Memories of the Future

A/N: howdy! i've finally finished cleaning and unpacking from my move home, and i bring fic! this is a chapter from Kei's POV, kinda in respect to mother's day this coming sunday. i hope everyone enjoys it!

thank you so much for all your reviews! they make me feel all warm and fuzzy.


same tags apply (except i don't think i ever told you that anything in bold is a flashback)


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Memories of the Future: Chapter 11 - Reunion
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Two shocks of black hair and flashes of ebony eyes ducked around the corner of the door leading from the hallway to the dining room. The house was silent, and the only light that entered through the windows was that of the moon. Quietly, two sets of stockinged feet crept over the hardwood floors of the dining room into the kitchen. Something upstairs creaked, and the two figures froze in the darkness.

One set of dark eyes swung away from the ceiling and over to the counter, brightening when they spotted their target. An elbow was nudged gently into the side of the other figure that’d yet to take its eyes from the ceiling.

“Target is in sight,” the first figure whispered.

“Confirmed,” answered the second.

The two silently stalked to the counter that shelved the target, and four eager hands reached up to grab it. Carefully bringing it to a safe level, the figures proceeded to exit the kitchen. A rumbling noise halted their progress.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything to do it here,” whispered the hungry one, hurriedly setting the object down and reaching for the top.

“And you’ve just gotten your team captured by enemy ninja,” an amused voice provided from the doorway, and the kitchen lights flashed on.

Touya and Kei stared wide-eyed at their father, Kei’s hand frozen inside the cookie jar they’d taken from the counter.

“You two are definitely the dobe’s sons if you waste your time smuggling cookies.”

“Shut up, teme.”

Touya and Kei breathed sighs of relief knowing their fathers weren’t angry. Kei slipped his hand from the cookie jar and ran to throw his arms as far around his Oto-san’s protruding belly as he could. Touya followed at a more sedate pace, reaching up and tugging on Naruto’s kimono.

“We’re sorry, Oto-san, but we weren’t sleepy, and Kei was hungry.”

“That’s okay, Touya. I sent your Oto-sama down here for the same reason.” Kei looked up into his father’s sparkling blue eyes then swung his gaze to the gently smiling face of his Oto-sama, a rare sight, but one he loved to see.

“Does the baby want cookies, Oto-san?”

Both his fathers laughed, and Kei was filled with such happiness at the sound. He was only three, but he knew that his fathers’ lives hadn’t always been this content. Kei loved to see them smile and hear them laugh; it made everything right in the world. And his Oto-san’s bright smile, he knew, would never leave him.

>*<

‘But it did,’ Kei thought sadly. But even as he thought it, Kei knew that just because that smile had left physically, it had always remained in his heart. And now his father was once again before him. And even though he was in a female’s body, even though his father had wanted to keep it a secret, even though Kei thought this was totally, inexplicably impossible, that smile was blinding him as it hadn’t for sixteen long, haunted years.

“Before I get into the messy details,” Kei watched as that smile softened from something cocky to something gentle and sad, “Can I get a hug from my son?”

Kei’s breath caught in his throat before he threw himself into the arms of a girl nearly a foot shorter than him, whose small frame should have been crushed beneath his own. But it wasn’t; strong arms wrapped around his back and squeezed the breath out of him, while that small body stayed upright and solid under his. Kei felt hot tears sting his eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in Yuki’s lap like he used to so many years ago.

“My little boy,” Yuki breathed onto his neck, and the sobs wracked his body. How long had it been since he been held by his father? Well, sixteen years, obviously, but it felt so much longer, like eternity. Of course, Oto-sama had held him, often, but both his fathers had had something different about them. And the only way Kei could describe it was that Oto-san had always felt so… motherly.

“This scene is kind of touching, but if anyone else were to see it, I think the Hokage would be hearing rumors that his son was doing inappropriate things in public.”

Kakashi’s words in that amused voice were like ice water on Kei’s emotions. He threw himself off of ‘Yuki,’ absently wondering when he’d let go of the cat.

“Dammit, Kakashi, you always had the worst sense of humor.” Kei blinked at the pouting girl and suddenly cringed. He began sputtering, and Yuki’s pout became a confused frown. “What’s wrong, Kei?” A finely manicured hand reached out for him, and Kei moved out of its way.

“I’m sorry, but that body just… I kind of lost myself to a memory, but I can’t…”

The confusion lasted a bit longer before a sly grin spread across the lovely face. “Oh, I get it. It’s a bit weird to be hugging your father when he’s in the body of the girl you are totally crushing on, ne?” Yuki’s thin black brows waggled at him, and then the… ‘girl’ started laughing at him. Kei blushed hotly.

Kakashi sighed. “Naruto, why don’t you make this a little easier on the boy?”

“Huh?” she asked while still laughing. “Oh! Now why didn’t I think of that before?”

“I wonder,” Kakashi breathed as Yuki went through the hand signs for a jutsu. Kei looked on in wonder as Yuki disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced by Ayame.

‘No, not Ayame.’

Short, spiked blonde hair glinted in the afternoon sun, and blue eyes that rivaled the pure color of the ocean stared merrily at Kei. Thinner yet still plump lips were pulled back in a cheeky grin, showcasing pointed canines that dipped dangerously close to the bottom lip. Three thin lines were stretched over each cheek, cementing Kei’s wildly scattered thoughts to a single point.

‘Oto-san.’

“H-how is this possible?” Kei stared in shock at the sight of his dead Oto-san before him.

Naruto visibly slumped and sighed dramatically. Kei looked up at the masked jounin when Kakashi chuckled, in good humor. “Long story short, Kei, Naruto’s soul was carried through a warp in time and stored inside Kyuubi’s body.”

Kei didn’t move. He was trying to wrap his head around what was just said. Warp in time… Kyuubi… Kyuubi… Kyuubi?

“Kyuubi?” Kei questioned aloud.

“Ah, yeah.” Naruto’s hand rubbed the back of his head, and Kei was struck with a pang of familiarity. “This body belongs to Kyuubi. Apparently he didn’t really die, so he still remembers who he used to be, though right now he’s a she.” Naruto smiled one of his, what Oto-sama called, dobe smiles, as if that explained everything.

“More importantly, Kei, why are you so quick to believe us when we say that this is your father?”

Kei looked at the jounin then swung his eyes to Naruto. “Of course it is! No one would dare say Oto-sama’s hair looks like a duck butt unless they knew Oto-sama wouldn’t kill them for it… or unless they were my Oto-san!”

“Come on!” Naruto screamed in exasperation. “It clearly looks like a duck butt! The only thing more ridiculous than the style is that the teme actually styles it like that! I’VE SEEN HIM DO IT! He washes it, and then combs it ‘til it’s all hanging down in his face. Then he does his little Katon whatevers and-”

“Naruto!” Kakashi interjected, cutting off the blonde mid-rant and halting his wildly gesturing arms. “That is not the issue,” he finished more calmly. Kei had never seen the former ANBU so flustered.

‘Yeah, that’s my Oto-san, as sure as I’m an Uchiha.’

“I think you and your son should do some catching up, Naruto.” Kakashi turned around and waved as he walked off.

“What catching up? I’ve skipped sixteen years!” Naruto wailed. Then he suddenly turned to Kei, a manic gleam in his eye. “So, tell me how long you’ve been crushing on Yuki.”

“Oto-san!” Kei blushed fiercely.

“I’ll trade you a story about how your Oto-sama landed the magnificent Uzumaki Naruto.”

“Eww! Not listening!” Kei threw his hands over his ears, and it suddenly struck him how childish he was acting. He was ANBU, dammit! He should be able to handle this with decorum and maturity. He looked at his father’s moving lips and removed his hands.

“-and he took his tongue and-”

Kei slammed his hands back into position, thinking it wouldn’t hurt to be childish a bit longer. When his Oto-san finally stopped talking and flashed him a wide grin, his hands came down slowly and settled in his lap.

“So, are you gonna tell me about you and Yuki?”

Kei sighed. “To be honest, I don’t like her like that, and I guess that’s a good thing, if she’s really the nine-tailed demon.”

Naruto’s brow scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean you don’t like her like that?”

“Well, I noticed when she first came into our home that Touya was unusually responsive to her, after a while, of course. Then one day I saw him blush when she gave him a compliment, and I knew he had a crush. So I decided to play with him and pretend to have a crush on her as well.”

“What? And this has been going on for how long?”

“Well, I kinda stopped it after a while, but Touya is so stubborn that when I was just being friendly, he took it as flirting.”

“That makes sense,” Naruto nodded sagely, “Seeing who his father is and all.” He looked at Kei. “So you don’t have a crush on Yuki.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Do you like anyone?”

Kei’s answer was a blush, and he turned his head away. There was no way he’d tell anyone who he liked, since it could somehow get back to Sakura-baa-chan, and then Kei would have to sit through her version of the “talk” and then hear her go on and on about how different he was from his Oto-sama, because Sasuke would never let anyone know he liked anyone on any level, so it was such a surprise that he ended up with Naruto.

Which meant that Kei was more like Naruto. That thought made him smile. He loved his Oto-sama so much, but with him being more like his Oto-san, he could annoy the hell out of his brother all the more.

“The down side to having your father’s pale skin is that I can see that blush like a signal flare. Tell.” His father was smiling in a friendly manner, encouraging Kei to share.

“I guess I kinda like Ki…” Kei mumbled the last bit of the girl’s name, prompting his father to ask him to repeat it. Kei gave an aggrieved sigh. “I like Kiara.”

“Who is Kiara?” Naruto asked.

“Ah, gomen,” Kei chuckled nervously, remembering that his father wouldn’t know who she was. “It’s Inuzuka Kiara.”

“Inuzuka? But Kakashi told me that Kiba just got married recently. How could he have a child your age?”

“No, it’s his niece, Hana’s daughter.”

A loud explosion in the trees nearby halted anything Naruto would have said. Kei and Naruto leapt to their feet, finding themselves surrounded by an unknown enemy.

“Uchiha Kei, we have returned to finish what was started sixteen years ago.”

A slight breeze lifted Kei’s hair, and he found his father in front of him.

“Over my dead body!” Naruto yelled, but then he brought a finger to his chin in question. “Well, over Yuki’s dead body, but I won’t let that happen either!” Naruto finished loudly.

“How is this possible?” a masked woman exclaimed. “Uzumaki Naruto died sixteen years ago!”

“Better double check your grave markers, baka!”

“That is not Uzumaki. I feel the chakra concealing his true identity. Just kill the Uchiha child for now.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice came from the trees behind Kei. The Uchiha turned around to see Kankuro and Gaara eyeing the situation. In front of him, Naruto turned to look at what Kei was staring at.

“Gaara!”

“Uzumaki?”


TBC


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i tried to make this one a bit humorous, because the next chapter starts the round up to the end. hopefully it doesn't come out as anticlimatic as it seems in my head.

happy mother's day to any mothers who read this, and thanks for reading, as always.