Chapter 1

{~X~}

It wasn't a normal day when Azazel found himself enjoying the peace offered by fishing with a companion. A companion which skewed from her usual range of accomplices was rare in these days. One of the factors limiting him companionship when enjoying the recreational activity came from his criteria dictating the company her kept. A condition in which stood above all else, was whether the other individual peaked his interests. No matter who it may be, Azazel always wished to keep interesting company. And the blonde teenager seated beside him fit his bill quite well.

"So, Naruto-san, what brings you to Japan?" Azazel asked cheerfully.

"Just doing some sight seeing. I heard Japanese culture was interesting, so I decided to check it out for myself." Naruto replied. Never taking his eyes off of the calm waters, the ageless shinobi allowed his thoughts to wander.

"Anything in particular you planning to see?"

Halting his thoughts, Naruto allowed a small smile to etch across his features before responding, "You're not being fair, Azazel-san. Breaking the rules of our little game with that magic of yours."

His comment earned him a hearty laugh. Filling the air with his humorous amusement, Azazel hid his own surprise well. "You caught me. Alright, Naruto-san. I guess its your turn."

Nodding his head in appreciation, Naruto reeled in his line whilst pondering a question to ask his strange companion. "Are you human?"

Smiling at his words, Azazel allowed his jet-black wings to sprout from his back sending a small current of cool wind brushing past Naruto's calm visage. Seconds later, he retracted the eye catching attractions and returned his attention to the wooden rod he held firmly in hand. "Does that answer your question?"

Nodding once again, Naruto beckoned for the man to ask his next question.

"My question, Naruto-san. It's exactly like yours, are you human?"

That question had caught Naruto off guard. Blinking owlishly in thought, the blonde truly pondered on the words. His unique predicament was something humans rarely faced. Even for chakra powered shinobi of his old world, the curse of immortality never truly plagued them. In his case, his situation was what many ignorant humans would consider dreamlike. Or in Orochimaru's case, the perfect life. Living with such youth and vigor as his own friends and family slowly succumbed to the clutches of age was not what a human would have to experience.

The curse Kaguya had graciously forced upon him was truly her most devastating attack. The curse of contradiction as he had dubbed it, was a soul draining experience he now was forced to endure. The curse was powered by his own desires, the more he wished for death, the harder it was for him to die. A contradictory curse indeed, for the man who wished for the sweet embrace of death, he was forced to forever walk the earth. Forever severing his last wish from reality. Never to die happy, to either live his life yearning for death, or die yearning to live. A hideous curse indeed.

"Naruto-san?"

Snapped out of his thoughts, Naruto gave Azazel a joyless smile. "Ah, sorry, Azazel-san. To answer your question, I truly do not know."

Once again drifting into his own thoughts, Naruto further pondered on his current endeavor. His curse had been one of the two factors for his current absence within the Elemental Nations. Leaving behind the land he had called home, the same land he had fought tooth and nail to protect was painful. Every drop of blood, sweat, and tears shed in order to accomplish his dream for Hokage had been all in vain. Both crushing his old and newly developed dream in a swift blow. Boy did Kaguya have the last laugh.

That had been the reason for his odd number of visits to Japan. The land that resembled his home so closely in all but history was heart wrenching with every visit. But, he had never halted his visits a guilty pleasure if one would consider it as such. Perhaps he was the masochist Anko had jokingly dubbed him years ago. For every visit, heart ache followed the joyful memories of his past.

"Looks like our time is up." Naruto mused. Before reeling in his line for the final time, but this time around, a fish accompanied the durable line. Holding it up for the Fallen-Angel to see, a polite smile spread across his expressions as he placed it within the wooden bucket beside his seated form. "It seems I have won our little bet."

"Ahaha! It seems so!" Azazel chuckled cheerfully. "Fair is fair, you caught a fish before me. So what can I do for you?"

"That favor of yours, I will hold on to it for now. Until then..."

Leaving behind the Fallen-Angel with two separate fishing rods, Naruto strolled away from the pier. Mind wandering towards the memories of his former life, playing the flashes of joyful memories he had came to treasure.

'Better head back before she notices...'

{~X~}

Ophis once again found herself studying the glimmering blanket of stars dotting the night sky. Her time spent within the human world had brought forth this common occurrence, glancing thoughtfully upon the night sky. Her own wonders remained silent as the allure of the shimmering spectacles captivated her mind. Even with years of time spent gazing she could never isolate the appeal of this activity.

Perhaps it was the attribute of silence that filled her surroundings when star gazing?

She had valued the alluring silence of her home since the dawn of her creation. The Dimensional Gap had provided her with pure, undisturbed silence a perk she missed dearly. A void world connecting the Three Worlds together was a undesirable location to call home, but, it had been hers. The place of her birth had also been the location of her greatest annoyance, Great Red. The superior dragon had invaded her home, disrupting the serene silence with his boisterous cries and ear damaging words. Forcing her hand in the creation of her current organization.

"Out here again, Ophis?" A voice commented.

Refusing to even grace the new presence with her eyes, Ophis continued her task with no acknowledgement of the new arrival. It seemed her choice only inspire more noise. An amused chuckle pierced the comforting silence, once again disturbing the Infinite Dragon God of her pleasurable isolation. Her usual mask of indifference faltered for the slightest of seconds as a small, almost unnoticeable twitch of her lips dawned upon her visage. Refusing to allow her annoyance to show, Ophis forced upon herself a new emotionless mask.

"I do not wish to be disturbed, Uzumaki. Why are you here?" Ophis asked in a tone devoid of any emotion.

"Cold as always, Ophis." Naruto chuckled humorlessly, silently thankful for her lack of interest in his absence for the majority of the day. Glancing at her piercing gray eyes, the young man merely smiled at the smallest hints of annoyance oozing from the sea of emotionless gray.

"You are quite a bothersome human, Uzumaki."

Eyeing the blonde, Ophis allowed her gray eyes to fall upon the youthful immortal. Her companion had been her only conversation partner. Though he was a package of annoyance all by himself, he had became a much more tolerable existence.

"You have not answered my question, why are you here, Uzumaki?"

Smiling once again, Naruto flashed Ophis a second smile of his, in comparison to the other smiles he so often wore, this one was filled with warmth. "Can't I check up on a friend?"

There it was again, a feeling of warmth sprouted from her heart. Throughout her eternal life, Ophis had never experienced the roller-coaster of emotions she did with the blonde standing beside her. The mysterious blonde always left her puzzled, in the past few years more so than the others. Then came the human's choice of diction, never in her life had any existence, much less a human call her a "friend". The word was foreign to her both in meaning and in experience, but, the blonde's insistence upon calling her that had brought forth more questions than she had thought possible when her initial question granted her a new addition to her plethora of epithets.

Ignoring his words, Ophis returned to the stars with a new question floating among her thoughts.

Just what was a friend?

Chapter End

A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter for my story. I am not the best when it comes to writing, so, I want to know what you guys think of this. Anything about it, either story development, character portrayal, conversation fluidity, or even future suggestions. First story, so I know there are faults in this. Some I may not have caught when revising.

One thing I would like to get straight, the curse of contradiction follows a similar pattern to Zeref's curse does in Fairy Tail. I am using the name for Naruto's own curse, just in case some of you don't know that.

Anyways, please leave me a review on this story and thank you for reading!

~Broken Dawn