Thirteen Days To Go...

Naruto woke, this time not panting nor sweating, but confused. The dream was different this time, not so much scary as the most recent one haunting his memories. This one was of a blond infant crying for her mother, who quickly came into the room to calm her child. The room was cold, for the window had been left open. As the mother went to close the window, snow had begun to fall, covering the already pallid ground.

"Hush Nara", the woman said, lifting her child out of the crib and bringing her to the window to watch the snowfall as the sun began to rise. Nara watched the snow, her small hands reaching out to try and grab some through the window.
"Now, now, Nara, I think we better get you back to bed, your second birthday is in only a few days", the woman chuckled.
"Wahgo! Wahgo!" The child screamed, as she was taken farther away from the sight of the snowfall and sunrise.
"No, it's time for bed Nara-chan", the mother giggled as she laid her child down to rest.
"Bad", Nara screamed.
"What a horrible first word!" the mother yelled, trying to sound angry.
"Bad, bad, bad!" Nara giggled before falling asleep.
"What a cutie, I hope my next child is as adorable as you", the mother whispered before heading back to her room.
"Karome, were you with Nara-chan?" a man asked, spiky blond hair flowing from his scalp. It was surprising how natural it was and that it was still soft.
"Yeah, she said her first word just then", Karome said as she crawled over to her husband.
"Really? What was it?" the man asked.
"Bad", Karome giggled.

"Oi, Naruto. Sasuke's been looking for you", Kakashi poofed in front of the blond haired ninja.
Naruto sat up and sighed, "Why hasn't he come here yet?"
"I told him you went out to train so he couldn't bug you", Kakashi said.
"It doesn't matter", Naruto said as he lay back in bed, putting one arm up over his eyes.
"What's been up with you lately, Naruto? You've been skipping meetings, training, and even avoiding Sasuke", Kakashi said frowning under his mask.
"It's nothing", Naruto said, closing his eyes. He knew there was something, actually a lot of things, but it was too soon to let someone know, and no one wanted to know, no one cared so much to hear his words.
Kakashi sighed before he poofed out of Naruto's room, he failed in bringing the blond ninja out from brooding. Maybe it was time to send Iruka in, Iruka knew Naruto best after all as he was Naruto's guardian.
When Kakashi arrived at Iruka's door, he was about to knock but the door opened and Iruka soon walked out, bumping into him.
"Ah, gomen-na Kakashi", Iruka said as he stepped back.
"It's alright, where are you headed?" Kakashi asked.
"I was headed off to see Naruto, it's been a while since I have seen him", Iruka said with a smile on his face,
"That's good, I was just about to ask if you could visit him, he has been a little depressed lately and hasn't been attending any meetings or training sessions. He hasn't been up to fighting Sasuke either", Kakashi said, walking beside Iruka as they walked towards Naruto's apartment.
"That's strange, I'll ask him what's wrong then", Iruka assured the Jounin with a big smile on his face.
"Thanks", Kakashi said with a smile before disappearing, leaving the chuunin to visit the blond ninja.
"Naruto! Naruto!" Iruka yelled, banging on Naruto's door.
Soon the door opened and out came a tired looking blond, his eyes swollen with black rings around them. "Oh, hey Iruka-sensei".
Iruka pulled the blond into his arms and held him in a tight embrace.
"Iruka-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, his arms still at his side as he tried to figure out what was going on.
"Naruto, what's wrong with you? Haven't you been sleeping well? You've missed meetings, training, and even a chance to fight Sasuke", Iruka stated.
Naruto just hugged his teacher back then moved away from the reluctant teacher, "It's just this one dream. A young girl and her mother in a town where white snow falls."
Iruka pat the young ninja's back as he began to cry, crystal tears staining pale cheeks, "It's alright, and you don't have to tell me now. Just promise me you won't skip anymore meetings or training, okay?"
Naruto nodded his head and wiped his eyes before turning around, closing the door behind him, and heading to his room where he laid down once again on his bed. He tossed his arm over his face to block the light as the memory of his dream washed over him again. He knew that these dreams had to be something more, especially with the clarity and repetition they came with. However, he had no idea who the happy family was that constantly tormented him while he slept. He wished he could be happy just like them.
He sat up in his bed, knowing he would not be able to go back to sleep for a while, and grabbed one of the scrolls off his desk and began to read. Since he didn't feel like going out and sleep was out of the question the only thing left was to study.

Naruto didn't realize how late it was until the light from outside began to turn orange as the sun set in the sky. He sighed and put his scrolls back on the desk before getting up and heading into the kitchen. He was surprised to see a bag full of instant ramen on his kitchen table, knowing full well that it was not his doing. He checked the contents of the bag but only found ramen, no note left behind to indicate who may have brought it for him.
He couldn't help but smile at the good deed someone had gone out of their way to do for him before placing the ramen in a cupboard and making one of the packages for him to eat.
He sat down at the table once the ramen was done, chopsticks in hand as he looked happily down at his ramen, "Itadakimasu."

Kizune smiled as she watched the blond settle down into his bed shortly after the sky had darkened. Tonight he had smiled as he slept and she knew she had done the right thing, even if it meant she may get in trouble later.

Note: Thanks to my beta reader Scarlette. for helping me release this chapter and there will be more to come :)