A\N: as a reply to the anonymous reviewer, I'd like to say that you have nothing to worry about, the story is already complete in my files, I simply post a new chapter every three days or so.. and I thank him\or her and Lala poe for review my story, since I can't do so in a private message.
A friend in demand
A.K.A
Choices
"Everyone is going to be soo exited to see you Naruto" the pink-headed girl exclaimed, as the group neared Konoha.
Sayuri peered over at the girl annoyed, she hated when she called Kei Naruto, it sounded so stupid, Naruto.. However she then sighed, that was who Kei was, he was Naruto.
Kei smiled slightly, trying to mask all the fear he was feeling.. But then Sayuri held his hand, she felt it shake slightly in anticipation. She glanced over at his face, then looked forwards once more, tightening her grip on his hand.
The large gates of the large village grew closer and closer. Everybody's heart pounded harder as the moment of confrontation neared, "This is it" Kakashi murmured, seeing the lineup of Konoha ninjas at the gate.
Kei's heart trembled and so did Sayuri's.. Sakura smiled proudly as she spotted the great anticipation in her friends' eyes.
It wasn't long until the four stood in front of the line, two ninja's, one civilian, and one… other person.
Utter silence took over as none of the Konoha ninja's knew what to say. It was a mixture of deep shock and great joy.
"N-Naruto?" Kiba said, suddenly breaking the silence as he stepped forward.
There was a short pause, "so I've heard" the blonde nervously smiled slightly.
The brown haired boy stepped closer, and breathed in deeply.
….
"Ha it really is you!" he suddenly yelled, patting the blonde on the back roughly.
The others sighed with relief then exchanged wide smiles, and quickly crowded around him.. patting his back, all talking at once, smiling and joking and such.
Sayuri got pushed left and right, then out of the way. No one noticing her existence. It gave her an awful feeling down to her core.
"NARUTOO‼" A voice called loudly, approaching the gang quickly.
Everyone turned around to see a plump boy with long orange hair running towards them like a tornado.
He hurried over to the blonde pushing the others aside, and pulled him into a bone-crushing squeeze.. tears streaming down his face, "I thought you were dead, Naruto" he said loudly.
"C-can't breath" the blond wheezed.
The others exchanged laughing looks.
"Yeah by the way" a girl with two brown buns started cautiously, as the large boy released his grip, "I heard that you lost your memory.. Is that true?" she asked curiously.
The blond nodded shyly, "A-aah" he answered looking at that ground.
"S-so, y-you don't.. R-remember a-any of us?" a girl with long black hair stuttered blushing for no reason.
*Nod* "I don't remember anything of my past life" the blonde answered.
"Does that include the 6500 ryos.. T-that I don't owe you?" the brown haired boy said slowly, his eyes shifting right and left.
Kei peered at him, he can easily tell what kind of a friend this boy was.
Others butted in with their questions and comments, Kei trying to answer them all, but careful about what he said. Sayuri of course, got pushed away, none of them noticing. She looked at the group hesitantly, but no one saw her, no one even realized her existence. She looked at her good friend Kei but he was too occupied with the others to see her.
She felt a firm grip of sadness grab her heart and twist it. She looked at Kei one more time hoping that he'd see her, but he didn't. It was a mistake to come along; she knew that all along, he is better off without her. Reluctantly on her part, a sad tear pushed its way into her eye, but did not dare to leave it.
"These Konoha people will lookout for him, they really care for him, that's obvious. it's where he belongs" she thought to herself, a faint smile on her lips, "C'mon Bobo" she signaled for her dog to follow, as she slowly walked away, she believed in her heart of hearts that she was doing the best thing for Kei.
The dog of course, confused, hesitated to leave his good buddy Kei. but as of his nature, he followed his older owner, his leader, Sayuri, in her lonely road.
Suddenly he realized something, something that was missing. He looked around worriedly, looking for one certain someone. He saw her; he saw her walking away with a heavy heart and steps. Why was she leaving? He was confused.
The blond pushed past the crowding teens. Despite their surprised and confused looks, he walked towards her. As far as he cared, there was no one else in the world besides him and Sayuri.
"Sayuri" his warm voice rang, as his firm yet gentle grip grabbed her arm.
She didn't turn around at first, she was afraid he'd see her tears. But he was too kind, too warm, too loving to ignore. She turned around so that her eyes would meet his deep warm understanding ones.
Witout having to speak a word, he understood everything.
He gently took her by the hand and led her to the others. The ninjas stared at him and Sayuri with surprised expressions.
Sayuri stared at the ground blushing heavily with all the attention. "This is Sayuri. She's the person who saved me, and took care of me. She gave me a home to stay in, and treated me like family" Kei said in a calm voice.
Sayuri bit her lip; she hated to be in the spot light. However Kei was holding her hand tightly, as he smiled proudly. That put her a bit at ease.
….
"Well hello Sayuri" one of the Konoha ninja's called out.
And as if that was a spark, the rest all started talking at once, greeting her and smiling. Kei turned to Sayuri and gave her a calm smile, she smiled back shyly. Kei is always right, even when he said nothing.
"Hey where's that lazy bum Shikamaru?" the pink haired kunoichi suddenly said, "How rude!" she stomped he foot annoyed, "How dare he not come and greet his friend that has just come out of an ordeal?" she added looking around.
"Actually" Chouji's voice said, "He was tied up with Hokage-Sama, doing some paper work.. So he wasn't able to be here" he continued smiling sheepishly, as if it was his fault.
"He is such a Baka" A blond girl huffed, crossing her arms.
"Oh yeah, speaking of Tsunade-Sama.. We should go over and see her" Sakura said thoughtfully, "Who of you is going to come with me?" She added turning to her pals.
"Uhh I can't" the brown haired boy smiled, "I have a mission with Hinata out of Konoha"
The girl with the long black hair nodded in agreement.
"And I have to get back to the store" the blond girl nodded, pointing her thumb over her shoulder and closing her eyes.
"I have to get back to target practice" the brunet with the Chinese buns said.
"I'm training with my father" a boy with white eyes said calmly.
"Chouji?" Sakura turned to the husky boy.
"Sorry Sakura-Chan, I have things to do" he said then smiled kindly.
"Don't worry Sakura-San! I'll go with you!" a boy with round eyes and black hair yelled with excitement.
"Baka!" the brunet yelled slapping him upside the head, "Remember? Gai-Sensei wanted you to train with him until tomorrow?" she added putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh yeah" he whispered, "Sorry Sakura-Chan, I can't come with you" he added in a semi-formal manner.
"Shino?" Sakura said with desperation, turning to a fully covered boy.
"Sorry Sakura-San, I'm going bug collecting, it's very important" he answered in a gloomy voice.
There was silence, before all the teens started peeling away, with simple goodbyes and apologies.
"Well I guess it's just us" the pink ninja sighed, "Oh well"
"Naruto!" a blond woman gasped jumping out of her seat from behind her desk.
A lady with short back hair stood behind her, joy plastered on her face. "N-Naruto thank god you're alright" she said smiling kindly, as she hugged a small pink pig.
"Naruto, this is Tsunade-Sama our fifth Hokage" the masked ninja noted, putting Kei out of his confusion.
"This lady is Hokage? She doesn't look older than 30?" Kei thought to him self as he bowed slightly.
Tsunade buried all her emotions as she slowly sat back down, she should try to act the title she holds, "Ehm… It's.. It's good to see you're alright and in one piece.. Naruto" the blond woman said in a choked voice.
Kei didn't know what to say in this awkward position, "D-doumo arigatou guzaimasu" he murmured. -Just a very polite manner to say thank you-
Tsunade exchanged a brief look with her assistant; Naruto is much calmer, and politer. However, that was more unsettling. Only Sakura didn't notice that, she was smiling victoriously as if she was the cause of Naruto's return.
"I... We, were hoping that you'd examine Naruto and check the reason for his memory loss" Kakashi said, breaking the silence that came over after Naruto's last sentence.
Tsunade paused for a moment, then let her medic side take charge, "Sure" she answered briefly getting up from her chair.
After a fairly awkward examination, for Kei at least, Tsunade stood back, and then signaled for Kakshi to follow her out of the room.
"I checked Naruto from head to toe," Tsunade sighed, "And I found absolutely no physical cause for this odd memory loss, do you know what that means?"
Kakashi didn't answer, knowing that the Hokage was basically talking to herself, "It means that the whole problem is in his head.. Naruto is physically able to remember, but there is something stopping him," She added then paused for a very brief moment, "More accurately, Naruto doesn't want to remember"
"Here we are" Sakura said giving a slight hand gesture, leading Naruto into his old apartment.
The blond stepped in, looking around curiously, Sayuri followed hesitantly. "This… is where I lived…. live?" the blue eyed boy murmured.
"Hai" Sakura answered lowly, watching him examine the one room apartment.
There was nothing special about the place that caught Kei's eye; he headed over to the bed when he noticed a framed photograph. He extended a steady hand to pick it up, not noticing a sudden sad look that appeared in Sakura's eyes.
He looked at the people in the picture, the blond is obviously him, "Hehe, you looked kinda' funny Kei-San" Sayuri smiled, peeking at the picture.
The pink haired ninja has to be Sakura-San, and that's their masked Sensei. His heart suddenly froze when his eyes landed on the black haired boy in the picture. His heart felt like a piece of hard ice, and his chest was tight. He got an awful taste of a bad menory in his mouth as a bitter chill ran through his spin. But all of that was oddly merged with an overwhelming feeling of longing.
"W-who is that? I um.. Haven't seen him around here?" Kei pointed at the black haired, ticked off boy in the photo.. his voice was cracked, and his throat feeling oddly dry.
"That's.. Sasuke-… Kun" Sakura said sadly looking at the ground, as she fought back the bitter lump in her throat, "He.. Um.. Isn't in Konoha anymore" she added turning away.
Although Kei had the urge to know more, this particular subject seemed to be a sensitive one. He'd rather try on another day in a more careful manner. "Th-thank you Sakura-San" he mumbled with a forced smile.
"Huh? oh yeah, well.. I'll let you get used to the place" the pink haired girl said with nervous smile, "I'll come back tomorrow morning" she added leaving the apartment.
Kei paused for a moment until Sakura left, then he let out a sigh, and let his fake smile disappear. Sayuri walked up from behind, putting her small warm hand on his shoulder. She gave him an encouraging smile.
The night finally came, and with it came the overwhelming urge to just drop dead from exhaustion for a few hours.
Sayuri stood to the side, thoughtfully staring at Bobo as he slept, she turned to Kei about to say something.
"Here, you sleep on the bed; I'll sleep on the ground" he said, setting a sleeping bag next to the bed.
"But…" Sayuri protested weakly, feeling guilty.
"Good night Sayuri-Chan" Kei yawned, as he was already under the covers.
Sayuri sighed with defeat, and then climbed into the bed, pulling the covers to her ear, "Good night"
A\N: So I guess this chapter is a bit short compared to my last chapter, but I have lots of trouble trying to figure out how to split my chapters decently..
Please leave a review, so I can know you were here, and what you thought, and I'll get back to you!