It was a warm summer evening with only a few clouds in the sky and a light breeze blowing by. A black sports car with orange flames licking the sides speeded over a rusted metal bridge towards a small town with people flocking about to do their daily duties.
He zipped past a couple houses and a few forests before pulling into a long driveway that led to a beautiful cottage near a small river and pond in the back.
Parking in front the house a male about 21 years old with wild blond locks and sapphire blue eyes was revealed as he exited his car.
'Man this place is huge!' he gaped; he had just purchased the place and was finally seeing it in person, he had only seen photos of the estate over the internet when first browsing for a new home, after finally travel ling to the place a couple states away from his old home he was glad he took the offer for the place when it was up. And it was a strangely cheap price but who cares.
His furniture should be coming soon so he decided to go check out his new home. Unlocking the door and pushing it open with I quiet creak he looked about and saw a wide and open living room connecting to the grand stairwell right in front of him a beautiful reddish brown color painted against the wall with wood flooring.
He began exploring the rest of the house, mansion really, trying to keep track of where everything is and to keep from getting lost. After wandering for a while he found another room in the supposed 6 bedroom and 4 bathroom house with an outdoor bath in the acres and acres of land and wandered in. He looked around and saw a grand bed in the middle of the room joined to one of the 4 bathrooms. It was a dark blue color with mahogany furniture.
"Ugh, too dark!" he grumbled. There must have been a stuck up, emo guy that used to live here before he thought chuckling to himself that it was probably true. I wandered in deeper and laid a calloused hand over the soft material covering the bed. He flopped onto it laughing, nuzzling deeper into the material. Soft pad across the floor drew is sleepy attention away from the bed and towards the door.
Was that footsteps? he wondered and just shrugged thinking it was just the house creaking. After a few more hours of wandering the grounds the movers came and delivered his things and left leaving him with plenty of work to do.
He had cleaned up the rooms before they had come so all that was left to do was rearranged and place everything in their designated areas. This would take a while.
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With a sigh he collapsed onto his bed curling into himself. Exhaustion beating him down and sleep lulling him into sweet oblivion as he rubbed childishly at his eyes.
'Ew I stink.' He thought as he smelled his sweat soaked shirt from all the labor he had down and scrunched his face. Oh yes VERY dirty.
While discarding his clothing into the hamper off to the side of the room with a couple of final boxes he made his way to the bathroom, also a dark color like the rest of the rooms, and turned the shower on and letting the scorching heat rinse the tension out of his body.
He moaned softly rubbing soap into his sore muscles and drifting into a peaceful state of mind. Suddenly super aware of his surroundings his head shot up and looked towards the doorway, blond strands sticking to his face as the water, still cascading down his body, slid the strands in his eyes.
Brushing them away he blinked quickly not really believing what he think he just saw. And yes there it was in all of its horrifying glory, a HUGE spider on the door leading to the bedroom making him shiver.
How the fuck does a spider get the big? He really didn't feel like going to the door now to go to bed and risk getting bit by that thing. Noticing the conveniently placed newspaper right beside the toilet he turned back to spider,' AH HAH! Kami must love me right now.' He grinned quickly rinsing off and getting out. Pulling some clean boxers on he carefully took the spider-killing-devise and crept towards the giant spider of doom.
Suddenly the spider jumped towards him making him stumble backwards in fear. (Muwahahaha!) Slipping in the process and tumbling backwards down. And one thing went through his mind during the whole thing.
SHIT! before suddenly everything went black.
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Blue orbs blink as they stared up at the ceiling in his room before suddenly shooting up. Looking around the blinds were open letting the morning sunrise shine through the window as oranges and pinks painted the sky.
Everything seemed normal enough but...
'When the hell did I get in bed?' he mentally screamed. Putting a finger to his head he tried to remember what happened last night but only so far to when he was falling down.
'Oh well' he shrugged. Getting up, the young man left heading downstairs and into his kitchen rummaging around for things. Deciding on making some eggs in a blanket, basically sunny side up eggs in the middle of some toast, and went about making it. After breakfast he decided on going to town and look around that was about a 20 minute drive from his house.
So getting dressed in a plain black t-shirt with a pale orange jacket with jeans and shoes he headed out after grabbing his keys and wallet he left in his car driving down to the small town filled with shops, restaurants and plenty of other things.
Parking in an empty lot he got out and began looking around. Oblivious to the stares he wandered down the street in search of anything that caught his eye.
"Yo blondie watch out!" someone called out. He turned seeing a brunette running towards him chasing after a white dog headed straight towards him. And not just any dog. A gigantic dog that the blonde thought could eat him if it wanted too.
And before any sound escaped from him in his moment freezing from terror, the dog pounced on him knocking him to the ground hard as it started licking his face. Gross.
"Aah! Stop that tickles!" he laughed as the dog kept licking his face, slobbering all over it.
The brunette finally reach them grabbing the dog by the collar and pulling him off Naruto panting.
"Sorry man he's like this with everyone. No harm intended." The brunette apologized, hoping that he wasn't gonna try suing him for having been attacked by his dog. But relief filled him when the blond smiled at him wiping the saliva off his face chuckling.
"It's okay no harm done." he said taking the brunette's outstretched hand thanking him.
"I'm Kiba by the way and this guy over here is Akamaru." He said smiling as Akamaru gave a bark in affirmative.
"Naruto." the blonde replied smiling and petting the giant dog.
They both smiled and knew a new bond of friendship would be born between them. Naruto noticed Kiba was about a good inch or 2 taller than him with two upside down triangles decorated his cheeks while wearing a grey jacket with jeans.
"So I've never seen you around before. You just moved here or somethin'? he asked getting a simple nod.
"Yeah I moved into that old cottage by the creek yesterday, really neat place." Kiba just looked at him funny though.
"That creepy house everybody says is haunted? Why there?" he asked shaking his head. Obviously he hadn't heard the rumors about the place.
"I don't know, just caught my eye when I saw the place over the internet." He said before giving Kiba a confused look," Why? Something I should know something about it?" he asked looking him in the eyes.
"Well everyone always used to stay away from the place after its last owners- well..." he trailed off looking kind of sad.
"What happened?" he asked looking kind of confused. Pulling Kiba over to the bench they sat down as Akamaru laid his head on Naruto s lap.
"They were a nice couple, old but really nice." He smiled remembering how they would chase him down the street with their canes when he made fun of them about being old and all wrinkly like dried up prunes.
"But one day they were moving suddenly muttering things about spirits and stuff." He shuddered from the cool breeze and pulled the jacket closer continuing," They had a really freaked out look in their eyes that scared most of the peoples here."
Naruto just continued looking at him like he was crazy.
"So you re saying they saw ghosts in the house I m living at right now?" he asked incredulously shaking his head," The only creepy thing I've seen so far was this huge ass spider in my bathroom." He shivered from the thought of that hairy eight legged thing.
"The damn thing made me fall on my ass when it jumped at me." purposely leaving out that he had blacked out and wound up in bed without realizing it. Kiba began laughing at that point clutching his side.
"Wow! Scared of a wittle, itty bitty spider, eh Naruto?" he teased, Akamaru barking along making the blond scowl.
"Hey! It was pretty damn big! Not your ordinary house spider dog breath!" he argued, Kiba glared at him for the dog breath comment.
"I have no damn dog breath you scardy cat!" he called back. They went on going back and forth bickering to one another when suddenly someone from behind gained their attention.
"Ki- Kiba-Kun! Um H- How are y- you d- doing th- this mo- morning?" a stuttering voice asked.
They turned around to see a shy girl around their age with long black hair and pale white eyes that made Naruto think she was blind at first.
"Oh hey Hinata! Just hanging around with my new bud Naruto here and chatting." He grinned placing and arm around the blonde's neck playfully.
"Pl- Pleasure t- to meet y- you Na- Naruto-K- Kun." She blushed seeing the handsome young male next to her friend.
"Nice to meet you too Hinata-Chan!" He grinned holding a hand out to shake hers. Suddenly turning beet red while stuttering, she promptly fainted taking a stumble to the ground.
"Shit! Hinata! You okay?" they both asked rushing out helping the girl up, steam practically rolling off her face from how much heat rushed to her face in that moment. She mumbled something incoherent making Kiba scowl.
"Does she always do this?" Naruto asked picking her up as Kiba grabbed her things.
"No. Which is strange, she hardly ever faints unless-" he stopped short and then began to smirk knowingly. Naruto saw and questioned, urging him on.
"Nope nothin'! Let's just get her back home where we can lay her down." He said leading the way with Akamaru and a smirk planted on his face. Naruto's eyebrow twitch not sure he actually wanted to know the rest of it while Kiba had a face like that on so he dismissed the thought and followed.
They arrived a couple minutes later to a large estate that was almost as large as Naruto's home but just slightly smaller.
"Wow this place is pretty cool!" He exclaimed as the reached the front door past the small koi pond and stone lanterns in the gravel. The place was surrounded by stone walls with some archways for guest to pass through.
"Heh, just wait till you see the inside." Kiba commented knocking on the front door. A woman in a traditional kimono appeared as the door opened and just stared at them, when she saw Hinata fainted in Naruto's arms she nodded and moved away to let them in, Akamaru stayed outside unhappily because of his size and decided to investigate the pond.
As they moved through the halls they slowly came up to a young man around their age with long, silky black hair and pale pupil less eyes just like Hinata. He was just ever so slightly taller than Naruto yet the same height as Kiba. He glared at the limp figure in the blond's arm marking sapphire orbs narrow in response.
"Humph still the ever pathetic heiress causing others trouble I see." He said before turning his attention to Naruto," Who are you?" he demanded making the blond growl.
"You jerk, ever hear something about manners?" Naruto glared," Its common courtesy to tell someone who you are first before asking for their own name."
Kiba started laughing while clutching his stomach just as pale eyes narrowed.
"If you must know you ignorant blond, it's Hyuuga, Neji Hyuuga. Now who are you?"
"Naruto Uzumaki, Believe it!" he said giving a somewhat thumbs up with Hinata in his arms with a smile before it fell and a frown was quickly in place," So what s your deal with Hinata-Chan anyway? She's hardly pathetic, shy? Yes. But pathetic? I doubt that."
Neji only frowned deeply before shaking his head slowly to himself.
"An outsider like yourself would never truly understand the Hyuuga Clan's ways. You might as well butt out and stop trying to get involved in matters that you don't belong in." he said before quickly brushing past them not waiting for any retort the blond had came up with for his statement.
"What a jerk." Naruto growled before turning to Kiba," Is he always like that to everybody?" he questioned, shining blue orbs narrowing.
"He is, but isn't that how all stuck-up, rich guys from prestigious families are? Though he acts worse to Hinata when they're around each other for some reason." The brunette said before continuing," Though the funny thing is he's of a different branch in the family. Cause while Hinata, who's a member of the head branch, Neji is of the cadet branch that is supposed to live to serve the head." Naruto arched a brow after the statement and began walking again with Kiba to Hinata s room.
"And that's funny how?" the blond asked as they reached her room. Sliding the doors open Naruto entered followed by Kiba and laid Hinata down on her futon covering her gently.
"Well..." he started before looking around," Let's talk somewhere else, don't want to be heard by any Hyuuga."
Naruto nodded following Kiba out after retrieving Akamaru while saving the poor koi from the giant dog's curiosity, to a cafe that was back in town sitting in a booth by the window Akamaru was left to wander outside chasing after some stray cats.
"So what s up with them?" Naruto asked trying to get the brunette's attention away from the pretty brunette waitress passing by their table.
"Well Neji is practically a prodigy and thinks Hinata is weaker and far beneath him when she's suppose to be the best since she's in the head branch. Even though it s supposedly his duty to serve her." He looked thoughtful for a moment before looking back at the blond continuing the discussion.
"Supposedly his father died trying to protect Hinata's father, who was actually his father's twin, from some hit man who had a grudge against Hiashi, Hinata's father. Since they were twins, it was easy to mix the two up and Hizashi apparently saw the guy coming and went to protect his brother. Despite all those years of abuse." That completely threw Naruto off.
"Okay hold up one moment! Their brothers yet they belong to different branches? What's up with that? There's actually that sort of thing in this day and age?" Naruto asked taking a sip of his mocha. Kiba did the same but with his coffee before answering.
"Honestly I don' t know man; it's always hard to get stuff out of Hinata when I ask because of her stuttering and shyness." He sighed leaning back in his chair. Naruto bashed his head against the table with a loud sigh before resting it against his crossed arms on the table.
"Do you know why Neji's like that to Hinata-Chan?" he asked turning questioning blue eyes towards dog-boy.
"I don't know either. Maybe just some family feud thing." They both sighed and suddenly a voice called out to Kiba making him grin.
"Yo Shikamaru, Choji, come and sit over here!" he called out waving them over. They were both pretty tall though one was skinny and the other was kind of um big?
The skinnier one had long brown hair tied into a high pony tail that made it resemble a pineapple. His dark colored eyes seemed to make you think he was lazy and thought everything was troublesome. Probably true while wearing a green t-shirt with dark grey pants and sandals.
The bigger one had shaggy reddish brown hair with two red circles on either cheek on his face with a pair of gentle eyes looking at both Naruto and Kiba. He wore a light brown turtleneck with some black pants under it with some sneakers to finish the look off with a bright smile on his face.
"Who's the blond?" the one Naruto assumed must have been Choji asked looking at him.
"Oh yeah this is Naruto, he just moved here from- where'd you come here from again?" he asked.
"Just from a couple states over nothing big." He smiled trying to not remember the reason as to why he left in the first.
"So what do you do for a living Naruto?" Choji asked sitting down next to said blond as Shikamaru quietly sat down next to a slightly bouncing Kiba.
"Nothing special I just make different kinds of artwork and sell them, nothing amazing." He shrugged as if saying being an artist is no big deal.
Kiba just gaped at him before bursting out laughing.
"You! An artist? That s too funny!" he chuckled holding his stomach. Naruto scowled and glared at Kiba.
"And that's hard to believe?" he growled as Kiba wiped away a few stray tears from laughing so hard.
"Well you just don't seem to be the type to do something like that that takes so much time and patience." He chuckled downing his drink.
"Well you guys did just meet today." Shikamaru said smiling slightly when Naruto smiled brightly towards him.
"Do think we could see some of your work Naruto?" Choji asked munching on some pastries that he had ordered from the waitress.
"Yeah! I also wanna see what you did with that old house." Kiba added grinning from ear to ear. Naruto gave him a sort of skeptical look before smiling as well.
"Sure! We can head over when you guys are ready." He nodded towards Shikamaru and Choji before finishing his own drink. Shortly after they headed out to Naruto s car, since they all walked to the town since they lived so close. Kiba gaped at Naruto's car before shaking his head saying he should probably get into the art business making the blond laugh as he got into the car just as the others did and driving off to his home.
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At the cottage Naruto was once again faced with a gaping Kiba grumbling about stupid artists who make millions Shikamaru shook his head filling Kiba in as to why Naruto was most likely able to buy the house even though he's an artist. It was probably because the houses original price had been greatly reduced from rumors about the place and being on market for so long. All this genius talk was making Kiba dizzy so he just covered his ears ranting some nonsensical things to drown out Shikamaru's speech. They all chuckled at Kiba's antics and the blond unlocked the door to his place allowing them inside.
After the moderately long tour they sat on the backyard porch drinking some iced tea Naruto had made moments ago. Noticing the abandoned and much smaller cottage peeking out from the woods not so far away Kiba quickly turned to the humming blond who was sketching a landscape on the grass in front of Shikamaru and Choji behind him on the porch still who watched as he drew.
"Hey Naruto, what's that building for?" he asked pointing to the building. Blue orbs searched in that direction until they finally saw what the brunette was pointing to. He shrugged slowly before placing his sketch pad on his lap.
"I do' t know. The owners never told me about a separate house on the lands." Naruto said truthfully wondering what it was probably used for before," We could check it out later if you guys feel like exploring the building with me?" he asked grinning about going on an adventure with his new found friends.
"Hell yeah! Maybe we'll find more giant spiders for ya blondie!" Kiba joked earning a relatively hard punch to the arm," Bastard!" Kiba yelled before tackling the blond, erupting into an all out brawl making Shikamaru sigh and Choji chuckle.
"Troublesome..."