Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Borderlands.

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Blood and Bullets

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Chapter Four

"Hmph...Damn assholes had to rig the damn thing with explosives." Naruto grumbled under his breath while messing with something within the Praetorian's engine, the sun having risen over the horizon just two hours ago. As a precaution prior to making any move to disarm the numerous explosive devices spread all throughout the APC, Naruto had thought ahead and used a set of modified jumper cables to recharge both Spaz's and Taz's power cells, which only drained a third of the Praetorian's power supply; he'd still need to get fresh powercells for them, most likely Hyperion cells since they have a better 'life-span' and overall output capacity than the strong, but short-lived Dahl power cells. Rolling his eyes and focusing back on the task at hand, Naruto clipped another wire connected to the primary detonator set up in the Praetorian's engine housing; only one of fifteen in that particular location while being only one of fourty-two in the entire APC. Cutting another wire, Naruto continued with his mindless monologue ramblings and mutterings, if only to fill the tense silence and keep himself from freaking out over the countless ways he could accidentally set off one of the bombs, let alone all of them. "Honestly, if I didn't want this damn thing so bad, I'd just say to hell with it and blow the whole thing to hell just for the fuck of it...Maybe everyone was right; maybe I am a sociopath...Meh. Who cares? I know I don't...Well, shit. Should I cut the red wire or the blue wire? Decisions, decisions...Fuck it. Cut them both..."

Snip!

"...Huh?" Naruto grunted out of confusion, narrowing his eyes as he peered down at the digital screen attached to the device as it seemingly glitched out, displaying random numbers, letters, and odd mixtures of the two before two words blinked into existence. Good-bye. Eyes going wide, Naruto instantly recoiled from the Praetorian and turned to run while simply dropping his wire cutters where they were. "Oh, SHIT!"

Just barely managing to clear the range of what would have resulted in instant death, Naruto dove for a nearby dip in the ground just as the bombs went off, transforming the Praetorian from an insanely durable APC into a deadly, over-sized fragmentation grenade. Ducking down to avoid having his head taken off by a flaming hunk of metal that looked eerily similar to one of the Praetorian's rims, Naruto peeked out from over the ridge of the snow-filled pit he had thrown himself into, staring at the blazing wreckage of what he had been trying to salvage just moments ago. Flinching back and letting out a brief cry of surprise as his wire cutters, smoking and partially on fire, dropped from the sky and stabbed into the ground just inches in front of his face, Naruto lost his balance and accidentally fell deeper into the snow, never taking notice of the fact that Spaz and Taz had been watching everything transpire from a considerably 'safe distance' of roughly a hundred meters from where the Praetorian used to be...

"..." Neither machine made a sound or moved in the slightest to 'help' the blonde, both sitting on their haunches and watching everything transpire. As both self-aware machines looked to one another, they shared a few seconds of silence before looking back towards Naruto and the mangled heap of burning metal that had once been the Praetorian just as Naruto hauled himself out of the hole...

xXx

"Hm?" Reina grunted quietly while looking up from where she was, leaning over the side of the engine housing to get to the bolt she was trying to tighten. Spotting the dark smoke rising into the air only a dozen or so miles away from their current position, Reina couldn't help sighing out of exasperation and rolling her eyes. "There's only one idiot around here that would mess with enough explosives to do that..."

"What was that? Bandits?" Maya questioned cautiously as she walked over to the shorter red head, her right hand resting on the Maliwan Aegis pistol holstered to the side of her thigh. Reina let out a brief snort of irritated amusement.

"Bandits may be stupid, but they ain't crazy. Well, most of them are, but they ain't that crazy." The younger woman remarked before heaving another sigh and ducking back under the hood of Naruto's truck. "No, that wasn't caused by bandits. That explosion was caused by the one and only Retarded Rambo himself; Naruto."

"...'Retarded Rambo'?" Maya muttered questioningly with a raised eye brow. Reina smirked.

"Yep. As skilled and intelligent as he is, Naruto has a bad habit of making stupid decisions sometimes. Obviously, none of them have gotten him killed, but it's only a matter of time." The shorter female explained while replacing one of the spark plugs in the engine. "And that's not the only nickname I've given him either. There's also the Dumbass of Destruction, the Moronic Mercenary, and even the Sociopathic Soldier, just to name a few...and yes, he's earned every last one of them."

"That bad, huh?" Maya teased with a small smile, getting a grin from Reina as she glanced up at the blue haired woman. Reina then glanced over at Timberwolf as he hefted the old transmission that went to Naruto's truck up onto the tailgate of his own truck. Sighing quietly and shaking her head slightly at her uncle's stubbornness, Reina went back to work on the engine while Maya sat back down in the fold-out chair near the entrance of the cave, waiting for Naruto to come back...

'Yeah...She's smitten.' Reina mused with a brief glance towards the Siren. With another shake of her head, Reina focused back on repairing the engine, but her mood had been dampened, a small sad smile settling onto her lips as she worked...

xXx

It wasn't for another four hours before Naruto finally made it back, a black duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Giving a tired wave of greeting to Reina and Timberwolf, Naruto dropped the tailgate of his truck before having Spaz and Taz get in, deactivating them to conserve their limited power supplies. Just as he turned the two machines off and set the duffel bag in the truck, Maya had decided to approach him. Pushing his hood back and pulling his face mask and goggles down around his neck, Naruto glanced over at her for a moment, slamming the tailgate back into place before she could say anything as she came within a few feet of him.

"Before I left, you said that I don't trust you..." Naruto spoke up with a blank and emotionless expression on his face, his voice quiet. Maya stayed silent, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. "You're right; I don't trust you...but when you go through what I've been through, you tend to lose faith in others around you."

"Naruto, I-" Maya's attempt to apologize was cut short as Naruto turned and started walking towards the cave's entrance.

"We're going our separate ways when we get back to Sanctuary." Naruto suddenly stated in a firm, but quiet tone that left no room for arguement, shocking not only Maya, but Reina as well, having over-heard the brief conversation. Instead of letting it get to her, Maya simply glared at his back before heading over to the camp fire and sitting down on the cot. Looking between them as Naruto passed by her, Reina could see just how much that one sentence had actually hurt Maya. Narrowing her eyes, Reina glared over at Naruto before storming after him. Not giving him a chance to say anything, Reina grabbed a shoulder strap to his body armor before dragging the blonde further out from the cave. No less than fifty meters from the cave, Reina suddenly spun around and punched the blonde across the jaw hard enough to make him stumble back. "What the hell, Reina?!"

"Ya' know damn well what that was for!" Reina hissed at him, making Naruto flinch back slightly while the red haired mechanic jabbed a finger back towards the cave. "Maya cares more about ya' than ya' think! And ya' go and push her away like ya' did with me?! Just what the fuck is going through ya' head?!"

"I'm trying to protect her! That's what!" Naruto snarled back, returning Reina's glare. "She's-"

"-not a fucking glass doll! She's a Siren, ya' dumbass! She can take care of herself!" Reina snapped, cutting him off before he could continue his counter. She lowered her voice as she continued. "Ya' just trying to 'protect' her? Just like you did with me? After ya' left that day, those bastards took me hostage to lure ya' out, but I didn't need ya' to save me because I saved myself; even after they took my leg. That woman in there...Maya is a hell of a lot tougher than I am and she's even got those weird powers, too! What is it that ya' see in her that I don't? What's so bad about her, Naruto? Tell me that."

"..." Naruto was stunned into silence, unable to do anything other than turn his gaze down to Reina's right leg; hidden beneath her pants, a mechanical prosthetic replaced her right leg from her knee down to her toes. His thoughts were cut short when Reina suddenly reached over and grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"That's exactly what I thought, Naruto. There's nothing wrong with her. Ya' just scared, like ya' always been, that she's going to get hurt just because she's around ya'; just because ya' care for her like ya' cared for Sarah." Reina then calmed down on the outside, her expression going blank. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Naruto. We're on Pandora. No one is safe here. Just because she ain't near ya', don't mean she's safe."

"..." Naruto stayed silent even then as Reina turned and went back to the cave to finish working on Naruto's truck. Looking back towards the ground, Naruto, for the first time in years, felt his chest tighten and ache with guilt and regret. Staring down at his hands, he wondered just how much blood had been shed by them and how much blood had yet to be shed by them. Would they be soaked in the blood of another loved one, just as they had been when he found Sarah after the attack? Will his hands be soaked in the blood of another loved one, just as they had been when Sarah died in his arms that night? Closing his eyes, Naruto took a slow, deep breath as his hands curled into tight fists. Exhaling and letting his tension go alongside the breath in his lungs, Naruto relaxed and let his arms fall back to his sides. Covering his face and head once more, Naruto turned away from the cave and started walking...

He had a lot of thinking to do...

xXx

Not long after he left, Reina and Timberwolf hooked up Naruto's truck and towed it back to Sanctuary with Maya riding with them, leaving Naruto to the frozen wastes. That had been almost three Pandoran days ago, roughly a standard week and a half. None of them had seen any sign of him since. Maya was the only one of the three that worried for him, even after he had said they would no longer be traveling together. Still, no one knew whether he was alive or dead...

"..." He was silent as he peered down at the camp of Nomads settled at the base of the cliff he was now perched on. They were a specific tribe of Nomads that called themselves the Ash Hounds, having somehow trained Fire Skags to fight and kill for them like regular every day attack dogs. They also made very intimidating guard dogs. Their leader, Cinder, was clad in leather treated to completely resist fire as well as metal armoring over it all, a pair of large fuel tanks mounted to his back with hoses connecting them to a pair of flame-throwers mounted to his arms while a pair of Maliwan Umbrage pistols were holstered to the sides of his thighs; both were undoubtedly Incendiary.

He noticed something strange, though. Hanging around the man's neck was a strange silver-grey metal rectangular pendant with a flame-like design engraved on it with a small red gem of some kind at the center that gave off a fiery red-orange aura; an artifact, most likely. What was so strange about it, though, was that it seemed to hold some sort of control over the two Alpha Fire Skags that flanked him wherever he went along with the other Fire Skags in the area. It was most likely how they were able to maintain control over the Fire Skags. It would prove to be a double-edged sword, not just for the Ash Hounds, but for himself as well...

Turning his eyes skyward as the sun began to set on Pandora's horizon, Naruto made his decision on when he should strike; when night fell on Pandora, so shall the corpses of the Ash Hounds. Between the time Reina had, essentially, scolded him and now, his mind had entered a very dark place that hadn't seen the 'light' in a decade; his heart. He had once again lost himself in the maze of shadows and was now only a husk that knew nothing of emotion. It was in this state that he had earned his reputation as having the 'Eyes of Death'. It was also in this state that he had been learning how to use his Phase powers...

Standing up from his crouch, Naruto headed back to his chosen camp site on the towering ridge that over looked the ivory plains of snow, keeping the Ash Hounds' camp in his sight. Kicking dirt and snow over the small camp fire that was already on the verge of going out, being no more than a pile of smoldering embers, Naruto knelt down at the edge of the ridge, his hands resting on his legs and his eyes closed, meditating to pass the time. He had learned that he was not restricted to a single ability like his female counterparts, the Sirens. So far, he knew of only two. One was an ability not unlike Lilith's Phasewalk ability and the other was a defensive ability that allowed him to summon up a barrier to shield him from virtually anything; it had already proved capable of stopping bullets, not just deflecting them, but he had to actively use it in order for it work.

For hours, he remained perfectly still and deathly silent. A passing skag came across his camp as it began heading back towards its den a mile further to the south, stopping just feet away from the vigilant hunter. If it so chose, it could kill him before he could react. However, the skag simply turned and continued on its way, almost as if it hadn't even sensed Naruto's presence. It wasn't until after night had fallen completely and blanketed the area in darkness that Naruto finally moved again. Eyes slowly opening from behind his goggles, Naruto slowly clenched his left hand into a fist and concentrated for only a moment.

In the blink of an eye, he was engulfed in a lightning-swift flash of crimson light, only to vanish from the physical realm everyone lived in. Traveling from the ridge down to the floor of the flat, open plains of snow, Naruto reappeared in a second flash of crimson light only a couple seconds after he had disappeared. Moving quickly, Naruto dashed behind a nearby jagged rock jutting out of the ground to keep from being spotted as well as to regain his breath; his Phasewalk was still quite tiring when used to travel long distances, even after learning how to consciously use it. Glancing around the side, Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly and saw that no one had taken notice of him.

Slowly stepping out from behind cover while staying crouched low to the ground, Naruto tensed the muscles in his legs not unlike a predator preparing for the chase. As if an unseen signal had been given, Naruto sprinted forward, his boots kicking up small puffs of fresh snow while his gloved finger tips brushed against the snow-covered ground every few meters as he maintained his balance. Clearing roughly two hundred meters in only twenty-four seconds, Naruto dropped into a slide behind another spike of rock that was only fifty meters away from the camp near the base of the cliff. Glancing around the rock, he spotted an average Nomad standing guard at a small opening in the sheet metal wall that surrounded the camp.

Slowly drawing the knife from his right leg, Naruto took another deep breath and concentrated, vanishing in a flicker of red light. Reappearing behind the Nomad just as he turned to head back into the camp, Naruto stabbed the blade into the man's neck, only for them both to vanish in another flash of red light, reappearing behind the rock he had been hiding behind moments ago. Pulling the blade free of the corpse and wiping the blood from it on the man's clothing, Naruto sheathed it before drawing his two swords and holding them in reverse-grips. He had to act fast before he ended up being over-whelmed by the many men in the camp, but he didn't want to use his guns. Too much noise. Might attract others in the area.

Focusing on his powers, Naruto started flickering all across the camp in flashes of crimson light, moving from one Nomad to the next as he struck them down with singular, lethal strikes. In only a small handful of seconds, a third of the fifty men in the camp were slain, the others finally alerted to his presence. Even though they were aware of him, it did nothing to halt the wholesale slaughter. By the time the fifteenth second hit, only a handful of Nomads and Fire Skags remained along with Cinder and his two Alphas.

"..." Coming to a halt in the center of the camp, breathing heavily as his body ached from using his Phasewalk so many times in less than a minute, Naruto glanced from one Nomad to the next, each one paired with a Fire Skag. Six Nomads, six Fire Skags, one Nomad leader, and two Alpha Fire Skags. He couldn't use his Phasewalk like before without causing personal injury and he didn't want to use his guns, testing his skills. This was most definitely a true test of his skills. Gripping his swords tighter than before, Naruto narrowed his eyes, ignoring the biting cold as it tugged and clawed at his clothes, the only signs of the fierce blizzard brewing in the distance that would descend upon them in only ten minutes.

"Who da' hell are you?!" Cinder bellowed angrily, glaring out at the black-clad assassin that had butchered his men and skags. "Never mind 'dat! You killed me men! You're gonna pay for 'dat! Kill him!"

"..." Frowning slightly with a scowl as his blue eyes narrowed and bled back into crimson behind the lenses of his goggles, Naruto glanced from side to side as his adrenaline spiked, slowing down his perception of time. Each of the six average Nomads had shoddy Bandit brand assault rifles that they were only just now raising to open fire on him, a four foot tall Fire Skag standing beside each of them that were already crouching down to lunge at him. There was no time to dodge, no way to take cover with six skags hunting him. They had forced his hand. Sheathing his left sword as his perception of time returned to normal, Naruto vanished in a flash of crimson, only to jump from one Nomad to the next, beheading them and slicing open the throats of each skag as he did, leaving only Cinder and his Alphas untouched as he reached his absolute limit, coming to a stop in his original position at the center of the clearing, breathing more heavily than before and ignoring the burning agony in his muscles, a migraine pounding away at his skull from within.

"Shit! Guess I'll have to take care of you on me own." Cinder growled before raising his hands and pointing them towards Naruto, the flame-throwers already sparking to life. "BURN!"

Throwing his open left hand up with his fingers splayed, Naruto summoned up a rounded translucent barrier of thin crimson energy, halting the flames directly in front of his hand and causing them to spread out to the sides as if the blonde were trapped in a bubble. The flames still roiling and roaring all around him as the heat washed over him, Cinder's Alpha Fire Skags surged forward, only to impact the barrier, knocking them back. Spinning his sword in his right hand, Naruto suddenly threw it at Cinder, dropping the barrier for only a moment to let his sword pass. Not even a second later, the flames stopped as Cinder stumbled back and fell to the ground, Naruto's sword embedded in his chest.

Snarling as they started getting back up while flames wreathed them once more, the Alphas moved to pounce on Naruto, but he was already sprinting towards Cinder's body. Snatching at the pendant around the dead Nomad's neck, Naruto yanked on it to break the simple cord it was on before spinning around and holding it out towards the skags. Just as he had suspected, the two skags came to a stop just feet away from him. Still panting heavily from the intense use of his Phasewalk, Naruto glanced from one skag to the other as they stared right back at him, the flames that covered them slowly dimming down before dying away completely.

"...Go." Naruto whispered. After only a few seconds, the two Alpha Fire Skags slowly turned around and started walking away. Slowly relaxing his body and lowering his hand, Naruto watched as the two hulking beasts left the camp. Closing his eyes and dropping to one knee with exhaustion while letting his senses reach out around him, Naruto guessed that he had eight minutes before the blizzard hit. Knowing he neither had the time nor the strength to find any other place to take shelter, Naruto stood up and turned around before he calmly walked to the largest structure in the back of the camp that undoubtedly led into a cave carved out of the cliff by the Ash Hounds.

Pocketing the strange pendant and entering the building just as the winds started picking up, Naruto went through the door at the back of the room and entered the dark and dry cave-like chamber, Naruto lit only a handful of candles that were set in the two front corners of the room before kneeling down in the center of the floor, ignoring everything else as he once again entered a deep meditative state, the closest thing to sleep he had reached since he parted ways with the others. Just as it had happened every time since then, he was visited by a person that had been dead for years...and proceeded to 'talk' with them even though he knew they were simply a manifestation of his conscience telling him both what he did and didn't want to hear. Then again, no one said that the truth was kind nor fair...

"...She was right, you know. About the Siren, about how you've been treating her. Everything." The woman commented idly, sitting a short distance away from Naruto with her legs tucked under her. "She isn't just some run-of-the-mill woman that doesn't know how to defend herself. That woman's a Vault Hunter and a tough one to boot. She not only killed that psycho, Handsome Jack, but defeated the Warrior with the other Vault Hunters, both new and old. Reina was also right about no one ever being safe; this is Pandora. Like you once said in the past, Pandora is just a dust ball sugar coated in death and violence."

"...That may be true, but my enemies will kill her just to get a chance to take me down." Naruto responded, keeping his eyes closed despite the 'presence' of his 'guest'. "Especially the Guardsmen; if given the chance, they'll kill her almost immediately after finding out she's connected to me in any way."

"That may be, but so will just about everything and everyone else on this planet. Do you honestly think that just because she's not connected to you that she'll be safe?" The woman remarked, cocking an eye brow expectantly despite the rhetorical question. "Who's to say the Guardsmen won't just kill her anyways? Or have some kind of agenda that requires a Siren's powers like with the Crimson Lance or Jack? You already know that they want you for similar reasons. What's to stop them from turning their attention over to Lilith or Maya when you prove to be too difficult to capture? Guardsmen aside, what's to stop a skag from ripping out her throat or a Psycho from hacking up her body? Wouldn't she, in fact, be safer around you than she would be out on her own?"

"..." Naruto was silent as he finally opened his eyes and glanced up from the ground and at the woman. She was roughly 5'6" with knee-length crimson hair that had been pulled back and twisted into a dense braid, her skin a light cream color, and her eyes a bright and dazzling emerald green, her left cheek stained with pale pastel blue Siren markings that curled around the side of her left eye to mark the left side of her forehead and her left temple. She was clad in an outfit not too dissimilar to Naruto's, only tailored for a woman's body and lacking in armor and weapons with a few minor modifications. There was a diamond-shaped cut-out in the center of her top's chest that left a decent amount of cleavage from her D-cup bust visible, her hands hidden beneath black full-finger gloves, a black cloth face mask tucked under the collar of her top and pulled up over the bridge of her nose, her pants were tight-fitting instead of being baggy like Naruto's, and her ankle-length 'skirt' was adorned with grey Siren-esque markings all over it that matched her own almost perfectly. She was none other than his mother, Kushina.

She had been the one to teach him how to fight with swords and knives while his father had taught him how to use a gun and how to fight without a weapon. Kushina had also been the one to teach him a number of other things, such as how to track and hunt and survive out in the wild while his father taught him how to drive and how to repair, disable, build, and disassemble virtually any piece of technology known to man; guns and vehicles included. His parents hadn't just taught him how to 'get by' in the world; they taught him how to thrive in the desolate wastes of Pandora, of all places to raise a child. It was because of them that Naruto had the skills and instincts necessary to survive no matter what.

"Sarah was a great woman, Naruto. While it's true that you loved her and that she was taken from you, you can not keep living in the past. You have to move on." Kushina urged softly and gently, giving her son a small, warm smile of understanding as she moved closer to him, her hands resting over Naruto's. "You must live a life of no regrets. While you feel that you will forget Sarah and come to regret it, you are only lying to yourself, trying to keep from being hurt again. In the end, you will only regret that you didn't open up your heart to Maya and let her in. Death is a part of Life and is inevitable. You don't need to confess any romantic feelings for her, but you should at least let her know how you truly feel before it's too late. Always remember; live a life of no regrets..."

"..." Naruto was silent as he 'woke up' moments later, his 'mother's' image and voice vanishing without a trace as he actually opened his eyes this time, finding only the darkness of the cave to greet him, the candles having burnt themselves out as time went on. Staying where he was for a moment, Naruto listened for any signs of the blizzard, only to hear nothing. Calmly and quietly, Naruto went outside and looked around, the snow from the storm having blanketed everything in another four feet of white crystals of frozen water.

Without uttering a single word, Naruto double-checked his equipment to make sure everything was in its rightful place and properly secured. While walking out of the corpse-ridden camp and into the seemingly endless fields of white snow, he knew he would have to eat soon. In order for him to eat, he would have to hunt. Glancing around his surroundings, Naruto spotted another ridge of mountains only twenty miles East; if his memory served him correctly, it was home to a number of Bullymongs. A single young one would restock his stores of supplies and feed him for several standard weeks...

xXx

"Ngh...Sa...Sarah..." Naruto grunted out groggily, his eyes slowly fluttering open, only to be squeezed shut once again. Biting back a cry of pain behind gnashed teeth as he clutched at the bloody wound in his right side from shrapnel tearing through his body, Naruto forced himself over onto his left side, his eyes cracking open once more to bear witness to the carnage that had been wrought just minutes ago. Blues eyes slowly widened with fear and shock as he gazed upon the flaming wreckage of what had been his family's home for the past two decades, only for it to be scorched black and cracked open like an egg shell. "Sarah!"

Forcing himself to his hands and knees, he stumbled to his feet, ignoring the seering pain of scattered burns over his body from the explosion or the bits of thick splinted wood embedded in his left thigh and right arm. He ignored the blood sliding down his face from the cut on the right side of his head from where it hit the window he was sent through. He was focused solely on finding and saving his fiance, the woman that had stolen his heart and carried his unborn child. Rounding the corner of the building, he stopped dead in his tracks, tears welling up in his eyes and gliding down his dirt and soot covered cheeks.

"Sarah..." He whispered fearfully, slowly treading closer to her. When she twitched, he bolted to her side, tenderly rolling her over while pulling her into his arms. Her left leg was gone along with her left arm, blood pouring from the wounds while the remaining left half of her body had been charred and burned from the explosion of the rockets. Still gripped in her right hand was her old Vladov repeater pistol, empty and useless from the damage it had sustained in the explosion.

"H-Hey, baby..." She wrasped out, barely able to open her right eye to look up at him and struggling to give him a weak smile. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew, deep down, that she wouldn't survive... "I guess...they got me...didn't they?"

"Shh. Don't talk." He urged softly, his eyes glancing over her body once more before locking with Sarah's lone eye once again. "Save your strength. You're going to be okay...I...I promise. You and the baby will be fine..."

"You're lying...I can see it...in your eyes..." Sarah whispered, a lone tear falling from her right eye as she forced a slightly bigger smile onto her face. "I'm dying, Naruto...Just promise me...one thing..."

"O-Of course...Anything..." Naruto choked out, unable to hold back the tears. Sarah dropped her gun and reached up, grabbing and holding onto the front of his shirt with surprising strength despite her condition, her right eye staring up into his own eyes.

"Live...a life of...no...regrets..." She muttered weakly, her hand slipping from his shirt...

His eyes snapped open, his chest heaving as a cold sweat soaked his body. Sitting up in the bed, Naruto stared at the wall across from him with wide, frightened eyes. He had finally headed back to Sanctuary two Pandoran days after leaving the Ash Hound camp, the journey taking an additional two Pandoran days on foot. Glancing at the digital clock beside the bed, Naruto closed his eyes and hung his head with a heavy sigh, burying his face in his hands. He had only been asleep for thirty minutes...

Grunting quietly as he stood up, Naruto took a quick shower and pulled on a fresh change of clothes before putting on his armor and weapons, deciding to head to the bar for a stiff drink. As he left his small home hidden away in the city of Sanctuary, Naruto made his way to the Slug-Spitter, sticking to the dark back alleys and side streets to avoid everyone; he may have pulled himself out of the void he had been in, but he still wasn't quite ready to be around others. He could only hope that the Slug-Spitter was having a slow night and that there weren't many people there.

He wasn't so lucky...

"..." Vigilantly, he ignored the surprised mutterings and whispers from the other patrons in the bar as he headed to a private booth in the back of the bar where no one would bother him. A few moments later, one of the few waitresses came over and set down a beer in front of him, being one of the only drinks the Slug-Spitter served that he would always order. The woman calmly left a moment later, being the only waitress working at the bar that wasn't afraid of the 'Ghost of Pandora'. Granted, they all thought he was quite handsome, in a roguish sort of way, but they weren't blinded by it; he was a killer and a very experienced and powerful one, at that.

''Live a life of no regrets', huh?' He mused to himself as he pried off the aluminum cap and took a drink of his beer. Pulling out his pack of cigarettes and lighting one, Naruto took a long drag of it and slowly exhaled before snorting slightly. 'Kind of impossible when you regret so many things.'

As he took another sip of his drink, Naruto caught a climpe of his tattoos in a tiny gap between his glove and the cuff of his sleeve, his mind wandering in the direction of a certain Siren...

xXx

"Asshole..." Maya grumbled quietly under her breath as she stared at the set of keys hanging on the wall, currently lying on the couch while clutching a pillow to her chest in a mixture of laziness, boredom, and mild depression. All because of the owner of the keys hanging from a hook beside her door. They were Naruto's keys to his truck, which was now fully repaired, repainted, and still sitting in Scooter's garage where Reina had left it after fixing it up. It had been roughly two standard weeks and she still couldn't make up her mind on how she felt about Naruto.

Was she mad at him? Did she pity him? Yeah, she was hurt by the fact he had pretty much told her to fuck off without any actual reason, but-

Knock, knock, knock!

"..." Maya was quiet as her eyes jumped to the door, her right hand instantly moving for her Aegis pistol resting on the floor in front of the couch. Picking it up and standing, Maya glanced at the clock and grimaced slightly. It was almost 'midnight' by standard times even though it was during a Pandoran 'day cycle' still. Hearing the person knock on her door again, Maya muttered a curse under her breath before going to the door, holding her pistol behind the rather thin door and aimed at the other side as she cracked it open. She had not been expecting a visit from the person on the other side. "Naruto...What are you doing here? When did you get back?"

"I, uh..." Naruto stammered slightly, averting his gaze while rubbing the back of his neck, his head completely uncovered. Although she didn't react to it, she could smell the alchohol on his breath. Sighing, Naruto leaned against the wall slightly, but not because he was having trouble keeping his balance. "I honestly don't know what I'm doing here. I just got back not even eight hours ago, but...I couldn't sleep and decided to go to the bar for a bit and then...I don't know. I guess I got...lonely, you know?"

"...Come on. I'll get some coffee started." Maya commented softly as she stepped aside to let him in, setting her pistol down on the shelf beside the door.

"Don't bother. I don't exactly plan on staying long. I don't want to be a bother with it being so late and all." Naruto tried arguing, only to get a glance from Maya over her shoulder that, in his rather coherent drunken stupor, made him feel guilty for some reason. 'Probably because you've been treating her like an asshole, dumbass.' "Alright, fine, but I still don't want any coffee..."

"Who said I was making any for you?" Maya shot back jokingly, tossing him a teasing smirk over her shoulder as she walked into the small kitchenette off to the side of her apartment. Allowing a small smirk of his own as she disappeared into the alcove, Naruto knelt down and took his boots off, not wanting to track anything in out of respect. As he propped his sheathed swords against the wall next to his boots, the blonde decided to get a bit more comfortable by taking off his body armor without removing his TMPs or storage devices, sliding the metal plated vest between the wall and his boots. That's when Maya came from around the corner before they sat down on the couch, sitting at opposite ends. A brief awkward silence reigned for only a few seconds before Naruto spoke up.

"I, uh...I want to thank you and to apologize." He started quietly, getting a look of surprise and confusion from the Siren. "For putting up with me for so long, I mean. I tried taking on a partner three other times in the past and...things didn't really turn out so well."

"As much of an asshole as you are..." Maya started quietly before giving him a slight smile. "It was nothing, really. It was actually kind of nice being around someone that wasn't afraid of me just because I'm a Siren."

"Why would I be afraid of you?" Naruto mumbled under his breath while glancing away, purposefully saying it out loud so that Maya would hear him. Scoffing with a look of half-hearted annoyance, Maya grabbed a throw pillow beside her and smacked him with it, only to hear a slight and almost inaudible chuckle from the blonde. That was when she noticed it; his hair. He had cut his hair and undid the braid, instead keeping it pulled back into a pony-tail that reached down to just between his shoulder blades. She didn't say anything about it, deciding to wait until later. Instead, she asked about something else.

"If you don't mind me asking..." She trailed off slightly, a little nervous about the question. "What happened to your other partners?"

"The first one...got hurt and retired from this kind of life style and the other two ended up getting killed in the first seventy-two hours." Naruto answered somberly, pausing slightly in the beginning as he remembered what had happened to Reina, his first partner. "The second one was young and inexperienced. He got cocky and ended up getting killed while we were raiding a bandit camp. The third one turned out to be a bounty hunter after my head...so I killed him myself before he got the chance to kill me."

"Oh...So, um...Is that why you, uh...?" Maya trailed off uncertaintly, knowing Naruto would be able to finish the question for her. He glanced at her slightly before looking away. He didn't say anything. Maya sighed heavily with exasperation before turning to face him fully. "Look, Naruto. You came here yourself, so you can leave whenever you want, but I have to know why you don't want to be partners anymore and don't give me that bullshit you said back in the cave about trust."

"...I just didn't want to see you hurt, that's all..." He mumbled a bit too quietly for her to hear properly.

"What?" The blue haired Siren questioned curiously. This time, Naruto spoke up louder and said something different than what he had actually meant to say...

"It's because I care about you, Maya. I didn't want to see you get hurt because of me, alright?" He answered a bit more sharply than he had intended and was about to apologize, not yet realizing just what he had said, after seeing the shocked look on Maya's face. Neither one expected her to react like she did nor did they even think about it at that moment, but they would never forget that one moment...

Maya, in a moment of happiness, had suddenly kissed Naruto without warning, all because he cared about her...

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