A/N: This idea just popped out of nowhere. Well, not really. It's just something I've been thinking about. Whatever, I won't spoil much here so - read and enjoy!
ONESHOT. Taking place in the good ol' days before the Chuunin Exam.
Okaa-san mother
Ojii-san old man
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto (WELL DUH!!)
THAT ONE HOLIDAY
Naruto knocked the door eagerly.
"Sakura-chan! Open up!"
The door flung open and the object of his affections stuck her head out.
"Oh, it's you," she said, clearly disappointed. "What're you doing here? Is Sasuke-kun with you?" She looked around hopefully.
"Hi, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, ignoring the reference to Sasuke. "I'm here so that we can walk to the bridge together!"
"I'm not going," said Sakura.
"But I'm already here!" protested Naruto, who had expected this sort of response. "We might as well walk there together, right?"
"I mean that I'm not going to TRAIN today," said Sakura exasperatedly.
"What? Why?" Naruto was surprised. "Are you sick?"
"Do I look sick to you?" said Sakura, offended.
Just then Naruto heard a woman's voice from inside the house.
"All right, I'm ready, sweetie! How about you?"
"I'm ready too!" Sakura replied over her shoulder.
"For what?" asked Naruto, craning his neck, trying to get a peek at who Sakura was talking to.
He didn't have to. The woman in question soon appeared at the doorway.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto blankly.
"Naruto!" said Sakura. "This is my mother you're talking to!"
"Oh?" said the lady, Sakura's mom. "Who's this?"
"It doesn't matter," said Sakura dismissively. "Come on, let's go! The sooner we get there, the more stuff we can buy!"
"Get WHERE?" asked Naruto, feeling very much confused.
"The mall," said Sakura. "It's Mother's Day."
Naruto blinked.
"My Sakura's so wonderful," the woman beamed, patting Sakura's pink hair. "She decided to take a day off today just so we can go shopping together! Isn't that sweet?"
"Well, it IS Mother's Day, okaa-san," said Sakura sweetly. "Now LET'S GO!!"
The woman laughed. "Alright, just let me get my purse."
She disappeared. Sakura turned back to face Naruto. "How'd you know where I live anyway – "
She paused.
"Hey, where did he go?"
--
Naruto walked down the street, kicking at pebbles. So today was Mother's Day. He should have seen that one coming.
It was the one holiday that he never liked. The reason was pretty obvious.
He didn't have a mother.
He even preferred Father's Day to this day. Father's Day was actually quite fun. Like last year, when there was one of those father-son contests held in the park. Naruto didn't have a dad, but Iruka-sensei offered to go with him. They didn't win the pie contest (Chouji and his dad did, to no one's surprise) but they still had a lot of laughs gobbling up pie. After that Iruka took Naruto to the amusement park, where Iruka soon vomited on the ferris wheel because he had too much pie. He claimed he could never look at blueberry pie the same way again.
But on Mother's Day… No matter HOW nice Iruka-sensei was, there's no way he would ever wear a dress and pretend to be Naruto's mother. There's just no way.
Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets glumly. Twelve years and twelve Mother's Days, and yet he still felt down whenever the day came.
Suddenly he heard a loud wail.
"Mommy, it hurts!" cried a little boy somewhere down the street. Naruto saw that he had a scraped knee.
A woman quickly rushed over.
"It's ok, honey," she cooed. Naruto turned away at once.
His eyes landed on a bakery window. Displayed were all sorts of delicious-looking cakes ad pastries. A giant poster read:
SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY SALE! FREE CUPCAKES WITH EVERY THREE PURCHASES!
Naruto turned away again, only to see a lady pushing a baby stroller on the other side of the street.
"WHAT THE HECK!" yelled Naruto in frustration.
Ignoring other people's stares, he decided to go to the only place that could possibly cheer him up: Ichiraku!
If Sakura could ditch training for shopping, then Naruto felt perfectly justified to ditch training for ramen.
--
Ah, Ichiraku! Naruto breathed in the familiar scent of ramen wafting from the stand. Home sweet home. Naruto sat down on one of the stools and immediately Teuchi appeared from behind the curtains.
"Ohayo, Naruto!" the owner of the ramen stand greeted him cheerfully. "The usual?"
Naruto nodded.
Teuchi raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Bad day, huh?" asked Teuchi, wiping the counters. "Don't worry, you'll feel better with some ramen!"
"I hope so," said Naruto. He watched Teuchi work. "Ojii-san… what does having a mother feel like?"
Teuchi stopped wiping. "Having a mother?"
"Uh-huh," said Naruto. "I want to know."
"Well," said Teuchi, gazing into space. "Having a mother is… is like having a bowl of hot chicken soup made especially for you when you're sick. Having a sweater knit for you when you get cold. Having someone who strokes your hair sometimes… and tuck you in at night."
"Wow," said Naruto softly.
"'Course," said Teuchi. "Having a mother can mean a pain in the neck a lot of the times too."
"I still think I'd rather have a mother," Naruto told Teuchi.
"Oh, but you do," said Teuchi. "We all do."
"I don't think so," said Naruto doubtfully. "Mine's dead. I don't even remember her."
"Wrong," said Teuchi, shaking his head.
"It's true!" said Naruto.
"No, no," said Teuchi. "Your mother's not dead, and it's ok if you don't remember her. Because, you see - she lives on in you."
"In me?" asked Naruto.
"Yes," said Teuchi, pointing at him with the rag. "In you."
Naruto thought about this.
"But… how?" he asked.
Teuchi took a seat beside Naruto and examined his face carefully.
"Yes, yes," he said, nodding. "I see her."
"See who?" asked Naruto.
"Your mother," said Teuchi. "She is in your eyes… in your voice. In your laughter. Even in the way you walk. It's all there. Her spirit. She never left you. You just never realized it."
"Do you see what she looks like?" asked Naruto.
"Hmm…" Teuchi stroked his chin. "She has bright red hair and large, animated eyes. She smiles and laughs with excitement. She wears orange. When she talks she gestures with her hands. She… she loves to eat ramen."
"She DOES?" said Naruto, eyes wide as saucers. "Then she really is my mother!"
"Told you so," smiled Teuchi. "She lives on in you."
Naruto let all this sink in. "Then… I do have a mother!" he declared.
"Indeed you do," said Teuchi.
"I have a mother! I have a mother!" cheered Naruto, jumping out of his chair.
"Feeling better now?" asked Teuchi.
"Yeah, tons!" said Naruto. "And I haven't even had my ramen yet!"
"Oh, that's right!" said Teuchi with a start. "About that…"
"Nah, forget about it," laughed Naruto. "I'm late for training anyways! Bye, old man!"
He flashed his trademark grin and ran outside.
--
Strangely, he wasn't late to training at all. He was the first one there!
"Where IS everyone?" he asked the air.
"That's what I was wondering," it answered.
Naruto jumped and glanced behind him. "KAKASHI-SENSEI!"
"Yup, that's me," said Kakashi, head stuck in his Icha Icha book.
"Come on, what are you doing?" said Naruto. "Let's train!"
Kakashi sighed and put down his book. "Naruto, there will be no training today."
"NO TRAINING!?" exclaimed Naruto, shocked. "How come?"
"It's Mother's Day," said Kakashi simply.
"WHAT? But we trained on CHRISTMAS! And HALLOWEEN!"
"Yes, but that's when my students actually showed up," explained Kakashi, returning to his book. "Today, however, Sakura's not here because she went shopping with her mother. And… well, Sasuke's not here because he's moping in his mansion somewhere."
"I'M here!" said Naruto, excited. "You can train me, one-on-one!"
"Uh…" said Kakashi. "No thanks."
"Awww, why?" whined Naruto.
"It's not you, Naruto, it's me," said Kakashi absently, turning a page. "Listen, why don't you just go and enjoy your day off today? I think we'll both like that."
With that, POOF! He was gone.
Naruto scratched his head. Enjoy his day off… Well, Naruto could think of no better way to enjoy his day off than to have a bloody spar with – who else? - his archnemesis, Sasuke-teme!
Remembering what Kakashi-sensei had said, Naruto ran off to find the Uchiha Villa.
--
It wasn't very hard to find the place. The Uchiha fans plastered everywhere were a dead giveaway. Ha, no pun intended.
Naruto knocked on the door of Sasuke's mansion and waited.
"COME ON, TEME! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" he yelled, pounding the door repeatedly.
The door flew open and Sasuke appeared, with dark circles under his eyes and a scowl on his face.
"TEME!" yelled Naruto dramatically. "I challenge you to a spar!"
"Go home, dobe," Sasuke said. And slammed the door shut.
Naruto pounded the door again.
"WHAT?" snapped Sasuke, reappearing.
"Why don't you wanna spar?" asked Naruto. "You don't seem like you have anything better to do. Unless you're scaaaared."
Sasuke just shook his head at Naruto's moron-ness. "One: I wouldn't want to spar with YOU if you were the last person on Earth. And two: I just don't feel like doing anything today, ok?"
Saying this, Sasuke slammed the doors shut. Again.
"Just because it's Mother's Day?" yelled Naruto.
Sasuke opened the doors and gave Naruto the evil eye. "Go. Home."
Naruto stuck his arm against the door just before Sasuke could slam it shut again.
"Look, I used to hate Mother's Day too," Naruto said. "But now I don't anymore! You want to know why?"
"No," said Sasuke, trying to close the door.
"My mother lives on in me, that's why!" continued Naruto. "It's the same for everybody. It doesn't matter WHERE your mother is, a part of her has always been with you, and will always be with you. In your eyes, in your heart. In… YOU!!"
Sasuke just stared.
"Naruto," he sighed. "You are truly the stupidest person – no, thing – I have ever met in my life."
He slammed the door shut.
"WELL, AT LEAST I'M BETTER AT BEING HAPPY!!" Naruto called back.
He knocked again, but Sasuke wasn't returning this time.
Naruto huffed and gave up on it. Geez, some people were just so difficult these days. Well fine, be that way! He, Uzumaki Naruto, had better, funner things to do.
--
THIRTY MINUTES LATER…
Naruto wandered through the village with his arms behind his head, bored. He really didn't have anything to do. He tried to get Shino, Kiba, Lee, Neji, Chouji, and Shikamaru to spar with him (not particularly in that order) but they were either busy, lazy, or just downright mean and told him to go home. Iruka was teaching a class at the Academ. Konohamaru would have gladly skipped class and hung out with him, but Naruto figured he was above hanging out with silly children now that he was a genin.
What to do, what to do?
He turned a corner and suddenly bumped into someone.
"OI!! Oh – it's you, Hinata-chan."
Naruto grinned at the shy girl from Kurenai's team. He didn't really know her, but maybe now was the time to get to know her better.
"S-sorry, N-naruto-kun," apologized Hinata, reddening.
"No problem. Hey, what're those for?" asked Naruto, pointing to the flowers Hinata held in her hands.
Hinata flinched and hid her flowers behind her back. "Um – "
"Let me guess," teased Naruto. "Are they for a guy?"
"N-no," said Hinata. She peeked at Naruto nervously. "They're – for my mother."
Silence.
"Oh, right," said Naruto, after a pause. "'Cause it's Mother's Day."
"W-well, yeah," said Hinata awkwardly. "It's just that, you know, on Mother's Day I always visit her grave every year and – "
"Did you say GRAVE?" asked Naruto, startled. "Your mother's dead?"
Other people would have looked at Naruto reproachfully for his crudeness, but Hinata wasn't one of them. She just nodded, staring at her shoes, twiddling her fingers.
To her surprise, Naruto clapped her on the shoulder like they had been best friends for life. Hinata nearly fainted.
"HEY, MINE TOO!" he said happily. Then he frowned. "Except I don't really know where her grave is. Or if she has one."
"Um," said Hinata. "Do you want to come with?"
"Sure!" exclaimed Naruto. "If you don't mind."
"I-I don't mind," said Hinata quickly.
That night Naruto laid on his bed in his favorite pajamas, staring up at the dark sky. The stars seemed to wink at him.
Maybe he doesn't have a mother.
Maybe he never had one, maybe he doesn't even remember having one, and maybe he never will have one.
But Naruto realized something today.
He wasn't alone. There were others who didn't have mothers. Others who probably missed theirs more than he missed his.
He was lucky, in a way.
Besides, his mother wasn't entirely gone. She was still there. Just there, watching him, WITH him everyday.
She lived on in him.
Naruto closed his eyes and pictured a face in his head: red hair, large eyes, ramen noodles dangling from her mouth. She'd be laughing as she knit him a sweater and cooked him hot chicken soup. And stroked his hair and tucked him in at night.
Naruto smiled, turning over and hugging his pillow.
"Happy Mother's Day, okaa-san," he whispered before he fell asleep.
The stars seemed to twinkle back his reply.
A/N: Poor Naruto. Poor kids. A lot of characters in Naruto have no mothers, if you noticed. I just wanted to focus on Naruto because he's the only one who never even knew his mom. He doesn't know her name, what she looks like, what she sounds like. Yeah, you can't miss what you never had, but STILL. Growing up without a family is hard enough, but w/out a MOTHER!! I can't even imagine how that would feel. And he's only TWELVE. (Well, was). Now why didn't Jiraiya or Tsunade ever tell him who his parents were? Hmm?
Btw, Teuchi in canon is really just the ramen-stand owner, nothing else. In here, it's implied that he knew who Naruto's mom was, but that's all assumption. I figured that since he was the ramen owner and all, he must have seen Kushina as a kid eating there at one point, noticed the resemblance between her and Naruto, and drew his own conclusion. But I'm just guessing.
Dude, I know it's not Mother's Day for another 3 weeks, but just bear w/ it! (Actually, it all depends on when you're reading this. Maybe it IS Mother's Day.)
REVIEWS WOULD MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!! If you're a writer, you know how it feels. So PLEASE review and tell me what you think!