Title: Songs From The Heart
Pairing: Naru/Sasu
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: I do knot own Naruto, his friends or the songs mentioned in the fic. In fact I do not own anything at all. You can't bleed a rock so don't sue me! The first two songs are from the soundtrack to the movie 'Dirty Dancing'. The forth is from the movie 'Return to Never Land'. 'Celtic women' sing the final song. There are some major spoilers.
Summery: His friends push him to far and Naruto decides to let his mask fall. His friends learn a whole lot more than they ever dreamed possible!
Chapter four: QUESTIONS ANSWERED
About two or three hours into the evening, the band took a break and hoped down from the stage as a recording created by 'SULTRY SOUNDS' played softly in the background.
Sheepishly, Naruto sidled up to the table. Asuka was there in an instant with sake and a large helping of okonomiyaki (a type of Japanese pancake or pizza) toped with cabbage, mushrooms, thinly slice pork, and red ginger.
"Ah Asuka! You are an absolute angel!" his eye revealed he absolute delight in the meal before him, "Perfect as usual!" after giving thanks Naruto dug in with a vigor.
The food caught Chouji's eye, "Is that you favorite food?"
The surrounding ninja had quickly become accustomed to a perpetual state of shock as the ramen fiend that ate at the speed of light, displayed impeccable manners and voluntarily ate vegetables.
Naruto, "Yes. I eat ramen all the time because it's the only thing that I can buy at the store that is still good no mater what the proprietors do to it. Also, the ramen shop is the only place, other than here, that will serve me. I eat fast so that I don't have to taste it, and a lot because my metabolism is high and ramen is not very filling."
Sakura picked up on something he had revealed, "So… you really don't like ramen?" Naruto shook his head. "Well shit! All those ramen gift cards I gave you for Christmas must have really sucked!" she wailed.
Naruto roared with laughter at that! "NO! I do have to eat it all the time after all! Plus, when I am given a lot of them, I pass them out to people in need, so it's all good!"
Naruto graced them all with his custom fox grin before dashing back up onto the stage for the next set.
"Kakashi, what is Naruto's favorite color?" Ino asked quietly, eyes trained onto the table.
"Teal, like the shirt he is wearing. It makes him think of the sky and the sea and the mission where his teammates became his friends." Came the reply.
The pink and raven-haired members of team seven appeared to have sported flushed cheeks and satisfied smiles that Naruto's favorite color choice had something to do with them. The clearly remembered that fateful mission in wave country when they almost lost Sasuke.
Sasuke especially remembers that trip because threat is when he fell for a boy he thought he hated. When they reached the top of the trees, he remembered looking over at the pleased blond and reveling in the way he looked in the moonlight. The realization of the budding feelings almost knocked him from his precarious perch.
"Where dose he live?" Lee's question pulled Sasuke from his musings.
The evoked memories made Iruka become visibly grim, "The slums. The only places that will rent to him are in the slums and they charge enough for a high-class pent house. Every six or seven months he is forced move because the owners get sick of Naruto's place being broken into. The kick him out and sell whatever they can of his things. Anything important to him is kept hear. I have tried to get him to live with me but he is afraid of others treating me bad because of him."
A thought suddenly accrued to Neji "How did Naruto find this place?"
Iruka smiled at an old memory, "Thirteen years ago, I bought this place." The surprises just kept coming. Ten Ten was starting to think that she should just leave her jaw on the ground, more convenient that way. "The members of the band had been my dear friends for years and we decided to collaborate on this place. I went to take a lode of trash to the dumpster and imagine my surprise when I found a five year old boy scrounging around in the dumpster. When I asked him what he was doing, he cowered before me and said he was looking for food." Several gasps where heard around the table. "I took him in and fed him. When I cleaned all of the layers of grime off of him, I found that he had been beaten very badly." Tears began to stream down the girls cheeks. "I found out that the Hokage would visit on Mondays and give Naruto food, then Tuesday, villagers would come to steal it all and beat him up. I talked to the Hokage and we decided that Naruto would eat all his meals with me to eliminate the problem."
"Haruki took an instant liking to him. She showed him the piano and he took to it like a duck to water! By the time he was ten, he could play several instruments and sing beautifully."
"I had to toss out a lot of customers in the beginning for treating him badly, but the club is just a hobby and not a main source of income so it did not hurt my business at all. I would not allow anyone to stay here if they so much as looked at him wrong. Over time, he wormed his way into the public's hearts through his music. That is how our little letter ritual began."
Iruka received a lot of puzzled glances for his remark ad decided to explain.
"I always kept him from seeing the hate letters we where receiving, till one day he found one. He was so worried that I was being threatened that he was going to quit coming to the bar!"
Hinata exclaimed, "NO!"
Iruka smiled at her response. "I told my loyal patrons what was going on. One of them jumped up on stage and tore up the letter shouting 'To all the stupid bastards out there, hear is my letter to you! GET OVER IT!' The crowed went wild and our ritual was born. Now, Naruto has a lot of people looking out for him."
All eyes turned up to the bubbly blond on the stage. Hinata sighed, "Naruto is the strongest person I have ever met! He has a heart of pure gold and strong convictions. He will be the greatest Hokage that ever lived!"
The assembled people appeared surprised. Not by the words, but to hear her speak so well on her own displayed her devotion to her friend and his dreams.
Iruka seemed amused by something, "Isn't their something you would like to tell Neji, Hinata?"
Hinata blushed bright as the sun for being placed on the spot. "Hi! Naruto accomplished something amazing. The day before he want on this last mission, he made a bet with father." The interest of the table had been seized, "If I lost against to Father in a spar, then… Neji… Naruto would allow father to place upon him the seal that you bear."
"WHAT!" Came the collective exclamation.
"If I were to win however, your seal and that of all other our other cursed family members would be removed."
Neji failed to contain his reaction to the incredible news, "NO! I WON'T LET HIM DO THAT! IT IS NOT WORTH NAROTO'S FREEDOM!"
Kakashi boomed, "QUIET! Allow the girl to finish."
Abashed by his outburst, Neji clamped his mouth tightly shut.
Hinata haltingly continued, "Naruto worked with me for a week and the day before he had to leave on his mission, father and I had our fight… I won…. You will be set free next week Neji Nesan, along with all the others!"
Neji stared at her in flabbergasted silence.
Iruka serenely smiled, "Naruto told me that it would be too long of a wait for him to become Hokage in order for him to uphold his promise. He wanted Hinata to be seen for her considerable worth, and for you to be free. This way he was able to accomplish both! Naruto had absolute faith in Hinata, and that faith paid off."
Neji slowly rose to his feat and came around the table to Hinata's side and gave her a long embrace with tears in his eyes. The sight of prim and proper Neji, loosing his composer so thoroughly was moving to most and disconcerting to pore Hinata. Then he abruptly spun around and began to head for Naruto. Kakashi snaked his hand out to wrap around his arm.
"I know that you are exited but he would want you to wait for his next break. He is unused to gratitude and it would embarrass him greatly if you hugged him on stage."
At this time, Naruto was handing the mic over to Haruki as a new song started up, 'DANCEN IN THE STREET'. Naruto hoped down and came over to grab Sakura's hand. Without giving her a chance to protest, he spun the astonished girl out onto the dance floor!
He danced her all over the floor and when the line, 'every guy, grab your girl, everywhere, around the world," came up, he twirled her back to the table and exchanged her for Ino in one smooth motion.
Naruto repeated the same process over again; only this time he grabbed Ten Ten on that line. Finely, the next time the line popped up, He pulled Hinata to him for the rest of the song. Each girl returned flushed and giggling. They where thoroughly pleased with the chance to dance and promised themselves to drag the boys to the dance floor many times that night.
As he returned Hinata to her seat Neji snakes his hand around Naruto's arm to keep him there.
"Naruto! Thank you for my freedom! I am forever in your debt and will always be your friend!" Neji then threw his arms about the surprised blond and squeezed him tight, unmindful of the black eyes staring daggers into his back.
Naruto returned the hug for a moment before drawing back to look Neji in the eye. "I only did what was right." Stated the highly uncomfortable ninja. Then he dashed back up and seated himself at the piano for the next song.
"Now for a song that I recently herd. I went with Asuka and Chou to see the movie 'Return to Never Land.' The theme song stuck with me and now I wish to share it with you." He began to play the haunting melody with skill.