Hello readers. I appreciate all who gave responses to the first 2 installments of this crossover. I'm posting again tonight as thanks to those who did. I want to note before you read that it is quite possible I may rearrange a few events to make this work. They won't be big and I may not at all, but I just wanted ya'll to be aware in case I do. Ya'll were warned.=^-^=

Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist or Naruto

Ch. 3 - One Good Deed Deserves Another

Another day passed and Rin was still working hard at the ramen shop with no clue as to how he would go about getting back. Mr. Ichiraku was good enough to give him little breaks and he would spend them looking around the village. He would also keep an eye out for Kuro too; if he was here then he would probably come looking for Rin as well. Rin was heading back to the shop after one of these breaks and the minute he made it to the door Teuchi intercepted him. "Oh, Rin! Good timing! I need you to make another delivery." He handed Rin his uniform, which only consisted of a hat and an apron with the word Ichiraku on it. "It's the same place as before. Here's the order."

Once Rin had the apron tied, he took the delivery and headed out. "I'm on it, boss." He was good not to get lost this time around because he was more familiar with the route and was back in around 20 minutes. Once he was back he walked in just in time to see Teuchi receive some letter from a Currier.

"Hey, can I get another Miso Ramen with extra pork?"

Teuchi turned to Rin. "Can you grab that Rin? I'll just be a minute."

"Sure thing, Boss." Rin went straight to work on the order with expert skill. Once finished he placed down the bowl and plate in front of a young man.

He seemed to be in a very good mood as he thanked him. "Alright thanks!"

He then noticed the headband he was wearing which he came to know represented a ninja. "Hey, you're a ninja?"

The young man nodded as he picked up some noodles and slurped them down. "Yeah… hmm?" The boy looked up towards Rin in curiosity. "I didn't know Mr. Ichiraku had hired someone."

"That's right, you just got back from a mission didn't you?" Teuchi approached with an enthusiastic smile.

"Hey, old man."

"How's my favorite customer?"

"Good now that I've had some Ramen. So who's the new guy?"

Rin was now taking up a bowl from a customer who had just left. "Oh, that's Rin. He's helping me out while Ayame's gone and I'm letting him stay with me in return. He's been a big help to me and he's a damn good cook too."

The boy seemed confused. "Why's he staying with you? He a tourist?"

Teuchi had to think a moment on how to explain it. He wasn't exactly a tourist, but he was from out of the village. "Well no….. I guess you could say that circumstances brought him here." He began unfolding the letter in his hands. "Anyway, I have to say it was good timing for me in the end." He then proceeded to read the letter.

Rin noticed the smile on his boss's face slowly fall as he read the letter and asked him about it. "You okay, Boss?"

Teuchi scratched the back of his head as he sighed. "That guy… he's got some horrible luck…"

Rin stopped what he was doing and queried his boss again. "Who does?"

Teuchi lowered the paper and shook his head. "My younger brother. Ayame was visiting him since he had just set up shop for himself and wouldn't you know it was half destroyed the other day. Apparently there was a powerful storm out his way and it flooded the nearby river through the town."

Rin gave him a sympathetic expression. "Sounds rough….. he's okay right?"

The chef turned to him with a half-smile. "Yeah he's fine. Takes more than a flood to bring him down. The part I'm worried about is that he may need some help. He's never been the kind of guy who's all that lucky in situations like this."

It took Rin a moment to realize exactly what it meant for Teuchi to leave. "Oh….. right."

Teuchi saw the realization on Rin's face and assured him. "Don't worry, Rin. I'm sure that Ayame's got it taken care of."

Rin placed a few bowls in the sink before turning back to his boss. He wore a slightly embarrassed expression as he dismissed his problems. "No, you should go help your brother, Boss. Don't let me stop you."

Teuchi crossed his arms. "But I can't just leave you out in the cold. You're new here and that wouldn't be right after all the help you gave me."

Rin just gave him a reassuring smile. "It's a big brother's duty to help their younger brother whenever they can with whatever they can. I'll be fine, so don't worry." With that said Rin went over to gather another bowl of finished ramen from a customer with a mature smile on his face. The young man who was eating ramen watched him with intrigue. He didn't say anything but he was listening to the conversation just now.

Teuchi sighed knowing full well there would be no changing the boy's mind. "I guess if you have your mind made up… I just don't want you to feel like I'm kicking you out."

"No way, I'm cool with it. My dad used to tell me I should try to do good things with my skills and try to be a good person. That's why I don't want to be the reason you don't help out your brother."

Teuchi pat him on the shoulder and gave him an almost proud smile. "He sounds like a good man. He should be proud."

Rin turned away with a blush but a melancholy expression. "Yeah…" He turned on the water and began washing a few bowls. It was still only mid-day so Teuchi decided to go ahead and head out. The village he was headed to wasn't too far away so if he left now he'd be there a little after nightfall. He closed the shop as soon as their final customer had left and Rin helped him clean.

Rin stepped out the minute he was finished. "Thanks again for letting me stay with you, old man."

Teuchi stepped out just after him dressed and packed for his trip. "Old man? I miss Boss already." After locking the door he turned to Rin. "Take care of yourself alright?"

Rin turned and waved to him. "No problem." He turned the corner and quickly left Teuchi's sight.

"That's a good kid. Wish all kids today were as helpful as he is."

"Damn it! Where did he go?" Bon sat seething with anger at his desk just before cram school started. Shima and Konekomaru were trying whatever they could to calm him down. "Come on, Bon, just calm down. Rin wouldn't just up and disappear without a reason right, Konekomaru?"

The young teen nodded. "Of course, even he isn't dumb enough to forget his situation with the Vatican and just leave."

All three of them quickly realized that Rin was that kind of person given the right circumstances and a chilling silence fell on them. "W-well, I mean….. maybe he was….. uh." Shima's found his words lost as Yukio entered the room.

Shiemi's hand immediately shot up as she asked Yukio a question. "Um… excuse me, Yuki…. Has there been any word about Rin?"

Yukio placed his papers at the desk and let out an exasperated sigh. "Unfortunately no there hasn't. No one has seen Rin or Kuro since the day before last."

Shiemi's expression became disheartened as her hand fell. "But if he doesn't show up won't he be…."

She failed to finish, but Yukio knew what she was going to say. "Chances are that if we can't find him, the Vatican will hunt him down and he'll most likely be executed. Of course that would all depend on the circumstances and whether they'll even pay them any mind. Anyway, all questions aside I need to begin class." Yukio's serious tone surprised Shiemi. She had thought he would be more worried about Rin given his situation. She then thought to herself how hard it must be to in Yukio's shoes at this moment. She then turned towards Rin's seat with a sad expression as Yukio began talking about various herbs.

Rin was was now walking down a path outside the market area as thoughts of what to do next flew through his mind. Sure he knew leaving was the right decision, but now he was basically out on the street. "Man….. now what? Sure the idea of being in some ninja village is cool, but being lost is getting kinda old…." He sighed as he looked around at the trees on either side of the walkway. "And I haven't seen a trace of Kuro… probably good I guess. At least he's not lost too."

He spent another hour walking around before he took a load off on a park bench. He looked up towards the sky and saw he had a few hours of daylight left and sat back. His face formed a scowl as he thought about how he even got there in the first place. 'Geez, how the hell did I get here? Why me?' He lowered his head and sighed. "I wonder if Yukio's worried…" He then clicked his tongue. "Or maybe he thinks I've just run off somewhere….."

He leaned back against the wall behind the bench and quickly lost himself in his own thoughts. It wasn't until the sun had set did he finally realize he had fallen asleep. He snapped awake and wiped the drool from his chin. "Huh?" He looked down at his arm and then up at the star filled sky. "Damn it….. must've fallen asleep." He stretched a bit and stood up. He then turned to look around a bit. The village was pretty well lit up in most places.

He then turned around to head back up the path, but stopped cold when he noticed his path was blocked by a young man. "Hey!" He said with a smile on his face. "It took me a bit of searching, but I finally found you."

Rin knew he had seen this guy before but… where? He turned his head in confusion. "Uh….. who are you?"

The boy's smile went to a frown as he adjusted the ninja headband he was wearing. "Come on. I was at Ichiraku's for lunch."

Rin crossed his arms and thought a moment. "Oh…. The ninja. The old man said you were his favorite customer right?"

The boy placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah, that's me."

Rin wore a smile before another question popped into his head. "But why were you looking for me? I don't even know your name….."

The young man crossed his arms and raised a brow. "I heard you and old man Ichiraku talking earlier and about how you were staying with him. When I came by for some dinner the place was closed so I figured he'd already left."

Rin nodded. "Yeah he left about 30 minutes after you were there I think. He wanted to get a head start since it was only mid-day."

The ninja turned his head with a bit of a grumble. "Well, I guess that means no Ichiraku for a few days…" He then turned back to Rin. "So I guess that means you don't have any place to go since the old man left huh?"

Rin turned to the side as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah…. I guess I don't. He he… I guess I should have thought it out a little bit more."

"No way! I thought you were pretty nice. You didn't even think twice about yourself and that makes you alright in my book. That's why I came looking for you."

Rin gave him a blank stare. "Wait….. what? You came looking for me…. Why?"

"Well, I figured you could stay at my place for the night. A nice guy like you deserves that much."

Rin's surprise was obvious as he struggled a bit to respond. "W-wait… really!? You mean it!?"

The young man wore a grand smile. "Well, yeah. Besides, you're new here right? I doubt you have any other options." He then put forth his hand. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and you're Rin right?"

Rin quickly took his hand. "Yeah, Rin Okumura. Thanks a lot. You're a pretty nice guy yourself!" The orange clad ninja quickly took the lead as he guided his new house guest towards his residence. "You sure me staying is alright? I don't want to get you in trouble with your family."

Naruto waved his comment off. "No worries. I live alone anyway."

Rin was genuinely surprised by that as his eyes widened. "So you're…."

Naruto noticed his concern but he had come to terms with his own situation by this point. "Yeah, but don't worry about it. Speaking of parents though, I remember you saying something about your dad right? He's probably worried about you right?"

Rin's expression fell a bit as he turned to the side. His hands made their way to his pockets as he responded. "Well he would be…"

The ninja gave him a sympathetic expression. "Oh…. Well sorry about that. Didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

Rin was quick to dismiss it. "No, it's my fault for bringing it up. Anyway, I just really appreciate what you're doing for me. I know you didn't have to help me out. I wish there was a way to repay you though."

Naruto stopped and thought for a moment before a grin found its way to his face. He turned to Rin with a smile. "I got an idea actually. Old man Ichiraku said you were an awesome cook."

Rin nodded. "Yeah… I guess."

"Well I was planning on having some Ichiraku for dinner because I didn't want to go to the store today. I think maybe cooking something up for dinner would be a fair trade right?"

In the forest just outside the village a small figure could be seen running through the trees. It sprang from tree to tree under the moonlight. Its yellow-green eyes glowed in the shadows as it approached ever near the great walls of Konaha. "Rin! Gotta find Rin!" The small creature looked back behind itself as it landed on a tree branch. "Those strange humans….. Did I lose them?" It then continued on, not letting its guard down long enough to find out whether it was right or not.

Back with Rin and Naruto, they had just arrived at the young ninja's house. "It's a bit messy, so sorry about that." Naruto said as he opened the door.

Rin walked in with a bag in his hand full of what would be their dinner. "It's alright. It wouldn't be right to complain. My room's always pretty messy too." Rin took his shoes off at the door and headed in followed by Naruto. Like he said, there were a few pieces of clothing and several empty cup ramen strewn around the place. "Wow….. you really like ramen don't you? It looks like that's all you eat."

Naruto picked up a shirt from the floor. "Yeah well, it's easy and it tastes good."

Rin couldn't help but let out a laugh. This wouldn't be the first person he's met with a strange love of instant food. "Anyway, where can I set up?" Naruto led him over to the small kitchen area he had in the place. After showing him where everything was he headed over to a closet to pull out a guest futon.

Once Naruto was finished, he headed over to check on his guest who was frying rice. "Wow, that smells really good, Rin."

Rin was mixing the rice around with the pan by shaking it a bit with practiced precision. "Thanks." He then moved to add the sliced vegetables he had cut up before he started frying the rice. "Fried rice isn't all that fancy, but it is cheap and easy."

Naruto then noticed something sticking out the bottom of Rin's shirt. A little bit of black fuzz was poking out just above his right back pocket. "What? Hey, Rin you got some black fuzzy stuff stuck to your shirt…"

He reached down to pull it off, but Rin was quick to swat his hand away. "Wait… just leave it alone…"

Naruto gave him a confused look before trying again. "Its alright, just let me get it….." This time he succeeded in grabbing it but froze when he pulled out a large puff of black hair from under Rin's shirt. What's more is that it seemed very attached to something much longer.

Rin dropped the pan once he felt the pull though he was lucky only a bit of it spilled out. "No! Stop!"

Naruto squinted at the tail like object in his hand. "Uh, Rin… what is this?"

Rin had an overwhelming feeling of dread as the situation now presented itself. He took a moment to think over his options a bit, but quickly realized there wouldn't be much point in lying and he wasn't a very good liar anyway. "Umm… well….. you see." He lifted his shirt a bit and untwisted his tail from around his torso. "It's kinda my tail…."

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he posed his next question. "W-why do you have a tail?"

Rin rubbed the back of his head and put up a small forced smile on his face. "I'm sort of half demon so… yeah…. That's why…" Naruto's surprised expression was expected, but what Rin didn't expect was that he didn't really look afraid. There was a silence between the two of them until Rin smelled the rice start to burn. "Oh crap!" He jumped over and stirred the rice again. He looked down towards the tail that was now freely swinging at his feet. "Sorry…" He took the pan off the stove and poured the contents onto two plates. When he turned back to Naruto, the surprised expression was gone and a look of deep thought replaced it. "Uh….. Naruto?"

Naruto snapped out of it looked over to Rin. "Oh sorry, I was just thinking about something."

Rin seemed confused by his reaction. He'd been expecting… well something else. "So….. it's okay with you?"

Naruto raised a brow. "What the tail? Yeah….. I guess. I've seen plenty of weirder things to be honest. As for you being half demon well, you're a nice guy so I really don't think that matters." Of course Naruto knew all too well what it feels like to be judged without pretense. He wasn't about to make that mistake with such a good guy.

Rin handed him a plate with a grin on his face. "Thanks… the last few times I've dropped that on someone it didn't go over all that well. It feels nice to have that off my chest though, it gets pretty annoying having to keep it under my shirt all the time."

The two of them spent the rest of the night talking. Rin told him about True Cross, where he was from, and how he was looking for his cat Kuro. Naruto would trade back by talking about the village and a few of the ninja in it. They seemed to get along pretty well all things considered and even had a fair amount in common. They eventually did go to sleep with Rin taking the futon just by the bed. Rin laid back with his hands behind his head as he thought of what must be going on back at True Cross in the time he'd been missing.

Okay, and there you have it. The last scenes were the hardest to write cause I was basing them solely on personality traits. While Rin had no problems taking in someone else with nowhere to go, case point the Blue Exorcist movie, I wasn't all that sure about Naruto. I basing this idea on the Sora filler arch from the anime where Sora stayed with Naruto. Besides Naruto is a genuinely kind hearted guy so it seemed easy enough to have him help Rin out. I also noticed in the beginning of writing this story how much the two of them had in common so I figured they'd get along pretty well. As for Naruto's reaction to Rin's unique situation, being a Jinchuriki made me feel like he'd have a more open perspective to it. I apologize for any OOC-ness with them! If you liked it or hated it please say so in a REVIEW! The response for this story means the difference of waiting 2 months or 2 weeks for an update.=^-^=