OMG! A little over a week and I've updated again! Aren't you all so proud of me! I swear I will try my utmost hardest to keep updates from being few and far in between but if I don't then it's because I decided to get lazy in my school work and need to catch up...but I digress. So yeah ^_^; here's the real chapter one! Read. Enjoy. Review and Favorite.
Chapter 1:
The van made an obnoxious beep as it back in to the driveway. He wince as his ears were assailed with such a painfully high frequency he swore it was deteriorating his ear drum. Finally it was pulled all the way into his driveway and then the fleet of movers and house attendants began to pile out and help bring things in. He walked over to a tree and flopped down in the shade, fully intent on watching everyone else bring stuff inside the house except him.
"Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, if you don't get that little butt of your up and help us, I will ground you~!" he heard a female sing in the distance.
"But mom, there's nothing I can do. Everyone's got it covered!" he whined childishly. A young red haired woman walked out of the house with a smile on her face which made him instantly wary.
"Oh? I have something for you to do then! Here's a map and a list" she said handing him two different pieces of paper. One held directions to some place he'd never been to (then again half of this city had things he'd never been to) and the other was a supply list with nothing but hardware type things on it.
"What the heck is this?" he asked incredulously.
"It's our supply list. Go get the paints we ordered and I left enough money for you to pick out your own colors. When you come back, you can paint your room and that will keep you from being bored!" his mother answered casually. Naruto stood there gaping like a fish once he realized that his mother had just took advantage of him...once again. He narrowed his eyes and growled angrily.
Ah, ah, ah~! Growling at you mother won't stop those errands from being taken care of!" she pointed out in a sing-song voice.
"What if I get lost!?" he whined pitifully. Big blue eyes widened like an innocent puppy dog's would but his mother just rolled her eyes.
"You getting lost is not what I'm worried about...it's who you ask for directions if you get lost. I can just imagine the press you'll have following you back.. That's why I gave you the number to your aunt's direct line. Use it."
"You mean she's still alive? What if she's all senile and junk now so she gives me the wrong directions?"
"You shouldn't talk about her that way. She's coming over for dinner tomorrow and it'd be really bad if she found out what you've said all these years about her"
"Hmph. What's wrong with what I said? It's the truth. This place obviously has no real sense of what leadership should be, if the one they chose for mayor is an alcoholic with a gambling addiction"
"Just leave already. If you hurry, you can be back before dinner" she said smirking. Both realized the fact that it was still early in the morning and only one person found amusement in that last line. Naruto narrowed his eyes at her before walking to his car.
It was a Ford Mustang GT that he basically worked half his life to get. It was also his pride and joy because he got it with the work from his own two hands. From paper routes in his old neighborhood to basically any odd job he could get since the age of 10. And he had saved up every little cent from christmas gifts up until his birthday and put in in the bank, until finally 8 years later he bought a car! His parents were so impressed with his responsibility that they even paid for everything else included aka. the insurance. And obviously teens, plus fast nice cars equaled quite a high price for insurance...if they didn't laugh in your face from the very beginning, when you went to the place to get the paperwork for it.
He sighed miserably and took the directions out before buckling his seatbelt. Then he glanced at them briefly before starting the car and heading to his destination.
'Hm...Australian marigold...Sunburst...or Citrus...but ooh! Electric looks good too! Oh the choices the choices' the blonde thought sadly.
"Uh sir? Do you need help deciding? You've been staring at the orange section for quite a while..." a cashier asked hesitantly. Naruto was so far in his own little orange world that he didn't even hear her.
"Sir? Are you...okay?"
"All of them! Somehow I'll put all of them on my wall. I just have to do it stylishly so that my mom doesn't freak out...but I need to know how..."
"-the book store down the street probably has feng shui manuals if you're interested" someone whispered into his ear. He jumped clear across the room in fear.
"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE!!" he screeched in shock. His eyes widened comically as he stared at the man before him. Just like he remembered when he was a child, his father's former pupil had a knack for randomly beaming down from the Enterprise.
"Yo!" The gray haired man's eyes smiled in an upside down U even though the rest of his face was covered by a scarf.
"How did you find me already!?! I just got here this morning!"
"Did you really think I wouldn't know the day you moved back in town? If you're wondering, I've already been by your house for a visit. Then while I was there having a cup of tea with your mother, she told me to come remind you to hurry up on my way home!" he said offhandedly and with sly smile on his face.
"I always knew you were a stalker..." he muttered darkly.
"Is that a nice thing to call your one of godfathers?"
"You are only my godfather by default"
"Now that hurts. It really does"
You'll live. By the way, where is Iruka-sensei anyway? Today is Saturday so he shouldn't be teaching" he asked.
"Oh him? He's at your house helping your parents unpack boxes. You might wanna get back with that stuff before he reaches your room..." Kakashi said casually.
"Good point. I guess I'm just gonna say see you later then. It'll be at least a week before you get over your new influx of separation anxiety now that we're back" he said as he walked up to the register.
"I resent that" Kakashi said pouting, even though it had fallen on to deaf ears.
Naruto walked into the bookstore with a lost look on his face as he searched around for the "home decorating" section. It was a relatively small bookstore and everyone else seemed to have their own personal spot to read in yet the poor blonde was lost as if he were in a maze. His confused look made it obvious to all of the other patrons in the store that this was his first time in here. He would have preferred to not have to ask for help, since to Naruto it was a sign of defeat, but time was of the essence. For every second wasted, that was an opportunity for his other godfather Iruka to do some decorating of his own. And it was not that he was saying his godfather had bad taste...it was just a bit...unmasculine. And that was something he couldn't tolerate waking up to in his room, his personal sanctuary!
"Um excuse me? I think I need help finding a book" he said walking up to the front desk. Instantly cotton candy pink head looked up and stared at him with wide green eyes.
"Y-you! You're back!" she said in awe.
"Um...have we met?"
"You mean you really don't remember me!? I was like your childhood crush and obsession throughout pre-k! You even were ready to murder some kid because he took the nap-time spot that I liked to be in"
"Oh...yeah I remember now!" he lied rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She stared at him with a blank look.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. You proclaimed your love to me for about a year. Or at least until you left..."
"Sakura, Sakura? No way!"
"Yeah. It's me, me. So where have you been all this time?"
"Oh,it's a long story. A really long story"
"Well then you can tell it all to me over lunch. We've gotta catch up after our 'time apart', right? I'll give you my number and you can call me when you're free!" she said jokingly.
"That sounds like a deal!" he said grinning. Sakura pulled out a pen from behind the register and scrawled down her cell phone number.
"So I guess I'll be seeing you around now?"
"Definitely! Oh, by the way...do you know where the home decorating aisle is?" he asked, suddenly remembering what he actually came for. While she was giving him directions to the location of the books he wanted, the bell over the door chimed in the background. Two people walked in but Naruto paid no attention to them and instead focused on finding his book.
As soon as the bell chimed, Sakura looked up ready to greet the new customers but the instant she saw them, her stomach felt like it had dropped into a deep pit. Walking in, graceful and arrogant as ever was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. And flanking by his side was his dancer partner Tayuya. She seemed to notice Sakura behind the counter and smirked before glancing to Sasuke.
"Sasuke~. Why the hell are we here? There's nothing but outdated books and garbage!" she grumbled just loud enough for the entire store to hear.
"I'm getting a book that my mother wanted me to buy for her. If it's becoming boring for you, just go wait outside. Or better yet...go home"
"Orochimaru wanted us to practice today. I'm here to make sure you don't skip again for 'personal reasons'"
"I made it very clear when I enrolled that I might have prior commitments due to family functions. I even tell you ahead of time so that you can find a replacement for me"
"Yeah and all of those so-called commitments are for things in Konoha" she sneered.
"That's because I live in Konoha, or did you forget? You know, your insecurity is really pathetic and it's starting to annoy me. Go wait outside or I won't even bother showing up today" he said rolling his eyes at her. She was ready to shoot back a retort but the glare he gave her made her have second thoughts. Instead she snorted and turned on her heel, heading for the door. On her way out she noticed Sakura trying to keep a straight face and she scowled. Turning to one of the racks she smirked before dragging her arm across it at knocking down all of the books.
"Oi! Looks like you've got a mess over here on the floor. Pick up this shit before I complain to your manager" she called out with a smirk. Sakura glared at her icily before making her way from behind the register.
"Don't even think about cleaning up that mess Sakura, I saw the whole thing" a voice cut in. they both turned to see Naruto standing there frowning at Tayuya.
"It's okay Naruto. Ive got it" she answered quickly.
"No it's not! She made that mess just to be a bully! You don't have to pick it up" he shot back. Both girls looked at him incredulously.
"Look blondie, you need to stay out of stuff that isn't your business...if you don't you might get hurt!"
"I dare you to touch me! You don't act like a girl so I won't feel bad if I end up having to defend myself"
"Those are big words you've got there. You sure you can back 'em up?"
"Tayuya, what's going on?" Sasuke asked walking up to them.
"This Konoha scum is just trying to pick a fight, as usual"
"Dude, you need to take that chick back to finishing school because her manners suck ass! She's rude to employees and has a sailor's mouth on top of it!"
"Dude? Do you even know who I am dobe?"
"I'm not a dobe, teme. And I can see you need to pull that stick outta your ass too!"
"Oi bubblegum! You need to get your friend over here before he gets himself into big trouble from insulting an Uchiha heir!"
"I don't care if he's the son of King Tut! You both are jerks and need to be taught a lesson!" he shot back at her.
"Are you going to teach me dobe?"
"As a matter of fact, I will" he said walking up to the brunette and grabbing him by his shirt. Cerulean and obsidian eyes locked together in a heated glare. But then for one split second, Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter before he pulled the hand off of him.
"Hn. Let's go Tayuya" he said grunting.
"What!? Are you kidding me these guy are-"
"-Now" he said in a clipped tone. She complied with his command, not wanting to upset him after recalling his threat from a few moments ago.
"Hey bastard! What about the books?" Naruto called out. Sasuke turned around and raise one eyebrow. Then to everyone's utter shock, he walked back to the register.
"This is for the book. I don't need change" he muttered, leaving the dollar bill on the counter. They both looked with wide eyes to see that he had left a 50 dollar bill.
"That book's price wasn't even more than 20 bucks, why didn't he want change?" she thought aloud.
"Heh, he doesn't even deserve to know he left too much. Just keep the rest and consider it a tip from those jerks" Naruto said snickering. Sakura looked at him in surprise, suddenly realizing that's probably exactly what Sasuke was expecting her to do.
"Thank you Naruto" she said suddenly.
"Aw, it was nothing. I'd never ignore a damsel in distress!" he said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"No really. That could've escalated onto so much more if you weren't here. There's got to m=be so way I can repay you! What are you doing later?"
"Uh, avoiding family friends who will be bombarding my house and watching paint dry...literally" he said nodding to his new book on the counter.
"Then we can go clubbing! You'll love it! There's this awesome place in town that all of the kids go to! I'll pick you up later and we can go with some of my friends. I'll introduce you to them in the car" she said excitedly. He didn't have the heart say no to her, even though he wasn't really good around massive amounts of people. And so he just nodded on confirmation before saying goodbye.
"I can't believe you just let those fuckers go!"
"It wasn't worth causing a scene. Especially not if my parents found out about it... "
"So what! He talked back to you, and now they're gonna both go bragin' around 'bout it now. And all because you let them go"
"Hn. It doesn't matter. I have a feeling we'll be seeing them a lot more outside of the competitions now" he said with a non-committal grunt.
'Especially now that Naruto and his family has decided to grace us with their presence once again' he thought mentally smirking.
Oh ho ho! How does Sasuke recognize Naruto and not vice versa? Where and why did Naruto move from Konoha in the first place? What will happen at the club? Stay tuned in and see! All will (possibly) be revealed...in a few more chapters. I worked this out through a timeline on one single piece of loose leaf paper. I never planned the chapter designations. Or what fillers lead each even to the next on my little map of wonders. Amazing isn't it!? Kishimoto-sensei would be proud ^_^ Oh and don't mind the whole entire chapter being nothing but talking. Apparently (according to all of my english teachers since the 7th grade) that's my style and it's actually retty unique since it has the ability to move the story along. I don't know if y'all agree but hey, don't toss it before you try it!
So this is Tsubaki over and out!
