Save him, Kushina prays to spirits of sand and water. Of salt and shine, the ones that she remembered from stories of old. Save him, my child of waves and gales. The crown of leaves and sun. Save him, my darling son.
As she feels herself slipping away, further and further away from golden hair and sapphire eyes, she hears her baby boy cry and her heart breaks.
My little prince of whirlpools and tides.
~~~~
Naruto's life can be described in one word. Piercing. Like how the matron's sharp nails pierced his skin when she punished him. How her perfectly manicured fingers dug into his hair when she sheared it off for being too long. How she carried him to his new apartment with sharp hands hoisting him to her hip.
His hands were scarred.
He was five.
He was tired.
He couldn't sleep.
He was hungry.
There was nothing to eat.
He cried under his bed in the safe shadows, an old moth-eaten blanket wrapped around his body.
He slept.
He escaped to the forest, ran in the sun and let rain crawl over his body.
He felt a smile on his lips.
He learned to catch fish. He learned to cook.
He ate.
His hands were still scarred.
He was five.
He did what he could and slept, fished and ran in the sun.
His hands were never the same.
He wanted to go home.
~~~~~
He saw people. He saw men and women. They were glued together from their faces but when they saw him they turned away. They went away and glared at him when they thought he didn't see.
He saw husband and wife. They were linked together by the arm, but when they saw him they gasped and kicked sand in his face. The wife clutched a string of brown beads the next time he saw her.
He saw children. They were attached to their parents by the hip. When they saw him, they snatched stones from the ground and threw it at him.
He learned how to run away.
~~~~
He heard a mother sing her child to sleep. He saw a mother feed her child. He saw a mother loving her child.
Was it really wrong of him to want one?
~~~
He saw a father play ball with his son. He saw a father pay the bills for his family. He saw a family relying on the father. He saw a father loving his family.
Was it wrong of him to long for one?
~~~
He yearned for home. He felt his heart ache. He felt his head hurt and his brain snap. He didn't want to stare at the receipts the landlord gave him. He didn't want to look at empty cupboards. He wanted to curl up in his mother's lap and rely on his father.
He dreamed of white sand and clear azure water. He woke up with the taste of salt in his mouth and the shine of the beach in his hair.
He woke up with his hands scarred and drops of tears rolling down his skin.
Pierced. The tears were piercing his face.
~~~~
He is drawn to the east. He yearns for the taste of salt in his mouth and the feeling of wind in his hair. He dreams of sand beneath his feet and water staining his toes. He stares out his classroom window and basks in the non-existent sea-sun.
He didn't want to be the leaves of the great tree, nor the branches the stretch towards the sun.
He would rather be a current in the deep ocean.
A tide lapping the shore.
A gale soaring in the sky.
A whirlpool swirling in the sea.
A whirlpool.
He wanted to be a whirlpool.
He sees the white-washed beaches and glinting sapphire water again. He admires the rosy sunset dyeing the ocean before he wakes up and cries.
He isn't surprised.
But he still yearns.
YOU ARE READING
Of Whirlpools and of Tides
Fanfiction'Save him', Kushina prays to spirits of sand and water. Of salt and shine, the ones that she remembered from stories of old. 'Save him, my child of waves and gales. The crown of leaves and sun. Save him, my darling son.' As she feels herself slippin...
