Chapter 17: The Apartment on the Top Floor

Chapter Seventeen – The Apartment on the Top Floor

"Since I don't like to wait or make people wait… I'll end this quickly." - Sasori

Naruto was waiting patiently on a bench on One Legged Parade. She had been asked to wait there for Kushina, but so far she had not shown up. Naruto had been eager to meet her, and had showed up half an hour early though she could just as well waited inside the orphanage. Their meeting place was visible from her room window.

Still, she wasn't complaining. Naruto was too busy being nervous about what would happen next to dwell on ifs and how's.

She would be talking with Kushina. Her mother. Someone who had no idea who she was, and never would.

It was taking everything in her to keep thinking that way. To maintain calm despite feeling like her insides were tearing apart. But she had years of experience. Naruto had decided early on that no one could know who she was.

If she ever started babbling about being from the future, she would receive a one way ticket to the mental ward at Konoha hospital. And the staff there had their hands full with war victims at the moment. Plenty of people couldn't take the pressure of war, it had little to do with physical strength and more to do with how good you were at repressing what you'd done and experienced.

The second- and slightly less likely option to telling the truth- was that she'd be branded a traitor. An enemy ninja who'd been sent to infiltrate Konoha disguised as a confused and lonely girl with a wild story. The reason she'd been accepted into Konoha was because she'd been alone, had a believable story, and last but far from least; Jiraiya had vouched for her. When she had arrived Naruto had stayed away from anyone of importance. Naruto had not tried to get to know Kushina and Minato, because why would she? Why would a random stranger go up to two prominent ninjas of Konoha just by accident? Especially after already being publicly accepted by none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin? There could only be so much done by coincidence before people started asking questions. So she had stayed away. Especially from Kushina, because she'd been afraid what would happen if an outsider started conversing with the current jinchūriki of Konoha.

But now she had an excuse. At last Naruto had a plausible reason to interact and get to know Kushina just like she had wanted to do for two long years already. And that meant she probably would get to talk to her father as well.

But all this depended on Naruto staying quiet about her origins. Not telling anyone who she truly was and where she came from. People knew her quite well by now, so she thought it was more likely she'd be branded insane instead of a traitor, but both options were highly unwanted. So she kept her mouth shut. Even if it meant she had to lie straight to her mother's face.

"Hello Naruto-chan!"

Her mother was waving to Naruto from down the street. Her long red hair tied into a high ponytail while wearing the standard Konoha uniform. Naruto grinned nervously back and got up from the bench.

"Hi, Kushina… -sensei."

"Call me Kushina-nee! We're family! Clan members! We need to stick together!" Kushina replied and hugged her tightly when she reached Naruto.

Naruto hugged Kushina back, feeling as if she was having an out of body experience while in the embrace of her mother.

"What are we doing today?" Asked Naruto, still feeling uncharacteristically shy. Kushina winked and pointed towards the Hokage Mountain.

"Have you ever been up there, Naruto-chan?" She asked curiously and Naruto nodded. She'd been up there a lot before, but her normal hangout face was currently missing. Minato was yet to have his head carved out, so she hadn't been there as much since falling back in time.

"We'll go up on the mountain. A little behind it there's a great place to do some training. It's also a lot calmer than the training grounds where people come and go all the time. It's not like we'll be doing any explosive jutsu or something. We just need a place to start up and talk, dattebane." Kushina explained.

Naruto nodded again. Not sure why she was tongue tied, and followed mutely while Kushina led the way.

"So… Tell me exactly what happened. I have heard the summary from Hokage-sama, but I want your side of the story too. Yours is the most important one." Kushina said while sitting next to Naruto.

They were in the forest behind the Hokage Mountain. The wind was blowing more hectically up there, since they were higher up than down in Konoha and there were no mountains to screen them from the wind. Naruto wasn't sure how to reply and took her time to find the right words.

"I'm not… sure. It was very chaotic. Everyone was battling and I was scared. I was looking for the others, wondering if any of them could help me, and then I saw Ebisu… dead." Naruto explained, not sure how this would help any with chakra chains.

Naruto was still unsure if she even possessed the bloodline. When she blacked out she'd seen Kushina. Maybe the chains had been hers- not Naruto's- and she was wasting her mother's time doing this.

"Was this before or after you were attacked?" Asked Kushina gently.

"I was already hit. I couldn't move. I was sort of bolted in place and it hurt. I remember that it hurt a lot." Naruto muttered, scratching her cheek in discomfort.

Kushina remained silent, but her expression had grown more serious. "Did you try to do anything? Use your chakra maybe?"

"Um… Yeah! I did… But it didn't work, because the blades were sucking out my chakra. The guy I was fighting could absorb chakra through his weapons, and they made it difficult to do any jutsu. But I tried this exercise Orochimaru had taught me, because it doesn't require much chakra, just… good control. Which I don't really have, so it failed."

"What was it?"

"Chakra strings. I tried to create a loop around my attacker's wrist to cut his artery and throw off his aim."

Kushina's eyes widened and she nodded to herself. "Chakra strings… Interesting. That might have had something to do with it… But not everything. Did anything else happen?"

Naruto bit her lip, not sure if she should continue. "I blacked out… But… I saw my mum. She was floating around in the blackness with me." Naruto said, a tad embarrassed.

"Your mum? She was most likely the one with Uzumaki genes, right? She had red hair?" Kushina asked, suddenly a lot more eager than she'd been the moment before. Naruto nodded, not able to look away from Kushina when she did.

"She looks… just like you actually." Naruto muttered. Kushina's face softened gradually, she reached out a hand and squeezed Naruto's shoulder.

"I lost my family when I was around your age, Naruto-chan. I won't say that it's easy and that you'll one day stop hurting at the memory of them, but I can say there's much to look forward to. That you can find more family. Not a new one, but you can add people to your family. Like me. Even if we weren't related, I'd still have liked to be part of your family as your friend." She told Naruto gently.

"Ah… Yeah, I think so too. Anko, Iruka, Shisui, Ensui and all the others- they're family." Naruto answered and grinned.

"And me, dattebane! Don't forget me!" Kushina said and laughed when Naruto cracked a smile.

"I won't forget." She said earnestly. Never having been as genuine in anything since first arriving to this world.

"Okay, let's see if I can help you understand a bit about the chakra chains before we continue, alright?" Kushina inquired and straightened up, her hand falling from Naruto's shoulder.

"Chakra chains is something you're born with, it's always been there, you just don't know how to access them. They are also unique. No two Uzumaki has identical chains, though they might look the same, and has some common basics to them. All chains can be used for physical attacks. All chains take the form of chains when they are shaped. And all chains can be manipulated by the user." Kushina started telling her with exuberantly.

"It's also rare - even rarer than having chains in the first place - that the chains take on a different appearance. Yours are copper colored, which I have to admit I don't know the meaning of. I know my great, great grandfather had white chains, though they called it platinum chains. They had the affinity for Yang chakra. He could use his chains to draw vitality out of almost anything. And use it against an opponent or draw upon the energy into himself. It was a very powerful combat chain. And he used it mostly for that purpose."

Naruto was hanging on to every word, feeling strange and excited hearing about her family. Her ancestors. But at the same time there was sadness in her chest while listening to Kushina explain about their clan.

"My chains are good for sealing, which is a type of fuinjutsu. My chakra chains has the ability to immobilize others chakra when they come in contact. It doesn't drain or even harm other chakra types, it simply freeze chakra. Stopping it from reacting when the one I'm holding down tries to draw upon their chakra. It's impossible for anyone to break the chains unless they strike me down, because if anyone touches the chains they'll get stuck too. If they try ninjutsu - which of course is chakra - they will not be able too. The only thing that might work would be taijutsu, but even that would be extremely difficult. I have never had problems keeping anyone down when I use my chains." Kushina explained further.

"Do you use them much?" Asked Naruto curiously.

"Not a lot. They're chakra draining, and well… I have other attacks that work better in most situations. My chains are large. And when I say large I mean… Large. They come in various sizes, and mine are definitely at the top range of the scale. Since they're so large it takes more chakra to keep them activated, and it's not always wise to drain yourself of chakra during a battle."

"Huh…" Naruto muttered, nodding to herself while she thought over that.

"Okay, enough about my chains, let's get back to yours. From Shisui's description yours are on the smaller side of medium, which is a good size if you use them more frequently in battle. He said they exited from the sides of your ribcage" She said further, and Naruto looked confused up.

"What do you mean?"

"They have different exit points. Mine exits from the middle of my chest and the middle of my back. But the only other Uzumaki I've met that had chains could exit her chains through her hands. They were small though, almost the size of a normal chain." Kushina explained while pointing at her own hand, specifying where they had shot out.

"Really?" Naruto asked surprised. "Where did mine come from?"

"Here." Kushina explained and touched the side of her ribs. Almost underneath her arm, but a little more forwards. "Shisui said you had two exit points, and they were both from each side of your chest." She looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe where they come out have something to do with their size. Mine are large, and come very close to the heart, yours are smaller, but comes from the side of your ribs, and my aunt got them through her hands, and they were very small… Huh… I think I heard something like that a long time ago, but I can't remember exactly what it was now."

"What about the old guy? The one with white chains?" Asked Naruto, but Kushina shrugged.

"I have no idea. I never met him, I just heard about him when I was little."

"Okay… So what now? How do you access your chains? Can I see yours?" Asked Naruto hopeful.

Kushina grinned, and started getting to her feet at once. "I was waiting for you to ask! Look and be amazed at my awesomeness, dattebane!"

Kushina closed her eyes and concentrated, her hands limp at her side as the wind blew her ponytail to the side. Slowly her chest started glowing, and Naruto looked wide eyed as a chakra chain emerged from the light directly over hear heart. It didn't shoot, didn't do anything special, and it was huge.

It was as wide as Kushina's torso, and Naruto could only marvel how much chakra it took to maintain only one of those, not to mention numerous. Naruto hardly believe she could have used them herself.

Kushina opened one eye, and peeked mischievously down at Naruto. The blonde was too busy admiring the chain to notice. The chain slowly evaporated and Naruto pouted. It earned her a heartfelt laugh from Kushina who plopped down on the ground again.

"That was one of my chains. It can do more than just hang around in the air though. I can control the speed, the strength and direction. It took me a while though, so don't expect this to be easy." Kushina said and flicked Naruto's nose affectionately.

"That is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed with undisguised awe.

"I know, and soon I'll have you be as cool as I am, dattebane! But let's get to work. I'm sorry, but we'll be doing a lot of boring stuff to begin with. Namely chakra exercises!" Kushina declared happily. Naruto sagged where she sat and groaned. More chakra exercises?

Kushina chuckled behind her hand at Naruto's expression. "Don't you start complaining. Only a master can create chakra chains, and we know you have it in you. So first lesson will be internal chakra use. Before we move over to chakra transformation. It's a slippery mix that takes a lot of training to get down. I hope you're prepared to put in some effort, Naruto-chan."

Naruto got to her feet quickly, looking down at Kushina who was following her movements closely. "I am. I'll get this down. And just call me Naruto, Kushina-nee."

Anko peeked up from the newspaper she was reading as Naruto entered her apartment. She was sweaty and greasy, but in high spirit.

It was a week since she started afternoon training sessions with Kushina, and the lessons always caused Naruto to come home in a great mood. "Good session?" Asked Anko with a raised eyebrow. Naruto barely registered her words because she headed straight for the bathroom, closing the door quickly behind her before bothering to answer.

"It was great! I think I finally get this internal chakra thing-y! Finally!" A moment later Anko heard the sound of the shower running.

"Hey Naru! I found an apartment we should look at." Anko shouted, her voice carrying all the way from the couch and into the bathroom where Naruto was showering.

"Yeah? Where?" Naruto answered just as loudly. This was hardly the first time they had conversation while in separate rooms.

"It's a little out of town, but it's cheaper that way! Two bedrooms and a bathroom. No living room though, but that's fine. It's cheap. That's really what counts and I've managed fine with just one room so far. I think it's exactly what we are looking for."

Naruto used some time to answer. Anko thought she heard something being shifted around. Maybe Naruto was looking through a drawer or something. Soaking wet and probably getting water everywhere. "Sounds great! Let's go check it out!"

The shower was turned off, and Naruto stepped out. A towel covered her while water dripped all over the floor.

"Dry up! How many times have I told you to not drench my apartment after you take a shower!" Anko snapped and closed the newspaper. Scowling at Naruto for forgetting again. This might be a problem when they moved in together…

"You should get a second towel, Anko! It's cold to dry my hair without a towel to cover myself with. And my clothes get all wet if I dress before drying up." Naruto whined, but stepped back into the bathroom.

"Get a towel yourself! You are such a leech! Borrowing my stuff without asking." Anko muttered.

"Hey, you know what?" Naruto asked and changed the subject, Anko just waited for her to continue without responding.

"I trained with Iruka, Ensui and Hitomi today too. Kushina-nee had me train with them." She explained and came back into the room a second time. This time with clothes on and her head wrapped in Anko's towel.

"Really? Learned anything?" Anko asked uninterested.

"Yeah, Hitomi hold grudges. She refused to even look at me all throughout training. I do not want to meet her in a dark alley, she seems really angry at me. I also think she dropped something in my water container, so I am not drinking anything from that can before I rinse it out. Which means I need water. I'm so thirsty I feel like I can swallow a lake right now, dattebayo."

Next to team practice, training with Kushina, missions and looking for an apartment, Naruto didn't have much spare time. It was just enough to get a few hours of sleep and fill her stomach with food before she again was heading somewhere in a hurry.

The housing market was very competitive, and the first eight apartments they looked at got snapped up by other people. It was increasingly frustrating, since each home they'd looked at always created a desire to live there. Or maybe it was living somewhere else than the orphanage that was so tempting. But they didn't give up, and on the ninth apartment they finally got lucky.

It was a small apartment on the top floor of an old and tired building. They had to go up five flights of stairs to get to their home, or just run up the wall and through the window.

When entering the dwelling they were met by a slim corridor with three doors, before it widened out into a shared kitchen and lounge.

Two of the three doors led to bedrooms. The rooms were long but narrow with a small window at the end. If you put down a futon, it used up most of the floor space.

Luckily there were hanging cabinets high up on the wall, so while there weren't any space for storage furniture, at least they had somewhere to put their clothes. They just had to climb up the wall to get there.

Between the two bedrooms was a private bathroom that needed a desperate clean, but looked more than sufficient for the two young girls.

It also had a combined living room and kitchen with two decent sized windows and nice overview of Konoha. This room was the reason Anko loved the place, because the shared living room was larger than the whole of her old apartment.

The building was a little outside of the village center, almost by the southern borders, which was why the price was reduced. It was also a couple of streets behind the Uchiha district, but neither saw a problem with that. It just meant they had a shorter trip to get a free meal from Kagami and Shisui when they ran low on money.

To afford the deposit Anko had to give up her place and use her old deposit to pay for the new one, while at the same time she used some of her savings to book the apartment.

Naruto didn't have the right amount yet, but it wasn't far off, so she'd promised Anko to pay her a share from her future mission checks until she'd caught up. It helped that Anko had already most of the furniture they'd need, at least that was one expense Naruto didn't have to worry about right away.

All in all things were steadily falling into place.

On moving day, Anko was kind enough to join Naruto when she went to get her last bag at the orphanage. Anko was curious if anything had changed, and enjoyed the look of fright on the children's face when they recognized her in the hallway. Naruto only rolled her eyes at her antics.

Naruto wanted to say goodbye to a few people too. Few, being the keyword.

Her room was empty when she entered it, and Naruto made quick progress packing up her stuff. Naruto didn't own much, but she felt she needed to do a thorough job. So after packing up they got out the mop and duster and cleaned the whole room.

A parting present to the other girls and to Madam May.

They had fun reminiscing about all the things they'd done when they had both lived there – short though it had been - but they both had memories from this place that no one could take away. Good and bad.

Anko shared a story from before Naruto had moved in, how she and Emi had practiced in the garden while Akiko and the girls had been so young they still needed help going to the toilet, and Naruto shared more recent stories. How Akiko had given her a coupon to Ichiraku ramen and how everyone was now terrified of Naruto because of her association with Anko.

An hour later they went downstairs, Anko taking her bag of stuff outside while Naruto went looking for Madam May in the common room. The woman was cleaning. Like always.

This time she was sweeping the floor while some of the children were playing a board game by the table. "Hey… Madam May." Naruto said and walked up to the old woman. She looked up and smiled warmly when Naruto stopped in front of her.

"I wanted to say… bye. I'm moving out today. And I was looking for Akiko too, but I haven't seen her." Naruto said a little awkwardly.

"Yes, I know. I hope you'll have a good home where you're moving. And that you and Mitarashi get along. But you'll have to look for Akiko in the village. I think she and her friend went to the market earlier." Madam May answered while putting away the broom. "I'm really glad I got to know you, Naruto-chan. The orphanage will not be the same without you."

Naruto felt herself blush, and she smiled sheepishly up to Madam May. Stepping forward, she hugged the woman tightly. "Thank you… For being so good to everyone. You do so much, every day, and you have so much to deal with. I wish things were better out in the world, because you don't deserve to be pushed this hard. At least now there's one person less you have to make sure goes to bed on time." Naruto said jokingly.

Madam May hugged her a little tighter, giving a warm squeeze before releasing Naruto. The woman looked a little red at the corner of her eyes, but kept smiling.

"I'll see you soon, Madam May. I won't forget all you've done just because I'm not living here anymore."

"You're such a darling, Naruto-chan. Take care of yourself okay? And Mitarashi too. You're both hot headed, and though you're younger I still feel you're the more mature one. It would break my heart if I heard something happened to you out on the battlefield. Be safe okay?" She said and stroked Naruto over the cheek with one swift movement.

Naruto nodded, trying to reassure Madam May with her expression.

"Are you ready, Naru?" Asked Anko from the hallway, peeking into the common room from the doorway.

The children in the corner tensed up, the boys were Naruto's age and they knew perfectly well who Anko was. Naruto couldn't contain the grin that split her face. "Sure. I'm coming right away." She told Anko who shrugged.

Anko looked uncertainly at Madam May, but with a nod she left the doorway and walked outside again.

"I'll see you around?" Asked Naruto and turned back to Madam May.

"Yes. And you're welcome to stop by anytime, Naruto-chan."

Outside Anko was waiting with two small boxes of Naruto's possessions. Some of it was actually Anko's stuff which Naruto had borrowed, but was now being returned to their owner.

Anko bent down and handed Naruto one of the boxes before picking the other up herself.

Naruto looked back at the orphanage. Feeling a strange mix of nostalgia come over her at the idea of leaving the place for good.

The first time around she hadn't cared. It had been completely fine and she hadn't given it a second thought. In fact she couldn't even remember the day she had left the building. She only remembered entering her new home. Happy to be away from this place.

This time around it was different.

It hadn't been a dream home, maybe not even a good home, but it had been home. There were two people in there Naruto would genuinely miss not seeing, and her occupation would most likely make sure she saw them a lot less than she'd prefer.

Naruto wondered how and when she was going to contact Akiko. She needed to give Akiko her new address and invite her over for dinner sometime.

She would like to keep contact, just to make sure everything went okay for the girl. And make sure she didn't bolt from the village...

"Can we go now?" Anko asked impatiently, and with a last look over her shoulder Naruto followed Anko.

"I would really like to look for Akiko later. Tell her my new address so she knows where she can find me." Naruto told Anko who sent a skeptical look in Naruto's direction.

"Why? I know you talked like… once every month, but do you seriously think she'll come by our apartment?" Anko asked.

"We didn't talk because Akiko didn't want to be seen speaking to me. You know how her friends are, and they're children. Children are cruel, but Akiko isn't cruel. She just tries to fit in. I understand that. If things were different I'm sure we'd be better friends. And if she knows where we live she can come by without her friends, and you'd be able to see that she's alright too."

"You and Akiko are the same age, Naru. By that definition you're a cruel child too."

"Maybe I am?" Naruto retorted and smiled mischievously.

"Fine. We can look for her after we get your boxes back to the apartment, but don't expect me to like Akiko anytime soon. She's such a crybaby, and she's acivilian." Anko replied and whispered the last word like it was a curse word. Naruto scowled disapprovingly to Anko who just grinned teasingly back.

"Not so long ago I was a civilian too. It's only months since I graduated from the academy." Naruto answered and stuck out her tongue at Anko.

"Butnow you're a Chūnin, and you were never as lame as the rest of the children. That's how I can overlook the fact that you you're just a little brat." Anko answered.

Naruto chuckled and shook her head. "A lot of people got promoted this time… Shisui, Rin, Ensui, Ibiki, Hayate and Asuma also got promoted. That's like..."

"Seven people,"

"Right, seven people got promoted. When you got promoted there was only four."

"Yes, but the criteria is lowering these days. Too many people are dying and we need people constantly out on the field. More promotions and younger soldiers means more security for the village. In fact I thought more people would be promoted. During the last Chūnin exam there were nine promotions." Anko said casually.

Naruto looked startled up at Anko. "Nine?"

"Yeah, Genma, Obito, Ebisu and a bunch of older ninjas made Chūnin that time. Ibiki's team wasn't participating that time, and neither was Kurenai's team."

"I see…"

"Ebisu wasn't Chūnin level in my opinion. But Konoha needed ninjas, and he did good during the exam. He worked very well with his team and that was his downfall out on the field. He got separated from everyone, and alone he wasn't much of a challenge." Anko mused while looking at the cover of the box she was carrying.

Naruto didn't know what to say. Ebisu hadn't been the best combat ninja even in her own time, but he had been far from useless. Anko was right though, he had been a good teammate. A good comrade. It had been the separation from everyone that had killed him. If they had stuck together better he could have survived.

"Yeah… Ebisu would have lived if I had stayed with him."

Anko looked sharply down at Naruto, her eyes narrowing. "That's not what I meant. Don't blame yourself. You did more than anyone that day! I meant that Ebisu was unlucky to get into that situation in the first place. Our attackers were constantly trying to split everyone up, and you and Ebisu have never really battled together. It was that he was separated from his real team that killed him. Genma and Gai knows him in and out, and his best chance laid with them. But even then… who knows."

They both got lost in thoughts after that, strolling calmly through One Legged Parade while their thoughts lingered on a tomb at Konoha cemetery.

Kakashi made his way slowly down the stairs of his apartment complex.

The hallway was lit up by the sun streaming in through the glass door, and blinded him slightly when he stopped in front of his mail box. He hadn't checked it in over two weeks. Or was it three? It was hard to keep track of something he cared so little about. As long as his bills were paid no one cared if Kakashi checked his mail regularly or not.

He was cutting it close this time, the Chūnin exam had distracted him and kept him away from the apartment more than usual. He never used the entrance hall anyway, and that's where the mailbox was located. When you could just walk up the wall, what was the point of taking the stairs?

But he had a couple of days to chase down the landlord to pay his rent. If not Kakashi was sure he'd stop by, and he hated having strangers inside his home.

Opening the mailbox and taking his hand inside, he felt around for any paper. The box was one of the highest ones up on the wall, and Kakashi couldn't actually see inside without having to jump. So his hand groped around for a moment while he stood on his toes. At the very back he felt an edge connect with the tip of his fingers, and efficiently he slid the letter out.

Looking at the front he saw it was addressed from the Hokage office, and his curiosity got the better of him. It wasn't often he got a letter from the Hokage, they were usually oral reports or handed to him directly, and he was curious what this could be.

Usually he would have taken the letter with him upstairs, opening it in the privacy of his home. But he found himself opening the edge with a kunai from his pocket. Peeling out the folded letter inside the envelope Kakashi read the title. 'Yearly mission summary'

His curiosity dwindled, but he kept reading. He had received these before and found them useful to have. It was a list of all the missions he'd done over the span of a year, how long they took and what rank they had been classified as. When he went upstairs he had to archive them properly in his folder. The one with all his pay slips.

He should also double check it to make sure it was accurate.

He didn't want the Hokage office to make a blunder. That a C-rank was suddenly D-rank, or a nine day mission had been rounded down to a week. He hated sloppiness, and though he knew the people up at the Hokage office dealing with paper reports and filing was both overworked and understaffed, he still didn't appreciate blunders such as that.

There was a change in the report compared to the ones he'd received the previous years. Kakashi noted that at the end of the letter there was no longer a paragraph stating how many vacation days he'd worked up. War apparently didn't allow for vacation days, but Kakashi couldn't say it surprised him much. In fact he found his spirit lifting slightly. He had nothing to do at home anyway, and training was part of their days off, not vacation time.

Kakashi was too engrossed reading through the report to pay attention to the sounds coming from the entrance door. It wasn't before an echo bounced through the room that Kakashi looked up.

"That's why the building looked so familiar, dattebayo!"

Naruto and Anko were standing at the opposite end of the room. Both holding a box each and staring wide eyed at Kakashi.

Though the answer to what they were doing there was obvious, Kakashi still felt the question slip through his lips. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment building?"

"Kakashi lives here too?" Asked Anko with a tilt of her head, ignoring Kakashi completely and directing the question to her blonde best friend. Kakashi cringed at the word 'too'.

"I knew this building looked familiar! I must have seen Kakashi go in here! Of course! It was that time I followed him." Naruto said while slapping her forehead.

"You've stalked me?" Asked Kakashi.

"That's just great. We'll have this moper in the same building." Anko muttered, again ignoring Kakashi's question. He was growing annoyed. Neither of the girls felt inclined to answer him properly.

"Hey! This will be fun! Maybe we can have dinner together!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

Kakashi felt his eyebrow twitch.

"No!" Anko responded at once. "You didn't go to the academy with this guy, Naru. He's such a downer it's contagious. And anyway; I'm not wasting food to feed that guy."

Kakashi knew he should feel insulted, but somehow didn't. Anko had never walked around the bush and was always up front with everyone. It could be a hassle, but usually he appreciated the efficiency of her way of speaking. Except when she wasn't answering a direct question. But he had no wish to have dinner with them, so she was doing him a favor.

"Don't be mean, Anko. Kakashi is cool. And he's now our neighbor, we should be polite to our neighbors! Hey Kakashi! Which floor do you live on? We're on the top floor!" Naruto said and walked up to him.

Kakashi felt his teeth grit. He was on the second highest floor. He just hoped it wasn't the one directly underneath theirs. "I'm-"

"You're on the second highest up aren't you? I think I saw you jump in through the window there!" Naruto interrupted him, and looked like she'd solved the mystery of life at the exclamation.

"When the hell was this?!" He snapped back angrily. The letter in his hand completely forgotten while he thought of ways to remedy this catastrophe.

"Uh..." Naruto's eyes suddenly widened, and she slumped back a little. Kakashi wasn't sure what that was about. "A while ago..." She said with a slightly panicked look. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Were you trying to sneak into the ANBU station again? Without me? That's what we do together, Naru! We had a pact!" Anko moped displeased.

"Um… I was just looking around." Naruto fumbled with her words, but Kakashi gathered she genuinely hadn't known Kakashi lived in this building before renting the apartment on the top floor.

"You have a pact? To look for the ANBU station together?" Kakashi asked disbelievingly. What an odd and unnecessary pact to make. Anko sent him a dirty glare, and again his question was left unanswered.

"We're in 5C, which room is yours?" Asked Anko instead, still annoyed, but not at Kakashi in particular.

"..." Kakashi felt his temper rise again. This was just perfect… Just fucking perfect. Though he didn't want to answer, old habits were hard to ignore. He always wanted to have the answer at hand, but also make sure everyone knew he had the answer, and the instinct to show how much he knew won over even in a setting such as this. "4C..."

.

.

.

To be continued...