Baby of Mine ~Naruto short-story~

Chapter 4: Naruto Left Alone; Clary Goes Missing!

"Alright, I'll be back tomorrow to get you. Be good for gramps, alright?" Clary said, fussing over her baby before leaving with Kakashi on their mission. She had asked the Hokage to watch Naruto for the day that Kakashi and herself were going on their mission. Today was July twenty-first, Clary's twenty-first birthday. It was lucky that her birthday usually fell during the academy's summer break. Then she was free to do whatever she wanted with her little patch-work family. When she and Kakashi return, they would have a cake and celebrate with Naruto as well.

Naruto looked sad as Clary smoothed down his hair. "Do you have to go?" He asked.

"Don't worry! I'll be back before you know it and I'll give you a biiiiiig hug to make up for the time I was away!" She smiled brightly to the boy and held him tightly. Soon though, Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling that they needed to leave. Almost reluctantly, Clary let Naruto go and stood. Before leaving, she looked to him again and emphasized, "Be good."

The mission was simple enough. There was a small band of bandits that had been terrorizing travelers near the village and they had murdered a family the other day, leaving a young daughter alive to run to the village and explain what happened. Clary had felt sorry for the little girl. She knew what it was like to lose family after all. So now it was considered an ANBU problem.

Clary rubbed at the back of her neck where her black Yin tattoo sat. Kakashi knew if she rubbed that she was either worried or in deep thought. At this point he could only assume she was both. In thought about the mission and worried for the child she had left in someone else's care. Watching her, he became aware of the area on the back of his neck where his white Yang tattoo was, the other half to hers. They had gotten them as a joke initially, but soon realized they could be used as proof of who they really were.

At the gate, Kakashi adorned his long put away ANBU mask, ironically, the mask of the dog. Clary was well put hers on, another bit of irony, hers being that of the rabbit. From behind her mask she smiled at Kakashi and they took off into the woods surrounding the village. The last known location was not to far away from the gates and Clary couldn't help but think these guys were a little over confident.

They took to the trees shortly after taking off and Clary could feel herself reveling in the feel of being out in the field again. She was still alert and ready for anything, but there was stopping the relaxed feeling of her memories. She used to do this all the time with Kakashi. And she had a feeling that if Minato and Kushina hadn't died, leaving her to raise Naruto, she would never have quit, and her and Kakashi would be in their eighth year of working as ANBU team together.

But at the same time, maybe it was for the best that everything happened the way it did. Kakashi got a lot better after he quit the ANBU, had a small lapse where he started working for Danzo, earning him a hard slap from Clary when she found out, but slowly came to terms with everything and cheered up. But perhaps that was Clary's fault. She often times made Kakashi entertain Naruto when he was small, and you can't help but smile in the presence of a happy giggling baby.

During Clary's little inner happy thoughts, they had stumbled upon the small band of bandits. Kakashi leaned against the tree and looked down on them lazily while Clary sat and crossed her legs, the vision of relaxed. "What do you think?" Kakashi asked.

Her silver eyes scanned the band of five bandits. And she was not impressed. "Aw, this is going to be boring. They're all drunk and even the leader looks weak."

"Even so, be careful. They could have a trick or two up their sleeves."

Clary smiled. "Worry-wart. I know what I'm doing. It's you who always over does it." Kakashi smiled as well and shook his head. Finally, they got into a ready position and jumped for the attack. The five bandits stumbled in surprise and two were easily disposed of. The other three however easily jumped up and began to fight back. Two of them occupied themselves with trying to incapacitate Clary, while the other, the leader, took on Kakashi.