Same Soul • Sasunaru

5. Remember.

Naruto's POV

Your porcelin skin and dark features seem to match the man I want,

But you lack his soul.

○●○

My eyes slowly flutter open to the morning sunlight shining into my cozy bedroom. A cool breeze welcomes itself inside from the cracked-open window, and leads me to cuddle deeper under my comforter. I hear small murmurs of my parent's conversations from the other side of the house, letting me know that I slept in later than I usually do.

My mind is blank and empty of all thoughts and worries. When I wake up, it takes a little bit for me to remember that things that are happening in my life, and task that I need to do today. All that I care about is staying warm in this winter weather, and possibly sleeping in for a little bit longer.

I close my eyes and realize my shoulders are tense and my chest aches. It feels like something is bothering me or stressing me out, but I can't figure out what the heck it is. My head still seems foggy, and my body wants to go back to sleep.

"Naruto?"

Kushina creaks open my door and enters my room without knocking. "It's almost 12 in the afternoon. Are you feeling sick or something? I can call you out of weekend band practice today if you need it, ya know?"

I roll over to face her and open my eyes once again. "I don't know, Mom. I feel...really strange right now. Like something traumatic just happened." I study the concerned expression on her face closely. She walks over to my bedside and rest the back of her wrist on my forehead after brushing my bangs out of the way.

"You don't feel like you're running a fever or anything. Did you have a nightmare that scared you? Sometimes we don't remember our dreams until we are fully awake." She runs her hands through my hair gently and smiles down towards me warmly.

I wrinkle my nose in frustratiom and nod my head no. "I-I don't remember anything from last night."

She straightens her stance and adjust her lengthy red locks so it lies behind her shoulders. "Hm. Well if anything comes to mind buddy, you can always talk to me about it. I'm here for you." She grins and leaves my room, closing the door behind her quietly.

I push myself up against my headboard and sit. My stomach feels quesy, and my cheeks feel like they're burning feverishly. I don't know why I feel so sick. Maybe it wasn't a nightmare that's making me feel this way. Maybe it's an actual illness. It's winter in Japan, after all.

My phone dings beside me on my bed, so I reach out to grab it and turn on the screen. It's my (kinda) friend, Sai. He's an amazing painter and loves to draw portraits of animals. The art teachers fancy him a lot, and he even sells his artwork for tons of money outside of school. People have paid thousands for his works. It's no wonder he was accepted into Osaka's Academy for the Arts.

Sai: "How are you doing, Naruto? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out around the Shinsaibashi shopping district with me today? I need a friend to help me get a secret santa gift."

Me: "You're going to Lady Hyuga's Christmas party? And sure, it sounds like fun! I need help with my secret santa too, lml."

I'm relieved that someone will be able to help me get a gift, and I'm also happy that I'm gonna help Sai find a gift for someone too. I plan to meet him in an hour, so I rush to get ready and skip my breakfast. My mother doesn't seem to mind, but she told me to eat a big lunch while I'm out with Sai. I grab my car keys and head out the door, hoping I have some yen in my car to pay for parking. Many of Japan's shopping centers are for pedestrians only and people have to walk long distances to get to places without their cars, so I'm going to be more exhausted by the end of this trip then I already am!

We planned to meet infront of my favorite crepe place that isn't painfully far from the nearest public parking spaces. I walk down the sidewalk and weave through the stream of people trying to get around me. I see a tall, pale figure in the distance. A huge goofy smile stretches up my face, and my eyes turn bright and exited. I jump up and down like an idiot to get his attention through the swarming crowd of people. Somehow, I'm shorter then everyone else here but the kids!

Sai notices me and waves shyly, placing the same plastic grin he always has on his face. To make him smile genuinely, I rush up towards him and put my arm on his shoulder: holding him in an embrace and twirling him around. He laughs at the top of his lungs and smiles in a way that actually shows his teeth; I've never seen it before. I hung out with Sai a lot last year, but we ended up getting no classes together at the academy this year; causing us to slowly grow apart. But I want to put the effort into re-establishing the bond we shared together.

After our little twirl, I look up to him and watch his eyelids open after laughing so hard. Suddenly the sight of his eyes revealing themselves makes me breathless, and I can't figure out why. They're so dark, yet simple and beautiful. Wait...am I thinking this way about a guy?

He catches me staring at him and creases begin to form between his eyebrows. "Uhm...Naruto? Are you alright?"

I remember...I remember the dream I had last night. Sai's features..his midnight eyes, poreclin skin, and raven hair. Could this be the same boy I saw in my dream? The one that I adored, trusted, held hands with, and cuddled with? Maybe seeing if he has a moon mark on his palm will help me find out. Although, I don't see a sun mark on my hand in real life, so it wouldn't make sense for him to have it.

My cheeks burn, and I turn my head in the other direction quickly. "Y-Yeah! Why, d-does something seem wrong, Sai-kun?!" I hear him chuckle from behind me softly at the sound if me calling him 'kun'. Man, why did I say that?!