Naruto: The Seraph Project

Chapter 92: Coldness

Gently, the chirping of the birds wakes me from my sleep. I don't recognize the place, and a fleeting confusion overwhelms me for a breath. After an eternity of sleeping in a hospital room—or rather, in a depressing room—my somewhat confused brain takes time to process the information. I blink a few times and grimace in disgust. I'm under the blanket that I haven't cleaned yet; at that, my head rests on my equally disgusting pillow. Naruto took advantage of my swooning state to offer me this unwanted comfort...

It's only now that I realize that I'm in the arms of my student and that I'm his little spoon. His tail is wrapped tightly around my leg, and his face against my neck gives me incessant shivers due to his breath. I blush with embarrassment. I forgot how clingy and invasive Naruto can be. Somehow, his embrace feels good. I'm so comfortable that I don't want to get up; I want to stay in a ball and sleep in.

I let out a sigh and gently separate myself from the teenager, who is mumbling incomprehensible sounds. I glance at my dial. It's eight in the morning. I expected to get up much later. Naruto no longer seems to submit me to his nocturnal lifestyle. He must know that my body truly needs to recover from the damage caused by his venom. This resistance to substances of all kinds is double-edged; it threatened my life more than once. I wonder if I also gained resistance to poisons...

I go to the bathroom to take a shower and get rid of the static electricity accumulated in my hair. However, I stand still when I encounter my reflection. My enchanting silver mane bewitched by a hypnotic charm is normal. Usually, I wake up with a messy, ridiculous mop of hair, waving in every direction, like it's being pulled by some invisible force ready to rip it out. Slipping a careful hand through it, I don't hear any suspicious buzzing, and the hair doesn't stick to my skin. Obviously, I no longer store static electricity or am immune to it now.

Mechanically, I caress the back of my neck, then another detail captures my attention. Although I'm put off by the appearance of my hideously scarred arms, I observe them meticulously—specifically the bite from yesterday. The wounds that are only a few hours old are already healing, and there's no redness. As a result, they no longer hurt at all, even when I touch them with my fingertips. Odd.

Concerned, I roll up the sleeve of my pants. My eyes widen when I see the state of the bruises surrounding my ankle. Perplexed, I reveal the second. It's in the same condition as its twin. Last night they were purplish, burning and painful. Now the bruises have almost disappeared. By inspecting them by touch, the sore skin is no longer swollen and the temperature is normal. I lower my mask to look at my tongue. Like other injuries, it doesn't hurt as much anymore. The swelling and redness left it. Depending on its current condition, it will heal within a week instead of several, long weeks.

What does that mean? My wounds are healing with worrying speed, and that's not normal. These kinds of injuries take several days to heal. However, they will be by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Did I gain the chakra devourer's healing ability? It can only be that. Otherwise, I can't find any logical explanation for this phenomenon. In the hospital, I was constantly receiving care, and since I avoid looking at my arms, I didn't pay much attention either.

Cold sweat breaks out on my temple as I place a hand on the back of my neck. My body is changing ... is still changing... Is there a stop on these worrying changes? Was I wrong about this impossibility that I transform into one of these creatures? Am I becoming something else, a being neither human nor chakra devourer?

I shake my head. I've already accepted that I'm no longer human, that I'm a macabre mixture of the two. It's just another tiny little detail of nothing at all that slipped through my fingers...

As long as I don't devour chakra, I'm normal.

As long as the mark doesn't progress on my back, I'm normal.