lostmoonchild: Thanks for the reviews, guys! My muse has honestly been beating me senseless with some parts of this story (especially with Sasuke's motives) so it's fascinating watching this whole thing play itself out. Right now my muse and I are having several discussions since I'm not quite to the point where Itachi dies but I'm past Gaara losing Ichibi. So here's the chapter, guys, and I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.

Chapter Nine

The one thing that she knew she liked to do at the playground was play on the swings. The feeling that came with rushing forward before going backwards was nothing like she had ever really felt before and if Naruto wasn't paying attention then she could go as high as she wanted. Why he thought she was going to fall and break her neck if she went too high was beyond her but maybe he was just being a little spooked. Maybe he had done that once and thought that she might.

A silent yelp left her lips as somebody suddenly grabbed the swing she was sitting in and pulled back. The sudden change in direction sent the girl flying to the ground, a sudden flash of pain shooting from her knees catching her attention. "Ow…" Hisoka mouthed as she looked at her bloody knees.

"So you really don't say anything. What a freak."

Gray eyes focused on the source of the voice and she frowned slightly in confusion when she saw two older kids standing with the swing she had been playing on between them. What did they want? "We heard that you're being taken care of by Uzumaki Naruto." The girl said with a small smile.

The girl's smile wasn't warm and Hisoka fought the urge to shiver. She wasn't going to be scared by anybody. Giving a small nod, Hisoka continued to stare at them. What was the big deal? "My okaa-san says that you're trying to cause Sasuke Uchiha trouble. She doesn't think that you're telling the truth." The other girl said with a cool frown.

"They used to be teammates, you know. Uzumaki and Sasuke were best friends until Uzumaki tried to kill him."

They were lying. Naruto wouldn't do anything like that. He would have told her if he and Sasuke had been best friends. Even if he had told her there was no way she was going to believe that he had ever tried to kill Sasuke! Naruto had never hurt anybody in front of her! Sasuke always hurt her when he got mad! He must have been the one that tried to kill Naruto! "Liars!" Hisoka signed angrily.

Both girls looked at each other as if asking the other what she had said. "It's true." The first girl said patiently. "Everybody knows that Uzumaki is a murderer. He killed lots of people a long time ago."

No. Naruto told her that hurting people wasn't what life was about. He told her that she should avoid hurting people just because she could. Naruto was a shinobi and she knew that he'd have to hurt people if he was told to but she wasn't a shinobi. She shouldn't hurt people for any reason since everybody had a dream they wanted to make real.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she scrambled to her feet and ran away from the two older girls, ignoring the sound of their laughter. She'd ask him! There was no way that they could be right. Naruto would tell her that they were lying and everything would be okay.

As she jumped into Naruto's arms, she could feel the surprise that radiated off of him. "Hey, what happened? Hi-Hi, what happened?" Naruto asked gently as he looked her over. "You banged your knees up pretty good. How'd you master that? Come on, we'll go home and get you cleaned up."

He wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with the girl but he was absolutely positive that it wasn't her knees that bothered her. She never cried when she scraped or cut herself so something had made her cry. What was it? Now he was wishing he had paid more attention when she was playing on the swings instead of trying to study that stupid parenting book.

Hisoka continued to sniffle when they got to the apartment, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. Her knees stung a little as Naruto cleaned them before putting bandages on her knees. "Good as new." Naruto said brightly.

"Naruto?" There was uncertainty on the girl's face as she looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Were you and Sasuke ever friends?"

There was a look of absolute desperation in the girl's eyes as if she wanted to know the truth but was afraid of if the truth was that they were. Naruto sighed softly as he knelt in front of her, his eyes calm. "Did you hear that at the park?" Naruto questioned patiently.

Hisoka nodded in response. "I guess Granny Tsunade was right. You would hear it from someone else if I didn't open my mouth." Naruto said with a forced smile. "Come on. I want to show you something."

She followed him to his bedroom and watched as he got something from his dresser drawer. Confusion showed on her face when she realized that it was a picture. "Naruto?" There was worry on her face as if she were afraid he'd show her something bad.

"It's okay. It's just an old picture."

She jumped onto the couch and nestled against him. She could see Kakashi's face as well as Naruto and Sakura. They really hadn't changed much but did Sakura really have long hair when she was younger? She looked so much nicer with short hair instead of long hair and Hisoka was happy that the pinkette had cut her hair. "This was taken before any of the crap with Orochimaru and long before Sasuke decided to take off to join the snake bastard." Naruto told her.

Fear filled the girl as Naruto moved his thumb, revealing the face that had haunted her nightmares with the same furiousness that Orochimaru and Kabuto did. "When this picture was taken, we were twelve. Back then, Sasuke and I were best friends and also rivals. Then he decided to walk on a path that I didn't dare take for tons of reasons." Naruto told her. "He wanted to get stronger to kill someone and decided that only the snake bastard could give him that power."

"What about you and Sakura?" Hisoka asked, her face showing fear.

"Sakura-chan trained under Granny Tsunade and I trained under a guy named Jiraiya." Naruto explained. "Granny Tsunade and Jiraiya were the snake bastard's teammates."

Was it just her or did everybody she like have some kind of connection with someone that she absolutely hated? What kind of cruel joke was it that had people she liked once being friends with someone she hated? "The snake bastard wanted a way to live forever and he took off simply because the way he decided he could live forever was through killing people." There was a look in Naruto's eyes that told her he disagreed with the idea. "Nobody's meant to live forever, Hisoka. It's what you do with the life you're given and the memories you leave behind that lets a person live on even when they're gone."

Hisoka stared at the picture again, inwardly shivering in fear. This was before Sasuke went to Orochimaru and when he and Naruto were actually friends. "If he wanted to hurt me, would you let him?" Hisoka asked finally.

"Hell no! When I see Sasuke again, I'm going to kick his ass for hurting you!"

Naruto watched as Hisoka jumped up and grabbed the newer team picture before she took her place next to him. He could tell she was memorizing the differences between Sai and Sasuke, taking what comfort there was in their differences. "You okay?" Naruto questioned.

Hisoka nodded slightly as she put the picture back and gave Naruto a bright smile. She trusted that he wouldn't let Sasuke hurt her ever again and that Sai wouldn't ever hurt her. As she bounced onto his lap, Naruto could see the smile on her face grow even more. "What?" Naruto questioned as he pulled her up.

Smiling even more, Hisoka hugged him before lowering her middle and index fingers, keeping her other fingers up. Naruto felt his heart skip a beat when he recognized the sign and stared at her with surprise. The little girl was showing him the sign for "I love you" and as he looked into her eyes, Naruto could see very plainly that she meant those three little and yet so great words. "I love you too, Hisoka." Naruto responded with a smile. "Maybe we should talk to Granny Tsunade and see if I can't adopt you."

Nodding brightly, the little girl hugged him as tightly as she could hoping desperately that Tsunade would say it was okay. She wanted to have Naruto as a father and if she needed to, Hisoka knew that she would find the strength to use her voice for the first time in years and she would scream for everybody to know that she wanted her Naruto to be her father.

lostmoonchild: Those three little words have been said and a small amount of peace has been made with Sasuke being Naruto and Sakura's teammate. Can't help but think that's a huge step towards some normality on Hisoka-chan's part. Will Tsunade allow Naruto to adopt the girl knowing that Kyuubi's chakra is gathering in her system? Will they ever discover the reason why that happens or will their search for the answers uncover a dark secret best left forgotten? Find out as "Dark Temptations" continues so read and review!