The Dragon Queen // (Under Revision)

Devil On Her Shoulder

He visualized her eyes first. They were such a deep pooling green, dazzling and sorrowful all at once. Sometimes they sparkled like gemstones when there was light reflecting on them, or when she laughed, like really laughed, and other times when the light was dim, they seemed so harrowing and haunting. Like when she mentioned her past at all. Her eyes looked like the clear pond she'd taken him to earlier when she said she couldn't remember something. Even though Naruto remembered everything.

Her eyes matched her hair, which cascaded down her shoulders in gentle waves. He recalled the time she'd asked him if he liked it up or down and he'd said he liked it any way she wore it. But he really did like it when it was down. When they stood on the roof that first night, it had moved in the breeze across her shoulders in a strangely satisfying way.

Then Naruto shuddered. On the left side of her shoulder, buried in her hair, there was that thing. A strange, mass-less black shadow that perched on her shoulder. It had appeared ever since the day he'd fought Yowai. He hadn't noticed it at first, thinking it was a trick of the light. He realized what it was when he'd kissed her hand earlier. Now he knew no one else could see it but him, and he knew exactly what it was.

Hayate had kicked Yowai out, but Tsuyoi's negativity was too great. It had to collect somewhere, and instead of it being on the inside, like Yowai, it was on the outside. Whatever had been damaged inside her was still broken, which meant that defeating Yowai had been a temporary fix.

And one day it would get too big.

Naruto still didn't know what to do about it.

"Hurry up and put your kimono on already, Naruto!" Sakura yelled at him impatiently.

"I'm coming, Sakura, geez," he quipped back.

He came from around the shoji. His eyes immediately went to Tsuyoi. He felt heat rise in his face. She looked absolutely amazing. It stunned him. She was beautiful. 

But then he saw the devil on her shoulder and his smile faltered.

It had one big blue eye.