Behind the Waterfall

#31 Kidnapped

"I have to talk with you." Naruto said, his usually confident voice small. Fuu sat down next to him, taking his hands as he turned to face her completely. She could see in his eyes that he was struggling to find words for what he had to say. She wasn't ready when he pushed a bit of his chakra into her, pulling her into his mind. Although she had been there one time already, she was still amazed how the boy managed to get his mind into the state that it was. She had tried to make it a bit more homelike for Chomei as well, but she only managed to let a bit of grass grow and have a small cave appear in the wall. Naruto's mind was like a whole other world. She silently followed the blonde as he walked towards the small wooden cabin.

"Take a seat." He offered as he sat down on the couch, the only furniture that existed in the house.

"I didn't want anyone to listen in on this." He replied to her questioning look. They were sure that Tsunade had already sensed them, they just didn't know if the sannin would wait for them to contact her or if she would try to spy on them before making contact.

"I really don't know how to talk about this." He started, his voice shaking, none of the confidence she had come to know from his voice.

"You know, that I am from Konoha. However, I know that I have not really talked about my past in the village. You know that I was banished and why, but there were reasons why I never really fought against the banishment even though I knew that the Hokage would be on my side." He let go of her hands as he took off his shirt.

"There is no easy way to say this, but I think if anyone can understand, then it is you." He stated as he turned. Fuu's eyes went wide as she gasped.

"I am so sorry." She whispered as he turned back after a while. Pulling the teen into a hug, she felt him sigh against her, presumably trying to hold back the memories he had just uncovered.

"It's not your fault." He replied, his voice shaky.

"That is why I don't trust many people, especially in Konoha. I have to be honest, if Sarutobi wouldn't have promised us so much money I would not have accepted this mission and to be proctor of the exams. I really don't want to be there any longer than I have to." He explained, Fuu pulling out of the hug and looking at him with confused eyes.

"But why did you even agree to go there with me? You said that you would have gone there regardless." She asked, not seeing a reason why Naruto should want to go to Konoha ever again, after what she had seen on his back.

"Well, there are two people that I really want to see again and I wanted to keep in touch with them. And you wanted to go, so.... Yeah." He replied, sheepishly smiling through his teary eyes. Fuu wanted to be angry with him, that he would torment himself with the memories of such a place just for her sake and the sake of two other people, but she couldn't. She didn't even know what to say, as she watched him wipe the tears from his eyes.

"I just wanted you to know, before we went any further in our relationship. You already know about Kurama, so you should also know about that." He said, a sad smile on his face.

"If you think, that will scare me off or something, then you are wrong." Fuu stated, taking his hands back into hers as she smiled.

"I may not have had it as bad as you did, but we are here now and that is what matters." She continued, pulling him into an embrace again.

"Thank you." He whispered into her neck.

The memory brought a small frown on her face as she saw the scars on her boyfriend's back in front of her mental eye. Naruto looked at Ayame with a sad smile, shaking his head.

"It's alright. I didn't think the rumors were true anyways." The brown haired girl smiled back, taking their empty dishes and putting them away.

"I was actually thinking about something. When we find a place where we want to settle down, would you consider moving there?" Naruto asked, surprising Fuu. They had not talked about settling down somewhere. Ayame was surprised as well, looking towards the back of the stall where her father had gone to put something away.

"I don't know, that is a big decision. I will have to talk with my father about it. It would mean losing our whole customer base." The woman replied, earning an understanding nod from the blonde.

"I know, I will stay in contact. If we find some place we can discuss it further." Naruto said, paying for both their meals. They said their goodbyes and started their walk towards their hotel.

"Settling down?" Fuu asked as they walked. She wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, but she wanted to know what Naruto imagined when he said it.

"Yeah, I mean in the future, I don't think that we will want to stay rogues forever. So I thought that we would look for a village where we could be accepted as we are and where we can find work." He replied. He also hoped to start a family someday, but he thought that was too early in their relationship to bring up something like this.

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead." Fuu admitted, she had only thought that they would establish a small base somewhere in the forest, but hadn't thought about anything further.

"It was just an idea, we don't have to decide something like that now, we'll see where we will end up." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulder.

"You really like them, don't you?" Fuu asked, thinking back to the Ichirakus.

"They are the closest thing I have to family." The blonde replied, as they arrived at their hotel.

They were almost asleep when they heard the knock. Slowly rising, Naruto and Fuu looked at the door, wondering who would want something from them at this hour. Another knock confirmed that the person was not going to go without a reply. Fuu looked at herself, making sure that she was decent, before walking over to the door, opening it.

"Anbu?" She was surprised to see the masked shinobi.

"Fuu, the Hokage requests your presence immediately." The voice was devoid of any emotion, as usual for an Anbu that was on duty.

"Give us a minute, we will come to the office." The green haired girl replied. As she turned she felt a hand on her shoulder, her eyes widening as she felt her chakra being cut off.

"I said immediately." The Anbu said, before vanishing with her.

Naruto reacted quickly, putting on his gear in record time and grabbing his weapons as he still heard the small scream that Fuu had managed to get out before she was gone. Flashing to the Hokage's office, Naruto was ready to spring into action without a warning until he realized that there was only one other person in the room.

"I was told you would come." Was the only thing the Anbu said, holding out an envelope before disappearing in a shushin.