Kushina spun round happily holding her new-born son safely in her arms. The child giggled and threw his hands above his head where bright yellow tufts of hair poked out from underneath the blankets. Minato smiled as he watched his wife and son dance around on the roof tops. There wasn't a lot to smile about at the moment, but somehow the red head always managed to spread them around.
"Come on Kushina the photographer is here," Minato motioned his wife and 2 day old son over to the best spot in front of the Hokage monument, embracing her when she got there.
"Okay, and smile!" the photographer instructed.
CLICK.
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"Here, did you here about the old house that Taru found in the woods the other day,"
"Yeah, apparently there was some freaky stuff going on when he was there…"
"Hey guys!" The group of boys looked up to see the blonde wonder idiot standing over their desk, grinning like the moron they all saw in him.
"Oh, hey Naruto." Juba greeted flatly.
"So, what were you guys just talking about?" he asked hopefully. And let me be a part of it…
"Taru found this old abandoned place in the forest. Looks like no one's lived there for years he said." Another boy chanted in.
"Hey! We should go and check it out tonight!" Naruto exclaimed, excited that he was being included. He was grinning so much that he didn't notice the evil smile Kiba started forming on his lips.
"Yeah, okay, met us there at ten, just follow the path on the south side of the woods that comes out next to the big oak tree and the sushi restaurant." Kiba said still evilly grinning, unnoticed by the blonde.
"Okay, awesome!" Naruto agreed happily, before disbanding with the rest of the boys as Iruka started class.
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The moon shone brightly over the heads of the group of boys gathered with lanterns around the spooky old house in the forest. When Taru had come alone, there had been a lot of cloud cover, but know with the clear skies and lights a small pond was visible out the back of the cottage and one could clearly see the grass that had grown over the borders of the garden and the ivy that was creeping up the wooden walls and around the windows. It was silently comforting to be able to see what was around them, but the surroundings made the house look eerie in the weird light.
"Here guys!" Naruto called in a hushed voice. Kiba, Taru and the others jumped, but settled for glaring after they saw the blonde, grinning goofily. "Did I scare ya?"
"No! And there's no need to be so quiet, no one else is out here!" Kiba harshly whispered back.
"Then why are you still so quiet and jumped even though no one else is here." Naruto said through a smirk, still in a low voice. Kiba glared harder.
"Just come on!" Kiba growled at semi-normal volume as he turned around and headed towards the door. He tried to pull it open, only to find out that it was locked, unusually, with a slightly oversized padlock. The dog boy scratched it a few times with a claw like finger nail before disgruntledly* pulling out a kunai and stabbing the dead centre. He shook it a bit before slashing it again. This time the lock gave way and fell in 2 rusty pieces onto the deck they stood. The Inuzuka turned around.
"Alright, who's going in first?" he asked grinning deviously. His canine like senses allowed him to smell fear, and these guys reeked of it, but the one who stank the most was… "Naruto, how about you? Seeing how eager you were to come along," Kiba 'innocently' suggested, smirking when Naruto started to sweat.
"I, uh, I…" Naruto stuttered out. Oh man, this place looks haunted! I hate ghosts, I hate ghosts, I hate ghosts!
"Y-yeah Naruto, you go first!" Taru pushed the shaking blonde forward, taking three steps back himself.
"Y-yeah! Naruto sounds good!" another boy with black hair agreed hastily. They all wanted out now.
"Yeah, come on Naruto, unless you're too chicken!" Kiba taunted the all ready petrified boy.
"H-hey! I'm not chicken!" Naruto stepped up to his full height in front of his tormenter (leaving him still about 5 centimetres to short.) "And all prove it to all you chickens!" he exclaimed snatching another boy's lantern (having forgotten his own) and marching into the darkness of the house, slipping his shoes off at the door as he went. But as soon as he stepped foot in that house all his newly found courage left in a snap. Gulping, he slowly ventured further, chanting to the ghosts in his head.
Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me…
As he disappeared into the darkness, the others watching, all of their tiny amounts of courage that kept them there depleted also.
"Uh, my mum's gunna freak if I'm not in bed when she checks, I-I should go back now." Taru stuttered, slowly stepping backwards.
"Y-yeah, I've got to be up early tomorrow, I-I should go too," another stepped back a few steps before running off into the darkness, Taru and the others following in suit. Kiba chuckled as he watched them run, slowly walking after them.
"Guy's?" Naruto turned around in the shadows of the dimly lit house searching for the others. He gulped, seeing no one, before clenching his fists. S-screw those guys, I-I'll show them, I-I'll go in on my own, y-yeah, and I'll bring something back, th-then they'll have to respect me, those big chickens! He strode through the darkness and around towards the stairs leading up to the second story. There'll be something interesting up there that'll do for proof.
The stairs creaked as he walked carefully up them, his heart pumping, not knowing how old those stairs were…
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"No, please don't go!" Tears flowed freely down the red heads cheeks as she dashed down the stairs and into her lover's chest.
"Kushina, please don't make this harder you know I have to." The Yondaime Hokage pleaded in a voice which sounded strained to not crack as he embraced his wife, possibly for the last time.
"But I love you…"
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Inching down the mysterious corridor as to not knock into anything, Naruto's ears strained to hear any other movement or life that may be hidden behind the surrounding closed doors as he thought about who could have lived here.
A ninja? Or a family? Or maybe no one lived here; it looks run down enough for that to be true… He gulped. But if I want to find out, I need to go into one of these rooms, it's not like there's going to be any evidence in a hallway.
Slowly, he placed his hand on the first door he found, and gulping again and squeezing his eyes shut, he quickly threw it open. Flinching at the bang the handle made colliding with the wall as it slid to the side, he dared to sneak a look at the room he had entered.
It was a large room, and the light flittering in through the window made it obvious that it was a bedroom. The room was simple, with a mahogany floor and a large double bed with nearly plain white sheets, only a small border of red about half a metre wide at the foot of the bed making it differs. An oak bedside table was only each side, both sporting a lamp but on one lay an old leaf headband and the other a dusty, framed picture with a golden plaque on the bottom edge.
Naruto slowly tip toed over to the opposite side of the bed where the picture stood, and sitting down on the edge of the bed, he carefully picked it up and wiped away the dust off the glass and engraving below before reading it…
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Iruka walked down the old forest path, still slightly damp with dew, feet crunching over the twigs that littered it. If those boys had been there…
Reaching a break in the trees where the path had led, the chuunin's fists clenched instinctively as he saw the door to the house wide open, broken padlock on the ground and a pair of shoes still on the deck. Those damn kids don't have any respect…
Stomping in, the normally mild mannered teacher called out "Oi! If I find any of you bratty kids in here, you're going to be in deep trouble! Come on out!" before continuing to search the ground floor of the house for any trouble makers. Finding no one, he yelled up the stairs "I know you're up there!" before continuing his mad stomp to the second story. He fished through 3 rooms, careful not to mess any of the furniture or belongs up, until he opened the door to the master bed room, quickly but gently. He growled at the ball of orange still asleep on the bed. "Naruto…"
He shook the boy slightly, only causing him to shift in his slumber, before he started shaking him more harshly. "Naruto…" The movement and dangerous rumble of his sensei's voice still did not wake the blonde, but caused him to roll over onto his back, surprising Iruka with his image.
He held one arm tightly across his chest and around the photograph of the family in front of the Hokage monument, and firmly grasped in his other hand was the slightly faded old Konoha hitai-ate. Naruto had a small smile in his sleep that contrasted the faded tear streaks left from the night before. His grip unconsciously tightened around the old photo, just as Iruka saw it and smiled down at the blonde. He ran his hand gently over the dreaming boy's hair, not tough enough to break his slumber just yet, after all, Naruto had always wanted family, and he had just found his…
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"I love you too…"
*Yeah I know that "disgruntledly" isn't a word.
Yes, yet another one of my stories written whilst I'm supposed to be doing something else, in this case, my other fanfic and stuff for Guides! Oh well, I felt motivated. I didn't do half then leave it for 3 months before finally finishing it like I did with my other one shot! ^_^
OMG! IT'S NOT A CROSS OVER! *faints*
This fic was powered by "Lullaby for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng and CHEDDAR CRACKERS!
P.S. I bet this would look great as a doujin, *hint!* *hint!*… Yeah I know it's not working.