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teamwork - chapter, uh, ten? - part 1. i think. i dunno.
I have no idea if I'm going to actually write the sex scene in full at some point. Likely I should, but I also like it like that... hm, maybe as a sidefic, if I can figure out how to make such a mood work with a lemon.
This is so full of sap I am choking myself on it. also the very last tidbit might get deleted if i figure out a real scene to write down instead, because it's oh god too sappy, too sappy. but for now it feels more ending-ly, and since i haven't decided yet how to handle the next scene -- it might get moved elsewhere or even not written, depending on a latter scene -- the current tidbit is staying as a placeholder.
hit the teamwork: main fic tag for previous parts, i'm too lazy to link. ;p
They'd made love to him all night. It was very strange. Sakura kissing him long and slow, her hands keeping his shoulders pinned to the mattress as Sasuke rocked patiently between his thighs. Sasuke playing backrest, pressed against him from shoulder blades to hips, his teeth worrying at Naruto's neck almost too lightly to count as bites, as Sakura straddled his lap and sank down on him with her eyes staring down into his.
He'd cried a couple times. They hadn't laughed.
Sasuke had said "Naruto." Sakura had said "I love you." He'd believed them both.
He loved them too. He loved them.
It was nothing so simple as the easy warmth Iruka offered. Nothing like Jiraiya's pride disguised as bullying. It wasn't even anything like the happy bubbles of his old crush on Sakura herself, or the more confusing antagonistic glee in reaction to Sasuke's rare acknowledgement, or that melancholy hope for the two of them to find each other somehow, even if...
It was "mine" and "kill to keep you (alive-safe-with me)" and "anything you ask for, it's yours", and he just wished very hard neither of them would ask him to let them go, because it would tear him in two right down the middle.
Even now it still had him in a strange mood, not negative, but not exactly good or nice. Not quite happy. Something he wasn't used to...
The earth felt more solid under his feet. The world was calmer. He didn't need to fight it all so that it would see him; they saw, it was all he wanted.
Sakura caught him looking, smiled. He smiled back, stretched his leg under the coffee table to nudge hers.
They had been relocated to a more secure hotel, with two rooms with twin beds (real beds, not too-narrow bunk-torture implements), a kitchenette, and a tiny living room of sorts in between, with a low table surrounded by cushions. Though Naruto didn't think any of them had even glanced at the inside of the second bedroom their female teammate should have used for the sake of decency. Kakashi hadn't said anything.
Naruto had the feeling he'd spent the night on the hotel roof anyway, and he couldn't help but snicker.
"Hey. Start your guest list."
Naruto took the sheet of paper from Sasuke, who pretended not to be looking at him. He wrote 'all my friends' and said, "Done!" Sasuke grumbled half-heartedly.
"I need a hard number, idiot. And one that isn't the total population of Konoha."
Sakura chuckled.
She was writing her own thing -- not a list, but a letter to her parents. 'Hey mom and dad, we need to get married, oh, yesterday, please help. Location, catering, decorations and such? You've got a whole month and a half.' Except, Naruto supposed, better written. (They were gonna owe Sakura's parents until the next century but Naruto hoped quality time with their grandchild would pay some of that back.)
Most efficient use of their month's lag before the tournament: training, training, and when Kakashi put his foot down (and he would) take care of anything the Harunos absolutely couldn't. It counted as rest, surely.
Sasuke had started bitching about his political guests under his breath a half-hour ago. It was hilarious. Sakura was still trying to decide what to foist off on her mom and what on Ino.
"May I have your inkpot? Mine's empty."
Sasuke stretched his arm to hand it to her and winced, just a little. Naruto moved behind him on hands and knees, peering down the back of his shirt.
"Huh. Nice sunburn."
Sasuke only threw him a quick glance before he went back to scribbling. "I hate the beach," he muttered. Sakura briefly looked up from her much-struck out letter to chuckle at him.
Naruto lifted the back of Sasuke's shirt to take a look at the rest of his back. The sunburn was confined to his shoulders and a little down his shoulder blades. "Take it off," he asked, reaching for their first-aid bag.
"It's not that bad," Sasuke said, frowning at his list. "... Okita or Sugiaru..."
Naruto sat behind him and tugged, and Sasuke allowed the shirt to come off with barely a token 'you're worrying too much, I'm manlier than that' sigh. Under Naruto's fingers the skin radiated fever-warmth.
"Why the hell do they need to be feuding now. Which one?"
Sakura flipped a well-used coin. "Sugiaru."
Chuckling, Naruto got some burn cream and started massaging it in, even though he agreed, Sasuke's back wasn't that bad off. Sasuke probably knew but he let him get away with it. Naruto wondered how long it was going to last, all that 'No, I'm just being nice to Naruto because he needs it and I guess I can grit my teeth and bear the horribleness of -- oh, shut up, I wasn't cuddling. I don't need it at all, personally.' Oh well.
"--No, wait, Ino will want to take care of the flower arrangements, but what if it clashes with Mom's decoration..."
Naruto sneaked Sasuke a glance and they both pretended to be very absorbed in whatever they were doing -- Sasuke, his list; Naruto, Sasuke's neck.
"How I wish we could just elope."
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke replied. It wasn't the first time the suggestion had been brought up -- by any of them.
But Sasuke couldn't afford to have the validity of his marriage contested. Not when he was about to officially restart the Uchiha.
Sighing, Sakura went to pour herself more tea, but only a few drops dribbled out.
"Don't move, I'm going," Naruto said, pushing himself up off the table before she could. He picked up the pot and went to the sink. Wash, wash. Fill, fill. Place on cooker. Watch as the water heats up. Behind him the room was quiet, silence underlined by the scratches of pencil on paper.
He prepared the tea and turned around. Sakura flicked him a quick smile, Sasuke a 'keeping track of you' glance.
It reminded him of that time they were working on the seal, where he could do nothing but watch and be quiet as they figured things out, but this time around he didn't feel so much like a useless spectator. They had spent the night wrapped around him. If he asked, if he even looked like he was trying not to ask, they'd drop everything right away.
He smiled a little and put the pot down by her hand. He didn't sit back down.
He still had this one thing to take care of.
"I'm going for a walk. Yeah?"
Sakura started to push off the table, a worried look on her face. "Wait, I'll come--"
"Sakura." Resting a hand on Sakura's forearm to stop her, Sasuke watched him. Naruto smiled down at them both, a little apologetic.
"I'll be back soon. Write your letter, okay? Tell your parents I said hi."
He gave them a little wave and left. He walked, out of the building, and down the street, and right to the hospital.
Kakashi-sensei had fallen into step with him at some point, probably following from right when he left the building and drifting closer so that he hadn't even tripped Naruto's awareness. Hands in his pockets, Naruto paused on the steps, waiting for advice, a rebuttal, another order. Kakashi just pushed the door and held it open for him.
"Room 209," he said.
Naruto opened his mouth, sneaked him a glance. Stared straight ahead, squaring his shoulders.
"Thanks, Sensei."
He walked in. Kakashi didn't follow. One flight of stairs, two. He didn't let himself slow down. His fists were clenched; he made a conscious effort to relax them, pretending they weren't shaking a little.
He was still a dozen feet away from his goal when the door opened, startling him into stopping. A girl walked out of the hospital room -- twelve or thirteen year old, sleek black hair in a jaw-length cut.
The second she saw him she went from serious and a little stern to battle-ready, flicking kunai from her sleeves to her hands in a move that looked entirely instinctive.
"Back off!" she shouted at him, all bristled and angry.
She was terrified. Naruto wanted to throw up.
"W-what are you waiting for?! Just go already!"
Naruto winced. "Listen, I..."
"Who's that?"
They both froze. The voice coming from the room was a boy's, young and high, wheezy and weak. Curious anyway.
"No one," the girl snapped back through the half-open door. "Go back to sleep."
"No really, who is it?"
She glared stonily at Naruto, planting herself firmly in front of the door so he'd have no way to go in but through her. "No one you want to see."
There was a long pause.
"... Oh."
Naruto waited. If the kid told her not to let him in, he'd... well. There was nothing he could do. He told himself at least he would have tried, and that would make a difference, right?
Right?
"... Mikuri..."
The brunette stiffened.
"Let him in, please."
She opened her mouth to protest, but she already looked like she knew it would be useless. She closed her mouth without talking, glaring murder at Naruto, and then she turned on her heel and stalked in the room first. Naruto hung his head, took a deep, bracing breath, and walked to the door, counting every step. The kid's voice had been shaking.
He came in to see the little redhead attempting to push himself up his pillows on trembling arms; his other teammate had a hand on his shoulder and was attempting to keep him still, though when he saw Naruto he froze, the blood draining from his face.
The redhead looked even smaller in that adult-sized bed, the bandages swallowing his whole body from chest to hips. He looked like he should have been bronzed by the sun but his skin was sallow from massive blood loss. Naruto stayed by the door, hand gripping the doorjamb.
"Um."
The kid's voice was weak, there were dark circles under his eyes. He probably shouldn't have been awake. He looked nervous, too, as he stared back at Naruto. The girl -- Mikuri? -- was standing guard by the bed, eyes dark with threats; the other boy was frozen on the spot.
"I'm so sorry." It just blurted out, past the knot in his throat. Seeing him like that, Naruto wanted to cry. He'd done that to him, hurt him and scared him and broke that unconscious trust, that innocence. "I'm so sorry. It's alright -- if you never forgive me, it's alright. I don't deserve--"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He bit his lip, closed his eyes. Still no response. That was pretty clear. He hadn't expected any better, had he? It was the kid's right anyway.
"...I just wanted to say that. I'll leave you alone now. I promise. I'll keep away from--"
"I want a can of soda."
Naruto popped an eye open and stared at him, incredulous. "... Whuh?"
The redhead was still pale and shaky, but there was a smile now on his pointy little face. "Get me a can of soda. The green and blue ones. Yeah? 'cause we don't have them at home and they're really great."
Naruto stared some more, and stared, and -- "Heh. Heheh." He wiped his eyes with his forearm and laughed, relief bubbling up unstoppable. The kid's teammates were staring at him and boggling but he couldn't possibly have cared any less. "Alright. Anything you want. In the distributors?" The girl nodded, bemused, almost against her will. "I'll be right back!"
A nurse yelled at him not to run in the corridor as he zipped past. He just burst out laughing.
"Sorry!" he called back, not sorry at all, and skidded to a halt in front of the first distributor he found. There he discovered a little problem.
"Here," said a Konoha ANBU, holding out a hand full of change. The rest of him was still melted into the wall. Any other day Naruto would have gasped or yelled 'show-off!' and been very annoyed he'd been followed by even more guys than just Kakashi-sensei. He beamed at the masked face and snatched up the change to feed the machine instead.
"Thanks, you're awesome. I'll pay you back!"
The ANBU chuckled, the sound muffled by the porcelain, and melted away again. Naruto snatched the three cans he'd gotten and raced back with his armful, waving. On the way back he almost knocked down the same nurse. She threw a bedpan at him.
Life was beautiful.
"Tadah!"
They'd obviously been discussing him; the girl and the glasses-wearing boy were huddled together and scowling. The redhead blew a messy lock of hair away from his nose and his lips twitched in uncontrollable amusement.
"Hey."
"Hey." Naruto stepped forward slowly and paused out of arm's reach of the bed, aware of his teammates' nervousness. "Delivery for you."
"It's gonna be hard to get it from here," the kid commented, scratching his chin as he eyed him askance.
"Yeah, I wasn't gonna throw it," Naruto said, voice growing quieter, gentler.
He was such a brave boy. Naruto wanted to throw an arm around his shoulders and ruffle his hair and teach him all his techniques. He pictured Sasuke and Sakura's faces. 'Hey, he followed me home, can I keep him?' But the kid was still nervous despite his bravado, and it hurt every time Naruto noticed a moment of hesitation, a flicker of wariness.
But they could fix it, he knew that now.
He stepped up to the bed, handed him a can, looked at the other two. "Want some?"
The glasses-wearing boy looked purely appalled. The girl glared.
"Mmmmmmh, so good!" the redhead said, cradling his can in both hands, and sneaked them a little look to see if his display had helped. The girl grumbled and snatched a can from Naruto's hands.
"Sure you don't want it?"
Glasses-boy seemed to be attempting the ANBU's wall-melting trick. "N-no, t-t-thank you."
"Well." He turned back to the redhead. "Guess that means you get to keep it for later."
"He's already pushing it by having one," Mikuri said. "The doctor won't be happy."
"He's never happy unless he's making me unhappy anyway," the redhead protested, looking clearly miserable. The girl grumbled under her breath again, surrendering to his puppy eyes. Naruto tried not to laugh.
"Um... You can sit down?"
Naruto grabbed a stool and sat, feet tangling immediately in the wooden legs, nervously. "Er. My name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Yours?"
"Oh right. Um. Yamagi Yakitaro. But you can call me Taro. Or Yaki. Or whatever. It's kinda long, after all."
Naruto gave a tentative grin. "Yeah? One of my buddies is named Sarutobi Konohamaru, I don't think you can complain."
"Whoa, that IS a mouthful."
They stared at each other, awkward conversation halted. Yakitaro's lips twitched, and then he smiled at Naruto, hesitant and nervous and utterly sincere.
Naruto grinned back, and pretended his eyes weren't shining with tears.
"So," the girl said, breaking a long silence with her acidic question. "You're classified? How's that working out for you?"
Naruto blinked. "I am? -- oh right, I guess I'd be." He scratched his head as he thought about how to explain it. "Hey, ANBU-guy? Can I tell them?"
The kids stared at him as if he was crazy -- up until the wall blurred and a masked head popped out. "Naruto-kun..." the masked man said with a long-suffering sigh.
Naruto grinned. "Can I tell them or not?" He turned to the kids. "It's okay, he's just here to keep an eye on me so I don't get kidnapped or something, I think. He's a good guy."
"You know him?" Yakitaro asked, eyes a little wide.
"Uh. Well. Actually we just met. But he's cool, guaranteed."
The ANBU shook his head and sighed in a long-suffering way before nodding to Naruto. "The law back home was set up to protect you, and their superiors have already been informed of your identity. What you tell them is your decision." His masked face turned back to the bed and he nodded to the little redhead. "Best wishes."
He melted away again.
"Alright then." The trio were still blinking at the wall. Such cute kids. Naruto smiled at them, and then sobered up. "The story starts about eighteen years ago, when a huge monster was attacking the Fire Country..."
+
When he walked out of the hospital room, he found Sasuke and Sakura sitting on a bench at the end of the corridor. Sakura's head shot up, and Sasuke's back stiffened, both scanning his face, his body language, ready to jump in.
It hadn't been a hour since he left the hotel. They'd tracked him down anyway.
He grinned at them extra-wide and hugged Sakura when she got up to meet him, tight and fierce; and he held out his hand to pull Sasuke to his feet, and pulled him right into the hug instead. Sasuke squirmed a little but declined to shove him off.
"Ahem," said Kakashi, standing against the wall right past the corner with his little book out. "We are in public, you realize."
Naruto grinned an evil grin that made Sakura's eyes open wide and Sasuke stop his half-hearted attempts at leaning away, and he dragged the two of them right up to their teacher to pounce on him.
Next
This is so full of sap I am choking myself on it. also the very last tidbit might get deleted if i figure out a real scene to write down instead, because it's oh god too sappy, too sappy. but for now it feels more ending-ly, and since i haven't decided yet how to handle the next scene -- it might get moved elsewhere or even not written, depending on a latter scene -- the current tidbit is staying as a placeholder.
hit the teamwork: main fic tag for previous parts, i'm too lazy to link. ;p
They'd made love to him all night. It was very strange. Sakura kissing him long and slow, her hands keeping his shoulders pinned to the mattress as Sasuke rocked patiently between his thighs. Sasuke playing backrest, pressed against him from shoulder blades to hips, his teeth worrying at Naruto's neck almost too lightly to count as bites, as Sakura straddled his lap and sank down on him with her eyes staring down into his.
He'd cried a couple times. They hadn't laughed.
Sasuke had said "Naruto." Sakura had said "I love you." He'd believed them both.
He loved them too. He loved them.
It was nothing so simple as the easy warmth Iruka offered. Nothing like Jiraiya's pride disguised as bullying. It wasn't even anything like the happy bubbles of his old crush on Sakura herself, or the more confusing antagonistic glee in reaction to Sasuke's rare acknowledgement, or that melancholy hope for the two of them to find each other somehow, even if...
It was "mine" and "kill to keep you (alive-safe-with me)" and "anything you ask for, it's yours", and he just wished very hard neither of them would ask him to let them go, because it would tear him in two right down the middle.
Even now it still had him in a strange mood, not negative, but not exactly good or nice. Not quite happy. Something he wasn't used to...
The earth felt more solid under his feet. The world was calmer. He didn't need to fight it all so that it would see him; they saw, it was all he wanted.
Sakura caught him looking, smiled. He smiled back, stretched his leg under the coffee table to nudge hers.
They had been relocated to a more secure hotel, with two rooms with twin beds (real beds, not too-narrow bunk-torture implements), a kitchenette, and a tiny living room of sorts in between, with a low table surrounded by cushions. Though Naruto didn't think any of them had even glanced at the inside of the second bedroom their female teammate should have used for the sake of decency. Kakashi hadn't said anything.
Naruto had the feeling he'd spent the night on the hotel roof anyway, and he couldn't help but snicker.
"Hey. Start your guest list."
Naruto took the sheet of paper from Sasuke, who pretended not to be looking at him. He wrote 'all my friends' and said, "Done!" Sasuke grumbled half-heartedly.
"I need a hard number, idiot. And one that isn't the total population of Konoha."
Sakura chuckled.
She was writing her own thing -- not a list, but a letter to her parents. 'Hey mom and dad, we need to get married, oh, yesterday, please help. Location, catering, decorations and such? You've got a whole month and a half.' Except, Naruto supposed, better written. (They were gonna owe Sakura's parents until the next century but Naruto hoped quality time with their grandchild would pay some of that back.)
Most efficient use of their month's lag before the tournament: training, training, and when Kakashi put his foot down (and he would) take care of anything the Harunos absolutely couldn't. It counted as rest, surely.
Sasuke had started bitching about his political guests under his breath a half-hour ago. It was hilarious. Sakura was still trying to decide what to foist off on her mom and what on Ino.
"May I have your inkpot? Mine's empty."
Sasuke stretched his arm to hand it to her and winced, just a little. Naruto moved behind him on hands and knees, peering down the back of his shirt.
"Huh. Nice sunburn."
Sasuke only threw him a quick glance before he went back to scribbling. "I hate the beach," he muttered. Sakura briefly looked up from her much-struck out letter to chuckle at him.
Naruto lifted the back of Sasuke's shirt to take a look at the rest of his back. The sunburn was confined to his shoulders and a little down his shoulder blades. "Take it off," he asked, reaching for their first-aid bag.
"It's not that bad," Sasuke said, frowning at his list. "... Okita or Sugiaru..."
Naruto sat behind him and tugged, and Sasuke allowed the shirt to come off with barely a token 'you're worrying too much, I'm manlier than that' sigh. Under Naruto's fingers the skin radiated fever-warmth.
"Why the hell do they need to be feuding now. Which one?"
Sakura flipped a well-used coin. "Sugiaru."
Chuckling, Naruto got some burn cream and started massaging it in, even though he agreed, Sasuke's back wasn't that bad off. Sasuke probably knew but he let him get away with it. Naruto wondered how long it was going to last, all that 'No, I'm just being nice to Naruto because he needs it and I guess I can grit my teeth and bear the horribleness of -- oh, shut up, I wasn't cuddling. I don't need it at all, personally.' Oh well.
"--No, wait, Ino will want to take care of the flower arrangements, but what if it clashes with Mom's decoration..."
Naruto sneaked Sasuke a glance and they both pretended to be very absorbed in whatever they were doing -- Sasuke, his list; Naruto, Sasuke's neck.
"How I wish we could just elope."
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke replied. It wasn't the first time the suggestion had been brought up -- by any of them.
But Sasuke couldn't afford to have the validity of his marriage contested. Not when he was about to officially restart the Uchiha.
Sighing, Sakura went to pour herself more tea, but only a few drops dribbled out.
"Don't move, I'm going," Naruto said, pushing himself up off the table before she could. He picked up the pot and went to the sink. Wash, wash. Fill, fill. Place on cooker. Watch as the water heats up. Behind him the room was quiet, silence underlined by the scratches of pencil on paper.
He prepared the tea and turned around. Sakura flicked him a quick smile, Sasuke a 'keeping track of you' glance.
It reminded him of that time they were working on the seal, where he could do nothing but watch and be quiet as they figured things out, but this time around he didn't feel so much like a useless spectator. They had spent the night wrapped around him. If he asked, if he even looked like he was trying not to ask, they'd drop everything right away.
He smiled a little and put the pot down by her hand. He didn't sit back down.
He still had this one thing to take care of.
"I'm going for a walk. Yeah?"
Sakura started to push off the table, a worried look on her face. "Wait, I'll come--"
"Sakura." Resting a hand on Sakura's forearm to stop her, Sasuke watched him. Naruto smiled down at them both, a little apologetic.
"I'll be back soon. Write your letter, okay? Tell your parents I said hi."
He gave them a little wave and left. He walked, out of the building, and down the street, and right to the hospital.
Kakashi-sensei had fallen into step with him at some point, probably following from right when he left the building and drifting closer so that he hadn't even tripped Naruto's awareness. Hands in his pockets, Naruto paused on the steps, waiting for advice, a rebuttal, another order. Kakashi just pushed the door and held it open for him.
"Room 209," he said.
Naruto opened his mouth, sneaked him a glance. Stared straight ahead, squaring his shoulders.
"Thanks, Sensei."
He walked in. Kakashi didn't follow. One flight of stairs, two. He didn't let himself slow down. His fists were clenched; he made a conscious effort to relax them, pretending they weren't shaking a little.
He was still a dozen feet away from his goal when the door opened, startling him into stopping. A girl walked out of the hospital room -- twelve or thirteen year old, sleek black hair in a jaw-length cut.
The second she saw him she went from serious and a little stern to battle-ready, flicking kunai from her sleeves to her hands in a move that looked entirely instinctive.
"Back off!" she shouted at him, all bristled and angry.
She was terrified. Naruto wanted to throw up.
"W-what are you waiting for?! Just go already!"
Naruto winced. "Listen, I..."
"Who's that?"
They both froze. The voice coming from the room was a boy's, young and high, wheezy and weak. Curious anyway.
"No one," the girl snapped back through the half-open door. "Go back to sleep."
"No really, who is it?"
She glared stonily at Naruto, planting herself firmly in front of the door so he'd have no way to go in but through her. "No one you want to see."
There was a long pause.
"... Oh."
Naruto waited. If the kid told her not to let him in, he'd... well. There was nothing he could do. He told himself at least he would have tried, and that would make a difference, right?
Right?
"... Mikuri..."
The brunette stiffened.
"Let him in, please."
She opened her mouth to protest, but she already looked like she knew it would be useless. She closed her mouth without talking, glaring murder at Naruto, and then she turned on her heel and stalked in the room first. Naruto hung his head, took a deep, bracing breath, and walked to the door, counting every step. The kid's voice had been shaking.
He came in to see the little redhead attempting to push himself up his pillows on trembling arms; his other teammate had a hand on his shoulder and was attempting to keep him still, though when he saw Naruto he froze, the blood draining from his face.
The redhead looked even smaller in that adult-sized bed, the bandages swallowing his whole body from chest to hips. He looked like he should have been bronzed by the sun but his skin was sallow from massive blood loss. Naruto stayed by the door, hand gripping the doorjamb.
"Um."
The kid's voice was weak, there were dark circles under his eyes. He probably shouldn't have been awake. He looked nervous, too, as he stared back at Naruto. The girl -- Mikuri? -- was standing guard by the bed, eyes dark with threats; the other boy was frozen on the spot.
"I'm so sorry." It just blurted out, past the knot in his throat. Seeing him like that, Naruto wanted to cry. He'd done that to him, hurt him and scared him and broke that unconscious trust, that innocence. "I'm so sorry. It's alright -- if you never forgive me, it's alright. I don't deserve--"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He bit his lip, closed his eyes. Still no response. That was pretty clear. He hadn't expected any better, had he? It was the kid's right anyway.
"...I just wanted to say that. I'll leave you alone now. I promise. I'll keep away from--"
"I want a can of soda."
Naruto popped an eye open and stared at him, incredulous. "... Whuh?"
The redhead was still pale and shaky, but there was a smile now on his pointy little face. "Get me a can of soda. The green and blue ones. Yeah? 'cause we don't have them at home and they're really great."
Naruto stared some more, and stared, and -- "Heh. Heheh." He wiped his eyes with his forearm and laughed, relief bubbling up unstoppable. The kid's teammates were staring at him and boggling but he couldn't possibly have cared any less. "Alright. Anything you want. In the distributors?" The girl nodded, bemused, almost against her will. "I'll be right back!"
A nurse yelled at him not to run in the corridor as he zipped past. He just burst out laughing.
"Sorry!" he called back, not sorry at all, and skidded to a halt in front of the first distributor he found. There he discovered a little problem.
"Here," said a Konoha ANBU, holding out a hand full of change. The rest of him was still melted into the wall. Any other day Naruto would have gasped or yelled 'show-off!' and been very annoyed he'd been followed by even more guys than just Kakashi-sensei. He beamed at the masked face and snatched up the change to feed the machine instead.
"Thanks, you're awesome. I'll pay you back!"
The ANBU chuckled, the sound muffled by the porcelain, and melted away again. Naruto snatched the three cans he'd gotten and raced back with his armful, waving. On the way back he almost knocked down the same nurse. She threw a bedpan at him.
Life was beautiful.
"Tadah!"
They'd obviously been discussing him; the girl and the glasses-wearing boy were huddled together and scowling. The redhead blew a messy lock of hair away from his nose and his lips twitched in uncontrollable amusement.
"Hey."
"Hey." Naruto stepped forward slowly and paused out of arm's reach of the bed, aware of his teammates' nervousness. "Delivery for you."
"It's gonna be hard to get it from here," the kid commented, scratching his chin as he eyed him askance.
"Yeah, I wasn't gonna throw it," Naruto said, voice growing quieter, gentler.
He was such a brave boy. Naruto wanted to throw an arm around his shoulders and ruffle his hair and teach him all his techniques. He pictured Sasuke and Sakura's faces. 'Hey, he followed me home, can I keep him?' But the kid was still nervous despite his bravado, and it hurt every time Naruto noticed a moment of hesitation, a flicker of wariness.
But they could fix it, he knew that now.
He stepped up to the bed, handed him a can, looked at the other two. "Want some?"
The glasses-wearing boy looked purely appalled. The girl glared.
"Mmmmmmh, so good!" the redhead said, cradling his can in both hands, and sneaked them a little look to see if his display had helped. The girl grumbled and snatched a can from Naruto's hands.
"Sure you don't want it?"
Glasses-boy seemed to be attempting the ANBU's wall-melting trick. "N-no, t-t-thank you."
"Well." He turned back to the redhead. "Guess that means you get to keep it for later."
"He's already pushing it by having one," Mikuri said. "The doctor won't be happy."
"He's never happy unless he's making me unhappy anyway," the redhead protested, looking clearly miserable. The girl grumbled under her breath again, surrendering to his puppy eyes. Naruto tried not to laugh.
"Um... You can sit down?"
Naruto grabbed a stool and sat, feet tangling immediately in the wooden legs, nervously. "Er. My name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Yours?"
"Oh right. Um. Yamagi Yakitaro. But you can call me Taro. Or Yaki. Or whatever. It's kinda long, after all."
Naruto gave a tentative grin. "Yeah? One of my buddies is named Sarutobi Konohamaru, I don't think you can complain."
"Whoa, that IS a mouthful."
They stared at each other, awkward conversation halted. Yakitaro's lips twitched, and then he smiled at Naruto, hesitant and nervous and utterly sincere.
Naruto grinned back, and pretended his eyes weren't shining with tears.
"So," the girl said, breaking a long silence with her acidic question. "You're classified? How's that working out for you?"
Naruto blinked. "I am? -- oh right, I guess I'd be." He scratched his head as he thought about how to explain it. "Hey, ANBU-guy? Can I tell them?"
The kids stared at him as if he was crazy -- up until the wall blurred and a masked head popped out. "Naruto-kun..." the masked man said with a long-suffering sigh.
Naruto grinned. "Can I tell them or not?" He turned to the kids. "It's okay, he's just here to keep an eye on me so I don't get kidnapped or something, I think. He's a good guy."
"You know him?" Yakitaro asked, eyes a little wide.
"Uh. Well. Actually we just met. But he's cool, guaranteed."
The ANBU shook his head and sighed in a long-suffering way before nodding to Naruto. "The law back home was set up to protect you, and their superiors have already been informed of your identity. What you tell them is your decision." His masked face turned back to the bed and he nodded to the little redhead. "Best wishes."
He melted away again.
"Alright then." The trio were still blinking at the wall. Such cute kids. Naruto smiled at them, and then sobered up. "The story starts about eighteen years ago, when a huge monster was attacking the Fire Country..."
+
When he walked out of the hospital room, he found Sasuke and Sakura sitting on a bench at the end of the corridor. Sakura's head shot up, and Sasuke's back stiffened, both scanning his face, his body language, ready to jump in.
It hadn't been a hour since he left the hotel. They'd tracked him down anyway.
He grinned at them extra-wide and hugged Sakura when she got up to meet him, tight and fierce; and he held out his hand to pull Sasuke to his feet, and pulled him right into the hug instead. Sasuke squirmed a little but declined to shove him off.
"Ahem," said Kakashi, standing against the wall right past the corner with his little book out. "We are in public, you realize."
Naruto grinned an evil grin that made Sakura's eyes open wide and Sasuke stop his half-hearted attempts at leaning away, and he dragged the two of them right up to their teacher to pounce on him.
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