This story got into my head a year ago, and it started off as a one-shot, but spiraled out of control into something way too complicated for me to understand.
Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
XXX
Uzumaki Naruto was not the happy camper as she stomped down the dim-lit sidewalk in her five-inch heels. The shoes had been a present from her best friend Sakura, and although the blonde tomboy had hated the terrible, terrible gift with a passion, Naruto made the exception for Sakura's twenty-fourth birthday and bravely donned the heels throughout the entirety of the night.
But the party was long over, and now at the four am in the chilly March night, Naruto found herself cursing every deity known to man when huge, angry blisters formed on the sides of her feet. The shoes painfully cut into her skin with each step she took, and home was still at least a good fifteen blocks away. The poor girl did not think the night could get any worse.
Funny how the universe seemed to destine events for the sole purpose of spiting her.
A flash of lightning suddenly split across the heavens, followed soon by the rumble of thunder. Raindrops the size of baseballs began to plummet out of the midnight sky in an unrelenting downpour, and Naruto's face was caught in an epic moment of sheer horror before the expression gave way to frustration, desperation, and most dominantly, fury. Her bright blue eyes almost bled red as she gave a snarl of rage at her unfavorable predicament, and when her short blond spikes became plastered against her face under the merciless rainstorm, the twenty year old lost it.
Ripping the heels off her feet - and resisting the savage urge to chuck them across the street - Naruto broke off into an sprint, growling incoherently as she made a mad dash for home. The blonde knew that she looked a crazed demon let loose from hell as she ran on with her long black dress clinging to her legs and her hair sticking in all sorts of direction, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Maybe she should've taken up Sai's offer to drive her home, socially-inept pervert that he was and all.
Oddly enough, Naruto found herself stumbling to a stop in the final stretch of her sprint and staring across the street at the visible park in the distance. She was cold, miserable, and definitely bleeding in one too many places on her mutilated feet - damn these fucking shoes - yet there was something about the rain and the bright, round moon that endeared her to the night. In the spur of the moment, Naruto decided she might as well enjoy this absurd hour and take a small detour through the park grounds.
As the blonde later retold the tale of this eventful night to her friends in the following months, she toyed with the idea of fate, destiny, and divine intervention.
The park across her apartment flat reminded Naruto of home. Not home here in Tokyo, Japan, but that of her childhood, New York City. It was in Central Park where she had met her foster father Umino Iruka, Iruka-san who had such kind, warm eyes and a quick, comforting smile. He had taken one look at the orphaned child before snatching her into his home without a single backsliding thought. He nursed the small girl back to health and taught her the meaning of love, of what it meant to love and be loved. He was the beacon of light and hope in her life, and under his tender, loving care Naruto transformed from an untrusting, spiteful child into the sprightly, energetic ball of sunshine and destruction that she was today. But life was not fair, and the young blonde had learned this the hard way when she lost her beloved father to cancer a week before her fourteenth birthday. So when Iruka's old colleague, Hatake Kakashi, offered her the chance to come live with him in Tokyo, Naruto instantly jumped at the opportunity. Now the twenty-year-old attended Tokyo University, studying business and thriving in the dynamic culture that was uniquely Japan's.
Naruto must've missed Iruka at that particular moment as she ran in the rain, for why else would she have recklessly changed her path to a long-winded route through the park, a quiet walk that would take her to stare across at the stone bridge that stood over the Zabuza river. Iruka had approached her, many years ago, on a similar-looking stone bridge in Central Park. The man would often crinkle his eyes and laugh at the memory, fondly poking her in the nose and telling her it was fate that brought him to the bridge that day. He explained to the wide-eyed child that bridges were the connection between places; they joined two things that would have otherwise been apart.
"The bridge let me into your world that day, Naruto-chan," the brown-eyed loving man would say.
"And me into yours?" the child asked in awe.
His smile would forever be etched in her memory. "And you into mine, Naruto."
As Naruto grew older and the responsibilities of life weighed more heavily on her shoulders, the blonde never ceased to be amazed at her late foster father's idealistic view of the world. His influence on her was great, but even then she found herself struggling to keep the optimism that Iruka had so diligently utilized in his life. But she tried, and try she would until the end of her days. Naruto was a natural-born fighter, and that was one thing she knew would always come to her advantage, come hell or fire.
What surprised her, then, was the realization that she was not alone in the park that rainy night. Without conscious thought, she stilled to a stop, shrouded in the shadows by the tall oak trees, and stared at the man that stood on the bridge.
His side profile was exposed to her, and she curiously studied the man's features. He looked young, young enough to be in his twenties, but the brooding expression on his face gave him a mystifying air that was far beyond his years. Naruto recognized that this man was extremely handsome in appearance, his pale skin giving off an ethereal glow in the night, his high cheekbones proud and aristocratic. He was tall, wearing nothing but a light tshirt and jeans, and Naruto could see the well-defined muscles hinting beneath the wet, thin material. But what drew her to this stranger was the depth in his onyx eyes, the emotion raging behind midnight orbs that even she could see, as far away as she was, with the blanket of rain shielding down on them both.
He seemed to be fighting a battle of inner conflict, if the fire in his eyes were any indication. Naruto watched, mesmerized, as each flicker of emotion revealed a different tale processing through the stranger's mind. She found herself completely enraptured by the spell he cast over her, and she didn't know how long she stood there, a hidden onlooker in the shadows, watching patiently, waiting for something that she couldn't even explain to herself.
But she knew instantly when the spark in the stranger's eyes gave out, leaving a stark-cold blankness in its wake, and Naruto's blood froze in her veins as the beautiful man effortlessly pulled himself up to stand on the precariously-thin wall of the bridge - and over the raging waters of the Zabuza river below.
She could feel time slow to a crawl, and she viewed the world through so much clarity in that moment that she saw each and every muscle tense in that stranger's body as he prepared for the fatal jump.
"NO!"
The cry was wrenched out of her mouth, shattering through the stillness of the night. But it was too late, and she felt the breath get knocked out of her chest as she watched his bent knees straighten and his body lurch forward. He had turned his head towards her upon hearing her sharp outburst, and the void in his eyes momentarily gave way to a flicker of surprise, before gravity pulled him under and he disappeared from sight. The adrenaline that rushed through the blood in her ears caused her to hear the splash of his body against the river waters with deafening clearness.
She didn't need to think twice.
Her dress came off even before her mind could register the thought, and it fell in a messy tumble next to her heels as the blonde took off running, for what seemed like the millionth time that night. She thanked her lucky stars that Iruka had forced her to participate in competitive swimming since middle school, and she had been a natural at it. Even so, there was something about this angry Zabuza river that seemed more formidable than the regular pool, but Naruto paid the thought no heed as she scrambled to the shore. Without a moment's hesitation she dove in.
The cold water hit her like a wall of bricks, stimulating every nerve of her body and sending jolts of electricity down every limb. She realized with a sickening blow that if she didn't find this stranger soon, both of them would die of hypothermia, never mind drowning. With an angry burst of bubbles exploding out from her mouth, Naruto began to swim with the current, sending urgent prayers to the Higher Being above. Please let the both of us get out of this alive.
She soon located his listless body further down, and with all the strength she could muster, she came from behind and locked her arms around his chest, holding him securely against her. But her now immobilized arms left her half as strong against the currents, and no amount kicking was enough to pull both of them to the surface. The water was so cold that Naruto felt her body turn painfully numb, and she knew that she and the unmoving man in her arms didn't have long left. She was in desperate need of a miracle, and she vainly fought against the tendrils of fear that were beginning to suffocate her consciousness.
No.
She wasn't going to give up so easily! She was Uzumaki Naruto, and it would take more than a damn river current to kill her. The blonde kicked and kicked, struggling hard to not succumb to the river and the powerful, sapping strength of its waters.
And suddenly, there was a relenting shift in the currents, before the helplessness of the situation changed. Of course, the split! How could she have forgotten? The Zabuza river was famously known to divide into two bodies of water at a certain bend in its path. The smaller river was known as the Haku, and by some sheer stroke of luck, Naruto's furious kicking had pushed them onto the path of the smaller stream. Facing the assault of a full-blown river in a downpour was impossible, but the currents of a significantly smaller body of water became another story. Naruto's vigorous efforts - now renewed with determination and energy - brought her and the stranger finally to the surface, and she gasped. Her lungs, which had been burning from the lack of oxygen, was immediately soothed by the mouthfuls of air she inhaled, and Naruto continued to fight, one arm still attached in a deadlock against the man's chest as the other started to move in deep strokes, pulling them closer to shore.
Relief exploded within her when her knees finally pressed against the soft, blessed cushion of mud, but she had no time to savor the moment as she turned a pair of concerned sky blue eyes to the man whom she had dragged to shore with her. He looked too pale to be alive, his chest wasn't falling up and down in a sure tell sign of breathing, and after pressing two cold fingers against his neck, she found that he had no pulse.
Without further ado, Naruto started to administer CPR, trying desperately to keep calm. Two breaths, thirty compressions. Two breaths, thirty compressions.
C'mon, c'mon, she chanted in her head. It became a mantra. Breathe, you son of a bitch, breathe!
When he finally coughed, his body spazzing violently, Naruto didn't care that her lips had been pressed against his as he spewed a fountain of river water into her mouth. She didn't mind that she was clad only in her see-through undergarments when the stranger cracked two dazed midnight eyes to stare at her before he fell back into unconsciousness. In that moment, nothing mattered but the fall and rise of his chest, and Naruto felt tears come to her eyes at the hellish ordeal she had just experienced. He was alive.
But for how long?
Naruto grimaced when she realized that they were alone in the park, soaked to the bone and both dangerously close to freezing to death if their wretched shivering was any indication. They were a far distance from where her dress, heels, and most importantly, the cell phone in her purse lay hidden in the shrubbery.
Calm yourself, Naruto, she thought fiercely. She had gotten them through the worst of the storm, now she just needed to get them to a warm place, hopefully her apartment if she could help it. Get up. Go to your cell phone.
She stumbled upwards, leaning against the tree for support as she panted heavily. She cast a worried look to the unconscious man, praying that he would still be there and goddamn alive when she came back. The blonde blundered off towards the direction where her items awaited.
Punching in her friend's number while she was frozen to the core was one of the most difficult tasks Naruto had ever performed in her life, and she was grateful that the rain had let up to a light drizzle. She almost cried with exhilaration as her call finally connected, and she waited patiently as she listened to the dial tone of her call.
Please wake up, please wake up.
"Hello?" The man's voice was thick with sleep. "Who's this?"
She took a shuddering breath as tears spilled from her eyes at her relief. Try as she might, she couldn't stop her teeth from chattering. "K-Kiba, I n-need your h-help."
XXX
Naruto knew the Inuzuka heir was not going to be happy when he found her - with the aid of Akamaru, bless that dog - but she was not quite prepared for the quiet, icy-cold fury that burned behind the big man's black eyes. She had only seen him like that once in her life, the day they first met three years ago, and even now she had not forgotten the demonic image he made with his murderous gaze and blood-red tribal markings on his hardened face. She shivered, but this time it was not from the cold.
"Naruto." His voice was a dangerous, low rumble. He strode over to her in three quick steps, shedding off his big, furry raincoat in an instant and placing it firmly over her small, soaked body. His eyes left her face to the unconscious man a couple feet away. The Inuzuka immediately stiffened. "Who is that?"
The blonde didn't miss the narrowing of her friend's eyes and the sudden rigidity in his muscular body, and she frowned. Thankfully her teeth were no longer chattering as intensely, for Kiba's thick raincoat was beginning to warm her up, and her defeated body welcomed the heat wholeheartedly.
"I don't know."
The look on Kiba's face was the epitome of exasperation, borderline furious. "You don't know?" he repeated, staring at her.
She pinched her lips into a thin, displeased line, determined to not let the man intimidate her. She didn't do anything wrong. "No I don't know him," she said. The truth in her words hung in the tense air.
Kiba could only stare at his friend. She was a pitiful sight, her short hair tousled in all sorts of directions, her legs brown and muddied from the ground beneath her. If he inspected in even closer detail, he would've seen the blood that oozed out from the red blisters on her feet. Her skin had looked almost blue when he first arrived at the scene, so he was tremendously relieved to see that it was returning to the usual shade of tan after she had put on his raincoat.
So she didn't know this man.
It was so unbelievably Naruto to sacrifice her life for a stranger.
Kiba wasn't usually fazed at the tiny blonde's tendency to not recognize the famous figures of the city. She was too focused on her studies to follow the constant ramblings of the media, and although she was a business major, she spent more time delving into the logistics of economics than reading the latest incidents in the newspapers.
But still, for her to not know who she had rescued...
Kiba's black eyes shifted back to the unconscious man once more, and he suppressed the hostility coursing through his veins. He knew this man well, well enough that it would be easy to slide a hand around that man's throat and suffocate the life out of him. The river had done the job for the most part, and it was tempting for Kiba to end that raven-haired nuisance for good. But, as he returned his gaze back to his friend, the little blonde who was staring at him with so much fire in her eyes, he realized she could've asked him to walk through a wall of fire and he would do so for her without a question.
He knew the exact moment he had devoted himself to the blonde, that fateful day three years ago when their eyes first met and he was bleeding out onto the sidewalk, ready to go on and spend the rest of his miserable existence in the seven gates of hell, but she was screaming such loud obscenities into his ears - "Don't you fucking die on me, you ugly piece of shit!" - that he was finding it so hard to close his eyes and let his soul peacefully leave his body as his organs began to fail from the excessive loss of blood. His confusion only intensified when he felt wetness on his cheeks, and even though his vision was quickly blurring, it didn't take long before he realized that this ball of annoying, high-pitched decibels was crying for him. Jesus.
Why? he remember thinking to himself when his consciousness began to fade to black. You don't even know me.
When he awoke hours later, he found himself in the hospital. Panic enveloped him immediately, since he knew members of the Yakuza were not often in government-run institutions for good reasons. But the blonde was instantly at his side, and she comforted him with her words, promising that the Head of the Konoha Hospital was her godmother, and she had already informed Tsunade-baachan of his chivalrous deed.
"I saw you push the woman out of the way," the blonde said with powerful conviction in her fierce, blue eyes. She had a light accent, and he recognized that she was not from this country. "The police won't listen to me, and they won't go after the drunk driver who ran from the scene, but I know what I saw."
He had chuckled at the naivety in her words. "Baka," he croaked, his voice still weak from his near encounter with death. "They don't care about thugs like me. They would've welcomed my death."
She fixed him with a piercing stare, and he wondered why she did not despise him like the rest of society. He was a pariah, a harbinger of trouble and murder, a constant reminder of Japan's dark and hidden underworking that the bright society tried so hard to hide. So why was she not even afraid of him? Was this ignorance the result of her foreign heritage?
"Regardless of where you come from," she said softly, breaking him out of his reverie. "You are a human being, and you ought to be treated like one. Thank you for what you did for that woman."
He was at a loss of words, so he remained silent. His eyes, however, never left her face.
She then smiled brightly, and offered him her hand. "I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you."
And since that hospital day, he became a loyal guardian to this bright, warm-hearted yellow enigma. They had established a solid friendship, but since he was a member of the notorious Japanese gang system and she was a hardworking student at Tokyo's prestigious university, their paths rarely crossed. Texting was a different matter, and Kiba looked forward to sending her a cyber message once in a while. So he had known she was going to her best friend's birthday party, but his heart stopped in his chest when he picked up that call merely moments ago, and it took him less than five minutes to drive furiously down to the park in a frenzy and find her, shivering like a lost doe in the foliage, almost face to face with death.
And for what reason? Again Kiba was reminded of the unconscious man who was splayed across the dirt mud, and he fought to keep the animosity inside him at bay. If it were any other situation, the knife in Kiba's hidden pocket would've made their way into that man's chest in a second, but for Naruto, for this girl who had brought Kiba out from the depths of hell and shown him a slice of heaven, he would put personal issues aside and help her in her martyring quest.
But damn it be, he sure as hell wouldn't be gentle with that irritating, near carcass.
Naruto noticed the poorly-concealed disgust in Kiba's strong features as her friend neared the black-haired stranger. She blinked blankly at the ridiculously hostile way Kiba had picked the man up and slung the unconscious body across his back. It also didn't slip her scrutinizing gaze when Akamaru's haunches rose and a menacing growl tumbled out of the beast's throat, and the almost reluctant glare Kiba had thrown at his furry companion to quiet him. But Naruto knew better than to comment. Inuzuka Kiba, heir to one of the most infamous Yakuza gangs in Tokyo, would always be from a world that she could only grasp at straws to understand, and she wouldn't try to impose her simple-minded ignorance on him. He had enough problems to worry about as is.
"Can you stand?"
Naruto tilted her head to look into Kiba's questioning eyes, and she nodded once in affirmation. She clenched her teeth and pushed herself off the ground, swaying dangerously but quickly steadying her posture the moment after. She shot Kiba a proud grin, whom only hesitantly returned the gesture. She didn't blame him; she knew he was still upset at her reckless actions.
With a quick whistle at Akamaru, Kiba led the way out of the forest and to the sleek, black car parked on the street. A sharp inhale of breath came from Naruto when she realized that in Kiba's urgency to find her, he hadn't even pulled the key out of the ignition; the car's engine hummed softly in the still night.
Naruto's throat tickled with emotion as the meaning of Kiba's gesture hit her with full force. There were two things in the world that the young Yakuza member valued as much as his own life: the prized pocket knife that he carried with him no matter where he went, and without a doubt, his beloved car. The fact that he had left his car on the street, engine running and up for grabs to any wayward person in the night, spoke volumes to Naruto.
"Take shotgun, I'll throw this lump into the backseat with Akamar - Christ, Naruto, are you okay?"
She inwardly cringed as Kiba noticed the wetness on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the rain. "I'm fine."
"You're crying." The ruffian could sound uncharacteristically tender when he wanted to.
"I'm happy that you came." She wiped at her cheeks and beamed. "Thank you, Kiba. I don't know how to show you my appreciation."
"Idiot." Kiba had dumped the unconscious man into the back of his car, and he pushed the door closed with a sound slam. He made his way to the petite blond and grabbed her into a gruff bear hug. She squeaked. "Let's get you home, you sloppy bitch."
"Oh go shove a pole up your ass, fucker."
Kiba laughed.
XXX
Naruto sighed in bliss as the warm waters of the shower comforted her bodily pains and drove away the chills that had wracked her frame for the past hour. She was so happy to be alive, and the sentiment resonated through every pore in her body. The adrenaline from the night's events had only recently receded, leaving her in a mess of awe and wonder as she realized just how close she had been to losing her life. She could see her late foster father's reprimanding, horrified expression in her head as she imagined how he would've taken the news had he still been alive, and the blonde fell between a mid snort and laugh. She missed him dearly, boorish lectures and all.
Naruto promptly turned off the shower, grabbing an orange towel off the nearest rack, and wiped herself dry. She then pulled a black t-shirt over her head and hobbled into red pajama shorts, steadying her balance before opening the door and feeling a blast of chill air rush against her face. Running a tired hand through her short yellow spikes, Naruto walked down the hallway to the living room where Kiba and his dog waited.
The awkward posture of Kiba's body as he sat edgily on her couch, coupled with the confused look on Akamaru's canine face, caused a small burst of laughter to escape her.
Kiba flinched at the sound before looking up and locking eyes with the blonde. He almost flushed with embarrassment.
"What?" the Inuzuka snapped.
"Nothing," Naruto said, grinning. It was the first time Kiba had ever been over, and she was amused at how out of place he looked in her Americanized residence. The blonde smoothly moved across the living room and to the kitchen.
"Want some tea? Hot chocolate? Coffee?" she called over her shoulder.
Kiba shook his head once, before stupidly realizing that she could not see his gesture. "No," he replied loudly. "Thanks anyway."
She appeared in the doorway a couple minutes later, steaming mug in one hand and warm biscuit in the other. She threw the biscuit in Akamaru's direction, and the dog easily caught the morsel with a quick snap on its jaws. The beast growled happily.
"You sure you don't want anything, Kiba?" Naruto asked as she blew on her hot chocolate.
He shook his head and absentmindedly patted Akamaru's head as the dog chewed on its biscuit.
"How do you like it?"
Kiba furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"
"My home." The tomboy raised one eyebrow. "It's your first time visiting, so don't be rude."
He scowled. "It's too Western. I don't like it."
"Uncultured fiend," she muttered under her breath. She sipped complacently from her mug, ignoring the death vibes that her irritated friend was sending her way.
Kiba opened his mouth to retort when a beep from his phone caused him to direct his attention to the lit screen. Naruto saw from the way the Inuzuka's expression hardened that it was business.
"You have to go," Naruto said. It didn't come out as a question.
Kiba hesitated, and he stared at the tiny blonde who was leaning tiredly against the doorframe. "My sister needs me. There's trouble down at the bay."
"Then go." Naruto knew that every second counted when it came to these Yakuza errands, and it could be the matter of life and death for someone depending on Kiba's arrival on the scene. She smiled softly. "Please be safe. I will never forgive you if you get hurt."
Kiba's face remained impassive for a few long moments. He then directed his gaze to the hallway that led to Naruto's bedroom, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't want to leave you alone."
Naruto snorted. "Please, Kiba, what do you take me for?"
"An idiot who almost lost her life today," he bit out angrily.
Her expression sobered into one of utter seriousness as she turned two piercing blue eyes on him. A couple seconds ticked by painfully, and Kiba wondered if he had actually offended the blonde, before a small smile graced her almost feline features.
"Do not scold me, Kiba," she said lightly. "You would have done the same had you been in my position."
Kiba found no strength to argue against her claim. He nodded curtly to the blonde.
"Be safe. Call my number if anything happens."
Her face softened. "Kiba, go." She gently placed her mug on the small dining table and followed Kiba to the front door. "You're the one I'm worried about."
He grunted his response and gave her an one-armed hug, to which she reciprocated wholeheartedly. He then threw open the door and quickly disappeared into the dark staircase with Akamaru hot on his heels. Naruto waited until she could no longer hear them before regretfully shutting the door with a quiet click. She had to fight against the worry that was threatening to claw out of her chest. He is going to be okay, she thought to herself. He always is.
Shaking the doubt out of her system, Naruto walked to where she had placed her mug and chugged down the remaining contents. She dutifully washed the ceramic cup in the sink before hanging it up to dry. The blonde sighed as her shoulders slumped forward. Her exhaustion was finally catching up to her. Grimacing when she realized that she couldn't sleep in her bed since it was already occupied, the blonde stumbled wearily to the couch, dropping forward onto its soft cushions like a rock and knocking out to oblivion almost instantly.
XXX
Naruto awoke with a start five hours later. She had been dreaming of the most peculiar thing. There was a mysterious, black-haired man who had the most beautiful onyx eyes she had ever seen, and he stared at her for what seemed like an eternity before plunging headfirst into the Zabuza riv -
Her sudden realization caused her to tumble right off the couch and land with a undignified crash as she face-planted against the hard, wooden floor.
That had been no dream!
Vividly remembering the bleak incident of yesternight, Naruto scrambled to her feet in a wild disarray of limbs. She made a beeline for her bedroom, heart pounding in her throat as she prayed that the man had survived the night. While she and Kiba had made sure his vitals were stabilized before leaving the room last night, the blonde knew that these things were susceptible to change, and after the crazy, psychotic experience that both of them suffered less than six hours ago, she was aware that the raven-haired man was definitely not in the prime of his health. Naruto cursed her carelessness for not setting an alarm before she had so idiotically passed out.
Her rising agitation, nonetheless, was quickly put to rest when she burst into the room and saw that her guest was already awake, his lean upper body propped up against the headrest as he stared unseeingly at the corner of the room. Upon hearing her not-so-quiet entrance, however, his head instantly pivoted to her direction, and his eyes came to meet hers.
Onyx locked with cerulean.
Naruto slumped against the doorway in relief, a long breath that she didn't know she had been holding finally leaving her lips. She was so scared that he had not made it through the night, so scared that it would be his deceased form she would've stumbled upon - the joy she felt upon seeing his alive countenance was dizzying.
When she was positive that enough moments had passed and she was no longer close to having a heart attack, the blonde straightened and padded across the room to her bedroom window. She was aware that the man's gaze had not left her face since her initial appearance, but she continued to let the silence stretch. She pulled firmly on a drawstring, and the thick orange curtains parted, letting the March sunlight seep into the room. Naruto blinked as her cerulean eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness that flooded her vision, before turning around and facing her raven-haired stranger once more. As she had expected, his gaze was still fixated on her. Their eyes met again.
In the daylight, Naruto saw that he was exquisitely even more gorgeous, beautiful and breathtaking than she had previously noticed in the shadows of the night. His pale skin, which now resonated a healthier pinker tone than it had when she pulled him out of the Haku river, was a stark contrast against his dark raven locks, to which Naruto briefly wondered if they were as silky soft as they looked. His face was a simple perfection; his thin eyebrows arched in an effortless, graceful manner, his high cheekbones hinted a royal heritage, and the nicely-defined bridge of his nose complemented well against his stunning strong jawline.
But once again, Naruto found herself mesmerized solely by the depth in his cauldron-black eyes. She felt strangely connected to this man, this forlorn stranger who had tried to take his own life last night.
"Why did you save me?"
His voice was a melancholy baritone, and her heart lurched in her chest.
"I wasn't going to watch you die," she answered truthfully.
He stared at her, this time an unreadable expression in his midnight orbs. The blonde realized that he wasn't going to speak any time soon, so she walked to her study desk where a pitcher of water was placed. She steadily poured the liquid into a clean glass cup.
"Here," she said, walking to his bedside and extending the glass toward the man. "It will make you feel better."
Wordlessly, he took the cup out of her hand and drank from the container until there were no drops left.
She smiled and relieved him of the glass, setting it on the drawer beside her bed. She then hesitantly took a seat on the bed next to him, and she didn't miss the wariness in his face at the sudden proximity.
"I'm Naruto," she offered in a friendly gesture, hoping to break the ice. "Uzumaki Naruto."
His eyes flickered to hers. "You don't know me."
She frowned at his ambiguous statement. "No, I don't."
The man's eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Yet you risked your life to save me."
Naruto smiled, glad that the sadness in his voice had now been replaced with something that sounded like curiosity.
"You may have been a stranger to me last night," she said, "but that is no longer the case." She saw the puzzled look that flashed momentarily through the man's face, and she laughed. "You know my name now, how are we still strangers?"
The man remained silent for a long while.
"I am Sasuke."
If Naruto noticed how Sasuke kept his last name to himself, she didn't mention it.
"Welcome to my house, Sasuke." And my bed, her mind thought in amusement before she could help herself. Naruto inwardly scowled and stamped down the thought. Shut up. She was so busy admonishing her disturbing inner self that she almost missed Sasuke's response.
"You look like a boy."
The words shocked Naruto, who had not been expecting such a blunt comment from the stoic man, but she recovered with lightning speed. "And you look like a girl, bastard!"
If the raven-haired man regretted his statement, he certainly didn't show it. "Hn."
Naruto scowled. She wasn't particularly offended, as she knew it was the truth. There was no denying the fact that her face was androgynous, neither possessing the soft blend of feminine qualities nor the strong powerful lines of masculine features, and her short, spiky blond hair did nothing to help her identity crisis. Her attire, to the great frustration of her friends, strictly followed the code of t-shirt and shorts, sometimes sweats if the weather permitted. Her breasts weren't amazing in size, her waist didn't gift her the hourglass figure that womanhood promised, and her 5 foot 2 inch height created the appearance of a skinny, twelve-year-old boy forever stuck in the disappointing phase of pre-puberty.
But still, who was he to tell her that!
"I'm sorry not everyone can be a pretty boy like you," Naruto snapped, irritated that her guest showed no shred of remorse at his tactless words. "Now if you'll excuse me, Your Highness, I have to go make lunch, though I am sorely tempted to watch you starve."
Sasuke didn't reply until she had almost reached the door. "How did you carry me from the park back to your flat?"
The blonde rolled her eyes. "I didn't. A friend helped." She made sure she slammed the door on her way out.
An hour later, Naruto hummed happily over a large, bubbling pot of chicken noodle soup, all traces of her previous grudge against the raven-haired man forgotten. She was extremely pleased at herself as she tasted a sample of her cooking, and not even Sasuke's ill-manners could dampen her spirits. Grabbing a tray and pouring a generous portion of the stew into a large bowl, the blonde carefully maneuvered her way back to her bedroom. She wasn't surprised to see him seated in a similar stony position, his back as straight as a rod and just as rigid.
"It's already noon, so you must be hungry," Naruto said, breaking the silence. His brooding obsidian eyes flickered to her, and she smiled encouragingly. "I promise this soup is edible."
She brought the tray to him, gently placing it onto his lap before resuming her previous spot at the edge of the bed. His impassive expression had yet to change, but Naruto was nothing if not stubborn.
"Eat," she urged softly. "You need to restore your strength."
The blonde sat quietly and waited. She knew better than to rush him, and so she stared at the ceiling and chewed on her upper lip. Just when she thought her carefully-crafted pretense of patience was fit to burst, Naruto saw Sasuke slowly reached across the tray for a spoon, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from grinning as he began to eat.
He wouldn't look at her, but between bites, he suddenly mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a "Thank you."
A huge smile blossomed across her tan face.
"You're welcome, Sasuke," she said.
The silence resumed, and Naruto began to hum a happy tune as she stared out the window to the bright, sunny day. There was no sign in the clear blue sky that hinted of the horrible storm that had passed just last night. Naruto briefly wondered in the back of her mind if Kiba had managed to finish his Yakuza errand safe and sound, but she berated herself for even doubting him in the first place. Of course he's fine, she thought. Stop worrying.
A small, muted clink of the metal spoon hitting the tray indicated that Sasuke had finished his meal.
Naruto immediately turned her attention back to her guest, and found herself slightly blushing when his sharp gaze pierced into her. She wondered how long he had been looking at her.
"I'll go grab you seconds," she said quickly as she took the tray out of his hands. She stood up.
Sasuke's head shook a fraction of an inch, and Naruto paused. Although nothing in his face had changed, the unreadable expression in his eyes intensified. He continued to stare, and the blonde felt herself beginning to fidget uncomfortably under his scrutinizing.
"Sasuke?" she said. She felt extremely self-conscious.
A muscle in the raven's jaw twitched before he turned his face to the wall. "Nothing. Thank you for the food."
She frowned, recognizing something was amiss with her dark guest. "What is it?"
The man stayed quiet.
"What's the matter?"
Sasuke turned two eyes to glare at her before finally asking coldly, "Do you think your action last night changed anything?"
Naruto stiffened. The atmosphere of the room changed so fast that she was completely thrown off guard. She hadn't been expecting such a loaded question.
"You're here now, aren't you?" she said after a moment, choosing her words carefully so as to not offend her guest. Though from the looks of it, he was pissed off to high heaven already. "Doesn't that count for something?"
Sasuke's hands balled into fists, turning his knuckles white.
"There won't always be someone there to save me," he said bitterly.
The raven's beautiful black eyes now held the same self-deprecating expression Naruto had seen on the man's face before he had jumped into the river, and it didn't take her long to realize just how much she hated that look.
"Then don't jump off a bridge!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing with emotion. "There's always a reason to go on living!"
His proud eyes narrowed at her. "Someone like you wouldn't understand."
Naruto's eyebrows shot up and almost disappeared into her hair at his dismissive comment.
"Excuse me, what wouldn't I understand?" She couldn't help that her voice jumped an octave higher from indignation.
His look was condescending. "A dobe like you couldn't possibly know of misery and loss."
Naruto's eyes widened at Sasuke's offensive statement, and she clenched her teeth, wanting nothing more than to take the tray in her hands and smash it into the raven's perfect, porcelain face. But as Naruto stood there with murderous intent emanating from her small body in waves, she suddenly found herself lost in the man's black eyes, his sad soulful eyes that told her a different story than from what her ears had just heard, and soon she was seeing past his scornful facade, past the multitude of walls and defenses the raven man had put up as a barrier against the world, and she finally touched upon the truth that he was desperately protecting.
Pain.
There was nothing there but the cold, dark pain of despair.
All fight left her, and the blonde immediately deflated.
"You're such a bastard."
The raven-haired man didn't reply - not that she thought he would - but his body was tense and rigid, and she knew he was still expecting an angry outburst from her.
Naruto sighed heavily before setting the tray down on the bedroom drawer and crossing her arms. She scowled at her emotionless guest. "I'm not going to fight you, teme. I know you said that just to piss me off, so I'm not about to let you have your cake and eat it too." She stubbornly resumed her seat on the bed. There was yet another long pause, and the blonde smiled sardonically at her guest. Let him try and provoke her now, the bastard.
"Why do you care what happens to me?" Sasuke asked. His face was unreadable again, although the bitter undertone was still present, mixed now with the element of frustration.
"Because I can." Naruto got a glare in response, and she rolled her eyes, contemplating how he would react if she stuck her tongue out at him, before deciding otherwise and adopting a more serious expression.
"Look," she said, "it's your life. Honestly, nobody can stop you from killing yourself. You probably would've saved yourself a whole lot of trouble if you had just decided to slit your wrists in the quiet vicinity of your own house. I highly doubt the pain was an issue - in fact, you look like a complete masochist in my opinion." She cocked her head, studying him carefully, before making a clucking noise and saying, "Psychopath, honestly."
A noticeable, angry vein now throbbed in the corner of the raven's forehead, and Naruto inwardly smirked. That's what you get for calling me a dobe, you bastard.
"But you didn't," she continued smoothly, ignoring the fuming raven. "You didn't put a bullet through your brain. You didn't overdose on a bucket of sleeping pills either. And I think I have a good guess why."
Naruto shifted so she was now staring at the man square in the eye. She was close enough to him to see the long lashes that framed his eyes, and not for the first time that day, she noticed just how attractive and beautiful this man really was.
"You didn't want to die, did you, Sasuke?" she then asked softly, fighting the ridiculous urge to stroke the man's perfect face and see for herself if his skin was as smooth as it looked. "You purposely walked through that park to that river because you had been hoping something would stop you from killing yourself. You left your life up to chance, because you didn't want to make that choice. Am I wrong?"
Her words on Sasuke had an immediate effect. He stiffened almost instantaneously upon her statement, and it was like the man's body had turned to stone. He stared straight through her.
Naruto's face softened. "Sasuke, I mean what I said earlier. I care about you because I can. I want to be your friend."
The raven flinched, and his hands balled into fists again. "I don't need your help."
"I know."
"I don't need your comfort."
"I know."
"Don't pretend like you know me!" Sasuke hissed, his eyes flashing red. He looked murderous, and Naruto would've been terrified had she not recognized his anger was the manifestation of his inner turmoil and frustration. "You know nothing about me!"
"You're right, I don't." Naruto's expression didn't change. "But you don't know me either, do you? Why do you keep assuming that you do?"
He glared balefully at her, and the blonde tiredly ran a hand through her hair.
"I tried to kill myself when I was eight," she then said. The confession came easily to her. "I was a street urchin, so I was about to die from starvation anyway. But instead of curling up to a ball in a wretched corner of an alley and waiting for my death, I ran into the middle of the street to get hit by a car. That impulse was solely based on the chance that what if - what if - someone would notice? Someone would care?" The blonde smiled as if remembering a fond memory, and her eyes sparkled. "Luckily for me, someone did."
Naruto slowly reached for one of Sasuke's hands, half expecting him to jerk away, and hiding her surprise when he didn't. Both of her hands came to envelop his, and she noticed his expression was no longer one of mistrust, but of pain. She squeezed his hand in comfort.
"Sasuke," she said, "I can't speak for you, but I can speak for myself. I remember what it was like to have nothing in this world. But I care about you, and I care that you will choose to keep on living, because there's so much beauty in the world that you just can't yet see. You're not alone, and you are loved. I'm not saying that I am the miracle you were waiting for last night, but can't you see that you being here right now - alive - is miraculous enough?"
The raven-haired man seemed eons away, and so with one last pat on his hand, the blonde stood up, grabbed the tray from the drawer, and turned to walk to the door. She hesitated a little bit as she touched the door handle, wondering if there were anything else for her to say, but the conversation was over and the man needed a serious moment to himself, so with a small bow, she pulled the handle behind her and closed the door with a click.
XXX
Naruto left her apartment for no more than fifteen minutes when she returned from the basement, where she had retrieved her finished laundry. She struggled to open the front door as she balanced an overflowing basket of clothes on the one hand, and the girl cursed when the door flew aside and the laundry basket toppled over, spilling half its contents all over the floor. She bent to pick them up when a great trepidation settled onto her shoulders, and she stilled. Why had the door opened so easily?
Something was wrong.
Her blue eyes narrowed as she scanned the living room, and it was there on the small, glass coffee table that she noticed a neatly-folded piece of paper propped up against her mug. She frowned. The note certainly hadn't been there before she went downstairs. She strode over to the table and hesitantly unfolded the small slip.
Thank you. Dobe.
Naruto stared owlishly at the unfamiliar elegant handwriting, her eyebrows furrowed before her expression cleared and understanding dawned on her face. The blonde's eyes flew to the hallway that led to her room, and she knew the raven-haired man was no longer there.
It had been two hours since she had left the bedroom, and two hours she had cleaned and dusted as she waited patiently for Sasuke to get out of bed. A couple times she had almost broken the silence as she worried for his health, but her stubbornness kept her tongue in her mouth and her self away from the bedroom. She wanted to give him space, give him time to think things over, and she busied herself in the meantime with chores.
But of course he would slip out like a wraith as soon as her back was turned.
The idiot had run off in Iruka's tshirt and sweatpants too, as Sasuke's own clothes were somewhere in the pile of messy laundry strewn all across the living room floor.
Naruto closed her eyes and crumpled the note in a clenched fist.
"Bastard."
XXX
That night, Naruto dreamed of Sasuke and his beautiful, midnight eyes. She had reached out a hand towards his direction, wanting nothing more than to touch his soft black hair, only to recoil in horror when his gaze became piercing red, his expression demonic. She then startled awake, panting slightly, her heart beating fast against her chest, and she couldn't help but feel that it would only be a matter of time before she and the dark stranger crossed paths again.
Iruka's words played through her mind for rest of the night.
"The bridge let me into your world that day."
"And me into yours?"
"And me into yours."
XXX
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