Warning: Please be advised this story will have content of boyxboy eventually. Don't like, don't read.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in this story and those rights reside with Kishimoto. These characters are being depicted as a source of entertainment in a non-profitable story.
A/N: A very small portion of the story is adapted from an original story written by Kathryn Reiss. There is no intent to profit or steal any of the copyrighted characters of material. Thank you.
Chapter 1
As Naruto walked down the cobblestone streets, he admired the couple of century old homes that still stood as beautiful as the day they were first built. He marveled at the attention to detail and felt a sense of pride that he could do the same.
Looking down at the address written on a piece of paper in his hand, he noted that he should be arriving at his destination soon. With a smile upon his face, he made a left turn down the street that would be the residing location of his destination. He looked down the street, noting it was a tad dark and filled with odd shops, most of which were closed.
This was the old part of Konoha. Most of the places had long been abandoned, but the area was showing promise in making a comeback eventually. Naruto could practically see an organ grinder with his monkey and other freak shows performing on a street such as this back in the day. He shook his head with a small smile. Naruto saw a sign hanging awry that advertised suit tailoring; shops next to it had been a hat designer and manufacturer and across the street is an old barber shop that was still open and offered a straight razor shave. Naruto considered himself an old soul, but the thought of a straight razor brought shivers down his spine. He wasn't that brave just yet.
A few more buildings down, he arrived at his destination and home away from home for the next few weeks (or months depending on the damage). It was an old 3 story building with a basement and attic. The building was truly a beauty and whoever had designed it did a magnificent job. Naruto had been hired to renovate and restore the building by two of his friends. He took the stairs two at a time and confirmed this was the correct address. He then placed his belongings down and sat at the top of the stairs and waited patiently for his friends and the owners to arrive.
Naruto looked down the street and tried to imagine what it would've looked like in full swing. Everyone all dressed up in nice suits and the women wearing those ridiculous hats. The building Naruto would be renovating used to be a private residence. Whoever had owned it would've been pretty rich. All the other buildings had a shop on the lower level and residences above that. This particular house was just a lavish residence. It was also easily the largest on the block providing Naruto with an exciting challenge.
A small car turned the corner and Naruto stood with a slight smirk. Looks like his buddy had lost that argument after all.
The car pulled up and a tall platinum blonde woman with pale blue eyes hopped out of the passenger seat with a bounce in her step, followed by her less than enthusiastic boyfriend from the driver's seat.
"Hi Naruto! Sorry we're late! Someone had to stop and eat. Again." Ino deadpanned.
"Maa, woman doesn't know good food when she smells it. Hello Naruto-kun, nice to see you" Chouji said while he unwrapped his sandwich.
"Haha, hey Ino and Chouji. Nice to see you both as well. And you weren't late, I just arrived early."
Ino walked past Naruto and up to the front door. She pulled out a key and unlocked the door then gave it a shove when opening it. Naruto stepped inside and was captivated immediately. A lot of care and love had been put into this home's original design. He was snapped out of his enthrallment by the sound of Ino's (commanding) voice.
"So, I would like this bottom floor converted into a flower showroom. I would like to keep the original charm if we can. I think it's beautiful in here." A snort from behind Naruto suggested his buddy disagreed.
Looking around the first floor, it certainly was open and would be suited for a showroom. Plus, the ceilings were high so Naruto could add more shelving. Most of the original crowning and moulding was still intact so the most this floor needed was a seriously cleaning and some caulking for the cracks made from the house settling.
"I think that could be accomplished easily enough," Naruto confirmed with a smile.
"Alright, time for the next area!" Ino exclaimed happily.
After a thorough tour and examination of the house, Naruto couldn't wait to get started. Ino wanted a showroom on the bottom floor and the top two floors to be converted into an office/living space. A few broken windows and basic touch-ups for the most part, a fresh coat of paint, some electrical work and a lot of cleaning. Naruto gave his shopping list to Ino which she took then dragged a complaining Chouji behind her.
Naruto had decided beforehand to stay in the house whilst the repairs went underway. It'd save a lot of time and give Naruto full flexibility. It also gave him a chance to get to know the place a bit more. But ultimately, it provided him with a perfect escape from his grandparents, Tsunade and Jiraiya. They were constantly nagging Naruto to date and bring someone home for dinner with him. Even though Naruto persistently told them he would know the person when he saw them and to be patient.
Once Ino dropped off his supplies along with her credit card for anything else he might need, he got started. He decided that cleaning would need to be the first thing to happen along with providing himself with some light since the sun would be setting soon.
With a deep breath and some determination, he said to no one in particular, "Let's go!"
The next day, Naruto woke up on his mat and stretched out. He had gotten the floors swept and his worklight hooked up with most of the left-behind furniture rearranged in the center of the room. Today's goal was to finish cleaning out the other floors and preparing them to be worked on. But first, food. Ramen, to be specific.
After heating up water and setting his cup of delicious ramen on the table to steep, Naruto wandered into the bathroom to relieve himself. Luckily, it wasn't in drastically horrible shape, just needed new tiles and a good cleaning. And at Chouji's request, a new toilet. I guess vintage toilets weren't his thing. The upstairs bathroom and kitchen would be the only thing more modernized. The installation of a shower and a modern compatible kitchen. Can't really blame them. Heating up that water had been a pain.
Once Naruto had eaten his ramen, he got started on the house. He finished cleaning up the house easily and took measurements for the broken window panes that would need to be replaced. He called in and placed the order with a glass manufacturer closeby and proceeded to take on his next task.
About halfway through the day, Naruto found himself in the downstairs bathroom filling in the cracks and getting it ready to be painted. All of a sudden, Naruto noticed the mirror shake slightly and he furrowed his eyebrows at it once it started to shake more violently. Realization dawned on him that the whole house was, in fact, shaking and he was in an old house in the midst of an earthquake. Naruto rushed to the door and stood in the door frame since hiding in the bathtub surrounded by questionable tile was out of the question. Once the shaking stopped, he went outside and waited a few more moments to make sure the house wouldn't collapse. Naruto hadn't thought to ask if the building was up to the earthquake code, but made checking the support beams a priority when he went back inside.
Naruto walked along the perimeter of the house before deciding to walk inside and assess the damage. Sure enough, there were some angry new cracks in the walls. Naruto made a quick call to Ino to tell her the news and inform her that he was going to need to go out and buy some plaster.
Naruto grabbed the broom and began sweeping up the mess. Whilst in the middle of sweeping, he noticed something that wasn't plaster, but instead paper. He picked it up and noticed it was an envelope with something inside.
"Why would an envelope be in a wall?" Naruto pondered the idea for a moment before setting it down on his belongings.
Once Naruto had finished his impromptu sweeping and had gone into the bathroom to finish up, he ran to the store to grab the extra plaster, all while pondering the envelope and what he should do with it.
After arriving back and picking up food on the way back, he waltzed in the door and playfully announced "Honey, I'm home!" With a smile he walked into the kitchen and chowed down on his very delicious meatball sandwich. Honestly, how Ino drove past that place without wanting this sandwich was a mystery to him.
Later that evening, Naruto laid on his mat and stared at the ceiling, mentally going over the day and checking off things he had done and not done yet. He remembered the mysterious envelope and picked it up. He looked it over and noted it was aged. It had probably been stuck in there for some time. 'Who would hide an envelope inside a wall and why?' Naruto shrugged it off, debating whether or not to open it.
Curiosity got the better of him and he decided on opening it. He used the excuse that he thought it might be papers that had to do with the house originally and that should be something Ino should know about, so he could tell her.
Excitement pumped through his body as he stared at the back of the preserved envelope. Who doesn't love a good mystery? He broke the wax seal and pulled the contents out. Inside was a dried up sunflower and a note. Naruto steadied himself with a deep breath as he opened the note hoping for something interesting.
"To The Love of My Life,
As requested, I am writing to you. I am not sure exactly what I am supposed to write, but hopefully this will meet your expectation. Today was misery without seeing your face or being in your presence; hearing your beautiful laugh or seeing your bright smile. Hopefully, this torment will be over soon and you will waltz through the door any moment now and make this horrible day be gone with. You should really consider just staying with me at home all day. I can think of a few ways to keep you occupied should you find boredom looming upon you. It is unfair that you get to go out and about without me and I am trapped inside my home office being plagued by thoughts of you. It is quite unproductive if you ask me. I miss you dearly and it would be wonderful if you opened the front door with groceries to make dinner. But I would settle for you walking in without them. Until next time, I love you.
Yours Forever,
Sasuke"
Naruto set the note down on his lap with a smile. Despite what everyone else thought, he was a hopeless romantic. Whoever this girl was, she had a man who loved her. Hopefully she knew that. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if the girl ever saw the letter that she requested.
After placing the note back inside the envelope, he rolled over and turned the light off. Drifting off to sleep, he wondered what other mysteries lay inside the house.
At some point in the middle of the night, Konoha had experienced aftershocks and sent Naruto back outside in the cold with a sour attitude—which explains why the blonde ball of sunshine rose around noon.
After going through a morning routine and another call to Ino, Naruto set to work cleaning the house again.
"Maa, at this rate, all I'll ever do is clean this monstrosity! The rich bastard probably had an army of maids to clean this place," Naruto groaned aloud. He sighed and blew air up at the ceiling. When trailing his eyes back down, he glanced at the wall and noted another envelope sticking out.
"What the-? Why are there letters inside these walls?" Naruto stood up and grabbed the envelope from the wall. He turned around and flipped it over to open it. Just as he had begun opening it, he heard the front door being opened and quickly hid the letter. He walked down the stairs just as Ino and Chouji walked in with Shikamaru, the genius.
"How's it going, Naruto?" Chouji called up to him.
"Fine, just cleaning up the last bits of broken plaster from the aftershocks. Hey Shikamaru, how are you doing this fine day," Naruto asked, beaming at his lazy friend.
"Troublesome. Women don't know how to leave a man alone..." Shikamaru said trailing off.
Naruto laughed at the lazy man before turning toward Ino to see she was holding a mirror. He gave her a questioning look.
"I thought it would look good in here, hang it wherever it would fit." She said while smiling at him.
"Hopefully another earthquake happens and it shatters, giving this house seven years of bad luck. I don't see why we have to open a Yamanaka flower branch in old Konoha..." Chouji complained.
"Perhaps it would be wise to leave it out of harm's way..." Shikamaru drawled.
"Shush, you two. Nothing will happen to it. You two are just annoyed because you don't get to watch tv all day!" Ino said with a visible eye twitch.
"Speaking of TVs, Naruto could you-" Chouji started but the withering look Ino had made him quickly dismiss the idea.
"Sorry Chouji, I take orders from the boss," Naruto said jokingly while inclining his head to Ino.
"I'll hang the mirror first chance I get, you can count on it. It suits the house nicely."
"Thanks, Naruto. We also wanted to check on you and drop off some ramen. We picked it up from Ichiraku's," Ino said while handing him the container Chouji had been hiding.
"Thank you Ino, my goddess. Anything else?" Naruto said with an expectant look.
"Nope, I will be leaving now. Got to head back and help my dad. Enjoy!"
"Oh... I will."
After a wonderful miso-ramen-filled love affair, Naruto walked back into the room he had hid the envelope in and grabbed it to read in a corner overlooking the garden. He ran a hand through his hair and opened it up to see what was written. It was kind of cute that this Sasuke guy left love notes for his girl. He hoped to have a love like that one day.
"To My Darling Ball of Sunshine,
I am writing this whilst you are tending to the garden. You are currently tending to the tomatoes. Two of my favorite things together. I am sorry about earlier today. I did not mean to make you upset. It breaks my heart as much as it does yours that we cannot really be together. I would give anything to marry you. And that woman does not make things any easier. At least when we are here together, it is just you and I and no one else. You are my everything. Please do not hold it against me forever. You know I only have eyes for you. Even if you are a little dense sometimes. I am sorry.
Always and forever yours,
Sasuke
P.S. It is much easier to dig if you loosen the soil first, my love"
Naruto sat there with a solemn look on his face. He actually wanted to know what happened. Why wouldn't this Sasuke guy marry his ball of sunshine?! And why'd some other woman ruin a cute love story. Naruto stared out the window, looking at the remains of the garden and guessing Sasuke would've been looking at her from where he was currently sitting.
"It's always the other woman..." Naruto said to no one in particular. Naruto always saw girls as vicious and a drama magnet. But then again, almost all the women in his life were slightly insane. Except for Hinata. Hinata was a sweetheart.
Naruto spent the next few hours fixing the place up and gave himself a pat on the back while examining his work. He got a lot done. Most of the cosmetic damage had been repaired and the house was slowly returning to its former glory.
"Time to go out and relax. I could use a beer. Time to call Kiba."
Naruto and Kiba sat at a bar, enjoying beer o'clock while watching the game on TV.
"So how's the house coming along? Did Ino ask for it to be painted in all shades of purple while Chouji asked for a state-of-the-art kitchen?" Kiba inquired playfully.
Naruto smiled, "Nah, just the master bedroom will be purple. Chouji just asked for a modern toilet and a big fridge. They will only live there a few years until they have enough for a down payment on a house. It's coming along great. Found some interesting stuff."
"What kind of interesting stuff could you have found in a house that old? The very first edition of playboy? If so, can I have it?" Kiba wagged his eyebrows.
Naruto hesitated a moment, but realized Kiba wouldn't actually care.
"I found a couple of old love letters. They were hidden inside the walls. The earthquakes broke the plaster concealing them. I can't figure out why they were hidden in the walls though."
"Dude. That's not interesting. You're such a sap. As far as the hiding letters in the wall thing goes, I am as clueless as you are."
"I can't help but be curious though... I mean, why not give them to her? Did he write them and forget. I wonder what happened. Did he end up marrying her? It's a fun mystery. I kind of hope I find another. It's making the time pass."
"Why not look up who owned the house dumbass? It'd be quicker. Here, we can google corny romantic dudes that lived forever ago and hid love notes in the walls of his house."
"Shut up Kiba. I bet Hinata would like it if you were romantic."
Kiba's cheeks tinged a bright pink. "Shut it Uzumaki." He gave Naruto a light punch for good measure.
After a few more beers, Naruto thought on Kiba's suggestion to research the owner. Maybe he would. If he can't find anymore letters. Though, his way was proving to be more suspenseful and fun.
After a few more days, the three main floors were crack free, had a beautiful coat of new paint on the walls, and clean floors. Naruto had replaced the windows and cleaned them as well. The crowning had been replaced and moulding redone. But, there was still a lot more to do and, much to Naruto's dismay, no new letters. But he still hadn't caved by running to a library to research the owner. Nope. Not yet. Almost though.
Ino had asked Naruto to clean out the basement, shed and attic. So, Naruto decided to take a break from his construction work and go do some manual labor.
Upon opening the door to the basement, his pleasant demeanor started to diminish. Dark and cold with cobwebs weren't a friendly place for Naruto. Nope. He opted to start with the attic.
The condition of the attic was a few steps above the basement. It wasn't as dirty and had some natural light filtering in from a small window. Naruto started going through various things. There wasn't much to actually go through, mostly vintage clothes and awesome hats, a broken coat rack off in the corner and some old sketches and drawing equipment. There were a few quilts that looked handmade inside a chest as well as a few antique toys.
Naruto smiled and shut the chest, looking for other things. There was a large painting of a smiling beautiful woman with black hair. She had black eyes and beautiful pale skin. She was truly a gorgeous woman. There was a small fan in the bottom right hand corner of it. Naruto sifted through a few abandoned sketches and saw they mostly consisted of the woman in the painting doing various things. Naruto went towards a large ornate chest and opened it to find a beautiful wedding dress as well as some beautiful combs. He figured these must have belonged to the woman in the picture. He sighed and began to bring a few of the items down to the first floor to be reviewed properly and have Ino take a look at them to decide what to do with them. However, he opted to leave the chest full of men's clothing and hats in there so he could peruse through it in his spare time.
Naruto called Kiba to help him with the heavier items and they had the attic cleared out within an hour. The attic was going to need insulation and pieces of wood replaced from water damage. The roof obviously needed to be redone. Naruto couldn't help but admire how the house stood in near immaculate condition even after a hundred or so years.
After getting about two hours of procrastination, it was back to the basement. Both Kiba and Naruto brought flashlights and hoped they would find a light switch for extra light. Kiba, after a few minutes, found said light switch but with no luck at all, the old bulb burst.
"At least we know electricity still runs to it. Let me go and grab another bulb." Naruto left the basement and went to grab a potato and a new bulb. Once he descended the stairs he found Kiba exploring.
"Hey, got the bulb!"
"Cool, hey Naruto, whoever lived here was damn good at drawing. There's even a few sketches of houses and building plans. But whoever this was should've sold portraits for a living."
"Artists don't get rich until they're dead. Picasso, Van Gogh, Monte are all great examples, to name a few. Maybe he was an architect or something. Now c'mere and shine your light at the bulb, you mangy mutt."
"Fine. Just remember which mangy mutt you love and need help from." Kiba shone the light at the socket and Naruto took the potato and stuck it onto the broken bulb, safely unscrewing it and replacing it with a new bulb.
Naruto took a look around and saw the drawing Kiba had been talking about.
"Hey, this one kind of looks like ya." Kiba said while sliding a page over.
"Wow, it does. This person really should've been an artist." Naruto took a peek at the table and saw lots of sketches of the same person doing various things at different stages of life. Naruto also saw a lot of building designs and architectural designs. "Looks like he was an architect. These are floor plans. They are pretty remarkable for their age. This is turn of the century stuff. If any of these buildings are famous landmarks and this guy designed it, these could be worth a small fortune."
"Well, time to move this stuff out of here." Kiba stated.
For the next couple of hours, they cleaned out the basement, taking a break after a bit since both of them were near starvation, and continuing on until it was almost cleared. They found lots of stuff, to say the least. Old pictures, drawings, hats, clothing, shoes, furniture, a few toys, holiday decorations and other various items had been placed down there.
All in all, there was a mountain of items piled on the first floor that Ino would be going through tomorrow and they would undoubtedly hear about it.
A beeping noise went off and Kiba excused himself. Naruto noticed a fox hide in the corner draped over something. He knelt down and pulled it off and saw a small chest. He flipped open the lid and saw a few empty seed packets for different vegetables, a button, a cork and a note card. Naruto picked up the note cards and in simple elegant handwriting that reminded him of Sasuke's, it said, " I Love You". Naruto figured it was a memory box of some sorts. Naruto picked up the box and felt something underneath it. Naruto tilted it to the side and saw another envelope stuck to it. With a victorious smirk, he removed the envelope and placed it in his pocket for later. Kiba came back downstairs and ran a hand through his hair.
"Hey fox boy, I gotta run. Hinata wants me home and Akamaru is starving. I'll see you around!"
"Alright man, thanks for the help and give Hinata a hug from me, k?"
"Sure thing! Bye!"
"Bye"
Naruto listened as he heard Kiba run back up the stairs and out towards the front door. Naruto walked up to the second floor and into the kitchen, placing the memory box on the table. He pulled the envelope out and stared at it curiously. He flipped it around on his fingertips in wonderment. Why hadn't anyone opened them? Had someone hid them before giving them to the person they were meant for? They hadn't been addressed to anyone. Was Sasuke some lonely guy that had an imaginary girl? But why would he write letters and hide them. Two of which were inside walls. Naruto was truly puzzled. No one had lived in this home for at least ten years.
Naruto stood and made to go lock the front door, bypassing the small mountain. He gazed over the stuff while trying to piece it together. At one point, children played in this massive house. A beautiful woman was the center of someone's attention. She was probably Sasuke's lover. Maybe even the mother of his children. Naruto reached the door and locked it. Walking back over to the sketches of his century old 'twin', he flipped through them. They were remarkably detailed. There were sketches of him asleep, working, reading and even playing with a small girl. Maybe these sketches were of Sasuke? Naruto shrugged it off.
Naruto walked back to the kitchen and sat down, deciding to order pizza. After the box of pizza arrived, Naruto set it down and quickly made work of it.
Naruto quietly gazed at the small box. He tilted his head to the side and then shifted his head to the letter. He didn't understand why, but he was almost attached to the situation. He was pretty sure this Sasuke guy got his happy ending. But nonetheless, he felt like he had to know more. Perhaps researching the house history and its owner wasn't a bad idea? Where did one even go for that kind of stuff?
Naruto reached for the letter and flipped it over, noting the wax seal was still intact. He looked in detail at it, recognizing the small fan-like imprint just like that on the painting. Fans and swirls were a part of Konoha, especially New Konoha. It probably was back then as well.
Naruto broke the seal and pulled out the letter, unfolding it slowly. His eyes rolled up to the top of the page and began to read the third installment of his discoveries.
"I am beginning to wonder what you do with these letters darling, and the purpose behind them. You are very strange, Naru. But that is what I love about you. You have been exciting ever since I met you; I will forever thank dark and dreary rainstorms, slippery sidewalks and your poor balance. Anytime I hear thunder and lightning, I have a nostalgic moment from when you fell into my arms. I am sorry about my behavior the past few weeks. I know you would not force me to do something that would make me unhappy, I just never saw myself as a father given the circumstances. So, this letter is being written to make sure you know I am happy with you and I will love our daughter just as much as I love you. I can hear the two of you giggling and cooing in the next room over. I suppose I should go and join my two god-sent miracles. You are going to make a wonderful mother Naru, and I am filled with a sense of joy that I get to call you both mine. My family. My loves. All mine. I am so grateful for the both of you. –Sasuke"
Now, Naruto was even more intrigued. The woman in the picture must've been Naru. And Sasuke did have a child. But, his curious mind still craved more. Did Sasuke not give her the letters and just hid them around the house?
Naruto stretched his arms behind his head and gave a yawn. Shower and bed. Definitely.