Magnet
Raindrop Memory
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Summary: Deciding to pursue her career as a medical doctor even further in Konohagakure, Amaru bids farewell to her home village, and arrives in the busy village of Leaf shinobi. However, she isn't exactly welcomed with open arms… things go a wry the moment she tries to sought after the man who had helped her nearly two years ago – Uzumaki Naruto.
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the concept, original story/plot, canon characters, etc. of Naruto/Naruto: Shippuuden. The images, animations and publishing all belong to creator Kishimoto Masashi, TV Tokyo and Shounen Jump!.
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Chapter One
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The sky overhead was clearing to a mid-afternoon shine, where a couple of messenger hawks screeched overhead the bustling village. The steam and aroma of food was enticing, Amaru had noted, as she walked alongside her guide, and friend. Naruto had thrown back his arms and rested his head casually back, glancing around lazily as if contemplating on what to say and how to show.
"Well, hmm… over there's a few food stalls… this side of town's mostly shopping and restaurants. Oh! And there's Ichiraku Ramen, I highly recommend that place." He grinned, and Amaru gave a silent nod of her head. They had been touring around the village for quite some time now, and she had been focusing on trying to memorize the general layout of the village, lest she forget and is left to wander on her own.
"Konoha is…certaintly larger than the last time I visited." She finally spoke aloud, thick brows knitting upwards in worriment.
Naruto let eased his arms back down, a serious look settling in his eyes. "Well, yeah… after one of the Akatsuki came and attacked Konoha a while back… I suppose it does seem that way to ya, huh?"
Amaru's eyes widened. "W-Wha? Attack? When did this happen?"
A quick flash of pain clenched Naruto's heart when he remembered the certain silver-haired sennin. "Uh… roughly about a year back. Some parts of town are still being rebuilt."
Sudden silence fell upon both of them, as Amaru looked uncomfortable upon hearing the bad news. She wasn't sure what to say in such a situation – especially since she had been away from contact with Naruto for so long…
"H-Hey… speaking of which, how's Sakura and Hinata?" She briskly intercepted the painful quiet that was starting to develop into something mighty awkward. Naruto perked up at the mention of the pink-haired kunoichi, and smiled a little. "She's fine. And so is Hinata. They're both doing well." It seem to work, as she could see his spirits lifting a bit and the smile had returned.
"That's good. I'd like to meet them sometime – especially Sakura." Amaru beamed back, continuing their slow promenade through the streets. "There are a lot of things I want to ask her about the medical profession."
Naruto gave her an inquiring glance, before nodding understandably. "Ooohh! That's right. Sakura-chan's a medical nin. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you then." He chuckled light-heartedly, rolling up his sleeves. It was early summer, and the weather's been a bit damp and humid as of late.
Amaru's eyes widened, if ever slightly, at the small cicatrix on the belly of his left forearm. It was small, insignificant, but she remembered well.
"N-Naruto, that scar there…" She was about to bring up a finger, but hovered when her mind decided against it. What was she doing? It wasn't like her to act so intimate. Quickly before he could notice she brushed her hand away, glancing away.
Naruto glanced back at her, puzzled. His eyes quickly caught on though, and his lips thinned to a tight line. "Ahh, that. You're still worried about it? I'm tougher than I look." He laughed it off, hastily shoving his hands into his coat pocket. "Don't feel bad, Amaru. I know what Shinnou did was…"
Oh crap.
Naruto stared at her, who looked slightly blank at the sound of her former sensei's name. "R-Right." She replied nervously, her anxious eyes darting quickly away.
"Hey! If I was gonna get mad at you for stabbing me with your scalpel, then I'd say it in your face." He grinned at her, before looking at the scar once more. It was a thin fold of skin ran across his tanned arm, but it was fairly faint and small. "But I didn't – so there. I'm not mad."
"Yeah. Okay." Amaru smiled briefly, before letting a hand wipe at the side of her neck, a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek. "By the way, was it always this hot in Konoha?"
Naruto grumbled a little. "Well, the weather's been bad lately. Thunderstorms, heat waves, you name it." He sighed, his eyes falling on the pale cream-beige of her furry parka vest. "Then again, you're wearing that stuffy-looking vest, so it's no wonder you're sweating buckets." He pointed out, and Amaru worriedly poked a finger at her attire.
"Y-You think so? Maybe I should have bought a change of clothes appropriate for the weather…" Amaru's fingers tentatively touched the zipper that was zipped all the way up to the hem of her collar, pulling it down slightly.
Naruto recalled the particular 'accident' he had which involved falling into the river, getting bitten by a poisonous piranha, and seeing Amaru's –
"Uhh! On second thought, just hold on to that for a sec." He sheepishly smiled, his hand intercepting hers, pulling it back up for her. "Just bear with it for a bit, okay? Uh, until you find some new clothes." With that, he started to laugh nervously, a drop of sweat sliding down to his chin.
Amaru's brow jerked up quizzically, her hands falling back down to her side. "Okay. Sure."
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After finishing up with the touring, the blonde and redhead were both seated comfortably on dining stools by Ichiraku Ramen, where billows of steam gently smoked into the warm night air, the scent of the salty broth boiling heavy. Old Man Teuchi and Ayame both welcomed Amaru happily, as very so by letting her dine on the house to celebrate her arrival to Konoha.
"Itadakimasu!" Naruto licked his chops, deft fingers pulling apart the pair of wooden chopsticks, quickly grasping it in his hand and began to ladle a stream of moist noodles from his bowl. Amaru, fascinated by the strange, new dish, gingerly dipped her chopsticks into the both, and took a quite lick with her tongue, tasting the broth and temperature.
"I-It's good." She smiled, and Old Man Teuchi and Ayame both glanced together with pleased smiles on their faces.
Just when she was about to delve deeper into the pork morsel that was sitting oh-so-innocently by the top of her ramen, a few crashes and rowdy voices echoed slightly from behind them. Both she and Naruto swiveled their heads around, brushing the cloths imprinted with 'Ichiraku Ramen' for a better look.
And then the wailing came.
The pitiful cry of a child, hobbling over by the side of the streets, curled up on a prostrate position, was cradling his left knee in agony, streams of spilled tears splattering all over his face and front shirt until specks of dirt smudged and soiled. A noticeable tear by the metal fence also caught Amaru's attention, the metal spokes jutting out rather dangerously.
"O-Oi…" Naruto started, sipping a piece of noodle into his mouth.
Amaru slammed her chopsticks back down on the table, darting off as she dashed towards to the little boy, whereupon his mother was already nervously fussing over him, panic swarming her eyes. Kneeling down beside him, she placed a hand on his shoulder. A mess of brown hair shivered for a moment, before the boy's round face leaned up, his teary eyes meeting hers.
"Where does it hurt?" She quickly asked, her voice falling to a hushed tone as not to startle him.
He painfully unfurled his leg, and Amaru froze when she saw the deep gash by his knee.
"What's your name?" She asked again, her fingers searching her back pockets for a roll of medical bandages. He hiccupped, though it didn't cease the flow of tears that continued to dribble down his plump cheeks. "K-Koichi."
Koichi's mother glanced at her worriedly, her bottom lip quivering. "H-He was running… and he ran into the broken fence…" Amaru glanced back at the spoke, and noticed a tinge of blood on it. Nodding, she turned back to Koichi.
"I see! That's a really cool name, ya'know?" Amaru grinned, pushing his shorts back a little. The last thing she wanted was to have anything foreign in contact with the open wound. "Now, Koichi-kun, this is going to hurt a little bit, but I want you to squeeze my arm if it hurts too much, okay?" She smiled at him, and he nodded wordlessly, a small hand trying to wipe away at the tears.
Quickly, she sectioned his knee off by wrapping end points around the base of his thich, and the top of his calf. Excess blood began to flow harder, and Koichi squeezed her arm. She paused, before unwrapping her bandanna from her head, and wrapped it around Koichi's tear-soaked eyes.
"N-Nee-chan?" His voice came, worried at the strange action she was performing. Amaru patted his head comfortingly. "I know you don't want to see this, Koichi-kun. I'll be as quick as I can." True to her words, her fingers had already reached for a piece of cotton, and dousing it with a water from a large capped bottle, she began to wash his wound, water mixed with blood dripping on the floor. After wiping it down, she uncapped a bottle of alcohol, and doused a fresh wad of cotton with it.
Taking in a deep breath, Amaru poised herself. "Here goes." Swiftly the cotton came down, and from the corners of her eyes, a wet patch of tears began to soak through her bandanna. The cloth was by then, too wet to hold anymore, and they began to drip down Koichi's face. Tossing the blood-stained wad, her fingers unfurled another fresh roll of bandages, preparing to wrap up. The white swabbed around his left, snug but not too tight, and at the end, she was done, tying a nice ribbon with the ends of the bandages.
Smiling back at him, she patted his leg, and helped him back up to his feet. A look of dazed wonderment passed through the mother, and she took Koichi into her arms, a grateful smile curling on her lips.
"Thank you." She whispered, and Amaru nodded back pleasantly. Koichi sniffed, having already untied the bandanna, and was grasping it tightly in his small fist. He shyly gave it to her, his nose red from the teary breakdown.
"Thank you, nee-chan." He whispered as well, and Amaru accepted it, relief sinking through her heart. "I'm just glad you're okay."
She waved goodbye to the boy and his mother as they continued along their way, and was about to head back to her dinner when she was a bit startled to see a single, laid-back eye staring back at her. Jerking backwards, Amaru took quite a few steps back until she could make out that the floating eye wasn't her imagination, but was part of a solid body that was currently a bit too close for her preference.
"Yo." His voice came. She noted of the devilish, messy grey locks that spiked ruthlessly to one side. A good portion of the man's face was hidden beneath dark cloth mask, his shinobi forehead protector sliding down messily, covering his right eye completely. He was wearing the olive-green vest, identical to the one the man whom she had met earlier on the day, was wearing.
"Oi," Naruto's voice came, and he brusquely nudged this strange man out of her line of vision, glancing back at Amaru with an apologetic look on his face. "Don't mind Kakashi-sensei, he's a bit weird." Amaru glanced back wordlessly at the grey-haired man nervously, and swore she could've seen a flicker of a smile beneath the mask.
"Naruto told me about you – er, well, I caught up during your show of bravado back there." He came swiftly, a tinge of curiosity flickering in his dark eye. "Yeah! That was pretty cool of you, Amaru. You really saved that little boy back there." Naruto grinned, patting her on the back. "We can chat back at Ichiraku, your ramen's getting cold."
Following the pair back to her seat, Amaru finished her dinner without much interruptions, aside from the occasional questions she was pelted with from Old Man Teuchi, and a few questioning glances from Kakashi. After finishing her meal, she nodded thankfully to Ayame and Old Man Teuchi, setting her chopsticks back down.
"Gochisousama. Thanks for the food." Amaru smiled, and promptly tied her hair back up within the folds of her bandanna, returning back to her usual boyish appearance.
A shuffle of footsteps, and her head turned around at the noise. Shizune was in view, walking towards her merrily, long sleeves trailing behind her in tow.
"Shizune-san…"
"Ah! Amaru-kun. I thought you would be here." Shizune smiled quickly at her, and bowed politely in Kakashi's direction. "Kakashi-san. Pleasure to see you as well."
"Likewise." He replied.
"If you're here, does it mean you found a place of lodging for me?" Amaru asked hopefully, and Shizune nodded with a smile.
"Tsunade-sama thought that it would be best to save money and expense, and so I gathered a few possibilities about the housing problem." Shizune smiled, taking a seat beside Amaru, holding a folder filled with files, including the package she had Amaru fill out earlier. She nodded almost excitedly, leaning forwards as her grin widened.
"You'll room up with Naruto-kun! How's that sound?" Shizune suggested animatedly. 'For a boy like Amaru, certainly he won't mind the company of another friend!' She thought with another smile, confident that Amaru would accept right away.
Amaru's blood froze. Naruto dropped Gama-chan back on the counter once he heard her words.
"W-W-What?!"
A furious, seething hotness ravaged her cheeks in a fiery blush, and Amaru stood up abruptly, the stool falling down. Shizune looked up in shock, her mouth agape. "B-But Amaru-kun, aren't you happy that there's no rent–"
"E-Even so!" Amaru protested hotly, another wave of red swarming her face until she was sure nobody could differentiate the colour of her cheeks from her hair. "I-I-I'm a girl!"
Shizune dropped her purse.
"A-Amaru-kun? You're a girl?"
"Y-Yes!" The heated response came once more.
Shizune scrambled through the file, grabbing a hold of the biographical information sheet.
"O-Oh my God, you're right." Shizune nearly fainted when her eyes laid sight on the circle that was marked 'Female' had been filled out.
Kakashi continued to look on with interest, his eyes taking in the scene with a mild glint of amusement.
Naruto got up onto his feet again, stuffing Gama-chan back into his pocket. "W-Well, uh! Can't you do something about this, then?"
Shizune buried her face with her hands. "Well… not really… the new apartments are still under construction… I can't just… simply dump Amaru-kun to the Haruno or Yamanaka households… I…"
"Tsunade-sama won't be happy about the little… gender switch." Kakashi off-handed commented, and Amaru shot him a withering glare.
"Y-You're right. She won't be." Shizune sighed, snapping the folder shut. Straightening back up, she gazed at Naruto, who jerked back in mild surprise at her searing gaze. "Now Naruto… I can't help you anymore in this situation as I can already… even though I was the one who made the mistake here."
"Wha.."
Shizune gazed at Amaru, who was still thoroughly beet-red, knowing the impending doom that was nigh approaching.
"Amaru-kun – er, Amaru-chan. We don't have much options, as we're limited to offer any sort of resources or lodgings as we are now. I apologize for our inability to grant you the hospitality you so deserve." A pang of guilt came through Amaru's heart somewhat achingly. Shizune continued one. "Now, I know it's hard for you, but I suppose living with Naruto shouldn't be too bad." With that, she shot a precautionary glare at Naruto, as if to say, "Don't try anything funny."
Naruto gulped rather audibly.
Amaru's face scrunched up almost distastefully, but in the end she nodded wordlessly, her face giving up into a pout.
"Be on your best behaviour, Naruto." Kakashi patted the young blonde on the shoulder. "Amaru's in your hands now."
"R-Right." He glanced warily back at Amaru, who looked back at him with doubt in her eyes.
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End of Chapter One
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Author's Notes: Funnily enough, I managed to finish this chapters a few hours shortly I submitted the prologue. Enjoy the double update!