Just as easily as her charge left, he came back to the Mitarashi Residence worse for wear. Tears were streaming down his whiskered cheeks, he was missing his pouch, and his freshly washed clothes were scuffed. It was the exact opposite of his condition when he was last there. The head and sole member of the family paused in the middle of a freshly brewed cup of coffee when he walked in through the backyard sliding door.

"How did i–" She nearly dropped her steaming beverage when he ran over and embraced her. "Hey." Setting it down on her dusty dining table, she held the boy close. "Did something happen?" Her eyes rolled at her own words. "Of course something did."

Naruto kept silent, burying his face in her stomach.

She picked him up and carried him back to their room. "It's okay." Throwing aside her coat, she lay down with him on the bed. "You don't need to tell me anything. I'm here."

Nothing more was said. The stillness of the bedroom and the warmth they felt in each other lulled them to sleep. In their entire lives, neither slept as soundly than when they were beside the other, save the time one was close to Orochimaru. A lingering emptiness in both was filled.

Then the doorbell rang and woke up one of them.

"Oh dammit." Anko rose, got off the bed, and stretched on her way to the front door. "Poor timing. I haven't wanted someone to drop by in a while." She opened it.

Kakashi eye-smiled with the two other members of Team 7 behind him, bulky paper bowls of ramen in almost every one of their hands. "Is Nar–" His eye opened and narrowed at her state of dress.

"You…" Sakura drifted off as she ogled the woman's breasts in envy.

Sasuke kept his eyes shut. "We're here for Naruto."

Anko could feel the blood lust emanating from the other jonin. "He's… Uh, slee–"

"Ichiraku!" The boy in question cried in joy, being far more than capable of smelling his favorite produced ramen from nearby distances. "Ramen! Ichiraku! Ra–" He froze at the sight of his other sensei and hid behind his favorite.

"It's Ichiraaaku," Kakashi said in a sing-song tone.

"...Okay."

Anko a thumb behind her shoulder to her table. "I'm gonna get my coat."

Kakashi twitched. "You better." He eye-smiled again at his estranged student's glare. "It's for their sake."

"Naaaruuuutooo." Sakura grit her teeth. "You said nothing happened."

The punk blinked innocently. "That's just how she dresses."

Kakashi tilted his head. "I mean, he's not wrong but still."

"Can we just get on with this?" Sasuke asked, walking in with his Ichiraku ramen bowls.

They sat down on the table, set down the bowls of strengthened paper, and got up to dust off their seats.

Sakura grimaced. "Does she even live here?"

"I don't really know Anko enough to say anything," Kakashi said.

Naruto twitched at their words. "She…" He looked down at the table. "Just doesn't have a reason to come home."

"Oh," the two Sharingan users of the team said in unison.

The only one with living family glanced from orphan to orphan. None ever spoke of family much. She knew what happened to Sasuke's and knew Naruto never had anyone, but her sensei was an odd inclusion. Knowing him, he'd likely never bring it up, even when asked. He was hesitant to speak about the likes of the Fourth Hokage for whatever reason.

Anko walked back with her coat concealing the voluptuousness that was her figure. "Takeout ramen isn't really ramen, but I guess now's not the best time to be picky: you haven't really eaten anything in days."

"You didn't get me Ichiraku once during training." Naruto squinted at her as he broke his chopsticks apart.

"I got you dango." She sat next to him on the opposite side of his team. "Dango's better for you."

"Is not." He immediately began slurping.

"Is too."

"They're both bad for you," Sakura deadpanned, breaking her chopsticks.

She snapped hers in turn. "My house." She swirled around her bowl of miso with them. "My rules."

"That's not how nutrition works," Kakashi said before doing the same to his bowl.

Sasuke nodded and dug his chopsticks into his vegetable ramen. "They're both fattening. Good for building muscle but bad for nutrition."

"I'm not fat," the two former delinquents said.

"If you don't train enough or watch your eating habits…" Sakura drifted off while she sneaked a glance at the grown woman's chest.

"Speaking of training," Sasuke said, locking eyes with the other jonin, "can you help us whenever Kakashi isn't around?"

His sensei blinked. "What?"

Anko grinned. "Like what I've done with the runt of your team, huh?" She ruffled said runt's hair.

Naruto swallowed. "I'm not Sakura."

"Hey!" The girl froze and looked down into her bowl. "I… I have different strengths."

Sasuke patted her on the head, to her pleasure and embarrassment. "She's been training too." He smirked. "That Sound ninja was too weak for her to show off her real skills. Just wait, Naruto. When the war gets started, you'll see for yourself."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "War?"

"We think the attack by the Sound and Sand might lead into the Fourth Shinobi World War," Sakura clarified.

"That's…" Anko raised a hand to her chin. "Shit; that could actually happen."

Naruto grinned. "Cool."

"Not cool." Kakashi stared into his bowl. "I know the three of you would do excellent on the battlefield, but you're going to see a lot of people die, enemies and allies alike. People on both sides die in war. You can be the toughest, strongest, or fastest and still die. The First Hokage and the Second fell in battle despite being the strongest of their generation. Now Lord Third has joined them."

The grin on the boy's face disappeared. "He died...because he couldn't kill his student, despite how bad he got. It's his own damn fault." A pat on his shoulder from Anko stifled his lingering feelings.

"Come on, Na–" A hand on Sakura's shoulder from Sasuke told her not to.

"Still," the Uchiha said, "we should prepare for war just in case. Everyone else is training their hardest to catch up to you, Naruto, and to make sure nothing else like that attack happens again under our watch. Sooner or later, our generation is going to face a war of its own. We can't be complacent with our current abilities." He glanced at the two jonin. "I've read and heard a lot, but I don't know about the other villages personally."

Kakashi hummed. "You've already encountered ninja from the Sand and Mist. They're actually the two weakest villages: their lack of favorable land and unity has endured since their foundations. The former don't even have clan or family names. Wind is their ninja's most common element, but their true strength is in puppets they developed to make up for their lack of manpower."

"The Mist is somehow even more of a mess." Anko giggled. "Turns out when you have a bunch of clans with about the same power, you don't get the Leaf: you get a fucking bloodbath. The Kaguya clan composed of people with literal murder bones was exterminated down to their children. The Yuki clan, some other clan that could boil your insides, and another that could shoot lightning as good as anyone from the Cloud were all purged by that paranoid jackass Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage. Factor in a caste system that discourages anyone in the bottom ones to improve, and you can see why it'll always be a shithole, brutal academy graduation ritual or otherwise."

"How could anyone, even a Kage, exterminate that many clans?" Sakura asked.

"He was a 'perfect' jinchuriki," Kakashi answered. "Yagura and the Three-Tails were either in perfect sync, had some kind of deal, or were enslaved to the other."

"Sounds like he was the slave in that equation."

Anko laughed. "Didn't you learn anything from that fiasco in Wave? From surviving Orochimaru?" She slurped some noodles. "Wow, this really is good!"

"Told you!" Naruto downed more of his, trying to ignore his memories of Haku's words and the thought of others like him.

Sakura twitched. "Learn what?"

"Some people can be cruel for no real reason at all." Anko patted her orange punk's head. "But, to be fair, everyone probably treated him like shit before he became Kage." She smirked at his blush. "Still, that was a bit overkill."

He shrugged. "What did they expect to happen?" He looked down into his half-empty bowl. "Treating someone well after treating them like shit just makes what they felt even worse." His eyes narrowed. "It makes all of that suffering out to really have been pointless."

"Then the real threat is the Stone and the Cloud," Sasuke said, moving on before they could change the subject into something hazardous.

Kakashi glared into his bowl. "The Stone are the most organized of the villages in terms of military, but their economy isn't much to speak of thanks to their surroundings. Earth is their most common element, so a proper Stone ninja is usually troublesome. Best keep a scouting or tracking ninja nearby for them or have your own earth element users scout beneath the earth for tunnels." He relaxed as they began to notice his agitation.

"The Cloud are probably the richest village thanks to trade, but their population is less than ours and the Stone's." Anko gathered up some noodles. "They make up for it by having a widespread kekkai genkai that combines water and lightning into what they call Storm Style: lightning that can shoot much farther in combination with water and amplify normal lightning jutsu."

Sakura scoffed. "They have that, and they still tried to turn Hinata into a broodmare for the Byakugan?"

"They what?" Naruto twitched, eyes turning red.

"It happened years ago," Anko said as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Some time after the Third Shinobi World War, tensions sparked between us and the Cloud. They sent someone to sign a treaty, but there was spy sent along to retrieve a Hyuga without the cursed seal of the branch family. He ended kidnapping that Hyuga girl." She grinned. "And Hiashi murdered the shit out of him."

"The strongest ninja in the Hidden Cloud Village short of the Raikage and their jinchuriki, killed without leaving so much as a scratch on the Hyuga Clan Head," Kakashi chimed in.

She giggled. "You have to understand just how much face they lost: their absolute best was defeated by one of our elite, they committed a war crime everyone could prove, and they had the nerve to demand Hiashi's head for it!"

The other jonin shook his. "Shame about Hizashi, but that was his decision." Sarutobi told him about it long before he died.

"I bet he did it to also piss all over the faces of the bastards who thought they could take his niece!" She held on to her sides. Orochimaru told her of the specifics as well. "You can just imagine the look on their faces when it turned out they weren't getting the Byakugan in any way!"

"Neji's father?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, he was kind of an asshole but fucking hell was that beautiful!" She raised her bowl over the center of the table. "To Hizashi Hyuga!"

Kakashi joined his still full bowl along with the others. "May your sacrifice never be forgotten."

Sakura murmured before bringing hers back down. "So that's why Neji hated Hinata." She blinked as Naruto tried to look away. "You got really angry there." Smirking, she snickered while Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I…" His cheeks grew a pink tint. Shaking his head, he thought of the first excuse in his mind. "Didn't they try to kidnap the previous jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails?"

Anko raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Where did you hear that?" Kakashi asked, tone controlled to hide the concern he felt.

"...The Old Man." Naruto slurped some more noodles from his bowl. "He brought it up in one of his rants about protecting me." They were lies, but they were irrefutable. He laughed as he licked his lips. "Told me my mom asked him to take care of me."

His expression grew sad as the others looked curious. "I never knew that."

"You knew her then, right?"

"No."

The boy titled his head. "But you did know who the previous one was, right? I mean, wasn't the first Mito?" His eyes narrowed. "Mito Uzumaki?"

"Of the Uzumaki Clan belonging to the Hidden Whirlpool Village." Anko blinked, feigning surprise. "Oh shit, you're that Uzumaki?" She looked him up and down. "You don't have the red hair though."

"You're part of a clan?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura hummed. "I think I remember hearing about them, but I don't really remember."

"It's a common family name in the Land of Whirlpools," Kakashi elaborated. "The Village Hidden in the Whirlpools fell in the first Shinobi World War to the Hidden Mist Village while the Leaf was preoccupied with the rest. Mito Uzumaki was the wife of the First Hokage, which cemented an alliance between our two villages." He shook his head. "A shame what happened but war is filled with casualties. The survivors were scattered throughout the land, civilians bearing the name and clan alike."

"You still haven't told me who the previous jinchuriki was. Can't exactly have a weapon to use against the other villages if no one knows who it is."

Anko patted him on the shoulder to soothe the ache in her own heart. "Mito, other than showing up in the fight against Madara Uchiha to get the Nine-Tails sealed in her, never saw battle. Guess that's the privileges of being married to the First." She winced at him shaking in anger and embraced his side.

Sasuke and Sakura ate their meals in silence while they watched the 'crazy' proctor soothe their teammate as if he were her child. They doubted their calming embrace was as effective. An understanding deeper than what they had was between them. When he was finished with his bowl, their sensei slid his over, having lost his appetite long before they reached the end of the conversation.

Kakashi left the pouch the boy lost at the practice field on the table and led the rest towards the door when their visit was without a doubt done. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Three of the five there understood what he was really apologizing for.

Sakura frowned when they were out. "He really wants a family more than anything else." She lifted a hand over her chest. "That was so painful to hear." Turning to her other teammate, she saw the conflicted look in his eyes. "I thought we weren't trying to walk on eggshells, but it seems like he's going to explode again."

"There's a lot of grief he's been holding back. I know from experience. He's going to have to figure it out himself." Sasuke took a deep breath and sighed.

"You two can find your own way home, right?"

"Yeah," they said at the same time.

Kakashi body flickered to a far away tree branch and slammed his fist into the trunk. He wasn't sure whether the truth would help or make it worse. They were so swept up in the conversation he even forgot to relay the news about Jiraiya. Mito's existence was rather obscure info due to her lack of participation as anything other than the first Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Kushina was known by the older generation but not his. At best, the few that knew her thought she was Minato's fan girl rather than his wife: she never used the Nine-Tails' chakra at all, and her skills as a jonin were average compared to the legends of her generation. Mikoto Uchiha knew about her pregnancy, status as a jinchuriki, and marriage to Minato thanks to their academy rivalry turned friendship. There was a chance she told her husband or Itachi before he killed them, but it was slim.

Anko held Naruto close on the bed once again. He stopped shivering, but he was still far from well. She, years ago, tried to look into her own family and found nothing. Whether it was nothing or otherwise, there would be damage. That damage was already done though.

The morning after, there was another ring of the Mitarashi House's doorbell. Mitarashi herself was open to surprise visits on account of her loneliness, but she was not so lonely any more. It was beginning to interrupt her heartwarming naps with her mini male clone, who needed as much love as she did. She could only hope he was still sleeping when she went back.

"You better have a da–" She blinked at the sight of the two other genin of Team 7 behind the door. "Oh… Hey."

Sakura tried her best to avoid looking below her neck, tried. "Do you have to pry him off you?"

"He tries to get handsy sometimes, but he's just being playful."

"We thought it might be good to train with him again," Sasuke said, keeping his eyes closed. "Missions aren't going to be on hold forever. You can come along, if you want: Kakashi's got other things to do."

Anko hummed. "I'll check with the kid first." She turned and went back to her bed. "Naruto." Putting a hand on his shoulder, she gently shook him. "The pink girl and your swirly-eyed boyfriend are here."

"I'm not...gay." He rose up to reach for a breast only for the offending hand to be slapped away.

"You'd make a weirdly cute couple."

Grumbling, he rolled off the bed, landing with a dull thud. "Why so early?"

She shrugged before throwing on her coat. "Why not?" Running her hands along its sides, she evened it out. "Time is finite."

"Still." He pushed himself up, stretched, yawned, and walked to the door beside his favorite sensei.

"Wanna train?" Sakura asked.

He rubbed his eyes with a nod. "Sure. Been way too long since I did." He walked out with them flanking. "See y–" A tired groan of realization left his lips as the door closed behind four of them "Right, lazy-ass Kakashi."

Sasuke nodded as well. "There might be jutsu she knows that he doesn't."

Anko laughed. "Jutsu the Copy-Ninja Kakashi doesn't know?" She shook her head. "Probably not. I mean, he doesn't bother remembering a lot of them, but he keeps the ones worth using."

"Well, he's not going to be there, so you might as well go over the ones you know," Sakura said.

They arrived at the practice field where they earned their stripes in short notice.

"What the fuck happened..." Anko drifted off as she recognized the same marks left from her student's first test run of a certain jutsu.

Naruto shrugged and averted his eyes, to the suspicious looks of his comrades. "Who cares? Let's get to training."

"Okaaay." Her eyes flicked over all three of the genin before resting on her favorite. "Mr. Inconspicuous here is obviously a Taijutsu and Ninjutsu specialist. Capable of Wind Style, the best style, and can spam the ever loving hell out of shadow clones, shuriken or otherwise." She focused on the other two.

Sakura saluted awkwardly. "Genjutsu specialist with Earth Style with above average taijutsu, ma'am!"

"Relax, pink. Earth Style and Genjutsu mean you're an ambush-oriented ninja. Good to have with two heavy hitters up front." She looked to the Uchiha.

"Fire Style and Lightning Style. Other than the three basic Fire Style Jutsu, I know the Chidori." Sasuke glanced at the curious other man of the group. "Used to be I was the only Ninjutsu specialist, but I suppose the two of us are specialists in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu now."

He grinned. "I'm better."

"Wanna prove it?" The other smirked.

Anko rolled her eyes. "Save the dick-measuring for later." She focused on Sasuke. "Fire and lightning, huh? Only jonin and higher-up chunin looking to make jonin have two elements or more than that. Very offense-heavy one. I can show you a lightning jutsu or two." Focusing on the other woman, she hummed. "My Genjutsu is pretty shit, but I can show you a few tricks with earth beyond the basic mole one you definitely know." Naruto jumping with his hand up forced a giggle out of her. "Of course I can show you more wind jutsu!"

"First." Sasuke locked eyes with his rival. "A warm-up."

"Didn't you hear a single word of what I just said?"

Naruto turned to face him properly. "It's okay, Anko-sensei. We need this."

"Sensei?" Sakura asked.

He glanced at her. "What?" He spared the other man one when he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You don't even really call Kakashi that."

He squinted. "I'll call him sensei when he actually teaches me something."

"There, there." Anko patted him on the head.

"Are...we gonna spar or?" Sasuke tilted his.

Naruto nodded while his favorite sensei withdrew her hand. "Let's go." He jumped back while he did the same. The first move his opponent would make was already in his head. And he knew right when to strike.

He launched himself forward, using his leg to steer to the side just as he did against Gaara. Then his Sharingan saw an elbow aimed at his face. It was too late to stop thanks to his momentum peaking. While he could see, he was too slow to dodge, block, or stop himself from doing the elbow's work for it. The force of the blow took him out of it for a second, and that was all his foe needed.

Like a snake, the orange-blue and black boy coiled around him. He locked his chin with his elbow, dragged him to the ground, and held tight. "Bushy Brows' style won't work on me!" The struggling was too weak to break out of his hold.

"Winner!" Anko laughed as she raised and lowered her arm. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

Said winner let go. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah." Sasuke moved to stand and fell to his knees. "Damn."

"I can't believe it: you beat the Sharingan," Sakura said, walking over to check on the wounded.

"No, it was Bushy Brows' style." Naruto raised an educational finger along with his body. "Mobility is just as important as speed, remember? The Sharingan needs you to be fast enough to react to what you see, but you also have to be able to move. Launching yourself means good speed at the cost of mobility." He grinned. "That won't work on me. I saw it in the Inuzuka Fang-Over-Fang, and in that swirly thing Neji made: there's an opening in those techniques because they rely so much on speed to the point there's a period they can't react."

Sasuke nodded. "Not much use against another opponent who can react in time. If anything, it works against you. Looks like you're still the Taijutsu specialist of the team." He wiped blood from his nose. "My usual style would be far more effective against you."

"Ready for round two?" He began bouncing.

He almost laughed. "Give me a minute."

Anko actually did so. "The kid beat the fucking Gentle Fist! You might've with that Sharingan, but he did that without!" She grinned. "Not even a scratch on him. You two really missed out; just absolutely trashed that Hyuga boy."

Sakura nearly whined. "We needed to get new clothes."

"That was more important than my match?" Naruto asked, eye twitching.

"Ye–" She froze when she finally noticed the different vest he was wearing. "What happened to the clothes we bought you?"

"This is the s–"

She closed the distance between them and grabbed him by his collar. "Don't bullshit me! Do you have any idea how long it took to find that shop?!"

"I was there!"

"And we went through so many!" She began shaking him. "Did that mean nothing to you?!"

Anko shook her head at the memory. "He punched his own explosive clone."

"Why?!"

"They told me the truth, and I didn't like it." Naruto winced in realization he said that out loud.

Sakura let go, concern in her green eyes. "Told you what?"

"Never mind."

"Uh?" She stopped at another look from Sasuke. There was a look of sadness on their substitute sensei's face, but she was unsure if she should press further.

Not much was said after. Naruto and Sasuke fell back to their usual training methods, catching up for lost time. While Sasuke could pressure him with his Sharingan, the brief openings where he'd blink became taken advantage of too much for his liking. He began swaying back or trying to gain distance when he did to maximize his defense. Sakura joined in occasionally, to their delight, but she went to Anko for tutoring in the Mud Wall Jutsu: her strengths were clear to her now, and their team was in desperate need of someone with defensive abilities to compliment their razor sharp offense.

It was in the afternoon when they stopped. All three genin were scuffed up and hungry, having completely forgotten about food in their excitement over training together again. Instead of Ichiraku, they ate at Anko's favorite dango shop. Sakura didn't want any more ramen and went with the only opposing proposition. Naruto was salty. Sasuke didn't really care. All were walking through the streets, ignoring the eyes they were getting far too used to.

"Boss!" A voice only very familiar with one of them yelled.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto turned and caught the little man when he jumped. "What's the big idea?"

The Sarutobi looked into his cold blue with his crying. "The old man."

"I know. Nothing either of us can do about it now." He smiled.

"Boss?" He blinked as he was let down.

"Not like he was going to live forever. I'm surprised he didn't die sooner. Really, if it wasn't by Orochimaru's hand, he'd probably croak from a heart attack or something." He laughed, hiding bitterness in it. "It's okay for you to feel bad about it, I guess. You're still a kid, but you're not going to be forever. Everyone dies."

"...You need to let it out."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" He scoffed. "I'm fine."

Konohamaru looked down. "You know I look up to you. I want to be just like you, strong and badass enough to cuss out anyone… But this isn't you."

"And what the hell do you of all people think you know about me?" He grit his teeth.

"Naruto," Sakura called out. "He's…" She stopped at a look from Anko and Sasuke.

"I don't know." The child laughed and rubbed the back of his head as his tears fell. "You were just closer to the old man than I was, and I thought I could be as close too, but he's gone." He walked away. "Iruka's been meaning to talk to you. I'll tell him you're alright."

Anko looked in the direction of her home while her charge stood still. "I'm heading back. You coming?"

"No, I'm going to hang around for a bit."

Sasuke nodded. "If you need us, you know where to find us." He turned to his own apartment and patted their concerned female teammate on the shoulder. "We'll meet up again tomorrow." His eyes told her what his lips did not.

They went their separate ways, each conflicted with it.

Naruto stopped by his apartment. He didn't bother going in. It was the place Sarutobi set him up in, free of charge. The allowance he got was something he was always lectured about spending responsibly. He always blew it on sweets, ninja tools, and scrolls. "That stupid look on his face." He shook his head. "What did he expect? I was just a kid."

The sight of the Academy looming some ways from the Hokage Residence made him want to die.

"Dead last this, dead last that." He groaned. "Do you have any idea how tiring that was? You kept telling me I wasn't doing enough over and over again, but I didn't need to do any of that." His hands balled into fists. "Six years of my life wasted; my entire fucking life. Why were you so surprised I was angry? Was I supposed to be happy all that work and time amounted to shoveling shit for the same people that hated me?"

While no place for a child, the flashing lights of the Leaf's seedy red-light district made him feel nostalgic.

He laughed from a tree branch. "I saw some guy have sex with a beautiful woman the first time I was here. Wasn't sure what to think. Seemed weird until I started going through puberty." His lips thinned into a line. "That's what love between a man and a woman looked like to me. I didn't really get why Sakura tried to slap me that day." He frowned. "Anko was right: I don't know what love is. I'm not sure what we had, old man: it made me happy and it made me sad." He scowled. "It was unbearable."

Countless stars brightened the sky when he reached the forest over Hokage Rock.

"This is where it all went to shit. I thought you were lying then, but I should've known everything you said was a lie. Everyone hated me because of something I couldn't control, some Sharingan asshole tried to use it for something, my father died sealing it, and my mother died from losing it in the first place." He burst into laughter. "Not a single thing went right for me! Talk about a fucking tragedy! And you, Kakashi, and Jiraiya kept it from me for what?! Who were you really protecting?!" He glared at the village below. "Those pieces of shit!? Yourselves for using me as a weapon!? The guy who hated you, Danzo!? Orochimaru!?" He shut his eyes. "What did I!" They opened at the pain in his chest. "What did I…"Gritting his teeth, he held it back.

"It's okay, Naruto."

The deep-seated grief built up through his entire life crushed his heart.

He raised his head into the air and wailed. Animals lingering near fled in haste. Some far below could feel his pain. For a brief moment in his life, he saw beyond it. The warmth he felt from others, and his desire for happiness was nearly drowned in it not long ago. Holding on to everything instead of letting it flow muddled his mind.

"I'm learning all I can and leaving." Cold blue eyes stared down the village as the last of their tears left. "After I kill the man with the Sharingan, I'm going to burn this place to the ground." He turned and began walking. "Anyone gets in my way…so be it: I'm done with idiots who put vermin above people they actually know."

It was decided.

AN: Sorry if this is a bit info dumpy. T'was not my intention. Although, if you're thinking what I want you to think, you probably understand where I'm going with all of that. Needed to clarify what was 'canon' to this fic, among other things. Things will start picking up next chapter.

We're now over 200 favorites! I know, I know. Follows and favorites are basically the same thing, but they're treated differently by people. Said it last time and I'm saying it again, I am fulfilling whatever criteria that earns this fic a spot on their lists, so I feel good about that.

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