Another One Here to Kick Down the Door

"Lazy Uchiha! Get out here!"

The voice came from outside the front door. It wasn't knocking—it was kicking the door.

Shuo Ye sat up in bed.

He didn't know how long he had been lying there. The light outside the window looked like afternoon. Maybe it was the next day? Maybe the day after that? He could no longer tell.

"Lazy Uchiha!! Open the door!!"

Naruto.

Shuo Ye didn't move.

...It wasn't the first time someone had called him lazy. Back at the Ninja Academy, Naruto had yelled that at him plenty of times. Every time, he pretended not to hear and went about his business.

But today—

"If you don't open up, I'm kicking this door to pieces!!"

...That guy really would kick the door to pieces.

Shuo Ye climbed out of bed. His feet touched the floor, and it was cold. He looked down at them—they were thin. He had barely eaten anything since the massacre. Naruto was still kicking the door.

"I know you're in there!! Iruka said you weren't feeling well!!"

...Iruka?

Shuo Ye froze for a moment. Then his feet started moving.

The door opened.

Naruto stood in the doorway.

He was wearing his Ninja Academy uniform, and there was still flour on his hands—he had probably come from Ichiraku Ramen. His face was written all over with I'm here to pick a fight, but if one looked closely, there was a hint of uncertainty deep in those blue eyes.

"You—" Naruto opened his mouth. Then he saw Shuo Ye's face.

He shut up.

Shuo Ye stood in the doorway. His face was gaunt, dark circles hung under his eyes, and his hair was messy enough for birds to build nests in. He was wearing the same clothes from days ago, stained with blood—not his own blood, but blood from the clan compound.

Naruto looked at him for three seconds.

Then Naruto reached one hand behind his back and pulled a paper box from inside his clothes.

"Ichiraku Ramen..." Naruto held the box out to him. "It's gone cold. But I wrapped it in a blanket, so it should still be a little warm."

Shuo Ye looked at the paper box.

"Iruka said you weren't feeling well." Naruto pushed the box a little closer. "But I think—you're just lazy."

He sniffed.

"I got you Ichiraku Ramen! Get out here!"

Shuo Ye reached out and took the paper box.

The box was warm. Not hot—Naruto's "still a little warm" probably meant this temperature. But Shuo Ye could feel that warmth in his hands. It entered through his fingertips and traveled into his pulse.

"...Come in," Shuo Ye said.

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping across wood. But Naruto didn't laugh at him.

Naruto walked in.

He took three steps inside, then stopped.

...There was nothing in the living room.

Not no furniture. There was furniture, but it had all been overturned. The table lay upside down, chairs were toppled in the corners, and the curtains had fallen from their rod, piled on the floor like a dead snake.

There were things on the floor, too.

...Flower petals.

The vase Shuo Ye's mother had knocked over on the night of the massacre. The petals had been scattered across the floor for two days and two nights. Now they had dried and curled up, like dead butterflies.

Naruto looked at the living room for ten seconds.

Then he crouched down.

"Um..." He picked up a petal from the floor. "What kind of flower is this?"

"Morning glory," Shuo Ye said.

"Morning glory..." Naruto placed the petal on his knee. "It's pretty."

Shuo Ye looked at him.

Naruto crouched amid the overturned living room, holding a dried petal in his hand. The expression on his face was hard to tell—whether he was smiling or something else. His blond hair shone brightly in the afternoon light, like a burning yellow flame.

"Let's go," Shuo Ye said.

"Where to?"

"To get some sun," Shuo Ye said. "If you don't get sunlight, you'll grow mold."

Naruto blinked.

Then he laughed.

"You really are an idiot Uchiha!!"

But he ran after Shuo Ye as they headed out the door.