Updated 04/11/17 09:10
『一緒に、二人で。』
In the Uchiha compound, it is forbidden to talk about what happened to Uzumaki Naruto during her stay. If they kept quiet about it then information couldn't get around, therefore their reputation couldn't be tarnished anymore.
Itachi had heard about it, they all heard about it. It had only been five months since they decided to stop being a foster family for Naruto, and she had already been adopted. Mikoto had been a little angry at first; the frown on her face looked almost permanent as she talked. "Maybe she'll call them 'Mommy and Daddy.' Sasuke had been happy. Fugaku couldn't care less.
Itachi felt as if he had been the only one to care. He was a bit worried for her; Naruto had this bad habit of attracting dangerous people, and her luck was running short.
Then, there was a day where she wasn't sitting by the river on his way home from school and Itachi just knew something was wrong.
He had dropped his bookbag and ran for his house; his mother had been cooking at the time, but young Itachi hadn't been hungry. He asked her again and again; "where's Naruto, what happened to Naruto?" She would just sigh and stop what she was doing, looking so serious that Itachi couldn't even reassure himself that everything was okay.
Mikoto had shifted her gaze down; there's guilt and self blame in her eyes, but running away from the subject would do nothing. "She's in the hospital, Itachi."
Maybe she had thought he was too young to handle it, but Mikoto never told him why. However, Itachi was very smart for a teenager. He learns about the death of Namikaze Minato and Kushina, Danzo's jail sentence, and that Uzumaki Naruto would most likely never return to the Uchiha household again.
Seeing Naruto in the hospital was hard.
They placed her in a medically induced coma, for reasons other than the stitches needed on her face. Though the first thing Itachi sees isn't the multitudes of bruises and cuts tarnishing her very pale skin, but instead he sees bandages.
Bandages, bandages, bandages, and more bandages.
Suddenly, the sunflowers in his hands and an apology didn't seem like enough anymore.
The nurse puts a hand on his shoulder, knowing all too well and yet nowhere near enough about what he was feeling right now. "It's awful, isn't it?" Wordlessly, he nods. There's already a vase by the bedside; it's something that the nurse bought out of her own pocket. It was sad enough that this girl didn't have a family to visit her, she wasn't planning on letting this girl wake up to an empty room.
Waking up in an empty hospital room was depressing. Even if it was just a couple flowers and a vase, it still made things ten times better. "Yeah." Itachi responds, late.
"Six scars." The nurse says suddenly. "Three on both of her cheeks. The cuts on he made on her face were very clean, and very deep. They probably would've healed with only a slight bit of scarring, had it not been for the additional burns he gave her."
Itachi's brow creases; he echoes her words hopelessly. "Her face?"
"You'll see when we take the bandages off." The nurse looks at the sleeping girl, how she wishes that this could've been prevented. No, it should've never happened in the first place. "I do believe that she's developed a phobia. We had to put her to sleep because every time we tried to help her, she'd panic and try to fight us."
"So you put her to sleep?"
"Yes. For fear of her damaging her self more than she already has." The woman shakes her head. "This child has a bumpy road in front of her, and I'm afraid that she'll be traveling alone from now on."
No, Itachi declines. She won't be alone. Even if she feels like she's alone sometimes, she'll never actually be alone. She'll make friends and overcome her struggles, and maybe one day she'll have a family of her own.
Most importantly, he'll be there when she needs him the most.
After all, just what else were big brothers good for?
Twenty three year old Itachi leaves sunflowers by Naruto's apartment door on her seventeenth birthday; the girl peaks out of her door with Gaara hovering behind her and simply says; "My favorite flowers are dandelions."
He shrugs his shoulders. "But you resemble a sunflower."
"She's definitely a weed."
Naruto reaches out and grabs him by his shirt, dragging him inside and giving him no time to get away. For the first time since the accident; she touches him, hugs him, and doesn't have a break down from it. The tiny touches and pokes on the forehead leading up until this point don't seem like such a big deal anymore; how would anyone be satisfied with that?
It was just better to go at Naruto's pace. She would heal at her own time and waiting was always better.
Today Naruto looks calm. Even a little happy, Itachi would say. Gaara's holding her hand for support; and though she pulls away all too quickly, Itachi is happy. "Thanks for everything, y'know?"
He flicks her forehead as if to say that there's nothing she should be thanking him for; she gives a big fat grin in reply, but then Gaara claps his hands together and presents the issue at hand.
"The ramen is getting cold."
Naruto's eyes widen. "Shit! C'mon Itachi, Gaara! Let's eat."
Her seventeenth birthday goes well celebrated.
oOo
"She's all tuckered out."
Naruto's sleeping on the couch, sprawled out so much that her limbs are hanging over the edges and her head dangles over the armrest. It doesn't look comfortable; both Gaara and Itachi see this, but Gaara just watches while Itachi corrects her position with brief and little touches.
Gaara reaches over and puts a hand on her silky blonde hair, a warm smile on his face that he rarely shows anyone else. "Please explain to me, the current situation with Danzo Uchiha and whether or not it is something for us to worry about."
The comfy aura that had once surrounded them is gone, and Itachi doubts that it's coming back anytime soon. "It's taboo in the Uchiha compound. Danzo is not welcome and nor is any talk of him. They don't want to tarnish the Uchiha name any further by talking about it, as you know..."
"The things they talk about are not always the truth. Sometimes lies come out and those words become rumors and rumors spread obnoxiously fast, which only make more problems." Gaara finishes; it leaves tension in the air, it's hard to continue.
Itachi doesn't take long to reply. "As far as the higher ups care, it's all Naruto's fault. Their petty, cruel actions are one of many reasons I decided to leave."
"I reprimand you for that. However just because you are no longer a part of the Uchiha family, please do not think that you are without family." Turquoise eyes shift down to the sleeping blonde for a brief second. "This one very much considers you as such, and I... I do as well. You are a very important component to our makeshift family. Thank you."
Uchiha's aren't supposed to me emotional. Stoic, unchanging expressions are the most they share with outsiders. Yet Itachi feels his eyes sting and his hands twitch in the need to secretly wipe the tears forming in his eyes, long before they can fall.
He smiles and shakes his head; hiding his face as he speaks. "No, thank you."
Itachi is happy to learn that family is far much more than blood relations.
oOo
Naruto's long eyelashes flutter as she wakes up.
Blue eyes look around the room to find nothing but her dead sleep boyfriend by her side, in the bed. When had she gone to bed? Last thing she remembers is lying on the couch, watching a really funny movie. Though she doesn't really remember what it's about.
She looks over towards the tuff of bright red hair and doesn't hesitate to play with it. The short locks twirl around her fingers easily; leaving tiny curls in his hair that defiantly don't look right. She grins a little and tries to imagine what it would look like if he grew out his hair a bit more, and then started to wear pigtails like she did sometimes.
It might be cute. In a funny way, of course.
Her pointer finger finds his neck; she runs her fingers around the natural curves of his throat. He's snoring a little bit so his neck vibrates; his lips are just slightly parted, and his chest makes an obvious movements as he breathes.
Her fingers trail down even further.
This time to his shoulders; she digs her fingers gently into the muscles, feeling happy when she feels him loosen up under her touch. She moves to his chest; pinching skin and leaving red marks here and there just for the fun of it.
Her lips form into a tiny 'o' as she expels small puffs of air, attempting to move the tiny red hairs on the back of Gaara's neck. Finally, her games come to a long awaited end when she's shoved out of bed without the slightest warning.
She hits the ground with a thud, but then bounces right back up. "What the hell!?" She yells and points an accusing finger to her half naked boyfriend. He has long since rolled onto his back and spread out to take up the entirety of their bed.
He's still pretending to be asleep. Naruto crosses her arms and puffs up her cheeks childishly; she jumps on top of the bed and straddles her boyfriend's waist easily. "I know you're awake, bastard." She reaches over and flicks his nose; but by the time she moves her hand to grab an ear, he's already grabbed onto her arm.
One turquoise eye stares at her, amused. Then it shuts as if it had never opened. His grip on her arm doesn't release. "Leggo!" She pulls away as best she can, using her other arm to grab a hold of his nose. He tilts his head back and licks her wrist, leaving a trail of saliva on her arm.
If that's not bad enough, he grabs her other arm and then tugs her down easily. In a mess of limbs and blankets, Naruto somehow ends up underneath them all. On top of her, Gaara confidently smirks.
She huffs. "That's unfair."
"You're unfair."
"No, I'm hungry."
"Nice to meet you hungry, I'm Gaara."
Naruto narrows her eyes. "You're annoying."
"No, I told you. I'm Gaara."
Her lips curve into a big smile and her eyes sparkle as she laughs; Gaara bends down and kisses her. He wonders how he got so lucky to be with such a beautiful woman, on both the inside and the outside.
Naruto thinks the same thing, but then her stomach rumbles and she starts to think about breakfast. Gaara looks at her knowingly and then picks up a small grey case that had been left on his side of the bed; he opens it up, and all of a sudden her tummy troubles are forgotten.
Gaara's face looks slightly red. "I was supposed to give this to you yesterday, but you fell asleep." It's a two piece locket in the shape of a heart; Naruto remember the picture like it was yesterday. It was about a day after they started dating, and the photobooth had seemed like the perfect thing to play with.
There's another picture somewhere in the apartment where both teens have their tongues sticking out and bunny ears on their heads; it's one of Naruto's favorites.
This one; the one inside the silver heart locket, might be another one of her favorites as well. Naruto is staring at the camera with the biggest smile on her face, and Gaara has a small smile of his own. Both of their eyes sparkle, and their faces are so close together that their cheeks are touching.
Their hands are up together, forming a heart and making the picture cheesier than ever. The locket separates into two so that both of them can have a piece of each other with them, no matter what happened.
Blue eyes meet blue-green ones. "I love it."
"I love you."
Breakfast is long forgotten.
oOo
Naruto hides halfway behind her red haired boyfriend as the two of them stand in front of a house they've never been to before. It's still early, roughly three in the afternoon on a sunny day. There are billions of things that Naruto would rather be doing, but she's stuck.
Gaara's convinced that she needs to do this, but Naruto knows that it won't go well. What is she supposed to say? What happens if Ino doesn't forgive her? She shuffles awkwardly and keeps her head down; Gaara quickly picks up on her stress.
He puts a hand on her head, as to calm her down. "It's okay. Just say whatever you think is right."
"What if it's not good enough?'
The red head makes a face as if that's the weirdest thing that he's ever heard of. "It won't be. This is you we're talking about."
The door opens and a tall man who resembles Ino greatly stands at the door. "Can I help you two with anything?" He says kindly; there's a gentle tone to his voice that Ino doesn't quite have, maybe she gets her shrill voice from her mother.
Gaara looks down at Naruto, who shifts her weight up and down by going up on her toes and back. "Um, we're... Ino's friends."
His eyes widen in recognition, and just a little bit of shock. He was so used to seeing scantily clad teenagers, caked in so much makeup that it would take hours to get off. These two, however, looked normal.
They looked like Ino's first wholesome friends.
"Okay dad, you can go." Ino interrupts the exchange by coming down the steps and literally pushing her father into another room, just to keep him away. She's in her pajamas; Gaara and Naruto would be too, had this not been a task on their to-do list.
Gaara gives a tiny wave. "Hello, Ino."
"Hey Gaara." She smiles, but the pale blonde's face goes completely blank when she turns her gaze to Naruto. The blue eyed girl still won't make eye contact; Ino says her name coldly. "Naruto."
Naruto flinches. "Hey, Ino..."
"Did you want something?"
She looks down at her sandals and chews on her bottom lip, finding comfort in just busying herself rather than just staring Ino down. "I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Ino raises an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry!" Naruto repeats a lot louder this time; probably a lot louder than she needed it to be. "I was really upset... When Gaara left... I didn't mean to lock you out like that... I didn't mean it. If we could still be friends, I would like that."
Ino reaches out and smacks Naruto over the head very, very lightly. She earns a very small glare from her overprotective boyfriend, but she pays no heed to it. "Of course we can still be friends, and I forgive you. Just don't do that again okay? I was worried."
The two blonde's hug for the briefest of moments, but it's far more than enough to be meaningful. "She was worried that you wouldn't forgive her." Naruto blushes a bit from embarrassment, taking a moment to glare up at her boyfriend before turning her attention back to her friend.
"If she could forgive me for being so rude, and never making an attempt to befriend you, then I can forgive you for something that wasn't even completely your fault."
Gaara gives Naruto a look that says, 'I told you so,'
Everything's history from there.
『一緒に、二人で。- Together, the two of us.』
