I don't own the Naru-verse. I never did. You know this.
Posted un-beta'd, because it's late and I'm sleepy. I survive by consuming reveiws. >>...-cp
------------------------------
Naruto took in strays. It didn't much matter what kind to him, as long as he had room he took them. And he always had room for one more. It had started, he suposed, when someone had taken him in, he had been a stray once too, after all. The man was one (last name) Iruka, an agent who, even though he was nearly as down on his luck as Naruto, still managed to scrounge up the change to buy cheese-burgers for the two of them.
Naruto had been little more than a scraggly pup then, half wild on his own, with almost nothing but a skate board, the clothes on his back, and his dreams. Naruto had wanted to be a writer, but sadly he lacked the talent. What he got, however, was acting. Iruka had looked him over as he devoured his burgers, and then with permision Iruka's as well. The boy was cute, under that layer of grime, and he deffinetly had charisma, he had talked him out of a pair of purfectly good cheese burgers, after all. But did he have what it takes? Only one way to find out.
"You ever think about acting?" Iruka said as Naruto was shoving the lasts of the food into his mouth. Naruto blinked big blue eyes up at him and humm?ed while wiping crumbs of his cheeks. Iruka's stomach dropped. 'Damn the boy's adorable', Iruka thought, 'too bad he's half my age. Oh yeah, and I'm not single.' Iruka sighed and repeated the question, Naruto smiled a big, cheezy grin, a sight to melt the heart of any girl who ever liked the nice guy, and said simply "Nope!"
With a wave and a thanks for the burgers Naruto was on his way. "Wait!" Iruka cried as he ran after the boy speeding down the hill. Naruto turned to see what was going on and lost his balance. Iruka felt as if time had stopped as he watched the board fly out from under the Naruto's feet and the wide eyed boy tumbled head over heels the rest of the way down the steep hill.
Iruka would never forget the wide blue eyes that burned into his as he reached the boy's side, or how warm the pavement was under his kness when he colapsed. What he would embelish, however was the amount of blood coming from the wound where part of Naruto's fore arm and breached the surface, for, though it was surprisingly little, Iruka would claim to be covered in the boy's blood before the incident was over.
Surprisingly Naruto had risen on his own, covered his broken arm with one hand, spun in a circle a couple of times, and revealed a whole apendage to his founder with a wink, a cheezy grin and a "ta-daa!" Iruka could not have been more shocked if he had sprouted another limb and done the macharena. The boy started off before Iruka came to his senses. Shaking it off he ran after the boy, crying "Wait!" yet again.Panting he caught up to him. Naruto blinked at him. "He..." Iruka gasped "Here." He held out a buisness card with the address of his apartment on it, which also doubled as his office until buissness picked back up. "I know," he paused for breath, "I know you're not interested in acting, but if you come by," another pause, "If you come by I can promise you a good meal and a shower. Maybe even a job." Naruto looked at the rectangle of white in his hand, then at Iruka, then back at the card. "Yea..." he started uncertainly, then more cheerfully, "Yea! Alright!" The boy smiled that trade mark grin of his, "I'll see you tommorow then!" He called as he skated off, "See ya later, sensei!" Iruka blinked, Tomorrow? Wait... Sensei? Tonight was just full of surprises.
The rest was, as they say, history. Naruto had shown up the next day, and every day after that, like clock-work. He cleaned up even nicer than even Iruka had suspected he would. His cerulean eyes were soulful, his blone mop positively tousleable, and his smile? The stuff directors dream of. Naruto's impromptu nickname for him, Sensei, had not only stuck but had also been transfered to his partner as well. Kakashi found the whole thing very amusing, Iruka was less than pleased. When Iruka had finaly managed to talk Naruto into attempting acting he had only just gotten ahold of three roles the boy would be perfect for. The first two had bombed. Naruto laughed it off, but Iruka was geuinely disapointed. The last was the one he had held the least hope for, the leading role in an upcoming blockbuster movie, he knew Naruto never stood a chance, but his personality was so perfect for the part that Iruka had decided to risk it anyways. Naruto had blown them away, and his debeau into the acting world was a sky-rocket to fame.
Years latter found Naruto rich, famous, and in a place of his own. His house was big, and it was suposed to be haunted. He bought it because he liked the land it was on, but the place seemed so empty. That had changed when a little girl had shown up on his doorstep with an abandoned kitten. Naruto had refused at first, but ten minutes later found him chaseing the child down the street with tears in his eyes as he thought of that poor little kitty alone in the world and was plagued by guilt for having turned it away. He nursed the kitten back to health, found it a good home, and felt wonderful about himself for about three days before he realized how much emptier the house seemed without the pitter pat of padded paws down the halls.
His first order of buisness was to build a giant fence and kennel in the back yard and buy out every animal in danger of euthenasia in the area. His favorites were a dog named Alice, a red and white akita mix, and a puppy named Domino with miss-matched eyes and fur that had both the color and texture of dark, soft, straw. Of all the strays he had taken in, they were the ones he had decided were there to stay. Others came and went, but Alice and Domino were his girls. It didn't matter what kind of animal it was, he'd take in anything so long as he had room. So when he looked out his window one morning to see a girl with ebon-blue hair in filthy, torn clothes, stumbling weakly down the road, he never thought twice about bringing her in. After all, he always had room for one more.
-------
