Chapter 1: My Secret, My Closest Friend, My Dearest Sister!
"today is the day of the exam every one please line up and wait to come into the exam room" Iruka Sensei said ushering for quiet in the crowded academy school room. A few kids sat scattered around the room but most were standing up and talking. A little red headed girl sat all alone on the second to last row of seats.
Haren watched as her older brother walked into the exam room, a thin sheet of sweat covering his face.
" good luck Naruto." she whispered.
Haren Uzumaki was a year younger than her brother, but she was just as powerful as any genin in the academy or just graduating. She was the second child of Kushina Uzumaki. Her mother had lived to raise the two children for about two years after Haren had been born, but then because of either an illness, or the loss of the will to live, she had passed away. Leaving a three year old Naruto and a two year old Haren to fend for themselves.
Neither Naruto or Haren knew who their father was, they only knew that on the night Naruto was born, he had died. And Haren had been an accident her fathers identity was completely unknown even to her mother.
It was said that Naruto looked exactly like his father, and Haren was a mirror image of their mother.
Haren was now eleven, and her brother twelve. In public Naruto always acted like the mischievous prankster, but at home he was a kind and loving big brother, who Haren knew she could depend on.
Haren's blue eyes stayed glued to the door, until the it finally opened and a very sullen looking Naruto stepped out.
the blond kept his eyes focused to the floor as some kids snickered. Haren knew todays test was the clone test, that was Naruto's worst jutsu.
He plopped down next to Haren and put his head in his hands. Haren knew it would only embarrass Naruto to console him in public so she stayed quiet.
"hey dobe, fail again?" came a quiet voice from behind the Uzumaki's.
Haren turned to see Sasuke Uchiha, his hands folded calmly under his chin. With his little sister Chibi sitting next to him cowering slightly. The little raven haired girl moved her onyx eyes to the floor. Chibi was Haren's best friend, her brother was an absolute arrogant jerk.
He, like every one else, made fun of Naruto constantly, and Naruto in return tried his best to make sure that he never lost to Sasuke. But unfortunately Sasuke usually beat him.
Haren glared at the boy Uchiha until for some reason his cheeks grew bright red and he looked away.
She gave a little laugh at how fake he was sometimes.
Every one thought Sasuke was so cool and calm, but whenever their eyes met Sasuke would completely lose confidence and start stuttering about the chakra system.
She didn't really have any problems with Sasuke in particular, he never did any thing bad to her, but she had found ways to get him back for tormenting Naruto.
One such way was when Haren ignored him, she turned to Chibi, out of the corner of her eye Haren saw Sasuke twitch and his brows knit together.
"hey Chibi, would you like to come over and do homework tonight?then maybe we could have a sleep over?" the question was partially directed at Sasuke, because he was her guardian.
With another blush filled glance at Haren Sasuke reluctantly gave Chibi permission to go.
"Yea it's fine... I don't care..." Naruto suddenly spoke up,
"hey! What if I don't want two giggling girls keeping me up all night!?" He was back to his old self already yelling,
"well then they can stay at the Uchiha estate." Sasuke said smiling evilly at Naruto.
Naruto's blue eyes widened and he hopped up on the desk pointing at Sasuke and shouting,
"NO WAY!!! my little sister isn't going anywhere near you, PERVERT!!!"
Sasuke's cheeks again reddened, and he looked away,
"that wasn't what I meant... I was just saying if you didn't want them keeping you up all night...AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING PERVERT!?!? WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THAT SEXY JUTSU OF YOURS ANYWAY HUH!?!?!"
the conversation went on this way until class let out. Then Sasuke insisted on escorting Chibi to Naruto's house because he didn't trust Naruto with the care of his younger sister.
Then Naruto started complaining that he didn't want to cook so much food. Haren suggested they all go out to eat, and after protesting about having to sit in the same booth as each other the two boys reluctantly complied.
Chibi picked a cute little restaurant outside of the market place that she said was known for its pork.
Chibi and Haren sat on opposite sides of the table so they could talk.
Sasuke very nonchalantly slipped in front of Naruto and sat next to Haren.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TEME?!" Naruto shouted loudly making all the heads in the restaurant turn.
"i was just sitting down, you got a problem with that dobe?" Sasuke said looking in the other direction ignoring the furious blond.
Eventually Naruto sat down next to Chibi after being chastised by the waitress.
Chibi's whole face was bright red. Especially when Naruto didn't get a menu and had to look at hers with her. His face was only about three inches away from her flaming one, she looked like she was going to faint, the quiet girl was so shy this was very normal for her.
"What are you ordering brother?" she asked in a small voice looking over the top of the menu at Sasuke,
Sasuke pursed his lips and glared at the menu,
"i don't know, I have no idea whats good here..."
Naruto was still sending looks of pure hate in Sasuke's direction,
"Why don't you order crap, since thats what always seems to be coming out of your mouth?" he said with acid dripping from every word.
Sasuke flinched and he stood up slamming his hands down on the table,
"What did you say to me last in class?"
"You heard what I said!"
"Well lets see how much crap is coming out of my mouth when I punch you into next week!"
"Take your best shot TEME!"
The two boys were still arguing when the waitress came to get their orders, so the two girls ordered for their brothers.
After the waitress left Haren calmly sipped her tea, and she raised her voice over the two arguing boys to chat with Chibi.
Many people glared in the direction of the loud voices, but seeing as getting glared at was a common occurrence for the two outcast families, they payed their visual assaulters no mind.
After the food came the whole table was silent, As the two previously bickering ninja ate their mystery meals.
Haren had ordered Naruto ramen so he was of course content.
Sasuke ate his meal in silence with no comment on the taste.
Then Haren broke the silence with a loud exclamation of pleasure, putting a bite of what looked like pork in between her chopsticks she held them out to Sasuke,
"Here Sasuke you must try this! It tastes amazing!"
the boy blushed so much it looked like he was going to catch fire. But he obediently opened his mouth to a little o. Haren looked annoyed,
"You have to open it wider, or the food wont fit."
Naruto was glaring across the table at the Uchiha, he was usually the one Haren fed her delicious food to! But thinking about it for moment Naruto realized that Haren's choice of food was horrible! His frown curled up into a malicious smile for the unfortunate Uchiha. This would definitely be good; even with his stomach of steel he could barely swallow the food Haren fed him.
Sasuke opened his mouth wide, and Haren placed the food inside.
Letting him chew for a moment she anxiously smiled, every one at the table leaned forward. Naruto watching for even a hint of dislike, to his surprise Sasuke's face lit up,
"its amazing, what is it?" Naruto's face fell, why? The one time the food is good...
Haren squealed with delight,
"Pork Liver mixed with cow stomach!"
Sasuke's eyes widened with dismay as he forced himself to swallow.
Naruto's face turned red and his eyes began to water, he wouldn't be able to hold back for very long! Chibi was giggling quietly.
Sasuke jumped out of his chair,
"ill be right back!" he said trying not to throw up.
Once he was safely out of earshot Naruto burst into loud peals of laughter.
"Did you see the look on his smug little face!!! It was absolute perfection!Haren I am in your debt that was the best thing thats happened to me since your birth!"
Haren looked confused, Sasuke had said it tasted good... what was wrong with him?Maybe he was allergic! With a concerned look on her face she said,
"i better go check to see if he is OK..."
the red head got up and walked over to the shop's bathrooms and peeked in the door. There was no one in there. Then just in case she checked the ladies room. No one there either.
As she was walking back to the table an elderly woman grabbed her coat sleeve,
"Excuse me young miss. You wouldn't happen to be looking for that boy that just went running past my booth would you?" Haren's eyes widened,
"you saw Sasuke?"
the woman smiled gently,
"Yes I do believe he went running in that direction."
she pointed to the left of the restaurant,
"He looked very sick dearie, you probably go give him some help."
Haren bowed,
"Thank you very much ma'am" she was about to run after Sasuke when the woman gripped her arm surprisingly hard,
"One more thing sweetie," She said quietly, "Your a ninja right?"
Haren's brow furrowed,
"Yes, I am going to graduate from the academy in a few months. Why?"
The old woman smiled sweetly,
"Ah how I remember being a ninja... what wonderful times those were... but I ramble, why don't you come to this address on Saturday sweetheart, so I can teach you a very powerful technique."
Haren gave the woman a questioning look as she was handed a piece of paper with an address on it. But then again the old woman probably just wanted someone to talk to about her past, and show Haren a neat trick. Haren brightened when she realized what exciting stories this woman would have to tell.
She bowed again but more deeply this time,
"thank you ma'am, I've got to go find Sasuke now, but I will definitely be there on Saturday. Oh by the way, what is your name Sensei?" Haren asked,
"It's Chi, sweetheart, Chi Sensei, is what you may call me."
"I am Haren Uzumaki, thank you Sensei!"
smiling Haren ran in the direction that Chi Sensei had pointed.
After Haren had gone she turned back to her dinner,
"yes dearie it was so nice to meet you, I look forward to Saturday as well." she whispered taking a sip of her tea.
Haren entered into the street, the sun was just settling below the horizon. A few streetlights began to turn on.
As she ran through the near empty street she began to be afraid. What if Sasuke had gotten seriously ill from that food? What if he had fallen into the river unconscious? What if he was-! ' No! Stop thinking like that!' she told herself, ' I'm sure Sasuke is fine! He's really tough! Other wise Naruto wouldn't work so hard to beat him!'
Haren stopped running and walked forward a few steps until she fell to her knees. Naruto and Sasuke were always fighting. Haren usually hated Sasuke as much as her brother did. She had even glared at him this morning in class.
Why then was she so worried about the Uchiha?
He was a jerk! He made fun of Naruto all the time! Every one made fun of Naruto though... Sasuke... why did she care so much about his well being?
She had a flash memory of his face, sad, reserved, angry, annoyed, embarrassed. Haren had only seen Sasuke's sad emotions. She realized she wanted to see him smile, she wanted the normally sad boy to be happy.
She wanted to be the one who made him happy.
Suddenly she felt something bump into her. Opening her eyes she had to tilt her head back to see... an orange book?
The book moved and a man with all of his face covered except one blank black eye stared down at her. He wore a forehead protector that swept back his white hair, with a green vest. He was jonnin!
"oh I'm so sorry Sensei!" Haren excepted his outstretched hand and got to her feet. Bowing she stuttered,
" I was looking for my friend he got really sick..."
"its quite alright little one, if your talking about Sasuke Uchiha, he's unconscious in that alley over there," scratching the back of his head he said, " Would you like some help getting him home he didn't look like he was very inclined to move."
but the jonnin was talking to no one, Haren was already running in the opposite direction,
"Thank you!" she called to him as she rounded the corner of the alley.
The jonnin chuckled to himself,and kept walking in the other direction
Sasuke lay there sure enough, looking pale as a ghost. Haren knelt next to him,
"Oh god Sasuke! Here I was just talking about how I wanted to make you happy then this happens!" Haren started to sniffle and soon she just buried her face in Sasuke's navy shirt.
"i want to make you happy! I want to be around you more...
"Sasuke I know that you hate me just as much as you do every one else but I don't know what I would do if you die, I know this probably wont kill you but still! Please don't die!"
Sasuke stirred, as if by some invisible force he sat up. The moon was high in the night time sky and the world around him was lit by only one streetlight.
The full moon made him think of that night, the night Itachi had killed his entire family... he saw his parents corpses on the ground in front of him. He saw Chibi's face when she got back two days later from the land of Snow. He shook his head, letting the memories fade until he had a clear mind.
He tried to remember what had happened.
He recalled running away from the restaurant, then a jonnin had come by and given some medicen. It had made his stomach calm down, but after that he had fallen unconscious. But what was that voice? He had heard someone talking,
"'Please don't die!'" it had been a very familiar voice..
suddenly Sasuke looked down.
Next to him curled into a little ball, was Haren.
She had dried tears on her face and dirt all over her white jacket. She was asleep but she had a frown on her face.
How long had he observed this little girl from afar? Since she was five years old really, he remembered her in her cute little blue kimono at the firefly festival with her older brother.
They were just like him.
No one offered them free food, no one asked them to play games.
He and Chibi, along with a seething Kaori, had also been standing off to the side, watching people glare at them, shun them.
But then he had seen her.
A little angel in a blue kimono. Her red hair flowing like a river down her back. Since then every day he had longed to take her up in his arms and stroke that hair that looked so silky.
Now she lay here next to him, probably coming out of plain friendly concern to see if he was OK...
He tentatively reached out and laid his hand on her head. The smoothness of her hair sent shivers up his arm.
Very slowly and gently he ran his fingers through the crimson locks. So much softer and silkier than he had imagined. He scooted a little closer and slowly ran his fingers through again and again. Eventually she stopped frowning and relaxed into a more peaceful sleep.
Sasuke reluctantly moved his hand away and sighed. He shouldn't be doing this, one he didn't have Haren's permission, and two, he didn't want to open his heart up and get hurt again.
But he didn't have to open his heart one inch to realize that he loved this girl. Not like he loved Chibi, or had loved his mother, it was different.
"love you Haren." he whispered, he wouldn't ever be able to tell her that to her face but... he was glad he'd said it.
Naruto was shocked when he heard the door bell ring at midnight. He looked up from his book of jutsu and went to the door.
His shock turned to anger when he realized it was Sasuke, he had searched all over he village and hadn't found him or Haren, whom he now held sleeping in his arms.
"How the hell did you find my sister!?" Naruto whispered furiously.
He noted that Sasuke was pale as a corpse besides his flaming cheeks, he panted like a dog and seemed like he was having a hard time standing.
" Hey are you okay?" Naruto asked trying to take his sister out of the sick boy's arms. But Sasuke held fast, he shook his head wordlessly and pushed Naruto out of the way, walking into the tiny apartment. Naruto followed behind him rubbing his eyes,
"What happened?" He asked Sasuke as Haren was set on the couch,
"After I ran out of the shop I fell down. I woke up later to find Haren laying beside me, apparently she couldn't carry me, so she stayed beside me all night. When I woke up I was feeling better so I carried her home."
Naruto nodded, he surprised Sasuke by getting him a cold pack and a blanket. The Uchiha expected the blond to start yelling at him for being a pervert, but instead Naruto told Sasuke to lie down and get some rest.
"what about Chibi?" Sasuke resisted Naruto trying to push him down. So giving up on getting Sasuke to rest, Naruto picked up Haren and took her to another room. He came back a few minutes later,
"Chibi is fine, she came home with me after we searched for you two for hours. She didn't want to stay by herself, and she figured this would be where you went. She is sleeping in the guest room." Naruto said pointing down the hall way.
"How many rooms do you have in this tiny place?" Sasuke said trying to provoke Naruto like usual. Naruto simply frowned at him,
"You can stop acting like a little kid Sasuke, we aren't at school..." Naruto said sternly, going into the kitchen and getting out some herbs.
Sasuke reeled, he was accused of being immature by the number one knucklehead in the entire village!
"What are you talking about? You are the most childish person in the village!" Sasuke said excepting the cup Naruto offered him.
Naruto sighed and sat in the chair opposite of the couch Sasuke sat on.
"well I guess your the first person besides Haren I've told this..." He sat back and folded his hands in his lap, " when Haren was about three years old, a year after my mother died, she tripped and fell into the river outside of town." Sasuke's black eyes widened,
"She was saved by a nearby chunnin thank god but..." Naruto looked out the window next to him his eyes half closed he gritted his teeth,
" it was when we were playing tag, I had accidentally tagged her to hard and she had stumbled into the river because of me."
Naruto put his head in his hands,
"She could've died Sasuke, because of me! I instantly grew up, maybe not in body but most certainly in mind. The whole world around me became clearer more defined, I could hear better, even my sense of smell heightened. All of my childhood was lost to me, I'm now and was on that day as mature as any sensible adult-"
"Thats a lie!" Sasuke whispered suddenly, " all the time even today in the restaurant you were yelling like an idiot! Making a fool of your self! Your as grow up as my family is alive!" Sasuke said looking down angrily.
Naruto sat and let him brood for a moment, he watched him with an indifferent expression. Finally after some time he said,
" its hard for you to believe, because at the academy I'm loud and hyperactive
but that is my cover. People think I'm weird enough already, me instantly becoming my true self wouldn't help my social interactions. People think I do it for attention, but truthfully the last thing I want to do is embarrass Haren. Sometimes I wonder if she wants to be adopted by some kind foster family." the way Naruto was talking sounded just how like his mother used to talk, and she was the most sensitive, level headed person that Sasuke had ever seen.
Sasuke stared in disbelief, Naruto was really grown up, that one time... it all made sense.... one day Sasuke had been sitting down on his favorite dock. He had looked up to see Naruto walking by, on the hill a ways away from the dock, with handfuls of groceries. Then a couple of people had walked by they had seemed to ask him something then they pushed the groceries out of his hands snickering. Naruto had bent down and picked up the groceries without complaint, then he said something to the people.
Sasuke had figured he'd said something sarcastic due to the look of shock on the peoples faces but apparently he was just being polite, bidding them a good night.
"Sasuke, I will probably keep acting the way I do now until I'm a genin, but once that time comes, ill slowly ease into my own personality. Then people will just think I matured naturally. You must not act like we are friends once we are back at the academy."
Sasuke was shocked,
"we are... friends?" Sasuke whispered.
Naruto smiled,
"well I wouldn't have told you my closely guarded secret unless I knew I could trust you." Naruto paused extending a hand, "friend?"
Sasuke smiled and took Naruto's hand, his first real friend.