Filling the Well

Filling the Well

A/N: I warned you that I would do it, and here it is! The format is a little experimental so give it some time. Inspired by Ingrid Michaelson's 'Corner of yoru heart'.


Filling the Well

Naruto wakes up on the working side of an oden stand.

Actually, ‘wake up’ isn’t quite right. Naruto doesn’t open his eyes, nor does he slowly fade into consciousness, it’s more like; ‘Naruto exists on the working side of an oden stand’. It’s dark, there’s food cooking at his elbow, and he’s being stared at by a little fox in a yukata.

Something isn’t right, but Naruto can’t quite put his finger on the reason for the soft confusion that seems to wrap his hands and curl quietly around collar bones.

He smiles and the little fox blushes, hiding his face behind his paws.

“Ah, good.” Another fox steps into the light from beneath the stand’s curtained eaves and puts a hand on the little fox’s shoulder. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

Naruto blinks. “Am I late?”

The fox laughs, a kind sound, and says, “No one is ever late on this side of the world. You’ll always be right on time.”

“That’s…good?”

“Yes, very.” He seems to smile then, his eyes moving into half moons, and for a moment his existence stutters. It slides back again and he’s holding a knife, cutting into a fat radish. The little fox is behind him cleaning a plate, and the old fox is poking at an assortment of cooking vegetables.

“Just like that,” He says, “You’re very good with a blade, young sir.”

Naruto frowns down at his knife and cuts another slice, and says, “Thank you.”

“No,” the fox seems to smile again, “Thank *you*.”

When Naruto finishes on the radishes he starts on a sweet potato.

He cuts through the night and no one comes to, or walks by the stand. Still-

****

“Ah, there you are.” The old fox is smiling again and Naruto has a blade in his hand. There are customers in every chair. Some are eating, some are not, and Naruto grabs the closest whole vegetable and begins to slice.

“This is my new assistant.” The fox says to a large black cat, its head cradled in his paws. The cat blinks large, golden eyes and for a moment Naruto stares back.

“I’d like some tsumire.” It says, “If you have some.”

The young fox offers up a bowl and Naruto fills it from the bubbling ingredients at his side, adding extra fish balls for the customer. The cat thanks him for the meal and begins to lick the broth from the bowl.

“Very good,” The old fox says, and the paw on Naruto’s shoulder is a comforting weight. “You’re a natural.”

Naruto reaches a hand out and finds a carrot. It cooks just in time for a young girl,
her hair done up in spiraled pigtails. She frowns and says-

***

“Why do you keep leaving?” The young fox’s voice is hesitant, shy. His words are comfort, familiar, but Naruto’s not sure how.

“I don’t know.” Naruto moves a wet rag over the bar. “Maybe I was out somewhere.”

“Somewhere *outside* the stand?”

“Maybe.” Naruto tries to remember, but just as he glimpses a shard in the dark place of his mind-

***

“I need you to make a delivery.”

The delivery box is heavy, but warm. It smells good and is wrapped up in a spotless white cloth. The old fox is smiling again but he smells…worried?

“Alright.” Naruto holds it by the knot, just above the sliver of a blue moon. “Where
to?”

“To where your feet take you.” The fox bows, “I hope to see you soon.”

“I’ll try.” Naruto bows back.

***

Naruto is standing in front of a house covered in moons. They shine brightly in the afternoon sun. He looks down and sees a package in his hand, wrapped in cloth and emblazoned with a blue crescent. It’s pristine but Naruto looks down at himself to see that he’s a little dirty. His feet are covered in dark earth, the edge of his yukata is stained burgundy, and there are parts of him that feel a little singed.

The hand not holding the knot of the box feels…empty.

The house calls to him and follows the sound up to the porch, past the sliding shoji doors, and towards a burning smell, towards laughter and yelling and the sound of a large metal object hitting the floor.

He pauses and a voice around the corner says, “Ah, dinner has arrived.”

“What do you *mean* ‘dinner has arrived?!” Naruto turns to see a black-haired boy in an apron gesturing to an overturned pan on the floor, “Dinner is *ruined* all- ah, um. Oh.”

One eye is brown, the other is blue, but they’re both wide in surprise.

Naruto frowns and holds the box up, “I think this is for you.”

The moon is blue, like the boy’s eye, the cloth white like the boy’s skin, and they both smell warm. Filling.

“Go on, Watanuki.” The feminine voice fills the kitchen from behind Naruto’s shoulder, but Naruto can’t turn around. The boy is stepping closer and Naruto is starting to realize that he’s *hungry*, not starving but close.

Watanuki. *Watanuki* steps close, a little hesitantly, and takes the box with both hands, frowning down at the sliver of a blue moon.

“Oden of the fox, but-” He looks back up, eyes squinting, and says, finally, “Oh. I see it now. You must be a relative of Oden-san.”

“Am I?” Naruto feels like he’s looking down a deep well, wondering if it’s water down there or something else- something-”

“What do I owe you?”

“What?” Naruto is mid-step, the world is moving without him, but-

“What do I owe you?” Watanuki repeats, smiling. His smile is like the old fox’s; waiting, understanding. Comforting.

Naruto feels like he’s always been waiting for this question…or this question has always been waiting for him…there’s something down in that well. He can see it *moving*, but he knows the moment he gets a good look-

“I think I’d like to stay here.” Naruto tells him, “For a while.”

Watanuki pauses his mouth opening and closing before he looks over to the corner to the woman’s voice and gets a trinkling, bubbling-brook laughter in response.

“Will you grant his wish, Watanuki-kun?”

Watanuki goes pale white and his hands tremble on the bag.

Naruto feels angry, turns, wonders why his hand is so empty and then gets caught in an odd, shifting stare. The woman is just a form, a blur really, but there’s a strike of recognition that makes his head hurt.

“Do I know you?” No, “I know you.”

Another trilling laugh, and, “You know a great *many* people, Hokage-sama.”

“Hokage-”

***

There is a garden, Naruto is in the middle of it, and his hands are wet and dirty. Red and dirty.

“You’re back.” A boy with odd eyes, one brown, one blue, is looking concerned. He has a cloth over his shoulder and offers it to Naruto who stares at it for a moment before wiping his fingers clean.

“Are you hurt?” He asks, frowning.

“Someone is,” Naruto smells smoke, “I think.”

“Do you know where?”

Naruto can only stare. He thinks ‘where’ and his mind shows him a garden, dark earth, and a boy holding a dirty cloth. The boy sighs.

“I’m Watanuki. You’re at Yuuko’s shop. She’s pulling some kind of joke so you’re stuck with me if you want a wish or something. Do you?”

Want. Naruto smiles.

“I don’t want anything.”

“Look,” The boy glares, “You’re here at the shop so you *need* to want something. That’s how this *works*, so make a wish and I can get finished making dinner. Also, I’m getting pretty sick of washing blood out of the furniture.”

“Vinegar helps with that.” Naruto says, “And cold water.”

The boy tilts his head and the scowl turns into a grin.

“I told you that last time.” Watanuki points, “When Yuuko gave you that yukata.”

“Yuuko-” Naruto thinks, and he sees a blur lazing on a chaise, sitting at a table, long black hair swinging down from a pale face that whispers ‘are you sure?’.

“Hey. *Hey*!” A strong grip shakes him and the blur coalesces into a beautiful woman done up in silk and jewels, the stench of bowel and blood, and a wrench of desperation that makes Naruto gag. He’s sick on the flowers and Watanuki says, “Thank goodness, I thought you were going to go again.”

“I don’t want to go.” Naruto whispers, “I don’t.”

But Watanuki’s hand lifts and-

***

“That took more chakra than I thought it would.” Milky eyes and a soft laugh, “We’ve missed you.”

Naruto smiles, feels the warmth of true understanding and asks-

***

“How am *I* supposed to know?!” A black-haired boy with odd eyes scowls and hisses, “Why the hell are you *here*? This isn’t Yuuko’s shop- Go back to la-la land, would you?”

There’s a boy next to him who stares, intent, and puts a piece of sushi back into a bento box.

“You didn’t tell me he was a fighter.” He says, and his face is passive, but Naruto understands the look in his eyes.

“Well *excuse me* if I didn’t-”

“Who is…Otokage?” The other boy asks, hard eyes glinting, “And why would he-”

***

“Doumeki-” There’s a pale boy with strange eyes crouching over a body splayed on the ground. He’s crying, yelling, “*Doumeki* wake up…not *you*…not again-”

“Wake up.” Naruto whispers, watching as a thick trail winds its way down the sidewalk. One pale, lax hand on a piece broken bow, and the boy, sobbing as the thread of breath gets pulled taut- The moon is full, too bright, and Naruto can see just clear enough to watch the pulse in his neck begin to slow to a stop.

“You paid a price.” A voice says, “Do you remember?”

Naruto nods, feels the power of the woman at his shoulder like a physical blow and steps forward, over the broken body of a masked man, pushing past the boy’s grief, and kneels down.

“Don’t-” The boy pushes back at him, “Please-”

Naruto holds him by the shoulder. Smiles. He wonders if he’s still too young or far, far too old, and says, “I’ve already made my wish Kimihiro.”

He lets the old power flow through him into a bright green glow and traces his fingers against the jagged open wound on Doumeki Shizuka’s chest.

“Sakura taught me this.” He says into Watanuki’s ear, “She taught me how to do this,” In the moonlight the pale skin seals, scarless, “so that I could bring Sasuke back without killing him. So that I could save my best friend from himself.”

“What-” When Watanuki looks up his eyes are nearly glowing, his slim frame trembling, “How-”

The boy on the ground takes a rattling breath.

He watches them reunite, sits back and lets the old blood stain his feet. Next to him the man with an arrow through his chest groans, lifts his hand to the broken shaft but this time Naruto's hand isn't empty-

***

“Hello.”

There’s a boy with odd-colored eyes sitting in front of Naruto and smiling. He looks a little sad, Naruto decides.

“My name is Watanuki Kimihiro.” He says, head tilting to the side, “You can call me Kimihiro if you like.”

“Alright.” Naruto looks up as another boy walks in, standing in the doorway and watching with intent, hooded eyes. “Kimihiro.”

The boy in the doorway looks away. Kimihiro leans forward and touches his hand, his slight fingers pressing against Naruto’s own. His skin is very warm.

“Don’t mind Doumeki,” Kimihiro says, “That useless clod doesn’t have an ounce of manners in him.”

Naruto smiles, and says, “I don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t.” Kimihiro whispers. Naruto watches him fight to keep a smile and wonders what it means when the shine of bright eyes spills over. “I need to tell you something. I…thank you. Thank you.”

“For what?” Naruto lifts a hand and catches the shine of a glistening trail against the pad of his thumb.

Kimihiro says nothing and Naruto frowns.

“Are you okay?” The question feels right even if the sentiment is strange on Naruto’s tongue. Kimihiro looks up and his eyes are set, strong, but not hard.

“I’m going to grant your wish.” Kimihiro says, his voice breaking, “Your *real* wish. I swear it.”

“I don’t have a wish.” The words slip out before Naruto can think them. “I’m fine how I am.”

Kimihiro begins to smile then, baring his teeth in a grin, and he laughs. The boy in the doorway, Doumeki, frowns, his shoulders dropping. Kimihiro shrugs and glances up at Doumeki’s worried stare. Then he turns back. Those eyes don’t stop shining.

“That’s what they all say.”

***

There’s a boy with odd-colored eyes sitting in front of Naruto. He puts a bowl down, and says, “Here.”

The bowl is large and filled with noodles, slices of meat, and other vegetables that Naruto recognizes but couldn’t name. It smells pleasant enough but Naruto can only stare.

“What is it?” Naruto asks the boy. He frowns.

“Ramen.”

“What do I do with it?”

The boy’s hands fist. “You *eat* it.”

“With what?”

The boy doesn’t say anything for a long moment but his eyes harden and his frown smoothes into smooth porcelain. Just like the bowl, but not nearly as warm.

“With your fingers.” He says. “One noodle at a time.”

Naruto nods and peers into the bowl. The broth hurts his fingers a little but he manages to get the end of one of the long noodles. He pulls it out and it steams, limp in the air.

“It’s really long.” Naruto murmurs. He could tip his head back and let it fall into his mouth, but he doesn’t want his tongue to feel like his fingers so he cups his other hand and lets the noodle fall, blowing on the tangled mess until it cools. Then he eats it.

He looks up to see that the boy’s expression hasn’t changed, but his hands are flat on the table’s surface.

Naruto sighs, but he continues, eventually finishing the bowl one noodle at-

***

There’s a boy with odd-colored eyes sitting in front of Naruto. He puts a bowl down, and says, “Here.”

The bowl is large and filled with noodles, slices of meat, and other vegetables that Naruto recognizes but couldn’t name. It smells pleasant enough but Naruto can only stare.

“What is it?” Naruto asks the boy. The boy’s eyes flicker down for a moment before he turns them back on Naruto and smiles.

“Ramen.” The boy murmurs.

“What do I do with it?”

The boy continues smiling but…it doesn’t feel right to look at. It makes Naruto feel strange, confused and all caught up.

“You eat it.” The boy says, “Just stick your face down in the bowl and eat it.”

There’s a lot of steam coming out of the bowl and the boy’s smile makes him uncomfortable, but he doesn’t see any reason *not* to do as he’s told. In fact, the longer they sit the more he *wants* to do as he’s told until the need becomes an ache, and he leans down-

***

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” There’s a boy with odd-colored eyes yelling, his face pale as he shovels ice into a towel. There’s another boy next to him, staring hard, tense as he watches- Naruto has to turn to see the boy behind him, sitting in a chair with his face turned to the window, looking outside.

“Are you okay?” The boy with the towel asks as he shoves the cool pack against Naruto’s face.

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, okay, stupid question.” He says, “Shit. I…I’m Kimihiro. Call me Kimihiro. Hold this, Doumeki.”

The boy next to the counter steps forward but Naruto bats his hand away and holds the ice himself. It’s cold and bumpy but for some reason that feels right.

Kimihiro picks a bowl up off the counter and throws it, shattering the window and making the other boy snap his head back.

For a moment Naruto gets caught up in a blood red stare but those eyes turn on Kimihiro and Naruto is set free. Kimihiro’s eyes slit and Naruto watches in wonder as the world seems to shift around him, making the hard edges in him blur. The power seems endless, effortless, and the boy with the red eyes goes pale.

“In *this* house,” Kimihiro’s voice goes cold, and that power picks up a knife’s edge, “I am not something you can ignore. *Answer me*.”

“What’s the point?” The red-eyed boy hisses, “I am *not* responsible for Naruto’s fucked-up life. I never asked for *this*. He can’t even remember-”

The red-eyed boy looks at him then and Naruto feels something in him begin to ache, feels something broken try to pull back together.

The ice falls from his fingers and scatters across the floor.

There’s something, there’s a deep *something* trying to pull its way out, but Naruto-

***

“Ah, just on time.” A woman sits in front of him, pale limbs artfully arranged beneath a riot of colorful silk and lace. She’s familiar, she’s-

“Yuuko-san.” Naruto says, and next to him a boy with red eyes looks up and stares like Naruto just did something shocking. “What?”

Yuuko laughs and opens a fan, fluttering it prettily, like the wings of a butterfly…flash, flash, flash…It’s beautiful. The boy looks down, and his voice is low as he takes a long piece of polished wood in his hand.

“How much.” He whispers. “How much will it cost?”

Yuuko flutters her fan again and the polished *chokuto*, his mind whispers, lifts into the air to hover in front of her.

“This is not your most precious thing,” She says in a lilting, teasing voice. They boy’s hands fist. “By itself…a wish that will last a few months.”

“I have nothing else to give.” The boy says, “That’s all I have.”

“That is the truth…and yet-” Yuuko’s smile turns a little sad as she stares down at the boy’s bowed head. He looks close to…close to a great fall, Naruto thinks.

“There is always more to give.”

***

Naruto wakes to the sight of a pale face and dark, very nearly *black*, eyes. A pair of pink lips, the swinging shadow of black hair, and for a moment-

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke.” The boy says, “You are Uzumaki Naruto.”

- The world feels *right*.

***

“Hello.” Naruto smiles, “I’m Uzumaki Naruto.”

For a moment the boy in the school uniform looks startled and then he grins back.

“*Naruto-kun*,” The boy goes from the ground to wrapped around Naruto’s shoulders in a startling lunge, “Thank god.”

There’s another boy on the ground who smiles a little and then nods, going back to his lunch. A girl with curly black hair waves with a small, sunny smile. After a long moment the boy wrapped around him finally steps back, a high blush on his cheeks as he gives a small bow.

“I’m Watanuki Kimihiro.” He says, “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

Naruto laughs a little and blushes back. “Thanks…Watanuki-kun?”

“You can call him Kimihiro.” Sasuke’s voice is a little exhausted, “And if you don’t fucking well stop running around I’m going to kill you.”

“But Yuuko-san said-”

Sasuke’s expression twists and Naruto gets a briefcase to the face for his trouble.

“Ouch,” Naruto scowls back, “Bastard.”

Sasuke jerks back, a moment of surprise extinguishing his anger before he looks away and starts attending the non-existent dust on his spotless uniform.

“So,” Watanuki’s smile quirks a little as he watches Sasuke, “Are you two starting school here?”

“Ye-”

“No,” Sasuke snaps, “We’re playing dress-up.”

Naruto winces, “Ah, what Sasuke-kun means is-”

“Don’t apologize for me!” Naruto just barely avoids another swing of the briefcase, “And don’t call me that!”

“But Yuuko-san said-”

The boy eating lunch puts his fingers in his ears. Sasuke drops the briefcase and makes a lunge for Naruto’s throat.

The girl claps her hands together as Naruto and Sasuke go down in a pile and the last thing Naruto hears before blacking out is-

“Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are such good friends!”


***The End***

Um...with a possible sequel.