CHAPTER 32: Loose Ends

"He's so cute!" said Tsunade, "Let Granny get a better look at you!" she said as she picked him up, "What's his name?" "Inosuke," responded Naruto. "That is a wonderful name!" said Tsunade, cooing Inosuke. She got serious for a minute, "What is he going to eat? He can't eat solids." "Actually," said Sakura, "We might be able to get some formula from a smaller village, but we'll need to act fast." "I can take care of that," said a tired Fukasaku who had been awake for days at this point, "A messenger toad can quickly travel and buy some formula. I'll get someone on it immediately." "Thank you, Fukasaku." said a very grateful Naruto.

'Inosuke eats like he hasn't had food in nine months,' thought Naruto, admiring his baby. "Thank you, everyone for helping me!" he said, bowing. Almost everyone left, but Sakura stayed behind. "It's alright, Sakura. You don't have to stay." said Naruto. "Yes, I do. It's my job." "Alright." The pseudo family sat on the couch, trying to keep themselves awake. A task they all failed at.

"Oi, Naruto." "What?" "Did you already forget about me?" "Ino?" "No, Sasuke." Naruto sat up, standing before the couch was his former teammate Sasuke Uchiha. "What's the little one's name?" asked Sasuke. "Inosuke," said Naruto, "Inosuke Uzumaki." "Congratulations," said Sasuke, not wanting to remind Naruto of his wife, "I'm sorry for waking you." Sasuke left the tent, excusing Naruto to fall back asleep. Outside the tent, Itachi was waiting for his brother. They too had someone to bury, except they would try for the village.

Carefully the brothers snuck out of Mount Myoboku, using one of the teleportation wells. Itachi learned last time he left that these wells were not exclusive to the toads. The well they picked exited right outside the village walls. Slowly they planted their shovels in the ground and dug a six foot hole. "Father never got a proper funeral," whispered Sasuke to his brother, "The village just dumped his body with the rest of our clan." "We'll do right by mother at least," whispered Itachi. The pair had a short ceremony, neither allowing themselves to get too sentimental. After the ceremony, the pair proceeded to sneak into the village to use a different well. While hiding in the village, Sasuke noticed something: "have you noticed that everyone we've passed has had the exact same pale white skin and face?" he whispered. Itachi slightly nodded his head in agreement. The pair soon made it to the well and back to the Mount.

Sakura stirred awake on the couch. Leaning against her was Naruto holding his son. 'They're so peaceful,' thought Sakura, 'it's terrible how Ino won't get to see this.' She started to cry softly at the thought. Next to her, Naruto began to wake up. "Huh, Sakura? Why are you crying?" he asked. Sakura touched her own cheek, she was crying. She reached over and hugged Naruto, "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. "It's alright," Naruto said, comforting his teammate, "No one could have done anything." tears began to form in his own eyes. Baby Inosuke cried, interrupting the two's moment. "I'll help him." said Sakura, removing herself from the hug. "There, there. Inosuke." she said, cradling him in her arms. 'I can never bring back his mother, but I can help him. I'm sorry Ino, I'll protect him.' Even Inner cried, 'I wanted to win, but not like this, sob, this isn't winning!'

Over the next few weeks, Sakura began to interject herself more into a motherly role for Inosuke. 'We can do more,' said Inner, 'We can always do more.' 'He just lost his wife, I'm not going to try anything!' responded an offended Sakura. 'That's not what I meant, but you are his de facto mother now. Make of that what you will.' "jerk." "Who's a jerk?" asked Naruto, on the other side of the shed. "No one." said Sakura. She would always be grateful to the toads, once they learned of Inosuke's birth they provided Naruto with a more permanent home. "Hey, Naruto," she said across the room.

"Yeah, Sakura."

"When was the last time you had food other than what the toads eat?"

"When we left the village, why?"

"Maybe, I don't know, I could make you dinner or something. Only if you want."

"..."

"Naruto?"

"Sure!" said a grinning Naruto, "It would be good to eat something normal for once!"

Sakura might have bitten off more than she could chew. Never learning to properly cook, she looked to her master to teach her a quick meal. "I can't help you," said Tsunade. "What?! You can cook, I've seen it," retorted Sakura. "Have you?" questioned Tsunade. Sakura remembered, every night she ate Tsunade's food she threw up. It was always horrible, with bits somehow burnt and raw at the same time. Potatoes, potatoes were the only thing she could actually cook. Shizune was the one who would cook the truly good food. Poor Shizune, pushed to the side by memory. "Crap!" said Sakura, "Can you help at least?" "Of course," said Tsunade, "I won't let food beat me!"

Flames burst from the little stove in Tsunade's tent. "How the hell is their fire? It's an electric stove!" yelled Tsunade. "Were we supposed to take the food out of the box?" yelled Sakura, "Oh crap!" The pair decided on typical TV dinners, it wasn't much but it was a start. They had bought six to be sure, but had just burned their fourth kit. "Ok," said Sakura, "What is the easiest way to make this?" "Maybe we should read the instructions this time," said Tsunade, "Ok, first it says to remove it from the box…" This was what they truly needed to do and resulted in two slightly overdone dinners. "I read somewhere that presentation is everything," said Sakura, "How would we do that?" "Just dump it out onto a plate," said Tsunade, "That should be good enough."

Sakura rushed the food to Naruto's shed. She knocked on the door and Naruto opened it. "Here," she said, handing over Naruto's plate while out of breath, "Please, take it." She turned away as he took the plate; "Aren't you going to come in and eat?" Naruto called after her. Sakura turned around, "Yeah, if you want me to." "Of course I do." Sakura went in and ate a meal with her sort-of family. Next time she would bring Tsunade with her, she deserves to be a part of whatever this is.

Thank you so much for reading Ripples! It started rough, but eventually got its footing. The sequel is up and titled STORM SURGE. Please give it the same love you gave Ripples. This one will be over in less than a month but it will have daily updates. THANK YOU FOR READING!