Inside a well furnished room though a little dusty Naruto lied down on the bed gazing at the small chandelier hanging on the ceiling of the room with an unreadable expression.
He turned his head to his left to see a Whitney, Beatrice and Elena sleeping on the floor beside his bed like babies, uncaring about their appearance or status. Rufus sat at the doorway with his arms folded, but one could conclude from the fact that his eyes were closed that he was also fast asleep.
He sighed before returning his gaze to the chandelier as his mind wandered back to a few minutes ago. After Elena had shown him to his room he had expected her to leave right away but instead she had told that she wanted to know how he defeated the demon and he was happy to indulge her. But half way through the story and she had already fallen asleep.
Not wanting to ruin her sleep he decided to let her be but before he could closed his eyes a loud knock came from the door.
With a grumpy expression he got up from the comfortable bed to open the door. When he opened the door he saw there was Whitney, Beatrice and Rufus standing there. The first two made an excuse that the other rooms in the mansion were in bad conditions and asked if they could share his room for the night while Rufus claimed that he was only here to protect them. Since it was their house he could not refuse them but what surprised him was that they all fell asleep immediately their bodies hit the floor, even Rufus who claimed that he would be protecting them while they slept was the first to pass out.
'What a crap'
'Can you blame them? Their exhaustion must have piled up from all those sleepless nights they had with the demon" A dark voice chuckled at the back of Naruto's mind. Naruto sighed when he heard the voice of the nine tailed fox or kurama as he had come to know him. The being that had been living in his body since he was born. In the past year the two of them had gotten to know each other a lot more better.
If before they had been helping each other out of convenience or benefits, now they were doing it to help out the other. You could even say that they were now something akin to close friends.
"As reasonable as that sounds it still doesn't sit well with me sleeping in the same room with strangers" Naruto complained. Weren't they afraid that he could kill them in their sleeps after they barely know him.
"Well I was a stranger too and I have seen every part of you" Kurama retorted. However, there was something about the way he said it that unnerved Naruto.
"No, you live in a seal inside my body, big difference. It is not the same " Naruto countered with a frown. it was better not to think too much about it. Kurama's wicked laughter boomed deep in Naruto's mind like thunder. Because he resided in Naruto's mind his thoughts were laid bare before him so he knew what Naruto had thought previously.
What a naughty kid
Messing with Naruto had been one of it favorite way to pass time. The kid was just too fun to tease. Naruto and Kurama chatted for some time before Naruto fell asleep.
….
The sun rose high up in the sky, dominating this part of the world with it brilliance. There was no clouds in the sky so the giant ball of fire was free to shine in it full glory over the world.
Even if it was past midday and vehicles of different varieties went to and fro on the busy roads rushing to their various destinations. Some of which Naruto had never seen before in Redgrave city.
The only obstacles this metallic beasts faced was traffic lights.
A crowd of people walked on the side walk a safe distance away from the metallic beasts. Among this crowd two people stood out the most. One had on a hoodie that was twice their size while the other was dressed in black overalls while carrying a huge keyboard bag on their back.
Elena silently walked down the side walk while sticking closely to Naruto. She avoided making any eye contact with people. The situation about her family was widespread around the entire city, people would immediately recognize her as soon as they saw her face. Fortunately the baggy hoodie she had on help her to achieve this goal as the hood covered half of her face making it difficult for people to see it.
However, this attracted a lot of unwanted attention from the people around them. They looked at her with complex emotions, trying to figure out why she was putting on such clothes in a hot weather. Elena pulled her hood further over her face and even felt like disappearing when she heard them whispering. Although she didn't know if they were actually talking about her or her unusual dressing all her mind was telling her was that it wasn't good.
Naruto sighed as he followed quietly behind Elena. He watched her every moves as if he was trying to solve a mystery. He was probably the only person right now who could perfectly understand Elena's situation right now.
As someone who was once scorned and hated as a child for having a demon sealed in him he had always wished that he could become invisible so as to avoid their looks of hatred and disdain.
Sometimes he just wished that he could go back in time and stop all of it from happening, the pain, the suffering, the negative looks, his entire life, all of it. That was definitely how Elena must be feeling right now.
He was certain that she must have also contemplated suicide just like he did. If he had never met Dante and she had never met him, their lives would have both ended in a disaster.
However, being the daughter of a wealthy politician her life must have been perfect. Enjoying the lifestyle of the upper class while having everything you want at the tip of your finger. He couldn't even begin to imagine.
For someone like that the fall from grace was must have been a very brutal one. It would be a miracle if she could ever go back to being who she once was.
People like them either come back stronger than ever before or lose themselves in the process.
Naruto sighed as his mind flashed back to the events that took place this morning after he woke up.
He had just gotten out of his room with the intention of leaving since his job was done when Whitney had stopped him and offered him another job.
After a goodnight rest without any stress or worries he looked more healthy and the dark rings around his eyes had reduced a little. After sleeping through the night without the demon showing up Whitney was finally convinced that Naruto had one way or the other gotten rid of the demon. Although he was still a little suspicious about him, the way he looked at Naruto had changed significantly, now he only felt respect and admiration for this young man.
Now that the threat of the demon was finally taken care of he and his family could finally go back to the way things were before everything collapsed. Because he and Beatrice would be busy during the day, he needed someone to protect his daughter in case someone tried to harm her.
Elena's bodyguard had quit when things went downhill so she was no left with no one to protect her. And since Rufus was his bodyguard he asked Naruto to protect Elena for him until he could find a suitable protector for both his daughter and wife. He won't be working for free, of course.
Honestly, Naruto wanted to reject the job as he didn't like the thought of babysitting a grown woman but Kurama convinced him to take the job. He said it would be like being paid while on a vacation. From what he could tell that spider demon should be the only note worthy demon in this city. If not, then he could just do a little spring cleaning while he was here.
It wasn't surprising that Elena refused to leave the house after she heard about the arrangement. Although she had told Naruto that she would show him around the city previously, she only said that to keep him from leaving for her own selfish reason. It took a lot of convincing from her parents before she finally decided to leave.
And that was how he ended up in the situation that he was in now.
After walking down three back-streets with no intention of stopping Naruto finally asked. "So where are we going?"
However Elena didn't reply instead she pointed at a shop a few feet away to their right. The shop looked like a Chinese due to it exterior design and decorations.
The sign hanging on the roof reads "Ramen Paradise"
She wanted to eat noodles? He thought that maybe she would want to go see one of her friends or something but not this.
Naruto glanced at Elena from the corner of his eyes but he could hardly make out the expression on her face because of the hood.
Elena ignored the look Naruto was giving her and pulled him along with her towards the restaurant.