Injustice Book 1: A Journeys Beginning (Naruto + Batman Comics crossover)

Chapter XXV - Temptation

"Normal Speech."

'Normal Thought.'

"Demon Speech."

'Demon Thought.'

"Other Speech variants."

Location/Time.

-X- Line Break -X-

"What is your problem?" Barbara asked, turning to Naruto as they came to a stop a bit further away from, Bruce and Dick.

She knew that Dick had a habit of getting under people's skin, it was a good tactic for him to gain an advantage over a stronger opponent. An angry opponent would be prone to make mistakes, a mistakes are costly in a fight which allowed him to win. The problem was that Dick didn't see Naruto as an ally and was still trying his best to get underneath Naruto's skin, and it was working.

Despite knowing that, she was shocked at how easily Naruto was rising to Dick's words. After all, no matter how many guys insulted Naruto before, he never responded.

"My problem?" Naruto responded, waving one hand in Bruce and Dick's general direction. "I'm not the one that's accepting the idea that the Court of Owls has zombie ninjas like it's a common occurrence."

Barbara would give him that, even she had had seen and heard of a lot of things, but undead were not amongst them. "Even so, Dick has a point." She said and Naruto scoffed. "He does! We live in a world with superpowered aliens like Superman, is it really that hard to believe?"

"Yes, yes it is." Naruto replied firmly, his arms crossing over his chest. "A superpowered alien is one thing, but above all else, he's alive. He bleeds, he gets hurt and that means he can be killed. There's a very clear line between alive and dead. This...blurs those lines."

And despite not saying it, Barbara could tell he was scared. She was as well, no matter how many times she had gone out and fought criminals, the fear never dissipated. It always there, she had just learned to ignore it. Naruto was still new to this life and so didn't have as much experience in these matters.

"I know, believe me, I know." Barbara repeated softly. "I'm just as scared as you at the idea, hell I've been scared for a long time, Naruto. But you need to trust me when I say, there are things out there worse than this."

Naruto was silent before he gave a small, sardonic smile. "Trust you?" He muttered quietly, his head down cast. "Trust, that's a little hard to come by right now. You never know who might be keeping secrets from you."

Barbara flinched at his words, her eyes lowering to the ground. "I'm not the only one that's kept secrets." She said, her voice equally as accusatory as his was and Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.

"I kept my secret as Black Hood for two months, you kept your secret for two years. Two years!" He exclaimed angrily. "I would have told you, every time you were with me all I wanted to do was tell you who I was and what I was really doing. But I didn't want to lose you, I didn't want you to hate me for what I did. As far as I was concerned, that's exactly hat you would have done and I couldn't bare the thought of losing you too."

Barbara remained silent over the course of his tirade, her eyes slowly widening further and further as he spoke more. She could see the tears in his eyes and how angry he was, but most all, how upset he was.

He felt betrayed, betrayed that his best friend, she had kept such a big secret from him for two years. Hadn't trusted him enough, hadn't believed in him.

But above all else, he was afraid of losing her. The emotion that had seeped into his voice as he spoke about losing her spoke of more than just friendship and despite the seriousness of the situation, Barbara felt her heart beat faster.