Disclaimer:
The roses are red,
the violets are blue,
I do not own Naruto
And neither do you!
Authors Notes:
Im sorry it took so look to update the chapter. Real life have been busy lately. I wasnt able to introduce the change I wanted to make, I realized I should go slowly there, better to not rush anything.
By the way, GOOD reviews increase my writting speed... So if you want this story to be updated sooner, make reviews ;)
The Bug, The Fox and The Hare / Chapter FIVE
Kurenai was tired but the energy pill was still in effect. Half-asleep, she showed Naruto around her house before making them some warm milk with honey. What she didn't tell Naruto, is that she slipped a narcotic she had in it.
Though he was already near-asleep, Kurenai didn't want him waking up in the middle of the night and panicking at his unfamiliar surroundings. He didn't move from his new bed in her spare bedroom, looking sad as always. He did smile faintly and thanked her for the milk however.
That narcotic was one of the few thing to be able to counter the effect of the energy pill and soon, both of them were asleep in their respective beds.
O0o0o0
Shino and Hinata however, stayed up for a few hours before going to sleep.
Knowing better then asking Hinata what happened in her worried and tired state, Shino instead searching for answers in his family private library. Surely, if Naruto had some sort of unusual Bloodline Limit or Chakra, as Shino suspected, he would be able to find proof of it. However, Shino soon found himself on a wild goose chase; there was no history of anyone with the name Uzumaki in his family's libraries.
Meanwhile, after a few hours tossing and turning, Hinata sat up in her bed. Her mind was buzzing too much for her to sleep. Sighing, she reached under her bed and into a tear on the underside of her mattress that was hidden by the mattress cover and pulled out her diary. Writing down her confused thoughts and feeling helped sort them all out, and Hinata calmed down. Then she got up and put on her sandals.
During her writing, Hinata had decided to go and get Naruto a get-well gift. It would be polite and would be a good way of telling him that his friends and team cared. That...she cared. Waving off the last bit, Hinata went out.
When she came back, her younger sister was waiting for her with a smile. She helped Hinata bringing her bags in the house while asking how went their first Rank C mission:
"We succeeded in our objectives but... something came up."
Seeing the expression of her sister's face, Hanabi didn't insist. Hinata noted that Hanabi was being friendly and sweet with her.
Father must not be home, Hinata thought. Otherwise, sister wouldn't be spending time with me.
Hinata told Hanabi the parts of her mission she was willing to tell, like how she learned how to walk on trees and such, and how they found a bunny (the two girls both agreed that was the best part). Then Hinata heard Hanabi's stomach rumble.
Hinata grinned as the little girl blushed. "Maybe I should make us a little something sweet?" she asked playfully. Hanabi nodded eagerly.
Maybe I can make something for Naruto too, Hinata thought happily as she started for the kitchen
However, Hanabi stopped her just as they were passing the garden. It had belonged to their Mother and she had left it to her girls when she passed away. Their father hired a professional gardener to tend exclusively to it. However, when the gardener discovered the girls' interest in it, he showed them how they could tend to it, if they so wished.
After carefully watering the flowers and shrubs, Hinata and Hanabi paid their respects to the small shrine dedicated to their mother at the garden's center.
Feeling a sort of spiritual peace in her center, Hinata went on to the kitchen. Breakfast was already over, so the cook was happy to let Hinata use the kitchen; though he did keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't use salt in place of sugar like last time. After she put what she prepared to bake in the oven and sat to wait, however, her eyes were beginning to close by themselves...
When she woke up, Hinata realize she was on her bed. As she looked around, she saw on her desk, a handkerchief closed with a big blue ribbon. As she approached, she saw the note beside it:
Little Mistress, I hope you will forgive me but I asked the butler to discreetly put you in your room, as you had fallen asleep in my kitchen. I have put the glazing on the cookies and I also took the liberty of eating one of them. I assure you they taste wonderful.
If you need anything else, I'm at your service,
The Cook
Hinata chuckled... but in the same time, she was sad. She didn't want to be a burden for him; if Father found out that the cook allowed her to work in the kitchen; let allow fall asleep in it, he'd be fired.
"Hinata!"
It was Hinabi, knocking at the door.
"You got a phone call from your Sensei."
O0o0o
As for Shino, as thorough he being in his investigation, he was still simply curious and frustrated. He ate a late breakfast with his mother and refreshed himself. He went after that to the public library of the Hokage Tower, really hoping to figure out what happened during their mission.
Even if it was a public library available to every Konoha ninja, there was still security points. Even if he found some interesting information about chakra detection, there was surprisingly little information about the Uzumaki Clan, if there was such a thing.
Then, the boy noticed something. Going to the librarian, Shino asked to see Konoha genealogy documents. The more he searched about it, the more it became apparent that every person's genealogy was carefully documented and made public information; after all, it would make it all the easier to keep track of bloodlines and clans for arranged marriages and such. However, when it came to Naruto, he couldn't dig up anything, not even a name. He then searched on what he knew about Naruto... he found some basic information about the shadow clones but nothing he didn't see by himself...
I don't think I'm looking at this from the proper perspective,thought the young boy.
Sighing, Shino redoubled his efforts. Finally, he found something in an old and tattered book about the history of Konoha's founding. A passage on the First Lord's wife read: "She was of the ancient Uzumaki, a clan blessed with longevity and resilience." Nothing more however...
Hummm...
Shino then begin to think intensively. Maybe Naruto is a blood descendant of the First Lord and his sole heir. A rival of the Third Lord could have removed all proof of Naruto's bloodline so that when the Third steps down, Naruto will not be able to be able to inherit the title by virtue of blood; the boy has the name Uzumaki, but that is worth nothing without proof that he is the First's blood descendant.
Shino knew better then putting all his eggs in this theory however. It was a puzzle that had too many missing pieces. But at least, he was glad by the product of his search. At least he discovered that whatever happened during their missions WAS linked with Naruto.
He wanted to ask his mother about it but the energy pill effect was beginning to lift off so he went directly home and got some sleep. His mother woke him up at the end of the afternoon, once she received a call from Kurenai.
O0o0o0
Kurenai was awoken by a strong hand on her head. With a jump, she opened her eyes; it was Asuma.
Sighing, she looked at the alarm clock.
Well I slept enough. Anymore and its gonna ruin my night.
She was still feeling groggy from the narcotic she took but tried to smile at Azuma. She sat up, whispering, "It's rude to break into anyone's house; breaking into a ninja's could be fatal."
Asuma smiled back at her. "You know you love it when I do."
"Shhh," Kurenai shushed him, placing a finger to his lips. "Don't be too loud. Naruto's still asleep, and I want him to get plenty of rest."
"What are you talking about?" Though he tried to hide it, Kurenai could tell that he was forcing his smile to stay on his face.
Kurenai cocked her head to the side. "Our mission wasn't a total success. I've give you all the details later, but I will tell you that we were lucky we all came back in one piece."
"Hold on, hold on... You're telling me that because of a difficult mission, Naruto is staying with you?"
Kurenai was surprised by Asuma's words. Even if he was trying to hide it, his tone and eyes betrayed that he was upset. She decided that it would be better to let him tell her then accuse him outright. "Are you upset?" she asked, acting neither serious or prying, "how come?"
Azuma gave a chuckle that didn't sound very genuine. "I'm just wondering if I should go blond. I mean, that kid was with you for a month and he already staying with you. Even Konohamaru didn't get that privilege."
Kurenai could detect his anger miles away so she decided to nib the issue at the bud. "Listen, this isn't the time to talk about this now. How about we get together later at your place, and we can talk about it then? Find a babysitter for Konohomaru in the meantime.
"Fine, fine," Asuma said, only a little curtly. "Well then, I will be going, see you later."
He was smiling but Kurenai could read others with just a glance. A blessing and a curse...
The situation had woken Kurenai up completely.
I hope this idea will work...
She phoned Shino and Hinata, asking them to come at her house immediately. Then she decided to go to Naruto's room and cast the Angellic Illusion: Dream Catcher jutsu on him again, to make sure he wouldn't woke up before her plan is ready.
Once Shino and Hinata was there, she was surprised to see Hinata having two packages with her.
" What is that Hinata?"
Hinata blushed deeply. "I-I... I just thought I should make some cookies for us and sharing them together.
"You mean for the whole Team 8? That's very nice of you!"
She knew she didn't need to worry about Hinata, her intuition was right on the spot again. Now for Shino.
"Shino, I will go straight to the point: you want to know what happen when you were gone right?"
Shino just nodded. She continued.
"Then enter please, I will explain everything."
Once the whole story was told, Shino looked even more puzzled, even for him.
"Is there something you would ask to ask Shino?"
He nodded before asking, "Does what happened that have a link with the Uzumaki clan bloodline?"
So he did some research... I should have expected that even tired, he would try to figure out...
Kurenai faintly smiled. "In a way, yes. As you guess, there's a secret around Naruto that we aren't allowed to talk about it. In fact, there's a special law surrounding all this."
Both Hinata and Shino looked surprised. They didn't think something so big could be involved around Naruto!
"I can't tell you what it is however... only Naruto can tell you his secret if he wants too. But I can help you making a report of what you saw first hand, that isn't against the rule. First, Hinata, you saw Naruto surrounded in a weird red chakra and Naruto was really angry. He even had a scary feral look, am I correct?"
Hinata nodded.
"And we all sensed a enormous killing intent coming from Naruto when he was in his state, even from far away." Their teacher turned to Shino. "Do you have a theory for this?"
"After all we just said, I have come to think the Uzumaki clan has a strange power that was strong but unpredictable. I think the power is based on emotions, as if I understand correctly, it stopped once his attention was taken away from the ninja. Sensei, can you confirm it?"
Kurenai smile. "I can just say the part about emotions is totally true. But do you know the trigger from it?"
Both genins remained silence, waiting for the rest.
So Hinata doesn't remember, thought Kurenai, a bit surprised.
She told them without detours, "He thought Hinata was dead because of him."
Confusion seemed to be the invited guess today. Kurenai continued. "What you both didn't know was told to me by Minu at the Hokage tower this morning. She told me she saved your life Hinata. The poison you were victim should have kill you. Without her, you would be dead."
From the look of Hinata, she knew where her thoughts was heading so she added, "If Naruto and you were more attentive on mission, maybe this wouldn't have happened. However, its also was my decision to split the group, I'm as guilty, maybe even a bit more since I'm responsible for all of you. But you are genin of the Leaf. You all knew you would be risking your life eventually. I don't want any of you of thinking of taking the whole blame for this. It was a team mistake. I haven't been a Joounin for very long and its my first time having genins on my own. We all lacked preparations it seems."
She the put her hand on her genins' shoulders, with a nice warm smile. "Nobody is dead and we succeeded our mission. That's all that matters. I'm glad I'm part of Team 8 and you all should too. Lets do our best so it wont happen again."
She then rose up.
"Now, about Naruto... is he still your friend?"
Hinata and Shino nodded. "You shouldn't worry about Naruto's secret, he will tell you when ready. Naruto needs cheering from his friends right now. So I'm going to take you all to the restaurant tonight to celebrate the success of Team 8 first mission. I have something to attend first so I will come and get the two of you at your houses with Naruto later, ok?"
Hinata asked about her cookies. "You cooked them today right? Well, well! I will take only one for myself and you can bring them to the restaurant with us. The restaurant owner is a old friend of mine, he wont mind it so don't worry! I'm sure Naruto will be glad."
Once her genins left, she picked up the phone and called Asuma.
"Are you free right now?"
"Yeah, I found somone for Konohamaru."
"Then I'm coming."
She hanged up and go to Azuma house...
0O0o0
Kurenai and Asume sat across from each other, both with their drinks already poured. Kurenai sensed she will have to take the initiative but before she could open her mouth, Azuma spoken.
"I'm sorry... it's just...you wanted things to go slow between us and now, Naruto is sleeping under your roof while Konohomaru doesn't even know we're together. You know how I wanted the three of us to make a family."
"I know Azuma but Naruto is badly hurt right now. As you said, he needs a mother figure and needs one even more then before. Are you jealous of him?"
Azuma tone rose up a bit as he spoke. "Oh c'mon, me, jealous of a genin? It's just it's already hard enough to see each other while we both have genins and now, with Naruto there, how are we supposed to celebrate our first anniversary together now?"
Kurenai was shocked...that was something she really didn't expect.
"You think today is our first anniversary?"
It was now Azuma who was surprised... and Kurenai didn't know is she should laugh at him being offended or not.
" I told you that I love you one year exactly the day you left for your mission. I thought that now that you came back we could doing it already but with-"
"Don't fuck with me."
Azuma shut up immediately. Even as dense as he was, and even under the effect of alcohol, he could tell that something was wrong, terribly wrong.
"What did I say?" he asked.
Kurenai didn't answer immediately. She really didn't want to bring this up but now, she was pissed. "Those words mean nothing to you. You told them as you gave flowers to every beautiful face."
Her angry eyes met Asuma's, and he could feel fire and lighting.
"I found your letters," she whispered softly, "the ones from the women you said the exact same thing to."
Kurenai felt dark pleasure from seeing Azuma face becoming paler. She went on.
"I know you weren't in a serious relationship before. You always been a womankiller, I knew that when we started dating. But you never directly lied to me. That's what I liked the most about you. When you told me that you wanted to create a family with me, I was really glad. I knew you were honest, from the dept of your heart...
She put her glass on the table.
"But you didn't say marry me. You never mentioned marriage. You avoided the subject a lot. Why? Because you are clumsy and you are still afraid of getting hitched to only one."
She looked away, now sad.
"I wanted to believe your promise when you said you were serious with me. As for me, when you told me we should start having a family, it was the day we should remember."
Asuma sighed, and said, very sheepishly, "I should have expected you knew..."
After a long while, he asked her, "When is Naruto supposed to leave?"
Kurenai said, with a menacing tone, "When he's ready."
Surprisingly, Azuma smiled and said, "Then I think you should adopt him for good. Let him stay with you."
Kurenai thought she didn't hear right. Shocked, she asked. "Huh? What did you say?"
Asuma repeated. "Let him stay with you. I love you Kurenai and I think you are right, I was a fool. I do have Konohomaru living with me and honestly, I don't want you to think I'm doing this for him. I want you to rebuild your trust in me, little by little. I want you to understand that for me, there only room for one woman in my hearth and that is you. "
Asuma pause.
Kurenai sensed it was true... he wasn't lying!
She was too shocked to speak, so Asuma continued, "For that, I think we should take a break and start over. Having Naruto over would be a great experience to you as well and, honestly, it will be easier for me to resist seeing you again like we always did if he's there. I maintain my initial judgment: he need a mother figure. And I wont budge on this; until our genin become chuunin, I will prove to you that I'm honest with my feelings, not just my words."
He rose up. "If you let me, I will help you with Naruto also. I'm getting the hang off being called Uncle Asuma anyway. Speaking of which, I better go take Konohomaru off my Dad's hands now. He's the only one I found on such a short notice so I will take Konohomaru back from him as soon as possible. He is a busy man after all."
As Asuma headed to the exit. Kurenai hugged to him from behind. A few tears ended on his tactical vest.
You are such a wonderful idiot, thought Kurenai.
Azuma said, "Don't worry, we will see each other again. Like in the beginning. But this time, I promise you there wont be any misunderstanding. I don't deserve to tell this Kurenai, but I love you and that is still true today. Now come on, you told me you had to go celebrate your success in your last mission with your genins. Don't make them wait and try to cheer up."
O0o0o0
It took a while for Kurenai to regain her composure. Once she did, she woke up Naruto and told him about the dinner with the rest of Team 8. He slowly begin to accept the idea and in no time, he was back to his true noisy self.
The more she looked at Naruto, the more the words of Azuma ringed in her. Yes, she will adopt Naruto, if he's ok with that.
Come to think of it, what if he refused?
I will find a way... I will ask Asuma tomorrow if he has a good idea.
All Team 8 had a great time that night... until Naruto ate Hinata cookies and started complimenting her. When she fainted, Kurenai could see Naruto's worries come back into his eyes.
So he will become a shiny prince in armor? That could be fun, thought a drunk Kurenai.
Once they all went home, Naruto asked if he had to go home too. Kurenai told him to come again to his house tonight.
" I'm planning one last surprise tomorrow, just for you. But you will have to give me the time to prepare it ok? After that, you will return home as much as you want"
Naruto didn't understand... but he didn't mind since for him, it was only drunk talk.
Once home, she phoned Azuma in secret. He told her to not worry, he was already coming up with an idea...
Humm... that's a pretty good idea, she thought, but then she realized something...
"Speaking with your father again, are you?"
Asuma simply laugh and wished her good night. She wanted to say " I love you," but restrained herself.
We both love each other... maybe I was the fool to not based my judgment on only that...
From the window of her bedroom, she could see the starry sky. She sensed things were about to change around here and for the better.
END OF CHAPTER