Chapter 4:
Shinobi Uzumaki Naruto! The best of the best! The elite of the elite, the most bravest ninja that ever lived! ….Was riding on the back of a big warm animal. Rising and falling with it, in time, between the large fluffy clouds, it was warm. The animal had smooth hard skin and large feathery wings, it's head was orange with long whiskers and its body was green
It was a girl, her name was Theodora.
Naruto didn't know how he knew but he did.
Theodora was flying swiftly through the purple sky with Naruto clinging to her back. They had to stop the bad guys! And quickly before they hurt his village!
Come on, come on! He thought anxiously, as they came over the horizon onto a dusty platou. There were houses out to his far right and behind that a tall mountain range.
He knew the enemy would be here soon and Naruto would be waiting.
A deep low slightly to his left voice slightly started to speak, by the time naruto turned to listen, the voice was informing him that a man named Pakkun would stay with him while the voice scouted ahead. Naruto nodded determinedly, It was a good plan, he wouldn't have thought of that.
"Okay Boss," a tall man to his right appeared.
Then pointing further out to the horizon, the man started to say: "Hey, he smells a little familiar, is he-?"
But He never got a chance to finish as dark clouds rolled across the purple sky and a whole army of strange white monsters led by the mean man with a limp, The man held a big stick and smacked against his palm menicingly. The army of white monsters got closer and closer, marching in step and soon they were almost on top of him, all carrying massive sticks, circling around him like the stray dogs he'd seen when they'd found their prey.
Suddenly Naruto didn't feel so brave anymore.
"We don't want you here, demon brat!" one of the monsters said, before ripping off it's face to become a villager, Naruto recognised as having been beaten by him before. He honestly hadn't meant to bump into the guy, but the city streets were crowded and there was little room. The man had misinterpreted his actions to be that of a pick-pocket and when he found out it was The Demon, Naruto didn't have a chance.
He took a step back to find that he was surrounded by villagers bearing down on him with their sticks and knives, shouting "Kill it! Kill it!" over and over again.
Turning around frantically Naruto found that both of his allies were gone, unreachable.
He was all alone.
'No!'
He tried to take another step back away from the first villager but he had no room they were all around him, towering over like the giant trees he had passed when the very mean man had taken him
He started to panic- one of them pushed him and then he was falling-
Falling
.
Falling
.
Falling
.
Faster
.
Falling
.
Faster -
.
Then, without warning, he hit the water. It came up to meet him, cold and wet. All up in his face and nose. Nudging, invading, against his neck and face- He couldn't breathe.
He was sinking. He thrashed about violently, he couldn't see anymore, the water grew darker and darker as he went down:
StayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStay AliveStayAlive- The mantra repeated endlessly in his head,
He felt a faint pain in his wrist, quick and sharp, he thrashed harder
StayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStay AliveStayAlive
"Come on,Wake up already pup"(the voice was familiar somehow) StayAliveStayAliveStayAlive StayAliveStayAliveStayAlive.
He felt a sharp nip and Naruto's eyes shot open, gasping for air, StayAliveStayAliveStayAlive
He rapidly blinks and lets out a big breath (if he calmed down fast enough, the mean man wouldn't punish him for being weak ….hopefully... )
Wait a minute- where was he? He wasn't underwater, so someone must have saved him, but who? Where was he?
"Yo Kid, y 'lright?"
That voice...it was familiar somehow, but his head felt all fuzzy (the loud cricket chirpings didn't help) his wrist throbbed painfully so he couldn't place it. Was he bleeding? No. Okay, good. He took a shuddering breath closing his eyes tightly, if the man with the limp saw him showing any more signs of weakness, he would definitely beat him again.
Naruto's wrist still hurt really bad, where the man had cracked it with his massive ….
Naruto did actually know what the weapon was, all he knew was that it hurt and he needed to avoid it; He winced, prodding the bruised area with his fingers, he was normily a pretty fast healer but this one hadn't healed yet; He hoped it would soon.
"Hey! Kid, y 'lright?"
Naruto looked up sharply, his eyes falling to rest on …. a Puppy? Was that right? No, don't be stupid! Puppies don't talk! No, his head still felt fuzzy, he must be imagining it, was he still 'sleep?
"That's because I'm not a puppy, I'm a dog" Oh.. he hadn't realized he'd muttered those last words out loud…- Wait, Wait, Wait - What?!
Pakkun snuffed in annoyance as the runt scrambled backwards a few paces into the trunk of one of the many trees surrounding their current stopping place.
Kids were strange creatures. (If his past experiences with Kakashi had taught him anything.) How hard was it to believe that he could talk? He was right there in front of the little thing wasn't he?
He wondered what had happened to the runt. 'Kashi rarely did hostage recovery missions, he… wasn't good with people and they were usually beneath his skill level, so they'd send him elsewhere. So then, why had he been sent on this one? Why this kid?
The little runt was breathing hard, eyes wide and scared Pakkun noted absently that he smelled faintly of fox...
Wait a minute… a Fox scent, big blue eyes…
Then it clicked.
This must be Minato-sensei's runt. 'Kashi's Sensei had ended up matting with the loud fox woman hadn't he? That would explain a bit- like why the kid was so beaten up (jinjurikis never had it easy) The poor thing probably hadn't had any positive contact with someone in ages, if the fear and weariness in his eyes was any indication. Oh crud; oh, crud…
An overwhelming sense of wrongness hits pakkun like a Bull and Uhashi on Catnip. The Kid shouldn't have to be afraid like this, shouldn't be used to it.
"Hey hey hey! Runt, oh crap uh, sorry, um look" Crud. The kid was starting to inch backwards on his hands, oh crud, please don't start crying. How exactly does one help a crying kid. Crap, whatever you do Pakkun -don't panic! Breathe, talk to him slowly, come on you've dealt with pups like this before.
"Uh, crud, hey kid, look, I promise I won't hurt cha-" Fridge nuggets, Pakkun for the life of him could not imagine what to do. The thin little runt was starting to shake now, little tremors of fear running down his tiny body, eyes wide, filled with tears and oh, oh so scared. What is Pakkun supposed to do? It's not like he's dealing with 'kashi as a runt. Boss, even as a mini human was never this scared ...of ...him...
Then a memory came to Pakkun's mind of Kakashi, hardly older than the runt here, mourning the loss of his father. Backed into a corner of the old blood stained room. Crying, scared and very suddenly all alone in the world. Not sure who to trust or if they all would betray him like his father did, not knowing if Pakkun or Sensei would leave him. Kakashi was scared of pakkun then and only then. What had he done after that?
Snuggled mostly, was the answer that came to mind, simply being there for his kid. But this runt here didn't trust him enough to let him close. Step one: let him trust you.
Pakkun looked up at the scared child and gently lay down where he was, a few feet away from the runt; Talking slowly and gently to him the whole time. Trying to erase the momentary panic attack.
"Look runt, see? I'm not gonna hurt cha, I'm just gonna lay over here, see? I only woke you up because I wanted to make sure you were okay. Ya were having a quite some dream a bit ago."
That was... putting it mildly to say the least, Pakkun thought, the runt had been crying and thrashing around like he was gonna drown right there in the grass. (Not as bad as Kakashi's regular nightmares but then again they shouldn't have to be.)
Still looking up at the kid from his position in the damp grass and decaying leaves (ugh, how his fur would smell later) he noted that the kid had stopped scrambling backwards though his eyes were still wide and scared, flitting from side to side, looking for something, someone.
Oh.
Hito. the runt didn't know that the…. idiot (yeah Pakkun is going to be PG) was dead.
Of course Boss must have erased the kid's memories, which honestly shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. Even though the act might appear kind and gentle, which was not kakashi, it was logical, which was. The little runt didn't need anymore PTSD (shouldn't have any in the first place).
Should he say something? He didn't want to overwhelm the kid, and he was entirely sure he was aloud to tell him ('kashi's missions were always iffy in that regard), but he hadn't been told explicitly that he couldn't tell the kid, and besides he didn't have to tell the runt everything, just enough so he would know he's safe- Boom! Loophole! (Probably)
Honestly, Pakkun lived for loopholes.
"Hey kid? I uh, just wanted to tell you that we took care of him; he can't hurt you again."
He doesn't need to specify who the 'he' was, Pakkun could tell the runt understood with how his frantic searching eyes widened to a point the pug didn't know was kid's huge eyes were disbelieving at first. Pakkun made a move to reassure him.
Scooting a bit closer to the kid, who thankfully didn't pull away any further, he looked up at him and said, as gently as he could.
"I mean it runt, Boss took care of him, that man won't ever come back." He didn't mention why the man wouldn't ever come back but evidently it worked. The kid's eyes stopped filtering back and forth around the wooded clearing like a nervous tiger. To which Pakkun was very much relieved. A scared child was one likely to run and while he was (in his very humble opinion) the best ninkin that ever tracked the earth, he really didn't want to have to hunt down a scared child. So he was relieved.
… Until the tears started falling. big wet sobs. Pakkun couldn't tell if the kid was crying from fear or relief, probably both and probably hunger as well considering how gaunt the runt was. But food would have to wait, for now he just needed the pup to calm down and Do Not Hyperventilate Please and Thank you!
To be honest Pakkun hadn't been expecting the kid to trust him. Because much like his boss, He wasn't the best in dealing with people in any type of situation that didn't end up with a bloody mess. So to say he was surprised when the little kid unexpectedly reached out grabbed him, then proceeded to bury his dirty little face in Pakkun's fur would be a tiny bit of an understatement.
Pakkun was quite startled to say the least and thus very proud of himself that he didn't growl, bite or nip at the kid. (Progress! Woo!) But regardless of his tiny advancement with the kid and his own social skills, he was still very unsure of what to do. Should he do anything? Maybe if he was human he could rub the kid's back or something, but he wasn't human and the kid had his face buried in Pakkun's fur.
Oh man, the snot and tears are probably gonna be a nightmare to wash out later, aren't they? But the kid needed it, he probably hadn't been able to express his emotions safely in quite some time.
So making an executive decision, Pakkun stayed. He stayed with the kid's arms nearly crushing his little body, He stayed with the runt's snot covered face buried in his fur, he stayed with the hot tears running down his back and neck, the shudders and hiccups, tremmors and incomprehensibly garbled words drowned out by loud sobs.
"It's okay runt, your okay, your gonna be okay"
xxxxxxxxx
Time passes.
Pakkun wasn't sure how long they had been like that but it couldn't have been longer than half an hour. He's mildly uncomfortable, the kid's arms were wrapped tightly around him.
He can feel the runt's ribs pressing into his side, they're more pronounced than they should be. Pakkun can tell this isn't the result of just the one week the runt's been missing.
And the small pug can only think how wrong that is, because as much as Pakkun can understand human fear and hatred, and as much as he logically knows the runt would never have an 'easy' life this kid, this pup, should have never been treated like this. And a small seed of anger nestles itself in his mind. However he pushes it away, now is not the time.
He can hear Kakashi behind him. Can't see him because of how his face is smashed into the runt's side, but he can hear him. And smell him, His scent is obvious to Pakkun - he smells like sweat, blood, rain and soldiers pills; ('Kashi usually smelled like soldier pills.) But most importantly Kakashi smelled familiar, safe, he smelled like pack, like home.
Which contrasted sharply with the runt, who on the other hand didn't smell like he had one place to his own for more than two minutes, He smelled like places all over but mostly sweat and the old mostly-faded killing intent of tons of different people intermingled with that of fox. And once again he's reminded of how wrong it all is.
"Pakkun, thanks" Kakashi's voice , deep and quiet. He doesn't say what entirely for it is that he's thanking Pakkun but he doesn't need to. If the little pug is bad with people and kids, not to mention little kids, then Kakashi is even worse.
"Sure Boss, no problem."
Pakkun can hear the sound of cloth rustling behind him as 'kashi rummages through the standard-issue supply kit and pack. He hears the sound of paper unfurling, and then the tell-tail Poof of a summoning scroll, followed by a sharp crinkle as he evidently finds what he was looking for.
Pakkun smelled rations. Oh so that's what Kakashi was getting. It made sense, from what pakkun could tell they had been going for quite some time without stopping.
Pakkun carefully wriggled out from his spot under the Runt's arms. The kid stirred but didn't move.
Kakashi reached his hand out and offered Pakkun some dried rations. A rough clump of jerky flavored vaguely like teriyaki. The kind of food to keep your jaw busy for a good half hour.
The pair are in silence, letting the kid sleep, curled into himself. The runt was absolutely dwarfed by a large and rough but warm blanket thrown awkwardly over his tiny form.
After all, the last thing Kakashi wanted was for sensei's kid to freeze to death in the first few hours he had him. To be brutally honest, Kakashi was absolutely terrible with kids, and people in general but especially kids. He had no idea how to take care of them and the last time he had to babysit (not counting noble escort missions which almost counted) well… He and Obito had hardly escaped with their lives, the little demons….
Hence, the need for Pakkun and Praise the Lord for Pakkun; He had at least some experience with pups in the past (and hadn't he basically raised Kakashi until Sensei came along?)
They should probably wake the runt up soon and try to get him to eat. Kakashi is a bit worried about the kid sleeping for too long, he doesn't want the kid to sleep and never wake up. It's probably an irrational fear, the kid is most likely stronger than he looks, but Kakashi's seen too many teammates fall asleep and never wake up from a various number of injuries. But the runt looks so peaceful, nightmares gone for now. Kakashi is almost jealous but emotions are only a hindrance to a shinobi so he ignores it.
So they let the runt sleep.
And once again, time passes.
A/n: IM NOT DEAD! YEAY! (big surprise ik)
i uh, cut this chapter in half; so part two may happen one day but untill this is what i've finished. I'm supper bad at this and have no clue where this story is immediately going other than a vague idea. Not prof read, sorry. I kinda have no clue if i got the reactions right or if their all to occ, pakkun has been head cannoned with my accent, sorry. please comment and lemme know what to fix.
thanks ya'll,
To God be the Glory.
