The Youngest Uchiha (Naruto fanfic)

Willing...Death?

Naruto was taking off at full speed and unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough for him.  The blonde idiot grabbed my slim wrist to drag be behind him as he ran full speed.  Lucky for him he grabbed my left arm, but still my lungs were burning and my right shoulder was throbbing.  Trying with fail, I attempted to take in full gulps of air.  It wasn’t working, yet Naruto charged on.

Next step: pull my wrist from his grasp.  Failed.  As much as I didn’t want to admit, even Naruto beat me when it concerned strength.  My futile attempts to escape didn’t even make Naruto glance back.  Growing ever more uncomfortable, the need for oxygen swelled.  I could feel the blood started to rise as my lungs were forced to work harder.

Finally my pathetic panting drew Naruto’s attention, “Are you okay, Eiko?” Thankfully we stopped.  I hung my head and attempted to catch my breath quickly.  Naruto stood there for a couple seconds patiently, but that soon wore out.  Tugging at my wrist to get my attention he asked again, “Are you okay?”

I snapped my eyes up and pulled against his grip.  Thankfully, Naruto let go.  Catching me slightly by surprise, I stumbled back a bit.  Human instincts crept in and I gripped out for anything solid to stop my plummet.  Only solid thing around was Naruto’s arm that had reached out to grab me.  Once settled on my feet, I pushed his chest to get away from him.

“You’re welcome.” He grumbled, glaring at me.  I met his with no emotion.

I turned away from him and wiped at my mouth, being conscious of any escaped blood, “Let’s just go.”  Naruto gripped my right shoulder and spun me around.  I bit my lip hard to keep from yelping.

“What’s wrong with you?” He snapped, gripping my shoulder harder.  “We’ve all been nothing but nice to you.  Now just all of a sudden you’ve become cold and distant!  I don’t like it.”

Again I pushed his chest and he stumbled away from me.  I glared at him coldly as I rubbed my shoulder, “I don’t care what you like.  I don’t care about what anyone likes.  I don’t care about anyone.  And I don’t want anyone to care about me.”

Naruto’s eyes widened until they narrowed, “You don’t mean that.”

I sneered at the boy, “Oh, don’t I?  What would possible make you so sure?”

Biting his lip Naruto looked towards the ground.  I smirked in victory and crossed my arms, belittling him with my eyes.  Suddenly, Naruto snapped his head back up and a triumphant look filled his blue eyes.

“You care about people because if you didn’t you wouldn’t have killed that man to protect Inari and Tsunami!” 

I lifted my chin, “I was protecting myself.  They attack me.”

“Yeah, but you could’ve run away.  You didn’t have to fight.”

I shrugged, unconcerned, “I owed them.”

Naruto seemed to be buzzing with energy, barely able to stand where he was, “Yeah, but you wanted to come on this mission.  Kakashi Sensei would’ve listened to you and we could’ve gone back to our village.  But you wanted to help.  You care about people and you want to help!”

I shook my head, slowly, “That’s not true.”

Naruto smirked now claiming the victory, “Oh yeah,” he challenged, “Why?”

Why?  Why had I wanted to come here?  This whole thing was an inconvenience to me and my team.   I didn’t care about people.  People always left me in the end.  People always betrayed me in the end.  People could not be trusted.

“It’s just not.  You don’t know me, or my motives Naruto.” I spit his name out like poison, “And don’t go pretending that you do.”  I pushed past him to continue to the bridge.  Death was better than anywhere this conversation was going.