Title: Orange
Fandom: Naruto
Characters/Couplings: Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya
Challenge: #12, "Orange"
Rating: PG
Summary: Naruto is asked the question on everybody's mind.

The clearing was bare of signs of life, safe the occasional long snore that came from a huddled blonde mass, clad in orange pants and the tattered remnants of an orange jacket. A light string of drool hung from his open mouth, which was slightly quirked in a smile whenever it wasn't stretched in a yawn. Naruto was dreaming quite pleasently, up intil the point when a mildly heavy cloth bundle fell directly onto his head. He snapped awake, yawn catching in his throat.

He jerked up soon after, looking around while blinking his blue eyes rapidly. At last, he registered the tall, broad frame of Jiraiya standing in front of him.

"E...Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya frowned slightly. "How many times I gotta tell you not to call me that?"

Naruto just snorted in return. "It's what you are. A big pervert."

"Is that what you say to someone nice enough to go bring you new clothes?" Jiraiya drawled, flopping down beside the ashy remnants of last night's campfire.

His protegee perked up slightly. "You did? Where are they?"

"On the ground."

Naruto turned his head and looked down to see a crumpled heap of clothes, mostly black in color.

"Black?"

"Of course, black. Black is good for a ninja."

Naruto just pouted. "But...I asked for orange."

The sannin just scoffed. "Don't get your boxer's in a twist. There's orange on 'em, too."

And so there were, though not nearly as much as on Naruto's original outfit, which had been destroyed by the year of training he had undergone. Plus, the kid had grown quite a bit in the time between going under Jiraiya's tutelage full time and now. Those ratty old things wouldn't have done, even if they were in one piece.

"Oi, Naruto."

Naruto mumbled something from within the confines of his new undershirt that sounded like an interrogative, so Jiraiya continued.

"Why were you so insistent on wearing orange, anyway, huh?"

The younger shinobi finally got the top over his head, and took a deep breath. Sometimes, Jiraiya just wondered how in the hell he had managed to master Rasengan.

"I dunno," Naruto replied, shrugging. "I just like it. It makes people notice me, 'n stuff."

Ah, so that's it, Jiraiya told himself. Another way to get people's attention. Made a lot of sense, when he thought about it.

"That so?" Jiraiya said, chuckling slightly. "Well, you've got people noticing you now, so why bother with it? Black is much better for a ninja, after all. Or blue. Or, better yet, red."

Yes, why hadn't Jiraiya bought him red? Oh, yes, because the kid was already becoming too much like Jiraiya junior for his tastes, and the Sannin did not want people thinking he was some solo-dad. Made it harder to catch a new model with some brat tagging around, after all.

"'Cuz I just like it, okay," Naruto grumbled indignantly, pulling on the new jacket.

He kept on the ragged pants, Jiraiya noticed with some disdain. Old habits die hard, he guessed. At least he didn't wear the old jacket anymore. Change is slow, he had to keep telling himself, unless you're Naruto and that change is jutsu. The old Sannin just sighed gruffly.

"If you say so, Naruto," he murmured.