Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Time to Love ❯ Crying Skys ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One: Crying Skies

 

 

 

Rain fell from the heavens and soaked everything in sight. The stars hid behind the clouds. Leaves caught the sky's tears as they fell before overflowing and trickling to the ground, soaking the earth. Amongst the raindrops and leaves was a lone figure. Soaked blonde hair clung to tan skin and fell into blood red eyes. A bright orange jacket hung about Uzumaki Naruto's waist, revealing toned arms and a black sleeveless shirt. He moved slowly and tiredly. His hunched shoulders dwarfed his stature as he rubbed his palm against his left eye. His tan face was tear streaked. The trails were freshened as crystalline tears rolled down his cheeks.

 

Konoha was far behind him, but he still felt the searing pain of disillusionment and betrayal rip through his heart. But he kept walking.

 

Why did this happen? Everything was alright; they were finally starting to accept me. Then the changes started…

 

Naruto wiped a smudge of blood from his cheek. His back was beginning to bruise as well as his arms and his chest. A cut beneath his right eye began to bleed again. He wiped at the cut and licked the blood away from his knuckles carefully. In his other hand, he gripped the headband he had worked so hard to receive and now he was torn between throwing it away and keeping it.

 

His footsteps were soft in the forest. The only other sounds he could hear were his breathing and the rain's pitter-patter against the earth.

 

Home is where the heart is. So where's my home?

 

Naruto stumbled into a clearing. The peace of it stung his heart as he wandered into it. He looked up at the sky. Raindrops caressed his face and washed away the salty trails in their wake.

 

Peace.

 

A dream.

 

A dream of what?

 

A dream of someone crying. But who?

 

Naruto sank to his knees as he reached the middle of the clearing. The smell of clean, rain washed earth fill his senses as he fell over and rested his head against the grass.

 

Before he closed his eyes, Naruto saw a figure nearing him; before he closed his eyes in exhaustion. Warm arms wrapped around him before the comforting darkness enveloped him.

 

~*~

 

Bittersweet sunshine filtered through a pair of gauzy, pale blue curtains. Naruto opened his eyes slowly. Slowly and painfully he sat up to look at his surroundings.

 

He wasn't in the forest anymore. The room was white and the walls were blank. The only colors in the room were the curtains and the pale blue quilt grasped in Naruto's hands. There was a chair, a desk, and a stereo pushed against the wall. His clothes were draped over the chair.

 

Naruto pushed himself up and off of the futon. He looked down at himself, ignoring the mirror that hung on the wall opposite of the desk and chair, and noticed his bruises and cuts were bandaged, and he stood in his boxers. His cheeks colored in embarrassment.

 

He pulled on his pants and black top hurriedly, and painfully, before he spotted something white lying on the desk. He picked it up and scanned over the contents.

 

After you get dressed, come into the kitchen and eat breakfast.

I shall meet you then. Your clothes are clean and be careful

moving about. The cuts you have received might re-open and

you are bound to be sore.

 

Until breakfast.

~Y.

 

Naruto clutched the note in his hand and stared at the curtains as they billowed with the breeze breathing into the room. He gazed out and into the vivid blue sky.

 

~*~

 

Sakura moved silently into Hokage Tower. Earlier that morning she had begun to pace nervously and to wring her hands in panic. When was the last time she had heard from Naruto? Two days? She couldn't remember. Too long, she knew that. She had to see Tsunade and tell her. Sakura took a deep breath before pushing open the doors.

 

“Tsunade-sama!” Sakura exclaimed as she wrung her hands. “Naruto-kun's missing!”

 

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork. “Missing? How?”

 

“The changes have become noticeable and the villagers have become more frigid towards him than before. I'm afraid he was attacked or ambushed by them. I haven't seen him since the last workout with the team. That was two days ago at the least.”

 

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and examined Sakura.

 

“This is a problem,” Tsunade murmured. “He might be in trouble. We have to find him before something happens to him.”

 

“Should we send out a search party?”

 

“Not yet. Let's wait a few more days until we take action. There's always the possibility he might show up.”

 

“Hai, Hokage-sama.”

 

Tsunade looked out the window and crossed her arms across her chest. “It looks like it's going to rain again.”

 

“Naruto never liked the rain.”

 

~*~

 

Naruto leaned against the windowsill and took a deep breath of the air. Clouds were gathering on the horizon. Rain would start falling any minute. Somewhere in the house, Naruto heard a door shut and a wistful sigh before thunder roared and lightning flashed before his eyes. He waited for the tears to fall from the heavens' eyes as angels sobbed for the defeats of the day.

 

Rain splatters against the pavement,

Pooling in the dirt paths in yards.

Droplets lightly kiss pale hands,

Outstretched out of the window,

Resting against the windowsill.

 

Worn shoes squish in the pools of youth,

Gliding down the pavement walkway,

Watching silver tears of Zeus falling down,

Trickling down trunks of trees,

Washing away the colorful sin of the world.

 

Transfixed by the beauty of this portrait.

Crystal tears trickling down ivory cheeks,

Caught within the stream of time

Within the canvas and paints of life.

Watching the lightning flicker on and off.

 

Leaning against the windowsill,

Caught within the beauty of the day;

Gray and picturesque within the fading color.

Dreaming about a world of perfection,

Watching the lone person through the windowpane.

 

The fearsome beauty of the trembling rain,

Flaxen hair clinging to ivory cheeks of a china doll.

Tears splattering against the windowpane,

Distorting the colors in the separated panes.

 

 

~*~

 

TBC…