Where Are You

[If I had to describe her, she was definitely tough…]

"Your son better apologize to my son!" Ichi Sato's mother yelled.

"Your son started it. He called my son a demon. He should apologize first."

"That brat is a fox demon." Ms. Sato stuck her finger out to point.

"And your brat is a child demon." The woman holding my hand pointed at Ichi.

I didn't want her to get angry for my sake so I apologized back then. "Ms. Sato! I'm very sorry. Ichi, I'm very sorry."

"Naruto. You don't have to apologize. Sato's son should be the one apologizing." I remember how she stepped forward as I tried to pull her back with my small body.

"Ma'am. It's okay. I'll apologize so that we can be friends again." I tried reaching out to Ichi, but he only shied behind his mother.

"Get away jinchuuriki! Stay away from my son." Ms. Sato barked.

I almost cried back there, if not for her.

"YOU stay away from MY son!" she snapped as Ms. Sato took a crying Ichi by the hand and walked away. "If you weren't Genma's friend, I'd kick your a—

She stopped yelling when she saw my face. I recall so vividly how she looked at me. Her face seemed pained though I didn't understand why. She didn't speak a single word to me until we got home from the academy.

"Naruto. Do you know why I'm mad?"

"Because I hit my classmate?"

"No, not because you hit a classmate."

She kneeled down so that our eyes met at around the same level.

"Because, Naruto. You called me ma'am."

I looked down and started playing with my fingers. But with her warm gentle hands, she took mine.

"Naruto. Whether we're at home or outside, you call me the same thing."

"But the other people will hate you."

"I don't care what others say. You are my son. Are you embarrassed about that?"

"No! No I'm not, mom!"

"Neither am I. I'm very proud to have you as my son. And I plan on raising you to be one of the finest shinobis in Konoha, no, all of the five lands."

No one had ever loved me as she did.

"Come here silly child," she carried me up in her arms and brought me close to whisper in my ear.

"I love you Naruto. Fox or no Fox, I will always love you."

[…but more than anyone, she was kind.]

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Naruto clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, yet the boiling sensation didn't subside one bit.

"Don't worry. She's strong." Sasuke put a hand on his brother's back to assure him, but to also seek solace.

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"Sasuke."

"What?"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you."

"Why? You're just going to scold me."

"What were you doing sneaking out of the village?"

"I'm going to find Itachi and avenge my people."

Back then, whoever I told this to would just punish me. They'd tell me to give up and stop seeking revenge because I was too weak to kill Itachi. That was why he left me alive after killing the entire clan. But she was nothing like the others.

[She always knew what to do.]

Instead of hitting me, I was lifted like a child and placed on her lap. She reclined against the faded red couch in the living room and pulled me to lean back with her. When I struggled, she wrapped both arms and fastened them around me like a seatbelt and didn't budge even after I surrendered. She held me close enough to hear her slow, but steady heartbeat.

"Sasuke. Do you remember reading the story of the little wizard boy? Did you really think the bad guy left him alive because he was weak?"

Coming to think of it. I was quite stupid back then. I actually nodded.

"No silly. He couldn't kill the boy not because he was weak, but because he was too strong." She turned the child me to face her. "But the boy didn't get revenge until he came of age."

[And she always knew exactly what to say.]

"So Sasuke. Mother doesn't care if you want to get revenge. In fact, go for it. It's good to have a clear direction in life." She gently bumped her head against mine. "But until you're taller than mommy, you have to always let me know where you go."

[I kept my promise, Mother. So why is it the other way around now?]

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"She's not like the others." Naruto looked out in the vast distance awaiting them.

"No," Sasuke paused and let out a reminiscing sigh, "she's not."

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"Uchiha!"

"Uzumaki!"

"How about Uzuchiha?"

"Uchiha!"

"Uzumaki!"

"What about Uchimaki?"

"No!" we both shouted in unison.

"But we need a last name!" she childishly stomped her foot.

We looked at her. That was the first time she ever did that.

"If you two can't settle it, Mommy will decide. By alphabetical order, it will be Uchiha-Uzumaki from now on. That's the end of it. Uchiha-Uzumaki."

"Why do we need to decide on a last name?" we asked simultaneously.

It was then that she knelt down and grabbed both of us, one on each side.

"Because Sasuke and Naruto are no longer the only Uchiha and Uzumaki anymore."

[Both of us almost couldn't hold back our tears as she hugged us so tightly. She was really warm.]

"Hehehehe. And now mommy finally has a last name!"

"Che. So that was the point." Sasuke rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"God mom! You're so weird." Naruto shoved his hands into his pocket and looked up at the ceiling.

[But still, she continued to hold us close.]

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"We should go."

Sasuke looked at the rising sun, wishing its rays would heal the biting pain of empty memories.

"Yeah." Naruto clutched onto the shattered locket.

Yet another morning. Yet another unsettling day awaiting them. And it wouldn't ever get any better and only get worse, until they accomplish their mission. They both knew that. But...

[Where the hell did those bastards take you…Mother?]