(A/N) Thanks again for all the reviews! They make me dance and wiggle with joy! (wiggles) Although this is AU, this chapter kinda follows the same path as canon. Except I'm a few volumes behind the brand new releases, so I'll probably just make it up as I go past book twenty/twenty-two. sweatdrop if there's something TOTALLY wrong, let me know, but if it's just the name of Sasuke's parents and I didn't feel like researching the fanon, just let it be.
Oh, and Ryuu-chan, can you guess who the janitor is supposed to be?
(-)
Ino and Naruto stood in front of the main gate, one ninja waiting for the other to stop staring at the Leaf symbol.
"Well?" Ino said impatiently.
Naruto blinked and looked down at her, almost as if he had forgotten she was there. Ino stared right back. The Naruto she was used to was gone, replaced by a boy who was lost, nervous, almost scared. Ino blinked again and the boy was gone, once more covered by a toothy grin and scrunched up eyes. "Na, Ino, what are we waiting for?" He ran ahead towards the gate, leaving a rather stunned Ino standing in the dust. She shook her head, collected her thoughts, and headed after him.
(-)
Sakura was finished filing her papers for the day, and Tsunade's paperwork had finally caught up with her. Basically, there was nothing for her to do at Hokage tower. After much thought, Sakura decided to go see if Ino was back yet. Doing this, of course, meant escaping from her sake-drinking teacher, who wanted her to help with the paperwork. This, in turn, meant a trip down a laundry chute, bursting through a bunch of Shinobi waiting for missions, a genjutsu to look like the janitor, and jumping out of a third story window. Sakura considered that her training for the day. Oddly, when she was pretending to be the janitor, Tsunade had almost caught her. Instead, she ran right by, looking for Sakura, and yelled "NO FUTURE!" over her shoulder at the 'janitor'.
After stopping at her rival's flower shop, a bored and dejected Sakura began to head for home. Past the arcade that meant she was halfway there, the pink haired kunoichi stopped dead. Ino was back! She was right there, half a block away, leading around a tall blond ninja by the wrist and pointing things out with an exasperated smirk. Approaching them quickly, Sakura grinned.
"Oy, Ino-pig, who's you're new boyfriend?" Lord he was cute. Almost- Maybe as cute as Sasuke. But she hadn't seen Sasuke in so long, she was starting to forget what he looked like. He was cuter than this stranger, right?
"He's NOT my boyfriend!" Ino yelled.
"Sakura-chan!" called the stranger. He ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her so tight she was lifted up off her feet. "You didn't forget me already, did you?" She looked up and met his eyes, light blue and sparkling with laughter, fanged grin fixed on his face. Only one person called her Sakura-chan besides her parents, her teacher and Lee.
"Na-Naruto?" She almost yelled.
"In the flesh!" his grin grew so wide his eyes were shut.
Sakura stared. And stared. And stared some more.
No.
Naruto?
This was not Naruto.
Naruto was loudmouthed. Naruto was annoying. Naruto was stupid and had the finesse of a stump. Naruto was always trying to impress her, only to be overshadowed by Sasuke.
Well, Sasuke wasn't here anymore, was he?
Did he change so drastically in those missing years, or was he always like this, and she just didn't notice?
Sakura noticed Ino standing behind the Shinobi giving her a bear hug. The blond kunoichi was smirking, with a look that said 'I know, alright?'
Ino's head swerved to the right. Dammit. The last thing she needed now was another voice in her head.
Dammit, Akamaru! How many times have I told you not to head off running when I'm on your back- Whose scent? But he left!
Ino smiled as Kiba rounded the street corner, riding a four-and-a-half-foot Akamaru. The huge white dog launched himself into the air and towards the newly arrived ninja, who let go off Sakura and anticipated impact with wide eyes and a wider smile. The Inuzuka boy hopped off of his mount at the last moment, watching idly as said mount proceeded to slobber all over the blond ninja.
Naruto finally pushed the giant canine off of him and was able to stand up. "Oy, Kiba." The two shook hands, Naruto resisting the urge to wrap this comrade in a hug as well. He grinned once more. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to slobber on me, too." Kiba twitched violently, as Naruto wiped the doggy drool from his face and Ino held her sides with laughter.
Ino looked up again. Not another one…
N-Naruto-kun… He must be back… Nobody else has that voice…
Ino frowned. She only knew one person that stuttered even in their mind, but she had gotten over it, finally come out of her shell. And the only thing that could freak her out again was…
The return of the one person who helped her out of that shell.
Oh no.
Why now?
"Hey, whatcha doin over here, Hinata-san?" Ino heard and "Eep!" and gritted her teeth. Dammit Chouji!
Naruto turned around and waved at the approaching ninja. Chouji, munching as always, Hinata squirming and playing with her fingers, and Shikamaru looking at the entire group as if they were too troublesome for him to care. Which they were, but it still wasn't very nice.
"Hinata-san! Chouji-san! Shikamaru-san!" Naruto yelled at them all, causing Shikamaru to wince.
Chouji's clothes stayed much the same, a did Hinata's except for a light blue coat in place of the sand coloured one. Shikamaru, however, was sporting a jounin vest, causing Naruto to stare for a moment. "Lucky bastard." He said loudly, still staring. Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes.
Ino smiled at the reunion from a few feet back. After a few mintues, Ino said loudly. "Don't you think we should let Naruto get home? He hasn't been there in three years." Everyone fell silent. All the Leaf Shinobi exchanged glances. Chouji decided to go home because he had run out of chips, Shikamaru said it was all too troublesome. Kiba said he had nothing better to do so he'd come with them. Sakura agreed to come for much the same reason. So the group heading towards Naruto's old home was only five strong.
As they entered the apartment building, Ino sniffed cautiously. Something smelled really bad. Somebody needed to clean their rooms, and badly. Suddenly, Naruto flung open the door to apartment number four. Ino and Sakura wretched, while Hinata covered her nose with her hand. Kiba, with his heightened sense of smell, screamed and fell over. Naruto grinned and held his arms out as if to hug his former home.
"Ah, it's good to be back!"
The family of raccoons that had been living on his futon squeaked and disappeared through various holes in the wall.
By the hells, how can a pup live like this? Ino heard a mental gag.
Hinata backed up a few feet. "N-Naruto-kun, I don't think you should stay here." The blond turned to her, perplexed. "Why not? Is something wrong?"
Idiot pup! This rooms smells like the two-hundred-year-old carcass of the rat demon I killed!
"Naruto, retarded pigs with leprosy would be ashamed of living here!" Screamed Ino.
Naruto winced as he was blasted from the outside and inside.
Still gagging, Sakura nonetheless felt the need to add to the conversation. "Listen to us, Naruto. You need to stay in a hotel or something until you have a chance to clean this place."
Kiba had blacked out.
"Okay." Pouted Naruto. "Uh, now I'll have to go see Tsunade-baba and ask for a mission. Everybody always charge me extra…" The agreement slowly degenerated into a mumbled rant.
"Why would they do that, Naruto-kun?" Said Sakura with a raised eyebrow.
"Erk…"
Fool of a kit…
"Haha, guess they just don't like pranksters!" Said Naruto with a grin and a sweatdrop.
Ino gave him a sidelong look, but before anyone could ask questions he jumped right into the next subject. "So, should I lock up?"
Sakura glared at him. "Who would want to go in there?" She yelled.
Naruto shrugged and hoisted the unconscious Kiba onto his shoulder, walked down the stairs. "So, off to Tsunade-baba?"
"Na.. Naruto-kun…"
Hinata was left standing in the dark hallway, staring at the retreating backs of her friends and comrades.
"You could stay with the Hyuugas…" She finished weakly.
(A/N) Blah. There, done. Next one should be up next week, as per usual. Having said that, March break swiftly approaches and I might take the slacker route. Especially because I got lots less reviews for the last chapter. You people made me cry! Cry, I tell you! I hope you're proud of yourselves.
Okay, not really.
Right. Anyways. Pocky for regular reviewers! And my undying love, but let's face it, who wants that?
Tch. I was hoping to get into Ino's newfound abilities this chapter, but I gues it'll have to wait. Oh well. Next chapter is gonna be fun:D
