Memories of the Future

A/N: there was some confusion, about what i don't exactly know, but i'm going to break down chapter one real quick:

naruto and kyuubi died. a year or so later, kyuubi was all set for reincarnation, but instead of going into a just-conceived child, he tried to aid a waning soul in a child that was currently being delivered. the soul was too weak to survive, so kyuubi took that soul into his own soul and claimed the body as his, but since the child was female, he became female as well. now, that child was the illegitimate kid of a woman of konoha and an s-class criminal (i may put more about this in the story). the child was thus abandoned and given over to tsunade. tsunade cared for yuki some 4-6 years and then died. in all the commotion and heartache, no one took the child in until much later (which you learn in this chapter). kyuubi grew up alone as naruto had and realized that everything wrong in konoha (which will be described later) could only be fixed as long as naruto remained alive. so using some of her chakra, kyuubi went back in time, in spirit form, and dragged naruto's departed soul to the future. now naruto must take care of yuki's soul while kyuubi works on a way to send others back in time rather than just herself. or, does kyuubi have an alterior motive? muwahahahahahaha!!

okay, that actually turned out to be really long. if you still have questions, feel free to e-mail me.

on with the story!!

*remember: naruto is in someone else's body; he doesn't look like naruto, and he doesn't sound like naruto.*

same tags apply


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Memories of the Future: Chapter 2 - Sakura
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Pale indigo eyes opened and took in a curious ceiling, a familiar ceiling. Its starch white color and crack-less surface screamed hospital, and Naruto opened his eyes wider in alarm. He sat up and frantically looked about him, finding himself in a single patient room of Konoha Hospital, which he’d seen many times before.

He suddenly wondered if that conversation with a female Kyuubi was entirely injury induced, and his hand flew to his abdomen. It didn’t hurt, but when his hand traveled a little further up, Naruto came into contact with two very alien appendages. His eyes widened further than he thought possible, and Naruto’s gaze flew to his chest to see two prominent mounds sticking out of it.

‘I have boobs!’

Naruto laughed a little hysterically, thinking this was just his sexy jutsu gone very, very wrong. But then he recalled his conversation with Kyuubi and calmed slightly. The fox had given this body to him temporarily, and he needed to think rationally before he did something stupid, or something very Naruto-like. A voice in his head said those were the same thing, and he was peeved and a bit shocked that it sounded like Sasuke-teme.

“Good, you’re awake, Yuki-chan.”

Naruto swung his head towards the voice, a little shocked that he hadn’t felt a chakra signature coming his way. He looked in wonder at the woman standing there, her jade eyes smiling and her bright pink hair pulled back in a long ponytail.

“Sakura-chan…” The pitch of his voice surprised him, but he tried to cover it up as best he could. He should’ve been used to it anyway, what with all the times he’d used his sexy jutsu on ero-sennin.

Her smile widened, though she looked confused, and Sakura stepped closer to the bed. “Good, your memory seems to be intact.”

He couldn’t stop staring at her. Sixteen years had gone by, and even though Sakura had to be pushing forty, she was as beautiful as ever, and there was a gentleness about her that Naruto couldn’t recall ever being there before.

“What do you mean?” he found himself asking.

“Meh, boys can be so rough. I was told you were training with your team when you suddenly collapsed. And it is rather cold outside. I just think your body overexerted itself, Yuki-chan. Though your sensei wasn’t watching to catch you before you fell and hit your head.”

Naruto wasn’t sure, but he swore he heard Sakura mutter ‘pervert’ under her breath. He cocked his head a bit and wondered why Sakura suddenly stopped talking to look at him.

“Well, I’m fine, Sakura-chan. How long was I out?”

She paused for a moment. “You were out for a good half hour, but I put that down to exhaustion. Your sensei has given you permission to go home and rest for the remainder of the day, but you have to meet your team at the bridge early in the morning. You can go now.”

“Ah, thank you, Sakura-chan.” Naruto easily hid his anxiety over that fact that he had no idea where ‘home’ was and slipped down to the floor. For the first time, Naruto noticed the kimono he was wearing, and he turned to Sakura questioningly. “I was training in this kimono?” He held up his arm that was swallowed by a sleeve and almost tripped over the hem at his feet.

“You… always have, Yuki-chan. You refused to wear the chuunin vest. Are you sure you’re feeling fine?”

‘Chuunin?’

“Ah, yes, I’m fine, Sakura-chan. I guess I’m still just a bit disoriented.”

“Then… I’ll go get your teammate to take you home.”

Naruto eagerly nodded, glad at least someone knew where he lived. Once Sakura was out of the door, Naruto began to mutter curses at the fox for her lack of fighting sense. Sure, maybe she could fight in these dreaded things, for surely anything feminine was dreaded in Naruto’s case, but he had spent the better part of his life in either a jumpsuit or an ANBU uniform, minus those eighteen months where all he could wear were oversized robes...

‘I’m sorry, Kyuubi, but this kimono has got to go.’

While he waited for Sakura, Naruto ambled over to a mirror so he could see what Yuki looked like. What stared back at him shocked him to immobility. Of course he hadn’t expected blonde hair and blue eyes, but he hadn’t expected this either!

A girl of about sixteen years stared back at him, her hair severely straight and plaited down her back. Its black hue was deep and brought out the paleness of her skin. The dark purple of her kimono complimented the pale indigo of her eyes, which were dull in comparison to what Naruto was used to seeing in his own reflection. He clenched his eyes shut then opened them wide, smiling when they sparkled like amethysts.

‘That’s better. Uzumaki Naruto does not have dull and listless eyes, under any circumstances.’

Naruto reached up to do something about his hair, but Kyuubi’s warning not to mess things up kept him from doing anything… for now. He stuck his tongue out at… his reflection and turned when the hospital room door opened once again.

Sakura walked in, followed by a boy who, when stopped, cocked all his weight to his hip and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes gazed lazily at Naruto, as if to say that this whole thing was too… troublesome…

‘Shikamaru! Or, more than likely, his son.’

Naruto wanted to greet the boy, but he had no idea what his name was, so haltingly, he opened his mouth and said, “Hello, Nara-kun.”

Those lazy eyes opened a little wider, and Naruto was left to wonder what he’d done wrong. Maybe he shouldn’t have spoken at all.

“Shinsuke, please escort Yuki-chan home.”

“Tch, how trouble-”

“Do it, or I will tell your mother.”

Naruto stared in contained amusement as the Nara boy stood up a little taller and motioned for Naruto to come on. He briefly wondered who the boy’s mother could be. Then he noticed the boy was wearing a chuunin vest, and it finally caught up to Naruto that he was a chuunin now also.

‘Great, I’m backpedaling. I spent so much time getting to ANBU, almost to Hokage, and now I’m chuunin again.’

Bowing to Sakura, as he assumed good-mannered young ladies did, he followed Shinsuke out of the room and through the halls of the hospital. When they reached the streets of Konoha, covered in ice and snow as they were, Naruto nearly tripped on his kimono again, falling into Shinsuke.

“Tch, Yuki, why the hell do you still wear these things?” he asked as he helped Naruto regain his balance.

“Heh, heh, ‘cause they look cool?”

When Shinsuke just looked at him, Naruto knew that he’d just said something stupid, but hopefully the Nara boy would put it off to him just waking up from a blow to the head. A sudden wind blew, and the freezing air swirled up his bare legs.

“Dammit, why the hell were we training in this kind of weather anyway?” Naruto placed his hand over his mouth in embarrassment, mentally berating himself for that moronic slip. Of course young ladies didn’t speak like that! What the hell had he been thinking?

Shinsuke just laughed quietly. “Guess it takes extreme temperatures to get the stick out of your… ahem, I mean, our sensei is an idiot, that’s why.”

Naruto would have glared, really he would have, but he’d never actually heard Shikamaru laugh or make a joke, and he hadn’t expected his sons to either. So really, he was just too shocked to glare, or else he would have.

They continued their walk in silence, Naruto keeping just behind Shinsuke in the hopes that the man could lead him to his own house unaware. Maybe he could put it down to being demure.

As Shinsuke began to slow his pace, Naruto looked up and realized his mind must have wandered a bit too far and too long. But his eyes caught on the sight before him, and they almost began to water.

‘The Uchiha district…’

He couldn’t possibly live there. It would be too much! To live in the house of his husband and children, as a stranger! He needed to know why, so very carefully, he asked Shinsuke.

“How do you know I live here?”

“Tch, who in Konoha doesn’t? Everyone knows you work here. They say that Uchiha-san let you work for him because he needs someone to look after such a large house, but my dad… he says Uchiha-san did it because his past haunts him.”

Naruto turned away from the mansion at the note of sadness in the boy’s voice, looking at him quizzically.

“My brother is always talking about Naruto-san, though never in front of people who still grieve from his loss, like our parents.” He took a shuddering breath. “Sorry about your injury. See you at the bridge in the morning.” He waved lazily and ambled back into town.

Naruto stood staring after him for a moment before turning to once again contemplate the mansion. He lived in his own home. Somehow he felt that Kyuubi did this on purpose, maybe to keep an eye on Naruto’s family for him. He felt a small warmth in his chest at that thought. But he also felt much trepidation in having to face his family when sixteen years separated them.

“Yuki-chan!”

Naruto turned to see a young lady running towards him, her heavy coat not weighing her down in the least. Her blonde hair whipped around her head as she ran, and he sucked in a breath at her stunning blue eyes.

‘Ayame…’

Naruto wanted to cry, fall to the ground and weep bitterly, as his daughter ran to him. She was so beautiful, almost exactly that of his sexy jutsu, he thought, with a small amount of amusement.

“Yuki-chan, Sakura-baa-chan told me you were hurt!”

Naruto tried, he really did, but he just couldn’t help the way he threw his head back and laughed with his whole being. Tears leaked from his eyes, and he doubled over while trying to keep his shaking stomach from hurting in its action. His daughter was looking at him in so much wonder and confusion, but hearing Sakura called what he used to call the old hag was just too much!

“Are you feeling okay, Yuki-chan?”

Naruto settled down and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Yes, uh, Uchiha-san. I’m fine.”

Then she smiled one of those smiles that Naruto was famous for. “Well, I have to get back to the hospital, but Oto-sama said he’d be home for dinner. Please make onigiri for him.” With that, she turned around and ran, her bubbly laughter trailing in her wake.

‘Teme… you did such a fine job…’

Naruto stifled his tears of pride for his lover and cautiously moved to the door. He absentmindedly twirled some stray strands of his black hair with his finger as he contemplated opening the door. He knew he could, it was obviously where he lived, but he was still frightened at what he would find. How had Sasuke and everything around the Uchiha changed with his death?

Had Sasuke… had he remarried?

Naruto’s brows fell into a scowl, and he reached out to jerk the door open. No woman would take his teme from him!

When he opened the door, he stood rooted in shock. More light than he would have thought possible suffused the mansion, and as he hesitatingly walked further into the house, and framed pictures were everywhere. Naruto approached them, half afraid he would find a happy, whole family. But when he was able to see them, he did break down and cry.

The first few pictures were of he and Sasuke, happy in the very beginning of their relationship. Then there were many pictures of Naruto while he’d been pregnant with the twins, because his friends didn’t think there could ever be enough documented proof that Naruto had had children. Following those were Naruto and Sasuke and their twin boys, Uchiha Touya and Kei.

There were two years worth of memories with their boys, and then there were pictures of him and Sasuke and their little girl, Ayame. Then there were pictures of the whole family, the Uchiha clan well on its way to being revived. As Naruto moved on, he could see the physical evidence of when he died. His funeral picture was a centerpiece of a very lovely shrine, fresh sticks of incense ready to be lit.

Past the shrine, pictures began again, and they both pained him and filled him with joy. Pictures of his children playing, training, crying, laughing, all with their father, peered at him in the afternoon sun shining into the mansion. There was the twins’ graduation from the Academy picture, Sasuke the proud papa behind them, smiling with a genuine yet sad light in his eyes. There was Ayame’s graduation picture after that. Sasuke’s, or maybe even Sakura’s, pride in the chuunin exams was evident as there were pictures from every phase of the exam, even some that Naruto thought weren’t supposed to be taken.

And then Naruto saw his two very precious boys in ANBU uniforms, Neji and Sasuke in the picture with them. It had an air about it that made it seem more than a simple snapshot, but Naruto’s contemplation was distracted by the picture next to it of Ayame and Sakura, Ayame in a victory pose and Sakura looking every bit as confident and sternly amused as ever Tsunade had.

Nowhere did Naruto see any pictures of a new love in Sasuke’s life, and while it made him sad that his love hadn’t moved on, it made him relieved that Sasuke had loved him so very much to raise their children alone after his death. Not that Sasuke was alone. Their friends had more than likely been there for him, and Naruto could only be grateful to them.

“I’ve never known you to be interested in those pictures.”

Naruto whirled around and stared into the dark eyes of his son, Touya, the boy standing regally in his ANBU uniform. The last he’d seen the boy, he’d been three and staring worriedly from his room as his fathers left to fight an unknown enemy that had taken his life, apparently. He quickly brought his sleeves up to wipe the tears from his eyes, and then looked back at the pictures one last time.

“I’m sorry. I just figured that since they’re on display and I was home early today, I could look at them. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, Uchiha-san.”

“No, Yuki-chan! I didn’t mean it that way. You are very welcome to look at them. But I see that you’ve been crying. Does it hurt to see a family like that?”

“I…” Naruto trailed off, unsure how Kyuubi would handle this situation. Something told him she’d be more of a bitch than she was ever a bastard in Naruto’s body, but he couldn’t bring himself to act that way. “I was just struck by how happy you all are, and everything I’ve missed out on.”

Touya didn’t say anything for a moment, but then he smiled quite sadly. “We are happy, but we aren’t whole. I don’t know if I’d rather know happiness and lose it than never to have known it at all.”

Naruto was struck by how similar that thought was to an argument he and Sasuke had had when they were genin. Who’d been better off, the boy who’d had a family and lost it, or the boy who’d never had a family at all?

“Forgive me for saying so, but compared to your father’s life, you should be grateful for what you have.”

Touya’s eyes narrowed to a very familiar Uchiha glare, and he said lowly, “Which father?”

Naruto knew the boy was trying to hurt him by bringing up a dead parent, to make Naruto ashamed of what he’d said, but it was Naruto, after all. So he just walked past the quietly seething Uchiha and replied, “Pick.”

Both he and Sasuke had had very traumatic childhoods, but they had eventually come together and found their own happiness away from the sadness of their pasts. Unable to believe that he’d just pulled that off without saying anything Naruto-like, Naruto whisked up the stairs, hoping against hope that he could actually find his room. He knew which one was the master bedroom, and what used to be the nursery. After several tries of quietly opening and closing doors, Naruto finally found a furnished room that didn’t scream ‘Uchiha’ of some kind.

There was nothing but a futon and a small table, upon which sat a hairbrush and some scrolls. The hairbrush had strands of black in it, and Naruto was confident he’d found the right room.

Strolling over to what looked to be a closet, Naruto cried out in dismay when nothing but kimono stared back at him. It was cold outside and he was a chuunin that apparently had to train out in that cold, and there wasn’t anything for him to wear but ceremonial kimono?

As Naruto slammed the closet door closed, something caught his eye in a corner of the room, and he cautiously approached it. When he was near enough to read the bag’s writing, he found it to be a shopping bag. A note was attached to it that read, “Yuki-chan, it’s too cold for kimono! Please wear these until we see warmer weather. –Ayame.”

Naruto scowled when he realized that Kyuubi had obviously ignored his daughter’s thoughtful gesture. But he really wanted out of the hindering garment, so he hurriedly untied the obi and let it slip to the floor. Then he dug into the bag and brought the contents out.

Deerskin slacks appeared first, their dark beige color glowing in the afternoon sun. A matching shirt and jacket came after, though the jacket was trimmed in white rabbit fur. At the bottom of the bag were sturdy but light boots with the same white fur trim. Naruto laid the entire ensemble out on the futon and sighed.

‘I’m going to be a snow bunny… At least it’s not a kimono.’

His stomach growling had Naruto remembering that he was supposed to prepare onigiri for dinner, and he hurried to throw back on his kimono. It didn’t make sense to change from what he’d had on, really, so he would suffer through it a little longer.

But as Naruto dashed down the stairs to start cooking, he realized that he’d soon see Sasuke. His children had been shock enough because they’d been but babies the last he’d seen them, but he’d known Sasuke all his life, had loved the prickly bastard for most of it. Naruto didn’t know if he could take seeing Sasuke and having Sasuke not know it was really him.

Naruto checked his hidden “compartments” in the kimono to see where Kyuubi kept her money. Once he’d prepared dinner, Naruto was set on running. Maybe Ichiraku’s would help to calm his nerves. Naruto just prayed he’d finish before Sasuke returned home.


TBC


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oh, i personally can't wait for his meeting at the bridge!! anyway, what did you think? still interested?

btw, if you'd like to be put on a mailing list for this story, please tell me so and leave your addy. as always, thanks for reading!!