A/N: So I guess the right thing to say is that I was stunned by the approval I got for my twist of Naruto being Emma's father, to which I can't express how glad that makes me. I hope to continue garnering your reactions in a similar manner with any more twists I add. That said; I don't really have much to say here except have a wonderful Christmas or New Year (depending on when this chapter gets uploaded).
Rebellion
"So you're not coming back with me?" Naruto asked confusedly as Emma shook her head, chewing on a French fry which she'd swiped off his plate.
"No, you've seen this place. Tell me something doesn't feel off around here." Emma responded a few moments later as Naruto chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, I kinda want to get to know Henry, learn how he grew up you know." Emma explained as Naruto sighed.
"You didn't have to give him up. I offered to watch him until you got out of jail; it wouldn't have been that bad." Naruto exclaimed as Emma shook her head again. Without answering, she picked up her mug, sipping on the chocolaty beverage with a low 'mm'.
"Besides that, what about school; just because you can get all your assignments over the website and video-conference demonstrations doesn't mean you should. The medical field is very hands-on, and your instructor won't pass you simply because you completed all your classroom hours and passed every paper and exam." Naruto said sternly, Emma smiling softly as she looked out the window at the quaint town.
"Dad, even if I aced all my exams and graduated on the Dean's List, no respectable hospital would hire me with my record. I would get laughed out of any professional medical facility I entered." Emma said forlornly as Naruto bit into his burger as a tomato fell out of the other side. He glared at it hatefully.
"They would if I pulled a few strings, maybe called in some favors. Besides if they didn't, I could always take you on as my assistant." Naruto offered as Emma sighed sadly.
"That's the problem Dad, I want to get by on my own skills, not ride on your coattails. I want to be called Dr. Emma Swan, not Dr. Gold's illustrious screw-up. Besides you already have an assistant Dad, remember Percy?" Emma pointed out as she chewed on a fry for far longer than necessary.
"Ha, Percy couldn't identify Gallstones from a ruptured Spleen. Besides, he doesn't look quite as cute in a nurse's uniform as you honey." Naruto said, and after a moment both shiver before laughing.
"True, but how cute did I look in an orange jumpsuit?" Emma said rhetorically.
"Ahh, I think you can pull it off, and my fashion sense is as good as any female's, it had to be to keep up with all the costume changes you went through in school." Naruto said jokingly as Emma pouted, lightly punching his shoulder.
"Yes, coming from the guy who dyed his doctor's coat sunset orange and wore it to the hospital for two weeks straight that means a lot." Emma snarked as Naruto adopted a wounded expression.
"Say what you want, it was the easiest $100 bucks I ever made, which if memory serves went towards the car repairs when someone ran over a defenseless bush while checking out a guy!" Naruto retorted as Emma turned her nose up austerely.
"And who had to go to the doctor because the car driver stopped on a dime to avoid hitting a squirrel?" Emma shot back as Naruto gasped, affronted at the accusation.
"Now I know that you aren't Snow White's daughter, I can see the headlines now, 'Emma Swan organizing squirrel executions'. What next, deer internment camps?" Naruto said as Emma giggled, Naruto following shortly after as they became lost in their mirth.
"Hey Dad, can I ask you a question… about Mom?" Emma asked hesitantly, knowing that her father avoiding talking about his wife whenever the choice was given. As expected, the mirth instantly vanished from the man's face as he sipped his coffee contemplatively.
"Sure Honey." He answered honestly, although Emma, through years of experience, could tell he wished she'd let him off the hook.
"Tell me about you two, how you met, or some little anecdote about the time you spent dating before you got married and had me." Emma requested as Naruto leaned back, his eyes glittering the unshed tears as he shut them, trapping the salty drops in.
"I've told you all there was too it, but I suppose I could think of something I haven't told you yet. Uhmm, your mother was a spitfire, yet I'd never known her to take her anger out on anyone. Sometimes I wondered if she was even capable of feeling anger, but that's not for me to say. Probably the biggest fight we ever had was about… maybe we shouldn't do this after all, dear. I'm sorry, but just remember that I and your mother never felt for another the way we felt about each other." Naruto said as he stood, dropping a twenty on the table, apologizing once more as he turned and strode away searching for some place to let out his feelings. Feelings that he'd held tightly inside, let loose once he'd seen her.
Naruto pushed open the door to his Queens apartment, about to call out to his daughter when he heard a soft sobbing sound coming from her bedroom. He felt his blood already chilling as he made a beeline towards the room directly across from his, reaching to push the door open when he stopped short at her words.
"What am I supposed to do Mom? I really like Jason, but… how can I like someone who'd call me a freak?" Emma sobbed, her sharp intakes of breath cutting at Naruto's heart as she continued. "I'd tell Dad, but… he's so different from me, nothing ever seems to bother him and then if I bring you up, he just shuts down. If he knew that I talk to you like this, I can't lose him too. What if what those kids were saying is true, that you left us because I was too much like Dad?" Her hitching voice dropped to a low whisper so Naruto had lightly push the door open, thankfully her back was to him. "I love him too much to ever admit it but I think some part of me resents him but a larger part blames myself. What if one day he looks at me and all he sees is everything that drove you away." Emma broke down into wet sniffles at that as Naruto let the small trail of tears run down his cheek as he walked away, going back to the front door as he called loudly "I'm home!"
For her credit, she hid her tears well as she exited her room, a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt sufficing as clothes as she hugged him tightly, greeting him with a chipper 'Hey Dad.' Although Naruto wasn't fooled as he led her to the small kitchenette, opening the fridge.
"I brought your favorite, reheatable burgers and lukewarm fries; also your choice of Coke or Dr. Pepper." He said, grabbing his own burger as he sat at the table, unwrapping the foil wrapping around it. She joined him moments later, sipping on the Dr. Pepper with a feigned smile as the pair ate in silence.
The next day found Emma trying in vain to open her locker as she was heckled by Samantha, a sugary blonde with an acerbic demeanor towards Emma. Behind her were Vanessa and Casey, a black-haired girl and dirty blonde respectively. Vanessa had a reputation for smarting off to teachers while Casey seemed to detest the male gender as a whole.
"So did you even wash that natty mess you call hair or do you just leave it like that so guys have something to grab hold of?" Samantha, Sam to everyone except Emma, snarked as Emma tried to ignore her. "Did you hear me freak, or is your voice hoarse from all your chanting last night?" Sam scowled at the girl who tried to walk away, only to run straight into a wall of muscle.
"Woah, watch out Ems, don't want to hurt yourself there." Jason said as he went around her, kissing Sam on the lips as they seemed to exchange tongues for several minutes. "What have I told you about messing with the trash? She's liable to perform a séance in the girls' bathrooms and curse you." Jason taunted, not even looking at Emma as she started to leave only for Vanessa to stick her leg out, tripping Emma as her books went skittering across the floor and several papers rained down as the group tittered at her, the gothic girl blushing fiercely.
"Look out there, Freak had too much to drink last night, she can't even walk straight." Casey hissed while checking her nails as Sam laughed at the sprawled out Emma. "Or maybe she got her Daddy's cripple gene?" Jason said questioningly, although no one took it as a question.
Students went around the group although they were slowly gaining a peanut gallery as Vanessa picked up a small book, reading aloud, 'Dear Diary,' "Really, what are you 10?" Vanessa said with disgust in her voice.
"No, if memory serves she's 12." A distinguished voice said as the crowd separated enough to allow a third party into the growing ring.
"Dad?" Emma said despairingly as Jason looked between the pair before laughing raucously.
"Oh, does the little freak have to get her cripple Daddy to save the day. What do you think you're going to do old-timer, even if you didn't have that bum leg I could take you with one hand behind my back." Jason taunted, only to be put flat on his back as Naruto snarled out a low curse as the tip of his cane sent Jason back.
"How dare you, you cripple!" A gruff voice said as a black boy appeared from the crowd, throwing a roundhouse punch at Naruto who ducked under the punch, flipping the grip on his cane as he hooked the black teen's foot, pulling it out from under him as he struggled to keep his balance while caught off-balance, Naruto did him the favor of sending him into unconsciousness by jabbing his cane into the back of the boy's head, smashing his face into the row of lockers.
"Oh dear, it would appear that you've tripped and harmed yourself. I would offer to help you, but as you can see I'm crippled and therefore incapable of lifting you up to perform a cursory examination although at first glance it would appear you suffer from a severe case of arrogance." Naruto said as he hobbled over to Emma, who was stunned at her father and the heartless expression on his face.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Emma asked incredulously as she followed her hobbling father as he walked through the split in the crowd, everyone silent as their eyes followed the man.
"I can to pick you up so you can go school shopping with me." He answered as if nothing else mattered.
"School shopping, what the hell are you talking about Dad!?" Emma shouted as Naruto paused, turning around to level a soft glare at her language.
"I recently got a promotion, bringing in several hundred thousand more so you're being transferred to the Marten Academy downtown. As such, you'll need to wear the uniform and bring your own supplies which you are responsible, understand." Naruto said in a no-nonsense tone as he held the door open as Emma walked through her mouth agape from the revelation.
"Bu-But Dad… Marten's Academy costs astronomical! One year's tuition costs more than our entire apartment! What kind of promotion did you get to afford that kind of cash?" Emma questioned as Naruto smirked, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's not your concern. What is your concern now is living your life and staying out of trouble, okay Honey?" He said although Emma wasn't fooled by his stern tone.
"Yes Dad, I understand." She said as she tossing her bag in the backseat, hopping into the passenger seat of their little four-door Honda.
Naruto groaned as he scribbled on the small chart, only momentarily glancing at the dead body on his slab.
He'd lurked around in Storybrooke for maybe another five hours before reluctantly clambering back on to his motorcycle and zipping back to New York where he'd found another dead body awaiting him, as was the custom in such a massive city.
"Cause of death appears to be massive blood loss due to the severing of the jugular vein although the body lacks a head, preventing me from making a conclusive answer. Multiple injection sites along the arm suggest the victim had a history of drug use, although the injection at the collarbone was made with a higher grade of needle, which combined with the fentanyl suggest the victim was first drugged before being decapitated. The wound around the neck is free of tearing, suggesting a very sharp blade consist with a guillotine or sword, although if one considers how long the victim was missing, a smaller instrument could also be used to slow separate the head from its body, although cutting through the spinal column would be difficult with a smaller instrument." Naruto read aloud as he scribbled notes on the chart, before turning around, to find a police officer standing silently behind him.
"Is there anything else you need to know detective?" Naruto said, laying the chart down as he strolled over to another body, which Percy had performed the autopsy on, checking it over for any inconsistencies.
"Not right now, but I might be back later so don't go anywhere." The detective said, turning on his heel and leaving, ignoring Naruto's chasing words.
"Sure thing detective, although if you'd bothered to ask, I could've told you this man was most likely killed after breaking and entering into someone's apartment to steal some valuables to hawk to buy his coke rocks." Naruto said with a sickly grin as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a golden chain with a small locket with the words, 'Emma Rose Swan' engraved into it. Whistling heartily, Naruto went back into his office, content to think of his future, and the coming storm.
A/N: So guys, watcha thinking? I really like this chapter for some reason I can't explain, so I hope it makes you feel like I do. In other news, the flashback was originally planned to have Emma mention suicidal thoughts, but I actually had a friend who killed themselves in high school due to bullying so I decided not to broach the subject matter.