Naruto: Children of the Ninja

By: Hikari Dohjutsu

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, however I do own the o.c's and the plot of this story

A/N: This is a day after Haruka goes to visit her mother's grave Haku's team is still far from Konoha, somewhere in fire country.

Hotaka growled under his breath. Taiji who trotted alongside him happily, paused to stare at his master, confused as to why he wasn't his usual boisterously, cheerful self.

"Come on Tai," Hotaka muttered snaking through the trees, continuing to grumble like a madman.

Haruka hadn't shown up for the training session today, and he was delegated the unpleasant task of checking up on her, because everyone else was "busy". Daichi had to attend a clan meeting, and Neji-sensei had official Hyuuga business to attend to. And of course his conscience had to gnaw at him, telling him to do the "right thing". Daichi was worried, Neji-sensei was worried, Heck, even he was worried. Haruka wouldn't miss a training session unless she was dying or someone had super-glued her face to the floor. So there he was on his way to the secluded house on the outskirts of town. To a girl who hated his guts.

Tai barked, "How much longer?"

Hotaka squinted into the distance, "I think it's just up ahead,"

He sighed in relief as the modest wooden home came into view, he ran up to find the door wide open, swinging carelessly in the wind.

His worry seemed to multiply.

"HARUKA!" he called into the house, his voice reverberated back to him. The only answer he received was a stifled groan.

His heart dropped, he seemed to fly into the house, forgetting all common courtesy. He screeched to a halt in front of the couch, as his eyes caught a sliver of orange.

Haruka was lying on the couch, still in her training clothes, she was slightly damp. Taiji who had sensed his master's distress nudged her hand with his nose.

Hotaka kneeled beside her. She groaned again and he sighed in relief. She was alive.

"Haruka," he said as gently as possible.

She groaned again and turned on her side to face her teammate, "Hotaka, I feel lousy," her voice was quiet and weak, nothing like her usual commanding tone of voice.

It scared him.

"It's okay, I'll take care of you it'll be okay," he ranted a little nervously.

Now what to do? Maybe she was sick, she was probably sick. That made sense; she never took care of herself.

Now what did his mother do when he was sick? He tapped his chin thoughtfully for a minute. Of course! She checked his temperature by feeling his forehead. He tentatively reached out to feel her forehead, placing his fingers gently. He pulled it back almost instantaneously. She was burning up!

She moaned again.

He was panicking. What to do? What to do? He didn't know how to take care of sick people! He eyed the telephone on the table across from the couch. He could call the hospital! That was it!

He grabbed the phone and fumbled with the numbers, until he finally punched in the hospital's number. It rang three times before a woman picked up on the other end.

"You have reached Konoha's Medical Center, Rock Sakura speaking,"

Hotaka sighed in relief; Sakura-san would know what to do.

"Sakura-san, its Inuzuka Hotaka, Haruka's sick,"

"Haru-chan is sick?" Sakura sounded concerned.

Hotaka stared at Haruka as he spoke, "Yeah her clothes are kind of damp, she's moaning and has a fever, could you send someone over to look after her?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Sakura-san?"

The doctor finally answered, her voice in a whisper, "I'm sorry Hotaka but Tsunade-sama has us all in a meeting we won't get out until much later,"

Hotaka's jaw dropped. This was not good. He turned to stare at Haruka who shivered on the couch.

"I'll give you instructions on what to do, first get her out of the wet clothes,"

Hotaka blinked and then gaped, "Excuse me?"

Sakura ignored him, "Then you keep her warm, and give her plenty of fluids, make sure she's comfortable, and wait until I get there,"

"B-b-b-but," Hotaka stammered.

On the other line Sakura sounded distracted, "Haruka can act a little….differently when she's sick,"

Hotaka was about to ask her what she meant when he heard a muffled yelling at the opposite end of the phone.

"I've got to go!" Sakura muttered hurriedly and hung up, leaving Hotaka alone.

Very Alone

With a sick Haruka

This was not good.

Said girl had finally opened her eyes and was struggling to sit up, "Hotaka-kun…"

Hotaka's eyes widened and he backed up, tripping over the chord of the phone. She had just called him Hotaka-kun, she must have been dying or something, this went against all laws of the normalcy. Uzumaki Haruka was supposed to be smacking him over the head and calling him Inuzuka-baka. The poor dog boy felt as though he had landed in a parallel universe.

Haruka tilted her head in innocent confusion, "Hotaka-kun?"

He straightened up, coming to his senses. Pull yourself together Inuzuka, he mentally reprimanded. He had to take care of her. She coughed and sunk back down into the couch.

"Haruka," he started cautiously, "Do you have any spare clothes?"

Haruka nodded earnestly which caused her to go into another coughing fit. She doubled over.

Hotaka waited until she settled down, "Can you change into them?"

She nodded and struggled to stand up. The minute her legs hit the floor, her knees buckled. Hotaka ran to her and caught her around her tiny waist. She grabbed unto the sleeve of his jacket.

"I'm a little too tired to walk up the stairs," she said quietly, almost shyly.

Hotaka stared at her, slightly frightened by her mild and fragile tone of voice. Uzumaki Haruka was never fragile.

"That's fine," Hotaka said slowly, "I'll help you up the stairs."

"Thank you Hotaka-kun," she placed an arm around his shoulders. He aided her up the stairs slowly and carefully, Taiji ran up ahead of him. He stopped in front of the bathroom door.

"Now go in there and change," he instructed, and to his complete and utter surprise she obeyed him. He heard the lock click shut.

Hotaka than thought for a minute, "If you need my help just call!" he said extremely awkward. He silently hoped she wouldn't need his help.

Fortunately she did not.

She hobbled out in an orange t-shirt and orange pj pants. She rubbed her eyes almost as though a small child would. Her nurse sighed in relief; he'd gotten through the first stage.

He aided her again as she hobbled down the stairs, carefully step by step.

She clambered onto the bed, and snuggled deeply into the cushions of the couch. Hotaka then turned to his canine companion, "Tai," he growled, "Find a blanket, make sure it's thick okay?"

Tai barked to indicate that he understood, and ran off to find a blanket.

Haruka shivered some more her whole body shaking. Hotaka sighed. His conscience was seriously annoying. He removed his jacket and used it as a substitute blanket.

Haruka seemed to relax slightly, "Thank you Hotaka-kun, that was very nice of you," she smiled.

Hotaka flushed and turned to face the wall, slightly embarrassed, but also slightly pleased. "It was nothing," he told her gruffly.

"No, it was something," she sat up on the couch and turned to face him, "You've always tried to be my friend and that means a lot to me,"

Hotaka almost fell off the coffee table, she actually noticed?

"And you know even though I always yell at you sometimes you can be kind of funny,"

Hotaka felt a smirk playing at his lips, he knew it.

She fell silent for a minute, "Except for that time when you told me I should lose weight, you shouldn't say that to a girl it makes them feel bad,"

Hotaka turned to her, stunned. She was playing with the fur on his coat, she wouldn't meet his eyes. At that moment Taiji decided to come by, a woolen blanket in his mouth. He stared at his friend and then the girl and repeated the process several times. Taiji dropped the blanket at the foot of the couch and then returned to his owner's side.

He had the special canine intuition to remain silent.

"You know, Haruka," Hotaka choked out, "I was never serious, I was just a little annoyed, you should gain weight,"

She didn't reply but she still wouldn't meet his eyes, "And the time you and those girls took Haku away, that was the meanest thing you've ever done to me,"

Hotaka turned away, why did she have the power to make him feel guilty? He really didn't know how to answer her.

"Haruka," he started again, "I'm not proud of what I did, and I know this doesn't justify what I did, but I wanted to stop those girls from making fun of you,"

Haruka finally looked up her eyes pleading with him, "But why were they making fun of me, am I really that mean to people?"

Hotaka didn't answer.

"I don't mean to be," she continued, "It's just really hard for me to make friends, I'm scared to make friends Hotaka-kun,"

Hotaka moved over to kneel by the couch, "Why are you scared to make friends?"

Haruka was stuttering now, "B-because people aren't forever, I-I'll get h-hurt,"

The poor Inuzuka was still confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean they could just disappear out of your lives, I mean we're ninja we'll all die off eventually what are you going to do when your friends and family die?"

Hotaka finally understood, he shrugged helplessly, he was a ninja, that's just how it was, he never bothered to question the purpose.

Haruka's eyes started to water, "I mean I never got to meet my mother, I want a mother who I can talk to and to teach me, oh don't get me wrong I love my dad to pieces but he just doesn't take the place of a mother," Tears started to leak out of her eyes, "And you know all those girls would be playing with their mother's and I'd just pretend like I didn't care and I really did care," She started sniffling, Tai hopped on the couch and snuggled into her lap.

"And Haku and Dad mean the world to me, and my dad went on this really dangerous mission and I didn't say good-bye, I didn't say I love him and I didn't say good-bye," All of a sudden a dam seemed to break and Haruka burst out into heart wrenching sobs.

Hotaka didn't know what to do, he hated it when girls cried, and it was his weakness he couldn't stand seeing girls crying and quite frankly he didn't know what to do.

"What if he doesn't make it back?" she sobbed into his coat, Tai nuddged her side gently, "I'm always so worried about them, and I'm doing horribly on my missions, I'm doing terribly! No matter how hard I train I just can't do it!"

Hotaka listened patiently; Haruka had it kind of tough didn't she?

"And every time someone dear to me goes on a mission, all of you guys are dear to me I get worried sick,"

Hotaka's eyes softened, "It's alright Haru-chan," It was the first time he had used her nickname. "Your dad and brother will be fine,"

She sniffled lightly, "You think so?"

"Definitely!" he nodded in earnest, "They'll be back and just as orange as they ever were,"

Haruka's tears seemed to subside, "Thank you," she said softly, she then gazed down at the navy blue jacket, "I'm sorry your jacket is all wet,"

Hotaka waved his hand airily, "Keep it, it's not a big deal," She smiled again and for the first time in his life Inuzuka Hotaka understood Uzumaki Haruka a little better.

The rest of the day passed by pretty smoothly after that, Hotaka made her some tea. Bad tea according to Tai but Haruka drank it all anyway. She slept soundly after that, All of a sudden she shot up in her place, "Did I miss the sunset?"

Hotaka looked at her slightly confused, "No, but it's jus about to start,"

"Hotaka-kun," she asked, "Would you help me outside?"

Hotaka complied, as she put her arm around his shoulders, they struggled out the door onto the porch.

"I always go outside to watch the sunset," she explained, "See my mother's name meant sunset, so every time I see one I try to think of what she would have been like, and don't you think sunset is the prettiest time of the day?"

Hotaka shrugged, he was more of a dawn person himself. Then the sunset started.

The sky was an amazing array of pinks and golds and oranges splattered against a canvas sky. The sun burned a brilliant red orange. Hotaka heard an intake of breath next to him.

Haruka had a smile on her face, a genuine smile. Her cheeks were flushed a light pink from the breeze and she had a look of utter contentment.

Now to Inuzuka Hotaka, Uzumaki Haruka had never been a pretty girl, she had always been plain and hard in his eyes, but now he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Hotaka-kun?"

He started suddenly and shook his head vigorously, What the heck was he thinking?

"Yeah, Haruka?"

She smiled that same content smile, "Thanks for taking care of me today,"

And at that moment Hotaka was glad that he was delegated the unpleasant task of checking up on Haruka Uzumaki.

A/N: I said I wasn't going to post this until I finished the Haruka oneshot, but my computer's gone at the moment and this was already typed up so I'm posting this and the next thing coming from me will be the Haruka oneshot!

No Haruka did not go insane, you'll find out what happened in the next chapter.

Because I don't have my computer I didn't get to reply to all my reviewers so thanks to all who reviewed!

So what did you think? Please R&R