LB: I don't know if 9 reviews, 37 followers and 14 favorites is good or bad for a first chapter in the Naruto fanfiction area, but well shit, I'm happy with it! Thanks everyone!

To answer a anon review, I still really don't know what to do much with the history, but yes, Naruko will convince Naruto that the other kids really don't matter anymore and all that they need is each other. She will develop slowly, as she is still just a bushin, but eventually is going to become a entire personality and eventually develop her own soul as well.

As for their kage bushins… I'm thinking about Naruto and Naruko making different bushins, Naruto making male ones and Naruko making females ones. Combat experience will come back to him, but the memories are separate only to her. Tough, if he or she were to lose a clone, the other would instantly knew that the other is in danger and… Urgh, too complicated, back to the drawing board…

And sex… Not until they are at least genin, they will stick to just cuddling, and I will not make a lemon, just some insinuations, but that's that.

I've wasted enough time, please, enjoy chapter 2 of Mirror Love!

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Mirror Love

Chapter 2: Promise

Morning, the time of the day where shinobi and a part of the civilians wake up to begin their day. The Hokage is about to start his paperwork and give missions of many ranks to his shinobi, the ninjas are all going either to train with teams, solo or go to missions, the civilians begin preparing their stores, bakeries, cafes, and other such things that helps the village run along.

With the birds chirping in the morning, was how Naruto was woken up, finding himself in a random training ground, on the shadow of a tree and feeling very, very comfortable. He has about to look around when he remembered the night before, and heard a cute yawn.

"You 'wake, Naru-kun?" A voice said behind him. That is impossible, his clone couldn't possible have lasted the entire night…

With a surprised face, the blond slowly turned around, meeting his female clone, looking at him with a smile on her face. Then Naruto noticed that he had fallen asleep on her, and that she is hugging him now.

Even tough the clone is supposed to be him, the poor blond couldn't help but feel a blush on his face. He had to admit, his girl version is cute, and the warmth in his heart for being held by someone, even if it's himself, didn't help either.

She giggled.

"I know what you are thinking, I'm you after all." So said, the girl hugged him a little harder. Naruto said nothing, and instead just turned his head back and let himself relax in hi- her arms.

"This feels nice…" Naruto finally said, using his own arms to touch the female clone's. He almost went back to sleep, but he would miss the academy if he did that.

"Haha, I know, it feels nice for me too… Feeling the warmth of another person who is comforting you." Female Naruto said as well with a small smile. Naruto couldn't see with, but he has sure that she is also blushing like him at the contact.

"… I must be going crazy… With a clone…" Naruto murmured, looking down. At this rhythm, he would become crazy, and the joke of the entire village.

"But, is it wrong? Aside from the old man, Iruka-sensei and the Ichiraku's, we have only ourselves to count on…" The clone said quietly. She also tough that they are both going crazy to be doing this with themselves, but, even so…

"You are right… But… If I dispel you… You will be gone forever…" Now Naruto felt afraid, he felt like this clone is going to be unique, and she is so frail… If she dispels, she is going to disappear into him, and he won't be able to talk to her like that anymore.

"I will not dispel… I'm not going to allow it!" Forcing their bodies closer together, she declared loudly, not enough to hurt the original's ears, but enough to make her intention clear.

"But-"

"I will stay in our home, I will be safe there! If I eat something, my chakra will be restored, If I sleep, my chakra will be diminished slower, whatever, but I will not be dispelled like that!" The clone this time rested her head on his shoulders, she has close to crying now.

"Even if this is crazy… We can finally have someone we can rely 100% on… Please… Allow me to stay!" She was practically crying into Naruto's shoulder now, which made the boy feel bad, even tough she is the one assuming he wants her gone.

"I don't want to dispel you either! I-I mean… Dammit, I must be going crazy…" Naruto, despite not wanting to separate from hi-her, still gently untangled himself from her and got up, taking note from her sad expression.

"Look, we have to go to the academy… No, more like I have to go… Otherwise Iruka-sensei will track me down again, you can go to my home and wait there, okay?" Naruto said gently, offering a hand for her, who took it tightly.

"Okay, don't worry, I will be waiting for you at home!" Said the female clone, smiling in happiness and in relief, before departing in direction of their apartment.

The blond just looked at her departing form, before slowly laughing softly, then louder, before slowly stopping and sighing to himself.

"Why did I suddenly felt attached to her? I mean, she is me, right? Why did I like hugging her? Dammit…" Shaking his head, Naruto departed to the academy, all the while secretly savoring the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. Yep, he is definitely becoming crazy now.

After classes…

Naruto sighed again.

His treatment in the class haven't got any better, the others are still calling him a cheater, despite Iruka-sensei's attempts to alleviate the situation. The fangirls are especially bad. Hell, he didn't even speak with Sakura-chan and she hit him upon spotting him!

And now that he is walking quietly back to his house, it seems that word that he can use a kinjutsu has gotten around. The adults are glaring with even more hatred in his direction, and… Did one of them get a rock from the ground?

"Get out from the front of my house demon!" And the person threw the rock at him.

"W-what?" Naruto dodged the rock easily, but he has still shocked. The civilians never tried to harm him physically before! What is going on?

Another rock, again Naruto dodged, and this time, they began throwing a lot against him and calling him all sorts of names, from demon to brat to unwanted.

"W-what did I ever do to you guys?! Dammiiit!" Naruto started running away, dodging every rock thrown at him, since he is a ninja-in-training and they are merely civilians, it has relatively easy.

The problem however, is not what they could do with him if they hit their target. His heart has hurting even more before, actually making Naruto touch his chest tightly in a vain effort to stop the pain. His face has in a painful grimace, and once again, he is close to crying again. Only this time, he isn't sure he can stop.

Upon spotting his home, he threw the door open, closing it with a loud bang, and immediately jumped onto his bed, already crying his eyes out.

"Naru-kun?! Naruto! What's wrong?!" A voice came from his kitchen, the clone, still in the orange jumpsuit, spotted a crying Naruto, and let out a gasp.

"What did they do to you?!" The female clone ran towards the bed, and wrapped her arms around him, making he shot up from his position.

The boy started to struggle, not knowing who the assailant is.

"Naru-kun, Naru-kun! It's okay, it's me, the clone! Please, calm down!" His girl version took hold of his cheeks and made him look at her, who, upon recognizing the girl, started crying again in her arms.

While Naruto has crying, the clone started crying too, even tough she didn't know what happened, she still shared his pains and emotions, so she had a rough idea on what he has feeling at the moment.

"The villagers… They… They suddenly started throwing rocks at me! And they didn't bother to whisper anymore, everyone started calling me names, they wanted to kill me! Only my shinobi training saved me from their wrath…" Naruto confessed, still crying in the arms of his clone, who seemed to choke.

"Why…? Why did they…?" She asked to herself, hugging her original self harder.

"I think… They know that we can use the kage bushin…" Naruto answered, his tears slowly stopping. His response made his clone gasp, and she loosened her grip on him.

"It's my fault… That they…" She began blaming herself, but has stopped from continuing further when her counterpart put a hand on her own.

"No! You may be my shadow clone, the technique may be a kinjutsu, but does it matter?! They have no right to hate us because we want to get stronger…" Naruto declared to her, ignoring how crazy all of this would look if someone where to observe and knew that she is just a clone of him.

She just hanged her head and once again tightened her hug on him. She wanted to comfort him, but she is the one that ended up being comforted.

"Thanks Naru-kun…"

"No, I should thank you… If… If you weren't there for me, I would…" Naruto just let his head rest on the clone's shoulders, scrapping all thoughts about weirdness from his mind.

The two blonds stood there for what could only be described as an eternity. Eventually, their tears dried out, and only their breathing could be heard.

"Things will only get tougher from now on Naruto… I can disappear any moment… But as long as I live and breathe… I will not abandon you!" The female Naruto said to her counterpart, assuring him and also herself, besides, if she disappears, he can just make another to take her place… Right?

"Thanks… Naruko…" Naruto said, gettinghis head away from her shoulder so he can look at his mirror image in the eyes.

"Na… Naruko?" She asked, confused.

"That is your name. From now on, you are Naruko-chan!" The blond grinned at Naruko, who got even more teary eyed, but she smiled instead of crying.

"Thank you… Thank you Naru-kun… I swear… I will protect you... I will help you… I will be with you… Forever…"

Both kids, original and clone, with teary eyes, slowly separated from each other.

Their hands slowly got up, and their pinky fingers crossed with each other, the symbol of a eternal promise between two persons, or maybe one person with himself.

"We swear… We will love ourselves, and that bond, will surpass any hate the villagers feel towards us." And thus, the grinning kids made their promise. A promise that would lead them both to happiness and to madness, a promise that very fell shall accept.

A week later…

Time has passed slowly for both kids, which they thanked the heavens for, that meant that they all the time in world for themselves, frequently playing games kids their age would play normally, of course, in places far away from anyone who might see them, after all, it IS weird to be seen with a female version of yourself.

Naruko had to eat about twice as much as Naruto just to maintain her chakra, and she used all the time that he wasn't home to sleep and conserve her energy. It's working wonders, but she is starting to feel the strains of her continued existence, but, for Naruto, she would hide and bear with them, until the day when she dies in smoke.

As for Naruto himself, his classmates have noticed a change. He no longer bothered Sakura for dates nearly as much anymore, in fact, he slowly stopped even trying to talk with anyone besides Iruka. He started to pay more attention in class, stopped to care if he lost against Sasuke or another student in a spar, only swearing to himself to train harder. He actually scored a good grade in a test, which nullified his position as the dead last.

As for Iruka, he was not sure if he should be proud or concerned for the boy's mental health. He heard about the fact that the villagers had attempted to stone him to death and has gotten so furious, that he had gone to the Hokage about it.

Flashback…

Here is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the fire shadow, the strongest ninja in the village and their trusted and loved leader. Currently, he is fighting for his life against his most powerful enemy: The Paperwork, an S-class threat to any and all Kage, surpassing even the danger of a biju.

Almost giving up has he, when he heard a knock on his door. Thanking the gods for this, he said a "Enter!" and lifted an eyebrow as Umino Iruka entered in his office.

"Iruka? What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" The aged shinobi asked.

"Hokage-sama, it's about Naruto…"

"What, pray tell, did the boy do again?" The Hokage sighed, as it was not rare for the teacher to come to him because of a prank or two the boy did.

"No, it's was not him this time…" Iruka said with barely controlled anger, which the Hokage noticed, and got his full attention on the teacher.

"The villagers… Apparently, word got around that Naruto can do the Kage Bushin with ease, and they… They began to want to kill him before he gets stronger… They began throwing stones at him! I heard about that, and they are laughing about it! And cursing that they couldn't hurt him! A CHILD!" Iruka has shaking with anger now, how could they? How could they do that with the boy that for him is like a little brother/son?

As for the aged Hokage, he has shocked, he didn't bother to check on Naruto for about a week and this happens? Oh, he could already feel shame building up in him, especially for not being there for the boy when he needed it the most. Hiruzen sighed deeply and decided to make this one thing at a time.

"I'm sorry that you have to go through that Naruto… Tell me Iruka, how did Naruto learn that jutsu?"

"He said that some random shinobi dropped it when he ran into him, and Naruto being Naruto, decided to learn some 'awesome jutsu'…" After calming down a bit, Iruka shook his head at that. While still angry, he HAS in the presence of the God of Shinobi.

"I see. That explains why we received a request for another copy of the Kage bushin scroll…" Shaking his head, Hiruzen then addressed the most important matter in this discussion.

"From now on, until Naruto becomes a genin, he will be assigned an Anbu escort to protect him in case the civilians try to physically hurt him again. I'm afraid that is all I can do however…" Sarutobi sighed again, sometimes, he just wished to be in retirement again, being the Hokage is very, very stressful.

"I understand, thank you Hokage-sama." Looking much more alleviated now, the teacher bowed deeply to his leader, and then excused himself.

After the sensei got out of his office, Sarutobi snapped his fingers, a random anbu appeared out of thin air in front of him.

"Get me Inu, I have a new job for him."

End of flashback…

The teacher sighed again and decided to be proud of the boy's will instead.

He dismissed his class for the day and decided that yes, Naruto is slowly, but steadily improving from how he has before.

Naruto happily got out of his seat, ignoring all of his classmates completely. And strolled away, all the while whistling a tune.

Even as he got out in the village, he knew now that the villagers would be taken away to a 'nice' place if they tried to hurt him again, so he completely ignored their presence, but his steps are still a little faster than normal, after all, she is waiting for him in his home.

He spotted his home, and then quickly run up to his house, opened the door and yelled.

"Naruko-chan! I'm home!" The blond yelled with a smile, and suddenly received a very tight hug. Naruto laughed, closed the door behind him and hugged Naruko back, savoring the warmth coming from her and the butterflies in his stomach to the fullest, and the same could be said from the girl, as she has rubbing her head against him and making a content noise.

Those cuddles are one of the things that they like the most, since they never got any sort of physical affection from anyone aside from a pat in the head from their precious people, and as such, they really enjoyed this and whenever they could, they stayed together like they are stuck with tape, even going as far as to sleep together. The only thing they don't do together so far is to take walks outside, as the villagers would go crazy on them and bathe together, as they found the idea embarrassing, even tough they are practically the same person.

"How has your day? The stupid villagers and their little kids didn't bother you, did they?" In the time that they have spent together, Naruto learned that while she is essentially him, she has some differences. For example, she greatly dislikes the villagers and is also smarter than him. He doesn't mind at all, as she helps him study, and even sneak into the village under a henge to sneak a book or two out of the library. Tough she only did it once, as going outside there is chance she might get hurt and be dispelled.

Naruto looked down at her cute face and chuckled, she sure is cute when her attention is all on him, and Naruto being Naruto, loves attention, especially from her.

"Another boring day, although I paid attention, I kept wishing for class to end so I could come home quickier!" He grinned sheepishly at his female form, who sighed.

"Just admit you wanted to see me alrealdy!"

"Aw, fine! I wanted to cuddle again, happy now?" Naruto pouted, tough he didn't break their hug, and instead just looked to the wall.

Naruko giggled, and snuggled closer to him, sighing happily. Naruto for his part, stopped pouting and just accepted her, settling for putting his head on top of her shoulder and breathe in her accent, that, while the same as his, still had that girlish tint to it, and he liked how she smelled anyway.

As they separated and began planning what they would do for the day, Naruto couldn't help but think back to their promise, one week ago. It seemed so distant in the past, the time where he wished for affection or acknowledgment. Now, all he wanted has to be with himself, meaning, him and Naruko, playing together and cuddling to compensate all that he never received.

Yeah, Naruto never had been that happy in his life before, and he would be doomed if he let that happiness go away. If he could have his away, Naruko would stay there with him forever.

Chapter 2: END!

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LB: Kinda of a slow chapter, but that is how I like to write my stories. What do you think? While here Naruto is not 'hunted and beaten' he still suffers just as much, and when they did try to make things physical, it hurt his heart even more, leading him to the promise scene up there.

I really do need the help of a more experienced Naruto writer, as there are many things that I can't write well yet, but I try.

I accept suggestions and constructive critics, thanks you for reading Mirror Love!