The first thing Naruto noticed was the feel of soft satin against his cheek and the delicate scent of food wafting in the air. It was an odd way to wake up, but after last night he suspected someone, Sakura maybe, had taken him home and was caring for him.
The food, however, smelled different from anything he'd sniffed before, and satin sheets weren't something he had in his house, nor something he knew Sakura to have. A very odd morning indeed.
"Sakura?" His voice was hoarse and barely audible. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hello? Sakura?" He was answered by a lack of sound from somewhere in the house and sudden muffled footsteps approaching his location. This meant he didn't need to call out again and, grateful for that, he laid back against the over stuffed pillows and studied his surroundings.
The sheets and pillows were predominantly red and black with golden dragons and fire embroidered around the edges and corners. The room itself was almost bare save for the bed he was laying on and a heavy chest tucked against a far corner; A wooden door stood proudly next to it and a window above the bed let in the faint light of a late morning. Or, Naruto suspected, an early evening.
Naruto now doubted he was at Sakura's at all.
The door opened silently and a small woman stepped into the room, confirming his doubts. Her hair was loose, black yet streaked with the white of old age and falling straight down her back, her posture was upright and she carried herself with an authority seen only in experienced warriors. This put Naruto immediately on edge.
"Who are you!" He began to sit up, but she raised her hand and hushed at him harshly.
"Lay back down!" Surprisingly, her voice was solid and, despite the many layers of flowing green silk she wore, she advanced easily on the bed.
Naruto didn't disobey, he was too exhausted for that, but he remained alert. "Who are you?" He repeated, his teeth gritted. She raised a delicate eyebrow at him "An ally." She offered nothing more and removed the blankets from Naruto's body. He shivered at the sudden chill and noted his lack of a shirt. "What are you doing!" He began to get up again, but the old woman jutted her fingertips into his collarbone and forced him to the bed again. If only he wasn't so weak, this woman wouldn't have been able to do this so easily!
"You were alone in the woods. Do you remember anything?" She examined his chest for abnormalities, her hands sure in their movements. "Not really." Naruto confessed, his eyes following her hands work across his skin and up to his shoulders.
"Hurts." He mumbled when she pressed too hard, but she didn't stop. "Old lady!" Naruto gripped the sheets and- "Xue." His actions came to a halt. "What?" He looked at her in slight disbelief.
"My name is Xue." She covered Naruto again. "Xue Hua, you'll do well to call me that." She patted his knee and turned away. "I'll be back with your food."
Naruto watched her leave, kept his eyes on her back until she closed the door and was lost to him. In his silence, he rested his head again.
He was obviously not in Konoha, he'd never seen that woman before, and even if she was from Konoha, he was sure she wouldn't have plucked him from the forest. Few people would, he thought, his fingertips ghosting over the whisker-like scars on his cheeks.
His only survival option was to keep his loyalties a secret until he found out where he was and whether he was able to make his way home safely.
The door swung open as quietly as before and Naruto fought against his instincts to stand. The woman, Xue, was back, a large bowl in one hand and a small folding table in the other. She set the table up by the bed and placed the bowl down. "You seem better now than you were last night." She sat by him and helped him, despite his wanting to protest, up. "Still limp as a rag doll, though." She laughed a little and placed a pair of chopsticks in Naruto's hand, obviously confident he could feed himself.
"Why are you helping me?" He didn't look at her, instead he put his focus on eating, on the dipping of chopsticks into the broth and pulling put bits of meat and vegetables. He focused on getting those bits into his mouth without making a mess and on chewing the delicious meal.
Xue patted his head after a while, her fingers working into his wild blonde hair and massaging the scalp. "Why not help?" She began. "You were a hurt young man on the side of the road and I am more than able to care for you." Naruto glanced at her, skepticism clear in his eyes. "Oh! Stop that!" She flicked his ear and received a satisfying 'ow' from the teen. "I may be old, but I'm not hopeless."
They sat in comfortable silence with only the occasional clinking of Naruto's chopsticks hitting against his bowl for a while. As Xue's fingers continued to slip easily through Naruto's hair, the blond felt himself relax, his body easily molding against Xue's side until his bowl was empty and his chopsticks fell into it. "S'good." He muttered, his eyes falling shut.
"Glad to hear it." Xue shifted Naruto onto the overly stuffed pillows and retired the bowl and table. She came in one last time, smiled at the sleeping blonde and left for her own room.
By the next morning, Naruto felt much better. He stretched and rolled his shoulders, working out the kinks that had developed there and in his upper back, a few joints popped and he moved his attention to the rest of his body. Once done he slipped out of bed, eager to explore the house and learn about his situation.
The house, he found, was large and open. People- servants, Naruto noted- ran this way and that, grabbing clothing and small items, their chatter running into itself, making it difficult to pick up any one piece of conversation from the rest. He turned to walk away, only to be met by Xue.
"Good morning." She offered a soft smile and a pat on Naruto's shoulder.
"Good morning..." He muttered. Standing there in nothing more than his pants, he felt very naked.
She removed her hand after a moment and studied him before calling one of the servants, a young woman, over. "He's about Bao's size," Xue figured. "Get him some of his old traveling clothes." The woman gave a curt nod and ran off on her errand.
"Who's Bao?" Naruto asked after a moment, figuring he should learn something about the man he'd be borrowing clothes from. "My son." Xue's pale green eyes lit up. "He doesn't live with me anymore, but I'll going to visit him today." That explained the packing. "I do so every year, but I didn't think I would do so this year."
"Oh?" Naruto wasn't much interested anymore, yet Xue continued, "I normally traveled with my husband but...Last month, he passed away." Her previous happiness dimmed. "I thought I shouldn't travel without him, but Bao would worry if I didn't show up, and a letter wouldn't reach him in time to avoid that."
Now, Naruto is a creature of impulse, and impulse can be a dangerous trait. It's how the teenager has gotten himself into many dangerous situations and how he's managed to get himself into yet another one, "I'll go with you!" Naruto held his fist over his heart, feeling that no other course would be acceptable.
Xue, being a much more reasonable woman, refused with a stern. "Nonsense!" And she dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand.
Naruto, however, refused.
"Why not?" He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, his pride obviously hurt.
"Your hair is oddly colored." Her hands flew to her hips. "And your eyes are so bright you'll bring unwanted attention."
The comment took him aback, but Naruto persistent. "I don't care, I'm coming!"
"You should go home!"
"After you're with your son!"
Xue paused. "Young man...please, I don't need you slowing me down." Naruto chuckled at this. "Old lady, if I do slow you down, you can leave me behind." She bit on her lip, paused, then answered, "...Fine."
Naruto, being a creature of impulse, pulled the old woman into a tight embrace and cheered as if she'd offered him a lifetime supply of ramen.
"Boy!" She gripped onto his arms but was unable to pry him off.
"It's Naruto, by the way." He look up at her with the biggest smile he could muster.
"Naruto?" Xue repeated, the word obviously foreign on her tongue. "My name." He nodded. "It's Naruto Uzumaki."
Xue smiled. "Well...Even your name is odd."
He wasn't bothered by her comment, he felt she said it with a fondness normally reserved for family or a close friend. "Well, Naruto Uzumaki." She gestured at the returning servant. "Care to make yourself presentable?"
He took the offered bundle of clothes and dashed back to the room he'd been occupying all of yesterday and last night.
The style of the clothing wasn't what he was used to, but it wasn't completely different. Xue and the servants wore this style, and even Tenten back home.
A changshan, if his memory was right. It looked like a long fitted shirt that stopped halfway down his thighs. Slips ran up the sides to his hips, however, and made it that much more movable in. It fastened at the base of his neck and at his right shoulder with a third tie in between these two.
The only complaint Naruto had, however, was the color. Pale green seemed like too radical a change for him.
A knock at the door pulled him away from his thoughts. "Naruto?" Xue's voice followed. "Are you ready?"
Naruto looked down at himself. Besides the changshan, which he wore over his pants, he'd been given simple black slip on shoes. "I suppose." He didn't think travel clothes could get much simpler or, he realized as he walked to the door, any more comfortable.
The many things previously packed were left in the house as they would be shipped off after them. The only things they carried were Xue's satchel and Naruto's small weapon's pouch which was safely pinned to his hip.
"Where are we off to?" Naruto linked his hands and tucked them behind his head, hopping he'd get some idea as to his situation. "Full Moon Bay." Xue smiled. "Seems to be the only way into Ba Sing Se these days."
Full Moon Bay, Ba Sing Se, and even this town were locations he'd never heard of before. He didn't let the disappointment get to him, Xue had mentioned Ba Sing Se was a metropolis with people coming in from all corners of the world. With any luck, he'd find his way home from there.
With this thought in mind, he set out alongside the old woman into this vast world that was not his own.
A/N: D: Wow...I got a lot of Story Alerts...
I suddenly feel self-conscious...I feel this chapter is kinda choppy...and maybe a bit rushed...
Anyway, this is gonna start up a bit slow, but I hope it's worth it. ;A; I'm planning somewhere around 10-13 chapters and, really, the romance aspect will be a bit slow as well. D: God, I'm lame...As stated in the summary, this will eventually be Zuko/Naruto...And that boy will appear next chapter. :3