DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas. (Particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S) Flames and mean comments are not welcome – saying 'no offence' means squat. If you don't like what you're reading don't leave a comment!

ORPHANED

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept. Things we don't want to know but have to learn.
And people we can't live without but have to let go."

I had never been so happy to see the huge towering Gates of Konohagakure since we had left almost a month ago for our supposed C-ranked mission which had been requested loudly by Naruto (and silently seconded by Sakura, Sasuke and I).

It had been granted to our total shock (and exasperation - Kakashi-sensei) by the Third Hokage.

However, because we didn't have the correct information supplied by our client, our C-rank mission quickly became a B-rank mission which would undoubtedly be exceedingly dangerous for us twelve-year-old Genin, just barely starting out in the Ninja world, and it would take more than the expected two weeks to complete.

If anything, it took at least a month to pull off successfully and with minimal injuries sustained.

During our journey back, all of us were praying that Naruto had hopefully learnt his lesson from complaining about having to go on D-rank missions - no matter how incredibly boring some of those jobs might've been. But D-ranked missions were better suited towards our skills.

Not saying, of course that we weren't able to take care of ourselves during this B-rank mission, but it meant that our more experienced mentor had gotten injured, and he was in charge of both protecting us and making sure that we knew everything there was to being a Ninja, through extensive training sessions.

All I'm saying is, he better be grateful with whatever mission the Third has in store for us next and not complain about it - considering what we all had went through.

"Damn! It's good to be back in Konoha!" Naruto yelled out, startling the two guard ninja who eyed him with annoyance before stretching and sitting back, eyeing us off with a contemplative glance.

I giggled tiredly, while both Sasuke and Sakura ignored his loud outburst and Kakashi 'smiled' at him with amusement. Naruto was apparently able to sound enthusiastic and cheerful, despite the fact that he like the rest of us were completely knackered and could probably sleep for a week.

Though, the chances of that being a possibility was fairly slim. Naruto took a deep breath in and instantly started drooling, much to Sakura's disgust. Sasuke and I barely blinked an eyelid at this typical behaviour, having practically hung around with him since the three of us were eight.

Especially, when it came to Ramen. (I had copied Naruto's actions and groaned loudly, flashing Sasuke a knowing look. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and shook his head in reluctant amusement)

"Yosh! Smells like old man Teuchi's got some new Ramen, dattebayo!" He exclaimed, his face lighting up brighter than a beacon and fist pumping the air with excitement. He bounced on the spot excitedly and turned to the four of us with a pleading look on his face that said 'let's get some ramen!'.

Sakura made a face.

"Not a chance. I need to get home after we give in our mission report and see my parents." she explained shortly, then looked at Sasuke with a longing gaze - hoping his answer would be a resounding 'no' as well. Naruto's face fell a bit at her answer before he turned to Kakashi. But he shook his head no as well.

"Sorry, kiddo. I'm gonna check into the Hospital for a while. I need to recover from the mission." He said, apologetically and winced a little when he shifted into a more comfortable stance.

Naruto nodded, pulling a sympathetic face.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hope you feel better, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto mumbled with a slightly disappointed voice. He then brightened a little and turned to both Sasuke and I because we hadn't given him our reply yet. Sasuke looked undecided, but also looked like he was strongly leaning towards 'not going to happen'.

"Yeah, why not? I am feeling a little hungry." I agreed and struggled to support Naruto's weight when he instantly glomped me, relieved that somebody wanted to go with him, then pouted at Sasuke who sighed annoyed and nodded, much to Sakura's outrage.

"Yes! Dattebayo!" He cheered and went to glomp Sasuke as well, but stopped just in time when he saw the famous Uchiha death glare burning into him - which threatened Naruto that he may be his 'best friend' but if he even tried to glomp him, he'd find himself horribly dismembered and then scattered all around the Village for ANBU ninjas to find.

An impressive trick that caused Naruto to gulp nervously and back off slightly.

"Okay, guys. Let's go." ordered Kakashi, moving into the thinning crowd of Villagers who were returning home from a long, hard day's work.

Several of the villagers suddenly noticed Naruto, who was talking at top speed to Sasuke and I . We were just barely listening and understanding whatever the hell he was talking about, when we suddenly noticed Naruto instantly clamped up and looked incredibly hurt.

Sasuke and I, were understandably surprised that Naruto - who never shuts up, unless he was eating or asleep - had suddenly gone silent, thinking that we had inadvertently said something upsetting to our (believe it or not) beloved friend, and immediately became concerned. We glanced around for the source of Naruto's silence and we saw the villagers either hastily looking away, or still very obviously glaring at Naruto with hatred or fear.

And apparently oblivious to the fact that we were looking right at them as they were doing this. We frowned at each other and instinctively, I wrapped an arm 'casually' around my blonde best friend's shoulder and squeezed comfortingly - scowling disgustedly at the laughably immature villagers, while Sasuke stood closer to Naruto's side and glared warningly back at the Villagers who all shuddered in horror when they saw this and went about their business.

Nobody wanted to mess with an Uchiha, even one who was in his pre-teens and was rumoured to be extremely powerful for his age. Naruto had flinched at the contact I had made with him and was confused at the positive attention Sasuke and I were giving him. But nevertheless, he smiled gratefully and tears sprang to his eyes.

"Don't pay any attention to them, Naruto." I whispered in his ear and reached up to smooth away the tears brimming in his eyes.

Kakashi smiled approvingly at us through his mask and returned his attention to leading us to the Hokage Tower.

After taking a couple of minutes explaining our long absence to the Third, we were dismissed and wished a good night's sleep by our smiling leader, but we were a little surprised when Kakashi stayed behind with a rather serious expression on his masked face. At the entrance, Sakura split from the rest of us with one more longing glance at an irritated Sasuke.

"See you tomorrow." she promised and waved goodbye before heading down the street towards her home. Naruto then instantly brightened and linked arms with both Sasuke and I and took off down the business district towards Ichiraku's where the kind owner, Teuchi, greeted Naruto with a warm, grandfatherly smile.

"Naruto, my boy! How have you been, son? Haven't seen you around here for a while."

Naruto grinned at the old man as he, Sasuke and I took our seats at the wrap around counter.

"We've just gotten back from a B-rank mission." Naruto replied proudly, causing the elderly man to look back at him with shock.

"But aren't you three only Genin ninja?" he asked, frowning slightly in concern.

We nodded.

"Yeah, but there was a mix-up." Naruto explained, sheepishly, while Sasuke glared - preferring to just eat his Ramen and head back to his empty home.

"What sort of mix up?" asked Ayame, Teuchi's daughter who had just entered the room with a cheerful smile on her face.

"We were originally supposed to be going on a C-ranked mission, courtesy of Naruto's insistence for a 'proper' mission instead of the D-ranked ones we had been getting." I added, glaring slightly at Naruto who blushed with embarrassment.

"But our client, got attacked by some rogue ninja on route and we found out that he couldn't afford a B-ranked mission. So we were forced to remain with him for the duration of the mission." I finished.

Teuchi and Ayame nodded, giving us polite smiles.

"But it had some fun moments…" Naruto insisted in a small quiet voice, causing Sasuke and I to shrug - neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Teuchi, obviously sensing some tension, decided to change the subject towards our food.

"Alright then! Now what will it be?" he asked, smiling warmly.

"Beef." muttered Sasuke, boredly.

"Miso!" chirped Naruto, bouncing on his seat excitedly, forcing Sasuke to clamp his hand on Naruto's shoulder and hold him still.

"Gyoza Miso, please." I requested cheerily, causing Naruto to snap his head at me in confusion, while Teuchi's eyes twinkled happily.

"Ah, nice choice. Coming right up!" and then disappeared into the Kitchen to prepare our meals. Sasuke smirked at the bewildered expression on Naruto's face.

"What in the seven hells is Gyoza Miso?" He demanded interestedly.

"It's a pork and prawn dumpling soup." I replied nonchalantly. "Mom makes it all the time." I added without thinking and clapped a hand over my mouth as Naruto's face lit up again.

"Your Mom makes Ramen too?" He exclaimed. I nodded, wishing the floor would swallow me up whole or Sasuke would take a kunai and kill me now. In fact, I even turned towards my crush and tried to subtly translate that message to him with a single glance.

But Sasuke unhelpfully smirked and shook his head - seeming to get a kick out of my exasperation. He merely winked and poked his tongue at me in an un-Uchiha like way when I glared annoyed at him for not helping me.

Naruto, oblivious to my discomfort, continued bouncing on his stool like a rogue bouncy ball when he digested my accidental words.

"Wow. You're so lucky!" He added.

I smiled, "Thanks."

Then had a sudden thought, that would tug at my friends' heartstrings.

"Do you both wanna come over afterwards for some 'lucky dip onigiri'? I asked shyly.

"Sure."

"Dattebayo!"

I grinned at both my friends and planted a kiss on each of their cheeks, happily, causing Naruto to redden in embarrassment and Sasuke to clear his throat and turn away with his cheeks flushing like crazy. Our Ramen arrived shortly afterwards.

"Itadakimasu!" We chorused and immediately grabbed some chopsticks and broke them apart. But instead of immediately diving in headfirst into his Miso Ramen, Naruto peered over to mine and inspected it. I noticed to my amusement, even Sasuke was taking a quick peek as well.

"Hmmm. I think I'll try that next…" Naruto mused and then started inhaling his Ramen.

Free cups of complimentary green tea, 1 beef, 1 Gyoza and about 15 Misos later…

["Uh…Naruto? Sasuke and I aren't made of money. And I'm pretty sure you're not either…"]

The three of us paid up and made our way towards my house for a dessert of 'lucky dip onigiri' and a short session of Wii games...

["You're so going down…" (Me to Naruto - Sasuke just sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance) "Is that a challenge, Hikari-chan?" (Naruto's retort) "Not much of a challenge to be made of is there, dobe?" (A smirking Sasuke to an irritated Naruto) "Shut it, teme!"]

...before we were to go our separate ways to bed for a well-deserved rest before our training tomorrow at our usual meeting place.

"Ah! That hit the spot!" mumbled Naruto, happily rubbing his bloated gut from where all the bowls of Ramen had disappeared into. Sasuke and I had watched with revolted fascination as Naruto inhaled bowl after bowl into his oversized mouth and wondered how he managed to pack it all in without getting ridiculously fat or violently sick.

"I'm sure it did…" I muttered distastefully as I dug around in my pocket for my keys and shoved the front door one home.

And rubbed it out...

"Mom? I'm home! Sasuke and Naruto are here for a visit too!" I called out into the unusually quiet house. I frowned suspiciously.

Hmmm. That's weird…

I stepped through the threshold and indicated for the boys to follow me, which they did albeit cautiously. Something didn't feel right about this…

"Mom? Are you home?" I called out again, this time a little louder.

No response.

I sniffed the air, a little surprised that I couldn't smell something baking or something spicy wafting through the air like there usually was around about suppertime.

"Mom's probably at the back of the house. Wait here, I'll be right back…" I requested of my guests who nodded, but still had concerned frowns on their faces.

We pulled off our shoes and placed them by the door as I sauntered down the hallway towards the kitchen - Mom's usual place besides the Living room where she entertained guests or potential clients for her catering services. I could feel Goosebumps rising on my bare arms and a cold shiver shot down my spine.

"Mom?" I murmured and stuck my head around the corner to find an empty but completely immaculate kitchen.

Huh?

I spied something odd on the floor near the oven and wondered over to it. Crouching down in front of it, I discovered that the odd object was a drop of blood.

Mom cut herself?

But if she had cut herself, why didn't she immediately clean it up? I straightened up and looked around the kitchen for anymore traces of blood and noticed that one of Mom's surgically sterile kitchen knives was missing from its holder and that not too faraway from there was several more drops of blood leading away from the kitchen. I started to get worried.

"Mom? Where are you? Are you hurt?" I called out.

"Hikari-chan, what's the hold up? Is everything okay?" Naruto's slightly impatient voice sounded from the hallway.

"I'm not sure. Come in here for sec!" I called back.

I waited for a few moments before hearing both Naruto and Sasuke come up behind me. I felt Naruto's hand on my shoulder.

"What did you find?" He asked with a serious tone in his voice that scared me a bit.

"Blood. I think…" I answered and cringed slightly when Naruto suddenly dabbed his finger into the 'blood' and raised it to his nose to sniff it. I looked back to see Sasuke inspecting the kitchen when he heard me mention the word 'blood'.

"Yep, it's definitely blood. I don't think I wanna know how it got here though…" Naruto confirmed with a slightly nauseated expression on his face. That did nothing to soothe my frazzled thoughts.

"There's more blood over here…" reported Sasuke, pointing into the sink and also wrinkling his nose a bit too.

"But it's been diluted - as though somebody had recently washed blood off something." He whispered to me.

I felt my heart leap into my throat. Where the hell was my mother? Was she okay?

"Hey! I found another clue!" yelled Naruto some distance away from the kitchen.

Immediately, Sasuke and I followed Naruto's loud voice towards another hallway which lead towards the Living Room and to a staircase that lead to the bedrooms and upstairs bathroom.

"There's a lot of it…" He added pointing towards something that made my blood freeze in my veins. There was more blood this time smeared on the wall, like somebody had carelessly wiped their hands off on it…

"Oh Kami…" I breathed fearfully.

"I don't like this." said Sasuke frowning deeply - as though sensing danger.

Naruto suddenly clenched his fists and turned towards us with an angry look on his tanned face.

"I say we split up. We'll cover more ground to find Aino-san." He suggested.

Sasuke and I nodded and Naruto opened the backdoor and went to investigate the backyard, while Sasuke headed up the staircase to inspect the bedrooms. I gulped and headed for the Living Room - the only other place my mother could possibly be. I tried telling myself that she was probably watching TV and had fallen asleep again like she had done the last time.

But how did it connect with the blood drips and smears? I slid open the door to the Living Room which was closed to my surprise (it never used to be) and felt like I had air knocked right out of me as my eyes widened painfully at what I had found.

I screamed in anguish.

Loud enough for all of Konoha to hear, as I heard more than felt Naruto and Sasuke reappear when they heard my horrified scream.

"What!?" Naruto demanded as he saw my rigid stance and my hands over my mouth.

"Hikari-chan, what's-" His words were cut off when he saw what I had just seen and swore loudly.

"MOM! NO! Oh please Kami, no!" I wailed and rushed into the room. Naruto remained where he was staring slack-jawed at the gruesome scene in front of his own eyes.

"This can't be happening…" I tried convincing myself that what I was seeing was a figment of my sleep-deprived brain because lying in the centre of the room a heap was the bloodied and mangled form of my Mother.

My wails had instantly summoned Sasuke who came over to a crying Naruto's side and started questioning him on what was going on but cut himself off when he saw what was before his own eyes.

"Please come back!" I sobbed clawing helplessly at my Mother's bloodied clothes and jostling her - wishing with vain hope that she would suddenly sit upright and say 'april fools'.

"Don't leave me here by myself!"

I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't notice Sasuke suddenly snap out of his horrified stature and rush into the room to pull me into his arms. I clung to my mother's body.

"I have nobody else… don't leave me here alone…" I croaked and then gave up on the corpse and turned to bury my face into Sasuke's collarbone and clutch onto him desperately.

Warmth on my back, told me that Naruto had also come into the room and was now currently cuddling me from the back and also crying into the back of my dress as well.

"What's going on here?" a stern male's voice called out from the hallway.

It was Iruka-sensei.

"Why are you screaming-?" His voice broke off as well when he realised what he stumbled into and the three of us looked up to see an extremely pale Iruka-sensei standing there in horror.

"C'mon kids. Let's get out of here, quickly." he ordered us, sternly.

Sasuke nodded and picked up my shaken, grief-stricken body and moved out into the kitchen, where Iruka and Naruto were regrouping.

Ten minutes later, a bunch of ANBU and the Third Hokage had congregated at my house examining my mother's dead body and trying to piece together what happened and who might've killed her.

I felt like I couldn't breathe and I did not wish to part from my friends. So when some of the ANBU tried to pull Naruto and Sasuke away, having promised them that I was in safe hands, I shook my head and instantly latched onto a dark blue and an orange sleeve in a death grip.

"They stay here…" I whispered, tears still falling from my eyes.

"But, Hikari-san-" the ANBU protested.

"They. Stay. Here." I repeated carefully enunciating my words in an icy tone so that the annoying (but well meaning) ANBU ninja could understand.

He seemed to protest again, especially when it came to Naruto (a fact that made me want to rip off his mask and face with my bare hands), but the Third Hokage had chosen this moment to approach us and placed a hand on the ANBU's shoulder and gave a curt nod - that meant that my needs at this moment had to be met.

The ANBU withdrew respectfully and without seeking permission from him, I sat beside Sasuke and buried my head into his shoulder, lacing one of my hands with his and felt fresh tears falling from my eyes again. I felt Sasuke's chin resting on top of my head just as Naruto approached and sat down beside me placing a hand gently on my shoulder in a gesture of comfort and strength-giving.

"It's okay…" Sasuke soothed me as I started hiccoughing and sniffing, trying to control my sobbing.

"Hikari?"

I looked up at the mentioning of my name and stared into the warm, forgiving eyes of the Third who looked at me with sympathy. I wiped at my eyes and attempted to rise to which the Third gestured to me to stay seated.

"My deepest condolences. I will do everything I can to find out who committed this horrendous deed." The Third explained to me with careful tones.

I nodded, uncaring. I just wanted to sleep and then hopefully wake up and realise that Team Seven hadn't arrived at the Village yet and that I would arrive home to find that my mother was still alive and that I'd hand Naruto's (and possibly Sasuke's) asses to them after a few rounds of Wii Games like we had previously planned.

"I'll arrange for you to have temporary residence at a spare apartment for a couple of days until we get this straightened out…" He went on to explain.

"She's staying with me."

We all looked up at Sasuke with shock.

Presumably because it was unusual for him to offer any kind of assistance to anyone. The Third blinked thoughtfully at him - I could practically see the cogs clicking away in his head as he calculated the pros and cons of this. Finally, he smiled slightly.

"I suppose that could be acceptable. As long as Hikari agrees, of course and a third party is in tow" his eyes looking inquiringly at me.

"I would like that, thank you." I replied immediately.

Sasuke and Naruto both nodded in agreement. The Third nodded and gestured towards the door. We obediently rose and moved in that direction.

"You can head over to the Uchiha compound whenever you're ready, my dear." He instructed then turned to give some nearby ANBU their next instructions.

I sniffed and glanced at Naruto who looked worried. I smiled and took his hand and moved towards the door. I turned briefly on the threshold to have one final look at the lifeless form of my mother, then turned and moved from the room.