[Hope in Ruination] Chapter 9 - In love

AN: If you want to read more Naruto/League of Legends fics, I'd like to recommend you [Blade of the Deceiver] by "Ryujin Kurakami", on FFN.

Plot: LeBlanc, in the aftermath of a failed experiment, seeks a new weapon someone desperate, someone she can mould. Her search leads her to a boy on the verge of destruction, abandoned and hunted by his own people. Seizing the opportunity, she whisks him away, unknowingly claiming a soul bound to an ancient and powerful legacy.

Pairing: I believe that the pairing for his fic is Naruto/LeBlanc/Katarina - but it may be subject to change

Ryu has been consistent with his updates, and I feel like his story has potential. Give the first 2-3 chapters a try, I believe that you will like what he's doing.

Without any further ado, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 9 - In love

Leaving the immobilised fox girl behind, Naruto went inside the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

‘I’m so tired.’

It was exceedingly rare for him to reach that stage of exhaustion due to his constitution and amount of chakra, but the battle against the Black Mist had taken a big toll on him.

As he took off his travelling cloak, his mask, and his top, a sigh of annoyance came from him at the screeching sounds made by his Hextech arm.

“This arm is busted.”

Every time he moved it, a grating sound like that of metal scraping against metal could be heard, and sometimes there would even be sparks. Using both arms to wield his broadsword against the immense kraken had put too much strain on the prosthetic limb.

‘No point in keeping it on.’

If he had been in Valoran, he would have made a quick trip to Piltover for Heimerdinger to fix it again, but he was in Bilgewater now.

‘God knows when I’ll manage to get back to Piltover.’

He couldn’t imagine having to suffer through that aggravating noise for weeks to come. Making up his mind, he grabbed the hextech limb with his other arm and pulled.

He let out a pained cry as he pulled onto the Hextech arm, brutally tearing it off from the stump of his left arm. It wasn’t as though he was weak to pain; he was a shinobi. However, feeling his nerves getting torn like that was agonising.

“Naruto! Hey! Are you alright??” Ahri called out in a worried voice from beyond the door, seemingly having shaken off the aftereffects of the lightning shock.

“I’m good,” he said, trying to keep his voice down, pretending that everything was alright.

He momentarily stopped pulling on the prosthetic limb and let out a shuddering breath. Not wanting to worry Ahri more than he already did, Naruto grabbed his travelling cloak and folded its lower edge several times before bringing it to his mouth and biting on it. 

Steeling his resolve, he activated his Strength of a Hundred technique and used his chakra-enhanced strength, abruptly yanking the prosthetic limb off. 

A muffled moan of pain was heard as entire chunks of flesh were torn off together with the metallic arm, raw bone and flesh being left exposed to the air. 

Blood poured out like a river from his arm, painting the bathtub crimson.

“Help me out, damn it,” Naruto asked the tailed beast inside him.

“Hahaha! Fucking loser!” Kyuubi laughed, filled with malicious glee at the sight of his suffering. He had no intention of helping whatsoever.

Overwhelmed by pain, Naruto hadn’t heard the numerous times Ahri had knocked on the bathroom door. But then, the doorknob suddenly melted, and the girl burst inside.

“Naruto, are you-” she began, but her breath hitched at the obscene amount of blood pouring out of his torn arm into the bathtub. “By the spirits, what happened?!” she asked in shock, rushing to his side.

“Don’t worry,” he said, trying to smile despite the agonising pain. “I’m all good.”

He grabbed his travelling cloak and was about to tear it with his teeth, but Ahri prevented him from doing so.

“Not like this! Not with that dusty, dirty piece of clothing!” 

She ran back inside the room and grabbed one of the bedsheets off the bed before rushing back to the bathroom. She quickly ripped the bedsheets into several long strips of cloth before tying the stump of his arm to stop his bleeding. 

“Wait, don’t bandage it. Bring me my sword, please.”

She wanted to yell at him and call him crazy. She wanted nothing more than to scream at him and scold him for how reckless he was, but she bit her tongue to hold herself back. That was not the time. 

Once she brought him his broadsword, he poured his Katon chakra into his blade. Ahri involuntarily turned her head away, unable to watch how Naruto cauterised his raw wound with the wide blade of his flaming sword. 

If she had not been there, he would have screamed from pain, but with her standing next to him, he somehow managed to keep himself from letting out anything more than a grunt. 

Exhausted from the ordeal, Naruto let himself fall on the bathroom floor, resting his back against the wall. 

“Maybe I should’ve let you bathe first,” he said, trying to crack a joke while Ahri took away his sword and hextech arm and started cleaning the bloodied bathtub. 

But the girl didn’t say anything in return. 

Naruto tried to stand up, but then Ahri suddenly snapped at him: “Stay right where you are!”

Her steely tone made him obey her like a child who was being scolded by his mother.

“. . .Are you mad at me?”

His question made her blow up at him. 

“Are you really asking me that?”

“What were you thinking?! Are you out of your mind??”

“...How could you possibly be so reckless?”

“What if you couldn’t stop the bleeding?”

“What if you got an infection?”

“What if you died?”

Her trembling chin, her shaking shoulders, and her glistening eyes made it obvious that she was on the verge of crying. 

“. . . I was hoping that the bijuu would help me,” Naruto muttered in a low voice. “But he didn’t want to.”

“If you were going to do something this idiotic, why didn’t you ask for help at least?!” she asked, her voice cracking as tears started rolling down her cheeks. 

She wiped her face furiously with the sleeve of her kimono and turned away from him. 

Naruto fell silent. He had never seen Ahri this angry before—not at him, not at anyone.

A few minutes later, the girl finished cleaning the bathtub and came to him. 

“Come, let’s get your wound cleaned up,” she said, avoiding his eyes. 

The blond didn’t complain and followed her instructions obediently.

“Thanks, Ahri,” he said while the girl washed his wound with warm water and rubbed on it some rum that she had found in a cabinet in their room.  

“Idiot,” she muttered in a low voice.

He had no words of retort to that. 

“You really are an idiot. The biggest idiot I’ve ever met,” she continued as she gently dabbed a towel on the cauterised wound to dry it. 

If a medic were to see what he had just done, they would pull at their hair in disbelief. If not for his superhuman endurance and healing factor as an Uzumaki and jinchuuriki, he could have died. Even his method of stopping the blood loss and closing the wound was barbaric.

Done cleaning his injury, Ahri finally looked him in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling genuinely bad for the distress he had caused her. 

“Just. . . just don’t be so reckless next time,” she said in a pleading voice and leaned close to him, pressing her forehead against his chest. “Even if you don’t care what happens to yourself, think of the people that care about you. . . you aren’t alone anymore, Naruto. You have me now. I care about you. You had me so worried. I-,” she stopped, a node appearing in her neck. 

A strange feeling appeared in his heart. He could tell that her words were genuine. His Negative Emotions Sensing could not detect any signs of deceit. And that left him at a loss. Nobody had ever been worried about his well-being before. No-one had ever cared about him. 

From a very frail age, Kyuubi had forced his ability to sense negativity in people onto Naruto in order to drive him insane

Because of that, the young boy became painfully aware of the villagers’ hatred towards him. That was what pushed him to steal the Scroll of Seals and run away from Konoha on the night of the graduation exam at the Academy.

After that, he spent the next seven years being hunted down by Konoha’s ANBU, the Akatsuki, and other shinobi and mercenaries who were after the bounty on his head.

Seeing a person who actually cared for him felt. . . alien. 

It was at that moment that realisation finally dawned on him. 

Due to her lowered head, Naruto could not see her expression of surprise when he unexpectedly wrapped his arm around her, embracing her to his chest. 

“Thank you, Ahri.”

Something in his voice made her anger at him vanish. He sounded so vulnerable that she could no longer find it in herself to stay mad at him. 

The fox girl wrapped her arms around his back as well, muttering softly,

“Dummy.”

Despite her words, Naruto smiled. His hand slowly moved up her back, and Ahri shivered at the sensation of his fingers trailing along her spine.

When she looked up at him, he cupped her small face in his hand, his thumb brushing gently over the whisker marks on her soft cheek.

As Naruto slowly leaned in, Ahri’s usually playful yellow eyes widened in disbelief. She gasped, but the sound she made was lost as his lips met hers.

The fox girl’s breath caught as he kissed her gently but passionately. She had known that she was getting to him; she had noticed the way he looked at her, the way his body tensed and how his heart raced at her every touch. But she had never expected him to be the one to make the decisive move. 

Her arms tightened around him, her fingers digging into his strong shoulders as she pressed herself closer, her body moulding against his. A small, needy whimper came from her mouth, but it was muffled by their kiss, and Naruto shuddered with desire at the sound of it. 

The way she clung to his body and the moan she let out fanned the flames of his passion, and his hand went to the back of her head, his rough fingers tangling in her silky black hair as he pulled her in deeper.

Due to his past, he had never thought he would one day get to experience the feeling of falling in love with someone. He had never even dared to dream of it; after all, people always schemed something when they found out his identity.

But that evening, as Ahri tended to his wounds and cleaned up the bloodied mess in the bathroom, he finally understood how lucky he was to have met her.

Ahri wasn't trying to get him killed or take advantage of him. With her vastaya powers, she didn't even need a bodyguard. The only reason she had clung to him and asked him to accompany her to Bilgewater was that she liked him; because she loved his company.

Eventually, their kiss came to an end, and the two stared at each other, unable to tear their eyes away. As he took in her amber, fox-like eyes, the cute whiskers on her cheeks, those perky fox ears on top of her head, and her plush red lips, swollen from his loving abuse, he almost forgot how to breathe. She was beautiful beyond belief.

But Ahri was no different from him. She had been looking forward to this moment for weeks. Now that it had finally happened, she was overwhelmed.

As he embraced her again, Ahri could do nothing but wrap his arms around him and rest her flushed face on his broad chest, secretly enjoying the sound of his wildly racing heart.

⁂

Even though they had shared a sweet, intimate kiss, Naruto and Ahri did not bathe together. Their relationship had not reached that level just yet. 

Due to his wound, Ahri let him take a bath first. Naruto did not linger; he washed himself as quickly as he could, feeling bad to make her wait after what he had made her go through that evening. 

Now that the girl had gone to have a bath, Naruto was left alone in the room. He went to the bed missing its bedsheet and let himself fall on it. He let out a groan of comfort at the softness of the mattress. After spending such a long time on a filthy boat, crossing a dangerous sea, he was grateful to be on solid ground and sleep in a clean bed again. 

Although he had wanted to wait for Ahri to come out of the bathroom and talk some more to her, the past weeks spent at the sea, the battle against the Black Mist and the ordeal he had gone through to remove his malfunctioning Hextech arm had drained him of all his mental and physical strength. Seconds after he let himself fall onto the comfortable bed, his eyes closed against his will, and he fell into a deep sleep.

When the fox girl came out of the bathroom, she tiptoed to Naruto’s bed, careful not to wake him up because she knew how alert he was normally. But he didn’t hear a thing. He was sleeping like a log.

“Dummy,” she muttered affectionately when she noticed that he had chosen the bed missing its bedsheet. 

'He looks so peaceful when he’s asleep,’ she thought, smiling softly.

The usual frown, the wariness, and the constant readiness to react were gone. He didn’t look like a jaded and battle-worn warrior at that moment. He looked so cute that she couldn’t resist reaching out, gently caressing the whisker marks on his cheeks, just like he had done to her earlier in the bathroom. 

She watched him for a moment longer before an idea came to her mind. She slipped her arms under his back and legs with great care and lifted him off his bed before carrying him to hers. 

He was much heavier than she had expected. 

‘His bone and muscle density must be several times higher than that of regular humans,’ she thought. 

Nonetheless, she could carry his weight just fine. Although physical strength was not her forte, she was still a Vastaya; she was much stronger than she looked. 

She laid him down on her bed gently, not wanting to disturb his peaceful sleep. Then, she climbed up in bed next to him and nestled herself in his arms, pressing her back against his chest. 

He was still asleep, but somehow, he reacted to her presence, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. A sigh of comfort escaped from her lips as their bodies moulded against each other perfectly. 

The harrowing encounter with the Black Mist, combined with witnessing Naruto tear off his hextech arm and bleed out across the bathroom, had taken a toll on Ahri too. Not long after she lay in bed, her eyes grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.

⁂

The next morning, Naruto and Ahri could be seen navigating through the narrow and twisted alleys of Bilgewater, searching for her contact.

They had spent nearly one hour scouring the pirate city’s dingy slums, but they had hardly noticed the passing of time because the incident that had taken place last night between the two of them had changed the nature of their relationship.

The Vastaya’s fox ears and tails and most of her body were hidden by the long, hooded white cloak she was wearing, but Naruto couldn’t take his eyes off her. And Ahri was no different from him either, often sneaking glances at him and sending bright smiles his way.

Rather than being in the middle of a serious affair, searching for traces of an ancient artefact, it felt more like they were out on a date – and Ahri’s behaviour more than evidenced that. If she had been a tease before, it was nothing compared to the present.

“We’re boyfriend and girlfriend now, are we not? Let me hold your hand!”

But Naruto evaded her. 

“We’re in the middle of a pirate city. I need my hand free to react in case we’re being attacked!”

Now that he had torn off his defective Hextech limb, Naruto only had one arm left. . . but Ahri knew that wasn’t the real reason he did not want to hold hands with her. He wouldn't have flushed like that if that had really been the case.

“Oh, come on, nobody is going to attack us for no reason.”

“Someone could try to mug us. I can’t let my guard down. Better safe than sorry.”

Ahri looked up at him, grinning knowingly.

“You’re not wary of being mugged. No, you’re embarrassed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said grouchily, looking away.

She giggled happily at his reaction and suddenly got into his personal space.

“Aww, is the big, bad mercenary Ifrit too embarrassed to hold hands with a girl? How cute is that?”

“Who is embarrassed? Why would I be embarrassed?”

“Because I’m the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen?” she said, smirking as she suddenly got into personal space. 

“There’s more to beauty than just being pretty,” he said, but it sounded weak even to him.

Ahri burst into giggles, and his mask could no longer hide how red his face got.

Two men who happened to pass by on that narrow street wolf-whistled and cackled when they saw them pressed so close together. Despite the early hour, the two pirates were already drunk, or perhaps they were only now heading back home after partying all night.

“Good grief,” he said in exasperation as he started walking ahead.

Ahri quickly caught up from behind and grabbed his right arm with both hands before hugging it tightly to her side.

Naruto no longer attempted to remove himself from her grasp.

“Hehe. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me for long,” Ahri said, nodding smugly to herself.

“Being humble is a virtue, you know? You could definitely use some of that.”

“It’s hard to be humble when you’ve got this much sass,” she said, grinning.

“For God’s sake –”

Ahri burst into laughter again. The fox girl was jubilant. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been as happy as in the present.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to tease. You’re just so easy that—”

Whatever she was about to say would remain a mystery. In an instant, Ahri found herself pinned against the wall of a nearby building as he crushed her lips against hers in a demanding, dominating kiss, effectively shutting her up.

She hadn’t even seen him pull down his mask, nor had she been able to react to his sudden actions either. She gasped into his mouth, and a moan reverberated deep in her chest as she found herself trapped between the rough wall and his sturdy body, her full breasts crushed against his strong chest.

A strangled cry of pleasure left her throat, muffled by his lips, and her knees buckled as he suddenly pressed himself against her, making her feel just how hard he was for her. Heat pooled low in her stomach, and she made a superhuman effort to tear her lips away from his before crying out:

“W-Wait a mo-!” 

But he had no intention of stopping. He grasped the back of her head gently but firmly, and he pulled her to him again, capturing her lips in another ravenous kiss. Her sharp nails dug deeply into his travelling cloak as she clung to him as though she was drowning and he was her only lifeline.

Tilting his head, he ran his tongue over her lips, and Ahri couldn’t put up any resistance against the tongue that slipped into her mouth, past her bruised, half-opened lips. As his tongue brushed against her sharp canines and tangled with hers, a fog of pleasure clouded her mind, sapping away all her strength.

Saliva trailed from the corner of their lips from their deep, sloppy kiss, and Ahri could do nothing but hang limply onto him and moan incoherently as he dominated her, his tongue claiming her mouth and his hips grinding against her aching core.

Time lost all meaning. Ahri had no idea how long they had been kissing, but when he finally pulled away, it was a miracle that she didn't collapse into a trembling heap on the cobblestone road. Gasping for breath, she glanced bleary-eyed at her surroundings, as if she had just woken up from a dream. The world felt distant and surreal. Their dizzying kiss had made her forget everything else.

For once, Ahri had nothing to say. She could only stare at Naruto, red-faced and utterly stupefied, her mind completely blank.

They spent the next half an hour walking aimlessly, completely forgetting about their original goal, that of finding Ahri’s contact.

The blond also was in disbelief, never imagining that the fox girl could drive him to such reckless actions.

As for Ahri, she could not look at him. Her face burnt, and she averted her eyes every time she felt his gaze on her. Unbeknownst to him, the intensity of his kiss had left her weak in the knees, and clear droplets still trickled down her inner thighs, a nasty, perverted proof of her release.

But even in her utterly defeated state, Ahri counted that moment as a victory in her books. After all, despite everything, they were now walking hand in hand, their fingers intertwined in a lover’s hold.

In the end, the girl was too embarrassed and too uncomfortable to continue walking down Bilgewater’s street in her current state. The pirate city was a melting pot of cultures and races; other than humans, there were also many Vastaya among its inhabitants. The thought that other people could smell the scent of her lust embarrassed her to no end.

Making up some excuse, she returned to the inn right away. It was only after she refreshed herself in the bathroom and changed her ruined underwear that she finally let out a sigh of relief.

It had to be said, however, that Naruto’s actions had proven to be very effective. Ahri was unusually well-behaved for the rest of the morning, no longer poking fun at him and teasing him relentlessly like before.

But the fox girl never let go of his hand after that either; her body language and the smouldering looks she sent his way whenever she thought he could not see her spoke volumes of how much she craved his touch.

⁂

It was noon when Ahri finally found her contact. It was in Bilgewater’s hidden black market that not everyone could access. She had been forced to Charm the people at the entrance to allow her inside.

Her contact was a rather tall and burly man wearing a sleeveless green tunic that left his strong arms bare and a purple hooded cloak that obscured most of his head and face.

Letting go of Naruto’s hand, Ahri walked to the tent where the man stored his wares and asked:

“Hey there. Are you the merchant who trades in Vastaya artefacts?”

The man looked to his left and right, startled, before making a loud hushing sound.

“Shh! Keep your voice down! This is sensitive business!”

Naruto and Ahri exchange a glance. They were already inside a secretive market that the average Joe could not access. Why was the merchant acting so warily of others hearing about their deal?

“Are you looking to buy? If you know about the Vastaya artefacts, you must be a collector,” he continued in a low voice.

Thanks to the long, hooded white cloak she was wearing, the man could not see her fox features. He didn’t know she was a Vastaya herself.

“I hear you sell sunstones from the Vesani tribe,” she said noncommittally.

“When I can," he replied. "Those Vastaya all died out long ago, and their sunstones are incredibly rare. I sold one recently, however.”

“Who was the buyer?” she asked.

The merchant shook his head. “Can’t reveal the name, I’m afraid. In my line of business, client confidentiality is paramount.”

Naruto grabbed the handle of his enormous broadsword, unsheathing it from the scabbard strapped to his back.

Seeing a man holding such a heavy and barbaric weapon effortlessly with one hand, the merchant stepped back in fear, and his hands went to the twin pistols at his waist.

“Now, now. No need for violence,” Ahri said.

Her eyes gained a deep magenta colour, and the expression of fear vanished from the merchant’s face.

“I’m sure your client won’t mind if you tell me his name,” she told him, smiling.

His eyes glazed over, the merchant showed a stupid smile as he answered her question:

“The client’s name is Malik. But I’d advise you not to get involved with him. He’s from the Jagged Hooks. He. . . he said he was going to Grey Harbour.”

“Grey Harbour. . . is that nearby?” Ahri asked.

“The place is cursed. Only madmen go there!” the merchant said fearfully.

“What about the Jagged Hooks?” asked Naruto; the name smelt of trouble.

“It's Gangplank’s old crew. They’re not even scared of Sarah Fortune. You don’t want to cross them!

Naruto would have liked to ask more questions, but Ahri pulled at his sleeve, requesting his attention.

“We best be on our way,” she told him in a whisper and gestured with her eyes towards the three men heading towards them. 

It appeared that the act of unsheathing his large weapon in the middle of the black market had attracted their attention, and they were coming over to make sure he was not going to start any trouble.

Casting a Charm spell at the three men, Ahri and Naruto did not linger, leaving the black market straight away.

“My bad,” he said when they were finally out in the open, away from that secluded place. If Ahri weren’t holding his hand, he would have rubbed the back of his head. “I should’ve known you would solve it with your Charm. There was no need for me to try scaring the merchant by acting tough.”

Ahri laughed softly.

“It’s fiiine~” she said, smiling and swaying their linked hands like a child as they walked. “We can stop by a bar to find out more."

At her words, Naruto’s stomach rumbled loudly, and they laughed together at the sound of it. 

“With this occasion, we’ll have lunch as well.”

It had to be said that, in Bilgewater, pubs, taverns, and whorehouses could be found at every step. Bearing that in mind, they had half a dozen options to pick from, but Ahri pulled his hand and started heading towards the loudest and rowdiest place of them all.

To say that it was a peculiar-looking local would do it a disservice. The entrance to the pub was through the gaping maw of an enormous skull of a sea serpent. Next to it, painted on a wooden plaque, was the name “Captain’s Pub”.



Naruto groaned. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? Always looking for trouble.”

Ahri shot him a playful grin.

“You know how it goes. Me looking for trouble is like you chasing after my tails. We just can’t help it~”

She snickered, very pleased with herself, as she strolled inside the bar, leaving a sputtering Naruto behind.