novelcrest Chapter 590 Morning
Chapter 590 Morning
After Kankuro and Gaara sat down at the table, each of them had a tempura platter and a bowl of steaming white rice in front of them.
The shrimp on the platter were neatly arranged, and the fish pieces were piled into a small golden hill. A few green perilla leaves and a small handful of white radish puree were also placed next to it. The colors were refreshing and the presentation was exquisite. It didn't look like a home-cooked lunch, but rather like a set meal served in a high-end restaurant.
There were only three servings, and Naruko didn't serve herself. Temari had subconsciously asked Naruko why she wasn't eating before, and then she regretted it.
The moment the words left her mouth, she knew she shouldn't have asked that question, because the answer was too obvious. Sure enough, she got the answer she expected—she wasn't hungry and didn't need to eat.
Because she was so incredibly lifelike, everything about Naruko was so realistic. So lifelike that every time Temari spoke to her, she would forget that Naruko was a puppet, and at that moment, Gaara's body trembled violently.
That's why she regretted it. Because she made her brother realize reality once again, and realize once again that the person sitting next to him, cooking for him every day, and speaking to him in that gentle tone, was just a puppet.
Naruko Uzumaki was still preparing to fry some lotus root and sweet potato tempura on the stove.
Her silhouette swayed between the cooking fumes and the lamplight, the straps of her apron tied into a bow at her waist, and her pigtails swayed gently as she turned the ingredients.
The air was filled with the aroma of fried food, mixed with the unique sweetness of lotus root and the caramel flavor of sweet potato.
Temari and Kankuro were eating tempura. It tasted great, or rather, it was so good it made them jump for joy; it was even better than the food in those high-end restaurants.
But Gaara didn't touch a single bite. His chopsticks were placed neatly on the rim of his bowl, and his eyes were filled with a absent-mindedness, as if he had something on his mind.
"What's wrong, Gaara? Don't you have an appetite?" Kankuro noticed Gaara's unusual behavior and asked.
"...I want to apologize."
"What?"
Kankuro was baffled by the nonsensical answer. Apologize? Apologize for what? Apologize to whom? And why apologize?
He racked his brains, going over recent events. Gaara hadn't had any conflicts with anyone recently, and there was nothing he needed to apologize for.
"Hey, Gaara," Temari's voice came through, "Don't be so rude. Naruko has been preparing all morning, don't trample on her good intentions."
However, Gaara turned his head away, shifting his gaze from the dining table.
No matter how the people around him saw Naruto, no matter how they looked at him, he was a living person. But on that day, when that person was with that Uchiha... he realized the reality.
He watched as the real "Naruto Uzumaki" was taken away by that Uchiha, and every time he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel wronged and wanted to cry.
Gaara stood up abruptly and walked towards the stove.
"Gaara, what are you doing?" The two people at the table spoke at the same time.
"I'm going to make a bento... and then apologize to Naruto," Gaara explained. His gaze fell on the pile of ingredients that hadn't been cooked yet, on the sliced lotus root and sweet potato chunks, and on Naruko's busy hands.
"Huh? Apologize?" Kankuro's voice rose a little.
"Yes." Gaara nodded. "An apology for failing Naruto's good intentions during the Chunin Exams."
Kankuro felt his head start to ache again. That was so many years ago! It was just a dream, was it really that serious?
His mind was racing with complaints, but he didn't say anything aloud because he knew it would be pointless.
Moreover, Kankuro added in his mind—is this guy really trying to apologize? Or is he just making excuses because he hasn't seen Naruto in a while?
His gaze fell on Gaara's serious face, and he sighed inwardly.
"Are you alright, Gaara?" Naruko Uzumaki, who was standing by the stove, stopped what she was doing and turned around. "You had insomnia again last night. How about I take over?"
Gaara turned his head and looked at Naruko. Looking at her features, which were exactly what he considered beautiful, an emotion involuntarily appeared on his face.
If... if the person in front of me were a real person, that would be wonderful.
If only she weren't a puppet, not an existence that could only ever "look" like a human but could never truly "be" a human.
If only we could truly give Naruko a real life, not by deceiving ourselves into thinking she's alive, not by silently telling ourselves "she's no different from a real person," but by truly and genuinely letting real blood flow from this heart carved from wood, that would be wonderful.
Gaara would do anything. He would pay any price, exchange anything, if it were a wish that could be fulfilled.
"It's alright, I'll do it. There's no point in apologizing if I didn't do it myself," Gaara replied, though he still exuded the exhaustion and dazedness of someone who hadn't slept well.
Because his sleep has been really bad lately, he dreams as soon as he closes his eyes, and his dreams are full of things he doesn't want to see anymore. When he opens his eyes, he feels tired, and every muscle in his body is screaming for "rest".
That time, Satsuki dealt Gaara a truly devastating blow. It hasn't stopped even now.
The real "Naruto Uzumaki" was taken away, leaving behind only this puppet in front of him—a puppet that could move, talk, and cook, but ultimately wasn't "human." This fact was deeply embedded in Gaara's heart, impossible to remove, and painful to even touch.
Moreover, Shukaku has been making a lot of noise lately. But it's still much better than when he was a child. When Gaara was a child, Shukaku was a threat that intimidated him, making him afraid to even close his eyes when he slept.
Shukaku is annoying now, constantly nagging, like a fly buzzing around your ear that you can't swat.
It's a bit annoying, but at least it doesn't make me feel like I'm about to go crazy.
Although everything before his eyes was indeed doubled, with one pot on the stove turning into two, then two into four, and Naruko's face blurring into a warm yellow shadow in the flickering light, and even when he stretched out his hand, he couldn't distinguish which fingers were real and which were phantoms, Gaara still swayed and began searching for ingredients.
Gaara looked at the oil pot that Naruko had set up beside him, then at the empty stove in front of him, before turning around to find a pot and placing it on the stove in front of him.
He picked up the bottle of cooking oil, and the golden oil slowly flowed out of the bottle, spreading across the bottom of the pot. Then he turned on the fire, and blue flames leaped out from the stove, licking the bottom of the pot. The oil in the pot began to heat up slowly, and a layer of fine ripples appeared on the surface.
"If you drop the batter into the pot and it sinks to the bottom, the oil temperature is too low. If it frys, the oil temperature is too high. If the batter frys while sinking, the oil temperature is just right."