lostmoonchild: Thanks for the reviews! Yeah, the last part of the previous chapter was a bit of a filler but there had kind of been hints of Sakura and Sai starting up a relationship. I grin at what's coming up for Sasuke-teme and I hope you guys will too when I decide to post the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.
Chapter Forty Seven
They looked so ragged that Gaara couldn't believe that they had actually traveled three days. Instead they looked as if they had gone further and as a result, traveled longer. "Daddy told me to give you this." Hisoka said as she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "A good kunoichi doesn't peek."
She sounded so proud of herself that it was entertaining. From how Shikamaru and that snake-kunoichi were watching with worry and caution, it was safe to assume that he'd be tending to an unhappy child. "Thank you." Gaara told her as he took the paper. "We don't know how long you'll be staying in Suna but when it's time for you to return to Konoha, I'll send a response back with you."
"Hai!"
Gaara tucked the paper safely into his pocket before looking at the two worn adults. "We've set up accommodations for you both so you may spend a few days resting before you return to Konoha." Gaara responded.
"Arigato." Shikamaru said with a small nod. "We were determined to get Hisoka here as quickly as possible."
Hisoka crawled onto Gaara's lap and grinned as she put his hat over her head. "That's understandable." Gaara said calmly. "I'm grateful that my goddaughter's been delivered here safely."
Although he couldn't say that his goddaughter willingly let Anko and Shikamaru arrive safely. No matter though seeing as he could easily distract the girl while the two adults slept and recovered. "You'll stay here for a while, right?" Hisoka asked as she looked at Shikamaru with a questioning look.
"For a couple days."
She just knew that they were going to leave her in Suna and that they'd probably take off in the dead of night. A surge of anger filled the child as she stared at them before forcing herself to smile. "Okay! I'll have a letter to Daddy ready to go by then!" Hisoka said cheerfully.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow knowing full well that the girl wasn't pleased at all by having to stay in Suna. He just wasn't sure if she was putting on an act for Gaara or to make them think she was trying to be more mature about the whole situation. Something told him, however, that all hell would break loose the moment he and Anko took off back to Konoha.
Bowing slightly to the Kazekage and giving the girl a weary smile, Shikamaru turned and followed Anko out of the room. "I assume that finishing my work will be pointless now that you're here and stealing my hat." Gaara told the girl.
"Yep." Hisoka shifted and stared up at him with solemn eyes. "How come I hafta stay here? I'm not complaining but I wanna know cause Kyuu-chan's there and Ichi-kun's here and if I were gonna make some kind of attack, I'd take out the stronger one first."
Gaara wrapped his arms around the girl, taking comfort in the simple act and the love that radiated from the child. "It's just one of those things." Gaara told her as he removed his hat from her head. "Come on. Let's go pick up some of your milk and we'll go home."
Nodding slightly, Hisoka slipped from his lap and held his hand as they left the office. She didn't know how long she'd be in Suna but she knew for certain that as soon as things worked themselves out in Konoha and it was okay again, Naruto would come for her and they'd be able to be a happy family once again.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
"This is your room. Shikamaru and Anko are just down the hall to the right." Gaara told the child a couple hours later.
Hisoka was silent as she looked around her new room, eyeing everything with caution. Stuff animals were piled up in one corner and a large, soft looking bed rested opposite of the toys. There was even a bookcase that held some children's books she was fairly certain she had already read before but she'd hunt down a library the first chance she got. "Thank you. It's very nice." Hisoka told him as she stared up at her godfather.
Gaara shifted slightly before answering, "I'll leave you to unpack. There are already some clothes here for you. Naruto told me some of the things you like to wear so I took the liberty of getting some for you."
"Thank you."
Watching as he left the room, Hisoka sighed softly when the door closed behind him and immediately tossed her backpack onto the soft bed before wandering over to the window. The streets below were quiet, everybody having retreated inside to escape the hot sun above. She could feel Ichibi's chakra wrapping tenderly around her, directing her to his current location. Everything will be okay. I'll get to go home soon. Hisoka thought as she closed the window and sat down on the floor, her eyes widening slightly. Then someday we'll be okay and nobody will have to be a sacrifice.
Gaara knew from the moment that his goddaughter had seen her room that she wasn't a fan of extravagant. From what he had seen of the child's room back in Konoha, she was more familiar and comfortable with secondhand items. He really wouldn't have been surprised if the girl refused to play in any of the new clothes he bought her or looked at the books.
Nagging "what if" thoughts began crossing the redhead's mind as he fixed himself a cup of tea. A sigh left his lips as he reminded himself that many of the what ifs had already been addressed. If Naruto managed to accomplish his dream of becoming Hokage, Hisoka would need to adjust to living in the luxury that came with being a Kage's child.
Teal eyes read over the note Naruto had written, smiling to himself as he read the letter that Naruto had sent. Everything he needed to know had been provided which thankfully included some of the games that they played. From what he understood from the descriptions, they were both to release chakra as well as work on shinobi skills. At least he wasn't left to completely fend for himself when it came to the girl.
"So I heard my niece got escorted by two people." Kankuro commented as he came into the kitchen.
"Niece?" Gaara questioned.
"Naruto's practically family so the kid might as well be a niece." Kankuro explained simply. "So are the rumors true? The kid got escorted by ANBU and Jounin?"
He knew he was going to regret answering his brother's question. "Nara and that snake mistress." Gaara responded.
Kankuro's eyes lit up with excitement as he looked at his younger brother. "Anko? That snake mistress?" Kankuro asked quickly.
"Yes."
"That kid better sleep good tonight cause-"
"I don't want to hear about your planned activities." Gaara told his brother. "I especially don't want Hisoka to hear even a fraction of your activities. Naruto told me something happened back in Konoha and it set the girl back a few steps. The only good thing that came out of it was that she was able to look at Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan with little to no fear afterwards."
The brunette grinned slightly before answering, "Yeah, well, if that lazy shadow-nin's here then I can safely say that Temari's gonna be getting some."
"What's Temari gonna get?"
Both men spun around and saw Hisoka standing in the doorway of the kitchen, her eyes wide and questioning. "Hehe, you'll get it when you're older." Kankuro chuckled nervously. "But don't be coming into my room at night while Anko's here, m'kay? I wanna give Anko a big special grownup hug."
Gray eyes focused on them for a moment before the girl shrugged slightly. She had seen Kankuro's room in broad daylight and had no desire to go in there at night. "Did you get your things unpacked?" Gaara questioned calmly.
"It was just a backpack." Hisoka replied simply. "Is there any of that juice left? I'd like some please."
"Sure."
Kankuro laughed as he mussed up the girl's hair, watching as she wrinkled her nose. "So what'cha been up to, kiddo?" Kankuro questioned with a grin. "Causing hell?"
"I painted the Hokage Monument."
Gaara nearly dropped the glass as he spun around to stare at his goddaughter, watching his brother fall onto the floor laughing. "For fuckin' real?" Kankuro laughed. "Holy crap, Gaara! You'd better pray the kid stays away from Father's statue if you wanna keep from getting lectured!"
Gaara sighed softly to himself as he stared at his goddaughter and saw the lack of interest in her eyes. "Bored?" Gaara questioned calmly.
Immediately Hisoka nodded. "I don't like to watch cartoons much cause Neji says that I shouldn't let my brain rot out. Even Daddy doesn't let me watch cartoons or movies for more than an hour if he can help it." Hisoka told them. "Can we go to the library? I wanna see if Suna has books I've never read before."
Kankuro managed to stop laughing long enough to pull the girl onto his lap. "C'mon, Gaara! Let's go visit the library." Kankuro teased his little brother.
"Whatever happened to your interest in Anko?" Gaara inquired patiently.
"If this girl's been painting monuments, it'd probably be a good idea to let Anko-chan sleep."
"Anko-chan? Is she your girlfriend?" Hisoka questioned. "Anko's the hebi lady. Daddy thinks she's scary and I think she's got a couple screws loose."
"It's the unique ones that make life worth living." Kankuro explained simply. "Besides, little girls tend to marry their dads so you'll more than likely find a guy that's about as goofy as your dad."
Hisoka stared blankly at him for a moment before answering, "Nobody's as silly as Daddy."
He'd agree with that one. Smiling softly, Gaara mussed up the girl's hair before answering, "Get your shoes on. We'll go visit the library."
With a cheer and a grunt of pain on Kankuro's part, Hisoka raced to the door to get her shoes on. "Someday," Kankuro groaned as he curled into a ball with his hand pressing against his crotch, "that girl's gonna stop digging her heel into a guy's crotch."
Rolling his eyes at his brother, Gaara sighed softly before following the energetic child knowing full well that he was going to regret the whole trip to the library idea within the hour. Uzumaki and libraries just didn't go hand in hand and despite knowing that the girl was intelligent, Gaara just knew something was going to happen.
lostmoonchild: So it's Friday afternoon and I'm laughing at my brother's accusations since he thinks we cloned his cat. As I pointed out to him, the kitten may look like his cat but the kitten is a girl and his cat is a boy so we're teasing each other about the whole subject. Read and review, I'll see ya'll next week!