Here's the latest chapter of "A Family to Call My Own"! I hope you all enjoy it! The hardest part for me is to produce long chapters, but I'm going to try and extend them a little more, chapter by chapter, also to people who were wondering what point in the series this story took place, it takes place right after the Chuunin exams, but before Itachi and Kisame show up...hint hint. Sasuke may leave konoha, or may not, we'll see. Anyway, enjoy and leave a comment or review, I love reading them!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO :(
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The next day, Sasuke rolled over in his bed, his black hair disheveled from the long hours of deep sleep that he had gotten the night before. If felt good knowing that he wasn't living in his giant home, alone. He sat up slowly, and began to rub his eyes so that he could get adjusted to the light that was shining brightly in his room. Looking at the clock he saw that he and Naruko still had a couple of hours before they were supposed to go train with Sakura and Kakashi. He wondered if Naruko was still asleep. Was she a deep sleeper?
His thoughts came to a sudden halt when he smelled something dangerously foreign in his house. He sniffed the air again before bolting out of his bed and swinging open his door. He smelled smoke.
Sprinting across the wooden floor, he threw open the door that led to the guest room, hoping to find Naruko, however, all he saw was a sleeping mat on the ground, with her sack of clothes next to them, the bed in the room remained completely untouched. This was weird Sasuke concluded.
He turned around and ran towards the kitchen, and there he saw it. Naruko pacing all around the kitchen, an apron covering her pajamas as she stirred a large bowl of...batter? He ran to one of the pans that had been the source of the smoke and saw that she was trying to make pancakes, but hadn't flipped the one on the pan.
"What are you doing!?" He yelled as he forced the spatula under the burnt pancake before removing it from the pan all together.
Naruko stopped her determined and messy process of mixing the batter, and turned towards her teammate. Naruko smiled widely at Sasuke.
"Oh you're up, I was making us breakfast." She grinned.
Sasuke stood there completely shocked, noticing her apron was covered in flour and egg, even her cheek had some batter on it! This girl was making a complete mess in his home!
"Do you even know how to make pancakes?" Sasuke asked.
Naruko put her finger to her chin in thought. "No I don't think so, but I remember that Jiji had told me how to once and I figured it couldn't be that hard."
Sasuke sighed before washing a rag and cleaning the batter covered counters, and then proceeded to push Naruko out of the kitchen and to a table.
"You really are an idiot." He said as he forced her to sit at the large wooden table.
Naruko frowned as she sat down. "I was just trying to help...and I don't like you calling me that."
Sasuke smiled softly at the girl in front of him before moving back into the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast okay."
Naruko sat in stunned silence as she could hear Sasuke mixing the batter in the kitchen and pouring the batter onto the pan that she had been using. Sasuke was determined now to fix a much better breakfast than the blonde haired girl had before, at least she got all the ingredients right. His thought process was stopped as he heard a light 'pop' before looking at his toaster.
There, he saw slabs of thin meat sticking out of the toaster. The top halves that hadn't been in the toaster at all were still raw, while the bottom halves were burnt to a crisp. He felt a vein pop on his forehead.
"Did you put bacon in the toaster?!"
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Naruko took a bite of a lightly browned pancake that had been topped with butter and dipped in a light brown syrup. Her face beamed as she chewed on the soft piece of food and let out a little 'MMmm' sound.
Sasuke sat on the other side of the table, calmly eating his pancakes, while trying not to chuckle at the strange event that had happened just half an hour ago. Naruko living in his house had sure livened up the place, and it made him realize how lonely his house had been before.
"Ah Sasuke, this is so good dattebayo!" Naruko said.
Sasuke simply nodded his head before placing another bite into his own mouth. He wondered what exactly he should talk about with Naruko? He felt as if he should know her, her likes and dislikes, but when he thought about it, he would have a hard time coming up with answers for those. Of course she liked ramen, but surely that wasn't the only thing she liked, if so, she was the biggest idiot he had ever met. Then another question popped into his head, why hadn't she slept in the guest bed?
"Naruko..." The blonde's head snapped upward, eagerly meeting Sasuke's eyes with her own. "Why didn't you sleep in the guest bed?" Sasuke asked. Perhaps this would give him a better insight as to how Naruko worked.
Naruko began to rub the back of her head, and chuckled sheepishly. "Ah well, I thought the floor was more comfortable." She said.
Then Sasuke caught it, something about Naruko that he didn't know before. He realized that Naruko was a horrible liar, she always scratched the back of her head and chuckled. He also noticed her eyes would avoid him and rather gaze at the ground.
"You're lying." The black haired Uchiha stated.
Naruko's eyes flashed upwards connecting with his own, and a small glare marring her face. "Nuh-uh, I really like the ground more!" She said.
Sasuke quickly got up out of his chair and walked over to where Naruko was sitting. His tall form shadowing her own as he glared down at the blonde in front of him. He didn't like Naruko lying, and he especially didn't like her refusing to tell the truth.
"Tell me why you didn't sleep on the guest bed." He stated again, more seriously than the first time.
"It's not even that big of a deal." Naruko mumbled.
"Naruko" Sasuke said, raising his tone, as if he were talking to a child, which in some ways, Naruko probably was.
Said blonde was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, wishing to be somewhere else rather than sitting under the intense gaze of the Uchiha. It was uncomfortable, someone caring about what she did. She couldn't remember a time when someone was questioning her so hard about telling the truth.
"I didn't deserve it." She mumbled.
Sasuke's eyes hardened when he heard her meek reply.
"What do you mean?" He asked, more suspicious about his teammate than ever before.
"That bed belonged to one of your clan members, it would be insulting to sleep somewhere that your family had slept, I don't deserve to sleep there." Naruko said, her voice trailing off towards the end, but Sasuke had heard it all.
The young Uchiha had learned one more thing about Naruko, something he would have to fix. Naruko, clearly thought very little of herself, almost as if she had hardly any worth at all. If she felt unworthy to sleep in a place that someone from the Uchiha clan had, Sasuke would have to make her see that she didn't need to think so low about herself.
"Idi-." Sasuke was about to say, but caught himself as he realized calling her an idiot, probably didn't help her self-worth. "Naru, that room you slept in was a guest room, I don't think anyone has ever slept there. Besides, even if someone had, I'm sure neither they, nor I would ever mind."
Naruko raised her eyes to look back at the young boy in wonder, before nodding her head and standing up. "Thank you Sasuke." She smiled, then in an awkward fashion, the girl gently wrapped her arms around Sasuke in what he assumed to be a weak, yet very grateful hug.
In fact, Sasuke found himself enjoying her gentle embrace and he too wrapped his arms around her.
"Now, let's go meet Kakashi-sensei and Sakura" Sasuke said as two genin separated. Naruko nodded and raced off towards her bedroom to change out of her blue pajamas and into her ninja gear.
Sasuke smiled and walked, in a slower fashion, towards his room. He would have to continue to pay close attention to Naruko. He learned that she was very caring about others, but lacked in caring about herself. He would just have to watch over her and make sure she never felt weak or undeserving. After all, he told her that he would look after her, and she needed it.
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'What's so good about Sasuke?' Naruko grumbled as she kicked a rock across a dirt path. When Sasuke, Sakura, and she had appeared to the training grounds, Kakashi had said that starting today he would train us individually, beginning with Sasuke. In Kakashi's words 'this would give us time to break away from our teamwork and improve our individual skills'...but still, Naruko didn't like the feeling of separating her team, her family. It didn't seem right after they had been doing so well together.
"Naruko!" A pink haired girl ran up behind her excitedly.
"Ah Sakura, what did you want?" Naruko asked as she turned towards her teammate.
The pink haired girl leaned over, putting her hands on her knees, breathing heavily as she had been looking for Naruko for a long time. Catching her breath, Sakura straightened upward.
"Well, I was wondering, since we have the day off and we aren't the best of friends, would you like to go shopping with me?" Sakura asked.
Naruko slightly recoiled at the thought of 'shopping' but thought over what the pink girl had said. They really weren't as close as they should be for a team, and what better way than to spend time together on their way off.
"Eh...I guess I'll come, but I'm not really a fan of shopping." Naruko said sheepishly.
"That's okay, you just haven't experienced shopping the way I have!"
Naruko gulped as she was suddenly being dragged by Sakura into the village shopping districts.
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Naruko fell onto her sleeping mat, completely exhausted. Who knew shopping could be so...tiring? Shop after shop, Sakura had dragged Naruko to every clothing store in the village trying on different outfits that she wouldn't wear that often anyway. Of course, Naruko just watched, she felt no reason to ty on such fluffy, soft, glitter-filled outfits when she would never use such things in her line of work.
A 'slam' of a wooden door caught her attention, however her body was completely shut down, so she sleepily gazed at the door of her room. Hearing light footsteps in the wooden hallway, Naruko knew that Sasuke had returned from his training session with Kakashi-sensei.
His footsteps grew closer to her door, and she gazed upward at the young black haired Uchiha as he opened her room door. He looked like he had been through hell. She noticed multiple wounds, most likely from kunai or shuriken, and his outfit seemed to have torn in multiple places.
"Have you been here all day?" Sasuke casually asked, as if he didn't realize how messy he looked.
Naruko sat upwards, blinking owlishly before shaking her head. "Sakura had wanted to spend time with me...She took me shopping." Naruko shivered in disgust at the end of her sentence.
"Have you eaten?" He asked.
Naruko was about to say that she wasn't hungry, however, her stomach had to make a slight rumbling sound, giving her away instantly. Her cheeks reddened at such an action. Curse her stupid stomach.
Sasuke extended his hand to the young blonde girl, "Let's go, I have nothing in the house so we'll have to go somewhere to eat."
She gripped his hand and flung herself forward, out the door, suddenly finding a hidden energy within herself. The idea of having ramen was consuming her thoughts. As if knowing what she was thinking, Sasuke yelled out behind her. "No Ramen!"
Naruko froze, a horrified look on her face. What did he mean no ramen? What else could she possibly eat?
Sasuke gripped her hand as he passed her frozen body, leading her outside of his home and into the streets of Konoha. Sasuke noticed that her face was still stuck in a fearful expression and he sighed in irritation.
"Would you quit that, ramen isn't the only food in Konoha. You'll try something different tonight." He told her sternly.
Naruko snapped out of her expression before grinning and scratching the back of her head, "Ah sorry Sasuke, I'm not used to anything other than ramen." She said.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Naruko did her awkward routine of scratching the back of her head and chuckling. Was there more to her addiction to ramen than he thought? Did she have an allergy or something?
The two genin continued to walk into the village, with Naruko being surprisingly quiet for not being able to get her way, but Sasuke couldn't figure out why. Anyhow, he decided that he would go to the barbeque steakhouse that seemed to be very popular amongst young ninja teams and civilians.
When they arrived her really knew something was up as Naruko stopped walking besides him and walked more behind him. What was up with her? Was she nervous? It wasn't like this was a date or anything. Sasuke mentally froze. Did she think it was a date?
Deciding to not ask her about it, he walked towards the host. "Table for two." He said plainly.
The host nodded. "Why certainly If you would just follow m-." The Host stopped talking when he noticed the blonde girl, hidden behind the Uchiha. "Actually, I'm sorry but we are full for the night."
Sasuke's eyes widened as the host suddenly changed his tune, Sasuke even saw open tables within the restaurant. "What about those tables?" He asked, clearly annoyed.
"I'm terribly sorry but those are all reserved." The host bowed his head at the young boy, but silently glared at the girl behind him. Naruko's head drooped as she wanted to look away from such menacing eyes. The girl lightly tugged at Sasuke's shirt.
"Sasuke, let's just go." She whispered.
Sasuke nodded in a huff and turned around, walking away quickly while Naruko followed behind him.
Sasuke's patience had been tested multiple times that night. Every restaurant that he had been too had either been suddenly booked, closed, or full!? Never in his life had he been unable to find a restaurant in the middle of the week like tonight.
He eventually gave up and got two strawberry crepes for himself and Naruko, while they sat on a hill overlooking the park. The sun had begun to set over the horizon, emitting a dull orange glow around the village.
Even though not finding a suitable restaurant had been annoying, Sasuke felt suddenly calm. The silence would have been relaxing if he had been by himself, but he knew he wasn't alone. Naruko sat right next to him, being completely silent, and not even touching her crepe, despite her stomach growling every couple of minutes. What was up with her?
"Oi! Aren't you hungry? Do you not like crepes?" Sasuke said, snapping Naruko from her musings.
Naruko's eyes widened at his question and mentally scolded herself, she wasn't appreciating the food that Sasuke had bought for her. How rude of her! Naruko took a larger than normal bite out of her crepe, which caused some cream to stick to the corners of her mouth.
"No, it's really good Sasuke thank you!" She said quickly, as if she had done something wrong.
Sasuke frowned. Naruko had been acting weird ever since she had been told that they weren't going for ramen. Is that all she could eat? Then something came across Sasuke's mind, causing him to freeze.
Was that all she could eat, because that's the only thing she could buy? He thought back to the glares that he thought had been directed at himself when asking too eat at a restaurant, but he suddenly remembered that the glares had been sent to Naruko, who was right behind him. 'Did this have anything to do with that seal she showed me on out last mission?' Sasuke thought.
"Naruko, those restaurants..." Sasuke started, but found himself unable to form the words to finish.
He saw her nod her head, understanding what he meant. Her light blue eyes swiveled to look directly at his own black eyes. There, Sasuke could see all her pain and sadness. Naruko's eyes were watering, ready to spill tears at a moment's notice, and her lip had been quivering.
Never in his life had Sasuke hated the village more than just now. The way they treated this little blonde girl seemed unfair to him, evil even. It was clear to him now that Naruko, despite seeming like a happy, energetic, clueless orphan, she was really a sad and lonely little girl with too many insecurities about herself. 'No wonder she tries to please other so much' Sasuke thought, 'her seal, her burden had destroyed any chance of her eating at restaurants.' and if he could guess, it stopped her from having friends and loved ones.
Without any words he suddenly gripped her with his arms and brought her close to himself in a deep, forceful hug. Naruko's watery eyes widened as she was suddenly being held in Sasuke's arms. She guessed it was his way of saying that he understood, and that he was going to support her. Naruko longed for that to be true.
He held her for the longest time, the crepes in their hands began to get soggy, yet neither of them cared at the moment.
Naruko lifted her head to look up at Sasuke, his cold black eyes, filled with warmth as they made contact with her own blue ones. Sasuke was mesmerized by Naruko, her cheeks were blushing, big blue eyes stared up at him, tear streaks had formed on her face, and her hair was slightly disheveled. Sasuke also couldn't help but notice the cream from her crepe, still glued to the corner of her tiny little mouth.
Sasuke, unable to stop himself, began to lean forward slowly. 'If anyone needs love, it's her' He thought as he felt his lips only an inch away from her own. Naruko sat, frozen as Sasuke had begun to lean forward. Her lips slightly parted, however she sat completely still, her heart pounding in her chest.
Without any further warning, she felt it. His lips, lightly pushing on her own. Her wide blue eyes fluttered closed as she embraced her first meaningful kiss. 'At least I know that one person cares about me.' She thought.
When they parted, Sasuke smirked at her, and Naruko felt herself blushing under his gaze, then her eyes widened when she felt something warm lick the corners of her mouth. Her blush redden ten-fold as she realized that Sasuke had licked up some cream that she had somehow gotten on her face.
"D-don't do that." She whispered, distraught and embarrassed.
"Hn." Sasuke smirked once more as he pulled her towards himself. He would definitely have to keep an eye on Naruko, after all...she was his now.
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I couldn't stop smiling when I wrote this! I suppose that I may have rushed Naruko's and Sasuke's relationship, but they are both sort of desperate for love, especially Naruko, so I thought it would fit! Leave a comment or review about this chapter or the whole story! I love everyone's support, and I love this story! BYE!