DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Everything belongs to the rightful owner and publisher.
Did you hear the tic tock of grandfather clock?
In the middle of a peaceful night, when everyone's sound asleep, a ragged breathing of a man reigns inside the dark mansion. He tries to move as soundless as a mouse but he knows his captors are closing in. They can hear every breath he takes, every beat of his hearts and every steps he made. Even in the dark they can see every movement he makes and know every place where he hides. There's no point in hiding or running his pursuers aren't human. They are monsters cloak in human forms. They are cruel, trapping him inside his house, with death as judgement passed upon him. The last hope remaining left him as his body gave in. He could not run anymore. His legs can't take another step. Kneeling down on the cold marble floor he called out for his God that he had forgotten long ago.
"I am ready to die, so come out you cowards lurking in the dark!" he shouted and his last word echo in the vast empty hall.
"You called us cowards? When it is you who runs like a scared dog." A cool calm voice of a boy said. "We do not hide in the dark, for in darkness there's nothing to hide. We are in our truest and purest form."
He descended from the stairs like a god of death in his red and orange cloak wearing a mask of a fox. On his right a person dressed in pure black with a mask of a black cat stood, as calm as him. To his left another person stood but this person wears pure white and a mask of cat of the same color.
The man begins to tremble as he watches his judge slowly taking steps towards him. While his two body guards stood like pillars, slender and majestic.
"Hideki Kyouza, 45 years old, ordered the killings of nine merchants who you considered a threat to your business, paying the military handsome amount to turn blind of your crimes." He recited his crime as he comes closer to where he kneels. "This hall is a fitting stage for your final act. Any last word as I claim what it is that most precious to you?"
"Go burn in hell." He said his final words as the total darkness clouded his vision.
The man once known as Hideki Kyouza now lies at his feet in the pool of red liquid, his warmth slowly leaving his body.
And he stared at him.
He stared at him for a long time. Stared at his open blank knew he is a sinner like him too and his soul is already burning in hell but this is his job. He is a cleaner and it is his responsibility to clean the world of filth like that man.
"Kuro, Shiro our work here is done. Let's dispose of this place." He said and turned his back walking towards the door. He has no intention of staying longer in the place where he committed his crimes,for the longer he stays the smell of his crime cling stronger in him.
The two who stood still starts to move and follow their leader steps. But Shiro stopped beside their victim's dead body, bent down and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight." A voice that sound rusty and robotic said.
With that the three of them vanished into the darkness where they belong.
The light of the warm sun, slipping through the partially drawn curtain wake a certain blonde boy with cerulean eyes up. He lazily stretched up and rubbed his eyes, glancing at his bedside table he saw his alarm clock, it is thirty minutes past eight in the morning. Still feeling tired and lazy, he stood up towards his large bathroom.
He stripped off his clothing and when he put it in his laundry bin he noticed the dirty red and orange clothes he wore the previous night. Dried blood that already turned black stained it and he remembers what he did. The dead body soaked in thick blood with its eyes blank and staring at him made his stomach do a backflip, forcing everything out inside through his mouth.
No matter how many missions he did, how composed he was as he gave them their sentence, he will still vomit the morning after when the memories were still vivid, when the smell of blood was still strong.
Turning on the cold water in his shower he rubbed himself off the blood that wasn't there yet filled his nose. He rubbed his hand of the invisible red that only he can see. He rubbed until his skin feels raw and sore, until he feels clean again.
"Naruto sama." His attendant called him behind his glass door.
"What is it Yamato san?" he asked when he came out drying his hair with a towel.
"I will just remind you of your agenda today."
"Are there a lot of scheduled meetings today?"
"Just four. A meeting with the children from the orphanage after school, your special training with Jiraiya sama, a meeting with the council and a special dinner with one of the nobles." Yamato read his schedule for the day as he gets dressed and finally he remembers something.
"It's the third Wednesday of the month right?" he absent mindedly asked Yamato.
"Yes. Is there something special today?"
"I want to ask a great favor from you Yamato san."
"What it is?"
"Please cancel my schedules for today I have another plan."
"That can't be. All of these are important schedules that were made ages ago. We can't disappoint those who wait for this."
"Let's cancel the meeting with the pervy old man. I look forward to it but he will understand. About the council, if it is about the last mission we did, Shiro had made a report about that already. I don't have to explain anything to them. If it is another mission it could wait. A world can last a night with sinners in it. Regarding the dinner with the noble family, if it is the Uchihas please do cancel it. I don't remember agreeing to meet them. My schedule with the children reschedule it for a later time."
"Naruto sama, first of all stop calling Jiraiya sama like that the king had forbidden you already. The changing of time of your visit to the orphanage and about the council I may be able to do something about that. But regarding the dinner with one of the nobles, I can't certainly do anything about it. The queen will have my head if you won't come there."
The angry vision of his mother came into Naruto's mind and a chill runs down his spine. There's no way he could disobey. He might be known as a fearless killing machine of the nobles who fell in the dark way but he too has someone he is scared of and it is none other than his mother..She can actually beat the crap out of him.
"Alright I get it. Also kindly order me a bunch of pink roses."
"Pink roses? Is that for the special girl you are seeing?"
"Aha, it is our special day today."
"Naruto sama, I know I am in no position to say this but it isn't wise for a prince like you to have a relationship with some girl without the royal family's knowledge."
"She isn't some girl and I will introduce her to them once she is ready. So go and please prepare roses for me." He answered dismissing the topic of how it isn't right for him to date the girl he loves.
Yamato slightly shook his head but nevertheless list down on his note about his order. Naruto knows that he is right. He should not hide a special person like her but she does not want to reveal their relationship yet . It might complicate matters between them if the royal family knows. She isn't ready for it. She whose smile can bring the best in him. His only light and warmth. Just by remembering her smile he feels like he can take another step outside the bright sun. For that he has no plan of letting her go.