M A K I ~
"Maki, are you okay?" All the children who were present looked at the shaking young girl who ran ran out of the classroom once seeing the bottle.
"Maki!" Naruto yelled, looking for Iruka and eventually finding him.
"Maki ran away!" Iruka dropped his papers and stood as quickly as he could. The two ran back to the class where all the kids were huddled up together.
"What?!"
"She just suddenly started shaking when she saw a Sake bottle and ran out of the room..." Shikamaru grunted while the elder mans eyes widened and he ran, searching for the young girl.
"Maki? Maki!" No answer.
Another teacher exited his class, asking what was wrong and leaving to contact Tenzo. In a few minutes, the ANBU appeared with his senpai and asked where the girl he was taking care of was.
"We don't know. Apparently she ran out of the class for some reason."
"You let her?"
"I wasn't there. I was printing out papers." Tenzo sighed, nodding at Iruka and thanking him before asking Kakashi to summon one of his dog to track the young girl.
"What do you think happened with her?"
"Maybe she saw something that scared her?"
"Most likely..." He answered back. Something that scared Maki? He couldn't think of too much.
Maki wasn't very far, as expected. But she was at a decent distance from the academy, and when they found her, back against the tree and terrified eyes, they knew they assumed right. She looked just about to cry, and it broke the two's hearts.
Crouching down to her level, Tenzo spoke softly.
"Are you alright, Maki?" She whimpered softly and shook her head.
"What's wrong?" Maki suddenly lunged forwards and buried her head in his waist.
"I..." She cried, stuttering her words out. "I don't wanna see that again..." He picked her up, but she didn't remove her head from his shoulder and cried.
"What did you see...?"
"Th-The bottle..." He rose an eyebrow, making eye contact with his senpai.
"A...Bottle?"
"It was the stuff mom and dad used to drink...The bottles they hit me with too..." Their eyes widened and they realized what she was talking about.
"Alcohol?" She tightened her grip on him.
"They- They always looked at me so much worse when they drank it. I don't know why." He lightly bounced her up and down and made small shushing sounds, somehow eventually calming her down as he thanked his senpai who nodded and teleported away.
'I've never met someone with dipsophobia...' He thought. 'This is new.'
"You want to go back to class or go home?"
"Home." It felt like such a foreign word to her, but she enjoyed the way it rolled off her tongue when she was speaking with Mr. Tenzo now.
"Alright." He whispered softly, quickly teleporting to the class and asking for Iruka to bring her things and homework. The man willingly complied and quickly brought the items out, glancing at the child sleeping on Tenzos hip, in concern.
"She'll be alright." He smiled at Iruka.
"But please, try not to bring or mention any alcohol in her presence."
"Of course." Iruka nodded, waving at the man and closing the door.
Tenzo sighed and walked outside the academy, holding Maki's bag and herself in his arms. Three weeks, and he already knew what she was afraid of.
He didn't expect it to be alcohol, but it made sense, seeing how her parents hit and abused her when and not when they were under the influence of alcohol and used the bottles to hit her.
'What house did she live in?' He frowned. 'Not a good one, that's for sure.'
"Are you awake?" He looked at her, seeing her closed eyes and sighed.
"I need to tell lord hokage about this."
~
"Dipsophobia?" The brown haired man nodded.
After placing Maki in her bed, tucking her in and placing her things away, he created a clone and left to report to the hokage.
"A fear like that can be quite troublesome..." He muttered and took a puff of his smoke.
"Thank you for reporting this. You may return."
"Yes, my lord." He bowed and teleported away into the streets.
Walking by the many stalls and shops, the stars twinkle brightly reminding him of the first time she had seen them. He sighed and passed by a bar, not noticing his few friends calling him. Asuma and Kurenai glanced at each other, concerned for their friends unusual behavior.
"Tenzo?" He kept walking.
"Tenzo." Asuma placed a hand on the mans shoulder, and this time he flinched.
"Ah...Asuma-San."
"You alright there? We've been calling you for a while."
"Oh..." He muttered and nodded. "I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind."
"Wanna talk while we drink?" He tensed.
"Eh? I can't drink anymore. Sorry." Kurenai rose an eyebrow along with Gai.
"Why not?" Tenzo rubbed the back of his neck.
"You guys know the kid I took in?"
"Hm?" Kurenai shook her head. "I didn't know."
"Lord third assigned me a mission to watch over a girl, and she lives with me now..."
"What's your point?" Gai wondered.
"My point is, she has dipsophobia."
"What's that?"
"She's scared of alcohol." Kurenai explained as his eyes widened.
"I...Have to go and check on her..."
"We'll walk you. Talk a little, maybe it'll help lessen the burden you feel." He nodded but didn't say anything else.
As they walked in silence, Asuma finally broke it.
"How long have you been taking care of this kid?"
"Three weeks."
"Three weeks?!" Kurenai screeched, shocked.
"Yeah." Tenzo confirmed, and once again a silence ensued.
"Should I help her get over this fear?" They glanced at each other.
"If she wants to. But...If she really is afraid of it that much, then just let time tell."
"Right..." Tenzo muttered, furrowing his eyebrows.
"What kind of kid is she?" Gai asked, excited to meet this kid.
Tenzo sweatdropped but smiled.
"Extremely hyper, she talks a lot but knows when she shouldn't or knows when to stop. She's considerate of people's feelings and tends to forget and ignore her own. She's...Innocent but mature." They blinks.
"So youthful!" Yelled the crying man in a green spandex. Many eyes wandered to the four who simply ignored the villagers.
"Gai! Keep it down, it's midnight!"
"R-Right, sorry..."
"Goodness..." The brown haired man stopped in front of his house and turned around, smiling at his friends thankfully.
"Thanks. I needed that." Gai struck up a thumbs up.
"Anything for a friend!"
"Gai!" Warned Asuma as the door to Tenzos house opened.
"Mr. Tenzo?"
"Look what you did!" Hissed Kurenai as Gai sweat slightly.
"What are you doing up, kid?" He bent down to her level as she frowned.
"I can't sleep. I don't like sleeping." He blinked.
This was new.
"Really...?"
'Definitely nothing like a Nara.'
"Mhm." She nodded and looked at the three adults behind him. She slowly walked out and stood in front of them, staring before a big grin appeared on her face.
"My names, Maki, yo! What's your names?" She held out her fist as Gai immediately collided it against his own, not really holding back though she didn't even flinch.
"Gai! Konohas mighty beast!"
'Strong too...' Noted Tenzo.
"Well aren't you a little cutie pie~" Kurenai squished her cheeks as she giggled.
"Chank wu!"
"My names Kurenai, and that guys Asuma." Asuma waved with a smile as Kurenai finally released the childs cheeks.
"Nice to meet you all!" Tenzo smiled as the girl conversed with them. She seemed to have already forgotten about the alcohol.
"So what's your dream, then?" After a few minutes of conversing, Asuma asked the question as she suddenly went silent. Tenzo gazed at the child curiously, also wondering himself what her dream was.
"Ehh..." She scrunched her face up while thinking. Asuma noticed the conflict on her face and felt like slapping himself. Of course she didn't know yet!
"Nevermind. Might be too soon for that."
"No, I know it. I'm just wondering how to word it out..." She kicked the ground lightly when suddenly, something flashed in her ocean blue eyes.
"I know!"
"What is it?" Gai leaned in.
"I want people to smile and not have to worry about fighting!" They all stood there, astonished by such a dream.
"So... In other words, you want peace?"
"Theres always peace somewhere, you just have to find it. I want people to smile, because some don't smile even when there is peace."
Asuma blinked at her.
"You..."
"-Need to go to bed!" Tenzo finished for him and picked her up.
"What? But I don't wanna!"
"You need your rest, Maki."
"But, I'm not tired!" He sighed.
"Oh wait...Are you tired?" She tilted her head and he shook his own. If he was tired, then she would force herself to shut up so he could rest.
"No, I'm fine. Want me to start teaching you that jutsu, now?"
"Yes!" She squealed, excited.
"I'll see you guys later." He turned around as they looked at the grinning and smiling child who waved at them.
"Bye bye! Have a good night!"
"You as well, youthful flower!" As soon as the girl closed the door, Asumas thoughts were expressed out loud.
"Theres already peace?"
"What does she mean by that?" Gai smiled.
"I don't know, but I'll ask her some other time! Until then, let us go my youthful friend!"
"PIPE DOWN, GAI!"
"Sorry!"
Edited October 10th, 2021.