AN: This was a gift for Princess Teah. (A.k.a UchihaPrincess16).

Enjoi. 83

ArachNOphobia

--

"What is it?"

"It's a spider."

Big blue azure eyes stared in enormous curiosity as the clear-as-day 8 legged baby spider crawled across the playground canvas. Naruto was up close and personal with the bug when it was not even as big as his pinky. Pewter eyes looked blank fully so at the baby, not as amused but more than enough curious.

"It's on its own." Naruto proclaimed obviously.

"No, really." the Uchiha sighed at the blondes obliviousness.

Sasuke didn't even notice that Naruto had made haste and was now following the arachnid towards the grassy area of the play area until he realized he was alone. Sasuke immediately got up and followed him in part amusement, and the other part in wonder, as in where it would escape its harassment from the blonde. The oh-so curious and rambunctious blonde.

(Let's pray for the spiders soul.)

Naruto now was standing up (for he had been crawling) and cheering for the spider, yipping "Go!! Go!".

Suddenly, a girlish screech echoed through the grounds, and a blue sandaled foot stomped down harshly, unfortunately, on top of Naruto and Sasukes new found friend.

...

You would've expected screaming and arguing between the toddlers. But no.

Sasuke and Naruto just stared at the foot that squashed a life that they had been looking after. The pale child opened his mouth a little to breathe, while the petite blondes mouth dropped to the canvas both in utter shock.

"Is it over?" The pink haired child asked, peeking over her friends shoulder.

"Yeah, it's over." Ino proclaimed.

Ino and Sakura didn't even notice the two boy's stares at them -what's more is that they didn't even notice Sasuke-. Ino then grimaced at the spider guts on the bottom of her foot and shivered was she tried to get it off, which made the overly-shocked boys more bemused. It was incredible how a little bug could make the little girl have a mental breakdown.

"Let's go." Ino said, walking away. "Spiders are gross!"

As the school bell rang, both girls walked away from the scene of the crime towards the building, leaving the two boys speechless, one more shocked than the other.

Sasuke got over it in a second, while Naruto just stared at the ground

"Ugh, stupid girls." Sasuke shook his head and began to walk towards the entrance of the school. He halted suddenly and turned his head around. "Naruto, come on..."

He just stared at the blonde. Naruto looked like he had been kicked in the stomach 5 times while being tortured. Sadness and distress could be seen in the blue orbs of his eyes, waiting to see his spider friend come back to life, a deed that could not be done. He had seen and heard countless stories of soldiers, animals, and innocents being killed, and it didn't really affect him much because he didn't know them. But seeing someone kill a life he had met just because it was smaller than her right in front of him was just too much, even if it was a bug.

Sasuke, not at all stunned by the experience, faltered back to his friend and pulled on his arm.

"Naruto. Snap out of it. It's time to go in."

With enough tugging, Sasuke managed to make Naruto take a step, which altered walking, and then the process of making way to the classroom. The blondes head was hung, and he didn't say a word the rest of the school day.

Children gathered and occupied the space of the school's pick up area at the end of the day. Childish conversations took up the sound space, while bookbags were being taken from the outside the classrooms.

Naruto stood against the wall closest to the front gate. He felt lonely and upset, but he was never good at showing his feelings. In another person's eyes, he looked like he was just plain bored.

The blonde 6 year old looked up from his shoes when a shadow covered him. It was his best friend.

"Bye, Naruto." Sasuke said, waving.

Naruto just nodded in response The Uchiha gave Naruto a look.

"Are you still coming over on Sunday to play?"

Another nod. Sasuke pouted. He hated when Naruto acted like a drama king.

"Naruto, it was just one spider. There are a lot more out there. A LOT!! Like this much!!" The Uchiha spread out his arms as far as he could to his sides, giving his friend a visual of the amount of spiders he thought there were.

Naruto cocked his head sideways and still frowned. Sasuke sighed, then scurried off towards his waiting mother.

Now he was alone. He didn't like the feeling of loneliness, it scared and hurt him. He had been alone a lot of times, but either Sasuke or his father took him out of it and gave him comfort (even though Sasuke would insult him more than comfort, but you know what I mean).

Not more than two minutes later, the young Uzumaki's ears flinched at the voice of his father. He looked up suddenly to see Minato entering the school and smile to Sasuke's mother who was passing. His feet acted by himself as he ran over to him.

Turning his head, Minato gasped in surprise as his balance came out of sync, because locked at his legs was his son. A smile came upon his face as he looked down, until he realized something was different with him. Unlike every other day, his usual happy aurora wasn't there.

"Home." Was the only thing Naruto spoke as Minato patted his head.

Minato blinked in cofusion, and was quiet was he nodded and lead Naruto out the door.

'Uh-oh.'

Minato continued to walk along the dirt road at a slower pace than before, because Naruto refused to catch up, and what's worse, to hold his father's hand.

The blonde adult looked back to his son, who was dragging behind quietly.

'What happened? Did something happen at school?? Why won't he talk to me?!'

Inner Minato scurried around his head in confusion, looking frantically for the cause of his sons rebellion.

He ended up burning out in failure.

--

24 hours later (coughtimewarpcough)

--

"He won't talk you, eh?"

"Nope."

The white haired sanin looked over to his grandson who was laying down on a blanket in the living room, a drawing pad placed next to him, touched only once.

"It's kinda depressing..." Minato said, resting his head in his hand.

Jiraiya looked curiously back to his student.

"...

I feel really alone." Thus, Minato buried his face in his hands and inwardly cried.

"Dammit man, don't cry!!" Jiraiya steamed in anger and hit his student over his head with his "Make Out Paradise" book.

On the weekend, during a breezy, sunny afternoon, both teacher and student sat relaxing at the kitchen table of the Uzumaki household and through the doorway leading in to the living room they could see

Naruto loathing in his self pity. Ever since he had come home yesterday, the blonde hadn't spoke more than 5 words to his father. Of course Minato, being the overprotective parent he was, tried multiple ways of taking Naruto out his mute phase. (Bribing with ramen, asking questions, more severe methods...)When everything failed, it seemed now Minato was loathing.

"I wonder though, what made him so quiet? " Minato pondered as he stared into his tea cup. "Practically, all he's said to me since yesterday was 'home' and 'goodnight'."

Jiraiya looked up from his writing to Minato. He sighed.

"Ya' know kids," Jiraiya started. "They can't say what they really mean unless you pry it out of them. You just have to wait until they open up, or you take your method and talk it out of them. You know he only has you."

Minato's eyes looked up, blinking in surprise, towards his sensei. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I read it in a book once.: Jiraiya sipped his tea casually. "You never know what you'll find." One eye looked up to Minato. "You never hear that? I'm surprised."

The blonde leaned back in his chair. "I never read parenting books before. I thought I could do it by instinct. Plus Kushina knew about children..."

The aged sanin sighed and rubbed his temple.

"You have the instinct of a lion: someone touches your son, you attack them."

Minato glared at his sensei. "I do not."

Jiraiya laughed heartily, warmly lifting Minato's spirit alittle.

After few more conversations later, and a couple glances from Naruto, Minato led Jiraiya to the door and departed, thanking him for the invite.

"Make sure to get him out of that, kid." Jiraiya stated as he exited the house. "I miss his smile."

Minato put his hand on the doorway and smiled himself. Pushing the door to a shut, the blonde rubbed his eyes tiredly. Didn't he get enough drama at work?

But he had to try. Needless to say, his daily dose of happiness was missing, and he knew Naruto was paying the price of depression also.

"Naruto, you hungry?" Minato called out from standing behind the couch to his son, who was now laying on his stomach drawing on his colouring pad.

10 seconds passed, and no response came from the child. The Yondaime sighed in content. One thing he learned from his years of being a husband and father, was to never be a push over.

"Naruto come here," The older blonde said bluntly, "now."

He didn't even budge to his father's command. Naruto was making a deep feet, because he never ignored his father this severely. Sure he wouldn't tell the whole truth sometimes, and he caused mischief, but his father always forgave him. He could tell he was getting fed up this time.

In comparison, Minato never got mad at Naruto without a good reason. He heard of parents taking their anger out on their children, but he was against it fully. He hated seeing that happened, and swore he would never take part in it. He would punish his son with reasonable acts, not hit him because he knocked something over or spilt something.

"I know something's wrong, buggy." Naruto heard his father say as he walked over to him and sat cross legged right beside him on the floor. "Why won't you tell me? Are you scared I'll get mad?"

Naruto sat up and frowned at his father. To be honest, Naruto didn't have any problem talking to him (it was Minato that Naruto spilled his guts to usually). It was just that he didn't know how to say what he meant.

A sudden overwhelming sadness washed over Naruto as he remembered what caused his depression. That little spider, who's life was cut short. The small blonde crawled over to his father, like how the arachnid crawled over the canvas, and finally hugged him.

Minato blinked in small surprise but nether less cuddled the small child back.

"Daddy..." Naruto voice was muffled by Minatos shirt.

"What, Naru?" Minato questioned as he rubbed his hand over his son's neck and back.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You don't have to be sorry."

The Yondaime sighed in happiness now that his son was talking to him again. He was starting to think he wasn't going to make it through the week.

"I just want to know one thing, Naruto."

Said child looked up to his father, his body still snug in his arms.

It was a nice day to go outside, wasn't it?

--

It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold. It was a great day.

The Yondaime smiled as he walked down the pathway leading to the Hokage tower, gaining many waves and greetings from the villagers. With him was a sad and loathing blonde who was resting his head on his shoulder. Then Naruto tucked at Minato's sleeve.

"Daddy, where are we going?" Naruto questioned quietly, completely unusual for his behavior.

Minato had learned everything after Naruto confessed the reason for his loathing. Instead of offense, Minato understood Naruto's place in the situation and found an answer for it. (Because it was virtually impossible to kill every single spider on the earth, Naruto learnt from his father,)

"I'm gonna show you something. It'll cheer you up." The Yondaime ruffled his sons hair in affection. Naruto continued to rest in his father's arms and stayed mute, thinking he might make him more mad, which he wasn't.

Minato arrived at the Hokage Tower and made his towards his office. The Tower was nearly empty, but still had the feeling of company to it. Stepping quietly through the hallway, he walked towards the end of the it, where there was a main library for strictly Hokage use only.

Such of this place there was many places for small insects and such to find its home, but due to constant addition to its collection and labors of care, the readers didn't have to worry.

Opening the door, Minato sighed at the cool atmosphere and let the half asleep child down from his arms. Naruto adjusted his eyes and looked around the room, only being in there once before.

Minato shed his cloak and vest and folded them neatly, then set them down at the table that centered the entire library. Naruto followed behind while staring at the marvels of bookcases that loomed before him. They all had to be really boring, Naruto thought.

The blonde adult looked back to his son. He surprised him when he picked him up and took him to the window sill, over looking the village. Minato set him down and crouched behind him, putting his arm around him and resting his head on top of his.

"Look."

Naruto looked through the window and then to the place where Minato had taken hold of his hand and placed it on the corner. What he saw made his eyes widen with wonder.

"See it?" Minato smiled at his achievement. He stood up and walked off through the bookcases, leaving Naruto to enjoy his time with the spider web and spider that occupied it from the outside.

The blonde toddler pressed his nose to the glass and stared at the arachnid, not believing that Sasuke was right for once. A wide smile appeared on his face.

"Hello. I'm Naruto!" He said to the oblivious spider. He poked the glass which made it twitch in surprise.

The spider wriggled around the web, spinning it's thread in a silky pattern across the sill. The web was a wonder to the 6 year old; he had never seen anything like it before. Except for his fathers ANBU mask, he though it was awesome.

"Can you hear me? I'm here!!" Naruto called.

The blonde toddler enjoyed the spiders aquaintance. Although he wasn't answering to any of his questions, Naruto was happy to see a member of the deceased baby spider.

The spider suddenly jerked upwards it's web, which was swaying suddenly also. The blonde followed the spider, climbing onto the steady sill until he had to stand on his top toes.

"Wait, where are you going? Come back!" Naruto smiled when said bug stopped a couple inches above his head giving him enough neck length to watch it.

What?

He watched as the arachnid crawled close to what Naruto guessed was another bug.

"Oh, is that your friend?" The child asked the ignoring spider. However, the bug was wriggling in distress other than enjoyment.

"Hi buggy! My daddy calls me buggy, too! Wait... are you ok?"

The blondes smile dropped immediately when he saw the spider draw closer to the 'buggy'. Blue eyes widened in horror. What Naruto saw next made him do the only natural thing:

He screamed.

The surrounding area, villagers of Konoha looked around them and above them curiously looking for the sudden cause of childlike screaming. The sudden sound of his sons' shriek made Minato drop the book he was reading to his feet, but by the time the book had hit the floor, he was already down the bookcase.

The Yondaime ran out and slid to a stop into the open room that held the his child. What he found was the little blonde sitting on the floor in the corner bawling his eyes out, repeating the words "No, no " over and over.

Ready to kill whatever caused Naruto to cry, Minato sped over to him and got onto his knees next to him.

"Naruto?! What's wrong? What happened?!"

Instead of answering, Naruto sobbed his eyes out and hiccuped when he actually tried to talk.

"H- it... it... a-te..." hiccup "ate..."

"Who ate what? Naru, please talk to me." Minato put his hands underneath Narutos underarms and brought him closer to his own body, then began to nuzzle his temple with his nose.

"Buggy, what happened? Tell daddy, please."

"He ate it!" Naruto cried.

"Who ate what, Naruto?"

"The s-spider! He a-ate the buggy..." Naruto threw his arms around his father torso and made it so his chin was rested against his shoulder.

Huh...?

Confusion took over Minatos mind, which made him raise his eyebrow. The older blonde was rubbing Narutos back when it finally struck him.

Mature blue eyes looked over to the window and immediately realized the thin, but dangerous web that occupied the corner of it. They lowered slightly in understanding, then looked down his son.

"Oh, I see."

It was like watching an attack, except you know who's going to win.

Minato sighed and swiftly stood up with Naruto cuddled in his shirt.

"Naruto-"

"Why did he do that?!" Naruto cried in his fathers shoulder. "That wasn't nice!"

"Naruto, that's what spiders do." Minato searched his mind for the right phrase then gave up when he decided to say it bluntly. "They eat other bugs. That's how they survive, just like how we eat food."

Naruto sobbed, gripping the black over shirt. Minato sighed in distress, walking over to the table and sitting down, placing Naruto in his lap. In a way, the adult knew what the spider was going to do. It was a natural way of life, but somehow Minato knew Naruto wasn't going to understand.

"Buggy," Minato started. "Don't cry. That's how spiders live. I should've told before I let you see it." A hand ran over Naruto's blonde locks in confort. "Shhh. Naruto, please." There was no actual use to be quiet, they were the only ones in the library.

Sobs were quieted over a period of 10 minutes as Minato cooed Naruto. Said child breathed coursly until he could breath normaly, and then relocated his face against his father's neck. The blonde Yondaime set Naruto on top of the table, leaning and scooting the chair in so he could continue to hug him.

"Understand?"

The blonde toddler nodded his head in unision, sniffing softly as Minato rubbed his hand up and down Naruto's back. Then he finaly talked.

"D-daddy?" Naruto hiccuped.

"Yes?"

"...Are you gonna eat me?"

"...
No, Naruto."

"Oh."

A moment of silence.

"Why, you want me too?"

Naruto blinked in surprise when his father suddenly moved his head to his neck, giving his son a playful bite and multiple tickling kisses. Naruto squealed when he gave him a raspberry on his neck and tickled him on his stomach, making him fall backwards on the table, and letting Minato continue his attack.

"Daddy..!" Naruto gasped. "St-stop it!"

This time Naruto teared up from laughing.

More giggles and laughter continued to escape from the library. Outside the window pearched on a tree branch, an aged smile crossed the lips of a white haired man. Watching the whole thing, Jiraiya leaned against the tree truck in content. "Nice job, kid."

--

AN: Hope you liked. Tell me what you think of it, what you like, what you disliked, ETC.