Sealed Heart

Hi! Long time no updates...sorry guys ^^ Well I have Chap 5 and 6 for you so if you're still interested please read and review. You could also check out Aarinfantasy forum if you like since I do post my stories there and usually update there first. Just to let you know Chap 5 is not betaed coz my beta seem to dissapear without a trace...again but fortunately I found someone else but she betaed starting Chap 6 and above. *sigh* Sorry if it's a painful read. If you found any mistakes please let me know. Thank you ><

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Chapter 5 : The Wheel of Fate
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Naruto decided that he hated Uchiha Sasuke the most as he stared through the bars of the locked cell he was detained for the night.


During the rather heated verbal exchange between him and Sasuke, just outside of the restaurant, a patrol car had suddenly stopped by and not long after that he was taken away to the police station due the reason of not being able to produce his ID card on the spot.


Naruto knew this sort of thing would come sooner or later since Konoha's law was pretty strict on things such as these. Being the hub and centre of commercials, Konoha City's rules and regulations helped to maintain the peace and stability of prosperous city to this very day.


He wasn't angry when the police took him away. What made him angry was the fact that Uchiha Sasuke had the nerve to smirked at him while he was taken away. "I hope you stepped on dog shit, teme!" Said the blond out loud, wanting to wipe off that smug look on Sasuke's face back then.


He glanced at his wrist watch and saw that it was 4.45am and stifled a yawn. He tried to salvage what little sleep he could but the cold, concrete slab that was his bed for the night didn't help much. Shivering slightly, Naruto tried to sustain some warmth with his own body heat, wishing that he had a jacket over his cotton t-shirt.


"Hachoo!" Great. His ass was freezing and now he was catching a cold too. Life is so not fair. Absentmindedly, Naruto pulled out the blue crystal pendant that hung around his neck and stared at it.


Whenever he was feeling sad, Naruto would look at the crystal and found his heart soothed and comforted. He didn't know why it helped. Maybe it was the thought that this crystal was the only thing he had, that was left of his mother was what did the trick.


The old lady, Tsunade, told him that 23 years ago, he was found at the front door of the orphanage, all alone crying, wrapped in layers of blankets in a basket. She found an envelope with a blue crystal and a letter stating that the baby boy was named Naruto and begged anyone who found him to take him in. The letter didn't really state that the crystal belonged to his mother, but Naruto preferred to think that way as it was much more comforting that way.


As a child, whenever he was being taunted or bullied around by the local children, he would go sat at the river bank nearby the orphanage and cried in silent while holding the crystal pendant in his hand. Even though he heard rumours saying that his parents had abandoned him because he was cursed and didn't want him. Naruto had always positively looked at this from a different point of view. He couldn't believe any parents would willingly abandon their own flesh and blood, no matter how bad or cursed the child turned out to be.


Another yawn escaped from the blond's mouth. All of this thinking was making him drowsy and as he pressed his back against the cold wall, he found himself slowly drifting off to sleep, dreaming of arms that wrapped him in a warm circle of their embrace belonging to his faceless parents that he had so many times dreamt before.

*****

"Morning!" greeted Sarutobi Asuma as he entered the office at 8.00 in the morning. A few of his fellow officers greeted back as they saw the dark head detective passed by them.


He made his way to his desk and sat, looking at the mess before him; a few crumpled papers and some documents were left scattered all over his desk, his cup of some of yesterday coffee by his phone and an empty box of donuts was left on top of his letter tray.


"Anything new?" he asked his friend, Kurenai Yuhi, a female officer and close friend of Asuma since way back at the Academy.


"Nah. Nothing much." She said. "Asuma, you should clear that mess on your desk before the Chief comes in."


"Is he in?" Asuma sat, glancing at Yuhi’s meticulous desk to his own disorderly one, and frowned. “Can’t a guy be a slob when he wants to around here?” he grumbled on but prompt to tidied his place nevertheless.


"Hey, Yuhi, seen Zabuza this morning?" Asuma scanned the room for any signs of his new partner of 3 months.


"Well…he was in about an hour ago. Don't know where he's now though. Maybe he went out to grab some donuts or something."


"Pfft…that damn son of a bitch don’t eat donuts. I can’t imagine him having a sweet tooth either.” He said which made Yuhi laughed.


“And how are things between you and Zabuza so far?” she asked. Yuhi and almost everyone on the police force knew that the partnership between those two were not so good as everyone had expected it to be.


“What the heck do you mean by how are things with me and that Eyebrowless freako?” muttered a disgruntled Asuma with a frown, as he slipped a cigarette between his lips. Damn it! He was supposed to wait for him here. There's no way he's going around Konoha just to look for him either.


"You know what I meant, Azuma. And No smoking!" reminded Kurenai, pointing to the no smoking sign on the wall.


"To hell with the sign. This here…" Asuma said holding his cigarette up to Kurenai, "…helps keep my nerves in tact. Besides, no one pays attention to that sign, anyway."


After a few puff of his cigarette, took out his cell and attempted to contact his partner's number a few times before shoving the phone back into the pocket of his pants. "****ing bastard won't pick up the bloody phone!"


"Why bother calling him when you already know he won’t pick up your calls, Asuma. What do you expect? It's Zabuza after all."


"Yeah…yeah…and he's a pain in the ass." He sighed and waved to Yuhi. "I’m going to check at his place. If the Chief comes looking for me, tell him to get me a new partner, because I might just kill Zabuza when I finds him."

******


It was now 9.00 am. Naruto stared blankly at the officer who held the cell open and beckoned for him to come out of the cell he was held since yesterday.


"Uzumaki Naruto. You're free to go"


"I can go?"


"Yes. Someone just came for you."


Who? He wondered as he followed the officer out of the room. Kiba? A few minute later after signing some papers at the front counter. He stared in disbelief as he caught the sight of the familiar face of the person who was supposedly the one waiting for him.


Angry blue orbs met cold obsidian ones. Quickly, the blond turned around and said to the officer behind the counter, "Take me back" he demanded. This must be some sick joke. There's no way in hell that uptight bastard was the one waiting for him!


"I don't understand….Er…Uchiha-san's waiting for you, Uzumaki-kun." The officer was confused by the blond' sudden angered reaction.


"No way in hell I'm going with that bastard!" he said glaring at the tall, raven haired man waiting for. "Take me back!" he demanded and all eyes in the hallway turned at the rather angry blond with interest.


"Hmph," came the Uchiha heir's disconcerting voice. "You should be thankful that I even bothered to bail you out, moron."


"Look, bastard! I was here in the first place because of you, remember?!!!" He was about to lunged at the smirking brunet with a punch hadn't another officer held him back.


"Kakashi" Sasuke called his driver coolly. Why can't the damn dobe obediently keep quite for once in a while.


"Sir!" Sasuke knew that his driver was probably finding this funny too and laughing inside his head.


"Che…Just bring him along even if it kills him. I don't have time to waste on idiots." Came the curt order.


"What!...Hey!!...What are you doing!!...Put me down!!!" The blond yelled when the silver haired driver heaved him on his shoulder and carried him effortlessly out through the doors.

******

Hatake Kakashi glanced at the rear mirror of the car and smiled. His young master was reading a book in silent as he usually does, while their blond guest sat as further away as possible from the brunet.


This ought to be fun and interesting to watch, thought Kakashi as he recall the little sparring session between Sasuke and Naruto yesterday afternoon. Finally, someone who could stood up against his young master and add some spice to the young Uchiha's orderly yet bland life.


******


The blond stared in awe at the huge, two floored house before him. So this is what a mayor's place looked like, he thought. After a 45 minutes ride from the police station, they came to a stop at Mayor Sarutobi' s official residential area. The house was situated in Konoha's Boulevard, where, Naruto guessed was where the rich and famous resides. And snobbish, he added glancing at the raven haired who was wiping non existence dust off his crisp, tailored dark grey suit.


A man stood at the entrance of the house and welcomed them in. Another man asked them to follow and they were lead up to one of the rooms on the second floor whereby they we politely asked to sit and wait for the Mayor.


A few minutes later Mayor Sarutobi entered the room and smiled widely to his guests, "Kakashi…Sasuke." He nodded to the two men then turned his attention to the blond who stood by the window and had earlier discovered that the garden view form above was indeed a sight to be seen. "Naruto, right? Come here and sit near me, lad" bid the old man to the blond.


Obediently, Naruto sat on the chair near the Mayor and waited curiously for the old Mayor to speak. He had never seen or met someone important before, much less than the Mayor so he admitted that he was a bit nervous when Kakashi told him that the Mayor wanted to meet him in person.


"Come now. No need to be rigid. Relax, young man. I just wanted to see if you're alright" The mayor could see that the blond youth was tired and exhausted. He felt genuinely sorry for him after what had happen yesterday. He was carried away to his car for safety and didn't know what had happen after that till he asked the Sasuke about the matter. Of course after hearing that the blond was still locked up at the police station, he had requested that Sasuke bring back the youth to him as soon as possible.


The Mayor glanced at the worried look on the blond' s face.


"Um…ano…am I in some kind of trouble, Mayor? 'Cause I'm really sorry for yesterday. I mean, it's not my fault though. Akamaru dragged me along but no harm was done, right?" Then Naruto remembered and he jumped out of his seat much to the surprised of old man, "Oh my god!" The blond yelled. "Akamaru!" he groaned then added with a worried look on his face," Oh no...Kiba's going to kill me if anything happened to him!"


"Now…now…son. Sit down. Kakashi's has already seen to your four legged friend. I assure you Akamaru is safe at home by now. So there's nothing to be worry about." Said the Mayor.


"Really? Oh god. Thank you, Mayor." He said with a sigh of relief. "Akamaru's a nice dog. He didn't mean to cause any trouble. Of course I'm glad you're alright too, Sir."


"No harm done, Naruto."


"Hmph. No harm?" interrupted Sasuke with a snort. "The dobe bulldozed me over and almost ruin my Armani suit." Said Sasuke in a displeasured tone.


"Hey! No one's speaking to you, teme!"


"Moron."


"Grrr!!! I'm leaving!!!" he felt his temper rising every moment he looked at the cold, aloof look on the raven-haired' s face.


"Tsk…come down you two." The Mayor said.


"Sorry." Apologized the blond to the elderly man then glared at the raven haired man. Why was he the one apologizing for the both of them?


"Hmph" Sasuke said which was about as close to an apology from him and glared back at the blond man he found so irritating.


The Mayor sighed but was mildly amused by this childish behaviours from both men.


He cough to get their attentions, "Now…Sasuke brought you here, Naruto, because I asked him to. I wanted to apologized for what happened yesterday afternoon."


"There's nothing to apologized, Mayor. Besides…um...I'm just glad that you're not injured or anything." Yeah. He should thanked his lucky stars that Akamaru didn't ran over the old man instead. Akamaru was pretty big and heavy. He would probably break a bone or two if anyone got knocked over him.


"Good. I'm glad everything's settled then." The Mayor glanced at his watch. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I have some urgent matters to attend to, Naruto" He said apologetically. "Right then…Sasuke will take you back home."


"Err…that’s not necessary, Mayor. I mean, I can call my friend to pick me up."


But the old Mayor insisted and in the end he agreed. "I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't mind, right, Sasuke?" The old man asked smiling to the raven haired and Sasuke reluctantly agreed, trying not to look too displeased with the idea.


"Well…see you later Naruto. Have a safe trip."


"Yeah. And thanks, Mayor" The blond said with a smile. For someone that held the highest authority and position in the city, the Mayor wasn't so bad as he'd imagine him to be.


When they were about to leave the old Mayor called out to him, "Wait. Naruto. Can I see that pendant you have, there?" Mayor Sarutobi asked, eyeing the small blue-crystal object hanging around his neck from a thin gold chain.


"This?" Naruto asked, holding up the crystal for the Mayor to see.


"Yes." Nodded Sarutobi. The old man took the pendent that the blond, detached from the chain and eyed it with interest. "Where did you get this?" he asked after looking at it for a few minutes.


"I don't know, Sir. I've had it ever since I was a baby."


"Hmm." Thought the old man, a thousand of questions ran across his mind. He looked at blond and smiled then handed the pendant back. "It's such a lovely crystal. The colour quite matches your blue eyes too, Naruto. Well…thank you for showing it to me. Kakashi, please escort him back to the car." He said. "Sasuke and I have something to discuss for a minute"


Sasuke looked at the old man. "What was that all about, Mayor?" Sasuke asked after Kakashi and Naruto had left, leaving only him and the Mayor. He had a feeling that the old man had something on his mind.


"This may seemed strange all of a sudden, Sasuke, but can you do me a favor, son?"


"What is it, Sir?"


"I'd like you to keep an eye out for Naruto. Can you?"


"May I ask why?"


"Let's just say that I owed a dear friend a favour, Sasuke."


So, what has this to do with the dobe? Not a good enough reason, old man. But Sasuke nodded in agreement nonetheless, "I guess you have your own reason for not telling me?"


"I can't say exactly for now. But please do as I say, Sasuke. " He was surprised to see that not only did Naruto looked like the man he used to know, he even had the very same pendant worn by the same man too. Coincidental? He think not. Anyway, he had better keep an eye out on Naruto. He owed this much to him; his dear friend and loyal citizen of Konoha. He and the whole of Konoha owed that much to that one man who, had selfishly sacrificed himself 23 years ago.


******
End of Chapter 5


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