Truth…

Chapter 2 - Confrontations

After a few questions later and Naru was just about ready to hit the hay. Soon everyone was leaving, but only after she had made lots of promises to meet up soon – especially to Iruka. Eventually, only Sasuke and Sakura were left behind out of all the people called to see Naru and while one looked concerned, the other looked angry.

Sakura, with an anxious expression, stepped forward to talk to Naru but Sasuke lunged forward, roughly shoving her out of the way. Tears formed in Sakura's eyes because even if she didn't exactly love him anymore, Sasuke was still her teammate and he had no respect for her what so ever.

Naru glared at Sasuke for pushing Sakura, who merely dismissed her scowl and stalked forward until his face within a few inches of Naru's. Kurama tightened his hold around Naru's waist but otherwise held back his outrage at the Uchiha being so close to his fiancé.

Sasuke licked his lips lecherously, eyes full of lust, and grabbed Naru's chin in a tight hold "I will have your mind, your body and your soul. You will be mine; an Uchiha always gets what he wants!" Naru flinched away at his touch but snarled at him, showing off her sharpened fangs.

"I'm not afraid of you my pet, the council will soon give you too me and rid the world of this ugly mutt!" Kurama, finally snapping, lashed out at Sasuke. His elongated fingernails clawing at Sasuke's pale skin, leaving long lines of raw red and small trails of crimson elixir.

Sasuke howled in pain before Jiraiya wrestled him out of the former bijuu's grip and threw him out the room. Naru rushed to hew fiancé, asking him if he was hurt. Kurama's cocky reply was however "The Uchiha? Ha, as if he could lay a finger on me!".

Everyone in the room laughed before they lapsed into a comfortable silence, only to be broken by Naru's slow and unsure voice "What was he on about when he said about the council giving me to him?" Everyone knew she was talking about Sasuke's exclamation just a few moments before.

Tsunade groaned "I had hoped to Kami that one, I could keep this from you and two, that he would not choose you, Naru…" Naru glared at the woman she had come to think of as a sort of mother figure "What did you hope I would not find out about and be chosen for!?"

Falling heavily into her seat, Tsunade sighed and motioned for Jiraiya, Naru, Kurama and Sakura to sit "You can stay for this Sakura, if that is alright with you Naru?" Naru nodded carefully, glancing at Sakura out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, the council has given Sasuke the privilege of being able to choose a woman to impregnate and even marry if he wants to, so that he can rebuild the Uchiha Clan…" Tsunade said gently. This enraged, not only Naru and Kurama but also Sakura and Jiraiya.

"And I suppose that twat has chosen me to be his bride!" Naru growled furiously "Well that's just not going to happen! Can't you do something, grandma?" With the serious of the situation, Tsunade ignored the garb at her age and shook her head.

"The civilian council suggested it and the whole lot of them voted for! So did a lot of other bloody Uchiha supporters but quite a few of the clan heads of your friends families voted against. Even so, that just wasn't enough with my advisers voting for as well" Tsunade grumbled.

"That's ridiculous!" Kurama cried "The civilian council should have no control over a shinobi's rights, no offense Lady Hokage but why on earth do you allow this!?" Tsunade rubbed her forehead, partially annoyed "Sarutobi, the third Hokage, was too soft-hearted in the end and gave the council and his advisers far too much power, power that I can't seem to rip from their manipulative grasps"

"I bet that stuck-up coward got off scot free for becoming a traitor as well then, Tsunade?" Jiraiya looked accusingly at his ex-teammate but it was Sakura who answered his question "He did, Master Jiraiya. He was back on Team Kakashi within a week."

Naru looked a little intrigued "Who is on Team Kakashi anyway? Will I be re-joining you guys, Sakura?" Sakura shrugged and looked towards Tsunade in question. "I suppose but first why don't you show what you've learnt in the past 5 years?"

"How about I show that later, 'cause we kinda just got here" Naru suggested nonchalantly "Hey, I just had an idea! Kura-kun is my fiancé so we could get married really quickly, then Sasuke wouldn't be able get his hands on me at all"

Sakura looked happy and smiled half shyly and half slyly at Naru "That's a great idea, although I don't think the council's going to like it much. Could I help plan the wedding, Naru?" Naru laughed "Of course you can Sakura, you're my best friend!"

Visibly brightening at this, Sakura leaned forward to hug Naru before remembering that the girl was afraid of being touched. Seeing Sakura lean forward then hesitate, Naru tentatively reached out to hug her "Don't worry Sakura, I think I'll be okay".

Kurama smiled slightly at this, she was already confronting her phobia. As the two girls hugged cautiously he remembered just how Naru got that fear in the first place, it was not a pleasant memory…

Flashback

Naru wandered down the road, daydreaming as she made her way to Kumogakure's grocery. Suddenly, she felt a hand wrap around her waist and another cover her mouth. She was pulled into a shadowed alleyway.

As she was slightly disoriented and still in shock, Naru didn't manage to fight of the gag that was placed over her mouth, nor the handcuffs placed on her wrists. Only whether clothes were gripped and pulled at roughly did Naru begin to understand what was about to happen.

Immediately she began to struggle and scream, not that these things did any good because of the man's vice-like grip and the gag around her mouth. Naru tried to reach out to her chakra but found that she couldn't, the handcuffs were apparently blocking her chakra flow.

Knowing neither Jiraiya nor Kurama would come looking for her for a while as she was supposed to be at the shops, Naru reluctantly stilled – giving into her fate. The man, who had a deep voice that she didn't recognise, chuckled darkly "Accepted it have you, my pretty little thing?"

Naru began to cry silently, she was only 15 and didn't want this! The man tugged cruelly at her tank top and shorts, then at her undergarments. Naru didn't beg for him to stop; only cried for the innocence that she lost in the half hour she spent in the shaded alley.

The man left her lying on ground, feeling used and dirty. She shakily put her clothing on and staggered back to the rented flat that Jiraiya had rented for them, where she was met by Kurama who instantly ran her a bath and comforted her distress.

Flashback End

It had taken Naru months to overcome her fear of just leaving the house and even longer to convince her that she wasn't useless. She felt that if she couldn't even protect herself form a measly civilian then as a ninja, she was pathetic.

Kurama sighed, even if he and Jiraiya had managed to make her believe she wasn't worthless, Naru was still left with the awful memory and a terrible fear of being touched by someone unknown.

He felt as if he'd failed her, he was supposed to protect her but now the only contact she didn't mind was if she was in combat. The sexual contact between him and his fiancé was limited but not out of the question completely.

He was brought back to the present by Sakura making excited noises and when he turned to look at them, he saw Naru blushing cutely. He reached over and grasped her hand "Do I get any say in what happens in this wedding?" he asked, only half joking.

Naru opened her mouth to say something but snapped it closed when Sakura answered for her "No! We'll do everything Kurama, don't you worry about a thing" The strange glint in her eye made Kurama feel as though he probably shouldn't argue with her. He didn't.

Tsunade coughed, bringing their attention back to her "I don't want to be a downer but the council will probably have something to say about the wedding, and probably not a congratulations, especially when they hear about Kurama being the former 9-tails – most probably from Sasuke.

"We'll deal with them when the time comes Grandma… When are we going to have the wedding then? Today is the 16th March, how about exactly a month from now?" Naru asked "Perfect!" Sakura praised "Now we just need to prepare, first by getting that red stuff out of your hair – Is that blood Naru!?"

Naru looked sheepish "Er well, last night's dinner wasn't going down without a fight so things got a little messy…" Jiraiya snorted and sarcastically mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "Just a little!?"

Naru glared at the pervert before turning back to Sakura "Kurama and I are part demon Sakura, so out diets are a little bit on the extreme side compared to yours" Sakura looked surprised but nodded after a bit.

"When Kurama and I separated we each took a half of his power, leaving us half demons. There's little difference from before apart from a few demonic jutsus." Naru explained and then stood up "Well, we've been here long enough and I'm tired so I'm gunna retire for the night"

"Oh wait, one more thing Naru!" Tsunade said "I have to tell you about your parents, I think you have the right to know about them" Naru laughed "Oh, Minato and Kushina? Jiraiya already told me about them but I had my suspicions about my dad anyway!"

Tsunade looked surprised and glared a little at Jiraiya for not notifying her that Naru knew "I mean I'd have to be blind and stupid not notice the resemblances between the 4th Hokage and I. That's why I always admired him; because we looked so much alike I thought I could be just like him! Naru smiled.

"Oh, well, in that case I'll just give you the key to their private estate and you can stay there, okay?" Tsunade grinned and Naru beamed happily at the chance to live where her parents had, for her it was a way to be closer to them – even in death.

Tsunade handed over the keys and the three youngest of the member in the room made for the door, closely followed by Jiraiya who was giggling with his cheeks stained red, obviously thinking about heading over to the hot springs.

Sakura faced Naru and said quietly but firmly "Naru, I want to know how you got haphephobia so I can help you and understand…" Naru saw only concern and care on her face and not any hints of prying or being nosy, so she told her.

As Naru began her story to Sakura, Kurama dropped back to Jiraiya so he could let the girls talk alone, plus he didn't want to be around when the tears came and Sakura's temper followed. True to his words this is exactly what happened.

"Calm down Sakura!" Naru cried as said girl stormed about ranting on poor Naru's behalf. Sakura did calm down… after a bit and they soon came to the place where the three would separate, Jiraiya having long ago slinked off to the hot springs.

Sakura called out to her as they parted ways "Don't forget to pop over soon Naru, so we can discuss the wedding!" Suddenly, Naru wasn't so sure that letting Sakura help plan her wedding was such a good idea. God forbid if her dress turned out the same colour as her best friend's hair.

Maybe she should recruit some more neutral coloured people, like Hinata! She would be able to create a nice colour scheme, one that hopefully wouldn't consist of pink and would have some orange in it. Ino could help with flower arrangements and Tenten could make sure that the 2 most girly females didn't go too over the top.

Yes, that was a good plan! She'd visit the girls tomorrow and then maybe get Kurama a bit more acquainted with her other male friends, so that he could have a bachelor party. Maybe… but not until she'd had a nice long bath and then settled down for a long slumber next to the one she loved.

When they arrived at the Namikaze estate, it was a medium-sized, three-story house relatively close to the Forest of Death, the two grinned at that – Dinner was served… The house was mainly cream with a dark brown roof, door and window panes and had ivy climbing across the walls.

It was perfect for them and even had a large training ground and garden out back, not that they would need them because of the Forest of Death being so close – ready to be used. The inside was done-up nicely, the ideal family home – Naru sniffled a bit at that, it was what her mum and dad had prepared for when she was a baby.

When you went in the front door there was a short hall with a grand staircase that led up or down and then a large living room that had a door to the kitchen within it. On the other side of the living room was another door with led to a dining room. There was also a laundry room and a spare toilet on that floor.

Upstairs was the master bedroom along with 5 spare, which each had an en-suite bathroom. Apart from that the only other room upstairs was the library which was generously decked out with all sorts of book and scrolls about general stuff as well Uzumaki and Namikaze things.

Downstairs was a sizable indoor training ground, a music/arts/dance room and a weapons room with every kind of weapon you've ever seen. Once the two new inhabitants had scoped out the place they located the kitchen only to find it stocked with food that had somehow been preserved.

Naru rustled up a light dinner for herself and Kurama before yawning and deciding to hit the hay. They made their way upstairs and while Kurama got ready for bed, Naru had a quick shower to washed away the blood, dirt and grime before getting ready herself.

She snuggled into Kurama's bare chest and mumbled a sleepy goodnight. She really should have unpacked, oh well, she'd do it in the morning…