The Fox Hole

Chapter 29: A change of plans

– Haru –

"...I was joking before when I said you were breaking red headed hearts. How could you Haru-kun?" Amy-chan asked me playfully.

I stood behind the counter, nervously watching the scene unfolding in front of me. Naruko had her arms crossed and let out a huff, her purple eyes narrowing suspiciously on Catelyn and Sansa. 

"Who are you two supposed to be…?"

Sansa held her head high as she responded. "My name is Sansa Stark," she declared proudly. "The future Queen of Lord Haru's lands! And this is my mother, Catelyn Stark. She will be marrying him as well as his second Queen!"

Catelyn blushed but didn't deny her daughter's bold statement…

I groaned and facepalmed. "That… that hasn't been completely agreed upon yet," I muttered, mostly to myself.

Agnar suddenly let out a booming laugh, slapping the counter hard over and over with his armored hand. "Haru, you are a true legend! A real man among men! The warriors at Jorrvaskr will be toasting to your accomplishments with the ladies for years to come! Sometimes I wish that I could–"

Agnar did not get to finish what he was foolishly about to say…

Serana suddenly scowled and waved her hand in Agnar's direction. A layer of frost washed over him, making him yelp.

"So cold!" Agnar shouted and started shivering.

"You better not be getting any ideas, husband…" Serana said to him, and then shot a pointed look my way. The message was clear: Stop giving Agnar ideas about his own harem!

I held my hands up in surrender. I didn't mean to!

Gazeff walked over to Agnar and helped him start peeling the chunks of ice from his armor…

Naruko's jaw dropped as she gaped at the red headed mother and daughter duo. She turned back to me. "What the hell, Haru-kun?! I was gone for like two days tops!"

"Stuff happened…" I said weakly, knowing how lame that excuse sounded even as it left my mouth.

Sansa stepped forward with a polite smile. "Are you one of Haru's lovers?" she asked Naruko. "If so, I hope we can become good friends, possibly even sisters."

Naruko turned bright red, waving her hands frantically. "L–Lovers!? What? No way! Haru-kun and I haven't even gone on a date yet!"

Sansa tilted her head slightly. "Oh, I do not know what the word 'date' means, but if that means you're still a maiden, you don't have to worry. So am I."

I noticed Catelyn facepalm at her daughter's declaration. "You're not supposed to go around telling people that as a lady, Sansa..."

"Yeah! It's embarrassing!" Naruko added.

I walked out from behind the counter and wrapped Naruko in a hug. She stiffened in surprise, and I could feel her sputtering against my chest. After a moment, though, she hugged me back.

"I'll take you on whatever date you want, just as soon as I help the Stark women get their castle back," I said.

Naruko perked up, pulling back enough to look at me with a wide grin. "I'll hold you to that, Haru-kun! What do I need to do to help?"

Before I could answer, Amy-chan groaned dramatically from the counter. "Ah, is that it!? I wanted more drama! Where's the epic catfight? Why aren't you and Sansa rolling on the floor and pulling at each other's hair?" she asked Naruko. "You two are too wholesome…" she grumbled

"If it's drama you're after, sister, we have plenty waiting back in Takamagahara," a smooth voice cut in. Everyone turned to see a man with long silver hair, almost brushing the floor, strolling into the restaurant. He was dressed immaculately, and his presence filled the room.

"Oh shit! It's Tsukuyomi!" Amy-chan exclaimed. "How did you find me here!?"

"Yasaka told me where you were as soon as I asked," Tsukuyomi replied calmly. "It's time for you to return to Takamagahara and get back to work." Before any of us could blink, Tsukuyomi blurred forward, appearing next to Amy-chan in an instant. He casually scooped her up under his arm like a sack of potatoes.

"Noooo! I don't want to go back to work!" Amy-chan complained, kicking her legs and pouting. "The Land of the Rising Sun has millions of NEETs! Why can't I be one too?" Her eyes roamed around the restaurant before landing on me. "Help me Haru-kun! You're my only hope!"

"I can't help you, Amy-chan... I'm only number three after all..." I said wistfully.

"BETRAYAL!!!" Amy-chan whined.

Tsukuyomi ignored her protests, turning toward me and giving a polite bow. "Thank you for keeping an eye on her, Haru," he said. He then bowed to everyone else in the room before calmly walking out the front door, still carrying his struggling sister.

We all stared after him in stunned silence for a moment.

"…What was that all about?" Naruko asked, pulling away from my hug completely.

"It's another long story," I said, shaking my head. "One you probably don't want to get into right now."

I then turned back to Gazeff and Agnar. I appreciated them offering their help to me, but after thinking it over for a few moments, I came up with a better idea to help Sansa and Catelyn.

Plus, Serana had basically been waiting for Agnar to get back for two whole days and I didn't want to take up anymore of their time by getting his help like I'd planned. 

Gazeff was also visiting me as a foreign dignitary and I knew it would be bad for negotiations if he got hurt somehow liberating the North from the Bolton's rule. I didn't think he would, but it was better to just be safer. I thanked him for wanting to lend his aid before telling him he was free to stay in Kyoto for a few days and then I would head over with him to meet the Royal family of the Re-estize Kingdom. 

I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Yasaka. She would probably send a pretty Yokai girl "tour guide" to show Gazeff around for the next few days and take care of all of his needs.

"Are you sure you don't need our help, my friend?" Agnar asked me.

I told him we'd be fine and that he should "take some time to calm down his pent up vampire wife." 

Serana couldn't blush, but I felt like she would have been as she practically dragged the Dragonborn back to Whiterun. Once they all left, it was just myself, Naruko, Sansa, and Catelyn left in the Fox Hole.

"Why'd you send them away after they promised their aid?" Catelyn asked me. 

I smiled at her and told her that we had other options. "It's not just Winterfell, but the entire North that the Boltons rule, correct?" I asked Catelyn and she grimaced before nodding. She said only a few houses haven't pledged themselves to Ramsay at this point…

…

"It's nice to see you again, Haru. Sorry about my behavior last time…" Tsunade, the leader of the Hidden Leaf said with a small blush on her cheeks. 

The other women in the room pointedly didn't ask what happened last time I was in here but I could see Naruko shoot a small glare Tsunade's way before the busty blonde spoke up again. 

This time Tsunade was addressing Sansa and Catelyn. She had a grin on her face as she spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, Princess Sansa Stark and… I'm not actually sure how to address you properly…" she said to Catelyn.

"I was technically the Queen Mother when my son, Robb, was king of the North, but with him…dead, I would simply be addressed as Lady Catelyn again. At least, until I get re-married…" she trailed off with a blush.

Tsunade chuckled after listening to Catelyn's explanation and nodded. "Lady Catelyn, is it? Well, Haru here has offered to foot the bill for our village's services, but I'd like to hear the situation directly from you first."

Catelyn nodded and began telling her story again. She didn't miss any details, going over everything that had happened to her family and the North. Tsunade listened carefully, only interrupting once or twice to ask questions about Westeros. Most of them were about how the political system worked, or how such chaos could happen in a world without ninja.

When Catelyn finished, Tsunade sighed. "Your continent sounds just as crazy as the Elemental Nations. And here I thought ninjas were the source of most problems…."

I used to think along those lines too, but then I had a discussion with Rias, who was a mega anime fan and she "set my opinions straight" by telling me that the numbers don't lie and that ninjas were actually a good thing.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What numbers?"

"How many ninja died during the Third Shinobi War?" I asked her to humor me.

Tsunade tapped her chin, thinking for a moment. "I don't have the exact figures, but it was somewhere around 20,000 in total. It was a long and bloody war, but that's what I remember."

"That's all!?" Catelyn looked shocked. "We had at least half that number perish in single battles. The North probably lost around 60,000 men after the War of the Five Kings ended."

Sansa, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. "If you count all the other kingdoms, it was easily over 500,000 soldiers who died. And maybe a million people total when you include the smallfolk who had their lands burned or their food stolen."

Tsunade blanched at those numbers. "That's more deaths in a couple of years than in all three Shinobi Wars combined," she said, shaking her head. "I never realized… ninjas actually make the world more peaceful."

She looked genuinely surprised at her own conclusion but quickly refocused. "Right, back to the task at hand."

Tsunade leaned forward, her hands clasped on the desk. "I'll assign a large force to help you. Around 100 chunin and jonin. They'll completely purge the Bolton soldiers from the North and deal with the other lords who have turned traitorous against your family," she said to Catelyn and Sansa who looked a bit confused at getting such a small force before I told them the average chunin was worth about 100 regular men and a jonin was worth around 1000… 

"Such power…" Catelyn gasped…

"At least with the Boltons taken care of there won't be any more bloodshed in the North," Sansa said sadly. "We have so few people left as it is."

Tsunade asked my opinion of this plan and I nodded at her. This sounded like the right approach. I could handle a straight-up fight, no problem, but man-hunting and assassinations across a massive territory like the North would simply take up too much of me and my friends' time. It was better to leave it to the literal professionals. We were in contract with a village of assassins, so we might as well use them after all. 

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," Catelyn said, bowing slightly. Sansa followed her mother's lead, looking genuinely grateful.

"Don't thank me yet," Tsunade said. "We'll get it done, but it's going to be costly..." she suddenly turned towards me and for a second I thought I saw her eyes literally shining with greed. If I didn't want the Yokai coffers to take a big hit, then maybe I should pop over to Skyrim and hunt a couple dragons to pay for all this…

The deal with Tsunade and the Leaf Village was finalized, and we left with a solid plan in place. I led the group back to my restaurant, feeling a little more relaxed now that things were moving forward. As soon as we stepped inside, I spotted Yasaka and Kunou waiting for me near the counter. Kunou's face lit up as soon as she saw me. She ran over and wrapped her arms around me tightly, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Haru-niichan! You're back!" she said, squeezing me like she hadn't seen me in years instead of just a couple of days.

I ruffled her hair with a chuckle. "Of course I'm back. Did you think I'd leave you to run this place on your own?"

Kunou giggled and shook her head before stepping back, her eyes darting curiously to the people behind me.

"Ara ara…" Yasaka said as she stood up gracefully. Her golden eyes sparkled as she took in Sansa, Catelyn, and Naruko. "It seems like we have some new faces." All of them were looking at her, and Kunou hugging me, curiously.

"Yasaka, this is Catelyn Stark, her daughter Sansa, and Naruko," I said, introducing them. "Everyone, this is Yasaka, my mother… and that's Kunou, my little sister."

"Your mother!?" Naruko sputtered in shock "Oh… Hello…" she said nervously. Sansa looked just as nervous suddenly.

– Yasaka –

Kunou was in the kitchen helping Haru make Ice Cream while Yasaka decided to have a chat with the ladies.

"Ara ara… three new potential daughters-in-law. Fortune has been smiling on my family lately," Yasaka said, smiling warmly at the three nervous women sitting in the booth across from her. Two of them were even a mother-and-daughter pair. Her son truly knew how to attract interesting women… or was the universe just throwing them his way at this point? Maybe it was that random goddess's doing, orchestrating everything from behind the scenes?

As if on cue, a scroll suddenly popped onto the table in front of Yasaka. She unrolled it, scanning the hastily written words.

"I'm not doing it! Why would I try to give myself more love rivals?!"

Yasaka chuckled quietly. That cinched it. The goddess could definitely read everyone's thoughts in the restaurant. Haru had mentioned this earlier, but Yasaka wanted to test it herself. This goddess was truly a powerful being, but that was a thought for later. She stored the scroll away to inspect more thoroughly when she had time. You could learn a lot about a person from their writing alone. At this point, Yasaka was almost certain the goddess was a total tsundere.

Her attention returned to the three red-haired women in front of her. Yasaka had heard about Naruko and even read the entire Naruto manga after finding out Haru's restaurant connected to a similar alternate version of that world. Naruko had quite a bit of chakra; with the proper training, she could easily become an ultimate-class being. Yasaka approved of her as a potential match for Haru almost immediately. The whisker marks on Naruko's face only made her more endearing. What could Yasaka say? Foxes were the best!

She then turned her attention to the two mortal women. Both were undeniably beautiful, and Yasaka detected traces of an ancient magical bloodline lingering in them. However, it was so diluted and weak that it was practically non-existent. They would require a lot of work to meet her high standards as potential daughters-in-law. Still, Yasaka believed in fairness. She would give them a chance to impress her.

"Lady Yasaka," Catelyn began, her tone formal and careful. "Your son has been more than generous to us. We cannot thank him enough for the help he's already provided!"

"Haru's heart has always been in the right place," Yasaka said, folding her hands neatly in her lap. "But tell me, Lady Catelyn, how do you plan to repay such generosity?"

Catelyn's expression grew serious. My daughter and I are both unmarried, and through marriage, he could unify the North and the Riverlands under his protection. Sansa is the Princess of the North, and I am the rightful heiress to the Riverlands. Together, we could offer Haru a large swath of territory and loyal bannermen once our lands recover from all the damages of the recent wars."

"Marry both of you?" Yasaka asked, her golden eyes gleaming with intrigue. "The territory sounds nice, but is that all you're both going to offer..."

Of course not!" Sansa declared. "As my lord husband, I will also grow to love Haru with all of my heart!" She said it passionately, without any hesitation.

Yasaka laughed softly as Haru's hand slipped, sending a jug of milk tumbling onto the floor. Milk spilled everywhere. Yasaka had never seen him mess up in the kitchen before, and she found it oddly endearing.

Naruko sputtered, her cheeks turning red. "I can't believe you just shouted that out loud! Haru and I haven't even gone on a date yet, but I'm not going to lose to you!"

"It's not about losing," Sansa said. "Also, I'm still a princess." There was a hint of smugness in her tone that made Yasaka admire the fire in the mortal princess.

Naruko crossed her arms, not backing down. "My brother's an idiot, so Tsunade never told him who our parents are, but I know! My mother was Kushina Uzumaki, and she was the granddaughter of the previous Uzukage, who was also the land's daimyo. That makes me a princess of the Land of Whirlpools as well!"

Yasaka's tails flicked to the sides as she smiled. "You don't have to try so hard, Naruko Uzumaki. You already have my approval as Haru's mother."

"Really!?" Naruko's eyes widened, and Yasaka nodded. 

"Hell yeah! Dattebane! I can't wait to rub it in Sakura and Ino's faces!" Naruko cheered.

Catelyn and Sansa exchanged nervous glances before looking back at Yasaka. "I take it we don't have your approval…" Catelyn ventured.

"Not quite yet," Yasaka said honestly. "But with proper training and lessons from me personally, I believe we can get there. You both should have plenty of time for that, after all." She turned to Naruko and asked, "How long will it take for the Leaf ninjas to deploy and clear out the North, and make it safe again?"

"Deploy? They can set out tomorrow," Naruko said. "As for how long to clear out the North… um, we're pretty fast on our feet, but a lot of Leaf ninjas aren't used to snow, so that'll slow them down a bit. Not to mention, the North is almost as big as the entire Elemental Nations. It might take around two weeks to hunt down every Bolton supporter and all his allied houses."

"Only two weeks?" Sansa asked in shock. "I was expecting it to take months… maybe even a year. Magic is truly amazing."

"It's actually chakra they use," Yasaka corrected Sansa. "That's something you and your mother will be learning in our lessons, along with how to live in a more modern world. You two will be staying with me in my palace in the meantime. I know you both probably want to hang around my son more, but he does have a restaurant to run."

"We understand," Catelyn answered for them.

The heavy conversation was brought to a temporary halt as Haru and Kunou walked over with a tray full of homemade hot fudge sundaes. Kunou was already halfway through her own ice cream treat, chocolate stains smudged across her cheeks.

"We made ice cream! I helped mix it!" Kunou said proudly.

Yasaka smiled warmly at her daughter. "Good job, sweetie." She leaned forward and took her bowl as Haru set down bowls in front of everyone else. Yasaka took a spoonful and sighed contentedly. "Mmmm, so good."

Catelyn and Sansa hesitated at first but soon started digging in. "It's so cold but so tasty," Catelyn said, her eyes wide with surprise.

Sansa nodded in agreement, taking another small bite. "I've never had anything like this before. It's amazing."

Naruko, however, was the real shocker. Before anyone had even finished their first few bites, her bowl was already empty. She held it out to Haru, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. "More, please!"

Yasaka blinked. Ara…? Didn't he just set that down in front of her a few seconds ago? Maybe Yasaka would need to spend some time with Naruko as well, if only to teach her a few proper dining manners…especially since she declared herself a princess as well.

XXX

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