Have Fun Watching Him Breathe
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha Inc, Viz Media, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Aniplex, Studio Pierrot, Animax and TV Tokyo.
Summary: Villagers are all awful? No. One was truthful to Naruto. What does he care about the law? He's dying anyway. Canon divergence. Character self-assassination.
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Birds started showing up dead
Whales turned up on shores
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"…Uzumaki-kun, what's your favorite animal?"
"Foxes!" The demon child grinned widely. "Giant, magnificent, gorgeous orange fox!"
Kazuto's head was drooping as he labored on the task of breathing. His dark hair shadowed his black eyes. The civilian was now positive that the demon child really doesn't know it was a demon, and not a human. He wondered what will happen if the demon child will never know of its true nature.
It's a bit sad, to Kazuto. He had gone on a silent rampage against his family when he found out that his sister and mother were actually his cousin and aunt. It took his father/uncle getting himself Killed In Action for Kazuto to stop moping over the years of lying and forgave his aunt and uncle and cousin.
He doubted a demon child would be silent in its rampage. And there's absolutely no way a demon child would be forgiving like humans.
The fifteen year old boy liked Konoha. He liked Yukihira-senpai who had been nice to hire him and gave him work so he can make a living after his home had been destroyed by the demon's paw. He liked the people – civilians, ninja, animal ninja – visiting Yukihira diner to eat and hang out and have fun or romantic dates. He liked living. He also liked people living.
He doesn't want the demon fox getting angry and deciding Konoha is a delicious buffet again.
He coughed. He's been coughing since he visited his sister's empty grave and it's getting worse. Spits of blood were hacking up his throat again.
Fuck the law. He's dying anyway. He's not going to let the demon child finding out its true nature on its own years later and getting angry over being lied like Kazuto did.
"Are you okay, Onii-san?" Naruto asked. "Do you need water?"
Kazuto glanced down at the short demon child. Naruto didn't point out the red droplets in the teenager's palm. "Yeah. That would be nice." It wouldn't do anything. But he can do something. "May I visit your apartment for that? We could – play, or something."
Naruto felt ecstatic at the thought of having a friend – stranger, but they can be friends, right? – visit his house. Other kids he listened in at the parks made having friends visiting sound like multiple best-day-ever-s.
Kazuto smoothly averted his gaze from the happy stratosphere blue eyes, though he didn't quite manage to hide his shivering. The demon just looked so much like a human.
If it wasn't for the whisker marks, Kazuto wondered what would have happened had he kept coaching the boy out of his crying a year ago.
They walked through the streets. The demon child kicked a shiny pebble. People flinched.
Kazuto took a breath a little too deep, and his chest became painful and he felt tired.
Kazuto hadn't always had a lung problem. It was not a genetic thing. He had gotten it for breathing Nine tails' visible chakra. When was he at the time? Ah, he was ten. He had tried to run towards his cousin/sister only to see the demon's giant paw stomp on her legs and stomach. Her eyes were stricken with tears and she looked at him painfully before the paw came back up, bringing her body up on the creases of its giant claws before her waist split and her head fell splat. He ran away and avoided another paw, but then breathed the red stuff floating in the air. His mind went crazy with whispers of hate — he didn't know how he pushed through the voices and didn't get mad, but he did. He wanted to find his family, but then he fainted after breathing in more of the foul chakra.
He woke up to find his aunt/mother driven to a drooling mess by the foul chakra. She was muttering crazy. 'She had been one of the lucky ones to be able to not die from the demon's immediate killing intent', a ninja said, 'but she was one of the ones who succumbed to the demonic chakra's presence'. She was declared unfit to parent him, but Kazuto convinced them that he will be able to provide for their lives and he wanted to take care of her. She can still respond – only to him – and with time, she'll heal—of course she would heal.
People run and people fell. All their chests became empty when news broke out that Yondaime was dead.
Kazuto wasn't sure how he felt to have Sandaime taking up the position. The ninja was old when he retired and he's super old now, would he even be able to protect them? Old people shouldn't be taking up powerful positions because they tend to be stubborn about new ideas from youngsters, Kazuto thought. And the Sandaime looked weak, with his wrinkles and stuff. That smile is probably fake. He's probably been waiting to get the Hokage seat for a while.
Sandaime told them that the demon wasn't killed. But was sealed inside the baby. He started talking about the baby being a hero because he's going to be keeping the demon from ever attacking them again thanks to the seal that the Hokage had made, sacrificing himself in the process.
He's not sure about that too. I mean… an ink? He's telling us this baby's a hero because the Kyuubi is held back by a little fucking ink? Seriously?
While people were shouting themselves hoarse, demanding the baby to die so they can be free, Kazuto sat and brooded about where he'll be sleeping, his mother, what kind of things he'll need to do to make sure they can live.
And then medical check-up revealed that Kazuya had lung cancer.
Even in its supposed prison, the Nine tails still made their lives horrible.
They waited in the settlements while men and ninja tries to build buildings back up. With the need for shelter being an emergency they couldn't spare any requests to make it fancy or customized, they made it all plain and the same, flats of two story houses for families of more than 3 members. Kazuto tried his best to keep his mad mother have her share of meal and bathroom breaks and sleep. The next morning, he told his mother that he'll try to find a job, so she should stay in the house. She nodded, maybe. He didn't believe she could even stand up if he's not there to tell her too. He found a famous diner chef whose meal he had loved and menu memorized. Kazuto approached him and asked if he was going to bring up Yukihira Diner again. When the man said yes, Kazuto begged to be given a job, a sous chef, dish washer, waiter or delivery boy. He explained his circumstances and Yukihira-san agreed. But the 18 year old chef told him that they weren't going to be boss and employee, they're going to be co-owners because Yukihira doesn't exactly have any money to pay Kazuto off, and the restaurant is going to be built by their two hands so it wouldn't be fair if Kazuya doesn't get the pay he deserved. So Yukihira Diner was open again, became a famous spot for ninja and civilians alike. Yukihira cooked and Kazuto took orders. At night, the two became bartenders, though Kazuto was only called in for special nights, when it's regular nights, he got the day's dishwashing duty.
People were still talking angrily about the demon, grieving. Kazuto merely listened in and visited his sister's empty grave. He wondered at some points as to what happened to the demon baby. If it was offed or if it was hidden to be trained as a weapon. Probably the latter. The old Hokage had presented the demon and dared asking them to think that it's a hero.
4 years went by. His mother was as dead as ever, but she was beginning to have a little shine on her face, and responded quicker, and even managed to make expressions. On the other hand, his lung cancer grew worse. But Kazuto didn't think much of it. He's been fine so far, and he only coughed up a lot. A glass of water and he's fine.
He had passed by the orphanage, and saw a blond haired kid crying, holding onto a frog wallet and cap. Kazuto went to ask him, and the kid cried out that he was getting kicked out of the orphanage because he can walk by himself. When the kid looked up, Kazuto saw his whisker marks. He looked so cute, and adorable—and isn't this one of those ninja missions his father told him about. Where ninja pretended to be adorable or pretty and harmless before striking out their kunai? He imagined the little fingers to be claws and remembered his sister's mangled corpse falling off like the tears that slid down the little fingers. He coughed up blood as he remembered with perfect clarity of the hating voices he got from breathing the demon's chakra. He ignored the demon child's are you okay and ran away from the streets.
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He feels fear every time he sees the child running about the streets, so free and smiling, as if he owned the place. He probably does. Ancient tales said that Kyuubi no Kitsune's domain is Fire Country after all. He doesn't know if the demon child remembers about that night, how many people it had stomped on and eaten. We're just a buffet to the demon. Now that the child was no longer confined by curfew and locks by the matron, the demon child just strolls through Konoha without care.
A year later, he coughed up way too much blood and his breathing went puffy and fainted somewhere. A nice ninja brought him to the hospital. Apparently, his lung cancer was incurable now. He told his mother about everything, as he used to.
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His mother died in her sleep. She just doesn't wake up. It took him thirty minutes to notice that she wasn't breathing.
He left her corpse on the bed, pretending she's only sleeping. He doesn't know how to take care of a dead body. He'll ask Yukihira-senpai later, maybe. If he managed.
Serving fried rice to a customer, Kazuto saw the demon child staring at him. The demon didn't look malicious. It just looked like a hungry child. Kazuto wondered why the child is here. An irrational voice told him that the child must have somehow killed his mother. But he didn't think so. He hadn't even ever talked to the child, except last year. The customers were getting anxious, but too scared to actually go out with the way the child hungrily looked at the restaurant. Kazuto grabbed a plate of tamago kake gohan, got out of the back door and motioned the child to get to the back alley. Naruto arrived to see the back door shut and locked, a delicious plate sat on top of a garbage can.
He asked Yukihira-senpai about funerals. Finally he can visit a grave that wasn't empty. His mother's last few years were meaningless. 5 years being a doll. Maybe a burden, though Kazuto doesn't entertain that thought. She had taken him when he was a burden. It was okay. Even if it was meaningless. Even if no one would remember her.
The demon child spotted him from the graveyard gate and clung to him, telling Kazuto that's he's very nice and he's thankful for having a full meal. Kazuto merely listened to the demon chattering non-stop about things with surprising vocabulary. The demon child started asking basic ice breaking questions. Kazuto was now certain this demon child truly has no idea that it was a demon. Maybe. He asked what his favorite animal is.
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The ramen cup was cold now, and the glass had shattered to pieces when it fell out of the older boy's grasp. "Why are you telling me this, Onii-san?"
Kazuto couldn't shrug. Breathing was hard. "I'm dying? I don't know. I used to dream about being immortal. My sister is gone and no one remembers her. No one knows my mother either, only me, and she's dead. I'm dying too. I don't know. Maybe with you we'll be immortal through our names and memories, since you're immortal after all."
Naruto didn't say anything in reply. Kazuto's dead body wouldn't hear it anyway.
look away
look away
look away
Originally, I planned to have a dying civilian visiting Naruto in his apartment, befriending the boy, and telling him that he wants to leave his corpse in the demon's apartment so that when news get out, everyone will definitely think that the demon child had killed the civilian. With Naruto freaking the fuck out and knowing that ANBU are watching outside, I planned on having Naruto chopping him up to pieces, using the meat as stew in the big boiling pot, forcing himself to eat it and cook and eat it again until all the meat is gone and the bones all cracked to be mistaken as an animal's meat bones. I planned on having optimistic Naruto turn into someone that constantly does character self-assassination with his guilt of being a cannibal but then as I wrote the civilian's background I went 3D again and couldn't figure out how to explain Naruto's innocence to the ANBU with the civilian not showing up outside of his apartment again and couldn't do that one-shot horror fiction, instead turning it into this.
Which one do you like in any case? The original plan or what it turned out to be? I wanna see how many liked the morbid, fucked up one or the sort of self-insert one. Despite using Kazuto Kirigaya from Sword Art Online as a base, I largely used my own perceived character for the reactions and thought.
If you're sad about me killing Kazuto – well, I haven't killed Kirito… He'll probably show up, later, if I ever update this. I love SAO (the novel and fictions) so much.