"Heh! Man, that look on Hibachi's face… that'll teach them not to invite me!"
Naruto unwound the shuriken-patterned blanket from his shoulders one-handed, his other hand busy gripping a paper-mache fox mask and the crumpled bag of taiyaki Chouza-ji-san had gotten him. He was far enough from the cemetery to see the grease soaking the paper bag by the light of the street lamps. Hastily, he wrapped the blanket around everything, then slung the makeshift bag over one shoulder.
Goodies safe, he was free to daydream again.
"Test of courage, test of smourage… turns out they were all chicken anyway! Hehehe…"
It had been an awesome prank. Kiba and the others had been busy during lunch, so Naruto thought he could play with his classmate Hibachi and his group of clanless kids. They were always by the Academy swing, so they were easy to find.
Turns out they were planning a test of courage at the nearest cemetery that night. But they didn't want to play with Naruto, and they wouldn't let him come with to the cemetery!
Naruto grinned at the moon. So of course, it was the perfect timing for a fox ghost to show up…
"Nori's scream was so funny." He marched down the street, arms swinging. "And I think Masahiro cried…"
A street lamp flickered, as if agreeing with him. There was no one else on the street with him, so he could be as loud as he liked. By this time, all the kids would be home, while the adults went to the more well-lit parts of the village at night. Like, Hashirama Road, or the place with all the restaurants, or, that part of town Minako and Mikoto-ba-chan told him to stay away from.
Thinking of Minako made Naruto frown. He tried to think of something else.
Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei had showed up right after Hibachi had run away, and gave Naruto that look.
That same look that shopkeeper gave him before throwing the fox mask at his head. That same look the crowd gave him, as they stood back and watched the shopkeeper yelling at him. That same look that the taiyaki lady had on her face, when she called him a liar and tried to send him away.
So Naruto yelled at Iruka-sensei, and ran off.
"I'm never going back to the Academy, dattebayo!"
"What's the point anyway," he muttered now, kicking at the dirt. "My sensei doesn't want me, my classmates don't want me, Kiba and the others don't even believe me…"
Thinking of that look and Iruka-sensei made Naruto frown too. But this was an easier kind of frown, so he didn't mind as much. It was familiar, and it didn't make his insides twist up like he'd eaten something bad. And, he knew exactly how to deal with it!
He puffed out his chest.
"Screw Iruka-sensei. Y'know what? I'm glad I'm quitting the Academy! Nobody likes me anyway! I'm gonna stay home, and eat all day, and—yeah!"
He nodded, spirits returning. Sucky Iruka-sensei. Naruto will show him! He couldn't even catch Naruto. He was probably home by now, at his nice house, with his nice family, and talking bad about Naruto, like everyone else.
Naruto didn't want to go home yet. Home meant Minako. Minako, after she got madder than he's ever seen her in forever, before running away from Sasuke again.
Was she still mad?
Probably spaced out, like always. Throwing kunai at their target in the backyard—oh, but it was dark now. Maybe cleaning, then, even if nothing needed to be clean. Or going to sleep early. Some days she didn't even notice how late Naruto got home.
But what if she did this time?
What if she was scared, home alone this late?
What if she was crying coz he wasn't home, but she couldn't run out and look for him, because it was dark now, and Minako hated being alone in the dark, hated it—
"AGH!" Naruto scrubbed his face and stamped his feet. "THIS SUCKS, DATTEBAYO!"
He went home.
Their front door squeaked as he slowly pushed it open. He peeked inside, wincing. Minako had pretty good hearing, but when she spaced out, she tended to miss small noises like it.
"Naruto?"
"Ah! Hehe… I'm home!"
Naruto jumped inside, grinning sheepishly and hand behind his head, like he hadn't been peeking at all.
Minako sat at their dining table, her sunset red hair damp and loose down her back. She had kunai and shuriken spread out on the table in front of her, half-sorted into the pouch by her elbow.
So she had been cleaning! Sorta!
Across her sat Naruto's dinner, a bowl covered by a plate to keep it warm a little longer. Used to be, they had a rule about no weapons on the table while there was food on it. She had always yelled about it when Shisui was around.
Now, she didn't even blink at the blanket slung over Naruto's shoulder.
"Welcome home."
"Yeah… ah…"
Naruto kicked off his shoes and pushed them over to the side of the genkan with his toe. Sasuke had always yelled at him for leaving his shoes all messy on their genkan, so the habit stuck.
Minako had gone back to sorting her weapons. The metal click-clicked against each other as she put them back in her pouch.
"Hey… hey! Wanna hear about the super cool prank I pulled today?" Naruto said loudly. He tackled silence the way he knew best—by destroying it with the awesomeness only a cool ninja had.
"Hibachi and his friends were such scaredy-cats, hehe. They were gonna do a test of courage at the cemetery without me, but they all ran away like babies when they saw my costume! I didn't even need a candle to make myself look spooky, dattebayo!"
He took his seat at the table and started unwrapping his blanket-bag. Minako eyed the mask as he pulled it out.
"How much did you get that for?"
"Zero," Naruto said proudly. "I saw the shopkeeper throw it out."
No need to mention the shopkeeper had thrown it at him. Minako always got really angry when she saw or heard that, in the quiet way that told Naruto she was really, really sad.
"And I thought, yeah, that'll be perfect to scare Hibachi! So I took it. It's great, isn't it?"
Minako took the mask, running her hands over the smooth paper mache. A funny look crossed her face as she flipped it over to its fox side.
"It's really well done." She traced the fox' red whiskers. "Are you going to keep it?"
Naruto froze, halfway through pulling out the bag of taiyaki.
He honestly hadn't thought that far.
But what else could he use it for?
…pranking Iruka-sensei?
Or maybe Sasuke! Make him make a face that isn't his constipated angry frown all the time. Hehe, bet Naruto could surprise Kiba too if he hid downwind.
Then he remembered he wasn't going back to the Academy.
He—he could prank other people! That shopkeeper! Yeah, that'll show him for throwing stuff at Naruto. And the taiyaki lady!
"Yeah! Yeah, I can wear it when I prank other people! And, and—and they won't know it's me!"
"Like Inu-san?" Minako asked.
It took him a second to realize who she was talking about.
A smile broke over his face, spreading until his cheeks hurt. The idea lit him up from the inside. He was so giddy, he wanted to dance.
"Yeah! Just like Inu-san, dattebayo!"
He couldn't remember what Inu-san's mask looked like anymore. It's been years since he last saw him. He was surprised Minako remembered, but then again, Minako always noticed so many things.
Well. When she was paying attention, at least.
A small smile tugged on her lips.
Naruto beamed. Mission Cheer Up Minako: Success!
"Just put it on—on the other chair. Your dinner's cold."
"Okay, okay!"
Naruto dumped the blanket, mask, and taiyaki on Shisui's old chair. The taiyaki teetered on the edge of the pile.
"Ah!"
He dove for the bag before it could plop to the floor. It took him a bit of wriggling to sit upright again. Minako laughed—just a soft huff, but it was a laugh.
Naruto held up the bag in victory.
"Got it!"
"And what's that?" Minako said.
"Taiyaki! Chouza-ji-san bought me extra so we could share!"
The smile slipped off her face.
Naruto clutched the bag to his chest, flinching. No, no, no… c'mon, things were going so well!
"Did you have fun?" Minako said. Her voice has gone quiet. She picks up a kunai, then puts it down again, restless.
"Yeah," Naruto said, wary. "The taiyaki lady was mean, you know her, the white hair one, but Shikamaru said I wasn't good at lying, and Chouji said we'd go, so the taiyaki lady had to let me in. And then Chouza-ji-san bought me extra!"
Tap, tap. Minako bowed her head. Naruto could just barely see her expression through the thick curtain of her hair. Her lips were pressed together so hard, only a thin line was left. Her eyes shined.
She looked miserable.
"You should come with us next time." He lowered the taiyaki bag onto the table. His heart hasn't stopped rabbiting. "Chouza-ji-san really is nice, dattebayo. We can have fun together!"
"It's Akimichi-sama," Minako said.
"He said he's Chouza-ji-san, so he's Chouza-ji-san," Naruto said stubbornly.
Minako's eyes sharpened.
"He told you to call him that?"
"No."
His voice wavered. What if Chouza didn't like it? Was it really okay to call him that if he didn't say?
Naruto swallowed.
"He's nice, so he's Chouza-ji-san, dattebayo!"
"Just because he was nice to you, it doesn't mean you should call him that," Minako said.
"Why not?" Naruto snapped back. "Mikoto-ba-san liked it!"
And there it was. Like a light, turning off in her eyes. Or curtains, slipping over the window.
Naruto called it "spacing out" because that's what it looked like. Minako's expression flattened. Her blue eyes turned dull as a murky pond. There was nothing in those depths.
She might as well not be there.
Naruto's mouth filled with a taste so bitter, he shoved the bag of taiyaki away from him. It skidded over the table.
What was this feeling? Mad, sure, so mad he was shaking, but there were other things too, like whatever was making his eyes sting, or the dark, ugly wriggling in his chest.
A tiny part of him was scared too. But that was easier to ignore.
"Mikoto-ba-san liked it when I called her that!" He pressed on. Do something. Say something! "Remember? She said—"
"I don't want to talk about it." Minako shoved all their weapons into one haphazard pile, metal clattering against metal.
"You never want to talk about it!" Naruto cried. "You don't even talk to Sasuke anymore!"
It felt like a betrayal. Like pretending it never happened, that they'd never met Mikoto and Shisui and Ryouji and everyone. He clung to those memories with everything he had, because it meant that there had been people who had cared for them once. People who worried whether they had eaten, if they were having fun, or if they were doing well in class.
Minako flinched.
Just a small movement—her lips, pressing together, her hands faltering on a kunai.
The dark wriggling in Naruto's chest twisted viciously.
She started putting the kunai back in a pouch.
"Sasuke doesn't need… he doesn't need more people bothering him. He's got you, and Kakashi, and…"
Her words tumbled over each other. She shook her head, hair swinging.
"I'll just make things worse."
"Make what worse?"
She just kept shaking her head.
"What? What is that?"
Naruto's nails dug into his palms. He couldn't see Minako anymore—the room had gone all blurry. There were so many words in his head, he couldn't figure out what to say first. They bounced around in his skull, filling up all the space until all he could hear was buzzing.
"You— you—!"
He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe.
So he opened his mouth, shoved all the words out.
"You're lying!" he yelled. "You just don't care! You don't care about anything anymore! Not about Sasuke, not about—about anything!"
Not about me, he thought, but those words stuck in his throat.
What if she said yes?
She wasn't saying no.
Naruto leapt to his feet. BANG! His seat slammed into the ground behind him.
Finally, finally, finally, Minako looked up.
"Naruto—"
He couldn't stand it. She spaced out, she woke up. She didn't care, she worried baout everything. She pushed him away, she got mad when he wouldn't come with.
BANG!
A door slammed shut behind him.
His door.
To his room.
All he could hear was his own panting. He couldn't hear the kunai, or footsteps, or… Minako.
He held his breath, waiting, waiting—
But Minako didn't say anything. And no one knocked at his door.
He threw himself onto his bed, choking on his tears. Oogama-chan, faded but still soft, slumped sideways as the bed bounced. Naruto buried his face in the stuffed toy's wrinkled belly.
If he did his best, he could pretend the frog was Shisui, lifting him off his feet with his warmest hug. Or Mikoto-ba-san, gently draping her kimono sleeves over his shoulders, while he hugged her waist.
"I won't forget," he told Oogama-chan, hiccuping. "I won't, I won't. Even if everyone else does. I won't!"
Why were they even in different rooms? He missed the days he and Minako slept in the same bed. They'd curl around each other, cry on each other, and somehow, even when the world sucked and the villagers were all terrible and mean, it felt like everything would be okay.
Now, he had to press his ear against the wall, just to hear Minako sleeping on the other side.
Just one more thing that became normal. Like Sasuke ignoring him. And Minako spacing out.
Naruto squeezed Oogama-chan.
Nobody cared about him anymore, did they? Not Minako, not Sasuke, not Iruka-shitty-sensei…
His stomach grumbled. He'd left dinner—and the taiyaki—outside.
…Chouji had cared. Shikamaru too. Chouza-ji-san too, but then Minako's frown flashed in Naruto's mind, making him squirm.
Well, it's not like he needed to go to school to see Shikamaru and Chouji. He could wait for them after class, or catch them skipping with Kiba again.
Yeah. He didn't have to deal with anyone who hated him anymore. He could just do whatever he wanted, plan even better pranks, and have fun all by himself…
Between one breath and the next, he fell into a light, exhausted sleep. He dreamed of a dark room, haunted by a dark man with red eyes on a red floor. Iruka-sensei looked at him in disgust, while Minako lay on the floor, dead-eyed like a doll.
He woke up to rapping on his door.
"Naruto? Wake up. We're going to be late to class."
Class?
Class!
He flailed, twisted in his sheets, and fell out of the bed with a loud thud.
"AGH!"
Class? Late? Oh Iruka-sensei was gonna be so mad—
In a flash, all of last night came back to him. The prank on Hibachi, Iruka-sensei interrupting, and looking at Naruto like he stank of cat poo.
He'd yelled at Iruka-sensei. He wasn't going back to school anymore.
He'd yelled at Minako too.
"Naruto?" Worry crept into her voice. "Are you there? I'm coming in—"
"I'm up, I'm up!" he said hurriedly. Out of reflex, he glanced at his window.
Closed, with its alarm trap built out of string, tape, a needle and an inflated balloon still untouched.
He slumped in relief.
Now his only problem was how to get around Minako.
He dug through his cabinet, his brain running at ANBU speeds.
Sure, he wasn't going to class anymore, but he always walked to school with Minako! And they usually went home together, on the days she didn't have kunoichi class. Which is why he usually skips class on those days.
Because somehow, for some reason, after everything, Minako still cared about both of them going to school.
He yanked open his door—and almost crashed into her, her hand raised to knock again.
She jerked back, stunned. Then she did something with her face—rearranging her features, almost, like she was tugging on her lips to make that crooked smile, pushing her eyebrows up.
But she couldn't hide the way her eyes flickered away and back to his face, worried.
It wasn't the same as how Iruka-sensei had looked at him last night. It wasn't.
But it still sent that same burning lightning feeling through Naruto's chest.
"Come on," she said. "You still need to wash your face. Breakfast is—"
"I'm going now," Naruto blurted. He shoved past her, throwing on his jacket and bolting for the door.
"What? Naruto, wait!"
Again, the door—their front door this time—slammed shut behind him.
This early in the day, the sunlight poked faintly through Konoha's leaves. Shops were still in the middle of opening. A lot of the people he passed by yawned, or scrubbed their eyes, like it was still time for bed.
They would blink as he ran by, then do a double-take, only this time with Iruka-sensei's disgusted face.
Naruto's steps stuttered, then slowed to a walk. People looked at him less when he wasn't running, but he wasn't sure if he liked that.
It depended on the day. Plans and feelings can change when the situation changes, like Minako would say.
"BAH!" Naruto rubbed his head, scowling. A ninja with a green flak jacket jumped, then glared at him. He ignored her and her shopkeeper's dirty looks.
"First day of freedom," he said aloud, trying to distract himself. "Hmm, what to do? Who should I prank first? Hehehe…"
"Oy! Naruto!"
"Eh?"
He turned around. To his surprise, he found a brown-haired boy in a bandanna sauntering up to him, followed by a couple other kids their age.
"Hibachi?" Naruto blurted. "What're you guys doing here? Isn't it school time?"
One of them—dark hair, and a permanently-scrunched up face—gave him an odd look.
"Whaddaya mean? We got plenty of time to walk there."
Huh? Oh. Ohh, right. Naruto had run out without eating breakfast, or even taking a shower. So he wasn't late for school anymore.
If he was still going. Which he wasn't.
"Hehe!" Naruto crossed his hands behind his head. "I knew that! Just testing you! Like how I tested you last night, hah!"
The dark haired boy bristled. Naruto's grin widened.
"We, we knew it was you the whole time, idiot!"
"Sure you did. Is that why you almost peed yourself, Nori?"
Red crawled up Nori's face. "That's a lie!"
Hibachi elbowed him. "Shut up!" he hissed.
Naruto cackled. This was why he played pranks. People stopped pretending to be cool or like they didn't care when they got mad. He could make them care.
Hibachi rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, Naruto, you win."
Naruto choked on his laugh. "Huh?!"
"I said, you win."
"No," Naruto said, gaping. "Say it again, I didn't hear it the first time—"
"WHATEVER!" Hibachi stomped his foot. Naruto shut up. He couldn't stop the smile stretching over his cheeks. He won? He won! Finally, someone was acknowledging his awesomeness!
"Look," Hibachi continued. "We'll let you play with us, like you wanted, yeah?"
Oh, this was turning out to be the best day ever!
Eyes shining, Naruto said, "Really? Really—"
"But!" Hibachi pointed at him. "You have to prove yourself first! A test of courage, like everybody else."
"Heh! Test of courage? I'll clear that, easy! Just watch me!"
"It's an extra special test of courage, just for you." Hibachi gestured Naruto closer, then said in a low voice, "My tou-san just finished a mission in the hill area, south of Konoha. You know where that is?"
Naruto frowned, thinking. Of course he did, they all got a tour of Konoha's outer districts in their second year. Everyone avoided that part of the forest coz it was particularly full of traps. The last time he wandered in there, he'd set off every single one and got scolded by Hokage-jiji.
"What, ya scared?" Nori snickered.
"No!" Naruto crossed his arms. "I was just thinking. Course I know the place! I memorized all the traps, yaknow?"
The old man hadn't let him leave his office until he'd memorized every single one.
"Then it should be easy for you," Hibachi said. "Find the corpse my dad left there, and bring back a trophy from it. Got it?"
"Southern hills, corpse, trophy." Naruto sniffed. Should be easy to find, right? Just a stinky corpse, probably in the middle of a really cool battlefield. "Sure, I got it. I'll bring it back, then we gotta be friends!"
"If you bring the trophy back," Hibachi said, but Naruto was already running off, too excited to hear his disgusted groan.
"Of course I will! I'm gonna be the coolest ninja ever! This is nothing!"
He laughed as he ran, ignoring the stares and the stumbling dodges, the wind tugging at his hair.
Yeah. This is what freedom tasted like. He didn't have to care about Iruka-sensei, or school, or Minako. They didn't care about him. So what? First day of ditching, and he was already making more friends! He just has to grab something easy-peasy and—
"Hey, idiot—"
A hand shot out and grabbed Naruto's arm. Naruto's knees locked. He stumbled, flailed, and managed to stay upright.
Then he gaped at Sasuke.
Sasuke stared back, looking just as surprised he'd said something. Naruto hadn't even made it far down the street. Had he heard the whole conversation with Hibachi?
"What?" Naruto snapped.
Sasuke didn't respond. He was glaring at Naruto now, nostrils flaring, as if Naruto had been the one to grab him by the arm and stop him in his tracks.
"What?" Naruto repeated, angry. "You jealous now? I'm getting more friends, and they know how cool I am!"
That knocked Sasuke out of his silence. "I'm not jealous!"
"Then why'd you grab me, huh? You wanna talk to me now, when I'm making new friends, and not every other time I tried to play with you? Huh? Huh? What about yesterday, huh? You didn't bother talking to me at all!"
People were turning to stare. Naruto's so sensitive to their attention that he noticed them first, and his rising voice second.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, growling. But his dark gaze flickered to the left—he noticed the stares too.
He still didn't say anything.
Naruto yanked his arm free, then stuck his tongue out at Sasuke for good measure. What was his problem? Stupid Sasuke.
"Whatever, bastard," he said, and darted off again.
A part of him stayed tense, waiting, waiting—
But no one tried to stop him again. No one called his name.
So he kept running.
A/N:
If anyone STILL remembers the anime in this day and age, this mini-arc is based off the filler episodes where Naruto and Iruka befriend each other for the first time.
Usually I don't write chapters so closely dependent on anime knowledge to be coherent. This isn't my best work. But I figured done is better than nothing.
Also I am so so very sick right now so if you have time please comment me something you like about the fic or an interaction you want to see between the characters 3 thank u