Gai realized after he left the Hokage's office that he didn't have a clue where to find Naruto. He didn't want to leave Naruto for any longer than necessary. He went out to where the Hokage's secretary sat and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Do you happen to know where Inoichi Yamanaka works when he's here?"
"It depends if he's working with adults or children. Go out and take the first left and his work spaces are at the end of the hall. They are clearly marked."
Gai nodded and thanked her then he took off. He raced down the hall vaguely noticing the different landscapes he past. He flicked his eyes from side to side until he saw Yamanaka's name. He looked in the opened door and saw the room was empty and then quickly through open the second door with the Mind walker's name on it – and was stunned as Yamanaka waved at him to be stil.
Then what he was seeing and hearing slowly began to make sense. Naruto was clinging to a bronz stuffed dragon and was speaking to it.
"Dagon, Lee and Naruto go way. Go far way no more bad demons. No more ouch. We find kitten and the kitten comes."
Gai looked up at the older man. He was surprised when the mind walker smiled at him.
"Naruto, Gai is here."
Naruto stood up and watched Gai who smiled softly at him. Naruto walked over to Yamanaka and held out the dragon.
"Dragon goes home?"
"Dragon goes with you, Naruto."
Naruto's eyes widened and he gave the sweetest smile either man had ever seen.
"Naruto can I come play with you tomorrow?"
Naruto looked at Gai and Gai nodded.
"I'll see you tomorrow after breakfast." Naruto nodded.
"It's time to go," Gai gently took Naruto's hand. In his other, Naruto clutched Dragon as tightly as he could.
"We're going to see Lee now."
Naruto nodded and quietly followed Gai out of Yamanaka's office. The older man waved and smiled until they were out of sight.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
As they walked down the streets of Konoha Gai noticed the looks they were getting. Surprisingly they weren't as hostile as he expected. He'd have to look into that.
"Naruto, would you like me to hold Dragon for you? That way he won't fall and get dirty."
"You keep Dragon clean?"
"Yes and we can show him to Lee."
Naruto was satisfied with that and gave Dragon over to Gai.
"Should we get Lee a get well present?"
Naruto looked confused.
"Like Dragon," Gai found himself clarifying.
"Give Dragon?"
"No, we'll get another dragon."
Naruto took a moment to think about it and then pointed to a stall that had stuffed toys.
"You want to look there?"
Naruto pointed again.
"Yes or no, Naruto."
"Yes!"
Gai smiled warmly and walked with Naruto to look at the various toys. The woman at the stall was rather elderly. Gai wanted to sigh but didn't. She was probably going to give them a hard time and he was probably going to have to argue with her. The argument would upset Naruto and the day would be tainted for the boy and Gai didn't want that.
The stall was made out of simple wood but it was well maintained and the wood was covered with a simple white cloth. The stall was very well organized and had shelves and stands to display the various toys. There was a large variety of stuffed toys ranging from Animals of all shapes and sizes to ninja and various shop keepers. He even saw a chef or two. Gai laughed and picked up a chef. It wouldn't hurt to have one for inspiration.
"Ah, you like that do you?" Her voice was surprisingly firm yet gravelly enough to suggest great age.
"Yes, it is rather amusing. I figure I could use it as inspiration when I try to feed my boys." He grinned at her and to his surprise, she grinned back.
"And who is this young man here?"
"This is Uzumaki Naruto."
"I see. Come here, child. Do not be afraid. My name is Sinja tsu. What are you looking for?"
Naruto frowned in deep concentration. "Present for Lee. Dagon like mine."
Gai obligingly held out Naruto's dragon for the elderly lady to see.
"That is a very fine Dragon. He's quite kingly. That means he is very strong and wise."
"All king wise?" Naruto asked intently.
"Not all little one, but some. If they are true kings and queens then they are wise. The Hokage is wise so he is a king."
"Me be king!" Naruto bounced a little but then just as quickly went still.
"That is a very good goal to have. Don't you think so?" Her too knowing gaze flickered to Gai.
"Yes, I think that's a very good goal. I apologize my name is Maito Gai. For your kindness to Naruto and myself please call me Gai."
"And I am Tsu." Then just as quickly she went back to paying attention to Naruto, "Where is your brother today?"
"Lee," Gai interjected."
"Lady took Lee to get fixed, got ouchies from bad people."
"Hmm, then we need to find him a special dragon to help him get better. How about this one?" She held up a dragon as big as Naruto's; however, instead of bronze this one was deep Green and the scales were even more detailed than on Naruto's.
"What do you think, Naruto?"
Naruto reached out and lightly ran his hand over the dragon and nodded happily.
"Yes, this for Lee."
Then he frowned.
"Money?"
"Of course," Gai looked enquiringly At Tsu.
"Hmm, well for the dragon and the chef 30-euro. I'm also going to throw in a gift. I am going to give you a couple of brushes and spray bottles. They are for you and Lee to care for your dragons. You put a little spray on the brush." She picked up a soft bristled brush and sprayed twice. Then said, "May I have Naruto's dragon, Lee's has already been treated today."
Partly amused Gai held out Dragon, for Tsu to treat. Once Dragon was secure in her hands and sitting on an empty stand she began to brush the dragon from Head to tail.
"Does your friend have a name?"
"Dragon." Naruto said
"Do you see how I'm brushing every inch of Dragon? You need to do this at least 3 times a week. This will keep them soft and happy."
Naruto nodded. Gai placed the money in Tsu's hand once she was done brushing Dragon.
To Gai's surprise Naruto hugged the stall's proprietor.
"Thank you for Dragon and Brush to keep dragons soft and happy."
"You are very welcome. I'll be in Konoha a few more weeks before I move on so feel free to stop in." Naruto smiled and ran back to take Gai's hand. Tsu then put everything in bags and handed them over to Gai.
"Thank you for your business."
"Thank you for your generosity."
They finally made it to the hospital. Gai thought for a moment and then walked up to the main desk and asked where Uhi Kurenai was.
The receptionist didn't know.
"I know she came in with a little boy late last night. I would like you to find out where that child was placed." He let loose a tiny bit of his killing intent.
"Yes Shinobi-sama."
In short order he was given the room number. He scooped Naruto up so he could take a short cut.
"We're going to play a game ok? We're going to use the walls to get to Lee's floor and we're going to go really fast!"
"Fast!" Naruto bounced a little in Gai's arms.
"I need you to stay as stil as you can, ok?"
He grinned and used a bit of Chakra to stick the bags to his right shoulder then he used more chakra to hold Naruto against his chest still keeping his free arm snugly around Naruto. Once they entered the stairwell he sent chakra to his feet and ran up the wall to the 10th floor. Naruto was laughing the entire way. Once they reached the right floor Gai set a still giggling Naruto back down.
"Was that fun?"
Naruto giggled some more. Gai hugged Naruto close to him and calmly walked to Lee's room.
He tapped lightly at the door.
"Yes."
"Kurenai, it is Gai."
"Come on in."
He pushed the door open with Naruto at his side.
"How's he doing?"
"He can leave tomorrow afternoon. He's mostly healed. There are some Kunai injuries that will never heal right. They were rather creatively inflicted."
While the two spoke Naruto made his way over to Lee. He reached up as best as he could and stroked Lee's hair.
"Lee I got you a dragon for get better."
"Ruto?"
Lee moved over and Naruto crawled in with him. Lee waited until Naruto snuggled up to him and then drifted back to sleep the faint worry that had been in the back of his mind fading away. It didn't take long for the excitement of the day to catch up with Naruto and he too was fast asleep.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Gai lead Kurenai out of the room once the boys were asleep.
"Well?" They both asked at the same time then grinned.
"I'll go first," Kurenai said seriously. "Lee's injuries are mostly healed. There is a wound on his stomach that will scar badly. It can be treated but it will never heal right. Gai, they carved the word demon onto his skin. I had to threaten the staff to get him some attention."
Gai's killing intent flared sharply but quickly vanished. He poked his head in the room to make sure he hadn't woken the boys and felt relief when he saw them resting comfortably.
"There's another very serious issue. His chakra coils are damaged. He can't mold chakra. He has plenty of it but it doesn't respond right."
"What does that mean?"
"In the short term it really means nothing but in the long term. I don't know. He probably won't make it through the academy."
"Kurenai, if he wants to be a ninja he will become a ninja."
She smiled. "Well, if anyone can help him with that, it's you."
"My turn I guess. Anko came over and it didn't go so well."
"Oh?"
"You know how she can get and Naruto reacted rather badly when she hit me over the head."
"What set her off? Kurenai reminded herself not to grin.
"I don't know! She asked what Ibiki bastard does for his job. Stupid question. I told her how he was about Naruto…"
"What does Ibiki do, Gai?"
"He gets information out of people, so?"
She patted him on the cheek. "Keep going with your day."
"Once we made it to the Hokage's office I had a disagreement with an Anbu. He wouldn't let me in and when I argued he through a Kunai at Naruto and I had to defend us. I reacted faster than Kakashi-cun would have!"
"Oh Gai." She sighed more amused than exasperated.
"There are other things. I can't take many missions below C-rank but I can keep both boys. I had to persuade the Hokage a bit but it worked out."
"Do you still need to work with Ibiki and Yamanaka-San?"
"Yes but I won't allow that bastard to do any reports on Naruto!"
Kurenai gave in and hit Gai over the head.
"Awww! What was that for!?"
"It was because you're being an idiot!"
"You didn't see…" He protested mildly and Kurenai just rolled her eyes. "What is it with you too? I'd understand if he looked like Kakashi-"Kurenai used an upper cut to his jaw that sent him partly through the nearest wall. The wall just happened to lead into the room where the boys were.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
The noise woke both boys and all either of them could think was that they were going to be attacked again. Lee thought really hard about how he could keep them safe and then a wall was suddenly between them. Naruto reached out to touch it and he laughed letting his hand run in and out of the wall.
"No, Naruto. Don't do that it hurts."
Naruto snatched his hand away and gently took Lee's hand.
"No more hurt?"
"No, it is ok you did not know."
Kurenai just gaped. She waved Gai over franticly. HE pulled himself out of the wall and wandered over to her.
"What the? …"
"It's Lee not Naruto," She whispered into his ear.
"Hey," Gai spoke firmly but kindly, "Things are fine. I'm sorry for the loud noises but Kurenai-chan and I were having a … discussion that got a little heated. Lee you guys are safe."
"It's Gai-San." Naruto whispered to Lee.
"He saved us from the bad people, right?"
"Yes and he got you a dragon forget well. Make wall go. It comes back if bad people come."
Lee thought for a bit then made the wall go. The energy rushed back inside of him and he fell over on top of Naruto. Kurenai and Gai just stared.
Just then several hospital staff came running and gaped at the wall.
"Sorry?" Gai tried.
"We will pay for the repairs ourselves." Kurenai stated with much more conviction than her friend.
"That would be appropriate. Unfortunately," a middle aged doctor spoke, "this was our only available room. The boy was being kept for observation purposes. Kurenai-sama is aware of the treatment he needs and I have here the supplies the boy will need. I would ask that you take him with you."
"I see Doctor?"
"Kenji."
"Mmm, Doctor Kenji. Thank you. I'll be sure to keep this in mind." Gai's smile never left his face.
Kurenai didn't speak. She simply grabbed the bags Gai had set down by the door. Gai reached down to the bed and picked Naruto up.
"We run more?"
"Uh, heheh!"Gai laughed nervously.
"Lee is still not feeling well so we need to go slow. Naruto nodded.
"Go slow and the dragons?
"Kurenai-San has them, see?" He motioned to where Kurenai had the bags in her arms.
He used a bit of Chakra to make certain Naruto was firmly attached to his shoulder along his left side. Then with infinite tenderness he took Lee into his arms making certain that he enfolded both boys.
"Ok boys we're going home now."
Kurenai walked quickly to an elevator and pressed the button to call it. They took it all the way down. Gai continued to keep an arm around each boy as they made their way to his house. When they arrived, the difference was instant. For one thing the entire house was clean. It even smelled clean. Gai rather liked the smell; it reminded him of grass and forest some of his favorite places to train.
Someone had set up the spair room. They had delivered and set up a bed It was low and wide perfect for two young boys who would probably want to share space for a while. The wood work held a simple beauty. It was a repeting pattern of leaves. The chest of drawers that had also been added was a little more fanciful with several animals carved into the wood. There was no paint or staining on the wood. The color was natural. Gai figured he owed Tenzo a favor or two. There was even a forestscape up on the wall. The colors were all soothing and relaxing.
Gai looked down at the boys and saw that they had fallen asleep so he removed the chakra he was using and lay them down as gently as he could. He removed Naruto's sandals. Lee hadn't been wearing any. Gai looked at all the space around the two boys and walking back to where Kurenai waited for him he quietly asked for the bags and removed both dragons. He went back to where the boys rested and placed each dragon next to its respective owner. He looked around until he saw a light coverlet folded at the foot of the bed. He shook it out and spread it over Naruto, Lee and their dragons. Then went back out to thank Kurenai for all that she had done.
TBC…
This chapter wore me out! Next up … settling in and evaluations to be posted Friday or Saturday.