A/N: So, I've been busy with working on my bachelor thesis and starting my new job during the last couple of months… And although it doesn't seem like it'll be any less hectic in the foreseeable future, here's a new chapter to at least attempt to make up for my sporadic updates.

Music: "No Surprises" by Radiohead

— Chapter 22—

Staying Out of Trouble Part 1

Fuu's First Heist

When Futaba awoke that night —wrapped in something warm and sticky; her hip bone digging into what seemed to be the floor— she briefly wondered if this was going to be her life now.

One might argue that after running from two narcissistic sociopaths for the better part of the last year, being poisoned and then thoroughly interrogated only to achieve some sense of safety would be enough worries for starters. Nonetheless Fuu's guardian spirit now found herself urging her body to shake off the lingering drowsiness; all the while praying that this thing that had leeched on to her was merely a blanket — and not some giant snake summon who attempted to just swallow her alive again.

Knowing that that there was only one way to find out really, Futaba eventually managed to make her fingers twitch. Whatever she'd gotten tangled in, it was definitely rougher than the smooth scales of snake. And it was damp to the touch. Warm and damp.

The subsequent adrenaline rush apparently turned out to be just what she'd needed to finally assume some sense of control over her own body.

So, between cursing her chakra suppressants for slowing her physical transformation and struggling to keep a lid on her more aggressive survival instincts, the guardian spirit tried to put her available senses to use.

She felt like a sticky, stranded whale.

And then her first sharp intake of breath presented her with the telltale mixture of sweat and blood. Which, in all honesty, never was much of a good sign.

Despite the sudden twist of the situation, and her own inability to actually take any sort of action, however, there were no loud noises around her — no signs of fighting in her immediate vicinity. Yet, despite the fact that Futaba's eyes still refused to open, she now could tell that there was something stirring in response to her own movements.

And it was close. Too close, and much to Futaba's horror it turned out to be the warm, sticky thing that had apparently wrapped itself around her body. Only that it didn't stop there. The next thing Futaba knew was that this sticky thing dared to produce a rather disgruntled sound as it settled its weight heavily against her side — leaving little to no space in-between them.

It wasn't however until the hand —because that definitely was a stray hand right there— moved up along her spine that Futaba finally identified the not-blanket next to her as a living, breathing and grossly sticky human being.

Not sure whether she actually wanted to find out just what kind of mess she'd gotten herself into, and at the same time unable to stop her eyes from flying open in the same second, Futaba numbly stared at the unconscious and slightly wheezing being. It had grayish eye brows. And there was something vertical— it was scar that cut right through it and ran down over the eye below… and there was a shock of tousled silver hair… and—

"Oh… ooh please no" Futaba whispered as she forcefully quashed the immediate impulse to just shove Hatake Kakashi away from her as quick and far as possible. Because as much as this whole situation felt like a hell no to her, Fuu's guardian didn't look like he should be moved about anytime soon.

Narrowing her bright green eyes, Futaba actually took a moment to study the sticky substance she'd noticed upon waking. 'Great, so it's his blood… ?'

And from what she could tell, lots of it.

Giving the man beside her a helplessly annoyed look, Futaba carefully raised her head to inspect the overall situation. Despite the darkness of their surroundings, she could easily recognize the sparsely furnished interior of the room she'd been given a couple of days ago.

And except for the unconscious jonin lying on the floor right beside her, nothing seemed to be out of place…

Well, maybe apart from that gloved hand from earlier, the one which now slipped down her back — right to where his warm fingers could graze over her exposed skin. This was when Futaba belatedly noticed that the ripped remains of Fuu's dress and leggings were hardly covering anything and how on earth was she ever going to get out of this situation? Much less explain it?

What in Madara's name had happened that Hatake had taken his bleeding to death business to Fuu's and her room out of all places? Had something happened to Fuu? … Surely they wouldn't have just thrown all caution to the wind and started cuddling on the floor if that were actually the case.

'Well, first things first' Futaba told herself as she took a small calming breath. 'There's no immediate danger. He's just unconscious.'

For a moment the guardian spirit contemplated taking his pulse since it would tell her more about his condition but then decided against it. She did however mourn the loss of her chakra. With its help she would have been able to tell more without risking to wake the jonin. 'Let's just hope he doesn't die in the next half hour. That would be bad… oh kami, that would be so bad… Why does this idiot always have to go and die on me? Why is he even here? Fuu and he aren't even speaking! I—'

As though he'd sensed her panic induced rant, the grime-covered face of the shinobi in question surfaced in front her own, puffing warm air at her through his thankfully intact mask, " …ev'rythin's fine, Fuu. Just go back to sleep… "

She swore that every muscle in her body was now strung to the point of tearing, Staring at the jonin before her, Futaba cursed her luck. She hadn't come this far to be accused of getting roped into whatever this was. Being found with Hatake bloody Kakashi in this condition wasn't her idea of maintaining a low profile.

So, of course, someone took this as his cue to knock at her door.

"Futaba-san, are you ready to leave?" Yamanaka-san's voice called from the other side — prompting the silver haired shinobi to shift yet again; his hold on the miserable guardian spirit subconsciously tightening. "We should get going soon to make it to the administrative offices for our time slot."

Realizing that she wouldn't be able to just wriggle out of the jonin's hold, Futaba tried to at least turn around in his hold and push off his arm.

As though this wasn't already difficult enough, the bleeding shinobi suddenly decided to create another obstacle for her by suddenly grabbing her thigh. And then he proceeded to squeeze it. Futaba helplessly watched his hand probing her tense muscles.

Suddenly, she became painfully aware of his sharp intake of breath from where his chest was still pressed against her back. Hatake seemed to realize that this wasn't his ward in about the same moment, Futaba knew for sure she was busted, " … Fuu?"

Before Futaba could even make any attempt to explain what little she'd gathered from the situation, his arm had already disappeared from her midriff. It switched to headlock so fast that the elbow knocked the air out of her.

"Who are you?"

Instinctively Futaba reached up to pry his arm away; words dying on her lips as they turned into a strangled gasp. Her instincts urged her to try and gather chakra in order to do something, anything to defend herself. It would have been so easy to at least make the shinobi pause with a little manipulation and shake him out of that survival instinct driven state of his.

Instead Futaba faced the acid quality of the chakra suppressants as they ate away at what little her body had been able activate. A searing burn racing through her limbs, her chest and all the way up to her head. With her sight blurring behind tears, Futaba suddenly realized that the Hatake probably wouldn't come to his senses in time — muddled with fever as they probably were.

Realizing that she was out of options, Futaba continued struggling until her elbow managed to connect with the jonin's side; causing him to give a pained grunt. But instead of gaining an advantage, Futaba suddenly found herself being flipped onto her back. Her head banged against the floor with a resounding thud; the grip she'd kept on the shinobi now loosening to the point where her hands uselessly fell to the floor besides her.

"Futaba? Is everything alright?" Yamanaka inquired from somewhere far away — even though it seemed louder this time; his voice echoing painfully inside her head.

Even if she'd wanted to call for help, no words made it past her lips. Instead the guardian spirit found herself staring straight into a pair of mismatched eyes — one dark and the other one the familiar spin of the sharingan.

" … —taba?"

His face blurred, two copies dancing momentarily before her eyes. But suddenly, the pressure on her windpipe lessened and for a brief moment Futaba was sure she must have lost consciousness.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Ah, well, maybe not so unconscious then.

Although Futaba should probably consider herself lucky that her need for air overrode any petty desire to call him names again. She would have blamed her brother for this childish urge, but then again, that wasn't exactly true. Hatake Kakashi just rubbed her the wrong way.

"What are you doing here?" he now demanded to know; pain and exhaustion reclaiming what little energy the adrenaline had momentarily granted him. He shifted away from her, breath shallow as he struggled to conceal the tremors running through his body.

Also inching away from him, Futaba croaked just as unhappily, "I could ask you the same thing. I woke up to you lying next to me." Breathing in deeply once — twice, "You must have fallen asleep next to Fuu."

Although she felt like scolding him for this, her own exhaustion had evened out most of her anger. Her head still hurt and her chakra pathways burned, but right then she just wanted him to leave so that she could curl up under her blanket and make it all disappear.

Futaba felt his furious eyes on her as she reached for the clothes Fuu had remembered to put out on the bed for her. Probably she'd prepared them before falling asleep on the floor next to that narky jonin.

Quickly stepping into her loosely fitted pants, she called over her shoulder towards the door, "I'll be ready in a minute, Yamanka-san." And then, while she pulled a top over her head, Futaba whispered to no-one in particular, "Now would be a good chance to leave so nobody has to find out about this."

The glare only seemed to intensify; burning a whole in her head. Futaba however ignored it in favor of slipping her arms through the long sleeves of a shirt and moved towards the sink to try and wash off most of the blood visible on her pale skin. The flickering light above the mirror not only revealed her own tired eyes, but the looming figure behind her as well.

"What about the blood on the floor?" Hatake finally questioned as he finished putting his gear back together, stumbling around miserably due to blood loss and unadulterated pain. "Do you honestly believe that the shinobi of Konoha are this gullible?"

Oh, he was still such a prat.

"You witnessed my nosebleed" Futaba remarked offhandedly and met his glare in the small mirror. "Not like they are going to ask many questions with it happening at least twice a week. Now go and let's just pretend this never happened. I know, I will. Though you might like to make a trip to the hospital."

When she glanced up again, Hatake Kakashi was indeed gone.

Futaba allowed herself a sigh of relief. Having washed off most of his blood from her face and arms, she pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser and kneeled down to allow soak up some blood with them. She left some towels lying up on the desk, thoughtfully crumpled-up. They were right next to where she'd tried to save some of Fuu's now bloodied paintings.

Standing up, Futaba turned to study the red smudges on the floor; hinting at the two bodies that had been lying there. With a sigh she erased the outlines by sweeping some paper over them with her feet.

Finally pressing some bloody paper to her own nose, Futaba approached the door and opened it with a sheepish smile to meet Yamanaka Inoichi probing eyes, "I am so sorry but I am afraid my transformation must have triggered another nose bleed. Could you give me one more minute to take care of it before we leave? I'd hate for the blood to dry."

… so, since I was asked to stay at the hospital for a check-up as well, I do know for a fact that Hatake-san will be fine. And because you are more likely to get him to listen once he wakes up, I want you to know that proper rest is very important for his recovery, Fuu.

Actually, the hospital staff was rather adamant about it since he is apparently known to check himself out earlier than he's supposed to. A nurse asked me to give you this bag with medication for Hatake-san in case this happens.

So, if your dear guardian should decide to take his healing business somewhere else, you'd do the nurses and healers a great favor if you could ensure that he doesn't strain himself too much.

Just don't tire yourself out by taking care of the –something was crossed out here– him and please, try not to fall asleep on the floor next time.

His condition aside, I want you to know how glad I am to hear that the two of you apparently made up. Always keep in mind that Hatake-san is a very important shinobi whose responsibilities include protecting all of Konoha. That's why you should truly cherish the time the two of you get to spend together and don't be too sad when he is too busy to come and see you as often.

Concerning his wounds, I wouldn't worry about them too much.

Fools, I can assure you, are made of sterner stuff.

As long as he's got that survival instinct in him, he'll be fine.

Try to stay out of trouble,

Futaba

Clutching the letter close to her chest, Fuu glanced towards the door which led to her guardian's hospital room.

Despite Yamanaka-san's reassurances, the strange weight inside her tummy hadn't disappeared until she'd read Futaba's words. Knowing that her guardian spirit had watched over Hatake-sama, Fuu felt immensely grateful. Especially since she'd just fallen asleep the evening before; deciding that Hatake-sama would have told her, if his condition had been serious enough to warrant any help. Then again, it really had been nice to have him this close. She had felt so safe…

"Hey you!" a voice suddenly called; causing Fuu to let go of her letter with a squeak. The sheet fluttered out of her grip only to land before a pair of shabby shoes. Eyes trailing up from the skinny legs up to the halo of blond hair, Fuu realized with a start that the shoes' owner rudely pointed his finger at her, "I know you! You were at Ichiraku's with that red eyed kunoichi!"

Fuu owlishly blinked at the blue-eyed boy for a moment, before she gave a tentative nod. If she remembered correctly, his name was Naruto and though she wasn't sure whether she liked his loud voice, he'd seemed nice enough. Not that she knew if he truly was nice; she just didn't have many other kids to compare him to. Hatake-sama had been rather acceptant of the fact the she didn't want to spend any time at playgrounds. Although Kurenai did accuse him of merely encouraged her shyness so that he could evade the cooing mums.

Shaking her head to realize the boy had begun to frown at her, Fuu opened her mouth —she wasn't really sure what she was going to say, but he didn't seem to appreciate her silence— when she noticed the blood at the side of Naruto's head.

"You're hurt!" Fuu blurted and then her head swiveled around to check for a nurse or somebody who could help. "Let's find someone to help you."

The squinty-eyed look quickly vanished from the boy's face and his body slightly shrunk, "Nah. They won't help me. The nice nurse ain't here today."

Fuu immediately ceased her attempts to catch the attention of someone from the hospital staff and turned to frown at him. When Naruto just sullenly stuffed his hands in his pockets, she inched forward until she could slide off the chair.

"But— But they have to help you!"

The blond boy just scoffed, shiny eyes lowering to the ground until he discovered Futaba's letter before his feet. The fists in his pockets slowly uncurled and he bent down to pick the paper up before Fuu could reach him.

"What's this?" he asked sullenly, eyes squinting at Futaba's beautiful handwriting as though it was too small for him read.

"A— a letter from Futaba" Fuu stumbled to say — her hands now uncertainly hovering in the space between them; green eyes fixed on the wound at the side of Naruto's head. Eventually, she decided to gently pry her guardian spirit's letter out of his hand — only then reaching up to touch the older boy's cheek.

When he flinched, Fuu winced as well, mumbling a quick apology before again focusing on the cut at Naruto's temple. It wasn't half as bad as some of the 'manly scratches' Maito-sama had put on her guardian during their training sessions, but then again Fuu wasn't sure Hatake-sama was the best example when it came to judging whether or not to take a wound seriously. Especially after what had happened yesterday.

Fuu wasn't sure why Naruto was staring at her so expectantly, but after she'd settled back from the tips of her toes, she quietly mused, "We really should ask someone to look at you."

"Don't wanna" Naruto mumbled, once again looking sullen. "Just gotta find some stuff to put on it. People gimme even more weird looks when they see me hurt—"

"You shouldn't walk around when you're hurt!"

"Then help me find some bandages or stuff" Naruto shrugged with a cross face, watching as Fuu huffed although she did glance down the corridor.

When she spotted the room the nurses regularly disappeared into, her frowny face brightened considerably, "I think over there, just let me go ask someone to—"

"You'll do!" Naruto easily decided, catching Fuu's hand and dragging her towards the aforementioned door.

"No! That's— that's wrong, very wrong! We can't just—" as though he were oblivious to her fretting and panicked glances up and down the corridor, Naruto jumped to reach the handle of the door. Once it was open, he slipped inside — pulling a spluttering Fuu with him before she could protest any further.

Squinting at the shelves lining the walls, Naruto walked further into the small room — meanwhile leaving a mortified Fuu standing at the door.

"Futaba told me not to get into trouble! Morino-san said I must do as she says if I want to become a citizen!"

"So ya gonna rat me out?" Naruto shot back at her before he turned to inspect the contents of a box at the other end of the room. He couldn't see how his words caused Fuu's face to switch from worry to indignation in about a second.

"Of course not!"

"Then just keep watch and tell me if someone comes" the blond boy told her; proceeding to climb the shelves like a monkey. Fuu couldn't tell for sure but he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'girls'.

Shuffling uneasily from one foot to the other, Fuu finally relented and turned to peek through the crack of the door. She could hear her heart hammering away in her chest and wondered if it would alarm somebody to what they were doing. Hatake-sama had always found her whenever she'd made it a point to avoid him. And while he was probably still sleeping, he surely wouldn't happy about what she was currently up to… Well, whatever this was. After all, it wasn't like Fuu had ever been asked to stand guard.

But Naruto had told her that nobody else would help him, so it couldn't be completely wrong…

"I really don't like this" Fuu stressed as she worried her lip between her teeth.

Behind her bandage rolls rained to the floor and merrily bounced off the floor.

"Nobody's gonna notice anyway, 'ttebayo… Ha! Found somethin'."

Fuu glanced towards the boy who gracefully landed on the floor, inspecting the adhesive bandaid he'd found. After fiddling a bit with the wrapper, it became obvious that he was quickly loosing his patience, "Why the hell won't this damn thing open?"

Fuu couldn't help the disgruntled expression at his language but still abandoned her position at the door to come help him. "Here, let me try."

"Nuh-uh, you're just a little girl" Naruto argued weakly but eventually relented the pack to her.

"I am four" Fuu pointed out petulantly.

"See! I'll six soon, dattebayo. And not long after that I'm gonna be Hokage!"

Feeling upset that the older boy was being so difficult, Fuu still managed to carefully peel the paper of the bandaid's backside and approached Naruto. Despite his standoffish nature Naruto seemed genuinely surprised when she motioned for him to bend down. Inspecting the graze from up close, Fuu deemed it clean enough and gently pressed the bandaid against the side of the boy's head, "There… And now we'll have to clean up before we leave."

To her pleasant surprise Naruto didn't refuse her, even if he just messily stuffed the bandage rolls into the next best box.

"Why didn't you ask for help?" Fuu suddenly found herself questioning as she threw the bandaid wrapper in a small bin at the other corner of the storage room. Remembering one of the rules Hatake-sama had introduced during their first days together, she briefly glanced at the healed cut on her hand, "It's okay to tell someone when you get hurt."

When her only answer was silence, Fuu took one step in his direction to try and make out Naruto's face. Wondering if her words had upset him, the small girl continued in a quiet mumble, "I know that it can be scary to tell someone. A-and I didn't really like it at first. Before I came here, I wasn't supposed to talk without being spoken to first and well, even then…" Fuu shrugged, trying to find the right words to describe how she'd felt the first time Kakashi had made her admit that she'd scraped her knee during a tumble at the foot of the stairs… and the relief after he'd praised her for telling him. Of course, Naruto didn't need to know that she'd cried a little after this. "It's hard but it makes you feel better, you know? And this is a hospital. They can heal you and you wouldn't even need a band-aid, though they also got really pretty ones. They gave me this one—"

"I don' want pretty bandaids" Naruto suddenly interrupted her and unsure how to respond to his unexpected shift, Fuu just shuffled her feet on the squeaky clean hospital floor. So much for getting along with others…

Just as she actually considered saying her goodbyes, the boy spoke again in strangely quaky voice, "… They think that I'm a monster."

Hearing those words and the pain behind them, Fuu's curly head immediately snapped up.

"And now you know, you're gonna be just like them!" Naruto decided with something shining fiercely in his eyes — as though there was no other option. And then he just stood there. Head turned away and one hand coming up to rub at his face.

"… How can you say that?" Fuu demanded to know, surprised tears suddenly coming to her eyes as she felt a strange wave of coldness seeping through her cloths. "Who said— Who would say something like that?"

Naruto simply shrugged, "Well, everybody." Then, with his hand reaching for the wound now covered with a bandaid, he mumbled, "… They threw stones at me."

Before Fuu could react to these news with anything more than a widening of her eyes, a nurse pulled the door open.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised. The two children who were actually having a moment or the nurse who immediately recognized the Kyubi container and stumbled back in surprise.

In the end, however, Naruto was the quickest to shake off his stupor.

Yelling "RUN!" the blonde boy grabbed Fuu's little hand and off they were; zigzagging through the hospital corridors and out into the sun. Before Fuu knew it, the voices calling after them were already out of range and Naruto continued to lead her into the labyrinth of Konoha's streets…

BabySealLover: Kakashi definitely is a difficult character to write. But then again it's what makes it so much fun and challenging. I still have so much plot ideas but whenever I find the time to sit down I am just so exhausted… and then there's always Netflix, oh well… But, anyhoo, thank you again for your review and your encouraging words — they always make me smile =)

Relentless-virus: Sorry that the update took me so long! I am so happy that you still like it, even after rereading all of it — also I would love to see how that picture turned out if you've finished it. I loved the last one — still can't get over the fact that you've managed to capture the girls so well!

Guest: I would have loved to directly reply to your lovely review. I don't think there would have been an update at this point if not for your kind words. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you again for taking the time to leave a review.

/ … / Thank you for reading and although I really shouldn't promise anything, there should be an update soonish. This chapter has actually grown out of proportions so I had to cut it. Which is why some parts of the next one are already written…

Also, while there had been a minor fight scene before, this was the first one I actually tried my hand at… I hope it turned out alright!

In the next chapter, Fuu and Naruto will run into more trouble and an aquaintance of Futaba's gonna make his appearence; altering the fate of both girls.