Sorry people suffered some minor Writer's Block, cured now
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Thank You SOOOOO much for all the feedback so far!
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Chapter 12
When Kakashi showed them their new home a few days before they had decided to move in Naruto was positive the jounin had been saving for more than the two years he had admitted to the Hokage about. It had an outer wall enclosing a small front garden that led to a traditional Japanese entrance way with sliding doors. This was also the hallway containing a set of stairs to the upper floor to the immediate right, a door to the kitchen to the left, a door to the living room just off to the right and on the far right corner were a small utility room and downstairs toilet.
The kitchen was spacious with a large solid wood table big enough to seat a large family of 6 easily. Fumiko nearly fainted at the sight of the double door fridge-freezer and the thought of just how much ice-cream it could hold instead of the tiny freezer compartments in their normal fridge. The living room was a mixture of traditional and modern. Instead of the traditional paper sliding doors they were glass, but they still opened onto a wooden walkway that ran along the back and sides of the house, and there were a three person and a two person pair of sofas. The back garden shared the same high wall as the rest of the house and was perfect in their eyes. There was a good size area of flat grass and space to one side to put training posts, a wide pond that they could use to practice fighting on water or water-based jutsus for Fumiko and then in the back they couldn't help but see the centre-piece of the old cherry blossom. It seemed to scream 'climb me' and a long straight branch just begged for a couple of swings.
The hallway at the top of the stairs curled back on itself. The first door you would pass was the family bathroom, then a decent sized room that could easily fit a couple of double beds – which Fumiko got dibs on before Naruto could say anything – and had a glass door to a small balcony overlooking the garden. The room next door was the same in size and shape, but had no balcony, and the bedroom at the end of the corridor was longer and narrower, and had been claimed by Kakashi before Naruto could say anything. The troublesome pair made a joke that it had to be the first thing he wasn't late in doing.
They pulled their money together and got identical 'presents' for their friends and gathered them at the apartment. When there they all sat around the kitchen table on the different seats and stools they had collected over the last couple of years, Naruto and Fumiko passed out the small red boxes and told them not to open them just yet.
"What's going on?" Sakura questioned.
"You're up to something Dope." Naruto just grinned in response and turned to the newly adopted girl signalling her to start explaining.
"Well we both have some big pieces of news." She took a deep breath. "A ninja named Kakashi Hatake has been given Guardianship of Naruto." Before she could say anything else Naruto was deafened with congratulations. When it calmed she was headed off once again by Shikamaru.
"What about you Fumi? A single ninja can only be given Guardianship of more than one child..." he paused and appeared to be mulling something over in his mind as the rest of the group stared in confusion, wondering what he was getting at. "The only way around it would be for either you or Naruto to be..."
Fumiko grinned and nodded. The confused stares turned into glares as the rest of them got frustrated at still being kept out of the loop. "That's right; you are now looking at Fumiko Akamori Hatake."
"WHAT!" The building shook with the sheer volume level of their outbursts.
When his ears had stopped ringing Naruto had gone into the quick explanation that Kakashi had wanted to take him in for years but had only just got into a position to do so, and after getting to know Fumiko and how well they got along he had decided to adopt her. The blonde laughed when he told them of just how quickly his new Guardian had developed the 'over-protective-father syndrome' in regards to the female brunette.
"Are you moving in with him?" Kiba asked the obvious question.
Ino hit him on the head. "Of course they are!"
"But what about this place?" Hinata spoke up.
"Open your boxes." Naruto instructed.
They did.
"This place officially belongs to all of us." The blonde chirped, but his friend noticed the need to explain that statement further.
"What Whiskers means is that while we don't have to pay rent, we all have to chip in on the utility bills but it can be used as a retreat from parents, studying, hanging out, planning, anything we want. We had the idea of turning Whisker's room into a small training room and eventually getting a couple of bunk beds in my room."
"Is that okay with everyone?" The chorus of cheers was answer enough.
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People from all walks of life found themselves having to stop and stare at the small parade, led by Naruto, of 10 7-year-old children – and Akamaru – carrying bundles and boxes of belongings to their new destination. They didn't actually have very many personal items to take so with the help of all their friends all the stuff was shifted in one trip.
The majority of the moving in with Kakashi experience was filled with fun and laughter, especially with things like Kakashi falling down the stairs, throwing his box in the air and landing flat on his back with all of his underwear raining down on top of him. However, it also became an enlightening day for Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Shikamaru and Sasuke. Where the others had been recalled home for the rest of the day, they had stayed behind and thus found out a couple of secrets about the two of them.
Fumiko was the only one upstairs and she was in her room moving some things around while Hinata had taken their plate – now empty of snacks – down to be washed. She didn't watch her feet as she turned round with a pile of bed sheets overloading her small arms, tripped, fell to the floor with a loud thump and got severely tangled in the sheets. She got such a fright that she didn't even notice the reappearance of her furry accessories, so had no inclination to hide them again before everyone else in the house rushed into the room. Naruto and Kakashi would have laughed at the sight she made, but the gasps from the others halted the urge.
"What...?" the confused girl asked at the five stunned and two worried looks she was receiving.
"Fumi..." Naruto slowly pointed to where his own ears would have been had they been on show.
Her eyes went wide and she slowly reached up with both hands, if only to confirm her growing fear. They touched fur. "Holy... Freaking... Shit..."
The stupefied children let out squeals of "Ehhh!"
But, not before Kakashi scolded, "Language Young Lady!"
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They had spent the past hour telling the children Fumiko's story before she came to the village, well the edited version of her running from home when her parents were killed for fear of sharing the same fate and having no one to turn to. They were truthful in the fact that if was Kakashi that found her and brought her to Konoha, but they left out some details.
Right now the boys were in a deep discussion about the in's and out's of demon clans that were already known and what remained a mystery, meanwhile keeping one eye each on the girls. The no longer shy Hinata was in the determined process of chasing down Fumiko around the garden, which had no on-lookers (one of the main reasons this house had been chosen), in order to get a hold of her cute, bushy tail. She had already assaulted the ears.
However, after the ninth close call she had had enough of the constant onslaught, and of being the source of the others' amusement. She kept up her speed, but changed direction. She headed straight for Naruto.
Shit! Kit, run! Kyuubi all but screamed in warning.
Naruto put his full attention on Fumiko's face. Fuck! She was beyond pissed and too close to escape considering he was in the corner of the room and was cut off from any escape routes either side when you added in how fast the girl could move when prompted. I'm done for... he resigned himself to his fate and stood his ground to await his beating.
It never came. What did happen was Fumiko focused some charka and poked his chest, hard, and growled, "Release!"
He stared at her dumbfounded, as did everyone else. "We're in this together remember?"
This is what you get for laughing. Kyuubi chided.
She smiled wickedly at him. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me."
It was his turn to resemble a fish as the rest of the room's occupants forgot to breathe.
I forgot her tail issues...
At your own peril it seems... Kyuubi chuckled sadistically. He was going to love how dangerous the girl's anger could be. It showed her demonic power in his opinion.
She exited to the garden once more and sat on one of the new tree swings, swinging her legs gently, leaving the fox-eared blonde and Kakashi to give the censored version of Naruto's story. When finished and the majority of the questions were asked, Hinata used the element of surprise and pounced on her furry friend. She got in one stroke of the tail before Naruto freaked out and, worming out of her grasp, took off running – the exact same way as Fumiko – with the Hyuuga heiress hot on his heels.
From her peacefully swaying perch, Fumiko smirked in victory. Revenge is sweet, she thought then giggled, but I won't tell Sasuke that.
