The Boy in the Park

Chapter Sixty-Nine

When she returned, two hours later and a stomach full of ramen, she entered the house expecting her Aniki somewhere in the kitchen, ready to scold her for having snacked elsewhere.

Her Aniki wasn't in the kitchen.

She frowned, before starting to creep up the stairs all the way to his room. She pressed her ear against it, but when she heard nothing, she opened it by an inch.

The room was empty.

She returned down in the kitchen, before finally stumbling upon a note on the table's surface, which she had missed.

"Gone out, date went badly, have to apologize."

She swallowed nervously.

Where had he gone to apologize? It wasn't as if Nazuma had…a…house…

She paled.

The teachers' contact, the Godaime had filled it with an empty apartment building, since it wouldn't be for more than one month, or at least that had been the bet's ultimate threshold and…

If that was the case, then…

She dashed out in a hurry, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until she reached the one of the abandoned building in question. She barely landed, going through the hand seal for the Henge —maybe she'd make it on time, maybe she'd find an excuse— when a voice came right from behind her.

"Naru—" and then the Henge finished, and Naruko would have rather died on the spot than turned around.

But she did turn around. She turned, and she stared with the eyes of Nazuma at her Aniki, who was looking at her with shock etched on his face. "Ah…I…"

Shinku just fell down on the ground, sitting down with his shoulders trembling and his face downcast.

"I thought I'd get here and well…kidnap her," she blurted out lamely, trying for an excuse.

"She's not here," Shinku mumbled. "The building's abandoned. She lied about her address on the teachers' contact information. That's not something you can do, because the Hokage checks them scrupulously. So I went down to T&I, since I'm quite the habitual visit. They never heard of a Nazuma before, and normally the teachers are checked before being hired because of what happened with Mizuki years ago…" he chuckled bitterly.

"Aniki…"

"And so I returned here, because I thought to myself the only possible explanation was that something wasn't right with the entire ordeal. Let's face it, I'm a magnet for trouble rather than for women, and no normal or sane individual would ever like me. So, in the end, I thought at who could do something like this. Hinata, Sakura, they all had a part but I never once suspected you. I thought it some sort of revenge from Hiashi, or maybe a maddening trick of Anko. I actually believed for a moment it might have been Shizune…"

Then his eyes locked on hers. "But I would have never believed you to be the culprit."

"I'm not!" she exclaimed. "I didn't do this to hurt you Aniki! I swear! I just made a bet with Baa-chan! If I could master the rasengan with the wind element before you found me out at the academy, she'd keep Shizune off your back!"

"So you made a bet involving me," he muttered, his voice cracked. "Really? The date and everything else was part of a bet?"

"No! No, I swear, it wasn't like that! I swear I didn't…it was them! They did everything! I didn't do anything about that! I wasn't…"

"Why?" he asked then, his voice a mere whisper, "Why?" he repeated.

Naruko hung her head down in shame.

"I'm not a kid," she mumbled. "You always treat me like one, but I'm not. I'm an adult now, Aniki! I'm no longer a girl, but a woman! And…and I wanted to prove it to you," she croaked out. Her heart drummed hard as she spoke those words, her eyes tearing up as she clenched her hands against her chest. "Please…I didn't mean to…"

"I trusted you, out of everyone, not to do something like this," he whispered back, his eyes holding on to a sad glint. "And you trampled on my trust, Naruko. I trusted you, I believed in you, and you didn't even bother with thinking about how I'd feel afterwards, would you? Of course not, you don't think half of the time."

She winced at the words, the bitter words, but still opened her mouth to…

"Shut up," Shinku hissed out. "I don't want to hear your excuses. What is there to say? Was this all another great plan to see me angry for once? Was this enjoyable? Well, get a fucking view Naruko, because now I am angry!" he brought both arms up as he yelled, scaring her out of her wits as he did so.

She was scared. She simply couldn't comprehend nor connect the Aniki to the Shinku she was watching now. One always smiled, and had a kind face. His red eyes were always gentle, and he laughed. This one had furious crimson eyes and a dark snarl on his visage, and his breathing was ragged as angry words spewed out of his mouth.

They couldn't be the same person…but they were, and it was her fault.

"You betrayed my trust," he choked out, "You lied to me, repeatedly. After everything I did for you, after everything I went through for you, after everything I understood, after every single thing I accepted…this, only this…was it that hard not to do it?" his voice cracked, as he shook his head.

"I don't care anymore. For once, I thought I had found a normal woman, someone who wasn't trying to get in my pants or who had violent tendencies. For once, I believed I had found someone I could love without the risk of being turned into a pincushion or being the centre of obsessive-behaviour. For once…I thought it would be nice to have a normal family." He chuckled bitterly.

"Then again, there isn't a single ninja with a head on their shoulder, is there? Prancing around, doing as you please…I've had enough."

He turned, and began to walk towards the door of the rooftop. "I'll leave you the house keys on the table. I'll be gone by tomorrow. Find someone else to prank, Naruko, find someone else to torture their hearts out. With me…you're done."

And with that he left.

Naruko slumped down on the floor of the rooftop, her eyes glassy as she stared up at the sky.

It couldn't get any worse, could it?

The next day, Team Ten would report back the death of Asuma Sarutobi.

The next day, Naruko went home to an empty house.

The pain she felt in her chest…was indescribable.

Author's notes

Ah…do you smell the fresh angst?

Of course, Shinku dies next and the angst reaches a new level.

Just joking. This is more of Drama I suppose. Everything will turn out fine, of course, and then more people will die.

DEATHS FOR ALL!

(Ps: I did say someone was going to die soon…XD it was Asuma.)