Who: Naruto
couragetodare & Minato
yellowkamikaze (possibly Kushina
dattebamato later?)
When: August 29th
Where: The ruins.
Format: Paragraph.
What: Pfffft. So. Naruto thinks he can rescue Zack. Turns out he's the one who needs rescuing.
Warnings: Beaten up dire wolves? Angry!Daddy!Hokage? ANGST?
Don't look don't look don't look. Legs drawn close to his chest, neatly compact, Naruto curled in the small alcove-slash-tunnel with a white knuckled grip around the slab of rock he held in his hands. He should have brought weapons of course, but he was only eight and didn't think, didn't stop to think (of course) before sneaking out, didn't stop to think that an adult could have handled the situation because in his world the adults did nothing but turn the other way or look down on him with cold eyes, so why would they help here?
Why would they?
Zack would be left alone and afraid and he had offered to let Naruto play with his toys and he was only five and he had a mother and a father and he was crying and he wanted to go home and Bad Things were not allowed to happen to Zack.
Don't look don't look don't look-
But he had to look, couldn't be strong with his eyes closed, hiding in the dark, he had to look. The scuffling and scratching and digging was persistent and even though Naruto had slammed the rock down as hard as he could at the last paw to swipe into the alcove, it had done nothing more than elicit a snarl and another round of furious digging, which was why his eyes were closed, shut tight, but he had to look, couldn't not look, he had to get out and-
Find Zack and.
Save him and.
Stop shaking. Stop shaking he wasn't afraid (he was terrified) and the growl overhead somewhere on top of the heap of ruins he was hiding in didn't help things, but all he could do was clutch that slab of rock closer and press himself all the more against the crumbling wall behind him, unaware that the scent of blood tricking from the tear in his shoulder was driving the dire wolves outside closer to a feeding frenzy.