Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Naruto. If I did, there would be no Sasuke.
"Sasuke."
Uchiha Sasuke stood in the doorway to the Akimichi restaurant with five other figures. The arrogant young man stepped forward, halting his mocking applause. "Congratulations dobe, you really know how to celebrate mediocracy," he said with a sneer.
Naruto's gaze hardened as he stepped around the table to face his rival. As he stared down the younger Uchiha, Ino called out from behind him, "This a private party bastard, so get the hell out."
"Quiet whore, learn your place," Sasuke spat back. He was too busy insulting Ino, however, that he did not realize that other men in the room rose as well. Returning his contemptuous gaze to the blonde male, he continued. "Why would anyone want to celebrate the birth of a loser like you? They should be with me, doing what I tell them. But, we'll change that soon. I came here to give you a present, dobe. Seeing as how my last attempt to beat you didn't go as well as I'd hoped, I decided to finish the job."
One of the five behind Sasuke laughed. It was a woman about their age with long red hair. "These fuckers won't stand a damn chance. Fucking losers," she said, swearing loudly.
"Well now, fancy seeing you here, Tayuya," said a voice from Naruto's left. As he looked over he saw his sister's girlfriend rise from her seat, a dish of sake in her hand. She looked over at the woman and gave her a sinister smile. "You might want to re-think your part in this, Officer Hokumon," she said cheerfully.
Tayuya paled. "S-serg-geant M-mitarashi, what are y-you doing here?" she stammered.
"Well, unlike you, I was invited," she replied, smile never slipping.
Backing up towards the door, Tayuya was visibly trembling. "I'm outta here fuckers, no way am I messing with the Sergeant," and with that statement, Tayuya left the restaurant. Anko shrugged and sipped her sake. "Well, can't say I blame her," she muttered before returning to her seat.
Sasuke watched in shock as Tayuya fled. "Bitch, I'll get her for this," he ground out. "Enough of this, I'm going to crush you, and everyone else who gets in my way, and nothing you do will stop me."
This time, it was Shizune who spoke. Rising from her seat, she stepped forward and said, "Why don't you think about this for a second, Sasuke. You're out-numbered and three of the guests here can spin this so it's entirely your fault."
"Explain yourself, Bitch," Sasuke ordered.
Shizune shrugged off Sasuke's insult, placing a hand on Naruto's chest to stop him from attacking the boy. "It's simple, Sasuke, among the many guests here tonight are an officer of the National Police Agency," she said, pointing to Anko. "An accomplished Surgeon and General Practitioner," this time she pointed to herself. "And a well-respected educator," she finished, pointing to Iruka.
"All three of us are pillars of the community, honest and trustworthy people, and let's not forget the CEO and Paralegal among the guests," Shizune continued to point out. "If we say that you started it, who do you think the police will believe? Us? Or a little delinquent like yourself?"
"You forget woman, that I'm an Uchiha. One mention of my father and the police will believe anything that I say. Face it, you've lost Bitch" Sasuke shouted at her.
Before Shizune could say anything to the contrary, another voice rang out. The guests turned to see Izumi walking forward. "You forget Sasuke, that you are not the only Uchiha in this room. The police will be more inclined to believe ex-Commissioner Fugaku's beloved daughter over his mis-guided son," she said evenly.
Several gasps were heard throughout the room. The same thought went through almost everyone's mind, She's an Uchiha? Sasuke's sister? Naruto continued to glare at Sasuke for another moment, before he heard Gaara speaking to Iruka off to the side. "Iruka, would you please escort the ladies upstairs?" he asked. "They shouldn't see this."
Iruka nodded and led the ladies gathered, minus Anko, up the back staircase of the restaurant. As they left, Izumi and Shizune stopped next to Naruto for a moment. "Don't worry," he said to Izumi. "I won't let them hurt him, not too badly anyway." Reassured, Izumi nodded and followed Ino to the stairs. As he watched her, he heard his sister ask, "Are the two that attacked you here?" Naruto nodded to her and jerked a thumb at a pair of pale twins wearing purple lipstick. Shizune's eyes hardened and she looked to her girlfriend who was still at the table. Anko gave an imperceptible nod and motioned for Shizune to head upstairs. With that, Gaara made his way to the center of the room placed himself between Naruto and Sasuke.
Sasuke smirked and laughed at Gaara. "You think you can take me? You're as big a loser as the dobe," he laughed. To his credit, Gaara never revealed any emotion to the raven haired interloper. As Sasuke continued to laugh, the other members of his group began throwing out taunts of their own.
"This trash doesn't stand a chance against us," a large man said superiorly.
"You've got that right, Jiroubou, they're just trash compared to us," said one of the twins.
"Heh, you tell 'em, Sakon," said a tan man with dark hair.
"I'm Ukon you bastard. Get it right next time, Kidoumaru," shouted the first twin, Ukon.
"That's enough," ordered Sakon. "Let's just deal with this trash, and then kill the blonde."
Several of the guys on Naruto's side stiffened slightly. They shook it off quickly and got ready for the ultimate confrontation. As Sasuke's thugs spread out, Naruto's friends split off into groups. Shikamaru and Chouji, Shino and Neji, Kiba and Kankuro, and Lee made his way over to join Gaara. The thirteen men stared each other down, wondering who would make the first move. Naruto shifted to get a better look and accidentally nudged the table behind him. The resulting clatter was enough to break the tension and three fights started at once.
Despite his bulk, Jiroubou was incredibly fast. In a matter of seconds, he had crossed the open expanse of the restaurant and came to a stop in front of Shikamaru. Jiroubou cocked his fist back and prepared slam the smaller man into the floor. As his fist came forward, he was shocked to find it was halted by Chouji. The normal peaceful and pleasant face of Chouji was twisted into a mask of anger and disgust. "You would dare break in to my family's restaurant and threaten my friends? You've got a lot to learn," he shouted. Using his free hand to grip the slightly larger man's wrist, Chouji rotated and flipped the man over his shoulder.
Jiroubou impacted the floor harshly, the wind knocked completely out of him. Chouji took advantage of Jiroubou's weakness and proceeded to drive his fist into the man's stomach repeatedly. After the third hit, however, the tables turned. Jiroubou caught Chouji's fist as it came down and he drove his foot into Chouji's chest. Chouji crashed backwards, slumping down against the wall. Jiroubou rose from the floor and walked over to the barely conscious Chouji. "I must admit, you're tougher than I thought, but you're still just a fat loser," Jiroubou spat.
Chouji's eyes brightened and he used the last bit of his strength to land a kick into Jiroubou's knee. The larger man dropped to floor in excruciating pain. As Chouji began to lose consciousness, he saw Shikamaru slip up behind Jiroubou. Shikamaru nodded his thanks to his friend, and Chouji smiled. He knew that Shikamaru had it all under control.
Unfortunately for Jiroubou, he could not see Shikamaru from his position. He could see Chouji smile, however. What's got you so pleased, trash? he wondered. Before he could make a move towards the unconscious Chouji, he felt an arm slip around his throat. Shikamaru placed the crook of his elbow against Jiroubou's windpipe and brought his hand around to grab his own bicep. Taking his free left hand, he placed it against the back of Jiroubou's head and pushed forward. The pressure was not enough to choke the man, but it was enough to knock him out. A moment later, Jiroubou slipped into unconsciousness, all the while wondering how he could have forgotten his second opponent.
Neji and Shino stared down the dark haired man known as Kidoumaru. "Heh, I'll finish you trash off and then I'll take care of the blonde," he said.
Neji shook his head raised a hand to point at his opponent. "No, you are fated to lose this match," was all Neji said.
"For once, I agree with you, Neji. He is fated to lose this fight," Shino commented. As he finished speaking, he took a slow, deliberate step to the left, away from Neji. He kept his sunglass covered gaze locked with his opponent. Kidoumaru turned slowly to follow Shino's movement, trying to keep an eye on Neji at the same time. "Do you know why you are going to lose?" Shino asked suddenly.
Kidoumaru froze for a second, before continuing to rotate along with Shino's steps. "Why am I going to lose, trash?" Kidoumaru shot back. Shino slowed his steps gradually before responding. "Simple, you have no reason to fight," he said levelly. He took another step and stopped. Keeping his gaze fixed on Kidoumaru, he spoke again. "All of us have a reason to fight, to protect our friend, to keep him out of this fight. Many of the women here would be upset if something happened to him. You however, have no reason to fight. You are only here for the sake of the fight, because you had nothing better to do. You fight simply because an immature young man asked you too. There is no pressing need for victory, that is why you will lose."
Shino could see that his opponent was getting angrier by the minute, and knew that now was the moment to strike. Lunging forward, Shino threw his left fist out, and hooked it just passed Kidoumaru's nose. Seeing the slow moving punch coming, Kidoumaru twisted effortlessly out of the way. Unfortunately, his movement put him right in the path of Neji's palm strike. Kidoumaru's eyes widened as the Hyuuga's strike connected with his solar plexus, lifting him off the ground and sending him crashing into a support pillar. His head impacted the harshly with the cement pillar, knocking him out instantaneously.
The twins shared a glance before Sakon glared at Kiba and asked, "So, you ready to get your ass handed to you, trash?"
Kiba just gave him a little smirk and said, "One sec, I gotta make a quick call."
Kankuro stared at his friend out of the corner of his eye. What the hell is he doing?, he thought. Sakon and Ukon continued to stare, confused, at Kiba as he proceeded to pull a small whistle out of his vest pocket. Placing it to his lips, he blew into it sharply. Nothing happened. Sakon and Ukon's looks of confusion turned to looks of anger, thinking Kiba was screwing with them, Kankuro knew better. He slid a half-step to his right and waited. There was a crash, followed by the sound of what seemed to be several people coming down the stairs. The twins were shocked to see that the cause of the sound was a large white dog. Scratching the dog behind the ears, Kiba asked, "So, you ready to go, Akamaru?"
Akamaru just barked. Kiba smirked and turned his attention back towards Sakon and Ukon. "Well, I don't know about you, Kankuro, but I'm ready for a good fight," he said, grinning ferally. Kankuro snorted dismissively. "I'm ready when you are, it's time to take out the trash anyway."
With that, three met two, and the brawl started. Kiba sent a right hook flying at Sakon's head, dodging a kick in the process. The hook sailed passed him effortlessly, but Sakon was kept at bay by Akamaru. The large hound lashed out and attempted to get his jaws around Sakon's arm. Sakon jumped backwards and changed places with Ukon, who had just missed planting a roundhouse into Kankuro's side. Sakon dropped to the floor and tried to sweep Kankuro's leg, only to have him jump over it. Rolling back, Sakon narrowly avoided Kankuro's drop kick, but it wasn't enough. His roll led him straight into Akamaru, who sunk his canines into the collar of Sakon's shirt. Shaking him around violently, Sakon was momentarily stunned by the dog's onslaught. As he regained focus, he found his brother the victim of a heel kick from Kiba, as well as a right hook from Kankuro.
Throwing his elbow back, Sakon caught Akamaru on the nose and managed to extricate himself from the dog's grip. Charging forward, he takled Kankuro from behind, slamming the older man into the floor roughly. Kiba turned quickly and planted his right foot in Sakon's stomach, lifting him off of Kankuro. Sakon dropped heavily to the floor, coughing up a little blood in the process. As he tried to roll over, he felt a large weight settle on his back. Akamaru had lowered himself onto the prone man's back, pinning him to the floor.
Ukon struggled to rise after the heel kick. Looking over at his brother, he saw Kiba deliver the sharp blow to his brother's stomach. Furious, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. Flicking the blade out, he managed to pull himself into a seated position, when he heard a strange click coming from behind him. Turning slowly, he found himself staring down the barrel of a 9mm, cocked and pointed right between his eyes. He flicked his gaze upwards to the gun's owner. Anko just smiled dangerously down at the younger man. "Go ahead, try it," was all she said. Ukon dropped the knife and turned back to the fight just in time to see Kankuro's foot flying towards his face.
The blow connected easily and Ukon slumped to the floor. Kankuro made a dismissive sound at his opponent, before throwing a look of gratitude towards Anko. The violet haired woman just continued to smile dangerously as she holstered her weapon and took another sip from her sake dish. Kiba watched nervously as the woman continued to drink, Man I'm glad she's on our side, he thought. Scratching Akamaru behind the ear, he surveyed the room. Chouji was down, but so was his opponent, Jiroubou. Shikamaru was tense, watching Sasuke carefully, calculating all of their options. Shino and Neji were still, waiting for Sasuke to move, their opponent unconscious against the wall. He turned his attention to Gaara, Lee, and Sasuke, and waited.
As he tried to get a better view of what was about to happen, Naruto felt himself brush up against the table. His action caused the table to shake just enough to knock a glass over. As the glass fell, he saw his friends all move at once. In the span of less than five minutes, Sasuke's thugs were unconscious and all that remained was his girlfriend's bastard brother. He watched silently as Lee and Gaara stepped forward to confront Sasuke.
"I will give you one chance Uchiha. Leave now, and no harm will come to you," Gaara said.
Sasuke snorted. "You think just because they beat those worthless pieces of trash, that you can beat me? I'm Uchiha Sasuke, I'm better than all of you," the arrogant Uchiha shouted back at Gaara.
"You're better than me? Then why is it that you are failing out of college, while I am engaged and running one of the country's most successful corporations? It seems to me that you are the trash here, Uchiha, not the ones who fought for you," Gaara replied coldly.
"It was most un-youthful, Sasuke, to hide behind others instead of fighting for yourself," Lee chided.
"Shut it loser, the only reason you've gotten anything is because people feel sorry for you," Sasuke spat.
Lee's eyes hardened as he took another step towards Sasuke. "I will give you one chance to apologize. I got to where I am through hard-work," Lee said dangerously.
"Bring it on loser," Sasuke responded, as he spat on Lee's shoes.
Lee's fist clenched and Naruto could see the muscles coiling beneath his orange jumpsuit. Before Lee could make a move towards Sasuke, however, Gaara's voice cut through the air. "That's enough Lee, control your temper."
Lee backed down and unclenched his fist. Sasuke snorted derisively. "You're weak, letting others tell you what to-" but that was all he could say. Before he had finished, Gaara had launched himself forward sharply backhanded the arrogant Uchiha. Reeling back from the strike, Sasuke was unable to counter the attack from Lee that followed. The martial artist quickly darted around Sasuke and dealt a crushing blow to ribcage. Feeling the air being forced out of his lungs, Sasuke doubled over in pain. This left the perfect opening for Lee to strike again. Rolling quickly across the floor to his target, Lee delivered a powerful mule kick to Sasuke's jaw, lifting him off of the ground. As the Uchiha began to drop back to the floor, Lee positioned himself to deliver the final blow, an axe kick that would most certainly severely injure the Uchiha. As Lee's foot dropped, he met a stiff resistance well before he should have.
Lee took his gaze off of the prone Sasuke and looked to see what had blocked his final strike. Standing in front of him, arms raised to hold back the attack, was Naruto. Lee looked at Naruto in shock, but did nothing to move his leg away. Naruto grunted in pain as he continued to hold Lee's kick back. The initial blow had severely jarred his arms, and the blonde thought he might even have a hairline fracture. As he shifted to a slightly more comfortable position, he heard Kiba shouting at him. "What the hell man? Why are you standing up for that teme?"
"Because, Kiba," Naruto replied through clenched teeth. "I don't think my girlfriend would like it if I let you guys try to kill her brother. I may not like Sasuke, but I do like Izumi, and I promised her that I wouldn't hurt him. So I'm gonna make sure he doesn't get hurt. Now, Lee, will you back down?"
Nodding, Lee retracted his leg and lowered it, and the martial artist quickly moved away and headed towards the front door. As he reached it, he could here a commotion outside. Motioning for Shikamaru to come over, Lee opened the door. Naruto could see slightly outside the door from where Gaara had seated him after Lee backed down, and it was obvious that the girl from before had come back. Naruto watched silently as Shikamaru and Lee returned followed by the girl Tayuya and half a dozen police officers.
As the officers entered the dining room, Anko rose to greet them. "Sergeant Namiashi, Lieutenant Shiranui, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Officer Hokumon was off-duty when she heard a commotion coming from this restaurant, she immediately called us. Is everything alright here, Sergeant Mitarashi?" Lieutenant Shiranui replied quizzically.
"Yeah, it is now. These punks decided to crash a private party and wreak some havoc. They're down for the count, but they took out one of the guests when they got here," she replied dismissively.
"What are you doing here though, Anko?" asked Sergeant Namiashi
"Hmm? Oh, I was invited," she said.
"How did you get invited though? Everyone of these guys seems to be a lot younger than you? You're not stripping are you?" Lieutenant Shiranui asked sternly.
"No, of course not, perv. I'm banging the birthday boy's sister," she said flatly.
"Dammit woman, stop talking about my sister like that," Naruto shouted.
The two police officers looked past Anko and noticed Naruto for the first time. Sergeant Namiashi nudged the Lieutenant and said, "Hey, Genma, doesn't that kid look familiar?"
"Yeah, Raido. You know what it is, he's the spitting image of Minato," Genma replied.
"You guys knew my father?" Naruto asked surprisedly.
"Yeah, we went to college with him back in the day," Genma said. "He had this natural charisma that just drew everyone to him. He was a good man, we were all sad when we heard he had passed."
"Yeah, I heard from my grandfather that he was like that, maybe we can get together some time and you can tell me more about him," Naruto replied.
"Sure thing kid. Ah, here comes the EMT's," Genma said, stepping aside for the paramedics to enter.
As the paramedics entered, the girls started making their way downstairs. At the sound of the girls footsteps, the officers turned and spotted Shizune and Izumi leading the way. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Shizune quickly made her way over to the paramedics to instruct them on who to take care of first. While Shizune handled the medical personnel, Izumi went over to the Lieutenant and Sergeant. "Hello Lieutenant Shiranui, Sergeant Namiashi, how are you?"
"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Izumi. We're doing good, how's your brother?" Genma asked.
"He seems to be on the floor over there," she said sourly. "He was one of the party crashers."
"What the hell was he thinking?" Raido asked to no one in particular.
"I do not know myself," Izumi replied. "I would appreciate it, however, if you could keep him in the tank until I come for him tomorrow."
"No problem Izumi, a night in the tank might mellow him out a little, and I'm sure the Chief would love to have a little 'chat' with Sasuke," Genma assured her.
"Thank you Lieutenant. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check on my...boyfriend," she told them. With that, she bowed and walked over to where Naruto was seated. The two officers shared a brief look before grabbing the two less injured party crashers, Sasuke and Sakon. Naruto watched silently as the pair were handcuffed and led out of the restaurant. He leaned back in his chair and massaged his pained right forearm, only to flinch sharply. Shizune, who had finished up with the paramedics, came over to check him out.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked quietly.
"Lee's kick was pretty rough, I think he broke something," Naruto replied.
Taking her brother's arm in her hands, she extended it and examined the damage from Lee's attack. "So, why did you get in front of Lee's attack?" Shizune asked.
"He was gonna nail Sasuke with it, and as much as I hate him, I promised Izumi I wouldn't hurt him, so I can't let my friends hurt him like that either," the blonde replied.
"Thank you, Naruto, that means a lot to me," Izumi said, placing a dainty hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. Naruto turned to smiled up at her, but quickly grimaced when he felt Shizune poking his injured arm. "Dammit Sis, don't poke it," he shouted.
"Dr. Kato, good to see you," Genma said calmly as he came over to them.
"Ah, Lieutenant Shiranui, how's the leg?" Shizune asked back.
"Doing well, is this the brother you're always bragging about?" Genma asked, pointing at Naruto.
"Yes, this is my little brother," Shizune replied, hugging Naruto playfully. "So, do you need something, Genma?"
"No, we're just about finished, I just wanted to let Izumi that she can pick her brother up any time after noon tomorrow," Genma told the trio.
"Thank you Lieutenant, I appreciate that," Izumi replied.
"My pleasure Izumi. Naruto, nice to meet you, Izumi has my number, so give me a call and we'll get together," Genma said, turning away.
The trio watched as the police and paramedics cleared out and all that remained were the original guests. "Well," Sakura began quietly. "That was interesting."
"Troublesome, you can say that again," Shikamaru sighed.
"Well, I think we should call it a night people, it was a great party, but we all need some rest now," Ino said.
"Yeah, Ino's right guys. This was a great party, and thanks for everything, but I gotta get some rest now," Naruto chimed in. Rising, Naruto shook hands with all the guys and hugged all the girls, keeping his pain masked the whole time. After the good-byes, Kiba came over and assured Naruto that he would drop off his gifts tomorrow with his truck. Thanking Kiba for his offer, Naruto left the restaurant with Izumi, Shizune, and Anko.
"So Ladies, what's the plan now," the blonde asked.
"We're taking you to see Mom," his sister said in a no nonsense tone.
Naruto paled slightly and backed away from Shizune. "Heh...How are you going to get me there?" he asked, still edging away.
Shizune just smiled softly. Suddenly, Naruto felt a hand land heavily on his shoulder. The color completely drained from the blonde's face as he turned slowly to see a brightly smiling Anko standing next to him. "We'll take my car," she said, dangerous smile never slipping.
"Oh, I'm going to regret this," the blonde sighed as Anko and his sister led him through the parking lot. Izumi followed the boisterous trio, laughing quietly as they walked along. When they reached Anko's car, Naruto struggled vainly to get away, but it was no use. The final stroke was when Izumi came up to him and pouted. "Please Naruto, go to the hospital," she pleaded sweetly.
That was enough. Naruto yielded to his sister and allowed himself to be seated in the car. Izumi sat down next to him and laid his head in her lap. As Anko and Shizune got in the front seats, Izumi stroked her boyfriend's hair softly. It wasn't long before they reached the hospital and the trio of women dragged Naruto out of the car. As they dragged him into the hospital, they knew it was going to be a long night.
Naruto awoke the next morning the shrill beep of his alarm clock. Reaching over, he roughly slammed his arm cast down on the source of the offending sound, breaking it. Groaning, the blonde crawled out of bed and let out a big yawn. Stretching, he made his way to the bathroom for a shower. Stopping in front of the bathroom mirror, Naruto looked at the bags under his eyes and quietly asked himself, "Why did I turn that damn alarm on? I didn't get in until, like, 2 last night."
Twenty minutes and one awkward moment with a plastic bag later, Naruto was out of the shower and struggling to get dressed. Due to the cast protecting the hairline fracture to his forearm, the blonde could not seem to get his button down shirt on. Growling angrily in his frustration, Naruto cast the shirt aside and grabbed an orange long sleeve shirt from his closet and pulled it over his head. Muttering darkly, he stalked out of his room and into the kitchen, hoping to find something for breakfast.
He was surprised to find his mother sitting at the kitchen table, drinking her morning coffee and reading the newspaper. Seeing that she had no signs of a hangover, Naruto made his way over to the refrigerator, calling out a subdued "Good Morning" to Tsunade. Looking up from her paper, Tsunade glanced at her son's arm for a moment before speaking. "Shizune made you breakfast already, it's over by the stove," she said, returning to her paper.
Closing the refrigerator, Naruto looked over to the stove and saw the plate of pancakes waiting for him. Grabbing them, he noticed that they were still warm. Smiling softly, he sat down across from his mother and dug in. Tsunade's eyes flicked up from the paper to watch as her son gorged himself on the pancakes her daughter made. Sighing at the boy's atrocious manners, Tsunade looked back to her paper and asked, "So, any plans for today?"
"Not really," the blonde boy replied. "Kiba's dropping by in the evening with my gifts from the party, and I've got to go see Ino after breakfast, but nothing else, why?"
Folding the paper, Tsunade looked carefully at Naruto before asking, "Why do you have to go see Ino? Won't your new 'girlfriend' get jealous?"
"No, it's not like that. Ino said she's got my gift at her place, that she couldn't bring it with her to the party, something like it was too big or something. And besides Mom, Ino's just a friend," Naruto explained.
"Alright then. Anyway, I only asked because I've got the day off, and it's been a while since we've spent any real quality time together."
"That sounds like a great idea Mom. When I get back from Ino's we should go out and do something nice."
"Yeah, sounds good," Tsunade replied. "Oh, one more thing, I wanted to ask you something about Shizune's cop friend from last night."
"Sure Mom, what about her?"
"Is she a good person? I'm worried that she might be a bad influence on Shizune."
"Mom, Shizune's 35 years old, she's old enough to make her own decisions. But you don't have to worry, Anko's a good person, and I think we'll be seeing more of her," Naruto replied.
"Okay then, you head on out to see Ino then, I'll be here when you get back," Tsunade told her adoptive son.
Naruto nodded and placed his empty plate in the sink. Giving his mother a hug, the blonde boy padded quietly over to the apartment door and opened it. As the door swung open, Naruto found himself face to face with a red head girl about to knock. Studying her face for a moment, Naruto realized that he recognized her. "Hey, you're the girl that was with the teme last night, Tayuya, right?"
"Yeah, blondie, I was there. What about it?" Tayuya growled.
"Nothing, I was just wondering why you're here?"
"Well..." she began, shuffling her feet. "I just came by because I wanted to apologize."
"Apologize?" Naruto asked, closing the apartment door.
"Yeah, I wanted to say sorry for the part I played in the incident last night. I've been friends with those fuckers for years, I just kinda end up going along with the crowd sometimes."
"There's no need to apologize, you didn't do anything to me or my friends, so thanks."
"Heh, thanks kid. Anko was right about you," Tayuya said, turning away.
"What did she say?"
"That you're a forgiving guy, and it might be good for me to make friends with you."
"Well, that's me. Even after all these years and everything he's done to me, I still can't totally hate Sasuke," Naruto replied.
"Wow, Anko really was right. Well, I hope that you and I can be friends, and if you ever need any help with the law, give me a call," Tayuya told him, extending her hand.
Shaking the proffered hand, Naruto smiled brightly and said, "Careful, I may just take you up on that."
"I'd be fucking pissed if you didn't," she said with a smile of her own.
"Well then, I suspect you'll be hearing from me next time there's trouble."
"Good, I'll see you around Blondie," Tayuya said, walking away.
"Same to you Red," Naruto replied playfully.
The blonde watched as his new found friend sauntered back to her car. As she pulled away, Naruto checked the time on his phone and swore. "Dammit, I need to see Ino."
Taking off at a run, Naruto quickly made his way over to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, which also served as the family's home. Making sure he was still presentable, Naruto calmly knocked on the door. A moment later the door swung inward to reveal Yamanaka Inoichi, Ino's father. "Oh, hello Naruto, you're here to see Ino, huh?"
"Yes sir, is she here?" Naruto asked calmly.
"Yeah, she should be upstairs, but I thought she wasn't dating anymore?"
"She's not," Naruto replied. "But she told me to come by today to pick up my birthday gift."
"Ah, I see," Inoichi said. He gave Naruto a sly smile and asked, "So, why didn't you ever make a move on my daughter?"
"Well, it's simple sir. Ino's never seen me that way, I'm her best friend after all."
Inoichi nodded. "Well, if it doesn't work out with your current girlfriend, you have my blessing to date Ino."
"Um...thanks, I think," Naruto said. "I think I'll just head up to see Ino now. Where's her room?"
"Last door down on your left. Nice to see you, Naruto," Inoichi said, turning away and returning to the kitchen.
With that, Naruto made his way up the stairs to Ino's bedroom. The blonde male gripped the door handle and pushed the door open. To say Naruto was not surprised would be entirely untrue. The walls, bedspread and even the carpet were all orange. He wandered slowly around the room, taking in the "beautiful" color around him. As he was standing in front of the orange writing desk, Naruto heard footsteps coming from behind him. Turning around, Naruto blushed violently as he saw Ino enter the room. The blonde woman was dressed in nothing more than a bright orange bath towel. The pair of blondes blushed violently and spun around so they were back to back. "W-what th-he hell are y-you doing h-here?" Ino stammered.
"I'm here to pick up my birthday present, like you told me to," he replied.
"I know that," she snapped. "I meant what are you doing in my room?"
"Well, your dad said it was okay," Naruto said sheepishly.
"Seriously? He knew I was in the shower, idiot," the blonde woman mumbled.
"Um...I can come back later...if you want."
"No, it's okay. Just give me a minute to put some clothes on, you can wait right there," Ino told him.
"Sure, okay then," Naruto said with a blush. The blonde male focused his eyes on the wall and waited. He could the sounds of drawers opening and a towel dropping to the floor. He tensed up and kept his eyes locked on the wall, reminding himself that he shouldn't look. Five minutes later, Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around slowly, Naruto saw that Ino was dressed in worn pair of orange bike shorts and a loose fitting tank-top. "So, you ready to see your gift?" Ino asked with a smile.
"S-sure, let's go," Naruto replied. Ino nodded and led Naruto out of her room and down towards the basement. As the pair walked, Naruto spoke up again. "You know, I can see why you never wanted me to come up to your room before."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you always made fun of my love of orange, but you're just as big a fan of it as I am," Naruto said with a laugh.
"Oh...right," Ino agreed unconvincingly.
When the pair reached the basement, Ino threw open the door and ushered Naruto inside. The blonde male entered the dark room and waited for Ino to turn on the lights. As they flickered on, Naruto caught sight of a white sheet with an orange bow on it in the corner of the room. Looking to Ino for confirmation, she nodded to it and smiled. Smiling himself, Naruto made his way over and pulled the off and gasped in surprise. Beneath the sheet was a beautiful double-sided H-frame easel. Made of strong red oak, the easel was fitted with a set of wheels to help with movement. Naruto turned to Ino with a look of shock on his face. "Ino, this is beautiful, but how did you afford this?"
"It wasn't that hard, especially since I own part of the store now," Ino replied.
Naruto smiled happily at his friend. "Thank you Ino, I love it. I can see why you couldn't bring it with you last night."
"Yeah, this would have been a real bitch to drag to the restaurant. So, how are you going to get it home?"
"I don't know, how did you get it down here?"
"It was in pieces, I had to assemble it. So, what are we going to do?"
"Hmm...let me call Kiba. He's dropping the rest of my stuff off at the apartment, maybe once he's done he can swing by with his truck. If he agrees, I can call Shikamaru and Chouji, and with your dad and Kiba, the five of us should be able to get it out of here," Naruto told Ino.
"Sounds good, you call Kiba, I'll call Shika and Chou," Ino said.
After the calls were placed, Ino called her father down into the basement. As Inoichi made his way down the stairs, Naruto could here him ask his daughter, "So, what do you need me for, Princess?"
"This over here," Ino said.
Inoichi entered the basement and glanced over where Ino was pointing. "Wow, now that is a nice easel. So, I guess that's what you've been tinkering with down here for the past few weeks, huh?"
"Yeah, isn't it nice?"
"Well, I think it looks good, but what about you Naruto?" Inoichi asked the younger blonde male.
"Well, a double-sided H-frame, holds two 106'' canvases at once, and it'll hold up to 200lbs. What's not to love? I've had so many projects I wanted to do but I didn't have the equipment for, now I do," Naruto said with a bright smile.
"That's great then, but how are we going to get it out of here?" the Yamanaka patriarch asked.
"Shika and Chou should be here in a few minutes and Kiba is coming by with his truck," Ino told her father.
"Okay, I know how you got Shikamaru and Chouji to do this, but how did you get Kiba?" Inoichi asked the pair.
"He was already dropping off my gifts from the party last night. I couldn't take them home since I had to go to the hospital," Naruto explained, showing Inoichi his cast.
"That must have hurt," the older man remarked.
"This was nothing compared to the ride to the hospital. You try getting comfortable in the back of a cop car," Naruto snorted.
"Why were you in the back of a cop car?"
"Shizune's dating a cop," Naruto told Ino's father.
"Oh, is he a good guy?" Inoichi asked.
"No," Naruto said flatly. Giving Inoichi a little smirk and said, "But she's a nice lady."
Inoichi's eyes widened. "Well, that must be interesting."
"Well, it will be once Shizune tells Mom," the younger blonde said with a smirk.
The trio of blondes laughed. The two males shifted the easel towards the stairs and waited for the rest of the men to arrive.
AN: Okay, first off, I'm sooooooo sorry. I know you must all hate me right now. But you'll be happy to know that everything that was slowing me down is out of the way. I can't guarantee that the next chapter will be out soon, but hopefully in 2 weeks or so. So, please tell me what you think and remember, flames are welcome.