Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Backwoods	By : Ljiljana Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1000 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Naruto manga and anime do not belong to me and I make no money writing this.

Chapter List
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Chapter One

Town was probably a
word too grand to describe this place, just like the word �forest� was a too
humble to describe the immeasurable ocean of green that was surrounding it. It
was two large roads, unreasonably wide, crossing in the middle, and a handful
of smaller streets, some of them dead ends by the look of it. The main street was
descending toward the river under agonizingly dull angle; maybe sharp enough to
send a baby carriage down to the riverbank, but not to make walking to the
opposite direction a useful exercise. Beyond the yellow bridge structure, there
was nothing but a veil of green; everything remotely urban this town had was on
this shore. The sun was already high in the sky, bright and warm, making the late
morning blurry on the edges and asphalt liquid on places as only summer could.

Naruto decided that
a restaurant, the only one he saw around, was a good place to start. He left
his bike across from it, in front of one from the group of identical business
buildings, with not very imaginative trade names for the small law firm, the
local general practitioner and funeral home. It was a clean little place, with
white tablecloths and walls that looked like inside of a log cabin. Only a few
tables were taken, even though it was still breakfast time, so Naruto chose one
of those closer to the windows, still eager to absorb as much of the sun as
possible after the rain season that ended just a few days ago back in the city.

�Hi.� The waitress
said, making her way to his table with the enthusiasm and familiarity almost
inappropriate. �What can I get you?�

She was tall, blond
and skinny, with hair as bright as his was, gathered up in a ponytail. Naruto
could see curiosity burning in her eyes - they probably had a very few visitors
here - but not any kind of recognition. The tag on her chest read �Ino�. Deciding
she is most likely the type to gossip, with her open, cheerful and friendly
manner, Naruto gave her a wide smile.

�Oh, I don�t know.
What�s your special?�

The girl reacted
oddly for a second there, frowning in some mild confusion, but she shook it off
professionally and grinned back. �We�re known for our French pancakes.�

Naruto, with only a
vague idea that being �French� those pancakes might not be something he would
like, ordered. �That sounds good. I�ll try it.�

Ino went with his
order to the kitchen, but she came out soon enough to join her coworker, a
woman in mid thirties, in watching Naruto over the counter. They were
whispering something to each other, hiding the words behind the hands, but
Naruto was not uncomfortable. He was used to people talking about him, pointing
and laughing. It was better then those who were turning their heads meekly to
the other side from fear, because that kind of behavior Naruto just couldn�t
understand. He had never done anything violent or insane to make people afraid,
but some of them they still managed to find something about him that was
frightening.

When Ino brought
him a plate of odd thin pancakes, rolled like tiny carpets, with golden colored
marmalade leaking from one end, he asked. �Do you have any hotels here?�

She beamed. �You�re
staying? There are no real hotels, we don�t get that much people visiting, but
we have an inn, just around the corner. It�s not very luxurious, but it�s clean.
My best friend�s parents are owners.�

Do I look like luxurious type? Naruto wondered. He had money, savings he�d
managed from late night side jobs for an opportunity like this one, but they
could hardly be considered generous and staying at Gaara�s house a night or two
a month couldn�t wash away all the years spent in the orphanage and the
constant heavy pressure of his past. She was probably repeating the same thing
she was giving to anyone who dropped by; maybe they didn�t have many visitors,
but as far as Naruto could tell, this was the only restaurant. �Around the corner?�

�Yes,� Ino
confirmed. �The first corner on the left. You can�t
miss the sign.�

Naruto thanked her
and went back to trying to figure out how to eat his breakfast. Early that morning,
he started his trip from the motel in one of the towns lined up on the highway
he had to take to come here, but the excitement was disagreeing with his
stomach, so for once he couldn�t eat as soon as he woke up. The pancakes turned
out to be good, very sweet - once Naruto decided to give up utensils and eat with
his hands.

A voice from
somewhere above and behind him startled him out of humming quietly at every
bite. �How long are you planning to stay?�

A bit startled and
surprised at the straightforwardness, Naruto turned a little, and the man
stepped to the right. He was tall and not very old, maybe around thirty, but
with wild hair completely white. Sometimes, Naruto had heard somewhere, when
people go through extreme fear their hair can turn gray overnight. This man had
a wary look in his eyes, but nothing else about him suggested he knew such
terror.

Careful that his
tone does not come across as rude, as it surly would if he was to talk the way
he wanted, Naruto asked in turn: �Why are you asking?��

The man walked
around Naruto, and the table, to sit in the free chair, taking his wallet out
of the front pocket of an old green vest. The police badge he let Naruto glance
at sparkled in the sunlight as if it was made of gold.

�It�s my job to ask.
How long are you planning to stay?�

Maybe it was that
for some odd reason he liked this person on the first sight, or because the
look in his eyes had a faint sorrowful lining, but Naruto found himself
compelled to tell the truth. �I don�t know.�

�Are you visiting
someone here?� was the next question. Naruto shook his head. �Were you planning
to camp out in the woods? Because that is forbidden, those woods are private
property.�

�No. I just� I want
to find some answers, that�s all.�

Gray-haired man leaned
forward, with his eyes narrowed. �Answers? So you are
on some sort of self discovering road trip?�

Yeah, that was a
good way to describe it. Road trip of self-discovery. It
had a nice, promising ring, and Naruto really hoped he was on the right track
to discover more about himself.

�Yeah, something like that.�

A short silence
followed, so Naruto used the time this man took to think about it to go back to
his pancakes. He could feel hard, measuring gaze on him; calculating, judging
him. That was not enough to beat his appetite, even if he was, for a change,
feeling discomfort from the sympathetic glint the eyes of this man that had started
to show.

�Alright,
then. Make sure you
don�t get into some trouble.�

Getting up, even
though he wasn�t eating or drinking anything, the man threw a rather big bill
on the table. Naruto, who was chewing, widened his eyes in question. All he got
in turn was a nod before the cop turned and walked out of the restaurant. Ino
was there before Naruto could recover and stop watching through the window at his
back.

�Hey, what did
Kakashi want? Are you in some trouble?� She asked, eagerly. Naruto felt the
laughter bubbling in his chest.

�What, you never
saw it before? When the sheriff says to the new guy not to make trouble in his
town, or else?�

Ino blinked. �Or else what? Was he threatening you?�

�Ino.� Naruto said, nodding at her name plate.
�The pancakes were great, once I figured out how to eat them. Make sure chef
gets my compliments, okay?�

She smiled, professional
smile that failed to reach her eyes completely, and Naruto left her like that.

Kakashi,
huh? Well, Kakashi
didn�t seem like a person to threaten people for no reason. And he bought
Naruto a meal. And Ino was nice. This was a good start, wasn�t it?

The distance to the
hotel was hardly worth of starting the engine, it was so close. The sign would,
in fact, be easy to miss, if you didn�t know what you were looking for. It was
hidden from the main street behind a cute maple tree, old and made of pale wood.
Naruto left his motor on the little parking in front of the house, even though
he could see the private � and empty one - behind.

�Aaah,� Someone said from close
behind him, and Naruto had to smile. He was more then used to and still very
happy about that particular reaction to his motorcycle. �Isn�t that a thing of beauty! I don�t suppose you�d want to change it for a twenty
years old Ford�s pick-up with bad brakes?�

Naruto turned to
take a look at where the guy was showing. The pick-up truck he was talking
about was indeed old, but not in such bad condition. If the bike wasn�t a
present, he might have had considered it. After all, he doesn�t really have a
home, and you can much easier get off the rain when you own a truck then a
bike.

�If you include the
dog into that offer, I might think about it.� Naruto said, eyeing the gorgeous
mastiff, who was resting at the pick up�s bed, with
his paw over the edge and tongue out.

�No, no way! Your
bike might be neat, but Akamaru brings me the remote when I ask.� The guy was
grinning widely. Naruto thought he would look blood-related to his dog, if not
for his dark hair and tanned skin.

He grinned right back. �It really would be a shame to lose
something so useful. Mastiff, right?�

�Half mastiff, but
you were close.� Visibly happy Naruto liked his dog, the guy offered his hand. �Kiba.�

�Naruto.� He gave his name in turn, and accepted the
handshake, not able to shake of the small voice that kept saying inside his
head good start, good start,
you�re doing so good�

Kiba stroked the
side of the bike carefully. �It�s a bit too dark, I think � no offence.�

Naruto took of
saddlebags off the seat, because he had to use them for personal items that
wouldn�t fit into his backpack and laughed. �Yeah, that�s what I said. But the
friend who gave it to me insisted I already have too many bright things and
that I would look good on this.�

Well, what Gaara
actually said after Naruto asked him to borrow his bright orange bike, the one
that was not even used because of its color, was that he won�t be seen with
someone on something that bright and offered this one, the entirely black Kawasaki Ninja. Naruto laughed at him,
of course. Such nonsense of someone who needed Naruto to drag him out of the
house! And he had protested, a lot,
when Gaara insisted he keeps the bike after seeing how wonderfully it was taken
care of. But by then, Naruto was too attached and besides, he will find a way
to make up for it to his friend. Somehow.

�So, you moved to
Konoha or what?� Kiba asked.

�Not
exactly.� Pointing at
the inn, Naruto added. �I�m planning to stay here for a while, though.�

Kiba glanced at his
extra long backpack. �You�re not planning to go into the woods to camp, right?
They are private property and owners are a bunch of cold-blooded assholes.�

Serious, angry
words made Naruto glad he really wasn�t here for camping. This was the second
time he was warned off the woods in the last half an hour. There must be a good
reason, especially in the place that had nothing else to offer, aside from
products of the local sawmill.

�Nah.� He reassured Kiba. �I get lost on my way to
the bathroom, these woods look huge.�

Relief was obvious
on Kiba�s face. Naruto didn�t like it at all.

�Come on, I�ll go
inside with you. I think it�s just Sakura in right now.�

Naruto followed
Kiba inside. The building that looked so plain on the outside, painted in pale
yellow, turned into something completely amazing just on the other side of the
door. All the furniture in the hallway and in the open guests
dining room was made of light wood, even the reception desk looked as if it was
made by hand. Instead of paintings, the walls were decorated with engravings of
hunter parties and deer with beautiful antlers, some in run, some calmly
drinking water from the small river. The scenes were captivating in its
richness so Naruto found himself watching carefully every detail before he was
even aware he had stopped.�

�This is so
beautiful.� He had to say aloud, to share his impression.

Kiba was very uninterested
when he answered. �Yeah. We don�t get to go hunting,
though. My mother still can�t get over that.�

�Well, I�m not so
fond of hunting.� Naruto answered, not taking his eyes off the elegant lines,
curves of nature captures in the wooden plate he was watching at the moment.
�But this is beautiful, this engravings. It�s perfect, the way nature was
presented, bent and asymmetric trees but perfectly done deer and people.�

�All rooms have
them as well.� Kiba said, somewhat impatiently, so Naruto finally snapped out
of it. He will be staying here, chances were, so he�ll
have many opportunities to watch them.

The old-fashioned
bell was standing out proudly on the counter, so Naruto couldn�t resist, he hit
it with his palm several times, laughing.

Kiba, with his mood
improved, warned him. �Don�t over do it, Sakura has a mean punch.�

But the bell ringed
sweetly, not very loud and so melodic, that Naruto had to hit it again,
thinking he was better off getting it out of his system. The door somewhere on
the other side of the dining room closed.

�Lee!� Female voice
boomed through the inn. �Stop molesting my bell! I told you a thousand times,
you can go inside the library without
announcing yourself, it�s a public��

The voice stopped
as she walked out into the hall. She frowned at the two of them, just glancing
shortly at Kiba before her big green eyes stopped at Naruto. She opened her
mouth, and Naruto felt his heart skip once. She
knows me, I know she does�

�Naruto?� She whispered � Sakura, Kiba said, her name
was Sakura and she recognized him! �Naruto, is that you?�

�Um,� Naruto
answered. His heart, once it started ticking again, was apparently trying to
catch a bullet train. �Yeah. I think so.�

But even thought he
was still confused and insecure, Sakura wasn�t; she ran across the room,
laughing happily and threw herself at him. Naruto closed his arms around her
instinctively, squeezing back.

�Alright.� He could hear Kiba�s amused snort over her
shoulder. �I�ll take it you two know each other.�

Naruto meant to
answer him, but Sakura let go of him, only to take his chin into her hand.
�God, Naruto, I know you were a kid and all, but you could have called me, or
something. We were so worried about you! We didn�t know where you were��

�Wait, wait,� Kiba
interrupted her, very serious now, and grabbed Naruto�s shoulder. �Naruto? You mean, our Naruto?�

Naruto wanted to
cry. He couldn�t, because that is not a thing someone like him should do, but
he wanted to cry. This girl, Sakura, wasn�t hiding her tears, she was obviously
happy to see him, and this guy, this nice pleasant guy with a gorgeous dog and
a nice pick-up, they knew him. They remembered him. And he couldn�t remember
them.

�Um.� He said, when it
was obvious they were waiting for him to say something. �Hi.�

Sakura promptly hit
him in the shoulder. �Don�t you �hi� me! You disappeared when your parents
died! We thought you got lost in the woods and something ate you!�

So, his parents
were dead. Naruto hoped they weren�t, of course, but he wanted to be loved as
well. His parents being alive would mean they hadn�t loved him enough to try
hard enough to find him. Still, it stung a bit.

�And why didn�t you
say anything?� Kiba demanded. �Or you forgot me completely?�

That wasn�t really
fair. �You didn�t recognize me as well!�

�Yes, I did. I
though as soon as I saw you looked exactly like Naruto would if he grew up, but
I thought � we all thought you�re dead. Where were you?�

That question was
obviously something that both of then wanted answered, because Sakura stopped
trying to make sure he was alive using her hands, and Kiba grow quiet. Naruto
was uncomfortable and a bit scared. His story was� not something people liked
to head.

�I was in the city,
living in the orphanage before I got a scholarship after high school.� He said
carefully.

Sakura frowned. �But
who took you there? No one here knew where you went.�

�About that� I
don�t really know. I can�t remember.�

�Oh,� Sakura backed
off a bit. �Well, of course. You were just a kid, and you just went through a
big trauma� But still, you should have called. I�m sure no one would have
minded.�

�Sakura.� Naruto said, tasting her name for the first
time. It felt like nothing. It brought nothing with it, just like her shiny,
beautiful eyes. �You don�t get it. I don�t remember who took me out of Konoha.
I don�t remember Konoha at all. I don�t remember the two of you.�

He waited a bit to
see if it sunk in. Once the confused frowns became deeper, he rushed forward
into explanations. �I woke up in the hospital when I was around ten.� Well, he
woke up all bruised and with odd scratches all over his body but there was no
need for gory details. �I couldn�t remember anything before that, nothing about
myself, where I came from, or about my parents. This was the first time I heard
they had died.�

Sakura visibly
flinched. �Oh.� She said again. �I think � I think we should sit down. Drink
something? Do you want anything?�

Not waiting for an
answer, she quickly marched through the dining room and disappeared behind the
door. Kiba and Naruto followed part of the way, and sat at the nearest table.
The quiet seemed to have stretched desperately to fill in the void between the
two of them, because the rare sounds of cars from the main street were
unusually clear. Kiba was watching Naruto, opening his mouth every few seconds
as if he was about to say something, but nothing was coming through. It would
be fun to watch, if this entire thing wasn�t about his life.

Sakura,
fortunately, had no similar problems. She dashed back out of what Naruto
presumed it was kitchen, with her tray loaded with lemonade and oddly shaped
cake of some kind, talking before she even reached the table. �So, you have
amnesia? Were you able to talk at all? Or it was just personal things? Did you
know your name?�

Naruto�s never
particularly liked to talk in details about all that, because it always felt as
if something was clawing his insides, but now he answered eagerly. �Just personal information. But whoever left me at the
hospital, also left a note with my name on it. Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto.�

Sakura froze with
her hand on the glass, but it was Kiba who said. �I think it was Namikaze. They
left you with wrong information.�

It felt a bit like
he stole a part of Naruto, that statement. He didn�t even know his full name?
No wonder all the searches were fruitless. Naruto forced his throat. �But it�s
Naruto, right?�

Sakura smiled at
him, strained but sincere, before sitting down. �Yes � I called you by your
name before you introduced yourself, remember?�

Yes, that was
right. It made the entire thing only slightly better, though. �Right.�

�Anyway, you still
don�t remember anything? How come you�re in Konoha, then?�

Naruto reached for
his pocket, itching to take the picture out. Sure, he will obviously be able to
find out quite a bit about himself, but the person who sent the picture to him
knew where he was and how to find him; that person was most likely to know what
exactly happened to him. And Sakura � or Kiba � could maybe recognize the
handwriting at the back of the photo. But before he had managed
to take it out, steps echoed from the hall.

Sakura lifted her
head, charming smile beaming off her face. �You�re back already? Good, I have a
wonderful surprise for you!�

She was standing up
while talking, so Naruto stood up as well. A voice from the large two winged
doorway just behind Naruto�s back answered: �Not another chocolate cake,
Sakura. I can�t eat any of that crap, it�s foul.�

Naruto didn�t
recognize the voice, not at all, but his heart that was already restless raced again
at the sound of it. Guessing Sakura meant him and not the cake, and that it was
someone he knew in the previous life, Naruto grinned aw widely as he could and
turned around�

�and his lungs hurt so much, but he wouldn�t
stop, he couldn�t. He promised dad, and Naruto was not someone who would go
back on his word, not ever. He just wished he could go slower and that it
wasn�t so dark in the woods and to know why was so important to run, but none
of it mattered. Sasuke was running, too and he was somewhere ahead, faster even
now, so Naruto gritted his teeth and sped up. The stupid forest was too dark to
see everything that was in the way, and he tripped over some branch or
something and fell, only barely managing to catch himself
on his palms�

�Are you some kind
of idiot?� Annoyed voice snapped him out of the vivid vision of dark moonless
forest and Naruto slowly blinked at the guy who was much closer all of the
sudden. When did he move? �How can you trip over thin air?�

The vision was
fading already, pictures melting into some vague memory of determination,
annoyance and fear. Naruto opened his mouth, wanting to say something very rude
in turn to this guy who was obviously the greatest asshole this lovely little
town had. What came out was a stunned, breathless: �Sasuke?�

Dark eyes - in the
mirror, fixed on him � no wait, what the
fuck was that again now? - narrowed at him and Naruto realized he was being
help upward only when this guy removed his hands from him. He straightened
quickly as Sakura said, somewhat bitterly: �Oh, it figures you�d remember him.�

�I � I don�t.�
Naruto said. It was difficult to turn back to her. He had remembered something just now, but it was not a person, it was
running. Running away? But it was already drifting away from him, like a dream would
after he�d look through a window after waking up, but he had remembered
something, and it happened when he turned to look at this guy � Sasuke, was it?
So maybe � maybe if he keeps looking, maybe he will remember something more.
Insanely focused, Naruto watched in fascination Sasuke�s mouth open and form
words.

�I�ve no idea what
you are talking about. I�m going upstairs.�

Naruto could hear
with one ear Sakura�s undignified stuttering and Kiba�s mock-whispered �Told
you they all are a bunch of assholes,� but he couldn�t answer, and he couldn�t
help it but watch Sasuke�s back as he turned to walk out.

Naruto wasn�t sure
what just happened, he wasn�t sure about what was he supposed to do next. He
only knew that he had to keep looking if he wanted to remember more, so he
ignored Sakura�s and Kiba�s questions and followed Sasuke out.

Antiqua"'>
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