Chapter 2: Fear of the Unknown

Rin sat on the bench next to the bed Naruto was laying in as she read one of her favorite books, looking up from her reading to check to see what Naruto was doing. At the moment he was playing with his blanket with his left arm, his right holding a small frog wallet as he seemed to pretend they were fighting one another. Rin was surprised at first from seeing Naruto moving his right arm like nothing happened to it even though that very arm was broken less then a day ago, however Hiruzen would eventually tell her that Naruto healed incredibly fast and thanks to her his arm was fixed to a point that he could move it like nothing happened, the only reason he was still here was due to three broken ribs that still needed a few more days to fully heal. Even with that Naruto seemingly acted like no pain was there at all, something Rin was even more surprised by but Hiruzen had told her this was actually normal for Naruto.

Rin went back to reading her book as she got to a very good part of it before hearing the bed creak as she looked to see Naruto was missing from it. She looked around only to see him at the other end of the bench looking at the floor. She paid no mind to this as the last time he did this she asked him to get back into bed to rest which just led to a temper tantrum from him. As she looked at her book once more she heard him shuffle on the bench before she saw him a little close to her eyeing the book, but as he noticed she saw him as he looked away as if minding his own business. Rin smirked at this while trying to hold back a laugh. She decided to look at her book but didn't read it, instead waiting to see if Naruto would get closer. Which he did. Naruto inched closer to her while trying to read the words on the pages, unknowingly getting so close to Rin that he was almost sitting on her lap.

Rin held back her laughter before composing herself enough to ask him a question. "Do you want to read it?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise but then nodded as she handed him it, marking her page down to read later as she flipped it to the first page. Naruto grabbed the book greedily as he sat down to try to understand the symbols on the paper. Rin chuckled at the little boy's face as he made silly faces in an attempt to understand the words better.

"Do you want some help?" she asked him. He looked at her embarrassed of being caught for not knowing how to read before handing her the book and nodding. She took the book before picking him up and placing him on her lap, much to his embarrassment. She opened the book and began to read to him, Naruto looking at the book in wonder of the story she was reading.

As Rin read to him she noticed him snuggle his head into her chest hearing him yawn as he did. She looked down at him seeing his eyes grow more and more heavy and she saw him begin to go to sleep, until someone loudly woke him up.

The hospital door swung open as a younger girl came through the doorway with a voice that would get her kicked out of a library, let alone a hospital.

"Rin what happened, and what are you doing?" Anko Mitarashi asked while looking at the sight in front of her before she felt a slap to her head from Kurenai.

"Anko what's wrong with you we're in a hospital!" Kurenai scolded the younger girl.

Rin was about to say something to her two bickering friends until she noticed Naruto stiffening and then began to grab tightly onto her. Rin looked down at him to see him begin to cry from the strangers that startled him. Rin held onto him tightly as she tried to console him as he cried louder, wanting the stranger to go away before they hurt him.

Rin looked at the two who were now staring at the sight in front of them before she became angry. "You two out, now!"

Both women didn't need to be told twice as they left the room, closing the door behind them. Rin continued to try to calm the now screaming Naruto down, but he seemed too scared from Anko and Kurenais arrival to stop. Rin eventually was able to calm him down with his blanket as she held him in her arms, shushing him and rubbing his back in comfort until she heard him begin to go to sleep. She waited for a few minutes before laying him in bed and tucking him in. She watched him as he began to whimper in his sleep as if not wanting to be away from her. Rin rubbed his head to calm him before leaving the room and getting her two friends and bringing them into the room, closing the door behind her and telling them to sit down and be quiet, directing it more towards Anko than Kurenai. As they sat, Naruto began to whimper once more, Rin coming and picking him up as gently as she could so as not to wake him, as she sat on the guest bed rocking him back to a peaceful sleep.

Rin sighed in relief from seeing him sleep before looking at Anko with fire in her eyes. "Anko what's wrong with you, do you know how loud you were? You scared him half to death!" Rin said in a whispered scream as not to wake the sleeping three year old. Anko put her hands up in surrender, "Sorry, I didn't know he would be so scared of me just talking."

"Anko I told you how he acted when we tried to help him, he's probably traumatized and you yelling won't help with that." Kurenai said to the younger girl beside her. She then looked to Rin in surprise, "That reminds me. Wasn't he terrified of us when we found him, so how are you even holding him?"

Rin looked down at the kid wondering the same thing now as only a few hours ago he wouldn't look at her without the Hokage around. "I don't really know. I've been awake with him all night

just keeping him company and just before you arrived I was reading him a book and he started to fall asleep."

"Maybe he's gotten comfortable around you." Kurenai said looking at the two, noticing how exhausted Rin looked now that she realized her friend was awake for almost 20 hours due to both of them waking up early yesterday to go to the festival. Rin looked back at the two now wondering something. "Why are you two here anyway?"

"I went to see if you were at home an hour ago and when I saw you hadn't come back I came to the hospital to check up on you. Anko came with me because she just came back from the Chunin exams and wanted to tell us about how she did. So on our way here I told her about what happened.

Rin looked from Kurenai to Anko. "How did you do?"

Anko smiled at this point feeling proud of herself. "I passed, I'm now a Chunin just like both of you. So now you can't call me a kid anymore like we promised."

Rin chuckled at that remembering the promise she made to Anko when they first met. Her laughing turned into a yawn as the last couple of hours without sleep finally came to her.

Kurenai picked up on this and led Anko out of the room. She poked her head out of the door before talking to Rin, "We can catch up later. You need some sleep." Rin nodded as she put Naruto into his bed once more before laying in the guest bed, thanking Kurenai as she went to sleep. Kurenai smiled at her friend, closing the door behind her and leaving with Anko.

Naruto's eyes opened to see himself in his bed once more. He was starting to get scared as he looked for Rin to see where she was, noticing her in the guest bed. He got out of his bed with his blanky as he walked to Rin, poking her so she would wake up. Rin's eyes slowly opened, thinking she would see Kurenai or Anko again, only to see little Naruto holding his orange blanket in his arms with a scared look on his face. Rin shot up immediately to see what was wrong.

"Are you ok, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing if something had scared him.

Naruto's face went beat red as he covered it in his blanky. "I have to go potty." he said in almost a whisper.

Rin looked at him in confusion for a moment before the information finally came into her brain and she realized what that meant, worry in her voice now. "Wait you need to…oh, uh…oh, ok."

she said as she got up and led him to the bathroom in the hospital room, both now very embarrassed from the situation they were both in.

Rin let him do his business before helping him wash his hands and leading him to his bed. Naruto however was hesitant as he looked at her. "What's wrong?" Rin asked, seeing the fear in his eyes.

"Can, can I sleep with you. I don't want to be alone." Naruto asked, holding on to his blanky tightly.

Rin looked at him with surprise. Her shock soon turned to joy as she gave him a smile. "Of course you can."

Naruto looked at her with joy now as he wasn't expecting her to say yes but wasn't going to be mad about it. "Can, can I bring Blanky with me." he said, lifting his blanket up for her to see. Rin only nodded as she led him to the guest bed, laying him in it before getting into it herself.

Rin tucked him in as snuggly as possible before getting in the covers. "You comfy?" she asked him. He nodded and then started to get closer to her, yawning into her chest as he snuggled up to her. "Night night." he said to her as he went to sleep. Rin looked at him in shock before a tear went down her check and she put her arms around him to comfort him further. "Goodnight Naruto."

Rin woke up to see the morning sun was just starting to rise, now realizing she was asleep for almost a full day. She looked to Naruto who was sound asleep, snoring a little much to her amusement. Rin got up from her bed only to hear her stomach rumble, wanting food now. Rin looked back to Naruto who was still asleep but this didn't mean he wouldn't wake up soon, and if he did while she was away how would he react. Rin wasn't sure and was now thinking of just waiting until he woke up but her stomach had other plans. Unfortunately for her, her stomach seemed to take charge as she walked to the door. "Ok ok, fine. I'll just go to the vending machine until he wakes up. Then we'll get some food." she said to herself, closing the door behind her and heading to the vending machines.

Naruto's eyes opened slowly as he rubbed the sleep out of them, looking for Rin who he couldn't find. Naruto began to panic looking at the bathroom and running to it but not seeing her in it. "Rin. Rin. Rin, where are you." he said, tears flushing out of his eyes. He was panicking now. Rin was gone and he didn't know where. Did she leave him? Did she not like him so she left? Did she not like Blanky and that's why she left? Did someone take her and they were coming for him next? He didn't know and that made it even worse.

Naruto cried, wanting Rin or Jiji to come help him like they said they would if something happened. He didn't want to be alone, he hated being alone. Naruto heard the door swing open and when he saw who came in he saw that it was Rin and he immediately jumped into her arms, crying into her chest.

Rin had heard crying from Naruto's room and ran to it to see what was wrong, snacks in hand. When she opened the door all she saw was a yellow flash before she was then holding a crying Naruto who seemed traumatized beyond belief. She carried him to the bed, leaving the snacks on the floor as she sat down and rocked him in her arms. "It's ok, it's ok. What's wrong sweetie I'm here?"

"I-I woke up an-and I-I didn't s-see you and I d-didn't know where y-you were and I-I thought you l-left me." he said through sobs, holding on to her as tightly as he could.

Rin looked at him now and knew what was wrong. "Oh sweetie, I didn't leave you. I just went to get some snacks for us. I thought you'd be hungry when you woke up."

Naruto looked at her in surprise as he looked at the bags near the door. "Oh, d-did you get any ch-chips?" he asked her. She smiled and nodded before placing him on the bed and getting the bags off the ground and handing one to him as she sat beside him and opened a bag for herself. Both sat quietly while eating and enjoying each other's company. Rin looked at Naruto and saw the mess on his face, she grabbed a paper towel and cleaned his face, much to his dislike.

As they sat Rin looked up to see Kurenai walking to the room and smiled at her as she waved to them. Naruto looked up from his snack to the woman from the other night and started to shiver in fear. Rin, noticing this, put him on her lap and rubbed his back, trying to console him as best she could. "Shhh, it's ok, she's a friend. She won't hurt you. I promise."

Naruto looked up to her, worry present in his eyes, but when he saw that Rin seemed to not be scared at all he nodded and looked at Kurenai. Kurenai, seeing that he was less jumpy than before, came into the room, closing the door behind her, and sat in a chair at the corner of the room. She smiled at him to tell him she meant him no harm. "Hello. I'm Kurenai, what's your name?"

Naruto looked at Rin who gave him a smile as he looked at Kurenai. "Naruto."

Both women smiled, happy that the boy seemed to be more trusting now. Kurenai looked to Rin with a smile, "So, can we talk now?" she said with a hint of sarcasm.

Rin rolled her eyes upon her friend's remark before nodding, shifting Naruto so he could sit on her lap. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well for starters, what's up with him? He doesn't look all that bad to me so why's he still here?" Kurenai asked, looking at Naruto and seeing no sign of injury, much to her shock. "And why doesn't he have a cast or something, even your healing doesn't fix an arm that well."

Rin looked to Naruto, remembering the Hokage ordering her not to tell anyone about who he really was, or who his parents were. "The Hokage told me his chakra is extremely dense, more so than most Uzumaki even, and so he can heal even faster then what should be humanly possible."

Kurenai looked at her friend for a moment before she realized the message inside her words. She thought of the words and realized what she had been telling her without actually telling her. He's an Uzumaki, and has a tailed beast. "How many?" she whispered

"Nine." Rin mouthed, happy her friend understood what she was trying to tell her. After all, the Hokage said not to tell anyone. That doesn't mean she can't help push people in the right direction.

Kurenai was surprised, the Kyuubi was still around and this boy had it. She wasn't scared however. Her best friend had the three tails after all, but the shock was still there.

Naruto looked at both women, very confused about what they were talking about. Not having the training of a ninja to pick up on the subtlety of their conversation, or the knowledge of what Rin said to even understand why chakra healed you fast. At least that's what he thought she meant by that. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh don't worry about it, just girl stuff." Rin lied. Naruto pouted, mad he didn't get to know.

"So how much longer are you here for then?" Kurenai asked.

"Until tomorrow. Then I'm bringing him to Lord Third." Rin said with a frown.

"Wow, that's amazing. Only three days in the hospital? I'm impressed." Kurenai said in amazement.

"What do you mean? Am I going to see Jiji tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

Rin nodded to his question, "Yep. Then you're going to go back home."

"No!" Naruto yelled. "Don't make me go back. I want to be with you." turning to Rin as he said this.

Both women were shocked to hear him say this. Rin looked down to see his face, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Why me?" she asked.

"You're nice to me." he said, blushing in embarrassment at the actual reason he wanted to be with her. "And." he added unconsciously.

Rin looked at him now, curious as to why else he would want to be with her. "And?"

Naruto looked away, not wanting her to see his face. "I, I don't want to be alone anymore.." he mumbled.

Both women were sad at hearing this, he just wanted people to be there for him, he wanted a family.

Rin hugged Naruto tightly, still careful not to hurt him even if his injuries were pretty much healed now. "Oh Naruto. It's ok. I won't ever let you be alone again. I promise."

Naruto hugged her tightly as his emotions came out like a wave. For the first time in his life, he had tears of joy.

Kurenai smiled at the two, happy to see her friend so happy after seeing her struggle since the war. Seeing the smile was genuine and not forced like most of hers had been lately. "Look at that. You got yourself a man before me. Now I'm jealous." Kurenai said with a smirk.

Rin looked at her with her own mischievous smile. "I thought you and Asuma were a thing though." she said, internally laughing to herself, knowing how emberoused Kurenai was about that subject.

"N-No, we aren't. Why would you even think that?" Kurenai said, blushing at Rins remark. A part of her wishing it was true.

Rin laughed, loving Kurenai's reaction. Naruto looked at the two confused once more.

The next afternoon Naruto was discharged from the hospital and Rin carried him to the Hokage Tower, the reason being that Naruto was too tired to walk but Rin knew it was because he was scared of the people on the streets and wanted to feel safe. Rin didn't mind however, she understood he was still traumatized and wanted to make sure he was as comfortable as possible.

When they reached the tower, Rin went to the Hokage's office, having his secretary know she was coming.

When she came to the door's of his office, Naruto asked to knock on them and Rin allowed him. A "come in" was heard and the duo stood in front of the large desk in the middle of the room, until Naruto jumped out of Rin's arms and tackled the old man. "Jiji! Don't make me go back to the orphanage, I want to be with Rin, please."

Hiruzen was shocked at the three year old's request and looked at Rin, suspicion on his face.

Rin gulped at seeing his face, knowing that face was a sign he wasn't happy. "Um sir, I told Naruto that when I took him to see you after he was discharged you would take him back to the orphanage, and well. He said he wanted to be with me insead. I promise it was his idea. I had nothing to do with it." she closed her eyes, terrified of her leader becoming angry with her.

"Yeah, can I please. She's a lot nicer than the people at home. And she gives good hugs too." Naruto said, adding the last part to sweeten the deal, at least he thought it would. Can't blame him for trying.

Hiruzen looked at the boy, face as serious as he could when he was with Naruto. Unfortunately for him, when Naruto was around it was almost impossible for him to be serious, much to his effort. Hiruzen smiled at the boy before looking back to Rin. "Under normal circumstances you wouldn't be allowed to have him due to your, conditions." he added, referring to both the beasts inside them. "But I feel like I owe you more for all the lie's and trouble that led to it. And to be honest, he seems the happiest around you. More happy than I've ever seen him. As long as you're fine with it that is."

Rin could almost jump in excitement but controlled herself as best she could. "Of-of course sir. I'd love to."

Hiruzen smiled as he stood up and brought Naruto to her. "Alright, then I see no reason you can't be with him. I'll deal with all the hard work." he said as he handed Naruto to her.

Rin grabbed Naruto and held him as he looked to her. "Does that mean you're my mommy." he asked, hoping she'd say yes.

Rin had tears run down her face. "Yes, yes it does Naruto." she said before hugging him tightly.

Naruto cried as he hugged his new mom, this was the best birthday present he could ever have gotten. "Mommy, Mommy!" he cried, finally not alone.

End