Chapter 27 - Happiness

'Humans' traditions in this world are weird.' Kyuubi concluded as he looked up at the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room.

"Kurama, pass me the box with golden ornaments, please!" Naruto called out from the stool he was on.

"Do I look like your servant? Take them yourself, bitch!"

The two glared at each other for a few moments.

"Tsk. Fine then!"

Making a cross sign with his fingers, a shadow clone popped in existence and brought him the box. Before disappearing though, the clone threw one of the pillows on the sofa on Kyuubi's head, nearly making the small fox fall off.

Kyuubi snarled at him and from his puny fox cub-size, his body become as large as that of a German Shepard dog.

"Do you want to go at it, huh?"

"Sure, bite me!"

With a growl, Naruto and the large dog-sized Kyuubi pounced on each other.

Kyuubi's jaws clamped hard on Naruto's forearm...only for him to let out a yelp of pain afterwards:

"Fuck you and your stupid bones!"

In his forearm, right beneath his skin, Naruto had made a thin but very resilient bone membrane. When Kyuubi bit him, he felt like he had bit on reinforced concrete.

Naruto grabbed the now large fox with his arms from around the neck in a triangle lock and started dragging him towards the door. In his struggle to get free, Kyuubi lunged with his tails at any piece of furniture, wreaking out everything on the way. Still, uncaring of the damage they were making in the house, Naruto was laughing maniacally.

"Bwahaha! I've always wanted to do this!" Naruto exclaimed and laughed out loud again in anticipation of what he was about to do - he remembered how funny it was when, as a kid, he watched Tom&Jerry and saw how Tom was usually being kicked out of the house with a kick in the butt.

When Naruto reached the door, a shadow clone popped up next to him and opened it for him. After that, together with the original, they both grabbed the large fox from the scruff of its neck and from the lower part of its back. Then, two powerful kicks landed in the fox's butt! Screaming and cursing, Kyuubi was propelled out, hurling through the air like a rocket.

But just as he was about to crash into the mounds of snow in the dojo's courtyard, a jet of fire was shot from its mouth, melting the surrounding snow in an instant.

One thing was clear: Kyuubi hated snow. He hated winter.

Scene break

After 2 years of being stuck in an artificial coma, her body had become feeble and her muscles very weak due to inactivity. She couldn't even walk by herself. Of course, Naruto had taken her to a doctor. To their relief, the damage to her body was not permanent. With a few months of rehabilitation she would heal completely.

Right now, the two siblings were returning from the hospital after a session of physical exercises that Misaki had had to perform under the care and supervising of a medic specialized in that field.

Misaki was currently on his back, squealing in excitement just like a little girl as Naruto kept jumping with her from the roof of one skyscraper to another. For Naruto it was not a big deal; to his enormous strength, Misaki's weight felt just like a feather. However, for an ordinary girl like her, it was exhilarating.

Still, there was no danger of falling off whatsoever - Naruto had made sure of that by manipulating his bones into growing and wrapping around his sister's body, fixing her to his back.

Naruto stopped on top of one of the tallest buildings in Gotham, giving his sister the chance to admire the scenery of snowy city from above.

He was about to resume their trip when Misaki said, albeit hesitatingly:

"Naruto, would it be ok if..."

"If what?" he stopped and asked.

"I...I miss Barbara."

"She was my only real friend. You know that since young we've been like sisters and I... would it be ok if I invited her to spend the Christmas with us?"

Naruto looked at her weirdly for a few moments.

"Why not?" he asked in real surprise.

Misaki was not sure how to explain herself but she decided to just tell him her thoughts. After all, she has never held any important secrets from him.

"You might not remember something that I have told you since it's been years in reality, but, for me, only a few weeks passed... you fought in an underground cage fighting tournament. For my sake. And you got injured very badly...you were nearly killed."

"It was at that time that I promised you that I won't be a burden for you anymore."

"Misaki, what are you saying? You will never be a burden for me. I've always-"

"But I was!" she retorted loudly, forgetting that he was carrying her in a piggy-back position and that her mouth was next to his ear.

"Every week I was squandering hundreds of dollars on trivial things, money for which you were trading real blood and sweat..."

A node appeared in her throat, making her unable to speak for a few moments lest she started crying. She did manage to compose herself though.

"I know that we don't have any problems with money anymore but I am aware of what you have done while I was dead... it wouldn't be wrong to say that you basically became enemies with the entire world..."

"You've always given your all to make me happy and you did not back down from any sacrifice if it was for my sake. In exchange, what have I ever done for you? - Nothing."

"I'm just a normal, average girl...there is nothing I can do for you. I... I should, at least, not cause you any trouble... Barbara is the daughter of Commissioner of Gotham. I didn't contact her yet because I didn't want to attract any unwanted attention for you."

Naruto sighed but did not contradict her words right away.

"Misaki, do you know who was the one keeping you in a coma? It was a scientist and a clone of Supergirl. A being that was said to be more powerful than Superman himself because her DNA had been altered and improved - she had no weaknesses."

"Before saving you, I had to go through them...take a moment to realize just how powerful your big brother had to be in order to rescue you." Naruto said somewhat smugly. "That said, what trouble could you cause me? ...At the moment, there isn't anyone that has any chance against me. Especially not when Kurama comes in play too. And I'll show no mercy to whoever tries to harm you."

"Besides," Naruto continued after a small pause. "Just look at me."

"I made a frigging makeshift support out of my the bones in my spinal cord to hold you safely on my back. I'm jumping tens of feet in the air, from one rooftop to another and I can destroy this entire skyscraper with one stomp of my feet. Not to mention, that my bones are blue... in all the fairness, that's what you'd call a monster in my book."

"However, despite of what I have become, you said you loved me. An ordinary and average girl - in your words - said that she would never abandon me, that she would never hate me..."

"You don't need to give me anything else, Misaki. You don't need to do anything... Just continue to be my sister. Just continue to stay at my side. Knowing that I have someone to whom to return at home... knowing that I am not all alone in this world – this is a reason enough for me to feel like life is worth living. Because we are family."

Naruto could not see his sister's facial expression but he knew she was crying. He could hear her sniffs and he could feel her tears on the back of his neck...or were they really tears?

"For god's sake, Misaki, that was gross as fuck!" Naruto said and groaned in disgust. What he felt on the back of his neck did not fall from her eyes but from her runny nose...

From feeling emotional and touched by Naruto's sincere words, Misaki abruptly became mortified with embarrassment. It was very cold outside and because she was crying, she had not even felt her nose...leaking.

Scene break

Barbara Gordon was starting to become annoyed. She had spent almost 2 hours in the mirror, trying various outfits yet none seemed to meet her needs in that moment.

Suddenly, her phone started to ring. More exactly, her "superhero phone number". It was a phone number that only a select few persons knew, one on which even they would only call in case of emergencies, when they couldn't reach her through her old phone number.

A bit apprehensive, Barbara picked up and answered:

"Hello!"

A bubbly voice replied to her:

"Heyyy Barbara! How are you?"

The redhead didn't know whether to cry or to laugh.

"Kara...how many times have I told you that this number is only for emergencies?!"

"B-But this is an emergency!"

"Sigh. I'm listening..."

"Turn on the TV and tune it to MCLC (Metropolis City Live Channel)."

When she did as told, a news report was being streamed on TV:

"...The authorities have confirmed the body's identity - yesterday, close to the middle of the night, Lex Luthor was found dead in his office. The officers present at the crime scene declared that his body was mutilated beyond recognition, what appeared like bones having pierced through his body in numerous places..."

Confirming the words Barbara heard on TV, Supergirl said it herself too:

"Lex Luthor is dead."

Barbara Gordon was momentarily silent, lost in her thoughts. It was Supergirl's bubbly voice that interrupted her again:

"However, that wasn't the emergency. I couldn't care less about Lex Luthor's death!"

Barbara almost dropped the phone.

"KARA!" she yelled scandalized.

"What?! That guy was a total scumbag! He broke the law more times than I can count and he tried to kill me and my cousin more than once. Not to mention that we shoved him into the prison 2 times already, but he had always bought his way out of it with bribes and good lawyers. Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?"

Supergirl sighed and continued:

"Uuu...it's Christmas, let's leave this boring stuff aside! What I really wanted to ask you is this: would you like to spend the Christmas together with me and my uncle and aunt?"

Barbara perked up at her words. Ever since her best friend died, a new resolve had started to burn in her chest, a flame that was still burning in her heart just as bright as in the first day: to help people. Her dream was to one day create a world where no innocent people would be killed by psychopaths. A world where the weak would not be at the mercy of others more powerful. Barbara, knew that what she wished for was just a pipe dream but even so, if she managed to save even only 1 person, all her efforts would be worth it.

Suffice to say, her father was not enthusiastic about her plans. Not in the least. He was adamant she left her 'butterflies' and went to college in order to live an ordinary, respectable life. Their conflict reached the point where Barbara chose to leave home and break all contact with her stubborn father.

Following that, for 2 years, Barbara had lived a lonely life, all her time being split between being a local hero - the Batgirl - and her "day-job", that as a librarian in Gotham City' public library. She had not truly celebrated any major holiday during those 2 years. Now that Supergirl was offering to spend the Christmas together, Barbara was more than a bit moved.

"Are you sure? ...we may be something like friends, but I don't think your cousin has even heard of a minor character like me."

"Oh, Clark definitely knows about you. I swear he knows every freaking little thing I do every day! ...WAIT what do you mean by ''something like friends'?!" Supergirl yelled, sounding offended.

"Miss Gordon, don't make me come to Gotham and kick your butt, you hear me? You know that I could come to Gotham in less than 5 minutes!"

Barbara started to giggle.

As though she wasn't angry just a few moments before, Supergirl reverted to her usual, bubbly self in an instant.

"So what do you say? Are you coming?"

"Clark will probably not even be home tonight because the Justice League has some urgent meeting right now. What do you say? Come on!" Supergirl urged again.

Barbara could barely stifle her giggles. To her, Kara was acting just like an excited puppy.

"Wait, if the Justice League has a major meeting right now, weren't you supposed to attend too?!"

An awkward laughter was heard from the blonde on the other side of the phone:

"Hehe...I ditched it?"

Barbara finally lost it; she started laughing out loud. Ever since Misaki died, she has been mostly gloomy and depressed. Meeting Supergirl though was like a breath of fresh air. For the past few months, Kara had been like a ray of sunshine in her gloomy life.

Suddenly, Barbara's other phone started to ring.

"Ugh, Kara, I'll call you later, ok?"

"Nooo! Don't hang up the phone, I can wait! I won't let you get away without giving me a clear answer!"

"What if is it important?"

"What can be more important than your best and, I'd say, your only friend?"

"Hey it's not like that!"

As the two girls kept chatting, Barbara's other phone stopped ringing. She had had no idea that it was Misaki that had been calling her.

Scene break

In the Watchtower, the mood was sombre.

Batman, with Catwoman at his side, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lanteen, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Flash and quite a few other superheroes were having a rather tense conversation. It wasn't that they were arguing with each other but the object of their discussion was bringing endless pressure on them.

"We cannot let this go on... people are starting to question the reason for Justice League's existence!" Green Lantern said sternly.

"I wouldn't say that...so far, this Uzumaki guy has not killed even one innocent." Wonder Woman retorted from the side.

"That doesn't change the fact that he is a killer! Do you want me to enumerate what he has done in the past 2 years? He tortured the Joker to death. He murdered over 100 people in Arkham Assylum. Probably around 200 on the government's secret Prison Island. And most recently, he killed Deadshot and Lex Luthor!"

"You forgot about that totally hot babe that looked like an older version of Supergirl. A real shame if you ask me." Flash added with a lecherous grin, only to shrink back at the over a dozen of glares that were suddenly thrown at him.

Surprisingly enough, it was Martian Manhunter that also took Wonder Woman's side in this conversation:

"Actually, Green Lantern, most of the people in United States of America appear to hold feeling of respect for Uzumaki Naruto. A quick search on internet would let you know easily of their opinion of him. They are usually portraying Uzumaki as a tragic hero. One that was forced to take the justice in his own hands to avenge his only family - his sister. In the process, he eliminated a mass-murderer, someone about whom they still think that it was a good riddance. After all, the Joker has escaped more than three times from prison."

Hawkman retorted from the side:

"Still, does that mean that he can just run amok as he pleases? Hero or not, nobody is above the law!"

An amused giggle came from Catwoman:

"Like it or not, big guy, the truth is that by simply doing our hero 'job' we are actually breaking the law. There aren't any laws allowing vigilante actions. At least not yet. That said, technically, we are all criminals."

Hawkman, as short tempered as always, growled and looked like he was about stand up from his seat, his hand clenched firmly on his large mace. It was then that a feeling of oppression made goosebumps appear all over his back.

His eyes involuntarily turned towards the source of that feeling - it was Batman who was looking at him through his mask, his eyes calm, but hiding a cold ferocity in them.

Startled, Hawkman let go of his mace, his right hand now subtly shaking. The winged superhero realized that Batman...this "new" Batman was ten times deadlier than the one that he thought he knew. He realized that if he were to harm even one hair of Catwoman, this Batman would not hesitate to rip his heart out his chest. That was the feeling he got from his mere glance alone.

The other superheroes in the room noticed the weird mood and silence instilled. It was Shazam that, while making use of Solomon's wisdom, intervened.

"The points Green Lantern has brought forth are valid. Nobody has the right to take a human life. But Martian Manhunter is right as well - the people love Uzumaki Naruto. That is the truth, whether we like it or not."

"However, we have to consider one more aspect." Shazam added. "Uzumaki is very powerful. From what we know of him, he discovered his powers only 2 years ago...when he defeated me, Superman and Flash. Nowadays he's many times powerful. He just killed the one named Galatea - someone that was supposedly even stronger than Superman."

"Batman, can you play the video you had hacked for the other members that have not seen it yet?"

Batman acknowledged his words with a nod and went to the large computer in the room. After inserting a disk and pressing on a few keys, the video started to play.

When Naruto wrecked Orochimaru's secret base, the earth tremors his rampage caused and the Kyuubi demolishing their way outside made it so the secret base become exposed. Naturally, the Justice League was the first to take notice of it. And downloading the data the main computer contained was the first thing Batman, Catwoman and Wonder Woman did once they reached the base.

What Batman was asked to play were the videos that the surveillance cameras of Orochimaru's base had recorded. The videos were not long - only a few minutes. But the black-lightning-encased juggernaut left a very deep impression on everyone in the room. And when Naruto had lost himself to his rage and roared "Where. Is. My. Sister?" the Superheroes felt their skin crawling.

The video started to get blurry after his shout and it became very difficult to understand what exactly was going on. Still, towards the end, they could see how Naruto's spear-like arm pierced through the clone's body, impaling her.

"From this video, it is obvious that the clone and her master were keeping his sister hostage. And we all know that Luthor was killed after trying to blackmail Uzumaki with his sister."

After making a small pause, Shazam spoke again:

"Uzumaki is unlike most villains that we are facing on a daily basis because everything he had done until now had had a rather special motivation - it all revolved around his sister."

"I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour – I fully agree with Green Lantern that such a dangerous individual should not be let to roam free after the atrocious acts that he had committed."

"What I'm trying to say is that now that he had gotten his sister back, he should have no reason to do anything else for a while. Therefore, this matter could wait until we make a plan for taking him on. Because given his immense power, we have to thread carefully. Only brute force won't work against someone like him."

One of the heroes in the room said:

"Why the need to be so overly-cautious? One on one he may be stronger than each one of us but what chance does he stand against the entire Justice League?"

Shazam was about to speak again but this time, it was actually Superman that had been silent until then who spoke.

"True, the Justice League can defeat him. I have no doubt about that. However," Superman said, stressing on the last word "how many of us will die in the process?"

A silence that you could hear a pin dropping was suddenly instilled when the rest of the heroes heard Superman's words.

"We have faced many villains and many threats until now... only one year ago, we fought against Thanagarians' invasion on Earth. And miraculously, through it all, he have escaped with next to no casualties. Probably because most of the time, truth being told, we were simply more powerful than our enemies."

"But we need to wake up."

"We are about to face someone that only a few weeks ago had murdered over one hundred metahumans – dangerous, death-row individuals."

"Just remember how difficult were all of our encounters with Darkseid. Still, in spite of all, I could at least hold my own against him. And with your help, I – we – have managed to drive him away."

"But against Uzumaki? ...I know for sure that I would not be able to win alone."

Superman rose up from his seat, his eyes looking at the blue planet through the window of the room.

"As you said, Uzumaki has no chance against the entire League. But you have to ask yourself would you like be one of the unfortunate casualties? Would any of you like to die skewered and impaled by hundreds of bones?"

"None of us shall act even in the tiniest way against Uzumaki until we have a plan. We need a plan, a way to make sure that there won't be any unnecessary losses in our ranks."

"Because the moment we chose to become heroes, we became a symbol of hope for the ordinary people. We must not let their faith in us waver. At the very least, we have to survive, for their sake."

Scene break

While the Justice League was having an important meeting centred around concocting a plan to capture him, Naruto was spending the Christmas Eve in a weird atmosphere. Rather said it would be that it was weird how normal it was: him and his sister were both leaning on each other, sitting on the sofa in the living room, near the fireplace as they were watching a family Christmas movie. Furthermore, for a change, Kyuubi and Naruto were not bickering. Instead, the puny fox was making purring sounds as he was sleeping soundly in his lap.

Naruto felt like he was dreaming...only 3 days passed since he had gotten his beloved sister back and what he was experiencing the entire time was like a dream. He was happier than he remembered to have ever been, in both of his lives.

Before the movie ended, his sister fell asleep too, her head resting on his shoulder. She was snoring softly and a bit of droll was leaking from her half-opened lips, making Naruto chuckle at how adorable she was. Lifting up the blanket, he covered Misaki with it to keep her warm. A relaxed smile graced his face, making his nearly-permanent scowl fade away for the moment. Absent-mindedly, his right hand started to softly pet the fox cub in his lap.

At Naruto's touch, Kyuubi let out a groan of comfort and proceeded to stretch his tiny limbs and fluffy tails. Then, while still being asleep, the fox snuggled tighter into Naruto's abdomen, his purring sounds audibly intensifying.

Naruto had to make a superhuman effort to stop his body from rocking with laughter.

'Who would have thought that the mightiest chakra beast of them all, Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox would one day snuggle into his container's lap and purr like a spoiled cat?'

He chuckled silently and let his head lay on the coach's back rest. As he closed his eyes, before falling asleep, he thought:

'So this is what happiness feels like...'