Angels and Demons
By: Sesshi-chan
The sequel to Angel's Blossom
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Would you think I did if I didn't say this?
Sabaku no Aiko skipped cheerfully along the paths of the Leaf Village. Her parents had come to visit the Leaf Village and she had asked if she could go visit Aunt Hinata and Uncle Naruto on her own. Neither of them had been enthusiastic but her mom had yielded to the pleas of her only daughter.
"Come on, Gaara. We let her go around at home by herself. Konoha's safe." Aiko looked up at her father, trying to use her most adorable eyes. Sakura put a hand on her daughter's head and tried to do the same thing. They had almost the same hair, Aiko's was redder, but she had Gaara's light green eyes. "Please?" Sakura added hopefully. Her husband had been grudging.
"Fine, Sakura. But only just across the village to see Naruto and Hinata. And we pick her up later. She doesn't walk back on her own." Sakura nodded and hugged her husband. "And if she gets hurt, there'll be hell to pay." He added.
Aiko grinned. She always get her way. The five year old was remarkably mature for her age. As she skipped along happily, she heard a small voice near her.
"Please, do you have any food to spare?" Aiko turned in surprise. The speaker was a little girl, about her age but tiny. Yellow hawk eyes looked up at her. A hand was outstretched hopefully. Aiko recoiled.
"I don't have any food and if I did I wouldn't give it to a monster." She said, in juvenile disgust. "Go away." The bright eyes filled with tears and the hand withdrew. Aiko hurried on, disconcerted as the small child looked after her.
She arrived at the door of her aunt and uncle's house. It was small, messy and an incredibly homelike place. A vine grew up the walls and there were birds chirping in the garden. Aiko rang the doorbell and bounced up and down while she waited. The door opened.
Aiko's aunt, Hinata stood in the doorway. She had one hand on her stomach which was getting big. Aiko already had been told that Aunt Hinata and Uncle Naruto were having a baby soon. She couldn't wait to meet her cousin.
"Aiko-chan! Its good to see you." Hinata said happily, pale eyes sparkling. "Come in, I've got some cookies." She glanced around. "Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Aiko was smug.
"I came by myself. I'm a big girl now." Hinata laughed and patted her on the head before steering her inside. Inside, the house was the same. It was messy with everything from Ramen containers to ninja scrolls. Uncle Naruto was still addicted to Ramen. Aiko giggled then frowned as the oddly colored eyes of the demon girl came into her young mind. Hinata cocked her head.
"What is it, Aiko-chan?" Aiko blinked at her.
"How'd you know?" Hinata giggled, the same shy giggle she used to use when she was 12.
"You don't have your father's gift for hiding emotions yet. And besides," she traced one of her eyelids, "I'm good at reading emotions. So spill. You can tell Aunt Hinata." She cleared a set of scrolls on water Ninjutsu from a chair and steered Aiko into it. She knocked a set of used Ramen cups from another chair and sat. "So?" Aiko pouted at being asked to tell but she acquiesced.
"You know that demon girl the village is talking about, Auntie?" She asked. Hinata nodded. Naruto had been trying to locate the child as soon as he'd heard about her. "She was asking me for food." Her lip curled in a childish sneer. "I told her that I wouldn't give any of my food to a monster but she kept staring at me." Hinata's jaw dropped in horror. She knew the fragile emotional state that demon hosts lived in. To tell one something like that had the capability to destroy them beyond hope of repair. "What's wrong, Auntie?" Hinata took a deep breath.
"That was a very bad thing to do. A demon host is human and they have tears and feelings like you and I. Where was the little girl?" Aiko looked confused before replying to the question.
"Near the playground. At the far end, near the swing." Hinata nodded, thinking of memories of Naruto as a child, sitting on the swings. She pulled a scoll of the wall, where it was pinned up. It was blank except for a tiny bit of blood in the top corner and the kanji for replicate written in the blood. She pulled a brush and ink toward her. She scribbled hurriedly across the page. She touched the kanji. The words vanished. Aiko gaped. Hinata smiled and closed her mouth.
"Replication Techinque. Naruto made it."
Across the village, Uzumaki Naruto felt the scroll he carried pulse. He pulled it out, it was the purple that meant he had been contacted, and scanned the words that were scrawled across it in Hinata's neat writing. I know where the girl is. She's near the playground, by the swings. She asked Aiko, whose at our house, for food and Aiko said she wouldn't feed a monster. I'm going to explain everything to her. Get Gaara and talk to the girl. She was upset. He frowned. That wasn't a good development. After all the girl had probably gone through, he and Gaara were going to have to divulge all to help her. He wrote back quickly.
The scroll in Hinata's hands pulsed and glowed orange. She read the message sent to her by her husband. On my way. Make sure Aiko understands what she did. Hinata quickly wrote her agreement before re-hanging the scroll on the wall. She turned to Aiko, who was looking up at her curiously.
"Naruto wants me to explain why we're making a big deal out of this. This is the true story and we trust you not to tell everyone about it. This is a sensitive subject and has caused your father and Naruto a lot of pain. Do you understand?" Aiko's eyes were wide. She nodded, happy to be trusted.
"I won't tell." She said. Hinata frowned.
"This isn't a matter to be smiling over." She said grimly. "Being a demon host can destroy your life. I know from experience." Aiko gasped in the dramatic way that only a five year old can.
"Are you a demon host, Auntie?" She said, in a shocked whisper. Hinata shook her head. Aiko looked relived.
"I've known two though and I've seen people say cruel things to both of them. They asked me to tell you so that you understand why what you said was wrong. Uncle Naruto and your father had demons sealed inside of them as infants." Aiko's eyes widened even more. "They couldn't help it. They were only children but people hated them for it. Uncle Naruto's father died to seal it in him. Your father's mother died to seal it in him. People blamed them and hated them. People don't think a demon host can cry but they most certainly can. I've seen your father crying when he was your age because no one wanted him there. Uncle Kankuro and Aunt Temari can tell you the same thing about your father. Until they met when they were 12, each of them thought that they were alone. Do you understand?" Aiko nodded.
"Does that mean that I'm part demon?" She asked curiously. Hinata shook her head.
"The demon was pulled out of your father many years ago. He almost died as a result. It was gone long before you were even imagined."
By the swings, two men stopped by a little girl and knelt down. One of them, blond and blue eyed, put an arm around her shoulders. The girl looked up with her strange eyes.
"You aren't afraid to touch me even though I'm a monster?" She said hopefully. Naruto shook his head.
"No I'm not and no you're not. You're not a monster and even if you were I would be too. And Gaara here would be a former monster." The little girl looked at the other man kneeling beside her. Gaara nodded his head.
"Its true." He stated frankly. The little girl lowered her head.
"I'm a demon." She said again. Naruto corrected her.
"Host. We had to teach ourselves the difference too. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, host to Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tailed Fox. The other guy is Sabaku no Gaara, the former host of Shukaku no Tanuki, the One Tailed Raccoon." The little girl's eyes widened.
"Demon hosts." She breathed. "There are others out there?" Naruto nodded.
"Believe it." He said but with out the usual spark. "Plenty out there. We're only two. We really understand." He enfolded her in a hug. "Trust us, we understand every thing your going through."
"And I'm sorry about Aiko." Gaara added. "She's my daughter but I haven't told her about hosts yet. His wife is doing that now." He pointed to Naruto. The girl's eyes dropped. "She didn't mean it." He continued. "She's young." The girl raised her eyes. "Please forgive her." She nodded her small head and let them continue to explain to her that they did really comprehend her situation.
"So you see, Aiko-chan,"Hinata continued. "We're all ashamed of what you did. All of us. Uncle Naruto, myself, both of your parents, Uncle Kankuro and Aunt Hana, Aunt Temari and Uncle Shikamaru, Uncle Neji and Aunt Tenten." Aiko burst into tears and was patted on the head by Hinata. "There, there. We know you didn't mean it." Aiko rubbed her eyes and looked up.
"Can I do something?" She asked in a typical cute voice. She leaned forward to whisper in her aunt's ear even though there was no one around. Hinata laughed.
"You can do that. Come on, I'll bring you over."
Sabaku no Aiko stopped once more in front of the demon host girl. Hinata gently pulled Gaara and Naruto back a bit. Aiko took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry" She said, then brightened up. "You wanna play with me?" The little girls eyes lit up with hope. She smiled and stood up. She was a head shorter than Aiko. Slyly, she reached out and tapped Aiko on the shoulder.
"Tag!" She shrieked before running off with Aiko in hot pursuit. They ran, giggling around the playgroun. The adults watched them run. Haruno Sakura, now technically Sabaku no Sakura, stepped out from the shadows and leaned against her husband. He put an arm around her shoulder.
"Its nice to do something good in the world." He said meditively as he watched his daughter and her new friend. Sakura nodded.
"I know." She mentioned softly. "I know."
Sooooo, how'd you like it? I think it turned out well, if a little corny. I had this thought out in my head and it kept bugging me until I wrote it. Leave a review and tell me what your opinion was and if you think I should write filler stories about each of the couples mentioned. They won't be written until I finish my other fics though.
Poor Inner, she lost her soul mate. Heh, I just realized that. I know that I'm crazy because I'm beginning to miss that bloodthirsty perv. He provided comic relief.