Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 33: An Eventful Debriefing

Wednesday, August 27, 2003, Early Afternoon
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Harry pulled Felix to a stop just outside of Konoha's main gate and half turned to face the line of wagons that three of his clones were driving. Felix pranced excitedly beneath him and wickered; the gelding well aware that they were nearly home now and eager to rejoin the herd. Reaching down to settle the horse with a gentle pat to his neck, Harry let his eyes run over the three pairs of shire horses that were pulling the wagons to check for any signs of lameness. Once he was certain the horses were still in good condition (if a bit tired and sweaty from working all morning), Harry turned his attention to the four children that were soaked in sweat and covered in dirt.

The twenty-three year old snorted in amusement as the bone weary children trudged along beside the wagons; they were not quite as enamored of a shinobi's life at the moment. From the moment they had left Nami no Kuni, Harry had had the four boys working on their physical condition to prepare them for the day they started at the Academy. That included making them walk beside the wagons for most of the journey and run through a mild cardiovascular workout after they made camp each night.

The only thing that kept them from whining and complaining was the fact that the three Genin on Team Kakashi did the same exercises right alongside of them. Naruto had also taken to entertaining the younger boys by telling them stories of all the training he'd done before he'd become a shinobi to keep them from dwelling on their exhaustion and soreness.

Harry spared a quick glance at his teammates and Kakashi before he slid down off of Felix's back and passed the reins to a clone that popped into being beside him. The clone then mounted the gelding a let out a sharp whistle that had the three wagons splitting off from the group to follow the mounted clone; they would take them home so that the horses could be unharnessed and brushed out before they were released into the pasture for some well deserved rest. Harry then began leading the group towards the Hokage's tower so the two teams could give their reports.

The green-eyed Chuunin had already written up his report for both the original mission to escort and protect Tazuna and the mission he and his fellow Chuunin had been given to take down Gato Corporation. He would have preferred to send the report through his elves so that he could just go home but knew the Hokage would be put out if he did that. The man undoubtedly had questions in regards to the mission and the method that he'd used to deliver his missives to Konoha while he was still in Nami. Heaving a silent sigh, Harry pushed down his own exhaustion and glanced back to make certain no one had fallen behind before he climbed up the stairs that wrapped around the outside of the Hokage's Tower.

Ten minutes later, the twelve of them entered the Hokage's office and the Sandaime put down the report that he'd been reading as he warmly greeted, "Ah, welcome back Team Kakashi, Team Yamato, and guests; I had wondered when I would be seeing you again. I trust your journey home was uneventful?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Harry murmured in response.

"Good, good. Might I inquire who it is that you've brought with you?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Harry replied as he gestured for the four children to step up beside him. "Allow me to introduce you to Inari – the grandson and heir of the newly elected Daimyou of Nami no Kuni, Tazuna the Bridge Builder." Harry noticed the Sandaime's widen slightly in surprise before he quickly schooled his face back into a polite mask. "With him are his friends; Akihiro, Hikaru, and Kazuki. All four of these fine young boys asked to accompany us back to Konoha in order to attend the Shinobi Academy."

"I see," the Hokage drawled in a thoughtful tone as he briefly inspected the four children. "Did their parents write out notification of their consent or did the boys sneak off without informing their parents of their intentions?"

"I have a letter of introduction from Tazuna-dono for all four boys granting them permission to attend the Academy and assigning temporary guardianship of them to the Namikaze Clan. As the Head of the Namikaze Clan, I agreed to sponsor the children for their enrollment and see to their care for the duration of their enrollment and subsequent tour of duty as a Shinobi of Konoha," Harry replied as he passed the sealed letter over to the Hokage. "Should any of the boys fail to obtain a hitai-ate at the end of their education, the Namikaze Clan will see to it that they are either escorted back to Nami no Kuni or sponsor them for citizenship in Konoha if they wish to stay."

The Sandaime opened the letter and quickly skimmed through its contents before he set it off to one side and studied the four nervous children. Harry thought he saw the man's eyes dim briefly when his eyes lingered on the three orphans but it could have been a trick of the light.

"Very well, I will have their names added to the roster for the next term at the Academy. That will give you three months to prepare them since the current term is already half over. I will have one of my aides deliver the necessary paperwork that you will need to fill out for their sponsorship and the temporary guardianship to you later this afternoon. You will also need to make an appointment at the Hospital for all four boys to have a complete physical prior to their first day at the Academy."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Good. Naruto, why don't you and your teammates escort the boys home and get them settled in while I debrief your sensei and the others," the Sandaime suggested as he passed Tazuna's letter of introduction back to Harry so that it didn't get lost amongst the rest of his paperwork. The Hokage waited just long enough for the four boys to be escorted from the office by the three Genin before he asked, "Which one of you would like to go first?"

Harry stepped forward after briefly glancing at both Jounin present; his would be the longest report because he'd been in charge of the original mission that had ended up dragging the other two to Nami no Kuni. Harry did his best to keep his report short and to the point as he covered all of the major points; Zabuza's ambush, Tazuna's confession, infiltrating the shinobi's base, capturing Gato, dealing with the Oni Kyoudai, rounding up the bandits, and gathering all of the evidence necessary.

There were only two bits of information that he left out of his report. The first was the news that the half of the Kyuubi that had been sealed inside of him had awakened and that he'd made contact with the creature. He knew he'd eventually have to tell the Hokage about the Kyuubi's awakening but he was not sure if he was ready to deal with the inevitable fallout that that revelation would engender. He was also still toying with the idea of waiting until Jiraiya was in town so the Sennin could confirm that the seal was intact to help put paid to any fears that the Hokage or his advisors might have that the Kyuubi was close to escaping just because it was now awake.

The other bit of information he left out was the bit about him taking memories from the first handful of prisoners. Part of that was because he was not yet ready to divulge all of his skills (he liked having trump cards). Another part was because he was more than a little worried how they would react to the information that Harry could use Legilimency as well as copy or modify memories. And the last part was the possibility that the Yamanaka Clan might be offended about him using abilities similar to their family abilities or worse, that they might think he copied or stole their abilities for himself.

He would have to carefully question Ibiki and Shikaku in order to find out how Inoichi would react before he shared that information; if he ever shared that ability.

Once Harry had finished giving his report, Kotetsu and Izumo added a few details that occurred on their watches or during the time that Harry was unconscious due to his injuries. Kakashi stepped forward next to give his report on the escort he provided for the supplies and medics, meeting up with the Daimyou's men, distributing the supplies to the villagers, and the political state of the once beleaguered country. Yamato would then go last to give a report on the physical state of Nami; listing the buildings he'd put up for the townsfolk and the villagers' efforts of cleaning up in the wake of Gato's removal.

The Hokage would ask several questions once they'd each finished giving their reports before he collected their written reports to add to the notes that he'd taken during their debriefing and the earlier reports that Harry had sent back to the village. The five of them were dismissed a moment later. Harry made to leave with his teammates at that point only to find his way blocked by Minato (figuratively speaking since the ghost couldn't really stop him from leaving).

"You need to inform the Hokage about your encounter with the Kyuubi," Minato stated in what Harry had silently dubbed his 'Hokage' voice.

"I will eventually," Harry replied in English (in order to keep his side of the conversation private since Minato was not currently visible to the room at large – his cousin still respecting his privacy instead of announcing what had happened to the room at large despite the fact that that was what he wanted Harry to do) as he frowned at his cousin's shade in response to him practically ordering him to share what basically amounted to personal information.

"No, you need to tell him right now; least you end up being censured for withholding information. Your position in Konoha is still precarious because of how many secrets you are still keeping and if you don't tell him now, then it will create all kinds of problems when you do finally bring it up. There is also the fact that you are now a shinobi of Konoha and the status of your seal is serious business. Keeping that information out of your written report is not a big deal but you'd better come clean now to avoid creating a bigger headache for you and the rest of the family later."

"Would it really be that big of a deal if I wait until Jiraiya is in the village?" Harry inquired with a slight scowl as he ignored the questioning looks of the Hokage, Kakashi, and his teammates as they all stopped to see what was keeping the Chuunin; though it was apparent to everyone present that he was talking to Minato's spirit even if they couldn't see the ghost (they'd seen him talking to the air enough times to realize what was happening).

"Yes. And you might as well tell your teichou to stick around for that conversation since the status of your seal will impact future missions."

"Ah, bloody hell," Harry complained as he crossed his arms. "Sometimes I truly wonder what possessed me to take up a hitai-ate."

"Is there a problem, Takeshi-san?" the Sandaime inquired once Harry fell silent.

"No, not exactly," Harry hedged as he briefly glanced towards Yamato before he swung his gaze to the Hokage. "Minato just reminded me about a minor incident that occurred during the mission that I had left out of my report due to personal reasons. He advised me to speak to you and Yamato-teichou about it now, rather than later because of the potential ramifications." The wizard then glanced towards his teammates and Kakashi. "I suppose I should include my teammates and Kakashi as well since Kakashi already knows the basics and I'd rather not be pranked for leaving Izumo and Kotetsu out of the loop."

"And what is so significant about this 'minor' incident that Minato felt the need to prod you into mentioning it?" the Hokage inquired as Yamato closed the door and moved back to stand beside Harry while Kakashi, Izumo, and Kotetsu stayed where they were.

"I didn't fall into true unconsciousness when I passed out after capturing the Oni Kyoudai," Harry explained as he dropped his gaze to the floor to hide his discomfort over the reminder of how much trouble he'd had subduing the two brothers. "I did not wish for my Kage Bunshin to dispel since it would have created all kinds of problems due to how many individuals my clones had been impersonating at the time. Instead, I fell into my mindscape and the moment I did, my consciousness and Minato's spirit were drawn into the seal housing the Kyuubi."

"How is that possible?" Izumo demanded in surprise before Harry could finish reporting the incident. "Doesn't Naruto-kun hold the Kyuubi…?"

"The short answer is that the Kyuubi was split into two entities the night of the attack and there are now two Kyuubi in existence; I can give you the full explanation later," Harry promised as he glanced at his teammates. He then turned back to the Hokage to finish his report. "As I was saying, Minato and I were drawn into the seal when I fought against falling unconscious and our presence there woke up the Kyuubi. I originally planned to wait until Jiraiya was in the village before I said anything though; I wanted him on hand so that he could check the integrity of the seal at the same time."

"You do realize that attempting to withhold that information looks very bad from this side of the Hat, ne?" the Hokage stated in a measured tone and Harry winced even as he nodded. "That said, I can understand why you left that tidbit out of your written report and why you wished to wait for Jiraiya to return. I do appreciate the fact that you were willing to listen to Minato in this case. Did you make contact with the bijuu while you were unconscious?"

"Yes, she was not what I expected."

"She!?" Kotetsu choked in shock.

"Yep, it seems that I ended up with the Kyuubi's feminine side," Harry drawled with a small smirk. "She's still in denial though and for some reason has a real aversion to the color pink. Personally, I think she just dislikes the way the color pink clashes with her flame-colored fur. I thought she looked rather cute with the fluffy pink bows on her neck and all nine tails."

Twin slaps were heard as both Kakashi and Yamato palmed their faces in response to Harry's smart-mouthed quips about the bijuu contained within him. The Hokage looked rather constipated and his skin was the pasty gray-green of someone who was feeling distinctly ill and on the verge of throwing up. Izumo and Kotetsu in the mean time were silently flapping their mouths as they tried and failed to come up with a response to Harry's flippancy.

"And has it… she been trying to influence you?" the Hokage inquired after taking a moment to collect himself.

"No, the Kyuubi has still not regained her full strength back," Harry replied as he dropped his playful tone. "The only reason why she woke when she did was because Minato and I had been present within the seal. I also confirmed that she does not have access to my subconscious mind or memories thanks to my Kekkei Genkai; meaning that she won't be able to influence me through my dreams. I should also warn you that I fully intend to make contact with her again in order to learn as much as I can about her so that I can prepare Naruto for the moment when he inevitably meets the half of the Kyuubi he holds."

"I'm going to ask that you wait until Jiraiya has had a chance to check the integrity of the seal before you seek to contact the Kyuubi intentionally," the Hokage half ordered as he fixed Harry with a stern gaze. "I'm not foolish enough to forbid you from contacting your tenant, because I realize the value in gathering information, but I do not wish for you to take foolish risks that could place all of Konoha in danger should you accidentally unleash the Kyuubi."

"I can't promise that I won't be drawn into the seal due to circumstances outside of my control but I will promise that I will not actively seek to contact the Kyuubi until Jiraiya has had a chance to look over the seal. I need to do a bit of research before I approach her out again anyway; I promised to provide her with a virtual hunting ground to keep her from getting bored while she's lounging about in the sealscape. I learned the hard way that it is unwise to leave pets alone for too long because they tend to make bigger messes when they are bored."

"Pet…? The Kyuubi… you… it… pet…?" Kakashi incoherently gasped out in disbelief.

"Well, it's hard to see her as anything but a pet when she's shrunken down to the size of a cocker spaniel; she's a right little ankle-biter when it comes down to it."

"I'm not even going to ask," Yamato deadpanned as he shifted his fingers just enough to glare at Harry through the hand he still had over his face. He then frowned a bit as he asked, "Did you actively draw on the Kyuubi's chakra at all while you were within the seal?"

"Not that I am aware of," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "My clones didn't have any memories of me drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra at any point after I fell 'unconscious'."

"That is reassuring," the Sandaime murmured. "Please keep me informed of any other developments in regards to your passenger. I will inform Jiraiya that his presence is needed in Konoha sooner, rather than later, and will inform you the moment I know when he will arrive."

"Wakarimasu, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage then dismissed the five of them a second time. Just before he left the office, Harry was reminded not to miss his end of the month appointment with Ibiki and to make an appointment to see Tsunade within the next forty-eight hours because he'd missed so many of his weekly sessions with her while he was on his mission. That was also a subtle hint that he needed to have a full medical evaluation done to insure that he'd not suffered any lasting damage from his encounter with Gouzu and Meizu (the Oni Kyoudai) or his brief contact with the Kyuubi.

The moment they stepped outside of the Hokage's Tower once more, Harry absently said goodbye to his teammates (which included a promise to meet up with them later to give them an explanation) before he apparated to the Namikaze Ranch between one step and the next. He would spend an hour there checking up on the horses and checking in with his elves to make sure there had been no problems while he was gone.

Once he was satisfied that everything was still running smoothly despite his longer than expected absence, Harry began wandering through the streets in the direction of the Namikaze Wheelhouse. As he walked, his thoughts turned inwards as he considered his life here in the Elemental Nations. He also allowed his thoughts to return to those that he'd left behind in the Outer Countries. Guilt and shame filled him for a moment as it felt like he had abandoned them before he realized that it wasn't so much abandonment as it was drifting apart as they too had fallen out of contact with him.

He hoped they didn't hate him for leaving them but he knew he never would have fit in with that world after everything he had learned and experienced since meeting Naruto. Looking back now, Harry actually wondered if he ever really belonged in the magical world. Sure, he was a wizard but just because he had magic did not mean that the wizarding world was his home.

They didn't want him there.

Not really.

They wanted the Boy-Who-Lived.

And he had been sick and tired of being their scapegoat long before Naruto had turned up out of the blue and turned his life upside down even as he gave it direction. Oh he still loved the magical world and he dearly missed his friends (and fully believed that they missed him in return) but he also knew now that he never would have been happy there. Not even if he'd never met Naruto.

Not like he was here.

And wasn't that rather shocking.

When he'd first come to Konoha, he'd been prepared to forever hate the village and its people for what they had done to his cousin. And now here he was seeing the sprawling village as home. He'd dug his roots in deeply here. There was no way he could go back to the other side and leave his life here behind. The only thing that would make it better was if his old friends could join him here or at least come to visit him every now and then. He wouldn't even mind visiting them on the other side a time or two.

After a while, Harry looked up and found himself just outside of the training grounds he'd claimed two years earlier and he made a mental note to send a letter to his friends on the other side of the Barrier before he turned his thoughts to more pressing matters; such as what he was going to do about the newly awakened Kurama. Right now, the fox wasn't really that much of a threat to his mind or his sanity but Harry thought that had more to do with the fact that the bijuu hadn't fully recovered from the nine years of torment in the shinigami's stomach and being sealed inside of Harry yet.

He also wasn't arrogant enough to think that he'd earned the bijuu's trust after one short exchange of insults – even if the fox had given him her name.

If he hoped to actually gain the creature's trust enough to have her work with him, then he was going to have to follow through on his promise to make a mental equivalent of the Room of Requirement for her to romp around in so that she could run around and hunt to her heart's content. He would also have to make an effort to get to know the fox and give her just enough information about him and his life to satisfy her curiosity. The idea of trying to befriend the demon wasn't exactly a sane plan but forcing the creature into submission and angering it further was just asking for trouble.

That was especially true if he took into account his usual flip-flopping luck.

Shaking his head, Harry shoved all thoughts of the Kyuubi out of his mind for the moment. He needed a good night's rest before he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with his burden. Turning away from the empty clearing that he'd been staring at for who knew how long, Harry continued on his way home. His thoughts quickly turned towards his son at that point and he soon began hurrying along as he recalled just how long it had been since he'd last seen Teddy.

Harry would be tackled by a miniature blond blur the moment he turned the corner and stepped onto the street that the Namikaze Wheelhouse occupied. The twenty-three year old let out a laugh as he swept his five year old son up into his arms and spun him around in a circle while hugging him tight. His arms tightened instinctively when he recalled how bad his most recent mission had turned and how much worse it could have been. He felt a brief flash of old anger as he recalled how Tazuna had lied about the mission before he stamped down on his irritation and buried his nose in Teddy's hair and breathed in his son's familiar scent.

"I missed you, tousan!" Teddy declared as he tried to burrow deeper into Harry's arms.

"I missed you too, squirt."

"You were gone forever!"

"We ran into a little trouble on our mission and it took longer than expected to deal with everything. I don't think we'll be taking another mission out of the village for a while though. If we do, they shouldn't be anywhere near as long as this last one was."

"Promise…?"

"No, I can't promise because I am not the one who usually picks which missions we take and there will be times when my team will need to take a longer mission. But I can promise that I'll be around for a couple of days at least since I've got a lot of work to catch up on after I was gone so long."

"Okay," Teddy muttered with resignation.

"So, what kind of trouble did you get into while I was gone? Have you been practicing your pranking?"

"I got into all kinds of trouble when I put worms down Mai's dress after she teased Daichi about his new haircut and called him names. She squealed like a baby and danced all around until sensei made her sit still so she could get the worms out."

"That's my boy; I'm proud of you for defending for others. The old worms-down-the-dress is real a classic. Next time, you should try to be a bit sneakier about how you prank the bullies; that way you don't get into as much trouble. And I would consider an ant invasion instead of worms; they are less noticeable and require less work to get them onto a target since ants naturally swarm when disturbed. Fleas are also another good alternative since they are harder to see but they can be tricky because they're likely to jump targets. Just remember to avoid seriously hurting anyone or causing any permanent damage – so make certain your targets aren't allergic to any of the bugs you plan to use in case they get bit."

"Wakatta, tousan," Teddy agreed solemnly before he slithered out of Harry's arms and began dragging him up the stairs that led up to the apartments above the family restaurant.

"Did I just hear you encourage your son to prank the other children?" a familiar voice demanded in amusement.

"Of course, what kind of role model would I be if I encouraged my son to ignore blatant bullies?" Harry quipped in reply as he stopped walking and half turned to face Yuugao when the vivacious kunoichi dropped down onto the stairs from the roof. "Besides, it would be hypocritical of me to tell my son not to prank the bullies when he knows that I prank the bullies whenever I catch them in the act of bullying another."

"You're incorrigible," Yuugao retorted with a snort of amusement.

"I try," Harry modestly admitted as he tried to ignore the way his insides were tying themselves up in knots due to the little sexy smile of amusement that the kunoichi was wearing. An impatient tug on his hand reminded him that Teddy wanted to spend time with him after the long separation. "I hate to cut our conversation short but my son's a little impatient for me to spend some time with him after I'd been gone for nearly a full month."

"Oh, that's okay," Yuugao murmured as a small blush dusted her cheeks and for a moment Harry thought she sounded disappointed. "I had only stopped by to see if you were up a spar after hearing that you were back since I had the rest of the day off but if you're busy…"

"Normally, I would jump at the chance to train with you but I'd be setting myself up for some rather humiliating pranks from the squirt here if I ditched him to play with swords."

"Tomorrow then…?"

"So long as nothing else comes up, I can probably spare a couple of hours for a spar."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Or you could stick around and hang out with us for a bit," Harry offered before his brain caught up with his mouth. "If you don't have anything pressing to do and if you don't mind playing board games, that is."

"Demo… demo… she's a girl; they have cooties!" Teddy adamantly complained as he gave another tug on Harry's hand.

"Chigau, it's only fan-girls that have cooties. Yuugao, on the other hand, is a proper Kunoichi and therefore one hundred percent cootie-free."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, you can always tell when a girl has cooties because the cooties get up into their brains and make them go all loopy and forget how to use their common sense; that's why they act all crazy around certain people. The more cooties they have in their brains, the worse they act around the person they are obsessing after."

"Does that mean you've already been infected with cooties, tousan? You always act weird when Yuugao-san is around and you always say she's really, really pretty. Ojisan also always says you have it bad whenever obasan mentions her name and you're not around."

"Remind me to prank your aunt and uncle for gossiping later," Harry growled in English as he felt his face heating up in embarrassment over his son's rather innocent questions and observations. To prevent his son from embarrassing him further, he quickly suggested, "Why don't you go pick out a game and set it up, squirt?" Teddy squealed in excitement before he dashed on up the stairs leaving the mortified Chuunin alone with his crush. He then cleared his throat and offered a nervous, "Sorry about that… apparently, I'm not the only one corrupting my son."

"No apologies necessary, Takeshi," Yuugao insisted as her lips curled up in a small smile. "In fact, I found your son's observations to be rather enlightening."

"Er, you did…?"

"Most definitely. He even answered a question that has been plaguing me for quite some time."

"He did…?"

"Yes, he did. Would you like to know what that question was?" Yuugao agreed as she stepped closer to Harry and he automatically backed up a step only for his back to collide with the wall.

"Ano… I don't know… maybe? Maybe not…?"

"You are so adorable when you get all flustered," Yuugao breathed with a soft laugh as she took another step closer and leaned towards him.

"Ano… Yuugao, what are you…?"

The rest of Harry's question was cut off by Yuugao pressing a finger to his mouth before she replaced her finger with her lips. Harry froze the moment he felt her soft lips press themselves against his; it had been over four years since he'd last kissed a girl. Harry's brain still hadn't quite recovered from the shock of Yuugao kissing him (let alone wanting to kiss him) when his body reacted to Yuugao's kiss on autopilot as his hands settled themselves on the kunoichi's hips and his mouth began actively participating in the kiss.

He let out a soft moan a few seconds later when Yuugao pressed her body closer to his and deepened the kiss in response to his participation. Desire pooled in his belly as his brain simply shut itself off completely and his hands began gently kneading Yuugao's hips. Yuugao's hands slid across his chest before sliding over his shoulders where they gravitated to his neck; her fingers teasing the fine hairs at nape of his neck. A shiver raced down Harry's back and he let out another quiet moan that morphed into a soft whine when Yuugao broke the kiss and stepped back.

"I will see you tomorrow afternoon for that spar, Takeshi," Yuugao breathed before she gave him a second, chaste kiss on the cheek.

After her lips pulled away this time, she leapt up to the roof at the same time as the door to the apartments above burst open. A split second later, Teddy stuck his head out the door to call out, "Hurry up, tousan!"

Harry opened his eyes, which he couldn't remember closing, and glanced up towards the impatient five year old as he called back a slightly shaky, "Be right there, squirt."

Teddy gave out a yip of excitement as he disappeared back inside of the apartment. Harry remained where he was for a moment as he reached up to brush his fingers across his lips while part of him wondered why Yuugao had kissed him. After another minute had passed, he pulled himself out of his thoughts and pushed himself away from the wall before he began trudging the rest of the way up the stairs before Teddy came looking for him again. Just before he stepped through the door that Teddy had left open, Harry glanced towards the nearby rooftops for any sign of the kunoichi but sighed in disappointment when he didn't see her.

Harry would remain rather distracted for the rest of the night as he played several rounds of Mousetrap with Teddy and the rest of the children in the house.

Translations: Japanese to English

Ano – uh/um
Hai – yes
Otousan/tousan – father
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)

AN: So, Harry's teammates now know about the half of the Kyuubi he holds and a small handful of people are now aware that his half of the Kyuubi is awake and that he's spoken to her. And things between Harry and Yuugao are finally going somewhere! I know I had hints of how both of them felt in past chapters but trying to find an appropriate moment in which to hook them up was difficult without it throwing off the plot. Just when I was despairing of ever getting them together, Teddy waltzed in and used kid-logic on them. Gotta love them incidental prank moments.

Anywho, I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow and it's going to delve a little deeper into the situation with the Kyuubi, the way that situation is viewed by a handful of others, and will have his second meeting with the bijuu. ~ Jenn