Mother Nature's Flower

Chapter 5

“ . . .-ko . . . ak . . . p Ai . . . Aiko!” Toshiko shouted to wake Aiko up from her eight hour nap.

Aiko opened her eyes, sleep still gripped onto her eyelashes. She stared blankly at Toshiko, not really realizing that he was right in front of her face. When she finally realized that, she blink and then thought to ask, “What time is it Shiko?”

Toshiko looked at the clock on the nightstand next to his side of the bed, “Around 6 o’clock in the evening. You slept for eight hours, and it’s time for dinner. Get dressed, I’ll be outside the door waiting, okay?”

Aiko nodded and started walking to her bag as Toshiko walked to the door. Aiko was rooting around in her bag, she found a cute sundress Toshiko had bought for her on the way here.

She picked up the dress, a fresh pair of underwear, and a new bra. Now, even though she was smaller than the average 12-year-old, her breasts were larger than the average 13-year-old’s.

The sundress was a pretty green that matched her eyes. They came with a pair of white sandals with a green leaf on the crown. She brushed her butt length brown hair before leaving the room.

As she opened the door, the first thing she saw was Toshiko. He was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the bedroom door. He was wearing a pair a baggy pants that were cinched at the waist. A few inches below the knee, he had bandages around his calves and down to his ankles with standard shinobi shoes on. His shirt was a loose navy blue shirt with long sleeves that he rolled up to where the sleeves were 1/4 rolled. His blue hair had grown a lot in those seven years he had met Aiko, it was now just above his shoulder blades. They varied from a dark blue to a bright blue.

Aiko always loved his hair. Despite him being being rough and “mean” his hair was always so soft and silky. Whenever he carried her, she always ran her fingers through it.

Toshiko finally noticed that she was standing there. He smiled as he saw her in her new outfit, “You look adorable in that dress.”

Aiko smiled and twirled, causing the dress to fan out and then gently drift back down to its original position when she stopped, “I like it! It’s so pretty and comfortable.”

Toshiko chuckled before pushing himself off of the wall, “Come on. The others are already down the hall waiting for us.”

Aiko nodded following Toshiko down the twists and turns that made up the halls of the Kazekage’s house. When they were near the dining hall, Aiko started to get nervous. She reached up and grabbed Toshiko’s hand.

He looked down at her and gave a reassuring smile while giving her hand a little squeeze. They continued to walk towards the dining room.

They approached the large, closed doors that hid the dining room from their view. Toshiko let go of Aiko’s hands to push open the doors. Aiko quickly grabbed onto the material of the sleeve of his elbow. The doors opened and Aiko and Toshiko were able to see three people present at the table.

There was only one girl and two boys. The girl looked to be a few years older the Aiko. She had her shoulder length blonde hair in four ponytails on her head. Leaning on the back of her chair was a fan almost as big as Aiko. She wore an off-the-shoulder shirt-dress that was belted at the waist with a red scarf and had the long sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Under the shirt/dress was a fishnet shirt. A piece of fishnet went down to her mid-thigh on her left leg and another piece went from under her knee to her ankle. On her feet were traditional shinobi sandals and she wore her Suna forehead protector tied around her neck.

The boy next to her had a onesie-type outfit on, he looked about the same age as the blonde. The pant leg only went down to mid-calf where he had rolled it up. The onesie had a hood on and it looked like it had kitty ears on the top. His forehead protector was actually attached to his outfit, on the head where his forehead should be. On the front of his onesie, there was a circle outlined in white the circle itself was split in half down the middle. The left side was yellow while the right side was red. On his face there were lines of purple makeup.

Sitting next to him on a chair was what looked like a mummy with brown hair on the top.

Another boy was in the room, more around Aiko’s age. He wasn’t at the table though, he was standing by the window. HIs arms were crossed over his chest, an emotionless expression on his face. His short hair was a vibrant red color. The fact that he had no eyebrows didn’t make him any less cute. Black outlined his pupiless teal eyes that held no emotions -on the surface. He also had on a jumpsuit like the boy that looked like a cat. His was a dark but light brown that had short sleeves. Under that was a fishnet shirt and bandages going from his calves to his ankles. He had on standard shinobi sandals and a harness that held a large gourd. His Suna headband was hanging off of a part of the strap that hung off of his hips on his right. A white cloth was draped around him in an intricate aray.

As Aiko and Toshiko traveled closer, Aiko could make out a tattoo on the redhead’s forehead. She squinted her eyes and saw that it was the kanji “Ai” for “Love”.

When the door closed behind Aiko and Toshiko the three ninja looked up at them. The blonde and kitty looked at them with curiosity but still had their guard up. The redhead gave them the same emotionless expression that he had been wearing when they walked in.

Aiko got nervous under his stare and started to move herself more behind Toshiko. He glanced at her before bowing to the three ninja, “Good Morning. Thank you and your father for letting us stay here.”

Aiko that realized that these must be the Kazekage’s kids. She quickly stepped out from her hiding spot from behind Toshiko and bowed, showing her gratitude, “Arigato gozaimasu.”

The blonde looked at Aiko with a smile on her face, “You very much welcome. And you are so cute! What’s your name? I’m Sabaku no Temari.”

Aiko looked at the blonde, now know as Temari, shyly, “My name is Aiko Kimura Uzumaki. It’s nice to meet you Temari-chan.”

Temari smiled and squealed, “Ah! You’re so sweet!”

Aiko blushed and hid behind Toshiko shyly. Toshiko chuckled as he looked at Aiko grabbing his leg.

The boy next to Temari, Kitty, looked at Aiko hiding behind Toshiko again. Aiko peeked around Toshiko’s leg and looked at Kitty. He looked back at her and blinked. She blinked back at him.

“What is this little squirt doing here?” Kitty asked no one in particular. Toshiko stopped looking at Aiko to looked up at Kitty.

He cleared his throat to catch Kitty’s attention, “She’s the one that my team and I had kidnapped seven years ago. A few days ago, you father was kind enough to help us escape from the clutches of an evil man.”

Kitty looked confused, “Why would she care for someone who kidnapped her and took her away from her family? She should hate you.”

Toshiko looked down at Aiko who looked at Kitty with large, confused eyes. He sighed, “I know. She should, but she doesn’t. I’m glad she doesn’t though. I don’t know what I would do if she hated me.”

Aiko looked at Toshiko. She lifted her arms up to indicate that she wanted to be picked up. Toshiko obliged her wishes. When she was securely in his arms, she hugged him tight. He hugged her back, buried his face into her long, brown hair that always smelled of pine trees and vanilla. A weird but intoxicating scent.

The three Sand siblings watched the interaction between the two. They looked like family.