| Ain't We All Just Runaways | [Oct. 19th, 2013|01:37 am] |
[Takes place Yondaime Year 5, May 2, three days after The Way Home]
The ANBU were talking.
Naruto heard them when they thought he wasn't listening. They had soft voices and quick gestures but he had good ears, and Turtle-san had taught him some of the hand-signs once. She thought he would forget but he didn't. He didn't forget what the ANBU said now, either, when new masks slipped through the windows at shift-changes or caught up in the hallway on the way to preschool.
They talked about his dad, except they called him Yondaime-sama, and about Sagara-san, who was sometimes Hawk and sometimes Sagara-sama. Sagara-san was in Dad's office today and she'd been there yesterday and the day before, and she'd only come once to Naruto's room, on the first day, to tell him that Dad was gone for a little while and he needed to be good.
No one but Dad and Kakashi-niisan and Rin-neesan could expect Naruto to be good just because they said so, and Kakashi-niisan was gone right now, too. Rin-neesan came by for dinner once and she didn't know where they were, either. Sometimes Rin-neesan lied, though, like when she said this wouldn't hurt a bit and she made you count to three but she stuck the needle in when you were still on two. So he didn't know.
Sagara-san knew where Dad and Kakashi-niisan were, but she wouldn't tell. Turtle-san wouldn't either. Wolf-san got stiff and uncomfortable and told Naruto not to ask questions that they weren't supposed to answer. But Wolf told Turtle, when they thought Naruto was throwing a fit over the bones in his grilled mackerel, that Yondaime-sama was hunting down traitors and they needed every mask they had right now, so it was a good thing that Crescent Moon's squad was coming home.
Crescent Moon was Kakashi-niisan's captain. Kakashi-niisan had drawn all the masks for him in crayon last week so he would know. Naruto took the drawing out that afternoon and looked at it, and they were all there: Crescent Moon, Tanuki, Rat, Hound, Ram. Kakashi was Hound, because he had dog summons. He let Naruto play with them sometimes, although the fat little pug said bad words when Naruto pulled his ears.
Maybe Kakashi-niisan would summon his dogs and they would go find Dad and help him hunt the traitors, whoever they were. Naruto drew a picture of that, although his white crayon didn't do a very good job on Kakashi's white armor or Dad's white coat. Then he remembered that you were never supposed to leave the battle-plans where the enemy might find them, so he tried to burn the drawing in the gas on the stove.
Saya-san found him, and it got very noisy and very smoky. When the ANBU arrived and Saya started to cry, Naruto went away. He didn't like it the way Saya-san's face went blotchy and her voice got shrill when she cried, and besides she was too busy sobbing at Wolf to notice when Naruto left. She called Naruto a little devil, too, which only Dad was allowed to say, and only when he was fond.
At first Naruto went up to the roof. You could see a long way from there, all the way to the walls, so he would see if Kakashi-niisan was coming back. But he could still hear Saya-san crying from here: Wolf had come in through the window, and left it open. Naruto began looking for some place where it would be quiet.
He saw the Hokage monument, and the stairs marching in their precise zig-zag up behind the heads. His preschool class had gone up there last week to learn about the Three Dead Hokages and the One Live One, who was Naruto's dad. ANBU Headquarters were on the plateau behind the Hokages' heads, but no one was allowed there except the ANBU, and Naruto's Dad, and Naruto himself once or twice when he was very small. None of the other children in his preschool had even seen an ANBU close up. Their eyes got very big when he bragged.
If no one was allowed in ANBU HQ, it would be quiet there. Saya-san could not come crying after him, and he could find Kakashi-niisan first thing when he got back and explain the battle-plan. It was a good plan, too. Kakashi-niisan would summon his dogs and they would go out to find Dad again, as soon as Kakashi ate dinner. Maybe Naruto would get to ride one of the dogs. They had let him do that before.
He went down the fire-ladder on the back side of the Hokage's Palace and trotted to the stairs at the base of the shadowing cliff. Saya-san had ceased sobbing, high above, but there was still smoke coming out of the window. That was good, he thought, very pleased with himself. Wolf and Saya would both be busy putting the smoke out, and by the time they found that he was not coloring in his room, he would be riding Kakashi-niisan's dogs toward glory. |
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