An: sorry for the long wait, too much homework, hope you forgive me! Just so you know Kohaku is now five-years older in this one than the last one. Hope you enjoy the story!!
"Talking" 'thinking' explaining/actions
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto except for Kohaku other than that none of the characters are mine :( (anime tears)
Chapter 2: The Inuzukas
"Kohaku, Mrs. Twits wants her lunch right away," yelled Yuki Sabusau.
"Hai, Yuki-san I will get right on it," yelled a blond-hair and blue-eyed 10- year old girl.
'It's been 5 years since that time…… when nii-san left me.'
Flashback
She hugged them as tight as she could and said," Don't forget about me, I won't forget about you."
"We won't we promise," They said as they hugged her back
"Kohaku I have something for you," said Naruto as they started to let go of each other.
"What is it brother?" asked Kohaku.
Naruto reached up around his neck and took off the necklace that he always wears, "its mom's necklace," he said as he handed it to his sister.
"B-but you never take off the n-necklace!" said Kohaku as she took the necklace from her brother and stared at him in amazement.
"I know, but I decided to let you have it that way you will always think of me," explained Naruto.
End Flashback
'Naruto –nii-san…I hope he is doing ok, wherever he is," Kohaku thought as she touched at her mother's necklace which was always found around her neck.
Since Naruto and Tenten left the orphanage, Kohaku has been working down in the kitchen far away from all the other boys and girls in the orphanage. She has been hiding Kohaku away from all the people and especially away from the parents that are trying to adopt a child. Mrs. Twits is making sure that Kohaku will stay in the orphanage her entire life. Right now Kohaku is going to take Mrs. Twits her lunch as she does everyday. (Yuki works with Kohaku in the kitchen and is like a mother to her)
'I can't be late!' thought Kohaku as she ran up the stairs that led from the kitchen to the main room, 'if I'm late again Mrs. Twits will punish me!'
As Kohaku reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, she was so much into her own thoughts that she did not see the family that was just walking past the door towards the stairs that led to Mrs. Twit's office.
BAM!!
Kohaku crashed into the unsuspecting family with full force, but instead of her falling down and all the food crashing to the floor around her, Kohaku, to the amazement of the family and of herself was able to keep her balance and catch the 3 plates that she was carrying to Mrs. Twits. She was able keep her balance on her one foot that was still firmly on the floor and reach up and around the bewildered family to catch the three plates with such fast reflex's that someone would have thought that she was not human.
"S-Sorry about running i-into you m-ma'am," apologized Kohaku as she bowed to the family.
"It was quite alright, just an accident," said the mother to the still bowed Kohaku who did not want to look at the family.
"A-a-arigato," thanked Kohaku as she straightened from her bow to examine the family that she ran into.
She looked up and standing in front of her were a mother, a sister and a brother all standing there looking at her. The mother and sister (or at least what she thought was the sister) were looking at her with concern on their faces and the younger brother was staring at her with, what it looked like, curiosity.
What Kohaku found interesting about the family was that the mother, sister and brother all had two, red upside down triangles, one on each cheek.
Than she gasped, 'T-their wearing headbands,' she thought as she noticed the headbands around the foreheads of the mother and daughter. 'They must be ninjas; I just met real live ninjas' thought Kohaku getting excited.
Suddenly the daughter spoke, "Are you sure you are ok?"
"Y-yes I'm f-fine," said Kohaku as she readjusted the plates that she was balancing on her arms trying to find a more comfortable position to hold them in.
"Do you want any help carrying those plates?" asked the mother eyeing the three plates that Kohaku was trying to hold.
"N-no it's ok," she replied as she smiled up at the mother trying to reinsure her that she was ok.
"KOHAKU WHERE ARE YOU WITH MY LUNCH!!!" boomed a loud voice that came from the top of the stairs at the end of the hall.
"Oh no," whispered Kohaku, "she's going to kill me!"
"Who's going to kill you?"
Kohaku ignored the question, because if they knew she was talking about the lady that runs the orphanage they may not want to adopt a child and than she would get into even more trouble. So instead Kohaku started to run toward the staircase turning around to say, "N-nice to meet y-you!" and than running up the stairs.
"She's a very interesting girl," stated the sister.
"Yes she is," said the mother with a knowing smile upon her face.
"Did you notice the way that she was able to catch all those plates with not even one bit of food falling?"
"Do you think that she could be a ninja?" asked the little boy who only started to talk just now.
"I don't know, Kiba," said the mother, 'She does have promising talent though'
"Hey could we adopt her, she looks like a nice sister to me," asked the little boy as he looked up at his mother with puppy dog eyes.
"She did look about Kiba's age mom," stated the daughter as she looked at her mother with a hopeful expression on her face.
"I'll think about it," answered the mother with a blank look.
Kiba crossed his arms and looked at his mother with a scowl on his face.
"Now come on we do not want to be late for our interview," said the mother starting to walk towards the staircase that Kohaku ran up not 5 minutes ago.
While all that was happening, Kohaku was up in Mrs. Twit's office.
"WHERE WERE YOU WITH MY FOOD?" yelled Mrs. Twits as Kohaku arrived in the office and set down the three plates on top of her desk.
"Karin how late is young Kohaku?" she asked turning around to her secretary with an evil grin on her face.
"Around half an hour late ma'am," answered Karin turning around to look at Kohaku with a smug smile.
"B-but I w-was only 5 m-m-minutes late m-ma'am," stuttered Kohaku.
SHUT UP YOU WORTHLESS PEICE OF TRASH!" yelled Mrs. Twits, "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING BACK TO ME!"
"I-I did n-not talk b-back to y-you m-ma'am," whispered Kohaku.
SLAP!!!
Kohaku looked up at Mrs. Twits, tears slowly coming out of her eyes.
"Now where were we," Mrs. Twits said, "Oh yes about your punishment?
Kohaku silently whimpered knowing that there would be more pain to follow. This always happened to her; she always seemed to get in trouble no matter what she did. Mrs. Twits always seemed to like punishing her; it seemed that she wanted to see Kohaku whimper in pain.
"Now," she said turning around back towards Kohaku with an evil smile on her face, "your punishment for being half an hour late with my lunch will be….."
'I know that face, it means that she has something really bad in store for me, I hope its not having hot water put onto my skin, my burn still have not yet healed from the last time. Mother, father, brother please protect me and help me find a way out of this orphanage' thought Kohaku as she waited for Mrs. Twits to tell her, her punishment.
'Knock, knock," suddenly a knock sounded on the door.
What is it," growled Mrs. Twits looking towards the door with a look that could kill for the unsuspecting maid that just happened to knock on the door just before Mrs. Twits could name out the punishment for Kohaku.
"Excuse me Mrs. Twits," said a maid as she opened the door into Mrs. Twit's office, "Eep!" she squeaked as she caught a look at Mrs. Twits face. "T-there is a-a family t-that w-wants to a-adopt o-out h-here," she managed to get out while cowering and shaking behind the office door.
"Really?" asked Mrs. Twits going into her sweet caretaker of the orphanage look, "Send them in here please."
The maid silently closed the door behind her to tell the family to come on it.
"GO stand in the corner," instructed Mrs. Twits as she pointed towards a corner, "AND BE QUIET!"
"Y-yes m-ma'am," said Kohaku as she walked over to the corner, cradling her cheek in her hands, thanking the family that decided to come in that exact moment of time.
The door opened and a family stepped into the room, Kohaku gasped, it was the family that she had run into not even 10 minutes ago.
"Hello, you must be Mrs. Twits," said the mother formally as she went to shake Mrs. Twit's hand.
"Why yes I am," said Mrs. Twits shaking that mother's hand, trying to keep her sweet face on, "and who might you be?"
"My name is Tsume Inuzuka," said Tsume, as she stopped shaking Mrs. Twit's hand.
"Oh my, the Inuzuka clan, said Mrs. Twits with a look of awe on her face, "and I see you bought your children along."
"Yes I did, this is my daughter, Hana Inuzuka," introduced Tsume.
Hana Inuzuka bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.
"And this is my son, Kiba Inuzuka," she finished, as she pointed to the little boy that was standing to the right side of his mother.
"Hello ma'am," said Kiba Inuzuka as he also bowed his head.
Mrs. Twits smiled at the young boy, "so which kind of child are you looking to adopt today?"
"We would like to adopt a girl that is around the age of 10, so that Kiba can have a playmate," said Inuzuka.
"But it says here on your filled out form that you wanted to adopt a boy that was around 10 years of age not a girl," stated Mrs. Twits as she looked up at the family with a look of confusion on her face.
Tsume looked at her son and said, "Kiba decided that he wanted a sister instead of a brother."
Kiba's face looked up at his mother's with a huge smile as he knew what his mother was thinking.
"Ok than," said Mrs. Twits, "well that's just change that on your form than, just a minute please."
As Mrs. Twits was writing down the new information, Karin stepped in, "so do you have any preferences on what type of girl you would like to adopt," she asked the family.
"Well yes, I believe we do," answered Tsume. She spotted Kohaku standing in the corner of the room staring at her and her family. She winked at her, which made Kohaku startle and hide her face out of shyness.
"Really, can you explain the type of girl you are looking for and we will try to pick out a certain number and from there you can pick out the one you like the best," said Karin as she tried her best to smile sweetly at the family.
"Oh, there would be no need for that," she said.
"What!" It seemed that Mrs. Twits was secretly eavesdropping on their conversation and now she looked at the family with a look of confusion on her face.
"Yes, you heard me; we have already found the perfect girl who is to our liking."
"But, but how is that possible," exclaimed Mrs. Twits looking more confused by the minute.
"All the kids were outside in the playground when you came into the door," said Karin.
"Not ALL the kids," Tsume said supporting a knowing smile on her face.
Suddenly little Kiba spoke up, "the sister that I want is standing over in that corner," he said pointing to where young Kohaku was standing.
"Her?"
"Her?"
"M-me?"
Three looks of surprise stared at the Inuzuka.
"A-are you sure about this girl?" asked Mrs. Twits not believing that she may lose one of her best playthings, "don't you want to think about this?"
"Nope," replied Hana, "we are absolutely sure about this, we would like to adopt young Kohaku."
Kohaku stood there tears leaking out of her eyes, not believing that today she could finally escape this prison and go live with a real family.
Tsume looked over at Kohaku and smiled at her warmly, she beckoned Kohaku over with a wave of her hand. Kohaku saw this and slowly started to walk over to her new family. But before she could make it over to them, Mrs. Twits but her arm out in Kohaku's way and stopped her.
"You may never take Kohaku away from me!" she growled at the family as she grabbed Kohaku to her.
"You have no choice but to give her to me," Tsume growled, she snapped her fingers, there was a whish of movement and suddenly she had a kunai at Mrs. Twits throat pinning her down on her desk. While Hana was behind Karin pinning her arms back behind her.
"We can do this the hard way," said Tsume as she pushed the kunai more forcefully into Mrs. Twit's neck and Hana following suit twisted Karin's arms behind her back, "or the easy way," she finished.
Mrs. Twits finally let go of Kohaku so that she could try to use her arms to push Tsume off of her.
"Kohaku come here out of the way!" yelled Kiba who started to jump up and down to get her attention.
Kohaku who was now fully crying because of the scene around her ran over to Kiba and not even thinking about it ran into his arms. Kiba was shocked, 'she is hugging me,' he thought as he looked down at Kohaku. After a couple of seconds Kiba decided to put his arms around her and pull her close to him trying to comfort the crying girl.
Mrs. Twits could now feel the blade of the kunai sink slowly into her skin, she panicked and said, "Ok, ok you have a deal, you can have the girl, but please don't kill me!"
Grinning Tsume and Hana let go of them and went to go talk to Kohaku who was now slowly starting to stop crying.
"Are you ok, love?" Tsume asked.
"Yes, I-I'm fine n-now……um," she said as she walked out of Kiba's embrace and looked over at the mother.
"Just call me mom," Tsume said.
At this Kohaku smiled more brightly than she ever had since her brother and friend were taken away from her.
"And you can call me sis," said Hana as she smiled at the 10 year old girl.
Kohaku looked over at Kiba. Kiba looked up with a hint of a blush on his cheeks and said, "Kiba."
"Ok…K-Kiba," said Kohaku as she looked at her new family and smiled.
"The paper works are all done Miss. Inuzuka," said Mrs. Twits breaking them out of their family moment, "Kohaku is now officially an Inuzuka."
The Inuzuka family all smiled and hugged their newest member. Tsume walked over to Mrs. Twits and while smiling sweetly took the paper work from her signed and then took her copy.
"Let's go Kohaku," she said as she walked over to her now bigger family."
"Ok," said Kohaku as she was led out the door by Kiba and Hana, Tsume walking directly behind them.
"God," said Mrs. Twits as she rested her head on her desk, 'I lost another of my playthings,' she thought as she looked toward the door.
SS
"Wow, are w-we riding o-on this?" asked Kohaku as she looked at a beautiful carriage with two white horses reined up on it.
"Of course," said Tsume laughing, "how else are we going to get to Kohona?
"K-Kohona, what's t-that?"
"Ha, ha, that's where we live silly," said Kiba as he playfully hit Kohaku on the head.
"Oh."
"Let's go kids," said Hana, "we don't have all day here," as she ushered the two kids toward the carriage doors.
"Ok, ok, you don't have to push sis," said a very annoyed Kiba as he slipped under his sister's arm and ran toward the carriage pulling the door open and hoping inside.
"C'mon, Kohaku!" he yelled from inside the carriage.
"C-coming," said Kohaku as she walked towards the carriage and walked inside. "W-wow this i-is huge," she exclaimed as she looked at the inside of the carriage.
Soon everyone was sited inside the carriage comfortable, having Kohaku and Kiba on one side and Hana and Tsume on the other. The carriage started to pull away from the orphanage.
'Hmm, a new life, a new beginning, I wonder what will happen to me this time?' she thought as she slowly started to fall asleep listening to her new family arguing away.
Please reveiw, I will give you a cookie! :) hehe