Back! Thanks again for your reviews and questions. It may not seem like it, but trust me, this fic's almost over.
And then it's BACK TO "I Hate You, My Friend!". And i promise you didn't read this fic for nothing, it'll affect the original fic as well.
Well, anyways. Enjoy, REVIEW, and don't forget those questions! Thanks a ton for the ones i've already been asked, they're very...interesting, to say the least XD
Again, review and ENJOY!
When they opened the big stone double-doors, Miku was braced against the wall beside it. She looked rather pale.
Her head shot up as she heard the door creaking and someone shouting "TO MIKUUU!". As she had expected, Luna was being carried by Naruto.
What surprised her was that she was smiling.
"L-Luna, you're alright? ...You look almost...happy."
Luna sweatdropped. "What, did you think I was gonna die?" Naruto sweatdropped as well. "Hey, you might from all the blood loss, depending on how long we stay in the Manor."
Her temple throbbed. "Okay, I don't like your logic. I think you should stick to carrying me."
"Why, because I'm right?"
"That's exactly why," she replied worriedly, flexing her hurt hand to get the feeling back into it. Miku glanced down at her foot, which had lost its painful wooden accessory now, leaving a gaping hole in the center of her foot.
Judging by how quickly Miku's head shot up, it was pretty bad. Great. She couldn't WAIT to heal, clean, and dress her wound when she got back to reality!
Suddenly, a figure appeared straight ahead on the misty path they were currently on. Speaking of which, where the hell were they?
Wherever it was, it had such a huge amount of spirit energy that Luna felt even woozier than before.
Luna shook her head and snapped a picture of the figure. It was the man in the blue kimono. "I've wanted to see you for so long, brother...Brother..."
She couldn't tell who had said that, Miku or Amane.
Naruto and Miku sped after the figure, and Luna struggled with all the jerky movements to find the figure again in her viewfinder.
In his place was a man with a white dress shirt and black pants, with jet black hair. "Do you think he goes to the same hair stylist as Sasuke?" Luna asked, making Naruto sweatdrop.
Miku ran a little ahead of them. "Brother...Don't go...that way...Brother...Mafuyu! Don't go any further!"
"Brother?" Luna wondered, while Naruto ran faster to try and catch up with her. "Of course! The dude from her picture!"
"NOW THERE'S A PICTURE? I'M SO LOOOOOST!"
"When you were trying to kill me for telling Rei-Rei about you being an Agent, and I hid in her room, there was a picture of her and that guy! It never occurred to me it could be her brother, I thought it was a long-distance boyfriend or something."
Luna sweatdropped. "...Idiot."
"Hey!"
"I'm sorry...I left you behind...!"
Miku's voice made them stop arguing as she got closer to the double-doors on the other side of the long bridge connecting the two doorways. It was nearly impossible for Naruto to catch up. "Almost as if...Something doesn't WANT us to catch up..." Luna mused aloud.
Naruto slowed, realizing there was no way he'd get there in time as Miku passed through the Japanese arch mounted mere feet from the door Mafuyu had went through.
"All alone..."
"Miku, get your slutty, admittedly better-endowed, barely-covered ass back here!" Luna shouted, making Naruto do a spastic little dance as his temple throbbed.
"WHAT THE HELL, LU-NAAA?"
"I figured if I surprised her it would buy us some time!" She shouted back; he didn't like how upset Luna looked as Miku gripped the door handle.
"MIKU, WAIT, DON'T!"
"Why do we need time? Where's she going?" He asked anxiously.
Before she could answer, everything went pitch black. Miku's voice was the only thing that rang through the darkness.
"I'll...go there...with you..."
Luna shot up immediately, jumping off her couch. "Miku!"
She fell to the ground, having forgotten about her foot, and she hissed a string of curses before Flash-Stepping to Miku's door, which Rei had just ran through to check on her younger roommate.
Kei and Naruto were still completely out of it. Stupid men.
Luna cracked the door open and saw Miku sitting up on her bed, head hung down low. "Miku..." Rei called.
"Rei. We're...going to die."
What?
Luna limped in behind Rei, not making much noise and going unnoticed by the two for the time being.
Just as she feared, Miku had a Tattoo as well. It was red with darker red outlines, almost black-looking. Almost like a freshly-made tattoo from an inexperience parlor, one not yet inked.
Or a terrible, intricate bruise.
"Now I understand. These tattoos...are my punishment for living. For living on...for surviving...that day..."
Luna limped over to her side, successfully scaring the crap out of Rei. She leaned against Miku's bed heavily, her foot killing her.
"Miku...Don't say things like that. Ya know...a surprisingly smart friend of mine told me that when you say stuff like that, you've pretty much sealed your fate. Don't ever say you're better off dead, because with that attitude, they'll kill you for sure, with one hand tied behind their backs. You survived for a reason. Just like Rei did, and just like I've survived all I've been through. The best thing we can do is continue living, and let life run its course. Besides..." Luna smiled a little at the flashback tugging at her mind.
"...'I've seen you cry, way too many times, when you deserve to be alive'."
Rei nodded, grateful Luna had such a way with words for once. "She's right. Miku...?"
Miku didn't looked quite as convinced as they hoped. Her head was still down, and her voice still sounded sorrowful.
"Ever since I was a child, I've been able to see things...that other people can't. My brother was the only one who understood me. That's how I know... We're going to die."
Rei sat on the bed and put a hand on Miku's back gently, and Luna muttered "Screw it" before sitting on her bed as well.
"Miku...We can get through this thing together," Rei assured her. "Everything's gonna be okay."
Luna nodded, looking down at her hands. "I don't know if this is the right time, but...I suppose it's only fair to be honest. I've been able to see spirits since I was a child as well. ...I...I murdered my foster parents because of one spirit in particular, who was able to enter my mind. I too feel guilty, more than I thought I ever could. So...Miku...I understand. I understand you, and trust me when I say...you...are not alone. And we're not dying any time soon."
She smiled to herself. "I sure as hell don't wanna die, or see any of you die. ...Besides. I made a promise I'd protect my personal Demon, maaany years ago. I intend to do that. That's how I know...we're gonna survive."
Rei chuckled as if she knew who she was referring to, making Luna clear her throat anxiously. "U-Uhhh, not that that Demon's mine in a...y'know, romantic way or any relationship at all, really, just...I...I'm just gonna go tend to my foot now..."
Miku giggled a little and stood up, draping Luna's arm around her shoulders. "I'll help you, Luna. And...thank you. Both of you."
Rei nodded, holding her roommate's door open as they walked out. The first thing they heard was Naruto and Kei shouting.
"KY, WHAT'D YOU DO TO HER? IF I FIND HER TIED UP IN A CLOSET OR SOMETHING-"
"ME? I think we all know that if ANYONE were to do something bizarre to Luna, it'd be YOU!"
"WHY ME? I'M THE ONE PROTECTING HER, YA DUMBASS FRAT BOY!"
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU'RE MAKING MY HEAD HURT!" Luna bellowed as Miku helped her descend down the stairs.
Naruto and Ky started laughing nervously. "...Oh. There you are. We were worried."
"So we heard. Maybe if you two were up, you would've had a better clue as to where she was," Miku replied matter-of-factly.
Rei sweatdropped, waving a hand from upstairs. "Oh, and I'm right here, but THANKS FOR THE CONCERN!"
"OH, REI-REI, I MISSED YOU SO!" Naruto called out dramatically, making Luna roll her eyes and Rei wave him off.
"Oh, SAVE IT."
Naruto ran up to Miku, who already looked a little happier. "Heey Mikuuu, can you fix me some breakfast?"
Luna's temple throbbed. "She's kinda busy. Do you mind?"
"I can help you!"
"...NO."
"Oh, c'mon. I want my breakfast, Loon!"
"NO WAY. Your breakfast can wait!"
He looked at Miku, taking Luna's other arm and draping it over his shoulders. "All this pain's made her delirious, she doesn't know what she's saying-"
"I HATE YOU!"
"See? Total NONSENSE-"
"NARUTO KEEPS A DIARY-"
"DO NOT, THAT'S A FLAT-OUT LIE AND YOU KNOW IT! ...Anyway, I'll take care of her as long as you PLEASE fix me food!"
Miku giggled and got a pan out of the cabinet. "Go ahead, Naruto, by all means. She obviously feels a lot safer with you," she said meaningfully as Luna dug her nails into the wall, causing it to make a rather unpleasant sound as he dragged her along.
Finally, he just sighed impatiently and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. "C'mon, Loon, this is ridiculous."
"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!"
"Says the girl who can barely walk."
"...That's a matter of opinion."
"No it's not."
"LEMME GO!"
"NO!"
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
Luna pouted as he plopped her onto Rei's bathroom sink, and he rubbed his sore back. "Dammit, Loon, you pounded the HELL outta me!"
"Serves you right."
"For trying to take care of you?"
"Yes."
Naruto rolled his eyes and reached to grab her foot, causing her to nearly kick his face in. "DON'T TOUCH IT, IT'LL HUUUUURT!" She wailed.
Naruto sweatdropped. "...Luna...I mean this in the most complimentary way...WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR PROBLEM, YOU BIG BABY?"
Her temple throbbed, and she crossed her arms moodily. "IF YOU MUST KNOW...I have...issues when it comes to medical treatment. Especially when being administered by AN INEXPERIENCED NOOB!"
Naruto's temple throbbed. "Ya know, I ALMOST felt bad for ya, figuring it was from the Agency and all. BUT THEN YOU CALLED ME A NOOB!"
"Well, you are one."
"I'm sorry, but WHO yanked the stake outta your foot?"
Luna looked at her fingers anxiously with a defeated sigh. "...Yooouuu..."
He grabbed her foot gently, and she flinched, but didn't kick him this time. "That's what I thought. Now chill out."
"Lemme do some healing jutsu on it first!" She whined.
He rolled his eyes. "When you're friends with Sakura, you learn some things. Just trust me, just this once. It won't kill ya," he replied before using his other hand to turn the sink on and wet a rag.
Luna's good foot started wiggling anxiously, knowing this was going to sting really bad. She knew he had to clean it first, or the jutsu would seal up the wound with dirt and rocks- and possibly splinters- lodged in it.
Then she might get infected. Which was essentially a very bad thing when dealing with the Manor of Sleep every night.
Naruto was about to press the rag against her foot, but paused to look at her for a second. He nodded to himself and laid his arm against her other leg, pinning it down. "I don't wanna get attacked by flying feet of fury again," he muttered.
She ALMOST smiled.
But then he'd get all cocky, and she'd never hear the end of it, and- "GAH! GOD...DAMMIT, THAT HURTS!" She shrieked as the water seeped into the hole in her foot.
"What, you think it was just plain water? It's antiseptic, too, idiot."
Luna clenched her fists. "You...are SO lucky I maintain self-control so well, or you'd have a bullet hole right between your eyes before you could say 'I'm almost done!'"
"I'm almost done."
"No you're not!"
"I know, I just wanted to say it so I'd be safe."
Luna rolled her eyes, hissing in a breath as a new wave of sting hit her. "You know if Rei-Rei has any tweezers?" He asked, not looking up from her foot.
She rolled her eyes again and leaned towards the drawer on her left, pulling out tweezers five seconds later. "EVERY woman's bathroom has tweezers, Naruto."
"Yeah, well, it's probably a GOOD SIGN that I don't know that, eh?"
"...True."
Luna debated whether she should've just said she couldn't find them, knowing he was going to be digging around in a hole...in her foot...plucking out lots of objects...in a very tender spot.
When she looked up from the tweezers, Naruto was looking up at her, waiting patiently. "...Tweezers?"
After a few moments of debating with herself, she shakily held out the instrument. "...Tweezers."
He smiled at her reassuringly before tilting her foot upwards. "I should probably do the bottom part first, it has the most crap in it."
Luna sweatdropped. "...Well, thanks for referring to it as 'crap'. That makes me feel much- NARUTO UZUMAKI, I MIGHT RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!" She screeched as she dug her nails into her palms so hard she might've drawn blood.
Naruto peered at her foot as he pulled out a giant rock. "...This is like a really...really...REALLY twisted game of Operation."
Her temple throbbed, and she sighed and shook her head. "...Miku's right, I feel SO safe around you."
"Well, good, 'cause I'm about to hurt you again."
"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" She hissed, able to feel every tiny movement made inside her foot. And they were NOT pleasant ones.
After pulling out a ton of splinters and rocks, he put the antiseptic-slash-water rag on her foot again to get off all the dried blood that had caked on there during the process.
"That sucked."
He rolled his eyes. "Hey, it wasn't exactly pleasant for me either. Your impaled foot with tons of random objects lodged in there isn't exactly what I wanted to look at so closely this morning."
"Well, Miku's boobs wouldn't have been available either, she was in her room with me and Rei," she replied matter-of-factly, making his temple throb. "...Not THOSE, either. Well, on second thought, now that you've mentioned it..."
BAM!
"OW! DAMMIT, I JUST TOOK AWESOME CARE OF YOU AND YOU REPAY ME BY THROWING A BAR OF SOAP AT ME? IF THAT GOT IN MY EYES, I WOULD BE BLIND! BLIIIIIND!"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh, you couldn't stare at me when I'm naked or scantily clad again? How tragic."
He rolled HIS eyes. "Save it. If you didn't like it so much, you would've let it go by now."
"OR, I'm not letting it go because even I am shocked you did such a thing." Naruto grinned. "Then you don't know me half as well as I thought."
Luna sweatdropped. "...True. Very true." He let her foot down gently to look around in the cabinets. "Bandage, bandage, baaaandaaage-"
"Other cabinet."
"I knew that!" He exclaimed triumphantly as he held up a bandage, and Luna tried not to smile. How anyone could have this much energy in the morning was way beyond her comprehension.
He tossed the bandage at her for her to hold before grabbing her foot again, pausing to look at her foot, then her. "...I just realized. Every time I've touched your foot today, you've screamed bloody murder at me."
Luna shrugged. "Half the time, I begged you to, so it's not really your fault." Naruto shrugged as well, and the next thing she knew, her foot was surrounded by that familiar cool and slightly-tingly feeling of healing jutsu.
The wound was almost completely closed up in a matter of moments, and she slowly handed him the bandage. "You might have a little scar there, but other than that..."
"Wow, I didn't know you could do that so well." He grinned, not able to resist. "I can do lots of things very well. You should lemme show you sometime."
Luna debated hitting him, but settled with sighing instead. "...I set myself up for that one." He nodded while unraveling the wrap-around bandage. "Definitely."
She sighed tiredly as he started wrapping up her foot, leaning back on her elbows and counting the number of dots on the ceiling.
She was at forty-seven when his grip slid up her ankle, which made her shiver for whatever reason.
He stopped wrapping right at her ankle, maybe a little above it, with his free hand at the back of her knee.
Luna could've sworn he caressed it for a second, but she was known for overreacting to human contact.
The thought was brushed away as quickly as it had come once his hands moved to either side of her, bracing against the vanity.
Luna smiled briefly at him before hopping down. "Thank you- oh CRAP," she hissed, nearly falling over. He caught her just in time, sweatdropping. "...Huh, something tells me you probably shouldn't walk on it too much for now."
She groaned. "Great, just GREAT. The Manor of Sleep is gonna SUCK this next night coming up!"
Naruto grinned and draped her arm over his shoulders again. "Chill, at least you have me, right?"
"...I think you just made me more depressed," she muttered moodily, making his temple throb. "Alright, see if I help you NEXT TIME you get impaled in the foot!"
"Hopefully there won't BE a next time!"
"Well, if there is, you're screwed, AREN'T YOU?"
"Yes, I believe I am," she replied dully. Luna wasn't thinking, and tried to go through the door at the same time he did, resulting in her somehow faceplanting the ground quite hard.
She really wanted to just lay there, she was so exhausted, but Naruto pulled her up. "Why are you such a clutz, huh?"
"How am I supposed to know!" She replied defensively. Naruto had grabbed her by the waist, and his arm was still there as he moved to plop her arm over his shoulders again. For whatever reason, they both ended up kind of having a stare-off.
How had they gotten so close? How was this possible, for two stubborn, unbelievably idiotic and downright infuriating people to be so...so...
In-sync? Just plain close? Caring and protective, no matter how close one got to killing the other on a daily basis? She didn't even know what to call it, much less how they got this way. It was rather illogical.
Almost as illogical as her pondering this while further allowing them to be this close, both physically and mentally.
Speaking of physically close, how had their faces gotten so close to each other? When did that happen? Luna had been told she was bad about zoning out, but this was just plain ridiculous.
At this point, she was seriously considering just letting things unfold however they seemed to be unfolding, but then she realized HOW they would be unfolding and jumped back so fast you would've thought he'd shocked her with one of those prank buzzers Will shook her hand with once.
"We should, uh...forward? In the...hungry...straight?" Luna stammered rather incoherently, flushing bright crimson.
Naruto was obviously trying really hard not to laugh, which made her angry. Shouldn't he be the flustered one? Encounters like that one were ALWAYS his fault when it was between the two of them.
Weren't they? Indeed. I have been trained not to dwell on such foolish emotions, therefore it must be his fault. Right? RIGHT! RIGHT! ...Stop questioning me! ...Oh, great, I'm arguing with myself.
He just laughed and shook his head, and she couldn't help but droop just a little when his hand slid away from her waist. "...Yeah, I think I got out of all that that you wanted to go straight and you're hungry?"
Luna nodded stiffly, limping along with him. ...Silly Miku. Thinking about love. Who in their right mind would believe in THAT piece of crap?