With that, Kurama stayed quiet.
I look back up to the Nara and smile while saying, "Somethings are better left unsaid."
I turn my back to Shikamaru and start to walk away. The other boy reaches out and before he is able to grab my sore arm. I pull my arm away and turn my head to look at him while sending him a glare. The brunette then froze in place in shock of my actions. After seeing Nara's stunned face I stopped giving him the harsh glare and softened up to show him an apologetic look. "Sorry Shikamaru, not now. I'll tell you when I'm ready. Until then, please respect my privacy."
After I had gotten far enough away and rounded a corner I wince. Looking down at my bandages where the other boy had grabbed me I grimace. Gently tugging at the end of the bangle it comes loose and reveals a fresh pink line of a healing wound. Tender to the touch I wrap it up and get to the public bathroom next to the hot spring changing rooms.
I walk into the biggest stall. I locked the door and changed into my ninja issued water shorts that went a little bit past my knees and covered up most of my scars. In the end, the only scars that were visible were small and can easily pass off as a scrape or injury from training.
I walk out with my clothes in hand and walk into the men's' changing room. I sneak in as quietly as I can and put my stuff in one of the lockers lined up against a wall. When I was finally noticed Sasuke walked over to me while saying, " Why'd you change before taking a shower?"
"Huh?"
"You do know that you have to wash yourself before you get into the hot springs, right?"
Kiba then decides that this is the right time to interject, " How stupid are you Naruto? I mean really. Everyone knows that you have to bath before going into a public bath, it's just gross if you go in without washing yourself. Think about it, you don't want to get into a hot pool of dirty people right? So, you have to wash yourself."
The others in the changing room nod their heads. I look over at Kiba and argue, "Well, I've never been to a hot spring before. So, don't blame me for not knowing the rules."
To add a little flair to what I said I start to pout and whine loudly. Some look over to me in shock and the others looked at me as if they were just tired of my antics.
Neji spoke up, " Then what are you doing just standing there? Go take a shower before we head out."
I fear panic prickle in my chest. I take a short breath before trying to get the others out so I can go wash myself. I pretend to go through my stuff in the locker to give some time to come up with an excuse. Finally, I look up and say, " You guys head out without me, I might be a while."
The others shrug and start to gather their stuff. When they were finally gone I walk over to the adjoined part of the room where the showers are. I undress and start to gently scrub my skin, getting rid of the dirt from traveling for so long. I try to hurry up and wash my hair since I don't know when anyone could walk in.
Too late.
What do you mean?
You seriously didn't realize a person a few spaces from you?
I look around and see a man with a mask and grey hair in the shower next to mine. A feeling of dread fills my entire being.
He saw. There is no way he didn't see!
Calm down kit. He hasn't said anything about it yet.
That's the thing, yet. He hasn't said anything yet!
Suddenly a raspy but calming voice brings me to reality, "Breath Naruto, breathe. Everything's fine. I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to."
I look up and meet the eyes or eye of the Jounin and tilt my head in confusion while saying in an overly boisterous manner, " What do you mean Kakashi Sensei?"
The man sighed, " Why didn't you tell me about this."
"I don't know what you're talking about Sensei."
"Don't play dumb with me Naru-Chan. We both know where those scars come from."
The grey-haired man continued to wash himself before saying, " The only thing I don't know is why I don't know about this. You said to me that you'd tell me when they hurt you again."
"I'm fine Sensei."
"The hell you are!"
"Shhh! People might hear you!" I whisper in a harsh tone while checking to see if anyone had heard the man's outburst.
Kakashi sighs at my antics and continues to question why he hasn't been told about my current situation, " More than half of your scars weren't there the last time I checked. And the last time I checked was 4 years ago when Shuin..."
"Died?"
"Yeah."
Kakashi then stood up from the bath stool and pat me on the uninjured part of my back while saying, " Your secret is safe with me. Just tell me when you need help killing those bastards. And please, for the sake of Kami, tell me when you're hurt. So I can at least help in any way I can."
With that, the grey-haired man walked away. With that, I rinsed my body, dried off, and changed back into my "swimming gear".
As I change I think about what Kakashi Sensei had said.
Was his death really 4 years ago?
It feels like it was only a year ago when Shuin, Kakashi, and I would hang out on top of the fourth Hokage's statue mural.
Flashback: 5 YEARS AGO (ON TOP OF THE FOURTH HOKAGE'S STATUE)
"KAKASHI!" I called out to the 20-year-old from up above on the Fourth Hokage's statue.
He looked up and in a split second, he was gone. I feel a tap on my shoulder and shriek in surprise. I turn around to see the masked man laugh wholeheartedly and Shuin chuckling beside me.
"KAKASHI-NII! DON'T DO THAT!" I yell as I clench my chest to try and steady my heartbeat.
"Sorry, Naru-chan. But you make such a cute face when you're scared."
I do not!
*chuckle* Yes, you do.
I don't!
Sure you don't kit. You just make doe eyes and jump a little is all.
I feel my face heat up in embarrassment and look to my side to see Shuin smile at me and nod in agreement. I sigh and sit down disgruntledly as the other two sit on either side of me. I feel at hand on my shoulder and look at the brown-haired beauty.
Shuin smiles at me and kisses my cheek. I smile back at him and turn away to rest my head on his shoulder. I feel the pressure of Shuin's head rest on my own and see Kakashi smile in our direction. When he turns away I look over to see the sunset paint the sky pink.
END OF FLASHBACK
I take a step towards the door and take a peek at what the others were doing before walking out. As I walk towards the heated pool of water, a few of the others see me and call me over.
"Man you took a long ass time in there. I almost thought you were dead." Kiba exclaimed jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It took a while. So what?" I look back in an obviously fake angry face.
Then Ino spoke up from a few people to the right of me, " Yeah Naruto, why'd you take so long?"
Damn, why is everyone so nosy all of a sudden?
I look back to her and awkwardly rub my neck and say, "Well, I've never really been to a Hot Springs before. So, I didn't know that you needed to take a shower beforehand."
"And you did take a shower, right?"
She looked over at me nervously with a glint of disgust shimmer in her eyes.
I flailed my hands overhead and exclaimed' " Of course I did! Why did you think I was taking so long! It isn't like I was staring at the wall for no reason the entire time."
She looked at me angrily and shouted, "SHut uP NAruTo!"
Amused laughter filled the air and the atmosphere seemed to lighten. When a small knock was heard everyone turned towards the entrance and saw a woman walk over. She went over to the senseis' side and gave them two bottles of sake and said, "We were told that you will be staying in this establishment for the rest of your time here in Sunagakure. When you are done with you're done with your soak head over to the front desk and you will be handed keys. Each room can hold four people and you were given four rooms to stay in. If you need an extra bed for one of the girls to join the rest of you ladies in one room, we can arrange that."
Kurenai spoke up and politely replied, "Yeah um, can we actually do that, please. We'd like to separate the boys from the girls."
"Okay, we'll get that set up right away. I'll just need you to go to the front desk and tell them what you've requested and they will bring you to the right room."
"That would be great, thank you."
The other woman nodded her head and walked away.
The rest of the night was uneventful. We talked and joked around until one by one more and more of us started to retreat to our rooms. A few hours into the night I found myself alone in the warm bath with Sasuke Uchiha next to me, talking about stealth tactics that he'd thought of. To think that only a day ago we would barely be able to talk to each other without him exploding or me having to pick a fight with him.
Soon it became silent but not the awkward silence, more like a comfortable and almost pleasant silence, then I felt ripples of water brush against my body as I felt a presence coming closer to me. I look up to see the black-haired raven sit next to me and say, " Hey naruto?"
I look over to him and reply, "Yeah?"
"What is it like?"
"What do you mean?"
"What is it like to love someone? I mean romantically?"
I glanced over at him nervously until I saw his eyes indicating that he was serious.
"Why do you want to know?" I ask bewilderedly.
"Well, it seems like you'd know seeing that you've had a lover before. I never felt romantically towards someone before so I'm a little curious is all."
I look up to the moon and take a minute to think before speaking, "Well, it's kinda like jumping off a cliff into a bottomless pit with your lover by your side."
Sasuke turned to me with the look of confusion contorting his face. "What do you mean?"
"When you fall in love you first feel anxious and terrified. Then after a while, it becomes more normal and less scary knowing that you'd never really hit the floor. Then when you and the person are no longer together, and they disappear from the pit, you realize that you'd have to continue falling without them. And you feel lonely. And even scared."
I feel unspilled tears prick at the edges of my eyes. Then I feel a hand on my shoulders. I look over and see Sasuke awkwardly try to comfort me. Warmth in my chest grew and bubbled over as I started to laugh. The other boy looked at me incredulously as I continued to laugh and try to talk to him incoherently.
"I- I'm sorry. It's just so funny!" I clutch onto my stomach as the previously sad tears turned to those of happiness. "To think, the brooding Sasuke Uchiha would ask me questions about love. If anything, the others would think that I would be the one to ask you. Not the other way around!"
Soon I heard the brunette start to chuckle as I calmed down. After the laughter subsided his hand became more prevalent to me. I look over to meet the other's eyes. The two of us just sat there in the warm water staring intently into each other's eyes. The silence consumed us until Sasuke looked away and said, "It's nice to see you smile."
Kit. Maybe you should let him in. like I said before, he seems to genuinely care for you.
Maybe.
"What do you mean Sasuke?" I reply even though I know what he means to say. "I always smile."
Then I seal up the act with my trademark grin. Sasuke looked back at me and frowned.
"Yeah, but not like that. The smile you had on a few minutes ago seemed more ... real."
After that, the two of us sat back and enjoyed each others' company. It was quiet but comforting. A few minutes later, the two of us came out of the bath. While Sasuke went out to use the restroom, I changed into my lazy clothes and headed out to the front desks to get our keys.
I got to the front and saw on the clock behind the desk that it was pretty late as it read as 11:28 PM. I waited for Sasuke with our keys in my hand. When he caught up to me we headed up to our room. The two of us ended up sharing a room with Kakashi and Shikamaru. We took the vacant futons, laid them out on the floor, and started to drift to sleep. But before completely succumbing into my exhaustion I said, "G'night Sasuke."
I heard a quiet, "Hnnn." in response and let my eyes close.