Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Naruto" – Talking

'Naruto' – Thoughts

Naruto – Flashback

Naruto – Jutsu

Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family

Welcome, To Both Sides Of The Family

Previously on Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family,

After the nightmare finally ended,

"You sure you want to come us Haku-chan?" Naruto asked the young lady, "This will be a big shock after those years on the run and it will be really difficult to erase nearly a life time of following a Rogue Shinobi…"

"Yes, I am sure." Haku stated while grasping Keiji's arm like a lifeline during a hurricane.

"And are you going to take responsibility Keiji. You have just caused a girl to fall for you and won't let you go." Naruto turned to one of his students.

"I-I will!" Keiji was still nervous about all this. After all, Naruto's harsh training had allowed him to see that women are far more complex and just one mistake can really ruin your chances of ever being around that same woman ever again.

"Then you better because your mother will demand to know everything about your relationship so she can embarrass you about it. Unless you want to do otherwise." Naruto said and Keiji nodded. Embarrassment is nothing compared to how Kushina punishes her children for leaving her out of any potential children in-law and also any possible grandchildren to spoil.

"Hey!" All three of them turned to see Mito along with the rest of the Konoha Shinobi on the bridge out of Wave. "We are about to leave and stop pressuring Keiji, he will be fine!" The said boy was glad to make things up with his twin sister and it felt rather good to have someone that close to count on. "Besides, I like Haku and I will like someone to call my sister!" Mito said not knowing of the secret that Naruto and Hinata are aware of but said nothing; they didn't even notice the sad and regretful expressions both of them had.

"We're coming Mito." Naruto said in a sour tone that somehow was missed by all but Hinata who grasped his hand to at least cheer him up; that he is not alone on lying to the twins about having no big brother or little sister. "We just need to do one last thing." Only Hinata heard that and nodded but no else because it was a surprise; a present if you call it and it was all for the twins.

"Kushina-chan, can you please give Haku-san a break and some air while you are at it?" Minato sighed along with everyone else in his office at the sight of Haku being in a bear trap of an embrace by the wife of the current Hokage who just smiled like a fox and squealed the whole time.

"I can't help it Minato-koi! Haku-chan is just so cute!" The scarlet haired woman was like a little girl with her first kitten or something. "I can't wait to have her for a daughter-in-law!"

"Then you can wait until our only son ties the knot." Minato said and flinched at glances from both Keiji and Naruto for reasons that the Hokage knows and doesn't respectfully. "I think Haku-san wants to at least breathe." And just like that, the tension that was in the room and directed at the Hokage had changed course and settled on how blue Haku looked in Kushina's innocent and ignorant bear hug.

"Sorry about that. I guess that there is some of a teenage girl in me." Kushina tried to apologize but Haku only focused on getting some air in her lungs and away from another bear hug from the Hokage's wife.

"Anyways. I am sorry that I can't add you to any Genin Team since we had already set the team-ups a few months ago." Haku nodded, that was one of the things that Naruto had went on with detail on the way home from Wave. "You can just make yourself at home here in the village and enter the Academy for next year's teams or you can skip it all and sigh up for work already. I hear that you are a combat medic right?"

"Yes sir." Haku nodded, hoping it was good enough in front of Konoha's Yellow Flash, a Hokage that is supposed to be even greater than his predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi or the 'Professor' of Konoha; what is more, Hiruzen was even called the three 'God Of Shinobi' after the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and that is if you include the mythical Six Paths Sage.

"Then all I ask if you are interested in working at our Hospital or I can add you to our Medic team." Minato picked up where he left off and seeing that he had got Haku's attention, he continued to explain. "They are not only trained to fix and heal but to defend themselves in combat and battle. I am sure you well fit right in since I got from both Naruto-kun and Guy-san that your skills are of High Chunin, almost low Jonin." Minato ignored how Naruto flinched at how the Hokage addressed him so casually and affectively, like Minato thinks he is on good relations with his youngest Jonin.

"I will try it after I find myself a place to live sir. And…all I ask is that you will not mind if I date your son. I know that I can be asking too much and…" Haku said and stopped immediately when Minato raised his hand for a pause.

"It is no problem at all and I must warn you that even before my son hit puberty, every civilian clan had bombarded me with both requests and demands that their children to be arranged to marry anyone of them." That was something that made the entire Team Seven raise an eyebrow in slight surprise while Team Nine was indifferent as well as Haku. "My point is that I can't guarantee your safety for the rage of their children and the clan heads when they hear about this new development. Kushina-chan and I have seen the worst to happen to people like you so please be a little careful when you are both with my son and when you are alone."

"Thanks for the approval and warning sir, I will try my best not to disappoint any of you!" Haku shouted out like a shy kid finally finding his voice. But she could have done it softer and less loud because her outburst had gotten her loose from Keiji's arm and in Kushina's bear hug again.

"MOM!" Keiji yelled with disbelief while everyone somehow found it amusing enough to laugh at the scene.

XXXXX

And after a good couple of months since the Wave Mission, "So where exactly are we going Ke-chan?" Haku asked while clutching the arm of her embarrassed boyfriend; it took a couple of dates but they were able to get into a relationship that the Hokage himself approves of and they had been on numerous dates since. She just won't let up the affection and the 'cute nickname' that Haku got from Mito but Keiji just won't ever get angry at his girlfriend. After all, Naruto made sure that Keiji will have more patience that will come in handy once the latter becomes a clan head.

"Naruto-sensei said that he wanted the residents at his house other than Hinata-san to meet you too. He will hate to have Hinata-san's little sister and his own to not know about you." Keiji said and Haku squealed, somewhat like his mother back in the office doing the papers.

"Are any of them cute!?"

"I am sure Haku-chan but Mito may have a better opinion for you since you are a girl like her." Keiji said and braced for any bash on the head for any accidental sexist remark. But instead, Mito just smiled.

"I am afraid Keiji-nii-kun is right Haku-chan." She said which got their attention and Keiji to let go a breath he unknowing kept in. "If he did answer your question as a boy then it will be hard for you to understand. There are just these things that we girls can only tell each other while boys have no way of knowing."

Haku then sighed and nodded. "Okay Mito-chan, then tell me if they are cute!" Haku then had her sparkling eyes again while causing Keiji to toss and spin at her ignorant behavior, much of an overexcited girlfriend.

"They sure are…" Mito started to have that smile that got Haku even more interested and Keiji even more irritated, he knew just what is going to happen next. "They love to play and read books all day! Oh~! And they love to eat the Ramen that Naruto-sensei makes on occasion! I practically fainted when they both got noodles on their nose from eating their ramen without the chopsticks~!" Mito practically started out a girl's gossip that was going so fast and loud that Keiji couldn't make out what they were saying anymore.

Of course, he had to take a big risk for any man in his life time; break up the gossip between two or more girls. "WHAT!" They all yelled and poor Keiji, he couldn't even say a word but point. Point towards the house he was standing in front of along with his twin sister and new girlfriend. Hoping that they will get the silent message for sure.

"Oh."

"So this is where Naruto-san lives with his girlfriend and younger sister?" Haku asked and the twins nodded.

"And Hanabi, she visits so much that we had people actually asking if she lived here too." Keiji said. "Now let's go in." Keiji then knocked on the door, not caring if it was locked or not; the last time he barged through a door and into someone's house, there were a horde of rogue Shinobi in waiting specifically for his blood as Minato's son. Let's just say that knocking is the result of both a learned fear and yet another lesion that Naruto had gave over the past months.

After a minute or two, the door opened and the one who did greeted Keiji a lot like this,

"Keiji-san! Mito-san"

"Hello Hanabi-chan." Keiji side hugged Hanabi who embraced him like a big brother or at least a good friend who happens to be a few years older. "Is Sensei and your older sister home?"

"Sure~! They are helping Yurina with her homework and I got mine done first so I can welcome you in!" Hanabi answered, a lot like girls her age. "Come one!" Keiji chuckled while Mito giggled at the sight as they let themselves and Haku into Naruto's house. "So are you Haku? I keep hearing about you from Naruto-nii-san and Hinata-nee-chan!"

"That is my name." Haku answered, "And you really are cute!" Hanabi giggled as she is too innocent to be embarrassed, or otherwise she thinks that Haku is just playing and doesn't actually mean it. "So where is Yurina? I want to meet her too!"

"She is possibility in our bedroom, we each have a bed to sleep in there so Naruto-nii-san let us share it when I come over~!" Hanabi answered while Keiji and Mito were busy finding the kitchen for a snack. They were a little hungry after that last mission that had to happen at noon so the twins ate lunch a little earlier than usual. Thankfully for Keiji, it was simple d-rank so he didn't have to worry about keeping Haku waiting for this moment to come and visit the Twisted Eye of Konoha and his own family at home. "Wait here while I go get her!"

Haku found a chair to sit in while the twins were working on some instant ramen for their snack when they found more than enough to use more than two safely; meaning that they could take up to five cans without running becoming terribly low on them. After a short while, the ramen for five were really for the table and the twins found a serving board to carry it all there.

"Here she is!" Hanabi's voice echoed throughout the house and the twins and Haku saw Naruto along with Hinata and Yurina approached the dining table that suddenly got big enough for the ten chairs that were already in positon. "Yurina, this is Haku! The one that Naruto-nii-san and Hinata-nee-san told the two of us about!"

One thing that Haku had noticed about Yurina was that while Hinata was bold and loud, the former was the complete opposite of the latter. Regardless, Yurina approached Haku and took in a huge breathe. "N-nice to meet y-you Haku-san. N-naruto-nii-san and Hinata-nee-san s-said that you a-are K-keiji-san's girl right?"

"That will be right Yurina-chan. Of course, if that bothers you…" Yurina then violently shook her head negative which got Haku to smile. "I did hear from Ke-kun that you are one of the sweetest little girls he knows other than his sister, Hanabi-chan and even me." Haku said and Yurina then brighten up; it was an honor that seemed impossible for the male heir to the Hokage's clan to consider young girls as beautiful and sweet like his own twin sister and, only recently, his girlfriend.

"T-thank you Haku-san." Yurina said with a slightly less shy tone that got Haku to pick her up and hug her, not as strong as Kushina did her on Haku's first day in Konoha of course. And this time, the young and cute girl found herself relaxed and warm around Haku which is ironic since Haku's personality and prowess was the complete opposite. But Haku didn't care, she loved to be a big sister at last.

XXXXX

And while everyone was busy getting to know each other even more, Haku noticed that Naruto and Hinata had distant looks on their faces. They didn't look happy at all. And Haku didn't want such unknown unhappiness to spread and ruin a good get-together like this one. "Is something the matter?"

Haku asked while approaching the two and when they both turned into her direction, Naruto and Hinata sighed. "Yes Haku. There is and we must ask to bring you to somewhere private." Haku titled her head in confusion before shrugging and followed the couple to one of the bedrooms reserved for any guest or more residents. It was dusted every week to make sure that it is the cleanest as it can until used. Haku just got comfortable on the bed while Naruto placed some kind of seals on the door and walls before joining Hinata who was standing up in front of Haku.

"So what's up? Is it something sad?" Haku started the conversation and the couple just looked at each other before nodding.

"It is a secret Haku. A secret that keeps growing as times passes untold, until it is too much even for the two of us. That is why we are going to share with you." Naruto said and while Haku felt excited to have the honor of learning something that was shared between only the Twisted Eye of Konoha and his girlfriend/closest student.

"I am listening and I will have my lips sealed! I swear!" Haku said, hoping to prove that she will not let Naruto or Hinata down with a secret like this.

"We know you will but it will involve both the Namikaze-Uzumaki Clan and our own little family here in Naruto's house. So it will be difficult to accept." Hinata said and Haku was at the edge of her seat to finally hear it.

"As you know, and isn't a lie, that Yurina is my younger sister…" Haku nodded, blushing at how polite and yet cute girl whose shyness had only made her look twice as much. "But she is also the twins' younger sister." That…was the icebreaker and that was exactly how Haku felt.

"S-she is…?" Haku stammered, remembering on how Hinata warned her that this might be a little difficult to swallow. "T-then why h-hasn't K-k-ke-kun told m-me that? W-why did h-he l-lie to m-me?" Haku started to get the wrong impression and the couple had stopped her by sitting on both sides of the poor girl.

"Keiji-kun didn't lie to you Haku. It is just that the Hokage and his wife foolishly thought that lying to the twins about no older or younger siblings will make them the prefect heirs." Naruto said and Haku managed to calm down her racing heart.

"We know that they will love to have them ever since they finally showed some humility during one of Naruto-kun's training exercises." Hinata added, "Keiji-san wanted a brother while Mito wanted her own sister, they didn't care if they are older or younger; they both wanted a sibling of their own gender to hang out with but their parents refused to tell them the truth."

"S-so, if Yurina is the younger sister to the twins then how is Ke-kun going to have a brother…?" Haku asked but before she could rant on,

"He does Haku-chan." Naruto said and Haku then faced him,

"How do you know?"

"You are looking at him." Haku then gasped as she tried to take all this in.

"So what happened? Why did you leave the family of the Hokage? Why isn't Yurina-chan with them if you two are their siblings?" Haku had to ask and noticed that the atmosphere within the guest room had gotten depressing and heavy, like trying to breathe in a large body of water, at the very bottom. "You weren't happy with them?"

"Actually, I was." Naruto said. Haku then said nothing and waited for more of the story. "I was actually happy in my family as the only child until I turned five. Several months before hand, I learned from my former parents that Kushina-san was pregnant, with twins. I was told that I can finally become a big brother." Haku noticed that Naruto was distant again, must be when he looks so far into the past, metaphorically.

Haku then felt behind her was Hinata grasping her boyfriend's hand. "Anyways, I was the happiest boy in the village, possibly the world; I was going to have such adorable siblings to play with, to read my favorite stories to, to even help my former parents tuck them into bed. I wanted to be the best big brother I could and to me, it meant helping my mother as well." Haku smiled, in one of the most tragic and harden Shinobi of Konoha was a man who retained the same kindness and thoughtful personality from his days as a child.

"But when it was time for the twins to finally arrive, something happened. Something that we never seen ahead of time. And something that none of us wanted to happen." Haku had took in a sharp breath at the sudden change in tone. "While Kushina-san was giving birth, my former parents and some trusted aid were attacked. By an intruder using a power never seen before, to act like a ghost that enter and exit anything without a hitch. And this intruder wanted the Hokage and his wife dead for reasons I never found out. All I knew was that he was a person who was nigh dead to world and asked of me to 'help him see it again'. I never seen hide or hair of him ever since."

Haku somehow felt sympathetic with Naruto, to the point of understanding that pain from experiencing it firsthand. "But that night wasn't over. Not when it was now clear why the intruder went after the Hokage and his wife. To unleash a beast of incredible power that was controlled into attacking the village. The Kyubi." Haku gasped; she always thought that the Kyubi no Yoko was just a myth, a fairytale just like the creator of the Shinobi World. "And since it was too powerful for any nonliving container, it had to be sealed again and into a living creature. But the Hokage had other plans and split the Kyubi in half and sealed the pieces into the twins."

"No way!" Haku was not understanding any of this. "But why?! Why the twins, why my Ke-kun!?"

"Haku." Naruto said in a stern tone that he had adapted into being a Jonin Teacher that was reserved for the twin children of the Hokage. "The Kyubi is a beast that is made out of pure Chakra, pure energy that is all bounded into a physical form by a conscious. And for the Kyubi as a whole to destroy a village, imagine the power honed by a Shinobi? That was what my father had in mind when he changed the twins, my younger sister and brother, forever. He probably wanted to make sure that the twins will be the prefect heirs by being stronger than me. And that was difficult because he knew that I was a prodigy in the works; I already competed Tree Walking and Water Walking in two weeks, by the time the Kyubi attacked the village."

"B-but how!? No child at the age of five can do such a thing!" Haku shouted, ignoring when Naruto said the title 'father' with much venom.

"I wasn't' the first Haku, prodigies like Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake and even the Hokage himself had proved to have more talent than myself at a much younger age." Naruto said and Haku said no more, to try and listen to the rest of the story. "Anyways, I was disgusted with my family when they forced the twins from me for another five years as I tried to prove that I can help. But they always ignored me and when I learned that they were going to steal my birthright, using their neglect of my training as an excuse to call me weak. After that, I never even wanted to the see the clan of the Hokage again and instead moved on with my life. With some help of course." Naruto smiled at Hinata who giggled and showed her blush rather than try to hide it like when she was much younger. "But when I became a Jonin at the age of fifteen, I found myself wanting to get involved with the clan again when I first found Yurina; beaten to a pulp, covered by the elements and left to be forgotten in the shadows."

Haku then finally noticed that she had been crying for a short while, starting somewhere in the middle of the story. "When she said that she was abused by the Hokage and his family and treated like a stranger, a mistake, an accident, a punching bag of a children that the Hokage didn't want as one of his children." Naruto said with his free hand in a fist so tight, his knuckles were turning white and there were even some blood around his fingertips. "I didn't want any of that to happen and because I ignored the clan, I didn't see another innocent child forced to live a life a lot like mine, even worse. I couldn't forgive myself for it and that is why I changed my mind when I was told to take my love as a student but the twins as well. And the rest is history."

Silence filled the room as soon as Naruto was done with the story of his life. Hinata shifted so that she will be hugging her boyfriend from behind when it was clear that even holding hands wasn't enough. Hinata tried her entire body as comfort from the touch. Meanwhile, Haku just sat there, crying the whole time. She couldn't decide if she still loves Keiji or resent him.

But all that will be answered when the seals on the walls and door of the room had lowered and in came the very boy that Haku was debating internally on. "Haku-chan." He said, still in his new modest tone. "Now you know more about me, do you still want to try at it. If we need to split then I will be okay too. I will move on just like Sensei. We all move on."

Keiji then got tackled by Haku instead of a slap like he was bracing for. "Ke-kun..." Keiji wasn't the least bit embarrassed at Haku's 'cute' little nickname for the time being. "How can I hate you when it was your father that turned you and Mito-chan into monsters!?" Keiji didn't see that coming but wanted to hear more before responding. "How could a father do that to his own children!? HOW!?"

"Haku-chan…" Keiji started to say, "Let's make a promise." Haku looked up to see what Keiji had in mind and so did Naruto and Hinata who were still sitting on the bed. "Let's promise never to care about anything before family, before people's feelings, before what is truly important to us all. I will give it all to carry it out so will you do the same?"

Keiji's answer was a searing kiss on his lips from an overwhelmed Haku, her face now covered in tears of conflicting and swirling emotions. "Of course! I will promise on my life and blood! I swear!" Keiji just smiled for the rest of the day. He then turned to his teacher and the latter's girlfriend with a look that seemed to say 'thanks for everything'.

End of Chapter 10.

*Thanks for the support and I really appreciate all the favs and follows. This is one chapter that I am making after the Wave Arc and before the Chunin Exam Arc. I want to show some drama and interactions between two distinct and yet blood-tied families handle a new addition to both. Haku is going to have more on her plate than she thought as Keiji's girlfriend and possible bride. She might even want to get deeply involved in order to bring the two families back together but it is not going to be easy or pretty. Especially with some nasty secrets to share with the public about 'Konoha's Perfect Family'.*