Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
-Understanding the Silence-
It was after training one day, and all three genin should have been exhausted. However, only Sakura was showing signs of it.
Sasuke, being the stoic Uchiha that he is, had little to no dirt or scrapes across and on his body. He was currently walking slightly behind the two in front of him, brooding, and being a general ass (according to Naruto).
Naruto, in complete contrast, was bounding ahead, hyperactive and ready to train more, but Kakashi had deserted them, and he didn't know what to practice. He had already mastered the chakra control technique Kakashi had shown them. To his disgruntlement, he had finished it a few seconds after Sasuke-teme.
Being in the happy mood he was, Naruto had already decided to walk with Sakura and Sasuke-teme for awhile longer, because he wasn't ready to return to his run-down apartment. For reasons unknown, Sasuke-teme hadn't left to return to his own home, yet. Naruto wasn't going to mention anything, but he was slightly curious as to why.
Noticing that they were drawing closer to Sakura's home, Naruto was disappointed to realize she would be leaving, soon. Naruto really didn't want to walk with Sasuke-teme…if only he had thought of this before he decided not to leave for his apartment.
As Sakura's house came into view, it became apparent that someone was cleaning the windows at the front of the house. Taking in the pale pink hair (paler than Sakura's), Naruto concluded that it was Sakura's mom, because she was a little too old to be her elder sister (if she had one).
Naruto's conclusions were confirmed a second later when Sakura called out to the figure, "Mom! I'm home!"
Sakura's mom turned towards them, smiling and waving, an instant later.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Sasuke turn his eyes away from the sight.
"Are these your teammates, dear?" Sakura's mom asked, as they got closer. "I don't think I've met them before." Naruto realized this was true; he and Sasuke hadn't met any of Sakura's family. "You've never even told me their names, though I think you mentioned the Uchiha, once or twice." It was obvious that Sakura had told her mom of her crush a lot.
"Yes, Mom," Sakura said politely (Naruto figured she must be very polite at home, from what he had already seen…he had no idea how wrong he was). "This is Uchiha Sasuke," she gestured to the teme, and then to Naruto, "and this is—"
Pulling his (black) coat up to cover his cheeks (so that only his eyes shown out), Naruto cut her off. "I'm Kitsu," he said. Naruto had never been more grateful that he had worn a different coat than his orange one this morning (though the only reason he had was because it was filthy from sparring against Sasuke-teme yesterday), because he didn't doubt that Sakura's mom would recognize him in his regular wear. She was probably like all the other villagers who hated him: prejudiced, and he didn't want his teammates seeing that. By covering up his whiskered cheeks, he could almost be just any other, random, blue-eyed, blond-haired kid.
And he obviously was just another kid, according to Sakura's mom, because she hadn't recognized him.
Sasuke and Sakura were now looking at him strangely, but he ignored them in favor of saying, "Nice to meet you."
"Well…it's nice to meet you, too," Sakura's mom said, still smiling. "Sakura's father just finished making dinner, I think. Would you two like to stay to eat?"
She directed the question to both of them, but turned to look at Naruto near the end of it.
Naruto couldn't help it. He sucked in a breath, eyes widening, and found he suddenly couldn't remember to breathe. Though that passed quickly, he found himself breathing in and out rather fast a few seconds later.
It was her eyes. They were kind, and unaffected by real life, the shinobi life. Here, in front of him, was an innocent citizen, who had never killed someone in her life. Here, before him, was a woman who had the eyes of a mother.
It affected something inside Naruto, who had never had such motherly eyes turned towards him in such a way, and caused something deep inside him to ache.
Instantly, Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to deal with Sakura's mother finding out who he really was, and to have those kind eyes turn on him in hatred and anger. He knew that he probably wouldn't even be able to deal with those motherly eyes anyways, whether they found out who he was or not. He wouldn't be able to deal with the hurt inside him each time she turned to look at him.
Turning to meet Sasuke's eyes, Naruto saw that he realized what Naruto was going through and sympathized, at least in a way.
Sasuke, who had felt a mother's love and affection, but couldn't feel it any longer, was reminded of his own mother when he saw the family affection between Sakura and her mother. He wouldn't be able to stay in Sakura's home any longer than Naruto.
Unable to say anything, due to how he was currently frozen and incapable of opening his mouth, Naruto didn't reply to Sakura's mom.
"We can't," Sasuke said, surprising both Naruto and himself. "Naruto and I are sparring in a few minutes, and we won't have time to do it tomorrow. We need to do it today, before we go on another mission."
Sakura, who had hoped for Sasuke to eat dinner at her house, was immensely disappointed, and confused.
First Naruto goes calling himself another name, and now Sasuke was telling lies? It didn't make sense. But Sakura had learned long ago that, sometimes, her teammates did things that she didn't understand, but were for the better.
"Maybe some other time, Mom?" she asked, smiling graciously.
"Yes," Sakura's mom said, looking at Naruto out of the corner of her eyes, with a little worry.
Naruto, having claimed back his speech capability, let out a strangled, "Sorry, we have to go. Now." Grabbing Sasuke's arm, he practically flew down the street and into the distance.
Distantly, Sakura's mom's voice was heard. "Is your teammate Kitsu okay, dear?"
Reaching the training ground they had previously occupied earlier in the day, Naruto let go of Sasuke and leaned against a tree, closing his eyes and panting.
For a few seconds, neither said anything.
Naruto, however, hated silence and felt like he had to say something, so he opened his eyes. Before he could say anything, though, he caught sight of Sasuke's eyes and anything he might have said instantly died down.
Because Sasuke's eyes showed that he sympathized, and understood. Though he would never, for the life of him, admit it, Sasuke knew a little of what Naruto was going through.
For the rest of the evening, and a little into the night, neither said anything. But the silence wasn't deafening, and Naruto wasn't bothered, because it was companionable. It was comforting, too, to the both of them, because it was almost like having a family, like having a brother. In the end, they both left to go to their respective homes without telling each other a goodnight, or a goodbye.
Because they didn't need to speak to understand.
This turned out waaaayy worse than I wanted it to, but I guess it wasn't too bad.
It DEFINITELY didn't flow, and that makes me mad—haha :) Oh well, we all make mistakes.
Reviews are appreciated, of course.
And, if you want, three or four more oneshots should be up by tomorrow (for Naruto).