How She Trusts || Naruto Uzumaki X OC

{Chapter Twenty-Two}

When Naruto saw Naomi, it was bittersweet. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, even if she was only dressed in sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He was glad to see that she was safe. But he was also still hurt by what had happened only a few nights before.

"Hey," he said, standing up from the bench when Naomi approached him.

"Hi," she said nervously. They let silence fill the air until one of them figured out how to approach this.

"So," Naomi said awkwardly. "Sasuke called you?"

"Yeah," Naruto said and scratched his head. "He said that Sakura and Ino came to him at lunch when they couldn't find you, and he told them that you were coming to see me. They called you a bunch of times but you didn't pick up so they got scared and told Sasuke and that's when he called me. I told him you never swung by, so he told me he'd call back if anyone heard from you. But you wouldn't answer anyone. I think Sakura even dropped by your house but you weren't there or you didn't answer the door or whatever, and your dad and Momoko weren't there either."

"They went out for dinner," she explained.

"Then Sasuke called me at like one in the morning and told me they still didn't know where you were, and that's when I called you."

"Oh," Naomi said and looked down at her feet. "I guess I got everyone pretty worried."

"Yeah," Naruto said and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "So why did you want to meet up?"

Naomi sighed and sucked in a deep breath. "I wanted to meet up so that we could talk about what happened on Friday."

Silence.

"I want you to know I meant nothing of what I said. I wasn't thinking straight, and I was just throwing around words that I didn't mean. I hurt you, and I'm sorry, and I know you probably hate me for pushing you away like that, but I didn't mean it," she said, sounding genuinely upset with herself.

Naruto was silent, which made Naomi feel extremely anxious. Silences like these never resulted in anything good for the person who was receiving the silence. When Naomi looked like she was about to burst, Naruto spoke. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me," he said, which to Naomi only sounded like a setup for some bad news. "But I also know you didn't not mean what you said."

"Huh?" Naomi was confused.

"You meant what you said to me, I know you did. You meant it when you said that your past still bothers you. You meant it when you said you care that I'll have to deal with your baggage. You meant it when you told me to go. I know you did, because I know you."

"Naru-"

"I also know that you weren't mad at me when you said these things. You were mad at yourself."

"What are you saying?" Naomi asked him.

"No matter how hard you've tried, you still don't accept what you did. You still hate yourself for sending that picture, and for being with that guy, even though it's in the past. You can't move on. I wanted to be there for you, and I still do, but maybe in a different way."

"I don't understand."

"I've been thinking, and I realized something. I can't fix you, Naomi. I can try. I can shower you with love and compliments and kisses, but at the end of the day if you don't think you deserve all of that, then it means nothing. You reject it, because you don't think you're worthy of it. I can't fix you. Only you can fix you. Which is why I think you could use some time to yourself. I showed you that your past doesn't matter anymore, and that people still do and will continue to love you unconditionally. Now all you have to do is make peace with yourself."

"I don't know how to do that," Naomi whispered as a tear rolled down her cool cheek.

"It just takes time," Naruto said with a sad smile as he swiped the tear off of her cheek with his thumb. "Everyone needs time to figure out themselves. So spend some time to yourself and forget about the old Naomi who made a little mistake, and get to know the new Naomi. She's pretty amazing." He kissed her on the forehead, gave her one last smile, then turned away. When he was nearing the road to cross to the other side of the street, Naomi called after him.

"So you're just breaking up with me, that's your solution to this?" she asked.

"Everyone loves you, Nemo," he said, turning his head around and flashing a more enthusiastic grin. "You should too."

¤¤¤

After sitting alone in the park for half an hour, Naomi finally went home. The drive was silent, partly her fault for playing no music in her car, but also the world's fault for being asleep. When she got home, she paid no mind to trying to remain quiet as she trudged up the stairs and into her room. She almost screamed when she saw the dark shape of a body lying on her bed in the near pitch black room. She clicked on her table lamp, and sighed with relief when she saw that it was only Momoko who was fast asleep. Naomi shook her lightly to awaken her sister.

"Momo," she said in a hushed voice and gently shook her by the shoulder. Momoko stirred, then opened her eyes. When she saw her sister, she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What are you doing in here?" Naomi asked.

"I saw you leave," Momoko answered in a raspy voice from waking up just seconds ago. "I waited in here until you came back. Where did you go?" she asked.

Naomi sighed and climbed into bed next to her sister. Momoko scooted over to make more room, and peeled back the blanket so that Naomi could get under it with her. When both of them were settled under the warm comforter, Naomi closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. She didn't want to speak about it, but Momoko wanted to know.

"You broke up, didn't you."

Naomi's eyes shot open. "What?"

"That's why he hasn't been around," Momoko theorized. "He did something dumb, and you two got into a fight, and tonight you snuck out to break up with him. Is that what happened?"

Naomi sighed and shut her eyes again. "No, actually. The opposite."

Momoko's eyes widened. "He broke up with you?"

Naomi flipped over to her other side, letting her back face her sister as Momoko scooted closer. She wrapped an arm around her sister and snuggled into her bag. "I'm sorry, Nao," she whispered while clutching to her sister. Naomi squeezed her eyes shut, and reached to hold onto Momoko's hand that was holding her. She could feel the thin bracelet that Naomi had given her for her birthday still present on her wrist, and for one reason or another, just touching the outline of the small charm was enough to send Naomi into a fit of silent tears.