Starting from zero, we got nothing to lose.
AN: I don't own Naruto. Hope you will enjoy and tell me what you think! :)
English isn't my spoken language, so please tell me if I'd done some errors, so will I fix them as soon as I can! (:
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Two days after Kushina had arrived in panic to Neji and Tenten, Her elapsed son sat in his bed in the best room at the inn called The white deer, and thought that perhaps he wouldn't die, after all.
It had been the meatloaf he had eaten without any care on his way that had been his fall. Almost immediately he knew that it was a mistake to eat it, but he'd been so hungry that he was willing to pay for the meatloaf and a small glass of beverage when the wagon halted for a quick break.
Everything had so far gone a little too smoothly. Almost childishly easy. He had packed a carefully chosen bag with the most basic and important necessities, and taken his most modest and average suit and coat he could find furthest back in the closet. He had forcefully combed down his wild hair in a neat and dull hairdo, he had removed all of his accessories and now looked like he was a good governess, which was his goal from the beginning.
A Governess was an invisible young man or woman, who could travel unnoticed with stagecoach without as much as a glance or comment.
To find the right Inn to start from had demanded a bit more initiative, but with a close and accurate look at fathers map over London in his office showed which one he should choose to get to Lincoln. A shy governess who asked for directions to Lincoln at six in the morning wasn't something to remember, apparently.
Fact was, he felt remarkably pleased with himself and his strategy. He wondered if Sasuke would be proud of him with his schemes and plans, but quickly choked down the thoughts. His only trouble for now was how he was going from here, to Haku in Lincoln.
Naruto pressed his hand to his side and felt the comforting bump of his wallet, which he had strapped to his belt under his coat. He had just received his monthly spending money, and he also had a good amount of money left from his birthday. The least of his worries for this trip was money-issues.
He damned himself for just `craving´ that godforsaken meatloaf! Only the heaven knew what it was made of, and how long it could have waited out in the heat in some kitchen before he had eaten it. When they had made a quick stop to pick up some other passengers Naruto started to feel nauseous, and two stops later he knew that he was going to get sick at any moment.
The stagecoach had pulled over at The white deer, and he jumped off and was able to ask the coachman to unload his luggage before he dived in behind a barn and threw up violently. When he a while later came back from behind the barn the stagecoach had left, but luckily for him it turned out that the hostess was a nice and motherly woman, who helped Naruto. He explained that he was a governess who traveled back to his employers who lived in Lincoln and had fallen ill along the way.
"I'm sure it must have been that I ate some spoiled food, and now I'm a bit food poisoned," Naruto explained, exhausted. "But I can't travel under these circumstances. Luckily they don't expect me for another week, so they won't get worried. Is there a room available here for me to rent?"
The hostess was impressed of how neat and well-spoken this young man was, and felt assured when she saw how thick his wallet was. She thought it was such a shame that such fine young man's future was to only become a better servant.
"Follow me, dear," she had invited him over. "Luckily we have our finest room left, and I can send a maid up to look after you."
The maid had a lot to do during those days. Naruto was in really bad shape, and the hostess even considered calling for a doctor. But the following day he was feeling better, even if he still was pale. He managed to eat a piece of bread and drink some water without throwing it right up again.
Naruto was in bed and pondered about the situation. This was a setback, and he worried that he risked to get discovered before he took off again to Haku. But otherwise his plan was still solid. But his delay had made Naruto to think about things, and for some reason had his old and worn out book about tactics and strategies come to his mind. After a few chapters he had thrown it aside, not able to read anymore even if it would impress Sasuke. What had struck him as idiotic was that the writer had come up with all kinds of cunning and crafty maneuvers, without once even consider that the enemy may just do as they pleased, and with that wreck all the opponents plans.
That was exactly what he had done. Planned a life together with Sasuke, without for one second think that he could do and feel something else.
He came to his senses. He had'n even thought about the real man, but only the object of his dreams. His innocent and inexperienced fantasies.
Did the man he loved exist at all?
S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N.* S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N. S.N.S.N.
Meanwhile Uchiha Sasuke experienced a weird sense of joy over the hunt. Unlike his friend Neji, he had never been an intelligence officer, but no officer could reach his position without knowing how to hunt and track enemies on foreign grounds.
And this was a foreign place to him, he realized when he walked and searched the crowded inns in London. For a man who was used to give orders, and get them obeyed immediately, this experience of not wearing a uniform and being yelled at by workers of London was very new to him.
"Move your ass!" someone yelled at him when he stood outside and a stagecoach turned in through the long entrance. When he stepped aside to let it pass he was pushed by a man in iron-clad boots and a riding crop.
"Look where you are going, you idiot!"
He turned around to meet the man face to face, and the man backed away at Sasuke's icily stare with his hands lifted in defense. "I'm sorry, sir," he mumbled and looked away. "I didn't mean to disturb you."
Sasuke examined him from head to toe in silence until the man started to stutter. Sasuke said in a cold voice,- "You can help me by telling from which inn the stagecoach to Lincoln goes."
"From here, sir. Please let me show you to the office."
Sasuke let the man go ahead and lead him the way. It was a wild shot, but after a thoroughly investigation and a lot of questions to a crying Mrs. Uzumaki and Tenten, led him to suspect that he was going to visit his older sister Kurama.
"And then we have his childhood friend which he always hung out with in school, Haku I think his name was. Got married last year to Lord Momochi Zabusa," she said, knowing more than Naruto had thought. "And then there's…" She interrupted herself and looked guilty.
"Who, auntie?" Tenten had asked. "We need to think about all he possibly could have turned to."
"Oh dear. You can't let Minato know that I'm telling you this." Mrs. Uzumaki took a deep breath. "My sister in law is living not far from Lincoln."
"I've never heard of her, aunt Kushina."
"I know." Kushina looked around, pleading. "You have to promise not to tell anything to Minato. His youngest sister…" she blushed, but continued anyway. "She met an already married man without a title, and lived with him as his wife. They fell in love, but we discovered that he already had a wife, who had left him for another man. But she moved in with him anyway, even if they can't legally get married. Her family broke off all contact with her, even after his wife passed away ten years later and they got legally married, only for him to pass away six months later."
"Oh, That poor woman!" Tenten almost cried out. "It's so heartbreaking to hear!"
"I think so as well," Kushina explained. "I have written letters to her every year, but Minato never wanted to forgive her, since he told me that all that drama almost killed his father in shock. But it is stupid of me to even name her, I don't think Naruto even knows about her."
"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked. "Where do you keep her address?"
Kushina picked up her notebook from her purse and opened up to the right page. Sasuke studied the address, and then carefully lifted up a short strand of golden hair from the fold in the book. He silently held up the strand of hair, which shone brightly against Kushina's vibrant red hair.
"I think that he knows." Only Tenten noticed that when he wrote down the address in his notebook, he let the blonde strand stay between the pages in his book.
With the assumption that Kurama was the most likely choice for Naruto to choose, it was confirmed at the office. The bookkeeper assured him that this was the right station that would go to Lincoln, and he also had remembered Naruto.
"Do you mean the young governess, sir? At least I guess that he was that. A remarkably beautiful young man, that much is sure. But anxious, in some way. That's why I remember him so well, and by his good looks, if I may say so. So modestly dressed and with such big, alluring blue eyes…"
"Where was he going to?" Sasuke asked, and realized that he wouldn't get far if he was going to be rude to every man who insulted and annoyed him.
"Lincoln, sir. But he first asked for a ticket to East Anglia, and then he looked confused and asked for a ticket to Lincoln, sir."
"And how many stops are there from London to Lincoln?" Sasuke let his hand scoop up some coins from his pocket and sort them neatly. The bookkeeper shone up at the sound of coins.
"Would you like me to make a list, sir? Of all the stops or just the most important ones?"
"All of them." Sasuke answered and let a gold coin fall down in front of the bookkeeper. Thirty minutes later Sasukes wagon rolled off, with his two dark-grey horses securely strapped and the stableman left behind, into the streets north in the direction of the stagecoach's route.
Naruto had a full day ahead, and he couldn't risk assuming that he was going to East Anglia or Lincoln. He had to control every stop at the list.
There had been French colonels, some of them still alive to remember it, who also had a similar time-range ahead of Uchiha Sasuke and thought that they got away, but had been tracked, found, outmaneuvered and defeated.
A young inexperienced man like Naruto didn't stand a chance against him.
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Naruto reluctantly left the amenities at The white deer the next morning. He wanted to go to Haku earlier, but the inn and the friendly hostess had felt very warm and secure. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he felt a little insecure about it all. `What a manly man I am´, Naruto thought bitterly.
But he was picked up by the stagecoach without any trouble, and the hostess had waved him off and told him to go to the Inn called `Crown & Anchor´, where another stagecoach was going to Lincoln.
He examined his new fellow passengers from under the brim of his hat. He relaxed when he saw that it saw a sturdy farmer's wife with a basket, a skinny young man who was asleep, and a man who wore a priest's white collar.
He politely lifted his hat when he got in and seated himself.
"I hope I don't disturb you," He said after a few minutes. "But I heard that the hostess told you to go to the inn Crown & Anchor, and I wondered if I could be of any help. My name is Orochimaru, pastor Orochimaru, and I am also going to change stagecoach towards Lincoln, which I do often. I could point out the office for you and so on when we arrive, if you want."
Naruto politely thanked him, but was worried that he would want to keep talking to him. Because even if he was a priest, he was a stranger and Naruto was raised not talk to random people on public transportations. And he somehow got an unpleasant feeling in his gut. But the priest stayed silent after that, so he leaned back, happy that he had a guide if needed.
They stopped once on their short trip to Peterborough, where the change of stagecoach would be. It became chaotic when the carriage stopped, and the steady farmer's wife got stuck with the basket in the door, and Pastor Orochimaru rushed up to help her, slipped on the step and fell heavily against Naruto, so that the skinny young man woke up from his slumber and flew up to assist them all. Naruto started to feel a little bit claustrophobic with everyone over him, trying to help one another.
But they soon arrived at the Inn Crown & Anchor, and pastor Orochimaru helped everyone to unload their luggage.
"Now I am only going to go and get my jig," the priest said in a chatty matter. "And then go home to my little sister. You only have to walk through that door to find the hostess and a lovely room. She will tell you when the next stagecoach will arrive. I hope you have enough money for the rest of the trip, young man?"
"Yes I do, thank you," Naruto answered confidently, and felt after his wallet. He got panic. "My wallet! It's gone!"
"Oh dear lord, That young man must have been a pickpocket. Mrs. Ayame!"
The hostess hurried out and wiped her hands dry with her apron. She smiled when she saw the priest.
"There you are, pastor! Your Jig is ready for you, sir, but…" She stopped talking when she saw their upset faces. "What's the matter?"
"Someone has just stolen my wallet," Naruto lamented. "This man thinks that there was a pickpocket with us in the stagecoach."
"How awful!" the hostess said, her voice filled with sympathy. "I guess you cannot stop these horrible brats. This is the third time this have happened here." She patted Naruto on the arm in a comforting manner. "We better go and tell the police and magistrate right away."
"But that won't help me get my money back," Naruto stammered out. "What am I going to do? I need to get to Lincoln."
They were all silent for a while before the pastor Orochimaru spoke: "Normally, I would not suggest it, but since I have an open cart, and it's still the middle of the day, you would maybe consider going with me to my home where my sister is waiting for me? You can spend the night safely in our home, and tomorrow we can sit down and come up with something. Maybe you can write to some of your friends in Lincoln? I have a neighbor who is possibly going to travel that direction one or two days from now."
"That's a good idea. How nice of you, pastor Orochimaru."
Naruto bit his lower lip. It sounded like the best option for now, and the priest seemed to be well known and well reputed around here, and often leave his jig at the inn. Spending some time with a priest and his sister sounded like a respectable thing. Another advantage was also that he disappeared from the main road, in case he where followed. He made up his mind.
"Thank you, sir." He said in a solid voice. "If your sister don't mind it I would be very thankful."
The jig was in good condition and was dragged by a beautiful black pony, and Naruto felt his mood rise when they traveled at a brisk pace along the road. The loss of his money seriously sucked, but he wasn't too many kilometers away from Haku, who not only had a very generous allowance, but a very rich husband who encouraged him to spend it. Naruto knew that as soon as he would get the letter and know what situation he was in, Haku would immediately send a carriage and some money for him.
Pastor Orochimaru didn't ask any personal questions, so Naruto felt obliged to introduce himself.
"I should tell a little about myself, sir, because I don't think your sister wants a complete stranger in her home. My name is N… Natsuo, and I am a governess on my way to my employer in Lincoln."
Naruto felt a bit shameful for lying to a priest, but he would hardly help him if he knew the truth.
"Yes, we have to make sure you get there as soon as possible, Mr. Natsuo." The priest said and turned onto another road. Naruto started to feel confused. The roads had to be really tortuous around in these neighborhood, he decided, because it felt like they were going in circles.
"I'm sure that your employer is looking forward for you to teach her children, and that your family and friends will be worried if they don't hear that you arrived safely."
Naruto bit his lip. It would seem odd if he only sent one letter to Haku and nobody else during his enforced stay at the priest and his sister.
"I don't have a family," he said and tried to sound brave but lonesome. "And I don't really have any close friends. A governess life is quite lonesome, I'm afraid."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Pastor Orochimaru said gravely. "You have to comfort yourself with the thoughts of the good work you perform and the teachings you give to young minds."
"Yes indeed." Naruto felt that further discussions could be dangerous. He had to remember everything he could about his own governesses before he could start talking about the life and meaning of being one. "Are we close to your church yet, sir?"
"I don't have one. I have always been more of a learning person than a pastor, even if I have many friends in London who I preach to if they want me to."
"Well that's good too." Narutos mind was racing. This was even much more difficult than making small talk with a duchess. "That must be very… satisfying."
"Indeed it is, my dear Natsuo. Even I earn quite well on my efforts in the capital city. We are here now."
The jig pulled in front of a humble, yellow brick house that lay in an overgrown and gloomy garden with lawn and some willows. It wasn't particularly in any disrepair, more like it lacked love and been neglected, and Naruto felt chills despite the warm afternoon. `A priest with a small income couldn't afford to put large amounts on outdoor appearances´ Naruto told himself. It was ungrateful to be critical when he'd been offered help when he was in need.
There was no stableman in sight and pastor Orochimaru just dropped the reins when he helped Naruto to unload the luggage. The pony just stood there patiently, not even thinking about wandering off. At the same time the front door opened.
"My dear Anko!" Pastor Orochimaru grabbed Naruto's arm with one hand and his luggage with the other, and urged him to the door. "I have a young man who got into trouble because of a pickpocket thief. He is on his way to his new employer and doesn't have any friends or family to turn to for help."
The woman who stood at the door with a long, white hand lifted to keep the door from closing, surprised Naruto. She was tall, dressed with dark elegance in a dark dress with a beautiful low neckline, and despite her being at least thirty-five, she was strikingly beautiful. According to Naruto's experience, women at that age was already married, and dressed and acted like it. This woman had a somewhat dangerous and independent aura.
She examined Naruto from head to toe with a vague smile on her plump lips before she raised her eyebrow at her brother, who hastily completed their introduction.
"Dear Anko, this is Mr. Natsuo, no last name. Mr. Natsuo, this is my sister miss Anko."
Naruto bowed. "I have to apologize for intruding. Pastor Orochimaru has been very kind to me and the situation I'm in, and has offered me to stay for a couple of days until my letter reach my new employer, who can send a carriage to pick me up."
"Of course. It is nice to have you here, Mr. Natsuo. Would you like me to show you to your room?" Her voice was cool and not rude, but Naruto felt a strange tone of amusement under it. It made him feel uneasy, which was ridiculous. He was tired, that's all. Tired, upset because of the theft and still not completely recovered from his earlier stomach ache and nausea because of the meatloaf.
"Thank you." He followed Anko through a dark hall, up the stairs and in to a room. Miss Anko stepped aside when he entered the room, and Naruto took a few steps further in before he turned around, and saw both brother and sister stand in the opening and stare at him.
"I…" his voice died away when he noticed their icy, calculating faces and realized that the room was basically without any furniture, except for a bed and a washstand.
The narrow window had thick iron-bars.