Strawberries (A Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 17: Joking with Trust

Author's Note

Let's skip the long overdue chapter excuses and get right to this new installment of 'Strawberry-Scented Reality,' shall we? So when you're done reading, just remember to Review, Fav, Follow but most of all, ENJOY it! Thanks!

P.s. - Hope you liked my little treat for you all in the last chapter. FINALLY revealing some more about the enigmatic Furea Murasaki.

"Furea... you're joking with me, right?"

I ask this incredulously as I stare down at the cellar door that isn't exactly a cellar door. Because according to Furea, whatever is under this – this door-that-looks-like-a-cellar-door-but-isn't – is her home. I struggle to make it out in the pitch-darkness of the forest, too many trees in the way to have the moonlight shine through well, but I can see it. Just barely.

"Menma, I realize that this situation is unbelievable it itself. I dragged you out of a restaurant where we both –" Furea pauses for emphasis. "– were having a good time. And I didn't tell you where I was taking you until it was already too late, and you were unwillingly but surely following me into these deep, scary-ass dark as shit woods, putting your trust in my hands... I realize the stupid and inexplicable situation I've just brought you into, Menma. I swear to you that I realize it all."

She suddenly points down to the door.

"But I kid you fucking not when I say that this door, or under the door more specifically, is my house. My home."

"How?" I ask her quickly, putting my hands on my hips and jerking my head towards the door. "How can this be your home? It doesn't even look like a house. It looks like a basement, and on top of that, it's smack-dab in the middle of the damn Konoha forest!"

"So?" Furea hisses quietly, looking down at her feet. "So what if it's right in the middle of a forest and it doesn't look like a home? So what?"

Furea sighs after this, obviously mentally exhausted, and runs a hand through her long, orange locks.

"You know what, Menma? I'd be happy to just take you back. I knew you weren't ready to handle the truth yet. I should have never brought you here in the first place." She turns around. "After all, how can we be friends if you don't trust me?"

That's not true! I quickly think as she says those words.

It can't be true, right?

Do I trust Furea?

Pondering this, I recall all the times I asked to get to know her more. Each time, she would reply with, "One day I will tell you everything," or, "Not now," or sometimes she would just avoid the whole idea of me learning about who she is altogether. So now she suddenly wants to reveal who she is all at once?

She's right, I recognize.

I don't trust her. To this day. Because I don't know her.

I know who Furea Marasaki is, but I don't know Furea Murasaki. She barely makes the effort to tell me anything about herself in the first place and even when she does, it's little snippets, little pieces of her back story, too far apart and too unalike for me to piece together.

How can I trust someone I don't even know?

"Furea." I walk up to her and rest a hand on her left shoulder, her back still facing me. "Give me some credit here, will you? You call us friends, but in reality, I don't even know you."

Furea tenses up and I remove my hand from her in anxiousness. Turning around slowly, she looks at me, her eyes glistening as fresh tears well up. "What – what do you mean, Menma?"