Chapter One: Stranger in a strange land
This was not how Naruto had planned his life to turn out. No, not by any means had he thought he would end up in a situation like this. If this were the afterlife, he was really disappointed because there was no endless supply of ramen and no sign of any of the people he had lost and hoped to see again someday. It rather made sense that this might be the afterlife, he did remember they were in a war and he figured he could have died fighting, though that was a little too tame for his tastes. Truth be told, he had rather hoped he would end up dying of dehydration after a week long sex marathon including Sakura, Hinata, and Shion. Unfortunately, that had never happened, damned the luck, and Naruto now found himself in a strange place that was nothing like his home. Nothing was right, not the sounds, sights or even the smells. Everything seemed to have taken a little detour concerning reality right after he and his partner Kurama, better known as Kyubi, teamed up to fight the last fight. The details were a bit fuzzy, in fact a good portion of the last few years were fuzzy or just plain missing.
Naruto had woken up laying in the middle of a large wooded area, but it was a strange forest considering he could hear the sound of machines in the distance and everything looked just a little too neat to be natural. Sure enough, after taking to the trees and getting as high as he could, Naruto was surprised to find that he was in the middle of the largest village he had ever seen. The place made Amegakure seem tiny by comparison, with buildings reaching so high into the sky that one or two of them seemed to actually be touching the clouds. It was just crazy to him that anyone could build something that big.
What also drove him crazy was the smell. The air was thick, oily almost, and left an aftertaste in his mouth like a mix of burning rubber and sewage. You could almost see the air around you, so filled with smoke and steam, not to mention the overpowering smell of people. Oh were there people. He could hear them from where he was at and that was a good two hundred yards from the nearest paved road. It was enough to give him a headache, lets not even mention the fact that for the first time in his life not even the thought of ramen sounded good to him. It just turned his stomach like the bad milk he often had in his refrigerator.
Naruto had spent a week hiding out in the strange forest trying to figure out what was going on before he remembered the secret behind training with his clones. Since waking up here in this place, Naruto had been having a hard time remembering clearly what had happened to him over the last few years. Everything was clear to him up until his return to Konoha after his training trip with Jiraiya, but after that there were larger and larger voids in his memories that he couldn't explain. Not many things really scared Naruto, except ghost stories and Sakura at that time of the month, but the thought that he was losing his memory terrified him. He was looking through his travel scroll when he found his journal.
Jiraiya had told him the day after they left for the three year training trip that everyone should keep a journal, then handed Naruto a leather bound orange book with nothing but blank pages. Every night for the next three years he had written down his thoughts about the day and a summary of what he had learned. After his return to Konoha, he had continued the practice as it seemed to give him a way to focus his mind and thoughts, giving him some measure of peace. So, sitting in a tree in the middle of a strange artificial wood, Naruto read about his own life for the past several years. He laughed and cried as the memories slowly came back to him, at least more than he had before. Only once did he think about burning the journal, afraid to read anymore and that was with the knowledge that his mentor and godfather was dead. He wept that night, probably the first time he could remember truly crying since he was a small child. When he awoke the next morning he made a promise to himself not to forget Jiraiya and to do everything in his power to make the man's dream of peace come true.
Naruto finished reading his journal, thankful that he had written in such great detail about his training and the things he had learned over the last few years. He sealed the journal away and began planning what to do now. Information was the key, so he needed to learn about where he was and what was going on. Only sending clones out to learn what they could about where he was at, Naruto spent much of the next few days training in secret at night. In that time he learned that this was a much rougher and less polite place than he had ever seen before. Out of an original fifty clones he had sent out to reconnoiter, five were shot, two were stabbed, three were almost robbed by bandits, and ten were groped by several men and women alike. It was a little scary, to say the very least. Luckily, the second batch of clones had better luck and he was getting an idea of how to act in this world.
Not far from his current location the clones had stumbled across an area where the people spoke a variation of one of the languages Naruto had learned during his training trip with Jiraiya. Over the course of the next week Naruto, thanks to his clones, was able to learn the new language and start getting some information about what the hell was going on. It was slow going at first, splitting his time between training himself and having clones henged to look like his friends and the people he had met during his journeys learn the new language. Eventually he felt comfortable enough that he felt it was time he personally stepped out of the woods and into this new world. Once again using henge to disguise himself, Naruto began his new journey.
As it turned out, Naruto was currently in a city named New York, in the state of New York, in the country of United States of America. When he got his hands on a map of the place he had nearly shit himself. The place was huge, the city alone was larger than the Fire Country and when you looked at the bigger map of the country, you could have fit all the known Elemental Countries on the eastern seacoast of United States of America. The scale was just beyond anything Naruto had ever dealt with before. When he learned that people needed machines to get from place to place in a decent amount of time, he had fully understood that this could not be his world.
Several attempts at contacting Kurama for help had failed. It was only when he finally ventured into his mindscape that he figured out why. The fox, or what was left of it, was now about the size of a puppy and was so deeply asleep that even screaming in Kurama's ear had failed to wake him. The other major difference were the pipes that represented his and Kurama's chakra. Where before they had been large, maybe as big around as his waist, now they were HUGE. The smallest one he found was wider than he was tall, with all the rest being larger than the largest tree trunks he had ever seen. It was crazy, pure insanity, that he could have that much chakra in his system, but the proof was right in front of him. Oh and just to add to the madness, he now had two other sets of pipes, one green and one white. He assumed the green ones represented nature chakra and the white ones represented the combination of his and Kurama's, but that was just a theory until the fox woke up and explained it to him.
It was another two weeks before Naruto realized that as things stood, he was ill prepared to survive in this new world. The cold hard truth was that unlike his own world, here he was going to need money and identification papers if he was going to function in this new land. Money wasn't a major issue for him considering he had about five hundred gold Ryo in his wallet, his good old faithful Gama-kun, and another ten thousand he had hidden in a seal on the back of his headband. A little research, not the perverted kind, had revealed that pure gold was worth a lot here in this land and that was going to work out well for him.
A visit to a "pawn shop" and the loss of twenty Ryo had earned him almost four thousand American Dollars, barely half what they were worth, but he couldn't be picky when he was trying to keep a low profile. Thankfully he had taken to the roofs right after leaving the shop as the owner had sent two thugs after him, clearly with the intent to get the rest of Naruto's coins and the man's money back from him. Too bad for them that he was long gone by the time they thought to look up at the roof above them. Naruto was positive he could have handled them in a straight up fight, but that would have drawn attention he didn't need, so it was better to run and hide for now.
As he was still living in the trees of Central Park, that was what the people called the forest in the middle of the city, Naruto only used his money for things he really needed like take out food and toiletries. Oh how he had missed toilet paper and toothpaste. Don't even get him started on bath soap and laundry detergent. The discovery of what a laundromat was still ranked up there on his "Thank Kami!" list. It was while he was doing laundry one night that he met his current employer.
Mister Sasaki owned a small Japanese restaurant near the park that was in serious need of a delivery boy. Now considering Japanese was a dead on match for Naruto's natural language and the fact that the old man was willing to pay him cash for his work, the young shinobi felt he was in luck. By the next afternoon he was driving a beat up scooter around Manhattan delivering food to offices and apartment buildings. This worked out for him because Naruto's first delivery was to a library. Not just any library, but the biggest damned library he had ever seen in his life. By that night he was living in an empty room in the place and his clones were reading everything they could get their hands on all day long, each henged into a random person Naruto saw around the city. Jiraiya had told him that knowledge was power, and Naruto was thinking this was a sign from Kami above that it was time to live up to that advice.
He read EVERYTHING he got his hands on, it might have been against his basic nature, but you didn't always get what you wanted. From masterpieces of literature to crappy tabloids, Naruto read it. This world's history? He memorized it. Scientific treaties on the most esoteric theories? He soaked them up. It took him two months and more clones than there were people in the city, but he read the entire contents of the library including several of the rare books stored away from public view. What he learned was both wondrous and heart breaking, but it was worth it in the end as at least now he had an idea as to what he needed to do if he was going to live in this world. The first step was to create a background for himself and get identity papers. That wouldn't be so hard if he cashed in a few more Ryo and found the right people.
It took him another month to make the contacts he needed. Finding the right sort of people was easy as just like in his world, the underworld figures he needed were always easy to find if you knew where to look. Thankful again for Jiraiya's training, Naruto traded money and favors for the paperwork he needed. He wasn't thrilled with working for crime lords, but with the proper application of skill and henge, he was able to get away with his morals intact and even prevented a few innocent people from having to suffer. In the end Naruto was the proud owner of a set of identification papers that would at least allow him to rent an apartment rather than living in a dusty old attic. That was when he met HER!
He had just rented a relatively nice studio apartment in the Bronx and was in the process of moving in when he got ran over by a black and orange blur with long blonde hair and blue eyes. A shouted apology as the young woman ran down the street was all he got out of her that first meeting, but something inside him said he should know who the mysterious girl was. He pushed the thought away until later that day when he was looking at the mailboxes in the entryway. The name listed for apartment 4A, the one right across from his own, was N. Namikaze. Ok, that got his interest considering that was the last name of his father, but it was the little chibi figure next to the name that drew his attention. It was the tiny female figure with the big smile, pigtails, and throwing up a peace sign that really had him wondering what the hell was going on.
That night after he finished setting up his apartment and made some ramen for diner, Naruto climbed the fire escape to the roof. He might not be able to see the stars as well here as he had back in Konoha, but it was peaceful up on the roof and that had to count for something. He had just finished his ramen when he heard someone opening the stairwell access door. Not sure if he was actually allowed up on the roof, Naruto dashed for a shadowy corner and waited to see who was coming. Much to his surprise, it was the same girl that had run him over earlier in the day. What was even more surprising was that he recognized her. Boy, did he recognize her, as he had seen her up close and personal on many occasions. There, the illusion made flesh, was a woman that was the perfect embodiment of his first original jutsu, the Sexy no Jutsu.
She was about his hight with long blonde hair, tied back in two pigtails, that still managed to hang down to her waist. Her eyes were a perfect match for his own sapphire blue eyes, though her eyes seemed much larger than his own. While his face was harsh and squared off, her's was soft and heart shaped. Where he was broad shouldered and muscular, she was slim and shapely. Very shapely considering the tight black bicycle shorts and skintight t-shirt she was wearing left very little to the imagination. He would have thought the whole outfit was painted on if he hadn't watched the hem of her shirt move up and down as she walked closer to the center of the roof. It was just really freaky to watch a female version of himself that wasn't one of his clones walking around.
He watched her for several minutes as she took a seat on one of the brick half walls, looking up at the sky and sighing a great deal. He was just about to sneak away when she started talking. Even with his enhanced senses he could not hear her at first, but then she started speaking louder. He was rather freaked out when she started talking to someone, but a moment later he figured it out. She was talking to her parents and from the sound of it they had been dead for a long time. Something else it seemed the had in common.
"Well, I got fired again," she was saying, just loud enough for Naruto to hear it. "My boss got a little grabby this afternoon and decided the place his hands needed to be was on my ass. I wasn't going to stand for that, so I hauled off and hit him in the nose. Broke the damn thing and had him laying on the ground crying like a little bitch as I tossed my order pad at him and headed for my locker. By the time I was changed and on my way out the door he was screaming how I was fired and would never work for him again. I'm not sure, I thought he figured out I quit, but fired works just as well. Looks like I'm heading to the unemployment office again. I hope you aren't too disappointed in me, guys."
She seemed to think of something as she looked back up at the sky. "Oh, and I really need to find the guy I knocked over this morning. I feel real bad about that, but I was running late and could only say sorry as I ran down the street. I didn't get a good look at him, but he looked familiar, not to mention cute. Mom, I swear, I just saw his back for a moment, but he's got the broadest shoulders I've ever seen. Talk about hot!"
Naruto was blushing when he heard that, deciding it might be a good thing to make himself scarce before he heard anything that really embarrassed him. Now Naruto was never a firm believer in a Kami, or fate, or any of that stuff and maybe what happened next was their way of saying, "Yes, we do exist." He was just getting ready to leap off the side of the building and head back to his apartment through the front door when his foot slipped on something and he found himself laying face first on the roof. The shriek that followed his slip was followed a second later by the sound of someone diving behind something. Naruto looked up and found two pigtails sticking out over the top of the wall the girl had been sitting on a moment before.
"You know, I can see you," he said with a chuckle as he sat up. "I'm really sorry I scared you. See, I just moved in today and didn't know if we were allowed up here, so I kind of hid when I heard you come up. You were having a private moment and I didn't want to interrupt, so I was just going to leave and let you have your privacy. Unfortunately, my feet decided I needed to lay down and forgot to mention it to my head. Sorry."
This all tumbled out of his mouth in one long exhalation as he was sitting up and rubbing the back of his head, feeling more than a little embarrassed. "Basically, I'm an idiot, and I'm sorry. I'll go."
"Wait," she called as he got up and turned to leave. "Who are you?"
Turning back around with a look of embarrassment, Naruto replied, "Sorry, forgot the manners my baa-chan tried to teach me. My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Like I said, I just moved in today. I think we actually met this morning, though you were in kind of a hurry at the time."
The young woman finally stuck her head up to look over the half wall allowing Naruto to get a better look at her. He noticed her pigtails were set above and a little behind her ears, giving her a young and innocent look. He also noticed that her bangs hung down, almost completely covering her eyes which made him think she was hiding behind them. She had a cute little nose that almost begged for someone to kiss the tip. She wore a little frown on her full lips, which Naruto noticed were a natural dark pink. All in all, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Part of his mind reminded him she was a dead ringer for himself when he used the Sexy no Jutsu which the only thing that kept him from falling in love with her right that very moment.
"I'm really sorry about that," she said, her voice sounding like something an angel would be jealous of. "I was running late. I really didn't mean to knock you over."
"Hey, I've been late a time or twelve myself, so no worries," Naruto instantly replied, wondering why his cheeks felt warm when she smiled at him. "How about we start over? Forget about this morning and tonight?"
Walking over, and out into the moonlight, Naruto held out a hand to the young woman with a warm smile on his face. "Like I said, I'm Naruto and I live here now. What's your name?"
The young woman gasped, when she saw him, her cheeks getting darker in the moonlight as she stood up and took Naruto's hand. "This is going to sound odd, but we've almost got the same name. My name is Naruko. Naruko Namikaze and it's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto."
"Namikaze?" he asked, going pale at the sound of the name. "My father's last name was Namikaze."
Naruko looked a bit shocked by that news, saying, "Wow, I thought it was just a made up name? You mean it's a real family? Do you think we are related?"
"Ummm... Probably not since I think my dad's family was from an isolated village in Japan," replied Naruto, once again wondering about the chances of her being a female version of him in this world. "Still, we can be friends, so that's got to count for something, right?"
They spent several hours up on the roof talking that night. They shared bits and pieces of their lives, surprised at how much they had in common and while Naruto could not tell her all the details of his life, he could share some of it. As it turned out, they were both orphans as he had thought. Naruko's parents, Shinji and Orohime Namikaze, had been killed when she was only a year old. The family had been living in Hawaii since shortly before Naruko's birth and had decided to vacation in New York shortly after her first birthday. Unfortunately, there had been a car accident and both her parents were killed. As she had no other blood relations, Naruko was put into foster care until she was old enough to apply for emancipation when she turned sixteen. As she had money from her parents to live on, she had moved into the apartment she still lived in and finished of high school locally. After graduation she had received a scholarship to attend Long Island University, majoring in Dance and Theater. Unfortunately even though she was able to live off campus and save money there, her scholarship had been cut due to the budget and she was having to work nights in order to pay her tuition. At the rate she was going now, she feared she would have to drop out as the money from her parents was going to run out soon and then she would have to work just to afford rent, forget about school.
Naruto, in a rare moment of understanding, hugged Naruko when she started to cry and found her sudden grip around his waist to be tighter than anything Tsunade or Sakura had ever managed. As she collected herself, Naruto told her about his history. He explained that he had been born and raised in a small village in Japan, only recently coming to the United States. He told her about how he was also an orphan, his parents being killed in a fire just an hour after his birth. He skipped over the nastier bits about his childhood, just telling her that he had lived alone most of his life. Naruko chuckled when he told her about how he never really paid attention in school, mainly because he spent so much time pranking people that "deserved it," but that as he grew older he realized he had a knack for learning things faster than other people. Finally he told her about how his village had been destroyed in a natural disaster, an earthquake, and that had led him to coming here.
"I left so quickly I didn't even really know where I was going until I got here," he said with a sad smile, knowing it was a half truth. "When I finally got my bearings, I lived off of what little savings I was able to bring with me, but that won't last forever."
He really wanted to tell her more, speaking half truths and whole lies just did not sit right with him, but the truth would have made him sound crazy. So, he told her about his life in New York since his arrival. He told her how he had found work and refined his language skills with the help of Mister Sasaki and the customers he delivered to. She commented that his English sounded almost perfect, save for a few things that were barely noticeable. Then he told her about how he was trying to find his niche in the world and how he wanted to help people, but just didn't know how he wanted to go about it. Naruko, who had yet to let go of him and was currently snuggling into his chest, admitted that she sometimes thought about ways to help people, but just didn't know what she could do.
"I'm just a girl who happens to be good at dancing," she mumbled, her voice sounding thick as if she were falling asleep. "I would like to do more, but what can I do? It's not like I'm a superhero..."
Naruto looked down to find Naruko blissfully asleep in his arms. He smiled as he watched her sleep. Realizing that it was quite late, Naruto scooped her up in his arms and carried her bridal style down the fire escape to his window. He made his way across his apartment, summoning a clone to open the door for him, but when he tried the door to her apartment he found it was locked. He sent the clone to her window, hoping it was unlocked, but the clone dispelled allowing him to see that the window was locked tight. Now normally he would have just had a clone pick the lock and go from there, but seeing as he did not want to freak Naruko out, so the only option he had was for her to stay in his apartment for the night.
Returning to his room, Naruto laid her down on his bed and covered her up. Going to the closet he pulled out a spare blanket and pillow he had purchased earlier that day and flopped down on his couch. It wasn't the biggest couch in the world, a fact proven when his feet hung over the end, but it would do for the night. The last thought in his mind as he drifted of to sleep was that for the first time ever a girl was sleeping in his bed and unfortunately he wasn't there to enjoy it. With that thought, he drifted off to sleep and enjoyed a night of dreams about Naruko and him walking hand in hand through the forests of Konoha.
The next morning he woke up when someone was gently poking his shoulder. Now it wasn't something that was well known, mostly because the situation had never presented itself before, but Naruto liked to cuddle. This combined with years of instincts drilled into him and after the poke he grabbed hold of the offending person, pulled them up tight against him, and then pulled the sheets over them both as he drifted off back to sleep. This lasted for all of about a minute as the person he had just pulled into his arms got her blushing under control before she managed to turn her head just enough to whisper in his ear.
"If you don't let me go by the time I count to ten, I'm going to have to stay here like this all day and never want to leave," said the voice of an angel.
"Warm," he mumbled, half asleep. "Sleep now. Wake up later."
"Naruto," said the voice again. "Are you wake?"
"No," he mumbled. "Pillow is loud. Pillow not supposed to be loud."
It was the giggle that pulled his mind from slumberland and into the waking world. "Wait a minute. Pillows don't talk and they don't have heartbeats. Oh crap."
Forcing his eyes open, Naruto came face to face with Naruko. The fact she was so close to his face that he could count her eyelashes was a bit startling. Add that to the devilish grin on her face, not to mention the very pretty blush, and he was fairly certain he was about to catch hell for this. Oh, did he forget to mention that one of Naruko's very long and shapely legs was currently laying across his hips and that his "Little Buddy" was awake and standing at attention. Not helping was the fact he had one hand resting on her thigh while the other was wrapped around her waist, meaning her rather ample chest was firmly pressed against his side, not helping the current issue with his "Little Buddy."
"Please, don't kill me?" he begged as he slowly removed his hands from their positions. "I plead stupidity and being a rather sound sleeper for anything I may have done. Sorry."
"Oh, I don't know," cooed Naruko. "I've rather enjoyed it, so far. I do have a question for you? Why am I in your apartment and why did I wake up in your bed?"
The fact she had not moved from her current position, in fact she was now resting her head against his chest on which she was tracing little circles with her fingers just confused the hell out of him. After a moment of thought, a tiny little sliver of time, he wrapped his arm back around her waist, though he did not put his other hand back on her thigh. Instead he laid his free hand on top of her's, stopping her from tracing those little spirals when she entwined her fingers with his. Once again, that little part of his mind that worried about things warned him that she was a dead ringer for himself as a woman, though he instantly ignored it.
"You fell asleep on the roof last night and your door was locked when I came down," he explained, enjoying the smell of her hair. "You seemed really out of it, so I just put you in my bed and crashed on the couch."
"I guess that makes sense," she murmured. "It's kind of my fault since I locked the door before heading to the roof."
"But if you locked the door, how were you going to get back in?" he asked. "No offense, but you don't really have any pockets in those shorts."
Naruko giggled, letting go of his hand for a moment before sliding her hand down towards his waist. For a moment he thought she was going to do something he wasn't sure he was ready for, but secretly really wished she would do. While she did not do what he thought she was going to do, he did feel her hand move between their hips for a moment before she brought it back up and showed that it now held a single key. His mind wandered to where that key must have been based on where she had just pulled it from and he envied that key.
"You're right, I don't have pockets in theses shorts," she explained with a little giggle. "That doesn't mean I didn't have someplace to keep my key."
The two of them talked for a little while, curled up on his couch and speaking in whispers. Naruto secretly wondered if this was what having a lover was like? Quiet moments spent together with no intention of doing anything else other than just being together. He had never had something like that before, not that he could remember at any rate. There were a lot of blanks in his memory that seemed to grow larger and larger after meeting his mother when he originally defeated Kurama. He knew he had won the war, but it was the details like who he had fought and how he won were a complete blank. So, for all he knew he had at some point had a moment like this before, but with Naruko at his side at the moment he realized it just didn't matter.
Eventually they said their goodbyes for the day, agreeing to see each other again that night. Thankfully it was still early, so neither of them had to skip work or classes. As Naruko left she kissed him on the cheek before closing the door to her apartment, leaving a blushing Naruto in the hallway with a grin on his face that did not fade all day long. Sure, there had been the occasional woman in his life that teased him, some were actually rather blunt about what they wanted, like Shion. The problem was, Naruto was clueless back then and considering how his life had been going in his own world, he probably would have remained that way until some young woman beat him over the head and forced him to realize what was going on.
It was only coming here, to this strange new world, that had forced him to grow up and open his eyes. It was amazing what someone could learn from reading and with the vast number of books his clones had read for him, Naruto had learned a lot. He had learned how to be a better person than he had been before. Most of all he had learned that women might find his naiveté to be cute at first, but eventually you either had to step up and make a move or you were going to end up alone. He might not be the man he wanted to be, yet, but he had a chance for a new life and he wasn't going to waste it acting the clueless buffoon.
That night Naruko made diner for them in her apartment. It was a cozy little place that seemed to fit her perfectly, not to mention he loved all the orange she seemed to have all over the place. It was only when he saw a picture of her parents, a tall man with sandy brown hair and a shorter woman with blonde hair and blue eyes that he let out a little sigh of relief, glad her parents hadn't looked like his. The thought that she might be this world's version of him had nagged him all day, but now it just seemed like dumb luck about her looks and name. Add the fact that when she invited him over she had been wearing a rather form fitting knee length black skirt, a tight white blouse with the top three buttons undone to reveal a hint of cleavage, black stockings that had a seam running up the back, and black high heals. Yeah, he was really glad her parents looked completely different than his because the thoughts going through his head should never, ever be about someone that could be related to him.
"Thank Kami," he mumbled as she walked over and grabbed them something to drink, the sway of her hips nearly making him drool.
Things kind of settled like that for a while. Naruto and Naruko would alternate nights at each other's apartments making diner and just hanging out. By unspoken agreement they had not really taken their relationship past cuddling and the occasional kiss on the cheek, both felt the other was the missing part of them they had always been looking for. Months passed like that and it was almost a year before things changed, as things always do. Naruto had attempted to get into college, hoping his fake identity would hold up and allow it, but when he saw the type of information they wanted he had been forced to give the idea up. This led to him spending more and more time training while Naruko was at school. His clones had never stopped training, but now he spent several hours physically training each day as well.
Oddly he barely had to work at all to keep his body in top condition as it seemed his body was just faster and stronger than it had ever been before. In fact, if he had to gauge his physical condition now he would have to say he was well past Kage level. Each day he pushed a little harder and each day he was surprised to discover that things he had once struggled with were quite easy for him now. His speed was phenomenal, exceeding anything he had ever achieved before. As for his strength, he kept trying to find his physical limit, but had yet to really find one. He quit trying one night when he attempted to lift a parked car one night and found it to be quite easy, almost too easy. The only thing he noticed was the slightest pull on his chakra, almost as if his subconscious mind was channeling chakra to his body without him having to focus on it. It was two night later when he found something to test himself against.
Naruto was working a double shift because the other delivery guy had quit that afternoon. Mr. Sasaki offered Naruto time and a half, plus a bonus for every on time delivery if only he would cover until the old man could hire somebody new the next day. After agreeing, Naruto called Naruko to explain he wouldn't be home till late and that she shouldn't wait up for him. It was his last delivery of the night to a guy working at the Apollo theater and Naruto wanted to get it done as quickly as possible because he had a bad feeling. He was just leaving the Apollo when his gut told him he was in deep shit. Sure enough, the biggest and ugliest thing he had ever seen suddenly started wreaking the place. The creature, he sure couldn't call it a guy considering it only barely looked human, started attacking anything that moved, whether it be people or cars.
Moving as fast as he could, Naruto started grabbing people and moving them to safety. Twice he had to jump in front of cars that were flying towards innocents on the street. Surprisingly enough, the cars did no damage to him, other than tearing his clothes in a couple places. He was starting to get pissed when something hit the ground behind him. A moment later another huge creature crawled out of the ground and attacked the first creature. Naruto backed off that point, not wanting to get between the two. Instead he sped around the area making sure no one got hurt, never realizing that the whole thing was being watched from multiple angles by several different government agencies.
By the time Naruto made it home that night he was a wreck. At last count he had saved over two hundred people from being crushed, burnt, or worse. He had eventually made about fifty clones to help him contain the damage before he went to find the two creatures that had caused all the chaos in the first place. It was all over save the crying when he did find them, so with the fight over he took to the roofs and hurried his way home. Calling Mr. Sasaki and explaining that his scooter had been destroyed, Naruto hoped the old man wouldn't fire him. Thankfully the whole thing had been on the television, so his boss accepted the story and stated he would rather Naruto be alive and the scooter dead rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, that's when he walked in his door and found Naruko crying on his bed. It seemed she had also been watching the news and knew Naruto was in that area. The fact his clothes were shredded but he was still in one piece was enough to satisfy her that he was alive, but the kiss she gave him was what really confirmed it.
That night after Naruko had fallen asleep in his arms, Naruto began to think about what he wanted from this new life. So far he hadn't really done much, other than leaning to drive a scooter and delivering a crap load of Chinese takeout all over the city. It struck him that as he often had in the past, he was wasting on opportunity to be a better person. He had read the entire contents of the New York Public Library, but had he really done anything with that new knowledge? No, he had ignored most of it, focusing only on the things that could be used immediately. He was being a knucklehead again, and this time he had no one to blame for himself. It was no wonder people had grown frustrated with him in his younger years, he kept overlooking the fact that he was only as skilled or as weak as he allowed himself to be. Right now, he was weak because he had not used the tools he had available to himself. As he looked at Naruko, mesmerized by the sight of her, he realized that he wanted to be more than he had ever been before. He wanted to be a good man, not just a boy with potential.
"I'm going to get better, Naruko," he whispered as he finally closed his eyes and began to drift off. "I've got a reason to, now."
Naruko's Point of View
(This point of view inspired by "Hello," performed by Martin Solveig & Dragonette.)
Naruko was leaning up against the door, listening until she heard the door across the hall close before she squealed and started jumping around the room. Not only was Naruto the cutest guy she had ever me, but he was so damned nice it just blew her away. Sure, she had been a bit freaked when she woke up in a strange bedroom, but the fact she was fully dressed and he was asleep on the couch rather then in bed with her was a good sign that nothing had happened. Oh, let's not forget when she tried to wake him up and he pulled her into his arms. Those incredible arms, attached to a chest that just screamed sexy even with a t-shirt on. She hadn't been kidding when she said she would have stayed right there all day long if she could have.
For the first time in her life she had felt really safe. She had lived in multiple foster homes before she turned eighteen. Some of them were great, but others had been less than stellar. The older she got, the worse it was, especially if there were men or boys already in the house. She had lost count of the number of times someone in one of her "families" had tried to put the moves on her. It had gotten to the point where she had basically given up on men, figuring she would either have to start batting for the home team or just get used to diner for one for the rest of her life. Then she met Naruto and it had all changed. In one night and part of a morning he had already changed her entire outlook on life. Then of course she had kissed his cheek.
"I kissed him!" she squealed, still jumping around the room as she remembered the sensation of her lips on his skin.
Part of her wanted to go right back over there and knock on his door until he answer. Then she would kiss him for real, but that might make her seem just a little too eager. Another part hoped her would be the one to knock on her door, with him being the one to sweep her of her feet and kiss her. She blushed at the thought of that as she grabbed clean clothes and headed towards the bathroom. Naruko was sure she was going to need an extra long shower today.
An hour later when she headed out to class, she debated on knocking on Naruto's door, but managed to stop herself and head to class. That didn't mean she was able to think of anything else that day as she attended classes and later went to look for a new job. She struck out on the job front, but was able to do some grocery shopping and decided to head home and make diner for them. Naruko was a fairly decent cook, God knows she had been required to do enough of it for her various foster families, so that wasn't an issue. However she wanted to really make an impression on Naruto, and the baggy jeans, faded hoodie, and worn out Keds were not going to make the impression she wanted.
As she started boiling noodles for the fettuccini alfredo she was making for tonight, she headed to her closet to see what she had available. She groaned as she realized she hadn't done laundry yet this week, leaving her closet rather barren save for a few odds and ends. That's when she remembered the skirt and blouse she had bought for a job interview that fell through. The outfit consisted of a knee length black pencil skirt she had bought at a thrift shop, a white blouse that she bought when she was waiting tables at a nicer restaurant, and her favorite pair of high heels that she hadn't worn in ages. Running back to check on water for the noodles, she grabbed the clothes and headed for the bathroom.
"Okay, granny panties and a plain boulder holder, not going to work with this outfit," she growled as she stripped off her clothes and looked in the mirror.
Rushing back out of the bathroom she skidded to a stop in front of her dresser, digging through her underwear drawer like a madwoman looking for the really good stuff she kept at the bottom. Black was out as the bra would show through the blouse, for later dates but not for first ones. The baby blue one was cute, too cute considering it had little white bows and lace trim, so not exactly what she was going for. That left two options, go without and just were the white lace panties she had, or she could wear the little white lace shelf bra that just barely kept her nipples covered. Pulling it out and looking at it, Naruko remembered the day she bought it and why.
Naruko was a few weeks away from turning sixteen and was to be a bridesmaid for her foster parent's only biological daughter, Emily. Emily was eighteen years old, seven months pregnant, ugly as sin, and marrying the drunken frat boy she had gotten knocked up by. Oh, she was also a complete bitch to Naruko for the entire two years she lived with them. Two years of effectively being a slave for their family and trying desperately to keep he foster-father's hands off her when he was drink. Emily had wanted Naruko to be in the wedding party, not because she had any genuine good intentions, but because she thought it would be fun to embarrass her. Out of the four bridesmaids, each girl had a different colored dress that matched the tuxedo of their date. Naruko's dress had been baby shit green and made her look more like a homeless woman than anything else. Knowing she couldn't get out of the wedding without making a scene, Naruko had agreed.
The day before the wedding she had decided that if she had to look ugly on the outside, she was going to be beautiful on the inside. On her way home from school the Friday before the wedding, she stopped by the local mall and headed for one of the nicer clothing stores there. She had seen the white lace shelf bra and matching thong panties in a clearance bin at the back of the store and decided they were exactly what she needed. The lingerie set had been a bit big on her at the time, a few safety pins had solved the problem at the time, and as she looked herself in the mirror the next day she had smiled, feeling truly beautiful for the first time ever. The next day she stood there, her hair a disaster thanks to the "stylist" her sister hired to do their hair, her dress still looking like crap, and everyone looking at her like she was a disgrace, but Naruko just smiled to herself. No matter what she looked like on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside.
"Yeah, I need this tonight," grabbing a new packet of stockings, she headed back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.
It didn't really take her long to get ready and once she was dressed she turned to look at the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. She looked beautiful, even if it was just her saying it. Now around the mirror were dozens of little multi-colored post-it notes. Each had different message that she read on a regular basis to make up for the things she had been told over the years. Normally she read them every morning, but she had been in a hurry this morning, forgetting them completely. The colorful notes looked so cheerful, but they represented her attempt to forget some of the darkest days of her life. They were her positive affirmations and were a part of what kept her sane.
"I am beautiful!"
"I am intelligent!"
"I am not a freak!"
"I am not fat!"
"People do like me!"
"I am talented!"
"I am a good person!"
"I will find someone to love me!"
Reading the last one, Naruko stopped and smiled as she touched it with her fingers and smiled. Her last foster family had always told her the day she moved out that she would never find anyone to love her and it had been the one that seemed to haunt her the most. Now, having met Naruto, she hoped that particular post-it would be coming off her mirror soon. She had felt a connection with him the night before and again that morning. His smile had filled her stomach with butterflies and made her heart flutter. Sure, there were some obstacles they would have to overcome, namely the fact that she wasn't exactly normal, but that was something she could deal with in time. After all, she had just met the guy, so telling him all her secrets on the first date was not high up on her list of things to do. Given time she might trust him with everything, but not right now. For right now, she just wanted to see if he was the one. Time would tell.
With a smile on her face, Naruko left the bathroom and headed for her door. "Time to make an impression."
AN: Welcome to my new story. I was recently reading a Naruto Manga while watching the Avengers movie and this idea popped into my head. Throwing caution to the wind, here it is. A crossover between Naruto and the Avengers. Seeing as how there are so many similar qualities between Naruto and the various members of the Avengers, it seemed a perfect mixture.
As for the pairing, yes, Naruko is the match for Naruto. No, they are not related, but how he discovers that will be revealed later on. No, I don't think she is a Mary Sue, being as flawed as everyone else. Does Naruto see her as perfect, despite her flaws, he sure does as that's the nature of love.
All the points of view added at the end of the chapters were inspired by different songs and I will list them each time. No, they are not mini-songfics.
Anyway, this story is already complete with me just going back to polish a bit before posting. I have the time right now to get them all ready for you, so chapters should post rather quickly with maybe one a day for a few days. No promises as life tends to dislike cocky promises like that, but we can hope.
Reviews are appreciated and flames will be used to line my cat's litter box. I'm not really writing this for you, but for me. I wanted to see if I could do it and I did.
Enough said for now.
Later!
Chris :)