Prologue
"He bit me."
His voice quavered heavily, the young boy dragged his feet along that felt too heavy to him that he could hardly recognize these weights as his feet.
"That freak really bit me!"
A panicking outburst of his voice, going along with an irregular panting. The blonde held his neck that ached him, a pain clinging to him as firmly, it caused him an anxiety of suffocating. A warm, red liquid trickled down his white shirt, his tanned skin. He opened, rather slammed the bathroom door against the wall and wavered in front of the mirror. The loud music from the main room was dulled and barely resounded in this private place for men. He looked at his reflection which he didn't even recognize at first sight. A miserable pale face, blood soaking his shirt and neck.
"What the---"
He couldn't accept that it was his reflection until he saw the familiar blue eyes that he saw every time he saw into a mirror. The blue eyes that belonged to him. That was when his legs gave in. He slumped to the cold, dirty floor, his look distraught. Why would someone bite a person? Rather, why would a guy bite a person with such a force that the bleeding won't stop?
"Sir? Are you alright?"
The blonde looked up confused as he heard a dark, husky voice from the doorway.
"You're bleeding... Wait here, I'll call the ambulance."
The man ran off. The boy stood up hardly now. The security label on the man's shirt made him feel nervous. He couldn't let himself being caught here. He looked at a small window and hurried towards it.
When the man came back, all that was left of the young boy were stains of blood on the cold, dirty ground.
Uzumaki Naruto
"Naruto!! Come back here, you damn pest!"
A blonde head ran down the street, the appropriate face for it grinned, laughed loudly.
"See ya next time, old man!" he stated and shoved a piece of bread into his mouth. As he arrived in an alley, far away from the market's stalls and noises he squatted down and began chewing the bread cheerfully. He looked forward, chuckled lightly and kicked a can against the wall across him, the crows and pigeons that assembled in front of him flew away in a huddled mess of feathers and the nervous strokes of wings.
"Seriously, you guys... Go and get your own. We have a deal, right? You don't take mine, I don't take yours." he murmured as the birds came back, their dark eyes staring at the bread in the hands of the young boy both sadly and longingly. The boy sighed.
"I can't believe you..."
He took another bite, then threw the rest of the bread to the ground. The mass of feathers fell over the left-over. The blonde smiled at them as a few of the crows landed on his shoulders and head, watching the other birds fight for their share of bread.
"Naruto!"
A brown-haired boy stood in the street entrance, his eyes darting around as if he'd search for someone. The blonde covered his eyes from the sun with one hand that shone too brightly.
"Kiba. What's up?" He grinned and stood up from the ground, the birds on his shoulders and his head flew away.
"Dude, the police is searchin' for you! Seems like that old man reported ya!"
The brown-haired kid looked at the blonde worried. The slits of his eyes opened widely now and Naruto knew they only did when something serious happened. Naruto grinned and crosses his arms behind his head.
"Fine, fine... But hey! I saw this new shop today, man, the stuff there is amazing! Only high quality stuff! Let's go and check it out!"
Kiba grunted. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"I heard you perfectly fine. I'm not deaf." Naruto sighed.
"Come on, I need new clothes! Look at me, I look like a homeless!"
Kiba chuckled lightly now. "That's because we are homeless, idiot." He murmured, the blonde chuckled as well. "Then you agree, right? Let's go."
'Give and Take'
The shop called '2Go' had a weird motto. It said 'Our prices are almost free 2 go.'
Of course several guys of Naruto's type saw this as an invitation. The owner was still a young guy, setting his security very high in the exit area and the cash desk. Inside the shop though, none of the cashier or the security guards paid much attention to what happened in the changing rooms. Actually these rooms were the place where the whole action took place.
Naruto called it 'Give and Take'. It was an easy game. You 'give' your old clothes and 'take' the new clothes. Of course there are some rules to this game. First, you have to choose clothes with a certain resemblance with the old clothes, otherwise it's obvious, isn't it? Everyone would notice if you had a green shirt and leave with an orange one. That's why Naruto chose to wear plain clothes. White shirt, black pants. Additionally he knew how to crack open the security badge without having them spill any dye and adjust them to his old clothes. He showed it to Kiba, each of them would watch the back for the other one.
Naruto always considered himself as an 'unsoiled homeless'. He often 'Gave and Took', he often entered strangers houses and took a bath, cleaned himself, though he had always taken care not to leave any traces or dirt behind for the residents. He didn't want people to think he was dirty, especially not a homeless. But everyone knew about it. Everyone knew Naruto. That's why he was quite happy when a new shop opened, with an owner who had no clue who he was.
Well, the same procedure as every visit, take on the clothes, take off the badges, add them to your old clothes, hang them back where you got the new ones and leave. For Kiba it went perfectly fine. He would return back to their hideout. Naruto did the same as he knew that Kiba was in a safe distance. Though it didn't quite go the way he planned. Before he could leave, someone grabbed his arm harshly. The boy turned to the man who held him, who looked down on him warily. Naruto remembered the face of that guy. He sighed and smiled a bit uneasily.
"Hey... Kotetsu-san! Jeez, long time no see!" He chuckled quietly and tried to free himself with some kind of artistic struggle but the man just tightened his grip.
"You're right." The man's voice was strict and serious. "I've been waiting for the day I'd get my hands on you..."
"You're aware that this sounds pretty gay? What would Izumo-san say if he heard that?"
Naruto chuckled again, though his voice was surprisingly faint. The security guy blushed like a peony.
"You damn---", he spouted, but his voice was interrupted as an elbow stuck between his teeth. Confused and perplexed, Kotetsu let go of Naruto's arm who immediately pulled out his elbow again, wiped off the saliva and made a run for it. He could still hear Kotetsu scream after him, shout at the other people to 'catch the thief'.
The blonde stifled a laugh. His relationship with the security guards as well as the police could be considered just another version of "´Give and Take". He gave them something to do and - as a small plus, a fine physical education. In return he 'took' the liberty to keep doing what he wanted.
