Hunted or Busted: A Side Story

Dusted 9: The Fox and The Hood: Growing Pains

So I thought I should apologize for the last chapter I added to this story. I knew what I was writing and I thought from clues and descriptions I wrote about, as well as the fact that I had already said I was making a story about them that the last chapter's main characters would be very obvious.

It was only after releasing it and looking back that I realized that while I knew who these characters were, unless you were paying very close attention and looked up their features on a wiki, probably not gonna deduce who they were.

So yes, the Forked Path story is focused on Sarutobi and Danzō. And I'll make sure that's clear the next time I upload a chapter of that arc. But I thought we needed something to tide over until then...

So welcome back the two most awkward roommates in history.

((((((((Hunted))))))))

"So...you and Ruby still adjusting to being roommates?"

"It's been over a month now. We see each other every day."

"..."

"Yeah, just a bit."

Jaune shrugged and sipped from his coffee as Naruto sighed and sagged into his hands. The two friends had decided to meet up in Vale and get some lunch before they started going back off on missions. It was a bit of a ritual of theirs that when they returned from missions they would check if the other one was free. And if they were both available then they set up a plan to meet up and see how the other was doing.

It was good for them to meet up like this to wind down from the stresses of their work life. Being Huntsmen was a more trying job then they anticipated. Helping people and making sure they were safe was fulfilling work, but constantly fighting Grimm could be very tiring. So moments of peace like this where they could unwind and relax were heaven sent.

They also took moments like this to talk about any problems they were having. Jaune had recently found out that Pyrrha and Tenten had taken a trip up to Argus to help a supply run make its way to the city, and while they were there they met a certain couple. All the color had left his face when he found out Saffron had invited them over to stay a night with her and Terra. The pictures they sent of them all hanging out and the thought of the stories that were being told about him were enough to leave him feeling sick.

Naruto on the other hand usually stayed on one topic when they met up together...

Ruby, and how hard it was to keep a comfortable friendly relationship with her after their...incident.

"You know when you still won't tell me what happened, it's extremely difficult for me to help you work through this problem." Jaune mentioned to his whiskered friend who just grumbled some obscenities into his coffee, "When you're this stubborn about even bringing it up, I can only assume the worst."

"Well it's probably not as bad as you're thinking..." Naruto said. He paused for a moment before drooping his head, "But still pretty bad."

"And since then you haven't been able to hang out again?"

"I've tried. God knows I've tried." To be fair there had been efforts on both sides to try and mend the - well not broken bridge but definitely awkwardly splintered one. They tried setting up movie nights or gaming days or even just hanging out in the city.

But it usually fell out because they couldn't look each other in the eye.

The problem was how the initial incident happened so casually and without any expectation...and then what happened afterwards.

When Naruto walked out of the shower, he was trying to dry himself off but realized that he was still feeling...kinda hot. Seeing Ruby up close and exposed like that was making it difficult for him to focus, especially with her surprising...growth over the years. But he took deep, soothing breaths, toweled himself off, let the blood work itself out of certain places, and tried to focus on other matters as he came back out into his room.

The first thing he noticed was the discarded clothing, bra, and underwear Ruby had slipped off and forgotten to pick up.

Getting dressed and doing his best not to look down or even pay attention to the offending articles, he picked them up in a pile and prepared for the agonizingly awkward process of returning them back to his roommate.

Who he found desperately searching through the boxes they had left out in the living room for some spare articles of clothing. Unfortunately what he was holding were the only clothes she had out of their packing so far. And she was trying to find some more clothes while dejectedly muttering to herself how embarrassing it would be if he came out and saw her naked like this.

Which he did. And he was especially ashamed because his eyes lingered down on the shapely butt she was waving around while searching through the box.

She finally stopped, turned around, realized he was watching her, realized again that turning around gave him another view of her exposed body, and ran into her room after snatching up her clothes.

Yeah...no coming back from that.

It was awful and painful to try and face each other after that morning. But if there was any solace it was that they both felt embarrassed by it, and were making sure no one knew about their incident.

((((((((Hunted))))))))

"Still having a hard time facing him after flashing the goods?"

"Yang!"

"Am I wrong?"

Ruby ducked her head down, grousing under her breath while her face started to heat up from embarrassment. Why did she expect tact and discretion from Yang on this topic? At least she had the good sense to suggest they go for a walk outside the house so Taiyang or Qrow didn't hear them.

Still while she was hoping for an empathetic ear from her sister about her problems, all she got was uproarious laughter and her literally rolling on the floor while mocking her mistake. And despite how hard she tried to wrack her brain about this she couldn't come up with any other answer than it was totally her fault.

She wasn't a morning person, okay! She needed at least two hours after waking up to actually wake up! Sue her!

Unfortunately Naruto's first instance of dealing with that had to be the day she wandered into the shower with him. The memory of it was enough to make her cringe and hide her face in shame. But instead of solidarity, all her friends and teammates could do was laugh or shake their heads in disbelief.

What was the point in talking about this with her closest friends if they couldn't help her solve the problem!

Yang finally stopped laughing and wiped a tear from her eye before looking to her sister, "So he's still finding it pretty awkward around you too, right?"

"Yeah." Ruby admitted.

"Well maybe he's having a hard time forgetting how you look without clothes too."

"Come on! You're just making this worse!" Once again Ruby had to cover her face, but more in an effort to purge and block the terrible thoughts and ideas that came to mind. The very idea that he would be thinking about her naked was crazy, especially when there were other prettier, much more developed girls he probably met with. Was he still going after Blake? Or maybe he could do what everyone else did and just imagine her sister doing weird things to satiate their needs.

And as for her...well she did her best not to think about it. How she was surprised to see him completely nude while in the midst of his shower. The water still resting on his surprisingly built chest. She could find the rare scars he had gathered from his fight with the Uchiha, and despite herself she had felt the need to touch them. And of course down there was the-

"Ruby?"

"Bwala-huh?" The hooded girl came out of her daze to see Yang staring at her oddly. She blinked and shook her head, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"That clearly this problem isn't just gonna solve itself anytime soon." The blonde admitted while Ruby hung her head in dejected acceptance, "You keep letting this problem fester and it would get so bad you probably wouldn't be able to share an apartment together for much longer. Now most times I think roommates would just repress this kind of experience and never bring it up, but you two are so awkward you can't not think about it when you see each other."

"Is there going to be a point to this where you help me?"

"I'm saying that what you two need to do is just spend more time together." Yang raised her hand to stop Ruby from making her inevitable argument, "I know that might be difficult right now but down the line you two won't be focusing so much on what happened and things will just go back to normal soon enough. It's better than the alternative, right?"

Ruby seemed to wrestle with the idea before letting out a tiny whine. Why couldn't she have just woken up properly?

((((((((Hunted))))))))

In the living room of the apartment, Ruby was sitting across from the screen as she played her game. To those looking on it might have seemed like it was all she was thinking about, but if they noticed how her legs continued to jump and tap on the wood they would realize that she was just trying to distract herself until her roommate returned.

"You can do this. Just suggest he sit down and we can just play games. Or watch a movie." And they could sit close together, he wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she rested into his chest. Then as the movie went on they'd stop even listening and then look at each other. They'd lean in and in the veil of darkness start-

"Stop! Stop! Stop doing that!"

"D-Doing what?"

Ruby squeaked, jumping out of her seat and causing her controller to fly through the air as she scrambled in her seat. She looked over and saw Naruto standing by the entrance after coming back. The hooded girl relaxed back into her seat, "O-Oh, you're back?"

"Yeah, Jaune says hi by the way."

"Oh. Cool."

...

That damn silence again.

"I'm," Naruto pointed to his room, "Just gonna head in-"

"W-Wait!" Ruby called before he could vanish into his room. She shuffled around on the couch and faced him, "Hey, do you want to sit out here and play games with me? It's been a while since we last hanged out. Not since-"

The shower escapade.

Damn this tension!

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned, "I mean aren't we-"

"That was totally a mistake! It didn't mean to happen! I'm sorry and I hope you'll forgive me!"

"No I'm sorry. I should have closed my eyes or something and when I went to give you back-"

"It's okay! Accidents and problems on both sides I guess." They remained silent for a moment before Ruby poked the side of the couch, "It was embarrassing what happened, but since then you and me haven't really even talked to each other. And I don't want that."

Naruto looked down with guilt before taking the seat beside her, "I don't either. I just didn't know how to talk to you after it happened."

"Well...we're talking now."

"Heh, I guess we are."

The two roommates shared a quick laugh, feeling the tension and unease that had settled between them over the last few weeks start to become bearable. Ruby shuffled in her spot, "I know it's not gonna just stop feeling uncomfortable between us, but you're pretty much my best friend. And I don't want anything in the world to ruin that."

Naruto looked at his roommate and her honest, earnest words she spoke from the heart. A slow smile started to spread as he nodded, "Yeah, me neither." He lazily shrugged his shoulders, "It's gonna be kinda weird...but I want my best friend back too."

A huge smile started to appear over Ruby's face. Silently cheering to herself for the win. She decided to quell those thoughts and nodded, "Cool. Super cool. So let's play! We never finished our tournament and we need to see who reigns supreme."

"Alright." Naruto chuckled before looking down, "Hey Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna go away for awhile."

...

She paused and looked to her friend to see his serious expression. Her heart fell, "D-Did I do-"

"No no no! This doesn't have anything to do with you or what happened!" He quickly shook his head, "I've actually been planning this for months. I want to take a year to travel between the Kingdoms and do some Huntsman work where I can. It's something I always wanted to do and now that I can I thought I'd get an early start on it."

"A...a whole year?"

"Yeah." Naruto solemnly nodded, "I'll start making my way to Mistral before heading down to Menagerie. After that I'll head up to Atlas and meet up with Kiba in Vacuo. If I spend three months doing each one, I'll be back in about a year."

"O-Oh." Ruby muttered sadly. Her expression fell as her head lowered, "When are you leaving?"

"In a few months. I wanted to plan everything out and get ready before I leave."

"Right. Okay then."

"I've been meaning to tell you for a while but I haven't gotten the chance, what with how we haven't been able to talk."

"Yeah...y-yeah okay." Ruby slumped back into her seat as her brain started to run through what was happening. She and Naruto were going to try and fix the uneasiness that had formed between them since their accident, but now she also knew he was going to be off on his journey soon for an entire year. It was a good thing he was going to be doing, but the idea of having the apartment to herself for an entire year while he was away just left her feeling lonely.

He was going to be off doing Huntsman things and she'd be stuck here...doing Huntress things.

...

Wait...weren't they the same thing?

Ruby perked up in her seat and eyed her roommate carefully. She turned to him, "Hey," He looked at her and she felt very nervous about proceeding, "Would...would it be okay if I came with you?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise as she kept eye contact with him. Once he realized she wasn't kidding he sat up, "Are you serious? I mean this is a year long trip. We wouldn't be back for...a year."

"I-I know."

"I mean going out to each Kingdom to do work isn't gonna be easy. It's-"

"But you're still doing it, right?" Ruby jumped up in her seat and moved in towards him, making him clam up and lean back as she asserted her point, "That's a hard job for a long time! A-And It might take awhile but...but it'd be easier having someone watch your back, right?" She dropped back in her seat and looked up at him, "Can I please come with you?"

"You really want to come with me?"

"Absolutely."

Damn her and her adorable eyes. Naruto ran a hand through his hair and ears before sighing. He showed a faint smile that got her to beam with joy, "You better start getting ready for the trip."

"Awesome!" Ruby threw her hands up in joy, "We're gonna save Remnant!"

"Hehe." Naruto laughed as his roommate started to dance with joy, "You are being way more forward than usual."

"Yeah, Yang gave me some advice."

"Should have known it was your sister with how upfront this confrontation was."

"Well after seeing each other in the shower, she said we could either wait and let this uncomfortable feeling fester or we can meet it head on."

"Yeah, sounds like - wait, you told Yang about what happened?"

"Yeah." Ruby blinked, "Why?"

"Did you tell anyone else?"

"I-I might have."

"Who?"

"I'm scared to answer because now it seems like a really bad idea."

"What happened to not telling anyone about this?"

"When was that established?"

"In silent agreement when you snatched your clothes out of my hands while you were naked."

"Oh...see the problem with that was we didn't say anything and I didn't know that."

((((((((Hunted))))))))

Done

Spontaneous life decisions made in the heat of the moment that will take up a year of your time.

What more proof do you need that this might be a little more than just embarrassment guiding her actions?

Anyway, next week I'll be updating one of the real stories. I just like keeping up with this one because I can literally write a chapter in a day and it's better to have something instead of long periods of time where I don't update anything.

Helps reassure people that I am still alive.

I'm working on a chapter of the main story right now, and I'm just making sure it's good because it's the real start to the last arc. Gotta make it worthwhile.

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Thank You and Bye