Given Up
Disclaimers I don't own Naruto, or RWBY, or LINKIN PARK, please support any to all official releases.
Another day at work, another day of dealing with a splitting headache and sleep deprivation that Naruto had to deal with, and frankly it was reflecting his work performance.
It had gotten so bad that this past week, Naruto had chose to stay at the office during lunch break and have an on duty lunch break to catch up and review his work.
Just as he was finish reviewing and editing his work, he got told he was needed immediately in the bosses office right now, as he vocally groaned and peeled himself off his desk.
If I'm luck, they'll demote me to the mail room where I can catch some Z's, thought Naruto as he made the begrudgingly long walk towards his bosses office.
"Mr. Uzumaki, please have a seat" said his boss as Naruto took a seat across from his bosses desk, where plaque on his desk was his bosses name, who kept a smile where Naruto failed.
"Do you know why I called you here" asked his boss, "Can't say I'd be lying to myself know that my work performance has been… well shit Mr. Ironwood" said Naruto.
"And why do you suppose that is" asked Ironwood, "Because I look tired as hell as much as I feel" said Naruto.
"I see. Well I've been patient enough to a lot of my new employees, especially those not use to the truly big city life, however, work still needs to get done as we got quotas to meet and lesser time for excuses and accidents" said Ironwood.
"Alright so… what do you want me to do about it" asked Naruto as he was getting a little more frustrated at the situation by the minute, "That's up to you, drink more coffee, drink a Red Bull, hell I don't care at this point, do something" said Ironwood as Naruto's mind drifted away.
The moment he had said he didn't care at this point, got Naruto's mind to click as he began to ask himself, why does he still stay here, why is he trying so hard to make a life in an environment that was harming his health, and more importantly, what the fuck is wrong with him.
"Uzumaki…Uzumaki…Mr. Uzumaki did you hear anything I just said right now" asked Ironwood as Naruto began to get up from his chair and give his boss a frustrated sigh.
"I quit" stated Naruto simple as that, leaving his boss confused, "Excuse me" asked Ironwood.
"Dude, I quit I'm tired of coming to work here, and more importantly I'm just fucking tired working in this city" said Naruto as he began to head to the door.
"Mr. Uzumaki, I get it you're sleep deprived, but think about what you're doing here" said Ironwood as Naruto stopped in his tracks and let out a tired heavy sigh.
"I don't know how you want me to say this, but I quit, I resign, I've given up, because I'm sick of this feeling, on top of there being nothing for you to say, so for the benefit for my own mental health while I'm asking myself what the fuck is wrong with me, I'm gonna grab my crap, and catch the first bus out of this city and back to California" said Naruto as he tuned out his boss to grab his things.
Not having much in terms of office décor, Naruto had left the office with his tie undone, his sleeved rolled up, and his jacket in hand.
Feeling a heavy burden off his shoulders, he decided that he was better off spending the rest of the morning back home in his little hole in the wall, thinking he could get some sleep, with the help of some over the counter narcotics.
Just as he had finished purchasing his sleeper aids, he spotted a familiar face across the street.
Deciding he might as well share the news that he's not long for this city, Naruto made his way towards Ruby as she was eating herself some pizza before she looked up to see her favorite fan.
"Sup stranger, shouldn't you be at work" asked Ruby with a cheeky smile, "Yeah, funny enough I decided that today was the day I was going to quit, because god, am I tired" said Naruto with a forced laugh.
"Aw, and here I feel bad for not having a copy of my music to give you" said Ruby sympathetically, "I've no doubt you're going to be a star someday, just keep pursuing your dreams and believe in yourself" said Naruto as he felt a bit embarrassed about saying something so cheesy.
"So when do you plan to leave" asked Ruby, "No idea, just soon before I gotta pay next months rent and before I'm out of money" said Naruto.
"Well you better say goodbye before leaving ok" said Ruby, "Will do" said Naruto as he chose to walk Ruby back to her regular spot, where they were unfortunately greeted by the sigh of officer Cinder as she was waiting for them.
"Miss Rose, how're you doing" greeted Cinder as she began to approach Ruby, "What do you want officer Cinder, you know it hasn't been a week yet" said Ruby.
"Very true, however I've been told by my superiors that you're no longer welcome to squat here and perform at the moment, so out of the kindness of my heart, I came here to tell you that you're better off finding a different spot for while" said Cinder before she eyed Naruto again.
"Citizen, I believe you and I met, but never got formerly acquainted" said Cinder as she began to eye the bag that Naruto had in his hands.
"What's that you got there, better not be some sort of illicit drug that you and miss Rose here plan to do now, is it" asked Cinder as Naruto began to frown.
"It's Z-Quill, I'm tired as all hell and I could use something to help me out" said Naruto as he opened the bag to show her the contents.
"Hmm, well so long as you don't intend to turn that stuff into methanphetomenes you're in the clear citizen, however I should advise you to stay away from Miss Rose from now on" said Cinder before turning her eyes back on Ruby.
"I'll allow you both to enjoy your date, but just know that come tomorrow I better not hear a word of you bumming a single note on that guitar of yours" warned Cinder as Ruby could only give a curt nod.
Without saying a word, Cinder began to turn her back and walk away from the duo as Naruto shot her the bird, before Ruby quickly dropped his hand to prevent himself from getting arrested on grounds of aggravated provocation.
"Naruto, please she's not worth it, and in all honesty she's doing me a favor in the long run" said Ruby as Naruto began to sneer, "What she's doing is called harassment and abuse of authority to extort you of your earnings" stated Naruto as Ruby couldn't deny the truth.
"Please just… let it go, for me" pleaded Ruby as Naruto rolled his eyes, "Dude, I grew up in L.A. and every local there has one shared mentality when it comes to dealing with corrupted cops" said Naruto frustratingly.
"And what would that be" asked Ruby, "Disobey them while shouting, Fuck the Police!" exclaimed Naruto towards Cinder's direction as Ruby began to pull him aside to avoid getting them both in trouble.
"Naruto calm down, you're clearly tired and are not thinking straight" said Ruby as Naruto let out a sigh.
"Maybe you're right just… maybe" said Naruto as Ruby began to peak over the corner to make sure Cinder had left, before letting out a sigh of relief.
"You should get home right now and get some sleep" said Ruby, "What about you" asked Naruto, "I'm fine, it's not like I'm not used to finding some place to squat at like she said" said Ruby putting on another forced smile.
Naruto didn't give it much thought as to what he did next on account of him not only feeling bold, but otherwise tired of having to deal with work up till now and the sight of seeing Ruby being harassed and extorted.
Grabbing her hand, Ruby was left speechless as Naruto began to take her back to his home.
"Where are we going" asked Ruby, "My place, I'm tired of dealing with the worlds bullshit right now, so please don't argue with me and just entertain me for a minute" said Naruto.
Eventually Naruto would let go of his hold or Ruby after a few blocks before arriving at his apartment, wasn't anything fancy mind you, though granted a lot nicer than these one bed rooms and bathrooms that a lot of these places provide.
Once at his apartment, Naruto began to lock the door behind him and toss his belongings on the couch as Ruby was left to take in the apartment itself.
It could be best described as Spartan as there were hardly anything that stood out as he only had basic furniture with only but a handful of family photos scattered around.
As for his kitchen, besides the small mountain of empty cups of instant noodles on the table, it looked like it was hardly used.
"Hey, feel free to watch some tv, I'm gonna see if I can get some proper sleep now" said Naruto as he took a long swig from his bottle of Z-Quill.
"Hold on, you may want to take this with you as well" said Ruby as she began to dig through her pocket and tossed Naruto a small case of pills with not label in an orange container.
"What the hell is this" asked Naruto in concern, "Don't worry it's only Advil, it'll help you not only getting yourself some good shut eye, but also make you feel well rested once you wake up" said Ruby.
Looking at the container of over the counter drugs, along with a concerned look as to what Ruby had described to him just now, Naruto definitely had questions as he began to open his mouth, but stopped when Ruby spoke.
"Hey, you told me to entertain you by coming here, now entertain me by trying to get some good sleep" said Ruby as Naruto not only had no room for arguments, but honestly felt too tired to even care.
Popping in a single pill in his mouth, he swallowed it before making his way towards his room, before crawling in bed and let the effects of these drugs take over him.
Later
By the time Naruto woke up, it was to already 5 o'clock, but more importantly he felt great as he began to sit up and let out a yawn.
From there he changed out of his usual white collard and tie business look and changed into his normal weekend clothing, consisting of jeans, a black t-shirt and an orange bomber jacket.
Making his way back into the living room, he saw Ruby strumming on her bass with a glass of orange juice on the coffee table.
"Hey" said Naruto, "Hey, how you feeling" asked Ruby, "Great actually, haven't felt this refreshed in a while".
Slowly making his way towards Ruby, Naruto sat down and continued to let the girl play the acoustics on her instrument for the next hour, before Ruby decided to give it all a rest.
"Thank you, you've all been a wonderful audience" said Ruby jokingly as Naruto began to clap.
"So, what you're gonna do now, I know you said you plan to go back home soon, but my question is how and when I guess" said Ruby.
"Honestly I'm thinking about probably leaving here through the scenic route, just to save me money, plus I can sleep without the help of narcotics this way" said Naruto.
"Yeah, no shit that sleepy time cocktail of yours is actually addictive if done repeatedly, so I advise going cold turkey for a few weeks, less it's urgent" said Ruby.
"Yeah so I gotta ask, how and why do you know how to make something like that in the first place" asked Naruto, "Well as you know, I'm homeless and a squatter and my friends if not fellow artist trying to hustle are the homeless and well some of them I knew used to take these kind of drugs on a daily, while claiming they felt good, they felt sever liver pain and eventually died of liver failure in a vacant ally" explained Ruby.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry for asking" said Naruto as he was not expecting such a grim answer, "It's alright if anything I learned to keep away from that stuff and try to live a straight edge rockstar life" said Ruby.
"You do know live a straight edge means to either go vegan or vegetarian right miss 20 oz steak" said Naruto, "Hey, meat is meat and it's delicious" said Ruby.
"Fair enough" said Naruto with a chuckle, "Well since you're planning to leave, I should really get going and-" said Ruby as she soon caught herself in a hug.
"You're more than welcome to stay here till I plan to leave, which won't be a while, besides I can't let a girl I know well enough to be out on the streets any time soon" said Naruto as Ruby began to grimace a little.
"Thank you Naruto, I mean it, but the last thing I want is for any of us to get attached now" said Ruby as she was really trying to distance herself from Naruto as he's honestly not the first person to have tried and help her.
"I get it, honestly I do, but like I said I can't on good conscious leave you out on the streets anymore now, besides you can practice you music in peace here if that means anything" said Naruto as Ruby began to smile.
"It… might" said Ruby teasingly as she gave Naruto a cheeky grin, before he took the opportunity to kiss her this time around.
"Does that seal the deal" asked Naruto as Ruby began to bite down her lip and advert her gaze as if she was planning to say something, before opening her mouth.
"Only if you plan to make dinner" said Ruby, "Fair enough, though I don't know much on the making as much as I'm thinking about picking up some takeout" said Naruto as he began to get up with Ruby following him in pursuit.
Throughout the rest of their evening they enjoyed themselves some burgers before returning back to Naruto's apartment where they both began to enjoy some movies together in peace, cause before Naruto's departure, he plans to expose Cinder for the corrupted cop that she was, and make sure that Ruby would be in good care before he'd say goodbye.
There you guys have it, another chapter down, and one that I wasn't sure which direction it was going, granted I had the beginning and ending set in mind, but the middle, well let's just say I want to avoid any unnecessary fluff as much as possible while giving some proper character development.
Also I should mention to you guys now before anyone starts accusing me of anything, drugs… aren't always the answer, especially that sleepy time cocktail I put in there, because honestly I know of this based on firsthand experience when I myself was in a dark place, and didn't know I was trying to kill myself slowly, because I was dealing with my own demons at that time and was severely suicidally depressed, and honestly a good example of letting you guys know what the hell kind of emotions I was going through at the time, I'd suggest reading my 'One More Light' fanfic which is the first of my many NarutoxRWBYxLINKINPARK fanfic series that I still choose to write today.
Until next time guys, be safe, be good people, and please support your local fandom communities.
This has been your Humble Narrator and official author Tobi Yaza. =3