Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of these characters. Sadly.
A/N: Hey there fellow readers. Just want to put a little note here real quick. First, thanks if you're actually reading this. Second, This entire story will not be POV's. Just the first and second chapter. It's my first time writing a story and I felt that writing POV's would be an easy way to get a feel of their character better (I guess? eheh..) So please be gentle when/if you review. And enjoy!
Chapter one.
It All Started..
(Naruto's POV)
I guess you could say it all started at the beginning of autumn. I only say that because the leaves on the trees, I noticed, had been drained of their usual color and there was a big pile of leafs in the yard across from mine.
The temperature dropped a bit, and the people I saw outside walking were wearing scarfs and jackets along with those ugly ugg boots. I don't judge a book by its cover, but those ugg boots- I mean, I'm not saying, I'm just saying.
I stuck to the short-sleeved shirts and my breezy cargo pants. Along with my jacket (but I always wore that, no matter how hot or cold it was outside.)
I was having a really good dream. I say this, because I remember smiling like an idiot and burying my face in between the back of the couch and the cushions. Drool smeared on my face. Hey, don't laugh! You know it happens to you.
And then, BZZZT BZZZT my phone started going nuts. I rolled over onto my back. I usually didn't mind mornings, but a really late night staying up playing Skyrim made me hate this one. I cracked an eye open, saw that there was light, and brought a cushion down on my face. Light meant that it was morning.
Mid-morning, to be exact. But it had slipped my mind that I needed to be somewhere two and a half hours ago. BZZT. BZZT.
I sat up so quick, I almost lost my balance and fell off the couch. I gawked at the numbers displayed on my phone, along with the notifications. 10:30 am and 12 missed calls.
I was in deep shit.
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I had two part-time jobs. One was me working at 7-eleven. And the other was me helping my godfather out at one of his little china shops. I didn't make but just enough to pay my bills. These places were in walking distance, so I didn't have the need for a car.
I tried to convince gramps (I call him gramps, because he's like my grandfather) that I liked helping him for free, but he insisted on paying me anyway. There wasn't much that needed to be done around his shop, but he liked that I made the effort.
Jiraiya is his name. And he's known me ever since I was a little kid. A baby, even. He sometimes gets aggravated with me, I can tell. But I don't do it on purpose! Today he was upset that I was late showing up.
Oh, about my parents? It's a pretty rough subject. But I'll tell you anyway. My dad passed away when I was 13. Lung cancer. And my mom, well, she passed away just over a year ago. The doctors say it was a brain aneurysm. The news of that, didn't go so well over with me. I developed a couple bad habits. One actually stuck with me. I'm not proud of it, but people cope in different ways.
Gramps had one day planned on giving me the shop. I know this because one day I overheard him talking to my mom about it some years ago. I wasn't eavsdropping.
Jiraiya spends a lot of his time (when he isn't managing his shops) chasing women. And I don't blame him, I guess. I hardly know anything about women, or this so called 'love' people talk about these days.
Actually, I think tomorrow is when he was going out of town to meet some lady he met online.
This shop didn't have much, just some china merchandise and several hand crafted items. Such as sail boats, hair pins, oh, and we even have some furniture imported from Japan. It was pretty neat stuff.
Anyway- Today he was really upset.
"I'm curious as to how you are going to run this place if you are unable to be on time."
He said, sorting through some paper, not making any eye contact with me.
"I understand you're going through some things, the death of your mother -"
Geeze. He always brought this up.
"I can be responsible, gramps. I just.. Couldn't get to sleep last night.." I said, trailing off and rubbed the back of my neck nervously. He sounded more worried than anything. I wonder if he noticed the-
"-Ruto. Oii, stop spacing out and pay attention."
I tugged at my sleeve, it covering the palm of my right hand.
"As you know, I'm leaving tonight." A pause. "The delivery truck will be coming tomorrow. So I need to know if you can handle it while I'm gone."
Jiraiya finished sorting through the papers, pulling open a filing cabinet and stuffed them in one of the folders.
"Piece of cake!" I said, wiping my nose and giving gramps a big grin. In the distance, the bell rang, it meant someone had entered. So I made my way up to the front of the store, Jiraiya following me. Gramps started saying something, but I didn't hear him. I was behind the cash register, leaning on the counter.
As I was watching the person who came in, I rested my chin in my hands. It was a boy, late teens, black hair. Oh wait.. The afternoon sun reflected off of his hair, and that's when I saw a blue tint. Wow. Like a raven!
" - So they might be early." Came Jiraiya's voice, followed by a cheerful, "Heey, welcome to Kaeru's Chinashop!"
The boy didn't look up, or over at us. He just kept walking around. I'm going to call him Raven. Raven was wearing a dark blue sleeveless jacket with a fan symbol on the back. I think he had his headphones in. It almost looked like he was lost.
Just then the bell chimed again. Another person had come in. But it was as if I wasn't there anymore. I was gone. In la-la land. Something about this .. This raven guy. He must have felt me staring at him. Because he looked over at me. Our eyes met, and for a moment there was - "Hey! There you are, you ass!"
The voice rang throughout the store. "I've been calling you for like an eternity.." I looked over to the voice. Meet Kiba. My best friend. I met him in the third grade.
I blinked once. And looked back over to where Raven was, but he was gone, and I heard the chime. Guess he left. Or maybe I was seeing things..?
I shook my head and smiled at Kiba. But I could tell he was giving me one of those 'what-the-fuck' looks. He reached the counter and leaned on it. "You alright man?"
"Huh? Yeah! Why?" My smile shrunk. And Kiba just made a face, shrugging.
"Hey Naruto's gramps. Nice to see you." Kiba nodded at Jiraiya. And headed out from behind the counter. "Hey there Kiba."
He stepped right in front of Kiba. Which made my brown haired friend turn his head slowly and looked at the white haired man standing in front of him. "Uh, hey." Came the small greeting.
Jiraiya didn't say anything, just put his hands on his hips. "How many times must I ask you to stop calling me gramps." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Jiraiya is fine. Just call me that!"
I couldn't help snickering, so I put my hand over my mouth and pretended to cough.
I was given a glare from Jiraiya. "Well, Naruto. Count down the register and then," He paused and started patting his back pockets, then his breast pocket, what was he looking for I wondered? I nodded and then began to count the drawer down.
One, two, three.. I began the money in my head. "Ah! Here they are." He dangled a pair of keys in front of me, and then set them on the counter. "Lock up afterwards. I need to leave and finish packing for my flight."
I looked at Kiba, then to the register. He had started scrolling through his Facebook feed, a bored look on his face, "You..Huh? But I thought you usually locked up. And flight? I thought you were meeting that lady for .. whatever."
I suddenly said in a protesting voice. Damn. Was that panic in my voice? ..Nah.
"Yes, I do. But I'm trusting you can lock up this once. And I am meeting that Lady tomorrow. She's the owner of Gyanburu's. It's having its grand opening of its 12th store tomorrow afternoon."
"Oh." Naruto finished counting down the register and Jiraiya walked to the back of the store, going into the office. Kiba cleared his throat, catching my eye and he pointed to the time on his phone.
I gave him a questioning look. "Shikamaru's party. Don't tell me you forgot man!"
I gasped and facepalmed. "Shit no."
Sighing, I sat down on the chair that was kept behind the counter for slow days. I heard gramps close the office door and headed towards the front door.
"Well I'm off now. Call me if anything happens, Naruto. See you later kids."
I waved and so did Kiba. "Bye! Have a safe flight."
"See ya gramps!" I gave Kiba a look and we chatted a bit before he left and I locked up the store. He was waiting for me outside. "Oh, so tonight, six o'clock. I'll meet you there."
I nodded and locked the door to the shop. "Sounds like a plan!" We parted ways, and I headed home. Shikamaru's party. He was turning twenty-one. Lucky ass. I headed home and started to get ready for the party.