Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ World on Fire ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Nama no naka, Mori no naka”, a young girl sang, her shoulder-length red-hair swaying as her blue-grey eyes follows the ball she was bouncing, “Kaze no naka, Yume no naka”

 

“Aiko, it's getting dark!”, an older woman calls out, “Come on inside!”

 

“But mother, I want to wait for father”, she says, as she catches the ball in-between her hands.

 

“You don't have any guarantee that he'll be coming today”

 

“But father promised that he'd come to visit on the 8th, and today's the 8th!”, she pouts, “And you're to never break your promises!”

 

“Fine then”, her mother sighs, “But I want you back inside in an hour, regardless if your father is here or not, understood?”

 

“Yes mother…”, she groans, before resuming bouncing her ball.

 

Her mother slightly smiles towards her daughter while shaking her head before she turns and walks back inside the house.

 

Young Aiko begins to hum the same melody she had been singing earlier, making sure that the ball bounced off the ground in time with the tune.

 

As she was restarting the hum the song again a pair of hands grab her from behind, one arm wound around her waist lifting her off the ground; her ball dropping and rolling away, as a hand quickly clamps tightly over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

 

She struggles for several moments before she moves her head and widens her mouth, chomping down onto the flesh that slipped in-between her teeth and causes her assailant to cry out.

 

While he captor was distracted by pain, she thrusts her elbow backwards and gains a satisfying `oof' as it slammed into their ribs, but she still wasn't released so she takes her foot and swings it back and struck either the crouch; or at least somewhere in that area, finally gaining the freedom she was fighting for.

 

As soon as she lands on her feet, she pulls out a kunai from her pocket and spins around to face her assailant, only to gasp and drop her fighting-stance as they groan and collapses to their knees.

 

“Aiko, what's wrong?!”, her mother questions, as she runs out of the house armed with several-kunais, only for her to drop her stance too upon seeing her daughter's attacker, “You!”

 

“What the hell have you been teaching our daughter…?”, Aiko's father grunts, as he clutches his ribs with one-hand and his crouch with the other.

 

“Only a little Taijutsu for self-defense”, she replies with her arms crossed.

 

“I told you not to sneak up on Aiko-san, didn't I?”, a male beside her father states.

 

“Satoshi, you know he doesn't listen”, a second male coldly retorts.

 

“You're still as blunt as ever”, her mother says to the second man, “So, how's your children?”

 

“The twins are doing well”, he answers, sounding distant, “They're really causing trouble”

 

“Well, maybe you shouldn't have started teaching them Ninjutsu that were higher than E & D-ranks so soon”, Satoshi advises, only to earn a death-glare from the man, “I'm only saying”, he defends.

 

“You should bring your children next time, Aiko could use someone to play with”, her mother suggests.

 

“So how old is Aiko-chan?”, a third male questions.

 

“Who are you?”, the woman asks.

 

“He's the newest on the guard-duty”, the second male states, “This is Kisuke”

 

“So how old is Aiko-chan?”, Kisuke repeats.

 

“Uh, she's 7 years old…”

 

“Speaking of Aiko-san…”, Satoshi says, turning the adults attention to the young girl as she was arguing with her father.

 

“Father! Don't go scaring me like that!”, she growls, punching him in the shoulders and upper-arms, her little cheeks puffed-up in anger.

 

“I'm sorry, Aiko…”, he pleads, as he stood crouched down to her eye-level, “I didn't mean to scare you, I only wanted to surprise you…”

 

“Damn right you surprised me!”, she shouts, “You almost scared me to death, baka yarou!”

 

“Aiko!”, her mother scolds, causing the girl to instantly clamp her hands over her own mouth, “Watch your language!”

 

“Sorry mother…”, she whimpers.

 

 

 

 

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Blue-grey eyes slowly blink open and blankly stare at the moonlit wall, before their owner sits up.

 

`Mother…', Aiko mentally sobs, closing her eyes and wipes away the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks.

 

She glances at the clock on Sakura's nightstand and sees that it was nearly 4 in the morning.

 

“Great…”, she groans to herself, scratching her scalp, `Might as well go for a walk and get some fresh air', she thinks, as she pulls the blanket from her body and gets to her feet.

 

She changes back into the green-sundress and quickly runs a comb through her hair, then using the stealth she so proudly practiced she sneaks through the house to retrieve her sandals and traverses back to Sakura's room.

 

After quickly jotting a short-note to Sakura explaining where she had gone to, she climbs out of the window and slips on her shoes while sitting on the sill, before taking to the rooftops in the direction of the river, only making as far as the field Naruto was training in and stops.

 

“Wow…!”, she gasps in awe, as she looks up at the sky, “So many stars…”, she whispers, as she sits down onto the grass and lays back to stare at the stars.

 

“There's Capricornus”, she heard her mother's voice inform, as she pointed out the cluster of 13-stars that made up the constellation, “You know what that is?”

 

“That would be the animal of my Zodiac…”, she whispers in-sync with her child-self's answer, as she reaches up to the same constellation, `Mother…', she thinks, closing her eyes at the memory.

 

“Aiko-chan, what are you doing here? Dattebayo”, she heard a male ask.

 

“Naruto-kun!”, she exclaims, as she sits up having recognized the teen by his verbal-tic, “I couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk”

 

“If you were going for a walk, why are you laying in the middle of a field?”

 

“I got caught up in looking at the stars”, she nervously laughs.

 

“I see”, he says, taking a seat next to her.

 

“I used to star-gaze with my mother as a child”

 

“Your mother…?”, he gasps, sounding a little upset.

 

“What's wrong, Naruto-kun?”

 

“It's nothing”, he states, with a slight smiling.

 

“Huh..?”, she blinks, tilting her head as she looks at him, “So Naruto-kun, did you spend the whole night in the field?”

 

“Yeah, I need to stay focused on my training. Dattebayo”

 

“Understandable”, she giggles, “But what about your parents? Won't they worry about you staying out all night?”, she earnestly questions.

 

“Um…”, he utters, as his eyes divert to stare at the ground; looking extremely uncomfortable with the subject, “Neither of my parents are alive…”

 

“Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know”, she apologizes, horrified at her mistake.

 

“It's alright…”, he reassures, largely grinning, “I've never known them my whole life, so I try to not let it bother me!”

 

“Lair”, she huffs, calling him on his bluff, “I noticed your upset-reaction to me speaking about my mom”

 

“Y-you…you can tell…?”, he nervously stammers, while scratching the back of his head.

 

“Yeah, it's easy to recognize the unconscious-reaction to subjects that are sensitive for you to talk about”, she explains, “Especially, since my mother is also dead…”

 

“She's dead…?”, he gasps in shock, “How long ago?”

 

“Nine years in the fall…”

 

“And, your father…?”

 

“He's still alive, but…”, she trails off.

 

“But…?”

 

“We could be in the same room and it's like he's not even there. I'm talking at him, not to him”

 

“Sounds almost like me and Sasuke”, he mutters.

 

“The sour-puss from the photo…?”

 

“Yeah…”, he smiles, “Wait, you don't find him attractive?”

 

“Why should I find him attractive?”

 

“Well, most girls your age take one look at him and it's a drool-fest over him”

 

“I'd rather know their personality first”, she says, “Someone could be attractive-looking, but personality-wise they're an ass”

 

“Wow, you're one of the first people I know to not fall for Sasuke's looks!”, he gasps.

 

“Thanks, I think…”, she grins, “So, Sakura said that Sasuke left on some family-business, but she didn't go into detail”

 

“Family-business, that's putting it lightly…”

 

“Why's that?”

 

“He left to chase after and kill his older-brother”

 

“W-why does he want to kill his brother?!”

 

“I don't know how much Sakura-chan really knows about the situation, but when Sasuke was a child, his older-brother; Uchiha Itachi, slaughtered their whole clan; including their parents”

 

“Oh my god!”, she shouts in horror.

 

“Okay, change of subject please. Dattebayo”, he says with hope in his voice, “Why were you trying out a new jutsu without knowing the risks?”

 

“After my mother died, my father forbid me from learning Ninjutsu; aside from what my mother had already taught me”, she bitterly answers.

 

“Yikes, that's harsh…”

 

“And yet I feel like I've failed my mother, because I can't even do a simple Bunshin no Jutsu…”, she huffs.

 

“Wait, you too?!”

 

“I too, what…?”

 

“You can't do Bunshin no Jutsu, either?”

 

“Unfortunately, yes…”, she blushingly admits, avoiding eye-contact.

 

“You'll never get anywhere with a skill like that. Dattebayo”, he says.

 

“You remind me of Daisuke when you say that…”, she grumbles.

 

“Well, I could teach you an even better version of the Bunshin Jutsu”, he offers.

 

“Wait, there's an even better version…?”, she gasps, “But I thought you couldn't do Bunshin no Jutsu”

 

“This one is completely different from an ordinary Bunshin no Jutsu!”, he states, “This is Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Dattebayo”

 

“Kage…Bunshin…no…Jutsu…?”