Chapter 4
Shizune and Naruto walked along the main street, heading towards the Hokage's office. They had just come back from the black haired girl's house. Her hair was still wet from the shower she had taken, and she was dressed in a formal uniform, while he was still wearing the now usual trench coat, black shirt and black pants. They hadn't bothered going to his home, and so had headed right to the office, where they would be getting information on what would happen, as well as a lesson to formality for Naruto, who was still very immature, although less than before.
As they approached the office, they were seemingly getting stares from everyone. Naruto apparently didn't have a clue why, and he seemed so accustomed to it that it didn't even appear to bother him. Shizune, though she had no idea why either, was rather worried, as she immagined why it could be. Is it that I'm walking next to him? Or maybe it's just normal... wait, it can't be normal, even though it's usual, maybe it's-- Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a kid among the people who stared say:
"Mommy! Why is that lady walking with the forbidden boy?" a little girl asked , pulling on the skirt of her mother.
"Yumi, darling, sheesh!" the mother quickly answered as she put a hand on her daughter's mouth.
The little girl looked rather confused, but her mother quickly dragger her away. Shizune, who now bore an upset look on her face stood there for a few seconds, looking at where the little was moments ago, seemingly lost in her thoughts. Why... Naruto, why must everyone hate you? Her thoughts were once again cut when the blond boy's strong, yet soft, hand gripped hers. She looked at him with watery eyes.
"Let's go, Shizune! We'll be late if we don't hurr--"
Naruto looked at her, question marks in his pupils.
"What's wrong Shizu?" he said kindly.
"Naruto...I'm sorry...I can't be there at your promotion, I need to think things trough..." she sobbed lightly.
"It's okay Shizune-chan, I understand, it's because of kyuubi, isn't it?" he asked worriedly
She shook her head no. "No... that's not why, I'll explain to you one day, Naruto..." she whispered, before running out of view.
The dark boy looked hurt, his head slightly tilted downwards, and his hands in his pockets as he slowly closed in the distance between the office and him. The sky was gray right now, rain threatening to drop at any moment. Everything was not so well anymore, things were seemingly returning back to the usual. Naruto walked into the office, to have everything explained by Tsunade.
- - -
After half an hour of talking, the boy walked out of the office, headed to the Konoha stadium. He was almost there when it began to rain, a heavy and silent, windless rain. He walked inside the stadium, only to be greeted by really few people. Among the crowd, he could recognize most of his friends, even Sasuke – which Naruto had forgiven, thanks to his great heart – and Sakura, who was of course sitting with Ino, eying Sasuke dreamily. Naruto reluctantly stepped on the stage, awaiting the introduction to be made.
- - -
Shizune was laying down on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, rethinking everything that had happened in that short period of time. She felt really guilty and ashamed, although she knew she shouldn't, she did feel everything was because of her. Even though it was still only afternoon, she fell asleep there, in her expansive clothings, laid diagonally on the bed, hands on her face.
- - -
Sasuke was seated casually in the first rank benches. Although he wouldn't admit it, he considered Naruto as a friend, and didn't hold any grudge against him for bringing him back. He was still jealous of Naruto's 'easily' – or so he thought – acquired power, but he was actually quite happy about being back to Konoha and not being marked a missing-nin. The cold boy was also beginning to get out of his shell, but not that much. He was barely ready to admit that he was happy being back to Konoha, that the cursed seal made him do things he wished he wouldn't have done. Now that he thought about it though, he might have to ask Naruto for help in killing Itachi.
His attention was diverted towards Naruto when Tsunade began to speak. Sasuke could feel the two girls staring at him, and he just ignored them, after he had learned what Sakura had done to his friend, he found himself even less attracted to her.
"...promoted to chuunin! Congratulations Naruto!" he heard Tsunade say loudly and proudly, handing Naruto a vest, which the boy gladly put on.
Almost everyone applauded at the boy, except the two rival girls. Even him, which the girl found rather weird, but did as if nothing had happened. Why are those two so obsessed by me? Someone help! Sasuke's inward child screamed, hoping he wouldn't go unheard. Sasuke's eyes happened to meet those of a familiar Hyuuga girl which he had seen at the chuunin exams. Hinata. He thought, unconsciously smiling warmly. He saw her blush as she looked at Naruto. How can he not see she loves him! And she's such a pretty person. He thought again, blushing slightly, not that he knew though. Sakura and Ino on her side were wondering what was happening to their dream crush, only to find no explaination.
After the promotion, Naruto sadly walked outside, not having seen Shizune for that long period of time had made him feel like he was missing part of him, although he couldn't figure out why he felt that, it confused him. He was walking head down, looking at his feet, when he bumped into his greatest rival.
"Sasuke-teme! What the hell do you want?" he asked brutally.
Sasuke frowned, looking at him quietly, before beginning to walk besides the boy without answering.
"omoi wa! Answer me, bibi-chan!"
Sasuke clenched his fist, although he had no intention of hurting the boy.
"Naruto, do you hate me?" he asked sadly.
Naruto did a strange face.
"What's wrong Sasuke? Why would you care if I hated you? You're just a cold, heartless bastard!"
Naruto realized his mistake moments later, when he saw the said 'bastard' turn his back to him and quietly walk towards an alleyway. The blond boy's reflex was to grip on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Oi, teme, I don't hate you, I'm just pissed you ran away!"
"..."
"C'mon Sasuke, If I hated you I wouldn't have brought you back, and I wouldn't have let you live either."
Sasuke frowned once again. "Naruto, you brought me back because Sakura asked you, and you've changed now, as I see..."
Naruto looked confused.
"Maybe my clothing has changed, but I'm still me, the number one idiot ninja, as you would say."
Sasuke kicked a can that was laying around.
"Naruto, I'm sorry for all I've done, I was just blinded by my hatred towards Itachi, will you forgive me?" he asked, his voice softened, his feelings flowing freely.
"Sasuke... you've changed as well, and I've already forgiven you."
The Uchiha prodigy smiled, not that Naruto could see this though, and nor did he have to.
An awkward silence followed, until Sasuke uneasily spoke.
"Ano... Naruto... You know that Hinata girl loves you, right?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke dumbly.
"What? No, what do you mean?"
Sasuke sweat dropped, although evilly grinned inside. He wouldn't have to get Naruto away from her, although he knew the girl loved Naruto, so he had to find a way to get her away from the blond.
They both walked alongside peacefully, unlike usual, not insulting themselves or fighting each other. People stared at the boys in either awe, surprise or jealousy, seeing that the Uchiha boy was hanging with the demon. They went to the Ichiraku, had ramen and went back to the training grounds.
- - -
The two boys were standing next to a shattered tree, Sasuke contemplating Naruto's purple chakra. He has definitely become even stronger! The sharingan user found himself into somewhat of an anger state, although he forbid himself from being jealous, or even mad at Naruto, not anymore.
"Naruto, why is it that you have your forehead protector on your eyes?"
No answer.
"Naruto?"
Sasuke saw the boy staring away from him.
"What's wrong, Naruto?"
Naruto slowly turned around to Sasuke, frowning visibly. He felt a pain deep in his stomach, he felt as though he had lied, broken his own promises.
"Sasuke, I've been hiding something from you for, oh, so long." he said, in a hurt voice.
The Kyuubi vessel brought his hands to the back of his head, under his long hair, which bore crimson reflects, and untied the headband, bringing it into his hands, down to his stomach, pressing it against him tightly. Sasuke stared into Naruto's possessed eyes, and flinched, they bore such a killer intent that it scared even him. Red orbs with black slits, projecting the image of a demon – literally – a demon of such power that it could have most likely destroyed anything with one swipe of the hand.
"Sasuke, you might not have noticed when we fought at the valley of death, but I'm a demon."
Sasuke just stared, speechless.
"... I am the holder of Kyuubi."
The uchiha now looked frozen.
"K-..Kyuubi? It...It's in you?"
Naruto smirked.
"Actually, I've merged with it sort of, now."
The boy face faulted, not believing what he was hearing.
"So...th..that's why everyone hates you?"
Naruto nodded.
"And that's why you were hiding your eyes, because they are so terrifying?"
Naruto nodded.
"And you have tolerated me all this time,"
Naruto nodded.
"When I pierced your lung, thinking I was way stronger than you--"
Naruto nodded.
"You were going easy on me?"
Naruto nodded again, this time adding:
"Yes, because you are my best friend, my first friend to be exact, Sasuke."
The Uchiha fell to his knees.
"I'm... sorry..."
Naruto nodded a last time, before walking off to his home.
- - -
Once at home, he tried opening the door, only to find himself locked outside. He looked for a key in all of his pockets, only to find none. Kuso, where'd I put this key? Naruto was looking everywhere, panicked.
"Boy, this is not your house anymore, you've gotta--"
Naruto had turned around, and hadn't put his headband back on. The older man suddenly went blank, before subtly running away. The blond boy shrugged it off, putting his forehead protector back over his eyes, before beginning to wander around aimlessly, now homeless.
He smelled a presence. Being careful to act as though he didn't know, he focused, and discerned a short girl, filled with shyness and awe. The worst in that was that it wasn't caused by him being amazing, but rather by passion. Naruto smelled carefully, recognizing it was Hinata that had been following.
The young girl was going to tell Naruto she loved him, although not yet, no, it could wait. She was following from about 30 yards behind, thinking he didn't know, how much of a fool she was, though.
Naruto headed to a small and creepy back alley and crouched next to a pile of boxes, which noted 'fragile' and some also noted 'this side up'. He, to Hinata, was seemingly lost in thoughts, wondering about something, or rather thinking. Everything seemed fine, she hadn't been seen, now she could pretend to be walking by.
As she got closer to him, ready to speak, He interrupted her. "Hello, Hinata, what do you want?"
His voice was unusually cold, his blond hair seemingly taken over by their crimson tint. She shivered at that sight, before blushing lightly.
"Naruto-k..kun...I...w-wanted..t..to...talk... to y-you." barely whispered an uneasy Hinata.
"What about it? Go ahead, talk to me."
She frowned, disappointed, heart broken, that wasn't the always laughing, always happy Naruto she used to know anymore, no, he was so cold, so...oh wait, he's just lost his home, and he's got nowhere to live. She walked up to him, gathering all her courage, barely managing to hug him.
"Naruto-kun...y-you... ...I saw what the-they did t-to you, I'm s-sorry about your... h-home.."
Naruto faked his best smile. "It's alright, Hinata, it's not like it was any great there either, people would often throw things at me, break things in my house..."
"...but now I can wander whereever I want, and maybe even Shizune-chan will let me live with her."
The words caused Hinata to grow a furious jealousy inside. He had called Shizune '-chan', he had mentioned living with her. Hinata was getting both angry and upset. She took a deep breath and asked him what she feared the most.
"Naruto...you...y-you love...Shizune-sa..san, n-n..ne...?"
Oh poor Hinata, if she had known Naruto had no idea what 'to love' was. To him it was the same as liking, only a bit more, nothing too huge, he thought.
"Of course, she's everything to me, I wouldn't be here if she hadn't supported me at the hospital!" said a grinning Naruto.
Oh, but he had meant he saw her as a mother, for to him, everything had nothing to do with love, lust, need and desire. Although that was not how Hinata took it.
She burst into light sobs as she ran away, towards nowhere in particular, only intending to run.
Naruto was in the alley, still next to the pile of box, wondering why there were so many of them. His curiosity was indeed equaled by his misfortune.
The boy opened a box, only to be greeted by a disgusting sight, which caused him to jump back, tripping on a wire.
What the?
He had no time to really think, for his head was met by a big, fat, imposing trunk coming at him with an incredible speed.
WHAM
Naruto flew backwards a few feet before, much to his displeasing, tripping once more on yet another wire.
Gee... he thought angrily.
This time though, he was met by nearly a ton of wooden planks falling on him.
Squashed under the deadly weight, he struggled, to no avail. He ended up giving up, falling asleep 'comfortably' under the 'five' star 'bed'.
- - -
Sasuke was walking, still, slowly checking out the town he hadn't seen for so long. He looked around, and let out a sigh of relief, being back was actually good. Supposedly, Kakashi had altered the seal's composition, so Orochimaru wouldn't be able to influence the boy, but that made Sasuke worry, still. What if the seal itself, was the thing influencing him? What if Kakashi had messed up, and it wouldn't do a thing, or worse, what if it granted the snake sannin even more power? This was getting very worrying for him. He was deeply lost in thoughts, not paying attention to where he was headed, until someone bumped into him, causing him to fall over, startled.
"Wha-what the?" he yelled at the form laying on the ground, until he realized he should be helping the person.
"Are you alright?"
The form looked up at him, it was...
"Hinata?" he said in pure amazement.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he said, with a caring voice he had never used before.
Hinata looked him into the eyes, crying uncontrollably.
"Na..." she sniffed. "...ruto..."
"What about him?"
"He...loves...Shizune!" the crying Hyuuga said as she began to flee from Sasuke, who causually gripped her shoulder.
"E-eh?" was her scared answer, as he looked trough her eyes, into her soul. - or so she felt -
He stared at her white eyes for a few minutes. An awkward silence was going on. Hinata was confused, Sasuke was in deep debate.
Hug her. No. Yes. No. Yes. I said no. And I say yes. Ughh!
He pulled her into a tight hug, getting a soft moan from her, who was just startled and even more confused.
"It's going to be alright, forget about Naruto..."
She began crying louder, her cries sounded like the ones of a little child crying because he lost his ice cream cone, causing the Uchiha boy to sweat drop. He rocked her back and forth, trying to get her to calm her cries down, which he somehow successfully did.
She gripped around his neck, head rested on his shoulder, sobbing quietly as he patted her on the back.
"Let's go somewhere warmer, it's getting cold outside.
- - -
Shizune was still sleeping, a peaceful and dreamless slumber, dried tears on her cheeks. Well, that is, until a loud noise could be heard, door bursting open, then loud steps coming towards her room. That had half awoke her, she was now on guard, faking sleep.
Bang, Clang, Crash.
Sounds of breaking glass and cauldrons falling to the floor. She rushed to the kitchen only to be greeted by a extremely wounded Naruto, who had a smile plastered across his face.
"Shizune, I'm sorry for earlier today, and I'm sorry for everything I broke, I'll pay, I promise."
She smiled, putting a hand around his and her free one on his headband.
"What happened, Naruto-kun?"
"Oh umm..."
-Flashback-
Naruto woke up, under a ton of wood. He looked at it dully, then realized he was aching everywhere. He had to use his rasengan to get out of that, and so he did. The boy then stood, trying to invoke Kyuubi to heal his wound, but the fox didn't answer, something was wrong. Ah well, it didn't matter right now, he had to find somewhere to go.
Sasuke? No, he had no idea where the boy lived.
Sakura, no way, she was not his friend anymore.
Ino, same.
Lee, would assault him with questions, and he didn't feel like it.
Kiba, not the dog smell, please.
Okay, only choice left he had, Shizune!
And so he recklessly walked, stumbling all over the place, making his way slowly to the jounin's house.
- - -
"I see" said the girl, removing Naruto's forehead protector.
She stared blankly at him. Oh god, his eyes... handsome.
On his side, he was also staring, but he was blushing. She had her kimono untied, most likely due to shifting while her sleep, and he could see, well, her undergarments, but to Naruto, that was a first.
She looked at him for a moment, before realizing.
She blushed as well. "Sorry!" she said, with a hand shrugging the back of her head, her eyes trying to look innocent. I'll get you, Naruto-kun! She tied her kimono hastily.
"Ne, Shizune?"
"What, Naruto-kun?"
"Tell me how I fell that day, kudasai?"
She smiled slightly, nodded and so they spent the night talking and having him figure out what loving someone was. Weirdly, all the feelings she had described, he felt them toward a certain person who had the same hair color as Shizune, the same eyes, the same clothings, the same height, the same voice, the same name...
He asked her to teach him love, managing to get her to blush furiously, and finally managing to make her promise to show him someday in the close future.
A bit longer than I had intended, but yerr, I hope you guys enjoyed it.
A note: No, there will NOT be any NaruSasu in this fic. They are just developping something called real friendship, I'm sure most of you know what that is... else.. well... go out and get some friends:) Anyway, also, I'm intending on including a slight SasuHina in the fic, as you might have noticed, BUT, only if I get reviews telling me I should, else I won't include it... (or perhaps I will, depending on how I feel when I'm writing.) Feedback please 3 -nodnod-
Okay, I have to clarify why Naruto hadn't seen her clothing, he can feel things, that means he doesn't see trough his forehead, but rather feels thing, therefor he doesn't see how things look. I know it might seem messed up, but bear with me :)