lostmoonchild: Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Naruto will have a love interest (actually got a good laugh yesterday when I wrote the love interest meeting Sasuke for the first time) so I've already got the whole date written out as well as other things. So here's this week's chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.
Chapter Thirty Two
Sakura would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't nervous to be giving a report to the five Kages knowing full well that one of the five had seen everything she had done. No, she wasn't going to be reporting anything illegal. She was just going to report that she had done an examination and healed the worst of a child's wounds while surrounded by demons. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary there.
She knew that she had already given her report before and wondered why exactly they wanted to see her again. Was there something they thought was inaccurate? Did they think she had purposely withheld something important? No, anything she may have withheld was agreed was unimportant although she was fairly certain that Tsunade had been amused to find that the demons had chased away their captors.
"You called for me?" Sakura questioned with a small bow.
"Uzumaki Hisoka will be discharged from the hospital today, is that correct?" Lady Mizukage questioned.
"Yes, Lady Mizukage."
"Sakura, tell Naruto that we want to talk to Hisoka about what had happened." Tsunade said calmly.
Sakura nodded slightly in understanding before answering, "Yes, Lady Hokage. If I may, I'd like to suggest that nobody yells around Hisoka. From how often Naruto left last night, it's safe to assume that Hisoka-chan didn't have a good night last night."
Gaara resisted the urge to nod in agreement. Every time Naruto had been called to the hospital to tend to the suddenly hysterical child, Gaara found himself being brought along. He never thought that using one's fingers or hand to mimic the beats of a heart against a child's back or leg would calm a child down but this was an educational experience for him.
Now tonight he knew that the girl would be in his house and he deeply suspected that she would choose to snuggle against either him or Naruto if they slept in their respective rooms. What would he do if she woke during the night from a nightmare? Could he calm her down quickly enough that she didn't wake the entire household? "You appear to be nervous about something, Lord Kazekage." Tsunade commented.
"I was just remembering that Hisoka will be sleeping in my house since that's where Uzumaki Naruto and the others are currently staying." Gaara replied. "I find myself hoping she'll sleep the whole night through."
"Slip her some sake and she'll crash in about ten minutes," came Tsunade's reply.
Gaara fought back the look of shock that wanted to cross his features and from the look that had appeared on the blonde Hokage's face, she had actually slipped Hisoka some sake once or twice. "You've exposed Naruto's daughter to alcohol when she's not even ten yet?" Gaara questioned.
"If you look at her chronological age instead of physical and emotional, she's technically old enough." Tsunade smiled a bit. "But if you're going to be Mister Morals about it then give her warm milk and she'll crash in three minutes."
Warm milk, got it. "I still don't think it's a good idea to let her be around the Jinchuuriki if we know that they've transformed against their wills for her." Lord Raikage stated coolly.
"They both claimed that it was a mutual feeling between them and their Bijuu." Lord Tsuchikage reminded the younger man.
"Besides, would you honestly keep a child away from her father?" Tsunade questioned. "We all know that Naruto is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki but he is also Hisoka's biological father."
"She's survived five years without him."
"Barely. Besides, you don't know what tricks Naruto's been teaching her like the shinobi of Konoha and myself do. If she wants her father badly enough, not even ANBU would be able to keep her away."
The Kages stopped when they heard a knock on the door and watched as Naruto entered the room with Hisoka holding onto his hand. "Behave." Naruto told his daughter. "I mean it."
Hisoka pouted slightly before bowing slightly to the Kages. "Hello, Hisoka-chan. How are you feeling today?" Lady Mizukage questioned.
"Very well, thank you. And yourself?" Hisoka questioned.
Seriously? This kid was really Naruto's kid? "Very well, thank you. It's nice to see that you're still so polite."
"Daddy says I can't show off the words I learned from Sai and Kiba. They're too colorful."
Of course, that explained so much. "We've received reports that you've shown off the extent of your abilities." Lord Raikage stated.
Hisoka hesitated a moment before answering, "Sasuke-teme and that older man were hurting the Bijuu. Besides, they just want to go home."
"They as in the Bijuu? They are monsters!"
"They're no different than people that are locked up!" Hisoka shouted. "They wanted to go home and the reason they were bad was because everybody was killing the people they wanted to protect them! Some of them were even mad at the people like me that wanted to use them to hurt everybody!"
"Hisoka." Tsunade said patiently, causing the girl to immediately fall silent. "Please calm yourself."
Hisoka puffed her cheeks out angrily before blowing as hard as she could. Nobody had ever seen Naruto do that so it was safe to assume it was a trait she had picked up from her mother. "We want to talk to you about what happened while you were in the Akatsuki's keep." Gaara told her. "Just tell them exactly what you've already told Lady Hokage and myself. Who did you see?"
The girl fidgeted and whined slightly as she twisted the hem of her shirt in her hands. "Suigetsu, Karin, Sasuke-teme," none of the Kages bothered to hide their amusement at the nickname, "Juugo, and Madara."
"Madara?" Tsunade questioned.
"Uh huh. The old Uchiha man. San-kun said that he could feel the bad eyes when the old Uchiha man came with the bomb girly-man." Hisoka replied. "All the Bijuu could sense the bad eyes but only San-kun really saw it."
"You're absolutely certain that the man's name is Madara?" Tsunade asked.
Hisoka nodded. "Even Kyuu-chan says that it was the old Uchiha bastard." Hisoka replied.
Naruto groaned as he listened to his daughter, wondering if he could really get after his daughter for telling the truth about the Uchiha clan being full of bastards. "Language, Hisoka. I know you don't care for the Uchiha clan but please refrain from everything you've learned from Kiba and Sai."
"Okay."
"Please tell us what happened."
Hisoka frowned slightly before answering, "I stopped eating cause I thought they were gonna put something in my food. If they tried to touch me, I shot the demon chakra at them. Then Sasuke decided to make his eyes go bad and I saw bad things in my head. Then I guess he started hitting me."
"You guess?"
"I don't really remember. I know my body hurt and I felt really bad like someone gave me snake poison. Orochimaru did that just to watch people hurt."
Lord Raikage cleared his throat before answering, "You shot demon chakra at them?"
Hisoka nodded with a bright smile on her face. "Go-chan didn't like Sasuke the most so if Sasuke went after me, I just used Go-chan's chakra and Sasuke started twitching like this."
She started twitching as if she had been electrocuted before grinning brightly. "You electrocuted him?" Tsunade questioned.
"He used Chidori on me. Everybody said it was almost poetic, whatever that means. I had to stay away for a little while or Sasuke would throw kunai at me. Ichi-kun didn't like that and said some bad words."
"Some?" Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow.
"Okay, a lot of bad words." The girl immediately looked away from them, her eyes showing interest in something.
The Kages watched the girl for a moment before Lord Tsuchikage questioned, "Is something wrong?"
"Shichi-chan."
"What about the Shichibi?" Tsunade questioned.
A soft whine left the girl's lips before answering, "I don't know. Feels wrong."
"Wrong how?"
A look of discomfort showed on the child's face as she immediately grabbed the tuft of hair that she must have associated with the Shichibi. "I don't know! I can't explain it. It hurts."
Immediately Tsunade went over to the child and began trying to examine her only to have the child squirm away. "Hisoka, stop." Tsunade said.
"It hurts!"
Naruto felt Kyuubi's chakra trying to wrap around the child in a comforting manner, watching as the other Bijuu's chakra started trying to do the same. "Let's go check on Shichi-chan then." Naruto said as he picked his daughter up, grateful Tsunade was letting him step in. "You might not have gotten enough of his chakra."
Whines left the child's lips as the Kages followed the two, each of them impressed when Hisoka bit back the whines and buried her face in Naruto's jacket. "I can't believe we're going to see the Bijuu." Lord Raikage grumbled softly.
They immediately moved to a defensive position when Shichibi appeared and settled on the sand long enough for Naruto to release his daughter so she could run to the Bijuu. They stared in shock in amazement as the demon wrapped its legs around the child before flittering a small ways up and moving side to side. "What in the world?" Lady Mizukage asked softly.
"They like her."
Hisoka nuzzled her face against the insect demon before wrapping her legs around it. "It's okay. I'm here. It's okay." Hisoka murmured, her discomfort still evident.
Shichibi buzzed slightly, one of its legs stroking her back. "Shino just may appreciate that." Naruto commented as he leaned against a rock. "Freaking creepy."
"One would think that you'd be used to creepy by now, kit." Kyuubi stated simply.
Yeah, but getting hugs by bugs just isn't my idea of normal.
"And having the King of the Bijuu is?"
Shut up.
Naruto didn't know exactly why the demon was anxious but he was impressed by how often the demon would just stop and hover so Hisoka could move to a more comfortable position. "This isn't natural." Lord Raikage said softly. "Demons aren't supposed to be affectionate. It must want to eat her."
They watched as Hisoka managed to brush her hands against the demon's head, clearly not afraid of falling. She made no signs of distress as the demon's tail wrapped around her waist before its arms released her. "No, I think it wants to make sure she's okay." Tsunade said, her voice containing wonder.
Never before had she ever thought that a demon could show any signs of being civil to anybody and from the amount of affection that was being displayed from the demon, it was nothing short of remarkable to the blonde Hokage. "Hisoka, can you and the Shichibi come down here for a moment?" Tsunade asked.
"What are you planning, Lady Hokage?" Gaara asked.
"I'm going to see something."
They watched as Shichibi flew down, not wanting to relinquish Hisoka for even a moment. "Something wrong?" Hisoka asked, her eyes showing concern.
"Are you feeling better?"
"I didn't get enough of Shichi-chan's chakra." Hisoka responded simply. "It hurt but it doesn't hurt so much now."
Tsunade looked at the demon for a moment before slowly reaching towards it, ignoring the gasps for her to stop. Shichibi moved its head slightly at the first contact before relaxing slightly, ever cautious of the woman's touch. "Amazing." Tsunade murmured.
"See? They're not bad." Hisoka said proudly. "At least, not if I tell them they can't hurt people but Daddy was the one that told them they can't hurt people."
The Kages looked at Naruto, watching as a sheepish look crossed his face. "I figured they'd listen since I'm her dad and everything." Naruto said with an embarrassed look.
Hisoka giggled as Shichibi began playfully moving her side to side before holding her close again. It fluttered around and began playing with the girl, clearly pleased by the squeals of excitement that would leave the child's lips. "You're not the least bit worried, are you?" Gaara questioned lightly as he looked at Naruto.
"Not really. Hi-chan, come on!" Naruto called.
Laughter left the girl's lips as Shichibi dove, allowing the girl to drag her toes across the sand before shooting up into the air again. "That was fun!" Hisoka cheered when she was safety tucked back into her father's arms.
"Seemed like it. Now that you know there's nothing wrong with Shichibi, should we go back to the village?"
Hisoka nodded slightly and waved to the demon as it flew off to wherever it had been hiding before. Offering a small grin, the girl looked at them. "Can they go home yet?" Hisoka questioned. "Please?"
lostmoonchild: I can actually see the Bijuu acting all goofy when it comes to somebody they actually like so I don't think it's that much of a stretch. Um, stay tuned for the next chapter when we discover who will be asked embarrassing questions and the beginning of Naruto's date begins. Until then, read and review!