Chapter 1: White Walls and Empty Halls
I got up from the window sill with Kurama in my arms, I placed him on the old, red plush chair that sat in the corner of his parent's room. He walked to the bathroom, which was renovated along with the rest of the apartment by his Grandfather before he moved in on his eighteenth birthday. The bathroom was a white sanctuary with a glass walled shower in the far right corner and a beautiful sink next to that and a toilet across from it. He showered while he listened to the houses music system that was playing Lana Del Rey's music on shuffle. He climbed out of the shower while singing the chorus to the song Dark Paradise.
He exited the shower and began to dry himself off while continuing to sing along with Lana and he looked at his reflection. He was a tall, blonde boy with descent muscles on account of his regular martial arts training and exercise routine. He had his father's tan skin and blonde hair and his mother's blue eyes. He had a tattoo of a tribal fox with nine tails on his back and a swirl tattoo centered at his naval. He finished drying himself and he walked to his room, he loved the freedom of his apartment and his ability to be naked if he wanted to. He walked into his room, or rather his parents' old room. It was a two compartment room with a sitting area with a plasma TV and a fire place and two ottomans. This sitting area had a desk with a beautiful Mac desktop (one of three in his home to his great delight) and a beautiful view of the streets and lights.
Their apartment was a larger one near the top of a building in Manhattan so there were windows in all of the rooms. The main bedroom was a huge expanse with a walk in closet to the left of the sitting room and behind the wall of the main bedroom. The bedroom was a beautiful room with a large king bed and a plasma mounted on the wall at the far side of the room opposite of the bed. The walls were white with hundreds of black and white photos of nature and Naruto's friends and his Granny and Grandpa. He walked into the closet and picked out his outfit for the day. It was a misty February morning in NYC and it was also Sunday, which meant Naruto had work soon at his favorite place in the world, H&M. He was able to dress as he wished and so he picked out a stylish combo of black jeans, black Chuck Taylors and a Batman hoodie paired with a white Joker T shirt under it. He grabbed his iPhone and Heart Beats (By Gaga) and patted Kurama and said goodbye.
I exited the apartment with my keys in hand, making sure to lock the apartment before he left for the morning. I loved the building that I live in, it was called the Twin Leaf Tower and it was a high tech marble and granite master piece of the Konoha and Co. Building team. My parents were one of the owners of this company so they had an assured spot in the tower's luxurious spaces. My mother was an architect from American of Irish & Swedish decent while my father was of German Japanese decent and he was an engineer. They started this company with my grandfather and my aunt, my grandfather being a shareholder and my aunt being a CFO. But none of my family really cared for the business anymore after my parents died. I was ready to start my life, and as a honors student at the Hakate Academy in Brooklyn I could get into NYU and start to bring my parent's company to its former glory. But for now, I was still a teenager, so I could walk to my job at the fashionable and wonderful H&M and not worry about the cut throat world of business just yet.
You would think that as a bisexual that I would face adversity in the business world, well I won't, I will crush it. Once at the company HQ in Brooklyn I was working as an intern for the Marketing VP and I had received a slur from an employee from the accounting branch. It was entertaining to know that the accountant who slurred at me was in the presence of the other CFO, Anko, who quickly threatened him and raised a seen while doing so. She asked me if I wanted to have him fired and promptly sued but I simply smiled and said "No, Anko. I'm sure he is valuable to this company and good at his job, even if he is ignorant and a bigot. The word of the incident spread throughout the layers of the company and quickly earned me respect.
I was striding down the walk, only a block away from the H&M that I worked at, listening to Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris. I stopped by the Starbucks on the same street and was greeted by a pleasant smile from two of his best friends, Nate and Hillary Hyatt (Neji and Hinata), two of the best tech students at the Hakate Academy and cousins. They both had long black hair and pale blue eyes that mystified, you would think they were twins they look so alike, and they were inseparable. I loved how clever they were and I remember when Hill and I used to have crushes on each other until the summer came and we both fell for two other people. She went around the counter and wrapped her arm around my shoulder saying "What's up, Foxy!?" that being my nickname because of my looks and my tattoo. I chuckled and said "Not much, Thing One and Thing Two.!" They chuckled and Hill gave me a nuggie before getting started on my usual order, a venti iced French vanilla latte with crème and sugar, which they called the "Uzumaki" at this establishment. I said to Nate "Are you two actually gonna visit me today or are you gonna be lame and study for some unassigned exam?" with a smile. He chuckled and responded "Fine, we will, and not because I want to look for a new pair of glasses which is coincidentally why I wanted to go in the first place!" I smiled and laughed while Hill smirked and continued to make my latte. She finished and handed it to me, since their manager was not there today she would be able to get away with it, and she asked "How are things between you and him?" with a look of concern. I Smiled and said "I've got it handled." And with that I waved them goodbye as I walked away and plugged into my iPhone and into the album Night Visions by Imagine Dragons. I reentered the crisp February air as I walked down to the H&M, greeted by its familiar glow, I entered and grabbed the elevator up to the break room where I would enjoy an extra half hour before I went back to recommending fashion to teens and young adults. I sat in the chair nearest to the window and pulled out my MacBook Air and began to type out my essay on Pride and Prejudice for my AP Literature class.
