War Torn {A Naturo Fanfic}

Page 34

After finishing our ice cream and finding a bloody Hidan we began our journey home. Nothing much exciting happened. There were no more bounties to pick up and no Jashinist temples along the way. Nao decided Hidan was scarier than Kakuzu, who she's taken a shy liking too. She won't go up to him. I had to hold her hand and walk with her so she could give him the flowers she picked. I also had to make him thank her.

"We're getting close to base." Kakuzu informed us. Nao was asleep on my chest under my cloak so she didn't get cold. Hero whined when he forgot she was there and thought she was gone.

I nodded and took a deep breath. I wanted to tell myself it would be okay and Pein would accept Nao like he had Maeko and Chiya. There's a difference though. Maeko and Chiya had previous training. Nao is just a three year old misfit who will probably be worked like Maeko had been if she ends up anywhere else. If she wasn't with us and Pein doesn't kill her, what is she supposed to do?

An hour later we were at base and I thought my heart would wake Nao. I followed Hidan and Kakuzu into base and not a second after we walked in Pein was there. He twitched with anger as he spotted Nao.

"Why do you have a child?" He questioned me in a deadly calm voice.

"She's my mother's. The mission was a success and I couldn't just leave her like that. She didn't need any more abuse." I told him, thought I probably should have talkedn't back to our leader.

"And you thought it would be right to bring her here?" Nao squirmed and let out a sleepy breath.

"Please, she's just a little girl. Think of the benefits. I was raised to be strong and then to be a killer. I've obviously done fine in the Akatsuki. If the same is done for Nao she could be as strong as me; stronger even." I persuaded.

"We'll see how this goes." Pein said before vanishing.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Nao had stirred herself awake and I set her down. "Goodnight." I said and hugged Kakuzu. He hugged me back, which almost surprised me. We had been hostile the whole way back. We moved apart and Nao looked up at him with sleepy, hopeful eyes.

He crouched down and patted her head. "Goodnight kid." Before he could stand back up she hugged him.

"Goodnight Kakuzu." She said before moving away and taking my hand. I picked her up and walked to Hidan's room with her. She was asleep before we even got in, which is probably for the best. It isn't usually considered a good thing to see a large amount of blood before going to sleep. Of course, when she wakes up in the morning she'll freak out.

I collapsed onto the bed with Nao and Hidan glared at us, grumbling under his breath. He stayed as far away from us as he could, but that didn't matter for long. Well, it didn't matter much to being with because Hidan's just like that and we were too tired to argue about it. We were passed out within minutes, which is rare for me.

The next morning I was woken up by two pink haired teenagers jumping on me. "Good morning!" They both yelled. Nao popped her head out from under the covers and both girls screamed.

"What is that?" Chiya exclaimed.

"I didn't know you used to know Kakuzu too!" Maeko teased loudly. Hidan just had to pick that moment to wake up. He can't resist the opportunity to laugh at me.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done? Thanks to you Hidan has a life time's worth of new material to get himself killed with." I told Maeko and sat up. "Anyway, this is Nao. She's three and our half sister." Chiya sneezed. I guess she does that when she's excited.

"Aw, you're so cute! I'm Chiya." She said, looking like the sweet, helpful sister that she is.