-Chapter2-

Hot and cold.

"Make you want to touch it, want to taste it."

~M.

It was 09:00 AM when Naruto's alarm clock rang to wake him up. He was expected to help with the reconstruction of Kakashi's house at ten.

He pushed the button to stop the noise, got up and walked sleepily to the bathroom to wake himself properly. After two splashes of water he was decently awake and got himself dressed.

After making some sandwiches-to-go he went outside and greeted his neighbour.

'Ohio, Oriara-san!'

'Ohio, Naruto-kun!' replied his neighbour.

It was still early, so he went for a little walk to fully wake himself up.

Sakura lived nearby, and he thought she'd probably be up by now as well. And as he passed the corner he could see her putting up the laundry outside on the roof.

'Ohio, Sakura-chan!' he called to her.

'Ohio, Naruto-kun!' she replied.

'Do you want to walk to Kakashi's house together?' he asked, knowing she had to help at the hospital, which was near Kakashi's house.

He glared up, it really was a beautiful day today, clear blue sky, a bit chilly because of the hour, but the sky was promising warmth.

'Sure, let me finish putting up the laundry, okay?' she said.

Naruto looked at her and said: 'Okay, I'll wait down here!'

'All these constructions lately, I wonder when they'll start handing out missions again. Ah well I shouldn't complain, it gives me time to practice my chakra moulding, hmm, maybe I should ask Sakura for some tips,' he thought, while looking up, 'But then again, she might just laugh at me or something. And besides, it's my weakness, so I have to conquer it.'

He decided not to ask, even though Sakura, as a medical ninja, was an expert at chakra moulding.

'There,' said Sakura, as she closed her front door, 'let's go.'

They walked together past a lot of constructions that had already begun for the day. Even though there was a lot of rubble of the street, there could still be children seen playing.

Naruto smiled.

'What's up?' asked Sakura, looking at him strangly, 'It's not like you to smile so early.'

'What? Oh, nothing.' said Naruto, waving his hand.

'Yeah, right, well we're here, good luck today Naruto!' Sakura said as she walked up towards the Hospital.

'You too Sakura-chan!' Naruto said, waving at her.

He walked along the path, and when he went around the corner he could see Kakashi's house, with Kakashi already cutting wooden pillars for the left side of the house.

'Ohio, Kakashi-sensei!' he yelled at Kakashi.

'Ah Naruto-kun, you're early, what's gotten into you today?' Kakashi said with an amused tone.

'Nothing, why does everyone ask that?' said Naruto, not looking at Kakashi on purpose.

'Because you usually stumble out of your bed at, let's say eleven?' said Kakashi with a smirk, which Naruto could see even through his mask.

'Well you're also in a good mood today, and yóu usually stumble out of your bed at two!' said Naruto also smirking, 'I guess we're somewhat alike, aren't we?'

'Well no laziness today, I really need my house finished today, I don't wanna end up at Guy's house ever again, his outfits give me the creeps, seriously,' said Kakashi looking fearful, 'And you think that green rubber, or whatever, jumpsuit is bad, you should see his pyjamas! Plus he has that green suit in pretty much every color of the rainbow, and if he ever asks you to go out with him to "pick up chicks *wink*", just…don't.'

Naruto could see the horror dripping from his face. He couldn't contain his laughter. He could picture Guy-sensei and Lee-san dancing identically on the dance-floor trying to impress women. The thought of it made him chuckle again after he finished laughing.

'Couldn't Yamato-sensei come help with the wood?' he asked.

'No, there are more urgent fixes for him to worry about, we can do this just fine, could you grab one of those rough pillars and start shaving it? The tool for shaving is over there,' said Kakashi, while pointing near the house at a toolbox, 'Sai should be here soon as well.'

As Kakashi was saying that, Sai came walking towards Kakashi's house, with his everlasting fake smile.

'Wow I didn't expect you two to be awake already.' he said, still faking that smile.

'Good morning Sai, and hey, I need a place to sleep don't I? You try sleeping at Guy's house for a night…' said Kakashi, noticeably regretting the night he spent there.

Naruto burst into laughter yet again. After wiping the tears from his eyes, he started shaving the pillar again, it was already starting to look better, or at least square.

Kakashi was now finished with his pillar.

'Okay, Sai, could you please go up on the non-damaged part of the roof and hold this pillar in place? After that we can push Naruto's pillar under it and we can start the small woodwork, after that we can put up a decent roof and after that you guys can go home early, I'll finish the walls myself… After a nap.' he added.

It didn't take Naruto too long to shave the rest of the pillar, so he was actually done early today, so he went to his training-spot for some exercise and training.

After an hour of meditation and attempts to decently mould chakra, it still wasn't working properly, he couldn't figure out why even with the 100 shadow clones he had sitting there, it still wasn't working.

He decided to stop training for now, and head home for a shower; just because he couldn't do it, doesn't mean he didn't try and didn't get sweaty.

As he walked through the woods towards the main road that led to the main gate, he could hear someone singing.

It made him stop. Never had he heard something so beautiful, but when he decided to really listen, it stopped.

He looked in the direction where he thought the singing had come from, but he didn't see anyone.

Still standing still, a part of him hoped the singing would start again, but it remained quiet.

He decided to walk on, and he hoped he could hear it again someday.

Back at his house, he undressed and stepped in the shower. The warm water felt good, and as he looked at his body, he noticed he had a pretty big collection of scars.

He could remember every story behind every one of them. He tried not to think about it, because the ones that involved Sasuke always made him feel a bit down.

He shut off the shower and dried himself off, then put the towel around his waist.

As he walked to the closet to get some clean underwear and a clean orange jumpsuit, he noticed a letter on the doormat.

He opened it and he saw it was an invitation to a birthday party.

'Hey Naruto-kun! It's my birthday this Friday, so make you sure you're at my house at around 09:00 PM okay? Party time! Signed Kiba.'

'Sounds great!' he thought, while smiling.

He was glad he wasn't alone anymore, maybe this year he will throw a party too, who knows?

'I'll get him a present tomorrow, I really do hope missions start soon, I need some money, and so does the town…'he thought while looking out the window.

After dressing himself he noticed it was actually pretty early, and pretty warm outside.

His thermometer showed 21°C, so he opened a window, took off his jumpsuit top and grabbed himself a cooled can of ice tea.

'Ah, this is so nice, cool breeze, cold drink, warm weather, I could lay like this for days.'

He couldn't lay there in peace for very long, for he heard some noise outside. It sounded like some kids fighting in front of his house.

He got up and looked out of the window, he saw two boys hitting one small boy.

It pained him to see this, for it felt so familiar.

He jumped down and walked towards the boys, who stopped kicking the smaller boy.

'What do you think you're doing?' said Naruto.

'Let's go, or the ooorange ninja will kick our ass! Hahaha.' and the boys walked away laughing.

Naruto tightened his fists, but he wouldn't lose control over something this small.

'Yo kid, you okay?' Naruto asked the child, who was still lying on the ground.

'Yeah, I think so.' the child said.

'You have a pretty nasty cut there, I think we need to visit the hospital so they can stitch it up.' said Naruto, remembering all the scars he looked at earlier.

'You're Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you?' the child asked, looking a bit frightened.

Naruto, knowing where this might be going, sighed and said: 'Yes, I am.'

'Is it true you're a monster?' the child asked.

Naruto was used to this by now, but hearing that even today's small children knew, or partially knew about the Kyuubi, still saddened him.

'I am not a monster.' he said with a hardened tone in his voice.

'I'm sorry, that's what I heard at-' the child started, but Naruto interrupted him.

'Well you heard wrong.' he said, 'Now let's get that wound fixed, okay?'

It wasn't a long walk to the hospital, and he wondered if Sakura had finished her shift yet.

Maybe she'd want to eat dinner with him today.

When they arrived at the hospital he saw Kiba coming out of it.

'Hey Kiba-kun, why were you at the hospital?' he asked.

'Hey Naruto-kun, oh, nothing serious, just trained a bit too much I think.' Kiba said with a wink, 'You're coming to my party this Friday right?'

'Yeah ofcourse I will!' Naruto said enthusiastically, 'But I'm gonna get this kid inside now, he needs some stitches, he got beat up pretty badly.'

'Okay, I'll see you this Friday then, right? I hope they start missions again next week!' said Kiba.

'Yeah, see ya Friday! And I hope so as well!' said Naruto, while waving goodbye.

Luckily the child didn't need any stitches, so the medical ninja's patched him up within five minutes.

Once they were outside Naruto noticed he was getting hungry, and he was bummed that Sakura's shift hadn't ended.

'Thanks Naruto,' said the child smiling, and he added, 'you're not so bad.'

Naruto smiled too. 'No problem, stay out of trouble next time, okay? What did you do anyway?'

'Nothing, they just like to pick on me.' the child said sadly.

'What about your friends? Why don't they help you?' Naruto asked.

'I don't really have any friends.' the child answered.

Naruto felt sorry for the child, it all sounded so familiar.

'Make some friends okay? Friends are important.' Naruto told him.

'No one really wants to be my friend…' the child said, looking down, still sounding sad.

Naruto looked at him and put out his hand. 'Then I will be your friend, okay? How about you tell me your name now?'

The child smiled and shook his hand. 'I'm Chinji.'

'Well then Chinji-kun, hurry home now, your mom must be worried.' Naruto told him.

'Yeah! It's close-by, thank you Naruto-san!' the child yelled as he ran left.

Naruto smiled.

As he walked home he smelled dinner everywhere, which only made him more hungry.

Once he was at home he cooked some rice and vegetables and enjoyed his meal over the warm evening, thinking about what present he should buy for Kiba.

End of chapter 2.

I don't know if Naruto has a TV, so I gave him one. D: