Chapter 61 (3/3)

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a damn good cover story. He provided a plausible reason for the question then brought up something that most definitely will lead me away from prying further into the reasoning behind asking that specific question. Naruto Uzumaki, you're a lot better at being a shinobi than I gave you credit for. I won't be making that mistake again.

"You do the same for me." I easily respond to him. "We've talked about our inner voices - and damn is that accurate - with each other a lot. I may act like it's easy to open up about Sureddo but sometimes it's not. You've opened up to me about the Kyuubi. Frankly we're the only people who know what it's like that we can talk to. Sure there are other jinchuuriki but neither of us can really talk to them, even then they might outright refuse to talk about it with me. I'm not a jinchuuriki, I just have a freaky thread being that speaks to me. It's similar but not the same."

"True but it's still hard to connect with other jinchuriki even if I am one." Naruto admits. "Gaara and I shared a heart to heart talk once, but that was more based on our childhood and dealing with the scorn of being a jinchuriki instead of dealing with the Bijuu themselves. You're the only one that I've opened up to about the Kyuubi himself."

"Same." I give him a slight nod in thanks. "Sure I've mentioned some stuff about being a Host of the Jiongu to some people but I've never really talked about what it's like to deal with it to anyone else. At best they know it's a bloodthirsty thread being that speaks to me. That's it."

"Yeah." Naruto says as a silence falls between us.

It stretches for a good twenty seconds as we both simply sit there in contentment being in the company of someone who understands.

"So wanna go spar?" Naruto breaks the silence.

"I knew you'd ask me that." I groan out. "No. I want to relax. I've got to leave tomorrow, I can't do that if I'm tired."

Jokes on him, I don't get tired. I just really don't want to spar.

"Aw. You're no fun." He pouts then rises up. "I'll go bug Shikamaru some more then. That kid is so damn lazy, it's fun to try to get him to do things. Ino and I have a little game going to see who can get him to do more."

"Go have fun." I toss Shikamaru to the wolves. Better him than me. "I'll just be here relaxing."

"Cool. See ya." Naruto leaves.

"Or I'll be seeing just what exactly this unlocks." I reach into my pocket once more to hold the Hexagonal Crystal. "Can't forget about that."

An Hour Later, Alvarcus's Room

"Let's see." I look over my hastily gathered materials. "I've got the storage scroll premade already. I've got Shirokumo on standby to whisk it away to the Nest if I have to. I have a very flimsy cover story, something like wanting to wander around and see the sights before I have to leave. So I'm all set! Let's get this show on the road!"

It's time to go see just what exactly the Hexagonal Crystal unlocks.

Two soft knocks land on my door.

"Or not." I swear I'm going to find out your secrets eventually. "Who is it and what do you want?"

"It's Ino. I want to talk to you about something." She sounds nervous, very nervous. I wonder what caused her to act like this? "Anko maybe pushed me to do this a little bit so… yeah."

"Well get in here and get it over with." I open the door for her. "You can't always let Anko trample all over you, you know. You've got to stand up for yourself. That being said her getting you to change your usual attire is something I'm totally okay with."

"I want to do this too, she's just… well she's being Anko." Ino hesitantly enters my room. "I give an inch and she takes a mile. But she's right, if I don't do this I'm going to regret it."

"Alright. I'll bite. What does Anko want you to do and why does it involve me?" I'm not sure I'm okay with where this is going. Just what did Anko tell Ino?

"It's a little awkward." Ino confesses as she plays with a loose thread on her coat.

"We're a little bit past the awkward phase." I blandly point out. "You have been inside my head, that's gotta be way more awkward than whatever the hell this is. Not to mention all the other shit I've done."

"Will you be quiet? You're not making this any easier on me!" She huffs out in annoyance that is quickly replaced with nervousness. "It's just…"

"Come on. Spit it out." I coax her to tell me the purpose of this visit. "Any second now. I'm waiting. It's not that hard, just -"

"Fuck it." Ino grabs a fistful of my coat and pulls me to her. Then she crashes our lips together in a searing hot kiss.

She's kissing me.

And I'm kissing her back. My arms naturally wrap around her waist and pull us closer together. Her arms wrap around my neck trying to deepen the kiss even more. It's freaking amazing. The softness of her lips, her subtle fragrance and the feeling of her hands running through my hair. Amazing.

Like all good things it came to an end, but this was an abrupt and sudden end. I gently yet firmly pushed her away once my brain rebooted and got over the sudden influx of sensations.

"Alvarcus?" Ino softly asks. She's scared right now, there's a speck of fear in her eyes. She's afraid of how I'm going to react. "Is everything alright?"

"Ino I'm sorry." I make the mistake of looking into her beautiful green eyes and see them widen in pain. "I can't. We can't."

"W-what do you mean?" She shrinks on herself. She's feeling terribly insecure right now. "But you just were! You were enjoying it! You kissed me back!"

"I know. It was amazing too, but that doesn't change anything." I gently say to her, she's very fragile right now. "Ino look, I may sound like a dick here but we would never work out. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Otogakure. You'll be going back to Konoha. I have no idea when we will see each other again. It might even be on a battlefield as enemies. I don't want to put you through that. I don't want to go through that. It would never work, we're too far apart."

"You… don't even want to try?" Her eyes start to water.

"Ino I could never devote enough time to you." I softly continue speaking. "I have too much on my plate right now. I'm trying to take down a village, keep my friend out of harm's way and trying to stop a freaking war. I simply don't have enough time for a relationship with anyone. There are things that I have to put before my own wants and needs, the fate of the world is one of them. Even if none of that was going on, you deserve better than me."

"I don't want better than you. I want you." She reaches out and grasps my hand in hers. "Alvarcus please. Let's just try. That's all I'm asking."

I didn't want to do this. I don't want to say what I'm about to. It will only hurt her more. "Ino what about Sasuke?"

"Sasuke?" She harshly scoffs out in disgust. "You think I still care about him? Alvarcus there was a time when him and I had something, I'm not even sure what that was, but it's gone now. I thought he cared about me, I thought I mattered to him. Then you told me he left. He abandoned not just Konoha but me too. I've stopped caring about Sasuke ever since I found that out."

"But he hasn't stopped caring about you." I gently pull my hand out of hers. "He made sure to check up on you when we were at the Chunin Exams in Kusa. He still cares about you. Ino he's my best friend. Even if you want nothing to do with him anymore he still sees you as his girlfriend, he doesn't know how you feel about him now. I can't, I won't hurt him like this. No matter how much I want to."

"Sasuke." Ino angrily growls out. "Because of him. Because of that arrogant self entitled prick you won't even try."

"Yes. I am sorry Ino but I won't betray him like that. I will not add that to the list of reasons I can't live with myself, it's long enough the way it is."

"Alvarcus Mar you're a bastard." Ino whirls around in fury and storms out of the room. "I hate you."

She slams the door shut with so much force the frame shook. But her anger was faked, it's just masking the real emotion she's feeling. The tears streaming down her face told a very different story.

"Don't worry. I hate myself right now too."

Later that Night, Alvarcus's Palace Room

"I really need to go see what this thing does." I hold up the Hexagonal Crystal to the light. It has a deep purple tint to it, one unlike any other gemstone I'm familiar with. "According to Doto this tiny little thing unlocks a super weapon of mind boggling power. That would be fantastic to have on my side during a confrontation with the Akatsuki."

It's rather pretty, especially when the light refracts through it. It sends sparkles dancing around the room in a symphony of lights.

"Yeah you do." Shirokumo's scratchy voice says from the ceiling. He's been wandering around up there for a while now, checking it all out while debating if it's worth it to start a new web. I'm only here for one more night after all. "You've had that all day and you haven't seen what it does yet?"

"I'm more surprised you don't already know." I shrug as I continue to admire the crystal. "This is the first time you don't have info on something."

"Doto was trying for years - a whole decade - to figure out what that unlocks. I've been trying to for about three days now and even then the spider presence here is miniscule. We don't like the cold, I'm working with about a tenth of what I normally have."

"You can call them off the search, I'll just go find out myself." I offer him. "Not like I have anything better to do, I can head out now."

"Yeah you do that. About damn time you got off your ass and did something." Shirokumo laughs to himself.

Someone pounds on my door twice interrupting my admiration of the Hexagonal Crystal.

"Another time then." I quickly pocket the crystal once more.

"Alvarcus you have some explaining to do!" That's Naruto's voice. He sounds pissed.

"You made Ino cry." And Shikamaru, he sounds even more pissed than Naruto. "You better have a damn good reason."

"You two don't understand." Ino sniffles out. "Just leave it alone."

"What are the odds that if I pretend I'm not here they'll go away?" I mutter to myself.

"Alvarcus open the damn door or I break it down!" Naruto threatens as he slams the door once more, rattling it in the frame. "You will apologize for whatever you did if I have to beat it out of you!"

"Yeah that's about what I expected." I mutter to myself. Then I raise my voice up. "Didn't you try the doorknob? It doesn't have a lock."

Moments after I finish speaking the door flies open and Naruto storms inside with rage in his eyes. He stomps his way right up to me and gets right in my face, staring down at me accusingly. Turns out he's slightly taller than I am, good for him.

"Alvarcus. Apologize. Now." He demands.

"Naruto," Ino says with puffy red eyes. "he doesn't have to-"

"Shut up." Naruto cuts her off without looking away from me. "He made you cry. That is never okay."

"Naruto is right." Shikamaru is standing supportively next to his teammate. "You hurt her."

I let out a loud sigh. "She didn't tell you the reason she was crying, did she?"

"No." Shikamaru answers. "She was too busy bawling her eyes out to make coherent sentences. All we caught was Alvarcus repeated over and over."

"You owe her an apology." Naruto demands again.

"Did neither of you stop to think that she didn't tell you two why she was crying for a reason?" I look at Naruto then over his shoulder and Shikamaru and my eyes settle on the still sniveling Ino. "It's a rather… sensitive subject. If she hasn't told you herself then I won't share out of respect for her choice."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Shikamaru angrily yells at me. "You just don't want to say how you hurt her!"

"Right now it's not me who is hurting her, it's the both of you." I snarl out. "Ino is obviously upset with me and you two drag her to confront me hours after I made her break down in tears? How insensitive can you be? She doesn't want to be here but you two idiots forced her here!"

"Don't try and twist this on us!" Naruto cuts in. "We wouldn't even be here if you didn't hurt her! Now apologize!"

"You morons don't even know the full story." I vehemently say. "Yet you're here demanding an apology? How pathetic. Do you really think that she's the only one who was hurt? Do you think that I didn't get hurt too? I did not enjoy what I did. I did not revel in joy as her tears fell to the ground. No, watching her get hurt only hurt me in return. I did not want to do it."

"What did you even do?" Shikamaru asks. "What could you possibly have done to hurt -"

"I KISSED HIM!" Ino blurts out as fresh tears form in her eyes. "I kissed him and he rejected me. There. Now you know what happened."

Naruto and Shikamaru both stare at Ino in shock. Then they drag their eyes over to me.

"Yeah. Bet you two feel real good about yourselves right now." I sarcastically say to them. There's just a hint of a threat in my voice. A warning, to caution them against making this worse for Ino.

"You kissed?" Naruto hesitantly tests the waters. "Like full on kiss or just a peck on the cheek?"

"Definitely full on kiss." Shikamaru is analyzing us both in a new light. "Neither of them would have anywhere near this kind of reaction if it was a harmless peck. The real question now is why did you reject her? It's obvious you two like each other."

"Holy shit why is this such a huge deal to everyone? Ino I understand but you two?" I rhetorically ask everyone in general. "Let's go for the simple version, maybe that will make it through your thick skulls. I. Am. An. Oto. Shinobi."

"So? If anyone could make that work it would be you." Naruto points out. "Alvarcus you're a crafty bastard. You're living under Orochimaru's nose while playing him, you're only there for Sasuke. You really going to tell me you couldn't manipulate him into letting you take missions near Konoha?"

"Naruto we're fucking enemies! I'm supposed to kill any and all Konoha shinobi on sight and you all are supposed to take my head back to Tsunade! We agreed to do neither of those because of our friendship but do you really think that we're not going to be severely punished when we go back to our respective Kages? Orochimaru will be furious with me. As in torture me for days furious."

"Then don't go back to Orochimaru." Shikamaru offers. "Come back with us. We will convince Tsunade to reinstate you as a Konoha shinobi. You can be back home where you belong. You won't have to reject Ino. It's the best solution."

"Shikamaru you're a chunin." I viciously point at him. "You don't have the influence to make something like that happen. Nor do you Naruto. Nor does Kakashi, him and I have already discussed that course of action. Tsunade will not welcome me back."

"Then call in your favor that the Nara Clan owes you." Shikamaru offers as his mind is moving faster than it ever has before. Scenario after scenario are playing over and over in his mind. "The Clan Head, my father Shikaku, is also the Jonin Commander. He holds a lot of sway with the Hokage. Hell I would wager that the Aburame Clan owes you one too since you also saved Shino during the Invasion. Call in those favors. Tsunade will listen to two whole clans standing up and vouching for you."

"This is all wishful dreams of ignorant children." I sigh, a long and drawn out sigh. "You all already know the only way I will go back to Konoha. You're all forgetting that my best friend is in Oto and he desperately needs me there. I do not particularly want to go back to the Leaf, so I have to be forced back. Ino I am truly sorry, in another time or another place I would gladly take you up on your offer. I would love to, truly. But this is neither of those."

Naruto lunges forward with a punch aimed at my head. I swiftly bring up my left arm and push it so his fist sails to the left of my face, missing completely.

"The fuck Naruto?" I snarl out at him. "I was sort of apologizing to Ino! Isn't that what you wanted?"

"No!" He follows up with a kick that I sidestep. "I want you to come back home! I want you to be free of all of these burdens you place on yourself! I want my friend back! So if the only way to do that is to beat you to a pulp then I will!"

I let his next punch connect. He slams his fist with a lot of force deep into my gut, so much force that I am thrown into a wall. Not enough to damage it, but enough to make Shikamaru and Ino wince.

Naruto is next to me in a moment with another punch reared back and ready to fly.

"You are incapable of beating me." I casually tell him. "It's not that you can't -"

His fist slams into my head, forcing me to look right for a moment. Then I turn back to him like nothing happened.

"Alvarcus!" Ino shouts in worry.

"- you simply won't be able to." I continue like what is going on is an everyday occurrence for me. "You can't stomach the feeling of plunging cold hard steel into another's body -"

SLAM

"- the feeling of metal spearing into flesh, ripping into it. Tearing into it. You, who has never -"

SLAM

"-taken a life before has no hope of taking his friends. And it will not be just once, no that -"

SLAM

"- would be too easy. It will be four times. I would be your first four kills. Your friend. You simply don't possess the constitution to go that far. You can't bring yourself to cause pain on that level."

SLAM

"So I'm not even going to fight back. Wail on me as much as you please, I will win without throwing a single punch. Not because I am better than you. Not because I am more skilled. It's because -"

SLAM

"- you're a good person. So hit me, get your anger out of your system. Then we can go back to talking like adults instead of a child throwing a temper tantrum."

SHINK

"You forgot about me." Shikamaru says as I look over at my left hand. A kunai has speared through it, pinning me to the wall. "I have no qualms about taking four of your hearts."

"And you never even knew about me." Shirokumo drops from the ceiling on a single near invisible strand of spider silk and quickly sinks his fangs into Shikamaru's neck. Within the next instant he's back on the ceiling.

Shikamaru's body crumples to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Both Ino and Naruto rush over to their fallen friend.

"Oh don't freak out, he's just unconscious. He'll be up in ten minutes, fifteen max. Poisons were never my strong point." Shirokumo scuttles across the ceiling to stand directly above me. "My Summoner may choose to not fight back but that does not mean I won't."

"You're still here?" I ask him. "I thought for sure you'd go back once the shouting started."

"And miss this?" Shirokumo gestures one leg at everyone on the ground. "I wanted to see your friends interact with you then shit went down. Well done by the way, she's hot. For a human."

"Not helping." I warn him.

"What? I'm a guy. You're a guy. Can't we compliment each other on the hotness of females we land?"

"We can but this is not anywhere close to the right time or place for that and I didn't 'land' her, we kissed each other then I broke her heart. Now shut up or I'm sending you back."

"Shutting up. You got it." Shirokumo mimics zipping his mouth shut and throwing away a key. It's really weird to see someone do that who doesn't have any fingers.

"Sorry about that." I apologize to the three Konoha shinobi in the room. "Shirokumo is rather protective of me. Selectively protective, considering he let Naruto wail on my face."

"You let that happen too." Shirokumo chimes in and I send him a scathing glare. "Right. Shutting up."

"Alvarcus why?" Naruto asks in resignation. He's finally accepted that I'm going back to Oto after seeing Shikamaru fall. "Why won't you just come back?"

"Because it is necessary." I calmly tell him. "I am needed in Otogakure and not just by Sasuke. Did you never wonder why Orochimaru hasn't taken any other large actions since after the Invasion?"

"He hasn't?" Naruto scrunches his face up in confusion.

"No." Ino softly says. "He hasn't. Orochimaru must have long since recovered from the Invasion, or at least as much as he is going to but he hasn't taken a single major action against anyone. Unless he was behind the base that was destroyed on the way here."

Oh fuck they know about that? Thank Kami that Shikamaru is unconscious he might piece together that it was me who did that. I really don't want them to know about that even if it was done before my little redemption episode thingy. No idea what to call that.

"That's right, Orochimaru hasn't had the time to do something major." I calmly continue as if Ino didn't bring up one of my more horrendously impressive feats of carnage. "It's because he's been focusing on me. I've kept the Snake Sannin busy, he's devoting the majority of his time to training and improving me. It's borderline obsessive. No, it's definitely obsessive."

"You're keeping him in check?" Naruto asks in surprise.

"Sort of. I can only do so much the way it is. You've wondered how I got so strong, there's your answer. When I finish with what Orochimaru is teaching me I immediately ask for more."

"He does more than that." Ino softly says again. "He is always doing what he can to protect us, protect Konoha in his own way. He never gave up on us, he never abandoned us. Abandoned me."

"GAH!" Naruto throws his hands up. "FINE! I will compromise with you. Next time we meet I will beat you into the ground so hard that the Underworld shakes. Then you will come back with me. But you have to apologize to Ino and to Shikamaru! Now I'm taking this," Naruto slings Shikamaru over his shoulder, "back to our room. I'll calm him down once he's awake again then after you two are done Alvarcus you come find us and apologize."

Naruto walks out of the room, leaving Ino, Shirokumo and me by ourselves.

"Shirokumo you go too." I tell the white spider who is still perched above my head on the ceiling. "I trust you but she barely knows you exist."

"Aw do I have to? This shit is entertai-" I force him back since he didn't leave of his own will. He'll understand. If not I'll explain what happened to Arachne and she'll break out the peanut butter. Whatever the hell that means, I never found out and I don't want to find out.

"Ino look." I sit down on the floor across from her, she never got up when she got down next to Shikamaru. "I am sorr-"

"Shut up." She cuts me off then looks around nervously. "Just… can you wait here for a few minutes? I need to get some stuff from my room."

"Uh… sure?" It comes out as a question even though it should be a statement. "If it makes you feel better."

"Thank you." She rises up and quickly walks out of my room, leaving me and my thoughts alone.

"Oh fuck what if she gets Anko?" I groan out to the empty room as I stand once more. "I'm fucking outta here if she brings Anko back. Great. Now I can't get that thought out of my head. Please be a giant stuffed animal, I'd handle that way better."

A terror filled three minutes later Ino opens the door and comes back in. The good news is that she didn't bring Anko. However…

"Ino why did you bring a backpack and the massive scroll I gave you?" I hesitantly ask her. She better not be thinking what I think she is.

"Naruto and Shikamaru were only half right. Their idea of bringing you back to Konoha isn't the only solution that appeases everyone." She readjusts her backpack. "I'm going with you."

Aw fuck I was right. She wants to come to Oto and Orochimaru.