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Blood had seep between the gaps of his fingers, a reminder of his failure to obtain Rika. He had underestimated Yuta but the next time, Suguru knew he would succeed in capturing Rika. The pain in his shoulder continued to throb, a never-ending throb that had now overpowered the numbness inside of his heart. It overwhelmed him to the point he found himself leaning against the stone wall, trying to regain what little strength he had to continue on. He should leave before Satoru came. He would come, would kill him because Satoru would follow his duties. In that regard, he had changed so much from the impulsive, rule-breaking teen of 16.
A shadow draped over him, a female figure and he was certain of whom it would belong to. The constant shadow around Satoru. Whispers had came through the grapevine about the higher ups of Jujutsu Society hiring a woman to act as Satoru’s assistant. Someone with the greatest respect of Tengen. He had seen her a few times. She was a monkey but Satoru respected her, he had seen it from the way he tensed up when he crept closer to that little monkey assistant of his. His lips twitched. The ass had gotten close to someone weaker than him, years ago Satoru would never be like this.
“You really do look pathetic like this, Getou,” he swallowed down the growl and met the amused eyes of Satoru’s assistant. Her blue eyes glowed with amusement and sympathy while animals croaked in the distance. Getou waited for her to call Satoru, it was inevitable for him to follow behind her. He was like a damn puppy around her, he could see it in his expression in their last interaction. To his surprise and growing irritation, she knelt down till they were at eye level. Her eyes focused on the blood seeping out of his fingers. “I can really see how Satoru can be your best friend, you two share the same cocky arrogance. Except Satoru’s arrogance is both cute and frustrating while your arrogance is just destructive.”
A stabbing pain erupted from his shoulder, made him kneel down to the ground. If the pain wasn’t so damn executing, he would try to kill this monkey for mocking him. For thinking that she was at the same level as him, even the same level as Satoru. She had no cursed energy. She was a mere monkey that constantly make demands. All monkeys do that. He coughed out blood before gazing at the young woman, who exhaled. “You’re just as arrogant, monkey. You think you’re in the same level as me.”
“Funny you say that, I defeated half of your army by myself so if anyone is a monkey then it probably be those family members of yours,” she shrugged and looked straight at the fading orange skies. “I can even kill you right now, it would be easy to do it especially with how pathetic and weakened like you are now.” As if to prove her point, a ball of intense blue light had formed in her hands and he found himself blinking. The monkey could do something like that? The ball was gone and she poked him right in the chest. Pain exploded once more from his chest. “I should kill you because your society demands you be killed for murdering civilians and because you insist on not remembering my name. I’m Uzumaki Naruto by the way, y’know you should remember it since my last name is used for your technique.” She smiled. “You know I’m as human as you and you’re as human as the monkeys you killed.”
Monkeys hurt his fellow sorcerers, had clapped for the death of Riko, and she wanted him to believe that he was the same as those vile monkeys. His daughters had been caged for faults not of their own, and she dared to say he was the same as them. His lips curved into a mocking smile. “I’m nothing like them, I’m superior than them.” His hands were now damp with blood, the scent was now overwhelming his nose. It was disgusting if you asked him. “Don’t you ever dare compare me to those vile creatures.”
“It’s easier to kill people when you think that they aren’t the same as you, isn’t it?” He blinked as Uzumaki took a seat right beside him, her eyes focused on the drifting clouds. The winds whistled while her eyes rested on him. “I get it, humans can be disgusting when they don’t understand people.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “But your blood is red, those vile creatures bled just like you. I asked Shoko what made you change because Nanami and Satoru talks about you with so much respect, something you don’t really deserve with this stunt you pulled.”
The cool winter breeze fluttered while Uzumaki looked at him with irritation and amusement. He didn’t understand why Satoru would like this annoying woman but god did her words act like kunais. There was still no footsteps. No indication that Satoru was going to come and kill him for the stunt that he pulled. For endangering his students. “If you hate me so much, Uzumaki then kill me before Satoru gets here.” It would be sweeter for Satoru to know it was his bitch of assistant that killed him. Would also save the man from being the one to kill him.
“I didn’t even hate the man who caused the events that led to my parents’ dying and making me become a scapegoat for my whole home,” she stood up, dusted the imaginary dust from her clothes, and looked at the wound on his shoulder. “Hating you would be a waste of my energy. If anything, I’m going to heal you up before sending you to the Old Hag to get your wounds checked up on.” His mind went blank as the woman placed her hand on his bleeding shoulder. “Mind you, I ain’t perfect when it comes to healing. Sakura was the medic, not me, but if the bastard can learn to do it…then it seemed fair I learn to do it. Don’t want him to be better than me.”
The casualness of her voice, the relief flooding his shoulders had made his mind swirled. How could she not hate him? He put her students in danger. Was she that much of an idiot? Or was she just that naïve about the world around them? He groaned as the blood stopped flowing out of his shoulders. “You really must be an idiot for healing your enemy.”
“I’m going to beat you up after this, so you calling me an idiot will just make it sweeter,” she declared with a loud, annoying laugh. At this moment, he was beginning to understand how Satoru could like an idiot like this woman. She was in some ways a lot similar to Satoru, just a little bit more humble than his best friend. “With how much Satoru moons over you, I kinda want to beat your ass for hurting him the way you did. You know he really is pathetic without you.”
Pathetic? It was the first time someone had described Satoru as pathetic with such bluntness. He squinted his eyes at this smiling woman, noticing for the first time that her eyes were soft. They were hurting. Ah. It seemed like his best friend’s one sided feelings weren’t really one sided, it seemed like his little assistant did share his feelings. Her voice had shown her fondness for his best friend, a subtle fondness that was just like the cold winds. Barely noticeable until someone felt it or in his case, looked for it. “You care for that idiot, don’t you?”
Her eyes widened for him calling out on her feelings, and he watched with a laughing, bitter heart as those tanned cheeks pinkened at his bold move. For so many years, Satoru complained about never having a girl try to emotionally connect with him, complained about how they always seemed to be turned off when they got to know him, but this woman was so deeply in love with that idiot that she was healing him. Healing him because of Satoru. He slumped his shoulders.
“You seemed to be surprised I would care for Satoru but I thought you would understand, you care for him in a similar way,” she said, not meeting his eyes. The woman withdrew her hands and looked at the white walls of the school building with unreadable eyes. “When Satoru talks about you, it reminds me of the way I talk about Sasuke—he’s my best friend as well, he did some shady shit as well.” The skies began to fade even more as the blood odour began to die away. “He pushed me away too, just like how you’re pushing Satoru away. Besides, it’s easy to care for Satoru even if he acts like an idiot.”
The love in her voice was overflowing and he wondered if that idiot even knew his feelings were being returned by his assistant. He snorted. It wasn’t his business. If they were teens, he would have pushed them together, would have hinted to this annoying woman that Satoru was just in love with her as she was in love with him. But instead, he allowed the silence to linger like an after thought and just listened to the quiet silence with a resigned heart.
“You won’t kill me because you love Satoru that much, not to kill me.” The truth needed to be said, even if there was no witness to this conversation between them.
She nodded, not even bothering to deny the fact that she loved Satoru. “When people kept saying that I needed to kill Sasuke, it nearly broke me and I know if Sasuke dies, it would kill me.” Uzumaki exhaled and flickered her eyes at him. “I know if Satoru kills you or if I kill you, then Satoru would be on a downward spiral of self-destruction and I don’t want him to become worse.” She smiled. “I want him to continue living and to live a life without any regrets.”
He has you to make him have a desire to live, you can’t be that blind not to notice that Satoru is in love with you. The irritable words threatened to come out but to say it would show that he still cared about Satoru’s lovelife. About his relationships. He didn’t care like before. And yet, a tiny part of him, the teenager, couldn’t help but snort. To appreciate the fact that Satoru wasn’t going to be entirely alone like he had thought when Satoru began to surpass him.
“You need to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do anything even more stupid,” he found himself staring at those blinking blue eyes before looking straight at the floating clouds with a resigned heart. “That idiot needs someone to lower that huge ego of his and make him really think about things. He deserves to be egotistic but no one will like him if he continues this way.”
She smiled.
“I promise to keep an eye on him, and I’ll give you updates on your best friend but in return, don’t kill anyone from my village or else I’ll be the one to end you.”