Chapter Text
I just wanted you to know
~1~
Naruto Uzumaki never needed much time to get ready in the morning. He didn’t block the bathroom long, kept his blond hair like it was after waking up and only threw on random clean clothes, which consisted of a pair of light blue jeans and a singular coloured shirt.
No accessories, no funky hair nor a creative outfit. Naruto didn’t like to admit it, but his style was bland and boring like unseasoned potatoes for dinner. Just this day he was wearing a tacky orange shirt with a lot of wrinkles and his usual jeans.
“Naruto? Are you ready to go?”, his mothers voice yelled up to Naruto’s room from the living room downstairs.
“Give me five more minutes!”, Naruto answered, getting up from his bed and sighting a bit.
Today Kushina Uzumaki would go visit her sister, taking Naruto with her. Naruto would spend time with his cousin Karin, leaving the adults alone and giving them time to catch up after years of only little contact.
“How long was it you two haven’t talked?”, Kushina asked her son as she started the family cars engine. The redhead was gripping the steering wheel tightly and Naruto noticed her nervousness from the passenger seat as it was basically drowning the car.
Naruto shrug his shoulders. “A while I would say.” He wasn’t really interested in meeting his aunt and cousin, as he could use his Saturday morning with something way more entertaining, but he knew that his complaining would make his mother throw a tantrum and stress her out even more.
“It’s a shame.”, Kushina sighted, the car starting to move. “You two were best friends when you were younger. I remember when we spent Christmas with them and you and Karin were inseparable.”
“Because there weren’t any other children, mom.”, Naruto proceeded to just keep looking out of the window to mentally prepare on meeting his cousin again. He barely remembered Karin, only her wearing big dorky glasses that complemented her big dorky personality.
“That’s not true, Nagato was also there!”
“Mom you know Nagato was basically an adult that Christmas!”, Naruto pouted and glared out the window, silence now filling the car.
Kushina sighted. “Naruto, I know you two haven’t spoken in a long time, but please try.”, her dark blue eyes seemed to show a kind of worry.
“I’ll do my best mom, don’t worry.”, Naruto answered. He knew how important family as well this get together was for his mother, so he would just try for her sake.
The drive didn’t take long and soon Naruto found himself in the living room of his aunts house greeting her with a bright smile and a “It’s so nice to see you aunty!”. Kushina hugged her sister with an even brighter smile. It was obvious Kushina had missed her deeply.
The sisters shared the bright red hair of the Uzumaki family, the only difference was that Kushina liked her hair long and luscious, while her sister kept it rather short.
“Please make yourselves comfortable, I’ll get some tea. Karin will be here in a minute.”, with a warm smile Naruto’s aunt excused herself in the kitchen.
Naruto sat himself down on the red couch, Kushina next to him, her eyes glowing with anticipation.
In front of the couch stood a wooden table, which was decorated with a colourful bouquet. Next to it was a bowl with sugar cubes and a silver spoon inside.
The rest of the living room was decorated with various house plants and a lot of framed pictures of Karin when she was younger. The pictures represented exactly how Naruto remembered his cousin even though through the years her hair grew longer.
The blonde let himself sink into the couch, he somehow knew he and Karin wouldn’t quite be on the same page and already prepared himself for an utterly awkward conversation.
———
Karin Uzumaki needed ridiculously long getting ready, blocking the bathroom for at least an hour every morning. She was an extreme and she happily embraced it.
Karin gave herself one last look in the mirror, then decided to join her aunt Kushina and her cousin Naruto in the living room.
She was driven by curiosity, looking forward to meet her family again. Especially Naruto. Karin wondered if he still was still this goofy child she remembered. Maybe he would’ve dyed his hair or even gotten glasses as Naruto had always teased her for hers.
“Aunty Kushina! Naruto! It’s so nice to see you!”, Karin gave them a big smile while entering the living room and quickly scanned the view. Naruto was still blonde and hadn’t gotten glasses, but what shocked her the most was that he sill looked like that child she remembered, only with a slimmer face and body.
Naruto was equally stunned as his jaw practically dropped to the floor. He didn’t think someone could change that drastically while going through puberty. In Naruto’s memory, Karin was a rather dorky type of girl, with big round glasses and big puffy cheeks.
But present Karin did not resemble memory Karin at all. Naruto surely did not expect her to age like that.
Her bright red hair was now long and voluminous with an asymmetrical haircut. Her glasses were no longer big an round but dainty and square shaped. Her eye makeup consisted of a lot of black eyeliner, big fake lashes and red contacts. She wore a layered lavender top, her cleavage peeking through, black hot pants, a studded belt with black thigh high socks and black converse. Karin wore a lot of bracelets, earrings and necklaces, everything kept in a black and red colour scheme.
“Karin! You look great! You have grown so much!”, Kushina complimented her niece. “Come sit down with us, how is school going?”
As the conversation went on, Naruto couldn’t help but to stare at Karin. Her alternative style was so new to him and it suited her ridiculously well. I’m comparison to her he was far beyond underdressed as for the thousand pieces of jewellery she wore he wore not even a single bracelet.
Karins mother came back from the kitchen with four cups of tea, her smile getting warmer as she saw her sister and daughter together.
Naruto was the one receiving his tea first, thanking his aunt with a big smile. As he drank from his cup, he immediately realised how hot the tea was, and burned his tongue, the sore feeling in his tongue quickly forming.
“Yes, I joined the music club at my school.”, Karin said, proudly adjusting her glasses with her index finger. Naruto noticed her nails were all painted black and she wore a big chunky silver ring on her middle finger. “I just gotta keep my nails short for the bass, normally I’d wear them long. That’s like the only downside.”
“You even play an instrument!”, Kushina exclaimed. “That is so nice! I’d wish Naruto would touch something else than his video games.”
“Mom! You don’t have to expose me like that.”, Naruto groaned, a slight blush spread across his cheeks. He didn’t need his alternative, eyeliner wearing cousin to know he was the blandest teenage boy ever!
As Karin giggled Naruto’s blush deepened.
“Don’t worry Naruto, I still play video games.”, she confidently said. “Kushina, don’t embarrass your son like that.”
As the giggles went on even louder, Naruto pouted childlike and rolled his eyes. This was going worse than he expected.
“Mama?”, Karin softly spoke. “I’ll be meeting Suigetsu, Juugo and Sasuke at Suigetsu’s, can I go?” The redhead girl looked up to her mama with big doe eyes and a begging look.
Naruto’s aunt first had an worried look. Then she thought a bit and pushed her hair behind her ear. “It’s alright, but please take Naruto with you if it’s fine for Kushina. And for Naruto of course.”
Karin’s red eyes pierced through Naruto, a firm look Naruto could only respond nervously with a shy nod of his head. Karins straightforwardness was something he had to get used to again.
“It’s alright aunty, I’ll go with Karin.”, Naruto reassured. Then he looked up to his own mom.
“Of course! Meet Karins friends, baby!”, Kushina encouraged the two teenagers as they slowly got up. “Call me and I’ll pick you up.”
Naruto and Karin made their way out of the house, Karin throwing a purple zipper over just in case she would get cold. Her phone was sitting loosely in the pocket of her hot pants, looking like it could fall out any moment. Naruto decided to not comment on it.
“Where does this Suigetsu live Karin?”, Naruto asked.
“Just a few streets from here, we’ll walk.”, the redhead shoved her hands in her zippers pockets as a chilly autumn wind greeted the cousins. Karin started walking down the street.
Naruto proceeded to follow her. “Are they your school friends?”
Karin nodded. “We’re not in the same class, but we met through the music club at our school so we started hanging out. They also play instruments by the way.”
Karin eyed Naruto down with a teasing smile on her face. Somehow, Naruto didn’t feel offended, he felt more like accepted.
“You know Karin, I got really surprised when I just saw you. I didn’t expect you to look so… “, Naruto admitted, leaving out the part he initially thought Karin was a big nerd.
“You mean emo?”, Karin asked and laughed her cousin in the face. “You know Naruto, I’m not actually emo, I’m more of a scene kid. There’s a difference, you know?”
Naruto did in fact not know. How was he supposed to know? His parents rarely put on some kind of edgy music and none of his friends were into that kind of stuff. The most rebellious thing Naruto had witnessed was Shikamaru smoking on school ground and Kiba skipping classes. He on his own never would have thought of doing any of that or even expressing himself in some kind of different or even weird clothing style. He wore what everyone wore and did what everyone did.
The cousins arrived at Suigetsu’s, a plain white house with some blue elements. Karin didn’t even ring the doorbell, she just went straightforward for the backyard, Naruto following. It was obvious she knew her way around here, implying that she often visited Suigetsu.
In the backyard stood some kind of wooden hut, Naruto assumed it was the place Suigetsu’s parents kept their gardening tools, but he quickly realised he was wrong as he followed Karin to the door of the hut. A big blue “S” was sprayed on the wooden door.
“Naruto, is my makeup smudged or something?”, Karin asked her cousin before entering the hut. She smiled nervously, letting Naruto know something was up.
“You look fine Karin, why?”, Naruto asked, acting clueless as Karin’s face flushed into a hot pink.
“There is just this guy…”, Karin said and pulled her phone out of her pocket to check how she looked. Clearly she felt like something was missing, as she then coated her lips with a pinkish lipgloss. She pulled on her layered top, revealing more of her cleavage and fumbled her bangs.
Naruto just nodded, as if he knew. He was more than eager to know which one of the boys made Karin doll up like this.
Karin opened the door of the hut, the cousins being immediately greeted with a heavy guitar riff that was playing through massive speakers attached to a stereo.
The hut was practically empty except some rancid couches, armchairs and a single coffee table in the middle of the room. Next to the door stood the stereo system with speakers. The walls were filled with posters of musicians, graffiti and a singular CD shelve, which was half full.
There was a large guy with spiky orange hair working on the stereo system, adjusting the volume of the music. Another guy with white, shaggy bangs and bob was sitting in one of the armchairs.
“Where’s Sasuke?”, Karin asked without greeting any of them.
———
Suigetsu Hōzuki never needed much time in the bathroom, but something he was not playing about were his outfits and his hair, as he would redye his hair every month.
“Karin, who the fuck is this?”, Suigetsu groaned, not quite really answering Karins question. He was sitting in one of the big raggedy armchairs, in his lap two bottles of white and blue hair dye. “You can’t just bring anyone to our hangouts!”
“Shut up this is my cousin alright? You better be nice.”, Karin yelled back, her face still flushed.
“Then why didn’t you tell me he was coming?! We can’t smoke weed in front of your baby cousin, he’ll snitch on us.”
“What the hell? I won’t snitch on you! And I’m practically sixteen dumbass!”, Naruto answered, his brows furrowed, glaring angrily at the white haired boy in front of him. He would not let Karins random friends disrespect him like this. Who even was this guy to have the gardening hut all to himself?
The white haired boy was indeed as spoiled and stubborn as can be, which is how he got his parents to let him alter the hut to his personal hang out spot in the first place.
Suigetsu wore a purple shirt of a to Naruto unknown band with ripped sleeves and collar, multiple layered belts over a dark grey jeans and his shoes were chunky black sneakers which weren’t tied. He wore a silver necklace with a sword shaped pendant, his purple eyes piercing through Naruto, telling Naruto he was not welcome. Suigetsu must’ve worn contacts, just like Karin, or else Naruto couldn’t explain his unnatural eye colour.
Naruto’s sassy tone made Suigetsu shut up, only the heavy music in the background filling the room - besides the awkwardness that was roaming the inside of the hut.
“Just let him stay.”, the big, orange haired guy sat down in one of the couches. “Do you want some of our stuff? We can share.”
“Juugo! You know how expensive this weed is, don’t just offer it to blondie without asking Sasuke! It’s Sasukes weed after all!”, Suigetsu complained. He glared at Naruto, showing his pointy, shark like teeth. “And you know Sasuke doesn’t like sharing.”
Juugo rolled his eyes. “I’ll just ask him. It’s no difference if we’re four or five sharing a blunt, Sui.”
Suigetsu opened his mouth to protest, but Karin cut him off. “Just shut up Suigetsu or you can redye your hair on your own. I surely won’t help you.” She crossed her arms, innocently pushing her bust up. “Naruto just sit down wherever you want.”
She then let herself fall onto the couch Juugo was already sitting on. Naruto followed her example and sat beside her.
As Karin watched him, she recognised a lost look in his eyes and decided it would be best if she introduced her friends to Naruto.
“Naruto, this white haired bastard is Suigetsu, be nice! And this is Juugo, he chose this unbearable heavy metal for us to listen to.”
“Next time is your turn! You just stick with it for now.”, Juugo rolled his eyes at Karin then smiled softly at Naruto. “Nice to meet you, I wondered if Karin even had more family.”
Juugos style was far more comfortable than Karins and Suigetsus. He wore a ripped black band shirt, grey joggers and black boots. Naruto noticed Juugo had just like Karin, his nails painted black and also wore an incredible amount of jewellery, consisting in black leather bracelets with spikes and studs and a chunky chain around his neck.
It was by far more of a low effort outfit, but it still made Naruto feel madly underdressed for this simple function of listening to heavy music and smoking a blunt.
“Our mothers are reconnecting right now, that’s why I’m here.”, Naruto answered, his tone now softer. Juugos smile was soothing and welcoming, much different than Suigetsus pointy teeth. “Karin told me you play instruments… “
“What the hell Karin? Don’t just go around telling people stuff!”, Suigetsu snarled, interrupting again. He was looking very annoyed, his face red in anger.
“Please, don’t be a bitch Sui.”, Karin stood up and walked over to the armchair the white haired boy sat in. She then grabbed the hair dye from his lap and adjusted her glasses to read the instructions on the bottle.
“Karin he wants blue tips, think you’re skilled enough for this?”, Juugo asked. “He’s been bothering me about this this entire time, please make my suffering end.”
As Karin chuckled, Juugo turned his attention to Naruto again who was silently observing the scene. Despite dressing differently and having other interests, the blonde realised Karins friends weren’t so different than his own. Suigetsu was loud and rough like Kiba, Juugo was calm and teasing like Shikamaru and Karin resembled Sakura in her confidence and straightforwardness.
“Naruto? Can you help me dye Suis hair?”, Karin asked. She was wearing plastic gloves and held a plastic bowl full of blue hair dye in her left hand. Her red hair was tied up in a messy bun, her glasses sat on the edge of her pointy nose as she struggled to get them back up.
“Of course.”, Naruto stood up, giving Suigetsu a glare, telling him he was doing this for Karin and not for his rude ass. Suigetsu just returned a nasty stare.
“Just get this white dye on his scalp, make sure to get all his roots white again. Like the more the better.”, the redhead instructed. She obviously knew what she was doing.
Naruto put on a pair of plastic gloves and started smearing the dye onto Suigetsu’s head. It quickly got a bit messy, but as Karin didn’t object and Suigetsu just let him be he continued, music filling the hut.
The atmosphere changed, no one spoke, but the awkwardness was gone. Naruto suddenly felt accepted and a little less underdressed and lost, forming now part of the group.
Suigetsu played something on his phone, Karin wrapped aluminium foil around his hair and Juugo banged chopsticks to the beat of the music on the coffee table.
“Didn’t know we recruited a go go dancer , what’s he doing here?”