lostmoonchild: Ohayo! So I was painting a shoebox pink for my cosplay stuff (already have one that's brown but that's getting full and I don't want to mix up my cosplay boxes) when my muse grabbed a metal bat and began beating me senseless shouting "It's Friday again, you idiot!" Thanks for the review and I'm actually pleased to say that Hisoka's biological mother now has a name. What that name is, you guys will find out in the next couple chapters.

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

Chapter Thirteen

They were arriving a lot faster than what he thought they would. Were they all really that eager to see if an innocent child was now a greater threat than the Akatsuki? He didn't know how any of them would be able to justify deciding whether or not a child lived or died. Hell, Hisoka didn't even know that her entire future depended on their first impression of her.

"You seem to be serious about something."

Naruto looked behind him and grinned when he saw Gaara. "Gaara!" Naruto cheered as he jumped up. "Long time no see!"

Gaara allowed a ghost of a smile to show on his face as he studied the blonde carefully. He didn't look like he had slept well for a few days and there was a look of worry in his eyes but overall the blonde looked as if he had been doing well. "You look tired." Gaara commented as they started walking.

"Hisoka kept waking me up last night. Wanted to know when everybody was showing up." He laughed a little. "If anybody tells you that raising a kid's easy, they're lying."

There was an adoring tone in Naruto's voice that told the redhead that the blonde truly did care about the girl. "Are all nights like that?" Gaara questioned.

"Most of the time. The snake bastard had her so we've been dealing with the fallout on that one."

"I don't need to meet with Lady Hokage for a short while. Perhaps I can meet the girl?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto smiled bright as he nodded. "Hell yeah! I think she'd love to meet you. Sai's got her right now and I'm fairly certain he's trying to teach her how to handle a sword." Naruto's eyes darkened slightly at that. "It's like he's trying to get her into ANBU before we even know if she wants to be a shinobi."

Immediately Gaara raised an eyebrow. "Do you think she'd be able to handle the mission types that kunoichi are entrusted with?" Gaara questioned.

"I don't know. I really don't want her to be a kunoichi but she doesn't really seem that fascinated by civilian life."

"Perhaps she figures that if she follows in your footsteps she'll be able to help somebody the same way you helped her."

With each step that they took, Gaara felt a pleasant tingling sensation in his chest. He couldn't help but feel as if they were both being pulled in the same direction. "Hi-Hi." Naruto said simply as if answering some unasked question. "When I found her, I could feel her pulling me towards her about two miles or so away from Orochimaru's hideout."

"Two miles?"

"Give or take. She's mute so don't get offended if she doesn't say anything."

Gaara nodded slightly and stopped when Naruto stopped, teal eyes following blue before focusing on a little girl wearing an orange dress that was spinning around with her arms extended. "Is that her?" Gaara questioned.

"Yep. That's Hisoka."

"She seems… lively."

"I think she's sucking up more Bijuu chakra than normal. I guess Killer Bee's showing up too to give his opinion and then there's you. Hopefully if she does suck any bit of Bijuu chakra out of you it won't be much."

He didn't feel weak or anything but he did feel better as if he had slept for an entire week. "Unless she's decided unconsciously that I'm injured and need a little extra protection so she's sending what chakra she's taken for herself and giving it to me." Gaara replied patiently before noticing that the little girl had noticed them.

Naruto laughed as Hisoka charged towards them, pretending to stumble backwards when she jumped into his arms. From how her eyes shone with happiness, it was clear to Gaara that the girl absolutely adored the blonde as much as he adored her. "Hisoka-chan, this is my friend Gaara." Naruto told the girl. "Gaara, this is Hisoka-chan."

"Hello."

Hisoka stared at him and for a moment Gaara wasn't entirely sure what else he should do. He had no experience with normal children so what was he going to do with a child that was psychologically damaged? Would he do anything that would set the girl off? Just what exactly set her off?

He started when Hisoka leapt from Naruto's arms over to him, her thin arms wrapping tightly around his neck as she grinned at him. "I told you she'd like you." Naruto laughed.

Gaara set the girl back down and studied her features carefully. He knew better than to judge someone by their looks alone and that all gut feelings were to be taken seriously but all his gut told him was that she was innocent of whatever the hype was. "I didn't say anything." Gaara responded. "How are you?"

The girl smiled brightly at him before tugging on his hand, trying to pull him towards the swings. "Push me?" Hisoka questioned with a hopeful look. "Please?"

"Another time maybe." Gaara told the girl. "I need to see Lady Hokage and tell her that I'm here."

His hand dropped as Hisoka let him go, her eyes showing realization and understanding. "You're one of the important people Naruto said was coming to see me." Hisoka told him.

"Yes."

"I'm not bad. I heard the ladies at the hospital say that people were coming cause I was bad." Her eyebrows furrowed. "I don't think I was bad. I didn't mean to push the doctor away but he didn't feel good. I don't like people that don't feel good. They make my tummy burn and then they get pushed away and I don't feel good so Naruto has to stay near me until I feel better. That hurts his training time."

Naruto knelt down in front of the girl, his blue eyes showing sorrow. "I told you that's no big deal. Uncle Kakashi understands that when you don't feel good, I need to stay with you until you feel better." Naruto told her.

It was remarkable that she chose to both mouth and sign her words instead of just doing one or the other. Gaara glanced at the pale raven and saw the lack of surprise in his eyes. "Hisoka-chan gets rather concerned about Naruto-kun and everybody else that she's taken a liking to." Sai stated calmly. "I do not doubt that my opinion will be requested from the other Kages, Lord Kazekage."

Now he had the feeling that any of the shinobi that had the pleasure of being near the girl for even a few minutes would tell them the same thing. "More than likely everybody will be asked."

Hisoka's eyes widened in fear. "I don't want anybody to get into trouble because of me!" Hisoka told him.

"No one's in trouble." Gaara tried to reassure her. "I promise."

There was caution in the girl's eyes as she carefully searched for any signs that he was lying. "Hisoka, no one's in trouble." Naruto told her. "Before Granny Tsunade said we couldn't leave Konoha, we were gonna go to Suna and you woulda met Gaara there."

Nodding slightly in understanding, Hisoka grinned at Gaara. Since he and Naruto both said that nobody was in trouble, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to talk to them. Besides, she liked Gaara even if he didn't really feel like either Naruto or Sai. He made her stomach feel strange but it wasn't a bad strangeness and whenever she looked at him, she could hear "one" faintly whispering in her head whereas Naruto always had "nine" whispering. Nobody else made the whispering start so what made them different?

Taking Naruto's hand into her own, Hisoka grinned up at them as if saying that she wasn't scared anymore. There was absolute faith in her eyes that everything would turn out for the better and none of the men could help but have faith that she was right. No matter which way the other Kages voted, Gaara knew that the girl was more than welcome to hide in Suna for however long was necessary. Silently conveying the message to Naruto, he couldn't help but smile faintly at the large grin that spread across Naruto's face. Wherever the girl went, Naruto would follow quickly behind.

"Can he come over for supper?" Hisoka questioned, her gray eyes showing curiosity. "Please?"

Naruto laughed as if the girl had just told a joke, his blue eyes dancing with excitement. "How about it, Gaara? Wanna come over for supper?" Naruto questioned.

It was a common question that Hisoka asked when she liked somebody, Sai knew, so he wasn't offended that he hadn't been invited. With how often the group was around the girl, there wasn't any surprise to be held when she'd ask Naruto if somebody could eat with them. "I'd be glad to." Gaara replied.

The three men watched as the girl silently cheered and clapped her hands as she jumped around in a circle. "It's really a wonder she wakes up so many times in a night, dickless." Sai commented lightly. "I don't think she's sat down for more than five minutes today."

"Of course not. Sitting down's the worst thing on the planet." Naruto chuckled. "Come on, Hi-Hi. Let's go pick up something for supper. Thanks for watching her, Sai. Gaara, we'll see you later."

Gaara nodded slightly as he watched the two walked off, seeing the look of pure joy on the girl's face. "He seems to be filling the parent role quite well." Gaara commented.

Sai nodded slightly before replying, "I believe that Naruto-kun has indeed benefited from caring for Hisoka-chan. He loves her more than what anybody else could and if anything were to happen to her, I do not believe he would recover."

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

He wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting when he arrived at Naruto's new apartment but whatever it had been, it clearly wasn't this. "You came! You came!" Hisoka cheered as she pulled him into the apartment. "Would you like anything to drink? We have water, milk, and tea."

It was rather impressive that Naruto was teaching her manners since the last time he checked, the blonde's manners were that of a little kid's. "Not right now thank you." Gaara told the girl before nodding to Naruto. "I didn't think this would be better than your last apartment."

"People have more sympathy when there's a sickly looking kid. Now you can't even tell she was a living skeleton. Ino's actually a bit jealous since Hisoka's still thin."

Hisoka rolled her eyes at Naruto before smiling brightly at Gaara. He felt like the sand in the playground to her just like Naruto felt like fire. "Come on! We've got the food all ready and everything! Naruto didn't even burn any of it this time!" Hisoka said happily as she pulled him towards the kitchen.

Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow at Naruto, seeing the sheepish look on his face. "I don't burn food that often. Just often enough that Hisoka's picked up how to cook the dishes that I've burned." Naruto chuckled. "It's all edible anyway."

As the evening progressed, Gaara found himself enjoying the unique way the girl looked at the world. He could still see that she was anxious about several things but she was steadily moving past it. "I had to admit that I was worried when you said that she had been in Orochimaru's keep when you found her." Gaara stated when Hisoka had gone to get ready for bed. "My experiences with children in general are limited."

Naruto laughed a bit as he answered, "I was scared as hell too. Then I realized how much she needed me and until a few days ago, I didn't realize just how badly she needed me."

"Does it bother you knowing that she's taking the Kyuubi's chakra from your body?" Gaara inquired.

"Not really. Don't tell anybody but Kyuubi's been saying that she only takes so much for herself and leaves the rest for him and me. From what I've been able to get him to tell me, the family had some kind of disagreement starting when the Bijuu first started getting sealed up." Naruto sighed a little as he scratched his head. "Now that Hisoka's popped up, he thinks that the ones that were captured will try harder to get away from the Akatsuki."

Gaara glanced towards the girl's bedroom suddenly having the feeling that she was letting them talk in private. "That topic hasn't really been addressed. What if they were to realize Hisoka's existence?" Gaara questioned. "Hasn't the Uchiha already tried to take Hisoka from you?"

"Sasuke-teme did, yeah."

"But not the older one."

"Not yet. They just might be waiting to kill two birds with one stone since Kyuubi thinks that she might be able to control Jubi."

The redhead stared at the blonde, seeing the solemn look in his eyes. "Do you think she'd be able to?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto shrugged a little before answering, "I don't know. I think she realizes that she's different from other people but she hasn't really figured out why she's different. Taking demonic chakra is more of a subconscious thing and she's using that to defend herself and anybody with a Bijuu."

So she was essentially a Bijuu and Jinchuuriki guardian. "I can see why there are those that are nervous. I have no doubts that my father would have been eager to claim her life before it was decided."

"I don't think anybody's going to kill her. There's been people watching us until about fifteen minutes or so before you came over." Naruto responded simply. "If Hisoka noticed I don't know but I doubt it."

Before Gaara could respond, a blur of black and pink darted over and jumped onto his lap with a book and San in tow. "Read to me please?" Hisoka asked.

Gaara stared at the book in the girl's hand before giving Naruto a bewildered look. "It's something we started when she was in the hospital. After her shower and she's in her pajamas, she picks a story to have read to her. That's her favorite."

"And this is San!" Hisoka said with a pleased look. "Naruto gave him to me."

It was amusing to see the look of surprise on Gaara's face as he took the book only to have Hisoka nestle tightly against him, her thumb moving to her mouth as she clutched San tightly against her. As he began to read, Naruto watched as Hisoka's eyelids began to close. "She thinks he's injured." Kyuubi told Naruto. "It's kind of amusing and would be even more amusing if she wasn't using my chakra in an attempt to heal him."

"She fell asleep."

Naruto looked at Gaara for a moment before looking down at Hisoka, almost amazed at how quickly she had fallen asleep. "Wow. Normally she doesn't fall asleep that quickly." Naruto laughed as he got up. "Hold on, I'll move her back to her bed."

"It's okay. I don't mind." Gaara said softly. "It feels… nice."

If it had been anybody other than Gaara, Naruto would have beaten them into a bloody pulp. Flopping back onto the couch the blonde laughed softly in understanding. "Won't this count as being a bit biased or something?" Naruto questioned.

"I'd be considered biased due to our friendship so it doesn't matter." Gaara stated calmly.

"I guess. So how are your duties as Kazekage been going?" Naruto questioned. "Your old bastards pushing for you to get married yet?"

Smiling faintly, Gaara began explaining the headaches that the council in Suna's been giving him knowing full well that the blonde would pay close attention.

lostmoonchild: I couldn't let the whole Gaara reading to a kid thing go without at least poking at it once and honestly think that it's just precious. For someone that thought he was going to set off an episode, he did fairly well at making her fall asleep quickly. Okay, so I'm gonna vanish until next week so I'll see you guys then! Read and review!