Disclaimer: I do not own the property of either Night in the Woods or Naruto, both works are owned by Masashi Kishimoto, Infinite Fall and Finji respectively.

Chapter 2: Catching Up Part 1

The ride back home was one that Mae hoped that she could have avoided at all costs as the news of her coming back home was one that she wished to have kept quiet until she was ready to do so, but it seemed that wasn't in the cards as she was now under the radar by her aunt. It also didn't help that she tried to make some small talk during the short trip, but she was too preoccupied with the thoughts of her parents, and what they will think of her coming back home unannounced, and with a boyfriend that she had never mentioned to bring up during her time at college.

She was essentially bringing a complete stranger into their lives. Something that made her feel even worse at what they would think about once they figured out why she was back in town to begin with. So to say the least, it was a ride that she hoped would never get her home as it would be hell of a talk to be had.

Fortunately, her boyfriend figured that she wouldn't be up to the task of having a talk with her aunt so he stepped up in her place to make the ride less awkward than it already was.

She didn't follow the conversation as much as she wasn't that keen in hearing what they were talking about, as she was in her own little world filled with nothing, but problems regarding her current situation, but she did hear the occasional banter between the two about the town.

Mae knew that her aunt wasn't that easily fooled about the two of them so she must have realized the status of their relationship since she caught them trying to sneak into the town. She chalked it up as being part of that cop intuition, and a little bit of being part of her mother's side of the family who always knew what was going on.

Something that she was severely lacking as it wasn't a strong trait of hers to pick up on people. But she was glad to at least have some success with Naru. That at least brought a smile to her face as she witnessed the town transition from the small businesses to that of her neighborhood.

It wasn't that long until she saw her house, and the car coming to a complete halt. Steeling her nerves it was now, or never.

"This is going to be so awkward"

"Doesn't matter now. We're here, and it is the middle of the night. I doubt your parents are going to shun their only child just because she came back unannounced"

"Not if they find out the reason why"

"Even so, we're in this together" He felt his hand touch her shoulder, and felt him squeeze it softly that brought a bit of comfort to her."Come on. We got to get the stuff out of the trunk"

The two proceeded to get out of the cop car, and get their stuff once Aunt Molly had opened it for them to have them in hand.

"Look, I don't know what your two are going to talk your way through this, but just don't let it get too out of hand. I already have too many things to worry about at the moment, and the last thing I want on my plate is having a family dispute to worry about"

"Why are you only looking at me when you're saying that?"

"Obvious reasons."

"Thanks for the ride though, and sorry that we messed up the fence by the playground. We hoped to have gotten for a ride at the bus station, but I guess is was a bit late for that" He interjected, before Mae could of retort back at her aunt.

"Don't sweat it. Besides, it's just an old fence that leads to nothing too important to protect anyway" Closing the trunk of the car once they got everything they needed."Well, I'm gonna head off now. Need to make a couple of more stops, before I switch out"

"Night"

"Later"

"Don't forget what I said Mae"

"No family trouble. Got it"

"Good. Hopefully we can talk later, and catch up"

With no more words to be said, Aunt Molly had driven off leaving the two of them alone with the only noise to be heard were that of the insects buzzing around in the warm night.

"Thank god that's over"

"She was nice." Looking at her with a soft expression."It was good of her in giving us a ride to your house, or we would have spend more time complaining about dragging all our stuff by foot"

"Rather have had that instead of being caught like that"

"Come on, don't make it sound as though it was that bad of a thing"

"Getting caught by your aunt's cop is not something that I would consider not a bad thing. Besides, it's just what she's going to tell my mom once she gets to it, and the things she may say about me"

"You don't think she'll sell you out like that?"

"Time will tell" Looking at the road that her aunt was driven away from with somber eyes as her mind was once more thinking about the possibilities."Hopefully it doesn't, but i'm not gonna hold my breath for it to happen"

"Right now, that doesn't matter. Right now, what does matter is getting inside already, because I am dead tired, and just want to lay down, and get this day behind me"

"No kidding" Rubbing her knees a bit as a sign on how sore they were with all the walking they did."Almost got crushed by logs getting here"

"Not only that, you almost had the idea of climbing an electric post just to get over the fence"

"That could have worked if you didn't say no to that. We could of avoided being caught"

"You mean going to the hospital with broken bones if I had let you do that." Not even trying to hide the face that he was making at the idea of climbing a post that looked as though it was gonna fall over with the slightest weight."Not with me around you aren't"

"Still say it could have worked" She replied back as she crutched down the moment they walked up to the doorstep, and picked up a rock near it."Hope is still here"

Naruto saw the rock that was in the palm of her hand, and was surprised to see a slot with a key in it the moment she turned it over. Made him surprised that people would still have something like that around.

"A key in a rock, huh"

"Yep, a classic that never seems to die off apparently" Dropping the rock on the ground once she got the key."Hopefully, it still works. There's a bit of rust to it"

"Fingers crossed"

Thankfully it did, and the two of them entered the household as quietly as they could be, but realized that there was someone in the living room by the sound of the tv being on. Realizing that there was no way of trying to sneak off without being caught they decided on biting the bullet.

"Let me do the talking," Mae said as her boyfriend closed the door behind them.

He didn't have to reply as he only had to nod in confirmation to her request, but make sure to keep himself from getting nervous in meeting her parents, as by now nothing seemed to have gone how he would have hoped it would have gone down.

"No point in dwelling on it now" The blond thought to himself as he steeled his fist, but relaxed a bit as he felt her girlfriend take his right hand, giving it a bit of a squeeze as they walked towards the center of the room.

The figure in question must have realized that they were people behind as the moment he turned to look at them the brows of his forehead suddenly raised up in what he saw. It was the type of surprise that wasn't of someone getting scared, but more on the curiosity side as he instantly made out the figure of his daughter.

"Mae….?"

"Hi, dad" She waved at him meekly as if understanding how he was feeling. A feeling that she herself knew too well by now."Surprise"

"And a massive one at that I might add" He said as he continued to look at her, before settling his eyes to that of the taller figure the moment he saw her, and was even more surprised on who it was inside his house."And you?"

"Hello sir, am well…a friend of your daughters ... .from school" "Breaking away from the grip of the smaller cat, to extend to that of the older one. Something that wasn't lost on the elder as he made sure to pick up on that, but say much about it at the moment."Nice to meet you. Name's Naruto Uzumaki"

"Stan Borowski" Meeting his grip with his own, and noticing a bit of strength from the young man before releasing it."Am sorry, but what's going on. What are you doing back home? Aren't you supposed to be at school right now?"

"Am taking a break right now" Making sure to sound as convincing as she could."I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to come back until I did"

"A break?" Sounding concerned as to what that meant as well as what she meant of not feeling okay."Everything alright, sweetie?"

"Yep, everything's fine right. Is just that I needed a break from school and I though coming back home was the best thing to do in order to get better"

"That's right, Mr. Borowski." He chimed once more as he was once more under the gaze from the older parent."Mae wasn't at her best at the campus, and really wanted to come back home to get better"

"I suppose it is not a bad thing to go back home if you're not feeling well, but what about school?" Thinking about the sort of issues that may come with the decision to come back home during the middle of a school year."It's not gonna be an issue for them for you two being here?"

"No, no, it won't," Mae quickly remarked."Me, and Naruto have already made the college aware of our intentions of leaving the school for the time being, and have already put in the proper paperwork on how long we will be gone. So you don't have to worry about it affecting our standing."

"How about that? I didn't know that schools could let their students leave the campus without being expelled"

"It's actually called a Leave of Absence, sir" The blond chimed in."It's a common practice for students who require time off from school, but don't want their absence to damage their GPA."

"Well, if it's no issue with the school, then I guess there's nothing to worry about" Leaning back into the sofa as it worried that something may have happened. Though that still didn't make him feel any better that his daughter brought someone they weren't expecting to the house. It also didn't help soothe his worry as by looking at how close they were standing with each other that their relationship was definitely more than what they were letting on.

But he was gonna have to let that go for now, and wait to see how things would shape out now that Mae, and this Naruto person were here.

"How did the both of you manage to get here so late at this hour?

"We took a bus, then got kicked out of said bus, and then we traveled on the last train heading into town, walked through the woods for half a mile, climbed over some faulty logs, and almost got crushed, took a shortcut into the abandoned playground, and got arrested by Aunt mall cop trying to forced our way through a fence"

"..."

"If it's any consolation sir, I did managed to prevent her from climbing over a wooden post that was being barely held up by yellow tape"

"Thank you for that….I guess" Still reeling a bit from the all the information that was given to him all at once."That's quite the journey you both took just to get here, and it was nice enough for Molly to give you two a ride"

"Yep, but all that matters is that we're all safe here, and sound" Mae said as she let out a yawn as the drowsiness of the day's events had finally caught up to her."By any chance is my bed still in my room?"

"Is still there Mae. Your room is still as you left it when you went away"

"Good, because I am beat tired after such a long day" Taking her stuff upstairs without another word as her mind was already settled for the bed."You coming?"

"Yeah, right behind you" He told her, before looking back at her father with a bit of sheepish look."Goodnight, Mr. Borowski, and once again am sorry for coming unannounced this late in the night"

"It's fine. All that matters is that the two of you are fine, and safe" His tone still unsure what to make of the young man who was currently under his roof, but thought not much of it as he too was tired after a long day from work. He would make sure to talk to Candy about this in the morning.

"Are you gonna come up, or not?"

"Yeah, yeah." Quickly taking the rest of the stuff upstairs, and leaving the father to his own.

"Well…I guess is to good to hear Mae's voice after so long"

He continued to watch his program a little more after the two arrivals went upstairs, and into the attic room. His thoughts were more about how his wife was going to react to Mae coming back, and who she brought with her.

(Mea's Room)

The duo themselves had already gotten their stuff put aside, and were ready to call it a day the moment they dressed into more comfortable clothing to sleep in.

That meant Naruto only being in that of a simple pair of striped color boxers with a plain white shirt, and Mae using one of his shirts for bed. Given that it was more than a couple of sizes bigger to fit her frame it at least did its job in covering her body.

It wasn't the first time she did that, and was clearly not gonna be the last time either. He had already gotten used to some of his clothing smelling like cat since they started seeing each other.

Both were already laying in her bed, even if it wasn't meant to have two people laying on it. They found enough room to make it work given it was the first time they shared a bed. Besides after a long trek from the bus station to the house they were too tired to complain about the arrangements.

"That was awkward"

"You're telling me. I was the one that kept feeling as if I was the one that was committing a crime of just being here"

"Don't worry too much about it" She told him as her head laid against his shoulder."I never known my dad too get to worked up about anything that wasn't too serious"

"I don't know about that. Because If I were a parent, and saw that my only child brought someone into the house who I didn't know existed, then I would see nothing, but red flags about that person"

"Then is a good thing your not one yet so don't go worrying about something that doesn't need any worrying about"

"I don't know if I ever told you this, but am sometimes jealous how you can just say things like that, and not think about the problems that come with it"

"Who says it doesn't"

"Sometimes you're kinda hard to read" Briefly looking at her as her eyes were closed, and shitting a bit in bed to get more comfortable."Sometimes a mystery"

"I don't even know if I should take that in a good way, or in a bad one"

"Well take in however way you want it Mae, because tomorrow is gonna be one that will both of have to suffer together in how both your parents are going to take it having you come back without telling them, and not even including to mention me in the conversation"

"..."

"..."

Mae didn't reply back, and opted to stay quiet, but after a bit where her boyfriend didn't say anything she opened her eyes, and saw that he had closed his eyes. His chest moving up and down was the indication of him already going to sleep.

She knew that she messed up in not letting her parents know that she was coming back, and even more so in bringing someone that they never heard about into their house, but figured that things could have pan out once she thought of a way of introducing him once they got back into town.

Unfortunately, during the entire trip she was at a loss in how to make it not awkward between all of them, and even more so the closer they got home. She looked over to the window in the front of the bed, and saw that there were more stars in the sky than when they were outside.

Must have been cloudy, and they didn't notice. For a moment she felt jealous as she looked at the bright spots hovering up there, not having to worry about issues that were currently going through her, and feeling terrible about what to expect.

Not wanting to dwell on the matter anymore, Mae closed her eyes once more to just have this entire day get past her, and think of what to do tomorrow, and some of the people she hoped to talk to again.

The Next Day (Morning)

The rays of sun hitting her face was the moment that Mae woke up from her sleep in a groggy manner as her body jolted by the light making her eyes sting due to the pang of pain that it brought her.

The moment the slight annoyance passed she also realized the missing body that was not there went she went to sleep. Mae assumed that he must have gotten up earlier than her to go on one of his morning jogs. An act that she had lost count on how many times she had said no to when asked about doing it too.

Looking around she realized that her room was still almost the same, than how she left it. But with more dust. She would have to remind herself later to give it a bit of a clean-up when she had the time.

Now sitting by the edge of the bed she gave out a loud yawn as the sound of her joints popping with the stretch of her arms rang out to get the stiffness out of the way. Getting dressed in her casual attire was also done quickly, and was even quicker in leaving her room, and walking down the stairs.

The moment she took the first step on the carpet did the familiar sound of her mother's voice called out to her.

"Honey?"

A moment of hesitation engulfed her as her mind buzzed with multiple options on how to respond back, but also in how she was going to tell her mother why she was back on top of having brought someone with her.

Mae had known that at some point that she would have to confront her mother at some point when coming back home, and even though she knew that it would happen eventually it didn't mean that she was looking forward to it. She could handle talking with her father as he wasn't as judgmental, or as tough on her, but when it came to her mom that was an entirely different ballpark altogether.

Having no alternative, than to reply back she steeled her nerves, and responded back with enough conviction so it wouldn't sound as though she was nervous.

"Yeah?"

"Come see me in the kitchen before you leave!"

"Okay!"

Quickly making her way into the kitchen she opted to settle herself on the kitchen counter with a quick jump, and directed her attention to her mother sitting by the table with a hot brew of coffee next to her, and an open book in her hands.

"Hi Mom!"

"Welcome home, sweetie!" She replied back with a happy tone to her voice in seeing her daughter back again after being gone for three semesters."Surprised to see you again. I must of been in a deep sleep if I didn't hear you come in"

"Yeah, and thanks for not changing the locks, or we would have stayed outside all night"

"Is a good thing that we live in the type of neighborhood where nothing too bad ever happens to warrant the changing of the locks"

"You never know"

Both looked at each in silence for a moment as the sound of the cat clock continued to make clicking sounds as time passed by them.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were coming back home? We would have prepared a nice little homecoming if you did"

"I…I don't know mom" Not sounding too sure on how to reply to her question."I kinda thought that me being here wouldn't be such a good idea"

"What would make you think that seeing us would be such a bad thing?" Now clearly worried about her young cat as evident by the concern that was now visible in her eyes."Did something happen? Is it over this Naruto person you brought home?"

"No! No!" Quickly putting the notion of it being Naruto's fault."It has nothing to do with him on me coming back"

"Then why did you bring him with you if it didn't?"

"Because he's my…..bo-he's someone that I just want to be here with me right now" She told her mom with a slight slip of the tongue at how she described her status with Naruto."He's helping me get my bearings together, while am here"

Candy figured that her daughter's relationship with this fox fellow must have been a deeper one than what her husband had told her about the moment she woke up, and knew now by how she reacted when she mentioned him that it must be very meaningful. She'll probably not delve into the subject about the two of them until she had a good idea on who this young man that her daughter brought with her.

"Okay, Mae." Putting her book down on the table."Am not gonna press you on the matter, but if you ever feel like talking about anything that's troubling you just don't be afraid to ask me, and your father for help. Because we're here for you"

"Will do, for sure" Now a bit more relax on not having this type of talk this early in the morning."Man, I really made this more awkward, than I thought this was going to be"

"Trust me, I had this type of moments with my mother all the time when I was your age, and they were all as awkward" Smiling at the memories, and seeing the parallels between the two right now."It's kinda nice if you think about it"

"I don't know if nice will be the word that I would use"

"You would one day, when you have a kid of your own"

Seeing that the uncomfortable part of the talk was beyond the two of them for the time being, it was time for Mae to stretch her legs, and get going, and see what the town had to offer, but first she needed to ask where her boyfriend was.

"By any chance did you happen to know where Naruto is?"

"Your father told me that he saw him leave around the time he was getting up to go to work." She told her."Apparently he looked as though went to work-out"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense" Confirming her earlier thoughts on where he would be."That would be probably something that he would be doing right now"

"Hopefully, later on I can have a chance to talk to him"

"I think he'll like that"

Mae stared at the clock next to her, and saw how much time had seemed to pass since talking with her mother, and knew that she wanted to get the day started by seeing a couple of old friends of hers.

"Do you happen to know if Gregg is still in town?

"Sure he is" Putting down her cup of coffee after taking a sip."He's working down at the Snack Falcon up in Towne Centre west of the Clik Clak"

"Am thinking of running over, and saying hi to him. You know to catch–up"

"Well, I hope that you have a good time exploring the town, and see what's changed"

"I will"

"Just don't forget to stay safe. There's a lot of construction happening at that part of town"

"Well it wouldn't be Fall in Possum Springs without loads of construction"

"See you later, sweetie!"

"Later!"

Before any other word could be said, Mae was already out the door with a couple of goals in mind on what to do now that she was back, and people to meet-up with. Hopefully one of them was Naruto who she hoped to see.

It wasn't like Possum Springs was that big of a town to get lost in.

"Man... for a small town….it has a lot of roads closed down" The familiar panting voice sounded off as he composed himself near a bench near the town center."Having to take the long roads is not how I would like to start my mornings"

Needing to take a breather he took up the chance to sit on the bench near him, and enjoy the morning air passing through him as he took in the scene of the town coming to life around him. Settling himself on the seat he was quite contained at the moment as the people around him made their way towards their destinations.

From what he saw of the town through his morning run he noticed that much of it had clearly seen better days as some of the buildings that he had come to pass were either shuddered, and boarded up, or on the verge of closing with the only open businesses being that of a couple of convenience stores, the supermarket, a few restaurants here, and there. The rest were just stables that every town had that didn't seem to be affected were the library, the church, town hall, and some of the more essential stores.

Other than that, it was just like any other town, but with more construction than usual.

"Shit!"

His thoughts interrupted as the sound of a body tripping over, and the sound of a heavy thud directed his gaze to that of a tall female who was picking up after herself, and the contents that fell off from the bag that she was carrying.

"You okay?" He quickly said as he went toward her, and helped her to pick up the items that were dropped."That sounded like quite the tumble there"

As he picked up the items off the ground he was quick to notice that many of them seemed to be tools that one would find at a hardware store. Much of the bag's contents were different sizes of bolts, screws, metal pins, and a small wretch still in its package.

"Yeah, I'm alright" She said as she picked up what was left off the ground, and placed it back into the bag."Thanks….." Her trailing a bit the moment she saw who had helped her.

She was also quick to point out that the person standing in front of her holding the rest of the items that fell was someone that was clearly not from the town. Bae would know as much of her job was interacting with many people from Possum Springs, as well as some of the errands she had to make to houses across the town.

The fox standing there with his red, and black tracksuit was looking a bit worried, and this was before she realized that she had been staring at him a bit longer than expected. The cheeks of her face were quick to redden a bit, but too much to spread to her entire face.

"You okay?"

"Yeah!...yeah, am fine" Composing herself as best as she could as she continued to talk."I lost my step back there, but thanks for giving me a hand"

"No problem" Placing his share of the items collected into the bag nestled in her arms."Kinda startled me there, and thought for a moment you gotten seriously hurt by the sound of the loud thud"

"Don't worry about it. Am made of much sterner stuff to let a fall like that do any real damage" Checking over the bag, and seeing that nothing, but was too damaged, or missing."Besides, it's not like there was nothing in the bag that could of gotten broken"

"That's good to hear"

"If you don't mind me asking, but you're not from town are you?"

"Is it that easy to figure out"

"Kinda not hard not too as the first couple of faces you see around here are practically the same ones you ended seeing every day"

"Is that a fact?"

"Is practically a cliche"

"But…thanks again for helping me there" She stammered a bit as she was still in a hurry to get the package sorted out back at the store, before they had to open."Am Beatrice, but most just call me Bea"

"The names Naruto, but too most of my friends they just call me Naru"

"Noted"

Seeing that the time seemed to pass him quickly it was a sign to get back to the house, and get himself into a pair of clean clothes. Hopefully he could meet up with Mae on the way.

"I think it's time for me to get going. I meed to get some things settled, and someone to meet up with."

"Yeah, I guess I also have to get going. Need to drop this off to the store"

"You work?"

"Sorta, I just manage the store for my Dad, but you say that I own it since am there practically everyday"

"Really, what's the store called?"

"Ol' Pickaxe"

"I like the name. Is it like a western theme store?" Thinking about an old fashion store with a lot of history to it.

"No, not really" She told him."It's just like any other regular store in town. Old, and in need of some repairs"

"Oh" Not really sure what to make of that, so he chose not to comment on it."Is that a fact?"

"Is not really something to worry about it just takes a bit of time to get around in getting those things fixed, but it will in time"

He sensed that her mood on talking about the state of the store seemed to darken her mood a bit as if he brought back a bad memory. He also decided that

"Then don't let me keep you waiting, then"

"Thanks for the help again. I really do appreciate the help"

"Don't mention it" As he waved his hand in a not big so deal gesture."Just a simple act of kindness. No big deal"

"To most that means a lot even for something as simple as that"

"I suppose"

"Hope you enjoy your visit and have a good time here in Possum Springs"

"I bet will"

With that both shared one final smile and went their separate ways on the opposite paths. One heading to take care of some family business, the other seeking to get himself into a much fresher state to get the day started.

End of Chapter 2

It's been a while, but I am glad to have the second chapter for this fic uploaded. This one is gonna be at best a three-part chapter in Mae getting herself adjusted now that she's back home, and that of her relationship with Naruto as it comes to be intertwined with not just her family, but that of people from her past.

Afterwards it's going to focus on both herself, and ensuring events with of the game itself now with the addition of a fox providing a helping hand

Hope you enjoy the read. And sorry for the wait.