The Shadow's Fox

Chapter 10

"Come on. We have a few more things to pick up," Yoshino said. She walked over and paid for her flowers, trying to pay for Shikadai's flower too, but Ino refused to ring it up.

The rest of the afternoon was a little boring for Naruto, but knew that these things had to be taken care of for the wedding. Shikadai didn't seem to mind walking around the different stores, which Naruto was glad for. The boy just smiled and showed his flower to anyone who would pay attention to him.

Naruto was currently listening to Yoshino discuss something with a shopkeeper of one of the outside stalls, when Shikadai suddenly let go of his hand and ran off. "Shikadai. Come back!" he called out as he chased his son. He pushed his way through the crowd, his heart racing. He was quickly losing sight of the boy. "Shikadai!"

When he broke through the sea of people, he looked around, but didn't see the boy anywhere. "Shikadai!" He put both hands on his head, clenching his hair tightly.

"You lose something, Naruto?"

Naruto turned and saw Kiba walking up to him with Shikadai in his arms.

Naruto sighed in relief and walked up to the man. "Thanks, Kiba." He took Shikadai from the Inuzuka and gave the boy a stern look. "What have we told you about running off like that?"

Shikadai looked down at Naruto's scolding. "Sorry."

Naruto hugged the boy. "Why did you run off?"

"Doggie," he said and pointed at Akamaru, who was standing next to Kiba.

"Guess he saw Akamaru and wanted to pet him," Kiba said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Shikadai, you know you're not supposed to run off like that. You could get lost. What would have happened if someone snatched you up. They would've taken you from me and daddy and then we'd never see you again," Naruto said.

Shikadai looked up at him, tears in his eyes. "No," the boy said and wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck.

Naruto felt a little bad for scaring the boy like that, but he needed him to understand how dangerous it was.

"Aw, go easy on the kid, Naruto. That didn't happen, so it's..."

"No," Naruto interrupted him. "Even if we're in the village, there could still be people that would hurt him. He needs to know it's not ok to just run off."

Kiba stared at him a bit shocked. "Heh. Listen to you being all mature," he said as he smiled and crossed his arms.

Shikadai shifted to lay his head on Naruto's shoulder and twisted the flower in his hand.

"I just don't want anything to happen to him," Naruto said after he kissed the boy's head.

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned and saw Yoshino pushing her way through the crowd.

"Oh, thank goodness," she said as she placed a hand on her chest when she saw Shikadai in Naruto's arms. "What happened?"

"He saw Akamaru and chased after him," Naruto explained.

Yoshino looked sternly at the boy. "Don't you ever do that again, young man. You scared me half to death." She reached up, face relaxing, and cupped Shikadai's cheek. "I thought something bad happened to you."

Shikadai's lip quivered. "S-sorry, mima."

"I already explained to him why that was dangerous," Naruto said, then looked down at the boy. "I just hope he understood me."

Yoshino gave him a small smile. "I'm sure he did. He looks a bit shaken up after all."

Naruto and Yoshino both thanked Kiba and headed back to the shop they were at. Shikadai wouldn't let Naruto put him down after that, so by the time they got back to Yoshino's, Naruto's arm was a little sore.