Those Nights, Chapter Two: Melancholy

Setting: AU

Main Character: Naruto

"You aren't just going to stay here?" asked Sasuke.

"Nah," Naruto said. "I've got work in the morning. I need to be able to shower and shave and shit."

"If you say so. Be safe out there."

"For sure. See you guys around. Great game tonight, can't wait for next time!" He waved to all of his gathered friends. Sasuke and Sakura were there, of course, as was Shikamaru. Kiba and two of his little brothers were packing up their things. They waved back, and Naruto left Shikamaru's apartment.

He smiled. He had just finished twelve solid hours of nerding it up: straight up, old school Dungeons and Dragons. Their games were always enjoyable. This particular one had two characters go Gollum over a cursed diamond. The roleplaying of it was more than a little comical, and ended in Shikamaru's character being a naked zombie chasing Sakura's in an effort to retrieve the diamond.

Naruto unlocked his car, tossed his bag of books in the back seat, and started it up. He didn't mind that it was almost one in the morning; sure, the drunks would be about, but Naruto enjoyed driving at night. There was a certain calmness, a peace to it that wasn't there during the day. The car detected his iPod; it started playing Walk The Moon, about halfway through one of their songs. He started it over; he liked this one enough for that.

The song was, perhaps, not the best choice. His mind instantly leaped to women. It was a bit of a rough subject with him; he hadn't had any luck with girls before. Well, he had had a girlfriend once, and their relationship was four years long, but in the end he discovered how much she had been manipulating him, trying to pull him away from his friends and family. He hadn't taken it well, and they had broken up. Since then, though, Naruto had been having some trouble. He was the kind of person who was designed to be in a unit. His whole life got better when he had someone to love on. Since he had broken up with her, he didn't have anyone like that. He didn't even know how to move in the direction of getting a girlfriend again; he had forgotten how to interact with other women over the past four years.

He was back at the sidewalk outside of Shikamaru's apartment; a woman walked across his field of vision. She was crying, and dressed in pajamas. She had slippers on. No; she was wearing jeans and a tank top, with flip flops. But she was crying for sure.

"Hey!" he called out. "Are you all right?"

She didn't respond.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?"

She stopped, turned around, and looked at him. He couldn't quite tell what she looked like; her face was shrouded in darkness. She nodded.

"C'mon, my car is right over here," he said. "I'll take you wherever you need to go."

Before she could respond, she was gone; so was the apartment building and the sidewalk. Naruto was left with just his car, the road, and Mystery Skulls. He hadn't noticed the song change; it was about a quarter of the way through Ghost, now. He sang along half-heartedly. He still didn't know the words to the second verse, and there weren't much in the way of lyrics outside of the verses. He didn't sing along for long.

Naruto sighed and got onto the on ramp. His imagination had a tendency to get away from him and just take over. There hadn't been a girl at the apartment building.

He saw her walking down the side of the highway. She had a coat on this time. He kept driving. She disappeared again.

Naruto slumped back in his seat. He knew it wasn't particularly safe in the event of a car accident, but he didn't care. There weren't any other cars on the highway at this time anyways.

Arthur and Vivi danced through his mind. Irritated, Naruto skipped to the next song.

Of course it was Cascada. Because Every Time We Touch was exactly the song he needed to hear right now.

He didn't skip it. He didn't know why.

A van passed him on the road. A white and red dog wearing glasses looked out of the window at him. Naruto blinked and the van was gone.

He pressed his hand onto his face and rubbed at his eyes. Being tired and having an overactive imagination was not a good combination. He just needed to get home.

An exit ramp jumped out in front of him. In a moment of panic, he hit his turn signal, but then he realized it wasn't his exit. He still had a couple miles to go. He turned the signal back off.

Naruto looked up into the sky. It was cloudy; he could hardly see the moon, much less the stars. Silently, he prayed he'd meet a girl soon. He needed someone to be with.

He blinked, and he was almost home. He didn't know when he had covered the distance; he must have gotten lost in thought. A girl danced around his vision. Aerosmith commanded him to Dream On. It wasn't encouraging.

"I'm home, dad," he found himself saying.

Silhouetted against the window, he saw his dad give him a thumbs up. Naruto went to his room, dropped his bag, and got on his computer.

He checked his email. He checked some of the webcomics he subscribed to. He started to watch a video game review, but it was for a PS4 exclusive. He didn't have a PS4. He turned the video off. He looked at his computer screen for a few moments more before he turned it off, stripped down to his boxers, and got to bed.

He turned off his lamp and looked at the wall for a minute before rolling over. There was a space next to him in the queen sized bed. He looked at it for a long time. The bedding on that side was immaculate; it had never been slept in. Naruto always slept on the same side of the bed. He shut his eyes and continued to look at the other side of his bed.

There was a woman there. She had brown hair – or was it red? – and eyes that shifted from blue to green to brown. The only thing that remained static about her was the soft angles of her face, the fullness of her lips, and the loving look in her eyes. She wore one of his T-shirts. The blanket covered up to just above her breasts. He knew that her feet were just inches above his own. Her hand was in the small space between pillows. Naruto put his hand on top of hers, pretending for a desperate moment that he felt something there other than the sheets. Her mouth started to move, but no sound came out. He couldn't read her lips. He tried to squeeze her hand; instead, he felt bunched up cloth. The illusion shattered, he opened his eyes. The other side of the bed was just as empty as it had been when he had gotten in.

He didn't cry.


Yeah, it's short. But I felt like I needed to write this. If you're here wondering about the next chapter for Tsumeki-chan, it's in progress. I haven't been able to work on it a ton because I'm working on three final projects right now. I'll try to have it up by the end of the semester, but no promises.