I'M ALIIIIIIIIIVE.
Enjoy my stupidity.
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"Careful there naruto, you might just trip over yourself."
Naruto didn't bother looking behind him to know who was mocking him. it was hard not to recognize the voice of his brother. His older brother.
The blonde bit his tongue, biting back any comeback that was about to slip out of his mouth. He knew that the other was only looking to start a fight.
And blame it on him.
It was an old game that started when they first entered the academy, and now, almost three whole years later, menma was still trying to play him like a fool. He was just trying to rile him up, give him a reason to lash out, start a fight, and ultimately get in trouble with their godparents who seemed to always side with their older grandchild.
"Aww, nii-san cares about me? Don't worry I'm alright!"
Well, it takes two to tango, and naruto has already learned the moves of this little dance by heart. and he would never admit it out loud, but the way menma's almost perfect smile twitched to something more irritated, filled him with absolute joy. it was almost like getting a good-job head pat from his father or a candy reward from his mother for getting good grades.
"Of course he does!" A voice called out from behind them, and Naruto smiled, finally turning around to watch two girls make their way to the small group. Menma's smile clicked right back into place while the boy walking besides him, Sasuke, seemed to ignore everything around him. "you're menma-Kun's little brother after all! and he cares about you!" ino pointed out as she and sakura caught up to them.
The younger blonde almost rolled his eyes.
Yeah, right.
she gave naruto a small wave while sakura watched menema with a suspicious gleam to her eyes, but it went away as her gaze found Sasuke walking by him, instead getting replaced with something way fonder.
"Teehee, I already know that ino-chan!" naruto laughed, taking joy in the way his 'loving brother' was struggling to keep his gentle smile, and when menam turned his attention to the two girls and proceeded to ignore his existence, the whiskered teen considered it a small win.
Gotta count the little victories that you get.
With everyone mostly distracted; except for the Uchiha who seemed aloof and only looked ahead as he walked with the air of a young prince but naruto didn't care much about him as he knew the guy never really acknowledged him anyway; the blonde took a sharp turn, splitting away from the group without a sound.
Time for some much-deserved ramen break!
He merrily made his way to his favorite ramen stand, not caring, or rather unaware, of the sharp onyx eyes on his back.
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Getting back home with a full tummy and going straight to flop on his bed was such a wonderful feeling. naruto grabbed the nearest pillow and hugged it with a content expression on his face.
the house was empty, there was a clan meeting for some critical business naruto had no business knowing, so both his parents were stuck in the Hokage tower for the time, and his siblings were out with their friends, doing their things.
'looks like we have the house all to ourselves then!' he thought, reaching across his nightstand to grab the shiny golden statue. despite naruto owning it for more than three years, the golden fox was as glamorous as the day he got it, showing the amount of care that went into cleaning and polishing it. the prized possession however spotted one singular tiny scratch across its chest.
naruto dragged his fingers across the little fallacy and huffed.
this single scratch is exactly the reason why none of his siblings are allowed within ten feet of the statue. unless they would like to relive the same events that happened a year ago.
it had been a rainy day, which meant that everyone, everyone being him, his siblings, and his mother, was stuck inside till it stopped pouring. kushina had busied herself with reading some old scrolls none of them were allowed near, while mito and menma sparred, although it seemed less of a spar and more of a reason to hit each other, which left naruto and Narumi.
while the second youngest was up for hanging out with his older sister, the girl dismissed him saying she had better things to do. so he decided to just go and bother his mother instead. after a few moments of persistently standing in front of her, his mother put the scrolls down with amusement dancing in her eyes, and decide to humor him.
some time had passed with them sitting together. talking and pointing out mistakes in the mito and menmas stances and moves.
it had been peaceful.
till they heard Narumi's approaching footsteps and what she said next almost sent naruto flying off the couch and toward her.
"where did you get this statue?"
all eyes now focused on her as she held the carefully made kitsune statue in her hands. a sight naruto found himself despising.
"Hey! that's mine! give it back!" he yelled, jumping from his spot to claim back what's his, only to have Narumi hold it over his head with a determined look. he felt rage boiling right under his skin, at the tip of his fingertips, there was a slight stinging sensation in his cheeks.
"Answer me first!" she demanded, using one of her hands to try and push naruto away. keyword: try. the boy grabbed that hand and harshly yanked down at it, causing the girl to yelp and stumble. "none of your business! give it back!" he used her momentary imbalance to grab his possession out of his hand.
"hey-"
"Narumi! naruto! stop fighting this second!" their mother got up from her seat in a hurry, standing between the two kids as they glared daggers at each other. "what is this all about?" she asked, eying them both with a look that dared them to defy her authority.
narumi was the first one to speak, pointing at naruto as if he had just killed her pet. "he took the fox statue from me!" she explained, gesturing to the golden kitsune he was holding, her tone indicating that she felt wronged as if it was only natural that the boy should just let her have his possession. "I was just asking a question!"
kushina turned to her son, expression disappointed. "naruto! that's not how treat your sister!" she scolded, oblivious to the way Narumi's eyes lit up with satisfaction. "give back her the toy back." she ordered and Narumi extended an arm with a smug smile. she looked at him expectantly.
too bad he wasn't having any of it.
"no! she's not getting it." he hissed, taking both females by surprise.
"Naru-"
"It's mine! Kyuu-chan gave it to me!" He kept going, interrupting his mother, causing her to shut her mouth and frown.
Carefully looking at the statue and back at her son she speaks again. "Kyuu-chan is the nice person you met in the temple right?" She asks, trying to properly recall the incident.
"Yeah! They gave this to me as a gift!" Naruto confirmed with a scowl, turning the possession in his hands, checking it for damage.
Kushina sighed. "Narumi-chan? That's your brother's. Why would you take it?" She asks. "You should know better than to do that!" She scolded, watching her daughter pout.
"I just want to see it..." She grumbled, watching Naruto sigh in relief when he found no scratches on his gift. "It's a just a toy after all!"
The blonde's eyes snapped up to level her with a fierce glare.
"It's a statue made out of gold." He corrected and she immediately scoffed.
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"No-"
"Enough!"
Kushina sighed yet again. Feeling a migraine coming, she reached to massage her temples.
"Gold or not, you shouldn't touch what's not yours without asking permission, narumi-chan."
Narumi frowned, clearly displeased by the side her mother was taking. She clenched her fist tightly, fingernails pressing against her palm hard enough to leave red marks.
But that was all she could do, seeing as her mother had already made her mind and pointed to her being the one at fault. Yet, the barely contained giggles that reached her ears made her blood boil. Snapping get head up, she glared heatedly at the two other kids in the room.
Mito was seated, tired from sparring, her face almost as red as her hair as she tried to hold her giggles in. Menma was not so different, leaning against the wall, pretending to tend to his sore wrist, but his shaking shoulders gave him away.
She turned to face the 'reason' of this entire problem, only to find him walking away, presumably to hide his possession from preying eyes.
'as if I would let you walk away just like that.'
She bit her tongue for a brief second before turning to face her mother with what she hoped to be a pretty convincing 'kicked puppy' look.
"So I just need to ask for permission?"
Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and narumi took a tiny bit of satisfaction in that.
Kushina raised an eyebrow, hands slowly lowering. "Well, yes." She started. "You just need to ask nicely."
Fine...
She faced Naruto.
His eyes were wide, staring at her silently.
There was a simple message behind those deep blues.
'don't you dare.'
She narrowed her own bright eyes at him.
"Ne Naruto, can I have the Statue for a moment?" She asked, batting her eyelashes for effect, although it was clear that it was for nothing but mocking. "Please?"
Kushina raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, instead turning her attention to her youngest.
"When somebody asks your permission, you have the right to refuse if you don't want to." She reminded, seeing as the boy looked extremely unsure.
Naruto gave his sister a look. He already knew what she was trying to do. He stuck his bottom lip and squinted at her. Before biting out his response.
"Sorry...but I really don't wanna give it to you..." He gave his mother an unsure look and she just smiled encouragingly, so he continued. "It's really precious to me...sorry."
His mom nodded satisfied.
But narumi wasn't, her face starting to turn red as she puffed her cheeks.
"But I said please!" She grumbled.
"Just cause you ask nicely doesn't mean he has to say yes." Kushina explained gently, moving to collect her scrolls from the small coffee table. "Just like you refused to give mito your rush even when she asked nicely."
"Pfft- look at her face-"
"It as red as your hair-"
She whipped around, glaring daggers at her younger siblings who continued to giggle, completely ignoring her.
Naruto watched the scene for a few moments before turning to leave.
Only to get pushed to the ground from behind and fall, dripping the golden kitsune in the process.
"HEY-"
"narumi!!"
The small blonde pushed himself off the ground with a semi-loud groan.
He heard his mother loudly scolding narumi while menma laughed in the background along side mito.
He huffed, looking around for his possession.
His eyes brightned when they landed on it. Only for his pupils to suddenly shrink into slits when he saw it.
A small yet noticable scratch, on one of the arms of the fox.
Naruto can't really remember much of what happened next. All he knows is that he got in trouble, narumi was crying and neither mito nor menma were laughing by the time he was done.
Well...ANYWAY-
That was all gone and good. No need to dwell on it more than necessary.
He had final academy exams to study for.
Naruto hummed softly, letting his eyes wander over the room. "I should clean up before studying..."
Of all things that changed during the years, his messiness wasn't one of them.
"I should go get a snack!"
And neither did his sort attention span.
"Get snack, clean room and study-"
Perhaps he should practice the academy techniques first? That'll help his appetite-
Before his mind could wander even further, he jumped off bed and headed to the house's backyard.
The final exams were only a month and some days away, and he was instructed to start studying from now on as he wasn't really the sharpest kunai in the pouch.
Eh, he wasn't worried.
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:)))