The Angel's Ambivalence [Naruto]

The New Minxie

Naruto didn't know what else to do, so he released her arm slowly. She walked right by him without a second glance, picking up the box in her arms.

She kneeled in front of the blazing fire, opening the box. Naruto's eyes widened slightly when he saw that there were dozens of pictures scattered all around the box. Some of them were ripped, while others had seared edges. A good portion of the pictures looked brand new.

"Are those the pictures from your room?" Naruto asked, stepping toward her and peering over her shoulder.

Minxie nodded. "Neji gathered them for me from the rubble. These were all the ones he could find after Pain destroyed the village. The clean ones are pictures I never put up in my room."

He was about to ask why when she held up a picture. He sucked in a breath when he saw that it was a picture of her and Sasuke. They were sitting on a bench together, Minxie sticking out her tongue while Sasuke looked stoic as usual.

Now, Naruto knew why she never put those pictures up in her room. There were just too many bad memories that came with them.

Minxie stared at the picture in her hand with a blank expression. She expected to feel a twinge of something in her heart, but she didn't feel anything. Her eyes were unreadable. The flames reflected against them, casting an orangey glow across her face.

And with a simple flick of her wrist, Minxie tossed the picture into the fire.

Naruto jumped, completely surprised by that action. "Minxie..." He called her name once, expecting her to stop.

But she didn't. She just picked up another picture, looked at it once, and tossed it straight into the fire. She continued with that process, burning picture after picture. The photos seared as they were demolished by fire, smoke going up into the air.

"Minxie, no... What are you doing?" Naruto asked, kneeling down next to her in shock.

"Something I should've done a long time ago," Minxie answered simply, tossing another picture into the fire.

"Those are memories, Minxie! Those are pictures of you and Sasuke," He said desperately.

"So?" She questioned, tilting her head.

"What do you mean 'so'!? Those things are important to you, Minxie! Sasuke is important to you!" He exclaimed.

"Did you think I was kidding when I said that I was done with him?" She inquired. "I meant everything I said back there, Naruto. I'm through with him. These pictures mean nothing to me anymore. I look at them, and all I see is emptiness. The 'memories' that you think are so important to me actually mean nothing to me at all."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So you're just going to burn them? You're just going to run from the pain?"

"Don't you get it, Naruto? There is no pain. I'm not hurt. I'm not upset. There's nothing to feel pain over. I think about Sasuke, and it's just blank. I don't care about him anymore. So why should I keep these pictures when they don't mean anything? It's better to just burn them." She pulled the white yang necklace, the counterpart of Sasuke's black yin necklace, off of her neck. "I'll burn this, too. There's no point in keeping it, either." She held out her hand, ready to toss the necklace into the fire.

"Minxie, stop it!" Naruto shouted.

"Why should I?" Minxie questioned. "I don't care about the necklace; it's just dead weight in my life that I don't need. Besides, it doesn't concern you, anyway."

"It does when you act like this!" He exclaimed, standing up. "You aren't this person, Minxie. I know you."

"No, you know the old me," She corrected, standing up as well. "You know the girl who smiled and laughed, ignorant to the cruel world around her. You know the perfect and proper kunoichi that played by the rules and did everything she was told. You know the weak, fragile little girl that let herself be manipulated by everyone. That's the person you know. News flash, Naruto, I'm not that person anymore."