Ai Saikuro

Chapter Ten

A little girl with a cute midnight black ponytail sloshed her way up to two boys, smiling brightly. The child hopped between the two unsuspecting little boys spraying them both with rainwater.

"Hiya!" She grinned cheekily at the pouting kids.

"Ai, you said you wouldn't do that no more!" The blond haired boy whined childishly.

She placed her hands behind he back innocently and then her and the other five year olds started giggling randomly. She placed her small arms on the two boy's shoulders as they started walking again. She kicked her feet out playfully.

She squealed childishly as she poked the black haired boy out of no where. "Tag!"

She ran off with the blond as the other put out boy chased after the cheaters.

**Hours later- Eight O'clock*

The three children from before sat against a tree, butts wet from the rain that still pooled on the ground, shivering.

"Hey guys...I think we should go home now, it's kind of late.." The boy looked around fearfully into the now darkened sky and the flickering street lights.

The other children agreed and they hurriedly went in different directions to their houses.

Ai walked at a steady pace remaining relatively unafraid of the darkness that blanketed the village or that the part of town she had to walk through to to get home wasn't a very good one. That section of the village contained many bars and low class houses that was usually home to the criminals of the Leaf.

She drug her feet in the left over rain and swung her arms to entertain her young self. As a five year old, Ai actually shouldn't be walking this far home alone but due to an accident that happened a year ago she didn't exactly have anyone that would take her in.

A crash and a grunt echoed through an ally next to her and she flinched and turned her head to it sharply.

Her keen eyes caught movement in the shadows and she leaped backwards, concerned and slightly afraid of the situation she was now put in. The child knew far more than the average kid but that meant she also realised now that what was creeping about at this time at night couldn't have been good.

"Hey!" She stared wide-eyed at the drunken man who now staggered toward her. "Little girl, what are you doing out this time of night?" He flashed  a smile full of rotten teeth that she suppose he intended to be comforting but did nothing more than put her on edge.

He continued to advance toward her and she turned on her heal trying to get away from problem that was now arising. She winced as he yanked her backwards by her wrist. "Where're you hurrying off to, sweetheart?"

Ai shook her head frantically. "I'm tired, I just wanted to go home!"

He laughed and dragged her into his alleyway despite the distance she'd gotten away from it and her struggling. If she hadn't been so terrified she might have remembered that she was much stronger than the civilians that hung around the leaf because of her training.

"I just wanna play wit'ch ya for a little while.. Don't you wanna have some fun?"

"N-no!" She stuttered.

She yelped at the sting in her back as he shoved her much too forcefully into the stone wall.

"You ungrateful little brat!" She could smell the familiar sour twang of alcohol on his breath." I offer to spend some of my precious time on you, to entertain you, and you don't have the manners to respect that?!" He was getting spit all over her face.

She kicked and squirmed but she couldn't escape his surprisingly strong grasp, she couldn't find enough strength!

There was a clatter on the roof and her head shot up. She thought with all her little mind that she saw a figure up there but she didn't see anything now.

She was alone. The man was gone.

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The walk back to the village was fairly uneventful, the biggest thing that happened was actually the good-bye part. At least for Naruto and Inari....I shiver at the memory....way too mushy for me.

To be honest the trip back mostly consisted of something like this:

"I'll beat you Sasuke...Grrr!"  Naruto stretches his stride length trying to match the onyx haired boys leisurely stroll.

And...

"Hn, idiot."

Also...

"Oh, Sasuke! He's such a hunk, right Ai?"

"No, not really."

Glare.

Oh, and a bit of this...

"What a lovely day, right Ai?"

Kakashi.

Eye twitch as I try to ignore the angry fighting mob behind me.

"Beautiful."

Yep, completely uneventful trip...

I think I just about ran into the village gates.

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