AFTER DARK | naruto

62 | jailbreak!

"What's there?" Shisui asked. He noticed your reaction after you peaked out—and it concerned him.

It's not that the thing on the other side was scary, but it caught you off guard. A mass of orange hair—or fur, more like it, hurling in your direction.

You ducked out of instinct, only to look back up in curiosity. You knew that pattern of fur, though it was one you never expected to see again.

"Ah... it's, uh..." You sweat dropped, the cat opening its eyes to meet yours. "Pickles, it's pickles."

"Huh? Like, the food?" Karin asked back from beneath you. "What a waste of my time! And my back hurts! Get off, already!"

"No, not the food, it's my cat." You answered back, adjusting your stance on top of her.

"What kinda weirdo names their cat pickles..." Karin mumbled, and you ignored her as you looked toward your cat.

"Hey, little guy... I totally thought you were done for after the pain attack." You spoke to him, your lips were stuck in a frown, but your eyes were soft—displaying your relief.

"You know, in cat years, I'm older than you." The cat replied. He didn't have any of his fancy get up, leaving him looking like any other ginger cat around. "And I thought you were dead, too. But I heard from the kids around that three people were imprisoned, and one of them looked really sad. So I assumed it was you." He explained.

"Huh, really?" You smiled lightly. "I don't think I'm that gloomy."

"Eh, it showed sometimes." Your cat explained, managing to squeeze itself through the small gap in the wall—and jump inside. Only then was it that you got off of Karin's back.

"A damn cat?!" Karin groaned, sitting up. She pushed up her glasses. "And it's not all that cute, either."

"It's almost as sad as your apartment in here." Pickles observed, only to look toward you after saying so—as if he were caught saying something horrible. "Though, there's not much of it left standing."

"...I figured..." You responded with a frown. There weren't many belongings to mourn in there—but you had memories. Like when Shisui became your roommate, or all the photos you kept, important ones at that. The idea of even losing those memories hurt. "Well, I'm glad you made it out." You said solemnly.

Your cat wasn't a fool—the smile on your face was solemn and desolate. He'd seen genuine emotion from you before—it wasn't like he met you at the happiest moment of your life, but there were instances where your smile was a lot more genuine than the one you had now.

You were glad that your cat managed to come out unharmed, it had even been a worry of yours. But that gaunty apartment of yours had always been some sort of safe haven from everything else.

"Unfortunately, I did not manage to save your poster girl, but I was.... Well, I wouldn't say I was snooping, more so learning. I'm a wise guy, so I was reading up on your family history." He eventually got out. "So before your whole apartment got destroyed, I managed to get out with it. And I bookmarked some pages with some of those photos of yours, so...."

You looked down at your cat, blinking a few times at his long winded explanation. He noticed your smile become a bit more genuine. "I didn't think I'd be so glad to hear that someone was messing with my things..."

"Other than the fact that you have no where to stay, I think it's time to integrate back into society!" He said, standing on his hind legs.

"But... I still have like, my whole life left to serve, or something." You answered him. You weren't sure where the sudden morale came from—especially considering the fact that you were a murderer since you were 13, but a lot of things change when you murder your sister and take her eyes.