𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨 ✓

Chapter 91 :: Goodbye For Now, Little Miss Inoue

When I was a little girl, a little runt still searching for scraps in the streets, I used to think that I was incapable of feeling love. That I was the most unluckiest, unloveable little girl in the whole world, and that no one would ever love me.

I have been proven wrong, over and over again.

There is a part of me that wants to be selfish. I want to stay in my sad little bubble, forever believing that I'm hated and that no one will ever love someone like me.

Then there is the part of me that knows that I'm wrong. I'm loved and cherished, and I'm so happy.

Because there are people that care. They care about me, as a person. It's quite odd, but I can't help but feel that happiness is found alone. Even though I know that I am loved, my heart still hurts.

Odd.

Am I happy?

"Goodbye, Aya!!" A flash of blond fills my vision, and something warm and tight engulfs me.

I smile, squeezing him for the last time within a few years.

"Goodbye, Naruto," I replied softly.

Yes, I think that I am. As long as they give me love, then I'll forever remain happy, as selfish as it sounds.

"Ah, don't be sad! Don't worry, we'll see each other again, three years from now!!"

Oh, I'm crying. I'm too sentimental.

"Sorry. I just...I can't believe..." I should stop crying.

Naruto smiles, and he hugs me once again, this time gentler, as if hugging me any harder will cause me to break. He whispers and he assures me, and as reluctant as I am, I smile and nod in response.

Is it wrong if I don't want him to leave me?

"Goodbye, for real this time," he chuckles, and Chongyun and I finally decide to leave. I know he's going to go off soon, on his own little journey, but my heart hurts.

As I walk down this path, I can still see him standing there, and watching and waiting.

"Goodbye!! I'll write to you, I promise!!" He yells.

"Goodbye!! I'll do the same!!" I yell in response.

"Goodbye!!"

"Goodbye!!!"

"GOODBYE!!!"

"GOODBYE!!!"

"Ah, that's enough," Chongyun chuckles from beside me. "You'll see him in three years, Aya, so cheer up. You want to protect him, don't you?" I nod. "Then you have to become stronger."

I sigh.

And so it ends, but a new dawn is on the horizon.

"Oh!" Chongyun snaps his fingers and retrieves something from his pockets. There's a small smile on his lips as he hands me a folded piece of paper―it looks old judging by its dirt-stained appearance. "This is for you. Tsunade found it while going through some old stuff of the Third Hokage's. It was placed away in a folder of his, but there was no name or anything of that sort, other than it was found in the pouch you used to carry around.

Really?

"But I've never―"

"No, you haven't. But remember, back then you were just a child. You never thought about looking INTO it, did you?"

I shake my head no, and his smile only widens. He beckons for me to open it.

I'm hesitant, but I'm also curious. As I open it, I notice that the person's name is almost faded, whoever it's addressed to.

To ......

From Mom and Dad:

There was just so little time left after you were born. I don't know how much love I managed to pour into raising you in this cruel world that we live in, but your smile is what kept us going.

From Mom:

I would like to have come with you, but I couldn't. I want you to forget everything and move on...I know you'll be alright. But one day you'll get lonely, and you might remember.

From Dad:

I know you'll grow strong, and you'll read this letter some day, however it finds you. I really wish we could have spent some more time together, if only reality wasn't such a cruel thing. I'm sorry. You are nothing but a young child, too young to understand the cruelty of the world we live in. But these are my final words to you.....

The letter cuts off just like that.

◈ ◈ ◈

15/10/2022