Nakamura Rin acting as her adoptive mother, all in the space of a few minutes, was enough to emotionally exhaust her. She was unsure if she could take any more surprises for a lifetime. She was able to surprise even herself however when the flame-haired girl felt her mouth forming words with confidence. "Who is it?"
Rin sighed again, rubbing her brows with her hands. "Oh, Kachu-musume," and the object of her ministering was uncomfortable at the tone of almost-pity in her voice. Rin looked at her with a tired glance, before dropping what would be the biggest bombshell of the day on her. "You have a brother."
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The passage of a few days time saw Kachu outside, dozing off on the ground in full view of the sun rays as she looked at the drifting clouds.
It was still a bit hard to all take in. A brother. She had an older brother, who by the sounds of it was eleven, had stayed in Konoha after the Kyuubi was killed and become a shinobi, a high-ranked one currently by the sounds of the letter that Rin had received. The girl couldn't help but feel betrayed by Rin again, and had run out of the room after that revelation, the letter from the Sandaime in hand.
Having again become estranged from the woman she called her 'kaa-san', Kachu had taken to retreating to her room most of the time she was at home. The void in her heart had been filled up by an obsession with reading up on the history of Konoha, and the profile of the Yondaime Hokage, seeking to know everything that had been written about the man who was her father. In all honesty, she felt daunted by his legacy, as well as conflicted; even if the Kyuubi had invaded Konoha for reasons unknown, the kitsune was still THE guardian spirit of Fire Coutnry, and her father had killed it. How was she supposed to be proud of that?
With the fox celestial dead, she doubted it would ever be known why it had attacked, so for now she would stay neutral to the whole affair.
Getting up from her sprawled position, she choked back a sob. But it was still so unfair! Why? Why did the attack have to occur? As naive as it might be, she wanted for the possibility of a whole real family, with both her mother and father alive, an elder brother, and Rin as an elder-sister. What could have been never could be. Kami, it was far too easy to fall into the trap of despairing!
Sniffling, she consoled herself with the thought that at least her brother was alive, and was coming to visit. Yes, in one of the few lines spoken between her and Rin over the last few days, the chocolate-eyed priestess had mentioned to her that Namikaze Naruto could be here any day now. A specific day and time she did not know, but he would be here nonetheless.
Wiping the small stream of tears that had fallen down her face, Kachu was satisfied with the lack of heat on her face that was representative of a red demeanour. She didn't want anybody knowing that she had been crying. Call her foolish, but she wanted to be able to face some of her problems on her own. The outside grounds no longer able to offer her peace as a breeze had blown through, interrupting the heat that beat down on her, she got up, intent on returning to the flat.
"So," a voice spoke up from behind Kachu, freezing her in her tracks, "You're my imouto, then?"
Spinning around, Kachu looked up and came face-to-face with a ghost. The blonde boy strongly resembled the picture of Namikaze Minato that Rin had shown her once, and the pictures of the Yondaime in the books. In fact, were it not for his hair being a shade lighter on the lemon-gold that her biological father had possessed, and the slight difference in cheekbone depths, he could have passed for a miniature of the Yondaime Hokage, down to the shaggy length of his hair. Dressed in a black-striped white sweater and black slacks, he definitely looked out of place at the shrine. But what had the boy just said? That she was his imouto? Then this must have been her brother.
"You...are Naruto, then?" She asked lightly.
A grin lit the face of the boy, and she knew he had been right, they were related. That was the exact same grin she saw whenever she looked in the mirror in the morning, wide, cheek-splitting, able to make her feel better just by seeing it, no matter now if it was her own smile or her brother's smile.
Naruto sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "Well, this is somewhat awkward...I'd like to say hello and everything, but that would seem a bit out of place." Bending down so that he was face to face with his sister, he held his hand out. "Hi, I'm Namikaze Naruto, Special Jonin of Konohagakure no Sato."
Her brother was right, Kachu reflected as she went to shake his hand, it was awkard. What were they supposed to do, be all hugs and kisses? She hadn't even known he existed until only a few weeks ago. "Nakamura Kachu, Priestess-in-Training of the Shrine of Fire."
The dam broke for her after their hands parted, as tears threatened to leave her tear ducts again. Whether it was because of the anxiety she had built up in anticipation for this meeting, guilt over the now broken relationship between her and Rin, or any other combination of factors, she couldn't help it. Jumping into Naruto's arms, she began to bawl, "Oh, aniki!"
Naruto for his part was unsure what to do. Usually it had been the one being assured by his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, not the other way around. Seldom did they have to deal with comforting small children on missions, particularly when his genin (and later, chunin) team was often younger than the 'small children'. It was a hard-to-win situation.
Slowly, he did what felt natural to him, and picked Kachu up off the ground. He had no need to hold her up by the waist, as she was grabbing onto his torso, holding for dear life while continuing to cry into the fabric of his sweater. "There, there, imouto" he cooed softly at her, patting her on the back as he began to walk back to her flat, where he had already talked to Rin.
---
It was a bit surreal to meet his little sister at first, but if nothing else, Namikaze Naruto adapted to circumstance. She was still but a child, untouched by shinobi life and tainted only by the what-could-have-beens of the loss of her biological parents, and so he played up to that avenue by playing with her. Currently, she was holding onto him for dear life, as he was jumping quickly through the untamed wilderness of Kasuga's surroundings, hopping through trees, and quickly ascending up the top of a cliff face. Thrilled screams delighted his ears, the shrillness in them softened by his rapidly changing physical relation to the point of origin of each sound wave.
When he had initially come to Kasuga for his 'vacation', he had scouted out the area, and found a small lake that drained out a river, going down a waterfall at the end. It wasn't any sort of majestic waterfall, but that was ok, he could still use it for his training in chakra control and other varying activities.
Now, however, it would serve a use as a tourist stop, more precisely for a total of two. Finding a nice clearing in between the forest and the river up on higher ground, Naruto came to a stop. Looking over his back to Kachu, he quickly gave her a verbal jab. "Kachu-chan, we're here."
The little redhead was slow in extracting herself off his back, and he had to help her in disassembling her hands clenched around his neck, held tight together as they were. Once off, she quickly plopped herself onto the rich green grass. Naruto observed that she looked frazzled by the appearance of her long red hair, a silly grin on her face running contrary. Bending down to come face to face with her, he asked, "Did you enjoy that?"
Kachu was quick to give a "Yes!", with gusto, as she smoothed out her long red skirt and shirt.
"That's good to know," Naruto mused as he put his hand in her hair, mussing it up further than what the snap of wind had done to it already.
When he had brought Kachu back to the flat she and Rin had shared a few days earlier, he was slightly surprised to see Kachu being hostile to Rin, but had already been aware of the possibility, having been informed by Rin as to Kachu's reaction to the revelations she had been told by the elder female. He apologised to Rin; while they had a lot of catching up to do, he already knew her. He didn't know his sister, however, and wanted to get to know her.
She had asked him many questions about Konoha, such as what it looked like, its people, the current Hokage, and about his own career as a shinobi. She seemed to be very eager to know everything she could about her birthplace and him. However, Naruto had not trained with a Yamanaka for years for nothing. He could tell that what Kachu practically gleamed with was not enthusiasm, but desperation. Desperation to understand who she was, perhaps? Regardless, she had not yet asked the questions somebody in her situation would have asked by now. Like stories about her father at the least, and possibly her mother, and stories about his own life.
He didn't know the names of any such conditions, but it seemed like she was already trying to separate herself from him. He would not allow that, she was his only family, it was his responsibility and duty to make sure she did not shut herself out from the world. With that in mind, he had invited her along to a day outside of the Shrine and outside of Kagusa, going through the countryside. She still was latching onto him, and had eagerly accepted.
At the very least, he had managed to make her happy by giving her the ride to their current location, and hopefully could repeat the feat on the way back. He had plans to get her to open up here, however.
"Tell me, imoto," he said with his silly grin plastered over his face, "Have you ever gone fishing?"
"Fish...ing?" Kachu asked, trying the word out for herself. Once she understood what he meant, she shook her head. "I've never left Kagusa or the Shrine since I first arrived." And it was rare that she got to visit Kagusa, as Rin was not one to let her go without some sort of safety precaution. Robbed of the ability to make any friends her own age, Kachu had spirit and spunk, but never the initiative to go outside her sanctuary, not knowing the bait and lure that the world could entice those inflicted with wanderlust with.
Naruto did a mocking facepalm, shaking his head. "In that case, I'll have to teach you how." Looking around, he saw a healthy, sturdy tree that stood high, its great height boasting many hundreds of branches. Taking out a kunai, he picked out two such branches on the lower reaches of the tree, cutting them off. As Kachu watched in awed observation, he stripped away all the smaller shoots that had grown off the main section of each branch, and cutting off the ends so they would bend only under a considerable amount of pressure.
Fishing was one of the stereotypically lazy activities that Shikake had enjoyed, and he had taught his genin how to fish with nothing more than a branch, some ninja wire, and a rock, being able to teach utilizing a perfect blend of recreation and survival skills. After all, deep in enemy territory, a ninja is always at risk of running out of rations, and he or she cannot always use chakra to catch their food. They were not in enemy territory, thankfully, and so Naruto was able to take the extra step of using his chakra to sharpen the rocks he had picked out as lure, making them more effective to catch hold of fish as the rocks began to gain hooked ends.
After he was done, he finally handed one to Kachu. "Here, let me show you how to use this," he stated, walking her over to the slow-moving river. As the smaller of the siblings cast her watchful gaze over the larger, Naruto cast his line into the water. "One of the biggest things you have to know about fishing is patience," he mumbled while lost in reverie for Kachu's convenience. "Fish eat smaller fish and other invertebrae and plants that grow underwater, but if they're not hungry, they won't bite. If what they think is 'food' is moving around too much, they'll be reluctant to bite, so you can't be too bouncy with your line."
The pair didn't dwell in silence for long, as Naruto soon got a bite. "When you feel a jerk on your branch, that means you've got a bite, and you can start 'reeling' it in," he droned as he grabbed the ninja wire and began pulling it back. To Kachu's amazed look, a silver-skinned fish flew out from the surface of the water, landing on the ground behind Naruto.
"Sugoi," she cried out. "Can I try can I try can I try?" She jabbered quickly with excitement.
For her efforts, she got a hand on top of her head as Naruto continued to muss with her hair. "Of course, imoto", he said, thrusting the other rod into her hands, before quickly getting behind her, holding her close to him and guiding her movements.
---
The thrill of catching her first fish had pushed Kachu on, and she was undeterred by the long wait she had for her second catch. Soon enough, she was onto her third trout, bringing the total fish between them to four, before Naruto finally called it off.
"What next, aniki?" Kachu squealed in glee, her petite form restraining great energy for what was next. She had easily taken to calling him 'aniki' over the past few days. Whatever difficulties she might have had in asking him more personal questions, he already had begun to feel more like family to her than nearly all of the population of the Shrine. Only Rin and surprisingly Kaen ranked up there with 'Naruto-aniki' now, even if she was having problems with the former nowadays.
"Hmmm," Naruto said, strumming his lips. "Well, first we have to prepare the fish by cooking them, and then we eat." Rubbing his stomach and licking his lips to exaggerate his next line, he told Kachu, "There is little better than fish freshly cooked over an open fire."
Kachu had originally thought his making the rods was something to be impressed about, but that was nothing in comparison to what Naruto started to do next. It would seem so simply in retrospect, but as he gathered broken twigs and fallen tree leaves from the nearby treeline, as well as longer-lasting living branches, putting them together in a small pit formed by a circle of rocks, it was all so impressive to the isolated girl. After he had carved out some of the branches and dug them into the ground, tying some more branches to connect between them, he skinned the fish, putting them onto on top of the array of branches he had built around the pit.
"Watch and observe, Kachu-chan," Naruto said as he took out two square rock-like objects from one of his many pockets. As he rubbed them together, Kachu squeaked and jumped back a bit as sparks flew out from the rocks, a few landing near her present sitting position. Naruto just chuckled, and began to explain, "Ninjas have to carry around certain supplies at all times that can be dead useful if they can't use chakra or modern technology. Ferrocerium, sometimes mistakenly called flint, can be scraped against a metal to produce hot sparks that will produce a flame if done properly." To enunciate his point, he put his hands over the gathered pile of debris, and let some sparks on it.
Kachu quickly moved back in front of the fireplace, and was practically hypnotised by the motions Naruto went through as he turned the innards of the fish around, watching as they began to darken. She couldn't help it, it was all so new to her. Silently, the redhead resolved to herself that when she could find it in her heart to forgive Rin, who no longer she thought of as a mother but as an elder sister, she would ask the brown-haired woman to show her how to do all this.
---
It was later that day, as the sun had begun to sink below the treeline, that Kachu found herself curled up against her brother's body, lazily basking in the moment as the two watched the sunset. She had had a good meal, finding herself enjoying the grubby taste and texture of crispy fish, and hoping for similar experiences to occur in the future.
Naruto himself was just glad that Kachu, the sister he had never known, was warming up to him so quickly. And he still had another three and a half weeks to spend with her, which would hopefully ward off the inevitable ache in his heart that would grow once he was forced to wait another year for her to come home. Even if he hadn't gotten her to ask all the personal questions about her family that he was hoping for her to have yet, he knew he had made a lengthy stride today.
"Neh, aniki," Kachu suddenly began, surprising Naruto.
"Hmm, what is it, imouto-chan?" Naruto asked, wondering what she wanted, turning his head away from the last visible slivers of the falling sun.
"Why is it I can't go back to Konoha with you now?" she asked. "You were five when tou-san...died...and you stayed in Konoha and became a ninja. I'm older than you were now, I know how to control chakra, many different ways in fact!" Far more than the average genin did, in any case. Samurai, priests, monks, ninjas, all did things differently, and she was one of the few who would learn chakra control and chakra techniques from two different callings.
"Hmm," Naruto hummed, mussing with her hair again. He couldn't help but be reminded of their mother by her fiery bright red hair. "Rin-chan wants you to do some more priestess training, which you should find useful if you don't want to be a kunoichi." Idly, the thought entered his mind that it was entirely possible his sister didn't necessarily have to be a kunoichi, free as she was from the influence of her parents' reputations so far. "I suppose Saru-jiji didn't think there was much point in hiding me away, particularly not with all the sealing protections on our clan estate."
"Sealing protections?" Kachu asked, somewhat interested.
"Yeah," Naruto replied, not really thinking ahead too much. "Blood protections that prevented anyone who wasn't related or keyed in from entering the estate were the main ones, but there were several other layers of protections. Unless a person had both tou-sans skill and lots of time, time that one wouldn't be able to get with ANBU patrolling the area every so often, they wouldn't be able to break in. That was where I stayed since I was eight."
"Wait, what?" Kachu asked, suddenly sensing a disconnect in the story. "If the estate was impenetrable, why didn't we just stay there? Rin could have ordained the temple Konoha has instead of coming back here."
She knew something was up as the body she was leaning against suddenly tensed. Looking up to see Naruto turn his head to her, she knew that something was wrong as she saw the pained look in his eyes, and the large gulping of his throat. "You mean...you haven't been told yet?" He asked slowly and cautiously.
Kachu was surprised by that. "Huh? Told me what?"
"I-," Naruto began to say something, only to cut himself off. Raising one of his hands to his teeth, he began to bite one of his fingernails, a habit Kachu had never seen him do before. Finally, he sighed, giving off a forlorn, sad grin. "I don't think Rin or Saru-jiji wanted me to tell you, but..." He sighed again. "Kachu, there's something I can tell you, but you should know it could change your life. If I do tell you," Here, he looked straight into her eyes with a hard look, green meeting blue, sapphires clashing against emeralds, "If I do tell you, I will give you a night to mull over it. You must promise me that you will talk to me about it tomorrow."
His behaviour was mystifying, and Kachu wandered what it was that had him spooked so. She had already found out about who her family was and the existence of her big brother within the span of twenty minutes, so surely she should be able to handle this, right? Slowly, she nodded. "I promise."
Naruto shook his head, rubbing his hair, trying to put it off as long as possible, before he finally decided to go cold turkey. "Alright, but you will talk to me about it tomorrow, and you will tell me everything you have thought about it tomorrow." Taking another deep breath, he looked back at her, determined to look her in the eye when he said what he was about to reveal. "There's a reason why you had to come to the Shrine of Fire. You see, tou-san never killed the Kyuubi." There was a gasp and a look of horror on his sister's face, but Naruto continued on. "Tou-san wasn't sure if he could even 'kill' the Kyuubi with the self-sacrificial jutsu he was originally going to use, so he decided to instead seal it away. The Kyuubi was too strong, so he couldn't seal it inside an inanimate object, no, he had to seal it inside an infant. A newborn infant. The Kyuubi was first sighted on September 31st, and two days later was confirmed as heading towards Konoha, getting within attacking range of October 10th."
"Sealed within you is the Kyuubi no Kitsune."
---
Sitting on top of the tree branches was one of the few freedoms that Kaen was afforded within the seal that kept him bound. It was the lack of anything solid underneath his feet that gave him a thrill, while lied on his back, looking at the sky or stars, that had prevented him from becoming too self-obsessed with his constant thinking. Darn. There he was going again.
He could remember the collective worth of over a thousand years of memories, but it was as if there had been a thin haze applied over it. If he focused he could remember it, but the memory had become impersonal to him. He boasted years and years of fighting experience and knowledge, but it was difficult to apply. If he was vulnerable to fire, then he would have known not to touch a hot stove from common sense, but he would still touch it. It was difficult to resolve the two, and at first he had been striving to become the great Kyuubi no Kitsune again.
But then she had come along. Nakamura Kachu, she thought of herself as, while in reality she was Namikaze Kachu, daughter of the one whom had called down the Shinigami to seal him away within her. It had been subtle; at first, he had merely intended to get to know her as he had sworn a promise to do his best to protect her. Something had changed, and he was unsure as to how he was to deal with it.
There was a flicker in his surroundings, which he identified as his jailer entering her mindscape. He enjoyed her visits greatly, there was that. Turning around on the branch, he dropped down onto the ground, idly smoothing out his red sweater and green pants. He wondered what they would talk about today.
What he certainly didn't expect was for Kachu to approach him with a grim look on her face. His heart sank at seeing it, surprising even himself at how intense the emotion was. "What's wrong, Ka-chan?" He said cautiously, using the affectionate and punny honourific he had come up with in the last meeting.
"Tell me, Kaen," she said, and his stomach began to sink as well at the sad, disappointed tone in her voice, "Who are you really?"
That stopped him cold. Had she found out? "W-what...do you mean?" He asked, desperately wanting to find the words that could help him resolve this situation.
"Tell me, Kaen," she repeated, grabbing him by the shirt with her fists, and this time her voice was only sad, tears streaming down her angeline whiskered cheeks, "Are you the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"
His own heart was practically breaking that her reaction was like this, but nor could he blame her. Nor would he lie to her. "Yes," he uttered the word softly. He tried to touch her, hoping she would soften up at familiar contact.
He winced as she reeled back from his hands, letting go of his clothing. Through tears, she ground out three words that fractured his soul. "I...hate...you..." she said slowly, clearly having difficulties saying the words. "You killed my tou-san and kaa-san! You did it! I never want to see you again!"
Any efforts that Kaen could have made to defend himself were for naught, though, for as soon as she had pronounced those words and denunciated his presence in her mind, Kachu had faded away out of the mindscape, leaving only the born-again kitsune behind.
"What...just happened?" The redhaired boy said to himself as the situation hit him like a load of bricks. He wasn't able to cope with this, he had never had something like this occur to him before, nor was he able to handle the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to pour over him, drowning him under its fierce pressure. Sitting down, he began to silently let tears go down his own whiskered cheeks, hoping for a light to break through his darkness.
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Since this story came out, with only about eight femNaru/Kyuubi fics beforehand that I knew of, three more have come out. I like to pump my ego by thinking I'm a direct cause XD. If another one comes out in the next week I will end up collapsing under my own megalomania, or be absolutely incorrigible.
So yeah. "Whaddya mean this isn't the typical 'boy meets girl, have a perfect relationship with no disputes or troubles between them at all, and they grow up and gain a 500% combat bonus for suddenly having a romantic interest with lots of smutty sex in the meantime' Naruo fanfic?" It's one of the things that J.K. Rowling at least managed to achieve that 99% of HP fanfic writers somehow can't seem to understand – couples DO NOT have perfect relationships. They have breakups, they have fights, and they have conflicts. The same goes for Naruto fanfics. You'd think given the average romance fic here that in real life husbands and wives (or girlfriends and boyfriends) never have a spat over anything personal. As far as Kachu is concerned, Kaen betrayed her trust, which he basically did. Poignant, with concentrated childhood angst. Same goes for Rin not telling her about having a brother, though that will be looked at a bit more again next chapter.
C'mon people isn't this more interesting than "Naruko has the Kyuubi sealed in her, she gets hit and kicked a lot of times and the Sandaime doesn't bother to do anything about it until she eventually gets raped and either gets psychologically traumatized or else shrugs it off, picks up a casual romantic partner, and becomes badass in black"?
The last scene aside, this chapter tired me out greatly. Not that it was me being lazy, but I tend to get really invested emotionally in my characters when I write, and there was definitely a lot of emotional ups-and-downs for them in this chapter. Big conversation between mother-and-daughter, sibling bonding, all that stuff.
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Review Responses;
Anonymous (regarding lemons): I haven't completely decided on that yet, and if I do I'm not entirely sure whether I will keep it in the main story or put it off in a side document to keep Flame and Vortex T-rated. If I do write one, rest assured (unless you're of the opposite train of thought) that I will keep it in good taste. It won't be so much smut as it will be about the love invested in it.
Barranca: That there is something you will just have to wait and see, I am afraid ;).
GameDemonKing: Don't automatically assume I'm going to use that. CRA is fanon, and I don't use fanon crap unless I find it convenient to explain a plot point.