Chapter 265 263

"Alvarcus open the damn door or I break it down!" Naruto threatens as he slams the door once more, rattling it in the frame. "You will apologize for whatever you did if I have to beat it out of you!"

"Yeah that's about what I expected." I mutter to myself. Then I raise my voice up. "Didn't you try the doorknob? It doesn't have a lock."

...

Moments after I finish speaking the door flies open and Naruto storms inside with rage in his eyes. He stomps his way right up to me and gets right in my face, staring down at me accusingly. Turns out he's slightly taller than I am, good for him.

"Alvarcus. Apologize. Now." He demands.

"Naruto," Ino says with puffy red eyes. "he doesn't have to-"

"Shut up." Naruto cuts her off without looking away from me. "He made you cry. That is never okay."

"Naruto is right." Shikamaru is standing supportively next to his teammate. "You hurt her."

I let out a loud sigh. "She didn't tell you the reason she was crying, did she?"

"No." Shikamaru answers. "She was too busy bawling her eyes out to make coherent sentences. All we caught was Alvarcus repeated over and over."

"You owe her an apology." Naruto demands again.

"Did neither of you stop to think that she didn't tell you two why she was crying for a reason?" I look at Naruto then over his shoulder and Shikamaru and my eyes settle on the still sniveling Ino. "It's a rather… sensitive subject. If she hasn't told you herself then I won't share out of respect for her choice."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Shikamaru angrily yells at me. "You just don't want to say how you hurt her!"

"Right now it's not me who is hurting her, it's the both of you." I snarl out. "Ino is obviously upset with me and you two drag her to confront me hours after I made her break down in tears? How insensitive can you be? She doesn't want to be here but you two idiots forced her here!"

"Don't try and twist this on us!" Naruto cuts in. "We wouldn't even be here if you didn't hurt her! Now apologize!"

"You morons don't even know the full story." I vehemently say. "Yet you're here demanding an apology? How pathetic. Do you really think that she's the only one who was hurt? Do you think that I didn't get hurt too? I did not enjoy what I did. I did not revel in joy as her tears fell to the ground. No, watching her get hurt only hurt me in return. I did not want to do it."

"What did you even do?" Shikamaru asks. "What could you possibly have done to hurt -"

"I KISSED HIM!" Ino blurts out as fresh tears form in her eyes. "I kissed him and he rejected me. There. Now you know what happened."

Naruto and Shikamaru both stare at Ino in shock. Then they drag their eyes over to me.

"Yeah. Bet you two feel real good about yourselves right now." I sarcastically say to them. There's just a hint of a threat in my voice. A warning, to caution them against making this worse for Ino.

"You kissed?" Naruto hesitantly tests the waters. "Like full on kiss or just a peck on the cheek?"

"Definitely full on kiss." Shikamaru is analyzing us both in a new light. "Neither of them would have anywhere near this kind of reaction if it was a harmless peck. The real question now is why did you reject her? It's obvious you two like each other."

"Holy shit why is this such a huge deal to everyone? Ino I understand but you two?" I rhetorically ask everyone in general. "Let's go for the simple version, maybe that will make it through your thick skulls. I. Am. An. Oto. Shinobi."

"So? If anyone could make that work it would be you." Naruto points out. "Alvarcus you're a crafty bastard. You're living under Orochimaru's nose while playing him, you're only there for Sasuke. You really going to tell me you couldn't manipulate him into letting you take missions near Konoha?"

"Naruto we're fucking enemies! I'm supposed to kill any and all Konoha shinobi on sight and you all are supposed to take my head back to Tsunade! We agreed to do neither of those because of our friendship but do you really think that we're not going to be severely punished when we go back to our respective Kages? Orochimaru will be furious with me. As in torture me for days furious."

"Then don't go back to Orochimaru." Shikamaru offers. "Come back with us. We will convince Tsunade to reinstate you as a Konoha shinobi. You can be back home where you belong. You won't have to reject Ino. It's the best solution."

"Shikamaru you're a chunin." I viciously point at him. "You don't have the influence to make something like that happen. Nor do you Naruto. Nor does Kakashi, him and I have already discussed that course of action. Tsunade will not welcome me back."

"Then call in your favor that the Nara Clan owes you." Shikamaru offers as his mind is moving faster than it ever has before. Scenario after scenario are playing over and over in his mind. "The Clan Head, my father Shikaku, is also the Jonin Commander. He holds a lot of sway with the Hokage. Hell I would wager that the Aburame Clan owes you one too since you also saved Shino during the Invasion. Call in those favors. Tsunade will listen to two whole clans standing up and vouching for you."

"This is all wishful dreams of ignorant children." I sigh, a long and drawn out sigh. "You all already know the only way I will go back to Konoha. You're all forgetting that my best friend is in Oto and he desperately needs me there. I do not particularly want to go back to the Leaf, so I have to be forced back. Ino I am truly sorry, in another time or another place I would gladly take you up on your offer. I would love to, truly. But this is neither of those."

Naruto lunges forward with a punch aimed at my head. I swiftly bring up my left arm and push it so his fist sails to the left of my face, missing completely.

"The fuck Naruto?" I snarl out at him. "I was sort of apologizing to Ino! Isn't that what you wanted?"

"No!" He follows up with a kick that I sidestep. "I want you to come back home! I want you to be free of all of these burdens you place on yourself! I want my friend back! So if the only way to do that is to beat you to a pulp then I will!"

I let his next punch connect. He slams his fist with a lot of force deep into my gut, so much force that I am thrown into a wall. Not enough to damage it, but enough to make Shikamaru and Ino wince.

Naruto is next to me in a moment with another punch reared back and ready to fly.

"You are incapable of beating me." I casually tell him. "It's not that you can't -"

His fist slams into my head, forcing me to look right for a moment. Then I turn back to him like nothing happened.

"Alvarcus!" Ino shouts in worry.

"- you simply won't be able to." I continue like what is going on is an everyday occurrence for me. "You can't stomach the feeling of plunging cold hard steel into another's body -"

SLAM

"- the feeling of metal spearing into flesh, ripping into it. Tearing into it. You, who has never -"

SLAM

"-taken a life before has no hope of taking his friends. And it will not be just once, no that -"

SLAM

"- would be too easy. It will be four times. I would be your first four kills. Your friend. You simply don't possess the constitution to go that far. You can't bring yourself to cause pain on that level."

SLAM

"So I'm not even going to fight back. Wail on me as much as you please, I will win without throwing a single punch. Not because I am better than you. Not because I am more skilled. It's because -"

SLAM

"- you're a good person. So hit me, get your anger out of your system. Then we can go back to talking like adults instead of a child throwing a temper tantrum."

SHINK

"You forgot about me." Shikamaru says as I look over at my left hand. A kunai has speared through it, pinning me to the wall. "I have no qualms about taking four of your hearts."

"And you never even knew about me." Shirokumo drops from the ceiling on a single near invisible strand of spider silk and quickly sinks his fangs into Shikamaru's neck. Within the next instant he's back on the ceiling.

Shikamaru's body crumples to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Both Ino and Naruto rush over to their fallen friend.

...

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