🌊✨Over Again✨🌊

🍡✨Chapter Nine✨🍡

Ryu sighed dramatically as he sat back on the queen-sized Inn bed.

"Geez, that could've gone better," he groaned as he rolled back and fourth, ruining the freshly made bed. Deidara sighed as he yanked his yukata off and tossed it in the general direction of his own bed.

"For real, un," He nodded as he pulled a tee-shirt on, "I didn't know we came for an interrogation, especially from some pint-sized midget," he rolled his eyes, "The nerve that kid had, un, questioning us like we had killed his dog or something." Ryu laughed at that, and slid into a sitting postion. 

"Ne ne, don't be too hard on him, he is a kid after all," he smiled.

A knock echoed through the room. Deidara padded over to the rice-paper door and slid it open, Jiraiya stood on the other side, an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry again about those gaki's. I had inteded for you guys just to meet the Hokage, but the man himself had other plans, it seems," he rubbed the back of his head in embarrasment, and he came and sat at the provided pull-out couch, "As an apology, I'll treat you guys to some ramen sometime," at that, Deidara groaned. 

"If I have to have ramen one more time I'm going to kill someone, un, preferably Ryu," he heaved a sigh. Ryu put on an offended face, "Ehhhhh? why me, I treat you to all your meals and buy your supplies! I'm supposed to be your highly respected Sensei, goddammit!" he cried idignantly. 

"Respected Sensei my ass! Just a few days ago you drew all over my face so I looked like a fucking panda! No one told me 'til I saw my own reflection in a window, un!" He yelled angrily as he stomped on Ryu's huddled form, " Jiraiya burst out laughing, "He's got you there, gaki!" He cried as his laughs calmed to snorts and giggles.

"I only did that because you were snoring like a panda! I never sleep when your around, you explosive freak!" Ryu whined as he swipped Deidara's legs out from under him. 

After a few more minutes of play-fighting, Ryu sobered up and turned to Jiraiya. "How far along is  Kushina, by the way?" he asked as he stared at the ceiling in thought. Jiraiya blinked, "Err, about four months I believe. You must be a natural sensory nin, it's hardly noticable for regular shinobi," he concluded, although the last part seemed more like an after-thought.

"Mmm.. something like that," the red-head replied vaugly. He quickly changed the subject, "So do they know the due date?" he voiced. He didn't know much about pregnancy, but that seemed like a valid question, right?

"October seventh to eleventh," he said easily, and then excitedly added, "Minato said I was to be the godfather!" he hummed in joy as he got up to leave. 

Ryu wondered, with no small amount of jelousy, if Jiraiya would've stuck around had Minato and Kushina not died. He couldn't help but contemplate if he had, at one point in Ryu's timeline, said the same things as Kakashi.

He reminds me too much of his parents.

He looks exactly like Minato.

I can't stand to be around him, he's just like his mother.

It made sense, to an extent, but the lonliness and isolation Ryu had faced had been far more painful then their combined grief; any anguish they felt over the loss of their loved ones was felt ten-fold growing up with no parents or answered questions, and an entire village of angry eyes and painful words. It made something akin to resentment swell in his chest.

That night Ryu lay in bed, the loud panda-snores of Deidara echoing in the room, thinking of what could've been.

-+-

The next few months passed in a blur.

Between training Deidara, spending time with Jiraiya and Kushina, and getting settled into Konoha for what had evolved into an extended-stay, Ryu hadn't had a whole lot of time to think and prepare for his own younger-counterpart's birth. Conversations with Kurama and the biju were short-lived and fruitless, as none of them seemed to know how this timelines Naruto would affect Ryu. Kurama was worried that the existence of two Narutos would result in an inbalance of the natural order of the universe, causing many different senarios in which one of them would cease to exist.

Ryu himself wasn't particularily worried about this timeline. While he had yet to handle Orochimaru, he did manage to destroy the Uchiha Tablet, framing it as a 'natural disaster.' The Uchiha couldn't say anything, for they could reveal the existence of the tablet, and were too paranoid to copy down the tablets contents beforehand. This left the only proof of it's existence through word-of-mouth, which would probably end up fading out anyway, as hardly anyone knew of it, and he doubted anyone had memorised it.

However, the fact that he had mostly accomplished all he needed to in this time-line, still didn't neccesarily mean wanted to die. 

While he had lost everyone he cared about, he had gained some people here that he wasn't prepared to lose yet.

His heart ached.

It had been suggested in passing, that he might need to kill himself.

While none of the biju liked this option, it was a possibility that the Naruto of this time might die because Ryu had selfishly tried to exist in a world he didn't belong to. Kurama had stated that he was highly againts it, but had begrudgingly agreed that the younger Naruto deserved a chance at life, even if Ryu hadn't gotten much of one.

God, he was only seventeen.

He didnt want to die yet.

Even after the heart-crushing anguish and despair of losing everyone, he still wanted to live. He wanted to grow up and get married and have kids. He wanted to be Hokage, to accomplish his dream, to grow old, to teach more kids and gain more friends. He wanted so much more.

It didn't seem like he'd ever get his shot at happiness.

Even if the biju lived despondent lives of inprisonment, Ryu couldn't help but envy their immortality, no matter how much he had heard it would be lonely, he longed for the sweet, sweet reasurence of eternal life.

To be continued.