After years of being kept in the dark of her past and of her family, Kari Yamada finally knows the truth. However, there's something still missing, something detrimental to gain the peace she strives to find. With the Akatsuki breathing down hers an...
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A few months back, in October, along with the letter that'd spoken of it, I'd sent Naruto a package containing a new jumpsuit. When he'd told me of how he'd both outgrown and torn his original one to shreds, I'd already bought him one but planned to give it to him when we both returned to the Hidden Leaf. It'd only been coincidental...
I'm just glad he's put it to good use since then. I feel bad for leaving Sakura and the others so far behind me, but I couldn't stop once I started.
"Naruto!" I shout, beckoning at him with my frantically-waving arm from the ground below. He's standing on top of an electricity pole, hands on his hips, taking in the village. At the sound of me calling, he turns around, and even from a distance away, I can still see that smile of his.
"Kari!" He leaps down, running toward me and grinning. But before he can even get ten feet away from the pole, I've already got him in my arms, holding onto him tightly, the dam holding back my emotions crumbling between us. And he's holding me back, just as tightly, if not tighter.
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"I'm s-so g-glad you're back," I say through my sobs. Naruto lets out a light laugh before releasing me and holding onto my shoulders at arms-width.
"When did you get here?" he asks me. I quickly wipe down my cheeks – at this point, it's difficult to tell which is more wet: my face, or his jacket – and beam at him.
"Less than an hour ago!" I tell him.
"Sen, too?"
"Mhm!" I examine him. "I'm so glad the outfit fits you," I say. "As soon as I'd seen it, I just had to get it for you."
"It was about time for a change," he tells me. "My old clothes were barely able to hold themselves up, so your present came just in time!"
