Summary: Naruto is a former street kid still living off of experience, determination and a heightened awareness of the tiny slum he calls home. Sasuke is an officer of the law. Both face grand odds in order to find their way to each other, and stay there.
A/N: A gift fic, for Cupricanka's birthday, though it's still in progress. Sorry, love. I meant this in grand style, and fine spirits and hope it lifts yours every time you read it. Happy Birthday.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from it and make no money from this story.
Age of Innocence
Chapter 1
Wreak Havoc, Breathe, Repeat
Naruto raced along the sidewalk, a grin spread wide across his face. He huffed and breathed in and out faster as he picked up speed. Glancing behind him, he let out a raucous laugh, turned to face forward and pushed on. One of New York's finest, a very stout (Naruto thought he was more of a beer guzzler than he would ever admit considering his girth) boy in blue trailed him doggedly. Naruto almost felt bad for him, he was so red in the face, sweating badly and wheezing heavily enough to sound even more like the ass he was. Naruto chuckled again as he vaulted a low brick wall and sprinted across the junkyard he sometimes made a bed in and leaped over the chain-link fence to 117th Street. Turning a corner, he ducked into his friend Shikamaru's coffee-shop, swiveled into a seat and crossed his legs easily.
He didn't even have to hunch down as the cop blew past, sounding more wretched than ever. Naruto laughed quietly and signaled Shikamaru for a cup of black coffee. Swiping a discarded newspaper from the table next to him, he wiped a hand over his brow to clear the fine sheen of sweat and relaxed back into the hard black leather of his chair. A tired sigh came from behind him and Naruto was instantly on alert. He knew that sound, he would know it anywhere. He ran nervous fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. Swallowing hard, he turned slowly in his seat and forced his eyes upward. It wouldn't do for any of the regulars, who all knew him well, to see him cower.
Naruto Uzumaki, renowned street rat and erstwhile hustler, had reformed just enough to get a job and stop sleeping in doorways. But nothing much else had changed since he'd last seen his friend Sasuke Uchiha. And he could tell from the suit and tie, bargain rack style but still fashionable to keep his captain happy, that nothing much had changed for him either. Including the near black hair, spiked up in the back with long bangs covering his high forehead masking those matching eyes that cut to his very soul. The smirk was still leveled in his direction, just as hard and beguiling as ever. He couldn't believe it but his heart had actually begun to speed up inside his chest. Just like old times, he thought bitterly.
"Yo, Sasuke," he called out, preferring to play the innocent. He waved a hand in his direction and flashed a smile. Hell, it was true . . . well mostly, especially since he'd gotten his act together.
"What's up?" Naruto smiled wider and Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He cleared his throat and frowned. Naruto felt like a child suddenly but straightened his back further and studied his old friend. Raking his eyes slowly up and down his clothes in the same way that had nearly gotten him arrested for harassment by the very same man, Naruto drank in the finely tailored black coat, the midnight blue suit and matching tie and the silver tie clip. He whistled appreciatively, which did nothing to ease Sasuke's current opinion of him. He chuckled.
"Oh, come on. I haven't done a thing. I was just admiring how well the Homicide Unit seems to be paying you now. Or did you change to IA? I hear they pay well enough for a suit like that. It looks good, Uchiha."
Sasuke frowned harder and rose from his seat, silently drawing back the chair opposite Naruto and sliding into it. It was so slow, yet so well done, that Naruto wanted to melt. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed their occasional coffee breaks together. Well, it had been Sasuke's coffee break and most likely the first meal in days for Naruto. He'd been living on the streets at the time, hustling out blowjobs and 'hand service' to rich businessmen and closeted husbands, teachers and rough and tough athletes down in Crow Alley. Naruto lowered his gaze to cover the sorrow and guilt he knew Sasuke would see anyway. He'd always been so good at reading him.
"Naruto," Sasuke said softly. And though Naruto could hear the edge, Sasuke had softened it to a rough grating instead of a full-out assault.
"What have you been up to?" Sasuke made it a warning but Naruto couldn't resist one last jab at him.
He waved a hand in the air and sniffed. "Oh, you know, back to my old tricks. Literally," he answered. His eyes honed in on Sasuke's and held them.
He was surprised by the flash of pain he thought he saw there. But it was gone so suddenly that Naruto convinced himself that he'd missed it, a trick of the light through the picture window to his left. He laughed dryly and stood up to stretch.
"Relax, man. The Guiding Light Day Center kinda frowns on that type of thing. At least I think they do. I never really asked, just assumed, so I had to quit."
Naruto mused to himself for a moment, refusing to look at Sasuke though he could feel those wonderfully dark eyes coated in equally dark lashes boring into him. Sasuke wasn't amused by the grunt he paid him with before standing himself. Naruto's ears must have been playing tricks on him as well though. He could have sworn he'd heard a relieved, and quick, sigh just before it.
"Good. If you keep that up I might just pull Officer Brighton off your ass this time. Assuming, that is, he didn't have a good reason for tailing," Sasuke countered.
He'd made it sound like a question, arching a brow and waiting for Naruto's excuse. Naruto didn't have one. He'd heard shouting while shopping for his monthly turn to get the kids at the center breakfast, along with a few treats that he regularly spoiled them with, and had run on instinct. The fact that he had let it play out a little too long angering Officer Brighton even further had gotten him into more trouble than it was worth.
"He didn't. I think he got a call about a minor theft. It happened to be at the same store I was legitimately buying food at. Or so I gathered from all his shouting. I didn't feel like being late to work, not for something he could have seen as an obvious misunderstanding if he'd just talked to Shizune."
Naruto shrugged when Sasuke continued to glare at him.
"Go on and ask her. She took my money. I paid fair and square. Scout's Honor."
He raised two fingers in front of him and covered his heart with his other hand. The staring was beginning to attract attention and Naruto smiled warmly, eyes gleaming, to offset the tension in his own shoulders. Sasuke let a thin smile cross his own beautifully symmetrical mouth and waved him off.
"I already talked to her. But when I heard your name I figured I'd check up on you all the same. Especially since you seem to have lost my number."
Sasuke reached into his coat pocket and drew out a fine leather wallet. He slipped a crisp twenty out and handed it to Shikamaru, taking the two Styrofoam cups of coffee from him in return. He handed one to Naruto, passing over a slim business card caught between his fingers and the cup along with it. Shikamaru nodded and smiled, knowing better than to offer change. Sasuke never took it. Naruto just stared at him mutely, stunned.
Sasuke smiled; a rather revealing twinkle in his eyes. Naruto frowned and smacked his arm while Sasuke let out a single bark of laughter. Sasuke was making fun of him.
"No fair! I'm the only one who can do that!"
He pocketed the card all the same and glanced down at the watch some of the kids had chipped in to get him for Christmas. It was cheap but at least it was water-proof and it had been a touching gesture. Some of them continued to struggle to help feed their siblings and a few had already dropped out of school to work. Naruto, more than anyone they had encountered, understood the lengths a person sometimes found themselves lowering to in order to do that. It was also probably why they had taken to him so quickly.
Traffic screamed and screeched on the street and cab drivers hollered to each other and customers as they passed each other by on the busy causeway. Naruto cringed and bolted for the door forgetting to exhale as he drew in that first, stomach-clenching hit of smog. He grimaced and waved over his shoulder, not daring to waste the time to look back.
"Shit! I'll be late! How about we meet back here? Same time as usual tomorrow?"
He couldn't afford to hear Sasuke's answer either as he sprinted for the nearest subway entrance that luckily was located just around the corner. The raucous chorus of the metal barreling down on the tracks would have drowned it out anyway. He missed, too, the longing in Sasuke's eyes as he watched him go. It disappeared by the time the man had turned to nod at his partner, however. Opening the door to the dark blue Chevy Malibu, Sasuke muttered under his breath so his partner wouldn't hear and start to make assumptions.
"Naruto, you fool. You shouldn't worry me like that."
He nodded again once he'd gotten strapped in and they headed off to check in at the precinct before starting their shift. Sasuke frowned, still finding it hard to get used to his new appointment as lead Hostage Negotiator for team five. Naruto would find out about it, eventually. Sasuke hoped that he would get the chance to be the one to tell him. He wouldn't promise himself that, though. He never promised himself anything. That way, he would never be disappointed, especially over a relationship that never had been . . . and as far as he could afford, could never be.
Naruto blew out a hard breath as he reached the subway doors just as they peeled open. Sliding into the nearest seat, he settled into a more comfortable position and tried to calm down. He rubbed his hands up and down his jeans and straightened the pale blue sweater he wore. It hadn't been long since he'd started at the Center and he didn't want to make being late a habit. The management might have been pretty lax on dress code and forgiving about Naruto's lack of a proper address, but he didn't want to push it. His normally electric blue eyes darkened though he was never aware of the change. It happened at different times, or when he was dealing with different emotions. Naruto ran his fingers through his bright, blonde spikes of hair, twisting at the ends a little only to bring them down to rub at the whisker-like scars on his cheeks.
He really should find a place to stay soon. The train creaked and groaned along the tracks and metal screamed as they swept into the stop he needed. Crossing the tiles and vaulting up the stairs at a break-neck speed he sped up again. Naruto could feel the muscles in his legs begin to twitch and burn from the exertion and tried to slow up a little. But the Center came into view down the street and Naruto raced across a traffic pile-up heedless of the honking to get to the doors.
It wasn't like they were moving, but it was New York. People tended to be irritated for no reason sometimes. Well, in Naruto's experience they usually were. God, but he loved the city anyway. The bustle and charge, the crowded and choked shops and the tall buildings all felt so worn, like a favorite pair of pants. Taking a moment to smooth his shirt down one more time and steady his hands, he pulled the doors of Guiding Light open and smiled at Ino, the receptionist.
"Morning! How's the schedule look today?"
Ino smiled politely. "Nothing new. But Iruka is looking for you."
Naruto drew in a careful breath and smiled wider.
"Thanks," he said with a wave and started toward the set of offices to the right and near the back of the building. Humming a little to keep his nerves in check, he knocked on the door and waited. Just because Iruka Umino, the Center's Director, wanted to see him, didn't mean he was in trouble. But it was an old habit from high school, especially as Iruka had been his English teacher, to tread lightly when it came to authority. It carried over after he'd dropped out and begun hustling. He'd already been kicked out of his foster home for allegedly stealing and his life had spiraled down from there.
Luckily, Iruka had seen him at the Alley and had gone the next night to hand him condoms and offer him a place at his new business. He had made it part of the deal that Naruto needed to stop walking, so he had. It wasn't like it had been his first choice for a career anyway, just the easiest considering the circumstances. He'd made sure to spot the 'clients' that weren't comfortable going full out in terms of sex and stayed relatively safe and clean that way. And regular testing plus a solid rule about condoms had helped keep him healthy. Iruka called for him to enter and he breathed out one last time before turning the knob.
"Ah, Naruto," he called, gesturing for him to come in and close the door.
"Hey, Iruka. What did you want to see me about?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing major, so relax," Iruka assured him. Naruto took the seat Iruka directed him to and leaned back into it, breathing just a little slower. He curled his shoulders back and took a tissue from the desk to wipe his forehead with. Iruka eyed him curiously.
"The train was a bit late today," Naruto lied smoothly, smiling. He'd done his best to give up a lot of bad habits for the man, including smoking. But lying, especially when it could save his life, had become second nature and so was hard to stay away from. And really, he had no idea if he would need to use it again or if, for that matter, he would end up walking the Alley either.
"Well, wash up in the bathroom before you head out again, will you? I don't think the teachers will care how you're dressed as I'm just as laid back but it won't hurt to look a little less like a marathon runner," Iruka told him.
"Or smell like one," he teased as Naruto stared at him, confused.
"Did you forget?" Iruka asked.
He fixed a hard look at Naruto who grinned and shook his head, trying to stall. The man sat back and folded his hands in front of him. The scar that bridged the tanned skin of his nose twitched a bit. Iruka had always been a bit of an outsider, even while teaching. He kept his hair long, pulled up in a high ponytail, and had always been very open about his life including his family, or lack thereof. It was something that no other teacher Naruto had come across had done. Naruto shook his head again quickly.
"No, but I'll have to check my notebook for the address, because I'm terrible with directions. So, I'll check in with you again after I hunt for it."
Iruka grunted warily but waved him away.
"Just don't be late, okay? The parents that the teachers referred us to already think we're too expensive and haven't put out enough good results for them to bother. But we can't survive on donations alone. Get there early, do the presentation and ride with them back here for the tour."
Naruto nodded his head and rolled out of the chair to follow Iruka to the door as he spoke. The man had a habit of using the technique as a way of getting rid of overzealous politicians and their lawyers trying buy a better name for themselves come election time by offering Iruka one of their own private 'donations' in exchange for a good word in the press. He now used it with everyone else as it saved him time to look over and adjust, if the need arose, their program, the budget and any other odds and ends that came with running an after-school program. The Center also offered family counseling, free Planned Parenthood classes and advice to expectant teen mothers and kids looking for colleges or work study programs. It was a solid program and one that Naruto enjoyed working with even if most of the other employees had more of an education. All Naruto had come on board with was a G.E.D. and a quick online Associate's degree in childcare and psychology with a certificate in drug and alcohol recovery from the local University. No one knew, of course, that Iruka had helped him with those as well.
Naruto rolled the cheap desk-chair away from the drawers in his cubicle and slid his hands through piles of paperwork to get to the thin manila folder with all the details for the day's assignment. Finding it, he flipped through it hastily to refresh his memory as he strode to the elevator bank. He stopped and frowned heavily. Turning to stare at the closed door to Iruka's office, Naruto wondered if he remembered at all. George Washington High had been his old school, the one he'd dropped out of in his junior year.
Naruto sighed and pressed the down button. When the elevator arrived, he settled in to wait for the short haul down to the lobby. Twisting at the bottom of his sweater he fought to control his hands as the doors slid open again. It was going to be a very long day if he had to talk to a bunch of hard-driven, working parents who more than likely already held down two jobs a piece to get their kids decent meals and a place to sleep. Forget about an after school program despite the fact that it gave their children an even better chance at graduating, let alone college and a brighter future and all the crap the other counselors shoveled at them.
He shook his head, fighting the sudden rise of his own bitter memories. Swallowing hard, he walked back outside into a bright morning sun and whistled for a cab. Giving over the address, Naruto jiggled the knee he held crossed over his other leg nervously. He no longer needed to run through what he was going to say. He'd already done enough speeches to crowded, non air-conditioned gymnasiums full of mistrustful parents and their likely troubled kids to know it by heart. When the school came into view, nestled in between narrow alleys and encased by a wrought-iron fence that now housed cameras at discreet intervals, Naruto shuddered. He knew they were there to keep the kids, and very likely the teachers, safe from things he was all too familiar with. But the thought of being watched so closely still bothered him.
He did not have a fond nostalgia for the brick and stone beast he had to walk into, even if it was now as an adult. Three stories and all grey, it overlooked more buildings that were very similar though they were not educational facilities. The plaque riveted into the column at the gates read: 7th District George Washington High School, A Path to Great Heights to Rival the Stars. Naruto resisted the urge to snort and reminded himself that it was one of the biggest schools in the district, and the most successful, at not only graduation but college freshman. Most of the kids did well.
But there had been a recent increase in violence, mainly due to bullying, and teen pregnancy dropouts. Mandatory searches had resulted in drug busts that, in turn, lead to more raids. It made the kids resent not only the authority that simply tried to get them out in one piece and into a better system but their parents as well. The Center could help the police and the teachers slow down, if not halt altogether, the descent the students seemed to be taking. Naruto believed that even despite where he had ended up because it hadn't been the end of him. He'd gotten into a better situation. But it wasn't thanks to drugs, money, gangs or because he was half-Asian.
Iruka and his center accounted for Naruto's last chance to see good meals and a safe place to work. Having the courage to take it had been his part in it. He was someone the kids could relate to. His life before the center - dabbling in drugs, the hustling, stealing at times just to eat – hadn't gotten him anywhere without being accompanied by pain, fear and the constant worry that he'd end up dead right there on the asphalt. Naruto knew quite a bit about how hard it would be for them. And talking about it, along with the things Iruka and the other counselors could do to get them past that kind of life, usually broke through the walls parents tried to build to keep people like them out. Naruto squared his shoulders and rang the buzzer at the gate, knowing full well about the security office and the need for the metal detectors at every entrance.
It wasn't just New York, either, that found itself struggling in its efforts to stop guns, bullies and perverts from entering their schools. Naruto understood the rippling undercurrent of tension for the teachers and administrators, so he waited. Once he'd explained through the intercom to the officer who he was, shown him ID and given him Iruka's name and number to call so he could vouch for him, Naruto was buzzed inside. What he and the security officer unfortunately failed to catch was the figure that hustled, low and inside the blind spots of the cameras, along the inside wall and through the door of the school just a few steps behind Naruto.
Naruto saw the security guard, a woman, trolling the halls on her daily rounds as he made his way toward the assembly of students and parents. He'd actually been trying to find the office when he realized the metal detectors at the front hadn't been switched on and the guard hadn't come to meet him. But then, it wasn't usual to have to call into the building and display ID, name and a reference before being let inside. Naruto waved and stopped walking. The woman nodded and stood in place, her hands crossed in front of her. At least she wasn't a rent-a-cop. They never knew how to read body language worth a damn.
"I noticed the system at the front wasn't on. And frankly, I expected to meet you at the door," he commented, trying not to make as offensive as it seemed.
Her mouth thinned out in disapproval.
"Yeah, well blame the admins." She seemed to realize just what she'd said and stopped to glance around the hall in case they had been overheard. Naruto shook his head and raised his hands in front of him.
"Hey, I was just wondering. I saw the metal detectors had been put up and was worried about it, so I asked."
The officer sighed.
"They're down because they haven't been working, the maintenance department doesn't have anyone that knows how to fix them and the security company that makes it won't have anyone here until tomorrow," she answered curtly.
She seemed more put out by it than Naruto thought necessary until he remembered that George Washington High was a school with nearly twelve hundred students and less than the forty teachers required to educate them. Throw in daily visitors from various school-related organizations, all the assistants, student teachers and secretaries, and her job to keep an eye on them all, keep them safe, would be an achievement short of miraculous. Naruto waved himself off and smiled over his shoulder as he left her to her walk.
"Sorry for the trouble. But at least they have you to watch out for them. I'll be on my way to give that talk now."
She called out to him then, frowning.
"You don't need directions?"
"Na! I used to go to school here," Naruto replied with a cheerful grin. The guard stared at him, nonplussed. Naruto laughed and shrugged.
"I guess, with that look, I'm one of the lucky ones, eh?"
The guard smiled thinly at him and waved him off.
"I have to get back to work. Enjoy the quiet while you can."
Naruto watched her leave wondering what she had meant by that. But the gym doors had come into view and he heard the roar of three hundred hyper students. He also heard the teachers shouting for silence and groaned. What made his day even worse was that the entire school was to be given the same presentation and that meant three more assemblies full of the rats. He sighed heavily, pulled a grin on his face and yanked the door open, praying to Buddha that they wouldn't try to eat him.