Naruto's Kit

Chapter 4

"So what would be a good place to go, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked. He and Hinata were walking down the streets into the market district after separating from Kiba and Shino. He was holding onto Akane's hand to make sure she didn't go wandering off if something caught her eye or nose.

"W-well, I... I think the first she needs i-is a bath." Hinata stuttered, still not completely over the habit when out with Naruto even after about a year of dating. She was doing much better than when she started, but occasionally her stutter would resurface. "Not that she stinks or anything. It's... just better she be clean before trying on clothes."

"Alright. Let's take her back to my place and give her a bath." Naruto said. Akane, who had henged herself to look like a normal red-haired child, grinned at being able to go to his house so soon. Actually it was more of an actual transformation then a henge, since she was a fox demon.

As the three walked towards Naruto's apartment, they drew quite a lot of attention. After all, with a child on one side and the Hyuuga heiress on the other, it looks a lot like the most famous orphan of Konoha now had a family of his own. Akane's demonic hearing let her catch bits and pieces of the villager's gossip.

"Am I seeing things right?"

"Is that the Uzumaki boy with a girl and a kid?"

"Did he get her knocked up?"

"That girl's even dressed like him. Bad taste must be genetic."

Akane tugged Naruto's hand to get his attention. "Otou-san, people are talking about us."

"They're not saying anything bad, are they?" He asked.

"Some. But most are just surprised to see us together. Why?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Just don't worry about it for now. People like to talk and soon they'll find something else to gossip about."

Akane nodded. Hinata and Naruto kept their eyes open to see if anybody looked really upset at the sight they were presenting. Or worse, if anyone was going to do something about it. Sure, the town had dropped their prejudices against Naruto some time ago, but they were probably still a few who would go out of their way to make him miserable. And right now they really didn't need to deal with that.

Before the two got to any clothing stores, they ran across Ino and Sakura, who were window-shopping at the moment. Sakura noticed the pair first. "Hi, Naruto and Hinata. Hey, who's this with you?"

Akane looked at the pink-haired kunoichi and suddenly panicked. She went right behind Naruto and quivered. It was like when Hinata was close to Naruto years ago, but Akane was acting more frightened than nervous. "What's wrong, Akane-chan?" Hinata asked, placing her hand on the demon girl's shoulder.

"I... I don't know. But when I see... that woman, all I can think about is being hit." Akane replied, making everyone widen their eyes.

"You think I'm just going to go and hit you?" Sakura asked, a little mortified and maybe even a little offended. She tried to get closer to prove the girl wrong, but Akane tried to back away some more.

"Sakura-chan, maybe you should back off a bit. I don't think she's in the mood now." Naruto told his team mate.

"I'm just trying to show her I'm harmless." Sakura defended herself.