Feeling Like a Monster~
Feeling Like a Monster~
"Kurama-kun..." - muttered the red-eyed kunoichi as she felt a gaze and noticed the boy.
"Kurenai-san..." - replied Kurama as he continued to watch her.
". . ." - the two remained silent for a few seconds until the kunoichi jumped to where the boy was. With great skill, she reached the ground without releasing any specks of dust.
Kurama stepped back a bit so he could give the woman some space. He could still feel the erratic emotions inside her. It was peculiar, a combination of fear, affection, dependence, and one he could not identify because it was too small but somehow it was familiar.
"I need to talk to you..." - Kurenai muttered as she tried to catch her breath so that she could calm her heart. She could still hear Anko's moans as she closed her eyes and that made this situation more awkward than it already was.
"What do you need, Kurenai-san?" - Kurama asked with a forced smile. He could recognize the emotion that was foreign to him before because it was growing up now. Kurenai was feeling an increase in her temperature and heartbeat from the fact that she was remembering what she had heard last night.
Kurenai took a breath again to calm down but this time it was more complicated. It took her two minutes to relax again and she was surprised that it was now a little easier to talk to the boy. Perhaps it was because the shame she felt was greater than the fear or she simply realized that Kurama would not touch her with Kushina and Anko in the house.
". . ." - Kurenai frowned when she thought of this because it honestly made her feel strange. It was a bit contradictory but she couldn't do anything - "Ahem! As I was saying, I wanted to talk to you."
Kurama nodded as he directed her to accompany him into the house so that he could speak.
Kurenai followed him without a second thought because she knew he would not do anything against her.
* * * * *
The two walked to the dining room and sat down in front of each other. Kurenai was a bit surprised at how quickly she was adjusting to being around the boy, perhaps her dependence was stronger than her unfounded fear which made sense.
"What did you want to talk about, Kurenai-san?" - the young redheaded man asked as he made some tea.
"First of all, I would like to thank you for saving me" - Kurenai said. She had tried to thank the boy directly but her constant fear had not allowed her to do so in the right way - "And secondly, I wanted to apologize for being the cause of a possible 'war' between your clan and Konoha..."
"I told you once, no need to thank me" - the redheaded man smiled but his expression quickly changed to a serious one - "You are not to blame for what happened either. I warned Hiruzen about what would happen if Asuma crossed the line and he didn't listen to me"
"I know, but I still feel that it is my fault that all this will happen" - muttered the red-eyed kunoichi.
"You saw how Asuma was acting" - denied the young Uzumaki - "If it wasn't you, he would have done something stupid to try to ''harm'' the Kyubi that took away his older brother, probably something against Kushi-chan or Anko-chan..."
Kurenai could only tremble as she imagined what would have happened if Asuma had done something against Kushina. She was certain that Kurama would have destroyed all of Konoha and its inhabitants in the process because Kushina was too important to him. Kurenai would not deny it, she was jealous that both Anko and Kushina had someone who would go to such lengths to protect or avenge them.
"Don't make that face" - smiled the redhead when he felt the woman's jealousy - "We may not be in a relationship but I'll protect you if it's the last thing I do"
"Why do you do it?" - Kurenai asked in surprise - "I just gave you a kiss"
"It's not about the kiss." - denied the redhead - "It's because you've become someone important to me"
". . ." - Kurenai was silent for a few seconds as she felt her heart pounding. Those words were lethal for a woman, especially when she's at her lowest.
"Kurenai-san?" - Kurama was surprised when he felt the red-eyed kunoichi's emotions become even more erratic although, to his relief, it was not the fear that was increasing.
"I- I sorry..." - Kurenai muttered as she realized she had been stunned - "T-Thank you for those words..."
"What I said is one hundred percent real" - smiled the redhead - "But let's leave it at that because I'm sure there's something else"
"The truth is that..." - murmured Kurenai as she tried to accommodate her ideas - "I wanted to ask you if you could help me get through all this..."
That's what she wanted. Perhaps if she spent more time with the boy, her fear would gradually disappear, perhaps even the seed that had been planted before the whole Asuma incident could germinate and be much stronger thanks to these difficult moments.
"Of course!" - the boy answered without hesitation. He could feel the effort Kurenai was putting into all of this.
"Thank you very much!" - Kurenai smiled but her face quickly turned red - "W-What about starting tomorrow?"
"What do you have in mind? - Kurama asked curiously.
"Just the two of us going out..." - Kurenai muttered, "I-If possible, to a not so crowded place..."
"Hmm..." - It was surprising that Kurenai asked her for a date but after analyzing it a little more she realized that it was a good way to lose her fear little by little - "It's okay with me... how about we go to the village park? Normally no one goes there."
"O-Ok... that sounds perfect" - said Kurenai with a smile.
"Then I guess I'll just go prepare some things" - nodded the young Uzumaki.
"I'm not going to take any more of your time" - said the red-eyed kunoichi - "S-See you tomorrow morning."
"See ya" - the redheaded man nodded as he watched Kurenai disappear into a cherry blossom petal Shunshin.
* * * * *
"Well done, Kurenai-chan" - said Kushina when she saw her student appear in her room. She had been here all this time because she had been talking to Kurenai about how to lose her fear little by little.
". . ." - Kurenai was only silent as her face blushed with shame. It was strange that she had to ask the 'girlfriend' of the guy she liked for advice so she could go out with him.
"Don't worry, tomorrow everything will be fine" - smiled the red-haired woman as she gave her some advice because honestly, Kurenai didn't have much idea about dating because during the time she was with Asuma they only went out to eat.
* * * * *
The next morning, Anko was a little better although she still asked Kushina to send a clone to IT so that she could inform Ibiki that she would take a few days off. Kurama was preparing the last things for his date with Kurenai and she was completely nervous.
The two had gone out together but were at a safe distance so that she would not feel so uncomfortable. Slowly the two arrived at the park and sat down on one of the benches - ". . ."
"Etto... how did your training go?" - Kurenai asked as she tried to find a topic to talk about.
"I have been creating a new technique" - said Kurama with a smile.
"Really!?" - Kurenai knew how difficult it was to modify an existing technique, so creating a technique from scratch was much worse.
"Yes" - the young redheaded man nodded as he began to talk to her about his creation.
Kurenai was surprised because the technique sounded more and more powerful with every new information Kurama gave - "Impressive"
Kurama only smiled as the topics of conversation changed with each minute.
* * * * *
"Look at the time" - Kurama said as he watched the sun at its highest point. They had left home very early and now it was about noon.
"Right..." - murmured a surprised Kurenai. She never thought she would enjoy a conversation with the boy so much.
"Do you want to go and eat something?" - Kurama asked with a smile as he unconsciously shook her hand.
*Grr~
Kurenai was embarrassed when she heard her stomach start growling - "I-I think that's a good idea..."
Kurama only smiled at the scene but his expression changed as the woman took his hand. He could feel her shaking slightly but still did not let go of her hand.
"Let's go..." - Kurenai muttered as she squeezed the boy's hand.
"Ok..." - the redheaded man nodded.
* * * * *
The date continued beautifully.
Kurenai had a smile on her face that had not disappeared even though there were men around. She was not paying attention to the people around her because she was focused on the boy.
"Are you enjoying the date?" - Kurama asked as he gently squeezed the woman's hand.
"This is the best thing that has happened to me since..." - Kurenai replied but her expression changed as she was about to finish her sentence.
"Take it easy... It's all right now," said Kurama as he looked at her worriedly.
"I know..." - smiled Kurenai as she sighed with regret.
* * * * *
It had been two more hours and the couple was coming home.
Kurenai had left the horrible memory of the past behind and once again had a smile on her face. She was grateful that she had taken Kushina's advice.
"Thank you very much for the date, it has helped me more than you think" - said Kurenai as she hugged the boy. Now she wasn't shaking when she did it even though she was still a little stiff but for her luck, he didn't do anything to scare her. Kurama remained static as if he were a big cuddly toy because he could feel that even though she was not so afraid of him, she was still a little insecure.
"Thank you..." - she thanked him again before walking away and entering the house but not before taking one last look at the boy.
Kurama just kept silent as he shook his head - "At least I helped her..."
He quickly shook his head and walked towards the village because he wanted to breathe some air.
* * * * *
Kurama was walking through the commercial area of Konoha when he saw in surprise how his friends were talking.
"And then I saw her, she was beautiful" - said Kiba as he let out a sigh full of sadness and pain - "Too bad it was a boy..."
". . ." - Shikamaru and Choji were only silent as Sasuke shook his head.
"Telling others about your pain?" - Kurama asked as he approached the others.
"Hello, Dobe"- said Sasuke as he nodded - "At least this way he doesn't keep all that inside him.
"Is it true what he said?" - Choji asked curiously.
"Everything is one hundred percent true" - Sasuke nodded - "Haku-san is... sorry, I can't say it without sounding gay..."
"I feel we'd better change the subject unless you want to make Kiba suffer even more psychological damage" - said Shikamaru with annoyance - "I don't want my troublesome friend to become even more troublesome"
"This is serious... Shikamaru said troublesome twice in one sentence..." - said Choji with a frown.
"What were you doing, Dobe?" - Sasuke asked curiously.
"Hmm... I was coming back from a date" - answered the redheaded man as he took a chair and brought it to the table of the others - "I just took her home"
"You have to teach me your techniques!" - Kiba said as he took him from the yukata - "I beg you!"
"First, take a bath... second, brush your teeth because your breath smells like dog food, second... have you ever thought of dressing better?" -said Kurama as he let go of the boy.
"Hahaha!" - The others only laughed when they heard their friend's words while Kiba was in the fetal position.
"That was evil" - said Sasuke as he continued to laugh at his friend.
"You're monsters! Especially you, you redheaded bastard!" - shouted Kiba angrily.
"Technically you are not wrong" - said Kurama as he momentarily released his fox ears - "I am a monster, more specifically, a half-Bijuu"
"I didn't mean it literally!" - exclaimed Kiba as he felt his blood boil with rage.
"You better calm down, you can't handle the Dobe, " Sasuke said as he shook his head. He had to admit that the redhead was much stronger than he was, at least for the moment.
* * * * * * * * * * **
Strange... this chapter never got uploaded and I didn't appear in Draft before...
PS: Chapter 69 and soon 70, available in Pa treon