Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction based on the novel Daddy-Long-Legs using characters from the series Naruto. I own not the novel nor the series so, if you please, do not sue me for I own nothing but my computer. Future SASUNARU. Thank you.
"The Letters of Naruto Uzumaki to Sharingan Rooster-Head-sama"
Iruka popped his head into Naruto's room just as the blonde boy finished throwing the last piece of garment he was taking with him in his vacation. Iruka's lips twitched and he had to gulp down a chuckle when he saw Naruto jump over his bag several times so that he could close its clasps.
"Ahem!"
Naruto managed to close one set of clasps before he looked up to his grinning friend.
"Need a help?" Iruka asked, coming inside the room.
"Nah! I think I got it."
Naruto gave a final hop and quickly closed the final clasp.
"I told you to use those bags with zippers not this old style of suitcase," Iruka said, stifling his laughter as he sat on Naruto's messy bed.
"But I like this bag!" Naruto grumbled. "Besides I don't want to buy any unnecessary and expensive things that Daddy might not approve," he added to himself.
Iruka stood up.
"Okay, okay," he amiably said. "I didn't come here to criticize your suitcase though. I'm hitching a ride with Neji up to the train station. We'll be leaving in a few minutes so I came to say goodbye."
"Hmmm…are you sure it's healthy for you to always be with Neji? You're already rooming with him and now you're riding in his car too!"
Iruka laughed.
"Don't worry. I'll live. Well, got to go. I'll bring you some souvenirs when I get back."
Naruto impulsively hugged his friend before shooing him out of the room. Kakashi had mailed to say he would pick the blonde up at 9:00 am but Naruto decided to make one cup of ramen before going down. Several minutes, and hot cups, later he finally had enough energy to haul his big suitcase down the four flights of stairs and outside the door. He stood there impatiently as fellow members of the dormitory passed him by. He experienced a brief attack of panic thinking that Sharingan-sama had cancelled the trip or that Kakashi had stopped by early, but not finding Naruto had sped off without checking inside. Naruto was running in circles around his suitcase when he finally saw Kakashi's silver car flash into the driveway and stop right in front of him.
"Yo!" Kakashi got out of the car to help with his luggage.
"You're late!" Naruto shrieked.
"Sorry. I had to oversee some change in the plan."
"What changes?"
"Get in."
Naruto hurriedly took his seat.
"Remember to buckle down. There. Now," Kakashi slowly drove out of the dormitory's area, "I won't be driving you all the way to the farm—"
"What? But—"
Kakashi held up a hand to restrain Naruto's outburst.
"Since you've never traveled much before, we're going to make your first road trip a memorable one. We'll drive towards the new bullet train station and ride until the fifth stop. After that we'll use a bus and then there will be another car waiting for us for the last leg of the trip. We'll be stopping at various tourist spots along the way and I'm sure you'll want to sample local food there so…get ready Naruto, you'll be experiencing something different today."
Naruto grinned…
Naruto pouted. They were speeding by in the train but he was getting bored. The scenery had held his attention at first but the novelty soon wore off and began to fidget in his seat looking for something else to do.
"Naruto, you okay?" Kakashi asked lowering down the newspaper he had been reading.
The blonde boy looked at his older companion. His gaze traveled towards the high turtleneck sweater that obscured half of Kakashi's face. An unholy gleam lit up the boy's features. Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow. Without warning Naruto lunged and tried to pull down the part covering the older man's face. Kakashi, however, managed to shift and to fluidly transfer in the opposite seat.
The two stared at each other. A challenge was wordlessly issued and accepted. As they sped across the country, Naruto…
…stood up to pee and tried to do a sneak attack when he returned only to end up sprawled in the aisle.
…crouched behind Kakashi as the man got his suitcase but overbalanced taking the suitcase down with him and knocking the blonde boy down.
…offered the first bowl of ramen to Kakashi but got distracted by his own bowl of food.
…visited a shrine and attacked unsuccessfully while Kakashi was praying.
…pestered Kakashi to stop at a local festival and forced him to win a small frog in a game booth. He was too excited to remember his mission.
…joined a Bon dance and kept stumbling into Kakashi who managed to keep one hand to his shirt and one around his bumbling charge.
Naruto momentarily gave up his game when they arrived at the farm but just Kakashi wait until their return trip!
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Sunday evening
Dear Daddy Sharingan Rooster-Head,
I've just arrived and I haven't unpacked yet, but I just had to tell you that farms are soooo cool! The house is square like this:
picture
And old! A hundred years or so. It stands on the top of a hill and looks way off over miles of green meadows to another line of hills. And it has lots of animals including puppies!
The people living here are Jiraiya and Tsunade (they're married but they fight a lot!) and a hired girl named Ino and two hired men named Shikamaru and Chouji. We arrived late so Kakashi stayed for the night and had dinner with us. It was great because he and the old people used to be friends and all they talked about during dinner was martial arts! Jiraiya used to be an expert and he promised to teach me some cool moves this summer. I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can start my training!
Soon to be a martial arts expert,
Naruto
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August 9
Dear Daddy,
I'm back in school. They really should make the summer vacation longer! Like maybe three months! How can anyone enjoy summer vacation if it's only two weeks? And then after we go back to school we have our midterm exams not long after! What kind of inept educational system is this?
Although my two weeks were really packed! The morning after I got to the farm, Jiraiya took me around really early to take care of some chores. I wanted to get my training started but he said we had to do the chores first or else Tsunade would beat us up into pulps. I saw that old woman get angry with Jiraiya the night before and I have to tell you, she was really scary! But of course she couldn't really scare me!
Nevertheless I went around with Jiraiya so I could warm up a bit, you know. I had a lot of fun hunting for eggs too. I fell off a barn loft while I was trying to crawl over to a nest that a black hen had stolen. Tsunade was really pissed off. She said that it was stupid of me to get hurt so early in my vacation. And then—you'll never guess what she said next!—she said that I was just like Sasuke Uchiha who had fallen from the same beam when he was little!!!
Did you know that the Uchiha clan owned the farm before and "Master Sasu-chan" (that's what Tsunade calls the bastard!) would spend every summer there? The clan gave it to Jiraiya and Tsunade when they got married because the old woman used to be a nurse or something for the family.
By the way, how did you learn about the Chidori farm? I never got to ask Kakashi that. You have to answer me. I need to know. It's bad enough that I spent the summer in a place that that bastard used to go to. But the people there were talking of the bastard as if he's a god not some stuck-up, spoiled brat. You're not friends with his dad, right? Of course not! You wouldn't be nice to me if you were friends with an Uchiha.
Anyway, our routine became chores (they were boring but I managed to slip in some fun into most of them, nihihi!) afterwards training with Jiraiya. Tsunade taught me how to make this nice smelling medicine that makes minor injuries heal fast. When I wasn't training or doing chores, Shikamaru, Chouji and I would just hang out together and watch clouds. Well, Shikamaru (he's really lazy) and I would watch clouds while Chouji would eat (he's really fat, but don't tell him that to his face because he gets really angry).
At night I'd read this old book that I found in the attic that the Uchiha-bastard used to own. It's an English novel entitled "Robinson Crusoe." During my first week I'd always have an English-Japanese dictionary with me whenever I read a chapter but now I can practically read everything without looking words up every few minutes! It's a really great book full of adventures and jungles and wild animals and this one guy going against everything!
I took the novel back to school with me. I asked permission from Tsunade and she said since the Uchiha-bastard doesn't go there anymore I could bring it with me. Che! That stupid probably has lots of other books and won't remember about one missing novel. Rich people! I'm glad you're nothing like them even though you're probably richer than the entire Hyuuga-Uchiha clan!
Anyway, I'm too sleepy to start studying now so I'll begin tomorrow. I'll just read one chapter of the book then go to sleep.
Goodnight daddy,
Naruto
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September 21
Dear Daddy Sharingan Rooster-Head,
I have awful, awful, awful news to tell you, but I won't begin with it; I'll try to get you in a good mood first.
I'm happy to tell you that Naruto Uzumaki has started his legendary career as an author and illustrator. A poem entitled, "From my Window," with a matching drawing appeared in the September issue of Monthly—on the first page, which is something most Freshmen can't do. I'll send you a copy so you can see it.
Let's see what else I can tell you that's nice—oh yes! Those moves that Jiraiya taught me made me win in an inter-level kempo competition in school. You should have seen the faces of all those upperclassmen that I beat…
I don't think I can delay anymore.
Are you in a good mood now? Here goes—I flunked Biology. Iruka is tutoring me starting tomorrow and I'm taking another exam next month. I'm sorry if you're disappointed. But look at it this way: I only flunked one subject and not two. I almost didn't make the cutoff for English. I guess reading that English novel helped me a bit. And many of my classmates failed one or two subjects too. Only Iruka passed all of his classes because he's really a serious student who does nothing but study. And I've learned so much in just five months that I don't mind flunking, not that I'll do that again. I've learned my lesson and I'll study really hard and promise that I'll never fail any of my subjects ever again. You have to know that I, Naruto Uzumaki, always keep my promise. That is my way of life.
So, you won't be too disappointed with me, right daddy?
A the boy who will bury his nose in his books after writing this letter,
Naruto
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Re-examination week
Dear Daddy Sharingan,
I did it! I passed all of the exams that I took! Yes! Naruto Uzumaki is the best! The others and me will celebrate with some Ramen tonight!
Naruto
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November 15
Dear Daddy Sharingan,
Autumn is really here. The leaves are so beautiful that all I want to do is play with the mounds of leaves that the gardener has piled up at the back of the dormitory. Last weekend, after lunch, I just stared outside my window until it was too dark to see.
There's something in the air that's making me really sad.
I don't know what. Maybe it's because a friend celebrated his birthday last week and I remembered that my birthday had come and gone without anyone remembering it. Not that I have an official birthday. I just threw a dart one day and it landed in October and I've pretended that the date is my real birthday.
Or maybe it's because everybody's talking about going home for the one week Christmas break and I have nowhere to go to.
I'm sounding really pathetic, huh?
Don't worry. I'll be okay. It's getting really cold now. I hate the cold. In the Konoha Home we would get so cold because Ebisu-sensei didn't believe that the orphanage needed central heating. Only his room had heat during winter.
Che! I'm getting bitter. I'll just go outside and mail this. Maybe the walk will lift my spirit some.
Unusually depressed,
Naruto
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December 15
To Sharingan-sama,
Old man: You never answer my questions; you never show the slightest interest in anything I do. I feel like I'm sending letters to a wall. You're probably sending me to this snobbish school out of a weird sense of Duty.
I don't know a single thing about you. I don't even know your real name. Your secretary is a pervert. You have relations with Uchiha bastards.
I bet you throw my letters straight into the wastebasket without even opening them!
I'm tired of not being acknowledged, especially by you! I'm tired of telling you everything—my thoughts, my dreams—without getting even just one word of encouragement.
I've decided. From now on, I will only write about my progress in school. I won't tell you any side stories or comments anymore.
Yours,
Naruto Uzumaki
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December 23
Dear Daddy Rooster-Head,
I'M SOOOO SOOOORRY!
My last letter was so bad. I'm really a bad boy. Ebisu-sensei was right when he said that I was a no-good. Imagine me writing something so dreadful to the only person who unconditionally showed me so much kindness. Please burn that last letter and forget all about it. I was feeling so lonely and miserable and sore-throaty that night. I'd just seen Iruka packing and talking non-stop about his happy, normal family that I felt so envious. And then, remember what I told you about hating the cold? Well, another reason why I hate this weather is because I usually get sick. I'm really healthy the rest of the year but during the months of December and January, I always catch something. This time I came down with a bad case of tonsillitis and flu and pneumonia. I've been in the infirmary for six days now. Iruka was so worried that he almost cancelled his trip back home—he's so nice and he's been visiting me everyday since I was confined here—but I told him that his family would be really disappointed if he didn't visit. He's leaving tomorrow but he'll be posting this mail before he goes.
Right now I look like this:
picture
Pathetic huh? Some gland in my body is swelling. I've been studying biology for half a term and I haven't come across gland swelling anywhere! I tried to use Tsunade's medicine but apparently that only works for cuts and bruises.
I can't write anymore. I'm beginning to feel dizzy from sitting up for so long. But I just had to apologize to you for that last letter. You'll forgive me, right? I can still think of you as my daddy, right?
Sick in bed,
Naruto
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Naruto sniffled. Then he sneezed and snuffled onto a tissue. His nose twitched as he felt another sneeze coming. He only had enough time to grab a new batch of tissue before exploding.
"Bless you."
The sick boy groggily eyed the door where he made out a blurry image of Kakashi.
"Huh?" he croaked out.
"American people say that when someone sneezes," Kakashi explained as he came in.
A coughing fit was the only answer.
"Well, I guess I can't say Happy Christmas to you since you're so sick," Kakashi continued.
Naruto glared at the man's extremely cheerful demeanor.
"But I suppose, sick or not, you can manage some holiday spirit when you open your presents."
Kakashi held up with flourish a bigsports bag displaying a very prominent logo. Naruto's eyes widened. His mouth opened. He turned to fully face Kakashi.
Kakashi smirked with triumph, thinking that his grand presentation was a success—
Naruto sneezed all over him.
"Gah! Sobby."
"It's all right," Kakashi answered, producing a handkerchief and wiping his face with it. "Here."
Naruto eagerly took the proffered bag. Unzipping it, he saw that it was full of nicely wrapped presents. He looked up to find Kakashi gazing at him softly. His eyes watered. He grabbed a bunch of tissue and pretended that he was wiping his runny nose.
"Well, I'll leave you to enjoy your gifts from your daddy. Happy Christmas Naruto," Kakashi fondly ruffled Naruto's hair before striding out.
Naruto took a moment to just stare at the gifts. As he was reaching out for the topmost package, his door opened again. Thinking that it was Kakashi coming back, he smiled broadly and looked up. His smile froze when he saw that his visitor wasn't Kakashi but—
"Uchiha?"
Sasuke walked in and sat on the stool near Naruto's bed without waiting for any invitation.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, totally perplexed.
"I heard you were sick," Sasuke answered nonchalantly. "I never knew that orphans could actually get sick."
"Hey—!"
Naruto's protest was interrupted by another sneezing and coughing fit. He groped for more tissue but felt nothing. He groaned and started pulling the drawer near his bed where he kept another box of tissues but the contraption would not open. His head throbbed. He started to slump forward as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. Gentle hands guided him towards the pillows instead and a white handkerchief materialized in front of his eyes. Without thinking about it, he grabbed the offered hankie and wiped his dripping nose.
"Dhanks," he muttered.
Sasuke shrugged, his eyes wandering from Naruto's face to the rest of the room. Naruto closed his eyes. His brain had gone fuzzy but for a moment he thought he saw Sasuke looking concerned for him.
"So what're you doing here? Neji's already left for his vacation."
"Hn. Here," Sasuke threw him a poorly wrapped gift.
Naruto's widened.
"But—but!"
"I have one for each of you. I've told the receptionist to give the others their gifts when they return. Who are those from?" Sasuke asked, shifting his gaze towards the still open bag of gifts.
Naruto tried to sit up to reach his gifts. But the world turned upside down and he topped back to his pillows.
"Idiot."
"Hey! I don't have to take that from you!" Naruto glared at Sasuke from his prone position. "Don't you know that you shouldn't annoy sick people because they get sicker?"
"Really?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow in amusement.
Naruto huffed then peered longingly at the gifts near his feet.
"Hmp! You really are an idiot."
Sasuke stood up and leaned over Naruto.
"Wha—what are you doing? Don't come near me! Ah! what are you doing with that pillow! You're going to kill me with it aren't you!"
Sasuke's eye twitched. The thought of shutting up the blonde boy with the pillow was tempting. He quickly pulled up a flailing Naruto and settled the sick boy into a half-reclined position. Then he reached over and plopped the bag of gifts near Naruto's hand before sitting down once again.
Naruto was wide-eyed and speechless.
"Well? Aren't you going to open those?" Sasuke's irritated voice finally snapped the blonde from his stupor. "Gifts are supposed to be opened and enjoyed as soon as you get them. Didn't they teach you that in the orphanage?"
Naruto frowned. He stared at the bag and ran a finger along a wrapped box.
"I've never gotten any gift from anyone all my life," he muttered.
Sasuke made an indistinct sound that made Naruto look up.
"Well then that's more reason why you should open those as soon as possible."
"Why do you care anyway?" Naruto asked.
The dark-haired boy shifted in his seat and looked pointedly at the gifts.
"I'm assuming that they're from your benefactor—the one who sent you to this school. I'm just curious what a person, who sends an orphan into a very exclusive school—what that person would give to his scholar. Hn. If you're too weak to open them, I can open them for you."
Naruto snatched the bag away from Sasuke's side and placed on the other side of his bed, all the while glaring at the other boy for even thinking of touching one of his precious gifts.
The two stared at the packages for a while until slowly, timidly Naruto reached out and plucked one parcel out. Then, just as slowly, he began to scratch it open one tape at a time.
Sasuke sighed gustily.
"You're supposed to rip the wrappings, idiot!"
"This is the first present I've ever received from my Daddy Rooster-Head!" Naruto yelled back, not caring that he yelled out loud his pet name for his benefactor. "I want to preserve everything he gives me!"
Sasuke bit back a reply and let Naruto cherish the arduous task of keeping the wrappers and ribbons intact. In about an hour, Naruto was surrounded by new clothes many of which were for winter use, a coffee table book dealing with works of great artists worldwide, a collection of adventure books in English and Japanese including several by Neil Gaiman, a hot water bottle, a new portfolio for his drawings, and some crayons and pencils for his artworks. He had long forgotten that Sasuke was even in the room with him—the dark-haired boy had become mute after the first gift had been opened, content on watching the blonde's face for his reactions. Naruto had caressed, tried out, tinkered, and scanned each gift like a little boy.
When he finally remembered that someone was supposed to be with him, he looked up only to find himself alone in the room. Sasuke had slipped out after the last gift from Naruto's benefactor had been given its due appreciation.
Naruto's hand encountered Sasuke's gift. He meticulously opened it. Inside were two white objects and a card that read:
Idiot, these are called wrist guards. You put them on your wrists to prevent injury whenever you do kempo exercises. –Sasuke Uchiha
A slow smile grazed Naruto's face despite the condescending tone of the card. Tears of joy flooded from his eyes. He folded each wrapper carefully and placed everything, including all the gifts, inside the bag. Then he slowly eased down on the bed and grasped the bag towards him. Gradually he settled down into a nap, hugging the bag full of his gifts and smiling even in his dreams.
ARC: Woah! I didn't expect so many to review my last chapter, and some of them were reviewers from my other fics too! I THANK YOU ALL! I'm really glad that this fic is shaping up into something that you guys like.
Oh and for those who wanted to see Sasuke on the farm, sorry to disappoint you. But don't worry; Naruto still has two more summers to go. And I hope that the last scene was a good enough substitute for those wanting fluff.
And as I said before, I can't draw a straight line even if my life depended on it, so sorry if all of the illustrations just contain picture. Then again I can't attach anything with this fic so never mind.
--Dragon
