Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
Warnings:YAOI, will also contain Het. No spoilers, AU.
Pairing:SasuNaru, and several others as story progresses.
A/N Back with a new fic! More notes at the end. Fic dedicated to all STL readers that I've disappointed with my lack of updates.
Hidden Treasure and Spring Leaves
Prologue
It was a Sunday morning, and the time was 8 a.m. The morning breeze was slightly chilly, enveloping the city with a cool atmosphere. It was late October and winter would be coming soon. Although the weather was slightly cold, the sun was already out and shining brightly across the busy city of Tokyo.
Despite it being a weekend, there were lots of people filling the streets. Train stations were packed and the roads were slightly heavy with traffic though probably not as much as it would be had it been a regular working day.
Apart from the hustle and bustle of city life going about their business, the weather was pretty much perfect and the atmosphere peaceful.
Well, almost peaceful.
The sounds of heavy footsteps fell hard and fast on cemented pavement. In a rather busy street right in the middle of the city, a figure carrying a big box can be seen running and pushing his way amongst the many people on the sidewalk, causing yelps of pain and surprise to erupt from people he knocked. Seconds later, his voice joined the commotion he was already making.
"Excuse me! Sorry! Excuuuuuuuse me! I'm in a rush! It's an emergency!"
Soon, the people ahead of him parted to create a space for him to pass by and to avoid being bumped into.
The boy carrying the big box gave a mutter of thanks before sprinting off as quickly as he could with the heavy load in his hands; the only thing that could be seen as he rushed off in a flurry was the striking golden-blond colour of his hair.
On the next street, another figure - a young man to be precise - walked calmly down the sidewalk, basking in the morning sun. The man was good looking, his skin pale and flawless, and his eyes were the same black his hair was. He was tall and his body lithe, the clothes he wore showing off an attractive figure. He was nothing short of gorgeous, a man all women would lust for. As if that wasn't enough, there seemed to be an extraordinary glow coming from the young adult today, which only served to add onto his attractiveness. He had a cheerful gait and it was clear that today, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
It wasn't often that he had the time to relax, what with all the things he had to do for his family business, and today happened to be one of those rare days off. Hence, the reason for his good mood.
Stopping for a while at the corner of the street to run his fingers through his dark, silky hair, he made up his mind. He was going to spend the rest of the day kicking back and relax. No stress, no headaches and definitely no thinking about work-related problems for once.
Just as he was about to turn the corner, he realized too late the sounds of footsteps approaching fast. Before he knew it, he felt something big collide into him and he fell backwards ungracefully, landing on his butt and all the wind knocked out of him. He only barely registered the small cry of surprise from somewhere in front of him as he fell.
For the next few moments, the sounds of wheezing and gasping resounded as the rest of the world went on with their business, not even batting an eyelash at the small 'accident' which happened right in front of their eyes.
The dark haired boy was the first to recover. Gaining back his surroundings, he noticed that the 'big thing' that had collided into him was actually a big box. It now lay on the sidewalk after being dropped due to the collision.
It was then that the dark-haired young man noticed the person whom must have been the one carrying the big box. A boy with spiky blond hair was on all fours, panting and gasping. From what he could see, the boy wore a plain black T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. A simple, average boy, he concluded disinterestedly. The dark haired boy stared at the bended-over form from the sidewalk where he was still sprawled as the blond wheezed and gasped so hard that it seemed exaggerated.
The boy with the raven-hair dusted off the dark-blue turtleneck sweater and black leather pants he was wearing before getting to his feet. Turning towards the blond boy, he lifted an eyebrow, the expression on his face one of half-irritation and half-concern. Apparently, irritation won.
"Hey, watch where you're going."
At the sound of his voice, the blond on the floor looked up and the dark-haired boy sucked in a breath. The boy had the most innocent looking face ever, his skin slightly tanned and for some strange reason, he had whisker marks on his cheeks. But the thing that had caught his attention was the pair of bright blue eyes that the blond had. For a moment, the dark-haired man found himself drawn into those set of clear blue eyes and only managed to break out of his daze when he heard the other boy speak.
"Sorry," the blond said as he took one last gulp of air. Suddenly those blue eyes widened as if just realizing something. "Ah! I'm late!"
Dark eyes widening, the boy with the dark hair watched as the slightly shorter boy attempted to quickly gather the fallen box before getting up, only to stumble for rushing too much. He quickly reached out a hand to help stabilize the boy, not wanting him to fall over again.
The blond had the good grace to blush embarrassedly at his own clumsiness.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
Hearing this, the taller boy broke out in a smirk. "Don't worry about it. Just don't go knocking into other people anymore, dobe."
The blond's eyebrows furrowed at these words, surprised. "Excuse me?"
"I said don't knock into other people, dobe."
"What did you call me?"
"Dobe. Didn't you hear me, dobe?"
The blond's surprise rapidly turned into irritation. "Jerk! Don't tell me what to do!"
"Oh?" was all the raven-haired boy said, the smirk on his lips widening even more at the blond's annoyance.
The blond glared at him for awhile, obviously ticked off. Then, with an outraged 'hmph', he took off. In less then a few seconds he had already disappeared into the crowd.
The dark-haired boy stared into the direction the blond had disappeared to for awhile after that, contemplating silently to himself. After a few moments, he shrugged and was just about to go on his way when a black limousine stopped beside the sidewalk right in front of him.
He looked up as the window to the back seat rolled down and a familiar face came into view.
"Sasuke-sama! Where have you been? Why did you leave the limo without telling us?"
The young man with the dark hair, Sasuke, sighed before running his fingers through his hair. "Kimimaro, since when do I have to report to you everything I do?"
"Sasuke-sama! Of course you have to! I'm your personal caretaker-cum-bodyguard-cum-assistant. It is my duty to look after you."
"Right." Sasuke sighed again in resignation. Defeated, he stepped into the limo when Kimimaro jumped out to open the door for him. He barely noticed that his white-haired assistant was wearing casual clothes today (a dark-green knitted sweater and a pair of slacks) which meant that Kimimaro was definitely going to be tailing him all day long.
He sighed yet again. He knew it was for his own good but he didn't like it that Kimimaro constantly felt the need to keep an eye on him. The man was too uptight. It wasn't like Sasuke was going to run away or anything. And it certainly wasn't that he didn't like having Kimimaro around – Kimimaro was just as much his servant as his friend. But, sometimes, he just wanted to be alone for awhile, to do things on his own.
"Where do you want to go, Sasuke-sama?" Kimimaro asked from the seat opposite him. The limo was rather lush, a comfortable three-seater on both sides and a glass window that separated the driver's seat and the passenger's seats.
Sasuke thought about it for awhile. Since he couldn't very well get away now, he might as well just let the limo take him wherever it wanted to go. "Just take me anywhere that I can eat. I'm hungry."
Kimimaro nodded before pressing a button at the side which enabled him to speak to the driver.
"Kidoumaru, take us to that sushi shop down the next few streets," Sasuke heard Kimimaro instruct Kidoumaru. He barely noticed Kidoumaru's murmur of affirmation as he stared out the window, watching the surroundings pass by as they moved towards their destination.
In within two minutes, Sasuke found himself standing in front of a rather small sushi shop. From the looks of it, it was a traditional shop from the way it was still made off the structure of olden day Japanese buildings, complete with the sliding door, rice wallpaper and everything. Despite the small size of the shop, there seemed to be a lot of noise coming from inside it, indicating that there were lots of customers.
And he was right. Upon opening the door, he was greeted by the loud sounds of people talking and ordering in loud voices. There were many traditional chabudai (1) arranged nicely at one side of the shop while set on the other side was a long counter and several high chairs to allow customers to dine on the counter itself.
"Sasuke-sama, let's go inside," Kimimaro said from beside him.
Nodding, he stepped into the busy store and quickly made his way to a corner of the shop, wanting to be seated somewhere inconspicuous lest the chance of drawing attention to himself if someone recognized him.
As he and Kimimaro sat down at a table right at the corner, Sasuke let his eyes wander around the shop. He took note of the various types of customers and the food they were eating. Some looked contented with their food. Some, however, did not.
"Oi! When's my Ika (2) sushi going to arrive?" a man suddenly called out.
"That's right! I've waited for a half hour already and it still hasn't come!" another added in.
"Where's my Maguro (3) sushi?"
"My Saba (4) sushi!"
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow in mild interest at the situation happening in front of his eyes. There was a sudden uproar. It seemed like some of the customers had been waiting for a long time for their food to no avail, and they were definitely becoming impatient.
Just then, a woman wearing a white jinbei (5) spoke up from behind the counter. "I'm sorry, everyone! Please hold on for a little while longer. Some of our seafood ran out just last night and the delivery boy who's supposed to bring us our supplies has gone off ill! I've sent someone else to get them already so please just wait for a while longer!"
"What? You don't have your supplies yet?"
"How long more do you want us to wait?"
"This is a waste of time!"
"My Saba sushi!"
Sasuke smirked slightly as he watched the scene unfold. The customers were definitely displeased now. He watched as the woman tried to calm the customers down without much success.
"How incompetent", Sasuke thought to himself. One of the most fundamental rules of business was something every idiot should know: Never make the customers wait. Customers hated waiting, and when that happens, it inadvertently causes displeasure and hence, a failed business transaction. It was as simple as that.
Seated opposite him, Kimimaro was bristling. "Sasuke-sama, perhaps coming here was a bad idea. We should leave."
Sasuke was just about to agree with him and get up when the door to the shop suddenly slid open.
"Sorry for the wait!" a loud voice resounded from the figure now standing at the doorway.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized the figure. The blond boy he'd bumped into not 20 minutes ago. He watched in surprised amusement at the coincidence as the woman ran forwards to greet the boy, and the box he was carrying.
"Naruto, what took you so long?!"
"Ah, sorry, Tsunade-bachan," the boy, Naruto, said. "I kept getting sidetracked. First I bumped into this annoying guy (Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows at these words) and then I bumped into Grandpa Sandaime! You know how he gets when he starts on one of his stories…"
Tsunade sighed. "Just hurry up and get this to Jiraiya. The customers are getting tired of waiting."
"Right," Naruto replied before hurrying off to the kitchen at the back of the shop to hand over the supplies.
Although the supplies had arrived, it seems like it was too late to save the situation. The customers had just had about enough.
"What's this? We still have to wait?"
"I'm not waiting anymore."
"I'm leaving!"
"My Saba sushi!"
A few of the customers were getting up with every intention of leaving. Tsunade hurried forwards in an attempt to keep them from going.
"Please, just wait a little while longer. Our supplies are here already," she said almost pleadingly to a man whom had already gotten to his feet.
"Sorry, Tsunade-san. Although your sushi is good, I can't wait any longer."
Just then, Naruto appeared suddenly between the both of them and set a small box on the table.
"Here, have this, Mizuki-san!"
The customer named Mizuki looked at the box set on top of his table. It had the name of the shop, 'Sannin's Sushi', and the shop's address emblazoned on top of the box.
"What's this, Naruto? Cheap tricks aren't going to work on me, you know. I may be a regular customer but there's only so long I can wait."
Naruto nodded. "You're right, Mizuki-san. We're really sorry about this. See, this box contains some of our shop's most famous sushi. We're letting you have this free of charge. You can take this home to your family for lunch later, or even for your friends! So please, I hope you can wait just for a little while longer." At this, Naruto bowed deeply. Seeing Naruto's bowed form, Tsunade immediately followed and bowed.
Mizuki seemed to be contemplating this for a moment, all the while eyeing the pretty little box sitting on top of his table.
"Alright, I'll wait awhile more just because I've always liked your sushi," Mizuki finally said before sitting down again.
A bright smile spread across Naruto's face. "Thank you so much, Mizuki-san!" He turned to the other customers whom had wanted to leave as well. "Alright, to all the customers whom we've caused to wait for so long, I'll go and get a box each for all of you!"
At these words, a satisfied look returned to all of the displeased customer's faces and they all sat back down. Naruto quickly brought out several more boxes and distributed them to each of the customers whom had been waiting.
As Naruto finished distributing, Tsunade pulled Naruto to a corner of the shop close to where Sasuke was sitting (Sasuke successfully kept himself from being seen by the blond as he came closer) before whispering to him.
"Hey, Naruto! If you give all of those for free, we're going to lose money!"
"Don't worry, Tsunade-bachan," Naruto assured. "We had to do it. There's nothing more important than a customer's satisfaction. We couldn't let them walk out on us! It'll look bad for the shop! What if they stop coming here? We'll be losing much more then!"
"But still…"
"Just think of it as free advertising," Naruto continued before pointing at one of the boxes he just distributed, the name of the shop could be seen clearly on its side. "Look there, the name of our shop is clearly written there. If they let others try our sushi, then more people will know about us and how good our sushi tastes. And if they like it, they'll be back for more! In the long run, we would be improving our business!"
Tsunade stared at the box which Naruto had pointed at. She blinked a few times before finally sighing. "Fine, I guess it's alright then."
Naruto gave a big smile and patted her on the back. "Don't worry too much! Let's just get back to work!"
At that moment, a voice could be heard from the kitchen.
"Naruto, the sushi is ready!" a man called.
"Hai, Ero-sennin!"
"Don't call me that!"
Naruto disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared a few seconds later, carrying dishes of the long-awaited sushi. Without waiting a moment more, he quickly served them to the waiting customers.
Sasuke watched all this in interest. He had been observing carefully as Naruto went about dealing with the situation, and he had overheard the conversation between him and the woman, Tsunade. He had to say he was slightly impressed with Naruto's way of handling things. Although it may not have been the best way out, it was nevertheless effective. The boy had talent. There was still much for him to learn, but nevertheless, Sasuke knew raw talent when he saw it.
Despite thinking all that, it did nothing to change Sasuke's first impression of the blond as a clumsy dobe. The imprint of him struggling to carry a box too big for him was still firm in Sasuke's mind. Sasuke wasn't sure why, but for the first time in his life, he felt his interest being piqued. There was just something about the blond that was different. Sasuke smirked.
"Sasuke-sama?" Kimimaro's voice broke into his thoughts.
Sasuke turned to look at his personal assistant, caretaker and bodyguard, an eyebrow arched in question.
"Yes, Kimimaro?"
"Aren't we leaving?"
Sasuke turned back to look at the blond. He had just finished serving one of the customers and was turning back to head towards the area where Sasuke was sitting. Sasuke made up his mind.
"Not anymore, Kimimaro." At these words, Sasuke put up a hand to catch the blond's attention.
Naruto, seeing the hand gesturing for his attention, immediately hurried forward.
"Hai! What can I do-" He stopped suddenly in mid-sentence when he recognized Sasuke. He gaped. "You!"
Sasuke merely smirked at the blond. "Quite a coincidence, isn't it, dobe?"
Naruto was surprised, but that quickly turned into irritation when he heard the blatant insult. One of his eyebrows started twitching. "You're that annoying jerk from this morning!"
Kimimaro gasped at the insult thrown at his master. "How dare you speak like that to Sasuke-sama!"
But Sasuke held out a hand before Kimimaro could do anything else. Training his eyes evenly, Sasuke stared into Naruto's bright blue ones, fascinated once more at how clear they were, like sapphires.
"I see you're still offended at the comment I gave you this morning," Sasuke said calmly.
"Comment my ass! Which person would act like a know-it-all and call a total stranger 'dobe' in the middle of nowhere, for no reason at all?!"
"If I remembered correctly, you bumped into me."
"I've already apologized! And that still doesn't mean you can go around calling people names!"
Naruto's voice was rising by the minute. Sasuke smirked again, thoroughly amused by the blond.
"Hmm, is that the way you should be speaking to your customer?" the raven-haired boy said, a taunting note in his voice.
Naruto blinked once. Then, he blinked again. He seemed to remember suddenly where they were and their positions. So, with an effort, he bit back his annoyance before plastering a small smile on his face.
That's the way business went. Annoying jerk or not, the customers always came first.
"So, what would you like to order for today?" Naruto asked as pleasantly as he could without sounding fake, although he knew he was failing miserably. He felt the nag of irritation increase when he noticed that the 'jerk' – Sasuke, as he had been called by his companion - only smirked wider.
Naruto took down whatever Sasuke and his companion ordered before disappearing into the kitchen.
Seeing the blond boy disappear into the kitchen, Kimimaro turned to Sasuke.
"Sasuke-sama, why do you insist on eating here? The staff are clearly inefficient and what's more, that boy has absolutely no manners!"
Sasuke turned to Kimimaro, a small smile on his lips. "Don't you think this place is interesting, Kimimaro?"
"Interesting, Sasuke-sama?"
Just at Kimimaro said that, the blond reappeared from the kitchen carrying two plates of sushi and headed towards Sasuke's table. Catching sight of the blond, Sasuke turned his attention once more towards him.
The blond was obviously annoyed with Sasuke by the way he was glaring at him now. He seemed determined not to let that get to him though. However, Naruto's annoyance seemed to have distracted him somewhat and because of that, he hadn't been paying attention to where he was walking.
As Naruto approached Sasuke's table, he didn't notice that one of the floor mats near where Sasuke was seated hadn't been smoothed out properly, causing a small fold to protrude from it. When Naruto was about two feet away from the table, unfortunately for him, he happened to trip over the mat.
He lost his balance and almost fell forward when he felt arms grabbing hold of his elbows, keeping him on his feet, not to mention keeping the two dishes of sushi in his hands.
To Naruto's dismay though, the person whom had saved him from a potentially humiliating scene was the annoying 'jerk' - Naruto had decided that the guy would be known as the 'jerk' from now onwards - himself. He looked up at the face of the young man, mumbling a reluctant 'thanks'. Naruto may be hot-tempered, but he certainly had manners.
Sasuke merely smiled that irritating smile of his, not letting go of his grip on the blond's arms. "That's the second time I've saved you today. Didn't I tell you not to knock into anyone, or in this case, anything else, dobe?"
Naruto's temper flared. He was infuriated. Alright, so maybe he had been a little clumsy! But that didn't give this good-for-nothing stranger a right to insult him like this or to tell him what to do or to call him names for that matter! Sure he'd nicknamed him 'jerk' in return, but the fact was he started it with the 'dobe' comment! Surely, he didn't expect Naruto to just take it without retaliating!
Huffing impatiently, Naruto pulled himself away roughly from the taller boy's grip before setting the two dishes on the table. "Your food, sirs!" He then left irately to tend to the other customers.
As Sasuke sat back down in his seat and turned his attention to the sushi, he didn't notice the odd look Kimimaro was giving him as the bodyguard watched his master/friend's interaction with Naruto.
When they were back in the limo and on their way home (Despite it being a rare day off, Sasuke had suddenly decided to go home after eating at the sushi shop, something Kimimaro found suspicious), Kimimaro watched the expression on his master's face carefully.
"It seems like you're enjoying yourself very much, Sasuke-sama," Kimimaro said.
Sasuke broke out of his thoughts and turned to look at Kimimaro, an eyebrow raised. "Oh? What makes you say that?"
"Well, for one, that smile you're wearing is pretty scary."
Sasuke chuckled at that. Although Kimimaro was basically working for him, over the years, he had built a sort-of connection with Kimimaro, and they were now close friends. No one could understand him better than his personal assistant, caretaker and bodyguard, except perhaps Kakashi.
The only thing they disagreed on was probably about letting Sasuke off by himself. Although Kimimaro knew Sasuke liked and needed his personal space sometimes, he simply couldn't allow Sasuke to wander off in public on his own. Kimimaro said it was because it was too dangerous. Sasuke said it was because Kimimaro had developed 'mother-hen-syndrome.'
"Well," Sasuke started, breaking off of his thoughts. "Let's just say I find him… interesting."
At those words, Sasuke stared out of the window, the smirk that had been popping up so often that morning once more gracing his lips, only that this time, it wasn't a smirk. It was a genuine smile.
Kimimaro could only stare at his young master, smiling inwardly to himself. It was obvious that Sasuke-sama was interested in that blond boy. He needn't have said it for Kimimaro to see that. He had spent the whole time in the sushi shop picking on, or rather, dare he say, flirting with the boy. Although the blond boy was completely oblivious that he was somewhat being flirted with and believed that Sasuke-sama was merely annoying him, but Kimimaro begged to differ. Oh yes, subtle as it was, Kimimaro could see the beginnings of something special developing in his young master.
Kimimaro was happy. It had been quite awhile since his master had looked this alive, ever since taking over the family business. Moreover, this was the first time his young master had shown interest in someone. Despite having so many admirers, Kimimaro had always felt it a shame that Sasuke had never been interested in any one of them. And what's more, the blond boy seemed to be someone whom Sasuke-sama had probably just met from what he had seen so far. To have intrigued Sasuke-sama so much in such a short amount of time, the blond must really be special. His young master needed company other than his security guards and workers, whether home or while working and this looked to be a chance for that. In any case, this change was most certainly pleasant and welcome. Kimimaro couldn't stop his own smile from spreading on his lips.
The next few months were promising to be pretty interesting.
It was already late in the evening when Naruto finally sat himself down on one of the seats in front of the counter, having just closed the shop. He was absolutely exhausted.
"Ah, I'm tired!" he complained, leaning forwards on the counter.
Jiraiya, whom had been working in the kitchen all day finally came out and stood behind the counter, grinning down at the blond. He too wore a white jinbei, similar to what Tsunade wore. "Oi, oi, Naruto! You call this little work tiring? You've got lots more to learn, kid!"
"I've had a long day, okay? You weren't the one whom had to run halfway across the city to get seafood!"
"Keh! Kid does a little extra work and starts complaining about it!"
"Shut up, Ero-sennin! You picking a fight with me?!"
"That's enough from both of you!" a female voice interrupted. Both males stopped and turned to look at her. She had just finished cleaning the last of the tables and had joined Naruto at the counter, a dirty cloth in her hand. "It was a long day for all of us. Be grateful that we have customers! It means good business! And good business means better income for us!"
Jiraiya nodded. "Hm, can't deny that. Fine, I take it back. You did well today, kid!" Jiraiya said, ruffling Naruto's hair.
Tsunade smiled. "You sure did, Naruto. If you hadn't thought of a way to handle Mizuki-san this morning, it could have been bad for the shop. If he weren't a customer I would have shown him who's boss around here!" Tsunade's smile contorted into a look of fury as she slapped her right fist into her other hand, which unfortunately was the hand holding the dirty cloth. But she didn't seem to notice this.
"There you go again with your bad temper, Tsunade," Jiraiya reprimanded. Tsunade scowled at him for awhile before turning towards Naruto with a smile.
"Anyway, you really did great today, Naruto. Good job," she said.
Naruto grinned. "Hehe. Both Tsunade-bachan and Ero-sennin acknowledges my skill today! Of course! Nothing is impossible for the great Naruto-sama!"
"A little obnoxious aren't you, kid?" Jiraiya piped up at the blond's words.
Before they could start bickering again, Tsunade interrupted once more, remembering something else suddenly. "Anyway, Naruto. Who was that boy you were talking to this morning?"
"Eh, what boy?"
"The one with the dark-hair. Wearing a turtleneck sweater, had a funny looking white-haired guy with him."
At the mention of this, Naruto frowned when he recalled. "Feh! He ain't no friend of mine! Just an annoying jerk I had the misfortune to meet today!"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. It was rare that Naruto got mad at anyone. "You met him just today and you already hate him that much?"
"Hah!" Naruto sat up straight in his seat, glad for the chance to vent his frustrations about the smug boy he had just met that morning. "Didn't I tell you earlier I bumped into someone today when I was carrying the seafood? Well, that's the guy I bumped into! It was a total and unintentional accident! I even apologized! And do you know what he did after that? He said, no, ordered me to 'stop bumping into people' or some shit like that, and then he called me a 'dobe'! Who the heck does he think he is, telling people what to do and calling strangers he's just met 'dobe'?!"
"Are you sure it isn't your fault?" Jiraiya interjected, seating himself comfortably on a chair behind the counter before turning to smirk at Naruto.
"Well, yeah, it was my fault for bumping into him. But I told you, I apologized! And he didn't have to keep calling me names! He kept calling me 'dobe' even after meeting me here! Though I must say I was shocked to see him again, talk about stupid coincidences! It's bad luck, I tell you! And the way he acts! It's like he's the king of the world or something! I bet he's some rich somebody! The guy with him kept calling him 'Sasuke-sama' or something like that. It was ANNOYING!"
"Okay, okay! We get the point, stop yelling at us!" Jiraiya said with a grimace, a pinky-finger in each of his ears.
On the other hand, Tsunade looked thoughtful. "Sasuke, huh? I think I've heard that name somewhere before…"
Naruto snorted, leaning down again, the annoyance he felt somewhat lessened after venting out his feelings like that. He felt slightly better already. "Of course you have! It's such a common name. I bet even Grandpa Sandaime's pet monkey's name is Sasuke."
"It's Enma," Jiraiya corrected.
"Whatever."
Tsunade thought about it for awhile but merely shrugged in the end. "Maybe."
For awhile, none of them said anything. Jiraiya started picking at his ears with his pinky finger, resting himself after a tired day's work. Tsunade on the other hand, went into the kitchen to finish up washing the last of the dishes and cutlery used.
For the first time that day, Naruto had time for his own thoughts. He recalled the way he had met that smug, arrogant bastard that morning. From the moment of their accidental collision, to their coincidental meeting at the shop.
His temper flared again when he remembered how he had embarrassingly tripped over his own two feet not once, but twice that day, and had to of all things, be saved by him. He could still remember the way the raven-haired boy smirked at him. It was so infuriating!
When they had first met, and before the jerk had started getting on his nerves by calling him dobe, he hadn't thought that the boy could be this annoying. Sure, Naruto thought he was pretty good-looking and damn, he was probably very rich judging by the way he acted (he silenced that scary looking white-haired guy with just a lift of his hand!) and dressed (those pants the jerk wore HAD to be made of genuine leather!), but that still didn't give him the freaking right to order people around or more importantly, to call people 'dobe'!
"How dare he call the great Naruto-sama a dobe! I hope I never see him again if I can help it!"
Just then, he heard a voice calling him. Deciding that he had spent more than enough time being annoyed at someone whom he deemed worthless, Naruto pushed the last of his thoughts about the jerk out of his mind. Instead, he turned to the voice calling him.
"Naruto, are you listening to me?"
"Yes, Tsunade-bachan? What were you saying?" Naruto asked, sitting up straighter in his chair. Tsunade was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, drying a plate with a pink dishtowel.
Tsunade sighed before repeating herself. "I said, you'd better go home and get some rest. You have an interview tomorrow, don't you?"
At this, Naruto suddenly jumped out of his chair, eyes-wide and mouth gaping. "Oh, right! I completely forgot! My interview at Hidden Treasure! I haven't prepared anything!"
Jiraiya, whom was still sitting lazily at the counter, merely snorted as he watched the younger boy start to panic. "I thought you said you finished your resume ages ago."
Even in his panicked state, Naruto managed to glare at him. "Yeah, but I still have to practice speaking to the interviewer! Oh, no! How could I have forgotten such an important day!?"
"That's because you're always so worried about the shop," Tsunade said exasperatedly. "Just go home and prepare whatever you have to. We'll finish off here."
"Thank you so much, Tsunade-bachan!" Naruto said, blue eyes brightening immediately. "I'll leave it to you then! See you later, Tsunade-bachan, Ero-Sennin!" And without waiting another minute more, he sprinted out of the shop with every intention to get back home as soon as possible, so that he could get started on his preparations.
When he left, Tsunade sighed again. "That boy still needs a lot of growing up to do."
Jiraiya grinned, a fond smile on his lips as his eyes met Tsunade's. "Really? I think he'd make a fine grown-up already."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you're praising him now? Aren't you the one always calling him a kid? Not to mention the number of times you've told him off for being immature and talking big."
"Heh, can't help puncturing that ego of his a little bit. You'll never see me admitting this to him, but he'd do so much better working out there on his own than here with us. The kid's got talent."
Tsunade nodded. "This shop is where you and I belong, but not him. He's just like his father…"
"He'll make a name for himself out there one day. And then… maybe, just maybe, his dreams can finally come true."
Tsunade didn't reply but merely smiled. "Maybe. For now, let's just hope he makes it through tomorrow's interview. And meanwhile, we should handle things here on our own just like we promised. We can't be the ones bringing the kid down anymore."
His grin back in full force, Jiraiya got up from his seat, with every intention to help Tsunade finish up the washing. "Keh, can't deny that."
To Be Continued
(1) Chabudai are the traditional Japanese low tables.
(2) Ika means squid.
(3) Maguro means tuna.
(4) Saba means mackerel.
(5) Jinbei is a type of Japanese clothing. Think of the Ichiraku's owner clothings. That's a jinbei, if I understood my information correctly, that is.
A/N Idea for this fic was born from a drama I've been watching lately. Research done was very shallow (yes, I'm a lazy-ass) so forgive me if there are any mistakes and I'll appreciate anyone kind enough to point out any mistakes at all if you spot any in this fic. After a long break from writing, I'm back with a new fic. I've stopped updating STL for awhile due to loss of interest. I WILL GET BACK TO IT. Meanwhile, my muse has forced me to churn out this new fic. This time, I will make no promises. Updates will come when it's convenient for me. Till next time, comments and critics will be appreciated!
Next Chapter Preview :
"I heard that something good happened yesterday."
"Oh, no! I'm late!"
"That's him, isn't it?"
"There really can't be that many coincidences, Sasuke-sama."
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you attend the interview. It would be against the rules."
End Next Chapter Preview