Chapter 31: Tomorrow

Kushina was of the firm belief that she just needed to get the two blond dinguses to talk, so her blond goof would stop acting all mopey.

Shinobi may be inept at working through their own emotional issues in a healthy manner, but they're pros at reading others and nosy enough to want to do something about it. And right now, she knew that Minato was definitely worried.

And she knew it had something to do with his best friend.

Well, his best friend that wasn't her—duh. She was his girlfriend and his best friend, but she figured she could let Axel have the 'best' title. Kushina herself had a best friend, after all, so it was only fair to let Minato have one too.

That's all beside the point, though, except the part where Minato is clearly still worried.

She had managed to push him into crashing the blacksmith lesson, hoping she could get him to unwind if he got to talk with Axel, but that ultimately hadn't gone anywhere. In fact, it might've been a little bit counterproductive since the lesson had to be cut short.

Whatever those weird coin-like things are, seeing them had made Axel go all… quiet. And distracted, which is not a good state to be in when dealing with weaponry.

Honestly, after seeing him like that, Kushina was getting a touch antsy-worried for Axel, too.

Anyway, seeing as Minato had missed his chance to bring up whatever was bothering him at the lesson, she had nagged him into stopping by the next day to try and follow up on things.

Which he did.

However, given he was still all nerves when he got home, Kushina assumed he'd chickened out at the last second. She knew she should have gone too, because even though he's a charming genius, he's also kind of ditzy: sometimes he needs her around to give him that last shove into action.

So she knew what needed to be done next.

"Well alright then," she said, tone determined, and Minato paused his pacing to glance at her. "Tomorrow you'll try again, and this time I'm going with you."

"What?"

She huffed. "Clearly you need an intervention. Or Blondie does—not sure—but either way, I'm coming to make sure it gets done."

"Oh, c'mon, Kushina…" He sounded unsure, or maybe even uneasy.

"You're all antsy about something, and he was being all weird yesterday, and—" She shook her head. "I'm just… I'm worried too, ya know?"

He looked away, to the floor and the path he'd been wearing into the rug for the past half hour or so. "I know, but—"

"What are your little kiddies gonna be up to?" she asked suddenly, glancing toward the window as if they might coincidentally be passing by at just that moment.

Minato blinked at the quick topic change, smart enough to be suspicious of the question. He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, really. I gave them the day off." Then he smiled fondly. "They certainly deserve it, they've been working so hard."

"We could invite them to come, too," Kushina mused.

"No way!"

She crossed her arms, benevolently giving him a chance to explain.

"It's just, well…" He sighed. "I don't think Axel would appreciate a big crowd, if we're going to convince him to tell us anything."

Kushina gave him a long look, then a smug grin.

Realizing that he had just implicitly agreed to her coming along—saying 'we' instead of 'I' might as well be an open invitation with her—Minato pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Alright, I get that," she easily agreed, meaning that she had probably only made the suggestion as a bargaining tactic. "We'll go figure this all out tomorrow, together."

"Yeah," Minato replied. "Tomorrow, then."

=X=X=X=

Axel felt mentally exhausted, and thoroughly worn out.

The day after the whole coin incident had passed in a haze of sluggish activity, and today wasn't shaping up to be much better: his mind too busily jumping from thought to thought for him to properly process or focus on much of anything.

Two days ago, Pei had actually had to cut the lesson short because of him. It was a smart choice, though, since Axel was altogether too distracted to be trusted around anything sharp and pointy. Honestly, if Akaiko hadn't decided to walk with him back home, he probably would have strode headlong into walls... or more walls than he did run into, anyway.

She had chatted about inane topics and generally tried to pull him into conversation, but he just didn't have the energy for it; he had been shaken, and trying to stumble back to some semblance of sense.

So, while he appreciated her concern, he had been a bit... distracted.

Still was, actually.

Axel tried once again to set the whole discovery out of mind; regardless of the coins—and the possibility they represented—he still lacked the ninja magic that would let him do something about it. It was pointless to agonize over.

But he did anyway.

Because it was a chance: a possibility, no matter how slim, that he could reach home. Maybe not in person, he wasn't that optimistic, but if he could even send back a letter—if he could let his family know that he was alright… that would be the greatest gift he could imagine.

There were more than a few barriers before that point, though, and right now the loop his thoughts had gotten stuck in was focused around one of the most major: time.

Or, to be more specific, how time seems to be all kinds of wacky between the two worlds.

Axel knew for a fact that the story of Naruto had been finished up, even if he had never watched far past the first season and only knew bits about the ending from Adri's rants. But, heck, his sister had even mentioned that there was some kind of spin-off following the kids of the main cast; she had dropped the manga pretty early on and didn't talk about it much, but he still knew it existed.

Assuming any of the show is actually (somehow) based on real events, he had to wonder why he'd ended up here, now, years before even the earliest part of the first episode. The titular character hadn't even been born yet!

"Zeitliche Paradoxe," he grumbled to himself.

Over the past few months, he had occasionally found his thoughts drifting toward the topic of time paradoxes. Naturally, he had tried to never dwell on the subject—that way lay madness.

But now Axel had to wonder if his presence would—or even could—change things. Some of those coins had been in this world longer than he had, after all. As uncomfortable as it was to consider, it's technically possible that he had been in the story the whole time, just as an unmentioned background character (or dead before the first episode).

Perhaps everything he might try, knowing what he does, had, in a sense, already been tried: that what he'd seen in the show was simply how things were going to play out.

Or perhaps some kind of crappy 'destiny' would just drag them all along a set path, regardless of what he might do.

He didn't like any of those options.

Especially the ones where his best friend (and maybe even himself) might be guaranteed to die in a few years.

Axel rested his head on the desk, peering under the register with one eye but not really putting much effort into it. He'd checked under there once already, earlier in the day. He could see straight through to the other side: there simply was nothing under there. It wasn't even particularly dusty.

And, indeed, his notebook still wasn't there.

"What're you doing, man?"

"Hello, Obito." He glanced up without really moving his head, and saw that the full trio had come over. That got him to smile, just a little bit; it was good to see them all getting along. "Trying to find something."

Rin crouched slightly to look under the register, too. "What are you trying to find?"

"My notebook."

"You mean the one with the weird squiggles on the front?" asked Obito, glancing around as if he might just spot it laying out in the open.

He nodded. "I think it's been missing for a while now."

"We can help you look, if you want," Rin offered, smiling.

Obito leapt at the chance. "Yeah, we can help!"

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Axel appreciated the gesture, really, but usually all three of them were only together during: "Training?"

Kakashi shook his head, and his expression looked like it couldn't decide if he was annoyed or resigned. "Minato-sensei gave us the day off."

"Rin and I were comin' over to do homework," Obito explained, "and we ran into Kakashi on the way. He was probably gonna go train somewhere even though Sensei said to take a break, so we didn't let him." He sounded quite proud.

That remark about homework certainly explained why the kid was so eager to waste time looking for a lost journal.

With a sigh, Kakashi chose to just get started rather than keep chatting. "I'll look in the forge. Obito, you take the back room."

"With all the boxes? Man, that's so…" He had been muttering to himself, but then abruptly straightened. "Hey! You can't tell me what to do, Baka-kashi!"

Kakashi just rolled his eyes, turned, and headed toward the back door without another word.

"Wait, get back here, I'm yelling at you!"

With Kakashi gone and Obito chasing after him, Rin just shook her head. "So I guess I'll look around here with you."

"Thanks for the help," Axel said, and he had to confess that he was thankful for the distraction. "Sorry to cut into your time."

"I've already finished most of my homework," she said, in lieu of an answer.

"And Obito?"

She smiled, sweetly. "Obito hasn't started yet, as far as I know."

"You're teaching him a lesson, then?" he asked, amused. "About pushing work back, or relying on you to catch him back up?"

"Uhm…" Rin suddenly looked a little embarrassed, then knelt to look under some of the shelves. "Kinda dirty down there," she remarked, sweeping a hand around beneath the display.

He might just be a civilian, but he still caught that obvious change in subject. But whatever, he didn't need to nag or tease her about anything.

"Careful," Axel said instead, coming out from behind the register. "Sometimes the kunai aren't very—"

When she pulled her arm back, it brought with it a small cloud of dust and the start of a coughing fit. Shaking as she coughed and tried to clear her throat, Rin steadied herself on the bottom of the shelf. The whole setup rattled slightly.

Near the top, a knife hanging at the end of an over-full peg was knocked loose.

"Look out!"

"Wha—"

Axel lunged, actually managing to catch the falling knife before it could hit her, but not exactly catching it well. The cutting edge of the kunai bit deep, slicing into his palm and the pads of his fingers.

"Ach Scheiße!" he cussed, wincing at the sharp pain.

"Language!" Rin scolded, apparently on reflex. "Or, well, I'm pretty sure that was a bad word, since you said it like... one..." She drifted off when she looked up at him, seeing his hand and the now-bloodied kunai he had grabbed.

He hissed, trying to loosen his fingers. "Das war nicht sehr schlau…"

Having heard the commotion from where they had been searching, the other two kids hurried to rejoin them in the front room.

"What's going on?" Then, seeing the blood, Obito summed up the general mood with two words: "Oh crap."

"I'll get the first-aid kit," Kakashi said, quickly vanishing around the corner again.

"I-I— I'm so sorry! I should've noticed—!" Rin was still frazzled, but her brain was shifting into gear now. "Here, let me heal it, I've been learning—"

"No!" Axel cut in quickly, alarmed.

With mirrored looks of surprise, Obito and Rin both blinked at him. There was an unspoken question in their expressions.

And he had no way to answer it, at least not without sounding crazy.

One of the confusing things Axel had just shrugged off back in Chotto—a year ago, back before he knew—was how odd check-ups at the clinic had been. The doctor would make sure he was healing properly, but never took an x-ray or anything of the sort. More importantly, though, was that while he poked at his leg or ribs or head, Dr. Kimura had usually grumbled about stuff that Axel hadn't quite understood.

Or at least, stuff he hadn't understood without proper context.

Now that he knew where he was, it was easy enough to guess what those remarks had been about: chakra. Ninja healing techniques were structured around having a chakra system, after all, and that was something Axel just didn't have.

Plus, while having a chakra system didn't seem to be strictly necessary for healing to take effect, he felt fairly confident in saying that lacking one at least upped the difficulty and cost of the techniques by a lot.

Which meant that it would be fairly obvious that something was really off.

"Er, I mean, I'm fine." Axel tried to wave off their concern. "It's not that bad, really."

"You're bleeding!" she protested, snagging his wrist with a startlingly strong grip.

He dropped the knife with a wince. Fingers lighting up with a green glow—more magic ninja stuff—Rin gently set her hand against the cut.

A second passed, and she frowned slightly.

"Why isn't it...?"

Axel took advantage of her distraction and pulled his hand away, maybe a touch too quickly.

"Wait—"

The bell over the front door rang.

"Hey, Axel! I—or, uh… We want to talk to you about—" Minato came around the corner from the entryway, taking in the full scene: bloody kunai on the floor and all. "What happened?" He rushed over. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Axel said, doing his level best to ignore the stinging from his hand. "I'll just go wash this out."

"Rin's learning medical ninjutsu, she could—"

"Nein—" He shook his head, standing quickly and backing toward the kitchen. "No, it's fine. I'll wash it out, bandage it…"

He almost ran into Kushina, who was also there because of course she was.

"Axel?"

"It's fine," Axel insisted, preempting the question he was sure she'd ask, and he ducked around the corner.

Once safely away in the kitchen, he turned on the sink and slowly moved his hand under the cool running water. It stung, and he tried to focus more on that than the awkward questions he had probably left in the other room.

After a minute or so, the door opened again, then quietly shut.

"Hey."

Axel briefly glanced over—to Minato, standing there with the first-aid kit—then back to his hand. He heard his friend walk over, and thanked him when he set a roll of bandages in easy reach.

For a moment, Minato just stood with him as he carefully rinsed off the blood.

"You might need to get stitches," he said.

"No. It's fine."

"…Rin said she tried to heal it."

Axel said nothing, because there was nothing he could say.

Minato leaned across the counter, a worried frown creasing his forehead. "Axel, I can tell that something's wrong."

"I'm what's wrong," Axel found himself muttering.

He didn't mean it, not really, but it just sort of… slipped out.

Alarmed and trying to hide it, Minato rounded the counter to set a hand on his friend's shoulder. "What do you mean?"

Saying nothing for a long moment, the dimensionally-misplaced German just stared down at the water and blood as they swirled down the drain.

"Axel." His voice was soft but stern, a tone he could easily associate with a Hokage: a leader demanding answers. "What do you mean?" he asked again.

"I miss it," Axel said at last, finding he couldn't think of anything else to say. "I know I can't get back, but now maybe there's a chance, and… I miss it."

Minato processed that for a moment, thinking and making long-shot connections as only a genius could. "I know you're not from around here, and I'm starting to think you're probably from farther afield than I thought, but…"

Axel turned off the sink.

And took a leap of faith.

"How far were you thinking?"

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

If you feel that a secret is crushing you… perhaps it is best to turn from secrecy, to trust.

Oof, that cliffhanger though.
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

Updates come on the 15th of every month.
Thanks to everyone who favorites, follows, or reviews, and just generally thanks to everybody for reading!

Translations:
"Zeitliche Paradoxe" = "Time paradoxes"
"Ach Scheiße!" = "Ah shit!"
"Das war nicht sehr schlau…" = "That was not very smart…"
"Nein—" = "No—"

See ya on the flipside, everyone!