Just A Kid

Chapter 15

As Kakashi and Team 7 walked through the gates of Konoha, Araile opened her eyes slowly, hoping they wouldn't sting. Araile smiled slightly when her eyes did in fact not sting, but her head continued to throb with each step her caretaker took.

Letting out a small yawn, the ill child buried her head in Kakashi's back as voices appeared around her. Why wouldn't they let her sleep? Couldn't they see that Araile wasn't feeling well? Why won't they be quiet?

Her ear twitched slightly as she heard Naruto shouting for Sakura to wait for him, and the sounds of Sakura's feet hitting the ground at a fast pace. If Araile was feeling better she would have giggled. Naruto was funny when it came to his infatuation with Sakura.

Then it was just her, Kakashi and Takumi.

She could feel Kakashi walking again, the rhythm of his footsteps having an almost hypnotic effect on her small body. She yawned and decided to get some more sleep in the already comfortable position she was in against his back. Kakashi always said that sleep healed practically everything.

Finally Kakashi walked up a small set of steps and unlocked the door to their apartment. Takumi padded in, nose down to the ground as he went around taking in the different smells. Sighing, Kakashi walked to his young charge's bedroom.

Another mouth to feed.

Araile was half-asleep as she felt Kakashi shifting her on his back, and then gently placed the child on something soft and firm, before covering her shivering body with something soft. Her ear twitched as the sound of a door opening and closing echoed softly. She laid still for a couple moments, then opened her eyes. Araile sat up slowly, blinking when her blanket slipped off her shoulders.

She looked around, relieved that she was back in her bed in her small bedroom, just to the side of Kakashi's room.

Nothing really special struck her when looking at her small room; her bed was against the white wall, a small square window faced her on the other wall, and a small dresser held her clothes and other possessions that she had collected over the years.

Smiling slightly, she took a hold of a stuffed blue cat from the edge of her bed. She missed her Ao-chan, lovingly named for its blue fur.

Suddenly, Takumi lept out from a corner and onto her bed.

She gave a small shriek as Takumi began licking her all over, making her laugh. Araile then pushed Takumi off of her with a small giggle. She slowly got up from her bed and walked to her door that held an array of pictures she had drawn over the years, and opened the door quietly. She looked around, ears twitching and sighed when she realized that the house was empty.

Kakashi must have gone out to get groceries.

Araile walked back to her bed and began playing with Takumi, which then lasted for a couple hours. Takumi, tired from all the playing, plopped down beside her bed and fell fast asleep with a twitch of his tail. Araile curled up on her bed, and started to doze off as warm sunlight shone on the back of her neck.

A couple hours went by.

Araile's ear twitched as she heard some commotion coming from outside the small apartment. She got up and walked over to the window to get a look. Due to her small size, Araile had to stand on her toes to see fully out the window.

Her eyes opened wide as she saw Team 7 fighting off a group of rouge ninjas, their headband symbols scratched out. She watched as Sasuke and Kakashi fought the ninjas, while Naruto had transformed into several clones of himself and attacked a ninja that had managed to escape.

She noticed Kakashi shouting something to Sakura and pointed towards Araile's window. This caused Araile to gasp and fall back, landing on her butt on the floor. Takumi then woke up from the commotion and padded over to her, licking her face.

She clutched Takumi close to her as her sensitive ears picked up a series of bangs, yells, and curses. Fear began to set a chilling blanket over her stomach as the bangs became louder.

Takumi, sensing her fear, stood protectively over her; growling deep in his throat as his tail lashed back and forth, just daring any of the rogue ninjas outside to come in and attack.

Araile looked around her room, heart pounding. The kunai that Kakashi kept were somewhere in the kitchen, but she was too scared to move. She chewed her lip as a conflict began in her mind. She had to defend herself and Takumi, but was too scared to move and retrieve the weapon. She didn't want to be a coward, but she didn't want to be killed.