Moving Forward Chapter 2

He could feel her fidgeting around on his back, was she about to wake up? "Hey." She wriggled around a bit, grumbling, her bare foot crunching into his thigh as she did so. She settled, her light cold breath tingling his neck. Well, at least it seemed like she'd gotten some of her strength back, if she had that much force in her legs while just moving around, still asleep.

His house wasn't anything to marvel at—it was hard to even call it a house. It was a unit, one bedroom, a small loungeroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. Fit for one person, nearly incapable of housing two, but that wouldn't matter for much longer. He was rejoining the Moon Demon Company, so he was probably going to just move back to where he used to live, which was more than adequate for two people.

Coming up on his door, he shoved his foot in the bottom left corner of the dodgy wood and pushed, bending it, until he heard a click and it swung open. He'd had a few break-ins before, but it really didn't matter, the only valuable things he had were food, bathroom essentials, a couch and his bed—not many would steal a roll of toilet paper, and he'd like to see a thief try and fit the couch or his bed through the doorway.

So the only thing that ever ended up getting taken was his food. While a bit of a nuisance, it wasn't any skin off his back—the army provided the bare essentials for him to continue living, and would replace it as he needed it.

In this post-apocalyptic world, there really wasn't any form of currency. The army was in control of everything. They'd provide necessities to keep you alive, but outside of that, if you didn't contribute by getting some sort of job, you'd be out on your ass.

That's how he'd gotten the unit. If he'd gone for something more important than he had, he probably would've gotten a much better place to live. Substitute teachers really weren't very high up on the ladder.

"Oh well." He kicked the door shut behind him, taking the first door on the right into his room. Taking a seat at the edge of the bed, he removed his hands from under the vampire's thighs, unlatching her arms from around his neck and proceeded to lay her down, throwing the blanket over her small form. "Ah..."

His lips thinned. A haunting thought occurred to him. She was still wearing the ragged clothes from when she was an experiment, she couldn't walk around like that—nor would he let her. He'd have to go pick up some clothes for her.

Obviously, this wasn't something he could do on his own.

He needed a female's aid.

Mito? Plausible, he vaguely remembered her lecturing him on something about women's clothing a few years ago, though he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was about.

Shigure? Nah, she was too monotone for his liking, and was usually busy anyway.

Shinoa? Good joke.

Sayuri? Well, it looked like he'd found his answer. He'd always liked Sayuri. She was kind of ditzy, but easy to get along with, and wasn't anywhere near as loud as Mito.

It was then that he came to a sudden, depressing realization.

He only knew four girls, and only one of which he actually got along decently enough with.

"I need to get out more."

"Get up." Something bounced off her forehead, crackling—plastic? It had some weight behind it. Her hand shot out from whatever was constricting her body, grasping the offending object tightly. "Careful with that." The same voice. She cracked her eyes open. "It's all you've got for the next few days. Break it and you'll be going without."

He was stood at the foot of the bed, all dressed up in the Japanese Imperial Demon Army's black with green military uniform. Messy blond hair, blue eyes staring down at her with amusement. "What do you mean?"

"I'd have preferred not to, but I'm joining the army's ranks again." The blond didn't sound overly joyful about it. "There's things I need to do, asses need to be kissed. Hopefully mine. That." He gestured towards what she had been holding. A plastic bottle, full of a red liquid. "Will sustain you while I'm gone."

"You're leaving me here, alone? You think I won't try to escape?"

"You can try, but you've already made a promise, there's no going back now." His words carried meaning, as if that stupid pinky promise she'd made actually meant something outside of just words. "Even if you were to, Guren's squad is here. You'll die, making yesterday pointless, and I'll move on with my life."

There was a few moments of silence, during which she slowly lowered her arm and dumped the plastic bottle beside her. "And when you get back?"

"I don't know." Was the admission. "We could get deployed as soon as I return, in which case." He backed up and leaned out the door, bending over, tossing a full, tied up garbage bag onto the bed. "You'll have to wear that. You can try it on but don't get it dirty, you've only got one set until you buy another. There's other clothes near the kitchen that Sayuri picked out, do whatever you want with them."

Silence ruled once more. Why was he just standing there, not saying anything? Did he not realize the awkward air he made around them? "Is that it?"

"Is that all you had to ask?" Was his immediate retort. He stared at her for a few moments before spinning on his heel and heading out of the bedroom's doorless doorway. "Yes, then—ah, actually." He stopped, looking over his shoulder back at her. "Your name." He said. "What is it?"

She blinked.

"Well?"

Her lips thinned. "Noin."

"Noin." He repeated, the word rolling off his tongue with ease. It was strange. "Right."

Shinya had taken on the task of driving him.

"Did you fill out those forms?"

"Yes, yes." He rolled his eyes. "I really don't see the point of it. The army already knows everything about me anyway."

"Sticking to procedure, you know that." Was he smiling? Naruto didn't bother to turn his head towards the driver's seat, but the Hiragi's tone sure indicated it. "I'm sure there's plenty they don't know, too."

"Not really." He flapped the documents in his hand around lazily. "It even tells me to describe my diet. They could probably figure out the exact shade of my shit if they wanted to."

"Haha."

The car zipped around the corner, ripping down the road for another kilometer before Shinya rolled to a stop. His door popped open, tilting upwards to make room. "You should get me one of these."

"You can't drive."

"Yeah I can."

"Going under the speed limit because you're afraid of crashing doesn't count."

"Whatever." Naruto huffed, shifting outside of the sleek car and making his way towards the stairs.

"Not even a thank you?"

"Shove it up your ass."

Shinya's chuckle faded as he drove off. The stairs were treacherous, how many hundreds of them were there? Probably not even close to one, but it sure felt like it. Waiting at the top for him was a building, exceedingly tall and in pristine condition. Many of the buildings were similar, though he was still in Shibuya. You could easily fit four people at a time through the double doors, and they were more than twice his size in height, already open.

A wide, open and well-lit lobby was there to greet him. Empty in terms of people, several paintings littering each walls and a few plants that looked like were only kind of taken care of. There was a reception at the very back, no one attending, and off to both sides were hallways. Instead of ringing the bell and waiting however many hours for someone to take his documents, he dumped them at the desk and took a left down the hallway. It was on them now, if they got lost it was their fault.

He looked around as he walked. It really hadn't changed since he'd been here to hand his resignation in two years ago. The dodgy lights amazingly still worked, the smell of cleaning product was still prevalent, contradicted by the clearly half-assed job someone had done.

The third door from the end, on the right. That was the one he opened, poking his head around to take a peek inside. Perfectly in the middle was a table, long enough to fit ten people on each side, though there was only sixteen chairs instead of twenty, only a couple of people occupying them. At the head of the table was the peak of the army, General Tenri.

Unlike his two children he had in the room, Tenri's hair was more akin to Shinoa's, a greyish purple, somewhat unkempt. Without fail, the man constantly reminded Naruto of a cyborg. Most of the right side of his face, including his eye, was covered by metal, connected at the back of his head by two thin strips that went above and under his left eye. He wore the JIDA uniform. His elbows rested on the table before him, white gloved fingers interlocked in front of his stoic face.

"You're early."

Usually that'd be a good thing, but Seishiro's condescending tone said otherwise.

"Blame your adopted brother." It didn't matter, but getting Shinya in some potential trouble would be nice. "He picked me up late and had to break all of the speed limits driving here." Tenri, Seishiro and Kureto. Three Hiragis and three superior officers. For a rank to be formally recognized within the army, that was the minimum audience. It had been these three that were present during his original promotion to Captain too, only with the addition of Guren. "This does bring back unwanted memories though."

He ignored Seishiro's eccentric eye roll.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The blond straightened at the General's voice, hands behind his back, his eyes on equal ground with Tenri's. If he didn't behave then his desired rank would undoubtedly be lowered, he'd seen plenty of officers demoted for not acting accordingly when the time called for it. He didn't want anything less than what he previously had, it was a comfy position with the right balance between ordering people around and being ordered around. "Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose has informed me of your decision to return to the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and reclaim your former rank of Captain. I trust this information is accurate."

"Yes, sir."

Luckily for him, none of the people here had anything to do with squad placements for men under Guren's command. A five-man squad wasn't what he wanted to be part of again. He could sway Guren into agreeing, but none of these three would break protocol like that just for his wants.

"What made you come to this decision?" Kureto's red eyes bored into his own, his hands calmly resting over a thin light brown folder. "You were very adamant in your resignation two years ago."

Ah, time to tell a few white lies he supposed. He couldn't really say the reasons concerning Yuichiro, nor could he bring up the fact that a former experiment was now his subordinate. "I can only live with so little for so long. My time as a substitute teacher was hardly pleasing, either."

Well, that was only kind of a lie. The students had been entertaining little shits that never listened, and there was a few attractive co-workers to boot.

"Is that so." Naruto was grateful for Tenri's presence. If the man hadn't been there, Kureto's questioning would have been much more forceful, but he was behaving in the company of his father. The Lieutenant General undid the bindings on the folder, pulling out a small picture once opened and sliding it along the table in his direction. The once more soon to be Captain stepped forward and took it in his hands and examined it. "Does she look familiar?"

"Yes." Of course she did. Noin. In the same clothes he'd met her in, though much cleaner and without the wear and tear. "Guren killed her two days ago. She was an escapee, right? She managed to take a few students with her." His eyes met Kureto's once more. "Uh, does this have anything to do this, General?"

"No." Kureto gestured and the picture was slid back to him, promptly slid back inside the folder. "You were a witness. Your input was necessary."

What a load of shit. At least now he knew that he had to keep her actively hidden from the man, lest he risk getting his head lopped off.

"Moving on." Tenri's voice cut through the silent air like a hot knife would butter, straight and powerful. The man was scary, never failed in that department. As the General should be, Naruto mused, you couldn't be in charge of Japan's military and the head of the Hiragis while being anything even related to weak. Even with only one visible eye, his stare was intense. "Former Captain Uzumaki, your application to return to the military's ranks has been accepted. You will return to your former duties under Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose within the week. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"How'd it go?"

"Not a word."

"Haha."

Naruto sighed, his hand slipping away from the doorknob to his house. It didn't work, it twisted freely whenever he tried to open the door that way, so he used it as leverage to force it open instead. "What are you doing here Guren? Do you have something for me to do already?"

"Yeah." He sounded happy. Well, not a happy-happy, it was more of a smug happiness, like he'd won an age old argument and couldn't get over it. "I'm sending you to Toshima as backup. There's a five man squad, they've been overrun."

"And I'd been hoping to get at least a day to myself, too." He shook his head and turned, leaning against his door. It creaked. If he put too much of his weight on it, it'd probably cave in. That'd be embarrassing. "How much?"

"Twice over, possibly more. There wasn't a definite number."

"I'm not taking a squad with me."

"I figured. But we'll talk more about that later." Guren gestured inside his house. "Go and make sure you're both prepared. You're leaving as soon as you're able."

"Both? She's coming with me? She doesn't even have a weapon."

"I'm sure you can find her one."

Naruto rolled his eyes, turning and forcing the door open as he always did. "Noin!" He called. "Get up. There's work to do."

Shuffling came from his room, followed by footsteps, then a pink head poked around his door. She had that stupid hat that rookies wore. The front slid down her face and she hurriedly pushed it back up in annoyance, huffing.

Cute.

"What?"

"That's the smallest one made and it still doesn't fit on your head?"

"Shut up."

"Are you dressed?"

She looked herself over behind the door frame. "Mostly."

"Then hurry up and finish. We're leaving."

He could hear her scrambling around his room after she'd ducked back inside.

"Ah, she's in your room." At least he'd known that this was coming, Shinoa was a bad influence on Guren. "What did you do with her in there?"

"Nothing."

"I wonder how Sayuri would react if I told her you're into that?"

"I'm not." Naruto frowned. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

"Well it has been a while. Maybe when you get back."

Noin zipped out of his room, standing straight and as tall as she could in the hallway. At least the rest of the uniform seemed to fit her just fine. Her pink hair was free, running down her back. The long-sleeved black coat and skirt hugged her small form. Her legs were bare, save for the knee-high black boots.

"Doesn't suit you in the least. Come on."

The door was slammed shut behind him. Luckily or unluckily, the large wall surrounding Shibuya was only a few hundred meters from his house. He supposed it was the price to pay for being a substitute teacher, someone who didn't matter. If Shibuya was attacked, then he'd be among the first to go. Their walk was fast, and it was humorous to watch Noin try and keep pace with them.

He didn't comment on it.

"A sergeant will be tagging along with you." Guren's right hand rested on the hilt of his sheathed blade as he moved. "She's the one who brought us this information to begin with, so don't complain. She's eager to regroup with her squad."

Well, that was kind of understandable. She could have gone to Shinjuku instead of Shibuya, it was closer to Toshima and telecommunications were set up between the two, but she'd came the extra way back here. It meant she was in a rush. The phone lines between Shibuya and Shinjuku worked, but were very touchy. It wasn't uncommon for them to disconnect for hours at a time, and the distance between the two wasn't extremely far. It helped that Guren was in Shibuya, too.

"Can she drive?"

"Thankfully. You sure can't."

"Shinya said the same thing."

"Don't compare me to him."

"But you're so alike."

"Not even close."

"Liar."

"Don't talk to me."

"Lighten up."

Guren waved his hand lazily towards a four-wheeler parked on the other side of the road, they were right by the gate to exit Shibuya. Naruto could see someone seated in the driver seat. Her dark hair was disheveled and prevented him from seeing her face. "Go on." Guren said. "She's waiting."

Naruto and Noin moved across the street and he lightly knocked on the driver's side window. It startled her and snatched her attention immediately, her expression still looked pained despite any effort to hide it. The window rolled down. "Hey."

"Captain Uzumaki?"

"Yeah. Is that what Guren told you? He must have been pretty confident, I've barely had my old position for an hour."

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Her lips twitched. "Are they late?"

"Nope, we're all here." He gestured beside him and the sergeant sat up straighter, peeking out the window.

"A rookie?"

"One that doesn't have a weapon yet, too."

The sergeant bit her lip, her grip on the wheel tightening. "Is there no one else? Just you and her? Can Lieutenant Colonel Guren really not spare any others?"

"He probably could." He shrugged. "But why would he? The moment we get to Toshima, no one else in the army is going to die." Smiling, he extended his hand through the open window. "Naruto Uzumaki. I'll be in command for this mission, I hope you'll follow."

He was fifteen when he first got his promotion to Captain, though his birthday had been just around the corner. Unsurprisingly, most of those older than him didn't like being ordered around by someone younger than they were. A month into it, he experienced his first major insubordination. It was during a raid in Ota, thirty-nine soldiers had been under his command, seven full squads and the four others in his own. They'd split up, two strike-forces with three squads in each, and the one left over had accompanied Naruto and his own squad. They'd all been ordered to return within the hour, no matter what happened.

If he had known that a progenitor by the name of Crowley had been present, then he wouldn't have split his numbers. But he didn't. And because of it, the majority of one of the strike-forces had been slaughtered, the few left were taken as meals. After completing their objective, the other strike-force had gained wind of what had happened. Every single person had a watch of their own, they knowingly went to intercept instead of returning on time.

Because of that the situation had spread over an entire day instead of the hour it was supposed to be. He'd known that many of them would die during the raid, but there'd only been three survivors out of forty in the end. He should have retreated the moment it went into the next hour. Instead, he'd stupidly gone back in, only to cause more deaths on his side.

Even back then, he could have dealt with three squads not returning, he would have returned successful with twenty-five men standing tall and proud. If that strike-force had returned as he'd ordered, that would have been exactly the case. Though he wasn't free of blame, either.

That entire day with Crowley had been a shitfest.

She gingerly grasped his hand. "Aiko Aihara, Sergeant."

He let go and made his way around the vehicle, speaking up to Noin. "You don't need help getting in, do you?"

Chapter 2 done!