Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.
Tag, you're it!
By Amaryllis Namikaze
Chapter 10
'What a boring day', the little girl thought, eyeing the children running around the park. Some were playing hide-and-seek, as well as some were playing ninja. Kori, however, was sitting at the swing as she always did when Daddy, Auntie Yuugao or Auntie Kurenai brought her to the park.
It was a sunny, cloudless day. And it was absolutely, positively, undoubtedly boring day.
Kori wished that Daddy was here, because he was fun and would know what to do to cheer her up. It was a pity that he needed to start doing missions again, because even five months after the new routine had started, Kori still missed her Daddy every time he went away.
'Well, at least Auntie Yuugao is here,' she thought to herself, observing the beautiful purple-haired woman buying ice-cream to them 'because she's fun too.'
"Hello" a voice politely greeted. Kori jumped, clutching Momo tighter and trying to calm her heart. She was so distracted with her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the boy right in front of her. And what a funny boy he was.
First thing first, his hair was midnight blue, short and with bangs. His eyes were really weird, because they were pupil-less, pearl-white eyes, contrasting perfectly with his creamy skin and baby-fatted face. He wasn't exactly tall, but had an average height for his age – something around four or maybe even three as her. Kori noticed that he had the weird habit of poking his fingers together.
"I'm Hyuuga Hinata." The boy introduced himself, looking down and up at her uncertainly.
Kori felt sympathetic for him, knowing how horrible it's to be shy.
"I'm Hatake Kori." She told him, pride swimming in her voice. That's right: Kakashi had officially adopted her nine months before, making her, technically, Uzumaki-Hatake Kori, but she never introduced herself as that, afraid that someone would recognize her instantly after this.
"Nice to meet you." The boy, Hinata, smiled. Kori responded equally sweet.
"Kori-chan, I bought the chocolate one for you, because I know how much you…" Yuugao, who was walking at the swings' direction, stopped when she saw another kid, "like it." She finished.
The purple-haired kunoichi smiled kindly to the little boy. "And who are you, sweetie?"
Hinata's cheeks went pink. "H-Hinata."
Yuugao blinked, "What an unusual name for a boy."
"It means 'sunny place', or s-something like that." Hinata stuttered helpfully.
"It's a beautiful name." Yuugao decided and Hinata blushed more. Kori giggled, hugging Momo closer.
'He's funny', she thought, eyeing her new friend. 'Like a big, shy teddy-bear.' She paused for a second, her eyes dropping to her gray teddy bear. 'He's like Momo. A human Momo.' Kori giggled to herself again.
"Hinata!" A voice called far away.
"It's my Mom, I need to go back home." Hinata apologized. "See you next time, Kori!" And he ran away in the direction of a beautiful woman with the same midnight blue hair.
Yuugao smiled and gave Kori the chocolate ice-cream, "He's a nice friend, isn't he?"
Kori nodded, licking the ice-cream hungrily. It was delicious.
While eating and vaguely listening to Yuugao, Kori observed around the park, searching for some familiar face. Since she never went to school and parents didn't let their children near her, Kori didn't see anyone. She was disappointed – maybe she could find the blackish-blue-haired boy named Sasuke or the pineapple-haired boy named Shikamaru. They probably wouldn't remember her, but she certainly did, because it was easy with so few friends to not forget their faces.
Something caught her attention though. A pink-haired girl was crying while hugging her knees. Some big kids were laughing and pointing their fingers at her, saying mean things.
Kori wished she had the courage to stand up and walk there to help the pink-haired girl – but she was small, weak and pathetic. She wouldn't be any help.
However, Kori wasn't needed, because just as she thought about how tiny she was, a pale blonde scared the mean big kids away. The pale blonde, then, said something to the pink-haired girl that made her blink her big emerald eyes and smile. They waved each other goodbye, and walked to different directions – the pale blonde to a chubby, brown-haired kid, and the pink-haired one to who appeared to be her mother.
And, just like that, Kori had seen a new friendship blossom.
Kori usually wasn't the jealous type – but, this time, the feeling flood through her. 'It's so easy to them to be friends!', she envied mentally, wishing that it could as easy as it to her. But it wasn't. Parents made sure of that. Always.
Maybe she was fated to have only one friend, Momo. Because Daddy, Auntie Yuugao, Auntie Kurenai, Auntie Anko, Uncle Gai, Uncle Genma, Uncle Raido, Uncle Asuma and Uncle Hayate were like family and adults. But she didn't have any friends her age.
'Perhaps Sasuke, Shikamaru or Hinata', she thought, but dismissed the idea. The first two undoubtedly were prohibited of seeing or talking to her again and Hinata would probably be too.
Kori sighed, observing once again the park, this time with bored, but jealous, eyes.
'What a boring day', the little girl thought, eyeing the children running around the park. Some were playing hide-and-seek, as well as some were playing ninja. Kori, however, was sitting at the swing as she always did when Daddy, Auntie Yuugao or Auntie Kurenai brought her to the park.
It was a sunny, cloudless day. And it was absolutely, positively, undoubtedly boring day - and lonely. Even with Auntie Yuugao sitting right next to her. And, for the first time, even with Momo close to herself.
Hi, people. Sooooo, don't kill me for don't posting a chapter. I'm busy with exams and my ballet, and, yeah, I don't have much time left – and, as the human I am, I need to sleep. Anyway, I dunno when I'll post again, but I hope that this chapter compensated my lateness.
And for Hinata's name: well, I was searching for a boy name when I discovered that, actually, Hinata is a unisex name, so, I left like that, it easier and less confusing anyway.
And, last thing, just to situate you on the timeline, here it is (each line correspond to a chapter):
- Kori arrived August 20th
- A week passed before she finally spoke something to Kakashi
- 2 days later she met Kakashi's friends at Raido's birthday
- Sometime later, in a cold September night, Kori called Kakashi 'Daddy' for the first time
- A month since she came -
- She met Sasuke the next morning
- Months passed
- Eight months since she came
- (Actual chapter) One year and a month since she came, so, it is middle of September and she'll be four soon.
Is everything clear? I hope it helped.
See you all next time.
Amy.