An Eventful Weekend part 1

In a dimly lit room, a pair of figures were kneeling down in a spotlight as they waited for someone to arrive.

"...My legs are falling asleep."

Doing so for quite some time actually.

"Shut up Minato."

"...Not only that, but the spotlight is making me really hot." Hiraishin stated before he turned his head towards a particular monkey-themed assassin. "Why is that? I mean it's dimly lighted."

"Minato. Shut. Up."

"Am I having heat flashes? I heard men have it too."

Before Silver Monkey could snap at his assigned partner, which is rather loosely termed mind you, someone arrived. It wasn't really audible on the person's arrival as no footsteps were given. It was just the mere presence the two former League assassins felt.

Briefly looking up, Hiraishin and Silver Monkey saw the familiar glowing green eyes of Odysseus' mask before looking back down.

"You're wondering why I summoned you here, yes?" Odysseus questioned as he gazed at the two, whom briefly nodded. "There is something I want you two to take care of for me."

"Which is what, Lord Odysseus?" Silver Monkey asked.

"Earlier today, I was informed from one of our Ghosts that Warith al Ghul has been spotted after disappearing from our radar last month."

Hiraishin and Silver Monkey exchanged glances in varying degrees. Warith al Ghul, otherwise known as Talia al Ghul, has been known of covering her tracks really well as she doesn't like staying in place for too long. All that the pair knew on where she tends to stay at for long periods of time are both Infinity Island and Nanda Parbat.

...Not to be confused with the monk temple located in the Himalayas since both places share the same name… in an odd form of coincidence.

Anyways, the last time the pair heard of Talia was when Vertigo was sent to Gotham to acquire the sonic device from WayneTech for HIVE's glory. The mission ended in failure as he fell to his death by the hands of the unexpected teamup of Warith, Batman and Vanitas. Though it can be heavily blamed on Vertigo's incompetence he had throughout his assignment.

Regardless, Talia hasn't been seen since… until now that is.

"Do you wish us to take care of her for you?" Questioned the Hiraishin with a small smirk. "I could shock her body to death before bringing it back to life to do it all over again, if you'd like."

"No." Odysseus simply answered, much to Minato's disappointment. "As tempting as it is, Hiraishin, that is not your assignment… since I would like her alive, if possible."

"...Then what is it, sir?"

"I want you two to see what Warith is doing at her current location and learn of her intentions." Answered the cloaked man. "Capture and interrogate her. The other heads and I want to know what the League is doing and any of their current operations."

"What better information one would get than from one of the higher seats." Chuckled the meta-assassin.

"It will be done, my Lord." The monkey-themed assassin said. "But, I have to ask. Where was she spotted at?"

"...Gotham City."

-Morning, Naruto and Pam's loft-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Harley groaned awake as she tried turning off her alarm clock by the nightstand. The pale woman tried searching for it without opening her eyes. After smacking her hand down a few times, Harley was able to shut it off so she could maybe try to fall back asleep.

This wasn't the case as she was greeted by several kisses which got her to fully wake up. Only they were further south than she expected. Her breath hitched on the surprise before mewling on the feeling she was receiving. Opening her blue eyes, Harley saw her lover's figure underneath the sheets and eating her out.

The psychologist was going to say something when she felt her clit get bitten and stimulated it just the way she liked it. She groaned once more as she was starting to hump into her lover's face. Harley wanted more from the stimulation, especially when feeling her puckered asshole getting licked and played with.

"O-O-Oh god~" She mewled out as she placed one hand on the person's head to keep it there. The other one was placed over her heart and felt how fast and hard it was beating. "Don't stop~ Don't you dare stop~"

The order didn't stop as Harley felt the tongue and fingers driving her crazy on her lower regions. Her breathing became erratic as pressure was building up inside of her. This continued for quite some time until Harley brought her thighs together and screamed out a silent noise as her release came.

Harley panted for air as she felt the bed sheets shift. It wasn't long before a familiar ravenette popped out from under the covers before kissing the blonde. They shared their kiss while swapping some of Harley's essence between themselves.

Breaking away from the kiss, the changed psychologist spoke. "For a moment there, kitty, I thought you were puddin."

"And what gave me away?" Selina asked as she fondled her friend's chest.

"It was your tongue, for obvious reasons. It was really easy to make out with it's rough feel."

The ravenette chuckled as she kissed Harley once more. "Of course it was."

"And where's puddin?"

"Right here." Came the reply as he came into the bedroom with two trays full of food while wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Setting them down, Naruto looked at his two girlfriends while shaking his head. "You couldn't wait to do that, huh Selina? I heard you two while I was making you guys breakfast."

The Red champion snatched a piece of toast from the large try before taking a bite out of it. Once swallowing, she replied back. "It was hard not to with how we left things off last night." She then nudged the blonde's arm with a smirk. "Especially with Bubbles here being the ever present screamer."

Her pale cheeks reddened before looking away in an embarrassed huff. "Whatever, Buttercup."

Naruto chuckled once more on how things were going in their polyamorous relationship. Ever since Harley's birthday, the psychologist has been rather hungry when it comes to sex. She practically has been wanting it almost every day, one way or another. Whether it's having it with her boyfriend, either one of her two gal pals, or a combination of them to make things rather exciting.

Neither really minded as they explored things in their shared relationship which made them feel much more closer with the bubbly blonde than before.

Taking a swig of orange juice, Naruto spoke. "So, Harley, Selina, you got any plans for the day?"

"Nothing really as much as I know so far." Replied the environmentalist. "Hard to somewhat tell with Shizune planning on moving out very soon. Practically a lot of my schedule revolves on what she got for me."

Selina's friend and assistant was proposed by her boyfriend, Iruka, quite recently and he asked if they could move in together. She said yes on both fronts, but was concerned with Selina living by herself. Said woman didn't mind as their lease was going to end soon and had asked Naruto if she and Isis could move in with him. It would be a tight fit, but the Uzumaki thinks he could manage when the time comes.

"Well this just shows you can't really rely on her all the time, ya'know."

"True."

Taking a bite out of her pancakes, with lots of whip cream on top, Harley gave her answer. "Well~ I was thinking of having fun with you since it's your birthday tomorrow, puddin. And I have work off the entire time. I even have a half-day today at work."

'Oh yeah… that's right.' He thought as he looked at the calendar to see this was his birthday weekend with tomorrow being his special day.

Looking at his face, Harley adopted one of concern. "Is something wrong puddin?"

"No, not really Harley." He said as he was eating an apple. "Just was never much for celebrating my birthday. That's all."

"Really?" Selina voiced out. "Is it just because of your crappy childhood or something else?"

"A little bit of both actually."

"How so?"

Naruto sighed a little as he scratched his head. "It was mostly my childhood, at first, with the whole 'fox hunting' bit I had to deal with on my birthdays. But as time went on, I just didn't really think my birthday was really special." He soon felt his lovers' hands on his own while giving him a reassuring squeeze. Giving them an appreciated look, he continued. "Sure, I had a handful of people help celebrate it, but it wasn't really much to build up from."

"And what about coming here?" Asked the pale blonde. "What about afterwards?"

"...First year wasn't all that much with Talia just giving me my forged identity papers while we were traveling together. Second year was better with the two of us having a blast. Years after that one, enjoyed my time back in Metropolis with few people that really wanted to celebrate it with me. Once in Gotham, I just started to fall out from celebrating it." Answered the Uzumaki as he finished up his fruit. "But as you know, time tends to make one grow out of things and I just consider my birthday just another day for me."

"And yet you wanted to make our birthdays very significant to you." Selina stated as she folded her arms, causing her breasts to be pushed up a bit.

Naruto chuckled soon after. "Well, why couldn't I? You three are the best people in my lives right now and I wouldn't trade the world for anything else."

"Aw~ So sweet~" Harley cooed out as she glomped Naruto in an enduring hug. "And you're one of the best people in my life as well, puddin." Pulling back a bit, she gave him a seductive grin. "In fact~ I possibly wanna give you an early present."

Their boyfriend soon spoke in mocked confusion. "And what would that be?"

Harley got up onto her knees and got close to her boyfriend. Inching closer and closer, the pair were about to kiss with their eyes closed. Naruto leaned further in… yet met with nothing.

Opening his eyes, he saw Harley munching on her breakfast in bed with Selina beside her. Feeling her puddin's gaze on her, the pale woman quirked a brow on his confused face.

"...What? I'm not gonna let this food get cold, ya'know." She said before eating a piece of bacon. Though at the corner of her mouth, the Uzumaki saw hints of a shaky smirk. "Oh and your present will be given later."

For the longest time since he known the psychologist, he could tell what that particular smirk was despite her masking it by eating tasty meals. She out played him, even if it was just a little joke. Even seeing Selena control some chuckle while dining down on her breakfast.

Shaking his head, Naruto exited the bedroom so he could prepare Rachel's morning meal. Stepping foot outside he closed the door behind him to give Selena and Harley some privacy, if they decided to pick up their activity from earlier.

Though he seemed something was amiss when he saw a teapot on the backburner… Something he didn't place on the stove beforehand.

Looking around slightly, he sighed. "So… what kind of tea would you like this time, Talia?" Walking closer to the kitchen cabinets, he then listed off what he had. "Sorry that I don't have cinnamon, which I know you really like, but I have... peppermint, black, earl grey, blueberry, apple, and ginger mint."

A feminine chuckle was heard soon after, causing Naruto to look towards the nearby hallway. Leaving the darkness, the publisher saw his old traveling companion in loose jeans, black shoes and a grey shirt underneath a jean jacket. Talia even had her hair tied in a ponytail as she wore a pleasant smile on her beautiful face.

"I'll be fine with ginger mint, Naruto." She responded as she got closer to the kitchen counter. "And you know how I like it, right?"

"Two sugars, a drop or two of milk; and depending on the tea, a small dab of honey. Oh and let's not forget a pinch of rat poison." Was the reply. Turning his head around, he rose a brow. "I know you like to build up your immune system, but to this day I still think that method doesn't fully work."

"You have your mindset, I have mine."

The Uzumaki rolled his eyes as he pulled out the ginger mint and a pair of cups. "So when did you show up?" He asked as he picked up the teapot and filled it up with water.

"Not that long ago."

"Patio window or the front door?"

"The later. Easier that way."

"Uh huh." Turning the stove back on, he placed the teapot on the backburner before getting his breakfast started for more than just himself and his ward. "So why are you in town for Talia?"

"For you." This earned a mild-surprised look from the publisher. "What? You thought I was in town for business?"

"For either yourself or your dad? Yeah, that's what comes to mind after knowing you for two years."

Talia looked mockly hurt by that. "Oh you think so lowly of me. Its as if you'd think I didn't care."

She received a chuckled grin in return. "I'm just giving you crap, Talia. And it's good to see you again."

And like that, the Demon's daughter smiled back. "Likewise."

Getting the plates out for himself, Rachel and now Talia. He continued making the meal as the skillet was getting the new batch of pancakes made. "So you're here for me then. What for?"

"Your birthday."

"...Excuse me?"

"You thought I wouldn't forget your birthday now, did you?

Scooping up the first pancake and placing it in a plate, Naruto started on the next one. "No. I didn't expect you'd come here for just my birthday, Talia." Walking over to gather some toast and jam, he continued. "But I do appreciate you for coming."

"Your welcome then." Seeing the plate of food slide before her, she got her utensils before cutting into the delicious smelling flapjack with blueberries and chopped strawberries inside. "I know you don't like celebrating it, but I'd thought you could have another close friend with you for the occasion."

Naruto chuckled before hearing the upstairs bedroom open up. He didn't need to look away from the stove to see Rachel was exiting her room with a faint pitter patter of her feet. "Morning Rachel."

"Morning Naruto." Came a slightly groggy tone from the ashen ward. She then took notice of the extra guest sitting by the kitchen counter. "Hello Talia."

"Hello Rachel."

Getting into the barstool, the violet haired child awaited for her meal to be given to her, who asked for waffles instead of pancakes this morning. Looking over at the older woman, Rachel asked the question that came to mind. "Why are you here, Talia?"

"I'm just here to visit Naruto for his birthday."

This bit of information got Rachel to blink in confusion before nodding. She almost forgot her guardian's birthday was tomorrow. At the moment, she hid his present in her closet and hoped he'd like it. The ashen child worked hard in her studies, under her new teacher, to make it right for what he's done for her ever since coming under his care.

When the breakfast was still being made, the front door was being unlocked. It was soon opened to reveal a yawning redhead as she scratched her scalp. And slung around her shoulder was her messenger bag as her clothes seemed disheveled.

"Morning Pamela." Came Talia's greeting.

Blinking her green eyes, Pam looked towards the source and saw Talia eating breakfast with Rachel and Naruto. Her tired mind tried to process what was going on, especially wondering why the dark haired beauty was here.

She opened her mouth and tried to say her thoughts, but Naruto beat her to the punch. "Here for my birthday and came here unannounced." Looking back at the stove, he continued to stir the pancake mix for more servings with his first girlfriend's arrival. "So would you like pancakes or waffles, Pam?"

"...Waffles are fine." Was the redhead's response. Dropping her messenger bag on the couch, she walked to the kitchen counter and sat next to Talia. She soon placed her head onto the cold counter as she got a raised look from her boyfriend.

"Long night at work?" He asked. "Didn't see you since yesterday afternoon."

"Yeah. Had several projects to wrap up so I could be free for the next several days."

"And how'd that go?"

"...There are days my skills on multi-tasking way thin." Tilting her head up to show Naruto her deadpanned look, Pam continued. "And I'm jealous on you doing so damn well with multi-tasking."

Naruto and Rachel knew what Pam was referring to. The red haired botanist tends to use her chlorokinesis in finishing her work a whole lot faster. Like, for instance, occasionally uses vines as impromptu hands.

Yet Pam has to limit her powers greatly while at work. She doesn't want to draw attention towards herself, resorting to her old methods before her life-changing day last year. But Pam quickly got too used to her powers that limiting them tends to stress her out.

And this wasn't the only thing she was referring to at all. Naruto often uses his clones and it seems unfair for the botanist. Pam had the capability in making plant clones, but this might risk revealing her powers if the clone goes through some sort of accident. From being more capable on catching flames to slicing herself to reveal the unnatural green blood.

The publisher sighed. Coming towards his first girlfriend, he rubbed her back to sooth her in just the right way in the given situation. As this happened, the pair missed the slight change in Talia's blue-green eyes as they had a tinge of jealousy.

'Wish he could do that to me again like all those years ago when I was really stressed out.' Thought the Demon's heir. 'God. I forgot how it feels.'

"Anything I could do to help ya, Pam?"

Said woman hummed a pleasant sound as she liked the feeling she was getting. Her boyfriend knew just how to make her feel better that wouldn't result in them having sex right away. She didn't process his words right away, due to her comforting pleasure at the moment, but an idea did come to mind.

"Do you have plans for lunch, Naruto?"

"No… Why?"

"I wanna go on a picnic."

Naruto blinked when registering her demand. "Huh. We haven't gone on one in a long time." He said before shrugging. "Sure, why not."

Pam smiled before hearing Naruto's bedroom door opening. The group then saw the quickened form of Selina rushing out of the apartment as she quickly said a brief goodbye. Wasn't long before Harley came out with the empty trays of food in her Arkham attire.

"What's up with her?" Asked the botanist.

"Oh Buttercup forgot she had a prior work engagement and Shizune called her at the last minute." Came the pale blonde's response. As she got to the kitchen sink, she saw the extra person in the room and gave out a brief wave. "Hiya Talia. Good to see ya."

Talia merely waved back before going back into her meal.

Harley soon got up to Rachel and hugged her head before kissing her violet locks. Looking over to Pam, who's back was still being rubbed, Harley asked the obvious question in mind. "Was work really that bad last night, Blossom?"

"Yeah. It wasn't great, Bubbles."

The pale woman nodded before seeing the curious look from Talia's face. "What?"

"Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup? What's with the nicknames?"

The changed psychologist brightened a little. "Oh yeah~ that. Well I was watching cartoons with Rachel and Artemis the other night and this cute show popped out of nowhere. Sure it's just a pilot, but I liked the little girls a lot."

"...And the names?"

"Well~ I call Selina Buttercup since she's quite tough. I call Pam Blossom with her botanical profession." Was Harley's response. 'Not to mention her powers.'

"And I assume Bubbles is you because… of your upbeat personality."

"YUP~ And that Bubbles gal sounded a lot like me when I was in Kindergarden!"

Naruto chuckled a little. When he first heard Harley call Pam and Selina their respective nicknames while out on the field the other night it clearly threw them off. Sure, it became an odd idea soon after with field codenames while on the radio, but it helped than calling themselves Vanitas, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and…

…..

...Yeah… Harley doesn't really have a good alter ego name that doesn't really give out hints on her actual name.

"Well I should get going." Giving Naruto and Pam a nice hug, Harley made her way out of the loft. "Oh and Naruto. Be sure to have yourself clear tonight."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Okay and why?"

"You'll see!~ Bye~"

Once the pale blonde was out of the door, the silver haired male looked over at the redhead. "Any idea what she's talking about?"

Pam got up from her seat and went over to get her serving of pancakes. "Something about paintballing and the Crocks getting roped into coming along." Looking towards Rachel, she continued. "And both Harl and Paula asked me to watch Jade, Artemis and Rachel for the time being." Pam then looked back at her boyfriend. "I'm tired and I don't care if I spilled the 'big surprise activity' or not."

Naruto nodded before looking over to the nearby clock and saw what time it is. "You should probably hurry up and finish getting ready, Rachel. Your weekend lessons start soon."

The ashen ward nodded as she placed her dishes into the sink before making her way back into her bedroom.

"What weekend lessons are you talking about, Naruto?"

"Just a hobby she picked up interests with." Came the quick reply. Naruto wasn't going to outright tell his old friend what Rachel does on weekends. That was a private matter.

"Can I come with you?" Asked the dark haired woman, gaining Naruto's attention in the process. "I got nothing else to do and thought we could spend some time together before your picnic with Pamela here."

"I'm fine with it." Said the botanist. "I'm just gonna take a nap before then."

Looking back at Pam, Naruto could see her looking like she's about to drop. Coming to her side, he kissed her head before telling Pam to take it easy and let him know when to pick her up. And after finishing up their breakfast, both Naruto and Talia saw Rachel come down the stairs in a fresh attire before the three headed out.

-Park Row-

Park Row, otherwise known as Crime Alley, has been looking better than it's decline for the past thirty years. It was once a decaying cesspool for thugs and criminals. But after the allegations against Roland Daggett with the Clayface fiasco, things have been improving considerably.

The streets have been cleaned up and so have it's buildings. All because of several donations brought in from various contributors. Among those were Bruce Wayne, Naruto Uzumaki and Kurama Otsutsuki; whom has remained anonymous.

Parking on the side of the road, Naruto and Rachel got out of the car while Talia waited inside. From inside of the vehicle, the Demon's daughter looked over the area and gave out a pleasant hum. The last time she was in this part of the city was when her father brought her here as a child. It was all for her to learn one of the many examples of the world's corruption.

From the decrepit area of corruption and decay became a recovering home for the innocent. All because of various people actually giving a damn to fix a degrading wound.

Her blue-green eyes wandered around a little more until they landed as to where Naruto and his ashen ward were at. When the publisher knocked on the door, it opened shortly after. Talia was going to ignore who answered their call, but paused and widened her gaze in surprise.

'What the…' She thought. 'How the hell does Naruto know Jason Blood?' This question, along with many others, filled the assassin's mind as she was left by herself inside of her former student's car.

When escorted inside of the Blood residence, Rachel left Naruto behind so she can get to the library where her lessons take place. As she did so, the Uzumaki chatted with the ancient knight turned possessed man.

"So Jason, how are things?"

"Doing quite well, Naruto."

"That's good. And how was that trip back to England go earlier this week?"

"It went fine. Visiting the home country this time of the year helps raise my spirits. Even if it's just a little."

"Oh, hiding something interesting? C'mon don't hold back!" Naruto said with a good nature smile.

"And why would you think I have something to hide?"

"You tend to be extra polite and make things less exciting… or that can be Etrigan talking." Naruto joked as Jason's deadpanned frown made the mood tease. "Ahem, jokes aside, any news about the old baty witch ever since weeks ago?"

Jason shook his head. "That's actually the alarming thing, nothing has changed. Either she's in hiding or… no it couldn't be the latter." Jason quickly wave his hand to dismiss the notion. "Alsa for now the magical side of my world is normal… as one would suspect."

The Uzumaki scratched his head on this bit of information. "Huh… Weird. Regardless, how's Rachel's studies coming along? Been asking her about them, but she just says they've been fine and nothing else."

Liking the change of topics, the ancient knight walked further into his home to where his library resided. "Quite the student. I fear that if she was around the time Merlin was alive, the poor girl would've been driven insane from the wizard." Jason said with a sad smile. "But indeed her self-study is great as she learns more about her own powers. Not for craving more power, more rather to control it. She reminds you that perhaps determination runs deeper than any bloodline."

This got Naruto to smile a little. "So what can you tell me about her skills?"

"Hmm, well I can tell you, for starters, that she's an empath mage." Seeing the deadpan look on the whiskered man's face, Blood explained. "Asides from sensing one's emotions, Empath mages primarily use magic that are tied to their own emotions. Even fueling her spells with said feelings.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense. She does handle herself better in situations than most kids her age, but I thought being a orphan toughens you up." Naruto said with a serious nod.

"True, but I can tell you that Rachel's a special case. Which, I'm afraid, I can't give you the specifics as to why. And don't bother trying to pressure me to spill them since it's a rather sensitive topic."

"I thought so and won't ask. But when Rachel is comfortable enough to tell, I'll be there…" Naruto said with a warm smile as Jason gaze was now appreciation to his kindness.

"That's all I ask really, even her." When they entered the library, the two men saw Rachel reading through one of the books she grabbed off of the table. Jason did keep Naruto a good distance away so the young child wouldn't hear their conversation more. "But I do have some concerns, pertaining to her emotions."

"What do you mean?"

The possessed man ran his fingers through his hair. "Where she came from exactly, the Empath practitioners were taught to suppress their emotions to keep things under control when using their spells. Rachel here has a good amount of knowledge on this particular branch, but some details astound me."

"How so?"

"To my knowledge, she would've had to barely show emotions at the current time. Yet she clearly shows them with you around and her powers don't act wild. There's even some residue of your presence that lingers onto her to keep the suppression going."

"So something in me is preventing from going off the chain. Got it." Naruto summarize himself as Jason twirl his hand.

"Or lack, thereof."

"Say what now?"

"Something that pertains to your powers. As Morgana said all those years ago, your powers were like from the Void… or tied to them somehow."

"Oh right, uhh, can't really explain that."

Jason nodded as he rubbed his temples. "Me either. But pertaining to Rachel, her powers are a double edged sword. With her specific heritage that if she taps too far into her powers, she might draw demonic entities to her location." He said as he left out a detail pertaining to Rachel's father.

"Don't need to explain that part, Jason. Trust me, in a way… I also had that fate for a while…" Naruto looked down with hollow eyes. "But any tips for keep them away besides silver and salt?"

"Asides from the typical meditation exercises to relax her very being and clear her mind, she'll need to watch out on her anger as it'll really cause problems later on. And since her Empath powers are very strong, that emotion could corrupt her if left unchecked."

"Alright, I'll try not… shit damn hell!" Naruto comically whisper with a pale face. "I swear to god I hope that she doesn't became a Sakura…"

"Who?"

The Uzumaki shook his head. "No one you should worry about… Anyways, on the meditation exercises, I can clearly help her out with that."

Sensing truth from the publisher, Jason nodded before seeing Rachel's guardian leave the premises as he'll return later when her lessons were done.

When he got outside, Naruto made his way to his car. Once he was inside, he was greeted with a curious expression plastered on Talia's face. "Yes?"

"Who was that?" She asked in an oblivious tone, knowing full well who that man was exactly.

"Just Rachel's weekend teacher."

"And when did she started seeing him?"

"Several weeks back." Buckling his seatbelt, Naruto started up the car. "We ran into him, per chance, and one thing led to another that Jason wanted to teach Rachel some stuff here and there."

"Like what?"

"No clue." He lied. "All I know is that Rachel's enjoying herself and that's all that matters to me."

As the pair drove away from the area, Talia occasionally glanced at Naruto with a narrowed glance. Does he not know who Jason Blood is or is he just keeping up an act? The assassin will figure this out later.

For now, all she wants to do was to spend time with Naruto and hopefully ease herself further into his heart.

-Later, Gotham Park-

"...It's weird you wanted to do this here, Pam. I figured you'd want to have our lunch at the Greenhouse."

"I know, Naruto. But as much as I'd like to enjoy the beauty of our private garden, I wanted to appreciate the beauty here that's shared with the general populace."

Naruto smiled as he laid against a tree with Pam leaning against his chest. Below them lied the blanket and a bit aways from them was their picnic basket.

Naruto spent some good hours with Talia by going to the nearby gym for a good spar with them walking around town as a good cooldown period. After that, Talia wanted to visit Paula and have a nice chat with her… on something, but promised to show back up later in the day. From there, Naruto headed back to the loft and picked up a fully rested botanist for their lunch date.

Neither talked much as they just wanted to enjoy each others company. But they did talk about work as it seemed to be the only good topic to discuss. With somewhat exhausting other relevant topics, asides from current events, it seemed to be the only good thing to bring up.

Speaking of…

"I've been wondering, Pam, but have you felt left out?"

"From what?"

"Being out on the field."

"...Why'd you ask?"

"Well… Selina came with me on a good number of occasions with Harley starting out ever since your shared birthday. As much as I enjoy doing it with them, I feel that it's unfair that you're not with us." Naruto tightened his embrace with his red haired beauty as he continued. "I know you're busy with work, but I just I don't know if you wanted to join or not."

Pam sat there as she thought things over. Even looking up towards the sky to clear her head so the process will go batter. After several minutes, she spoke. "I appreciate your thoughts and concerns, Naruto. I really do."

"But…"

"But being out there isn't really for me." She said as she rubbed her hand on the patch of grass. "I know I have these powers, but the things you guys do out there doesn't really coincide with my second job. I know it's good to help others out, as my mother would be proud of me doing so, but I'm more aligned with saving nature. And even if I do want to join you three, I think I'm more of a supporter and help out more from the back as it were."

"Even though you can clearly kick some ass in the Dreaming."

Pam smirked. "Those were Nightmares and aren't apart of the waking world, Naruto. Besides, they have their beastly movesets while humans have their own. Clearly different."

"Yeah, yeah. But I had helped train you in hand to hand combat so you'd have your one fighting style to coincide your powers."

"And I appreciate it greatly, my love." The green champion sighed. "Regardless, I've never been much of a fighter to begin with. But if needed, given whatever situation presents itself, I might consider coming out to lend my aid."

"Good to know, Pam, but it was merely just an offering."

"I know, yet those were my thoughts on the matter."

The Uzumaki nodded and let the matter drop.

Looking towards the park's open field, they looked at the varied families that seemed to be attending today. They all were clearly enjoying themselves, with the children playing and the parents doing some activity with their respective child. None of life's problems distracted the families as they were truly happy.

Yet the sight before the couple saddened them, in more ways than one.

Both Naruto and Pamela didn't have that great of a childhood. One was treated as a demon, due to events beyond his control. The other felt truly insecure, due to family problems with the eventual death of her beloved mother. Each had wanted to have connections with others close to their age so they could forget their life's problems.

Yet that yearning desire unfortunately came too late as some damages lingered over them for years. Even if they did form friendships with specific individuals at later times, nothing could fully fix and heal the emotional scars inflicted upon them in their early years.

But the couple were able to find each other and found happiness in the process. They loved each other deeply and unknowingly thought of plans of forming a family together. Both thought nothing could ruin their perfect little world.

...Yet nothing could last forever as that little bubble popped with tragedy striking in the most vulnerable way. Naruto and Pam healed and moved forward from the event as odd forms of love were added into their relationship. They were clearly fine with the whole thing as others joined their unique family from lovers to a caring ward to look after.

But the thought of having children of their own, whether it's through their own flesh and blood or adoption, was still a sensitive topic to dwell into.

It was more apparent on this subject when the Uzumaki took on Dream's mission to save Bruce from the Mad Hatter. In that dream, Naruto and Pam were happily married with children on the way and Rachel was his adopted daughter. It was really hard for him to handle and he wished it could've been real, despite knowing it was merely just a dream.

So when he told this particular information to his first girlfriend, it was like pouring salt and lemon juice on a damaging wound. The publisher never seen her become oddly driven while in her depressed state. He can clearly admit it frightened him that she might do something drastic in the process.

Breaking his gaze away from the families, Naruto saw Pam's slightly pained expression which had hints of… joy? As much as he's curious on what's going on through her head, he spoke up. "We should probably get going, Pam. It's probably time we pick up Rachel from her magic lessons from that old knight."

"...Yeah."

The couple slowly rose to their feet as they gathered up their picnic supplies before heading back to Naruto's car. Along the way, they held hands with their fingers interlaced. Both kept a firm grip to help ease the pain and comfort each other.

…..

…..

…..

Jumping down from a high branch of a far off tree, Talia looked at the retreating couple with a small frown on her face.

After talking to Paula and Laurence Crock of her being in the city, the Demon's daughter recently tracked down Naruto and Pam on their little date. By the time she got here, the dark haired beauty made out most their conversation on the past several minutes via binoculars and lip reading.

Talia could've heard more if she were closer, but she didn't want risking getting noticed by her former student. Yet, by the end of it all, more questions formed in her mind with only an answer or two were given.

'So he does know Jason Blood is a magic practitioner.' She thought before thinking back on what the retreating pair mentioned. 'What were they talking about exactly on 'being out on the field? And what's this Dreaming?... What else are you hiding from me, Naruto?'

-Hours Later-

"...Why did Pammy have to spoil the surprise?!"

"You've been saying that for the past ten minutes, Harley."

"I know, Talia, but… but… GRAH!"

Naruto rolled his eyes as he drove his car to their destination. Briefly looking through his rearview mirror, the publisher saw Harley pouting in the backseat. And sitting right next to him was his former teacher as she chuckled at the blonde's odd expense.

The pair arrived at Harley's apartment earlier so they could not only pick up said woman but to drop off Pam to watch over Rachel, Artemis and Jade for the night. When Harley saw Naruto's and Talia's attire, which consisted of jeans, combat boots, and dark sweaters; the psychologist knew something was off. She would eventually learn Pam spilled the beans on what she planned for Naruto while driving over there.

And suffice to say, Harley was rather pissed.

"You can say that again." She muttered, getting raised looks from those in the front seats.

Talia leaned to the side and spoke in a soft tone. "Who is she talking to? We didn't say anything to her."

"No clue, Talia. I learned to not ask."

...Now you might be wondering why Talia is coming along.

You see, Selina called Harley earlier while she was still at work. The ravenette had to tell the bubbly blonde the unfortunate news that she needed to cancel coming to tonight's activity. It was rather last minute, but Selina had an excuse.

Someone had contacted her that a rare breed of black Siberian leopard was coming into town. There are reportedly a handful left in the world, due to being hunted by poachers and collectors. And this person was paying the thief a pretty penny to acquire the near extinct and transport it to a designated location so the black leopard will be taken to an undisclosed safe haven for endangered animals.

Now Selina was rather suspicious on the whole situation and wondered if the person was in fact one of those poachers or collectors that wanted the black leopard's life. The man sounded true over the phone, but the ravenette didn't know if she should accept the job or not.

But being a champion of the Red, Selina was obligated into accepting this to preserve a dying race of feline.

'I hope that whoever this Henri Ducard person is, he won't screw Selina over.' Naruto thought in bitterment. 'If he does, then Selina won't be the only one he'll have to deal with.'

Going back with Talia, Harley was able to talk to her when the dark haired beauty was with her neighbors. Talia accepted the blonde's offer into coming along as she thought it would be rather fun.

So here they are, driving to their destination. And what place are they going to exactly? Why the old Gotham World's Fair Grounds of course.

Located by the city's borders, the establishment was inspired by the New York's World's Fair back in the 1960's as it wanted to show what the owners thought what the future might be like. And during its initial days, the amusement park located in the grounds was visited quite often by the Gothamite population. It had a good blend of what Wonder City was like back in its hay day with a more 'modern' and futuristic feel.

But the amusement park was closed down roughly eleven years ago and went into a derelict state.

No one really knows why this happened, causing varied rumors to spread. Some figured it pertained to management and safety issues. Some guessed the owners owed money to the mob and they had to skip town. And some thought there were untold allegations of some kind.

Several years ago, however, the land was brought up for auction as the land needed to be taken care of. After some bidding debates, the land's ownership was split in half by both paintball enthusiasts and nature preservation groups.

The paintballers wanted to acquire the rustic buildings and some parts of the forests as it would've been great for games. The rest of the land was connected to a good, natural river and contained several flora species that needed to be kept safe. And once a good number of buildings were gutted and items moved away for safety reasons, the place was opened for business.

From what Naruto researched about the place, the establishment is opened from Spring to Fall but it's completely closed when Winter comes. It's paint ammunition is entirely water based so it'll be environmentally friendly. And different places of the fairgrounds are opened at varied times, depending on how many groups come in for the day via reservations and walk-ins.

As Naruto parked his car in the establishment's lot, he looked back at Harley. "Do you think Laurence and Paula got here before us?"

"Maybe, Puddin. Paula said they needed to take care of something before coming here." Answered the blonde. "Regardless, we'll need to go get ourselves checked in and get our equipment."

The old traveling friends followed the psychologist inside of the nearby building and got themselves checked in. While waiting for the Crock couple to arrive, the three acquired their safety gear and their choice in paint-gun from the package Harley acquired. And their respective gear consisted of the elbow and knee pads, fingerless gloves, chest plate and either safety goggles or a full watch cap per player's choice.

"Is this really necessary?" Naruto said a little annoyed at the tight and uncomfortable safety gear they wore. At least with his Vanitas armor, it fits quite well. "I hate these velcro straps, they never stay tight."

"I agree." Said the Demon's daughter. "I'm usually alright with them." She then looked herself over to see some straps seemingly sticking out. "But these are rented equipment and the straps get worn out after constant use."

"You could go up and ask for a different one, Talia." Harley suggested, getting the dark haired woman to shrug. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"It's fine. When I was young, I got the hand-me-downs; so I had to learn to adapt- I mean make use of them."

"Don't you have just Nyssa as your younger sibling?" Naruto asked. "How could you have hand-me-downs if it's just the two of you?"

"I have a big family." Talia chuckled, "And with my father, he didn't like it when we can still use things unless it was shredded, burned or beyond repair. Not only that, but I do have a brother so I had to get some items from him."

The publisher blinked in confusion. "Really? I don't remember you telling me that detail."

"It's because her brother and dear old dad don't really see eye to eye." Spoke a familiar gruff voice. Looking to the side, the three saw Laurence and Paula showing up. "Not only that, but that ended up the same way towards the sisters."

Unlike the early arrivals, who wore the establishment's used equipment, the Crocks had what appeared to be better looking paintball armor and guns on their persons. If Naruto didn't know any better, the married couple went paintballing quite often as the equipment was well maintained.

"And how would you know that, Laurence?" Harley voiced with her puddin nodding in agreement.

The larger man blinked before seeing Paula and Talia giving him subtle glares on revealing a bit of information on specific family matters. Also revealing to both his neighbor and her boytoy that he might know something they shouldn't.

Laurence can handle his wife giving him that glare, but his master's daughter giving him the same treatment alongside Paula is a whole different matter.

"...Talia spoke a bit too loud over the phone." Lied the Crock patriarch. "Heard her talking to her father the last time she was here and that bit was dropped in an argument."

The bubbly blonde and silver haired Uzumaki shrugged a little to show they bought the lie. Though this did little help in diffusing Laurence's little predicament.

"So uh... are ready to shoot each other now?" Naruto chuckled as he hope to diffuse the angry women's glares. "Uh, right. I'll shut up now…" Looking over to his girlfriend, he asked the obvious question that came to mind. "So what are we playing? King of the Hill? Slayer? Teams?"

"Capture the flag." Talia said with a smile. "You choose if you or I become the captain."

"Should there be more people for the team or is this enough? Remember I never played this before."

"It varies." Paula shortly said. "If there's a big group involved, then either a matching amount opposes said group or it gets split in half to make things fair. But if it's a small group, like us, then just need a similar amount or more teams involved on the field size."

"Right…" Naruto said before shrugging. "Alright I'll lead. Let's win!" He smiled with enthusiasm as he stood up. Harley jumped from her seat in a similar fashion before the couple went to speak with the employees on where the group will go against and where.

As they left, Laurence looked over to Talia with a raised brow. "What's your endgame, princess?"

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked in an innocent tone.

"I saw the look in your eyes when Naruto accepted on being team leader." Said the male assassin as he double checked his ammunition. "Normally I wouldn't give two shits as we're just doing this for fun, especially with Harley paying for the whole thing. But you seemed a bit too keen on liking him to lead."

"I agree with Laurence, Talia. Why did you seem interested on him being team captain?"

Talia looked at the married couple as they egged her to answer. "Just a friendly assessment… nothing else." She said cryptically.

"Right…" They drowled out.

As this conversation was taking place, two shady people were observing the group with a critical eye.

"...It's strange to see Warith being all relaxed like this." Spoke the first as he sipped his drink at a far away distance so neither of them would be spotted.

"Possibly to keep up her cover." Said the second as he stared at the group from underneath his hat.

"Not only her, but Sportsmaster and Huntress as well." The first man slurped up the rest of his beverage before tossing the cup into the nearby trash can.

"You can blame Alsiyada (Huntress) for that particular detail. Before leaving the League, I learned she was considered the pants of the couple as she made her husband take this civilian life."

"What for?"

"What else, raise a family."

"Well that's annoying." Looking back at the group, the first man saw… "Oh~ Do my eyes deceive me? Naruto Uzumaki here in the flesh?!"

The second man pulled his partner away and covered his mouth before speaking in a harsh whisper. "Quiet down, you idiot! I don't want to blow our operation, Minato!"

The now revealed Minato glared at his partner before he pried the man's hands away. "Shut up, you old monkey!" He said in a low tone. "My promised target is here and I want to fucking kill him for what he did to me last year!"

"And you'll get your chance. But we need to be sure Talia is away from Sportsmaster and Huntress before we take her. And, if we have time, we can nab him as well."

Hiraishin grudgingly accepted it before looking back at the silver haired Uzumaki. The shit happening to him at the current time all started because of that whiskered bastard that got him captured in the first place. He will be sure to torture him very much. And if Vanitas was there, alongside the publisher, then Minato will be in ecstasy heaven.

With the 'birthday' group, they soon followed the employees as they presented them and their opponents the large field they'll be playing in for today. The playing field consisted of four forts with them resting on opposing hills or valleys with four defensive towers each. There are openings with right angle walls, open narrow windows along the walls for players to slip their gun mussels through. In the center of each base lied the respective teams' flag for the objective of the game. To complete the field with the surrounding area, there's an open front leading up to the entrance with several sandbag defense walls.

"Lot of space, good cover…" He said to himself looking at the steel drums and concrete forts. "Bases and lots of camping locations. Okay so we have some space. Any one of you good at sniping?" The whiskered man asked his friends. "I can barely sit still, even as an adult, so someone should camp here to do some cover fire."

"I'll do it," Laurence offered, "I can also defend our flag pretty well if I get between my sniping and the base."

"Alright I'll take lead, Laurence give as much supporting fire when you're able. And the rest keep low and get ready to roll on moments notice." He order as the group nodded, or shrugged in Laurence's case. "Right Talia you're in charge of checking the back, watch out for any stalkers."

"Seems you're used to giving orders." The male assassin chuckled. "And here I thought you were an herbivore kind of guy."

"Oh trust me he eats a lot of pink-" Harley was about to say more until Naruto slaps his hand over her mouth. "Mphm MPHMPMH!"

"Please stop…" He blushed at the embarrassment his lover was about to say. "...Licking my hand isn't going to work, ya'know."

CHOMP~!

"Ow!" Naruto quickly removed his hand from the sudden bite. "The hell was that for!?"

"Because I just going to say he likes rare steak… You shot yourself in the foot there~" Harley grin at Naruto's empty stare.

"...I'm losing my touch…" He complained in a depress tone. "I… duck-"

"What?" Harley started before Naruto duck down, but not before grabbing Harley to join him. Almost the next second, their previous spots were suddenly filled with splatter paints! "Thanks love!" She said before quickly standing up to take aim and… "The hell they go?!" She asked as she saw the others in their group seemingly disappeared on them.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "They left, paintball is more like stealth and strategy."

Harley nodded on the reminder. Though she paused on what she did remember on all of the paintball games. "Hey, isn't there supposed to a horn-"

*WHAAAAAAA*

"...There it is." Said the psychologist as Naruto pulled her into cover before yelling out. "TO WHOEVER SHOT AT ME! YOU WENT TOO FUCKING EARLY!"

"WORTH IT, OLD HAG!" Spoke out a college student from the other side of the playing field.

"Oh no…" Naruto deadpanned…

"THE HELL YOU CALLED ME!?" Harley quickly jumped over the sandbag defensive wall they were using.

Paula seemingly rolled next to her neighbor's boyfriend and looked onward with concern on her features. "Should we-"

"Wait for it…" naruto sighed as screams of the college students were heard. "There we go…"

"Crap! I'm out!" Harley came back to them… covered in paint. "Totally worth it though, nail those little hellspawns in the junk!"

"Don't forget there's another team, Harley."

"...I know that."

The Vietnamese woman merely blew a raspberry. "Pfft! Five bucks says that thought didn't register when you were going John Rambo on those kids." Naruto chuckled as Harley left while flipping the bird at her.

From his position in their tower, Laurence chuckled at the sight. "Man if Naruto actually make us win, I'm buying him ten beers."

"He should or else I'll have to be harsher the next time we spar." Laurence heard Talia say from below him.

"Thought you were on their tails?" He asked as he watched as Harley was slowly heading to the 'dead' player zone for the current round.

"Just shoot me if Naruto and your wife get shot. Just watching how well he does under pressure."

"Wow~ what a team player." Laurence said with a overly deadpan tone. "Seriously what is up with your hang up for Harley's boytoy? You planning on kidnapping him and reverting him to a kid to raise him?" He chuckled until the silence was little to heavy for him to enjoy… "Y-You're not really going to do that, are you?"

"I am not… we lost the ingredients to use it." She offhandedly replied as she fired a round at an incoming player.

"Oh good one…" He said before doing a double take as he looked directly at the Demon's Heir. "Wait… that one is also a joke, right? There's no way your dad figured out how to do that."

"Of course I'm joking, Laurence." Talia said. "Look, it's my own personal reasons, alright?" She turn her head to glare at the man.

The Crock patriarch moved back to his position and quickly snipped another player so both Naruto and Paula could move forward. "If you say so, princess."

It wasn't much longer until the first round went to Naruto's team as Naruto and Paula was able to take two of the other opponent flags before converging to the last one. Laurence and Talia were able to keep a good eye on their team members while taking care of incoming players. But the Demon's Heir was more focused on her former student. His shots were accurate and no round was wasted as he weaved and quickly ducked through the shots.

When the next round was ready to start, the 'birthday' team saw Harley was somewhat cleaned up from the paint splatter on her body to show her qualifying for the round.

"Alright this time I won't lose my head." She vowed walking with her lover.

"Don't let those kids get to you, they expect us to get mad." Naruto explained to his girlfriend. "So besides being a martyr. How's it been so far?"

This earned him a small, playful glare from the blonde woman. "Hurts, obviously."

"I can kiss you to make you feel better. Would that help?"

Harley quickly morphed her 'glare-face' into a teasing smile as she wrapped her arms around him. "Well~ I've got a bunch of boo boos that need kissing."

He gave her a hummed chuckle as he kissed her nose, which made her mewl on the act. "I'll be sure to give you a lot when we're back at either of our places, my sweet Harley."

"And I'll be sure you'll do, puddin."

*WHAAAAAAA*

With the sound of the horn, the teams went back into action as paintball bullets flew through the air. Having to quickly duck from some incoming hits, Harley tried to stay out of the line of fire. Taking a quick peek from cover, she quickly pointed her gun out and blindly fired her paint gun.

"Spray and pray!" she shouted as she randomly took shots.

"You do realize you had experience with guns, Harley!" Her puddin said as he slid righ next to her before firing some shots at an incoming opponent.

"I know, but this isn't a field day ya'know. So I gotta have some fun!"

Coming up to the pair, Paula heard the last bit of dialogue and asked a question which was quickly formed. "Since when did you have experience with guns?"

"Uhhh… intense games like House of the zombies and Lock Room 4D…" Naruto stated with an embarrass tone hoping that it would make his lie more believable.

Paual merely narrowed her eyes at this. "Like hell those arcade games would work, Naruto."

"Well he also forgot to mention the fair games, Paual." Said the pale woman, hoping it'll cover the loose bit of information. "I got puddin a giant stuffed duck for him a while back."

"Still, those aren't real guns. But maybe you have a good talent for them, Harley." She insisted making Naruto cough.

"Can we focus on getting the enemy flags now?"

Before Paula could respond, the two saw Harley leap out from cover and started firing at a few players while performing summersaults to avoid the blows. Even using some of the further covering as impromptu springboards to perform some flips in the air while firing additional rounds. This proved to Paula that Harley still kept up with her gymnastics training she put her through all those years ago. Even with some merit and flexibility that almost surprised her.

Once Harley landed on the ground, the three heard someone charging right towards them.

"SUPPRESSING FIREEEEEEE!" A man ran up to them while he scream out those words with each shot.

"Nope!" Naruto said as each shot miraculous miss him, and quickly shot him in groin. "Wow between the idiot and us… we're racking up a lot of points.

"Either that or some of these boys are not that great of players." Came Paula's drawled out tone. She then sighed before firing a round at the idiot player's forehead with Harley firing several rounds at the man's privates… on accident…

Not really.

"I regret listening to Archer…" the man limped away as Naruto talk to his friends.

"Ha, let's continue this game." Said the bubbly blonde.

Back with the Crock matriarch assassin, she shook her head. "What kind of idiot screams out his attack?"

"A naive one, maybe."

"Still Harley was surprising to say the least. I expected Naruto was gifted, but she was as well…"

"Well what?"

"Nothing. Just making some verbal notes. Always good to have a few every so often."

Nodding at the Vietnamese woman's words, the three moved forward.

As she lagged behind to cover the young couple's positions, Paula narrowed her eyes at their backs. 'He's definitely lying. Not even the most enthusiastic gun nuts can be that good from games and practiced. Those are train instincts. Not just her, but him as well. And he said he never used a gun before.'

The three progressed further as Naruto and Harley quickly took care of some hiding players. Reacting quickly, the publisher quickly climbed up the wall and fired at some players at the upper level before seeing Harley take the flag. Jumping down, the pair bolted towards the next enemy area with Paula not far behind.

It wasn't long before the group saw some players leave another area where they took the respective flag. They agreed to flank them to acquire the flag in hopes of winning the round.

"Okay so we agree?" Naruto said as Harley raised her hand. "Yes?"

"...I forgot..."

THUD~!

"Remind me what do you talk about when the jokes are gone?" Paula asked Naruto as Harley pouted at her rude sentence.

"I don't know~ Just simple things: work, life… sex."

"Really?" Came the deadpanned response. "Can we just focus back on this please."

"Okay the plan is for you two to attack and draw them away while I'll get their flag and win this… and the side bet I made earlier." Naruto said in a low tone.

"Which is what exactly?"

"Well some drunk guy was I wouldn't beat his team, and if I did, he give a thousand bucks and some nice alcohol that he had on him." Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I think he was with the 'suppressing fire' guy."

"...Okay?~ That's rather odd."

"Well if he offered it, I might as well take it."

Paula merely rolled her eyes. "If you say so, Naruto."

When close enough, Naruto saw the one he met the bet with earlier and fired at his back. Though one of his teammates moved in the way at the last minute to cover said man's defenseless back.

"GOD! Ugh, Cyril?! The one time you could get shot and it had to be a paintball!?" The man yelled at the geek. "Sorry, sorry...pretty sure that's my MONEY talking!"

"We're so going to win…" Harley simply said. "I mean look at them!"

"Archer, I suggest you stop yelling and go back to the fort. Seriously, how can you walk after drinking ten of those bottles?" A dark skin woman who was perhaps the tallest of her team order the drunk man who grumbled at the suggestion.

Though the impromptu orders quickly ended as the paintballs flew and landed on them, causing the 'Archer' team to be done for the round. Said team then yelled and complained on each other as they had to go back to wipe away the paint for the upcoming round.

"That means I'll get that money and alcohol afterwards~" Came Naruto's call, causing the man to flinch.

"DAMMIT IT!" Archer cried, "Worst day ever~! Ahem," He coughed into his hand hoping to sound calm and mature. "Perhaps a night with Lana with would be fine instead of the money and my only last bottle of rare booze?"

"...No."

"YOU WERE GOING TO PIMP ME OUT!?" The woman grab the man's collar and drag him away. "YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A SERIOUS DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS LATER!"

"Getting shot in the groin was definitely worth to see Archer lose… hehe, I'll wire the money to you sir." The geeky man said as he wave the blonde male goodbye. "Come on, Pam, Roy and you too-"

"You're not my supervisor!" A crazy red haired woman yelled out before winking at Naruto before making a choking gesture at herself.

"...Okay they are the officially the weirdest people I ever met." Naruto said with a chuckle.

As the three 'birthday team' players went back to their player base, Harley looked back at the retreating team and tilted her head. "I think I worked on that crazy gal several times. Cheryl, Carol or something. Kept changing her name for some reason."

Naruto and Paula blinked a few times before voicing the same question. "Really?"

"Yeah not sure if it was because of glue sniffing and/or digesting, the dangerous sex she has, or that she was always saying 'You're not your supervisor' at me." Putting her hand on her chin, Harley thought more on the former patient. "I believe she was admitted to Arkham, for a time, because of work issues and they wouldn't let her back in until I finished all of her sessions."

The Crock woman shook her head with a small chuckle. "Regardless, that 'Archer' seemed to be someone can be that stupid… or drunk… or pathetic."

"Well I'm a thousand dollars richer and I wonder what kind of alcohol that guy will give me."

"He might try to drink it all before giving it to you, puddin."

"...Yeah, I think your right."

The next few rounds went quite well as Naruto and his team were able to hold their own in both defending their flag and acquiring the others. On the third round of the game, Laurence took a break from defending the fort as he wanted to finally get some players up close and personal. At that time, Harley took over the army veterans sniping spot with Naruto covering her flank… in more ways than one.

Especially when 'Archer' surprisingly snuck past Naruto and came up the blonde psychologist as he tried flirting with Harley in hopes of banging her…

Yeah… This action resulted in Naruto firing several paintball rounds at the man's groin, much to the enemy team's amusement.

"Yeah, I don't go for idiots." Harley said before taking another shot. "Danger zone~!"

"That's… oww… my line…" Archer weakly cried out.

"Did anyone ask you?" Said the Uzumaki as he dragged the enemy player away in a humiliating fashion. "Besides, that line isn't really copyrighted."

The fourth round was similar like before with Laurence, Talia and Paula out on the field. This time, however, they practically slaughtering all of the enemy players. It was rather crazy in Naruto's and Harley's eyes, but thought it was pretty impressive. Even more so when the bubbly blonde enjoyed the show on the enemy players getting wrecked.

It was like they could take out an army just by themselves.

…..

They have no idea on how right the couple was.

With the final round of the game, Talia wanted Naruto out with her all by themselves.

"You sure about that, Talia? We were doing fine beforehand on the system we had out."

"I know that, Naruto, but I just thought it would be nice to fully cycle us through." She said with a disarming smile. "Besides, this game made me think of the time when we were in East Berlin."

The publisher groaned at the memory. "Of course it would be that time."

"What time is she talking about, puddin?" Harley asked as both Laurence and Paula were curious from their positions at their designated fort. There was still time before the last round of the game was sounded off, so there was some time to kill.

Naruto let out a frustrated sigh before recalling the event. "We were merely minding our own business and trying not to get in trouble while in Communist controlled West Berlin. I mean sure~ there was nothing to worry about as long as we played it cool, then none of the officers and military personnel would detain us."

He then let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't know how or why it happened, but we started getting shot down by these masked guys while crossing a park. We had to duck for cover and flee off site or else we'd either get killed or detained while being questioned why we were being fired upon. At one point we got separated and I had to deal with some schmucks chasing me down through a restaurant before I had to take care of a pair at a hardware store."

"And I gotta say you handled yourself well when you took them out, Naruto." She said with a small smile.

This gave her a received deadpanned glare. "Right~ with me having to burn a man's face off at a kitchen griddle, stabbing a man in the face with a butcher's knife and using said deadman as a human shield while being shot at." This got Harley to pale a little more on the gruesome tidbit before seeing her puddin continue. "Oh and I had to hang the shooter with chains at the hardware store and that wasn't easy at all, mind you."

"...Well… that's interesting." Paula muttered as her husband nodded with a hint of a smile on his face of learning Harley's boytoy being more harsh than he thought.

"Oh! And don't get me started on the shit we had to deal with back in Amsterdam." Naruto said as he leveled a small glare at his old traveling companion. "Yet you seemed alright in the end, on both counts, while I had to keep up a nice smile and play it cool while crossing the damn borders."

Talia bitterly smiled on the two events. She didn't know how HIVE tracked her down, but she was able to quickly take care of the men after her. Though she did see Naruto's resulting kills when she tried to catch up with him before seeing the ending fight in the hardware store.

As for Amsterdam, it was quite crazy on the chase through the canals with them being shot at every corner by said enemy organization. She was riding the boat while Naruto rode their motorcycle while trying to deflect their shots away from her. Explosions, vehicle switching, and so much more happened that made their blood and adrenaline flowing to the point that possibly made any action movie seem like a child's film.

'God. I was so damn close on taking him right then and there when we were in the clear.' She thought as her smile went into a frown. 'Too bad Naruto fell unconscious once we were safe.'

"Bleeh… that sounds like something from from a horror series…" The blonde woman shivered at the mental image.

Naruto came up to his lover and hugged her a bit. "Well I did what I had to do to survive, Harley." Pulling away a little, he saw she was a little better. "Didn't want to kill them, but had not choice."

"...That's fine, puddin."

*WHAAAAAAA*

With the sound of the final round starting, Naruto and Talia quickly slid to covering while Harley ducked behind to help Paula with defending the fort.

"Come on, let's go!" The silver haired Uzumaki roared as he and Talia charge forward moving and almost hovering around the field like ghosts. The two reached the first fort as they heard firing sounds from both teams, making a hand signal at his friend they silently enter the fort and shot the four members who didn't react to them.

The two saw the fort was filled with the remaining teams working together, Naruto jumped up to a wooden railing as he grab it to kick a enemy's face before taking his gun to go down under the bridge he was standing on to shot the hiding member faces. Turning his head to Talia he moved his head to the battle.

Naruto took a step forward to grab the flag missing a college kid who was hanging upside down from a railing to shoot him. "Talia if you will." He said grabbing the flag as a quick thud was soon heard, turning to see the shooter on the floor with the back of his head was colored pink.

The pair soon heard a small thud on the upper level. Looking at the source, they saw a paintball grenade. Reacting quickly, Naruto slid on the ground and tossed it away as it exploded while in the air. Though bought enough time for another paintball grenade to fall into the fort's level which caused the old traveling companions to leap out of the fort and latch onto the separated towers.

When they slid down, they rolled out of the way from incoming fire before running the action in kind. Leaping over some cover, Naruto had to kick a player out of the way before kicking another in the balls.

"My head!"

"My balls!"

They were soon taken out by being hit by more paintballs coming from the Uzumaki's guns before seeing someone charge right at him. Taking the initiative, Naruto tackled the man before tossing him away and fired once more to get him to no longer play the game. From there, Naruto dashed forward, lept over several players, landed behind them, and took them out with respective shots before progressing to the incoming fort.

On Talia's end, she soon got on top of a platform and fired several shots from above before rolling to fire some rounds at some players trying to take her from down below. She occasionally glanced at her former student and narrowed her blue-green eyes as his movements seem oddly familiar to her. She couldn't quite place it but they seemed similar to what she saw Vanitas used in their previous encounter.

Her thought process ended when she heard someone coming from behind, causing her to punch him out of the way before shooting his side. Even another player that came soon after.

"GAH! MY SPLEEN!"

"Dude! This is just a game- GAH, my balls! What's your problem woman!?"

"This is fun to watch…" Harley said from outside the fort, seemingly eating some popcorn as she passed it to her teammates. "Like something from a movie."

"Yeah, kinda bored now of letting them have all the fun." Laurence said with a sigh. "Why'd I come here again?"

"For some fun?" Came Harley's innocent question.

"Yet I only had a good amount of it in the last two rounds."

"Oh don't be such a sourpuss."

This merely earned a small growl from Laurence while Paula chuckled a little before firing a round at an incoming opponent that tried to some 'suppressing fire' on them… Yet failed… again.

"Um. Mercy?"

"...Nope." Paula said before firing a paintball bullet at his chest.

Wasn't long before some of his teammates showed up in hopes of taking their flag. This at least got Laurence to lighten up a little as he fired rounds at the group to get them out of the game.

"Ah, damn it!" The man ran away before getting shot in rear. "Ow, quit it!"

"I will when I actually have a bit more fun." Came Laurence's reply as he kept shooting the retreating man. Though one of the players seemed to laugh his expense while walking away from the playing field one last time for the game.

Meanwhile with Naruto and Talia were standing back to back as they were done at the last fort. "That was… fun…" Naruto chuckled as he heard crying and groaning from the defeated foes.

"Indeed it was, Naruto." Said the Demon's daughter as she went into a relaxed position while grabbing the final flag for them to win the game, five rounds in a row.

"Whoo, going to get that drink. I earn it!" Naruto childishly shouted with a raised fist. "Let's go, I'm getting tired of all this crying." As they jumped down from the fort, the publisher took off his protective face mask before they made their way to the rest of their team. "Do hope that guy still has that alcohol for us or else I'll be pissed."

"Not to mention the money you mentioned earlier."

"That too."

Heading to the center of the field, Archer was there with a annoyed look, "Here, your freakin' prize, but I still say you cheated!"

Naruto just caught the bottle with a cocky smirk. "Sure, sure and I'm really a woman."

"Oh haha, well I still the world's greatest secret agent!" The man yelled drawing everyone attention to him. "So there!"

"...No really a secret if you yell it out." Naruto drawled out in utter disbelief that he would say that. "And who says that your a secret agent anyways?"

Before Archer could answer, some of his friends merely dragged the man away while the dark skinned woman started yelling at him on various things. Cyril stayed behind and apologized on Archer's behavior before confirming the money was deposited into Naruto's account.

"Well… That was something." Talia muttered.

"Yup."

When they rondevoux to the rest of their team, Harley came up to the pair with a bounce to her feet. "You two were awesome!" She started to become animated in her actions. "You were like 'pew pew' and they were all 'geh, gah' with you two going all Rambo on their asses…"

Talia chuckled a bit on Naruto's blonde lover entertaining her as she kept describing the final round of the game. "And what about the two rounds beforehand? Laurence, Paula and I were clearly going all 'Rambo' on the enemy players then."

"Oh those rounds were great too as it seemed you three clearly worked… too well I think." Harley muttered on the last bit as both her and Naruto didn't see the Crocks looking away to not give anything away. "But you and puddin worked so well out there while taking those guys out."

Naruto smiled a little. "That's one way of simplifying things, Harley." He looked at his former teacher as they shared a similar expression. It's been a long time since they worked together like that, minus the lives they had to take in order to survive.

Back then, he had to resort to other methods as he didn't have his chakra or his current powers to deal with those people that tried to kill them. It was not a great feeling he bore when they died, because of him, but he wanted to protect his friend. One of his precious people.

Even to this day, she's still one of his precious people.

Turning around, he briefly looked at the rest of the 'birthday' group. "We should head on back in and get checked out."

Harley nodded as she followed her boyfriend as the Crocks and Talia hanged on back a bit.

As they walked back, Talia asked to the assassin couple a question. "What did two think on their skills?"

It was the Crock matriarch who responded first. "Harley was alright, Talia. Her way with a firearm is rough, at best. But her agility seems just as good, if not better, than when I trained her years ago."

"As a gymnast acrobatic, correct?" The Demon's daughter asked for a small reconfirmation. "Yes I remember you, her and Naruto telling me on this."

"Yeah, but it seems Harley seems a bit more stronger than I originally thought."

"And Naruto?"

Lawrence took the lead on this. "I didn't work long enough with the boytoy,' cue elbow stab by his wife on nickname, "ow… to get a good assessment on him. But seeing him out there almost made me think he was a League member as I briefly forgot you trained the punk." The blonde veteran looked forward as his steely brown eyes narrowed. "But something about him is bugging the hell out of me."

"Glad I'm not the only one." Paula muttered. "Both he and Harley are hiding something and it keeps forming questions in my mind."

Talia narrowed her eyes. 'So it's really not just me then.' She thought.

"But what do you think of think of them, princess?"

Blinking her blue-green eyes, the Demon's heir responded. "They're respectively good, in their own right. Take out certain restraints and they might be worthy on being League members."

The Vietnamese woman didn't like hearing this tidbit. She didn't like the idea of either of them joining the League, especially her former student. Both of them are good people and shouldn't be brought into the fold.

And as much as she'd like to voice her displeasure to Ra's daughter, they reached inside and had to keep her mouth shut or risk exposing themselves.

"We should get going, Paula." Lawrence voiced as he tugged her along. "The girls are probably restless with Pamela watching them for so long."

"It wasn't that long."

"Well the gardner never really babysat them before so we don't know on that."

The Crock matriarch sighed before trugging along after her husband. She did look back one last time at Naruto, Harley and Talia with a small worried look across her features.

With said people, they were getting out of their gear. Once done, Naruto took their rented equipment to the front desk so they could head on out with no repercussions.

As they were driving away from the old Gotham Fairgrounds, the three were pulling out ideas what else they could do before calling it a night.

"...We could head over to the Stacked Deck, crack open this bottle and enjoy it there." Suggested the Arkham psychologist as she waved said bottle in her hand. "And once finished with that, we can enjoy some of Moxxi's other concoctions."

Talia brought a finger to her chin while thinking over on the idea. "Hmm… Seems good, but I think this bottle is nice in a private environment." Briefly glancing at the bottle's label, she saw it's vintage. "A twenty year old bottle of whisky like this should definitely be enjoyed back at your place, Naruto."

"Or~" Harley drawled out. "We could still go to the Stacked Deck and get hammered by some of Moxxi's absinthe."

That sent Naruto off as he shivered in worry. "No. No. Nononono."

"Oh c'mon puddin. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? Not that bad?!" He blurted out. "Do you know how bad it was when we tried Moxxi's absinthe the last time?!"

A pair of blue-green eyes blinked in confusion. "How bad was-"

"She likes to fucking experiment on the absinthe she has at her bar. Oh she does have the typical, public brands she uses on 'special occasions', but Harley here convinced Moxxi to use her really special drink." Naruto then shivered some more as bad memories returned. "The stuff was so black that it made all kinds of ink pale in comparison. And with it's 150% proof, fuuuck I thought I was gonna die!" He then shook his head in hopes of ridding himself of the horrible moments. "I didn't know if it was going to be the burning or the demonic fairy-like hallucinations that'll kill me first! Either way, that shit literally and physically hurts me!"

Harley then spoke in a giddy tone. "I thought it was fun. Especially seeing Naruto freaking out like hell alongside Selina and I. Too bad Pammy couldn't take it, but she did get a recording of what went down from Moxxi. And I gotta say, it was rather-"

"Harley… Please don't talk about that."

Talia was really curious at this point in wanting to try that out. The assassin had her fair share of absinthe experiences and laughed at Naruto's expenses when they traveled together.

'Maybe I'll stop on by over there and take some of Moxxi's brand.' Talia thought. 'Might as well see for myself.'

As their ride was passing an empty intersection, a van suddenly rammed into their side. With the force of the blow, Naruto's car rolled several times before landing right back onto its wheels in a secluded alleyway. The vehicle was rather dented with the windows severely cracked.

As for its occupants…

'Oh… My head…' Harley thought as she brought her hand up to her noggin. There she felt several small shards of glass in her blonde locks and felt a small amount of liquid. This got her to realize she was somewhat bleeding. 'What… happened…'

Her vision tried to correct herself before seeing the slumped forms of Naruto and Talia hanging forward and lying on the air bags. She was going to call out for them when the psychologist heard a pair of feet coming towards them. Harley briefly thought they were here to help.

But how wrong she was on that assumption.

"C'mon Monkey, we need to hurry up." Said a man as he roughly pulled on the passenger door.

It opened with a rough groan before the person started to unbuckle Talia's safety belt. The same happened on the driver's door as Naruto was released free soon after. Harley then saw them roughly pull the pair out and heard their bodies being dragged across the pavement. It wasn't long before tires squealed to life as the van fled into the night.

'Naruto… Talia…' Thought the blonde. She tried to stay awake, but the pain was hard for her to remain conscious. 'I… need to… call…'

And before she knew it, Harley fell asleep.