Cuts & Bruises

Chapter 4

Naruto was shaken awake the next morning. Through blurry eyes, he saw the counselor and groaned in frustration, turning to his side.

"Get up, Naruto." The counselor crossed his arms over his chest and sternly glared at the blonde.

"Five more minutes, come on!" He pulled the covers over his head. In a matter of seconds, they were not too gently, thrown off of him. "Fine! Alright, I'm up!" He swung his legs over the side of the bed and glared up at the man.

"Get dressed and pack up, then come straight to my office." He nodded at the blonde before walking away.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at his wrist which had fresh, new, bright red marks. He frowned and lightly ran a finger over them. He sighed once again before standing up and beginning to pack his things.

When he was finished, which took no longer than fifteen minutes, he went to the counselor's office. As he opened the door, the counselor was sitting at his desk, next to him a social worker that he didn't recognize, and two guys sitting in front of the desk, facing away from him.

"Ah, Naruto!" The counselor looked up from the pair and stood up. "Meet your new foster parents!"

Naruto looked on in surprise as the two turned around to reveal two males, one who had silver hair and was wearing some type of scarf to cover his lower face, and the other a brunette who smiled at him warmly. "You two are my new foster parents?"

"There's not a problem, is there?" The silver haired man's eyes closed in what Naruto assumed was a smile, though his voice held a hint of anger.

He put his hands up in a surrendering position and shook his head. "No, no problem. Just a little surprised is all."

The brunette waved the other man off. "Don't mind him too much, he can be a little, ah, eccentric. I'm Iruka by the way, and this is my husband, Kakashi. We're very excited to meet you, Naruto!"

He gave the couple a once over before nodding his head. "Ditto."

"Naruto!" The counselor hissed. "Be polite."

Naruto scowled, not saying anything more.

"No worries! We encourage Naruto to be himself, no need to act differently for us." Kakashi said to the counselor.

"Be careful what you wish for, this one's a handful." The social worker spoke up, turning her nose at the blonde.

"No need to talk like I'm not here!" Naruto retorted.

"Alright, enough." The counselor sighed. "You have all your stuff packed?"

He nodded, holding up his duffel bag and shrugging his shoulder that held his book bag.

"Alright, let's go home, Naruto." Iruka smiled at him brightly as he stood up.

Naruto felt a warm feeling in his chest and he smiled as he followed the two outside and into their car.

Kakashi sat in the driver's seat while Iruka sat in the passenger seat and turned around to face Naruto who climbed into the backseat.

"How are you in school?" Iruka asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I do pretty good. Mostly B's."

Iruka smiled brightly at him. "That's good! Kakashi teaches History and I teach English at Konoha High, which is where you'll be going starting tomorrow."

Naruto groaned out loud. "I have to start school already? No break?"

Iruka and Kakashi laughed. "No way, kiddo!" Kakashi gave him a look through the rearview mirror. "I think you'll like it there though."

Naruto looked out the window, arms crossed over his chest. "No one likes the new kid, it's just going to be the same as any other school. Kids never change."

Iruka frowned and turned to look at Kakashi.

The rest of the car ride was filled with an awkward silence. But they soon arrived to their destination when Iruka announced they were home.

Naruto looked at the two-story house that he was going to be calling home, for however long that would be. The house was a light blue in color and was a simple colonial-style home. The front had a simple but nice garden with a cherry tree.

Naruto whistled as he got out of the car. "This is a nice house you got! Do you have any other foster kids living here?"

Iruka grabbed Kakashi's hand and started walking to the front door, Naruto following close behind them. "No, actually, you're our first foster child. We're planning on adopting a kid of our own one day." He smiled up at Kakashi who placed a light kiss on his forehead and opened the door.

Naruto frowned as he stepped into the house, a sudden feeling of sadness at Iruka's words. He sighed lightly and watched as Iruka began to go up the stairs. He stood awkwardly in front of the door, bags in hand.

Halfway up the steps, Iruka stopped to see Naruto still standing there. "You can follow me, Naruto. I'll show you to your new room." He waved for Naruto to follow him and the blonde quickly ran up the steps to catch up with him.

Naruto followed him down the hall.

"This is technically your bathroom." Iruka pointed out the first door they came to and Naruto peeked inside to see a bare bathroom that had a shower, bathtub combination along with a toilet and a sink with counter space. "Our room is over there." He pointed behind the blonde and Naruto turned to see an open bedroom that had a double bed, the rest hidden from view. "And your room is across the hall from your bathroom, right here." Naruto looked in and saw an empty room, with only a full-size bed that had white sheets and a folded blanket with two pillows, and a dresser. "Feel free to decorate it as you please." Iruka gave him a smile. "Our computer room slash office is straight down the hall. We haven't set up an account on the computer for you yet so just ask one of us if you need to use it. And then we have an art studio in the room next to it, so if you want to dabble in something artsy, we can get you set up."

"This is a lot to take in." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"Go ahead and take your time unpacking. We'll just be starting dinner. Do you have any allergies or something you don't like?" He looked at Naruto, excitedly.

"I don't like broccoli." Naruto said, scrunching up his nose.

Iruka laughed. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind from now on. Make yourself at home!" He left Naruto alone and headed down the steps.

Naruto looked around the room before smiling brightly. "I think I'm going to like it here!"