(Author's Notes: Characters belong to Kishimoto. Set after Volume 72 and The Last.)
It was early in the morning with the sun just beginning to rise above the line of forest. Naruto lay awake, staring intently at the glowing digits of his alarm clock. He could not shake the restlessness from his mind. Slowly the early morning light began to creep into the room past the opens shades, falling against his face coldly. Despite the warmth that covered his body and the softest of the pillows beneath his head sleep eluded him; the silence that sprawled before him made Naruto painfully aware of the sound of his own breath seeping from his lungs and the tossing of his sleeping partner who lay oblivious to his discomfort. The cracks that stretched across the room's white ceiling proved to be a limited source of dull amusement which he hoped would preoccupy his jittered thoughts. Sure enough he soon found himself sat rigidly, his blue eyes scanning the dim world beyond his casement; the buildings were generally obscured in their own shadows but were otherwise all the same shade of morning grey, even the birds that usually sang the village awake remained nestled in their perches.
He couldn't help but feel alone as he sat awake as everyone else slept. With a warm hand he pressed his forehead deep into the cavern of his palm and sighed quietly, conscious of his partners own restless movements as she slept. It was a sure sign that she was at the brink of sleep, so not wanting to wake her, he steadily removed himself of their shared warmth and began to dress himself. Nonchalantly he grasped the nearest pair of trousers and a thick jumper which he pulled quickly over his bare skin, feeling the sudden rush of cold bite at his exposed flesh. Though he longed to return to the warm world of sleep beneath the heavy sheets of his bed he felt too agitated to lie about and do nothing until he naturally drifted off, although it was the fear that he should be plagued by the same reoccurring nightmare that kept him from crawling back to nestle in close to the sleeping body. Feeling that he had no other choice Naruto soon vacated the room, crept silently down the stairs and through the front door.
Like always the village was shrouded in a light mist which loomed at his ankles and even though it was a regular occurrence it nonetheless made the blonde feel uncomfortable; the village now did not evoke the same sentimental emotions it usually did but incited a growing anxiousness within the pit of his stomach. Outside in the frigid, fresh air he felt even more exposed so he began at a steadily increasing pace down the nearest road, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Before he had left he had checked his clock once or twice, irritated that he had woken at such an early hour but also sceptical of anyone else being awake. Despite his better judgement he was desperate for the company of someone more rational than he who would possibly know how to cure him of his foul nightmare. Like the back of his hand he knew the twisting streets well, his footfalls fell into line with the rapid beating of his heart as he drew closer to his destination. It wasn't long until he finally came across a familiar apartment but saw that the curtains sat closed to the rest of the world and saw no signs of light creep from beneath their velvet edges. He could always turn back and go home, only to pretend that he had never left the comfortable habitat provided earlier yet fear kept him in place to stare blankly at the apartment's solid door.
There were only few steps leading up to the entrance, yet every step he climbed felt as if he trudged begrudgingly up a sloping mountain. Though he felt inconsiderate standing there with his fist hovering inches from the door's smooth surface he could not chase away the biting feeling that weighed both his mind and chest. Growing tired of the nauseating sensation that clouded his conscious he knocked twice but neither amounted to more than a gentle rasping against the door. He then stood and waited patiently, ignoring the frost the numbed his fingers and toes and the heated plumes of white the slipped past his chapped lips.
Maybe I should knock again, he thought to himself, his hand again lingering by the door. His procrastination only took him so far and resulted in him quickly turning to walk away. As he descended the steps his froze, hearing the release of a lock behind him clear like the snapping of crisp leaves. Looking up he made to apologise, wanting to run to the end of the street however he was quickly silence with a smile and a voiceless gesture to step inside. Apologising again he made his way inside the heated apartment, secretly he was grateful that he was allowed entrance but more so at the fact that they had chosen to listen to his plea.
