Title: Beneath the Demon
Summary: In which a random girl (who likes pink) in Naruto's class who begins to understand that Naruto is not who everyone thinks he is. Oneshot.
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Fandom: Naruto - Featuring Naruto Uzumaki
Words: 911
Bringing a pink flask up to her mouth, she scrutinised the empty seat next to her as she tuned out the monotonous droning of her sensei, Mizuki. Anyminutenow...
A loud bang reverberated through the class as the door burst open, the students in the room froze momentarily in shock at the sudden outburst. Mizuki held the chalk to the board, pausing for a moment to glance at the interruption.
The door barging open, Naruto stumbled into the room, a mess of blood and singed clothing. However, despite the gore, only small cuts appeared on his smooth skin as they began healing themselves. Smiling weakly, he staggered over to his seat at the back and promptly laid his head down on the table, without bothering with an explanation for his tardiness.
Afterall, it was plainly and painfully seen in his numerous injuries.
A small smile played at Mizuki's lips as he let the issue slide for the time being, his chalk continuing to mark the board with white formulas and small, neat explanations, while the students returned their wandering gazes to the teacher before them, a handful dozing off after the little incidence.
She continued warily watching the blond beside her and wondered, for the umpteenth time, how a helpless little boy like him could be a demon. He was small-sized and thin, he had a bubbly and cheerful personality, he was sweet and kind, and she could see no signs of a monster being displayed.
She shook her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts. Mother did not wish for her to associate with the demon brat, thus she would, as all good kids do, obey her mother's every word.
Soon, break came.
Immediately hoots of joy resounded through the classroom as children whipped out meticulously prepared snacks and dug into them ferociously, wolfing down the food without a second thought, while Mizuki sighed and walked out of the classroom, leaving the children to be as they pleased for their half hour of freedom.
As the girl gently loosed her lunch box from her bag as well, she noted that the boy had no bag with him, and that meant that he had no lunch with him either. Naruto was, as he had been since he burst into class, slumping in his seat and dozing off on the table, resting his head on his arms. It was unlike him, she noticed with avid interest, Naruto would usually be wide awake and bouncing in class, a constantly moving blur of yellow.
And soon she could hold in her curiosity no longer, and she gently tapped the boy on his shoulder.
All of a sudden, the boy violently started and whipped around to face her, his eyes were wide with shock and fear as he flinched, instinctively bringing his arms up to block his face, breathing heavily as if he had just ran a marathon. The girl stumbled backwards, her heart hammering against her chest as she mentally and swiftly assessed the boy's behaviour. It was definitely not normal, she was certain now - he was definitely not normal.
Naruto had scanned the classroom and, seeing no potential enemies, he relaxed slightly, still tensed, and laid his head down again, resuming his position. She hesitated, then slowly and carefully approached Naruto yet again. This time, he didn't awake from his rest, and she reached her hand out and touched his forehead.
And immediately drew back.
It was burning, easily reaching a temperature of 40oC, and as the feverish boy attempted to swat her hand away from his forehead, he missed his target by quite a distance, before succumbing to his illness and knocked his head with the base of his palms, desperately trying to relieve the splitting migraine and the delusions he was having.
"Are...are you okay Naruto?" The girl was taken aback, how could he come to school even with a fever like that!
Giving her a weak smile, he shut his eyes tight and leaned back into his chair, laboured breathing causing his chest to rise up and down heavily as he shuddered and began trembling, even in the sweltering heat of summer. He turned away from her and hugged himself in a vain effort to hide the fever-induced seizure about to break through.
Looking around the classroom, she could see numerous pairs of eyes on the boy, and she wondered why the boy's parents had let him come to school at all. The eyes were accompanied by hushed whispers and worried looks, but no one else approached them, they were clearly told to stay away. When at this time Mizuki casually strolled back into the classroom, she desperately glanced at him and he gave the boy a smug look, not showing the least concern. As he returned the girl's gaze, he gave her a sharp and dangerous look that conveyed a single message - Stay away.
Gulping, she quickly shuffled back to her seat beside Naruto, leaving the boy to his own devices. He was, after all, the demon kid, and if she got too close he would eat her up like a demon will.
At the end of the day, when Naruto awoke from his fever-induced slumber, he found himself completely alone in the classroom. Looking around, though still slightly dazed, his attention was caught by a small packet of fever pills as well as a pink flask of herbal tea.