Summary: Just another request fic; this time for Arellium, who wanted something Naru/Hana-ish. For some reason this is what came out... and I may actually continue it due to the fact that the pairing decided to grow on me.

Disclaimer: serialhugger does not own Naruto. We make no claims on any of its copyrights or trademarks.


The Lion and The Mouth

"Have you ever heard the story about the lion and the mouse?" Naruto asked out of the blue, as he held Hana's left hand in his right; his left hand being used to fish around in his pockets, and various other holding compartments he had strapped to him, to find something useful in a situation such as the one he found himself in now.

The older girl gave him a quizzical look, "What are you talking about?"

"The Lion and the Mouse," the blue eyed boy smiled, "Iruka-sensei told it to me one time." The boy's smile grew brighter as he spoke his beloved pre-Gennin instructors' name.

Hana hissed as she felt him dig into her hand with the tip of and unusually small shuriken, digging out the various bits of metal, wood, rock, and various other objects that had become embedded in her hand when the large Sound-nin she had been battling had set off an explosion using a jutsu she had never seen before.

"Sorry, just try not to think about it," the boy told her returning to his task. "So, anyway, there was this mouse, right? And, he was scurrying around in the jungle, yeah?"

Hana nodded, disguising a wince as the boy dug a twisted piece of metal from the back of her hand. It was painfully obvious (quite literally) that Naruto had little to no first-aid training. His movements were clumsy, and it hurt, she would much rather be the one cleaning out her own wounds, however her other hand was burned and swollen, so really she had no choice in the matter.

"Well anyway, the lion, he decides that he wants to eat the mouse," there was a pause as he pulled out a small pebble, "and the mouse, he begins to beg for his life. 'Please,' says the mouse, 'let me go and one day, I'll come back and help you.'" Naruto continued his work as he spoke. "The lion, though, he just sort of laughed at the mouse. He was laughing so hard that he had to hold his stomach, and the mouse ran away to safety."

Hana watched the Kyuubi container's mouth as he spoke; paying special attention to how he would poke his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and pause in his storytelling for a moment whenever the extraction process of a particular piece was difficult. It was actually sort of cute…

"The next day, the mouse came across the same lion. He was lying injured on the jungle floor. The lion had a thorn in his paw, you see," the girl continued to watch the way the younger boy's lips curved and moved to form the words of the story, which she wasn't really listening to anymore, but she nodded anyhow. "He roared, and he cried, but he just couldn't get the thorn out of his paw no matter how he tried."

If the way he poked his tongue out of the side of his mouth in concentration was cute, then the way he licked his lips, was downright wicked. Blushing, the Inuzuka pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. The boy was the same age as her little brother for Kami-sama's sake! There was no way in hell she should be thinking of the many other ways the blonde boy could use his mouth and tongue, none of which involved storytelling, and all of which she believed she would prefer a lot more.

Again, she forced her thoughts to the back of her mind; reminding herself once again that she should not be thinking of such a young boy in that way. Although… he was legally an adult under village law (he had the hitae-ate to prove it), so maybe she wasn't as big a pervert as she was making herself out to be in her mind after all.

"… and then the lion thanked the mouse for pulling out the thorn, and apologized for laughing at him." The boy's grip on her hand loosened, as he offered her a brilliant grin, "All done Hana-chan!"

Blinking, Hana looked down at her hand. It had indeed been cleansed and wrapped at some point during her internal debate over her own perverseness.

Looking across to the blonde, she offered him a smile of her own. "Thanks Uzumaki-kun," she spoke, before leaning towards him and engaging the boy in a chaste kiss.

She had been right, she really did prefer when his mouth was engaged in activities having nothing at all to do with storytelling.


Hugs and Oreos!

I'm still taking requests btw. Just leave me the pairing and any other specifics in a review, or send it in a PM and I'll get around to posting it here, or at AFF.

Smurf