Ｉｎｓｅｃｕｒｉｔｉｅｓ

Twenty

"Forgive me," The red-haiured woman smiled as she offered cups to the two boys. "I confused you with someone I knew a long time ago."

Naruto and Sasuke both sat across from her, the blond with his eyes on the woman--as though one look away and she'd be gone. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in how the blond was holding up.

"Tell me again, the purpose of your visit?"

"We're... here for a school project," Sasuke began, noticing the blond was too entranced in taking in the woman in front of him. "Sort of like... meeting an assigned pen-pal."

"That's odd, but of course, I don't know what else is new. I'm happy though, I've never received any visitors."

"Never?" Naruto asked, this being the first time he'd spoken since they sat down. Kushina shook her head. So then, that meant Minato had never taken the time to visit his own wife...

"Naruto, huh?" Kushina asked herself, eyes thoroughly inspecting the boy's face up close. "What a wonderful name. You called me mom earlier, you must miss her," She said as gently as she could as to not hurt the boy's feelings. Though, it was unavoidable, Naruto at the moment was as sensitive as ever, having been able to meet his mother for the first time in years. Of course the statement was going to make him feel terrible. It was okay though, Kushina didn't seem to know any better.

Sasuke could do nothing but sit and watch as Naruto tried to keep himself together. He could sense that Naruto felt a bit embarrassed being here with him sitting right next to him and his mother, but at the same time, Sasuke felt that Naruto was happy he was here in a way, not that it mattered to him.

"And you?" Sasuke was startled, Kushina leaning forward to inspect him this time. "I didn't get your name." She smiled. "Are you Naruto's friend?"

"...Uh..." He looked over to Naruto, Sasuke's throat dry and unable to say anything. "Y-yeah." He said at the end, the woman smiling and nodding her head while Naruto stayed silent.

"That's great." Kushina smiled. "It's good to have friends." She said, more to herself.

"Yeah..." Naruto whispered. "M-my d-dad has lots of friends."

"Naruto." Sasuke glanced over to the blond, remembering the nurse warning him about speaking about the past. He did not know what the problem here was, but if the past referred to both Naruto and Minato, Sasuke did not want to cause a problem. He was smart, and knowing how psychologically fucked up everything was here, he knew bringing up a stressor could cause something unpleasant to the unstable woman sitting before them. Like it or not, he would have to remind Naruto about what could not be brought up.

But... when Naruto looked at him, eyes furrowed in a frown as if telling him to butt out, Sasuke complied and looked away, silent.

"Oh?" Kushina tilted her head, eyes curved into a smile. "He must be very important. I assume you have lots of friends as well?"

"Yeah," Naruto lied, making an effort to smile and engage in conversation. His mind was blank, but he would speak out loud anything that could keep the conversation going. "There's Tenten," He began. The woman smiled as she brought her own cup up to her lips. "She's... very fiesty. You would love her. She likes to argue with me a lot but... and then there's Sakura. She's--"

"Ah! That name sounds so familiar," She intervenes. "She sounds lovely."

"She is!" Naruto pushed on, heart beating hard against his chest. "She's been my friend since I was little and- and then there's Kiba and Ino, and Shino and--"

"Naruto," Sasuke placed his arm to keep the blond from leaning any further with whatever excitement was building up inside of him.

Naruto caught on, realizing he was spewing nothing but truths that were no longer true to impress the woman in front of him. His eyes looked terrified towards Sasuke, letting the raven know he was spiraling out of control mentally.