Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto: Pieces ❯ The Sweet Smell of Flowers ( Chapter 3 )

Naruto: Pieces
Chapter 3: The Sweet Smell of Flowers

Naruto sat on the floor of his new home eating some Instant Ramen and watching TV. He has been living with Anko now for a couple of weeks and he had to admit, he liked it here even though Anko made him do her 'Daily Chores' which consisted of getting her favorite dangos when she asked for them, giving her back massages, take out the garbage, clean dishes, picking up around the house, washing clothes (When he first started to wash their clothes Naruto's nose trickled with blood every time he handled with Anko's lingerie. Of course Anko had planned this out from the beginning and caught a few good laughs and teased him about it by calling him Hentai-Chan, but he soon found a solution to the problem by ripping a small piece of tissue paper and sticking it up his nose to stop the bleeding.), and doing just anything she basically says to do. He felt more alike a maid most of the time than a real boy who was suppose to be out play around with friends and such but it really didn't bother him all that much, it was better than doing nothing and it kept him busy while he was alone until Anko had come back home from her missions.

While flipping through the channels and feeding himself at the same time Anko walked into the living room yawning and stretching at the same time.

“Watch ya watching twerp?” She asked as she sat down on the couch behind him.

“Nuffin.” He mumbled while slurping his noodles, “There's nothing on.”

They sat there for about five minutes and she watched the TV screen go through many different stations. Click click click click this continued on for another five minutes.

“Pick a damn channel already!”

The clicking from the remote stopped and Naruto threw the remote at her. It whizzed past her head and hit the wall with a bang. Naruto sat still, not moving an inch for he could feel that deathly glare Anko was giving him. It was like feeling an evil presence in the room. Even though you can't see it, you can feel it.

Anko got up and punched Naruto in the head, it wasn't a hard punch and nor was it a light one, but just enough so that it would hurt. Loosing his grip on his Instant Ramen it spilled onto his lap burning his legs and other areas as well.

“Ow ow ow.” He moaned as he got up and danced in pain.

Anko burst into laughter and collapsed into the couch. As the pain seceded Naruto stood in front of the TV with now wet stained sweats frowning at Anko. Her outrageous laughing came to a slow with her rubbing her eyes clear of tears and heavy exhalation.

“That wasn't funny!”

“Maybe to you it wasn't.” She said smirking.

Anko looked at the clock that hung in the kitchen and quickly got up.

“Damnit.”

“Hm, what?” Naruto asked curiously.

“I'm late, I was supposed to meet with my team ten minutes ago.” She said as she walked towards her room.

“Another mission?”

“Yup.” She yelled from her room.

He could hear her swearing and cursing and rummaging through her piles of clothes she had thrown all over her room. “What kind?”

“Why do you always want to know?” She asked as she poked her head out through her doorway.

“I dunno, just wanna know.” He said as he picked up some lanky noodles off of the floor.

“Well,” she started as she came out of her room, “I don't even know what kind it is this time. But the Captain said he would brief us when we group up.”

Naruto stopped what he was doing and starred at Anko. She was wearing a new outfit he hadn't seen her wear yet. She had on a black long sleeve shirt that was cut above her stomach so that it exposed her slim body and over that she wore a tanned color vest with a coral pink scarf that hung around her neck. On the lower part of her body she wore slops which were also black and fairly long.

“You like?” She asked as she posed for him.

Naruto blushed and looked away and went back to picking up the rest of the noodles off the floor, “Where d' you get that anyway?”

“Hmm Ive had it, just never bothered to wear it.” She stated as she scanned herself.

“Why wear it now all of a sudden?”

“Thought it wouldn't hurt to wear it.”

Naruto finished picking up the mess of noodles and walked towards the kitchen. “Mhm,” he hummed lightly, “You sure you didn't wear it just because all of your other clothes are dirty?”

She scowled at him and put her forehead protector on, “Well if someone did the laundry...” she trailed off.

Naruto froze in his tracks, he set had set himself up. Anko went to the balcony sliding door and slid it open.

“Oh and uh don't forget to do the laundry before you leave.” she said as she snickered and stepped onto the balcony.

“Before I leave?” He repeated.

“Oh almost forgot,” she walked back into the room and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper that lay on the coffee table and scribbled down. Handing Naruto the paper she quickly made her way back to the balcony, “A friend of mine needed some help down at her shop and I happily volunteered you to help her.”

“What?!”

“Ah don't get all mad you little runt we could use the extra money. Besides we cant live off of Instant Ramen forever. Those are the directions to the shop. Just tell her I sent you. Later.” She closed the sliding door and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Naruto looked down at the piece of paper and sighed, her handwriting was sloppy, but readable. Even though he liked working he didn't feel like leaving the house today for some reason. He turned the TV off and went to his room then into Anko's collecting all the dirty clothes he could find, sometimes Anko had clothes hidden under her bed, behind her bed, on the balcony, and other places he is sure had not found yet. Sometimes he wondered if she did it on purpose to give him a bad time or if she was really that careless with her stuff. After washing all her clothes with the help of his new 'Technique' saving him from nose bleeds he took a shower put on a plain white shirt and some tan colored khaki shorts and left the apartment.

-Streets of Konoha-

After an hour or two of wondering around aimlessly Naruto had found his way to the shop, no thanks to the villagers. He had stopped and asked for help occasionally and they would give him directions but they always sent him in the wrong way so he stopped asking after the first few times until he saw the Old Man. Naruto liked him a lot, he was one of the very few people who would stop and talk to him. Naruto stood in front of what looked like an flower shop. He looked up at the sign that hung above the door into the shop and read the words aloud, “Yamanaka Flower Shop.”

The shop was a simple one, it was located in he center of the village and it stood out from amongst the other shops. The outside of the shop was painted white while in the front of the shop were rows of small vases and flowers of variety of colors sitting in rows of two or three. Making his way in into the shop the smell of all kinds of different flowers were too much for him making him sneeze.

“Bless you.” Said a voice to the side of him.

He turned to his side to see a beautiful young woman with long blond hair smiling at him. She had light blue eyes and her skin was smooth as cream. Her golden hair rested on her shoulders and she had long bangs that were neatly combed to the left of her face. Naruto was caught in her state of beauty and tried to say thank you but the words wouldn't come out.

“Hey Mom, where do these new flow-”

Naruto was broken free of the state and now looked at what looked like a miniature version of the blond haired lady but only with shorter and lighter colored hair. She wore a short sleeve orange shirt that had black outlines around the sleeves that went up to the collar of the neck. Naruto was once again trapped.

The little blond's cheeks blushed slightly, “What are you staring at?!”

“Ugh...” Was all Naruto could say.

“Ugh what? Can't you talk right?”

The older lady giggled and stepped in, “You must be Naruto.”

“Um, yea.”

“Anko told me a lot about you.” She said as she took the flowers from her daughter and put them on a shelf.

“I didn't even know Anko even had friends.” He said bluntly.

“Ive known her since she was just about your age.”

Naruto thought for a moment and then did the math in his head, or at least tried to, “Whoa, your pretty for an old woman.” Naruto stated as he scratched his head.

The lady kept her composure but her smile weakened slightly, “Ugh wh-why thank you.” She said through her closed teeth.

“Hey!” The miniature girl yelled, “You don't call a lady 'Old' especially if its my mom!” She walked up to Naruto with a closed fists.

The lady grabbed her child by the collar of her shirt stopping her from inflecting damage on the boy. “Sorry about my daughter,” she said as she put her hand over the girls mouth, “She can tend to be a bit to outspoken at times.”

Angry muffles could be heard as the girl continued to try and get out of her mothers grasp.

“Daughter?”

“Yes, her name is Ino.”

Naruto stared dumbly at Ino then smiled, “No wonder why she is just as pretty as you.” He said still smiling.

The angry muffles stopped and the once angry small little blond was quiet. Her mom released her grasp over her mouth to unveil a rosy cheeked Ino.

“I'm Naruto!” He greeted happily extending out his arm for a handshake.

“I'm Ino... Ino Yamanaka.” She replied softly as she reached for his hand.

Naruto who was still smiling gleefully shook her hand.

Why is he smiling so much? Wondered Ino as she departed the handshake.

“So what should I do?”

“Hm?” Hummed the older lady.

“Isn't that why I'm here?” He asked as he examined the rest of the store, “To help out or something like that.”

“Um yes, yes. Hold on for one second.” She said as she walked to the back of the store. Coming back out with an apron in one hand and a small shovel in the other.

“What am I doing?” He asked as he eyed the small shovel and apron.

“WE are planting flowers around the village.”

“What?!”

“What you gonna cry about that now?” Spat Ino as she put on her apron.

“I don't cry.” Argued Naruto.

The two continued to batter each other through out the rest of the day, challenging each other to see who could plant the most flowers, who could plant the fastest.

These two... Thought Ino's mom.

It was nearing the end of the day and the three of them managed to get a lot of the work done, which surprised Ino's mom because she estimated that around this much work would of token her at least a almost a whole week to do. But thanks to their little challenges they made they were able to get two thirds of it done. She looked down at the two children who were panting heavily beside her. Dirt covered their aprons and had a few smudge here and there on their faces, legs, and arms.

“Thank you for all your had work today Naruto.”

Naruto looked up to Ino's mom and wiped his face with his hand, “No problem.”

She nudged against Ino's back and she got the point, “Yea thank you.” She said barely audible.

“What d' you say Ino?” Asked Naruto.

She let out a large sigh and mumbled her repeated words.

“What was that? I couldn't hear you.”

“I said YES THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!”

Naruto gave her his fox like looking smile in response.

“Oh Naruto, I almost forgot.” Ino's mom went inside her store and came back out with an envelope, “Here.” She said as she handed it to him.

Naruto took the envelope from her and wondered what was inside it.

“It's for helping me out today. You deserve it.”

“Hm?” He gave her a puzzled look.

She simply smiled at him and he put the envelope in his back pocket. He waved goodbye and said he'll see Ino later. She waved back and said the same thing.

Wait did I just say that? She thought to herself.

As Naruto walked off into the fading day Ino's mom looked at her daughter who stood next to her, “Looks like you made a new friend.”

“Um...I guess.” She said as she took off her apron

-Anko's Apartment-

It was four in the morning when Anko looked at the clock that hung in the kitchen. She had gotten back from her mission sooner than she thought she would of have. She had small cuts and bruises across her body, nothing fatal, though she had lost her scarf in the midst of battle. Her mission today was to track down some rouge ninja and eliminate them, it should have been easy and simple mission, and it was... well the tracking them down part was. They proved to be no push overs.

Walking into the living room where the only source of light was besides the full moon outside she turned off the TV and spotted Naruto sleeping soundly on the couch curled up into a ball in his blue pajamas. She chuckled then got a blanket and covered him up. Taking off her headband Naruto stirred a bit in his sleep. Looking at his face she could tell that he was having a nightmare. She was all too familiar with those as she experienced them almost every night since she was eight. She ran her hand through his hair softly and he slowly eased back to his normal sleep.

A/N: Ok so first.......Yippee for update! Second thanks for the reviews and yea my writing could use some fixing up. In the beginning I think I used the chan suffix wrong _ oops, I will edit that later and I'm sorry if going OOC on the characters. I don't mean to but I will try to fix that too. If you have any questions or suggestions leave it in the review or just message me. Thank you.