Summary: A lonely 12 year old boy, who has no friends, no family, no one who actually cares for him, learns a technique that allows him to make copies of himself. What happens when he discovers they can have different personalities? M for a particularly potty-mouthed clone.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just some whacky ideas.
November, 2019 Edit: This chapter has been reviewed and edited for any mistakes or important bits I've missed, as well as to change some of the formatting.
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The Cure for Loneliness
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Chapter 1: Yami and Naruko
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The sound of a key going into the lock followed by the opening of the door echoed through the dark apartment. Footsteps were heard going inside with the clicking of the light switch shortly after. Naruto closed the door and his eyes swept over the empty living room.
"I'm home," his voice was heard without getting a response. He didn't expect a response, because there never was one. But it was a habit he developed after he got his apartment when he entered the Ninja Academy. He had read somewhere that it was customary to say something like that when you got home. However, the lack of a response hit him tonight more than it ever had before.
He took off his open-tipped sandals and went into the kitchen. He wasn't feeling really hungry, but he hadn't eaten since lunch so he started boiling the water and took a cup of instant ramen, before sitting at his small table.
What a night. What a day even. He had failed the genin graduation exam for the third time in a roll. For the third time in a roll he had failed to become a full-fledged shinobi, a ninja of the Village hidden in the Leaves. And then Mizuki, one of the teachers at the Academy, who had probably taken pity on him, had given him a second chance. Or so he had thought at least.
Mizuki had told him that there was a secondary, make-up exam that tested all aspects of shinobi life. First, he had to sneak into the Hokage(1) tower. It was the building where the village leader lived and conducted every-day business. It was to test his stealth and infiltration skills.
Afterwards, he had to locate something called the Forbidden Scroll, which contained many of the village's secret jutsu(2). He had to take it, eliminate any opposition that he had found on the way and escape successfully. That had also been easy enough with the only real opposition coming from the Old Man Hokage, but Naruto had taken care of him with his ultimate technique.
Finally, he had to find a secret place where he had to learn one jutsu from the scroll, before he was found. Another easy task, even though the jutsu he had chosen was the hated clone technique. This one was different from the one the Academy curriculum taught. While the Academy jutsu only created an illusionary copy of himself, the one he learned from the scroll created a solid clone. It was supposedly a harder and more dangerous technique, but for some reason Naruto had learned it really quickly.
That's when things had started going wrong. Iruka, one of the other Academy instructors, had been the first to find him. He had told him that Mizuki was a traitor and that he had used him to steal the Forbidden scroll. Afterwards, Mizuki himself had shown and revealed the mother of all secrets.
Naruto was an orphan. He had no parents, no siblings, not even any friends, no one in the world who actually cared for him. He sometimes met with the Old Man Hokage and maybe there was an occasional trip to Ichiraku Ramen with Iruka. But he couldn't really call them family. As if that wasn't bad enough, but for some reason everyone in the village hated him. Everyone, with some very little exceptions, would give him cold stares or would outright glare at him. They would ignore him and pretend he wasn't there. They would speak behind his back, thinking that he couldn't hear their harsh words. And worse, they would tell their children to treat him the same way.
And tonight, thanks to Mizuki he had finally found out why. Apparently, it was a huge village secret, that nobody was allowed to tell him about. 12 years ago, on October 10, also known as his birthday, the Kyūbi no Kitsune(3) attacked the village. The Fourth Hokage, had defeated the beast and had saved the village. Except you can't really kill the Kyūbi, you can only seal it into a person, preferably a newborn child. Unfortunately for Naruto, he had been the only newborn child available at the time.
Everything after that revelation had become a blur. He had beaten Mizuki into a bloody pulp, after which he and Iruka had returned the Forbidden scroll to the Hokage. Naruto had asked the Old Man many questions about the Kyūbi and what he was and had received some long-winded explanations he would think about at some later point in time.
The whistling of the kettle tore Naruto from his musings and he stood up to grab it and prepare his dinner. He poured the hot water into the cup and put the lid back on. Three minutes until dinner was done. He hated waiting for those three minutes. Instead, he thought of doing something productive and went into the bathroom to wash up quickly. A minute and a half was dedicated to that, followed by thirty seconds of changing clothes. That gave him a minute to spare, which he spent looking at the forehead protector with the Leaf insignia on it.
Getting promoted to genin was definitely the highlight of the day. He had now officially made the first step to fulfilling his dream of becoming Hokage. The only thing that marred the happy occasion was the absence of someone to actually share his happiness with. In fact, he really really wanted someone to talk to about some other things. Namely the Fox.
Sure, the Old Man had answered his questions and Iruka had given him some reassurances or whatever. But he didn't think they could really understand. The only people that could probably understand him and have any meaningful words were people like him. Other Jintubiki or something (Naruto and big words do not agree with each other). Right now, he really needed someone like that to tell him things would be all right. That he wasn't alone or that they truly, really understood. But just his luck, he was the only Jynsuriki in Konohagakure(4). The only one who could really understand him right now was.. himself.
He had barely finished the thought and without even realizing it he had dropped the forehead protector and was already making the cross seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(5)!" His voice was barely a whisper and sounded alien to him, but it was his voice nonetheless. Because with a poof of smoke there was another him right before his eyes. Or so he thought.
The person in front of him had his height. He also had the same blond unruly hair with each strand of hair having its own opinion on the proper direction of growth. He had a round face with a slightly angular jaw and three whisker birthmarks on each cheek. He also wore his same orange tracksuit with blue on the shoulders and the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a large white collar, orange pants and kunai holster on his right leg. On all those parameters it was definitely his kage bunshin(6). Except the eyes. The eyes were completely wrong.
While his eyes were bright blue with white sclera, the clone had red eyes with black sclera. Their most striking feature was the complete lack of pupils.
"Who.. Who are you?" Naruto asked flabbergasted.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm your clone, you dimwit," answered his apparent clone.
"Hey! Don't call me that! I'm not stupid!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at his clone.
"Really? I think there's a whole village out there that would beg to differ. Not to mention your test scores," the clone replied smoothly, crossing his arms.
Naruto was about to protest loudly again and even opened his mouth to shout but nothing came out. He simply looked at his clone before turning to the side and murmuring, "Figures, even my clones treat me like I'm nothing."
"Oh?" replied the clone, "and what did you expect?"
"I don't know! Something else! A bit of comfort maybe?! You're me! You should care!" Naruto screamed with tears pooling at the corner of his eyes.
"Of course I care!" the clone blurted angrily which made both of them freeze. The ensued silence wasn't long as the clone spoke again, "I may hate this village and everyone in it. I might even hold a large amount of annoyance for you. But I do care."
Whatever things the clone expected as a reply, being hugged by Naruto wasn't one of them.
"Hey!" the clone said annoyed and tried to push his Creator away, "Let go! What are you doing?" But no matter how much he pushed, Naruto wouldn't let go. Hearing the sobs made him stop. The clone stood completely frozen, trying his best not to acknowledge his Creator was crying. Even if they were different, it stirred the same emotions deep in him. But it was a losing battle and after a bit the clone returned the embrace. Without the crying of course.
What a pathetic sight, the clone thought. They were so alone, they had to use the shadow clone technique to actually get a hug. It just reinforced the clone's hatred for the village and everyone in it.
After a while Naruto's sobs disappeared and he asked, "So why are your eyes red if you're my clone? I thought you were supposed to be my exact rep.. repy.. copy or something."
The clone dropped the embrace with no resistance this time before letting out a sigh. "All right, let's go to the kitchen and get the ramen before it gets cold. I'll explain while you eat."
"Want me to make you ramen as well? If you're my clone, you should be hungry," Naruto asked while they were walking towards the kitchen.
"And that's why it'd be a waste to give me food. I'm a clone, I'll disappear after a while," the clone said.
"So? Tonight's special, I became a genin! I'll make you one," Naruto said, happy at the prospect of having dinner with someone. Even if it was just a clone.
Said clone was about to protest but then stopped. He was actually curious what would happen if he ate food. Was he even capable of eating food? Of digesting it and absorbing it? If he was a complete copy.. Well, with some differences, but at least the body was a complete copy, then he should have a functioning digestive system.
Wait, what the hell was he debating for?! It was free ramen, of course he would eat! The clone mentally shook himself and sat on the table opposite Naruto. Now he had to wait for the blasted three minutes to pass.
Naruto also decided to wait, even if his ramen was already ready. He figured it wouldn't be nice to start eating before his clone. After the three minutes had passed Naruto clapped his hands and said "Itadakimasu(7)!" excitedly, while the clone echoed him with much less enthusiasm and volume. They both ate in silence, enjoying the taste of the food of Gods that was ramen and funnily enough, each other's company.
"So," Naruto was the first to speak after they had finished their respective meals, "what are you exactly?"
The clone kept silent for a bit longer before sighing and scratching the back of his head. "I'm still your clone. Or more precisely, a clone of your hidden self."
"My hidden self?" Naruto crossed his arms and tilted his head in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Look, remember how you were feeling when you made me?" the clone asked, getting an uneasy nod from Naruto. "You felt completely alone and incredibly sad. Normally you hide those emotions. During the years you've hidden all those emotions every time one of those idiotic villagers glared at you or whispered behind your back. You bottled it all up." The clone looked Naruto directly in the eyes.
"I am the result. I am all of those repressed emotions. I am your loneliness, your hatred towards the villagers, I am every single fake smile that was masking your pain."
"What?! I don't hate the village!" Naruto shouted but only got a snort from his clone.
"Figures, you keep pretending like I don't exist. Just like how the villagers pretend you don't exist."
Naruto reeled back, as if his face had been punched with the last statement. He just stared at the clone with wide eyes, unable to say anything, so the clone continued.
"No matter how much you deny it or pretend I don't exist, I'm still there. Hidden deep in here," the clone touched Naruto's chest gently before continuing. "And I'll keep growing. I am everything about yourself that you try to ignore."
"So.. I brought you out because of the way I was feeling while I used the Kage Bunshin no jutsu," Naruto said after a while.
"That's right. I'm still a clone of you. Just a different aspect of your personality that's stronger in me. So even if I'm a clone, I'm still slightly different," the clone replied and the two settled into silence once again.
"Hey, wanna play something?" Naruto asked, producing a deck of cards out of somewhere.
"What?" the clone's jaw fell.
"You know, Ninja Belote, Ninja hearts, Ninja poker.." Naruto explained as he started shuffling the cards expertly.
"Do I look like someone who enjoys playing card games?" the clone asked incredulously.
"Well, you look like someone who has way too much fun setting things on fire. But that doesn't mean we can't play something," Naruto said, flipping cards around at very high speeds. "Besides, this is the first time I have someone at home. I'm sick of solitaire."
The clone was about to retort with a particularly snarky remark but stopped himself. He was doing that a lot tonight. Yet he had to agree, he hated solitaire as well. Ninja poker sounded like a good idea at the moment. So he opted for a different remark.
"Prepare to get creamed, looser," said the clone.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Oh, it's on."
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Rays of sunshine broke through the window and with the nasty accuracy they usually had to them hit Naruto right in his eyes. The blond grumbled and threw his pillow at the offenders with a great deal of futility, since all he managed to accomplish was hit the window. He let out a sigh, before he slowly rose in his bed.
He yawned and blearily looked around the room and into his living room through the opened door of his bedroom. He noted the distinct absence of his clone. The last thing he remembered was playing ninja poker before passing out around 3 o'clock in the morning. For a brief moment he wondered if it was all just a dream. If he was so lonely that he actually summoned a clone that had a different personality just to have some company after a crazy day.
"Maybe I've started losing my mind.." the blond muttered.
"That would imply actually having one in the first place, numbskull," he heard a noise coming from next to him. Wide-eyed, he turned his head and saw the clone from last night lying on the bed shirtless. Not a second later Naruto let out a scream and fell off the bed, hitting his head hard. Through the stars that were dancing over his eyes he could hear the clone's loud and annoying laughter.
"Oh God, you should have seen your face," the clone choked out and kept laughing.
"What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" Naruto managed after he got up.
"I was sleeping until a while ago. You have only one bed in the apartment, dimwit," the clone responded.
"Why the hell are you shirtless?" Naruto asked.
"Well, you had only one set of pajamas. Besides, I was interested to see your reaction and you didn't disappoint," the clone replied, giving Naruto a wink and getting off the bed.
Naruto's eye twitched as he felt his whole body shiver with an unpleasant feeling. He knew the clone was making fun of him but it was still unsettling. "You're a jerk."
"Hey, I try my best. Thanks for noticing," the clone laughed again. "Come on, go get washed up and let's get breakfast. We have things to discuss."
"Discuss?" Naruto asked on his way to the bathroom.
"Talk about," the clone translated from the kitchen while he started making some toast.
"I knew that!" Naruto shouted and started the shower.
Ten minutes later both blonds were sitting on the table and silently eating. Naruto was about to drink from his carton of milk before he was stopped by the clone.
"Don't drink that, it's past the expiration date."
"Oh," Naruto said and put the carton on the table before he frowned. That meant only toast for breakfast.
"We need to get proper groceries," the clone said.
"It's fine, I still have ramen," Naruto said.
"We can't live only off of ramen. We should get other stuff like fruit and vegetables," the clone tried to reason.
"Ewww!" Naruto exclaimed and pointed an accusing finger at his clone, "traitor!"
"Hey, I represent everything you hate, including proper nutrition," the clone shrugged.
"Nutrition?" Naruto asked, scrunching his eyes and nose in confusion.
"It means eating healthy food so you don't remain short forever," the clone snickered.
"Hey! Why do you keep insulting me? Us!" Naruto asked in annoyance.
"I'm just saying things as they are. Remember, whatever you ignore I don't," the clone said.
Naruto grumbled but conceded in the end, "Fine, if it will shut you up, we'll buy the stupid fruit and vegetables."
"Wow, you're not entirely unreasonable. This might not be so hard after all," the clone said.
Naruto just flipped him off before yelling, "How the hell do you know about proper nucrition anyway?!"
"Nutrition," the clone corrected without missing a beat. "Remember all those classes in the Academy you ignored?" Naruto's look told him that no, he did not remember, so the clone just continued. "Well, as I've said many times, whatever you ignore.."
"I know, I know, you don't. So?" Naruto cut in.
"Well, one of the classes was on proper ninja nutrition. What kind of foods you should eat in order to compensate for the high amount of energy you spend while doing missions," the clone explained.
"So what, we have to stop eating ramen?" Naruto asked, horror clearly etched on his face.
"Hell no!" this was probably the first time Naruto saw the clone so unsettled. "Ramen is really high on calories, even if the sodium might be too much." The clone saw Naruto's look and explained with a sigh, "Sodium basically means salt."
"I knew that," Naruto muttered looking away. The clone just rolled his eyes and continued with the explanation. "The problem with ramen is it's high on calories but not other things that are important for our growth. Stuff like vitamins and fiber which are in abundance in fruit and vegetables."
Naruto let out another sigh, before finally conceding, "Fffffffine."
The clone smiled which sent a chill down the original's spine. Sometimes Naruto forgot that the clone represented all of his hatred and malicious thoughts. The clone hated Konoha and everyone in it. It was civil towards him, because it was him. It didn't change the fact that Naruto felt really happy for its attention, even if to an outsider it would probably look pathetic. Pathetic at least was way better than alone in Naruto's book.
Putting those thoughts aside, Naruto asked, "So, what else do you want to talk about?"
"Ugh, there is so much! Where should I start?" the clone threw his hands in the air, before standing up and heading for the living room. "We better get comfortable, this will be a long conversation."
Naruto followed him and both blonds settled on the couch.
"Okay, first, you may not have noticed, but I'm still here," the clone began.
"Uhm.. Of course I've noticed, I can see you," Naruto gave the clone a confused look.
"Normally when you create Shadow Clones, you split your own chakra and give your clone a certain amount. I was given half of your chakra, which is an incredibly large amount. We have the stupid Fox to thank for that," the clone paused to see if Naruto was still with him.
"So you were made with the furball's chakra?" Naruto asked, a bit confused.
"No, with ours. But we have incredibly large chakra reserves and I think it's because of the Fox. Unfortunately, even I don't know the theory behind it, but I guess it's characteristic for Jinchūriki(8)," explained the clone and Naruto palmed his face in realization. Jinchūriki! That's what the Old Man had called him. "There's more, not only have you split our own chakra between the two of us, but you've also split Kyūbi's chakra as well. Meaning each of us has a piece of the Fox in them."
"So that applies for every clone I make?" Naruto asked.
"Yep. But that's not the only reason I'm still here. Now, tell me, how do we restore our chakra after we spend it?" the clone asked. He could have outright explained it to Naruto since it was another lesson from the Academy that was ignored. But he wanted the Creator to think for a change. Who knows, it might actually become a habit.
"Uhm.. By resting?" Naruto replied after a while.
"What else?"
"Hmm.. Eating?" he tried again.
"That's right," the clone said. "You restore chakra with rest and nourishment. That doesn't apply to clones though, just being in the world drains from the chakra you've given us so resting doesn't work for us. Which is strange, since I have a fully developed chakra system which is a complete copy of yours. It gets stranger though, because nourishment actually did restore some of the chakra that you've given me."
"So you eating last night, helped you replenish chakra? Oh, that's why you ate this morning as well, to stay here longer!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yep. Unfortunately I don't know if that's how the jutsu is supposed to work or if it has something to do with our furry friend," the clone rubbed his stomach. "You did not read the entire description of the jutsu from the scroll, just how it's performed and immediately started practicing."
"Hm.. Should we steal it again? Or maybe ask the Old Man?" Naruto suggested.
"Nah, it's probably guarded better now. And I don't trust the Hokage," said the clone.
"What?! But he's the Old Man, he helped us with the apartment! He's been helping us all our life!" Naruto said.
"You're making it sound like it's a big deal. He's just protecting his weapon," the clone said and after seeing Naruto's shocked expression continued with an explanation, "we're a Jinchūriki. A sacrifice made for the good of the village. You heard him last night, there are eight others like us. Every big village has Jinchūriki because of the power of the beasts sealed inside us. Because in case of wars, we get sent to the frontlines."
Another silence followed and the clone could see Naruto was thinking hard over what was just said. But the clone was not satisfied.
"This is why I hate this village and everyone in it. They spout crap about the Will of Fire and how everyone should stick together and protect the dreams of the new generation. Yet they treat us like dirt, despite the sacrifice we've made. We were never even given a choice on the matter. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Naruto racked his brain for a response and quickly retorted, "They just lost people to the Fox. They're afraid.."
"Oh? And I suppose taking it on a small child made them feel better," the clone responded.
Naruto opened his mouth and closed it immediately. The clone took it as encouragement and tried pushing it even further, "I'm telling you, number one on the agenda should be burning this village to the ground and laughing madly while doing it," the clone grinned and barely managed to dodge the fist that was launched at its face. He grabbed it and looked at his Creator, "Careful now. One hit and I'm gone."
Naruto was really tempted to follow through.. But that meant being alone again. So instead he settled for a threat.
"Don't even joke like that. It's not like killing everyone will change our past," he said with a serious frown on his face. It was a surprisingly mature thing to say and the clone knew exactly why. After all, Naruto had thought about it in the past before locking those thoughts away.
"Tch, fine," the clone conceded. "They're not worth the time anyway," he waved dismissively and looked out of the window. They both kept silent, each with their own thoughts, until the clone spoke again and stirred them back on track.
"Either way, we can experiment with the Kage Bunshin no jutsu ourselves. It's not like you have a shortage of chakra. We can really test the limits. Besides, I don't think the Nidaime(9) even imagined something like clones having different personalities would be possible."
"Huh? The Nidaime?" Naruto asked confused.
"He was the Creator of the jutsu, it was written right above the name in the scroll," the clone shook his head in exasperation.
"Oh.. I knew that," Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. "So what should we try first?"
"First," the clone said, "you're going to clean the apartment."
"What?!"
"It's filthy. We are not going to keep living like a bunch of pigs," the clone would not budge on this.
"Since when did you care?!" Naruto asked incredulously.
The clone let out a sigh and looked his Creator straight in the eye. "Seems like you keep forgetting. Whatever you ignore, I notice. You ignore the state of your apartment, I'm going to point it out."
"Ugh, I hate cleaning! It's so tedious!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Hmm.. If only there was some jutsu you could use to make a copy of yourself.. A copy that could do all the housework. Hey, even cook, like a maid!" the clone supplied.
"Oh right.. So I just make a clone?" Naruto asked.
"Actually.. Let's start testing right away," the clone said thoughtfully. "I want you to remember how the kids brought homemade lunches to the Academy."
"What, how will that help?" Naruto scrunched his eyes in confusion.
"Just close your eyes and do it." the clone said. With a sigh, Naruto did just that and kept silent. "Now," the clone continued, "remember how they brought those lunches and how they were talking about them. How they would trade with each other, how they would talk about them and even complain about certain things." Naruto frowned after a moment which nudged the clone to continue, "Now remember how you felt. How nice it would've been if someone cooked for us. If someone cleaned after us and nagged us for being messy, scolded us for not doing our chores, but still took care of our home."
Naruto's frown deepened. He remembered those feelings. He had felt them just last week. He'd been feeling them for the past five years since he started the Academy. His hands twitched and he made the cross hand sign needed for the shadow clone technique.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
With a poof of smoke another clone appeared in the room. Naruto and the red-eyed clone looked at the new arrival expectantly. He was a complete copy of Naruto, complete with the blue eyes. The silence was broken by the Creator.
"So.. Do you have the urge to clean and prepare food for us?" he asked.
"Hell no!" the new clone shouted which made both Naruto and the red-eyed clone frown. However, before they could say anything, the new clone continued, "I'm not going to be your maid! Maids are supposed to be female!"
Naruto and the red-eyed clone exchanged a look, before the Creator asked, "But you don't mind cleaning or cooking?"
"Well.." the new clone hesitated for a moment, "I mean.. This place is pretty dirty.. And you do need to eat properly.. I just.."
"You're uncomfortable with being a male maid?" the red-eyed clone asked.
"Uhm.." the new clone hesitated again before nodding a bit shylily.
"Well, it's a good thing we have the jutsu for that, don't we?" Naruto grinned.
Realization hit the new clone before he made the Ram sign.
"Oiroke no jutsu(10)!"
Another poof of smoke surrounded the new clone before it dissipated to reveal a girl. She was as tall as Naruto and had the same eyes, whisker marks and golden blond hair as him. However it was much much longer than his and tied into two high pigtails. If they were untied, it would probably flow below her waist. She had slender legs and arms and a lithe body with a flat well-toned stomach. She was also completely naked.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the girl shouted loudly and tried to cover her modesty.
"What the hell?!" Naruto and the red-eyed clone both grabbed their ears in pain.
"Perverts!" the girl screamed again and crouched to the ground, trying to further cover herself.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" the red-eyed clone shouted in annoyance. "He," the clone pointed at Naruto, "created the technique! There's nothing you have that we haven't seen!"
"Oh," the girl-clone said before she stood up. "Oopsie," she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and laughed nervously.
The red-eyed clone sighed and muttered something about being surrounded by idiots. Naruto on the other hand just smiled and said, "It's okay, you kind of did the right thing. I mean technically you're a girl now and that's the normal reaction."
The girl-clone giggled but frowned after she heard the red-eyed clone say "Yeah whatever. You should get to work." She suddenly took a step forward that brought her right in front of her red-eyed brother, narrowed her eyes dangerously while putting her hands on her hips, and looked downwards at him.
The red-eyed clone suddenly felt like he hadn't said the right thing. An ancient fear that was basically incorporated in his genes (or his cloned genes if someone wanted to get technical about it) made him sit straight and stiffened his whole body. It was a fear known to all men, no matter their age or standing. It was the fear of pissing off the wrong representative of the female species.
"What," her voice had changed from bubbly and cheerful to ice-cold and merciless, "did you say to me?"
The red-eyed clone realized this was stupid. She was just a clone, coming from the same Creator as him. She wasn't even a real she. She shouldn't be able to channel such powers through her voice. Yet no matter how much he repeated those thoughts in his head he wisely decided to carefully choose his next words.
"Um.. Sorry for shouting at you like that," the red-eyed clone said in a rush.
Naruto on the other hand couldn't help himself from snickering. Seeing the red-eyed jerk squirm like that was incredibly funny. Unfortunately, the noise brought the attention of his female clone to him.
"And what," she snapped at the Creator, "is so damn funny if I may ask?" she said with an edge to her voice that suggested it better not be her that was being the funny one.
Naruto gulped nervously and stammered, "Um.. N-nothing! N-nothing at all!"
She narrowed her eyes further, making both of them sweat and retreat even more into the couch before asking, "I suppose you're expecting me to cook, clean and be your maid now?"
Naruto exchanged a look with the red-eyed clone. A silent war was waged between them, before the clone finally answered, "Well, uh.. That was why you were created and why you were given your personality."
The girl-clone seemed to consider this for a moment. She rolled the words in her mind as if she was testing them, putting them under scrutiny and trying to find if there was anything wrong with them. She realized that actually yes, she did want to take care of the Creator. Being taken care of was one of his deepest childish desires that had existed since the moment he started living alone. Which made it one of her desires and taking care of the apartment and him would be fulfilling that desire and by proxy her desire as well. The female clone could find nothing wrong with that logic and she agreed to her role and purpose. However, she did find plenty wrong with her current attire.
"All right," she said and a collective release of a held breath was heard coming from the two boys.
"However," she continued and a collective intake of a sharp breath was heard coming from the two boys, "I need the proper clothes."
"What?" the red-eyed clone managed out.
"If I'm going to be your maid," she looked at the Creator, "you will provide me with the right uniform."
Naruto gulped and was about to answer but the red-eyed clone was faster, "You're a clone! You'll disappear after you finish your job!"
The girl-clone's head whipped in his direction and she bent her waist to close in on her prey, "So?"
The red-eyed clone had suddenly discovered he could not back-up any further into the couch no matter how much he tried. Luckily for him, Naruto saved his sorry behind just in the nick of time.
"Maid uniform! Right," Naruto jumped from his seat, grabbed the red-eyed clone's wrist and pulled him away towards the door of the apartment, "We'll go and get you one right away!"
"And it better have orange on it!" They heard her shout before they shut the apartment door behind them. The two of them let out another breath they didn't know they were holding, before the red-eyed clone looked at the Original.
"What the fuck did you just create?" he asked.
Naruto just gave him a defeated look, before he headed down the stairs, "Come on, the sooner we get the uniform, the better." His red-eyed copy just followed him. Naruto turned towards him and asked, "And what does fuck mean?"
"I'll explain on the way," the clone replied.
Thirty minutes later and a quick trip to a store known as Orange World saw the two back at their apartment and looking at a surprisingly cheerful female clone. She was twirling around and looking over herself in the mirror. She was wearing a typical maid uniform with one notable difference from the normal maid uniforms - whatever wasn't black was orange, instead of white. It consisted of a black, frilly dress with a pair of black wristbands. It had a dark orange frilly skirt in addition under the dress and a dark orange frilly apron fastened into a giant orange ribbon at the back of her slim waist. The cap was also dark orange with a small black ribbon at the middle. She also wore a pair of orange stockings and the outfit was completed with a pair of black high-heeled open-tipped ninja sandals.
She giggled and once again twirled in front of the mirror. Both boys had to admit she looked pretty good in it. One could never go wrong with orange. Thank the Gods for Orange World. It was a small store that offered a wide variety of clothes, items and accessories that came in orange and its many variations. It was oriented to all people who had an appreciation for the colour, so as expected it had a very niche and eccentric clientele. The outfit had put a small dent into Naruto's finances, but for some reason he felt happy when he saw his female clone so full of joy. It was probably because the outfit could be considered a gift and he rarely got those. So by proxy, his clones rarely got those as well. Again, it was probably pathetic, getting all happy about a gift he technically made to himself. And again, he did not care.
"So," Naruto said, catching the attention of both his clones, "what should I call you guys? I mean I know you're both clones, but you have your own personalities and it'd be weird to say 'Hey you" or something."
The two clones looked at their Creator with surprise. He did have a point, even if they were all the same being, they were different aspects. Having names would be easier for communication. But it had a much deeper meaning than that - having names would give them an identity. They would become someone in each other's life. And the fact that the Creator acknowledged them like that made them incredibly happy.. Or slightly less homicidal in the red-eyed clone's case.
The female clone scrunched her face in her thinking pose, looking much like Naruto when he had the same pose. After a bit of thinking she finally said, "I think.. I'd like the name Naruko."
"Naruko?" Naruto said, surprised.
"What? Something wrong with it?" she challenged him, even though she felt a bit of anxiety. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have a name that resembled the Creator's so much.. Maybe she had offended him..
"No!" Naruto said quickly, "I like it, it sounds pretty cute," he grinned. "It suits you."
The newly named Naruko couldn't help her blush, before she tugged one of her pigtails in embarrassment.
"And what about you?" Naruto asked the red-eyed clone as both he and Naruko turned to him.
The clone kept silent for a moment longer before he stood up. He moved towards Naruto and offered him his hand while looking him straight in the eyes.
"Yami(11)."
Naruto looked at him for a long period of time. He could do a lot of things. Tell him to pick another name. Dispel him and lock him away deep into his soul like before. He would lie if he said he liked the red-eyed clone. It worried him. But at the same time, he would be doing the same thing the villagers had done to him in the past. Worse yet, he would be doing it to a side of himself that yearned his acceptance as much as he yearned for acceptance in general. Acceptance he felt he had finally achieved from his clones, as pathetic as it sounded. Still pathetic was better than lonely.
It was a tense moment, a moment where the Universe held its breath in expectation to see what would happen. Slowly, Naruto lifted his hand and grasped Yami's. In the end, he was a part of him. If he wanted to move on in life, he had to be able to accept himself.
"Nice to meet you, Yami," Naruto smiled at him.
For years to come, Yami would deny it, no matter how adamant Naruto and Naruko were about it. Yet the edges of his lips twitched slightly upwards from the thin line that he usually wore on his face.
A loud squeal was heard and both boys found themselves gripped in a tight hug by Naruko, who could not contain her happiness as she jumped around.
"What the.. Unhand me you airheaded bimbo!" Yami screamed with a voice filled with annoyance. Naruko ignored him. And Naruto couldn't hold his laughter anymore.
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(1) Hokage - Literally means Fire Shadow - the leader of the Village hidden in the Leaves;
(2) Jutsu - Technique;
(3) Kyūbi no Kitsune - Nine-tailed Demon Fox;
(4) Konohagakure no Sato - Village hidden in the Leaves;
(5) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone technique;
(6) kage bunshin - Literally means shadow clone;
(7) Itadakimasu - it is customary to say this before eating a meal; literally means "Thank you for the food!";
(8) Jinchūriki - Literally means "Power of a human sacrifice";
(9) Nidaime - the Second Hokage;
(10) Oiroke no jutsu - Sexy technique;
(11) Yami - Darkness.
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Author's musings: Chapter One finished! Two will probably be coming shortly and then I will be continuing House of Two. Some changes will be coming to it. In any case, let me know if you like the idea, the setting and the writing so far. Reviews are always loved and appreciated!
Ta-ta ~
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