Chapter Thirteen-

It was very hard at first. Not that he didn't expect it to be. Getting used to a Sasumi who could read your mind was not only frightening, but also very awkward. Naruto had to stop himself nearly everyday from breaking eye contact with her. After all, it wasn't like she didn't know everything already. Sasuke was also struggling to come to terms with this new development. Weeks went by and slowly he got used to this new Sasumi. Naruto could tell that she was glad that those few awkward days were over. He supposed that was why he tried so hard to treat her like he always had. He knew from personal experience how it felt to be treated differently because of something you had no control over. But still, it was strange. While Naruto was used to the adults of Konoha knowing about the Kyuubi, the thought of his teammates knowing was something he never really considered. What would Sasuke think, he wondered, if he knew about the Kyuubi? What would they all think? What would they do? He felt quite stupid for never thinking about it before. It wasn't like he could hide it forever. It was sort of nice, though, that Sasumi already knew. He didn't have to worry about what she thought of him, either, because she told him it was okay. And from Sasumi, that was saying a lot.

Another thing was the new Hokage. Naruto wasn't really sure if he liked her. She was this really loud, annoying lady, with really, really, big…er…Anyway, apparently Ero-sennin's old teammate and he had managed to convince her to become Hokage, otherwise he would've had to be. Naruto, while still thinking she was annoying, had to be glad that his other sensei hadn't become the Godaime. He was sure that the council was also extremely relived. Ero-sennin had also said something about some guy named Orochimaru, who Naruto was pretty sure was that same lady who they fought in the Chuunin Exam. Ero-sennin also said he was a guy. Naruto just didn't understand people like that. After all, trying to take over Konoha was one thing, but dressing like a girl? Did the guy not have any pride?

Missions were as usual: boring as hell. Even after they had all become Chuunin. Unexpectedly, not only did his entire team pass the Exam, but also Neji and Lee's team and oddly Shikamaru. Kakashi-sensei mentioned something about Konoha needing more Chuunin because of all the deaths during the war with the Sand, but Naruto wasn't really listening. Along with having stupid missions, they also had a lot less missions in general. Kakashi-sensei was always gone now, so even if Naruto wanted to see him he couldn't. The year before, they had had missions almost every week if not more, but now they would only get one every few weeks, giving Naruto lots of time to train. And train he did, after all, just because they didn't have missions, didn't mean he was going to go easy on that bastard teammate of his. Once or twice he and Sasuke had dragged Sasumi out to teach them jutsu and stuff she had either read or seen in someone's memory, but Sasumi seemed to have a hard time explaining stuff she'd seen in peoples minds. She said it was more of a certain feeling, and though Naruto hated it, he sort of understood. He couldn't really have explained to anyone how to create Kage Bushin, it was something you just sort of did. So he spent most of his time training alone. Sasumi had given him this book of jutsu and he had looked through it a bit. However, since he couldn't read half of it, it was rather hard to learn anything. So the book sat in his apartment, collecting dust, while Naruto occasionally sparred with the bastard and ate ramen. He had tried to get Ero-sennin to teach him something else, but then he had gone away on business about what Naruto suspected was something involving his new book he had been raving about. Everything was quite boring for awhile until something happened that brought him painfully back to earth.

It was raining on the day it happened. Naruto grumbled angrily at his training session being disrupted and ran through the empty streets of Konoha back to his apartment, yelling obscenities. He was running up the stairs when he got this horrible feeling that something was wrong. He cleared the last steps, turned the corner and froze.

His apartment door was barely attached to the wall and was swaying back and forth slowly. Pieces had been ripped out and Naruto could make out the words 'monster' and 'demon' painted on it. He closed his eyes and opened them, hoping that it would just go away. When it didn't, he pushed the door open just so he could get through and entered the remains of his apartment. Immediately Naruto began coughing at the putrid smell of smoke and in the back of his mind he wondered why he hadn't smelt it earlier. He looked up, his eyes watering and surveyed the damage.

Half his stuff seemed to have been burned and the rest torn into bits. The walls were painted with more words, everyone making Naruto even more sick. His windows had been shattered, and the contents of his dresser were strewn across the room. He caught sight of his broken fridge dumped in a corner, its contents all over the place. His few posters that had been haphazardly tacked to the wall had been shredded or painted over and the few plants that he'd had around had been reduced to an ash, their pots in bits. His only chair had all its legs ripped off, which lay over by the shattered remains of his mirror. The rackety frame of his bed had disappeared along with his table, and his mattress had been ripped to pieces. Every single thing he owned besides what he had on him was ruined.

Naruto closed his eyes again, but this time he didn't open them for a long time and his hands became fists. To his horror he realized his eyes were watering again, though this time it had nothing to do with the smoke. He rubbed them furiously, biting his lip. No, he wouldn't cry. He was too old for crying. He wasn't a kid anymore and he wasn't going to cry over something he couldn't change. Naruto wiped his eyes again and poked through the wreckage. He was glad that at least he was wearing his headband. He didn't know what he would do if it had been damaged too. Whoever had done this, he thought, had certainly done a good job. After prodding around the mess he found that there was not a single thing that wasn't spoiled. Naruto looked out his broken window and realized that it was getting dark. He moved closer to the window and then stumbled over something falling with a crash onto some fragments of broken pottery. He yet out a yelp and jumped up, holding his cheek and feeling blood run down it. Naruto carefully walked over to his broken mirror and inspected his cheek. It wasn't that bad and Naruto carefully wiped the blood that was threatening to fall onto his jacket off. He looked around the room and found the thing he had tripped over. It was that book that Sasumi had given him. One of the only presents he had gotten in his life. He knelt down and opened the now burnt cover carefully. He flipped through the pages and then shut it, his hands covered in soot. And suddenly it was too much. He wasn't sure why it hurt so much, after all, this wasn't the first time his stuff had been wrecked. Maybe it was because it hadn't happened in so long. Maybe it was because he thought…stupidly thought, that they didn't hate him anymore. Maybe…

Naruto wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes

He wasn't sure how long he sat there. Just sat there. In the middle of his misery he suddenly realized that he couldn't stay here. They might come back and he was in no shape to deal with them. He stood up slowly and opened his eyes. Naruto could barely see his apartment now it was so late. But where would he go? Iruka-sensei was out of the question. Naruto couldn't count how many times he had been there. He had disturbed him enough and he was probably on a mission. He didn't know where Kakashi-sensei lived and even if he did he was pretty sure that the Jounin was on a mission as well. He knew around what district Sasumi lived, but even he wasn't stupid enough to wander around there at this hour. That left only one option: Sasuke. Just great. Naruto looked around the apartment once more before quietly slipping out and climbing as stealthily as he could down the stairs. And of course it was still raining. Stupid rain. He had been to Sasuke's apartment once or twice before, but he wasn't sure he could find it in the dark.

Wait, who was he kidding? Of course he could find it! He was Uzumaki Naruto, for God's sake! The future Hokage! Naruto grinned at the thought of the look on Sasuke's face when he knocked on his door and set off making as much noise as he could. Sure, they trashed his apartment, but that didn't mean they were going to get away with it. He wasn't going to let them get to him! He laughed loudly as he "accidentally" upset a garbage bin, sending it crashed down the street. Haha, take that! Lights turned on in apartments above him and he heard angry voices from inside. Oops…?

Sasuke was rudely awoken from a strange dream involving dancing kunai by someone pounding at his door. He groaned and turned over, trying to ignore the noise, and when it persisted he was forced to get out of his nice, warm bed. Whoever was at the door was about to suffer a long and painful death. He stumbled out of bed, unlocked the door and wrenched it open.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU…Naruto?" he snarled and then blinked in surprise as he took in Naruto, who was soaking wet and beaming at him like he had just won the lottery.

"Holy shit, you have a nice apartment!" Naruto said loudly, swerving around him into the room, "Ooh! You have a TV too? Cool!"

Sasuke opened his mouth and then closed it. On the third try he actually managed to speak.

"Naruto, it is one in the morning. Would you mind telling me what the hell you are doing here!" No, Sasuke was not very happy at the moment.

"My apartment got trashed, so I'm staying here," Naruto said calmly, "You have a balcony! That's no fair! Why do you get all the good stuff!?"

"What the…there is NO way you are staying…" Sasuke paused. Wait… "Your apartment got trashed?" Naruto, didn't seem to hear him because he was too busy flipping through the channels on Sasuke's TV.

"Naruto…Oi, Naruto!" Damn that moron, was he deaf? "NARUTO!!"

"Geez, bastard, you don't have to yell."

That little piece of…

"I said, your apartment got trashed?"

"Yep."

Sasuke stared as Naruto continued to play around with his television until he found a channel involving a bunch of nearly naked women dancing around. Of course he just had to find that channel…

"What did you do?" he said wearily as Naruto resumed flipping channels again.

Naruto turned around and glared at him, "I didn't do anything," he said with more vehemence than necessary

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, "Really?" he said sarcastically.

If even possible, Naruto looked even more angry, "Look you bast…ard…woah…"

His eyes had returned to the television screen where two people were…

Sasuke ripped the channel changer out of Naruto's hands and turned off the TV, his cheeks burning. Goddamn, that stupid blond-

"So that's what you do with you're free time," Naruto sniggered, "Geez, Sasuke, I never knew you were such a pervert."

"Na…ru…to…!" He. Was. Dead.

"Hey, hey, I was joking, really-OWW!"

Half an hour later both of them lay on their backs breathing heavily.

"I…so…beat you…you bastard!"

"Like hell…moron."

Sasuke groaned, pulled himself up and collapsed on his bed. Mmmm….nice bed…

"Oi, bastard, where am I gonna sleep?"

Sasuke opened an eye to see Naruto, complete with black eye, standing next to his bed, looking perfectly awake and not in the least worn out. Damn his stamina…

"On the floor," groaned Sasuke burying his head in his pillow.

"You sleep on the floor! I'm the guest!"

Why was he so darn loud? If Sasuke had had more energy he would have cut out his vocal cords.

"Fine," he growled, too tired to argue, "Sleep on the couch."

There was a pause, "Err…where is the couch?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. And another. And another.

"Behind. You."

"Ohhhhh…cool, I didn't see that before! Wow, that's-"

Sasuke drowned out the rest by stuffing his head under his pillow. He'd kill him tomorrow, he decided.

Naruto groaned. He was lying on something not as soft as his bed and he was pissed. He sat up and wiped his eyes. Wait…something was off. Why was he in Sasuke's room? With a jolt he remembered the reason why he was sleeping on Sasuke's couch instead of his own bed. He jumped up, his injuries had healed over night, and proceeded to wake Sasuke up in a fashion that suited him best.

"WAKE UP, BASTARD!! I'M HUNGRY!!

To say that Sasuke was unhappy was a very large understatement.

Because Sasuke was a bastard (like that was anything new), he absolutely refused to take him out to ramen, so instead Naruto was forced to eat onigiri for breakfast. Onigiri. Seriously, what kind of freak eats that crap? For breakfast, too! The most important meal of the day! Along with lunch, dinner, midnight snacks, another snack, and…

Naruto hung around (or messed around, take your pick) at Sasuke's apartment until about ten, when he realized that he had an apartment to clean up, and he had better start soon.

"Well, bastard, I'll leave you to your pervy videos, 'cause I've got things to do."

Sasuke ignored the jibe and raised his eyebrow quizzically, "Where are you going?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. And he was supposed to be a genius, "Home, where else? Unless you want me to camp out on your couch again tonight, I suggest you don't stop…what are you doing?"

Sasuke had gotten up, grabbed his elbow, and was currently dragging him out the door.

"Coming with you, moron. Who knows what'll happen if you try to clean? You'll probably set the village on fire."

Not to be outdone, Naruto wrenched his elbow out of Sasuke's grip, "Geez, bastard, you could just tell me you don't have enough porn to watch. I happen to know a nice store right near the…OWW!!"

Halfway through their next fight, Naruto noticed that Sasuke was not in fact going to his apartment. To tell the truth Sasuke seemed to be dragging him into the worst neighborhood in the village.

"Uhh…where are you going?"

"To Sasumi's."

"…Err…why?"

" 'Cause she's going to help us."

"Oh…Wait, you know where she lives?"

Sasuke looked down at him disdainfully, "Yes."

"God, first you're a closet perv, then you stalk people, what's next, cross dressing? Hey…actually, I can kind of see that…uh…Sasuke, you might want to breath."

"I'm going to KILL you!"

"Geez, don't take out your sexual frustration on me. I'm sure there's plenty of girls out there who- Goddammit, Sasuke, stop hitting me.

"Then shut up."

Naruto stuck out his tongue at him. He looked around carefully, half-expecting an enemy to jump out from behind a garbage bin.

"Are you sure you this is a good idea? These people…er…don't seem very nice."

Sasuke glared at him, though Naruto noticed that he seemed a little less sure than he had been half and hour ago. They walked in an awkward silence until they climbed up a set of rickety stairs to and knocked on a worn door with the number 333 burned into it. Sasuke raised his hand and knocked on the door two times and stood back.

"Oi, Sasumi?! Are you in there?"

"Shut up, moron, you don't want to be attracting trouble around here."

"Why not?"

"…moron."

"Oi, take it back, bastard!"

"Just shut up you stu-"

They were interrupted by a toneless voice from behind the door, "Who's there?"

Naruto raised his eyebrows, "What kind of question is that?"

There was no answer and then a shuffling noise from behind the door. He heard the clinks of several locks being unbolted and then the door was wrenched open.

"Finally, we thought you'd never…" Naruto trailed off, his eyes widening.

Sasumi stood, one arm still on the door, the other limply at her side. She wasn't wearing her normal clothes, but her nightclothes. If it was any other situation Naruto would have wondered if they had woken her up. However, he was in too much shock to notice much.

Ever since the first time he had seen her Sasumi had always worn bandages around both arms and legs. It wasn't uncommon for shinobi to wear bandages on their arms or legs and Naruto was used to the strange fashion senses of the Konoha shinobi. He had never really given it much thought until now, because Sasumi wasn't wearing the bandages or the weird thing she always worn around her neck, giving him a clear view of the grotesque scars and burns that were etched in her skin. If he had been more attentive, he would have noticed the three black markings on her right forearm. Naruto swallowed the bile rising in his throat.

"Err…hey…Sasumi, we were wondering…if, well…uh…"

She raised an eyebrow and pulled the door open further and stood back.

"You shouldn't stay out there," she said dully.

Before Naruto knew what had happened he and Sasuke were in Sasumi's apartment and she had closed the door behind him. Sasumi's apartment was…well, empty. There was an old mattress in the corner, a window, and a large dresser that looked like it would collapse if you touched it. That was it. And Naruto thought he was bad off.

"What happened?" she asked them.

Naruto forced himself to look away from the scars, but when he saw the tenseness in her face he couldn't remember what he was going to say.

"Someone trashed this moron's apartment, care to help us clean it up? Who knows what'll happen if he tries alone?"

"Didn't you know?" Naruto blurted out, ignoring Sasuke's look, "I mean, when you saw us, couldn't you tell?"

"I could," she said a bit more carefully than Naruto thought was nessacary, "But it takes energy and I didn't need to."

Naruto blinked. What did she mean, she didn't need to?

"Wait one minute."

He looked around to see Sasumi walk to the dresser pull out her clothes and bandages. He and Sasuke watched in an awkward silence as she wrapped the bandages around her appendages and pull on her shorts and shirt over her nightclothes. She grabbed the neck thing, or whatever it was and then pulled the door open again. They walked out silently and followed Sasumi out of that part of town.

"Did you do anything that might explain why your apartment was broken into?" she asked after they were a little closer to his apartment.

"No! Geez why do you always assume it was my fault?" It wasn't his fault they hated him! It wasn't!!

"I didn't say that."

"Well…I mean…"

"Naruto, you painted 'stupid' on all the Hokage's faces, you glued Iruka's grading book shut, you-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Fine, be that way."

Sasuke scoffed, and was about to say something, when they turned the corner and the door of his apartment came into view.

Well, at least the door was still hanging.

It wasn't fair. She hadn't wanted them to see them. They hadn't needed to know. How could she have been so stupid? Hadn't her arm been enough? How could she have let them see the worst of it? Why hadn't she just told them to wait a minute and then quickly wrapped the bandages on? Sasuke's face portrayed shock, but Naruto's face was the worst, pure disgust. She clenched the material of her shirt with her right hand. Get over it, she told herself. It was too late anyway, and if they really were that disgusted they'd have left. She distracted herself by thinking about Naruto's question.

Didn't you know? I mean, when you saw us, couldn't you tell?

She had told him it wasted energy to look in someone's memory, which was true, however, it had nothing to do with why she hadn't, didn't, look. It didn't really make sense. She should be wary of them. They knew her secret now and if they told anyone, it was over. But, somehow, she couldn't help trusting them. It had been something she had been trying to figure out for a while. Why? Why did she care? They were people, like every other person who had betrayed and hurt her. She had sworn never to get involved either with anyone, ever again, but yet…she just couldn't seem to do that.

Sasumi's train of thought was cut off by the sight of Naruto's ruined apartment. Everything was either burnt or cut to pieces. She saw Sasuke look angrily around and Naruto sadly kick at a few of the remains.

"I'll go get a bucket and a mop," she told them.

They both just nodded.

A/N: Heheheh! Er….yeah, sorry, I didn't realize that this chapter would take so long. But, don't worry, Orochimaru will definitely be next chapter. Uh…yay? Anyway, this chapter was a bit of a filler (as I said it would be) and I tried to add an little humor in, but I don't know if it worked. So review and tell me, yes or no. Special thanks to my beta, Sleeping Soundly and my reviewers: IAmAurora, Baka Hanyou Raevyn, White Alchemist Taya, Barranca, heather, kitsunekilala, EvilMoogleGirl, notBald, sandaime23, anniert, SashaGranger, psalmofsummer, Animealover, Zoey24, AkaiTrixxterShiruba, narunaru.ramen, mitsuhime, Kiyoshi Kozue, and Kingdom.Tourniquet.13; you guys are awesome! Thanks a lot!

Also, before I forget, the next chapter will (probably) have spoilers for stuff that happened within the latest few chapters of the manga. I highly suggest you read them before reading the next chapter. However, if you haven't been up to date with the manga from the start, you're probably used to getting spoilers, so it doesn't matter. Now you can review.