Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

To de-stress myself—or to reward myself—I will often watch movies I used to watch as a child. Like The Swan Princess! I like to call it the Conveniently Fast Moving Plot Movie, because in the first song, they go from YEARS of loathing each other to having True Love after one glace thanks to convenient hormones! And later, literally within 26 seconds: the lovers reunite and Derek is told to leave. The lines are literally: "Derek, I've missed you so!" "No one believed me, but I knew it!" "You can't stay!" "What?" It always makes me laugh LOL!

Anyhoo, onwards with the chapter!


Naruto jammed Sakura's keys into the ignition of her car.

"DAMMIT!" he shouted when it wouldn't turn properly. So he took it out and jammed it in with more force.

They keys finally turned properly and the engine was on. "Finally!" Naruto grumbled to himself, and practically ripped the shift from the car as he put the car into reverse.

He drove backwards a bit, so he could drive out of the driveway onto the main road. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go, but he sure as hell knew where he didn't want to go, and that was the direction that he and Sakura had arrived in with the high school.

With this firmly in mind, as soon as he reached the end of the driveway: Naruto drove in the opposite direction that he and Sakura had arrived in, further in town.

Naruto was barely paying attention to where he was going…all he was focused on was getting away.

Away from Uchiha Manor. Away from Sasuke. Away from Sakura. Away from the responsibilities. Away from the guilt. Away from the butterflies.

Away from the memories!

The only problem with his plan of getting away was that away was further in Konoha.

Dammit.

But that didn't matter! Okay, it DID matter… But not nearly as much as his impending mission to distance himself from Uchiha Manor and all it held.

Other large houses passed by without Naruto noticing. The thing about Konoha was how rural it was in comparison to Suna. In a big city like Suna, Naruto did not have to travel far to get away from his thoughts. Hell, he didn't even need a car OR a cab! He could just walk a few blocks and get lost in the people.

But ohhhhhhh no. Naruto's couldn't do anything like that in Konoha. In KONOHA, Naruto had to frickin' DRIVE to lose sight of the grassy fields, the lake, and the surrounding forest…and even then, they are in the peripheral vision!

Naruto gripped the wheel harder with frustration.

Why the hell did he even agree to come to Konoha?! Seriously, the only reactions to him being there by his so called 'friends' were demanding that he move back for them and for him to leave immediately! No 'how have you been?', no promised for them to keep in touch—nooooooooooooo Naruto had to be held responsible for keeping in touch with those ungrateful people—and no apologies! Not even a simple apology for not bothering to keep in touch!

Naruto sped—at the speed limit—through the city portion of Konoha; if it could be called a city. As a child, Naruto had thought it to be a large city as there were many buildings crammed together and a large city hall; and even the two tallest buildings of Uchiha Corp and Hyuuga Inc. But now, after living in a real city like Suna for ten years, a place complete with multiple skyscrapers and the smallest buildings are only three or four stories high, Konoha was simply rural.

As soon as Naruto had passed the 'city' portion of Konoha, he started driving slower. Not only because the speed limit dropped, but because he was forcing himself to calm down. It would do no good for Naruto to be pegged with a speeding ticket or something and be forced to return to this blasted place to pay for it.

He wanted to leave as soon as possible and never return.

But before that, Naruto needed to calm down fully. So he searched for a place to park Sakura's car so he could take a walk.

While Naruto searched for a proper parking spot, he noticed something: he had driven himself near his old neighborhood…

Waves of memories threatened to overwhelm Naruto, so he forced himself to look for parking lots. Parking lots were safe, and useful. They were meant for people to park cars, so Naruto should look for one. Parking lots…

He used to walk on that sidewalk so he could go to his grocery store nearby…

NO! No sidewalk! Parking lot!

Naruto would wait on that bench for the bus to take him to school until the bastard got a car—a freaking Camaro—and would drive him to school despite Naruto pointing out that Sasuke was driving way out of his way to pick Naruto up for school. Sasuke had always insisted that it was no problem and that he wanted to, and had told Naruto to stop worrying about it.

NO! No bastardly memories! Parking lot!

He and Sasuke had convinced some college girls to sell them alcohol at that liquor store one summer…

No! No liquor store! Parking lot!

He and Sasuke—

No! Parking lot!

Finally, Naruto spotted a parking lot, albeit a slightly small one, and immediately drove into it, focused on parking so that these damn intruding memories wouldn't cause an accident.

After he pulled into a space near the back so he wouldn't be in the way of people using the parking lot for the intended purpose of entering the store or whatever, Naruto stepped outside and realized just whose parking lot it was…

Ichiraku Ramen.

This place was practically Naruto's third home, with his apartment being the first and Uchiha Manor being the second. Ichiraku Ramen was where Naruto would go for everything: celebration, a pick-me-up, got bored, needs to calm down, to eat, and to simply eat. If someone couldn't find Naruto right away, it was a safe bet that he'd be in Ichiraku Ramen.

This also happened to be his first job: he was a dishwasher and helped around back when he was little. Technically, he couldn't get paid because of child labor laws; so he was paid in free meals. Which was no problem for the ramen-addict. As he got older, he moved up in the restaurant. Later, he would become a bus-boy during his free time and the owner's daughter, Ayame, would share her tips with him because of his being unable to accept a real paycheck. Then, when he as old enough, he worked part-time as a waiter, with a paycheck and everything.

Naruto wanted to go in…just to see if Ichiraku Ramen was still run by Teuchi, or if he had given it to Ayame, like they had sometimes talked about whenever Teuchi thought aloud about retiring. That old geezer…he would sometimes complain on a busy night that he couldn't keep up and that he should retire. And whenever Ayame or Naruto agreed, he would insist that no one else could cook ramen like he did…which Naruto would agree to. Then Ayame would ask him whose fault that is because he refused to tell anyone else his secret recipe; including Ayame and Naruto despite being asked many times. Then near the end, Teuchi would agree to share his secrets with Ayame, but only with Ayame, much to Naruto's disappointment, but never got around to it. And Naruto wanted to see if anything had changed within the past decade…

But no…that could wait…he didn't want to sully his reunion with the best restaurant known to mankind and even in the known universe with his bad mood. Naruto would just go on a walk, and return to the best place on earth—and known universe—after he calmed himself down.

With that in mind, Naruto did just that: he walked.

He didn't want to go anywhere near the 'city', even though there were barely any triggers in his opinion since he barely spent any quality time there while Naruto still lived in Konoha. Many times he would walk through it and marvel at 'city life' and maybe think about his future in this 'city', but he would mostly just wander around out of boredom or to lose himself in his thoughts.

But Naruto was in no mood for that, since he greatly suspected that if he were to attempt that today, he'd just get frustrated with the lack of true city life, in his biased opinion, that he'd gotten accustomed to in Suna. Then he'd wonder why he wasn't in Suna, and that would just lead him full circle back to frustration. So the 'city' was a no-go.

That meant that he'd have to walk further through his old neighborhood.

Just great.

Naruto cursed Konoha again. Now this blasted city took away his favorite and most reliable way to calm himself down: by taking him out his thoughts for a while by losing himself in the city. But dammit, Konoha wasn't a city! And he couldn't just get lost in this non-city because it's KONOHA! Dammit.

He took a deep breath…everything would be okay if he could calm himself.

Calm, dammit!

So in order to achieved a proper state of inner peace or whatever, Naruto chose to focus on little things. Like grass.

Grass was nice. Suna didn't have much grass, and to be honest, Naruto missed grass. Whenever he got to travel for work, Naruto would put some time aside so that he could find a patch of grass to take a nap. It irked his assistant to no end, so many times said nap was impromptu.

Naruto faced the ground, and decided that he would not pay attention to where he was heading. As long as he was in the opposite direction of the 'city', he was fine.

So he focused on hopping over cracks. Not just the standard separating gaps of the sidewalk, but the little ones as well. He decided to make a game of it: only one actual step per square. He had to jump the rest. Maybe, he'd take two steps every other square, but there certainly was a lot of jumping since there were a lot of cracks in Konoha's sidewalks. More cracks than in Suna.

Then he saw a swirl engraved into the concrete of the sidewalk that he was about to jump over.

Wait—he recognized that kind of swirl…it looked just like the types of swirls that Naruto would draw, and sometimes graffiti, all over the place when he was younger. That was during the time in elementary and middle school when he barely had any friends and needed to vent out his anger to get attention.

Naruto looked up and saw that he was actually near his old elementary school.

Now he remembered: one night when he was walking around, he had noticed that someone had set up wet concrete over one square of the sidewalk to dry overnight. In hindsight, he knew that the timing had been specific to after the kids had gotten out of school to avoid vandalism…but at the time all Naruto could think was 'perfect opportunity'.

Naruto let himself give a wry smile. He had been so proud of himself back then and couldn't wait to brag to his best friend, Sasuke, about it. But back then, Sasuke was a part of some 'gifted' program for friggin' geniuses and was not in any of Naruto's classes, so the only time that they could meet was after school and during the weekends. They would mostly hang out at their dock by the lake, where Naruto had planned to—and did—tell Sasuke all about his epic permanent vandalism.

He looked over to the school. He did not have many fond memories of this place.

His eyes wandered over to the swing that was set up by the furthest tree from the school within the gates. It had been the only tree with strong enough branches, but it could only hold one person at a time and it was all by itself, so it was not as wildly popular as the teachers or whoever intended. The swing was basically forgotten, except for when Naruto was exiled there because of his unpopular status.

Naruto never understood why he was a social pariah as a child, and had internalized it because of the lack of explanation. But in hindsight, it was all clear. It was because he was an orphan. Or rather, because his lack of parents made him unconnected. In Konoha, the social system was 'it's not what you know, but who you now'. And Naruto was neither anyone who needed to be known for success, nor anyone who it was obvious that he would become one. He was a nobody, and no one bothered to change that.

Well, he showed them, fuckers. Naruto Uzumaki was now a published author, dammit. He made himself into somebody, and he was fucking proud oh himself.

Naruto flipped his old school the bird and continued walking.

As he walked, more objects became familiar to him. Naruto used to walk these streets all the time during his childhood. So many times, in fact, that he was near positive that he could close his eyes and be able to find his way ho…find his way back to his old apartment.

Naruto looked up and yep, there his apartment was. It was the tallest building in the area, and one of the most run down. It really was a cheap place.

That place was his constant throughout all his years in Konoha. Not many things had changed about that place; it even looked the same from the outside from being away for a decade. There was even a swirl he had painted on the side of the building years ago.

Naruto gave a rueful smile. There was probably the same old fashioned stove in there, and old kitchen, and old furniture. Naruto never knew where they had come; just that they had always been there since he moved in as a preteen.

Konoha was not famous for its child services.

Naruto had left Konoha so quickly, that he had left the majority of his things and only took the essential with him: like his collection of ramen. He made sure to tell that the things he had left behind were donated to charity through someone who had kept in touch with. So the old furniture was probably still there since certainly whoever lived in his old apartment complex could not afford much lavish things like new furniture and he had left everything intact.

Well, most everything. He DID destroy the chair that Sasuke had bought for him, er, for himself actually. Sasuke never liked Naruto's furniture since it was too poor for his posh and pompous tastes. But Sasuke loved the privacy of Naruto's apartment, so he insisted upon buying a comfortable and expensive chair that he could use for himself. It was also a reclining chair, so he would sleep on it sometimes whenever he would sleep over. Or Naruto would, whenever the blonde would insist that the guest be able to sleep on the bed.

Yea…that chair was scraps after…after everything.

Damn, this whole walk idea to calm down was so not working.

So Naruto continued on his way, hoping to distance himself from depressing places with depressing memories of bastardy bastards with their bastard-ness.

As he continued walking, Naruto noticed that there was more grass.

He looked up and smiled. Like, real smile.

He found his tree.

Naruto walked up the hill so that he would just lean against his tree.

His tree was always special to him, it was his alone place whenever his apartment was too stifling. Just whenever he wanted to be outside, and did not feel the need to surround himself with people. His tree was always peaceful, and always let him simply relax.

This was where he would do all of his serious thinking whenever he was stuck. Stuck on a story idea? He went to his tree. Stuck on homework? He went to his tree. Stuck with how to help Sakura's problems or anyone else close to him? He went to his tree. Stuck on whether or not to talk to Sasuke? He went to his tree…which turned out to be the biggest mistake of his life since that conversation led to their fight and Naruto leaving Konoha.

Naruto sighed as he sat down and leaned against his tree. No, that was not true. Talking with Sasuke then was not the biggest mistake of his life. If anything: it was a blurse, or a blessing in disguise.

That conversation, the one that Naruto had been blocking out for ten years, was something that had forced him to open his eyes. In the end, he was glad that he had had that conversation! It showed him who Sasuke really was! A pompous BASTARD who could never accept Naruto for who he truly was! Or, in Sasuke's case and many other bigots in Konoha, WHAT Naruto was: a fag.

Naruto frowned at that. All during his seventeen years in Konoha, he had tried his best to hide who he was, and he was miserable because of it. He gave a wry smirk, it was true what they said: being in the closet was dark lonely.

But when he was tired of it all, and wanted to be accepted for who he really was, he thought that things would be different. He had gone to another friend, Hinata, who apparently had a huge crush on him for advice earlier. When she had told—whispered to—him about her crush on him, he had to come out to her since there was no way in hell that he could hurt someone as precious and innocent as HINATA with a lie. She had deserved to know the truth about his sexuality; and she had accepted him.

That had given him the boost to tell everyone about his being gay: starting with Sasuke. And he had made his decision to do so under this tree. Then that went to hell and he left Konoha.

Naruto nodded to himself. When he thought about it: leaving was the best thing that he had ever done for himself.

If he hadn't left, then he'd still be miserable and living a lie. He would probably be at a dead-end office job since there were no publishing companies in Konoha and he would not have needed to push himself like he did when he was homeless in Suna. And he would still have been hung up over his self-destructing crush over his best friend…

Naruto slapped himself on one of his scarred cheeks.

There was no use thinking about that. Naruto had left Konoha and made a home and living for himself in Suna. He loved living in Suna! People there accepted him for who he was: Naruto Uzumaki!

Naruto NAMIKAZE was weak. Namikaze was a miserable lie of a person, who bent to the will of others so that he could be accepted by others, even if it didn't matter whether or not he liked them or even knew them. Namikaze hid himself from the world, and hid his feelings from everybody.

But now he was Naruto Uzumaki. UZUMAKI was someone he was proud to be, and someone that he refused to hide. He had changed his name for a reason, and took great pride for his decision.

Besides, he was also proud of the life he, Naruto Uzumaki, had created for himself in Suna. He had gone from runaway orphan living on the streets to successful author living in a comfortable apartment building with his awesome roommate, Gaara.

Naruto looked up at the branches of trees beseechingly, as if he needed to truly convey this to the one living thing—trees were totally living—that knew all of his secrets when he lived in Konoha. He was HAPPY. His life was GREAT. He was at peace with himself! Well, he thought so. Gaara's sister, Temari, fancied herself a therapist or something and kept spouting out things about Naruto needing closure since he refused to talk about Konoha.

Naruto sighed, and silently assured his tree that that was not the case. He most certainly did not need closure because he had moved on. Naruto Uzumaki was at peace because Konoha did not mean anything to him.

His tree understood. Naruto could totally tell. His tree was awesome like that.

With that understood, Naruto decided to take a nap. Sakura had said that she would take care of buying a ticket, so he didn't need to worry about his finances. Not that he had financial troubles or anything; he just didn't like to deal with it. Gaara and his assistant did that for him.

He should probably tell Sakura to get him out of here as soon as possible. Knowing her, she would choose something like tomorrow on Saturday, or later like on Sunday so that she could get her way.

But Naruto would not let that happen. Oh no, he would not. If that turned out to be true, then he would just buy a ticket for himself and Sakura could get reimbursed. Or he rent himself a hotel room—a nice one that has room service and a spa in the hotel 'cause he can afford stuff like that now—and shut himself away with the security of knowing that no one from Konoha could bother him in his hotel room.

Aw, hut he did not have Sakura's number. Which was surprising, considering that the girl was freaking attached to her weird smart phone thing.

He didn't want her number, really. If he did, then she could consider him responsible for 'keeping in touch'. But it would have been useful in the moment. He needed to tell her that he planned on leaving as soon as possible.

Oh well, that could wait after his nap. Naps were good; especially naps underneath his tree. Those were epic, full of the epic 'hello world' mood when he woke up. It was every time, without fail. It was epic.

He checked the time and saw that it was just around noon. Yeah, he had time for his nap.

Coming Back

When Naruto woke up, he felt ready to conquer the world.

In this euphoric state, he knew that he could walk briskly back to Ichiraku Ramen without thinking about depressing memories. He could do it, and then get rewarded with ramen.

Naruto checked the time, and it was just before three. Great! Ramen tasted better after three! That was when Teuchi would grab new ingredients for the after school rush; but back then the 'rush' was 'Naruto and his pit of a stomach'.

Maybe that had changed, but it was so ingrained into the schedule that hopefully it didn't.

With that in mind, Naruto hoisted himself up fully intent on heading back.

Then, Naruto turned back to face his tree and whispered, "Thank you," for listening to his silent rants. His tree was awesome like that.

Naruto turned back around and hurried down the hill. Whenever it had snowed, Naruto would rush to sled down the hill since it was the closest one within very close walking distance.

He started walking briskly back to Ichiraku Ramen. In this euphoric state, it did not take nearly as long as it had taken to walk to his tree and Naruto quite enjoyed that.

As he walked past his old apartment building, he was able to see the finer details that had previously eluded him, like a miniature garden on his old windowsill. Of course, his was more lush and full of bright, colorful flowers, but the new tenant must have realized how therapeutic gardening was because they bothered to keep up the hard work. Either that, or they might have considered it a natural thing of the apartment, like the furniture, since Naruto had left his garden behind in his haste to leave.

Maybe Naruto should give Gaara a call, or a small text message about his new garden. With Naruto's funds no longer on meager savings like they had been when he was living in Konoha, he was able to acquire himself quite a nice garden that he was very proud of. Gaara seemed to appreciate it to, or at least never complained, so he should be willing to help while Naruto was in hell—er, KONOHA.

As Naruto walked by the school, he stopped to notice that the children were rushing to pack things up.

Naruto wondered about that for a moment, then realized that it was in fact time for schools to set loose the children. Now that he was older, he could notice things that had escaped him like a child, like the expression of relief on the teacher's face.

He noticed that there were parents waiting just a little ways off from where he was standing; mostly mothers. Naruto did not want to portray himself off as some creeper person who stalked children at school, so he continued walking with his hands out of his pockets so the lovely women would not become paranoid and assume that his hands were in his pockets for sinister reasons.

While doing this amongst other small changes, like relaxing his brow and keeping his head high, to outwardly show that he was not a menace, Naruto marveled at how times had changed. Fifteen years ago when he had attended the school, there were not that many adults waiting for them as the children got out of school. Konoha was a small town so there was assumed safety and the kids were allowed to run off wherever like he and Sasuke did practically every day.

But maybe Naruto was just overanalyzing things because he lived in the city for so long. Konoha and Suna were practically worlds apart, so Naruto might really just be over-reacting with his precautionary measures.

Children ran by him as he continued on his way, all the while talking very loudly. It did not bother Naruto in the slightest, though. In fact, he enjoyed it since some things said made no sense to him.

"—And then, and then, and then her but EXPLODED with baby spiders! So Finn and Jake were saved! But then the baby spiders tried to eat them!"

"—said that she doesn't like the Tinkerbelle movies because that isn't 'the real Tinkerbelle' or whatever—"

"—mom said that we couldn't play it because it was rated M, whatever that means. But my older brother isn't at home since he spends all his time with his girlfriend so I could sneak it over—"

"—said that he doesn't like One Direction because they aren't a real band! And I'm like, of COURSE they are a real band!—"

"—couldn't get the movie because my parents learned that that's what my book report is about—"

"—Dude that's TOTALLY a great idea for a video! We're going to get so many hits!—"

"—and then he winked at me! I swear it!—"

Naruto smiled a bit. Maybe things had changed with time, but the babbles of elementary students never would, even though now the conversations seemed to be mostly dominated by the media.

"Mommy, look! That man has whiskers on his cheeks!"

Naruto turned to the direction where the voice had come from, and saw two boys—one with brown hair and one with black hair—with a woman with brown hair. The boy with brown hair was holding the woman's hand and pointing at Naruto with his other hand.

"Honey, that's rude!" the woman exclaimed, rushing to lower the little boy's hand.

"But he does, Mommy! He has whiskers!" the little boy insisted, looking between his mother and Naruto.

The woman was blushing a deep red, and had been ever since she realized that Naruto was very aware that he was being pointed at. But Naruto did not mind his scars being pointed out at that moment; he was in a good mood and he knew for a fact that these young children—no older than seven or eight, he would say—had absolutely NO idea who he was or idea about the significance of his scars.

Naruto smiled and walked towards them. He gave the woman a reassuring smile—in his opinion at least—and knelt down a good foot away from the children and said, "Hey, kid. Your mother's right, you know. It's rude to point."

The kid with brown hair that was pointing flushed a little at being addressed by the man he was just talking about and looked over to his black-haired friend for help.

The black-haired kid blushed, too, and said weakly, "But you really do have whiskers…"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows together in fake confusion and tilted his head to the side and asked, "I do? Where?"

The brunette seemed to have gained his confidence back because he pointed at Naruto's face again and said, "There!"

Naruto turned his attention back to the kid and said, "Ah-HA! You're pointing again!"

The kid retracted his hand a bit, but before he could take it away completely, Naruto declared, "Now I can challenge you to a duel!"

"What?" the kid asked, but Naruto did not answer with words. Instead he raised his own finger, and made to—SLOWLY—poke at the boy's arm.

He did so with a deliberate slowed pace, so that the boy could realize what was going on and defend himself with his own little finger.

With no time, the adult man was waged in a finger war with the little boy. After his initial poke, Naruto allowed the little boy to attempt to attack and went on the defensive.

Then the little boy shouted, "Shisui! Help!"

Naruto didn't have time to register the name because the little black-haired boy stepped forward and shouted "BANG!" with his fingers in a gun shape.

Naruto gasped elaborately and his hands flew to where he was 'shot'.

Then the brunette shouted "AH-HA!" and jabbed—a poke, really—Naruto in the chest with his little singer-sword.

"Oh, you got me!" Naruto groaned as he pretended to cover up his 'wounds'.

The little boys cheered in victory as Naruto stood up. He gave the mother a wink to let her know that it was all fun and games, which she replied with a warm, albeit anxious, smile.

"Congratulations, men," Naruto said as he stood to his full height. The boys beamed at being called 'men' by Naruto. Then Naruto said in his mock-deep-warrior voice, "You have won the duel, but never forget what you have learned through battle. If you point at someone, they might think that you have challenged them to a duel, and that is not what manly men like us do, right?"

"Right!" the little boys chirped as they frowned 'seriously' and puffed out their tiny chests.

Naruto smiled and ruffled their hair and said, "And for the record, double teaming an opponent is cheating."

The little boys let out some exclamations, but Naruto wasn't paying attention. With a final nod and a smile for the mother, Naruto waved at the three and continued on his way.

The rest of his walk to Ichiraku Ramen went by without any incident or anything special. Naruto would occasionally recognize a spot of two, but did not dwell on them. His mind was already focused on ramen.

He had of course, experimented with many different types of ramen since leaving Konoha, and had even driven all around Suna in search for a ramen shop. He found one, but it was nowhere near as majestic or magical as Ichiraku, so he rarely went there. Naruto had even tried to make his own ramen, and still would on occasion, but Teuchi never passed down his wisdom to Naruto so his own ramen just did not compare.

Naruto's mouth was watering, so he quickened his pace. He needed ramen IMMEDIATELY!

When he arrived at the parking lot, he saw that it was nearly as deserted as he had left it and practically cheered. That meant more ramen for him!

It was like no time had passed from when he was a teenager, and Naruto ran the rest of the way to the door and slammed them both open and shouted, "OLD MAN! WHERE'S MY RAMEN?"

There might have been a startled response, maybe even a shout or two, but Naruto was not paying attention. He power walked to the little bar counter that was next to the kitchen a little ways from the booths for large parties of customers and immediately sat down in his spot.

He looked up expectantly, for in the past this was the daily ritual. Naruto would use his affectionate name for Teuchi, 'Old Man', and then demand for his ramen which Teuchi or Ayame would have ready for him. But there was no ramen waiting on front of him this time, so Naruto was confused.

When he looked up, he saw Old Man Teuchi gaping at him as if he had seen a ghost.

Naruto squinted his eyes and tilted his head to the side, "Old Man? What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

Teuchi just kept gaping at him, and Naruto just kept squinting back at him in confusion. What was taking so long? Naruto wanted his ramen!

Then the door to the back kitchen opened and a woman with brunette hair leaned out and said, "Dad? Did I hear right and there's a customer?"

Teuchi did not reply, so Naruto took it upon himself to address the woman who he identified as Ayame and said, "Yeah, you heard right Big Sis, but Old Man here just saw a ghost or something and froze up!"

Ayame turned to him and gasped, "Naruto?! Is-is that really you?"

Naruto squinted at her too, and said, "Yea, yea, yea. It's me, yoo-hoo! Hooray! Now can I get some RAMEN?" he pleaded, holding his hands up in a prayer gesture.

Teuchi suddenly burst out in laughter, loud, boisterous laughter straight from his hearty stomach and said, "You really haven't changed, have you?"

Naruto shook his head frantically and said, "Nope! I'm still HUNGRY! So food! Food! Food!"

Teuchi laughed again and asked, "Well, what can I get ya m'boy?"

"RAMEEEEEEN!" Naruto exclaimed, raising his fists in the air.

Ayame had joined her father in laughter and said, "We'll get you your regular then."

Naruto nodded eagerly and started to do his little happy dance in his stool. It had been too long since he had REAL ramen! Other ramen were just imitators! This was heaven.

While Old Man Teuchi was working his magic, Ayame turned to talk with Naruto and said, "Wow! My little man grew up!"

Naruto let loose a laugh and said, "Does that mean I have a shot with ya?"

Ayame giggled and shook her head no.

Naruto pretended to pout, "Aw, but what about our promise from when we were younger? You said that when I was older you would be my wife!"

Ayame shook her head with a smile again and said, "ah-ah-ah," while shaking her finger at him, "if you remember correctly, YOU said that when you were my age, then we could be a family with you as the daddy and I would be the mommy."

Naruto blushed a little, "So that's how that went down? I always remembered that differently then."

Ayame laughed and said, "You sure did, because I never agreed to your agreement."

"Plus, you kept saying when you reached Ayame's age like she would never grow up," Teuchi chimed in.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "I think I prefer the way I remember it, thanks."

"You go on believing that," Ayame said with a wink.

Naruto was going to answer, but then Teuchi placed the bowl of pure heaven on earth in front of him, making Naruto exclaim, "RAMEN!" and he dug right in.

He finished it with record time and sighed with relief and satisfaction from getting to eat REAL ramen after so long, "Ahhhhhh, sooooooooooo good!"

Ayame and Teuchi laughed again with smiles on their faces.

"More, pleeeeease?" Naruto begged.

"Coming right up!" Teuchi promised as he turned around to make more magic.

"Oh, Naruto. You're just as I remember," Ayame said with a wistful smile on her face.

Naruto didn't answer, or more couldn't answer. He had made it a point to try to block out anything and everything about Konoha over the years in Suna, and had tried to erase the Naruto Namikaze that had lived in this town. And he knew that if Sakura, or even the three back in the coffee shop, had said that he was just like they remembered then he would get extremely offended since he had tried so hard to distance himself from the person he once was; but oddly enough, if did not bother him that Ayame had said it. In fact, it was comforting in a way, because these two were the closest thing he had to an extended family, asides from Sasuke and one of his old teachers in high school.

Then Ayame's wistful smile fell a little as she concentrated on something on Naruto's face, making him wonder if he had been particularly messy and he had missed a noodle or something on his face.

She reached forward and held her hand up to Naruto's cheek, stroking the scars there gently with her thumb, and said, "But I don't remember these."

Naruto leaned away and said, "Pretty manly, huh?" with a wink.

"Where did you—" Ayame started to say but was cut off.

"But alas, my fair maiden, I fear that our love can never be true," Naruto said in his best theatrical voice.

"What?" Ayame asked, clearly confused but amused at the change of topic.

"Though my heart does long for you, my body and mind are at a loss for what to do, as I swingith not that way," Naruto declared while facing away as if in emotional pain.

Ayame laughed again and asked, "So, Sir Knight, what does that mean in English?"

"It means I'm Queer, I'm here, so get used to it," Naruto said with another wink.

Ayame smiled, and said, "Yeah, I kinda thought so."

"Whoa, really?" Naruto asked, surprised. He knew that there were rumors about him in school, but he didn't think that they had reached the ramen shop!

Teuchi turned around and chimed in his two cents, "Oh, we knew around the time you and your little friends started to hit puberty. Most of the other boys would talk about girls and curves, but you never did."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck as he blushed, "I never knew you guys were listening in on us."

Ayame shook her head somewhat incredulously, "Well, you guys weren't exactly quiet about it. Why do you think I never waited on them?"

Naruto squinted a little and said, "Uh, because I needed the experience as a Waiter?"

Ayame laughed again, joined by Teuchi, and said, "Good god no! I just didn't want to be near any raging hormonal boy!"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows a little in confusion and said, "Then—"

"Oh, you were fine," Ayame said as Teuchi nodded, "not only did we suspect that you were gay, but you were also like a little brother to me!"

Naruto pretended to pout, though on the inside he was beaming because that meant that at least two people in Konoha accepted him for who he truly was, and said in a mock-somber tone, "You know, if I was straight, then that would have been a huge blow to my ego."

"What do you mean?" Ayame asked, a little confused.

"You just little-gay-brother-zoned me!" Naruto pretended to whine.

That certainly made Ayame and Teuchi laugh again, but Naruto didn't care, for Teuchi had just placed another bowl of heavenly ramen in front of him, making him cheer again.

He decided that this time he would savor the flavor, and took his time eating the heavenly ramen. But before he did, he remembered to demand another bowl, which Teuchi had already expected and was already working on by the time Naruto had spoken.

Naruto could feel that he was smiling even wider with each bite, and it was not just because his stomach was crying with joy for being reunited with its lover. He felt truly happy because he knew that there was at least one place in all of Konoha that he would always be welcomed.

He was so busy cherishing the moment and the ramen that he did not notice the bell chime indicating that someone had just entered the ramen shop.

It was not until that person sat down next to him did he realize that he indeed had company.

"Hello, Naruto," Sakura greeted, sending him a sidelong glance.

Naruto paused mid-slurp, then greeted, "Sakura," in return.

Ayame must have noticed the instant tension, because she stopped leaning on the counter and asked, "Would you like to order?" in her normal business tone.

"Uh, just a water, thanks," Sakura answered in return.

Naruto finished slurping the rest of his broth in silence, dreading whatever Sakura had come to say. From past experience within the last day and a half, she rarely had anything good to say whenever they were alone together.

"Aw, c'mon, Sakura," Naruto tried to say in a light hearted tone, "one little bowl of ramen won't hurt ya."

"No, thank you," Sakura said towards Ayame and Teuchi's backs in a very polite tone, then explained to Naruto, "I'm on a diet."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked. Sakura was skinny enough, hell, there was barely any meat to her bones and there weren't a lot of curves to brag about, so why feel the need to diet?

Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto and said, "It's a woman thing."

Naruto stared at her in confusion, because that explanation made absolutely NO sense at all. So he turned to Ayame and asked, "A woman thing?"

"Oh, hush, you wouldn't understand," Ayame said with a wave of her finger, though her demeanor probably was saying something like 'don't bring me into this'.

Naruto shrugged to himself and said, "Whatever. Hey, Old Man! Gimme another one!"

"Comin' right up!" Teuchi replied, just like the old days.

The silence that Naruto and Sakura sat in was tense.

Then, Sakura broke the silence by saying, "I knew it was only a matter of time before you came here."

"Mm," Naruto grunted, not knowing what to say.

Silence reigned again with awkward as its little minion.

Ayame handed Sakura a water bottle from the back kitchen, then scurried back to avoid the heavy tension, but Naruto was sure that she was just behind the door listening in on their conversation that was not happening at the moment.

So, as to not disappoint Ayame, Naruto plucked up his courage and asked, "So did you ask the bastard about the real reason why I left?"

Sakura jumped a little and continued to play with her water bottle as she said, "Don't call him that," but without any real emotion behind it and more of an avoidance of the question.

"Well?" Naruto asked, wanting to get the conversation over with so he could enjoy his meal.

Sakura shook her head, making Naruto want to roll his eyes. Of course she didn't. She was probably perfectly happy living in Sakura land, blissfully unaware of the truth.

"I…I tried, but…Sasuke, he…he wouldn't talk about it…" Sakura stuttered.

At that moment, Naruto felt pity for the girl beside him. Sasuke had probably given her the Uchiha Glare and either stormed out or something just as intimidating to scare her this much. Naruto was always different, and would take these gestures as challenges and thus did not react with the normal fear that others did, but he did know—from firsthand observation and secondhand descriptions—that apparently Sasuke could be quite terrifying.

Naruto sighed, and tried to make things a little easier for Sakura, "Yea, the bastard is like that. He's like a clam inside a safety deposit box in one of the most secured vaults ever."

"What?" Sakura asked, sounding confused by his analogy.

"He keeps his secrets," Naruto translated for her.

"Oh," she said in return.

"Well," Naruto said in a forced cheery tone, "how much do you know about why I left?"

Sakura shook her head down at her water again, looking a little vulnerable, and said in just above a whisper, "I don't know…"

"I'm sorry? What?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know much," Sakura clarified in a louder voice, "Lee only told me that you and Sasuke had argued."

"Fucking Lee," Naruto grumbled. Where did that man keep getting all of his information? To Naruto's knowledge, he had only told two people—three if he was counting Gaara—a dumbed down version of what had happened, and those people definitely were not Lee; and he trusted them to not talk about the real reason why he left, and he KNEW that the bastard definitely wouldn't tell Lee… It was a mystery…

Sakura nodded in agreement about their gossiping friend and finally took a sip of her water.

Naruto waited until she had put the drink down before correcting her, "You are kind of correct, but only partially, because I wouldn't call what the bastard and I had as a mere 'argument'," Naruto used his hands for air quotation marks.

Sakura looked at him quizzically.

Naruto met her gaze and clarified, "It was a fight. Words were spoken, yes, but mostly we just beat on each other, but worse than usual because it was for real that time."

Sakura's eyes grew horrified; no doubt remembering the few times she had witnessed he and Sasuke fight and trying to process how anything could be worse because the two would wail on each other like there was no tomorrow.

"Well, I don't know how to describe it really—" Naruto started to say.

"—please don't—" Sakura whispered as she shook her head slightly.

"—because normally it'd be on equal grounds," Naruto continued as if Sakura hadn't said anything, "but this time I didn't…COULDN'T fight back."

Sakura shook her head again, but couldn't seem to break eye contact with Naruto.

Naruto forced himself to give a wry smile and pointed to his cheeks, saying, "It was Sasuke who gave me these scars that day."

Sakura gasped and immediately teared up a little and covered her mouth with her hand.

Teuchi, who obviously overheard, gasped too and asked, "Good gracious, Naruto. Didn't you press charges?"

Although all Naruto wanted to do was cover up his cheeks with all the attention they were getting and run away to his tree, he forced himself to laugh and smile, "What? Against an Uchiha? I thought you were smarter than that, Old Man."

"You should still press charges!" Teuchi insisted.

Naruto shook his head, still smiling, and said, "No can do, Statute of Limitations, remember? It's been ten years."

"I don't know much about that law, but are you sure that that would apply to this?" Teuchi demanded to know.

Naruto shrugged lightheartedly and said, "I don't know either, and frankly, I don't care. It happened, and I left town and became someone I'm proud to be. Did you know I'm an author now?"

Teuchi frowned, and said, "No, I didn't. But—"

"Yea! Published and everything! I already have four books out and am making a real career for myself!" Naruto pumped as much energy and excitement as he could into the conversation. It was a defense mechanism, according to Gaara's siblings Temari and Kankuro. But Naruto didn't care about that. It was working, and that was what he was focusing on.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

Naruto sighed, and wiped a tear away for her, trying to avoid all that makeup gunk on her face, and said, "I really was serious all those times when I told you I don't plan on staying here."

Sakura grabbed his hand, seemingly at a loss for words.

Then, after a moment, she said, "But…but we need you here! You-you're the only one who can…who can…"

"Sakura," Naruto said with a smile, but in a tired tone, "you're making this sound like a soap opera."

"I'm serious!" Sakura insisted.

"So am I," Naruto shot back immediately.

Sakura paused, then asked, "Then why? Why did you come back if you are so against it?"

Naruto paused as well, because he could identify just how important this question was, then answered carefully, "I came back for the sake of my old friendship with Sasuke. Not the guy who did this," he gestured towards his cheeks with a forced smile, "but the guy who was like my brother. I'd move mountains and swim through the artic nude for that guy and all that dramatic shit. I would always be there for my old friend."

Sakura's expression softened into a grin when she heard that.

Naruto heaved a great sigh and said, "Unfortunately, my old friend no longer exists, much like how Naruto Namikaze no longer exists. So I'll be on the first plane out of here."

Sakura was silent for a long while.

During that time, Teuchi took the opportunity to give Naruto the bowl of ramen he had been preparing to busy himself during the tense, personal conversation. It had loads of extra toppings on it! Naruto accepted it and mouthed a silent apology for the awkward tension that did not even have any sexual undertones for Ayame to enjoy.

As soon as Naruto had finished his heavenly ramen, Sakura asked, "Do you know where you are staying for the night?"

Naruto squinted at her, "What? It's barely after four! I figured I'd just find a hotel close to the airport."

Sakura gave him a sympathetic look and said, "That isn't right."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, "You mean there aren't hotels near the airport? Wow, that's gotta suck for tourists!"

Sakura gave half a smile and explained, "No, you idiot. I meant that it isn't right that you are just going to find a hotel. You are one of my best friends, so you deserve better."

"Uhhhh, okay?" said Naruto, confused, since he was totally planning on rewarding himself for surviving Konoha by treating himself to a swanky hotel room. He was gay, so he could get away with going to the spa and everything.

Sakura's half smile grew into a whole smile as she offered, "You can stay with me instead."

Naruto shook his head frantically, "That's sweet and all, but I am not sleeping under the same roof as the bastard! He'd kill me in my sleep!"

Sakura shook her head also and said, "Not at Sasuke's, but my own place. I still technically have my apartment since I only recently started living in Uchiha Manor. You can stay there, and I'll even let you stay there alone, if you want."

Naruto smiled at his old friend, truly appreciating the sentiment; though he secretly still wanted to jump on top of a fancy hotel bed.

"You don't have to decide now, but how about after dinner?" Sakura asked.

"Dinner?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah, with a bunch of friends. It's on the business card I gave you?" Sakura reached into her purse to pull out a duplicate.

Naruto groaned to himself. He had forgotten that he had agreed to—by not denying right away—to go to dinner; apparently with MORE people from Konoha. Just great.


And that was the chapter!

I'm just glad to be at home. The last week of school was definitely the most draining week of my life. Not with school work, oh no. School work I could handle. Apparently, what I can't handle is all this stress that has triggered my insomnia to new levels. Oh joy.

Anyways, thanks to those who favorite/alert. And an extra special thanks to those who review!