Chapter 4: The new School year…
Disclaimer: Yea… still don't own Naruto.
"You got my head spinning, no kidding" Japanese
"I can't pin you down" Spanish
'Give you're all to me and I'll give you all of me' Thought
"My heads under water, but I'm breathing fine" English
Two weeks had passed from Marivi's initial encounter with the Sandaime Hokage, and Naruto was in fact starting his first day at the Ninja Academy that sunny morning. Marivi bustled around her small kitchen speedily as she simultaneously packed two small obentos and served breakfast all at once. She could hear the sound of her clumsy little brother getting dressed through the thin walls as well as his not so muffled curse when he accidentally stubbed his toe on the door.
Marivi giggled as the petulant child stomped to the table and sat down dramatically, "It's not funny nee-chan!" he whined.
Marivi looked away from the auburn haired boy as a cute pout formed on his lips, "Hmm, of course not otouto!" She teased as Naruto's pout deepened dramatically.
"Nee-chan! Stop laughing!" he demanded pointing at her imperiously as he began to shovel food down his throat.
Pulling out a chair, Marivi plopped down ungracefully as she set down the obentos before beginning to eat, "But Naru-chan I'm not laughing."
"Yes you are!" he accused, "You're laughing on the inside! I can tell!"
This time Marivi laughed boisterously out loud at her little brother's outrageous accusation, "Well now I'm laughing Naru-chin!" she said cheerfully before calming down and continuing her meal as her otouto continued to whine playfully at his nee-chan's 'meanie' attitude.
The two siblings finished their breakfast happily before pulling up their masks and stepping out of the apartment together quietly, their playful banter coming to an end.
After Naruto's free hand (as the other was holding onto his obento) slipped into hers, Marivi and Mateo began to walk cautiously towards the academy. While they didn't live too deep into the red light district it still wasn't completely safe for them to be out in the open, the good thing was that it was early in the morning so the chances of someone trying to mug them were low… besides, most of the dwellers of the red light district didn't rob from each other but from the visitors that come to enjoy the pleasures the district can offer them. Since the duo had been living in the district for a while now the local residents recognized them and generally left them alone.
The academy seemed to come into view too quickly, and by the tightening squeeze on Marivi's hand she knew that Mateo wasn't too ready for their separation either. Seas of children of different ages ran around cheerfully as parents tried to get their respective kids to the right classroom. Loud, happy voices washed over the two siblings as they stepped through the gates.
Marivi could see some parents shoot dirty looks at her when they thought she wasn't looking, after all she was 'much too young to be mother' in the opinion of the majority of people (civilians).
"Nee-chan?" Mateo's quiet voice miraculously seemed to carry up to her.
"Yea, Mateo?" She asked looking down at the nervous seven year old.
He inhaled shakily before letting it back out, "I'm gonna be going to the academy as Mateo right?" he tried to confirm shakily in Spanish.
Marivi nodded, "Yea, remember? That's the deal we made with the Hokage….."
~FLASHBACK~
"Arteaga-san," the Hokage sighed in resignation, his scrutinizing glare finally disappearing, "Naruto has become extremely attached to you, frankly I believe that if I was to separate you now… the boy would never forgive me. I can also see that you genuinely seem to care for Naruto."
Marivi looked at the wizened man before her as he took in a deep breath, "I will not separate you from him, despite the fact that your arrival to Konoha is beyond normal and suspicious. But you're going to have to tell me a little bit about yourself before I actually let you have the legal guardianship over Naruto. You will also be followed by Anbu for a while to see if you're actually a trust worthy person. Because of Naruto-kun's position as the Jinchuuriki of the Ninetails, he is going to have to be trained in the Ninja arts so that he can protect himself from those whom might want to monopolize or hurt him because of the fox. Do you agree with these terms, Arteaga-san?"
Marivi closed her eyes, envisioning the little bright ball of sunshine that was anxiously-tearfully-waiting for her outside of his office, "Hai, Hokage-sama. I agree to these terms." She said confidently.
The Hokage nodded, "Now you said that you were living in Tokyo? Is this your home village?" he asked inquiringly.
"No it is not. I was born in a different… village, called Colombia. In Colombia the language spoken isn't Japanese but Spanish. It is my first language. When I was a child we moved to another village called America, which was hard since I had to learn a different language called English which was the predominant language spoken there , I lived in New York City until my parents got a divorce and remarried different people. My dad stayed in New York with his wife, my step brother and my half sibling…. Whereas my mom and I moved to Japan with her husband." She explained.
The Sandaime raised his right eyebrow questioningly, "I thought you said that you were living in Tokyo?"
Marivi blushed and rubbed a stand of her hair sheepishly, "Hai, Tokyo is- how do I explain this? Tokyo is like a district! It is a district or a smaller village residing inside of Japan's boarders. New York City is the same way; it's a district inside of the boarders of America."
"I see."
Marivi nervously began playing with the hem of her skirt once more, "Hokage-sama, when I moved to Japan I snapped. I was angry at my parents; I was angry that I'd been forced to move to a new country and have to start from the beginning all over again. I had to learn how to speak Japanese, learn the customs and traditions of the people living there so I wouldn't accidentally offend anyone… I had to leave all of my friends behind, and it felt as if my parents were slowly replacing me with their new families. I was stupid." She admitted with a shrug, "I fell into a bad crowd and starting doing things that I shouldn't have been doing, my pregnancy is the result of one such night of… misdoings. Though now I wouldn't change it for the world, since that's what really snapped me out of my trance of idioticy."
The Hokage's stare seemed to burn into her skin, but she refused to look at the man feeling the familiar shame and self-loathing that would often accompany her atrocious actions before her appearance in the Naruto universe.
"Arteaga-san, thank you for entrusting me with that information, especially since it seems to be about a subject that greatly discomforts you to speak of." The old Hokage said sincerely making Marivi flush in embracement. "There is another thing that I am curious about though, Arteaga-san. Why is Naruto-kun wearing a disguise?"
Marivi finally looked back up at the Hokage confidently, "To protect him. Hoshino-san, my employer, originally came up with that idea after Naru-chan and I were harassed by drunken villagers one night. We gave him the choice of what color hair dye he wanted to paint his hair and he chose auburn because he wanted to look more like me. We bought face masks to cover up his whisker marks, since it would have been redundant for us to dye his blonde air only for him to be recognized by his facial birthmarks. I started wearing masks too so that we could pass it off as a clan thing… like you said it's a bit obvious that I am a foreign person because of certain facial features, we decided that this would be the easiest way for us to pass off as siblings, I even gave him another name that we would use outside of the house so that no one would make the connection between Naru-chan and Mateo. Everyone stopped questioning our relationship after that, but most importantly Naru-chan is safer this way. Like Naru-chan said, it was an added perk that we looked like a pair of real blood related siblings."
The Sandaime sighed, "That was a rather good solution to your problem. Naruto-kun is better protected this way by disguising his identity, but this could pose as a problem for his impending ninja carrier. After all, I need Uzumaki Naruto to become a ninja of Konoha, to be recognized as a ninja of Konoha by the civilians as well as other fellow shinobi… not Arteaga Mateo."
Marivi looked at him worriedly, "But if we get rid of the disguise, we'll be putting Naru-chan in danger… especially when they figure out he's living with me, we'll get kicked out of our apartment and then…." She rambled anxiously as panic began to overcome her rationality.
"Arteaga-san, calm down! Panicking in that form is not healthy for the baby… Besides, that is not my intention. After Naruto-kun masters the henge jutsu in the academy, Arteaga Mateo will disappear and Uzumaki Naruto will take his place. That way he'll be able to keep up the disguise outside of the academy." He explained soothingly.
Marivi blinked rapidly as the information the Hokage explained to her sunk into her skull, "I see… th-that's rather smart."
The Hokage snorted at the mystified and some-what dumbfounded expression on her face, "Were you doubting me Arteaga-san?" he questioned her somewhat teasingly.
Marivi's eye's widened dramatically as she flailed her hands in denial, "NO! No, that's not what I meant! I was just saying that-" her nervous explanation was cut off by the Sandaime's soft chuckle, causing a small frown-pout-to tug on her lips, "You were just teasing me, weren't you?" she accused, only to receive a small smile in return.
"Anbu, please send for Naruto-kun now." He commanded the hidden assassins.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"You are going to go to the academy as Mateo until you learn how to do the henge, then 'Mateo' is going to drop out and 'Naruto' is going start." She explained, for what felt like the hundredth time, in a whispered voice. "This is going to be a secret between you, me and Hokage-sama… Mateo so that we can keep up our disguise in order to keep you safe." She told him determinedly as she brushed some of his auburn hair out of his face.
"Right." He said under his breath as he stared at the ninja academy in the same determination she was trying to impress on him. "Okay! Here I go…" he said turning to look back up at his beloved nee-chan, "You'll be here to pick me up right?" he asked.
"Yup. It's my little brother's first day of school after all." She said proudly while ruffling his hair gently.
He nodded before standing on his tippy-toes and kissing Marivi on the cheek through his mask, "Bye nee-chan!" he then kissed her belly in farewell too and whispered to his future niece or nephew, "Bye-bye baby! See you soon!"
Marivi smiled and kissed the top of his head, her cloth mask being the only barrier between them, "Bye otouto. I'll see you soon, have a good day."
He smiled up at her nervously through the white mask and nodded before turning around, "Remember!" she called out to his retreating back as he entered his classroom, "Te amo!" Mateo turned around and waved before he disappeared from her sight.
Marivi sighed, 'Children grow up so fast….' She thought absentmindedly as her free hand rubbed soothing circles over her belly as she walked to Hoshino's bookstore at a sedate pace.
The familiar jingle of someone entering the bookstore rang merrily as light footsteps made their way through the aisles of books. Marivi paused momentarily from shelving the new shipment of books that they had gotten and made her way to the counter and began to clean up the area; Hoshino-san, unfortunately, was a bit of a slob, "Welcome to Hoshino's Bookstore! Hoshino-san stepped out a couple of minutes ago; if you need any assistance please don't be afraid to ask."
"Hai. Thank you." A bored baritone voice greeted her ears politely as he stared at the books sitting in the shelves.
Her honey brown eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the Jounin in front of her, sure Marivi had known that she would someday have to meet the silver haired ninja (as he was one day going to become Naruto's sensei)… but she hadn't expected to meet him so soon, though considering the fact that the Hatake was an avid reader (even if it was just porn) she really shouldn't have been so surprised. Trying to play off her shock, as he hadn't even turned to look at her, she nonchalantly went back to where she had been stacking books in peace.
A couple of minutes had passed, the only sounds that could be heard being the sound of books being placed gently into their shelves and the sound of turning pages, before the mask wearing ninja broke the silence.
"Excuse me?" he said politely as she stopped her current task to look at him expectantly, "It seems that the order in where each book goes has changed since the last time I've been here…" he said somewhat uncomfortably to the pregnant employee, "I can't seem to find a book series written by Jiraiya-sama."
Marivi smiled amusedly underneath her white mask, "Ah, Icha-Icha Paradise did come out with a new book recently, luckily for you the shipment arrived yesterday."
"A-Ano…" the Jounin stammered somewhat uncomfortable, after all the majority of woman he knew absolutely detested the series and often made their displeasure know through their violent tendencies.
"Shinobi-san, you are going to have to help me unpack the boxes though if you want to purchase the book today. Due to the progressed state of my pregnancy, I was waiting for Hoshino-san to get back so that we do it together, but since you are here and infinitely stronger than the two of us put together… your help would be warmly welcomed." Marivi explained as she began to lead the befuddled Jounin to the back of the shop where they kept all of the shipments.
"Hatake Kakashi." He stated causing Marivi to turn to him in question, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, not Shinobi-san."
Marivi smirked, "Ah, I see. It's nice to meet you Hatake-san, I'm Arteaga Marivi."
Stopping in front of a pile of heavy boxes she turned back to the shinobi, "These are the boxes Hatake-san, if you could pick up as many as you can and follow me…" she trailed off as the Hatake lifted more than half of the boxes and turned to her for direction, nodding she motioned with her hand for him to follow her, "This way, when I was reorganizing the shelving system I decided to move the pornographic section to a more secluded corner of the shop, that way readers would be able to browse that section without fear of being judged upon or scorned by the public." She explained as they stopped in front of said section.
Hatake place the boxes gently on the ground and looked at her for further instruction, "That makes sense… one of the reasons I like to… shop in this bookstore was because of the privacy. Not many people know about this shop, so it's usually relatively empty… allowing me to browse in ease."
Marivi nodded in understanding as she pulled out a small knife and opened the cardboard box, "Yup, that's why I thought if I moved the section to a more secluded, private area it would make it more comfortable for shoppers." Straightening up she placed her right hand over her belly, mentally begging her unborn child to stop kicking in excitement, before turning to the older man and smiling beneath her mask, "This is the easier part; I just need to stack them in the shelves. You don't need to help me for this, you've done more than enough. Here," she said while handing him the newest addition of the Icha-Icha series, "I would like to give it to you for free, but as you stated before this business isn't exactly the most popular… so we need every penny we can make." she stated.
The grey haired man eye-smiled at her amusedly, "It's fine Arteaga-san… If you don't mind me asking, how far along are you?" he asked while looking at her belly curiously as he handed over the correct amount of money for his book.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm ready to drop any day now." She confessed, "And to be honest, I can't wait… being pregnant is tiring. My younger brother Mateo is extremely excited to become an Uncle though."
"Congratulations." Hatake said sincerely.
"Thank you." She said eye-smiling back up to him as he began to leave the bookstore, "Oh, by the way…" she called out to him making him turn around to look at her, "I like your mask."
He eye-smiled at her in amusement, "Back at you."
Giggling, Marivi waddled, as she didn't really walk anymore but waddle around to her destinations, back to where the shinobi had placed the boxes of books and started to shelve them.
"Arteaga-chan, it's 2:00. If you want to go pick up your otouto you should start heading out now, it's going to take you a while to get to the academy." The old grouchy voice of Hoshino-san interrupted her as she took stock in the backroom.
"Is it that late already?" Marivi asked in surprise as she took off her smock and hanged it up.
Hoshino-san smiled amusedly as he let out a gruff laugh, "Child you need to pay more attention to time…" as he watched the young pregnant woman waddle around hurriedly so that she could go pick up the small six year old that had become a part of her small family.
Blushing, Marivi smiled sheepishly up at the old man, "Ah, Hoshino-san… don't tease me…" she whined good naturedly. "I'm off, I'll be back with Mateo-chan soon." She said with a smile.
"Hai, hai. Just hurry up." He grouched with a wave.
Chuckling softly at her employer's attitude Marivi began her trek to the Academy; surprisingly it hadn't taken her very long to arrive at the shinobi school, looking around the yard she could see some other parents beginning to arrive at the grounds. She quickly waddled over to an old swing set underneath a sturdy looking tree, sitting own happily with a relieved sigh, she stretched out her legs in front of her and looked up to the sky. It was peaceful, there were big white puffy clouds slowly drifting across the horizon, birds of all natures were flying freely under the baby blue sky… it was so different from her universe, and it never failed to fill her with astonishment. Colombia, New York City and Tokyo were filled with pollution, poisoning the earth and the sky… this universe on the other hand, was clean. The air was purer and the water tasted sweeter. Marivi couldn't help but love the unindustrialized world.
Marivi snapped out of her train of thought when she noticed that children were finally being released from school, the sounds of joyous children running around and laughing as they were reunited with their parents filled the air.
Looking around from her perch, she tried to see if she could spot Mateo's auburn colored locks from the crowd.
"Nee-chan!" a familiar happy voice shouted in excitement from her right, looking up Marivi smiled lovingly at the six year old.
"Mateo!" she called back, equally excited to see the small boy as he ran across the small training ground to where she was perched.
Naruto wrapped his arms as far as he could around his nee-chan's swollen belly before burying his face into her dress, "I missed you." He whispered.
Marivi lightly massaged his head as a wide smile broke unto her face underneath her mask, "I missed you too outoto." Naruto looked up at her face and giggled as he felt the baby kick at the place he had been laying his head upon. Smiling gently at him, Marivi stood up slowly and extended her hand towards his and began walking back to the book store after he locked hands with hers.
Her little ninja in training to be, chirped happily about his first day as he swung their hands back and forth as they came off the main road to a side street. Marivi could feel happy little kicks under her palm as she rubbed her belly gently.
"Ano sa, ano sa… Nee-chan, what are we eating today?"
Marivi smiled gently at the small boy clutching her hand as the door of the book store jingled above them, "Hmm, I'm not sure… After all, I know of a little boy who started his first day at the academy today." She sing-songed, causing Naruto to blush underneath his mask.
"Does that mean we can eat ramen tonight?" Naruto asked shyly.
"If that's what my little ninja in training wants!" she chirrped.
"Yatta!"he cheered throwing his fist in the air.
"GAH!" Hoshino-san screamed as he fell out of his chair before scrambling up to his feet, "Lower your voices, you woke me up from my power nap!" he whined.
The siblings smiled sheepishly before simultaneously rubbing the back of their heads, "Sorry Hoshino-san/jiji."
"Che." The old man grumbled, "Whatever… How was your first day at the academy brat?"
Marivi giggled as she made her way back to shelving books as the two men comprising of what she considered to be her precious family chatted away loudly, before wincing as a particularly strong kick aimed at her bladder snapped her out of her amused thoughts. Her baby was going to be a troublemaker; she could just feel it in her bones.
Naruto cheered happily as they left the book store. Hoshino-san locked up the store before looking at them tiredly, "Lead the way Mateo-chan." As the three of them made their way to Ichiruku's Ramen Stand. Marivi looped her arm around the older man as they walked slowly towards the main street while Naruto skipped happily in front of them as he sang a silly little song about ramen.
"That boy is obsessed with those noodles." Hoshino-san grouched fondly as he stared at the six-year old.
"Yup, I'm slightly concerned that it's going to turn into an obsession when he's older." She confessed half amusedly and concerned.
Hoshino-san snorted before stating, "All shinobi are crazy anyway."
She giggled, "True."
Preview:
Marivi groaned in pain as another contraction hit her, her hands clutched onto the sheets tightly as she rode out the wave of pain. Childbirth sucked.
Author's Note: Hallo! I'm ALIVE! So Kakashi has finally made an appearance! I hope you've enjoyed this latest chapter and I'll see you next month! Maybe…. Please don't kill me!
3,787 Words
Love, Mara-Chan (o l l o)