Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
I'm goin' as Deep Dive Riku from Kingdom Hearts for Katsucon! Anybody goin' to that con this year? We should hang out XD
Dedicated to all of you who still embrace the child within you! Yosh! Youth is such a lovely thing!
NARUTO- AGE 4
A small blond boy jumped up and down on his mattress, messing up the bedsheets and causing his bright orange pillows to fall off of the bed. His television was on, cartoons on almost full blast as he continued to bounce up and down, his finger pressing back and forth on his loose tooth. He squealed in delight when it finally came out after about an hour of fiddling with it, the child leaping off of the bed and running from his room, only to slam into the torso of his father.
The taller blond man blinked and looked down. "Naruto, what're you doing?"
The little boy, now known as Naruto, shook his head to get rid of the dizzyness and gave his dad the brightest smile he'd ever seen, white teeth shining, except for the empty space between two of the bottom ones. He flailed his arms around and held his hand out, a small tooth in the center of his palm.
"Look, Daddy! I losht my fiwst toof!" he exclaimed excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot.
His father took the tooth and lead the child back into his room, chuckling. "Then I'll just put it under your pillow and I'm sure the toothfairy will come and give you a quarter tonight. You have to be asleep, though, or you won't get it," he smiled fondly and turned the television off, as well as the light. He lifted his son up and tossed him on his bed, earning him a giggle.
"Daddy, what doesh the toof faiwy look like?" Naruto asked curiously, crawling under his covers and reaching over to pick the fallen pillows up from the floor. He settled them behind his head and covered himself up, getting comfortable. "Ish she pwetty?
"I'm sure she is. Now, get to bed so you can get that quarter," the older male bent down and kissed his son on the forehead. "I'll put the tooth under your pillow, alright? So she can take it when she gets here," but instead of slipping the tooth under the pillow, he put a quarter. Smiling, he stood up straight and muttered a "good night" before leaving, shutting the door behind him.
Rolling over to get comfy, Naruto closed his eyes, trying to will himself to sleep. He had a hard time doing that, though, since he was too excited about getting money from the tooth fairy. With a small pout, he rolled onto his stomach and buried his face into the soft pillows, counting the sheep that jumped over a rickety fence in his mind. It managed to work and he began to drift off, but the sound of his window opening snapped him out of his tired state.
Listening to his surroundings, Naruto heard the light and barely audible sound of footsteps on his carpeted floor. There was a shuffling of some sort of fabric and he bit his lip to keep himself from shooting up in bed and seeing who was in his room. Being just a four-year old child, you would think Naruto would be scared, but he was more curious than frightened.
But when a hand slipped under his pillow, he looked up and his stunning blue eyes met dark ones.
They stared at each other, then the mysterious person made a surprised grunt and stumbled back, their legs hitting the blond's toybox. Naruto began laughing, muffling it behind his hands so his father wouldn't hear, his tiny palms barely able to cover his mouth.
The unknown person scowled and brushed their clothes off, finally letting Naruto get a good view.
The person was definitely male with his flat chest, slightly muscular arms, and light trace of hair on his legs. Naruto stopped laughing and blinked, his brows furrowing a bit in confusion.
"Awen't you shupposhed to be a giwl?" he asked. "And why awe you weawing a dwesh? Boysh don't weaw dweshes!"
The pale gentlemen blushed softly and snorted, crossing his arms, the little crown atop of his head lopsided from his earlier stumbling. He looked to be about eighteen, his soft raven hair barely reaching below his ears and a silky, black princess-like dress on his skinny frame. It was different than how Naruto had pictured the tooth fairy, but the male definitely was very pretty.
"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping? I don't give money to brats who stay up to take a peak."
Naruto smiled. "I couldn't shweep... and you'we vewy pwetty."
The raven felt his lips turn upward a bit, but he just scoffed and resumed his duty of slipping his hand under the pillow to take the tooth, but didn't find one, a cold quarter underneath his fingertips. He sighed and retracted his hand, catching the attention of the curious child.
"Did you take my toof, Mr. Toof Faiwy?"
"My name's Sasuke," the teen growled and dug into the little pouch slung over his shoulder, pulling out a quarter to shove under the pillow. "And no, I didn't. Your dad took it."
Naruto blinked. "My daddy? How come?"
"You'll understand when you get older. Now get to bed, brat, I'm sure you have school tomorrow like every other kid I've visited," Sasuke walked back to the window and lifted his leg onto the sill, hoisting himself up. He leapt out and Naruto squealed in surprise, running toward the window to look down, not finding the raven on the ground.
"Whew'd he go...?"
After a few moments of looking around, Naruto huffed and pouted, going back to climb onto his bed. But the pout was replaced with a smile soon and he hugged the covers to his chest, wondering if he'd see the pretty fairy again the next time he lost a tooth.
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NARUTO- AGE 5
A sigh.
"Awake again, I see," Sasuke grumbled as he watched the grinning child cuddling his stuffed frog in the center of his bed, his light blue pajamas loose on his small body. He noticed that Naruto now had a nice tan, compared to his creamy complexion last time he'd come by the house almost eight months ago.
"Yep! I wanted to ashk you why my daddy putsh money undew my pillow..." Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "Awen't you shupposhed to do that, Shashuke?"
The raven twitched, not wanting to deal with the kid. He had a job to do and he needed to get it done, not wanting to be bothered by stupid and meaningless questions. He frowned and slipped a quarter underneath the orange pillow, heading back to the window to leave, but two small hands wrapped themselves around his thin wrist. He glanced down and saw glowing blue eyes staring up at him.
"Pwease shtay...? I wanna know why. Daddy told me the toof faiwy wasn't real the othew day... ish that why he leaves a quawtew undew my pillow? Becaushe he doeshn't think you'we weal?"
Sasuke signed once again and let himself be pulled to sit on the bed. He crossed one leg over the other and watched as Naruto sat next to him, his eyes downcast, as if he was contemplating something. Small, tan hands plucked at the drawstrings of his pajama pants and then a childish face was revealed under messy golden bangs, the boy's nose scrunched.
"Why did Daddy tell me you'we not weal? You awe!" he exclaimed.
Feeling the twinge of annoyance dull, Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's head in a comforting way. He disliked the kid, but he couldn't stand to see him so confused. "Adults tend to stray away from their childhood once they hit a certain age. Kids who believed in me don't anymore once they go to school because childish things like the tooth fairy or Santa Clause aren't..." he realized that he was confusing Naruto even more with his words and stopped. "I'll just say that people grow out of believing in me, like you grow out of your baby clothes. Do you understand?"
The blond nodded, and looked down a bit sadly. "But you'we shtanding wight hewe, you'we weal. How did Daddy fowget when you'we hewe?"
Sasuke shook his head. "You'll understand when you get older," he stood to get up and headed toward the window, climbing up and leaping out once again, leaving behind a thoughtful little boy.
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NARUTO- AGE 6
Sasuke twitched as he saw three quarters under his pillow.
"Three teeth this time, hm?"
Naruto grinned brightly. "I ashked my fwiend Sakuwa if I could have hews. She losht two teef!" he held up two fingers as he rocked back and forth on his bed. That was when Sasuke noticed the whisker-like scars on his cheeks, as the light of the aquarium lamp in the corner shined on his face.
Shaking his head a bit, Sasuke didn't bother asking. He placed his own quarter under the pillow, but his eyes fell on a framed paper on the nightstand. It was a cut out section of the newspaper that mentioned a car accident involving a woman and her child, and how the woman died while the little boy only received minor injuries. He remained silent and turned back to Naruto, the short boy fiddling with the sparkly tiara that he apparently snatched from Sasuke's head when he wasn't looking.
Pity pushed aside, he growled and snatched the crown back, placing it back a top of his head. He glared at the laughing child, but his scowl dulled into a faint frown, his hand moving to settle itself upon a mop of bright yellow hair.
Naruto blinked.
"I'm glad you're ok."
"Shashuke...?"
Sasuke scoffed and headed toward the window, mumbling a "see you next time, brat" before hopping out.
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NARUTO- AGE 7
Naruto looked up from where his face was buried in his pillows, welcoming the familiar fairy with a toothy smile. Like always, one tooth was missing from his mouth, leaving him looking a bit foolish, but cute.
"Sasuke!" he chirped.
The raven dug his hand into the pouch at his side, a bit surprised. "You don't talk with a lisp anymore," he smirked.
The blond crossed his arms as he sat up and huffed. But he lifted up his pillow for Sasuke, showing him two teeth instead of money.
"I told my daddy I knew what he was doing, so I asked him if I could just keep the teeth," he smiled.
"Hn."
"Sasuke..." his voice was filled with sudden wonder. "What'll happen if no one believes in you anymore?"
Raising his left eyebrow, Sasuke slipped two quarters under the pillow and closed his pouch. He adjusted his dress a little embarrassingly and sighed, like he always did when the little boy asked him questions he didn't feel like anwering. He supposed it was something he had to deal with anyway, since the job description was to take teeth from little kids.
"If no one believes in me anymore, then I'll disappear. It's that simple. If somehow every child in the world stops believing that I exist, then I don't."
Naruto seemed a bit distressed after hearing the answer.
"B-but I don't want you to disappear!"
Sasuke, a little surprised at what left the blond's mouth, pursed his lips together. "Does it make a difference whether or not I'm here or not? You get money for your lost teeth from your father, you don't need me."
"But..." Naruto blushed a little, fiddling with his fingers. "Sasuke is Sasuke... and I like him. I don't want him to leave, he keeps me company..."
That one little sentence seemed to connect them somehow.
And Sasule smiled kindly, ruffling the boy's hair.
"Then never stop believing in me."
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NARUTO- AGE 8
"I still believe in you!" Naruto chirped as Sasuke came in through the window once again.
The raven rolled his eyes.
"I've noticed," he said boredly, but fondly.
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NARUTO- AGE 9
"I learned how to divide numbers today! You wanna see me do my homework?"
"Not particularly..."
"Come here! Look! All you have to do is---" the growing blond yanked out his homework from his book bag, still blabbering on about how to go about division. Sasuke didn't really know much about math, what with being a somewhat mythical creature and all, but he sat on the bed and humored the boy, pretending to listen.
He didn't deny the fact that he was fond of Naruto and enjoyed visiting him every time he lost a tooth, though. But in the pit of his stomach, he knew that the visits would have to come to an end eventually, since Naruto wouldn't lose his baby teeth forever.
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NARUTO- AGE 10
"What's it like in Tooth Fairy Land?"
"...Tooth Fairy Land?"
"Yeah! Don't you live in some magical place just for tooth fairies?"
"..."
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NARUTO- AGE 11
"What's with the blush?" Sasuke asked as he sat on the bed, crossing his legs like he did almost every visit.
Naruto blushed again and smiled sheepishly, tugging on a loose string from his Spongebob boxers. He looked up at Sasuke, a bit embarrassed.
"There's this girl I like..." he began.
Sasuke raised a brow. "Is that so?"
"Well, you remember Sakura, right?" he asked quietly, unlike himself. "I realized I sorta like her as more than a friend... Dad says it's healthy, but I wanted to know your opinion...?"
When did he start saying 'dad' instead of 'daddy'? Sasuke asked himself, but replied to Naruto with a smooth voice.
"I'm a man in a dress, giving little kids spare change for their disgusting teeth... does it seem like I know anything about love and relationships?"
Naruto laughed loudly, snorting. He blushed again and covered his mouth, but continued to snicker behind his hands.
Sasuke smiled.
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NARUTO- AGE 12
"So you're going out with this Sakura girl now?" Sasuke asked while leaning against the bedroom wall. There were posters of bands all over the place, as well as CDs and video game systems.
The blond nodded happily as he shoved on his PJs, a toothbrush in his mouth. He ran into the bathroom that was connected to his room and spit out the toothpaste, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yep! She's really pretty, I should show you a picture of her sometime! I just took one of us the other day, but the film's getting developed, so..." he swished water around in his mouth and spit that out as well. "Maybe next time?"
"Yes... next time."
"Hey, Sasuke? I've noticed that you haven't grown any..." Naruto randomly added.
"I'm the tooth fairy," Sasuke responded. "I'm like Santa Claus. Neither of us really age."
Naruto's eyes widened for a brief moment and he shot out of the bathroom, grabbing onto Sasuke's shoulders, almost frightening the feminine male for a second. "Do you know Santa Claus?.!"
Sasuke chuckled. "Maybe."
"No way!" Naruto plopped down on the comfy mattress and grinned. "That's so cool! So you're going to be this pretty forever?"
The raven almost blushed, but didn't want to give the brat the satisfaction. "You could say that."
"Wow," Naruto scrunched up his nose. "I'm gonna turn into an old person and you're gonna be young forever. You're really lucky!"
Sasuke smiled, but in an almost sad and nostalgic way. "Not really..."
It's almost funny... You were the one who wanted my company and wanted me to stay, but then you'll be the one to leave me... after I started to want your company too...
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NARUTO- AGE 13
When Sasuke entered the bedroom, he didn't see Naruto right away and raised his brows. He glanced around the spacious area and finally spotted the familiar mop of golden hair on the other side of the queen-size bed, little golden spikes sticking up behind the matching orange blanket. Walking around the bed, he sat down and leaned forward, wondering why Naruto was being so quiet.
"Is there something wrong?"
Naruto has his face buried in his knees, which were pressed up against his chest. His shoulders jumped a bit and he lifted his head, his eyes red and puffy from crying. Sasuke could tell by his expression that he was embarrassed of himself for acting like such a child. Naruto sniffled and wiped at his cerulean eyes.
"It's my last one..."
Sasuke didn't catch the muffled words and leaned in closer. "What?"
"This is my last tooth..." Naruto held out his hand and right in the center of his palm was his very last baby tooth. It was funny how something so small and minor could be that significant in altering one's life.
The raven sat up straight, his face blank. He knew the day was going to arrive sooner or later, so he embraced it maturely. He wasn't going to cry, since he had no real attachments to the teenager. He was just someone to keep him company, nothing more.
Right?
"Can you still come see me even though I won't have any more teeth to give you?" Naruto asked, hope flickering in his blue eyes.
Sasuke shook his head. It was better to just let the blond forget about him and grow up. He had millions of other children who believed in him, one less wouldn't cause him to disappear. But... when that one little boy was the only one he could ever talk to, was the only one who spoke to him and interacted with him...
It did feel as if he was about to disappear.
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NARUTO- AGE 14
The blond sat by his window, holding a tooth he'd ask one of his friends to give him, but it'd been hours and Sasuke hadn't come yet...
He looked at the tooth with sad eyes and got up, walking over to his bed and shoving the tiny thing under his pillow, hoping the raven would come later to get it.
But Sasuke didn't, and in the morning, Naruto found that the tooth was still there.
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NARUTO- AGE 15
Naruto had been sitting at his window for hours every night for the past month, hoping that Sasuke would come to visit him, even if he didn't have a tooth...
He thought he mattered at least that much to the beautiful fairy...
Sighing, he stood up and closed the window, locking it.
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NARUTO- AGE 16
Sasuke stood on the thick branch of the Uzumaki residence's large oak tree, staring into Naruto's bedroom window, only to find the curtains drawn and the light off.
Naruto hadn't looked out of the window once that year... or the next... or the next...
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But one day, When Sasuke found that there were teeth to be picked up in Naruto's room, he felt his heart thrumming in his chest. He'd ended contact with the male so that Naruto could grow up and so that he, himself, wouldn't get attached. But now he had to go back. Why?
Opening the window that had been locked for almost ten years, Sasuke stepped in, the cool draft from the air conditioner above him hitting him full blast. He moved further into the room and was amazed to find two twin-sized beds in the place where Naruto's large bed used to be, two little girls sleeping in them, arms wrapped around their own stuffed animal.
"I haven't seen you for a while."
Sasuke turned to see Naruto standing in the doorway, his face having aged only a bit. He was probably in his late twenties and his smile was just as brilliant as ever, stunning the raven.
"Naruto--"
"I've never stopped believing in you, and I made sure my daughters knew about you too. Unfortunately, they don't have the energy to stay up late like I had, but that's alright," he laughed quietly, not wanting to wake the children up. "So... how have you been? Have you met any other kids that captivated you like I did?"
Sasuke snorted and reached under each of the girls' pillows, taking the teeth and replacing them with quarters. "Captivate? Such a big word. The last time I saw you, that word didn't exist in your vocabulary."
Naruto smiled. "Well, the last time you saw me I was thirteen. I'm twenty-seven now Sasuke. My vocabulary's expanded since then," he joked.
Letting his lips twitch into a slight smile, Sasuke chuckled.
"You know, I was mad about you never coming to see me, but... I suppose that it was for the best. If you would've kept visiting me, then I don't think I would've ever grown up," he snickered, just like he did when he was younger. "So I thank you... but your leaving didn't make me stop believing. Because I know that you, Sasuke, are very much real."
Sasuke stared at him, not able to say anything.
Naruto grinned and stepped back into the hallway. "I'm sure you have to go, since you have other teeth to pick up. You have a job to do and I don't want to get you fired."
Sasuke's brows twitched at the stupid joke.
"So," the blond began again, "I'll see you next time, when one of my daughters loses another tooth. That means you'll have another twelve or so years to put up with me," he patted the frame of the bedroom door twice before smiling to himself and heading back down the hallway.
Once the footsteps dulled down, Sasuke looked down at the two little girls and smiled as well.
He was looking forward to another thirteen years.
Um, I hope you liked it? XD Please review!