lostmoonchild: *singing* Once in a month when the moon is full some secret place shall ye gather- *jumps* Holy crap! It's Friday already? Hehe, I'm currently listening to "I Hear You Calling" by Chalice and Blade while updating stories and getting hyper cause I'm thinking about SoDak in 2012. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.
Chapter Thirty
Time had no meaning to the girl as she dove in and out of consciousness. Everybody's speech was garbled and they blended together. By the fifth day, she had broken free of her temperature and smiled a little when she saw her father's worried blue eyes. "Daddy," she mouthed with a smile.
"Hey, baby. Welcome back." Naruto kissed her fingers as unshed tears gathered. "How're you feeling?"
"Tired." Hisoka responded.
Naruto nodded slightly in understanding, not caring at the moment that his daughter was mouthing words. "You were pretty sick, honey." Naruto murmured. "Gaara sent a letter to Granny Tsunade telling her that we got you back but you needed to be in the hospital."
"Where are we?" Hisoka asked finally.
"Suna. Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and Hinata are here. Killer Bee's even here too so don't be surprised if you feel Hachibi's chakra."
"What about the others?"
"Hiding. The shinobi from around here get glimpses of them but they haven't attacked any humans or even made any attempts to leave."
Hisoka closed her eyes and smiled faintly when she felt her father's warm hand on her forehead. "I thought I was gonna lose you, Hi-Hi." Naruto told her finally. "We lost your mom already and I don't want to lose you too."
"I'm sorry."
"Just… Just don't try to suck up so much chakra. I know you're a tough kid but too much demonic charka's gonna fuck up your entire chakra system. Hinata's already fixed a few points that were damaged so you got pretty lucky."
Hisoka nodded sleepily before grabbing Naruto's hand and putting it on her head. "Pet my hair?" Hisoka questioned sleepily.
Naruto smiled softly as he began stroking the girl's soft hair, paying no attention to the multicolored locks that now grew. "Go to sleep, honey. I'll be here when you wake up again."
"M'kay."
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
Gaara was used to being the one with insomnia and as he watched Naruto diligently keep watch over the sleeping child, he wondered if a father's love was as strong as a mother's love. "The other Kages are upset over the events that's happened." Gaara told the blonde.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that one."
Gaara leaned against the wall, watching as Hisoka shifted slightly in her sleep. He couldn't deny that she was looking better and from what he understood from the medics, her human chakra was restoring itself while the Bijuu chakra was steadily growing again. It was making many of them nervous. "She'll need to be taken out of the village to blow off the extra chakra." Gaara stated patiently.
"Yeah. You know, I wouldn't blame you if you decided you didn't want to be her godfather anymore."
The blonde yelped in surprise when Gaara slapped the back of his head, the familiar frown showing on the redhead's features. "I agreed even after having heard everything that was wrong with the girl before. Anything that happens afterwards will be accepted as well." Gaara said patiently.
"Then when she wakes up, and I know she will, with a wet bed then you'll have to come with just to see how to get her back to sleep."
"Wet bed?"
"Hi-chan has a problem with keeping sheets dry after a traumatic experience. It's the post traumatic stress thing."
Then he was going to assume the sudden stop in using her voice was another way she expressed her discomfort over a situation. "I see." Gaara said simply. "Very well then."
Naruto kissed Hisoka's forehead, murmuring softly to her something Gaara couldn't hear before he stood up and stretched. "Well, I suppose I'm gonna have to make some kind of report for the record since I know all sorts of hell's gonna be raised." Naruto sighed softly as he looked at Gaara. "Right?"
Gaara nodded slightly before answering, "It can wait until tomorrow if you want."
"Nah, let's get it over with tonight so I can think about what I'm gonna tell Granny Tsunade and everyone else."
"How about the truth?"
"Yeah, but some of it makes her seem like a monster or something."
Okay, he had to give the blonde credit on some of that. If he hadn't been there in person, he wouldn't have believed that the girl was trying to defend herself. Hell, he didn't even think he would have believed that the Bijuu were following along willingly if he hadn't seen it for himself.
The redhead watched as Naruto gave the girl one final kiss before following him out of the hospital room. "The doctors think she'll be able to leave in a couple days." Gaara told the blonde.
"Yeah, that's what I heard. I also heard a couple of the nurses are refusing to take care of her."
"I didn't hear about that."
"Just forget it. There's nurses in Konoha that are refusing the same thing."
"I'm impressed you haven't been yelling about it."
Naruto sighed and for the first time that Gaara could remember, Naruto looked defeated. "It pisses me off cause she's a kid and didn't do a damn thing but people are still acting like she's going to destroy everything just to show she can." Naruto said softly. "I know what she wants for the Bijuu but I don't know how to explain that convincing even one person to agree is impossible."
Teal eyes stared calmly at the blonde for a moment before Gaara replied, "If I remember correctly, doing the impossible is something that people with the Uzumaki last name happen to be good at."
"So if she went and told you that she thinks the Bijuu should be allowed to run around under the condition they leave humans alone, you'd go for it?" There was entertainment in Naruto's eyes.
Gaara frowned slightly as he thought, knowing full well that Ichibi would be the one left in the desert. "Since it'd be Ichibi that'd stay here, I don't know." Gaara said finally.
"I don't know either. In some ways I can see why it'd be good but in others, I just don't know if it'll work. I mean, Hi-chan wants to be a kunoichi and if she gets killed while on a mission then all hell's gonna break loose again." Naruto sighed softly. "A kid has pretty interesting dreams. Maybe someday demons and humans will get along."
"I wouldn't count on it but perhaps someday."
Comfortable silence overcame them as they walked back towards Gaara's house knowing that parts of the truth would be taken out. After all, there was no truth that was completely honest in the shinobi world.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
Bored.
That was the one and only word Hisoka could think of to describe her situation at that exact moment. She knew full well that the grownups were off explaining what had happened to Tsunade who had come in only two hours before to make sure she was receiving adequate treatment. Gaara had made it a point to introduce Tsunade to the nurses that would be around her which seemed to make the busty Hokage relax immensely.
Now they were all gone and she was bored out of her mind. She could feel the Bijuu outside the village and smiled softly to herself. This was okay. They were still running free around the village and leaving the humans alone. Had they shown themselves to the Kages before hiding again?
The girl's gray eyes suddenly flickered to the door upon seeing sudden movement, curiosity showing as she leaned forward. "Who's there?" Hisoka questioned.
A boy with medium brown colored hair poked his head into the room, his dark green eyes holding caution. "Are you the demon everybody says is staying here?" The boy questioned.
Hisoka frowned slightly before answering, "I'm not a demon. I'm a girl. My name's Hisoka Uzumaki."
The boy eyed her carefully for a moment as if trying to determine if she really was human. "My name's Kenji Hara." The boy said as he stepped into the room. "Is it true what the grownups are saying? That you can make demons do what you want?"
"I don't know. They just seem to like me." Curiosity showed on Hisoka's face. "How come you're here? You don't look sick or hurt."
"My mom's a medic-nin. Did you have a nurse that has one arm?"
"Uh huh. She came in while Gaara and Granny Tsunade was in here."
Kenji's face paled slightly before he said quickly, "You're supposed to talk respectful about the Kages!"
Hisoka wrinkled her nose before answering; "Daddy calls Gaara by his first name and always calls Granny Tsunade that."
"Who is your dad?"
"Naruto Uzumaki."
Kenji crawled onto the bed, his dark green eyes questioning. "Where's your mom?"
"She died when I was a baby."
Kenji fidgeted slightly before answering, "Sorry. My dad ditched us. He said something about not wanting a cripple for a wife."
"Losing an arm doesn't make you a cripple. I saw this one person that didn't have any arms and they did everything with their feet."
"Nuh huh."
"Uh huh! Then they died in some experiment gone wrong."
Kenji stared for a moment at the sudden look of sadness in Hisoka's eyes. "It's okay. My mom says that the gods take back the people they love most." Kenji said. "She also says that the good people are taken to a really good place where they don't want anything."
Hisoka wrinkled her nose slightly. "What if you don't have anything you want?" Hisoka asked.
"I don't know."
The two children stared at each other for a moment before answering, "You didn't tell me why you're here. Aren't you supposed to be in school or something?" Hisoka asked.
"Day off. Someone blew up the toilets."
"And since you had the day off, you decided to see if there really is a demon in the hospital?" Hisoka laughed a little.
Kenji blushed slightly as he grinned while rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I've never seen a demon before. My mom says they're scary."
Hisoka shook her head. "They're not scary. Most of the time they're mad so that makes them seem scary but they're always nice to me." Hisoka responded.
The two children talked about whatever crossed their minds until a nurse came in. "Kenji! What're you doing here?" The nurse asked.
"Hi, Mom! Hi-chan and I were just talking." Kenji responded.
Hisoka stared at the nurse; seeing that her dark auburn hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and that she was carrying a clipboard. "Hi, Akina-san!" Hisoka said brightly.
"Hello, Hisoka. How are you feeling today?" Akina questioned.
"Good. Can I go outside today?"
"I believe Lord Kazekage said something about you needing to blow off a little bit of chakra. Stick out your tongue please."
Hisoka did as she was asked, watching as Akina wrote down the results. "Hey, Mom, when Hi-chan goes to blow off chakra, can I go with?" Kenji questioned.
"We'll see, honey."
"Well, at least she's behaving herself. Last time I had to take care of something while she was in the hospital, she managed to escape three times within an hour." Naruto laughed as he entered the room.
"Hi, Daddy!"
Akina's face turned slightly red as she looked at Naruto, seeing that the blonde was grinning broadly. "How's my girl doing today?" Naruto questioned.
"Everything seems to be in order, Naruto-sama. Hisoka-chan seems to be doing well this morning and if she continues to improve, she should be allowed to leave the hospital tomorrow."
Naruto grinned as he kissed his daughter's forehead, laughing when she playfully grabbed his hair and lightly pulled. "Daddy, I wanna play with the Bijuu for a little bit. Please? I'm bored."
"I thought you liked the hospital, Hi-chan." Naruto teased.
The girl wrinkled her nose before playfully grabbing her father's hands and pulling. "I'm gonna die of boredom!" Hisoka moaned as she flopped onto her side. "Please, Daddy!"
It was amusing to see how father and daughter reacted around each other. Akina could see plainly that the girl was simply playing around and that Naruto was encouraging the play. "Oh, but what does the good nurse say?" Naruto questioned.
Akina blushed slightly at the smile that Naruto gave her before forcing herself to be serious again. "Lord Kazekage did say that Hisoka-chan was due to release the Bijuu chakra from her body. As long as there is a medic since her body still is very weak, I don't see the problem."
"Awesome! You can come."
"I don't think-"
"Please?"
The dark auburn-haired woman sighed slightly as she thought for a moment. "Very well. Only because I don't want Hisoka-chan to stay here in the hospital. Some of the nurses are talking and-"
"It's okay." Hisoka told the nurse. "Daddy says that life isn't a popularity contest but a lesson. You wanna know something, Akina-san?"
"What?"
Hisoka grinned brightly before answering, "I think so too."
lostmoonchild: Okay, so now that Halloween's done working on chapters isn't going to be a source of "When can I do this?" which means more chapters can get kicked out. So read and review!