Chapter 4: Failed Acknowledgement
Turning away, embarrassed beyond repair, Naruto sniffed quietly willing his tears to stop pouring down his face. Inu having brought the bandages set himself to work by placing a sterile cotton pad over Naruto's pale throat. Gruesome cardinal lines arched exquisitely across his skin, standing out perversely against his pale skin. Ever since the surgery at the Hokage's building Naruto's body had taken a healthy turn but soon abandoned the route and whitened to a ghastly grey. All signs of recovery had been forgotten and instead the boy's body once again clambered into a sickly skin tone. Inu tugged firmly on the bandage around the young boys neck and waited for confirmation of tightness.
Still looking away Naruto wiped his tears, having finally stopped the stream of water curving down his cheeks. Inu warm hands brushing against his skin in feathery touches making Naruto cringe at ticklish sensation, completely foreign to him. He never let anyone touch him, intimately or not. The only time he has been touched is when others savagely breached his personal space. But he allowed Inu's hands to roam his neck. Dreading the moment he will be cornered only to be broken more.
Stubbornly he did not turn to Inu having found a new interest in the room's wall, vacant of any decorations.
"Uzumaki-san, turn to me." Inu had ordered, his voice firm but not harsh. Naruto risked a glance at Inu's simple mask only to return to his peculiar hobby. This wall. So beautifully bare… Naruto's mind wondered idiotically, with a foreign hollow psychopathic laugh echoing loudly in his mind, having been used to the noise he adopted the twisted logic. The young boy also giggled along, feeling comfort in the crackling of both their voices finding something humorous in something Naruto's foolish stubborn attitude. Inu could see Naruto's eyes dilate as the young boy swam in his deep thoughts. Not having the time to perform everything with precision, Inu clipped the bandage with a small iron pin.
"Uzumaki-san we are leaving." Inu calmly informed grabbing his house keys and some tacky notes folded together. Not waiting for an answer Inu placed his hand on Naruto's hair, shaggy and damp from the steam bath. Electricity once again crackled in the, randomly surging around the two males.
The surrounds spun quickly. Naruto's second journey, by this type of transport, was less nauseating than the first but still his stomach grumbled with displeasure. The place was large with a high ceiling. All the walls were painted a grey, having no windows but small railed vents for air to enter from the outside. At the far end was a large rectangular porthole where a female attendant stood, on the other side, in a chef's apron. The rest of the room was occupied by lengthy benches. The atmosphere was light, as the room was quiet and nearly empty, with the odd person- in mask of course- eating food.
Inu pointed to a bench and settled Naruto into a chair. The man made his way to the counter where the attendant stood. Naruto watched the interaction intensely. The female flushed at while Inu's monotonous smoky voice filled the silence. She rushed behind the counter and returned with a shy smile, politely telling Inu to wait for his meal to be prepared. Something unnerved Naruto about the way the woman eyed in awe at Inu retreating figure. So Inu-san is also admired by others the boy let his thoughts stray in the hope of not having to converse too much with his temporary guardian. Glancing around he caught a Usagi (Rabbit) masked woman- telling by the subtle curves of her hips-, Naruto continued to gawk at the holes in the mask. A rumble of amusement laughs erupted in his head, Naruto internally wished for it to stop distracting him, after all, he wasn't one to look away in shame.
Inu having returned to his companion strangely found the boy glaring somewhere else fiercely. Following his eye line he neutrally welcomed the sight of his previous colleague. Placing himself in front of Naruto pulling him back to reality. The boy could only stare quizzically.
"Uzumaki-san, a few questions." Inu didn't want it to be an interrogation. A slow nod for Naruto showed his cautious attitude. Something Inu marvelled at.
"A few simple details on knowledge and progress in your academy. Fine?" Another slow nod accompanied by a now dead gaze. Not a good start.
"How many lessons have you attended from the age of five?" Naruto hardened at the thought of education.
'Half' Naruto mouthed, apathetically. Inu nodded, not disappointed or shocked. He had expected this discriminative behaviour towards orphans. Especially since this was Naruto's case.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate your skills against your peer's?" Naruto bit his lip. Hesitating with his answer as he logically worked through the criteria of 'outstanding student'.
'Two' Inu gave him a nod for honestly and sighed unhappily for the amount of fate Naruto had in himself.
"Do you feel that you are being taught, without professors playing favourites, adequately?" Naruto stared at Inu without a hint of acknowledgement. Inu lost him on this question.
'I'm not answering that' Inu felt like almost kicked himself for the insensitive questions but he needed to hear it from Naruto's mouth- or read it.
"Do you have anyone at academy you trust?" A mock shake of Naruto's head had Inu spiral into despair, he wasn't going to get anyway at this rate. A figure approached the two. Naruto glanced up only to stare at the shy attendant, who selfishly ogled Inu for his approval. A dull look from Inu had her scurrying off to hide away her flushing face. Naruto watched Inu pick up his chopsticks. Copying clumsily Naruto furrowed his eyebrows at his food, rich in carbohydrates. Rice topped with a flavourful curry steaming hot made Naruto look around to make sure he received the right order.
"Eat. No excuses." Inu warned. His voice was low and threatening from the previous flat tone. Naruto gazed unwillingly at his food with mixed feeling. Playing around he looked over to see Inu's bowl piled up exquisitely with Yakisoba and hidden treasures of pork.
Looking at his own plate, to compare with Inu's, Naruto looked up only to blink rapidly at the now empty plate. When? How? What! Naruto's brain whirled as Inu gave him an unidentifiable look which sent chills down the poor boy's spine.
Defeated Naruto took unenthusiastic small bites as Inu looked away.
"What do you eat usually?" Naruto chortled on his rice looking up in displeasure.
'You watch me every second of the day. Do I need to answer?' Inu shook his head after a pause and leaned in closer.
"Lesson two: Acknowledgement. I know what you eat. I know who you trust. I know how you are treated. But do you?" Naruto couldn't help but be puzzled by Inu.
"Reality is something many people struggle with. Accepting something is usually harder than living in a delusional dream. So I want to hear it from you. Are you ready to accept you are malnourished? Are you ready to accept you have no one to trust?" Inu leaned in closer to whisper," Are you ready to accept people think you are a demon?"
Naruto froze. The wooden sticks fell from his hand as his eyes widened in disbelief. I'm not a Demon. I'm not a Demon. Ha. I'm not a Demon. His mind quickly rewinds to the state before Inu had uttered the words. One blink. Two blinks. Naruto returned to eating with a mind like a clean slate like it had deleted the memory of Inu uttering the controversial statement.
Just as I expected… Inu had encountered such cases where the subject's mind forced itself to 'delete' all memories classified as traumatic or distressing for the subject.
PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) is what it is called in its infant stage. The subject is hit with a shocking event in their usually six months of the traumatic event. Subjects become highly insecure and suffer random attacks of flashbacks or nightmares. But most subjects learn to face the event and accept the horrid memory.
But Naruto, however, experiences these events daily. Even if it the event isn't violent in any nature, Naruto still has to step out of his home only to be severely assaulted by suffocating deathly glares boring holes in his body. His mind has adapted to forget anything which even makes him feel slightly anxious. Of course, this happens unconsciously as he himself seems to have no control of which memories get 'deleted'.
Scraping noises pull Inu out of his contemplative state.
'Did you ask something?' Naruto mouthed in annoyance as he shuffled through his memories but found a gaping hole which was making him fidgety. Inu shook his head. He would have to find the definite root of this problem before he started to investigate the strength of this psychological dilemma. On the field, this could mean the difference between life and death.
"Uzumaki-san, let's make a plan." Naruto looked up impassively.
"On Mondays and Tuesdays, we will work on writing and language in general. Wednesdays to Fridays we will spend specifically for training. On Saturday, we will read to increase our knowledge bank. Finally, Sunday will be a free day."
'Free day?' Naruto tilted his head with confusion.
"That day you can decide on what you want to spend your day doing. Without a doubt, I will fund it, therefore, you needn't worry about money." Naruto shook his head feverously.
'No, I can pay for myself.' Naruto stubbornly rejected Inu's help.
"You don't see children your age financing themselves, do you?" Naruto didn't shake his head. Not wanting to answer according to Inu's will.
"Well?" Inu wasn't going to drop this so Naruto 'discretely' shook his head.
"Then there are no complaints." Naruto looked up and scowled.
'Why?' Inu took a risk and leaned forward to affectionately dishevel Naruto's untameable spikes.
"Lesson three: It is not a sin to want more. At this age children believe they have unworldly powers which make enemies quiver in fear. So relax and learn to want. How will you grow stronger if you don't have the want to improve?" Inu explained.
Naruto nodded accepting the reason. After all anything logical was easy to understand. But wait Naruto paused and asked without hesitation.
'What is lesson two?' Inu replied carefully.
"You might learn it at the very end?" Naruto had never heard Inu using 'might'. He always spoke with such decisiveness that the word 'might', Naruto though, won't be in Inu's vocabulary. A light snort in the back of Naruto's mind made his mind linger on 'lesson two'. Feeling a blocked memory stick up like a sore thumb. It felt recent and familiar.
YEP THAT'S IT! I'm dead bye world... SOOOOOO SLEEPY. OH sorry HI GUYS THANKS FOR READING AND STAYING WITH ME FOR THE LATE UPDATE. Naughty Author-san! AND PLEASE REVIEW because u love me... okay you don't love me but at least talk to me! Anyway I need to sleep. I have school. YES SCHOOL OMG SCHOOL WHAT A FOREIGN THING! And I hate every thing about it. But the good news is that your author-san (me) had got 74/80 on her COMPUTER SCIENCE PAPER. BAM WHAT! So I was really happy about that but other than that Life is the usually boring business. OKAY GOODNIGHT READERS. Peace out.