A/N: Must...continue...daily...updates...!

Take that, hospital! Ya cannae hold me for long!

It ain't midnight yet over here! So it couuuuuunts! Ha!

I got hurt today so I apologize for the...length of this chapter.

So.

Legend of Korra ended.

And weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelll I wasn't expecting that to go do the way it did.

So here, to prove a point that I'm updating stuff besides Fate, and to continue the daily updates.

As ever, I own no quotes, references, or anything related to other media. Also had to edit the hell out of this and take the gore out. As well as the lemon because of the guidlines. And didn't that just kill my inspiration. I wish I knew why some people were so against them...

*grumbles incoherently*

But with the rise of the comics and apparently a netflix adaptation coming, I felt this was owed.

Also, getting a lot of flak and angry words. Someone *that was the tag they left* keeps saying that each Naruto has no personality and such and that I make them the same. As they're anonymous and I can't respond to them, I feel this is the only way I can address them:

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry that my stories haven't been living up to your expectations,

I thank you for your time and words of criticism.

You have been heard, my friend."

Warm regards,

~Nz.

As ever, I own no quotes, or references to other media. I just like the memes.

I've still got some life left in me. Lets finish this story.

Timeskip here of...oh, lets say a day.

Sorry if its short, but I'm alive.

Onward!

"If you keep going this way...

...if you don't learn from your mistakes...

...YOU AND ME ARE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME."

~?

A Bad Time (Interlude)

"This! Train! Is! Awesome!"

Kuvira fought down a small smile as certain firebender vaulted past her with a delighted squeal. Despite the trauma she'd gone through, Tara still had plenty of life left in her. A tiny part of her preened at the girl's childlike wonder. Well, she was a child. Naruto had been adamant that they bring her along, but she'd already stowed away in the first place. Clever girl. Even now, a day after the fact, she clearly recalled the girl sitting on one of the railcars, legs swinging over the edge as she waved to them. She'd lost none of that energy since.

This girl was good. She was kind.

Batar had tried to kill her.

And she'd killed him.

That thought soured her thoughts, cutting right to the quick. Great Uniter. Bah. What kind of leader was she when she couldn't control her own troops? She still felt a nasty pang of guilt over that, one she refused to show the world. A part of her mourned what he had once been, not the angry, paranoid man he'd been at the end. Worse, it was her fault. She suspected-knew!-why he had snapped but she didn't care. Not so much as an iota of hesitation on her part; she'd cut him down with a second thought and ohgodhsecouldstillseetheblood-

"You're dwelling again."

A hand on her shoulder drew her back to reality and warm blue eyes.

Her heart skipped an errant beat and she spun away, mumbling to herself. "This is all your fault, you know."

"I know." his head bobbed sagely. "Which brings us to the next point of business. I've been meaning to tell you something."

Something in his voice instantly set her on edge. Perhaps it was the flinty edge of her smile, the way others drew back from the two of them.

Naruto sighed and tapped his staff against the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

On the third he spun his weapon at her.

"Fight me." it was a much a command as a declaration. "Now."

"What?"

His brown grew stormy. "Did I stutter?"

Kuvira stiffened; in part because she'd thought they were past this. He'd agreed to follow her. Hadn't he said all was forgiven? So where, then? Where was this coming from? Her men didn't even try to interfere, rather, they took one look at the ice in his eyes and shrank back as if scalded. When the blond raised his arm and told them to clear the room, they did. Everyone, be they soldier, technician, or bender alike, all parted to give the two of them room and keep it the way. All the while the train thundered on and the land continued to blur by, a mottled brown blur barely glimpsed through the windows.

"Surely they's no need-

Blue eyes burned red. "There is a need."

Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "What need?"

He only settled into a stance. "You'll see soon enough, now."

Tara whistled softly and clamored off her seat without another word.

Kuvira barely watched as the girl skipped away. Her mind had already gone tense, her body preparing for combat even as she tried to desperately to deny it. She didn't want to fight; not here, not him, not at all. One look in those crystal blue eyes told her she wouldn't be able to talk him down. So she did what she did best. She prepared. She planned. Surely he wouldn't be able to use that absurd speed of his here in the train. Not with these narrow corridors and so many others around.

"I told you all was forgiven, and it is." whiskered cheeks dimpled in a reassuring smile, allaying some of her innermost doubts. "But there's something I need to clarify. One last lesson you need to learn before we continue this partnership of ours. Before we reach our destination.

"And that is?" Kuvira tilted her head, momentarily baffled by his cryptic response.

Naruto's smile reminded her of a hungry shark.

"Instinct."

"What in the-GACK?!"

He struck and she narrowly raised a sheet of metal to stop him in time. Didn't work; in moments he stepped back, chambered a kick, and smashed right through to ram a leather-clad heel upside her head. A flash of red danced through her right eye and she realized he'd cut her, drawn first blood just above her forehead. Restraining the instinctive flash of anger, Kuvira trusted to her training, falling back on the forms she'd been taught before. Suppressing her instincts as much as her rage, she took up a secondary stance. She began to think, calculating, trying to predict his next move-

"There it is again! You need to stop doing that!"

He swept her legs and she sprang onto a hand, kicking out at him.

In recompense for this temerity-this disgrace-he caught her leg and levered her into a wall.

"You think too much!" his muffled voice reached her ears as she struggled to extricate herself. That's fine for strategy, but useless in a fight! Don't think! Feel! Variables, outcomes, forget all that!"

Growling, she willed the metal away from her body and flung it at him in a two-pronged attack. He batted the first aside and hopped-outright hopped!-onto the other before kicking it back at her. All the while, that stoic blue gaze never left hers. Then his fist came crashing down again, hammering her in the stomach when she tried to get close. Even with arm arm, he still had two legs. Two legs which absolutely kicked the crap at her in spite of all her efforts to pin him down.

"Will you stop?!"

"Nope." another sweep, sending her bounding over a seat. "You've improved, but its not enough."

She ripped a metal seat free from its moorings with her will alone and flung it at him. That black rod caught it, tapped it and just as quickly Kuvira found herself floored by her own projectile. Naruto flung his staff up and flicked her forehead, causing her to stumble before she could seize the advantage. By then he'd snatched his weapon up again and slapped her retaliatory strike aside with graceful ease. In the same movement his boot shot out and caught her full on in the chest.

"You keep fighting like this." his voice rose as she reeled back, "With restraint, holding back, shackling yourself. Use your emotions. Trust your instincts If you don't...

The staff took Kuvira low and hard in the stomach as he spoke, just as a boot slid beneath her right knee and flipped her leg out from under her. Her world spun and she lurched in midair just as his weapon struck her hard in the solar plexus. End result? She was flung to the ground, wasted and gasping for air. When she scrambled upright again the blond already had that staff against her throat. Rather than finish what he'd started he simply arched an eyebrow at her, a small smile affixed to his face. Kuvira hadn't thought it possible for someone to crack their knuckles with one hand, much less while holding a weapon, but Naruto did just that.

Handily.

...you're gonna have a bad time."

His staff descended viciously, sending her into the black.

It was only after she woke some time later that Kuvira realized just how thoroughly she'd been had. Yes, Naruto had agreed to come to her. But then he'd thrashed her in front of her fellow benders and soldiers alike. Any belief they might have had about him bending the knee to her, obeying her, being loyal to her...well. They'd lost those as swiftly as she had their little duel. He'd bested her again and now they knew. They knew he was any ally to be sure but that his whims were his own. Not hers. He did as he pleased, consequences be damned.

Sometime later, as she nursed her bruises, Tara crept over to her.

Blasted little imp. She was smiling.

Almost like she knew.

"He went easy on you, you know."

"What?"

"Papa." in one smooth movement the girl swung herself up onto the seat beside her. "He thinks you can be a better person than you are now. That's why he's so hard on you."

The Great Uniter fought down the urge to snap at the girl; if only because she had that smile. His smile. Brat, she thought, but the word was without rancor. She was better. Her outlook on life had shifted, just a bit, just a touch, just a tad, but shifted nonetheless. It would likely shift further still before all was said and done, but it was a start.

"Do you love him, mama?"

Kuvira colored to the very roots of her hair. "Ma...?!"

Nevermind being called mother, what had she said just now?!

Sly.

Little.

Stowaway!

For all her strength of will and all her stubborn pride, she found that she couldn't speak. Words simply failed her. All this from a little girl! Granted, a very clever little girl who seemed entirely too smart for her own good but still! She'd found herself completely, utterly shut down by five little words, all her pride and ambitions squandered in an instant by that simple inquiry. No, that wasn't quite right. Mama. Tara had taken to calling her that ever since that spirit-forsaken morning, and for the life of her, she didn't know how to make her stop!

At length, she found her voice, but the words emerged as a stumbling stutter. "W-What did you just say?"

What indeed?!

Tara only beamed.

Ah, the logic of a child.

"If you love him, just marry him. Then we can be a family."

She said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Looking back, that was probably what started, planting that first, tiny seed of doubt.

It was then, form that moment, that the Great Uniter truly began to come undone at the seams.

A/N: Funny thing about Kuvira; she's as stubborn as a mule when she wants to be. Take a look at the show, she had to be beaten, broken, and utterly humiliated before she surrendered. And it was still a near thing at that.

But if you persist, she'll start to listen to you. Somehow. Eventually.

Lets hope she gets a happier ending this time around eh?

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly?

And enjoy the preview.

(Preview)

"I can think of one way to remedy that. Marry me."

Naruto spat out his drink. "What?!"

Su yin scowled.

"Who are you? Where's Batar?"

Kuvira stiffened.

"Erm...

Naruto yawned and scratched the back of his head.

"Well...ah, y'see, its kinda complicated...

R&R~! =D