Chapter 2: First Steps
Joanna Lannister loved her children.
Every true mother treasured their children. More than life itself. Any woman who cared not a wit for their offpsring was no matriarch in her eyes, but a wench and a craven; something to be reviled and spit upon.
A parent had a duty to those that came after them, and a mother's duty was to her children. Always her children. They were Joanna's light, her life, her everything.
Second only to her husband himself; and only then because she'd grown up with Tywin as a little girl. She would live for them, fight for them, die for them if she must.
Never before had
Ah, but her children!
As such, she adored the twins just as much as she did the babe in her arms. Stubborn Jaime, still struggling with his letters and only just now learning to hold a sword, yet wide-eyed with wonder when he saw the bundle in her eyes.
Sullen Cersei, petulant at no longer being the center of her mother's world, yet curious about her new brother all the same.
"Blue eyes," he murmured, "That's new."
"What of it?" Cersei gave a sulk, heedless of the look it garnered her. "They might yet change."
Joanna offer Jaime an indulgent smile. "Would you like to hold him, then?"
Jaime jolted, but shook his head fiercely. "But...I might drop him!"
"Don't be such a coward."
Of course, Cersei wasn't going to take that lying down; anything Jaime couldn't-or wouldn't-do was something she absolutely had to. She wanted to be the center of attention, and if that meant holding this burbling infant then so be it.
Naturally, Joanna had anticipated this, and as such when Cersei pushed her brother out of the way, she offered little Naruto to her gladly. It was a good thing for her to take an interest in her brother after all, and she would gladly give the twins the nudge they needed to accept their sibling. They were family. Family looked after one another.
"Careful, now." she instructed as young Cersei cradled the infant in her arms, "Watch his head."
"I have him, mother." Cersei tossed her head. "I don't see what all the fuss is about."
Then the babe reached up and did the unthinkable.
Her daughter blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Finally, she dared a small smile.
"He is rather...cute, I suppose." she mumbled weakly. "For a babe."
Jaime crowded in at her elbow. "Quite the grip he's got."
Joanna would forever vividly recall her first memory of them interacting with one another; of watching, spellbound as the babe clutched at Cersei's outstretched finger and cooed softly.
That drew a rare smile from her daughter and she even unbent enough to deign a giggle. In that moment there eyes there was no distinction to be made between the three of them.
They were her children. She would love them until the end of her days and beyond. Any child that came after this one would be just as loved. So she swore. By the old gods and the new.
Tywin kept insisting they name him Nathaniel at least. Naruto was too foreign a name for a Lannister, he said. It won't command respect, he said.
Eventually she yielded, if only in part.
Let this rotten world call him what they willed.
If her beloved was so keen on calling him that, then so be it. Joanna had sworn she would always call him by the name she'd given him. It just felt...right somehow. When the maesters had tried to take him from her she'd refused then, just as she refused them now. She no longer trust them.
But she trust family. Jaime and Cersei...they'd look after him. Even after she was gone. She couldn't be there for him forever. But his siblings, Cersei and Jaime and-any future children Joanna herself had-would be there for him.
Naruto.
Yes, it was just as she'd said before.
One day, she knew this boy would change the world.
The Golden Sons
x-X-x
His little brother was a vicious fighter.
Jaime Lannister realized this terrible truth relatively late in his childhood and that was his mistake; by the time he understood what Nathaniel -Naruto!- truly was, the boy had nearly become his equal in the art of the blade.
Oh yes, his baby brother was good. Very good. Better than good even, he had the potential to be something extraordinary...and dangerous. The great ones always were. Some were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Others...
...others were good at fighting.
Steel sang in a clenched fist hand and daggers danced in another, a deadly dervish of death in which Jamie found himself the center of. Sparks flew through the air as their weapons collided.
Once. Twice. Thrice, now. Parry. Riposte. Thrust. He could scarcely deflect, much less evade those nasty little knives. Nathaniel drove at him again and again and again, keeping him on the back foot, forcing him d a corner. They were using live steel today and he almost found himself regretting it; if only because his dear sibling wasn't afraid to take a few nicks to face for a win. He'd done it before.
Ladies liked scars. Naruto would have more than a few by the time he reached adulthood.
Blast, but those daggers were quick. He shunted one aside, hissed as his brother cut his shoulder beneath his tunic and lashed out, delivering a brutal right hook in rebuttal. Naruto took it with a grunt, stepped back, wiped a thin line of blood from his lip and grinned. Then he came at him again. Bloody relentless!
Jamie considered himself no slouch with the sword. He was skilled himself, but swordsmanship was were his martial talents both began and ended.
His baby brother didn't just train with the sword; no, you see, Nathaniel was the second son. The spare, not the heir, given nothing he couldn't grasp for himself. And so he trained with whatever he could get his grubby little mitts on.
Yesterday, it had been an awful ax.
Today, it was those damnable dancing daggers.
Tomorrow he suspected it would be a spear, one of Dornish make. Cersei had see him drilling with it.
A fist slammed into his side, shattering his thoughts and rattling his ribs through the armor he wore. "Pay attention, brother~!"
He sighed. "I am, Nathaniel."
His sibling scowled. "Don't like being called that...
"Its just a name. Your name," he tutted back with a grin "Easy burden to bear-ow!"
Nathaniel must've took issue with it, because he crashed into him like a falling star. A knee surged up into his groin, rendering the world white and doubling him over. A hammerfist rang his blade like a bell.
In came the daggers again as he staggered. Jamie tried to parry, only to see the feint too late. His beloved brother reversed course at the last instant and gave his face an open-palmed smack in return for that right hook he'd taken earlier. Jamie recoiled with a hiss.
"Gods you're a sharp little thing." he muttered, rubbing his aching cheek, Daggers in the dark won't get you get you everywhere, brother."
"I disagree." Naruto grinned slid them up his sleeves, eliciting a brief lull in their little duel. "They've gotten me precisely where I want to be. As for you-
He was still speaking when he whirled. A boot swept Jamie's legs and knocked him to the ground. He landed hard on his back. The moment he did it, Naruto jumped him. Twin daggers crossed over his throat.
-time to yield, bit brother."
Another loss to his little brother. How galling. "I...give."
Nathaniel -Naruto!- grinned down at him, hopped off his chest, and offered his hand. Jaime clasped it with his right and let himself be hauled upright. Stronger than he looked, this little brother of his. He stood a good head taller than him, yet his sibling hoisted him to his feet with ease.
There were time when he worried about his brother. Naruto was more than he appeared; most of Casterly Rock knew that, but it was tiny, subtle displays like this that truly concerned him.
He didn't make any secret of his strength and speed, nor his healing touch; not these days. Second son though he might be, he couldn't help but wonder what his little brother would be like when he was older.
Naruto touched a hand to his forehead and grimaced.
Jaime saw it and guided him down to a stone bench. "Headaches again?"
"A little." He clicked his tongue in mild irritation. "Feels almost...familiar."
Jaime turned a keen eye turned on him. "Don't go mad on me now. Whatever would I do without you?"
A blond brow quirked. "Live a better life?"
"Don't say such things.
"Hrmph." his brother grunted. "Enough about me. You NEED to pay attention in a fight. See?" Naruto tapped a dagger to his wrist. That's you disarmed. Literally. What would you do if you lost this hand?"
"I expect I'd have to learn to use my left."
An elbow ribbed him good and proper. "You're shit with your left.
"Honest to a fault." A wry chuckle escaped him. "You really don't fight with honor, do you?"
"Honor doesn't win wars. It gets men killed. Victory is all that matters."
The faint sound of clapping filled the yard.
"Well said."
Jaimie whirled, and Naruto with him.
Much to his surprise, he found their lord father waiting for them. He looked pleased, almost grimly so, and it was that expression that set off all manner of bells in Jaime's head. "When did you arrive?
"Just this morning." Father approached them, hands clasped before him. "Your mother's due to give birth any day now. Did you think I would miss it?"
He had thought so, yes. The King was...increasingly erratic these days.
Father was seldom the sort to smile when he returned from the Capital, but he did sometimes.
Jamie had learned to savor those rare moments. Tywin Lannister almost looked human when he smiled. Almost.
Theirs was a powerful house, but they did not rule, no, that right fell to the dragons-the Targaryens and a king who may or may not be mad. Just as well. Jamie had no interest in theIron Throne. He knew well the rules of succession. Casterly Rock would be his one day.
Cersei would likely marry Rhaegar, and Nathaniel...well. Father would doubtlessly try to throw him at some crazed Targaryen wench down the line, or maybe some other highborn lady whenever one came of age. His brother had complained rather loudly about that.
He looked fit to complain again right now, given the letter Father was now dangling before him.
Jaime squinted at it. Curious. He recognized that seal. Didn't it come from-
"This came from the Capital." Father answered for him. "For you."
Nathaniel perked up and reached for it.
Tywin tugged it out of his reach. "I thought we had quashed this folly of yours by now, Nathaniel. You play a dangerous game."
Jaime perked up. Girl? Father had taken him to King's Landing a fortnight past. Had his little brother met someone? Who, then? It didn't make a lick of sense. The only family of any real import in the Capital were the Targaryens and...
...gods be good. Surely his little brother wasn't that foolish.
"How would you know?" Naruto adopted a rather mulish expression. "If you'd just give her a chance you'd see she's suffering-"
"You are my son." Twyin spoke over him, appearing to loom larger every moment.
"A Lannister. When you marry it will be for the benefit of this family, not yourself, and certainly not for a foolish scheme such as this." he spun on one heel, eyed a nearby brazier then flung the tiny scroll into it, heedless of the outraged noise Naruto made. "You will cease this foolish pursuit and we will speak no more of this." his eyes could've made a north-man shiver in that instant. "Do you understand?"
"Father," Jaime forced himself to rally. He had to know. "Who was that letter from?"
...it matters not." he said at length. "Family is everything and I will not allow either of you to drag our name through the mud."
Naruto scoffed at him. "With a family like this, who needs enemies?"
"Careful now, boy. I enjoy your wit, but you tread on thin ice."
Naruto lifted his chin to stare father down. Oh, dear. Jaime knew that look and it was nothing good. This could only end poorly.
A distant scream pierced the tension.
Cersei came hurtling around the corner, face absolutely ashen. "Mother's gone into labor!"
In an instant, any such thoughts of the future courtships were summarily forgotten.
Nathaniel didn't walk, he all but sprinted past Cersei; practically bowling her over as he raced for the bedchamber.
Jaime followed a more sedate pace.
What was the rush? The babe would come when it came.
Would it be a girl? her wondered? Or were they to have another brother...?
x-X-x
When her labors began, Joanna Lannister she welcomed them wholeheartedly.
It was as a difficult, birth, one that nearly killed her.
...all to bring a dwarf into the world.
With his birth, she became possessed of the belief that her middle son wasn't normal. Naruto didn't left her side the entire time. Whatever he'd done had healed her; prevented her from bleeding out. Most mothers would've balked at such a display. Not Joanna. She'd sworn to love all her children, and she resolved to love this one, imperfections and all.
And so she named their newest son Tyrion. She'd never forget the look on Tywin's face when he saw him...
Nor Jaimie or Cersei.
...or Naruto.
"Hello, Tyrion." she'd always remember the way her second son crooned over the mewling babe in her arms. "Welcome to the world...
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