Uzumaki Kashi

Chapter 2: Reunion

"Hotaru Shidare-chan?!/Naruto Uzumaki-kun?!" They both yelled in surprise.

Then all of a sudden they launched themselves at each other, embracing in a tight hug. Two long, almost lost, childhood friends had just been reunited and for the first time in what seemed like forever to Naruto, he cried. Not tears of sorrow, but genuine tears of joy and happiness.

They finally separated and Hotaru struck up a conversation as soon as she could.

"Naruto-kun! How have you been, last I had heard of you was that you had left for the country side after what happened and then suddenly vanished..." She asked, with tears also streaming down her face.

"I've been alright, but I don't really wanna talk about... that," Naruto replied, before embracing her once again in a hug.

After what seemed like forever they finally separated and Naruto asked as to what she was doing here.

"Well," Hotaru began, "I was sent here by my father to try and convince your mother, Kushina-oba-chan. To come back and work for us again. However seeing as she's not here, I guess I'll have to test you to see if you still have it in you".

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yup," Naruto replied as they both slipped into a stance.

"What's the king of dagashi?!" Hotaru asked/yelled as she threw him a ten yen coin, which he caught effortlessly.

"Simple, Umai-bou, because it is known for having a variety of flavours and combinations that go well together," Naruto replied.

"Correct," Hotaru then began to get into an act, "Ah... I'm somehow in the mood for pizza, but I also want to eat natto as well! What should I do, oh what a dilemma..."

Hotaru finished before looking back at him.

'Glance~'

"Then why not you combine both natto and pizza?" Naruto replied.

Hotaru's stance faltered and she awkwardly asked, "N-now that I've done my one, why don't you show me some of your combinations as well and try and satisfy me if you can!" She finished once again gaining her confidence and had a smug look on her face.

"Say that after you clean your face of crumbs, geez," Naruto replied as he took out a handkerchief and wiped off the remaining crumbs around her mouth. When he finished Hotaru just pouted and turned away with a blush on her face.

"You don't have to do that anymore, we're not kids anymore and you're only a few months older than me," She yelled flustered.

"Be that as it may, you're still an airehead," He replied before putting the handkerchief away and heading towards the section where they kept the Umai-bou. "Hm..." Naruto looked deep in thought as he looked over all the different flavours of Umai-bou, "How about this: cheese and octopus dumpling umaibou?"

Hearing this, Hotaru quickly got over her flustered state and got all smug again, "It's pretty good, but it lacks punch".

"Hm... What about grilling it?"

When those words left Naruto's mouth, Hotaru began imagining octopus dumpling being grilled on a, well, grill, before it transformed into its dagashi counter parts. Her mouth began to water, but she attempted to try and keep her smugness by replying with, "Something is still missing though," all the while wiping her chin of drool.

Naruto went into deep thought again as he put both of the flavours back, causing Hotaru to lose her hungry look as she developed a disappointed look and began twiddling with her fingers after noticing what she had done. "Hm... What about this," He said as he picked up pizza, onion salad and corn potage flavoured Umai-bou, "There we go, pizza, onion salad and corn potage. It can be a sort of 'Italian Mood Combo'" As he finished his sentence, Hotaru suddenly appeared in front of him out of nowhere, dropping three ten yen coins on the floor, before snatching each Umai-bou out of his hands and proceeding to open the and take a bite out of each of them.

"Ottimo! I can see France!" Hotaru yelled striking a pose as she did so.

"It's supposed to be Italy," Naruto deadpanned as he watched her pose falter.

Hotaru quickly recovered, "Eh... N-not bad, Naruto-kun!".

A genuine smile wormed its way onto his face.

"Hai! I see that you've got an extraordinary talent... As being a dagashi shop owner," Upon saying those words Naruto's spiky bangs suddenly shadowed his eyes, and with extraordinary speed, proceeded to appear infront of Hotaru and chop her in the middle of her head.

"You shouldn't go saying things like that, Baka-Tarou," Naruto said, menacingly. Hotaru crouched and began to cradle her head.

"Mou~... Why'd you do that, Naruto-kun..." She asked, as she cradled her head. Naruto stood above her, with his menacing look, long since gone.

"Because, Baka-Tarou, you're an airhead. That and I think it's a force of habit, sorry." Naruto apologised, as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Also you've got crumbs on your face again," He then took out his handkerchief again and wiped her face clean, "Seriously, you're like a baby sometimes".

"Heh..." A confident voice came from the door and they both face to see Naruto's mother and Hotaru's adoptive Auntie, Kushina.

"Kushina-oba-chan!/Hotaru-chan!" they both exclaimed, moving to hug each other after not seeing each other for so long before they stopped.

Then Hotaru struck a pose, followed by Kushina. Then they rushed each other.

"Are fries okay with you?" Kushina asked.

"Yes, I'd love to have some fries," Hotaru replied.

Out of nowhere, Naruto appeared between the two and chopped both of them on their heads, and they crouched to the ground in pain and nursed their aching head.

"Mou~... Naruto-kun why did you do that?" They both asked simultaneously.

"Force of habit," Naruto replied, as his face shifted once more into an indifferent expression. "Anyway, why don't you go outside and wait while I get the fries," Naruto suggested as both women headed outside and he went to go get some fries and head outside himself.

He handed a packet of fries to each of the women, and kept one to himself. They were all different flavours.

"Thank you," They said, as they took each one and opened it before taking a bite each.

"Mm! Fries are the best!" Kushina stated.

"Yeah! They are thin like this, but still have a strong taste to it. Plus there junk-food greasiness makes them so good!" Hotaru replied. "But..." Hotaru's face fell into a somber look, as her hair began to shadow her eyes, "Do you know the best way to eat fries?"

Kushina got a glint in her eye and a smirk worked its way onto her face as Hotaru snatched Naruto's Spicy-Spicy Chicken flavoured Fries and proceeded to open it, "It's to eat them in layers in one go!" As she got three fries and layered them, before consuming them in one bite.

"Though do note that the Spicy-Spicy Chicken flavour is incredibly spicy, so please do be careful," Hotaru stated as she stared at Naruto, with the are around her lips turning red and a twitch in her eyebrows as she attempted to not cry out in pain.

"Again? You really are like a baby, Hotaru-chan, Stay here I'll be right back," Naruto sighed as he headed to the kitchen to get an iceblock for Hotaru whilst leaving her with Kushina. Hotaru was trying to fan her lips after that little accident with Naruto's fries while Kushina was staring at Naruto's fleeing back side before turning towards Hotaru.

"Say Hotaru," Upon hearing her name, Hotaru's head perked up to look at Kushina, "Can you promise me one thing?"

Hotaru's face suddenly shifted into that of a serious one, "Hai, what is it?".

"C-can you promise me that you'll be by my son's side for the rest of your life. He's been through so much, with what happened to him, I think you're the only that can bring him back to me," Kushina asked, as tears began welling up, "It's just that, he's been getting even far more distant than before ever since and the doctors said that he may never recover, psychologically. So please... Please protect him..." At this moments Hotaru had come forward and pulled her into a hug whilst whispering, "I promise..." to soother her nerves.

"Thank you..." She replied, before they separated and Kushina wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hey Hotaru-chan I got you an ice block since everything else was still fresh from the store and that was the only edible cold thing I could find," Naruto said as he walked in, he could sense the tension in the air and could see that his mother's eyes were red and puffy from crying. He wanted to say something, but felt that he shouldn't, just incase this was a girl thing.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," She replied as she took the frozen treat from his hands to soothe her still burning lips.

They sat in silence for what seemed like forever until Kushina broke the ice.

"By the way Hotaru-chan, what did you come here for?" Kushina inquired.

Hotaru took the ice block out of her mouth with a 'pop' as she proceeded to answer Kushina, "Well I was sent here on the request of my father to ask you to work for the Shidare Sweets Company again".

Kushina stood up tall and placed her hands at her waist and yelled out, "My answer is, 'NO'!"

"May I inquire why?" Hotaru asked as she began sweating, clearly not expecting this to happen.

"I grew up here in Uzumaki Dagashi. It's practically my life, and as long as my son refuses to become its ninth owner, I can not ever desert it..."

Hotaru suddenly gripped Naruto by the shoulders as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"How can you have such a wonderful mother, Naruto-kun, but still refuse?!"

"Despite you saying such nonsensical things, I'm afraid I have my reasons as well..." Naruto's eyes gained a distant look as he began to gaze at the mountains, 'I want to be able to protect my family, especially after what happened...'. Hotaru, who was still gripping his shoulders noticed the far away look in his eyes and bit her lower lip, knowing why he had that look in his eyes. This prompted her to suddenly embrace him in a hug, shocking him.

"H-Hotaru-chan?" Naruto stuttered at the sudden contact.

"You don't have to face it alone anymore..." She whispered, but whispered it loud enough so that he could hear it.

Tears than began to well up in his eye as he whispered, "Thank you..." before returning the hug and silently cried into her shoulder

'Thank you so much Hotaru-chan. Please take good care of my son,' Kushina thought as she left them to do their business. As Kushina disappeared into the house, Naruto finally let go of Hotaru.

"Well look at the time," Naruto motioned to the sky as the sun was beginning to set, "Do... Do you think you could stay for the night?"

"Uh..." Naruto's childhood friend looked away with a blush, "S-sure, why not?".

Naruto embraced her in a tight hug before letting her go and going inside to inform his mother, all the while leaving Hotaru shellshocked. Both at how easily he could shove his emotions down and how strong he's become. However, even after all that, she just glanced at the area where Naruto was just standing and smiled to herself before heading inside.

Later that night, after dinner, Hotaru and Naruto were sitting in the living room of the house watching TV. Naruto was currently wearing a black singlet and orange boxers, whilst Hotaru was wearing a purple nightgown and yellow shorts that she borrowed from Kushina. When all of a sudden Naruto brought up a conversation that would trigger a flashback.

"Hey Hotaru,"

"Mm?"

"Do you remember how met as little kids?"

"Mhm!"

"How come y-" Naruto went to face Hotaru and question her as to why she wasn't responding in words but stopped mid-sentence seeing as she was currently stuffing her face with an unhealthy amount of candy. "Geez Hotaru-chan, you eat so much it's a miracle you haven't gained any weight".

~Flashback Start~

"Tou-chan! Hurry! I wanna get to the park now!" A young little Naruto yelled from atop his father's shoulders as they headed to park.

"Alright, alright, Naruto. Just wait we're almost there." Minato replied as he looked up into the sky, 'Not a cloud in the sky today'.

Once they arrived Minato set down Naruto so that he could play and went down to sit on a bench to near the playground as to make sure that he could always see Naruto.

With Naruto he was running towards the park after his father set him down and just as he reached it he immediately headed for the jungle gym. He scaled it almost as fast as a monkey and once he reached the top he yelled out, "I'm the king of the world!"

Minato could only giggle as he watched Naruto play around.

It was only after a little while that Naruto stopped playing when he heard a sound come from the bushes, and being the curious little boy he was, went to investigate. What he found was something that would contribute to him never forgetting what happened that day. Behind the bushes was a cute, in his opinion, girl who had purple hair and a matching purple sundress, being surrounded by older boys. Around 12 years old by the looks of it.

He didn't know what to do So he hid behind the tree and waited for what ever was going to happen. He knew that he shouldn't do anything and should call his Tou-chan, considering he was around 10 at that point. It was then that he heard something that almost made him snap.

"Hey, hey, weirdo!" "What's up with the weird purple hair?!" "Ugly hag!"

It was then that Naruto knew what to do, he snapped. He got out from his hiding spot and went to confront the older boys.

"Hey! Stop picking on that girl!" Naruto yelled.

"Or what?" Mocked one of the boys.

"Or else..." A menacing look appeared in his eyes as he took a stance that he had seen used by a karate master on the internet.

Almost all of them backed off, all except one. This cocky bastard decided that he could beat Naruto single handedly, boy was he wrong. Now, please note that even though Naruto is 10 year olds, that is around the age where he picked up an interest in MMA or Mixed Martial Arts. Meaning he's got a little experience in karate, judo, boxing, etc. So he could probably hold his own against someone 2 years older than him with at least some difficulty.

"You think you can beat me, or us? Bah! What a joke! Guys why are you scared, it's just some little kid and we outnumber him!" The cocky bastard yelled.

'I'm glad that Tou-chan isn't here...' He then launched himself forward towards the bullies. As soon as he got close, the cocky bastard tried to throw a sloppy uppercut that Naruto easily evaded and knocked him out with a single right hook to the temple.

One of the lackys decided to run forward whilst he was distracted and kick him from behind, but Naruto could hear his footsteps and turned around in time to side step out of the and leg sweep him. The lacky landed on his head before going unconscious.

The final bully left decided it was best to try and face Naruto with a weapon so he tore off a branch from a nearby tree while Naruto was fighting the other bullies off and went to strike Naruto with it.

"Watch out!" Yelled the girl as everything slowed down for Naruto. He turned around to see the boy with the branch coming at him. He held it above his head and was about to hit Naruto when, in a burst of speed, Naruto sent a kick to the boy's gut. Causing everything to return back to normal and leaving the bully holding his stomach in pain on the ground. Naruto got out of his stance and headed towards the girl who now had tears streaming down her face for some odd reason.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he held out his hand.

Breaking out of her stupor, she reacher for his hand and he helped her up. "Hai, thank you for helping me," the girl responded.

"That's great! By the way my name is Naruto Uzumaki! What's yours?" Naruto said as he shot her a grin.

"My name is Hotaru Shidare! It's nice to meet you Naruto-kun!" The aptly named Hotaru replied.

"It's nice to meet you too Hotaru-chan!"

"Naruto!/Hotaru!" Two voices called out to them from beyond the bushes and they both knew who it was.

"Tou-chan!" They yelled simultaneously as they ran towards the sound of their fathers' voices.

Once they ran past a few bushes and trees they found their fathers waiting in the clearing.

"Naruto!/Hotaru!" Both fathers ran up and scooped their children into their arms.

"Naruto what happened?/Hotaru where were you!" Minato and Hotaru's Father asked.

"I was being picked on by some bullies from school when Naruto-kun here helped me and beat them up!" Hotaru replied.

"Naruto! Is this true?!" Minato asked.

"Hai... But they were picking on her! No one should pick on a girl!" Naruto replied with vigor in their eyes.

Both fathers just stood there not knowing what to do until Hotaru's father decided to speak up, "Well it was a pleasure meeting you Naruto and your father. I am especially thankful of you for saving my little girl," as he finished with a deep bow towards Naruto.

"It's no problem! After all that's what friends are for right?" Naruto replied.

"Friends?" Hotaru looked confused, "What's a friend?"

Naruto gasped, "You don't know what a friend is? Well then, let me explain. A friend is someone you consider a precious person and since you don't have any friends, I shall be your first friend!"

~Flashback End~

"Hm... Those were the days..." Naruto recounted with a smile. He then took a glance at Hotaru before sighing and taking out a handkerchief and wiping the crumbs off of her face.

"Geez, Hotaru-chan, don't let this become a habit." Naruto sighed as he finished wiping the rest of the crumbs off her face.

"Hai, hai~" She replied, but her response was muffle through the fabric as he wiped the crumbs off.

"There we go, now you better hit the hay soon and make sure to drink some water, or else you'll get sick in the morning. Also I set out the futon in the guest room. Goodnight!" Naruto said before disappearing into his room.

"Goodnight!" Hotaru replied.

~To Be Continued~