Hello! Back again with a new chapter! I would have had it up yesterday, but my oldest goddaughter's birthday was Saturday, and I spent the whole day then, and the whole day yesterday with them, so I didn't have time to write.
Now to reviews!
Guest1: I plan on having her become more independent at some point, but I don't know when. And you are right, about how she should be stonger, but that being her first actual fight, and the fact that it was Zabuza, it did have her really scared. I promise she'll be better prepared her next fight with him and Haku though.
Guest2: I know most people think that, but I did some research on it, before I made a decision as to what Lee's last name was. I finally decided that it was Lee, because his son's name is Metal Lee. If his last name were rock, then it would be Metal Rock.
Dark Rose Charm: I'm not really sure about romance as of yet. I haven't really thought much about it. I do see why you think Sasuke is crushing on her though. Right now they just have a close friendship. Who knows, maybe it will turn into something more at some point. Not sure yet though xD
And thank you to Animeatemyfeels, Srirachacha, Scarlett rose white, and Girl-luvs-manga for your reviews! And to those of you who have followed of favorited, I love you all!
When I woke up I hurt everywhere. I looked around to see I was in a bedroom. I tried to remember what happened.
"I wonder when Hotaru will wake up. She's been out for two days now!" I heard Naruto whine from somewhere near.
Two days! I shot up and immediately regretted it. I gasped as my hand flew to where my broken ribs were. Fuck!
"Of course you'd be aggravating your injuries." I looked up, to see Sasuke and Naruto in the doorway. I sighed.
"Sasuke, Naruto." I greeted.
"Finally you're awake Hotaru, you had us all worried!" Naruto yelled.
"Sorry Naruto."
"Can you walk?" Naruto asked, looking ready to help me if needed
I nodded my head, and started to limp to them.
"Maybe we should help you." Sasuke suggested.
I shook my head, and limped past them. I stopped. I had no idea where I was going.
"Come on Hotaru. Breakfast is ready." Naruto said, grabbing my arm. I let him drag me downstairs, where I saw Tazuna, and a young looking woman in the kitchen, which I knew was Tazuna's daughter.
"Oh you're finally awake. I hope you're hungry." Tazuna's daughter said, smiling at me. I could not for the life of me remember her name.
I smiled back, and nodded my head. Naruto pulled out a chair for me, and I sat down.
"Thank you Naruto."
"No problem." He said, sitting next to me.
"How are you feeling?" Sasuke asked, as I dug into my breakfast, that Tazuna's daughter gave me.
"Better." Which wasn't really a lie, because I did feel a little better. Not by much but, it was a start. "So where is sensei?"
"Still in bed. He's awake, but isn't allowed to move yet." Naruto explained.
I just nodded my head, and continued to eat. Tazuna's daughter, who I learned was called Tsunami made a plate for Kakashi, that Naruto, Sasuke, and I took to his room for him. I needed to tell him about Haku, which I already had a feeing he would have his suspicions.
I knocked on the door. "Come in." Came sensei's reply.
We all made our way in, to see sensei laying down.
"Hotaru, why are you not resting?"
'Because I don't need to rest anymore. Apparently I did two days of it. Two days is plenty. I feel fantastic now."
sensei raised his one visible eyebrow at me.
"Okay, so I don't feel the best, but there is absolutely no way I am just going to lay down and do nothing."
Kakashi sensei sighed. "Fine, but just don't overdo it."
"No promises."
"Hotaru." He warned.
I put my hands up. "Alright, alright. I won't overdo it. We brought you breakfast by the way." I said, scooting the tray closer to him. He slowly sat up, and picked it up.
"Sensei."
He looked up at me, waiting for me to continue.
"It's about Zabuza, and that hunter nin. I think they may be working together. I think Zabuza's still alive."
Kakashi sensei sighed, and Naruto exploded.
"I knew it! I knew there was something fishy about him!"
"Naruto, please keep it down. And I think you're right Hotaru. But I would like to know why you would think that."
"Well, tracker nin are supposed to deal with the body immediately on sight, but he took Zabuza's body away. Which leaves the question to, why? Unless they were together, and it was just a way to get Zabuza to safety." I explained.
"But he killed Zabuza. Didn't he?" Naruto asked.
I shook my head. "It is possible that he just put him in a temporary death state. Making it look like Zabuza was dead, so it wouldn't raise any suspicion with us. I just find it weird that he just suddenly came out of nowhere, and killed Zabuza. He said that he had been looking for him for a long time, but yet he just so happened to find him, when sensei was fighting him, and killed him, the moment sensei was about to. So I think he stepped in, so sensei wouldn't actually kill him, and he took him away somewhere, to possibly heal." I explained my suspicions.
Sensei nodded his head. "That is actually a very good therory. It makes a lot of sense. So this means we only have so much time, before Zabuza comes back for another fight. And this time, it's not going to be pretty. So we all need to prepare for it."
"Prepare for what?" Tazuna suddenly asked, from the doorway, with Tsunami.
I looked to Kakashi sensei, and he nodded his head.
"We believe that Zabuza isn't dead. That, that hunter nin is actually his partner."
Tazuna's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."
I shook my head. "I wish I was."
"What are we going to do?" He asked, almost in a panic.
"We are going to prepare for their return, so we can better defeat them when the time comes. I'd say we have about a week." Kakashi sensei said, getting up, with his finished breakfast. When the hell did he eat that? "I hope you're all ready for some training."
"Ah, yeah!" Naruto yelled, throwing his fist into the air.
Good. I never wanted to feel weak and helpless again. I needed to focus on my training more. If Lee would have seen the way I was weak, and almost helpless, he would be so disapointed. You know, after he was done freaking out over me being hurt. And plus I knew we'd be fighting Haku as well.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be on bed rest?" Sasuke, asked.
"Well yeah, but I'm not training, you are. I am just going to help you from the sidelines."
"You're all just going to die."
We all turned around to see Tazuna's grandson Inari.
"Who are you?" Naruto yelled.
"Inari, where have you been?" Tazuna asked, holding his arms out to the small boy.
"Welcome back, grandpa." He yelled, running to give him a hug.
"Inari, that was very rude." Tsunami scolded. "These ninja helped your grandpa and brought him here safely."
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm rude to them too." Tazuna said, patting Inari on the head, and laughing.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, be rude to the people who are protecting you, and putting their lives on the line for you." I said dryly.
Tazuna stopped laughing, and grumbled something.
Kakashi sensei sighed, and shook his head.
"Mom, don't you see that these people are going to die?" Inari said, turning to his mom. "Gato and his men will come back, and find them and wipe them out."
Naruto shot up. "What did you say, brat?"
I turned to Sasuke. "Looks like Naruto is going to pick a fight with an 8 year old." I mumbled.
Sasuke scoffed.
"What Hotaru?" Naruto asked, turning to me.
I grinned. "Nothing."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at me, before he turned back to Inari. "You listen up! You know what a super ninja is? Well that's me, only a lot better. I'm gonna be Hokage. This Gato, or Blato or whatever he's called is no match for a hero like me." I smiled at him.
"Ha. There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas!" Inari spat.
"What'd you say?" Naruto yelled, going after Inari.
I grabbed his arm. "Naruto stop, he's a little kid.
Inari turned away from us. "If you want to stay alive, you should go back where you came from." Inari then left the room.
I slapped Naruto in the back of the head. "What is wrong with you, trying to fight a little kid."
"Ow, Hotaru! I'm sorry, but that kid needs to watch who he's talking to."
I snorted. "Yeah, okay."
"I am sorry about Inari." Tsunami said, embarrased by how her son acted.
"And we're sorry about Naruto." I said, glaring at said boy.
"He just doesn't know how to shut up." Sasuke added. Which made Naruto growl.
"Okay, we should get moving." Kakashi sensei said finally, breaking the glaring contest between Naruto and Sasuke.
Tsunami gave sensei a crutch, and we went outside, a little ways from the house, but still close enough, to know if something was happening.
"Okay, I believe you already know how to tree walk? So how about water walking?" Kakashi sensei asked. We all shook our heads.
"Can't that wait sensei? Can't you teach us something cool?" Naruto asked.
"Actually. Maybe you can help us with the things we already know how to do?" I suggested
"That is a good idea Hotaru."
"I mean yeah, I guess. But I really want to learn something new. Come on sensei, please!" Naruto begged. Sensei sighed.
"We can work on different things each day. But how about today we work on your chakra elements?' Sensei suggested.
I nodded my head. That was probably a good idea. Though I couldn't use it to fight Zabuza and Haku since I was pretty sure the fight would be on the bridge. I still needed to better control it anyways.
My chakra element was earth, Sasuke's was lightning, and Naruto's was wind. So we all had different elements.
We practiced the whole day. Kakashi sensei even helped me with my chakra thread. I had better control over it, and luckily for me I didn't use as much as I originally thought when I fought Zabuza. So I was getting better with my chakra control. And I noticed that I was able to hold the thread for much longer now. Which was a plus.
I also still had to be careful with my ribs. It would take 6 weeks for them to fully heal, which honestly sucked because we only had about a week before we had to fight Zabuza again. I was pretty much fucked.
We all stopped for the night, when Tsunami sent Inari to tell us that dinner was almost done. He immediately left after that. Once we made it back to the house, Tsunami was putting plates of food around the table.
"Wow, it smells and looks great!" Naruto was practically drooling now.
I scrunched up my face in disgust. "Cute Naruto."
We all sat down, and started to eating. It was amazing. Naruto literally scarffed his down.
I laughed. "You're such a pig Naruto."
"You're disgusting." Sasuke said, with a disgusted look on his face.
"Alright kids, that's enough. Naruto have some manners."
Naruto grumbled, and I laughed. He stuck his tonge out at me, and I stuck my out back.
"You're ninja, and yet you act like children." Inari spat.
"Inari!" His mother scolded.
"Well the thing is, we are still children. And just like I told your grandpa, just because we act happy, and or childish, doesn't mean we're weak. When it comes down to it, we are focused, and we do whatever we can to see the mission through. We are human too, we have emotions just like you."
"Well you can do whatever you want. Gato will still kill you!" Inari yelled, with tears in his eyes.
"And I already told you, this Gato guy is no match for me! For any of us!" Naruto yelled, equally as loudly.
"Alright Naruto, that is enough." Sensei said, cutting in.
"Same to you Inari." Tsunami added.
"You're all stupid!" Inari yelled, as he ran off.
Naruto growled, and got up to go after Inari. We just let him.
"So, he seems to really hate us." I pointed out.
Tazuna sighed. "It all started when Gato first started taking control. There was one man who fought against him. His name was Kaiza. He was like a father figure to Inari, whose own father passed, when he was very young. Kaiza was our hope, but Gato ended up making an example out of him, by beating him to death, in front of everyone. After Kaiza's death Inari has changed. He has lost all hope."
After we heard the story about Kaiza, we parted ways. I needed some air, so I went outside, to where we had been training earlier. I ended up finding Naruto, training by himself.
"Hey." I said, just loud enough for him to hear me. He stopped training.
"I went to his room. He was crying for his father." Naruto whispered.
"Tazuna told us about him. He was Inari's father figure. He stood up to Gato, and he lost his life because of it. Inari has lost all hope. We need to help him, and everyone else to find hope again."
Naruto clenched his fists. "We'll show him. We'll defeat them, and we'll be heros."
"Well then, mind if I train with you?" I asked.
"Of course not! Should we get Sasuke as well?" He suggested.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked he just said that. Him and Sasuke still fought, and would throw jabs at each other, but it was nowhere as bad as it had been in the beginning.
"I'll go ask him." I said, running back to the house.
Though on my way, I literally ran into Sasuke. He grabbed my arm before I had the chance to hit the ground. I grinned at him.
"Hey, want to train with me and Naruto?"
"Sure." He said, righting me up again.
"Well then come on, we don't have all night!" I grabbed his arm, and pulled him away to the training area. I heard him chuckle softly.
Once Sasuke and I made it back we immediately started to train. I ended up talking Naruto into letting me kind of use him as a puppet, so I could start using my chakra thread on people, and make them move as I wanted. It was different than using a teddy bear because a person was way bigger and heavier, so it took a lot more to make them move. I could hold them still, no problem. But actually making them move, well It felt like trying to pick up a giant boulder with your pinky. Yeah, I wasn't making much progress. By the time we stopped I was able to lift one of Naruto's arms a few inches. I decided to stop after that. I was starting to get very frustrated.
"We should probably stop for the night. We have a lot to do tomorrow." I pointed out.
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I guess."
We all went to the room we were sharing while we stayed here.
"How are your ribs by the way Hotaru?" Naruto asked.
"Still in pain of course, but there's nothing I can really do. Just got to work with the pain."
"Maybe you shouldn't.." Naruto started before I cut him off.
"I swear if you say I shouldn't fight when Zabuza comes back, I'll fight you right now." I warned.
Naruto put his hands up. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure you're alright. You're already hurt, I don't want you to get hurt even more."
"I have to agree with Naruto. If you do fight, please don't over do it, and be careful. Sasuke added.
My eyes widened. He was actually agreeing with Naruto. Was hell freezing over right now? I sighed.
"I'll be as careful as I can." I promised.
After that we all went to bed.
The next morning Sasuke and I were put on guard duty, while Tazuna went to the bridge, to continue working on it.
Sasuke and I made sure to stay out of the way, but I was starting to get really bored. I decided to mess with Sasuke. I took my hair clip out of my hair, and attached chakra thread to it. I started to put it into his hair. Once it was in I started to giggle. He turned around to face me with a raised eyebrow.
"Your hair looks so pretty now." I said, now laughing. He looked really confused at first, but then narrowed his eyes, and felt around his hair, finding my hair clip in his hair. He grabbed it, and took it out.
"Really? You're worse than Naruto." He said, but I could tell he wasn't mad, he was trying not to smile. I grinned at him.
"I'm sure Naruto would love to hear that."
He scoffed. "I'm sure he would."
"Wanna play I spy?" I asked after a moment of silence.
He raised his eyebrow at me. Before he sighed. "Sure"
"Okay I spy, something blue."
"The ocean." He guessed.
"Nope."
"The sky?" He tried again.
"Nope again." I sang.
Sasuke sighed, then looked around. "I don't know, he finally said, giving up.
"It's your shirt you walnut!"
He looked down at his shirt. "Wait, did you just call me a walnut?"
I laughed. "Your turn."
He shook his head but smiled. We continued the game for another fifteen minutes before a conversation between Tazuna, and another man caught our attention. The man wanted to stop building the bridge. Too afraid of Gato catching them, and killing them all. Which pissed Tazuna off, and he called it for lunch, telling the man not to come back afterwards.
"This Gato guy really sucks." I said after a moment. Sasuke just nodded his head.
Later in the evening it was time to go back to the house. But before that we had to go to town, to get a few things for dinner. Once there my heart just broke. Everyone looked like zombies. Children were curled up on the ground, and adults were walking around with signs saying 'will work for food' I wanted to cry. I could feel the tears start to form. We definitely had to get rid of Gato. Sasuke put his hand on my shoulder and I put my head down, not wanting to witness it any longer. The store we went to was even worse. There was barely any food at all in there. When were in and out very quickly. On our way back to Tazuna's I was surprised when I felt someone grab the back of my jacket. When I turned around, it was a little boy. He couldn't be any older than five or six. He suddenly smiled, and held his hands out.
"Please." My eyes widened. After a moment I pulled my wallet out of my bag, and checked to see how much money I had.
"Itaru. What are you doing?" An older boy who looked about the same age as me and Sasuke, and resembled the young boy asked, grabbing his arm.
"Big brother I am hungry." The boy started to whine.
"I am working on getting us money Itaru. We just have to wait a little bit longer. We do not beg." The little boy just sighed, and nodded his head. They atarted to walk away.
"W..wait" I stuttered.
They stopped and turned back to look at me.
"I pulled out all of the money I had, and held it out. "Please."
The older boy looked like he wanted to decline, so I forced it into his hand.
"Feed him, and yourself. Please." I begged.
He looked at me for a moment. "Thank you. Thank you so much." He whispered. I nodded my head, and smiled. His younger brother grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the nearest food stand. The older boy looked back at me one last time, and I gave him a tiny wave.
This is how its been, since Gato showed up. The children suffer. And the adults are afraid to stand up to him. They've lost all hope. That's why we have to finish the bridge. It will bring commerce, and trade. But much more important, that bridge is a symbol of courage. We must restore the spirit of our people. When the bridge is finished, people will start to believe again." He clenched his fists. "They'll believe that they can live with dignity. We can't let Gato stop us."
"Well that's why we're here. Things are about to change." I said, turning back to look at the two brothers.
The walk back to the house was quiet, which I was glad for. Sometimes I really liked the silence. Once back to the house I cleaned up, and decided to help Tsunami with dinner. Once it was done I helped set the table. Soon everyone was seated. Everyone except Inari.
"Where's Inari?" I asked.
"He's um in his room. I don't think he's coming down." Tsunami said, looking upset.
I sighed, and got up. "Hey, Hotaru, where are you going?" Naruto asked.
"I'll be back." Was all I said, as I made my way upstairs. I walked to Inari's room, and knocked on his door.
"Go away!" I heard a muffled yell. I sighed but opened the door anyways. "Hey, I said go away!" He yelled, throwing his pillow at me. I just caught it, and threw it back at him. Making him fall off his bed. He landed with an oof. "Hey what the heck!" He said, getting up from the ground.
"Sit down." I said, as I shut the door.
"No!"
"Well fine, then just stand there. But you're going to listen." He looked like he was about to say something, but I put my hand up to stop him. "I understand you're upset, but making everyone else miserable is not helping. You're upsetting your mother." He put his head down. "Now your mom has made dinner, and she wants you down there, so you're going to come downstairs with me, eat dinner, and be happy. Or so help me I will unleash Naruto on you, and you won't like it. Understood?" He nodded his head. "Good, the lets go."
Inari and I went downstairs, to the kitchen where everyone was talking. Once we entered, everyone got quiet, and looked at us.
"Inari, you're out of your room. Are you hungry?" Tsunami asked. Inari just nodded his head, and she got up to fix him a plate. I took my seat next to Sasuke. Everyone was looking at me, but I just started to eat. After Tsunami gave Inari his plate, everyone started to eat and chat again. Though when Inari just continued to pout, I gave him a small kick, that made him jump a bit. I gave him a hard stare. He glared at me for a moment, before he gave up and sighed.
"Thank you, for dinner mom. It's really good." Inari said, with a smile. Tsunami smiled back. She looked so happy.
"Well thank you Inari. Hotaru helped me with it as well."
Inari turned to look at me, and I smirked, taking another bite of my food.
"Thank you as well Hotaru." He forced out after a moment. I just smiled at him.
Once everyone was done eating I helped Tsunami clean up, while the boys did, well whatever. It was quiet at first until Tsunami spoke up.
"Thank you, for bringing him down here. It was nice to see him, without him shouting at someone. He is a really sweet boy though. It's just." She trailed off.
"It's understandable that he's upset. I don't blame him, and I'm sure the others don't as well. He's just a little boy who is putting up a tough front. He's scared, and angry, and it's okay to be. But the way he is acting, it is not fair to you or your father."
Tsunami sighed. "It's been tough." She admitted. "I just want my happy little boy back."
"That's why we're here. We're going to fix this."
Tsunami and I talked some more. She told me about how Kaiza and her were actually married, so he technically was Inari's father. Well step father. It was sad to hear about Kaiza's death, it never should have happened. I had to remind myself that this was one of the reasons I was a ninja. To help the innocent. The people who couldn't help themselves.
I soon went upstairs to the room I shared with Sasuke and Naruto, they were talking. About what I don't know, because the moment I walked in they stopped.
"Hey, Hotaru. What did you say to Inari, to make him come downstairs, and not start shouting things at us?" Naruto asked, as soon as I sat down.
"I told him that he was upsetting his mother, and that just because he was upset, making everyone else miserable wasn't helping anything."
Naruto nodded his head. After we talked about the village, and Gato a little more, we all decided to go to bed. I couldn't wait until these people were free from Gato.