(a/n): Would you look at that, I'm still alive, even if just barely... For all of you wondering where I've been for the last... Dunno... Year? Wwll, I won't go on the excruciating detail of how life almost sent me down the drain but let's say that all that could go wrong went wrong, alas here I am getting back into things with this small... Drabble, yeah, let's call it drabble, about my two favorite fandoms.
Yes, I'll get back into the other works and finish them eventually, just let me get steady on my feet again before all goes down to hell again, so... Enjoy!
Soraaaaa…
The light called his name, warm and enticing, urging him to reach it, to embrace it…
Soraaa…
He walked towards it, heeding it's soundless voice urging eagerly as he'd done so many times before… right?
Soraaa…
It was in front of him, almost within reach, so he extended his hand, but… the shapeless beacon of light started to take form, that of a person, and now it started to reach for his hand too, all the while still calling his name.
Soraaaa…
Soraaaa…
His head swirled to the other side, where another human shaped beacon of light joined the first, this one's voice sounding female, also reaching a hand-like tendril of light towards him.
This gave him a pause, for some reason now feeling a little uncertain about his previous desire to reach the light, retreating his arm towards his chest in a defensive way, also taking a step backwards.
This made the first human-shaped light pause in its advance, the shine it emanated dimming for a moment, before it returned full force as if now more determined to reach him.
Soraaaa… a new voice called from his right.
Soraaaa… another one said from behind him.
Soraaaa…
Soraaaa…
Soraaaa…
More and more voices joined from everywhere, along with more and more shining humanoid figures, with sounds of voices of all kinds, from children to adults, both male and female, some happy while others angry, and all this seemed to only encourage the first light-person even more, but for Sora… it was starting to become too much.
The light that in the beginning seemed so warm and inviting now looked overwhelming, it hurt his eyes with how bright it was, and all of the other voices only scared him more and more as they started to pile up on his ears. Then he took another step backwards.
For a moment everything stopped, all the voices, their movement towards him - how they haven't reach him yet a mystery - and even the brightness dimmed enough for him to open his eyes again, unaware that he had closed them at some point, but the sight that greeted him was unnerving.
Every human-shaped shiny form was staring at him, and there were many, and even if they had no faces he could feel the… worry? Anger? Betrayal? Emanating from them, specially from the original one, so not knowing what else to do, unable to deal with all the negative feelings directed at him, he turned and started running.
At once all the lights flared hot and bright, so much that even with his back towards them he had to shield his eyes, ignoring the sting of the heat they radiated and only focusing of getting away from them.
Then they gave chase.
The voices returned, each one like a thunder in his head, but he just kept running.
You belong to the light! The voice of the first light reached him, somehow louder than the others And you won't escape from it!
Sora shook his head, tears streaming down his cheeks, still running despite the urge he felt to just turn and let the light take him away, that light was frightening.
Soraaa…
He shook his head and kept running.
Sora!
He closed his eyes and ignored that voice.
"Sora, you better get your sorry ass out of bed or I swear I'll drag you out of it myself!"
Grudgingly Sora opened his eyes, the remnants of a dream already leaving his mind as he directed a sleepy glare at the annoying voice that kept shouting almost at his face.
His first sight that day was of a beaming smile.
He groaned and turned to a side while mumbling something intelligible, thinking to himself that it was too early to deal with his friend's antics, snuggling himself more with the sheets and trying to get back to sleep.
Naruto's response to Sora's clear dismissal was to huff, then to grin mischievously while jumping down from the bed and getting a good hold of the mattress.
Sora's next wake up call was heavily accented by a sore side thanks to being thrown out of bed into the hard floor, and by laughter following his grunt of pain caused by the rough landing.
Nobody had the right to be so loud and sound so happy at the current ungodly early hour.
"Damn it Naruto" Sora said with a groan while picking himself up from the floor "I told you not to wake me up until at least 10, and it's not even-" he then squinted at the clock hanging from the wall and his eyes widened comically "Six in the morning!?"
"But-but- Sora!" Naruto whined "10 is too late! We could be doing lots of stuff!"
Sora just kept glaring at his friend, just a year younger and still shorter than him, despite having grown a bit since they moved in together, his blond hair in its usual messy style that always gave the appearance of never having met a comb - not that his own chocolate locks were any better, with his hair being even messier - and whiskered cheeks that along with his blue eyes made a deadly combo that most of the time left him unable to deny him anything.
Nobody had the right to look so innocent… not that anyone else seemed to notice.
Resigned to his fate, Sora rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched until his back made popping noises at the right places, and with a content sigh he regarded once again the hyper blond still waiting for a word from him.
"Fiiiine" he feigned reluctance "go change your clothes and clean yourself, I'll make breakfast."
"Yatta!" Naruto cheered, now positively bouncing from the walls "today will be epic! I just know it! And the old man also promised to-"
"Wait" Sora said holding up a hand "with old man you mean the Hokage?"
Naruto's enthusiasm dimmed at the annoyed tone Sora's voice took.
"Yeah… he promised he would take us to a tour through the academy…"
"When did this happen?"
Sora was now rubbing his temples.
"H-he came to visit yesterday while you were buying groceries."
"Of course he would come when I'm not around…" Sora muttered loud enough for Naruto to hear, making him flinch in guilt "Fine, we'll go with the old man to the academy" but before Naruto could cheer he gave him a serious look "just… tell me next time, ok? I have nothing against him" and wasn't that a big, fat lie "but I don't like the way he pushes you."
Naruto nodded once before running out of the room, most likely to get ready, but stopped at the door frame and turned back inside again, tackling Sora into the bed once again with a bearhug.
"Thanks for worrying about me Sora, sometimes I feel you're the only one who does"
And that might just be true Sora thought to himself, but shook the thought out of his head and tightened the embrace a little more.
"You know I've got your back buddy, just like I know you've got mine."
Naruto let go and beamed at him, Sora doing the same, and it was not long before the blond was humming happily in the bathroom while the brunette did the same in front of a frying pan at the kitchen.
Konoha was a deceptively big village, supposed to be the biggest of the great 5, and yet it held a certain atmosphere that made it feel like a cozy little village where everyone would be welcome with open arms.
And wasn't that a big, fat lie.
Despite the early hours there were already people going about their businesses, opening stores or just going out for an early stroll, but everyone was polite and amicable with each other, always with a smile and a friendly greeting… until a couple of kids made their way through one of the main streets.
Hey, aren't those ones-
Why are they still allowed to-
-give such a bad impression of-
We should just get rid of-
"I can hear you!" Sora said loudly, making some of the people flinch, but mostly receiving scowls, so he continued with a scowl of his own "If you have something to say come here and say it to my face!" Nobody moved "that's what I thought" and with the scowl still on his face he took Naruto's hand and dragged him to an alley leading to some of the… less nice parts of the village.
Just as they turned a corner Naruto heard one last whisper.
And he used to be such a sweet kid… too bad that demon managed to influence him.
"Morning oba-san!" The duo shouted as they entered the establishment, the only answer they got for a moment were the annoyed grunts of drunks remaining from the previous night, some of them picking themselves up back to their homes or works.
One of them even gave both kids some ryo for waking him up on time.
"You runts are early today" a… large woman said as she stepped out from a room behind the counter, way too much makeup and way too little clothing for a woman her age, but both kids were already used to it, and just smiled and took their seats on the stools by the bar.
"Somebody" Sora said giving a pointed look at Naruto "couldn't sleep, so here we are. I'd rather not suffer him alone."
Naruto looked elsewhere with a sheepish smile and chuckle while the old woman just snorted and placed a dish of food in front of them.
"There's some leftovers from yesterday night, you runts better be hungry."
Both kids looked at each other and shrugged before shouting "Itadakimasu!" In unison and digging into the stew with gusto.
They may have already eaten breakfast, but it wasn't really enough to fill them, and with how the clerks had started to overprice stuff even for Sora… well, they would take whatever they could get.
As the duo ate in silence loud noise could be heard upstairs, slowly making its way down to the main floor.
"-and you wouldn't believe what he asked me to do! He had this weird fan-" a young girl, no older than 19 or 20 said as she walked the last stairs, but stopped when she saw them eating "The kids are early today!"
There was a beat of silence before many footsteps thundered down along with claims from many female voices.
"I get them today! I got the most of all my customers yesterday!"
"Ha! You wish washboard! I got three full services yesterday! Three!"
"Only three? I went full on last night! I deserve a rest today!"
"ENOUGH!" The old woman bellowed, seeing the kids get a little dizzy from all the sudden attention they got "let the brats finish their food, I'll choose who get the extra help today. Now go do whatever you have to do, your food will be ready in 10 minutes" with that she disappeared in the room behind the counter.
Most of the girls went on with their routines with huffs, pouts and even some winks in the direction of the kids, only one staying behind and sitting next to Sora.
"Awwww, you will help me today, won't you Sora-kun?"
"You know I can't unless Oba-san says so Kara nee-san"
"You're such a meanie Sora-kun" Kara said with a pout as she fiddled with one of Sora's chocolate spikes "I'm sooo tired, ninja-san was… hmmm… such stamina…"
Sora's face went beet red and he lowered it closer to his food while muttering "Kara nee-san hentay."
Not that the girl heard him since she was busy giggling with a blush of her own.
"Kara nee-san" Naruto called blissfully oblivious to Sora's reason of embarrassment "you used to be a ninja, right?"
"Hmmm? Yeah, a while ago… why?"
"Weeell…" he said gulping, feeling nervous all of a sudden "the old man said he would give us a tour through the Academy today and…"
Sora grimaced but said nothing, while Kara just sighed and turned to the blond kid.
"Naruto, deary, take this as an advice and not as a warning ok?" Naruto nodded "Don't take all Sarutobi Hiruzen say at face value… there's more to Hokage than just a fancy title, and there's more to the man than the kind grandfather look he gives."
With that she stood up, placed a kiss on both of their heads and walked out of the building. After punching the drunk man who tried to grope her ass.
"Today you two will be cleaning rooms" the old woman said to the kids once they were done with their food "there have been enough messes yesterday that can be easily taken care of, and the girls are busy enough as it is."
"Hai Oba-san!" Sora and Naruto said at the same time giving the old lady salutes with serious faces, which made her snort in amusement.
"Room 3, 7 and 10. Just pick up the sheets and throw them with the rest of the laundry, dust the furniture and mop the floors. If you find anything thrown in the floor do with it as you wish, you know where the trash can for that kind of stuff is."
With that both kids picked up a face mask and gloves before hurrying to work.
40 minutes later the bottom floor opened for its morning business as a tea shop, the girls already tending to customers and the old lady nowhere to be seen, while upstairs two young voices could be heard shouting over rooms.
"Found some change!"
"Cool! I found some tags! Wanna try them later?"
"Sure! Here I found… ewwwww!"
"Huh? What was- ewwwwww!"
"You pick it"
"What? No, you found it so you pick it."
Naruto narrowed his eyes but said nothing, and picked the discarded underwear like the most foul thing ever - wich it might be - and proceeded to throw it in Sora's direction, who ducked under it and let it continue its path.
"Are you two bra-" paf
The silence that followed was both tense and foreboding, as the old lady grabbed the boxers that had landed on her face.
"Hmmm…" she hummed as her eyes scanned the clothing article, ignoring the panicking kids just in front of her "Must be a new customer" and with a shrug threw the underwear to a nearby trash bin, while Sora facefaulted and Naruto started laughing.
"What?" She asked mirthfully "that's by far the worst I've had. Try making a monk take a bath… now there you have nightmare fuel. You done already? The VIPs will be arriving soon and I'd rather not have them waiting."
Sora rose an eyebrow.
"So early?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"You have any problem with it?"
A myriad of emotions went through Sora's blue eyes, but in the end it settled in resignation as he huffed a "no oba-san" Naruto behind him looking like he wished to say something but also keeping his thoughts to himself.
Both kids were surprised to feel the old lady ruffle their hair with one of those rare, kind smiles few get to see.
"They're just a couple of noble snobs that want pretty company as they go through their business in the city, with their twin bellies and triple chins I'd be surprised if they do something more in their beds than sleep, don't worry your pretty heads about it."
Sora and Naruto blushed at the affectionate gesture they rarely get to recieve, but smiled nonetheless and nodded "now go and finish, your payment is ready downstairs" with that she turned and made her way into one of the rooms.
"Sora…" Naruto started with a whisper, but Sora shook his head.
"No Naruto, she won't."
"But she-"
"She likes us, yeah, and that's why she won't let us move in here. You know what the girls do in the night."
Naruto just grimaced but nodded.
The park wasn't a place Sora liked to visit much, it had been enough times that other kids flat out denied them - well, first Naruto but later him too - to participate in games, and even try to hit them for even walking in the place, so any real desire to play there left him a long time ago.
Naruto on the other hand…
"But why you won't let us in!?"
"I've told you already" an older kid said while crossing his arms, a smirk on his face and two other guys by his side in the same position "my dad has told me that you can't play with normal kids, and like I'm at the academy now its my duty as a ninja to protect the other kids from you."
"But I wanna play in the sandbox… I can play alone with Sora if you want…"
"I said NO, now leave before I make you leave" the bully said while cracking his knuckles, making Naruto take a step backwards.
Sora's blood was boiling at this point, while also a spike of fear shot through his spine. It looked too similar to the time… before he was really aware of it he had picked a medium sized rock from the floor and had thrown it to the bully's head, hitting him in the forehead and making a cut.
"Don't you dare" the brunette growled with a glare while he picked another rock, the bully and his friends recovering from their shock and taking their leader away, thinking that the bleeding meant something serious.
"You'll pay for that!"
"I'll be waiting here bastard!"
Sora never liked acting like that, it always left him feeling… wrong, like it was something he shouldn't be able to do. But he liked even less the way everyone else treated Naruto, so he beared with it, all for the sake of his friend.
A hand touched his shoulder and he flinched, startled and almost expecting his arm to throw the rock he was still holding towards whoever touched him, but nothing happened and he relaxed, letting the rock fall to the ground.
"Hey, you know you don't have to act like that every time somebody is mean to me" came Naruto's voice "I know you don't like being mean to others."
"And you know I don't like how people treat you."
Naruto just shrugged.
"I'm used to it."
"But you shouldn't be used to it" Sora almost growled, the anger rising once again in his chest "You should be able to do every little stupid thing everyone else here take for granted!"
Naruto just sighed sadly.
"C'mon, we still have the sweets Oba-san added today, if we hurry we can get to the top of the hokage monument."
Sora took a deep breath and released it slowly, Naruto was right, they still had a lot of time today and some bullies wouldn't spoil it for them.
"Race you there?"
"You think you can win?"
"I know I can win, I won yesterday too after all."
"Yesterday's challenge didn't count! You cheated!"
"As if I'd need to cheat to beat you"
"Oh yeah? Prove it then!"
"On three?"
"On three… three!"
"Oi! That's cheating!"
Both kids left the park running, too focused on their little challenge to notice a shy lavender haired girl nearby, or the three other kids whispering among themselves as they followed said girl.
"That one looks like an ant" Naruto said before taking a bite out of his cookie.
"Nah" Sora countered "It looks more like a mermaid"
Naruto turned to him with a risen eyebrow "you know how a mermaid looks like?"
Sora considered for a moment, a… something making him give a pause, but then he shook the feeling "not really"
"Then how do you know that cloud looks like one?"
Sora just shrugged, and Naruto rolled his eyes.
The sight of the village from the top of the hokage monument was breathtaking, showing it more like a whole rather than each individual inhabiting it, and to most people it would give a sense of purpose, to keep this whole as peaceful as it looked from up here.
Sora and Naruto weren't most people.
Away from the whispers and glares of the villagers, the top of the monument was a haven of sorts for the kids, where they could talk, play and plan pranks freely with how little people bothered to make it all the way to the top. Or, like this time, just relax and watch the clouds pass by.
"I imagined you would be up here" an elderly voice said approaching them, making the blond brighten and the brunette scowl "enjoying the view of the village?"
"Old man!" Naruto cheered as he ran from his spot towards the Hokage.
"Hello dear child" he answered chuckling, before turning his head to the other kid who haven't even acknowledged his arrival. How Hiruzen missed the days when he too would brighten up as soon as he saw him.
"Hello Sora-kun."
"Afternoon Hokage-sama" Sora answered in a neutral voice without facing him "I heard you came to visit yesterday, too bad I wasn't present to greet you properly."
Naruto flinched at the accusatory tone Sora's voice took, but Hiruzen rubbed his shoulder in reassurance that he did nothing wrong.
"I took a short break from the paperwork and decided to make a quick visit."
"Hmmm" Sora hummed unconvinced "so… you had anything important to tell?"
"Not really" Hiruzen answered without missing a beat "just to make an invitation for you two, today I cleared my schedule for the afternoon so I could take you to see the academy."
"I can see it well enough from up here" Sora said nodding in the direction if the building.
"I see…"
"Hey, hey" Naruto said, catching everyone's attention "you're hiding something from me?"
Sora opened his mouth, but Hiruzen spoke before he could say anything.
"Of course not Naruto-kun, Sora-kun is just… being difficult again."
Sora's face flushed red, and he seemed ready to scream, but he just stood up and started making his way down the monument, throwing a harsh "I'll see you at home" when Naruto questioned him.
Hiruzen's heart clenched painfully at the sight, at what he was forced to do, but it's all for the greater good he reminded himself, turning to Naruto once again.
"Are you ready to go?"
Naruto kept staring at the retreating form of his friend, a sad expression on his face, before nodding and following the Hokage through another route down.
Sora was just done, lying on his bed and looking at the ceiling, seething in silence at the Hokage and wondering what lies would the man be telling his friend right now.
But at the same time he felt bad for holding such resentment against the old man. He had, after all, also held a high opinion of him a while ago, and it was hard not to when the man was so patient, so kind and eager to listen to their childish rambles… he used to be more happy back then too, more carefree… to think once he shared with Naruto a common goal to become Hokage, or its advisor if the other took the hat, but thankfully he discarded that childish dream, and made Naruto see that becoming Hokage would fix nothing.
If only the old man had come clean with them…
The sound of a door slamming jolted him awake from his musings, and the sound of hurried footsteps through their small apartment made him wonder if something was wrong, so it was a great surprise that the moment he was ready to jump out of bed the door to the bedroom slammed open, with a panting Naruto standing there, flushed and sweaty surely for running a long trek, and with tears still rolling down from his red, puffy eyes.
"Naru-"
"Soraaaaaaa!"
In less than a second Naruto was wrapped around his torso, face buried on his chest and fresh tears staining his shirt, along with sobs that signaled Naruto had started crying again.
Sora remained there for a moment, bewildered by the sudden arrival of Naruto, not knowing what to do besides calming down his friend enough to ask what happened, but then he remembered where he had been when he headed home, and more important, with whom.
"What did he do?" He asked, anger once again taking over his mind, but Naruto just shook his head and pressed himself harder against his chest.
His mind was going a mile per hour, thinking about a thousand scenarios where the old man, as unlikely as it could be, could have injured Naruto, insulted him, forced him to do something bad… as angry as he was he knew the Hokage would do nothing like that, despite everything else at least he could count on the old man protecting Naruto, but then what else-
It clicked.
"Naruto" he whispered softly, tightening the hug a tiny bit "I won't ever leave you, ok? No matter what everyone else says, you're stuck with me forever."
Naruto's tear stained and puffy-eyed face peaked up from its spot.
"You mean it?"
"Yup!" Sora answered cheerfully, making a popping sound at the end "I think I've grown attached to you, you big cry baby, can you believe that?"
Naruto huffed and pouted, but he was clearly in a better mood already "I'm not a cry baby!"
"Whatever you say buddy, whatever you say"
Journal Entry 1
It's been 4 days since I arrived to this world, and all I've seen so far has been the forest I'm still walking through. But there's been a lot of foot-made tracks here and there that I almost missed, and all seem to come from the same direction so I'm following them, maybe I'll find a city or something that way.
Nobody else made it here with me after the big fight, so I just hope everyone's fine.
Sora - Age 17