Do You Hate Me?
Title subject to change, rating PG13 to be on the safe side.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I do own the plot of this story (for as far as there is one) and the extra characters I may or may not add.
Response to reviews at the bottom be sure to read the A/N's.
Chapter 6 – Of Dreams and Nightmares:
"What are you doing here?" A boy with golden hair and pure sky blue eyes said as he sat alone in the dark on a swing dressed in a simple white shirt and a pair of blue baggy shorts.
"I-I don't know. Where am I?"
"He doesn't like it when other people come near me you know." He said and wrapped his short chubby arm around one of the ropes of the swing.
"Who's he?"
The boy looked down at his bare feet and started sniffling, desperate to hold his tears back. "No one likes me because of him. They think I'm a demon. But one day they'll like me for who I am and won't hate me anymore because of him."
"Please, tell me where I am."
"Can you keep a secret?" The boy said as he once again ignored the question. "A long time ago a strong man sealed him inside me." He then lifted up his shirt, revealing a horrible mix of markings carved into the skin of his tiny belly.
"Why? Why would he do that to you?"
"You're a pretty girl. Will you be my friend?" The boy said and then suddenly winced. The carved markings started to ooze deep red blood. "Oh no, he knows you're here! You have to go!"
The dark space suddenly pulsated with an eerie red like a sickening heartbeat. A horrible and evil rumbling laughter could be heard as a pair of glowing demonic eyes pierced the darkness and slowly came closer and closer to the boy.
"Go now!" The little boy yelled
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
Temari woke up with a gasp and discovered she was drenched in cold sweat, making her night shirt cling to her frame. 'What the hell was that?' She thought and sat up, her hand clutching her forehead. Never in her whole life had she been as scared as in that dream. Not even her days with Gaara when he was still evil and uncaring came close. She didn't know exactly why but the dream had exhausted her. So when she lied back down she immediately drifted off to sleep, this time without it being disturbed by dreams or nightmares. Temari wouldn't remember the dream she had the night before when she awoke again.
Naruto was floating on air the next morning when he recalled the events that took place yesterday. All his friends came to see him on his birthday, he had received great gifts and of course... 'Temari-chan'.
With a full-fledged grin appearing on his face he quickly got up from his futon and got dressed. Forgoing his usual orange outfit, he decided he'd try on some of the clothes he had received yesterday. He picked out a black shirt, dark grey khaki's, the pair of heavy army boots and the very good looking black jacket he had gotten from Tsunade. With his grin dying down to a sweet smile, he picked up the necklace the older woman had given him after the fight with Orochimaru and clasped it around his neck. Grabbing his head protector from his desk before he ran out of the room to go downstairs he tied it around his neck as well. Without the protector holding up his hair it dropped down into spiky bangs that nearly fell into his eyes.
With his usual energy, Naruto barged down the stairs loudly and it had become a daily routine for Kankuro to appear from his room to start shouting at Naruto for being so noisy and of course shouting the usual threats of dismemberment and painful deaths. Therefore, the blonde boy was slightly surprised when there came none. Now on the ground floor he walked across the hallway and pushed open the kitchen door, revealing Temari humming a tune he had never heard before. Naruto was still very happy but also very nervous; this girl had kissed him the night before so he didn't really quite know what to do. 'I'd better ask Ob-ba-chan about it later. There's no way I'm going to ask that open pervert.' He thought.
Naruto wasn't the only one who was nervous. With her brothers gone to meet with the other Sand teams, Temari would be alone with Naruto after the morning she had kissed him. Finishing putting a couple of fried eggs on two plates she turned around and nearly dropped the plates she was holding in surprise. In front of her stood a blonde boy with a sweet smile she had never seen before. His clothes were also very different, gone was the childish orange jumpsuit and here he was, standing in new clothes that made him seem older somehow.
"Uhm, good morning Temari-chan." Naruto said and rubbed his hands nervously. Was he doing the right thing in adding 'chan'? And why was she staring at him like that? 'Oh no, did I do something wrong?' He thought, mortified. His smile faltered slightly as he sat down on one of the chairs around the kitchen table.
Snapping out of her trance, Temari quickly recovered and put on a smile of her own. "Good morning Naruto-kun. I made some sushi for breakfast, I hope you don't mind." She said and put a plate in front of him and proceeded to sit on the chair across him.
"N-no, not at all!" The blonde boy said and grabbed his chopsticks.
In the week he had already spent in the house, Naruto had learned the common courtesy to wait with eating until the other people at the table were ready. Although the feared spatula Temari usually brandished when she was cooking might have had something to do with it.
"So uhm..." They started at the same time. Both of them chuckled slightly when it happened but Naruto motioned for Temari to start first.
"Uhm, Naruto-kun. I uh, about last night..." Temari said softly as she lowered her eyelashes slightly to look down at her plate.
Naruto paled. "I haven't done anything wrong have I? I mean I...?" He said with fear apparent in his voice.
"No, no! That's not it. I mean, it's just that I haven't kissed a boy before." Temari quickly said. In the Sand village no boy ever got close to her in fear of getting brutally slaughtered by Gaara.
"Me neither. Uh I've never kissed someone before that is hehehe..." Naruto said and started fiddling with his fingers.
Temari took a deep breath. Seeing that she was fifteen she probably knew a bit more about this whole romance thing then Naruto did, she just had to get this off her chest. The girl was starting to develop feelings for the blonde boy ever since he caused Gaara to be nicer and having kissed him the night before affirmed her beliefs that she really liked Naruto. And now that he sat here in front of her in new clothes that made him look a bit older then he really was... 'Not to mention a lot more handsome.' She added in her thoughts with a slight blush. "Well I thought that kiss was really nice."
Visible relief was showing on Naruto's face. "Yeah it was. It was great! You guys have done so much for me already and I never expected you to kiss me yesterday." He said, slightly breathless. "We have to do it again sometime soon!" The blonde boy added. Then realizing exactly what he said, he covered his eyes and blushed furiously. "I mean, if you want to..." He finished softly and decided he should shut up before he embarrassed himself further.
Temari put a hand on her lips and giggled. She was glad he liked it. But didn't that make them boyfriend and girlfriend now? She thought it best to ask. "Yes Naruto-kun I'd like that. But uhm, doesn't that make us..." She paused here for a moment. "Boyfriend and girlfriend?"
The hyperactive Shinobi couldn't believe his ears. His whole life everyone had shunned him and treated him like dirt except the few people that acknowledged him. And now this very, very pretty girl wanted to be his girlfriend?! Now he definitely had to go see Tsunade about this. "I... I think so... I mean I'd really like to." He said and peeked through his fingers at the girl opposite him.
Just when the previous session of blushing had faded, her cheeks now positively burned. Temari nodded energetically. "Me too... A-anyway let's eat our breakfast." That said they both focused on their food and tried squashing the giddy feeling that threatened to burst forth from their stomachs. When they had finished, Temari mumbled something about going to find her brothers and jumped up from her seat. She dashed over to Naruto and pecked him on the cheek quickly and with the burning red still staining her face, grabbed her fan from the living room before running out the front door as quickly as she could.
Naruto sat silently for a moment and touched his cheek softly with his hand. He then stood up to clean up the table and washed the plates and pans that were used this morning. Unable to control the wave of emotions in his body any longer he stood still a moment before a loud shout echoed throughout the entire house.
"WHOOHOO!!!"
As she was walking towards the training field where she would begin her daily training routine with Lee, Sakura couldn't help but feel ashamed of herself. Three days ago, Ino had asked her if she wanted to come to Naruto's birthday party they arranged yesterday. She declined and had to endure a whole hour of questioning before Ino backed off and left her alone. Sakura knew why exactly why she had declined, she couldn't face him yet. After training a whole week with Lee and not thinking about Sasuke anymore, she realized just how much of a jerk she had been to her teammate Naruto. 'If there still is a team 7 that is.' She thought bitterly. The pink-haired Kunoichi still had to thank him, she just didn't know how to tell him that though. 'Thanks for bringing him back but I'm over him so it doesn't really matter anymore?' Forcefully stopping this train of thought, she figured she would think about it later and would focus on the training today.
When she arrived at training field four, she saw Lee already going at it with the large training logs in the center of the field. 'Wow, Lee-kun is really dedicated.' She thought and smiled. "Good morning Lee-kun!" She yelled as she cupped her hands in front of her mouth for effect.
Lee stopped punching and kicking the log and looked at Sakura. "Hey, Sakura- chan. You're a bit late." He said with a small smile.
"You know I don't wake up properly until a few hours after I get out of bed Lee-kun" She whined and took off her jacket. She would get warmer due to the exercises in the rapidly cooling air as winter drew ever closer.
A comfortable ritual had been developed between the two of them. Lee didn't drool over the love of his life anymore and Sakura didn't try to beat him to a pulp when he suggested outrageous numbers of exercises.
"It's time to add more weights, Sakura-chan." Lee said and grabbed a few metal bars out of the bag he dragged out to the field every morning. He had explained to Sakura that every week from the moment they had started, that he would increase the weights by five kilograms to Sakura's wrist and ankle bands. He also decided that Sakura should focus more on daring acrobatics to avoid damage from enemies instead of speed and taking blows like he did himself. Therefore it came as no surprise to Sakura that he ordered her to do fifty back flips after the usual sit-ups and push-ups from a standing still position and then he would throw small marbles for her to dodge.
Sakura was halfway through the back flips when a cold voice stopped her in her tracks. "What is Sakura doing here, thick brows?"
"Ah! Good morning Naruto-kun!" Lee said cheerily as he looked up at the blonde boy from the log he was kicking just now. "Sakura-chan asked me to train her so she could become stronger."
"Hmmph, whatever. What did you want?"
"Well I'm sorry I couldn't make it yesterday." Said Lee as he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a somewhat large pouch. "Happy birthday, Naruto-kun. They're wrist and ankle bands to put weights in. I've put some metal bars in there as well for you to put in." He added and threw the pouch to the blonde boy.
Naruto 'oofed' when he caught it and nearly fell down on his behind due to the weight. "Thanks Lee-san, but shit, how much do these things weigh?!"
"Only twenty five kilograms each, so in total one hundred kilograms." Lee explained. "When you've gotten used to them you can give them back to me and I'll give you heavier ones."
Sakura watched the exchange with slight disbelief. Not that Naruto was beginning with heavier weights than her, but it was the outfit he wore. 'Wow' was the only thing she could think of. Finally regaining her senses, she figured she'd better congratulate him but stopped when he glared at her.
"Kakashi-sensei wants us to meet on the bridge at one pm, Sakura." He sneered. "Be there or not, I don't care. Bye Lee-san and thanks again for the gift, I appreciate it. It's sure to help me in my training." With that said he turned around and walked away.
Noticing the lack of the 'chan' he normally added to her name, Sakura slightly panicked, that is until Lee asked her if anything happened between the two of them. She shook her head and said that they should get back to their training.
Why wouldn't she leave him the hell alone? He only asked her to visit Chouji with him once. Girls were nothing but troublesome things to him. He should have told her that he wanted to go alone today. But at least she was useful as a mule to carry all the bags of chips and other snacks to the room Chouji used to share with Neji. But she just had to walk back with him when they left again. When he sighed softly at that he received a sharp poke to the head.
"What is it now Shika-kun?"
'What the? Shika-kun? My name is Shikamaru, woman!' Shikamaru thought angrily but wasn't up to voicing his thoughts so he muttered a soft 'nothing' instead.
Ino however looked at him shrewdly. "Yeah right."
"Just drop it already, its way too troublesome." He said lazily and closed his eyes.
Shikamaru was glad when he could finally drop her off at the flower shop Ino's family owned. After a quick goodbye he strolled at a leisurely pace to his usual spot to lie down and look at the clouds. 'Women are way too troublesome...' Was his final thought before he let his mind go blissfully blank as it tried to discern the different shapes the clouds were today.
"Do you always make them wait this long, Kakashi-sensei?" A white-haired girl with silver eyes asked as she stood by her new sensei and temporary roommate.
"Usually." The Jounin answered.
"Why?" The girl asked again.
"It allows me to see if there are any problems in the team and I can deal with it better after I've analyzed it. But mostly it's because it's fun." Kakashi said as he looked at two figures standing with their backs to each other on a large wooden bridge. "Well, we've made them wait long enough, let's go and introduce you to them."
The girl just nodded and disappeared with her sensei only to reappear seconds later next to the two figures.
Naruto was royally pissed off. It was bad enough that Sakura didn't show up at his party or congratulate him this morning when he told her to come here on the bridge. But now the happy state of mind with which he had left his house this morning disappeared even further as he was forced to wait here in very uncomfortable silence with the girl as their sensei was late as usual. He would definitely give him a piece of his mind when he would finally show up.
"Yo!"
There it was. That annoying 'Yo!' "You're late you bastard!!!" Naruto yelled as he glared at his silver-haired sensei. He was so caught up in his rage he didn't notice the girl standing next to Kakashi and the shocked look Sakura gave him. "Show up on time for once damnit!"
Kakashi, seemingly unfazed by the sudden outburst of his student, coughed. "Sorry, there was a cat that was about to deliver a litter of kittens. I had to help."
"AAARGH!" Naruto shouted and flailed his arms widely in frustration. "Stop making stupid excuses!"
"Anyway..." The silver-haired Jounin continued as if nothing happened. "...Sakura, Naruto. I want you to meet your new teammate."
"What? What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked in slight alarm.
'Figures. She would only think about that idiot.' Naruto thought bitterly as his anger died down slightly and glared at his former crush.
"He has been dismissed from Shinobi duties for the time being for reasons I'm sure you two are aware of." Kakashi said and pushed the girl standing next to him forward.
"H-hello. M-my name is Mikadzuki Kumiko." The girl said as she introduced herself with a low bow. Kumiko wore a black tank top and a stylish light blue jacket that was zipped open in the front and had a white half moon symbol on the back. She wore standard black open-toed Shinobi sandals and a pair of tight fitting light blue pants that came down to just below the knees which showed her bandaged lower legs. Her whole left arm and hand was also bandaged and her right hand was in a fingerless glove. She focused her silvery eyes on Naruto and Sakura for a few moments before she started wrapping her long smooth white hair around her left index finger nervously.
'Heh, at least she's way better looking than that bastard, Sasuke.' Naruto thought and grinned. He walked up to the girl and held out his hand for her to shake. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'll be the next Hokage one day so don't you forget it!"
Kumiko shook the blonde boy's hand eagerly. "Pleased to meet you." She said and beamed at him.
Sakura also stepped towards the new girl and bowed. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I hope we'll become good friends." She said politely and smiled gently at Kumiko.
The white-haired girl returned the smile and bow. "I hope so too."
"Well, now that that is taken care of, Kumiko and I need to go. We have some business to attend to." Kakashi said and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. With a final goodbye, both of them disappeared in a blur, leaving behind a slightly puzzled Naruto and Sakura.
Both of them figured Kumiko was nice enough and thought they would probably get to know her a bit better later. When they finished thinking about the new addition to their team they both looked at each other.
"Naruto I want to talk to you." Sakura quickly said as she saw the look Naruto was sending her.
"What about, your precious Sasuke-kun?" Naturo spat. He was fed up with it; he would no longer stand for Sakura mooning over someone who didn't deserve it. Heck, the little traitor didn't even deserve to wipe dog shit off of Naruto's new army boots as far as he was concerned.
Sakura herself was also getting angry and her inner self shouted out some rather colorful insults at the expense of the blonde Genin. She planted herself on the railing of the bridge they stood on with forced calm and motioned for Naruto to do the same. He grudgingly sat down next to her and scowled at the sun which was setting earlier and earlier every day.
"No." She started through clenched teeth. "I just wanted to thank you for bringing him back and to congratulate you."
"Whatever." Naruto said shortly, though he was surprised that Sakura would tell him this now. To his horror Sakura started crying and if there was one thing Naruto didn't know how to deal with, it was girls crying. "What the..."
"I don't l-love Sasuke anymore, Naruto." She sobbed and let her tears fall down and stain her pants as they were absorbed by the black skintight clothing. "I r-realized it when I v-v-visited him the day a-after y-you brought him back."
The blonde boy was in shock. Sakura didn't love Sasuke anymore? Did that mean he had a chance again? 'No you idiot, you've got a girlfriend already' He thought and smiled inwardly at the thought of Temari. But seeing the girl next to him crying herself hoarse he did the only thing that made sense at the time. Sakura startled slightly when Naruto wrapped his arms around the shoulders of the pink-haired Kunoichi and planted a soft kiss on her slightly large forehead. She quickly threw her own arms around him and bawled as the emotions she bottled up lately all came bursting out.
When Sakura's body finally stopped shaking, Naruto put a hand under her chin and forced her to look up. He gazed at her tear blotched face and finally into her watery green eyes. "Sakura-chan." He said and Sakura smiled slightly at the return of the 'chan' at the end of her name. "I'm sorry, it must hurt. I know what it's like because I've also stopped liking you that way." He continued and gave her a gentle smile.
Another small sob escaped Sakura's lips and Naruto wiped away the couple of tears that once again rolled down her face with his thumbs. "I still like you, but I don't have a crush on you anymore. I've got a girlfriend now, y'know."
When he said that, the pink-haired girl's eyes widened slightly. Naruto has a girlfriend?' She thought but Naruto stopped any further thinking when he spoke up again.
"I'm really sorry about the way I treated you. I thought you still liked Sasuke. But I want to make it up to you. So... Friends?" He asked.
"Friends." Sakura affirmed with a slight nod and smile. Naruto then wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders as she wrapped an arm of her own around his waist and they both stared at the sunset, relieved that they talked things out and hoping that a strong friendship would bloom forth from failed childish crushes.
A/N: Wow! I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out. I had to rewrite the first dream sequence a couple times though since I first decided to write it wholly in third person. I scratched that idea and thought up the thing as it is now, I hope you all like it.
Now I have a question for you all. Would you like me to make a chapter about what happened when Gaara, Kankuro and Temari returned to their village and why Baki didn't come to Konoha with them? If you do decide you want it please leave a review (I don't want to post it when no-one would like it) and I'll post it after the next chapter.
Now in the next chapter: The three Sand siblings will find out that not everyone in Konoha is happy with their arrival. Naruto will go after Kakashi with the scroll he received from him and TenTen makes an appearance? Also there might be a little more interaction between Shikamaru and Ino.
I don't know if you guys ever watch AMV's (Anime Music Videos) but there are two good ones for Naruto which I suggest you look at. They can be found on animemusicvideos.org (add the www. and yes you have to register and use the super search function)
Look for the ones using the songs; Linkin Park – Breaking the Habit (entitled: Breaking the Habit by peeweek) And SR-71 – Goodbye (entitled: Toushi by MajinKenshinAMV)
Oh, I decided to add the songs that helped me create the chapter. I guess I'll do it for the next chapters as well. (And no, I'm not a Linkin Park fan boy. They just make good music and have good lyrics I think)
Allison Krauss – It Doesn't Matter
Linkin Park – Dedicated (demo '99)
Linkin Park – Carousel
Farmer Boys – Once and For All
Now finally on to the review response!
MC-88: Yep it would seem so. Thanks for the review!
Licht Sieger: Don't worry about it, I'm easily confused :P Thanks for the review!
element4life: Thanks. Although I haven't used your title suggestion I appreciate it all the same.
kashisenshey: Your question should have already been answered if you read this chapter. :) Thanks for the review!
CanalVorfeed1: Thanks for the kind words. Though you won't have to worry about the OC I added. She will however be the link for the sequel I plan to write.
weirddramagirl: Who knows...? (insert evil laughter here) Anyway thanks for the review!
Grand Admiral Gin: Well undoubtedly Shino will make an appearance later on; he might even make it to the next chapter just for you. :) I don't know about the future though since this fix is more focused on Naruto, Temari and the OC.
refused: Hehehe, I'm glad you like it, thanks for the review!
Gopu: Thanks as always!
Rei: Thanks, you really think so? And Sasuke will wake up but who knows what he'll do...
Karibanu: Yeah one kiss doesn't make a relationship, but then again I went steady for a while with a girl who was 14 when I was 12 once so... Well at least it won't be a serious relationship, I mean they won't have sex right of the bat now eh? Thanks for the review!
Ramen Fox Boy: Hmmm... Well I had something like that in mind but I scrapped it, something like it will most probably happen when Naruto gets older in my fic though. Thanks for the review!
omnidragon82: Thanks! :D
Inferno-Dragonz: Thanks for the many reviews! I might put a little spoof about Chouji being chased by a couple of girls in the next chapter :P
Well that's it, don't forget to review and let me know about that chapter I might add. If you see any errors I might have overlooked please let me know.