Between being sleep deprived, temporarily evicted from her apartment due to termites and both Iruka and the Old Man being unreachable, and now being sore from constant walking Naruko concluded that this was the worst day of her life. Growling as she stalked down the empty streets in the dead of night Naruko cursed every known deity and even those not yet discovered. Although the small rational part of her brain, the little her that was shut in a dark corner every time she gratified the Hokage faces or cut class, reminded her that blaming God was only an excuse to cover up for her own shortcomings.
Bull crap. This was not her fault. She was perfectly innocent….sort of anyway.
Sure it was partly her fault because she, being naïve at the age of twelve, deliberately chose the shoddy apartment because she was cheap.
True, maybe it was a bad idea to blow all her savings on those smoke bombs at the weapons shop.
And yeah, fixing the leg in the Hokage's chair and super gluing Iruka's snooze button probably wasn't the best way to ensure any future favors. But hey she was a kid for crying out loud! Pulling pranks on her elders was a sacred tradition that's been handed down for generations.
Besides Naruko got the super gluing idea from Iruka's childhood mischief years anyway. So it was his fault anyway.
Right?
"Perhaps I should get him a new alarm clock as an apology," Naruko muttered as she continued down the streets vaguely looking for something resembling shelter. The painful throbbing in her legs caused her slump against the wall opposing the row of houses she was passing. She unzipped her orange jacket as she tried to get comfortable for the night.
"At least these trash bags can act as pillows…ouch," Naruko yelped as she felt a broke glass bottle poke her in the side. "Learn to recycle damnit," She muttered moodily at the opposing houses with their inviting and warm looks.
"Stupid smug and comfortable looking houses, you're laughing at me aren't you?"
"Ahem."
Naruko eyes winded in amazement, that house just cleared its throat at her! Springing to her feet the blonde shook her tiny fist at the offending shelter. A retort was about to burst from her throat when a hand landed gently on her shoulder. Jumping slightly out of her skin Naruko followed the pale slim arm to its owner and her jaw dropped.
"S-S-Sakura-chan! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here this late?" Naruko rubbed the back of her head nervously fighting down the embarrassment at being caught exchanging quips with a two story house. Crap, she didn't know that any of her classmates lived around here and especially not the one she sorta-kind admired. Although the sight of her rosette classmate in floral pattern PJ's did ease her anxiety a bit though.
The pink haired girl yawned while rubbing her eye, "I live here Naruko. Mind telling me why you're a talking to my house?" Sakura Haruno crossed her arms as she gave her classmate a once over. Judging from the way the blonde was so comfortably slouched against her families trash Sakura guessed that her classmate was homeless for the night. Not that she cared much either way; it was just that her window was opened when she heard a yelp from outside.
"Ha-ha, it's a long story."
"I am listening," Sakura stated impatiently with green eyes that promised pain if there wasn't a satisfactory answer.
"Nah, it's fairly boring," Naruko stated nervously waved her off not wanting to tempt fate again. On one hand she was glad to have a chance to talk with the Haruno girl. However on the other hand she suspected that this was not a late night rendezvous that would end pleasantly.
Sakura stared at her down for a few more seconds, not to difficult consider she had at least a few inches on the blonde, before sighing in exasperation "Whatever then, I am going back to sleep."
Naruko's face slightly but she smiled none the less, "Ah…I see. Sorry to have disturbed you. Have a good night Sakura." Kicking a pebble and collecting her jumper the blonde started down the road again. Sakura ran her hand through her hair in frustration; her parents were going to tear her a new one for this.
"Where are you going?" Sakura demanded as Naruko only got a few feet away.
"To find…somewhere to sleep?" Naruko answered slowly, unsure of why the rosette cared. A confused look former on her face when she saw the other girl march up to her and grab her by the wrist. The eleven year old had an indignant expression her face as she wordlessly dragged the blonde into her home.
"Sakura?"
No answer.
They marched up the stairs until they reached the girls bedroom where upon Sakura released her hand. This was Naruko's first time in another person's room other than Iruka's and she had to admit this room was pretty nice albeit a bit bare. What caught her eye was Sakura returning to her bed that was pushed up against the wall.
The girl rolled over to one side of the bed leaving enough room for another person.
"Take off your clothes and take that side. Kick me in your sleep and I'll throw you out got it?"
Naruko nodded happily and stripped down to her undergarments, a white tee and some boxers, before gleefully hopping into under the sheets. Sakura's eyes winded as the bed creeked under the force of the blonde jumping onto the mattress.
'Score!' Naruko though happily as she pumped her fist into the air, 'No trash bag pillows tonight!'
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all….
'Oh well,' thought Sakura, 'It's only for one night, right?'
Right?