January/February 2009

Chapter 10

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Naruto laughed hard as his sister sat in front of him reiterating what had happened after Shourai walked in on them.

Kakashi was bent after telling Shourai what Kakashi and Arune had been doing. But Arune was dead set against telling her five year old son about sex.

Goodness knows that the world doesn't need a five year old porn addict. Because knowing that Shourai was Kakashi's son, he would probably pick up that habit from his father anyway.

"So Kaka-sensei, you really went into your son's room wearing nothing? Man I'm glad I didn't get the talk from you or Ero-sen," Naruto chuckled while laying his head in his sister's lap.

The sofa was comfortable and the Hatake living room was finally filled with young blood again.

Arune ran her fingers through her silly brother's blond locks while she smiled thinking about the first time she had gotten the furniture cleaned.

Though it was so long ago it didn't seem as if it were fake or a distant memory anymore. She vividly remembered going to the store and picking out the furniture with Naruto. She remembered cleaning the house while Kakashi was out.

Involuntarily she shivered remember why at the time Kakashi had not been in the house. Their marriage was something special. Arune peaked over to Kakashi who was still talking with Naruto and couldn't help but feel an overwhelming emotion build in her heart.

Kakashi had accepted her as his wife no matter what she had been through. That thought alone made her love for him grow tenfold. Ironically she'd have to thank Yasuo for allowing Kakashi to grow closer to her.

He had wed her by his own will because of that mission and now he had reclaimed her as his wife because of Yasuo.

Sadly she had lost the childhood of her son, but she and everyone she knew would make Yasuo pay for that.

"Naruto-ji you can't be serious when you think this is funny. No kid really wants to see their parents like that," Shourai's voice had broken Arune out of her thoughts.

The accident had allowed him to regain his voice; something Shourai had explained was caused by Yasuo's constant physical pain.

When she heard that her son was subject to such abuse, she couldn't help but feel as if she was a failure of a mother. Her son was tortured under her watch and she didn't even notice it. In the middle of Yasuo's façade she had fallen victim to not noticing her son's agony.

What angered her more was not being able to punish Yasuo. She made sure that the boys were going to let her have a piece in torturing Yasuo, but she also knew that she was out of practice.

Seeing her son again after months of believing that he was dead was a relief. But she couldn't recognize him anymore. His hair had grown in, something that should've happened a while ago if not for Yasuo. The mask that Kakashi wore was now placed over her son's face as well. After spending some time with her son, she realized that there was no way her son would not end up like his father. Both of them possessed an innate ability to protect those they loved. Kakashi would give up his life over and over again for his family and the village, while Shourai had silently suffered for years because he wanted to protect Arune.

But the difference in her son was not his personality. Her son was still the quiet observant child as he was before but now he was calmer and seemed to be at a happier place in life.

But the biggest change was that he spoke. Finding out that Arune's injury during her pregnancy had caused him to tear his vocal cords as well as the hot coal that Yasuo had shoved down her baby's throat was devastating. But now he was fine and that was all that mattered, besides getting back at Yasuo.

When they were alone, Shourai talked about everything. The way he used to paint pictures and was genjutsus for her was now replaced by his words. For a five year old his voice was angelic. Everything about him was a mirror image to Kakashi.

No wonder Yasuo thought Shourai was a threat to Arune's lack of memory. Her son looked exactly like Kakashi with his hair and his voice that there would have been no way to mistaken that Yasuo was Shourai's father.

And she knew that her son was pained because of her. For some odd reason, Yasuo had found it appealing to lie to her and to control her son. If he truly cared for her then he would have let her be happy with Kakashi.

But he stole her happiness and made her cry for five years.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Sasuke received a summons that delivered to him a tiny scroll. Kakashi and the boys were bent over the scroll deciphering what it meant and how they could use the data.

Naruto smiled as he got Sasuke to make a copy of the scroll for him to submit to the council. Yasuo had been conspiring against Konoha and that would be great evidence against him. The man had paid many of Konoha's enemies to stop trade and start fights with Konoha. With this scroll sent to the elders, they would have no reason not to arrest him, and if Kakashi and Naruto had their way then Yasuo would not only be arrested but brutally punished.

Naruto left to deliver the scroll to the elders and recall Karin from that mission.

Author's Note: It's late…and short. I really am stuck on this between school, weddings, work and all other life stuff. I apologize.