"Naruto! It's your turn to work the window!" Haku called, looking over his shoulder toward the blonde man shifting the fries. Said blonde nodded and hurried to go wash his hands. As he passed Haku, the brunette placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let them bother you. They're just immature kids, they don't understand." He was referring to some of the teens on the Konoha football team, sitting just in the corner.
They had been regulating the Kage Joint ever since news of a certain mans pregnancy had circulated. While they never did much at school, they were around almost every day Naruto worked, no matter what job he had for that day. If he was on cleaning duty, they would make a mess of the bathrooms. If he was working the register, they would make their orders as convoluted as possible, then complain that he got it wrong, even if it was right. One time, when Naruto had been making the burgers, they asked him to hold the AIDS.
There were four of them, two juniors and two seniors, and every now and then a couple girls would join them in the ridicule. They wore football clothing no matter where they went, a way to intimidate anyone with the thought of going against them. And for the last month, Naruto had become their newest and only target.
Naruto took a deep breath and stepped behind the cash register, waiting for them to have at him. He couldn't act out, not with a two month old baby in his stomach. Plus, Orochimaru was big on having the team come to his restaurant after games, bringing in a more than healthy profit each time. If Naruto ruined that, he could kiss his job goodbye.
One of the seniors, Naruto had learned his name was Hidan, walked up to the register. He looked up at the menu with a puzzled look on his face, as if thinking hard about what to order. Then he leaned over the counter, squinting at Naruto. "I don't see you on the menu." He whispered with a grin.
Sighing, Naruto replied, "'Cause I'm not. Please order when you're ready." He stared down at the buttons on the register, waiting. When no words spilled from Hidan's mouth, he looked up. "What would you like sir?"
Hidan continued to eye the blonde, his lips still holding a smirk. "I told you, what I want isn't on the menu. I'll wait for you to make an adjustment."
Naruto frowned. "Look, I just need you to order something—" The white haired male let his hand slip over the counter to reach over and tightly snatch Naruto's fingers. The skin contact sent a pang of fear straight to the blondes core, none of his harassers had ever touched him. One more thing to worry about. "Please, let go."
"Why? So you can go on working back there like you're not some kind of abomination? You are a boy." There was a dark glint in Hidan's eye. "Well... At least, I think you are." He tugged on Naruto's hand, causing him to yelp as his stomach was pulled against the counter. "Let's see!" He looked back at his friend who were all nodding in agreement.
"There's no way that's a man!"
"Real boys can't have kids."
"You hear that?" Hidan asked, his hand ever tightening. "There's no way you can have a dick if you have a kid in your stomach. Or are you just fakng? Is Sasuke Uchiha that good, huh?" Then he leaned over to whisper in Naruto's ear. "Wanna see if I'm better?" Before the blonde could shove him away, Hidan was claiming his mouth, intruding and stealing his breath. Naruto froze, then snapped his teeth down hard, biting the offensive tongue. Hidan pulled away quickly and clutched his mouth, moaning in pain. Naruto stood perfectly still, trying to wrap his mind around the damage he'd done.
"You're gonna pay for that, freak." The football player glared. He started to climb over the counter.
"You can't come back here!" Naruto told him, starting to cower back against the wall. Instinctively his hand came up to protect his slightly protruding stomach.
Haku ran up from the kitchen and stood between Naruto and Hidan. "Sir, I'm going to need you to leave before I call the police." He spoke calmly but firmly.
"Go ahead! My dad is sheriff anyway," Hidan laughed as he stepped both feet on the floor behind the counter, locking eyes with his blue eyed prey. "Plus, I'm sure no cop would defend a faggot guy like this."
"Well... I'm no cop."
Naruto's eyes snapped up to see another man standing behind the counter, hands crossed over his chest. He stood around 6 foot 4 inches, had brown spiky hair, and red triangle tattoos on each of his cheeks. He looked vaguely familiar. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you around, so that means you're new. Don't bother me." Still, Hidan stalked Naruto.
The man grinned a wolf-like grin. "I'm not new." He ran his dark eyes over the scene as he shook his head. "What's going on in here?"
Hidan turned around and matched the unidentified mans pose. "You said it yourself, you're not a cop so you shouldn't worry about it, Mr. Not New. Besides I was just about to have a lil' chat with my bud Naruto here." He reached back and grabbed the blonde pulling him roughly against his chest, making escape impossible. Despite not knowing the newcomers' intentions, Naruto let his eyes beg for help and plead that he understood that himself and Hidan were not even remotely friends.
"Really? The look on his face says otherwise." The brunette shook his head once again, "How about you let him go, you and your friends get out of here and then I won't have to make you leave."
Hidan frowned deeply. "Who the hell are you, to tell me I have to leave? You better learn your place in the town, new guy."
The stranger grunted and shrugged. In a quick movement he had Hidan by the shirt, shook Naruto loose and was hurling the white haired teen back to the appropriate side of the restaurant. Hidan fell to the floor and his friends hurried to help him up, "What the hell man?"
"That wasn't cool!"
"It doesn't have to be cool. It's got to be right." The man took a step toward the pile of teens and they scurried back. "Now, leave." He pointed to the closest door.
The group hightailed it from the place, yelling curse words and shouting about how they would be back with even more people. The man told them to bring it on. Naruto, who had slid to the ground after being released, hurried to stand after hearing the mans challenge. Hidan was serious about having reinforcements. If that happened, the blonde could only imagine the harassment he'd suffer. It would probably start happening at school too.
Haku visibly relaxed and said, "Thank you so much for that." He patted Naruto on the back and returned to his duties.
"No problem."
"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked, slapping his hands hard against the abused counter.
He man grinned that grin of his. "You don't deserve to be bullied. It was my responsibility—"
"No! I mean, why did you tell him to bring more people next time, 'cause there will definitely be a next time! How about you pick out my tombstone too?" The blonde turned and reached in a drawer to pull out cleaning supplies. He began scrubbing the counter.
The brunette slowly processed what Naruto meant. He ran his hand over his face. "Oh... I'm sorry." But then he perked up, clapping his hands together. "Looks like I'll just have to drop by some more. What days do you work?"
The blue eyed boy was so shocked, he took several moments to answer. "I'm off every Monday and Tuesday."
The dog like man nodded and adjusted the jacket he was wearing. "Alright, I'll be seeing you, Naruto."
The blonde watched his savior take leave. "Wait! You didn't even order anything!" But all the guy did was chuckle and keep walking.
-Line Break-
In all honesty, Naruto had no idea what to think of his new stalker—that's who he was, that brunette he'd met almost two weeks ago—a stalker.
He came in the middle of each day Naruto worked, asking how was he. The blonde would either reply by completely ignoring him or with an annoyed look. Then the stalker would order a number eight and have a seat, stay about ten minutes after he'd finished eating and just watch Naruto. Then, as he was leaving the man would always leave a tip in the little charity box by the register.
"Maybe he just wants to be your friend, Naruto!" Haku suggested one day as the two workers watched from the safety of the break room as the brunette ate. "It's not impossible."
"I think it is. I've done nothing to get on his good side." Naruto glared in the mans direction. "Plus, he's not making any sort of effort to even really talk to me."
"Well, you go talk to him!" Haku grabbed the pregnant mans shoulders and started to charge toward the stalker. Upon arrival, he forced the blonde to sit and smiled at the brunette. "I'll leave you two alone." He patted sunshine colored hair and skipped away.
Naruto kept his blue eyes trained on the table, his face red. What if this guy took out a knife and stabbed him or something? Or what if this was all a charade and he thought he was an abomination too? Maybe he just wanted to make Naruto lose sleep at night.
"Thinking a lot?" The man asked. They met eyes and Naruto could clearly see the humor on the other mans expression.
Without warning, Naruto started asking questions. Frustration from all the work his life had become boiled over. "Who are you? Why are you here? And I mean really, why are you here? Do you hate me? Why did you help me?"
The man held both his hands in the air, in surrender. "Whoa, there. My name is Kiba Inuzuka, I'm 21 years old and I just moved back to town with my dog. I swear I don't hate you, Naruto." He chuckled lightly.
"Don't talk to me like we're friends."
"But we are. Well, I guess we were." Kiba turned his head to the side, smiling. "If you think hard enough, you should remember."
The blonde frowned as he tried to think. This man was familiar after all. But who? Inuzuka... Kiba Inuzuka... He was 21. So, that meant he'd been out of high school for what? Three years? Naruto gasped and widened his eyes.
"I knew you would remember!" Kiba reached across the table and touched the blondes hand, like he'd done so before.
Three years ago, Naruto had been a freshmen at Konoha High, Kiba a senior. "You cut your hair, you got a tan. And you got tattooed. No wonder I didn't recognize you." Naruto easily took his hand back, looking away. "Why are you here? I thought you left for college and to carry on with your life."
"To eat?"
"I mean really."
"You're going to be mad at me, Naruto."
"I'm already mad at you."
"Okay," Kiba ran a hand through his brown locks. "I came back, first because I'm transferring. Second, I heard what was going on with you—" All the way in Suna? Naruto mentally cursed himself. "—I knew you were going to have trouble here, I don't want you unprotected. And that brings me to the point that's going to make you mad."
Already knowing where this was going, Naruto started to get up and leave. But with a baby in his stomach, getting up took too long and Kiba moved to sit directly next to him, trapping the blonde. "You hurt me!"
"I didn't want to, I swear, I never wanted you to get hurt." The dog lover reached for his hands again. But Naruto rejected the contact and scooted away as if Kiba burned him. "I came back because I want to make things right between us, whether you're like this or not..." He ran a gently hand over the bump under the younger mans shirt. It was the first time anyone had touched it, not even Gaara had dared. It felt nice. "I still want you, Naruto."
"How can you say that, after what you did to me?"
"I didn't steal your virginity, you gave it to me. Because you wanted me too." Then Kiba pulled him into a hug, one that Naruto's hormones enjoyed but his mind did not.
"You know confessing to me out of nowhere isn't going to make me jump into your arms." Naruto managed to pull away. He stared hard into Kiba's dark eyes. "It made me even more cautious than I already am. I wanna know what you're up to."
-Line Break-
"Naruto!" A voice pulled the small blonde boy from a deep place, "Sweetie, please get up!"
"Ma?" The boy tried to speak but his mouth was filled with liquid. He panicked and tried calling out for his mother. Nothing was working, he was lost in the wet blackness. Away from his mother, his father, and his baby brother.
"Naruto! You're going to be okay. Do you hear me? Naruto!" Kushina's voice was nothing like is normally was. It was raspy and desperate as she held her child face level to hers. "Listen, Naruto. I'm going to let go of you, my love."
"No—Ma!" The small boy felt his mother moving him, pushing him up and away. He wanted to stay with her. More blackness was swirling around them.
"Focus, Naru-chan! Now, kick your feet and don't stop kicking until you can't kick anymore."