A/N
I don't own Naruto, like everyone else on
If you like this story, please review! I'm not sure if it's worth continuing yet and reviews will certainly sway me to.
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Naruto woke with a start at the sound of children playing above him. He rubbed his groggy eyes and looked around, past the shadows of the bridge he had taken residence under, it was still daytime, damn. He heard his stomach groan in protest at his aching hunger and listened nervously for any approaching footsteps, but he was safe.
'Stupid stomach,' Naruto thought to himself, 'Don't you know you're going to give away our only place to stay!' Naruto mentally grumbled. Naruto looked around his makeshift home with a touch of pride at being able to find such a great hiding place/home; ever since he was kicked out of the orphanage he found himself wandering one alley or the next looking for somewhere safe to sleep without being assaulted, and after a few months of life threatening wandering he was finally able to find his new home. Well, home might be a generous word, but this was pretty close for him.
Naruto had taken residence under one of the many bridges that allowed residents to cross the various rivers traveling throughout Konohagakure, after he discovered (through floating aimlessly after jumping into the river to hide) that the support beams underneath the bridge had corners that could easily make a little platform with a little help from an industrious orphan. After thinking to himself 'I'd say I'm a pretty industrious orphan!' he 'liberated' a couple long, wide pieces of plywood to create a small platform that he could lay on, and do to his short stature, he could also stand fully erect on the boards. The hardest part was securing the boards without alerting anyone to his presence under the bridge, successfully ruining the point of hiding in the first place. Even at night there were stragglers wandering the streets and anbu making patrols that would no doubt hear a hammer striking a nail, so he ended up making multiple small holes in the boards, and securing them across the lower support beams with pieces of thin, but strong string wound and knotted as tightly as possible for the 10 year old ninja wannabe. Unfortunately, the small bits of string he found were typically found and amassed from various garbage bins, and more often than not had to be tied together to be able to fit around the support beams, effectively making his secured floor uncomfortably loose, but he was proud of his efforts nonetheless.
Naruto made a mental check to see that his worldly possessions hadn't fallen into the river; he immediately felt the tattered blanket draped loosely around him and saw his small pile of leftover string. His still-wet clothes were still draped over one of the support beams since having been washed in the river, and his frog wallet, over stuffed with money that was useless to a village pariah, laid comfortably next to the string, covered in dust, having not been touched since he last found money. Narutos heart skipped a beat when he couldn't see his most valuable possession on the plywood that was his floor and he immediately began looking frantically around him until he felt a sharp stinging in his palm. He sighed a sigh of relief and allowed himself a small smile, looking down to his bleeding palms, he opened his hands to see the single kunai he had been clutching, even in his sleep. As he watched, the gash in his hand slowly mended itself, starting from the corners until it reached the center, letting out a small hissing sound as the two separate lines of skin came together and cauterized themselves, leaving another small scar in his palms. The healing process was painful, but he was used to it by now, and he didn't so much as flinch when he felt the burning of the cut, instead looking at his hand with a somber, detached expression.
The kunai was a gift from the Hokage himself, the only gift that he had ever received as a matter of fact. The Hokage had given it to him when he told him that he would be attending the Konoha ninja academy. Naruto could still remember everything about that day, from the smell of tobacco burning in the Hokages office to the sunny/overcast weather. Naruto did not have a photographic memory by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, his memory seemed to be abnormally short, but that day would be etched into his mind until he died, and he could only hope his first kunai would accompany him to the grave.
Naruto stood up and looked to the bridge boards that made up his ceiling. He could hear the feet on the other side traveling across the bridge, ranging from slight patting on the boards, to heavy thumps, to metallic clangs of armor. Naruto hated the weekend, there would be no academy training today, and he had woken up too late to make a getaway to the training grounds, not that he benefited much from the exercises anyway. There's only so much training you can do by yourself, without instruction until the benefits are unnoticeable, so Naruto took his view from the shadows of bodies peeking through the small cracks between the boards of his roof and began doing push-ups.
'1, 2, 3' Naruto began rhythmically counting his repetitions in his mind as he saw the ground steadily approach his face and back away, the plywood steadily swaying with his own movements.
'4, 5, 6' It looks like some of the plywood is starting to rot on the side, he should find more.
'7, 8, 9' He wonders what Iruka-sensei will teach us at the academy tomorrow.
'10, 11, 12' He wonders how much paperwork he will have to do as Hokage.
'13, 14, 15' A single tear splashes on the plywood below him. Naruto stopped for a moment and looked at the teardrop on his makeshift floor. He lifted a hand to his eyes and realized he was crying. Naruto looked at the tear on his finger for a moment in a kind of abstract curiosity, then resumed his push-ups.
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It had been thirty minutes since Naruto heard a pair of footsteps on the bridge above him, and the ache in his stomach was getting unbearable; he decided to risk it.
No one would serve the small child, and he found that walking around town was dangerous for him even in the broad daylight, and he never ventured out unless he was on his way to train, or to the academy. Although he had long since taken this with a grudging acceptance, instead of his previous confused hurt, procuring food was still a problem. Nighttime, meant less people, granted there may be more dangerous people, but to Naruto, just about any face he saw was dangerous regardless of when it was. So less faces, meant a better time to get food.
Naruto climbed along the support beams and nervously poked his head from under the bridge, but there was no one there. Naruto visibly calmed before checking his clothes drying on a horizontal beam, still damp. Couldn't be helped, Naruto dressed himself and hoisted himself up onto the street. No matter how many times he had to leave his secret home, each time he was absolutely terrified that he would be discovered. The night air was chilly, he shivered. This was not a good time to have damp clothes, but sickness was the least of his worries. Naruto wandered the streets, sprinting from shadow to shadow attempting to remain unseen by any eyes that may be out tonight. He had only been searching for a minute or so before he caught an intoxicating smell. He made his way as quickly as possible to the source of the sent, he read the sign 'Ichirakus' another random food stand. Another random place full of random strangers who hate him.
Naruto ducked into the alley beside the restaurant and checked the trash, there was a to-go container with what looked like some kind of half-eaten noodles inside, there were a few flies on it but it was no doubt thrown away because of the long black hair resting on the noodles.
Bingo.
Naruto looked around sheepishly before approaching the trash can and the half-open to go box therein. When he reached it he gently waved away the flies and picked up the hair from the top of the noodles and threw it away, he has standards you know, before digging in hungrily. Having not eaten in a couple days (lasts nights raid being unsuccessful with new scars to show for it) the noodles in the box were amazing.
Naruto was halfway through the leftovers when the door opened to reveal a young girl in a robe-like uniform with a bandana keeping her hair behind her shoulders holding a large black trash bag. The light hit Naruto immediately, and the girl looked to be shocked before he took off, leaving the remaining food in his hurry to get away. Seeing the alleyway was thin he immediately jumped to the wall away from him, rebounding off the wall to jump to the next and rebounding from that one as soon as he reached it. Adrenaline was pumping his muscles, willing them to move faster.
When he reached the roof he started running away, but stopped to listen; he heard no shouts following him, he heard no attempts to chase him, and nothing was being thrown in his direction. He stopped, turned around, and crept slowly to the edge of the roof to observe the restaurant.
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"Hey, I thought I told you to take the trash out ten minutes ago, slacker!" Teuchi yelled to his daughter Ayame, who raised a ladle at him threateningly.
"Ya, and I would have done it too, if I wasn't busy washing the pots! Do you want to continue complaining about my performance or would you rather live?" Ayame said, waving the ladle above her head in a circle. Teuchi simply shook his head slowly from left to right in response.
"Good." Ayame stated cheerfully before drying off her hands and picking up the bag of garbage. When Ayame opened the door to the alley, however, her cheerfulness dissipated.
She could only watch in shock when she saw a small boy, one that couldn't have been older than 8 or 9 based on his height, stare back at her with wide, fearful eyes. He was wearing an orange heavy jacket and pants, both of which were wet. His hair was blonde, with short spikes spewed haphazardly along the length of his head and he had three whisker marks along each of his cheeks, but the most notable feature, was how thin he was. His clothes hung loosely off of him and his eyes were obviously scared. She glanced at his hands, he was eating leftovers that had been thrown in the trash. He started to run, and she wanted to yell, wanted to stop him but her throat caught, and she was just left standing there speechless.
When he had jumped onto a neighboring roof and out of sight Ayame dropped the trash bag and turned and ran into her fathers ramen shop. She leaned back into the door, closing it, and slowly started sinking down until she was sitting on the floor, with her hands around her legs holding each other in front of her shins and she was crying into her thighs. Teuchi looked at his daughter with confusion and worry before approaching her and plopping down on the floor next to her, hugging her arms.
"Ayame what is wrong?" Teuchi asked his daughter in a worried tone, "If it bothers you this much I promise I'll take out the trash tomorrow!" He stated cluelessly, before promptly receiving a pain in his head from a ladle he hadn't previously seen on the teen. Ayame continued crying with the hand that assaulted her father still outstretched over his dazed form, the hand still grasping the ladle, before unceremoniously dropping the ladle on him and resuming her previous position.
"Ramen." She said through sobs, looking up from her legs. "Make a big bowl of ramen." She continued before getting up and searching frantically through the store and the adjacent house before she came across a large clear bowl used for mixing cake batter and the like and thrusting it into her fathers chest.
"Fill it up!" She said to a sweatdropping Teuchi, grinning nervously under her fierce gaze and taking the bowl sheepishly.
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Naruto was getting antsy looking at the noodles. He had been waiting on the roof for twenty minutes, just staring at them and waiting to see if someone was going to come out again to take the trash to the dumpster or poison the food he was eating so he wouldn't come back. Neither of these had happened so far and he was getting impatient. It was time to go.
No sooner had Naruto finished that thought then the side door swung open again, and the same girl came out grinning happily and set a large, steaming bowl where Naruto had once been. Naruto could smell the noodles from his position on top of the building, the hot, fresh broth, the exotic spices he had never tasted before; it smelled like, fate. When the girl set down the bowl she frowned and looked around, seemingly uncertain of something, until her head turned in the direction Naruto was in, and she stared for a moment, smiling again.
When the door closed behind her Naruto immediately threw caution to the wind and jumped down the side of the building, running madly to the steaming bowl and grinning like a madman, before picking it up, raising the bowl over his head, and laughing triumphantly while running down the street to his secret lair.
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Ayame giggled happily as she watched the young boy run down the street laughing with the bowl over his head, almost a different child then the small boy she saw eating from their trash.
"Umm, do you mind telling me what that was about Ayame?" Teuchi asked, sweat still glistening on his forehead from the heat of the stove and the fear for his life when Ayame hovered over his shoulder 'suggesting' he hurry.
"You didn't see that boy out there?" Teuchi frowned in response to the question.
"How would I have seen any boy outside when I'm busy fearing for my life?" Teuchi half-yelled, ducking to avoid a thrown ladle that once again appeared from nowhere.
"Well there was a boy, I guess he was homeless or something because he was real thin, and his clothes were wet and worn, and he was even eating leftovers from the trash!" Ayame said. "I had to get him something to eat, or, you know, force you to get him something to eat." Teuchi sweatdropped.
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Naruto stared down the fresh bowl of ramen sitting on the floor of his hiding home. The bowl had been left out, complete with fork, in the exact spot that girl had seen him. Naruto smelled the bowl again to check for poison, but he couldn't smell any, all he could smell was, deliciousness. Narutos eyes rolled up unconsciously and his eyelids half closed as he took in a deep breath through his nose, and as he exhaled he let out a contented 'Ahhhhhhhhh'. Naruto grabbed the fork and stared at the bowl menacingly.
'If this is poisoned, then this is a good way to go!' He thought before ravaging the poor, unsuspecting ramen.
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Teuchi had just finished scraping the last bit of the days various burnt in gunk from the stove, and Ayame was midway through a fierce battle with a stubborn spot when they heard a light, almost timid, knock at the door. Ayame and Teuchi turned to the door at the same time, before Ayame looked out the window to the perpetrator and instantly began grinning happily, sprinting to the front section of the restaurant to grab a chair as a confused Teuchi slowly walked to the door while scratching his head. He opened to door to reveal a thin, scraggly looking boy with noodles on his face and jacket wearing a ear-to-ear, silly looking Naruto grin(tm) holding a big empty bowl up to him with an overstuffed looking frog wallet in the center.
"Ariga-" was all he got out before Teuchi's daughter pushed him out of the way and dragged the frightened young boy inside by the wrist, causing him to drop and shatter the bowl in his hand, and sitting him forcefully down on a chair. When the young boy attempted to get up to escape she simply grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back down into the chair, motivating him to sit still, looking around the room for more assailants as an angry looking Ayame stood in front of him with her hands on her hips and an ominous looking ladle in her right hand. Teuchi simply sighed and exited the alley door with a broom and a dustpan.
"What where you doing eating out of a trashcan?" Ayame yelled at the frightened child. "Don't you know that there are germs all over that stuff? You could get sick!" Naruto simply retorted with a confused look, until a well placed smack with a ladle squeezed a retort from him.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, crazy lady! I have to eat to! I know what you people are like! If I tried to eat here like everyone else, you would just yell at me and kick me out, or throw knives! I just smelled food and I just- I just wanted..." At this point the boy put his face in his hands and began crying, his small frame rocking violently with each sob. Ayame watched him for a moment, fighting the tears in her own eyes, before she gave wrapped her arms around him in a hug. The boy stopped crying, but looked bewildered at the sudden show of affection, and just sat there with a dazed look, his hands inches from his face. When she released him, she stepped away and rapped him lightly on the head.
"Why would you think that?" She asked with a shaky voice, sadness and anger fighting for supremacy in her mind.
"I don't know..." Naruto started sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "it's just, that's how it's always been, I don't know why people do it." He said sadly.
Teuchi sighed as he walked into the room with Narutos frog wallet and a dustpan full of glass.
"Ayame, I think you should come to the other room with me, I think I might be able to help you understand." Ayame visibly fumed at the old cook, the look in her eye said 'there's no understanding this treatment' but when he returned her death glare with one of sadness, she let up and followed him into the other room. Only to return shortly with a big smile and an even bigger piece of cake for Naruto, before turning around and walking back into the room. Naruto could just make out the old man, frowning at being interrupted, in the other room when she opened the door.
The two returned moments later, both shocked that Naruto had finished the huge slice of cake already, and Ayame chuckling slightly at his now cake-and-noodle covered face. Ayame took the plate from him and set it in the sink, before steeling her eyes and grabbing his wrist again, leading him into another room, and up a flight of stairs, and into a spare bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. She proceeded to push him into the bathroom, and gave him a short "wait here" command that left no room for argument. Naruto stood there nervously for a minute before she reappeared and thrust an armful of clothes into his chest.
"You, take a bath and put these on, you're staying over!" She told him, still pushing the clothes into his chest. The clothes were loose cargo shorts, and a pink shirt. Naruto frowned.
"Oi! This are girls clothes! I'm not wearing these!" He yelled, finishing with a swift dodge from a tossed ladle.
"You'll wear what I tell you to wear runt now get to it!" She yelled back, before exiting the bathroom and slamming the door. Naruto waited until she left to smile gratefully.
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Teuchi heard the yelling and in the floor above him and sweatdropped. 'Why Ayame? We have other shirts, why would you give him the pink one?' he thought to himself, before she burst in the door and replied, as if reading his mind:
"Because I wanted to!" Before tossing a ladle at him. If he wasn't unconscious, he would have gulped at the thought of a mind-reading Ayame.
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'This won't due at all.' The hawk-faced anbu thought to himself. 'Who would have thought that the demon would actually find a home.'
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A/N
I think it would suck to make this a one-shot and end it like this, but I'll totally due it without reviews! *Shakes fist* the review button is right there near the bottom of the page, wink wink.