Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ When Darkness Falls ❯ The Tooth Fairy ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or the movie “Darkness Falls”

Summary: The town of Konoha at present, we join the orphaned teenager Naruto at lunch, mouth full of blood …

Pairing: SasuNaru   -x-X-x- <*~.o.O.o.~*> When Darkness Falls <*~.o.O.o.~*> -x-X-x-  

Chapter 1: The Tooth Fairy

Blonde locks fell in front of the seventeen year old’s face, though he ignored it as he continued to stare into the bathroom mirror that was in front of him, the yellowish light above the sink flickering back and forth. His brow was furrowed in concentration, blue eyes locked onto his reflection and one tanned finger was stuck between his lips, the tip of it wriggling something therein, a curl of red liquid escaping from his mouth as he worked. Uzumaki Naruto was the most audacious, loud-mouthed, clownish boy in the entire academy - and one of the last in his class to loose all of his baby teeth. Yes - this was finally it; the last one that he had to get rid of before he was no longer a baby. Before maybe someone would acknowledge him as something other than an annoyance.

He was an orphan, knowing nothing about his family or where he’d come from - he’d shown up on the steps of the orphanage he called home twelve years ago with a note instructing for his care. Of course, many young, teenage women did, and still do, get pregnant and have a child, and then, realized they couldn’t handle the responsibility of taking care of them. That was fine with him - he held no bitterness towards his mother, be her dead, alive, or otherwise; in fact, the blonde often thought that it was a good thing that she had done as she did, because they both would have only suffered if she’d not been able or willing to care for him.

But, that was just the kind of optimistic thinker that Naruto was, and he liked it that way as well; you would be hard-pressed to come up with any incidence where the boy had ever been anything less. Depression? It seemed that that word never had a place in the former prankster’s vocabulary; he was always doing things to get noticed, and the things he did almost always instilled laughter in the witnesses of the ‘crimes’ - harmless jokes that never hurt anyone, just pushed a few buttons that only the blonde knew how to push, and that was only from years of practice too.

As it was, the last time he’d been to the doctor, and quite a few trips before that, the man that had stuck his gloved hands in the orphan’s mouth had indeed told him it was strange for a boy his age to still have a baby tooth - it had just never come out, and he’d said that it probably never would. He’d even asked if the blue eyed boy wanted the adult tooth removed from his gums and the baby tooth removed so that it could be put in it’s place, but he’d said no. It wasn’t like the thing was hurting Naruto or anything; and, if it’s not broke, well, there’s no need to fix it, right? So, imagine how elated he’d been when he’d woken up two mornings ago and the right front canine was loose enough for him to prod with his tongue and move without too much difficulty.

At first, he left it alone, not wanting it to fall out and then have a hole there if the adult tooth wasn’t going to come in after it, but, a little while ago, he’d discovered something grand indeed; there was the beginnings of a second tooth (presumably the adult one) coming in behind the loose one, which told Naruto that he could go ahead and rip that one out, and, that was exactly what he was doing too.

It was something important to the blonde, who was sporting a dull orange t-shirt with a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup logo on it and a pair of faded jeans that had holes in the back pocket and knees. Loosing his final tooth; it seemed like it should be something special - extra special, since it had taken so much longer than normal for most people. Like, it would somehow change things; make him more mature, or make the people around him look at him differently - something like that.

Crack. A triumphant smile lit the blonde’s features as he spit blood into the sink, holding his prize in his left hand as he cupped his right to rinse his mouth with water. And, there was the last tooth - completely out. Nodding to himself as he rinsed the white object under the cold water, he shook it dry carefully and put it in the pocket of his jeans for safe keeping before he took a paper towel and dried his hands and face, tossing it in the garbage before picking up his navy blue book bag and stepping out of the bathroom, sandaled feet making next to no sound on the tile floors of the school.

It had been his lunch break previously, which was why he had time to do whatever he pleased, having choked down a dry, slightly chewy peanut butter and jelly sandwich and half a carton of milk from the cafeteria. And now there were just a few - RING! Scratch that - the bell hand just rung, which meant it was time to go to class as it was. Adjusting the straps of his book bag absently, he pushed a few locks of his slightly long gold hair out of his face with a hand carefully before he made his way towards his history class, of which the teacher was a man named Iruka…

“Today, we’ll be watching a movie on a particularly famous myth that has to do with the history of our town; the origin of the so-called ‘tooth fairy’.” the brunette said, scratching the tip of his nose slightly before he looked out over the class, smiling slightly at the highschoolers that he saw there. Naruto was sitting closest to the door, in the front of the classroom and, as it was he’d just walked in a moment ago, bag dropped carelessly at his feet, slouched in his chair slightly, looking over at the teacher because he hadn’t thought of anything better to do at the moment, though he normally did. He liked Iruka and all - he’d known the man for a few years, but, he didn’t particularly care for the subject he taught. And his marks showed that.

Eyes now turning to the television that was wheeled into the front of the classroom, the teacher put the tape in the VCR and moved over to switch all of the lights off. Eyes now attempting to adjust to the new, presumably dimmer atmosphere, Naruto realized that it was not much different than when Iruka had the lights on. Eyes now turning towards the far side of the room, he saw why this was - the blinds were still open on the windows, and the sunlight was streaming into the room on the warm May afternoon - it was just as decent as flourecent lightning.

“Um, sir?” he asked, raising his hand and not waiting to be called on as he continued with, “can we close the blinds please? I mean, it’s just as if you left the lights on, right?” Iruka turned to face Naruto for a moment before nodding and saying,

“Yes, will someone please shut the blind- I mean, will someone please shut the blinds on that window?” He pointed towards the window closest to the front of the classroom, the one in the back purposely left out of that statement. A boy with black hair in a tight ponytail wearing a green and black t-shirt stood to do so, pulling on the chord until the room was dimmed considerably - but there was still a pretty bad glare on the screen from the other window, and it didn’t help all that much.

“Um … sir? Can we close both sets of blinds - there’s a glare on the television screen.” Naruto asked for a second; normally, Iruka shut both blinds and made it pretty dark in the room when they watched a movie - the blonde had slept through them more than once, so, he would know. But now, Iruka shook his head, looking back into the corner for a moment before saying,

“No, I think it’s fine the way it is.” And, turning away from the blonde, who looked about to argue, to end the conversation, the brunette teacher pushed the ‘play’ button on the VCR, turning up the volume slightly so that it could be heard in the back of the room. Glaring at the sensei’s back for a moment, Naruto set his right temple on his right fist, elbow bent on the desk so that he could keep his head propped up, looking in the back corner of the room absently where the window was and blinking; who in the hell was that?

There was someone sitting in the exactly opposite corner of the room as him in the light from the window that he’d never seen before. The boy had a ridiculously pale complexion and sharp, dark black hair which fell partially over his face and slightly shaded his black eyes. He was wearing a long sleeved blue turtle neck and a pair of white dress pants, from what Naruto could see, and he had his hands folded, elbows on the desk, backs of his fingers resting just below his nose, staring at the television screen intently. He was sitting in the back row that was normally unoccupied, and he was the only one the light from the window fell directly on, so it was easy to make out his features.

“The quiet town of Konoha is a very famous town indeed. “But, why is it so famous?”, some of you might ask. The answer is simple; it is because Konoha is the place where the tooth fairy lived over one-hundred years ago. The tooth fairy, most would say, is simply a myth, told by parents to their children to make them more accepting of removing their baby teeth. This is because the story of the tooth fairy is that she comes at night when you put a baby tooth under your pillow and takes that tooth away - only to replace it with a small amount of money. However, there was an old woman who lived in Konoha over one-hundred years ago - a widow, with no children, her husband having died at a terrible accident at sea. After this accident, whenever one of the children would loose a tooth, the old woman would go to their house and give the child a shiny gold coin - in exchange for that tooth. She would only do so for the children who lived in Konoha because she never left the town. Stories would be taken all over when traveler’s passed through and a child happened to loose a baby tooth, the people telling of the generous old woman who would trade such a valuable item for a simple tooth. Parents started to leave money under the pillows of their children, telling them that it was from the tooth fairy.” And, about twenty five minutes later, the tape ended, and Iruka pressed ‘stop’ on the VCR and flicked on the fluorescent lighting.

“Alright now class - time for a debate.” the brunette said with an unbridled glee - this was more obviously than not his favorite part of the class; the debate. Walking over to the blinds and absently pulling the chord to open them, he asked, “anyone?” Turning back to face the class; sometimes it took a little while for a student to come forward and add his or her own opinion, but eventually, the came around.

“It was told wrong.” the simple statement was quiet, not much more than a mere utterance, but, because of the stillness of the classroom, it was heard loud and clear. Turning around to face the voice, Naruto couldn’t decide if it had come from the mysterious black haired teen in the back of the room or not - the boy was looking out the window, head turned away from the classroom, hands still up in front of his mouth.

“Hey - who the hell is that anyway?” he said, the blonde never one to be tactful and just keep his thoughts to himself - he wanted to know who this boy was, and the most painless way he could see of finding out was to ask everyone straight out. Iruka put his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

“Heck, Naruto. That is the new student, Uchiha Sasuke, just transferred to this school. And, if you wouldn’t come to my class ten minutes later than everyone else, then you might know that.” he said in exasperation before turning back to ‘Sasuke’ and saying, “and, if that was the wrong way to tell the story, then, I suppose you know the correct way?” the blonde slid down in his seat a few inches, muttering a small ‘oh’ at Iruka’s reprimand - it hadn’t been his fault he was on the opposite side of the humongous campus when the bell rang …

The brunette in the back of the class said nothing, eyes flicking to look up at Iruka before turning to the blonde. Naruto shivered; the boy had such an intense, almost hollow gaze, and there were what looked like shadows under his eyes as well, as if he hadn’t been sleeping very decently for a while. Finally, he took his hands from his face, setting them on the desk in front of him, one on top of the other, fingers no longer interlaced.

“Fine.” he murmured, voice smooth as his dark eyes stared out over the class before settling on Iruka, which made him a little uncomfortable, or so it seemed, as he moved and sat down at his desk, nodding at Sasuke to continue. And he did, after a moment of prolonged, more than not uncomfortable silence.

“The ‘tooth fairy’, if you must call her that, lived in this town in the eighteen-hundreds. But, she wasn’t called the tooth fairy. Her name was Matilda Dickson; she only came to children at night because her face had been scared from a fire that consumed her home, and she was hideous - she didn’t want people to see her face; she even wore a porcelain mask to hide it when she left her home. One night, two children told their parents they were going to see the ‘tooth fairy’, and that they’d be back shortly. Hours passed, and the children hadn’t returned. People thought that she had kidnapped them, killed them, something of the like, and so, a mob was formed, close to dawn, all of the men in the town carrying pitchforks, axes, lanterns … They dragged Matilda from her house, though she fought them, and strung her up in the lighthouse by the neck, waiting until the first light of dawn before they tore her mask from her face, so that everyone could see what she looked like. And then, they hung her. She cursed the town as she died, and she could never go into the light again. Anyone who now looses their last baby tooth in Konoha is visited at night by her; but, if you look, and you see her face, she will kill you.”

“Well …” Iruka cleared his throat after the brunette had finished his tale, blinking at Sasuke a moment before continuing with, “that was a slightly more … morbid take on the myth …”

“It’s only the truth; make of it what you will.” was all the black eyed boy said as his fingers clasped loosely again and hung just below his nose, and he went back to staring out the window as the class continued on. Except, Naruto was not with it, still looking back at Sasuke; the way he’d told that story - it had made the blonde believe that it was the truth … the tone of voice he’d used, almost as if bored, but, there was an edge to it - a sharp sound, that told you that you could never get bored of this story; because if you did, you wouldn’t live to tell it again …

Hours later, it was about ten o’clock in the orphanage where he’d lived all of his life that he could remember, laying on his bed, the same one he’d slept in for 17 years, with the same seven other beds lining the walls along with his, four on each side of the elongated room. He was absently reading a book, as it was, which was strange for the blonde, because he normally never picked one up unless required by school, and even then it was seldom. Naruto was still dressed in his jeans and t-shirt, the ones he’d worn from school, and was pouring over the thick book he held - there were several next to his legs as well, professing that he’d used his library card in the school for the first time that year, and had made quite a large order indeed.

He was looking for something - he wasn’t sure exactly what, but … it was something about the way that Sasuke had told that story, he supposed; he just couldn’t leave it alone, for some reason, no matter how much he wanted to. It was stuck in his head, and he needed to know the truth. He was looking for accounts of the ‘tooth fairy’; looking for anything about a woman named Matilda Dickson, and a hanging that had ended her. But, it was ten o’clock now, and time for lights out - he’d been through seven thick tomes and a few other smaller ones, and had found nothing. The blonde snorted to himself as he stood, stretching and changing into his black t-shirt, leaving on his gray boxers and pulling on a night cap; one that he’d had for so long that there were a few holes worn in the thing, though he still refused to get rid of it. Taking his tooth from his jeans pocket as an afterthought, he looked at it under the light of the lamp that was clipped onto the metal frame of his bed and angled towards him. The blonde snorted again lightly before setting it on his nightstand, not expecting to get anything from the ‘tooth fairy’ or anyone else for it, since he’d never received anything for any of his other teeth, and so, why would this be anything different?

“Don’t peek …” he said in a mocking tone, shaking his head as he slid under the blankets, ignoring any looks he got from the other inhabitants of the room. Naruto turned onto his side after reaching up and clicking off the light that was above his head, closing his bright blue eyes and resolving to fall asleep without a second thought, not answering Tsunade, the one who took care of the eight boys in their room, when she said goodnight to them …

Blue eyes blinked hazily; why was he waking up? It wasn’t morning - it was still very dark outside, actually, and so …Yawning slightly, the blonde froze; he could have sworn he heard something coming from the other side of the room. Brow furrowing, as he at first assumed it was Konohamaru (the youngest boy in their room) getting up to go to the bathroom or something, he moved to settle back down again … but then, that hadn’t sounded like a footstep to him. In fact, Naruto didn’t know what it was exactly - none of the boys, Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji - even Konohamaru - snored. And, Akamaru, Kiba’s puppy, had stopped getting up in the middle of the night after it started sleeping in bed with it’s owner, which had taken much persuading of Tsunade by all seven boys (since Konohamaru hadn’t been there yet) for a few weeks.

Blinking at the opposite wall when he moved to look, he could have sworn he saw a shadow against the window glass, but, he couldn’t have been sure … And then, he remembered his tooth on the nightstand … His last baby tooth. That’s just a stupid story that that jerk made up - I’m not afraid of it … he thought to himself, though he knew that was a lie as his stomach twisted in a knot when he saw the light flicker with movement again. There was definitely someone, or something, there … The blonde’s head ducked under the sheets of his bed then, blue eyes tightly shut. What did he say? If you see her, you’re dead, right? Well … I just won’t look … he thought to himself very logically as he curled into a tighter ball, knees against his chest as he laid on his side, pulling the sheets tighter around himself. And then, he heard it again - only the sound was closer this time. It almost sounded like breathing, but not - kind of like, the sound that the old man, Sarutobi, owner of the orphanage, used to make. Something between a groan and a sigh …

The sound an old person makes …!? his heart pounded a little bit faster before he thought to himself in annoyance, oh please Naruto; now you’re just imagining things …It was a little too convenient that that was the first thing he thought of after he heard a creeky sound in the middle of the night. On the night he’d lost his final too - STOP IT! Just stop it alright? You’re going to hyperventilate …he berated himself as he tried to breathe calmly, sitting as still as he could for what seemed like hours, though was really only more like two minutes or so.

Breathing as normally as he could, he blinked a few times in the darkness under the blankets and listened hard. And, after about another minute, heard nothing - surely it would be safe to pull the blankets off now, right? I mean, it was starting to get hard to breathe and everything underneath the blankets, and he was going to suffocate … Rolling onto his other side very slowly, he slid a hand out of his blankets cautiously to his rickety nightstand, fingers curling around the cold metal end of a black flashlight - everyone in the orphanage was given one in case of a black out with fresh batteries in it whenever they were needed, so, he knew it worked. Retracting his hand quickly, still holding the light, he pushed the button that turned it on and shown it at the sheet, which was the only thing he had pulled over him, since it was so hot, the rest of the blankets folded on top of the footlocker at the end of his bed like everyone else in the room.

Looking around, all he could hear was the pounding of his heart in his head, and the sound of his own harsh, erratic breathing. He saw nothing against the white sheets - no shadows moving, no sounds to alert him of another presence. Sighing softly to himself as his breath slowed, he would have laughed at his idiocy, the entire thing looking completely ridiculous to him, (I mean, come on, a teenager, almost an adult, who was afraid of the tooth fairy?), except he chose that exact moment to pull the sheet away from his face. Now, Naruto had been known (quite renowned, actually) for his bad timing, but, this incident had to completely take the cake, as far as he was concerned.

The only thing that was heard was a shrill, extremely startled scream as the beam of the flashlight illuminated a stark white mask with two eyes cut out of it, set back into a ragged black traveling cloak that billowed in an unseen wind as whatever it was floated there, just above him. Whatever it was had what appeared to be a limb outstretched towards his nightstand, and wasn’t looking at Naruto until the light hit it. And then, it turned to the blonde with a startled cry, it’s sickly yellow eyes glaring into the blonde’s blue ones. When suddenly, the dark figure lunged at Naruto …