CHAPTER FIVE~ NARUTO~ Not A Bad Girl
“Hey, kid, what’re you doing out so late?”
Naruto glanced up. About fifty feet away or so, two tall Chunin were confronting a smaller figure. It was dusk, so Naruto couldn’t see their faces.
“Hani’s sorry.”
Naruto blinked. Was Hani out there?
“Hani’s sorry. Hani was going home.”
“It’s dangerous out here, kid. You never know when a rouge ninja could attack.” One of the chunin replied to her. “You want us to take you home?”
At this point, Naruto strolled up. “Hey, Hani!” he said, and then stopped short.
One of Hani’s cheeks was bright red. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen.
Naruto kneeled down and hugged her. He glanced at the chunin. One, he recognized, was Izumo, and the other was Kotetsu…at least, Naruto remembered them by those names.
Naruto glared at the two. “Did you guys--?”
“Hey, hey, no need to get angry at us.” Izumo said, waving his hand at Naruto to cut him off. “We found her like this.”
Kotetsu nodded. “We were questioning her, but she just kept crying and saying she was sorry. Isn’t that Tsunade-hime’s granddaughter?”
Naruto opened his arms, just to find that the small girl had closed her eyes and was sleeping soundly. Naruto picked her up. “I guess you could say that.” he replied, stroking Hani’s hair out of her eyes. “She’s exhausted.” He added softly. “What were you doing, Hani?”
“We’ll leave her with you, then.” Kotetsu told Naruto. “She trusts you--she wouldn’t get near us.”
“She said she was visiting someone. Who it was, we don’t know.” Izumo added. “The only place in the direction she was coming from was the civilian prison.”
Naruto nodded. At that point, the two chunin decided to walk away, discussing the strange girl, and wondering what Naruto’s connection with the girl was.
Naruto, of course, was oblivious to it all. He stroked Hani’s back and sighed. What had Hani been doing? Why did someone hit her?
Suddenly, Naruto remembered. It had been a few months since Hani had told him.
‘Hani’s Grandpa hit Hani, cause Hani was a bad girl.’
Naruto was, for once, silent. He had finally figured out where Hani had gone…and he felt so bad for her.
Slowly, Naruto walked back to the Hokage towers, stroking Hani’s back and whispering words of comfort to the sleeping child.
Hani was defiantly not a bad girl.
