Naruto: The Seraph Project

Chapter 47: Feral Scratches

TW: Food Disorder

In the early morning, I am pulled from the land of dreams when my dial starts ringing. I'm not the only one either since Naruto wakes up with a jump. On all fours above me, his tail jostling in all directions sweeps the blanket falling to the ground. His blond and black fur bristles and with his crazy feral eyes, he fiercely inspects the surroundings for the noise he doesn't like at all. As for me, nervous, I content myself with remaining motionless.

Naruto soon finds it. Letting out a grunt and a few painless lightning, he grabs my dial with his tail to abruptly throw it to the other end of the room; the violence of the blow is such that it explodes into a thousand pieces when it hits the wall. From then on, the room plunges into a silence broken by the inaudible complaints of the displeased boy. Annoyed, I slide a hand through my silver hair, sighing.

At least I won't have to wake him up...

Slowly I sit back up in my bed and in response, Naruto sits on my legs. This closeness and our faces too close to each other make me uncomfortable, but this fleeting feeling gives way to anger.

Eyeing him sternly, I roughly grab and pinch both of his cheeks.

"Do you realize how frustrating you are, Naruto?" I curse while my student is grimacing, closing his eyelids. "You're forcing me to go buy another one because you act before thinking, you brainless brat! What annoys me the most is that I can't even be mad at you!"

My words spoken, I release his face. Perplexed, Naruto contents himself with caressing his aching skin. He doesn't seem to understand why I'm in a bad mood. Still, I manage to read the exhaustion in his deep blue irises that betrays his sleepiness. To see the dark circles darkening every day, I am in no way surprised; he must be a victim to insomnia since his body chases fatigue during the night.

"You better not go back to sleep," I warn him dryly, frowning. "Otherwise, I'm really going to be angry, got it?"

Naruto maintains eye contact, but he makes himself tiny and is bitten with angst. I woke up the wrong side of the bed this morning and without realizing it, I'm being horribly harsh with him. To calm myself down, I take a deep breath.

"Sorry, Naruto... It's not your fault. Get dressed and wait nicely for me. Will you?"

Fortunately, Naruto gives me a shy but sincere smile; the dark clouds hovering over his head leave him little by little. I ruffle his blond mane covered with static electricity with a jovial face so to chase away the remaining clouds. It works since he offers me his most beautiful smile. My hand withdrawn, he quickly throws himself on me to hug me, burying his face in my neck, making my heart race in the process. Mechanically, I hug him back.

After a short while, I gently push him away to free my legs and stand up. As for Naruto, he just stays in bed while watching me. I ignore him and clean up the mess and remnants of my poor, brutalized dial good to the trash. Then, I hurry to the bathroom to get rid of the veil of static electricity before snacking on something. Strangely, I'm not hungry... However, in order not to lose more weight, I force myself to fill my stomach as grumpy as the sapphire-eyed boy. I have no idea what could be cutting my appetite so much... Perhaps the anxiety that this whole situation creates?

I cannot say.

In the meantime, Naruto has dressed in his orange outfit as requested, although he hasn't left the bed. On his stomach, legs in the air fidgeting lazily, tail included, the blanket covers his entire back and the top of his head. He twirls his claw on the ground, pouting. For the very first time, he shows signs of boredom. I'm speechless.

He lets out a yawn, then a second, and I painfully refrain from imitating him. His amorphous state, his increasingly pronounced dark circles... Naruto cannot sleep at night... Nevertheless, I remain convinced that it's possible to break his sleep cycle. During his captivity, it happened; he was wounded and exhausted, yes, but he's capable of falling asleep if his body reaches its limits.