When Naruto awoke, the fist thing he noticed was the strange comfort he felt. The bed he was on was soft and had a spicy scent to it that reminded him of someone very close to him. Then his mind started whirring back up to speed, jumpstarting the slew of memories from earlier that night. He bolted up right, frantically searching for any sign of Sasuke’s presence. The only thing that indicated another had been present, was the shut door.
He calmed down some when he realized Sasuke was no where to be seen. Kyuubi had been quiet up until this point, choosing to let her kit calm himself on his own. To be honest, she felt furious. Sasuke had returned, and in the single moment it had taken Naruto to realize who it was sitting in front of him, his mind had ceased proper function. He had acted purely on instinct, and all it had done was get him into trouble. She had begged her kit to let her out, but he was to far gone in his own blind panic to listen to a single word she said. Not only did he kiss and claim ownership of her kit, he overpowered him and knocked him out. Who did he think he was?!
‘ It’s okay Kyuubi, we’ll deal with him when we find him.’ Naruto said quietly, standing up. He walked slowly over to the full length mirror off in the corner near the bed. His reflection was a very good resemblance to what he felt on the inside, which he normally did his best to hide. Dark circles under the eyes, deep set frown, not to mention the emotional exhaustion showing through his eyes. All in all he looked something like Gaara, only with less “ evil scariness”, as Naruto so literately stated.
BAM
Naruto Whipped around, instinctively reaching for his kunai pouch, only to find it empty. ‘ Shit, that’s right! Sasuke threw it into the hall…’ He could hear loud footsteps running their way up the steps. He took a precious moment to identify the chakra coming off the person, but was horrified to find it was Sakura. ‘ No! If she sees me here…!’ He dove across the room, throwing open the window and darting out into the early morning air. He tore through the thick forest separating the village from the compound, not stopping for anything. He knew he had a few scrapes already from the smarting branches, but he would go through a brick wall if it kept space between him and his old team-mate. He hated facing her almost as much as he did facing Sasuke. The hate she looked at him with…
‘ WATCH OUT!!!’ He swung to the side just in time to barely dodge a large tree, throwing himself off balance and hitting the ground with a roll, slamming into another tree trunk painfully.
“….Ow.”
‘ Ow indeed.’
‘ Shut it.’ Kyuubi snickered despite herself. Naruto may be smarter than most thought, but intelligence had nothing to do with being a klutz. ‘ Why do you think Sakura was at Sasuke’s house?’ Naruto asked, trying to ignore Kyuubi’s insistent snickering.
‘ You know, she may have picked up on Sasuke’s chakra, or yours, for that matter. How should I know the inner workings of a bitch’s mind…’ Naruto smirked,
‘ Oh, don’t you say a word, blondie.’
‘ The best part is, I don’t have to.’ Naruto snickered at the Kyuubi’s warning growl, standing slowly and patting the dirt off of his uniform. He stretched slowly, sighing contentedly at the pops from his back. Forgetting to stretch when you first get up is very unwise for even the most powerful ninja.
‘ Well, think of it this way: if she was looking for you, there’s nothing you can do about it. She would have already sensed you and known you were there. Now, if it was Sasuke she was after, then I highly doubt she’ll tell anybody he’s around, for risk of the Hokage sicking the ANBU on her precious Sashy-poo.’ Kyuubi put her ears back and batted her eye-lashes in a mock fan-girl swoon. However disturbingly accurate the face was, Naruto still laughed, launching himself back onto the tree branches, deciding to go home and grab some money for breakfast.
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I sat up slowly, the early morning rays of sunlight braking through my partially closed blinds. The room was bare, lacking in anything other than a dresser and a nightstand next to my double bed next to it. The dresser had multiple picture frames resting on it’s smoothed surface, most of which I couldn’t see from the sun’s glare on the frame’s glass. The nightstand had a small lamp, my latest volume of ‘ Icha Icha paradise’, and a small picture frame with my most valued picture in it.
The picture depicted me, standing in my uniform, reading my little book, with Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke in front of me, looking happy. Even Sasuke had a small smile cracked across his pale face. Next to me, stood Iruka. My beautiful Iruka, looking all for the world like the father he was to Naruto, his left hand placed on the blondes shoulder, holding him still for the picture.
“ Okay, Naruto, over there with Sasuke. No, no, on his left. Not that left the other left!”
“ But sensei, I wanna be next to Sakura-chan!”
“ Okay, okay, Naruto, in the middle. Sasuke, a little to the right. Naruto, no rabbit ears! Sasuke, no hitting. Naruto, stop fidgeting. Okay, here it goes. Smile big, everybody!”
I laughed softly at the memory, reaching for the picture. Everything was so… oddly right back then. By no means perfect, but, better than now. Iruka gone, Naruto in pieces, Sakura… well Sakura, and Sasuke planning for a war. I let my head fall back, resting it on the headboard of my bed, sighing. Nothing is right anymore, not even me. I ran my fingers slowly through my hair, remembering the day I was told of the “ accident.”
I stood quietly in the waiting room of the Hokage tower, watching Naruto fidget in his seat nervously. For once, I knew how he felt, feeling the itching urge to pace welling up inside me.
“ The Hokage will see you now.” The ANBU soldier said, giving a curt bow, indicating for us to follow him. Naruto stood, jogging to come walk by my side. I saw he was trembling.
“ Ah, welcome. Please, have a seat.” The Hokage said as we walked in, the doors closing behind us. He was leaning against the front of his desk, his thin face grimly set, though his dark grey eyes showed dislike the moment they landed on Naruto. Naruto kept his head down. “ Now,” he said as we sat down, “ No doubt your wondering why you were called here? Well, there has been a terribly unfortunate accident.” the sorrow his voice portrayed did not reach his face, causing me to narrow my eyes.
“ What kind of accident.?” I asked slowly, not liking where this was going.
“ Well, during the recent attack on the outskirts of town, I’m sure you’ve heard about, your friend, um-” he looked down at a paper next to him on his desk, “ -Umino Iruka, was on guard duty that day. The attackers ambushed him and his guard partner. His partner is in critical condition.” My eyes widened, Naruto froze.
“ W-what about Iruka-sensei?” Naruto asked, stuttering under the Hokage’s cold gaze.
“ I am so sorry, but when back-up arrived, Iruka had already been killed.”
It was like I was dipped in a vat of liquid ice. My insides froze, my expression turning to one of horror. I vaguely heard the chair next to me scraping loudly on the wood floor, followed by pounding footsteps; Naruto running from the room, but my mind had ceased all movement. Not single thought went through my head, just those words repeating themselves over and over.
“ I am sorry for your loss.” I stared at him, this....thing as he looked at me with such an apathetic face that I wanted nothing more than to punch him. His voice held no real sympathy, neither did his eyes. I slowly stood, uttering something, I didn’t know what, and walked out of his office. I walked out of the tower, walked out of the city. I walked all the way past the training grounds, right to the outskirts of Konoha’s territory. I walked to the edge of the great lake that stretched all the way out to water country, dropped to my knees, and screamed.
I didn’t remember how long I had just stayed there and screamed, but according to some of the other ninja, I had been gone for roughly a week. No one could find Naruto for weeks, not until he showed up to the funeral with the Hyuuga‘s, looking almost as bad as me. It was just me, Naruto, a few of Iruka’s students and some of the people from his chunnin division. I took my mask off for the first time in public in ten years that day. Iruka had preferred it off, like I preferred his hair down.
After it was over, I pulled Naruto from the others, asking how he was. Iruka was the only person he had ever had that was always there. I could only to vividly understand what he felt. He just gave me a look that I swore was worse than any amount of tears I had ever seen shed. I wasn’t able to offer any kind words or comfort, because I was having enough trouble keeping from falling apart on the spot myself. I just stood with him for awhile. I think he understood what I had been trying to do, because he turned to me and smiled.
“ I’m glad he picked you. Your really loved him, just as much as I did.”
Even though the smile he had offered was empty, his words weren’t. It was surprisingly comforting coming from him. I suppose it was because I knew he understood. He felt just as bad as I did.
Now the time has come to fix things. His death could have so easily been avoided. Better training, more people, better alert system, so many ways it could have gone better. It’s been driving me crazy knowing it could have been prevented. I sighed again, throwing the blanket off of me and placing the picture carefully back on the nightstand. I slowly pulled my uniform on, deciding now would be a good time to visit the memorial.
Stopping to run my finger along the frame for a moment, I grabbed my book, turned and left, quietly shutting the door behind me.
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A/N: Oh god. I had to stop about five times to wipe away the tears. It made me so sad. I feel miserable right now. Terribly miserable. Well, hopefully I keep this writing spree going, cause I’ve never cranked out so many chapters so quickly in my entire life.
Just so you know, the next chapter will be much less serious. It’s from Sakura’s view, so it should be terribly fun to laugh at, at her expense of course. ;)
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Chapter notes: A/N: Get out the tissues guys, cause your gonna need them. I cried like a baby writing this. Just a warning. You’ll also see a bit more of our lovable, “ bounce back from anything” Naruto in this chapter. He is not all angst and misery. That would be just weird.
Things you need to know:
“blah” - Talk
‘ blah’ - Thoughts
‘ blah’ - Kyuubi, then flashbacks for Kakeshi’s piece