[The Fox and the Hare] Chapter 37 - Invitation (Patreon)

Chapter 37 - Invitation

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"Naruto, honey, Rumi might be rough around the edges, but she's got a good heart. Deep down, she's a very loving and affectionate girl, trust me. So don't give up on her, okay?"

"Don't worry, okaa-sama," he said, all the while grinning teasingly at Rumi who had steam coming out of her ears by now at how Naruto decided to play her mother's game. "I'd never give up on her. We've been together for almost two years now, I love her."

"Two years?! TWO YEARS?" she said in disbelief before stopping and turning towards her daughter with her hands on her waist. She was fuming. "RUMI! YOU'VE BEEN IN A RELATIONSHIP FOR TWO YEARS AND I ONLY FOUND OUT ABOUT IT JUST NOW?!"

⁂

"Naruto, you're so dead," Mirko said through gritted teeth.

“See? That’s exactly why you have such a hard time finding someone! You’re scaring all men away with that violent behaviour!” Mrs Usagiyama said.

“Better like me than seeing five men at the same time like you!” Rumi shouted back at her. “And besides, Naruto isn’t scared of me!”

“Are you sure? Those threats of bodily harm and those manly muscles of yours... I’m wondering sometimes if I gave birth to a man wearing a girl’s skin!”

Rumi suddenly grabbed her mother by the arm from behind and stopped her in her tracks before turning her to face her rather roughly.

“What have you come to Japan for?”

“Rumi, I’m your mother-”, Mrs Usagiyama said in a warning tone, but her daughter’s bruising grip on her arm didn’t lessen.

“You weren’t my mother when I needed you! You left me to rot in an orphanage! You don’t get to throw it in my face that you’re my mother!”

Even though he was initially amused by their interaction, Naruto lost his mirth when he saw how their conversation devolved.

“It wasn’t possible for me to raise you because I was only a teenager when I gave you birth. But I never stopped caring about you. Leaving you in the care of an orphanage was far better than stubbornly keeping you with me when I couldn’t provide for you or even for myself. As much as you may despise me or hate me, I am your mother, and you are my daughter.”

At her mother’s words, Rumi let go of her and walked ahead past her, not even looking back. The walls rattled as Mirko slammed the entrance door of her apartment after her.

⁂

“Hey, you going somewhere?” he asked when he entered Rumi’s room and saw her taking some clothes out of her closet.

Turning to look at him briefly, she let out a sigh.

“I need to get some air and cool down.”

Neither spoke for a while.

“I’ve gotta change. Do you mind?”

“Ah, okay,” he said, turning his back to her.

“...Get out of the room, pervert!”

Her exasperated voice made him snicker.

“Fine. I’ll go get changed too.”

She scrunched her little nose at his words.  “I’d rather be by myself tonight. Besides, I can’t leave her alone in my apartment.”

A knock was heard on the door, and Rumi felt her ire rising again when she saw her mother entering without even waiting for an answer after knocking.

“Is everyone in the US like you, with no manners?” Rumi said sharply.

“Funny hearing you talk about manners after you left your guest all alone without even offering them a glass of water,” her mother shot back in the same manner.

“An uninvited guest who suddenly intruded on my home at this late hour in the evening. A guest who came just to mess around and make my life difficult!”

“Rumi,” Naruto interjected, trying to stop her before she said something too hurtful.

“No, you don’t know how she is! She’s always flippant about everything! She never takes anything seriously! She sleeps around with whoever catches her eye, not caring if they’re married or not, and blames it all on the nature of her quirk. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she even tried to get her hands on you!” the rabbit girl blew up.

“You’re the one who takes everything too seriously,” her mother said, shrugging her shoulders. “And why should I fight against my nature? Why are you fighting against your instincts? Look at yourself: you’re almost 30 and you’ve never been with a man. You’ve become a leftover. Who is going to marry you and give you children at this age?”

Watching the two women argue, Naruto felt as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, after remembering his past life and how it felt to be an orphan, Naruto would never talk to his parents the way Mirko was doing now. He didn’t agree with the kind of attitude she was showing her mother. But on the other hand, he was biased to take her side because she was his girlfriend.

“I’m going to marry her,” he said, taking the chance to intervene between the two of them before their argument escalated into something worse. “I’m going to marry her, and we’ll definitely have kids too. We’ll make a whole football team.”

“Shut the hell up, dumbass!” Rumi half-yelled at him, her face burning red because of what he said. “Ain't no way I’ll give you 10 kids, are you crazy?!”

In spite of herself, Usagiyama Yua found herself giggling at their interaction, forgetting for a moment that she and her daughter were in the middle of an argument.

Naruto also snickered at her outburst and came closer to her, taking her in his arms. Her embarrassed countenance was so cute that he couldn’t stop smiling. He loved it when he got the upper hand against her in their verbal spats and saw her getting flustered.

Seeing the shit-eating grin on his face, Rumi pushed him away from her and turned with her back to him.

“Both of you get out of my room. I’m going to change my clothes.”

“How about we all go for a walk and have a calm conversation? How about we behave like adults, not like children?” Naruto said.

Hearing the youngest among the three of them say those words, both Rumi and Yua were left at a loss for words.

⁂

Half an hour later, Naruto and the mother-and-daughter duo found themselves in a rather remote pub, not far from Hiroshima’s central district. Seeing as it was Saturday night, the pub was packed with many people, but the atmosphere wasn’t too rowdy. Most people in the pub weren’t loud partygoers, and the chill funk music playing in the background contributed to the relaxing mood as well. It looked like the perfect location to just hang out with friends, have a beer, and relax on a weekend evening.

“Not a bad place. Do you two come here often?” Yua asked as she sipped on her pina colada.

As Rumi busied herself with taking a big gulp out of her carrot and vodka cocktail, Naruto replied:

“Not that often. I’m technically not allowed to drink by the law,” he said and raised his bottle of Pepsi a bit to show her that he didn’t have alcohol. “But Rumi loves this place and likes it when I’m with her to keep her out of trouble.”

“Oh?” Mrs Usagiyama said, her face becoming alight with interest. “What did she do? Tell me, tell me~”

Naruto’s teasing smirk turned into a wince of pain as Rumi kicked him in the shin under the table.

“Not a word if you value your life,” she growled at him.

He snickered, but he wisely decided not to expose Rumi’s drinking habits to her mother.

“You really are close to each other, aren’t you?” Yua said, looking at them with her chin resting on the back of her palms. “Say, how about you two came to live with me in America?”

Naruto and Rumi looked at each other, speechless.

“Where did that come from?” he said, still surprised by her offer.

“That’s why I came to Japan unannounced,” Yua revealed the purpose of her visit. “At first, I was only planning on taking Rumi with me. I mean, I’ve read the tabloids about you and my daughter, but I didn’t put much stock in them because I knew how unreliable they were. But after seeing you two in person, I can tell how close you are to each other, so I’m extending an invitation to you too. Will you two come with me to the States?”

“Do you realise what you’re asking me? What you’re asking us?” Mirko said once she got over her surprise. “Naruto has a family here, he can’t just leave them all behind! As for me, it took me nearly 10 years to get to where I’m at now. I’m the Number 3 Hero in Japan now. Do you know how much effort, how many sleepless nights, and how many injuries I’ve had until I got to this point? How could I possibly throw all that away, leave my home country, and go to live on the other side of the world with you?”

Mrs Usagiyama took another sip from her cocktail before adopting a serious look on her face.

“How much do you know about the metahuman movement in Japan?” she unexpectedly asked.

Naruto started listening with rapt attention.

“Didn’t you live in the USA? How do you even know about that?” Mirko asked.

“Why are you acting so surprised? I’ve always kept my eyes open for news and information related to you and Japan. I was born here too, you know?” she said, offended.

As Mirko didn’t have a rebuttal to that, Yua continued:

“This shadow war that’s been going on for the past two years will end soon.”

“Shadow War? What do you mean?” Naruto asked.

“All these killings that have been happening over the past two years, do you think that the villains just randomly decided to go on a hero-murdering spree? Or do you think that the large number of villains that died until now all lost their lives at the hands of vigilantes? I’ll tell you now, these aren’t random events. It’s not a coincidence. The League of Villains and the Hero Public Safety Commission had been waging a secret war against each other this entire time. But this shadow war is about to end. The real war is about to start soon. It could be days, or it could be weeks… but a war between the League of Villains and the government is imminent.”

“How do you know all these things?” Mirko asked, her red eyes narrowing at her mother. “Even I wasn’t privy to this piece of information, and I’m one of the Top 3 Pro Heroes in the country. You aren’t even a Pro Hero or anything like that. Weren’t you just a civilian? Or have you been lying to me this entire time?”

“Always ready to jump to the worst conclusions…do you hate your mother that much?” Usagaiyama Yua asked in a hurt voice.

When Rumi didn’t have an answer for that, Yua dropped her act and said:

“One of my former lovers has a high-ranking position in the HPSC. He always keeps me up to date with the latest developments in Japan.”

“Is there anyone you haven’t slept with? God!” Rumi shouted in frustration and banged her fist on the table, startling the people sitting at the tables close to them. Luckily, the music playing in the background was loud enough to muffle her shout, preventing it from travelling too far.

“Rumi, behave yourself! You’re making a scene,” Yua said, a displeased look on her face. “If men throw themselves at my feet, why shouldn’t I use them? Why should I turn down a night of pleasure and their unwavering loyalty afterwards?”

The more he learned about Usagiyama Yua, the more Naruto understood why Rumi disliked her so much. The two women were the complete opposite of each other.

“I don’t understand why are you being like this. Why fight against your instincts? Am I hurting anyone? No. Everyone I’ve ever been with knew exactly what type of relationship to expect from me. You and I, we are part-rabbit. Whether you like it or not, it’s in our nature to seek companionship.”

“I’m nothing like you!” Mirko spat. But she kept her voice low this time, not wanting to make a scene again.

“Really now? Have you ever wondered why you’re always so impulsive and quick to resort to violence? You’ve ever asked yourself why are you such a battle junkie when I, your mother, doesn’t like violence at all? You don’t have to tell me because I know the answer and I know that you know it too. It’s because you’re fighting against your nature. You’re always stressed out and tense from suppressing your needs. It’s a miracle to me that you’re still somewhat sane after all these years.”

Rumi grabbed her glass with both hands and gulped down the carrot and vodka cocktail in one breath to avoid saying anything.

“Let’s go home, Naruto,” Rumi said, standing up to leave.

“Why do you have to be so rude, Jesus,” Yua said in chagrin. “At least give me a clear answer before you leave.”

“I’m not leaving Japan,” Mirko said curtly.

Seeing his girlfriend angrily stomping on her way out of the pub, Naruto also stood up from the table. But Mrs Usagiyama stopped him from leaving by grabbing him by the arm.

“Will you please take care of Rumi for me?”

“She doesn’t need anyone’s protection. She’s the third-strongest hero in the country,” he said.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant to take care of her as her boyfriend.”

“Um, we aren’t doing that sort of thing yet,” he muttered, his face gradually turning red.

“Fufu, how cute! You’re so innocent. If you weren’t my daughter’s boyfriend, I might have snatched you up for myself.”

Naruto quickly freed his arm from her grasp and took a step back.

“I’m just teasing you,” Yua giggled at him as she rested her chin on her hand. “But I’m serious about the other thing. Please take care of Rumi. I may not have been the best mother for her when she was younger, but I care deeply about her.”

She took out a visit card from her purse and placed it on the table before sliding it towards him.

“Take this. I was not joking about my invitation to the USA. Rumi didn’t let me finish, but this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment decision on my part. Not only that I’ve already prepared a flat for her to live in, but there is even a well-paid vacant job waiting for her as the bodyguard of a CEO. I truly want her to come with me. So please keep that in mind…if the situation ever becomes too grave in Japan, the doors of my home will always be open for the two of you.”

⁂

“What took you so long?” Mirko asked grumpily when Naruto finally came out of the pub a few minutes later.

“Sorry, your mom wanted to have a few more words with me.”

Grabbing her hand, the two headed back home at a walking pace instead of making use of their super speed.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said after a while of walking in silence. “It’s why I never talk much about her. My mother… argh, I can’t stand her!”

Naruto remained quiet, just letting her vent her frustrations. In her tirade, Mirko ended up calling her mother all sorts of unflattering things, from “selfish” and “hedonistic” to “whore” and much worse.

“What I hate the most is that she’s blaming it all on her Rabbit Quirk. It’s the fault of her Rabbit Quirk that she got pregnant at 15! It’s the fault of her Rabbit Quirk that she can’t spend a night without a man in her bed! It’s the fault of her Rabbit Qurik that dozens of men forwent their wedding vows and cheated on their partners. She blames it all on her instincts, as if she’s some sort of animal who can’t control herself! Bullshit! We aren’t animals! We’re humans! Look at me, when have I ever appeared in the newspapers due to a scandal? How many kids have I made and thrown away in the orphanage? How many times did I sleep around? [...]”

It was the first time Naruto had ever seen his girlfriend rant about anything like that. In the first place, Rumi wasn’t the type of girl to talk so openly about her feelings. If she was frustrated, she’d go out and find a villain to beat up. If there were no villains out in the streets, she’d hit the gym and lift a few tons. That's how she relieved her stress and frustrations.

As that thought came to his mind, Naruto stopped and said:

“Hey, let’s go to the gym.”

“What?” she asked in confusion, momentarily stopping her rant. “What came over you now?”

“I feel like wanting to lift some weights and test my body’s new limits. My quirk awakened yesterday, so I haven’t had the chance to really feel the changes in my body.”

As Mirko didn’t seem to be too enthused by the idea, he took her hand in his and pleaded:

“Come ooon, it will be fun! Remember how I submitted you on the rooftop earlier today? I've gotten as strong as you are! No, I bet I can deadlift more than you now!”

She let out a sigh but didn’t put up too much of a fight. She wasn’t clueless about what he was trying to do.

“Okayyy, I’ll play along. Let’s go get our gym equipment first. Race you to my apartment?”

“You’re on!” Naruto said with a grin.

“No sonic speed. It’s too late in the evening now. Deal?” Rumi set the ground rules.

“Deal.”

“Okay, on my mark:”

Naruto and Rumi got in position to sprint and grinned at each other as she started the countdown:

“3, 2, 1, go!”

If Mirko chose to start sprinting on the street and navigate through the cars with her super speed, Naruto ran up the walls of a building and then took it to the rooftop, shinobi jumping from one tower to another.”

In a race of pure speed, with no obstacles, Rumi would undoubtedly win. But with her having to avoid the cars and make sure she didn’t cause any accidents, she couldn’t showcase the full potential of her Rabbit Quirk’s speed. Regardless, it was still faster for her to run on the flat ground instead of hopping around from one building to another.

That being said, given his past life experience with shinobi’s tree-jumping style of travel, Naruto was in his element. His ability to accurately gauge the distance between rooftops and measure the amount of force he had to put in his jumps to land perfectly on the next building was nothing short of remarkable.

⁂

The windows of a large warehouse-like building trembled as a loud noise was heard from inside. It was a fitness gym.

There were many fitness gyms in the centre of the city, close to Mirko’s home, but most of them weren’t open at that hour, and many of the remaining ones weren’t equipped with the necessary weights and machines to provide a fitting environment for exceedingly powerful individuals.

Therefore, their only option was to go into the industrial area at the outskirts of the city, to a place where a former warehouse building had been transformed into a 24/7 fitness gym.

Much to their delight, they were the only people present in the gym at that moment. Not only that it was almost midnight by then, but people with formidable physical strength weren’t that common either.

As the two of them competed against each other in weightlifting, Rumi temporarily forgot all about her mother.

“One thousand three hundred!” she screamed.

The floor quaked as she let go of the heavy barbell in her hands. “Haa! Take that!”

But then, a feeling of dizziness came over her, and she took a wrong step while walking away from the barbell.

“Careful!” Naruto shouted and quickly caught her before she could stumble and fall to the ground.

Becoming lightheaded while straining oneself too hard to lift a heavy weight wasn’t uncommon. Some people could even end up fainting if they pushed their bodies too much beyond their limits.

“Good grief! You’ve gone overboard again. Seriously, I often wonder who the kid among the two of us is,” said Naruto as he led her to sit on a bench.

Rumi didn’t take it to heart and laughed happily instead.

“I can only afford to go overboard because you’re with me. I wouldn’t do it otherwise. Besides, I had to show you that I’m still the boss. I’m still stronger than you! And I’ve just beat my personal record!”

“Even if you didn’t try to push past your record, I’m still nowhere near your level,” he said with a shake of his head.

“That’s wrong. I couldn’t lift as much weight as you do when I was your age. I actually don’t know anyone who can lift 800 kilos at the age of 17!”

“I'm almost 18. And 800 kilos is still half a ton away from your record.”

“Do you hear yourself? Come here you, little freak, I’ll whoop your ass if I hear you say that again!”

He chuckled and, completely unafraid of her threats, he sat down on the bench next to her. He understood what she was talking about. 

‘Two years ago I was struggling to deadlift three-four hundred kilos. My physical strength has more than doubled.’

What had driven Mirko to attempt breaking her record wasn’t the actual weight that he could lift, but the pace of his progress.

“Seeing the speed at which you’re improving, I have to pump up those numbers too. Otherwise, at this rate, you’re going to leave me in the dust two or three years from now.”

“I wouldn’t settle for any less. My partner has to be at least as powerful as I am,” he said in a tone that was supposed to imitate her voice. He was making fun of what Mirko had told him years ago about her standards when it came to dating.

“Oh, shut it, you!” she said, lightly pushing him away.

“Even if my quirk awakens four more times, I don’t think I’ll ever beat you at deadlifting. Your Rabbit Quirk is all about having strong legs. You’ll always have a genetic advantage over me when it comes to deadlifting.”

“All I’m hearing is excuses~” she sing-sang.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end eventually, and so did their workout session as well.

“Carry me?” Rumi said, raising her arms at him like a baby. “My legs are being funny right now.”

True to her words, her long and muscular legs were trembling. She couldn’t walk properly.

“That’s so like you that I can’t even say I’m surprised.” He didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh.

“Pretty please?”

“No! You stink! And my legs are beaten up too, I’ve also deadlifted together with you!”

“Rude! You stink even worse than I do, but I don’t point it out like you do!” she retorted in annoyance.

“You don’t hear me asking you to carry me,” he said with a shrug, going ahead.

But Rumi suddenly jumped on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck like a monkey.

“Carry meee!”

“Let go of me, you monkey!”

“Nooo!”

“I’ll throw myself on my back!” he threatened.

“Don’t you dare-” she began, only to let out a squawk of pain and surprise as Naruto really followed up on his threat and threw himself on his back, slamming Mirko against the floor, with him on top of her.

“You little shit, you’ll pay dearly for this!”

As Mirko’s arms started tightening around his neck, he finally remembered that Mirko was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.

“Rumi-chan? Rumi? Hey, w-wait! Stop! I’ll carry you!” he cried out as he fought off her right wrist in a panicky attempt to stop her from choking him to sleep.

“Good boy,” she cooed at him as she loosened her grip on his neck and planted a wet smooch on his cheek.

He groaned as he stood up on his feet with Mirko still attached to him like a backpack.

“I’m so going to get back at you for this!”

“Mhm, I love you too,” she said with a giggle and lightly sank her teeth into the tip of his fox ear.

“Are those long ears of yours just for show? When did I say anything about loving you?”

“You wouldn’t put up with any of this if you didn’t love me,” she said with a confident grin, and before he could protest, she grabbed his chin and turned his head to the side before covering his mouth with her lips.

Unlike the rough way she initiated it, their kiss was gentle and deep as Rumi caressed his cheek with her hand.

“Thank you for today,” she said when they broke the kiss and pecked him one more time before putting her chin on his shoulder and pressing her cheek against his. “You’re always here when I need you.”

“Unlike a certain someone who ignores her boyfriend for weeks at a time.”

“You’re never going to let that rest, are you?” she said in annoyance.

“Never!”

They laughed together.

“No, seriously, thank you,” she whispered and tightened her arms and legs around him just a tad tighter.

Leaving the gym with Mirko on his back and two gym bags hanging off his neck, Naruto painted an amusing image as he walked back home.

He could have arrived at Mirko’s flat in a matter of minutes if he had made use of his super speed, but, despite his complaints about carrying the rabbit girl on his back, he rather enjoyed doing that. Scratch that, in normal circumstances, when he wasn't dead tired, he loved it. The feel of her soft breasts squishing against his back and the intimate way in which she wrapped her legs and arms around him submerged him in bliss.

Furthermore, after such a long time spent in a relationship with her, his sensitive nose was starting to get accustomed to her smell of sweat, and, strangely enough, he even found it somewhat pleasant if he were to be honest with himself.

‘Am I turning into a pervert?’

He heard the saying that people’s feelings of infatuation go away after a year or two many times, but that didn’t seem to be the case with him. He didn’t know about Rumi's inner feelings in regards to him, but he was falling deeper in love with her every day. Even things that he would normally hate if they were from other people (like the smell of sweat or how loud she was), he didn’t mind them when it came to her.

He was suddenly forced to squint his eyes when Mirko took out her phone and snapped a quick photo of the two of them with the camera’s flash on.

“Yare yare.”

But that was all he said. He let Rumi snap as many photos of them as he wanted. Objectively, he was aware of the fact that he was acting like a love-struck fool and that the rabbit girl had him wrapped around her little finger, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about it. Not one bit.

⁂⁂⁂

AN: enjoy the fluff while it still lasts haha. Things won’t be peaceful for long. 

PS: I have attached 2 pics with Mirko doing deadlifts if you're interested. I don't own the pics, just found them on the internet.

Until next time!