Chapter 16 : Healing a Broken Heart

"Man, I can't believe she's giving you such a harsh punishment!" Kiba complained in a loud voice as he, Naruto and the other members of the Konoha Eleven sat at a large table in one of the Akimichi owned restaurants. "I mean, all you did was go to save one of her ANBU, you'd think she would be-

"Enough Kiba," Naruto said in a calm voice. He shook his head at his friend; it was obvious that Kiba along with a few of his other friends did not understand. "She's only doing what she thinks is right."

"But-"

Naruto forestalled his words with a smile, "I was given direct orders not to go on my self-appointed rescue mission and disobeyed those orders. I knew that when I returned I would be punished for it, I accepted that and in truth, I don't care about my punishment. So long as I can protect my precious people then no punishment is too high a price."

Kiba shut his mouth after that as he and the others listened to the blond speak. The differences between the old Naruto and the one who came back once again became more clear and pronounced.

"Still…" Ino said as she picked at her salad, "it does seem a little harsh. I mean an entire month of D-rank missions and probation from leaving Konoha for trying to save a friend," Ino shook her head, "it doesn't seem fair."

"On the contrary, it's actually far fairer than what most people would get for such a blatant act of insubordination. The level of insubordination I showed is a major felony in Konoha, border-lining on treason and can be punished with several years in jail as a minimum punishment and at worst death." Naruto said, getting gasps from the others who did not understand shinobi politics.

"What's more my punishment will serve as an example that no one will get away scot-free for disobeying direct orders from the Hokage. As a Clan Head, I'm supposed to set an example for other ninjas, which means she really had no other option. This will also let others feel a sense of unity knowing that just because I come from a powerful clan, does not mean I will be able to get away with everything I want."

"Man, politics are so troublesome," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "I really don't envy you Naruto, having to deal with all this troublesome business. You know if you become Hokage you're going to have to deal with these types of situations often."

Naruto laughed, "Yeah well just wait until you take over for your father as Clan Head. Who knows, you may end up being my second in command after I become Hokage."

Everyone laughed as Shikamaru groaned at the thought, if he ended up as the second in command for all of the shinobi forces he would have so much work that he would not have any time for his cloud watching, or shogi, or sleeping or anything really. Now that would be troublesome.

Sai who had been invited by Naruto after he had found the pale-skinned boy reading at the library just watched as the group interacted. They seemed so normal, nothing like he thought ninja should be, how he was taught ninja should be. They showed their emotions and acted like normal civilians when not on duty, something he had been taught a ninja should never do.

Sai looked over at Naruto; he had observed the blond on the battlefield on numerous occasions now. Never once had he ever seen Naruto lose his cool when fighting, even during their recent rescue mission he had not lost control of his emotions in battle. A part of him wondered if he would be able to better understand emotions, maybe he would be able to gain his own with time.

Naruto looked over at the time and sighed, standing up he looked at his friends and gave them a grin. "Well it looks like it's time to do another D-rank, so I'll see you guys later." Tossing a wave over his shoulder Naruto left the restaurant.

The blond walked through the streets of Konoha, making his way to the Hokage Tower so he could get his D-rank mission. He waved to a few of the people he passed, tossing a grin to a few of the children who would stop playing to watch him. Looking in front of him, Naruto saw the Hokage Tower in view. He walked in and made his way up the stairs, stopping in front of the front desk that Isaribi was manning.

"Writing to your boyfriend again?" Naruto asked with a grin as Isaribi jumped.

"Kami Naruto, don't do that," she said, holding a hand to her chest as she tried to get her heart rate under control. She blushed a bit when she registered what he said, during the Chunin exams when she had met Chojuro, the two had hit it off fairly well. They weren't doing anything yet, having only really hung out together a few times, but they still considered themselves good friends. Of course, as soon as Naruto had found out that the two were sending letters to each other he had not stopped teasing her about it.

"No," she said, a light blush staining her cheeks, "I was just looking through some files for Hokage-sama…"

"Reeeaaallly, then what do you call this?" Naruto drawled as he held up a letter, one that Isaribi instantly recognized as the increasing blush on her face spread.

"Give that back!" Isaribi shouted as she jumped over her desk and tried to grab it, only for Naruto to move his hands out of her reach. Isaribi jumped on him in an attempt to get it, but Naruto merely switched himself out with a Kage Bunshin. The girl jumped off his clone when she saw another Naruto holding her letter, puffing out her cheeks comically as she put her hands on her hips.

"Give me the letter Naruto-kun," Isaribi said as she held her hand out. When he didn't she gave him the Kunoi Inu Boushi No Jutsu (Puppy Dog Eye Jutsu) that all females seemed to know, no matter whether they were ninja or civilians. It was one of Naruto's few weaknesses.

Naruto sighed as he handed her the letter, "You're no fun Ribi-chan."

He perked up a second later as a grin crossed his face, "So you admit that is a letter to your boyfriend?"

Isaribi's face got beet red, "I-I never said Chojuro was my boyfriend!"

"And I never said I was talking about Chojuro," Naruto shot back, much to the girl's embarrassment. Naruto laughed as he made his way into the Hokage's office, leaving a stuttering and red-faced Isaribi. Walking in the blond saw Tsunade looking out of the window behind her desk; Naruto walked up to the front and stood there. He did not speak, knowing that she already knew he was here and would talk when she was ready.

"Here for another D-rank?" Tsunade asked as she turned around. She looked at Naruto, whose face was fairly impassive at the moment. The blond Hokage had been surprised at just how little resistance Naruto put up when given this punishment, meaning he had not even bothered resisting at all. Tsunade was actually impressed, Naruto seemed to understand the political implications of what he did and how it would affect other ninjas in Konoha, which was the reason he did not resist. Though she knew that he would do it again regardless of any reprimands he got, something that if she were honest with herself, also impressed her.

"Yes Hokage-sama," Naruto said, using the respectful title and suffix, he had decided that since he was in trouble it would be best if he did not call her baa-chan for the moment.

Tsunade shuffled through the stack of D-ranks that she had, selecting one that had her smirking. She gave it to him as she spoke, "Your mission is to retrieve Tora the cat, who seems to have escaped her owner again."

Naruto held in a sigh as he grabbed the scroll, nodding to Tsunade before he disappeared in a burst of lightning.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto entered Yugao's room in the hospital, not even blinking as he spotted Shizune checking over the woman's condition. He had been here enough times to know that either she, Sakura, or Hinata would check in on the woman once every two hours depending on whose shift it was. Naruto had spent every evening with Yugao, even though he knew that the purple-haired woman would not wake up for several more days at the least.

"How is she doing Shizune-nee-chan?" asked Naruto as he took a chair and brought it up to the edge of the bed. Sitting down he reached out and took one of Yugao's hands in his own, gently caressing it like he had been doing every time he came in.

Shizune looked at him for a second before going back to check the monitors, "She seems to be doing fine. She's still in her miniature coma, but Tsunade-sama and I believe she will come out of it in a few days or so."

The young woman finished her check and walked around the bed, coming up to Naruto she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know you don't have to come here every day, she'll wake up eventually and I'll be sure to inform you as soon as it happens."

Naruto shook his head, "Thanks nee-chan, but it's not about her waking up that makes me stay." Shizune raised an eyebrow at the odd comment but did not say anything, knowing that if Naruto wanted to tell her, he would.

Said blond continued to stare at Yugao's face, which looked so vulnerable right now, nothing at all like the face he remembered from his childhood. "I just can't seem to bear the thought of leaving her alone any more than I have to. When I left for my four-year training trip, I never thought about how she was doing. Even before that and right after the invasion, I may not have known that Hayate had been killed. But I feel that I should have at least checked up on her to make sure she was alright, I've always proclaimed that protecting my precious people is the most important thing to me. Yet it wasn't until I came back that I even remembered to check on Yugao. I guess…maybe a part of me just thought she would be fine, she's an ANBU after all and they go through extensive emotional conditioning. And then I saw her and she looked…she looked dead, like a part of her had been killed…"

Shizune winced at the anguish in the young man's voice; she knew how much his friends meant to him. During his childhood, he had no friends and the number of people he considered close could have been counted on one hand, so it was not surprising that those precious people he did gain, were held onto and cherished that much more. She gently squeezed his shoulder, hoping to in some way help with the pain and guilt he was dealing with.

"You know none of this is your fault…" Shizune told him in a low voice.

"I know," Naruto replied in a soft voice. He took his gaze away from Yugao for a moment to give Shizune a smile, "I do realize that there was really nothing I could do." He looked back at Yugao and frowned, "That doesn't make watching the people I love suffer any easier to bear."

Shizune just nodded in understanding, giving his shoulder one last squeeze before she left the room.

Naruto watched her go before turning back to the purple-haired woman in the bed, Get well soon Yugao…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto grunted as he pulled out another weed from the lawn he was working in, looking up he noticed that the sun was beginning to set. It had been about a week since he had been put on probation and been prohibited from leaving Konoha, something his fiancées had not been very pleased to hear about. It had taken quite a bit of explaining to get himself off the hook; even then they had mixed feelings about what had happened. Thankfully they knew Naruto better than most and knew that he would never leave someone he cared about to suffer if he could help it, so they had reluctantly accepted it. It was also good that while he could not leave Konoha that did not mean that they could not be teleported here. He had used the Hiraishin's reverse teleportation ability to great effect this past week, summoning Mei, Konan, Yugito, and Koyuki during this time, spending several hours with each of them after he had finished his D-rank missions for the day.

Afterward, he would go to visit Yugao who had still not come out of a coma, something Naruto had been told she got from the shock of having her nervous system invaded by a parasite. The blond hoped she would come out of it soon; he was not sure how much longer he could take of seeing the woman who to him had always been one of the people he thought of as being invincible in the state she was in.

Bending down Naruto grabbed another weed, pulling it out and throwing it in his bag.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Her body shook as she stared at the cut-up body of her lover, the wounds signifying that he had been killed by a wind blade. Tears poured down her cheeks as she tried to understand why this had happened. Why was it that the person who meant the world to her had died?

She knew that as a ninja death was an ever-present reality, most ninja never even live past their mid-twenties, it was the reason a lot of ninjas started sexual relationships so early. The Yondaime was the greatest example of that; hailed as a genius among geniuses at age ten, single-handedly winning a war at age twenty-one. Dying when he sealed the Kyuubi at age twenty-eight, it showed that even the best could fall. Yet somehow she never thought it would happen to her or Hayate, with all they had been through she thought they would have been immune to such things.

"… Hayate," she picked up his sword, the same sword she had given him for his fifteenth birthday. When he was still a Genin, Hayate had proclaimed that he would be Konoha's greatest swordmaster, one that even surpassed the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. They had been dating for nearly four years at that time; she had given him this sword as a way of telling him that she believed he would succeed. He had never used another sword since then; she ran her finger along the blade, even after nearly eight years it was still as sharp as the day she gave it to him.

"Why…" she had never been so glad that she was wearing a mask, it made sure none of her comrades could see the tears streaming down her face. As an ANBU she was not allowed to show emotion while on duty, to do so was to disgrace the ANBU name. They were the elite and the elite never gave in to their emotions.

And yet…she could not stop herself from crying, from feeling as if her entire life had died the day Hayate had been killed.

As she stared at the body she watched as it began to disappear along with the rest of the surrounding area, engulfing her entire world in black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She woke up with a slight gasp, her eyes opening as one of the many nightmares she had had during the past four years ended. Yugao had to shut them almost immediately afterward as the light caused her overly-sensitive eyes discomfort. She opened them again, this time slower to let her eyes adjust. When she did she automatically recognized the room as one of the many in Konoha's hospital. She wondered how she had gotten here; the last thing she remembered was…

"Yugao?"

Yugao turned her head ever so slightly as the voice registered in her ears, and found herself staring into the blue-eyed, whiskered face of Naruto. She blinked for a second as she recognized his face and put a name from her memories on it,

"Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, "How are you feeling? You know you had me really worried…" he trailed off as he noticed the look in her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You went on a mission and were ambushed. One of your ANBU managed to make it here and a rescue squad got put together." Naruto answered.

"Why am I still alive?" she asked after a moment's pause, her voice dead.

Naruto frowned, "Why would you ask something like that Yugao?"

Yugao's looked at him, her eyes completely dead, and the eyes of someone who had given up. "Why am I still here? I shouldn't be alive; I should have died on my mission."

"You're alive because I saved you," the blond said as he studied her reaction. He could see a few emotions flit across her eyes, shock, surprise, realization that she was not dead and the most unusual one, despair.

"Why couldn't you just let me die," she said lowly, "Why can't you and everyone else just let me die!"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but Yugao just continued with ever-increasing volume. "I should not have survived that mission! I wasn't supposed to survive that mission! That was the whole point of going on these missions! I should have died! At least then I coul-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Naruto smacked her across the face, Yugao felt her eyes widen as she brought one of her hands to her stinging face. She turned her head and looked at Naruto, said blond was gritting his teeth as hot tears ran down his face.

"How could you ever say something like that!" Naruto asked his voice a mixture of hurt and anger. "How could you possibly say things like this! Do you know how many people here would be hurt if you died! What about us! Do you even care how much it would hurt everyone to lose you! What about Kurenai and Anko! You're one of their best and only friends, they'd be devastated if you got yourself killed! Hell, they're hurting right now, cause every day they have to look at you and all they can see is a woman who died inside, a shell of their former best friend!"

Naruto lowered the hand he had used to slap the purpled-haired woman as he continued, "And what about me," he whispered. "You were one of the few people who did not see me as some kind of monster, as the demon my father sealed inside of me. My childhood was fucking shit, but you know what? I would gladly suffer through all that again if it meant I would have met you. Do you realize how much it would hurt me if you died…"

Yugao opened her mouth a few times as she tried to think of something to say; eventually, tears of frustration began to fall down her face. "But I…but Hayate… he…"

"Do you really think Hayate would want you to give up your life like this?" Naruto asked in a soft voice. "Do you think this would make him happy? To see the proud and strong kunoichi he loved like this, dead to the world and unable to move on."

"But we were going to get married!" Yugao said as she began to cry in earnest, "We should have been married! How can I live on when the one I'm supposed to spend my life with is dead!"

Yugao's breathing began to get heavy as she continued to cry, her tears blurring her vision. She knew it was wrong of her to cry, to show emotions that as an ANBU was a disgrace. That was why she had focused on her work, and began taking suicide missions, that way no one could see her pain, not that it helped. And now she had bottled them up inside for so long, never giving into them that she was no longer able to keep them under lock and key.

It was because of her tears that she was unable to see when Naruto moved, sitting down on the bed close to her. She stiffened when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her into a comforting embrace. As she felt the natural warmth that Naruto exuded her mind became conflicted; a part of her could not stand being in the young man's arms, feeling as if doing so was betraying the love she had for Hayate. Yet another part, the part that she had been feeling since she woke up at Naruto's house last month, wanted nothing more than to feel any comfort he could give her.

"Hayate wouldn't want you to be like this," Naruto said, holding her currently stiff form to him. "I can tell you right now that if you died and met him as you are, I doubt he'd even recognize you as the woman he loved. He would want you to move on with your life."

"How can you be so sure?" Yugao asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Because…" Naruto paused for a moment before continuing, "Because I wouldn't want you to be like this if I had been in his place."

Yugao's form began to relax at Naruto's words, her body molding itself to Naruto's as he held her. One of her hands came up and clutched at his shirt and grabbed fistfuls of it, her face buried itself in Naruto's well-muscled chest. Naruto held onto the woman tighter, one hand holding her to him while the other ran itself through her hair. He did not say anything, knowing that words of comfort were not what she needed right now, merely acted as a comforting presence to let her know that he was here for her.

For what seemed like hours, but in truth were only a few minutes, the two stayed like that. Naruto felt Yugao's breathing begin to slow and even out, her hand which had been gripping his shirt in an iron-clad grip lessened, though it still held on. Looking down he noticed that she had fallen asleep, being careful not to wake her, Naruto gently laid Yugao on the bed.

He moved a bit to try and go back to his seat but stopped when he felt Yugao tighten her grip on his shirt again and a small whimper escaped from her throat. He moved back to his previous position, leaning himself against the headboard of the bed as he pried Yugao's hand off of him. He laced one of his own with it, using the other to caress the back of her hand.

Naruto turned his head when he heard the door open, smiling lightly when he saw Sakura walk in.

"Hey," Naruto greeted as the pink-haired girl walked up to him.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura said as she looked from him to Yugao and back again. "The hospital will be closing soon, I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave."

"Do you think I could stay Sakura?" Naruto asked as he looked at her, "I would like to be here for her when she wakes up again."

Sakura blinked, "She woke up? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Naruto answered, leaving out the fact that Yugao had cried since Sakura did not seem to know about that. "So do you think I could stay here?" he asked again.

Sakura frowned a bit but with the look, Naruto was giving her, she knew that she would not be able to say no. Though she had the feeling that even if she did, Naruto would not listen to her and stay anyways.

"I… well I guess it's alright," she looked at him, "just don't break anything ok? And if you even think of doing something perverted…" she let the threat hang in the air.

"You don't have to worry about that, I'm not Ero-sensei," Naruto said as he gave her a smile, "thanks Sakura."

Sakura smiled back as she checked Yugao's vitals over, finding nothing wrong she bade Naruto goodnight before leaving.

Naruto closed his eyes as he leaned his head back; attempting to get comfortable despite the hardwood his head was resting against. He let his thoughts leave him as he drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

For the first time in four years, Yugao woke up feeling oddly at peace. She kept her eyes closed for the moment as she tried to keep this feeling for as long as possible, snuggling her face deeper into the body-length pillow in front of her and tightening her hold on it. She frowned for a moment as she felt the pillow move of its own accord, light up and down movement. Cracking her eyes open she saw that her pillow was in fact not a pillow, but rather someone's backside. For a moment she was tempted to scream, but her training kicked in and let her take stock of the situation before doing something rash.

The first thing was to find out where she was. Turning her head she saw the white tiles of the hospital ceiling. She pushed herself up slightly to look over the body and saw cabinets filled with medicine. That was when she remembered she had woken up in the hospital yesterday; however, she had not been alone when she did. Looking down she took notice of the person next to her, the one she had been holding onto like a teddy bear, it was Naruto. Her mind went back to the day before and how the blond and confronted and comforted her.

Did he not leave last night? Yugao wondered to herself, feeling oddly warm at the thought that Naruto might have stayed here all night just for her.

"Naruto," Yugao said as she gently shook him, "Naruto wake up."

Naruto mumbled something incoherent, though Yugao could swear she heard him say something about ramen. She almost giggled as she remembered him doing saying something similar when he was younger,

"Come on Naruto, you have to wake up," Yugao shook him a little harder, this time getting a reaction from him.

Naruto turned around, lying on his back as his eyes cracked open and looking at Yugao.

"Yugao-chan?" he asked, his voice deeper than usual due to how groggy he was.

Yugao felt a little bit of heat come to her cheeks at hearing her name being called in what sounded like a sensual manner, though she had the feeling Naruto did not even know how his voice sounded right now. Yugao merely nodded at him,

"Yes, it's me and it's time for you to get up."

As Naruto began to feel more alert, his mind finally processed two things. One, Yugao was here telling him to get up and two, he was lying in a bed and Yugao was leaning right over him, obviously lying in the same bed. Naruto shot out of the bed and away from the woman like a rocket,

"Oh, kami! I'm so sorry Yugao, I don't even remember falling asleep! I didn't mean to"

He was cut off as Yugao actually did giggle, finding the sight of a completely flustered Naruto amusing. "It's ok, I'm not mad at you," Yugao assured him, "in fact, I would like to thank you."

"You do?" Naruto scratched the back of his head as he felt his blush receding, "Um…what for?"

"For helping me last night," Yugao said with a small smile, "I…want to thank you for what you said…and did. After Hayate…died, I felt like a part of me had too and I wanted nothing more than to die so that I could join him. But I know that Hayate would never want me to just waste my life away, in fact, the last thing he told me…was that no matter what my happiness…my happiness would always be the most important thing to him."

Naruto saw the small number of tears coming to Yugao's eyes and sat back down on the bed, pulling her to him the same way he did last night. This time Yugao didn't resist as she snuggled her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she let the blonde's natural warmth comfort her.

"You know you never have to thank me for helping you Yugao," Naruto said, "I will always be here for you. No matter what."

Yugao smiled as she held onto the blond shinobi, letting out a content sigh as the feeling she had been getting from him pervaded her senses; it was almost the exact same thing she had felt with Hayate.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something."

The two cuddling ninja jumped apart when they heard the voice speak up; turning their heads they saw Shizune looking at them with a grin.

"My Naruto you're working fast, and to think you're already quite cozy with the Mizukage and that blond Kumo kunoichi too."

Yugao looked at Naruto with a mixture of surprise and a small amount of jealousy. Though why she was feeling jealous even she did not know.

Meanwhile, Naruto was blushing up a storm, "Shizune-nee-chan, why do you have to say things like that?"

Shizune laughed as she walked further into the room, "Sorry, I guess I couldn't help myself, it's not often I get to see you so flustered. It's good to see you awake Yugao-san," Shizune looked over at the purple-haired ANBU with a smile.

"Thank you Shizune-san," Yugao replied, "how long was I out?"

"About a week," Shizune replied, causing Yugao's eyes to widen. "If Naruto had not gotten you here when he had, I doubt you would have made it."

The purple-haired woman looked over at Naruto who had a light blush; Shizune also noticed his blush and grinned. "You know, Naruto rarely ever left your side since he got you here, in fact, if Tsunade-sama had not forced him to take D-rank missions this month I'm sure he wouldn't have left your side at all."

Yugao looked over at Naruto whose blush seemed to have increased in hue and intensity; she blinked as she registered some of what Shizune said. "What do you mean made him take D-rank missions?" she asked with curiosity lacing her voice.

Naruto opened his mouth to say it was nothing, but Shizune beat him to it. "Naruto here had actually been ordered not to go and rescue you, however, he told Tsunade-sama to 'shove her orders up her ass' and went after you anyway," Shizune said, putting quotation marks up when she mentioned Naruto's words.

Yugao's mouth opened as she gaped at Naruto, who had his head down to hide his face. Shizune continued on as if headless to the blonde's embarrassment, "Because of that Naruto was forced on a one-month probationary period where he can't leave the village and has to do thirty-one D-rank missions. To be honest I think it's kind of romantic and sweet that he's willing to go so far for you…"

"Did you really do all those things for me?" Yugao asked a smile and a light blush on her face.

"Well…of course!" Naruto said as he put a hand behind his head, "You're one of my precious people, remember? I always look after my precious people."

Yugao's smile widened a tad.

"Yugao-san, now that you're awake, I'm going to allow you to leave the hospital," Shizune said. "However I had a talk with both Tsunade-sama and your ANBU commander, they both agreed that you will not be allowed to do any seriously strenuous activity for several weeks. That means no missions."

Yugao opened her mouth to protest but a hand on her own stopped her, looking up her gaze turned to Naruto, the owner of the hand. He shook his head, letting her know that he also thought she should lay off the missions.

Yugao sighed, "Very well, I suppose I could try and find something else to occupy my time."

Shizune noticed the byplay but chose to ignore it this time, "Great! Then that means that you can leave at any time, bye Yugao-san, Naruto-kun," with nothing left to say the black-haired medical ninja left the room.

For a moment the two occupants left in the room were silent, Naruto looked at the purple-haired woman before standing up, keeping her hand in his as he pulled Yugao to her feet.

"Well I don't know about you Yugao but all this emotional stuff and everything has left me starving!" Yugao gave a small smile at hearing the typical Naruto comment; said blond looked over at her with a grin. "How about I take you out to get some lunch?" he offered.

Yugao looked at him for a moment before smiling and nodding in agreement, "Ok, so long as you're paying."

"Great!" Naruto said in an enthusiastic voice as he took off, taking Yugao with him, "I'll let you choose the restaurant, now let's go!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao hummed a small tune as she and Naruto walked to her apartment; they had just got finished with breakfast, Yugao had Naruto taken her to a small café that she used to enjoy going to. Like he had promised he paid for their food, afterward, she had decided that she did not really want to go back to her apartment yet. Naruto had offered to accompany her around the village, despite telling him it was unnecessary he would not take no for an answer. While she refused to say anything Yugao was glad he refused to leave her alone, Naruto had been able to keep away the pain that had yet to fade away from Hayate's death.

As they stopped at the front of her apartment Yugao froze, looking at the place that she and Hayate had lived in for so many years. Part of the reason she had not wanted to return after breakfast, was simply because she had not wanted to face the memories this place had for her now that she was not quite as…emotionally deadened as she had been.

"I…I don't think I can go in there," Yugao said in a soft whisper, so soft that Naruto even with his enhanced hearing almost missed it.

Thankfully he had and responded by wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush up against his chest. "I know it's hard Yugao-chan, but I think you need to do this, for your own peace of mind." Naruto said in a comforting voice, "Don't worry, I'll be here with you."

Yugao nodded as Naruto's arms disengaged from her, grabbing her hand he led her to the front door. Yugao pulled out a key, unlocking the door and opening it. She and Naruto stepped inside the place that she had lived for somewhere around a decade, the place that held so many fond memories, one that while they brought great joy, also held a great pain for her now.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when an arm wrapped around her waist, looking over she saw Naruto giving her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath she began to walk around the apartment, never leaving the safety of Naruto's half embrace.

The apartment was like most of the ones found in Konoha, there were a total of four rooms. A bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, all of which had standard living appliances, couches, tables, television, and the like. However, due to her ANBU status, this apartment was a little larger, being about thirty percent larger than most other apartments. As they walked around Naruto took notice of all the pictures that were hung up around the wall, most of them were of Yugao and Hayate. However, he also noticed a few that were of her ANBU squad and her team when she was a Genin. He smiled when he noticed a picture of himself and her, it was outside of his old apartment, he was being held by her piggyback style with a large grin on his face. He could not quite remember when they had taken that, but he had that exact same one that until recently, he had kept hidden under his bed, afraid that if the people who would occasionally break into his apartment saw it, would make her life miserable.

They made it to the last stop, the bedroom. Yugao's hand hesitated on the knob before she turned it and entered, Naruto following right behind her. The room was much like his old apartment, except much cleaner, with a larger bed and more pictures. He looked over at Yugao who had moved away from him and towards the bed, Naruto walked behind up behind her. Looking at the bed he saw that there were two impressions, it was obvious who they belonged to and he was surprised that they were still there after so much time had passed. Understanding came to as he once again held Yugao in a comforting embrace,

"You haven't slept here since he died have you?"

Yugao shook her head, "No I haven't, I…I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping here alone anymore. Usually, if I ever came home I would take the couch, most of the time I wasn't even here, I normally crashed at Anko's or Kurenai's place."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, he knew that staying at the place where you use to live with a now-dead loved one would be hard, while he himself had never lost someone; he knew that if any of the women in his life died he would be exactly as Yugao was. He closed his eyes as he pulled Yugao closer, placing his head on her shoulder as he nuzzled into her neck.

"If you'd like, you don't have to live here," Naruto said, surprising the purple-haired woman.

"Where would I stay?" asked Yugao after a moment.

"You could stay with me," Naruto told her, making the woman in his arms turn around in surprise.

"Stay with you? You would let me do that?" Yugao asked in shock.

Naruto just gave Yugao a smile, leaning over he planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Of course I would remember what I told you in the hospital? I will always be here for you, which means I will help you in any way I can. And if living with me will in some way help you, then I don't have a problem with it."

"Thank you," Yugao said, her voice cracking with emotion. She wrapped her own arms around Naruto, pulling herself closer as she nuzzled her head into his chest.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao placed the picture of her and Hayate as Genin on the nightstand next to her new bed, letting her fingers glide over the smooth glass before withdrawing. She looked around the room, her room; it was the same one Naruto had placed her in when he carried her home after finding her drunk. It was now her permanent state of residence, for the time being at least. All of her stuff had been unpacked yesterday, her pictures of her, Hayate, and other people of importance were hung up, her clothing was put away and her toiletries were in the restroom. Naruto had been a big help, not really with putting anything away, but with being there for her when she had found something that reminded her of Hayate; which was pretty much everything.

Giving the room one last look Yugao went into the restroom, she had not taken a shower since before her last mission and was feeling pretty grimy. Stepping into the restroom, the purple-haired ANBU went over to the shower and turned the water on. Stepping back she took off the clothes she had fallen asleep in, ones that Naruto had gotten for her when she had been in a coma, and put them in a bin.

She moved over to look at herself in the mirror, her fingers lightly tracing the new scars she had gotten from this last mission. She had quite a few of them; most of the scars were merely small white lines, almost unnoticeable against her pale skin. However, she had several that were much larger and were a more angry red in color, the scars she had gotten from when Kabuto had placed those parasites in her.

She tore her gaze away from the scars and stepped into the shower, placing her hands against the wall and leaning against it. She let the hot water loosen her muscles; a small groan of satisfaction escaped her throat before she grabbed some soap and started scrubbing herself down. When Yugao finished she turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing two towels and drying herself off. She then wrapped one around her body and the other around her hair. Walking out of the bathroom Yugao moved over to her dresser and then her closet, grabbing her clothes to get dressed.

Yugao threw her towels in a clothes hamper before changing and leaving her room, walking into the hall and down the stairs. When she reached the bottom a sweet-smelling aroma hit her, letting her know that Naruto was already up and making breakfast. Walking into the kitchen she saw that Naruto was indeed up and already finished making the food, he already had food piled on his plate, though it looked like he had yet to eat.

"Morning Naruto," Yugao said a little timidly, feeling somewhat unsure how to react around the blond now.

Naruto looked up at the purple-haired woman and smiled, "Morning Yugao-chan,"

Naruto stood up and walked over to her. Gently taking her arm the blond guided her to the table, where he had already set up a plate with some Cha No Kuni (Tea Country) imported Tea.

"How did you sleep?" he asked as he sat back down.

"I slept well," Yugao replied, "better than I have for a while anyway."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Naruto said, giving her a smile before he started eating.

Yugao began to put some food on her plate and eat, just like last time the food was absolutely delicious. For the most part, they ate breakfast quietly, making a bit of light conversation about anything so long as it was not ninja-related.

"Hey, Naruto." Yugao got the attention of the blond male. "Where's that girl who's staying here um…Fu, I think her name was?"

"Oh her," Naruto chuckled a bit. Yugao had met Fu in passing last night before the green-haired girl left to go out to dinner with Shino. "She's probably with Shino. They both tend to wake up early and explore Konoha to search for new insects."

Yugao raised an eyebrow at the information but shrugged it off, she already knew that Fu was the container for the Nanabi No Kabutomushi, so the girl's like of insects was not too surprising.

When they finished Naruto created a Kage Bunshin and had it take away their plates, Naruto looked over at Yugao and tilted his head to the side.

"Ne, Yugao-chan, I was wondering if you were doing anything later today?" Naruto asked.

Yugao shook her head, "No, because I'm on medical leave I won't be doing anything."

"In that case, after I do my D-rank mission for the day, would you like to…get something to eat with me?" Naruto asked.

Yugao looked at the blond in surprise, "You mean like a date?"

While the idea of dating Naruto was not unappealing she knew that he was already engaged to four other women, she had after all been in the council meeting when the announcement was made.

And if what Shizune said is true one is the Mizukage and the other is a kunoichi from Kumo…

Also, there was the fact that she had only just started getting over Hayate's death, could she really date someone so soon after starting to move on, even if said person was the reason she was able to in the first place?

Naruto squirmed a bit, feeling oddly embarrassed at asking his, admittedly childhood crush to do something that could be construed as a date with him.

"Well…I mean it doesn't have to be if you don't want it to," Naruto looked down at the table. "I just thought it might be nice if we could do something together, we haven't really gotten the chance to see each other since I started the academy."

"I would love to spend some time with you Naruto…kun," Yugao said with a small smile. She felt she should at least spend some time with the young man; Naruto had helped her when she could not help herself. If for no other reason than that she would spend time with him, the fact that she also heard a voice in her head telling her that she wanted to date Naruto helped with her decision as well.

Naruto grinned as he stood up, "In that case, I'll be back sometime around four or five, I left some money on the counter for you to use for whatever you want. I already told you about the security system and you're recognized by the blood seal, just remember to flare your chakra when you want to get in." Naruto walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead, giving her a goodbye before leaving.

Yugao blushed a bit at Naruto's somewhat intimate gesture; she shook her head and stood up. Walking over to the counter and spotted the money, picking it up she nearly gasped at the amount, there was more money in here than a standard A-rank mission! She put about half of it back, not needing that much and not wanting to spend all of Naruto's money since he was letting her stay here. Yugao put the money in her pocket before walking out of the house, opening the gate, and leaving for the market district to do some shopping.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto let Yugao lead him as they walked down the street, they were in one of the less populated market districts of Konoha; Yugao had told the blond that there was a really good restaurant she wanted to go here. Looking up as they turned Naruto saw Yugao leading him to one of the smaller restaurants, as the two walked up Naruto opened the door for Yugao and let her go inside before him. Following Yugao they were met with the hostess, who led them to one of the booths near a window. The two sat down on opposite sides and for a while neither spoke, letting a somewhat awkward silence prevail between them.

"So…" Naruto said as he grabbed one of the menus, "anything, um…interesting happen today?" Internally the blond let out a curse at how lame that sounded like he was some kind of love-struck little kid, it felt as if all of that time he spent with the opposite sex after leaving Konoha had been for nothing.

Yugao seemed to notice this and brought up a hand as she gave a soft giggle, causing the blond to pout.

"Not much," she said with a light amount of amusement in her eyes, "though I did do some shopping."

"I'm surprised," Naruto said in a slightly teasing voice, "I thought you always hated shopping."

It was one of the things he remembered about the purple-haired ANBU, back when she had been his bodyguard and somewhat caretaker, Yugao had serious issues shopping for anything. In fact often times she would have Hayate do the shopping as she was liable to cause a ruckus trying to find what she wanted.

Yugao's skin took on a light pink in color, "I wasn't that bad…"

Naruto grinned, "You obviously forgot that one time you took me grocery shopping, you almost blew up half the store."

"That was completely different," Yugao tried to defend herself, "and he was being an ass and a pervert."

During that incident, Yugao had taken Naruto to buy some groceries so that he would eat more than just ramen, much to the blonde's displeasure at the time. However, the cashier and everyone who worked there, in general, had not been in the least bit helpful. Though the cashier had been particularly bad, not only insulting and trying to kick out Naruto like the others, but also insulting Yugao and then trying to hit on her. She had actually very nearly chopped the guy's head off, both of them, and probably would have had he not made a break for it.

"Besides," Yugao continued, "from what I remember you were not much better."

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish; the blond had actually smashed into the man like a rocket when he started insulting Yugao. That had almost gotten Naruto a beating; luckily Yugao had been there and had decided to give her sword arm a workout.

"Yeah well, I wasn't about to let him get away with insulting you. And he's just lucky it was when I was younger, had it been a few years later he would have gotten pranked like a motherfucker."

"Language Naruto-kun." Yugao scolded, though it was halfhearted at best. Her mind then went to some of the pranks he had done, "Ah yes, I remember your pranks quite well. You always gave us ANBU a workout," the purple-haired woman smiled at the memory, "the prankster king from hell, that was your nickname."

Naruto grinned as a waiter came up to take their orders; Naruto got Pad Thai noodles while Yugao ordered the sushi platter. The rest of the dinner between the two was spent reminiscing and sharing stories with each other, Naruto telling the purple-haired woman about his time in Kiri, Kumo, and Yuki/Haru. Yugao shared stories of her time as a Genin, Chunin, and Jonin, telling Naruto of some of the things she had seen and done during that time. When the food came the two quieted down to eat, letting a now comfortable silence settle between them. When the two were finished Naruto paid for the food before they left, making their way home.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened the door to the Namikaze estate, letting Yugao enter first before he followed. Toeing off his shoes Naruto looked over at Yugao, said woman was sitting by on one of the couches, looking off into space. Naruto followed her example and sat himself down next to her, not saying anything as he waited to see if she would. When she did not Naruto turned and placed a hand on Yugao's shoulder, startling the purple-haired woman out of her trance.

"Why don't you go get some sleep," Naruto suggested, "you look kind of tired."

Yugao shook her head, "I'm alright," she looked at Naruto and gave him a smile, "you can go if you want. I think I'll stay up a little longer."

"Alright," Naruto said with a small sigh, he knew there were reasons she was not telling him, but he did not want to pry. Leaning over Naruto gave Yugao a chaste kiss on the temple, causing the purple-haired ANBU to feel her face get a little warm.

"Goodnight Yugao-chan," Naruto said in a soft whisper as he walked upstairs.

Yugao watched the blond go with a small smile on her face, "Goodnight Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXX

Yugao gave a soft sigh as her body entered the warm water of the hot springs, stretching her body out in the water to loosen her muscles. She was glad Naruto had convinced her to come here; it had been a while since she had gone to the hot springs, she had not realized how much she had missed just being able to relax like this. Yugao leaned her head against the wall behind her, closing her eyes as she felt herself going into a light sleep.

Yugao felt herself waking as several voices came from behind the spring entranceway, she looked over to the door as it slid open. Anko, Kurenai, and Hana walked into the hot springs, as the three walked into the water they stopped talking when they noticed Yugao sitting in the corner.

"Hey there Yugao-chan!" Anko said in a pleased yet slightly surprised voice, "I'm surprised to see you here, and without even inviting us," the snake mistress finished with a slight pout.

"Sorry I would have invited you guys too but…" Yugao trailed off a bit at the end, unsure whether she should tell them she was actually here with Naruto.

"Don't worry about it," Kurenai said as she and the other girls sat down next to her, "Anko knows better than to try and pry into people's personal reasons, don't you Anko?"

Anko gave her a pout before relenting; she, Kurenai, and Hana moved towards Yugao, sitting around the purple-haired woman before taking up the conversation again.

"You know we haven't seen you for a while," Kurenai said as she looked the woman over. Yugao was looking much better now than she had been in years, Kurenai was not sure what had happened to her friend but was pleased to see her more at peace and happy.

"I know," Yugao said as she looked into the water with a frown, "I'm sorry for worrying you guys…I guess I just had some stuff that I needed to sort out…"

"Four years' worth of stuff?" Anko asked with a semi-sarcastic tone. Yugao flinched at the reminder of just how long it had taken her to begin moving on from Hayate's death, as a kunoichi it was actually somewhat disgraceful to take so long since she knew that death was a constant in their line of work. What made it worse was that had Naruto not help her, she doubted she would have started getting better anytime soon.

In fact, had Naruto not helped me I would have died before getting anywhere close to being over Hayate-Kun's death.

Fortunately for her, Kurenai decided to help her out, "Anko, you really shouldn't be like that, you know how she and…" the genjutsu mistress stopped herself from saying Hayate's name, knowing that it was probably a sensitive topic for Yugao.

"It's alright Kurenai," Yugao said as she looked at her, "I know I should have been stronger, Hayate's death hit me unnaturally hard and I was never really able to begin picking up the pieces until recently."

A small smile appeared on her face as she thought how, or rather who was helping her pick up the pieces of her life.

The other three looked at each other in curiosity, Kurenai and Anko in particular, as they had been trying to help the woman get herself back together for four years. Both of them were wondering what happened in the past month or so to help the purple-haired woman. While Kurenai was looking at Yugao in curiosity, Anko on the other hand had the wheels in her mind turning as she tried to figure out what had happened. She blinked for a second when she remembered a certain blond shinobi asking about Yugao during several of their sparring sessions together.

A large smile spread across Anko's face, "Did a certain blond Yondaime gaki look-alike worm his way into your heart?"

Yugao looked away, having never been so glad her face was already red from being in the hot springs. However, Anko still managed to pick up on her embarrassed demeanor,

"He did, didn't he?" Anko spoke with a knowing grin. "I can't believe it; we try for four years to get through to you and this kid does it less than three months after coming back from his training!"

The other two looked from Yugao to Anko, wondering who the snake mistress was talking about.

"Who are you talking about Anko?" asked Hana as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Anko's grin widened as she began speaking, "I'm surprised you don't know after all not many people look like the Yondaime but with whiskers, in fact, I know only one person who matches that description."

Kurenai's eyes widened as she looked at Anko, "You don't mean…Naruto do you?"

Anko nodded with a smirk, "The one and the same. It seems our Yugao has some past history with that delicious-looking blond."

"Anko!" Kurenai and Yugao shouted, one scandalized and one both scandalized and embarrassed at their friend's blatant and cavalier remark.

"What?" Anko asked with a shrug of her shoulders, "Neither of you can deny the man is hot! Why if I didn't have Iruka-kun I would…"

Yugao, Kurenai, and Hana all found themselves immensely grateful that they already had a semi red face from the heat since if they didn't the blush on their face would have been that much more prominent as they listened to all of the sexual acts Anko would commit on Naruto if not for the fact that she was dating Iruka.

It was particularly bad for Yugao, who despite the fact that she had still not fully gotten over Hayate could not deny that the thought of being with the blond shinobi was not unpleasant. Several images of her and Naruto flew into her head, causing her blush to deepen. Yep, not unpleasant in the least; thankfully for the three help arrived in the form of a voice from the male side of the hot springs.

"Anko-chan, as much as I'm sure they all love hearing about how you would rape me, I would appreciate it if you stop."

The three women who had not known that Naruto was there blinked before feeling the heat coming to their face, even Anko found a bit of a blush coming across her cheeks.

Naruto continued on as if headless of the conversation that had just gone on, "Yugao-chan, I'm heading out, for now, I'll see you back at home ok?"

Yugao felt her face begin to literally burn up as the other three women stared at her, two looking shocked and one with another large grin on her face.

"Ok Naruto-kun!" she replied only to cover her mouth as she saw Anko's grin growing even wider and realized she had used an affectionate suffix for the blond.

"So…" Anko said with a slight drawl and a perverse gleam, "you're living with Naruto-'kun' eh?"

Yugao's blush deepened; something that Yugao had not thought was possible given just how red her face already was. She had really only just started calling Naruto '-kun' but for some reason, it just felt right, she felt comfortable using such an affectionate suffix on the blond. At least she would be if Anko was not looking at her with a rather large and knowing grin, and that perverted gleam in her eyes.

"You must be quite comfortable with the guy to be calling him that," Anko continued, "and did I hear right when he said 'see you at home?' Does that mean you're living with him? And to think you didn't tell us this, for shame."

Kurenai and Hana both looked at Yugao who became increasingly more and more embarrassed; both were unsure what to make of this new development. Hana while being friends with the purple-haired ANBU, was not close enough to her to really say anything for or against Yugao's decision to live with Naruto; and if she were honest with herself, she would admit that she might take up living with the blond if offered the chance, especially if what her Kaa-san said about his alpha presence was true. Kurenai on the other hand was not sure what to think, Yugao had been devastated by Hayate's death for over four years, and now she was getting close to Naruto who was nearly a decade her junior.

Yugao looked around as she tried to figure a way out of this, "W-well look at the time, I should really be getting back home," Yugao took off, trying to get away from Anko before she said more.

However, Anko managed to get one last comment before the now thoroughly flustered Yugao could leave, "Be sure to use protection! And don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao sighed as she looked out over the backyard and starry sky, her thoughts drifting to what had been going on within the past few weeks. So much had happened to turn her life around; she was not even sure how it happened, all she really knew was that it was because of one person who she had admittedly not really thought about for years. Ever since Naruto had come back from his training with Jiraiya, even during their few short meetings, Yugao had actually begun to feel again.

She was startled from her thoughts when a voice spoke up behind her.

"You know, you'll catch a cold if you stay out here all night."

Turning around Yugao saw Naruto with two cups of steaming liquid, the blond shinobi walked up to her and gave her what she recognized as tea.

"Thank you," Yugao said as she took a small sip, she turned her head back towards the backyard.

"You're welcome," Naruto replied with a smile as he took a drink from his own cup. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, looking out over the night sky.

"It's quite beautiful isn't it?" Naruto said as he looked at the stars. Yugao looked at the young man as he spoke, "When I was with Ero-sensei I would always look up at the stars, they were a lot more clear when you're out in the wilderness."

Yugao giggled a little bit at the nickname that he gave Jiraiya, "You know, that's just like you to give a nickname like that to one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned, "You know I've been told that quite often, at least you're not getting angry like some of the other people I know."

Yugao just smiled, "After watching you barge into the Hokage's office when you were five and listening to you call the Hokage Ojisan I long since stopped getting surprised. You were always such a loud little kid; it looks like that hasn't changed at all…"

"Hey!" Naruto said, puffing his cheeks out at Yugao's teasing, "I'll have you know I'm way more mature than I used to be!"

"You sure about that?" Yugao said with a teasing smirk, "You still seem like a bit of brat to me Naru-chan!"

Naruto gaped for a moment, his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open as he registered what Yugao just called him.

"You haven't called me that since I was five," he said in a dumb-sounding voice.

Yugao just snickered, "Looks like I win this round Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed as he mumbled about hot purple-haired ANBU women being too good for their own good; Yugao blushed a bit since Naruto had made sure to be just loud enough for her to hear. Spotting it Naruto grinned, "Looks like I get the last laugh after all Yu-chan."

Yugao looked at him for a moment as her mind blanked; Yu-chan had been the nickname Hayate had given her, he had started calling her that during their time at the academy. The memory was no longer painful, or at least as painful to think about, something she attributed to the help of the young man beside her. She looked at the young blond out of the corner of her eye as she replayed the way he said her nickname in her head, and decided that she could get used to being called that by him.

Yugao finished her tea and watched as a clone phased into existence right next to her, grabbing hers and Naruto's cup before leaving. "You're getting better with that technique aren't you?" she asked.

Naruto grinned, "That and my chakra control, I try to work on it as much as possible. Hell if it weren't for the Kyuubi I may even be able to do some of the medical jutsu with the control I possess now."

Yugao looked at him before smiling, she scooted herself a bit closer to the blond until their shoulders were touching. Naruto looked at the woman before grinning, "Why Yu-chan are my manly charms finally getting to you?"

Yugao blushed but managed to cover it up with a snort, "Manly charms my ass, you just happen to be the closest heat source and I'm cold."

"You could go inside if you're cold," Naruto said with a twinkle in his eyes, "it's ok if you admit that you think I'm too attractive for my own good. Do that and I'll admit that you are easily one of the sexiest kunoichis I ever met?"

This time the purple-haired could not hide her blush, however that turned into a frown. "Don't you already have two women your close to?" she asked.

Naruto looked at her oddly for a moment, "Yeah, I am currently engaged to both the Mizukage, Mei Terumi and Yugito Nii, Kumo's Nibi Jinchuuriki."

Yugao's eyes widened enough that Naruto was afraid they might actually roll out of her sockets, "E-engaged!"

"Yeah," Naruto said looking at her with a surprised expression, "I'm surprised you didn't know that, I mean I know that you were busy with missions but isn't it a requirement for ANBU to know Konoha clan laws?"

It was something he had read about when looking to see if he wanted to get into the ANBU. They were required to be aware of the laws concerning clans, that way they could be careful about overstepping their bounds if something came up with a clan, it had been like that since the Uchiha Massacre.

"W-well yes," Yugao said in embarrassment, truth was while she knew the clan laws, she had not really thought about them, or how they pertained to Naruto. "I just…I guess I never really thought about it, I mean it never really sunk in that you're actually the head of your own clan."

Naruto nodded, "I suppose it would, I mean it's not every day that someone goes from clan-less orphan to Clan Head and son of a Hokage huh? In any case, during my travels around the elemental nation, I ended up falling in love with Mei, Yugito, and two other women. And no because of who they are I can't quite tell you yet, these grounds are pretty secure but if anyone else were to find out those other two women could be in trouble from some of the enemies I made in this village."

Yugao nodded her head in understanding before standing up, "Well I think I'm going to go to bed, good night Naruto."

Naruto watched Yugao walk off with a small frown, did he say something wrong?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao listened to Anko telling her and Kurenai about some guy she got to torture a few days ago, as they were walking towards the dango shop the three used to frequent. Well, Yugao wasn't really listening to what the woman said, so much as keeping an ear open while thinking of her own problems. Something she had been thinking about for quite a while, that problem being the conflict in her mind about one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

The three women made their way into the dango shop and went to the booth they used every time they had been here. Yugao shook the thoughts of Naruto off for the moment, turning her attention back to Anko.

"So Anko, how are you and Iruka doing?" she asked, hoping to get the bloodthirsty woman off the topic of how she tortured some poor sap.

Anko grinned, "Oh we're great, he's such a sweetie and the sex is great, so I can't complain." Anko hummed happily to herself, while her general demeanor had not changed from a bloodthirsty psychopath, she had been a lot happier since she started dating the Chunin academy teacher.

Anko looked over at Kurenai, "So Nai-chan, what's this I hear about the possibility of you and Asuma getting married?"

Yugao looked over at Kurenai who had a light tint of pink on her cheeks.

"It's nothing definite," Kurenai responded as she tried to will away her blush, "it's just something we talked about."

"You know that's not what Asuma has been telling people," Anko said with a grin.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes, "Oh and what has he been saying?"

Anko's grin became even more prominent, "Oh you know, the usual prideful boasts men make when they're with someone as hot as one of us…"

As Anko began telling Kurenai what she had heard Asuma saying, Yugao turned her attention to other matters. However, Anko and Kurenai seemed to notice how quiet their purple-haired friend was being.

"Hey Yugao-chan what's with the lost look on your face?" Anko asked, "I thought you had gotten rid of that look by now."

Yugao blinked a bit as she knocked herself out of her thoughts, "Well it's just that I was thinking about…"

She paused in thought for a moment as she wondered if she should tell them. In the end, she decided that they should know, after all, they were her best friends and she always use to go to them for advice before when she had been dating Hayate, maybe they could help her with this problem.

"I was thinking about Naruto and…"

"Uh-huh, I get it now…" Anko said with a sly grin, "so you're having some relationship problems with everyone's favorite blond gaki? You know auntie Anko can help you with all of your problems, I find that the best way to get a man is sick my snakes on them, tie them up so they can't run and then…"

"Anko!" Kurenai said in a lightly scolding voice before she turned to Yugao, "Just ignore her Yugao. So what exactly is your problem? I had thought that the two of you were close?"

"We were-are!" she corrected herself, "it's just that…I mean all of the things we've been doing recently. I feel like I've gotten much closer to him. But…"

"But what?" asked Kurenai, curious as to what could make her friend so hesitant? Her purple-haired friend had not been hesitant for two weeks now, and seeing her so, meek was the word. Yes, seeing her so meek was worrying.

"Well, you see Naruto is the last of his clan," Yugao said, "I mean, I guess I never really thought about what that would mean for him. However…"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Anko shouted as she flailed her arms in front of her face, "You're talking about clan laws right?" At Yugao's nod, Anko's eyes lit with understanding, "So you're having problems because of the laws that he falls under."

Yugao did not say anything, merely nodded to let Anko know she was right.

"What laws does he fall under?" Kurenai asked, "I mean I know that clan laws differ from civilian laws, but they can't be that much different can they?" While she had two clan heirs and an heiress in her former genin squad, she had never really studied the laws they lived under.

"I'm not surprised you don't know Nai-chan," Anko said as she turned her attention to the black-haired beauty. "Despite the fact that your genin team was comprised of Clan Heirs, none of them were subject to the laws that Yugao is talking about. You see since Naruto is the last of his clan that means that he falls under the C.R.A. or the Clan Restoration Act."

Kurenai blinked for a moment before her eyes narrowed as she soon realized what that meant, "You mean he'll have multiple wives."

"Now don't get your panties all bunched up Nai-chan," Anko said in a defensive tone, "it's not really Naruto's fault."

"How is something like this, not his fault?" Kurenai asked, hearing things like this really got her blood boiling.

She had always been known as a serious pervert hater, if she found a guy doing anything even remotely perverted and lecherous she would subject them to some of her most powerful genjutsu; it was part of how she got her nickname of Konoha's Ice Queen.

"He doesn't have a choice," Yugao said before Anko could speak up, Kurenai turned to look at her with a curious expression. "Whether he wants to or not he is subject to the C.R.A. the same way any other male heir would be if they were the last of their clan."

"What if the last heir was female?" Kurenai asked.

"Then they have to produce a strong male heir by the time of their eighteenth birthday so that their son can be placed under the C.R.A.," Anko said, "You know how Konoha likes their bloodlines."

"So you're telling me he doesn't have a choice?" Kurenai asked.

Yugao shook her head, "It's either he chooses a minimum of four wives by the time of his eighteenth birthday, or the council will set him up with several arranged marriages."

"And I don't know if you realize it, but Naruto is not very well-liked by the council, at least by the elder and civilian council," Anko said.

Kurenai looked over at Anko with curiosity in her eyes, "Why not?"

Anko gave the woman a grin that looked to be a mixture of sadistic and content, an odd look even for her. "This is just the basic rumor mill that's been going about in the I&T department, but apparently Naruto pretty much managed to kick off the elders and civilian council from all shinobi-related affairs." Anko leaned back in her chair and heaved a content sigh, "He basically stripped them of all power over shinobi they once had, through some political loopholes."

Kurenai raised both eyebrows in surprise, she had not heard of such a thing happening, but then again most shinobi-related politics were kept from public eyes. Still, she had noticed that Konoha's ninja force had been working a lot more smoothly due to several new laws that had been emplaced recently, she had just accounted it to Tsunade managing to pass them through votes.

"While that is impressive, if he can get the civilian and elders on the council stripped of all power, why can't he nullify the Clan Laws on him?"

Anko rolled her eyes, "You need to read up on the Clan Charter Nai-chan. The reason he was able to get rid of the civilians and elders was simply that Konoha Laws made it so that the council only had authority over civilian affairs. That little bit of information had been discarded after the Kyuubi attack and the Sandaime retook the seat. However, by that time the council had been able to horde enough power that the Sandaime wasn't able to do anything, or he was, but rather was too old and not as strong as he once was to do such a thing. I guess Tsunade-sama just had not realized this little fact until Naruto pointed it out."

"So why can't he nullify clan laws?" asked Kurenai again, wanting her to get to the point.

Anko sighed, "Because they are just that, laws. They were set down during the founding of our village you know. He was able to get rid of the civilians butting into shinobi affairs because they were going against Konoha laws, but the C.R.A. is a clan law and therefore not something he can actually escape."

Anko paused for a moment, "Unless he wants to become a missing ninja."

Anko looked over at Yugao now that her explanation was done, "So I'm guessing your problem is that you're finding yourself with a little crush on our favorite blond fox, yet are not sure what to do about it right?"

Yugao found herself blushing again, that was exactly what her problem was, only there were a few things that made this harder to deal with.

"It's not just that," she paused as she looked around, not wanting anyone else to listen to this conversation she placed one of the silencing seals Naruto had given her under the table, "I just found out last night that Naruto is already engaged to four women."

Both Anko and Kurenai had their eyes widen in shock, Yugao noticed the looks and continued. "I don't know what to do because while I'm sure that I like Naruto, possibly even love him, I'm not sure what the other women he's with will say. Or if I'd even be willing to share."

Kurenai and Anko frowned as they thought about the problem Yugao was in. After a while, it was Kurenai who spoke up, "Do you really love him?"

"I…I'm not sure," Yugao answered with a small frown, "I mean it's only been a few months that I started seeing him again, I hadn't seen him before that since he was six. Even then we've only started getting close within the past month,"

The purple-haired woman's frown soon became a smile as she thought about the past month. "Yet even though we had not interacted in any way for a long time, Naruto has done everything he can to help me. He's given me a place to stay because it was too painful living in my old apartment, he was the one who brought me to my senses and made me feel alive again."

Yugao leaned in conspiratorially despite the fact that there was a silencing barrier up, "Did you know that he disobeyed direct orders from the Hokage to rescue me when I had been captured by Oto?"

Both Anko and Kurenai looked at her in surprise.

"We didn't," Anko said, "Is that why we've seen him doing D-ranks around the village?"

Yugao nodded, "Shizune told me that Naruto had told the Hokage to 'shove her orders up her ass' and then left to rescue me."

The two other women in their both gasped in shock, well one gasped in shock, the other coughed so that she would not laugh her ass off.

"Because of that he was given a one-month probationary period and has to do thirty-one D-rank missions," Yugao finished.

"Wow," Kurenai said in shock, really that was the only thing she could say, being too surprised to make any other comments.

"Wow is right," Anko said with a grin, "truthfully I don't think it's that surprising. Especially with how devoted he seems to be to you, and the people he cares about... personally I don't see why you're not already with him and stripping him of his clo-"

"Anko!" Yugao shouted as she hid her face in her hands.

Anko merely laughed at her friend's heated face.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto spun three hundred and sixty degrees, using his momentum to slice apart the last of the clones he had summoned for his battle royal. He looked around and was just about to reseal Susanoo when he heard clapping, turning around he came face to face with Yugao Uzuki, decked out in ANBU armor and a sword strapped to her waist. Naruto looked at her with a grin as he bowed.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Naruto asked, coming back up with a smirk.

"I did," Yugao said with her own smirk as she pulled out her blade, "in fact, I enjoyed it so much that I decided I have to see how strong you've gotten myself."

Naruto grinned as he held his sword near his head, his feet spread apart. Yugao got into her own stance, her sword held in front of her in a vertical position; her feet spread shoulder-width apart and slightly bent. For a moment the two eyed each other.

On an unspoken signal the two kicked off the ground; Naruto came in with a swipe at her shoulder, Yugao twisted her body slightly to dodge and came at him with her own attack. Naruto blocked the slash, pivoting on his foot and coming in with a high kick that would hit the purple-haired woman in the face. Yugao ducked under the kick before slashing up, forcing Naruto to jump back and land a few feet away before he launched himself at her again.

Naruto had to admit the woman was amazing with a blade, while he himself was no swordmaster, he was better than most. Yugao was more than capable of blocking and dodging all of his attacks; each time she did her movement would set her up in a position to counter-attack, which she did often. Thankfully Naruto had the advantage in speed and reaction time, so he was able to keep up with her and counter any attacks she made as well.

As the fight continued, Naruto jumped up onto the ceiling, sticking there and gesturing for Yugao to come up. Following the blonde's lead, Yugao jumped onto the ceiling, twisting in mid-flight and landing on her feet, sticking to the ceiling as she channeled chakra to her feet. The two continued their duel, Naruto relying on quick and precise slashes and thrusts to get through the woman's guard while Yugao preferred counters to get the blond. Several tears appeared on their clothes but neither seemed to notice as they continued their battle.

Naruto jumped back as Yugao made a slice at his legs, forcing gravity to take him as he twisted in midair and landed on the ground. He looked up to see Yugao coming towards him with her sword above her head, looking similar to a vengeful angel. She slashed down at him but Naruto's strength allowed him to counter her momentum, and he used the force of her attack to push her off of him and make her flip several feet back.

Naruto came in with a small stab, making Yugao move out of the way and bring her sword to the side, letting his blade slide against hers. Not being deterred in the least, the blond shinobi spun on the balls of his feet, coming in with a slash from the left. It was blocked and Yugao used her blade to redirect his over their heads. That was when she did something he had never expected from her.

She disengaged one of her hands from her blade, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him into a searing kiss. For an instant Naruto froze as he felt Yugao's soft warm lips over his own, however, instincts bred from experience only allowed him to be surprised for so long. He let go of his sword, letting it clatter to the ground as his hands went to Yugao's waist, pulling her closer to him. Likewise, Yugao dropped her own sword, one hand going around Naruto's neck while the other ran through his hair. He felt Yugao licking his lips and opened his mouth, letting her tongue slide into his mouth where her tongue met his in a dance, entwining each other and moving around the other. For what seemed to be an eternity but in truth was only several minutes the two broke apart.

Naruto blinked as his mind snapped back to reality, "Yu-chan…what exactly was that for?"

Yugao gave him a smile, though Naruto could tell there was some nervousness in it. "That was a kiss, you know when a man and woman…"

"I know what a kiss is," Naruto gave her a mock glare, "I meant…I mean…I didn't think that you would umm…you know. And with me already in multiple engagements, I just thought that…well that you wouldn't be interested." Naruto turned his head slightly, trying to hide the small amount of embarrassment he had.

"Naruto," Yugao said in a soft voice that caused him to look back at her, "I know it seems strange and fast. Despite knowing each other for a long time, we never even saw each other after you went to the academy and at that time you were not only young, but I was already in a relationship…"

She paused there and Naruto saw a twinge of pain, he instinctively pulled her closer, letting her rest her head on his chest. "When I saw you again, I was nearly dead; I tried to get myself killed on a mission, multiple missions." She brought her head back up and looked at him, "You saved me, not just physically but emotionally. I was all but ready to die, and then you came and showed me that I still had reasons to live."

She stood up on her tiptoes while simultaneously pulling Naruto's head down, bringing him into another kiss, this one more tender than the other.

"I'm not totally sure of my own feelings," she told him after breaking the kiss, "but I want to give us a chance," she paused for a moment before looking down, "if you let me that is…"

Naruto looked at Yugao for a while as he tried to sort his mind, a part of him telling him this was some kind of genjutsu while another part was dancing and Chibi Naruto's were running through his head with flags that said 'score!' on them.

He thought about what this would mean if they did get into a relationship, he would need to talk to Mei, Yugito, Koyuki, and Konan about it first. He told himself that he would not get into any relationships without them knowing, hell even Konan was known to the others, they just didn't know she was a member of Akatsuki. After a moment's thought, he brought a hand under Yugao's chin and lifted it up, bringing his lips back down on hers.

Yugao returned the kiss with fervor; no words were needed to understand what this kiss meant. The rest of their time together that night was spent sparring with something other than swords.