A bright sunny Saturday went slowly as cicadas made their cries in the Spring. Spring, although it signaled rebirth and good fortunes, it represented death and tragedy to the Uzaki household.
A sudden truck accident took a loving father and son away from the family of 5.
The cemetery was where both men laid, 6 feet under, and their gravestones marked. Freshly gardened flowers laid and a fire lit for them.
A woman, in her early 40s stared at the gravestones, eyes fighting back tears. A hand placed on her shoulder, a voice of a man a few years younger spoke.
"It's okay to cry."
Then the woman broke into tears and held onto the man's chest and sobbed. A year had passed, but the wounds wouldn't heal. Her heart remained torn as the day it first happened. She couldn't move past this stage of life. Tsuki Uzaki, a widow and single mother of two.
She made ends meet financially, but life aside from time spent with her daughters felt empty.
A few minutes later, Tsuki wiped her tears and left the cemetery, as the man promised he'd catch up with her.
The man stood at the grave of the past husband. He looked at the sky, and the serene environment, finding what right words to say. They weren't too close, but they did workout out before, hang out a few times, and he was invited to a birthday party for the eldest daughter, Hana Uzaki a few months after he first moved in.
"It's been a year, things haven't been the same, yet things still need to move forward." the man said, "I'm not sure how long she can keep this up, putting up a strong front, but I'll be there for her, not just as a neighbor, but as a friend who she can rely on."
He moved to the son's grave.
"I'm not sure if you would've been a good student, but I know you would've made something out of yourself if given the chance."
With those words spoke, the man, Naruto Uzamaki, made his way towards Tsuki Uzaki. She erased any evidence of tear stains. Without words, she nodded, and he understood what she wanted to say, "thank you for everything."
Nothing else to say, both went inside Naruto's car and he drove to her house. While driving, Naruto tried to think of a topic to say, he went for the safe option.
"Anything new these days?" Naruto asked.
Small talk helped Tsuki think of other things: help her see the town that slowly changed, people that grew up and became adults, people that left or joined the town. In an odd sense, small talk helped her realize that things change. It's a natural part of life after all.
Usually Tsuki would ask for silence, except…
Tsuki looked at Naruto who stayed focused on the road. She thought. It's odd how things turned out.
One of their first encounters as neighbors, Naruto had gotten lost, and so Fujio and she decided to show him around the neighborhood and streets, places to watch out for, restaurants, and shortcuts. It was quite a shock when they learned he was actually their neighbor that moved in.
Her mind was blank until she recalled one of the happy events.
"Yanagi got accepted to the university Hana goes to," Tsuki said.
They reached a red stop light, giving Naruto time to look at her.
He saw Tsuki smile with motherly pride, "the same university you teach at."
His blue eyes widened.
The morning sun gave her a glow, and she seemed almost angelic. She hadn't smiled like that in what felt like forever. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked. It was a simple fact. His conscience fought against it, telling him she's off limits.
She's a grieving widow. Her heart isn't ready for romance. Dating a student's mother feels morally wrong. Wait… do I want to date Tsuki?
He gave a forced smile, and sighed internally. This isn't about his own confused emotions, but about her daughter's achievement in getting to the same university as her sister.
She really did look beautiful when she smiled.
Naruto felt his heart pause, unsure what it wanted to do. He was impulsive growing up but thanks to discipline and good teachers who supported him he moved past bad decision making, usually.
"The acceptance rate isn't high by any means," Naruto returned his attention to the green light, "you plan on having a celebration?"
"Maybe go to a BBQ restaurant," Tsuki said, "Ribs are Yanagi's favorite."
"She seemed more of a sugartooth kinda girl,"
"That's Hana who's a sugar connoisseur. Though she got that from me since I made cookies, and brownies every so often. I remember when she'd help with the brownies, she'd sneak in as many chocolate chips into the pan, hoping it'd make it super chocolatey and sweet."
"Did it make it sweeter?"
"Somehow it did. It was so sweet Fujio and Kiri would never be able to finish his cut of brownie," Tsuki laughed, "he did prefer sour things, like Lemon Cake so that might've factored in his taste pallet."
Tsuki realized what she had said. Her heart did hurt, but not as intense as before. She stared at Naruto, gauging his reaction. He definitely noticed she mentioned Fujio. Whenever she mentioned him, she wouldn't be able to focus on anything else except her beloved that was no more.
Still, she knew Naruto did his best to consider her feelings about the touchy subject. Although she didn't know much about Naruto, she had plenty of questions she never thought of asking anyone else.
"D-did you ever have sweets as a kid?" Tsuki mentally facepalmed.
That was an odd question. It'd probably be–
"No, actually," Naruto laughed, "it's a long story."
Naruto rarely told stories about himself, usually about students or people he knew. They had reached her house.
"I'm sure you're busy so–"
"There's plenty of time," Tsuki said, "I'll get some tea ready, come inside."
Tsuki went inside her house with Naruto following.
"Please excuse the mess," she said.
Naruto looked around the house. It looked the same as it did when he came to Hana's birthday party though with less birthday decor and a small shrine with Fujio's smiling and proud face with blown out candles.
He silently bowed to Fujio and Kiri's shrine, "pardon the intrusion."
Naruto stared at the colorful family pictures set around the walls of the happy Uzaki household. Some pictures from when Tsuki and Fujio were newlyweds, and when Hana, Yanagi, and Kiri were going to elementary school.
The more recent pictures was Hana's birthday before the truck incident and Tsuki knitting some scarves. The designs were simple, but had elegance to them. Hana was to the side of the photo, sleeping in a scarf in the kotatsu.
Odds are, it was Yanagi who took the photo.
"Tea's done."
Naruto turned. The cups were set on top of the coasters, and Tsuki had finished setting her cup down.
He joined her on the tables, and sat across from her.
"Green tea, no sugar," Tsuki said. "that's how you prefer it, right?"
"Y-yeah. I'm surprised you remembered. I had it during Hana's birthday."
"Well the other adults were having soda and fruit punch, so seeing someone with tea stood out."
"Well I never had much of a chance to try sweets, so I never bothered with it."
"Why was that?" Tsuki leaned a bit closer, the scent of her oolong tea wafted to her nose.
Curious about Naruto's past, she wanted to learn more, just to fulfill some curiosity about the professor at her daughter's university.
"I don't exactly want to be a downer, but when I was a baby my parents…" Naruto paused, held his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling, trying to explain the situation without receiving pity.
"Tsuki isn't the kind of person to see me any less because my real parents were never around, right?"
He mentally took a step forward.
"...passed away in an accident. Since I didn't have any aunts or uncles, I was put in a foster program. I got into a lot of trouble back then, lots of fights, truancy, went to different foster parents in the program. Since they were all strict, they believed in the normal punishments like no sweets, the corner, spanks, all that kind. Though, that wasn't the main reason I never had sweets, I think."
Tsuki nodded. He was unable to read her expression aside from being engaged.
" There was this time I saw a kid eating a lollipop, it was sometime after Halloween, and he was making fun of me because my foster parents weren't around to let me go trick-or-treating. He also said my parents were probably ghouls, or something immature. I ended up fighting him. When he offered his candy as a apology, I told him I didn't want any sweets since they're for babies then I hit him again. Then his older brother and his friends got the jump on me later that week. Whether I took the candy or not didn't matter, but after that,I didn't want anything to do with sweets."
Naruto chuckled, "I was a brat back then."
He took a sip of the green tea, warm and kept his appetite low, "even now as an adult I haven't bothered with sweets much."
"After all this time, why not try some sweets, or a bit of sugar?" Tsuki offered, "I doubt a little sugar would raise any blood levels too high if that's something you worry about."
Naruto looked at his half cup of green tea. It was simply green tea, just how he always had. Since she was offering, maybe he could sweeten things.
"Maybe a little bit of sugar," Naruto said.
In the middle of the table was a container of sugar cubes. The lid had a popular cartoon character saying, "Sugar for the soul."
Naruto reached out for it, as Tsuki did the same. As cliche as it sounds or looked, their hands touch. Naruto's large and strong hand over Tsuki's smaller softer hand. Neither pulled away for a second.
Naruto blinked.
Tsuki pulled away from the container and his hand, "s-sorry!"
Tsuki placed her hands on her lap, under the table, looking embarrassed. The images of a mouse came to Naruto's mind.
"It's fine, a bit of skinship won't scare me," Naruto laughed, trying to help her relax.
"R-right, how immature of me," Tsuki said nervously.
Naruto opened the lid and stared at the white cube of sugary goodness. He dropped one with the small tongs and stared at it. It slowly dissolved and sank to the bottom.
"So I just drink it like normal right?"
"Well I suggest stirring it, to help blend and spread it," Tsuki said.
Naruto did just that, using a small spoon to stir, watching the green tea become a whirlpool of leaf juice and sugar. The sugar at the bottom was gone, and the color of green remained somewhat the same.
"Here goes."
He lifted the cup, and a small amount of sugared green tea entered his mouth, warm, slightly sweet, but not overwhelming.
"How is it?"
"It's not bad at all," Naruto smiled, "I guess it's never too late to try something new."
"That's a life lesson if I've heard of one." Tsuki smiled, "any of your lesson's talk about that?"
"Any lessons of mine like that?"
"Hana mentioned you taught literature, but what do you teach in specific?"
"Well, I teach literature, so it's mostly about the author's message, symbolism, passages and such. I would say the idea of never too late to try something new would go with always try reading things you haven't read since the classics can get you so far."
"Did you always want to be a professor?"
"Not exactly, since I was a delinquent back then, I had no dreams, no aspirations. One teacher, his name was Jiraiya, kicked my ass, then told me to read his book… It was erotica."
Tsuki gasped.
Naruto laughed, his shoulders more relaxed as he took another sip of the sugary green tea, "At the time, he was looking for a new beta writer, someone fresh, someone with no experience in… the world of erotic literature. I have no idea, but it was so bad, it was good. After that, I found a strange passion with literature, then a passion for teaching others came a few years after. Did you have any big dreams growing up?"
"Well, growing up, all I wanted to be was… a housewife and mother," she said slightly flustered, "I did feel a bit self-conscious having that dream while other girls wanted to be artists, scientists, and even engineers. I remember this one friend wanted to be a detective, so we'd go around school trying to solve cases."
"Any big cases you guys solved?"
"One case was exposing the principal for having an affair, and another was the vice principal embezzling money from club funds."
Naruto blinked. He took another sip of tea. He had finished his cup already.
An hour later, Tsuki had finished telling her tale as a detective's right hand man for those two cases.
"Time really flies when you're telling stories," Tsuki said, "it's already evening."
"Hana and Yanagi should be home soon, they were hanging out with friends, right?"
"Yes, I'm happy they're able to still make good memories before they eventually graduate university. Well, Yanagi has plenty of time, and Hana is going to graduate soon, a few more semesters if she studies the right things and all."
"I'll be heading out then," Naruto said.
The two were by the door now. Naruto turned, with Tsuki standing in front of him. They were both still in their black suits.
"Wanna see a movie next week?" Naruto asked, "it's a comedy, one of the other professors told me it's worth a watch."
"S-sure," Tsuki agreed with a nod, "sounds like fun."
Shortly after, Naruto left Tsuki's house and went to his car. He reversed out and went home. His house had different pictures, of friends he made, accomplishments and such.
"I'm home," Naruto said out loud. He had pictures of his real parents, his mother was a redhead with kind eyes while his father was blonde with spiky hair. His foster father– Iruka, the one who eventually accepted him as his own, lived in a different city, a few hours away by train.
Although he loved Iruka as if he were his own father, and made close friends, he felt suffocated in that city. He had too many one-night stands, bad relationships, fights that took place in his old city.
He had enough money for rent for a good while thanks to smart savings.
He looked over his shelf of stories written, drafts and not a single published work. He had beta readers and editors take a look. They complimented the style and flow, but something was missing.
He wrote of different genres, short and long stories. One genre he did not write was romance. Romance wasn't his forte. He couldn't capture the quick beats and rhythms of love between individuals. He could write erotica, the raw need to release stress, fulfill desires. Yet he never tried to publish those.
He could have a pen name, but the only pen names he could come up with involved ramen and foxes. Ramen because it was his favorite food, and foxes because… well foxes were always cool to him. It wouldn't be difficult to find his identity.
Why hide? Right, he's a professor at a university, and public image is everything these days. Moreso, he'd rather not have his boss on his case about erotica.
He brushed those questions aside and focused on making dinner– homemade ramen, bachelor style.
The ingredients were all store bought save for the dough– he made that from scratch. He cut, boiled, cooked everything his ex-girlfriend, Hinata had taught him. It was a rough but mutual break up.
Naruto made his meal as the evening passed.
"Tsuki's hand was… soft, small, and gentle," Naruto thought, "I wonder how she's doing right now."
The Uzaki Household's dinner was more nutritious and plentiful to go around, even with a slightly limited budget. Hana and Yanagi found part-time jobs, Hana as a waitress at a quiet small cafe and Yanagi as a game tester.
As they ate, the news reporter spoke about the latest scandals.
The three women sat at the table.
"How was work today, Hana?"
"A normal day, nothing out of the ordinary. My coworker Ami wanted to say congrats on getting into the same university as me," Hana said, drinking some miso soup, "the books I ordered for school should be coming in soon. What about you, Ya?"
"I found some weird glitches, reported it, and repeated it for several hours," Yanagi sighed, "being a game tester isn't as all cracked up as it sounds. One of my coworkers asked me out though."
Hana's mouth was open. A bit of miso soup dropped onto her shirt.
"Hana, keep your mouth closed while drinking," Tsuki said, "so, how did you respond sweetie?"
"I declined. He's not my type and he complains more often than getting anything done."
"I'm sure you'll find the right man soon, hopefully someone reliable and… strong." Tsuki put her chopsticks down.
Her head drooped. Her daughters exchanged glances and looked back to their mother.
"Hana, Yanagi, I think… I'm ready to start dating again. Do you think Papa would be okay with that? I was married to him for so long, and after a year, suddenly I want to try dating again? What would he think? Or Kiri for that matter?"
The conversation's atmosphere shifted. The news reporter's voice seemed like white noise. The two daughters made gestures at one another. Hana broke the silence.
"He'd want you to be happy, Kiri too. Ma, we know you deserve to be happy. If you find someone, we'll help in any way we can," Hana said.
"We love you, we might not say it these days, but we do," Yanagi said.
Tsuki sniffed, "I raised such fine, caring daughters. I think I already have someone in mind. He's been supporting us for some time now."
She recalled his hand over hers earlier that day.
"Great, who's the guy?" Hana asked.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
This time Hana spat out her miso soup.
Summary: It's been a year since Fujio and Kiri passed away from a car accident, and Naruto's been helping Tsuki throughout her journey. After an afternoon of spending time, Tsuki believes she's ready to start dating again with her daughter's support even if her first date is gonna be Naruto Uzamaki.