Zero to Naruto!
Chapter 5
Thought x Action
Shocked would be an understatement for what he felt when he saw Mirajane shudder in pain. He saw her bite her reddened lips which were bruised from being bitten over and over again. Her eyes weren't staring in surprise but shut tightly as if awaiting for something more to come her way. This wasn't the first time that she had suffered from such physical torment.
Before she could catch her whimpering breath, the older guy harshly grabbed her hair from behind her neck and pulled her forward, as if forcing her to face his direction. Then he hissed at her, uttering something Naruto couldn't quite hear.
Naruto's legs were frozen on the ground and all he could hear was a static sound, despite the metal rock music playing in his ears.
It was like air didn't exist for a moment since he had forgotten how to breathe. The only thing he was aware of was his erratic, elevated heartbeat.
Then like a swift, piercing flash of lightning, the guy landed a harsh slap against her cheek again.
It was then that Naruto felt his body electrifying, like a sweeping rush of adrenaline through his veins bringing him back to his long-lost senses.
Mirajane's face was burning with the pain elicited through his harsh hands, her scalp ached from his ruthless grip on it as if her hair would tear off of the skin holding them captive. Tears couldn't cease their trail down her face and just then, her eyes snapped open in a sudden panic.
A bright light flashed, one from a camera in a distance. She quickly turned in the direction of its source and after the veil of white faded from her view, she could see Naruto standing at a short distance, holding his phone in their direction. His legs were shaking slightly, which she could spot even through the baggy pants of his uniform but his face showed no signs of anxiety. His expression, if anything, showed determination— He stood there fearless.
Naruto watched the brunet man turn to him with his expression speaking for the rage he was feeling.
Eyebrows knitted together in fury while his pursed lips demanded an explanation. His hand slowly losing hold of Mirajane.
Naruto gradually stepped forward, unwilling to let the man notice his distress and anxiousness. "What do you think you're doing to the girl?!" he half-shouted, almost a meter away from the pair.
"And why is that any of your business?" his deep, sensual voice spoke— his calm demeanour, nonchalant expression, and the heartless undertone of his voice made a shiver race down Naruto's spine, but he kept his pace moving forward.
"Anything that includes violence concerns everyone, according to law," Naruto stated, trying hard to conceal the shivering in the way his words came out, almost succeeding.
"Law, huh?" he scoffed, "I really like your little speech there, really. But I'll ask you once, nicely, to please excuse us and mind your merry way," he calmly stated, expertly keeping the sarcasm spewing his words in stealth.
"And what if I don't?" Naruto hissed.
"Then we'll be forced to deal with it the old-fashioned way," the man smiled, Naruto didn't move an inch.
"Loke!" it was Mirajane's turn as she grabbed on his arm, tears still staining the pallor of her face, "can't we just go somewhere else and let him be? I'm sure he's just messing around," she suggested, half pleading.
Naruto was surprised at her take on the events but wondered if all abusers manipulated their victims in a similar way.
The man called Loke turned away from her direction and jerked her arms away from his, unlatching them, before he turned to face Naruto, "That's a fine suggestion and I'd gladly consider it," his playfully threatening countenance transitioned into a lone expression of intimidation, "if this kid deletes whatever his mischief has led him to capture, right here and now."
"I won't," Naruto stated, "I'll take this to the cops."
"Oh, and what will they do?" he chuckled.
"Take action against you, of course!" he exclaimed, holding onto his phone tightly as if prepared for when it might get snatched from him.
"Ahh—well, since you speak so much of the law, you should know that they won't do anything if the girl here," he pointed towards Mirajane, "—denies it."
"She won't deny it!" Naruto exclaimed, gasping midway as he watched Mirajane bow her head down in defeat as if helpless was the only word to define her situation.
He was quiet for a moment then, eyes glued to the grey road underneath his feet.
"Then I guess you're just a coward," he spoke, slowly lifting his head to force a glare at Loke, "somebody who feels superior by hitting helpless women because they don't have the balls to do that to a man," he ended it with a chuckle and a flare sparked in Loke's mind at the disrespect.
He inched closer to Naruto, towering his comparatively taller body. "You're messing with the wrong person, dear boy," he hissed, almost threatening.
"A person with no balls," Naruto bickered back at him, almost like a low whisper but enough to make him hear it perfectly. Infuriated, in a sprint, Loke grabbed Naruto by his shirt collar.
Mirajane gasped, scared. Although Naruto was just as scared, proven by the fast pace of his pulse, his expression showed otherwise.
"You've made one big mistake," Loke hissed, only to make Naruto smirk. He slowly lifted his arm, the one holding his cell phone, and the voice of Loke's past dialogues started replaying.
Panicked, Loke loosened his grip around his collar and shifted his attention towards the phone instead, the screen playing a video of their current encounter.
You've made one big mistake.
"I won't deny this violence, just so you know, unlike the girl over there," he muttered, half chuckling. "Don't bother snatching the phone either, it's already linked to my share point."
Loke quickly pushed him back, releasing his grip on his shirt and stared at Naruto in sheer shock, turning right and left to find a camera in the direction from which the scene was shot.
"Don't try. You won't find it," Naruto whispered.
"I'll deal with you," he then whispered, close to his ear, enough for it to not appear on the recording before he walked back to his car, giving one last warning look to Mirajane, as he drove away from the scene.
An awkward silence masked the thickened air of their surrounding as Naruto stared and stared away from Mira every two seconds, eager to say something but reluctant to, all the same at the same time.
Luckily, Mirajane took the courtesy of breaking the ice and slowly walked towards Naruto's stranded location, "Naruto, thank you," she whispered when she was close enough for him to hear it. He had too many questions clouding his thoughts—why wouldn't she report that man? Why is she thanking him if she didn't have issues with being treated like that? Who was that man to her?
But his earlier peaking anxiety had made his stomach too uncomfortable to stand there for even one more moment. When he realized that he couldn't delay nature's call for any longer, he clumsily ran away from there, stumbling along the way but picking himself up and dashing back inside the school, anyway.
Mirajane watched his retreating back in confusion but decided to confront him some time again to give her thanks. A delicate smile embellished her plump lips.
(Scene Change)
Sakura was furious since he had yet to make an appearance. It had been over the decided time by an hour and a half and his fathomable existence was far from her view. She groaned as her phone buzzed again at her unfortunate defeat in the battle-royale game(not fortnite you fatties c:) she was playing on it, to pass the time which had seemingly ceased to leap on.
Did her words and advice never ring a bell for him? She couldn't find it in herself to take the task to count all those times that she had advised him about punctuality—the test date, his visit to her house, greeting Mirajane, he was unbelievable and she was unbelievably, outrageously angry.
She let out a defeated sigh and looked at her phone screen once more. The window flickered with bright light, showing her that the permitted time to stay in school had run about and it was almost noon. Without having any moment left to spare, she picked up her pink, fluffy bag and left the building before locking the door of the volleyball club behind.
(Scene Change)
It was past nine when he got into his bed. It was very early for a night owl like him but all the draining events that had occurred today left him unable to spare one more minute away from the comfort of his resting place. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply once, and holding it in for a moment before letting it all out—as if the exhalation took away all the fatigue and hysteria that had plagued him throughout the day.
He recalled Mirajane's moisture-stained face and the faint bruise of her cheeks. Her broken smiles and the softness of her voice when she had whispered that soft thank you to him. A small smile crept onto his face, without even him realising it. He found himself floating in the clouds made of cotton candy, sprinkled with mini chocolate chips and feeling as cold as an iced popsicle in the middle of June. Cold breezes smelling like honey and plump, ripe oranges nuzzled his nose as his brain memorised the scent of them. Blues from the 18th century played along the wind carrying each note of it with the highest efficiency, careful not to drop even one of its mesmerising melodies. He found himself drifting into the peace of his ever-necessary dozing.
Among the dreamy sceneries of meadows and willows—of auroras and morning skies, the image of a ballistic Sakura flashed in front of his eyes. In the next millisecond, his eyes fluttered open in overwhelming surprise as he laid on his bed with widened orbs and his breath unstable, pulsating abruptly through his veins. Sweat dripped from his temple as he recalled everything that had happened today—pink note, Sakura's gaze, her invite, Volleyball club, after-school—
In a wild panic, he lifted his resting body from the bed and grabbed his phone placed carefully on the nightstand. Thankfully, he didn't have any messages or missed calls from the girl. He scrolled through his contacts to find her name, Sakura Haruno, he clicked on it to open up their chatbox.
He typed and retyped a thoughtful message, enough to let her know that he was, at least, apologetic but also that he didn't have much of a choice.
'Sakura, Sorry. I couldn't get there today. Had to run some errands' — Naruto.
He typed—errands? She will never fall for it because, in her world, nothing was more important than her. And Naruto understood that too. He had to.
'Sakura. Sorry. I couldn't get there today. Something urgent came up' — Naruto.
But the sentence meant the same thing. He had to try something else—something more. He tried a few other excuses but nothing could work. Defeated, he decided to tell her the entire truth, also considering that if that man ever becomes even more violent with Mirajane and if the situation worsens, he might have to ask for Sakura's help, given all her connections and venerable reputation.
'Sakura. Sorry. I couldn't make it today. Mirajane. Remember? She got into some serious trouble with a man who was being violent towards her. So, I tried to help her and lost track of time' —Naruto (21:28)
And he hit send when he completed his last sentence, rereading the entire writing a few times over to make sure it sounded agreeable. He threw his phone right next to himself on the bed then, forcing his mind back to sleep—but once stolen, it seldom came back.
It had been a while since he'd started staring at the ceiling up above, painted porcelain in contrast to the grey-blue walls of his spacious room. It was lonely—the walls, the air, his home. His phone's vibration diverted his attention from the nothingness that was his ceiling. Through its illuminated screen he saw multiple messages from Sakura:
'Mirajane?' —Sakura (21:41)
'What violence?' —Sakura (21:41)
'What happened to her exactly?' —Sakura (21:41)
'Is everything fine now?' —Sakura (21:42)
'You could've told me at least' —Sakura (21:42)
He picked it up to answer her just when another notification popped up.
'I waited for 105 minutes there, jsyk' —Sakura (21:43)
And unlike last time, he felt sorry for her. Waiting for her for hours in that Mall's parking lot had taught him how frustrating and draining waiting for someone could be. And even though he had promised himself to try not to do it ever again, he did. He sighed—things couldn't be undone.
'Some guy, idk who so don't ask, was hitting her and pulling her hair and stuff (she's fine now... I think)' —Naruto (21:45)
He proceeded to type another message then, since he knew she'd be keen on the description.
'I tried to stop him and he basically ran away. Mirajane was crying and I ran away from there. All messed up' —Naruto (21:46)
He waited for her answer now that she'd read her messages proven by the green ticks marked glowing below his message bubbles.
'What do you mean you stopped him?' —Sakura (21:48)
He waited for her to elaborate but no elaboration came. Defeated, he decided to get deep into the description himself.
'I made a video of him. When he tried to hit me. Like I attached my portable webcam, on the fences and connected it to my phone. It's small so he couldn't see. And like, I recorded him threatening me on my phone. Sync the two, you get a film of someone harassing you out in the streets. I told him I'd take it to the police if he doesn't leave' —Naruto (21:50)
'So he left' —Naruto (21:50)
Naruto laid back down on his bed, the phone held above his face.
'Just like that?' —Sakura (21:52)
Sakura's answer came after a while. Maybe she was laughing.
'Just like that' —Naruto (21:52)
He simply replied. When she didn't answer for some time, he thought the conversation was over. She usually did that. Ending their conversations abruptly. He picked himself up and went for a shower. Cold showers fixed a lot of things for him—anxiety, stress and loneliness, to name some.
He came out after a while and had his bathrobe on as he settled in his bed once more, lacking the energy to even stand. His hair had dried, courtesy of the hairdryer he hated using. His phone lied stranded on his bed so he picked it up out of habit. His eyes first narrowed then widened in surprise when he saw three messages from Sakura;
'It seems like you've made some progress then. I think it's time for the next step. I initially thought it'd take a month for you but oh well, here we are. You've been an annoying yet shockingly progressive student' —Sakura (22:13)
'I'm gonna have you try and set up a date with Mirajane within the next month. You can use whatever means necessary. I can help you prep for it and maybe we can do a practice date beforehand but that's that. You have to set up a date with her' —Sakura (22:15)
'Start with greeting her whenever you see her and LISTEN to her next time instead of being a moron and running away' —Sakura (22:15)
'I'm off to sleep so if you have any queries, we'll sort them out tomorrow' —Sakura (22:18)
He stared blankly at the screen for a few moments, unable to fathom what had just happened. It was almost 10:30 PM when looked at the time and tried to sleep, putting his thoughts and questions aside, and labelling this unexpected turn of events as Sakura's enigmatic hysteria. It's not like he had to do everything she'd say. He could always run. Run—Ah.
'Instead of being a moron and running away'
She was cleverer than he had imagined.
With a sigh, he let the phone rest as sleep took over, unaware of the emails he had received from a certain someone.
(Scene Change)
Another one of those lousy mornings and his lazy footsteps on the hallway floor. Clatter and chatter—he hated both, resonant from all four walls surrounding him. A grunt at the displeasure and he turned around the last corner that would lead him to his classroom and —Oh.
Mirajane was standing right outside of his classroom, right next to the door, leaning against the dull, white wall. Pacing her head back and forth, a grey-blue pair of headphones hid her ears from his view.
As if his breath got caught in his lungs, he clutched his chest, reciting some fantasy game mantra he had stumbled upon on the internet, a few weeks ago.
It was different at that time since he needed help sleeping after watching a horror/thriller documentary—but this time, he just wasn't sure what was yet to come.
Try and set up a date with Mirajane
His ears felt like burning when he recalled Sakura's words from the night before, sweaty palms against both of his cheeks as he tried to calm his erratic breathing. He assumed if he were to stay here any longer, things wouldn't go down a steady path for him. So, he decided to excuse himself and maybe get back home and sleep.
Slowly, careful enough not to make a sound as simple as a dull clatter, he turned around to leave but his shoulder hit against a surface he hadn't foreseen. He gasped and fell back when he saw what he'd bumped into—or who he had bumped into. Sakura stood there with her hand caressing her forehead, he guessed, from their impact before. Her brows twitching in what seems more like anger than pain.
"S-Sorry," he managed to mutter.
"Sorry? The class is that way. What the hell are you doing here," she mumbled as she walked past him to turn around the corner, "get your ass—" dead silence when she saw Mirajane standing right outside of their classroom. Then she turned slowly around to face Naruto, "Ah," she nodded as if she'd just found out the thief behind a theft.
Naruto felt a sudden adrenaline rush in his body and slowly started stepping back from Sakura, who slowly started stepping towards him. Four, Six and seven steps and—he turned around to dash off, only to be grabbed by Sakura in the next very second. He had underestimated her reflexes for an elite volleyball player and her strength for a woman who could run triple the miles he could, without breaking a sweat.
"Where the heck are you going?!" she yelled, ferociously.
"Home!" he yelled back.
"No, you aren't! Get back here!" she grabbed his bag and started pulling him back as if dragging him back to the class. Her strength couldn't be rivalled with, but Naruto still fought back. For a split second, he considered leaving hold of his bag and running away himself but there was no guarantee that Sakura wouldn't catch him in that case too, "You have a task, you idiot!" she pulled on his bag, almost snatching it off of his shoulders. Naruto turned around to pull his bag back from her monstrous grip.
Both of them grunted as they pulled his bag away from the other, "stop running away!" Sakura hissed, teeth clenched.
"I'm not running away!" he groaned back.
"What the hell is going on here then?!" she started pushing her feet backwards to grab him to their classroom.
"I am running away!" he said as he left hold of his bag but much to his surprise, Sakura let go of it at the exact same moment. The neon-green bag fell to the floor as the two of them fell flying across each other, harsh against the cold, tiled floor.
"Naruto, you—"
"Hey, what's up here?" Mirajane had appeared out of the blue and had her eyes drifting back from Sakura to Naruto and then back to Sakura, trying to understand why the two of them laid flat on the floor like that, "Sakura, are you okay?" she said as she walked towards Sakura and helped her get up. Sakura whispered a soft thank you at the girl and dusted her clothes.
Mirajane then turned towards Naruto and approached his stranded figure, her tall stature towered his flatly lying existence, "are you alright?" she questioned, offering her his hand. Although reluctant, Naruto took it and forced himself up, glaring at Sakura over Mira's shoulder only to receive a similar glare back. Maybe more intense. Or worse.
Naruto only grunted at Mirajane's question which she took as a yes.
"I was here to see you, Naruto," she uttered, and Naruto widened his eyes to feign the surprise he wasn't feeling, "I wanted to offer my thanks for what you did yesterday," she said, her deep blue eyes looking right into Naruto's similar ones. He could feel the gratitude in them, the pain and the misery hidden in there tried to mask it, only to fail. Somehow, it was enough for Naruto to stop trying to run away for this brief moment.
"I-It was nothing," he stuttered as he whispered it in a low, ardent tone. A soft pink blush crept onto the skin under his eyes.
Just then, the first bell rang, all of a sudden, plucking him out of his daydreams and the hues of her eyes.
"Ah," Mirajane sighed, "I got to go now. See you around!" she exclaimed before flashing him a warm smile and running off to her class. Sakura stood with folded arms in his view, foot tapping against the floor. He picked up his stranded bag and waltzed towards their classroom.
Sakura sighed, pulling out a hand mirror from her bag's side pocket to take a look at herself—her hair was a mess and needed to be fixed if she wanted to see anyone today, which she had to, being the captain of a sport's team.
"Sakura?" she heard Sasuke's voice and lifted her eyes off the mirror to find him standing in front of her. He was usually late for their homeroom class so it was no surprise to find him here.
"Ah, Sasuke," she whispered, suddenly conscious of how she looked so she started fixing her hair with her fingers, "what's up?"
"I don't know. You tell me," He said, tilting his head as if to get a finer view of her profile, "I saw all the commotion. What's up with that boy from our class?" he questioned, ebony eyes reflecting concern.
"You mean Naruto?" he nodded, "Nothing really. Mirajane, you know? The track and field club?"
"Yeah, what about her?" he further queried, perplexed.
"She came to see him today but he was trying to run away and stuff so, I was just getting him to talk to her," there was something in the way she drifted her eyes and refused to meet him but Sasuke decided not to press it further. The explanation was vague enough—she wasn't so close to Mirajane that she would go that far for her—pulling a guy she barely talked to, as if she had known him for ages, only so she could talk to him. It was confusing—and fishy, but he refused to pry further.
"Look at your hair," he mumbled, ruffling through her hair to mess them up even further, "Hey!" she protested, only to earn a soft chuckle from him in response.
"Let's get going to the class," he proposed and she walked right after him, complaining as she fixed her sorry-looking coral strands. Once inside the class, Sasuke couldn't help the glare he sent at the blond boy sitting idly at the seat next to the window—in fact, he wasn't sure why he did that, himself.
Author's Note: Hope you liked this new chapter! Review much appreciated.