And The Pain Ends

Taku was somewhere dark. Everything around her was completely shrouded in darkness she could see nothing but herself. She seemed to be giving off some sort of glow allowing only her to be seen. The first thoughts to come to her mind were, 'If I am in enemy territory they can see me but I can't see them, this is not good, this is very not good. Must keep my wits about me.' After a few minutes of standing on guard in this complete darkness she saw another glowing figure approach. As soon as she could see the features of the person she hit her knees bowing. It was Yondaime. Yes, she should have been born as his daughter but she wasn’t, it only felt right to bow down to the fourth Hokage when he appeared to the person she was on the outside. "My darling, please rise. Yes, I may be a figure to be respected out there but in here I am just a man, a man who wanted to see the girl who was meant to be his daughter. I’m very happy you realized it was your mother and I giving you those dreams, for if you hadn’t I could only give you more not actually appear to you in your dream. Please have a seat we have much to discuss."

Taku sat down cross legged in front of this man. So many questions were running through her head right now, however she could only find the words to ask a few. "Why have you sent me these dreams? Why not Naruto? What happened to change our destinies? Why are we in complete darkness?" She took a deep breath and opened your mouth again but couldn’t find the words she needed to ask the most important question to her. She just didn’t know how to ask him if he still loved her even though she wasn’t born where she was supposed to be born. It was clear from her dreams that he would have loved her and he would have been proud of her accomplishments had he lived, and she had been born to him and his wife. It just seemed so important to her though for her to know how he felt about her now. She had been born to into a family and only brought pain to them. Would her father hate her for finding another body to house her soul or would he still love her because she was meant to be his? A few tears fell from her eyes as she thought about this question.

The thing Yondaime did next answered that question. He walked up to her and kneeled down to wipe off her tears, then he leaned in and held her tight. "I would love to sit here and just hold my baby girl all day long but unfortunately there are things I must warn you about. Our time grows shorter as the sunrise comes closer." He sat in front of her still holding her hands as if he needed the contact as much as she did. "You have a very important destiny to be fulfilled here and if you hadn’t came back this world as you know it could have been completely destroyed. Orochimaru and Itachi are gone, but a greater evil will soon threaten these lands.

I came back in the dreams to teach you the things you were supposed to know but couldn’t learn on your own. If I hadn’t done this you would soon have felt the bitter taste of an early death. I’m glad everything I showed to you came so easily it shows that even though you haven’t been here that long you have the strength you were meant to have. Naruto has learned from other the techniques he should know except for your mothers. Nobody that was not in either of our families could master such difficult techniques. Out of everyone in the village only you and Naruto have the abilities to perform them. The reason you had the dreams is because we could only appear to one person and you needed us more. We are intrusting you with the duty to teach Naruto those moves that he doesn’t know."

Slowly both of their forms were fading the glow slowly leaving you soon to immerse them in the darkness. He stood and pulled her up with him since he was still holding her hands. He then tugged one hand and pulled her into a hug. "Before I leave I just need you to know I will always be watching and so will your mother. The two of you are the only things that can stop my temper once it gets started and I love you so much."

He pulled her in tighter as the darkness enveloped her legs. "I love you too daddy." Taku said this with tears coming down her cheeks.

Her father sighed, "I have longed to hear those words for such a long time .My sweet Takumari." Then he was gone. The last thing that left a lasting image with her as they faded out was the smile and the watering eyes. The sunlight pried into the small space between her eyelids, bringing her back to the present. She had a lot of explaining to do today. Taku sighed and crawled out of bed realizing Chouji wasn’t there. That is when the smell hit her. The smell of burning chocolate that can only be created by the cooking of one breakfast food, chocolate chip pancakes. Now more than ever she realized how much she loved Chouji, he made her favorite food for breakfast. She then grabbed a towel and her clothes and ran in to take a shower.

Chouji had woken up before Taku for the first time since she had been living with him. After everything she had done for him he felt the least he could do was make her favorite breakfast for her. He loved her so much and he had almost screwed it all up. "I’m so glad she forgave me for that. I have to make it up to her big time. She deserves better than what I have been to her lately, she deserves much better." He was talking to himself as he poured the batter on to the skillet. He had put in so many chocolate chips that the pancake batter had two chocolate chips for every centimeter of batter. "I hope she likes the breakfast I know how much she loves chocolate." He flipped the first pancake and then heard the shower upstairs start up. He continued cooking thinking about the amazing girl that he loved.

Up in the shower Taku was planning out her day. Today was a training day so she had to go beg Shikamaru to let her have the day off so she could find Naruto and explain some things to him. It didn’t seem like a lot when she thought it out but she knew today would be a busy day. Taku got out and dried off while looking in the mirror. When she looked into it she still did not see the beautiful girl everyone else saw, she saw someone completely different. Taku saw herself as someone completely unattractive. As she stood to stare at herself she wondered why Chouji had never made a move on her. Was it because he was too repulsed by her? Taku grabbed her underwear and put them on along with her bra. Taku could see each and every ugly scar that marred her body from the beatings her stepfather had given her. It was true that normally he left only bruises but many times over the years she had fallen on a broken beer bottle, cut herself on the edge of a table or a lose nail, or he wore his rings and broke her skin in a punch. When she looked in that mirror all she saw was the scars, one huge ugly scar, that is how she saw herself. Taku finally pulled on the rest of her clothes and went downstairs with a solemn look on her face.

Chouji had just finished the pancakes and wondered where she was. He had heard the water turn off ten minutes ago and it wasn’t like Taku to take so long to get dressed. He walked to the living room just in time to see her walking down the stairs. To him she looked like an angel walking down those stairs even with such a serious look on her face. He fell in love with her all over again. "Hey Taku, I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast I know your going to need your energy today. I remember you saying you would tell Naruto about his brother and your going to have to fend off a wild hyper blonde when you tell him. Come on lets eat." She followed Chouji and after sitting down took her first bite of the fluffy heavenly chocolate filled pancakes. She could only eat three fourths of her first one before she was completely full. (Those of us out there who have had them know that chocolate chip pancakes are the most filling food ever created.) Taku thanked Chouji and cleared the dishes to clean them before calling Shikamaru.

Chouji had just gotten ready for training and was sitting in the living room waiting for the time when the training was scheduled. He heard Taku in the other room picking up the phone. From his seat on the couch he could hear the one sided conversation Taku was having, so it couldn’t really be called ease dropping now could it. "Hello, Shikamaru? ...Yea, it's Taku... I was wondering if I could skip out on training for a while... Yeas I am explaining everything to Naruto today and I kind of want to train with him for a while if its ok but only until he masters the moves my dreams showed me... Thanks so much for understanding Shikamaru..." Chouji heard the tell tale click of the phone hitting the base before it was picked up again and a new number was dialed. "Hey, Naruto... Yes this is Taku... I was wondering if you could head over to Chouji’s house today there is something really important we need to talk about... No it isn’t about the fight Chouji and I had but in a weird way it is kind of connected to that... Thanks Naruto see you soon."

Taku sighed and walked into the living room to see Chouji staring at the entrance she just walked through. "I guess you heard it all. I have a feeling today is going to be a very emotionally taxing day." He smiled at her and held his arms out. Taku went straight to him and cuddled up on his chest wishing she could stay there all day instead of doing what she knew had to be done.
"Taku, your doing the right thing. This will make Naruto’s day to find out he actually has living family even if you weren’t born where you were supposed to be. That doesn’t matter to any of us, where you were born, you are a part of this world now just like you were meant to be and that is all that truly matters." Taku smiled at Chouji and gave him a sweet kiss before he left to meet his team. Taku was left sitting there alone on the couch playing the waiting game. Basically saying over and over again in her mind 'if Naruto isn’t here in the next five minutes I will remove this part of his body.' Taku was finished with the fingers and was working her way through the toes when she heard a knock on the door. She went up to the door and saw a smiling Naruto.

"So, Taku what was so important that you needed to talk ..." His voice suddenly left him as he caught a glimpse of the portrait hanging directly opposite from the house entrance. Naruto walked up and took a closer look. Finally, after a long grueling minute, that to Taku seemed to last a century, he finished his sentence. "... to me about. Taku, can you please explain this painting to me?" She looked at him sadly knowing this was not going to be easy.

"Naruto, that painting is basically why I asked you to come here. Please, have a seat this might take a while to explain properly." Taku sighed and sat in a chair across from the couch he was sitting on. "Naruto, I have been having some dreams lately of the life I should have been leading, well actually the life we both should have had. Naruto you were supposed to be my uncle but I hadn't had the chance to be born yet. The way it was explained to me was that my soul already created and unable to be born in the body that was meant for me went out looking for a child that was supposed to be born at the same time. My soul found a child that was meant to be a stillbirth, a child without a soul and it clung to it. I was born at the same time on the same day I was supposed to be born here but in a different dimension. Naruto, I have been having dreams about a younger version of myself and three special people. Those three special people were my only living family, my father Yondaime, my mother Hitomi, and my fathers brother my Uncle Naruto."

Taku sat there for a moment in silence letting everything sink in before she continued to tell him the story of his parents. Taku felt that Naruto might take it better if she talked about the dream him as if it was a different person. "You see Naruto in my dreams my uncle was living with us. His father had died in battle before he was born and it made his mother very ill. She was heartbroken after losing her husband and died giving birth to her second son. Instead of dying, in my dream Yondaime lived and took in his little brother and three months later his own daughter was born. The two children were meant to grow up together, play together, and train together. Now that I am here my father has come to me in my dreams telling me that the two children have a destiny to fulfill but they can't do it without the techniques I saw him teach us in the dreams. Naruto he wants me to teach you everything he has showed me in my dreams and he wants you to know he loves you. Come look at the painting again and I think you'll understand that these weren't just normal dreams.”

Naruto had been quiet during her entire explanation and he silently followed her back to the painting she had created with so much love. He stood there for a moment before raising his hand to the figure of his older brother who was laughing as younger versions of Taku and Naruto were pulling on his sleeves fighting for his attention. His first words were, "This can't be true, we don't have the same last name." He stood there staring as Taku came up behind him and wrapped him in a hug. She knew he would need her support very soon.

"That too was explained in my dreams. You see Naruto, Yondaime has your father last name while you got your mothers. Since you father had died before you were born they decided to honor your mothers spirit by giving you her last name. Also it meant the person who was after my father would never know you were related, minimizing the danger to you as a child." Taku could feel how stiff his body was. She could tell he was trying hard not to cry, to be a true shinobi. "Naruto, I don't care what the ninja rules say. The strongest people out there are the ones who have the courage to show the world they are human through laughter and tears. Showing emotion isn't a fault, it's a gift. After all we are only human. Humans can't hold back their feeling no matter how hard they try, it will just cause a mental breakdown later when the dam breaks because of the pressure behind it. When that happens you will be unable to do anything, especially fight. Did you know even Yondaime knew this? He had a very short temper one of the things he was very well known for."

Taku held him tighter as the damn he had been holding up for so long finally cracked. "He was my brother. I was supposed to know my brother. I wasn't meant to be alone and go through all these struggles by myself. It's been so hard Taku, I wasn't really that great at anything I had to work really hard on my own to get better, I never had any help." He fell to the floor covering his face and Taku followed now going in front of him to hug him. "I never had a family to help me, to love me, I was ridiculed by everyone. I was seen as nothing. I will become Hokage but now for a different reason, I will become hokage to honor my brother instead of to earn their respect. They didn't deserve to be ruled over by my brother, I will do this to honor a great man who was taken out of this world before he was able to be happy. I will become hokage for you Yondaime, my brother." At this point they were both on the floor with tears pouring freely down their faces. Holding on to the family they had just found. "We have a second chance Taku, a second chance to be a family. Thank you brother for giving this wonderful gift to me. I finally have a family." Naruto held on to her even tighter. (I know this doesn’t seem like the Naruto you all know and love but I know the kind of person he is. He hides his true feelings behind a smile. This kind of person always has a mental breakdown sooner or later and this was Naruto's. He will soon be back to the number one hyperactive ninja of Konaha I promise.)

After another hour of crying and thanking Yondaime for bringing the two of them back together they went out to get Ramen. They both ordered only one bowl of beef and the shopkeeper looked at Naruto very strangely for this fact. As they both sat there they discussed what she had talked to Shikamaru about earlier that day. "I know this sounds weird coming from a girl who just started learning the basics but I need to help you train Naruto. There are techniques I know that you are really going to need. We will start after lunch by the killed in action memorial rock. Let's see I need to teach you body flicker, you already know dad’s other move. Then I need to teach you the two lightning moves mom had. Also, Naruto I wish you could help me out in my training also." They both agreed and headed out to the field Naruto’s group trained in. Taku sat him down to put his seals on the kunai that he would be using for his focal points. She was sitting and studying the scrolls he took out for her once in a while trying a move that Shikamaru hadn’t taught her already. "Alright Taku done with the seals. What’s next?"

"Okay Naruto, this part is a bit tricky. You have to throw the Kunai at your opponent barely missing but making it look like you meant to hit them. This gets them cocky and causes them to underestimate you while your Kunai are being spread over the field. Next you do this series of hand signs." Taku demonstrated for him slowly. "Then for the rest of the battle you can instantly be where ever you threw a Kunai. Try to transport yourself to that one over there." He transported but to a Kunai ten feet from the one she had pointed at. He continued to work on his transportation aim as she studied the scrolls more. By the time he got it right she had worked through five scrolls of techniques, and the sun was setting. "Come one Naruto you can have dinner over at Chouji’s house with us. I kind of want to spend some more time with my uncle." They both put their arms over the other's shoulder and headed for Chouji’s house.

Once she got there she realized Chouji wasn't at home yet. Taku sent Naruto into the living room to wait for him while she went into the kitchen to start on the food. "Hmm lets see. What shall we make? Taku looked through the fridge and cabinets before she figured it out.

Taku put some hamburger meat on the skillet and began to brown it. (By the way for anyone out there this is my own recipe that I came up with so if you want to use it in real life send me a message and tell me what you thought.) She took out the pepperoni, and tomato sauce and began to make her own pizza sauce. (I normally used canned pizza sauce but I can make my own and there are recipes for it on the net.) She also got out a block of mozzarella and provolone cheese and began to grate it. Soon the hamburger meat was done and she pulled it off the stove drained the grease and put it in a bowl. She then cleaned the pan and put together her pizza burritos. She threw a little hamburger meat on a tortilla then covered the meat with the sauce. After that she threw on the cheese and some pepperoni and folded it into a burrito. Taku then put the folded pizza burrito into the pan to fry it shut. After she finished her second one she heard the door open. A muffled conversation started in the living room but she was too occupied by cooking to hear the words.

In the other room Chouji had just came in to see Naruto. Chouji was a little worse for wear. After Taku had told Shikamaru everything that morning he had decided training every other day wasn't enough anymore and he decided to train his team much harder. "You better go clean up Chouji, Taku is in there making dinner for us. I hope you don't mind that she invited me over she said she wanted to spend a little more time with her uncle. Can you believe it Chouji? After so long with no family I find out in a way that I'm an uncle. I'm so happy." Chouji just smiled. He knew how much this meant to both Naruto and Taku and decided he would forget his selfish desires to have her all to himself and so he greeted his friend and her uncle before going upstairs to clean up. But before Chouji could plant his foot on the first step Naruto spoke up again. "You do realize that now that I am her uncle I have to protect Taku, right? In other words Chouji," Naruto spoke with a deadly look on his face, "If you break my nieces heart I will break your neck." Then his serious conversation was completely ruined by his trademark, "Believe it!"

In the kitchen Taku had almost finished the burrito's when she heard Naurto's trademark phrase. She giggled to herself wondering if he would have ended up this hyperactive if Yondaime had been around. Taku thought about it for a moment and decided he probably would have. Personality is something your born with that is very hard to change. Plus. From what she had seen Naruto acted almost exactly like the man who should have been her father. She finished cooking the main course and pulled out some fruits and veggies making a salad and a fruit tray. She sighed at her completed task then set the table. Taku called in the boys who had been waiting in the living room. She put one burrito on each of their plates to start out with. "Now this is my own dish that I made up and I hope you guys like it."

Later when she was cleaning the dishes she thought back and smiled. Taku didn't mind that neither one of them had complimented her cooking until they were done because after their first tentative bites they were stuffing their faces too fast to do anything else. She was glad she had made so many.

Naruto had already left after giving her a big hug and thanking her for everything she had done for him that day. Taku took a shower and walked in to see Chouji staring at the ceiling. He had already taken his shower while she was cooking. Before she left the bathroom though she had once again looked in the mirror. Taku had decided finally that she would talk to Chouji about something that had been bothering her for a while now. "Chouji?" He looked up at her when he heard her voice. Taku walked over and sat on the bed before continuing and his eyes followed her. "Why haven't you done anything except kiss me? Am I that ugly to you that you can't bear touching me?" Taku looked at him with glassy eyes as he grasped what sje just said.

"Taku how can you think such a thing." He grabbed her and pulled you in close. "You are the most beautiful thing in the world to me and I just didn't want to hurt our relationship by moving too quickly." Their conversation was ended as he wiped the single tear out from under her eye and pulled her in close for a kiss. He put his hands on her hips and kissed all her doubts away. His hand moved very slowly as if he was nervous and moved the lower and to the small of her back. Then he slowly lowered them placing them on your butt and he picked her up. He kissed each of her cheeks still holding her up in his arms. Taku’s feet were wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck as he carried her downstairs. Taku had no idea what he was doing but she was happy to just be close to him. He sat you down in the kitchen and pulled out the ice-cream. "Here You go. Ino says that when she feels bad a bucket of ice-cream always helps. I hope it's the same for you too." Taku smiled and laughed and ate a full bowl. After she was done and cleaned up he carried her back up to his bed in the same way he brought her downstairs. "Goodnight my love." He said this along with one last kiss before she fell under the spell of the sandman. (And no I am not talking about Gaara!!!)