It All Started With A Smell

Coward

Varric's POV:

There were benefits to being a bartender at one of the most popular bars in the village. Granted, said bar was gone. But still, Varric was able to get information off his regular customers. He was able to find out that Naruto was fine, and staying at the Nara compound, helping to plan the relocation of the citizens of the village. He was also able to find out that many ninjas were questioning Naruto's gender. Personally he had no idea how they hadn't worked it out already. She had always looked like a girl to him. He didn't say that though. Instead he set the seeds of doubt about what they thought they saw. Naruto could tell them the truth when she was ready. Until then, the village could keep guessing.

When he heard from a party of ninjas that had gone to check on the civilians, he knew he had to do something. One of his favourite patrons had told him how his boss wanted Naruto to lead the children out of the tunnels. And he knew that Naruto would do it. She could easily say no but Varric knew she wouldn't.

So here he was, slowly drinking from the one of the few surviving alcohol bottles from the bar. He had another sitting beside him, patiently waiting for the one who would need it. Behind him loomed the entrance to the evacuation tunnel. The slabs of broken concrete, brick, and wood littered around the entrance looked like the victims of the tunnel's darkness. Even after all this time the sight of the tunnel sent shivers down his spine. Swallowing thickly, Varric took a gulp of his drink, wishing Naruto would hurry up.

He spotted a blonde figure walking towards him. Her steps were laboured, her head down. Varric silently waited until Naruto drew near. When she finally stopped and looked up, Varric simply help up the unopened bottle of sake. Naruto hesitated for only a moment before taking the bottle and sitting down on what used to be a wall.

After an awkward silence, Naruto sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what Dai asked you to do. So I came to help."

"How did you know I'd be using this tunnel?"

The simple tone they both used clearly hid what was going on within their minds.

"I may have asked some direct questions to some ninjas working close to the Naras." Taking a deep breath, Varric forced himself to look at the woman beside him. Doing so made him notice she was hiding her gender again. He flinched. "Naruto... I'm an ass."

Naruto merely took a sip of her drink. "And?"

Varric gave a laugh. "I appreciate that. I'm an ass and I'm a coward. I'm fucking pathetic! And I'm sorry." He watched Naruto open and close her mouth. "I don't want forgiveness. I haven't done anything to earn it. Hell, you should want to kill me. And no one would blame you. I knew about those boys who were trying to hurt you all those years ago, but I had hoped that someone else would stop them so that I didn't have to. That's why I never even thought about becoming a ninja. I prefer to let others do the dangerous things. I'm too much of a coward."

"Shikamaru told Iruka-Sensei and got beaten up for it," Naruto commented plainly.

"And that just shows he's a better man than me," Varric admitted, biting down his bitterness.

"Yep."

"I deserved that. Whilst I'm admitting to things I should say that Nara pisses me off. The moment I saw you with him I knew I had no chance. He treats you the way you deserve."

Naruto shook her head with annoyance before speaking in a cold voice. "You haven't apologised for the worst thing you've done."

"I was leaving it for last. I want to say that I believed my dad when he just wanted to talk but honestly, I just wanted my adopted parents to like me and I was too scared to think about who got hurt. I chose to be oblivious and you payed for it. Like I said, I'm a coward and I am sorry. After you kicked me out of the Nara Estate I realised you've grown up and worked to put your pain behind you. I clearly have not. I thought that since I knew what you've gone through I would be the one you turned to; that I deserved you. I realised I only saw you for what you've suffered instead of what you've done to overcome it all. I need to grow up. I need to stop being a coward. Hell, I didn't evacuate with the rest cause I was too scared to go in the tunnel without you. I sat up on the Hokage Heads and watched everyone else fight. I watched you fight. The thing I need to do the most is earn your forgiveness."

"If you're so scared, what are you doing here?"

"After everything you've done for the village, the least I can do is go with you, for old times."

Naruto smiled, downing the rest of her drink before getting up. "Well, with the Nine-Tails firmly locked away I can mildly feel the alcohol so let's do this before it wears off."

Varric hesitated for a moment before standing and taking Naruto's hand. With a deep breath they started walking into the evacuation tunnel.

"Just remember, we can't touch the walls even when we reach out as far as we can together." Naruto's voice held a tremor.

"We probably could now that we are older."

Naruto squeaked. After a moment, she spoke up. "At least we don't have Mrs Huruma with us."

That caused Varric to chuckle. The sound bounced off the walls, calming him. He remembered having to run practice evacuations as a child, and one real evacuation before he left the orphanage. Back then Naruto had been a tiny, underfed child who barely spoke and shook with fear at the slightest noise. Varric had had countless nightmares of her literally shaking apart. He had had to lead Naruto through the tunnel. He would get her to reach out her arms, showing her that even though they couldn't see the walls in the dark they were actually far from them. Focusing on Naruto and her fear helped him ignore how terrified he was. He had a job: to look after Naruto, because she couldn't look after herself.

When she walked into the bar ten years later, he hadn't recognised her. She had been so confident, loud, and talkative. She had comfortably joined in playful mockery of her drinking buddies. Although he had long ago stopped protecting Naruto, seeing that she no longer needed him and had replaced him with a better man had hurt. He had instantly disliked Shikamaru. He could see, thanks to the man, that he wasn't good enough for Naruto. Even when he had admitted his feelings to her, a large part of him had hoped she would reject him. It had still hurt when she had though.

With Naruto leading the way to the evacuation chamber they made it there a lot quicker than they would have with Varric leading. If he didn't know Naruto he would have thought she was fine. However, under the light of the chamber, he could see the paleness of her skin and the wideness of her eyes. The open space of the chamber allowed them both to breath.

Naruto organised the children and their families or guardians quickly. Taking a deep breath, they led the group back through the tunnel. Naruto explained how the village may be in ruin but it was just buildings and the village was not the buildings but the people. As long as the people survived so did the village. Her words calmed the children and distracted Varric and Naruto from the feel of the tunnels closing in on them.

The end of the tunnel appeared and Naruto noticeably started walking quicker. Varric had to tighten his hold on her hand, reminding her silently that she wasn't alone. When they exited the tunnel Naruto let go of Varric's hand, leading the group to the Uchiha Estate with confidence. She worked easily with her fellow ninjas. She did everything asked of her.

"It's good to see that you and Naruto are friends again," Dai commented.

"Not exactly." Varric shrugged before turning to his boss. "You know a lot of the time it's hard to believe Naruto is the same person I knew at the orphanage. But then there are things that haven't changed. In the orphanage, when someone was going to be thrown in the box, Naruto would often take the blame, even though he was terrified of the box. Still is really."

"Shit," Dai swore. "Erika had the same issue. Why did he come get us then?"

Varric sighed. "Because someone asked him too."

Dai frowned, clearly not understanding. Unfortunately for him, Varric was not going to explain something he had realised years ago. With a sad smile, he went to help the madam of the orphanage. She was trying to calmly move the children into their temporary home with little luck. Some were scared, some wanted to stay with Naruto, and others were hunting for ghosts. Varric wished they had covered up the Uchiha symbol before moving the children in but it was clearly too late for that.

Naruto was busy talking to a group of ninjas about moving other civilians into the estate from the tunnel and how to ensure food, clothing, and blankets were spread evenly among everyone. It wasn't hard for Varric to disappear from Naruto's sight. He had time to see a dark haired woman throw her arms around Naruto, making the blonde smile and laugh, before he went to talk to the madam of the orphanage. By the time he left the temporary orphanage Naruto had disappeared to fulfil another task. He swallowed the burning feeling in his throat. Instead he tried to make himself useful around the estate as more people funnelled in.