Naruto: Meetings

The front door to the Hatake mansion was opened by a lean man in traditional warrior dress with tightly curling blue hair. His eyes were by for the strangest Naruto had ever seen, dark amber with horizontally slit pupils. His matching kosode and hakama were a brilliant spring green decorated with little clusters of bats the same colour as his eyes.

Uzumaki Naruto?" The man bowed. "I am Akira, called Hitsuji. You are expected."

Naruto bowed back, lip quivering as suppressed his mirth. The eyes and crimped, fluffy hair were very sheep-like indeed, and the man's flattened nose, wide-set eyesockets and thin lips did nothing to dispel the likeness. In fact, they enhanced it. Regaining control over himself the blond slipped off his shoes, accepted a pair of slippers and padded into the house in the wake of the azure-haired man who had opened the door.

It wasn't far to walk: the second door on the right down the corridor towards the west wing. Akira -if I call him Hitsuji I will laugh- knocked lightly on the door frame and the shouji was pushed open by a black-haired boy of about nine with brilliant gold eyes wearing kosode and hakama in a shade of rich indigo with wave patterns in half-a-dozen shades of blue winding over them and a silvery grey brocade obi.

"Hitsuji-san?"

"Inutaicho-kun, this is Uzumaki Naruto, who is here to see your mother. Uzumaki-san, meet Kamen Inutaicho. He will accompany you to Ame-sama."

"Konnichiwa, Naruto-san," the gold-eyed boy said, bowing politely. "Please follow me."

Naruto followed. The room he'd just been invited into was the main family room and correspondingly large. At the moment it was full of children, all in their finest clothing, playing various games under the watchful eyes of a pair of supervising adults, both of whom were older than Ame-kaa-san. The older children were sat nearest the door, the youngest further towards the far end. Ame was sat about two-thirds of the way down the room, dressed in a magnificent formal kimono and uchikake, the latter in a delicate shade of coral pink and embroidered with cranes, bamboo shoots and stylised rainfall. She and a Hyuuga-eyed brunette in butterfly-printed red with a black obi luminously embroidered with strawberry plants were cooing over three vibrantly embroidered bundles that just had to be the triplets. Naruto let his young guide lead him over.

"Kaa-san? Your guest is here," Inutaicho said, childish voice full of earnest formality.

"Ame looked up and gifted Naruto with a dazzling smile. "Naru-kun!" She handed the baby in her arms to her companion, rose to her feet and hugged him tightly. Naruto hugged back; it felt a little odd not to have to be careful of a pregnant belly, but that niggling feeling was quickly squashed by the wonderful feeling of belonging he got from her.

"I have a special surprise for you today, Naruto, but first I want you to meet the rest of my family," Ame said. "And yes, they are your family regardless of whether I get to adopt you. You've already met Inutaicho; he's the eldest of the brood and wants to be a ninja. The young lady to my right is Nitsuki, but the children call her Mogura. She intends to become an inin and has both the expertise and experience already, if not the official qualification."

The pearly-eyed fifteen-year-old smiled at Naruto. "Konnichiwa, Naruto-san," she said softly, her musical voice reminding the blond of Hinata.

"Konnichiwa, Nitsuki-san."

"Please call me Mogura; all the other children do," she insisted.

"Very well Mogura-san," Naruto agreed with a smile. She was cute, gentle and quietly confident. Very cute, in fact.

"Taicho-kun, could you introduce Naruto to the others please?" Ame asked as one of the triplets stirred and started to whimper. "It seems Yasha-chan required my attention at the moment."

"Hai, kaa-san," the nine-year-old said, tugging gently on Naruto's sleeve. The blond let himself be led away towards the cluster of five-year-olds near the back wall.

"Koumori-chan, this is Naruto, our new nii-san," Inutaicho said to the girl of the group, a brown-eyed angel with tanned skin and riotous chestnut curls, dressed in a vibrant lime-green kimono decorated with chrysanthemums in every colour of the rainbow and a deep yellow obi patterned with red waves. "Naruto, this is Koumori, the youngest Kamen."

Naruto bowed to the little girl, who on closer inspection looked closer to four than five. "Konnichiwa, Koumori-chan."

The little girl gazed up at him with slanted, liquid sepia eyes. "Konnichiwa, Naruto-nii. Are you a shinobi?"

"Hai, imouto-chan. I'm a genin."

Koumori beamed at him. "I'm going to be a ninja when I'm bigger, just like nii-san and aniki."

Naruto was about to ask who her aniki might be when Inutaicho interrupted to continue the introductions. The two boys with Koumori were Ushi and Uma, the former being slightly more heavily built than the other and wearing garnet brown to his twin's beige. Both had medium brown hair, green eyes and autumn leaf patterns on their kosode and hakama. Even their obi were identical in soft purple. Both boys wanted to know if Naruto would be living with them -probably not- if he would teach them to throw kunai -if kaa-san agreed to it then yes- if he knew any cool jutsu -of course he did- and if could show them. Naruto obligingly created a shadow clone that picked up Koumori and tossed her in the air, making her squeal. Ushi and Uma were absolutely delighted and wanted Naruto to stay and play with them, but Inutaicho insisted that the older boy had to meet the other children -"Kaa-san said so!"- so the blond promised to come back later.

The next group Naruto was introduced to was a trio of girls plus one boy, all aged between seven and eight who were playing otedama and singing softly as the dozen beanbags flew through the air. Once again Inutaicho introduced Naruto to the girls first.

Tori was the oldest and the only one who was actually eight years old. She looked like an older version of Koumori except her hair was straight rather than curly and her face was rounder. Her hair hung to mid back like a curtain over a kimono in a delicate shade of pale blue decorated with clouds and sparrows which was belted with a peach pink damask obi.

Usagi was the next oldest with green eyes paler than Ushi and Uma and honey-blonde hair that reminded Naruto slightly of Inoichi-san. The two high and feathery pigtails the slender girl had her hair up in looked a little like rabbit ears, but despite her rather stunning good looks Usagi seemed quite shy and unspoilt. Her kimono was loud cherry pink covered in patterned fans and her obi was pale green embroidered with bellflowers.

The youngest girl in the group was called Hebi and reminded Naruto rather forcefully of Mitarashi Anko. She had the same spiky purple hair, brown eyes and round face as the interrogation specialist, although she seemed to be of a more intellectual bent, standing ramrod straight in a dark turquoise kimono patterned with irises and a lilac obi brocaded with carp. Upon being introduced she promptly asked Naruto about genjutsu theory and how it related to natural hallucinations, which he had to admit he knew nothing about. He managed to placate her by promising to introduce Hebi to his team-mate who specialised in genjutsu -"Sakura's better at that stuff than I am"- and was allowed to move on and be introduced to the group's token male.

Nezumi was between Tori and Usagi in age with inky black hair and golden eyes like Inutaicho but had a much narrower face and stronger chin than his elder brother. His hair stuck up in thick spikes rather like Naruto's own which was quite different to Inutaicho's well-behaved, flat bangs. His kosode and hakama were almost as red as Mogura's and embroidered with hollyhock leaves in all manner of eye-watering shades. His obi was woven in checkerboard pattern in two shades of orange.

Unlike his three sisters, Nezumi was bouncy and a complete chatterbox. In under a minute Naruto learned that the spiky-haired boy could already throw kunai and shuriken, loved messing around with ninja wire and was the acknowledged stealth master of the Kamen children. He also loved fire and explosions, the bigger the better. Naruto was slightly disappointed to be dragged away from a kindred spirit, but recognised there would be time to catch up later.

The next two Naruto was introduced to were a pair of six-year-old boys. Tora had medium brown hair that stuck out at the back, golden skin and deep blue eyes and wore an orange outfit patterned with gold mist and dragonflies in pale blues and greens, belted with a pale olive obi embroidered with temari on the ends. Naruto heartily approved of the orange, which the younger boy confided was his favourite colour. Tora's favourite things, however, were blades. Especially swords.

Kitsune on the other hand was a redhead, as bloody a scarlet as Benihime's own, with ice-blue eyes like a winter morning. His kosode and hakama were pale yellow covered in little dragons and the obi around his waist was mossy green damask patterned with ferns. He told Naruto that he wanted to be a ninja so he could be strong. "everyone else wants to be a ninja," he told the blond earnestly, "so I'll be one too so I won't be vulnerable to their enemies." What Kitsune really loved was dancing and puzzles. He and Tora were playing karuta when Inutaicho introduced Naruto and Kitsune had been winning by a large margin.

Lastly Inutaicho lead Naruto over to who the nine-year-old referred to as his 'team': a boy and a girl a little younger than he was. Kame had dark brown spiky hair and black eyes in a rather square face and wore an bright ashy green outfit decorated with grasses and tortoises with a black obi threaded with a silvery lattice. He told Naruto that he liked hunting and tracking best, but that traps were pretty cool as well.

Neko looked a lot like Inutaicho with identical gold eyes and face shape but much lighter hair, a caramel brown that was almost blonde. She liked strategy games and finding things out, especially secrets. Her kimono was pearl grey embroidered with rice plants and frolicking hares, with a scarlet and gold obi embroidered with plum blossom and bamboo sprays tied in an elaborate drum knot behind her back. She reminded Naruto a little of Ino in the way she liked ferreting knowledge out of people.

Inutaicho did not introduce Naruto to the two adults he had not yet met, preferring to point them out from a distance. The woman in her mid twenties watching over the younger children in the peach pink kimono and pale blue obi all embroidered with lilies in similarly light, airy colours was Ryuu -"Her real name's Retsu but nobody calls her that"- and the tall man with long, spiky red hair in snowy white damask belted with an indigo obi keeping an eye on the otedama game was Ahiru. Inutaicho told him that most of the children called Ahiru 'tou-san' even though he wasn't really their father, just like they all called Ame 'kaa-san'.

"Kaa-san brought him home especially to look after us," his gold-eyed guide told him simply, "and he knows lots of ninja stuff as well, especially ninjutsu and seals."

Naruto -being a fuuinjutsu enthusiast himself- was tempted to go over and start a conversation, but Ame caught his eye and beckoned him over.

"I've got someone who wants to meet you in private," she told him, "come on; he'll join you in the side receiving room in a minute."

The 'side receiving room' was a relatively small room with a sofa at one end and zabuton on either side of a low table in the middle. Ame had declared the room's purpose as being 'for small, informal meetings' so Naruto had no idea who it was wanting to see him. The blond made himself at home on the sofa, examining the ink paintings and colourful prints hanging on the opposite wall to pass the time.

He was about to get up so he could see what exactly was hanging on the wall behind him when the door slid open and someone stepped inside.

Notes

shouji = japanese sliding door made of paper on a wooden frame

otedama = children's juggling games played in groups or alone. Many different versions, all with songs to go with them

aniki = big brother; familiar

kosode = shorter kimono that only reaches mid-thigh; worn as a shirt with hakama.

hakama = trouser-like garments worn over kimono or kosode.

konnochiwa = greetings; a greeting

temari = a type of ball made of wadded fabric wrapped with ribbons on the outside in geometric patterns

karuta = japanese playing cards

zabuton = cushion for kneeling on

hitsuji = sheep or ram

A/N: Meet the family. The Kamen children have been raised to be rather un-Uchiha, but there're still things that someone who really knew the Uchiha would be able to recognise. Spot the similarities and guess who's mentioned under another name in my Shisui-fic...