Don't tell Sasuke

A step closer

I thought about the time I would have to wait until I would officially be a part of the village, luckily for me the baby wouldn't be born until a while after the exams had finished.

"Hotaru!" I looked up at my name and saw Naruto and his team. They all looked pleased with themselves, so it was safe to say they had passed. "How is the baby?!" He shouted out as he got closer to me. I blushed a bit and ducked my down, and waited for them to get closer to answer. Sakura was in such a good mood she didn't even try to hit him.

"You went to the hospital today?" Sakura asked as she got closer.

"Yes, just to make an appointment, but they were able to get me in since they weren't busy at all. And I have exciting news... The baby is healthy and a boy!" I grinned widely, and Naruto came up to me and hugged me suddenly. At first I was shocked, but quickly I laughed and hugged him back. "Yes, and the doctor told me I should start talking to him!" I laughed as I looked down at my stomach and rubbed it with my hand. "Yes, I am very excited about you... anyway did you all pass??" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah! It was awesome! And the next test is tomorrow!"

The team decided they wanted to celebrate, or at least Naruto wanted an excuse to have ramen. We ate and both Sasuke and Sakura left to do others things. So it was just me and Naruto walking around the village.

"I'm glad you came here Hotaru..." he mumbled besides me. I looked down in confusion at the blonde boy, he had a slight blush on his face.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I'm excited to see a baby is all, do you think I could hold it?" He laughed suddenly changing his demeanor. I scowled softly down at him.

"Well of course, but what's the matter?"

"I just never held a baby before... The villagers, they keep a distance from me. They ignore me and don't talk to me. They didn't let their kids play with me." I looked down at him thoughtfully wondering what could such an innocent child could have done to deserve that. So far he has been the nicest to me of all those who I have met in the villge. "Hey,  let's go train!" I nodded, allowing him to change the subject. Then looked down to see I had forgotten my book and scrolls.. they must still be on my bed.

I said I would meet him at the training grounds. I just had to stop by home to pick some stuff up.

"Alright! See you there!" He shouted as I headed towards our building.

I continue to head in the way I figured the building was, but the further I walked the more I became certain that I was walking in the wrong direction... I looked around and decided maybe if I found a place high enough I could see a building I might recognize. I saw one reasonably high and headed towards it, as I walked up the steps to get to the top I hear someone already there. It sounded as if they were training, I slowly snuck up the stairs. At the top I saw Sasuke with a training dummy and a couple targets. He moved so fast that it was hard for me to follow his movements. I wondered if this was the body flicker technique or was he just this fast. I didn't see any hand signs, so it must be the latter.

"If I were that fast then I could run away from any threat that came our way," I whispered down to my stomach. I felt a little weird talking to him, but I also felt I should definitely do it.

"I come here to be alone." A growl came from above me, I looked up to see a very pissed off Sasuke. For a second I was actually scared, but I remember something Itachi told me. Sasuke was angry but not one to fight for no reason, so if I didn't try to fight him then he wasn't about to attack me. Didn't mean I wasn't still very nervous and embarrassed for getting caught.

"Hehe... sorry. I was looking for the way home an-"

"It's hard to mistake this building as yours." He spat down at me, I decided it was time for me to move now that he discovered me. I walked up the rest of the stairs and looked out over the city.

"I came here because it was high enough that maybe I would recognize the way home." I spoke softly as I examined the buildings below me. He didn't say anything, but walked over to his targets and things. "What are you doing?" I asked turning towards the noise.

"I came here to train so I wouldn't run into anyone.. it's been discovered, so I will be moving to another location."

"No, no, no please. I won't tell anyone that I saw you up here."

"No." He picked up his final target and started to walk down the stairs. I quickly followed behind him.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. Really I am. But can you take me back home?" I called to him, but right after I finished he disappeared in a poof of smoke. Just like Kakashi. Sigh... I really need to learn how to do that. Well, I turned back around and climbed back up the stairs to do what I came there to do.

I was able to get sight of my actual building and ran downstairs to continue to run in the right direction. I was able to run fast enough that I was able to practice with Naruto.

"HEY took you long enough!" Naruto yelled at me across the field, I gave a nervous laugh and shouted back that I got lost.

"I'm going to be over here reading for a minute, keep doing what you're doing." He gave a thumbs up and I tested myself on the hand seals and after checking them and getting them 100 percent correct I moved on to the technique. Clone jutsu.

Ram Snake Tiger

Poof

I looked to the side of me and saw a very very bad clone, but holy crap!

"I made that? I made that. I made that! Naruto look! Look what I made!"

"That's nothing to be proud of." A voice to my left spoke. I gasped and spun around to see Sasuke. The clone poof away as I stared at him.

"I made something, it was my very first try..." I said hesitantly, and turned away. "You should stop being so angry all the time."

"I can be however I want to be," he growled. I walked a little further away and tried again.

Fail. Again. Fail. Again. Fail. Sigh.

I took a deep breath and focused on where I felt the heated sensation from the day before. I pull it out from every inch of my body to the surface all while performing the three key hand seals. I opened my eyes and looked to my side.

"Ha!" Naruto stopped to look at what I yelled at, and he started cheering. A perfect moving clone stood there. "Take that Sasuke!" I laughed.

"How old are you.." Sasuke mumbled at my actions. I stopped laughing, but the smile never left my face. I smirked and just to be sure it wasn't a fluke made ten more.

Perfect.

"One step closer to becoming a ninja!" Naruto cheered on.