lostmoonchild: Thanks for the review! This chapter I actually did like a bit and couldn't help but grin a little at "Kakashi-Ji-Ji" whenever it popped up. Now somebody's coming back (nothing bad will happen, I promise) so the next few chapters are gonna focus a bit less on Hisoka and more on the cannon characters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.
Chapter Forty Five
They all knew she was still terrified and from how carefully she was moving, she was still sore. Sakura felt the tears gathering again as she watched Hisoka cling to Naruto while watching Kakashi with a look that clearly said she was trying to determine if he was a member of the Uchiha clan or if he had simply gotten caught up in an experiment. From how she'd slowly inch towards him, she was leaning more towards the latter.
Finally Hisoka crawled onto Kakashi's lap and gave him a bright smile. "You have a bad eye." Hisoka said with a suddenly serious expression. "How come?"
He really shouldn't have been surprised that the girl associated the Sharingan as a "bad eye" although it was amusing to see how serious she could make herself look. "It's a long story." Kakashi told her with an amused look. He couldn't help it that it was funny how she was trying to be serious.
Hisoka huffed slightly before moving Kakashi's forehead protector out of the way and gently prying his eye open. She felt fear curling around in the pit of her stomach as she stared at the crimson orb before taking a deep breath. This was Kakashi-Ji-Ji. He kept his eye covered so she wouldn't be scared of him. That eye was how come everybody called him the Copycat ninja. "It don't hurt." Hisoka said finally.
"No."
"But you're not Uchiha."
"Nope." Kakashi smiled softly as he looked at her. "Did you ever hear about the Third Great Shinobi War?"
Slowly Hisoka nodded. "Lots of people died cause there weren't medics in every team. That's why Granny Tsunade made a rule that every team needs one medic." Hisoka looked confused. "Why's that important?"
Kakashi sighed softly before answering, "When I was first promoted to Jounin, there was a boy on my squad named Uchiha Obito. He was constantly late and had the stupidest excuses."
That explains so much. Naruto and Sakura thought at the same time. "Like you?" Hisoka questioned.
Kakashi bit back a laugh before answering, "Yes. Well, we had been given a mission and during that mission, I got hurt and lost my eye. Obito ended up losing his life and before he died, he had our teammate give me his eye."
Hisoka's fingers lightly traced over the scar, her eyes showing concern. "How come everybody I know had someone I don't like on their team?" Hisoka asked in frustration.
"That's nothing. Your grandma's best friend was Sasuke's mother."
Naruto grinned slightly at the look on his daughter's face before answering, "You just might have to get over your dislike of the Uchiha family, Hi-Hi. Even Grandma Kushina's best friend was an Uchiha."
Hisoka stuck her tongue out before looking serious. "Your eye isn't bad." Hisoka reported. "Only Sasuke-teme's eyes are bad."
Someday he'd tell her that he was the one to teach Sasuke how to perform Chidori but for now he'd let her grow more accustomed to his Sharingan eye. Kakashi lightly mussed up the girl's hair as he covered his eye again not wanting to push the child farther than what she could handle. "You okay now?" Kakashi questioned patiently.
"I don't think so but I know how we can all make it okay."
Curiosity flashed on their faces. "Oh? How?" Kakashi asked lightly.
"We can get ice cream and watch a funny movie. Then maybe after we can get some ramen."
A squeal of laughter left Hisoka's lips as Naruto scooped her into his arms and spun around with her. It really was no wonder why the girl loved spinning so much and as they watched the girl dizzily stumble, they could see that some kind of peace had been given and that while one wound had been torn open, another had been able to begin healing.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Naruto groaned as he sleepily went to the front door, praying that whichever idiot was at the door had a damn good reason for waking him up. "Okay, okay! I'm here!" Naruto said as he opened the door and saw Sakura's grim face. "Sakura? What happened?"
Tears poured down Sakura's face as Naruto led her into the apartment, trying to keep from crying. "Sasuke's back. ANBU just brought him into Tsunade's office." Sakura told him.
Naruto fell backwards onto the couch in shock. His blue eyes showed disbelief and stared at Sakura in shock before looking back towards the bedrooms. "You need to pack some clothes for her and get our precious out of here." Kyuubi told him. "Send a letter to let Gaara know it's time."
"How soon-"
"Immediately."
Naruto nodded in understanding as he immediately grabbed an outfit from the laundry basket that lie next to the couch. His heart raced as he grabbed the small backpack from the hall closet and began packing up some clothes and his daughter's hairbrush as well as toothbrush. "Mmm… Daddy?" Hisoka murmured sleepily as Naruto helped her stand up. "What's going on?"
"It's okay, honey. We need to go talk to Granny Tsunade and those old bastards then you're gonna go visit Gaara for a little while."
Hisoka frowned as she struggled to wake up more before murmuring, "Visit Gaara? Why? Did I do something bad?"
"No, honey. Something just came up and once you're done talking to Granny Tsunade you get to go visit your godfather for a little while. You'll even get to see Kenji and Nii-san."
Something was going on and whatever it was, it was something possibly bad. She couldn't remember the last time Naruto had tried to dress her as quickly. "I'm tired." Hisoka told him.
"I know, honey. Auntie Sakura's in the living room waiting for us so we need to hurry."
Hisoka grabbed San and held the stuffed toy close as Naruto hurried to his room to get dressed. "What happened, Kyuu-chan?" Hisoka asked softly.
"It's okay, precious. We'll keep you safe." Kyuubi responded patiently.
"From what?"
"Don't worry about it."
Hisoka wrapped her arms and legs around Naruto as he picked her back up, her sleepy eyes focusing on Sakura's tearstained face. "So what happened? How'd they catch him?" Naruto demanded as they flitted through the abandoned streets.
"Apparently he walked right up to ANBU."
ANBU caught someone and Sakura was crying? Did somebody get hurt? Hisoka shifted slightly as she watched a couple of ANBU members following them. "Daddy, there's ANBU." Her eyes focused on one of the masks. "How come they're following in the open?"
She remembered Kakashi telling her once that ANBU often watched their targets from the shadows and that if they were ever watching from the open, to never openly show concern. It was always a smart idea to watch them but to never let them realize that you know they were watching. Right now she didn't think it mattered any since they were all a fairly decent distance away from them. "Something happened earlier." Naruto responded.
"I was sleeping!"
"I know, baby. Just calm down." Naruto set her down when they arrived, taking the time to straighten out her shirt.
It was possibly her favorite one and Naruto knew it. Dark brown in color with long sleeves that flowed over his daughter's lower arms and hands, it was clearly the most comfortable one she had. While it wouldn't be good for her to wear in the desert during the daytime, he had a feeling that whoever was taking Hisoka to Suna would be traveling at night.
Naruto brushed Hisoka's dark hair away from her eyes, smiling softly when his eyes fell on the strands of multi-colored hair. They blended together and into the ebony strands creating an illusion that the light played with her colors. He didn't know what in the world he had done to deserve such a beautiful daughter but he knew he'd be damned if he gave her up forever.
Taking a deep breath and giving his daughter a comforting look, Naruto led the child into Tsunade's office praying that they could get through this before the night was done.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
"I don't want to leave."
Naruto felt his heart clench painfully in his chest as he looked at his daughter, seeing her arms wrapped around Shikamaru's neck as she stared at him with pleading eyes. He didn't want her to leave either but it was going to be for her own good. He was going to more than likely get the living hell beaten out of him by the few that blamed him for Sasuke's defection and he didn't want to chance his daughter meeting the same fate. "I know. That's why Shika-kun and Anko-chan are going to be going with you." Naruto took a note out of his pocket. "I want you to give this to Gaara. Tell him it's from Konoha's future Hokage."
Hisoka made a face as she took the letter, her gray eyes showing amusement and confusion. "We're playing mission?" Hisoka questioned.
"Yep. Rules are the same as before. No peeking and no matter what, it needs to get delivered."
"M'kay."
Naruto gave Shikamaru a look that told the Nara exactly what needed to be done. "Troublesome Uchiha." Shikamaru sighed. "Don't worry, we'll deliver Hi-chan to Lord Kazekage himself."
Feeling comforted, Naruto kissed his daughter's forehead and watched as the three vanished into the night. Even though he could no longer see her, Naruto could still feel his daughter's eyes staring back at him. Mishima, watch over our daughter. She needs it more than ever now. Naruto thought before flitting back to Tsunade's office where he knew that hell would truly break loose within an hour.
lostmoonchild: Suna, brace yourself! Okay, I admit it was heartwrenching to have Hisoka leave Konoha for Suna for a while but I couldn't see Naruto wanting to keep his daughter in Konoha when shit was about to hit the fan. I mean, Naruto's attempting to be a responsible parent (how well he's managing, I'm not entirely positive) and I'd say that trying to keep his kid away from both Sasuke and any of Sasuke's supporters in Konoha is responsible. So here's there's this week's chapter, read and review!