Whirlwind Fighters (NaruTema)

#2 A New Mission

Walking into the apartment Naruto and Temari looked around, noticing the old furniture and the big blanket of dust on everything. Silently, Naruto made a handful of clones and they went ahead, beginning to clean the few rooms the two now owned. Sighing, Naruto took off his mask and smiled at his fiancée even though his eyes still held sadness in them. 

"Naru-kun, you know that I can see through that facade of yours." Temari whispered as she enveloped the Raven in a hug. 

"Thank you." She heard him whisper. 

"For what?" They separated a bit for them to look into each other's eyes. 

"For staying with me through this." Naruto answered, drawing a small smile from the blonde. 

"There's no way I would leave you. After all we are technically bound by a contract." Temari joked with a small laugh. 

She saw the smile on her the boy's face fade quickly and waited for him to voice the thought that had crossed his mind. 

"What will this mean for us? I mean your father betrothed you to me thinking I was a Hatake. What will he say, when he gets word that I am not?" The boy asked, fearing that he would lose even the one person that had stood with him through all of this. He was about to ask another question when Temari silenced him with a rough kiss. 

"The only thing that matters is that I love you. My father chose you, not because of your family, but because you seemed to be the best choice available. I think we should go and tell him personally and then he won't have a problem with it. He will probably be happy since it means that I will marry the son of the fourth Hokage. But again, I honestly don't care what my father thinks. I love you and nothing is gonna change that." The blonde girl said before placing another kiss on the raven's lips. 

"Yeah it would probably be best for him to hear it from us. We should talk to Tsunade about it." Naruto smiled as he held his girlfriend close, finding a bit of comfort in the love she showed for him. 

The apartment looked a lot better when the pair came back from their dinner at Ichiraku's. The dust had been cleaned off of the furniture and the various old left over trinkets had been cleaned out of the rooms. Taking out what small possessions they had, Naruto and Temari took another look around making a list, what they needed to buy, beginning with groceries and ending with a new closet, since the one in their bedroom was almost falling apart. 

Finishing the list they changed into their pyjamas and climbed into their new bed only for Naruto to stand up again and add a bed to the list, since the frame was creaking and the mattress was smelling weirdly. The pair decided that they would spend the night outside, quickly throwing on some clothing and packing their sleeping bags and tent, they locked their door and walked off into the night, arms around each other, listening to the sound of the village slowly going to sleep.

Anko was worried. Kakashi and Kurenai had still not left Kyouki's room. The only time she saw either of them was when they went to the toilet, but every other minute they spent huddled in together on the bed of their late daughter, mostly crying. Anko had taken to it to at least make them something to eat, while she waited for them to come outside to talk about everything. 

She also noticed how both of them had not given a single look towards Naruto's room. When she went into the kitchen she saw the two baby plates of the Hatake children hanging on the wall, Naruto's being held together by glue. Looking closer she found a crack on the backside of Kyouki's plate. Sighing she sat down in the kitchen and continued waiting until she heard a knock on the front door. 

Opening it she saw her husband smiling weakly at her. Giving him a quick kiss they went back to the kitchen, sitting down, both looking to the room Kakashi and Kurenai didn't want to leave. "How are they?" Asuma asked in a hushed tone. "Broken." The answer didn't surprise him, taking his wife's hand he watched the door with a sad smile on his face. "Kono isn't doing much better. He loved her like a sister." He whispered as his thoughts went to his nephew. 

"I remember when they first came home after Kyouki was born, how happy Naruto seemed. It seems so far away now." Anko murmured as she put her head on the shoulder of her husband. "Yeah or how Konohamaru, Hanabi and Kyouki were when they played together." Asuma added.

Noticing the tired look on her face, the man stood up and pulled his wife with him. "Let's go home, they will still be here in the morning." 

Anko nodded and they made their way to their home, where Anko immediately fell onto their bed and into a deep sleep.

Naruto and Temari jumped out of their tent as they felt the chakra signatures near them, weapons drawn ready to defend themselves. Then they realized that they were inside Konoha and in front of them stood Haku and Sasuke. Both of them, smiling at the pair as they put their weapons back into their seals. 

"Welcome back." Haku said smiling.

"Yeah. How are you doing? Where is Kyouki, I thought you were, like, inseparable?" Sasuke added, immediately regretting the question when he saw the hurt look cross Naruto's face and understanding the implications it held. 

"I'm sorry." He murmured, lowering his head. 

"Don't worry, you didn't know." Temari said with a weak smile while she took Naruto's hand to comfort him.

"How?" Haku asked so quietly that it sounded like she didn't really want an answer. 

"Akatsuki took her a year ago and demanded Naruto in exchange for her. Naruto turned himself in but they had planted an explosive tag on Kyouki's back, before they released her and she didn't even get to run before she…" Temari trailed off as she had trouble keeping her voice in check.

"Naruto went berserk after that but the Akatsuki managed to get away." She finished after getting her composure back. 

Naruto had turned away and knelt down while Temari talked. Haku and Sasuke took this as their cue to leave and nodded their goodbyes before they quickly jumped away.

"Hey, Naru-kun. It's alright." Temari whispered as she sat down next to him and pulled him into her arms again. "Come on, we have to meet the Hokage soon. And we still have our shopping list." The blonde said, trying to distract her fiancée from his thoughts. 

"Your right Tema-hime." Naruto answered, wiping the tears away. Standing up, they cleaned their camp and sealed everything away, before making their way to the Hokage's office. 

Tsunade approved of their plan to visit the village hidden in the sand even going so far as to give them a scroll to deliver to the Kazekage, making it an official mission for the two. The blonde kage had wanted for his remaining Genin team to accompany him but Naruto had persuaded her into letting them stay at home, since they had just finished a three year long training mission. 

Now they were walking through Konoha, Temari smiling at everyone who greeted them while Naruto's smiles were hidden by his trademark mask. Even though Kakashi and Kurenai weren't  his real parents he still wanted to continue being their son, hoping that they would come together soon. 

Temari and Naruto had decided to start their mission the next morning and spent the best part of the remaining day crossing things off their shopping list.

The evening was spent putting all these things where they belonged before the two teens smiled at each other and let themselves fall into their new bed. 

Jiraiya looked over the village watching the sun rise over the horizon, waiting for his two students to step up to the gates. Once he spotted them he jumped down from the perch he had sat on and walked up to them. 

"I heard you are leaving again. I hope you two are alright, I know that it can't be easy to deal with the feelings after such a long time." The white haired man said. "The feelings never went away." Naruto confessed silently as they neared the gates. 

"Watch out for Hanabi and Konohamaru. And please keep an eye on Kakashi and Kurenai for me." The black haired boy asked as they turned around to say their goodbyes. The Sannin nodded and gave each of them a hug, before watching as they disappeared into the forest.

The next few days went by in a blur. Between travelling and sleeping Naruto and Temari didn't really do anything else. Talking about unimportant things the pair reached the border between the land of fire and the land of wind without any incidents. As the forest thinned out and slowly gave way to the desert, Temari and Naruto smiled at each other and walked on slowly making their way towards the girl’s former village.