An hour passed before anything 'interesting' happened. The girls heard shouting, but they couldn't make it out initially so ignored it. Hana just presumed it was Inari being called. "So, Nari. Have you got a crush on anyone?" Sumi suddenly piped up after a few seconds silence, chewing on some hard boiled sweets. Nari rolled her eyes "I don't have time for crushes, I'm going to be the best ninja in the world!".
Sumi smacked her arm "there's nothing wrong with having a crush on someone, idiot. Regardless of popular belief, it doesn't slow you down. Falling in love makes you work harder". "Then who do you love, Sumi?" she teased. Sumi's cheeks heated up and Hana knew what the reply was. Even after what Hana told her...she still liked him?
"That's not important" Sumi mumbled. "Apparently it is, since you were so interested in finding out who I liked" Nari smirked. "Well..." Sumi started "I like Sasuke". "What? Get a new crush everyone likes Sasuke. He's hot" Nari giggled. Sumi shot her a death glare but she continued to giggle. "Besides, isn't he Hana's future husband even though he's her brother?" Nari said, her giggles dying down slowly. "Incest is wrong and Hana knows that" Sumi said to her "I already told her about what happened to my grandmother and granduncle. I think she'd be stupid to progress with Sasuke knowing that". Hana was about to yell at her, but they heard a commotion downstairs.
The three of them jumped to their feet, staring at the door, then at each other. The girls snuck downstairs, overhearing two males talking about how Gato wanted a hostage. They seemed to be taking Tazuna's daughter. Hana gripped tightly onto a shuriken, biting down hard on her bottom lip. Did this mean Sasuke and the rest were in trouble too? Inari looked to them, shivering and shaking with fear. Hana pressed her finger to her lips, shaking her head. He turned and looked away as they threatened to kill him.
"NO!" his mother yelled "please don't hurt my son, he's just a boy!". The men smirked, clearly humoured by her begging. They tied her hands together, leading her outside. The girls just needed to come up with a plan to get her back before it was too late. While they whispered and discussed a plan (which wasn't very good...they were only being trained, remember), Inari ran off to save his mother. The girls had to be brave and protect him, running outside and coming face to face with the two thugs who had tried to kidnap his mother.
"Hey!" Hana yelled "leave them alone!". "Oh well look, we missed a few" one of them smirked, pulling his sword from it's holster "looks like we'll have to take care of these three before we can take care of the little brat". Hana threw the Kunai, and it was unexpected because it hit one of them right in the shoulder, distracting him enough for Sumi to run at the other, who was surprised, and kick him in the side of the head. Just then, Inari charged at them but was swooped up by NARUTO! The girls grinned happily, delighted to see that Naruto had come to their aid.
They came at them, but Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu to knock them out flat. They all cheered happily, but Hana felt a little useless inside. She knew that time would perfect her fighting skills, but she still felt like she could have done more to protect Inari and his mother. Though she still applauded and cheered on Naruto and Inari for their bravery.
"Way to go, Naruto!" Nari smiled, patting his back gently. Hana smiled, watching the siblings bond even though he had no idea they were siblings yet. Hopefully sometime in the future he would learn the truth - though according to his father now was not the time.
Naruto tied them up with the help of Sumi, and left them there. He asked us to take Inari and his mother back to the house and look after them. Even though Hana felt like she hadn't previously done a good job at that, she felt like she would this time. She had to be braver next time. She had to be stronger. She and Nari helped Inari's mother back to the house, laying her up in the bed upstairs. Hana's nose started to bleed again, so she found her way to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror as she cleaned her nose. Without doing anything at all except throwing a kunai, she had overdone herself. Though she was still ill from the vision from a few days beforehand, and she still felt weak.
She lay down afterwards in the room, wondering if Sasuke was alright. She hoped and prayed he would make it out alive..she needed him more than anyone. She heard the door creak open and looked to see Inari standing there. "Hey" she said, smiling softly "come in". He walked over to her, sitting on the floor beside her. He was silent for a moment, and Hana was confused. She watched him as he looked to her, finally speaking "thank you for throwing that thing at those men".
Hana blinked at him, confused. "Oh, the kunai? that's no problem" she said quietly, looking at the floor. "I guess you think that it was not good enough" he said, chuckling a little. Hana looked back at him "w-what do you mean?". "I'm a smart kid" he said "I get A's in all my tests at school. I can tell that you think you're useless, like I used to before Naruto came along". Hana blinked again. "I guess what i'm saying is - you're not weak at all! I think you are really pretty, and strong!". He blushed lightly at his own words. Hana smiled, then giggled and ruffled his hair "thank you so much, Inari. I really needed to hear that".
"No problem" he grinned "if you and your gang hadn't intervened when you did, I probably would have died and my mom would have been taken hostage for Gato!". Hana giggled "I'm glad I could help". He stood up, leaving the room "I'll let you rest now, your nose is bleeding again". Hana reached up with her hand, watching as Inari closed the door behind him. She wiped the blood away with a tissue she had beside her, then lay down on her side and closed her eyes, hoping so highly that Sasuke was doing alright if Zabuza was still alive and had attacked them.
She kind of hoped that Kakashi-sensei was wrong and that Zabuza was truly dead, but something deep inside her told her he was still alive - at least, for now. She hoped they could take care of him for good this time, so he would leave Tazuna, his daughter and Inari alone forever, and then take care of Gato so that he could not hire any more assassins. She felt so sorry for them as a family..and she wished nothing but happiness for them...but they were the only ones who could do it. She opened her eyes, sighing softly once she realised she couldn't rest not knowing if Sasuke and the others were safe or not. All she could do was wait - she was far too weak to go out and find them through the woods, then the town and then the bridge. She needed to regain her strength for the journey home...
and hopefully there would be more than three on that journey.