lostmoonchild: Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Sorry I didn't update last week, I had to work then ended up having so little energy it was insane. Broke down on Monday and went to the quack (seriously, I will not go visit her unless I'm half dead) so now I'm on two meds that are making me pretty sleepy. Anyway, here's last week's chapter!

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

Chapter Forty One

-Hisoka's POV-

The child of a shinobi must always be prepared for the worst. They must keep quiet while their parent studies the details of the given mission in order to help ensure that their parent's mission is a success. If the parent dies in a mission, they can mourn but they must always claim to feel pride that their parent died serving the village.

I poke at my food as Neji glances at me, probably wondering what to do if I don't eat anything. Should he let me eat later or should he just make me wait until the next meal?

I bet now he wishes he had thought to ask somebody before everybody got busy. "How's school?" Neji asks finally, clearly uncomfortable.

"Good."

"Getting caught up?"

"Yeah. I already learned that stuff."

"That's good."

I took a small bite of my food and resisted the urge to crunch up my face at the taste. You've had worse. You actually stole rotten meat from a rat. I thought to myself as I forced myself to take another bite. Clearly Neji wasn't the cooking type. "Your father said that you're working with seals now." Neji told me. "That must be difficult."

He wasn't social, I remembered that much, so he must be making an effort to make me feel welcome. "I like it." I told him. "You don't need to try so hard. Sai's quiet and so is Kakashi. Even Hinata-chan's quiet so you don't hafta try so hard to talk a lot if you don't wanna."

A look of relief crosses his face quickly as I grin at him. I really don't mind people not talking a whole lot and the look on his face tells me that he knows it now. "Would you like to spar after lunch?" Neji asks finally.

"Okay."

Lunch passes quickly by and we're heading off to a training ground. "Neji!" A familiar voice calls when we get to the training ground.

I bite back a groan and hide behind Neji when Rock Lee comes running towards us. Does Neji have to go on a mission too? He shouldn't seeing as Granny Tsunade had already been told who was watching me until Daddy got back. Maybe Lee just wanted to talk to Neji about something.

My attention drifts away from their conversation, which mostly included Lee trying to get Neji to spar against him. I smile softly as I reach out and calmly manipulate the Bijuu's chakra to make a dog. It isn't very good, its shape wobbling and shifting. Without thinking twice about it, I began singing the song that Momma taught me in a dream.

One for each demon
a child born for them.
Nine little guardians
born to condemn.

Nine little guardians
to die for his angel.
Tenth little guardian
keeper of Hell…

In the moon he looks for you.
In the moon he'll wait.
Keep them safe, number ten,
and trust in your own fate.

Find all nine and they will make
Jubi of the Moon.
Find all nine and you will see
the world will end soon.

It sounded pretty when Momma sang it to me and from how easily my chakra creature's form molded as I sang the lullaby, the Bijuu's chakra liked it too. A huge smile spreads across my face as I look at Neji and Lee, frowning when I see the frowns on their faces. Without saying a word, I make the chakra creature vanish. "Daddy said I hafta learn to make animals out of chakra to defend myself." I told them.

"Please don't sing that lullaby in the open again." Neji tells me patiently. "Understand?"

Not really, but I nod anyway. It's gotta be a grownup thing since even Kiba looked nervous when I first sang it. Suddenly looking as if he didn't want to spar against Neji anymore, Lee excuses himself and leaves. "Are we gonna spar?" I ask innocently.

With a small nod, Neji sets the rules for our spar. When all the rules are decided, we begin knowing that he'll take it easy on me.

-End POV-

"Neji."

Neji jolted awake and stared at the child that stood in the doorway, seeing she was wearing different pajamas than when she had gone to bed earlier that night. "What is it?" Neji asked as he got out of bed.

"I had a bad dream."

And something told him that she had wet the bed because of the bad dream. With a small sigh, the Hyuuga got up and brushed his hair away from his eyes. He hated waking up in the middle of the night but he supposed he couldn't be upset. "Let's change the sheets." Neji said with a sigh.

A groan threatened to leave his lips when he saw the wet spot on the bed, a sinking feeling in his gut telling him that the entire futon would need to be cleaned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Hisoka said tearfully.

"It's fine."

Hisoka's thumb immediately went into her mouth, her eyes falling on San. "Is San okay? He's not dirty, is he?" Hisoka asked after pulling her thumb from her mouth.

Neji grabbed the stuff animal, checking carefully for any wet spots. "He's okay." Neji handed the stuffed fox back over to the girl.

When the futon was taken out to be cleaned, Neji yawned and stretched before sighing softly. "Come on. You can sleep next to me." Neji said with a sigh.

Having the child nestled against him was something the Hyuuga wasn't familiar with but took comfort in. He watched as her eyes closed and her breaths evened out as she sleepily rubbed her hand against her nose. If this was what Naruto got to watch almost every night then he envied the blonde. He wouldn't admit it out loud but the scene was actually kind of cute.

Resting his head on his pillow, Neji continued to watch the child sleep until sleep overcame him and he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

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

A grunt left Neji's lips when he felt a foot come in contact with his jaw, his white eyes immediately shooting open as he grabbed a kunai. His entire body relaxed when he realized that it had simply been Hisoka acting out a dream. From how quickly she was breathing and how she was moving, the girl was having another nightmare.

A sigh left the Hyuuga's lips as he carefully shook the child awake, watching as her gray eyes slowly focused on him. Tears gathered in her eyes as she threw her arms around him and began crying into his chest. Just what in the world had the child dreamt of?

Neji was silent as he comforted the child, his white eyes soft as he slowly rubbed her back. "What was it?" Neji asked softly.

"The dogs!"

While he knew the girl was still a little afraid of dogs and absolutely terrified of snakes, Neji had never before heard the reasons behind her fears. "What about the dogs?" Neji asked silently.

A whine left the girl's lips as she grabbed her hair, pulling as hard as she could without tearing the dark locks out. "They attacked me cause he starved them and I killed them! Then I saw Momma and she was sad because I did the bad thing and she killed me!" Hisoka began crying again, her head shaking as she pulled her hair still.

Neji sighed softly as he gently made the girl let go of her hair. "Hisoka, you are here. You aren't dead." Neji told her. "What's done is done and you need to work on getting past everything. Fate had brought your father to your rescue and you to Konoha for a reason. Do you understand me?"

Slowly the child nodded. "Yes," she whispered.

"Good. Now let's go back to sleep seeing as you've got school in the morning."

Feeling her fidget until her head was pressed against his armpit, Neji watched as the girl's eyes closed again and it was nearly an hour before her breaths evened out in sleep enough to allow the Hyuuga to fall into a light sleep.

lostmoonchild: I couldn't resist having Neji take care of a kid. Maybe it's just me but he seems kind of awkward when it comes to kids and I like poking at awkward. Anyway, I'm gonna get going and finish updating!