Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

69. The Morning After

There's a special kind of tiredness that you feel after a night of crying. It's a kind of bone deep, exhausted tired, like gravity is working extra hard on you. Your head throbs, you're full of guffy crap, and generally don't feel completely human.

When I wake up the next morning, I am that kind of tired. Nothing sounds more appealing than staying in bed, but my stomach is snarling - not growling, snarling - so I roll off the spare futon and stumble downstairs in search of something to eat. But instead of food, what I find is Masumi and Tsuyoshi, deep in what is clearly a Very Serious conversation. Before I can slip away and pretend I'm literally anywhere else, Tsuyoshi spots me, and calls me over.

"We were just talking about you." He says once I've sat between them.

"Oh?" I feign ignorance, focusing instead on the cup of tea Masumi passes me.

"Mm-hmm. I told Masumi a little of what happened last night-" I flinch. Of course he did, "- not everything, but she understands what went down." Please tell me he left out the wetting the bed part. That was gross.

"Right." I watch him cautiously. He doesn't look like this is a 'you have to leave' sort of conversation...

"She and I both agree that something more needs to be done to help you through this... difficult time. A lot has happened to you in just a short couple of months, and you haven't really been given a chance to come to terms with all that." He tells me, and my mind starts working a thousand miles per hour. Am I going to have to go to a counsellor? I'm guessing it's going to be different here compared to my world. Wait - does Konoha even have a mental healthcare system? They have a hospital, and it doesn't seem to have crazy fees. What kind of medication-

"Maya, are you listening?" Masumi asks, and I stare guiltily at her.

"Yes?" I try, and against all the odds, she smiles a little.

"I know it might be difficult to think right now-" it's a lot harder to stop thinking, "- but we'd like to know what you think the best course of action would be."

Wait, what?

"You're asking me?" I squawk, and Tsuyoshi nods, a little sunshine-smile on his face.

"No one knows your head better than you do." Masumi says, and I've got to say, this is more surprising than... okay, it's not the most surprising thing that's ever happened, but it's definitely a competitor.

"Um, sure. I- can I think about it? Just, give me a day? I can't think of anything off the top of my head." I pick at the rim of my cup and try not to worry too much. They're reasonable people. They won't make me make big decisions too soon, right?

"Of course. Kasumi-san has let you have the day off, so spend it as you'd like. Konohamaru and Yoko are both out at the Academy, and Tsuyoshi and I will  need to go shopping, so you'll have the house to yourself, if you want to stay in." Masumi gives me a soft smile.

"Thank you." There aren't words enough to express how grateful I am to her - to them both.

Tsuyoshi claps his hands, "Well, now that the serious stuff is over and done with, how about some lunch?" He looks between Masumi and I with a big grin.

"Is it that late already?" My stomach snarls, as if to say yes, it is that late already, and you haven't eaten for too long.

"We didn't want to wake you. Don't worry too much about it." Tsuyoshi claps me on the shoulder before disappearing off towards the kitchen, the dining room quickly being consumed by the clatter of pots and the sound of the unmistakeable carnage that Tsuyoshi always leaves in his wake. Masumi softly sighs, though she has a fond smile on her face.

"I suppose I should get a head start on reordering the kitchen." She says. 

It wasn't until the second month of my stay here that Masumi actually enjoys clearing up the mess Tsuyoshi makes of the kitchen, to the point where he makes a little more of a mess than is really necessary. Yoko explained it to me as best she could; 

"Mama says being a shinobi is hard," she told me as she folded brightly coloured pieces of paper into frogs, "and that she and papa both have special ways of dealing with it. Papa likes making things and fixing things, and mama likes cleaning things. She says that it makes her feel better knowing the house will be clean when she comes home from a mission." 

I still don't understand it, but it sort of looks like bonding time for them, even though they do most things together. It's nice. I imagine that's how my parents used to be, though I don't remember much. Maybe that's why I don't understand it. The mum and dad of my memories are distant from each other; dad loving someone else, and mum trying to deal with the hurt. I hope she's doing okay without me.