Six Years Too Long

Chapter 16

Third person pov

It's easy to forget he has a dad now who doesn't view him as some horrifying monster meant to be shunned. Naruto hadn't believed it at first-- in fact, a part of him still doesn't. Sometimes he sits down and thinks this all must be some fantastical dream. That a villager hit him in the head with a rock at just the right angle, and now he's stuck in a comatose. If that is the case, Naruto doesn't really want to wake up.

His dad gives him hugs and helps him with his homework, and Kashi carries him around on his hip and colors with him anytime he asks. He has friends now, in the form of Sasuke-teme and the doggies and his brain-rat. If this is a dream, Naruto will never be alone here. That much is painstakingly clear. There's always someone with him wherever he goes, someone who isn't out to hurt him, or scorn him just for existing. It takes some getting used to, but Naruto sucks the warmth up like a sponge soaks up water.

He doesn't have to buy his own groceries anymore, or figure out how to fix the kitchen sink by himself, or hoard his belongings all in one, safely hidden spot so that they don't get destroyed. Naruto lives in a real house as a part of a real family, and he has more to his name than ever before. Clothes, blankets, books, toys, kunai: you name it. It's all strewn about, and he never gets in trouble for it. Nobody ever takes it away or scolds him. 

The material things don't really matter to Naruto. He's survived with nothing at all, and he knows physical objects should be held at arm's length to avoid disappointment. It's better to detach yourself from what can be taken away, because chances are you're never going to be able to hold onto it tight enough no matter how hard you try, and it'll be ripped from your hands before you even realize what's happening. Naruto knows this and he's careful because of it. He doesn't have a favorite toy, or a favorite blanket. He doesn't have a favorite shirt-- only a preferred one-- and he doesn't get attached to any of the toys that cycle through the house.

Realistically, he knows these things aren't going to be taken from him at this point. He'd tested it time and time again, and they never were. He'd let the things allocated to him drift out of his room to see if they'd be broken, or vanish, or get thrown out. Naruto would make his rounds every evening to the spots he'd chosen to leave things to check and see if they were still there. Sure, some things had been shifted out of the way or picked up, but they hadn't been taken. Just moved, still within his reach and (probably) still his.

Naruto's never owned this much before, but all that means is he has ample material to experiment with. He makes sure to leave a plushie on Kashi's desk chair and a few crayons on his floor. He drags a blanket into his father's room and throws it across the bed, carefully setting a toy on his dresser on his way out. He makes sure to put his stuff on top of his dad and Kashi's belongings, so that they're forced to notice them and make the decision as to whether or not they get to stay.

So far, everything-- and Naruto has checked, has memorized, and would know if something was gone-- has stuck. It's all there. Miraculously, he can account for every single gift he's been given. It's perplexing. He sits on the floor with the doggies, utterly bewildered by this unexpected turn of events. This house is actually his. He actually gets to live here for real, like people do in books and in actual, normal life. He gets to stay, and his stuff is his stuff; that wasn't just a lie to placate him or try to make him feel better. It was true.

Even though he's annoying and a monster, he gets to live in a house with a family. Well, his dad has told him several times that he isn't one, but let's be real here. This definitely seems like a majority vote sort of thing, though, and the village is 100% convinced. When that many people think something, there's bound to be some truth to it. Naruto can conclude from steady observation that his dad is just extra nice, and that Kashi is too, and so are the doggies. There's still something different about Naruto that makes him marginally less, the difference is that they're okay with it. Which is... really amazing. Like, really amazing.