Chapter 2
Naruto dodged in and out of shadows as he continued his trek home. He felt...odd, he supposed would be the right word. As if he were being watched. He put the ANBU that checked on him for a day once a month into account before remembering that they had already checked on him a couple of days ago. He frowned a bit before forcing a small, yet cheerful smile on his face, just in case. If they caught him looking depressed, which he was most certainly not, it would go around and people would suspect false things because everyone knew that he was...HAPPY.
Next Day
Naruto grinned cheerfully ('FAKER. LIAR. FAKER' it hissed ) as he waved enthusiastically towards Sakura and Sai. As usual, Kakashi was not there yet. It WAS only eight in the morning so Kakashi most likely wouldn't arrive until ten o'clock, seeing as Naruto was an hour late. "Good morning, Sakura-chan, Sai!" his grin widened ('LIAR!') as he stopped beside Sakura. "Shut up, idiot! You shouldn't be so damn cheerful this early!" She glared daggers towards him before blinking slightly as she realized that she had automatically snapped at him, and for something so trivial, too. She remained silent, however, before "humphing" and turning around to look down at the water under the bridge.
'So it's second nature to her now, huh? And her pride won't even allow her to apologize. Who would apologize to the demon, though? At least she didn't hit me this time, I suppose. Does this make me a masochist, thinking like this and making myself upset by these thoughts?' he mused before pushing away his cynical thoughts. Happy people didn't think cynical thoughts. Neither did stupid people.
"Besides, you're late, too, moron." She had an ugly scowl on her normally pretty face. He just grinned wider than before at her comment, seeming to take it in stride. Before she hit him upside the head, that is. 'Spoke too soon, as per usual.' "That was mean, Sakura-chan. Why can't you be nicer to me more often?" He whined with a pout, rubbing the "sore" spot tenderly, making it seem as if he were just asking on a whim and knew he wouldn't be answered, when in reality, he really did want to know. "Shut up, idiot. I'm not in the mood for your big mouth today." She hissed as Naruto's pout deepened and Sai blinked.
This was not in the books about friendship and relationships in general that he had read. In fact, this was marked under that one book that revolved exclusively about how most "bullies" acted. Perhaps being a "bully" was a good thing, then. Naruto and Sakura's friendship seemed in good enough shape, despite the occasional punch or kick Sakura gave him. Perhaps this was just how some peoples' friendships were. If so, he should copy how Sakura was treating Naruto.
"Yes, friend without genitalia, it is much too early for your incompetent shouting." Sai agreed with Sakura as Naruto glared daggers at Sai in response. "Bastard, look who's talking!" Naruto shouted indignantly before Sakura gave him an icy glare that promised much pain. He grinned sheepishly towards her in response to the glare. "You say this, yet you back down so easily to Ugly Forehead, therefore you have no genitals." Sai gave his infamous bland smile. Naruto's glare kept in place, even as he felt his chakra being pulled on and absorbed into another "body."
"For your information, Whickers-Dearest does have genitals. And I'm quite sure they're functional and as- aes - what's that word again? Oh, yeah! And aesthetically pleasing." She grinned at her joke and at how his eye twitched. "Besides, it isn't his fault he couldn't get to sleep and had a pansy attack in the morning and broke his alarm." She snickered as Naruto's eye twitched once again. His "pansy attack" wasn't really a pansy attack. He was just startled and extremely annoyed, thus he threw his alarm across the room. He had a spare for moments like this, anyway.
"Shut up, the both of you!" Sakura shrieked angrily, raising a warning fist as they both obeyed her, for the most part, anyway. 'She probably had a fight with her parents or Ino last night.' He thought. "Sorry, Sakura-chan." He apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, ignoring HER as she mimicked them. Sakura glared again in response as Naruto sat down, legs spread out in front of him, head resting against the lower rails of the bridge.
"Oh, I'm an annoying pink haired banshee who likes to bully Kitten and everyone around. Look at me, woe is me, I had a fight with my parents this morning. Boo-hoo-hoo. And I'm an emo duck-butt that doesn't know how to interact with people so I copy the attitude of the one closest to me. Also, my name's Whiskers-Dearest and I'll just put up with this because I'm a ninny. Seriously, I'd knock the girl and dude out if I were you." She huffed, eyes closed, keeping light, cloudy, violet eyes from view. She was obviously blind in her previous life. (When had he started thinking of her as a ghost or as a dead person? But if she was a ghost, why was she able to stick around so long? Normally, ghosts' excess chakra burned itself out on the second day of death.)
'That's not fair. She's not really...bullying me, I guess. And it isn't Sai's fault that he doesn't know how to interact, so he just chooses to follow Sakura's example when interacting with me. That's ROOT's fault.' He defended his teammates in his mind, though he knew that at the very least, it was Sakura's fault for taking her frustration and stress out on him.
She suddenly interrupted his thoughts and the quiet that had settled over them all (or, really, just he and she.) "Hey, Kitten, are you okay? You're being awfully quiet...Whiskers-Dearest, do you know Morse code?" She asked, seemingly out of the blue. He popped a cerulean eye opened, startled at the sudden and random question. He looked at the other two out of the corner of his eye, before shaking his head once, then frowning as if he hadn't meant to answer her.
"Good, neither do I." She beamed at him, leaving him to stare at her blankly, with both eyes this time. 'If you didn't know Morse code yourself, then why did you ask me?' He seethed internally, though he just settled for ignoring her externally, though his eye did twitch. "Woah, I've already caused the scary eye twitch thrice within ten minutes, must be a new record." She mused to herself, scratching a high cheekbone with a short, yet sharp fingernail, taking delight in the fourth eye twitch that followed shortly after.
He once again looked at the other two from the corner of his eye, then glared daggers towards her for no more than three seconds before Sakura changed position. About ten minutes later, they heard a 'poof.' By then, Naruto was way past wanting to strangle the girl, though none of it showed on his face.
The three students stood up quickly whilst two of them glared daggers at the new arrival before blinking. "You're...here earlier than usual. Why's that?" Sakura questioned in a confused manor before stammering, "Not that it's a bad thing, of course. You should come earlier more often." Kakashi eye-smiled, "I encountered a fox kit that I wanted to keep an eye on because I thought something might be wrong with him, so I woke up early to check on him, but then he left, so here I am." He said in his normal aloof manner, still giving that eye-smile.
Naruto frowned for a moment, 'The hell? A fox kit, seriously?' "Well, when you see that fox kit again, thank him for me." Sakura huffed, obviously just deciding to go along with it since Kakashi was earlier than usual. "Ooh, by fox kit could he possibly mean...Oh, but he wouldn't! Or would he? Oh, forbidden love! Perhaps, he isn't as bad as I originally thought." SHE cackled, looking absolutely ecstatic. That was another thing about her, she was a fangirl over certain things. Certain things meaning boys being together, INTIMATELY. What did a fox kit have to do with anything and why was she fangirling? She normally only fan girled when her fangirl senses told her that Kotetsu and Izumo were near.
Naruto blinked, risking a glance at her, only to find her mumbling incoherently, looking starry-eyed. "Na-" Kakashi was cut off by Naruto instantly, Naruto still not wanting her to know his name, despite the fact that he knew she meant well. "Yeah, I'm paying attention." He said quickly, looking back over at them. Kakashi blinked, then his eye narrowed ever so slightly, catching on that Naruto's "ghost" was here and he didn't want...it(?) to know his name for the (sad, depressing, melancholy) reason that Naruto had stated the day before.
"Maa, what were you looking at?" He questioned lazily, not wanting to make Naruto lock up his barriers because he sounded too interested. He quickly realized that it was to no avail, however. "Nothing, I just thought I saw something, but I guess I didn't." He shrugged, ignoring the melodramatic, though almost believable cry of "I'm nothing, now? Simply a no one in your book?! Wah! That hurts my feelings so!" "So, what are we going to do today?" He inquired with a sunny grin, instantly putting on a happy look, hoping to fool them. He did, as always. (Or so he assumed, because he did not realize that one silver haired Jonin was no longer ignorant to it.)
"We're going to train with Team Eight and Team Nine, just to see how far you guys have come." Kakashi eye-smiled again, seeming to not notice that the grin that Naruto wore was forced on and did not come naturally, meaning only to make them leave it alone. "Why will Team Ten not be there, as well?" Sai asked, with his usual bland smile sketched onto his face. "Maa, they're on a mission outside of the village at the moment, but when they come back, we'll see how we do against them as well." Kakashi answered.
"I'll meet you guys at training ground eleven, see you in a while." Kakashi waved before shunshining to wherever he was going. Naruto grinned and jumped up, stretched his arms, then turned to the other two as they began walking off without him, conversing idly, despite Sakura's mood at the moment. "Ouch, harsh that they'd just leave you without a word. You don't need them, anyway. Don't walk with them; Walk with me, I'm way more awesome than them, anyway. Besides, if you walk with them, you can't talk with me." She paused suddenly, grin disappearing as she took on a contemplating look.
"Unless, you don't care whether or not they think you're insane for talking with someone they can't see." She added, coming up to walk beside him as he ran up to catch up to them opting to walk next to Sai as he would be the least likely to hit him while he was distracted by the girl. He wordlessly flicked her off, making sure to keep his middle finger hidden from the sight of the other two just in case they turned towards him.
"Ouch, harsh. Unless you meant it the other way, in which case, I must inform you that it would be highly impossible to commit necrophilia with me considering that I am pretty much untouchable to you." She said with the most serious face she could muster at the moment, only for it to be in vain when he made a disgusted look and she burst out laughing at it.
"Hahahaha, you should have seen your face!" She gasped through laughter even as he glared ice cold daggers at her. She blinked, "Death, I haven't seen you or felt the impending doom feeling that you bring in a while!" She beamed as she looked up, only to see Naruto glaring at her. "Oh, it's you, not Death." She pouted. "At least Death walks and talks with me," her pout deepened before she grinned widely. "Just kidding, I don't remember dying at all, so I don't remember seeing Death. I wonder if he's real, or if it's just the Devil and God as the Christians, Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and other similar faiths believe." She hummed, once again contemplative.
'Make up your damn mind, are you a ghost or not?' He questioned in mind, internally scowling, however, externally he was grinning widely with his arms behind his head and cerulean eyes closed. "Hey, where do you guys think Kakashi-sensei went?" Naruto asked his teammates. "Where else? To read his stupid Icha Icha, of course." Sakura huffed, still not liking or quite comfortable with the fact that her sensei read porn, or as he liked to call it, "Romance with a pinch of spice on the side." Naruto accepted this for the moment, though he knew that Kakashi wouldn't care whether he read porn in front of them or anyone else, so had no reason to read alone.
Kakashi's Third Person POV
That was it. As soon as Naruto had given that fake grin to throw them off, Kakashi had decided immediately to check out Naruto's apartment. After all, a person's home said a lot about them.
He doubted the front door was locked due to instances in Naruto's childhood, but tried it anyway. Only to find that he was correct in it being locked. So, he then walked around the wall to the small window on the side of the apartment. It was locked as well. He sighed as he realized that he would have to break into his house in another, less inconspicuous way. He doubted that Naruto would appreciate that if he ever found out, so he decided to put his great ex-ANBU stealth to work. Naruto would never know that anyone was there, and everything would be okay. (Or, as okay as it is at the moment.)
He quickly walked back over to the front door and made quick work of picking the lock. Senbon came in handy at times like this. He slowly opened the door, only for the chain and latch to stop him. "Dammit," he muttered. He sighed to himself. Good thing his arms were so thin and long. He quickly unlatched the latch by twisting his arm in an odd way (that his arm did not appreciate, by the way.)
"Alright," he muttered to himself as he got in, sweeping his eyes across the place.
He raised an eyebrow, it was different from how it was a month or two ago. It was clean and rather plain now. There was a loan plant on the windowsill, but that was all. He walked into the little kitchen first, but found no personal touches whatsoever. He frowned, it was excessively tidy. He then walked towards the bathroom. Once again, no personal touches, not even shampoo, soap, or conditioner on the sill of the shower. He opened the cabinet door under the sink and found all of these things, however. He walked into the washing room, with a washer and dryer for clothing, but found nothing worthwhile as there was nothing else in there other than cleaning detergent.
He then walked into Naruto's bedroom and found a couple things at last, which caused him to sigh. (In relief, perhaps?) There was an orange garbage can by the door, which held a smashed clock inside. He blinked and looked slightly above the garbage can, finding a slight dent in the wall. Ah, so Naruto had most likely thrown it against the wall and it had landed in the garbage can. But why would he do that? Still, other than another clock on the nightstand, the plant, and the Team 7 picture on the nightstand, there was nothing in the whole house that signalized a personal touch. Plus, the excessive tidiness. So, Naruto most likely didn't put personal touches because he wanted it to be [unnecessarily] tidy.
There was only one condition (other than OCD, which considering how it used to be, he doubted it) that could be the cause of this and that was regression. Which, if his sharingan eye remembered, was;
When confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development. Anna Freud called this defense mechanism regression, suggesting that people act out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are fixated. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental stage might cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.
Behaviors associated with regression can vary greatly depending upon which stage the person is fixated at:
An individual fixated at the oral stage might begin eating or smoking excessively, or might become very verbally aggressive.
A fixation at the anal stage might result in excessive tidiness or messiness.
...On second thought, it was OCD. Naruto showed no sexual drive so it had to be OCD. Or maybe it wasn't a disorder at all. Maybe he just didn't have anything of worth to decor his apartment with and had decided that it was time to keep his apartment clean. Whichever it was, he resolved to find out later when he was feeling less awkward thanks to "regression." He next went through the drawers, but only found clothing, such as the orange-black jumpsuit, boxers, and tight fitting undershirts ranging in colors from black to red.
He shook the pillow to see if there was anything hidden inside, but found nothing so he put the pillow back where it was. Kakashi then pat down the bed, but found nothing there other than the sheet and comforter. Next, Kakashi laid on the ground, looked under the bed, and pat the ground lightly. Jackpot. He had found a hollow spot. He made quick use of a kunai and gently pried it open.
Inside laid a single black box.