Ch. 3
Lost and Found
From that lake, Shadow motioned once more and the little tree followed without question as the two of them moved. She was going to be alright. She wasn't as alone as she had thought.
He had taken them to a city, one with towering white walls. The guards didn't seem to see them as they passed.
Her Shadow never strayed from her side.
She spent a week in the village scrounging around for food in trash bins and in the forest. She kept the forest mostly though, not wanting to be around others too often. Shadow was invaluable in keeping the locals from noticing her or the people in uniform from bothering her. She had a feeling that those in uniform were soldiers of this village, but she wasn't too sure considering the fact that she didn't speak with anyone.
Shadow seemed to be scouring the village for something.
As she reached for a mushroom, Shadow's hand stopped her and she paused understanding that it was poisonous before gesturing to another. Meeting no resistance, she plucked it and added it to a cloth bag she had found a couple of days ago. Finished gathering her mushroom she froze as she stood, seeing a small pair of bright blue eyes peering back at her from around a tree several yards away. She stared back uncertainly before turning to look at Shadow questioningly. The Shadow had frozen, all attention on the child and the little tree suspected that this child was what he had been looking for.
When Shadow made to move for the child, she stilled him with her hand, the child's blue eyes still upon them.
Hesitantly the little tree offered the boy a smile as the boy eyed her and the huge shadow behind her hesitantly. After a moment the boy dashed away, merely a small shadow in the woods himself as her grin fell. Maybe he was frightened. Shadow moved to follow and she stilled him once more before giving him a gentle smile.
"He'll probably return," she said though she wasn't sure of it. The child had been scared. She really couldn't blame him, she mused as she continued her work before moving on to one of her snares. She took a look at her dirty appearance before grimacing. She needed a bath.
Shadow showed her a natural hot spring when she mentioned it to him.
In a couple of days, she would see the boy watching her again, this time from her place beside a fire, fish frying on a stick beside the flames for her dinner. She took in the thin hungry face, the baby fat barely clinging to his cheeks. She still remembered those days herself rather clearly.
Looking between the boy and her food, she selected a fish that was finished before offering it to him. Like a wary animal, he crept forward as carefully as you pleased, letting her finally get a good look at him. He had a shock of blonde hair that had her curious about what was common in coloration in this world.
He couldn't have been more than four years old and he moved with a wariness that wasn't seen often in children from her world. She had to wonder if it was just him or a common occurrence here. The clothing was old, frayed, and he seemed to be ill-kempt all around, belaying that he had no caretakers. His skinny frame suggested limited food. Not a good thing for a growing child.
He snatched the stick from her fingers while she was distracted by her observations of him, blue eyes wary. She merely grinned to herself and went back to eating one of her fish. The boy seemed to devour it with gusto, struggling to eat despite the fact that the fish was burning his tongue.
"Here, drink first. It will help with the hunger while the fish cools." the little tree said in Japanese as the child froze, eyeing the water warily. The young woman's eyes widened in surprise after a moment when she realized that the boy knew to be wary of being given open containers. How the hell would he know something like that? Feeling her gut roil with unease she swiftly took a deep drink before offering him the rest of the drink.
He took the cup uncertainly, a bit of his tension draining away to leave genuine curiosity in his blue gaze. Giving the drink a wary sniff he tried a little before drinking more deeply, still being sure to keep an eye on her the entire time. Her eyes remained somber as she gazed at the child before she looked down, clearly upset by what she had learned about her new little companion.
He surprised her by staying after he was finished eating his eyes fighting to stay open after his full meal in however long it had been. It was a chilly night and he was probably as loathed to depart from the fire as she was at that moment but the boy was pretty dirty, dirt smudged on his cheeks and on his face.
Getting up the little tree began to get her things ready for her nightly bath, glad that the natural hot springs were warm. Blue eyes were wary once more and she shot him a sad smile as she left the camp. He was gone by the time she returned.
The rest of the week progressed in this fashion, her young companion slowly growing less wary as time passed and soon he began to bring her things, like a ragged blanket or a chipped plate. She had grinned at his first offering before motioning for him to join her as she walked, the two of them moving easily through the trees. He began to help her tend to the traps or go fishing in the evening when the fish were most active. He watched with rapt attention as she taught him how to string and tie a hook. His wide missing toothed grin when he succeeded to do the same sent a jolt of warmth through her heart and she started to reach to give his hair a ruffle only to pause when his grin fell.
Reaching over with slow determination she let her hand rest gently on his hair before she gave a little ruffle, a small smile on her lips as she slowly reached back leaving the boy to watch her warily, though in truth she was pleased. Yes, he was wary but he had trusted her enough to let her touch him if only to see what she would do.
The tension left his shoulders and she grinned wider before moving on to their next trap, leaving her smaller companion to follow. Shadow watched quietly with pride as the little fox followed his little tree. He was glad he had listened to her. She would need powerful allies in the future.
The little tree was pretty sure that the child could see Shadow.
She had noticed his small blue eyes tracking the large shadowy being more than a few times, and how his eyes had darted around the few times they went into the large village together. Whatever the case, the child seemed to understand that when he was with Shadow, they wouldn't be bothered by the villagers.
A loud bang sounded from the side and the child jumped his hand snapping out to grab hers unthinkingly as he peered warily in the direction the sound had come from. He was jumpy and very aware of his surrounding, she mused as they continued to walk, the boy still distracted. After a moment the child stiffened before looking up, eyes wide as he realized that he was holding her hand with no response from her.
She smiled at his mildly alarmed expression but made no move to close her fingers around his hand. She figured that he would panic if she tried to grab his hand back and figured that the best option would be just to allow him to hold her hand for the time being. He seemed to debate for a minute before looking ahead resolutely though she could see the mild tension in his shoulders.
She grinned, pleased that his grubby little fingers were still wrapped around her own.
All things in time. Her smile began to fade. She didn't really have time.
She could feel something moving through her, changing her, taking from her. Shadow was right, this was a greedy world. She wondered how much more time she had left, somber eyes now watching the child.
He clearly needed someone to look after him, the little starved thing that he was.
The little tree paused in their walk to solemnly regard Shadow who had paused as well, his shadowy black head turning to face her.
"Shadow, after I am dead and gone, I want you to look after this child and protect him." She said quietly. The child's fingers spasmed around her own in shock at her words. She looked down to find small blue eyes regarding her in open terror, his grip on her fingers tight.
"You're dying?!" he demanded. This was probably the seventh time she had heard him speak in the past couple of weeks. She smiled sadly as she placed a hand on his hair and gave it a comforting ruffle.
"We all are kiddo, some just faster than others." His grip on her fingers tightened as he looked down, clearly upset. Taking pity on the child she leaned over and scooped him up, setting his weight on her hip as he scrambled in panic for a moment before settling, clearly uncomfortable but making an effort. She grinned. he hesitantly put his arms around her neck.
She grinned as the tension began to leak out of the small child as they walked down the way, to the other side of the village. Fish was getting a bit scarce where she had been fishing recently. Time to relocate.
The boy was taking to hunting and fishing like a duck to water. He was taking to the food even better. It didn't take a lot for the little tree to manage to steal him some better clothing, though she made sure it was as nondescript as possible and already close to what the boy wore before.
It wouldn't do for someone to link him to the thievery and punish him for her actions. He was starting to grow though, she could tell in his sudden bouts of frustrated temper when he would get frustrated for seemingly no reason and start to cry though he did so with the greatest reluctance. Growing pains, and the frustration that was spurred by the chemical cocktail that now coursed through him as his body raced to catch up to something it should have been doing for a while now.
It hurt, ached as muscle and bone shifted and stretched and he was frustrated with everything from the random aches and pains to his sudden clumsiness as his little body began to change and grow.
It was a bit startling how quickly he took to the nourishment, but maybe that was another difference between the little tree's world and this one. She looked down as she trailed a finger over the boy's soft cheek as he slept, nestled in the crook of her arm as she watched the fire. She studied the three symmetrical lines that marred his face on each side. If anything they reminded her of whiskers. She grinned as he nuzzled into her side at the gentle touch. She liked them. They suited her little boy perfectly.
Skittish but curious at first before becoming highly curious and highly affectionate.
Naruto was highly affectionate and he seemed to crave affection in turn, leaving her to believe that he had never been given so much care and attention before. He was so young too, it made her heart break.
The little tree's smile faded as she stared into the fire, feeling its light and warmth. She didn't want to die. Before it had been easier when it was only her life on the line but now she was worried about the child's future. She looked over to the shadowy figure that sat beside the fire. Even its light couldn't penetrate its darkness and his shape remained humanoid but undefined.
"Shadow?" she called quietly. Where his head should have been turned letting her know she had his attention tendrils of darkness curling around his head like smoke for hair as always. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat as she looked down at the child nestled in her arms. Sometimes she wondered if this was what having your own kid felt like. She would never know.
"I don't want to die," she whispered. The smoky mass before her continued to watch her quietly. He reached over with an impossibly long limb and pat her head gently as he always had, sending a wash of comfort through her. She tightened her grip on the child slightly as she took a deep breath reveling in the feeling as a wave of calm swept through her. Soon she was deep asleep.
The child was a very curious one, in case she hadn't reiterated it enough. Content now that she wasn't going to respond to every little thing he did in a negative fashion, he set about asking her a million questions. What was her family like, where was she from, why did she look different, who was Shadow, why was the sky blue, what were they having for dinner tonight? It seemed the kid had never had anyone to talk with before and once he got going he was a chatterbox. He didn't seem to understand moderation, a symptom of being alone. He hadn't learned how to interact socially yet.
The little tree didn't mind for the most part. If she was getting fed up with his chatter she would tickle him mercilessly or send him on an errand. He seemed to grasp this pretty quickly as well as the look he would get before she would do these things and would respond accordingly.
Sometimes he would quiet down and want to be held, meaning he had just been wanting attention in the first place. Other times he would get a mischievous glint and his eyes and continue. Those were the times he got tickled the most and he seemed to take it all in stride with wide laughter, a far cry from the child she had first met.
While he asked every question he could dream of and got answers in spades, all honest, he had been less willing to impart truths to many of her questions besides his name and that he was an orphan that had been kicked out of the orphanage shortly before finding her.
Otherwise, he was tightlipped about the whole thing. If she had had more time, enough to make a difference then she might insist that he tell her these things, but what was the point in spending her limited amount of time stressing out the child and getting uncomfortable truths to unsightly questions?
If she had had more time to live, maybe she could have done something to change things for him, but she knew it was already drawing to an end. The little tree sighed quietly as she looked at her thin wrist. Whatever was happening seemed to cause her body to start breaking down, leaving her thin and emaciated. Her time would be coming to an end very soon.
7/29/2023 Update: just some editing and formatting changes. Naruto has been made four since I want the timeline in this area.