Love Through Negotiation «COMPLETED»

Chapter 21

"Aren't you going to get up, kid?"

Naruto breathed out heavily and shook his head impetuously, jilting the water around his face back and forth. It was already past his ears.

Kurama sighed and put his head back in his palms. "And here, I thought you were going to 'never give up'."

"Oh, could you… shut up?" Naruto pushed his head up and got into a sitting position. "Are you only able to make vaguely threatening and just plain mean things come out of your mouth? Is sarcasm your default?"

"Are empty words yours?"

Naruto's face scrunched up in frustration. "I didn't give up. I never did. I fought until the end. And here we are."

Kurama glanced around the mindscape. The water was rising. Slowly, but it was. "This is the end?"

Throwing up his hands in defeat, Naruto shrugged and flopped back to the watery ground. "Looks that way to me. 'Not giving up' isn't going to do me much good. Your chakra is being taken. We're both going to die here, not that you care."

Kurama's eyes narrowed. "And what's that supposed to mean, little boy?"

"Okay, first of all," Naruto said, raising a finger. "Don't call me boy. Not a boy. Second of all, you once tried to kill yourself just to spite me. Given your track record, I'm pretty confident in saying you don't really care about your life."

Kurama's nose curled and he stood up, baring his fangs at the gate. "Don't presume to speak for me, child. And yes, I am going to call you a child, because you are one. What, did you think that just because you put your little prick in a willing hole meant you were a man? A fully grown adult? Don't make me laugh. You've still the mentality of a child."

"If I've got the mentality of a child, then you have a mentality of a toddler. It's always vitriol and temper tantrums with you."

The corners of Kurama's lips curled. "Vitriol? That's a big one. Did your wife from sand teach it to you?"

Naruto shook his head as he stood up; it was no longer comfortable to lay in the rising water. "Hey, that's a good question. I have one for you. Why are you such an asshole all the time?"

"Because I have reason to be. Ever think about that?"

"Yeah, well I've got reason to be an asshole too! Ever think about that? But I try my best not be one! I try my best to talk to people and understand them because I know what it's like when people don't do that for me! Being alone is the worst feeling in the world, and this is coming from a guy who had someone's hand in their chest! It sucks! IT REALLY FUCKING SUCKS!" Naruto shouted the last part out, his facing getting red from the heat of the moment. He looked up at the giant red fox. Kurama was staring at him, eyes shifted all over his comparatively smaller frame. The fox was trying to figure out what to say next, Naruto could tell. Probably something snarky and mean.

Naruto took a couple of breaths to calm himself. "Why are you like this anyway, huh? Did someone hurt you? Did someone betray you? You got captured; that's obvious. But who did it? And why?"

Kurama shook his head and turned away. "You don't care what happened to me. There's not even a morsel of sincerity in your words."

"You don't get to decide if I'm sincere or not, you big lug of spite," Naruto said, his brow set forward. He pointed at his chest with his thumb. "You know my story already. You've been with me since I was born, after all. But I don't know anything about you. Just that you're big. And you're mean. You want to kill me sometimes and let me live other times. And also someone hurt you; or else you wouldn't be like this."