Redemption

2

Lol, when you think I'd be updating CotF first. Sorry, not sorry.

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When Naruto woke up, he felt groggy and less awake than usual. He felt like the previous night was all a vicious nightmare, a product of his imagination; but the bloodstained blanket and stickiness of his own dried blood reminded him that it was real. 

As usual though, he could already tell that he would be late for class, if he wasn't already. Glass was still cluttered in the corners and strewn about the floor, telltale glint barely visible to him thanks to the peeking rays of the morning sun. Picking up his small alarm clock from its face-down position by his door, he saw that it was nine o'clock. 

Class had started by now, so why not tidy up the room a bit? He'd just go to class during the lunch break.

And so that's what he set off to do. Slipping on his blue sandals, he walked into the tiny kitchen to retrieve his broom and dustpan. First order of business: clean up the bed. This too was covered in broken glass, though it wasn't like he had the money to buy a new one. The only option left was to clean it, try cleaning it some more, and then burn it if that didn't work.

Rolling up the thin comforter, he dragged both that and the sheets out to the deck to hang on the clothesline. (Sometimes the dryer decided it didn't want to work, and he had to leave everything out to the mercy of the elements and the villagers.)

When he had as much as he could fit strung up, he gripped his old broom and took a swing.

Glass, dust, and who knows what else immediately clouded around him, falling to the wooden planks beneath his feet and to the ground below.

Evidently, he did not think this through.

Little shards of light stuck to his clothes and flew into his nest of hair. Already, he could feel the burning itch of tiny cuts accumulating, though he couldn't really stop now that he'd started. When he was all done cleaning, he'd be sure to change into that new orange jumpsuit Hokage-jiji had gifted him before the whole festival debacle. 

The dust had settled now, but Naruto was sure that that was not the end to the shards embedded within the bedding. And so he whacked some more, eventually using his anger and frustration to fuel his hits.

With each hit, he felt a little better and less angry; his breaths quickening as his hits lost their mindless edge. He wasn't okay, not yet. But it was a start. 

When his arms tired of their swinging, he bundled everything up once more and put it in the small washer that always protested loudly, but worked nonetheless. 

After that, he started sweeping the clutter to a contained pile. Likely everything that he swept up would be broken or unusable, and therefore garbage. It was with a heavy heart that he had to include a few articles of clothing in this category as well. He'd just have to scavenge for more at a later date. 

It was then that he remembered the small carcasses scattered about. He wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to forget about them, seeing as he'd had to clear the bedding and floor of them, but the smell of his apartment was a tad overripe when he accidentally stepped on one. Disgusted, he gathered them together and plotted to pelt the main perpetrators with them when he had the time. 

Looking around, he saw that there wasn't much he could do at this point. The paint would take more effort to remove than he was willing to put in at the moment, and there was no remedy for a soiled mattress other than letting it air out.