Kurenai was walking along towards Naruto's apartment today. She was told by Iruka that Naruto had returned, and that he was appointed to her team. They had had a long discussion about this. She knew all the rumors of course. Everyone did. Iruka had assured her that Naruto was not what everyone was saying, of course Naruto's stunt with the Hokage monument said otherwise. She had ended up relenting of course, though she wondered what Iruka meant about how Naruto had changed. His description had been nothing close to what she had heard from anyone else, ever.
Iruka had said that he had forgotten to ask how this had happened to the boy, yet he still trusted that it was Naruto. He had said something like only Naruto could have done something so ridiculous and embarrassing. When she had pressed him for details , he simply said that whatever it was, it was sufficient proof in his mind that it could only be Naruto. When he described Naruto though, it went nothing like the blond vibrant kid she always heard about. She recalled his description…
\ "well he looked completely different that what you would probably expect. He had a deep crimson colored hair, and his eyes…" he shuddered a bit as he recalled them " they look normal enough in some lights, going either a dark red, or a light blue, but sometimes they looked like a violet color. Those eyes scared me, they were full of pain, even while he talked to me after he proved to me who he was... , anyway, he looked older somehow, though that was probably me having to look up at him. He didn't look like he would stand out in a crowd too much like the old Naruto would, so I wouldn't be surprised if you missed him on the street, or thought he looked like someone else..." /
They pretty much had nothing left to say to each other so they said their goodbyes, and she had decided to go to Naruto's today. She was half way to Naruto's apartment, when she noticed something out of her peripheral vision. She saw someone passed out in an alley, with children poking them with a stick. "Hey stop that!" she yelled getting their attention. \probably some drunk / She thought quietly to herself as the kids disbanded, having been caught. She sighed to herself. \ I should probably check to see if he alright/ it almost looked like he had fallen off the roof and gotten knocked out when she got closer to flip him over. When she got to him and flipped him over though, her breath caught as she saw his face. \How does a guy that looks like this end up face down in an ally, oh my god he's perfect, tall muscular, handsome, probably around twenty. That's not too much of an age difference. Maybe he needs to be nursed back to health… I could do that, and I could visit Naruto tomorrow… Yes, maybe I'll do just that./ she started to hum to herself as she slung the man over her shoulder, and headed off to her house.
"Huh where am I" Naruto said waking up with a start. He was in a high ceilinged room, that the walls were a vivid shade of violet. It was lit by a dim light, and it cast odd shadows, there was a weird music playing in the background. He was on a bed, a really comfortable bed. His nostrils were filled with a something strong, something covered by incense. He heard voices outside his room, and got up and put his ear to the door to better hear.
"I can't believe you put him in my room, why couldn't you have put him anywhere else?" yelled an angry female voice "I thought that your room would be fine, I thought you were out on a mission and, well I just wanted to be able to take care of him for a while, I didn't think it would be a big deal" answered a much calmer voice
\What does she mean take care of me? Does she want to kill me? / Naruto thought, terrified.
"Damn it, I've never known you to do something like this, and I've know you for a long time. You know that I don't like other people to go in my room, they don't need to be in there."
"Alright I won't do it again." Said the calm voiced person.
"I'm only going to ask one more time, why my room?" asked the angry voice, though it was obvious that she was getting a grip on her anger.
"It matched his eyes, they were the dreamiest violet color, and I just couldn't leave him on the street could I?"
"Fine, Fine." Said the angry voice wearily "But please, I know this is really your house and all, but I would really just like people not to see my room"
Naruto pulled away from the door not so terrified anymore. He looked around a bit more taking in the details of the room as he headed back to the bed. There was nothing bad about this room as far as he could tell; he wondered why the lady was so adamant about people not seeing her room. There were a lot of bright colors everywhere, from the violet walls to the bright red almost pink ceiling. The carpet was nice; his feet sank half way up to his ankles in it. |?| \ that's funny where are my shoes… and all my other cloths?/ Naruto had just noticed that he was standing in a strangers room completely naked. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming closer, and panicked; he jumped back onto the bed and laid there like he had when he woke up. "Huh where am I?" Naruto questioned kind of groggily, hoping that this woman that just walked in would believe he had just woke up.
"You're being taken care of, in a while someone else will come in here, but until then I came to take care of you a little on my own." The angry voice from earlier said, as she was turning from the door. She was quite stunning. She had a tight purple t-shirt, along with some even tighter black pants that went to mid calf. She had some black gloves on that went up to her forearm as well. When she had finally looked at him she stopped moving. She seemed stuck in place just staring at him. Naruto felt weird just being looked after a couple moments.
"Um are you okay?"
He asked hesitantly Her eyes suddenly focused and She looked like she was aware of her surroundings again. "Yes of course I'm alright; it's you that was passed out" she said a bit indignantly. "Anyway, how do you feel now, do you need any help with anything?" she asked, looking at him like he was her next meal.
Naruto was completely freaked out. "Um no I'm sure I'm fine. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm okay enough to walk, um so I guess I'll see you later." Naruto started to get up to leave, but was pressed down, back onto the not so comfortable bed now, by the dark haired lady.
"Are you sure I can't help you with anything at all?" Said the woman sweetly as she started to take off her purple t-shirt off to reveal a body mesh underneath.
"Uh, um yeah," Naruto said gulping nervously. "I'm sure that I don't need any help" Naruto said, though a feat of will, while trying to get up again.
"You don't look like you need to be walking around just yet." The purple haired woman said, smirking, still staring at him like a dehydrated person looks at water in the middle of the desert. "In fact I insist that you stay for a while, so that we can properly monitor your health." she said as she pushed him down on the bed again.
"Really I feel quite fine, I don't think this is necessary" he said quite aware that he was naked and did not want this woman near him right now much less on top of him as she was. He was trying to get up unsuccessfully while making excuses, but it was getting harder and harder. All the while the smell that was covered by the incense earlier was getting stronger. He knew he was trying to get away from this woman before, but couldn't quite remember the reason, he felt as though he was becoming weaker as he kept drawing away from this person. Vaguely he realized that he had stopped trying to get up, and that this person was lying next to him, without her pants on. The smell was so intoxicating, and inviting, and, and … exciting. He was slipping away in a dream state, he felt so good, and yet somehow he felt bad, oh so bad. Deep down, he had a feeling that he was in trouble, though he couldn't think of a reason why. A while later, Naruto heard the door open and heard the other voice immediately.
"Oh god, Anko! Did you do what I think you did to him?" The woman labeled as Anko was still lying next to him, he didn't quite know what had happened, he knew he felt good, and that it was a nice feeling to lay next to someone.
"Relax it's not even that bad. No he kept trying to leave, so I just made it so he wouldn't." Naruto smelled blood, his blood. This was bad, why was his blood on the sheets around him, why did he have cuts all over.
"And what exactly did you do to make sure he wouldn't leave" said the other woman narrowing her eyes at Anko. Naruto couldn't really see the other woman well. Something was just throwing his senses all to hell.
"Well I, here just come with me, I'll explain it while I'm dressing." Said Anko looking for all the world like a child that just got caught doing something wrong. Naruto just felt good laying there. This had to be the most comfortable bed in the entire world. It was big and fluffy, and had nice pillows. The room looked nice as well; someone could lose themselves in this room, just lying there in that bed looking around. This was wrong though, why was he here, where were his cloths, and why in the name of all that was good did he have cuts. They were healed already, but that he had them was disturbing. He could tell he had a lot of them because he still had dried blood all over himself. His moment of reflection was broken, however when heard the other woman's exclamation. "You did what?" not so calm anymore woman screeched.
Naruto heard a thump of something heavy hit the ground like a sack of concrete. He was out of bed immediately not sure what happened. He heard fighting in the closet and felt a positively massive killing intent. He was frozen for a precious moment, not knowing what to do. The fight or flight instinct kicked in and he looked for an escape. Looking around, he spotted his robes and ran for them. As soon as he got to them, however he heard the door opening. He was next to the door leading out of the bedroom and ruShed out running through a hallway. He burst into the nearest door and found another room. He didn't have time to look at the details, but he saw a window. He jumped as hard as he could shattering the window, and falling several stories to the ground below. Pulling on his robes as he fell, he hit the ground running. He had heard a snap when he hit the ground, it sounded like a tendon, but that didn't matter,there was adrenaline pumping through his veins and he felt a terrible need to run away. He found after running a short distance that he was now in the good section of town, the other side of town from his apartment. He was running as fast as he could and he just didn't think it was fast enough. He was trying desperately to get back home to relative safety, someplace that he could piece together why these things were happening to him. He was so confused, he didn't know what happened to him or what could of happened back there, but he wanted to know, but also he didn't. These feelings were tearing through him as he was running trying desperately to get home.
Kurenai was walking to Naruto's house a bit dejectedly. She didn't know what had happened to that man she had brought home with her. She had gotten into an argument with Anko over him and they almost never argued. Anko had said that she "played around a bit with that man (which for her meant torturing him), and Kurenai had just flipped. She had punched Anko as hard as she could. The unexpected attack slammed Anko into the ground, where she stayed. Kurenai being a good friend despite beating Anko unconscious had stayed and waited for Anko to wake up so she could apologize. Anko had woken up just fine though she was quite angry with Kurenai for, as she said "being such a bitch about it." she had, however forgiven her so now with no man to watch after, and no friend unconscious, she started out on her original goal of telling Naruto where the first team meeting was.
She broke her musings as she noticed that she was already at Naruto's apartment. She headed to his door and knocked. \What the hell! Why is he here / thought Kurenai as Naruto's door, opened the door and she found herself looking at the man from this morning. "Um hello?" Kurenai said hesitantly, not sure why he looked like he didn't recognize her. She also saw he was sniffing the air a lot more intently than was normal. "You want to go out with me?"She asked before she realized it. "Hi, who are… you. What did you say? The man asked seeming to be quite slow on the uptake. Probably still in shock about this morning, though he did not look like he had been tortured, yeah he was covered in bloodstains, but aside from that he didn't have a mark on him. Even going to the hospital there would have been scarring … there was something about him that was just so mysterious she just had to get to know this man. ...wait did she just ask this guy out... realization sunk in as what she said registered in her mind. Her face promptly flushed to color similar to her eyes. "Oh I'm sorry is Naruto here? I'm looking for him, and I was told he lived here." Kurenai said, drifting away from her embarrassing question almost wishing that he didn't hear her, but also hoping that he had and said yes.
"Huh? Yeah sure come in, let me just finish cleaning up" Naruto said, cursing his having only one set of clothes at the moment. "Please make yourself at home" Naruto called over his shoulder, as he walked into the bathroom.
\ I can't Believe that my first reaction is to ask him out, how embarrassing. Damn he looks haggard, though, maybe he didn't actually notice. Maybe it was a bad thing to take him to my house; it's probably what made him look that bad. Oh well it seems he doesn't recognize me, so maybe my chances are not all that shot, though I still don't understand why he looks so bad off, living with Naruto in this tiny apartment, hell passing out in allies. I mean that can't be a good sign, maybe he's in some sort of trouble. Would he tell me if I asked, would he let me help, I wonder if he'll even let me get to know him better or just throw me out. Why is he living with Naruto though, I was told he lived alone, and how does he not have a single scar on him, Anko would not have skimped on the face if she was torturing someone, especially if they had a nice looking one like this guy, the only marks he has though are those weird marks on his cheeks. Why was he sniffing at me so intently when he saw me now that I think about it... Oh god he doesn't have an enhanced sense of smell does he... that would be terrible. He would know .../ Kurenai's mental rambling broke off as she saw the glistening redhead step out of the bathroom in not but a towel. As he came out he started to talk to Kurenai, who was quite occupied with staring at him.
Finally she came to her senses when he started to look like he was sorry for something. "I'm sorry I have to go and do something, but if you want, you can come too, you can talk to me more if you do." Naruto said
\Is he asking me on a date? That is better than I hoped, better not ruin this. Should I decline and see if he really wants me to come, but what if he doesn't make sure and just leaves it at me declining his offer. What if this isn't actually a date and it's just some menial chore he has to do, I'd look foolish if I decline right? Or worse rude. I don't want him to think I'm rude. / "Sure I'll come" Kurenai said, deciding for more reasons than not being rude.
"Alright let's get going then" Naruto said already heading for the door "
"Already?" Kurenai asked incredulously
Naruto grinned a bit "I look that bad huh?" he chuckled a bit "If I didn't know how bad I probably look right now I might be offended" he laughed some more at the look on Kurenai's face. "But, I need to do some stuff and if you need to talk, then I'm either going to have to ask you to come later or come with me now" "Alright I'll come with you" Kurenai said with a bit of a smirk they set off Naruto leading Kurenai somewhere, where she knew not, but what she did know was that Naruto had forgotten that he only had a towel on, and it was slightly windy outside.
"Sir" said an Anbu in an Elephant mask. He was standing at attention in front of a chair that was sitting against a wall in a large room. It was a dark room and even darker around the chair making it hard to make out the person speaking
"This had better be important." said the man in a chilly tone. "I have standing orders not to be disturbed unless something more important than the Uzumaki case came up and you're not on that."
"Sir its related to the Uzumaki case. You have orders to come to you immediately about anything that may seem interesting or harmful involving target Uzumaki." elephant Anbu said.
"Alright go on, it had better be good for I am quite busy and cannot be bothered by trivial matters."
"Commander we have found the target Uzumaki with one Kurenai Yuhi on what appears to be a date. Kurenai shows all indications of being romantically attached, while the target seems to be oblivious. I believe that if this were to continue it may interrupt plans already in motion."
"Yes, that it may. Be sure to separate them if you can do so discreetly, and the killing of either would not be discreet am I clear on that? I wouldn't want to kill off the last of her bloodline and Naruto well he will be my weapon.
"Sir? How would you suggest such a feat? I am sorry but I do not specialize in such matters" said the elephant masked Anbu
"I can talk to her myself if it comes to it, and if I remember correctly your friend Tobu Mokurishi was looking for him. See if he can't influence things to fall apart."
"Not to question your orders, sir, but as of this morning Tobu was released from his duties as an Anbu."
"Well I suppose it's a good thing that I don't need him to act as an official Anbu now isn't it?" said the voice from the chair.
"yes sir" said the Anbu promptly.
"That was a rhetorical question. However I may have been too quick to decide what to do. Bottom line is as long as this doesn't interfere with my plans; I don't care whether or not they stay together. Just take a passive wait and see approach, if it turns out badly, then it won't be too much of a loss if Kurenai has to be killed. However Naruto on the other hand is to be preserved at all cost. I will reassign this to you as your new full time assignment. Another will take your place on any other projects you may have."
"Yes commander" said the Anbu turning to leave.
"One more thing before you leave, get me status reports on Naruto. I want mental health, new medical records, current fighting abilities, and anything else you can get. Make sure that I know the full extent of his changes.
"yes commander." said the Anbu. He walked through the underground tunnels of the sewer, out to a cold miserable day at the park that was nearby Uzumaki's apartment when he saw his target walking home with Kurenai still. They were arm and arm walking with several bags of clothes. The Anbu grumbled to himself, knowing that he wasn't to interfere with their relationship until it proved dangerous. He was soon following them seeing what they were doing, keeping tabs on them to see if anything major happened to impact Naruto's psyche so he could have an excuse to break them up. He also watched how the villagers were reacting to him. Not much to his surprise that nobody seemed to recognize him. He held himself differently, he looked around twenty, instead of twelve, he was muscular and judging from the envious stares of the women, he was good looking, and they were not too thrilled to see their new eye candy being escorted by Kurenai. It seemed as though everything was different about him. though his attitude at first glance may have been the same, he seemed weary now as though he expected an attack at every corner. When they finally got to Naruto's house, he and Kurenai went inside together.
Elephant mask Anbu had to take up a position looking in the window from across the street, and had to lip-read instead of listening in. he was kind of disappointed in himself for not being able to get inside and hide.\ There was only so much I could do, though, Uzumaki's apartment was pretty much one big room that was divided into other rooms. It was so tiny. How does someone live like that? And how did Kurenai like a guy who lived like that? Living like a sardine was not a way for a human being to live, unless you didn't want them to be human./ the Anbu thought to himself. The apartment, though small, did have most of what was needed to get by in life. There was a bed, a sink, a toilet that was separated from the rest of the house by some thin walls, and a small table with a microwave right next to the stove that was a few feet back from the table . Sabotaging his house would be so simple if he had orders to do it. All the appliances were arranged to fit around a central mound in the wall which was his bathroom. It looked as though there wasn't even electrical work for a ceiling light, just on that plugged into the wall of the bathroom. Anbu guy made a mental note that all he needed was to short circuit what little electrical work there was and disable the breaker if he even had one, and the whole house would go up.
Something caught his attention, though. He saw Kurenai say something and then Naruto cautiously squeezed his eyes shut and held them like that. Kurenai looked hesitantly at Naruto and started to lean in. closer and closer until her lips met his. Naruto's eyes flashed open obviously not knowing what to do, but, slowly he relaxed into it. Anbu guy momentarily had a lapse in discipline, nearly making him lose cover, he had already started going to the window before he remembered his orders of wait and see. He took a breath and calmed down, going back to hiding, waiting to see how things would develop, making sure that he got all the details for his commander. Hoping that nothing further happened. He watched as kissing turned into something a bit more as she sat on his lap and started caressing him. Soon it was pure voyeurism on his part, as he watched them. He watched till he felt a bit sick, and then he watched some more. This went on for a long time and he thought he would break.
He had admired Kurenai for a long time from afar, but he had always sworn that he would ask her out when he got dismissed from Anbu. He had been waiting for the day with a mix of anxiety and hope for a while. This was worse for him than the customary torture screening to join Anbu was. He watched them roll around on Naruto's small bed fornicating trying to keep his focus. He was on a mission and he would carry it out as though it was any other mission. After quite a while they finally stopped. For which he was grateful, but he noticed that Kurenai seemed to be in a hurry as she cleaned herself up. He noted Naruto watching sleepily as she scurried around collecting her things, he said what was obviously a farewell of some sort, and before she had even finished dressing promptly fell asleep. She looked back to Naruto as if she suddenly forgot to do something and started frantically searching again until she had a sheet of paper and a pen. She scribbled down a quick note that elephant mask couldn't see from this distance and headed out the door hurriedly. He stayed for a couple more minutes to make sure that Naruto would stay asleep before he went home and started his report to his commander.