A sorrowful Naruto

Not long after Izumi returned, the bell rang for the end of school.

Kiyoshi slowly packed his bag. Only after most of the others had left did he stand and head outside. A few people remained in the classroom. Nakajima was talking to some classmates, and his voice grew a little quieter when he saw Kiyoshi stand.

Kiyoshi ignored them and left the classroom, heading for the school gates.

Halfway there, he stopped.

There was a swing set beside the playground. Someone sat on one of the swings-a blond boy without his uniform jacket, swinging all alone.

He swung very slowly, dragging his feet along the ground with each pass, as though he didn't want to go home and didn't know where else to go.

Kiyoshi stood at the edge of the corridor and watched for a few seconds.

He knew that blond boy.

He stood at the edge of the corridor without moving.

Naruto, huh? Another poor soul...

He stood there for a few seconds.

Then he walked over.

The playground was mostly empty that afternoon. The grass was a little overgrown and rustled beneath his feet. Kiyoshi crossed it and stopped beside the swing set.

Naruto looked up at him and forced a smile in greeting.

"Bro Hao, you... what are you doing here?"

Kiyoshi said nothing. He went to a nearby swing and sat down. Its chains swayed, and he steadied them with his hands before settling into the seat.

Only once he sat down did he realize the swing was a little low for him. He could touch the ground just by straightening his legs.

Naruto looked at him without saying anything.

Kiyoshi said nothing either.

The two simply sat there, one on the left swing and one on the right, with an empty seat between them.

A breeze swept across the playground, bending the grass to one side. A few children were running in the distance, their voices drifting over faintly.

Kiyoshi sat motionless on the swing.

Naruto glanced at him several times. Whenever he wanted to say something, he opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn't know what to say. He had never been in a situation like this before.

They sat.

The wind came again, a little stronger this time, making the swing chains rattle softly.

Kiyoshi looked down at the grass. A blade had blown over to his feet. He bent down, picked it up, examined it, then tossed it away.

Naruto finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken all afternoon. "You... aren't you going home?"

"No rush."

"Oh."

Silence fell again.

The swing chains swayed in the wind with the sound of metal rubbing against metal. Creak, creak. It was faint, but everything around them was so quiet that they could hear it clearly.

Kiyoshi braced his feet against the ground and pushed backward, setting his swing in motion. He didn't swing high, just rocked slowly, dragging his feet along the ground as Naruto had done earlier.

Naruto glanced at him, then pushed against the ground with his own feet, setting his swing moving too.

The two swung side by side.

Their rhythms didn't quite match. Kiyoshi swung a little slower, Naruto a little faster. Their swings moved out of sync, but neither cared.

After a while, Naruto stopped.

"Bro Hao, why... why have you been sitting here so long?"

Kiyoshi didn't stop. His swing kept moving. "Just sitting for a bit."

"How long is a bit?"

"Just a little bit."

Naruto fell silent. He didn't know how to respond.

Kiyoshi's swing slowly came to a stop too. He planted his feet on the ground to steady it, then turned to glance at Naruto.

Naruto had his head lowered, looking at his hands. There was a small scratch on one of them, shallow, as though something had scraped him. It had already scabbed over.

Kiyoshi didn't ask where the scratch had come from.

He turned back and looked ahead. There were traces of graffiti on the wall across the playground. A coat of white paint had been brushed over it, but hadn't covered it completely. The outlines remained.

He spoke. "Have you been sitting here alone this afternoon?"

"Yeah."

"All afternoon?"

"...Yeah."

Kiyoshi said nothing.

Naruto said nothing either.

Silence.

The wind swept across the playground again, stirring the loose hair over Kiyoshi's forehead. He didn't brush it aside, just sat there.

Naruto gave his swing another push, and the chains creaked.

"I... I sit here a lot."

"Mm."

"No one ever comes looking for me."

"Mm."

"I wish they were like you."

Kiyoshi turned to look at him without speaking.

Naruto didn't look back. He kept his head lowered, staring at the ground.

His feet traced circles in the dirt, one after another, overlapping until there was no recognizable pattern.

Kiyoshi turned back and looked ahead. After a pause, he said, "There'll be other people like me someday."

"Really?"

"Really."

Naruto was silent for a while before speaking, his voice a little softer than before. "You... aren't you afraid of me?"

Kiyoshi turned to him. "Afraid of what?"

"It's just... everyone says..."

"Let them talk."

Naruto froze, his mouth hanging open.

Kiyoshi turned back toward the wall across the playground. The traces of graffiti looked a little hazy in the setting sun.

He was silent for two seconds before speaking. "Then become Hokage and prove them wrong."

As soon as he said it, he regretted it a little. That had sounded far too pretentious, but there was no taking it back now.

Oh no. If Sasuke heard that, he'd laugh until next year.

Naruto remained silent.

Kiyoshi said nothing more either. He stared at the wall across the playground, pretending he hadn't been the one to say that.

Another gust blew across the playground, stirring up a brief swirl of dust before it settled again.

A bird called a few times in the distance, then fell quiet.

Kiyoshi stood up from the swing and brushed the dust off the back of his trousers. He stood there a moment, then turned to Naruto. "Coming back tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah."

Then Naruto added, "See you tomorrow, then."

Kiyoshi paused. "Yeah. See you tomorrow."

He turned and headed toward the school gates.

After a few steps, he heard Naruto call from behind him. "Are... are you coming to sit here tomorrow too?"

Kiyoshi paused without looking back.

"Yeah."

He continued toward the gates and reached them without looking back.

The swing on the playground still swayed gently. No one was swinging on it anymore, but its chains still creaked in the wind.

Naruto sat on his swing, watching Kiyoshi walk out through the gates and disappear around the corner.

He sat there for a long time.

Then he jumped off the swing, brushed off his trousers, and headed home. After a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at the empty swing. Then he kept walking.

He didn't walk fast. He planted each foot firmly on the ground before taking the next step.

Kiyoshi walked home with his head lowered, his pace neither fast nor slow.

What I said just now... Naruto understood, right? Oh well. Even if he didn't, he'll understand someday.

On second thought, that didn't seem much better than what he'd said earlier.

He looked down at his hand, clenched it into a fist, then relaxed it.

As he rounded a corner, he saw someone standing by the road. She had long black hair, wore Uchiha clan clothes, and carried a cloth bag, as though she had just returned from the market.

It was Mikoto.

She spotted him too and smiled. "Kiyoshi, school's been out for ages. Still wandering around?"

"Yeah."

"Are you settling in at school?"

"It's all right."

Mikoto smiled at him, in no hurry to leave. "Have you made any new friends?"

Kiyoshi paused, thinking of the blond boy on the swing. He was silent for a second.

"Yeah."

Mikoto's smile deepened. "That's good. Take Sasuke along more often, and help him make more friends."

Having Sasuke and Naruto become friends wouldn't be a bad idea. Their bond is destined, after all.

Without waiting for Kiyoshi's answer, Mikoto lifted the cloth bag in her hand. "Oh, your mother said you're having grilled fish tonight. She wants you home early."

"Got it."

Mikoto smiled and walked past him with light steps.

Kiyoshi stood where he was for two seconds, then continued on his way.

There was a dumpling shop beside the road, its aroma drifting toward him.

He glanced at it, remembering that Naruto seemed to have been chased out of that shop before.

Naruto's expression earlier. When he'd asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?" his face had been calm.

As though he'd already known the answer, or had long since grown used to people saying they were afraid of him.

But he shouldn't have been treated that way.

He's just a kid, and a hero's son at that... Damn the Third Hokage. Damn Danzo.

And those unbelievable villagers...

Kiyoshi kept walking, his face set.

After a few steps, he glanced down at his hand. When he'd clenched his fist earlier, his nails had left several marks in his palm.

He stared at those marks for two seconds, then slipped his hand into his pocket and kept walking.