Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Returning ❯ Lazy Days are good for Stories ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter 16: Lazy days are Good for Stories

 

kougasmate: OH MY GOD! AN UPDATE!? couldn't be! but it is! I'm so sorry I took so long everyone, I just couldn't think of anything, then this suddenly popped into my mind, and voila! I hope you enjoy, and I hope this means I'm gonna get off my lazy butt and start writing more. It'll be a while between each one though, as I am now occupied with my band and the mastering of the art of surfing!

 

 

 

It was a lazy day, the sun high in the sky, no one seeming too motivated to go out and do anything. Days like this were few and far between in the proud, hard-working city of Konoha, but on this day, it seemed as though every one had taken heed and slipped off to relax.

 

Tsunade was not in her office.

 

Jiraiya was nowhere to be found.

 

Kakashi was catching up on some well-deserved rest.

 

And what was Konoha's number one knuckle-headed ninja doing?

 

Why, training, of course. Any one who knew the blonde headed youth would take no notice of the fact that he seemed so exuberant and lively on such a day, but to passer-bys, he seemed truly crazy.

 

Here was this child, entering his teenage years, training as though a war were on the horizon, or had already begun. Strange indeed was the way that Naruto seemed to live his life, and everything from his odd night-cap to his even stranger, bright orange-jacket proved it to be so.

 

But if one were to take a second look at the ninja, they would have noticed that the small droplets of water dripping off his chin as he trained were not sweat, the result of hard work, but tears, the result of a life many would rather forget. His blue eyes closed painfully as he crouched down, panting from the exertion, more tears squeezing their way out of his eyes, much to his dismay. He felt weak, like he was allowing her presence to ruin his life. He had never been one to show how he felt, at least, not to this extreme, but the way she pleaded, begged…they way she left, everything felt like another knife in his heart, bleeding him dry like the ones the villagers had been burdening him with for years.

 

“Why…Why did she leave me?”

 

And for the first time since the ordeal began, something occurred that he never would have expected.

 

She hated you, boy…

 

Naruto knew that voice, but dreaded it every time it rose in the back of his mind to riddle his psyche. It was the voice that, in all truth, started everything Naruto had ever felt. Every dirty glare, harsh word….His father's death and his mother's abandonment. It was all the Kyuubi's fault.

 

“Shut up…You're lying. She was just…confused,” Naruto wondered briefly why he was defending her, then realized he couldn't take the pain of admitting that he was unloved, even hated, by his mother. As if to re-assure himself, he whispered, “She didn't hate me.”

 

She certainly did. Why else would a mother leave her newborn in the care of a grumpy old man? Even demons such as I have better instincts than that.

 

Naruto looked at the ground dejectedly. “Did you have kids, Kyuubi?” For some reason, perhaps just being so tired of being hostile, Naruto began to speak in a civile way with the demon fox.

 

No, I have not, but if I ever did, I would be a better mother.

 

Had the situation not been so grim, Naruto would have laughed uproariously until his sides hurt, but for the moment, he settled on, “Kyuubi, I hate to brake it to you, but you're a guy.”

 

He could feel the Kyuubi snarling, and smiled some what cryptically.

 

Oh you know what I mean. That woman, Aza, she hated you. She used to keep her distance from you, and she cried all night long. When you were hungry, she would sometimes ignore your cries…

 

“I don't believe you.” It had just occurred to the blond that the Kyuubi was there the whole time, but the part of him that wanted to believe that Aza did love him rejected the Kyuubi's words.

 

Why shouldn't you?

 

“You are the reason this is all happening…” His mouth was dry. He didn't want to hear anymore.

 

Ah yes, that. Well, none- the-less, I think so far, I have proven to be far more reliable than that woman, and I'm not even here by choice!

 

Naruto sighed, laying back on the grass. “I don't have to listen to you. Why should I trust you anyway? You could be lying, for all I know.”

 

Fine. But hear me now, she messed up, and you have every right to be angry with her.

 

He felt emotionally drained, that much he knew was true. But the impact left by Kyuubi's parting words…they almost renewed his hatred, but then he reminded himself, “If I take Kyuubi's path, then I really am him, just like the villagers say.”

 

It was then, amid the trees, that Aza stepped out, ankles clanking as they bounced. “So, I'm not the only one who hears voices?” She offered as a rather pitiful joke, then added, “perhaps it's genetic?”

Naurto snorted at her lame attempts to amuse him, turning to take in her new appearance. Her eyes shined differently today, her walk was more confident, but still seemed to hide a bit of brokenness.

But of all those, it was her hair that most stood out to the youth. Short, just past her ears, and choppy, no doubt cut over a sink in a poorly lit room. It truly shocked him, almost as much as her new wardrobe. She wore black stockings that reached down to her calves, and a red kimono top, the tie in the middle a dull-silver. Shoes that seemed to closely resemble his own sandals covered her usually bare feet, and wrapping covered her ankles. But still the anklets remained. Naruto mused that they must not be easy to get off. To top off the sudden change, she wore gloves, and seemed, if Naruto was not mistaken, to carry kunai around her waist.

 

Upon seeing his questioning glances, she smiled.

 

“Oh, I see you've noticed.” She walked closer to her child, sitting down beside him.

“When I was young, I too was a ninja.”

Naruto eyed her suspiciously. She seemed to gangly and thin to be able to hold her own in a fight, but since she was his mother, he thought, she had to be a pretty amazing fighter.

“Bu, after a while with your father, I simply…stopped. Being a ninja, it seemed to dangerous, and, I wasn't ready to risk the future we had planned.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“To put it plainly, I discovered that I was pregnant.” She stopped to laugh as Naruto grimaced, then continued. “I'd always been told the life of a ninja was hard, and riddled with death, and when I found out I was going to have you, I couldn't bring myself to continue. I knew that even after you were born, I wouldn't return to that life. The yondiame and I weren't married, when I became pregnant, so he couldn't come out and say that he was the father. There were enemies to consider, and neither one of us wanted to lose you.” Aza fell silent, eyes shinging with tears, and looked down at Naruto, who had actually become interested in the story.

 

“Tell me more?”

 

Aza laughed, the laugh of a woman who was so relieved that tears threatened to spill, and hugged Naruto, who, for the first time, hugged her back. Pulling away after a moment, he said, “You know, stories are much better over ramen….”

 

Aza smiled, “Just like your father. Come on, let's go eat.”

 

As they walked, Naruto keeping a short, yet reasonable gap between him and his mother, he reminded, “This doesn't mean I completely forgive you.”

 

Smiling, Aza ruffled his hair and chimed, “Yes, but it means your willing to try.”

 

 

 

Kougasmate: woohoo, I liked this chapter. REVIEW PLEASE