Chapter twelve: In Which the Family Gets Bigger

Benjiro made sure they were still learning more than everyone else. If they wanted to make their goals, then they had to work for them, even if it meant training more than everyone else. Including Sasuke, who had the same goal as Naruto now. Benji just wished she knew if the raven actually meant it. She hoped so.

Right now she was making the boys work on…other things.

--

"Work harder! Paint those walls!"

All three young ninjas were painting Sasuke's bedroom, since it had been a pale shade of white and it was a horrible color. They decided to repaint it and the Uchiha had chosen purple. No one questioned his color of choice. They just worked with it.

"I'm painting, I'm painting!" Protested ten Narutos.

Benji laughed. "I know that, Naruto. Anyways, once you have all finished," she addressed the entire room, "you may have a treat of your choice. Including you, Sasuke."

Smiles were shared all around, and once Benji left to start on the ramen the Uzumiki's were bound to ask for started, they told him.

--

"It's been a few weeks, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Well, we have a secret."

Sasuke nodded solemnly. This must have been what their mother had said about letting him in on something. He blinked twice. He had thought of Benji as his mother. He grinned stupidly. Benji was better than a mother. She helped them learn, she treated them to things when getting things done (correctly) and she trained them herself. She talked to them about things (and made it less awkward), she helped Sasuke when he was sick (Naruto and Gaara never got sick) and was really always there for them.

Other than missions, of course.

"Oh?"

He supposed he didn't mind them not telling before. He was, afterall, the one to give them trouble on their first day. And bully Naruto around for a bit after that. And the one to call Benji names. And now he knew her and loved her more than his real, and dead, mother.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Gaara and I are…well…different."

Sasuke held back a grin and raised an eyebrow. "Of course you are."

Gaara shook his head impatiently and put his paint roller into the empty paint can by his feet. "We contain chakra demons. I have the one that controls sand, and Naruto has the nine-tailed fox. The Kyuubi."

Sasuke was startled. They actually looked serious. He shrugged. "So?"

Naruto laughed. "I knew you wouldn't think of us differently!"

They all grew a little closer that day.

---

At school the next week Hinata was quiet. She barely talked, even though Naruto tried his best to get her to. She laughed, but she stayed away from them.

Then, on Friday, Gaara approached her as she was walking home.

"Hello, Hinata-chan."

"O-Oh, hello, Gaara-kun."

Minutes passed and finally Hinata broke.

"Is there something you need, Gaara-kun?"

He shrugged and looked to the clouds as they walked.

"Is everything at home okay?"

Damn he was blunt. Hinata flinched and spoke in more stutters than she had in months.

"N-n-no, wh-what made y-you th-think th-that?"

Gaara looked at her with sad eyes. "Because you're stuttering again. You're nervous, and that means something is wrong."

"I-I-"

She had nothing to say to that. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and she nodded. A few tears fell from her eyes and Gaara knew that no one could see her cry, or shame would be on her entire family. He picked her up bridal style and went into the woods that they were passing. He set her down in a tree, against a large limb so she wouldn't fall.

"Please tell me" Eyes pleaded.

She let out a sob and he put a hand on her shoulder. He recoiled when she cried harder.

"Wh-what's wrong?"

He wasn't very good when people started crying. It was an awkward situation. He sat it out, and finally she nodded at him, wiping her eyes dry.

"Gomen" she whispered. "It's just that…"

She looked around. "No one can hear us, right?"

Gaara nodded and she continued, "My-my father has been beating me for talking to you and Naruto."

She almost burst into tears after speaking the words.

"He has no right."

--

Benji listened to Gaara's tale and nodded. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay whatever you wanted to do about it."

--

"You're welcome in our house whenever you want or need"

--

Hinata stood on their porch at midnight. She shivered in the cold, wet drops of rain dripping off of her small frame. She looked around nervously at the cry of an owl, but when the door opened she flinched.

"Gomen…C-can I c-come in, p-please?"