DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES
Chapter Twelve

SHION WAS EATING BARBECUE WHEN HIKARU STROLLED UP, his face blotchy with red spots and his hair messy. He didn't say anything when he sat right across from her, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared her down, waiting for her to speak first. The moment he thought she would, she only grabbed another piece of barbecue and took a bite.

"I'm keeping all the the mission money," Hikaru said, watching as she finished chewing and took a napkin to tap against her lips as if she were a proper lady.

"I got paid my share in advance," Shion told him, and he almost immediately leaped across the table to strangle her, but his arms slipped right through her as if she were a ghost. In fact, even the BBQ plate was an illusion. He glanced around her favorite restaurant and saw that she was eating in the corner, her eyes trained on a book.

He slowly sat back down and placed his head into his arms and quietly sobbed. He heard her sit across from him with a soft smile.

"What's wrong, Hikaru?" Shion had the nerve to ask, and he cried a bit louder, just for dramatic effect. It caused many of the other occupants of the room to glance over at the two with a trace of worry and confusion.

"I just..." Hikaru sniffed, and Shion prompted him to continue. "Hate you so much."

"That hurts my feelings. I mean. I wrote the mission report for you," Shion said, brushing away a likely fake tear from the corner of her eyes.

Hikaru peeked out through his arms when she dug through her brown, leather satchel. She pulled out a scroll, and broke the seal. She opened it in one big swoop and he glanced towards the drawing, each one intricately done to show Hikaru being tormented by Toshio. The kid was also an academy student back in Suna, so Hikaru didn't get it off easy in watching him, especially when the kid pulled out his kunai and decided that Hikaru was the best target.

One of the largest shuriken even managed to nick Hikaru's favorite shirt, and now it had a giant tear in it. His mother was going to be pissed. "You weren't even there, how did you know all this?"

Shion glanced up, bits of pink curls cupping her cheeks as she gave him the sweetest of smiles that didn't feel very kind. She pressed her finger on a spot of one of the pictures and when Hikaru squinted, he saw the very intricate drawing of her drawing that very scene. "Inception."

"I miss Misaki," Hikaru whined and Shion gasped. "You're the worst Shion. Are you a demon?"

"If that's how you feel, then I'm collecting all the money," Shion said, and he watched her begin to roll up the scroll.

"Not this time," he leapt across the table once more, but his arms slipped right through her body.

"Yeah, I left the moment you came in," Shion told him and he sunk down in despair, placing his head into his hands. "It's not even a good Genjutsu. I'm just practicing." Shion's illusion was actually pretty bad, with very noticeable flaws that she was currently working on. For example, her illusion didn't affect anyone else in the room, if Hikaru had blinked four times in a row, it would have disappeared, among other mistakes in perception that Itachi had scolded from her.

"I just want to go home," he sobbed.

"There, there," Shion told him, before her Genjutsu disappeared completely.

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"You know, Iruka," Shion said as she approached Iruka that Saturday evening, her mission scroll in hand before she set it down in front of him. Hikaru was likely sobbing in the restaurant to the Genjutsu that Itachi taught her a few days prior and that she had put very little effort into on account of Hikaru's lack of perceptiveness.

"Shion, honorifics are important," Iruka reminded her, but she brushed off his comment when she handed him the mission report. "If there are any pictures on this, Shion I swear to-" Iruka opened it and saw just many words. "Shion, I'm proud of you. This is a huge step and—wait. This isn't a mission report. What is-?"

"Oh, my bad. That's my erotic novel," Shion giggles, grabbing it from Iruka's steady hands while his face froze in horror. "Wow, sensei, chill. I'm not even a teenager yet. It's a joke. I just wrote random gibberish to throw you off. Here's my mission report." She handed him a different scroll, and noticed he was still nervously steady when he took it from her hands and began to unravel the tie that settled around it. "Complete with illustration."

"Shion," Iruka let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing his temples.

"Money please." She held out her hands and watched him reluctantly set an envelope in her palms.

"Shion, you have to take your missions seriously," Iruka reminded her and she shrugged, counting the money in the envelop as she began to turn to walk away.

"I'm very serious," she told him, but his voice made her pause.

"Shion, you're very strong. I'm not saying that you're not, but if you don't buckle down, there will be consequences, no matter how strong you are. Do you understand me?" Iruka asked and watched her deadpan stare as she looked at him from over her shoulder. It was one of the few times when he saw her gaze grow unfocused, if not emotionless.

Quickly, as if in a daze, her grin was back. "Got it, Iruka. Advice noted." She returned to skipping out of the building, contemplating the barking noises she would use to keep him up all night.

She caught sight of Itachi and Tsukasa approaching the building and almost immediately she rushed over to them. They both glanced down at the envelope in her hand with a raised brow. Tsukasa's eye slightly narrowed and she tilted her head to the side.

"Well, haven't you been busy?" Tsukasa said, and Shion smiled, rocking back and forth in her heels.

"Just a mission. It was eventful. I did all the work of course," Shion said, glancing towards Itachi with a hopeful expression. "Itachi-sensei, I used a Genjutsu on Hikaru and he fell for it twice."

"Shion." Itachi's eyes slightly widened and he glanced towards Tsukasa who had frozen and was a bit too quiet.

"Did she just call you 'sensei'?" Tsukasa's eye was rather expressive when she began to grow angry and Itachi rubbed his temples.

"Tsukasa, I swear," Itachi began to defend himself but Tsukasa disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Wonderful."

"Well, sensei, that went good." Shion rocked back and forth on her heels. "Where were you two anyway? I wanted to train."

"Sorry, Shion, maybe another time," Itachi said, patting her head and turning to walk away.

"Okay sensei!" Shion exclaimed, and watched as Itachi paused for a split second before he continued walking. Shion snickered, turning on her heel to visit Misaki.

The walk to the hospital was a long one, especially since Shion had the striking suspicion that she was being followed. It wasn't the pitter-patter of footsteps, since so many people were around her and she couldn't distinguish between steps. It was, instead, the hair sticking up at the back of her neck that alerted her to something that made her skin crawl. However, no matter how many times she turned around to confront the mysterious shadow, she was met with empty air and confused citizens who jumped when the short girl spun around and stopped walking.

For the last ten minutes of the walk, Shion spent the time in paranoia. By the time she actually opened the door to Misaki's room, she was already more than ready to go home. The inside was bright, and Shion was nearly blinded by the light as she crept inside, not even bothering to attempt to knock. Misaki glanced up from her pudding that she was having trouble eating with one hand, and her face almost immediately settled into a mixture of wanting to scowl at her, and smile for the company.

It made everything awkward, or at least it would have if Shion knew how to properly detect the changes in emotions or atmosphere. Unfortunately, the girl did not know a thing about what she would consider adult behaviors, and she had little interest in learning them. "I heard you were going to die."

Misaki sat up quickly, her eyes widening in freight as she glanced towards Shion. "What? Who told you that? Oh god, I knew it was infected."

"Sad life," Shion agreed, walking up and taking her chart that rested at the bottom of her bed. Misaki had never considered reading it and settled for enjoying her pudding and grapes instead. It had been foolish of her to not seek out her fate. "It's as I feared."

"What is it? Rip off the bandaid," Misaki whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and flinching when Shion began to speak.

"You suffer from gulliable-itus. It is treatable but unfortunately there is no cure," Shion said with a very convincing and serious expression on her face, that made Misaki nod her head and not truly process the words.

"I should have known, of course—wait," Misaki paused, glancing back up and brushing off the fact that she nearly began to sob. Shion broke out into laughter, covering her face with the chart. "You are an awful person."

"I mean, this chart is blank," Shion said in the midsts of her laughter before she tossed the clipboard to Misaki's covered feet. The blonde girl's face reddened as she grabbed the blank clipboard and tossed it at Shion's head. Shion ducked, still laughing, and the clipboard lodged into the wall across from Misaki's bed. Shion turned her head to give it a stare before letting out a soft whistle. "Wow, you don't play around."

"You're the reason I'm in here and now you're making fun of me," Misaki scolded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Me? I'm not the reason for anything you giant baby," Shion shot back, but her eyes were swimming with amusement that did not help the situation.

"I told you not to get involved. I told you that you weren't ready. I was right," Misaki complained, causing Shion to tilt her head, her brows furrowed before smoothing out.

"I can't do that," Shion said, and her voice was surprisingly serious. "If I didn't help at that moment, then who would have? I can't help it. It's just who I am."

"Well, it got me involved," Misaki told her, tightening her fist, feeling foolish for getting so upset considering everything worked out in the end.

"You jumped in without regard to anything. We're not too different," Shion said with a grin, her face smoothing out as she did. "But instead of focusing on what we should have done in the past, why not, you know, just keeping living now?"

Shion had a way of making arguments with her seem foolish and without purpose, so Misaki had no choice but to let some of her resentment go. However, she still continued crossing her arms or at least attempting to with her arm in a splint.

"Why are you here? You're bothering me," Misaki told her, but Shion's smile didn't disappear as she reached into her bag and pulled out a bag of cookies. Misaki perked up, probably opening up a stitch or two when she leaned to get a better look. Shion immediately placed it back in her bag.

"I came to drop off a bit of cookies, but if I'm bothering you, I'll drop by the cancer ward," Shion stated, and turned on her heel to leave. Misaki felt her heart go with her as Shion walked out of the room and went straight for the ward where many sick children rested and some waited to die.

"I don't even like cookies," Misaki shouted from behind her. I love them...

Shion grinned, fondly remembering Misaki's heartbreak in her voice. Shion had made the cookies for the kids anyway and when she entered the room, she immediately saw her presence begin to light a spark in many of the familiar children's eyes. One of the nurses met her eye and sent her a slight smile. "Hey guys, miss me?"

"Remember, no exhausting games this time, Shion," the nurse warned her, causing many of the kids to let out a disappointed groan.

"I wouldn't think about it, Haruno-san," Shion promised, and the nurse's eyes slightly narrowed at the girl's compliant tone. The suspicious frown didn't make Shion's grin waver, and slowly the nurse nodded her head, the blonde bob of hair moving as she nodded. "I'm too exhausted for that anyway." Shion sent the kids a wink when Mebuki Haruno went to retrieve the paperwork from the counter.

"Did you remember to sign in this time, Shion?" Mebuki asked, and Shion set her a toothy grin.

"Of course."

"Okay. Remember, they all have to get some rest tonight," Mebuki warned, sending the kids a rather mother-like smile. "Don't believe everything this one tells you this time." Mebuki placed her hand on Shion's head, ruffling the girl's hair before opening the sliding door to leave. "Remember. No sweets! If I see one pudding container I'm banning you."

"I would never sneak pudding!" Shion said, watching the sliding door close before taking out the bag filled with cookies. "Pudding is way too conspicuous."

"I want two this time!" The exclamation was from a bright purple haired girl, Tamiko, who once had thick flowing locks of indigo, but now most of it was gone and she was just barely growing it back.

"Now guys, it has to be fair otherwise bad things happen," Shion scolded with a childish grin as she handed Tamiko a cookie.

"What bad things?" The voice of Ichigo asked her, using what little strength he had to sit up on his bed. Shion's lips spread into a mischievous grin.

"Do you believe in fairies?" Shion asked, handing him a cookie. She handed out the rest without a second thought.

"What's a fairy?" Ichigo asked, and Shion sat on the foot of his bed, reaching over to take out a small necklace from her bag. That was when she remembered that she had given it to Suigetsu. On the front was a small symbol of her clan, resembling a wing and on the back was the flower of her name. It was given to her by her father so long ago, and she was told that it granted wishes. She never had a wish, so it still remained in her care for so long. Still, thinking of Suigetsu made her sad, so she pushed that aside and hoped that he had a wish where she did not.

"My dad used to tell me of them. They come in through your window if you wish for it," Shion pointed to the closed window with her pointer finger. "For the kind kids, they take you to a world far from this one. In that place, you can live forever."

Tamiko slightly gulped, being only four years old, she believed every word. Perhaps Shion once did too. "What about the unkind ones?"

"Oh?" Shion met her eyes, her hands doing a quick Jutsu behind her back. Her gaze turned devious and Tamiko couldn't look away for a moment. In the corner of her eyes, a shadow rose on the walls. Tamiko let out a banshee scream at the sight of the shadow of a large man, just as tall as the wall itself. It had claws and in the base of the shadow where the head would have been were two red eyes, staring back at her.

Shion let out a laugh, waving her hand over her eyes and the Genjutsu broke, the shadow disappeared.

"Bad things," Shion warned just as Mebuki Haruno ran in.

"I heard a scream, what happened? What did you do?" Mebuki's suspicious gaze ran to Shion, despite the laughter that had begun to descend on the other kids, including Tamiko.

"That was me," Shion said, grinning. "Saw a spider. Super scary."

"Is that so?" Mebuki looked suspicious, but none of the kids ratted the pink-haired girl out to the nurse who was sure to turn vengeful if she knew the truth.

"It had twenty legs," Tamiko said with a grin.

"Really? Twenty." Mebuki was frowning, and Shion grinned.

"Perhaps there was more than one," Shion commented with a cheeky grin, showing off those innocent dimples. However, she couldn't hide the air of her mischievous gaze that lingered so calmly on Haruno Mebuki

"Okay, that's enough. Come back next time and in the mean time consider obeying the directions I give you," Mebuki warned her with an equally stern glance towards the smaller girl.

The kids looked disappointed, some letting out groans that made Haruno feel a moment of guilt that disappeared the moment she saw they were all holding cookies.

"What are those?" Mebuki snatched a the cookie away from Ichigo's grip, causing the seven-year old boy to pout. Mebuki immediately scowled at Shion who had slightly lost her smile. "Do you live to disobey my orders. They can't eat this Shion. It's not good for them."

"Wasn't me," Shion told her, twirling her toe against the floor in a shy manner that made one of the kids snicker. I don't see the big deal. I made them sugar-free and healthy.

"She didn't," agreed one of the kids, warming Shion's heart that they were so quick to lie for her.

"Yeah? Then who did?" Mebuki asked, her stern gaze only hardening.

"Fairies?" Tamiko offered with a sheepish smile.

Mebuki let out a sigh, gazing up into the ceiling for a long and rather nerve-wrecking moment. "Shion get out."

"Also, hypothetically speaking, the person who did make them, made sure they were sugar free and packed with nutrition." Mebuki's scowl deepened. "Alright, I'm going," Shion agreed without a fuss, causing all the kids to whine. However they quieted down when she sent them all a wink. "I should go home and really sit down and think about my actions."

"Sarcasm is irritating. Just go," Mebuki ordered, and Shion nodded.

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"Naruto, just person I was looking for," Shion greeted, placing her palms against the boy's shoulders and making him spill some of his ramen into his lap. Shion hopped on the stool next to him, her eyes sweeping over the boy sporting a black eye with her narrowed gaze. "What happened to you? Have you been bullied? Just wait until I get ahold of them. I promise they will scream."

Naruto slightly smiled, but winced when the pressure curled the skin around his eye in a slightly painful way. "This? Shion-chan, this was from you. You punched me in the face yesterday."

"Oh..." Shion paused, not having remembered that detail when she got carried away during training. The silence was deafening, so Naruto filled the tension with the sound of him slurping his ramen all while he continued staring at her. "Hit me."

"What?" Naruto's gaze turned confused as he met her all too serious expression.

"Hit me," she repeated, hopping off the stool and jumping in front of him, pointing to her eye where he had his purple bruise mirrored.

"Wha," Naruto slowly set down his bowl and the chief whose name Shion didn't remember then glanced their way.

"I'm giving you an opening. Come on, hit me," Shion told him and he shook his head.

"I'm not gonna do that," he told her, watching her lips curl into a frown.

"Why not?"

"Cause we're friends, bakabayo."

"That's why you should hit me."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Friendship isn't supposed to make sense. Hit me."

"No. I don't want to, dattebayo."

"Oh?" Shion stood up straight, giving him a once over with her eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I didn't realize I was talking to a sissy."

"What did you call me?" Naruto became livid without a thought as he stood up on his tippy toes to appear taller. It was not very effective and Shion merely raised a brow.

"You heard me. Sorry Naruto, I'm going to have to vote for someone else for Hokage cause I don't think you're up for it."

That got him to snap and he rushed to punch her, but her reflexes kicked in, causing her to duck and punch him in the gut. Naruto let out a loud "ow" and curled into himself.

"Oh my God, Naruto I am so sorry," Shion immediately apologized and he scowled up at her, his blue eyes narrowed in anger. "So sorry..."

"Why did ya hit me, dattebayo?"

"You were coming at me with your fist. I panicked."

"You told me to!"

"Yeah..." Shion knelt down next to him, an apologetic smile on her face. "Forgive me. In fact, you get three hits."

"Leave me alone," Naruto whined.

"Naruto, hit me. I feel bad."

"No. I don't want to. I want to go home, dattebayo." Naruto's tone would have been final to anyone else, but Shion had a way about not caring what people tell her.

"You can't go home. I need your help," Shion informed him, causing him to send her a slight frown.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"An adventure. You will love it. Promise," she said, holding out her hand. He glanced down at it suspiciously before he slowly took it. He wasn't prepared, however, for her to her to send him a mischievous grin that made him doubt every promise she gave him.

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"This isn't fun," Naruto told her as he helped carrying the bag of food that Shion spent all the money she earned on her last mission, including Hikaru's share.

Shion and Naruto stopped walking when they got in front of the hospital. She gave the window far up ahead a glance before turning towards Naruto with a smile. "If you don't complain, I'll teach you a technique." Her promise was met with silence as she grabbed his bag and began to walk up the wall.

"You'll teach me?" His eyes always looked so watery every time she gave him a promise meant for his benefit. It never failed to pull at her heartstrings and wish to help him with whatever he asked. Shion nodded.

"But until then, I'll climb up and you climb after me." Shion handed him the other end of the rope that was tied to her waist. "I think you will love Ichigo. His father worked directly under the fourth Hokage for years. He knows a lot about it."

That brightened Naruto's mood, but the boy's pride crushed that emotion from showing on his face. However, he did as she said and when she opened up the window to the kid's ward, Naruto came in right behind her.

"Shion!" The exclamation of one of the kids, Yama, made her smile. Most of the kids were sleeping, but at Yama's excited whisper, many sprung right up to greet her and Naruto who was standing rather awkwardly behind her.

"I was going to take the day off, maybe rest or torture my previous sensei, but Naruto wouldn't have it and begged for a bit of fun," Shion said, causing Naruto to frown as his memory of what actually went down was significantly different.

"What did you bring?" Tamiko asked, still sad that her cookie got taken away, along with all of the other kids.

"We have to be quiet," Shion said, turning to Naruto who had already began eating one of the bags of chips that she bought with an innocent glance up towards her. "Now, I was thinking that after we give all this junk food away, we perform a prank on the staff." That brightened Naruto's mood in a split second and he nodded.

It was only an hour later, after Shion and Naruto had finished filling a couple fluid pouches with water and goldfish, that Naruto glanced towards her. "I was wondering why we bought fish."

"I will stop by tomorrow to make sure all of them go to a good home instead of a toilet," Shion promised, glancing towards him. "Hey Naruto, idea, but how much do you hate living at the orphanage."

"It sucks, dattebayo," Naruto said with a grin as he smeared a bunch of stethoscopes with surgical lubricant.

"Then we should move you out."

"What?"

"Naruto, if you don't wanna stay there, then don't. I mean, you do have a choice."

"I do?"

"Okay, not in the legal sense, but who cares about the rules. I doubt you really do."

Naruto's blonde brows furrowed when Shion nonchalantly pecked the fluid bag with her lips where the fish swam around inside. "Where would I go?"

"With me of course. It would be cool. I mean I could steal all the bed sheets and pillows. Actually," Shion pressed her pointer finger against her chin. "With a bit of Genjutsu, I could even steal the bed. That could be our next mission."

"I...I could leave," Naruto's gaze dropped to the ground, his fists clenched at his side.

"Well, yeah, I mean the orphanage sucks and the caretakers are cows. It could just be me and you. What do you say, best friend?"

"Best friend?" His whisper made her tilt her head and go to reply, but the sound of a nurse's shriek from the bathroom made her freeze.

"Let's talk about this after we get out of here," she gave one of the fish a goodbye kiss from inside the fluid bag before she grabbed Naruto's hand.

He squeezed back without a thought.

Author's Note

Shion is still my favorite OC I've ever created. I don't usually like making my characters so chipper, but after how I wrote my other characters Anomie and Tsukasa, I needed a break from it all.

I still am unsure about future romantic chemistry between Shion and Naruto, since it's hard to think about considering they are children right now. I definitely want to build up their friendship a lot since Naruto doesn't really have anyone else.

Shion isn't very kind to Hikaru though, but I enjoy writing that kind of thing. Especially the bickering. Thank you for reading, I'll see you next time!