Finding a Bit of Trust: Chapter 4

Title: Finding a Bit of Trust

Chapter: 4

Fandom: Naruto

Word Count: 1,211

For: TrulyWicked

An: Finally!! *falls over with a soft thud* After fighting with the Naru muse, we find something cute. Mind you, this here? This is fluff that will happen, but the story itself is gonna be kinda sad since Naruto has to return to his normal self in personality and mind set. It'll take a bit of time.

Okay, so enjoy. Remember, reviews are loved upon!

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Curled up on the cot, Naruto stared at the curtained window, watching as they danced in the light breeze. Tsunade had opened the window enough to let in the breeze so he didn't feel confined as he napped, but it didn't really matter to him at the moment.

He was worried about how he was going to be treated now. He looked like he supposed a demon would look like in human form after all. Ears and a tail, whisker marks that sat high on his cheeks. Claws and more defined, though rather delicate fangs that flashed every time he so much as thought about smiling. It wasn't going to be a good reception he had a feeling.

Moaning quietly, Naruto rubbed his cheek against the pillow under his cheek, eyes hazy in thought. They kept turning to why Sakura had done what she had done. He just couldn't figure it out. Was it because he had so many missions and she hated that the village was starting to trust him, albeit slowly? Or did it have something to do with Sasuke? He had thought she had gotten over that long ago, and had actually liked him.

Sitting up, he shoved his hair out of his face before looking up and blinking at the door as his ears twitched forward at the softest sound of leather brushing against fabric. He had a feeling he knew who it was since there were only a few people who dared to wear leather, even inside of the village walls. Smiling softly, Naruto watched as his suspicions were confirmed, a strong, slightly scarred hand opening the door as an equally strong, scarred body stepped into the room.

“Hello, Ibiki-san,” Naruto greeted, getting a soft smirk from the other man. He didn't think he'd ever really seen Ibiki smile or cackle when it wasn't connected to freaking out his enemies or opponents. But then again, the blond really doubted he wanted to see a smile. He much preferred the soft smirks that he got; they always seemed to have more behind them.

“Hello, Naruto-san. I was told you were still resting,” Ibiki said, eyeing the ears that twitched amongst soft hair, barely disturbing the long locks. The reminder just made him want to go back and slam Sakuras head into a wall a few dozen times before shaving her bald before he shoved the urges into a dark closet in his mind. No need to frighten the young male before him.

Naruto shook his head and sat up completely, curling his arms around his knees. Even being nearly 20 years of age, he still held a look that was young, sweet, almost criminal in the way he could pull off a very young teenager. He often was teased by Kiba or Ino on the subject but he just brushed them off with a smirk of knowing what was going on in their minds. Ibiki on the other hand was having a hard time reminding himself that Naruto was far from a child and hadn't been in a very long time.

“Not really. Maybe earlier but my mind started to annoy me,” he admitted, his voice soft, nearly caressing the interrogation experts body in its sweetness. The large man had to beat back the urges that it drew up, his nearly nonexistent eyebrow twitching ever so slightly.

“I see. Well, I am offering you a place to stay while we try to figure out if the ears are permanent or not,” he continued, his tone not betraying what was going on in his head. “I live in a rather large home on the outskirts and you'll be able to feel free enough to train and do things without worry of being attacked suddenly by one of the few idiots left in the village.”

“What about my apartment? I need to gather my stuff up, including my plants…” Naruto started, trailing off at the thought of some uncaring nimrod hurting his babies. Ibiki snorted and shook his head, moving to settled down onto the only chair that was in the room. Leaning forward to rest on his knees, he laced his fingers together, watching blue eyes zone in on them.

“I'll have someone who you can trust go gather your things, or if you want, I can have a few of the ANBU gather them while you're there,” he offered, watching Naruto look back up with a wariness that shouldn't be there. He was really hating the civilian part of the village for doing what they had done to the young man before him.

“You will let me stay at your place? Why?” Naruto asked, shifting and watching the other man with a calculating look on his face before biting his bottom lip in thought. “What would I have to do to stay with you?”

“Just continue to do what you need to do. Train, figure out how this affects you, your balance and your chakra,” Ibiki stated, staring straight into Narutos eyes with a frown dancing on his lips. “Leave it to me and Tsunade to do damage control and figure out what the hell Sakura did. We have some of the information on what she did but not all of it. Even using Sasuke to get the information, she still left out quite a bit of what she did.”

“Did she say why she did it?” was the tentative question, dark eyes filled with sadness. He had a feeling he knew just why she had done it but the young man was trying so hard to deny the fact of the matter.

“She did it because she thought that you were taking Sasuke away from the important things. Her and his training,” was the answer. The tone it was delivered in was cold, dark with displeasure.

“I see,” Naruto sighed before shaking his head with a frown. “You mean to tell me, all those times I used code she knows, she didn't connect it to training or doing missions for ANBU?” he asked after a few moments of thinking, eyes flaring in displeasure.

“Precisely,” Ibiki snorted, a twisted smirk flitting over his thin lips. “Apparently, anytime she was around the Uchiha, her mind went into something Anko called fangirl mode. What ever that is,” he continued, watching Naruto shiver, his ears go flat and his tail fluff out.

“Any time you see a glint in a girls eyes that reminds you of Anko when it comes to her dango or Orochimaru, run. Just run. That's a fangirl sparkle and it's a scary, scary thing,” the young fox told the older man, nodding his head and making Ibiki burst out into booming laughter.

“I think you'll do just fine with me kid. Come on, let's head on out and get your stuff together, yes?” he asked as he stood up, getting a scowl from the fox, the glare more of a pout then an actual glare.

“Don't call me kid! And fine, that sounds good. Do we have anything to hide my new attributes with?” he asked, before the door was opened and a coat came flying at him.

“Get out of my office,” Tsunade snorted, smiling at the pout she got from her little brother.

“Tsunade!”