夢 - 2021 rewrite

chapter twenty-one

うずまきナルト

sometimes you gotta backtrack a few steps don't worry i'll pay for it

why didn't you give her that ring i don't know but when you're my age i'm sure you'll find out

naruto-kun i love you be safe it's okay you're not ready go now i love

The two rings were still in his pouch, bound together by a long chain necklace. He'd requested TenTen to make it, sometime during their three-year-long war, and had planned a proposal as soon as he had the chance. Hinata was, he'd planned, the woman of his future (before he avoided it for his past).

Hinata was laughs in the tent and ramen meals between duty calls and silky hair and ointment on wounds. A mother's forgotten hold: warm and soft and whispering a tune Hinata could, at her fraction, match. And even then, holding those two rings, watching her fight alongside him, he never found the courage to ask or even kneel.

The man he'd met that one day, three months into training with Jiraiya, in a village he hadn't known--he himself had his own set of rings, aged and rusted, that had yet to set themselves on two lovers.

And Raideshi, as Naruto, had asked him, what are those two rings for, on your necklace?

And the man responded, i got these for a lady in mind. i never proposed.

And later on, Naruto asked, why didn't you give her that ring?

And he'd said, you'll understand later.

And, truly, sitting ten years before a planned proposal, Satoshi did understand. Holding these two rings, bound by a flimsy chain, it only reminded him of a woman he'd, once again, lost for the remainder of his sad life; a girl he could've loved but lost to his unreasonable reason. And even though he'd kept these rings between him and her, never brandishing them to the light, the reminder of these rings weighed him down as much as that boy nextdoor.

And said boy-next-door giggled as Satoshi opened the door, letting the child run out to the hall.

"Thank you, Toshi-nii!" Naruto swung the basket by his side. "All this food'll last me hours!"

"They're supposed to last a month, but," Satoshi chuckled, leaning down to Naruto's height and laying a hand on his blonde hair. "No problem. You should really go out for groceries often. And throw out that milk, too."

Naruto laughed and unlocked his door, just to the left of them. "See you, nii-san!"

"See you, Naruto."

"So now you're an older brother," Hideki mumbled.

"And now you're an archer-slash-wooden-staff wielder," Satoshi remarked, eyeing the equipment propped against the table. Hideki scoffed, finishing the last of his onigiri beside an eaten apple core. "Great. And mind explaining why you took a two-week class on how to wield a bow and how to wield some...stick when you've had, like, five years of fighting with a sword?"

"I told you, Itachi and anyone else could recognize my technique. It'd be fine if it was ten years in the future and I was one of the few Uchihas left, but, well, here we are," Hideki sighed. "Everything about me...screams Uchiha. Besides, I think I'm a pretty good archer."

"Don't make me laugh, Deki," Satoshi mocked, picking up the boy's wooden staff. And, like the young Uchiha, he angled it at Hideki with a challenging smirk. He taunted the ravenette with the twitch of his hand. "Come on."

"I'm eating, Toshi." Hideki rolled his eyes and gestured to his onigiri, to which, with another twitch of his wrist, Satoshi smacked onto the boy's shirt. Hideki set his hands flat on the table and watched the brunette with a glare. "Dobe, you wanna go?"

"How about the rooftop?" Satoshi laughed, already speeding down the hallway and swinging open the screen door. And Hideki, hot on his trail, wiped the food from his shirt and grunted as he leaped over their couch.

Satoshi launched himself up from the balcony, glueing his feet to the wall, and ran up the course to the rooftop. And he yelped, diving to the right, as a scorching arrow embedded itself by his right foot. And just as he reached the final height, he sprung into the air, hanging in the wind, and hurled the staff down at the approaching Hideki with a sharp twist.

The two landed on the rooftop with a roll and a soft grunt, and, eyes locked, each circled the other with a laughing grin.

"You stained my shirt," Hideki grumbled, shifting his stance into a poised staredown with the awaiting Satoshi. His staff, locked by the notches, stood upright beside his height. "I will end you."

"I bought that for you!" Satoshi laughed, edging closer with his fists raised.

"With my money!" Hideki lurched forward, his staff cutting the morning air behind him. And with another laugh, Satoshi blocked the incoming staff as it swung for his left with his forearm, before pushing on with his right and a grunt towards the raven's chest.

Hideki took a step back as the boy advanced, swinging his staff across to his right, only for Satoshi to duck and wrench the staff from the other, jamming it against his knee by the notches. He threw it off to the side, now folded by its edges, and ducked once more beneath Hideki's incoming fist.

Satoshi grappled the raven by the torso and poured his weight on him, pinning him against the ground with his left arm and another laugh. Hideki grabbed him by his right shoulder, veering Satoshi off to the right, until his back landed on the ground with a grunt. Pushing off on their feet, the two backed away to the furthest edges of the rooftop, already sweating under the towering sun.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Satoshi called, focusing his chakra to his hands. Hideki rolled his eyes in response, grin growing, as he channelled his own chakra down to his hand.

And, birds chirping, wind roaring, the two took off towards each other, blue light blistering against the hot sun. Satoshi marched and Hideki marched, pouncing step by step with each of their hands reaching for each other.

And at the last second, with another crow's call and another anticipating sweat drop, The blue light's chirping ceased and Hideki grabbed Satoshi's outstretched hands with his own; pulling the brunette in with a harsh tug until and bracing his own skull by the teeth, their foreheads collided with a clash. And the two fell to the ground, beside each other, groaning with pain.

"What the hell, man?" Satoshi called, laying a hand on his head.

"If no one was gonna stop us, I figured I'd do it," Hideki mumbled, peeking out from beneath his arm. "You know, save us both our arms."

Satoshi laughed and, without the distraction of a roommate's fight or a little boy or a rush of adrenaline, quieted down against the pulsing of his pain and the two rings chained around his neck.

"Hey, Deki," he mumbled, receiving a groan as said boy looked over.

"What?"

"Can I tell you something?"

Hideki paused. And, propping himself on his elbows, squinted down at the boy. "Not now, Toshi."

"Why not?"

And the boy pointed to black feathers, perched on the ledge just a few paces away. "It's Itachi."