Disclaimer: I waged a thumb war with the owner of Naruto and they declined my request, so try as I might, I will never own Naruto. Only this story.
Warning: This chapter contains mild swearing and signs of child abuse.
Chapter recap:
As Naruto closed the door he grabbed his side in pain. It still hurt to breathe.
"Let's just hope that I don't get caught again." Naruto muttered to himself as a final attempt at dark humor. He was completely unaware of Iruka's presence around the opposite corner.
"Naruto Uzumaki, what are you hiding?" he questioned as he watched Naruto disappear around the corner and away from his vision.
Behind This Mask
Chapter 6: As per usual
Naruto stalled as he stood in front of the wooden door. To most this was a simple door used for entering and exiting the home, but for Naruto it was something different entirely. This was the door that announced the condition in which Naruto was in. If the door was not opened, then it was safe to assume that he was hurt to the point where leaving the house was a distant thought. If he exited, then that meant that he was either injured to the point where he could leave, or Mizuki was not home. Naruto was unsure of which it would be the moment he turned that knob and entered the house.
He stared at the glimmering knob that seemed to know the inner turmoil Naruto was going through and glistened, as if to mock him. He let out an unsure sigh as he grasped the doorknob. He took in a shaky breath and held it, a gesture that reminded him of diving under water. Still unsure he twisted the knob and opened the door letting himself and the ghost of inevitability enter inside.
He remained silent as he kicked off his shoes. He had long since ditched the traditional Japanese acknowledgement that he had returned. It was better to remain silent.
He listened closely for Mizuki. Any sound really. The simple noise of branches brushing up against the window startled him and made him swirl around to face the noise. His eyes darted around as he walked further into Mizuki's home. The house had never been both of theirs. It had and would always remain Mizuki's; Naruto was just living there. He felt as though he were an intruder in the house. More often then naught Mizuki managed to catch him off-guard in the house and give him a good thrashing.
'Maybe he isn't home?' Naruto questioned within the protection and naivete of his mind. He walked in the kitchen expecting to see Mizuki lying on the table passed out, but was given quite a shock to find him standing there slightly leaning on the counter top.
His arms were crossed as he stared at Naruto with a sickening smile on his face. He pushed off of the counter and stalked over to Naruto. Mizuki never walked when Naruto was concerned. He always stalked. He was the predator, and Naruto the prey. As helpless as a mouse to the sharp talons of an eagle, Naruto stood there in stunned silence. His feet were planted to the floor as Mizuki was inching closer.
Mizuki stood right in front of him and looked down as if to emphasize the dramatic difference in height to Naruto. His eyes gave a glint that was all-to familiar to Naruto at this point. It was the beginning of one of his little mind games.
"Ah. Naruto-Kun. I was so worried about you." He said in mock worry. Naruto felt a subconscious feeling of cold porcelain being placed upon his face. With his mask intact, Naruto shot his gaze downward, for he was 'unworthy' of looking Mizuki in the eyes.
"I apologize Mizuki-San. I was late coming home because a teacher needed to speak with me, along with a new student." Naruto replied without a second of hesitation. Technically it wasn't a lie. A teacher HAD spoken to him and Hinata Hyuuga, the new girl. His implications may have led Mizuki to believe something that was false to what truly happened, but Naruto didn't feel compelled to correct his assumptions if it meant possibly saving his tail.
"Naruto-Kun. You know it hurts me when you lie like that." Mizuki replied, placing his hands over the empty void where most people had a heart to show where the pain was coming from.
"I am not lying to you Mizuki-San." He dared to look up, only to be met with a fist to the face. He tumbled backward, the shock of the blow pulling him to the ground. His chapped lips cracked from the contact, causing them to bleed. Picking himself off of the tile flooring, Naruto steadied his gaze back onto the floor. His hair falling in front of his eyes as he wiped the blood that had steadily made its was down his chin.
"Now, now, now." Mizuki cooed, shaking his finger in disapproval. "You should know well enough not to look into the eyes of your master." He made some 'tsk' sounds as though Naruto were a young puppy that had just peed on the carpet. "You know what happens when you disobey your master?" His taunting voice questioned Naruto. It was impossible to answer a question like that. Mizuki's punishments would range from something as simple as punches and kicks to the point of fainting, to more creative and innovative ways that would impress Martha Stewart.(1).
"Well?!" Mizuki's voice boomed inside the little house. Naruto never knew if he should answer the question or not. He was told that he was not allowed to speak except to explain himself. He looked around, unsure of weather Mizuki's question was rhetorical or not.
His eyes caught the glimpse of the downpour of rain outside. When had it started raining? It was raining that night too. Naruto shook his thoughts and mentally flipped a coin as to weather or not to answer the question he was presented. His mental coin landed.
"You will most likely-" Naruto was cut-off with a knee to the stomach. When he hunched over and grabbed his stomach Mizuki countered with an upper cut square to the jaw. Naruto was sent backward, tumbling over the beer bottles that still lay haphazardly on the floor. Landing with beer bottles jabbing his broken ribs he crumpled to the floor and grasped his stomach. He should have known that he is ALWAYS wrong.
"I don't remember giving you permission to speak." Mizuki said with an eerie calm in his voice. He stalked, not walked, over to Naruto and placed a dominating foot onto the crumpled up boy, sending shivers of pain throughout his entire body. He loved to play this game with Naruto. Toying with the boy was fun. Like an ever-changing labyrinth, the creator could only win Mizuki's games. There was no correct answer for the competitor, just as there is no correct turn in the changing paths of the labyrinth. And watching as Naruto got lost in the Labyrinth time and time again was absolute pleasure for Mizuki.
"Because" He said as he stomped Naruto further into the pile of bottles. "Of." Stomp. "Your." Stomp. "Inability to." Stomp, stomp. "Follow the rules of my home." He began to grind Naruto's head into the floor, evoking a whimper from the weaker boy. He grabbed Naruto by the hair and scrunched his nose in utter disgust as though he had eaten spoiled food. He spat at Naruto, daring him to look him in the eye.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you, you murderous, vile, disgustingly impure monster!" He began to recklessly shake Naruto by his hair and punched him in the gut once more. Naruto's broken cerulean eyes turned upward toward Mizuki. The defiance and hatred quickly were being masked the moment he locked eyes with the man. Blood was running from his forehead and over his eyes, causing him to blink often.
Mizuki leaned in close, the creases above his nose were being bolded by his rage.
"If you piss where you eat, you don't get seconds. If you defy MY rules in MY house, you no longer have the privilege of living here." His voice in a low hiss that struck like poison in Naruto's ears. Did this mean that he was free to leave with just this as his punishment?
"From now on you are to sleep where mutts like yourself are welcome." With his grasp still on Naruto's hair, he hurled him toward to sliding doors facing the backyard. The force of his throw was cut short when stands of Naruto's hair ripped from his grasp, causing Naruto to grind his teeth in pain.
He opened the sliding doors, welcoming in the rain. Kicking Naruto toward the exit, he stood out there with him. The stream of blood coming from above his eyebrow began to fall quicker as the rain sped it up. Keeping his eyes open became a challenge as the scarlet blood passed over his eye. Still on his hands and knees, with mud and rain soaking the uniform he still wore, Naruto pivoted on his knees and faced Mizuki's shins.
He could not sleep in the rain. It was this one weather condition that had never once meant well for his family. He also couldn't apologize to Mizuki either, no matter how small, his pride would not allow it. Thus his inner war began. Pride versus Fear. Sin against blasted human emotion. Naruto knew which would win. But then again, when it came to this kind of thing Naruto was NEVER right. Mizuki was. He was always right, no matter what. With fear beating down pride to a pulp, Naruto squared his hips with Mizuki's feet and made a triangle formation with his hands, bent his arms into a parallel shape with his forehead placed on the triangular space his hands formed.
"Yes? What is it you wish to say? You have permission to speak." Mizuki's voice was dripping with sick pleasure as he watched Naruto.
"I wish to apologize to you." Naruto started, hoping against hope that that apology would suffice, and he wouldn't have to further humiliate himself.
"You have been a bad dog and have done many things wrong. For which is this apology applied to?" He voices in mock innocence.
"I apologize for defying the rules of your home. It was not my place to look or speak to you without permission to do so. For that, I apologize." How he hated doing this. The sick bastard was getting a serious kick out of watching Naruto. Naruto wanted to vomit every time that he spoke a word of an apology to this worthless excuse of a human being. Yet, bending at the angle he was at was causing pressure to be placed on his bruised torso and broken ribs. The pain was becoming unbearable, and Naruto was praying Mizuki would end this sick mind-game and forgive his mistakes. He had not meant to speak out of turn, and he was truly sorry for that. He had not meant to look into the eyes of Mizuki, and he had apologized for doing so.
Wait. All of these things are not punishable by beatings. Are they? Did he honestly deserve to be punished? Definitely not. But then again, Naruto was never right. He was wrong. Always wrong. Why would now be any different?
"I can forgive your mistakes this one time. Let it be known that I have let you off easy." He began as he opened the sliding doors, watching Naruto who remained in the same position.
"Know that if you are to make another 'mistake' like this again, that long week you spent in that hospital bed will look good from the view of the terminal ward that you'll be placed in." His ominous threat lay out there with Naruto as the sounds of the doors shutting and rain overlapped his retreating footsteps.
"Last timeā¦" Naruto whispered to himself. He remembered what had happened last time. It was the last time that Naruto had ever thought of fighting back.
Mizuki had begun to beat on Naruto when he returned from work to find him upstairs passed out on his bed. 'I was so worn out from yesterday, and the pain. I couldn't help it' was Naruto's excuse to the furious man. Mizuki's appropriate retaliatory response was to take one of the sharpest blades in the house, and send it into Naruto's stomach. He had remembered the glistening silver as it penetrated his stomach causing an instant black out. He awoke to the sound of an EKG machine beeping and Mizuki standing over him in mock concern. The voices of the doctors and Mizuki were as mute as the night Naruto last saw his parents. Mizuki had no doubt told the doctors of some incident that was probably Naruto's own fault.
That week in the hospital had been a get away from Mizuki. With doctors monitoring his condition and eyeing him to make sure he didn't 'attempt suicide' again, which he later learned was written on his chart, Mizuki couldn't get him. Though the pain was unbearable and his morphine was upped to ease some of his suffering, it still hurt after he was released a week and a half later.
He rose from his position in the mud and attempted a reach for the door, making it act as a cane when he propelled himself into the kitchen and limped toward the stairs. How his body hurt. Every slight turn or flex of the limbs caused him to grunt in pain.
Naruto was amazed that he got up to his room. Fatigue overtook him as he stripped out of his wet uniform, and placed on some city clothes. His wardrobe wasn't large, but that didn't bother him like it would other kids his age. With his eyes half lidded he closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep, as per usual. Mizuki had won again. The puppet master was still in control. The dog was still a dog in the eyes of his master. And the frightened mouse was still in the clutched talons of the eagle. As per usual.
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I am well aware that I haven't updated in a while, and for that I apologize. I know it is no excuse, but I was busy with basketball camp, and plus it is the first week of my summer break and I didn't want to spend it on the computer all day long. R&R. If there is any confusion, ask and I'll clear things up for you. Thank you loyal readers, and it bothers be just as much as it bothers you when an author decides to drop a good story. (Not that I'm complimenting myself) I will try to avoid such an occurance and keep on updating.
I've realized that I use a lot of personification in my writing. I also use a lot of metaphors to simulate and help create the images that I think of. Just pointing out the obvious and wasting a little space.
(1) Martha Stewart is a famous woman who is renowned for her inovation and creativity using houshold items and making them into astonishing creations of art.
