Hello my lovelies. I don't feel like saying much, so enjoy!
Sarutobi watched the woman standing before him coolly as she spoke, his eyes occasionally flitting down to glance at the small child next to her. She was explaining to him how she had found the child in the forest between here and Wave and had kept her with her traveling group until they had arrived here. She was asking if the girl could stay in this village since they couldn't keep a young child with them. Sarutobi sighed and nodded as he pulled out the paperwork.
"All right, I'll try and find a family to take her in. You just need to fill this out as the guardian" He looked down at the now frowning girl, "Would you like that?" She shook her head before grinning, her fist thumping on her chest.
"I'm a big kid! I can live by myself!" She called out triumphantly. The woman shook her head and smiled as she grabbed the papers.
"Not to try and make your decision for you sir, but she would be able to. She does know how to take care of herself. I mean, when I had found her she wasn't in bad health or unhappy even; and she was living in a forest alone!" The woman laughed as she finished the papers and handed them back, "Here you go, and thanks. We're sorry to have to leave her here, but we just can't take her with us. You understand, right?" He nodded.
"Yes, yes. I understand completely. Thank you for taking care of her for this long." He looked through the papers, noticing her name was Moriko and she was only about one year older than another orphan he knew of. He stood and nodded at the woman as she left, uttering another quick "thank you" before the door was shut. He looked over at the girl and smiled.
"So, your name is Moriko?" She grinned and nodded.
"Yep! How'd you know?"
"It's on the papers she filled out."
"Really? Can I see 'em?" She bounced up and down in front of the desk, trying to see better. He smiled again and handed them to her.
"Why don't you make sure what she told me about you is correct?" She nodded and bit her lip in concentration as she lay down on the floor and began to look through the papers. He sighed and pulled out another set of paperwork and began to fill it out. He had just finished signing them when she bounced back up and handed them to him.
"All done! It looks right to me!" She grinned and eyed the papers he had set down, "What're those for?"
"These are to get you an apartment. You'll be living next to a boy about your age, okay?" Her entire body lit up.
"Really? My own apartment? And there's gonna be a boy my age there? Yay! Are we going now? Come on!" She stopped suddenly, "But Grandpa, I can't pay for that!" He blinked at the name.
"Grandpa?" She smiled.
"Yep! You're old enough, and I like you!" He chuckled.
"Okay. Well, you don't have to pay for it. Right now it'll be paid for by the village, as well as a small allowance for food and clothes. Once you get settled in and I think you're ready, I'll enroll you in school as well. How's that sound?"
"Yay! Thank you Grandpa!" She bounced over to him and hugged his leg since she couldn't reach up much higher. He smiled and patted her head before calling in an ANBU to show her to her new home and to get her settled. Moriko smiled as the ANBU led her out of the building.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" He didn't answer her so she contented herself with gazing around the village as they walked. He had grabbed her hand as soon as they left the tower so she wasn't able to run off, much to her disappointment. They got there easily and the ANBU unlocked the door to the apartment at the end of the hall before handing her the keys and going inside to make sure everything was working. Moriko ran around the small apartment happily, dropping the keys on the floor next the bed. The ANBU shook his head.
"Everything works. I'll bring your allowance for the month later today. If you go into the village, try not to get lost."
"Okay! Thank you!" She bounced over to him and hugged his leg. He just nodded and left, leaving her alone. She explored the apartment some more and made the bed before grabbing the keys and poking her head out the door. She grinned and stepped out, pulling the heavy door shut behind her before whipping her head around to figure out where to go. She grinned some more when she remembered there was supposed to be a boy living next to her. She marched proudly over to the door and knocked, not letting up until it opened a bit. She smiled at the small boy.
"Hi! My name's Moriko! I'm gonna live next to you now! What's your name?" The boy blinked up at her warily.
"Naruto." She grinned.
"Nice to meet you Naruto! You get to be my first friend!" He smiled back at her.
"Okay."
"Yay! We're going to be the bestest friends ever! Come on! Let's go play! Do you know where a park is?" He grinned and stepped out next to her.
"Yep! I'll show you!" He took off running down the hall, closely followed by Moriko. As soon as they got to the park, Moriko grabbed his hand and made a beeline for the swings. She let him go just before she jumped on one, stomach first.
"I can fly! Look Naruto! I can fly!" She laughed as he sat on the swing next to her. She jumped off the swing and went behind Naruto, "Since I'm bigger than you, I hafta take care of you! So I'll push you as high as you want, okay?" Naruto stuck his tongue out.
"You're not much bigger than me!" She laughed and began to push him.
"I still am! How old are you?" Naruto counted on his fingers.
"Umm… I'm seven!"
"See? I'm eight, so I'm bigger than you!" Naruto pouted and crossed his arms, almost falling off as she pushed him higher.
"Not that much bigger!"
"Hold on Naruto! You're gonna fall off!"
"Am not!" To prove his point, he let go and held his hands out in front of him. One more push was all it took for him to topple off and fall in the dirt. Moriko went to help him up.
"You okay?" When he nodded she giggled, "I told you!"
"That's because you pushed me!"
"I told you I was gonna push you on the swing! Is not my fault you let go!" Naruto pouted, but Moriko grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the slide. She dropped his hand and tried to climb up the slide instead of using the ladder. Naruto laughed as she kept falling down.
"That's not how you do it! You hafta take your shoes off first!"
"I wanna try with my shoes on!"
"You did try!"
"Again!" Naruto grinned and went to climb up the ladder as she kept trying. Once she got halfway up, he slid down, making them end up in a laughing heap at the bottom. She pushed him off her and climbed up the ladder. As she did a group of older boys walked up to Naruto.
"There y'ar! We been looking for you!" Naruto's smile instantly vanished and he shrunk away from them.
"I hafta go…" Naruto turned to run away, but one of them grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
"Where do you think you're going you little monster?" Naruto whimpered and just let himself go limp as they pulled him towards them and he got thrown into the middle of their newly formed circle.
Moriko got to the top of the ladder and watched in confusion as they threw him into the circle and began to beat him. As the first kicks landed she hissed and threw herself down the slide, aiming herself so her feet would slam into the back of the oldest boy's knees. Her aim was perfect and in seconds he was howling in pain as she landed in front of Naruto and turned around him, narrowing her eyes as they closed in. She bit her lip, knowing she wouldn't be able to win this fight. Her eyes darted around for an escape and saw none, but she did notice a silver-haired man wearing a ninja vest walking nearby. She did the first thing that came to mind as they attacked. She screamed bloody murder.
"What's going on here?" They boys froze in their assault and slowly turned to look back, sneers all ready on their faces.
"What's it to you?" They finally saw who it was and paled.
"He di-didn't me-mean it like th-that. What he meant was… How are you today?" His voice was meek. The man just raised a brow.
"I asked you a question, but if you won't answer… I know a few ways of figuring it out." He made an expression that Moriko assumed was supposed to be a smile since only one eye was showing. The boys paled even farther, if possible, and ran, scattering in all directions. He watched them scatter before looking back to them. Moriko smiled and hugged his leg, peering up into his face and realizing that he wasn't as old as she had first thought.
"Thank you Uncle! They were so mean! And for no reason either!" He blinked down at her in hidden shock.
"I'm not your uncle."
"But I like you!"
"You don't know me."
"What's your name?"
"Kakashi."
"Now I know you Uncle!" She grinned and continued to hug his leg. Naruto had gotten up and brushed himself off meanwhile and was now just watching her. She noticed this and grinned at him.
"See Naruto? Uncle helped us!" Naruto smiled and nodded.
"Thank you Uncle!"
"I'm not even related to either of you!" Moriko frowned, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"Does… Does that mean you don't like us?" Her voice hitched at the end. Kakashi looked down at her face and internally groaned.
"I've lost, haven't I?" Her lip quivered and she detached herself from him, shaking her head.
"No… If you don't like us… that's… fine." She sniffed as Naruto came up and hugged her, looking up at Kakashi sadly. Kakashi glanced between them and sighed.
"I… never said I didn't like you." He said carefully. She looked up at him, a purely hopeful look on her face.
"Then… You do like us?" He groaned internally again. This was as bad as kicking puppies. Like kicking his own summoned puppies!
"Yeah… I do." He sighed, defeated as she smiled happily, hugging his leg again, Naruto joining in.
"Yay! We love you too Uncle!" Kakashi's eye widened as he choked out one word too quiet for them to hear: "Love?" He looked back down at them and gave up. Being an uncle for two orphans couldn't be that bad, could it? He regretted his thoughts almost immediately as she looked back up at him and grinned before tugging him to the swings.
"Come play with us Uncle!"
"I actually have to go…"
"Go where? Can we come? Please? I don't want us to be left alone! What if mean people come again?" Kakashi backed up a step.
"Ummm…. Bye!" He used the teleportation jutsu to disappear, leaving them alone. Moriko frowned and turned to Naruto.
"Is there a library here?"
"Yeah…"
"Can we go there? Please Naruto?" He shrugged and grabbed her hand with a smile.
"Sure!" They ran through the village, Naruto stopping suddenly, making her run into him. She rubbed her head and looked up at the building before breaking into a grin.
"Is this it? Can we go in? I hope they have what I want!"
"This is it! We hafta be real quiet when in there though, and they don't like me too much, but they have lotsa stuff! They even have ninja scrolls and books!" Moriko grinned and hugged him.
"Great! Let's go!" She ran up the steps, stopped just outside the doors and looking back at him, "Come on Naruto! We just hafta make sure to be really really quiet from here on." Naruto nodded slowly and followed her. As soon as they stepped in people stepped away from him while smiling at Moriko. She didn't notice and just went straight up to the desk.
"Ma'am? Can you please show me where all the ninja stuff is?" The old lady smiled.
"Of course I can sweetheart." The she saw Naruto, her nose crinkling in disgust, "And just what do you think you're doing here?" Naruto hunched his shoulders and looked down at the ground, stepping backwards. Moriko tilted her head as she looked between them.
"Is there something wrong with him ma'am? We can leave…" The librarian's eyes widened slightly before smiling sweetly.
"No sweetheart, it's fine. I've just heard that he can be a bit loud, that's all. Why don't you follow me?" Moriko smiled sweetly at her.
"Naruto too?" The woman paused and glanced over, forcing herself to keep the smile on her face.
"Naruto too." Moriko smiled happily.
"Thank you so much!" The lady walked away and Moriko grabbed Naruto's hand tightly before following. They finally stopped closer to the back of the building. The woman smiled and patted Moriko' head.
"Here you are sweetheart, you just let me know if you need anything, okay?" Moriko nodded.
"I will, thank you. We'll try and be quiet little mice." She grinned and pulled Naruto to the small round table in the corner. Naruto sat in one of the chairs and watched as Moriko began to look through the shelves, occasionally pulling some books down and running them over to the table. About eight books, and three scrolls later and she sat down across from him.
"You're going to read all this?" Moriko smiled.
"Of course I am. Is there something you want to read about Naruto?" He shook his head and made a face.
"No way. I don't wanna study." Moriko giggled and opened the nearest book.
"Okay then. Well… you don't hafta stay here if you don't wanna." Naruto shook his head.
"I'll stay with you." She grinned at him before turning back to the book to read. Naruto hopped down from the chair and went to look through the shelves nearby. An hour later and he was officially bored. He pulled on her arm just as she closed the book.
"What?"
"Are you done yet?" She shook her head and smiled apologetically.
"Do you know if I could check these out and take 'em back home?" He shrugged.
"Dunno, never done it."
"Okay, I'm gonna go ask that lady then. You stay here, okay?" He nodded and sat back down with a small pout. Moriko giggled and ran off back to the desk. She only got lost once, but a man was able to show her where to go. She jumped up and down in front of the desk in order to be seen, making the woman laugh.
"What's wrong sweetheart?"
"Can I borrow some of the books to take home? I promise to be real careful with them." The woman smiled.
"Of course you can sweetheart, you just need a library card."
"How do I get that?"
"Well… You just fill out this paper and I can give you one." Moriko grinned and grabbed the paper and a pen before laying on the ground to fill it out. It didn't take her long before she was pushing the paper and pen onto the desk and happily holding her new card.
"Now you just have to bring the books up here to me and I'll check them out for you."
"All right. I'll be right back, don't leave!" She ran off and the woman laughed.
Naruto looked up and grinned when she got back.
"I can take them home! We just hafta bring them to the nice lady!"
"But… How are we gonna carry them all?" She stopped and looked at her pile with a frown.
"I don't know… Maybe we can find someone to help us?"
"You can. I'll stay here and watch over the books, okay?" Moriko nodded and went back to the shelves, grabbing another to put on the table before running off in search of help.
After almost ten minutes she was lost again. She frowned as she looked around. While trying to figure out where she was, she ran into someone's back. She fell to the ground and looked up while rubbing her head.
"I'm sorry!" The boy smiled and held out a hand.
"It's fine. Are you lost?" She nodded.
"Yeah… I want to check out some books, but me and Naruto can't carry them all, so I was looking for someone to help, but I couldn't find anyone and now I can't get back!" She began to cry. The boy grabbed her and lifted her up.
"Come on, I'll take you there. Where is your friend Naruto?" She sniffed and wiped her eyes before grabbing onto him.
"We were looking at the ninja books…" The boy nodded and began to walk over there.
"I can help you carry the books too if you would like." Moriko smiled.
"Really? You really will? Thank you! Oh, my name's Moriko."
"Itachi Uchiha." She smiled and hugged his neck.
"Okay. I'm gonna call you big brother!" He chuckled.
"You'll have to talk to my little brother about that first." She nodded.
"Okay. I like you big brother, you're a good person." He just smiled as they came into view of Naruto. She began to squirm so he put her down, watching as she ran over to Naruto and a table piled with books.
"No wonder you can't carry them all. Do you really want to take all of these?" Moriko grinned and nodded.
"Yes! And if I do well, I can play with Uncle more! Naruto, say hi to big brother!" Naruto grinned.
"Hi! Moriko, why big brother?"
"Well… Because I like him, and he's bigger than us!" Naruto grinned.
"Okay! Hi big brother!" Itachi smiled.
"Come on, both of you grab some books. Unless you changed your mind?" Moriko' eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly, almost tripping in her haste to grab some of the books. Both Naruto and her grabbed two books and a scroll each, leaving Itachi to carry five books and a scroll. He sighed, but picked them up regardless, following an ecstatic little girl and small boy to the desk. The woman smiled down at Moriko.
"All of these sweetheart? Are you sure?" Moriko shook her head and pointed to Itachi.
"He helped us carry the rest!" The woman looked up and jumped a little.
"Itachi! Oh my, I didn't even know you were in the library. You should have told me. Is there anything you needed? Here, just put those down. Sweetheart, you should of just come and asked me for some help instead of bothering Itachi here." Moriko frowned and looked over at Itachi.
"Was I bothering you big brother?" He shook his head, but the woman started.
"Brother? You two are related?"
"No. She seems to have taken a liking to me and would rather call me that." The woman frowned at Moriko.
"Sweetheart, Itachi is a very important person, you need to show him some respect. Don't just call him by any name." Moriko frowned as Itachi left.
"I'm sorry. Can I check out the books now?" The woman nodded and began to check them out, putting them into two bags.
"Here you go sweetheart. One bag for each of you. You'll need to bring them back here in two weeks, okay?" Moriko smiled and nodded.
"Thank you!" She gave the lighter one to Naruto and they left. As soon as they had gotten down the steps and into the street, the bags were taken from them. Moriko turned to yell at the person, but grinned instead.
"Big brother!" She hugged him, "I thought you had left!"
"I did."
"But you're here now!" He nodded.
"Yes. Now where do you live Moriko?" Moriko stopped smiling and looked around.
"I don't know…" Naruto grinned.
"She lives next to me! I can show you the way!" He began to run. Moriko let go of Itachi and grinned before running after Naruto. Itachi had just started after them when a hand landed on his shoulder.
"So the head of ANBU is loved too. What a shocker."
"Hello Kakashi. Did you need something?"
"Nope, just passing by."
"By your comment, I'm going to assume you were the 'uncle' she was referring to?" Kakashi groaned.
"I make the mistake of saying I didn't dislike them, and I'm now an uncle!"
"I'm surprised Kakashi. Normally you would be the first person to say you hated someone." Kakashi glared at the young prodigy.
"Have you ever tried that with them?! It's like kicking puppies!" Itachi managed to keep a straight face.
"So the great copy nin has a weakness for two little kids." Itachi smirked and dodged Kakashi's fist.
"Don't even Itachi. ANBU or not, I will-"
"Will what Uncle?" They both froze and looked down to see Moriko standing there. She smiled up at them as she grabbed theirs hands and began to pull them along. "This'll be fun! Both Uncle and big brother can help me learn more about what's in those books!" Kakashi tried to pull away, but stopped when both Itachi and Moriko looked at him. Itachi with a raised brow, and Moriko with a glare. And for some odd reason, the copy nin felt afraid. He let himself be pulled alongside Itachi.
"I might have to start calling you big brother now as well." Kakashi whispered.
"As you wish Uncle." Itachi whispered back.
"Just don't tell Sasuke that." Itachi smirked.
"Just wait. I was planning on having Moriko meet him."
"Why?!" Kakashi stopped trying to whisper.
"Why what Uncle? What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing." Kakashi was quick to answer.
"I was thinking about introducing you to my younger brother. Would you like to meet him tomorrow? I could bring him over." Moriko stopped outside of her apartment and grinned.
"I would love to meet him! Are you really going to bring him over? Yay! You'll be coming too, right?" Itachi nodded and Moriko looked at Kakashi, "What about you?"
"Nope. I'll be busy tomorrow. I'll see you next week maybe." Kakashi paused as he realized what he had said. Apparently his mind had all ready consented to being an uncle without telling him. Moriko just smiled and opened the door to reveal her shabby, but efficient, apartment. Neither commented on it and Itachi went and set the bags down on the table. Naruto came up behind Kakashi before he could leave.
"Hi Uncle! I didn't know you were coming here too!"
"He's going to help me learn Naruto. Do you want to learn too?" Naruto shook his head.
"Nope! I'm going to sleep. Bye Moriko!" He ran off and Moriko frowned before turning to see both Kakashi and Itachi watching her.
"What?"
"You should go to bed too."
"But I thought you were going to help me…" Itachi poked her in the forehead and she rubbed the spot.
"Sorry Moriko. I will tomorrow when I bring Sasuke over." She nodded with a pout. Kakashi turned to leave and ran into an ANBU. The same one that had showed Moriko the apartment in the first place. He apologized to Kakashi before turning and seeing Itachi. He paused.
"Sir? Am I… interrupting?" Itachi raised a brow.
"Not at all. Why are you here?"
"I was ordered to give the girl her allowance for the month. My apologies, I did not know you would be here sir."
"You should give it to her then. I'm not here on business though, so stop calling me sir." The ANBU nodded.
"Yes sir." Moriko giggled and bounced up to him, holding out a hand which was soon filled with an envelope.
"Thank you Mr. Masked Man!" Itachi and Kakashi smiled as the ANBU left.
"All right Moriko, go to bed." She pouted but went over and sat on the bed before holding out her arms
"Hug? Uncle?" Kakashi paused in the doorway, wanting to leave immediately, but not able to make his body listen. He slowly made his way over to her, but by then she had dropped her arms.
"You don't hafta if you don't wanna." Kakashi sighed and wrapped his much longer arms around her.
"Just not used to it I guess." She smiled and hugged him back tightly.
"Night Uncle."
"Night." Kakashi vanished and Itachi patted her head.
"You won't get a hug from me unless you lay down." She pouted.
"I was gonna ask you to read me a chapter. Please big brother?" He shook his head.
"No. You're going to sleep, and I'm going back home. I'm sure Sasuke is going to ask me something similar after all." She nodded and lay down before stretching out her arms. Itachi smiled and gave her a hug before turning off the light and vanishing. She smiled and drifted off to sleep. She woke the next morning to someone jumping onto the bed beside her. Her eyes shot open and she jumped up, hitting the person and sending them both tumbling to the floor. She looked down at Naruto's smiling face.
"Hi Naruto… What are you doing here?"
"Should I not be?" Her head tilted.
"Well, why didn't you knock?"
"I did! But… then your door wasn't locked so I came in!" He grinned and she laughed.
"Okay then. Just next time, can you not jump on me while I'm asleep?" He nodded.
"Okay!" She smiled before wrinkling her nose.
"Ick! Naruto, you smell! Go bathe!"
"I will in a stream later." She looked at him strangely.
"Don't you have a bathroom?"
"Yeah, but the water's turned off again."
"Why?"
"I dunno. The landlord guy doesn't like me." He shrugged and she stood up, pulling him to her bathroom.
"I'll go get your soap. You can use my bath. I'm pretty sure it works!"
"Are you sure? You mean it? I can even use the warm water?" She nodded and Naruto grinned and hugged her. "Wow! Thanks! You're the best! I love you!" She walked out of the bathroom and went to his apartment in confusion. She grabbed his soap and looked around his apartment. It was smaller than hers, and nothing seemed to work right, not to mention it looked like it was falling apart anyway. She was about to walk out when something crashed through the window. She went up to the object curiously before her eyes widened as she recognized it from a book. It was a trap bomb. She hardly had time to turn away and cover her head before it went off, throwing kunai and shuriken everywhere. She looked up shakily when nothing hit her and saw Kakashi standing between her and the bomb, holding some kunai with a slightly bleeding arm. She stared at him for a moment before shuddering and curling into a ball as she began to cry. Kakashi dropped the weapons and knelt next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She immediately turned and threw herself at him, cuddling close as she trembled from the shock and realization that the bomb had been meant for Naruto. People were trying to kill Naruto. Kakashi held her for a moment before picking her up.
"Come on, let's go back to your apartment." She nodded and continued to cling to him. Kakashi opened her door and carried her inside. He set her on the bed and tried to take the soap from her. She shook her head and ran into the bathroom to give Naruto the soap and make sure he was still okay in there before slowly coming back out. She stood across the room and faced Kakashi.
"Why does everyone hate him so much?" Kakashi shrugged.
"Not sure."
"You're lying to me Kakashi. Fine, don't tell me then." He blinked at her sudden change in attitude and was about to say something when she continued, "But no one is to tell Naruto what happened, okay? I'm going to go clean it up now. You can just tell him I went shopping or something real quick." Kakashi stopped her from leaving.
"First, why do you think I'm lying? Two, you're not going to clean that up, you'll get hurt."
"I have to clean it up! Otherwise Naruto-"
"That's enough. I'll clean it up, okay? All you have to do is tell me why you think I'm lying." She paused before nodding once.
"Okay. I don't think you're lying. I know you are. You know why they hate him, but you're not going to tell me. It's not fair!"
"How do you know I am?" She stomped her foot.
"I just do! Just as I know you, Grandpa, Naruto, and big brother are good people!" Kakashi paused with a sigh.
"All right. I'll go clean up his apartment." He left and Moriko frowned before hearing the bathroom door open.
"Yay! Naruto's all clean now!" He smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah… Hey! Do you like ramen?"
"What's ramen?" Naruto's jaw dropped.
"You don't know what ramen is?!" She shook her head and he grabbed her arm, "Now I hafta show you! Come on!" He dragged her out of her apartment and out the building, running through the village. He finally stopped outside of a small shop with a grin.
"This is Ichiraku's! They're the best ever!" He pulled her inside and grinned at the man working there.
"Hey there Naruto, what'll it be?"
"I want miso!" He turned to Moriko to find her staring into the shop. Following her gaze he saw she was watching the ramen be made.
"What's your name kid?" She turned to the owner and smiled.
"I'm Moriko! Nice to meet you!" He laughed.
"Nice to meet you too. Did you want to eat some ramen today?" She shrugged and Naruto answered for her.
"She's never had ramen before! So I brought her here because the best ramen is here!" He exclaimed with a grin. Moriko stayed quiet, curious as to why this man seemed to actually like Naruto when no one else does. When she started to get a headache she turned her attention to the menu being shoved in her hands. She looked over at the many choices before frowning.
"I don't know." She whined. Naruto laughed.
"That's okay! I'll pick for you! She'll have miso too!" Moriko smiled and bounced in her seat.
"Okay!" Teuchi laughed and went back to prepare their food. Moriko continued to look around until a bowl was set in front of her.
"Here you go, and since it's your first bowl ever, these are on the house!"
"ALL RIGHT!" Naruto yelled out and began to dig in. Moriko tilted her head.
"What does 'on the house' mean?" Teuchi smiled at her.
"It means you don't have to pay for it. This is free." Moriko' eyes widened and she grinned.
"Really? Wow! Thanks!" She began to eat it, smiling happily. Naruto waited impatiently for her to finish eating.
"Did you like it, huh? Did you? I bet you did! You can't not like ramen after all!" Naruto continued to ramble on, not giving her a chance to talk. She turned to Teuchi.
"How do you get him to stop talking?" He shrugged.
"You could always cover his mouth." She nodded and looked at her hands. Both had something in them. She turned to Naruto and covered his mouth. The only problem was she covered it with her own mouth. Naruto instantly stopped talking and she pulled back with a smile, turning towards Teuchi.
"You were right! It did stop his talking!" Her smile slowly faded when she saw his shocked expression. Her head tilted automatically in confusion, "Is something wrong?"
"You… kissed him…" There was a pause as she tried to understand.
"What's a kiss?" Teuchi sighed.
"Well… Why don't you ask someone else?" She turned to Naruto and waved a hand in front of his face.
"Naruto? Naruto? What's wrong Naruto? Wake up!" She frowned and turned a sad face back towards Teuchi only to see him go farther into the shop. She jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder.
"He's fine."
"Big brother! Naruto won't wake up! And I think it's my fault!" She cried out, wrapped arms around his waist. Itachi sighed and turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, no more ramen." He instantly jumped up.
"WHAT?! NOOOOOOO!"
"You fixed him big brother! Yay! He's all better now! I thought I had broken him!" She wailed out, clinging onto Naruto instead. Itachi smiled.
"Come on, let's go back to your apartment. I left Sasuke there, and you can tell me all about how you broke him." Moriko let go of Naruto.
"That's right! Big brother, what's a kiss?" His eyes widened for a second before waving it off.
"I'll explain later… Or you can ask Uncle, okay? In the meantime, we shouldn't keep Sasuke waiting." Moriko grinned and grabbed Naruto's hand, her other grabbing onto Itachi.
"Okay, let's go!" Itachi smiled.
"You need to let go of me Moriko, it's difficult to walk." She instantly let go.
"Big brother? When we get there, are you going to help me with those books?" He nodded.
"I did promise you I would." She smiled and followed him, occasionally pushing at him to try and make him go faster. Every time she did he would purposely slow down until she was pushing at him just to make him move.
"Come on big brother! You said not to keep Sasuke waiting!"
"Then you need to stop pushing me. Be patient Moriko. It's a good ability to have." She pouted, but nodded and stopped pushing him. Itachi smiled when they got to the building and both Moriko and Naruto rushed inside and up the stairs. Itachi smirked and used the teleportation jutsu to beat them there. Moriko beat Naruto easily and was grinning when she got to the top. The grin faded when she saw Itachi, but before she could call him on cheating she noticed Sasuke.
"Hi! I'm Moriko! Are you Sasuke? This is Naruto!" She pointed to where Naruto had just appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Yes… I'm Sasuke…" He stepped behind Itachi more, "Big brother?" Itachi smiled down at him and moved away. Moriko grinned when she heard Sasuke call him that too and walked up to him.
"Sasuke? Can I call Itachi big brother too?"
"Why?"
"Because I like your brother. Naruto does too. He's a good person." She smiled at him. Sasuke smiled shyly back and nodded.
"Okay." She smiled more and grabbed his hand, pulling him into her apartment.
"You wanna be my friend Sasuke? You can be both mine and Naruto's bestest friend!" Sasuke looked back at Itachi.
"Big brother?" Itachi smiled and followed them in.
"Answer her Sasuke." He looked back at her and then looked around the apartment. Moriko grinned.
"You don't hafta answer yet Sasuke. We can be friends later! For now, big brother is gonna help me with my books!" She let go of Sasuke and grabbed onto Itachi, pulling him the rest of the way into the apartment and shutting the door before running over and grabbing a book about chakra control. She held it out to Itachi with a hopeful grin. Itachi grabbed the book and flipped it open.
"Okay, do you know what chakra is Moriko?" She nodded.
"Yeah! I read about it in the library yesterday! It's, it's like your energy that you can use and form into other things and use jutsu with like the teleportation jutsu you and Uncle keep using!" Itachi nodded.
"That's basically right. Naruto, Sasuke, you both should know about chakra, so let's start with an exercise, okay?" They all nodded. Itachi flipped a few pages and read through it quickly. "The first exercise we're going to do is tree climbing." Sasuke and Naruto nodded, but Moriko frowned.
"Big brother, aren't you halfway through the book?"
"Yes, but I'm not going to waste my time teaching those."
"Well… Can we go to the next one?" Itachi sighed.
"The next one is walking on water and is far more difficult Moriko. You need to be able to do this one first. Now come on, we're going to the training grounds."
"But-" Naruto and Sasuke followed Itachi out and she sighed before following as well. They got to the training grounds and Itachi pointed to three trees.
"Each of you pick a tree to practice on." They all went over to one and Itachi smiled, "Okay, do you all know how to summon your chakra?" They nodded.
"Good. Now what you need to do is focus your chakra into your feet in order to stick to the tree. You need a constant steady amount for this. The best way to learn is to try, so get to it."
"Big brother?"
"Yes Moriko?"
"Can you teach me to walk on water? I can already climb trees."
"But you can't use your hands to climb right now Moriko."
"I know, but-"
"Go practice."
"But-"
"Go." She stomped her foot.
"You're not listening to me Itachi!" He sighed.
"All right then. Show me you can."
"Fine." She went over to a tree and planted a foot on the trunk and then kept walking until she got to a branch which she walked on until she was hanging upside down above them, "See big brother? I can do it!" Itachi nodded in shock.
"Where did you learn that?"
"Running from a lion. It was easier to run up the tree instead of climbing. Faster too." Itachi almost choked.
"Right… You were found in a forest filled with wild animals… Okay, that makes sense…Well Moriko, get down here and I'll start you on target practice instead." She grinned and flipped herself down.
"Yay!" She landed clumsily and fell over with a pout. Itachi chuckled.
"Get up Moriko, you can't practice there." She stuck her tongue out at him and got up before trying to tackle him, being caught in mid-jump.
"That's not fair big brother! You're bigger than me."
"You should choose your battles more wisely Moriko. You knew I was bigger than you, and I am a trained shinobi."
"How would I choose better? I'm not trained at all and most people I would fight are bigger than me." He set her down and poked her forehead.
"You'll get bigger. Another thing: You should never fight for selfish reasons. Nor should you fight people obviously weaker than you. Scaring them is fine of course." Moriko nodded before tackling his knee, causing him to fall down.
"The problem with that big brother, is that people can be stronger than they look." Itachi chuckled.
"That's very true. But I meant, for example, people that aren't shinobi." Moriko smiled and got off him. "Sasuke! Naruto! Aren't you supposed to be training?" Both boys jumped and started trying to climb again. Moriko laughed before suddenly turning to face the edge of the clearing and taking a step back.
Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I have the story finished so I will be updating soon!