Update AN: Hi. Those of you who remember this and came back to reread, I've rewritten and re-edited a few things. Disclaimer: The characters of Naruto and settings are all owned by Masashi Kishimoto not me.
So it might not be how you remember the story to be, but thanks for coming back to read it, and thanks to those who've come to read this story!
Hope you all enjoy reading~!
Every heart is a valuable source of life which is the one thing that will never betray you and will be by your side forever till the very end.
It will always be there to help you feel happiness and pain, sorrow and excitement.
If you live without that, you're missing out on a lot.
If you've forgotten you have a heart and begin to wonder the meaning of life, don't let it bother you because you will definitely have one that can return to your side and someone will definitely come to remind you that.
Every heart in this world is meant to live.
Every heart is worth existing and participating in this world as an individual.
Every heart is unique and special, no exceptions.
So... that means yours as well.
Your heart was meant to live, Naruto...
And I...
All Hearts
Part 1
"I'm meant to die..." 18 year-old Sasuke groaned under his breath.
Another blazing hot, life-sucking sunlight draping heavily across the Konoha village in this overwhelming summer season.
The streets of the village streaked upwards in a slight slope that was nothing of concern if it were any other season except the bloody hot summer, draining every ounce of energy of the people walking upwards and currently being fried alive.
Most decided they'd like to live long and kept themselves shut inside with buddies called air conditioners but Sasuke, who took tiring steps up the sloping street in this blinding orange evening, had no choice since it was the only way home.
His white shirt was glued onto his back from the steaming humid weather, so hot that the dirt-brown and dry streets of the Konoha were steaming, causing a faint mirage in some distance ahead.
Some of that evil glue named sweat was also making itself known upon the bangs that framed his face... or rather annoyingly plastered across his facial sides, and the fact that his hair was jet black wasn't helping at all as all sunlight seemed to concentrate there, giving him a slight migraine.
Just when Sasuke lifted his arm to wipe that trickling bead of sweat off his forehead, a blur of what presumably was to be a person in a great rush, suddenly appeared out of nowhere to bump strongly against his shoulder.
The force threw half of Sasuke backwards, but he smoothly resumed his balance with a sigh when he heard a maniac laugh from behind, from the guy who was running away after bumping into him.
If he didn't hear the shopkeeper bellow at the top of his lungs, he was sure that the maniac laugh was meant to be for him.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE, YOU THIEF!"
Looking back, Sasuke saw the so-called thief running away so fast that dust was forming after his dashing steps. A thief was no concern to Sasuke since it was a regular basis thing you come across every now and then in this village as well as the fact that it wasn't stolen jewelry or people's property.
This one was just a convenience store that trashes heck of a lot of bento boxes and breads if they don't sell before expiry dates.
A few stolen food from a shop wasn't worth Sasuke to be the courageous hero and run after the thief, especially when he himself was suffering under this heat which actually made Sasuke surprised to see that thief full of energy, running so fast in this weather.
But when he heard the shopkeeper mutter something under his breath, Sasuke sighed and decided that he wasn't going to be able to ignore this.
"This is the 10th time that kid's stolen food from my shop!"
Jumping onto one of the roofs of the aligned houses on either side of the main village street where he had the best view of the thief's whereabouts, Sasuke scanned across the village's main pathway he had been walking on to find the target which wasn't hard to do.
What made the thief so easy to identify among the crowds was due to the bright blond hair he owned, like a sun traveling in the night sky of dark-haired people in town and the shadows of the houses that was slowly creeping, making its way towards the center of the street and trying start dominating the village with its darkness.
The distance of the moving target didn't falter Sasuke's extreme eye sights that was able to see details of the blond's outfit.
The clothes he wore were like a street gang's with a bandanna, baggy worn jeans and a simple sleeveless shirt. Over that he had some wrist bands on either side and wore other accessories of that sort so Sasuke wasn't going to be surprised if this blond was going through places like this to meet his gang mates who were equally causing crimes, nicking stuff here and there.
At last when Sasuke managed to catch up, there were less and less people around since it was well past the time of shops closing and everyone returning home.
The spiky blond sun slowed down before snapping his direction, stepping into the shadows of a suspicious dark alley way.
Not wanting to get himself into any bothersome trouble, Sasuke decided to not jump down but instead, onto the next rooftop in order to have a clear visual sight of the alley below and observe from a birds eye point of view.
What Sasuke saw widened his eyes in shock.
Never had he dreamed of this possibility, but here the guy was, giving the bread he stole to two toddlers who, by the looks of it, were definitely ones without a home or refuge that any one would've guessed correctly.
"Here, this is the bread for today," the thief said in a kind tone, totally killing the image of what Sasuke had assumed him to be. He was expecting a rough, mean voice that didn't have the word 'kindness' in his dictionary.
"Thank you onii-chan," the two kids chimed in unison like well-behaving preschool children. The old tattered clothes were starting to get spotted with crumbs as well as the crumbs hanging on the side of one's mouth and the thief gave a small smile as he rubbed that bit off with his thumb.
"Be good, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."
The children nodded out of sequence and gave the thief a beaming smile before seeing the thief take his leave.
When that guy turned and left the alley to the main street, nobody was in sight as everyone had scurried off in safety, leaving the street bare and giving off a phantom village atmosphere.
It was just the blond walking casually down the street while Sasuke followed his suit, but up on the roofs, pondering on what he should now do with this heroic villain.
After thoughts after thoughts, Sasuke jumped off the roofs and landed gracefully in front of the thief, making him stop on his tracks.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, bright pair of glaring cerulean blue eyes met onyx black pair of eyes that showed no trace of emotion.
The street boy had three scratch marks tattooed on both cheeks and plastered a face expression that wasn't there when he was facing the two toddlers just moments ago.
Somehow the blond couldn't find any words to spit at while Sasuke had felt somehow satisfied with his silent greeting and then just passed the thief without a word.
Not even stopping to ponder what that was all about, the blond thief glared once more towards Sasuke's back before he also took off, turning into another alley where his street mates were waiting for him.
The next day, Sasuke walked out a different routine towards his home.
As if on cue, a guy rushed out of a convenience store and knowing the all too familiar figure of blur, Sasuke grabbed the guy's wrist in a smooth, quick motion which probably wasn't an action that could be traced by an average person's eye.
The sun-kissed blond looked wide-eyed and stared hard at Sasuke while Sasuke bore his eyes back into the one he grabbed a hold of.
Knowing by just staring into Sasuke's eyes that he was no match for him, he looked away with his eyes narrowing and loosening every muscle on the arm which was held up.
The packet of bread slipped from his grip which Sasuke caught with his spare hand as the shopkeeper came out with a furious face, ready to scream when he immediately turned it into a confused expression, although the hint of anger was still evident.
The thief tried to leave, not wanting to be caught, but Sasuke held on the blond's wrists firmly and wasn't about to let go any time soon.
"I'd like this."
Both the shopkeeper's and the thief's eyes widen in surprise as Sasuke opened his mouth to let out his low voice.
Unlike the blond, the shopkeeper unfroze quickly and took the loose money whilst still holding onto the packet of bread with the same hand.
With business done, the shopkeeper then disappeared without another word, into his shop.
"Here," Sasuke sighed before thrusting the packet of the now bought bread to the street kid while loosening his grip on the wrist.
"I don't need pity!" he spat and pushed the packet back against Sasuke's chest, which Sasuke pushed back with a force much stronger than the blond's.
"You mightn't need it. But those two kids need it," Sasuke hastily said, already starting to feel irritated by the street kid's stubbornness and the humid weather that didn't cut him any slack.
He really didn't feel like arguing in this hot weather and just hoping more than ever to hurry back to his place where the air conditioner awaited his return.
"How do you know?" the blond asked in suspicion.
"Just take it," Sasuke growled and shoved it, leaving the street kid standing rooted to the ground momentarily but soon took off to where the two kids were.
The blond grabbed a packet of bread for the nth time.
He was so used to this that he knew when the shopkeeper realizes and when its time for him to start running. It was a daily routine, always the same.
But today even when he passed the counter, the shopkeeper stayed silent.
This was the same shopkeeper as yesterday.
Feeling weird and awkward, the thief swung the packet in front of the shopkeeper at the counter.
"Aren't you gonna say anything?"
"Is there something I'm supposed to say? Or is it that your friend from yesterday forgot to tell you that he was going to prepay your share?" Was the reply that came from the shopkeeper, leaving the street kid's bright blue eyes grew wide in surprise.
"Is that so..." the blond muttered slowly.
After moments of silence, his feet directed him out the door of the convenience store, but as soon as he felt the hot gravel of the street beneath his shoes, he sprinted towards the two kids.
"Ah! Onii-chan!" two cheerful chirps were heard where the street onii-chan gave that kind smile again that was only dedicated to these two, and passed the packet of bread.
Today's bread was custard bread, their favorite.
The blond's smile widened to see the twins faces beam at him with sparkling eyes that were full of love.
"Sorry guys, I'm sorta in a hurry today," he said after receiving gratitude and love.
With a wave of goodbye, he then started running towards the direction where he first met the raven from this morning.
Running past the store from yesterday after checking that the guy he's looking for wasn't there, he ran along where the street would take him until he found who he was looking for.
"Oi!" the street kid yelled at Sasuke.
Sasuke turned around slowly.
"Why are you doing this!? I never asked you to! I don't need your help!" he shouted at Sasuke's face that remained calm as if he wasn't even listening.
"Sasuke."
"Ay?" the street kid said confused.
"It's Sasuke. Not 'Oi' or 'teme'*," Sasuke said in a bored tone.
The street kid clicked his tongue.
"Tch! How should know your name?" He retorted in a sardonic tone of voice.
Sasuke looked deeply into those bright blue eyes before turning away.
"Well now you know," Sasuke said and started walking away.
"Oi! Where d'you think you're going! I'm not finished with you!"
The blonds shout was ignored.
"Oi! Hey!Hey! Y-you~...~nnguhhh! Sasuke!" he shouted with difficulty until at last he managed to scream out Sasuke's name.
Sasuke then turned around and looked at the street kid with a smirk.
Seeing that look made the blond lost for words and suddenly felt his protest really insignificant that he dropped his ranting.
"Yeah, what?" Sasuke said to the silence he was receiving.
"...my name isn't 'omae'* either. It's Naruto, " he said.
Sasuke smirked wider.
"Okay. Naruto."
(AN: Naruto had used the term 'teme' and Sasuke used the term 'omae' which both means 'you' but this is in Japanese, and when it's used in English it's weird and confusing so this is the only time I'm going to refer these terms that they used.)
