CHAPTER 102 **Cracking the Shell**

Sahara smiled and got up from the ground. She walked straight into Zeus’s ‘room’ and smiled at him, “Told you I’d heal you.”

She saw him bite his lip and close his eyes, he wasn’t stupid, he had been feeling different and strange in the last hour.

But…How could it be possible? How could he hope for something so good?

All this time, he has put himself into denial.

Feeling tingles through his legs, feeling his breathing become better…If it meant something, and he put his hopes into this strange phenomenon, and then find out nothing has changed…

Shaking his head, still in denial, Sahara sighed at him, “You will be able to use your legs, but you’ll have to make them stronger. Oh, and here, this will help with your cultivation.”

Sahara hadn’t needed to do anything with his dantian or meridians, he just hadn’t done much to it to begin with, as he wasn’t even rank two yet, but he had opened up his meridians at least…Probably lost hope or didn’t bother with it earlier in his life.

Zeus looked at her with glassy eyes and then away, not even looking at the pure white pills in her hand.

Sahara huffed, “Come here, Naruto!”

Naruto had curled up on Zeus lap by now, sleeping his little head off…But he did awaken slightly, to her calling out to him.

“No, he’s sleeping!” Zeus said, then stopped himself…

He hadn’t cuddled a little animal since…Well since the person in front of him left…And now he had lost himself to Naruto, like he had been making up for all the time that he hadn’t been able to cuddle a little animal.

He had accepted many things, like that of being abandoned, and even the maid tending to him didn’t care for him. He accepted his fate of being unable to do anything in life. He had stayed in this abandoned courtyard since birth, never really going out. For much of his life, he had rarely seen family and only attended to a gathering if he really had to. He actually felt glad that it was rare to see anyone, that he could just wait patiently for time to go by…To die…

Even though his mother had died, about five years after his birth, he had still one or two visitor’s a year. But he never cared to give them much attention, and they would always show pity in their eyes. He loathed that pity, he was so sick of it! He wanted people to just leave him alone and let him die! Be done with it all! If he wasn’t here, he wouldn’t feel this way nor get those pity looks! Wouldn’t that be better for everyone then!?

…When he heard that Sahara had been poisoned and had disappeared, some part of him joined the rest of his dying thoughts. Not only the comfort and friendship that he had with Sahara, had suddenly disappeared, but also being able to cuddle an innocent furry animal, to which made him forget his predicament in life, for a small time. The maid with him never cared to do that kind of thing for him and it had been at least a year that he had stopped asking to hold one.

The maid beside him was a dominant being, making sure that he didn’t do anything reckless and made sure he still ate. She really wanted the most out of him and had stolen a couple of his treasures. It was harsh but…What would he do with the treasures he had from his mother anyway? Why should he care about them?

So…He had done nothing…

Who cares…

Zeus had tried to take his own life twice now, but had been found out…Obviously…

Having wheeled himself into the pond, had brought up his father’s attention, but after that, this maid of his had stopped him from further harming his wrist…There was still a scar their now, even though it had been done a few years ago…

What was the point of living? Why do they want him to stay here?

One day his father, the Right Minister, had come to see him and stated that he hasn’t given him permission to die and that from now on he will be watched at all times. So, from then on, this maid doesn’t leave his side much at all. She goes to sleep and gets meals, but she got a better wage and did her job of keeping an eye on him. Lately though, she’s had gone a few more times than normal…And Zeus had a feeling that she was seeing a lover or something, making him hate seeing her more…Everyone had lives, they did…Well, nearly anything that anyone would do was still more then what he could do and so he was constantly reminded of what he was lacking in life…And so, he’d fall deeper in despair.

His father wasn’t particularly in a great rush to have his son meet the world anyway, so he didn’t mind the fact that Zeus had tried to always stay in his own little courtyard.

Zeus found no love in the Right Ministers eyes, it was more like how he could use his son to the biggest degree…And, Zeus hadn’t seen it before Sahara had been poisoned, but afterwards, he saw a father that just wanted the best of everything.

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What made things so depressing, is that he could not do anything about it. He was unable to die, yet he felt too that he was unable to live. Being trapped in such a state, had really made him want nothing. To want nothing, so that nothing will hurt him. He needed to be this way to continue this tormenting live of his…

So, his outburst to keep the beast on his lap surprised himself…

But he wasn’t going to admit anymore then he already had…No way! He can’t hope, he can’t want…If he does, it hurts…

“Naruto!” Sahara yelled, making Zeus flinch.

Naruto sees that Sahara was serious and jumped into her arms, hiding his head, like he thinks he’s in trouble.

Sahara stared and watched Zeus, as he goes back to his cold, detached look…And she got really, really mad at him…Yet, at the same time, she knew…She just knew that it’s going to take a lot to crack that face!

Her red eyes came out, and her instincts started to play more into her words and actions…

“Coward! I should have seen you were a coward and not spent two hours healing you!”

Zeus looked at her for a moment, flinching once again to her red eyes. He stared at her for a moment in disbelief, but couldn’t ask…If he asked, that meant he was curious…Curiosity leads to wanting to live. And…He didn’t want to live.

So, he then turned back away, trying to forget the red eyes, “I didn’t ask for anything.”

His voice was monotone, sad and lonely…

Sahara stepped back away from him, then took out one of her swords, lifting Naruto to go onto her shoulder.

“So, you want to die then?” Sahara asked.

Zeus turned to her, looking at the sword. Sahara sees him breath heavier and then give one short nod.

He didn’t expect things like this to happen, but he wasn’t going to give up this chance…Even though he thought this person as his dearest friend…

If she wants to kill me…Then…Then that is good…I’ll be free…

“Fine!” Sahara said, turning the sword and then stabbing his foot.

*Yes, she stabbed his foot, you read right!*

He let out a yell and went to touch the sword in may have been instinct, but Sahara pulled it out.

Zeus strangely…Couldn’t believe it…He saw her take out the sword from nowhere, nodded to her want to kill him, yet, she had hurt him! She really did stab him!

Sahara watched him, as he starts to shake, and a tear comes from his eyes. He looked at her with not just shock, but a small part of revelation…He had felt pain in his foot…He…Had felt pain…

Pain…

That’s right mate, come on, understand that you have been healed…Get it through that thick head of yours…Just…What am I going to do after he knows?

After that tear, then followed another tear and a sob. He strangely felt like he was in heaven…Perhaps he was going to feel something before his death…And that thought, really made him happy…This could be it! The end of his torment!

“Ha…Kill…Kill me then!” Zeus said then, lifting his face to Sahara’s, glaring at her, “Am I not just a burden? Am I not just taking up space? Why not finish this, uh!? Kill me!”

Sahara smirked, “Burden? You have a choice now…You can choice not to be a burden and as for finishing what I started…”

She again took up the sword and stabbed his other foot, hearing another yell of pain through his mouth. He cringed up his whole face in agony, making her believe that he had to know now, he had too! That his feet were normal again, that he could start again!

And seeing him like this, Sahara felt like she had given him enough pain, she just had to find a way to wake him up out of the hole that he’s put himself in…

He let out two more yells and then groaned…He was still in denial, still trying to hold it in…He really was stubborn!

Yet…It hurt so much! It was the most pain he’s ever felt in his life!

Sahara wanted him to fight to survive again, she wanted that spark to return. Where was it? How did she get it back!?

To her…When she lost her will to fight…Ah, it was the end…Yeah, that’s not going to help.

What about that other time then, before she had her daughter. Didn’t she want to give up then? How did she come out of the place that she was then?

Sahara had been homeless and even going to some Christian place for free meals and them trying to get you to think positive and what not, it still didn’t move her…Hell, the police didn’t move her in that regard either, by wanting her to go to some women’s home or something…What got her to go back home!?

As Sahara waited a minute or two for Zeus to take in the pain in his legs, she tried to think of how she came back off the streets…

Sahara had really been a hopeless case…That’s right, she had felt like she had no want to live, then, she had tried to kill herself but…She couldn’t do it…

She didn’t have the guts, and after that, it was like she had an epiphany. It wasn’t a huge revelation, it was more so since she couldn’t do the deed of killing herself, then she might as well live…After that she didn’t think suicidal thoughts anymore…She went home, got a job and started to live again.

…Was it like that with everyone? Can my experience be so much different? And so…How does that help this guy!?

Pain being inflicted, seemed to not move him enough, what was she going to do to get him to want to live again!?

Sahara cleaned her sword and put it into her scabbard, then placed it back into ‘storage’…

Guess I’ll come up with something else then! Seeing pain isn’t enough…

Sitting down at his feet, Sahara touched him and started to heal the wounds that she had just created.

Silence filled the ‘room’.

“…Why? Why are you doing this?”

Sahara didn’t respond to his clenched jawed question and continued to heal him. Not only did she not have much to say to him at the moment, but her instincts told her to just keep quiet…

Why?

“I didn’t ask for you to help me! I don’t want to be here!”

She continued to ignore him…Maybe he just needs to yell at her!

“Go away! Let me disappear!”

One foot was now healed, so she moved onto the next.

Sahara heard him sob once again and then stop, “Maybe the one that needs to die is you! Perhaps you are getting into everyone else’s business!”

She continued to ignore him and heal…

“…I never asked to be born! I…I…”

Ah…Honestly, his words were heart breaking, but Sahara really tried not to show how much they made her feel. It was like he was a huge lion, standing on top of a huge mountain. And as time went by, this lion was losing his mountain, as he crumpled to normal ground and the lion started to turn smaller. Well, that’s what she was thinking and seeing in her head…

He started to cry…She really wanted to think that this was a good thing…But then…He kicked her away with his newly healed foot!

Sahara didn’t move far, it was a weak kick, but…He kicked her!

She was so wanting to see his face, but she thought she’d finish healing him, perhaps ignoring him, might still help! Sahara really wasn’t sure, she just followed her instincts…

He kicked Sahara again, not long after she touched his foot, that was still bleeding…

So…She tried again…

He kicked her again…

“Go away!”

Sahara felt like…She was smiling in her head, he was showing something, and she was starting to feel a change in him.