Chapter LVI

Rupture

Naruto is completely unresponsive to anything, although his body weak to wind shivers as I carry him in my mad dash. The fatigue left me and disappeared, like the pain in all my martyred being. My mind is focused on Naruto who is in shock, to the point of losing his hair; the fall of his hairs worries me and this kind of thing will accelerate the premature bleaching of the latter, the tail included. For once, I don't care about the dirty looks directed at me or what the others may think of me.

My priority is my upset student.

I arrive at my apartment in record time. Without further ado, I go to my bathroom, in which Naruto can take a shower and therefore, wash up his accident. Unfortunately, no matter how much I talk to him, my words don't reach his deaf ears. I gently place him on the ground, in a seated position, in front of the wall with which he has difficulty holding on; he threatens to collapse at any moment.

His whole body is relaxed; his tail, usually full of life, is motionless and doesn't even flinch when I brush it with my fingertips; if I take his face to make eye contact, his excruciatingly dark and extinguished eyes only contemplate the void in front of them; drool continually escapes from his lips unable to touch their twin; by placing my palm on his forehead, his fever got worse; his puffs of air are insufficient wheezing; by putting an ear to his chest, his organ of love is slow and irregular.

Naruto appears to be struggling for survival—rather, his spirit has vanished. All that remains is his body on autopilot, content with the bare minimum.

Seeing him like this… I'm heartbroken.

A bitter darkness poisons me.

I feel terribly helpless.

I can touch him, whisper sweet words to him, nothing helps. I feel like his mind has been shattered again, but only worse. There's neither sorrow, nor suffering, nor fear… An absolute impassivity with which he disassociated himself from the whole world, to take refuge in another imaginary, engulfing him to leave behind only an empty carcass devoid of any will. It wasn't just words that generated this extreme reaction from him. The presence of this man was enough to plunge him into terrible evils. How could his mere presence destroy him so much?

'What did you perceive or feel that made you choose to disappear, so fiercely that you forgot me, Naruto? What does that mean, Naruto? How should I interpret the pain that shook you, Naruto?' I ask in vain, caressing his impassive face.

Unconsciously, I clench my fist until my fingernails dig into my skin.

'What I would give for you to be able to talk to me, right now, right away. What I would give to hear your thoughts and your voice trapped in silence… Is it possible that he is … an actor in this fateful and mischievously cruel theatrical play...?'

I let out a sigh, then another… I breathe in calmly, for a long time, so to get rid of this bubbling anger that enrages me, blinds me and makes me lose my temper. The possibility that Naruto recognized him for the wrong reasons torments me… Danzō being involved is a deadly and unlikely scenario. However, his unhealthy smile pushes me to believe viciously in this wandering thought, generated by the obscure pessimist and from which I'm unable to escape.

I make stuff up, I know it only too well. I realize that I'm emotionally involved in this whole story and that these emotions are impairing my judgment; at that, I'm exhausted, at my wits' end, about to explode… If I don't take a break, I will sink into impulsiveness by acting before thinking. This anxiety ball that presses my stomach takes up all the space in my tortured and too small rib cage…

I shake my head to pull myself together and focus on my student who needs me right now.

Upon closer inspection, his clothes are stained with blood and vomit, not to mention his accident. Since the blond is unable to cooperate, I resolve to undress him completely and unsurprisingly, the latter has become an inanimate rag doll. Once Naruto is naked, I run the water. The shower at the ideal temperature, I gently take Naruto in my arms to sit him inside. I have to wash him… He won't do it on his own, that's understood.

Showing him my back—just in case—I take off my scarf and my tank top. I hide my face with a towel that I tie securely around my head. As a result, I remove the bandages that cover my skin. Looking at the holes in my neck, a fear is added to my too many anxieties. Thinking back to that moment during which I cleaned my skin near the bites, I dread the rise of intolerable pain… I'm already in enough pain as it is… Sadly, I don't have the luxury of being picky.

I don't know what causes these shooting pains when the skin affected by this strange phenomenon is wet… My arm, Naruto's… Something is causing this hydrophobia and it's irrefutable. All in all, my overworked brain can't come up with a logical hypothesis I can believe in.

As I prepare for this inevitable hell, I also take off my soiled pants and underwear. Exposed in this way bothers me a little, despite the mentally absent presence of the teenager who hasn't moved since I placed him underwater. I refrain from sighing before taking care of Naruto's hygiene. Of course, I avoid his blond mane or his black tail, for fear of pulling out more hair than anything else since they've become fragile.

As suspected, I soon suffer martyrdom. My neck is whipped by the aqueous droplets, which are stalactites piercing me. To forget the pain, I bite my lower lip fiercely, until I taste my blood. In addition to the twinges of nightmares, all this generates an obvious discomfort from touching Naruto, including his intimacy; a real torture that I hasten to finish in a hurry, without rushing my work. Then, I soap and rinse my disgusting thigh before turning off the water.

I pant heavily and painfully, while refraining myself from moaning. The sapphire-eyed boy is still trapped in this trance, the reason why he's unable to react to anything. Quickly, I dry my burning skin and the rest of my body. I make a detour to my room to change. Given my catastrophic state, I put on my long-sleeved shirt; an unacknowledged desire to forget the unsightly ornaments anchored on my skin brutalized by suffering of all kinds.

Back in the bathroom, I freeze. During my short absence, Naruto curled up in a ball, hiding his face behind his knees; at that, he wrapped his arms around his legs and his ebony tail wrapped around himself. Stillness is still present, although he can move again.

I'm relieved to see that his spirit has returned to occupy his being.

"Naruto?" I call out to him, placing a hand on his wet shoulder.

Naruto doesn't react. Sadly, he hasn't come to his senses yet.

"Come out of your cocoon so I can dry you off and get you out of here, Naruto."

Saying so, I take him in my arms and get him out of the glass cage. Fortunately, he offers me no resistance, and that makes my job easier. His eyes still don't work, but he manages to stand on his own once dropped to his knees on my shower mat. Gently and carefully, I slide the towel over his body, avoiding his light and dark hair.

I hang the said towel around his waist to hide his crotch. I take his arms to put them around my neck to lift him. In response, Naruto embraces it more tightly and lays his head against it, while pulling himself up; at that, his tail wraps around my abdomen. He understands that I'm about to carry him.

My arms support his legs, which hug me tightly so as not to fall. Once arrived at my bunk, Naruto clings to me and refuses to let go. Even when I'm on all fours above the bed, he persists in clinging on like a monkey stuck to its mother's fur. I blow a sigh of exasperation.

"Come on, Naruto. Let go of me," I sigh, grabbing his hands to encourage him to gently unhook from me. "I won't leave you alone if that's what worries you…"

With reluctance and excruciatingly slowness, my student separates from me and lies down on the sheets. I almost lose my footing when I narrowly avoid putting a knee on his fragile tail. My sudden gesture in catching me at the last moment made him jump briefly; he must have been expecting me to accidentally fall on him. At least I see that he has become himself again … in a way, since he's still so unreceptive to the outside world.

Out of him, I cover him with the blanket up to his shoulders. His tired little eyes try to close; he struggles to stay awake. I'm not surprised. Naruto is exhausted in every way possible, even though he slept through the night.

With the adrenaline leaving my veins, exhaustion throughout my body hits me like a well-placed punch. The pain resurfaces, electrocuting all my nerves, in a cacophony of intolerable sensory pain that makes me wince and tremble. I utter a few yawns—something Naruto mimics. To my dismay, without his venom, I won't be able to fall asleep, although I still hope. My body wants to give up at any moment. Maybe it will be an exception this time?

I hope…

Sincerely.

Like him, I lie down in front of him, being a little too close to the edge. I cover myself with the blanket too. Contrary to usual, the feral boy is against the wall and when he sees me settling down, he steps aside to make room for me; this greatly reduces my overly present discomfort.

I feel as if I've released the pressure all of a sudden; I've already closed my eyelid. I still hope to fall asleep and find the rest that I've been lacking for two days, not to mention the insufficient recovery of my chakra. I realize that Naruto must be starving… Unfortunately, I can't feed him; I'm dry and I'd be bedridden for a good week if I offered it to him now…

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as the wet, black tail gently wraps around one of my wrists, as if he were holding my hand with it. By opening the eyelid, I see that the blond has already closed his eyes and that his breath is more and more regular. I sigh. I too want to fall asleep so easily. My whole being is taken hostage by his venom, to which my body is addicted…

Since my brain is idling, I didn't notice that Naruto was gradually bringing my arm closer to his open mouth ready to bite. By reflex, I jerk my forearm away as my heart races. I glare at my student with suspicion. Although he doesn't hurt me, his prehensile limb remains firmly nailed to my skin.

Veiled with fatigue, Naruto dives his deep blue irises into mine. His pupils don't shine; he doesn't want to devour my chakra, but rather inject me with his sleep poison. He knows that I can't sleep without it. Since he doesn't insist, it helps me to calm down, lower my barriers and therefore relax.

Exhausted, I resolve to offer him my arm myself.

"Please, don't poison me too much, Naruto," I reluctantly agree.

The teenager doesn't hesitate to sink his monstrous fangs full length into my flesh, tearing me a shudder, to which is added a useless complaint. Many scarlet drops bead from the holes, taint my sheets flouted with consented violence. The bleeding fades as his fiery toxin pours into my system, spreads through my veins, my muscles, my body that goes numb immediately. Very quickly, this dark tapestry doesn't take long to obstruct my retina as the sounds die out around me.

I barely have time to feel his fangs come out of my arm when I pass out.