Kitsune and Neko - Chapter One
~eilidhwasmyname
(disclaimer; i seriously don't own Naruto. My Japanese is terrible and i'm not good enough at drawing .)
They arrived at their destination; Konoha. They had been on a month long mission, attempting to stave off the looming war against Iwagakure. Since the Shinobi Alliance had dissolved, something triggered by Hatake Kakashi's loyalty to his past friend Uchiha Obito, Iwa had been sending threats to Konoha, blaming the Village and Hatake clan for the loss of thousands of lives. Kakashi was in disgrace, barely ever leaving his flat that he shared with his partner of the last year Anko.
Naruto couldn't fault Kakashi as he knew that he would have done the same thing if he had been in that situation with Sasuke. Sasuke was his weak point, something he was working on fixing.
Their mission had been to kill select members of the Iwa Ninja's. They had, of course, succeeded. Naruto, at a 100% success rate for all missions, wasn't just a name anymore. Uzumaki -Namikaze Naruto; Konohagakure's best weapon, a living legend, and all the Hidden Villages knew it.
Naruto passed through the gates that surrounded his home village, Hinata close on his tail. They stopped at the hut that all departing and returning ninja had to pass to hand over their ID's.
UZUMAKI-NAMIKAZE NARUTO
ANBU – BLACKOPS
BLOOD TYPE: B
RANK: S
SPECIALTY: WIND JUTSUS; KYUUBI
-ASSASSIN-
HYUUGA HINATA
ANBU – BLACKOPS
BLOOD TYPE: A
RANK: A
SPECIALTY: GENTLE FIST; WATER JUTSUS
-TRACKER-
They passed with ease, making their way onto the roofs of the village. It was the fasted means of travel for shinobi and also meant that no civilian would notice their bloodied armour.
They arrived at the Hokage Tower within seconds of being granted entrance to the village. Konoha had changed, and not all for the better. After Pein's attack on the village, they had rebuilt and finally started to live with some normalcy, something they had been sorely missing. Since the end of the 4th Great Shinobi War, everything had changed. Tsunade had died, murdered by Uchiha Madara, despite her best efforts to heal herself. No one can survive being cut in half, not even the Senju Princess. Nara Shikamaru had taken the Hokage's seat, despite Naruto's nomination – he no longer wanted the responsibility of taking care of everyone in the village; he didn't believe himself strong enough anymore.
Ignoring the door based at the foot of the tower, both elite ANBU entered the Hokage's office through the window – something which never failed to piss Shikamaru off.
"Kitsune, Neko, I do have a door." The Rokudaime Hokage didn't glance up from his paperwork, but did raise a hand in acknowledgment. A half burnt cigarette hung limply in his mouth.
"Hokage-sama, Kitsune and Neko to report – mission success." Naruto, ever the professional, stood to attention, directly in front of Shikamaru, hands clasped behind his back. His mask was still on, his bandana still covering his blonde hair and dry blood still attached to his armour. Hinata stood behind, letting her superior handle the report.
"Good. That should hopefully hold things off for another few weeks. Gaara has been in contact and says he will back us up so that's a load off my shoulders." Shikamaru frowned and finally looked up to his friend and ANBU Captain. "Well done Kitsune, Neko, you can have the rest of the week off. I'll send you a message when the next mission comes up. Hopefully you'll actually get the week off this time and not be called sooner." A smile tugged at Shikamaru's lips and he waved a dismissal hand. "Go get drunk or something, it's the evening, always a good time to enjoy some sake." Naruto and Hinata bowed and preformed a shunshin, disappearing in a puff of smoke and leaves.
"Damn it. Aya! Get in here and clear that up?" Aya, Shikamaru's sectary, rushed in and frowned at the leaves.
"You need to tell your ninja to stop doing that in the office..." She sighed and proceeded to clear up.
Naruto appeared in his apartment, a small bedroom, kitchen that doubled as the sitting room, and a bathroom. Small, but perfect for him. He removed his mask – the mask was his prized possession. It was black, something that was alien in the ANBU where they used white masks. There was no pattern in this mask although it was clearly meant to represent a fox with the slits for eyes and large ears. Naruto loved his mask; it represented to him his skill and power as a ninja, and reminded him that he was nothing but a tool to be used by his leader, something that he strongly believed in now. If you are nothing but a tool, you do not get attached and therefore have no weakness– or at least that was the jinchuriki's philosophy.
Naruto, after seeing how loyalty can only fuck you over with Kakashi and Obito, had given up on the idea. He still cared for his friends, but he doubted he would mourn for long if one of them died. After the war, Naruto was constantly plagued with guilt – if only he had been stronger, if only he have been faster, if only – then maybe so many that had died would still be alive today. Joining the ANBU had helped. They taught how to suppress emotions, so that a shinobi could become as effective as possible, not to be distracted by stupid things like love, or friendship. At least, that was the ideal – it was much harder to achieve that Naruto had ever thought.
Hinata was Naruto's biggest source of guilt. He didn't know how he felt about her. She had protected him against Pein. She had kept him strong against Madara and Obito. She had been there for support when the Yondaime had been resurrected and Namikaze Minato had finally met his son properly for the first time. That had been the point where Naruto had almost broken – to see his father walking among the living with none other than Uchiha Sasuke with him. He didn't remember much of what happened, only that, according to Hinata and Sakura, Minato had given Naruto the other half of the Kyuubi's chakra, Minato had seen who Tobi really was and Sasuke had left again.
After everything that had happened, Hinata was still there for him. He cared for her and at the same time, tried to convince himself that she was nothing to him. She was a weakness, much like Sasuke. But then again, everyone had a guilty pleasure and at 19 years old, Hinata was a goddess. She was completely gorgeous and Naruto could hardly resist, especially after she had thrown herself at him. He was only human, half demon – whatever -, after all.
He placed his mask on his small kitchen table, flicking his kettle on to boil. A cup of tea with a healthy dash of sake was exactly what he needed right now. He left the kitchen, entering the door on his right and taking in the sight that was his bedroom. He had moved since his younger days and now lived in the same apartment block as Kakashi and Anko, along with many other ANBU both retired and active. The new apartment was smaller than his first but it suited him better.
He removed his armour, undid the wrap around his thigh, and stripped so he was standing in nothing but his black boxers and bandana. The bandana came off as he rubbed his head, grabbing a few locks of hair and tugging – the sharp pain reminded him that he was still here, he was still alive and real.
The kettle had boiled, Naruto could hear the switch click; his hearing far more sensitive than was possible for a human. Just one of the perks of having Kurmara as a tenant. Making his way back through to the kitchen, he grabbed a mug, teabag and large bottle of cheap sake that he always kept on the counter. Minutes later and he was feeling much more content.
A knock came at the door and a quick sniff told him that it was Hinata. She must have come from upstairs. Hinata had moved out of her family home soon after the war had finished. She couldn't stand being somewhere that reminded her so much of her cousin Neji, the big brother than she had always dreamed of having being killed right in front of her had shaken her deeply and even three years later she had nightmares.
"Door is open, Hina," Naruto called, taking another swig of his hot drink. Hinata opened the door and stepped inside. She had changed and evidently had a shower, if her soaking wet hair was anything to go by. Dress in a baggy tee-shirt that Naruto was sure had once belonged to him, and a pair of black cotton short shorts. She looked ready for a night of movies and drinking, something which he was sure they would be doing. "You alright?"
"Yeah. Arm hurts like a bitch but it's healed so nothing I can do. Just achy I guess." She gestured to the pale scar that ran down her right arm, from shoulder to elbow. One of the Iwa nins had been a tricky bastard and had managed to get a hit on her before she was able to kill him. While she was an excellent medical-nin, she didn't have the talent that Sakura did and was unable to heal all injuries in the way that the pink haired ninja did.
"Good. I need to go have a shower. Make yourself at home." Naruto smiled, but it didn't meet his eyes, only a slight tug at his lips. He disappeared into his bedroom again, something Hinata was slightly grateful for. Naruto standing there in nothing but his boxers was not good for her heart.
She made her way to the kitchen, picking up the dirty plates that were stacked on Naruto's table beside his mask. She wouldn't wash them for him, but there was no point them just sitting on the table rather than in the sink. She grabbed two cups, the open bottle of sake and walked towards the single sofa. It wasn't much larger than a love seat, and Naruto's television was pathetic but it was the only tele in the building that had a DVD player. Hinata set down the glasses and bottle and proceeded to peruse Naruto's collection of films. He had somehow managed to collect a good few hundred over the years and Hinata loved nothing more than to snuggle up with him and watch one. She decided to pick something funny but childish and couldn't help but pick Howl's Moving Castle, a film she had been in love with since she was a small child.
Just as Hinata was putting the DVD into the machine, Naruto walked in, now dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and carrying his duvet, complete with bright orange cover. Hinata smiled and settled on the sofa, waiting for Naruto to sit beside her before pouring two glasses of sake, giving one to Naruto and placing her legs across his so she could lie down. Naruto smiled, gulped his drink down and threw the duvet over the two of them just as the film started.
The next few hours were two teenagers behaving like children and trying to ignore the fact that not everything was peachy, and that a message could come at any moment to tell them that war had been declared. Naruto laughed and did his best to act normal as he massaged Hinata's feet.
'I am nothing but a tool. Hinata is a weakness. I cannot be allowed to have weaknesses.'
~Thanks for reading :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't actually know where exactly I am going with this story but we will see. If you have any suggestions of things that you would like to happen, then I can try my best to work it into the story as I only have a vague idea of what I am doing :) Also, please excuse my shocking grammar and spelling. i'm dyslexic and don't enjoy proof reading so it takes me a while to notice ever obvious mistakes. X3