DADDY LEFT US part 4
Reading guide
Italic - thoughts
'Normal speech'
"Quoted speech, words etc."
Naruto had stayed up all night in the twins' room waiting for Tsunade and Shizune to come back; he couldn't sleep, he had a heavy feeling in his stomach like something bad had happened, it was like an omen. Thankfully the twins weren't troublesome during the night; they would only cry when they were hungry; otherwise they would wake up and just play in their cribs.
Time ticked so agonisingly slowly; morning came a decade later. And still no sign of Tsunade or Shizune.
Naruto walked into the living room and switched on the TV and he soon regretted it; there on the morning news headlines read: Orochimaru's associates have finally been found…
The TV played on but it was mute to Naruto's ears. God. Just when his life was getting on track, this had to happen? Sure he had known that it was only a matter of time for the police to find Tsunade and Shizune for working for Orochimaru, but it didn't have to be so soon? He still needed help with the twins. The people he came to depend on as his family were now taken. What now?
The cry of a baby brought him back from his reverie. He ran back to the twins' room. Natsu was the one crying in his crib and Fuyu just sucked his thumb.
'It's okay. I'm here.' Naruto said picking up Natsu. As if feeling left out, Fuyu began to cry too.
'Ow, come on you guys. I know you're hungry but you don't have to cry. Okay let's have a bath first'.
Naruto found himself panicking; where to start? He wasn't used to taking care of the twins on his own. He never had to. Sometimes he would wake up and find that Shizune had already bathed the twins and was feeding them. Naruto would just help with the rest.
After a bit of a struggle Naruto finished bathing the twins. He put them back in their cribs and walked into the kitchen to prepare their milk.
Then he remembered something:
"Naruto-kun, even though you are safe with us, you know with both of our pasts, there will be time when we will have to be separated; when we get caught by the police, and when that happens I want you to get away from here right away. They might come here to search for anything. Keep yourself and the twins safe. As for money, I have been saving up if that day ever comes." That's what Tsunade had said to him one day when the twins were born.
But where can I go at such short notice. I need to find a place big enough for me and the twins but cheap enough so we have some money to spend. I have to start looking now before they find here; where granny Tsunade and Shizune-san lives. It would make things complicated for granny and Shizune-san if they find the twins, the unauthorised operation they did…
Naruto found a two bed roomed apartment; one for him and the other for the twins. Life was average; neither too pleasant nor too distressing. Naruto got used to taking care of the twins on his own.
Besides thinking about Tsunade and Shizune, Naruto's heart was always in so much pain; the pain that had never diminished since that day he had waken up in a hotel room alone. And that pain had only one cure in the whole world…
As the twins grew, their features morphed more and more into Itachi; making it a permanent remembrance of Uchiha Itachi to Naruto. However he didn't regret anything. In actual fact, he was glad he had met Itachi thus leading to the family he was blessed with. Unfortunately, Itachi did not seem as glad as Naruto of their meeting.
One time, Naruto had gone to visit Tsunade and Shizune but the prison manager had refused him. He was told that only the people requested by the prisoner can visit; the prisoner would send a visit application form to the person they want to visit them in prison. And that person goes through clarifications such as criminal records and the sorts, to make sure that it is safe to let them be in contact with the prisoner.
Naruto had waited for weeks on for the visit application to be sent to him and all the while, he had tried again and again to visit the prison for weeks to try to talk to Tsunade and Shizune, but nothing had changed; Naruto didn't understand why. It's not like he was visiting the wrong prison, of course not.
Naruto was sure that there were exceptions where you could visit someone in prison despite them not asking for you. So did that mean that Tsunade and Shizune had personally told the prison manager not to allow any visits for them? Or did the prison manager not allow them to have a visitor? No. every prisoner no matter how much their crime, has a right to visitors; to stay in touch with the outside world so that when they are out they wouldn't have any problems fitting back into the community.
So why? Why would granny Tsunade and Shizune-san not want me to visit them?
So a year later, that's making the twins two years, Naruto had decided to try again.
'Fuyu-chan, Natsu-chan, lets get ready, we are going to go visit grandma Tsunade and auntie Shizune today' he said to the twins.
'Yea, we are going to see gran'ma!!' exclaimed Natsu bouncing up and down.
'Yes we are!' Naruto joined him in his happy parade.
'Where?' was the short and direct question from Fuyu.
'Aww, Fuyu- chan, why can't you be happy about it like Natsu-chan?' whined Naruto while tickling Fuyu. Fuyu giggled from Naruto's tickles.
Seriously this kid was so serious at times even if he was happy about something; he preferred short answered, where as Natsu would jump about and be loud to show he likes something and he is happy about it. However there were times when Fuyu showed that he was just a kid after all.
'Fuyu-chan, come here and Natsu-chan come here too.' Naruto said while sitting down on the floor. The twins came to him and Fuyu sat on Naruto's right and Natsu on the left.
'You see, gran'ma and auntie were taken away from us, it's no ones fault that they were taken. Gran'ma and auntie agreed to go without a problem to protect us.' Explained Naruto. He had been telling the twins about Tsunade and Shizune all the times, but he never mentioned where they were.
'Is it because of me?' a crest fallen Natsu asked.
'No!! It's not because of you Natsu-chan and its not because of you Fuyu-chan. don't you ever think like that. Okay?' the boys nodded.
'You are my good boys and no one would want to leave you. Okay?'
'Yes, but papa where is Daddy? Natsu asked excitedly.
'Daddy?' was the response from Naruto.
No way. How do they know that they are missing a daddy? I have never talked to them about their daddy. Naruto thought, alarmed.
'Yea, a girl in the park said, kids have a daddy and a mummy.' Explained Fuyu.
'Yeah, we have papa and no daddy and no mummy' Natsu explained further.
'Where is mummy and daddy?' Fuyu asked expectedly.
Naruto… he didn't know what to do, what to say, he knew this day would come but that didn't mean that he was ready to tell them about their daddy, and of course they would ask about their mummy; who was never there.
'Did mummy leave?' Natsu asked sadly.
'Was daddy taken away?' Fuyu asked sadly as well.
Naruto didn't want to lie to them and he didn't want to tell them the whole truth until they are grown up enough. So he was neither going to tell them the truth nor a lie.
'Listen you two. About mummy, there is no mummy, okay. Instead, you have me. Your papa. See? Instead of mummy you have papa. Do you understand?' Naruto explained. He just hoped that they wouldn't ask more about it.
'What about daddy?' Natsu asked.
Naruto groaned.
'About daddy, daddy left us. But it wasn't his fault. Okay. Daddy needed to get away. It was good for him and for us. Okay? So don't be mad at him.' Naruto tried to explain.
'Okay' they chorused.
'Okay then, let's get ready to go see gran'ma.'
Naruto and the twins arrived at the prison Tsunade and Shizune were being held. Just like before he was turn down. However this time Naruto was determined to see them.
'Why can't I see them?' asked a frustrated Naruto.
'Because they didn't ask for you' the prison manager had said.
He didn't understand why they wouldn't want to see him.
Naruto noticed that it was a different manager from last time. And fortunately for him, the new prison manager seemed nice; so Naruto tried to push it a little.
'Can you please try again? Please tell them there are two years old twins here to see them.' Naruto prayed that would get their attention.
Well, it worked. Tsunade and Shizune were so happy to see him and the twins. But the limited time they were given, they couldn't catch up on each others lives.
'Why wouldn't you see me at all?' he asked firmly.
'Naruto-kun, it's very dangerous that you are here. We refused to see you the first week we came here because they were looking for anyone connected to us. If they got you, it would have made things complicated you know with the boys and all. And we only decided to see you here today because we would like to tell you to stay away from us. From now on, don't ever come here again. I know you are stubborn but if it's not for you please do it for the boys.' Tsunade begged him.
Naruto's resolution to object no matter what faltered.
'Fine.' He finally said.
And that was the last time Naruto had seen Tsunade and Shizune.
Three years had passed since then; making the twins five years old and Naruto twenty three years old. It was time for the twins to start school and money was becoming a problem...
'I could have easily found a job for our income, if it was that easy to live the twins alone. That's why I had to leave them there for a short while; only to find that Uchiha-san had taken them after I had promised myself to never associate with him again and for him to never see the twins since he had rejected me when I was carrying them which is technically rejecting them. That's enough of a price for him to pay right?' Naruto finished his life story to Deidara.
'That guy is unbelievable.' Deidara felt angry for Naruto's sake.
'I am really sorry Naruto-kun on the behalf of Itachi. I'm not saying you should forgive him just like that, I understand your pain, but maybe he had his reasons to push you away before things got complicated. But the way he didn't it, was too… you know, too much; harsh even. And he deserves to be punished. Even though that won't reverse the pain you felt and are still feeling. So whatever you do please think through everything carefully. And I won't tell him anything.' Deidara said.
'No you don't have to apologize, really. But I appreciate it. And I'm not sure what reasons he had but its okay now. So don't worry about it.' Naruto reassured Deidara.
Someone walked away from the door before Naruto came out. That someone had heard every thing from the very beginning to the very end of Naruto's life story.
'Well I wouldn't give up on him if I were you.' Deidara murmured while guiding Naruto out of his room.
'Sorry, what was that?' asked Naruto.
'Nothing.' Deidara quickly answered before closing the door and leaving a puzzled Naruto in the hallway.
The next morning, Itachi walked into Naruto's room. He called out to a sleeping Naruto and Naruto woke up and he sleepily stared at Itachi. Then as if something just clicked in his head, he turned the other way; clearly ignoring Itachi. It was not because he was angry at Itachi for the kiss at dinner. No. he was angry at himself for reacting the way he did to Itachi's kiss; he couldn't believe that he could still react to Itachi's kisses and touches after six years.
Just from last night's kiss, he couldn't look at Itachi without his eyes drifting to Itachi's lips. Besides all that, he was supposed to hate the Uchiha; to be over him…
Itachi felt irritation for a minute when he noticed that Naruto was purposely ignoring him. Nonetheless, he quickly composed himself and carried on to say what he was waking Naruto up for.
'Naruto-kun, you need to wake up because you have a busy day ahead; you need to meet the new teachers for Natsu and Fuyu-' upon hearing Fuyu and Natsu's names mentioned, Naruto was out of bed and out of the door leaving a frustrated Itachi in the room; it wasn't only Naruto feeling the heat from the kiss at dinner; Itachi was feeling it too. So it was hard talking to Naruto, especially when he was in bed. Nonetheless, Itachi was determined to make Naruto fall for him again. And he had made a plan today, which Naruto didn't even hear the rest of. Oh well, he could always skip on work and make his little brother do more work while he worked on winning Naruto's heart. Even after what he had heard last night…
Naruto found the twins' room empty. He went down stairs to the kitchen, then to the dining room with no success. Where could they be? Well if only he had listened to what Itachi had been saying about the twins.
Naruto began wandering the halls to find the twins. And he got lost; he couldn't remember which way back. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice t a person walking in front of him until he bumped into the person and landed on his bottom. Then,
'Look where you're going. Idiot.' a voice Naruto didn't recognise said to him.