146Author's Note: Damn it. Once again, it seems I've let my laziness take over. How long has it been since I've even updated? Feels like forever. Guess I'll just have to make it up to my readers by trying really hard on this chapter then, huh? I still have no way of typing these chapters on my computer so I'm using the site's document editor. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.
Edit: Now writing this on my iPod like all my other stories. Plus, I'd like to note that I had started the original draft of this chapter directly after the last, but then my computer broke and I had difficulty restarting this. I still like the original version better but, alas, that is lost to the world now.
Disclaimer: …
"Speech"
'Thought'
'To Be Revealed'
Cursed
It was almost mystical, the teen mused, the way the aroma always seemed to call to him, promising a quick escape from his hallow life. It would be easy to give in and indulge in the forbidden substance; it wasn't necessarily hard to find. On the contrary, it was everywhere. Wherever he looked, it was there; tempting him with its alluring fragrance. Yes, submitting to its call would be simple enough. All he had to do was ask his friends, or better yet his older brother. He always had some stashed away somewhere, having given into the temptation long ago.
Abruptly, a pair of charcoal eyes snapped open, glaring at the ceiling defiantly. He would not crumble under the pressure of the task thrust onto him. Unlike his brother, he would succeed in restoring their family's honor. He was the only person left who could ensure that the name Uchiha was respected, as it once was.
Sitting up, the teenage Uchiha glanced towards the light slithering under the door into his room, accompanied by the tempting fragrance. Figuring the presence of the unique smell could only mean one thing, the raven-haired teen sat up before turning and lifting himself off the bed, grabbing the towel spread across the foot of his bed before heading towards the door. The sweet smelling odor assaulted his nostrils as soon as it was open.
Unfortunately, an annoying sound also decided to assault his ears.
"Yo, Itachi, I'm hungry." the complaint came from the blond sitting, or rather sprawled on the far right of the couch directly of front of him. Hazy blue eyes turned towards the sound of the door opening, taking in the teen before him for a second. "Sasuke! Go make me something to eat!"
Sasuke simply stared at the man indifferently before glancing around the rest of the room, noting all the smoke in the air, taking in the other two occupants before finally coming to a stop on the raven-haired seemingly older version of himself. The man sitting on the couch looked very similar to him, both had Raven hair, charcoal eyes and pale skin; even their expressions were similar, not showing any particular emotion. However, where Sasuke's hair was shorter in the back than it was in the front, his brother's was considerably longer in the back, held in a low ponytail. Other than that, and a few unremarkable facial features, the family resemblance was uncanny.
Itachi merely tilted his head back, resting it on the back of the couch, before sighing. "Sasori, why did you bring Deidara? You know he's annoying when he's high."
To the right of Itachi was sat a thin red haired man, who smiled slightly before putting the rolled up lit paper to his lips, inhaling deeply. "He was in the car when you called me. He heard me talking and became determined to tag along." He said, smoke slipping out in between syllables. "Besides, we let Kisame join us all the time. He's not exactly Mister Beans, himself."
"Fuck you." came the somewhat loud reply from the dark skinned man sitting in one of the chairs at the table slightly to the left of the middle of the room. Out of the four people in the living room, Kisame was by far the largest. "Don't try to turn on me just 'cause I don't have a little bitch voice like you."
Sasori smirked as he passed the dwindling blunt to Itachi. "My voice is suave, not booming like yours. God forbid we ever had to rob a bank, your ass would get us caught before we even parked." Deidara's giggling made the red head turn.
"That's true, we'd be better off sending him on his own as a distraction." he said between giggles causing Kisame to glare at him.
"And who says you'd even be part of it?"
"Itachi." Sasuke called, cutting off, and ignoring, Deidara's response. When said man turned towards him, he continued. "Am I going to stop by and pick up something to eat from the deli or did you bring something?"
"I didn't bring anything from the restaurant but I can make you a BLT if you want." stated the older of the two siblings as he inhaled more of the drug in his hand. At Sasuke's nod, he exhaled the smoke slowly before getting up. "Alright, take a shower and it'll be ready when you get out.
Sasuke nodded again, heading towards the bathroom, ignoring Deidara's shouts as Kisame held him in a headlock while sitting on him.
A few minutes later found Sasuke standing in front of the bathroom mirror with a razor in his hands, shaving the excess hair off the side of his face, in order to keep presentable until his next haircut, while thinking about the conversation he'd had with Renji after the incident with the new kid. He was not worried about cutting his face, seeing as his body had become so accustomed to his daily routine.
For the first time since he entered high school, Sasuke found he was thankful that the school gave the students fifteen minutes to get their things ready in the morning. That gave him enough time to change clothes and still be early to class.
"You know why this happened, don't you?" asked Kisuke, an amused grin on his face. Sasuke glanced at the brown haired boy briefly, about to warn him to stay quiet if he was about to say something stupid but the other boy decided to tell him the answer. "You should've had a V8 like you always do. The one day you don't, some retard throws milk in your face." The way he was laughing he clearly thought he was funny.
"Just go get my extra shirt from my locker, you idiot." Sasuke ordered as he entered the bathroom already removing his shirt, making a few girls nearby drool as they got an eyeful of his chest. There was an audible 'Aw' as he stepped into the bathroom. Once inside he set to work on cleaning both himself and his shirt.
"Make way, bitches, make way." Was heard right outside, making Sasuke pause for a second, figuring he knew that voice. "Hey, give me back my hat!"
'Hn. It's Renji.' He thought before continuing to scrub his shirt with water and some hand soap. A few squeals were heard as the door opened and a few of the girls got another view of him, quickly followed by some shouts as Renji kicked the door closed.
"Fucking serves ya right, hoes!" yelled the amber haired teen, examining his hat for dents before fixing it on his head. "Here, Kisuke said to give this to you seeing as his girl got a hold of him." He said, tossing the clean shirt towards the raven-haired boy. "Honestly, I don't know why he's still with her; she has no ass. Plus she's a bitch." Sasuke remained quiet, not finding any point in responding.
"What happened to you, anyways? Why do you need a new shirt?" Renji asked, having just gotten to school a few minutes ago. The young heir to the Uchiha fortune remained quiet as he soaked his shirt in warm water before hanging it on one of the doors to the stalls.
"Some kid showed up and I guess he was trying to act tough or something, I don't really care." Sasuke stopped as he shook his head to try to remove most of the water in his hair before putting on his shirt. "He tried to start something with me and when I tried to brush him off, he threw Hanataro's milk at me."
"He threw milk on you?" Renji cut him off, on the verge of laughter. The way Sasuke merely stared at him was enough of an answer. "Damn it. How come I missed this?" the teen grumbled shortly before glancing at Sasuke. "You kicked his ass, right?"
"I knocked the wind out of him." was the plain answer, resulting in Renji rolling his eyes.
"You should've kicked his ass." Repeated Renji, glancing towards Sasuke. The raven-haired teen decided to not respond, instead taking a moment to fix his hair as best he could. He may have been cut off from the Uchiha fortune, unknown to his peers, but that didn't mean he was going to go around looking like the common hoodlums who called themselves his friends.
"If I'd have kicked his ass, I would have been suspended." Sasuke stated, glancing over his face once more to make sure he didn't have any more milk on himself before continuing, "I'm not going to have that on my permanent record just because some new kid tried to make a name for himself his first day." he finished, putting his shirt on. Renji rolled his eyes.
"Who cares about that?" Renji questioned, reminding Sasuke that none of the kids he hung out with knew of his arrangement. "It's the principle, man! You want everyone thinking that they can do shit like that and get away with it?"
"Shut up, Renji." Kisuke spoke as he entered the bathroom, a dark red mark on his neck that hadn't been there when Sasuke had last seen him. "In a few days the new guy will know what everyone else does."
"And what would that be?" Sasuke questioned, curious as to what the hell the brown haired boy was going on about. Kisuke grinned sadistically.
"That we're the top dogs around here for a reason. If he tries something like that again, we'll just jump him." He stated, making Sasuke's roll his eyes.
'Barbaric.' Sasuke thought, grabbing his wet shirt from the stall, about to head towards his locker to stash it before Renji spoke up.
"That's so plain, though." The amber haired teen whined. "If we do that, we'll be done in a day. How often do we get a new kid? I'll tell you; never. I say we have some fun with this one."
"And do what?" Kisuke demanded. Though intrigued, he wasn't about to kidnap the new guy and put him on a one-way flight out of the country. And knowing Renji that would be his idea.
"I don't know, but anything should be more entertaining than just kicking his ass." Renji argued, trying to think of idea.
"I dunno, kicking someone's ass can be pretty fun." Kisuke replied, leaning against one of the bathroom stall doors. "Tell you what, Renji. If you can think of an idea for what to do to get back at the new guy before the end of the day, we'll go with that. Otherwise, I'm all for jumping the kid."
It was at that point that Sasuke had left; losing whatever interest he'd had in listening in on the conversation.
Later, after learning that the raven-haired teen had been assigned to be a guide for the new kid, Renji had been struck by his plan.
"Let's do a classic. We get cool with the guy, and once he thinks we're close, we turn on him." Renji offered during English. Sasuke barely paid him any attention, but Kisuke's curiosity was awoken.
"Just what exactly are we going to do?" the brown haired teen asked. Renji shrugged.
"I dunno. We have to get cool with him and see what kind of dirt we can get on him, first. Depending on what we find, we can do a lot of shit." he grinned, eyes shifting towards the raven-haired boy sitting quietly. "And Sasuke has the perfect opportunity to start this off."
"No."
"Come on, Sasuke." Renji whined. "All you have to do is introduce us to him, since you're his tour guide and shit, and we'll take care of the rest."
"And what reason would I have for being friendly with him after the stunt he pulled?" Sasuke poked a hole in Renji's plan.
"True." Kisuke agreed. "Wouldn't this kid realize something's up?" The way Renji crumpled in his chair meant he hadn't thought of that.
"Maybe..." Renji trailed off as he tried to formulate a valid reason. "Maybe we can just say that once we actually looked back it was funny for someone to pull a stunt like that... and... it took balls and we like that?"
Kisuke smirked. "You like people with balls?" he questioned, getting a quick nod from the amber haired boy before he realized what he'd been asked. "Gay."
"Shut up, you faggot!" he exclaimed, gaining the attention of the entire class, while Kisuke sniggered in the corner.
"If you're going to start, Renji, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." the teacher stated, arms crossed, clearly not in the mood for the boy's antics.
"No thanks, Sensei, I'm good." Renji replied as he sat back down in his chair, ignoring the loud sigh the instructor made. As soon as the man resumed his lecture, Renji turned towards Kisuke, who had a smug smirk on his face.
"So besides how gay it sounds, it's an alright idea." Kisuke spoke before Renji could. "So what do you want to do, Sasuke?" the brown haired teen intoned. "You were the one this kid messed with."
"I really could not care less."
"Hey; he didn't say no." Renji stated, sporting a smirk that Kisuke mirrored.
"Alright then, Renji. Seeing as it's your plan and all, next time we see him it's up to you to get him to hang with us." Kisuke ordered.
"A'ight, bet," was Renji's simple response.
Despite Renji's pathetic attempts to get the blonde to hang out with them the last few days, Sasuke doubted anyone had the slightest clue about the 'plan' the boy had devised. People often ignored the amber-haired teen, himself included. He was just too simpleminded to take seriously.
"Your roll is on the table." Itachi mentioned as Sasuke walked out of the bathroom. "You got enough money for the bus or do you need some change?"
"I'm good." Sasuke replied, turning down his elder brother's offer. Since they had been cut off from their parent's fortune, money had been tight and Sasuke never liked to take money from his brother even when he did need it. A few minutes later Sasuke stood in front of the front door, dressed. "I'm off, then, Itachi."
"Come, Naruto, we're leaving." the blond boy in question followed the order, walking as best he could with the stinging on his back. They walked towards the front door silently, trying to make as little noise as possible so as to not alert the last person in the house.
That notion proved to be pointless when the door flung open just as soon as they reached it, revealing the man from whom they were trying to escape.
"Where are you going, Tsubaki?" Mizuki spoke, eyeing his wife menacingly before his gaze shifted towards the child behind her. "You are supposed to be resting, boy."
"I'm taking Naruto away!" Tsubaki declared, staring at her husband defiantly even though she was trembling with fear. She had never been scared of Mizuki, but the man standing before her now was not the man she married; he was not the man she fell in love with for his kind heart.
"Didn't you just hear me; he's supposed to be resting." he repeated, never taking his eyes off the frightened young boy. "Do you want them to punish you like they did Yagura-kun?"
The effect of the threats was immediate as Naruto began inching back towards the stairs, terrified of being tortured the same way he had seen them do to another ritual container. Jinchūriki they called them.
Before he reached the stairs, however, his mother grabbed his arm. The blond's gaze snapped from his father to his mother. "Don't, Naruto." She spoke, shaking her head before turning to glare at her husband. "Get out of the way, you bastard. We're leaving."
The silver-haired man placed his hand on his face before his shoulders started shaking. He glanced between his fingers at the two confused people in front of him before letting his hand fall to reveal his maniac grin.
"No. I don't think so, Tsubaki." Mizuki stated firmly, stepping in and closing the door behind him. "You see, Naruto is too important to the cult now." his gaze settled on Naruto's stomach. "But if you really wish to leave, I won't stop you."
Tsubaki unconsciously tightened her grip on Naruto's forearm. "I'm not leaving Naruto with someone like you." she spat, glaring into the crazed eyes of the thing that stood before her. She refused to call it by the name of the man she fell in love with, feeling it would be a disgrace to his image. To her memories of him.
"Someone like me?" Mizuki inquired, tilting his head to the side curiously. The crazed look in his eyes, however, made the action appear intimidating. "Why, Tsubaki, whatever could you mean?" he taunted as he advanced on the two.
"Yo, Naruto, you awake?" Yamato yawned, standing outside the teen's room. A few second later the blond boy opened the door, revealing that he was fully dressed. "Good. Get something to eat while I get ready and I'll drop you off on my way to work."
Naruto nodded, following the man to the kitchen. Once there, Yamato headed into his room while Naruto moved to heat up some Pop Tarts, which the older man had bought for the blond teen two days prior on their trip to the supermarket. A necessity since the two single men didn't have much food at home, living off of take-out and such.
"You know if you took the bus you wouldn't have to wait in the main office at your school for half an hour." Yamato commented as he changed. Since Naruto's school was in the opposite direction from the J.D.C., he had to drop the boy off earlier than he should just to make it to work on time. Luckily, thanks to Kakashi and the rest of the faculty, he was allowed to wait inside rather than outside since it was getting cold.
"True as that may be, it would also mean I'd have to ride with my fellow classmates." Naruto responded, catching the heated pastries as they jumped out of the toaster. "Plus Haruno would wonder if I lived close by." he added as an afterthought. "Thus far we've managed to avoid any encounters. I'd rather keep it that way."
'He really doesn't fancy the chick, huh?' Yamato mused as he walked out of his room. He had seen when Naruto had caught the Pop Tarts and he couldn't help but arch an eyebrow. He wasn't even facing the toaster when he caught them.
He didn't know how the boy did it, but he seemed to have a knack for knowing random things. He knew when the lights on a semaphore were going to change; he was like a human clock, knowing what time it was no matter when. He never missed when he threw something into the trashcan. To put it bluntly, the boy was an enigma.
Naruto wasn't even that hard to be around, from a social standpoint. He didn't sit there and stare blankly at him or Kakashi. He talked to them; he asked them random questions about whatever they were watching. He paid attention to the lengthiest of their explanations. It was just the boy's personality, or lack thereof, that made it awkward to be around him sometimes. He really didn't display any emotion whatsoever. His voice was a constant monotone, and his eyes made it difficult to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds.
"Let's go, then." Yamato ordered as he grabbed the keys to his car, which had been repaired, and headed towards the entrance. "It's finally Friday. The faster we get through the day, the faster we can relax for the weekend, no?"
"I suppose." Naruto responded blankly, making Yamato sigh as he unlocked his Nissan Altima.
"Have you decided whether or not you're going to go to any of the Halloween parties you were invited to?" Yamato asked as he started up the car, making sure all his mirrors were okay before shifting the car in gear and easing them out of their parking spot.
"I don't think I'll go to any of them." Naruto answered, thinking of the three parties he'd been invited to. Inuzuka Kiba had invited him to a party held at his house, which Naruto assumed the rest of the group that the boy hung out with would attend. Then there was the party that one of the guys from Sasuke and Neji's group had invited him to. He was still rather suspicious of them, but at the same time he figured that Neji wasn't one to associate himself with anyone who went out of their way for petty revenge. There was also a party he had been invited to by a random shy girl named Yuzu, who had blushed and stammered as she talked to him.
He knew he wasn't going to the party the popular kids had invited him to, for he might gain popularity just from being there. He also figured he would rather not go to the Inuzuka's party, because he would rather not spend more time acting like an idiot than he had to, which he would have to do if he went to that party. The last party wasn't much concern, since he didn't know who the girl was and could probably just say he had a headache and couldn't make it if he ever saw the light brown-haired girl again.
"So you decided to stay for the party we're hosting?" Yamato teased, smiling lightly. He and Kakashi had drawn the straws for hosting the Halloween party this year, and even though they had hoped Naruto would go to one of the parties he'd been invited to, because their party was probably going to have more than a few mature themes, but if he was going to stay they'd have to figure out if he was mature enough to handle their party activities, or if they had to tone it down a notch.
"I don't appear to have much of a choice in the matter, do I?" Naruto stated, moving a few strands of hair out of his face. Yamato shrugged.
"Well if you change your mind, I can drive you wherever you need to go." he offered as he pulled over in front of the blond's school. "I won't be able to pick you up later so you'll have to go home with Kakashi." he instructed, receiving a nod from the teen, before driving off.
Naruto fixed his backpack on his shoulder before turning to walk towards the school, preparing himself for another day of dodging confrontations, playing the fool who needed extra help when he had an eidetic memory, and pretending he cared about the day-by-day lives of the kids who persisted in including him in their activities despite his best efforts to tell them otherwise.
"See you guys later!" Sakura shouted as she got into her mother's car. She'd gotten out of work early and decided to pick her daughter up from school. The young rosette barely even heard their responses before her mother drove off.
"So how was your day today, honey?" her mother inquired.
"Same ol', same ol'." Sakura shrugged, twirling a strand of her silken pink hair absentmindedly as she thought of how ever since the blond new kid's arrival a few days ago it had been all but the same old events.
For one, Inaho seemed to have made it his life mission to get back at the shade wearing teen for the gym fiasco. Whether that be by trying to intimidate him, or try to get a rise out of him in order to instigate a fight, it didn't matter. Moreover, the casual way in which the blond seemed to either ignore him, or, like most recently, avoid him, only served to fuel the older boy's rage. The way things were going it seemed as if a physical confrontation would occur soon. Luckily, Inaho had been suspended today; a result of his latest attempt to get back at the new guy by throwing a paint filled water balloon, which the blond coincidentally dodged by picking up a nickel, causing the projectile to hit a security guard. Needless to say, he was immediately taken to the principal's office and given three days suspension.
"Are you sure?" Sakura's mother pressed. "A boy didn't ask you to Kiba's party?" she tried, making the rosette immediately turn towards her mother, a blush of embarrassment tinting her cheeks.
"Mom!"
"Well I'm just wondering when you're going to go out on a real date, honey?" The elder Haruno woman offered, glancing at her daughter out of the corner of her eye. "Unless you consider your outings with all your friends dates?"
"What—No!" Sakura shouted, mortified at the thought of going out with any of her guy friends. "Mom, can we just... drop this discussion? It's embarrassing talking about this with you." Not to mention it was reminding her that she had yet to be asked out on a real date—(Lee didn't count.)—and, since there was someone she liked, it also reminded her that she had, thus far, been unsuccessful in gaining Sasuke's love, or at least attention. 'He probably doesn't even remember my name.' Sakura thought dejectedly.
"Okay, fine." Sakura's mother conceded, much to the younger girl's relief. "How are things going with Ino; have you two patched things up yet?"
"No, Mom. We haven't 'patched things up'." Sakura muttered, suddenly put off from conversing with her mother who still believed that her daughter and her former best friend would mend their friendship.
"It's been around three years; I would have thought you two would have settled your differences." her mother commented only to be given the cold shoulder by Sakura.
As much as Sakura hated being disrespectful towards her mother, she was done trying to explain to the woman that she would not be the one to approach the blonde. Then again, her mother hadn't been there to hear the things the blonde had said, or the way in which she had said them.
Needless to say, the rest of the drive home was spent in an awkward silence.
"Sakura, the phone!"
"I don't have it!" the rosette replied, returning to adding the finishing touches on her costume, leaving her mother to search for the ringing phone. She figured the older woman had found it when she heard the ringing stop but seeing as they weren't calling her, for if they were her mother would have brought her the phone, she returned her focus to her costume.
After figuring that not only did she not have the figure to pull off being principal Tsunade (though she couldn't help but note Hinata did) but that it was a hard costume to put together she gave up on the idea. Instead, she had chosen to dress up as an old Halloween classic; a rather cute and, mostly, innocent witch costume with a pair of striped thigh high socks to keep her legs warm since the costume's skirt only reached to just above her knees.
"There, that should do it." She muttered to herself as she gave herself one final once over, emerald orbs taking in her appearance in the mirror. Witch hat perfectly angled for maximum cuteness; check. Arm sleeves and socks for warmth from the crisp October air? Check. Cotton workout shorts under her skirt to prevent any embarrassing mishaps? Check!
Now all she had to do was wait for Chouji, since his father had agreed to pick her up since they lived the closest to her.
"Are you sure you can't find anyone else?" Sakura heard her mother's voice from downstairs as she sat down on the edge of her bed to watch TV, disturbing her kitten who jumped down and stretched before proceeding to groom itself. "No, don't worry; I'm sure Sakura can take care of her."
'Wait—what?' Sakura bolted up from her bed and ran towards the stairs.
"Yeah! So we'll see you two over there? Okay, bye. Sakura—oh, you're right here."
"What did you just volunteer me for?" the rosette all but demanded, huffing from the exertion of running, and almost falling, down the stairs.
"Mrs. Kimura said that their babysitter can't make it tonight and, knowing how your father's boss is about the workers attending these holiday parties, I told her you'd watch her daughter." the elder woman responded, causing Sakura to raise an eyebrow cautiously.
"For Christmas?" she tried, getting the feeling she already knew the answer even before her mother shook her head. "New Year's?"
"Tonight, honey." her mother divulged what she had already Figured out.
"But, but, but—Mo-o-om!"
"Sakura, I'm sorry. I know you want to go to your friend's party but you have to stay home tonight."
"Why doesn't Mr. Kimura watch her?" Sakura inquired. "He doesn't even like going to those parties!"
Her mother gave her a light smile before stepping towards her. "Honey, let me give you a tip about men. A good man will do something he hates if it makes his woman happy." she spoke softly before tucking a stray hair behind her daughter's ear. "That's why Masao goes to his wife's work parties, even though he doesn't like social gatherings. So do this for them and I promise that when you get married and have children I'll watch them whenever you want to go do something your future husband hates."
Sakura didn't know whether she should laugh at her mother's words, be embarrassed or frustrated. In the end the teen merely sighed before nodding, knowing that when her parents asked her to do something she could either obey, and stay in her parents good graces, or be punished and forced to comply, anyways.
With a final shoulder squeeze to convey her gratitude, along with a kiss to the forehead, her mother left to finish preparing for her father's work 'stress-relief' party, leaving Sakura to wonder how one of her favorite nights of the year had been completely ruin by a phone call.
"Hey, Chouji, where's Sakura?" Tenten asked the newly arrived boy standing at the food table. The brunet turned towards the older girl and swallowed before speaking.
"She said something about having to babysit some kid and that she couldn't come so to not go pick her up." Chouji explained as he added more food to his plate, making sure to keep his gaze from his senior.
Although Tenten might not have the most prominent figure, her Halloween costume did a marvelous job of accentuating her curves that usually went unnoticed by the boys of the group. To put it bluntly, it was awkward for Chouji to look at a girl who so often insisted she was just 'one of the guys' when she was wearing shorts that just barely covered her ass and straps that squeezed her breasts enough to make them noticeable.
"Oh, wow. She must've been mad, huh?" Tenten said as she crossed her arms and leaned on one leg. Chouji blushed as he saw how the simple action of crossing her arms pressed the older girl's breasts closer together than they had already been out of the corner of his eye.
"She sounded more disappointed that she couldn't come than mad."
"Yeah, I can imagine." Tenten shrugged. "Guess there's nothing we can do though. I'll catch you later Chouji, gotta go. I promised Neji I'd keep an eye on Hinata tonight." she offered as she began to walk towards Kiba's house before she shivered. "Plus it's freezing out here."
Chouji let out a breath he had been unconsciously holding; a habit he had developed when he became self-conscious around attractive girls to appear at least slightly thinner. He had never felt the need to do it around Tenten before though. Then again, she had never worn such a revealing Laura Croft costume before.
He didn't know which was more disturbing, seeing his teachers wearing such ridiculous costumes, or the juvenile way in which they were acting. When he had assured Yamato that he was mature enough to handle some of the things they were going to do at the party, he had imagined they might have a few sex related themes.
What he had not counted on was that the women would be wearing—or rather not wearing enough clothes. Or the games the adults would be playing (Musical lap dances, a contest for which woman had the smuttiest costume, strip red light, green light.). In addition, while the number of normal games outnumbered the ones that were rated-X, Naruto decided, when he saw the school principal, dressed as a sexy succubus, arrive that he would rather spend the rest of the night outside.
Thus, he found himself in the backyard that his parole officer shared with his neighbors, a place he had tried to avoid until now, with two boys younger than himself.
One was a boy with spiky, dark brown hair, with a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck that didn't match his Detective costume, who had arrived with Sarutobi-sensei and the other was a lighter brunet whose hair was brushed down, almost covering his glasses, dressed similarly to his companion, with a constantly running nose that refused to stop no matter how often he wiped the snot away. Naruto did not know the person he had arrived with.
The two preteen boys were playing with Hatake's dogs, which were apparently rather friendly unless told to be aggressive. Though Naruto knew, from the few times he had been around the canines during his time at the J.D.C., that they had an unnatural fear of him. Well, him and Gaara. But then again, he wasn't exactly natural, and Gaara had been admitted into the mental hospital under similar circumstances to his own, though whether or not the boy had gone through a sealing ritual the blond couldn't say.
Sitting on the porch, Naruto stared down at his hands blankly, noting from the red tint that his eyes had changed. Not that it mattered since he was wearing the shades Yamato had given him but that merely added to the distortion of his vision, making the red tint a darker shade.
"Hey, Blondie, why are you out here? This is a crime scene!" a high pitched voice called from the opposite side of the yard drawing Naruto's attention to the two boys. They were playing some game (Naruto didn't really know what since he hadn't really been paying attention to them) with the dogs and it seemed they had finally noticed him sitting on the steps.
"Don't mind me; I'm just trying to get away from the adults for a bit. They're acting weird." Naruto spoke, adopting a bit of his cheerful persona, just enough to convince the kids that they didn't need to worry about him but not too much so as to encourage them to seek to play with him. He thought it had worked until the spiky haired one spoke up again.
"Well if you want to stay out here you'll need to cooperate." he said, making the blond raise an eyebrow externally while internally he was sighing. "I'm Sarutobi Konohamaru, Hokage, and this is my partner, Kato Udon. We're investigating how this viscous creature," he pointed at the large bulldog that was lying on its back as it awaited more belly rubs, "escaped from its high security cage. Someone must've released it. Tell me, citizen, did you happen to see anyone around here?"
At the word, 'Hokage' Naruto knew what the two kids were playing. They were playing Detective and the short one, Konohamaru, was playing the role of the chief detective of Konoha District, the Hokage.
Deciding that it would be better to humor them so that they would return to their own devices. Make a short term sacrifice to gain long-term peace and quiet.
"Nope. I was helping put up decorations for the Halloween party. Didn't even know something had escaped." Naruto offered with a warm smile. Konohamaru narrowed his eyes at him.
"Your story seems too convenient. You just happened to be occupied all day, and you claim not to have heard anything yet you were near the scene of the crime?"
"It does sound awfully suspicious." Udon added before joining Konohamaru in staring at the blond accusingly.
"If you ask me, your companion is the one acting suspicious." Naruto spoke to Udon, making the younger boy raise an eyebrow. "Seems to me like he's trying to pin this on the first person he sees. Almost as if he's trying to cover his tracks."
It was evident in the way the spectacled boy turned to look at his companion that Naruto's words had served their purpose of distracting them into forgetting about the blond and turning their attention on each other.
"You know, I don't know where you were at the time of the crime." Udon accused, narrowing his eyes. Konohamaru glared at his friend.
"What are you talking about? I was at my house putting on my costume!" he shouted making Udon scoff.
"A likely story."
"Udon, you were at my house before you left to go change!"
"Exactly, there were, like, thirty minutes where you could've come here, released the beast and returned home."
"What are you; stupid? It takes twenty minutes to drive here from where we live! How could I come here and go back in half an hour?"
The sound of a door swinging open towards the left drew the attention of everyone in the yard. Turning they saw an angry pink haired girl in a witch costume walk out of the house parallel to theirs. She looked around for a bit until her jade eyes settled on the two bickering preteens.
"Who the heck are you two and why are you yelling in my backyard!" Sakura demanded, already annoyed at having to stay home during Halloween but now these dumbass kids were shouting so loud she couldn't even watch TV.
"Sakura-nee, don't bother." a second feminine voice was heard before a smaller orange haired girl walked out to stand beside the older girl. "That's Konohamaru and Udon, they're the school pranksters. They aren't even scared of being punished at school so they aren't going to be intimidated by you."
"Moegi-chan!" Konohamaru and Udon shouted in unison causing said girl to scowl.
"Plus they don't know how to be quiet to save their lives." Moegi added under her breath, so low even Sakura barely heard her. "What are you two doing here, anyways?"
"I came with my uncle. He's inside of that building, partying with his friends." Konohamaru explained, pointing towards the building and, indadvertedly, towards the teenage blond trying to remain unnoticed behind the wooden beam supporting the small patio roof.
'N-No way. Don't tell me that's—I-It can't be...' "Naruto?" Sakura called unsurely, trying to ascertain whether or not it was the new student who trouble seemed to gravitate to, no matter how hard he seemed to try to avoid it.
Naruto, figuring he'd been caught, sat forward on the steps he was occupying with a light smile on his face. "Hey, Sakura, I didn't know you lived here." he said calmly as he fixed his sleeves to make sure none of his scars were visible.
"Yeah, but what are you doing here? I thought you got invited to, like, seven parties?" Sakura asked, wondering why Naruto was in her backyard with two middle-schoolers.
"It was only three and I'm on punishment so I couldn't go but I got dragged here just to make sure I didn't sneak out." Naruto chuckled. "What about you? I thought you were going to Kiba's party?"
"I was but I got stuck babysitting last minute." Sakura responded, sighing.
"Ah."
"Yeah." An awkward moment of silence passed during which Sakura merely stood rubbing her arm.
"Are you two going through a rough patch in your relationship or something?" Konohamaru asked causing two separate reactions. A raised blond eyebrow accompanied by sheepish laughter and an indignant shriek.
"W-Who would—W-Why—What kind of—"
"What makes you think that, kid?" Naruto asked, amused by Sakura's reaction.
Konohamaru shrugged. "Usually when my uncle breaks up with a girl or something it's really awkward being around them afterwards."
"Awkward? Why would it be awkward? It's not awkward." Sakura stammered, her blush intensifying from the stupidity of the conversation.
"She and I just go to the same school, kid, there's nothing going on between us." Naruto clarified, though it was clear from the fashion in which Konohamaru smiled that he didn't believe the blond.
"Oh. I see. Hasn't happened yet, huh?" Konohamaru teased, having seen the way Sakura had looked down quickly when Naruto had mention they were nothing but schoolmates, before turning to his companion. "Let's go before we see this guy embarrass himself." he said, walking back to the corner where the dogs were held. "Moegi-chan, come on!"
The shout shook the orange haired girl out of her thoughts, making her blush as she hoped the older boy hadn't noticed she had been staring dreamily at him. Thus, even though she tended to avoid playing with Konohamaru and Udon when they played detective, since they tended to annoy everyone with their 'interrogations,' she decided to use it as an excuse to get away from the hot blond's knee melting smile.
Suddenly Sakura found herself alone with Naruto; less than six feet separated her from the young man who despite her best efforts seemed to occupy her thoughts when she let her mind wander and caused her hands to grow clammy when he flashed a smile her way while he fooled around with Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji at lunch. The boy who seemed to be becoming popular in a manner different from Neji and Sasuke, who were popular because of their looks and indifferent personality that made every girl fantasize about what it would be like to be the one who they let into their lives.
Naruto, however, was winning people over and, from what she was beginning to hear more and more in the girls' bath and locker rooms, stealing hearts with his warm personality and endless smiles.
"So... A witch, huh?" Naruto commented, grinning, though he was beginning to see what Konohamaru meant by it being awkward, though he wasn't sure why it felt that way. Usually he thrived off of peace and quiet—not having to converse needlessly with someone he barely knew—but the pink haired girl had been staring at him blankly for about a minute or so now and it was starting to affect him.
It took Sakura's mind a moment to register what she had been asked before she answered. "Um... Yeah. I was going to dress up as Principal Tsunade but I found this costume in my closet and decided to wear it, for old time's sake." she replied, omitting her mental debate about whether or not a certain person who might attend the party would like how the two year old costume hugged her nonexistent figure.
At the rosette's mention of their school principal Naruto was forced to shift his train of thought to something—anything—else so as to not think about the woman drinking inside wearing a skintight latex suit that failed to cover enough skin to make him comfortable.
"Oh. It looks... nice." Naruto said, having learned that the jade eyed girl had a tendency to turn hostile to anything he said unless he complemented her, which would instead make her look away in an attempt to conceal a blush while mumbling about how she didn't care about his opinion. Much like right now.
"W-What makes you think I care what you th-think?" Sakura stammered, turning her head in the direction of the kids playing, hoping that between her hat and hair the blond wouldn't be able to notice how her face suddenly flushed due to the heat. "What about you?"
"Hmm?"
"Why aren't you dressed up?" Sakura clarified. Naruto didn't appear to be wearing a costume, just his usual getup of a long sleeved button up shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms and pants. She briefly wondered if he considered dressing up silly, or if he did what some of the popular guys did; dress regularly except with something extra like a hat or jacket and say they were someone from TV or a movie.
"Well I didn't really get a chance to change before I got dragged here. I thought I was gonna stay home." the blond answered, grinning.
"Oh."
"Yeah." There it was again, a thick silence that was so awkward even he felt uncomfortable. He shifted his gaze towards where the kids were playing with Hatake's dog again, which seemed to have taken a liking to Moegi as it had her pinned down, licking her face making her laugh as the two boys tried to pry it off of her.
The sound of a door opening, this time behind him, drew his attention as well as Sakura's.
"Yo, Naruto, turns out the food we made sucks so I'm going to run out to get some pizzas. You wanna come with or you want me to get you anything?" Yamato asked from the doorway, his costume unrecognizable by now after having removed most of the props due to heat inside but Naruto vaguely remembered him saying he was a character from a game.
"Hello, Yamato-san." Sakura greeted, making her presence known. The older man leaned out of his doorway, his eyebrow raised in confusion until he saw her.
"Hey, Sakura. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out with your friends?"
"I had to babysit last minute." Sakura replied, tilting her head towards the children playing allowing the man to notice that there was an extra head in the mass of fur and limbs.
"Ah. Well, I'll buy an extra pizza for you guys back here."
"Oh, that's okay, my mom told me to make something if we got hungry."
"Don't worry about it. The way I see it you're at my party so the least I can do is get you two something to eat." Yamato brushed her off. He then turned his attention to the blond. "So you need anything?"
"Actually..." Naruto stood and motioned for Yamato to step inside. "Excuse us, real quick." he directed at Sakura before he and Yamato disappeared inside. "You know how you told me to let you know if I changed my mind and wanted to go to any of the parties I was invited to?"
"Yeah. Why?" Yamato questioned before sighing. "Don't tell me you want to avoid the girl that badly?"
"Somewhat. I was going to propose that while you go pick up the pizzas, you take her to the party at Inuzuka Kiba's house. Then when you return you bring her back. Everyone's content."
"And what about the girl?"
"She's playing with Sarutobi's nephew and his friend. And I'll stay out back to keep an eye on her."
Yamato sighed, rubbing his neck. "Why are you doing this?"
"Honestly? It's uncomfortable being around her alone. At school at least everyone is there to act as a buffer between us, but right now it's just us and it's... awkward."
"Why is it awkward?"
"That's the thing; I don't know why, it just is." Naruto answered, leaning against the door to Yamato's room. "So can you do it?"
"Sure, why not." Yamato relented. "I've got to get five pies so that should give her around an hour to mingle." he turned to walk towards the front of the house. "Tell her I'll be waiting out front in my car but I'll only wait for five minutes."
Naruto stepped outside only to find that he was alone, only the dogs remained, flinching when he glanced towards them. Looking around he noticed that the door to Sakura's house was left open, meaning that, more than likely, they were in there. He was almost tempted to leave them be, but seeing as he had just coerced Yamato into agreeing to take the pink haired teen to a party, he figured he might as well ask if she wanted to go.
Walking over to the entrance, he knocked on the open door. A few seconds later Sakura appeared.
"Yeah?"
"Where is everyone?"
"Oh. Moegi scratched herself on a wood-chip so we just came to disinfect and bandage it real quick." Sakura explained, just before the kids ran past her on their way outside. "Why? Were you lonely?" she teased with a small smile.
"No, actually... Um..." Naruto cleared his throat. "I talked to Yamato and he said that, if you want, he could drop you off at Kiba's for a while while he goes for the pizzas."
"What?" Sakura asked, a mix between surprise and confusion. "Why would he...?"
"He owes me for talking me into that stunt with the armored car." Naruto couldn't help but note that that was probably the first time he hadn't lied to the rosette since he met her.
"That was his idea?" Naruto nodded. "How do you know him anyways?"
"It's a long and... Complicated story..." The blond said, chuckling. "Anyways, Yamato said that if you want a ride he'd be waiting for you out front." he turned to return to his porch.
"But what about Moegi?" Sakura inquired, glancing at the orange haired girl laughing at Konohamaru, who was being chased by Pakkun.
"I don't think she'll mind too much. She seems to be having fun with those two." Naruto pointed out, leaning against the beam to Sakura's back porch.
"I-I still don't know, my parents would kill me if they found out." Sakura stammered out until she noticed the way Naruto was grinning at her. Once again she was forced to look away to hide her blush.
"Don't worry about it; you're only going to be gone for an hour at most." Naruto reassured her. Sakura was silent for a moment before she spoke again.
"Is there a reason you're doing this?" She asked, keeping her gaze away from him.
Besides being honestly curious, she wanted to know his motives for doing something so nice when all they ever did at school was argue. Albeit it was his constant playfulness that kept her on edge all the time. Still they weren't as close as him and Lee or even him and Kiba.
"I just figured that there's no point in both of us being stuck here and since you're all dressed up..." Naruto trailed off. "The decision's yours, I'm just giving you the option." he added before heading back towards the other side of the yard. "But you better hurry; Yamato said he'd only wait five minutes so you have about two minutes left if you want to go."
By the time Naruto reached his seat on the porch Sakura was already shoving her shoes on and looking for her keys to lock up.
"I'll be back in a bit, Moegi; I'm going with Yamato-san to pick up the pizzas." Sakura exclaimed as she locked the back door.
"Okay." Moegi's voice came from behind the bushes near the dog pen, revealing her position to Udon who was searching for his friends.
"Found you, Moegi-chan!"
"Ugh! Thanks a lot Sakura-nee!"
"Sorry." Sakura replied as she walked up to Naruto, rubbing her arm nervously. Though she was unsure because of his shades, something everyone had acknowledged that he never took off, she could almost feel his gaze on her. "Thanks for this, Naruto. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything, Sakura." Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "Just hurry up before Yamato leaves without you."
Sakura nodded her head, about to leave when she stopped. Naruto stared at her with a raised eyebrow as she walked around the stairs until she stood directly in front of him. The next thing he knew two slender arms were wrapped around him, a mass of pink hair in his face. As fast as it happened it was gone, leaving no evidence that it had even transpired besides the faint scent of strawberries left in his nostrils.
"Thank you." was all Sakura said before she walked down the small space between their buildings, leaving a stunned blond behind.
"I was just about to leave." Yamato stated when he saw Sakura walk up to his car. He noticed how red her face was and quirked an eyebrow. "You okay? If you're feeling sick maybe you shouldn't—"
"N-No, I'm fine." Sakura cut him off, climbing into the car. Yamato continued to stare at her oddly.
"You sure? 'cause your face is really red."
"R-Red? Why would my face be red? I'm not blushing or anything." Sakura replied, missing the grin that grew on the older man's face. Luckily for her he chose not to say anything more on the matter.
"Thanks for the ride, Yamato-san." Sakura said as she stepped out of the car. "How long do you think..."
"I have to get six pizzas so it should take around an hour." Yamato answered as he brought out his phone to look at the time. "I should be here at around eight-thirty. So be on the lookout for a car horn at around that time, alright?"
Sakura merely nodded before closing the car door and walking up to the front door. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer the door. A few seconds later the door was flung open revealing Kiba in his werewolf costume.
"Who the hell is—Sakura? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you, too." Sakura replied dryly before motioning at the doorway. "Are you going to let me in?"
"I thought Chouji said you got stuck babysitting?" Kiba asked as he closed the door.
"Yeah... Where's Tenten?"
"She's in the living-room."
Nodding, Sakura walked over to Kiba's living-room where she easily spotted Tenten sitting next to Hinata, who was dressed up as a cute white puppy, complete with a brown circle around her left eye, her nose colored black and whiskers on her cheeks that reminded Sakura too much of a blond haired teen at the moment.
"Tenten!" Sakura called, drawing the older girl's attention.
"Sakur—Gah!"
"I need to talk to you, privately." Sakura muttered as she dragged the brunette away. "Be right back, Hinata!" she shouted over her shoulder at the confused Hyuuga.
After a while of searching Sakura shoved Tenten in the first empty room she found before stepping inside and locking the door.
"Whoa, Sakura, I didn't know you felt that way." Tenten teased as she sat down on the edge of Kiba's bed. Usually Sakura would have an embarrassed blush on her face but at the moment it seemed that she hadn't even heard her. "Sakura, what's going on?"
"You'll never guess who I met today, in my backyard of all places." Sakura started, waiting for Tenten to cave and ask who before continuing. "Naruto."
"Naruto?"
"Naruto," Sakura repeated, "the fucking new guy."
"What was he doing in your backyard?" Tenten questioned, confusion painted on her face.
"He said something about being grounded and forced to attend my neighbor's party so he wouldn't sneak out—Oh! My neighbor, Yamato, was the guard from the J.D.C. that dropped him off on the first day of school."
"Wait; so he was really in the Detention Center?"
"No. Apparently my neighbor persuaded him into pulling off that stunt." Sakura elaborated before shaking her head. "But we're straying off topic."
"What is the topic again?" Tenten asked, confused, causing Sakura to sigh.
"I was at home, watching TV with Moegi—"
"The girl you had to babysit?"
"Yes. So we were watching TV; or rather trying to since it sounded like some kids were yelling in my backyard, so I went to take a look. Turns out they were some kids Moegi knew from school, that came with their parents or something to my neighbor's party, too."
"So when did Naruto show up?"
"I was getting to that." Sakura reprimanded the older girl lightly making her laugh sheepishly. "Naruto was sitting on my neighbor's porch and he practically lit up when he noticed me. We talked for a bit before Yamato-san came out and invited us for some pizza that he was just about to go pick up.
"Naruto asked to speak with him privately and when they came back he offered to watch Moegi for a bit if I wanted to come here for a short time while Yamato-san picks up the pizzas, and return when the pizzas are done. That's why I'm here."
Even after Sakura's tale, Tenten was still confused as to why the jade-eyed girl was so... flustered. "Is that it?"
"What do you mean, 'is that it?'" Sakura asked, staring at her friend incredulously.
"I don't see why you're so worked up." Tenten began, turning to face the rosette. "From what you've told me, all that happened was that you learned more about him in a few minutes than we have all week at school and he was nice enough to let you come here for a bit."
"That's just it. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why he would offer to do something like this." Sakura responded, exasperated. "We aren't even that close for him to do something this nice. So why would he do it? What could he possibly gain?"
Tenten couldn't help but roll her eyes. As far as she could remember, Sakura had always been extremely wary of people's motives for being nice. She figured it was because of how her friendship with Ino had turned out.
"Sakura, I don't know if you've noticed but Naruto seems like a really cool guy." Tenten stated calmly. "He doesn't seem like the type to hold favors over someone if that's what you're implying."
As much as she hated it, Sakura knew Tenten was speaking the truth. She knew that she was the one who instigated all of the arguments that occurred between herself and the blond. In her defense, it wasn't really her fault. Somehow, he just seemed to know exactly how to push her buttons, whether it was intentional or not, and, for some reason unknown to her, she had a shorter fuse when around him.
When a minute passed without receiving a response, Tenten stood up to walk to the door. "Now," She began, loud enough to gain the rosette's attention, "unless something else happened between you two, like, say, a kiss or he was flirting with you..." she was about to open the door until she noticed how red the younger teen's face got. "Did anything else happen?"
"N-Not really." Sakura answered, crossing her arms and turning her face away, though the fact that her cheeks turned red and the tips of her ears burned were clear giveaways that she wasn't being entirely truthful.
"What did you do?" Tenten demanded as she plopped herself back on the bed, grabbing ahold of the blushing teen's forearms and shaking her when she refused to talk. "Tell me!"
"Really, nothing happened." Sakura maintained, speaking in between shakes. Tenten released her and when she pulled back she muttered. "I mean, it's not like a hug and a compliment mean anything."
"He hugged you?" Tenten uttered, shocked that the boy who wouldn't even allow Miss popular, Yamanaka Ino, touch his arm had hugged her.
"Um... Not so much as I hugged him, but only as a way to say thank you." she made sure to put emphasize on the second half of her statement.
"So, what's this about a compliment?" Tenten teased with a cheshire grin. "It wouldn't have anything to do with this cute little outfit, would it?"
"He said I looked... Nice..."
Tenten's eyebrows rose until they almost disappeared into her hair. "'Nice?' Sakura, this is serious, he could be in love with you." the way in which she spoke made it clear she was poking fun at the rosette.
"Tenten!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." the brunette chuckled.
She knew that Sakura was completely inexperienced with boys, not that she was any better having only gone out on a few dates herself, and thus this sort of behavior was expected since she was so used to the unbiased rejection she received from her long time crush and it didn't help that the only boy who had shown any interest in her looked like... Well, Lee. Therefore, it was only natural that she be completely lost on what to do when someone like Naruto seemed to show an interest in her.
"But, seriously, though, it might be possible that he likes you." Spoke the brunette, making Sakura's grow wide. "I mean, judging by what you've said, maybe the reason he offered to watch Moegi and let you come here is because he likes you and is hoping this helps you think about him in a better light."
"But-But that can't be possible." the guy who just so, coincidentally, happened to smile at her every time her stomach felt fuzzy couldn't like her. He just couldn't because... Because... "We fight all the time!"
"He seems to behave like Kiba sometimes." Tenten answered. "Maybe he bugs the girls he likes just like Kiba does, too."
Sakura didn't know how she was supposed to react. In the end she merely settled on looking away, muttering, "Why is this happening to me," under her breath.
"Listen, why don't we just go out and hang out with everyone before you have to go." Tenten suggested after glancing at Kiba's digital clock that read seven forty-eight. Sakura nodded and together they left the room.
"Thanks again for giving me a ride, Yamato-san." Sakura said as she closed the door, carrying a pizza box. The brown haired man smiled at her as he juggled with the rest of the boxes before closing his car with his foot.
"Don't thank me, Sakura; it was Naruto's idea." he replied as they walked towards their homes, having parked a few houses away. "So did you have fun or was the party boring?"
Sakura smiled, reminiscing about the short while she got to be around her friends. "I had a lot of fun." she paused as she thought of the smiling blond who had made it possible for her to even go. And then, inevitably, mind wandered to her conversation with Tenten.
At the party she had pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as she had fun with everyone—with the way everyone was when they were all together it was almost impossible to not smile and laugh—but now she had been thrust back on-top of her problem at hand. How was she going to handle being around the blond teen now, when her mind would analyze every word he spoke to see if he was trying to make a pass at her or, worse, make up overly romantic reasons behind his every action.
Sakura couldn't help but mentally groan when they reached their homes and Yamato walked away to his front door, leaving her to walk down the small alley between their buildings.
"Naruto-nii, why are you wearing shades at night?" Moegi's voice echoed down the alley.
"Why; don't I look good in them?" Naruto's playful voice followed, and Sakura could almost hear his teasing grin. What followed next was a jumbled mass of words eerily reminiscent of the rosette's own mumblings when she was flustered.
"Argh! Where are Yamato and your girlfriend with the pizzas?" Konohamaru shouted annoyingly.
"Naruto-nii is not Sakura-nee's boyfriend!"
"No one's talking to you!"
"Hey, don't yell." Sakura ordered as she stepped into the backyard.
"I wouldn't be yelling if you didn't take forever with the food!"
"I don't care what your excuse; apologize or I won't give you a slice."
"You can't do that!"
"Did you forget I'm the one holding the pizza?" Sakura said as she set the box down on the small table on her half of the backyard. She then turned to glare at Konohamaru.
Normally Konohamaru would've made a fuss about being forced to apologize but at the moment his hunger overruled everything else.
"Sorry for yelling at you, Moegi-chan." was all he said as he ran over to the food followed by Udon, who had been lying down on the ground. Moegi simply nodded in acceptance of his apology before she, too, went to grab a slice.
Sakura hesitantly walked over to Naruto carrying two slices, one of which she offered to him. "Thank you, again, for letting me go to Kiba's party."
"I take it it was fun, then?" Naruto asked with a smile, a smile that affected Sakura far more than it had just an hour ago.
"It was really fun." Sakura replied softly before adding, "Maybe next time you could join us..."
"Let's hope I don't get grounded next time, then, huh?" Naruto grinned, surprising her that he had even heard her with how low she had spoken.
Later that night, Sakura sat in her bed, recalling what happened when her parents returned and found their daughter in the backyard with a boy. Her father had, of course, been angry and disappointed at her for having invited a boy over when she was supposed to be babysitting Moegi, who was sleeping on the couch in the living room at the time, having gotten drowsy after eating.
Naruto had quickly assured her father that Sakura hadn't invited him but that he had come to Yamato's party and stepped out for a second when Sakura had come out as well.
Her father had then ordered her to head inside, leaving Naruto alone with the two preteens. It was at that point that her mother had decided to approach her.
"He had no reason to get angry, mom, we were just hanging out." Sakura fumed. Her mother sighed from her spot at the doorway.
"You know how your father is when it comes to you, honey." Sakura knew exactly what her mother was talking about.
When Sakura was four her mother had been five months pregnant when she'd had an accident while they attended one of her father's soccer games (She intercepted a poorly kicked ball that was heading for Sakura. The impact, however, had been powerful enough that she lost the child.) and ever since he father had been very protective of her mother and her; especially her since he blamed himself as the reason his child had never been born, having tried to steal the ball only to simply knock the man off balance, which resulted in the poor kick.
"I know, mom, but the fact that he didn't even hesitate to accuse me is what gets me mad."
"He'll cool down by tomorrow and I'm sure he'll apologize then." Her mother assured her before moving to sit behind Sakura on her bed, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Now that that's cleared up, just who was your handsome friend?"
"Mom!" At the intensity of her daughter's blush she decided to take a guess.
"Wait a minute... Why do I feel like I already know who that was?" her mother teased, using the shade of her daughters blush as an indicator to see if she was on the right track. "Hm... Blond hair... Shades... Constant smile... Whisker marks... Sakura, was that Naruto?"
"M-maybe."
"So it was, huh? Well I can see why you're developing a crush on him. He's quite the looker."
"I am not!" Sakura's shriek fell on deaf ears as her mother was already leaving, giggling the whole way out.
Sakura was brought out of her musings when she felt something shifting around between her legs. Looking down she noticed her kitten trying to make itself comfortable in the space between her legs.
Deciding that her cat had the right idea Sakura made herself comfortable, which meant she had to move to lay down, disturbing her cat. She giggled when it jumped down and turned to stare at her before walking out.
"You're a sly one, Naruto." Kakashi said when he sat down beside the blond after everyone had left. Said teen turned to look at him with his ever-impassive stare, which the man took as a signal to continue. "Pretend you don't like her but do things so nice that she can't help but think about you thus making her approach you? Genius."
Naruto didn't even bother to reply, having already explained his reasons, twice, and so he just returned his attention to the TV. Yamato walked into the living room, sighing loudly.
"Damn, this is why I hate hosting parties. No one ever even offers to help clean up." he grumbled. He locked gazes with Kakashi and they both smiled.
"Not it."
"Not it!"
"Not it! Dammit!" Kakashi sat stunned. How did Naruto always do that? It didn't matter if he and Yamato were talking or communicating silently, the teen just knew. He had yet to be caught off guard after the first time.
"Alright, Kakashi, thanks for volunteering to clean." Yamato laughed. "I'm going to hit the hay. I'll catch you two tomorrow."
"Naruto—"
"I'm going to bed as well." Naruto cut Kakashi off, knowing he was about to ask him to help him clean, and got up, ignoring his sigh.
Retreating to his room, Naruto took off his shirt, knocking the shades off his face in the process, allowing him to catch his reflection in the small mirror on his dresser, a gift from Kakashi.
It was the first time he had stared at himself after his five o'clock 'curfew' and he had forgotten how frightening his eyes appeared. And why he had created his self-imposed curfew.
"God, you're life is boring." he heard a deep guttural voice say as his reflection's lips moved. "Why won't you just give up and let me have your body?"
'You're wasting your time. So long as I keep my emotions bottled up, you can't possess me.' Naruto replied in his head. He heard a menacing growl before his reflection smirked.
"You're just lucky that I wasn't paying attention when you lost control for a second when that wench hugged you, boy."
'Well now that it's already happened once, I won't let it happen again.'
"My thoughts exactly. The next time you fail to restrain your emotions I will not hesitate to take over." it laughed darkly. "Until then all I have to do is bide my time."
Finished with the conversation Naruto tore his eyes from the mirror. Although he was confident in his ability to restrain the demon bound to him, he couldn't deny he felt a sense of foreboding from the demon's words.
In the end he decided to ignore it. After all, it wasn't as if the demon could influence him by threatening his precious people.
No, it had already made sure to take care of his precious people the last time it possessed him.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: HOLY SHIT! I can't believe it! I'm actually done! God it feels good to be finished with chapter three... Now I can finally... Write chapter... Four... Dammit.
But in all seriousness, I have to thank my friends Kyuubi's Naruto and Sakura and Gamaholic for constantly checking on me to make sure I was writing. It was that knowledge that there was still someone who still wanted to read what I wrote that made me pick up the... Uh, keyboard again.
And I know it might have gotten boring in the middle but I had difficulty moving the story along like you wouldn't believe. If there are too many typos by the time you read the final cut, let me know. I've begun writing on my iPod so sometimes it autocorrects me when it shouldn't.
As always, a review is appreciated.
