An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
A Naruto/Ino fluffy oneshot for the @narutoversevacation event.
Summary:
“Could you…could you go with me to the Rinne Festival, please?”
Naruto needs a pretend date to the Rinne Festival to get his fangirls off his back, and Ino says yes. After all, they'd just be going as friends...right?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Naruto (Anime & Manga), Boruto (Anime & Manga)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Omoi/Rock Lee
Characters: Rock Lee, Omoi (Naruto), Metal Lee
Additional Tags: Domestic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Developing Relationship, Dating as Adults, Dating, Anxiety
Summary:
After getting the weekend off, Omoi goes to a familiar home and— while finding love and warmth waiting for him— finally voices some of his concerns about the future. Written for @narutoversevacation
”And you are sure you’ll be fine?”
“It’s one weekend.” Darui chided, like he was talking with a forgetful genin. “I can handle myself for one weekend.”
“I know. I’m just saying a lot can happen in three nights.” Omoi closed his laptop and put it in his bag. “That ambassador has been acting squirrelly, I would not put it past him—“
“To wait until Monday. Yeah, I wouldn’t either.” Darui pulled Omoi’s laptop out of his bag and put it into his own. “Seriously, Omoi. Everything will be fine for two days. You take a break.”
“But—“
“That’s an order.”
Omoi sighed. They’d already been back and forth on this for a week. Lord Darui was right. It was an order and it was important, for a variety of reasons. A show of good faith, internal controls, give Omoi a break from work, give Darui a break from Omoi—
“You’re going to be late.”
“Huh?”
Darui tossed his thumb at the clock on on the wall. “You’re gonna be late, mate.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I am. I—“
Darui walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a phone call away, Omoi. If I need you, I know where to find you.”
Omoi let out the last bit of stress in his shoulders. “You’re right. It’s fine.”
Darui gave him a fond wink. “Get outta here.”
“Night, Lord Darui.” With that, Omoi left the embassy building and stepped out into the evening streets of a… fairly familiar village. The air was heavy and the people around him were mostly civilians, on their way home for the evening from wherever it is they went each day. The bright evening sun was pouring between the tightly spaced buildings and through the leaves of the trees that shivered with a gentle breeze. He walked himself through the straight forward streets, towards a familiar apartment complex on the older west side of the village.
When he arrived, he climbed the stairs up to the third story and four doors down. He rearranged the faded green doormat with his foot as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and chose a new, shiny one from the bundle. He inserted it into the lock and let himself in, taking his shoes off at the door before stepping onto the worn wooden floors.
Omoi walked over to a familiar light switch and turned it on. The overhead light came on and revealed the typical chaos of the home— weights and toys and yoga mats and water bottles and sippy cups and all kinds of other things were interspersed across the living room floor, showing an eventful day had indeed occurred.
And there’d be time to deal with it tomorrow.
Omoi picked up a few things as he walked by them to the kitchen, putting them in one side of the sink. He cleared what had been lunch from the counter and opened the fridge to assess the situation. After a minute and two beeps from the refrigerator, Omoi had a plan. He picked out what he needed and got to work.
He fell into a sort of rhythm as he worked, something almost meditative. The stress left his shoulders, the never-ending thoughts of what-now and what-if, and the over-whelming dread that came with a life of politics seemed to fade into the background— still there, but somewhere far behind the rhythmic clipping of his knife and the warm steam coming off the stove and the heavy aroma that was starting to fill the apartm—
BANG!
“I’m home!”
“Metal, sh—! Gently! Our neighbors!”
The pattering of feet came bursting into the house, jolting Omoi out of his trance. However, the familiar voices made him smile and he turned down the stove. He wiped his hands on a dish towel and walked out of the kitchen to find—
“Omoi-san!” Metal shouted, running from across the room and grabbing him around the knees. “You’re here!”
“Yeah, of course. I said I would be.” Omoi reached down to hug Metal’s shoulders. “Where’ve you been?”
“Out in the mountains! Climbing! Right, Papa?!”
“That is right!” Rock Lee appeared from around the doorway, tossing Metal’s shoes into the general direction of a shoe pile. When their eyes met, Lee’s face melted into a soft smile. “Hello, my love.”
“Hey, Lee.”
Lee crossed the room, leaning over Metal to kiss Omoi. “How was work?”
“It was—“
“What are you making?” Metal interrupted, reaching out to grab Lee’s leg as well. “It smells really good!”
Omoi laughed. “Just soup. You know. Beef, noodles, spro—“
“I love noodles!”
Lee sighed and put his hand on Metal’s head. “Metal. Remember what we have been discussing? About taking turns when we—“
“When we talk! Yeah, I remember, Papa!” Metal rushed into the kitchen. He threw himself into a chair at the bar and swung around, leaning over the counter and asking, “Is it almost ready? I’m starving!”
“Almost. It’s got just enough time left on it for you and your Papa to wash up before dinner.”
“Aw. Can it be ready now?”
“Not how that works, bud. But here.” Omoi took a long pair of chopsticks out of the drawer and plucked a small bundle of noodles from a bowl. He dipped them in the simmering soup on the stove, then gently blew on them to cool them. He held them out and Metal readily took them in his mouth.
“Mm!” Metal gave Omoi two thumbs-up. “Amazing! You are the best at cooking!”
“Thanks, Metal. High praise from you.” Omoi shooed him off. “Now go wash your face, you little grub.”
“Okay!” Metal leapt back out of the chair and went pattering into the back of the apartment.
Lee watched him go and sighed. “We had a very successful day of day care and training today. He is going to crash very hard very soon.”
“Duly noted.” Omoi used one finger to turn Lee’s head, pressing their lips together. When they parted again, Omoi commented against his lips, “It’s good to see you.”
“L-likewise.”
Omoi gestured absently towards the sink. He turned the heat back up on the stove. He heard the water run, then silence. When he turned his head with a question, he felt Lee’s arms wrap around his waist and pull him in. Omoi gave a small laugh, and let the question go. A comfortable silence fell over the kitchen.
Somewhere in the apartment, another door slammed.
“We’ve got to get soft stoppers for these doors.”
Lee laughed, but it was strained. “Perhaps we can do that tomorrow. Together? Will you be staying the night?”
“Of course.”
Lee smiled and squeezed him a bit tighter. “Thank goodness. I know you are very busy, so it does mean the world that you take time to be here.”
“Nah, no worries.”
Which was a rich phrase, coming from Omoi.
Dinner went as expected. Metal ate with the gusto of a starving dog, while the topics of discussion largely centered around his day at day care and his various escapades there (though the topic of sitting still and not bringing his training inside was brought up for what Omoi assumed to be one of many times.) But— as predicted— Metal began to run out of steam very quickly, and it wasn’t long before he was nodding off at the table.
So Omoi left Lee and Metal to their bedtime routine, and set about clearing the kitchen. As he did, he sat with the feeling that he was missing something. Obviously he was not entitled to witness everything Metal did— Metal wasn’t his kid— but that didn’t stop it from feeling like a shame that time was going by so fast. He still remembered spending an entire morning on the phone with Lee when Metal first started day care. He’d walked Lee through the trying time of letting Metal go for the first time like he had any experience with it and… it felt strange, looking in from the outside.
When he finished tidying the kitchen, Omoi went and opened one of the windows in the living room. He was immediately greeted with the sound of rustling leaves, how the air seemed to fill his chest heavy, and—
Omoi sneezed.
Yep. Pollen.
Omoi made a note to take an antihistamine before bed. Yet, despite the heavy air and never-ending pollen, there was something starting to feel familiar in the air as well and it made the nighttime air feel… better.
With a sigh, Lee fell in beside him. He put his head on Omoi’s shoulder. “Alright, my love. Metal is asleep.”
“Too good, babe.” After a moment, Omoi commented, “You’re in for a storm, by the way.”
“Is that right?” Lee yawned. “A little rain is always nice.”
“Agreed.” Omoi rested his head on Lee’s. ”It’s hard to sleep when it’s this quiet.”
The two laughed and they let the quiet come in around them. For a while, they just sat in the silence and let the breeze grow cooler against their faces, before Lee stated, “It is nice that you will be staying the night.”
“The weekend, actually. Remember?”
Lee smiled. “I was hoping so, but I hate to presume. I know Lord Darui is also in town.”
“Yeah, but he’s got his ANBU with him. He is serious about me not worrying about him. Which, y’know, I feel is setting me up for failure, y’know?”
Lee laughed. “There is nothing to worry about. Things are peaceful between our countries. Lord Darui should feel as at home here as he should feel in the Hidden Cloud! And so should you. So let that ease your mind, my love.”
“Eh, I’ll try.” Omoi pressed his lips together, then asked, “What do you two have planned for the weekend?”
“Metal and I? The usual, of course! He is always excited to engage in a youthful weekend in the forest, spending it camping and training. It is good to keep our survivalist skills in check, even if it is… not so far away from home that we cannot stop back by.”
“And that’s your usual weekend, yeah? For real life?”
“Not every weekend, but Metal likes to go camping when we have a weekend together. Perhaps we can all go! I find it to be quite relaxing, would you agree?”
“I think we have two different definitions of camping going on here.” Omoi pressed his lips together. He took a breath and when the words died on his lips, he let it out again. Then he said, “Does Metal talk about me, when I’m gone?”
Lee was quiet for a minute, before answering, “Yes.”
“Ah.”
“He is very fond of you. He asks about when you will be visiting a lot. He likes when we are able to make phone calls together.”
“A… ah.”
“Why do you ask, my love?”
“N-nothing. I just… I don’t know.”
Lee sat up. “Omoi. My love, is something bothering you?”
“Always.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
No. Never.
Omoi sighed. “Do… do you think we’re doing the right thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I don’t know. Metal is just a baby, he’s little. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t know about politics or international relations or how complicated everything is all the time or old history or any of that.”
“I do not understand where you are coming from. Go to the beginning of your thought, please.”
“I… I like your kid. A lot.”
“Most excellent! He likes you as well!”
“Yeah. And I like you. A lot.”
“Very much likewise.”
“But we’re from really different villages. With important jobs. And we haven’t gotten along in the past.”
“No, but that is all behind us now.”
“Is it?”
“Certainly.”
“Mm.” Omoi averted his eyes again. “And… things are getting serious, I think. Between us.”
It was Lee’s turn to flinch. He… nodded. “Yes. I would agree.”
“And Metal’s young. We… can’t just be mucking about forever, it… I mean, we still don’t know if his moth—” Omoi’s thoughts jumbled, but… he struggled. He opened his mouth again, but Lee beat him to it.
“Metal talks about you often. I forget if I answered your question.”
“You did.”
“I apologize.”
“Don’t, you’re good.” Omoi looked up at the darkened sky, where the clouds were rolling in. He sighed. “So… I guess things are pretty serious between us.”
“I would agree.”
“So… I should start making arrangements to get down here more often. Try to be more active in your lives.”
Lee gave him a soft smile. “I would very much like that, but we can start small. Like now. A weekend every now and again would be most amazing.”
“What if things are more serious then that? I can’t be absent all the time. That’s not fair to anyone. And Metal’s going to be a Leaf shinobi, right? What if that makes things too complicated? I haven’t looked into our laws. What if there’s some obscure law that makes it illegal for me to have a Leaf shinobi as a so—“
The room was quiet for a minute.
“I do not think there was ever a reason for a law like that to be written.”
“Maybe. But what do we do if—“
“You are the aide to the Raikage.”
“Yeah, but—“
“Ask him to change it.”
“It’s more complicated than that. Isn’t it?”
Lee shrugged.
“And what would happen to you? To me? Would you come to the Hidden Cloud? Would I come here? Could I come here? Karui came here, but she’s still an active Cloud shinobi, I don’t know how it would work for me since I—“
“Omoi. My love.”
“Yeah?”
“I think we should focus on one thing at a time.”
“What thing?”
“This weekend. Would you like to go to the mountains or into the forest for camping?”
Omoi paused, all the hundreds of questions still spinning around in his head. There was still so much he didn’t know, so much he had to think about, so much left to worry about, but… two options didn’t seem bad in comparison. Then again, there was a lot he didn’t know about these particular mountains or this particular forest or even how Lee and Metal liked their particular camping trips—
Omoi looked back at Lee, who just smiled back at him.
Omoi’s heart beat a little slower.
“Forest.”
Somewhere in the distance, the first rumble of thunder swept over the Hidden Leaf.
Pairing: KakaSaku
Rating: G
Summary: Kakashi returns from a tiring trip to Iron.
Read on AO3
My submission for @narutoversevacation
His head shifts slightly in acknowledgement of her presence. “Did Pakkun rat out all my hiding spots?”
She smiles, approaching from behind and sitting down next to him with a huff. His eyes are closed, head tilted back as if he’s lost in thought.
“Only to me,” she responds with a wider grin.
I have always wanted to write this rare pair and thought i would take advantage of the @narutoversevacation event to ease back into writing.
Its not much but I hope you all enjoy!
Rater: E
Kakashi/Yugito
Yugito Nii did not expect her border duty to turn into such a whirlwind.
She always got the job done, but she couldn't help the need to play games along the way to the finish line.
But what game was she playing, hers of his?
Kakashi Hatake wasn't someone she should take lightly.
Best watch her step.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
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