Barely Holding On (OcxOC Naruto story)

9~ Truth.

~Julo POV~

Rino's breathing started to even out, and I could feel their sobs subsiding. It took me a few minutes to realize they had actually fallen asleep. 

From what I could see, they looked so peaceful just laying there. I hugged them close to my chest while watching how their body started rising and falling with every breath. 

When I was confident they were deep in sleep, I lifted their head in front of me, finally accepting my feelings for them, kissed their forehead, and whispered 

"I love you, Rino."

~Rino POV~

I slowly opened my eyes to feel that I was sitting up. I turned my head to see light purple hair next to me. It took me a second to realize that I had fallen asleep on Julo's shoulder. I looked up into his eyes, they were beautiful, light pink eyes. 

I then relaxed into his embrace again. He was just so warm as he hugged me in his arms.

I then heard Julo's soft voice "Hey your awake, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I replied with a tired, emotionless tone.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

I was confused at first. No one ever worried about me, but for some reason he did. How could he tell I was lying? Maybe he really did care. Did he share the same feelings I did? No, there's no way. No one could love me. I was incapable of feeling loved. The only person who could be capable of loving me is Jules, and she's gone now.

After a few minutes I finally replied, "I'm not sure anymore."

He gave me a sad expression as I sat up. "What time is it? How long was I asleep?" My voice was raspy and quiet.

"It's around 7, you've been asleep for about an hour."

I'm surprised that I slept that long, or that I even slept at all, I barely get any sleep anymore. Between constant nightmares, being in too much pain to sleep, and just plain insomnia, I'm lucky to get 4 hours a night. 

"You should stay the night here tonight, it's already late and you can leave in the morning if you want. I can even make you dinner, if you want," he continued while giving me a small smile.

My expression saddened a bit, and he noticed.

"Hey what's wrong?"

"Uh nothing," I lied.

"Ok, I don't really believe you, but I won't force you to open up. Just know I'll always listen, no matter what." His words soothed me, and I decided I should try to eat something.

A few hours later we decided to go to bed. Julo slept on his bed while I slept on a bed right next to his. I felt guilty, knowing I would have nightmares as I slept, and I assumed it would wake up Julo, but I was too tired to do anything about it, so I decided to try and sleep.

As I predicted, the nightmares came that night, without warning, and they were just as bad as ever. I was at the same point I get to every night, hearing him say my name for the last time as his body fell into my arms. "Thank you, Rino." I sat up instantly, sobbing silently to myself as I struggled to breathe. His last words rang through my head over, and over, and his face as he looked me in the eyes before he fell into my arms, was engraved onto my eyes as I couldn't stop staring at it in my mind. Everything seemed worse than usual, by now I normally would've caught my breath, but I was still hyperventilating, unable to calm down. My sobs started echoing through the room as I was unable to stop those as well. I just sat there on the bed, hyperventilating and sobbing, wishing that I could just make everything stop.

~Julo POV~

I woke up to sobs echoing through my room as I looked over to see Rino, sobbing and hyperventilating, next to me as they just sat up. I walked over to them, as I pulled them into an embrace, and I could tell they instantly started to calm down. After a few minutes, they managed to fall asleep on me again. As I started to lay them back down on their bed, I noticed something on their wrist. I looked down. There were self-inflicted scars all over their wrist. 

Everything started to finally make sense. The long sleeves all year long. The occasional times when their aim was off because their wrist was hurting. And the silent treatment when we started talking about the battle scars we got as ninja. 

All my questions were answered except for one. 

Why?

Was it the villagers cruel treatment of them? Kailo's death taking a toll on them? I then decided that I would ask about it in the morning.

I love how this stories going so far. I don't really think I like this chapter very much but whatever. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy reading. :)

~Z

Total word count: 830