Byakuya

Chapter 32

When Naruto and Yuki finally made their way along Konoha's busy streets –Naruto now casually clothed in his orange pants and a black t-shirt- it was already late afternoon, and Naruto could almost already feel the headache making its way towards him.

"…Seriously, Naruto, you have absolutely no taste. I think it's amazing you've passed off as attractive until now. I mean if I hadn't done some heavy shopping with you before, or if your teacher hadn't ripped that orange jumpsuit, I swear you would still be wearing it…" Yuki rambled, indicating wildly around with his hands, his mouth twisted in an amused smirk as he insulted Naruto. Naruto groaned at both the teasing and the pain he could still spot in Yuki's eyes, but refrained from commenting on it.

Yuki would talk more when he was ready, and the pink haired, 17 year old boy was very touchy about his pride, something that didn't quite allow crying twice a day. Frankly, Naruto was quite surprised that Yuki had even admitted he liked Drake, or, he hadn't, at least protested against the statement. Naruto had yet to hear the words from the missing-nins own mouth.

"Hey! I'll have you know that jumpsuit is the most comfortable piece of fabric ever made!" Naruto exclaimed, making some of the villagers glare at him, only to have their eyes fasten on the suave form of Yuki.

They attracted quite a bit of attention, Yuki noticed, but continued to ignore it, used it as he was. He was, after all, the Jinchuuriki of the water country, and comparing situations between the Jinchuuriki, he supposed his situation had been something between Naruto's and Gaara's. He had been avoided and insulted like Naruto, but he had also held some fear from the older populace, so he didn't have it quite as bad as Naruto.

Sometimes, Yuki pondered, how Naruto had ever become as gold hearted as he was.

"I'll say you're in denial. That piece of crap is so ugly it makes me want to throw up, not to mention it gives anyone looking at it a massive headache." Yuki dryly noted as he moved slightly to avoid one burly villager, another chuunin if Yuki read his movements correctly. Once one passed to jounin lever or higher in skill, you couldn't avoid beginning to move with that constant fluidity and silence in your moves.

"Yeah. Well when people are used to you being both orange and loud, they have harder time spotting you when you're not orange. It throws them off guard. I can be silent if I want to, you know. I am a ninja after all.

"So you mean that the urban horror that is your jumpsuit was a plot of some sort? You sort of keep surprising me, Uzumaki." Ino said as she pushed into the conversation, followed by Ten-Ten and a reluctant Kiba.

"You shouldn't be surprised. He is an Uzumaki after, they are known for their surprising qualities." Yuki snapped rudely, frowning with disagreement to the rude blonde that had pushed into their company. Yuki didn't consider himself nobility or over class, but he had been raised with proper manners as Jinchuuriki should –Naruto was an exception as Konoha had treated him poorly, leaving him without a guardian- and Yuki strongly unapproved of the girls rude behaviour.

"Ah, no need to be so uptight'. I've never seen you here before. Care to introduce your friend for me, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked, her light eyes calculating. Her eyebrows shot up when Naruto spoke.

"No business of yours. Now move along, Yamanaka," Naruto hissed almost rudely, before turning to smirk slightly to Kiba. "And how in the nine hells did they succeed to drag you with them?" Naruto asked, overjoyed at seeing the vein on Kiba's forehead pop, something that made him seem more like the hot-headed genin he had been, than the long haired, composed chuunin he really was now. Kiba bit his lip to keep from snapping at Naruto and forced himself to shrug as calmly as he could.

Naruto wondered if it would be rude to wonder why Kiba's shoulders seemed to be under some sort of a spasm.

"No need to be rude, Uzumaki-san," Ino frowned, unaware that she was appearing slightly snobbish. "And what do you mean Uzumaki's? There are no Uzumaki's in Konohagakure. I've heard a story about how Naruto's name came to. Apparently the third Hokage had problem with coming up with a last name for Naruto and in the end decided to go with 'fishcake' and 'whirlpool'. The rumour also says that he came up with these names while eating ramen." Ino sneered. Yuki drew in a startled breath, and Kiba's eyes widened. Ten-Ten's mouth opened in shock horror unable to believe what she had just heard.

Naruto remained impassive. "Whatever your illusions of me are, Yamanaka-san, you should refrain from listening to everything your clan head says. Hidden beneath the surface are reasons you haven't the slightest idea of." Naruto said, his eyes cold. Ten-Ten slapped Ino.

"What is in you mind! Has your shintenshin no jutsu tampered with your heart and common sense?" Ten-Ten bellowed, and they started to gather quite a crowd. Ino glanced at Ten-Ten startled.

"What? But that's what the rumour says; I didn't say it's what I believe." Ino said blushing now. "Besides it isn't like Naruto haven't heard all this before!"

Ten-Ten looked at Naruto a bit startled.

"Really?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly everybody's favourite person." Naruto reluctantly admitted, while Ten-Ten just looked furious and Kiba a bit guilty.

"Yeah if you can call being raised by ANBU not being exactly everybody's favourite person. More like you were despised and treated like trash." Yuki retorted.

"Oi! Shut your face! Confidential information!" Naruto snapped, while Kiba just frowned.

"Yeah, well they are going to hear it sooner or later. I can't believe they say they don't even know the family of their own fou—"Yuki began, but Naruto put his hand over Yuki's mouth.

Naruto glared. "They don't know!" Naruto hissed. Yuki stared, surprised.

"Nothing? They don't even know who your father was?" Yuki asked incredulously. Naruto nodded reluctantly.

"Well damn."

"Yea. Now come on, we have shopping to do." Naruto snapped, before pulling Yuki into the crowd and disappearing, unnerved by the glances Ino, Ten-Ten and Kiba were throwing at him. Kiba's eyes were open with shock surprise, and Naruto could already see he would not let the slip up lie. Kiba did have his moments of brilliance, after all.

"I didn't mean to offend him…" Ino muttered to herself while staring at her feet and biting her lip, furious at herself that she hadn't thought before she had opened her mouth.

"Naruto's father?" Ten-Ten half asked, throwing a look at Kiba. She was surprised to see the black haired chuunin stare right back at her, his eyes full of shock, which was surprising because Kiba usually recovered even of major shocks quickly.

"He was raised by ANBU?" Kiba repeated. Brown eyes met black ones, before the two voices spoke at the same time.

"Shikamaru."

Ino looked a bit hurt after her two friends (at least she thought Ten-Ten counted as a friend) dashed off without her.

"Hey! Wait up!"

---------------

"What is going on?" Yuki demanded from Naruto once they had slipped into a shadowed alley. Naruto threw an exasperated look at his fellow Jinchuuriki.

"Look, once the sealing was done, in all records the person named Uzumaki Naruto ceased to exist. It means that even though I'm a Konoha nin, I'm not listed as one. My school report cards were always sent to the Hokage's office, where they mysteriously disappeared, along with every paper or record that had anything to do with me. By the records, Uzumaki Naruto doesn't exist. I don't exist." Naruto explained, and Yuki frowned.

"And why on earth would they erase you from the records? I understand that they don't go boasting about the Kyuubi, but what did concealing your ancestry be use for?"

"I'm not sure, but it was some kind of scheme to protect me and to keep my identity covered as long as possible. And even though I had to discover my ancestry from a musty old scroll at the Coven, I am grateful. At least I had about twelve years to live as a nobody… Look, after this comes out, I'm going to be watched even more than before." Naruto continued. "And I would appreciate if you'd avoid saying anything you know about my family or my political connections."

"They'll know sooner or later. At the latest when Akatsuki starts to really move again. They've been silent for almost four years, yes, but sources promised us three years. We're living on borrowed time, and you should make sure your friends are loyal to you, not to what they've always thought you are."

"Look, I know. It isn't that simple." Naruto growled. Yuki let the subject go, and rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

"Oh, whatever, I'll watch my mouth." Yuki promised, before starting to search for a liquor store. Naruto followed a half step behind, his head down and his face sullen.

They walked in silence for a moment, until just outside the spirit store, Yuki turned around and spoke.

"Look, I'm only doing this because I know how uncomfortable it would make you. But if somebody asks me, sometime, I'm not going to lie."

Naruto nodded, and his blue eyes softened. "Thanks," Naruto answered his voice slightly hoarse.

"It means a lot to me."

------------------------

"I thought you hated shopping," Yuki commented from under a huge pile of bags and cartons of food and drinks, and even flowers. "You always whine so much about it. Now, we've been shopping for hours…! I wanna shop something fun, like clothes, for example…" Yuki whined as his arms strained under the huge weight. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Oh, stop your complaining. You picked half of the stuff anyway. Besides, this is different. I hate clothes shopping, with you."

"Me?" Yuki asked his face in a pout. "Why do you hate shopping with me?"

"Because you always talk me over into trying and wearing things I really don't want to wear."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too! Do I even need to bring up the subject of that pink skirt?" Naruto scoffed, adjusting the bags he was carrying, heavy with ice cream and chocolate.

"Oh, like you can afford to complain, Mr. I'll-buy-my-best-friend-a-pink-apron-because-it's-hilarious!" Yuki snapped, before setting down the bags and boxes on the floor near the entrance of the small clothes store they had entered. "Besides, you looked fetching in that mini-skirt. Gaara was really drooling all over you."

"Well, yeah." Naruto admitted, setting his bags down as well. "But I didn't need the skirt to get him to do that. And he kept bringing it up for weeks. I was called Rokudaime-hime for ages." Naruto grumbled, fingering a long sleeved black shirt, made of some soft fabric. Yuki took the shirt off the rack and put it against Naruto's chest before backing slightly so he could see it better. Shaking his head, Yuki put the shirt back to the rack and started to search for something else.

Yuki's fingers found a white leather halter-neck-top with a lot of buckles on the sides. Yuki's eyes brightened.

"Speaking of Rokudaime-hime, you read the newest Icha Icha paradise?" Yuki leered. Naruto looked confused before blushing brightly and covering his face with his hands.

"Oh god. I haven't seen it yet, but Ero-sennin went off into an apologizing round earlier today." Naruto's eyes glimmered with rage towards the toad sannin.

"No, no, it's quite entertaining actually." Yuki assured Naruto.

"How entertaining?" Naruto asked hesitantly. Yuki smirked.

"Well the setting starts in this sleazy strip bar, called 'horizontal'. At this bar dances the enticing stripper 'Rokudaime', who stripping in purple leather tries to seduce the Kazekage…" Yuki started his detailed explanation.

Naruto groaned.

-------------------------

"Why are you choosing only white clothes off the racks anyway? Not that I have anything against white, but it isn't exactly a good ninja colour. Well, except in the snow country maybe. And I've heard some rumours that the next jounin exam would be held there, but I don't really know if I'm going to believe that. It's not like they have a lot of ninja there." Naruto said, eyeing the white leather pants Yuki had offered for him to try on, which looked actually more like small shorts and high stay-ups.

"Oh, that." Yuki acknowledged, but continued throwing more clothes for Naruto to try on over the wall that separated the changing room from the rest of the store. "Well, actually it does have a bit to do with the snow country and why I'm wearing almost completely white as well. Kisho thought that we should show our power on the next Jounin exam."

"Show our power? You mean like causing some stupid scene and appearing in a fancy swirl of leaves?" Naruto laughed, thinking of the time Kakashi and Sasuke had appeared similarly to their first chuunin exam.

"That's not actually a bad idea." Yuki said seriously, as if pondering the suggestion, thought Naruto could hear the amusement in his voice. Naruto snorted, and tried on another cloth.

"But really, both the Akatsuki and the Gate have been starting to appear more in the political circles. There's some rumours going on about Akatsuki especially, that they've built headquarters in the Earth country and that the Tsuchikage is well aware of it." Yuki continued. Naruto froze in mid movement, his arms hugging his torso as he had been about to remove a shirt.

"You mean the Tsuchikage is allying with the Akatsuki?" Naruto asked incredulously. The idea itself sounded ridiculous. After all, the five countries had long been against the criminal organisation of S-class nukenin ever since the Akatsuki was grounded.

"Not officially. But, you know. Rumours."

"Yeah, rumours." Naruto frowned. "So what about showing our power and what does white clothes have to do with it?" The blonde asked, his voice slightly muffled by the shirt he was putting on.

"Umm, so anyway, the Gate has been becoming really active in political circles, and some of the smaller countries are intimidated by it, especially those near Shadow belt. So were going to appear all, and I'm talking about the Jinchuuriki now, at the Jounin exam. That's where the most power will be displayed anyway. So we'll appear in one group, wearing the Covens symbols and seeping of power, the usual, you know." Yuki explained. Naruto frowned.

"But I'm taking part of the jounin exam, you know, on Konoha's behalf."

"Yeah, Kisho said you probably would. But you could wear white anyway. We all have these uniform-like jackets as well, a bit personalized, is all. It's just for show, so that we'll seem more like a unified front."

"Yeah, well, it would do well for the Kage's to realize Coven isn't to be messed with. They didn't even know what the Coven was before I explained it." Naruto grumbled his mind elsewhere as he slipped onto a short pink skirt and white leather top and white stay-ups.

"They didn't?" Yuki sound surprised as he entered the changing room and took all the clothes Naruto had proved on, along with the clothes he had been previously wearing. Yuki looked thoughtful as he slipped out of the changing room and onto the desk where he paid for all the clothes with Naruto's credit card.

Naruto continued to hassle with the buckle in the front of his top, grumbling to himself.

"Well, it is a bit expected, actually." Yuki finally said.

"Hum?" Naruto half-asked, still occupied with the complicated top.

"The Coven is old after all. They've probably just forgotten about it, or dismissed it as something that faded in power."

"Perhaps." Naruto admitted and stepped out of the changing room. Yuki ran his eyes over Naruto's slim figure, appreciating the sight.

"You look good." Yuki leered, and Naruto, now cleared off the slight confusing genjutsu, looked a bit startled at the pink miniskirt he was wearing. Yuki laughed while Naruto looked gob smacked.

"Whoa-… when—who di... when did you?" Naruto stuttered, before he growled in rage.

"Oh, I am so going to get you for this!" Naruto snapped, and Yuki, now carrying all their packages, skipped off the store, leaving Naruto fuming.

Yuki stuck his head inside the store again. "Oh, and I bought you shoes as well. Now be nice, Rokudaime-hime and put them on." Yuki grinned devilishly, before disappearing. Naruto stared at the pink shoes with a four inch heel, flinching, before cursing and putting them on as the store clerk was starting to look at him weirdly.

Naruto ran as fast as he could with his shoes, cursing all the while, especially aware off how everyone turned to look at him.

"YUKI! OMAE O KOROSU!" Naruto screeched, before starting to hunt the other bijuu host.

That bastard.

A/N: Ah! I'm so disappointed it took so long for me to write this. Last Thursday I was promising I would update the next day and all… Really sorry, but I'm really bad with meeting deadlines. So, as in effort to update ofter, I won't make any promises, 'kay?

Please tell me if anything struck you as odd or something, so I can clear it up. And any mistakes too so that when my BETA writes this clear someday (hoping soon, Sufinkusu) then I'll know the mistakes I'll have to make sure are corrected.

Hope you enjoyed it

--Dark