Just A Kid

Chapter 3

A snicker broke the young girl out of her thoughts, and she blinked as reality came crashing back. A rock detached itself as Araile continued to back away.

"Come on, we want to play with you," one of the ninja said, reaching in his pocket for more weapons as the other did the same.

Both of them threw their shurikan at the same time, and leaning back Araile instinctively threw her arms up to cover her head just as the piece of rock she was standing on began to crumble. Letting out a shriek, Araile felt her legs give way, and her stomach lurched as she fell.

The cliff arched downwards as she began to tumble down the slope, gaining speed and slamming into rocks and branches. Closing her eyes, Araile began to pray that she'd stop as the rocks cut into her back. Finally, a big pine tree stopped her decent and Araile laid there, stunned and shaking. The two ninjas looked down at the stunned girl from above, laughing loudly and then disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Araile groaned and shook her head as she stood up shakily, trying to clear her vision and dislodging any loose leaves and twigs. Getting up, Araile finally began to walk in the direction that she thought the village was in, bumping into trees and bushes along the way as the sky began to darken. All she could hear was her stomach's ever constant growling as she continued walking.

She couldn't climb up the cliff, so the only way was around it. Sighing, Araile's heart dropped at the thought of the long walk she had ahead.

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On what felt like ten million days of walking, Araile felt like giving up. It had only been three days of walking but to the nine year it, it felt like forever. She had hid up high in a tree to make sure the enemy ninja were gone before coming down slowly. She took that afternoon to look around and see where she was. Sadly, Araile had no idea where she was and if Konoha was even close. Before continuing her trek, she had found a river and cleaned herself up, washed her purple tunic the best she could, and thankfully found a bush full of edible berries as she waited for her tunic to dry in the sun. The water thankfully helped to soothe her aching and tired feet, and she spent the entire afternoon splashing her feet in the river. The cuts on her back had stopped bleeding and were now on their way to healing, and her black shorts had dirt permanently stained on them.

The afternoon sun shone brightly and as Araile rounded a bend a sudden noise caused her to stop. She could hear some people talking faintly in the distance and slowly, Araile crept towards the sound, thinking it might be the two ninjas from before. The trees parted, and Araile blinked when she noticed five people getting onto a small boat.

Her eyes widened as her gaze landed on the tallest one and a smile creeped across the tired girls face. She wanted to run out and hug her caretaker, but stopped when she remembered that Kakashi had told her multiple times to always conceal herself until she knew it was safe. Looking around with a grumble she found a big tree and jumped into the branches, climbing higher and higher. Her eyelids became heavy as a yawn escaped her, and she wiggled until she got comfortable on a particularly thick branch.

"Perfect fit," she mumbled as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, Araile woke up as she heard talking coming from the bridge. Blinking her eyes to get rid of the sleep, Araile stretched and sighed contently as her joints popped. She leaned a little too far forward when stretching, and with a yelp she felt herself slipping off the branch. A yell clawed out of her throat as she fell from the high branch and she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the hard impact to come.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's that?" Naruto asked as he stopped walking, an unknown sound assaulting his ears.

He jogged over to a tree where the sound came from, eyes darting left and right.

"It's probably some wild animal," Sakura said, shrugging.

"W-wild a-animal? W-what kind of wild animal?" Naruto said, now obviously scared.

Kakashi walked over to where Naruto was, and a rustle was heard from above them. Looking up, Kakashi's eye widened in surprise when he saw a flash of white and purple.

"Naruto, I would move if I-" Kakashi started to say, but was cut off by Naruto crying out as something smashed into his student's back.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!! Something's on me!" Naruto cried out as he lay on his stomach, face fully planted in the dirt.

"Naruto! Calm down!" Sakura said as she came over, and Kakashi sighed.

'So much for concealing,' he thought to himself as his young charge lay stunned on top of his student.

Araile blinked as the sun shone on her face. She gingerly rolled off the squishy thing she landed on and stood up, dusting off her clothes and pulling twigs out from her hair. Her head snapped up as she heard somebody come up behind her. Araile turned her head as Kakashi came up beside her, and she offered her caretaker a sheepish smile. Araile blinked as he smiled down at her, and placed a hand on top of her head.

"Everyone, this is your new companion, Araile," Kakashi said as the young girl looked around, a little shy with all the new people looking at her.

Araile clasped her hands behind her, shyness taking over. She picked at her purple tunic and kicked the toe of her sandal against the ground as the Genin team gathered in front of her.

"Aww! She's so cute!" Sakura said as she came over, offering her hand for Araile to shake.

She smiled at Araile as the young girl quickly shook her hand. Another wave of shyness overtook Araile and she looked down again at the ground, offering a small 'hello'.

"Hey! Hey! Did you drop on me? Who are you?!" Naruto cried out as he jumped up and down.

Araile blinked at Naruto as he ran over.