Neko: OK! Next part. Z-chan and I have this plotted out pretty well. I am so in love with this chapter. X3 CHIBI NARU-KUN FTW!
Oro: I don't need to get a tranquilizer for you now, do I?
Neko: No. Just ignore me.
Oro: The last time I did that, people started killing themselves because of you.
Neko: But, that's just Hell Children!
Oro: *mumbles* Yeah, sure it is…
Neko: Forget you then. Next chapter GOOOOOO!
"Urg…." Neko rolled onto her side to keep her already bad eyes from the blinding…. Sun? 'Did I pass out? Did it stop raining? God my head hurts…' she thought, eyes still closed. She slid her hand up to her face to scratch her cheek, her hair was tickling it. But, instead of hair, she reached up to brush damp, itchy, grass.
'Wait, that's not right…' The girl then bolted up right, eyes wide. She looked around in a slight panic, finding she was in a field, somewhere in a forest.
"Calm down, panicking doesn't help…" the cat told herself, taking a few deep breaths. Looking around again, she finally noticed Tsubaki, unconscious next to her. She crawled over to her and began to poke her.
*poke* "Hey…" No reaction.
*poke* "Hey…" A twitch. Awake, but refusing to get up.
*poke* "Swedish." That got the younger girl giggling. That always made her laugh. Silly baby preachers.
"Hehe… Ow! Headache…" Tsubaki groaned and rolled onto her side, clutching her head. She sat up slowly, placing her glasses back on and glancing around.
"Wait… Oh my- Where ARE we!" The brunette asked her senior. The brown eyed girl just shrugged.
"I think I saw… Yeah, there's a road over there. It's gotta lead us somewhere right?" Neko pointed to a dirt path not to far from them. The blue eyed girl nodded and the two began walking down the path in a random direction.
It had only been 15 minutes, but the two had yet to find anything that signals human life.
"I wonder where we are… I mean, there should be something to say people are near by, right?" Tsubaki said.
"I don't- wait, do you hear that?" Neko stopped as her sensitive ears picked up a sound different from the forest. Tsubaki stopped with her and listened carefully. It only took her a few seconds to pick up the sound. A distant clop clop clop of…
"Horse hooves?" The pair looked around for the source.
"There!" Tsubaki spotted behind them what looked to be… "A cart?"
"Quick, hide!" Neko dashed for nearby bushes, tugging the younger along behind her. The two waited for the horse drawn cart to pass them. It was heading in the same direction as them so at least they took that as a sign civilization is somewhere.
"I think it's a merchant cart. Odd how it kinda looks like one of those western canvas carts…" Tsubaki muttered.
"Am I the only one who noticed the driver was wearing a KIMONO!" Neko hissed. "That means we're god knows where in JAPAN."
"Sweet." Tsubaki smirked. Neko face/palmed.
"Come on, let's hich a ride on it and see where we get to. Maybe we could pick up some supplies in there too." The pair quietly dashed behind the cart, carefully pulling themselves in. Inside were a variety of things; clothes, food, and miscellanies items one would find in a store. Stealthily, the two chose out a set of basic clothing, pants, shoes, and a top, and grabbed a piece of fruit for the road.
"Let's take these and get, if he catches us changing back here, all hell will break loose." Neko whispered. Tsubaki nodded and the two carefully jumped from the cart.
After changing, the two now had a problem. What to do with their other clothes. They hadn't grabbed a bag from the cart, and it was probably to far to safely jump onto again without detection.
"We could burn them…" Tsubaki offered.
"I do know how to make a fire from scratch, and I have a lighter too. Anything that doesn't burn we can burry." Neko planned out. Neko was glad that she always carried a few things in her pockets; a switchblade, a lighter, a needle and thread, and a random roll of bandages. At the time, she had little idea of how or when these would come in handy, but she carried them around anyways. Now, she had a better idea of what she could used them for. She thanked god for Survivor Man.
"Ok, I need twigs, dead leaves, larger logs and…" Neko began listings off and grabbing things at the same time. Tsubaki quickly caught on and began grabbing things from the forest floor. Once they had the fire going, the slowly proceeded to burn what could be burnt, and cut off and buried anything that couldn't. They kept anything non-incriminating they had had in their pockets.
"And now, we keep walking…" Tsubaki said after they put out the fire. Neko sighed.
"Oh, you have gotta be shitting me…"
It took a while, but the two finally found civilization. Just… not the one they were hoping for.
"Oh please god no…" Neko continued. Tsubaki scream/squealed.
"We're in KONOHA!" She cheered. "This is AWESOME!" Neko immediately halted her by putting her hands on the jumpers shoulders.
"No, it is NOT. We don't even know when in the time period we are!" Neko stated. "For all we know, we could be in Shippuden!"
"Oh… right…" Tsubaki's mood dropped, then rose again at an idea. "We could ask around!"
"Yeah… If we can even get IN the village…" Neko muttered. She glanced around boredly, when her eyes caught something.
"Hey, there's someone." Neko pointed to a small child curled up under a tree. They got closer and saw the child had spiky blond hair. Tsubaki gasped when she realized who it was. Neko quickly dragged her away, recognizing what the gasp meant.
"That. Was. NARUTO!" She sqealed. "The kid one! We're in the past!"
"So it seems." Neko held the younger one back from taking off.
"We could take care of him! We could show him love! Dude, we could adopt him!" The blue eyed one continued. Neko sighed. She admits it that she had always wanted to adopt the younger Naruto. He just needed love so badly.
"Alright, I give…" Tsubaki almost screamed again. Neko held up a finger. "BUT! You are NOT allowed to glomp him. You'll scare him to death. You can glomp him when- no if he becomes used to us. We don't even know if he'll come near us…" Tsubaki nodded in understanding.
"Also, I need to know this BEFORE we enter the village."
"And that is…?" Tsubaki tilted her head.
"Can you even read Japanese? I know we came up with our names through anime, but I've actually been taking classes. Still not perfectly, but I can read Japanese and write it pretty well." Neko questioned. Yes, Neko and Tsubaki were not their real names, but god forbid anyone from finding that out, especially now that they were in Japan.
"Uh… Really basic stuff, but… no." Tsubaki's head dropped in shame. Neko sighed.
"Then I'll have to teach you what I know. God forbid you get lost or sent a letter and you can't do anything." The two had an agreement and now decided to get Naruto's attention. He was still in the same spot as when they first saw him.
The two slowly approached the small child. Kneeling down carefully, they smiled gently at him, even though his head was buried in his arms at the moment.
"Hey, you ok?"
Naruto POV
It happened again today…
I don't understand, why do they hate me? I never did anything to them…
I usually am able to avoid the villagers, but I tripped and they got me. I had to flee to the outside of the village this time to get away. Some even said to not come back. I hope I can get back in, Iruka would worry.
"Hey, you ok?"
I jumped at the sudden voice in front of me. I nervously looked up, afraid of what I would find. It was a pair of girls, one with weird blond tiped hair and the other had glasses. They were smiling at me, but… it wasn't the smile like the villagers sometimes give me. It looked more Iruka's. The one who looked older tilted her head.
"Is that blood on your arm?" So it was her who spoke first… wait blood? I glanced down at my arm to see there was blood on my arm from a cut I got. I didn't notice it until now.
"Why don't we go clean that up? There's a river nearby." The one in glasses said. She slowly held out her had to me. I looked at it warily. I was scared of what they might do but… I don't feel any hostility from them. Or any in their eyes. Maybe… they're like Iruka.
I slowly took the younger girls hand.
Normal (third person) POV
Tsubaki was surprised but excited when Naruto took her hand. She nearly screamed but held it in so as not to scare the tiny, timid boy. Instead she just smiled brightly. She carefully pulled the blond up and the two lead him to a nearby stream. Neko kept glancing around, as if looking for something.
"What are lookin' for Neko?" Tsubaki asked after Neko finally stopped for a bit.
"Herbs we might be able to use. If that gets infected… I just really don't want that." Neko said as they finally got to the river. "And I couldn't find any that I knew."
"You know herbs?" Tsubaki stated in surprise. As she sat down by the bank of the water with Naruto sitting next to her.
"Yeah. I guess I forgot to tell you my mom was a nurse." Neko laughed a bit, but then smiled a bit sadly. Thinking of her mom… She wondered if they might ever have the chance to go home. She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head, she needed to focus on Naruto right now.
"Ne, can you show me your arm? I need to make sure it's not serious enough to go to the hospital." Neko kneeled down on the other side of Naruto and gently held Naruto's outstretched arm. Scanning it carefully, she motioned Tsubaki to start cleaning the wound. The brunette scooped water carefully onto the wound and gently began cleaning it. Neko glanced around the riverbank boredly, when something caught her eye.
"Is this…? Yes! Tsubaki I found something we can use!" Neko cheered as she began pulling at a plant on the bank.
"What is it?" Tsubaki asked, glancing past Naruto, who also turned to look at her. Neko held out what looked to them to be tiny lily pad like plants.
"This is *Gotu Kola. It will help the cut from becoming enflamed and infected. Now I just need to clean it and grind it up…" The brown eyed girl glanced around again and found a pair of rocks flat enough to grind up the plant.
"It's a good thing you found that. The cut isn't bad enough to need stitches, but it could still get infected." Tsubaki smiled in relief. Neko cleaned the rocks and Gotu Kola and proceeded to grind it up. Adding water when necessary, the plant became a dark green paste.
"Will you let me see your arm again?" Naruto held out his arm hesitantly, not sure to trust the strange girls completely. "I'm not sure if this will hurt when applied, if it does I'm sorry." Neko murmured as she carefully spread the paste onto the cut. Naruto winced slightly, not from the green stuff, but the natural pain that comes with something entering a wound. Neko then pulled out the bandaged she always carried around and wrapped up the cut.
"There. All done." Neko smiled when she finished. She stood up and moved next to Tsubaki
"Now, how about we get you back to the village? Someone must be worried about you." Tsubaki said still next to Naruto. Said blond froze and stiffened at the thought of going back into the village. Instinctively, Naruto curled into the nearest person. That person being Tsubaki. She was surprised, but quickly held onto the trembling boy. She looked at Neko, who simply smiled at the sight. She motioned Tsubaki to follow her while mouthing 'carry him'. Tsubaki did so and quickly caught up to her older friend, cradling Naruto against her.
It didn't take long for the three of them to reach the gates of Konoha. Once there, they were approached by the pair of ninja guarding the gate. They seemed to eye Naruto, making Tsubaki instinctively hold on a bit tighter
"State your business." One of them said stoically.
"We would, uh… like to see the Hokage… if that is alright." Neko said a bit nervously. Tsubaki nodded, too intimidated by the ninja to speak. The guards looked between each other, then the one who hadn't said anything nodded.
"I'll take you there. Follow me." Said the first. Neko and Tsubaki nodded and followed the ninja to the Hokage's office.
"Here it is. Please wait here until you are allowed in." The ninja said. The two girls nodded and stood outside the door as the ninja slipped in the door.
"You weren't the only one to notice the villagers staring at us, right?" Tsubaki asked quietly. Naruto had fallen asleep at some point and they didn't want to wake him.
"Yeah, but you know…" Neko gestured towards Naruto, and Tsubaki gave him a saddened look. "God, I hate people sometimes." The brown eyed one muttered angrily.
"You may enter now." The ninja had opened the door and allowed them in. They saw the Hokage and he gasped quietly when he saw Naruto.
"Naruto… When **Yakuni said there were two girls and a child here to see me, I wasn't expecting this." Sarutobi sighed but smiled a bit.
"So, Naruto is your name. We forgot to ask didn't we?" Neko said quietly brushing some strands from Naruto's eye. "We found him outside the village, with this little cut here. We patched him up as well at we could and brought him with us." Sarutobi nodded.
"Now, down to business. You're names, and why is it that you have come to my village?" The pair stiffened. They hadn't thought of a back story! Shit!
"Well… um… y-you see…" Neko started. "I'm Utaune Neko and this is my… cousin Okami Tsubaki. Our village was… attacked… by bandits and rouge nin." '***Don't look to the left, they will know you're lying.' she screamed to herself.
"A-and it got burnt down. We kinda just… ran for it so we don't know i-if anyone other than us survived…" Tsubaki continued.
"Surely your village had ninja or some kind of protection." The Hokage reasoned. Neko shrugged a bit.
"I-if we did, we had extremely few. It was j-just a tiny farming village, none of us saw any r-reason anyone would attack us…" A ninja next to the Hokage whispered something. Neko barely made out 'This is true.' Sarutobi gave a grim nod.
"S-so… we wished to live here… Sir." Tubaki finished. Sarutobi closed his eyes and nodded.
"For taking care of someone close to me even though you didn't know anything about the boy has given you my respect and gratitude. I will arrange a house and a bit of money for you to start your life here." He said. The two girls never felt so relieved.
"Th-thank you Hokage-sama!" Neko gave a deep bow while Tubaki gave the best bow she could without disturbing the child in her arms. The two beamed at the elder as her called Yakuni back to escort the two to a house and pulled out a small bag of what sounded like money.
"I have one request though." The Hokage said as he stood and walked over to Tsubaki. He gently ran his hand through Naruto's hair and smiled slightly. "Take care of this child for me. I can only do so much for him. But, It doesn't seen like enough."
The girls stared at the man. He trusted them already?
"You… would trust us with a child we not only hardly know, but you don't even know us…!" Neko stammered. The Hokage merely smiled.
"I could see it in your eyes when you looked at Naruto. A look of complete affection, like a mother. Naruto needs that. I believe you can give it to him." The girls were silent in awe, and nodded mutely. The two filed out with Yakuni after Sarutobi gave Neko the money.
When they arrived at the house, it was twilight and few people were out, so the ninja gave the girls the keys and left quickly. The two explored the house quickly, only looking for the kitchen and bedrooms at the moment.
"We'll have to go shopping tomorrow, as well as look for jobs." Neko mused, sitting on a bed in a bedroom. There were two bedrooms, both with two small beds. They decided one for the both of them, the other would be a guest room. Tsubaki nodded at the thought.
"Now what to do with you?" Tsubaki looked at the still sleeping Naruto in her arms. "He's so thin and light. I could carry him for hours…"
"How 'bout you sleep with him?" Neko offered. "He doesn't seem to want to let you go." True to this, Naruto had an unconscious death grip on Tsubaki's shirt. The pair giggled at this. So, the two, now noticing their exhaustion, climbed into the beds and promptly fell asleep.
*Gotu Kola is an herb in a book my mom has, but there is no way it would be growing in Japan. It's not the right climate.
** Random character completely made up. His name is part of the word Yakunitatanai meaning 'useless'. You'll never see him again.
*** My Communications II teacher told us during our practice interviews that if a person looks to the left while speaking, it means they're lying.
Neko: Just… over… 3000 words… It's 1 am…. I'm. Going. To. BED.
Oro: You have fun with that. Lord knows I need the peace.
Neko: Yeah. Love you too. G'night. R&R PEOPLE. I KNOW I GOT PEOPLE WATCHIN THIS. I HATE IT WHEN I GET VEIWS AND NO REVIEWS.