Chapter 17
Asuma Sarutobi
It was the fox spirit.
Asuma woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard.
“Asuma…” Kurenai mumbled. “What is it, honey?”
“Nothing,” Asuma responded, rising from her bed. He quickly went into the bathroom and shut the door. He turned on the sink water to cover the sound of his heavy breathing and pacing back and forth across the bathroom.
It’s the fox spirit.
His mind rushed to other ideas, hoping to find another reason as to why that kid yesterday went crazy like he did.
Another quirk. It’s got to be another quirk. Maybe he was lying. Maybe he-
Knocking on the bathroom door. It was Kurenai.
“Asuma,” she said, tired. “Come out and talk to me.”
“What is it,” he responded. “I’m using the bathroom.”
“With the sink on?”
“Sorry,” Asuma said. He quickly turned off the water.
“Are you ok? You’ve been a little off since we got home. And the way you woke up startled me.”
“I’m fine, Kurenai.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
Asuma flushed the empty toilet and opened the door.
“See, I was just using the bathroom,” he claimed.
“Talk to me,” she responded.
“What’s there to talk about,” he said as he walked back to bed. “Sorry if I startled you, come back to bed.” He got into the bedsheets and patted the empty space next to him.
“Not till you talk to me,” she said, still standing.
“There’s nothing to-…Wait a sec.”
“What,” she responded.
“Did you read my mind?”
“I didn’t.”
“So why do you keep saying something’s wrong?”
“What, because I can read minds, I can’t read your behavior- your face?”
“You read my mind, didn’t you,” he said, getting up from bed. “You wouldn’t be asking me this if you didn’t.”
“So, you do admit something’s wrong,” she responded.
“No point in hiding it now,” Asuma said, his tone slightly angry. “I told you how much I hate it when you do that.”
“I didn’t read your mind, Asuma.”
“Bullshit.”
“Okay, I see what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing, honey,” he said. “Valuing my boundaries- my privacy?”
“You do this all the time, you know. I say, what’s wrong honey, and you assume that I’ve been reading your mind.”
“It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”
“That’s not the poi- I- IT WAS ONE FUCKING TIME.”
“Noooooo, it was TWO times.”
“TWO FUCKING TIMES. And one of those times, if you can remember, was to get you a surprise birthday gift.”
“Kind of ruins the surprise when you find out that you basically told your partner what you wanted for your birthday.”
“What’s the difference between that and figuring it out from your friends by asking them, huh? Plus, stop being a baby, you loved that gift.”
“I really did, thank you for it.”
“You’re welcome, honey,” Kurenai sighed. “But what I wanted to say is what you’re trying to do is deflect. You want to have an argument rather than address what’s going on. I’m your girlfriend, you have to tell me what’s going on in your head.”
“Or you’ll read my mind,” he added. He knew she was right, but the realization he’d made was something he wasn’t ready to admit out loud.
“At this point, I’ll read your mind if you’re going to act like this,” she said.
“Do it, it’ll only prove my point.”
“So, you admit that I haven’t read it yet?”
Silence. She had caught him in the lie. Asuma’s mind raced for a way to deflect.
“Fuck it, I’ll just read your mind then,” Kurenai said, walking towards Asuma.
“NO!”
She stopped.
“I-…Well, I- uh….” Asuma paused for a second, trying to think of something.
The best he thought of was to dash to the bedroom door.
“Asuma, are you serious- Come back!”
He ran out the bedroom and headed down the stairs. Kurenai followed.
Asuma ran. He ran past the living room where they ate take out and finished their bottle of wine while watching a movie. The leftovers and trash were still on the coffee table. They were too preoccupied to pick it up.
He ran past the kitchen where they first tried to cook dinner together to have a romantic dinner date but realized that they were both shit at cooking.
He ran past the dining room where after they realized they were shit at cooking, they ordered pizza and ate it there. The entire dining room at the time was lit up by candles and covered in rose petals at time. All that decorating just to eat some cheap pizza. It’s still his favorite date they’ve been on.
He ran out the front door that he had knocked on earlier that day. Where he was greeted by the woman he loved. Where his entire day brightened because of her.
“Asuma, what the fuck is the matter with you,” Kurenai said, slightly out of breath. Asuma sat down on the steps of her porch, breathing heavily. He was a lot more out shape than she was.
“You said-huff- that you were -huff- gonna read my -huff- mind.”
“Jeez, a quick sprint across my house has got you that much out of breath,” she asked as she sat down next to him on the front porch. “I think it’s a sign that you need to stop smoking. And I wasn’t actually going to. You know I’d never do it.”
“You’ve done it two times.”
“Three times…” Kurenai sighed, looking away from him
“Three…? My birthday isn’t for another couple of months.”
“No… It was- Gosh, this is so embarrassing.”
“Come on, say it,” he pried.
“Not till you say what’s on your mind.”
“You first.”
“It…Remember before we were dating, and we were looking over that detention room. Well, remember how I made the first move?”
“No way… You read my mind to see if I was into you? Are you serious,” he laughed.
“I know, I know, I shouldn’t have. Please, stop laughing, it’s so embarrassing-.”
“I already knew this,” Asuma admitting, still laughing.
“You’ve known this whole time,” Kurenai asked, her face turning red. “Asshole,” she slapped him on the arm.
“C’mon, that first move you did was too bold. You just grabbed my arm and put it around you like that?”
“Oh please, we were way past first moves by that point. Do I need to remind you the shit we were saying to each other disguised as just jokes or silly flirting?”
He didn’t need a reminder. Their version of playful flirting was very intense.
“Still a bold move though. Wait… I just assumed that was the other time you’ve read my mind, what’s the third time?”
“Oh no, you need to tell me what’s on your mind first. I held up my end of the bargain.”
“Nope, not till you tell me first.”
“That is not how this is going to work, you need to talk to me, Asuma.”
“I know, I’m just being childish,” he responded.
“So, what’s wrong,” she asked.
“I… I’ve figured something out, but I don’t want to say it out loud.”
“Why?”
“Because if I say it out loud, then it’s out into the world. I’d basically be admitting it to be true.”
“That’s a bit silly, isn’t it?”
“I know,” he chuckled. “That sounds a lot sillier when I say it out loud.”
“Maybe if you say what’s on your mind out loud, it’ll be silly as well.”
“Maybe…” Asuma sighed.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I…It’s the kid from yesterday.”
“Naruto? What about him?”
“I think the reason he went crazy is because he has the fox spirit in him.”
Silence. They didn’t say anything. Until Kurenai burst out laughing.
“Really? A random kid has a spirit in him that’s been lost since Madara’s been president? Asuma, hasn’t he been president for 14 years? Why would it pop up now? And in anyone else that isn’t the president.”
“Naruto is a freshman in high school. He’s 14 years old…”
“And?”
“And in the care of an ex-military leader. Connect the dots, Kurenai.”
“I get what you’re trying to say, ever since Madara’s been president, the fox spirit has been lost and now this kid who happens to be alive exactly as long as that wretched Uchiha’s presidency appears to have a fox spirit in him? I mean, isn’t that a bit of a stretch, regardless of the kid being in the care of Hiruzen?”
“You didn’t see it firsthand, Kurenai.”
“When I read your mind, I literally experience the same feelings you experience. I literally completely understand you. I just think maybe it’s a bit of a stretch.”
“I just think that the way the kid acted, it’s too similar to the way the fox spirit acts.”
“Maybe he just didn’t tell anyone about this quirk.”
“I doubt it,” he sighed. “He literally burned Rock Lee’s hand. That’s not in his quirk description.”
“What are the odds, Asuma? What are the odds that you’re right on this? And if you are, what then?”
“I think the odds are high.”
“I think that’s bullshit. This is silly, Asuma,” she said. “You’re implying a whole conspiracy is going on. And it’s too convoluted. A fox spirit that has been passed down from president to president till the previous president, Minato, is poisoned and it disappears for 14 years. The current president cannot even find it. But you, Asuma Sarutobi, a football coach at a local high school, finds this fox spirit that was, mind you, no where to be found for 14 goddamn years by an entire government scouring entire countries for it, inside the body of a freshman who went on a violent temper tantrum.”
“Ok, you’ve made you’re point,” he sighed. “It is a bit silly.”
“That is what was bothering you?”
“I’m sorry, Kurenai,” he said, feeling ashamed. “I didn’t know if it was true, and I was afraid admitting it would make it true in some weird way and I didn’t know if it would be dangerous for you to know if it ended up being true. I was acting very silly, and I promise to tell you things from now on.”
“Good, glad that’s settled,” she got up from the porch. “Can we go back to bed now?”
“Nope, you need to tell me when the third time you read my mind was.”
“Ughhh,” she groaned. “This is what I get for dating someone in their 20s.”
Asuma got up from the porch too.
“Don’t say that I’m literally 29. That’s basically 30.”
“You act 16,” she said as they both walked back into the house.
“This is what I get for dating a senior citizen.”
“I am 34 you asshole.”
“That’s basically 40,” he said as he shut the front door behind them.
“That’s basically 34. Keep talking like that and you’re going to sleep on the couch.”
“Tell me what the third time you read my mind was,” he asked as they walked up the stairs.
“Ok, this isn’t that embarrassing, but it is silly. It was a couple of days after Sarutobi told us to stop dating each other after he caught us in the detention room. And we didn’t talk to each other for a while till we both were at school late. And you knocked on my door to talk to me about how things ended, and you hoped we could still be friends.”
“I remember,” he said.
“It was the only time up to that point in our relationship that I was sure how I felt about you. I knew without a doubt I didn’t want to be friends. But I didn’t know what to say because it was against school policy and it’s your uncle saying that you didn’t want to be together. So, when you shook my hand to tell me goodnight, I read your mind if you felt still felt the same way you did when we were hooking up in the detention room. I was so nervous but I didn’t want to just stay friends, so I had to know.”
“That was when you told me you still liked me and you were ready to be more than friends with benefits.”
“It’s silly, I wish I could’ve been bold enough to tell you without reading your mind first. The truth is, when you have a power like this, it makes you insecure. When you can read a person’s mind, you find out how people feel about you and well… There’s been people who I really liked- who I really loved that were actually indifferent to me. And there have been times where I’ve been vulnerable with people who I thought loved me only to be hurt by them. When that happens, you want to be able to know what people are actually thinking sometimes cause you can’t trust others. But, when I read your mind that day, I knew I could trust you.”
They were now in front of the bedroom door.
“I love you, Kurenai,” he said.
“I know, I can read your mind, remember?”
*******************************
They both left to school in separate cars.
Asuma felt bad about their night together, so he ordered a bouquet of flowers be sent to her home as an apology.
Fox spirit, he thought. I got so worked up over some silly theory.
He got to his first math class when he took attendance. He called out each person’s name.
“Shikamaru Nara,” he said.
“Here,” the kid groaned.
“Karin Yukinari.”
“Present.”
“Choji Akimichi.”
“Here.”
“Kiba Inuzuka.”
“I’m here,” Kiba said as he ran into the classroom, late.
“I won’t count you late today because of what you did yesterday,” Asuma said. “Genuinely, thank you for the help.”
“Ahh it was no big deal,” Kiba responded, smiling.
“I’m going to make it up to you somehow, Kiba. Anyways, Naruto.”
No response.
“Naruto, are you here?”
Still no response.
“Absent it is,” Asuma mumbled.
After another class came Asuma’s free period. He went to the front office.
“Hey Anko,” he said. “I’m going to need a couple of student files to put what assignments they missed today in.”
“Sure thing, Asuma,” she said. The girl walked over to the file cabinet. “You know, it’s nice you’re doing things the way their supposed to be done. Usually, teachers just give the students what they missed during their classes, but they’re supposed to be putting what they missed in these files so the homeroom teachers give it to the kids to work on during homeroom.”
“Thank you for that, the student’s files I need-.”
“You know, it goes to show how irresponsible a lot of these teachers are. Especially Kakashi. Did you know that he doesn’t even take attendance sometimes? Seriously, every teacher takes attendance, it’s part of the rules. But you’re not like them for sure. With your dependability and… cute jeans.”
“So the names of the student’s files I need are-.”
“I mean, I’m not calling you cute or anything. I just like your jeans. Not to say I don’t like anything else about you. You look good. But I’m not like flirting with you. I just think-.”
“Anko, you’re fine. Just get me the files I need.”
“Sorry! It’s just, you’re the only other person around here who is sort of my age. I don’t want to make a bad impression. I mean, everyone else is so old. I mean, did you know Tsunadae is 50 years old. And she keeps trying to get me to drink with her and it’s so weird like why do you want me to drink liquor at 9 am on a weekday? I guess her assistant is cool.”
“Anko. The files.”
“Right,” she exclaimed. “Who’s do you need.”
“Sasuke Uchiha, Jugo Herbert Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto.”
She quickly grabbed the files and gave them to him.
“Thank you,” Asuma said. “And don’t worry so much about making a bad impression. It’ll literally give people a bad impression.”
He shuffled through each file, placing the missing assignments in each of them.
“So, how’s things,” Anko asked.
“Things are good,” he responded.
“And how’re you and Kurenai,” she asked.
Asuma paused what he was doing.
“What did you say,” Asuma asked.
“You and Kurenai,” she responded. “How are things between you two?”
“…. What do you mean by that,” Asuma asked.
“Ok so me and Shizune, Hiruzen and Tsunadae’s assistant, have this thing where we try to guess who amongst the teachers are dating each other. And we both think you and Kurenai are dating.”
“Well we’re not,” he said, continuing putting the assignments into the student’s files.
“Really, because all the other teachers seem to agree with us,” she said.
Asuma stopped again.
“What.”
“Yeah, like Tsunada thinks so, Kakashi, Iruka, Might Guy. It’s apparently this widespread rumor that you two are secret lovers,” she said.
“You’re joking, right,” he asked.
“Yeah, I mean the way you guys just stopped talking to each other at school right after you know… with Hiruzen. I mean if I was hooking up with someone and got caught, I’d still at least talk to them.”
“Well, maybe that’s just you,” he responded. “What if things are awkward between us? Have you thought of that?”
“Oh please,” she said. “The way you guys come in at the same time constantly.”
“We come in two separate cars,” Asuma exclaimed. “It’s just coincidence!”
“Is it coincidence that when you come to school at the same time as her, you are always in a very cheery mood. And don’t act like people can’t see the glances you two make at each other.”
“We don’t make any glanc- Forget it, I’m done with this conversation,” he continued to his task. “Me and Kurenai are not dating.”
“Whatever you say,” Anko responded, sarcastically.
Asuma finally got to his last file. Naruto’s file.
“Wait, so this is actually a common rumor amongst the teachers,” Asuma asked Anko.
“Yup.”
“I-…Well that’s ju-…I can’t-….” Asuma scoffed and looked back to Naruto’s file.
“I’ll have you know,” Asuma said, looking back to Anko. “That dating coworkers is against school policy.”
“Uh huh,” she said, smiling.
Asuma continued to Naruto’s file.
People actually know about me and her, he thought. She must be playing some sick jok-
That’s when he noticed it.
“Anko, have these files been updated recently,” Asuma asked.
“No, these are the original files. No updates have been made besides attendance for yesterday. To be honest, you’re the first person to look at these files today.”
Except I wasn’t, he thought.
He put Naruto’s missing assignments into the file and left the front office. He immediately ran to class 1A. He knew they would be in homeroom right now; it was why he had a free period. He burst through the classroom door.
“Asuma,” Kurenai asked as she stood in front of the class. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk, it’s important.”
She walked out the classroom into the hallway.
“What is it,” she asked.
“Read my mind,” he responded.
“What?”
“I need you to see this. I need to understand what I am feeling right now. I need you to read my mind.”
“What’s going o-.”
“Just do it,” Asuma said in a whispered yell.
Kurenai sighed and grabbed his hand. Asuma knew if any teacher saw them holding hands, it’d basically confirm their relationship, but he didn’t care. This was too important for him to try to say out loud. It felt like an hour until she let go.
“No way,” she whispered. “No fucking way.”
“After school, we’ll talk okay, just not now.”
“Ok, after school,” she said, clearly shaken by what she saw.
Asuma was shaken up too when he saw it.
Naruto’s file had been changed. His quirks which were cloning and morphing now included a third one. Controlling fire.
Someone added this in after the events that happened yesterday. It means that Asuma’s fears were true. It means that someone was trying to cover up their tracks. Trying to cover up Naruto’s quirks.
It meant that Naruto most probably does have the fox spirit within him.
And the more Asuma thought about it, the more he realized that it meant a lot more than just that.