Beforehand: I still don't own Naruto, because if I did, I'd kill the filler episodes and get on with the damn story. Let's see, I don't own any ninja…I don't own Disneyland…. oh yeah, and thanks for your reviews guys. Once again, it's much appreciated. I don't even own a demonic soul with unlimited power…. jeez…Well! On to the story
Chapter 4
Naruto woke at 7:00 am sharp. He couldn't help it. The clock had been set, and it made a horrible noise at seven. Yawning and stretching, he realized that Tayuya wasn't on the sofa anymore. He didn't have to wonder where she had gone for very long though. The smell of bacon and eggs told him that the redhead was most likely enjoying a full breakfast.
Changing into a fresh set of clothes he walked slowly towards the kitchen. Turning to enter the kitchen, he heard Tayuya curse. He noticed her sucking her thumb in front of a cooling stove.
"It needs time to cool off," Naruto said.
"Well dammit I know that now," Tayuya responded sharply. "Stupid piece of shit. I'll give you some what for!"
Naruto smiled to himself and took Tayuya's left hand out of her mouth and looked at the burn. It was nothing major. He guided her over to the sink and let her run it under cold water for a while.
"Boy, something sure smells good," Naruto commented on the morning smell of breakfast. It was a smell he didn't get the pleasure of enjoying often, since he usually ate a bowl of cold cereal and milk. Savoring the delicious smell, he walked over to the cabinet to get out his cereal.
"What do you think you're doing?" Tayuya said to him.
"Um…getting breakfast?" Naruto replied confused.
"Don't tell me you can't smell it cooking!" Tayuya said with a bit of emotion in the words.
"Isn't that…just for you?" Naruto asked.
Tayuya didn't answer. Instead, she pulled out a chair and beckoned him to sit. She picked up a pot full of eggs and gave a plateful to the young ninja. She then filled a glass of orange juice and set it next to the eggs. She took a seat across from Naruto and fixed her own plate, then hungrily dug in.
"Um…Tayuya-chan, you really didn't have to do all this," Naruto said as he took a bite of the eggs. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you!"
Tayuya suddenly stood up. She pointed a finger at Naruto and looked extremely annoyed.
"I'd like to know who the fuck gave you permission to call me Tayuya-chan?"
Naruto gulped down a mouthful of eggs. He hadn't meant to add the 'chan' at the end, but it had somehow slipped out. He needed a moment to think. He really wished he had a Snickers.
"I'm sorry Tayuya," Naruto said. Something told Tayuya to press on why he shouldn't call her that, but something in Naruto's voice made him sound sincere, so she dropped the issue. She sat back down and continued to eat her food. She was completely oblivious to the 'she's kinda cute when she's angry' look Naruto was giving her. Becoming aware that he was staring, he quickly adverted his gaze to his food, which he finished quickly.
Deciding that since Tayuya had made the breakfast, it was only right that he washed the dishes, he made his way over to the sink. He glanced at the redhead as he passed her, and noticed that she was still wearing her dirty stained clothing from when she fought Shikamaru and Temari.
"Hey Tayuya," he said slowly. When she looked up into his eyes, he took that as a sign to continue. "Hey I was just wondering if you planned to wear those same cloths forever."
Tayuya looked at her clothing as if she had never seen it before. She tried wiping off some of the blood, but it had dried. There were a number of holes in her top as well. She seemed to shrug, then took another bite of her eggs.
"You don't look that much bigger than me. I'm sure that a T-shirt and jeans will fit me just fine." She didn't say another word. Naruto nodded, perhaps only to himself, and went to search his bedroom for the requested clothing. Tayuya silently finished her breakfast and found herself wondering why she had had such an outburst when Naruto had called her Tayuya-chan. Truth was, she felt a sort of warm feeling when he had said that, but her personality took it as an insult from a piece of trash in an orange jumpsuit. She sighed and decided that she wasn't so hungry after all. She scraped the remainder of her eggs into the sink and noticed Naruto's empty plate in the sink. The warm feeling that she got when he had called her Tayuya-chan returned. She seemed to take a small bit of pride in the fact that Naruto had finished the breakfast she had made him. It brought her back to last night, when he had taken her back to bed. He had wrapped his arm around her and helped her back onto his couch. In all her years, she had never had anyone care to take her back to bed. She had never had anyone who even cared the slightest bit about her. Outside of the people who wanted to exploit her musical talents, like…
Oruchimaru. Remembering him brought a chill down her spine. For some reason, she felt as if he already knew that she was still alive and was coming for her. She knew that if he didn't know now, he would find out and send someone to find her and, more than likely, finish the job that the sand ninja had failed to.
She shook herself from the thoughts of her impending doom. She decided to focus on the here and now. And that was changing out of these filthy clothes. She turned towards the stairway and saw Naruto returning with fresh clothing for her to wear.
"This was all I could find," Naruto said. He gave her the clothes and she nodded.
"They will fit," she said. ". Thanks Naruto. For everything that you've done for me."
Naruto gave her a puzzled look and she gave him a small smile. She began walking towards the stairs, and Naruto noticed a limp in the way she moved. It reminded him why she was here in the first place.
"Tayuya, you think you're gonna be ok getting up the stairs by yourself?" Naruto asked. The redhead shot him a quick glance over her shoulder.
"I told you that I heal fast," Tayuya said. "In fact, I should be outta here in four days tops. So don't worry you little shit. You can return to your meaningless training soon. Once I'm gone." Naruto thought he detected a hint of sadness in her voice, then he mentally slapped himself. Tayuya? Sad about leaving him? What a huge joke!
He watched her struggle up the first step. She looked determined, but he could tell, whether she wanted it or not, she needed help.
Tayuya wanted to punch herself in the face as hard as she could. She hadn't meant to be so cruel to Naruto. She wanted to say something nice. Instead she had called him a shit. She felt like the shit now. And the worst part was, she didn't know why she felt like such a big shit. Clearing her head again, she readied herself for the next step. Her left leg was killing her, but she refused to show any weakness to Naruto. She lifted her right leg, and found herself off-balance. She fell backwards. The redhead braced herself for an impact that never came. Well, it came, but it was actually softer than what she had expected a floor to feel like. Opening her eyes, she saw Naruto had caught her in his arms.
Naruto looked down at Tayuya. For some reason, he felt his heart racing. He didn't know why. He hadn't been the one falling, merely catching a would-be victim of a fall. He looked into her eyes, which slowly opened. She seemed to stare back for what seemed like an eternity. He would have gladly let the moment go on for so long, but his thoughts were shredded by the cackling of a certain nine-tailed fox.
'Not your mate indeed! Then why is it you raced to her rescue, when it would have been more pleasureful to just watch her grab her head in pain?'
"Shut up you jackass," Naruto muttered too quietly for Tayuya to hear. He lifted her to her feet and despite initial protest that quieted down half way up, he carried her the rest of the way up. He didn't stop until he reached the bathroom door, where he figured he could let her handle the rest while he collected his thoughts.
He sat outside of the bathroom listening to the sound of the water hit the floor. He had never felt this way around a female before. Sakura didn't count because she had been a meaningless child crush. He felt different this time. Perhaps it was because he saw himself as the crutch Tayuya was using right now. Maybe because he had never had the responsibility of taking care of a human being at this level.
'Maybe it's because you know you would like to mate with her! But as you know, a meaningful human relationship would require honesty, and do you really think that she will want to be around you once she finds out about me?'
Naruto sighed. When the kitsune realized Naruto had no response, he burst out laughing. His host would suffer being alone forever. As much as he taunted and laughed at the boy, he couldn't help feeling a pang of regret and pity for the human though. The feeling was soon replaced by hunger.
'Fool! Feed me before I destroy you from the inside out!'
Naruto refused to listen to the fox's empty threats, thinking only about what he had said once again about Tayuya finding out the truth. He was afraid for some reason. He knew that the girl would reject him then, but why the hell did he even care? Could Kyuubi be right? Was he developing some kind of attachment to the girl? He beat himself on the topic until the bathroom door reopened and Tayuya stepped out. The clothes were just about perfect, save that the shirt was a little on the short side.
"Well, they'll do," Tayuya said. "At least until I can fix mine up to respectable standards. Now there's a small matter that I think we should address." When Naruto stayed silent, Tayuya took a deep breath and continued. "I think…someone is looking for me. Someone sent by Oruchimaru."
Naruto sucked in his breath. He had a suspicion that something like this might happen. He didn't think that Oruchimaru would accept that his Sound Five had died without the bodies found.
"How do you figure that?" Naruto asked carefully. Tayuya looked down. She seemed to be searching for the words.
"When I was in the shower, I felt him contact me through my seal. I didn't know he had that power. It may have been my imagination, but I think it'd be better for all the trash around here if I left ASAP. Two days." The girl held up two fingers.
Naruto's eyes widened when he heard that. Oruchimaru was looking for Tayuya. And he didn't have enough time to search his feelings to find out how deep his emotions were. But he knew he couldn't just send her off to face Oruchimaru alone.
"You can't just go out there alone!" Naruto said. "If Oruchimaru is sending someone, and he knows of your skills, then chances are, he's gonna send someone with a whole lot of power!" As he said this, he couldn't help but think 'Could Sasuke be coming?'
Tayuya shook her head. "I have nowhere to go anymore. I was a sound ninja of the Sound Village. "If I can't go back and I have no place else, I may as well accept my fate." Tayuya was wondering if she should leave right now, but she also wanted to ask a favor of the kitsune boy. It was just a debt she couldn't repay anytime. "Naruto, I owe you a lot. You tried to save me, even if it turns out that if my wounds hadn't killed me, Oruchimaru would have. But I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."
Naruto looked directly into Tayuya's eyes. "Go ahead," he said.
"I've never had friends. The Sound Five were like business partners. Nothing we did together meant shit. It was just part of the job. I was wondering if…" Tayuya herself actually didn't believe the words that were about to slip out of her mouth. It must be that when you know you're going to die, you want to try anything you haven't tried yet. She inhaled deeply and exhaled.
"Naruto, could you spend today with me? As friends would? Even if we are really less than friends." Naruto was taken back. He had been prepared for her to ask if he would fight with her against Oruchimaru, but this caught him totally off guard.
"Umm, sure," Naruto said with a puzzled look. But when Tayuya looked into his eyes with a look that displayed a sort of happiness, he couldn't help feeling good. It was the right thing to do. It was the death wish of a ninja, and he wouldn't deny it.
"She's alive," a raspy voice whispered. "She's with the orange ninja. Find them. Kill her. If necessary, kill the boy too. But do it as secretly as possible. I don't want Tsunade finding out that I sent an operative to the Hidden Village Of The Leaf. It may spoil things for me."
The person he was talking to was veiled in the darkness of his lair. He was speaking to a very deadly ninja. One that could refuse this request quite easily and had a 40 chance of walking away with his life. But Oruchimaru knew that the ninja wouldn't refuse his request. He had something one him. As he did with most of his employees.
"I will do it," the ninja said. "But upon my return with the head of the girl, you will release her from your grasp."
Oruchimaru laughed. Kabuto, who was by his side as usual, just stared at the figure.
"You drive a hard bargain, but I will do as you wish. It is a microscopic price to pay."
"Thank you, Oruchimaru-sama." The figure disappeared with that. Oruchimaru knew that with him on the job, there was no way Tayuya could escape with her life. He needed her dead. She knew too much about the inner workings of his lair. And by this time tomorrow, she may be begging for mercy to no avail.
Well that's it for this chapter. Ehh, it was a bit iffy for me. Tell me what you thought huh? PS. I will no longer be doing the beforehands and afterwards. That will be done by…
Kyuubi: ME! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Review and check out chapter 5 when it comes out or I'll eat your hearts out!
