Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Drabble 05: Comforting Warmth

Warnings: Spoilers for chapter 328+

Naruto shivered as he stood before the memorial stone, the chill breeze of the coming autumn cutting through the warm barrier of his jacket making the blonde feel even colder than he had felt all week.

Slender fingers trembled as they reached out and traced the newly carved name before him.

Sarutobi Asuma

He trembled slightly as he traced Asuma's name, feeling a powerful wave of grief wash over him.

'Asuma-nii…' he thought, tears welling up in his eyes.

Not many were aware of the fact, but Naruto had been guarded essentially from birth by a small contingent of ANBU and members of the Sandaime's family; primarily the Hokage himself and his son, Asuma.

Whenever Asuma was in the village, which was admittedly rare between Naruto's 2nd and 5th year because at the time he and his father were butting heads left and right, he would always take the little blonde boy on various walks all throughout the forest surrounding Konoha teaching him all about the surrounding area. When Asuma came back they spent a lot of time together, the little blonde becoming almost a little brother to the man.

During these nature walks, Asuma would allow Naruto to run around and play, something that he was normally not able to in the village for fear of violent reprisal. Over time, Naruto came to see the man as a lazy older brother that let him get away with anything. Not many were aware of the fact, but it was Asuma that egged him on to do most of the pranks that he would eventually do.

Pranks like defacing the Hokage monument.

The Sandaime would wonder for years just why it was that Naruto always paid his stone relief particular attention taking every effort to make his stone relief look like a ten yen whore.

Asuma would just sit in the background, laughing his ass off.

Naruto came to treasure these moments dearly. These brief respites allowed him to build up some reserve so that the nightmarish times didn't seem so bad.

When he heard that the man had been killed by the Akatsuki, it hit him like a cinderblock.

He knew, logically, that as a ninja, a jounin, a member of the Sarutobi clan and a member of the 12 guardians, it wasn't likely that Asuma was going to live to old age. Naruto could close his eyes and hear the man chuckle about how he wouldn't be plagued with wrinkles and age spots like his father had. But the fact that he was gone….

It hurt so badly.

Tears began to run down his face, the feeling of loss like an aching whole in his heart, 'I'll help take care of Kurenai-sensei and your baby nii-san and I will make sure that they pay for what they did to you...I promise.'

The wind blew once more and he shuddered again, this time the cold chill of grief grabbing hold of the slender blonde.

Naruto shivered almost violently for a few moments before he could feel deep warmth overtook him. He blinked confused at the sensation before realizing that someone was hugging him.

The blonde whirled around kunai in hand, only to see the saddened eyes of Yamato.

"T-taicho?" he questioned softly, wiping the tears off his face hurriedly.

"It's okay you know."

Blue eyes looked at him questioningly as the man wiped a few stray tears away.

"To cry if you're hurt. Asuma-sempai never believed in not showing emotions, he said that only fools killed their souls to feel nothing. I agree with him there."

Naruto felt more tears prickle in his eyes, "I-it's not fair though. He d-didn't d-deserve to die! N-not fighting those m-monsters!!!"

A finger on his lips silenced his increasingly frantic words. When Naruto quieted, Yamato pulled the younger shinobi in his arms in a warm hug. The blonde felt himself relax a little at the warmth radiating from the other man's body.

Yamato, now assured that Naruto was calm, chose this time to speak, "Asuma-sempai died the way that he always wanted to go, protecting those that he loved. He fought them because he didn't want anyone else to die because of them. You know that he didn't regret his decision Naruto-kun, we both know this, so do not begrudge his decision."

Naruto couldn't help but nod. Yamato had a point, Asuma never did anything that he wasn't certain of and come hell or high water, when the man decided to do something he didn't regret it later. That was part of what made Naruto admire the older man so much when he was growing up.

But that didn't take away the sting of grief.

The ANBU rubbed soothing circles on the smaller shinobi and as he gazed at the blonde in his arms, he thought 'You are more than worth dying for Naruto."

A/N: It has been quite a while since I've updated and I am working on a few things to upload, so I decided to release this particular little piece. It's one that I meant to upload a while ago...but real life tends to get in the way and suck up every second of free time that I have, so sorry it took so long. I'll try and update a few of the other stories pretty soon.