SO! next part of the adventure begins! who is this boy? how will he react to those news? and will Tenzou loose his nerve before they even get there?
Disclaimer: Universe, characters and original concept is the property of Masashi Kishimoto - however I do own this fic.
Chapter 2 –Worries
"Are you sure you're alright with this?" he asked, one more time, feeling very unsteady in this himself.
"If you are going to ask me that, one more time Tenzou, I swear I'll scream! Just trust in your friends already!"
"So-sorry" he muttered.
"Listen, I know you're feeling stressed right now, but please take it easy, I'll handle as much of this as I can so you can relax, but you have to face him and his family."
"I know, I know" He groaned, as he turned his head down and slapped his hand in his face. "I don't know what's happening to me, I've been in more life and death situations than I even care to remember, but this is by far the most frightened I've ever felt."
"Just try to calm yourself a little, we're almost there", she spoke softly and padded him on the back.
Just over the mountain lay a small village in a valley, no more than a few kilometers from were they stood. Sakura gasped "wow it's really beautiful here! No wonder she moved to this place".
"Yeah, it's quite the site; I would've loved to live here too." He had a dreamy smile adorning his features for a second before snapping back to the worries at hand, but Sakura had noticed it all the same 'It's so sad that he couldn't go with her…maybe things would have been different for him now…'
"Earth to Sakura… where ever you are" he waved a hand in front of her face to punctuate the question.
It instantly drew her out of her musings, but her face was stuck in an awkward expression just long enough for him to catch it and chuckle a little at it.
His eyes made a half-crease that resembled Naruto's when he was up to no god. "You look funny when you space out like that"
he couldn't help but point childishly at her and use the other hand to cover the lower part of his face, as he fought to contain his mirth. But to no avail; he was grinning like an idiot now and seconds after he burst out in roaring laughter. He stopped his walk as they were half way down the mountain, and she sent him a fierce glare.
"That's rude taicho! Stop laughing at me like that, I know I'm not very pretty - stop grinding it in my face!"
He snorted loudly as he regained some control over himself. "It's not that…it's just that…you made such a funny face, I've never seen you do that before... I guess you just caught me off guard", he still sported a wide grin.
As he calmed down again, he noticed her sad expression.
"Sorry Sakura, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm so glad you offered your help to me on this, and I couldn't bear to know I'd made you sad."
'That does sound like an honest apology…maybe he really didn't mean it', she thought, before she began walking again, a small smile now gracing the beautiful face she herself, would deny was so. "Its okay taicho, I forgive you."
Boy was he glad to hear those words. He gave her a winning smile, and she smiled back at him, as they continued their walk down the mountainside.
When they reached the village, his anxiety grew, but he opted to keep a straight face. He didn't want anyone to get any ideas about him – he'd experienced enough prejudices from people who had instantly claimed they knew his "kind" as they put it.
So what - he looked a little different, and was well known for his Mokuton no jutsu, and some people were even afraid of it – he'd have good use of that particular jutsu in ANBU.
But it didn't end there. Many often misguidedly took him for being a weak shinobi, and most often, that was because of his outgoing attitude.
They slandered through the small streets buzzing with village life.
"How do we even know which boy it is?" Just as Sakura had asked that question, a small dog came running around the corner of one of the alleyways at breakneck speed with a little boy trailing close behind it.
"What…was that?" he asked, giving Sakura a disbelieving looks of what he'd just seen.
"I have no idea taicho, but why don't we ask around for Kaito? There are lots of shops here, and this village is tiny, so people should know, right?"
He blinked at her a couple of times before getting his mind back to the matter at hand. "Yeah of course, that's a great idea."
They quickly turned to scan the area for the nearest shop, Sakura spotted it, and darted towards the entrance. Tenzou looked up at the sign for moment before going in. 'Oh, a herbalist? I guess Sakura could have ulterior motives coming here'
He dreaded Sakura's shopping habits, one too many times had he been giving her a helping hand on her shopping sprees and he knew, that once she started going into that mode, she would likely buy half the shop before even thinking of moving on to her next target shop of abuse. And he supposed he could've lived with this quirk of hers if she could just go out and buy clothes like some of the other girls did – but no, she bought heavy stuff like weapons, medical equipment and other gear she "might need."
He stepped into the small shop. There was only just room for him and Sakura there with an appropriate distance between them, as to signal to the old biddy sitting at the desk, that they were not a couple. They had on several occasions been mistaken for just that, both on missions and when eating out. It just so happened that they had both agreed to remain friends, and so a relationship beyond that would be unrealistic, besides, they had decided that it suited them just fine. But she must've been half blind because just a couple of seconds after the thought left his mind, she asked Sakura in a raspy, but sweet voice
"hello dear, are you looking for something for your husband?"
Sakura got slightly flustered at the comment.
"N-no I was just going to ask you if…".
"Not to worry dear! I know that the nightly activities of you young people can need an extra "element" to it sometimes, I have just the thing to keep him going"
There was no amount of embarrassment in her voice as she took a small pouch out from under the desk that contained a fine white powder.
The two unfortunate jounins instantly went several shades of red as they both fought the furious blush each of them sported.
They both raised their hands in defense and tried to explain to the old lady that Sakura were just here to buy a couple of soothing herbs, and not an aphrodisiac, and after steadily regaining their sanity from the imposing bomb of the 3 foot 80-some years old biddy standing before them, and explaining their actual "relationship", they went on to ask about their mission target.
"So…" Sakura began, "we are looking for a little boy here in the village, he couldn't be more than six years old by now; his last name is Suzume."
The old woman seemed to contemplate the impending question for what seemed like hours before some kind of light finally seemed to clear the darkness of her memory. "Oh! I know who you're talking about" Her face lit up for a brief moment before it turned into a scowl "how could I not". The two shinobi exchanged looks as the woman spoke again. "He just ran off with that little dog of his, I guess he went to play" She waved her hand lazily in the direction of the town square.
"Thank you very much ma'am" Tenzou bowed at her respectfully as they turned to leave the little shop.
Sakura was the first to crack the somewhat calm face they had successfully put up again after the unintentional verbal assault from the old lady.
"That was about the worst assumption she could make! I can't believe she said that!" She huffed angrily at him as he chuckled a little at the whole bizarre ordeal.
He tried to calm her down a little, by reasoning that they after all, was acquainted quite well with each other, and that this wasn't different from all the other times they'd been mistaken from a couple.
"Come on Tenzou! You know that's not entirely correct. She just told you you're not good enough in bed!" A few seconds went before she realized just what she was saying, and she blushed crimson upon his next statement to the little rant she'd just blurted out.
With a grin, rivaling Naruto's and an amusing glint in his eyes he spoke in a playful, mischievous tone
"And how would you know that?, Sakura-chan"
He stressed the honorific a little, just to annoy her further, he'd have to give it to his sempai, he'd learned some serious skills in the "annoying others, part of dialogue" as Sakura had so gingerly put it, and he couldn't help but feel that he was getting addicted to sometimes pushing the buttons of his teammates. With Sakura, it would be something embarrassing, and Naruto got scared out of his wits when he sometimes put on his "scary face" as Naruto had named it. Sai was never really easily provoked at all, and he had truly given up on him. At last there was Kakashi-sempai, the one person he truly regarded as his closest friend - the one he looked up to for all those years in ANBU and the only one (non-enemy) who could really get his own blood boiling with his small gestures and bad habits.
All the while he'd stood there with that smug smile on his face he hadn't realized just how long he'd done it before a petite fist greeted the side of his jawbone.
He rather heard than felt the cracking noises and he looked shocked for a moment before he winced in pain from the blow.
'That was a serious hit, she never really hit me that hard… maybe I deserved it.. I guess it was a little rude'
"Ow…" He rubbed his throbbing law, still feeling a little dizzy from the sheer force that had hit him.
"Serves you right for making fun of a woman!" She glared angrily at him, and he felt the waves of intent coming from her. But when she saw him, she just couldn't keep up the level of disappointment. He was an idiot sometimes, but she would forgive him – it wasn't really all that bad. And how could words from a total stranger get her riled up like that? She knew the old biddy hadn't meant any harm, and it was just as Tenzou had said – they were good friends and they were close, and it was only natural for someone like the old woman to assume that they were more than just friends, although they both knew otherwise.
'I seriously need control my anger sometimes…'
She gave him am apolegic face, looking at the ugly bruise she'd left on him and slowly walked up to the slightly flustered man, one hand glowing with that soothing green chakra she used to heal all her patients with.
"Sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen, stand still for a moment and I'll fix this."
As her chakra soothed his aching muscle and bone, knitting it all together again perfectly, he visibly and mentally relaxed again. She'd forgiven his poor attempt at a joke, at her expense no less and that wasn't nothing in his book. He knew the temper that resided in his female companion, and he also knew that she was, for some reason, far more lenient with him and his sempai.
'Naruto would've been knocked cold for less', he thought as he silently vowed not to have too much fun at her expense – Better talk to sempai, he always plays more jokes on Sakura than I do… I wonder why?
He didn't have much time to finish that thought, as Sakura pointed in the direction of the town square.
Right in the middle a little boy was playing tug-of-war with a piece of wood with what was supposedly his dog. "Hayabuza give it back! Mom will get mad at me if I ruin that thing!" The little dog finally gave in to the protests, and released the little wooden piece of art with a bark. The boy took it in his hand to inspect it and groaned "Arrh look at it now, it's ruined, mom will have my head for this!"
The little wooden statue, which Tenzou noticed, resembled a bird in flight was almost cracked in two. It had bite marks all over, and looked like it had been dropped in a pool of drool.
The boy gave a sad look, and started to clean the thing with his own shirt.
He looked up as two people he hadn't seen before approached him. They looked very out of place here with their backpacks and gear on – and those weird clothes, what was that about?
"Are you two lost?" he said, as he regarded the strangers with a curious look. Sakura gave the boy a bright smile, and she walked a little closer to him, to sit by his side
"No, actually we were looking for someone; do you know a boy named Suzume Kaito?"
The boys face lit up as his name was mentioned, "That's me!" he said, as he grinned widely.
That smile reminds me someone. She smiled warmly and thought back to when she and Naruto had first met, she hated the blond knucklehead back then, but as the years past she came to value him as one of her closest friends.
"We need to talk to you Kaito". The boy looked indifferent for a brief moment before answering
"Mom says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers".
Tenzou couldn't stay out of this any longer. He walked up to the two, and sat down across from the boy.
Although he knew all to well of what had happened to Aya, he wanted to hear the boy out, he might not even know that his mother had passed away yet.
"Kaito how is your mother? Where can we find her?" The boy fell silent, as he started to walk away from the square and into one of the streets connected to it,
"This way".
The two shinobi opted to follow their target, as he walked down one of the little side streets, he came to a wooden door, and let himself into a small apartment it was sparsely furnished, although there were a lot of decorations on the walls. There were geranium pots with all different kinds of flowers, placed in the window sills, and many painted pictures hanging on the walls along with trinkets of all sorts. In the living room, he took a small picture frame that was standing on a commode, above it high up, hung a great, red-painted Tengu mask. He handed the frame to Sakura.
Sakura took it and examined the picture carefully.
"Is this her Tenzou?"
He came closer to inspect the photo. He almost couldn't fight back the lone tear that would have escaped the corner of his eyes as he took in all her beauty.
The picture was of a woman in her mid twenties, she had short, fiery red hair, jade green eyes, and was currently holding a basket of vegetables and bread, it was a bright and sunny day and she wore what seemed like some sort of summer dress, standing beside her, clutching the hem of her dress was a small boy with sienna hair, clad in shorts and a t-shirt.
"Yes, that's Aya", was his only reply as he sat down next to the boy on the floor.
"Kaito, did your mom ever tell you about your father?"
The boy scrunched his face as he seemed to be in deep thought.
"Mom said he left before I was even born, she said he didn't want to stay with us – I never even saw him once"
Tenzou felt a pang of guilt once again, he looked away to gather his thoughts.
"He…it wasn't because he didn't want to stay with you, he had a job that he couldn't retire from and he couldn't move with you and mom"
He had to take a long pause before continuing.
"It…it was me Kaito…I'm your father, and me and Sakura here are ninja from the village hidden in the leaves. We came here to take you home with us."
As those last difficult words left his mouth he smiled hesitantly at the shocked boy.
The boy looked indignant at the two adults, especially the man who'd just told him he was his father – who were these people anyway?
"I…I don't believe you, you could be anyone!" he was scared; they might be thieves he realized, or maybe even worse, he silently cursed himself for being so disobedient as to take two strangers with him. Mother might not be here in the flesh anymore, but he was sure that her spirit would always linger with him, and because of that, he still believed she could hear and see him.
Tenzou breathed out slowly, this might prove more difficult than we thought.
"Calm down Kaito, I can assure you that we are telling you the truth"
Sakura recognized his tone of voice; it was the lecturing tone he always used to state a fact. She shook her head in the negative at his antics "Tenzou, don't say it like that, for kami's sake he is just a little boy"
She laid a gentle, but demanding hand on his shoulder, as she silently told him to back away a little before he could make it any worse, he did so and Sakura took his place with the boy across from her.
"Don't be scared Kaito, we aren't here to hurt you, it's our duty to you and our village to bring you back, and Tenzou has been really looking forward to see you"
Once again she gave him an almost motherly smile – to him it was, she looked so much like his own mother and he quickly lowered his defenses a little. She put a dainty hand on his shoulder, and finding that he didn't shy away, she was inwardly pleased with herself.
"He knows that your mother isn't here anymore and he wanted to make it up to you for all the years he couldn't be with you by taking you home now."
Tenzou walked up the two once again, and took a small, battered piece of paper from his vest, it was a picture.
"Here Kaito, you can have this" he said, as he came close enough to sit by the boys side and show him the small photo.
The boy took it, and carefully inspected the piece.
"Is this…mom and…you?"
the words seemed to slip from his mouth without him even noticing and he started to take a careful look at Tenzou, feeling the face of the man who proclaimed to be his father, as if trying to feel a similarity to the picture he'd just touched moments ago. He placed his small fingers on the metal jaw-guard Tenzou always wore, and stopped when he reached the forehead with the leaf insignia.
"Is this is…what all leafninjas wear?" the next moment he took a sharp intake of breath as Tenzou placed a warm hand onto his and laughed lightly. "Don't worry; they come in different forms and sizes"
Hmmm this chapter was reeeealy hard on me, It's hard to get all the feelings down on digital paper...his meeting with Kaito shouldn't seem rushed, but I'm still having difficulties describing all of the mood and emotion that comes with this. If you have some good tips, please review! :)
