A Demon Misplaced

~Cherry Waves~

It was useless.

He'd been shifting for the last four hours in bed. All his attempts to fall into that momentary bliss, to roam the endless realms of sleep, resulted in failure. Despite his best efforts, all Naruto did was reminisce. Remembering a past he tried to forget. Images flashed in his mind, most of them included himself laughing like an idiot. A village hidden by forests, a mountain with carved faces, and the people he knew.

A distant memory.

He tried to emulate those feelings before, much to his own surprise. Perhaps it was his old selfish desire for comfort that drove him to do such a thing.

In the end, it backfired on him and Naruto realized how he shamed them all — his loved ones.

Memories were vile. Repulsive little brutes, like nagging children at a fair bothering their elders with shattering screams. How he wished he could forget them. To lock them up in a house, forget where the key was, and move on.

They reminded him of the things he'd done, the life he'd had, the blood on his hands.

Reluctantly, he groaned and sat up. With the graceful movement of a sloth, Naruto sat by the bedside. His hand reached for the nightstand and pulled the top drawer.

Grabbing a pack of smokes and a lighter, he read the health disclaimer –warning him of the consequences. Ignoring it, he took a cigarette and lit the end. As the tobacco burned, the taste engulfed him. He let it taint his lungs; warnings be damned. It was satisfying. A healthy distraction considering his unhealthy state of mind. He walked across the wooden floors of his apartment, and went to the living room. Sitting down by the table, he thought about the barren state of his apartment.

'I guess I could redecorate a bit.' He tapped the cigarette over the ashtray and rubbed a sore spot on his neck. 'Need to change the pillows too,' mentally adding it to his list of to-do's. But he knew it wasn't the hardened pillow that stole his sleep.

Why did he bother to call Akeno that way? Or ask her to make lunch for him in such a...pathetic manner?

Shaking his head, Naruto focused on finishing his cigarette. It ended quicker than he hoped. Getting up again, he walked near the wall, flipping the switch to illuminate the room.

"Stupid," he said to himself. "There was no need for you to ask her that, especially after the way you treated her." Naruto finished berating himself with a weary smile.

His grief was his own to bear; Akeno was getting too close to him for comfort. In all honesty, a part of Naruto appreciated what she did for him. Talking to him, asking how he was doing; he was elated hiding it. Her small actions gave Naruto hope that things would get better. That he would move on. He couldn't. He was pathetic that way. A hypocrite. Desiring one thing while doing another to contradict himself. Unpredictable as ever.

Normally, he wouldn't be so down. Granted he wasn't social, but he had a life —not exactly a grand one. Writing smut, running his store, watching movies, helping the poor when he got a chance. Naruto had planned for it to go that way, until the park incident. The latter events didn't affect him either.

Akeno was too nice for her own good. Then came her friends. While Naruto wasn't on the friendliest of terms with Gremory, he didn't hate her. He didn't hate anyone...save one person. Rias was just another person, another girl who attended the same school as him and was a Devil —even that didn't matter much to him. The same went for her Peerage. They were people, who just happened to be Devils.

However, they made him remember something he chose to ignore.

Bonds.

In the end, it always came down to that. A part of him craved for it, even after everything.