Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Smiles ❯ One-Shot

Those smiles...

 

Those horrible smiles...

 

I watched Naruto walk through the busy streets of Konoha, his town. HIS town. That town belonged to HIM. No one else could possibly say “no”. We are citizens of his village.

 

I know what he is.

 

No one of this generation knows of what he is except me.

 

I watch as the people glare at their hero, and Naruto smiles at them. Are heroes supposed to be this pitiful? This HATED?

 

The children of Konoha have always loved our hero. They try to spend the whole day with him, but their parents just don't understand that he's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, son of our lord Yondaime. They steal the children away from the smiling hero to be scooted back into their warm houses, away from the demon.

 

And he just keeps smiling...

 

...And it annoys me...

 

The elders love Naruto. They always talk and joke with the man, not caring of what he is on the inside. And no one should. He deserves life as much as anyone else does. Who should deny him the right to live?

 

Unfortunately, other than the young and the old, detest is all they give to him. He tries to talk and be friendly with them, but they run screaming. Instead, he smiles at them with his happy yet matured face. And they sneer and yell and throw things at the innocent teen.

 

And he just keeps smiling...

 

Today is his 18th birthday, and I doubt he's told anyone. I figured it out. I AM a ninja. I can figure out anything. Naruto has been acting so normal. Either he doesn't care, or he's really in pain.

 

Anyway, I began to follow him. Stealthily, but he's too stupid to notice me even if I was walking right behind him. He walked happily toward his apartment, and he slowed down all of a sudden. I didn't realize he had noticed me, and as I stepped just a bit more toward him, he had a kunai to my throat. I gasped out for air, but he refused to give me any. I had underestimated him.

 

“Why are you following me?” his voice was deep and slightly dark. I coughed as the blade was slicing my skin.

 

“Do-Dobe!” I hoarsely whispered to him. He immediately let go, and I dropped down on one knee and coughed loudly for oxygen. Naruto looked really nervous all of a sudden.

 

“I'm sorry, Sasuke! I didn't know it was you! Please forgive me!” he cried out. I gathered myself together, standing up after taking in enough to breathe steadily. He looked up at me nervously, and I stared at him with narrow eyes. He bowed uncharacteristically to me before walking away. I quickly followed him, and all the while, he was looking at the ground and had an awkward fidgety walk.

 

“Usuratonkachi...” I whispered. He flinched before he turned to me. He smiled.

 

I hate that smile.

 

“Happy birthday.” I said, and it was obvious that Naruto was shocked that I knew. I didn't want to explain how I got the information, so I nodded, “I know,” I said. And he smiled wider.

 

Stop it, Naruto. Just stop it.

 

“Thank you.” He said quietly, and resumed walking. I grabbed him by his forearm and yanked him back to me.

 

“You hate your birthday.” He looked at me with big cerulean eyes that hadn't matured since he was 12. He kept smiling.

 

“STOP SMILING!” I yelled out at him, and he flinched back, the smile disappearing. I had never raised my voice to him, but now that I had, he was afraid of me. Everyone yells at him, and now I had too. What am I doing?

 

He tried taking his arm from my fist, but I yanked it back to me again.

 

“Le-Let go...” he whimpered. He was on the verge of tears, tears I had created. I pulled him into a soft embrace, and he calmed down.

 

“...You shouldn't smile when you feel bad...” I whispered in his ear. He stayed silent.

 

“You hate this day. This was the day your parents died, and the day you became cursed. You hate all of the people in this village. You hate yourself, most of all, for being alive when you are thought of as dead...”

 

He looked up at me with tears running down his whiskered face. He was smiling again.

 

“You're such an idiot, Sasuke...There's a magic spell in smiles!” he said cheerfully.

 

Pitiful. Absolutely heart-wrenching.

 

“Smiles make everyone feel better!” that smile made me want to hold him until death due us part. And I held him tighter, his fists against my chest and his head on my shoulder. He still looked so small to me. It was like he had barely grown at all.

He began wiping his tears away, his lips curled upwards.

 

“I'm sorry...I shouldn't be crying,” Naruto said, hiding the protesting convulsions of crying in his throat.

 

“Why shouldn't you be?” I asked him, and he sniffed quietly.

 

“Because crying means you're weak,” he said, “and I'm not weak.”

 

I stared at him for a moment. Weak? Crying means you're weak? If people never cried, then how would they keep going with all that bottled up sadness? Everyone is sad at one point in their lives, either that's every second of their lives, or maybe even once in a while, to almost never. You have to cry.

 

“Naruto...” I started, “...You can cry, you know”

 

“I have to show them I'm strong! I'm not crying!” he blurted out at me, and he slipped from my arms. He WAS crying, but you'd never get HIM to say that. I smiled.

 

“You aren't?” I asked. He wiped at them harshly.

 

“No! I have something in my eye!”

 

“Both of them? Do you have something in your throat too?” I held back a laugh, because now wasn't the time. He was getting louder now, hiccuping emerging from his throat and tears coming in more quantities.

 

“YES! IT'S IN MY EYES AND MY THROAT!” He yelled at me, and I stepped forward with arms open. He flew into them with brute force; I was almost knocked to the ground. But I held him tight anyway. I hid his face in my shirt, sobbing loudly. As people began to show up, I gathered him into my arms and retreated to the roof of a tall business building, where he could openly cry without being scowled and laughed at. I sat down, swinging my feet over the edge. He refused to release me, so he was to my side, his feet dangling also. He took a long breath before slowly releasing me from his tight grip, almost coughing from so much oxygen at once. He stared out at the town before us. Sobbing under his breath, he inhaled again, screaming.

 

“<b>I HATE YOU, KONOHA!</b>”

 

“Naruto!” I cried out, “I thought you loved Konoha!”

 

“No.” he said simply as he curled his knees to his chest, “...No.”

 

We sat in silence for a while, save the hiccuping. Naruto put his arms over his head as cried. I laid back to stare at the sky.

 

How can I possibly help him if he's had this bottled up for 18 years?

 

I sighed as I stared at the clouds. Shikamaru does this every day, so why don't I try it?

 

“...Sasuke?” he called out. I ignored it, but I really shouldn't have. He's in pain and I should be comforting.

 

He straddled my stomach, flattening himself against my chest. I opened my eyes right before he pressed his lips to mine, and I let him do what he wanted, letting his tongue intrude. He disconnected, and I laid my head back onto the concrete.

 

“You know,” I said quietly, “you can't drown your sorrows in sex.”

 

My eyes glanced at him. He nodded, smiling.

 

Smiling?

 

I sat up on my elbows, watching him. The tears were gone, but his eyes were red. He was smiling at me.

 

“...I know,” he said quietly, and I truly felt his sadness. I laid back down, beckoning for him in a way I had learned from my brother. He crawled over to me, and I grabbed him, crushing him against me. He was silent. I closed my eyes and sighed.

 

...Naruto...

 

You're so horrible to yourself...

 

Cheer up.

 

He nuzzled my shirt, and I put a hand in that spiky sunshine hair of his.

 

“I'm sorry,” I said. He shook his head.

 

“Nah... What did you do?” he was too cheerful. He smiled at me again. I looked down at him with narrow eyes.

 

“...Naruto...How about I buy you some ramen?” he perked up, and I wasn't surprised.

 

“Really?” he sounded beyond happy, but he was really dying. I smiled lightly, but he grinned widely.

 

“Yep,” I stated. He giggled as he stood up. Holding out his hand, he continued to smile.

 

“Then let's go!” he cried out. I took his hand and stood up. As he bounced off the roof, I watched his slowly retreating figure. He noticed I wasn't following, and he waved at me quickly. I could see that smile a mile away.

 

Don't smile Naruto.