Iruka had been the one to get him and lead him through the hospital. Naruto looked down, his eyes red and puffy as he walked down the quiet hospital hallways.
The man looked down to the boy, sighing sadly. Naruto had been telling him of an old granny that had been having him do work for her while paying him with food. Iruka was suspicious at first, but after a background check it seemed like the lady was a loyal Konoha-nin, at least back in the day. She retired at the tender age of 20 to raise her only daughter, Kohaku Mebuki. It seemed her husband at the time died while she was still pregnant in the second ninja war.
It was a sad story, especially when she lost her daughter a mere few years ago, along with her granddaughter. However the woman seemed to be strong and held through. It seemed she had the ball of sunshine called Naruto into her life, maybe to ease the pain.
Iruka tried not to look too much into it, but he knew Chie and Naruto shared an odd connection. They approached a door that the nurse in the front station pointed them to, and opened it up to reveal a tired looking woman sitting up in her cot, reading what looked to be a standard hospital magazine.
Naruto rushed in, giving the lady an awkward hug.
Chie had never being a touchy feely person, Naruto knew.
"Obaa-chan!"
The woman seemed surprised, but let out a small smile and patted Naruto on the head.
"Thank you Naruto, if it wasn't for you, I'd still be a mess on my floor."
Naruto blushed at her gratefulness, grinning sheepishly. Then he took a box that had been in his hand.
"Here's that box you go through a lot, I thought you might want it, ya know! Oh and I also picked you a flower on the way over- oh" he looked down at the flower that had crumpled in his hand. The woman chuckled before putting it in the box he also handed to her.
Iruka leaned against the doorway, watching the interesting interaction.
"Naruto, I do not think I will be here for much longer."
Something flashed in the young boys cerulean eyes, disappearing quickly.
"That's great, obaa-chan! Hospitals stink."
Chie gave Naruto a firm stare, shaking her head. The boy looked down, knowing what she truly meant.
"You know that's not what I mean, boy."
There was a tense moment, quite as the boy tried adjusting his mind around the oncoming death of a friend. She continued before he could open his mouth.
"I want to thank you, for not only what you did tonight, but for this past year. I only knew my granddaughter for a little bit before her parents took off with her. I loved that little bundle, more than I knew I could. When my daughter was found dead and my granddaughter was missing, I didn't know how I could go on. For a long time, it felt like I wasn't even alive, I simply was just here."
She sighed, taking a deep breath to try to hold back her emotions.
"Look at me getting so emotional… However, Naruto, when I first met you, I thought I was replacing the empty spot that was reserved for my granddaughter. Naruto, you are not my granddaughter and I have realized that, and you could never fill that spot."
Naruto bit his lip, feeling like Chie was going to really kick him to the curb this time at the worst of times. However, her face softened and she gazed out the window, her eyes dazing off into the nighttime.
"You managed to make your own spot in my small, cold heart. You brought me joy without even trying. I never knew I could love someone else that hadn't already disappeared from my family, but somehow you managed to wiggle yourself in."
She sent him a one in a kind smile, one he didn't think he could forget. His eyes watered as he looked down, trying to hide his tears.
"Obaa-chan…"
"Boy, I don't wish to see me like this, so I must-"
"I'm going to stay! Believe it." He said before she could dismiss him. She tsked at his attitude, but smiled.
"Fine, you stubborn mule. Well to keep us entertained, why don't I tell you a story about my husband's clan, the Kohaku."
Iruka had never seen anything more simple, but such a heartfelt relationship. He was glad the boy was able to find a female role model, even if she had little time with them.
Months rolled by and they continued mundane missions while Aoi worked their butts off the three days they trained.
It was odd receiving money, she had never gotten any money before. Now she had an official job. It was definitely satisfying, especially when she could afford new clothes that didn't look a few sizes to big or small. Her first purchase was official ninja sandals, they were the nicest things she owned up to this point.
Shigure had somewhat opened up to her, but still was a bit dismissive, while Sheru still never talked unless needed, even then he barely responded. Ever since their first spar, he showed no mercy to her in their spars and usually took her down without hesitation. He was a prodigy indeed. Although it irritated her to no end, she begrudgingly admitted to herself that it helped her grow stronger and helped her think quicker.
Aoi stayed as erratic as ever, seemingly to take pleasure in their pain, well at least Sakura's and Shigure's, Sheru usually did not get caught up in any kind of shenanigans.
Their skills had improved, while Sakura worked on her own chakra control, Aoi brought her under his wing for genjutsu as well, something she surprisingly excelled at. Sheru had no problem with his training, he really never even sought help and Sakura assumed he had his own special training that made him in league with Konan. Shigure on the other hand was a more assault type, and was really precise with senbon, the one thing him and Sheru shared in common.
The team was dysfunctional at times, especially when Aoi showed his true temperament was quick to anger. However, they were all capable ninja and showing signs of becoming a fine team one day.
Sakura brushed her awkwardly short hair, it was growing out again, and it had yet to even touch her shoulders yet.
Loud knocking broke her out of her thoughts, making her look towards the bathroom door.
"Come on Sakura! You're taking forever!"
Shigure voice grunted out. She narrowed her eyes, she had changed also along with her team. She had been a bit shy beforehand, however these few months with her slightly obnoxious team made her a bit more confident with her tongue and quick to stand up for herself.
"Be out in a minute."
She grounded out, shaking out her wet hair before stepping out into the small inn room. She had to share a room with the boys, Aoi claiming he didn't even know if she was a girl at times with her brute strength. That comment had made her seethe, but she knew better to comment back, seeing how many times Shigure got his butt handed to him by Aoi.
They laid three futon mats on the floor, and she got the middle one. Apparently boys had problems sleeping next to each other. It was weird.
She grumbled slightly as she plopped down on her mat, looking over at Sheru to see him reading a jutsu scroll. His eyes were narrowed slightly as he completely ignored her. He did that a lot, and she really hated to be ignored. As shameful as it was, she found herself being a suck-up and wanting approval, especially seeing as Sheru seemed to have things figured out, even more then their sensei. She knew it was a bad habit, but she couldn't help but love the reactions on her teams face as she carried a whole wooden support piece. Well all reactions besides Sheru.
Peeking over, she started reading the scroll herself. It was pretty advanced medical stuff, yet Sheru was taking it in without a thought.
"Stop looking over my shoulder, girl." He rarely ever even called her by her name.
"Where did you get that?" She asked curiously, quite honestly she had ran out of things to read. After many nights in the doju and looking into ninja archives, at least the ones open to her, she had gone through many nights of just straight reading. She could never get bored of it, until she pretty much read all the interesting stuff.
"None of your business."
She narrowed her eyes at him. Even though he was supposedly older, he sure acted like a child at times.
"Shouldn't you be trying to help your team grow stronger and smarter?" She snipped back. That was one of the most annoying traits of Sheru, he never helped out. He sparred, he usually won, he succeeded at everything, yet he never gave any pointers or helped his teammates. Sakura always tries to help Shigure if she can, like with water walking, she was the one to explain it to him. Aoi's explanation was more or less 'go for it'. He begrudgingly took her advice. Shigure also helped Sakura in way, although calling it help was a stretch, he was quick to tell her the faults, especially when it came to taijutsu.
It wasn't exactly teaching, but Sakura was made aware of her weakness and worked to get rid of it.
Not a peep from Sheru, no advice, no telling her where she had messed up when they spar and he wins. It was obvious he preferred to work alone and all but ignored the rest of his team.
"What have you ever done to help me? Do you think I got here by receiving handouts?" He questioned, glaring at her slightly. Sakura huffed, sitting back and crossing her arms while they had a glared at each other.
"You're so full of yourself. You think you're so invincible, and it's so annoying! We're ninja and we have to expect the unexpected. Sure, maybe you will go through life without a hitch and you find out you never really needed us, but maybe someday you'll be on your back with only us to defend you. Would you like a capable ninja or ones that are weak?"
He scoffed, turning away and going back to reading his scroll. "'What if' stories do not prove anything."
Sakura seethed, getting up and leaving the room to get some air. The boy could be an arrogant ass most of the time.
After a half an hour of angry pacing in the lounge area of the inn, she finally made her way back. Shigure was out of the shower, passed out like a log in the far mat, while Sheru wasn't to be seen. Probably in the shower if the sound of running water was to prove anything.
To her surprise, a scroll was set neatly on her mat. She scowled, boys were so confusing.
Begrudgingly she sat on her mat while picking up the scroll and reading its contents, not even acknowledging Sheru as he walked out and laid down.
A week had passed and Naruto barely left the now fragile woman's bedside, only for school. He talked a lot, but to his surprise, she opened up about her past. Which was pretty awesome, it turns out she was a pretty badass ninja back in the day, only retiring to raise her daughter.
He asked advice for becoming a ninja, and all she said is 'never give up'.
This night, she had told him how much trouble she gave her daughter Mebuki for marrying a pink-haired man. Naruto had to admit he probably would have poked fun at the pink-hair.
As she was settling for bed and Naruto was leaving for home, she grabbed Naruto's hand.
"Naruto, I just want to say goodbye, and will you keep this safe for me?"
It was funny, she never said goodbye. Her words rang through Naruto's head and he realized why. It made him mad, it made him sad. In her hand was the box she loved so much, it had pictures and little books along with some little trinkets the woman had gathered throughout the years. Naruto wanted to smack it out of her hands for offering it to him.
However, at the same time, he knew this was coming. She knew this was coming. This was her closure to him, so he wouldn't be left out of the loop like he usually was, he had told her before how many people closed him out. He took the box gently, throwing one last grin at the woman.
"Of course, Obaa-chan! I'll see you soon!"
He called out as he left the room, waving at her. The woman let out a smile before resting her eyes to sleep.
Naruto stayed at her doorway, none of the nurses or medics noticed him as they ran into the room, their systems alerting them of the old woman's heart failure. He clutched onto the box, willing his tears to stay at bay. Eventually, they carried the woman out, a sheet covering her body.
An hour came and past before he lifted himself on shaky legs. The pain of loss in his body was worse than loneliness, it was an aching hole left in his heart someone had once filled. At this moment, he knew he never wanted loose a precious person again, and would try his hardest in the future to prevent them from being lost.
It had been Chie's time, he could live with that. He would be sad and nothing would help that, at least not for a while.
He patted the dusty box, shedding one last watery glance before leaving the hospital.
::
Relationships form and relationships fall out! You see Sakura molding into something like her pre-shippuden character. Obviously, she does not have the distraction of Sasuke, but she has the some of the same faults such as seeking approval, not wanting to be left behind, a bit of a suck-up and soon to be a over-achiever. It's a bit hard, because these first few chapters are just to set-up for the main part, which is only about two chapters away.
Naruto's part is finished now, and the seed has been sown. I was planning for Chie to live and be the one to eventually recognize Sakura when she finally comes around, however I feel like this is more fitting.
Hope you enjoyed!
Apotheosis~
