Let the Music Do the Talking, a Naruto fanfiction
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: Hey all, apologies if this chapter was a little later than originally planned, had a lot of other work going on and I was unsure of where to take the direction of this one. Anyhow, please enjoy.
Chapter 9: Lost in the Echo
Outside the school on the front lawn, the group sat down while Shino began explaining the whole ordeal.
"So, with regards to how I found everything," He began pessimistically, "I managed to gain access to the school records in the principal's office; let's just say I know where she keeps a spare key. Seeing Kabuto in distress, I knew I had to do something about the situation at hand."
"But that doesn't explain how you would know about the whole family ordeal," Shikamaru countered with an expression of doubt. "Information like that wouldn't be kept in a school record unless it was something that was stated by next of kin."
"Correct," The boy nodded, "However in this case, it was outlined in a few sentences, and with that to start me off, I did some further digging into it."
Sakura and Ino both wondered if Shino was telling the truth. They had been Karin's friends all these years and she had never mentioned anything about being related to Naruto. All they knew is that her mother worked as a lawyer and her father worked as a stock broker in the financial sector. Her parents were practically loaded and Karin herself would always be boasting about fancy holidays they would take three to four times a year. Recently, her sixteenth birthday had been a massive event that took place in a private hall, accompanied with an expensive DJ and a continental buffet to boot.
"So, what's the deal then?" Sakura asked, noticing the obscure silence that now occupied the air. "We've always known her as Karin Tatsumaki."
Shino adjusted his glasses, observing each member of the circle before replying. "It begins years ago; Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother, had a younger sister named Mio. From what I found out, Mio and Kushina always had this intense rivalry. Whatever Kushina did, Mio always wanted to be better and more successful than her. This carried on until they were both dating."
"Mio never liked Minato from the moment they first met; from the information I found, she really had it out for him. Fast forward a few more years and there's a heated family argument; Mio accuses Minato of being unfaithful to Kushina, even tries to photograph evidence to prove it, but it backfires. The sisters stop speaking to one another, Mio leaves with a newborn baby, and then she herself gets married. That's pretty much where most of the history ends."
"Wait, a newborn baby? So you mean that-" Sakura began
"-Naruto and Karin are...cousins?" Ino interrupted, shocked at the revelation of information that had been presented before her.
"Precisely. And from what I also read, the new name Mio took is parallel to her old one. Why let your life 'spiral' out of control, when you can become the 'tornado' and become the thing that can destroy another."
"There's still something I'm confused about." Shikamaru continued "If both Kushina and Mio stopped talking, how would Naruto and Karin know about each other?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe there was a time where the family tried to reconcile. Maybe one of them found out and started asking questions. That's all I could find out."
"And how pray tell, did you manage to find all that information?" Ino questioned.
"Something you should know about me," Shino said with a calm, but slightly mocking tone. "I was able to hack into various records and databases from genealogy sites and cross reference what I find out from school records from a bug I found in the software. It was simple really with a few SQL injections." He adjusted his glasses once more.
The talk of technobabble casted a deadpan look across the rest of the group's faces.
"Why is that you ask? Because these fools didn't validate their SQL statements. And they think Danzo is a good administrator at handling all this? Pathetic." He spoke arrogantly.
"Wait, you found a bug in the software?" Shikamaru was bewildered by Shino's know-how in technology. "I'm intrigued to say the least."
Sakura furrowed her brow, unimpressed by the boy's words. "Regardless, you used that information to try and get back at Karin? A lot of good that did."
"Forgive me for trying to do something that I thought was justified!" Shino raised his voice, something that no one in the school had even seen much of before. "Kabuto is my friend and I was not going to sit by and let him be punished like this any longer. Yes, I'll admit that what happened was uncalled for and yes, I blame myself for letting him get attacked like that. But you three…" He carried on, his tone still lingering on passive aggressiveness. "The three of you go about this school like you own it, not giving a damn about anyone else. You honestly think we don't notice it?"
"For your information, I have never bullied or belittled anyone," retorted a now angry Sakura.
"But you knew about Kabuto," Shikamaru interjected, "why the hell did you let this carry on?"
"Oh so now we're passing the blame round her? Look, I told her from the get go, that I would be out of this if she went too far, and guess what, she did!"
Ino, being caught in the middle of this, didn't know to respond at all. All because she decided to hang out with Naruto one day after school, even though he promised to keep it a secret, things still ended up turning sour.
How did all this happen? She thought sadly as she felt the pain of guilt slowly encompass her heart. I wasn't doing anything wrong, was I?
"So," Shikamaru spoke, thinking about all he had heard. "Now what happens? Kabuto's probably shaken up from being assaulted like that and Karin...well, I hope she sees some form of punishment from all this."
"Save it, genius," Sakura muttered, "I guess we wait for them to leave and try talking it out with them."
"That's probably the most honest thing I've heard you say all week," The lazy genius countered with a smirk.
Elsewhere after the incident, Namida and Wasabi began walking away from the school in complete silence. It wasn't until Namida herself began shaking, as tears filled up her eyes.
No, that's not true! Kabuto's not like that...is he?
She looked over at Wasabi, who had remained completely quiet since Karin's outburst in the hallway.
"Wasabi!" She cried out in anguish. "Please tell me what Karin said was a lie!"
Her friend's expression remained unchanged, only an eye roll looking to dodge any kind of response.
"Wasabi, you're supposed to be my best friend." She carried on, tears running down her cheeks. "We're suppose to tell each other everything and-"
"It's not true," Wasabi responded uninterestedly.
"Huh?" She sobbed, surprised by her friend's blunt response. "But Karin-"
"Karin talks a lot of shit, because she's popular and thinks she can get away with bloody murder," Her tone suddenly became more hostile. "You honestly think that a girl like me would take shit from a guy!? I have a red belt in taekwondo; anyone that tries messing with me, would get their arse handed to them in more ways than one!"
The girl brought a hand to her face, her lip quivering in pain. "Y…you mean…"
Wasabi gave an uninterested sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Namida...you're a nice girl, but please, stop believing everything you hear. Look, let's go into town, I'll explain everything on the way…"
An hour had passed, with Naruto and Karin having finally left the principal's office to join up with their friends.
The two walked out, not even glimpsing at each other.
"I can't believe you," Naruto muttered angrily. "You just have to go and start shit don't you?"
"Says you," Karin scoffed. "You're always the troublemaker round here."
"Troublemaker? You almost choked Kabuto to death!"
"He had it coming, the loser. Serves him right for digging his nose into where it doesn't belong."
Naruto stopped walking, unable to believe what he was hearing. "So let me get this right, all because your friend decided to take an interest in me, you don't like that and you blackmail my friend? I'm sorry you're just pathetic."
"I'm pathetic, look at yourself! Runt of the fucking litter! No wonder my mum always thought you'd turn out horrible! Must be the jackass of a father-!"
The blonde grew more and more agitated. He was getting sick of her disgusting behaviour. "Are you going to shut the fuck up or are we going to have to resolve this another way?"
Karin laughed darkly. "You're actually threatening me, Uzumaki? You'd actually hit me? Wow, and you call yourself a man."
"Keep talking about my dad and let's see where we end up huh?"
"Guys!" Shouted another voice.
The two turned around to see their group. Ino, Sakura, and Shikamaru accompanied by Shino.
"Oh great, a party!" Karin said sarcastically. "So, Ino, you lied to my face and dated this jackass without telling me?"
Naruto snapped. "Why are you belittling her for own choices!? The question should be, why are you so concerned?"
"I will admit." Shino observed. "This behaviour is borderline obsessive compulsive."
"Oh give it a rest, nerd!" The red-haired girl spat at him. "I've heard enough for one day. Sakura, Ino, are we leaving or what?"
"We're not done here, Karin," Naruto responded through gritted teeth. "You're just walking away like nothing happened!?"
"Fuck you," came her reply. "I'm expelled for two weeks so I'm glad I don't have to see your sorry ass for a while. You and that freak Kabuto can both enjoy time together."
Sakura and Ino, both stuck in the middle of all this, remained silent. The latter however felt something breaking up inside her. It was like her heart was being repeatedly stabbed and she was trying to stop the pain from getting any worse.
"I can't do this!" She cried out suddenly. She had reached breaking point.
"What?" Karin spoke "you got something to say as well, Ino? The fact of the matter is that you had the balls to date this asshole behind my back is one thing, and now, you're siding with him? My best friend of seven years, who I've stuck by no matter how tough things got, goes out and lies to me with a guy whose family practically ruined my life? It's just-"
"-There you go! Making it all about you again!" The blonde boy shouted "Why must EVERYTHING be about you!? In case you haven't realised, there are more people in the world then you and your fucking ego. Grow the fuck up!"
"Oh that does it!" Karin stood her ground, cracking her knuckles loudly. "You think I'm going to take anymore shit from you!? You son of a-!"
Just then Ino stepped in between the two of them, and slapped both of them swiftly across the face.
"I can't do this!" She repeated, her eyes now full of pain and heartache. "I'm sick of this! Sick of being something I'm not…" Tears began falling down her cheeks. "The pair of you…" She looked at both of them with daggers. "You don't get to decide what's right for me!"
"Ino, I-" He rubbed where she had slapped him, the sting of her hand still residing on his cheek.
"Save it." She said to the blonde boy. "I'm not doing this anymore. And you…" Turning to Karin, who was stunned at her friend's reaction.
"My so-called 'best' friend, who I thought would be more happy for me because I've grown to care for someone a lot, instead berates me because of family related bullshit!? Both of you need to sort it out or just let it die. I'm done here."
Without a second thought, she heaved her backpack on her and marched straight out the front door of the building.
"Ino, wait!" Sakura called out, trying to reason with her friend. "Ino!"
The rest of the group stood there, unsure of what to say or do with the situation that had occurred before them.
Moments later, Kiba Inuzuka made his way to the school. He noticed Ino marching down the road looking quite distressed and upset.
"Hey Ino, what's-"
She marched on, directly barging into him and almost knocking him over.
He blinked with a look of confusion, as he headed towards the front doors.
What the hell's wrong with her?
As he entered the school building, he was greeted by the appearance of Naruto, Sakura, Karin, Shikamaru and Shino.
"What's going on here?" He asked, noticing the air seemed quite hostile.
"I was just leaving," Naruto said uninterestedly, "My question is, where have you been all this time?"
"It seems that this situation has become...unpredictable." Shino said darkly. "Naruto, I apologise for how you got caught up in all this. Please be aware I was only trying to help a comrade. I'll see you round."
Naruto said nothing as he watched him walk away.
Meanwhile, Karin herself had had enough of everything so far.
"Come on Sakura, let's leave these losers to their own bullshit." She grabbed her satchel and headed out the doors. Sakura slowly followed her momentarily, not before mouthing a small 'sorry' to Naruto. Her apology was received with an angry stare from the blonde as she left.
"Kiba, let's go. We have a lot to talk about." Naruto turned his gaze to his other friend. "Shikamaru?"
"I'll make myself scarce." The spiky haired boy muttered exhaustedly. "This whole day has become more troublesome than it's worth. I'm going to try and find Kabuto, make sure he's not too shaken up."
Naruto nodded. "Thanks Shikamaru."
Naruto and Kiba left promptly, the two of them remaining quiet until they were a few feet away from the school.
"What the hell happened to you?" Kiba wondered what had happened since he had been gone for most of the day. "And what's going on with Ino?"
Naruto looked down at the ground beneath him. Touching his cheek again, he felt pain in his own heart start to cut, and a wave of heartbreak flowed through him.
He had fallen for her.
And now, he had lost her for what seemed permanently.
Ino arrived home and headed upstairs without saying a word to either of her parents. She slammed her bedroom door shut, crashing into bed and burying her face into her pillow.
"Fuck them!" She cried loudly as she began sobbing into her pillow. "Fuck the lot of them! Fuck everything!"
Tears began staining her pillow as an outburst of crying flowed like a dam bursting.
All I wanted was to just find out who I was and try to be myself, not what everyone else wanted. And look where that got me. Why did I even try?
As she rolled over on her bed and looked up at the ceiling, an image of Naruto flashed in her mind. The moment when they were about to kiss.
Naruto...
To be continued…
Song Reference: Lost in the Echo - Linkin Park - Living Things (2012)
A/N: Is this the end? No, but we'll be there soon enough. Is it over between Naruto and Ino? No, not yet. You'll have to wait and see.
Reason for this title? To really sum Ino's emotion and how she feels 'lost in the echo' of everyone else trying to be her own person instead of what others what her to be.
Thanks again to Sommernacht for helping to beta and check things over, in addition for the extra characterisation of Shino too.
Chapter 10 will be a Kiba-focused chapter, as you're probably wondering, where the hell was he during this confrontation and gives me a chance to sort things out for Chapter 11 onwards.
Take care and see you soon.