Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Umbrella ❯ Chapter 1

“No… please…” he whispered to the heavens as the torrential cascade drowned out his meek voice. His golden hair, drenched by the downpour, sagged lifelessly over his eyes.

“Not you too…” he begged, his voice hoarse against the raging storm.

The exhausted plea fell upon deaf ears as the pink haired girl continued to walk away.

“Please! Don't leave me… I thought we were… friends…”

“Friends?” she abruptly turned around, sneering.

The blonde boy flinched at her malice. “What ever gave you the idea we were friends?”

Slowly, he slumped to the ground, feeling the frigid concrete against his knees. Arctic winds gnawed at his hands and slashed his face, but the boy was completely oblivious - the wind was nothing compared to her glacial eyes. As her figure disappeared, the boy's tears began to meander down his sunken cheeks. He leaned forward, unable to dispel the girl's icy glare from his memory as his teardrops splattered the ground in sync with the rain around him. Finally, he embraced the sheltering darkness. The darkness was his friend. His only friend.

 

Naruto sat up with a start, with the nightmare he had just escaped from branded clearly into his vision. But… it wasn't a nightmare. It had actually happened. She was the only person he had ever considered a friend. Why did it have to-

“What the hell were you thinking? What were you doing out in this weather? You could have frozen to death, idiot!”

Slowly turning toward the source of the sudden outburst that derailed his train of thought, Naruto discovered an indignant brunette boy with a concerned frown plastered on his face. What was Kiba doing here? Looking around, Naruto could only assume that the bed and room he was in were Kiba's from the distinctly canine smell.

“You could have seriously been hospitalized or something. What were you doing in the pouring rain?” Kiba asked again.

“It's none of your business,” came the sullen reply. Naruto shifted his gaze from Kiba and took in more of his surroundings.

“What kind of attitude is that!? I just saved your a-”

“I didn't ask for your help, dog breath! Just leave me alone!”

Kiba honestly hadn't expected Naruto to react this way and recoiled for a second. As he was about to let loose a string of curses at the bedridden boy, Naruto suddenly got up and gingerly walked a few steps toward the door before collapsing to the floor.

“Are you seriously that stupid? You have a high fever right now. You aren't going anywhere.”

The last thing Naruto heard after Kiba helped him back into bed was, “That idiot…” and the gentle closing of a door before drifting off into a feverish sleep.

 

He was on the swing again. His swing. The sky was a subdued vermillion and the air felt heavy against his skin. Looking around, he saw the shadows of other children, with faces he could almost make out to be classmates, and beside them, shadows of their parents. Parents… Naruto stiffened at the thought. How must that feel like? To be loved…? Then, the shadows began to form a circle around him. Some pointed at him and snickered maliciously while others whispered furiously amongst themselves. Naruto could somewhat make out their words in the chorus of murmurs. “That boy… inside him… up to no good… not near my children… their friends...” Naruto cringed instinctively upon hearing the word “friends”, and as if on cue, the mass of swirling shadows came together and formed her face. It was exactly as he remembered it. Her coral hair seemed to be ablaze in the sanguine sky, pale jade eyes like two frosty jewels amidst scorching embers. Naruto tried to shake the image from his head as the booming voice resonated in his head. Friends…? What made you think… Friends…?

 

“Oi! Wake up!”

“Wha…?”

“You were screaming in your sleep, idiot.”

“Oh…” It took Naruto a second to recollect himself and realize again that he was in Kiba's house. The dim room was lit only by the setting sun, bathing Kiba's face in a warm orange glow, but leaving the rest of the room with a dark crimson hue. Naruto's eyes widened in fear. It was like in his dream. Shadows flickered across the room, just barely in his field of vision. The darkness again took on faces. Neji, Sasuke, Sakura-

“Hey! Snap out of it! What happened!?”

“…Kiba…”

“Gee. You got my name after, what, six years? You must be a real genius.”

“Shut up. It's nothing...”

As Naruto looked into Kiba's onyx eyes, Naruto realized that in all of his nightmares, Kiba had never been one of… them. In fact, when Naruto was picked on at school, it was always Kiba who warned the others to back off. Naruto mentally kicked himself for not noticing earlier.

“Well, you're still sick, so you need rest. I left some ramen for you on the nightstand in case you're hungry. You should be able to reach it without getting up. Just don't get any on my sheets.”

Naruto only nodded dumbly at the other boy's offer. As Kiba started to close the door behind him, he heard his name.

“Kiba?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier, when I woke up and yelled at you.”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry,” Naruto grudgingly mumbled.

“Idiot. Just get some sleep,” came the reply. Kiba smiled to himself before closing the door behind him. Before it was closed all the way, however, the bedridden boy spoke again.

“Oh, and Kiba?”

“What?”

“…It's nothing.”

Kiba gently closed the door, but not before a whisper reached his ears. A whisper so soft that he wouldn't have been able to pick up had he not had heightened canine senses.

 

“Thank you.”

 

The next morning, Kiba awoke to the chorus of larks serenading outside of his window. When he opened his eyes, dawn's soft aurous rays diffracted through a slit in his curtains, overwhelming his optic senses. Kiba immediately rolled over and drew up his blankets to cover himself, moaning into his pillow at the residual glare. He rolled himself tighter into his blanket, mummifying himself - a giant puppy-patterned lump. Kiba reeled himself in a tad farther - and fell off the couch he was sleeping on.

“What am I doing on my so- Oh right. Him.” The brunette muttered as he untangled himself. Now wide awake, Kiba decided to make some breakfast before checking up on Naruto. Kiba absent mindedly took out a pan and turned on the heat, all the while thinking about unexpected guest.

“Hmm what could have happened yesterday? He doesn't use his brain often, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one… What was he doing in the rain…?”

The sizzling oil in his pan brought Kiba's thoughts from Naruto to the task at hand. Kiba finished fixing breakfast and inhaled deeply. There was something about the smell after a rainstorm that always made him feel good. Whether it was the crisp, clean scent of wet soil, the accentuated subtle sweetness of his neighbor's honeysuckle bush, or just the earthen smell of moist wood, Kiba didn't know. Nor did he care. It was just a cleansing feeling, like he was somehow renewed. As Kiba walked toward his room, however, his vigor soon turned to dread when he realized something was awry. Where was that rustic, down-to-earth scent or the resounding snores? Bursting into the room, Kiba found the bowl of ramen empty and a poorly torn strip of paper next to it. On it, scribbled in a frail, unkempt scrawl, was “Thanks for the ramen”.

 

When Naruto feebly wobbled past the village gates, he started to wonder if he should have told Kiba.

“No… It's better like this. Plus, you can't really believe that he actually cares about you,” a small nagging voice in the back of his mind snidely reminded him. Naruto sighed dejectedly as he treaded on. It must be true. It's been almost an hour since he left. Kiba must have noticed by now. All his life, he had been alone. Why would now be any differ-

“You idiot! Where the hell do you think you're going?!”

“Kiba? He actually came looking for me?” Naruto thought as he stared stupidly at the panting boy in front of him.

“Do you know how long it took me to find you? I had to find you by scent! What do you think you're doing?!” Kiba gasped out between gulps for air.

“I'm leaving.”

“What?!”

Naruto smirked. “I thought you were supposed to have canine hearing. I saaaid I aaam leeaav-”

“I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, IDIOT! When did you decide this? Why?”

“No one wants me around. What's the point of staying? No matter how much I try to make everyone happy, they all still hate me,” Naruto nonchalantly replied while shrugging.

“You can change how they think of you if you just set your mind to-”

“Just can it, dog breath. That was probably the lamest cliché I've heard in a while.”

“If you want something, work for it! You can't control what other people think of you, but you can work to change that! Get off your lazy ass and put some effort into it!” Kiba heatedly barked back.

“Effort? What do you know about me? What do any of you know about me? How can any of you even claim to know what I feel? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I GO THROUGH EACH AND EVERYDAY!” And for the second time in a few hours, scorching tears flooded Naruto's eyes. As they coursed down his face, Naruto sniffed slightly, wiped away the tears with his sleeve, and continued.
“… I have nothing more to give. I've tried. Again and again. I try as hard as I can and everyone still thinks I'm worthless. It'd be best if I just… disappear,” Naruto sobbed as he started to turn around once more.

“Is that… is that what you really think? Do you actually believe that?”

Kiba could only grin at Naruto's baffled look.

“I think… you're worth something. You're something to me. A friend.”

Naruto's confused complexion turned into one of bewilderment and his dampened tears once again flooded freely.

“You're such a cry baby,” Kiba laughed at Naruto's failed attempt to dam up his tears.

“Sh-shut up. There's something in my eye,” Naruto choked out.

Kiba merely rolled his eyes. “C'mon. Let's grab something to eat and go back to my place.”

 

As Kiba gawked at Naruto's insatiable appetite for ramen, seeing the empty bowls pile up, the blonde boy abruptly broke the silence.

“Hey Kiba, I've been thinking,” Naruto said between mouthfuls of noodles.

“Wow. That's new. Don't overdo it though. You might hurt something,” Kiba chuckled.

“Shut up. I'm not stupid you know. I can spell big words like immigration. Anyway, I've been thinking. You live by yourself, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much. My mom always gets assigned tracking missions that take months and my sister rents her own place closer to the clinic. Why?”

“Well, I was wondering. What if I moved in with you? To make sure you don't burn down your house or something, you know?”

Kiba suppressed his initial urge was to flatly refuse and question Naruto's sanity. After a bit of thought, however, the brunette boy actually kind of liked the idea of having a roommate to keep him company.

Smiling, Kiba replied, “Just finish eating, idiot. We'll talk about it later.”

Naruto beamed widely as he finished his thirteenth bowl.

 

That night, Naruto looked up at the tranquil night sky. Nocturnal breezes gently stroked the eucalyptus leaves outside, and the moon's lustrous radiance refracted through his window, tenderly caressing his lying form. Naruto counted the shimmering stars as he drifted off into his dreams. One, two, five, nine, two hundred and seven, six hundred and seventy, two thousand four hundred and twelve… Once again, Naruto embraced the darkness. It was still his friend. But now, it had some competition.