Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Night Rain	By : ItaNarulover Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1180 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, they are all owned by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make money out of writing this.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
A/N:O’hisashiburi desu.
Douzo!
Unbeta-ed.
...
Warnings:Language (cursing), slight OOC, angst, violence, OC, etc.
...
“Speaking”
‘Thinking’
…
… (Double lines) = change of scenery/new scene.
o-o-o-o (One small o-line) = after a short amount of time or change of point of view.
...
Night Rain
Chapter 9

(Three months later…)

Stepping out of the large tangerine colored vehicle onto the snow-covered ground, he exhaled with relief and started walking away from the bus stop, attentively observing the scenery of the relatively unknown area he had arrived in.
Similarly to Toukyou but slightly more moderate, Obihiro was urban and scenic. Buildings of cafés, offices, pubs, restaurants and stores were stacked together tightly all around him, separated by streets and alleys and littered with colorful signs.
As usual there was a consistent magnitude of movement. People left and entered establishments to his left and right, hurrying past him or walking alongside him on the street. Others could be seen conversing animatedly inside through the windows, associating with their families, lovers, friends, colleagues or peers.
Raising his head upward slightly, his gaze fell on the residential blocks farther away in the distance, towering several stories above them like a couple of mountain tops. In this part of town they were indeed most noticeable in grandeur and numbers, most of them looking the same if not for the creative decorations of windows and balconies; clotheslines, curtains, plants and ornaments in subtle or bright colors.
Averting his gaze, he crossed the street as the traffic lights on the other side of the road changed from red to green and followed the crowd left down the oncoming street.
If he hadn’t been guided around by Kyuubi and his friends a few days earlier, he was sure he would have gotten lost in the myriad of streets, buildings and people. Even though he had been in Hokkaidou for almost four months now, he still couldn’t get around well on his own. Everything felt foreign and unfamiliar and it was not just due to the size of the city and its smaller population but because he had practically lived in Toukyou his entire life. He had never been outside of Honshuu before or anywhere else for that matter for such an extensive time. Naturally, it would take some time getting used to…
Thanks to his new job, however, he was sure that it would happen sooner than he might think.
Work, yes. He was currently employed.
The position had been propositioned to him a few weeks ago when he and Kyuubi had been invited for dinner at the elder Sannins’ house.
Luck had not really been on his side on that front until then.
He had been searching for suitable jobs ever since he had left Tokachigawa but those he had found had either been taken, out of the question or simply unattainable because of his résumé. Even though he had an economic degree and great credentials, most employers he had contacted had required experience in fields he lacked. While some had been generous enough to offer him positions within their company that dealt with finance, he had declined them all for the very same reason he had wanted to resign from his last job: he didn’t wish to become an office worker again unless given no other choice.
After several weeks without any success whatsoever, he had feared that he would have to do what he detested or simply wait tables down some restaurant, but then in February it had miraculously happened.

---¥---¥---¥---Flashback---¥---¥----¥---

“Ah, Naruto… Kyuubi’s told me you’ve been looking for a job…” The blonde haired woman, more known as Sannin Tsunade, stated and gazed at him from the opposite side of the dining table with an unreadable expression on her face.
“…. Here she goes meddling in other people’s business again…” Jiraiya quietly mumbled under his breath before making a choked sound as if someone had kicked his shin underneath the table.
Not knowing whether he should answer yet feeling as if he should, he cleared his throat once she turned to look at him expectantly. “Um, yeah… but I guess I haven’t been lucky enough to find one…” He awkwardly responded with a small smile and fought the urge to nervously scratch his cheek. He didn’t wish to admit that him being picky had been one of the main reasons behind it.
“Hmm… I see… tell me, is it true that you’re fond of children?”
“Um… yeah, I mean... who isn’t?” He nervously laughed and felt his eyebrows furrow slightly, surprised by the question and beginning to grow slightly uneasy under her steady gaze. This wasn’t some kind of test was it? Or was she insinuating that he was some sort of weirdo?
“Have you considered working with them?”
“Teaching, you mean?” He immediately questioned with a raised brow, his curiosity piqued and his fears momentarily forgotten.
“Yes, or something close to it.” She answered while her expression and gaze never wavered.
“Yeah, actually I have… but that would require an education I don’t have... and I don’t think I could afford going back to university…”
“Hmm... then what would you say if I’d offer you a position atmy kindergarten?”
“…………..…. Hah?” He blurted out before he could stop himself and openly blinked in shock. Was she serious?
“I said, would like to work at my kindergarten?”
“Are… are you serious?”
“Yes, I most certainly am. I never joke---”
“Can’t say I disagree…” Yahiko muttered into his glass of red wine, earning himself a pair of amused stares followed by a death glare.
“…. One of our teacher assistants is ending her employment this month…” Tsunade explained with her hands folded underneath her chin, still gazing at him seriously with her hazel colored eyes. “Would you be interested in taking her place?
“A teacher assistant..?” He asked surprised.
“Yes. It means you’d be aiding our teachers with various tasks such as helping the children get dressed, read stories for them and so on, as well as attending kids who’re in need of extra help and support.”
“But… doesn’t that require some kind of experience or education?”
“It’s preferable but not necessary, what’s important is that you’re able to handle children well and that you’re educated enough to teach the basics.”
“Oh…” He began a bit unsurely, growing confused as to why she would ask him of all people. “Then how come you offer the position to me…? Not that I’m not grateful and all...”
“Well, according to my son, I would be a fool not to hire you.” She calmly replied and they both shifted their gazes to the three redheads momentarily, one of them in particular. “He told me that you would be the best man for the job and that I’d definitely regret it if I didn’t hire you.”
‘Kyuubi said that?’He thought, astonished yet pleasantly surprised, and glanced at his now awkwardly blushing sibling who was being teased mercilessly by Yahiko and Jiraiya for having a brother-complex.
“So, I’m willing to give you a chance to prove him right, that is, if you’re interested.”
“O-Of course!”
While he initially had wanted to find a job on his own and be hired for his abilities and accomplishments and not due to personal connections, he did not believe that he had much of a choice but to accept the offer at this point. An opportunity like this might as well never come again and he had had about as much as he could take with job interviews and the constant searching.
“Great, then how about you come visit me in a few weeks and spend some time at the kindergarten and we’ll discuss this further?” She contently interrupted and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
“That would be great, thank you so much.”
“Ah, don’t thank me yet, kiddo.” The older woman sternly replied and smiled before shouting at her husband and biological son to stop acting like children and for Nagato to go easy on the wine.

---¥---¥---END of flashback---¥---¥---

So here he was, about a month later, on his way to the privately owned kindergarten Kanmu as an assistant teacher. Tsunade had introduced him to the management two weeks ago and after he had spent the day at the kindergarten as suggested she had surprised him by telling him that he could sign the employment contract immediately if he still wanted the job.
She had apparently thought him suitable enough for the position, saying he definitely had a good way with children and that he leveled with them easily without being condescending. Her sole condition, however, had been that he’d have to study some of their procedures during his free time so that he would know how to react if something were to happen. He had of course accepted it full heartedly, pleased beyond belief.
The salary he had been offered had also been a lot better than he had thought it would be initially. Inexperienced kindergarten workers such as him usually didn’t earn that much money and were often exploited, but that was clearly not the case at Kanmu. In his opinion, he would be earning more than he deserved. Nonetheless, he was glad that he would be able to take responsibility for himself and help his brother out financially.
Besides having a just, kind but stern headmistress, the personnel at the kindergarten seemed incredibly nice and helpful. Most of them had greeted him kindly and genuinely the first day and some had even offered him their help if he ever needed it. The children themselves had of course been endearingly curious and sweet, asking him tons of questions and demanding he play with them, which had further convinced him that he had made the right decision of accepting the job and that he had been very fortunate to get it.
He was very fond of kids and it wasn’t just due to their sweet and exuberant nature but because it felt good knowing that someone looked up to him, needed him in some way and that he in turn could be of help to them. To guide them and aid them in a way no one had done for him in that age.
He did not want any child to experience that void, that feeling of worthlessness, loneliness, and intense longing for the unattainable. It was too excruciating. To make matters worse it never disappeared entirely but lingered on onto one’s adult years, deep inside one’s core, taking root.
Indeed, even now, those thoughts often crossed his mind and caused his chest to tighten uncomfortably. More so when he had been abandoned again... by the same people who had once helped him past that vicious internal pain.
It had been three months now….
Three very long months since he had cut ties with the Uchihas and left Toukyou.
To say that he had gotten over them would be an overstatement.
To say that the time apart from them hadn’t been painful would be a lie.
Every passing week in Hokkaidou had been challenging and more so than he initially had thought it would be. The excruciating pain of their betrayal and the fierce longing for their presence had increased each day and he had repeatedly been tempted to return to Toukyou in order to rid himself of the torment. However, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to forgive and forget, he had endured it the best he could and distracted himself with job interviews and his precious older brother, trying to adapt to his new life on the island.
The method had worked to some extent but as soon as he had phoned his friends and family back in Toukyou or received any phone calls from them, his thoughts had unhindered returned to the Uchihas and the unpleasant feelings had resurfaced.
Banishing them to the farthest reaches of his mind in his conscious state had not helped much either because they would appear in his dreams. He would wake up miserable, tormented by nightmares of that awful day, their mocking taunts and hurtful accusations. Even the dreams most people would consider pleasant brought him nothing but pain for they made him imagine things that never happened and never would.
It seemed like no matter what he did he was unable to break free from them entirely and it was tearing him apart.
He did not understand it. Why couldn’t he get over them?
Was it because the love he still held for them struggled not to diminish?
Did he actually not want to give them up despite everything? Or was it his dream he had yet to abandon? The dream of raising a child with the same unconditional love and support his parents had given him with someone he loved?
Did he somehow still believe that it could be fulfilled despite Itachi’s infidelity?
It didn’t make sense... None of it did. It was true that he still loved Itachi but he could never stay with somebody that secretly yearned for someone else. He refused to be a substitute or some kind of a stalking-horse. He was his own person and he had a lot more pride and self-respect than that.
Itachi did not love him. It was as simple as that.
Why did he constantly seem to need to remind himself of that fact? He had known it for three months now; shouldn’t it have stuck to his mind by now? Shouldn’t he already have accepted it fully?
There was no he and Itachi anymore.
Why was his mind confusing him so terribly? Why wouldn’t it let him move on?
There was no point in even having the smallest of hope that his dream would come true because it never would and thinking otherwise was pure naivety. As a homosexual male in Japan he was fated to a life without children, to a life where love was forbidden and hard to find and more often than not was as brief as a tumble in the hay.
His dream would always just remain a dream, and it was about time he accepted that.
Feeling his chest tighten uncomfortably at the depressive realization, he willed those thoughts away and quickened his pace on the path through the grand tree lane he was passing.
Reaching into his pocket to fish out his cell phone, he removed his right glove with the help of his left hand and flipped the cell phone open. The time had yet to turn 9.30, which meant that he had about a half an hour left to his disposal before his shift began. Knowing that Kanmu kindergarten was only a short distance away, he decided to take the longer route across the park up ahead in order to properly calm down, not wanting to show up at work in an irate and dejected mood.
0-0-0-0
Surrounded by many different buildings, a park and a grand tree lane, Kanmu emanated a sense of warmth and security. The long and low-roofed structure with its unique architecture stretched itself across the snow white plane like something out of a fairytale. The lonely spots of its red tin roof stood out against the white environment while its pale walls blended completely with the white masses. Children could be seen playing within its lightly enclosed perimeters, making snowmen and snow angels and chasing one another around the courtyard, their cheerful laughter and shrieking voices rising in volume the nearer the kindergarten he got.
Opening the gate of the main entrance once he had stepped inside the courtyard, a few kids stared at him curiously as he passed them by and he gave them a little wave to which some hesitantly returned. Used to having adults around, most of them completely ignored his presence and continued playing with their peers in the fluffy snow, doing what they did best.
Two little girls with identical pink caps were clinging to a teacher by the door he was heading toward and he instantly recognized the male as Shiranui Genma.The man was not someone you would easily forget with his handsome features, laidback attitude and habit of keeping a toothpick in his mouth, all of which gave off an air of a rebellious delinquent.
“Ah, Uzumaki… Good morning.” Genma said and smiled, causing the toothpick to shift from one place to another.
“Good morning…” He responded and smiled broadly when the girls said their greetings as well, repeating it more than necessary.
“You’re with Neko, right?”
“Yeah…” He answered, immediately knowing what Genma was referring to.
Kanmu kindergarten was divided into four separate units; Neko, Kuma, Usagi and Inu. Neko and Usagi accommodated children from ages three to four while Kuma and Inu managed older children.
“Hmm, good luck, Shizune can be a handful these days…”
“Um… ah… thanks…” Passing by the snickering man, he pulled the windowed door to the kindergarten open and stepped inside the large entry hallway. He then followed the corridor on the left to the mutual break room and units for younger children.
Spotting the door of the break room ajar with no one inside the room, he removed his shoes by the doorway and walked past the dining area into the changing room where he slipped on a pair of comfortable sandals. He hung his orange winter jacket with a fur hood on a hanger and put his matching boots on one of the shoe racks against the wall. Deeming himself ready he left the room and entered the main area of the Neko unit a few doors down the hall.
“Good morning.” He greeted with a broad smile, spotting Kamizuki Izumo and Nemoto Shizune by one of the tables of the room.
“Ah, good morning...” They both said and smiled.
Together with Hagane Kotetsu, the two of them were his co-workers here at Neko. Genma, Rokku Lee, Yuuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko, along with a few others he had met on his first day, worked on the other side of the building in Inu and Kuma.
“Did Mrs. Sannin send you the lists?” Izumo asked while distributing crayons, markers and drawing pads onto each table.
“Ah, yes, I got them last Friday…” He answered somewhat absentmindedly before stepping forward to give him a hand.
There were currently 24 children in Neko, 14 girls and 10 boys. While most of them were four years old, 5 of them had only recently turned three. The headmistress had sent him a list of their names and birthdates a few days prior along with a group photo, wanting him to familiarize himself with the children and learn their names as soon as possible.
“Good, she’s got so much on her hands these days I was afraid she might have forgotten about it.”
“Much work? Hah. She just gambles online instead of doing her paperwork properly…” Shizune almost inaudibly grumbled under her breath and stacked a couple of drawings with her hands.
“Well, then there’s that…” Izumo laughed before turning to look at him. “Ah, that’s right, if there’s anything you need to know don’t hesitate to ask, Uzumaki.”
“Ah, thanks, I will…” He smiled and glanced at the schedule pinned to the large blackboard a few steps in front of him. “…… So…. um, what are our plans for the rest of the day?”
“Oh, it’s pretty much like last time… We’ll help the children take off their outerwear when they’ll return from the break and lead them to the assembly room where Miss. Nemoto and I have prepared a little show.” Izumo replied and walked to stand beside him in front of the blackboard. “After that we’ll let them finish their winter drawings, do some basic arithmetic exercises and read stories for them until lunch…”
He observed Izumo’s fingers as they pointed at each arranged event on the timetable and listened attentively.
“After they’ve eaten they’ll get to play outside again for a while and we’ll keep watch until we all return back inside for another assembly where we’ll sing some songs and play some games that will help them practice hiragana and katakana… and then… it’s pretty much free play until their parents come pick them up.”
“Oh, okay, got it.”
“Trust me. It isn’t as complicated as it sounds. You’ll do great.” The young man assured, probably having noticed his somewhat confused gaze. “Improvisation is the key in this business.”
“Thanks.” He smiled gratefully and nearly jumped out of his skin as Rokku Lee suddenly appeared from behind and patted him a little too hard on his back in encouragement, wishing him the best of luck before turning around to converse with Shizune about something.
Having calmed his rapidly beating heart, he idly wondered if the man by any chance was related to Maito Gai back in Toukyou. Their resemblance was alarming to say the least…
0-0-0-0
“Naruto! Naruto!” A little black-haired girl with pigtails called, staring at him with her impossibly big blue eyes.
“What is it, Amaya?” He gently inquired and crouched to her level.
Amaya was one of the children at kindergarten you could not help but take notice of. She was endearingly demanding, sweet and assertive and seemed much older than her age in terms of comprehension and behavior.
“Read a story!” She whined and took his hand, pulling him toward the navy blue couch a few steps away from them. “Come, Naruto, come!”
He quickly rose to his feet and followed, not really have been given much of a choice, and sat down on the couch as she searched for the book she wanted happily. She hummed on an unknown tune as she browsed through the books on the shelf, wanting to find the one she had in mind. Finding it quickly, she jumped up onto the couch and crawled to sit beside him, placing the book in his lap. “Read this one!”
“Mr. Bunny on the Moon..?” He smiled and looked at Amaya while she enthusiastically nodded and clutched his sweatshirt, tugging at it with impatience.
“Okay, let’s see what this one is about…” He chuckled and opened the bright yellow book on his lap, pausing slightly to make the beginning more dramatic. “…….. Once upon a time there was a lonely little bunny called Mr. Bunny. He lived on the moon in his little blue house.” He read slowly and observed the way the three-year-old listened attentively, her eyes wide and focused on the illustrations. “Outside the house was a little flower. It was a very beautiful flower. It was yellow like the sun.”
Continuing to read articulately and animatedly, he noticed how a boy named Inari slowly and very hesitantly approached them, taking small careful steps at a time. Soon, the quiet child was sitting beside him on his other side, curious about the story’s content like the child to his right.
“Every day Mr. Bunny would water the yellow flower. It was his best friend.” He read and smiled as he briefly observed the way the children paid attention to his every word and how others soon came to join them.
…
…
She couldn’t believe how quickly time had passed.
It was as if it had only been a few days ago that she had been spending time with her husband and her friend, having a great time while never knowing what the future had in store for them.
To think that one action would come to ruin it all…
No one had seen it coming.
After the engagement and adoption plans, who would have thought that Uchiha Itachi would have an affair with his younger brother? It was completely unthinkable.
But what would come to shock them the most had yet to come...
Only two days after his disappearance, Naruto had phoned them all individually and announced that he had left Honshuu without any intention of returning.
The news had left them all completely flabbergasted.
The possibility of it happening had never occurred to any of them. While they had known about the wronging of the Uchihas, they had never expected a reaction of this kind.
Neither had they known anything about Namikaze Kyuubi. Naruto had never told them about his life before Kakashi and Iruka so finding out that he suddenly would be staying with his biological older brother had been shocking to say the least.
As a result, some of them had even begun to wonder if Naruto had been hiding anything else from them all this time considering he had kept such a thing a secret. However, completely sickened by their behavior, Gaara had told them off and full of shame they had taken back their accusations, realizing their betrayal toward their friend.
As a fellow orphan, Gaara understood Naruto better than anyone else and he had reminded them all that Naruto had been put in a foster home at an early age after the death of his parents and must have been separated from his older brother. Such a subject would clearly have been too painful for Naruto to speak about or even mention. After all, he had not known if his brother was alive or if he let alone would accept him if they ever met again. So how could they blame him for wanting to keep it hidden until he knew for sure? How could they blame him for wanting to get to know his own kin now when he had every opportunity to do so?
But even though they had understood Naruto’s reasoning and respected his decision, it had still been a change that no one had been too willing to accept. Naruto meant a lot to them and he always would. He had been there for each and everyone one of them and he had helped them change their lives for the better. If it had not been for him she would never have gotten together with her husband, her cousin would most likely still have hated her and Sai could still have been suffering the abuse of his drunkard father.
It was thus not very strange why most of them had wanted to get on the first plane available to Hokkaidou and talk him out of it when they had first heard of the news. But Naruto had begged them not to visit him. He was worried that the Uchihas would suspect something and he wished to avoid them at all costs. He had also not wanted to become a liability to his older brother and having a group of people visit him a week after they had met would surely put unnecessary strain on their relationship. He had therefore given them the option of contacting him by phone until he thought it was safe enough for them to come see him, but a phone call every once in a while was quite a big change from a regular visit.
As weeks passed by, however, they eventually began to adapt to a life without him. But no one could fully mend the gaping hole that had been left in their hearts with his departure.
Gaara was one of them who took the news the hardest. He seemed more withdrawn toward others but her lately, even to his own siblings, constantly seeking solitude and speaking less than he normally would. While he never had been a man of many words, his recent behavior was unusual even for him. It was as if he was contemplating things, his eyes always farseeing and cold. To make matters worse, he often left the house in the middle of the night for unknown reasons only to return early in the morning, never telling her where he had been or what he had been doing, and it was starting to worry her.
Of course, Naruto’s parents were not faring much better. Kakashi and Iruka had always had a close relationship with their son and they were very protective of him still. Being the classic mother-hen, Iruka could not help but worry about his son more than what most people would consider necessary and phoned him at every given opportunity, raging at his husband for being too undisturbed by the whole ordeal. Kakashi, on the other hand, reckoned that as long as he knew that Naruto was safe and well, he did not mind the living arrangements and argued that Naruto was a grown man who could make decisions on his own. Ultimately, this caused the two spouses to have many disagreements among themselves and spend most of their nights separately.
While Neji seemed to be taking the news as well as Kakashi in the eyes of many by continuing as if nothing had happened, she knew that his unaffected façade was just a farce. The wall he had built safely around himself was actually full of chinks and it looked ready to collapse at any moment. She knew that her cousin had romantic feelings for Naruto and that he constantly had to occupy his mind in order to deal with his absence, but staying in denial, repressing his feelings and exhausting himself with work weren’t very good alternatives and she was at loss of what to do to help him.
Even Kiba had been uncharacteristically gloomy, especially toward the end of November. The ‘ritual’ he and Naruto annually took part in was something Kiba cherished more than he let on and forgoing this year’s tradition had been unusually tough for him. Just like most of their companions, Kiba blamed and detested the Uchihas for having driven their mutual friend away and he was not afraid of showing it.
While Naruto’s absence had affected her in more ways than one too, she was one of the very few who did not treat the Uchihas any differently. She could never resent them because she wasn’t a person to hold grudges and she could never hate someone she used to call a friend no matter what they had done. For as long as she had known them, the Uchihas had always been kind to her and it wasn’t something she could easily ignore. Naruto did also not hate them despite their betrayal, so why should she? She was not the one they hurt and cheated on.
Though, with her husband and most of her friends hating their guts, she could not help but feel torn, which happened to be one of the reasons for the conversation currently taking place in her home.
“I think they’re trying to find Naruto through their cousin, Uchiha Shisui…” The dark haired painter said and leaned back in his seat with a sigh, bringing her out of her musings. “My friend at the police said that he had noticed Itachi making a lot of visits to the man recently.”
“……..….. They couldn’t possibly be thinking about….” Ino gasped once she quickly caught on to what Sai was insinuating.
“Why not? As a police inspector, Shisui’s got access to multiple tracking devices. If he wanted to, he could find Naruto in a heartbeat.”
“But… is he even allowed to do that? I mean, aren’t there any regulations against this sort of thing?”
“There are, but since when have Uchihas ever followed the rules of society?” Sai answered with a slightly raised eyebrow.
“But to go that far..?” Ino frowned and bit down on her lip in worry.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures…” Sai shrugged and folded his arms across his chest, his pale skin and dark attire vividly contrasting. “They’re most likely willing to do anything to find him at this point.”
“What should… Is there anything we can do to prevent it?” She voiced with concern, joining in on the conversation, unconsciously fidgeting with her forefingers.
“I’ve told Shin to keep an eye on them.”
“Haaa-ah, this is getting way too troublesome…” Shikamaru sighed and rested his chin against his hand, almost lying on top of the coffee table from his seat on the floor-cushion.
“You think everything’s troublesome, Shikamaru…” Chouji said and munched on some potato chips, earning himself a look of slight disgust from his blonde-haired, blue-eyed wife.
“…… I’m starting to believe that Naruto should just contact the Uchihas and tell them off. That way we’d end this childish game of hide and seek and we’d all finally be able to move on.” The pony-tailed brunet continued in the same bored tone, ignoring the comment of his childhood friend.
“But Naruto doesn’t want to talk to them, genius.” Kiba sneered and narrowed his eyes at Shikamaru. “He knows they’d just end up throwing their lame excuses his way and he doesn’t want to hear them.”
“But ignoring them won’t work either… If this continues, they will find him eventually and what then? … If he really wants to start anew in Hokkaidou then he has to let go of the life he left behind or else it’ll never end.” Shikamaru responded.
“That’s easy for us to say… we weren’t the ones getting cheated on for years by people we loved and trusted…” Sai added, uncrossing his arms to gently rub at the sides of his forehead, feeling as frustrated as the rest of them.
“That’s the thing. This has nothing to do with us. We’ve already done all we can and if we interfere any further each of us will just end up getting kicked by a horse.”
“So we should just let Naruto get hurt again?” Gaara finally spoke and glared at ponytailed man. “No fucking way…”
“……..”
“……..”
“……….. Troublesome indeed…”
For once, she couldn’t help but agree.
…
…
Wetting the sponge in the soap-filled water, he gently washed the plates, cups and utensils that had gathered in the sink, rinsing each item thoroughly before placing them in the dish rack.
He could deafly hear his brother speaking on the phone upstairs, along with the creaking sound of footsteps pacing to and fro above him. He could not tell who Itachi was talking to or what was being said but judging by the length of the conversation, it had to be important. The news could either be good or bad since his brother rarely raised his voice when he was upset or angry. He honestly hoped for the former since they had had enough of bad news for one year.
Drying his hands with a cloth before placing it back on its hock on the wall, he left the kitchen and entered the living room where he slumped down on the leather couch with a soft exhalation. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV in order to distract himself, zipping through channels to find something interesting, not wanting to ponder too much about the conversation currently taking place upstairs.
After all, he could just ask his brother about it when he was done, right?
It wasn’t a big deal.
Nothing to worry about… at all…
No matter how much he tried to convince himself of that fact, a part of him could not help but feel differently and wonder how much his sibling actually would tell him once he’d ask him.
Even though his brother had promised to be less secretive and evasive, he could still not shake the feeling that Itachi wasn’t being completely honest with him. Every time Itachi told him something nowadays, it always seemed as if it was an altered version of the truth and that vital parts of the story were missing. He was always left wondering if what he had been told had been what had actually happened and it was incredibly unnerving.
Perhaps he was just being paranoid, like Itachi often accused him of being, but then again his instincts were usually right and they had not failed him once.
Hearing his brother descend the stairs, he pretended to be fully emerged in the ridiculous game show he had accidently come across and grimaced slightly at the awful screeching of the audience. Good Lord.
Sensing the appealing scent of his brother’s perfume and noticing the flickering movements of the light on the floor, he instantly became aware of Itachi slowly approaching him from behind and tensed up in anticipation. Feeling his brother’s stare, he resisted the urge to fidget, not really liking to be stared at so intensely and feeling strangely eager to find out about the phone call despite his many worries. Seeing as Itachi did not move at all for a very long time and only stood there quietly behind him in the hallway, he grew impatient and huffed, “Are you gonna stand there the whole day or what?”
Hearing Itachi silently laugh and finally move towards him, he turned his head to the side to watch him walk around the couch and sit down beside him.
“……. So… who’s winning?” Itachi queried with a hint of amusement in his voice, obviously knowing he hadn’t been watching the show yet wanting to tease him about it nonetheless.
“Hn…” He huffed, not caring to answer, and grabbed the remote on his lap to turn off the appliance.
“Awww… and it was just getting good…” His sibling complained in a mock-like voice.
“Shut up... Who called?”
Raising an eyebrow at him, Itachi merely answered, “Kisame...”
“And..? What did he want?”
Frowning slightly as if surprised by his inquisitiveness, Itachi continued, “He needed me to help him with something.”
“…. Oh, and what kind of thing would that be?”
“I’m afraid that’s between me and him.” His brother replied in a somewhat carefree tone and reached behind himself to secure the knot of his ponytail.
“Oh, is that so?” He commented in a similar tone, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt.
“Yes.”
“Hu–h…”
“…………………… Sasuke, just because I promised to be more open about things doesn’t mean I have to tell you everything…” Itachi sighed after a moment of complete silence. “In this case, Kisame begged me not to tell anyone and I’m not going to betray his trust in me.”
“………. So then, this thing between you and Kisame is what’s kept you busy for the past few weeks… and not something, say, concerning Naruto?” He asked with not as much as an ounce of conviction in his voice, refusing to look at his sibling as he spoke.
“Yes.”
“……..….. I see….”
Rising from the couch stiffly once his brother failed to elaborate, he walked past Itachi out of the room, knowing full well that his brother was lying or leaving something out again. He didn’t care in the least if Itachi thought he was behaving childishly by acting this way, he was simply too tired of all of the lies and excuses his brother spouted.
Honestly, did his sibling expect him to believe him? My God, what kind of fool did he take him for?
First of all, Kisame had never been particularly secretive. The man wore his heart on his sleeve and did not care what other people thought of him. Heck, he even told everyone about his recent conquests and embarrassing adventures of his youth, including old ladies on the street! What could he possibly be hiding that would require the constant presence of his brother and all of this furtiveness?
Second, how come his brother suddenly decided to be involved in affairs other than those of their missing lover? Just a few weeks ago, hadn’t his priority been to find Naruto at all costs?
It just didn’t make any sense, at all.
No, he knew that the call just now could not have come from Kisame. While it was true that the extraordinary man enjoyed speaking and actively participated in conversation, he highly doubted that he and Itachi could have talked nonstop for such a long time. Two hours on the phone was a record even for Kisame and Uchihas usually kept things short and to the point, especially Itachi.
His guesses were on someone else, namely their cousin.
He could not help but find it extremely odd that they had not heard from Shisui in three months, especially when their cousin had stated that he would be helping them. While he was aware that the man was very busy with work, Shisui’s recent behavior was almost as strange as his brother’s. Whenever he had phoned him, the man had never answered, and whenever he had visited him, Shisui had always been too busy to come see him.
All of these strange occurrences were leading him to believe that Itachi and Shisui were going about things behind his back, but the question was why…
Why not include him? Why keep it a secret?
Why did his brother not tell him of all people?
Had the two not made any progress? Was that it? Was the news so bad that his brother thought he wouldn’t be able to handle it?
Was it something else? Had something happened to Naruto?
Why wouldn’t Itachi tell him?
He thought that they were done with the secrecy. He thought that Itachi finally had started to open up to him, that he trusted him enough to do so. But obviously, he couldn’t have been more wrong. It was as if his brother only had given him a taste of what he wanted and then continued on like always.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take…
Biting the inside of his cheek lightly, he removed his hand from the staircase railing and walked the remaining steps to the guest room he normally used when he stayed over, wanting to be left alone.
0-0-0-0
“Sasuke?” A voice hesitantly called, followed by a light knock on the door.
“……….” Ignoring it, he continued to read his novel, not having the energy to face his older brother.
All of their arguments always ended the same way anyway, with Itachi making promises he couldn’t keep and with him being stupid enough to believe him every time. Really, why should he bother?
“Sasuke, can I come in?”
“… It’s your house…” He answered, stating what was in fact true, and continued to read about Isaka Takahashi’s despair, letting himself be pulled inside the story he held in his hands as he laid spread out on his stomach on top of the bed.
Reading was a great way to occupy his mind and he happened to be a fan of the author of the book was reading, already having read seven of his novels thus far. The way the writer explicitly described each event, thought and emotion always made him more eager to find out about the characters’ fate. At the moment the main character Takahashi was grieving over the death of his childhood friend, who had committed suicide, and he was beginning to contemplate whether he should follow him as strange things subsequently occurred in his home.
The novel was quite exciting and contained a lot of angst, which was something he strangely enough liked to read about in his free time. Learning about other people’s misery and how they dealt with it helped him cope with his own and a bit of mystery always made things more entertaining. Turning the page, he felt the bed he was laying on sink a bit to his left and being fully aware of what had caused it, he pretended not to have noticed anything.
“Don’t you think you’re being unreasonable?”
“…….”
“Sasuke…”
“…….” He kept on reading, not wanting to go through this again.
“….…”
Feeling his arm being pulled by the bicep forcefully, he was suddenly turned around onto his back and pushed down against the bed, the book automatically slipping from his grasp as his brother locked his hands above his head in a vice-like grip. “Ow, what the---“
“I don’t like being ignored, Sasuke.”
“Let go of me.” He flailed, trying to escape his brother’s hold and move away from the position underneath him.
“Not until you stop acting like a petulant child.” Itachi hissed a couple of inches away from his face, looming over him.
“That’s clever coming from you…”
Narrowing his eyes, Itachi asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“…… Nothing, let go of me.” He snapped and finally managed to break free, pushing his brother to the side.
“Sasuke, what’s the matter with you? You’re acting strange...”
Now that made him laugh out loud, his brother thought that he was acting strange? Now that was certainly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. “I’m acting strange? I’m not the one getting tons of phone calls claiming they’re all from the same person and disappears for several hours a week without telling his concerned brother where the hell he’s going or when he’ll return.” He spit, raising his voice as his anger simmered.
“……..”
“Yeah, just what I thought. Get the fuck out.”
“It’s my house.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to see your face right now!”
Turning his back on his brother, he clenched his fists at his sides and waited for him leave, practically boiling with rage.
Why did Itachi persist on treating him like a child if he so desperately wanted him to stop acting like one?
Hearing the door close behind him, he felt himself calm down a notch and walked inside the adjacent bathroom, quickly locking both doors on both sides before sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. He could feel tears slowly begin to gather in his eyes and he threw the item closest to him against the wall with a slam, realizing seconds later it had been one of his brother’s fancy hair products.
‘Serves him well if it broke…’He thought with a humorless laugh and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Rising to his feet, he searched for something to distract himself with, not wanting to deal with the awful pain in his chest and the thoughts that caused it.
Approaching the bathroom cabinet right in front of him with heavy steps, he stopped to rest his hands against the faucet and observed himself in the cabinet mirror. Just as he had expected, he looked like a complete and utter mess. His hair was tussled and it stood out at odd angles, his skin was paler than usual and he had deep lines underneath his eyes. A part of him guessed that this was what frustration, grief and lack of sleep did to people.
Sighing, he raised his hand and slid one of the cabinet’s two mirrors to the side to reveal its contents. Several deodorants, shaving and dental products could be seen littering the two shelves in various colors and shapes along with miscellaneous toiletries. He never used anything in there as he had his own products in his room and apartment downtown but for some reason he found himself frequently opening this cabinet.
Not really sure of what he intended to do he simply stared at the products for a while before he idly reached to grab the perfume stashed furthest in the back; a transparent glass bottle with orange liquid framed inside. Absentmindedly removing the metal cap of the container, he held the bottle lightly under his nose to get a whiff of the fresh and musky fragrance it subtly emitted. It smelled pleasantly of mandarin and cedar along with other ingredients he couldn’t quite make out, not being an expert on perfumes.
It was a scent that he loved.
Yet, somehow, while he stood there and gently inhaled it, it felt a bit different from what he remembered and so strongly adored. It was usually a bit darker and spicier, more pleasant and comforting, and not nearly as cold and chemical as he now perceived it. Usually when he had felt it surround him it had always been warm, so very warm...
Laced with Naruto’s warmth…
Ah. How stupid of him.
Of course it would feel different now…
Naruto’s warmth and natural scent were no longer present.
Just as his voice and his smile. His contagious laughter, his endearing whines, his jabs, his stupidity, his admirable unselfishness, his strange raamen addiction, his annoying habits, his short temper, his great sense of compassion, his unbelievable kindness, his beautiful friendship and his unconditional love.
All of them were gone. Just like the person himself.
… He missed him.
God, he missed him, so indescribably much.
He wanted nothing more than to see him. To touch him, to kiss him, to tell him he loved him and call him his dead-last, to hold him and never let him go. He wanted him back home, here with the both of them so badly that his whole body was aching from the need to see him and embrace him.
Three months had been too long. Far too long.
Where was he?
Why did he not contact them?
Struggling to keep his emotions intact and prevent more tears from trailing down his cheeks, he put his beloved’s fragrance back on the shelf unsteadily and hid it behind some of his brother’s articles, carefully sliding the cabinet shut. Making his way back into his room shakily he grabbed his marine duffel bag from the floor next to the wardrobe and started placing his belongings into it, one after another.
He had had it with this.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
…
…
Quickening his pace, he felt the frozen gravel splatter around him as he hurriedly left the parking lot in front of the building he was heading toward.
The afternoon meeting had ended later than he had expected and he felt guilty for having made his precious person wait for him more than necessary. While he knew she didn’t mind it very much, it was still something he didn’t want her to get used to.
Observing his Rolex for the umpteenth time since he had stepped outside his vehicle, he shifted his gaze toward the entrance doorway ahead of him and quickly reached for the handle, pulling it open a bit too forcefully before rushing inside. He could vaguely hear his footsteps echo against the marble floor as he approached the cloakroom with haste, being tormented by waves of guilt and flashbacks of her saddened face.
“Daddy!” His daughter yelled as soon as he entered the room, rushing to his side with quick steps and raised arms.
“Sorry I’m late…. Did you have a good day today, sweetie?” He asked and bent down to scoop her up, hugging her tightly against him while sending Miss. Nemoto by the doorway a grateful glance.
“Mhm,” She hummed and buried her face in the juncture between his neck and shoulder, gripping his long tresses in her small fists.
Gently letting her down after a while, he took her hand in his and let her lead him toward her shelf. “Today we painted… and readed Mr. Bunny…” She tiredly mumbled and rubbed her right eye before jumping slightly as if to get more energized.
“Mr. Bunny?” He questioned with a smile and collected his daughter’s clothes and backpack from her shelf, kneeling down to put her panda bear hat with stitched ear-like pieces on over her moving head.
“Mmm, Naruto say… Mr. Bunny is happy bunny.”
“Oh, he does?” He asked amused as his little child rambled animatedly, her big blue eyes focused on him as her pigtails swayed bellow her cap.
The adventures of Mr. Bunny were Amaya’s favorite storybooks. She absolutely loved the colorful illustrations and the hidden messages the texts conveyed, even going as far as painting them and reciting parts of the texts.
He had purchased all of the existing editions for her but he rarely had the time to read them to her himself since he always was preoccupied with work. That was why he always was so grateful when someone did it for her at the kindergarten and helped put that adorable smile on her face.
“Yes, Kotetsu like him!” Amaya chirped while he put her white winter jacket around her shoulders and zipped it over her black puff ball pants. “And… and flower.”
Not being able to suppress his laughter, he quietly chuckled at the cuteness and complete lack of coherency of his precious sunshine. She was too adorable for her own good. Oh, how he feared the days of her adolescence. It probably wouldn’t be healthy to scare the living daylights out of so many teenage boys for daring to be within the vicinity of his daughter.
“You have a new teacher?” He asked after having ended his own amusing monolog, assuming she wasn’t talking about maelstroms, a type of kamaboko or the city in Tokushima.
“Mmm...” Amaya hummed and nodded, causing him to frown and glance at the door were the female teacher had disappeared. “Naruto… like Dei-Dei…”
Grimacing somewhat at her presumably ‘horrifying’ description, he led her outside where they spotted their current topic of conversation by one of the many snow-covered swings of the playground. Sighing at the sight, he told his subordinate to take Amaya to their car and wait for his return. As his little girl begin to pout, he just sadly smiled at her and watched her be lead to the parking lot by the grinning blond.
For some reason, his daughter got along quite well with the long haired nuisance. Only God knew why. Albeit excellent at his job, the man was extremely annoying and freakishly obsessed with explosive art. Yet he had a way with children and Amaya liked him a lot, insisting that he should visit them often, which happened to be one of the reasons he let him tag along after today’s meeting.
Coincidentally enough, Deidara also happened to live in their neighborhood and demanded a ride whenever their schedules fit, the bastard. He could never figure out why he always let him have his way. Perhaps his daughter’s pout was just more powerful than he had thought or maybe he had gone completely mental somewhere along the way. In retrospect, the latter reason certainly would explain a lot.
Snorting lightly at the train of thought, he turned back inside and removed his black leather derbies by his daughter’s shelf. As the kindergartens greatest sponsor he felt he was entitled to know whether new personnel were employed and if they were qualified enough to care for his daughter. It was not like he doubted the judgment of the headmistress or anything of the sort but he wished to be notified if any significant changes were made and apparently he had to remind of her that.
Stepping inside the grand main room, he looked around for any of the employees and was pleased to see a seemingly unknown male opening and closing cabinet doors to his far right, obviously searching for something with his back turned against him. The man was lithely built, tanned and brightly blonde haired and wore a sweater of a subtle orange shade to a pair of beige jeans, which strangely seemed to complement his figure.
Guessing that this was the person he was looking for, he began to approach the stranger leisurely from behind. He harrumphed gently to get the male’s attention and began to speak without waiting for any kind of response, “… Excuse me, I believe we haven’t----“, only to fall silent when an all too familiar face met his.
“O-oh, um, g-good evening… may I help you with something..?”
“………”
To say he was shocked would be an understatement.
What in the world was that man doing here?
Thanks to many years of practice, he managed to school his features to the extent that he merely raised his brows lightly in surprise at the revelation instead of embarrassing himself by gaping like an idiot. Apparently, Uzumaki was not so lucky. He currently resembled a combination of a deer caught in the headlights, a gaping fish on dry land and a very ripe tomato. Had he been any lesser of a man, he probably would have laughed at the very amusing picture.
To his surprise, he also noticed that he seemed strangely relieved that Naruto didn’t appear to be as frightened as he had been the first time they had run into one another. Even though the man seemed very shocked by their meeting again, there was no fear in those eyes, not like there had been, and it oddly calmed him.‘Perhaps I look less scary today, hmm?’ He thought with slight amusement, but quickly shrugged it off as the soft pink lips before him began to form sentences.
“Um… do you want me to get one of the other teachers? I think Miss. Nemoto and Mr. Hagane are in the assembly room…” The blue eyed man awkwardly suggested and briefly glanced behind himself as if to confirm his statement.
He didn’t answer at once as he found himself suddenly marveling at the blonde’s similarity to Namikaze Kyuubi. Had it not been for their different ages, hairstyles and eye colors, they would practically have been identical, the two of them even sharing those strange whiskers-like marks on their cheeks.
Indeed, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind now that the two men were related but the question that still remained unanswered was how, in what way. The only relatives of that red haired fool that he knew of were his vice presidents, Kanmu’s headmistress and that perverted novelist. Who was this man and what kind of relation did they have?
Deciding to find out for himself and save the blonde from further embarrassment, seeing as Naruto was blushing brightly at his not so very discreet ogling, he answered the question asked.
“No, thank you, I am actually more interested in you…. ” He said and amusedly observed how the male turned a redder shade. “I’m Takagi Tobi, Amaya’s father.”
“O-oh…, I’m sorry, I’m Uzumaki Naruto and I just started working here…” Naruto responded awkwardly before bowing politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you…”
“Yes, indeed...” He agreed and merely nodded in response. “But I dare say that this isn’t our first time meeting, am I right?”
“……….”
He didn’t think one could get any redder and yet somehow Naruto still managed to surprise him. Although, he had to admit, the blonde looked very cute like that, all flustered and uncomfortable. “Forgive me for asking but… are you by any chance related to Namikaze Kyuubi of the Sannin family?”
“Um, yeah, he’s my brother… how did you know?”
“Just a hunch…” He falsely shrugged, not as foolish as to reveal the actual reason for his inquiry, and stepped over to check on some of the drawings the kindergarten personnel had put up.
So they were siblings, huh? No wonder they looked so alike.
Deciding to amuse himself, he turned around to face the blond man again. “Be that as it may, I do hope that you’re more intelligent than your brother……. I can’t have my daughter being taught by a fool, can I?”
“……” Seeing the shocked expression overtake the man’s features once more and noticing how the blonde’s eyebrows began to furrow, he quickly continued before Naruto could retaliate.
“As much as it pains me to interrupt our wonderful conversation, I’m afraid it’s getting late.” He smiled, well, if you would call it such. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you and I do hope we’ll meet again. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Turning on his heels, he took great pleasure in leaving the shocked man behind to glare at his back and splutter unintelligibly.
Preparing to resume his stroll down the corridor once he had reached the entrance, he noticed that there were no lights on in the headmistress office from afar. Perceiving it as her having gone home for the day, he turned around and walked out of the building, deciding to give her a phone call tomorrow instead and remind her of her promise.
Throwing a last glance at the kindergarten once he neared the parking lot, he could not help but curve his lips into a pleased smirk, pleased by the sudden turn of events.
0-0-0-0
‘That… that rude stuck-up bastard!’He silently fumed as his blush began to dissipate, cursing the dark haired man to hell and back for making a fool out of him.
How dare he ask if he was related to Kyuubi and then insult them both and leave?! Who would do such a thing? You would think a man like him at least would have some manners, but oh no, he was being utterly rude and inconsiderate for no apparent reason.
Come to think of it, how did the bastard even know about their relation in the first place? Kyuubi didn’t associate with the guy other than seeing him occasionally when he went to meet Nagato and Yahiko and even if the vice presidents of Akatsuki had told their boss about the two of them, it was none of his business whether they were related or not and it did certainly not affect his performance as a day-care worker. Not to mention the fact that neither he nor Kyuubi were foolish, damn it!
Gritting his teeth, he internally fumed as the scene replayed itself over and over inside his head, his dislike of the dark haired male growing rapidly. Oh, the nerve of that guy…
Noticing Shizune approaching him from his far right, he tried to compose himself the best he could and bottled the anger that boiled from within. He knew it wouldn’t do him any good to throw a tantrum on his first day as an employee at Kanmu and to be honest he had dealt with far more infuriating men in his life without letting it get to him this badly.
“I see you’ve met Mr. Takagi…”
“Yeah…” He answered curtly, still feeling mighty irritated.
“Charming man, isn’t he?”
Stopping himself from snorting out loud at the last minute, he couldn’t help but raise his left eyebrow in disbelief, stunned by the lack of sarcasm in her words. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
“He’s always in good spirits and he’s such a considerate father. Even though he’s awfully busy he always does everything in his power to please his child.” She said and sent him a gentle smile. “Amaya completely adores him for it and it’s so sweet to watch them interact with one another…”
“…..”
“I suspect you haven’t noticed it yet but those two are like two peas in a pod…”
“…..”
In what way were those two alike, exactly? Amaya was nothing like her father. She was incredibly sweet and not meddlesome, rude, arrogant, conceited, manipulative, pompous, and prejudiced.
“Well, enough gossip for today, let’s join Kotetsu in the assembly room…”
Thankful for a distraction, he absent-mindedly followed her out of the main room through the spacious kitchen to the assembly room where Kotetsu was busy cleaning the floor. The wet mop could be seen sweeping over the forest green linoleum in circles to gather the offensive fluids that had been spilt across it.
“Ah, there you are…” The spiky haired man smiled as he heard them approach him and ceased his movements for a moment. “It took you an awfully long time to get the… huh, you didn’t bring it with you?”
“What? Ah, shit, um… I kinda… forgot it in the other room; I’ll be right back...” He awkwardly answered and quickly rushed back into the main room to get the floor detergent, feeling incredibly embarrassed. The reason he had gone in there in the first place had been to get the damn thing and then he had totally ended up forgetting about it thanks to that asshole Takagi. How stupid could he get?
Grabbing it by the table where he had left it, he walked back into the assembly room, trying his outmost to fight the blush that was spreading across his face. “I’m sorry… I guess I got a bit distracted…” He lamely apologized and scratched his flushed cheek once the brunet took the bottle from his grasp.
“No worries, Nemoto explained that Takagi Tobi ended up interrogating you---”
“I said no such thing. He merely introduced himself, you idiot.” Shizune quipped and glared at the chuckling spiky haired man.
“My bad…” Kotetsu smiled and raised his hands in mock defense only to share a look with him over her head as if to say he knew exactly what he had gone through.
“….. Anyway… we better finish up, it’s past eight o’clock already…” The slender woman sighed before observing the flower-shaped clock on the wall, furrowing her eyebrows worriedly.
“Yeah, just let me get this floor vomit-free and I’m ready to go.” Kotetsu sighed and pressed the wet mop against the floor with a highly unappealing sound, causing Shizune to cringe and look slightly nauseated. “You two can get going; this will only take a sec…”
Sending a somewhat sympathetic look toward his colleague, he and Shizune did what he suggested and headed toward the staff room.
One of the kids named Udon had started feeling bad at the end of the day and had ended up vomiting all over the floor, the poor guy. Thankfully, he would recover in a few hours with a bit of rest and he was taken home by his mother.
Placing his belongings in his black and orange messenger bag, he zipped it shut and grabbed his winter jacket off of the coat hanger and put it on, threading his hands through the sleeves. He felt slightly ecstatic but most of all relieved to finally be able to go home. The day had been extremely tiring and his soft and comfortable bed felt incredibly appealing to his aching shoulders and calves.
His new job was so unlike his former job at the firm. There, he would remain frozen at his desk for hours going through documents, typing down information on his computer and occasionally rising to consult his colleagues before calling it a day and walking the ten-minute route from the train station to his home. Here, he got to play with children, aid them and the teachers with various tasks and rush from one part of the room to another in order to do so, constantly on his feet.
Regretfully, he had to admit that he was quite out of shape. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had had a proper workout. To make matters worse he had lost a lot of weight since he had left Toukyou and the muscles he had previously built up had pretty much vanished into thin air as a consequence.
He surmised that he needed to bulk up a bit in order to pull this through, although not to the extent where he would be able to compare himself to Kyuubi and Zabuza but merely so that working at Kanmu wouldn’t put too much strain on his body, like it did now.
‘Kyuubi’s probably gonna freak’ when I tell him…’He mused and felt the edges of his mouth twitch in amusement. His brother had been nagging him for weeks to come join them at the gym so his decision to bulk up would surely please his sibling immensely. He could already imagine Kyuubi smiling and raising his fist in the air as if he had just won some grand prize, the goofball.
Grabbing his bag from the chair he had let it rest on, he followed Kotetsu and Shizune out of the staff room and closed the white oak door behind him carefully. Just as he was about to turn and join their stride down the long corridor he noticed that he had forgotten his scarf and quickly turned back inside to get it after notifying his colleagues. It was too cold outside to leave behind and he did not want to catch a cold.
Passing by the dark dining room, he let the street lights from the windows guide him to the adjacent changing room, not too bothered by the impending darkness and too lazy to switch the lights on. Instantly finding the beige scarf on one of the benches that was illuminated by the external light, he quickly wrapped it around himself and turned to leave. As he was halfway out of the door, he suddenly froze in place as a scream echoed throughout the building.
Immediately recognizing the voice as Shizune’s, he felt his blood run cold and he ran out into the hallway to see what had caused the reaction only to come to a halt when he was met by complete and utter darkness.
Struggling to adjust to the sudden absence of light, he traced his fingers against the break room door to step inside the hallway, searching for the light switch he knew was located somewhere on one of the two walls beside him.
“Hey, are you guys alright?” He called out somewhat nervously, sliding his hands up and down the right wall, only to suddenly hit home and see the lights above them flicker and the room instantly lit up.
“Ah, you jerk!” He heard Shizune shout before he could actually see her push Kotetsu away from her forcefully much further down the hall, a smack resounding in the hallway, causing the man to almost topple to the side. He could see her pant lightly from exertion and hold her cheeks as if they were flaming with embarrassment, trying to put as much distance between her and the other male as possible.
Managing to stay on his feet somehow, Kotetsu merely leaned against the wall closest to him, doubling over as rich laughter started to pour out of his mouth, his shoulder shaking with mirth. “Hahahaha… you should have seen your face…”
“Shut it! How was I supposed to know it was the timer? I didn’t check my watch when we left.” The woman embarrassingly grumbled and adjusted her clothing before abruptly turning to him with a softer facial expression. “I’m sorry, Mr. Uzumaki, I hope that you weren’t too shocked, we’ve got an automatic light timer that’s set to turn off at eight thirty but I totally forgot about it since I usually don’t work this late…” She embarrassingly explained and finished by glowering at their smirking colleague.
“Ah, it’s quite alright, I was just a bit shocked, that’s all…” He replied as he slowly approached them with his hands down his pants-pockets.
“Most of us are used to it by now but it’s always funny when someone forgets about it.” Kotetsu smiled and manically turned off the lights of the hallway once they had passed it, turning to look at him with an amused expression before gesturing toward the woman with a head-flick. “Shizune got so scared right now she clutched my arm and wouldn’t let go…”
“Y-you liar, I did no such thing…” The dark haired woman stuttered, her flush persisting.
“Whatever you say…” Kotetsu smiled and teasingly winked at her, causing the female to flush a redder hue and fume in anger.
Following them outside, he couldn’t help but smile at their ongoing bickering, finding it both amusing and refreshing. He would definitely never get bored with the two of them around, that he knew for sure.
Turning to his company to ask them a question about the management, he silenced once he noticed Genma and Anko heading in their direction, passing the gazebo in the middle of the playground twenty meters or so away from them.
The man was smoking his usual supply of Seven Stars cigarettes while listening to Anko chattering away, staring off into space and nodding occasionally as if to show that he was paying attention. In turn, Anko looked really enthusiastic about whatever it was she was discussing and gestured wildly with her hands.
In no more than a minute, the five of them met half-way across the yard and together they left the kindergarten, conversing lightly all the while.
…
…
Hearing the door slam and his little brother’s voice call out for him from down below, he rose from his position on the floor and walked back to the top of the attic ladder.
“I’m in the attic!”
Walking back to the cardboard boxes he had been rummaging through in the far end corner of the room, he knelt down and continued to look for the training equipment he had stashed there somewhere along the years.
Believe it or not, he did not visit the attic very often, which always made it more of a pain to find whatever he had placed there when he first had moved in several years ago.
‘……. Ah, there they are.’ He thought with glee and retrieved the short 20 kilo-barbells from the corrugated box, holding them close for inspection.
It had been a while since he had used these guys but they looked as wonderful as ever, almost as good as they had done when he first had bought them. To see them now was kind of nostalgic in a way for they had made him shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears when he had first started training.
Readying to rise to his feet, he grabbed the weights in his hands and was just about to stand when he noticed something dark and shiny sticking out behind the box of his two black barbells. Naturally curious as most of the items in the attic were stored in cardboard boxes, he put the training equipment down again and stretched to grab the unknown object from its hiding place.
Just like he had expected it was nothing more than a dusty plastic bag, but there appeared to be something firm in it. Idly placing it on one of the taller boxes he reached inside with his hand and carefully pulled the item out, only to cough when the offensive particles spread into the air and tickled his delicate sinuses.
Much to his surprise, it appeared to be a very old book of some kind. Inspecting it more closely under the light, he realized that it was not a book but a photo album, one of the very old versions that you seldom came across these days.
That was… very odd…
He was quite sure that he didn’t own such an old album. To be more precise he couldn’t remember ever having seen it before in his life.
It seemed like an awfully strange thing to have forgotten…
Internally shrugging his shoulders, he grabbed the edge of the front cover and carefully flipped it open, curious as it see its content. As expected there was a bit of dust on the front page too but having removed it he was able to see some kind of scribbling in ink on the otherwise blank page. Much to his disappointment, he could not fully interpret the characters as much of the ink had been smeared, probably due to old age or dampness, so he continued to explore the album for more clues of the its origin.
The next two pages had four photographs, two on each side, all colored and in good shape despite the old age of their casing. But it was not the color and the condition of the pictures that almost made him drop the album in shock, but the people looking back at him.
“What are you doing up here?”
Startled, he lightly jumped with fright and turned around to face his baby brother at the top of the stairs. “Ah, Naruto, w-welcome home…” He said with a shaky smile, his mind still reeling at the discovery. “I… I was just looking for something I had stashed up here…”
“Oh. Did you find it?” Naruto said and looked around the storage area curiously.
“… Y-yeah, I did……. I… Could…um…could you come here for a second? … There is something I want to show you…”
“Huh? What?” Naruto asked and cutely tipped his head to the side, walking up to him.
“..… I found this in a plastic bag behind one of the boxes…”
“… A book..?”
“A photo album…”
“A photo album?”
“Mmm…”
“Oh... who’s… in it?”
“… Our parents… apparently…”
“What? But…I thought you said you didn’t have any other photos of them other than those you showed me before?” Naruto said with great confusion, frowning slightly.
“I didn’t think so either… but apparently I must have forgotten about this… somehow…”
“… Oh…”
“……..”
“… Kyuubi…?”
“Hmm..?”
“Are you alright? You’re looking a little pale…”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, um… how about we take this downstairs?” He said and tried to make up an excuse for his sudden absentmindedness. “… I think the air up here is making me a bit dizzy…”
“A-ah, of course. Do you want me to carry anything?”
“Uh… yeah, if you could take one of the barbells over there, that’d be great…”
“Ah, sure.”
Grabbing the barbell that had been left behind on his way down from the attic, the photo album held securely in his other hand, he could only deafly hear his brother descend the stairs to the first floor as pain blossomed anew in his chest.
This was why he rarely visited the attic. Why he so seldom looked into the photo albums of his past.
The rush of memories always brought him nothing but pain...
He hated how the people in the pictures always looked so joyous and were so blissfully unaware of the tragedies, sorrows and heartbreak that would strike down a couple of years later down the lane...
He hated to be reminded of good times, of people he had loved and of people he had lost, of everything he could never have again.
0-0-0-0
Having sat down by the living room table and begun to look through the album together, he had quickly come to several conclusions. First of all, he had been right in his previous assumption - the photo album was definitely not his. He had never seen it or any of the pictures before in his life and he was certain that he not have conveniently forgotten about them.
Second, he did not understand what it was doing in his attic. While it clearly had belonged to his mother at one point as all of the photos were of her in her youth and the scribbling was her handwriting as it matched that of his few mementos, it had never been handed down to him after their death.
When he and his brother had been placed in foster care, most of their parents’ possessions had been sold and disposed off as there had been no relatives left alive to take care of them. What he had saved was what he had taken himself and what the authorities had kept for him, but it had not been much and most of it had had no sentimental value.
Did that mean that someone had managed to save the album somehow? Someone who had known his parents?
Was it someone he knew? Did they have anything else?
Why had they placed it in his attic? How could they have done so without his notice?
Why had they not contacted him?
Feeling his eyes narrow as the questions circled inside his head, he was suddenly brought out of his musings as Naruto suddenly touched his shoulder.
“Who’s that?” Naruto said, pointing at one of the photographs somewhere in the middle of the album.
“Who?” He asked slightly disoriented, not having studied the photos as closely as his kin.
“That man behind our mother… there, in the black and marine kimono with the crest of a fan on his chest…?”
“…….. I don’t know… Can’t say I recognize him….” He answered while inspecting the photo more thoroughly. “Maybe there’s something written on the back….” He said after a while and carefully unloosened the photo in order to flip it over and have a look, knowing his mother had had a habit of writing on the back of her photographs. “Does he seem familiar to you?”
“Not really… it’s just that that crest….”
“Hmm?”
“Ah, it’s probably nothing…”
“No, what, tell me.” He insisted, noticing that his brother was looking a bit concerned.
“It just that it looks similar to that of a family crest of a friend of mine, but it couldn’t possibly be...”
“Oh..? Well, let’s see if you recognize any of the names then…” He said and tried to read the slightly blurred handwriting of his late mother. “It says here… ‘19XX, Kyouto, New Year’s Eve; Terada Rin, Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Obito and I’… Anyone you recognize?”
“…….”
“Ah, it also says something else here… Let’s see, uh, it’s pretty blurry… ‘taken by… Ha-… Hmm, I think that should be Hatake? Ka-Kakashi’… maybe..?”
“……..”
“… Naruto..?”
…
…
€$¥£ Information €$¥£
*Neko means cat in Japanese, Kuma means bear, Usagi is rabbit andInu means dog. Also, the name of the kindergarten, Kanmu, means sweet (pleasant) dreams, so I thought it was an appropriate name for a kindergarten. =)
* Hiragana and Katakana – are two components of the Japanese kana, i.e. the Japanese “alphabet”. Hiragana supports the Chinese characters (kanji) while katakana mostly is used for emphasis and to transcribe loanwords and foreign names.
*There is a Japanese saying that one will end up being kicked by a horse and thus be killed if one interferes with another’s love life.
*Kamaboko – is a seafood product where fish is pureed and combined with additives and formed into loaves which later are steamed until they are firm. These are later cut into thin slices and served in various ways. One particular type that has swirls inside of it is called Naruto, most likely named after the whirlpools in the city Naruto in (Tokushima) Japan.
…
^:_:^ =^_^=
Hi, remember me? Yes, I know it’s been over a year since the last update and I’m very sorry about that. Really, it’s inexcusable. But what can I say, life just took a hold of me and wouldn’t let go.
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter nevertheless (it is one of my longest, 33 pages). As you can see, the wheels are slowly turning and several pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. In case you are wondering, I’ve also been editing the other eight chapters a bit, just a few script/function errors, language errors and such that does not change the plot or overall content at all, so you’re more than welcome to reread the chapters if you want.
Thank you all so very much for your continuous support and patience! It really means a lot me.
Since I’ve been told not to answer my reviews here (T.T) you can read the review responses at my LiveJournal instead if you’re curious: http://itanarulover.livejournal.com/6698.html#cutid1
If not, then thank you so much animelover (3x! (^.^)/), NarutoVixin, Rainshi, anonymous791, Fluister, Mija, Rin, WRITER, Guura, kazuko65, Lanie12777 and moodysavage (2x! (^.^)/). I really enjoyed and appreciated your reviews!
…
…
Until next time, arigatou gozaimasu minna-san!
Take care. Hugs =^_^=
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Night Rain