Maybe Uzumaki Naruto was expecting too much. But could you blame the boy? All his years no one wanted to befriend him. And now someone wanted to, he actually made someone smile! A girl, nevertheless. It was... refreshing.
For some reasons, there's still a doubt in his heart that Lucy was just playing with him, but still he showed up. A fool he may be, but really, is it that bad to yearn for friends?
"Naruto-kun!" he heard a call from his left, and there he saw Lucy, he painted a beautiful smile. "You showed up!" he said, giddily as the blonde approaches. Lucy gave him a thumbs up
"Of course I would, I never break my promises you know?"
Celestial mages always keeps their promise.
"You said you'd come back, Luce.."
Lucy's eyes widen when his–his voice echoed in her mind. It was full of pain—
"Lucy?" Naruto waved a hand at her face, making her snap back to reality. He looked worried, and scared. "ah– eh, Na–nat— Naruto." She shook her head and smiled sheepishly at the boy "Are you alright, 'ttebayo?" he asked, frowning.
"Yeah, I'm fine...just, remembered something... " Lucy said, before she heard a grumble. Naruto blushed and held his stomach, it was a bit unexpected but not surprising, considering he hadn't eaten yet since last night, and now it's... afternoon.
"u–uh... I'm sorry, 'ttebayo.. " He said, his cheeks tinted red. Lucy blinked at him before giggling "You're hungry, huh?" Naruto only nodded "Say, Naruto-kun, how about we get some ramen?"
Naruto's face lit up like fireflies "Waaaah! Lucy-chan you're a goddess! " he said forming waterfall tears. Lucy chuckled at the boy before speaking "Welp! I guess lunch's on me!"
::
"You also want to be a ninja, Lucy-chan?" Naruto asked, after hearing Lucy's plans to enter the academy. "Yes. It's just... ninja's fascinate me and they're cool right?" She said playing by the mindset of every child who wanted to be one, not knowing the horrors that comes within the job.
Quietly, she thought how such a sunshine like Naruto would survive in such a bloodthirsty world.
He was too jolly, too bright for this world. He reminded her of life back in Fairy Tail when the war was yet to begin. Hopeful, Bright and Adventure. She solemnly swore that she would do everything so that children like Naruto could survive in such world.
Naruto although a child, she had already considered her friend. She wasn't going to let him die.
"Of course they're cool, 'ttebayo! The coolest! I'll become the coolest ninja ever and be the Hokage!" Naruto gushes, Lucy wondered if the child knows the existence of the amount of paperwork in the Hokage's tower.
She really couldn't picture Naruto doing those, but then again who knows? The blond is still a child.
"Why do you want to be Hokage, Naruto-kun?" Lucy had asked, because- really, she couldn't just picture Naruto holed up in the Hokage's Tower signing papers, going in and out of meeting and organizing here and there. Not that she's saying he wouldn't be a great leader. He does have the charm to make people listen to him.
Naruto blinked at the question completely not expecting it "So I could get recognized." He answered dumbly "Well, you could get recognized even if you're not a Hokage, Naruto-kun." Lucy said taking a bit from her food.
"But i-it's the Hokage, of course it's gonna get the biggest re-cog-ni-tion!" He said stressing out the complicated word. "Do you think I can't be Hokage?" He asked solemnly, thinking of the worst. That Lucy will laugh and say yes, and that the joke is over and she doesn't want to be his friend anymore.
"No! I mean, of course you can be! I believe if anyone can do it, it's you! Uzumaki Naruto!" She quickly clarified, sighing when she realized that it was way too early for this conversation and that, maybe she went over the line.
"It's just that, there's gotta be more reason than that, Naruto-kun. The Hokage position is the highest in this village and in ninja ranks because it has more works to be done and-" she sighed stopping when Naruto was eyeing her weirdly because of course a four year old will not get what she was talking about just yet.
"Look, Teuchi-san! Why do you work as a chef with a ramen stand?" Lucy called out the man who was behind the counter silently listening to them as they talk. "Well, I want to earn money. But I guess I love this job because I love cooking too, and listening to customers when they come here to relax. You'd be surprised to hear how much people come here with different stories." He told Naruto, who was listening very well.
"I think that's what your new friend is talking about, Naruto. If I only want to earn money, I could do other works. But I love this job for other reasons so I do it." He said, before quietly returning to his work.
"So I need other reasons why I want to be Hokage?" he asked, frowning. Lucy nodded "Yeah, I'm not trying to burst your bubble or anything, Naruto-kun. If you want to be Hokage I wont stop you, I'll support you. But I'm just trying to introduce you to other opportunities that you might love too!"
She let silence hung in the air a little longer, before sighing "You can think more about it later, you have all the time in the world. Sorry for bringing it up so sudden, I was being nosy." She apologized, feeling a bit guilty that she had probably just tilted the poor boy's whole viewpoint.
"Is okay, I guess... no one has ever really told me that, 'ttebayo. No one believes I could be Hokage, so why would I think other... jobs could suit me too, no one really... well, there wasn't anyone to.." He let the sentence trail off, unable to finish it as he scooped ramen from the bowl and into his mouth.
But Lucy understood. It seems that the Hokage was the only one who talked with Naruto apart from Teuchi and his daughter. And of course the hokage was respected and recognized, Naruto viewed him as some godly figure. With no one to talk to him, he didn't even consider any other opportunities because-
Because nobody wanted to talk about his future, because the damned village hated him for some fucking unknown stupid reasons and was hoping he wouldn't last long enough to consider job opportunities.
The only reason people seemed to accept that he wanted to be Hokage or simply doesn't care is that it would put him in the line of dangerous shinobi work which they hoped will kill him off.
Konoha looked so fucking jolly but it sucked, Lucy scowled darkly at the realization.
"I understand, Naruto-kun. I do." She said placing a comforting hand on the probably sulking kid whose world was just tilted, metaphorically. "I'm here now, you don't have to be alone. If you want to talk about anything, you can come to me. I promise I'll be listening." She said, smiling softly because she remembered how it felt to lose voice. To be silenced and desperate to be accepted.
How it felt to be trapped in her Heartfilia surname and relieved when Fairy Tail was there for her, listened to her long rants and whining without telling her to shut up and act hostile. And crying out of relief and guilt when she felt happy that she had abandoned the Heartfilia name for the Dragneel, even if she dearly loved her maiden name. If she could be that kind of comfort for Naruto, then she would be.
"Really?" Naruto asked, Lucy nodded still smiling at him "Yes, really. Always. We're friends right?" She asked, and was shocked when she was suddenly embraced by the child, who was shaking.
"Thank you, Lucy-chan." She hugged back.
"Always, Naru-kun. Always, you can call me Lu-chan by the way. If I could call you Naru-kun."
"Thank you, Lu-chan."
TO BE CONTINUED.
( A/N: AHAHSHAHAH HELLO, i believe this note is necessary. I'm not a constant here in wattpad since I deleted the app from my phone and is now using our computer to update and I've been busy these past year with so many shit going on my life I wont even specifiy if it's academics, family of my forsaken lovelife. Sorry for not updating it and having a very short ass chapter. I just wanted to show you how Naruto and Lucy's character attachment started.
Yes, I truly think that as the reason why Naruto from a young age wanted to be Hokage and why the villagers was o-kay with him being a ninja, hoping he could be killed along the run.
I love the Dark Leaf Village. so who knows what the hell will i do to this story's plot hahhahash. I'll be back-ish )