The Boy in the Park

Chapter Seventy-Five

He was watering the plants. It wasn't that much of a difficult thing, but he was watering them all the same. Well, he was actually gone way past the watering phase and into the 'drowning' them phase, but there wasn't another choice.

It was that or nearly cutting off his fingers while chopping vegetables.

"Aniki! I'm home!" Naruko yelled, barrelling in from the window.

"Hey," he croaked out, swallowing nervously and then looking sideways. "Welcome home."

Naruko frowned, before slowly walking closer to Shinku who had in the meantime stopped trying to kill the plants.

"Is everything all right, Aniki?"

"How about we go and eat outside? We can bring back take out for Kurenai," he added softly.

"Aniki?"

"Double pork ramen will be fine, I suppose," he began to head towards his jacket. "Come on, Naruko, no use waiting."

She smiled then. Well, maybe it was nothing bad if her Aniki was willing to go and eat outside.

Eat outside and leave Kurenai in the house alone?

Now that made her frown, but…maybe it was some way to get some alone time with her? She blushed slightly at the thought, before shaking her head. Aniki wasn't like that.

He didn't eat anything at the ramen shop though. That made her, Teuchi and Ayame worried.

"Maybe I got the flu bug," he replied with a shaky smile. "Still, it's nothing to worry about."

His voice was incredibly soft, more like a murmur than his actual tone. It scared her. It scared her to death.

"Maybe we should go back home?" Naruko hazarded walking next to Shinku, "When you're sick you should rest, right?"

"Naruko…" they were headed towards the training ground, one of the furthest away from the village. "How was training today?"

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei was a real monster! He and Yamato-Sensei insisted I did double and triple everything! I was so dead tired I thought…"

"I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have forced you to go out…"

"It's not a problem, Aniki," Naruko muttered looking sideways. "But! Why are you so down Aniki? Uh? You look somewhat green, you know? You're not going to die because of the flu right? Ehi? Ehi Aniki! You can't enter the training grounds without looking! There might be someone else training! Ehi…Aniki…why are we here now?"

Around her, there was nothing. Shinku sighed, and then sat down with his legs crossed. She began to fidget.

What was this all about? When her Aniki told her to sit, she hesitated for a moment, before taking the cue and getting down on his lap with a devious smile on her face.

"What is it, Aniki?" she murmured. "Are…" she turned crimson. Wait. She was sitting on his lap, at night, away from everyone else. This…wait…it couldn't be that?

"I'm sorry, Naruko," he began holding her. "But…"

Was he going to…confess? Was that what it was all about?

She…

"Jiraiya died in his last mission."

Like that, her entire body tensed. The night was no longer nice, but cold. The…

"Ero-sannin?"

"He fought off against Pain, but in the end…" Naruko began to squirm.

"Let me go! It's…Let me go Aniki!"

"Stand still!" he snapped back at her, tightening his hold. He knew that it would take relatively little for even a Genin to escape his grasp, which was why he had chosen to sit down.

"No! NO! Come on! This is a joke! A really horrible joke! This isn't real, right? He's like, the Sannin! He's strong! He's…not him too please," her voice cracked as tears began to fall down her face. "Please…not him too," her face lowered against his chest. "Not him too…"

He gritted his teeth, hugging her tightly.

It was going to be all right. There was not going to be a Kyuubi escape and he knew there were like, five or six Jounin hidden in the trees ready at a moment's notice.

Still, all that Naruko did was to cry and wail louder with each passing moment. He gently began to pat her head, softly whispering.

"It's going to be all right."

"He's dead! He's not all right! He's…he was a stupid pervert, he wasn't supposed to…" the sniffles grew louder, but the wails did subside. "I…"

He held her close and sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm going to kill Pain," Naruko said suddenly.

"Naruko?"

"I'm going to kill Pain. I'm going to make him suffer. I'm going to tear him apart and watch as he bleeds to death for what he did. I'm going to kill all those of the Akatsuki and then, when I'm done, I'm going to spit on their graves and watch as…"

"Naruko!" he opened his eyes to stare in crimson ones, as Naruko's frame felt scorching hot to the touch. He could feel his palms sizzling from simply holding her close. "Naruko, calm down!"

"Why?" she snarled, "They keep taking people away from me! They're a danger to my precious people! I won't let them! I won't!" shaking her head, she clenched tightly on his back with her nails. "I'm not letting them take anyone else! I'm not!"

"Naruko…calm…down…you're hurting me," he croaked out.

"Uh?" and like that, crimson left the place to cerulean. When Naruko moved her hands away from Shinku's back, it was to stare at the nails dirtied with blood and scraps of flesh.

"Ah…Ah…" Naruko began to breathe in and out deeply, scared.

"It's fine," Shinku exhaled, gently butting his forehead against hers. "It's fine. Everything's fine."

"But…but…"

"This is nothing."

"But I…But…"

"This. Is. Nothing."

Then he smiled. "Do you think that perverted bastard would want you to swear revenge in his name? Didn't he write a book about letting go of it?"

"I…I don't know."

Her head fell down against his shoulder then, and soon the peaceful snoring of her tired form reached his ears. She had fallen asleep. Sighing, he slowly wobbled back to his feet while holding her. "Well," he grumbled. "Time to go back home."

And back home he walked, with blood dribbles dripping down his back and his hands scorched.

Still, it didn't matter much because at the very least, in that precise moment, he could claim he had done enough.

And that was all that mattered.

Author's notes

Someone's going to dieeeee.