A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
Lancia was a rather large man with a face that would have probably intimidated her if she had met him as a child. But as 14-year-old girl, who was going to be 15 in the next 8 months, Naruto was not terrified of the man lying on the bed. Sure he might have a tattoo on the side of his face and there might be dark circles under his eyes, but other than that…she saw nothing terrifying about the man.
She could see the warmth in his eyes alongside the guilt, deep-seeded loneliness and a sadness that made Naruto pause. She could understand his loneliness. Warmth was not emotion that she was used to handling but she was learning on how to deal with it. Guilt was definitely not an emotion that she could understand.
Why would she understand it? There had been nothing for her to feel guilty about. Every move she had done from the moment Mizuki had told her the truth, had been calculated. Every kill she had done was not something that she would ever regret about. Perhaps it made her inhuman but she was not going to use his guilt to make him join her.
It was very hard to sympathize with someone with an emotion that you have never felt.
"It is nice to finally meet you, Lancia," Naruto finally said. The man blinked and the blonde guessed that she should introduce herself to him. It would only be proper since she knew his name. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto but you can call me Naruto."
No words were spoken and the blonde observed the man staring at her. Out of all the emotions that stood out about him, it was really the loneliness that got to her. Loneliness because of a crime that he was forced to commit under the name of someone else. Loneliness because some twisted boy took advantage of him.
It made her blood boil when she thought about it. She might not show her emotions freely like Sawada and his friends but she was tempted to glare at the windows. Manipulative people like Mukuro really irritated her. What Mukuro did was no better than Mizuki except Mizuki did not make her kill anyone. He only made her trust him to the point that she broke into the Hokage Tower and stole the Forbidden Scroll.
If he had never made her trust him then maybe she would have never killed him.
"Haku told me about you," Naruto informed him. Lancia blinked and the blond-haired girl closed the door before taking a seat beside him. She knew she should be careful with this man. They had only just met and so she should not drop her guard. But the story Haku told her did resonate with her in a sense. Haku didn't know how Mukuro control him but she understood how.
The fact he possessed him and took advantage of him was unforgivable.
"You know Haku-san?" Lancia asked. His eyes lit up with curiosity and Naruto nodded her head. She could see his eyes was filled with gratitude, something that the blonde understood well. If it was not for Haku, the man would have suffered from that poison for an even longer period of time. She probably should take advantage of it.
It would be the kind of thing people would expect from her but that was not the way she worked when it came to recruiting her subordinates. Maybe she did that with the first one but that little boy met her when she was under her disguise. Her reputation had to be maintained. But Haku saw her without her mask and Lancia was the same.
Besides, she knew that loyalty did not come from threats but from empathy. The Old Man taught me that much. She hunched her shoulders as warm brown eyes flashed before her eyes. Empathy was why the Hokage had such intense loyalty from the other shinobi. It was what made him a good leader in her eyes even if she had to question his choices.
"He works for me," Naruto answered. The man blinked at those words and his eyes inspected her like he was trying to figure her out. No, she guessed he was surprised that she had someone working for her since she was young. It should insult her. It should irritate her but it only made her smile slightly.
If he thought she was too young to do this then he should see Hibari. From the moment Naruto met the older boy, he already had a gang of people following him. Although he makes them follow him through fear. She quirked her lips into a wider smile as she recalled the fear that shone through their eyes.
"You are very young to already have someone follow you even though you don't have a Familigia," Lancia observed.
"I will take that as a compliment," she declared with a smile on her lips. "It means that you think I'm charismatic."
The man's lips twitched at her words, looking amused by her comment, and Naruto crossed her legs together as her blue eyes looked out to the window. Was it wrong of her to say such things? She should try and control her expressions. But if he was going to be working with her and Haku then she would have to drop some aspects of her mask.
Naruto let out a sigh and picked up the magazine right beside Lancia's bedside. It was one of those fashion magazines that the girls in her class enjoyed reading and gossiping about. Not the type of magazine she expected for someone like Lancia to enjoy but then again the nurses must have been the one to put it in his room.
She should read the magazine later to have better understanding of what went through the minds of the girls in her class.
"So how are you feeling now, Lancia?" She asked as she flipped open the magazine. The man blinked and blue eyes focused on the clothes worn by the beautiful model. I like the leather jacket but do they have it in orange? She would have to go to the store later to get one. With another sigh, the blonde looked at him.
"I have been better," Lancia replied. Naruto nodded and put down the magazine on the table before inspecting the man again. Sadness radiated from his eyes and it made her pause. She should hold back the new instincts that she developed in this part of the world. Go back to your old behavior. It should not be difficult for her to think like her old self.
Although I did act like a brat. The thought made her pause and the blonde thinned her lips. What should she say? One wrong word and she might insult him. Insulting him was the last thing she wanted. Haku felt a connection to him and Naruto would like to see the boy opening up to someone that was not just her and Jiraiya.
Besides, she could not fully understand Haku since she couldn't understand his pain.
"It must have been difficult for you when he possessed you," Naruto commented lightly. Lancia hunched his shoulders and grimaced at her words. Anger radiated from his eyes and the blonde looked at him. She should be apologetic for what she just said but it would be silly for her to say sorry when she did not feel it.
Lancia inhaled. "I could never control my actions when he possessed me."
"He made you kill so many people," she said. Naruto allowed the sympathy to leak out of her tone. She could only imagine just how painful it had been for him to murder the people that took care of him. The whiskered teen exhaled. "You know I would like to say I understand the pain of being forced to kill the people you love…but I don't understand your pain. I can't understand the loss you feel and I hope never to understand it."
The words hung in the air and Lancia stared at her. His eyes looked at her like he was trying to figure out her motive and Naruto kept her eyes focused on him. She allowed her emotions to leak out. If she was going to do this right then she would have to allow some vulernability to come out. Trust could come from vulnerability and this type of vulnerability was acceptable for her.
It was not like she was terrified of him.
"Why are you telling me this?" Lancia asked her.
Naruto stroke her chin. Honesty was the best policy in this situation and if she wanted him to work with her then she had to be completely honest with him. I'm not someone that can do what Mukuro did. She relaxed her shoulders and detangled the tangles in her hair before finally focusing on the man in front of her.
"Because Haku can understand your pain really well," she answered. He blinked and raised a single eyebrow at her before looking out to the window. Naruto picked up the magazine and focused her eyes on the magazine. "You know Haku can control his emotions very well but when you told him and Sawada about your past, it really affected him."
Lancia blinked and looked down at his large hands before looking back at her. She could see from his eyes that he could understand what affected Haku. If he agrees with this then I should put him and Haku in another apartment; I won't have enough space with four people. She would have to do some apartment hunting if Lancia agreed to her request.
"I want you to work with me and Haku," Naruto admitted to him. Lancia swirled his head at her and the blonde focused her eyes on him. "I know Haku and me won't ever replace the family that you lost but we can be your new family. I want to help you but it is up to you to decide whether or not if you want to join me."
The man stared at her. "You want to work with me because of Haku?"
"That is one reason," Naruto replied. A sigh escaped from her lips and the blonde clasped her hands together. "But it is also because I think it will be a waste for you to wander around or to be picked up by someone who might just use you again. I also think it will be good for you and Haku to hang around each other."
Lancia looked taken back by her words. His eyes widened at her words as if he did not expect her to say these words to him and well she guessed he expected for her to lie to him. But being straight forward seemed to be the best course of action if you asked her. The blonde stretched her arms and let out another sigh.
"I murdered a lot of families," he informed her.
"Mukuro possessed you and murdered those families," Naruto reminded him. "You are innocent of those crimes. You were the vessel that he used to commit those crimes."
Lancia closed his eyes and Naruto knitted her eyebrows together. What was going through his head? It was rather hard for her to figure out but then again she did not know the male all that well. Another sigh escaped her lips and the blonde rubbed the sides of her head. Minutes passed and she wondered if she should leave him alone to think about her offer.
"I still have to apologize to all those families that I still helped murder," he whispered. If it was not for her enhanced hearing, she probably would not have heard what he said to her. She rubbed the back of her neck. It would be a very good idea for her to respect his need but Naruto knew she should still give her own input.
She should try and be a little bit more open with him.
"And then what will you do after you apologize?" Naruto asked. Lancia swirled his head at her and the blonde curled her lips into a frown. Her blue eyes focused on him. "You are going to be very lonely and you don't deserve to be lonely. I don't know your familigia but I doubt they want to see you be alone."
Lancia slumped his shoulders and she guessed her words did affect him. Now she was not being pigheaded but his shoulders were trembling with emotions. Was she getting through to him? She hoped so. It would be nice to have more people working with her and Haku would probably be happy to patrol with someone.
"I will meet you and Haku-san after I'm done apologizing to all those families affected by my actions."
Naruto smiled.
"I look forward working with you, Lancia."
Now she just needed to think of the next step.
"Naruto-neechan!"
Naruto opened her arms as Lambo flung himself at her. She really should not be surprised the little boy was coming out of Tsuna's room since he found a home in her classmate's house. But it really took her back whenever the boy hurled himself at her. She should be used to it by now since Lambo stayed with her whenever Tsuna needed time to himself.
She sighed and hugged the boy closer to her chest as her blue eyes fixated on the tiny child in front of Tsuna's room. Naruto couldn't really tell if the child was a girl or a boy. With the lack of hair and only a single braid standing on the child's head, she could not figure out their gender. She wanted to say girl but Naruto could be wrong.
The child stared at her hair and fixated on the whisker marks of her cheeks. Sadness leaked out of those slanted eyes alongside a heartbroken look. This only made the blonde frown. Why was the child so sad? Did she ever do something the child? Nope. She didn't think she met the young child before but she could be wrong.
She did have a terrible memories at times.
"Lambo, who is your friend?" She asked the black-haired boy, who was still burrowing himself against her chest. Lambo blinked and jerked his head up before snapping his head at the child staring at them. Green eyes widened as if he just realized the child was there watching him hugging her like there was no tomorrow.
Naruto had to give Lambo credit for not blushing, because she knew she would have blushed if someone caught her doing what he did.
"That is I-pin," he finally answered with a large, prideful smile on his lips. "She is Lambo-sama's subordinate."
Those slanted eyes gleamed with irritation while the blonde raised a single eyebrow at the black-haired toddler. She thinned her lips. It should sound cute but the blond-haired girl could see the desire that the black-haired girl had to hurt the boy. I can understand her irritation. A grimace played on her lips as Lambo curled his lips into a large smile.
The blonde sighed and flicked her finger against Lambo's forehead. The boy scowled and rubbed his forehead. Tears leaked out of his eyes but if the boy thought she was going to be moved by his tears then he had another thing coming. It was one thing for her to say such words since she was 14 years old.
He was five and he was not going to make friends if he talked like that. But he did learn it from me. The thought made her pause and the blonde slumped her shoulders. Maybe she should change the way she talked. It would be a pain in the neck if Lambo blamed her in the future for him not having any friends.
"Naruto-neechan, why did you flick the great Lambo-sama?" Lambo grumbled as he continued to rub his forehead. I-pin smiled, looking pleased at the annoyance coming out of the little boy's tone. The blonde pinched her nose. How should she explain it to him without using any curse words? Well she should just omit the curse words and just make it simple for him.
"I-pin is your friend and you don't call your friends your subordinate. Imagine how you would feel if I-pin called you her subordinate," Naruto explained to the little boy. Lambo looked thoughtful before slumping his shoulders, telling her that he understood her point. She put the boy down on the ground and knelt down till her eyes met his own green eyes. "Now I want you to go and apologize to her."
Lambo sighed and strolled to I-pin. A frown played on his lips while the little girl stared at her with wide eyes as if she was surprised she talked to the little boy like that. I know Tsuna gets easily irritated and I know from my limited interactions with Haru and Kyoko that they spoil the boy. She honestly did not understand how none of them decide to explain things to him.
"I'm sorry, I-pin."
The blonde thinned her lips and observed the boy. She could see his shoulders were trembling but the sincerity in his voice was not in the level that she wanted. She should just be happy he apologized but Tsuna was paying her to babysit him. A sigh escaped her lips and Naruto locked eyes on I-pin. The little girl just blinked at Lambo, not looking one bit impressed by the apology.
Good to know she was not accepting anything less.
"I want to hear that you sound like you are really sorry, Lambo," Naruto declared to the boy. "If you don't sound like you are really sorry, I will start giving you vegetables instead of sweets."
Green eyes widened in horror and the blonde gestured for him to repeat his apology. He repeated the words again and the blonde listened carefully for any hints of insincerity in his tone. It sounded a lot more sincere in her ears now. Just threaten his sweets and he will do what he has been told. The knowledge made her laugh.
She fixated her eyes on the little girl, who flickered her eyes from her to Lambo. Her eyes still looked sad and the blonde knew it was not Lambo who was causing her to be sad. I don't think she will open up to me since she only met me now. The knowledge made her sigh and Naruto dug her hand into the pocket of her jeans.
As she walked to the little girl, Naruto wondered if she was doing the right thing. She should try and wait for the little girl to get used to her before trying anything. But she never liked seeing a sad kid. I feel like a really shitty person if I don't help. The thought brought out a sigh and Naruto knelt down till she was at eye level with the child.
"Are you feeling okay, I-pin?" she asked softly as she pulled out some sweets from her pocket. "I have some sweets to cheer you up."
"Those are Lambo-sama's sweets!" Lambo whined. Naruto bit back a laugh while I-pin looked at the sweet in her hand with a frown playing on her lips. The little girl hunched her shoulders and stared at her like she really did not know what to feel. Did I do something to her? She honestly doubt it.
"Lambo, these sweets aren't only your sweets," she said with a firm tone. The little boy opened his mouth to protest, only to close his mouth when she gave him a disappointed look. "When your friend is sad, you should cheer her up."
"I-pin is just upset that her crush likes someone else!" Lambo grumbled. I-pin scowled and jerked her head away. Kids really grow up so soon. The thought made her slump her shoulders and the blonde wondered what she should do. She never really had a crush when she was a little girl. While all the girls claimed to like Sasuke, she was just happy to spend time with Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji.
She really could not console a little girl when she had never felt her pain.
"I will give you five sweets," Naruto said quietly, dropping four more sweets onto I-pin's hand. The little girl blinked and then smiled at the sight of the sweets in her hand. Lambo narrowed his eyes and the blonde knew what was going to happen by the greedy look in his eyes. I-pin must have known too because she quickly stuffed the sweets into her pants before running away.
Lambo scowled and chased after the little girl. The blonde laughed. Those two really remind me of someone else but I can't remember who they remind me. She shook her head and relaxed her shoulders as her blue eyes followed the fading figures of the two little children. Lambo was fast but Naruto guessed that she had to improve his speed.
"You really have a soft spot for kids, don't you Naruto?"
Blue eyes widened and the blonde snapped her head at the sight of a smiling Yamamoto standing right behind her. Brown eyes gleamed with happiness at the sight of her and Naruto schooled her expression. She really should have paid attention to the fact that the boy was here but the sight of Lambo and I-pin distracted her.
"Kids are cute," Naruto finally said. She was willing to admit this much to her classmate and the black-haired teen smiled even wider. His brown eyes gleamed with understanding and the blonde thinned her lips. "And they don't judge you."
Yamamoto nodded as if he understood what she meant. It should irritate her but he was keeping quiet this time around as if he knew that she would just shut down if he talked about her fear. That or he did not know what to say to her. Knowing him, it is probably the former. Her classmate was more preceptive than people usually gave him credit for.
She rubbed the back of her neck as brown eyes inspected the plastic bag that contained the lunch box for Hibari before flickering back to her. A part of her waited for him to tease her and to tell her that she was acting strange. Another part of her was curious to know what was going through the boy's brown eyes.
"You are going to visit Hibari-senpai, aren't you?" Yamamoto asked. His lips were curled into a large smile while his brown eyes focused on the lunch box into his eyes. Naruto stared at him. Should she deny it? There was no point for her to deny it. If she wanted to deny it then she should have left the moment those kids ran away.
Besides, it would be obvious if he caught her leaving later than him.
"Yeah," Naruto answered with her lips thinned into a thin line. Her blue eyes focused everywhere but at the black-haired teen before her. It was not that she felt awkward with admitting those words to him. There was nothing for her to fear. But admitting it out loud felt strange to her like she was admitting a secret to him.
It was not a secret but it felt like saying it out loud spoke something about her relationship with Hibari.
"You really like him, don't you?" He asked. Naruto looked down at her feet and rubbed the back of her neck. Like him? She should like him since he was her ally but the blonde knew that was not what Yamamoto was getting at. I really don't feel comfortable talking about it with him. She shuffled back and forth as her mind tried to come up with a reasonable answer.
She could only think of one answer.
"You shouldn't jump to conclusions about my feelings towards him."
The words hung in the air and brown eyes observed her like he was trying to figure her out. Was he going to call her out for it like he did when she found out that the Hokage was murdered? She was not going to admit anything. He couldn't get her to admit that she was upset her grandfather-figure died and this weird feeling she had with Hibari was another thing she would never admit.
"You went to save him, didn't you?" He asked her. Naruto closed her eyes but did not deny those words to him. Yeah she went to Kokuyo Land to rescue Hibari but that could mean a million things. She should say that to him. She knew she should spill those words…yet she also knew it would be a lie. "That spoke volumes about your feelings to him. Everyone in the school was confident but you were the only one worried."
Blue eyes fixated on the lunch box in her hands and Naruto slumped her shoulder. He was not wrong. Kusakabe had been concern too but he was only worried when Hibari took longer than usual. Even then he did not try and get the teen back. She inhaled and exhaled before allowing a little bit of her mask to drop. Yamamoto might be naïve at times but he could understand the need for a façade.
She also felt too exhausted of keeping it in. Yamamoto might have told her godfather of her whereabouts but between all the males in her life, Naruto figured he would be the least dramatic about what she had to say. Besides, Haku still can't look me in the eye since he saw the hickeys on my neck. She sighed.
"He went in there without thinking about the consequence and when I found out that it was a countdown…it worried the crap out of me that he faced an opponent stronger than him."
The boy nodded and Naruto waited for him to tease her for admitting her feelings of the incident out loud. She expected him to make fun of her for being so concerned over Hibari but the teen surprised her. All he did was pulled out a small carton of milk from his bag and handed it to her. Strawberry milk. She accepted the drink and looked out to the window.
"You should talk to Hibari-senpai about your feelings and show him your feelings," the older boy commented. His brown eyes inspected her and Naruto looked at him with a single raised eyebrow. Did he really think she did not tell Hibari? She admitted to him when the two of them were stuck in that room for a long time.
She sighed.
"I told him."
Yamamoto did not smile at her words, only inspecting her carefully as her blue eyes locked onto him. His brown eyes shone with amusement and disbelief as if he figured something out. Honestly if I didn't tutor him, I wouldn't think he figure things out. But she did tutor him and her classmate was able to observe things when he put his mind to it.
Unfortunately for her, she was one of the people he liked to observe.
"You know very well that wasn't what I meant, Naruto." He pointed out. The blonde chewed on her bottom lip. She knew it had been too much of a hope that the boy would think she did not understand his words. But the boy observed her and he knew she understood the double meanings in his words.
Just because she knew the meaning, did not mean she could vocalize her fears. It was already a step forward for her to admit to him that she was worried about Hibari when he charged in there. It had always been her thing to avoid talking about her emotions but Yamamoto was someone that seemed to understand emotions.
He understood about the judgment that people gave.
"Valentine's day is coming in a couple of days," Yamamoto informed her. The day that girls make chocolate and get their hearts trampled on. That was the best way for her to describe that day but Naruto knew that was not the reason for him bringing it up. Her classmate knew very well what that day meant since he get so many chocolates from the other girls.
She relaxed her shoulders.
"I'm not going to make any chocolate for you or the others because you helped me," Naruto declared quietly. I will buy them chocolate since it feels less intimate. Of course she was not going to do it in public or rumors were going to spread about the relationship she had with Yamamoto and the other boys.
The black-haired boy smiled.
"Who says I want your homemade chocolate?" Brown eyes gleamed with understanding and the blonde wondered if he figured out the hidden intentions of her words. She hoped not. It would be embarrassing if he told the other boys that she brought them chocolate as another way of thanking them for getting Hibari that medicine and helping them out.
She did have a reputation to uphold.
"You should give homemade chocolates to Hibari-senpai."
Naruto gawked at the smiling boy who walked away from her, leaving her alone with her lunch box.
Why the hell would he say that?
A/N: Please tell me your thoughts about this chapter.