Secret No More

Chapter 4

    Menma was already going to town on the Ramen with tomatoes when Naruto got downstairs. He was seated on one of the stools around the island and eating happily, making Naruto smile. Naruto took a seat next to him and followed Menma’s lead, saying thank you for the food and digging in. The two ate in comfortable silence for a while until Menma decided to break the silence. 

    “What's in the other bag?” Menma asked, gesturing to the plastic bag and effectively breaking the silence. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked to where he was gesturing. He swallowed and grinned. “A present from me and Sasuke.” was all he said in reply. Well, technically it was more a gift from Sasuke than Naruto, since the former had offered the idea and purchased it, but Naruto had had a say in it and picked it up from Sasuke before he left for his mission. Which he was due to finish in about a week.
    At the mention of his father Menma lit up like it was christmas. It had been almost a month and a half since he had seen his father (not that he was counting, that was weird) but even so, gifts from him were very few and far between unless it was his birthday or christmas, and he always cherished the things he and his mother gave him.

    “What is it,” He asked, lowering his chopsticks.

    “You can’t have it yet,” Naruto replied, taking another bite of his ramen, “you have to finish eating first.” Menma gaped in disappointment before gaining a look of determination and turning back to his ramen, continuing to eat at a somewhat quicker pace.
    The two of them finished at around the same time and one glance at the clock on the stove told Naruto it was around 1:30 in the afternoon. They cleaned up after themselves and Menma took off to the living room, sitting down on the dark gray couch and practically vibrating in anticipation. Naruto grabbed the bag and followed after him, handing it over to him and taking a seat next to him on the sofa.
    Menma took the back gratefully and crossed his legs on the couch before peering into the bag and reaching in pulling out each item one at a time. The first item he pulled out was a sketchbook, which was perfect since he had just filled up his last one. He grinned widely and put it beside him.
The next items he pulled out was a new pair of black pajama pants, custom made with his clan symbol on them, and two shirts. One shirt went with the pants, and was dark blue with the clan symbol on the back of it, and the other was a black tank top. Which would go perfectly under his jacket (or robe), which was a blue-gray color with gray lining and went down to his ankles with fur around his shoulders and tied with a red ribbon. He placed those to the side as well and pulled out the final item.
The final item he pulled out was a Kitsune mask; white with red accents. It came attached with a small note from Sasuke that Naruto was able to read as Menma looked at it and his mask over.

Menma,

    I figured I would get you some things to try and make up for the fact that I wont see you for a while, thanks to Naruto-

Naruto made a face.

But it can’t be helped. It is his job after all, just like this is mine. I’ll try to finish my mission as quickly as I can and still have time to visit you before I go visit my ‘wife’ and Sarada. Hopefully you and Sarada will befriend each other when you start at the academy soon, then you can meet under somewhat normal circumstances. 
I wish you well in the coming weeks, and hope you like your gifts. Maybe draw me a picture or two of the garden with your new sketchbook, I always love seeing your drawings.

See you soon,
Papa.

    Naruto smiled fondly. Sasuke still wasn’t the best at blatantly emoting his feelings, but Naruto felt nothing but pure love from the letter, simple as it was. He could tell that Menma did too, if the smile on his face was anything to go by.
    Menma leaned over and hugged the blonde, who started running his fingers through the spiky black hair.

    “Thank you, Mama,” He whispered, “I love you.”

    “You’re welcome, Menma. I love you too.”