As they landed in the clearing she recognized, right next to the tree she had healed the previous day, she felt tears flow down her cheeks. The tabby cat was back on her shoulders instantly, rubbing the tear stains away with her whiskers. Neither of them said anything as Kimika moved to the tree on the left of the green one and began to breathe life back into it.
After all the trees surrounding the immediate clearing were green and glowing she lay down in the middle of the clearing next to a white wolf.
Feeling better?
'A little…' She admitted watching the clouds and trying not to think how long she'd been out here.
Before… you mentioned your family… Kuruka said delicately. Kimika felt her hand move to scratch the cat between the ears.
'I guess I meant you and me. You are the closest thing to a family I have in this place…' Kuruka didn't reply but Kimika could hear a soft purring from the newly formed cat curled up on her stomach.
After a while of watching the clouds aimlessly, Kimika rolled onto her front and began poking some of the bulbs closest to her and turning them into flowers.
Suddenly on the edge of the clearing she spotted a pair of giant yellow eyes and froze.
They're just curious not aggressive, I highly doubt they'll attack you.
'They!?' She thought watching an orange striped face emerge. Its' whiskered face was easily the length of her arm. She pushed herself up into a sitting position as the whole tiger stepped into the sunlight. 'You're sure about this?'
Yes you're a guardian remember? It's only natural the animals would be attracted to your presence.
Kimika gulped but decided to trust her judgement and held out an inviting hand. The tiger walked up to her curiously until it was only a foot from her outstretched hand.
Very aware the tiger was a tall as she was, she tried to smile encouragingly. He sniffed her hand then rubbed a giant whiskered cheek against it.
Kimika felt her grin become real as she began stroking him behind the ears then on his belly as he rolled over.
They played like this for a little while, until eventually she lay against the dozing tiger while Kuruka was curled up in her lap, a tabby cat once more. Kimika let out a sigh. Although it was nice to sunbathe in the sun like this, she should get back and apologize for leaving so suddenly. She turned to the big orange cat and stroked his whiskers earning a rumbling purr in response. She laughed out loud as it made her body shake.
Seemingly from nowhere, a large white dog jumped into the clearing, visibly wagging his tail excitedly and bounding up to them. Kimika turned to gage the tiger's reaction but he just opened an eye lazily then closed it again, deciding the dog was not a threat. Without warning the dog began licking her face dislodging a disgruntled feline with a hiss in the process. She found herself laughing again.
Hmm he must be a ninja dog. He has human smells around him… including Naruto's.
Kimika started guiltily at the name, but said nothing. She scratched the large dog behind the ears wondering to herself if she would have to pet every animal in the forest. She smirked to herself at the thought when she sensed a presence on the edge of the clearing. Very slowly and quietly, four people stood up to make themselves noticeable.
One was Naruto, looking visibly worried. One was a girl with lilac eyes and long black hair. The other two were guys, one with shades and a coat which obscured most of his face and the other with red markings on his face was looking almost hurt in the direction of the big white dog.
She turned to the tiger again who had both eyes open this time watching the new group intently.
Nagaru doesn't trust them, you shouldn't let them get too close.
'You can talk to the tiger?'
Naturally.
Naruto took a step forward and the tiger let out a menacing growl.
"I wouldn't come any closer if I was you…" She warned him.
"Could you tell her to stand down? I'm not going to hurt you." He said about to take another step when the girl grabbed his sleeve.
"N-Naruto-kun, the cat is her companion… the t-tiger is really… a tiger." Kimika spotted veins around the girls eyes had bulged. As if to make her point, Kuruka padded around from behind the dog and meowed.
"Oh." He said with wide eyes.
"Psst. Akamaru! Come back here!" The boy with red marks whispered loudly looking even more worried at what must be his dog. Kimika watched as his ears flattened and he looked between the both of them.
She scratched his ears once more. "Go on. He's worried about you. I'll be over in a bit don't worry." She said in barely a whisper. His ears perked up and he licked her face again before running back towards the boy who brought him into a hug then bit him on the ear. Kimika smiled.
I should repeat those same words back at you, you know…
She looked up to meet Naruto's eyes who seemed to be silently pleading with her. 'Okay okay…'
She stood up, as the tiger mirrored her, the three behind Naruto took another step back. Kimika turned to the tiger and rubbed her face against him, cheek to whiskered cheek with a smile "I have to go Nagaru, but I'll visit again soon I promise." With that the tiger purred softly, glanced at the group then began walking to the other side of the clearing and was soon lost in the dense forest. When he was gone from sight she turned and began to walk towards the stationary group. When she was only a few feet away Naruto spoke.
"Are you completely crazy!?" He said angrily and as she was about to retort he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She heard a few gasps but said nothing. "I was really worried about you! Then I find you here playing kittens with a 6ft high tiger!" He held her at arm's length and shook her slightly. "Don't do that to me."
"I did say I was going to the forest didn't I? I am a guardian… the animals of the forest won't harm me… They just think I'm fascinating, like Akamaru did just now…" She said, not thinking of anything else to say.
"Still… We should get back. Baa-chan's worried about you too… "He muttered turning away and jumping up onto a tree branch with one leap, and the one with the high collar followed soon after. Kimika stared at them open mouthed.
'I can't do that…'
Don't worry, you have me remember.
Kuruka shifted into the white wolf again as the dog boy and Akamaru took off into the trees and it was just the two girls left.
"A-ano… N-Naruto-kun was really worried about you. He asked us to help find you. So p-please take it easy on him." She said only looking up at the end. Kimika smiled at her.
"I will, he just needs to understand the forest is part of who I am, that's all… and to chose his words better…" She muttered the last bit to herself.
"A-Ano Kimika-san, I've never seen chakra like yours before…" She mumbled leaving the question unsaid.
"Uh… you can see it? Suppose that's how you knew where Ku was… I thought I didn't have the Chakra stuff?" The wolf made a slightly annoyed sound at her new nickname.
"You d-don't have the same coils as everyone else… n-normally, it's blue but yours is a blinding white…It's quite pretty actually…" She said glancing at her stomach then looking away embarrassed.
Kimika laughed, also embarrassed, and realized she was scratching the back of her head the same way Naruto did. "Uh thanks I guess… Naruto forgot to introduce us, I'm Kimika and this is Ku."
"H-Hyuuga Hinata." She squeaked as Kimika smiled."I think we had b-better catch up now."
Kimika nodded, swung herself onto Kuruka's back. "Lead the way."
As they reached the edge of the forest she looked back forlornly at the trees. It was strange how see felt more comfortable there.
It's natural my dear, don't worry about it too much.
As the group came to a halt, Kimika dismounted and the comforting weight of a tabby cat was once again on her shoulders. She saw the two boys she didn't know watching her with wide eyes, although she could only see eyebrows peering over circular sunglasses on the one.
"Thanks for your help guys, I owe you one." Naruto said with a smile.
"Just buy us lunch sometime." The red cheeked one grinned then the two boys took off towards the village. Kimika smiled after them glad to see Naruto's list of friends was actually wider than she had first thought.
"I-I had better get b-back to the main house now. I-It was nice to meet you, Kimika-san."
"Nice to meet you too Hinata, I hope we can hang out sometime." She said with a wide smile. Hinata blushed deeply at something, nodded to Naruto and followed after the boys.
"Hmm, I haven't seen her blush like that in ages." Naruto said almost to himself. "I guess you don't use suffixes where you're from"
Kimika felt a small stab of pain that he was pointing out how she was different again but glad he was talking. "Suffixes?"
"Yeah, I mean, sometimes you'll hear things like '–san' after peoples' names. So you would use it as a sign of respect, or use –chan or –kun for your friends. You only use peoples' names without a suffix when you are pretty close to them. So really you should call me Naruto-san or Naruto-kun"
Kimika was thoughtful for a moment then smirked.
"Well that means there should be no problem with me calling you Just Naruto then, I mean, we are living together." Naruto's cheeks started to redden and he looked away.
"I think it would be best if you didn't tell everyone about that… That's another thing that's gossiped about here… They might think… Never mind..." He looked away, completely red faced and coughed loudly scratching the back of his head again "Let's go see Baa-chan, she said she wanted to see you when I found you."
Kimika smirked with only slightly tinged cheeks this time.
'He looks so adorable when he does that…' she thought fondly. Kuruka jumped off her shoulders and looked up at her.
Right I've had enough of this sappy internal monologue, I'm going to tell him what you just thought
"No!" she cried stretching her hands out, then saw the cat form an unmistakeable grin.
"You… don't want to see her?" Naruto asked puzzled and concerned.
"Ah no, I want to see her. I was talking to Ku, but she was obviously just messing with me, Sorry!" She blurted out her face reddening. Naruto looked between the two of them and decided it was better not to ask.