After we were done eating, we look through the pictures. "Aw, you look so adorable with your Mom like that, Nue-kun!" Megumi cooed. "You do look cute." Suigetsu agreed as he looked at the picture.

"That's when Nue was three years old, right before she went to the hidden villages with her father." Mom explained with a smile. "Who's this man?" Jugo asked, pointing at the next picture which me had me and my Dad.

"That's my Dad." I answered. "How old were you in this picture?" Karin asked, pointing to the next picture.

"She was three years old. Her father bought her that dress." Mom explained. "Wow! Really? You look about six or seven!" Karin said. "Us members of the Houjuu Clan sometimes look a lot older than we appear." My mother explained.

"You looked even cuter in a dress." Suigetsu commented. "Creep." Megumi mumbled as Mom flipped to the next page of pictures. "Wow, look at this picture. Nue, you look so happy." Karin said as she looked at this picture:

"Yeah. I always got excited when Uncle Zabuza came over. See the flowers in my hair? He gave them to me as a gift." I explained. "So, was Master Zabuza your father's brother, or your mother's brother?" Suigetsu asked.

"Zabuza was my husband's brother. You're probably wondering why Zabuza doesn't have wings and tails on his back. That's because Zabuza and Tatsuo (Nue's father) were stepbrothers. Even though they weren't related by blood, they always had each other's backs." Mom explained.

"I never knew Master Zabuza had family." Suigetsu said, amused. "Hey, what's this one?" Megumi asked. I followed her gaze on the picture and quickly covered it with both hands. "That's nothing!" I said, quickly.

"Oh, come on, Nue. Let them see it." Mom said. "But, Mom..." I whined. "Stop being so shy. It's a cute picture." She said. I sighed and slowly removed my hands. "Aww! So cute!" Megumi squealed. "I can't take it!"

We all freaked out when Megumi threw her head back as her nose gushed out blood. "Warn us, will ya!" Suigetsu said as he grabbed her nose, closing her nostrils together. "What are you wearing, Nue?" Karin asked as she examined the picture.

"I'd rather not talk about it." I mumbled as I pressed the couch pillow against my face. "Truth be told, it was actually her cousin who gave her that outfit and she was also the same person who took that picture. Nue's cousin adored her so much, it was like she was in love with her." Mom explained.

"My cousin was a bad influence." I said as I took the pillow off my face. "Oh, she wasn't that bad." Mom defended. "Oh, come on, Mom. She wanted to spray-paint the walls of the Leaf Village and wanted to pull pranks all the time." I explained. 

"I'm sure she was just playing. She was just a child, after all." She said, making me roll my eyes. "You sure did like snakes back then, huh?" Jugo said as he saw multiple pictures of me holding a snake. "Yeah, I loved them. They're my favorite animal." I admitted.

Mom giggled before closing the picture book. "Who wants to go swimming?" She asked with a gentle, closed-eye smile. "Swimming?" We all repeated. "You have a pool?" Karin asked. "Of course. This cabin is bigger than it looks, you know?" Mom said, winking.

"Huh?" The five of us gave her confused looks as we weren't catching on to what she was saying. "Here. Let me explain it to you this way," My Mom took out her scroll and sat cross-legged on the floor before slamming her hands together. "Ninja Art: Revealing Jutsu!"

"Whoa!" All of us held on to whatever we could grab onto as the cabin began to shake. The shaking continued for a while longer until it came to a slow stop. "Mom, what did you just do?" I asked. "Why don't you take a look around and see for yourself?" Mom said, smiling.

Jugo, Suigetsu, Karin, Megumi, and I looked at each other, then looked around the cabin. "Is it me or did this place get... bigger?" Suigetsu asked. "It did get bigger, Suigetsu. I used my magic from the scroll to make it like this." Mom confessed.

"But isn't that dangerous? What is someone sees this place?" Jugo asked. "Oh, don't worry, Jugo. The justsu is still intact and the cabin is still the same size on the outside. It's just the inside of the cabin that's changed." Mom explained.

Suigetsu ran upstairs and not two seconds later, we all heard, "Holy crap! This place is like a mansion now! No, like a castle!"

Megumi ran downstairs and we heard her scream, "There's a pool down here! And a dancefloor!"

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Mom said. "A dancefloor? Really, Mom?" I asked, deadpanning. "What? You know I've always like dancing." She said. "I'll say." Karin said as she adjusted her glasses. "Come on! Let's have some fun!" Suigetsu said.

Jugo, Karin, and I looked at each other with a nervous smile, all of us thinking, "Why not?"

Hotaru's POV

"Cannonball!" Suigetsu yelled as he jumped into the pool. "Oi! Watch it!" Megumi shouted at him. Suigetsu's head poked out of the water and tossed his head back. "Ah... This is sheer heaven." Suigetsu said before swimming around in the pool.

"He sure is full of a spirit." I said with a giggle as I sat in a chair, watching him. "He's always like that." Karin mumbled as she sat beside him. "You're not going to swim, Karin?" I asked. "No, thanks. I'm not much of a swimmer." She said.

"It's really nice of you to create something like this for us, Hotaru-san." Jugo said as he sat at the edge of the pool with Megumi. "Please. It was my pleasure. I'm just glad you're all having a good time. You guys always look so tense." I mentioned.

"Well, we're ninjas. We're almost always stressed." Megumi said while gently kicking her legs in the water. "Ninjas should at least be able to have some fun," I looked around, noticing Nue wasn't here. "Ne, where's Nue?" I asked.

"She said, she had to go upstairs for a while." Karin said. "I see... Excuse me." I got up from my chair and went upstairs to find my daughter. "Nue, are you up here?" I called. I looked around the living room and kitchen, but she wasn't there.

I turned my attention to the backyard when I heard gunshots being fired. I looked out the window, spotting Nue in the yard while shooting at targets on a trees. "Nue?" I approached her as she continued to shoot at the targets.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "I'm fine, Mom." Nue answered, abruptly stopping to talk to me, then went back to shooting. "You look a little stress, dear. Why don't you join your friends? Relax a little bit?" I suggested.

"And how exactly am I supposed to relax, Mom? Madara's starting a war, I don't know when it's going to happen, and I still haven't mastered all the techniques." Nue explained.

"Nue..."

"I can't relax, Mom! Not at a time like this! Madara could be gathering reinforcements and I'm nowhere near being ready to face him!"

"Nue, you have to calm down."

"I can't calm down! I'm scared, all right?! Scared, worried, and stressed out! I'm worried that I may not be able to protect Karin, I'm stressed out about the war that's soon to happen, and...!"

Nue trailed off before angrily shooting at the tree, repeatedly. When she was out of bullets, she panted lightly. "And what, Nue? You can tell me." I said as I rested a hand on her shoulder. Nue quickly turned around and hugged me.

"I'm scared... that I might lose you again, and I'll end up alone... I don't want to lose you after we reunited..." Nue said, hugging me tighter.

"Oh, Nue..." I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her back. "You won't lose me again. I'll always going to be here for you. As long as I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you ever again." I said, gently stroking the back of her hair.

"But... what if Madara ends up killing you because of me?" Nue asked. "It won't happen, Nue. You have to calm down and take a breath." I said to her. "I can't...! I can't! I can't! I have to become strong before the war starts!" Nue looked up at me with her red eyes as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Don't you understand? I want to protect you... protect everyone. But..." Nue trailed off while lowering her head. "But you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders." I said, finishing her sentence for her.

"I knew from the day you were born, you were ready to face any challenge that was thrown your way. You were born to fight, to lead, to protect the things that matter to you most. I know you can do this. I know you were born to do this. But you have to slow down. Too much stress is not good for your body. I'm not asking you to stop training. I'm just asking you to pace yourself." I said.

"Mom..."

"I know you want to train your hardest, but for now, just relax... and have fun."

Nue looked down at her gun, then back at me. "Okay," Her gun disappeared in her hand and she hugged me again. "I'll try and relax." Nue said, making me smile. "Thank you." I hugged her back while closing my eyes.

Nue's POV

After that talk, I joined everyone downstairs and had a little fun. Two hours of fun was really relaxing and de-stressing.

I lied down on a pool float as I eventually fell asleep. But I woke up when I was splashed into the water from behind the float. "Suigetsu! You're gonna pay for that!" He laughed at my anger as I lunged at him in the pool.

Time went by fast as it already got dark. We were each given our separate rooms, but I didn't go to bed. I sat on the deck of the backyard, watching the starry sky. "Did you have fun today, Nue?" Mom asked as she sat next to me.

"Yeah. Thanks, Mom." I said, looking at her with a slight smile. She smiled back and looked at the starry sky.

"Mom..."

"What is it, Nue?"

"Does our clan have... some sort of being inside us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like... do we have a twin inside us that's evil and wants so badly to escape and take over our body just so it can cause harm to others?"

My mother gave me a confused look. "I don't understand what you mean, Nue." She said, making me sigh. "Okay, here's the thing. There's another person inside me. A girl who looks just like me and is basically my opposite." I explained.

"No... Our clan has nothing like that. Please, tell me more." Mom said. I gave a nod and continued. "The girl inside me seems to have more power than me. She sometimes lends me her power so I can have enough to defeat my enemy. But just like me, her power weakens whenever we're face with Kiragani, a substance that brings damage to us."

"Kiragani? I've heard of that. How did you learn of it, Nue?" Mom asked. "By abuse. I was stabbed and electrocuted from that shit." I said. "I'm sorry you had to suffer through that." She apologized. I rested my head on her shoulder as her hand gently wrapped around my head.

"Nue, this being inside you... what is her name?" Mom asked. "Well... She didn't start off with a name, so I named her Eun." I said. "Nue, what you have is very rare. Eun is a very rare being that lives inside you." She explained. "Yeah, a rare being who's evil." I said, sarcastically.

"She's not evil, Nue. Just confused."

"Confused?"

"Beings like her are what we call our guidance, or our guardian angels. They help us when we need them most."

"Then, how come she's been wanting to do nothing but hurt people?"

"Because Eun has only felt your anger and hatred. But soon, she'll be able to learn your gentleness and compassion."

"I sure hope so."

"Nue, have the two of you tried bonding?"

"Well... Not really. We haven't really been able to bond because of our differences."

"I see... Nue, what's is Eun doing right now?"

"Beats me. She's been quiet most of the time, so I can only assume she's sleeping."

"That's too bad. Oh, well then."

The two of stayed silent while looking at the starry sky until Mom broke the silence. "Care to do some training while we're out here?" She suggested. "Training?" I repeated. "Sure. Why not?" She smiled. I smiled back and gave a nod. "Sure."

We stood apart from each other, both of us our fighting stance. "Don't hold back just because I'm your daughter." I said, smirking. "Then, don't hold back just because I'm your mother." She shot back, smirking as well.

Both of us clashed, fighting for dominance. I went to cut her with my wings until she did a backflip out of my range. I summoned five fireballs above me and made them dash towards her. Mom took out her scroll and used it to shield herself from the fireballs.

My fireballs got sucked into her scrolls, then were fired back at me. "Whoa!" I dodged all of them. "Did you learn some new tricks, Mom?" I asked. "Maybe." She answered, smirking.

"I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face!"

"Just try!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Nue! Hotaru-san!"

"What the heck happened to you guys?"

Mom and I were on backs, panting from our intense battle. "We were just doing some training." I answered while panting. "Did you guys train all night?" Suigetsu asked. "Uh-huh." Mom answered. "Good grief. You've exhausted yourselves." Megumi said.

"Yeah, no kidding. I'm out of chakra." I replied. Jugo and Suigetsu helped my mom to her feet while Karin and Megumi helped me to my feet. "If only I had mastered those techniques from the Archives, I would've beaten her." I said.

"Somehow, I sincerely doubt that, Nue-kun." Megumi said with a sweat drop. "Now, that I think about it, we should've brought them with us." Karin mentioned. "Let's go back for them." I said. "No need." Mom said with a tired smile.

"What do you mean?" Karin asked. "Jugo, would you mind getting my scroll out of my pocket?" Mom requested. "Sure." Jugo took out her scroll and handed it to her. "Thank you," Suigetsu and Jugo let go of my Mom so she could stand and opened her scroll.

"Ninja Art: Scroll Summoning."

"Whoa!"

A ton of scrolls came bursting out of Mom's scroll and laid at our feet. "You summoned all the scrolls from the Archives?!" Karin asked. "Mm-hm. Now, you can train and study at your leisure." Mom said with a closed-eye smile.

"Thanks, Mom. Now, let's pick up where we left off." I said to Karin and Megumi.