Uchiha and Uzumaki (II)

"Kaa-san! Otou-san! I'm home!"

Mikoto was at the door within seconds. It wasn't as if she had waited for him to come home from a chair close to the door or anything, no. It was just a coincidence that she had been close by, that's all.

"Sasuke," she greeted him with a warm smile. "Welcome… home?"

Unexpectedly, Sasuke wasn't alone. Just a step behind him was a blond boy, wearing brown trousers that went to his knees and an orange shirt with a red spiral muster on it, giving her a bright smile.

She felt as if she was looking at a ghost. Every other person that knew about the boy's parentage would say he looked just like his father, but all she could see was Kushina. Yes, the blond hair and the blue eyes were good at hiding it, but everyone who had known his mother could see her in his face. Whether it was his nose, his lips, or his cheekbones, they were all hers. He even smiled the same when as she did when she tried to hide her uncertainty!

For a mere second, the face of the boy vanished in a blur and was replaced by the one of a girl with long, red hair before she came back to her senses.

"Who is your friend, Sasuke?"

"That's Naruto. We sit together in class, so I thought he could come over for a bit?"

It was honestly so cute when he tried -and failed- so hard to sound casual when he was nervous, but she was too distracted right now to pay much attention to it.

"Nice to meet you, Uchiha-sama," the boy in question exclaimed with a loud voice before clumsily bowing to her. Going by the way he moved, she doubted he did that regularly. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I will be gone before dinner, so-"

"What are you doing, idiot?" Sasuke hissed to him with red cheeks. "Why are you talking like that? Just act normal!"

"I'm being polite!" the boy hissed back while his cheeks turned to a similar shade as her son's. "The old man said you need to act like that to give a good first impression!"

"You're embarrassing yourself!"

"I'm not!"

"You're-"

Mikoto decided to intervene before that argument could get out of hand, no matter how amusing it was to watch. "You're of course welcome, Naruto-kun," she said. "And there is no need to leave before dinner. Why don't you join us tonight?"

He looked at her with big eyes. "Is that really okay? Because I can just leave-"

"Nonsense," she interrupted him gently but firmly. "It's no problem at all. In fact, I insist."

The smile he sent her now was so similar to the one she remembered from her youth that it hurt. "Thank you, Oba-san!"

Oba-san? she thought, blinking in surprise. Going from being super formal to calling her that, he was truly Kushina's son.

Sasuke hurriedly grabbed his arm and started to pull him away. "We're in my room, Kaa-san. Call us when dinner is ready, yes?" They were gone before she could answer.

She needed a few minutes to collect herself before she went back to the kitchen, but the shock didn't quite vanish even by the time she started to prepare the food.

It had been a few years since the last time she had seen the boy. Shortly after the Nine-Tails attacked, she and Fugaku had talked about possibly adopting him, but nothing ever came from that. Afterwards, she had visited him a few times in the hospital and even in the orphanage once he was transferred there, but she stopped after a few months when her regular appearances started to be noticed. There had been several moments over the years where she considered visiting him to tell him about his parents, something she doubted anyone else had ever done.

In the end, she never did.

Partly because the likelihood of him being able to keep it a secret was low and the consequences of his parentage becoming known to the public were not something she wished for him. Not only because of his parent's former enemies coming after him, as that could be dealt with easily enough, but also because of the fame that would come with it. There was no way he could have a 'normal' childhood if he was pampered by everyone for being the Yellow Flash's son.

Furthermore, she was one of the few that knew that Kushina had been the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. To this day, she had no idea what went wrong on that fateful day. Sure, Kushina told her that the seal was weakened when a Jinchūriki was pregnant and especially so during the process of giving birth, but with Minato there to help her along, that shouldn't have been much of a problem.

But no matter what should and what shouldn't have been, it was a fact was that something went wrong anyway and that she lost her best friend without ever having the chance to say goodbye.

Here was the thing, though: she knew that both Minato and Kushina had died side by side, exactly at the place where the Nine-Tails had vanished. Now, a Biju didn't just vanish like that, which didn't leave many possibilities as to what could have happened.

Mikoto knew her friend and there was no way she would have left her newborn child behind to fight the Nine-Tails, which meant Naruto must have been there as well. Although there had never been an official statement, she would be damned if Naruto wasn't the new Jinchūriki.

With that in mind, she didn't want to put more attention on him than absolutely necessary.

Or maybe that were all excuses she made because she was too much of a coward to visit her dead friend's son.

"Are you alright, Okaa-san?"

The pot in her hands would have fallen to the ground had Itachi not caught it just in time, saving her from that embarrassment. What a great kunoichi I am, she thought. Almost ruining the floor because I get surprised by my son in my own home.

"Thank you, Itachi," she said with a thin smile. "I was just in thoughts, that's all. You don't need to worry."

Normally she was glad of how perspective he could be, but as he watched her from her side, she wished just this once that he wasn't. "This is about Kushina-san's son, isn't it?"

She was glad she didn't hold anything in her hands this time. "How did you-"

"I remember her visiting us a few times when I was younger," he interrupted her. "Before Sasuke was was born. I think we also went to visit Naruto-san in the hospital after the Nine-Tails attack, didn't we?"

She really shouldn't be surprised he remembered that. "Yes," she finally said with a small sigh. "You're right. You understand why no one can know, though, do you?"

He nodded. "Of course." He then continued to take her by her shoulder and gently push her towards the nearby chair.

"Itachi, what-"

"I will make dinner today, Kaa-san. Just sit down and relax, alright?"

Maybe she should have resisted and insisted he let her do it, but she didn't. Instead, she allowed him to lead her to the chair before doing just as he said.

"I will bring you a tea in a minute," he said. "Otou-san should be home soon. I'm sure he is willing to put aside his work and give you some company until is dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Itachi."

No matter how often she saw it, she was always glad to see him smile as he did right now. To see him this much at peace after all he had seen when he was young gave her hope that maybe she hadn't failed him as much as she sometimes feared. "It's no trouble at all, Kaa-san. You too deserve a break sometimes."

Yes, she thought. And with Kushina's ghost upstairs, I certainly need one right now.