Kishimoto-san.
Kishimoto-san.
Kishimoto-san, we have a problem here.
I would really, REALLY like to own Naruto- but the internet says it still belongs to you.
….
PLEASEEEE? I'LL TAKE CARE OF ALL THE CHARACTERS!
"-Have half a mind to call Kurenai and ask her to send over Nozomi-chan to help...I'd even pay her...Arashi! Arashi, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Arashi burst into the kitchen, falling to the floor in his hurry. Ignoring his stinging knee, he scrambled to his feet. When Uchiha Sakura used you did what she said, no questions asked. OR ELSE.
"Yes, Mom!"
"Arashi, there you are! Good! I need you to head over to the market and pick up some things for dinner. Naruto and Hinata-chan are coming over for dinner, Sakuro is still sick upstairs, Mikoto is staying with him...at least, she better be. And WHERE is YOUR FATHER when I need him?! Honestly, as soon as something needs to get done around here, he vanishes!"
"Is Kushina coming too?" Arashi asked, paying attention soley to the important part of Sakura's tirade.
"-don't know why I'm bothering! Knowing Naruto, he'd be just as happy if we all had take-out rame-"
"Mom!"
"From Ichiraku's- what?"
I said, 'Is Kushina coming too'?"
I have no doubt. Now go, before the market closes!"
Nodding, Arashi dashed toward the front door before screeching to a halt at his mother's next words.
"Take Satsuki with you!"
Uchiha Satsuki popped her head out from the hall closet, looking sleepy. "Hn?"
Ignoring his little sister's confusion, Arashi addressed his mother. "MOM! If I bring Satsuki it'll take forever! She's so slow!"
"Well, she's been banned from the bedroom so Sakuro won't get her sick, and I CANNOT HAVE HER UNDERFOOT!"
"But-"
"ARASHI! TAKE YOUR SISTER WITH YOU! NOW!"
Arashi gave a yelp, grabbed Satsuki's wrist, and sped out the door, dragging her along for the ride.
They stopped outside a store that sold mostly health food as Arashi began to look and see if he'd brought the grocery money. Satsuki fiddled with her ponytails, face deadpan as ususal.
"I-pant- I guess- pant- not. Shoot. Ah well, I'll have Mom pay me back."
The two made their way through grocery shopping as quickly as possible, paid with Arashi's savings, and returned to the village road, loaded down with bags. It was getting late, and at this point most of the kids outside were Arashi's age or older. They were also shooting the siblings distinctly unfirendly looks.
Arashi glared back at them and continued on, head high.
A particular group of boys did not seem to take kindly to that, one going so far as to spit near the Uchiha boy's feet. A flicker of fear passed over Satsuki's expressionless face. She moved closer to her brother.
"Arashi, I'm scared."
Arashi gave his little sister a look of disgust. "Satsuki, where's your pride as an Uchiha? We're strong. We're brave. We're powerful. So grow a spine and stand tall so you can wear our symbol on your back with pride. These chumps are nothing."
"Uchiha pride?" The biggest boy, clearly the leader, strode over sneering. "What Uchiha pride? The Uchihas are a clan of traitors who're nothing without their precious sharingan. My Dad told me all about you. Traitors!"
Satsuki flinched. Slurs like these were common, so she should have been used to them by now. But hearing her fellow villagers, her so-called comrades talk about her beloved clan that way always hit her hard.
To his credit, Arashi kept his cool, giving the other boy a condescending look. "Your dad? I bet he was just trying to make himself feel better about being a WEAKLING with a LOSER SON."
"YOU-! My dad is a better shinobi than yours ever was!"
"My dad's a million times better than yours! And I'm going to become the best shinobi the Leaf has ever seen and kick your butt!"
"You wouldn't last two minutes as a shinobi, Strawberry!"
Arashi lost control, his face turning a shade of pink even darker than his hair. "NEVER CALL ME STRAWBERRY!"
The two entered a furious fistfight, the other boy's cronies grabbing the groceries. Biting back her fears, Satsuki ran after them, grabbing a grocery bag and yanking on it with all her strength. 'Uchiha pride, Uchiha pride, Uchiha pride...'
Her train of thought was abruptly broken as one thief shoved her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.
"Take that, Uchiha spawn!"
Dizzily, Satsuki got back up. Something cold and wet hit her in the back, and soon began hitting the rest of her. Then it stopped, and the boys ran off laughing. Arashi, completely covered in mud, chased after them.
Satsuki coughed and gave a shuddering breath, expression deadpan once again, betraying nothing.
'Don't leave me alone! Aniiki!'
Getting shakily to her feet, Satsuki began to run. She had no idea where she was going, or what she would do when she got there. Just that she needed to get far, far away from such cruel horrible people.
She didn't think she'd ever felt so small.
She wasn't sure how long she had been running when she finally became aware of her surroundings again. The only thing she was sure of was that she was somewhere in the woods, and that she was completely lost.
Satsuki bit her lip, eyes squeezed tightly shut. 'I am an Uchiha. I will not cry. Uchiha pride, Uchiha pride, I will not cry-'
A hiccuping sob forced its way out of her throat, ending her battle against tears in vain. At six years old, you can only take so much, even if you are an Uchiha.
Eventually Satsuki's sobs turned into short, gasping breaths, and then into quiet sniffling. She hugged her knees, wondering what to do. It was starting to get dark, and she wanted more than anything to get the disgusting stuff those boys had thrown off of her and have something to eat. She had a horrible feeling she'd never find her way back.
"-are we even DOING all the way out here? This had better be important, or I get your share of barbeque tonight! And-hey, it's a kid!"
Satsuki found herself staring blankly into the face of a light gray, floppy-eared dog with a patch of darker gray covering one eye. She blinked, momentarily wondering who the dog had been talking to. Then she wondered if it was even the dog that had been talking.
"Kid? Are you okay? Sheesh, you're filthy!"
Apparently not.
The speaker knelt down to inspect her, giving her a better view of his face. He appeared to be around ten years old, had light brown hair, slightly pointed canines, and sported a red triangle on either cheek. To her surprise, Satsuki realized that she knew this boy, faintly. Inuzuka Ken, a close friend of Haru-san and Mikoto-oniichan- and that was about the extent of her knowledge.
"Oh geez, you're crying. I didn't make you cry, did I? Sorry sorry, I didn't mean to!"
"M'not crying."
"'Course not. What's your name?"
"Uchiha Satsuki." Ken had been helping her to her feet while they had talked, and was now brushing what Satsuki really hoped was mud off of her clothes.
"Oh yeah! Mikoto's kid sister, I remember! Anyway, what happened to you?"
"N-nothing." The overwhelming shame of the entire incident seemed to be pressing down on her, forcing her gaze to the ground. Ken gave her a look.
"C'mon. Talk to me. I'm a great listener! I listen to myself talk all the time!"
Satsuki gave a tiny smile.
Kasumi agrees with me, right bud?"
The dog actually rolled his eyes.
"HEY! Don't you roll your eyes at me!"
This time, Satsuki laughed.
Despite Kasumi's opinions on the subject, Ken was indeed a good listener. Satsuki found herself telling him the whole story, while he did his best to make her look more presentable.
"-And then you guys found me, and I started telling you what happened. That's it."
"Hmph." Ken frowned. His face was the opposite of Satsuki's, it had an expression for everything, and they were constantly changing. "Should I go hurt those guys, d'you think?"
"That would probably be bad. You could get in trouble."
"Maybe." Ken stepped back to admire his work. "There. Now you're clean-"
"Thank you so much for helping me, Ken-san."
"-except for your clan symbol."
"..."
"You can't see it real well anymore."
"..."
"Um...on a scale of one to five, how bad is that?"
"My Uchiha pride..."
"Eh?"
"My Uchiha pride..." Satski stared down at her feet, shame overtaking her once more. And Ken-san had been so kind to help her...
Ken tipped his head to the side in a canine-esque fashion, then gave a little grin.
"Means that much to you, huh? Don't worry-" He peeled a piece of bark off the nearest tree, and began scratching something into it with a practice kunai from his belt.
"-I'll work something out."
Jabbing a hole through the top, he threaded the bark-bit with a piece of string and handed it to her.
Scratched into the wood was an odd, faintly lopsided version of the Uchiha fan. A strange warmth entered Satsuki.
Pulling it on over her head, she decided with certainty that this was the best necklace she'd ever gotten.
"You like it?"
"Mmhm!" Satsuki wished she was better with words. If there were ones to explain what this meant to her, she didn't know them.
"Cool! C'mon, I'll take you home."
Lifting her up, Ken put Satsuki on his shoulders, and they headed off. Ken, Satsuki decided, would make a much better brother than Arashi.
"Ken-san?"
"Don't bother with 'san', it's stupid. What is it?"
"Please don't tell anyone I cried."
"'Kay. I won't. I don't see what the big deal is, though."
"Crying is stupid."
Ken snorted. "We've all done stupid stuff at some point. When we were about five or six, Haru and I had this huge duel over which one of us would get to marry Mikoto."
"Eh? You wanted to marry oniichan?" Satsuki asked in astonishment. Ken grinned sheepishly.
"Heh. Yeah, at that point she was the only girl either one of us knew, and we both thought she was really pretty. You know how little kids 'marry' and stuff..."
"...no..."
"What, nobody ever asked you when you were younger?"
"...maybe Sakuro..."
"...Your brother?"
"Mmhm."
"I...uh, okay, I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count."
"Oh."
"I wouldn't worry, though. I'm pretty sure that some one who isn't your brother will ask."
Satsuki nodded. "Kay."
They continued on, talking, with Kasumi occasionally barking something for Ken to translate. By the time they arrived back at the Uchiha compound, Satsuki felt as if she knew Ken better then Arashi, who was currently facing Sakura's wrath for losing her.
Sighting the two of them, Sakura stopped shaking her eldest son and dropped him on the floor for Kushina to revive. She ran out to meet Satsuki and her savior, choking Ken in a hug.
"Oh thank the spirits, you found her! You found her! How can I ever thank you?"
"If -you...could leggoahme...CAN'T BREATHE!"
"Oh! Sakura released Ken, who then collapsed, still slightly blue in the face. Satsuki, who had toppled off, tried to shake him awake before her mother began hugging her too. "Oh, I'm so glad you're all right! And you're all dirty! Bath time for you, little girl!"
Balancing a struggling Satsuki on one hip, Sakura turned back to Ken. "Ken-kun, would you like to stay for dinner? I'm afraid it's ramen since Naruto and his family are visiting-"
"Hey! What's wrong with ramen?!" Naruto came through the door, scowling at Sakura and pausing to ruffle Satsuki's hair. "It's like, the food of the gods, dattebayo!"
"Naruto, I was STILL TALKING! SHUT UP!"
"I'd shut up, dobe." Sasuke advised from the doorway where he was lounging. Taking a moment to look at his comatose son (who was still being tended to by Uzumaki Kushina II), and deciding he was in good enough hands, he continued. "She's still in panic mode from finding out Satsuki was missing..."
"PLEASE," Naruto waved a hand airily. "She can't hurt me anymore, I'm the Hokage! You, teme, possibly."
"Naruto, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT CALLING MY HUSBAND THAT?! And before you start using the excuse 'I'm the Hokage', I'd like to remind you that it hasn't been made official yet."
"...Uh-oh."
"Naruto-kun... Sakura-chan..."
"RUN, HINATA RUN! SAVE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY TO HOLD IT OFF!"
BAM.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'IT'?!"
"NARUTO-KUN!"
"Ah! Dad! You killed Dad!"
"Auntie Sakura, you have got to stop doing that! It can't be good for your blood pressure!"
"HARU! She just punched Dad into a wall! Show a little concern here!"
"Oh, he'll live."
"The boy speaks the truth..."
"ARGH! Not you too, Uncle Sasuke-teme! Dattebane!"
"...Please tell me your father didn't claim 'teme' was really part of my name..."
"D-dattebayoo...oo"
"NARUTOOO!"
"IT WAS A JOKE! IT WAS JUST A JOKE SAKURA, DON'T KILL ME!"
One way or another, Ken and Kasumi ended up staying for dinner. Ken and Haru sat on either side of Mikoto, all three talking, laughing, and eating.
Satsuki nodded her approval of the scene. It just needed one little adjustment...
Passing by the older kids, she 'accidentally' bumped into Haru's chair, pushing him away from her sister and Ken.
Mikoto-oniichan was going to marry Ken whether she knew it or not. He would really be part of the family then!