Melancholia

Chapter 16

TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER

...

Naruto felt hands on him. They were pinning him against a wall in an alley. The sky was dark and only the moonlight made it possible to make out the figure in front of him.

There was a guy standing in front of him probably around the age of forty and he smelled heavily of alcohol. Clearly, he was drunk. He glared down at the boy with the coldest expression he'd ever seen. Naruto felt his insides tighten as he swallowed.

His mind was telling him he needed to move. He had to get out of here, but his body was frozen stiff. He couldn't even breathe.

"...My wife. You took her from me. That damn monster inside of you took her from me... Tell me, why did she deserve to die, huh? What did she ever do to deserve to die? Tell me!"

"I'm sorry, I...!" Naruto uttered, but was unable to formulate a proper response. Suddenly, he felt immediate empathy for the man who had lost his lover, and looked away almost guiltily, unable to say anything else.

This, however, was a grave mistake, because next thing he knew, a fist flew into his face.

"Sorry? You're sorry? How dare you! What the hell's saying sorry gonna do to bring her back to me!? Mari was everything to me and now she's gone and it's all your fault! All your fault!" He repeated his tantra over and over again.

At some point, the man seemed to calm down, looking down at the boy who had sunk down to the wall, "Hey... Kid... You hav'a jutsu that can transform you int'a woman, right...?"

"Y-Yeah. What about it...?" Naruto replied hesitantly, getting a really bad feeling, but still not moving from his spot.

The man held up a picture of a woman with auburn hair and green eyes. "Right now, I want you to transform into her."

"Your wife? But she's-" Naruto started to say but jumped startled when the man aggressively kicked him.

"Just do what I said! And hurry it up, I don' got all night!"

"Okay, sheesh! I'm doing it, already." Naruto did as he was asked, before standing back up and turning himself into a perfect replica of the woman in the photo. "There... You happy now?"

For a long moment the man was quiet as he stared at Naruto in the form of his wife. "...Mari."

"Um... Can I-" Before Naruto could finish his sentence, he was shoved against a wall, the man's lips smashing in him, cutting him off. His entire being went cold.

I can't breathe!

Naruto woke in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Tears clung to his eyelashes. Without even thinking, and having forgotten his surroundings entirely, he started digging into his arm which still was painted red by marker.

"You can't go around teasing people so much, if you don't plan on carrying through with it. Don't you think that's a little cruel?"

He wanted to throw up.

He needed a release.

He needed to breath.

"Naruto...?"

He needed blood.

He-

"What's wrong? Hey, talk to me." He barely registered a voice as hands desperately separated his nails from his wrist.

He couldn't move his arms. He squirmed around and shook his head, tears freely falling from his face as he tried his best to escape the grip of his attacker, lashing out any way he could in self-defense. "No, stop, let go of me! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-!"