Sage

Ch.33

Fuu had to catch herself on the wooden wall again as the floor beneath her feet lurched, nearly throwing her to the floor. For somebody with such a naturally dark and caramel complexion she looked unusually pale as she staggered through the corridor, constantly having to use a hand to steady herself. She had found out recently that she hated ships, with a passion; the constant rocking motion left her disoriented and dizzy as her stomach churned with nausea. Currently she and Naruto were on a rather large ship travelling from the northeast coast of Mizu no Kuni, around Kaminari no Kuni's peninsula and onward to Tsuchi no Kuni.

She moved out onto the deck of the ship with weak legs, doing her best not to tremble slightly. Out here in the fresh air at least she felt a modicum of control return to her limbs, as long as she secured herself with Chakra to avoid being thrown around by the rocking waves. She peered up at the bright sun shining down on them overhead, reflecting off the surrounding waters to give everything rather annoying glare. She had to put a hand above her eyes just to peer about the deck, not that there were many people around up here.

Sure enough she sighed as she spotted the person she had been looking for. Naruto was where he always was, at least since coming aboard; he stood at the railing, just staring out at the sea with dull, unseeing eyes. He had been this way ever since Shizuku had died; he had barely even spoken a word to anybody. They had left the rebel camp as soon as they had dropped off Yagura's body; Fuu figured it was because the camp reminded him too much of all the time he had spent with Shizuku there. They weren't stopped, mostly because everybody was just too shocked that Yagura was dead to do anything.

By the time Mei had snapped out of her stupor and made sure the body was in fact the real deal it was too late to send anybody after them. Between them the two were nearly impossible to track due to their experience in hiding their Chakra signatures and Fuu's knowledge of covering up trails. She sighed again as she carefully made her way over the deck, eyeing any wet patches warily so that she didn't slip up. She made it over, resting her hands firmly on the railing behind the blonde who didn't even look up to acknowledge her.

They stood there for a while in rather awkward silence; Naruto not speaking because he had nothing to say while Fuu was silent because she had no idea what to say. It was times like these that fuelled her hatred of Takigakure; maybe if she had a normal childhood she would know what to do in a situation like this. She sighed again, resting her chin against her forearms uselessly; if only she wasn't so socially awkward, or had taken Naruto's advice and gotten to know some of the rebels.

"Do you think she would have liked this view?" Fuu actually blinked in surprise as she looked up, shocked at hearing Naruto's voice for the first time in two days. He was usually the instigator of their conversations but with his recent bought of introversion and her general awkwardness it had been painfully quiet recently. She looked out in the same direction he did, watching the clear blue waves rise and fall, crashing against the bow of the ship; the sight nearly made her lose her lunch as she paled another shade.

"It depends, would she still like it with dark clouds and constant rain?" Unsurprisingly, but still strangely, with Shizuku's death the rain that had followed them for so long finally abated, the skies clearing up as if to acknowledge the girl's death. More surprisingly though Fuu actually saw a small smile pass over Naruto's face, his eyes gaining a hint of melancholy. She had noticed that he hadn't kept his eyes narrowed like he normally did recently. She wasn't sure if it was because he didn't notice or he simply didn't care anymore.

"You're right, things would be so different in she was still here, if I had just done something to save her." That small smile slowly slipped away as he returned to staring out at the churning waters. His shakujou wasn't at his side, more than likely tucked away in Naruto's cabin; it wasn't like it was going to be stolen. Fuu looked at the boy for a moment, indecision wracking her features before she finally placed a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't good with people but she had seen Naruto do it to others before and it seemed to help them.