Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's universe unfortunately, only my OC.

漏 "leak, escape, time"

Yui was extremely close to snapping. Having a pipe burst and flood her apartment was cherry shaped shit on top of one of the most draining weeks of her life. First, she was put back on the active ANBU roster and placed with training new recruits until they were up to standard, which she had no patience for. Yui was many things, extremely patient she was not. The second piece of news she received was that she had to work on her Genjutsu skills with Sasuke Uchiha, to advance them further as part of his release conditions as well as her taking over Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress title. As fond as Naruto was of the raven-haired traitor, Yui had no such attachment to a man who tried to kill her sun on multiple occasions.

The worst of it was when she came home from a 2 week mission and opened her apartment door to a gush of water at her feet.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, are you fucking serious?" she asked aloud to no one.

As she made her way through the flooded apartment, she decided to simply pack her essentials and get out of there. She would have to annoy Saki or Neji into letting her stay with them, she didn't really feel comfortable going anywhere else. It's not like she was close enough to anyone else to inconvenience them like this. Quickly doing a scan of the premises she determined it would take about 2 weeks to fix, and if she was going to invest in a major fix up then she might as well renovate the place to her liking. She had been staying here since she first moved out and saw no need to relocate.

Getting a bag out from on top of her closet, she began to take out the clothes on the hangers and place them in her bag. Yui considered herself lucky she didn't have much to pack, nor did she have a strong attachment to her things. Attachment meant pain, she learned that the hard way after all. Speaking of attachment, she heard a loud booming voice that always warmed her soul, except this time she wasn't quite sure if she wanted him to see her place in this state.

"Yui-chan! What the hell happened here?" yelled Naruto as he entered the apartment.

"Ah Naruto, what are you doing here?" Yui responded. Their ramen meeting wasn't for another week at least, she was pretty sure of that.

"I sensed your chakra entering the village when I was meditating earlier and thought I would say hi, but don't avoid my question. What happened here? It's gross, dattebayo." Naruto made a face at his own statement.

He wasn't entirely wrong. Pipe water had coated the floors and seeped into the walls, causing a damp and murky smell to fill the place.

"Just got home and it looks like a pipe burst. I was just packing my bag and about to go annoy Neji for a place to stay." Yui replied.

Something about that statement made Naruto feel...funny. He had heard all about Yui and Neji's friendship after the war, and he had a lot of opinions on it. He knew it didn't concern him in the slightest but it was upsetting to know that she had replaced him. He ignored that he had essentially abandoned her in their youth but hearing that she spent all this time and developing such a close bond with someone that wasn't him made him feel forgettable to her. After all, they were each other's first friend and he could never substitute her like that. Sasuke didn't count, he was his brother.

This line of thinking and these feelings only intensified when he saw Neji and Yui interact for the first time towards the end of one of their ramen catch-ups. Neji had come to pick her up for a sparring session and seeing the two of them wordlessly communicate with their eyes was jarring for Naruto to witness. It was like Neji and Yui knew each other's souls, a simple touch or glance told the other everything they needed to know. It upset Naruto deeply. He was no stranger to these types of bonds, after all, he held a very similar one with Sasuke but something about Neji and Yui was different.

Maybe it was that their bond was also physically tangible, something him and Sasuke didn't often share. Naruto saw the ease with which Neji placed his hand on her shoulder, or the pure fondness in Yui's eyes that shone through when she felt Neji's touch. Naruto saw the way Yui effortlessly grabbed Neji's hand to run off with when they were leaving, something that she no longer felt comfortable doing with him, or the way Neji, who was notorious for rejecting physical contact, let her do so. Most of all, Naruto saw the way that Yui never looked back at him whenever she left with Neji, something both of them always did when they ended their catch-ups, trying to prolong their time together and extending any goodbyes they shared.

If Naruto ever wanted to go back to the way they used to be, he knew he had to step up. He knew he didn't have a right to feel the way he currently does, they had spent the better half of a decade apart. He had to learn her again. He had to learn if he could make her laugh as hard as he used to, if she would always look at him like he could do no wrong, like he had answers to every question the universe could think to ask. It was a look he had seen Sakura give Sasuke numerous times, it was also a look he had seen Hinata give him, though not quite on the same level as Yui. Naruto may be oblivious sometimes but he wasn't entirely daft. He knew Hinata thought she loved him, but something in him firmly believed she was projected admiration as love. She loved who he was and wanted that confidence for herself and Naruto knew she would come to the same realisation someday. It's why he smiled when he felt her chakra start to stutter around Kiba, much like her.

Whilst Naruto was wrapped up with his own thoughts, Yui look a moment to understand why his cheery attitude had dropped down a notch. It gave her some satisfaction, thinking his reaction was once of concern for her. At least I still mean something important to him, then again he's like this with everyone… she thought.

"It's okay Naruto, don't worry about me. I'll be okay! This will take some time to fix but hopefully in a couple of weeks my apartment will be liveable again… although I might want to renovate a bit so maybe a month?" Yui got lost in her renovation plans again.

A month?! Naruto thought.

"You can stay with me, 'ttebayo!" Naruto blurted out before he could even think.

*cricket noises* remember me... and this fic? after months i finally sat down and wrote this chapter hehe. i'm not entirely happy with it but i hope everyone enjoys it. i'm not promising constant updates but i promise not to give up on this fic! it's taking a life of it's own and really slow-burn for some reason but here we are. i know i promised kakashi in this chapter but as i was writing i had a stroke of inspiration and i know just exactly where to place his intro in the next chapter, i've already starting writing it so i hope it's out soon and it's already longer than this one but it didn't feel right putting it all in the same chapter but here we are. hope everyone is staying safe during these times! as always, please leave a favourite/kudos if you liked it and reviews and criticism (public or DM'ed) would be very appreciated! thank you so much for reading!