The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures
Ch. 9
Recap: "I'm not gonna be able to feel my eyes for a week. How can she stand that much pink!?"
"Don't know, don't care." replied Sasuke. "Well, I need to be getting home and get something to eat. Ja." he leaped onto a roof top and ran in the direction of his house.
Naruto sighed as he and Icefire walked back to Tsunade's tower. She had called him that morning, saying that they needed to come and pick Ryuu up. It was too bloody early to be up now. (4:30 a.m.) Icy was sleeping soundly on his head, snoring lightly. Naruto prodded him, but got no response. Icefire stretched and rolled over, letting out a supprised yell as he tumbled off of the blonde's head.
"Have a good nap?" asked Nartuto sacasticly.
"Yes I did. Especialy the part where I fell off your head and onto the cold hard ground. Tell me again why the hag wanted us to pick Ryuu up this early?"
"I dunno. But she did, and let's not argue with her, especialy this early." Icy nodded and yawned, leaping onto Naruto's shoulder. Reaching the Hokage Tower, Naruto pushed the door open and quietly walked in. He almost tripped over himself when Ryuu came around the corner. He wasn't expecting him to be up.
"Hey guys. The old hag is asleep, so lets go." he whispered.
"How'd you know it was us?"
"I could smell you. You, Naruto, smell like Icy, ramen, and sweat. Icy smells like you, and leather. Now come on, Tsunade got high last night and will have one hell of a hangover." Naruto and Icefire gulped and turned around hastily. They made their way back home, moving from rooftop to rooftop quiet as a mouse.
Naruto quietly lead the way into the house, closing the door silently behind him. The last time he woke Hinata up this early, he was in the hospital for two days, and he didn't want a repeat of that episode. Sighing, he showed Ryuu to the heavily coushined couch in the living room, seeing that there was no room left anywhere else.
"Hinata-chan will probaly have a heart attack when she sees you, so when you hear her get up, hide behind the couch, and I'll explain everything to her over breakfast."
"Gotcha." whispered the wolf. He clambered onto the couch, and fell into a light sleep.
8:00 a.m.-
Ryuu's ears perked up when her heard a light shuffling and a soft yawn. His blind eyes shot open, and he quickly dove behind the couch. Breathing a soft sigh, he chuckled silently to himself at not being caught. Not very long after Hinata woke up, Naruto and Icefire were up. Naruto was glad that Ryuu hadn't been caught, but tensed when he saw Hinata head over to the couch to watch TV.
"Hinata-chan, what do you want for breakfast?" he called from the kitchen.
"Nothing much, Naruto-kun. Just some eggs or something."
"Oh, Hinata-chan, we are going to have a visitor this morning, so don't freak out when he gets here." Ryuu took that as a signal to reveal himself, so using a transportation jutsu, he poofed infront of Hinata, nearly giving her a stroke.
"Yo." he said. Even though he was blind, he still looked at whoever he was speaking to, if he knew where they were. That was the polite thing to do, even though he wasn't one to be polite normaly.
"This is Ryuu, Icy's childhood friend." said Naruto, coming out of the kitchen. Icefire was trailing behind him, about the size of a doberman. He laughed at the expression on Hinata's face, it was priceless. She was looking Ryuu over carefuly, taking in every detail of him.
Now that there was a light on, they could see that the mangled paw was gone, and the stump that was left was wrapped up in a white bandage; dead skin that was hanging off of his tail and ear was gone, the scars that littered his body were cleaned up, all except the biggest were gone. The empty socket where his left eye was hadn't been closed, but it looked less gruesome. His torn lip had been healed some, but you could still see his fangs through it. Ryuu's fur was also cleaner, his what had looked like fadded gray fur was actualy a quite dark gray, and the swirls of brown were darker too.
"Haha, don't look like that Hinata-chan. He's quite nice, and a good friend, ain'tcha Ryuu?"
"Yup. Plus, me and Icy go way back, and I may be blind, but I don't need the handicaps or special treatment that most blind people, demons, animals, whatever demand. I'm quite capible of taking care of myself." replied the wolf demon. He grinned, and chuckled quietly.
Hinata smiled slightly at the wolf's antics. Then she noticed that Icefire had stiffened slightly, and seemed to be trying to remember something.
"Oh! That's right. I got something for you guys." he turned around and sprinted into Naruto's bedroom. He came back out with a bag hanging off of his tail. He handed it to Naruto and he opened it. Inside was a small figure. It was a dark blue dragon with fire coming out of it's mouth, and its tail was curled around two foxes. One was orange, and the other was a lavender-white color. Then as a back drop, it was a pale yellow full moon with a wolf silhouette on it. "It's inhanced with chakra, so it'll never break, fade, or crack. And every time someone is added to this 'family', another animal will apear on it as a symbol of the person, or whatever he or she is. And you can thank Hinata-chan, she's the one who gave me the money to pay for it." Naruto hugged Hinata tightly, then glomphed Icy with her, saying thankyous. Naruto then discibed it to Ryuu, and he nodded with a smile on his scarred face.
KNOCK, KNOCK!! "Wonder who that could be." muttered Naruto. He got up to answer and jumped a good ten feet in the air. It was a man who looked like a carbon copy of himself, minus the whisker marks. "Can I help you?" he asked uncertanly. Icefire peered around the corner, and snorted in a supprised way.
"Minato?! I thought you were dead!" the blonde man chuckled at the dragon.
"Not exactly my scaly friend." he replied in a deep voice.
"Whoa, wait. Didn't you say that Minato was the name of the Yondaime Hokage, and my father?" Icy nodded. Naruto turned back to the man in the doorway. "Th-then that means that you're my..."
"Father? Yes Naruto I am." Naruto, fainted. "Is he ok?"
"Wave ramen infront of his face and he will be." muttered the dragon. "Of course we could always say that... Hinata is being attacked by evil bunnies!" that worked. Naruto was off the ground in point nothing seconds, in a taijutsu stance, ready to attack. Icefire snickered while Minato chuckled. Naruto smacked Icefire on the head, cursing colorfuly.
"Why did you do that you crusty old handbag?!"
"What did I tell you about calling me that!?" the two glared at each other, and you could literaly see lightning crackling between them. Minato cleared his throught, and smiled nervously.
"Do you plan on letting me inside any time soon? Its a little nippy out here." (A\N: Its March now, but still a little chilly outside) the quarling duo stepped aside, and let the man in.
There you go folks! There's chappie 9. I own nothin' except Icy, Ryuu, and this plot. Ja!