Caterpillar

Break up

"So this is where you live." Naruto said when he entered Wonder Woman's apartment. It was a very spacious and modern-looking apartment, on the top floor of a skyscraper, in New York. The floor-to-ceiling tall windows in the living room offered a gorgeous view of the city.

"Are you surprised?"

"A bit. I was expecting you to live in some ancient manor on a mountain or something."

"That was a dig at my age, wasn't it?" she said with narrowed eyes and slapped him on the butt, making him jump up startled. She laughed delighted at his reaction. "What? You've quite enjoyed touching my butt over the past week, I think I'm entitled to do the same with yours."

It was one of the very rare moments when Naruto's face became red.

"Fufu, so you do get flustered too~"

Grinning from one ear to another, she pressed a quick kiss on his lips and then slipped away, leaving an embarrassed Naruto behind. When she returned from her bedroom 3 minutes later, he saw that she had taken off her white and golden armour and put on some casual clothes instead: a pair of grey sweatpants and a baggy dark blue t-shirt. Despite the plain clothes, he felt like her pure beauty was shown even more than when she was wearing her glamourous armour.

"Don't just stand there, come, make yourself at home." Diana said as she grabbed his hands and pulled him to sit next to her on the sofa.

As Naruto took off his fur-collared cloak and put it on the armrest of the sofa, she looked at him silently, from head to toes.

"I think we should go and buy some normal clothes. You can't go around in your cloak and combat suit everywhere. People will look at you like you've come out of a sci-fi movie."

From an Earthling's point of view, it looked like the battle suit of a super-soldier from a sci-fi video game. There were matt metallic plates protecting his shoulders, his back, his chest and his shins, a utility belt around his waist and two holsters on his thighs that stored a particular type of daggers, daggers that had sealing formulas inscribed on their handles. Naturally, if Naruto was placed next to Earth's superheroes, compared to guys wearing bright red colours or their underwear above the pants, his attire would not catch anyone's eyes. But Diana was planning on spending time with Naruto without their armour, among regular civilians.

"So, when do you start your hero work again?" he asked.

"In 2 days, next week, on Monday."

"Want me to tag along with you? It would be fun to do some missions together." he said.

Diana hesitated.

"I'd love that...but I don't think it would sit well with the rest of the Justice League. Don't forget, you're still the boogeyman for them. It wasn't too long ago that you and Kurama destroyed a planet. They're still scared by that."

Naruto looked bummed out.

"Speaking of Kurama, I haven't known him for as long as you do but I think he's been acting strangely in the past few days."

After leaving the Watchtower and coming down to Earth, Kyuubi asked Naruto to drop him in the centre of Africa, somewhere in the middle of the continent's savanna.

"Now that you mentioned it, I see it too. He's been away for long periods at a time."

"Maybe it's because of me?" Diana asked. "Maybe he's trying to give us space and not feel like the 3rd wheel?"

Naruto looked at her in doubt.

"I don't know about that. I think he just felt in the mood to bully and beat up some lions. He's always doing that to the apex predators of any planet he goes to. Last time we came to Earth, he beat up and ate a bear in the Balkan Mountains, in Europe. Something about showing everyone who's the 'top dog'. But you may be right, he's been quite distant on Genesis Stadium too. I'll go talk to him today."