So, this is shaping up to be a bit longer than I'd initially thought. It's still not going to be a long fic, but... more than 3 or 4 chapters, methinks.

Anywho, on to the good stuff! I wanted to say thanks to everyone that likes the story so much, and a special thanks to OneWhoReadsTooMuch, fantasy.92, firemaster101, HRHPrincessTricia, pigs103, moonprincessyuna1, LuciiChaan, and roukoups for reviewing! 3 Y'all make my day everytime I see your kind words.

This chapter, we get to learn more about Kokoro's previous life! Hopeful that's something you might be curious about? Hope you like the new chapter!

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Kokoro is disappointed, but not surprised, when one day her civilian friends come to her and say they can't hang out any more. She knows why. They all do.

Their parents had finally found out that they were hanging out with Naruto.

And judging by the way most couldn't look her in the eye, she rather suspected their parents had some rather unkind things to say about her, too. Honestly, it was a bit surprising how long it had taken, nearly a full year, so this was pretty good. And sad, if she thought about it.

And maybe if she were someone, anyone, else - she might have let it go. Might have let it end like that. But she's Inuzuka Kokoro, and she might not be like the rest of her clan in a lot of ways, but this wouldn't be one of them. She could be stubborn, too.

Instead, she prods and pulls and cajoles the truth out of them. Gently, but determinedly. Even the bits about her getting killed by Naruto or being a demon herself.

And then she sits before them in her classic Lecture pose.

"Why do you think they said those things?" There's a pause as they clearly debate their next move, but with some hesitancy they sit before her. All of them - she's privately proud to note. She waits for them to throw out guesses, but they're still too uncomfortable and uncertain. So she delicately leads the discussion.

"Your parents have met me before, more than once. They certainly seemed to like me well enough then." A lot, actually, because she was a clan kid. Not an important one, granted, but her last name had weight. She doesn't hold the ambition of the parent against the child, but that's one of the reasons she's so very careful and meticulous with their lessons.

"So, what has changed? Why am I suddenly a demon?" And this time she waits for them to answer. Makes them admit it. They need to acknowledge the connection so that when they work through the fallacy of her suddenly being a monster, they can draw the parallel with Naruto.

And they do. She can see in their faces that most of them don't really even need the discussion, but some do. Even though they've met and befriended him, it's hard to understand your parents can be wrong when you're that young. And while she's been teaching them critical thinking - they are young and, yes, she trusts all of these kids to come to their own conclusions, but they still need a little guidance to work through it.

"If I'm not a monster," and they'd all agreed on that much, "then why would they tell you that? Why call someone a monster if they aren't one?" And here's the crux of it, really. The real issue.

"There's several reasons, actually." And she's not even going to get into the politics or social engineering aspects. "Sometimes it's as simple as not knowing any better. It's really easy to be afraid if you don't know that there's nothing to fear. And fear sometimes comes out hateful.

"And then if you do learn, that can be hard, too. Because then you have to admit you were wrong. Have to face the guilt of mistreating someone for something they didn't do. And that hurts. It's not an excuse, but it does hurt. Worse, even, because it comes from inside you.

"Sometimes you say it, even if you know it's wrong, because everyone else is saying it." And yes, Kokoro finds herself explaining the concept of peer pressure.

"Sometimes, you've been told a thing so long, you can't accept that it's untrue. Even if all the information points to the contrary.

"Sometimes, there's so much uncertainty that you just want to protect the people you care about from even the potential danger. Your parents are only trying to protect you. That doesn't mean they aren't wrong. Having good intentions and making the right decisions are not the same thing." And that is a discussion for another time, if she can manage this situation just right.

"Your parents - no matter how awesome or amazing or smart, they're still just humans trying to protect their loved ones.

"Of course, at the end of the day, you need to decide for yourselves if you want to be friends with Naruto and I. I'd like you to tell him yourself, though, one way or the other." She can tell just by looking at them, they don't want to end this friendship.

Kokoro knows the kids, at least, are back on the same page. Now she just needs to deal with the parents.

So, obviously, it was time for Naruto's two friend groups to meet. It was about time for her to show herself, anyways. According to the blond, that smart friend of his was about ready to lose his mind. Which she found maybe more entertaining than she should, considering she'd never even met the boy. It was a wonder, truly, that she was the dog and Naruto the fox.

Oh, yeah, she'd figured that one out a while ago. Between her Inuzuka nose, her mind for behavioral patterns, and her plain common sense, it hadn't actually taken all that much. She didn't care. Mmm, well, she only cared in that she had some very unkind thoughts for the villagers that treated him like garbage instead of respecting him for carrying such a heavy burden all on his own.

And she was maybe just a smidge more protective than before.

Which was apparently saying something, because her kids had started to jokingly call her Mother behind her back. A name she had the itching suspicion was going to stick.

Forever.

And was probably going to get even more blatant as the years went by. But that was a thought for another time.

"One last meeting," she says, "at the very least. I think I just might be able to change your parents' minds."

———

When Shikamaru gets home, he's in something of a thoughtful daze. It's that friend of Naruto's, his parents can tell. He's developed a very specific expression when he's thinking of her. A kind of exasperated, kind of puzzled, and ever so slightly grumpy expression - muted, of course, in the way of most Naras, but quite blatant by Shikamaru standards. Which they think is hilarious and adorable, though they don't say as much to him.

Also, it's the day of the scheduled meeting.

"So," prodded Shikaku, "how'd it go?"

There's a long pause as he gathers his thoughts and tries to set them in order. "She's really smart, I think."

She was so quiet for most of the meeting that it was actually hard to get a good read on her, and there were more kids than he'd been expecting. It was a lot of input for someone who basically notices everything. There were draw backs to being as smart as he was. It was part of why he forcibly checks out so often.

"Her name's Kokoro. She's an Inuzuka." And, wow, he'd never seen Kiba so off kilter. He's pretty sure it has to do with Inuzuka instincts, but he doesn't know much about it. He might just be curious enough to ask a few questions next class.

"Ah, so she goes to the academy after all," his mother says. She's eyeing him like she can't decide if she's worried or amused.

"No," he decides to share one of the many strange things about the redhead, "she's a civilian. I think she'll be the head councilwoman when she's older." He didn't get a good read on her, but something about her... He'd met her and there'd been a moment there, a feeling - intellect recognizing intellect. He wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure.

"But she can't be, not if she's a clan member." Shikaku is observing his son closely, it's not like him to miss the obvious.

"Ah, right. I didn't think of that." Is he fried? He feels like his brain is fried. He's clearly overthinking it. And his brai- Oh. His father's comment abruptly registers and certain things about his recent meeting snap into place. He groans, and flops onto his back.

"Troublesome.

"I think I just met the future civilian council. All of them." His parents give a start at that and share a glance that he doesn't see. Yoshino's eyebrows climb, eyes wide, and Shikaku eyes his son while an almost feral smirk slowly crawls across his face.

And, suddenly, Kokoro's challenging, parting grin makes so much more sense. All the work now before him. Because Shikamaru can see the benefits for Naruto, for his clan, for his village, and is willing to help, needs to help. And this is a once in a lifetime sort of opportunity.

And she knows it. Knows he'll see it. Knows what he'll do. It's a lot of work, but that parting grin told him she rather thought he'd be up to the challenge.

"What a troublesome girl." He pretends not to notice as his parents laugh.

———

Lessons with Kokoro change and evolve over time.

Kokoro doesn't remember her first life, but she retains certain skills from it all the same. While a craftswoman, a jeweler, by trade, she'd had very eclectic interests. She'd learned Morse code from her ex-Air Force father, the sciences of psychology and sociology in college because she liked to write and was fascinated by the human mind, learned how to cook by nose and feel from her mother.

She'd been learning first aid and Jiu-jitsu, too, because she could sometimes be an anxious person, and she lived by one creed. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. It probably didn't help that her mother was a project manager by trade, and most of her parents' friends had been some form of ex-military. As a whole, they were drawn to exceptionally smart people who knew how to get the job done, admit when they were in need of help, had a wicked sharp sense of humor, and didn't get hung up on things that simply didn't matter - for one reason or another, most of those people turned out to be ex-military, and more than one of them Spooks, besides. They didn't talk about their old work, didn't train her in any way, but having those kinds of people around her growing up could and did shape her. She'd miss the mental sparring partners, if she could remember them.

And another thing, she'd always been very emotionally sensitive, even in that life, and had what she liked to call Mom-Vibes. People came to her for comfort and direction, which she enjoyed and hated in equal measure. Enjoyed - because she liked to be helpful and the feeling that her loved ones trusted and were comforted by her filled her heart with warmth. Hated - because it could be very painful and draining to be everyone and their mother's therapist and sounding board, all the time, every day, and sometimes she was overwhelmed by all the negativity. She also had the unhealthy habit, which she struggled with all the years of her life, of taking everyone else's problems on as her own.

She'd learned way too much survivalist shit, because her little brother was really into zombies and horror, and had a legit go-bag in his room, though it was for fun, not because he was actually expecting a zombie apocalypse.

She'd been, despite what her slightly paranoid father had thought, very spatially aware. She could weave through busy, bustling crowds with her face buried in a book and not bat an eye, though she never tested herself with stairs. That was mostly because she'd also been clumsy as all hell, rather than a result of a failing in her awareness. Also weirdly lucky, though, because while she lost count of the number of jammed fingers and toes, sprained ankles, bruises, she'd never broken a single bone.

It worked with her memory too. She didn't have a photographic memory, as such, but she could recall seeing a book at her aunt's house, In the built-in bookcase by the kitchen, mid-height, on the middle left hand side of the shelf, a year later - even though it was a new place and she'd only been there the one time. It was hard to explain, but to her it was almost like remembering by feeling, rather than an image in her mind.

Learned foraging and basic holistic medicine, some animal husbandry, bee keeping, bone carving, hunting, canning, fishing, farming, aquaponics... it was an extensive list - because her whole family dreamed of moving off grid one day and living on a homestead.

Most of these skills and interests are helpful, in some way, with the lessons she teaches Naruto and her other Kids.

When Naruto learns Henge at the academy, Kokoro ups his lessons with observation. "It doesn't do you any good to look like someone else," she said, "if you don't know how to act like them."

They make a game of it - Kokoro picks someone in the village and Naruto has the rest of the week to follow them, observing and collecting information. What are their habits, their ticks, do they have a tell when they lie? So on and so forth. It doubles as stealth training, because Naruto fails if he gets caught by the target, or if anybody around him notes his behavior as suspicious. At the end of the observation period, Naruto has to go around in the Henge of his target for as long as possible, without anyone getting wary of his identity.

She teaches the Kids, like she did the blond, how to read situations and body language, though not quite so extensively. She does teach them basic self-defense, which makes Naruto a bit grumpy at first. When he brings the Mizuki issue up, she gives him that sly smile again.

"What do you know about Kekkei Genkai," she asked him, with that tone that lets him know this to be a leading question. "Mmm, actually, what do you know about the Byakugan, specifically?"

Not much, as it turns out, just some vague notions about seeing chakra or something. She, being an Inuzuka, knows quite a bit more. The Aburame, Hyuga, and Inuzuka clans don't share the same close knit bond as the Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara ones, but they do have a history of working together - and she has known some Hyugas since she was a child. She explains what she knows of their Gentle Fist fighting style.

Explains the idea of chakra networks and leads into the topic of pressure points and explains, "If you understand the human body enough, you wouldn't need to see the points in order to know where to strike. So, if you could theoretically fight the same way without the bloodline limit, why aren't there more shinobi doing exactly that?"

And this is one of those conversations she has only with Naruto, because it could be dangerous in the wrong ears.

Dangerous, because she tells him this, "I can't teach my clan techniques to you. But that doesn't mean you can't learn them. Not all clans have ninjutsu that is bound by bloodline limits, and even some of the ones that are... can be imitated and modified to achieve a similar result. It will never be the same, but that doesn't mean you can't get anything useful out of it. If you're careful and clever, if you think about why and how, you'll find there's quite a lot of information to be found on the training grounds.

"But know this," and her voice is grave, "you must be very, very careful. Do not take from only one clan, because that's noticeable, because they are so paranoid and possessive of their secrets. They might feel threatened. That's dangerous. But taking here and there, that's smart. The planning of the Nara, the unpredictability of the Inuzuka, the precision of the Hyuga... there are lessons to be learned. Integrated.

"I can't teach you. But that doesn't mean you can't learn."

———

Kokoro and Friends second meeting with Naruto's classmates is less pleasant than their first. This is not through any fault of hers. Mmm, well, maybe a little.

The first time civilian and ninja groups meet, Kokoro is mostly a careful observer, only very occasionally interjecting, mediating, when the disparity between the two groups is too much to overcome on their own. She lets them relax, get comfortable, decide they're not so bad. Become friendly, if not friends.

It's not until just before the groups go their separate ways that she mentions just who the ninja kids are. That they're all of them clan heirs, and, hey, did they know that Uzumaki was a clan name, too? So the first impression is genuine, friends of Naruto's meeting, but her Kids leave with the identity of those friends fresh on their minds.

The question is whether their parents' ambitions outweigh their dislike of Naruto.

And Kokoro hates, hates, hates using that. They're just kids, they should be allowed to exist as themselves, without politics and ambition tainting everything around them. But it's for Naruto. Even if it makes her sick to her gut with guilt, she'll do it for Naruto.

And, really, the manipulation is for the parents, anyways. She can defuse what they try to instill in their children, but only if the kids are there with her.

It's all well and good with her Kids, but it has consequences. The second meeting makes it clear. Because the second meeting is not two groups, but three. It's not immediately apparent to the shinobi in training, but Ino notices.

———

Ino has come along at the behest of Shikamaru, because even though she's annoying at times, she can be surprisingly perceptive when she wants to be. She's a Yamanaka, after all. And while he wouldn't go so far as to say he enjoys hanging out with her, she's not the worst, either, and he'd like her input on this.

And it is Ino who first notices that there are two civilian groups at this meeting, despite not being there for the first one. The first group are clearly the ones her classmates have met before, the ones that are friends with Naruto, the ones Kokoro... trusts? Likes? Trusts. Something in the way Kokoro moves around them says trust.

The second group, Kokoro decidedly does not. There's nothing blatant, nothing that says I don't trust you or want you here, but she seems to keep them separate without trying. She glances at Naruto, and suddenly the blond is hyperactive, bouncing through the group, and somehow his friends, civilian and ninja alike, are clumped together and the second group is withdrawn. Excluded without being excluded. All, but one.

The leader of this second group - Kokoro keeps between herself and Katsumi.

There is something in his pinched face that is bitter and calculating, though he hides it fairly well. Ino sees it, though. And she suspects Kokoro sees it, too, the way she is guarding him, keeping him separate from his followers. Making sure he's between her and her ninken, where she can keep a close eye on him.

Interestingly, despite Kiba's clear uncertainty around the girl, he follows her lead. Some tension between them that Ino doesn't quite understand seems to loosen as a result.

Ino watches as Kokoro scouts the others - she clearly chose her own group with intention, and there are a few older kids in that second one that she lingers on. Ino wonders if they'll be around more often, even as she knows most of that second group will not be returning.

But the boy will. As rarely as possible, Ino is certain, but he will.

If it is only the people of Kokoro's choosing who get to meet with the esteemed clan kids, someone might think there's something else going on. Something devious. Ino knows there's a lot here she's missing, but she can confirm one thing, at least, for Shikamaru.

Kokoro is clever, and very mindful of what she's doing.

———

Kokoro doesn't mean to be cold towards Chizue. She really doesn't. Chizue is her mother, and she does love her, but it is a cold and distant love.

Kokoro doesn't remember the round, gentle, soft mother of her first life. The woman with brown eyes and grey hair who loved to cook and sew and garden. Whose favorite color was purple.

The mother she hugged every single day, told her she loved her, was loved by in return. The mother who would calmly sit beside her as they read different books, and that was enough, that was wonderful, because they could just be in each other's presence without saying a word. The mother who was her best friend. Who encouraged and supported and loved-

Loved even when the damages of life had hurt her so badly that it was hard to love, to trust. Loved even more fiercely, perhaps, because of it. Her mother loved very few people, but the ones she did were loved fiercely and completely. And woe to any that threatened them.

All Kokoro knows is that when she tries to love Chizue properly, as a daughter should love her mother, she gets blindingly, unbearably sad. Something in her soul screams wrong and reaches out for a presence that's not there. And she just... can't do it.

———

The first time Shikamaru lazes too closely to her, Kokoro plops down and uses him as a pillow. "If you're not going to practice, I might as well put you to some use." It is not an admonishment, as much as he was expecting one - it's half tease, half genuine.

And he decides he doesn't really mind, because Kokoro's pretty calm, all things considered, and it's not like the girl weighs all that much. So he just grumbles and mutters and gives a lock of her hair a gentle yank for emphasis as he lets out a quiet, "Troublesome," but he doesn't really object.

———

When Shikaku finally meets Kokoro, he understands why his son is so fascinated, but exasperated, by her. She's troublesome, really troublesome, but in a not-exactly-bad way. At the very least, not in a way that's any fault of hers. Because she shows up, pretty as you please, with the jinchuuriki in tow, shoves the blond in front of him, and barks out a command.

"Tell him what you told me." It is a command to report, not just some childish bossiness, and when the poor kid collects himself enough to start speaking, Shikaku finds out why.

Kids at the orphanage are disappearing. Any amusement he might have had at the situation dies, and his focus moves sharply to Naruto.

He has the vague presence of mind to notice his son come stumbling from his room, clearly half asleep, and immediately leaning against her side. They don't say anything, but there's something weird in their chakra signatures for a moment and then she's a bit more relaxed even as Shikamaru's attention sharpens. He wonders when his son started being so chakra sensitive, that the girl's distressed signature can pull him from a dead sleep to come seeking her out. Wonders how rarely she gets upset, that his response is so immediate and focused.

But the majority of his attention is on the blond quietly telling him how many kids, where they were last seen, how long ago - He knows this is not as simple as kids disappearing. Remembers the last time children vanished. Prays to any gods that will listen that this situation is nothing like that, even as dread builds in his belly.

That the girl realizes this is a situation that needs to be brought directly to him, makes him surprisingly uncomfortable for her safety. Makes him force her to stay at his house as he takes the blond to the Hokage. He notices the way his son sharpens even further at his decision, grabbing her by the hand and leading her inside. The deer will guard them.

He goes to meet the Hokage.