Woot, another chapter. I just hope didn't take me too long to update
Disclaimer - Unfortunately I still do not own Naruto (cries)
Guardian Angel – Chapter 2 – Shopping
The sun was steaming through the bedroom window, where it gracefully fell on the sleeping blonde.
He groaned and slowly sat up. His large blue eyes blinked, before he rubbed the sleep out of them.
With a sigh, Naruto rolled out of bed.
And so begins another day in the life of Uzumaki Naruto.
He dragged himself into the small kitchen. He opened the fridge door. There was a pint of milk, but one whiff told him that it was undrinkable. Other than that, nothing.
Next he turned his attention to the cupboard. His last cup ramen. Other than that, nothing. Damn it, that means I have to go shopping he thought.
He dragged a finger across the wooden base. Dust lifted of at the gentle touch. With a sigh he slammed the door. Guess I'll be skipping breakfast today.
Staring out the window, he noticed that it was brilliant summers day, after all, it was the middle of August.
He slowly turned his gaze from the window, and stared at the wooden door. He took one step closer. And paused, his gaze never once wavering. Slowly, he placed one foot in front of the other, until he was up against the door.
He stretched out one quivering hand, he grabbed the handle. With a sigh, he let his hand drop to his side. He hung his head with shame at his own weakness.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to walk through the village, and expose himself to their accusing glares.
Instead, he jumped out the window, and took the rooftop way to the training ground. This way, he could avoid his tormentors, at least for the time being.
When he neared the gates of the village, he jumped down from the roofs into a dark alleyway. Silently, he made his way to the nearby gates, and into the forest.
Running through the trees, delighting in the mid-summer breeze, he made his way to the training ground where he was soon to be meeting with Team 7.
Reaching the ground, he saw that he was the first to arrive, and sat down under the sweeping boughs of large tree, sheltered from the sun by the cool shade.
As he sat in his spot on the grass, and gazed off into the distance, memories of last nights breakdown came flashing back, and he clenched his fists at his own weakness, unaware that he was murmuring to himself.
"Umm, Naruto?" he was jolted out of his reverie, shocked that he hadn't heard the pink haired kunoichi coming.
He jumped up, one hand behind his head, cheesy smile plastered on his face.
"Oh, Hi Sakura-Chan!"
"You're here early…" she said suspiciously, glancing behind the tree. "Who were you talking to?" she asked, her green eyes narrowing.
"Oh, uh, just a millionaire with a fetish for the colour pink" he said nonchalantly.
She looked up at him at this, and noticing the cheeky smirk, brought her fist back, and punched him on the arm, hard.
A quiet chuckle alerted them to their Sensei, nose stuck in a book, as per usual.
He raised a gloved hand in greeting. Snapping his book shut, he slowly put it in his pocket, raising his head to look fondly at his bickering students.
"Ne, ne, Kakashi-Sensei, have we got any missions today?" asked the hyperactive blonde, bouncing up and down.
"Nope" he smiled as their faces dropped "Just the same old training, so Sakura, Naruto, you two spar, I'll, um, just watch" With that he pulled out his much loved and much read book.
The two young shinobi, took up their stances, before Sakura suddenly stopped, and looked at their Sensei, who was now sitting on the patch of grass that was until recently occupied by Naruto.
"Wait, why aren't you training" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Well, I, um, didn't get much sleep" he mumbled, scratching the back of his head nervously "I was up all night looking after my dolphin" underneath his mask he smirked happily.
His two students gave him odd glances, before their sparing match began.
The three shinobi sat under the sweeping branches of the tree. Sweat was dripping of Naruto and Sakura's foreheads. It was mid-day, and they were taking a much needed lunch break from their training.
At least two of them were.
"Oi, Naruto, not eating anything?" the blonde, spiked head jerked up at the question, and he caught the concerned look in Sakura's eyes.
"Um, no, I forgot to bring it" he mumbled, pulling little tufts of grass up.
Strange, she thought, if there's one thing Naruto loves, it's food.
She looked at him before catching Kakashi's eye; he gave her an understanding nod, before they went on with their lunch.
"Okay, I think we'll leave it there for today, guys" Naruto and Sakura flopped onto the grass at this.
The blonde lay on his back, staring at the gradually darkening sky. His breathing was heavy, and sweat soaked his back, sticking his orange jumpsuit to his skin.
"So Naruto, got any plans for this evening?" asked the pink haired kunoichi. He glanced up in surprise.
"No, just a bit of shopping" he said quietly, flinching. Hus reaction didn't go un-noticed by his teacher and friend, and they silently conversed over the top of his head.
"I'll come" she said, jumping up and grabbing his hand. "Bye, Kakashi-Sensei." And with that she dragged a stunned Naruto off towards the village.
As they grew nearer and nearer to the village, the blonde became tenser and tenser. As they reached the gates, his fists clenched, and his jaw locked.
"Um, Naruto, are you ok?" Sakura asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he replied quickly, quickening the pace as they crossed over the threshold. A few feet in, and they passed a dark alleyway. Naruto looked down it longingly, his gaze staying there for a few moments, before he sighed and moved on.
Looking up, he caught Sakura's questioning look. He smiled brightly, pretending that nothing was wrong, that he wasn't scared to walk through the village he strived to protect. As if the very thought didn't give him nightmares, and leave him shaking like a leaf.
Every time a loud noise was made he would flinch. And every time a shout was heard he looked around, as if checking something. The further down the street they got, the more Naruto seemed to retreat into himself.
"So, where do you wanna get your shopping from then?"
Where ever they'll allow me in he thought, but then he couldn't exactly say that to his friend.
"Where ever." He sighed, approaching the nearest shop. But as he approached the door, the owner must have noticed him, because just before he could push the door open, they flipped the 'open' sign round to 'closed'.
Sighing, he made his way down the street. But the same happened at the next shop as well. By the third shop, Sakura grabbed his arm, and spun him around to face her.
"What's with that Naruto?" she asked angrily.
"Huh, oh, it's always this way." He mumbled. "Most of the time they don't let me in the shops, when they do, they usually charge me extortionate prices."
"But…but…they can't do that" she fumed, curling her hands into fists.
"It's ok, Sakura-chan, I've grown to except it, and now so must you." He said gently. She was shocked at how defeated he sounded.
The fourth shop owner let him in. Thank god, I was getting worried no-one would let me in, like that last time, when I went hungry for almost a week, he thought.
He entered the small shop, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Picking up one of the little baskets, he navigated his way to the instant ramen aisle. He filled the basket up with as many as he could carry, and made his way to the small queue at the checkout.
"You've got to buy more then that, Naruto, you can't live just off instant ramen." She scolded.
"It's all I can afford." He said bluntly, placing the basket on the checkout.
The man serving at the till started ringing up all the ramen, shooting daggers at the blonde. Naruto pulled out his frog purse, and paid the price that was mumbled to him.
But as he turned to leave, shopping in hand, a firm hand stopped him. Looking up, he saw that Sakura was fuming. Shit, she better not make a fuss.
Angrily she turned to man.
"You can't do that!" she yelled, "That's what, ten percent added on the price it actually cost" she rolled up her sleeve, preparing to bash the owner.
"It's okay, Sakura" he said desperately, pulling his friend out the shop. She began to argue, but one look told her not to, and reluctantly she followed him.
But just before they left, he took one look at the shop keeper. And that one look told him all. He shivered at the message the eyes sent him.
Be careful, Brat, your friend wont always be around to protect you.
They silently made their way down the street. Sakura was shocked at Naruto's resignation, and how bad the villagers treated him. When just before it could get any worse, a rock hit him on the head, and he didn't even flinch, but just continued his way home, a trickle of blood trickling down his head.
"Why the fucks don't you fight back." She finally burst out, stopping in the middle of the road.
He sighed, hanging his head, staring at the dusty road.
"Just leave it, will you Sakura"
"But…but….your a ninja, they're just civilians" she ranted
"Yeah, I know, but fighting back just makes it worse, okay? Just go home." He concluded, they had reached a crossroads, and he knew that she lived in the opposite direction to him.
She shook her head, before turning right, and making her way home, contemplating what had been revealed to her that night.
He watched her for a minute, before turning left, to make his own way home to his rundown flat. He went slowly, he didn't have anything waiting for him at home. Kicking a pebble, he absentmindedly contemplated the days events, scolding himself for allowing Sakura to come on his shopping trip, and his weakness in matters where the villagers were concerned.
Rounding the corner by Ichiraku's, he didn't notice the three villagers waiting for him until it was too late. Shit. Inside he was screaming, but outside he remained impassive. See Sasuke, it's not that hard, he thought, trying to keep his mind off the problem at hand, hoping that it would just go away.
He had no such luck.
A sinister chuckle brought him back to the present, and he realised that his worst fears were about to be realised. He swiftly turned on his heel, maybe he would be able to make it to Sakura's, if he ran really quickly.
Too late, a hand held him by the collar.
"No little friend to protect you now, eh, brat" sneered the man. His cronies chortled.
He turned around to face his attackers, and a fist collided with his stomach. He doubled over, the breath knocked out of him, gasping for air, only be kicked in the ribs. He fell to his knees, and one of the other men grabbed him by the hair, yanking his head backwards. He sneered at him, and Naruto could smell alcohol on his breath, and dragged him down a nearby alleyway.
Shit. This day was going from bad, to worse, and progressing from that. Oof, again the air was knocked out of him, and a fist collided with his eye, another with his jaw.
Why didn't he fight back? Because that made it worse, he was afraid of what would happen, that they would just come back worse, with a vengeance, and then what would happen?
So he just took it, and after he went home, and cleaned his fresh wounds.
But today it was worse. There was a resounding crack as his skull collided with the floor. His vision wavered as he lost blood and kicked after kick collided with his ribs. He was half aware of what was going on, he was aware of the pain, and of cruel laughter as his tormentors walked away. He groaned, before a wave of blackness flooded him and he lost all consciousness.
Slowly, blue eyes opened, and Naruto groaned as the pain hit him. He didn't no what time it was, or how long he had been out for, but the sky was dark, and the village was silent, except for a few barking dogs.
He stayed there for a moment, staring at the stars, before slowly, painfully getting up. Dried blood was caked down the side of his face, and his clothes were torn.
As he stood, the ground beneath his feet seemed to sway, so he grabbed onto the wall to steady himself, sharply pulling in breath between his ribs, trying not to aggravate them.
Now to see if I can get to my flat without passing out, he thought bitterly. Wincing at every step.
It took him half an hour to limp a journey that was usually less than a ten minute walk. But he finally reached the door to the rundown building where he lived.
He paused at the bottom of the steps to catch his breath, before he heaved himself up the first flight, to the floor where he lived. He fumbled with the key, before he finally opened the front door.
He stumbled into the small, humble flat. He closed to door behind him, and trailed to his small bedroom. Collapsing onto the wooden pallet he called a bed, he fell into blissful sleep. In pleasant dreams, far away from the horrific reality of his life.
Poor Naruto T.T
Thanks for reading
I sorta felt it took me too long to get to the point...but oh well kekekekek