The Boy on the Swing
It was her first day at the ninja academy, Sakura Haruno had always been a smart child and her mother was positive that her daughter would excel.
Sakura walked towards the main doors, and noticed a swing hanging from a nearby tree and thought, 'Maybe I'll swing on it before I go home.'
After school, Sakura ran outside, her first day was great she got every question right. She wanted to get to the swing before anyone else. "Hey Sakuma!" The small girl turned to see a brunette about her age in pigtails staring right at her.
"It's Sakura, but you can call me that if you want!" Sakura said cheerfully. The brunette pushed her to the ground.
Sakura had dropped her books; she desperately tried to pick them up before the girl kicked one out of her reach.
"I don't want to call you anything! Wait, I'll call you forehead! Look at the size of that thing!" She laughed, two girls from out of nowhere chimed in with her.
"Please, leave me alone!" Sakura said running away from them. She grabbed her last book and ran towards the swing.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw someone on the swing, his blond hair blew in the wind and he didn't swing. He just sat there staring at the ground something distracting him from the world.
She walked over and sat her books down and sat down on the ground where he was staring.
His eyes widened, and he looked at her as if she was crazy. "What are you doing?" He said almost cruelly.
"I'm waiting to swing on the swing." She said smiling at him. 'This is the boy that my mom told me not to play with, he doesn't seem dangerous.'
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked. "Nothing. Here you can swing." The boy got off the swing, and slowly started to walk away.
She felt bad for kicking him off the swing, "Your name is Naruto right?" She said loud enough that he would hear. He slowly turned and nodded.
She grabbed the swing rope and pushed it towards him, "Do you want me to push you? It will be fun!" She had noticed he spent so much time alone.
Naruto's face lit up and he nodded violently, "Okay, but you're pushing me next!" Sakura giggled, and started to push him on the swing. While they swung that talked, as serious as seven year olds could talk.
"So your name is Haruno Sakura?" Sakura nodded, "And you're Naruto Uzumaki?" He nodded as well.
They were playing sort of a game, one would ask a question the other would answer and then the other would ask a question.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Naruto asked, his voice becoming sad. Sakura stopped pushing him for a moment and thought about it, "Well because I'm your friend, aren't friends supposed to be nice to each other?" She smiled, and Naruto beamed with excitement.
Naruto leaped off the swing and hugged Sakura in huge bear hug, "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!"
"Why are you thanking me so much?" She said pushing him gently off of her. Naruto blushed and looked at the ground.
"Well, I don't have any friends." Sakura shuffled his hair a bit, "Neither did I, but now I've got you and you've got me."
Naruto smiled and nodded once, he jumped off the swing and motioned his arm for her to start swinging. She had to shake her head.
"My mom is probably wondering where I am, and I need to get home for supper, sorry Naruto-kun." Naruto blushed at the sound of his name with that suffix. He nodded, and his face grew sad.
Guilt built up in her chest, "W-would you like to come home to my house for dinner, I mean if your parents don't mind it." Naruto looked at the ground and his face deepened in sadness.
"My parents are gone." He whispered, she suddenly felt very stupid. "Oh I'm so sorry Naruto-kun I had no idea! I'm sorry I brought it up."
"It's fine." Sakura smiled, still feeling silly. "So, would you? I want my mom to meet my new friend!" She grabbed his hand, and started dragging him towards her home.
"I'm taking your silence as a yes!" Sakura yelled, Naruto's face was a deep red. As they walked towards Sakura's house the people in the shops were whispering, gossiping. Naruto could hear them, as well as Sakura.
"Isn't that the Haruno girl?"
"I hear she has mental issues."
"Is that why she's with him?"
"That girl must be crazy, what will her mother say when she sees them together?"
Sakura had had enough; she turned and yelled so everyone could hear. "There is nothing wrong with us! You're all the ones that are crazy! C'mon Naruto-kun." She said making sure everyone heard the –kun.
"Sakura-chan, why did you do that? That just makes them talk more." Naruto had yelled at the whisperers before and he had realized that the next day they had another thing to whisper about.
"They call me crazy for having a friend, why does everyone hate you? I don't get it!" Sakura was frustrated, Naruto didn't reply because they had arrived at her house.
"This is my house, my mom is a horrible cook so don't eat anything, either say you're not hungry or fling it out the window when she's not looking." Sakura smirked and opened the door.
"Sakura Haruno, where have you been!" Sakura's mother, Jurya yelled from around the corner.
Jurya emerged from the corner and gasped, "This is that boy, Sakura is this your friend?"
"Mommy, I know you said he was dangerous, but he's really nice and he's my friend!" Jurya nodded, and leaned down to the small boy.
"What's your name sweetheart?" Jurya had been told what was sealed in this boy but her instincts told her there was nothing wrong with him.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Mrs. Haruno." Jurya giggled, "Please that makes me feel like an old person, you can call me Jurya. Maybe even mom." Jurya winked at Naruto and then turned her attention to Sakura.
"Sakura, get ready for dinner, help Naruto, I ordered Ichiraku." Sakura did the fist cha-ching thing silently.
"C'mon Naruto-kun, let's go wash up." Sakura took his hand and lead him to the bathroom.
They washed, and sat down at the dinner table. Naruto noticed there were four empty chairs, with silverware at their place.
"That's for my brothers. They'll be here any minute; they are all jonin so they are probably out training." Sakura told him taking her place at the table.
"Saku! I'm home!" Naruto heard a boy's voice yell, it was low but not fully he seemed to be in his teens.
"Ryo! It's time for dinner, where are your brothers?" A blond teenage boy, around seventeen entered the room, in full ninja clothing. Naruto could only hope he would one day wear that.
"There on their way, I left early to make sure I got food." Ryo sat next to Sakura, "Saku, is this your friend?" Ryo said glancing from his youngest sibling to the other blond child.
"Yep! This is Naruto." Sakura smiled at her older brother. "Sakura-chan, how many brothers do you have?"
Sakura smirked at her friend, "Well, there's Daisuke who's the oldest he's like twenty two, then there's Hiroshi who's twenty, then there is the twins Ryu and Ryo." Naruto heard the door open then close and loud footsteps come towards the.
He saw a tall man with black hair come in and kiss Sakura's mother on the cheek, "Daisuke, where is Ryu?" Daisuke rubbed the back of his head nervously, "He went to go find Hiroshi, I went with him, and Hiroshi was kissing Yuri." Sakura burst out laughing and Jurya made a sour face, Naruto looked puzzled.
"Yuri is Ryu's girlfriend." Ryo said noticing the small boy's confusion. The door opened once more and two sets of footsteps walked in. Daisuke sat down at his place, "Hey," There was pause in the new blond boys face, Naruto guessed this was Ryu since he looked so much like Ryo. ", who is this?" Ryu said bluntly pointing at Naruto.
"This is my friend Naruto, Naruto this is Ryu." Sakura said cheerfully, another larger man walked in with black hair and a black eye.
"What were you thinking Hiroshi!" Ryo and Daisuke yelled in unison. "She came onto me!" Hiroshi yelled back. Ryu huffed, "My ass she did." Hiroshi and Ryu sat on opposite sides of the table.
Naruto had always liked Ichiraku, but being around this many people the taste seemed to amplify. He could almost feel the family love that they felt for one another. Naruto smiled more that night than he could remember.
"So, Naruto, who are you living with? I heard about your parents I' so sorry." Jurya said kindly.
"I'm living over near the hospital in my own apartment." He said shyly.
Jurya's eyes widened a bit, "Your living alone? That must be terribly lonesome." He nodded a bit, "It does get a bit lonely, but I train most of the time, so I keep myself busy."
Sakura looked over at her friend worriedly, everyone noticed at the table the caring look in Sakura's eyes. Jurya awed at her daughter's first crush, and the four other boys slightly glared at the young blond boy.
Sakura looked around the table noticing their strange looks they were giving them. "What, what are you looking at?" She asked innocently.
They all smirked, "What!" Sakura yelled, "Nothing." They all said in unison. "So, honey how was your first day at the academy?" Jurya asked, just remembering.
"It was okay; we learned that there are three types of jutsu." Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and what are they?" He said, challenging her.
"Ninjutsu, where one utilizes chakra to do things that a normal human cannot accomplish, Genjustu, where a ninja uses chakra to create an illusionary technique, such as the ultimate genjutsu Mangekyo sharingan, used by the Uchiha clan, and finally Taijutsu, it usually does not require chakra and is used in hand to hand combat." The whole table's jaws were on the floor.
"What?" She questioned, didn't everyone know this. "It's nothing; it's just after one day you memorized all that?" Hiroshi asked.
She nodded, "My teacher said that I' going to be in the top of my class." Naruto smiled, he was proud of his new friend.