The Secret of Our Lives

Chapter Eight: The Shun of Konoha

A few days had past since the two showed more than friendship towards each other. Sasuke had spent the past few days over at the blonde's barely leaving the small apartment. He avoided leaving in the day, and made his nightly rounds quickly.
"Naruto, do we have to leave? Why can't we just leave at night?" Sasuke complained.
"All of the shops are closed at night dummy! C'mon, let's go." Naruto teased.
"Please... let's just stay inside." The raven-haired boy continued to protest.
"Sasuke, The citizens of Konoha aren't going to bite you as long as I'm around, alright? Now come on, you're being silly." The boy chuckled grabbing the Uchiha's hand, not bothering to slip shoes on.

The two walked the streets of Konoha barefoot towards the cities shops. Villagers would occasionally shoot Sasuke nasty looks, but would quickly turn their heads when the blonde looked over.
"How many glares so far.." Naruto murmured.
"Fifteen and still counting." Sasuke replied.
"Damn fools... they'll pay if they're not careful." The fox grumbled.
"Yeah well they're being careful, that's how you haven't caught a single one of them." The Uchiha reasoned. The blonde groaned at Sasuke's logic, but quickly hyped up,
"There!" he yelped, grabbing hold of the raven-haired boy's hand again.
"N-Naruto! You dobe, people are staring!"

Dirty glares surrounded the two at they entered the little shop.
"Heyo!" Naruto giggled, trying to lighten the mood, but he was soon dragged down again.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?!" The man behind the counter bellowed. "Get the hell out of my shop!" He screamed, throwing a large potato at Sasuke.
"The hell is your deal?" Naruto shot at the man behind the counter.
"What the hell is yours? Walkin' around with that disgrace! You may be the hero of the leaf but you walking with scum like that is gonna lower your rep!" Naruto was busting with rage.
"Naruto.. it's okay, really." Sasuke muttered.
"Like hell it is!" Naruto shot back. (A/N: sorry for saying hell so much!) He bent over and picked up the potato just used as a weapon, and chucked it back at the man behind the counter. The blondes aim was perfect, making direct contact with the man's nose. They heard a crunch, followed by a river of blood and screaming.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SHOP!" The man screamed.
"Gladly!" Naruto bellowed back and grabbed the Uchiha's hand again, leading him outside.
"Naruto... that was kind of intense... AND PEOPLE ARE STARING AGAIN."

"Maybe here?" Naruto muttered, the glare count was up to forty-five. The boy was losing confidence in his fellow villagers to forgive and forget. The same as before, the man behind the counter screamed and threw something at Sasuke. Enraged the blonde threw it back and broke the man's nose, and bellowed for them to go and they left again. "Maybe not there." the fox sighed.
"Naruto, maybe I should just go home.." Sasuke offered.
"No. You're staying with me, these people will get their grip eventually." The blonde grumbled.

Again and again they ran into the same problem. There was a pile up of broken noses throughout Konoha's shops at this point. Finally they arrived at the only shop that they hadn't been in yet. "Maybe you should wait outside?" The fox tried to smile and give the man confidence.
"Yeah... alright.." He sighed sadly, causing Naruto's smile to fade. Looking around them, seeing that no one was glaring, the blonde pecked the Uchiha's cheek before sneaking inside the store.
Moments after he entered, Naruto heard yelling from outside the shop. 'Oh please tell me that's not you...' Naruto thought, anxiety building quickly in his gut. He tried to ignore it, hoping for the best and gathered his groceries when he heard his name.
"NARUTO!! NARUTO!" It was Sasuke. The blonde dropped his basket on the spot and bolted outside. An angry mass was quickly building up around the Uchiha.
"And just what the hell do you all think you're doing?!" Naruto screamed, but wasn't heard. The boy summoned a shadow clone and was getting ready to whip up a rasengan when the mass dispersed and turned their glares towards him. Flashbacks of his childhood played like a movie on a high-definition screen flew through the fox's mind.
"Why are you trying to protect something as disgusting as the last Uchiha?" A village shinobi barked.
"Who the hell are you to say we're not aloud to take his rage out on him?" Another bellowed.
"You're still the hated nine-tails jiinchuriki so don't get all proud thinking you're all high and mighty!" An angry old lady barked.
Naruto stared at them. "And who the hell are all of you to be teaming up on a fellow shinobi? To be ruthless and giving him all of your fowl emotions? Everyone makes mistakes, but he's trying to fix his." He spat, grabbing hold of Sasuke's hand once again. "Leave him alone. If I ever see so much as a scratch on him and I know it was one of you, you'll be hurt. I don't care how angry Grandma Tsunade gets at me, I will avenge the pain you made him feel as if it was my own." Silence across the large surrounding group. Naruto had enough of glaring at them, "C'mon Sasuke.. let's go home."