"Blah" - Dialogue

'Blah' – Thoughts

"Blaaahhhh/blah' - Emphasis

For Those I'll Live For

Adoption Mayhem Pt 2

It's dusk and the setting sun gives the town an orange tint. The sky, beautiful, is filled with purple, pink, orange, and blue, creating and awe-inspiring scene that couldn't be captured by even the best of painters. But Naruto and Kakashi are unable to admire the great sight before them, for people glare and whisper as they pass.

"That's the boy…. He's the fox…. Why is he allowed to live...? Is Kakashi going to finish the job?"

Kakashi smiles at the boy through his navy blue mask. "Don't mind them." Naruto nods his head and stares ahead strongly, though the fact that he clings to Kakashi for protection from those who pass shows that he's quite afraid.

They continued on, and after a few streets, Kakashi stops in front of a small house, that was decked out in training and camping equipment. He turns to Naruto, "Ok, Naruto, my friend Guy and I are going out for a couple hours. We are leaving you and the boy he is watching named Lee alone for a couple of hours. Are you going to be ok?"

"Yes!" Naruto is shaking in his skin with the excitement of having a new friend that is his own age to play with.

Kakashi approaches the door and knocks, waiting for somebody to answer. After a minute, Kakashi becomes impatient and grabs the handle. Upon opening the door, Guy lunges at the silver-haired jonin, executing a flying tackle, only to be dodged by his target. Guy hits the ground like a rock and tumbles around. Almost immediately, he jumps up, dirt-covered. "Just what you'd expect from my eternal rival!"

Kakashi turns and stares at Guy with a bored expression. "Did you say something?"

Guy gets angry and points his finger at Kakashi. "Darn you and your 'hip' attitude!" Guy notices Naruto behind Kakashi and changes his interest, forgetting his anger for his rival. "Ah! My young lad! You must be the little Naruto Uzumaki! Let's go in so you may meet your joyous companion for this evening!"

Guy leads his blonde- and silver-haired guests inside his humble abode, and searches for the little ball of excitement he was watching, Lee. Lee, who is a year older than Naruto, is wearing a green shirt with the Konoha symbol for fire on the back, and black shorts that matched his black hair. Sitting still, he is engaged in a staring contest with an odd and out-of-place training dummy.

Naruto walks up to Lee slowly. "What're you doing?" Lee remains still and doesn't answer him. After several more attempts to get the boy's attention, he finally gets a physical response from Lee. The boy jumped, finally realizing that there were three people in the room that weren't there before.

"Whoa," Lee yells in a surprised voice. "When did you three get in here?"

Guy looks at the energetic young boy with a smile. "My youthful rival here just arrived with young Naruto. He is going to be the one to keep you company while me and my rival go out in search for youthful counterparts for the evening!"

Lee walks over to the smiling blonde. "Naruto? Let this evening be a testament to our youthful flames!"

Kakashi and Naruto's jaws drop to the floor. Lee is a crazy clone of Guy, in attitude. Naruto looks as Kakashi with pleading eyes. "Please tell me that all people aren't this weird…"

Kakashi shook his head and sighed. "No, Naruto. It's just the ones who do meth."

Naruto cocked his head to one side. "Meth?"

Kakashi laughs at himself, knowing that the little child wouldn't know what 'meth' was. To keep the boy from pestering him in the future, he gave an answer. "It's a heck of a drug, Naruto. Stay away from it."

Naruto nods his head quickly in understanding, agreeing to stay away from whatever this 'meth' was that Kakashi spoke of. If it had caused two people to be so insane, it had to be bad stuff.

"Well, Guy, we should get going before it gets too late," Kakashi says as he heads for the door.

Guy agrees with him and they leave the two toddlers alone for a while. Guy set their guidelines, having told them that food is in the fridge if they wanted it and not to be 'youthful' in the house while they were gone. Kakashi warned Naruto not to pick up any habits from Lee.

Naruto sits on the couch, watching Lee walk around the room. Lee's circling path starts making Naruto dizzy. Thinking of what he could do to stop the other boy's motion from making him sick, Naruto finally comes up with an idea. "Hey, Lee! Let's play tag!" With a sparkle in his eye, the mushroom-haired boy hurriedly accepts, but only if Naruto is "it" first.

Naruto shoots up, chasing after the other boy. Lee turns into nothing but a green blur at the site of Naruto chasing after him. The boys ran at amazing speeds for young children, jumping off of walls and destroying objects in their paths. Bookshelves start falling apart, their contents hitting the floor. Chairs and tables become flipped and turned over in the attempt to catch the new friend.

Eventually, the chase leads into the kitchen. It was a small space, as Lee soon realized. He runs into the stove, causing Naruto to catch up and tag him, zooming off immediately. Lee is off in hot pursuit of the young blonde in less than a second, neither of the boys noticing the hissing sound that was left in their wake.

After an hour of chasing one another and obliterating Guy's apartment with their game of tag, the two try to clean up the place out of guilt. After a while, Naruto stops to ask Lee a question.

"Hey, Lee, do you smell something stinky?"

Lee lifts his head and sniffs the air, forming a repugnant face from the smell. "Yeah! It's gross!" After a few minutes of thinking, Lee runs off to get a candle and match. "Let's light this candle to make the smell go away!"

Naruto agrees with the idea. Lee lights the cinnamon-scented candle and sets it on the table. The boys grow tired from having run around so much and decide to get pillow from Lee's room. Almost as soon as they walk into the room, they hear a loud boom from the front room. Smoke was seeping into the room everywhere behind them. The two, scared, run out of the fire-engulfed building, screaming their heads off.

Kakashi and Guy are at the bar, having a good old time.

Kakashi is drunk, having single-handedly finished off a full bottle of Sake by himself. Guy is drinking liquor made of plums, causing the drunken ninja to make fun of him for being such a health nut, even while drinking. After forty minutes of guzzling down alcohol, the two set their sights on a pair of women at the back of the bar.

One of the women, the one with purple hair that was in a pony tail, looks strong and boyish, yet sexy. Her top consists of a fish-net shirt and a long beige jacket. Her bottom is just a short beige skirt and her ninja headband is tied just above her light brown eyes that were friendly and welcoming.

Her friend, who had long raven-black hair pulled partly back, is more feminine, and even more mysterious. This woman has midnight-blue eyes that seem to swallow one whole. She has a brown, sleeveless top on which was frayed around the shoulders and a short black skirt, with black fishnets that stopped just above the knee. In between her knee and the bottom of her skirt was her headband.

Kakashi, drunk out of his mind from excessive drinking, stumbles his way over to the two women. After making the dangerous trek to the pair, he sits at their table. "Well, hewwo there cuties… My name is," he hiccups, "Kawashi! The great copy cat ninjwa!" He notices he was talking to Anko. "Oh, itz yew Ankooo… You know, you look different fwom a distanccccee."

Anko takes a swipe at Kakashi's face, somehow missing the drunken idiot, and Guy walks over with his plum liquor in hand. "Why, hello, my youthful ladies! AH! Anko! I see your flame burns bright with Kakashi over here! Hmmm… I haven't seen you here, miss. What's your name?"

The young girl looked at Guy with a slight blush, but it could have been mistaken with her over-drinking. "Amaya Nariko… Nice to meet you…."

Guy smiles, using his infamous pose where light rays come off his teeth. "Guy Might! Konoha's most youthful ninja! Yosh!" The young lady laughs at the odd one's antics.

But as Guy was getting to know his 'youthful' new friend, a masked ANBU member, one in an owl mask, appeared behind Guy. "Guy Might, I regret to inform you, but it seems that your house has been destroyed in a fire this evening."

Guy and Kakashi's smiles disappear instantly as they sober up and the realization strikes them that their young wards were in the house that was stated to have been destroyed. At the same time, they both yell.

"Naruto!"

"Lee!"

The pair storm out of the bar in such a haste that people and furniture were knocked around carelessly.

Naruto and Lee had were down a dark alley away from the flaming house.

The pair finally stop running, out of breath and red-faced from exertion of running from danger. Lee looks at his newfound friend, worried because the blonde boy seems even more stressed than himself, even though it wasn't his own house. "Naruto, what's the matter?"

Naruto, shaking head-to-toe in fear, looks at his companion with terrified eyes. "Kakashi will be mad at me!" Tears start to roll from his ocean-blue eyes, freely flowing down his cheeks. "I finally get the change to get adopted! And I BLOW UP HIS FRIEND'S HOUSE! Not to mention I nearly blew up his own this morning! He is going to send me back and tell everyone else that I'm a bad kid! No one will want me after this! I'm going to be thrown back into the dark loneliness again!" Naruto starts to sob deeply, completely distraught, and Lee takes him into a hug.

"You have me as a friend now, Naruto. How can you be lonely anymore?" Lee speaks truthfully.

Naruto looks at him, despair and doubt still in his eyes. "You can't mean it, Lee. Even after what happened?"

"Yosh! Guy has taught me to never give up on such a youthful person such as yourself, Naruto!"

Naruto laughed at the green clad boy, wiping away the tears that stained his face only seconds ago. Walking out of the alley, the two wonder what is going to happen next in their eventful day. They didn't have to wait long, for a worried Kakashi and Guy are rushing full force down the street, one screaming about 'Youthful flames not being put out so early,' and the other about 'Crazy ass blondes getting into danger.'

Kakashi and Guy skid to a halted stop as they see two small children walking out of an alley. Kakashi stops too fast, with too much liquor in his system, and falls over, causing Guy to trip over him and fall as well. The boys run over to the older men who have been reacquainted with the ground.

Naruto starts to tear up again, looking at the two older men. "Guy! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to blow up your house! It's all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Naruto clings to the man as he tries getting up, soaking his clothing with his waterfall of tears. "I didn't mean to! It was an accident! We were playing tag is all! Now no one will want me, will they?"

Kakashi and Guy watch the little boy, torn up over his act, and are on the verge of tears themselves, both of their hearts going out to him. Such a fear of being alone could only come from being alone for so long with no one to lean on. Guy pats Naruto on the head in condolence. "No worries, Naruto. It was an accident. And I'm sure Kakashi won't hold that against you. Isn't that right, my eternal rival?"

Kakashi's head was lolling in a circle, staring into the empty sky. "Make it stop spiiinniiiing." Everybody laughs at the drunken stupor of the older ninja.

All those who had wanted to adopt Naruto assemble in the council meeting room. Each person has their own air or activity. The Nara clan head is sleeping, his head nodding a little. Uchiha is looking smug, as usual. Hyuga was looking proper, as they teach their clan to be. Guy, standing at attention, looks much like a statue. Kakashi is in the corner, reading a copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise.' The Third Hokage was sitting before them all, his chin placed on his intertwined hands.

The Third stands up, addressing those in the room. "This meeting was called for by the Uchiha over the recent incident at Guy Might's house earlier today. Please speak now, Fugaku Uchiha."

The Uchiha clan head stood up and spoke in a commandingly firm voice, a deep voice that seems to run into the bones of others. "With the events at Guy Might's house, we, the Uchiha, would like to revoke our offer to adopt young Naruto Uzumaki."

Sarutobi takes a drag on his pipe before asking somberly, "Do any others feel the same?"

All but Kakashi and Guy raise their hands, including the sleeping Nara. Sarutobi notices this. 'Geez… They are getting lazier with each generation! Now they can even listen and answer while sleeping!'

"Guy, you're house was blown up," the Hyuga clan head points out, causing Guy to raise his hand as well.

Sarutobi sees that only the scarecrow in the group did not raise his hand. "So only Kakashi Hatake would like to adopt Naruto? Well, if Naruto agrees to this, then Naruto will be left in your care, Kakashi."

Kakashi smiles at the Third before poofing away and back in less than thirty seconds, using shushin no jutsu. He had Naruto in tow upon his return. Naruto looks around at everyone and spots the Third. "Hey Old Man!"

Sarutobi smiles at the boy and ruffles his blonde hair before taking a step back and kneeling down to the four-year olds eye level. "So, Naruto," he starts. "How would you like to be adopted by Kakashi?"

The smile that takes over his face seemed way too big for it face and like it should break in two. "Yes!" It was all the boy could muster up in his shocked stage. Sarutobi grins widely at the child. "Well then. It's settled. Naruto Uzumaki is to be left in the care of Kakashi Hatake. Dismissed."

Kakashi and Naruto are the first to leave, Kakashi whisking them halfway home and keeping quiet the rest of the way, letting Naruto soak in what had just happened and explore his own thoughts.

'I… I have a family now! Kakashi is my foster father!' His eyes start to produce tears yet again, but he holds them back. They all disappear once he reaches this next thought. 'I can ask him all kinds of things about ninja and become the best of all! I can even ask him about that necklace with the kunai on it…'

As he explored these thoughts, he became weary and exhausted from the day's events. He was practically a zombie when they got home and Kakashi had to carry the young blonde the rest of the way to his bed.

Please review! Anything you have to say is very much appreciated, as well as your continued reading. ;)