Ringo.
Yori pov
Yori looked at the headstone of not only her husband but also her baby -he was only six weeks old, it wasn't fair she told herself as she turned away from the graves.
She walked aimlessly for hours walking the streets and going into building's and going back out, eventually she found herself in the hospital, walking along the maternity section where the newly made Mothers rested with their new bundles of joy -it wasn't fair she thought as she looked into a room with a happy family, the Mother's face joyous and happy as she looked on as a lean, tall, dark haired man held a tiny blue colored bundle with dark hair coming out the top, carefully like he was going to break it -it wasn't fair, what right did they have to be happy? She thought to herself as she watched the man kiss the infant's forehead tenderly.
That should be her kissing her child's head and not this man, it should be her, not them.
After walking around the building again, she came back to the maternity ward, and found the same room as before, the tall, lean man that now reminded her of her own husband, Botan was now gone and the woman that looked similar to herself in some ways was now fast asleep, walking quietly into the room she went to the bassinet and looked down onto the sleeping baby boy, he was beautiful -just like her baby boy, he had dark colored hair -just like her baby, the child was lean and small and probably didnt weigh more then five pounds -just like her baby.
He was just like her baby, she thought as she picked up the sleeping infant and walked away from the room, he was her baby she told herself as she left the hospital and threw away the bracelet that the hospital had given the boy to identify him, he wouldn't need that -she already knew who he was, silly hospital, he was her baby, her sweet little Ringo, he was almost two months old she told herself happily as she ignored the sudden screams from the hospital as some lunatic woman started screaming that her baby was gone -some people, she thought sadly as she walked down the very busy and crowded street toward home as it started to rain.
She smiled down on her sleeping son, it had been two days since that horrible nightmare about her baby getting sick and dying, silly dreams her baby was just fine right here in her arms, and perfectly healthy too she might add.
Though she did wonder what all of those ninja were so up in arms about as she woke up Ringo so that he could eat -schedules were important for children, she remembered her own Grandmother telling that to her Mother many times. Speaking of which her Father's caravan was going to get here today, she smiled thinking of her Father, she couldnt wait to introduce him to his grandson, she knew that he would just love him.
Her Father was a honest, hard worker and shrewd businessman, he owned the caravan that he worked with, he loved traveling, a love that he had passed down onto his children, she smiled lovingly as she remembered how she and Botan had met, her Father had hired his team to protect them from some bandits that had given them a hard time, on the long journey they had fallen in love, by the end of the trip he had proposed and asked her Father for her hand in marriage, after her Father had spoken with both of them in private he had consented, and given his blessing, at the time she couldn't have been happier, but then she had gotten little Ringo and life was perfect.
"Father" Yori shouted joyously as her Father came through the door and hugged her, it had been such a long time.
"Now what's this about making me a Grandfather?" he asked her happily.
"He's in the living room sleeping" I told him with no small amount of happiness, just as the baby in question started fussing -proving that children will turn you into a lier every time.
Walking into the living room, I smiled as I stood back and allowed my Father to pick up his new grandson, my smile grew even bigger as my Father used that magic touch of his and stopped the little boy's fussing and made him start laughing instead.
"Where is Botan-san?" asked Father cheerfully
"He died" I told him, my grief evident "almost three weeks ago now"
"Sweetheart, I am so sorry, he was a good man" he told me as I nodded my head in agreement, he looked from me to the baby "why dont you come and live with me and the others in the caravan, get away from this place for a while".
"I think that, that would be a good idea" I agreed with him, with a small, but sad smile on my face.
Kisho pov
That night as Yori got ready to leave with the caravan tomorrow, I decided to give Ringo a bath and dress him, as I took off the various layers of clothes one by one, I was surprised to find a necklace of sorts around little Ringo's neck, it was more of a medallion then a necklace, it looked very old, and appeared to be made out of some sort of bone, it was well carved and was probably handcrafted by the looks of it,
it was a symbol that I had never seen before, it was a circle with three waves inside it and three lines holding them together, all in all it was beautiful and reminded me of serenity, balance and flowing water.
"Yori" i called to my daughter in the next room.
"Yes Papa" she answered as she came into the room
"What is this?" I asked her as I held up the medallion that I had taken from around the baby's neck, I noticed the genuine surprise that ran across Yori's face.
"I dont know" she answered him, "where did it come from?"
"It was around his neck, tucked between the different layers of his clothes" I told her as her expression became unconcerned. She acted like she didn't even know that it was there, but how could she not know what was around her own child's neck?
"Well, then throw it away, it is just garbage" she said as she took it from me and threw it into the trash and walked out of the room without a second glance.
Looking at where Yori had just disappeared too in surprise, then at the little baby that seemed to be looking at the trashcan for the strange noise, perhaps he knew the medallion was his and even if it wasn't you just dont throw things like that away, I told myself as I turned towards the trashcan and retrieved the medallion and tucked it safely away into my pocket.
The caravan loved it's youngest new member, the boy was very cute he had dark hair and eyes, his skin was a pale color, he had (like many boys seem too have) long, thick, dark eyelashes, he had a lean build, and was over all a very well behaved baby.
Though many thought it odd how very young he looked, he was almost two months old, why did he look less then a week old? They all put it out of their minds however as unimportant, after all, all babies are different, though it was strange, -no one said a word, it wasn't important why little Ringo looked younger then others his age, everyone matures differently after all, but why?
Kisho sighed as he lost another game of shogi to his four year old grandson, one of the others in the caravan had taught Ringo how to play a year ago and he was next to impossible for them to beat now.
It really hadn't taken them long to figure out the boy was unusually smart, so he knew that it wasn't the overly proud grandfather in him that thought the kid to be a genius, oh no, it was the whole caravan at this point.
I watched as the ninja that I had hired to keep us safe taught Ringo how to throw kunai, the boy had somehow managed to get all of the ninja that I hired to teach him something about the ninja arts or at the very least someone new to play shogi with, someone who was actually trained in strategy.
The boy wanted to be a ninja when he grew up, he must have gotten it from his Father, I thought to myself as I smiled, his Father would have been so proud.
Elsewhere a certain scar faced man sneezed as he watched over a herd of deer, only to find that the herd had moved elsewhere while he was napping.
I stood next to my grandson during Yori-chan's funeral, the bandits had a larger number then ever
-I had never seen so many at once before, and I had gotten the impression that the gennin team guarding us hadn't either, it was a miracle that more didn't die, the ninja had been completely overwhelmed, but had won in the end -but there were losses, I thanked kami every day that Ringo had been getting a taijustu lesson from the jounin-sensei of the gennin team at the time of the attack.
I looked down at Ringo and saw the tears streaming down his face, it is a hard thing to lose your Mother at such a young age I thought as I gathered my young grandson into my arms in a strong hug.
"Grandpa, where are we going?" asked five year old Ringo as he fiddled with the medallion that Yori had once tried to throw away, I had given it back to him after her funeral.
"We are going to Konoha, where we will visit your Father's grave and possibly even see about you entering the academy there -since it is the same one that your Father went to, and you were born in Konoha. Plus we can sell things in the marketplace while we are there." I told him as we entered the land of fire.
I chuckled at the way Ringo starred in awe at the Hokage monument, this village had always been one of my favorites, everyone was always so cheerful.
I sent the others ahead to the marketplace as I lead Ringo to the cemetery to visit his Father.
As we paid our respects to Botan-san I noticed another grave marker nearby, a grave with Ringo's name on it, the birthdate was the same, but the deathdate was a couple days before I entered Konoha.
As I starred at it I got a bad feeling in my gut, and things I never put too much thought into before started to add up, differences that I had ignored, perhaps I shouldn't have ignored those differences after all.
"Grandpa" asked Ringo in that innocent way that only children have "why do I have a grave?" he asked as he pointed his finger at the grave marker and looked up at me.
"I'm not sure" I whispered back
It even had details like who his parents were! I noticed with a growing sense of alarm, if this is my Grandson, then whose child am I holding right now?
After that we quickly went back to the others, were I ended up explaining everything to them (well they did ask me why I looked like I had seen a ghost), as I looked over their faces I saw mine mirroring theirs, shock and confusion being the most prominent, but there was anger too -anger at Yori, sorrow was also seen in their faces -we all knew that this might mean that we might have to give up Ringo.
"We have to try to find his (biological) family" said one of the women of the caravan through her tears "it is the right thing to do" she added sobbing into her husband's shirt (Ringo had been like a son to them as well).
"Rini-san is right" I told them "I know that I for one would never be able to look the boy in the eye again, if I didn't at least try to find his biological family" I told them with sorrow "but we will always be his family, he will always be my grandson!" I declared firmly before I noticed that we had a little eavesdroper listening in.
"Ringo come here" I called to him, we all watched as he quietly shuffled up to me, I looked down at him as he refused to look up at me.
"Ringo" I said as I kneeled down next to him "this changes nothing, you will always be my grandson" I told him, as the others all near shouted the same thing -that he would always be one of us, no matter what.
"Greetings Hokage-sama" I greeted the aging Hokage "I would like to ask for the help of some of your ninja, to help me find out the truth about my grandson" I requested of him, as he looked up at me -this was not the usual request that I usually asked of him (I usually asked him for guard's).
Then I spilled out the whole thing to him, how my daughter (now deceased) may have stolen a baby from this village after her own had died (five years ago), how we had only recently discovered the truth (by accident no less) by visiting my son-in-law's (Botan) grave -only to find Ringo's right next to his.
I also told him how I felt about Ringo, and I would not be overly disappointed if we did not succeed -Ringo is my grandson, I don't care who he is. But my honor demands that we try. He looked at me and then at Ringo whom I had brought with me after a few minutes of studying the boy he told me to come back in the morning, that he had the perfect team in mind to help me.
Choza's pov
"Inoichi, where is that lazy deer herder?" I asked, the hokage had asked for all three of us to come to his office for a mission assignment this morning.
"I dont know, but I can guess" he told me -that usually only meant one thing, Shikaku was hitting the bars again, ever since that horrible day that should have been one of his happiest -well he just wasn't the same after that, a death would have been easier, I thought morosely, as we went in search of our probably inebriated friend.
Sure enough we found him in a bar, completely drunk -this would not make a good impression on our client. Inoichi and I dragged him to my house, were we made a quick plan to invite the client over for lunch (no one cooks like an Akamichi, I agreed proudly), were all of our families would be, so while we would be meeting the client, they would be working on getting Shikaku sober.
In the hokage's office we were introduced to our client, a man named Kisho, he had recently discovered that his grandson was not his and that his daughter may have kidnapped him and so he wanted to find the boy's biological family, he also wanted to keep the child if it was at all possible.
"Kisho-san" began Inoichi "we are having a luncheon with our families this afternoon at the park, we would be honored if you and your young charge would join us, and you could even meet our teammate -who was not able to make it here unfortunately" he said with great conviction, I almost believed him -this civilian didn't stand a chance.
Meanwhile Shikaku was going through torture of sorts as the wives tried to get him sober quickly, and the kids weren't helping him any -they were helping their mother's.
"Shikaku so help me you had better be sober" shouted Inoichi as soon as we entered the house "our client -Kisho-san will be joining us and our families for a picnic at the park. Here is the mission scroll." he said as he tossed Shikaku the mission scroll.
"Lucky sap" muttered Shikaku as soon as he read it, the client was trying to reunite his grandson with his biological family -we all knew what he meant, all of us knew that he and Yoshino would give anything to be reunited with their little boy.
"Greetings Kisho-san" I greeted cheerfully " I'm glad that you could make it" as I eyed the little boy who layed fast asleep on Kisho-san's shoulder with his face facing Kisho-san's neck -effectively cutting off any view of the child's face.
Thank you for inviting us" said Kisho in return "and I would introduce you to Ringo, but he fell asleep on the way here" he explained as we walked to were the others were waiting.
Kisho shook the little boy awake as the introductions were being made, by the time it was his turn the boy was awake and as his grandfather introduced him, he turned and looked at all of us -and that made all of us pause, the boy's dark hair was pulled back into a top knot, and he wore a child's simple, blue yutaka, he looked clean and well fed, but it was his face that seemed so familiar, he had dark eyes, and a child's round face with sharp features.
After the introductions we got to eating, but our eyes kept sliding over to the unknown child, and we started to make polite conversation (or in other words subtle interrogation - we wanted to know as much as possible).
"Kisho-san when did you come to realize that Ringo-kun was not yours by blood?" asked Inoichi
"Yesterday" he replied "when we entered the village, we went to the cemetery to visit my son-in-law, but Ringo's grave was right next to his and then I started thinking about all of the little differences that I had ignored in the past." he told us uneasily as the children talked to one another around us.
"It impresses me that you are trying to find his family" Shikaku told him.
"Biological family, Ringo will always be my grandson, he is the apple of my eye and will remain thus." our client told us firmly as he picked up a rice ball with his chopsticks "However, they whoever they are have a right to know what happened to him and that he is alright. Though I must admit I am afraid of losing him." he finished sadly as he looked us in the eye, letting his eyes convey to us the true extent of his worry.
"Dont worry to much" said Shikaku "I know how it feels to lose someone important to you and I know how the worry will eat at you -til you think of them until there is nothing left in your head" he finished with a sad note.
"What do you intend to do once we find them?" asked Inoichi
"I admit, I really am not sure -but I hope that we could reach some sort of agreement." said Kisho as he looked at the little boy at his side with a small amount of sadness shining through his eyes, this man wasn't faking anything I realized.
"you see I travel a lot and he wishes to be a ninja" he told us
"Kisho-san" began my wife "what do you do for a living?" she asked trying to get away from the sad vein of topic.
"I own and run a caravan" he told her, "we sell exotic spices, herbs, silks and other cloths, and much more -we have even been known to sell water" he finished with a laugh.
"But Grandpa, we only sell water when we go to Wind country" said Ringo
"Yes, well -they do live in a desert and they need it." he said in an agreeable manner "and what about you" he asked "with a crush on that little Sand girl" he teased
"For the last time I do not have a crush on Temari!" he yelled defensively.
"Is that what her name is?" asked Kisho pretending to have forgotten.
"So why are you being so defensive about it?" asked Inoichi with a grin.
"I'm not and it's ridiculous anyway" said little Ringo with his arms folded defensively.
"Why's that?" asked Inoichi again.
"Because her Dad is scary, and she's bossy and, and" said the little boy as he tried to find the right word to describe this little girl from Sand, while the rest of us tried not to laugh.
"Troublesome" suggested Shikaku with a glare from his wife.
"Yes! That's it!" agreed the little boy "She is troublesome." he said with finality, "and her brothers are troublesome too" he added while the rest of us chuckled.
"Why is her Dad scary?" asked Choji.
"Because he is the Kazekage" Ringo answered him boredly, while the rest of us stopped and starred at him for a second -the Kazekage!?
"What is a kazekage? " asked Ino.
"Who is the kazekage" corrected Inoichi's wife.
"He is the leader of the village hidden in the Sand, much like your Hokage" explained Kisho with a friendly smile.
"Sounds like you must travel a lot" commented Yoshino with a wry smile.
"Yes we do" agreed Kisho "I have always enjoyed traveling and I always try to share my love with others, so that they may enjoy it as well" he told us happily with a big smile, which turned out to be contagious because it made the rest of us smile as well.
"Ringo what do you want to be when you grow up?" asked my wife.
"I want to be a ninja" he answered her lazily.
"I had hoped to enroll him into the ninja academy while we were here, but I'm unsure what to do about housing for him." Kisho admitted to us "And he's to young to be left alone in an apartment by himself. Perhaps he could stay with his birth family once we find them so that he could study at the Academy and I could visit whenever possible." he said
"So Ringo what sort of games do you like to play?" asked Shikaku conversationaly.
"I like Shogi and Go" answered Ringo
"Aye, I havent been able to beat him at those games since he was four, he takes to strategy games like a duck to water" added Kisho with a shake of his head and a fond smile.
"Well, you make it too easy" replied the little boy "that's why I started challenging those ninja you hired"
"Yes, yes you can normally beat them all, up to what level is it again?" asked Kisho with good humor.
"Chunnin" answered the little boy with a grin.
"And then I have to deal with their glares all day, because they lost to a little kid" Kisho put in while trying not to laugh.
"Well they shouldn't have underestimated me -isn't there a ninja rule about underestimating your opponents or something?" asked the little boy with a pout.
"Yes, there is as a matter of fact" Inoichi answered the little boy while suppressing his laughter.
It sounded like the child had great potential with strategy, perhaps we should test that out.
"You know Shikaku-san here is pretty good at those games himself, why don't you play a game or two with him?" I told the little boy with a grin, The child just smiled back at the both of us.
"Kisho-san, you mentioned a necklace with some sort of symbol that you were not able to identify, is that correct?" asked Inoichi as we watched Shikaku play shogi with young Ringo.
"Yes" said Kisho "do you think that you could identify it?" he asked
"Possibly, and it could be important" I agreed as I watched Ringo capture one of Shikaku's knight's -the dragon one I think.
"Do you have it with you?" asked Inoichi
"I gave it back to Ringo after Yori died, I told him not to take it off" Kisho answered
"Ringo can you show us your necklace" I asked the little boy -this could be an important clue to the child's identity. We all watched as the little boy pulled out a old black cord with a single medallion on it, a little smaller then the size of the palm of my hand, it looked to be carved out of some sort of bone or antler I noted to myself before the little boy held up the symbol on the medallion for all to see.
The Nara clan symbol -the medallion that the Nara clan heir wore, the same one that went missing five years ago, when the heir went missing, stolen from the hospital as a newborn while his mother slept.
I barely noticed Yoshino drop the plate that she was holding, or Shikaku due to his shock make the worst move of his life in a game of strategy, or mine and Inoichi's wives starring in disbelief as they paused in their attempts to round up Choji and Ino, I barely noticed anything, except now I could see the family resemblance as it starred me in the face.
"Ya" said Inoichi weakly "that could be important."
Inoichi pov
I could still remember that cold and wet September day, my wife was in labor with Ino and Shikaku's wife had just given birth to a healthy and beautiful baby boy, they named him Shikamaru. I remember watching Shikaku proudly put the Nara heir medallion around the child's neck and then tuck it into his clothing for safekeeping, I remember Yoshino resting to get her strength back. I remember being with my own wife as she brought our own little one into the world, and I remember Yoshino's screams as she woke up to discover that her baby was missing, I remember helping them search, it was me who found the hospital bracelet with Shikamaru's name on it. I remember watching the Inuzuka clan's best trackers try their hardest to find a scent (how they hated 'puppy snatchers', as Tsume put it) -but the rain had washed it all away, and how nothing was ever found in the days that followed, not even a single ransom note -nothing, and how nothing was ever the same after that.
I will admit I never let Shikaku know this but I had assumed that the kid was probably dead and had most likely been kidnapped and killed by one of his enemies, never in a million years did I think that I would ever see that kid again in this life.
I did not expect Shikaku's kid to be kidnapped by a mentally unstable woman who was mourning her own dead child (and husband), and so kidnapped Shikamaru-kun as a replacement -no I was not expecting that, I thought to myself as I starred at the little boy and his medallion as it layed on his chest innocently as he continued to play shogi with a very distracted Shikaku who looked as if he just realized that he was playing shogi with his long lost son. I barely registered that mine and Choza's wives were now trying to hold back an emotional Yoshino, or that Choza was trying to distract Kisho-san from it all.
"Ringo" I called suddenly, as everyone turned to look at me in surprise, but we all needed to know this "Are you happy?" I asked him
"Hai" he answered me happily as Shikaku started to come too.
"Do you love your grandpa?" I asked
"Yes" he replied, probably wondering where this was going.
"Were you happy with your Mom, even knowing what you know now" I asked him as I kept my emotions under control.
"Ya, she was nice, and I loved her a lot and I miss her still" he told me, I could see the confusion on his face - but he wasn't lying.
"Did she love you?" I asked him with a steady friendly voice.
"Yes, lots and lots" he told me with a confident grin.
"Does your grandpa love you, even knowing what he knows now?" I asked him -it was important to know what the child thought in all of this.
"Yes, he loves me" he answered simply
"What about this new family?" I asked him "what do you think of them?"
"Grandpa says that they love me too, and that they miss me -which is why we need to find them" he told me, it seems that he was still unsure about the idea, which I saw Shikaku and Yoshino notice -good, let him get used to them first.
"Do you understand that what your Mom did was wrong?" I asked him
"Ya, auntie Rini says that Mommy wasn't thinking straight" he told me a little sadly "but that she is still happy that she got to meet me" he finished on a happier note.
"Do you love them? Are you happy with them?" I asked him steadily.
"Yes to both questions" he answered happily with a grin on his face.
"Have you had a good life?" I asked him
"Yes, I have" he answered before asking his own question "why are you asking me all of this stuff?"
"Because I want to know how you feel in all of this, I want to make sure that you have had and will continue to have a good life" I told him as I struggled to remain the master of my emotions.
"You should take your friend's advice and not worry so much" he told me with a straight (if not a little bored) face, making me burst into peals of laughter, oh the irony, I thought, and apperently I wasn't the only one that thought so because I wasn't the only one laughing -my wife, and Choza and his wife were all laughing while Shikaku and his wife just smiled, even Kisho was smiling.
I could practically see the relief on Yoshino's face as it finally hit her, the tension and worry that all of us had held onto for five long years was finally beginning to ebb away.
Choza and I stood next to Shikaku as we watched the children playing, suddenly 'Ringo' broke off from the others and ran toward Kisho-san who caught him and threw him into the air, catching him and then throwing him again. I noticed Shikaku clenching his fists.
"Kisho-san" I began "I think I know who Ringo is" I had his complete attention now "five years ago there was a kidnapping, basically someone walked out of a hospital with someone else's baby, a new born to be precise, a little boy - when he was last seen he was wearing that same necklace, - with that exact same medallion." I told him straight up.
"It was tucked between the wrap he was wearing" whispered Shikaku in remembrance.
"The necklace is one of a kind" explained Choza "it is hand carved and has been handed down from one generation to the next, it is made from a antler of a deer, the medallion is a priceless family heirloom, and the symbol is actually the clan symbol of the family in question." he finished, not giving away more information then was needed -I, myself am not to certain if we should tell Kisho just yet that the child in question was also the clan heir.
"Can we meet these people so that we can find out for sure, and maybe come to an agreement of some kind?" asked Kisho, we could all see that he was trying to be strong.
"I think that, that would be very possible" said Shikaku before the rest of us could say anything, "Because" he continued "you already have, you see it was a child of my clan that disappeared all those years ago." he said as he took off his jounin vest to show the Nara clan symbol that was proudly sewn onto his shirt "and this is my clan symbol." he finished. The symbol on the medallion and the symbol on his shirt were the same.
"He's the clan head." I told them quietly.
In the end it was decided that Shikamaru (we all agreed to call him Shikamaru from now on it was his original name but Ringo would be his middle name) would live with the Nara with his parents and that way he could go to the academy and become a ninja like he wanted and Kisho could go to work and come back and see Shikamaru whenever he wanted (or was able considering how his work took him away for so long). And on a side note the Nara clan now had a great deal and almost exclusive marketing deals with Kisho's caravan. And more importantly now they had their son back.