Disclaimer... I do not own Naruto...Never did...Never will...sigh.
Written by... Treina (Angel Crack)

Names.
Nidashi . Old Man (who brought Naurto the chair)
Mujaki . Shino's Dad
Kaiwa . Shino's Mom

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Aishiteru Naruto

Chapter 9- Three for One

Naruto - Age: four
Hinata- Age: four
Neji- Age: five

Note: The japanese word 'Hai' means 'yes' in japanese...for those who might not know.

It was past ten when Hokage caught sight of the hospital. The night air quickly grew cold and he welcomed the warmth as it filled his lungs when he stepped foot inside the building. He walked right up to the desk and was about to say something to the woman sitting behind it when a whisper caught his ear.

"Did you see that kid on level three"
"No, I didn't"
"He was passed out on the floor and no one would touch him, and to think that this was a hospital?"

The Third stopped still in his tracks, hoping to god that it wasn't Naruto they were talking about, he whirled around in the lady's direction, "did he have blond hair?"

The woman was drawn back by the sudden outburst in the Hokage, "Uh...yes I think so...he looked to be about three or four years old, poor thi-" but he was gone, he ran up the stairs as fast as he could, level three, level three.

When he reached the third floor and went out into the hallway, he noticed a crowd of people standing around in a big huddle all talking among themselves. When he arrived in the crowd, everyone silenced themselves and moved out of the way. The Third was relieved to see that the boy was fine, just exhausted and his fever made no improvement.

He picked the child up and turned around, glaring at everyone, "its just a child," he said matter of factly.
"But Hokage-sama!" One person cried from the crowd, wanting to share the reason why they all fear that...thing.
"I don't want to hear anymore, he is a child, nothing more."

He began to walk to Naruto' room and no one followed. When he placed the boy back in his bed, he shook his head, what alot of work, why would fate take the life of Nidashi right after taking the life of Kaiwa?

While the Third was pondering this and more un-known questions, he turned around to see a little girl standing in the hallway with her hands behind her back. When the little girl saw that she was noticed, she blushed and hid herself in the hallway.

It was the Hokage! The Hokage! What would she say? What could she say? She didn't even have the right to be in his presence let alone talk to him! Her stomach tossed and turned due to all the nervousness, maybe she would pass out! She shook her head, no, that wouldn't make a good first impression on the strongest shinobi in the village, what would her father think?

"Hyuuga Hinata?" The Third asked with a smile while entering into the hallway.
Hinata looked up with wide eyes, "hai!" she made sure that her spine was strait and she only looked forward, she wasn't sure what would happen if she looked him strait in the eyes.

"Are you here to see Naruto"
The little blue haired girl blushed and diverted her eyes down to the floor, "I-I heard he got hurt..." she talked in a bare whisper, if you didn't have trained ears there was no way you would have been able to hear her.
"He is doing fine," the Third smiled and placed a hand on her head, "this way," and lead her into the room.

Sleeping in front of her, was Naruto, his hair glistening in the sunlight making him look like an angel. In her hands, behind her back, was a flower. It was a delicate yellow flower with soft petals and spiky edges. She picked this one because it reminded her of the boy's hair. Hinata lightly blushed as she placed the flower into the empty vase that sat next to his bed. She stared at him for a long while, yet the time had only felt like a few seconds before the Hokage came and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You should go, its getting late...but you can come back tomorrow, he might be awake by then," Hinata who was already blushed due to the fact that she had totally forgotten about the Hokage watching her every move, was now saddened, she wouldn't be able to return tomorrow, her uncle or something like that was coming back from his journey and it was absolutely required that everyone attend, so she would get no time to run about and play.

The Hokage guided the child out of the room, feeling sorry for doing so, but a spark of joy went through his heart when he saw the Hyuuga girl here to see Naruto. "The children is your only hope," he whispered to the sleeping boy before leaving the room himself.

xoxoxox

Hyuuga Hinata descended the last stair of the three stories she had climbed in order to see Naruto, but was startled to see her father standing in the entrance doorway looking at her with angry, disapproving eyes. She bowed her head and walked his way, when she reached him, his voice seemed to bellow through her soul.
"What are you doing here Hinata"
She didn't look up, "I-I wanted to see Naruto..." So quiet.
Her father looked at her disapprovingly, "let's go home"
She nodded and followed her father out of the door, but when she looked up behind her and saw Naruto's window, the flower the only visible thing, she smiled.

xoxoxox

The Hokage spent his night making sure that if any of the hospital staff did not start doing their jobs properly, he would deal with them properly, no one wanted to get details on that order, so they all promised they would start doing their best.

Satisfied, he returned to Naruto's room to find the boy still sleeping. He pulled up a chair and slowly dozed off into the early morning hours.

As soon as the sun peaked above the Hokage Monument, Naruto woke up with a painful hunger filling his stomach, he turned his head to the side and saw the Hokage sleeping next to his bed. Taking no chances, he decided he wouldn't wait to wake him up, "ne!" He stood up on his bed and shook the Hokage, waking him with a start.

"Oh, Naruto," the Hokage yawned and blinked his eyes, attempting to wake up.
"Im hungry," the blond wined, pulling on the Third's robes.
"Okay, I'll go get you something..." he stood up, eyes still closed...he may still have been sleeping, and walked out of the room to get Naruto some food.

Naruto, who was sitting up in bed, noticed a wonderful smell when the wind blew in through the window. It was a gentle sweet smell, alot like the secret spring, only even more gentle. He traced the smell with his nose and found a flower, it was a pretty flower, a bright yellow with a tad of darkness to it on the inside. He placed his nose close to it and took a deep breath in, "pretty," he said with amusement before hearing a faint giggle coming from behind.

He whirled around to see the little girl from the other day, she said her name was Hinata, but she was all dressed up today, totally spotless. She wore an all black formal kimono, but the black was a deep rich color and her hair was combed down nicely. She giggled for a second longer and then looked at the boy, "Hi!" She said waving and then dashed off with a slight blush.

As she ran out of the hospital smiling, her heart raced against her chest, it was wonderful that Naruto liked her flower, but she couldn't be happier about his condition, he looked one hundred percent better then he did the night before, so at least now, she wouldn't have to worry...too much.

xoxoxox

Naruto jumped off his bed in attempt to chase her down, why was she laughing at him? But when he reached the hallway and looked down both ways, she was gone.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" The Third asked with a tray in his hands, "your going to have to learn to stay in your room," he guided the child back to his room and placed the tray of food on the bed.

The smell of food overpowered the light, gentle smell of the flower and Naruto began to feel the pains of his hunger once again. He jumped back up on the bed and finished all the food. By this time, the sun was behind several clouds and the smell of wet rain filled the air.
"So how do you feel?" The Third placed a hand on the child's forehead, "your fever has broke"
"Im fine!" Naruto said with a faded smile, "where is Nidashi-san?"

The Hokage frowned, "we talked about this yesterday," he walked over to the window and closed it shut, knowing that rain would start any second.
"But I want to see Nidashi-san!" Naruto held anger in his voice, he glared at the Third.
"Stop it Naruto," he had enough, if the child would not take the truth for truth there was nothing he could do about it.
"People die Naruto, it's the way of the world, you will have to deal with it," he stared out the window, wishing just as much as Naruto that his old friend had not died.

Naruto bit his lip and kept his glare fixed on the old man, but the Third ignored it, "I have things I need to do, I will be back later," he walked over to the door and looked at Naruto with sadness in his eyes, "you stay in this room," he ordered and shut the door.

Naruto sat for a long while staring out the window at the gray clouds that filled the sky, and as the first rain drops fell, he saw someone he knew in the distance. It was that little girl with the blue hair, only she was with a bunch of other people and there was another kid around her age dressed in the same manner, standing right in front of her.

For a while they all continued to stand in the rain, "how weird," Naruto said to himself.
The tall man standing next to Hinata bowed, then gestured to the building on their right, they all proceeded to enter and were not seen the rest of that day. For hours Naruto watched for their exit, but they never made one.

Soon the Third came back with more food, "how are you feeling"
"Im fine..." the blond pouted on the bed as the food was placed in front of him.
While he was eating, the Third decided he would talk to Naruto about some things, "Naruto," Naruto looked up from his tray, "your going to have to stay here for a while until we find somewhere you can go," Naruto nodded his head, but stopped, why couldn't he go with the Third? Was he not going to be staying with Shino anymore? And what about Nidashi, where the hell is Nidashi!

So what? Was he expected to stay in this room every day, all day and do nothing? Why was he even here in the first place? Why was the Third here? He wasn't there when Kaiwa needed him or when he couldn't wake up Nidashi, why would he be here now? It had been so long since the Hokage had been around, Naruto tried to trace his memory of all the events that past, but so many of them were blank, gone, like gaps in time.

The Third knew that this plan would not last, what was Naruto going to do? Live at the Konoha Hospital? And the problem was, he is still so young.
"Im going to get your things, do you want to come?" He figured a change in subject and activity would be the best.

At first, Naruto was going to shake his head and pout, but thought better of it when he remembered that he had spent all day in this room. He nodded his head slightly and followed the Third out of the room. Immediately, the Hokage began to talk about random happy things that really didn't have anything to do with anything and soon he got Naruto talking. The blond went on and on about the little girl who laughed at him this morning and how she had disappeared and then reappeared outside of the building with alot of other people. The Third was surprised, he figured that the young Hyuuga Hinata would not come back today, considering this was the day that her uncle was to return to the village, oh no... "That was today?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and the Hokage smiled, that was the first time he had seen that facial expression and he couldn't help but laugh a tiny bit.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and glared, why was everyone always laughing at him? "We will have to make a another stop," the Third said to himself, turning around and continuing down the hallway, he couldn't believe that he forgot until just a second ago, this was the day, the day Hizashi would return with his son, the Hyuuga prodigy, Hinata's betrothed and future heir. And he forgot? They will not be pleased...

Naruto walked far behind the Third, still mad about the old man laughing at him, its not like he did anything to cause the outburst in the Third...he didn't even say anything!
"Hurry up Naruto," he called from the end of the hallway, stopping to let the boy catch up, goodness, at this pace it would be midnight before they would reach the Hyuuga estate. But Naruto could care less, its not like they were going to see Nidashi, he was so worked up on that one sentence that he didn't notice the stares and whispers, which was good, he hated the constant whispering of demons and murder and all those things attributed to hate. It scared him too much to admit.

When Naruto caught up to the Third, he was picked up and carried the rest of the way. When they got to the desk, the Third grabbed his things and dressed him under two minutes, it was already past ten and the Hyuuga's were a very strict people. He rushed out the hospital doors with Naruto in his arms, sprinting through the rain, not wanting the child to get wet, he had just recovered from a fever and being soaked in cold rain water wouldn't help his recovery.

Naruto smiled when the Third sped up and felt refreshed when the rain droplets hit his face, when he opened his mouth, attempting to get some inside, he noticed there was no more rain, they were under the protection of an outside wooden roof, the Third placed Naruto down and knocked on the doors in front of him. Naruto stared at the huge wooden doors, little pictures of birds and things carved on its sides, it was beautiful.

The huge doors opened, and a very tall pale man with long pitch black hair stood before them, when the man noticed that it was the Hokage he welcomed them inside and called for Hiyashi and his brother. While they waited, Naruto couldn't believe how big the place was, the ceiling was so high and the rooms were so spacious, it was like a palace or something. He couldn't help but feel tiny, like he was a bug, so small and helpless. He didn't like it here.

Soon four people entered the room where they were sitting, it was Hiyashi, Hinata, Hizashi and his child. The Third arose and walked over to the four of them with arms open, "it is a joyous occasion that you have returned! I am truly sorry that I am late, its been an...eventful week," Hizashi and the Third embraced for a moment before he lowered himself to Neji's eye level, "welcome to the village of Konoha," he welcomed the child with a smile and a hand on the head, "just remember, we are all your family," he winked and Neji smiled.

"We were just about to have some tea," Hiyashi gestured to the other room.
Hinata was already blushing due to the sight of the blond and wasn't sure what she would do when the adults left to do what they usually do... There were two boys on both sides of her and she couldn't be more nervous, one of them intimidated her while the other made her blush and act stupid, what would she do when the three of them were left in the room together?

She didn't even have time to think about that before the adults left and there they were, all three of them left in the same room together, she burned holes in the floor by her feet with her eyes for a long while before anyone said anything.
"Hinata?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure if that really was her name.
"Uh, Hai?" Hinata was startled by the sudden calling of her name.

Naruto smiled and nodded, it was her name, but who was that boy standing next to her? He carried the same eyes but looked more pale due to his black long hair that hung in this strings around his face. Neji stared at the blond, carrying no expression on his face, who was this child that made his cousin act so strange? He looked strange! What was with the obnoxious blond hair and those lines on his face? Neji soon decided that the only thing you could compare this child to, was a yellow cat. He remembered seeing one in the streets of the last village they were in.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, pointing a finger at the boy who was twice his size.
Neji raised an eyebrow, "its rude"
"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Its rude to ask someone their name before giving yours first," Neji spoke in a stoic voice.
"Im Uzumaki Naruto!" Hinata smiled at the memory of a few days ago when the blond said his name to her in the same proud tone.
"Uzumaki, ka?" Neji raised an eye brow one more time while looking him up and down, he still looks like a yellow cat.

"Hinata!" Naruto cried, turning his attention to the girl.
"Hai?" She looked up at the boy who was running at her full speed.
"Hinata! The coolest thing happened! After you disappeard, I smelled something really really good! So I traced the smell with my nose and it lead me to the prettiest yellow flower I ever seen in my life!" Naruto waved his arms around, gesturing his words.
Hinata bent her head down so low that Naruto couldn't see her face and she turned red as a tomato, while tears un-controllably fell out of her eyes.

Neji glared at the blond, now he's making her cry?
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, not really understanding why the girl was crying.
Hinata nodded and looked up, tears running down her face, but a smile beamed through her tears, "Im happy"
"Your happy?" Naruto didn't understand, if she was happy, then why in all the gods name would she cry?
"Hai, Im happy," her smile grew wider and a light blush caressed her face.

Neji furrowed his eyebrows, why is she crying if she's happy? Or is she lying? He shot a glare at the blond, "what did you do"
"What?" Naruto was confused, he didn't do anything.
"What did you do to make her cry?" Neji clenched his fists, what was this anger?
"No! He didn't do anything! Im happy...I was happy!" Hinata grabbed her cousins wrist and looked up at him with pleading eyes, "please"
If there was one thing in this world that scared her more then her own father, was Neji, even at his age, his skill was impressive. She had watched him spar his father and he was amazing.

Neji looked at Hinata and went back to his stoic form, but didn't say anything. "I really am happy," Hinata smiled at her cousin and then faced Naruto who was now, even more confused, "I'm sorry," she bowed slightly and Naruto backed up, "uh...its okay..." why would she bow to him? No one had ever bowed to him...no one really ever apologized to him either. Neji was taken back at Hinata's actions as well, the longer he stayed here, the more this girl appealed to him, she was so cute, a slight blush fell onto his cheeks.

She raised herself and smiled at the blond while putting her finger near her lips in attempt to block the smile.
"Are you feeling better?" Hinata asked, wanting to change the subject.
Naruto nodded and began to run his mouth again, "after I found the flower I looked outside and I saw you and you," he pointed to Neji, "and a bunch of other people standing outside and then it started to rain and then you all went inside...I watched for you guys to leave for a long time before I ate..." he pondered on what he was going to say next.

"Why would we stay out in the rain?" Neji was curious what made the blond possibly think they would return back to the front entrance...in the rain.
Naruto thought about that question for a while before giving up on it and he turned back to Hinata, "the mystery is, how did the flower get there"
Hinata bit her lower lip, should she tell him it was her who placed the flower there?

"That is not a mystery," Neji proclaimed, "I watched Hinata buy a yellow flower this morning"
Hinata's eyes widened, "no...anou"
"Hinata?" Naruto asked, pointing at her.
"Yes, more then likely it was her," Secretly, he was proud that he had just solved the mystery.

There was a small time of silence before, "thanks Hinata"
"Uh...your welcome..." her words were small, silent, like the time when she told him her name.
Naruto made a weird face at Hinata, trying to make out the words that he half heard.

xoxoxox

In the other room, the Third, Hiyashi and his twin brother Hizashi all sat at a table savoring the hot tea. The Hokage just finished his story of Kaiwa, the Aburame clan and how Nidashi died right after when out of nowhere, Hiyashi whispered, "three for one"
Only his brother knew what the words meant, he frowned, "who is the third"
Hiyashi turned to the Hokage, "there is a rumor that death comes in three, if one person dies, you should expect that two other people you know to perish not soon after," he explained.

Interesting, he had never heard such a rumor, it surprised him. But so far there were only two deaths that he knew of, "you know of a third"
Hiyashi frowned, "earlier I was searching for my daughter and I came across the Aburame estate, when I past, I was summoned to the head elder. Wondering what business he had with me, I went to him and found him dying"
This confused the Hokage, he was there a few days ago and the man was fine, nothing wrong with him. He frowned and rested his head on his hands, attempting to think.

"This does not look good for Mujaki," Hizashi pointed out.
"I examined the elder and found that he was poisoned, but the poison was administered too early and there was nothing I could do, he will be lucky if fate does not take him tonight," but he knew as well as everyone else, that luck didn't exist.
"Why did you not call for a med team?" The Third was upset that he had not heard of this sooner.
"When he found out that there was nothing I could do, the old man refused to have a med team sent, he didn't want to be moved..." Hiyashi glared, retracing the events in his mind.

"You can send a team tomorrow, he should be gone by then," Hiyashi's last statement sounded like his last statement and the Third got up to leave, not happy with the turn of events. What would he do with Mujaki? Send someone after him? They don't have any proof what so ever that he was the one who poisoned the head Aburame elder, although he had every incentive and all the means...no, he would have to wait the five years and then put the Aburame under trail.

As the Hokage entered the main room, he walked in on Naruto and Neji arguing, while Hinata stood in tears, "what's going on here?" Hiyashi demanded, looking directly into Neji's eyes. Everyone stopped where they were and looked at the stunned Hyuuga boy who had Naruto's shirt clenched in his fists.

"He-" Naruto began but was cut off, "I didn't ask you, now tell me boy, what is going on"
Hyuuga Neji gulped, "he made Hinata cry sir..." he let go of Naruto's shirt and straitened his back. He stared at Hiyashi for a long while with his stoic face.
Hiyashi sighed and turned to the Third, "forgive me for the rudeness"
The Third smiled and waved it off, it was just a child's brawl, nothing more. He walked over to Naruto and picked him up, "come on Naruto, its time to get back," he bid Hiyashi farewell and left the house.

The rain had let up considerably and only scarce, small drops of water fell from the sky...and everything was wet.
"What was all that about?" The Third asked Naruto who was in his arms and getting way to big to be carried around like a baby. He set the child down and waited for an answer.

"I don't know," Naruto stated innocently, shrugging his shoulders. The Third shot him a look of disbelief.
"I was telling Hinata about the flower, then she started to cry and then that Neji kid got all mad," he shook his head and sighed in the same way that Hiyashi did,
"there just weird people...what can you do?" and then looked up with a smile on his face.
"Hmm..." the Hokage still held dis-belief in his eyes, but decided not to push the subject, it didn't really matter anyway.

Half way to the hospital, Naruto tugged on the Third's sleeve, "Ne..." he stopped and looked down, embarrassed, "I don't look like a cat...right?" As he finished his question, Naruto looked up with teary eyes, "I don't look like a cat"
"No Naruto," the third said with a reassuring smile, "you don't look like a cat at all"
The blond smiled and continued walking, acting as if he had completely forgotten the subject.
"I will try and find you a place to stay tomorrow, until then, you will have to stay in the hospital," the Third figured the blond had the right to know where he would be staying. Naruto already knew this, but he was happy that the Third was finding him a different place, it was too white at the place he was in now.

That night, once again, he had the dream about falling and awoke in the middle of the night due to the heavy lightning outside. He stared around the room for a minute until his eyes adjusted and caught sight of the Third. For a while he watched the Third sleep, remembering when Nidashi fell asleep and never woke up, where is Nidashi? Why would no one allow him see the old man? Just then, a light bulb went off in Naruto's head, tomorrow, when the Third was out, the blond would sneak out of the hospital and go look for the kind old man, maybe he came home. Naruto could just picture Nidashi sitting on his porch, waving with that gentle smile.

With that, the blond laid back down and fell asleep, forgetting everything about falling and keeping his mind on his plan to find Nidashi.

The next morning was no different then the last, only the rain was more heavy and could be heard pattering on the roof and windows, yet everything was so calm, so mellow. The smell however, was of food and that made Naruto's eyes open and his body sit up to see what the wonderful aroma was. There in front of him, was a big bowl of ramen with all kinds of wonderful looking things inside. His eyes watered with delight, he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life...not counting the secret place of course.

At once, Naruto began to slurp the food, inhaling it like it was air. The Third was able to sneak away and get out of the hospital, making sure everyone understood their duty. Today he would find a place for Naruto to stay if it killed him. For the first couple hours he tried all the big clans and worked his way down, but no one would take the child in, especially after what happened with the Aburame clan.

By the end of the day, he had pretty much searched the entire village fore someone who would take this poor child, he never knew that his people, the people of Konoha were so cruel and cold hearted. What was he going to do? Naruto couldn't live in that hospital and as Hokage, he had no time to be raising a single four year old. He leaned up against a brick wall and looked up at the orange and purple sky, but the building from across the road caught his attention.

He had already checked about everyone that lived there, but while he was looking, he noticed a few vacant apartments. He strode up to the owner, who was cleaning things up, "I have noticed that you have a few vacant rooms"
The woman nodded and smiled, knowing that the village Hokage might be thinking about moving in, although she never heard any word of him changing location.
"Good, you have a new customer," he placed the money on the table and looked at the keys hanging up behind her, "get number 19 ready within the next hour," he informed with a smile.

The woman nodded and grabbed the money along with the key and hurried up the stairs to get the room ready. She couldn't believe that the Hokage, the strongest nin in the village was going to be staying here from now on. There was nothing she would ever have to worry about anymore. She was so exited, she even put a batch of cookies that she baked that morning on his kitchen counter as a home warming gift. But as she was leaving, the cookies were almost too much, should she take them off the counter? Would he think that she was trying to buy her way into keeping his stay permanent? She shrugged, she had already placed the cookies there, might as well leave them there. She looked over the apartment one more time to make sure everything was clean and then left, locking the door behind her.

xoxoxox

The Third entered Naruto's room to, once again, find him missing. He walked up to the bed and looked around the room, trying to get an indication of where the blond could be. He looked to his left and out the window, the rain had let up and the sun made its way through the clouds making a refreshing warmth in everything. He looked down onto the green grass below the hospital and there, down in a small sand pit, Naruto was playing contently by himself, trying to make a mountain...or castle...or something.

The Hokage sighed with relief, making his way down and out of the hosptial, he joined Naruto for a while at the small sandbox.
"Hey, Naruto"
Naruto looked up with his bright blue eyes.
"How would you like to have your own place to live?" His heart raced a thousand miles per hour, "It would be just like an adult..." there was tenshin in his voice, was he really doing the right thing? Sending a four year old to live by himself? The child was independent already, and he would make sure to stop in three or four times a day to make sure he got fed. Other than that, what would a four year old need? He has his family, the village is his family... he tried to convince himself that everything he was doing was right.

Naruto thought about it for a while and decided it sounded like it might be fun, it would be easyer to sneak out to look for Nidashi if he wasnt in this hospital. Naruto nodded his head, he liked the idea.
"Okay, lets go get the rest of your things and get you moved in"
Naruto jumped up exitedly and took hold of the Thirds hand.

xoxoxox To Be Continued xoxoxox

Reveiw Replies:

Krows Scared: sadly no, Naruto will not be going with Shino, sob I could think of some great things that could happen if they did though It's a great idea! thousands of plot bunnies begin to fill head

it rained: I really didn't think there was that much angst thinks really hard It was what I was going for, but I figured I had failed. I needed some really bad/sad things to happen to Naruto as a child...and this was the perfect age, it goes along perfectly with my plans grins evily But I will promise you that there will more fluffy, cute things to come, I agree with you, everything isn't drama and angst.