Chapter XLVII

Feral Scratches

TW: Food Disorder

In the early morning, I am pulled from the land of dreams when my dial starts ringing. I'm not the only one either since Naruto wakes up with a jump. On all fours above me, his tail jostling in all directions sweeps the blanket falling to the ground. His blond and black fur bristles and with his crazy feral eyes, he fiercely inspects the surroundings for the noise he doesn't like at all. As for me, nervous, I content myself with remaining motionless.

Naruto soon finds it. Letting out a grunt and a few painless lightning, he grabs my dial with his tail to abruptly throw it to the other end of the room; the violence of the blow is such that it explodes into a thousand pieces when it hits the wall. From then on, the room plunges into a silence broken by the inaudible complaints of the displeased boy. Annoyed, I slide a hand through my silver hair, sighing.

At least I won't have to wake him up…

Slowly I sit back up in my bed and in response, Naruto sits on my legs. This closeness and our faces too close to each other make me uncomfortable, but this fleeting feeling gives way to anger.

Eyeing him sternly, I roughly grab and pinch both of his cheeks.

"Do you realize how frustrating you are, Naruto?" I curse while my student is grimacing, closing his eyelids. "You're forcing me to go buy another one because you act before thinking, you brainless brat! What annoys me the most is that I can't even be mad at you!"

My words spoken, I release his face. Perplexed, Naruto contents himself with caressing his aching skin. He doesn't seem to understand why I'm in a bad mood. Still, I manage to read the exhaustion in his deep blue irises that betrays his sleepiness. To see the dark circles darkening every day, I am in no way surprised; he must be a victim to insomnia since his body chases fatigue during the night.

"You better not go back to sleep," I warn him dryly, frowning. "Otherwise, I'm really going to be angry, got it?"

Naruto maintains eye contact, but he makes himself tiny and is bitten with angst. I woke up the wrong side of the bed this morning and without realizing it, I'm being horribly harsh with him. To calm myself down, I take a deep breath.

"Sorry, Naruto… It's not your fault. Get dressed and wait nicely for me. Will you?"

Fortunately, Naruto gives me a shy but sincere smile; the dark clouds hovering over his head leave him little by little. I ruffle his blond mane covered with static electricity with a jovial face so to chase away the remaining clouds. It works since he offers me his most beautiful smile. My hand withdrawn, he quickly throws himself on me to hug me, burying his face in my neck, making my heart race in the process. Mechanically, I hug him back.

After a short while, I gently push him away to free my legs and stand up. As for Naruto, he just stays in bed while watching me. I ignore him and clean up the mess and remnants of my poor, brutalized dial good to the trash. Then, I hurry to the bathroom to get rid of the veil of static electricity before snacking on something. Strangely, I'm not hungry… However, in order not to lose more weight, I force myself to fill my stomach as grumpy as the sapphire-eyed boy. I have no idea what could be cutting my appetite so much… Perhaps the anxiety that this whole situation creates?

I cannot say.

In the meantime, Naruto has dressed in his orange outfit as requested, although he hasn't left the bed. On his stomach, legs in the air fidgeting lazily, tail included, the blanket covers his entire back and the top of his head. He twirls his claw on the ground, pouting. For the very first time, he shows signs of boredom. I'm speechless.

He lets out a yawn, then a second, and I painfully refrain from imitating him. His amorphous state, his increasingly pronounced dark circles… Naruto cannot sleep at night… Nevertheless, I remain convinced that it's possible to break his sleep cycle. During his captivity, it happened; he was wounded and exhausted, yes, but he's capable of falling asleep if his body reaches its limits.

After this short analysis, I dress in my usual shinobi outfit. I feel his persistent gaze locked on my person while his fingernail scrapes the floor, causing unpleasant screeches. In addition, this claw marks with ease the woods. It digs deeper and deeper, leaving indelible and feral footprints in its wake. With the scratches of the other day when Naruto had clung to resist me, my floor is gradually being massacred…

Suddenly hit with a bad feeling, I inspect the underside of my bedroom desk. I soon feel claw marks covering the entirety of the latter with varying depths. In doing so, I accidentally put a splinter in my finger. I make a useless complaint as I pull the thorn out of my skin.

With my sharp eye, I scan the room. Nothing out of the ordinary at first sight … until I observe the bed which sowed suspicion in my mind. A drop of sweat beads on my forehead. I crouch down while lifting the sheets to look underneath.

I hold my breath as I contemplate the pure carnage of spine-chilling feral marks. There are scratches absolutely everywhere and sliding a careful hand under the bed base, I find others of a similar intensity and very worrying. Since my bed is too low for him to crawl under, the marks are an arm's length away. To see the damage, I wouldn't be surprised if my bed base splits in two one day or another…

Obviously, I've finally discovered one of my student's nocturnal activities…

When I look back at Naruto, he doesn't react. He isn't at all ashamed or guilty of this. Otherwise, he'd have broken eye contact right away. All in all, he hides it from me since he scratches areas that escape my vision. At first glance, the teenager must scratch like a feline, but I doubt. I didn't see this phenomenon in his jail… However, relying on the report of his sequestration during his abduction, his cage was in a bad state; his sharp fingernails were anchored forever in the stone witnessing the horrors. I frown at this contradiction.

Is my memory playing tricks on me?

About to check the rest of my apartment, a knock on my door captures my full attention, and that of Naruto who sharply jerks his head up. His tail twirls a few times and he inhales the smells as he pulls himself forward. Since he hasn't started hissing and I'm expecting visitors, it can only be Shikamaru and Sakura.

However, Naruto gets ahead of me as he leaps out of bed. He walks with a quick and determined step towards the door. Motionless, I watch him curiously. He tries to open the locked door. His tail wags in annoyance and confusion. Immediately, he touches and feels the door with his hands and frantically scans it for the latch to unlock it.

Naruto opens the latter and stares at the two teens who repress a start, not expecting to be greeted by the blond. After this visual analysis, he sniffs them, especially Sakura who is very and quickly uncomfortable. Without warning, he grabs the kunoichi's wrist to drag her inside; she lets out a cry of surprise despite herself.

Sakura just follows suit as he forces her to follow him. It's only once in front of me that Naruto lets go of her slightly scratched arm due to the roughness he has shown. Then, he gently takes my arms to hold them out in front of her.

After a few blinks, we understand what he wants, especially when he starts to stare insistently at my forearms.

Naruto remembered that she can heal my wounds.

Naruto waits impatiently for her to comply.

To the point where Naruto hardly stands still.

When his black tail wags with annoyance, I roll up my sleeves and remove the bandages with a sigh. Meanwhile, I notice Shikamaru that takes off his shoes and approaches in a paradox of nonchalance and caution. Naruto doesn't even look away so much that his eyes are pinned to my slightly sore, bruised skin. Seeing the state of my arms, the teens hold their breath; the marks speak for themselves.

"I'm so sorry for Naruto," I break the silence as Sakura heals my arms. "He's sometimes a bit rough…"

"Sometimes?" Shikamaru wonders in disbelief. "He's mauling your arms."

Given the veracity of his statement, I remain silent.

"The wounds his fangs produce are deep enough to leave scars," Sakura worries. "You'd also lose a lot of blood without his venom…"

"Is it me or Naruto bites you more than once a night?" Shikamaru asks me, concerned. "You have too many wounds for that not to be the case…"

My ebony eye flies over my tortured and martyred arms which are less and less scary to see; the pain finally leaves them.

"Indeed," I confirm grimly. "It has already happened that he has bitten me twice. Keeping him from spilling too much of his venom proves difficult… Nonetheless, he's getting better… Though I agree that it doesn't seem to be the case at first glance."

As the abuse subsides and subsides, Naruto calms down and shows a beaming smile. All in all, I haven't detected any trace of anxiety or stress in him since their arrival. Also, the fact that he moved away from me to open the door for them proves that he has lowered his barriers and feels comfortable. I wonder if he'd be able to stay alone with Shikamaru since he's the one he trusts the most after me.

"I wouldn't like to be you," Shikamaru says with a sigh. "You look like you're in agony."

"… A little. But I have no choice, as you well know."

"Do you think there would be another way for him to take your chakra without biting you?" Sakura wonders.

"I don't think so. Naruto doesn't want to hurt me even though he's not doing it on purpose. In other words, he wouldn't use this method," I retort. "Apart from stabbing a straw in to suck it up, I have no idea how he could feed itself…"

A silence lulls the place while my student stops her technique. The marks—albeit faded—are still there, but the pain has gone away for good … until Naruto put his teeth back into them tonight, that said. About to thank Sakura, Naruto suddenly clings to my arm in such a way as to embrace it; at that, he wraps his black tail around my leg, snatching a heavy sigh of exasperation from me. Nevertheless, his bright, blinding face banishes the irritation that was trying to overwhelm me.

"Get ready, Naruto. We're taking you out today," I tell him, gently pushing him away.

Fortunately, the feral boy separates from me then goes to my room to tie his headband on his forehead and put on the dark cape. He finishes by going to the entrance to wear his sandals.

"Is he always so … sticky with you?" Sakura asks me, arching an eyebrow.

Shikamaru and I nod in heart.

"It's a consequence of his particularly overwhelming emotional dependence on me."

She walks up to me to whisper something. Mechanically, I lend my ear to her, to listen to what she wants to tell me.

"He doesn't do anything to you that is … inappropriate, at least?" she asks me anxiously.

I hold my breath for a blink of an eye. I remain impassive so as not to respond positively in any way and therefore, give birth to superstitions and rumours about me. With the time they've been together, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew regarding Naruto's sexuality. Otherwise, she wouldn't ask me the question. I already have Shikamaru on my back about my secretiveness, I don't need her to start being suspicious in turn.

"Besides stuff like that, no," I lie in a whisper.

My answer reassures Sakura; whether she believes me or she hides her suspicions. I hope she doesn't push her thoughts further. If Lady Tsunade finds out, I'll face a hurricane as violent as an enraged dragon, and I doubt I'll come out unscathed; in the best of all worlds, I'm going to need a day or two in the hospital.

At the same time, Naruto is done and is now waiting kindly and obediently at the entrance, though his tail betrays impatience as it sways from side to side.

"I hope you're all set and ready, kids," I exclaim cheerfully, clapping my hands together. "I can't wait to see how he'll react while being surrounded by people he trusts."

They nod, but the tension is somewhat palpable. Although the blond is tamed and much more docile than before, his feral temper persists and makes him unpredictable. I remain sure that everything will go without a hitch since I'm already taking him out without the slightest problem. When I open the door, Naruto hasn't clung tightly to my arm as usual, even though he's close to me. I confirm my assumptions that he feels safer this way. Needless to say, I'm relieved that he isn't clinging to me like an insufferable leech.

While Sakura tries her best to chat with a silent Naruto who is completely impassive to her words, I take the opportunity to ask Shikamaru a question that has been bothering me since their arrival. "Does she know about the chamber of horrors?" I inquire quietly.

"No," he replies in a whisper. "Godaime thinks it's best that she doesn't know."

Indeed, I can only agree with this decision. These discoveries have shaken me greatly and knowing my student with easy emotions, I dare not imagine how she'd react to such blood-curdling revelations.