Reanimation

Chapter Thirteen

"Dad?"

Boruto felt like he was staring deep into his own eyes as he spoke to the figure in front of him. Bolt took two steps forward. Naruto took two steps back.

"You have to go," Naruto said, his cloak billowing behind him with the wind. "Forget that you saw me again."

His father looked exactly like the last time he saw him a few years back, and he sounded just the same. Boruto's jaw dropped and his hands began to shake. All Bolt wanted now was to go nearer, but the flame in Naruto's eyes grew and Bolt's blood ran cold at the weight of the older man's stare.

Is Dad angry at me?

Bolt could only stare back.

"I told you, Boruto, LEAVE -- "

"No!" He yelled back with his fists clenched at his sides, fingers digging painfully into his own palms. His father didn't even want to talk to him --

"This isn't the time to be stubborn, Boruto -- "

"This is the first time I see you in years and all you could tell me is that I have to leave?!"

"Yes, because it's all you have to do right now," Naruto responded sternly, his voice barely carrying any emotion.

Bolt's eyes were starting to well up and he began to tremble, not out of fear but of rejection -- there was nothing but emptiness in the way Naruto spoke to him.

Boruto knew he had to speak, or he'd never have the chance to talk to him again, like what happened two years ago. He couldn't let this moment pass.

"And..." he managed to say before his voice cracked, "... if I don't?"

The young man waited as his father took a deep breath before speaking.

"I might end up killing you."

Boruto had always dealt with different levels of shock, but this caught him off-guard. Soon, the tears he'd tried to hold back were flowing freely down his face and it seemed like his eyes forgot how to blink. Naruto didn't even flinch. There were no attempts to say more.

"And you're not even going to tell me why?" Boruto asked.

Before he could receive an answer, suddenly he couldn't breathe. His back hit the wall and his father's face was just an inch away from his own. Looking down, he saw that Naruto's hand wrapped tightly against his throat and his other arm pushed Boruto's body against the concrete.

"Dad--" he managed to cough in between attempts to breathe. He mouthed "Why?"

Naruto looked at him in the eye and sighed. "I'm not in control of myself, Boruto."

His attempts to breathe were getting harder and soon it was impossible; Boruto soon stopped trying to breathe. He stared softly back into Naruto's eyes as his own hands tried to pull the one around his throat. Naruto did not let go.

Boruto tried to exert more force but the resistance against him only got stronger. His dad had always been stronger than him. But he couldn't... he couldn't just give up.

He couldn't just die like this. He wouldn't let himself die.

As he struggled harder, the weight against his body became heavier. His vision spun and soon he had to close his eyes. Being out of breath seemed to feel too similar to drowning and Boruto could not remember feeling anything worse than this.

I didn't know dying hurt this much.

"Boruto!"

Piercing through the darkness that began enveloping him, he almost missed it but it seemed he heard someone call.