'Promise'

Chapter 14: Sayonara

"Three!"

The three girls slowly surrounded him, one for each point of a triangle. Hinata was in front of him, with Sakura and Kyoko just behind him on his left and right. Looking around at them, Naruto laughed nervously.

"What's going on?"

The room was silent for a moment. Sasuke and Kanoko were smiling, as sparks of purple energy flew all around them, like a procession of fireflies. An explosion echoed from the other end of the building, slightly rocking the Core room. The gears were beginning to jam as they strained to keep the spell active.

"The three of us have decided. The choice is up to you." Sakura said quietly.

"All of us together, we all love you Naruto. Deeply." Kyoko had a hard time making the words come out, her face was deeply flushed.

"And that's why we decided, if we all love you, and we can't bear the thought of not being with you, then all three of us can share you." Fidgeting with her fingers, Hinata looked at Naruto, her nerves overloaded with the fear of rejection.

"So, like I said, the choice is yours." Sakura gestured to the three girls. "You can choose one. You can choose all three. Or you can choose none."

"But after all the effort we've put into rescuing you, the latter option may not be a good idea." Kyoko instantly replaced her timid look with her usual evil grin.

"That has got to be blackmail." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. After a moment, his serious side kicked back in, aware that they wouldn't be going anywhere until he had made a choice.

But before he could even open his mouth, the building shook again, this time a lot more violently. One of the major gears keeping the spell active had completely shattered, with thousands of electrically charged particles flying everywhere.

"It's time!" Kanoko shouted. "This is when the spell ends! Naruto, if you gotta say something, say it now!"

Another gear exploded with the force of a half-ton weight of exploding tags. All of the occupants were thrown to various sides of the room, gasping for breath.

"Naruto! Please!"

But it was no use. Naruto was slumped, unconscious from where he had hit his head on the wall from the impact. The girls all rushed over to him, Sakura grabbing his shoulders, shaking him furiously.

"Goddammit Naruto! Wake up! We've been through too much hell already for you to be unconscious now!" Her face was in a violent rage, but her eyes were moistening. The answer she had waited for so long was finally here. She was not letting him get out of this.

There were four more gears left. The purple electricity was ripping holes in the room, although strangely it wasn't harming them at all. Hinata and Kyoko were holding on to Naruto's arm and hand, silently pleading for him to wake up.

"...is it... wrong to have all three of you?"

Everything went silent. The girls couldn't hear anything, except Naruto's words. The explosions in the background were now just a dim annoyance.

"I've always thought it was right to just choose one girl. I'm afraid of hurting the three of you if a polygamous relationship goes wrong."

"It's a decision we've all made together Naruto. Maybe someday, you'll have to choose again. But for now, the three of us want to be together with you." Kyoko said above the craziness happening all around them. Bright, orange lights reflected in Naruto's eyes as the room flashed in a spectacle of explosions.

Grabbing the three of them into a tight bear hug, Naruto slowly whispered to the three of them.

"I love you."

Suddenly, everything went silent. The explosions stopped. There was no more purple energy. There wasn't even a room any more, let alone the building in which it was housed. It was just Naruto, standing by himself, in an empty, black space.

Walking forward, he began to pick up sound of someone crying. Following the direction of the noise, he eventually came across a small girl, crouching on the balls of her feet, crying into her eyes.

He instantly recognised the form as a younger version of Naru. Crouching down next to her, he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He tried to sound as comforting as possible, even though he knew that this wasn't a normal reality he was in. The child Naru wiped her eyes, and looked up at him with two big, brown eyes.

"I can't find Keitaro. I've looked everywhere. Where is he?"

Naruto looked around him, but there was no one else in his vicinity.

"I don't know. I can't see him anywhere. Do you want to look for him with me?" The child Naru smiled and nodded at him. Standing up, the pair of them began to walk aimlessly.

"Hey, mister..."

"It's Naruto."

"Naruto? That's sounds almost like my name." She giggled. "But anyway... Naruto? Are we dreaming?"

Taken aback, he looked at her in confusion. Were they still in the dream world?

"I don't know. I would've thought we'd have stopped dreaming now."

"A dream doesn't end until you wake up. And while you're here with me, you can't wake up. I am the last fragment left of the dream you were trapped in."

"So wait, does that mean I'm trapped here?" Naruto looked at the girl fearfully. He was going to be trapped within his own mind forever.

"Sort of. But..." Naru sat down, crossing her legs. Naruto did the same opposite her. It sounded like this child Naru actually had an intelligence far surpassing his own.

"I'm not going to keep you trapped here. I just need to ask you something, before we are both released back into the world you are from." She looked at him sadly.

"You have devoted yourself to the love of three girls. But that same love is someday going to be a weapon used against you. There may come a time where you have to choose between the three of them, or something tragic will happen."

"What!" He felt a chill shoot through his body. "What's going to happen to them?"

"I don't know..." Naru said, sounding even more sorrowful. "I just feel it, you know? As a dream, I can feel these things. But my real question is this. Will you be able to choose one of them in the end?"

"Maybe... Maybe in the end. Right now, I couldn't choose. Not until I've sorted my head out and answered some questions. But I think I could..." Naruto said wistfully. He wished he could give a more concise answer, but it was the best he could do for now.

Naru smiled. "I guess that's okay. You're a nice person, so I'm not worried for them." Standing up again, Naru pointed behind him. "I think I've found my Keitaro."

As Naruto tried turning around, his dream scape world suddenly glowed with a bright, white light. It was so bright he had to shut his eyes and cover them with his hand. He felt his body being drawn backwards, and then coming to a rest, with him laying horizontally on the floor. When he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital room. Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke and Tsunade were all staring at him with worry.

"Looks like I'm home."

さようなら

It had been a week since he had been discharged from hospital. They had searched everywhere, but none of them could find the dreams or Kyoko anywhere around Konoha. Each day they kept on looking, with each day bringing a stronger, heartbreaking realisation that they weren't going to appear.

After a long day of looking around the village and the surrounding areas, Naruto was heading home. The sky was now a jet-black, dotted with thousands of stars. He walked slowly, looking at the sky the whole way. He was trying to figure out which of them would be the stars of the dreams.

Unknown to him, somebody was watching him. A girl, wearing a fox-like grin. She turned around to the group behind her.

"Well, shall we jump him when he's asleep or shall we grab him now?" Kyoko watched as another girl stepped forward.

"I think we should jump him when he's asleep. I'd love to see how he would react." Kanoko looked in the direction of Naruto's house. "And I want to know where Sasuke sleeps as well, I feel like paying him a visit." She said coyly.

こんいちわ

Finally climbing into bed, he looked through his stash of manga. He suddenly realized that he should really give back Hinata's copy of Love Hina, but it didn't seem right at the moment. He'd give it back when they found the dreams and Kyoko.

Flicking through them, he picked one out that he'd been meaning to start for a while.

"Rosario to Vampire." He read the title out loud. "I wonder if this will be as good as the last one was."

Okay guys, I've decided. The next chapter is the final chapter for Promise.

But don't despair, for if you didn't already pick up the hint here, there will be a sequel story to Promise. The story of Naruto's relationship with the three girls will continue on into the next story, and will answer which of the girls he chooses, not forgetting he can also choose from the entirety of the Love Hina cast as well as the new cast coming in.

And again, R + R for happy authors :)