...darkness...darkness...darkness...
Naruto laid on his back, eyes closed, staring at nothing, shrouded in darkness...
"Is this death?" he thought to himself. "This can't be, I can't be dead, not today, anyways...My body feels stiff...My lungs feel deflated...My heart stopped...But,"
He tried to move his arms. Nothing happened. He tried to open his mouth...Nothing happened. He tried to breathe...Nothing happened.
"No way!" he shouted in his mind. " This can't be happening...I won't let this happen!"
He continued struggling to make his body respond, but his efforts were unresolved. He couldn't even open his eyes, not one bit of movement could be performed by his body. Never before had he been able to be so motionless...even on his missions where absolute stillness was a must, he had never been like this...he didn't like it.
"I'm not giving up on this!"he cried as he still struggled ta make the slightest jolt of movement. He began to give up hope...
"I don't wanna die," he mentally whimpered. "I want to live. I want to breathe... I want... to love..."
"Naruto..." went a soft voice...
"What was that?" he thought...
"Wake up, Naruto..." the voice cried, gradually getting louder.
"It sounds familiar...could it be-"...
"Come back to me, Naruto!" The voice cried even louder.
"It is, it's Hinata! Oh my god, if I can hear her, then maybe..." he thought.
Hearing her voice was the last ounce of persuasion that he needed to regain his faith in getting out of the darkness.
"Screw this! I'm getting outta here!" he shouted.
With all his might, he tried to breathe again. Still nothing..
"Dammit! How am I gonna get outta here?" He thought. "Think, Naruto."
This time he tried moving, breathing, shouting, any action he could think of to break him self through the darkness, until finally...
Suddenly, Naruto shot his eyes open and began coughing and chocking. As he held his throat, he looked around the room, noticing it was almost as black as the darkness. Then he withdrew that opinion, knowing good and well that his room had nothing on that place.
"Man, that place was horrible!" he thought out loud.
He stopped chocking and caught his breath. He took a couple of minutes to think...
"...Hey! Where's Hinata?" It came to him.
He pulled the sheets off of him and climbed out of the bed. He walked towards the door and began to open it, then stopped. He looked at the floor at the foot of his bed. There lay Hinata, sleeping under a blanket. Naruto's heart regained warmth as he walked over to her and knelt on the floor. He placed his hand on her cheek and brushed her hair back behind her ear.
"I'm so glad you're okay..." he thought to himself as he began to caress her face.
But his thought had been scarred. As soon as he took his hand off her face, the memory of being lethally assaulted by Hinata's brother flashed before his eyes. He froze for a moment while beginning to stand up and thought about what had taken place. How Hinata's vengeful brother threatened to rid him of his time with her.
"That bastard..." Naruto cursed at Neji. "If he wants a war, I'll give him a war."
Another vision showed before him, though, this time was still. The grim smirk from Sasuke to Naruto as he helped Neji of the ground. Holding the very sword that had sent him into his hell bound abyss. Naruto almost gagged at the thought that they had once called each other friends.
"Sasuke.." Naruto thought to himself in profound hatred. "You traitor..."
"Naruto?" whispered a voice.
He quickly looked down to see Hinata's bright face smiling at him with tears trickling down her face.
"You're okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine..you?" Naruto replied.
"I'll be alright. How do your wounds feel?"
"My wounds?" Naruto thought.
He raised up his shirt and gazed at the bandage that was wrapped around his abdomen. Then, he took his shirt off and stared at the bandage that covered his left collarbone and shoulder.
'They don't hurt at all," He replied.
He unraveled the bandage that was tied around his waist and was shocked to see that there was not sign that he was even impaled. The same went without saying for his collarbone.
"The Nine Tailed Fox..." Naruto thought to himself. "It came through for me again..."
Naruto walked over to his wastebasket and dropped the bandages inside. All they were to him were pieces of paper that reminded him of the tragic events that took place that morning.
"I'm gonna need some help with this," he though to himself.
As soon as he turned around, Hinata embraced him with her arms. She put her head against his chest and stood there., holding on tightly.
"Promise me you won't scare me like that again." she said softly.
Naruto looked at her for a moment, and sighed. He'd hate to tell her the truth, that he's gonna have to fight Neji. He knew that the look on Hinata's face would just break his heart, so he prepared for it.
"I wish I could." he replied, "But, this isn't gonna stop unless either me or Neji is out of the picture... And I'm not leaving you without a fight, a battle, or a war."
Her eyes began to run, "If you die, I could never forgive you," she threatened as she burst into tears.
And, broken his heart became. The thought that saying something to her that would make her cry the way that she began made it difficult to bear. But, he knew that It was a brief punch he was going to have to take.
"Well, that's a risk one of us is going to have to take."he replied.
Hinata sobbed cried in his chest as Naruto placed his hands on the dack of her head and rubbed her back.
"Listen. I know this isn't what you or I could possibly want right now, or ever. But, it wasn't a decision that I'm in the position to make." he explained.
"It'll be okay," Naruto said to console her. "I hope..." He thought
"I-I-ju-just don't want t-to lo-lose you," she sobbed staring into his eyes.
"Then fight with me," he replied starring directly back.
"What?" she asked.
"Fight Neji with me. If you have my back, I know we'll never be apart. If we fight together, then we'll die together." he explained. "But, if you don't fight with me, I die..."
Hinata, still holding him tight, loosened her grip. She now had to choose between her brother, and the man that she loves. She looked down and said,
"I don't know if I can make that decision right now..."
That's alright," Naruto said, wiping her cheeks with his thumb. "Why don't we sleep on it?"
She smiled, "I think that's a good idea."
"Ah! A smile...that's what I like to see." Naruto said goofily, making her giggle.
She hugged him again as he wrapped his arm around her and walked over to the bed. Naruto sat down on the bed and looked at her. She smiled, then bent over and kissed his on the forehead.
"I love you," she whispered softly in his ear.
As she began walking over to the foot of the bed, He grabbed her arm.
"Wait" he said.
He walked over to Hinata and grabbed her waist, as he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips. They continued kissing for about ten seconds, then Hinata said,
"If you want I could keep you company, you know, while we sleep." Her cheeks where completely red.
"I would like that,"Naruto grinned.
The two of them stared in each others eyes for a second, until Naruto finally climbed into bed. Hinata sat on the edge of the bed and took off her coat, laying it on the floor. She got underneath the sheets and scuffled across the bed over towards Naruto, who put his arm around her.
"Wow," Hinata thought to herself, "I didn't know this was so comfortable. Sleeping with Naruto."
"'Night," He said.
"Good night," she replied.
A tear rolled down Naruto's face as they drifted off to sleep.
The next morning came, rather abruptly to Naruto, but for Hinata, it was one of the best nights of sleep she'd had in a long time. The two of them stretched and yawned as they emerged from underneath the sheets.
"Good morning," Hinata greeted Naruto.
"'Morning," he said as he gave her kiss on the lips.
Then, his eyes shot open and he scurried over Hinata and out of the bed, "I'll be right back," he called.
"Okay!" Hinata called back, hugging the pillow she slept on.
Naruto ran into the kitchen and grabbed the telephone the sat on the counter. He dialed a series of numbers and listened to the phone ring.
On the other line, Ashken sat across from M.C. holding two cards in his hand. The two of them had a minor dispute over who was the better poker player,(despite the fact that he had only beaten her once out of 13 matches), so the two of them stayed up all night(they started at 10:00), and played a round of Heads Up 5-Card Draw. Ashken played around with the toothpick he had in his mouth as he pondered his next move. In his hand, he had drawn an Ace of Diamonds, an Ace of Spades, a 6 of Clubs, a 5 of Clubs, and a 6 of Hearts, rendering him with a two pair, Aces and Sixes. 500 was already in the pot and M.C. just bet him another 500. He looked across the table and observed her stack of chips, which wasn't really much bigger than his.
"If I force her all-in..." he thought.
Suddenly, the phone rang on the table they were playing on. Ashken placed his cards face down. As he picked up the phone and looked at the caller I.D.
"Eh. Naruto, huh?" he chuckled to himself..
"Naruto?" M.C. repeated as in an interested tone of voice. "He hasn't called in ages."
Ashken turned on the phone, "What's the problem, now?" he asked.
"Hey, Ashken. I need you to, kinda, come down here and help me kill off some people.."
"Are you serious about this? Do you just need intimidation or are we talking extra man-power?" Ashken asked as M.C. became even more interested by the conversation.
"...Somebody could die," Naurto replied
Ashken hung up the phone and threw his money into the pot.
"I call," he said.
It's been a while since Naruto had needed help killing somebody. A potpourri of thoughts filled his mind as he discarded his 5 and drew another card, A 6. He smiled at his full house behind his hands and satisfyingly uttered:
"I'm all-in."
"I'll call," M.C. replied with little hesitation.
As they pushed their piles into the center of table and showed their hands, Ashken gazed in awe as his full house: Sixes full of Aces were dominated by his significant other's four-of-a-kind: Queens...
...A couple hours later, Naruto stood at the oven waiting for the water to boil so he can add his ramen. There was a knock at the door and a call:
"Naruto. It's Ashken." came from outside.
Naruto walked over to the door and let Ashken inside, who then walked right past him and towards Naruto's room.
"Where are you going? Where's M.C.?" Naruto asked frantically.
"She's runnin' errands. I'm going to sleep. Excuse me..." he said as he walked by Hinata in the hallway.
"Ashken? This is bad," She thought to herself.
She walked up to Naruto with her hands behind her back.
"Hmm, weird. Hinata's sleeping in the bed, but I swore I just saw her..." Ashken thought to himself and prepared for the worst.
"Are you sure Ashken is reliable? Can we really trust him?" Hinata asked.
"Of course, why not? He's a friend of mine."
"Hey, Naruto!" Ashken called from the hallway as he walked back to the threshold and leaned against the beam with his hands behind his back, "Are you sure we can trust this little hunny? I don't, considering the fact that she knows my name and I've never spoken to her a single day in my life..." Ashken explained.
Naruto thought about what he was saying, but couldn't wrap his mind around it.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that she's holding a kunai behind her back!"
Just as Ashken said that, a loud, "Poof!" and a ball of smoke came out from where Hinata was standing and a girl in red garb stood there, staring back at Naruto. Naruto stared back, first astonished , then relieved, but all in all, he was just confused.
"Sakura?! What are you doin-,"
He was interrupted by Sakura punching him in the mouth. Now, with Naruto on the ground, she climbed on top of him and held the kunai above her head. She sobbed and tears ran down her eyes as she pinned her fist against his chest.
"I didn't want to do this!" she cried.
Naruto quickly went from relieved to enraged. This was the second person who was of a close relationship with him that had decided to betray him. Who else was going to try to hurt him? Hinata herself? Just as Sakura was about to stab him, Ashken charged over to her and speared her onto the ground, off of Naruto. He looked to his left to see the two of them wrestle on the ground, and watched as Sakura stuck the kunai deep into Ashken's stomach.
"Ah! You little bitch!" he shouted.
He removed a kunai from his back pocket as he pinned Sakura on the ground by her throat. He extended his arm out and tightened his grip on her neck while she grabbed his arm, trying to pull him off.
"I never thought I'd see you again." he said as she continued to resist him.
Naruto looked puzzled, "You know her?"
"Yeah, she and M.C. spent a summer together, but that didn't turn out very well. But enough about me, let's try to hear why this dame is here in the first place.
Ashken removed his grip from her throat and quickly pinned her down by her shoulders, placing the kunai in his teeth. She began breathing hard, then she started talking.
"Neji asked me to come. He said that he'll kill everyone I love if I don't, even Sasuke." she confessed.
Naruto stared at her in awe.
"What makes you think that it would be a great idea to listen to him? I'm you're friend, he's Neji. I'm the one who's fought alongside you, held your position, not Neji!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs as Sakura began sobbing on the floor, bawling her eyes out.
"Well then, We'll show them what happens when people listen to Neji..." he said.
Naruto quickly looked at Ashken and nodded. Ashken then grabbed Sakura by the throat again, and she continued to struggle.
"Please don't! She shouted. "Please don't kill me!"
But Ashken didn't care what she said. As soon as she stopped squirming, he plunged the kunai into her chest, piercing her heart. Ashken rolled onto the floor and began coughing up blood. Naruto quickly crawled over to Ashken.
"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.
"I think so..." he groaned as he jerked the kunai out of his stomach.
The two of them sat against the sink and stared with tears rolling down their eyes at their friend's lifeless body stare coldly back at them as her body emptied blood across the kitchen floor.
"It was her or us? Right?" Naruto whimpered.
"Yeah, that's right, her or us," Ashken answered, closing his eyes.
Sunset filtered in through the window over the sink and from the screen on the door, casting an ironic blend of warmth and death upon the kitchen, enhancing the blood's crimson into a metallic orange. Naruto found himself looking at the threshold to see Hinata standing there, cupping her mouth and a orange-yellow tear dripping down her face. Naruto motioned her over to him, which she did, still not taking her eyes off of the corpse of a peer. She sat next to him and laid her cheek on his chest as he kissed her on the head and put his arm on her shoulder. Ashken put his hand on Naruto's head and looked at him as Naruto turned his head to look back.
"We'll be alright, I'll make sure of that." Ashken assured him, looking him straight in the eye.
They both smiled at each other...
"You're next, Sasuke" Naruto thought to himself.