Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Probably never will...

Eccentricity

The walk back to his apartment seemed longer than the usual even though he took a few shortcuts. The afternoon had ended a few hours back, and so Uzumaki was moving in the dark, trying not to be noticed as he made his way between houses and stores. Even when he passed by the Ichiraku Ramen he only stopped for a second to give the owner a brief wave and then keep on going on his way.

It didn't take long for him to reach his building and he immediately rushed up the stairs. He saw that the lights of his apartment were on, just as expected. He smiled happily to finally be back home, and because he was sure he would be enjoying a well deserved hot meal. He took out his key and opened the door.

"I'm home!" Naruto called as he entered the apartment.

He removed his sandals and unzipped his jacket. It had been an especially tiring day: training with Kakashi in the morning, two goddamned D rank missions by midday, and then a couple of hours of gate watch by the village's entrance until night. Most parts of the last days had been like that since apparently Konoha had sent many shinobi to foreign territories, leading to the indiscriminate overwork of the few ninja that remained. Naruto never complained or questioned the orders he was given, but it was indeed troublesome to deal with the village's lesser assignments. He was a man of action, damn it.

"Welcome home."

Naruto couldn't help but smile when he heard an answer to his greeting. One of his bunshin was smiling at him, and poking his head from the kitchen to welcome him home. He was wearing an apron and the air was filled with the unmistakable smell of homemade food. The shadow clone went back inside and Uzumaki was quick to follow to verify his suspicions, and he saw the table was ready along with a steaming pot on the stove.

"Long day?" the clone asked kindly as he turned off the fire.

"Very." Naruto answered, sitting tiredly on one of the chairs of the small table. "It's alright, though. I can handle it. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, after all."

"Konoha's pride and future Hokage." the bunshin added, amused. He was already serving the food for Uzumaki. "Yes, I know… but that doesn't justify Tsunade-sama overworking you like that."

"Yes, yes." Naruto said, dismissing the comment. "Doesn't matter, anyway… Besides, I'm starving."

It had been a while since the first time he left one of his replicates in charge of the house while he was out. Being as messy as he was and spending the most part of his day that by the end of the month he always had to deal with columns of dirty dishes, piles of smelly cloths, and layers of dust as abundant as sand was in Suna's deserts.

To use a bunshin was an exceptional idea that saved him a lot of trouble. That's how everything started really, with an extra helper with the housework required two or three times a week. However, he soon realized it was much simpler to leave a clone to take care of the place daily. It was a great help to keep the place in order despite his work, and it cost him just a fraction of his vast chakra reserve, which was one of the few advantages that came with the nine-tailed fox's curse.

Soon, Uzumaki discovered other benefits of keeping the bunshin in the apartment, like how gratifying it was to have someone waiting for your return and be happy to see you back. It was a new experience to the blond, whose whole existence had been lived without any company at all. He knew it wasn't real, that it was nothing more than a creation of his whose only purpose was to obey him without question, and yet that didn't make the company any less desirable.

Many years ago he had came to terms with the idea of being rejected by most of the village's population. He dismissed the possibility of ever having any true relationship of friendship or romance. He had friends now, sure, ones he would trust them with his life and for whom he would risk his existence for without a doubt. However, that didn't mean they would share feelings and dreams with him or anything else outside what a work relation entailed. That's not how things work, simple as that.

The whole world saw the Kyuubi when they looked at him, the Jinchuuriki, Naruto the demon brat, not Naruto the person. The shadow clone never gave him cruel looks, and didn't exclude him or avoid conversations with him. That's why he cherished the unusual relationship he was developing with the bunshin.

"How was the training with Kakashi sensei?" the shadow asked, sitting at the table. He watched his maker eating with his arms crossed.

"Oh, you know how he is, the lazy bastard." Naruto joked, taking a piece of meet with his chopsticks. "He was lying down on the grass for the most part, reading one of Ero-sennin's crappy books."

"Well, it's not like you need him." the clone complained. "You've managed just fine without his help this far."

As the days passed Naruto had started to notice some peculiarities in his clone's behavior, habits he was little by little getting to know. For example, the blond knew the shadow was incapable of eating food, but that didn't stop him from always setting up the table for both of them and sitting there as any other person would do. The bunshin had made a regular custom of sitting at the table with Naruto and starting conversation as he watched him eat. Naruto appreciated those chats with the bunshin. The clone would eventually disappear and the information of the day's events would become part of the original, and yet he always asked him about his activities and experiences all the same, listening closely to every word.

It was a considerate gesture that the blond was really thankful for. Being a rejected orphan with no one to turn to for so many years made him value small details like that one. He was also thankful of the way the replica expressed himself, using 'you' and 'I' when speaking instead of using 'us', and the addition of the respective honorifics to the name of their acquaintances, thus differentiating his speech form Naruto's. It helped him pretend it was really someone else next to him.

There were other aspects of the clone that differed from Naruto's behavior, such as some opinions and complaints that he made often such as comments the original blond wouldn't choose to make or at least not in front of others. Sometimes he wondered if the shadow was channeling his mind's unconscious content to create a personality for himself.

Whatever it was, he was starting to get accustomed to the bunshin's presence. More and more often he would find himself looking forward to the end of the day so he could be back home with his creation. He was aware of how unhealthy it was to keep such relationship, as well as how strange it was, but he felt incapable of letting go now that he had someone by his side for the first time. He knew it wasn't just the nice conversations.

"Thanks for the food." Naruto said, satisfied. He took the empty dish and went to put it in the sink, and decided to help at least that much with the cleaning.

"Don't worry about that…" the clone said, settling himself behind Uzumaki. His voice was deep and inviting. "It'll be something to keep me occupied tomorrow while you're out."

He felt the shadow's lips brushing his neck, their warmness starting to invade him, and found it enjoyable even though it was actually part of his own chakra. He closed his eyes, trying to shut down his thoughts by doing so. He concentrated instead on the conscious hands roaming over his body, and his jacket being slipped from his shoulders. It was another routine he shared with his clone, one that started on a fateful night of experimentation.

The first time was really an accident. He had being taking care of the typical physical needs that every guy of his age had when the bunshin, as curious as the original Naruto, decided to enter the room to investigate what was happening. He didn't remember how it was exactly but, after making it through the initial shock of being found in the middle of such an intimate activity, things took an interesting turn.

The bunshin's lips abandoning his neck brought him back to the present, leaving him to face the implied invitation that came with the other's approach. He turned around to face the shadow clone and saw himself reflected on those blue eyes just like his own, watching him with expectation of what would be the next move. Uzumaki felt like laughing, fully knowing that the days of doubting already passed by.

He lifted his hand to caress the bunshin's face, who leaned into it, enjoying the contact. Naruto felt his insides melt every time his creation responded to his touch, accepting it, which was something he wasn't used to. He saw the clone take a deep breath and exhale slowly. His breath brushed the skin of his arm tickling him. Naruto was aware that the clone had no need of breathing, and it was just one of the few habits the other had acquired to increase the realism of their encounters.

"I missed you…" the shadow whispered with eyes closed while he enjoyed his creator's touch. "You know it."

He did know. There were no lies between them, especially since the direct connection of their minds rendered them useless. There we no secrets. In answer to the bunshin's declaration Naruto slipped his hands around the other's waist, bringing him closer, letting their bodies make contact.

The shadow didn't resist him when he started playing with the hem of his shirt, by lifting the fabric with his fingers to caress that skin so similar to his own. He'd bought those clothes for the clone's exclusive use, as well as many other personal items that were really unnecessary to the shadow. They were mere props acquired with the only purpose of giving credibility to his strange fantasy world.

He looked into the bunshin's eyes making a silent request to continue, which was probably unnecessary after so many similar encounters shared in the past. The shadow's eyes answered him with the same silent language, full of sentiment and desire that Naruto wanted to believe to be real. He knew his feelings for the clone were true so maybe the bunshin, as an exact replica of himself, must feel the same way.

He put his doubts on hold for some other time, burying them deep within his mind next to the guilt and shame he felt. When he kissed the shadow's lips the only thing he was aware of was how good the warmth of that fake body felt and the accelerated rhythm his heart took when he heard a strangled moan escape from his creation. He closed his eyes to catch every sensation flowing inside him, and felt the blood rushing through his veins getting hotter as the kiss intensified, and his sense of what a good shinobi should or shouldn't do vanished into oblivion.

As they kissed their hands started reaching further under their clothes. Their breath, were the only sound in the stillness of the kitchen. A moment later he felt the bunshin's hand traveling down his abdomen, reaching for his pants zipper and opening it slowly, but never let go of his lips. Naruto smiled into the kiss, amused by the shadow's eagerness.

He never got tired of this, because it made him feel wanted, and special for being the only receptor of such intimate touch. He let the clone take lead of his body now freed of his clothes restrictions, working on that area to which only he had access. It was such a pleasurable sensation to have someone else touching him like that. It was completely different from any other self-relieving experience he had before. Even though they looked the same Naruto recognized the bunshin's ministrations as unique, by the way it caressed him, setting a steady pace over his body, and weakening his coherent mind as he whispered promises of comfort into his ear.

How could he refuse? Denying the only possibility of physical contact that he was ever offered was unthinkable. He had longed for closeness for such a long time, and begged for attention, and now he had all that and more in ways he would never have imagined. His life was full of peculiarities and strangeness, no doubt about it.

"Oh, god…" the words slipped through Naruto's lips in a passionate whisper.

The clone increased his pace, causing the other to reach back to the counter when the sensations started taking over his body, and affecting his balance.

"It's okay…" the shadow encouraged, leaning to the blond's ear. "Don't hold back. Just… feel."

And feeling was all his body was capable of doing in that instant, while coming undone under the skilled hand of his beloved creation. His muscles tightened and his body went rigid at the same time the world around him lost significance. In those few seconds everything lacked sense but at the same time it all fell into place. For just a moment he wasn't a ninja committing an inconceivable act with the product of one of his techniques. Instead in that instant he was just Naruto, sharing a meaningful intimate moment with the only person that understood him and sincerely accepted him and returned his feelings.

Little by little his breathing started to regulate, as the moment was vanishing and his mind began to realize what had just happened. He opened his eyes with no other choice but to face reality. The bunshin's understanding gaze greeted him, while guessing the thoughts that played inside his creator's mind. There were no secrets between them after all.

"I know this is all pretty weird…" the bunshin started with comforting voice. "But hey, you know what they say… you gotta learn to love yourself first, right?"

Naruto appreciated the attempt to make him feel better, and there could be some truth in what the clone said. Maybe he needed to start thinking about what made him happy, without worrying too much about what his friends and superiors might think. He should begin putting his interests as the top priorities of his life. He was a good ninja, a good comrade and, with no intention of sounding pretentious, he was a good person too. He served the village diligently and never had asked anything in return. He was entitled to have this one eccentricity.

"I guess you're right." Naruto said and sighed. "I mean, my life has never been normal, after all."

"Come on…" the kage bunshin said, smiling with a raised eyebrow. "Where's the fun in normal?"

He would probably never know. Normal was out of his reach, but he was okay with that. Maybe the strangeness of his relationship with the shadow clone was what made it special and, if he stopped to think about it, it had nothing but advantages. From then on he would focus on enjoying what destiny offered him. Besides, the best things in life sometimes came in unusual shapes, and it was all about finding a way of making them work. He shouldn't have a problem with that, because he was the most persevering person in all Konoha.

A/N: Unusual, I know. Any comments about it are very appreciated, even if they're just to say I'm crazy. Thank you for reading!

Once again, my thanks to Makura Moderski for being my beta :)