Author's Notes:

At long last! OMG, I'm so sorry for the slow update...

Thank you Blood Drenched Scorpion, VeryWithdrawn, LuminousCircus and starry123(two times!) for reviewing (and for adding this story to their fave and alert list)!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 7: Otou-san and Another Meeting

"Itsumi-chan!" Aneue's voice echoed throughout the house, effectively waking me up in the middle of my slumber. It was in the middle of the night, after all. And the first night for me to be able to rest on my own comfortable bed after several days.

"Wha-?"

"Otou-san! It's Otou-san! He-!" She gulped down her excitement in the short pause.

"He was saved and is currently in the hospital… Oh, Itsumi-chan… They found Otou-san!" My first reaction was to run out of the house, followed closely by Aneue. There was only one word that kept repeating itself in my mind.

Otou-san.

He was lying on the bed, wrapped in white bandages from head to toe, eyes immediately darting to the door the moment it slid open.

"Otou-san…" Aneue let out a breathy, shaky sigh before carefully hugging the man. Otou-san returned her affection, not caring that it would reopen a number of his wounds. I stayed beside the door, unmoving.

Otou-san is alive. It brought immense joy that I wasn't sure I'll be able to describe. Suddenly, Otou-san's other arm was stretched out and he smiled at me.

"Why are you standing there, Itsumi?" To sum it up, it was the happiest moment of my life.

"What happened to your hair?" The last word was spat out to further point out the disgust.

"Otou-san ruffled them yesterday." I grinned maniacally, which was quite a rare act, considering it was me. And me strolling casually with Onii-san without arguing was beyond 'rare'; in fact, this was the first time ever.

"Chiyo-baa-sama told me this morning. Is he well?" He turned his head to gaze to his left.

"Why don't you go see for yourself?" I absentmindedly kicked the sand, causing a golden dust to form in the air.

"I will- once I finish my mission."

"Mission?"

Is that why you look like you're searching for something?

"I'm in a mission right now," he said with an 'of course' tone. "I wouldn't be wasting my time walking around here otherwise."

Jerk. Figures that we didn't have an argument for the past six minutes; he wasn't even paying attention to me!

"It doesn't explain why you approached me in the first place."

"Easy. Mischief revolves around you." Great, not only he wasn't paying any heed, he was using me at the same time!

"Then, just to make your life harder, I'm going away."

Humph, I huffed. And Aneue can make him smile.

Creak… Swish… Thud… Step… Creak… Swish... Thud… Step… Creak… Swish… Thud… Step…

If you were wondering what I was doing, I was swinging, jumping from said swing, landing, going back to the swing and repeating the whole process. After the little scene with puppet-boy, this was where I wound up. Swinging. In the middle of the desert. ..

"What's a kid like you doing here alone?"

Apparently not 'alone' enough, I thought as I turned to face the person. A boy, around Nii-san's age probably, and around his height too. He had the darkest shade of hair I had ever seen- night itself wasn't that black.

"Hey!" He had a pair of startlingly green eyes- very unlike my right one. Once more, I jumped from the swing, but did not walk back. I walked away.

"W-Wait! What did I do? Did I scare you?"

Yeah right, I scoffed mentally, I'm not allowed to talk to strangers.

"Oh! There's still that golden rule for children, huh? Well then, my name's Kyo. Karasu Kyo. Cool huh?"

He doesn't seem too threatening… He looks more like a… brainless simpleton.

"Don't send me daggers like that! It's not like I'm going to kidnap you or something…" Kyo scratched his head. "…though you do have very beautiful eyes."

Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere.

"Aaanyways, I've just moved to Sunagakure. We were nomads and aren't really familiar with this area- mind showing me around? Seeing that you're alone and I'm pretty much lost, that would be quite a good idea, wouldn't it?" Kyo-kun grinned again.

"Yes. Besides, you'll starve to death if you're lost, Kyo-kun."

"Kyo-nii-san. I'm most likely a good five years your senior." I stopped in my tracks.

"How old are you?" He lifted his chin and patted his chest with his fist.

"Turned eleven last month!"

"Only four years my senior, then," I began to lead the way. The most obvious place to go to was the Kazekage's office, so there we went.

"This building," I pointed at the huge anthill. "Remember to search for it and you'll never get lost."

It was impossible to get lost from the beginning, but he's swiped my loneliness away, so I'll be… nice… with him today.

"Thanks, umm… By the way, you've never told me your name,"

"Kaoru."

And isn't it odd for a nomad who wanders the desert to get lost in such a village?

".?" Then came an irritated Onii-san.

"If you have some common sense, you'd be able to see that I was walking before you popped out." I retorted.

"I meant, what are you doing with him?" His words were full of atrocious promises.

"He's lost and-" My explanation was cut short.

"-and I've been searching for him! Turns out that I was chasing after you too."

"Hey! You can't raise your voice-!" Kyo-kun began to protest.

"Don't worry Kyo-kun. It's our way of communication." I averted my gaze to the flustered Onii-san. "So, he's your mission?"

"Clearly." An image of him thumping his foot on the ground impatiently crossed me, yet he stood there, glaring at both of us.

"At least I found him like you planned, right?" I stomped off angrily, intending to go back to the swing.

"Itsumi-chan, wait!"

"You're coming with me." I looked back to see Onii-san grasped the forearm of the boy- and he shrugged it off.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! Besides, it was Itsumi-chan who found me first. I'm sure she's more than capable of bringing me to my parents… right?" Kyo-kun threw a glance at me- a silent plead. I sighed.

"Yes, I can. They're probably in the building I showed to you earlier." Both of us left the fuming red-head and headed to the Kazekage's office.

End Notes:

Ooooh, I wonder what's gonna happen next? (Seriously, I haven't written scratch.)