Yo! It´s been a while since I last posted anything and while I´m currently writing a few stories, none are yet ready to get posted so in the meantime I thought I´d do something short yet unusual and so here we go. Now I´ll say this up front, my writing style is nothing special and any kind of romance is even worse for me but I´ll let you be the judges of that. Enjoy!
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The sun was rising on the horizon, its rays illuminating the land below with their light. A new day was here, the long night coming to an end at last. For most people the sight was so mundane it no longer meant anything significant and that was just fine.
But to the lone figure sitting on the ruins of what decades ago might have been an apartment complex, the view had something incredibly captivating about it. As daylight progressed, the shadows receded, revealing a pair of eyes with a gold-colored iris and a head full of long green hair lightly billowing in the wind.
´I guess this is what he meant by second chance, just being like this and for once not having to worry about anything makes living worthwhile´ thought Aruka (or Arca for some) Schild, still coming to terms that she was alive and everything ended up more or less okay.
Adam Arclight was finally dead and so was his imposter clone, a discovery that was particularly shocking to her when she spent quite some time as said imposter´s four elite guards and yet remained unaware of it the entire time.
In any case Simeon Pharmaceutical was crippled and her little brother Cruz was alive and safe, no longer in need of her interference.
´Or rather little sister´ thought Aruka with some amusement, recalling how her younger sibling got permanently stuck as a girl, another thing that would take some time getting used to.
Of course the nuclear wastelands known as the black spots still existed and needless (people with special abilities like her) were still heavily discriminated against by the normal humans but compared to before it was definitively an improvement.
Regardless, her role was finally over and for the first time in her life she felt unsure of what to do next. She could not help but think back towards the person who saved her, to the enigma called Naruto Uzumaki.
Honestly for all her intelligence and deduction skills she had a hard time understanding him. First they fought as enemies at the Simeon tower, then they had to call a temporary cease-fire and work together when circumstances forced them both into a rather precarious situation, followed by yet another merciless fight.
Yet despite of that he came to her aid when the fake Arclight was about to interrogate and kill her (she was a spy working against him after all), even pulling a ´boot to the face´ on the so-called god to save her. Thanks to him she got to see it all to the end and yet even now she could not make any sense out of him at all.
Even worse, the more her thoughts drifted in his direction the more Aruka felt drawn to him like a moth to the flame.
In a way it was almost ironic, as a highest-class of fire type needless she could vaporize both objects and people with a mere touch if she chose to, even a tank could be easily reduced to a mass of melting metal if necessary, yet he did not seem to care about any of that, instead treating her like any other human being, even risking his own life to save her own.
For anyone else that might seem like an absurd reason, but then again Arca was not most people and even underneath her normally calm demeanor she was a girl like any other so being actually seen as one was a new and rather pleasant feeling.
Her train of thought came to a halt however as she heard footsteps approaching her position, someone was coming! But who could….
´Speak of the devil´ thought the green-haired girl once she caught a glimpse of the rather giveaway mop of blonde hair. Who would have thought that the very source of her inner conflict (and dare she say desire) would come to visit so soon?
"You know for someone who claims to be a ninja you are not very subtle in your approach."
She could more sense than see his shrug as he sat down next to her, looking at the rising sun.
"Not much point in sneaking around when you are not heading into a fight. You of all people should know better than that by now, considering what happened."
He had a point there, for someone who stood out like a sore thumb Naruto was pretty good at hiding, even her former employer did not sense him until his boots were already rearranging his face.
Allowing a small smile to show on her face, Aruka looked his way and almost instantly regretted it. She forgot that his clothes got pretty much destroyed in the fight with Arclight last night and now here he was, dressed only in slightly torn pants and a long green cape he stole from the late Saten (another of the former four elite guards and apparently the real Adam Arclight), his muscular torso and arms revealed for all to see. This was not helping things at all.
Turning her head away to hide the slowly forming blush, Arca honestly hoped he didn´t notice anything but the sly grin on his face suggested otherwise, much to her horror. Not that this was a first time she saw someone dressed like that but it was definitively a novel experience when it was someone she actually liked.
"I-I guess you have your moments. On an unrelated topic, why are you still wearing that thing?
"Not much choice really, getting decent clothes in a nuclear wasteland is a real pain. Plus it´s better than having nothing at all so why not? Why the sudden interest though, want me to take it off or something?"
Now that was bold. On first glance the question might seem fairly innocent but given her state and his knowing smirk Aruka just knew he was teasing her…. and despite her being quite level-headed it was working.
Deciding to spare the girl a little embarrassment, Naruto´s face turned serious.
"Anyway, I´ll probably be leaving this place soon, not much to do here now that this mess got sorted out….."
Hearing that made Arca´s head drop a little. Was this what this was all about? Coming to say goodbye? She remembered the blonde previously mentioning that he was originally not from this world and considering half the things she saw in the last forty-eight hours the green-haired girl was inclined to believe him, but it certainly did not make this any easier.
"….and I would like to ask if you´d want to come with me."
Feeling her heart almost skip a beat, Aruka felt her eyes widen upon hearing that.
"What?"
"I was asking if you´d like to go with me. I know that you have a sibling here so I´ll understand if you say no but I wanted to ask anyway."
No matter how much she tried she could never understand him completely. Did he know about her feelings or was there some other reason behind this? And while it was true that her little brot…sister was still here, he/she no longer needed her.
Besides, after all she put him through the thought of being near said sibling made her a bit uneasy. True it did help him to finally grow up a little but she knew he´d never forget what happened between them and neither could she.
"But why? Am I not your enemy?"
"Nah, I already kicked your ass once for that little stunt you pulled with Cruz and besides, you´re too cute to be my enemy. And as for why, do I really need a reason to?"
"Not funny" fumed Arca, her golden eyes unsuccessfully trying to look anywhere but in his direction.
"You´re right, it´s not, but that´s just the way it is. Plus I am really starting to like your company so there´s that."
"You really are an idiot."
"Is that a yes?"
It was now or never and just this once Aruka was going to act selfish. After all what was the point in life if you couldn´t enjoy it?
For a moment the blonde was surprised when one moment his former enemy was sitting next to him and second later she was straddling his legs, her tongue invading his mouth. Then he closed his eyes and returned the favor, hands pulling her closer to make sure she wouldn´t be going anywhere in the near future.
Unfortunately even if both had abilities far beyond what normal humans could do they still needed air to breathe so after a while they pulled apart, taking in what just happened. Surprisingly it was Arca who spoke first.
"Good enough answer for you?"
Smiling back, the last Uzumaki laughed but quickly went back to kissing her, passion quickly overcoming them both as all else was forgotten. Whatever awaited them in the future could wait for the time being, the present was much more important.
´I love my life´ thought Naruto, knowing that even if for no other reason than this he´d never regret stepping foot onto this strange world, not now nor ever.
A new day was beginning and while the world stayed the same, it was fine. It were the little changes that mattered….
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And that´s it for today. Now I know this is both a rare and rather hard to imagine pairing but for some reason I like it anyway, besides this is fanfiction after all. Anyway, see you all later!