DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, Naruto speaking to Kurama in her mindscape, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"We have to talk. And you can't keep doing things like this," Naruto said anxiously, referring to the binds and handcuffs. She had to concentrate on her breathing to stay calm. Too much had happened this evening.

Too much she didn't understand.

"You won't leave?" Kakashi asked. "I only wanted to ensure you heard me out."

"No. And fair enough… I guess," the blonde said before breathing a huge (silent) sigh of relief when he began untying the binds on her legs. Naruto supposed she hadn't really put up much of a fight when he put them on, however.

"So you don't like that," Kakashi quietly surmised.

"I wouldn't say that," she drawled quietly before blushing. "I mean, in other circumstances, it could be fun but - don't laugh at me!"

"I just love you," Kakashi said before looking even more relieved. "Once I finally said it, it was easy. I just want to keep saying it: I love you."

Naruto was incredulous. It took her a while to respond, but when she did, she found it hard to speak at all. "You're really something," was all she managed to get out. "The cuffs?"

Kakashi sighed. "I think I'd like to keep them on you. You do need to be punished for leaving me."

"ABOUT that," Naruto said, unimpressed - well, for the most part. Glad that Kakashi scooted back on the bed to give her a little space while obviously paying close attention, she got up and wanted to pace. "I'll just be honest, alright?" Kakashi nodded and began taking off his vest, and Naruto hoped that he'd stop there. When he did, she relaxed a bit and forced herself to be fully honest - well, aside from the dying and previous life thing. "Part of me finds being punished to be a turn-on, and that part of me must be a freak. The rest of me - and well," she said, wincing as she thought of Kurama's words: they were hard to say, but maybe she needed to? "I'm the Apex Predator, ya have to understand."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she turned around to rest her face within the corner walls of the room, feeling mortified. Realizing in horror that she hadn't yet put down a silencing seal - or checked to make sure Jiraiya didn't have cameras or something terrible in the room, she panicked - and took proper precautions. When she turned around after ensuring they couldn't be heard or seen, finally finding the nerve to look at him again, Naruto found an unmasked Kakashi smirking at her, looking very pleased with himself. "What?"

"You're the Apex Predator. But who's your Alpha?"

"You," Naruto said without reservation but didn't get why that made him so happy - nor why the tension in the room seemed to shift. He opened up his arms for her and she slowly moved toward him. "Are you going to keep running away from me? Because I will prank your ass."

"No," he replied in some amusement while kissing his little wife's head and then the skin around her cuffed wrists. "I've missed you."

Naruto closed her eyes and tried to bask in his affection for quite some time. "I tried not to think of you, but I've missed you, too," she admitted quietly before her head popped up and she looked at him critically.

"You sure this isn't about just needing my chakra? Because if that's it - and you're lying to me or yourself about how you feel - you'll end up really, really hurting me."

The one thing Naruto was fairly sure of was that the Kakashi of this time AND the Kakashi of her past life never wanted to intentionally hurt her. "It would be better just to admit it now - or at least rethink things," she went on to say.

"I'm sure," Kakashi said as he held her. "I should've said something a long time ago."

"We haven't been together for a 'long time,'" she reminded him, wondering how long this was going to last.

Kakashi took a deep breath. He knew that he realized he was in love with her back in Wave, but… "When I met you, I was blown away," he said, looking up at nothing as he remembered her jumping onto Sandaime-sama's desk in that beautiful azure kimono to guard the man. "You were breathtaking. You are breathtaking." When he looked into her eyes, he realized that Naruto clearly either didn't believe that about herself or didn't believe he thought that about her. He tipped her chin up more so that she'd know he was serious. "I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you know it."

Naruto slowly hid her face in his chest but needed to make another thing clear, although it was hard to say. "You shouldn't say things you might not mean. Promises and stuff mean a lot to me, and recently I've realized that words can have power," or something like that.

Kami. Kurama was going to hold this over her for the rest of her life, wasn't he?

Good thing he was ignoring them.

"Indeed they do," Kakashi said, then turned his body toward her. Inhaling deeply as he lowered himself, he felt his need for her growing. "I've missed you," he groaned into her hair this time, moving to kiss her chastely for several minutes. Naruto didn't seem to have any problem reciprocating, so he patiently moved to suck on her jaw and neck after working on her ear.

He loved the little sounds she made as she struggled to wrap her arms around him, kissing and pushing herself into him in response. He ran chakra into his fingertips and began applying it to her skin as he moved his hand up and down her side before moving to do the same to her back. "Is this okay? I want you to be sure about things, although I'm not letting you go. You're going to have to live with that."

Naruto tried to hide her momentarily wide-eyed face, but once again, Kakashi wasn't having it. Looking into his mismatched eyes, she found it hard to believe that him asking her something like that was such a turn-on. She moved up to begin kissing down the scar that covered his Sharingan.

Kakashi was holding on to her hips but gasped and jumped when she grabbed his scarred eyebrow between her lips and pulled it gently away from his skin. "Hai," she then said to his earlier question, liking that she'd surprised him even a little.

"Good," he sighed, reaching around to run his hand across and grab her ass. "So good," he added as he clutched her flesh, molding it with his hand. Her leg wrapped around him, and he hoisted her closer to him. Grinding into her, he again begged her for permission.

"Yeah. Yeah," she murmured, beginning to feel beside herself with need. He smelled and felt so good! And she'd missed his crazy self! "Please," she implored quietly as Kakashi's movements became more urgent as they kissed. He nearly ripped their clothes off, even getting stuck in his shirt for several seconds before she had to help him get it off. Suddenly he stopped, although he was rutting against her, really hard.

"I want more than just this," he said, gritting his teeth as he pushed into her - really wanting to get the rest of their clothes off, too. "I want everything with you, Naru; more than sex. But sex, too!"

"Me, too. Everything," she gasped as she wiggled, holding him tightly with her legs to get more friction, wishing to grab his ass to pull him closer. "Take these handcuffs off me."

"My little predator," he purred as he tore off the side of her panties and ignored her request. He ground into her again repeatedly, then got an idea as well as a sly smile on his face. "Or should I let you do what you want, my little Alpha Bitch?"

"Please, yeah," Naruto panted, not fully realizing what either of them was saying at first. "Wait," she exclaimed, reluctantly pushing him away from the breast he had attached himself to. "Yes," she said darkly. Kakashi's eyes widened, but he only slowly nodded his head at her, seeing her eyes flash colors as she smirked at him before pulling down his boxer briefs. "Mine. All of you is mine."

"Hell yeah," he tried to say, but it came out in a shuddering, loud gasp of shock and pleasure when her mouth was suddenly surrounding his dick, and Kami-sama, she was going for it! "Oh fuck, Naru? What you... FUCK!"

A few hours later, Naru was asleep in his arms, and Kakashi felt all was right with the world. Well, the hotel room was absolutely wrecked from where their chakra had exploded, but that was fine: it was on Jiraiya's tab. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened, and began to get hard again just thinking about it.

The smells and the filthy, squelching sounds of skin slapping and pounding into her already cum-filled hole were almost too much for him to take. On and on they went, though, until finally, he was so overly sensitive, he couldn't handle it. "FUCK," he cried as he came again and bit into her neck. He wasn't surprised when she bit him back but did continue shaking and shuddering, his eyes shut hard, as their chakra flowed and mixed.

"Hey Naru-chan," he whispered in a sing-song voice, "wake up, baby."

"Hm?" she asked sleepily, giving him a momentary dirty look when he began kissing down her chest. And wasn't there a big picture on the wall? She sat up, afraid, momentarily thinking she was in a different room. "Hey, wait," she insisted, sitting up, making Kakashi whine - her eyes blowing wide at the state of the room. "What…"

Naruto wasn't sure what had happened! She remembered biting Kakashi back, unable to control herself when sucking on his nipple wasn't enough… and then it was as if she was electrified - and it had felt so good.

Her vision was filled with little white stars... She'd grabbed the sheet above her at the last second before feeling like lightning had struck her. She opened her eyes, shaking all over, to see Kakashi in all his muscled glory holding her thighs tightly to him, both of his eyes red.

Little did she know, he was seeing almost the same color in her eyes. "You okay?" he eventually asked between uneven breaths as he closed his Sharingan. The other eye returned to the gray she knew and loved.

"Yeah," she panted nervously, then tried to cover herself. Kakashi rolled his eyes and pulled her leg over with him as he turned so that they could be side by side, him still inside of her.

"It looks like the walls are only standing thanks to Ero-sennin's seals."

Kakashi hummed, looking around the room and reminding himself to find Naru's slippers before she got out of bed. He didn't want her feet to possibly get hurt. "You finally gave yourself to me."

"I did."

"You're about to do it again," he said cockily and with a roguish grin.

"I sure am," she replied. "In the shower, though." What else could she do? Kakashi was just too good at this stuff.

"Bathtub," Kakashi insisted instead.

"How goes the hunt?" Hizashi asked his old friend.

Minato hummed, glad to have a break with his (formerly deceased, the last time he was revived) friend: the less uppity of the Hyuuga twins. "It's going. Konoha has secured hundreds of able-bodied ANBU-level shinobi and kunoichi that will eventually be allowed into the ranks, some of which are already transitioning." Under his breath and behind his cup of tea he added his own personal opinion on those who had already transitioned to ANBU missions: "I don't get what Kakashi did to them other than display the pervert that he must be, considering his reading choices. Tch!"

He had an entirely new division to command who were all Icha-Icha and/or Youth addicts.

"SO!" Minato eventually chirped more conversationally. "Tell me about Neji-kun. I understand he has applied for ANBU as well."

Hizashi didn't seem so happy about that, and Minato gave him a look of understanding: having a child in ANBU put them in even more danger. Sage or not, Minato worried about Naruto being outside the village every day that she was. "We did fine, Hizashi. I understand Neji-kun is quite the shinobi."

"My son has been acknowledged as perhaps the most prodigious genius the clan has ever produced. He will make a fine Clan Head."

Minato nearly spat out his tea. Hizashi was a Branch member, so naturally, his son was, too. "Really? That's wonderful!"

Hizashi only nodded, looking thoughtful. "We owe your daughter for that," he said, puzzling Minato even more as the stoic man became uncomfortable. "The clan owed her a debt, and that was her request - sort of… Neji's a strong young man, but younger than we were when we joined the black ops, Minato-sama."

The Hokage hummed. "You want me to deny his admission to ANBU? And drop the honorific - at least when it's just us," Minato demanded.

Hizashi chuckled. "As long as you assure me that you won't confuse me with Hiashi: can you imagine his reaction to failing to use proper manners?"

Minato crossed his arms. Hiashi had always been okay until… Well, he didn't need to mention that, did he? "He's always had a stick up his butt."

Hizashi very quietly snorted before taking another sip of tea. "A birthright of my clan - and Hiashi's alright…"

"He used that accursed seal on you!" Minato exclaimed. Oops: apparently he did need to mention that!

"That was MANY years ago. You know that he was forced to do so by father and the Elders," he said, no longer bitter about what his family once did to all Branch members. "First, I will not stand in Neji's way. If he wants to join the black ops, that is his decision."

Hizashi paused before continuing. Minato and Kushina had been his and his dearly departed wife's good friends. "I want you to know that we tried to adopt Naruto, even before this lazy excuse for a shinobi did." Both men looked for a reaction from Shikaku, who was still staring down at a report in his lap. He'd apparently fallen asleep with his eyes open: probably too lazy to close them, both men thought humorously.

"Thank you for trying," Minato breathed, then tapped his desktop. "Kushina and I believed she'd go to Mikoto should something happen to us, considering sensei's job. …I still can't believe the Uchiha attempted a coup."

"Not that she did, but… I believe Mikoto-chan would've only first wavered in her loyalty to the village when Hiruzen-sama refused her godmother's rights. She fiercely opposed Hiruzen-sama on that issue and constantly went against his orders: bringing Naru-hime to their compound; that sort of thing. And of course, the common villager's reactions to her clan after the attack certainly did not help the Uchiha feel any more comfortable in the village."

Minato sat back in his chair and turned toward the window. "Why would he do that?" he asked, rethinking asking Hiruzen to be an advisor for the hundredth time. Perhaps he could simply make him a war advisor. Most of the man's time was taken up by non-critical paperwork now, anyway. "Hey, Hizashi! How would you like to be one of my advisors?"

"Do I look like an Elder?" Hizashi sniffed.

"You're pretty old," Minato said, giving him a hard time. "My other advisors will be Tsunade and Jiraiya…"

"Just the company I want to keep," Hizashi said sarcastically. Both men looked at the Jonin Commander dozing in the chair beside them who had muttered "Troublesome" under his breath. "Lazy ass," they both muttered at the same time before laughing - which woke Shikaku up. He glared at them and stretched while letting out a very noisy yawn.

"What?" the pony-tailed shinobi asked flatly while scratching his belly after his extremely short nap.

"Nothing," Minato said, smiling at his friends fondly. "I asked Hizashi to be one of my advisors."

"Troublesome," the commander repeated, this time awake. "You should've asked Hiashi instead. No offense, Hizashi."

"None taken," Hizashi said, obviously pleased. Minato pouted and both men glared at the childish look on his face. It was rather unbecoming of a Kage.

"I'm sure Hiashi would do a fine job," Minato began to say diplomatically, "but…"

"Buuuuuuut, you're more comfortable with Hizashi," Shikaku finished up for him. "They're identical and think the same way, Minato." He dipped his head as if apologizing for his next words: "even if Hiashi doesn't like to admit it."

"Hiashi is and was raised to be a clan head, something that will benefit you," Hizashi roughly agreed, continuing his previous thoughts. He and Shikaku usually thought along the same lines, too, he'd like to think. "The Clan Elders would be particularly pleased by his appointment, as a few are still up in arms regarding Neji-kun's future ascension to the Head position, despite his skill."

Minato pulled a face. Hizashi, Hiashi, Shikaku, and he played shogi together even when they were small boys, often alternating out with Fugaku. He liked and had trusted Hiashi until he used that horrible seal on his brother - and Kushina had literally tried to kill Hiashi after he did it. That had… certainly soured their relationship further. "I'll consider it."

A crow flew into the room and took roost on Minato's desk, making Shikaku sigh. "I still can't believe that boy's alive," he said, regarding Uchiha Shisui.

"Not a boy anymore," Minato said, taking the scroll from the crow's leg. Reading through it, his suspicions were confirmed. "Danzo was seen entering Ame."

"Akatsuki's HQ," Hizashi said uncomfortably.

Minato closed his eyes, wishing that he had continued his mission with Shisui; he could've assisted him in the fight he was now reporting. News on Kakashi's quickly declining health - addicted to his daughter's chakra! - had come back, and he had been extremely late coming back to check on the village with Tsunade. He'd planned to leave again tonight to join the temporary Uchiha Clan Head in his hunt for Danzo, but this news changed things. "Hizashi, could you excuse us for a moment?"

"Of course," Hizashi said, standing elegantly with his head held high. "Whenever you're available for a game or drink…"

"Perhaps tonight?"

"I'm at your beck and call, Hokage-sama."

Minato threw a glare at him then smiled, watching him leave and knowing Hizashi was only pretending to be sarcastic. His friends truly had his back and still respected him.

"You've taken my advice," Shikaku said in a grave voice once they were alone.

"I usually do," Minato lamented. "It's too important that the Akatsuki don't get their hands on any part of Kurama," he said, hand on his hidden seal. He took a deep breath and blew it out before shaking his head. "Yet I'm practically feeding them my daughter."

"Bullshit," Shikaku said, sitting back and crossing his legs. "You'd never send her to Ame." And I might turn against you if you insisted on doing such an insane thing.

"No," Minato said, smiling bitterly. "No, I wouldn't. But we may soon be at war with them. If that happens, neither of us will have a choice." Both men were silent before Minato began considering Shisui's message more.

"I don't know if Shisui-san will stop hunting Danzo even if I order him to." Minato had, at least, ordered Shisui not to enter Ame. "He's quite… different. - Reminds me of Obito-kun, or at least how my Obito was back in the day."

Minato still hadn't found Obito, either. That hunt was still on.

Opening the seal Shisui had enclosed within his report, both men gasped. There, sitting on the Hokage's desk, was Danzo's prosthetic arm filled with closed eyes.

Minato closed his eyes, truly disgusted, but bit his lip and used a kunai to open one, revealing a Sharingan. Shikaku had cursed, looking very green. "I need to show this to a few people, then get it to Tsunade. Excuse me," the Hokage said, then flashed away.

"Let me get this straight. No," Tsunade began to bemoan once her granddaughter and her husband were back in the village. Kakashi and Naruto had been ordered to report to the hospital immediately because of Kakashi's addiction to her chakra. "How the fuck did SHE get your chakra."

"She's mine," Kakashi stated simply and as if that explained anything. Honestly, neither he nor Naruto understood it.

"There is the big seal," Naruto said, throwing a hypothesis out there as she tapped her back where Kakashi had engraved their clan crest. "I already had some of his chakra, I think, but not as much. Kurama also says Kakashi-kun's a hanyou or a hanyou descendant: something like that; or maybe a super-great grandchild of an oni or wolf demigod or something like that, so maybe that's it," she continued as if THAT was an acceptable thing to say. "How's being Hokage going?"

Tsunade only clicked her tongue but otherwise ignored the question.

"Kurama is the fox?" Kakashi asked, wanting to confirm it with her.

"Yeah! Don't tell anyone his name: either of you. He's gonna kill me for revealing it."

The fox, oddly enough, had been sleeping soundly through everything, with his head tucked tightly into his tails, no less.

"Maa, that's a little silly. Hatakes were originally a tribe of farmers, some nomadic, but that's about as wild as we get."

"You're pretty wild," Naruto smiled, leaning into him.

"For fuck's sake," Tsunade cursed to herself, looking through the couple's medical charts and otherwise ignoring them. "I don't know what to think about this..."

"Kurama says it's the silver hair that gives you away. Plus the whole… dog thing. He thinks you're part wolf."

"Ah. Yet he doesn't believe in the Ten-Tailed Wolf," Kakashi replied, remembering what Naru had said before.

The two of them were in their own little world.

"Seriously!" Tsunade exclaimed. "You two cannot just keep passing chakra to one another like it's an edible frisbee! It's not… normal."

"Edible frisbee?" Naruto mouthed to Kakashi, failing to get where that reference came from. Sighing, she decided to blow it off.

"I'm not normal, Baa-chan," Naruto said, her hair flying to the side as her grandmother took her attention away from her sweet husband, as she stated the obvious and before Tsunade might do something violent. "And he needs my chakra anyway, right? So it's gonna happen."

"As I said before: I feel great," Kakashi confirmed, pulling Naruto toward him and kissing her through his mask. Even though he'd been up half the night having wild sex with his little wife, he felt great and wasn't tired at all. He was sore and his skin in places was a bit scratched up and sensitive, but that was about it. He pulled back from the kiss but kissed her again at seeing how red his kisses had made her pretty little face.

"Lovesick fools," Tsunade scoffed as she gazed at them - somewhat wistfully.

"Okay," Naruto said carelessly. "Can we go?"

"I need to run more tests, but you've given plenty of blood - and yes, Naru-chan: it's 'in a secured vault' - so you're free to go for now. No missions until you're cleared."

"But Baa-chan!"

"No, Naruto!"

Fortunately, they were cleared two days later, and in time to hunt their next targets - or so the jinchuuriki thought. Naruto had finally decided it would be nice to have her husband along with her, although she was really worried about keeping him safe.

Kakashi was worried about keeping her safe, and his instincts screamed that he needed to keep his little wife in the village under lock and key.

In their downtime they'd talked a lot - well, Naruto had, especially - and had come to several "agreements," while agreeing to disagree on other things. Their time together had been particularly nice, him often laying in her arms reading while she did the same, or she simply talked while playing with his hair.

And the cooking! Oh, the food had been great.

Tsunade had also given Naru a special and higher-than-normal-temp thermometer that would allow them to use the rhythm method to help with "family planning," something that scared both of them.

"Kakashi's already my family!"
- And how great it was hearing that, he remembered. It was pretty damn fantastic.

Monitoring Naru's daily temperature wasn't exactly a highly-effective pregnancy counter, but using a recently developed 48-hand seal jutsu to prevent pregnancy that only lasted for an hour (and was untested on female jinchuurikis) would do little for them. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto was patient when the mood hit, and they tended to go for hours rather than minutes.

Kakashi's smirk only grew just thinking about it.

His test results, for once, had proved what he felt to Tsunade, too. He had gained an impressive amount of chakra since the last time he was tested and felt stronger than ever. "Naruto, I want to talk to the fox," Kakashi told his partner.

"Why?" Naruto asked, always protective of her furry partner. "And no. He's asleep."

Kakashi hummed as they walked hand in hand to the mission desk. "As soon as he's awake, I want to - discuss some things..."

"We'll see," she said noncommittally. The Sandaime was at the desk, looking odd to both of them since he wasn't wearing a hat or robes. Naruto was glad to see him but nervous for a good reason, she realized - when he looked up at her and paled. Kakashi went rigid and instantly moved in front of her protectively. It took more than a few seconds before she realized that she was basically cowering in grief that her Jiji's affection had soured and was hiding behind her husband. Naruto scolded herself for it.

"Reporting for our next mission, Sandaime-sama," Kakashi said tersely.

"Ah, Kakashi-kun," Hiruzen mumbled before trying to smile. "Back from your mission, I see, and looking better than ever."

"Thank you, sir," Kakashi said with something between anger over the way the man was still reacting to his little wife and embarrassment...

Gai had ended up carrying his sorry ass back and through the village, after he collapsed from chakra exhaustion and the results of his then-unknown addiction. He still felt lucky that the former ROOT nins he'd been mentoring had retrieved Gai to help him, and hadn't straight out attacked or killed him. He hadn't exactly been going easy on them…

As the silver-haired Jonin accepted a scroll and escorted his unusually quiet wife out of the building, he wondered how Gai was doing now that he was in charge of the ROOT section of ANBU. He prayed that they ALL wouldn't begin talking about youth, as the division Gai had earlier captained began doing after training under the man for a few weeks. Kakashi had given them a stern talking to, but he had a feeling that Gai had his own disciples now, too.

The man was inspiring… If he wasn't so Gai, he probably would've made a good Hokage.

"So when do we leave?" Naruto asked, eager to mow down some Akatsuki.

"Now. Don't want to be late," he replied, smiling nervously behind his mask.

Kakashi wouldn't give her any details of the mission, and as they walked through the Nara compound, she waved at her friends and extended adopted family, guessing that they were stopping for intelligence. Instead, they stopped at the home of a civilian couple. When Chikiro answered the door, Naruto realized that they hopefully weren't just a couple anymore. "You had your baby!"

"I did! Come meet Daichi, Naruto!" Nara Chikiro led them to a small bedroom that had been decked out in soft purple with - of course - deer, who were sporting multi-colored coats.

Very cute.

Lying in the crib and staring at both of them with a way-too-intelligent look on his face was tiny baby Daichi. "Hi, Daichi-chan," Naru cooed over the babe. "You look like a future pineapple-head instead of a radish. I'm your Auntie Naruto."

Chikiro pushed Kakashi forward; he had frozen and was taking in the room and baby as if he was a one-eyed deer caught in bright lights. Kakashi gave the baby a very unimpressed look before stepping forward, his hands in his pockets, and grinning behind his mask, obviously fakely. "Yo!"

Naruto broke into a fit of giggles until Chikiro grabbed her purse and gave Kakashi a notepad of instructions. "Are you LEAVING?" the blonde asked, ready to make a run for it before she could.

"Well, yeah! Shikaku-san said you and Kakashi-san would be babysitting…"

"WHAT?" Naruto yelped, trying to keep her voice low for the baby but otherwise completely freaking out. Her eyes darted to each person in the room; the baby looked more and more interested in what was going on as she lost it. "I've never even held one that young! I scare babies! I don't want him to die! Or for him to kill me!"

Chikiro put her things down and rolled her eyes. "We all have maternal instincts, Naruto. AND paternal ones, Kakashi-san. That's why you requested this mission, right?"

Kakashi was as still as a statue, but the way his back straightened a fraction was telling. He had done that! He HAD requested this terrifying mission! And now he was scared!

He should be: I'm going to kill him! No: worse! I'm going to prank him! You thought that LAST curry was hot, you son of a bitch?!

"You di—cisive thing, you." Naruto had stopped herself from calling her husband what she wanted to (a dick!) because of the tiny ears in the room, fearing a Nara's intelligence even at his extremely young age (as well as Nara mothers' abilities with frying pans, civilian or not.) Chikiro elaborated on each step of picking up and holding a "newborn fawn," forcing them to each hold the little guy and pass him back and forth as he stared at them.

It was terrifying! Handling real newborn fawns was much easier! The baby looked like he thought them both to be terribly dumb, which didn't make them feel any better.

After Chikiro left, Naruto rounded on Kakashi after pulling him out of the nursery. "What were you THINKING?"

"Maa, maa! I'll make it up to you, and we do have to get used to pups."

A loud, LONG disgusting noise came from the nursery, and the accompanying smell followed right behind it. Naruto glared up at Kakashi, hands on her hips even as her nostrils flared miserably. "I know what you need to do to make it up to me, RIGHT now!"

"Mou! Come on, Naru-chan," he whined. "My nose is…"

"My nose is sensitive, too, dummy. You requested this mission and I thought I was only going to have to hunt an S-rank group of missing nins, not this! Now go take care of that diaper before he cries!"

"You think he'll cry?"

"Ka-ka-shiiii!"

Kakashi slumped and took a deep breath of air through his mouth before going into the rancid-smelling room. A minute later, his yell filled the house. "GOOD GOD! WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING THIS KID?!" The baby began to cry, and Naruto listened as Kakashi began to whimper and tell him jokes. It wasn't working to calm the kid down at all.

After that nightmare, the couple determined that Kakashi's mask was continuing to make the baby cry. Just as Kakashi was warming up to the little fella, Daichi spat up all over him, cracking Naruto up. All was fair between them when the baby peed on her later.

When they left the Nara Compound three hours later, the couple was smelly and exhausted, but so glad to get the news that they had an S-ranked mission in the morning.

Kakashi decided to put off any future babysitting missions for now. Pivoting in his planning for the future to visit the Inuzukas instead, he walked Naruto back to his apartment and asked her to sit still, summoning his dogs to ensure she did. He grabbed a fresh vest and left.

While Kakashi was secretly looking for a puppy to adopt and give to Naruto, the blonde sat at her husband's old apartment, finding little to do.

"This place is too small," she whined to the ninken. "I miss home," Naruto pouted, be that their old place or even the Nara compound. Kakashi only had a small, single bed and although she liked cuddling with him, she was supposedly hyper even in her sleep, tossing and turning a lot. Plus, add all Kakashi's ninken to the place? Yeah: they had to walk on the walls to get around them. "Ya know, even my first apartment is bigger than this place. I wonder…"

"No, Vixen," Shiba said, giving her a stern look. "Boss wants you to stay here."

"I just want to see if it's still available! Jiji - Sandaime-sama" she corrected herself, feeling sad about his attitude again, "said he'd sealed it up so that it was only accessible to a few. Including me, I'd think. …My chakra signature was sealed in there the first time I was a kid, I think." She gave the ninken a dry look. "Don't tell anyone I said something so nutso."

"Hai," they agreed easily, already having heard a little about Naruto's strange past.

The blonde was going stir crazy but brightened up at hearing Gai yelling about springtime nearby. Trying to escape, her Chunin vest was held back by ninken teeth as she leaned out Kakashi's window. "GAI-SAN!"

"Beautiful blossom," Gai hollered, skidding to his knees dramatically from down the landing and making her smile at the crazy man fondly. He had been about to open what she guessed was the door to his apartment.

"Hashirama Apple of my Eternal Rival's eye and heart! Pulchritudinous Princess of Plural Principalities! It is good to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Gai-san, and nice alliteration," she praised - not that she knew what pulchritudinous meant or if it was a real word. She turned around and glared at the two ninken that were still holding her back before looking back at him. "I'm being held prisoner again. Would you like to accompany me to the market and then I can make us all dinner?"

"I'm afraid I can't," Gai said mournfully, hating that he'd have to miss a home-cooked meal. He glanced into the window she was hanging out of and saw that she was being held by two of his rival's ninken. Realizing his rival must have talked his wife into moving to the Jonin district as he'd once mentioned, he jumped for joy at being their neighbor, then fell back to the ground in sadness, landing on one knee. "I have a mission I must get back to, and advise you to stay in place."

"You're no fun."

"I am the MOST fun!"

"Hey," Naruto whooped, wondering for a sec if she was as much fun as he was. She'd have to work on it! "I thought about it a long time while I was out of the village, ya know, and I think I know a girl who you might like." Gai looked thunderstruck, and so, so hopeful! "I'm serious! She's really nice and can really cook," she emphasized, trying to give him a hint.

Gai began to cry, something Naruto expected. He was hilarious and so sweet! And a badass!

"So that's a no?" she asked jokingly

"No! It is an absolute YES," Gai shouted.

Naruto closed her eyes when Gai's genjutsu hit: flowers had seemed to be blooming and falling from the sky. "Great! Make sure you don't cut your hair. Sure ya don't want to come in?"

"I really must go. May I have a rain check?" he asked while patting her head, then internally panicked that his rival would find his scent on her. His rival was a most possessive man.

"Absolutely! Be careful on your mission, Gai-san," Naru said sincerely, wondering what the man was up to. He was one of the very best Jonin in the village, and she didn't want to pry into what could be classified business, so didn't ask.

Gai waved back and waited for Naruto to lock the window after she finally relented to Kakashi's ninken's demands. He sighed, both happy that his rival had found love, and sad for Yondaime-sama who was - for an unknown reason - missing out on getting to know his very youthful daughter.

Naruto, having nothing else to do and finding no reason to piss off Kakashi just because she was bored, escaped to her mind to visit Kurama. He was shuddering in his sleep as he did sometimes, but Naruto was still worried. She hated to wake him up - he CONSTANTLY complained about her doing so - but she hadn't talked to him in days! "Kurama?" she asked as she shimmied through the trees before climbing up his fur. Once she reached his nose, she rubbed it, and he calmed for several seconds but didn't wake. "You okay, buddy?"