Catching Up for Old Times Sake Part 1

The roar of a motorcycle came rushing through the open highway in the early morning. It's rider maneuvering through several vehicles that so happened to be going through the concreted path towards their destinations. No one was bothered in the slightest, as long as the motorcyclist wasn't causing any problems for the fellow drivers on the road.

With the sun starting to rise, the morning rays shined across countless things as it helped reveal the surrounding details in a more intricate light. Showing the beauty of the transition between Summer and Autumn, with the leaves changing to shift the scenery. A natural occurrence that many love to enjoy and interact with.

And for a cyclist, of any kind mind you, it can be truly appreciated when riding right through the scenery at any speed.

Slowing down the motorcycle, the rider pulled the bike to the side of the road so the incoming vehicles wouldn't run the person over on accident. With the engine still running, the rider took a moment to flip the helmet's visor up to let the air circulate slightly and cool off parts of the exposed skin. Breathing in the crisp air through the nose, the person was able to relax slightly while gazing at the 'Entering Gotham' sign some feet away.

'I'm finally here.' The rider thought with a hidden smile under the helmet, matching the slight joy in the blue-green colored eyes. Pulling down the scarf around the neck, the rider fished out a locket and rubbed it tenderly before opening it to see the photo inside.

Displayed in the photo was a smiling pair of individuals without a care in the world in front of a twilighted background. One was a teenage boy with whisker marks, hazel eyes and silvery hair as he held the second person towards his side. Said person was a beautiful woman in her early-mid twenties with shoulder length brown hair framing her face.

The cyclist stared onto the photo, being the only one taken between the two people, with nostalgia running through the forefront of the person's mind. Closing up the locket and tucking it back under the scarf and the leather jacket being worn, the rider readjusted into the seat before revving up the engines. Riding the motorbike into the city, the cyclist had one thing primarily in her mind among lesser things.

'Wait for me a little longer… Naruto.'

-Gotham Elementary-

"...And are you sure you have everything? We can head on back in case of anything."

"Yes Naruto, I do have everything. You asked that a few times already."

"I just needed to be sure Rachel."

Off to the side of the road lied Naruto's car as it's driver and occupant got out of the vehicle. The publisher escorted his charge across the street and towards the school building in a slow pace so she wouldn't be left behind. Said charge was currently wearing a white hoodie with a Bonnie the Bunny graphic printed on the front and pair of jeans and tennis shoes. Around her back was her backpack with her school supplies, lunch bag and other essentials.

With it being Rachel's first day at public school, Naruto wanted to be sure that she was well prepared. When he got her fully registered at the school after her placement test, he went out shopping to get Rachel what she needed from the list given to him by the school. Even bringing the young girl along for the ride.

On the day they went out shopping, Harley tagged along to keep the ashen girl cheered up with her upbeat personality. Of course the changed psychologist thought that Naruto getting Rachel the boring stationery supplies isn't right for a girl her age. So Harley dragged the two to a store she went to in the past to get the more appropriate stuff for grade schoolers, in her opinion, since she did this for both of her surrogate nieces.

It was interesting to see Rachel's reactions when seeing the many cute items on display, to say the least. And Naruto had to admit that his blonde girlfriend tagging along was a good idea since he would've just went with the starting standard supplies. Though as the school year progresses, Rachel will have to resort with the boring ones once some of her 'cute' supplies are all used up.

"I do have to ask, but why are we here so early?" Asked the ashen girl. "Classes don't start in half an hour."

"Sometimes it's good to arrive early, just in case of anything, Rachel. I clearly didn't appreciate it when I was your age, since I enjoy having my sleep on most days. But it does help when arriving early so you can go over your homework and projects along with hanging out with your friends, if there's plenty of time to spare."

"...That still doesn't explain why we got here too early."

Walking towards the administrative office, Naruto opened the door and ushered Rachel inside. "It's because we need to get your class schedule kiddo. It takes a while to get you into the school system and for the school to properly place you into an available class."

Rachel nodded in understanding as she eyed her guardian talk to the person behind the desk.

Walking towards one of the nearby seats, the ashen child waited as she thought of what will possibly happen to her. Rachel will be able to live a normal life, or at least one that could be considered normal in her current case, and going to a proper school helps back up such a claim. She'll get to possibly enjoy what she couldn't have back at her previous home with people ignoring her and not helping out with her studies.

Rachel could possibly get more friends that are more accessible like Artemis and her older sister Jade (which was a bit of a stretch). She did have Queen Perdita as her friend, but she wouldn't really be here as she is on her way to her coronation to her eventual ruling of Vlatava. And she couldn't call her guardian and his three female friends to a better degree, despite on how kind they are to her. Not to mention the ever loveable Isis that tends to comfort her on most nights with her soft purrs.

But getting back to the matter at hand, the possibilities of her gaining more friends at the current time might take a while. Due to her unique appearance, she might be made fun of or picked on because of such features. Rachel already knew on this fact because of what went on back at Azarath, but she barely endured it back then and with the better support she has now, the ashen girl can survive it a whole lot better.

At least the promise of her having a better education is straight on and no one will hinder it.

"Rachel?" Naruto's voice called out, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Got your schedule here." Handing it to the ashen girl, Naruto talked towards the office door and opened it with her following. "Now go look around the place so you could try and get a good layout of the area before heading to your first class, alright?"

Rachel nodded as she shuffled her feet a little to start her current task. However, before she could go anywhere, Naruto pulled her into a small hug. Taking the small surprise well, she accepted it as her guardian spoke to her.

"You'll do fine Rachel. Not everything can be easy on just the first day, you know. I had to deal with the bigotry when I was roughly your age and I hope you can have a better time at this than me years ago." He said in personal reference of his childhood of being the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Not knowing of the deeper connections the pair they both shared.

Letting go of her, Rachel gave him a small smile as she went off on her own while several other students were making their way into the building.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto made his way towards the restroom before heading out as he thought of a few other people that have to go to school again. Cat's son, Adam, is having his first day of the new school year back at National City and he wondered how that goes on of him getting to school on time. Naruto figured that Cat sometimes has to adjust her schedule to drop Adam off at school or he has to take the bus to get there. As for getting back home, it's either the school bus again or someone is hired to pick the kid up… He'll need to call Cat about that later today for confirmation along with hearing about how his first day was.

The person across his mind was Dick Grayson as Naruto wondered how he's supposedly doing right now. The trial of his parent's killer was the other day and Naruto was there for support on the Wayne ward, who was very appreciated for his appearance. The publisher clearly saw several things going through Dick's head, that it didn't take a mind reader to know what he was possibly going through.

This got Naruto to wonder how that'll affect Dick's starting days in the new college semester with them so close from the trial date. Would the college acrobat focus all that well, during his little recovery period, or would drift back in thought on Tony Zucco for brief moments? Who knows for sure since big events like that are hard to just brush off easily. But Naruto silently wished that said recovery time eases the college boy well before it just becomes a small sad moment in his life.

Once making his way out of the building, Naruto was nearly ran over by a familiar blonde child.

"Watch it kiddo." Naruto said with a small chuckle towards Harley's neighbor. "You might've knocked me over."

"Oh hi Naruto." Artemis said with a smile. "Sorry about that."

"Meh, it's no problem."

"Is Rachel here?"

"Yes she is actually." Pointing behind him, he spoke back. "Rachel ran off to familiarize herself with the building. Maybe you could go find her and help her out before classes start."

"Will do!" The Crock child spoke out as she ran off to find her best friend.

"You know," Paula's voice rang out as Naruto turned towards her, "I never thought I'd see Artemis be that excited to go to school this morning."

"Odd to believe that huh."

Walking out of the school building, the two adults made their way towards their respective cars as Harley's former teacher spoke again. "Pretty much. Then again having my daughter's best friend attend the same school would possibly do that for her."

"I guess you're right Paula. I mean, those two are pretty close during these past months that they'd want to spend more time together."

"And if they have the same classes, then it'll make it more enjoyable to some degree."

"Right you are. And with Artemis here, she'd possibly help Rachel out with her timid nature." Looking around, the publisher didn't see Paula's husband around. "I take it Laurence is taking Jade to school?"

"Yeah, it helps save on gas since neither of us want to do multiple trips to get our girls to their respective schools. Though it'll be a little better once Artemis hits middle school and when both girls get their driver's license later on."

Naruto chuckled a little in thought before responding back on the statement. "I take it you two will be dreading when those days come, right? Them driving out on the road and possibly causing mischief?"

"Oh don't you start there mister." Paula accusingly said with narrowed eyes. "Don't get me all worried about that too soon. I still got a few years before Jade starts her Driver's Ed class so don't get me dreading until that comes."

"Yet you know with her nature, she might cause problems."

The Vietnamese woman groaned, with a twitch of her eye, knowing that Naruto is right. "At least Artemis will be better, I hope. Just have to make sure Jade doesn't corrupt my youngest on such things like joyriding or something in that nature."

"Don't forget Rachel as well… If I want to get her a car." He pointed out to her. "What if she wants to ride a motorcycle or a moped instead of a car. Did you think about that?"

Tilting her head in thought, Paula admitted she didn't think about it. "Then I'll have to talk to Jade, when the time comes, if she's interested in a car or a motorbike."

"I mean, my first vehicle was a motorcycle and I loved riding it. Though I had to give it away when I came to the states… I do wonder if she still has it."

Feeling quite curious, the Vietnamese woman spoke her thought. "And who is this 'she' you're referring to? The same one you mention every so often, while still being vague on your past?"

"Oh you mean-" *Crash*

Hearing the sudden sound caused the pair to jump a little and turn towards the source. Not able to see it clearly, Naruto and Paula moved from their spots to witness what's going on. There was a car crash, with a car t-boning another before a pair of police vehicles arriving shortly after. The officers soon got out and went towards the crashed vehicle with their weapons pointed towards the occupants inside.

"Get out of the car and down on the ground! We got you surrounded, so there's no use staying in there!"

There was no response as two of the officers opened up the doors to see the occupants knocked out and severely injured.

"Well that seems to take care of them." One of the officers said as he soon radioed in for an ambulance to come over.

"We should be glad that one of us shot their tires or else this chase would've taken longer than it had to be."

"I know, right Montoya?" Looking over to the ruined car, he sucked in his teeth and cringed. "Man I feel sorry for whoever owns this car. It looks-"

"MY CAR!" A voice yelled out, causing the officers to look over to see a whiskered male and a vietnamese woman rushing towards their spot. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!"

"Uh… There was a robbery, which escalated into a car chase sir." Officer Montoya said as she pointed to the crashed car. "We had to resort to shooting the tires, causing the pursued car to swerve and crash into… your car I believe?"

Naruto tried to calm himself by taking in deep breaths, but his anger was showing and acting like any normal person in this situation. "I hope these guys will at least help take care of this.

"With the court case, it'll probably help cover the damages or for your replacement car, depending on how bad it is."

"I hope so." Naruto muttered out as he massaged his head. "What am I gonna do for transportation until then?"

"Maybe you could take the bus?" Officer Uchiha, Montoya's partner, suggested with a shrug. "Just a thought."

The publisher nodded as he turned towards Paula, who gave him a sympathetic look on her face. "Sorry about that Naruto, this must not have been a great way to deal with for today."

Naruto sighed. "No kidding. At least I don't have to be in the office today."

"Can't you just call Selina to come and pick you up? I would suggest Harley, but I remember her telling me that she went out for a psychologist convention for work, presenting a panel or two and won't be back till this weekend."

Naruto smiled slightly as he remembered how excited Harley was when she told him that she got such an opportunity. She admitted that she was nervous and needed to prepare on what to talk about on the panel she was participating in. Though Harley wasn't thrilled that she was going to miss out seeing both of her surrogate nieces and Rachel head off to their first days of school.

The publisher shook his head and explained. "Selina went out of town to help some environmental group she has contacts with. Wouldn't say much about it, but it was important for her to be there."

That was partially a lie. The environmentalist thief was indeed helping out an environmental group, but needed to secure funding to help them out. So Selina was running a few jobs for Kurama so he can write her a big check to take care of her problem. And last he heard from her, Selina was currently in Central City to steal some Egyptian artifacts for the humanoid furball before going to some other cities on her chore list.

"And what of Pam? I mean your other girlfriend should at least be here right?"

Paula was quite shocked when seeing Naruto being with the changed botanist the other day while she and her husband were on a date. Obviously she confronted the two, with Laurence dragged along, and started yelling at the publisher. Naruto did have to come clean to her that he was indeed dating Pam while also dating Harley. Pam did come to his rescue and explained her condition that she couldn't bare children and gave Naruto permission to date another woman. Once calling Harley for confirmation, just in case if the two were lying, the psychologist backed up the claim to end the awkward confrontation.

At least Paula got to eventually gain a new friend after a double date, despite how annoying and rude her husband was on some of it.

"Pam's out of the country procuring rare specimens for the botanical gardens. Besides, she doesn't drive a car anymore. She takes a bus to work."

Having to go to Guatemala, of all places, to collect several flora that the Green wanted Pam to protect wasn't what he thought would come out of the blue. Then again with the rainforests around the world losing ground every day because of loggers, the Green needed some of their agents to help stop their advancements for some time. So Pam told her superior, Dr. Cruz, that she needed to go there to hopefully get some plants that her 'friends' contacted her about and bring back to the gardens. Dr. Cruz agreed to let Pam head over there and get said plants to expand their studies before the loggers end up destroying the specimens.

"So how will you handle getting anywhere with them out of town?"

"I could walk and take the bus, like every other person." The publisher said as he left out his other ways of travel.

"If you say so… Do you need a ride back to your place? I'm willing to give you a lift."

He just waved her off on the suggestion. "I'm good Paula, it's a nice day out and it'll be a waste if I don't go out for a good stroll. Though thanks for the suggestion."

Paula nodded in understanding as she walked towards her car. "Then have a good day Naruto. And be sure to pick up Rachel by the time school gets out or else I'll do it for you."

"Yeah, will do."

It wasn't long before the publisher saw the ambulances arrive to help procure the injured burglars. During this time, Naruto had to talk to the police so they can get information from him, along with insurance details, before he could go on his merry way. By the time the burglars were sent away towards the nearby hospital for recovery, and eventual imprisonment, the tow trucks arrived to transport the stolen car and Naruto's ruined car.

Getting his personal effects out of his damaged car, into a backpack he created with his powers, Naruto made his way off of the school grounds. As he did, the Uzumaki made a mental list on what he'll need to do today before picking Rachel up from school. And for the first thing on said list, Naruto pulled out his phone and dialed a number and waited.

"Hello… This is Naruto Uzumaki… I need to report a claim… My car was hit and is badly damaged… Yeah, I'll hold."

-Arkham Asylum-

Sitting inside of the arctic-themed cell, Naruto was currently playing a game of chess with his former landlord on one of their meetups. When he first arrived, the two ate some food from the Big Belly Burger breakfast menu as the publisher also brought over some frozen food for Victor to have. Asylum food can only go so far that consumable items from the outside world is a pleasurable experience. And once having their fill, the two chatted amongst each other on different subjects before starting the match.

'Pawn to C4.' Naruto thought as he moved one of his Pawns. "So you said that Dr. Strange is allowing you to continue your experiments here?"

'Pawn to C5.' Victor moved his white piece to it's designated position. "It pretty much is Naruto."

Moving his ebony black Knight to 'F3', Naruto voiced his thoughts. "Isn't that a bit odd?"

"True but inmates here can have some leeway on what they can do in their confinement, as long as it doesn't really hamper the safety of others." Victor moved his ivory white Knight to 'C6' so his Pawn can be on guard. "Like you giving Pamela various plants in her stay here and giving me many of my possessions from the storage unit you set up."

As Naruto moved his Knight to 'C3', he briefly eyed Victor's cell as it seemed more homier ever since the frozen scientist came to Arkham. The cooler outfitted into the cell was larger than the board expected, so they had Victor transferred to a bigger room to keep the cell chilled to keep Victor alive. Not wanting to make it really spartan-like, Naruto brought over several of Victor's personal effects to at least decorate the place.

At least it brightened up the frozen room to some degree.

But on the far corner of the cell had an array of beakers, tubes, a computer and other forms of equipment to keep the man preoccupied. There was the array of books Naruto procured for Victor, but the whiskered man saw only a handful being read and the rest untouched. Then again, you can only do so much with few objects until you want something else.

"So why did he give you that equipment anyways? Been meaning to ask you that, but I didn't want to impose until you brought up the experiments."

The scientist moved his Knight to 'F6' to set up a mirrored attack on his former tenant. "Dr. Strange stated that a brilliant mind, such as mine, shouldn't be dulled with not working in the best suited craft one has. So he gave me those to continue on my work and preoccupy my time… hopefully curing the disease that plagued Nora so others wouldn't suffer."

Moving his Pawn to 'D4', alongside another one, Naruto sighed as he gained a downcasted look. Even with Nora's death, Victor wants to rid the world of the disease that started it all. The only form of vengeance the scientist could only do now.

"I guess that isn't so bad." Seeing Victor move his Pawn to 'D4' to take his own, Naruto spoke again as he moved his Knight to take the Pawn. "Though have you been getting onto other projects? I know you tend to do a few at the same time."

Taking one of his Pawns to 'E6', Victor answered. "As a matter of fact, I have."

Naruto raised a brow as he moved a Pawn to 'A3'. "Mind telling me what it is exactly?"

Placing his white Bishop to 'E7', the scientist responded. "I've been trying to find a way to reverse my condition."

This got Naruto to halter his thought process towards the game, as all of his attention was brought towards his friend. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Reaching towards the side to grab a carton of frozen yogurt, he ate a spoonful before explaining his reasons. "You do realize that I can't stay here at Arkham for the rest of my life, right? So I've been trying to figure out a way to get my body temperature back to normal for when I interact with the outside world again, I wouldn't stand out for wearing a coolant suit and be ostracized because of it."

"Has there been any luck?"

Victor shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "Not really so far and the first step of it was to start with the accident last year."

Moving a Pawn to 'G3', Naruto realized what Victor was implying. "I'm guessing you had to think back and try to remember what chemicals you came into contact with, huh?"

Placing his Queen to 'B6', the scientist nodded with a frown. "It wasn't easy since it took some personal meditation to remember what chemicals were on that table back then and even once Strange got them for me, it took time to get the right combination for the test subjects to become… like me."

Moving his black Knight to 'B3', the publisher voiced his concern. "And by subjects, you mean lab rats and toads?"

Looking at his friend oddly, Victor spoke. "Of course I meant by them. There was no way I'd be having human test subjects."

"Sorry I stated that Victor. Just a slip up there, that's all."

"It's alright Naruto, no harm done." Placing his Knight to 'E5', the scientist explained his reasonings. "I needed to be sure the effects were exactly right before I could proceed on my study. Several specimens weren't quite right when I had them out of my cell, as they could still walk around, but the following batch were the right ones when they died from exposure to heat. And when I planned on starting the process to figure out on how to reverse the changes, Dr. Strange asked me to look further into the applications of the concoction."

"Say what now?" Asked the baffled publisher as he thought he heard that wrong. "Did you say that Hugo Strange wanted to know the uses of that?"

"Yes he did Naruto." Scratching his head as he reflected back on that conversation. "Dr. Strange seemed fascinated, for some reason, and he wondered what else was a result of what became of me. Even asking me to experiment a little on those subjects before I worked on my cure."

Placing his Pawn to 'E4', the Uzumaki asked the obvious question. "And did you?"

"Yes I have." Victor said as he moved his white Knight to 'G4' as it got closer to Naruto's ranks. "He convinced me that there could've been more to my change, than meets the eye, and the scientific portion of my mind won over."

Getting his Pawn to 'C5', Naruto asked a follow up question. "And what did you find exactly?"

Victor merely sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes. "There is indeed more to what happened to me because of the accident Naruto… and it scares me when I realized it." Seeing his former tenant look at him intently, the scientist continued. "It happened when I was working on my main project when one of my rats got out of the cage. Caused a ruckus and got things knocked over in the process. One of them was a sharp knife that ended up cutting the rat's head off from the body. I was going to throw it away… when I noticed something amiss."

"...What was it?"

"It was like something from one of those B-rated zombie films Naruto." Victor muttered as he rubbed his arms. "The head… The head was moving by itself, without it attached to the body."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion when hearing this. "Doesn't most body parts barely move on their own after severed from the whole? I know it doesn't really happen often with humans for very long, but it sometimes occurs with some lizard tails or octopus limbs."

"That's the thing Naruto, it happened to the rat and it was it's head." The scientist spoke in a louder tone. "The head was moving and it did so far longer than I imagined."

Naruto blinked on what Victor was implying before widening his eyes. The publisher knew well on reanimated corpses, due to his encounter with Solomon Grundy and Yggdrasil's discussion on the Rot. If what Victor was possibly implying, he could've found a way to get the dead to come back to life… in some twisted way.

"And that's not all, I'm afraid."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto asked his friend. "What do you mean Victor?"

"...After this startling discovery, I had to check myself, through testing, to figure out what else occurred. Seeing my bloodwork not decaying and dying away like normally or even the cells from what skin I took off of myself had the same result. And further tests showed that each sample showed a decelerated rate of aging."

This didn't sound good for Naruto to hear and this worried him greatly towards his friend. He wondered how that was happening at all. Then a thought crossed through his mind that was soon voiced out. "The cryo-chemicals… They were meant for cryo-stasis."

"Yes… Freezing the body to a standstill, that one cannot age until thawed out, and I was bathed in it's icy concoction." Moving his arms to the side like presenting something important, the scientist spoke. "Take a good Naruto. I have become what many men throughout the ages have searched and yearned for: immortality." Letting out a bitter chuckle, Victor grasped his face with one of his hands as he continued. "Yet this is a curse that I've gotten myself into. Never able to fully embrace death so I can be with Nora in the afterlife."

Naruto gave his friend a sympathised look as he felt horrible on what Victor was feeling right now. Indeed, immortality can be both a blessing and a curse with how one looks at it, but with the scientist it's the entirety of the later. No one should ever suffer such a fate, no matter how pretty one presents it to be.

"Don't worry Victor, you'll find a way to reverse what has been done to you, I'm sure of it."

Victor gave his former tenant a small smile as he knew Naruto's response was genuine. "Thank you. It means well to hear that from you."

"You're welcome then."

Looking over the chessboard, Victor was figuring out the next move to take but there was something nagging him that needed to be voiced. After some frustrating moments of inner debate, he caved in and spoke his worries. "I should at least mention this to you Naruto, but I don't feel comfortable having Dr. Strange being my doctor here anymore."

"And why would you say that?" Asked the Uzumaki. "Is he just that uncomfortable that you want someone else to help you out here? Or is it something else?"

Naruto could possibly understand a little on being uncomfortable around the spectacled doctor with him giving off a creepy vibe. It was like those glasses of his put up a facade for his eyes that Naruto felt were calculating and in an ongoing chess match for some odd reason. He could never understand why when he looked at them during the past times he had lunch with Harley in the past and Naruto interacted with the good doctor. It was like Dr. Strange was trying to dissect and study him too much for comfort.

Moving his Knight to 'B3', Victor sighed before adopting a grim look on his face. "I wish I never took up his offer and him finding out what I discovered. For I fear that he plans to exploit it in some way. I don't know how or why, but nothing good is going to come from it."

Feeling rather uncomfortable about the current subject, Naruto tried to change into something lighter as they continued with their chess match before his inevitable defeat once again.

As the following matches followed, the publisher briefly thought back to what he learned and was worried on what could possibly happen. This happened before with the late Dr. Jason Woodrue (may he forever burn in Hell) wanting to acquire Pam's formula and look how that ended. So what would Hugo Strange want with Victor's research?

Naruto will need to keep an eye on the bald psychologist. He could send out some Dusks to tail the man and report back on all of his movements. Naruto briefly thought on asking Harley to help him out on this, but he didn't want to risk her life on this task if Hugo was remotely dangerous.

-On the Streets-

"...And how's the convention so far Harley?"

"It's doing quite well puddin." She answered in a cheerful tone. "I'm taking good notes on the interesting panels that I'm attending."

"Glad that you're enjoying yourself over there. And when is your panel?" He asked as he rounded the corner.

"Two days from now and like I've stated before: I'm really nervous for it."

"And I've told you before you left that you'll do fine. You prepared your cute butt for it quite well Harl." Naruto said, getting a little chuckle from her. "All you just need to do is to relax and speak to them like you're saying it to one of us. You've done that several times and you were speaking fine when it was just us in the room."

"I'll keep that in mind… So what are you doing now?"

"I'm running to the store so I can get stuff for Rachel's dinner tonight so I can celebrate her first day of school."

Harley merely wined a little as he imagined her wearing a pouty look on her adorable face. "I wish I could be there puddin. It would've been nice to hear how her first day was and possibly help her out on some of her homework."

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to help her out, you know. I mean you had plenty of times with Jade and Artemis, so I think her response might not be all that different."

"Yet you forget that this is Rachel's first day at public school. And none of us know what her education was like back before we took her off of the streets. So we don't know what it was like for her, with her not telling us a thing. Hell during some of the small sessions I do with her, I barely get a handful worth of information that she's willing to spill out."

Naruto sighed as his bubbling girlfriend was right in what she was saying. Despite the months of her under his care, Rachel hasn't told much on her past and was very secretive about it. He respected her privacy and didn't want to pry for information. But Naruto kept getting worried when he hears her whimpers in the middle of the night or when she wants to come into his bed to ease her worries.

"Then we'll just have to make the best out of things for her Harley."

"Right you are!" She said in a peppy tone. "Oh I gotta hang up now, the next panel is gonna start and I need to find a good seat. Bye. I love you."

"I love you too Harley." Hanging up the phone, Naruto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Man I wish I had my car."

He's been walking for a while now after he got off of the bus ride from Arkham. The publisher would've used his wind lance to get around town quicker, but it would end up drawing attention towards himself in broad daylight. And he could've tried making that dark door, that corridor into the darkness, he discovered back in his mindscape, but he was uneasy in using it. Not knowing on where it might take him, since he felt that the doorway isn't a typical one that he read dozens of times in the fantasy and sci-fi novels he published.

Anyways, walking around and waiting for certain buses gave the Uzumaki the excuse to call up Selina on how her job was going so far. Nothing bad at all as she was staking out the museum and visualizing on how to acquire her targets. She did admit that getting the items in question were odd for even her, despite one of them being a sapphire statue of the Egyptian Goddess Isis, but they seemed valuable enough for Kurama in wanting them for some unknown reason.

Naruto also called Pam on how things down at the Amazon rainforest was like, but he kept hitting voicemail several times now. He felt a little worried, despite knowing that she can clearly take care of herself, but he just wanted to at least hear her voice. So possibly later tonight, he'll make his way to her Greenhouse out of town and talk to her plants and see if they'll relay the message to her, due to them having a closer connection to her than the ones back at the loft.

If not, then he'll just meet up with her in the Dreaming and chat with her there.

As he made his way across the street, Naruto noticed something at the corner of his eye. He saw a particular motorcyclist driving near the stoplight and the Uzumaki felt the person was looking right at him. Naruto wouldn't mind at all, since it's a common occurrence with everyone out there, but he was noticing this same cyclist for a few blocks now as if the person was following him. A few would've been coincidence, but now he got got confirmation.

Not wanting to be found out on this, Naruto played it cool and went on his merry way to see how he'll get the cyclist to be baited into following his new trail. Deciding to cross yet another street, one that is currently crowded with small stands, he did what he could to lose the cyclist by doing his best to blend in. It's been awhile since he did this sort of thing, so it'll be like riding an old bike.

One that has rusted over the years.

Not wanting to give himself away, to some degree, he quickened his pace a little as he maneuvered his way through the incoming people. Still seeing the rider following him at a good distance behind him, Naruto had to resort to ducking into an alleyway. The publisher walked a little faster so he could go around a few other corner before bringing forth his grappling scarf to get onto one of the nearby fire escapes at a higher level.

Once situated, Naruto heard footsteps coming closer to the current alley.

'Okay. Time to see who's after me.' He thought.

Naruto was willing to just lose this guy by phasing through several buildings, but the feelings he tried to suppress from Victor's chat from earlier was clouding his rational thoughts. The visit was dampening his pleasant mood from this morning, alongside his car getting wrecked, making Naruto to let out his frustrations. And it just so happened that the cyclist was possibly an easy well to misplace his aggressions.

As the footsteps got closer and closer, Naruto soon saw the black leather clad cyclist with the helmet still worn and hints of a scarf around the neck. The person's head turned in various directions as the rider tried looking for the publisher. The action ended as the cyclist paused before flicking the arm to the side for a pair of daggers to appear into the person's hand from the jacket's sleeve.

'Oh crap!' The Uzumaki thought as a dagger flew towards his direction, causing him to duck out of the way before several more came right at him. 'Oh now it's on!'

Cursing himself for losing the element of surprise, he quickly picked up one of the daggers before throwing it towards the cyclist. The person dodged the throwing weapon before having to roll out of the way from Naruto's falling form. Once on the ground, the Uzumaki dashed towards the cyclist and tried to punch his assailant. The cyclist knocked the arm towards the side as he kicked Naruto's side. The publisher grasped the cyclist's leg and tried to elbow the person's chest but it failed when the rider leaned back and kicked Naruto's chest with the free leg.

The whiskered man rubbed his chest slightly before he had to block and dodge several bladed attacks. Backing away, Naruto had to strike back as he ducked down and swept kicked the cyclist to the ground. As the assailant fell, the publisher quickly got to the person's position with one of the daggers on hand and aimed it at the cyclist's neck.

"Okay. Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded in an even tone. "My day, so far, hasn't been going well and you showing up doing this crap isn't making it better."

The cyclist didn't say anything. Just lying there and not moving at all.

"So tell me who you are!"

"...Wow." The helmeted rider chuckled in a feminine tone. "Roughly nine years later, you can still be hot-tempered."

Naruto was baffled on what the rider just said as his confusion started to grow. Racking his mind on who this person was… and how she knew him. His eyes bore into her before something shiny caught his vision.

Reaching down towards her neck, it was a locket that got loose from the confinement of the rider's scarf. It was familiar to him as he briefly remembered giving it to someone years ago. Opening up the locket, he saw a photo which made his eyes widen on the mere sight of it as a memory came rushing through.

-Flashback, 9 Years Ago; Milan, Italy-

"Man, what a view." Naruto muttered as he sat on the terrace of Duomo di Milano while seeing most of the city at it's highest point.

"I told you that it was worth coming here Naruto." Spoke a woman who stood several feet away from him. "Even during the twilight hours to see the city in it's real beauty."

No one is supposed to be on top of the cathedral while the building is getting renovated, but the former shinobi snuck onto the terrace with his friend to see the spectacular view of the old town without anyone bothering them. The array of colors from the clear sky made the pinkish color of the building's stonework seem more interesting. And with the sun setting at the horizon made the setting much more memorable for the two.

"Well you've taken me to a lot of great places to see in our travels together and you've never ceased to disappoint me."

"And have I ever steered you wrong?" She rhetorically asked with a smirk on his face.

Turning around, the Uzumaki saw his companion holding two boxes in her grasp. Each contained food that they purchased earlier, but she didn't let him start digging in until they got to their current placement. Stating that eating while enjoying the view makes the experience much more memorable if you're with others.

And with the grumbling sound emanating from his stomach, the whiskered man couldn't wait to eat the delicious meal.

"Okay, I waited long enough Talia." Naruto said with a bit of desperation in his voice. "Give me my food, now."

The now identified Talia merely chuckled as she let her friend snatch his box from her grasp. The two soon sat down on the rooftop as they opened up their respective meal boxes to reveal the heavenly aroma of authentic Italian pizza with bite sized cuts. Not much was said as they silently enjoyed their meals, with some small chatter between them, while seeing the sun starting to set.

"Talia."

"Yes Naruto? What is it?"

"I've been meaning to give you this earlier, but I kept forgetting." Reaching into his jacket pocket, the former shinobi pulled out a small box and handed it towards his friend.

Adopting a curious look on her face, Talia opened the box and slightly gasped when seeing the beautiful piece of jewelry attached to a metallic string. It was a bronze locket with a floral design etched onto the front and a small emerald imbedded in it's center. She opened it up and saw that it was empty inside to show that it was indeed brand new.

"I didn't know when your birthday was," Naruto began as he scratched his cheek, "but I heard your sister say it was coming up when we last spoke with her. I didn't want to press on the information, but with me being with you for at least a year and a half I needed to at least get you something really nice."

Talia didn't say anything as her fingers traced over her gift. She briefly smiled before some tears started to form in her eyes. And without realizing it, she sniffled slightly as a result.

"T-Talia? Are you alright?" The Uzumaki asked in worry as he saw her expressions suddenly change. "I-If it seemed too much, I'm sorry. I could try and exchange that for something else."

She shook her head in response before looking at him with a pleasant smile. "No, it's perfect Naruto. Thank you."

"Really? Well that's good."

"It's better than good actually." Talia said as she pulled the item out of the box to let the light shine upon it's surface. "I haven't had a nice gift in years and the last one I got was from my late mother, but I lost that some time ago."

Not knowing about that, until now, the former shinobi frowned slightly before mumbling. "I'm sorry to hear that Talia."

"It matters not." She said as she gave him a warm smile. "But thank you for giving me this. It means a lot."

Grasping her hair, Talia pulled it up and ushered him to help put it on. Complying with her request, Naruto took her gift and went behind her to get her locket around her neck. Once done, it lied proudly on her chest before she hugged him.

"We should probably commemorate this." Naruto said as he stood up and pulled his companion up alongside him before whipping out a camera from his pocket. Trying to angle it just right, with the twilighted sky shining in the background, Naruto took several photos just in case if the first one didn't work out all that well.

-Flashback End-

"...Talia?"

The rider reached up towards her helmet and unclasped the buckle keeping it in place. One done, she pulled her off head's protection to release a river of dark brown hair from it's confinement. The rider's blue-green eyes showed happiness that matched the smile on her thin, supple lips upon her light ebony skinned complexion. When taking a closer look of her appearance, Naruto saw Talia's Chinese/Arabic/European features became more defined after seeing her from last time.

"Hello Naruto. It's been sometime."

Naruto blinked as he slowly chuckled before he started to laugh. He brought her up from the ground a little and hugged the one friend he never expected to see after so long. She returned the hug as she wrapped her arms around his form and held him tight.

Once he calmed down from his laughter, Naruto pulled away and spoke to his old traveling companion. "What are you doing here Talia? I mean, not that I mind seeing you again, but why now after all this time? Hell how did you even find me?"

Talia got up, with Naruto's help, as she dusted herself off before answering. "Well I'm here on business really and since you're here in Gotham, I thought I could see you again."

Naruto merely crossed his arms and raised a brow. "And after nine years, you didn't get the chance to visit me at all if you possibly knew where I lived? Or at least try to contact me?"

She sighed as her hand raked through her hair slightly. "Well I kept on traveling and I didn't know where you were exactly until you started your publishing company five years ago. And even then, I've been busy."

"With what exactly? Stuff for your dad?" He questioned as he got the visual answer, causing him to sigh. "Figures."

Despite traveling around together for about two years, Talia has been vague on her past. He only knew a little about her father through what stories she told him, but Naruto never knew what the man did for a living. Only knowing that he too traveled around the world and did things in hopes of protecting the environment. Talia did certain jobs for her father on the family business and had to leave him for a day or so before showing back up like it was nothing.

...Then again, he has been vague on his past as well towards her. So that seemed to call things even to some degree.

"You know how important it is on me helping out my father."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it several times before Talia and I don't want to argue about that again." With a shake of his head, he made his way out of the alley with her on toe. "Let's at least continue this conversation when we're not in a place like this."

"I can agree on that."

As the two made it out of the alleyway, Naruto came across a site he hasn't seen in years. "Is that?"

"Yup." Talia replied with a small smile. "Your little girl. Kept her nice and maintained since you gave it me before you left for the states."

The beautiful piece of machinery parked by the side of the street is a 1930's Brough Superior SS100, considered to be the Rolls-Royce of the motorcycle world. Sixty-nine of these were ever made in the world and were extremely valuable on it's entire run, though there are some other models made later on that others not appreciate it often. With it's impressive speed and durability, many collectors want to nab one if given the chance.

Luckily for him, Naruto won this one from a poker game, becoming the main form of transportation he and Talia used during their time together.

Running his hand over it's darkened surface, a smile graced his lips. "I thought you would've gotten rid of this."

"Not a chance Naruto." Talia tossed him something from her pocket and when looking at it, it were a set of keys. "How about taking her for a spin once more?"

Naruto merely smirked at her before he sat on his old motorcycle to get a good feel of the leathery seat. Placing the keys in and kickstarting the engine, the publisher felt the familiar rumble his old bike going through his system. It felt great to be on this machine again and it feel much more once he rides it around town.

His thoughts were soon halted as he felt the bike shift and a pair of arms wrapping around his chest. This made him realize that Talia hopped right on and assumed the position she used in the past when he rode their bike. Emphasising on 'their' since the two took turns taking care of this old girl during their time together. Even in the past, Naruto rode 'bitch' every now and then, but Talia enjoyed being in that spot for some particular reason.

"You know this town better than I do Naruto." His old friend said from behind her helmet. "So you get to choose where we get to chat."

Nodding at this, Naruto motioned her to back away for a few moments so he could get his backpack off and strap it onto the bike. Once done, Naruto readjusted into his seat before revving up the engine. With a smirk on his face, he had a destination in mind as he soon rode the motorcycle down the street.