My Lover's Keeper

6. Rumours

After the storm passed and school resumed, Sasuke noticed, the rumours about Kakashi and Naruto kept escalating. The blond was in the hospital for a week before he was discharged. Heck, all Sasuke had to say was that Kakashi was Naruto's father or guardian...but he said nothing.

Teachers eventually have caught wind of it and started talking about proper actions to take.

Naruto was still in bed as Iruka had taken a week off strictly to look after him. He looked at his new smartphone. He had barely used it since he was gifted the odd piece of technology. There was a third number under Hyūga Hinata. He touched the screen to text her.

"Hinata-chan,
Sorry for taking so long to text you. Thank you for all the gifts. I gave your father my word that I'd accept them...so my mom and I donated old things.
I hope you are having a nice day at school.
P.s I especially enjoyed the gifts you have selected...even if one of them was an expensive car"

Hinata was in class when she received that text. She smiled widely and put her phone down. He was so formal in texting, it was obvious he had never done it before.

"Naruto, I got called for work. I'll be back as soon as I can. I'll bring some food from your favourite shop with me on the way home."

"Okay" he closed his eyes feeling the forehead kiss. As soon as Iruka was out the door, Naruto got dressed and left too.

He held on to his coat as he felt the cold creep in. He walked to school making it just in time for lunch break.
He walked in class, the group of friends that normally have lunch with Sasuke stopped to look at him.

"Naruto-kun!" The blonde chirped, she had been awaiting his return for a while. Even got angry with Neji who promptly kicked her out of the group.

"Ah.." Naruto felt on the spot, he has never been present for roll calls.

"My name is Ino...Ino-chan" she repeated.

"Ino-pig" she heard in the background as they snickered and laughed at the new nickname. They've been calling her that ever since they kicked her out. And the chants and nicknames came from none other than her supposed best friend, Haruno Sakura.

"What can I do for you, Ino-chan?" Naruto didn't seem to pay attention to them.

"Well...you helped my friend...so I wanted to thank you. But think of it as a belated birthday gift" she bowed offering the box.

"Ya.. ya...Ino-chan....Hinata-chan already...it's too much dattebayo? I haven't even done anything that big" he argued.

But the girl looked at him with sparkly teal eyes and he caved in accepting it as long as she promised it wasn't something expensive.

"I knew I heard your voice" Shikamaru leaned against the doorframe "shouldn't you be at home?"

"I feel fine..." Naruto cleared his throat.

"You're not allowed to leave...Wait until Kakashi sensei hears about it." he walked away, a cynical smirk on his face.

"Shikamaru, you can't tell him!" The teen followed his friend and their voices died out in the distance.

Quickly the rumours flew faster than they did any other day.

"Did ya hear? Kakashi sensei has a teen locked up in his house!"

"I heard he only ever feeds him once a week"

"So my cousin lives near Kakashi sensei...and he swears he saw him bring men....whaddaya think they're doing?"