A/n: I'm soooo sorry for making you guys wait so longs for this chapter but I was suffering from writers block. Anyway, I made some changes to the previous chapter while I couldn't think of anything to write for this one. Plus, I have ideas for other fanfics popping into my head so it kinda interrupts my work. Ok so here is chapter, 4. I think. On with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
"Blah":
Talking
/Blah: Thinking
… Blah…: Scene change
(Blah):
A/n
Chapter 4: "I love you"
(Wow, An a/n before the story even gets a chance to start, well anyway, I'm feeling very lazy right now so, I'm not gonna put the scene where that stuff happens in the forest between Naruto, Iruka and Mizuki.)
Kuri finally tracked down Naruto. When she got to the clearing in the forest she saw the state that Naruto and Iruka were in and Mizuki was unconscious.
"Whoa. What the hell happened to Mizuki-sensei?" She had no idea what happened. Her eyes were rapidly shifting color.
"Mizuki is a traitor. He was never worthy enough to be your sensei. He, told Naruto things that were supposed to be kept secret," Iruka explained
/Damn, I've already said too much/ Iruka silently scolded himself
"Things that were supposed to be kept secret? Like what? What were they about?"
"I can't tell you. It's forbidden,"
"I can keep a secret,"
"The secrets are about me," Naruto suddenly entered the conversation
"What, are you talking about Naruto-kun?"
"Naruto, don't tell her!"
"But, I want to tell her Iruka-sensei. She has to know. After all she does live with me,"
Iruka looked as if he was having an inner argument with himself. Finally he spoke.
"I say it's Ok but, you need to get permission from the Hokage first. All right?"
"Hai, Iruka -sensei," Naruto looked at Kuri with a big smile. "Do you see anything different?"
"What you talki- YOU GOT YOUR HITAI-ATE LEAF HEADBAND! YEAH!" she jumped Naruto and gave him a big hug. Then Kuri started laughing. Naruto started laughing soon after. They both ended up on the floor laughing so hard their eyes were watering. This earned both of them strange looks from Iruka.
"Um I'm not sure if I really want to know, but what's so funny?" Iruka was scratching his head in confusion.
";laugh; you ;laugh; wouldn't ;laugh; understand it ;laugh; Iruka-sensei," Kuri answered rolling on the floor holding her stomach, laughing.
"I don't wanna know anymore," Iruka replied as he sighed and walked away.
"Hey wait for us!" yelled Kuri and Naruto as they got off the ground and followed Iruka.
… 2 hours later …
Once again they found themselves walking towards their apartment building from Iruka's house.
"Naruto-kun, we have to go shopping," Kuri turned around to face him and started walking backwards with her arms crossed behind her head.
"What! Why do we have to do that! Don't you already have a new outfit?"
"Naruto, we're not shopping for me, we're shopping for you,"
"Why do we have to go shopping for me?"
"You need a new look,"
"WHAT! What's wrong with my look?"
"Naruto, I'm gonna put it to you bluntly," she stopped walking put her hands down and sighed "That jumpsuit, makes my eyes hurt,"
"Hey, that's insulting!"
"Yeah, I know,"
"Well, if you can give me five reasons as to why I should get a new look, then I'll go shopping,"
"Ok, 1: like I said, that jumpsuit hurts my eyes. 2: If you're a shinobi, you'll need clothes that will not stand out. 3: You've worn orange for as long as I can remember. 4: It's not very appealing and Sakura might find you more attractive if you got a new look," Naruto perked up a bit at this.
/I'll also find you more attractive/ she thought to herself
"And finally, Number 5: if you don't, I'll pound you," she finished, cracking her knuckles and glaring at him. Naruto cowered behind a lamppost.
"All right, All right, I'll go,"
"I knew you'd see things my way. Come on we need to get some money," She turned around and ran towards the building.
"Fine," Naruto said to himself running after Kuri. She was waiting for him at the door.
"Wait here while I get some money," she went inside and ran up the stairs. She came back about 10 minutes later with a big bag.
"Geez what took you so long? What's in the bag?"
"It took me a while to find this bag. Inside is your entire wardrobe. To be disposed of,"
She walked to the garbage in the alley near by and threw the bag in there.
"Come on," she grabbed Naruto's hand and ran to the first clothes store they found.
"Ok, now I will pick your new clothes and you just need to try them on,"
Kuri began walking around the store until she finally found something suitable. She found Naruto looking at some weapons in another section of the store.
"See anything you like?" he jumped slightly because his back was to her and he didn't sense her coming.
"Uh, yeah. Could I get this?" He asked holding up a bo staff. She looked at it, then at him.
"Sure. Now here are the clothes I want you to try," she handed him the clothes and pushed him into an empty dressing room. "Don't forget you have to let me see what it looks like when you've put it on,"
"Fine,"
About 8 minutes later, Naruto came out of the dressing room and showed Kuri what he looked like. He had on a pair of orange/black camouflage pants; a black short sleeved shirt with orange stripes going down the sides, black shinobi-sandals, and finger-less gloves like Kuri's.
"Well, how do I look?"
"Naruto, you look great! That's what I'm going to buy you. I'll just pick up some more shirts and pants then we can pay and leave. Change back into you regular clothes until we get this home and wash it,"
"Fine," After Naruto was done changing back, he and Kuri picked up the rest of the stuff. At the counter they got, as usual, a glare for existing.
"Is there any type of design you would like us to put on anything?" the man sneered
"Yeah, could you put a red swirl on the back of the shirts and on one of the pockets of each of the pants?" Naruto answered.
"This'll take awhile, a half-hour at the most,"
"Thanks a lot," They left the store
"So what should we do now Naruto-kun?" Kuri asked grabbing onto his arm. Naruto stiffened a bit but he got over it.
/It feels nice having Kuri-chan hold onto me like this. /
"Maybe we could go for some ramen," Naruto grinned widely.
"Fine, Naruto," She hung her head low. "Next time, I'm picking what we're eating and it's not going to be ramen," she gave him a stern glare. He cringed a little but he was fine afterwards. When they got to the ramen bar, they saw Iruka, who saw Kuri holding onto Naruto and started laughing so hard he almost fell out of his stool. This caused Kuri and Naruto to blush and Kuri immediately let go of Naruto.
"What's so funny Iruka sensei?" Kuri placed her hands on her hips and looked at him her eyes turning slightly crimson.
"Uh nothing," he answered a bit nervously seeing the color Kuri's eyes were becoming.
"Good," her eyes changed to brown.
"So what are you two doing here?"
"To eat. What else?" Naruto replied taking a set next to Iruka.
"How may I help you?" asked the man at the counter.
"Two beef ramen please," he replied
"How'd you know what I want?" Kuri asked her eyes turning a pink/brown color. Naruto was oblivious to this because he was watching the workers make their ramen. Iruka, on the other had, did notice and started laughing at Kuri. Naruto gave him a strange look and Kuri glared.
"How would I not know what you would want?"
After 15 minutes Naruto was on his 10th bowl and Kuri was on her 8th.
"Come on Naruto, we better go pick up that stuff now,"
"Hmm? What? Why? I'm eating,"
"Because I said so. Come on," She got up and left some money on the table, grabbed Naruto by the collar and dragged him away.
"Hey! Where are you two going?" called Iruka after them.
"You'll see in class. Bye Iruka-sensei,"
When they got there everything had been totaled up and paid for by an anonymous source.
"Well that's weird," Naruto said as he grabbed the bag and walked out of the store back to their apartment.
"You, get into the bathroom and give me that jumpsuit you're wearing," Kuri demanded once they were in the apartment.
"WHAO! You want me to STRIP!" Naruto didn't know what to think.
"EWW! NO WAY! I'm gonna torch the damn thing,"
"Oh, fine hold on," he went into the bathroom and took off the jumpsuit and threw it onto the floor outside of the bathroom when Kuri wasn't looking.
"Now what am I supposed to do?" Naruto called threw the door.
"Stay in there while I torch this thing,"
"Ok. Aren't you going to give me some clothes to change into?"
"I have to wash them first,"
"WHAT!" You sent me in here to wait until the clothes are washed, I should have kept the jumpsuit on!"
Silence.
"Hello! Kuri? You there?"
Silence.
"Guess not. ;stomach growls; Damn. Now I'm hungry,"
Naruto slowly opened the door and scanned the room. Kuri was, as he suspected, not there.
"Good all clear," He ran out of the bathroom and over to the kitchen area. He made some ramen. When he was done he walked over to his bed and leaned back, looking at the ceiling. Slowly his eyes started closing.
/Guess I'm sleepier than I thought/ within a minute he fell asleep.
… 2 hours later …
Kuri walked in with Naruto's new clothes. She dropped her sword on the floor the blade was slightly stained with blood. The front of her shirt was slowly gaining a red hue. Then she saw Naruto. She slowly limped over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her head in his well-toned chest. This woke Naruto up. When he looked down and saw he was in nothing but his boxers and Kuri was clinging onto him he was, startled, to say the least.
"Kuri what's up with you? And, where' s your sword?" has asked noticing that her sheath was empty.
/Why do I feel a little wet/
Kuri did not answer. She just looked up at him. Her eyes were silver. Naruto could tell she was close to tears. He looked shocked.
"Kuri, what happened?"
She still did not answer but instead showed him her stomach. There was a small gash. Blood was slowly seeping out of it.
/That's it? She's been hurt worse. Why is she crying/ Then he noticed that along the gash was a purplish powder.
"Kuri, is that poison?"
Kuri clung back onto Naruto, confirming what he thought.
"All right, hold on. I'm gonna get dressed and I'm gonna take you to Iruka sensei's house. Maybe he can help us,"
Kuri backed off of Naruto and let him get up. They he saw he had a bit of blood on him because of Kuri's shirt. He quickly washed off the blood and put on his new outfit. He also strapped on his bo staff.
"Kuri, I'm gonna wrap this up first ok? Then at least we can control blood loss," She nodded slowly too show she complied. He laid her against the wall next to his bed and got a box of bandages. He leaned over her and wrapped up the wound.
"All right. Let's go," He picked her up and headed for the door. Then he noticed her sword.
/Whoa. Her sword has blood all over it/
"Kuri do you want me to take your sword with us?"
She nodded. He picked up the sword, its blade now a slight shade of dark red, wiped it off on his pants, carefully so the he wouldn't cut himself, and put in into her sword sheath. Finally he left the building and headed for Iruka's house. When he got there he started kicking the door (he was using both hands to hold Kuri). When Iruka opened the door he gasped at what he saw. Kuri's shirt was bloody and was getting bloodier. He also saw the blood on Naruto's pants and Naruto's new look.
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. She came into our apartment in this condition I guess. I was sleeping, but she woke me up. Fell asleep on the way here. I think she was poisoned," When Naruto said this Iruka looked mortified.
"Come in. Quickly," Iruka moved out of the way letting Naruto and Kuri pass. Naruto walked in and put Kuri on Iruka's couch.
"Is there anything you can do?" Naruto looked a bit desperate.
"I can try to help her but I'm not qualified enough to. I'm going to go to the Hokage and see if I can get a medic-nin to identify the poison and get Kuri an antidote, before it's too late. He walked out the front door and was surprised to see Hyuuga Hinata standing there with a small bag.
"Hinata, what are you doing here?"
"I was wondering if I could get you to help me with something,"
"I'm sorry, but I can't right now. I need to find a medic-nin to help Kuri,"
"Kuri-chan? What happened?"
"I'm afraid I'm not sure. If you want to see her go on ahead inside," With that, Iruka disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hinata walked into the living room and immediately blushed. She had never seen Naruto in black, and she had to admit. He looked good.
"Hello Naruto-kun,"
Naruto, who was holding onto Kuri's hand, was startled to see anyone when he looked up.
"Oh, hi Hinata-chan,"
"Naruto-kun, what happened to Kuri-chan?"
"I'm not sure. Although I do know she was poisoned,"
"Poisoned? That's terrible," Hinata looked a little more worried now.
"Wait a sec. Hinata-chan, don't you know about poisons and antidotes?"
"Um, yes. I do,"
"Do you think you can help her?"
"Maybe,"
Naruto's eyes immediately lit up
"Thanks so much Hinata-chan," He gave her a hug, causing the Hyuuga heir to blush furiously.
"Uh, sure," she hugged him back. "Let me take a look at Kuri-chan's wound," She let go of Naruto.
"Here," Naruto unwrapped the bandages around Kuri's wound and moved so that Hinata could see the wound better.
"This isn't good," Hinata said examining the wound for about 5 minutes.
"What? What is it?"
"I can't identify the poison,"
"Oh, no," Naruto turned from Hinata and looked at Kuri. He held onto her hand again. "Her hand, it's so cold. Please be ok Kuri,"
"I can't identify the poison, but I may still be able to help, or at least slowdown her symptoms,"
"That's wonderful," he wouldn't let go of Kuri. Hinata opened up the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a three small bottles. One had the dried root of some type of plant, in another was a clear gel, and in the last also was a gel, it had a strange colored hue to it.
"What are those for?"
"One she needs to drink the other two I need to put onto the wound,"
"Can you clean the wound while I boil this please?" She held up the bottle of with the root in it.
"Sure,"
They both stood up, going off in different direction in the house to do what they needed to. When Naruto was done carefully cleaning the wound, Hinata came back into the room from the kitchen.
"We should let this cool. Until then I'm going to apply these," She held up the bottles with the gels.
"What are those anyway and what do they do?
"This is aloe barbadensis. Better know as just aloe," she uncorked the first bottle. "It is used on several different things including infected wounds." She uncorked the second bottle "This is althaea officinalis better known as marsh mallow. It is used for several different things including cuts. Although it is used on cuts not quiet as deep as this, mixed with aloe it should be sufficient," she pulled another, empty, bottle out of her bag along with a stick.
"What's that for,"
"For mixing the two gels," she poured some of the aloe into the bottle, then some of the marsh mallow. She used the stick to mix the two gels sufficiently. Once satisfied she started applying the mixture onto Kuri's wound. When she was done she corked what was left of the mixture. She put the three bottles away and checked the temperature of the tea she had made.
"This seems ready. Wake Kuri-chan up,"
"What's that?"
"This is Echinacea. It's used for a lot of things including blood poisoning. And if I am correct, the poison used on Kuri has already entered her blood stream. This helps treat blood poisoning,"
"Oh," he turned to Kuri. "Kuri-chan, wake up," he started shaking her lightly. "Come on Kuri-chan. You need to wake up," he shook her a bit rougher this time. Kuri slowly started to stir. When her eyes opened they were a deep shade of purple.
"What? Where am I?"
"Kuri-chan I need you to drink this," Hinata held up the cup of echinacea.
"Why?"
"You may have blood poisoning, this will help treat it,"
"Oh," She took the cup. Then it hit her. "I'M POISIONED!" she almost dropped the cup.
"Yes. Please drink that quickly," Hinata pointed to the cup.
"Right," Kuri downed the tea in one gulp. She moved to get up. Once on her feet she immediately sat back down.
"OWW!"
"What's wrong,"
"My ankle. It really hurts,"
"Let me take a look at it,"
Kuri laid back and as Hinata was about to examine her leg, Iruka poofed back accompanied be a medic-nin.
"Let me see the patient," the medic-nin moved forward. After checking the wound on Kuri's stomach she confirmed that she was poisoned but the poison was slowly stopping from killing her.
"Who, gave her echinacea?" she stood up after examining Kuri's stomach.
"Um, I-I did," Hinata answered slowly raising her hands.
"You did a good job. Do you plan to become a medic-nin one day?"
"Y-Yes I-I do,"
"That's great. You will be a great addition to our team. I am Takeashi Akina,"
"I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata," They shook hands.
"Maybe, if I can, I can teach you a thing or two,"
"R-Really. That'd be great,"
"Um excuse me Takeashi-san? But could you examine my ankle please. It really hurts,"
"Sure," Akina bent back down and examined Kuri's leg. "It's nothing more than a minor sprain. Keep off that ankle and you'll be free to use it in two days,"
"Thanks,"
"Well," Akina stood up "It's was nice seeing you again Iruka, and a pleasure meeting you Hinata. Until next time," she poofed away to continue her business.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back, but it's really hard to find anyone who wants to treat a patient that is friends with Naruto," Iruka rubbed the back of his head. Then he remembered Hinata.
"Oh, what did you want to talk to me about Hinata?"
"Um uh, well…"
"Kuri-chan let's go back to the apartment," Naruto whispered to Kuri
"Ok," she whispered back.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm gonna take Kuri-chan back,"
"Sure go ahead bye," Iruka waved him off.
"Good bye Naruto-kun, bye Kuri-chan," Hinata waved to them lightly as they left.
"Bye," chimed Naruto and Kuri together. Naruto was holding Kuri bridal style to keep her off of her feet. Once they reached their apartment Naruto place Kuri on her bed.
"Kuri-chan what happened to you?" Naruto sat down on his bed crossed-legged.
"Do we have to talk about it now?"
"No," he replied seeing the look in her eyes.
"Good. Anyway, you look great in that outfit Naruto-kun,"
"Um thanks you look great in that outfit too," he blushed slightly, as did Kuri.
"Thanks,"
After that, was time for them to get to bed. Naruto changed in the bathroom while Kuri changed on her bed.
"Ok, you can come on out now," she called as she finished struggling with her pants.
"Ok," he said as he opened the door.
"Well, goodnight Naruto-kun,"
"Night Kuri-chan," Naruto turned out the lights and got into his bed.
… 1 hour later …
Kuri opened her eyes slowly. She could hear Naruto snoring.
/Good he's still asleep/ she slowly got up and limped over to the kitchen area
/I know Takeashi-san said to keep off my ankle, but I'm really thirsty / She drank a cup of water and slowly started to limp back to her bed. Once she was back in her bed she could not fall asleep.
/I hope Naruto doesn't mind /She got out of her bed and limped to Naruto's. She shook him awake.
"Hmm, what ;yawn; do you want?"
"I can't sleep. Can I sleep with you?"
"Aren't you supposed to be staying off that ankle?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt as much now," she lied.
"Hmm… Ok, fine," He got out so that she could get the side closest to the wall.
"Thanks," she climbed in slowly. Once settled, Naruto also got in.
"Night Kuri-chan,"
Goodnight Naruto-kun,"
Kuri attempted to fall asleep but couldn't. Naruto also was not sleeping, but he was not about to tell Kuri.
/I wish Naruto would, - / before she could finish her thought Naruto had wrapped his arm around her waist protectively again. Thinking she was sleep (Kuri doesn't snore)
/How'd he know? Oh well/ She rolled over so her head was in his chest and quickly fell asleep.
/I thought she was already asleep / Naruto thought. He looked down at the form of the sleeping Kuri. He moved her head so that her face was looking up at him.
"I love you Kuri-chan," he said as he kissed her lightly on the lips.
"I love you too Naruto-kun," she replied groggily.
/I thought she was asleep. Wait a sec, Oh yeah, she talks in her sleep. I can remember having full conversations with her while she was sleeping/ He chuckled lightly.
"Night Kuri-chan," he said on final time kissing her on the lips again, putting her head back in his chest so that she was comfortable, then slowly falling back to sleep. Meanwhile, outside of their window on a tree Iruka was watching them, an anime vein quickly forming on the back of his head.
/I THOUGHT I TOLD THEM TO NOT SLEEP TOGETHER ANYMORE, well really it was just Kuri but that's beside the point, THEY SHOULD NOT BE SLEEPING TOGETHER! But they look so peaceful, and they have finally confessed, even if one of them was unconscious / his face slowly softened.
/I guess I'll leave them alone / He looked at them one last time then jumped off to his house. But little did Naruto, Kuri and Iruka know that all three of them were being watched.
"I will get you Kuri," With that Zabuzza jumped out of the tree and left the village.
A/n: That's chapter four people, review.