Rating: M (for swearing)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! 2013!

Chapter 8

Long Red Hair

Naruto woke up in a haze. Everything was blury and he couldn't hear very well. Chiyo claimed it as an ear infection, and since Naruto complained about his mouth burning she aslo assumed Naruto was having a small mouth infection.

"It's when his mouth is producing sores." she replied. "It's frequent in Lukima, it's either from lack of brushing his teeth-which I highly doubt that's true, since we monotor his brushing-or it's from too much salt in his diet."

Kushina bit her lip. "Since we're on a budget, I could only afford the cheap store brand soups."

Chiyo smiled. "It's alright, should I put Naruto on our list? It's a list of children that can have special food delivered to either their house or rooms here in the cancer center."

Kushina nodded. Wondering, "how much it would cost?"

"About roughly sixty-dollars." Chiyo said.

"Per...month?"

"Per week."

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Kyuubi groaned, his equally hungry god-father next to him. So far they had raided any cupboards in the house for food.

"I say we orer somthing." Kyuubi said.

"I want to, but I afraid if I do, then Naruto would come home while we're eating infront of him and that'll be mean." His famished god-father groaned. Kyuubi maoned too, clutching his growling stomach.

"Wanna' go out to eat?" He asked.

"In what? Minato is using my car to get to work and Kushina has the van at the Cancer Center." The white-haired man said. both swallowed their spit for about two minutes, trying to survive when Kyuubi smiled.

"I just remembered somthing, Dad always keeps a few cans of soup downstairs incase of like a bad storm and we have to go to the basement, let's see what's down there!" Kyuubi charged to the cellar door. Both had big smiles on their faces but frowned seeing everything was either labled "NARUTO" or worse "CARROT SOUP" Kyuubi sighed. He wasn't going to eat Naruto's food on him, and there's no way he was going to eat the carrot soup, but that didn't stop the novelest.

"Forget it, I'd rather die." Kyuubi said.

Da-na-na-na-na...da-da-DA-DA! Kyuubi's phone started going off. He smiled at the ringtone, it was him and his gang all singing a tune from a famous action movie. He answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kyuub's it's Itachi."

"Oh, hey! What's up?" Kyuubi smiled. "I'm stuck in a house with nothing to eat but carrot soup."

"I'll visit your funeral."

Kyuubi laughed.

"Listen...we have a problem. It's about Sasuke-kun, and...Naru-san's girlfriend, Sakura-chan."

Naruto sniffed. His mouth hurt, his head felt heavy and he felt miserable. More miserable than usual actually. Kushina held his hand.

"Honey, what's wrong?" She asked.

Minato entered the room. "Naru-can? What's wrong?"

Naruto sniffed, while his mother held him. He didn't know really how to say it to his parents that what he wanted was probably out of reach, He was raised not to ask for such things like that. But this time, this was important.

"Kaa-san...Tou-san...I-I.." He wimpered. "I hate it here!"

Minato and Kushina gave each other a look and sighed. They knew Naruto didn't want to be here, neither did they, they didn't want any woman, man or child to be at the Cancer Center. Kushina tried to explain that if they could, they would take him out of here and they'd go back to Kohona City and life would be normal again, but Naruto lost it.

"I...I don't want to live anymore! I'm in pain and it hurts, everyday it hurts!" He bawled.

Minato sighed, hugging his child. Kushina left the room, after what her son said, she needed air.

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"I...I don't want to live anymore! I'm in pain and it hurts, everyday it hurts!"

Kushina bit her lip, not once had she heard a child say and beg for death. She had worked with Tsunade as her assistant for a few summers in her life and she worked in the children's depatrment. Children there were sick, and close to death, she could remember seeing some children beg to die wanting to the pain to go away, she saw the faces of Mothers and Fathers hearing their children say such things. She never thought she'd hear somthing like that, from HER OWN child.

She let tears fall, for probably the third time that day.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She gasped, turning to see a raven haired woman.

"Oh...I'm sorry, I'm a bit emotional...my son said he..." She choked. "That he wanted to die..."

Kushina let a few more tears fall, and the raven woman sadly sighed, hugging Kushina. "My name's Shizune. I'm Lady Tsunade's assistant for Cancer Children. May I ask you somthing?" Kushina stopped sniffling and looked at her.

"Yes..." she bawled.

"Has your son felt self concious...about his hair?" she asked, now smiling.

"Yes." Kushina nodded.

"Follow me." Shizune showed Kushina to where their department was in a total separate part of the building. Kushina looked around, it looked like a hair salon, wemon, little girls and even men were having their hair cut. Shizune handed Kushina a clipboard.

"This is Locks Of Love*." Shizune smiled. "It's where people come, have their hair cut for free and then we wash the hair that they lend us and make wigs out of them, to give to the cancer patients."

Kushina smiled. Naruto would LOVE hair of his own again. Hair to brush, hair to gel, hair to have and own! Kushina smiled, but frowned.

"I'm guessing the wigs are not free-"

"Oh, they are" Shizune lied, knowing the Uzumaki-Namikaze problem. Kushina raised her eyebrow.

"You sure?"

"Yup."

Kushina went back to the paper and smiled. "How much do you cut off?" she asked.

"We have a minimum of fine inches." Shizune replied.

"...Grab me a chair and get a pair of sissors, please." Kushina smiled.

Minato slurped on his chololate malt and handed some to Naruto.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not allowed." He meekly said.

Minato shook it infront of his again. "We can break the rules once, sport." He smiled. Naruto took the large malt and sipped it. Minato went to brush back Naruto's hair but he forgot that he had no hair, so inted he stroke behind his left ear lobe.

"Naruto...I think you upset your mother." Minato said.

"Sorry..." Naruto mumbled.

"No. When she gets in here, you're going to apologize to her and properly." Minato said. "I know you're in pain, we all are. But that's no reason to cry out wishing you were dead."

Naruto nodded. "Hai, Daddy." Minato smiled, that name...it always got to him. Minato and Naruto talked for a while, Naruto asked Minato how his job was going at the Newspaper company, Minato said that he got to hear a lot of interesting facts, fun facts he never knw about. He got to meet interesting people and loved his job. And he loved his job because even though Minato declined it over and over again Obito made sure he got a twelve hour paystub and if he needed to leave early, they wouldn't punish him, or dock him any pay.

Naruto smiled, he was happy his family was doing okay now that his father had a job, he was begining to think he was weighing them down.

"Tou-san...We moved bacause of me, we have to come here everyday because of me...did you quit your old job, because of me too?" Naruto asked, frowing.

Minato sighed. "Naruto, you're old enough to know the truth, but I don't want to tell you it...Naruto, yes. You are the reason I quit my old job, but you know, I'm glad I did." Minato smiled. "I'm with my family now because of it."

Naruto still didn't feel any better, but he felt...content.

"K-Kushina?" Minato stampered, he couldn't believe his eyes. Neither could Naruto when he turned to the door. His mother...Her once Fire-red hair that swouped down to her ankles was...gone. Her hair was now a red-bob tosseling on her head. She smiled.

"What?"

"You're...different." Minato smiled. Naruto looked and stared at his mother. All his life, she'd had long hair, she's brain it, curl it and it's long bloody waterfall would still look wonderful. But insted, she infomed them, she donated almost all of her hair.

"I can give hair to eight children!" She smiled. "plus...one." She added, quietly. She held a box in her hand and walked slowly to Naruto. Naruto's eyes lit up when he opened that box and inside was a wig, of his mother's hair. He bit his bottom lip and tried now to cry.

"You always wanted red hair." Minato smiled.

Naruto sniffed, tears falling on to his lap. "Thank...you, Kaa-san." He cried.

Kushina smiled back, hugging Naruto, taking out the wig and placing it on his head. She laughed.

Naruto smiled, this was nice and his head felt warm.

*Locks Of Love, that's a place where men, wemon and children get their hair cut for free to donate to children for cancer. Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to
financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21
suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for
children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics.
Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a
medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The
prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence,
enabling them to face the world and their peers.

But anyways, thank you and review, review, review please.

Don't worry, Sakura's punishment...will be brutal.

-The Un~wanted Angel