"Hey, I told you my story now it's time to know yours." Tobi complained.
"Sure sure." Deidara hummed and reached behind his head to unclip the device around his eye. "Here's my story un." He pushed back his long side fringe the same time he dropped the gadget covering it.
Tobi didn't squirm at the red welted skin around the eye, at least not externally. Deidara's eyelids were gone, leaving only his faded blue eye in the already healed socket. Whatever caused this ugly scar must've been a really bad accident.
"It's ugly huh?" Deidara slipped the gadget back around his eye. Tobi said nothing because he wasn't sure anything he said would be of any help. "The story behind is also ugly." The blond then slipped into a sombre mode as he started telling the tale. "It happened in a foster home. The people were drug smugglers, un, so I was al-always at the receiving ends of things yeah. They sometimes snuck drugs using me un– it isn't a pleasant memory. This particular day I did something to annoy my foster parents yeah and this happened."
Tobi winced then. Deidara didn't go into much detail about it but whatever those people did to hurt his eye this much must've been really painful...and very hot.
"The injury wasn't properly treated yeah so my skin scarred wrongly un. I was rescued later when they were caught for drug smuggling un, but I was not the same anymore. I had PTSD and fire became my coping mechanism. Seeing things explode somehow- yeah un- somehow calms me down yeah."
"So that's why..." Tobi fell silent as did Deidara. The raven guessed there was actually a reason behind why everybody did the things they did. He had always pegged his blond friend weird- at least weirder than he was- for spending hours moulding something only to blow it to bits later. Now that he knew his story, Tobi would never see Deidara the same way.
"I think you should visit your parents un." Deidara broke the silence that evolved between them.
"What?" Tobi shook his head vehemently at the absurd suggestion. "No."
"You know, people in coma can actually hear what people say around them un. They're just like babies in the stomach yeah." Deidara admonished.
"I'm surprised you even know that." Tobi quipped good-naturedly.
"Ass! I'm not that dumb un! Anyway I think they'd like it if you visited yeah." Deidara said, referring to his previous statement. Tobi said nothing about it but he seemed to be pondering it over. The two of them continued to study until Kakashi came back home and Deidara left.
Hours passed with Tobi pondering on what the blond said. After much thought, the raven decided to talk to Kakashi not only about his parents but his cousin too. "Uncle Kakashi?" Tobi called as he knocked on the door to Kakashi's room.
He allowed himself in after getting an affirmation from his godfather to enter. Said man looked from his laptop when he did. "What's the matter?" He asked, setting the device aside to give him full attention especially since he noticed that Tobi was not calling him 'Kakashi-san'.
"Uncle Kakashi, I think I want to see my parents."
If Kakashi caught the change in his speech form he didn't say anything but raise a grey brow instead."That's great but what brought this on?" Tobi only shrugged. "Alright. We'd go whenever you're ready." Kakashi was about to face his laptop again when the next words spoken stopped him.
"What happened to Itachi?"
"You know." It wasn't a question but Tobi nodded anyway.
"More or less. I just know that he is under a comatose but I don't know why." He answered.
"I only have a hunch...a bad hunch about why he's in such a state but I don't think it's something you should worry too much about. He'd be fine." What Kakashi said about his hunch was true. He didn't know the full details of Itachi's condition but there was a nasty gut feeling that bothered him a lot.
If it turned out to be true he wouldn't want to tell his godson about it. The last time something like that happened it had affected the Uchihas a lot, especially those that looked up to Uchiha Shisui. Kakashi shook his head clear of the thought. He hoped that nothing like Shisui's case happened to Itachi for it would totally break Sasuke.
If only he knew how wrong he was.
Xxx melody xxX
It was going on two weeks that Sasuke had not been coming to school. Naruto and some concerned classmates had done a house check on him but they were all shut down. Ever persistent, Naruto didn't actually stop going to visit until he got a promise that Sasuke would be back at school the next week.
Gym class today with Anko-sensei was in pairs; how they were grouped for the mentor-mentee student tutoring programme. This automatically left Naruto without a partner as Sasuke was not yet back to school. He was ultimately paired with Sakura and Matsuri for the exercises.
"Come on soldiers! If you can't give me 50 sit ups then you would run 20 laps around the football (soccer) field!" Anko's threat spurred many on- except Lee who was highly motivated by just hearing her say 'sit ups'- and caused them to surpass their limits.
"If I can not do 50 sit ups in two minutes, then I would do 100 push ups in two minutes! If I can not do 100 push ups then I'd run 150 laps around the track field! If I can not run 150 laps...!" Lee shouted as he did rapid sit ups in turn.
"Oi Bowl cut, don't be too hasty!" Ino yelled for she was holding his legs down. When it was her turn she couldn't even get one done. "This is so difficulllttt! I want my Daddy!" She screamed/whined as if she was in labour.
"Be youthful Ino-san, you can do it!" Lee encouraged.
"Shannaro!" Sakura managed to do twenty sit ups before running out of fuel.
Naruto was done with his own sit ups already so he was helping the girls in his team. "That was awesome Sakura-chan dattebayo! You can do the rest, they're just thirty more!" All he got was a bonk on the head by an angry pinkette. "Itai! Sakura-chan!" He whined.
"Stop saying it as if it is so easy, cha!" But she managed and pulled herself up for ten more.
"What's wrong Hina-Hina?" Yukata asked her partner who had stopped suddenly when she heard Naruto call Sakura 'chan'.
"I-it's nothing." The Hyuga squeaked and continued doing her sit ups at an incredibly slow pace.
With Neji and Tenten, the boy observed that his partner was not doing her sit ups properly. It was more like she couldn't do it properly. He supposed it was none of his business because of the way Tenten gritted her teeth in an attempt to hide the pain she was probably feeling but for the sake of being a good class captain (totally not because he was concerned), Neji couldn't ignore her.
"Get up." He commanded, causing the girl to scowl as he expected. "You're injured." He clarified as she was about to retort.
Tenten huffed out the initial words she wanted to say. "I'm fine. Continue." She said instead but Neji did not let up. "Argh!" She screamed when he applied pressure to her side and glared darkly at him for it. He just raised his brow.
"What is going on here?" Anko-sensei asked as she walked over to them, attracted by Tenten's scream. Everybody had stopped what they were doing to watch them.
"I'm fine, nothing is going on." Tenten replied curtly but Neji didn't allow it to sit before cutting in.
"No she's not, Anko-sensei. She's injured."
"Is that so, Tenten?" The girl scowled and faced away from her teacher before admitting it. Anko sighed. "Please take her to the infirmary Neji." The violet haired woman watched the two of them go with a frown. She needed to talk to Tenten soon.
Meanwhile Tenten lashed out at Neji the moment they were ways from the gym. "What's your problem? You should've just minded your own business! I don't need you trying to pretend that you care when you don't!" She said angrily.
Neji crossed his arms. "You're right, I don't care. But it is my duty as a class representative to watch out for my classmates so whether you like it or not you're going to the infirmary." He calmly stated.
"It all falls back to your school performance, doesn't it?" Tenten asked sarcastically. She didn't even know why it hurt for a brief moment. It was almost as if she wanted Neji to say something otherwise. "You just want to be in the good books of the school."
"Don't make it sound like I betrayed you. Let's go." Neji grabbed her hand and began pulling her to the nurse's office.
"No! Leave me alone you spoilt rich jerk! Let me go!" Tenten naturally did not oblige but he was stronger than she was and just kept dragging her to the nurse's despite her struggles.
Shizune-sensei was fortunately in the office this time around. After dropping her off he went back to his classes but something in the way Tenten was being defensive about her injury bothered him more than it should have. Neji shook his head free of the thought of his ungrateful co-captain. She didn't deserve his worry.
She didn't deserve his worry...
So why was he here?!
Neji found himself going to the infirmary after gym class had ended and he had taken a shower. While he was yet to knock though, Anko-sensei's voice drifted through the door to his ears and what he heard froze him.
"You and I both know that these injuries are not from dancing. Tenten, is there anything happening to you at home? You can tell me anything."
Neji went to his next class without dropping by as he had planned. What he heard made him ponder back on why Tenten was being so defensive. Last time she was injured like that she had chalked it down to stunt injuries. He remembered the conversation turning into a heated argument like every other conversation between them.
It was during art class with Orochimaru-sensei that Tenten came back from the nurse's office. Art was an elective course that the both of them had in common but when Tenten dragged her donkey chair next to his and started talking to him, he was surprised.
"Sorry for my behaviour earlier." Even more because she was apologising. "I appreciate that you are doing your job as a class captain but I don't need your concern. I can handle myself." Neji dropped his pallet knife and stared pointedly at her for a long moment. He had never met anybody as stubborn as she was. "What?" She asked when his unblinking eyes refused to leave her.
Neji just returned to the painting he was finishing up. It was a beautiful drawing of a burning bird. The meaning in itself was grotesque but the beauty of the painting made one forget about it. He was just adding some orange to the fire to make the glow more realistic when Tenten walked in and said something utterly stupid.
"It is my duty as a class captain to watch out for my mates, but that does not mean I am doing this because of my sense of duty alone." He started talking after a while. "If you are going to be neglect taking proper care of yourself as a captain like myself, it would hinder your duties and ultimately have me doing your work. I don't want that to happen."
Now it was Tenten's turn to stare at him for a long moment. She was trying to analyse him. Why would he be so bent on keeping his eyes on her when he apparently hates her? Unless... "If that's the Neji language for 'I somewhat care about you even if I don't want to admit it', then thank you."
"Y-you're crazy!" Neji coughed and turned his head away from her indignantly which caused Tenten to giggle. Hyuga Neji was actually not that bad.
Xxx melody xxX
Naruto awoke to the smell of something burning and the sound of a fire alarm. Mind and vision bleary from his sleep's interruption, Naruto walked out of his room to the kitchen where the smell was coming from. His mother must've left something on fire again.The kitchen was a mess which was so unusual for his parents. What he assumed was bacon was already smoking, hence the fire alarm and rain of water from the sprinklers. Whisked egg was spilled across the counter with the bowl and whisker askew on the marble top.
The blond walked towards the burner inquisitively, where was his mother? Surely she was supposed to notice all the clamour coming from the kitchen. That being said, where was his father?
The eleven year old's blue eyes widened with shock when he glanced around and saw a glimpse of his mother's red hair from behind the kitchen island. He rounded it only to be met with an even more shocking sight.There on the floor lay his mother. Her eyes were open and glassy, having lost their original colour to death and her mouth, red with drying blood. Other than her long red locks of hair Kushina was surrounded by the redness of her own blood, seeping from the injury on her abdomen.
"M-mum?" Naruto's voice was small with shock and horror. His movements were automatic as he stumbled over to her side and shook her. Kushina was stiff with rigor mortis already. "Mum!" Naruto yelled. "Dad! Dad! Come help, mum is hurt!"
The boy picked himself up and ran to his parents' room where he hoped his father was.
"Dad-!"Naruto froze at the sight. Just like his mother, his father was sprawled on the floor of the room but with a knife imbedded deep in his abdomen.The next few moments used to be a blur to Naruto but now he saw it clearly. He had tried to help his father, had tried to remove the knife but his hands were too shocked to move the it from his abdomen. The man's mouth was moving but nothing was coming out of it, not that Naruto could hear in his frazzled state of mind.
The boy's blue eyes were glued on a spot feet away from his father's head. Hidden among the shadows in the huge bedroom was a pair of feet. A man's feet to be exact. He wore what looked to be military boots and took slow menacing steps out of the shadows until Naruto was suddenly face to face with him; the man who murdered his parents.
He had whitish-blue shoulder length hair and wild black eyes that promised painful things to the young one who just saw his face. Naruto remained hunched over his father, hands on the knife in his stomach, unmoving and very terrified as the man withdrew a dagger from his trenchcoat and walked towards him.Every step he took echoed in Naruto's head.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
His heart raced as the man grabbed him by the hair and lifted his face to look at him.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The dagger was raised and lowered but stopped inches away from his chin when the sound of sirens permeated the silence. Naruto was saved by a miracle. He was stunned to silence even as the fire fighters put off the fire in the house. He remained hunched over his father's body due to the immense shock and that was how the fighters found him.They dragged him away from the body of his father and outside the crumbled house.
No matter how nice the questioners seemed, Naruto was just too shocked to comprehend their questions talk less of answering them. That was when he first noticed the golden eyed man staring at him.The police came later and took him away but the golden eyed man's gaze did not leave him until he entered the police car where they crossed visions for a brief moment before the door was slammed shut.
-
"Naruto!"
Naruto sprang up from his sleep, wide eyed and sweat drenched. His erratic breathing only slowed when he recognized the room he was in and the person calling his name. "Iruka-sensei." He whispered. It was when the teacher wiped his face he knew that he was crying, and he didn't stop it when he noticed.
"What is it? The same nightmare?" Iruka asked softly. Every other night the teen always woke him up with his screams but they had been frequent these past days. The boy always told him that it was the same nightmare that disturbed him every night he asked but this somehow felt different.
Naruto shook his head and accepted the hug his teacher offered, sobbing freely on the man's shoulder. "I remember." His voice cracked. "My parents' assassination, I remember."
Iruka stiffened underneath Naruto but he was quick to thaw and continue patting his back. 'Assassination?' He wanted to ask but he decided against it. Instead he ran his fingers through the damp golden tresses of Naruto's hair. "Shh, don't rush it. Calm down, we can talk tomorrow." He soothed.
It took a long while for Naruto to fall asleep, the period during which the gears in Iruka's head were turning wildly. Naruto remembered who killed his parents so brutally. Should he have told him to talk? What if he forgot again come morning? What if they could not trace the person back based on Naruto's description alone? What if the murderer was somebody he knew, somebody close to them?
Iruka tried not to think much about the what ifs in the situation and rest instead. He would be calling Tsunade tomorrow after he and Naruto had a talk. Maybe something would come from Naruto's memory, a big clue perhaps.
The next morning was not the kind of sunshine and songbird morning for everyone in Iruka's apartment. After a very dull and silent breakfast in which Naruto poked at ramen– the gravity of the situation – the both of them were ready to talk. That is, Naruto was ready to talk and Iruka, to listen.
The teacher led Naruto to the living room and switched on the recorder on his phone before allowing him to recount the full events of that day.
The boy inhaled, eyes closed, and exhaled. "That morning, I was awoken by the smell of something burning in the kitchen so I went downstairs to check. Mum was..." Naruto's eyes squeezed tighter as if doing that would help him erase the visage. "Mum was already dead by the time I got there. I-I wanted to remove the knife from her body...I didn't know that doing that would only make things worse..."
Of course he wouldn't, he was only eleven! Iruka understood this but it seemed like the police did not put that under consideration and just pegged him for the murder anyway.
"When it wasn't working I ran upstairs to call dad. Dad was also...he tried to talk to me but he couldn't get the words out." Naruto was crying over the fact that he couldn't hear his father's last words. "I tried to remove the knife from dad's body too. That was when I saw him; the man that killed them. He walked towards me and tried to kill me too. He used our kitchen knives to kill them but he would have killed me with his own dagger if not for the fire fighters."
That was when they found Naruto, shocked from the experience of seeing his parents dying and his own almost death. Iruka fumed but he tried to reel his temper in. What the hell was the police doing?! Didn't they notice the clear state of shock Naruto was in when they found him?! Poor boy, he must've been so afraid!
"I was afraid...they were asking me questions but I couldn't answer...and then when they were dragging me away I saw Orochimaru-sensei looking at me. His face was unreadable dattebayo, I'm not even sure if he was there by coincidence or not." Naruto hugged his knees and continued crying.
Iruka wanted to comfort the boy but he had a job to do. "Will you please tell me how the man that killed your parents looked like?" He asked softly.
Naruto gave a few hiccups before answering. "He had whitish bluish hair, it reached his shoulders, and black eyes. He was wearing military boots and he was left handed...I think." Iruka was amazed at how much detail his pseudo son could remember but at the same time he instantly grew uncomfortable.
One person came to mind immediately after Naruto described him. It had been a while since Iruka heard from that person but he hoped that he was wrong. Although, a part of him knew that he shouldn't be too surprised if that person was the culprit.
"Thank you Naruto, you did well." Iruka praised and reached over to rub comforting circles on his back. "It would be difficult but you would have to recount this again to Tsunade-sama and a detective. Would you be alright?" Naruto could only nod. He just hoped that what he remembered was clue enough to find out the person behind his parents' deaths.
Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi listened in on Naruto's questioning with Ibiki-sensei along with Iruka. While Ibiki was the school disciplinarian, he was also a retired officer whom Tsunade pleaded to help them out. He was the only person they could trust for now, and he knew trusted official detectives that could help the case.
For now though, they kept low in order to gather more Intel before reopening the case.
All adults other than Iruka, who had heard the events before, stiffened at the description of the alleged murderer which further solidified Iruka's thoughts. "That sounds like..." Kakashi trailed off as he saw that everyone was thinking along the same lines.
Iruka was afraid that he was correct after all. The murderer was somebody they knew and worse, somebody acquainted with Orochimaru. Kakashi remembered that the serpentine man used to frequent the Uzumaki-Namikaze household for a reason Minato always dismissed. If that snake was the one behind his teacher's death, he was going to make him die a slow death!
Jiraiya and Tsunade didn't know what to think. The possibility of their friend, the third person in their trio, being their son and daughter in law's murderer by association was high and they honestly knew that Orochimaru was quite dubious a person but they wanted to believe otherwise. This was just their speculations...right?
Iruka, like the rest of the adults, wasn't sure if Orochimaru was an actual good guy in this story or the bad guy. It all confused him greatly. It confused all of them but one thing was sure; from Naruto's arrest to his sentence to the random transfer from the juvenile center he was sentenced to a secret location nobody could get out of the officials, everything was downright suspicious.
It was even clearer now that somebody was trying really hard to use Naruto to cover up their tracks. The question now is, who is it? Orochimaru? Was it the man's free will, that Naruto described? Was it another person trying to use his relationship with Orochimaru and innocent Naruto to cover up his crimes?
Everything was so confusing.
Hurrah to the beginning of the first shred of romance in this fan fiction (excluding ItaIzu)!
So...who do you think is behind the murder now? Who's the man Naruto described? I assure you it's not an OC. Murasaki is the only OC I have used in this series...I think.
What are your guesses? Winner gets a prize!
Hint: the person might not necessarily be a canon Naruto Shippuden villain.