20. Dancing in the Flames

15.3K 793 2.3K
                                    

"Your room is h-h-haunted?" Naruto asked in a fear filled voice as you, Sakura, Neji, and Naruto stood outside of Room 56 the day after the mission was assigned. It was sizzling hot out, at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit and you were sweating just standing in the heat with the others that afternoon.

"Well, technically, it's not my room anymore," you mumbled, embarrassed," I got kicked out."

Naruto shivered, trying to lean into Sakura for support, with a sly smile spreading across his face but his cuddling was cut short as she smacked him on the head," OW! Sakura-chan!"

"Don't be a baby! Ghosts aren't real!" she growled, glaring knives at Naruto.

Neji gave a single nod of agreement," I am sure there is a logical explanation for this," he said as he opened the unlocked door.

A tinge of pink flushed your cheeks as you blushed, you haven't spoken to him since the night before and you weren't sure what you two were at the moment. Were you two best friends? Friends with benefits? Boyfriend and girlfriend?! The question gnawed at you but you tried to cover it up, rolling your eyes at him," there is no reasonable explanation for the lights turning on and off in the bathroom in the middle of the night or the footsteps running down my hall."

"Someone is totally pulling your leg," Sakura said as the team filed into your room to do some investigating. The belongings you had left behind were in the very place you last left them. Nothing was moved, nothing was touched. The landlord did not throw anything out. Naruto began investigating the window beside your bed, Sakura walked around your room and Neji used his byakugan to see if there was anything inside the walls that could trigger the light switch to go on or off on its own.

You walked over to Sakura who was looking at your nightstand.

"Found anything yet?" you asked, raising a brow at her. The pinkette shook her head.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's because ghosts can't leave clues behind!!!" you tried to convince her but she merely chuckled.

"Or maybe this shinobi is really good at covering their tracks," she said with a wink. You groaned at her response, she was as realistic as Neji was!

You noticed Neji walking up the hall towards the main room from the bathroom. He had deacivated his byakugan.

"Nothing?"

He shook his head, folding his arms together and closing his eyes in deep thought. You bit your bottom lip and blushed, he's so hot when he's thinking!!! You thought, mentally slapping yourself. 

"HEY! What's this!?" Naruto asked, making you spin around. He was holding an old fashioned music box in his hands.

"That's a music box," you told him, feeling Neji's presence behind you as the Hyuga peered over your shoulder at Naruto curiously," it belonged to my mother."

You winced saying the word 'mother' as it conjured her last visit and the truth that she spilled. You haven't told your team about your mother or about the fact that she sacrificed her own children to a moon goddess to obtain invincible power. You didn't think you need to. There was no way this spirit and your mother were connected, right?

But your gut feeling argued with you because the haunting had started the day you woke up after seeing her in the darkest part of your unconsciousness. 

"Really? Does it work?" Naruto asked, playing around with the handle on the box. He pressed a few random bottoms, sweat trickling down his forehead as he concentrated on turning it on. He eventually turned the music box on and a soft melody filled the room. It was slow and enchanting, a melody filled with tender feelings and heart, followed by a delicate singing. You knew the voice, you knew the song, it was one your mother used to sing to you when you were a child.

7 Years When I Was Alive (Neji x Reader) Naruto Fan ficWhere stories live. Discover now