"Lalala~," she laughed as she skipped down the street. The moon was high in the sky, smiling down on her. Tonight was a lucky night. She giggled while twirling around a pole. Aah, the joy.
(Sniffle Sniffle) "Ara~" She stopped and looked around. She kept walking and listening.
She found herself in front of a dirty alleyway, squinting to see in the darkness. A rustle came from her right. She stepped forward and moved some garbage bags. She smiled and cooed at what was underneath. A little boy, not much older than a toddler, looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. He had the brightest hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen.
"There there," she cooed. "Everythings fine. I'm not going to hurt you." She carefully cradled the boy to her body. "I'll take good care of you."
The boy gave a soft whimper when he was picked up but nevertheless settled in her hold. "Wh-who are you?"
The woman chuckled. "Forgive me for forgetting to introduce myself. I'm Azumi*." The boy looked at her with awe and worship, like she was some god that had come to save him. "I'm Naruto."
[Past]
crash! The girl whimpered from under her blanket. Her daddy was angry again, which meant her mommy was probably angry too. crash! "How could you do this to us? We need this money and you lose it!" Her mommy had said this. Mommy said this many times, but Daddy doesn't listen. "Quiet, woman! I told you already. This time I will win. I can feel it." There was a silence. Her mommy must be REALLY angry now. "Win? ...WIN?! How many times have you said that? You keep saying that but you NEVER win! Grow up, Akio." Her mommy stopped for a moment and let out a sob. "We… we don't need this. You don't need to win. We are fine the way we are. Why can't you see this?" Yes, if only her daddy could stop this, they can be happy again. "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" CRASH! There was a moment of silence before heavy breathing filled the air. She didn't know what to do. In the back of her mind, she registered the door slamming shut. Then she blacked out.
Cooking, he thought. Somebody's cooking.
Naruto opened his eyes. His body was sore all over. Where am I?
The screen door slammed open, causing him to jump. "Oh, you're awake? That's good. You are just in time for breakfast." He looked at the woman speaking. She saved him, he remembered.
"...home. So, when you are ready, you can come downstairs to eat." The woman (Azumi, his mind supplied) left the room. He stayed still for a couple of minutes, contemplating what had happened. He remembered being chased from the orphanage. Several drunks had saw him and beaten him in an alley. And...and…
Naruto let out a sob. She had saved him. Azumi saved him. He laid there for a while longer before sitting up and heading downstairs. If Azumi saw the tear tracks, she didn't say anything. For this, he was thankful.
They ate their meal in silence before he said, "Why?"
Azumi looked up. "Hmm~ Why what?"
His grip tightened on his chopsticks. "Why did you save me? Why did you make me a meal? Why did you bring me home with with you? WHY?" Hot tears ran down his face. Kami, he was weak.
The woman looked confused for a moment. Her eyebrow raised and rice in her mouth. "Well, I just had a lucky night." she said and returned to her food.
Later, he would find out what she meant.
[Past]
Mommy was dead. Azumi stared down on the body. Shards from some unimportant vase was on the floor and the side of her mommy's face bashed in. It didn't take a genius to figure out how she died.
Azumi didn't feel much. She just simply stood there for awhile before taking a dirty cloth and covering the body. After all, using a clean cloth would be wasteful.
Azumi left the house with some possessions in a backpack and walked around. It wasn't until later that both parents were found dead. Her daddy died from the debt collectors he couldn't pay back. They did get their money though. Daddy's organs were sold handsomely.
The lady had a lot of money, Naruto realized. He had seen her open a big bag. Never had he seen so much money before. The weird thing is that when he said so, the woman just laughed and said, "You haven't seen anything yet." She was so cool. She bought him cool toys and nice clothes. She even tucked him into bed and read him stories. She was like his mommy.
Though, he knew they weren't mother and son. There was no way they could be mistaken to be related. Azumi had short black hair that barely brushed her shoulders, pale skin, a petite face and body, and lovely dark green eyes. He had tan skin, spiky yellow hair, a skinny yet solid physique, and bright blue eyes. Still… he tried his best to be like her.
He asked her to teach him what she did. It made her very happy. She even said that he was a natural. He showed her his progress to see her smile. Her smile gave him purpose. Sometimes he skipped school to practice in the gambling den. When he won, she would buy him ice cream.
Azumi taught him many things. She taught him the importance of cunning and being underestimated. "Being underestimated means you can catch people off guard," she said.
Azumi taught him all she could. She, during a night of vulnerability, even told him of her past. She was drunk, but he still counted that as something.
You know when things are great and something terrible happens. and you think that it was because things were too good to be true. Naruto felt like that was what happened when Azumi died. She was killed by a sore loser, a guy who pulled a gun when he lost. Ironically, that man died a couple days later by some collectors, his body removed of organs. Naruto felt better when he heard the man died.
Azumi was cremated. Apparently, since she was of no importance to others, they couldn't waste space putting her in the ground. He hated that. To him, Azumi was important. To him, she was a white flower.
And the world...the world painted the white flower black.
[In the Future]
"Sakura-chan, I love your green eyes!"
"...I want to become Hokage so that people will acknowledge me." And so that people don't get hurt like Azumi did.
"Damn gaki!" The blonde woman left the casino broke, mumbling about loud brats with the devils luck.
Azumi - "safe residence"