A/N: Once upon a time...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Shizuka na Hibi no Kaidan wo

Two bodies were lying down on the smooth green grass, the tree branches and leafs covered them from the stinging afternoon sunlight. As the wind would sometime create a small yet soothing breeze, it would shift the thousand leafs swiftly, letting some spaces for the sunlight to go through, shining everything in its path.

The two bodies underneath, belonged to a boy and a girl. The boy had an equally shining and spiky blond hair with a few hair locks falling onto his forehead. He had deep blue eyes that give off a sense of security and calmness although it would sometime give off a sense of mischief or determination. On both his cheeks were birth marks, in a form of three whiskers on each cheek and although they were very visible, they weren't thick. He was wearing a short-sleeved black shirt with fishnet attire underneath, flashy orange pants, and a pair of high-cut black sandals. On his left leg was attached a black holster, filled with dozens of shuriken and a kunai.

The girl had a long and smooth red hair with also a few hair locks falling in between her eyes. She had deep brown eyes that give off a sense of calmness and warmth although most of the time it gives off a sense of intimidation and strong will. At the back of her neck, she had a strange-looking tattoo but it wasn't a normal tattoo for it was a cursed seal. She however, wouldn't mind it as much because she has control over it. She was wearing a short-sleeved tight black shirt with fishnet attire underneath, tight black short pants, and black short-heeled sandals. Her tight attire accentuated her figures very well and on her left leg too, was attached a black holster, filled with dozens of shuriken, a kunai, and a flute.

The two people that were lying down were none other than Naruto and Tayuya, two loudmouths in a different way. One being a noisy and poking loudmouth namely Naruto while the other one for being a tom-boy and an extremely vulgar loudmouth namely Tayuya. The two were lying adjacent one another, their head being the closest thing to each other. Naruto was lying down with his face looking upward and his entire body stretched out while Tayuya was laying on her right, hence her whole body facing the sturdy tree. The two of them were actually napping under the comfort of the tall tree that shadowed them from the afternoon sun. A few traces of sweat were visible on their faces as they slept soundly but the breeze would then wash them away, leaving no trace of sweat whatsoever.

As Naruto bent his left arm, leaving it closer to Tayuya's right arm, their hands would then touch but they couldn't feel it for the moment as they were still vast asleep. Beside them, a black and orange jacket, an empty bottle, two forehead protectors, and two used towels were also laid on the grass. Not too far from their location, many shuriken, kunai, explosion impacts, and cuts filled the surrounding areas. Indications of a battle were evident although they weren't fighting to kill each other. Quite the opposite, they just had a training session.

On both Tayuya and Naruto, cuts and bruises were visible although they weren't lethal and life-threatening. Their clothes were slightly torn due to shuriken and kunai cuts and they were a little dirty as well due to explosion and jutsu impacts. While Tayuya surprisingly slept silently and lady-like, Naruto in the other hand slept messily with his shirt slightly lifted showing his stomach and drool escaping his opened mouth.

It was a little bit just after noon, around 2 in the afternoon. The two shinobi were exhausted after training and had to rest to recover their strength. While the quietness of the forest surrounded them, they could peacefully take their nap with the company of each other.

Ever since Shikamaru's team managed to defeat the Sound Five along with the help of the Sand siblings, these Sound ninjas were taken by Konoha's ANBU for investigation purposes. Coincidentally, only Tayuya survived while the others didn't. At first, she wasn't being very cooperative but after a while she finally gave in and cooperated with Konoha. She thought that, she wouldn't be getting any profit for protecting Orochimaru's secrets knowing that she'll be killed either way for failing her mission. Tayuya knew that Sasuke made it to Orochimaru's lair however, since he didn't make it in time, it was just the same as failing her mission. Thus, after only a few weeks, Tayuya decided to betray Orochimaru for good.

While in Konoha, Tayuya met Anko and they surprisingly became the best of friends in no time. Probably because they both knew Orochimaru well, it allowed them to be able to understand each other better than anyone else. Anko then asked Tsunade's permission to allow Tayuya to become a Konoha shinobi. At first Tsunade was skeptical but after seeing Anko in Tayuya, she agreed. The Rookie 9 group was more or less against Tsunade's decision, especially Naruto. The only ones that didn't really care were Shikamaru, Shino, and Chouji. A few weeks have passed ever since the appointment of Tayuya as an official Konoha shinobi, Naruto and a few others were still against it but they still exchanged contacts with each other just for formalities.

By that time, Tayuya has already changed her old clothing with what she was now wearing as a goodwill gesture and a sign that she has put her past behind and started her brand new life. One day, Naruto got a mission with Shikamaru, Tayuya, and Yamato. At first, Naruto objected seeing how he was put in the same team as Tayuya, but he then soon realized that it was all just Tsunade's plan to make him accept her just the way she is. Reluctant, Naruto accepted the mission. He knew the reason why Shikamaru and Yamato were put in the same team, to both prevent him and Tayuya from fighting each other and to control the Kyuubi should he went wild.

The mission itself was a simple B-rank one. They were employed to protect a Country of Fire's daimyo's five days visit to neighboring Country of Wave. Along the way, nothing big happened aside a band of thief's ambush but it was quickly suppressed. During the raid, Tayuya almost got stabbed by a stray arrow coming from her back. Fortunately Naruto noticed and prevented her from being hurt, although he failed to intercept it perfectly and got stabbed in his arm instead.

The night after the raid, Naruto was resting on a tall tree branch looking toward the sea's horizon. That night he only wore his orange pants and black shirt, his necklace was hanging loose around his neck. His right arm was bandaged, covering his wound. He sat casually while leaning against the tree, his injured arm was resting on his raised knee. While he gazed at the night scenery, he was filled with many thoughts as well where most of it was about the newly appointed shinobi with piercing red hair, Tayuya.

When he was deep in thoughts, someone suddenly landed beside him. Naruto did notice a faint presence approaching although he dismissed it as just another friendly presence and let it come near him. He thought it was either Shikamaru or Yamato but he was surprised, to say the least, that it was Tayuya, the person that's been filling his head a while back.

"… Quite a nice view you got here…" she said.

Naruto never averted his eyes from the sea but he knew it was her, "… yeah, kinda…"

The air went silent between them before Tayuya broke it, "… earlier… why did you do it?"

Naruto stayed quiet for a few seconds, pretending to think as he replied dumbly, "… earlier?"

Surprisingly Tayuya didn't snap and elaborated instead, "earlier, when those thieves attacked us… why did you take the stray arrow?"

Upon hearing her reply, Naruto had that bored expression in his eyes like Shikamaru's, "… I have no id-…"

"Stop playing dumb already, we both know that you hate my presence enough to look away every time you meet me, even a blind man can tell... if only you didn't stop that stray arrow, I'll be the one injured right now and isn't that exactly what you want?" she slightly increased the tone of her voice as she cut him.

Apparently it was effective as Naruto temporarily averted his gaze to see Tayuya from the corner of his eyes and when he did he saw her having an edgy look on her face. After a while, he looked back in front of him and dully replied, "… hn, you're right…"

Tayuya jolted a little at hearing the answer she anticipated, she was about to turn around and leave him be but then Naruto continued, "… but beats me if I know why I did it… my body just moved on its own, alright… jeez…"

This time Tayuya was the one to glance at Naruto from the corner of her eyes while a sudden breeze blew through, causing her shiny red hair to hide her stare from the blond, preventing him to notice.

"… Tch… now that just reminded me with something which I really didn't want to remember too… ah, damn it all…"

The air was silent once again, while Tayuya was still looking at him, Naruto just mumbled as he pouted. Before long, Tayuya broke the silence again, "… I'm sorry…"

"Ha?"

"It might not be what you wanted to do but nevertheless I got you hurt, I'm very sorry…" Tayuya apologized.

Naruto was utterly surprised to the point of being speechless, what made him wordless was not because she apologized but because the way she looked when she said sorry. She was still wearing her battle clothes and she didn't look exceptionally attractive to say the least, however, there was something about her that caused the loud blond to stare with awe to the point where he couldn't quite put it in words.

"Hm? Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh? Aah yeah, yeah… I'm… fine…" Naruto faltered slightly when Tayuya caught him staring although she was a little bit dense about it.

Naruto took a few seconds to regain his composure before replying, "… um, look here… I don't particularly blame you or anything so you don't have to apologize, get it? Beside, if anything were to happen to you, Tsunade-baachan would really let me get it for sure, so… it's alright…"

"Eh? But…"

"I said it's alright! Jeez, which part of 'it's alright' don't you understand?" Naruto snorted.

"I…"

"Can I ask you a question?" Naruto cut her before she could even finish, "eh? Uh, sure…"

Naruto pondered for a minute before asking, "Mm 'kay, first why don't you sit down… watching you stand annoys me for some reason…"

Tayuya was slightly surprised but sat down anyway. She was still feeling a bit uneasy with everything that's been going on recently thus she had a stiff and serious expression all over her face. Naruto noticed and thought that although what he wanted to ask were all serious topics but he was never a big fan of seriousness, thus he decided to break the mood a little but not overly.

"… So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" Tayuya asked feeling reserved.

"… Nothing much really… just one stupid question… at least it works in changing the topic…" he replied as he leaned back against the tree.

"Chan-…?"

"Alright then! Here's a question for you" Naruto cut her again before she could even speak, "why did you follow that sick sneaky bastard of a homo pedophilic snake?"

Tayuya was caught completely off-guard. She knew what he meant but the way he puts it was completely unpredictable. Never in her whole life has she gotten a conversation that involves her former master where he's being treated like a total pervert, even when she talked with Anko they'd at least respect him to some degree by using his name, which was also the same with Tsunade although they all had a similarity and that was the tone in which they spoke of him, spiteful.

"… What?" was all she could say.

"You heard me, why did you follow him? I mean, he's a total freak and all… honestly I'm beginning to have a tiny bit of respect to you for being able to put up with that molester…" Naruto blabbered while Tayuya was plain astounded.

"W-well, it's not like I wanted to…" she replied after regaining her composure, catching his attention, "what?"

Then she began her story when she and her family were living normally in Rice Country. Her childhood was pretty normal, being a non-shinobi family and all but as she grew up, her parents got accidentally killed when they were caught in the crossfire between two rivaling ninja clans' battle. Ever since that day, she struggled to live on her own as she didn't have any other relatives until she met Orochimaru. The snake Sannin offered his hand and Tayuya decided to take it as she never received any help from others. From then on, she was tied with him. Countless times has she thought of running away but she knew that she couldn't do a thing against her master. He was the one who taught and helped her to survive from her struggles and she couldn't shake that fact although she suffered even more while being under his care. Then to top it off, he put a cursed seal on her. For a week she felt an unbearable pain she almost died but somehow managed to survive due to her sheer will to live.

There were two things which she discovered after that; first was that she was strong, at least as strong as a special jonin; second, a great deal of power demands a great deal of sacrifice, a week of unbearable pain caused her mind to completely shut off. She was no more than a puppet, although she was still aware of her own self but she didn't have control over her own body. She was moved by another entity that was made of pain and obedience to ones' master, although it wasn't complete obedience but more of a beneficial one. Fortunately, meeting with Anko made her to open up little by little and she began to regain her former self.

"… And that's how I am what I am today…" she finished her story.

Naruto who was listening from the beginning was outright surprised. He'd never expected a girl like her to have such history, "… that's… quite unexpected…"

"What is?" she asked looking oblivious.

Naruto squirm a bit feeling slightly uneasy with the current atmosphere, "… I never thought you'd have that kind of past… I… don't know what to say…"

Tayuya suddenly felt her heart to have gotten lighter although she couldn't quite place it but she knew that she has felt it before, a long time ago. Naruto scratched the back of his head as he still felt uncomfortable with the mood, "… um, you know… after hearing your story, I don't think I hate you anymore… well, who could anyway… so um, what I mean to say is… um, l-let's be friends from now on… yeah?"

That was the moment when Tayuya, for as long as she could remembered, flushed red, making her face looking very cute the contrast between her pinky cheeks and red hair. As if on cue, a few seconds later the night sky was suddenly brightly lit by the colorful fire of fireworks. In the village a little bit down the hill where they were staying, a festival was apparently being held. Fireworks after fireworks were fired to the dark sky, shining the night with colorful patterns, from red to green to blue to yellow and more. Naruto and Tayuya who were surprised from the first firework had their eyes staring at it ever since. While Naruto took a chance to look at Tayuya from the corner of his eyes it was his turn to blush, seeing her relaxed and calm expression doubled by the fireworks' shining light bathing on her face just showed how pretty she was. During the split second he stole a glance, he felt his heart pound softly.

Minutes later, the fireworks were finished and the dark sky went silent and static once again, only leaving a few smokes around for a few seconds. Tayuya felt a little disappointed when it was over but smiled soon after, "… I'm glad I was able to see that… it's been a while since I last saw fireworks…"

"Eh, is that so?" Naruto asked but then wished he hadn't been so stupid since he just heard about her past, Tayuya however didn't seem to notice and just nodded once.

The air went silent again with the only noise coming from gusts of wind, blowing every now and then. Naruto wanted to bring the earlier topic back but he didn't know how to do it so that it'll look natural, Tayuya on the other hand felt a bit sleepy after watching the fireworks which eased her mind and relaxed her. Then without warning she slowly dozed off and finally fell asleep right there and then on the tree branch, if Naruto didn't move quickly, she'd surely fall backward but she didn't as Naruto managed to hold her shoulders just in time, even if he had to use his injured arm.

"Ow, ow, ow… dang it hurts… damn it you, don't go all unconc-… what the? She's sleeping?!" Naruto said as he endured the small pain on his arm. He looked closely at her sleeping face and didn't do anything else other than staring at her.

As Naruto removed a few hair locks from her face he thought, "… I guess you had it rough too, huh?"

Naruto stroked her hair once while clearing her face from anything that blocked it, "… like it or not, it seems that I've got to get to know you better after all… beside, how bad would it be anyway… right?"

After taking his time, Naruto decided to head back and get some sleep himself seeing how they were going to take an early leave next morning. After tucking Tayuya in her bed, Naruto head back to his room which he shared with Shikamaru and Yamato. Seeing how his teammates' beds were still empty, Naruto thought that they must still be guarding the daimyo's chamber. He remembered how Yamato told him that he should just rest while he, Shikamaru and Tayuya will be taking turns in guarding the daimyo's chamber at night. After thinking it through, Naruto decided to head over the daimyo's chamber to tell his team captain that he'll take Tayuya's turn but when he was about to head there he noticed a memo on the small table by the door.

"To Naruto,

It's alright, you don't have to get here and tell us that

You're going to take Tayuya's place to guard the daimyo,

We know already, so you just go rest.

P.S: what you did back then was good and all,

But don't you think you forgot to say one crucial thing?

Yamato"

Upon reading the memo, Naruto's expression suddenly turned sour, "… that damn sensei, he was eavesdropping all along… I'll kill him tomorrow…" he said grudgingly as he crumpled the memo, threw it onto the trash bin and went straight to bed.

The next morning until the last day of their mission which was in two days, Naruto had been trying to act friendlier toward Tayuya who was at first surprised but soon accepted his kindness and began to open up to him. Shikamaru was the most surprised but then just shrugged as it was already in his character to not have the least bit of care and concern of the world. During the last two days, Naruto and Tayuya became more amiable than they were before it even surprised Yamato. At that moment, he thought that he had two good news to report to Tsunade, one being the success of the mission and the other being how successful her attempt at bringing the two shinobi closer was.

Upon their return, the news spread like wildfire and nobody could conceal their utmost surprise at seeing how the one who was most hostile toward the newcomer became very close after just a week. After a few days, most began to give in as well and accepted her as a part of Konoha. From that day onward, Tayuya had really changed from her former self when she was still a Sound ninja. She started showing her more cheerful side even though she's still somehow likes to curse a lot and act like a tomboy, however despite her wild side, she would sometime show her feminine side as well.

Two years later they were both officially chuunin and were promising enough to be promoted as jonin if they keep up their mission record. They were also the only fully-active two-man team in Konoha, having Naruto breaking up with his former team 7 and worked with Tayuya instead. Even though they were given permission by Tsunade, they would also most of the time be accompanied by a jonin leader, making a three-man cell. Their jonin leader were also varied, sometime it would be Kakashi, Yamato, Anko, even sometime two of them would be appointed as well. Meanwhile, Sakura was working with Sai and Kakashi, forming team Kakashi. Both Naruto and Sakura still haven't forgotten about Sasuke and were still hot on his trail. Naruto still insisted that he'd keep his promise to Sakura even though he might not do it with her. Sakura herself somehow understood and agreed to let Naruto breaking off from team 7 and team Kakashi altogether as she walked on her own path.

During the time when Naruto and Tayuya didn't have any mission, they'd spend their days training at the training ground near the river or hanging around. When they feel like hanging around, they'd either go to Ichiraku or at the Dango shop, sometime they'd also meet Anko there and when they do, they'd hang around together. Tayuya saw Anko as a big sister seeing how she was practically the first person in Konoha to care for her, Naruto knew this and respected that although he and Anko would sometime fight over silly things but in the end settled it in peace.

One day, a little bit after noon, Tayuya and Naruto were both taking a nap under a big tree after they had a small sparring session. While she slept silently and lady-like, Naruto in the other hand slept messily with his drool escaping his wide-opened mouth. Beside them lay their forehead protectors, a black and orange colored jacket, an empty bottle and two used towels.

As the afternoon sun shined everything in its path, only under a tall tree did it not pass through but only a few small rays of light. Tayuya and Naruto wriggled in their sleep as the escaped sunrays managed to get through the thick layer of leafs blocking them to the sleeping faces down below. As the sunlight got into Tayuya and Naruto's closed eyes, they wiggled and tried to shake the source of disturbance. Instead of managing to stay asleep, they both didn't feel too sleepy anymore as they slowly opened their eyes from their short slumber.

Naruto and Tayuya yawned as they stretched their numb limbs, when they were stretching their arms; they touched accidentally, noticing each other and then stared at each other with sleepy eyes.

"Yo, sleepy head… had a good nap?" Naruto spoke first as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.

Tayuya just smirked as she replied casually, "hn, what about you, shit head?"

"Mm, could've been better had not the sun interrupted but it's quite okay…" Naruto replied as he smirked back and sat up.

Tayuya smiled cheekily as she too sat up Indian-style, "nn, yeah me too… but I had a rather unusual dream…"

"… An unusual dream?" Naruto asked feeling curious.

Tayuya nodded and then grinned as wide as she could, "yeah, somehow I dreamed of when I first came here until we became a two-man team"

Naruto was slightly taken aback, "wow, you did?"

"Yeah, weird huh?" she replied but Naruto just smiled, "mm, I'm not sure myself but I guess if you're grinning from ear to ear because of it, it must feel good, huh?"

Tayuya took a second to stomach what he said before grinning widely again, "Yeah!"

Not a second has passed yet but both of their stomachs grumbled, they stared at each other, grinned widely before Tayuya quickly ran away, "I call dango for lunch!"

Naruto was taken by surprise as he clumsily stood up and followed behind her, "oi, that's cheap! We already ate dango this morning! Hey, Tayuyaa!"

And then they left for lunch, leaving behind their training ground as well as their intertwined forehead protectors embedded with the Leaf insignia.

END