MY GUARDIAN, MY FRIEND

By readersdigest

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or anything it is related to except for this story, plot inclusive, nor do I care.

NOTE: Any explanation you are looking for can be found at the 'NOTES' section at the end of this chapter.

CHAPTER TWO

Gekkou wasn't sure he was all that suitable for looking after a child, even one who was quite used to fending for himself, but he knew someone needed to at least show some interest and be there for the kid, and he, admittedly, had a soft spot for the resilient child. He knew that more often than not the sunny disposition and brilliant high-wattage grin was a facade, but knowing that he even bothered meant the boy still had hope.

He'd tried his best too look after the boy inadvertently- dropping off some extra food when he was in-village, rescuing the boy when he could and badgering the Hokage about his living conditions, who was constantly being lied to by orphanage supervisors and the like. He'd been a key factor in pulling the blonde youth out of the orphanage- normally he'd praise such an institution, but the bias of the village also existed within the 'kind' hearts of those who ran the orphanage, and more often than not the boy would be hungry, dirty and miserable.

But he'd try to do what he could now, more, if possible. He'd try keep an eye out for the kid, make sure he had food available everyday, and wasn't so damn skinny anymore.

He wasn't the fanciest jounin in the village, or the biggest or strongest, he knew, but he was damn fine at swords and a damn good ninja. He also knew the difference between a boy and a monster.

-" ...kkou-san ... Gekkou-san?"

The hesitant voice brought him back to reality, where he was currently holding the hand of the now-healed blonde, who was gazing up at him with big blue eyes, uncertainty mixed with a little fear present in them as he called his name.

"Hai, Naruto-kun?" the man asked, walking again as the pair made their way to the jounin barracks where he lived, as did many of Konoha's single (or at least not married) jounin, if they didn't rent an apartment, or live on clan lands.

"Uhm, ano- where am I going to live?" asked the blue-eyed boy. He knew Ji-san had said Gekkou-san would be his 'guardian' now, but he didn't know if he'd be living with him or not. He'd never been to the 'jounin barracks' before.

"With me" Gekkou replied, "Come on, let me show you, ne?" he asked, pulling the boy along after he nodded.

.O.O.O.

...In the Barracks...

"...wow!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling honestly. "This is great, Gekkou-san, it's so big!"

Hayate smiled a little as Naruto observed 'their' rooms. It wasn't so big by most people's standards, but it was roomy enough for the two of them, he was sure. He'd had another bed brought in to the previously empty second room of his quarters the day before, and had made it up with new linen and transferred what little belongings the blonde haired youth had into the room, as well as taking his instant ramen supply and filling one of his cupboards completely.

"I'm glad you think so. This is your room, I hope you like it"

The boy nodded, smiling softly up at the man. He was going to live with someone! He couldn't believe it! This was great!

.O.O.O.

Not long after Gekkou had officially become Naruto's 'guardian' did he have to leave on a mission. As the young boy was only just adjusting to the jounin barracks, Gekkou wanted someone to help him out, and make sure he was ok, and ate when he needed to, etc.

With that in mind, the special jounin made his way to the Hokage's office.

.O.O.O.

"It'll probably only be for the night, Hokage-sama" Gekkou finished. He'd been requested to go on this assassination mission, and didn't turn it down because of the excellent pay, but he also didn't want to leave the chibi-san alone so soon.

"Very well, Gekkou-kun. I'll arrange someone to watch Naruto-kun" Sarutobi said, puffing on his pipe, he had just the person in mind. It would do the both of them some good.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama" the jounin replied, exiting the room, relief washing through him. The Hokage wouldn't put Naruto in unnecessary danger, he knew that.

With that matter handled, he went to inform his young charge and prepare for the mission.

.O.O.O.

Naruto Uzumaki was a quiet eight year old. You could almost say he was entirely silent, except for when he was with old man Hokage or Gekkou (or in public, being a hooligan), though even then he was unusually quiet for a child most of the time. Especially one who had the public reputation of being a loud-mouthed troublemaker.

So I'm stuck with a mute kid, Anko thought unhappily. It wasn't that she didn't like kids (who was she kidding? useless maggots, the lot of them), or that she had something against Naruto (well, at least no more than she had against any other useless maggot), she'd just wanted to go on the mission that the rest of her team was going on. It was only a quick in-out job, a few hours at most, but it was her specialty- assassination. But protocol stated she couldn't go on another mission for more than a week. She couldn't understand why, the medic-nin's had fixed her up in no time at all. Stupid.

Instead, she was stuck with babysitting duty. "Good for my interpersonal skills my ass! Well, at least the brat's asleep", she mumbled to herself.

She walks up to check on her silent charge (she was ordered to do so regularly by her superior. That's the only damned reason.), slowly opening the door to the spare room.

Walking closer to the bed she hears a small noise, more of a yip than a whimper, as though even in sleep the boy is trying to be silent.

Curious, Anko edges closer to the bed, which drowns the small boy in its size. She notices the creases on Naruto's forehead, as though in pain. The whimper sounds again, this time louder and Anko wonders briefly whether she should wake the boy up.

She knows about nightmares (she wasn't top assassin for nothing... according to some, she WAS a nightmare! heh... not to mention that snake-teme Orochimaru...) and could recognize a bad one when she saw one.

Reaching out, she touched the boy's shoulder just as the nightmare seemed to reach its terrifying peak.

Naruto lurched out of bed, bolting upright, eyes terrified and wild, breath coming in fast pants. He had dreamt that all of the people, civilian and ninja alike had found him and were beating him, and had woken up just as he'd heard the foremost nin shout out a katon justu.

Anko's eyes widened slightly (not that she was surprised by the amount of fear on the brat's face, in his eyes, she had seen that often enough) and wondered what in Kami's name she should do. If I was a normal person, what would I do?

Suddenly, an idea comes to her.

"Hey, kid, calm down" Anko tries. "Brat- Naruto look at me" she tries again and slowly the boy's eyes began to focus on her a little. As they do, he leapt across the bed to Anko and latched on as though for life.

Anko was shocked. Ever since she'd met Naruto he hadn't done so much as shake hands with anyone besides the old bastard Hokage or Gekkou, let alone hug someone. Especially not someone like her. Hell, no one was game to hug her.

Feeling an unlikely moment of sympathy (she'd been a street brat herself, after all, and knew what it was like to have all those heartless eyes on you) and attempted to comfort the brat (however awkwardly).

"Shhh, it's ok. It was just a nightmare," Anko says awkwardly, noticing Naruto's trembling wasn't so bad when she spoke to him. Her voice instilled comfort for once? Was the solution to fear and not the cause of it? Kami forbid!

"Come on, why don't we go to the kitchen, ne? Who knows, we might even find that bastard Gekkou's dango stash" Anko says, still awkwardly trying to cheer up the frightened boy. What? It's not like she had kids, or a family. Hell, Ibiki had given her a cactus and she'd killed it.

She set Naruto down on the bench and rummaged through cupboards to find what she was looking for.

Finally, she sat down next to the kid and was surprised when Naruto looked longingly at Anko under his mop of gold. Brat must still be scared Anko realizes, what the hell was he dreaming about that got him so scared he'd welcome jumping up with me? She wondered.

Normally, she'd take pleasure in inflicting fear into another's heart, but the way she saw the boy act around everyone in the village, all smiles and laughter, even, no, especially, under those hateful glares (that were often directed at her by the braver (read: more stupid than normal) villagers when they thought she couldn't see them (oh, what she wouldn't do to rip that snake bastards balls off and shove them down his throat)), made her feel... closer to him.

It also made her want to take whoever screwed him over down to Ibiki's favourite workshop and ... play a little. Maybe Hokage-sama was right, she thought, maybe hanging out with the chibi would be good. That way, if anyone tried to hurt the kid, she could claim defence after she beat the crap out of them. Yeah... maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

Motioning with her hand for Naruto to hop onto her lap, Anko shifted her stool slightly and Naruto clambered up, one hand clutching onto Anko, the other taking the stick of dango she pointed to.

Anko swung one arm around Naruto's small frame, leaning him against her fishnet-covered chest and grabbed a stick for herself, bringing the container closer to the edge of the bench.

They were reaching for another dango stick each when the footsteps of Gekkou are heard outside. Naruto hopped off Anko's lap, turning to face the door, waiting, watching as his recently appointed guardian, one Gekkou Hayate emerged.

"Naruto" Gekkou says, surprise in his voice, "what are you doing up? It's late" he says and Naruto shuffles his feet slightly. Gekkou sighs a little. "Another nightmare, huh?" he asks, receiving an almost ashamed looking nod from his small charge. His mouth turned into a small frown as he tried to think of something he could do. The poor kid had been wracked with nightmares since Gekkou had been rooming with him. He wondered what it must have been like for the little one, all alone when he woke up so terrified he was shaking.

"Come on, how about we clean up then come back and thank Anko-chan?" the jounin suggests, ignoring the tick of anger that flickers over Anko at the suffix attached to her name. Naruto dutifully followed and Anko watched, thinking over what Gekkou had implied about the brat's nightmares. 'How often does that happen?'

A little while later a tired Naruto and now-clean and changed Gekkou walked back into sight, the small boy bowing and murmuring an almost silent 'arigatou' before Gekkou took him back to bed.

As the scruffy jounin re-appeared for the second time, Anko spoke out (though a little quieter than normal, for the sleeping brat's sake).

"What do you mean about the nightmares, Gekkou?" she asked bluntly. Hell, she mighta been feeling kinder, but it didn't mean she was a different person. Blunt and to the point was her main style. Except for when it cam to T & I.

Gekkou sighed, scrubbing his face tiredly. "Why do you care, Anko?" the man asked, eyeing the lady sitting at his kitchen bench munching dango tiredly.

" 'Cause whatever it was, he jumped up and hugged me, ME, for comfort, shit for brains," Anko replied, taking a small amount of pleasure at the shock that momentarily passed over Gekkou's face.

"He hugged you? Actually hugged YOU?"

Anko nodded, now smirking, (who knew a hug held so much power over a person?) "Yup"

"Damn"

"So"

"So what?"

"What's with the nightmares? He looked more scared than a rookie after his first botched assassination attempt"

"He's got reason too, he was always on the other end" Gekkou muttered, causing Anko to look confused.

"Huh?"

Gekkou cleared his throat, "You know about Naruto-kun, right?"

"How he has the Kyuubi sealed in him? Yeah, so?"

"Well, not everyone's like you, Anko-chan (Thank Kami!). Most people hate him, think he IS Kyuubi no kitsune."

"Most people are dumb-assed baboons" Anko scoffed.

Gekkou chuckled wryly, silently agreeing with the woman's assessment.

Anko paused, then spoke, "You're telling me those ungrateful maggots try to off the kid who is technically their saviour and the legacy of their beloved Fourth Hokage?"

Gekkou nodded. At least she's not like them he thought to himself. Recently he'd been trying to figure out who (out of the jounin) would be accepting or at least tolerant of the boy, and which of them were simply too bitter, blinded or stupid to see him for the child he was. It seemed he'd found one person already.

Anko frowned intensely then smiled (somewhat sadistically). "Guess I'll just have to give the brat a hand with some of those pranks, then, huh?" she smirked, rubbing her hands together gleefully. Oh they would pay- and what was best- she'd make sure no one could prove it was the brat. They'd be helpless.

Gekkou almost choked on air at the ecstatic look that passed over Anko's face, praying to whatever Kami could help him that he wasn't ever going to find out what she was planning.

"Errr, right. Well, thanks for watching him Anko."

"No worries, Hayate, it's not like I did much- plus, the old man offered me B-Rank pay, can you imagine that?" Anko said, cackling madly before leaving the building through the window in her usual abrupt manner.

Gekkou stared at the now-open window the female jounin had just leapt from, mouth hanging open.

"Y-yeh... Imagine that"

He had the same feeling he got when he just missed being decapitated by an overly sharp zanbatou.

Slowly his eyes returned to their normal size, and he sunk down onto the stool the female special jounin had vacated, bringing his hand to his mouth as he coughed slowly.

"I need a drink."

END CHAPTER TWO

NOTES:

Any Japanese used in this story is pretty self-explanatory even if you don't know Japanese when reading it in context. That said, sometimes I may include a note as to a rough translation for what is said.

On that same page, this is a fanfic and should be treated as such- it is something I often do late at night/very early in the morning or in very weird places not really conducive to fictional writing for my own happiness/peace of mind/semi-sanity. Feel free to question any references I may make, but note I don't claim to be a pro at anything- not even what I do day to day (smiles).

I do not guarantee (or even imply) that this story will run with the same storyline the anime/manga (either Jap. Or Amer. Versions) go with. It is, after all, FAN FICTION, meaning I don't have to care that in episode 121 or line 6 of page 92 of volume 4 joe kills schmoe but brings him back to life with a blueberry thorn. It is what it is, and that is fan fiction.

I welcome people coming up with concrit (constructive criticism) for my writing and will make the effort when I have time to reply and change any errors (which are likely to occur thanks to late nights, little sleep and so on. One big one is transposing (or sometimes skipping entirely) words.).

HONORIFICS

Seeing as how there's really no decent 'swappage' for honorifics from Japanese to English, here they are, explained.

-kun: usually used at the end of boys names to show familiarity or endearment/affection. Also used by some men with friends and when addressing someone of lower rank or who is younger.

-chan: used to express affection usually toward girls, but also pets, little boys & lovers. Also used for childish/cute implications.

-san: most common honourific, equivalent to English/ Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. All-purpose honorific- can be used to show politeness between acquaintances, etc.

-sama: One up from –san and a sure sign of respect/status. Big 'R' in the respect with this one.

-dono: even higher than –sama, shows utmost respect. Originates from 'tono' meaning 'Lord'. Equiv. To Lord, Lady, your Highness, etc.

Bozu: used as a rougher/informal way of saying boy, kinda like in "Hey, Kid!"

Sempai/senpai: Used in reference to someone older/higher rank, usually at school or similar.

Sensei: used for teachers, doctors, masters at whatever profession, even the Jap. Prime Minister has been called 'Sensei'. In deference to higher rank/status as a teacher.

Anesan/nesan & similar: for girl, normally older, that means sister.

NOTE:: Anything else you can google to find out and you would find it. Or go to your local library for a jap-eng dictionary.