I apologize for the inconvenience. Also, warning, this one isn't easy. Call it the climax, if ya want. It's not really, but that's ok.
Chapter 7: Too Late
Naruto walked the streets. It was a clear sky, a much better departure from the gray swirling clouds that reminded him too much as sacks of floating unhappiness.
Normally, Naruto would've hold himself up inside the apartment and not come out until the next day. But it was suffocating him. He needed to get out.
He couldn't sleep, which wasn't new. He was nine now. Didn't feel any different, didn't change anything. He was still weak. He was still dumb. He was still useless.
It didn't matter.
Nothing ever matters, boy. That's why rules are always doomed to fail. There will always be war, there will always be death, there will always be hate. Get it through your skull.
The sky was scattered with beautiful stars that danced and fluttered in the night sky. The pale moon shone brightly illuminating the path. The night sky was truly spectacular sometimes.
But tonight, it seemed so dull.
Tonight was the night I died.
"You're not dead."
I might as well be.
Naruto quickened his pace when he heard noises behind him. Not tonight. Not tonight. Not tonight.
But fate rarely gave him a break.
"Hey demon kid."
It was the same group of kids every time. Naruto has known them for as long as he could remember. Though he hadn't learned any of their 'd all grown up in the same nursery. Their parents didn't survive.
The leader had dark black hair and dark purple eyes. Eyes that burned with hate and malice. His face was young but he was a year older than Naruto. Well, yesterday he was.
The ones beside him looked similar to him. Naruto had often wondered if they were siblings or nature decided to be lazy and copy/paste. Though they weren't duplicates. You could tell that some of them were heartier than the others, specifically the one in charge.
They hated him. Ever since he'd known them, there wasn't a second that they didn't spend making him feel worthless.
Though that wasn't a hard thing to do.
Personally, Naruto didn't hate them. Didn't think he ever could, even if he wanted to.
Whenever he saw the hate in their eyes or feel their unrelenting anger, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
He was chasing them so much pain by just being alive.
You're so infuriating, you know that?
"This is the day, the day y-you...killed them. And you just walk around like you didn't do anything wrong?! You're sick!"
His voice quivered, whether from choking down tears or actual fear, he couldn't tell.
Naruto felt a lump swell in his throat. He didn't want to hurt them. He didn't want to upset them…
But he never gets what he wants.
Never.
Naruto turned around and faced them. He was still staring at the ground, avoiding the pained and aggravated faces.
And their eyes.
"We told you to leave. And you didn't. So now you're gonna see what happens when you disobey your masters."
Naruto hadn't expected the club. Never in all the time that he'd known him had they ever used weapons.
So the metal bat that slammed into his chest was shocking. The pain was enough to make him stumble and lose his balance. Naruto coughed up blood as he fell into some cardboard boxes.
Why did he always end up in the alleyway?
Because you're street filth.
Another slam impacted him in his gut. The pain fired his insides and made him feel like he was burning. Or was that Kurama? Sometimes, he would make his body sting with heat and a burning sensation. But he only did that when he was mad. Which didn't happen often.
So it probably wasn't that.
It hurt.
It hurt so bad. The kind of pain that just kept going. The kind that wouldn't let you sleep. It seared his skin, blood welling from the impacts. He probably didn't look good. He laid there, in the boxes, gritting his teeth to the point where it felt like they might break. He hadn't been able to suppress the cry from the first impact but he was managing a lot better.
His body felt so limp, like he couldn't move anything, even if he tried.
His skin felt so hot and sticky from warm blood. It irritated him. But he had no want to move.
Another hit, the sound of metal slashing against flesh. He heard it before he felt it. It sounded sorta like smacking down a particularly heavy box. But the feeling hit hard. An unbearable sting and absolute backlash.
It was awful. It was painful.
It was scary.
Scardy cat.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, waiting for the next blow.
But it didn't come.
At least, not how he'd expected. One of the kids grabbed his neck and yanked it upward.
Naruto opened his eyes, confused and scared as he felt something shoved onto his face. He felt kids pin him down.
For once in life, he fought back.
Naruto struggled against his confinements, too scared and bewildered to care. But they're hands suspended his weak body, pressing into his wrists.
One of them continued latching whatever it was to his face, so tight that he was having a hard time breathing. It was made of leather and metal. It was so heavy, almost smothering.
Naruto had never been so scared.
After whatever they'd put on was securely tied to his face, he backed off and told the others do to the same.
"There, you can't hurt anyone anymore. Be a good boy and get the he*l out of here."
Naruto didn't wait. He scrambled to his feet. He felt his legs crumble below him.
But he kept running.
He kept running and running and running.
Finally, he reached his apartment and slammed the door shut. He didn't bother locking it.
Such a crybaby.
Naruto didn't care. He cried. He sobbed into himself like he'd never done before.
He hadn't cried since he was five, when he finally realized what they meant by 'jinjuriki'. That he had murdered, and killed, and that no one would ever love him.
The day when he was so alone that he wished for someone, anyone to just talk to him.
The worst mistake he'd ever made.
Don't go crying over spilt milk.
The thing on his face kept keeping him from burying himself into his shirt.
Naruto struggled with it, trying desperately to pull it from his face. He dug into his skin and finally yanked it off. It toppled to the floor. The metal shining in the moonlight, blood running down from where he'd taken it off.
It's a muzzle.
He sobbed, didn't restrain himself.
He cried because he was scared. He cried because he couldn't sleep. He cried because he knew that he deserved it, because he deserved a lot worse. He cried because he could. Because it felt good.
He cried because he was pathetic and that's what pathetic things do.
After a while, the tears dried out. His shirt was soaked and his eyes hurt so, soo much. His head throbbed from too much light in the pitch black room.
Naruto laid there, leaning on the door.
What was the point?
It would be better… if he wasn't here.
What are you doing?
Naruto picked himself up and put the muzzle in the closet, closing it tight. He didn't wanna do this anymore. He was going to end this.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
He knew a place high enough. Should do the trick.
Stop it, boy! Don't you dare think that! Don't make me angry!
Naruto argued with himself on whether or not to write a note. He decided not to. Anything he said would just be dumb.
No one cared anyway.
NARUTO, STOP IT THIS INSTANT OR I'LL-
"You'll what?"
…
Just one look. That's it. Then he'd force himself to sleep at home and get some rest.
He'd told himself to stay inside but he just couldn't help it. He wanted to see it.
His mother's tea shop.
At least, where is once was. It had long since been replaced by a flower shop. Ino's family owned the business and kept it going.
Iruka wasn't sure what he was expecting. He'd seen the flower shop so many times before and it never brought him anything but a shrug.
So why on earth did seeing it sound like a good idea? Or even just a logical one.
The moon glowed a depressingly pale color, illuminating his path. He'd memorized the street at an early age so walking to it in the dark wasn't a challenge.
Though, the sky was already brightening. So it didn't really matter that there wasn't much light.
The flower shop was located near the old water tower. It hadn't been used in such a long time that Iruka wasn't sure why it was still there. It was pretty big.. While it wasn't the tallest thing, falling from that height would definitely do some damage. If you landed wrong, you could die instantly.
Iruka and his friends thought that it was a great idea to hang around there when they were kids. Showed that they were fearless and if danger ever came knocking at their door, they'd be ready.
How wrong they were.
Sometimes, they'd have a little game where they'd see how close someone would stand to the edge. The winner had to pay for their next trip to a restaurant. Though he always got a thorough lecture from his parents afterwards.
It wasn't unusual to see kids climbing it since the ladder was easily accessible.
So when he saw a silhouetted figure on top, he thought nothing of it.
That is, until he heard it. A sound that would haunt him til the day he died.
A loud, deafening thud followed by the softest scream he'd ever heard.