Death's Apprentice.
The delicate tears of angels are fragile things. Easily made. Easily broken.
They slide down the cheeks of mortals as their loved ones are taken from them by the emissary of the angels.
Death.
And now I belong to him. I took the gamble in the game of death and lost… so now I'm his apprentice.
The apprentice of Death.
Great…
One
Ok… so you want the truth?
It all started in a toilet.
Stop laughing… I'm serious…
It was the out-of-order girl's bathroom on the fifth floor at our school Konoha High. It's been out of order for years, so no-one ever goes in there.
And as no-one ever goes in there, it's quiet... except... it's not always quiet, as it just so happens to be where all the bouncing broad-shouldered bullies like to hang out... sometimes... Oh! Don't mistake me for one of them.
'Hi' by the way.
I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Urm… Well... I... the thing is...
Huh.
Not a great start…
But then… I don't suppose I'm not sure I'm much of a storyteller.
I'm just the guy it happened to.
I was only 15, just your average teen, trying to get my first job on average grades with a less-than-average appearance… blond hair, blue eyes, tanned skin… the funny thing is I wasn't even friends with Sasuke, we didn't even talk.
Why did I ever get involved?
It wasn't my fault. I swear it.
Look, there's this one boy in our class, a real geek, with jet black hair and white skin like porcelain. The guy seriously looks like a china doll, and he's always got his nose pressed to the pages of a book – like he's trying to eat it instead of read it. Real fan of studying is Sasuke – that's his name; Sasuke Uchiha – capable of winning a 'geek of the centaury' award…
Sasuke does nearly everyone's homework for them; he's just too much of a wimp to refuse. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him, but if I was actually caught admitting that I'd probably end up in the school dustbins - broken and bleeding. The bullies at our school are tough. And I mean… tough on a whole new level… tough as in 'snap you in half if you look at them the wrong way' tough… and good old Uchiha must have looked at them in the 'wrong' way a awful lot… because they seemed to be stuffing his head in the latrines all the time.
Toilet dunking.
The bully's favourite sport.
Uchiha would never admit it, but he comes to class with his hair dripping wet, sometimes bruised, or bleeding, and sometimes other guy's in our class claim to have heard the out-of-order girl's toilet's flushing while he yells. Man, life must suck for him.
So that's what Uchiha gets for bothering with doing their homework for them…
He gets his head dunked in a toilet.
And... This particular time... mine too.
We play football every day after school. Except Fridays. We can't play because I go to music class's afterschool, and they know they'd lose the match without me.
The star player.
I can score a goal from the other side of the field easy. I love football, and usually wouldn't miss a match, but Mum wants me to learn to be 'musical'. I play the violin of all things. I tell everyone I go to karate classes so no-one thinks I'm a wimp.
Thing is, where I live playing an instrument is for geeks.
Geeks like Sasuke Uchiha.
And no-one wants to be like Sasuke.
Now I think about it. Maybe I should have taken self-defence classes instead. Then maybe I wouldn't have got into this mess. Bet Mum wishes she'd let me go now…
Anyway…
We were playing football. The usual kinda game, there's me and my best mate Kiba, and when we're on the same side, we thrash all opposition. We're always first to be picked for teams, though more recently we've both been team captains, and we pick.
In this particular game, my side was winning 7-2, I'd scored six of our goals, but it was only because Kiba was out sick.
If he'd been there, maybe the whole situation could have been avoided.
It was fate I guess.
I'm laughing at myself just saying it.
I packed up my kit after the game and realised I'd left my school bag in our classroom of all things; I should have just left it, but…
It was as I walked past the girl's bathroom – I heard him yelling. I could hear the splash as his head was submerged in the bowl. I could hear the boy's laughing. I could hear him shouting.
I could have just walked away.
I took a deep breath.
Ready to walk away…
"For god sake somebody help me!"
I froze. I stared round, waiting for someone to rush to his rescue. It was only me.
Alone.
I must be mad.
But I couldn't just ignore him.
I pushed the door open.
"Oi, what exactly do you think you guys are doing in here?"
The authority in my own voice shocked me.
My eyes met Sasuke's under his dripping hair.
No going back now.
Sasuke was on his knees, his glasses lay discarded on the floor, he made a scrabble for them, and one of the boys stood on his fingers. I winced as the boy applied pressure and Sasuke's fingers gave a pitiful crunch.
"Leave him alone" my voice sounded less confident now – the boy noticed. He stopped crushing Sasuke's fingers – allowing him to jam his glasses back onto his nose – and smirked at me.
It was then I noticed that his teeth were all crooked giving him the grin of a shark. That completely set me off, I'm no wimp, but these guys are just something else... I tensed my knees, ready to run back out the door. Sasuke gave a spluttering whimper from the floor and I froze.
I swore violently and turned back to face the boy's.
They were laughing.
The first boy – the one with the freaky teeth, had hair reminiscent to a coconut – wavy and all over the place, it stuck up at odd angles in places, and lay flat in others. He had a face like he's just ran into a brick wall – his pudgy features all squashed into his flat nose. His eyes were tiny black crinkles in his head and his angled teeth stuck out in such a way I wondered why I had never noticed them before – not that I'd ever dared come close enough to…
The second boy had short wiry stubble, and his head was shaped perfectly like an American football. One of his eyes twitched oddly as he leered at me, which made half want to laugh, and half want to hide behind a toilet cubicle door or something. The boy's ears were misshapen and stuck out on either side of his head a thousand times more than Prince Charles'. He was built like a rock, his school shirt so splattered in grass stains that he perfectly resembled a large mossy boulder. But worst of all was his nose – a puffy disfigured array of blubber and pus. I couldn't tell what disfigured it – but they looked like pussy yellowing warts of some kind. I instantly felt slightly sick.
The last boy was smaller than the other two; he stood back slightly from them, but laughed just as hard. He had a thin pointed face – like a rat's. Scrubby dark hair was plastered down the sides of his face, and his front teeth stuck out a mile. I had the peculiar idea he might bite me, which made my mouth twitch in a slight smile as I surveyed them.
Coconut head,
Lumpy Nose,
Rat Teeth.
And all three of them stank. They'd probably never heard of a bath. Their uniforms were crumpled messes, and I was fairly sure that there was not even one single brain cell between the three of them. Three faces that not even a mother could love.
Not that I'd ever say that to them.
It suddenly stuck me how much bigger they were they me. Leering in my direction, then circling round between me and the door.
Blocking my escape route.
Leaving Sasuke with a 'get home free' ticket to the door.
With a yelp he dashed for it, pausing only for a moment to wrench the door open before leaping outside to freedom like a startled deer.
My heart sank.
Sasuke had just abandoned his saviour – spineless git.
Any confidence I had left seeped from my body and was replaced with a feeling of foreboding.
I stared after him in disbelief.
I turned back to face Coconut head, Lumpy Nose, and Rat Teeth.
The three livid red faces of the three thugs scowled back at me.
I'd lost them their prey.
I'd saved their prey.
I'd become their prey.
Coconut head and Lumpy nose grabbed one of my arms each and pinned them behind my back with identical vice-like grips. I struggled against them, kicking them in the shins in a bid to free myself.
It was like kicking a brick wall.
Solid.
Rat Teeth walked round to face me, for a moment I feared he was about to sink his over-sized font teeth into me, but instead he opted for a hard punch in the stomach. I was instantly winded and doubled over as far as the other two boys allowed. I tried to call for help as Sasuke had.
My voice came out as a feeble whimper.
But no-one would hear me anyway. Even if they did, no-one would come and help me. No-one ever helps the bullies prey.
Or they end up as...
They swung me towards the toilet bowl.
No.
No.
No…
Surely they wouldn't dunk me… would they?
I broke into a cold sweat as they forced me to my knees before the flaking white toilet.
I took a deep breath preparing for the worst.
"This'll be fun… we've neva dunked u before av we? Firrzt times always the wurst…. For you anyway…" Rat Teeth leant down close and sniggered in my ear, his scratchy voice not much more than a whisper. I felt his putrid breath against my face, causing my stomach to do a back flip.
Ratty then pressed his piercing fingers against the base of my neck, forcing my head down, despite my struggles, until it was a couple of inches above the bowl.
I closed my eyes, blocking the view of my fate – a grimy toilet bowl – from view. I took a few more desperate deep breaths, close to hyperventilating.
I hung there, above the toilet, for what seemed like an age.
The hand tightened round the back of my neck.
My face was thrust forwards and my head plunged into the bowl.
I cried out as the ice-cold water stung me face under impact. My forced my mouth shut again, just in time to feel the rush of the bubbles burst against by cheek and slither to the surface. I distantly heard one of the boy's pull the chain.
My world became a foaming torrent of white and blue flashes. My lungs were bursting. It felt like an iron band had wrapped itself around me and was crushing my ribs. My head clunked against the porcelain sides as water forced open my mouth and rushed into it. A torrent of my own bubbles broke the surface then stopped. I realised I'd run out of air. My hair felt like it was being ripped from my head as the suction of the drain played a furious game of tug-a-war with my head, pulling me down further. I had a wild thought that it might all fall out and I'd go bald or something. There was no more air in my lungs. I couldn't breathe.
The iron band got tighter and tighter. I screamed out but no sound was created. Just the endless dark screaming inside my head. Stars burst behind my eyes. Blood pounded like a drum in my head. I could feel the echo of my own heartbeat. Darkness was closing in. I stopped struggling.
I fell limp.
The hand that had been holding me down gripped the back of my hair and wrenched by back up into the air.
I broke the surface gasping.
Trust me; I'd never take air for granted again.
Do those in the hands of Death breathe…? I've never really thought about it….
I dared not open my eyes.
I hung limply from the boy's hand.
"Oh my god… you've killed him!"
I could hear the bullies, unsure whether they were panicking or laughing at me.
My eyes flickered open.
They were laughing.
The boy dropped me - in a sodden heap on the floor.
I rolled over, feeling sick and dizzy.
Water slid from my saturated hair to slide in rivulets down my cheeks to decidedly slither across my lips. My head span. I closed my eyes again.
"Ey you? You dead or not dead?"
I dared not answer as the boy pulled on my shirt collar and shook me like a rag doll.
"I said… yoo…" But he never finished his sentence. I'd kicked him in the stomach with all the effort my exhausted frame could manage.
And it did the trick.
He dropped me.
I scrambled away, realising the impact of the floor had left two bloody gashes across my knees.
The two bigger boys – Coconut head and Lumpy Nose – lumbered towards me like a pair of Frankenstein's monsters, you know, from that old horror movie... we watched it in English once. I think we were supposed to read the book too... I never did.
I tried to dart out of the way, but the sheer size of the boy's was inescapable.
The floor rushed towards me with an alarming speed.
I closed my eyes – hearing the sickening impact of my body against the floor.
I wondered if the boy's were grinning stupidly at the resounding crunch I'd made.
I opened my eyes and pushed a hand under me in a vain attempt to sit up.
I was rewarded with a sharp pain like a thousand bringing needles piercing me arm.
There was a sharp *crack*.
And my arm went limp.
I knew it must be broken.
Coconut head and Lumpy Nose were lumbering towards me once more – Rat Teeth laughed piercingly behind them.
I was trapped in a corner with no-where to run.
The two boys grabbed each of my arms once more.
No.
No more.
I wouldn't take anymore.
I struggled with all my might. Pain filled my head as I screamed with for all my lungs were worth. My arm felt like it would fall off as it was forced behind my back.
I screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed.
But the boy's hung on to me grimly.
I was hoisted up over the toilet.
Not again…
Please not again…
My struggles became weaker – like a fish out of water…
My kicks were useless.
My feeble attempts at punching them were pathetic.
Let's face it – I hadn't stood a chance.
I swore if I died I would haunt them for the rest of my life… or death…
I hung, my feet kicking thin air as I was wrenched from the floor.
My arms felt as if they would fall out of their sockets.
My mouth hung open in a silent scream.
Then they let me go.
I'm not religious – but right then I prayed to every God I could think of.
I remember dropping, a crack, a pain in my head then… nothing…
Blackness.
The sound of footsteps.
People shouting.
A siren.
People running.
Hysterical screams.
People calling my name?
Someone crying.
Why?
My body felt heavy, my eyelids felt as if leaden weights prevented them from opening. I couldn't lift so much as a finger. My stomach stirred. My head span. Blackness reined the world of my vision. There was something hot and sticky seeping down from my forehead onto my cheeks.
A warm pair of hands brushed against my face.
Someone else's tears dripped onto my skin.
Salty.
Fragile, delicate tears.
The tears of the angels from the eyes of a mortal.
Someone else was moving my body.
Fabric brushed against my skin.
I felt strong arms lift me.
A woman's voice.
She was shouting to someone.
Her voice was so desperate, I wanted to sit up and comfort her.
But my body was too heavy.
"He's going to be all right isn't he? Please, please tell me he'll be ok…"
Mum?
Was that Mum's voice?
More sirens, getting louder.
I heard an engine start nearby me.
A car starting?
More sirens… an ambulance?
I felt the motion of the vehicle rock me, ever so slightly.
Fuzzy greyness filled my head like cotton wool.
Someone was holding my hand.
I could still hear voices, but they were fainter now.
The sound of a machine.
A soft thumping noise, it was rhythmic and slow, like it hurt to keep going.
A high pitched bleep echoed in perfect time to the regular pounding.
My heartbeat… I realised.
I felt the prick of a needle on my skin.
Something was pressed over my nose and mouth.
The pain was sliding away from my body.
"Hold on Naruto, just hold on sweetie… please… for god sake Naruto… hold on…"
Mum…
Then… just… blackness…
Nothing.
I'd passed from the world… into the arms of the angels.
Into the clutches of Death.