A/N: re-written april 9th 2024

I made it! Well, by my time I did. Like barely (a matter of minutes)… sorry to everyone who is already on Wednesday when this goes up! I'm working nights right now, and thought I'd have time to put the chapter up before leaving for work, so didn't do that when I got back to my room to sleep this morning. Of course I ended up sleeping right to the wringer… thankfully I work in front of a computer!

Hope you all enjoy~


Chapter XII: Interrogation


When they'd agreed to go on this crazy, no chance to return mission, she hadn't thought they'd end up back here. No doubt he hadn't thought so either, and yet here they were. It wasn't the same as it had been, certainly, but there was no mistaking what this was. He may be standing there, on the grey water, in the form of a toddler, and she in a body to match, but this was their mind-scape mash up. She hadn't really thought to question why she'd been here before… she wasn't really in a frame of mind to even make the realization.

Naruto… Masato looked like he hadn't really thought about it either.

"Are we just going to stand here staring?" She heard her child's voice ask. "Or are we going to try and work out what to do? You called me girl."

The man-boy grimaced, and then glowered at her. "Well if you hadn't been all stubborn gloom and doom, I wouldn't have had to!" He sounded every bit the petulant child, even though he spoke clearly.

"You didn't have to!" She snapped back in return.

"Yeah, I did!" The male hissed back.

"NO, you didn't!" she shouted with a stomp of her foot, sending water splashing over their ankles.

They both stared at each other, eyes blinking, as it registered for them how ridiculous this was. She let out a snort first, breaking the silence. Then both of them were laughing, much of the tension that had built up falling away. "We sound like five year olds."

"Well, that's pretty mature of us," Masato replied with a snicker. "We're actually two year olds." She broke into another peal of laughter at that, even though it wasn't actually that funny. She… they, needed this laugh. They'd both been on edge for months… years, actually. She'd been in fight mode for so very long it seemed.

But could they really let themselves relax completely?

She wiped laugh tears from her eyes, clamping down further jovial sounds as she regarded her brother with a serious expression that just looked out of place on her tiny face. "I get why you said it, Masato… but how the hell are we supposed to explain that one?"

He grimaced again. "Well… maybe they won't ask?" But he didn't sound sure of that at all.

"Oh yeah… and maybe Jiraiya will be miraculously cured of his perverseness," she muttered sarcastically. "Come on, Masato. You know as well as I that calling me girl was suspicious, and trained shinobi aren't going to just disregard it."

The blonde boy sighed, and plopped himself down on the water's surface. "Yeah, I know… but maybe it's not that big a deal?"

That was wishful thinking.

"It will be, if we can't figure out how to make it fit," she huffed, squatting in front of him with her arms resting on her knees.

Masato, to her utter shock, shrugged. "You're thinking about it too hard, Maki. We should just tell them the truth." What? She stared wide eyed, and opened her mouth to protest the thoughtless statement that had just fallen out of her brother's mouth like an after-thought. But seeing the look on her face, he held up his hands in a sort of defense. "Wait… hear me out Makiko!"

She snapped her mouth shut and glared at him, waiting. This better be good.

He remained silent for a few moments more, as if expecting that she wouldn't wait for him to speak after all. Then he put on a grin. "Well, for one thing, it's not like I said another name. I did what kids do when talking to kids they don't know… you know, call them boy, girl, kid, you, or something else along those lines."

That might be true, but it hardly meant anything in this situation! They couldn't act as if they'd only just met each other and learned each other's names… They were twins.

"Makiko, relax, okay? Look… I know it's kind of strange, but they probably aren't thinking 'hey, maybe Makiko and Masato aren't their names', just because I called you girl." That was true she supposed, but they were definitely suspicious about it. "But if they think we just recently got our names, then me calling you girl when I got worked up would make sense."

She blinked, caught a little off guard by such a simple solution. It did make sense though, not that she thought it was exactly the best course of action. "But then that would beg the question of why we just got our names."

Masato nodded. "That's the point though."

What?

"Weren't you trying to figure out how to let them know Haruka was raped?"

"Well… yeah… but what has that go— Oh!"

Masato grinned, and she couldn't help but to smile back. That was rather ingenious of him really. "So… if they ask us about you calling me girl, we say that we just got our names not that long ago."

The other blonde nodded and continued. "Then they'll start to wonder why that was. Maybe we can find a way to throw the word rape out there… but even if we don't, I think they'll suspect it as a possibility."

He was right. They probably would suspect it as being possible just from the knowledge that they had been called girl and boy for a large portion of their young lives. It would make the implication that their mother hadn't wanted to give them names… and why wouldn't she want to name them? Because she didn't want them. And any Kunoichi worth her salt would never end up pregnant accidentally, let alone go through the pregnancy if by some fluke she did. Why take herself out of action for a year or more in order to give birth to a child she didn't even want? It didn't make sense.

"Okay… you're right. It's not that bad," Makiko admitted, and then she reached out to poke him with her right hand. "But be more careful not to slip up like that again!"

He grinned back at her, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, "We'll be fine!"

She wished she could be as optimistic as he was. "If you say so… but… well what are we even supposed to be doing?"

He blinked, a little surprised by the question. "Uh… ojiji said we had to change a major part in history."

She rolled her eyes. "I was there two you know, I heard that same as you. But… how do we even go about doing that?"

He shrugged. "We've got time Makiko. We'll figure something out. We always do."

Time.

"We don't really! We don't even know what year this is… and I don't think you can wing changing history, Masa-ni." She was starting to feel anxious again. They'd managed to figure out how to solve one problem, but this one… she didn't even know where to begin!

"Maki, you're thinking about it too much again."

She was not!

Seeming to know what she'd just thought, he rolled his eyes at her. "You are. We've got lots of time on this end of history you know. The history we really know won't even start for over a decade, aside from a few things… I mean, I never did study history that thoroughly."

She hadn't either.

"So you're saying we can't even do anything until after our counterpart here is born?"

He shook his head, and then once more shrugged. "I'm saying that we can't really change history, we don't know that well. So the logical thing to do is to plan for things we do know a lot about."

Things they did know a lot about. That was basically the same thing. She almost said as much, until she recalled that she'd grown familiar with a few points in history that had happened before she was born, almost as well as if she'd lived through them. The Kyūbi attack on the night she was born (well she actually did live through that one). The ambush of the original Akatsuki by Ame and Danzō.

"Kanabi Bridge."


"Did you find anything?"

The toad looked up at him, blinking slowly, and croaked "Three bodies."

Three of them. That was a little disconcerting. But he nodded nonetheless. "How far across the border?"

"A Kilometer," was the croaked reply. He let out a low breath. They'd managed to move a kilometer in the middle of the night, bare footed, and then climbed the statue of Madara. It sounded down right far-fetched. Then again, Haruka could have moved the three men away from the border while the twins ran. If those three men were indeed who she had so clearly fought. There was a good chance they were, given that they'd never been pursued during their trip back to Konoha, but it never paid to assume.

"Show me," he commanded the red skinned toad. It nodded, and hopped off without a word, the white haired shinobi a step behind.


"We're not trying to keep you in the dark, Minato," the bored tone of Shikatsu drawled. He continued to fix the man with a glare, because wasn't that exactly what they were doing by telling him they wanted to question his siblings individually? Without him.

"He's right, that's not what we're doing," Inokai explained in a warmer tone, though he didn't trust that smile at all. "But the twins, Makiko especially, already associate you with safety," the Yamanaka continued. "If a question upsets them somehow, they'll likely just latch on to you, and expect you'll make whatever they didn't like about it go away."

Why was that a bad thing?

Okay… he knew why that was a bad thing. But he didn't like it one bit. Why did they need to ask questions that might upset his little siblings?

He knew the reason for that too… but still… why now?

He clenched his hands at his side, still glaring at Shikatsu as he bit out a "Fine." Because he knew the answer to that question too. He really didn't like it, but he knew it. He'd known it since they'd been told to bring Maki and Masa to the Hokage.

Makiko had just had what had all but been confirmed as a PTSD episode of some sort. Who was to say that Masato didn't have triggers of his own? Either of them could be set off by this… questioning.

But if he fought against it too much, what would that mean for his siblings? He was well aware they were clearly being… suspected. Unfairly in his mind. Still it was the truth of the matter. And if he prevented these two from questioning his siblings now, there was the possibility others would come along to find whatever answers they seem to think a pair of two year olds had. And they may not be as mindful of his siblings trauma as the Nara and Yamanaka clan heads.

He hated it… but he had to give here. Because at least they weren't sending him completely away. At least he would be in the same building as them. He would have a chance to act, and comfort them, however it turned out.

It wasn't fair. They were just toddlers! What harm could they really do? It wasn't like they could have possibly been trained to infiltrate and spy very much, at under two years of age. Will conditioning for child spies certainly started early, there was only so much they could do before a certain age. The body and mind of a two year old couldn't really accommodate complex thoughts and actions needed for infiltration missions. A toddler wouldn't even have close to the attention span needed for gathering intelligence.

Granted, both Makiko and Masato had displayed patience that was rather unusual for two year old children. Still, it wasn't of a level to actually believe they were spies. They were too young to have the skills needed to act innocent convincingly… and if they did have those skills, then they would never have shown peculiar patience at all. The fact that they did, in his mind, proved that they had no hidden agenda. They were just more advanced in areas because of the way they'd been raised.

"But you better tell me whatever you find out," He insisted as he stared the Nara down. "Everything." He repeated the word harshly, even though he was well aware that he probably wouldn't be told everything. He was going to have to find out some of it for himself. It was frustrating to admit that, but it wasn't like he didn't understand the whys of it. He knew it all too well.

He was a genin still.

Being a genin meant he was legally viewed as an adult in the village. But it also meant he had the lowest level of clearance when it came to information, next to a civilian. He would be told only what it was deemed he should be told, and really he was in hardly any position to demand more information. He felt he had a right to it as their older brother, but whether or not the jōnin agreed was another matter.

"We'll pass on everything you need to know," Inokai said easily, and he grimaced. That was exactly what he expected. Everything he needed to know. What he needed to know in their eyes, not his. But he could only nodded. "Masato seems to be awake now, so we'll start with him. It's best to avoid anything that might set Makiko off again for now."

He looked sharply to the sandy blonde haired man, before he nodded again stiffly. He certainly didn't want Maki to be sent into another panic attack. At least they agreed on that, even if they insisted on going through with this damned questioning and treating the little Namikazes as if they were trained shinobi.

"I'm going to take Makiko into the garden," he muttered before he turned his back on the two to head back to the room where he'd left his siblings.

"Put a jacket on her. It's a little chilly out," was Inokai's response. He paused for a moment, and then nodded again. The man was right. It wasn't actually that cold, to him, but the twins had hardly any fat on them, and being so young they were probably more sensitive to changing temperatures anyway. He didn't want her to catch a cold. Especially considering she'd just gotten over a fever earlier that day. Still, he thought it would be good for her to be out in the garden, where he hoped he could distract her from the fact that Masato wasn't in sight.

If it bothered her, anyway.

Hopefully this time he could manage to play a simple child's game properly.


"Hey Makiko"

He tried to think right at his sister when he was being led out of the room by Inokai, to go to the bathroom. After all, he'd heard what seemed like her thoughts quite clearly earlier, and thinking back at her and gained a reaction. At least he thought so.

"I knew it!"

Her voice rang in his mind, and he almost started grinning. But that would have looked suspicious to the man who was his current chaperone.

"Guess we can just talk to each other in our heads." He thought back at her.

"That makes it sound like we're crazy, Masa-ni." She replied, sounding a little off put. "But this is crazy. I thought speaking in thoughts was just a Yamanaka thing."

She had a point… but didn't the Yamanaka's have to use chakra to do it? "I think this is a little different from what they do… I don't feel like I'm using any chakra."

There was silence following this, and he was pulled into the bathroom where Inokai asked him if he needed any help getting onto the toilet… how embarrassing. It was more embarrassing that he needed help with something else beyond that… he could not wait to have longer arms and legs so he could do these things himself!

"You're right, it doesn't expend chakra. But it does seem as though its… moving a bit differently? I'm not quite sure… there is a sort of feeling about it that lets me know we can hear each other right now? I think."

Makiko's reply came at last, while Inokai was helping him wash his hands. Maybe she'd been trying to experiment with it? It would be nice to know just what they could do with this mind connection they seemed to have. Maybe this was just a result of their mindscape mash-up. Or maybe it was the other way around. The two could be unrelated, but he doubted it. Maybe this was a twin thing… but that is doubtful, he thinks. However… if there is any sort of discernable difference in their chakra… or whatever this feeling his sister is describing… they needed to know what that meant. And if it made it detectable.

"I'm out in the garden with Ni-san. I think you should be ready for some questions."

He blinked in surprise despite himself, but Inokai didn't seem to notice as he led him back to the room. Just like she said, Maki wasn't there, and he almost didn't say anything, before he realized that would be a mistake. "Where Maki and Ni-san?" He made himself ask, opening his eyes as big and round as he could as he looked up at Inokai.

The clan head gave him a kind and reassuring smile, ruffling his hair with one hand. He immediately swatted the hand away. "Your Ni-san took Makiko-chan to the bathroom," he replied smoothly, and Masato was instantly aware of what he was trying to accomplish with this. He didn't want Masato to throw a fit like he had when Inoichi had tried to keep him away from Makiko before the scene he'd made earlier. He was likely hoping to get him sufficiently distracted and not paying attention to how much time passed before he could realize that Makiko had been 'to the bathroom' for much too long.

He should probably fall for it this time. They'd get overly suspicious of him if he foiled their efforts to distract him too often. And it was also best to put an end to any suspicion he'd roused by calling Makiko 'girl' as soon as possible. Still, he couldn't just acquiesce quietly as that would also be suspicious.

"Okay… can we play where the flowers are when Maki back?" He kept his eyes wide as he asked this, and pointed outside in a direction that wasn't quite right, hoping that would be less suspicious than a two year old with a perfect sense of direction in a strange place.

Inokai's smile remained unerringly in place as he knelt in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If there's time before super, you two can go play in the garden," he assured him. "But I was hoping you could help me with something first."

He'd expected something like that, but he made himself act surprised, tilting his head to the side and screwing his face up in apparent thought. "Help? What I help?"

"Well you see Masato… we want to help Makiko-chan so she doesn't need to be scared of the 'dark'," The man explained, the smile fading just slightly. He jolted a bit, not having expected this approach. Thankfully Inokai seemed to take that as a sign of him being upset over the mention of Makiko's fear. "I know it must be scary for you too, but do you think you can tell us about what's so scary? For Makiko-chan?"

The man really wasn't beating around the bush any more than he thought he had to, to keep his words understandable for the toddler. He screwed up his face more, and looked down at his feet, hoping he was playing a convincing, unsettled toddler. "Can really help Maki if I say?" He asked in a small voice, clenching his fists into the fabric of his yukata as if he really didn't want to do it, but the man had struck a chord by appealing to a brotherly instinct to help Makiko.

"You think they're trying to interrogate us separately?" He thought back to Makiko as he waited for Inokai to respond. The man's response came in the form of him ruffling his hair again, and this time, he didn't swat his hand away.

"I can't say there won't be scary things for her ever again," The man was explaining, being surprisingly candid with that, given he was talking to a toddler. "But we can make the scary things less scary just a little bit at a time, so that maybe one day they won't be scary anymore."

That would be a lot to comprehend for a toddler wouldn't it? At the same time, he didn't want to have to make the man explain it any simpler. So he just needed to screw up his face in thought again and look like he was taking a long time figuring out what he'd just been told. Hopefully it wouldn't be too strange when he responded with a tiny "Okay," after some feigned thought.

"Well, they could be. They aren't trying to ask me questions now though. Maybe they have Ni-san playing a distraction."

"Probably."

He did his best not to outwardly react to his silent conversation with Maki, and made himself look up at Inokai through his bangs instead. The man was giving him a reassuring smile, and gently took one of his hands again. "Thank you Masato," he said softly, and led him over to the futon he'd slept on with Makiko. He lowered himself into a sitting position, cross legged, so he figured he should sit down too. "If something is too scary to say right now though, you don't have to."

Ha. As if. They'd just ask Makiko about it. Or he'd have to sit through an interrogation on it later. An actual, proper shinobi interrogation, perhaps. That was something they would need to try and avoid.

"Don't blow our cover!"

He almost scowled. "Hey, give me some credit!"

The door to the room slid shut with a thwack, and he jolted at the unexpected sound, eyes snapping towards it. It was just the Nara patriarch… he should have expected that. There was no way he could have expected what the gruff, dark haired man did next however. His intimidating countenance softened with a kind, reassuring smile that was eerily like the one the Yamanaka had been giving him.

He had never thought a Nara could smile like that!

"Okay Masato," Inokai beckoned for his attention again softly, "We're going to ask you things that will tell us things we can use to help Makiko-chan." They were really playing into this 'it's to help your sister' thing. It was certainly a smart way to get a kid to answer questions they otherwise wouldn't want to, he supposed. But that didn't change the fact that they were essentially interrogating a toddler. "I want you to try your best to answer everything you can, alright?"

He pursed his lips and nodded, before replying with a short "Okay."

"Hey! If they're asking you things, you should be thinking them at me! Don't say anything without thinking!"

He exhaled slightly, and nearly glowered at his sister's thought words. "They haven't started asking anything yet. I've got this Makiko… I'm not going to say anything stupid!"

There was a very slight pause, before a more petulant sounding "I still wanna know what they are asking!" Was thought at him.

"Fine." It wouldn't hurt to oblige her with that. And it might be helpful anyway. So they could keep their story straight whenever they asked her the same questions later. Or, more likely, slightly different questions meant to find holes in their stories.

"Have you ever seen Makiko-chan like she was before your nap?" This question came from Shikatsu, rather than Inokai like he was expecting. He swung his head around to look at the man who was just now lowering himself to sit next to the Yamanaka. He almost opened his mouth to say no.

"Don't say no!"

He blinked. Why shouldn't he say no? Damn… he needed to buy some time so he could figure this one out. "What mean?"

"Can you remember Makiko being so scared she wouldn't talk before?" The rephrased question was provided to him by Inokai now. If they were going to pass off questions and explanations like this he was going to make himself dizzy looking between them.

Which was probably a strategy in and off itself. Damn the Nara and the Yamanaka were not clans he wanted to go up against truly.

"You have to say yes!" Makiko's slightly panicked voice rang in his head. "You spoke to me as if it wasn't the first time, so it would be suspicious if you said no!"

She was right. He nodded, and muttered a small "yeah." But he knew what problem he'd be faced with because of that answer. They'd want to know when, why, and how many times. What could he say to that? It would be easiest if he could use as much of the truth as he could though. The less he had to come up with on the fly the better.

The best lies were ones built off of a truth anyway.

"What did set you off anyway?" It was a bit risky to ask, but he needed to know. Maybe he should have waited till later to ask… but perhaps he could use it to come up with an answer. But Makiko's reply to the question didn't come.

"Can you count how many times it's happened?" Inokai continued the questioning. At least this was a question that by nature he could pretend to think really hard about. So he screwed up his face again, and held up one hand as if he was trying to count on his fingers… but remembered he and Makiko had said they could only count to four to Minato. Had that been passed on to the two yet?

Of course it probably had.

"Uh," he muttered, trying to play up his struggle of counting. Should he say he couldn't count it, or should he give a number that he 'could' count to?

Makiko was still silent in his mind.

He needed to give an answer. "th- Four?" Where had that come from? Damn, he wasn't supposed to answer without really thinking about what he was saying. Lets see... makiko had thought three at him, but he'd said four instead. Why?

It was too late now, he was going to have to go with that answer.

Crap, they'd just shared a brief look.

"Can you tell us when the last time was?"

He knew they were going to ask that. Damn it. Now what did he sa— "Before Maki got sick." The words left his mouth in the exact moment that he heard Makiko think it at him, but he hadn't tried to say them at all. What the hell?

"Before she got sick? When you were heading to Konoha with Jiraiya-san and your Ni-san?" He just froze, what did he do now? What did he say?

"Yeah," again he hadn't tried to say it, but the word had left his mouth exactly in sync with Makiko's thinking at him. This time his head even nodded.

"What the hell are you doing?" He thought back at Makiko desperately.

"What do you mean? I was just thinking what you should say!" A pause and then a more annoyed thought still. "And your the one who suddenly corrected to four after staring to say three! what was that about anyway?"

He almost let out a frustrated sigh, but managed to avoid that blunder. "And I said it, but I didn't even try to," he thought back, even as he braced himself for whatever the next question would be. What was Makiko trying to accomplish with what she'd had him say anyway?

Because somehow she had made him give her thought answers. Intentionally or not.

"Wasn't it bright out then, Masato?" This question came from Shikatsu, who still had the reassuring smile, but his eyes were sharp. It sort of ruined the look. Well, more than the scarring did on its own.

"… Yeah," because what else could he say. It was day time when that had happened. "but the ants were red."

"Maki, what the hell are you making me say?"

"Just trust me, okay?" She thought back at him, and he cursed her. He didn't like not knowing what the hell she was thinking with this. Couldn't she just tell him?

But then… she'd put a lot of trust in him in the past… he could give her his. For now.

"The ants were red," Shikatsu repeated, and it looked to him as if the man's eyes had narrowed just a bit more in suspicion. They were supposed to be making them less suspicious, not giving them more reason to doubt them!

Shikatsu and Inokai shared a glance again, and he wondered if they were having a silent conversation of their own, beyond the looks.

"Is Makiko afraid of the colour red?" Inokai asked him, making the question sound rather innocent. But he knew better. It was no less probing than anything else they were asking.

"No," he said with a shake of his head, but again it hadn't been him to do it, "not the red."

He could practically feel the weight of their gazes change. "Maki, you're digging us into a hole!"

"No I'm not!"

He wanted to snap at her that she was, but his mouth opened again to speak. "Maki is scared of the red stuff that comes out when someone gets a really bad boo boo."

Blood? "Why didn't you just tell me to say that to begin with!"

"That stuff is called blood, Masato," Inokai was explaining.

"I thought maybe they were thinking my unresponsiveness at that time was some sort of attack like earlier today… I was unresponsive then, wasn't I?"

Oh. Well… that made some sense. And now he felt he understood why he had corrected to four when she'd thought three at him. Because she had also been unresponsive when their mother's hand had been cut off her body, something that he somehow knew Makiko wasn't properly aware of, so it didn't fit in with whatever the 'three' instances she had in mind were. However it was an instance the shinobi in front of him probably would identify amongst themselves. But the ants being red? That seemed rather shoe horned in. Could he make that less awkward? What had he done then when they were 'playing' with the ants? He'd had a stick and he was poking the ant hill.

"You jabbed your stick right in there and they came pouring out… that's the last thing I remember anyway."

So they were supposed to pretend that she'd mistook ants for gushing blood? Still seemed rather weak…. But it was probably the best they had.

"What happened before Makiko got scared then?" The Yamanaka inquired.

"uh," he gave a little thoughtful sound, and once more screwed up his face for effect. "I had stick," he explained with his brow furrowed to give the impression he was trying really hard to remember. "And I poked place ants came out of?" He made it into a question, as if he wasn't sure that was what had happened. He actually wasn't sure. He hoped it was, because they would probably ask Jiraiya to clarify the sequence of events, if they hadn't already. "Ants all came out, then Maki started crying."

Inokai nodded, and Shikatsu's gaze seemed to soften, as if they'd made a connection with that. He hoped it was the one they wanted. That the mass of ants had looked like a lot of blood, and that triggered his sister. He still didn't know what that had actually been about. They seriously needed to talk after this.

"Can you remember how long ago Makiko started being afraid of blood?" This was Shikatsu again, who was still regarding him carefully even if it didn't seem like he was condemning him anymore.

"Lots of days… can't count that many," He replied back almost immediately, and then realized he shouldn't have said it. He should have made a show of thinking about it, or say he couldn't remember when it started. Though not remembering when it started would be a little strange seeing as he had told them he remembered her being scared like that four times. If they thought his quick response was strange, they made no indication of it however. That only worried him more.

"Can you remember what happened then?" the Nara pressed. Of course he would ask that. So what did he say? He couldn't say the one event they probably already picked out for themselves was the start, because there wasn't enough time between it, and when they were found by their older brother and Jiraiya. It had to be before then. And it had to be... violent enough to traumatize? Or close enough to trauma.

But true enough to fool them.

"Remember a just about a month ago, when we were attacked by those missing nin? One of them had a kunai embedded in his throat and it sprayed everywhere."

Oh. He didn't remember that exactly, but he remembered that encounter. He'd caught a kunai and cut his hand in the process. But how could he use—ah. That was it. "uh… my hand had really bad owie," he explained with a little grimace, and held up his right hand. He pointed at the white line across the palm with his left hand. "Lots of red… bl- blood," he pretended to struggle over saying the new word. "Ka-san put white thing on, Maki got scared when she saw ka-san take white off." Maybe he'd explained that too well? This acting like a convincing toddler was really challenging.

Both of them were looking at the scar on his hand now, before Inokai turned his gaze back to him, still smiling. He knew the smile's purpose was to keep him, who they thought to be a child, from getting too uneasy… but it rather had the opposite effect. He felt it meant the man didn't trust what he was saying at all. That probably wasn't the case in actuality, he knew, but he had to be on guard for that possibility.

"How did you hurt your hand?"

He'd expected that question too of course… but how did he tell them about it? Although… this could be a much needed chance to bring up the idea of their mother being raped. They'd already decided to be truthful to an extent on why he'd called her Girl, so he might as well apply it here as well. He looked down, lowering his hand and clenching his fists as if he really didn't like remembering this. "I not hurt it," he murmured softly, knowing the two men would have no trouble hearing it.

"Someone else did?" Inokai provided without missing a beat. He gave a very tiny nod to the words. "Can you tell me about that?"

He made himself wince as if the idea of talking about it scared him, and looked up at the man through his bangs again. "really bad man… two bad mans," he told them with hesitance in his voice. "grab me. Say things that make Ka-san have really mean face. Meanest face." He turned his head downward again, and made his body tremble slightly to further support the idea of him being afraid of the memory. "cold and pointy thing give owie… ka-san took and gave them lotsa bad owies. Bad mans no move after."

"You're brilliant."

He grimaced at Makiko's mental comment, but thankfully it would probably have just looked like it had been at the memory. "Hey, don't distract me. I'm acting!"

Inokai was nodding, and actually looked like he'd had a sort of epiphany. He probably thought he'd just figured out the puzzle of Makiko's earlier panic attack now. He hoped that's what the man thought, anyway. "Thank you Masato. That's really helpful. You don't have to tell us anymore about that, okay?"

He nodded meekly as if he was super relieved. In reality he was disappointed they'd never asked about what the men had said that had made their mother put on the 'meanest face'. It wasn't much of a hint he supposed, but it was the best he could come up with for the time being.

"I do have another question for you though," the gruff voice of Shikaku stated. "Can you try and answer it for me?" It was just… bizarre to hear the man speak like that without much changing his tone of voice.

He gave another tiny nod, and waited for the question.

"When Makiko-chan wouldn't respond, you called her girl. Why'd you do that, Masato-kun?"

The Nara's eyes were unreadable with that question. At least, he couldn't read him from what he could see looking up through his bangs. But this was the question he'd been expecting at the beginning. The one they'd actually been prepared for. He looked up and frowned at the man.

"Maki not answer," he stated simply, as if it should be completely obvious that was why.

Shikatsu nodded, and stated "You thought she would answer to girl." He nodded, even though he hadn't actually been asked a question. A toddler wouldn't understand that it hadn't been a question, would they? He didn't think so. "Why did you think Makiko would answer to Girl?"

He tilted his head to the side, and then as innocently as he could replied with "Makiko not always Makiko. Was Girl before."

The eyes of the two men once more pinned him intensely. So much so he almost choked.

"What about you, Masato? Have you always been Masato?" This was Inokai, as the Nara continued to regard him calculatingly.

"No," he answered with a shake of his head. "Masato was boy, then Ka-san call Boy Masato, girl Makiko."

Again Inokai nodded, as if he'd been given a key piece of a puzzle. "When did your Ka-san call you Masato and Makiko the first time?"

He screwed up his face again at that question, as he was actually trying to think of how to answer it. It didn't hurt to show his uncertainty here, at least he didn't think so. It would hopefully just make his toddler act more convincing. But when should he say it started? He couldn't say the truth this time, because they would think it strange they so easily took to the new names. There needed to be enough time for them to have gotten used to the names so that they called each other them, and not boy and girl. Yet short enough of a time that it would explain why he called his sister girl when he got worked up with her not responding to him.

"Just show them your scar again," Makiko suggested.

That wasn't a bad idea. But raising his scarred hand once more was a little too clever of a way for a toddler to answer. Once with that tactic was as far as he could push it, he was sure. He screwed up his face more. "Said no have to talk about no more," he muttered, and also clenched the scarred hand. Their eyes moved to it like he expected, before they were quickly back on his face.

"Okay Masato," Inokai said soothingly, as he shifted onto his knees. The man leaned forward and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to talk about that if you don't want to. But it would really help if you could answer just one more question about it." Oh really? He glowered. "Then you can go out and play with Makiko."

One more question huh? Well, he could hope it would really only be one more question. He knew it wouldn't likely be the end of it though. Even if it really was the last question for now.

"What?" he muttered, not really sounding like he wanted to answer the question, but more that he wanted this to be over with, with the prospect of being able to go play.

"You said the really bad men said things to your Ka-san that made her put on her meanest face," Inokai broached, and Masato felt a surge of satisfaction at where this was probably going. He had to keep himself from smiling in triumph and continue to glower. "Can you remember what that was? Even just a little bit is fine."

He made a show of thinking really hard again, clenching and unclenching his hands as if he was considering not saying anything because he didn't want to think about it. Then he lowered his eyes back to his knees. "Big word I not know," he pushed out. "and a ww… wr… rrr… a rrr word made Ka-san really mean." He played at trying to get the correct sound for the beginning of the word. He wanted them to guess at it without him saying it, because a toddler knowing the word rape? That would be pretty suspicious in his mind.

"A word with the rr sound? Can you remember any other sound in it?" This came from Shikatsu.

He shot his gaze over at the man and openly glared. "Said one more! Not Two!" He hoped the act, which felt right in the moment, wouldn't make them give up just yet.

Inokai in front of him gave his shoulder a little squeeze. "Sorry Masato. It would help us if you could try and remember the word though. Would you do that for Makiko?"

Trying to appeal to brotherly instinct again were they? Well, he'd play along with it. This was something they were hoping for anyway. So he tilted his head, looking back at Inokai with a frown. "… rr.. rr..ah.. Ah sound?" he answered brokenly.

Inokai nodded. "Alright Masato… I know we already asked one more, can you do just one more thing for us?" He glowered again, but slowly nodded. "All you have to do is nod yes, or shake no, if the rr word I say is the one you heard, okay?" Inwardly Masato was grinning.

"kay. Then go play!"

"Then you can go play," Inokai confirmed. "I promise." He nodded to the man's promise. "Alright, ready for the word?" He nodded again, and prepared himself to wince for effect when the word was said.

"Ra—"


She jolted at the sudden contact of a hand on her shoulder, and blinked her eyes back into focus.

"Makiko, you need to be careful," Minato was admonishing her, and she realized she'd let herself get pulled into what was happening with Masato so deep that she'd not been paying attention to her own feet. She'd almost tripped over a rock, it looked like.

"Sorry Ni-san," she murmured, looking down at her feet guiltily. The boy sighed.

"That's okay, Maki, just be careful now okay?" He looked quite concerned as he squatted down to her level to meet her gaze. She blinked, and then nodded at him, which brought a smile to his face. "Alright… you're looking for something yellow."

Right. She was supposed to be playing a game. She nodded again at her brother, before she cast her gaze about the garden. "Yuh-low," she voiced, as if that would make the yellow thing jump out at her. "Yuh-loow." There was a lot of yellow in the garden. What had she already tried? She couldn't remember. She didn't even remember when he'd told the next thing was yellow? There were some yellow flowers right behind the rock she'd almost tripped on though, so she carefully moved around it.

"Colder."


Word Count: 7367


To the Reviewers:

mrenteria99 : I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I was hoping at least some readers would feel something like that at the 'Girl' bit.

Riku Uzumaki : yup, Makiko really is a mess, though not so much in this chapter.

KaixDecayx : Welcome back, and thank you for keeping with the fic!

Masato, well as of right now we aren't going to see much to say there's something going on with him like Maki's apparent PTSD. This chapter answered what Jiraiya is up to as well, if just in a tiny snippet.

I can't say who the father is of course, that would be quite the spoiler. What I can say is it's not any of the well-known baddies from the anime or manga!

WhiteVolder : Wow, I've never had a review in another language before! This is cool for me. I'm glad you find it interesting~

Hello from Canada!