Promise
By: moonlightstar12
Warning: Shonen-ai! And OOCness!
Summary: After being sent to an orphanage when they were kids, Naruto and Kyuubi made a group of friends; and a promise. After three years and all the drama of high school, can they still keep their promise? Shonen-ai!
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Back then, there were eight of us. We were the best of friends, having stuck together at our orphanage for three years; since I was eight-years-old and my Nii-san, Kyuubi, was ten.
It had started when Kyuu-nii and I had first arrived at the orphanage. Our parents had just been killed in a car accident. I had also been in the accident, but I survived with only six scars on my face—three on each cheek. Kyuu-nii was the only one at the hospital when I had woken up.
We had been brought to the orphanage by the police and we were greeted by every kid there, plus the caretakers, Iruka and Kakashi. They had this rule; if someone came into the orphanage—whether they be a newcomer or someone trying to adopt—everyone had to be present. We were greeted half-heartedly by almost everyone; what's the point of getting to know someone who could get taken away at any time?
Apparently, there were only four people who thought otherwise. When everyone had left, those four were the only ones, not counting Iruka, who hadn't left either.
Two of them were my age, a girl with pink hair that reached her shoulders and green eyes, and a boy with wild brown hair and the same brown eyes with two triangles on his face. A small, white puppy sat in the boy's arms.
The other two were older than me; about Kyuu-nii's age. One was a blond—back then, I couldn't tell his gender; I thought he was a girl—boy with his hair in a ponytail, a lock of it covering his left eye, the right one being blue. The other was a read headed boy with dull red eyes.
The brown haired boy was the first to speak. "Hey! My name's Kiba!" he announced. "And this is Akamaru," he said. Akamaru barked happily.
"Hi," said the pink haired one shyly. "My name is Sakura."
I remember smiling at them and introduced myself, then watched as Kyuubi did the same. The blond introduced himself as Deidara—and he made sure to emphasize his gender—while the red head said he was Sasori.
That's how the six of us met. They had shown Kyuubi and me around and stuck with us to make sure we weren't left out and we all became close.
Of course, the threat of adoption still stood.
Every time someone came to adopt, we all hid. Luckily, no one ever noticed when six children didn't show up.
About a year later, two more new kids came.
One was my age, the other was Kyuubi's. The younger boy had black hair that reminded me of a duck's butt and the same black eyes. The older one had the same pale skin and black eyes and hair, except his was longer and in a low ponytail. He had two weary lines by his eyes. The two of them introduced themselves as Sasuke, being the younger one, and Itachi, the other one.
They'd received the same greeting we did, including the four of them greeting them, only me and Kyuubi joined in.
Finally, all eight of us were here (or as Kiba always put it, nine, Akamaru was with us too). It was the best time of my life, most likely all our lives (not counting when our parents were alive, of course).
I was ten when all eight of us had gathered under the sakura tree. Kyuubi was twelve then. We were hiding out in a hollow we had found in the back of the tree; it was big enough to fit all eight of us if we squeezed together.
I remember all of us laughing together as we retold funny stories we heard around the orphanage or stories we made up; all to pass the time.
"This is great, un," Deidara had said. "I wish this would never end."
"Yeah. That'd be so cool," Kiba agreed, Akamaru yipping in agreement.
"It shouldn't have to end," Sasori said. "We'll be friends forever."
"Yeah! Friends should stick together, right?" I had said.
Kyuubi nodded, which turned out to be a bad idea since he'd accidently hit Itachi, who had been sitting next to him, in the head with his long, blond, red-tipped hair that was in a pony tail at the time.
Itachi had cringed a little, causing Kyuubi to laugh and apologize.
"So we'll be friends forever, right? We'll always be together, right?" Sakura asked hopefully.
Everybody had given their own individual "Yes" to her question.
But Sakura wasn't satisfied with that. "We have to promise. A promise lasts a lifetime," she had said.
We'd all agreed. "Pinky swear," Sakura announced and stuck her pinky finger out, then waited for us to do the same.
We all, me, Kyuu-nii, Itachi, Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, Deidara, and Sasori, had all promised, under that tree, to stay together forever, to be friends forever.
I wish we could have kept that promise.
Someone had seen us hide that day. That someone had told on us and Iruka forced us to attend about a week later when a new parent had come for a child.
She had picked Sakura.
Iruka hadn't understood when Sakura had started bawling, begging him not to make her leave.
But Iruka hadn't been able to stop the lady from adopting her. Sakura was gone.
It had continued like that until I was eleven-years-old, my friends slowly being taken away. First Sakura, next Sasori, then Deidara, then Kiba, then both Sasuke and Itachi.
Kyuu-nii stayed with me the longest, refusing to go anywhere without me. But, one day, even Kyuu-nii was taken away from me. A pair of parents had been determined to adopt Kyuu-nii, without me, and they'd succeeded, even if they had to take him kicking and screaming. And scratching and biting too.
I haven't seen or heard from anyone of them since then.
I'd been adopted about a week after Kyuu-nii by an old geezer. He was a writer and wanted to travel all over the place to 'research'. That's what Jiraiya calls it, at least, that pervert.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
It's been three years since then. Since we were all separated.
The Pervy Sage had decided that I needed to get an education, since I hadn't been to school in years and home schooling was messing up his writing schedule.
So here I am, in a city called Konoha, at the Academy, on my first day of school. I sighed, I miss those days when school wouldn't even have been mentioned.
I walked into the front gate, watching the many teens walk around the front lawn, groups hanging out, kids hurrying to get to class. I looked around, wondering which social group I'd fall into.
I froze. Wait; is that who I think it is? Long, blond, red-tipped hair that reached his ankles, tied back in a low pony tail. Only one person in the world had hair like that, but I need to see his face, then I'll be sure.
I walked slowly forward. Was it really him? After all this time? I couldn't help but wonder if he even remembered me. A stupid thought, yes, but I couldn't help it.
He was practically glowing as he chatted excitedly with someone that I couldn't see. Not that I was worried about the other person. It was probably someone I'll never see again.
I tapped him on the shoulder. He ignored me at first, too engaged in his conversation to want to pay attention to anything else. So I did it again. He stopped talking for a second and let a low growling sound escape his lips.
I tapped him one more time and he spun around, anger evident on his face. "What!" he snapped at me, but I was grinning too wildly to answer.
He stared at me for a few seconds, crimson eyes marked with curiosity and a faint gleam of hope that grew every second as his eyes widened. He lost his voice for a second before coming out with a weak, "Na-Na-Naru? Naruto? Is…Is that you?"
I couldn't stop grinning so I just nodded.
"Naruto?" came an obnoxious voice from behind him. "Why are you talking about him? We don't know where he…" the voice trailed as the person he had been talking to pushed him aside to see who he was talking to.
I was in shock. I've found them. Well, two of them, but that was a start. There was no mistaking them, even if one was missing something.
He'd found Kiba and his Kyuu-nii.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
A/N: The idea of them making a promise wouldn't leave me alone so I had to do this. I don't know if I should continue or not, depends on whether or not people like it.
Please R&R!