[The Fox and the Hare] Chapter 31 - Promises (Patreon)

Chapter 31 - Promises

"I’m in love with your son."

For a moment, there was only silence, with neither Kushina nor Mirko saying anything. One was stunned and speechless, while the other was too nervous to break the silence. As for Eri, she was watching the scene in confusion, not understanding what had brought about that strange mood.

"Naruto, you’re the man!" someone unexpectedly said at that moment, startling Kushina so badly that she let out a small shriek.

"Minato?! How are you home so early?!"

"So you don’t want me here? I’m hurt!" Minato said in a whiny voice, but he couldn’t keep up the facade when Eri jumped into his arms.

"Daddy!"

"Ohoho! You’ve grown so much bigger since I last saw you!" he said while lifting the little girl in the air from her armpits and twirling her around.

"You’re so silly, dad, it’s only been three days! I’m still the same!" Eri said while laughing.

And just like that, the tension from before disappeared into thin air. From the other side of the video call, Mirko found herself smiling too at the beautiful sight of the happy family.

Putting Eri down in his lap, he took a seat next to his wife and asked:

"So, what’s this I hear about you being in love with my son, huh?" he said in a teasing voice.

"Ugh, I, um-" The rabbit girl couldn’t find her words momentarily. "It just happened. I didn’t mean to-"

"Don’t tell me you took advantage of him!" Kushina cut her off sharply.

"Of course not! He’s too young. I wouldn't—ah, this is so damn embarrassing."

Minato’s giggling made Kushina glare at him.

"Be a bit more serious, will you? This is no laughing matter!"

"How so? My son just scored a woman ten years older than him, and a total beauty at that! HELL YEAH!"

"Minato!" Kushina said scandalized and slapped him on the forearm.

Mirko too facepalmed at his words, her long rabbit ears sagging down in embarrassment.

"In all seriousness, why do you seem to be against the idea of him dating Mirko? Would it be better if it was some girl we knew nothing about, someone who might use him for his fame and break his heart when she’s done with him? Mirko is a respectable hero, a beautiful woman, and there haven’t been any scandals about her in the media. She is wealthy and famous as well, so she doesn’t have anything to gain by being in a relationship with him other than his company and love."

"That’s not what I meant, and you know it!" Kushina said in annoyance. "There’s a big age gap between them; what will other people say when they hear about it?"

"Does other people’s opinion really matter? It’s Naruto's and Mirko’s happiness, not theirs. With the two of them being as famous as they are, people are going to find a reason to gossip about them regardless."

Kushina couldn’t find something to retort right away. She was biting her lower lip and wrenching her fingers with a distraught look on her face.

"Do you really love him?" Kushina turned her head to the laptop’s screen and asked.

"Love… It’s too soon to talk about such deep feelings," Mirko said honestly. "But I like him. I like him a lot."

Feeling as though her words had not properly conveyed the nature of her feelings, she continued: "He’s responsible and brave. He never backed away from a fight, and he was willing to put his life on the line for the sake of his friends and classmates. Even when we first met at USJ, I respected him for that. Despite his age, he has the conviction and strength to sacrifice himself for others. He is a hero through and through."

"But, as I got to know him better, we grew closer. I got to know the other side of him too. He’s kind and considerate. Hardworking and stubborn to a fault. But he’s also a pervert and a half, and he often gets on my nerves with his dumb jokes."

"A pervert? What did he do? Did he try to peep on you?" Kushina said with narrowed eyes. "I see he’s gone astray since he left. We’ve been too lenient with him, Minato. We really ought to beat his ass one of these days!"

"Kushina! Not in front of Eri!" Minato admonished her while covering Eri’s ears with his hands.

The little girl giggled at the interaction between her parents. They were usually very careful with their language, but Kushina tended to lose the filter on her mouth whenever she got angry.

"No, no, he’s never done anything of that sort," Mirko said quickly. "It hasn’t been revealed to the public yet, but my Quirk has awakened too when I rescued him from All For One. If it hadn’t been for that, both of us might have lost our lives that day… …I’m getting sidetracked. What I’m trying to get at is that after awakening, my sixth sense is extremely sensitive. I can even feel people’s gazes on me…" she trailed off, only for Minato to continue her words:

"So you can sense that he can’t take his eyes off you?"

Seeing how his wife started rubbing her knuckles with a menacing look on her face, Minato couldn’t hold in his laughter.

"You need to relax, honey. He’s not any different from any other boy his age in this regard. He’s a teenager."

Turning to Mirko again, Minato said:

"I can’t say I’m surprised at this development. You extended an internship offer for the first time in your career just for Naruto, and I also heard that you were one of the first heroes to respond to the SOS call when All For One attacked the training camp. You dropped everything you were doing and came to help him. And after that, you even offered to take care of him free of charge until school started. I had an inkling that you had grown to care for him. And you must’ve seen it too, I’m sure," Minato said at the end, directing that last sentence at his wife.

"The only thing I’m surprised about is that it happened a bit earlier than expected. If something were to happen between you two, I thought it would be next year. Second-year students at UA High can spend up to 3 or 4 months on their internships, so that seemed like the perfect moment for it to happen."

Kushina blew out a long sigh and sagged her shoulders before saying:

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come off like I did," she apologized.

"No, you don’t have to apologise. I understand your point of view. It’s normal to be worried about your child. But at the same time, please understand my side too. If I wanted to take advantage of your son, I could’ve done it, and you might never even have found out about it. But I am serious about him; that’s why I asked for your approval to date him. I would love to make this work. I have finally found someone who is after my own heart."

After taking a big breath, Mirko said one last thing:

"But if you tell me now that you don’t agree with it, I will cease all contact with him, as per your wishes. He will still stay with me until the start of school, when the new dorms will be opened on the school campus, but I won’t have contact with him afterwards."

"You have said yourself, the fact that you came to us first says plenty about your intentions. But what does Naruto have to say about it?" Minato asked.

"He’s the one who confessed his feelings to me," the rabbit girl said, her cheeks reddening slightly at the reminder of the embarrassment she had gone through that day.

Minato’s shit-eating grin and the way he pumped his fist in the air spoke volumes about his feelings on the matter. He couldn’t be any prouder of his son!

"You have my blessing! And Kushina’s too!" Minato said and nudged Kushina’s shoulder to make her talk.

But when Kushina didn't say anything, he let out an awkward chuckle.

"Don’t mind her, she’s in her ‘mama bear’ mode now," Minato said, and Eri burst into giggles at the murderous glare that Kushina threw at him. "I reckon it’ll be my turn to be the Daddy Bear when it’s time for Eri-chan to find a boyfriend. It’s just how it is. Sometimes, parents have a hard time accepting that their children have grown up."

"I don’t want a boyfriend. When I grow up, I’m going to marry Naruto-nii-san!" Eri piped in too.

The three adults all cooed at how adorable she was.

"Hear that? In a few years, you’ll have some serious competition," Kushina joked.

A look of relief appeared on Mirko’s face at the change in Kushina’s mood.

"You know, Minato wasn’t wrong. In truth, I’m not exactly against you. Scratch that, it's the opposite. If you had told me this two years later, I would’ve been the first to agree. After all, I’m your biggest fan! My son getting into a relationship with my favourite hero - what’s there to not like about it?"

"How can you and Naruto both say such embarrassing things with a straight face?! I get second-hand embarrassment just from hearing you say those words!" Mirko burst from indignation and embarrassment.

Kushina laughed softly at the rabbit girl’s outburst.

"I was a little taken aback at first, but now that I’ve calmed down, I think you’d actually be great for him, regardless of the age gap… But not now. I believe he’s still too young. Naruto will be 16 in October. At his age, most people don’t know what they want. He might think that he’s in love with you, but chances are that he's just attracted to you. You are a very beautiful woman, and he’s a teenage boy. It's very easy to mistake love with hormones acting up."

"I understand… and… you are right," Mirko said slowly.

Now that Kushina had brought up the real talk, the Rabbit Hero realized that she had let her heart take the wheel instead of listening to her sense of reason.

Although Mirko expressed her agreement, Kushina could sense from the tone of her voice that she was down.

"If his feelings for you are genuine and he is not just attracted to your looks, and if you truly like him as well, what you feel for each other will not fade away that easily. Your yearning for each other will only burn brighter, and your feelings will grow stronger. So please wait for two years. If you ask me the same question two years later, my answer will be a resounding ‘yes’."

⁂

‘Falling in love with a teenager. What was I thinking?’ Mirko thought as she terminated the video call and let her head fall on the backrest of the sofa.

Running her hands through her long white hair, she flicked it over her shoulders and let out a long sigh. Several minutes passed with her just staring blankly at the screen of her laptop, thinking back at the conversation she had just had with Naruto’s parents.

"Mirko?"

"Hello?"

"Rumi-chan?"

"Earth to Mirko?"

So distracted was she by her thoughts that it was only after Naruto lightly pinched her rabbit ears that Mirko finally came back to her senses and realized that he was behind the sofa, trying to talk to her.

"Ah, sorry, I was thinking about something."

"How did it go? What did mom and dad have to say?" he asked while leaning on his elbows on the backrest of the sofa, his face quite close to hers.

"Your mom didn’t agree with it."

"What? Mom didn’t?!"

Considering what a rabid fangirl of the Rabbit Hero his mother was,  Naruto had totally not expected her to be the one who would be against his and Mirko’s relationship.

"She said you’re too young and that you might confuse physical attraction with love. And I think she might be right…"

"Oh, come on!" Naruto said as he jumped over the sofa’s backrest and sat down next to her. "I don’t care about the age gap! I’m not even interested in other girls my age!"

"It's not about the age gap but the fact that you’re still too young. She said that if I asked their permission to date you after two years, she'd be the first to say yes. But not now."

It was easy for her to forget that Naruto was so much younger than her when she got along so well with him. Since he started living with her, she had unknowingly started treating him as her friend. She was not treating him like a kid that she had to take care of but as her peer. They trained together. They cooked together. They cleaned the house together. They went on hero work together. If anything, between the two of them, he was the tidier and more responsible one.

Unknowingly, Naruto adopted the same position as her, letting his head fall on the backrest of the sofa and staring at the ceiling of the room.

‘Two years isn’t that much for me, but in two years, Rumi will be 28, won’t she?’

In Japan, most women were already married by the age of 25, to say nothing about those that were pushing 30. It wasn't easy to tell someone of her age to wait.

As he thought of that, his hand sought hers, and Mirko didn’t reject his touch when he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"You know, one of my classmates confessed to me a few weeks ago," he began and Mirko’s hold on his hand tightened a little. He involuntarily smiled at the little gesture. "She’s really pretty but I just can’t see myself together with her. Or any other girls my age. They’re too immature; they’re like kids."

"Aren’t you a kid too?" she said, snorting in amusement at his choice of words.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t see himself as a kid. Not since he had awakened the memories of his past life. Remembering the moments when his comrades died during the war and the way that he had lost his life at the hands of the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya, had changed his mentality.

If that wasn’t enough to mature him beyond his years, his deadly encounters with the villains over the past two years were certainly enough to destroy whatever childish innocence he still had. He had nearly lost his life three times already, due to the Sludge Villain, the bioengineered creature Nomu, and recently, because of All For One.

And he had still not forgotten the sight of Teniya Iida’s mutilated corpse lying in a pool of blood on the street or how All For One turned a six-year-old boy into a smear of blood on the ground either. Those macabre images were still fresh in his mind.

But on the other hand, he understood the reason why his mother didn’t agree with him and Mirko becoming a couple too. The society he was part of frowned upon such unions.

"I know two years is not a short time, but... will you wait for me, Rumi-chan?"

"I should be the one to ask that question. You’re young, famous, handsome, and still in school. Girls will be flocking to you in a year or two. They probably already do," Mirko said teasingly.

He chuckled a little, but then he said seriously:

"I told you, they are like kids to me. And we are heroes. We're living a dangerous life. Look at me; I nearly died two times in the last four months, and I’m not even a Pro Hero yet. My parents also had to go into hiding with fake identities to survive... Even if I wanted, I couldn’t be together with a girly girl. My partner has to be someone strong, someone who can protect herself. I want someone I can rely on—a girl who can support me in tough times. Someone like you."

Rumi's heart swelled as she listened to his words.

"I understand why mom thinks it’s not appropriate for us to be together now. But my feelings for you are the real thing. So I will definitely wait for you. Will you do the same?"

"I will. I promise," she said, shuffling closer to him. Leaning against him, she rested her head on his shoulder. "But if you make me wait two years in vain and I see you together with someone else, I’ll break your legs."

His chest shook with laughter at the unexpected threat.

"Don’t laugh! I’m serious! This is a crucial age for me, you know? You'll ruin my marriage prospects completely!"

"Please. You could be 50 years old, and men would still line up in front of you to date if you just said a word."

"Tch! I’m not interested in weaklings. You ought to be at least as strong as me or stronger if you want to date me."

He started laughing harder at her words.

"Why are you laughing?! You said the same thing earlier!" she said in annoyance, headbutting his shoulder two times.

"I said I’m looking for someone capable, not that I want someone as strong or even stronger than me. You’re already the Number 3 Hero in Japan! With your unrealistic demands, do you have any idea how few people are left in your dating pool? Especially now that your quirk awakened, only All Might and Endeavour could beat you, and I’m not entirely sure about the latter. No wonder you’re still single at your age!"

And that appeared to be the wrong thing to say because, in the next moment, Mirko sat up and tackled him.

Wrestling, the two fell off the sofa with a thud and destroyed the coffee table too as they rolled around on the floor, trying to establish dominance. The battle was very intense but short-lived.

Straddling his waist and pinning his hands above his shoulders, Mirko was in full mount on top of him.

"Looks… looks like I win!" she said, panting in exertion.

Her slightly red face only a few centimetres above his, her large breasts touching his chest, and her long white hair falling like a curtain to the side and tickling his cheek left him mesmerized. He even stopped trying to break out of her hold.

"You really are a damn pervert!" she suddenly said, her face burning when she felt his arousal poking at her through their clothes.

But instead of trying to find an excuse or lashing out in embarrassment at her, he took advantage of her flustered state to summon his Adamantine Sealing Chains. Due to their position, despite having sensed it coming thanks to her quirk's sixth sense, she couldn’t dodge them this time.

"Hey! That’s totally not fair! Why are you cheating?" she yelled as she felt the chains immobilize her completely.

She grunted and her muscles bulged as she struggled to get free, but even her great physical strength was far from enough to break the golden chains.

"Cheating? All is fair in love and war," he said with a grin as he switched their positions with Mirko now lying on the floor on her back and him looming above her on all fours.

Whether it was because of how hard she had strained herself to break free or maybe due to the mixture of anger and shame at how he had turned the tables on her, Naruto didn’t know the real reason, but her face was as red as an apple. She was so cute that he couldn’t help himself.

"Oi, what are you- mmmh!"

He swallowed her words as he covered her mouth with his and pressed his lips against hers. Bound tightly and unable to move her body an inch, Mirko could only moan in his mouth. It was their first kiss, but it was so hot and passionate that her body became slack.

But suddenly, she wrenched her lips away from his and turned her head away from him to break the kiss.

"We-,  we can’t!" she said while gasping for air. "I made your parents a promise. I- mmmh!"

Cupping her cheek with his hand and turning her head to face him, he cut off her words again as he pressed his lips against hers in another kiss. Tilting his head, he slipped his tongue through her parted lips and deepened their kiss.

It was bliss.

⁂

"You bastard!" Mirko said while trying to catch her breath. "When I get out of these chains, you’re dead!"

His forehead resting against hers and his eyes closed, he was still in the middle of savouring the euphoria that came from kissing her when he said:

"I cancelled the chains a while ago, but you didn’t notice. You wanted this as much as I did."

"I-" Mirko began to say, but she quickly became silent when she realized that she was indeed free and that she could push him away whenever she wanted.

As he opened his eyes and looked at her flushed cheeks and ruby-red eyes, he almost leaned in for another kiss. It took every single drop of self-control he had to back away and roll off her.

Now lying down on the floor next to her, he was still somewhat out of it, half drunk with happiness.

"Damn it, Naruto!" Mirko cussed, still out of breath. "Damn it! How am I supposed to keep my promise to your mom and wait two more years after a kiss like that?"

At his laughter, she started laughing with him too.

"I’ve been dreaming of doing that for weeks. There was no way I could wait two years before kissing you," he said.

"You know, I wasn’t kidding before," she said.

"About what?"

"About breaking your legs if you go back on your word."

"Really?" he asked as he turned on his side to face her. "Yandere Gyaru for the win!"

They burst into laughter again.

"I’m dead serious. After this kiss, even if you don’t want me anymore, there’s no turning back for you. You’re mine now."

Her possessiveness made him chuckle with a mixture of delight and embarrassment.

Gazing into each other’s eyes, they could both sense the passion smouldering underneath. With their enhanced sense of smell, they could both feel the burning desires that they were holding back. The fact that they had not already ripped each other’s clothes off was a testament to their willpower.

"I might be the luckiest guy in the world now."

"At least you know it!"

Letting out a sigh, she broke their eye contact as she stood up. Pointing a finger at him as a warning, she said:

"If you pull another stunt like this one more time, I’m going to kick your ass. And no more kisses!"

"Oh, maaan," Naruto said bummed out as he stood up from the floor too.

She sighed at his look of disappointment.

"I gave your parents my word, and I want to keep it. I’m a woman of my word, but you’re making it very hard for me not to break it. You don’t understand how hard it is for me to hold back. Try to put yourself in my shoes for a moment…"

"I’m wearing the same ‘shoes’ as you. I want you just as much as-"

"Are you really going to make me have to spell it out loud for you? I’m a goddamn rabbit!"

"What does that even have to do with anything?!" he said. But then he clapped his palm with his fist as realization dawned on him. "OHH!"

"Tactless dumbass!" she jeered at him, and threw a couch cushion at his face.

She reckoned that her face had flushed red more in the last two days than in the entire year. It annoyed her to no end. She was Mirko, the Rabbit Hero! She wasn't supposed to blush and act all embarrassed like that!

"Whoa, I didn’t know you had that rabbit trait too!" he said in surprise. "So that’s why you’re keeping that dildo on the nightstand next to your bed!"

The moment he said those words, Naruto realized that he had shot himself in the foot. Sensing the spike of murderous intent suddenly exploding from her, he didn’t hesitate. He jumped out of the window right away.

But this time, she didn’t chase after him to beat his ass. Plopping herself down on the sofa, she covered her face with her palms and let out a loud groan.

"I swear to God, this guy is going to be the death of me."