In spirit of Studio Ghibli, this story is based on the book and movie, Howl's Moving Castle.
Seriously, I was watching it and I thought, why can't this be Sasuke and Naruto instead?
Special thanks to ahans1b for giving me a poke and encouraging this writing, and being a reviewer of what I had produced so far. I'm blessed to have you as a friend. :)
PS..read her work, I just love it!
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The smaller blond male slowly stitched at the tattered shoes while sitting at a dusty wooden desk in a small room. The desk had various shoe repair items littered upon it; such as scraps of leather, laces and thread, and various sized shoes piled on the far end. Large blue eyes focused on the needle going in and out of the leather, a pink tongue pointed slightly out as the boy appeared to be focusing hard on the task.
"Naruto! Hurry your ass up in there, the customer will be here any moment!" A deep voice bellowed from behind the closed wooden door.
"Yes sir," the blond named Naruto called back as he bit off the final bit of thread and placed the shoe in a box. "There, hopefully those will hold for the old man." Naruto placed the lid on the cardboard box and headed out of the room.
"'Bout fucking time boy," the gruff looking man spat out at Naruto as he grabbed the shoe box from his arms. He opened the lid, pulled a shoe out and looked it over. "You better fucking hope that the old fart likes your shit work boy." The man slammed the box on the counter and pushed Naruto back behind him when the sound of a bell signified that someone had come through the shops door. "Now get your ass back to work," the man lifted his leg and kicked at Naruto, catching Naruto in the shin.
Naruto grit his teeth at the sudden pain but made his way behind the curtain silently, heading back to his room. He frowned as he listened to his boss talk politely to the customer that came in. He sighed loudly and picked up his tools, ready to repair another pair of shoes.
"Naruto! Get the fuck out here for a delivery!" The voice demanded through the wooden door some time later.
Naruto rolled his eyes and placed his equipment down on the bench, grabbed a bag and headed out. Every day was the same old shit from his boss. 'Naruto you fucker do this, Naruto you little shit, worthless, lazy, good for nothing…' Naruto sighed quickly as he slipped through the wooden door and went to get the delivery.
"Take your worthless ass to the bakery to deliver these shoes to the owner. This is her special request and don't fuck it up!" He spit in Naruto's face when he shoved the round box into Naruto's arms. Naruto eyed the box, it was round with stripes with a bow on the top. Obvious women's shoe box. "Go straight there and come straight back. Don't fucking fuck around, or else those man eating wizards and witches will snatch ya up!" The man chuckled darkly as he lit a cigarette. "Though maybe you have nothing to worry about, you're so fucking ugly, and I hear them wizards and witches only want pretty little things." He then started laughing wildly. "What the fuck you waiting for, hurry your ass up!" He then shoved Naruto's chest, causing the boy to stumble back and smash his tailbone into the counter.
Naruto whimpered out from the pain but didn't voice it out. He knew better. His boss didn't care about his pain and would only enjoy giving him more. Naruto shoved the box into his bag and limped quickly out the door. "If your fucking late getting back, you know you'll be stuck sleeping outside ya shit!" Naruto heard his boss call at his back as he made his way down the cobbled streets. Yes, he knew. If he didn't make it back before the shop closed, his boss had no qualms locking him out. No matter how much he banged on the door, his boss didn't give a shit.
Naruto wandered down the streets, his mind thinking about his life. His life was living and working at the cobbler shop. The old cobbler found him in the back alley, going through his garbage looking for food. The old cobbler offered food for work, and Naruto, being about probably around 8 years of age accepted, as he knew nothing else but being cold and hungry all the fucking time. At first it wasn't too bad, the old man taught him how to clean up around the shoe shop, fed him, allowed him to get clean, gave him a place to sleep and some hand me down old clothes. When he got knowledgeable with cleaning and cooking, the old cobbler began to teach him how to fix shoes. Life was good, but Naruto was never allowed to call him anything but 'boss'.
It was when he got older, probably around 15 years old, that boss started getting angry. The women that would come into the shop would talk all the time with Naruto. They were laughing, giggling and Naruto enjoyed the company. But boss didn't appear to like that and started having Naruto work in the back. Naruto no longer got hand me downs, wasn't allowed in the kitchen anymore and boss would just give him scraps. Boss started becoming more pushy and screamed at him more about how Naruto was a man at now 17 years and should be able to take a beating. Naruto's mind was a fog of memories and questions as he continued down the way. He bumped into someone, mumbled out sorry and made his way around the person.
"I don't think so little one," a voice purred out as Naruto found someone had grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
Naruto finally looked up and found that he wasn't on the road he was supposed to be. He must have taken a wrong turn while he was daydreaming. He was now currently between the buildings in a narrow passage that were often hang outs for dealers, night ladies and just unsavory characters.. 'Idiot! What the fuck were you thinking!?' Naruto berated himself mentally as he looked up into the eyes of the voice. An older man with thick shaggy brown hair, thick brows and large nose was eyeing Naruto up and down, licking his lips at the same time.
"You look lost little one, how would you like for me to show you the way?" The tall brown haired man hissed out in a breath, pulling Naruto in against his chest.
Naruto stiffened as his face was smacked into the chest of the taller man. Naruto could smell the sweat and his nose wrinkled in disgust. The jacket the man wore was dusty and of worn leather that Naruto could smell the old rotting cow creep was a good head taller than Naruto and had a strong grip on him. Naruto tried to pull back and was not surprised to find this creep held him hard and fast against his chest. "N-No I'm not lost, let me pass please," Naruto's voice quivered slightly as he tried to sound confident. He raised his fists to the chest trying to get away from the shaggy haired sweaty stink of a man.
"Aw you're scaring the little mouse. Can't have that." Another voice came up from behind Naruto. "What's the matter little mouse, is this big bad bully bothering you? Should I save you?" The voice whispered out from behind Naruto's ear. Naruto could feel another hard massive body pressing up behind him. Another streak of fear went through him as he found himself pinned between two large men that promised nothing good was to come out of this situation.
"Leave him alone," the shaggy man holding Naruto hissed out in a non threatening way. "This little one was agreeing to go have a drink with me and not you," the creep snickered slightly as he brought his hand down and patted Naruto's bottom. "Mmm, this has a nice feel to it."
"N-no please sirs, I'm very late and I am expected. I need to—"Naruto stuttered out again, trying not to vomit as the man violated him. He struggled to get out from between the two men that currently held him captive in the small alley. He looked elsewhere for help, there had to be someone seeing this! The opening that led to the bright busy street was meters away, too far for anyone to see down into the shadows of the narrow passage. Naruto's hope dropped hard and fast as he realized he was about to become the victim to the two men, and that no one would even look twice at a nobody like him.
A sudden strong breeze developed and blew between the men that ruffled their hair and was so ice cold it had Naruto suddenly shivering.
"There are you darling, so sorry I'm late." A deep baritone voice pierced through the shadows and startled the two large men holding the smaller blond. Naruto gasped out and twisted his head to the sound of the voice, seeing deep dark pool almond eyes focused straight on him. Blue black hair fell around those eyes and framed a sculpted face and firm jaw. Naruto's eyes took in the broad frame of the young man who appeared. He was wearing a deep blue shirt under a dark blazer, dark slacks, knee high boots and a cape. The man was dressed as an older high ranked gentleman would be, but his face showed that he was probably no more than 20 years of age. A small smirk appeared on his lips when he moved smoothly towards Naruto, slipping his arm around him and easily pulled Naruto out from between the two other men so quickly, Naruto clutched at this man's shirt so he wouldn't collapse. "Sorry gentlemen, but he is with me," the deep voice growled out and clutched Naruto close to his own body, his cape slightly covering the blond. A sudden strong feeling of safety and warmth flowed over Naruto when this man pulled and held him so close.
The shaggy brown haired man growled out, "who the fuck do you think you are? Blue eyes was coming with us, so piss off!" The man tried to reach out for Naruto but was frozen mid step.
"Nope, I do believe you two were leaving," the blue black haired man responded and gave a snap of his fingers. Naruto's eyes widened as he watched the other two men suddenly stand up straight as if they were puppets, their hands slammed ridged to their sides and both turned to start marching away from them, obviously against their will. And all the while they were yelling out profanities and how they were going to get the man. A deep chuckle rose from the raven haired man. "There we go. They won't be of bother anymore." He then turned to look down at Naruto. "Are you alright?" he asked while cupping Naruto's chin to have him look up at him.
Naruto nodded silently as he felt pulled into the deep ebony eyes of his saviour. His mouth was held open as he tried to find words to say, but nothing came out. His hand continued to clutch desperately to this man's front jacket as if fearful to let go.
The man returned a soft smile at Naruto. "Well then, I'm sorry to rush you, but we need to get going." The man turned the both of them and started to walk down the narrow cobbled lane. "I don't want to alarm you, but we are being followed."
Naruto gasped out in surprise at the mention. He suddenly felt guilty for holding this beautiful saviour back for his worthless self. "Then let me go. I'm obviously holding you from your successful escape," he breathed out.
"No good. You are with me and now involved. I'm sorry," the man responded. "We must hurry." The man suddenly began to walk faster, pulling Naruto with him.
Naruto looked behind him and could now see black blob figures bouncing between the buildings, dripping out from between the walls, sliding like snakes across the cobblestones and wearing hats like human males would. It was if they were trying to pass as human men, and it would appear that no other persons could see them when they zoomed by. "What are those?!" Naruto whispered out, trying to keep the fear in his voice steady. The black blobs were gaining on them and Naruto pushed down his panic.
"A witch's henchmen. She has been after me for years."
Naruto brought his palm up to his hand to cover his scream as he saw several of the black blobs now start rising from the ground and drip from walls of buildings directly in their path. They were trapped!
"Hold on now, we need to run a little bit higher now," the man whispered to Naruto.
"Higher? Whaaaa—?" Naruto took in a deep breath as he felt his feet leave the ground, the man grabbing hold of his hands and his legs were running but his feet were now hitting the ground! "H-how is this ahhh!" Naruto couldn't hold out his screech of surprise. They were both rising rapidly and he noticed that the black haired man holding him was smiling and running alongside with him.
"See you are a natural at this," the man chuckled into Naruto's ear as they both continued to run over the roofs of the buildings. Their feet were not touching anything but air but they still moved forward as if they were running on the ground.
Naruto tried to keep his panic grounded, pun not intended, as he continued to run like he was on the ground. He would look towards the ground, seeing the many heads of the people and wonder why they didn't look up and see them. He looked for the black blobs, but they didn't seem to be anywhere, so he figured they had lost them. Naruto was broken out of his musings when he heard the baritone voice vibrate softly beside him. "Alright. You did great, we are coming down for a landing now, just keep walking and focus on where we are going." Naruto felt their descent, he kept walking as instructed and saw they were headed to a balcony. He recognized it as the top floor of the building that the bakery was in.
As they walked onto the balcony, Naruto felt the man's arms clutch his waist tightly and he was thankful, for his knees buckled and the strong arms pulled him into the man's chest. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he mumbled out a thank you but couldn't help but inhale the man's scent while pulled into his chest. Naruto's eyes rolled back slightly at the strong wood like smell coming from the dark haired man. He felt the chest vibrate when the man spoke, "are you alright?" Naruto nodded his head once again before pulling away from the strong chest. Naruto looked up into the dark eyes that were expressing concern and gave a small smile. Something came to his mind suddenly and Naruto stood up straight and stepped back slightly away from the dark haired beauty. "Y-you're a wizard aren't you?" Naruto cursed his quivering voice but kept his eyes focused on the other man.
Lips smiled and the dark haired man cupped Naruto's cheek. "Yes and my name is Sasuke. Pleasure." The small smile that adorned his face left Naruto breathless. "You should be safe now and I need to be going. You will be alright on your own now?" Sasuke raised his one eye brow at Naruto.
Naruto shook his head slightly. "Y-yes thank you. This is where I need to be," he grinned and held up his delivery.
"Very good. Be safe now," Sasuke stepped back and turned to stand on the ledge of the balcony. With a slight jump, he stretched his arms and leaped off. Naruto gave a little shriek and ran to the edge of the balcony. When he looked over, there was no sign of Sasuke, only the busy bustle of people on the street below. Naruto ran his fingers through his hair, let out a sigh and turned to go through the door on the balcony. He had an order to deliver.
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Naruto quickly slipped into the cobble shop store minutes before the boss was set to close. "'Bout fucking time you got back! I ain't paying yah to be visitin' with men and be a slut!" The boss slammed the cash register shut when Naruto came in and locked the door behind him. He kept his eyes down when he turned to face the boss who was stomping towards him. He didn't so much as make a sound when the boss slapped him hard across his face, which caused him to stumble to the floor. "Now get this place cleaned up you harlot! Be thankful I left you a crust of dinner in your room!" The boss gave Naruto a shove with the bottom of his boot then left the store, slamming the door behind him.
Naruto sniffled slightly as he lifted himself up off the floor and started closing the blinds to the windows. He wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks while he began to sweep the floor. A tingled sound behind him shocked him and he turned, coming face to face with a rather older thick woman with a broad brimmed hat and black dress that covered her body right to the floor.
"S-sorry ma'am, but we are closed. I could swear I locked that door," Naruto scratched the top of his head. The woman didn't respond, she just continued to stare at him from beneath the brim of her hat. "Umm, ma'am? We are closed," Naruto repeated.
"What a horrid ugly thing you are," a voice cracked out. "What Sasuke sees in your plain ugly self I cannot fathom." The woman tipped her head back and showed her green eyes that glowed brightly, her lips were up in a snarl and she twirled a short weapon in her fingers. "Let's see if he likes looking at you after this!" The woman spat out and the weapon began spinning faster than Naruto could see as she waved her other hand around it.
Naruto squinted his eyes against a bright beam of light coming from the woman. He brought up his arm to shield his eyes from the light but a sudden pressure of air pushed against him, forcing him to fold over to keep himself from falling over. The force felt like he was in a gail force wind that was threatening to blow him across the room! He squeaked out as he held his ground and then it just stopped. As quickly as it had started, the light, the crazy wind, was all gone. Naruto kept his head low, his knees and one hand on the floor, waiting and listening.
"The best part of that spell is that you cannot tell anyone about it!" Naruto heard the woman cackle out a laugh and the familiar sound of the door slamming. The maniacal laughter rang in his ears like a fading echo and his body trembled. Once the laughter stopped, only then did Naruto look up to see that the shop was now empty. He jumped up quickly to go lock the door only to find that his body refused the quick movement and instead Naruto found himself falling forward onto the floor. His muscles felt stiff, his joints felt achy and Naruto's lips couldn't help but release groans after every movement he tried to get up from off the floor.
As he moved to get off the floor, he noticed the top of his hands and he released a gasp in horror. "My hands! T-they're…" Naruto managed to get up and stumbled to a small mirror by the register. His mouth fell open as he brought his hands to his cheeks. The person in the mirror wasn't him! It couldn't be him! "AHH! Who—What—Where did I go?!" His hands slapped and pulled at his loose cheeks and he blinked his blue eyes repeatedly. 'The person in the mirror is doing e-everything I do! But-but… it is me isn't it?' Naruto gripped the edge of the desk as he took in the reflection. Rounder wrinkly face, a few age spots on various areas of his forehead and cheeks, his cheek scars were practically gone because of the skin sagging, his eyebrows were grey and his golden locks were now a full silver. "I-I'm an OLD MAN!" Naruto bit his bottom lip as it began to quiver. He saw his eyes filling up with tears and he clutched the desk harder to stop himself from falling.
After several minutes of calming himself down, he made his way back to his room. Sagging on the bed his mind raced over the day's events. 'That witch put a spell on me! But why? What did I ever do to her!?' He rolled over, clutching his pillow tight, his tears quietly spilling and a few hiccup sobs escaped. He looked at his aged hands and arms. 'Sasuke!' Naruto had an epiphany. 'The witch mentioned Sasuke! He will know what to do!' Naruto struggled himself up, feeling the ache in his back and legs he let out a groan of discomfort. "Stupid old bones, making it harder to move about." He began to gather what little articles he had into his small bag and made his way to the small cupboard where the boss kept a couple of food items. He found a loaf of bread and cheese, shoving it in his bag, he knew he couldn't stay at the cobbler's shop. The boss would kick him out anyways if he knew Naruto was under an old age spell. He put his bag on the floor by his bed along with his shoes and sweater, ready to go at first light. He slipped under his one blanket, fully clothed and sniffled himself to sleep.
The next morning, Naruto made his way out of the town at sunrise. There wasn't anyone up and about yet, so he was able to make his way far enough from the cobbler shop without anyone seeing him. His destination? The waste lands, where all wizards and witches were known to stay. Under normal circumstances he knew he could walk the days walk, but with his new body, aching and groaning all the while he thought about how he would get to such a distance. As luck would have it, a kind old gentleman with a young boy were on a cart pulling hay and it looked like they were heading out of town. Naruto waved them down, explaining he was heading their way and asked if he could hop on. The elderly gentleman was friendly towards another elderly man and invited him.
Several hours later, Naruto thanked his ride and made his way between farms and headed north. The old man from the cart yelled out to be careful, as he was heading for the waste lands of wizards and witches, and Naruto assured him that he would be.
It was midday, judging by the sun's location and Naruto found himself winded and resting on a boulder. He was panting out to catch his breath looking across the horizon. The town was but a twinkle in the horizon and Naruto now wondered where the hell he was supposed to find Sasuke. "Holy shit this is hard work walking at this age," Naruto mumbled to himself as he wiped his brow with the back of his arm. He looked behind him to the path that he was following. It was on a slight incline. "I don't know how I'm going to keep going, this hill goes on forever! Well, won't reach success if I quit now." He slowly got back onto his feet, his back hands pushing on his lower back as he groaned out loud listening to his back crackle like firewood. He began to take steps up through the path again when a glint in some bushes nearby caught his attention.
"I wonder what that is?" Naruto muttered to nobody and wandered towards the bush. He came across a large stick, sticking out from a bush. "Hm, must have been a rabbit or something," he talked to himself. "But this thick branch would probably make a good walking stick." Naruto grabbed at the edge of the stick and pulled. It was stuck hard and barely budged. Grunting out some more, Naruto's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he put his weight into pulling. A loud snap was heard and Naruto found himself falling backwards onto his butt. "Ouch! Dammit!" Naruto cursed out while trying to get back onto his feet. He stumbled backwards when the large stick was wiggling on its own and suddenly twitched up and out from the bush. "What the hell?" Naruto shouted out in surprise.
The large stick bounded out and on the other end was a makeshift scarecrow. It stood up straight and bounced slightly while standing straight up.
"Huh! Well I'll be. A scarecrow!" Naruto put his hands on his hips, tilting his head up to look at the tall being. The scarecrow had a tattered blazer and two gloves on each ended of the stick, making it look somewhat like a person. It also wore a top hat on top of what looked to be a pumpkin."You are certainly an interesting scarecrow Mr. Pumpkin," Naruto chuckled in his deep old man raspy voice. "But, at least you are not stuck anymore, have a good day." Naruto limped slightly as he turned around and began to make his way up the path again. The scarecrow turned and bounded away down the hill.
Naruto huffed and puffed as he continued up the hill. 'Holy hell, I don't know how much longer I can do this.' His legs were hurting, his back was aching and his joints hurt in areas he didn't know he had. Everytime he wiped his brow, he frowned sadly seeing his aged hands. He heard a tapping behind him and he slowly turned to see Mr. Pumpkin bounding back up the hill. 'Hmph, show off! So young and able to practically run up this hill,' Naruto grumbled out to himself. "What are you doing you pumpkin head? You're free! Go home! I don't need any more magic around me thank you very much!" Naruto shook his fist at the scarecrow, then stopped as he realized he was acting just like the old farts that yelled at him. He dropped his fist to his side and sighed when the scarecrow stopped in front of him. His eyes fell upon one of the outstretched stick-hands to see a cane resting on it. "You brought me a cane?" Naruto didn't know whether he should feel grateful or insulted. 'Well, I guess i'm an old man now…' "Thanks pumpkin head," Naruto mumbled out as the cane was dropped at his feet. He reached for it, feeling his back ache he let out a loud groan of displeasure. "A cane is great, but a place to stay would be good too. Why couldn't you find me something like that?" Naruto grumbled out under his breath as he turned, with his new cane, and started making his way up the hill again. "Bye again pumpkin head, thanks for the cane." He held an arm up but didn't look back, but heard the scarecrow bounding off in the other direction.
The sun was starting to sleep for the night and Naruto found himself shivering slightly. He had made it to the top of the hill and was walking along the tops of the hill, looking over the horizon. There was nothing to be seen, just wild grass for as far as the eye could see. Even the town he left was no longer in the distance. 'What am I doing here? What did I think I would find?' Naruto found himself getting depressed as he stopped and leaned heavily on his cane. 'And where will I stay? There is nothing out here! I'll freeze if I sleep outside!' Naruto couldn't help but sob slightly thinking about the predicament he was in. The sound of machines coming from behind him had him wiping his tears quickly and turning to watch as a massive metal faced contraption began to rise from the hilltop. "What the fu-" Naruto gasped out as his head began to fall back when the metal face grew larger and higher up. Above the face were several small roofs, like tiny houses, each with smoking chimneys. Beneath the face was a variety of closed windows, metal and wood panels that made it look like it was slapped together to form a body under the face. As the body appeared to come up to the top of the hill, there were four large clawed feet beneath it, walking, as if it was going for a stroll!
Naruto's head fell back so far to look up at the giant creature, he fell onto his ass, his arms stretched behind him and his mouth wide open. He didn't know if he should be afraid and run, or just curl up and just succumb to being this creature's meal! He tried to crab walk out of the creature's way, but his old legs were not what they were and he ended up just falling onto his back instead. "AHH!" Naruto found his voice when the creature came towards him even closer. "I'm going to die! Please don't eat me! I'm too cute to be dinner!" Naruto found his hands and held them up in a peace offering at the giant creature.
The creature continued to walk up to Naruto and stepped on either side of his body. Naruto quivered and noticed that he was now under the belly of the beast! The huge talon like legs were on the far side of him and Naruto feared the beast was going to lay down and crush him! He struggled to crawl up onto his legs trying to get out from under the beast. The beast stopped right above Naruto and he heard several hissing sounds like water pressure being released from hundreds of teapots. Naruto stopped moving and looked up and around. The creature had stopped walking and was standing over top him. He slowly got up to his shaky legs, grabbing the cane to steady himself as he stood up straight and took in the site. The beast was made of wood and metal, from what he could see as he looked straight up. The bottom of the beast was still at least a couple meters above him.
A sudden hissing and cranking noise startled him and he turned to see that a large platform tube type contraption was coming out from the belly of the beast. When the steam had cleared, Naruto was shocked to see a step and a perfectly normal shop type door. The door was connected to the tube type platform that led into the belly of the beast. Curious, he tilted his head slightly, his gray hair blowing gently from the breeze coming across the hills and tried to get a better look. The scarecrow jumped from behind the beast and bounded at the door. "Pumpkin head? What the hell is this? You bring this crazy beast here?" Naruto shook his fist again at the scarecrow that had stopped at the door and bounced in place. "What is this?" The scarecrow bounced in place and turned its gloved stick hand back and forth towards the door. "You want me to go in there?" Naruto took small steps towards the door. Naruto thought about it for a moment. It was cold out, he had nowhere else to go and still needed to find Sasuke. He shrugged, "beggars can't be choosers I guess." The scarecrow bounded up and down and Naruto hobbled to the door, took the step and put his hand on the doorknob. Giving a look at the scarecrow, he glared at the pumpkin head. "If something in here eats me, I'm coming back to haunt you!" He huffed out a grunt, turned the knob and stepped into the darkness. The beast began to whistle and groan out noises before standing up straight and started to walk again.
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So I thought I post this first bit as a test. After I got to about 12K words, I began to think, what the hell am I doing? I'm second guessing my idea I guess. I wonder what the readers will think?