(Naruto x Reader)- My nendo, my ninja way

Chapter 18

I wake up at some point in the night. I'm not sure what it is that wakes me exactly, maybe my nightmares. I don't remember most of the details, but I know that I was running from a giant beast in the woods, with golden eyes. My bed is wet with cold sweat, so I get up and go get a glass of water. I'm quiet so I don't wake up Sakura and Hinata sleeping in the other room, but I notice after a moment that the dream keeps coming back into my mind. I can't sleep right now, so I decide to go for a walk. Akamaru perks up his head as I start to sneak out, confused.
"It's okay bud," I whisper. "I'll be back in a bit. Go back to sleep."
He lowers his head again, and settles back into sleep. I slip out of the house, and go for a midnight walk. Since it's summer, the air is only slightly chilly, but the village is pretty quiet. The occasional person walks by, but I'm mostly alone. I stop at a forested area with a little pond near the outside of the village, and sit on a tree stump.
Somehow, my thoughts seem to drift to Lee again. I wonder if he's okay. I hope he'll learn to fight again, because I know it's always been his dream. I look at the reflection in the pond of the moon high above. I'm just about to get up and leave when I sense I'm not alone. Very abruptly, I become aware of a presence off to my right, and I hear footsteps coming towards me. I turn my head, and see an unfortunately familiar handsome face.
Orochimaru steps towards me, his long black hair falling gently over his shoulders, his skin pale and milky as usual.
I don't know what to do, so I simply freeze as he approaches.
"Well, fancy meeting you here, Y/n." He walks in front of the pond, so that he's standing before me. He smells like old blood, and maybe some acids and chemicals.
"W-what do you want from me?" I ask him, trying to hold my ground.
He merely grins, tilting his head to the side slightly and blinking slowly. "No Y/n, you misunderstand. I don't want anything from you. I want to give you something, in fact. More power."
"Hah. I don't need more power." I say, trying to push confidence into my voice.
Orochimaru shakes his head. "You can't lie to me. You can't even lie to yourself, you know it's not true."
My voice is defensive. "What do you know about if I need power or not?"
The pretty snake man continues smiling as he speaks in his low snakey voice. "I know that you weren't strong enough to protect your friend yesterday. I know that it tears you up inside that you couldn't be faster, that you couldn't protect him."
From both shock and knowledge that he's right, tears burn angrily in my eyes. "How-" my voice shakes, but I try to keep it under control. "How could you possibly know that?"
He isn't done, however. "I also know that you're alone, and afraid. You have no one, and those close to you, you only push away."
"Stop." The words come out almost a whisper. Orochimaru continues. "What if it had been Guy sensei after you? Would anyone protect you, or fight by your side? Or would they simply watch as you were killed?"
"Stop. Please." My eyes sting from the effort of holding back tears.
Orochimaru still looks as aloof as ever. "You'll need my power. And I'll be there when you do. You can't live without the power to protect others, or yourself."
My fear turns to rage, uncontrollable hatred, in a fraction of a second. I scream in anger, and whirl on him, using my first beast mode to slash through him with my claws. His form simply turns to mud in my fingers, and drips onto the ground. A clone.
Orochimaru's laughter echoes through the trees. "You'll need me. Find me when you're ready to accept that."
His voice disappears, and I fall slowly to my knees, shaking. Tears drip down my face. I know he could've killed me in a second had he wanted to. What does he want from me? Why would he offer me power? And worst of all, what if he's right?

I go back home, the night air now chilled by my experience. I have no idea how I'll get back to sleep, but I sneak quietly back into the house and lay down in bed. Sakura and Hinata are still asleep in the next room, so I lay in bed until they wake up, unable and unwilling to sleep myself.
At dawn, I get up and stare out my broken window, lost in thought.
"Y/n? You good?"
I turn quickly, Sakura is leaning on the doorway with her arms crossed.
"Oh, yeah, sorry."
She pauses for a second. "It's not your fault about Lee."
I shrug.
"It's not, regardless of what you might believe. You did everything you could."
"How would you know? You weren't there, Sakura."
"Naruto told me what happened." Her voice is a bit hard, and I realise I sounded mean.
"Sorry."
She shrugs. "I just wanted you to know that it's not your fault."
I sigh. I know she's trying to make me feel better, but I know deep down it's not true. If I'd just been a bit more powerful, I could've beaten Guy, and Lee would be fine!
Hinata walks in from the other room as well, yawning. "G'morning."
Sakura stops leaning on the doorway to let Hinata pass. "Good morning Hinata!" She exclaims a little excitedly, but Hinata doesn't really seem to notice.
I start to make some coffee, since I only got a few hours of sleep last night. Hinata looks about as tired as I do, and I wonder why, since I doubt she got visited by a creepy hot snake guy last night. I guess she's not a morning person.
I chug my strong black coffee and then hand Hinata a cup, which she cups in her hands and curls up in one of my chairs with her legs tucked up.
Sakura seems intrigued at this.
After drinking another cup of coffee, a little slower this time, I think about breakfast. I take out a big plate of slabs of raw meat, and start eating some.
Sakura looks in my fridge, and raises her eyebrows. "Um, Y/n, do you have anything aside from raw meat?"
I think for a second. "I think there's a whole raw fish in the back."
Sakura sticks out her tongue. "Ew. We are not eating that."
Akamaru nuzzles up to Hinata's chair and sits next to her. She gives him scratches on the head, and I toss him some raw beef which he eats on the floor.
Sakura and Hinata find some old cereal in the cupboard that I don't remember buying, and eat that for their breakfast.
Hinata asks something tiredly as she eats. "So why exactly do you only eat raw meat?"
"It's an Inuzuka thing. I could eat other stuff, but since the Inuzuka clan is a dog clan, we can eat meat raw."
Hinata nods, but I can't tell if she's actually absorbed any of the information she's been given because she looks very tired.
Sakura gets up from the table. "Well, I promised Tsunade I'd do some training with her today, so I should probably go do that. Um, Hinata, you want to come with? We could go out for lunch after, or something..."
Hinata nods. "Mmm. Sure. Might Naruto be there?"
Sakura laughs. "Nah, I'm sure he's off with his boyfriend."
Hinata opens her eyes now, she looks a little sad. "Oh. Right."
"So, we should get going." Sakura says, smiling and already ready.
Hinata sips her coffee. "Yeah, I'll come a little later, kay? Gotta wake up first."
Sakura looks sad. "Oh. Yeah, of course, see you there then." I walk Sakura to the door, and she's ready to leave, but she stops in the doorway for a second, and lowers her voice. "Hey, Hinata's seemed kind of sad recently. Can you tell me if you find out why? I'm planning to ask her ou-" She coughs. "Um! Ask her to... train with me later, and I just want to know if something might be bothering her, for... training reasons!"
I shrug. "Sorry, you know her better than I do. If I find out why though, I'll tell you, okay?"
Sakura nods. "Thanks Y/n! I knew I could count on you." I blush. "No problem babe- I MEAN SAKURA, UH, BYE!" I slam the door. "Shit shit shit!!" I scream whisper. I hope she didn't hear it, and I hope Hinata didn't hear either. Sakura just makes me so bashful!!