Hello "Y'all"! :) I'm back, and I'm very proud to say that I did update within the week ;) Once again, a hard chapter to me... I want to put more Naruto in but I'm naturally bad with children and writing them isn't something I'm comforatable with :( Buttttt I hope that the interactions are ok, and that both are portrayed well? Maybe? xD
This is the last chapter before the academy (I cut it down ALOT since there was originally two more Naru-Kaka family bonding, but I think if I wrote them I'd simply screw them up...), so enjoy young, tiny, socially awkward, six year old Naruto in this xD
*don't own Naruto*
A face-off. Blue delving into dark grey, small and petite frame against tall and lanky stature. The stillness of two gargoyles, each charged with protecting their posts. Kakashi was at a loss to do. Weren't kids supposed to be loud, raucous? Didn't they sprint around breaking your furniture and causing messes? Didn't they ask stupid questions? His kid must be defective, then, not that he particularly minded. All she did was sit, cross-legged, on his rug and stare at him. In silence. Unwavering.
"…Want anything to eat?"
"Do you have ramen?"
"I think so."
"Can I have ramen?"
"Sure."
Kakashi swiftly left his apartment's living room to head to the kitchen, thankful to be away from the transfixed girl. Hell, he heard Uzumaki Naruto was the worst of worst kids, always pulling pranks and screaming in people's ears! Did he get her sick already, Kakashi pondered worriedly as he went through the motions of pouring water and ramen into a bowl before microwaving it. The teen was extremely thankful for those three minutes of respite from her gaze as the instant ramen was heated. He dreaded the moment the food was finished. Wait; was ramen even healthy for a six year old?
Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeep!
Oh, Kami-sama. He was so screwed with this babysitting thing.
Slipping back into the room where the living statue stared at his apartment, he wordlessly placed the hot bowl in front of Naruto then stood uncomfortably in front of her as she ate.
More awkward seconds ticked by with the only movement the slow blinking of eyelids, and Kakashi was getting unnerved. He was already anxious about taking care of a girl, and now she was a defunct one, too. It was making him very nervous. Maybe he should send her back to the Hokage.
"Do you have fish lips under that mask or…?"
Kakashi blinked, surprised at the sound of her voice. Naruto had demolished her food, chopsticks and bowl placed clumsily to the side. Ok, she asked stupid questions. Maybe she was normal?
"It's a family tradition. There's nothing wrong with my face," he replied, matter-of-factly. Her face scrunched up again, deep in thought. She scratched the back of her neck.
"Well, if you say so, Shinobi-san," she said with a shrug. He could have sworn she mumbled "trouty mouth" under her breath.
"Kakashi." Naruto looked up, afraid that she was going to be admonished. "My name. It's Kakashi, not 'Shinobi-san.'"
"Ka…kashi?" Naruto smiled brightly, childish cheer lighting up her face rosily. She giggled, something Kakashi hadn't expected to hear. He found it soothing, really. "Kakashi," she confirmed. He couldn't understand her joy in knowing such a fundamental fact.
"You really do look like a Scarecrow!" her bubbling voiced blasted out, accompanied by laughter. Naruto's eyes were closed with mirth, oddly reminiscent of a wild fox, and her cheeks puffed out and wet with happy tears. Her chubby hands cradled her bellowing stomach heartily and she attempted to suck in air so she wouldn't choke on her amusement. The kid quickly realized that the joke was lost on the older man. Chortling hastily morphs into insignificant sniggers before finally calming down into an obedient silence at the deadpan look she received.
And then the agonizing silence returned. At least now the child entertained herself with scrutinizing his threadbare apartment again—instead of with his name. Kakashi didn't have much, just basic necessities, but Naruto seemed enthralled with it all, almost as if it were all new to her. However, looking at the blonde again, he figured that may very well be true.
Her long, dark blue shirt was threadbare, almost tearing at the elbows and cuffs. Her pants even looked like they weren't pants at all, but shorts made for someone three times her size. And was she barefoot? Suddenly his pocket felt extremely heavy with coins. The silver-haired teen carefully weighed his options: take a nap and ignore the blonde bundle or actually go and do what he was supposed to do. He sighed, pushing himself off the old couch he was seated on.
"Let's go, kid. I have errands to run," Kakashi stated, pulling his flak jacket on and walking straight out the door.
"Naruto! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, not kid! And you better believe it!" a squeaky voice called out after him before he could hear the scrabbling of bare feet. "Hey! Wait up!" He would have smiled if he didn't know what those bare feet meant.
"You don't look like a fishcake to me, Chibi. Just hurry up," Kakashi taunted, walking too fast for his charge to hustle to his heels. He could only hope she wouldn't trip down the stairs in her haste.
"Your stupid legs are too long, 'Kashi! It's not fair unless you slow down, meanie!" Kakashi almost tripped when that nickname escaped her lips, reminding him of his own short and mutilated childhood.
"Maybe your stupid legs are too short, Chibi," he stubbornly answered, not allowing a falter in his gait. They were out of the bland apartment building and now he was striding down the street with the fuming child chasing after him.
"It's Naruto! And my legs are smart, thank you!" Kakashi just knew he saw a rock fly by his cheek. What a temper.
He finally stopped and turn towards the sprinting child, allowing her to catch up. "If you're going to throw something at me, it better hit, Chibi."
Naruto's thin lips were finely formed into a pout as she trudged towards her guardian. "It'll hit next time, 'Kashi. Believe it," she mumbled under her breath. Without a second glance, she passed right by him, her oversized shirt bushing against Kakashi's jacket. A tiny pebble was launched at her back, hitting Naruto right in between her shoulder blades. She threw a childlike glare at the man innocently following her. "Where are we going anyway, 'Kashi?"
"You'll see." Naruto frowned at that, life had taught her the hard way that the unknown was something to be feared.
For the rest of their walk through the shinobi residential district, Naruto spent her time throwing all the pebbles she could get her hands on at the silver-haired nineteen year old. She never hit her mark.
However, while the residential area that Kakashi stayed in didn't bother much with the sight of the duo—almost all were ninja at least of jounin rank and already had their laughs the first time they saw Kakashi take the girl home—when the two reached the marketplace it was a different story. The confident and boisterous demeanor Kakashi observed in Naruto quickly retreated as more people filled the streets. Her head faced the ground and her steps became sluggish, slowing down just enough to find herself hidden behind Kakashi's legs. It was uncomfortable to him, having the small child clinging to his pants, almost pulling them down with her grip—he much preferred her angry attempts on his health via debris. His face reddened at the picture he knew he was exuding to the public.
But the rosy red of embarrassment soon morphed into the flaring red of anger. The villagers around him weren't looking on at them with laughing faces, taking mirth in the awkward predicament a shinobi like him was stuck in, but rather shooting daggers at them with their eyes. Or more specifically, they were glaring at the little girl cowering behind him.
Kakashi turned his head to the kid behind him who was cowering from the people of her own village. They were pitiful.
His hand moving to cup the back of her neck, Kakashi brought Naruto to his side and began to walk again, urging her along gently. While Naruto squeaked in disgruntled protest on being pushed by her handler, Kakashi marched proudly down the street with his head held high side-by-side with the kid, glowering at anyone who dared look at them the wrong way. He ignored the slight tingling shivering up his arm at the unfamiliar contact.
"Keep your head up. Don't ever show weakness," Kakashi murmured to her. Naruto looked up at his masked face, eyes widening, before nodding in understanding. She raised her chin unbearably high and tromped next to her watcher, breaking free from his grasp and moving forward with her own power.
They continued like this for a while, walking through whispering streets, until Naruto whined in frustration, "'Kashi! This only hurts my neck!" She even pouted for emphasis. Kakashi supposed such a young and wild child would have little discipline as to complain in the middle of hostile territory.
"I didn't tell you to stare at the sky, Chibi. That was your own doing."
"Yeah, well you're stupid."
Kakashi could only sigh at her juvenile response. "That's no way to treat the guy who's buying you new clothes, now, is it?"
Instead of the squeals of "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god thank you Kakashi-sama!" that he expected like most others of the female population, Kakashi received another perplexing introversion on the child's part. The store they stopped in front of was owned by an honest merchant who always sold his best wares to Kakashi with a smile, yet Naruto seemed to shrink away from the brightly colored shop.
"Chibi, this is the shop we're going into," Kakashi grunted when he noticed his charge was no longer following him.
Naruto shook her head violently, hair whipping her cheeks. With her rapid movements, her large shirt began to slip off her shoulder before she quickly fixed it.
"You need new clothes."
"I do not."
Kakashi looked at her sternly. "Naruto, you have to get something that fits you."
With a hateful glare, or at least as hateful as a cherubic six year old face could get, Naruto clamped onto Kakashi's hand and waited for him to guide her.
And now, the teen was absolutely uncomfortable, but the grip Naruto had on his clammy digits was a vice. He could only assume the prickle jolting up his arm was from her tiny, claw-like finger nails digging into his hand. Stupid Hokages assigning stupid missions.
He languidly entered the shop, dragging the stiff girl behind him. The tiny bell chimed, announcing their presence to the shopkeeper and a muffled voice called from the back, "I'll be right with you!" Kakashi shrugged and continued to pull Naruto along with him. She was generally complacent, if one could discount the sporadic jumps at miniscule stimuli and slight whimpers when he made her do something she was particularly stubborn not to do. Such was the case when trying to convince the blonde brat to pick out some clothes she liked.
"Chibi. Pick a shirt and I'll buy it. Honestly, you don't even have to like it, just make sure it fits you!"
Naruto despairingly looked from the hangers of colorful training outfits to the stern ninja beside her, attempting to decide the worst fate of the two. Apparently, she decided the wrath of Kakashi was something to be feared when she shuffled along the aisles of hung up clothes.
When Naruto's tiny hand reached for the brightest apparel in the entire store, a blinding orange sweat suit, the ANBU captain had enough. Going toward the line of clothes labeled with a bolded 's,' for the jinchuuriki was without a doubt a small, Kakashi grabbed a handful of random shirts and pants with his free arm, estimating the need for maybe eight or nine sets. By the time he walked towards the still empty checkout counter, the hand the child was gasping was uncomfortably hot with the feeling spreading up the limb.
Before the ANBU could inspect the cause of the odd feeling, the shopkeeper strode out from the back, clapping his hands merrily from a job well done.
"Ahhh! Hatake-sama! Welcome back!" said the man. He had regular brown eyes sunken deep into his skull and thick black hair, fizzling out to a grey. His thin lips were trained into a smile that didn't completely reach his mannerisms or eyes. Kakashi didn't particularly like him, but Kakashi didn't particularly like many people in the first place.
"I don't think these clothes will fit you, Hatake-sama," he tried with humor. Slowly, the man picked apart each piece of clothing, lackadaisically folding them and ordering them by color.
"They aren't for me," Kakashi replied dryly. This man was taking his sweet, sweet time with his purchase and he could've sworn he was allergic to Naruto. His hand, tightly clamped to hers, was sporting a horrendous itch along with a scorching heat. And he was getting extremely annoyed.
"Oho! So you've finally decided to take an apprentice then?" He motioned towards the assortment of training gear Kakashi had also picked up: a pair of shinobi sandals, cheap practice kunai and shuriken, a kunai pouch, tape, and gloves. Kakashi glared.
"None of your business," Kakashi murmured icily. The child attached to his hip silently shimmied in closer to him, twisting her hand nervously in his. The man, now intrigued, hurried with the purchase, swiftly telling the amount owed and exchanging merchandise for coin. Kakashi grabbed the bag and made to leave the building. He needed to check and see whether or not Naruto was the reason for his painful arm sensations.
"Nonsense! Let me see the lucky chil-" The shopkeeper's words froze in his mouth. When he looked over the counter to the child the ANBU captain was hauling around with him, he came face to face with the pariah of the village, Uzumaki Naruto. And when he comprehended this fact, his face turned blazing red. Kakashi just knew the sudden silence wasn't going to do anything good for the pounding headache that appeared in his mind.
"Hatake, get back here! You swindled me you bastard! That demon isn't allowed to-"
"Say that again."
Naruto was now cowering completely behind Kakashi's legs, shaking from head to toe. Kakashi's ferocious growl didn't help her mindset in the least.
Kakashi knew that he was an elite jounin, an ANBU commander, a master of his emotions, however the civilian had passed the line. This nosy, ignorant citizen who dared raise his voice at him. All he wanted to do was give a poor child fitting clothes and get home to inspect this pain in his arm, which had consistently roared into the blistering heat that now crippled it.
"I dare you," Kakashi snarled, letting go of Naruto's hand to storm up to the counter. The shopkeeper was now the one cowering like a trapped lamb being hunted by a wolf. "Do it, say it again."
He didn't know why, but he took a sadistic pleasure in seeing the man in front of him look on in terror. Maybe the ANBU missions were getting to him? Naruto's moonlike eyes stared after her guardian in his wrathful tirade, standing in a pile of forgotten apparel.
"I-I'm sorry, Hatake-sama! It'll never happen again, I swear!"
But Kakashi exercised his right of selective hearing. He wanted to tear this man apart. he wanted him on the floor, lifeless. Kakashi reached the counter and slammed both hands on the hardwood. Oh, he wanted this man-
"'Kashi! You're bleeding!"
Blinking in surprise, Kakashi turned his gaze down to his aching hand to find the skin raw and torn, blistering as if burnt. More clearheaded now, Kakashi realized that the throb in his arm wasn't just a pain, but more of throb of absolute agony. He hissed in pain, clutching his arm, before twirling on his feet, ordering Naruto to pick up the bags, and marching out of the shop. Something was definitely wrong. If not with him, then with Naruto.
Maybe he should see the Hokage again.
There we are :) and OH NO! What happened?! Lol, I don't want to give it away (though one of you guys knows what it is) and it's not going to be playing the biggesttttt part in the story quite yet, but yeah :)
Please read and review! 3