Blood of the Broken, Scars of the Spiral (there are whirlpools in our veins)

Chapter Twenty

"Never hold resentments for the person who tells you what you need to hear; count them among your truest, most caring, and valuable friends."

―Mike Norton, Just Another War Story

//

A year passes, Naruto turns seven with few complications, and the other kids at the Academy were still giving him funny looks.

It's okay though. Naruto was used to getting funny looks. Most of them were scared looks or sometimes mean looks. He ignores them, playing with the loose threading of his vest that he would stitch up eventually.

The Nara boy who was named Shikamaru (the same one Chikasa said to pay attention to) who was in his class would sometimes look at him with what Mito called a 'thinking face'. Naruto wasn't sure he had a thinking face on when he looked at him. He didn't know why the boy wasn't being mean like their classmates.

He hadn't called him a monster or a demon or a brat. Ever. It made him feel... agitated. He was used to them being mean. He knew how to deal with academy kids being mean. He didn't know how to deal with them not being mean.

Shikamaru has Chikasa's eyes. Not her face, but her eyes. It bothers him.

Naruto stays away from Shikamaru.

He was dragging his feet as he walked into class, because he knew Iruka-sensei, his best sensei so far, was gonna be mad at him. He hadn't gone to the Academy for a few days, because he had been sad because it was the day Aiya died just a year ago and he just wanted to curl up on his sleeping mat, with his face in his pillow, until Chikasa-neechan had come and dragged him out to help her scare a man into telling her where he'd hidden his stash by using Kurama's burning-fire-red-hot-hot-hot chakra and snarling.

The man had peed his pants and cried a lot, which made Naruto feel a bit bad, but it was "just business" as Chikasa-neechan said. Chikasa-neechan had been really happy afterwards and taken him back to Madam Ai's where she made them both ramen and then they curled up together on her mat until he went to sleep and when he woke up she told him she spoke to Tama, Kotone, and Yume and got permission for him to stay at Madam Ai's sometimes.

Naruto loved staying at Madam Ai's. It smelled like perfume and incense pleasure, which made his eyes water and his nose itch, but the pretty oiran and the kamuro were all so nice to him and he would help out with their chores in exchange for cuddles, like doing their laundry and helping with their sewing and doing their hair and cooking.

It was Kotone-neesan who had scolded him for missing so many days of the Academy and gently pushed him into returning, even though he didn't want to. Kotone-neesan was scary sometimes, but in a nice way– a bit like a mother would be, like how Mito and Kurama were.

(Mito giggled, Kurama groaned)

He slunk into the Academy as the bell rung, flopping down at his desk and wishing he was back at Madam Ai's or with Chikasa-neechan. Chikasa-neechan didn't do hugs much, but she gave good hugs when she did and he really wanted a hug right now.

He keeps thinking about Aiya-chan.

(blood-pain-panic-greif-sister-gone-wrongwrongwrong―)

His chest feels tight and his limbs feel heavy and he feels like crying until his eyes red and puffy.

("Nyke gīmigon ziry pias*. Greif never goes away my Love," Mito says softly, "It'll get easier," she promises. He prays that she's right.)

"Naruto," Iruka-sensei said and Naruto's head jerked up as he realised he'd missed his name during roll call. Iruka-sensei was looking exasperated. "Good to see you're back," he said sarcastically and Naruto just shrugged. Iruka-sensei sighed. "Stay behind during break," he ordered before continuing down the roll.