Chapter 14: Night Owl's Morning Blues

The last two years of waking up so early in the morning did not change her mind. Dawn was pretty to watch, then go back to sleep afterwards, not wake up to. And why, oh why, did Sunshine have to be just like his nickname? An early bird. Waking up in a nice comfortable warm bed was a very, very good thing. But knowing that each day held getting up out of said wonderful warm bed to leave the quietness of the "Nest" only to go into the village full of people to a school crowded with a lot of loud children yet again. Obviously, none of which motivated her to actually get up out of said warm bed.

Not to mention that if she didn't move, her body barely ached, but once forced to "get up," everything hurt more. The medicine only helped against infection and promoted healing. Nothing they normally used really had the strength to numb the constant aches though. Stupid "charka" this and "chakra" that. Didn't anybody really know herbal healing stuff here?

No. Today she was just going to stay home and rest. No school, no people, no crowds. Peace and quiet - sleep, eat applesauce, sleep some more…

The sleepy wishful thoughts were abruptly and very loudly interrupted by an exuberant, "Nee-chan! I got up to twenty, urrr, something sit-ups!"

Squinting her eyes open, trying to focus on the one thing, (or person), that always dashed that lovely plan to pieces.

Naruto, jumping onto the bed, regaled this morning's achievements from his little log, "27 sit-ups, 15 Wa Whooshes and 30 Jumping Jacks!"

Kokoro's muffled groan was drowned by her brother's enthusiastic voice. Too sleepy to remember to hide her pain, she shivered, then slowly sat up.

This morning Kakashi happened to follow the Exercise Champion to watch Kokoro's expected praises to Naruto's accomplishments like in the past. Had he been at the door a moment later, he wouldn't have caught that fleeting look in sleepy brown eyes glazed with physical pain.

Naruto only saw her sleepy smile as she pushed her hair off her face to look at his notebook. She wrapped her right arm around him to congratulate her athletic brother, trapping him with doting sisterly hugs and kisses, which was amusing to watch Naruto try to wiggle out of without really trying to escape.

The surface wounds had healed closed but the lacerations went deep. Conservatively, they figured she was 40% healed. Which was incredibly slow, even for regular citizens without chakra treatments after 2 years. Obviously the newest batch of pain medicine wasn't working. The Naras had assured him that this was the most powerful painkilling mixture they had. How long has she been hiding the pain this time?

Kakashi asked, "Kokoro, would you like to wash up before we change your bandages?" She nodded, "Mm mm." So Naruto helped her out of bed and fetched her walking staff for her. Then he assisted her to the washroom and closed the door for her.

Naruto wasn't as clueless as Kakashi thought. He was partially aware of it, too. He leaned on the same wall next to the Jonin and both stared at the washroom door. The concerned brother softly informed him, "She's still acting stiffer in the mornings, I wasn't sure what to do. But she seems to feel better after she gets up and moves around." Embarrassed, he confessed, "And the only way I can make Nee-chan get going now is to let her…", waving his hand towards the bed, " …you know, get all mushy and stuff." Changing topics quickly, Naruto asked, "Does she need stronger medicine again?"

Naruto actually earned a few points today in Kakashi's sneakiness book. Figured all that out on his own, eh? "Mmm, perhaps. I'll check into it right after I drop you both off at school. Think you can eat lunch inside today?"

"Uhh, I don't know if our new sensei will let us. But he did help Nee-chan up the steps when we came back from lunch yesterday…"

"That's a good sign, I'll explain the situation to him then. Her baozi should be ready by the time she's done."

Remembering the Hokage last night mentioning a new ANBU added to the scaled-back Guard & Surveillance team that had gotten on "friendly" terms with the children. Deciding to investigate, "So I heard you guys have a new ANBU on the team?"

Naruto answered, "Oh Birdie? Yeah, he's okay. He helped with Nee-chan's bandages when Gai & Anko had to go on a mission a couple of days ago. And he also helped carry Nee-chan to school yesterday."

Kakashi, "Really?" Usually, the only four Kokoro would allow to help her with her bandages were Anko, himself, Naruto and Gai. The latter three after her new clothes made it less embarrassing for the girl to be treated by the guys. None of the ANBU had been allowed this trust before.

Puzzled, "His codename's Birdie?"

Naruto shook his head, "Not sure, we were playing the "name the mask" game. Then Nee-chan said "Bird" and he nodded yes. So after we tried a lot of bird names, we gave up and just called him Birdie. Sometimes he'll play hide and seek with us. He likes to poof around when we're looking for him." Grinning with brotherly pride, "Nee-chan surprised him when she found him when he was being invisible and all."

Shrugging and crossing his arms into a mild pout, "Still won't talk and he's as hard to prank as you." The Jonin smirked under his mask as he remembered some of Naruto's attempts. Quite creative some of them, too. But only gave him his typical, "Mmm, is that so?"

Now he kind of understood why the Hokage seemed to find the situation amusing. His trust for this agent to leave the children alone with him for 3 days was duly noted. It was four days ago when he ran across the lead that prompted the Sandaime to send Anko and Gai to do the follow-up. Kakashi decided to double-check the ANBU guards' watch duty schedule to discover which bird codename had won the children's acceptance.

He half suspected that Anko actually allowed some of the traps to "catch" her so she'd have an excuse to prank Naruto back under the guise of "trap-making lessons". Anko's tutoring had actually been making his escapes even more narrower. Why she felt compelled to prank him through Naruto, he wasn't sure. Nor why Gai never seemed to be a victim. Granted, once the Prankster Duo teamed up and nearly switched his mask into a pink polka-dotted fabric with some odd tutu at the neck area. They inadvertently incurred Kokoro's wrath as she came to his defense. Drawing the line in the sand as it were, that his mask was off limits. It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself. And, being a genius, he had multiple backup plans, masks and genjutsus should he be "un-masked." Anko kept the attempts transparent to show no ill-will, but didn't hide the gleam in her eyes to the challenge. Shinobi were naturally curious creatures, himself included.

Kokoro, ever the opposite one, was overly respectful when it came to anyone's secrets and/or privacy, including his own. So of course he tried to repay the kindness in return. But, so many things she did or said were just too odd not to pique his curiosity. It was determined after some testing that she wasn't a prodigy or genius. But the content of the books she had read and understood had him questioning if the IQ test was insufficient. It didn't take into account the numerous titles or subject content that he'd never heard of. Perhaps the disparity was tied to her language mystery? Or was it due to her former Teacher's unique teaching methods & materials?

Granted she was an artist, but she read people too intuitively. It was freaky how she could subtly shift the moods of those around her. He had to honestly admit that even he himself was as easily swayed by her innocuous ways. He doubted even the Hokage knew the extent of her persuasive skills. Most would have labeled it manipulative, yet the results somehow always ended up mostly altruistic for others. With a wry smile to himself, Except whenever there was seafood, ramen or applesauce involved. Just because he made these observations didn't mean he shared them with anyone, well, anyone living, anyway.

So that begged to question what was the reason behind her always hiding when the medicine stopped working? To go to the extent of enduring suffering just so others wouldn't worry. Especially Naruto. The reason just seemed too flimsy. He realized that Naruto wasn't talking and hadn't tried to poke, prank or talk to him. Either his patience is improving or he's plotting something.

Naruto rolled his eyes as Kakashi went into silent mode and started "reading" his book. He didn't even turn the page.

Before the argument, he thought that meant Kakashi was ignoring him. like he did Gai. But Nee-chan once explained that some people just don't talk much but just like to be with you. He still didn't get that. How could you not want to do anything?

Naruto sighed. Like Nee-chan said, the Hokage has to be patient. But being "patient" was so boring!

Kakashi did take his question seriously when he asked if Nee-chan needed new medicine and didn't fluff him off or tell him "not to worry about it." And the Jonin had tried to be nicer this morning and chatted with him. Maybe he was trying to think of how to get better medicine for Nee-chan. Nodding to himself and crossing his arms regally: A Hokage should reward his fellow shinobi, since it's "help Nee-chan day" I won't prank Kakashi today. That decided, he got bored again.

If he was going to be Hokage, he'd better practice being a shinobi. So he played the observation game Anko taught him to learn clues about Kakashi.

Kakashi had the same dark blue book he was reading yesterday. Turning himself and his head to better read the title from the cover, "History of the Land of Hot Water"? He's not in school so why… and Nee-chan isn't here, so why isn't he reading that orange romance novel? It's not like I'm allowed to tease him about it.

He froze as a new thought popped into his head. He grinned impishly as inspiration struck to use the prank set up in the storage room later on both him and Anko when she got back! Only to furrow his brow and cross his arms in thought, How do I go unset it without Kakashi finding out about it?

Both heard the water turn off. Kakashi looked up, "I'll get Kokoro's medi-".

Naruto zoomed off with a trailing, "I'll get it!", from the hallway. The Jonin merely shrugged it off, despite the niggling feeling that the boy was up to something. It wasn't unusual for the boy to run off to fetch the medicine that was kept in the workroom, (needing to be kept in the coolest room possible) . Before putting the book away, he finished reading the last 3 paragraphs on the page.

He ambled into the kitchen and helped Naruto get everything ready before she came out to the kitchen table. Thanks to Anko's ingenuity, Kokoro was dressed in her custom-tailored outfit: a pair of loose-legged navy blue slacks, (with a zipper on her outside left leg) and her special top, (a sleeveless pale yellow blouse with a wide strap that wrapped behind her neck and buttoned on her front left side, which helpfully exposed her left shoulder blade for treatments).

Naruto gave his sister her favorite applesauce and a small plate of Kokoro-friendly baozi, (steamed sweet buns, with a few chicken or vegetable stuffing) and a maple leaf-shaped momiji manju which Kakashi had kindly warmed up for her earlier. As always, she shared a few baozi with her brother while she ate the rest. A bit of a debate broke out when she tried to split the leaf steamed bun with him. Naruto finally won the argument that she should eat ALL the Momiji manju, huffing that he had his ramen before his workout so he was full. And he was the head of the clan, too. So she should listen to him, because it was his job to take care of her. The dutiful sister merely nodded with smiling eyes and meekly acquiesced to her Clan Head's "order".

Enjoying the show, the amused Jonin wisely remained silent while he treated the leg wounds with a double dose of the medication and applied fresh bandages. Then he proceeded to tend to Kokoro's left shoulder and arm, making a mental note of the lacerations' current appearance as well. Naruto was in operation 'distract Nee-chan from Medicine Time' by plotting a new 'welcome home' prank for Anko with her. He'd learned long ago to include his sister in his planning process. First, so he could avoid her lecturing him for pranking Anko or Kakashi. Gai was too cool to prank. Plus he didn't want to scare him away from being his training coach. Second, Nee-chan had a knack for adding in things that made it more fun and nicer for the victim. Girls add that weird Mushy Cute factor thingy. It was indeed a powerful tool in avoiding revenge. If they hadn't promised not to prank their new teacher, he would've been tempted to recruit Hinata-chan.

In the process of getting Kokoro more tea, he nearly spilled some on himself or his sister in his enthusiastic havering. During which Naruto was being quite adamant that Kakashi was forbidden to warn Anko about upcoming said plot. Kokoro shook her head in amusement and diplomatically shifted topics by asking her clan head if they could sit next to "Pearl" aka Hinata again today. Leaving her dishes, empty cup & spoon on the table, she dusted her hands on her pants, (sans any napkins).

After finishing the arm bandages, Kakashi quietly packed up and put away the medical supplies. As well as subtly keeping an eye on Kokoro's movements.

Naruto took the dishes and put them in the kitchen sink while shrugging and agreeing to her sitting request, "Sure, but that's a lot of steps."

For a child, she was good at masking it. The soft small breaths synched with her slight hitches as she got up out of her chair, (including reflectively closing her eyes and hissing when her left knee slightly bumped into the table leg), gave her away when Naruto's attention was diverted. Hatake decided it wiser to bring the medicine for testing just in case.

Turning back, Naruto grabbed her jacket that was hanging on the kitchen table chair.

Kokoro answered, "Yeah, but in the back, it's easier to concentrate.", listing her reasons while Sunshine helped her into her navy jacket, "It's better than being in the front or middle. And she's nice and I think she likes us.'' Adding her last point while they fitted the sling for her left arm, "Maybe she'll wanna be friends?"

She was being honest, but she wasn't telling them the whole truth. Yesterday, for the first time, she could feel "normal" in a crowded room. Nor had she been as emotionally drained and stressed-out as she normally would've been after class. Because she sat between the two of them, she could hear, in perfect clarity, everybody in the room without it being the awful din of conflicting melodies and "voices."

Sunshine's bubble dulled or nearly muffled out all the noise to tolerable functioning levels, but Pearl was removing the confusing, conflicting mesh of "voices" and somehow bringing them into harmony with each other. Wasn't sure how or why. It was very pleasant and puzzling at the same time. But, with both of them together, it was amazing!

She didn't care how much her leg hurt, she had to sit between them again! And judging by Pearl's demeanor, she liked staying out of the spotlight, too. Plus, the rooms behind and above them were empty this semester!It was cute how just bringing Sunshine to sit with her made Pearl so happy. Maybe they could become like the 3 Musketeers or something? An image of the 3 Musketeers dressed like Wynn popping into her head had her chuckling, shaking her head. Maybe not. Sometimes she forgot that Teacher's library had a lot of books most people had never read, let alone heard of. Numerous times she wondered if Wynn just humored her and thought she was making up some of the titles from his typical amused, "Mmm, is that so?".

The manuscript at the top of her "Stories I wish I could find & read again" list was actually a little poem, "The Carol of the Drum." In Teacher's library she found that poem and a little footnote that it had been based on older folklore about a juggler but never succeeded in finding any other renditions of that little tale. But it did lead her to find the Seisho. Unfortunately, there weren't any references to a juggler or the poor little drummer boy in it.

Internally sighing as she grabbed her school bag and swung it over her right shoulder and grabbed her staff again. Here she was off to the Academy yet again. She wished she could just go to the library instead. Lots of books and very few people, sounds like paradise. Mmm, maybe there's a really big library in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Unknowingly, Pearl just joined in the conspiracy against "The Warm Bed & Applesauce Plan." Ah well, making people happy is worth it. They have the nicest songs to listen to.

Once outside, Wynn laconically indirectly challenged Naruto to a race to the Academy, with carrying Kokoro on his back as his "handicap." Naruto in typical fashion lit up, "You're sooo ON! Long live Youth!"

She snorted in bemusement, shaking her head while getting on Wynn's back. Boys will be boys. Wynn must miss Guy. Giving her staff to Sunshine for good luck. Grateful for the opportunity to not have to walk today, especially since bumping her knee into the stupid table leg. She always enjoyed riding on Wynn's back. They had only gone "flying" a few other times since the Memorial stone chat.

But, since he always "sounded" awkward and uncomfortable whenever anyone touched him, she stopped asking him for rides. Trying to respect his space, especially after Anko & Sunshine tried to un-mask Wynn. With her arms around his neck his tune shifted to a new mellow jazz-like tune. Does he not mind being touched as much now? Maybe it'd be okay to ask for a ride home.

The race to school began on her count of, "One… Two… and THREE!" Sunshine looked and sounded so happy to cut loose and not have to leave her behind. During the race, Kokoro enjoyed Wynn's whimsical melody. Does he want to play more but has to act grown-up, like Birdie? Feeling impish after her brother crowed that he was winning when Kakashi had actually been allowing Sunshine to lead. She gave Wynn a slight hug and whispered in faux disappointment into his right ear. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. My Wynn's being beaten by an 8 year old? And I thought you were one of the best ninjas around…" Earning her a soft chuckle, an amused shake of his head and an awesome burst of speed that made her squeal in delight.

Which left her dear brother squawking in surprise for a beat. Naruto grinned at his Nee-chan's delight of being able to "fly" again. But, annoyed at being left behind and rising to the challenge, Naruto ran after them as fast as his little legs could. Seeing he was too far behind to catch up, he smirked when one of his shortcuts came into view.

Author's Notes: Special thanks to my Beta Reader: my mom; our family's Spelling & Grammar Queen! And thanks to my Mom & friends, (aka Sailor Tiger, Rainbow Butterfly, Rixi), for being my sounding boards, listening to my ever evolving story ideas & plotting.

What was that word?

momiji manju - "Manju are Japanese pastries derived from mochi, other desserts well known in Japanese cuisine." Quoted from:

According to my research, it was created by someone in the Nara province. So of course, you now know why I had to add it. Making it leaf-shaped was just for fun.