Other world chimera [Naruto fanfic]

135. Heart to heart

That same day Nozomi waited for Tomoka near her house. In truth she could have knocked on the door and asked to speak with the girl. However, her nervousness didn’t allow it. She had been constantly thinking about the topic, how best to broach it and whatever else. 

The talk with Hinata had helped her calm down, or at least it helped her deal with her darker thoughts. In the end, unless she talked with Tomoka and made things clear so they could work it out, she wouldn’t be able to calm down. 

An hour later Tomoka walked out of her house, a small genuine smile adorning her face. It was at times like this, when Nozomi got to see her making such an expression, that made her feel like it was all worth it. To tell the truth, the last month has been extremely stressful for Nozomi. Seeing Tomoka’s messed up mindscape made her feel all sorts of negative emotions. 

Shaking her head, Nozomi pushed those random thoughts out of her mind. She needed to focus for what is to come or else she might make a silly mistake and look dumb or something of the sort. Taking a deep breath to try and calm down even just a little she walked towards the red-head.

“T-Tomoka, we need to talk.” Having managed to take the first step of her little plan Nozomi waited for Tomoka’s answer, which came in the form of a simple nod. 

A while later the two girls sat on top of some random rocks in a random clearing within Konoha’s forest. One, the red-head, waiting for the other to start speaking while the latter seemed to melt into a puddle of nervousness and stress. 

“Screw it! Tomoka, I… am scared.” At that point Nozomi had simply decided to say what she felt and hope for the best. In the time she had been waiting for Tomoka she had made a whole speech in her head that had crumbled to naught once the time came. Silent fell between the two as Tomoka observed Nozomi’s nervous eyes wandering all over the place.

“Yeah, I noticed.” With a sigh and a small smile Tomoka answered while gently reaching for Nozomi’s hand. The sligh movement caused the Uchiha girl to flinch as her mind suddenly went back to that day. 

“It’s subtle but whenever we hold hands I would notice that your grip would become stronger when I am the one reaching for yours. Sometimes a glint of fright would pass through your eyes when they landed on me. I don’t know what I did but I am sorry” Seeing Tomoka’s sad smile Nozomi’s heart felt like it was being strangled by an angry ape. 

“No! It's not like that! I… I am not afraid of you. I am afraid of losing you to that… thing.” After that silence fell as Tomoka gently caressed the back of Nozomi’s hand with her thumb. 

“Then, you don’t need to fear.” Saying that Tomoka gave Nozomi a calm gentle smile that made the girl’s heart melt a little. 

“What do you mean?” Nozomi wanted to believe Tomoka, she truly did. However, something inside of her was telling her that it couldn’t be that simple. With a somewhat tired sigh Tomoka began to explain.

“It’s kind of complicated but the main points are as follows: As you already know I, or at least my soul, isn’t originally from this world. When it traveled here, something attached to it. One of them being the thing you saw back then. However, it is important to understand that even though they were originally foreign to me as of now they are as much of me as myself.”

“I don’t understand” The girl truly didn’t. It all sounded too complicated for her. 

“Think of it like water, now add some dye. The water is still water but now it has color added to it. I am the water, and that thing is the color. You and everybody else met me when the dye had already been added, just not well mixed. Now it is well mixed and so there is no difference between the water and the dye, or in this case, me and that thing.” 

“Then…”

“What I am trying to say is that, when you, Hinata and Kurama helped heal my mind it also helped those parts mix properly with myself as well. There is no longer Oditomnia, Kakumo and Tomoka. Now, it’s just me and no one else, just Tomoka.” 

To say that Nozomi could understand all of the explanations would be a lie. However, it didn’t matter. What did matter is the fact that Tomoka would stay Tomoka and that made her happy. Feeling a heavy weight lifting off her heart Nozomi launched herself Towards the girl giving her the tightest hug she could. 

“Love you!”

“Love you too”