It's All Right to Cry...

It's All Right to Cry...


(I do not, nor will I EVER, own Bleach and Naruto. They both belong to Tite Kubo and Masashi Kishimoto.)





   Everyone in the Seireitei had gathered for one reason, and one reason only...the funerals of all the Soul Reapers who have lost their lives during the Nine-tailed Fox's rampage. Including Captain Minato Namikaze's.


Everyone was devastated...but none were more so than Minato's family.


   Tears were flowing down Kushina's cheeks as she held hers and Minato's infant son, Naruto. Standing beside Kushina is her adopted younger brother, Shuuhei. He, too, was disheartened by the loss of Captain Namikaze, for he was like a brother to him.


Rangiku and Toshiro weren't doing so well, either.


"...He promised...we'd have a drink together when this was over...!" Rangiku sobbed. "Lying sonuvabitch!"


"Damn him...!" Toshiro cursed, fighting back his own tears. "How could he die?!"


"SHUT YOUR MOUTHS, THE BOTH OF YOU!!!!" Kushina roared, forcing Rangiku and Toshiro to look at her.


"Lady Kushina..." whispered Rangiku.


"How dare you speak that way about your former captain?" questioned Kushina. "Minato treated each and every one of you like family, and this is how you speak of him after he dies?! How could you?!!"


Immediately, Rangiku and Toshiro felt ashamed for how they acted. At that moment, Naruto wailed in Kushina's arms.


"Shh, it's all right, Naruto," the Uzumaki clan leader soothed. "sorry for waking you. Mommy's sorry, honey."


Soon, Naruto calmed down and Kushina sighed.


'...Now he'll never know who his father is,' she thought.


Soon, Head Captain Yamamoto began his speech.


"My comrades," he began, "it is a very sad day for all of us. We've lost countless soul reapers during the night of the Nine-tailed Fox's rampage, including Captain Namikaze Minato."


Hearing that caused Kushina to lower her head in sorrow and she hugged Naruto closer to her heart.


"It's okay, Naruto," she whispered. "I promise...I'll take care of you. I'll be your mother and your father."


Naruto smiled a little as he rested in Kushina's arms and Shuuhei put his hand on her shoulder.


"Kushina," he whispered. "What are you going to do now?"


Kushina was silent for a moment before she answered, "...Just keep living my life and rear Naruto. That's what Minato would want."


Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone else crying.


"Eh?" she muttered as she looked around.


"Sis, what's up?" asked Shuuhei.


"I thought I heard someone," Kushina answered. "as if they were crying."


   She gave Naruto to Shuuhei and searched around to see where the crying was coming from. Soon, she found the source: a young Iruka Umino, sobbing over his parents' graves.


'Iruka...!' thought Kushina.


"Mom...Dad...!!" Iruka sobbed. "Why?! Why did you have to die, too?!!"


"Iruka."


Iruka gasped as he turned around to see Kushina right behind him.


"L-Lady Kushina...!" he sniffled as he wiped his tears away. "I-I wasn't crying out of sadness at all! I...I was only--"


He gasped when Kushina pulled him into an abrupt embrace.


"It's all right to cry, Iruka...!" she whispered as tears of her own began to fall. "Crying doesn't make you weak! It makes you stronger!"


Iruka began to tear up again.


"I'm sorry you lost your parents," Kushina apologized. "I lost Minato, too."


"Kushina..." whispered Shuuhei as he held a sleeping Naruto.


"The pain in your heart runs deep," Kushina continued. "It's something you may never get over...but if you cry now, you'll find the strength to keep going, later in life."


   At that instant, Iruka began to cry again. Kushina smiled and held him close. Rangiku and Toshiro were tearing up at the heartwarming scene. Shuuhei smiled as he watched and Naruto, who had already woken up, smiled.


"Come on," Kushina spoke up as she held Iruka's hand.


"Eh?" Iruka asked.


"Come live with me, Naruto, and Shuuhei," replied Kushina. "I promise, I'll take care of you."


Iruka sniffled.


"Okay..."


Kushina smiled, causing Iruka to smile back.


"...Let's go home," Kushina told him. "All of us."


"Yeah!" Iruka nodded.


"Sounds good to me." added Shuuhei.


Naruto squealed in delight and with that, they all headed to the Uzumaki manor...with a new family member in tow.