Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Insanely Yours ❯ Decadence ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter Seventeen: Decadence

 

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This would be the day on which Naruto realized that silence could be painful; awfully, terribly, horribly painful.

 

Noiselessly, he sat in the passenger's seat of the small Ford Focus beside his ever silent, ever angry, stepsister. The two of them had not even glanced at eachother for the past hour of the car ride. Aya had kept her eyes on the road and Naruto had kept his on the floor. The both of them were so much alike, so pigheaded and stubborn; neither of them wanted to be the first to give in. Their adamant ways had always seemed to get the best of them when they argued.

 

Then again, none of their arguments had ever been this serious. Whenever they argued, they always yelled, screamed, even fought sometimes. But never had they been reduced to silence.

 

From the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Aya gripping the steering wheel tightly while gritting her teeth. Her knuckles were totally white- bloodless from holding onto the wheel so tightly. Oh she was absolutely livid; Naruto could swear he saw smoke billowing out from her ears.

 

Oh the silence was killing him!

 

Naruto felt like he was being strangled and suffocated by the amount of tension in that tiny car; it was so thick that it could probably be cut with a knife. Not to mention it was probably somewhere close to eighty degrees inside the car. Although it was only a bit chilly outside, Aya had chosen to turn the heat on in the car. And since they were so angry with eachother, Naruto didn't want to ask her to turn it off- he did not want to talk to her at all.

 

Slowly but surely, all of Naruto's anger had started to boil and fester inside him. He wanted to scream- needed to scream at his sister. He needed to force her to talk to him and end this terribly awkward silence. It just wasn't normal; if they were ever mad, they yelled, fixed the problem, and then got over it. It was the easiest way for them to solve their problems.

 

But this? This was ridiculous. Sitting in a car, silent, angry, and hot, was not the way they solved their problems. This wasn't going to fix anything. So, Naruto decided that he was going to start it. They were going to get this out of their systems, whether Aya liked it or not.

 

"Alright," he began in a low voice. "That's it. I've had it with this silent treatment!" his voice steadily rose, even though Aya pretended not to be listening. Naruto banged his fist against the dashboard and growled. "Say something! Talk to me damn it!" he demanded.

 

Without warning, Aya let out a frustrated scream and she turned the steering wheel all the way to the right, disregarding oncoming traffic, and swerving off to the edge of the highway. Naruto couldn't explain the fear he was feeling, but his hammering heart sure could. She brought the car to a screeching halt and glared at Naruto angrily.

 

"Get out of the fucking car." She snarled.

 

They both climbed out of the car in a huff and slammed the doors in unison. They walked around to the back of the car and that's where the screaming began. "What the hell's your problem, huh?? What are you gonna do? Disown me now that you know I'm gay?? What's wrong with you?!!" he shouted.

 

Aya laughed loud and bitterly. "Oh? What's wrong with me, eh? You're the one who was on your knees in front of some psychopath!! And there's something wrong with me?!" she screeched. Naruto pointed his finger in her face and glowered.

 

"Don't you bring Sasuke into this!!" he barked.

 

"Oh why shouldn't I??" she questioned. "You're gay for that lunatic, so why shouldn't I bring him into this?!"

 

Naruto grabbed his hair and pulled at it, frustrated beyond belief. "He's not a lunatic! You don't even know him-"

 

"-I don't wanna know him! Not when he's taking advantage of my little brother!!" she yelled. Naruto scoffed loudly.

 

"I am not your little brother. I'm damn well an adult! Treat me like one!"

 

"Act like one!!"

 

They both stopped and glared at eachother for exactly five seconds before they started up their argument again. Naruto spoke first. "You know what? I'm sorry that I'm gay. And I'm fucking-sorry that you can't accept that fact. But this is who I am, okay?! This is me and I'm not ashamed to say it anymore! I'm not going to change for you!"

 

Aya threw her hands up in the air and released an aggravated cry. "It's not that I don't accept it!! It's just that you could've fucking told me a long time ago, long before any of this ever happened! You just kept it from me!"

 

"Only because I knew you'd react like this! I didn't need your bad attitude adding to my list of problems-"

 

"-You're not the only one with problems!!" she screamed at him.

 

Naruto could plainly see that his sister's eyes were welled up with tears but he didn't stop. He just shouted at her again. "Oh? And what problems do you have?? You're not the one stuck inside a mental institution!!-"

 

"-I'm pregnant, okay?!" she shrieked.

 

Just then, an enormous eighteen wheeler sped by on the freeway, horn blaring loudly. When the dirt and dust from the side of the road blew towards Naruto, he didn't even close his wide eyes; shock had taken over completely. He stood there staring at his sister, thunderstruck and speechless. The girl wiped her eyes and turned away from Naruto without another word. She tried to get into the car and close the door hastily, but she hadn't done it quickly enough. Naruto still heard her sobbing before the door closed.

 

Silently, Naruto walked over to the car and leaned against the bumper, covering his mouth with his hands. He didn't even want to think about what he'd just heard.

 

He stayed that way for ten minutes and when he got back into the car, the silence returned. Aya's eyes were red. Naruto had a headache.

 

When Naruto thought that Aya had been heading to their apartment in the city, he'd been terribly wrong. The drive from the hospital to the city only took about forty-five minutes, and they'd been driving for at least an hour and a half. Judging from the decrease of civilization, Naruto had an idea of where they were going, and he did not like it one bit. There was only one place where they could be going that was this far out into the country.

 

The highway soon disappeared and became a long, straight, empty road surrounded by nothing but open land. Huge trees covered the landscape along with the occasional house or two every mile or so. The population out here hadn't risen over the years in the least.

 

As Naruto opened the window, fresh, clean air blew into his face and invaded his senses. He wasn't used to the smell of it- trees, grass, outside. All he was used to was the sterile smell of disinfectant and medications in the hospital. It was odd, being outside of the hospital. Naruto hadn't been all that eager to get out of there, and now that he knew where they were, he wanted to go back to the hospital and never come back to this barren country-town.

 

The house was just as Naruto had remembered it, cold. Its presence had never been very warm or welcoming; the house itself had always seemed so lonely. And now, since it hadn't been lived in for more than five years, it seemed lonelier than ever.

 

Aya pulled her car into the large, wide, driveway, and shut off the engine. She didn't speak as she got out of the car and so Naruto just followed her silently.

 

In all honesty, Naruto was a bit nervous about walking closer to the house. The white paint was chipping, revealing the previous color of the house, some of the windows had been cracked, and the windows that weren't broken were covered in all types of vines that seemed to be trying to suffocate and swallow the entire house. The place could've very well passed as an old haunted mansion of some sort.

 

Naruto watched Aya unlock the door and step inside the house very slowly. He came in behind her cautiously and gasped when he saw the inside of the home. It was just as they had left it; every piece of furniture was in place, every painting, every sculpture, even the plants, which had long since died, were still in their places. Aside from more than five years worth of dust and dirt that covered everything, the house was, eerily, in the same shape.

 

"We're going to start cleaning this house. I know we won't finish today but...I want this place back to the way it used to be." Aya sighed and stared around the large house. "You can start with the bedrooms, I'll start down here...cleaning supplies are upstairs." She said nothing more before walking down the hallway and into what used to be the kitchen. Naruto didn't even feel like arguing with Aya, so he just did as he was asked. He supposed he deserved this since he'd made his sister cry. She'd said some pretty nasty things to him too but still, Naruto hadn't ever wanted to make her cry.

 

Naturally, when Naruto got upstairs, he went straight to the bedroom that used to belong to him. There were so many bedrooms in that house, so cleaning them all in one day would not be possible. Naruto started off with his room because he knew it needed the most cleaning.

 

When he entered the large bedroom, he sighed at the sight of it. The cream painted walls were covered in a thick coating of dust, as was the carpet and every other surface in the room. The bed was perfectly made, but there were many things that needed to be thrown away. Thankfully, Aya had brought up a few boxes for things that should be kept, and trash bags for things that should be thrown away.

 

Naruto started off by clearing off every single thing that was on the dresser; toys and such. There was a bit of trash on the floor, probably from years ago when he had been literally forced to leave this home. So many things had been left behind then.

 

There was one thing that caught Naruto's eye while he was cleaning. It was a dusty frame that sat on top of the nightstand, near the bed. Even before clearing the dust off of the picture, Naruto knew what photo it was...

 

"Naruto...your bowtie is crooked." The maid told him as she beckoned him over to her. The boy shook his head and stood in the mirror as he attempted to straighten his own tie. Just because his arm was broken didn't mean he wasn't able to do things on his own. He hated being babied.

 

"I can do it, Tsukiko." He gripped the bowtie with his good hand and tried to force it to stay horizontal, but it turned up as soon as Naruto let it go.

 

Quickly, Tsukiko walked over to the child and forced his arm down. "Miss Izari will be very upset with you if you're not downstairs soon," she said, warning and worry in her tone. "I'll do this for you, it will be quicker." She used both her hands to untie, straighten, and retie Naruto's black bowtie around his neck. She smoothed down his hair for good measure as well.

 

"...thanks." the nine year old muttered. Tsukiko took his hand and yanked him out of the bedroom.

 

"You are very welcome," she said to him. "Now let's go downstairs. We wouldn't want you to get in trouble." She said. Naruto nodded. No, he did not want to get into trouble. He could still see the bruise on his ankle from the last time he got into 'trouble'. He never wanted that to happen again.

 

Once Naruto and Tsukiko were downstairs, they walked out into the backyard and joined Izari, Aya, and the man who would be taking their family portrait. The photos would be taken here, at their home, since the backyard was near the woods, and since it would make a beautiful background. When Izari saw Naruto walking towards them, she motioned for him to move quicker.

 

"You've taken to long," she began. "I hate making people wait. This man is a professional; he shouldn't have to wait because of a child like you."

 

"Oh no, Miss Namikaze; it's not a problem." The photographer assured her. He motioned for Naruto to join Izari and Aya. Izari was seated on a tree stump, Aya was on her lap, and Naruto was supposed to stand right next to Izari. He did as he was told, but when the photographer told them all to smile, Naruto did not. He hadn't been ready for the flash and he'd not smiled.

 

The photographer glanced at the picture and announced that he'd have to do a retake since Naruto hadn't smiled. When Izari heard him say that, she turned to Naruto with an absolutely furious expression on her face. "Why didn't you smile, boy?" she asked, anger lacing her tone. "Are you not happy?" Aya jumped off of her mother's lap before Izari stood from the tree stump. "You ungrateful little shit!"

 

Izari growled and raised her hand to strike him but Aya grabbed her elbow just in time. "Momma, please stop!" she cried. "He didn't do anything wrong, please don't hurt Naruto!" the young girl begged. Izari stood there for several seconds before she pried her daughter's tiny hands from her elbow and glared at Naruto bitterly.

 

"You've wasted this man's time and mine as well. Go to your room," she ordered. "I don't want to see your face."

 

Naruto wasted no time tossing the framed photo straight into the trash.

 

After throwing away all of the trash in the room, he vacuumed the carpet, washed the windows, and took the sheets off the beds for washing. If there was one thing that Naruto was good at, it was cleaning. He always used to spend his time with Tsukiko, the maid, and he'd taken after her ways. Cleaning was second nature to him nowadays.

 

Once that bedroom was finished, Naruto cleaned two more rooms before taking down the trash, then the boxes, and then all of the sheets that needed to be washed. After he'd done that, he went back upstairs and cleaned another bedroom. Silently, he cursed the house for being so god-forsakenly huge. If this had been his very first time here, he probably would've been very, very lost. It was so big for no good reason; most of the rooms had never even been used.

 

And there were just so many things in that house that needed to be thrown out. It would be hell getting everything out of there.

 

The very last bedroom was one that Naruto had never in his life entered; Izari's room. When he'd been younger, the woman had never let him inside it. And he'd never dared step foot in it, lest he wanted to get the beating of a lifetime.

 

It was no secret that Izari used to hit Naruto; everyone knew. It was just that nobody would ever speak about it. Aya had been too frightened to admit it, Tsukiko would only comfort and console Naruto in secret, and Naruto himself pretended as if it didn't happen. If he complained about it, she would only hit him harder the next time. So, Naruto took what came to him, and he never spoke a word about it. Pretending like it didn't happen had done wonders for his sanity. Then again, if he would've admitted it to himself, he probably would've been even crazier than he was now.

 

Sometimes, Naruto even felt like he'd deserved it. He was the reason that Minato, his father, had left Izari for Kushina. He was the reason that Minato was dead. He was the reason that Izari had become unhappy and, most likely, gone insane. He thought that everything had been his fault; therefore, he felt that he'd deserved every beating.

 

Izari had loved Minato, after he'd left her, after Naruto came to live with her, and even in death; she had always loved him. And the reason she'd hated Naruto so much was because every time she looked at him, all she'd ever seen was Minato. Poor, innocent Naruto had been forced to live with the burden of his father's sins.

 

Even still, after all these years, Naruto refused to step one foot into that woman's bedroom. Just her name left a bad taste in his mouth. He'd never even wanted to return to this house, in all honesty, so going into her room would just be too much for him. No child should ever have to go through the things he'd gone through; Naruto wouldn't wish that type of life on his worst enemy.

 

He walked away from the room, down the hallway, and back down the staircase. Since he'd finished most of the rooms on this wing of the house, he decided to go downstairs and check on Aya. Maybe she'd cooled down and wasn't mad at him anymore; he could only hope.

 

Naruto walked into the living room and he saw Aya standing near the fireplace, holding something in her hand, and staring intensely at it. Naruto frowned. "Aya?" he called out to her. The blonde haired girl turned to face him.

 

"You'll never guess what I found." She said as she walked over to him. When she reached him, she held her hands out in front of him and therein lay something Naruto hadn't seen for years. He reached out and grabbed the dusty, slightly burned teddy bear. One of its button eyes was missing, but it was still the same as Naruto remembered it. Slowly, the blonde reached out and took the stuffed animal from his sister's hands and hugged it tightly to his chest. He could still see the stitching on its neck...

 

"Have you finished your supper, Naruto-kun?" Tsukiko asked him upon walking into the kitchen to check up on him.

 

The young boy had just set his fork down. He looked up at her and nodded. "Yes, I'm done." He told her, his voice echoing through the empty kitchen. Naruto was used to it, though; he always ate dinner alone.

 

"Good, well put your plate in the sink and I'll take you upstairs so you can play with Miss Aya." Tsukiko told him. The boy did as she'd said and then followed the young woman out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the tall staircase.

 

Naruto was excited to play with Aya today, because she'd told him earlier that she'd gotten some new toys. Naruto never got new toys so Aya's were the only one's he'd ever get to play with. The girl always specifically asked for toys that Naruto would like. She never asked for Barbie's or any sort of dolls, claiming she didn't like them anyway.

 

When he and Tsukiko reached Aya's room, Naruto twisted open the doorknob and rushed inside. "Hey!" he called to her happily. The little blonde girl jumped up from her floor with a wide smile on her face and flung her arms out to hug her stepbrother.

 

"What took you so long? I was sooo bored!" the girl exclaimed. "You wanna see the toys I got, huh? Momma bought me this cool race-track thing! I think you'll like it!" She pulled Naruto's hand over towards her bed and pointed at the box.

 

"Why's it still in there?" he asked.

 

Aya started ripping open the box. "I wanted to let you put it together!" she smiled happily. "Oh yeah! You left your bear in here yesterday; it's over on my dresser." She pointed over towards it. Naruto rushed over to the dresser and grabbed his bear. He'd missed it so much, and he'd barely slept without it last night. He never liked sleeping without it because he'd feel so lonely. His bear was his favorite toy, the best one he'd ever had, and the one thing his parents had bought them before their deaths. Naruto cherished it.

 

The boy went over to his stepsister and he began to construct the race-track. Aya tried to help, but she got frustrated with the directions and ended up just letting Naruto do it. He'd nearly finished too, right before there was a loud crash outside in the hallway. Both Naruto and Aya knew exactly what that meant.

 

"Get under the bed!" Aya whispered loudly, already pushing Naruto. "Don't say a word, don't even breathe loud!"

 

Naruto crawled underneath Aya's bed. Aya picked up a piece of the race track half a second before her mother came barging into her bedroom. "Where is he?!?" the woman screamed, her eyes darting around Aya's room frantically.

 

"I don't know-"

 

"-He's in here isn't he??" Izari ran over to Aya and yanked her up by her arm. "Tell me!"

 

Aya could smell the whiskey on her mother's breath and tears sprang to her eyes. "I don't know where he is Momma!" she cried. "Momma let go! You're hurting me!"

 

"You better not be lying to me, little girl! I'll find him!" she yelled, shaking her daughter. "I'll find him and I'll kill him, that bastard child!" All of a sudden, Izari started crying hysterically. She let go of Aya, who tumbled to the floor, and she grabbed her own hair, tearing at it frantically. "It's his fault that Minato is gone!" she screamed.

 

The woman's eyes landed on the small brown bear that was lying on the floor in front of Aya's bed. Before Aya could stop her mother, the woman picked the bear off and ruthlessly tore its head off. "That boy better pray to God I don't find him." She let the torn toy fall to the ground in pieces. Aya didn't even move to pick it up. She couldn't even move. Izari stomped out of the room, still on a rampage, screaming at the top of her lungs.

 

Naruto stayed under the bed and cried for the rest of the night.

 

Aya touched the black stitches on the bear's neck. She smiled thoughtfully. "I remember how...happy you were when Tsukiko sewed it back together for you." She told him. Naruto nodded silently. Slowly, the girl reached out and grasped her brother's hand. The two of them looked straight at eachother and sighed.

 

"I'm sorry." They said in unison. Aya threw herself into Naruto's arms and the boy hugged her tightly, laying his head on top of hers. "Really sorry." Aya told him, trying not to cry again. Naruto shook his head and gave her a good squeeze.

 

"S'okay." He assured her. Aya nodded and sighed.

 

"I'm not really mad at you for being gay," she admitted. "I guess I...I took all my frustrations out on you. I apologize...I haven't been able to control my emotions lately." She shook her head. Naruto mirrored her actions.

 

"I'm sorry for making you cry." He kissed her forehead and put an arm around her shoulder. "We shouldn't have anymore fights like that." He sighed and led his sister over to the couches near the fireplace. They were spotless so Naruto assumed that Aya had cleaned them off beforehand. He looked over to his sister who had a solemn expression on her face. She was staring down at her fingers, which were laced in her lap. Naruto decided to just get the conversation out of the way now. "So I've been gay for a while now...well, I'm not exactly gay. I still sort of like girls...I just prefer guys...gay, bisexual...it's all the same to me."

 

Aya nodded understandingly. "I see," she started. "Well...that's fine but...warn me before something like this happens again. I don't really fancy walking in on...that." Naruto nodded as well.

 

"I'll make sure to do that." He told her.

 

The blonde girl took a deep breath and ran her hands through her long hair nervously. "I'm two and a half months pregnant." She confessed.

 

"The father?"

 

Aya laughed bitterly. "Is an asshole. He doesn't want anything to do with me." She told her brother. Naruto's mood immediately darkened.

 

"I'll kill him." he said, while he thought up about one hundred ways to burn the guy alive. Aya only shook her head.

 

"He's not even worth it." She assured Naruto. She sighed heavily. "I'm...keeping it. At first, I didn't want it because I didn't want to be reminded of its father but," she touched her abdomen. "I can't bear to...to just kill it, you know? This baby deserves to live, even if its father is an idiot." The girl's eyes roamed around the dark house and she sighed again. "That's why I want to have this house back to the way it was. I want to raise my baby here. Despite everything bad that went on in this house, it's still beautiful, and a perfect place to raise a child, don't you think?"

 

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, I see what you're saying." He smiled at his sister. "Well you're not raising that kid alone, not if I have anything to do with it." He grinned. Aya reached over and ruffled his hair while Naruto just hugged her with one arm and laughed.

 

He watched her walk back and forth in their room. Her face was red and there were tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. She was going to cry any minute now.

 

"Someone's adopting me, Naruto." she told him, barely able to get his name out before breaking down into uncontrollable sobs. "I tried so hard! I tried to get them to take you too but they won't! I don't want to go, I can't leave you!" she cried.

 

Naruto shook his head and went over to his sister, hugging her tightly. "Everything will be alright, Aya." He tried to assure her. "You should be happy that a good family wants to get you out of this orphanage and take you home with them!" he told her.

 

"No! I-I don't want to leave without you." She sobbed, letting her long blonde bangs fall in front of her eyes and stick to her cheeks. "It's not fair!"

 

"Life isn't fair, Aya, you and I both know that." He kept hugging her, trying to soothe her crying. "This isn't the end of the world."

 

"It's the end of our world." She argued. "You'll be here all alone-"

 

"-someone will adopt me one day-"

 

"-You don't know that!" she yelled. "What if you're stuck here forever?? I can't leave-"

 

Naruto covered his sister's mouth with his hand and took a deep breath. "Stop it, Aya." He ordered. "This family obviously wants a daughter of their own, and they chose you. Just," he paused, hugging her tighter. "Promise to keep in touch, okay? And be a good daughter to them."

 

"I can't be anything; I can't even be a good sister."

 

"You're a great sister." He told her. "And you're going to be an even better daughter. They'll love you, and you'll learn to love them."

 

Silence fell before them, and they both sighed in unison, staring down at their feet. Naruto had tried to be strong and pretend like everything would be fine, but inside, his heart was slowly tearing apart. They were taking his sister from him; she was the only person he had left. What would he do without her? But Naruto knew that he should be happy- Aya was getting a new life, a life with a family that would love her. So he would have to save his tears for later; right now, he needed to stay strong for Aya. She was, and would always be, his first priority.

 

"...I'll call and I'll write...I promise." She said, choking back sobs. Naruto nodded.

 

"I know." He kissed his sister's forehead. They had to let eachother go. "I love you, sis."

 

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Peace & Love: DizziKatz