Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters do not belong to me, but I wish they did cos it would be smexy.
A/N: This is a true story. I did go through everything Naruto went through in this story, but no I did not meet my bastard. I met him much later. I just thought it would be fun to pen this memory down. I'm also sending an original version to a writing contest, but the fanfiction version seemed too good not to pen. So this will be the first part of my "Toddler Tales", a series of one shots, which may lead up to an actual multi-chapter one day.
The story is pretty short. Only 8 pages.
Summary: First in the toddler series. Six-year-old Naruto wants a second house like all the kids at his school. Never did he imagine meeting the bastard would bring him that and more. Chibific. Fluff. Nice Sasuke. One-shot. Complete.
Toddler Tales 1:
Meeting the Bastard
"Today I have to get off at Ojii-san's house." Said a smug little Ino to Iruka sensei.
Farther on the bus, tiny little fists clenched, wide blue baby eyes narrowed, tiny little mouth formed a pout and began to tremble a little. Five year old Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto was jealous. He moved his hands to grip his blue t-shirt and looked down, trying to fight the nauseous jealousy that threatened to overwhelm his little baby body. It was not fair.
Ever since Naruto had started attending kindergarten last year, he had realized that some of the kids had two houses. One that they lived in with their parents and another one where their grandparents lived. So every day, those children got to choose where they were going to get off after school. Poor Naru-baby wished he could get off somewhere else too, so he could show these smug little kids that he could have two houses too.
Sitting by the window, he watched resentfully as Ino got off the bus and headed to her second house. Unfortunately for Naruto, his Grandma Tsunade lived with him and his mom's parents lived in Whirlpool country, so there really was nowhere else he could boast of having a house. He sat more comfortably in his seat and began to think really hard about how he could get another house. It was something he now desperately wanted.
"Naruto-kun! This is your stop, come on!"
Naruto grabbed his little red fox backpack and dragged it behind him to the door. He merely nodded when Iruka sensei said goodbye, making the surprised teacher wonder what was wrong, when the normally cheery goodbye wasn't forthcoming.
A frown marring his cute face, Naruto continued to drag the bag, which bumped each time all the way to the door. Huffing he rang the doorbell and waited for his mother or grandmother to open it. The door swung open easily and arms came out to wrap around the little boy and pull him close. A soft face nuzzled him, hands ruffling his bright yellow hair.
"How was school, usagi?" The soft slightly husky voice belonged to his mother, Kushina. A very pretty woman, with long dark red hair held up on one side with a clip and soft but playful dark grey eyes.
Naruto fought the immediate impulse to snuggle into his mother's arms, remembering that he was mad and in the middle of making sure everyone understood it. Though he hoped his mom would realize only after she cuddled him some more. She did a little more until she realized her son hadn't answered her yet. She picked him up and bounced him on her a hip a little trying to coax a smile out of him. But Naruto continued to frown. Sighing, she smoothed back his hair, took him to the kitchen and set him down on a stool by the counter.
"Usagi-chan, what's wrong?"
Naruto wondered whether to tell her or continue with his little attention seeking silence. He hoped is he could drag this out; his mother would get him a new house when he asked for it. He didn't look up at his mom, opting to stare at the counter, a cloak of sadness and frustration encircling him. Finally she leaned on the counter, close to him. "Naruto, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't make ramen to make you feel better…"
That decided it for him. He was already sad, but if dragging it out was going to make him loose his ramen, it would be a catastrophe. He shifted a bit and then looked at his mom. "Kaasan, I want another house…"
His mother blinked, a small frown appearing on her brow as she tried to figure out where this sudden request was coming from. "Why would you want that, Usagi?"
Naruto pouted. "Well, you see…Ino, Sai, Hinata, Shino and Sakura all have two houses. Every day they get to choose between which house they get off at. The whole class thinks they're soo cool. I wanna be cool! I wanna get off at another house too!"
Kushina's mouth twitched, but she kept her face straight. She felt sorry for the children he was talking about, usually that only happened when the children had parents who didn't have the time to take care of them or welcome them home. She wondered how to explain this. "Usagi-chan, those children only have two houses, because their mommies and daddies can't stay home with them, so they have to go to another house instead. But you have Obaasan, Otousan and me all in the same house. Do you want us to leave you all alone?"
Naruto scrunched up his brow as he pondered it for a while. Then his brow cleared. "No, I want you all with me, but do you think we could get another house, just so I can meet Tsunade Baachan thewe after school? Pwease Kaa-chan, pwease!"
Kushina's lips twitched, but she kept her expression firm. "I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. But no second house for us..."
Naruto frowned. He hated not getting what he wanted and he was a little spoilt. He had planned this confrontation with his mother on this matter for the whole day. His daydreams, as children's daydreams were wont to do, had always ended with him emerging victorious and exiting the bus to his new second home tomorrow. So it was no surprise when the anger got the better of him and he loudly voiced the question on his mind. "Why can't Baa-chan stay somewhere else? Why can't she live in her own house like the other Baa-chan's?"
Kushina shushed him, now a genuine frown gracing her features. "Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, stop that at once. This is Tsunade Baa-chan's house and she can live here if she wants to." She picked the boy up and went upstairs to his room. Then she pointed to the far left corner where a chair faced the walls. "Now I want you to sit on the punishment chair and think about what you've said. You're behaving very selfishly."
The small child wobbled over to the chair, silent and angry tears coursing down his face which bore a mutinous expression. Literally dumping his tiny bottom onto the chair, he stared at his orange walls in abject misery.
Why couldn't Baa-chan be helpful and get another house so Naruto could also join that awesome group of children who had a second house? His Kaa-san usually understood him and gave him anything he wanted, this time she was being very stubborn. Well, maybe Otou-san would understand.
The little chibi watched the wall, immersed in his dreams of an understanding father who would give him a second house and all the other kids would look at him in awe.
When Naruto opened his eyes, he was in bed with his fox plushie cuddled close to him. He could hear voices downstairs and his father's rich chuckle floated up to his ears. Then he heard footsteps and gave a little wriggle of excitement.
Now that his father was home he would put forth his plea and he was sure that Minato would champion his cause with Kushina.
The door opened and a tray with the big bowl entered followed by his father's big blond form. Naruto looked like a replica of Minato, only with shorter blond spikes. The older man gave him a soft smile and sat down on his bed, revealing the contents of the bowl.
"Ramen!" squealed baby Naruto, more excitement surfacing on the sweet baby face. Thoughts a second house forgotten for the moment, Naruto concentrated on allowing Minato to feed him the noodle broth, eating each bite with relish. It was only after the whole contents of the bowl had been downed, the tray put away and his father had settled on his bed with the little chibi on his lap, that the question of a second home resurfaced.
After telling Minato all about his day, Naruto finally broached the subject. He narrated his woeful tale of the lack of a second home to make people like him. It took Minato a lot of effort to keep a straight face and finally when the story was spilled, he gave his grave-faced child a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry, kit. But I think your Kaasan is right. We really can't have a second home, Naru, we don't need one."
Seeing the beginnings of a tantrum on the formerly angelic face, Minato scrabbled for ammunition. "Hero!"
When Naruto stared up at him, Minato, glad that he'd caught his attention, continued. "You know Naru-chan...There are many little children who don't even have one home. If I give you a second home, then another kid will have no home at all. Don't you want other kids to have homes?"
Naruto pondered on this with his five-year-old brain. Frankly the whole thing sounded suspicious, but when his father went on to say that he should be a 'Hero', Naruto found himself agreeing. He really did want to be a 'Hewo' like Pakkun the Ninja Dog, who fought off bad animals to help people.
Tantrum averted, Naruto was bundled into bed feeling a little better. All would be well...
All was not well.
The little blonde pony-tailed girl walked up to Naruto who was sitting in the sand-box. She knew very well that the little boy was jealous of her grandpa's home.
"Hey there, one-house boy!" a childish superior look graced Ino's face.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. "I'm a hewo! I don't take houses away from other kids who have none!"
Ino digested this for a moment. She disliked Naruto being a hero. Then she remembered the big house her parents had taken her to on her birthday, where lots of daddy and mommy-less children lived. She grinned triumphantly. "I'm a hewo too! I'm gonna let all those little kids live in my second house! My parents won't get mad at me cos I have two houses!"
Naruto's happiness at being a 'hewo' vanished. Bright blue eyes looked sadly up at the little girl. He turned away and continued to dig, pondering on how to get his second home, when an idea struck. Jiraiya! His Baachan's friend Jiraiya-Ojiisan's house was close to the school. Naruto had seen the bus pass the house all the time. He suddenly grinned at Ino blindingly.
"I have a second house too!"
The little girl was taken aback. She glared at him. "Do not!"
"Do to!" Baby Naruto bristled at being called a liar. "I'll show you when I get off thewe today!"
That evening, Iruka-sensei was not on the bus. Mizuki-sensei was, but Mizuki-sensei really didn't care where the children went as long as they got off the bus quickly. When they began nearing the neighbourhood, Naruto waddled up to the teacher, cheeriness brimming from every pore. "Sensei, I'm getting off at my Jiraiya-Ojiisan's house today. It's wight over thewe!"
Mizuki-sensei frowned. He hadn't been informed about this. Upon on questioning, the blond child replied that it was just for today. He also remembered the big shaggy white haired man coming to pick Naruto up sometimes. So he nodded and let the boy off at the house.
A joyous Naruto stuck his tongue out at the disappointed faces of Ino and Sai, before bounding down. The bus left as soon as he got off...Mizuki-sensei really detested drop-off duty.
Naruto waddled up to the door and strained on tip-toe to get his chubby little fingers to reach the doorbell. To no avail. He banged on the door but no one opened it. He even yelled for his Ojiisan, but he got no response.
He stared at the doorbell and then saw a flowerpot by the door. After a lot of hard work he managed to pull it up to the door and clambered on it. He rang the doorbell, but still there was no response. The awful fear that Ojiisan wasn't home snuck its tendrils into him. He hopped down from the flowerpot after a few more tries, by then sure that no one was home. He looked around, thinking of what he should do next.
He saw a pretty lady walking by and ran up to her as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. "Miss! Miss!"
The girl turned to look at him a little disdainfully as he clutched her skirt. "What?"
"I'm lost...pwease help me go home!" Naruto's blue eyes filled with pleading. He knew there were two big roads to cross on his way home.
The girl shook his hand off. "Sorry kid, I'm in a hurry."
Watching her walk away, Naruto got his first taste of the real world, where not everyone was nice and kind like his family or his teachers. He looked at the long road leading to his house and determinedly began to walk. But slowly things started to get unfamiliar. Naruto didn't recognise that store or those houses. He had absolutely no idea where to go.
It was right about now that Naruto got really frightened. Terror gripped his tiny little heart and he felt headed towards a swing in the park next to him. Tears coursed down his face as he sat on the toddler swing. After the first few silent tears, he began small hiccupping sobs which turned into pitiful wails. He might never see his parents again! His wails took on a higher note and soon it was an all out cry-fest with a sole participant.
Naruto would never remember how long he cried when he grew up, but it seemed to be forever. Fortunately in child-time, forever only means about five minutes or so and he heard footsteps.
Then he saw feet on the ground in front of him and another baby voice spoke. "Why are you cwying?"
Naruto looked up to see the prettiest little boy he had ever seen. He had the eyes a colour deeper than Naruto's black crayon, blue-black hair and pale, creamy skin. It was all topped off with a pair of pale pink lips, which downturned with concern at the moment. Naruto forgot to answer the boy in the midst of his sniffling observations. The boy sat down on the other swing.
"I said, why are you cwying, dobe?"
Naruto blinked at him before anger welled up on his little chest. "I'm not a dobe!"
The boy's foot scuffed the ground and his tiny face morphed into a smirk. "You still haven't answered my question, dobe."
Naruto shot off the swing and punched the boy, which resulted in them both rolling around and scuffling in clouds of dust. They finally finished, neither sure of the victor, but both convinced that it had been a jolly good scuffle and Naruto wasn't crying anymore.
"I'm lost!"
Then understanding dawned on the other boy's face. "Hn...that's why you were cwying? How did you get lost?"
Naruto once more related the miserable tale, exaggerating a lot more, now that he had a sympathetic listener.
At the end of the story, the boy frowned. "I don't want a second house. I have too many houses."
Naruto gazed at him in awe. "How many do you have?"
"Thwee."
Naruto breathed in sharply, jealousy welling up in him. Then he remembered he didn't know the little boy's name. "What's your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"I'm Namikaze-Uzumaki Nawuto and I promise when I'm growed up, I'll have more houses than you!"
"No need. I wish I could give you all my houses..."
Naruto stopped at that and stared at Sasuke. Then he smiled. "Will you be my best fwiend Sasuke?"
The little raven thought about it for a while and then nodded. "Okay!"
"We'll shawe everything!"
The boy frowned and he kicked at the ground. "I'm not shawing Itachi!"
"Whose Itachi?" Blue eyes widened curiously.
"My bwother. If you meet him you'll wanna shawe him! Come on, let's go meet Itachi! He'll help you!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's little hand and dragged him along.
They crossed the road and went through the gate of the property opposite. The path led to a really large house, with sprawling gardens. In the garden in front of the house, an older dark haired boy who resembled Sasuke lounged in a lawn chair with a book. He looked really cool. Tall and pretty like Sasuke, but Naruto thought Sasuke was soooo much prettier.
Sasuke led the captive blond right up to the boy and presented him with a flourish. "Aniki... Nawuto's lost."
Itachi looked at the little blond with curiosity, this was the first kid that Sasuke had brought home with him…he was also the first kid Sasuke had helped. Itachi smirked. He could see why. The little blue-eyed tyke was very beautiful, even with a bit of snot drying under his nose and dirt smeared over his cheek. Itachi used a tissue lying close by to wipe the two kids clean, before he escorted them inside.
He introduced "Nawuto" to his mother, Mikoto, who picked the little boy up and coaxed his story out of him, with little interjection by Sasuke who wanted to tell the story to his mother too.
Naruto decided he liked all the Uchihas. They were all pretty and sweet. He told Sasuke's Kaasan the whole story and about the girl who wouldn't help him.
Mikoto clicked her tongue, muttering about teens these days before she gave Naruto a blinding smile. "I'll call you Kaasan right away, okay? Be good kids and play quietly for some time."
Within minutes, Kushina had been contacted and Naruto had been bundled onto a dining chair at the kitchen, while Sasuke's mom made them peanut butter sandwiches.
Naruto loved Sasuke's mom. She was really nice, but Sasuke had told him she worked a lot, which is why he and Itachi had to keep staying in different houses all the time.
Naruto gazed at the two brothers in awe. "I wish I had a second house..."
The doorbell rang and soon a worried Kushina was escorted inside. She swooped down on Naruto and grabbed him in a hug. After cuddling her silly little baby, she drew back with a frown.
"This is an awful trick to pull Naruto! You and I will be having a really long talking when we get home!" She glared at him a little, before turning to Mikoto with a large smile. "Thank you so much for finding and feeding him. I was so worried!"
Mikoto grinned. "You should thank Sasuke. He went over when he saw Sunshine crying."
Kushina turned to the little raven and knelt down. "Thank you for saving my son, Sasuke-kun. You're my hero!" She gave him a tight hug, her storm-grey eyes brimming with gratitude.
Sasuke blushed prettily and made up his mind that he would always protect his new best friend to make this pretty red haired woman happy. He stammered a welcome. Then in an undertone, he asked Naruto if they could share each other's family, since Naruto's mom was so nice. Naruto agreed overjoyed, because he'd been thinking the same thing.
As the adults talked, both children seemed to realise that Naruto's mom would take him home soon. Itachi noticed their dampening spirits and took his little brother aside, to have a whispered conversation, which resulted in Sasuke's face acquiring a happy glow.
Then he waddled up to Kushina and tugged at her skirt. When she turned to him, he piped up excitedly. "Nawuto's Mom? I have an idea. Nawuto and me decided to share our families. So why can't my house be Naruto's second home? Sometimes he can come with me to whichever home I go to after school!"
Naruto's eyes also lit up happily and he began to bounce excitedly begging his mother to say yes. "Pwease pwease!"
Kushina and Mikoto looked at each other and sighed. The red haired woman gave Mikoto a wry smile. "Would you mind?"
Mikoto shook her head. "I think it's the start of budding friendship. But would you mind Sasuke being over sometimes too?"
Kushina shrugged. "Well, the kids seem to have decided."
The two boys crowed in delight and pranced around Itachi before dragging him off to play.
Many tiny fists clenched on the bus, as Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto announced that he was going to his fourth home with Uchiha Sasuke…the most popular boy in the school. It had caused many tantrums in various houses, but Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones with four houses.
They got off the bus and smiled at each other.
"Race you, dobe!" and the little raven was off. The little blond followed with shouts of "Wait up, teme".
All was well….neither of them knew what the future held, but Naruto had met the bastard and his life would never be the same!
A/N: Done. No worries, next chapter of Gray Areas is also almost finished. This is all true, expect that my story ended with a man helping home.
Love
Taka
Review please!