Disclaimer: Anything you recognize as canon does not belong to me (basically).
Affection
Prologue
Naruto shuffled under the sheets with a soft groan. Right and left, tummy and back, legs in and out... He was trying in vain to find the perfect position, the one that would finally lead him to peaceful slumber. He settled for a moment on his left side, eyes firmly closed and hugging the covers, before exhaling loudly and turning to lay on his back. Sleep wasn't to come so easily tonight. The day had been eventful enough that he had assumed he would pass out as soon as his head touched the pillow, but his mind had other plans.
He couldn't help looking to his right once again as he grinned in the darkness of his flat. The moon was high in the midnight sky, and just bright enough to reflect on the metal of Iruka-sensei's forehead protector that was resting innocently on his cupboard.
The boy almost couldn't believe it. He had passed. He had finally done it.
The giddiness and leftover adrenaline were too much for him and he put his head under the pillow with a squeal of delight (or a manly laugh depending on who you asked), kicking the sheets in excitement and creating a masterful tangled mess around his legs while at it. Sleep was the farthest thing from his mind right now, no matter how much he tried to contain himself.
He had waited for this for so long! Even the whole fiasco with Mizuki and the fox demon thing that he still didn't really understand weren't enough to dampen his good mood.
Remembering Iruka-sensei's wounds did make him frown and settle a bit in his bed, but the smile was back when he thought of the ramen they had shared at Ichiraku after getting his sensei checked out of the hospital. Medic-nin worked fast. Also, his favourite sensei was tougher than he thought, lecturing him even as half of his face was covered in bandages.
All in all, Naruto had a new-found appreciation for Iruka-sensei's skills as well as a new-found dislike for shuriken. He tried not to dwell on this too much, because disliking a particular weapon shouldn't even be a thing when aiming for Hokage, but the image of the giant star sticking out of his sensei's back made him go cold. A cloud had obscured the moonlight by now, leaving him to scowl in the darkness. He touched his cheek where warm blood had once been. His sensei had gotten hurt because of him. Because he had placed foolish hope in the words of that bastard Mizuki. His sensei... whose status as an orphan was apparently also his fault.
Naruto grimaced in confusion, staring unseeingly at the ceiling. He had never paid much attention to the history of the Kyuubi attack, or rather his questions regarding this particular subject had always been rejected with much more vitriol than any other of his attempts, so he had refrained from asking again.
Now he knew why that had been the case. Sort of.
And yet, Iruka-sensei had acknowledged him. He had protected him, had properly looked at all that Naruto was and hoped to be, and had accepted him. There was a warm flutter in his stomach at the thought. Iruka-sensei was the best person in the whole world and no one would ever convince him otherwise.
Mizuki's smirk flashed to the forefront of Naruto's mind.
The boy sighed and closed his eyes. This had been a very long day.
About an hour of shuffling later, sleep still eluded him and he shuddered in his silent flat. His mind was still whirling with thoughts of hot ramen and tears in gentle eyes. Iruka-sensei had been warm when he had hugged him. Now, even as he properly tucked all his limbs under the covers and curled up in a ball, he shivered slightly at the cold reigning in the room. Had the heater broken again? No. It was something else. A feeling he knew all too well… but didn't want to acknowledge right now. He had already bawled his eyes out enough for a lifetime because of it. A stray thought led him to wonder what it would be like to live with his sensei, or even Old-man the Third.
That's when he had an epiphany.
Mind still on the events of the day, he sat up eagerly and crossed his legs, almost falling over in his haste to free his legs against the sheets trapping them. He brought his hands up and formed the hand-seal he had learned only a few hours ago, before focusing the tingly feeling around his belly button and pushing outward.
In front of him, mirroring his cross-legged position on the other side of the bed, a Kage Bunshin appeared in a plume of smoke.
He pumped a fist in the air victoriously, not willing to admit out-loud that he had momentarily feared it wouldn't work this time, and that earlier had all been some sort of fluke.
This was so much easier than the usual clones. Why was this not taught at the Academy? He would have definitely graduated long ago if he had known about this.
"This is so weird…"
The voice of his clone startled him and he squinted in the obscure surroundings. "What is...?"
"I mean, it feels like I'm myself you know?" the clone replied, shifting and observing his hands, "I don't feel like a clone..."
"Hey! I'm the real Naruto!" the boy huffed indignantly, pointing his finger in the general direction of the clone.
"Hn! What if I was the original and you're trying to steal my place?"
"No way! I would know."
"Would you really...? I feel like myself though... Just, as if I had switched positions on the bed."
Naruto paused at that. That freaked him out a bit.
He prepared to dispel the clone when the moonlight finally made a comeback in the room. His mirror image was staring at him and he stared right back. He tilted his head to the side, and the clone followed his movements with his eyes, but gave no indications that he would replicate the gestures.
"How is it?" the clone asked out-loud and put a hand behind his neck self-consciously.
"Amazing..." Naruto whispered before extending his arm and poking the cheek of the sole other current inhabitant of the flat, "It's so real I don't think I could tell if I were a clone myself."
They cringed at that, both a bit uncomfortable with the concept.
"Weird."
"Yeah."
Naruto and his clone smiled at each other.
"It's still pretty cool though, like... having a twin maybe?"
"I don't know, is it really the same?"
"Well I don't know either, don't ask me!"
"Heh heh, sorry..."
The room fell silent again for a few minutes before the clone broke it:
"So, does this qualify as talking to myself?"
"No way! Only old people and nutcases do that."
"You're right, I'm normal so it can't be the same thing."
Naruto let himself fall on his back, making the bed bounce and his clone sputter.
"Hey!"
The boy ignored him and crossed his arms behind his head, contemplative again. His clone silently joined him soon enough and laid on his side in order to look at the one who claimed to be the original.
"Don't stare, it's weird." Naruto muttered after some time, breaking the silence at the same time he broke his staring contest with one specific stain on the ceiling.
"... I never realized."
"What...?"
"I look super weak." the clone suddenly despaired while poking Naruto's nose.
"Oi!" Naruto batted at the offending appendage.
"It doesn't make me happy either, you know!"
"Well you don't have to be so rude about it then!"
"Whatever, we're the same person so who cares?"
Naruto dismissed the rhetorical question, "Besides, it's probably just because of the night cap."
The clone nodded in agreement, "I can't remove it though."
"Yeah, it adds to my cuteness factor..."
Both original and clone sighed heavily. Naruto's sigh changed midway to a huge yawn and he rubbed his bleary eyes.
"I'm even more tired than before..."
"I feel tired too..."
They glanced at each other.
"It's awkward to sleep with someone else though, I think."
"Agreed."
"But I did make a clone so that I wouldn't be..." Naruto trailed off as he scanned the otherwise empty bedroom.
"Yeah... Plus I'm a boy."
"And don't brothers sleep together when they're young? I heard something about that back at the orphanage."
"But I'm not a kid."
"I'm not a kid either!"
"...Dude."
"Right. Anyway. I don't get why it needs to be at a specific age. Also, why is it okay with boys but not with girls?"
"Because that's pervy apparently, so I have to wait until I'm older." the other quirked an eyebrow, as if saying 'age again? What does it have to do with anything!' – "I don't really get it."
"But it's just sleeping..."
The boys pondered the intricacies of social conduct for a moment, until they looked back at each other again.
"There's always 'that'."
"Eeeeh, really...? Who would be the one to do it then?"
"You, obviously."
"Hey! Why does it have to be me?"
"Because I'm the original so I'm the boss, duh!" Naruto smugly declared, sending a smirk at the protesting clone.
"That's so unfair! You don't even know for sure whether you're the original!"
"I do know!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too! And I can always dispel you to prove it." he gave the finishing blow with a victorious grin and watched his clone pale considerably under the moonlight.
"Wouldn't that, you know... kill me?"
Naruto blanched before shaking his head, "Nah, it won't... I think."
"Don't say that so lightly! I don't want to die!"
Naruto lost his smug grin and gulped.
"I can't tell what happened last time, but even if I don't remember feeling like I died..."
They looked at each other again and simultaneously put a hand on each other's shoulder.
""Let's not try it.""
"But you're still the one doing 'that'."
"Pfff you suck... Whatever, I'm too tired to argue with myself."
And with those wise words, the clone put his hands in the Ram position and called out his favoured technique against pervy old ninjas:
"Oiroke no Jutsu!"
The mattress sagged under the additional weight, and once the smoke had dissolved to nothingness a busty blonde had replaced Naruto's clone in all her naked glory.
The boy nodded in approval, "Perfect! Now, let's go to sleep, I wanna know what's so special about sleeping with a girl."
"I'm not a real girl though, so I don't know if it's the same," the clone pointed out while gathering the sheets closer to herself as she shivered, "also we're the same person." She then deadpanned as a gust of wind from the window made her tremble from head to toe: "Okay, no way am I gonna sleep naked."
"What, Miss Naruko is embarrassed?" Naruto snickered while watching his clone in greater detail as she moved to grab a pajama from the drawer, proud that his Henge was indeed as perfect as it looked in the mirror when he practiced to better his technique.
"Embarrassed of this amazing body?" she asked while striking a provocative pose. "Don't you mean you are the one who is intimidated by the mere possibility of sleeping with such a perfect beauty?"
Naruto giggled and gave his clone a thumbs up and a foxy grin which she returned, swaying her hips exaggeratedly in front of the mirror as she came back until she reached the bed and gave him a high-five.
"Mastering techniques left and right... I'm so cool. Definitely Hokage material."
"I'm the one who will be Hokage!"
"We're the same, dumbass!"
"Oh, right. This is gonna take some time."
"Except that I will be the very first female Hokage!"
Naruto gasped. "Unfair! That's cheating! You're not even a real girl!"
His clone cackled evilly and slumped on the mattress, pushing the original blond to the side with her butt when he didn't immediately move over to give her some breathing room.
"I could totally pull it off." she assured with a yawn she stifled with her sleeve, already closing her eyes and snuggling to the original Naruto in order to hog some body warmth.
"But... I don't want to be Hokage as a girl...!" said boy whimpered pathetically.
"Who cares... Boy or girl, I'm still the same Naruto Uzumaki, the ninja who will surpass all the previous Hokages!" she enthused sleepily.
Naruto pouted. Still, that wouldn't be fair...
His clone giggled. "Everything is easier as a girl anyway. The Old-man would fall over himself to give me the hat." she muttered smugly, before a kick to the shins made her yelp in surprise, "Hey!"
"No shortcuts!" the original Naruto scolded gleefully, glad to have found a loophole in his clone's logic.
"You didn't have to kick me!"
Naruto snickered and relaxed when his clone's body temperature finally started to become less freezing as they snuggled deeper under the covers. He lost his grin when he realized he had effectively won an argument against himself, making his victory pointless.
"This is so weird."
"Shut it I wanna sleep."
"Do you think I can sleep?"
"I mean, maybe...? I don't know but since you're me you should be able to."
Silence permeated the air once again in the light of the night, but as his clone shifted a bit against him, Naruto reveled in the contact with another solid body, both as himself and as his Naruko-ed clone.
So this was what it felt like. To be brought close enough to feel the warmth emanating from another's skin, smell their scent and see every detail, with no intention of harming or being pushed away...
They both tentatively extended their arms to gather the other a bit closer, and fell asleep as one in no time.
Not once did Naruto feel the gaze of the Third Hokage of Konoha, frowning as he took in the boy's actions in his crystal orb.
To be continued...
There you go for the first chapter of Affection, a story which may or may not be continued depending on the attention it'll get. I hope you enjoyed it so far as I have some ideas for the next few chapters.
Don't forget to leave a review! ;)
Preview:
The next day, Naruto woke up alone and with a new set of memories. After a moment of confusion, he realized where the unexpected addition had come from, and proceeded to spend some time sorting through the complete rendition of his clone's memories from the previous night. Which turned out to be pretty redundant all things considered, but he wasn't complaining, his prankster self having quickly realized the sheer potential of this aspect of the jutsu.
On another note, he didn't know for certain how his clone had been dispelled...