Memories of the Future

A/N: omg, where have i been?! boredom, tx - population me, that's where. i went home for spring break where there was absolutely no internet connection. i did get to go to the movies with a friend though, so eh. and i totally meant to update before i left, but it didn't happen. i'm soooo sorry!!

thanks so much for all your reviews! if you had a question, i don't remember it, so feel free to ask again or e-mail me.

this chapter starts out with a little... um, i don't know what kind of fruit. uh, how 'bout apple? (what? it still has some kind of acid in it) but it's just words, really short, and leaves _everything_ to your imagination. sorry! (heh heh...)

enjoy!


same tags apply


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Memories of the Future: Chapter 6 - Shikamaru
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“Ah, Sasu, harder… ngh…”

“Dobe… still so tight…”

“Surprisi-hi-ngly… ah!”

“You’ll wake the kids, now.”

“Shut it and fuck me harder!”

“So testy…”

“AH! Not funny t-teme…”

“No, never funny, dobe.”

“I love you, Sasuke… AHHH!”

“Dobe!”

>*<

Naruto lay panting in bed, sweat covering his body, eyes staring at the ceiling blankly. He didn’t know what had brought on that dream, perhaps a deep longing to once again hold his husband in his arms, but it had been such a devastation to awaken and find that it hadn’t been real.

The dream had been so vivid. Naruto scrunched his nose and silently cursed his overactive imagination. Or was it a memory? Well, it was definitely a memory, but for his subconscious to manifest it in the form of a dream, did that make it his imagination?

Naruto shook his head. Waxing philosophical, or even psychological, was not something he wanted to do so early in the morning, so he threw back the covers and slipped out of bed. As a chill settled around his delicate frame, he threw a longing look back at the bed. It was so cold in Konoha!

As he walked to the bathroom, Naruto let his senses expand to see if anyone else was in the mansion. The sunlight streaming in his window told him it was late morning, and he felt bad for sleeping in. He hadn’t made anyone breakfast, and now they were all gone. But last night had been so emotionally draining he just hadn’t been able to pull himself out of unconsciousness until that dream.

Naruto felt a small chakra signature cross over the barrier Sasuke had set up so many years ago, and he halted his grooming. His shinobi instincts kicked in, and despite being garbed in only his underwear and… that chest thingy that women wore, which he could only guess that Ayame had bought for Kyuubi, Naruto moved from his room to find the intruder. His long black hair hung low, brushing against his bare back. He didn’t have a weapon, but he was Uzumaki Naruto, whether he looked like it or not!

He went quietly down the stairs, quite thankful that Yuki’s lithe frame was too small to set the old stairs to creaking. Once he reached the landing, he silently turned a corner into the hallway between the family room and the kitchen and dining room, looking for the intruder. When he felt that he was right on top of him, Naruto looked around in confusion when he didn’t see anyone.

A low whistle had Naruto looking down at his feet. “Hey, toots, looking good.”

Naruto’s eyes squinted in confusion after he recognized the visitor. “Pakkun? What are you…?” Then Naruto realized how he was dressed, or rather how he wasn’t, and his face turned scarlet. “You are such a pervert!” And he dashed back around the corner and up the stairs.

His outfit that Ayame had given Kyuubi was too dirty from his flight through the forest the previous night, so he quickly grabbed a kimono from the closet and set about putting it on. He was just tying the obi when Pakkun joined him in his room.

“What’s the idea breaking into the house, dog?”

“Kakashi said I could just let myself in.”

Naruto muttered under his breath about perverted dogs and their idiot masters. “Why did Kakashi-sensei say you could come in?” Pakkun looked at him strangely, and Naruto rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I got his name wrong. What else is new? Now spill.”

“Hn, well, he said that since you slept through practice today, which I still can’t believe he’s letting you get away with, he said that he’ll take you out to dinner tonight so you can talk. He’ll pick you up after the Uchiha is home safely, as I think you’re supposed to escort him home again tonight.”

Naruto looked at Pakkun a moment before asking, “Do I escort him home every night?”

Pakkun gave him that look again. “I guess you got hit on your head harder than anyone thought. You should have Sakura check you out. But no, you don’t escort him every night. Just when you’re not on a mission, and recently since most ANBU are getting ready for the jounin exam.”

“You do realize that means that I do, in fact, escort him home every night?”

“Hm, I guess it does. So then, yes, you do.”

Naruto sighed. He hadn’t escorted Sasuke home last night, as busy as he was with Kakashi, but he didn’t exactly think that Sasuke wanted anything to do with him after how badly he’d upset him the other night.

“Then please tell Kakashi-sensei that I will see him later tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Pakkun then disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving Naruto with nothing to do until later that evening. Looking around his room, Naruto thought of everything he needed to do. When nothing came to mind earlier than dinner for the Uchiha clan, he returned downstairs to see what there was in the pantry.

Nothing. Nothing was in the pantry. Naruto looked around the kitchen and spotted a note on the counter. It was from Ayame saying that she’d cooked breakfast after Sasuke told them to let ‘her’ sleep and that the shopping list was on the refrigerator if ‘she’ had time today.

Naruto looked to the refrigerator and saw the list in question. Having nothing better to do, he snatched it up and started for the door. His money pouch was fit snuggly in his obi, so he slipped on his sandals, grabbed a basket, and left the mansion.

The streets of the Uchiha district were as deserted and bleak as ever, but the winter snow and ice made it seem a place of evil and regret. Naruto shivered in his kimono. In fact, everywhere he looked, Konoha was a dark and foreboding place. The sun was a bit weak, and the people he passed didn’t smile and looked quite pale and sleep-deprived. What in the world had happened to his village?

The trip took longer than Naruto could recall, and he figured it must be from how slowly he had to travel to keep from falling in the kimono. Every now and then he’d have to stop and tug it from under his feet. Then he just decided to take smaller steps.

When the market came in sight, Naruto sighed in relief and approached the vegetable merchant, who was closest to the edge of the market.

“Well, if it isn’t Yuki. Are you all alone today?”

Naruto didn’t like the way the merchant was staring at him, but he reluctantly answered, “Yes.”

“You hear that, guys? The little murderer is all alone today.”

The merchants closest to the vegetable stand began to laugh with the man in front of him, and Naruto stood confused in the midst of it all. Had he said ‘murderer’?

“Well, by all means, Yuki, let’s help with your shopping list!” The woman merchant at the fruit stand grabbed what looked to be a rotten apple and hurled it at Naruto. It hit painfully against his hip, and Naruto dropped his basket in surprise. Then the vegetable merchant chucked some rotten vegetables his way, and Naruto’s anger started to rise.

He hadn’t been treated so badly at the market since he was a genin, and he quickly forgot he wasn’t supposed to act like himself. He caught a fish that was hurled at his head and tossed it back at the fishmonger. The man ducked, but the fish hit a wooden support beam and cracked it. The wood groaned ominously, but didn’t buckle. The vendors stared at him in shock.

“What the fuck is your problem? Throw one more thing at me, and I won’t hesitate to kick all your asses!”

No one moved as Naruto glared at them, and even the customers in the market tried to edge away from him. Most, however, were trying to gather around to see the commotion. Naruto heard whispers of ‘murderer’ and ‘gone crazy’ sweeping through the crowd, and his anger grew. But before he could lash out again, someone cut in.

“Look, all you people just need to go back to whatever it is that you were doing. Gathering in a crowd like this in a small area is too troublesome.”

Naruto whipped his head around, his hair loose and swirling around his body. Shikamaru stood staring at him in his usual bored manner, and Naruto wanted to weep in relief. Shikamaru’s bored stare turned playfully annoyed.

“Yuki-chan, why are you shopping by yourself? You knew this would happen, though I must admit I was surprised to see how you reacted.”

Naruto blushed. “I apologize, Nara-san. Ayame-san asked me to shop.”

“Ah, and you haven’t shared with the Uchiha kids how people treat you, eh? Well, I could see why you’d hesitate. You’d just have to tell them about your mother if you did that.”

Naruto blinked in confusion. Yuki’s mother? He hadn’t heard about her, except that she’d slept with an S-class criminal. But now that he thought about it, he wanted to know who she was and why she had abandoned Yuki. Maybe that would be something he’d ask Kakashi later.

“Listen, Yuki-chan, don’t worry about this right now. My wife will come by later and deliver what you need. Just give me the list.”

Naruto reached into his obi for the list and looked through his lashes at Shikamaru. “And she won’t mind?” Now was the perfect opportunity to find out who Shinsuke’s mother was!

“Mind? Tch, Temari’s the one who usually comes with you.”

“Temari?” Naruto stared at the genius in shock. He’d married Temari? Gaara’s sister, Temari?

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, Temari will just buy your stuff while she shops for ours. Gaara and Kankuro are coming for a visit. The boys love when their uncles visit.”

“You could have fooled me. I didn’t think Shinsuke showed any kind of emotion other than boredom.” Naruto gasped at his own slip and wanted to slap himself for it, but all Shikamaru did was sigh in resignation.

“Don’t I know it. Temari’s always on my case, saying I’ve ruined her precious boys with my lazy and nonchalant demeanor.”

Naruto hid a laugh behind his hand. Leave it to Shikamaru to cheer him up without knowing it. Naruto took this time to take in the sight of his old friend. Shikamaru was wearing a jounin vest, so Naruto could guess that he probably had a team, whether genin or chuunin, he didn’t know.

“Anyway, what other plans do you have for today, Yuki-chan? Why aren’t you training with your team?”

“Ah, Ka-Hatake-sensei, he let me skip practice today. I wasn’t feeling very good this morning.”

“Should you be out then, Yuki-chan?”

“I assure you I am fine, Nara-san. Thank you for your concern.”

“Whatever, you just be more careful from now on. We’re all worried about you.”

“Whatever are you worried about me for?” Naruto was suddenly afraid that he’d screwed up beyond repair without knowing it.

“Well, for one thing, you hit your head by falling down in a faint. Two, Shinsuke has been saying that you’re actually a ‘cool person’ when you want to be. Three, you went shopping by yourself. Now, Sakura can’t find anything wrong with you, but it’s too troublesome to have to keep wondering if you’re going to hurt yourself, so be a little more careful, ne?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes in a glare that used to accompany red irises and slit pupils. “If and when I ever need anyone to worry over me, it’ll be when I lay dying. I’d appreciate it if people would just accept that I’m having some trouble right now, no, not trouble that needs the help of others. It was good to see you, Nara-san, and I extend my deepest thanks to your wife, but I think it’s time that I was going.”

Naruto bowed and picked up his dropped basket before turning and walking away. He wasn’t really mad at Shikamaru, but he didn’t need the entire village noticing that Yuki wasn’t acting like herself.

As he walked away, Naruto heard Shikamaru mutter, “Well, she seems to be back to normal. Women, so troublesome.”

Naruto smiled a little. Now he knew how to act as Yuki – a total bitch. And it would probably be fun to be rude to everyone who had ever treated him badly. But it was just after noon, and he was starting to get hungry. Naruto turned in the direction of his favorite ramen stand, lamenting that he probably couldn’t eat as much as he wanted.


TBC


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did you see that coming? ahahaha!

anyway, i have the next chapter all set, but i'm waiting until tomorrow to post it because i want to give it one more once-over. and all of you are going to hate me when you read it. remember how i said that tsunade wasn't the only person dead? well...