Twelve Days - Day 2
title : Twelve Days
author : autumnwaters
rating : G
word count: 1283
pairing : ItaNaru
summary : Twelve days, twelve gifts. A nice thought isn't it? But Naruto's just wondering who's breaking into his apartment to do that.
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto. That privilege belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
Day 1
Day 2 : You're cooking for me too?
An alarm clock was blaring, trying to wake its owner. Out of dark blue covers, a hand reached up groping for the little plastic square that was being so noisy. The noise was muffled for a second as the hand covered the speaker before the clock went sailing across the room and hit the wall. But that didn’t stop the clock from ringing. The man under the covers groaned, cursing his foster father for getting him an indestructible hunk of plastic.
“I’m up. I’m up,” the man called out, rising from his comfortable bed. Running a hand through his tousled blond hair, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and lurched to the restroom to do his morning rituals. The alarm clock was silent.
The sun may have risen, but it couldn’t peek through the thick gray clouds in the sky. Seeing the weather, he shuffled to get dressed and grabbed his overcoat with a hood instead of the usual bright monstrosity. Breakfast was toast and some old miso soup before he gathered his wallet, keys, and any other necessary items and left to go wait with the masses in the subway.
***
“Good morning Sakura~!” he cried out as he stepped off the elevator and onto the 8th floor of the high-rise.
The strawberry blonde only rolled her eyes at him. He would never change, she thought. “Morning Naruto. Shachou wants you in her office at 10:30 to discuss the progress of the promo. And just letting you know, Hyuuga just sent over a new file; they want you to be in-charge of it.”
Blue eyes closed and a small grimace showed on his face. He nodded, “Gotcha. I’ll deal with it.”
Striding through the hallway, he ended up at his shared office with one of the weirdest guys he had ever had the privilege to know - Sumiiro Sai. They had met at their interviews for the company and had, for the lack of a better word, hit it off. They were both aiming for the spot in the commercial arts department and shockingly out of the eight other applicants, both were hired. Currently Naruto is the director of the department and Sai was the assistant director.
“Morning dickless,” was the usual greeting.
“Smiles,” Naruto greeted back. After years of interaction, Naruto learned to tone down his often very energetic reactions. It was needed after all to deal with the often exasperating clients who just had to meet with the director to dictate exactly what they wanted. Contrary to how the two started off, they were the best team in the department. Sai was the traditional artist, working with charcoal, paints, and various media while Naruto brought the digital aspect of it, working in Sai’s work with creative uses of the modern technology.
“Hyuuga has another contract for us. And Baa-chan wants an update at 10:30,” he told his partner. “Are we good with the current progress?”
Sai just had that odd smile on his face. “If we get the info from Deidara and the parts Suigetsu is working on by early afternoon, we’re gonna be ahead of schedule. All that would be left is for you and your team to get everything digitized and into the system.”
“Great,” Naruto grinned. “Then assuming Suigetsu doesn’t and hands it in early tomorrow, me and my team and get everything in by the following day, we’ll be done by the end of the week. Then we can arrange that meeting for this Friday.”
***
He had forgotten how annoying meetings were. There was a new client who just had to meet with the guy in charge of his commercial. It was always the new ones that were so annoying and wanting to dictate everything. He couldn’t wait until the guy either decided to stick with them or leave as returning clients left everything in the capable hands of the department. Thankfully though today he got to leave before the rush hour and had managed to snag a seat on the rail instead of standing for the next thirty minutes. It allowed him to get off a stop before his and pick up some groceries and make dinner for the first time this week.
The brisk walk home was welcome exercise from being cooped up in an office for eight plus hours a day, but he was glad when he saw his apartment complex. It was still pretty cold without the forecasted snow. Saying hello to the few people heading home to their own apartments, he hustled up the stairs and opened the door to his apartment.
A look to the left. A look to the right. Naruto nodded emphatically. There was nothing new or weird in his apartment. The tree was still there as were the gifts and cards. Grinning he entered his apartment and shuffled on his house slippers. While whoever cleaned his apartment creeped him out, it was a wonderful thing as he could spend this weekend relaxing.
The kitchen and its utensils were clean! Which meant he could cook one of his favorite dishes : sweet pumpkin and peanut curry. Opening the fridge, he knelt down to start putting in the perishables when he caught sight of the extra bowls and dishes inside. There was even a note taped onto the rack.
I saw that you were out of food. I made a few dishes. Hope they’re to your liking.
Blue eyes widened in surprise and a small growl escaped his mouth. That weird stalker-burglar was back. He didn’t know whether or not to eat the food or to throw it away. Pulling out the dishes, he found tempura, yakizakana, some vegetables, tsukemono, miso soup and rice. His face pulled into a frown.
I should throw this away… He moved to empty the dishes and paused. But someone spent the time to make this. The plates were set down. What if it’s poisoned? He paced the kitchen floor for several minutes muttering quietly as he went. With a decisive turn he shoved the dishes into the microwave and waited for the food to reheat. “Iruka would kill me if he found out I threw out perfectly good food,” he nodded sharply as if that would make the decision for him and justify if he fell down dead after eating.
While the food heated, he placed his groceries into the fridge and pulled out a pair of chopsticks. The food was taken to the coffee table in the living room and the small TV was turned on to the local news channel.
“Itadakimasu.”
***
The dishes were washed and placed in a plastic bag and put into the fridge. Taped to the bag was a note of thanks. Before Naruto decided to go shower and sleep, he took a quick look at the Christmas tree and found another gift underneath, this time wrapped in bright red and a yellow bow. Another card was found in the limbs as well.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me~
Hope you enjoyed your dinner Naruto.
I know how much you miss home.
***
The apartment was quiet and as usual empty this time of day when he entered. Another gift was in his hands and a card was taped to it as well. Setting those down, the man walked to the fridge to see if the food was eaten at all. It was to no surprise that the food was gone as he knew Naruto had lived without food before. But what surprised him was the note taped onto the bag holding the dishes.
Thank you for the food. It was delicious; however, the vegetable tempura needs a little more work.
***
Some cultural notes on the yummy food.
Yakizakana - grilled fish
Tsukemomo - Japanese pickles
So I'm heading to Disney tomorrow and the day after is my mom's birthday...I doubt I can manage to get those two chapters up day of, so I will try to get caught up on Friday...if not, two will be up Friday and two on Saturday to catch up. *crosses fingers*
author : autumnwaters
rating : G
word count: 1283
pairing : ItaNaru
summary : Twelve days, twelve gifts. A nice thought isn't it? But Naruto's just wondering who's breaking into his apartment to do that.
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto. That privilege belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
Day 1
Day 2 : You're cooking for me too?
An alarm clock was blaring, trying to wake its owner. Out of dark blue covers, a hand reached up groping for the little plastic square that was being so noisy. The noise was muffled for a second as the hand covered the speaker before the clock went sailing across the room and hit the wall. But that didn’t stop the clock from ringing. The man under the covers groaned, cursing his foster father for getting him an indestructible hunk of plastic.
“I’m up. I’m up,” the man called out, rising from his comfortable bed. Running a hand through his tousled blond hair, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and lurched to the restroom to do his morning rituals. The alarm clock was silent.
The sun may have risen, but it couldn’t peek through the thick gray clouds in the sky. Seeing the weather, he shuffled to get dressed and grabbed his overcoat with a hood instead of the usual bright monstrosity. Breakfast was toast and some old miso soup before he gathered his wallet, keys, and any other necessary items and left to go wait with the masses in the subway.
***
“Good morning Sakura~!” he cried out as he stepped off the elevator and onto the 8th floor of the high-rise.
The strawberry blonde only rolled her eyes at him. He would never change, she thought. “Morning Naruto. Shachou wants you in her office at 10:30 to discuss the progress of the promo. And just letting you know, Hyuuga just sent over a new file; they want you to be in-charge of it.”
Blue eyes closed and a small grimace showed on his face. He nodded, “Gotcha. I’ll deal with it.”
Striding through the hallway, he ended up at his shared office with one of the weirdest guys he had ever had the privilege to know - Sumiiro Sai. They had met at their interviews for the company and had, for the lack of a better word, hit it off. They were both aiming for the spot in the commercial arts department and shockingly out of the eight other applicants, both were hired. Currently Naruto is the director of the department and Sai was the assistant director.
“Morning dickless,” was the usual greeting.
“Smiles,” Naruto greeted back. After years of interaction, Naruto learned to tone down his often very energetic reactions. It was needed after all to deal with the often exasperating clients who just had to meet with the director to dictate exactly what they wanted. Contrary to how the two started off, they were the best team in the department. Sai was the traditional artist, working with charcoal, paints, and various media while Naruto brought the digital aspect of it, working in Sai’s work with creative uses of the modern technology.
“Hyuuga has another contract for us. And Baa-chan wants an update at 10:30,” he told his partner. “Are we good with the current progress?”
Sai just had that odd smile on his face. “If we get the info from Deidara and the parts Suigetsu is working on by early afternoon, we’re gonna be ahead of schedule. All that would be left is for you and your team to get everything digitized and into the system.”
“Great,” Naruto grinned. “Then assuming Suigetsu doesn’t and hands it in early tomorrow, me and my team and get everything in by the following day, we’ll be done by the end of the week. Then we can arrange that meeting for this Friday.”
***
He had forgotten how annoying meetings were. There was a new client who just had to meet with the guy in charge of his commercial. It was always the new ones that were so annoying and wanting to dictate everything. He couldn’t wait until the guy either decided to stick with them or leave as returning clients left everything in the capable hands of the department. Thankfully though today he got to leave before the rush hour and had managed to snag a seat on the rail instead of standing for the next thirty minutes. It allowed him to get off a stop before his and pick up some groceries and make dinner for the first time this week.
The brisk walk home was welcome exercise from being cooped up in an office for eight plus hours a day, but he was glad when he saw his apartment complex. It was still pretty cold without the forecasted snow. Saying hello to the few people heading home to their own apartments, he hustled up the stairs and opened the door to his apartment.
A look to the left. A look to the right. Naruto nodded emphatically. There was nothing new or weird in his apartment. The tree was still there as were the gifts and cards. Grinning he entered his apartment and shuffled on his house slippers. While whoever cleaned his apartment creeped him out, it was a wonderful thing as he could spend this weekend relaxing.
The kitchen and its utensils were clean! Which meant he could cook one of his favorite dishes : sweet pumpkin and peanut curry. Opening the fridge, he knelt down to start putting in the perishables when he caught sight of the extra bowls and dishes inside. There was even a note taped onto the rack.
I saw that you were out of food. I made a few dishes. Hope they’re to your liking.
Blue eyes widened in surprise and a small growl escaped his mouth. That weird stalker-burglar was back. He didn’t know whether or not to eat the food or to throw it away. Pulling out the dishes, he found tempura, yakizakana, some vegetables, tsukemono, miso soup and rice. His face pulled into a frown.
I should throw this away… He moved to empty the dishes and paused. But someone spent the time to make this. The plates were set down. What if it’s poisoned? He paced the kitchen floor for several minutes muttering quietly as he went. With a decisive turn he shoved the dishes into the microwave and waited for the food to reheat. “Iruka would kill me if he found out I threw out perfectly good food,” he nodded sharply as if that would make the decision for him and justify if he fell down dead after eating.
While the food heated, he placed his groceries into the fridge and pulled out a pair of chopsticks. The food was taken to the coffee table in the living room and the small TV was turned on to the local news channel.
“Itadakimasu.”
***
The dishes were washed and placed in a plastic bag and put into the fridge. Taped to the bag was a note of thanks. Before Naruto decided to go shower and sleep, he took a quick look at the Christmas tree and found another gift underneath, this time wrapped in bright red and a yellow bow. Another card was found in the limbs as well.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me~
Hope you enjoyed your dinner Naruto.
I know how much you miss home.
***
The apartment was quiet and as usual empty this time of day when he entered. Another gift was in his hands and a card was taped to it as well. Setting those down, the man walked to the fridge to see if the food was eaten at all. It was to no surprise that the food was gone as he knew Naruto had lived without food before. But what surprised him was the note taped onto the bag holding the dishes.
Thank you for the food. It was delicious; however, the vegetable tempura needs a little more work.
***
Some cultural notes on the yummy food.
Yakizakana - grilled fish
Tsukemomo - Japanese pickles
So I'm heading to Disney tomorrow and the day after is my mom's birthday...I doubt I can manage to get those two chapters up day of, so I will try to get caught up on Friday...if not, two will be up Friday and two on Saturday to catch up. *crosses fingers*