AN: Hello all! Been a while. Nothing really to say here. I felt a sudden urge to write again, so here I am. To be quite honest, I don't fully remember the full story plot I'd concocted when initially starting this story, but I don't really think I need to. Thankfully, I remember the main elements I've added, and I believe I can easily spin off a compelling story with what I have built so far.

Anyhow, without further ado, here's the next chapter!


XXXX


It was once said that life is similar to a man looking to preserve a pool of water in the palm of his hands, an ultimately futile gesture, for no matter how meticulous one would be to such a task, it'd only be a matter of time before it slips through the cracks.

'Living', there's a sort of irony to that word, considering the inevitable fate that awaits all human-kind, wouldn't the proper term to use be 'dying' instead?

He released a breath, slightly misty from the cool night air. While the crackling heat of the hearth did provide a modicum of warmth, it didn't quite compare to the biting chill that befell the hospice.

The windows were left open, perhaps as a way to prevent the air from being contained, considering the amount of injured patients from the devastation wrought by the orcs, it's best that could've been done with the space being so few, and the workers being so… understaffed.

It's far better to have the minor discomforts of the cold over a potential epidemic.

Of course, his ROOT training had all but dulled the effects of such… inconveniences, yet the same could not be said with the volunteer soldiers here, namely the blue-haired priestess resting on the chair beside him.

Naruto's gaze flits down, his eyes transfixed on her features. Even as she slept, hunched on the table with her cheek on his mattress, Merry carried an undeniable air of grace about her. Lips slightly parted, accompanied by the steady intervals of her breathing. She atleast had a blanket wrapped around her — staff provided, he assumed, considering it's similar in make to his own sheets here.

Suddenly, Merry scrunched her brows, and shivered slightly — almost as if to prove his earlier musings. It's… foolish really, she need not endure such things. Her presence here would do nothing to accelerate his healing while potentially jeopardizing hers, it definitely would've been far better for her to simply rest in her own abode.

He scooted up, using his elbows to serve as a pivot. It's a much more difficult task really, but he'd expected as much. His arms, his torso, his whole being felt sluggish and heavy, but he's used to it. Eventually, he'd propped himself up to sit, his covers falling to reveal his heavily bandaged torso. Naruto hoped they were able to salvage his clothes atleast, there's nothing quite as comparable in this world to his ANBU gear set.

He shook his head, turning toward Merry again, before carefully lifting his covers, and letting it drape gently over her form, essentially double wrapping her. Even with this sluggish body, he's able to accomplish the task without awaking her.

As he lowered himself back down, he watched her troubled visage fall back to its serene, and peaceful slumber though she did end up scooting slightly, leaving a fringe of her bangs to slightly cover her countenance.

Naruto's brows furrowed, he's… disappointed, and there-in came a desire. It's a pointless one that benefited no one, and yet, it couldn't be denied. Once again, he went through the inconvenient motions of lifting himself up, this time, merely to lightly swipe those blue tresses back, leaving his view once again unhindered.

As he fell back down on his back, he couldn't help but muse yet again. Such actions were… needless, inconsequential — Danzo had drilled to him the importance of making every move, every motion count. But even so, here… now.

He sort of… understood, perhaps. Just slightly — why it's worth calling 'living'.


XXXX


"Another round for Team Renji!" Loud cheers broke around the tavern, a chorus of toast followed by a fountain of ale spraying about.

"Alterna's heroes!" — "Wooh, Team Renji!"— "The Orc Lord Slayer!"

"Renji! — Renji! — Renji!" They chanted, stomping the hardwood floor in unison.

A few patrons danced jovially to the lively strums of the lute, tankards were strewn about as they immersed themselves to their heart's content.

"Fu~ fu~ fu~ fu~" Sassa chuckled through a mouthful of skewered meat. Fanning herself with a small fan made out of feathers. "Oh my, oh my. Don't mind if I do." She said as she spoiled herself with yet another tankard of ale.

"Oi, Sassa restrain yourself. You're giving us all a bad rep." Adachi chastised, it was quite hypocritical since he too held his own mug of mead.

"Tsch! Lay off me, Adachi!" Sassa scoffed, chugging the drink all the way down, and wiping her lips off the leftover scum. "What's the big deal anyway? We just slew a Monster-Rex, a class A Monster Rex! Even some soldiers from the older generations can't brag about this! So take that stick out of your—"

"Sassa, language." Ron shook his head, giving her a disapproving look, to which she rolled her eyes, waving her hands up in a 'whatever' motion.

"You people are so—! Urhh! Why don't you go bother Chibi instead." Sassa wailed, pointing at the priestess blankly eating some sort of sweet pastry.

Said priestess merely glanced at her once and turned back to her sweets.

Amidst their clamor, Renji sat silently. None of the cheers, food, drinks or other forms of amenities seemed to interest him, his gaze solely focused on the party at the table across from his. More specifically the blonde with an arm wrapped in a sling.

He caught a shiny black round object. It looked eerily familiar to a… bomb?

Unlike the clamor surrounding them, this group stood in contrast as there was little to no people hovering around them.

'...you'll know what to do.'

To be praised for an achievement they didn't accomplish.

"Oi, blondie. Time to go!" His words fell on deaf ears as the blonde lunatic jumped over another swipe of the Monster-Rex, charging head first at the giant.

But in reality they just…

Black liquid drenched the Monster-Rex from head to toe. A huge below escaped its lips followed by a painful smacking sound as it finally hit its target. He didn't waste anymore time, and lit the fuse, throwing it directly at it.

"Renji! — Renji! — Renji!"

Boom!

Renji gritted his teeth, clenching one of the table legs in a white-knuckle grip. These damned ingraits, their praises might as well be a constant chant of mockery!

Creek!

Such a flawed, and unimaginative system. There's no greater shame than having to carry the prestige meant for another!

"Erhm, you okay there, Renji?" Sassa cleared her throat, there's obvious concern laced in her voice at seeing him push his stool aside and stand all of a sudden.

It wasn't just her, his whole group was alarmed by his actions, yet right now he didn't care to answer, there's something more important he needed to address.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he moved forward, brushing past the eccentric soldiers congratulating him and clapping him on the back.

Congratulations... for what, stealing a kill?

His frown deepened, shoving them away more aggressively now.

"H-Hey, watch it man! No need to be pushy. Sheesh!" yelled some nobody. He didn't care to look.

The group that deals the final blow reaps the rewards. That's the way loot and merit system worked in this world.

As he neared his destination, he observed that the group has yet to notice him.

Reaching into his pockets, there's a crinkling sound before he drops a bag full of gold coins on the table.

That got their attention.

For good reason. The bag was bursting with coins, 50 in all. Enough to live a full-time life of mediocrity here in Alterna.

"Eh-Ehhh!" screamed the lanky red-head. Actually, he recognized him. In fact he recognized most of them, they're from the same batch as him. Manato's group or rather was Manato's group.

He clicked his teeth, rubbing the back of his head.

"You…" Renji turned to look at the priestess, "What's the meaning of this?" She asked with a hint of suspicion, her gaze drifting between him and the sack.

Renji huffed, "What else? I don't live for false glories, 'princess'. Even if it was my group who'd dealt the coup de grace in the end, it wasn't our kill. Had it just been us, we wouldn't have won, I am not delusional. We both know who truly defeated that Rex." He gave a pointed look at the blonde beside her.

Merry glared at him, "Call me princess again, gramps."

Renji's brow twitched, before forcing a smile as he looked down at her. "Hngh…?" That crooked smile on his lips might as well be a sneer. "That a threat, princess?"

"I don't think I misspoke, maybe you need to get your ears checked, old timer?" Merry, quick to snap back as always. She stood up meeting him at eye level. "I'd cast Heal on it but I'm afraid to waste my reserves on someone who might keel over any second now."

This little…

Renji repressed his annoyance, withholding another retort.

"Spunky brat…." There's a hint of grumbling there, he didn't push it, however. Despite their exchange, he found her candid display preferable over these soldiers looking to share a piece of his 'glory'.

It wasn't long before Renji's attention shifted to the blonde who'd kept a blank look throughout Merry and Renji's whole exchange.

"You know… I was wrong about you, blondie. I had thought you were nothing but a nuisance."

There's a brief pause as Renji gauges the blonde's response, his gaze shifting slightly to the cast before meeting the blonde's gaze, but he returns nothing except for that same blank stare. Not that it bothered him, he'd met other soldiers who had far more… eccentric quirks.

"Once you recover, fight me."

It's a blunt, and straight-forward request.

"Renji…? What's this all about?" It's the thief who spoke first, well… the other thief besides the blonde. He recognized him actually.

"You lot are from… Manato's group, aren't you?" There's a sudden shift in the atmosphere at his question, "Ah… I apologize, I've spoken to him frequently here while he was…" Renji cut himself off, shaking his head. "He was a fine… priest, hardworking." He clears his throat, "Anyhow, from your reactions, it seems that that blondie and princess here, have neglected to inform you all of their involvement in the siege."

"What does it matter? You know the rules." Merry retorted.

"It does matter." Naruto rebutted. A response that immediately took the attention of the whole table it seemed. They waited for a few seconds for him to elaborate further, but he didn't seem keen on explaining his point.

Thus, Renji continued, sending a brief snort Merry's way, "Easy for you to say, you're not the one burdened by these false praises, even blondie agrees with me."

Unfortunately, the priestess had her attention focused solely on Naruto, her brows slightly furrowed in confusion still.

Cue another grumble from the armored knight… regardless, Renji turned toward the rest of the group, "Look, I'll make it short. While it's true that my group did brave the front and I dealt the deciding blow on the Rex, this whole escapade was planned by this chump." An accusatory finger was pointed toward Naruto

"It's him who faced the Orc Lord, him who'd entrapped it to be drenched by oil, and him who'd given me that… bomb." His brows furrowed. As far as he could recall, he'd never seen anything like it, but how exactly did he know the name of that strange explosive — Renji shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, he killed it. But, these people don't listen to reason, I mean— baah! I don't know who invented this 'final blow' rule but this whole system is insulting."

From the looks of things, what he said was a sort of revelation for the group, but they didn't seem surprised. Well, considering that this damned blonde is their party member, he supposed such things wouldn't really be a shocker.

"Ah! So that's what happened to you, Mr. Whiskers! Yume was wondering what could've hurt Whiskers so much, but it all makes sense now!" Her lips pursed into a small pout, "Mou, Merry-chan was being wage with the details!"

"U-Uhm. I think you meant vague, Yume." Moguzo corrected. The group's tank seemed to have healed enough to function well again, besides a few burn scars, he looks to have recovered fully.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's this about killing a Rex, were you holding out on us Merry-" A sharp glare was sent Ranta's way. "-san." He quickly added. "E-Even if there's no prize money, by manner of association, I can still claim that the Great Ranta's party was involved with taking down a Monster-Rex!" Ranta stood up, declaring with a loud voice, "Do you hear that you all?! Feast your eyes, the Great Ranta-sama took down his first Monster-Rex. Muwahaha-ack!"

A well-placed tug on the back of his armor plate, courtesy of Yume, sent him unceremoniously back to his seat. "W-What the hell, Yume?!"

"Scummy… Yume is embarrassed to be associated with this scummy Ranta, please stop embarrassing us."

"You—!"

"Enough." Merry's sharp interjection immediately cut off any retort from Ranta. Her narrowed gaze then shifts over to Renji. "Your feelings aside, you know the rules. The gesture is… appreciated, but we didn't come here to argue about Alterna's looting, and glory system. My companion here has just been discharged and we'd much appreciate if—"

"No." Naruto interjected once again, "You can continue Ranta, and it's okay to argue, I mind it not."

This time, Merry was stumped, her gaze now transfixed fully unto Naruto, though the blonde seemed more keen in asking Renji a question over addressing her silent inquiry.

"Renji," He began, brows furrowed, "In the battlefield, did you happen to see another individual in the immediate vicinity?"

Renji blinks, "An individual?"

The blonde nodded.

Renji's forehead creased, brows furrowed, before shaking his head, "No, other than the Rex itself, I only found you and miss 'sunshine' over there."

"...I see." There's a brief hanging pause as Naruto once again simply stared while Renji awaited for the blonde's response to his earlier request. At some point, Renji got tired of waiting and he assumed that perhaps the blonde forgot his earlier inquiry, only to have Naruto beat him to it.

"Very well." Naruto nodded, "Once I have aptly recovered, I'll meet you for a spar."

Finally! A wide grin tugs on Renji's lips, "Looking forward to it, blondie."


XXXX


"...so like Yume says, it can be a fun bonding activity!" Yume declared with a jovial lilt, idly spinning a tipped over bottle with her index finger.

Renji had long returned back to his party, still the overall 'star' of the party. It's way past midnight now, yet the patrons seemed more lively than ever — considering they'd triumphed and overcame a bleak fate not long prior, it's completely understandable.

"The rules are simple! First, we have a spinner who spins the bottle." She quickly demonstrated with a quick nudge of her finger, prompting it to spin and land over at… "Shihoru!" Yume exclaimed, causing the wizard to jump slightly in place. A single finger was pointed toward her as the archer continued further, "Since the bottle landed on you, Yume gets to ask you a question! Or if not, Yume gets to give you a dare."

"W-Waah..?" The poor girl seemed to still be comprehending her thoughts — thankfully, Yume waved the back of her hand in dismissal, "No worries, no worries~ Shihoru, this is a demonstration for now, you see! Now next, the person on my left spins… Haru-kun!"

"A-Ah… okay," he replied, giving it a spin, this time landing on Ranta.

"Uh…" Haruhiro's hand reflexively came up to scratch the side of his head, "I don't really have anything that comes to min—"

"Haaaah…?" Rannta interjected, "Oi, Haruhiro, are you stupid?! Will you really pass on the opportunity to question the Great Ranta-sama? You're throwing away the chance of a lifetime. I am irresistible. I.R.R.E.S—"

"Okay, okay! Fine! I'll ask you something." Haruhiro felt a tinge of annoyance growing in his chest, but he dismissed it for now. Calm now, Haruhiro. Ranta was just being Ranta as always.

"Weird… for someone irresistible, all the girls in the tavern seem to have a way of resisting you when you flirt with them, nyan~!" Thank Lumiaris for Yume's interjection, he'd only agreed to shut Ranta up, and was going to ask a fairly generic question like 'What's your dream', but then knowing Ranta, it's going to move to another tangent.

Yume's response seemed to have stumbled Ranta, as the dread knight suddenly froze, "Er… well, you see… even-even the best of the best can falter once in a while."

"Mmm… I see! So even the irresistible of the irresistable like Ranta claims to be can be resisted too, yes?" She mused.

Ranta gritted his teeth, "Kuh…! Quit it with the 'irresistible' jokes Yume! You're only saying that because you don't understand how irresistibly brilliant I am cause you're dumb! Stupid booger! People who get it, get it, you see!" The furious Ranta turned to Merry. "Merry! If you had a choice between me, Moguzo and Haruhiro, who would you choose?!"

He atleastt seemed to have wisely excluded the blonde out of the picture.

"Moguzo." Merry responded without pause. She had a calm, and steady posture as always, though the slight pink hue on her cheeks suggested a level of intoxication… perhaps that's why Ranta was able to get by with simply addressing her as 'Merry' this time.

"Huh…?!" Haruhiro exclaimed.

"W-Waah…?" Moguzo himself seemed to gape like a fish, Merry's response serving to astonish him more than anything else.

"Wa-wa-wa-wa-whaaah…?! What? Whyyy…?! Moguzo over me? That's impossible, virtually impossible I say! No way!" The redhead was beset by straight disbelief.

"He's big and he's charming." She replied, still in that calm and collected manner.

"How does his size come into play here?! Man, that shouldn't matter. Lumiaris! I just lost to Moguzo, damn it!"

"Looks like the irresistible king was… resisted yet again-yan." Yume quipped jovially.

"You…! Stop rubbing it in and stop calling me irresistible, bitsy bits!" Ranta snapped.

More than anything, Haru seemed to be the most shocked by the revelation. To think he'd lose to Moguzo too of all people. But he reasoned, that perhaps, Merry, being gorgeously featured and seeing it everyday — didn't seek such things on others. Not that he's calling himself or Ranta handsome by any means, nor were they unattractive, they were just… mediocre, he supposed.

"...said stop calling it tiny!" Yume whined.

"Then stop instigating and regardless it's true! They're super tiny, the tiniest of the tiniest!"

"Yume is not investigating you!"

"I said instigating you dumb booger!"

"U-Uhm… I think it's Merry's turn to go, right?" Shihoru wisely, but meekly chose to speak up… they're attracting far too many eyes their way.

And on they proceeded.


XXXX


By the time the celebration came to a halt, the morning sun was already peaking over at the hills. Several questions came about, mainly inconsequential things such as hobbies and future dreams. It's pretty tame, really, but perhaps there's still a small bit of hesitation hear in asking further probing questions which… in hindsight, completely defeats the purpose of the game.

The party did seem to have fun though regardless.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Whiskers! Merry-chan!" Yume exclaimed, the rest of the group giving both of them a wave goodbye. It's the current norm so far, it'd be Merry and Naruto left to walk together, considering that the rest of the party lived together while both of them essentially lived in the same wealthier district together.

"That was… good, wasn't it Naru?" Merry broke the silence.

"...No. I disagree."

"Ok enough, out with it." It's said in a voice that left no room for arguments, further emphasized as Merry suddenly took a few steps ahead of him, and met his gaze, face to face.

"Hmm…?"

Merry crossed her arms, squinting her eyes at him, "I've known you for a while, Naru. You've been acting differently today, care to explain why?"

Naruto blinked, a frown settling in his features. He'd been caught too soon, way sooner than he expected... was he really so easy to read...?

Maybe his attempts were too blatant.

Naruto nodded, conceding to her request, "Sorry, I didn't mean to unsettle you, I was merely testing something."

Merry gave him a look, urging him to continue on.

"I've had a thought lately, something confusing and yet I find myself interested in its perplexity" He paused for a moment to contemplate, mulling over whether or not to continue, "...Merry I have a request."

She raised a lone eyebrow, "and that is…?"

He looked at her with a straight face, eyes focused, almost like he was observing her, "I ask of you, will you show me what love is?"

The effect was immediate.

Merry's eyes shot wide open, her cheeks coloring up.

"W-Wha— L-Love?!" There's a sharp inflection in her voice, "wh-where is this coming from?" she spluttered, clutching the hem of her priestly skirt.

Naruto blinked, 'Was it a mistake?' He shook his head, even if it was, there's something inside him that just died to know. A small voice that gradually became louder the more he spent time with her.

"The bartender at Sherry's mentioned that one of the ways you could tell that you love someone is when you argue with them… so I wanted to instigate one," he shifted his lips down to a frown, "but it seems like my efforts yielded no success. Does it have to be mutual?"

It took a moment for Merry to comprehend, but from Naruto's reasoning, she's able to deduce that his constant disagreement was a way to incite an argument between them. Yet the question remains, why?

"N-no, I mean yes… ugh, but-but that's not... that's besides the point! It doesn't work that way, Naru." she rubbed her eyelids with the tip of her fingers, simultaneously covering the flush in her flustered cheeks.

"...I see."

No he doesn't. And it was quite apparent too. He was confused and didn't understand the true weight of what he's asking of her. She didn't need to be a mind-reader to know that it didn't make sense to him, well at the moment, she's fairly confused here too!

"W-What exactly did he say?" she cleared her throat, trying to gain back her momentum.

"He was looking for you at first, then he mentioned something about how lovers must quarrel with each other."

Merry blinked, it took her awhile to understand what the man was implying.

'Lovers… must… quarrel? Lovers... quarrel?'

It took a second for it to sink in before her brow twitched.

She gave him a forced smile, "Remind me to have a word with bartender-san,"

Naruto tilted his head, wondering what brought about the change in demeanor, still he gave her a nod, filling it in his memory bank.

"Regardless, it doesn't work that way. In fact, you're probably better off just forgetting about what he said." she waved her hand dismissively, but a certain hue of red still remained on her cheeks.

A pensive look came upon his features, he seemed to be mulling it over in his head,

"I see...would you elaborate it for me then? If it's not about getting into an argument, how then would you discern if you do indeed love someone?"

Merry averted her gaze from him, trying to control the newly raging blush on her cheeks. She wasn't an idiot. The reasoning behind his interest is obvious to her. Couldn't get anymore obvious with the fact that he tried to instigate an argument with her because he had interpreted it wrong.

But should she really answer when it comes to matters like this? How could she answer it to begin with? It wasn't like she was an expert on it, perhaps she may have felt it long before… but…

'Hayashi, go! Take Merry!'

She flinched a bit, running a hand on her elbow, that one was still a bit too sore for her. Though she had loved her friends, Michiki's death affected her the most. It was the nightmare that persisted, the one she couldn't let go off, the one that haunted—

"Merry, you're shaking, are you alright?"

That woke her up of her stupor, she felt his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. She raised her head up to thank him, only to notice their exact proximity.

'So, close…'

Merry turned her head to the side and placed a hand on her chest — on her rapidly beating heart. They were close enough that she could feel his breath lightly touch her cheek. Lumiaris, what is she doing?

"Shall I take you to the infirmary?" he asked, feeling for the pulse on her neck.

With eyes wide open, Merry jolted back. He was so close… too close, with a trembling hand she managed to push herself away, leaving enough room that she could angle her head up to give him a small smile.

"I-I'm fine. Thank you."

His gaze lingered at her for a bit, before he nodded his head.

"If you say so."

After her thoughts were all cleared out, Merry decided on an answer, "In regards to your question, it's… tricky. There's no actual guaranteed method to it. This is something you'd have to figure out yourself Naru,"

"...I see."


XXXX


Till next time! (Whenever that is)