[Naruto] Lineage
Title: Lineage
Fandom: Naruto
Genre: General/Family
Rating: K+
Characters/Pairings: Naruto-centered; brief appearance by Minato.
Warnings/Spoilers: If you're not on par with the recent chapters then yes, this may count as a spoiler.
Status: Complete.
Summary: All lonely children wonder about what their parents were like. Naruto was no exception.
Notes: Drabble #3 of the icon-drabble meme. Enjoy.
Naruto had often wondered what his parents were like. What they looked like or acted like. What it would have been like if they were actually here. He never knew them. Never heard about them before. All his life it'd just seemed like he'd always been alone. But he'd see other kids with their parents and it made him wonder about his own.
He used to carry on fake conversations with them in his head. Used to envision their faces, even though he didn't know the first thing about what they looked like. Maybe his mother had his eyes? Or maybe his dad? Maybe his father loved ramen and maybe his mother was an extrovert just like him? The possibilities were endless. It was different every time.
Every time he would come home to an empty apartment, he'd try to imagine them at the doorway, greeting him with smiles, open embraces and questions about his day and what he learned at school. They were always there. To say good morning to, to say good night to, to say I love you to. None of it was ever said out loud, but in his head he never failed to hear it. And for a while, it was enough. Pretending was enough.
Until he finally met his father. His real father. It felt surreal to be staring at the same shade of blue eyes as his own and the same smile. It brought instant tears to his eyes.
"You will find the answer. I believe in you."
Hearing that, knowing that... made up of years of solitude, of false conversations and imaginings. His father was proud of him. Their time had been short, but to Naruto it had meant the whole world.
"Thank you... dad."