Naruto opened his eyes slowly, scrunching them against the intrusive light filtering into the room, even with the curtains closed the sun managed to spread through the room. No need to check the clock, his internal body clock wouldn't let him sleep past eight AM, try as he might. With a groan and a stretch, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He ran a tanned hand over his face while mentally mapping the tasks he had planned for the day. The thought of his list of chores made his leg pulse in trepidation, knowing he would be on his feet for most of the day. First task of the day would be to wake his unexpected house guest and send them on their way. Naruto picked up the closest T-shirt he could grab and slipped it on, an old shirt well past its prime, the logo faded and unrecognisable.
Naruto stepped from his bedroom directly into the sitting room, his guests' legs still visible hanging over the arm rest. He rolled his eyes, he hoped his guest was prepared for a somewhat rude awakening, hungover or not. Naruto had things to do and his list of tasks didn't include coddling someone through the ill effects of drinking too much. Attached to his sitting room was the tiny kitchenette, big enough for an oven, a sink and not much else, thankfully he had an old coffee maker that he'd gotten dirt cheap from an out of business diner. The coffee it spat out was like tar, strong like Naruto liked it and hotter than hell. The best type of coffee to wake you up and set you up for a day of hard work.
With two mugs of steaming coffee he stepped back into the sitting room and took a seat on the rickety table that sat in front of the couch, he paced his guests cup to his right side and glanced again at the unconscious man. He was in much the same position as Naruto had left him last night, Naruto figured that the pale skin was indeed natural, like porcelain, skin more associated with a woman rather than a grown man. Naruto couldn't quite help himself when he reached out his hand, pointer finger extended and gently poked the man's cheek, soft like he expected and entertaining to boot! He prodded again and again and once more for good measure.
"Come on bud, time to go back to wherever ya' came from." Naruto told him, continuing to prod the cheek, when no response was forth coming, he prodded just that little bit harder. "Up and atom, I got shit to do." Naruto growled, not even nine AM and this day was grating on him already and he hadn't started his mile-long list of tasks. The blond watched as the man's eyes began to twitch beneath their lids, he was finally coming around. Dark lashes blinked furiously, iris' the colour of coal struggled to focus, probably trying to make sense of the unfamiliar surroundings.
"You alright?" Naruto asked curiously, he's seen many people 'come around' after a night of hard drinking but none quite as slowly as this fella, normally people would realise they weren't in the comforts of their own home quite quickly and awake with a start. The man on his couch jumped ever so slightly at the sound of Naruto's voice although he remained staring blankly up at the ceiling.
"Where am I?" He asked groggily, his voice deep and rough.
"Uh, my house? Probably doesn't help. You're at West 84th." Naruto told him, no doubt the poor guy will be beyond upset that he'd ended up here of all places, so far from the city.
"Where is West 84th?" The man replied in question, Naruto was a little taken back, this guy had had more to drink than Naruto first thought.
"It's on the outskirts of Konoha, ya'know, the city?" Naruto explained a little farther. He watched closely as the mans brow furrowed in confusion before he turned his perplexed expression to Naruto.
"Where is Konoha?" He asked, Naruto blinked, whatever this guy had been drinking must have been hell of a strong. Naruto didn't really have the mental energy to deal with this so early in the morning.
"Look buddy, you gotta go, drink your coffee and head on home." Naruto sighed as he stood, finishing off his own coffee, he had to get ready for the day ahead, he had plenty to do and not a lot of time to do it.
"Is that my name?" He heard from behind him, Naruto turned, wide eyed, his guest was slowly sitting up. Naruto asked him to repeat what he'd asked, surely, he'd heard him wrong.
"Buddy, is that my name? That's what you called me." He said, Naruto stood, dumbfounded, this guy couldn't be serious?
"Uh, I doubt it, but I don't know your name, I left your wallet on the table if you wanna check your ID." Naruuto offered, of all the people he could have plucked from the alley he had to go and pick the weird one. Great. He watched as 'buddy', which Naruto would call him until they discovered his actual name, looked at the items that Naruto had left on the table. The watch, the busted phone and the wallet. Buddy eyed them, his eyes darting between the three, like he couldn't tell which one the wallet was.
"It's the thing on your left, near the edge?" Naruto explained slowly, it almost felt like he was talking to a toddler. Buddy reached for the wallet, taking hold of it gently, he opened the wallet, inspecting its contents. Buddy once again turned a confused expression towards Naruto.
"It's empty? Should there be something in here?" He asked, great, now Naruto was stuck with a very forgetful, nameless man. Naruto couldn't, in good conscience, send this man out the door when he had no clue where or he was. The blond ran through all of the options in his head, he could escort the guy to the hospital or police station and have them deal with him, but they were both in the centre of the city and neither one of them had money for transport, Naruto knew his leg wouldn't hold out on the long walk there and back. He could lump the responsibility on to Kiba but Naruto didn't trust his neighbour with looking after another human being. Looks like 'Buddy' would have to accompany him until he figured out the best course of action. Naruto heaved a heavy sigh.
"Okay, you can come with me until I figure out what to do with you, maybe Sakura will know what to do, she knows about medical stuff. You'll have to change though, you're not being seen with me dressed like that." Naruto pointed, Buddy's suit was filthy and torn in more than one place. Naruto trudged through to his bedroom, he didn't have many clothes and nothing as near stylish as what Buddy was probably used to, he pulled out a pair of jeans that he knew were too small for him and a pair of clean sweatpants for himself. He also plucked out his last clean t-shirt, it was his favourite one, but he figured it wouldn't hurt if Buddy wore it for the day. Naruto threw the clothes at Buddy and told him to get changed while he did the same in the bedroom.
It didn't even take him five minutes to be ready, he vigorously rubbed his hair, giving it the usual 'just rolled out of bed' look that seemed to suit him. When he entered the sitting room, he noticed Buddy had indeed got changed and that he looked utterly ridiculous, the jeans seemed to fit quite well but the shirt was far too big considering Naruto was broader chested with wider shoulders. Naruto whispered a quiet 'Jesus Christ' to himself, no doubt people were going to ask questions and more than one person was bound to assume that he and Buddy had spent the night and now Buddy was doing the walk of shame, oh how wrong they were.
"Let's go, I wanna make a start on Chiyo's fence first." Naruto said, Buddy stood to follow him out.
"What's a Chiyo?" Buddy asked.
"She's an old lady who lives down the street, I'm gonna paint her fence for her." Naruto explained.
"Why?" Came the reply, Naruto rolled his eyes, not only could he tell his leg was going to hurt by the end of the day but now he figured he'd have a headache too, going by the insane questions coming from his tag along.
"She's got arthritis so can't do it herself, her ol' man was gonna do it, but he died a few months back, don't think you're gonna be sitting on your ass all day either, you're helping too." The blond grumbled, might as well make use of the extra pair of hands. Buddy stayed quiet as they left Naruto's apartment and headed down the street towards Chiyo's house. Of all the people in the neighbourhood, Chiyo was the oldest and had been here the longest, her garden was the only one that was looked after, and she was extremely house proud. Naruto instructed Buddy to stand by the gate while Naruto knocked on the door.
"Oh Naruto! You're later than you said you'd be, I was starting to worry!" Chiyo said after she'd answered the door, Naruto smiled, he was only about fifteen minutes later than what he'd said he be but Chiyo had a habit of making mountains out of mole hills.
"Sorry Chiyo-Baa-San, had a bit of a situation to deal with this morning." Naruto told her, stepping a little to the side so Chiyo could see Buddy standing at the end of her garden, looking around with a curious expression on his face. With strength and speed that no elderly woman should possess, Chiyo pushed past him and straight up to Buddy.
"Oh a boyfriend! It's about time you found a nice man and settled down! Good jawline, bit on the skinny side but we can sort that with a few good dinners." Chiyo gushed, inspecting nearly every inch of Buddy until she was satisfied.
"Sorry Baa-Chan, not a boyfriend, not even a friend. He's just tagging along until I can get him home." Naruto explained, Chiyo looked didn't even have the decency to look even slightly embarrassed at her assumption. The elderly woman shrugged her shoulders and made her way back into the house.
"All in good time poppet, I'll grab the supplies and let you crack on." She smiled, giving Naruto's cheek an affectionate pat. Naruto smiled fondly, it was easy for people to judge him based on his sexual preference but Chiyo didn't have a judgemental bone in her body. When Chiyo returned with paint and brushes in hand the pair got to work. It wasn't a monumental task since the fence itself wasn't long or tall, the job made even easier with two people doing it. Naruto would glance at Buddy every so often and just watch as the dark-haired man ran the brush up and down each post, eyes focused on the task.
"So, do you remember anything yet? Your name or where ya' come from?" Naruto asked, they'd been painting in silence for almost an hour and a half. Surely the alcohol was out of his system by now and he'd remember who he was and where he'd come from? Buddy just shook his head in the negative.
"No, it's a weird feeling. I know the information is in my brain but it's like I just can't quite get to it. You know?" He said, Naruto sort of knew that feeling, having so many questions and no answers for any of them, it was a damning feeling.
Once they had completed the fence Chiyo sent them on their way with $20 from her savings and a plate of home-made cookies. That was how Naruto managed to keep food in his belly and a roof over his head, doing odd jobs here and there for his neighbours.
"So, what are we doing next?" Buddy asked, Naruto figured they would pop in to see his friend Sakura before heading off the next task.
"We're gonna go see Sakura, see if she can figure out how to fix you." The blond grinned in reply, they walked up to Sakura's apartment, much in the same layout as Naruto's block and knocked on the door. When Sakura answered she barely spared Naruto a glance before focussing on the handsome man that had accompanied him.
"Who's that?" She asked shortly.
"Good question, I don't know who he is. Found him passed out in the alley last night and now he doesn't know his name or where he's from. You're basically a doctor so I thought you'd be able to help." He smiled, silently praying that Sakura would know what to do. His friend flipped her pink hair over her shoulder with a huff.
"I took a first aid class years ago, not exactly qualified to diagnose your strays, no matter how cute they are." She answered. "It's not usual for someone to forget everything about themselves just from a hangover though." She queried. Sakura leaned forward and instructed Buddy to open his mouth, Buddy looked to Naruto, like he was checking to see if he should obey. Naruto nodded. Buddy opened his mouth, brows furrowed, understandable to feel uncomfortable when a stranger asks you to open your mouth so that they can have a sniff of your breath.
"I don't think he's been drinking Naruto; his breath still smells like mint." Sakura told him as she leaned away from Buddy. "Did he brush his teeth at your house?" She asked, Naruto told her no, he hadn't. Well if Buddy wasn't suffering from the world's worst hangover then why couldn't he remember who he was?
"I think he has amnesia." Sakura told him glumly. Naruto stared at her wide eyed, surely not?
"Amnesia? What am I supposed to do with someone who has amnesia? Is it permanent?" The blond asked, Sakura shrugged.
"I've only read about it, it can be permanent but sometimes it's only a temp thing, maybe something familiar could trigger his memories to come back. Other than that, I can't really help." Sakura explained, Naruto groaned, this was the last thing he needed.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me." He mumbled.