Fishing was fun, Ophis knew that already after indulging in the activity countless times. But, what she didn't know was that the activity was more fun when done with people who you cherish to no end.

For her, those people were her family and her best friend Naruto, a boy that she had come to cherish in the past few years. Sure, he had his flaws but she would be lying if she said she disliked him for that. She couldn't, her heart wasn't capable of doing that. For her, the boy was like an invaluable possession. He was hers and only hers to protect. No one else had any right to do anything with him. Why? Because he had already sworn to be hers for eternity.

'You are a very interesting girl, Ophis. I think I can listen to you forever.'

She could still remember his words vividly from the day she had first met him. Those words, those sweet and simple words changed her forever. From wishing to earn back her precious home to wanting to have a family of her own with Naruto on her side, Ophis' mind had changed a lot in the past few years. Before, she only used to think about herself and herself only. Every action of hers was aimed to garner profit for herself but after meeting these kind people, her mind changed.

Now, all she wanted was the safety of her family. They were her everything now, and the place where they would dwell would always be her home.

"Hey!"

Naruto's excited shout brought her out of her thoughts and made her turn her gaze towards him. "Hmm?" She blinked at the boy when she saw him staring at her with a delighted look on his beautiful face.

"I think I caught a big fish this time, Ophis!"

His jovial voice combined with the excited look on his face was contagious and made Ophis flash a smile of her own at him. If words could describe it, she would call the feeling dwelling within her heart something close to happiness. It was brilliant and made her feel all funny on the inside, especially whenever the boy looked at her with that smile on his face.

"Really?" She asked him, only to gasp a little when he grabbed her by the arms and shook her hastily in excitement.

"Yes! Just look at it!"

'Look?' Ophis blinked at the boy, perplexed. 'How can I look at anything else when you have this cute smile plastered on your face, Naruto?' Her lips curled up a little more. There was no way she was going to turn her gaze anywhere away from his radiant grin. She couldn't risk missing even a single second of that smile. It was her favorite thing, after all.

"Hey, Ophis! The fish is over here, you know."

Ophis still didn't budge and kept staring at his face. Before she knew it, she was suddenly too close to him. "Your smile is very beautiful, Naruto." Her words and hot steady breaths caressed Naruto's cheeks and painted them red in an instant.

"O-Ophis… you are-"

Oblivious to what she was doing to him, Ophis scooted even closer. Now only an inch away from him, she closed her innocent eyes and smiled dazzlingly at him.

"I think I can stare at it forever."

Splash!

The dazzling smile vanished from her lips as they parted a little to allow a gasp to escape. "Naruto!" She whispered and slowly opened her eyes, only to see Naruto sulking on the bank of the river, his clothes all wet from the water of the brook.

"Look what you've done, Ophis…"

That she did and soon, Ophis began to laugh at him, finding his current state funny and cute for some reason. "Hehe…" Her giggles only got louder when Naruto began to flail his hands left and right in protest.

"Oi, don't laugh like that!"

Her eyes veered off to his face and curved upwards in happiness. "But you are looking so cute right now." She used the unusual word again, remembering very well how much her beloved Tsuga-san would use it to compliment both of them whenever they dressed in something new or did something that made her happy. From the way she had seen the lady use the word, Ophis had presumed that the word meant something good and so, she also began to use it whenever she could to compliment Naruto.

"Hey, I'm not cute. I'm handsome."

Ophis blinked at the boy, no doubt surprised by his words. "Handsome?" She tasted the word in her mouth, trying to find the meaning of it from her past experiences. After rummaging through her memories for a while, she finally found it. "But only men are supposed to be handsome, Naruto. You are clearly not a man." She didn't know what she said was right or wrong but fortunately for her, the reaction that Naruto gave her told her everything.

"W-what? I'm a man, Ophis!" The boy was appalled by what he was hearing. 'She doesn't even think that I'm a man!' No. That couldn't be the case. Naruto refused to believe it even if it was true.

"No."

His heart and pride shattered into a million pieces when Ophis decided to dispute his claim with that monotone voice of hers. "Oi!" He yelled at her and splashed a handful of water at her.

"What are you doing, Naruto?"

In response, Naruto just pouted at her. "Nothing. Don't talk to me now." He whispered and looked at her to gauge her reaction. 'Of course…' He groaned when he saw nothing but confusion there.

"Why?"

Now, how was he supposed to answer that?

"Because you made fun of me just now." In the end, he decided to go with light-hearted banter instead of a full-blown argument. 'But even if I tried to, I could never argue with her. She is too sweet and clueless for that.' Naruto knew how hard it was for Ophis to understand the most basic things about socializing, so he never took her words seriously. Even if they hurt his pride from time to time, he never held her accountable for it.

"Ahh." It apparently finally dawned on Ophis. "Is it because I can catch bigger fish than you?" She asked him, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Of course, she had to mention that too…" Naruto whispered to himself, not even a bit surprised that his friend had managed to humiliate him again without even intending to do so. 'Sometimes I think she is just acting and humiliates me and everyone else on purpose.' It was possible and he couldn't help but think about it.

"Naruto…?"

Naruto blinked and looked away in surprise when he realized that he had yet to answer her question. "Umm… no… of course not. Why would I be upset about that?" He blurted out and squeaked out an awkward laugh at the end of his statement, something that only confused the dragon girl further.

"Then, tell me; when did I make fun of you? Or are you just angry at me because I was laughing at you earlier?" Ophis' voice reduced into a whisper and before she knew it, she was already thinking about everything that had transpired in the span of the last few hours, expecting to find something that explained the boy's behavior. Unfortunately, she found nothing, but luckily for her, Naruto decided to speak and save her the trouble of going through all those memories again.

"Nope," The boy answered, his small hands trembling a bit as he tried to climb up to the wooden deck again. "I…" He groaned as he managed to settle in his previous position on the deck. "Was just upset because you said that I'm not a man." His eyes veered away from her face and his lips formed an adorable pout as he finished his statement.

"Huh?" Ophis's response was predicted but that didn't stop the sigh that left Naruto's mouth when he saw her reaction.

"You forgot already?"

Ophis shook her head negatively. "No. I remember it very well but can't think of a reason for you to be angry about it." Her answer startled Naruto.

"What are you saying? It was very rude of you, Ophis."

The dragon girl tilted her head to the side, something that had become a common occurrence whenever she found herself confused by the things or people around her. "How?" She couldn't help but voice out her confusion.

"Because you said I was not a man, Ophis."

"But that you are not."

Naruto's self-respect, of which a mere sliver remained in his mind, left his body as soon as Ophis uttered those words. "Ophis-" He was about to argue with the girl again but before he could do that, the girl surprised him with her next words.

"You are a boy, Naruto. A twelve-year-old boy."

Now, everything clicked in his mind and soon a small smile blossomed on his face as he glanced at his friend, who still had that cute expression plastered on her beautiful face. "Ahh…" He breathed a sigh of relief, no doubt delighted with the fact that his friend still considered him a man, even if it meant being called a boy by her. "You are so clueless, Ophis!" His teasing words earned him a glare from the girl.

"I'm not clueless, Naruto." Ophis huffed as she crossed her hands beneath her chest.

"Sure." Naruto teased further, widening his grin.

Ophis' glare deepened along with the pout on her lips. "Now you are making fun of me." It wasn't her mistake that she was from a different world, a place where she had no one to tell her about basic human emotions and the way they communicated with each other.

For her, everything that she saw around her was new and she always tried her best to understand them as much as she could for the sake of her family. Why? 'Because I want to be like them.' Ophis wanted to feel normal around her precious people and if it meant learning everything from daily experiences, then she was ready for it.

"Aww… I'm sorry, Ophis." Naruto's soft voice brought her out of her thoughts. "I wasn't trying to make fun of you." His smile eased her worries and before she could notice what was happening, she found herself smiling at him.

"It's ok…" Ophis's shuddered when that unknown sensation returned and shook her body from the inside. "I know you weren't trying to be rude to me." Her lips parted and allowed a gasp of air to escape from her mouth when that sensation filled her heart with warmth.

"Anyway…" Naruto whispered and wiggled his head left and right to get the remaining water out from his hair. "Let's head back home. Tsuga Baa-chan said she was going to make Miso ramen for us!" His excited tone and the bright smile that was lingering on his face only made Ophis' state worse, intensifying that pleasant warmth in her.

"O-ok!"

"You ok, Ophis?"

"Y-yes…"

Naruto leaned over and began to analyze her face, all while being completely oblivious to the effects that his action was having on her. "You seem fine now…" He paused. "But I'm sure your whole face was red a moment ago." He whispered.

"I don't know," Ophis answered, being genuine with her friend. For her, everything that was happening to her was odd and it had been going on like this for a while now. She didn't know what was the cause of it but it only seemed to happen whenever she was with Naruto. "It must have been due to the heat…" Still, she had no proper assessment of the situation so she let it slide, unsolved once again.

"Hmm…"

A small smile bloomed on the infinite Dragon's face as she heard Naruto yawn. "Are you tired?" She asked, hoping that he would say yes as she was getting tired of fishing too. Sure, it was a fun activity but as her beloved father says, nothing is fun when it's done excessively.

"Yeah, and I need to dry my clothes too. All thanks to you."

The smile got wider. "I'm glad I made you happy, Naruto." She whispered, ignoring the look Naruto was giving her.

"I wasn't complimenting- Never mind."

The defeated sigh that Naruto let out confused Ophis a little but she didn't question it as she thought it was a mere expression of exhaustion.

"Ok, let's go."

With that said, she grabbed his hand and began to walk toward their home.

'Home…'

A warm feeling flooded her heart, yet again.

-oOo-

Sadness.

It was an emotion that used to be an integral part of Tsuga Kawagishi's life.

Born in a rich family, Tsuga initially never knew about things such as sadness and suffering. For her, they were some kind of a foreign entity that she refused to believe in. Even when she used to see people sad and broken, she merely believed they were just being miserable for the sake of gaining empathy. After all, who couldn't solve a crisis if they tried hard? All they needed was a little money, and she was never short of that.

For her, money was a resource that she could use as much as she wanted to without ever worrying about it being depleted, and it stayed like that even after she married the love of her life.

Ito Kawagishi.

Her husband was even richer than her and he, as expected of him, never let her feel like she was being denied any luxuries. To her immense surprise, he even introduced her to things that she didn't even know existed in the world. Even during the rebuilding of their beloved village, when everyone was either broke or was on the verge of becoming penniless, her husband handled everything marvelously and kept their fortunes safe.

Seeing how Ito handled everything, Tsuga had thought her life was going to remain the same, filled with happiness and luxuries, but everything changed when they received a certain piece of devastating news.

They couldn't have a child.

To say Tsuga was disappointed would be an understatement. She was disappointed, more with herself than anyone else. Why? Because she was the reason they couldn't have a child of their own. Her womb was incapable of carrying a child. Her husband, on the other hand, was perfectly fine and could have a child with anyone else if he wanted to, but because of her, he couldn't even do that. Whenever she tried to tell him to leave her, he refused her pleas saying that his love for her was more important to him than having a child.

During That period of her life, Tsuga learned a very valuable lesson. Money was nothing but a useless commodity if you had no reason to live. Sure, she was rich and had a husband who loved her dearly, but a part of her always knew that her life would always be miserable due to the lack of a child in it. Without a child of her own, the money she possessed was useless as there was no one she could spoil with it. While other people enjoyed their lives with their beloved children, she was left with nothing but a hollow feeling as she watched them from afar.

"We are back, Oba-chan."

A small but genuine smile blossomed on Tsuga's lips as she heard two familiar voices enter her house. "Ophis," Her smile got wider. "Naruto." And brighter as she saw them walk towards her, one being her usual clueless self while the other drenched in water.

"Oba-chan!"

A familiar warm feeling filled Tsuga's heart as Naruto threw himself in her arms. "Yes, my dear?" She asked, giving zero thought to the water that had stained her clothes too. For her, nothing was more important than her Naruto. He was everything that she wanted in her life.

"She threw me in the river!" Mustering the best puppy eyes he could, Naruto complained about Ophis to his Tsuga san and was very satisfied when the lady turned her towards Ophis.

"Ophis…" Tsuga called the girl and sighed in defeat when she got no response from her. "At least say something, dear…" She whispered, hoping to get a reaction out of her somehow.

Tsuga's struggles turned out to be effective as the girl lowered her to hide her face from the lady. "Are you angry with me, Tsuga baa-chan?" Ophis' voice was soft and her face had hurt written all over it. If there was one thing that she hated in this world then it was making her parents angry at her. Although very rare, it still happened and she didn't like it at all. It made her feel immensely saddened, especially when she was the reason behind their anger.

"Why would I be angry at you, dear?" Tsuga smiled. "You are my sweet little angel and I can never be angry at you or Naruto." When Tsuga finished speaking, her attention moved to the boy in front of her. "You both are all I have." With that said, she hugged the boy even tighter. Her children might not understand it now but as they would grow up, she was sure they would understand just how much they meant to her. They were the light of her life, something that had given her a reason to live and she would be damned if she hurt them or let them get hurt by anyone else.

"Umm… Oba-chan… I-I can't breathe!"

Tsuga's eyes shot wide open as she realized how much pressure she was applying on poor Naruto. "I'm really sorry, dear!" In an instant, she unwrapped her arms from his body and began to analyze his face for any discomfort.

"It's ok…" Naruto whispered, wincing slightly as the pain came and went at regular intervals. Looking up, he saw that Tsuga was still looking at him, her eyes filled with worry and tears. "Oi, why are you crying?" He asked her.

"I-I hurt you, Naruto. I'm sorry."

Naruto blinked at her, no doubt surprised by what he was hearing. "Eh?..." He whispered. "Who told you that I was hurt?" A wave of red covered his cheeks as he continued. "I-I actually liked the h-hug, you know…" His eyes moved away from her face, fearing that she might see embarrassment within them.

"Really?"

The light red hue on his cheeks turned dark. "Y-yes." He whispered, his stuttering and blush hiding little to nothing about the embarrassment that he was going through at that moment.

"Cute…"

Before any of the two could continue, Ophis decided to intervene in the awkward conversation to give her own two bits about Naruto's apparent state. She liked when he behaved like that. It made him look even more pleasing to her eyes.

"I'm not c-cute, Ophis!" Face still covered in the red hue of embarrassment, Naruto managed to yell at the girl somehow. "I'm-"

"Cute." Ophis finished his statement for him. "You are cute. Isn't he, Tsuga baa-chan?" The girl looked at the lady who was looking back and forth between her and Naruto.

"Yes."

A small smile crept up on her small face as Ophis heard Tsuga's answer. It was exactly what she wanted to hear. "See Naruto? Tsuga san thinks you are cute." She looked at the boy, her face doused in pride and arrogance.

"I-I…" Naruto paused, finding it hard to retort back at the obvious jab. It continued like that for a few more seconds before he realized something significant. "Tsuga oba-chan is an old lady!" It was his time to be smug now. "Of course, she would find me cute because I'm a child." His lips stretched out to form a smile but one that had to retract immediately when Ophis smiled at him in return.

"He called you old, Tsuga baa-chan."

Sweat covered Naruto's face as soon as Ophis uttered those words. "I-I didn't -" Naruto tried to correct his mistake but fortunately for him, instead of being angry at his comment, Tsuga took it with a smile on her face. "Aww… but I'm old, Ophis." The lady whispered to the girl and giggled when she blinked at her. It was always cute when her little girl did that. For Tsuga, it symbolized the innocence of Ophis as she was still trying to wrap her head around the concept of human emotions.

"But I heard a lady say that women don't like when someone calls them old." Ophis was confused. According to what she had heard from a couple of ladies of her town, her Tsuga san should have been angry at Naruto right now, but she was far from being angry at him. Instead, she was laughing and hugging him as if he had said something nice to her. 'Humans are so complex.' At first, she had thought that understanding them would be easy but now that she was trying to do so, Ophis had begun to realize just how wrong she was. Humans were far from being a group of simple beings, they were complex and interesting. 'And that's why I want to understand them even more.' A small smile slithered its way to her lips as she shifted her eyes towards the mother and son duo. The spectacle of them hugging each other and laughing was filling her heart with a very familiar emotion.

Happiness.

It was her favorite emotion and no matter how much she experienced it, she could never get enough of it.

"What are you looking at, Ophis?"

Ophis blinked when she was hauled back to reality by none other than her Naruto. "Nothing." She answered, becoming a little confused when that warm feeling from earlier returned.

"She loves to see us happy, Naruto. Right, Ophis?"

The Infinite Dragon's mind went haywire as soon as she heard that word. "Love…" She tasted the word on her tongue and smiled when she realized that she liked it. It was pleasant to use and hear. 'But I don't know its meaning…' The small smile vanished from her face, replaced by a sad frown as she began to think about possible scenarios where she might have heard about the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, she found none of such scenarios. "What is love?" In the end, she accepted the letdown and decided to ask her mother instead. Ophis was sure Tsuga must know everything about the word, after all, she just used it a while ago.

"Love?" Tsuga asked Ophis and blinked when the girl furiously nodded her head positively. "You don't know about love, Ophis?" She murmured, her voice filled with sadness and confusion. Sadness because if what she heard was true then that meant, Ophis had never known what she was feeling whenever she had spent her time with them. For her, it must have been a very strange experience as Tsuga was sure the girl must have felt the emotion but didn't know what it was. She was also confused by the question because if Ophis didn't know what love was, then why didn't she ask her about it earlier?

As if Ophis knew what Tsuga was thinking, the dragon girl decided to bring the old lady out of her thoughts by a small puff of air that she let out of her mouth. "Hmph! If I knew what it was then why would I have asked you about it?" She whispered, her monotone voice exhibiting a little bit of emotion within it for a moment.

"Haha… you are right, dear." The old lady smiled at the girl, no doubt amused by the emotions she was showing on her face. It was rare for Ophis to do that but whenever she did, Tsuga couldn't help but gush about it. After all, the girl looked very cute with a face filled with emotion rather than her usual blank face. "Now for your question, well love is very simple." It was not, but for the sake of Ophis' comprehension, Tsuga decided to go with an easy explanation.

"Simple?"

Tsuga nodded her head. "Yes. It's what you feel when you spend time with someone you like being around, like your family." The lady didn't expect Ophis to understand it that much but the girl surprised her when she began to smile at her.

"Ahh, so the warm feeling I feel when I look at Naruto's smile is love?" It was a simple and innocent question if you looked at it from Ophis' perspective, but unfortunately, the two other occupants of the room took it differently. For them, the question was unexpected and stunned them into silence instantly.

"O-Ophis…" Tsuga was the first to overcome the shock. "You feel something warm inside when you look at Naruto's smile?" She asked the girl, only to gasp in surprise when the girl nodded her head positively.

"Yes."

Still shocked, Tsuga decided to ask a few more questions. "Do you feel the same when you look at us?" She inquired, hoping that the girl would say yes.

"No," Ophis whispered, her eyes wandering around to find Naruto's face that was hidden between Tsuga's arms. "I only feel it when I see his face." Her eyes lit up with happiness when she finally found his face. It was cute, she noted for the thousandth time that day.

"I-I see…" The awkwardness in Tsuga's voice didn't go unnoticed by Ophis, who immediately blinked at her, confusion shimmering within her eyes. "Well, that means you love Naruto-" Right before she could complete her statement, Naruto rapidly interrupted her, heavily flustered.

"Tsuga Oba-san!" The boy yelled, his face doused in the shameful color of red. "What are you saying? Ophis is just confused." He tried to argue with the lady but his attempt turned out to be futile when Ophis invalidated his argument in a second, with but a single simple question.

"What's wrong with me loving you, Naruto?" Both the mother and son glanced at the girl and were surprised to see an irritated Ophis. "Don't you like it when I love you?" For her, love was a simple emotion, as her Tsuga-san had told her. So now, when she was watching both of them act oddly, Ophis couldn't help but be confused about it.

"You don't understand what you are saying, Ophis!"

The confusion inside her increased when she heard Naruto's words. "Huh? Tsuga san said that the warm feeling was love, so that means I love you. What's more to understand about it?" She asked the boy.

"L-Love… It's…" Naruto paused, gulping loudly when he noticed that all the attention was on him now. "It's…" His eyes squint shut when the silence in the room began to taunt him, challenging him to blurt out something stupid in front of his family. "Aghh!" He yelled, not liking the fact he was silenced by none other than Ophis. "I don't know. I'm going outside to play with Amaya!" To save himself from further embarrassment, he untangled himself from Tsuga's arms and began to run towards the exit, being careful not to look behind where a stunned Tsuga and perplexed Ophis were staring at his back.

"Why did he run away? Did I say something bad, Baa-chan?" Looking back at the lady, Ophis asked, finding everything that had just transpired very confusing.

"No," While Tsuga was having a hard time digesting the situation herself, she still didn't waste any time in answering Ophis' question. "He was just embarrassed, Ophis."

"Embarrassed? Why?"

Now it was Tsuga's time to become silent, again. How was she supposed to answer that without dying of embarrassment herself? She knew parenting was hard, but this was torture. Never in her life had she thought she would be confronted by a challenge this humiliating. 'But I have to help her understand these things. It's my duty as a mother.' Steeling herself for what was about to come next, Tsuga raised her eyes and looked at Ophis. "Because you said that you love him." She didn't know how she managed to say it in one breath but after she was done, Tsuga felt like she had climbed the highest mountain in the world.

"But going by your explanation, I do love him."

Tsuga sulked in defeat. It was her mistake from the beginning. She had thought Ophis wouldn't ask more about the topic of love after hearing a small explanation from her but god, she was wrong. 'Infinite…' If she had to describe the amount of curiosity the girl had in her mind then that word was apt for it. She was like an infinite chasm of curiosity, eager to absorb as much information as she could.

"Tsuga baa-chan?"

Noticing that she had yet to answer the girl's question, Tsuga flashed her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I got distracted," She whispered before preparing herself for another flood of encounters with embarrassment. "You see Ophis, love can be of different types. It has no definite meaning and usually changes according to the relationship two individuals have between them," She paused to see whether the girl was listening or not and was satisfied when she noticed that Ophis was paying attention to her. "What you just said to Naruto meant that you love him in a romantic way. That's why he was so embarrassed."

"What does love in a romantic way mean?" whispered Ophis, face tilted and the skin around her eyes and forehead crinkled in concentration as she tried to revisit her memories to solve yet another conundrum.

Tsuga sweatdropped. "It means that you want to marry him and have a family with him in the future. Just like I did with your Ito-san."

"But that's what I want."

"Huh?" Tsuga froze, everything in her mind coming to a halt.

"D-dear, could you please repeat that? I think I might have misheard you." 'There's absolutely no way that she said what I think she just said, right?', she thought inwardly, while on the outside sporting an unnatural smile that held an undertone of confusion and mortification. Alas, unfortunately there was nothing that could have prepared her for what Ophis asseverated next.

"I said that I want to have a family with Naruto because he promised to stay by my side for eternity. And for that to happen, I have to start a family with him, right?", asserted Ophis, voice even and plain as if she was merely chatting about the weather.

"O-Ophis…" Dropping her jaw and subconsciously muttering this in discombobulation was all Tsuga could do to restrain her haywire thoughts from exploding into reality.

"Anyway, I'm hungry now. Can you please prepare the fishes that I and Naruto had caught earlier, Baa-chan?" Ophis asked, unmindful of the stupor her prior statement had sent the old lady into, as if it were some everyday insignificant utterance that could be glossed over without any second thought.

All Tsuga could do was vacuously nod in stupefaction.

"S-sure."

-END-

And done.

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Stay safe.