At the closing of the door, Mei Terumi spun around and pushed Naruto against the door. Her self defense instinct had gone off, and she was certain that no matter how strong Uzumaki Naruto was, she won't be victimized in her own village.
Both her hands held Naruto's arm in place against the door, whilst her emerald eyes looked at him with fury, which lasted for about three seconds before it dissipates at the sight of a pair of weary eyes belonging to the blond hero.
" Naruto? " she called out in a soft tone, but she got no response despite the ocean eyes staring back at her were open.
Mei Terumi observed, and she was surprised to discover that the Jinchuriki was asleep.
' Unbelievable, he opened the door while still sleeping. This must have been because of his fever ' she thought.
Mei Terumi thought about what to do, and after thinking about it, she decided to just lay him down on the couch. An objective she found to be difficult to achieve, as Naruto's body proved to be highly difficult to move, which she understood, seeing the body he was working with.
" What in the world did you do to yourself, " she said.
Left without a choice, Mei Terumi sat Naruto down, and she stood back with her eyes daring not to look below his jawline. The Mizukage stood before the blond, wondering what to do next, before Naruto's unconscious body began to fall sideway.
Mei Terumi reacts before Naruto's head could hit the floor, she got down and sat beside him, then braced his head with her shoulder. The Mizukage thought of two ways to go about this perplexing situation, either to push the blond out of the way of the door, and leave. Or just stay by his side till he wakes up.
" Neither of my ideas are good. One involves hurting you, and the other involves hurting me. What should I do, Naruto " said Mei staring at his clothes and scroll that were on the floor.
While she deliberated, Naruto's arm snaked around her's, and the blond's hand lowered and took Mei's, interlocking their fingers. Mei's heart skips at the warm contact, and slowly her head tilts to left, and down to look at their joint hands, then back to his face.
The blond's eyes were now sealed shot, but yet Mei was not comforted by the fact that he was asleep and unaware of everything he was doing.
After a little while, Mei gets used to the feeling and eventually was lulled to sleep by the warmth of his body, and of his hand interlocked with her's. . . A few hours later in the middle of the night, Mei Terumi's eyes opens up as her consciousness stirred awake.
At the opening of her eyes, her vision remained blurred, and her mind had become slightly disorient. Causing her to wonder where she was, as the place appeared unfamiliar, with the white light bulbs up at the ceiling, filling up the place with light.
Mei tries to move, and thus noticed she was on a couch.
' Where is this? ' Mei thought.
The Mizukage's eyes slowly tilts to her right, and there in the middle of the room, sat Naruto cross legged before his scroll of sealing, opened by a quarter; the blond was back in his blue puffy pants, however without his hoodie on.
As her emerald stared at Naruto's immaculate, well worked out back. It came rushing back to her.
' He must have placed me on the couch when he woke up. I wonder how much he remembers '.
" Has your fever gone down? " she asked.
Naruto turns his body slightly in her direction, and he looks at the Mizukage, with an expression she was familiar with. Mei Terumi stared back at the blond's face, and she saw the look he was giving her was a look of someone that's far away.
Mei Terumi turned unto her side, bracing her head with her arm, her expression was soft,
" Uzumaki Naruto, where are you? " she asked with a voice which sounded so cool and almost soothing.
Naruto looking back had no idea why he could not muster the strength, to produce his fake smiles which he believed always made things better.
' Is it because am exhausted from the effects of the six paths senjutsu chakra? ' He thought.
" What do you mean? " He asks not sure what the Mizukage meant, " your eyes are of those who are far away. It doesn't look like you're here, so where have you gone off too " she said.
Naruto lowers his head. " I'm not sure, somewhere safe " said Naruto, " and where is that? ". " The past, the time when everyone loathed me for being a Jinchuriki, "
" Do you hate them? For how you were treated, as a Jinchuriki " asked Mei Terumi.
' she's not looking at me with disdain, for bringing up my past? '.
" I don't, they all had their reasons... B- but I think I hate myself now ", " why is that? "
Naruto turns to Mei Terumi completely with his head hung low, he didn't want to see what kind of look he was going to be getting.
" Because I'm regretting some of the choices I made, which I fear may have been influenced by something else, and wasn't completely out of my own conscious volition " He confessed.
" The great Uzumaki Naruto, hero of the Ninja world dealing with regrets. Unbelievable! " said Mei Terumi with a slight humor Naruto could not pick up.
Naruto scoffs.
" The mask of indifference, and confidence is gone, and now all that remains is this... Aren't I pathetic? " He asked.
Mei Terumi sighs, sits up and walks over to Naruto on bare foot upon the rug, Naruto knew but he didn't react expecting to be reprimanded and reassured.
' In the end, it's all going to be words ' Naruto thought.
Mei Terumi gets down on her butt, and crosses her legs, Mei extends her left hand out and with it touched Naruto's face: Naruto tilts his head up slightly to look at the auburn haired Mizukage whom had come forward and made contact with him.
" What you are is not pathetic, what you are is. Human. Like the rest of us, " she says " but everyone calls me a hero. Doesn't that mean I have to be better, perfect? Be the person everyone trusted me to be " said Naruto befuddled.
Mei Terumi shook her head.
" Your greatest ability, which I have come to know is your ability to understand others, and their pain. However, that is also your greatest weakness. Because for people who understand others, they repress their own emotions, that they might avoid understanding themselves enough to not want to understand everyone ".
" But I'm a hero, isn't that my role, especially in regards to my pursuit of becoming a Hokage that my people can trust and depend on ",
" understanding people isn't what made you a hero, it was your sincerity that led people to accept you and follow you. Because of you, my people decided to walk towards peace, but if you begin to lose understanding of your own self. Eventually you will be swept away by the darkness, and the world will plunge into disaster. " Mei Terumi explained.
Mei noticed Naruto still looked confused, puzzled and dejected.
" I will ask you this person to person. Why do you want to understand people so much? "
" Because that is the only way I know to keep people safe from people like Madara, and... Me ", " you? " Mei asked shocked that he would add himself to it.
" The more I understand others, the more reason I have to protect others, and if I protect them. The less reason they have to hurt me, and me to hurt them " said Naruto
Mei Terumi places her hand upon Naruto's hair and caressed it slowly, with a small and comforting smile.
" Is that why you smile a lot? Because you don't want to give anyone, any reason to hate you? " she asked.
Naruto was shocked by the question for a moment.
' Kurama, is that why I've developed the habit of smiling all the time? ', " you've always been weary of people being weary of you, because of my power " said Kurama.
" I think so " Naruto replied.
" You're still such a kid, growing up in this perilous world. Listen, there are not many ways I can help you to grow into your true self, but I'm going to make you a promise: as long as you can tell the difference between right and wrong, I will always offer you a smile, we might not be of the same village, but you have my sole support " she says.
" Don't try to prove yourself through a smile, but through what you know how to do best, action. I don't want to see my hero live in despair, because he could not express his true feelings. I genuinely understand you, because I still struggle with it " said Mei Terumi.
Naruto notices her smile turn into a sad one, but despite the sad demeanor, Naruto believed the Mizukage understood through the evergreen glow in her eyes.
" You don't think I'm an hypocrite for harboring all this feelings? " He asked.
" You're a hero with youthful thoughts, and childhood fears. If you didn't have this feelings, you wouldn't be human ".
' So this is how it actually feels like uh, it's strange. ' Naruto thought.
" So you're saying I can stop now, " " Huh? Oh, yeah... " said Mei Terumi not completely sure what he meant.
" Naruto... ", ' I'm done pretending. A year is long enough, it's about time I stopped '.
Naruto leans forward, with eyes closed, and thus lays his lips against the Mizukage's. Mei Terumi's opened eyes widened, in utter perplexity.
Ten seconds passes, neither moved their lips, and it was those ten seconds all it took for Mei Terumi to awake from the genjutsu casted by this unexpected lip to lip contact.
At the moment of her reawakening, Mei gets up with a start, but before stepping away, she executes a slap filled with untamed fury. The sound resonates throughout the room.
Mei Terumi felt herself desire to lash out, to beat up this twenty year old as much as she could and wake every person in the mist up to be a witness to what had happened. However, as much as her mind desired it, her body had other intentions.
Naruto not too surprised watched as Mei Terumi bolted out of the room, exiting the place and slamming the door close behind her. Naruto turns around, and looks down at the scroll.
" Naruto, what have you done? " Kurama asked. " I set myself free " Naruto replied.
Naruto breathes in, exhales, then place his index upon his lips before a conscious and genuine smile blooms upon his face.
" Forgive me, Mizukage sama. I won't go back on my words this time " said Naruto.