Songs of Consequence
Chapter 2: Ice
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Sometimes we can discover ourselves only through the pain of others.
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She was spread out across the canvas of nothingness; a white blanket for all to admire. Her eyes watched the small specks of frozen rain fall with an unfettered admiration as the sound of ice being cut by skates and the laughter of friends filled the air. But Kin blocked out all of these sounds with the mp3 player held securely in her pocket, music blaring loudly from its speakers.
‘Is the music adding beauty to this, or taking it away?’ Kin asked herself as one song ended and another began. It was then that she heard the shouting; Tayuya. Kin reluctantly paused her i-Pod and got up from her comfortable place in the pure blanket of snow, strapping her skates on as she got on the ice, skating over to her best friend.
“What is it?” Kin asked, skidding to a stop next to her loud-mouthed friend.
“That blond little shit’s picking a fight with Itachi’s brother!” proclaimed Tayuya excitedly as she pointed to two boys fighting. “God it feels so good to get some excitement in this shitty little town!” Kin uninterestedly looked over to where her friend pointed to and her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
‘It’s him; that kid from two months ago’ she thought as Itachi’s brother knocked the boy to the ground with a strong left hook to his face, making the small crowd cheer him on, lusting for blood.
“C’mon you little chickenshit; fists are fighting!” Tayuya hollered, her hands cupped around her mouth. “Entertainment doesn’t get much better than this, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Kin responded distantly as she watched the blond boy try to get back up on to his feet, only to be kicked hard in the ribs by the dark haired boy.
‘Well, I, don’t really have any…friends.’ The words echoed throughout the fifteen year old’s head, reminding her of him on that day; his birthday. How his mood seemed to swing constantly throughout their conversation, as if he was trying to hide something.
“Why are you so spacey today?” Tayuya asked, lightly shoving her friend. “You should enjoy this; it’s not everyday you see my boyfriend’s little brother beat the shit out of this kid,” Tayuya said, frowning at Kin.
Not being able to bear watching anymore, Kin unpaused her iPod and skated away from the fight.
“Hey, where’re you going?” Tayuya shouted at her as she began chasing Kin, trying to catch up to her.
“I’m just not feeling that great,” Kin waved off, not bothering to look back at her friend, suddenly feeling sick at the notion of watching two kids beat the snot of each other.
‘Stupid little kid; he should’ve known that Sasuke would beat the crap out of him,’ she thought angrily as she untied her skates and slipped on her boots. ‘Is it my fault that he did such a stupid thing like that?’
“Well, I, don’t really have any…friends.” It was at this point; when Kin was stomped down the path over the already trampled snow that a new song started playing. It was Kiyu who had introduced the band to her, that same day that she went to his party and she’d been hooked on them ever since. But this song was her favorite out of all them; it gave her this weird feeling inside. One she couldn’t describe, no matter how hard she tried, yet she felt as if it was she was supposed to know what it was.
(1) “Do you see me
Do you hear me
What have I done to you
Why are you destroying me?”
‘Stupid little kid; I have no kind of business with him whatsoever,’ Kin thought as the melodies filled her entire body, relaxing it. ‘Thank god for music; I’d die without it,’ Kin thought as she set out on her journey to Kiyu’s house.
‘He’ll help me sort this out,’ she thought.
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Several hours later, she found herself back at the frozen pond, abandoned in the dusk. She was spread eagled out on the ice, watching the clouds float by in front of the pastel twilight, a beautiful mix of purples and blues.
She took in a deep breath of crisp night air as she shut her eyes against the sprinkling bits of snow falling like feathers from the clouds.
‘Maybe I’ll stay here for a bit, away from it all. Not too long though; just long enough to let go,’ she thought, her mind descending into a state of clarity and calmness as the only sound she could hear was her own body exhaling and inhaling.
After what seemed like several seconds in this state she opened her eyes. But instead of seeing the semi-dark hues of twilight, she found herself smothered in darkness with only the faint starlight illuminating her.
“Shit,” she yawned as she tried to get on to her feet, slipping every few seconds and falling on to her knees. ‘Thank god no one’s here,’ she thought as she resorted to crawling so that she could get back to solid land. ‘Oh…shit,’ she thought as she hit something hard, and squishy. ‘Who the hell is here?’
“Sorry man; didn’t know you were here,” Tenten apologized, forcing out some embarrassed laughter. The she didn’t get any response. “Hey, are you alright?” Tenten asked; again, the person didn’t answer. She quickly flipped out her iPod and shone the light on the person.
“Aw shit,” she muttered as she stood up. It was Naruto. But dried blood caked the area around his nose and mouth, it was still bleeding a bit, in fact, and he was clad only in a t-shirt and sweatpants. “What the hell did you do?” she asked, sighing. She tried standing him up, and was able to sling his body over hers so she was half carrying half dragging him.
‘He needs to get to a doctor soon. But I need a car, and a driver at that,’ she thought as she dragged him along the path.
“Which means I need to ask Orochimaru,” Kin grumbled. She never liked her stepfather. He was a good man and tried to do the best he could; but there was something that just didn’t stick with Kin.
As she was walking, she felt him began to struggle against her grip, trying to break it. She only held on harder as she tried to move even quicker towards her house, which was about a quarter of a mile away.
“Ugh…where…where am I?” the boy asked deliriously, his head pounding. “What…what happened?”
“Well for one you got your ass beat by Uchiha’s little brother, and for two, I’m carrying you; I’m taking you to a hospital,” Kin answered aggressively as she tried to maintain a steady pace even with the added weight.
“K-kin?” Naruto asked weakly.
“Yeah; it’s me,” she snapped.
“Why?” he asked. “Why are you helping me?”
Kin was at a loss for words; why was she helping him? He had never done anything for her, why should she do anything for him? She quickly banished these thoughts as she thought of the urgency of the situation.
“I don’t want your death to guilt me,” she answered as she could see the outline of her house. “And shut up; we’re almost there,” she commanded.
“Thanks, Kin,” Naruto responded weakly. “Can you promise me something though?” he asked.
“What?” she asked, anxious to reach the house, where they could get a doctor.
(2)“Would you kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep?” Naruto asked.
There was silence between the two after that for several reasons. For one, Naruto once again lapsed into unconsciousness, and for two Kin in all truth couldn’t answer that; she had a boyfriend after all.
But there was an ulterior reason as well; the line that Naruto muttered was from the very first song on the cd Kin had given way back in October.
‘Did it matter that much to him?’ Kin asked herself as she saw the lights in the house flicker on and her older brother Dosu come out of the house.
“Dosu, go tell Orochimaru to get the car ready; we need to take this brat to the hospital,” Kin hollered to her brother, who disapprovingly glared back at her. Kin could have cared less though; the person she was carrying was unconscious and badly injured.
She refused to let him haunt her; she had enough ghosts haunting her already.
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1. Excerpt from “5. Marz” by Megaherz
2. Excerpt from “Prelude 12/21” by AFI
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Chapter notes: Warnings: Explicit language and minor violence
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto