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(破損た商品): Damaged Goods #9.
Topic Started: Feb 22 2012, 12:09 AM (18 Views)
管理者Narukiba
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Naruto was alone in the training grounds practicing his taijutsu on a training dummy. Well he was more so beating the shit out of thing than actual training. Many things were plaguing his mind and he was at a lost of what to do with them. After completely demolishing the exercise dummy and rendering it useless for future use, the blond felt he vented enough of his frustration. The teen let himself collapse backwards on the ground while his mind recollected the recent events that plagued his thoughts.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Yesterday started out simple enough. His squad had been sent on an overnight mission to assist a neighboring village in taking out some hostile forces in the east before they could spread out.

Of course since the mission was given out the day that followed the night he preferred to forget, Naruto obviously wasn’t on one of his better moods. Sakura kept a safe distance from him and was weary to approach him.

During the day they never spoke more than the necessary. The pink haired kunoichi was careful to avoid bringing up anything related to the incident but it wasn’t because she was scared of what his reaction might be. Believe it when I say that she had no reservations about pounding him into the next dimension if he dared snap at her. Instead it was because she had hope that Naruto would seek her out when he was ready to talk.

Sai, having no clue of what had transcended the night before, was curious as to why the jinchuriki was acting ten times more unsociable than the usual. So the artist did what came second nature to him nowadays meaning he consulted his handy dandy book for the social inept.

It wasn’t until late that night that he found what he considered to be a viable enough answer. Leaving his tent, Sai made his way toward Naruto who was on night watch duty. The blond teen saw the other male’s intentions a mile away and before Sai could even attempt to do what the book suggested for these kinds of situations Naruto ripped the book away from the painter and tossed it to the campfire.

Although the fox jailer’s actions were unexpected, Sai placed one of his well rehearsed fake smiles and went ahead with his plan. After all he was a firm believer of the ‘a smile can get you through anything’ gig.

“Looks like someone is in need of a hug.” He prescribed while sitting down next to the blond.

“Don’t you dare” was Naruto’s antagonistic reply.

Like the unemotional painter wouldn’t know fear even if it bit him in the butt, he was unfazed by the whiskered teen’s reply and pressed on. “Then a pad on the back it is. The gesture is inconsequential. It’s the meaning that truly matters.” He explained.

The jinchuriki shook his head in disapproval yet the oil artist stretched his arm anyways in an effort to reach Naruto. Consequently said teen scooted away almost frantically from the touch.

“Darn it Sai! I said stay away! What are you trying to do anyways?!”

“Lifting up your mood.” Stated Sai like it should have been an obvious deduction.

“Well fine job you’re doing at it!” exclaimed sarcastically the irritated blond.

Not able to catch the sarcasm Sai nodded in consent. “According to my research a pat on the back is the best way to tell a person that you’re there for them. Doing it will automatically cheer up the receiver therefore making the atmosphere more treatable.”

The painter finished his little monologue with one of his creepy fake smiles that did not help quell Naruto’s urge to throw Sai into the fire as well. A noticeable fact by the way the blond kept involuntarily twitching every two seconds.

It’s not that Naruto didn’t appreciate Sai’s little effort; he just didn’t appreciate the meaningless bullshit that came with it. The former Anbu basically told Naruto that he “tried” to comfort him (a term used very loosely) because he didn’t like the air around him and not because he actually cared for his troubles. At least that’s how Naruto took it anyways.

Naruto really hated when people acted like they cared just too look good. They could take their false concern and shove it up their- well you get the point. He knew he shouldn’t blame Sai since he was well aware that the unfeeling painter had the emotional capacity of a rock yet it still pissed the blond off. He just wished the former Anbu would do things because he felt like doing them and not because a book said so. ‘I’m no one’s experiment damn it!’

Unsurprisingly Naruto kept all those thoughts bottled up. ‘I’m a tool anyways, my feelings don’t matter here. It’s stupid to get work up over it.’

Sai took the blue eyed chunnin’s relaxation as a sign that his methods worked. Satisfied with the results he went to try his luck on the female of the team. Taking no consideration for privacy, he entered Sakura’s tent uninvited as she was taking off her top. After an eardrum shattering scream it came as no surprise to Naruto when Sai came back smiling with a black eye.

“She came out of it faster than expected” was all that Sai offered before going back to his own tent.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Then there was what happened at the front gate earlier this morning when they arrived. He found Ino Yamanaka chatting up Izumo and Kotetsu. She let out an over exasperated “Finally!” when they walked in. She and Sakura wasted no time getting it on when it came to dishing out their routine insults at each other.

The blonde kunoichi even had time to spare a flirtatious wink and a few come-ons at Sai’s direction before doing something completely uncharacteristic of her by pulling away an unexpectant Naruto for a little one on one. Sakura looked alarmed by this new development but didn’t follow.

You could say that Naruto had some level of sympathy and respect for Ino. After Asuma’s death her level of dedication to her training increased exponentially as she worked hard to achieve her goal of becoming a special type of jounin like the likes of Anko and Ibiki.

Additionally, if possible, she became a hell lot more assertive and straightforward than before. A fact displayed when she boldly pursues the affections of Sai (hence her constant quarrels with Sakura who she views as a threat). Although her attempts at getting the painter interested in the female genitalia were laughable at best, Naruto didn’t discard the possibility of her achieving it. After all, she wasn’t a jinchuriki therefore she wasn’t bounded to be unhappy for life.

Putting all that respect talk aside, it didn’t mean that he liked her either. In fact he pretty much hated having her around even though they rarely exchange words between each other. She had one of the huge character flaws he disliked the most. She was noisy and never minded her own business.

Unlike Sakura, Ino was never one to give someone their needed personal space. She was too much like his old self, minus the hyperactivity, that it made him want to gag.

Ino only managed to drag Naruto a couple meters away before he aggressively removed his wrist from her hold making the two come to an abrupt stop. Regardless, Ino look satisfied with the distance they made between them and the other members of Team Kakashi.

“What do you want?” demanded a grumpy Naruto crossing his arms as he stood his ground. He cringed when the female blonde turned around with a grin that hid nothing. Evidently she had bigger plans than talking about the weather.

“So what was it like?” Ino wasted no time getting to the point, even if Naruto himself didn’t know what the point was about. When the jinchiruki raised a questioning eyebrow Ino rolled her pretty blue eyes like if it should had been obvious what she was referring to. “The kiss dummy; how was it like when Kiba kissed you? Duh!”

Naruto’s eyes silted for a second before choosing to turn away while repeating a mantra of ‘I can’t hit a girl, I can’t hit a girl, I can’t hit a girl’ over and over again.

“Hellooo! Whiskers? For your information it’s not polite to ignore someone when they’re talking to you.”

“Go away. I’m not in the mood.”

“But-” Ino started but was cut off when a pissed Naruto turned around to face her once again.

“Why are you talking to me anyways? You never did it before! As far as I recall we have done a great job ignoring each other so why stop now?!”

Naruto felt like he was having a déjà vu of when he confronted Kiba in a similar fashion only a few days ago. Yet unlike the Inuzuka, Ino didn’t have the decency to even look abashed by the accusations. Dare I say it she actually looked like she was having fun pushing Naruto’s buttons. ‘No wonder Sakura has a short temper’ But then again, unlike Kiba, Ino wasn’t trying to make the whiskered teen fall in love with her.

‘Okay this ain’t working, time to change tactics.’ With that in mind the pony tailed kunoichi sighed and backed away putting her hands up in mock surrender. “Alright you caught me; I didn’t pull you away for small talk. I just wanted to formally apologize for what happened that night.”

“Apologize for what exactly? And while you’re at it why don’t you explain why the hell were all of you in my front door in the first place?!”

“Teehee, yeah about that…” She gave the male shinobi a shy apologetic smile before continuing “…you see Shikamaru’s party was running stale and since Kiba was already drunk I kinda dared him you kiss you and dragged him all the way to you. Everyone else just came along for the ride because they were bored more than anything. Then I kinda went and pushed him on you.

He wasn’t even aware of what he was doing at the time so it’s really not his fault. Now he feels awful about what happened and has no clue how to face you. So like it is kinda my fault all this happened I thought I should be the one to clear things up with you. Did that make sense?” Ino finished timidly toeing her left shoe on the ground.

Naruto nodded absentmindedly as he processed the information. He consented that it did explained a lot yet now he wasn’t sure if it was okay to still stay mad at Kiba or not. Of course one thing that needed no figuring out was that now Ino was an issue. ‘She did apologize so I guess I shouldn’t hold a grudge, at least not yet.’

Anger levels down; he glanced at Ino once again. “Anything else?” he asked in a somewhat cordial manner.

Sensing no foul mood, she quickly reverted to her old cheerful ways. “Not much no, unless you want to talk about the time you kissed Sasuke?”

Naruto shook his head in dismissal ‘Why do I even bother?’ and turned to leave but not before Ino shouted after him. “Don’t forget to kiss and make up!!!” making the blond male smash a random vase into oblivion as a response.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

So there laid Naruto, exhausted of beating things down for no reason wondering how his plan to be antisocial backfired into attracting more of the people he didn’t care for. “Don’t forget to kiss a make up!” he mimicked what Ino said and spat to the ground as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

‘Why the hell can’t everyone leave me alone??? This is all so confusing. I’m not some play thing to be toyed with, I’m a human being darn it! Doesn’t anybody see that?! Fine so I let myself be used like a tool for missions because that’s what any good shinobi would do but outside of that I want nothing of it! I just wished people would stop playing with my feelings.’

In Naruto’s mind that was really what everyone was doing. Tsunade, Kakashi, Sakura, Ino, Sai, Sasuke, people in general. They all just use his feelings to their advantage to get what they wanted. In the end it was all about them, never about him.

Naruto wasn’t sure what he hated the most. People like that or the ones who treated him poorly for having the damn fox inside of him. At least the latter never hid their real intentions like the first bunch. Jiraiya and Iruka were a blessing to his world full of animosity but even they weren’t enough to fill the void.

All in all what Naruto really wished for was to have one good friend. He was once naive enough to think he found it in Sasuke. Naruto hated himself for letting himself get caught in that illusion. He loathed it even more because he knew he would give anything up to live in that illusion again. Yet he knew how foolish thinking like that was and he thought himself weak for doing so.

If it wasn’t for his growling stomach, Naruto would have probably spent the better half of the day wallowing in self-pity. With that notion the golden haired chunnin got up and headed towards Ichiraku’s. While some resorted to alcohol for temporarily relief of their worries, Naruto found the same effect on his ramen.

When the demon fox jailer got to the Ramen Shop he felt a scream coming up. He literally had to swallowed it back down to keep it from coming out. There in front of the little restaurant stood the one and only Kiba Inuzuka. He was leaning against a post with his arms crossed behind his head. He had a dazed look on his face and was staring off into the distance as if lost in thought.

Beside him laid a yawning Akamaru. Naruto’s inner debate on whether to run for it or to face Kiba came to an abrupt stop when the overgrown dog spotted him and barked to alert his master of the jinchuriki’s presence. ‘Darn mutt! Guess it’s unavoidable now.’

Making his way to the brunet he watched as Kiba almost eagerly stood up straight and began dusting himself off. Once they were a safe 5 feet away from each other time seemed to stop as they gazed into each other’s eyes with one trying to read the other and vice versa.

The blond chunnin was the first to break the awkward silence created between them.

“Dog breath” he stated in acknowledgement giving room for Kiba to say his part. It worked as said brunet broke out of his stupor, took a big breath and began rambling none stop. ‘Now or never’ he thought.

“Naruto I-I was hoping to find you here. I know you said you rather not have me ‘round and you probably don’t wanna see me again after what happened but please if you could just gimme a minute I want to explain. This whole thing was an accident. I didn’t mean it. I wish there was a good explanation as to why I attacked you like that but I don’t have one. I’m not really good at saying sorry cuz I like never done it before and you have no idea how much of my pride I’m swallowing right now but the guilt is killing me. I really…”

‘God this is going to go on forever if I don’t stop it’ whined Naruto before interrupting Kiba mid-speech. “I forgive you.”

“…and then I w-what you say?”

“I said I forgive you. Ino already told me what happened.”

“She what???” ‘I fucking told her to stay the hell away from this!’ “I mean, what did she tell you?” ‘Please tell me she didn’t tell you I’m gay. I’ll kill her!’

“That everything was basically her fault and not to be mad at you.”

“Oh, and you’re not mad?”

Naruto shrugged to answer Kiba’s question. The brunet wanted nothing more than to jump right in and give Naruto a bone crushing hug for relieving him from all the stress and tension that’s been piling up inside the Inuzuka for quite a while now.

With his instincts working faster than his mind, Kiba made the move toward Naruto but thankfully was able to stop his actions mid-step when he noticed the blond flinching. ‘That’s right; he doesn’t like to be touched’

“Umm…” Kiba started, eyes fixed on the floor because he couldn’t muster the courage to look Naruto in the eyes. “…well thanks for forgiving me. I guess I’ll be out of your hair now. See ya later… or not.”

Kiba began walking away feeling like the lowest most sorriest piece of crap ever to walk the planet. ‘What was I thinking? Yeah he forgave me but so what? He still never gonna like me that much is clear. I’m a dumb fuck for ever thinking otherwise.’

Naruto watched as the brunet downheartedly made his way out and felt a pang of guilt. He was so ready to tell Kiba off when he approached him but now he kinda felt like an asshole and he didn’t know why. Maybe it was because he suddenly remembered what Sai told him about how people showed they cared or maybe because his complaining brain finally decided to stay quiet for a second.

Whatever the reason, Naruto surprised himself when he placed a restraining hand on Kiba’s shoulder just as he was passing by to prevent the brunet from leaving.

Confused, Kiba looked up to an even more confused Naruto as they gaped into each other’s eyes once again. The blond, knowing he had to say something to defuse the tension his sudden action involuntarily created, said the first words that came to mind.

“Y-You don’t have to leave. I mean umm, I don’t really mind having you around.”

Yet Kiba wasn’t consoled. “That’s okay you don’t have to be nice. I already know that I bother you.”

The reply ticked Naruto off more than it should have. “Weren’t you listening to a word I just said? I told you that I don’t mind you around.”

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean you want me around!” shot back Kiba now getting equally pissed. If Naruto was going to reject him then Kiba wished he stopped going back and forth with it and just get it over with. Akamaru barked to show Kiba his support.

The teens glared daggers at each other until Naruto backed away feeling once again like the enemy. “You know what, forget it. I don’t need this anyways” said the blond as he turned to leave. The sadness that shone through his ocean blue eyes did not go undetected by Kiba’s dark ones.

“Naruto wait!” The boy with the red tattoos said while reaching out for the whiskered one’s arm. “Do you want to do something tomorrow? Ya know, like hanging out or something like that?”

“You mean like… friends?” questioned the blue eyed chunnin still facing away as he remembered his conversation with Shino.

When Kiba said yes Naruto felt his core being shaken. He gave Kiba an affirmative nod not trusting his voice to do it for him.

With a broad warm smile the Inuzuka relinquished his hold on Naruto’s arm only then realizing that for the first time in a long time his crush hadn’t shrugged him off. The revelation made his heart beat faster.

They said their goodbyes as Akamaru pulled his master away for their routine walk in the village. As Naruto watched Kiba make his merry way out of the street he couldn’t help but to shudder when Ino’s taunting voice replayed in his head. ‘Don’t forget to kiss a make up!’

“Damn she got what she wanted didn’t she?” Yet instead of getting angry Naruto looked up into the clear sky and smiled. Somehow resolving things with Kiba made him incredibly happy. He may have been making the biggest mistake in his life but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to care. Just for today Naruto would let himself believe that someone might honestly care enough about him. With that in mind he went to order an extra large bowl of beef ramen.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Letting the genjutsu fall, a blonde ponytailed kunoichi appeared where a pile of trash used to be.

“Heehee, Mind Transfer Jutsu success!”

She glanced back to where the two male chunnins stood mere minutes ago before strutting away to attend the flower shop.

Ino had expertly gotten into Naruto’s body to prevent Kiba from leaving. Call it woman’s intuition but she just knew that all they needed was an extra push to get things going. And yes that means that she spent her whole morning tailing after Naruto. By making herself the target she was able to dissipate Naruto’s antagonistic walls to get the ball rolling to Kiba’s favor. Her only peeve is that she probably won’t get the recognition she deserves for bringing those two together; but she isn’t going to let that stop her from being the Maid of Honor at their wedding. And again yes, she already picked out the dress.

‘My part here is done. Kiba, the rest is up to you.’
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