In His Own Right:
Chapter Five:
It felt Normal...
Sasuke had to admit. Team seven together again, just sitting enjoying their little get-together, eating their -Naruto's- favorite dish at the ramen shop. It was enjoyable... Well for the most part...
There had been a small disturbance. Mainly of a certain Uzumaki and his huge mouth. So the blond had found himself face-first into the ground, which a small bubble gum haired demon with green eyes mercilessly shaking him by his collar... Scolding him about ..who knows what.
"You can't say shit like that and not expect to get hit! No, I'm not small I'm average size!"
Oh, he went there...
Sasuke kept calm as he watched the exchange, Naruto begging for his life and pledging his apologies. He chose not to say anything about the exchange, wishing not to feel the wrath of the female. It's amazing how quickly he had forgotten how fucking crazy this pink-haired bitc-.
Emerald green eyes shot into Sasuke's jet black, malicious intent in those orbs.
No!
There was no way she could know his thoughts. He stared back refusing to show his true emotions of fear, not breaking his gaze. Albeit, a small dribble of sweat made its way down the side of his face.
"You have something you want to say Sasuke?"
..Crazy...
"No.", he replied as smooth as he could. His eyes made way to his best friend, who was still helplessly in her clutches... Naruto mouthed the words "Help...me...please.."
Sasuke mentally denied his request. The dobe was on his own.
"That's not what your facial expression says!"
How in the fuck could she tell? Really, he was as stoic as a dead door... Knob... And doors can't die...
"I've been around you Uchihas long enough to pick up on your facial expressions..!"
"Hm..", was the only thing he could respond with.
"It's 12:07, and I'd like to enjoy the rest of the of the afternoon, without and ignorant or stop comments..", Sakura rose to her feet, dusting her clothing off.
"Wait! Twelve 'O Seven?...", Naruto sprint to his feet, seeming to recover from the brutal attack.
Sasuke slammed his palm into his face. "Naruto.."
"Man... I'm late... I go around this time every day."
"Late for what?", Sasuke questioned, as Naruto frantically got to his feet and dust off his orange and black attire.
"Go where...the bathroom?"
And with that Sasuke remembered that Sakura was an idiot. He stared the pinket down. "I don't think he meant the bathroom, Sakura.", he spoke, as a matter of fact, shaking his head.
"Well I don't know, he is sort of doing the pee-pee dance."
As much as he hated to admit it she did have a point... Naruto was currently jumping around in panic, drowning his ramen down in one gulp and getting ready to sprint away.
"Naruto wait.." Sasuke grabbed him by the wrist stopping his dash.
"..just where are you going?"
The boy's face seemed to react to the question with an abundant amount of emotions, but let's analyze the most prompt one. Panic... Yes, he was panicking. For what reason? That's exactly what Sasuke was trying to figure out.
"I'm going to see a friend... Uh, don't wait up for me... And... Also...Could either of you pay for my meal... Alright, thanks!"
Naruto slipped away, dashing off into the distance, seeming to head in the provided direction of the Uchiha compound. -Something to note for later.-
Sasuke had almost forgotten how weird Naruto was.
"I'm not paying for him." Spoke the pink-haired female beside the Uchiha.
So, Sasuke was paying for him was all he heard.
He was breathing heavy, almost as if he had been running
She had expected him to come. He had done so at the same time every day for the past two weeks, even when they weren't exercising his punishment. It was routine by this time, but what she hadn't expected was the blond boy to ask her if she wished to just walk around the village, with him and 'hang out'.
Izumi could have declined. He wouldn't have questioned it, he was the one who requested her regardless, and she wasn't one to socialize let alone 'hangout'. She could have easily went back to her quarters and returned to her slumber. However, she did quite the opposite. She was unaware of what had possessed her, or what impulse burst through her. But the Uchiha heir had politely accepted his request.
Said blond gave her a cheap smile, a smile that said he had made some sort of huge achievement.
She followed him accordingly, allowing him to lead the way out of the Uchiha compound and into the streets of the leaf village. It was a bright and sunny spring afternoon, the temperature was perfect one could say. Villagers and shinobi alike traveled back and forth, their destinations unknown to the blond and raven-haired pair.
"This feeling..", the seventeen-year-old beside her spoke. She looked towards his direction, both keeping their pace.
"...don't you just get this feeling... Walking through this village... And just... Gazing at the innocence...",
Charcoal eyes went ahead of her, where a small civilian child and his mother happily sat at a ramen shop.
"Do you feel it Izumi?"
He stopped, his face forming a small friendly smile. She stopped her pace, a few inches ahead of him.
"The reasonings why this..", he pointed towards the ground, but she knew he was implying the village. "..this is so precious... Every single soul in this village is precious... This is why we try...
The female Uchiha blinked, trying her best not to show her awe at his words which were... Simple... Yet profound.
"I'm just really trying to understand you a bit more Izumi... You're so quiet and collective.", he scratched the back of his head saying this. The world around Izumi seemed to stop or slow down to a considerable interval.
There was so much more to this boy. This boy..man she had monitored for the majority of her life... She was curious about him. This specimen... She had always been curious, but now it reached uncontainable levels. He seemed to have the heart and soul of fire. He seemed to be such a jester, and at first glance, you wouldn't believe him to the S-Classed shinobi he was. He never seemed to be defensive, he seemed to walk around as if he completely trusted everyone. As if everyone was his friend.
"I do feel it, Naruto. It's the feeling that every true shinobi gets at some point or another." She paused...
"We all get it, it shows our will of fire.",
They began walking again for a while, the pair quiet for a sum of time. Taking in the scenery of the village, and its inhabitants.
"So, there's something that's been bugging me, since I first met you.." Naruto's voice came awkwardly.
"Hm?", she spoke, still keeping to her quiet nature.
"That day, what were your reason or reasons for pursuing me that day?"
The question wasn't easy to answer. What could she say? That she'd been monitoring him since she was young and it was her mission to watch him and make sure he was of no threat to the village. Yeah, that would be bad for both of them.
"I was simply curious..", she didn't mean for her answer to come out like that. Actually, she didn't even mean to answer at all. But she sort of...spoke before thinking.
"What, curious about what?"
"Your training, I was curious about how one of the members of team seven trained... And I already know my brother's routine...I was simply interested in yours.", it was true to a small extent, so it wasn't exactly a lie.
He took this into deep consideration, his hands going into his pockets as they continued their stroll through the village. He didn't respond to her answer, he simply seemed to fall into a deep trance of thought. Izumi chose to not to engage in conversation, she kept her mouth as silent as need be, but she continued to analyze the boy before her.
They continued for a few minutes. The glares Izumi received did not go unnoticed by her. Majority of which from that of the male population... She shrugged it off of course. She cared little about people's insignificant opinions on her. They stopped upon, a small ramen shop. He proposed that they get a small meal, she agreed before noting that Naruto had come here on multiple occasions.
The Uchiha heir chose not to order anything at all, while Naruto, of course, ordered a bowl of Ramen. The clerk making a comment on the lines of 'back for seconds?'. Which did not go unnoticed by the black haired female.
"All this time we've trained for the past few weeks and all, but we have never had an actual conversation... Like small talk.", Naruto slurped down a trail of noodles.
"What would you like to talk about Naruto, your horrid table manners?", she spoke, allowed a small visible grin to fall upon her features.
Naruto's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head, his blond hair parting as he did so.
"Hey, it's not about how I eat, as long as it gets in, I'm fine...", he slurped down another sum of noodles in triumph.
"..but I mean I know little about you really... Except the stories I hear from Sasuke and almost everyone else.",
"Hm, what stories?"
He devoured the rest of his meal, dumping the bowl of ramen into his mouth like a drain in a bathtub.
"Stories of how both you and Shisui defeated Orochimaru. How you're the prodigy and genius of our generation... How you became Anbu captain at the age of thirteen. That you and Anbu team one have completed more successful s-class missions than any team in all the village!", he stopped the praise of the Uchiha heir.
"That's what Sasuke told you?",
"No, that's what everyone has told me! Sasuke's just obsessed with surpassing you and finally beating you in a spar.",
Izumi laughed in such a way that it could only be considered a giggle. "He's close...really... He'll beat me eventually if he plays his cards right.",
The afternoon was slowly becoming the early evening as the sun's light began to dissipate. Silence followed again between the two. It was a content silence albeit, opposed to an awkward one.
"How'd you get that bruise above your eye, were you training before coming to my house?", Izumi surprisingly initiated conversation. She herself not understanding what pushed her to such a length. It was unlike the usually impassive female.
The question seemed to crash into the boy like a brick wall. His eyes widening as he sat awkwardly in his seat. "Ye-yeah, you can say that.", he scratched the back of his head and Izumi instantly knew he was lying. It was this day that Izumi realized that she was truly curious.
Nice. The afternoon had been nice, every aspect of the word totally different from the shell she had been earlier. She enjoyed her time with the Uzumaki. He had politely asked to walk her home, which she countered with her own polite decline. But he was persistent and eventually ended up dropping her off home. She didn't argue with it. Her day had been, interesting.
However, responsibilities soon found their way back towards the Heir's throat.
"Izumi.." came the stoic and demanding voice that she had hoped to avoid for a while. There was no running.
"Father."
"We need to talk, immediately."
Naruto walked back home, a shadow of contentment over him. He slowly strolled to his apartment, thinking about the events that had transpired earlier. He really believed he was making progress with her. She was such a mystery, she was just perfect in every aspect. Her beauty and just her nature in general, he was truly infatuated with her.
His thoughts seemed to be interrupted, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. It was like a sixth sense, the sense when you knew someone or something was following you. His hands immediately made its way towards his pouch, unleashing a kunai.
A warm hand found its way towards his wrist, clasping it firmly and preventing it from moving any further.
"Whoa, there tiger I'm not gonna hurt you." came the familiar voice of the spiky-haired Uchiha.
He released Naruto from his grip allowing the seventeen-year-old to incline himself in Shisui's direction.
"Shit, man I was about to stab the fuck out of you. What gives?",
Shisui shook his head. "Oh, I've just been around ya know, jumping around checking out a few women and all.", spoke a confident Shisui, Naruto rolled his eyes at one of the people in charge of his punishment.
"And?", Naruto retorted.
"Well, I don't know. While traveling from house to house checking out the variety of beautiful girls, you tend to see shit from time to time. And what I've seen today has really raised my interest.",
Naruto gulped... His eyes widen. Shit.
"You saw me get my ass beaten by Sakura, didn't you? Hey, she's strong as fuck... And I for on-", He was cut off...
"No, I wasn't talking about that at all, though I did see her beat the fucking bricks off of you, BUT, that's beside the point! I saw you and Izumi together, the entire day.",
Oh, that? That was worse.
"Friends can't just hang out?"
"Listen, Naruto, she may have friend-zoned you or whatever. But the way you were looking at her today states otherwise on your part... But don't worry... I can help."
*Shisui offering Naruto help? What could that possibly mean? Find out, on the next exciting installment of In His Own Right!
*Yes things are moving slow, Izumi doesn't exactly have feelings for Naruto...yet, it's basically one-sided at this point. But don't worry things will work out. She is INTERESTED! OMG Ik right!
*Oh yeah, I never really placed an age of Izumi and I'm not sure how old I should make her, so why not have you guys decide with a poll. So check out my profile I'll have a poll on a small variety of ages.. so go vote!