Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!
He didn't eat dinner or breakfast with them the next day.
The door to his room wasn't locked or anything, but when Itsuyo peeked into his room to see how he was doing, all she saw was him laying on his futon with his back to the door. He lacked any and all motivation to so much as join them for meals, and it was getting worrying for multiple reasons.
Ichika actually seemed the most bothered by the development.
Seeing as she was the strongest of them, the oldest, and the one who approved of Naruto as their lover the most due to his fierce nature and desire to protect. The fact he was just deflated was a bit of a mood killer for her, but she had no clue at all what to do with a man in this situation.
"... One of us could blow him."
Yakumo had some ideas.
They ignored it with red faces for some, and the ones who realized she was joking just ignored the statement completely. The fact was that none of them even knew what happened, so they couldn't comfort him without asking him that.
"Well, we've got to go to school." Itsuyo, Mutsumi, Natsuki, and Yakumo were all students so they could fit in with society better, and they couldn't skip school for something that they didn't understand. Itsuyo looked towards the closed door to Naruto's room with her eyes passive, but concerned.
-Later-
Naruto came out of his room.
"Phew..." Naruto just let out a sigh. He was hungry from skipping dinner and breakfast, and he couldn't keep ignoring his stomach. He heard the sounds of Ichika training in the dojo, good for her to keep herself sharp when she wasn't busy. Kururi was working on some kind of mechanical device in the living room.
"Welcome back to the world of the living." Misa spoke to him as he passed by her.
She was trying to act casual.
Naruto entered the kitchen, and he saw Futaba was already getting started on dinner prep for when the school-age girls came home. There were 10 people in the house now, so cooking and cleaning was somewhat of a full time job for Futaba. Naruto didn't say anything to her either, he just grabbed a few bananas and started to make his way back towards his room.
"So... who died?"
Naruto stopped walking at the question.
"... My godfather." Naruto answered it at least, which was enough for Futaba to not push the issue at all with him. There was silence between them, and he just left her in the kitchen so that he could go back to his room.
'Nothing hits harder than a beloved family member dying... I suspected it might be this...' Futaba could feel sympathy for Naruto's plight, though she wasn't going to push him into recovery. 'He is shutting down so he can sort out his feelings.' Futaba smiled slightly.
It wasn't mature or anything to shut down, but at least she knew enough about what was happening with Naruto to know what to do. She had little experience with men, but at least she knew the root cause of his issue was sadness. If men were anything like women, then Naruto needed a shoulder to cry on to help him sort this out.
-Dinner-
"His godfather died... has he cried?"
-In Naruto's Room-
The door SWUNG open and Ichika walked right into his room.
"Lover! Cry!"
"Eh!?" Naruto was shocked by just, her. She had food on her face, so she just got the news during dinner, and her instant response was for her to come into his room and demand that he cry. His heart was beating fast, but mostly from shock. "Get out, I'm sorting stuff out." Naruto laid back down and turned away from her.
She walked right over to him and sat down next to him.
"I want you to use one of us as a shoulder to cry on, it doesn't have to be me. My younger sisters are all amazing, you can..." Ichika stopped when Naruto got back up. He picked her up by the armpits and lifted her into the air. The fact was that he was almost 6 feet tall, and she didn't even reach the point where she was 5 feet tall. She was the second shortest, despite having a mature figure.
Naruto lifted her right up and showed his annoyance by just walking out of the room.
He sat her down, and closed the door behind her.
"You people already think I'm weak, so no, I'm not going to cry in front of any of you. Stay out, leave me alone, and let me sort this out by myself." Naruto said through the door. Ichika heard him lock the door.
She could easily break the door.
It was his words that stopped her from fighting back and just opening the door. Her sisters were watching her, and they heard those words he said. There was a tense silence, so Ichika sat down with her back to the door.
"I'm staying here."
That wasn't to Naruto, that was to her own sisters.
"Ichika..."
"You all might be better at a ton of things, a lot cuter than me, a lot more fun than me, and a lot more smarter than me-" Ichika had a feeling that none of them would understand why she wanted to be the one to do what she was doing. Her red eyes looked towards the door she had her back against.
"Smarter, not More Smarter."
"-, but... I think this might be my fault." Ichika didn't know what she did, but she felt that it was something she did.
"Okay Ichika." The sentiment that she wanted to be the one to fix this got around at least.
-The Next Day-
Ichika didn't move all night.
Everyone was still asleep, it was just that early in the morning. When the door behind her unlocked and opened, she stayed where she was. Naruto walked right into her and tripped, she was already short and sitting down in the dark hours of very early morning, made her practically invisible. Naruto tripped over her.
"Sorry."
"Are you ready to talk?"
Naruto ignored the question and walked away, towards the restroom. Ichika stayed where she was, and crossed her arms with a happy smile plastered there. Naruto's silence didn't seem angry, which was a victory to her.
10 minutes passed.
Naruto came back and he went back into his room, and when he closed the door, he didn't lock it. Ichika had her arms crossed and kept it up though. The door was cracked open, and through her butt she felt Naruto sitting down on the other end of the door. The cracked door would let them have a normal conversation, though without being able to see each other.
"... I don't think you're weak." Ichika just started with that.
The silence was palpable.
"Yes, you do."
"I don't think you're weak. I admire how strong you are, for a human... you're strong, you're a good man, and you accepted my siblings... You have a heart that wants to protect them, and you use your strength for good... you are a good, strong, man with a kind heart." Ichika praised him.
"You're just trying to cheer me up."
"No, I'm not... you... you are the Lover that I approved of. All I have ever wanted for my sisters, was a good man willing to put his body on the line to protect them... you are that good man. The other potential lovers our father selected... they were spineless, weak, cowardly... Naruto, I think you are amazing." Ichika figured this was the issue.
She did call him weak.
She told him that it wasn't his job to fight on the frontlines, and she disrespected him when she did that. It had been weighing heavily on his warrior heart, and with the loss of his godfather, it made him feel weak. He wasn't sulking just because his godfather died, he was sulking because his godfather dying made him feel powerless. It strengthened a feeling that she herself instilled into him with her own words.
"I want to fight."
"... I know, and you will... but not with your fists. A Valkyrie's strength comes from love... as strong as you are, as much as I respect your desire to protect my beloved sisters... Fight with love, love us, make us love you... make us stronger... Naruto... we're your lovers... our strength is your strength... when we get stronger, it's only because you made us stronger." Ichika moved her hand towards the cracked open door. and she stuck a few of her fingers into his room. "I would love to fight with you by my side... It would make me happy... but we can't afford to lose you."
"I don't want to see any of you hurt."
"We're all going to get hurt from time to time, and it is only because I know I can trust you and your strength, that if I ever become injured in battle... you will be there to catch me. Naruto... we sisters have strengths and weaknesses... and you are part of our strength."
"If I can't fight, I'm your weakness..."
"Heh, if you think you're our weakness, then that must mean we're pretty damn powerful. If our weakness is as strong as you." Ichika started to slide his door open with her fingers. She leaned back so that they were touching. "You've been alone for a long time, and you've had to rely on your own strength... well... rely on us. We're lovers, what you can't do alone, do with us... we are going to look towards you for strength, for courage... for a reason to keep fighting... some of us... may die." Ichika stated what she just knew to be possible.
Some of them weren't nearly as combat oriented, and it was just an expected outcome that there would be mass death on the side of good.
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"That is my lover." Ichika smirked when she heard him mutter that under his breath. "That is why you have my approval, my loyalty, and my respect. We are a team... please... treat us like a team."
Naruto hugged his knees.
"... I'm going to get stronger... I'm going to kill the assassin who took down my godfather one day. I... this death just... hurts the most." Naruto talked about the real issue.
Ichika listened.
"What happened to your parents?"
"Uzumaki... the mother who looked after me, her name was Uzumaki Kushina... she was never able to have kids of her own, and she was afraid of being the target of assassins. You see... the woman who gave birth to me... once I was big enough, she started to send me to live with my father sometimes."
That was what he was told.
His mother Kushina was deathly afraid of Loki, to the point that she went into hiding whenever Loki was nearby. It was like Kushina didn't even want Loki to know that she was alive, while she lived. His mother eventually died due to the injuries that she took when she was younger, that left her unable to have children.
"Assassins killed my parents eventually, my father died when one day he just seemed... weakened... like something was wrong with him. My Mother, Kushina... she always loved me, she treated me better than the woman who gave birth to me did... she treated me like I was her own flesh and blood. Assassins killed them... and now they got my godfather too. I have 3 big sisters, but..." Naruto rarely got to see them, and they were all close to his mother. They were close enough that he had to watch his words around them.
"Sounds complicated, I don't understand any of it." Itsuki couldn't understand it, but she could tell it was horrible.
"... I'm still thankful... I got to spend a few good years with them. I hope they are proud of me... but I know... no... I barely knew them. I hate it, but the only parent who I can say I really know is my mother... the one who made parts of my life hell... and my youngest-older sister."
"I would love to meet her... your youngest-older sister. Your mother sounds like a bitch." Ichika stated with a laugh.
A laugh he shared.
"She is an evil sociopath, a horny slut, a battle maniac, a pervert, and as much as I hate her... I still love her too... I know she means it when she says she loves me, but... her love is twisted..." Naruto didn't know how best to deal with her. "... I... freeze up whenever I'm around her. I'm so conflicted with her, that I never know what to do." Naruto felt Ichika wrap her arms around his own arms, connecting them while they were back to back.
Ichika had no words.
They just sat there.
Until Ichika fell asleep and Naruto carried her off to her room, that was when the conversation ended, and by the end of it Naruto felt a lot better.
End Chapter!
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