Yo everybody here is another commission by that man Aerylyx aka Ragnarok. This time it's mostly a smut fic though chapter one lacks any smut at all so I suppose you could argue it's a romance or slice of life fic.
So this fic is clearly an alternate universe being as it is a crossover. It is also a modern setting so it's a bit wonky but it's fine. The focus isn't fights and powers and stuff like that, it's simply the characters that the commissioner wanted to see interact doing just that and well…interacting. Anyway like I said this is a story that will see some smut in the next couple of chapters but not in this first one. Along with that some characters will be out of character. The most noticeable will be Hinata as she is specifically the Road to Ninja version of her character but taken to more of an extreme. I hope you enjoy either way and make sure to send a thanks to Aerylyx for funding this story otherwise it wouldn't be written.
Anyway, as this is a commission, if you want to commission me for a story come down and join one of the following discord servers so that you can see not only my rates but also get in touch with me directly. Along with that you might find other writers offering up commissioned work who you want to talk with about a fic.
That being said if you are just interested in a server with fanfiction readers and writers come join up with us. The links for the two servers can be found below with the first being to the Goat server hosted by AizenTheGoat and the second being the Triumvirate server hosted by myself, Kiege and Madlad aka TheChamp123.
Link#1→ /7x4YFstKcz
Link#2→ /auc4PQjVtz
Anyway that is probably enough of an Author's note so let's get on with the story shall we?
Chapter One
Growing Up
The New Student
Naruto Uzumaki was not really the most well liked of the students in his class. He was a bit loud, a tad bit obnoxious, and just a little too rowdy and mischievous for the general populace of his kindergarten class to really tolerate. Their attention was directed toward the boy only when he managed to do something outlandish. That of course fed into a continuous act of openly foolish behavior just to grab the little bit of attention from the others that he could. Even if it was mostly negative.
That wasn't to say he was a bad child. The teacher was convinced he was one of the nicest children they had ever had in their class. Still he was more often than not getting into trouble for one silly stunt or other. It was never enough to get him the extended focus and interaction from the other children that he wanted.
Sadly, Naruto like the rest of his classmates was a five year old child. He didn't really comprehend why it was that he acted the way he did or how to get what he really wanted. Neither did his classmates understand that he was just a lonely little boy trying to find a friend to spend time with when he went so far out of his way to get their attention.
His teacher hoped that today would be a chance for a change to that. He had read through the file on the young girl that was joining their class. In the last two years she had been bounced from one school to another as her father was moved for work. Now though her parents seemed to have decided settling down and letting their child grow up in a more stable environment was a good idea.
As it was she was a year older than she should have been but the continuous moving had led to her being held back a grade. Not to mention the busy schedule of her mother and father seemed to have made the little girl into just as lonely of a child as Naruto was. She was just as mischievous and prone to causing a scene as he was. Though her actions were usually a little less benign than Naruto's were.
Hopefully the two would be a good influence on one another. Their teacher already planned to pair them off in practically every activity that the class had. He just hoped that it didn't lead to both doubling their effort of causing trouble in his classroom. He wasn't sure he could handle two troublemakers egging each other onward.
"Alright class. Everyone?" The young teacher called out slowly pulling the attention of the young children away from the paper he had given them to practice spelling on. Most were able to spell their names and a few small words but not much else.
As he saw the eyes of his students focus on him he smiled gently down at them. It was time to introduce their new addition.
"Today is a special day. We are going to be getting a new classmate to join in. I want you all to welcome her warmly and- Naruto stop that." The teacher paused to stop Naruto from sticking one of the stickers he had brought to school into the girl's hair in front of him.
"Sorry." He said while quickly shoving the little book of stickers away into his desk.
The teacher sighed while mentally chuckling at the terrible 'apologetic' look that the boy had. If anything he seemed to think it was funnier that he had been caught.
"Like I was saying. Welcome her warmly and be friendly to her alright?" He turned to look at the door as there was a knock at it.
He stepped over and opened it to find the girl led by one of the school secretaries. She didn't seem all that interested in her surroundings. He could imagine that part of that was from the fact she had been to so many different schools over her short time as a student that she had stopped bothering to to take interest in the layouts of the buildings.
"Ah. You must be Tyrande. We're excited to get you settled into the class so come on in." He said warmly as he led her into the class and the secretary departed.
He led the girl up to the front of the class where the students had fallen silent as they all eyed their newest classmate with interest. The girl didn't even shift slightly under the attention, clearly used to the speculation and wonder a class would have with a new student in their midst.
"Everyone, I want you to warmly welcome Tyrande here to the class. Go on." He called out.
"Hello Tyrande." The children spoke in an awkward greeting.
"Hello." She replied while finally shifting a bit awkwardly.
"Excellent. Everyone is working on some spelling practice right now. Why don't you sit down there next to Naruto. You can help one another if you need it. Naruto, raise your hand." He said while gently pushing the little girl forward.
Naruto blinked owlishly at that. He didn't ever get picked by the teacher to do something important. He was pretty sure the teacher thought he would use the opportunity to pull a prank. He most definitely would but that didn't mean he shouldn't be chosen to do things like everyone else.
After a moment of his mind running through the fact that such a thing was unfair he realized that he was just sitting there while half of the class was staring at him. He was messing up something so easy.
His shot into the air after the brief pause nearly caused the teacher to snort in laughter at the eager look on the boy's face. This was going to be a bit humorous, he supposed.
"That's Naruto. Take the seat next to him, Tyrande." The Teacher said.
"Okay." She said simply. She eyed the blond who was grinning brightly at her by the time she reached him. He seemed strange to her. Far too happy to welcome the new kid compared to what she was used to. Most of the time kids didn't want to really have anything to do with her for the few weeks she was in class with them.
Her mom and dad might have said things were different this time and she would be staying at this school until she went to middle school, but she didn't really believe it. They always moved after a few weeks so they probably would again.
Still it could be fun to actually have someone that looked like they were up to no good to talk to. She got bored of being the only one to stir things up in class.
As she settled into her seat the boy leaned over toward her. Alarmingly close to her own face. His smile never wavered in the slightest as he did so either.
"Hey, nice to meetcha Tyrande…oh I'm Naruto by the way." He said happily.
"Nice to meet you too." She said awkwardly. The boy just continued to smile as he leaned back to his own seat and started to slip a little booklet of stickers out and leaned forward with them to begin lightly planting them into the long hair of the girl in front of him. Just light enough to get the to stick but careful not to cause her to feel it.
Tyrande tried to fight down the small smile on her face as she watched him. The yellow stars stood out easily in her pink hair. It was exactly the kind of humor two small children would break down in laughter over.
Which they eventually did, causing the girl to realize what had happened and begin to loudly complain with crocodile tears built up in her little eyes. Tyrande and Naruto felt a bit bad about that. Not enough to stop laughing though.
The teacher watched on and sighed slightly as he realized he had perhaps just made a problem for himself down the road.
A Partner in Crime
Over the last week, Naruto and Tyrande had begun to quickly build a friendship. Neither of them had ever gotten a chance to really get close to another person their age and now that they had found a friend they had locked onto one another very quickly.
Tyrande still seemed to expect to be pulled away by her parents moving at any time. Despite that she couldn't help herself when it came to Naruto. Her new friend was simply to cheerful and naturally charismatic to ignore for her and she found herself in the middle of Naruto's various prank plots as well as all but glued to his side as they did school work or completed activities in class.
At lunch the two of them sat together and by the start of their second week had already begun to share their lunches with one another.
Despite having drug Tyrande into his little plots to prank both the teacher and their fellow students, Naruto actually had toned down the amount of pranks and other loud attention grabbinf activities. It was still a bit difficult to get him to pay attention in class but it was heartwarming for their teacher to see the reason was because he and Tyrande were chattering along about whatever it was that children found interesting.
If only he knew what it was they happened to be talking about on this specific date.
"I dunno. Won't we get into lots of trouble." Naruto murmured.
"I don't think it will be real bad. Plus you don't actually care about getting into trouble. You just don't wanna be mean to the teacher." Tyrande replied.
"Well, he's really nice and doesn't get really all that mad when I prank other people like my mom does. Maybe we shouldn't do one to him." Naruto said still not in favor of his new friend's plan.
"Teacher might even laugh too. It's not mean it's just a joke. If I wanted to be mean I would put a tack on his chair or something. That's mean." She said back.
"Yeah, that is. But you want to glue the drawer to his desk closed. That's kind of mean too." Naruto pointed out.
"Do you always think this much about a prank?" She asked him.
"No…maybe…usually they are just little thingies you know?" He said with a slight blush.
"That stuff is for little kids. Remember I'm a year older. I know what I'm talking about, Naruto." Tyrande insisted.
The blond bit his lips and scratched at his cheek as he mulled over the decisions in his head. He didn't want to turn Tyrande down. The prank was a bit more than was normal for him but really nobody would get hurt or anything so it wasn't that big of a deal, right?
"Okay…what do I have to do?" He asked.
"Well it's gunna take a couple things first. The normal glue isn't good enough. But teacher was fixing one of the student desks yesterday and he used a special glue that's just for wood. He even told me himself cause I asked him." Tyrande explained.
"So it's special wood glue, where is it?"
"See, that's the tricky part. He put it up on the top shelf of the cabinet over there. I can't reach it alone, and if I drag one of our desks over to use to reach it I'll make too much noise."
"So you want me to help carry one over?"
"No, then someone will notice we moved stuff. Just put your hands together like this and then kneel down like that and…" Tyrande instructed as she turned her friend into a living step ladder and scaled him with ease.
"What the heck Ty, you're climbing on me." Naruto grumbled.
"Yeah, I know I seen it in an old war movie. Trust me. I can reach the glue like this."
"If you say so."
"I do say so. Now stay still if you wobble around I'll fall or something."
"Why are you climbing on me right now anyway? We're not getting it yet."
Tyrande huffed as she shot an annoyed look at the boy. "Teacher says practice makes perfect, right? Now stay still."
A couple hours later and as the teacher had let the kids go for the day and stepped out to the bathroom, Naruto and Tyrande made their move.
"I still dunno why I gotta hold you up instead of you holding me up." Naruto grumbled.
"Cause I'm the girl, duh." She argued back though the boy below didn't really get how that meant anything.
"Now hold still, I almost have it!" She said as her fingertips brushed against the yellow container of wood glue. Just as her hand locked onto it though her foot slipped and the two children collapsed into a heap with Tyrande sitting on Narutp's chest as the little boy wheezed from the sudden impact.
"I got it." Tyrande quietly cheered.
"Ugh, great." Naruto groaned from underneath her.
"Now we just have to- oh no I can hear him coming. Quick, close the cabinet, I'll hide the glue."
Naruto scrambled up as Tyrande raced to the other side of the room to hide the glue bottle in her bag. The blond shut the cabinet and quickly ran to where Tyrande and their coats and bags were before trying to act as normal as possible.
When their teacher finally rounded the corner he paused at the sight of Naruto and Tyrande making their way toward him and the door. He had already dismissed children for the day. Which meant these two were totally up to something.
"What are you two still doing here?" He asked, getting only a shrug from Naruto although he at least got a reply from Tyrande.
"Just playing sensei. I wanna see if my parents will let Naruto come over and play." Tyrande chirped back.
"Sure you were." The teacher said with a sigh. He had to fight down a faint groan at the thought of what kind of mischievous activities they were.
"Well bye teacher." Naruto said as he and Tyrande slipped past the man and left to enjoy the time away from school.
"I'll see you both tomorrow, then I suppose." The man said with an amused sigh.
"See you tomorrow!" Tyrande cheered.
"Yeah, tomorrow, see you then." Naruto added in as he raced alongside Tyrande.
The teacher chuckled before turning back to his classroom. With a bit of a frown he began checking over the room carefully for anything out of place or some sort of trap. He was ashamed to admit after half an hour of looking he couldn't find anything and it was getting on his nerves a bit. They were little kids how hard could it be for him to find whatever prank they had dreamt up.
The idea that perhaps him looking for a prank that didn't exist slipped into his mind eventually but he tried to convince himself that such a ruse was beyond such small kids. At least he wanted to believe it was.
He left though without figuring out what it was the children had really been up to and sadly by the next day he had forgotten entirely.
On the next day, as the Teacher let the class out for recess and left to supervise them, he again failed to notice Tyrande and Naruto peel off from the group and step into the room with a clear plan in mind.
"Stay by the door and keep watch, I'll glue the drawers." Tyrande said.
"Okay- hey wait, drawers? As in more than one?" Naruto asked.
"If we have time." She replied.
Naruto looked like he might argue against but instead just shrugged and went to keep watch. What was the difference between one drawer and all the drawers anyway?
The boy pried the door open just slightly enough for him to peek down the hallway while Tyrande set to work. She had thought ahead and brought an old brush she had found at home. She didn't want the glue all over her hands after all. It would be a problem to get it off and give away that she did the deed far too easily.
Quickly the girl spread a layer of glue around the edge of the drawer before pushing it closed and getting started on the next one. It went just as quickly as the first one and soon she was moving on to the sixth and final drawer of the desk.
"Hurry up I think, the teacher is coming!" Naruto loudly whispered.
"Just a little more. Go distract him!" Tyrande insisted. The glue in the container was almost gone. It had been nearly empty to begin with but she was trying to scoop as much from the sides together to spread around the edge of the drawer properly.
"What?" Naruto asked shocked at Tyrande's idea.
"Distract him. Just keep him away from the classroom till I'm done." She demanded.
Naruto blinked before swallowing hard and puffing his little chest out in courage. He then stepped out into the hallway and dropped on the floor and shouted in fake pain causing the Teacher that was looking for him to quickly turn toward the sound and gasp faintly.
"Hey, Naruto, are you alright? What are you doing in here?" He asked the boy as he came over to him.
"Uhm Tyrande and I were playing hide and seek and we decided to play with all the school and the playground in bounds. I thought I saw her but when I went to catch her I tripped or something and now my ankle hurts." He lied through his teeth while doing his best to pull up a set of crocodile tears.
"Oh jeez you guys should keep your games on the playground where I can see you, you know? Let me look at your ankle." .the teacher said not noticing Tyrande in the room beside him hide the wood glue container in the trash and slip out the classroom door.
"Hmm it seems fine you probably just managed to twist it wrong slightly. Just try not to put too much weight on it for now and it still hurts after class, we'll see if there's any changes okay?" The teacher said.
"Naruto what happened?" Tyrande pretended to be shocked as she caused the teacher to jump in surprise by her silent appearance.
"Tyrande, so you were in the building." Naruto said, pointing a finger up at her.
"Well yeah, what did you do?" She asked.
"Teacher says I twisted my ankle or something." Naruto replied.
"That's right. Actually Tyrande, why don't you help Naruto to the cafeteria. It's almost lunch time so why don't you two go ahead and get a head start while I grab your classmates?"
"Okay Teacher." Tyrande said as she helped her friend to his feet and 'helped' him to the cafeteria like she was told.
The moment the two were out of sight the man couldn't help but chuckle.
"What devious kids. I wonder what you were really up to? I'm sure I'll find out soon enough." He said with a chuckle and a sigh.
Putting a Foot Down
Tyrande never wanted to leave. She finally had it. Home. She had friends, or more precisely a best friend, in the shape of Naruto. Her teacher and classmates were all kind and helpful. She loved the town they lived in. Loved the park she played at. She loved her life here.
That's why when she heard her mother and father talking about the move to another new home for her father's job she was so distraught. Almost a full year this time. She'd almost been here a full year.
She didn't want to leave. Hernmother didn't think they should either from the sounds of the fight between her parents. The usual sharp words and lowered voices. They rarely fought but when they did they didn't shout, they didn't throw things or slam doors. Her mother and father became like snakes. Hissing at one another and biting at each other's weakest points with their most venomous words.
Tyrande had seen it before. She knew what came next. But she wouldn't be there this time. She loved this home and she planned to stay so she quickly threw some clothes and snacks in a backpack with an extra big water bottle and she took off out the backdoor of her family home.
If she had to, she would stay in the park or hide in the tool shed at school. Nobody ever went out there so it was the perfect hiding place if she could figure out how to get in.
She'd see if her best friend had a more comfortable place to hide her first. Naruto was clever and really good at hiding from her experience during the times they had played hide and seek together.
She just had to get to his house from her house…easier said than done. Actually she probably should have called him or his family or something. Maybe even found a way for his family to pick her up. That way she didn't have to trek so far or risk getting herself lost on the path.
Which she very easily found herself managing to do.
She wondered if her best friend had missed her for the last three days since she had last been to school. It was normal that she would miss roughly a week of class before her parents remembered to pull her out so they could prepare to move again. She was a bit curious if it just seemed like she had disappeared for the others.
Naruto had steadily begun to lose his ability to remain calm for the last three days. Three whole days without his best friend. His only real friend actually.
That was hard on a little kid like him. Even the first day was hard, but he had chalked it up to a sick day or something. They were school children after all. They had a kid out of class for a sick day almost every other week.
The second day he decided it must be serious. He had wanted to try and take her some soup or medicine but he had been told that if she needed it her parents would take care of all her needs. He wasn't so sure about that but it wasn't like he could force the issue. He definitely couldn't drive and truth be told he didn't actually even know where Tyrande lived.
On the third day, he'd had enough though and confronted his teacher about the subject. He wanted to know where she was and had been sorely disappointed when all the teacher had said was that she was at home as far as he knew.
That wasn't enough for the blond though and after a copious amount of whining he had forced the teacher's hand into picking up the phone and calling Tyrande's family.
The short and rather worrying conversation was all Naruto needed to know to confirm his worries.
To the adults Tyrande had just been missing about an hour. She was last in her room before disappearing along with a few of her things. For Naruto though he felt as if his best friend had disappeared off of the face of the earth for days and no one but he had even noticed.
No one noticed that he had taken it on himself to look for her either.
This led to an even bigger problem as the adults involved soon realized that now two children were missing and presumably wandering around town without supervision.
Naruto didn't know where Tyrande lived, but he knew that they both liked to play at the same park so he double timed it toward their usual spot on the public playground. He didn't really know why he thought she might be there but it was as good as any to start with.
Tyrande tried to stop the tears in her eyes as she cried. Of course stopping tears wasn't as easy to do as it felt like it should be. The girl had effectively ran away from home with no plan and no word to anyone where she was going. Not long afterward she found herself turned around in the unfamiliar streets and wandering in circles.
It was by mere chance that she found the park she and Naruto played in together. She had been so happy but as she climbed on top of the jungle gym she realized that it wasn't any fun when she was alone. Having made a friend now she didn't think she could go back to being all alone.
The thought of being so lonely again when her parents inevitably moved and dragged her off with them brought a thick lump to her throat and burning tears to her eyes. She didn't want to cry in public, even if nobody was around so she found the thick brush that she and Naruto had claimed to be a hideout for them to play in. She fucked within before curling in on herself and letting loose all her frustration and sadness as she lost the fight stop her tears from spilling over.
Half an hour after she had curled up into a ball to cry in their little hideout, Naruto came barreling through the bush and dove into her, turning a flying tackle into a bear hug.
Of course Tyrande never saw it coming and screamed in utter terror as another body impacted her own and tightly wrapped it's arms around her. She continued to scream until her eyes locked onto the blue pair now inches from her face and the bright blond hair that she knew so well to belong to her best friend.
"Naruto?" She gasped out.
"I found you! Oh my gosh Tyrande you don't know how worried I have been about you!" The boy all but shouted.
"What? You were worried about me?" She asked him.
"Of course I was. You just disappeared like three days ago and I didn't know what happened. Then I heard that your mom and dad didn't know where you were when I made the teacher call them and so I came looking for you straight away. I don't know really why but I thought you might be here in the park and when I came to it I could hear you in the hideout. How long have you been here? Do you need food and water? I think I saw a show on tv that said you can't go more than three days without water and you've been missing for three days so you must be thirsty. "
Tyrande stared at her friend as he rambled on and on and worriedly looked her over. She felt her lips twitch upward as the boy checked to make sure she wasn't hurt and even started trying to help her drink the water she had brought by holding it up to her mouth and pouring tiny amounts out into her mouth.
The smile faded quickly as she remembered what had led to all of this in the first place. Just as she had thought she couldn't make anymore tears she started crying again. It caused Naruto to stop what he was doing before panicking slightly thinking he had made things worse somehow.
"I can go get help. Just stay right here okay?" He said as he began to stand.
"No! Stay here with me! If you go get someone they'll make me go home and then we'll never see each other again. I don't want that. I can't leave you, you're my best friend! You're really my only friend." Tyrande admitted causing the blond to pull up short as he listened to her.
Tyrande was caught off guard by another brutally loving hug that wrapped her up in the boy's arms.
"Then I'm going to stay right here with you. No matter what." Naruto said seriously as he pulled back enough to look into the girl's eyes.
Tyrande stared at the boy for a moment before her own broad grin spread across her face and she reversed their roles. Naruto found himself pinned tightly in his friend's arms as she hugged him. It even hurt a little bit with how tightly she was hugging him. He put that out of his mind though and instead simply laughed as he wrapped her up in his own arms.
They were hugging an awful lot today both silently noted in their heads thinking it was a bit weird as Tyrande was not usually one to be fond of physical contact. Even with Naruto.
Actually as far as Naruto was aware she disliked such acts like that. Hugging or physical contact in general was not really the girl's thing.
At the moment though she just held tightly onto her best friend and let her tears run themselves dry while laughing at the confused face he made.
After a while though she regained her emotional control, a surprising feat for a child so young, and settled back into a position sitting across from her friend in their little hideout in the park.
The silence was sadly unbearable for Naruto who awkwardly tapped his fingers against his shoes like drums.
"Uhm, so now what do we do?" Naruto asked.
"What do you mean? We just stay here." She replied.
"Like…forever?" He asked.
Tyrande blushed a bit at that. "Well no, but until we figure something else I guess."
"Okay…cause what if we have to use the bathroom or something." Naruto asked.
"The park has a bathroom, remember. Right over there." Tyrande said as she pointed through the bushes to a stout little building.
"Oh good…cause I kinda have to go." Naruto said as he stood up. "I'll be right back."
He set out for the building and was halfway to it when he saw a car pull to a stop in the parking area. It was a familiar car for him, being his family vehicle.
"Uh oh." He murmured before he turned to run back toward the bushes. Instead he froze as a loud woman's voice snapped through the air and made him stand stock still.
"Don't you dare run away from me Naruto Uzumaki!" His mother shouted.
Glancing toward the car again he saw both of his parents quickly moving toward him. A scowl on his mothers face and an unreadable blank look on his father's. Both together made him panic slightly. Usually if one of his parents were angry with him the other kept them in chec so he didn't get into too much trouble. Right now they both were downright furious with him.
"Don't you do it…" Kushina warned as she saw her son tense up to begin running away.
"Oh you are in so much trouble young man!" She hollered as he bolted instead of obeying her.
By now Tyrande had peaked out of their little hideout to see what was going on. As she did Naruto barreled right into her knocking both of them to the ground in a heap.
"Ouch, what the heck, Naruto?" She demanded.
"We gotta go. They found us!" Naruto cried as he climbed off of the girl and started grabbing what few things they had and grabbing her hand to pull her to her feet.
"My mom and dad found us Ty, and they are super mad. We have to run." Naruto said as he drug the girl outside and planned to make a break for it.
He managed to only get about three steps out of the bushes when a hand snatched him by the back of his shirt and lifted him off of the ground. In a surprising show of strength, Kushina lifted her little boy up to her eye height by the back of his shirt and glared.
"You definitely just made it worse for yourself, y'know." Kushina hissed before she pulled him into a tight suffocating hug.
"You worried me sick, you silly little brat!" She cried fighting back the stress induced tears only a mother truly knew.
Tyrande stared up at the scene in shock and a bit of guilt. She had drug her friend into getting into trouble by running away and…seeing the way his mother hugged him so tightly she realized she missed her own mother already and tears welled in her own eyes.
"Tyrande right?" The blond man, Naruto's dad clearly, asked as he stepped over to her.
He looked like a very kind man and Tyrande could only nod as she looked up at him and tried to fight back her tears. She didn't understand how she could cry so much still but with everything going on and feeling certain that Naruto and she would be separated and her family would leave town now that they had been caught while trying to run away she began to openly cry until she felt the man gently begin consoling her.
She sniffled but soon her own parents and even her teacher were all at the park. Her mother and father were angry with her but just like Naruto's mom had done, they were more interested in hugging her than just yelling at her. She felt so warm suddenly. As if she had begun to doubt they cared for her but now she felt all those doubts slip away.
The fact that Naruto and Tyrande were clearly upset made it hard for their parents to properly put their foots down and punish them. It needed to be done. Though the sentence was far less harsh than it probably should have been all things considered.
Punishment for terrifying their parents for a day aside, the main focus fell to finding out just what on earth the two little children had been thinking.
It didn't take long for them to figure it out though. In doing so they of course set both children off on crying yet again. It was adorable how close they had bonded, but the situation remained. Tyrande's father worked for a company that required him to move regularly from place to place across their country. He loved his wife and daughter dearly and usually brought them along with him as his job paid enough to give them quite literally whatever they wanted.
Well not quite literally it seemed. All little Tyrande wanted now was to stay with her friend and hopefully make more. She didn't want to leave Naruto behind and likely never contact him again.
Similarly her mother wanted her to have a chance to grow up with a decent semi-stable life. She argued with her husband every time they were planning a move. It affected Tyrande terribly.
After all, she had already been held back a year in school and she had no real friends to speak of…outside of Naruto of course. Who knew how much that could mess her up socially in the long run. It was time she made her stand.
As Naruto and his family said their goodbyes, Tyrande's mother promised the children that they would see one another again. Her husband frowned slightly but knew a very long discussion was in store for his family when they got home.
The last that Naruto and Tyrande saw of one another was a brief moment they could wave to one another from the back seats of their family cars pulling away from the park.
Both children were worried they might not actually see one another again.
Come Monday morning though their teacher had to stifle a laugh as they practically tackled one another in hugs. He was certain they would grow up in an amusing way.
The Space Between Us
In the years since they had first met one another, both Naruto and Tyrande had become one another's closest confidant and friend. They were inseparable throughout elementary school and despite both being the poster children for the term hellion the two of them had charmed more than a few teachers into considering the mischievous troublemakers as their favorites.
Their families became close and as was typical their parents teased them terribly about their close bond. After all what boy and girl being so close didn't seem destined for marriage and families of their own? They weren't the only ones to tease them either.
The duo's peers seemed a bit confused by the friendship. For children their age there was typically a small divide between the girls and boys. Not that they couldn't be friends just that they weren't normally as close as the two of them were.
Despite all the teasing and even in some rare cases, bullying that they received for their bond. Neither distanced themselves from the other. They couldn't imagine going back to being without one another to rely on and play with. It felt wrong. It almost made them sick to the stomach to even think about it.
As the pair entered middle school this remained the same. Even as many boys and girls their age began noticing each other in way that were decidedly less friendly and more physical or romantic in nature. Naruto and Tyrande's childhood friendship remained the core of their connection.
At least at first.
Puberty can be a confusing and emotionally draining time for even the most well adjusted and intelligent teens. It plays hell with hormones and as poor Tyrande was quickly growing to realize it made you not want to simply be friends with your best friend anymore. It made you want more. Crave more. Need more.
It also made it impossible to properly convey how you felt without feeling like you were endangering the brightest light in your life. Your closest and most beloved bond. Even as the confusing desire to try and kiss him swam in her head as they walked together to school, or the fluttery feeling that stirred up her stomach whenever he laughed or smiled her way.
Tyrande was truly in a heavenly hell. Her best friend adored her, but she loved him.
At least she was pretty sure she did. And as that realization began to sink in a bit more day by day she found herself more and more soaked up in the fact that she didn't know what to do with her scenario in the slightest.
So she went to her mother to get both the best and most painful advice she could get at the time.
Give one another space and see if she still felt the same way. Test it out. Figure out what her heart really wanted.
It was a very tall order for a teenage girl but she vowed with herself to try. After all this was regarding her best friend and possible future…boyfriend.
On a side note she very much disliked how amused her mother was by the entire situation and the knowing looks both she and Naruto's mother had begun to send her at practically every chance they got.
It was a struggle but Tyrande did as her mother suggested and began putting space between them. Naruto seemed to notice almost immediately of course. Anytime she acted slightly differently he was always the first to notice.
She had to make something up about making more friends their age. Suggesting he start doing the same as they couldn't only rely on one another for friendship. She knew he wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of making new friends but, and she wasn't even a little surprised, he found no issue managing to do exactly that.
Soon enough Naruto had made several other friends their age, the vast majority being other boys and soon enough he found himself dragged into sports and other activities as a way to bond with them. That was when something odd happened.
Naruto Uzumaki found his calling. Or as close as one could while in a junior high school.
The boy was athletic to the point few others at their school could keep up. Seemingly overnight he had gone from that somewhat odd and funny friendly guy in their class to the star of moos of their teams and one of the most popular people in school.
Tyrande was a bit conflicted on that notion but she too had found her stride. She actually did make a couple of good friends and was herself one of the most popular girls at their school. That didn't matter in the face of what she felt had been a complete drastic change for her friend.
Now she had to deal with the fact that she was always hearing rumors about who liked what and who. Who was crushing on who and who intended to ask who put. It was a bit tiring really.
As she had planned though the time apart doing their own things had given her time to figure out the intricacies of her own heart. She most emphatically did crush on her best friend still. Neither their status as best friends or her desire for more had changed as they grew.
Now though, with her new status as a sort of queen of the school she couldn't help but hear the many many girls her age and even some older and younger that crushed on her Naruto as well.
It seemed that despite their public friendship and clear closeness, such a thing wouldn't keep the vultures in the form of other girls away. Even Tyrande's other close friends Sylvanas and Maiev, two girls that had joined her class when she started middle school, had come to form their own crushes on Naruto. They knew all about Tyrande's situation however and picked their path regarding one Naruto Uzumaki very carefully.
After all Tyrande was possessive of Naruto. She had made it clear that she was weighing her heart but that Naruto was her crush and best friend so others were not welcome.
Some had a hard time listening though.
Hinata Hyuga was a sly thing. Initially acting meek in elementary school she had slipped under Tyrande's radar but by the time they had all made it to middle school little Hinata had undergone an extreme shift in…well everything. Personality, style, apparent intentions.
She made it no secret she wanted to date Naruto and just as Tyrande had come to her own conclusion about pursuing her friend…she was beaten by Hinata Hyuga by a day.
Tyrande had never actually hated someone before but Hinata came very close to it. The Hyuga girl, as using the name Hinata was like eating ash to her now, had become extremely outgoing and even hostile these days.
Along with that though she had become one of the earliest to develop and most attractive girls of their class. Many of the boys in their class clamored for a chance to asked her out or even just to have her pale eyes fall their way with that superior sneer she seemed to have perfected over the summer between elementary and middle school.
Naruto hadn't been one of the guys falling head over heels for her but he had noticed her appearance. Plus he had a thing for confident girls evidently. This new Hinata was most definitely confident.
Unlike Tyrande who hadn't needed to threaten and cajole others to make it clear Naruto was off limits to all but her, Hinata had put the fear of God into half of the female student body to make her intentions clear. She wanted Naruto Uzumaki.
Tyrande felt like she only wanted him because of his looks and popularity but she couldn't say so directly to Naruto. Not after he had told her that Hinata had evidently come to him to ever so meekly ask for a date between the two. Naruto had accepted without much of a worry.
His best friend had overtly urged him to be careful but to have fun while internally she screamed about the harlot trying to shove her way into her friendship and split Tyrande and Naruto even more. Sadly she couldn't say anything about it without giving the Hyuga girl ammo to use against her and solidify the spot as Naruto's girlfriend.
By the end of their final year of middle school though things had become the worst case scenario. For a full year Naruto and Hinata had dated and become the 'it' couple of their school. Hinata had threatened and manipulated her way to the top and had plenty of little bees to become a thorn in Tyrande's side. More than that though she had quietly met with Tyrande and told her she knew of her love for Naruto and laid down a threat.
If Tyrande wanted to keep Naruto as her friend she needed to be very careful to stay on Hinata's good side. After all while the girls knew about Hinata's nature, the boys were largely unaware as she continued to solidify her place as the Queen Bee of their class.
So with a tormented heart Tyrande and her closest friends entered high school watching as their fourth friend. The only male of their little clique, arrived with Hinata on his arm.
To everyone around them they looked like the perfect couple. Attractive, athletic, and important. To Tyrande and her friends they looked wrong. Just terribly wrong. Even if Naruto was happy.
They had no idea. While most boys in the school remained ignorant of how vile and mean Hinata could really be. Or of the vindictive way she could target people, Naruto had gained full knowledge of it. He wasn't happily dating a cute girl like he thought.
Instead he was effectively held hostage by a young woman using him for her own manipulative games. He was an accessory now and he was miserable. The only bright moments being when his friends managed to pull him away from Hinata's grasp for a little bit of time every now and then.
He needed a way out.
—-
And that is a wrap. I hope you like it. Like I said no lemons or anything like that in this chapter. They are still too young but you will get some of that starting next chapter.
Anyway
Till Next Time