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Of Friendship and Love

Summary:

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I'm working through this story at the moment. I haven't updated the chapters yet because I wanted to let everyone know what was going on before I started changing things. It's just an edit (with a few bits added here and there) but it won't change in its essence/overall plot. I think I'll add 3-5k to it overall, and I'll try my best to correct the mistakes I've made. If anyone wants to Beta this please let me know! 🥰

Notes:

If you see continuity problems please let me know. I’m not a fluent English speaker and even though writing this took me a ridiculous amount of time, I'm sure there are still a few mistakes in this.

If you want to talk to me, you can find me on tumblr: wellthisisawkward-nervermind

Also, I didn't realize it is necessary to add this but apparently it is: PLEASE DON'T REPOST MY WORK ON OTHER SITES. It's seriously uncool.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: A Beginning

Notes:

EDITED: 20th October 2019

Chapter Text

   mood board by lojuba  

 

 

Sasuke stared at the Hokage with unadulterated annoyance. ‘Hn.’

‘Sasuke this is serious. You have attempted to break into her apartment every single night for the past week. If you keep this up it will leave a mark on your permanent record’

Sarutobi sighed tiredly as he mustered the young man before him. ‘I understand that you like her and that you have both been through a lot, but we can’t let this continue.’

Naruko stared at the older man. ‘Why not? We are not doing anything wrong, besides he’s not breaking in. I gave him a key. He just gets tackled by the dog-mask-dude, every time he tries to go through the door like a normal person.’ She groaned

The Hokage blinked at his young charges, both barely thirteen years old. ‘You gave him a key?’

‘Yes, of course, I did. It’s not like him moving out of the apartment was our choice. I didn’t get why you changed the lock in the first place. It’s still his home and if he wants to hang out when I’m not there, he should be able to do that.’ Her tone was getting more and more aggravated.

‘Naruko, we talked about this. You are both young and even though you have been great friends for a long time, it’s not socially acceptable for young boys and girls to live together, before they reach a certain age, or a formal arrangement is made.’

‘Well that’s a stupid rule, besides it’s not like I’m socially accepted, either, ya know? What should I do now, stop existing? Because society dislikes me? I’d rather not.’ She grumbled.

Damn that kid was brutal, and as much as he loathed to admit it, she had a point, Sarutobi thought tiredly.

Sasuke hadn’t said anything yet. He was just staring at him, as if he could set him on fire with his angry glare alone, if he just tried hard enough.

‘It has to stop.’

Naruko deflated, she knew better than to be openly insubordinate.

That’s when the damned Uchiha spoke up. ‘It’s not like anything untoward is happening. I just sleep on the futon and we wake each other up when the nightmares come.’ He said tiredly, dark rings broadcasting his lack of peaceful rest.

‘We’ve been doing this since ‘that’ happened and it helps.’ Naruko admitted.

Sarutobi stared at the two teens in front of him. He had cursed Danzo and the council many times for what they’ve done to the Uchiha, but he had to admit that he cursed himself, too.

If he just had been more attentive then Naruko wouldn’t have been there that day.

Looking back, he should have seen it coming.

Uchiha didn’t do love halfheartedly and their love story had been a long time coming.


 

X

 

7 YEARS EARLIER

 

Naruko started a tentative friendship with Sasuke as soon as the academy started.

Not through usual circumstances, of course.

The young boy had noticed how the academy teachers would try to sabotage her, by showing her the stances slightly wrong and immediately reported this back to his mother, who in turn had spent a whole lot of time berating the Hokage for his negligence.

‘I can’t believe you didn’t check them!’ She’d exclaimed, storming into his office, Sharingan blazing.

‘Didn’t check who?’

‘Naruko’s teachers. You know they wouldn’t let me take her in, because of the climate and the misguided belief’s around the Sharingan and the Kyuubi! But that doesn’t mean I’m not watching out for her.’

The Sandaime’s eyes widened and he immediately understood what this was about. ‘What happened and who did it? I want names.’ He said with an authority that was almost suffocating.

After that, everything else resolved itself fast. The Hokage wasn’t about to let the fact slide that these teachers had been sabotaging a child’s education. Sasuke’s observation might have very well saved Naruko’s life.

To set a warning example he’d ordered for the perpetrator’s to be publicly escorted to T&I.

Mizuku had been especially hard to break, but once they’d learned what the miscreant had planned for the little girl, he was promptly and discretely executed.


At least, Naruko had gained a new friend through the horrid experience. Well, in the beginning he presented himself more as a reluctant teacher.

Sasuke wasn’t about to let the girl struggle through relearning all the Katas alone. So, he decided to teach her and since he had been suffering through the elitism and perfectionism typical for the Uchiha, that meant Naruko had to suffer through it, too.

However, her go-getter attitude and the way she smiled through her failed attempts, got right back up, and tried again, gained her the respect of not only Sasuke, but also the rest of his family.

‘Again!’ He said, looking sharply at her posture.

She breathed a little heavy. ‘Didn’t I get it right this time?’ She asked, honestly concerned. ‘It kind of felt more fluent, easier, ya know?’

Sasuke mustered her with all the strictness, a six-year-old could muster, which was evidently a lot, and said. ‘Again.’

Naruko groaned but complied anyway. She knew the boy was helping her and she also knew that help wasn’t something she had an easy way of getting.



X



Sooner rather than later she was a regular houseguest of the Uchiha main family, much to the horror of Sasuke’s fangirls and the council.

The young Uchiha brought her lunch every day and they’d always ate it together.

‘What do we get today?’ Naruko asked excitedly when they sat down on the roof, far away from the screeching girls.

‘Tomato Onigiri, fried chicken and some pickled vegetables, I think.’ Sasuke said, hiding his excitement. He loved tomatoes.

Naruko laughed. ‘Yum!’

‘What are you doing after school?’ Sasuke asked.

The question was rhetorical.

‘Training.’ She said, smiling brightly.

‘I guess, we’ll train then.’ He agreed and Naruko smiled even brighter.



X

They got even cuter, when Sasuke’s mom showed Naruko how to knit and sew.

She had to because of the way Naruto was going through her clothes.

They had been training for more than a year now and the training was advanced and challenging, however, the girl’s resources weren’t oriented on that kind of extensive regimen. What made matters worse, was the fact that the girl was reluctant to accept anything other than practical advice.

‘I can’t accept that, Mikoto.’ She mumbled, with a fierce blush. ‘You make me food all the time and I even get to train here and sometimes I stay the night—’

‘Naruko, you can either take the money or you can take the clothes. It doesn’t matter either way. It’s important that you have a few different clothing items. You’re a young girl, after all. Besides do you know how boring it is to shop for my boys?’

Indignant groans from two rooms answered her exclamation.

‘Oh, shut up, you two. It’s always dark grey this and black that. The most color I get on you is dark blue. Do you have any idea how boring dark blue is?’ She grumbled.

Naruko giggled.

Mikoto always seemed so quiet and graceful next to Fugako, almost timid. It was fun and exhilarating to see that she had this other side. The one she used to tease her boys with. The one that was gentle and happy and protective.
She was incredibly thoughtful. Aggressively so, with the way she bullied Naruko into accepting everything she wanted to do for her, like keeping Naruko’s favorite yoghurt on hand, at all times, even though no one else liked it.

Naruko felt grateful that she’d let her into this inner circle of her family. The place where Mikoto felt comfortable enough to be herself. She felt insanely honored to have any part of this.

However, with the new clothing came new sewing and knitting tips, because she needed to fit the new clothes to her. At the moment she was still shorter than most of the other girls in her class and everything looked kind of wrong on her.

When Mikoto started her on sewing, she also immediately taught her knitting, too, thinking of it as a practical life skill.

So, throughout Naruko’s learning curve, Sasuke waited eagerly for his first present. He knew he’d get one. It was just the way Naruko was, but he was excited for what it would be.

Not even a month after Naruko had started learning he had the honor of wearing her first proper creation.

Ironically, he loved the thing almost as much, as she was proud of creating it: a lot.

It was a slightly uneven knitted black scarf, that had a lot of Uchiha fan in varying sizes stitched into it. It looked really cool in his opinion, really freaking cute in Mikoto’s and was a huge masterpiece in Naruko’s.

Itachi teased him about it a lot, but he reckoned that the older guy was just jealous, because the teasing stopped the moment Naruko gifted him a knitted black beanie, that had also been adorned with the clan symbol.

‘It’s for me?’ Itachi asked, eyes unnoticeably widened and a little surprised.

Naruko smiled her signature toothy smile at him, eyes closed, hands fidgeting behind her back and nodded. ‘I thought a scarf might be impractical for you, because of the high collar.’ She explained, as the older teen looked at her creation and smiled at her.

‘Thank you Naruko. I will treasure it.’ He finally said and the young girl laughed.



X

Before long Naruko had been a regular at the Uchiha house for almost two years and the only time the Uchiha’s had ever seen Naruko afraid was the day of the celebration of the Yondaime.

In the past she’d always declined any and all invitations to come with them to a celebration but this time Sasuke had talked her into asking the Hokage for permission.

The tenth October should have been a happy day for the young girl, but it had become a nightmare in her reality.

She had come home with Sasuke after school to tell them that she wouldn’t be able to go with them to the celebrations. The Hokage had said she couldn’t, and she was really sorry about it.

Mikoto stared at the young girl in understanding, while Sasuke had been furious, with the world. Why couldn’t his best friend celebrate this holiday?

He had noticed that she was treated differently, he would have to be blind and dumb, not to.

Fugaku had mustered the small girl and nodded. ‘I’ll take you home, Naruko.’ He said quietly, obviously noticing the girl’s distress.

‘I’ll come with.’ Itachi said immediately, picking up on his parent’s mood.

‘Me, too!’ Sasuke said.

However, when they reached Naruto’s small, but tidy apartment they saw that a few windows had been destroyed and even though everybody had stepped back from the small, but intimidating group, they still heard the whispers of the demon child. The promises and thinly veiled threats that the otherwise happy villagers threw towards the child, were horrific.

No matter how people viewed Fugaku and what they might have thought of him. He was the head of police and he wouldn’t leave a small child in a climate like that.

That night the Uchiha’s had brought Naruko back to their estate.

Mikoto had attempted to throw her a small birthday party, she was turning eight after all, but the girl was too scared to have fun.

Every firework let her flinch and every loud voice that filtered through the windows had her on edge. It was a sad insight into what this day had been like for her in the last few years.

Mikoto had brought her to the Hokage the next day. ‘She needs to know.’

The Hokage stared at the woman, before nodding towards Naruko. ‘Naruko would you please wait outside for a few minutes?’

Naruko nodded tiredly, after she had left, he regarded Mikoto with fury.

‘You are damned lucky that you didn’t tell her yourself. It is not an S-class secret for nothing.’ He reprimanded.

‘My husband attempted to bring her home yesterday, but he couldn’t in good conscious leave her there. They had thrown stones through her windows and were openly calling her a demon.’ She snarled quietly. ‘The girl was so afraid she couldn’t even sleep. We tried to keep her distracted as best we could. This is not healthy for her. Ignoring her is one thing, openly insulting and threatening her is another. Itachi knows about her and he’s currently talking with his ANBU captain about the villagers he’s seen openly disregarding the S-class ban.’

The Hokage stared at the young woman before him and sighed deeply. ‘They called her demon?’

‘They called her an abomination, a demon, a fox, they openly threatened to finish what the Yondaime couldn’t. If she doesn’t know what this is about it has the potential to destroy her. Sure, she is strong, but consider this, does she really have to be that fucking strong? I think she’s already well aware of the fact that life isn’t fair and that she is quite blatantly put, hated. I can’t imagine that Kushina would have wanted her to be kept in the dark. Not about her parentage and most definitely not about her burden. She would have wanted her to understand.’

The Hokage deflated and rubbed his face tiredly. ‘It was Minato’s last wish.’ He mumbled.

‘Minato also wanted her to be treated like a hero. His wishes obviously don’t matter anymore.’ Mikoto disregarded coldly.

The Sandaime sighed tiredly before he stared at the door and nodded. ‘Bring her in, we’ll talk.’

That day Naruto learned everything about herself. Who her parents were and most importantly: what she really was. She wasn’t allowed to tell, but she knew she would tell Sasuke.

‘I’m going to have to tell him.’ She mumbled, when the old man stared at her.

‘Why?’

‘Because he is my best friend and Itachi knows, and his parents know, and he’s not stupid. He’ll know that they know. I won’t have him be kept in the dark by his own family and his best friend.’

She stared at her hands, while the Sandaime gazed at the little girl, astounded by her determination. He would have guessed her to be more like Kushina but looking at her now, he could only see her father. 

‘He might not take it too well.’ The Hokage finally said.

Naruko looked up at the old man, in front of her and said, ‘I have faith in him, ya know?’

The Sandaime laughed at her stubbornness but conceded. ‘I hope it isn’t misplaced. His mother will talk to him about what happens if he tells anyone about this, so don’t worry about that, okay? I promise it won’t always be this way. When you turn sixteen you may freely tell anyone you want to know, about all of this. But before then we can’t risk it.’

That night was the first night she snuck into Sasuke’s room.

The young boy had immediately understood what she was trying to say and looked at her with wide eyes, before his whole body shook in anger.

She’d been afraid for a moment, warily even and she had tried to get away from him, but then he spoke.

‘That’s the reason?’

She stared at him.

‘That’s why they treat you like this?’

She shrugged. ‘They are afraid.’

‘No, they are downright stupid. They can’t tell the difference between the scroll and the kunai that’s sealed inside it.’ He seethed.

Naruko stared at him for a second, before she giggled and before long her giggles were accompanied by tears.

‘Why are you crying?’ Sasuke asked shocked and slightly mortified.

He’d never seen Naruko cry, not even after what happened yesterday.

‘I’m glad.’ She said. ‘I’m glad you’re not stupid and I’m glad we’re still friends.’ She mumbled and hugged him tightly.


He snorted. ‘I’m an Uchiha. We’re never stupid.’ He said snootily but he hid his smile in her long blonde hair as he squeezed her right back.


 

X

 

Not even a month later the two of them walked into a horrid scene.

The Uchiha district was riddled with dead bodies.

Afraid beyond belief and shaking, they'd run for Sasuke’s home in the hope of finding his parents unharmed, but they had no such luck.

Itachi had just finished killing Fugaku when they showed up, with tears streaming down their faces.

Then Itachi stood before them.

Sasuke didn’t want to believe what had happened but Naruko realized what the older teen was trying to do, the moment he activated his weird looking Sharingan, and she held her hands over Sasuke’s eyes, trying to protect him from the genjutsu, while glaring angrily at Itachi.

The older man stared at her in shock, before he smiled. ‘Protect each other.’ He said, before he schooled his features and added, much darkly. ‘Grow strong and defeat me.’ 

The pale youth looked honestly traumatized.

If Naruko hadn’t known what horrid things the man had just done, she would have reached out to hug him.

But as it stood, she just kept her hands firmly on Sasuke’s eyes and pulled her friend towards her.

Itachi smiled at the fierceness in the young girl’s eyes and vanished.

Before long they were surrounded by ANBU and brought to a hospital.

Sasuke had been ordered to stay so that they could watch him more closely.

He was traumatized.

They also kept him because they wanted to make sure that he truly hadn’t been under the Tsukuyomi, which he hadn’t.

Naruko guessed they needed the time to clean up the clan land, too.

Either way she was by his side.

Bringing him his favorite food after school and staying until some nurse came and told her that visiting hours were over, became part of her day.

On the weekends she stayed the whole day, only going away for food runs.

Sometimes she even managed to climb in through his window before school and napped a little with him.

It took him two weeks to talk again.

She didn’t push him.

Instead she talked about her day or what they were doing at school. She always brought him his homework and explained how she solved hers.

She also told him about the new tomato plant she bought for her apartment.

After two weeks she brought some new wool and started knitting.

‘What’s it going to be?’ He asked hoarsely, after watching her for a good hour.

‘Mittens.’

‘Mittens?’

‘Mittens.’ Naruko said. Then she lost the concentrated look and stared at her best friend.

He had talked to her.

‘They are for you.’ She added belatedly.

He nodded. ‘Dark blue is a good color.’ He agreed and she nodded.

‘It looks good on you.’

He cocked his head. ‘Will you put the Uchiha symbol on them?’ He asked cautiously.

Naruko looked up in surprise. ‘Of course!’ She exclaimed, as if she hadn't even thought about not putting it on them.

He looked down at his hands and smiled sadly. ‘That’s good.’ He finally said.

She nodded. ‘This time it will all be matching. You’ll get a scarf and a beanie, too.’

He stared at his friend.

The only one he wanted to see right now. Well, except for the people he would never be able to see again.

She was the only one he had left.

The only one he could tolerate in this sea of betrayal and sadness that seemed to surround him.

She didn’t cry over him, as if he died with them.

She didn’t do anything really, besides be there for him.

Making sure he had his favorite food, doing little things for him, she knew he would like.

Talking to him, distracting him.

It took him a while to realize that he was crying.

But he couldn’t lose the terror.

He had been terrified when he saw Itachi.

Shocked still.

Not knowing what was going on, hoping it was different than it seemed, and then his brother had almost put him under the Tsukuyomi. Only Naruko’s quick thinking had saved him.

She’d put her hands over his eyes and pulled him close and she’d stared his brother down.

He just knew it, even if he hadn’t seen it happen.

He stared at his hands again.

He hadn’t been able to do anything.

He’d been weak.

He realized that she was hugging him now.

Pressing him close and running her hand up and down his upper back, in silent comfort.


‘I’m sorry.’ He whispered brokenly.

She pulled back and he could see her bright blue eyes widen impossible.

‘You have nothing to be sorry for.’ She said shocked.

He shook his head and clenched his fists into the soft linen of the hospital bed. ‘I froze. I was weak and I hesitated. If he had tried to kill us, too, I would have been completely useless.’ He said. 

Naruko’s eyes widened. ‘If he had tried to kill us too, almost every Shinobi I know would have been completely useless.’ She said in consternation. 

‘Sasuke, the only reason I didn’t freeze up was because he wasn’t focused on me. He was focused on you. Itachi is scary strong and he was brutal and cruel, and I can’t believe he wanted to use the Tsukuyomi on you. But none of what happened makes you weak.’

The way she said that left little to no doubt that she believed it from the bottom of her heart and something in Sasuke loosened, let the tension seep out. He realized that he'd needed to hear this. 

‘I’m so sorry this happened to you.’ Naruko whispered before pulling him back in for another hug.

‘You really don’t think I’m weak because of this?’ He asked sounding almost broken.

‘I think your incredibly strong.’ She said earnestly against his shoulder and then he finally hugged her back.

They stayed like that for a while.


X

Sasuke received the keys to his clan house after he got released from the hospital.


Naruko silently scoffed at the notion that her friend would want to go back there, after everything that had happened there.

She knew that she would never forget the bodies that littered the way, the last time she walked through the Uchiha district and she couldn’t imagine that Sasuke felt different.

‘Do you want to stay with me?’ She asked carefully while Sasuke stared at her.

After a few short moments, he nodded. ‘Let’s get some of my stuff.’

She agreed. 

Two hours later Sasuke had basically moved in.

Next to her bed was a futon laid out for him.

His school books were in her bookshelf, his toiletries in her bathroom and his clothes in her drawers. And life went on.

They always changed in the bathroom, so that they wouldn’t accidently walk in on each other.

They cooked together, they did their homework together and they trained together.

The only times they were apart were when Naruko had to go to Kunoichi training and Sasuke had to go to therapy.

Naruko had a hard time with his fan girls there, which pissed Sasuke off to no end.

She didn’t quite come out and say it, but he didn’t need to be a genius to understand that there was a reason she didn’t have a single female friend.

His therapist had been curious about his friendship with her, so he told her a little about it.

The woman had told him that it was rare for friends to be so close and that he should treasure that, but that it was also important to try to make more friends.

When he told Naruko about it, more annoyed than anything else, she had nodded and told him that they could try to make more friends, together.

She reasoned that if his therapist thought it was a good idea and he didn’t think it was the worst idea, it wouldn’t harm them to try and make it happen.

The first new friend they made was Chouji.

Mostly because Naruko loved snack food and Chouji was always eating one kind or the other.


Engaging Chouji in a discussion about flavors wasn’t really Sasuke’s preferred way to spend his past time, but he pulled through and not shortly after they were both invited to have lunch with him and Shikamaru.

Cloud watching with Shikamaru was something he could get behind.

The guy was silent, but when he said something it seemed weirdly important and Sasuke could appreciate that.

‘She’s really good for you.’ Was the first thing Shikamaru said to him and they’d been lying in the grass for almost half an hour at that point.

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, trying to bite down his automatic ‘Hn.’ response. Naruko had told him that the ‘Hn.’ should only be reserved for people he was unsure about, mad at, or disliked in general. All the other groups deserved more than that in a conversation.
Of course, he’d answered her with a ‘Hn.’ to rile her up a little, but he’d silently agreed that monosyllabic answers weren’t the best strategy for getting to know new people.

‘I know.’ He finally said.

‘You’re good for her, too.’ Shikamaru conceded.

Sasuke stared at the other boy. ‘Have you been watching her a lot?’ He finally asked, somewhat peeved that the blonde had garnered the Nara’s interest.

The Nara shrugged. ‘She seems like she’s going to be important.’ He elaborated.

Sasuke wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he leaned back and tried to relax some more.

With all the training he was doing, he needed the break, mentally and physically.

Hearing Naruko laugh with Chouji was nice too.

Apparently, they had traded bentos and were both convinced that the other’s bento was the best each of them ever had. He heard Shikamaru snort next to him and realized that the other boy was listening to them, too.

He could do this, he realized. Not every day and not for a long time, because that would feel like a waste, but hanging out, watching clouds and not talk, was more fun than he expected.

The only other friend the two of them made was Kiba.

Naruko had pushed for that for a whole week, before he had let her drag him to the dog boy and he was still convinced that her sudden desire to befriend the Inuzuka stemmed mostly from the fact that she thought Akamaru was awesome.

‘You can play with his dog without befriending him.’ He argued.

‘Why would I do that?’ She asked exasperated. ‘He’s fun and loud and he doesn’t care what other people think.’

‘That’s not a good thing, Naruko.’ Sasuke had tried.

‘You also don’t care what other people think.’ She said exasperated.

‘Yeah, but I don’t scream it at them. I show it to them, by being better than them.’

Naruko groaned and facepalmed. Her friend could be really snooty when he wanted to be.

Sasuke stared warily at the girl beside him. She could be loud and funny, too. Maybe, that’s why she wanted the guy in the group.

He sighed and nodded.

When they turned around, they saw that Kiba had been sitting right in front of them, watching their argument, the entire time.

He stared at the two of them for a moment, before he smiled at a flushed and more than slightly embarrassed Naruko.

‘I’ll be your friend.’ He said. ‘Akamaru likes the way you smell.’

He elaborated. ‘He’s a good judge of character.’

Naruko smiled happily at him, before she realized something. ‘What about Sasuke?’ She asked critically.

Kiba stared at the Uchiha for a moment.

‘We’ll get there.’ He finally said, while Sasuke nodded and they were rewarded with a bright smile form the blonde.

‘Great!’ She said and proceeded to play with Akamaru.

There little group wouldn’t grow bigger than that, at least not for the time being.



X

Sasuke and Naruko were at the top of the class, mostly because Sasuke was insanely driven and ambitious or as Naruko called it ‘ambitchious’.

If she hadn’t known about the Uchiha elitism and perfectionism, before the massacre, she would have declared Sasuke’s well-planned training as absolutely insane.

However, with the insight she had, she could confidently say that he wasn’t overdoing it.

Sasuke knew exactly when he needed to stop, so that he wouldn’t overexert his body.

He also planned in breaks and time with their friends and since they were always training together, she had been dragged along to the top of the class, with him.

It wasn’t like it was a hardship to train with Sasuke or to discuss her homework assignments with him or to research chakra control exercises with him, when they noticed she was horrid at that.

Okay that last one was a lie.

It started to become kind of shitty, after Sasuke realized how much trouble she had with chakra control.

After a month of slow progress, he had dragged her to the Hokage and asked him if it was the Kyuubi’s fault.

The Hokage had blinked at the two teens in front of him.

The raven looked impeccable and was obviously very concerned, while the blonde looked like she had fought an entire forest and came out as the loser.

She glared deeply annoyed at the Uchiha and seemed more than ready to punch some sense into her friend.

After the Hokage had the head of the medic department, Ryosuke Watanabe check her out, it was established that her chakra was extremely dense and the volume she had was also extraordinary large, which wasn’t unusual for the Uzumaki clan.

Apparently, her mother had been the same.

Ryosuke was incredibly nice to her and started to describe the style of control exercises she would have to do.

After a while he shook his head. ‘Listen, Naruko, I trained your mother in the basics of medical ninjutsu, I know everything there is to know about how hard this part will be for you. How would you feel about coming in tomorrow afternoon? We can start with me teaching you some basic control and maybe you’ll even learn how to heal a scratch or two?’

Naruko stared at the older medic with something akin to awe. ‘Yes, thank you. I’ll be there!’ She finally said, smiling happily. ‘I’m just happy I don’t have to kill Sasuke by braining him against a tree repeatedly.’ She sighed, exasperated.

Ryosuke laughed. ‘You had her climbing trees?’ He asked the young blushing Uchiha.

‘It was the recommended beginner exercise.’ He mumbled.

‘You couldn’t have known about my chakra.’ Naruko conceded and Sasuke nodded.

The Hokage laughed at the two of them, before sending them back.

Suffice to say Naruko spent the following months extensively training her chakra control, by the time her twelve-birthday rolled around she had learned her chakra, understood how it worked and gotten a feel for how much was required.

In other words, she now had great chakra control and decided to volunteer at the hospital in her free time to learn more about medic ninjutsu.

Her kunoichi classes were kind of hard for her at the moment.

Not only because of how much the other girls disliked her, but also because of the themes they were handling.

They were handling how different kunoichi were treated from shinobi, when they were captured. The reality was that they were often exposed to a different kind of torture, namely rape.

They spoke about the consequences and what could be done when they ever found themselves in a situation like that.

That had been an incredibly harsh lesson and she’d been kind of down the whole day after it happened.

When Sasuke asked her about it and she explained what they were talking about he was furious.

‘We’re training incredibly hard. We’ll grow strong together, we’ll get on a team together and I won’t ever, ever, leave you behind.’ He promised her with so much sincerity that she could only nod and smile.

She hadn’t been down exactly, because she thought it would happen to her.

She’d just been saddened that that was something she had to learn in school about, like it was expected that it would happen at some point during her career.

 

X

 

By the time Sasuke was twelve and a half-ish, his therapist was extremely proud to tell him that they could stop seeing each other, if he wanted.

Naruko and Sasuke tried to make a simpler version of his favorite food, tonkatsu with a huge tomato salad, and celebrated that afternoon.

That was always their way of celebration. They’d try to recreate their favorite dishes.

Making them from scratch always left them feeling proud.

After that they’d walk around a little or sat down by the riverside or go out to play with their friends.

Sasuke had never thought that his live would be filled with so much happiness after everything that happened. It hadn’t even been four whole years, yet.

They never went out to celebrate the tenth October.

But Sasuke started to try and make some kind of sweet dessert for her to celebrate her birthday and of course Ramen.

But he had made her swear to him that she would not touch the instant stuff again. They’d either make it from scratch or eat at Ichiraku’s.

After she turned thirteen kunoichi training seriously starting to stress Naruko out.

In their last lesson they had gone over acceptable clothing options and hairstyles for Kunoichi and Naruko had failed majorly. Much to the amusement of the petty girls in her class.

So, today’s mission was her own.

She’d get some clothes that wouldn’t garner her the wrath of her teachers or make her fail the class.

She sighed deeply before she went into the first store.

She hated shopping and would have used a Henge, but she actually had to see how the stuff would look on her.

She quickly decided that she didn’t want to wear a dress and she also realized quickly that she liked layers, even if the clothing was tight. She also had been heavily criticized for her color combinations, so she kept the outfit as boring as possible.

Sorting through everything she wanted from an outfit, she came to a quick decision.

The most practical option for her fighting style would be a short black skirt, that was partially split at the sides, under which she would wear black biker shorts, that matched its length. It made sense for agility and she wouldn't have to worry about modesty with the shorts.

On top she' d wear a fitted, dark green, high cut tank top. She also bought herself a long-sleeved black mesh shirt, to go under the green top, but since the weather was still really warm and she didn’t have a team or missions yet, she wouldn’t have to wear it for quite some time.

She liked wearing her hair open but apparently that was unacceptable with her hair length, so she went out and bought a few small orange clips to clip her fringe to the side and some translucent elastic hair bands for Kunoichi, that claimed they wouldn’t tear no matter what happened to them.

Naruko wasn’t sure why, but somehow that promise felt like a challenge.

After that whole ordeal, she wanted to go home and sleep forever, but she still had to buy make up. Sighing she dragged herself into the next cosmetics store and searched for the brand and the colors her teacher had recommended for her.

The older woman had a grace and a fierceness unlike anything Naruko had ever seen in an elder lady.

She’d taken the young blonde aside, before letting her go and written down what skin shade number she would need, and which brand would be acceptable to use as a kunoichi.

Apparently, there was scented stuff in the civilian make up, that could mean her and her teams’ death against a tracker, so she would definitely adhere to the stuff listed on the note.

After a way too long time, she found everything she needed. It wasn’t all that much, just moisturizer, mascara, foundation, concealer, rouge, tinted lip balm and an eyeliner.

She’d also bought make up remover and cotton buds, because she had tried applying the hell that was eyeliner before in class, and she knew she wouldn’t get the deal done without a shitload of those cotton buds.

But since there had also been a suggestion to get nail polish, she bought that too.

She was unsure how much more color was allowed. So far, she technically only had dark green, black and the orange clips, but she had a feeling she’d get in trouble if she tried something that she'd really like. Like neon orange.

She sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day and just went for a dark red nail polish, that looked a lot like the one she had seen on the elder lady and a black one, she thought Sasuke might like.

Happy with her purchase, she went back home, to try everything out, making sure everything looked right, so, she wouldn’t get shit for it the next day.

Technically, she should have adjusted her outfit over the last few weeks, but she procrastinated doing it until the last minute.

She didn’t see the merit in changing her appearance at all. The boys didn’t have to do it.

Thankfully Sasuke wasn’t there to see her struggling with the skirt and the biker shorts. The shorts and the skirt were a little too long, so she had to hem them accordingly.

Now everything ended neatly mid-thigh.

The top fit her perfectly and she had to admit that she felt really comfortable in the outfit. It was still stretchy and functional but aesthetically speaking it looked much more mature than the bright orange sweatpants and a black tank top she usually wore everywhere.

Her hair was the next order of business and since she hadn’t seen fit to get the generic bob haircut of the elderly around the village, she now had to learn how to braid it neatly.

It took an hour and it sucked half her life force out of her, but she somehow managed to pull it off.

After carefully pinning her fringe to the side she went back to the mirror, reevaluated the outfit. And to her horror she liked how she looked, now. Damnit.

Next step was make-up and since she wasn’t going to make herself do anything, she wasn’t able to recreate quickly and effortlessly she ignored the eyeliner and foundation.

This was after all supposed to show them, that she'd thought about how she wanted to look and more importantly, how she wanted to be perceived, from now on, as a Kunoichi.

She just used some concealer under her eyes, some tinted lip balm and mascara. It was simple, looked like she out in a bit of effort and helped convey that she was practical.

She smiled at her handy work. Under two minutes. That was great, she decided, before she moved on to nail polish.

Since she was trying to cater to the women who taught them, she went with the dark red nail polish and hoped for the best.

After that was done, she leaned back on the couch and groaned pathetically.

The day was almost over, she hadn’t seen Sasuke yet, she hadn’t eaten yet and she still had to wait for who knows how long before her painted fingernails were dry.

Being a girl really sucked, sometimes.

When Sasuke came home he brought Ichiraku’s with him, because he knew what today was.

She had been calling it doom day for the past week.

When he saw her, he took a moment to muster her and finally smiled, after what felt like ages. ‘You did great. I can’t imagine that they are going to fail you now!’ He said encouragingly and Naruko, who was beyond happy about the Ichiraku’s, just laughed and said.

‘They better not! You have no idea what I went through today.’

They spent the rest of the evening resting and Sasuke told her all about his training with someone named Rock Lee, while she painted his nails black.

She thought it would suit him and he’d been curious, so whatever. 

Needless to say, she passed that class, big time.

However now that she looked so mature, she garnered another kind of attention.

One that neither her nor Sasuke knew how to handle.

Sasuke had taken to glaring at the guys whose gazes would linger longer than was appropriate and she had simply taken to ignoring them the same way she ignored the hateful looks from some villagers.




X

Since most people didn’t really pay attention to Naruko and her living situation it took a long time, until anyone, who would actually be bothered by it, figured out that she and Sasuke were living together.

Maybe it hadn’t happened yet, because most people just thought Sasuke would bring Naruko home, when they walked around together late at night.

Everyone knew that they shopped together and cooked together, so having the same bentos wasn’t a huge deal.

Apparently, living together kind of was.

It all came out when Iruka wanted to ask Sasuke to be his teaching aid for the fresh academy students.

It was a crisp Saturday morning and he couldn’t find the boy anywhere.

He certainly wasn’t in the Uchiha district and by the looks of it hadn’t been in quite some time.

So, he naively assumed that the teen had just forgotten to update his address and went to Naruko’s, to ask her for directions.

Naturally, there was hell to pay, after Sasuke opened the door to Naruko’s apartment in his boxers, a training shirt, obvious bed hair and with a tooth brush dangling from the side of his mouth, while asking, ‘Can we talk outside? Naruko is still asleep.’

Iruka had stared at the teen in horror and then pushed his way inside, without any reservation.

The first thing he noticed was how tidy the place was, the next thing was how many plants there were and then he noticed that everything about this flat screamed cohabitation.

Cosmetics were neatly piled on a tray by the windowsill next to a small mirror, while shirts with the Uchiha emblem were strung along a line on the balcony.

Their shoes were standing neatly side by side in the Genkan.

The book shelf had a clear distinction between Uchiha clan scrolls and Academy books and Naruko’s kunoichi curse magazines.

Sasuke made a disgruntled noise behind him.

‘What are you doing here sensei?’ He asked.

‘I came here to ask my sweet, innocent little student, Naruko, if she knew where you lived.’ Iruka snarled venomously.

‘Hn.’ Sasuke murmured, while Iruka made his way along the hallway, that was riddled with pictures of them, of Sasuke’s family, of their friends at the academy with them, of different meals, with little dates and milestones noted underneath.

The latest one was an obviously homemade Ramen with a little thirteen and Naruto’s name on it.

There was also one of Naruko with the Hokage, when she was around three years old.

He was going to lose it.

This was not just cohabitation.

This was a couple living together.

Celebrating together.

They were thirteen damnit.

When he walked towards the bedroom, Sasuke slammed himself between him and the door, which made Iruka even more suspicious.

‘What? Isn’t she decent?’ He asked angry.

Sasuke shook his head. ‘No, she is decent.’

When Iruka made to grab the door again, Sasuke shoved his hand away again.

The teacher felt his killing instinct rise and he contemplated for the first time ever, if slightly maiming a student was really all that unacceptable.

‘We’re not… Nothing like that is going on, yet.’ He assured.

‘Yet?’ Iruka grunted.

The Uchiha completely ignored the other man’s hysteria and told him seriously and with an authority no thirteen-year-old should possess.

‘If you barge in like that, you’re going to freak her out. This is her home. She has a right to feel safe in her own home.’

Iruka paled slightly.

Of course. He nodded.

‘Go wake her up, then.’

Sasuke opened the door and he immediately looked over his shoulder, inside.

The bedroom was small, there were even more pictures there and a huge tomato plant, he leaned to the side to get a better view of the bed and was immensely relieved, when he saw that there was a well-used futon next to the bed. One that was obviously for the Uchiha.

He let out a huge sigh.

He wasn’t as naïve to think that this meant nothing was happening between them, mostly because he could see that the Uchiha seemed to deeply care for her and that Naruko must care for him, too, to let him live with her.

‘Yet’ he thought again and grumbled internally.

A moment later Naruko stood in front of him. In a tank top and a pair of boxers that were most definitely from the Uchiha. He groaned and palmed his face.

She still had the imprints of her cushion on her face and her hair was slightly ruffled.

‘We need to talk.’ He said and Naruko’s eyes widened.

‘What are you doing here, Iruka?’ She asked surprised.

‘I was searching for Sasuke and thought you might be able to tell me where he is.’

Naruko stared at him for a second. ‘Next to me?’ She asked and they could tell she wasn’t really awake yet.

‘I’m making coffee.’ Sasuke said, as he walked away from the two of them.

Iruka was increasingly sure that the raven was trying to evade him. The boy had always been smart.

‘Wait, I’m gonna put more clothes on. Ya know?’ Naruko mumbled to Iruka, went back to the bedroom and came out with a long-sleeved dark shirt that was emblazoned with the Uchiha symbol, that was obviously too big for her and some of those tight fitted kunoichi leggings every woman in Konoha possessed.

She was in the process of braiding her hair to one side, when she sat down next to him.

Great they were sharing clothes. He was going to have an Aneurysm.

When she went to sit down Sasuke brought them coffee, put down milk and a little sugar container.

Iruka stared at it and wanted to laugh. No thirteen-year-old had any business being this domestic. The whole flat should be chaotic, the fact that the cups didn’t belong to a set and were all different sized and different colored, helped him through the moment.

‘So, Naruko have you been sexually active?’ He asked, while the blonde coughed into her coffee and the Uchiha blushed bright red.

‘No.’ She said, when she could breathe again, eyes wide and indignant.

‘How long have you and Sasuke been living together?’


Naruko looked at Sasuke, before she shrugged. ‘Around five years, I think.’

Iruka stared at them. ‘Why did no one follow up on this?’ He asked shocked.

‘People tend to ignore me and what I do.’ Naruko said shrugging.

Sasuke nodded. ‘I’m not exactly approachable and I don’t try to be.’

Yeah sure.

Great.

Okay.

Iruka stared at the cups again. Four or five years. That’s longer than any relationship he ever had, he thought shocked.

‘How did this happen?’

‘I asked him to move in.’ Naruko said shrugging.

‘My whole clan had just been murdered and for some reason people expected me to want to go live on clan land again.’ Sasuke said, still bitter about that.

Iruka stared at the two of them. ‘Are you together?’

Naruko and Sasuke looked at each other, before Naruko asked. ‘Like as a couple?’

Iruka nodded.

Sasuke and Naruko stared at each other again. They both looked hopeful, this was ridiculous. ‘We don’t know.’ Sasuke finally said and Naruko snorted.

Iruka stared at the two of them ‘Did you just—? I am too old for this shit.’ He groaned.

‘Okay, that’s it, kids. We’re going to the Hokage.’


‘Why?’ Sasuke asked annoyed.

‘Because until you turn fourteen and make Genin you are not allowed to live together.’

‘Are you serious?’ Naruko asked.

‘That’s in seven months.’ She groaned.

‘We have a system, Iruka. We got this down to an art. We even have a budget plan and a cleaning roster.’ She grumbled.

‘You can spend your days how you want to. You just can’t sleep at the same place.’

‘That doesn’t make any sense. If we wanted to get up to something, we could just do that during the day, then.’ Sasuke gritted out through clenched teeth, obviously struggling with the idea of giving his home up, because of some stupid rule.

‘You make a great point. I’ll supervise you during random evenings. I have to grade tests anyway and Naruko and I haven’t been talking all that much these last few weeks.’ Iruka smiled, obviously set on pissing Sasuke off.

‘Okay.’ Naruko intercepted.

‘Okay. Iruka we’ll meet you in an hour at the Hokage tower. We still have to get dressed and eat something or is this issue so urgent that it cannot wait another hour?’ She asked tensely.

He could understand her. If he made them leave the house now, everyone would immediately judge them or shame them. They really should get ready properly.

‘I’ll give you an hour and if you’re not there by then, I’ll drag you there.’ He said the last part to the Uchiha, who just nodded complacently.

After Iruka left Naruko took a moment to stare at her hands before she turned towards her best friend and roommate and family.

He slowly tugged at her hand and looked at her.

‘I think I have some pretty serious feelings for you.’ She finally said.

Just like that. No decorum. No nothing. Sasuke smiled at her.

One of his real smiles. ‘Yeah?’ He asked playfully.

Naruko smiled.

‘Pretty sure. I mean I still hung out with you after that month of chakra training.’ She said laughing quietly, while Sasuke blushed furiously.

‘Sounds serious.’ He finally said, while she hummed.

He stared at his hands for a moment, before he turned to her.

‘I’ve known for a while that I have feelings for you.’ She stared at him and then broke out into the biggest, happiest smile she’d ever shared with him.

He felt himself blush even deeper.

‘I’m not great at opening up to people.’ He finally admitted and Naruko had the audacity to snort and say ‘Shocker.’

He flicked her forehead for that one, before he continued.

‘With you it’s always been different.’ Naruko nodded and leaned into him when he pulled her into a hug.


‘Can I kiss you?’ She finally asked kind of muffled against his chest.

He didn’t answer that, he pulled her up slightly and let her take over.

She leaned into him and slowly let her lips meet his.

He felt the tingling sensation in his whole body.

He felt himself tense and made a conscious effort to relax again and then her lips were on his. She slowly pressed them against his and teased him by slightly licking against his bottom lip, when he opened up, her tongue slid against his own, he replied in kind and slowly slid his hand to the back of her neck.

Much of their last hour together in their home, was spent making out and the two of them didn’t regret it in the least.

They made it in time for their interrogation with the Hokage. Both dressed impeccably and nervous.

 

X

 

The Hokage didn’t take the news that well.

Sadly, they had been right to be nervous. After Iruka had reported everything back to the Sandaime, he had focused on the two teens in front of him.

He wasn’t sure what to feel, it didn’t make sense for him to feel betrayed or disappointed since no one had followed up on either Sasuke’s nor Naruko’s living situation.

It hadn’t made sense to direct the ANBU that way, because they were both in the academy and seemed happy and healthy.

He groaned. Minato would kill him and castrate the Uchiha, in the afterlife.

‘You’re moving out.’ He finally bit out. Fixating cold eyes on Sasuke. ‘There’ll be no arguments. You’ll leave the flat today and while you two are permitted to spent time with each other, I want Iruka there with you to supervise when you’re meeting up. Let’s say every other evening?’

He paused for a moment and watched Iruka, who grimaced but nodded. Every other evening was a lot.

The two teens had never seen the Hokage like this, he seemed calmly furious.

Well, shit. Naruko thought.

‘Where will I live?’ Sasuke asked, braving the man.

‘Uchiha compound.’

‘Absolutely not.’ Naruko stepped in and didn’t even wither under the pointed glare of the Hokage. ‘If you want him to be able to sleep, you won’t sent him there to live.’ She said pointedly.

‘I’ll make other arrangements.’ Sarutobi conceded and nodded. ‘You’ll be told where you can move, in two hours, be ready by then.’

Sasuke looked paler than usual and felt honestly like shit.

These people hadn’t cared about either of them up until this point. Not really, anyway. A distant parental figure that would talk to them every now and then and who you could come to if you had a problem you absolutely couldn’t solve on your own.

But they weren’t supposed to be like that.

How dare they take away his home?

The only place he’d lived and felt safe since the massacre.

He felt betrayed and angry. Naruko took his hand in hers and slowly caressed the back of his hand with her thumb.

‘I’ll buy some stuff for your new flat, okay? Print out some of our pictures, get some plants. Take what you want from our place, but remember that we can still eat together at either place and spend time together, whenever. It’s not forever.’

She smiled encouragingly at him. ‘If you think you’re not taking a bag full of my stuff with you, as well, so that I have a few essentials there, too, you're dead wrong.’

He heaved a deep sigh before he pulled her into a hug and breathed in the smell of her hair. ‘It’s just what? Seven months? I can do that. We can do that.’ He mumbled.

‘Of course, we can.’ Naruko encouraged while stroking his neck. ‘Think of it as a mission. Protect Naruko’s virginity at all costs. Step one, relocate the Uchiha. Step two, assign Iruka as chaperone.’

They snorted.

‘In all honesty he’s probably trying to make up for being negligent to either of us and thinks he’s somehow helping now, by being a huge pain in the ass.’ Naruko murmured.

‘It sucks that we’re not old enough to decide these things for ourselves but are apparently capable enough to live alone by the age of six. That’s ridiculous.’

Naruko sighed. ‘We did the best we could, and we did well for ourselves. At least that’s what I think.’ She said, as she untangled herself from the hug.

Sasuke smiled down at her. ‘I agree.’ Then he groaned. ‘I’m going to pack my stuff now.’

Naruko gasped and placed a hand on her chest. ‘Do you mean we’re over?’ She asked theatrically and Sasuke snorted.

His girlfriend was a huge dork, sometimes.

When they went to see his apartment, they were surprised to see that it was only two buildings away.

Since he was an Uchiha, everything he had in there was slightly nicer than average, which pissed him off.

Everything Naruko had, had been slightly below average and they'd put in effort to make the place as welcoming as it was.

Speaking of welcoming, Naruko was already taping pictures of them, his parents, their friends and their celebratory food to the walls.

She had also bought six new plants and distributed them in the apartment. It had a similar layout like Naruko’s. However, the bath wasn’t as big as hers. She had a bathtub and everything and he had one of those shitty modern showers.

After they were done it looked somewhat better. Not warm or welcoming in the way their home was, but he guessed that was just because Naruko hadn’t moved in with him.

Sadly, the place didn’t even smell right.

They spent all of an hour in there setting everything up, before going back to their place and eating together.

The rest of the day they just pretended that Sasuke was still living there. They bought their groceries, made their training plan for the week and tried to fit in breaks for friends and downtime.

When they were done, they napped and made out a little more. 

That night Sasuke woke up around two in the morning from light and restless sleep and decided after two seconds of contemplation that he’d pretend that it was morning.

So, he picked up his keys and went to Naruko’s apartment only to be tackled by an ANBU in dog mask, before he even made it to the door. His life sucked.

Naruko seemed alright, but he slept worse and worse each night. His plans, to break into their apartment were getting better and better, but the dog ANBU intercepted either way.

The lack of sleep was decidedly bad for Sasuke’s character.

It meant he had even less tolerance for his fan girls and the way they treated Naruko.

Things suddenly seemed more important. Sitting together, eating lunch together, going back to the apartment together and good god napping together, were his new favorite activities.

However, some girls just didn’t really understand that they had no claim on him.

He could like and want who he liked and wanted, and they just had to deal with it. He wasn’t about to keep anything concerning Naruko a secret.

Looking back, he admitted that he’d reacted a bit hot heatedly. But you couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t gotten more than three hours of sleep each night, for the past two weeks.

Naruko wasn’t fairing all that bad. He tried not to be to bitter about it.

Anyway, it started before history and it was absolutely stupid.

The two most aggressive fan girls had come up to him. Naruko knew who they were and immediately hid her emotions. The girls were very obviously screeching at each other.

‘Ino-pig, get away from him, I was here first and it’s my turn to sit next to him.’ She called out, while the other one gave as good as she got.

‘Really Sakura or should I call you giant forehead? You really think—’

He had honestly stopped listening at this point and was ignoring everything that happened at his right side, when the girls came to a decision.

‘Naruko go sit somewhere else. It’s our turn to sit next to Sasuke. Stop trying to keep him all to yourself.’ Sakura said obviously annoyed.

Ino didn’t say anything. Probably because she could see Sasuke’s angry face, while Sakura focused on Naruko.

She groaned loudly. ‘Naruko. Stop pretending you can’t hear me. Get out of that seat!’ She said rather loudly again. ‘What right do you have—’

Sakura continued as Sasuke turned to Naruko and tipped her shoulder, she looked at him surprised, but before she could ask what was going on, he had pulled into a searing hot kiss, with tongue and everything.

When they pulled apart a few moments later it was deadly silent and then they heard Iruka scream. ’Not you two again! What the hell Sasuke? Yes, you have a girlfriend, no need to freaking eat her face at school. Got it?’ He commanded, while Naruko had blushed brightly and Sasuke just smiled self-satisfied.

The silence was nice, he thought and then the weirdest thing happened. In a volume nobody could have anticipated, Sakura screamed, ‘You stole my first kiss.’ and tried to launch herself at Naruko.
 
Naruko stared at the girl in front of her, then at Sasuke and asked ‘What?’

Ino seemed equally as angry, as did several other girls, but they didn’t voice their concerns.

Sasuke groaned, Naruko glared at him, Sakura screeched at her and tried to grab her, while Iruka restrained her.

‘Happy now?’ She asked gesturing to the mess. Sasuke looked down at the table.

‘The kissing part was really nice.’ He finally conceded.

Naruko laughed as she let herself lay down on the table in front of her, resting her head on her crossed arms and watching Iruka escort Sakura out.

‘I don’t think it worked the way you hoped it would.’ She finally said and he couldn’t have stopped it if he wanted to.

He laughed.

Ino stared at the two of them for a moment before she sat down next to Sasuke.

‘So, I lost?’ She finally asked.


Sasuke looked at her. ‘Don’t take it personally, but there was no competition.’ He finally said.

The girl nodded, feeling immature and silly and kind of weird for having pushed so hard. In the end, she may have escalated things and confused stuff because of her rivalry with Sakura and her need to win against her.

She groaned. ‘Sakura is going to take this the hardest.’

Sasuke stared at her, completely uncomprehending. ‘I’ve never even talked to her. It’s just a silly crush isn’t it?’ He asked somewhat annoyed.
Ino blushed even harder, she didn’t know if she was embarrassed for Sakura or because of her own behavior.

‘Let’s hope so.’ She finally said.

 

X


 

That evening Iruka was at Naruko’s apartment for a surprise visit. But he shouldn’t have bothered because they both had been training and were now exhausted and in pain and they’d moved the extra futon to the living room.

Both of them eagerly waiting for their soup to be done.

Well, Naruko was eagerly waiting.

Sitting on the Futon, with her back propped up against the couch, while Sasuke was dozing on the couch.


‘He really can’t sleep without you, huh?’ Iruka asked after a while.

Naruko stared at Sasuke and carefully brushed his hair out of his face. ‘Doesn’t seem like it.’ She grumbled. ‘I’m going to feel bad for him, if he isn’t able to pull off his training regimen, just because you and the Sandaime have suddenly become really interested in our living situation.’ She said staring at the older man.

‘You know when all of this attention would have been really nice and not weirdly uncomfortable?’ She asked. ‘When I was six years old and they gave me this apartment with barely anything in it.’

She stared at the pot on the stove, before she remembered who she was talking to.

‘Sorry Iruka, this isn’t about you. It’s more about the Sandaime. You didn’t even know me back then. It’s not your problem, really.’ She said tiredly.

Iruka stared at the young woman in front of him and realized that she was rightfully pissed and wasn’t that the worst? She had been alone from the start and then she had managed to slowly build a home for herself and her friend and the whole time nobody had cared and now that they were almost of age it was suddenly important enough for an ANBU to guard her?

For her teacher to impose on her every other night?

 

He only had himself to blame. If he hadn’t thought like an older brother that day, he wouldn’t have put them both in this situation.
It was clear as day, that they were very careful with each other.

Iruka honestly doubted that the two of them did much more than kiss.

Worst of all, Sasuke had a serious problem. He couldn’t sleep. This wasn’t just some game to him. He truly couldn’t find peace. 

He stared at the two of them and nodded to himself. ‘I’ll talk to the Sandaime about my chaperoning. You are right, we have been behaving ridiculous.’ He nodded towards the both of them. Even though Sasuke was still out cold.

Then he stopped. ‘Just in case— If you do want to you know, become sexually active—’ He groaned, ‘You know all about safe sex, right?’ He finally asked exceedingly uncomfortable.

Naruko stared at her teacher. ‘I’m learning all about the theory of seduction in my kunoichi classes. We’ve already had the protection class, but they decided I wouldn’t be suited for seduction anyway, because the Kyuubi burns through any form of birth control pill the same way he does with poisons. Ryosuke is currently looking into a shot for me, for long term missions. The Kunoichi classes have also been very thorough about every other form of birth control.’ Naruko finally said when the timer rang.

‘You know it took us years to tell each other that we liked us. I don’t think anyone has to worry about us doing anything anytime soon.’ She admitted, while steering the soup.

Iruka nodded. ‘I’ll talk with the Hokage about my chaperoning and Naruko?’

She hummed.

‘Tomorrow I’ll treat you two to Ichiraku, anything you want.’ He said smiling. Naruko nodded her thanks and smiled back.


‘Thank you Iruka!’ She called out to him as he walked away.

Sasuke blinked his eyes open when she put a bowl of tomato soup in front of him.

‘Thanks.’ He mumbled.