Just A Kid

Your eyes open slightly, and squint as the sun’s rays shine in your eyes. The sky is streaked with light purples and pinks. You stretch and yawn. You look around and see that Kakashi has fallen asleep with his book over his face. You then look at Sasuke and smile. You begin to purr as you think of all the times you have played with each other.

Your stomach suddenly growls. You pat your stomach and silently climb up a tree, in search of some food. You then jump from one tree to another very quickly and very silently. Suddenly, you spot a tree with a lot of apples.

“Yummy! I haven’t had an apple in so long,” you say out loud as you pick an apple. You begin to pick more and more apples. “Oh great, now how am I going to get all this food back to my friends?” you say to yourself as you slump against the tree.

"Maybe I can help," a voice says below you.

You yelp in surprise as you loose your balance. Luckily, your tail is strong, so it prevented you from falling down to the ground. You blink as you see the person who spoke earlier and grin.

"Sasuke, I thought you were still sleeping" you say as you try not to laugh. Sasuke appeared upside down, most likely because you were hanging upside down.

"I woke up before you did" Sasuke answered. "I was just dozing when you got up". You shrug as you continue to hang with your tail clutching to a branch. You then swing your body on top of the branch.

You then sink your nails into the tree branch, so you wouldn't fall off. You lay there, staring at Sasuke's head until he looks up at you.

"What?" Sasuke says, getting a bit annoyed with you staring.

"Nothing" you say, emotionless. "So, are you gonna help me or not?" you say as you sit up.

"Maybe, maybe not" Sasuke says as he puts his hands in his pockets. You growl and throw an apple at Sasuke. Sasuke catches it, which is no surprise to you.

"Araile, you are old enough to know not to throw your food around" another voice says from below. You look down and see Kakashi looking up at you. You give him a small smile. Your grip suddenly loosens on the apple that was in your hand.

The apple dropped from branch to branch until it reached the ground. You suddenly had an idea. You reach over and pick some more apples. As you pick them, you drop them to the ground. You start to sing a song you heard someone singing once in Konoha:

"So there's you, like the sun, setting west
Where you'd been...shadows...are loneliest
Now you're leaving, what more to say?
Eternal castaway
Unlike me, you see,
you can't help...Living free
Forgive me, but my love...
I'm not that way
My time is done, but yours is new
If you dream your dreams...You may...know hope.
Don't you know that you are my hero?
You're the me I tried to be...
Only free"

You stop suddenly. Your ears twitch as your body suddenly goes rigid like a rock. Sasuke notices this about you and calls down to Kakashi, who is still reading his book.

"Kakashi-sensei, what’s wrong with Araile?" Sasuke said.

"Hm?" Kakashi said as he looked from his book. Sasuke jumped up towards your branch and stood in front of you. Your eyes narrow and you suddenly growl.

"Araile? What’s the matter with you?" Sasuke says as he takes hold of your shoulders. You suddenly look at Sasuke.

"Get down, now!" you growl. Sasuke looks at you funny. Kakashi is now standing up as well, looking around. A strong wind picks up as trees begin to sway.

"Sakura, Naruto, get over here now!" Kakashi said. Both Sakura and Naruto came running.

"Kakashi-sensei, what’s going on?" Naruto cried out. Sakura nodded. Kakashi looked up at you. You were still rigid, your ears and tail twitching.

"I don't know,” he said.

Suddenly, more then 10 shrewikan fly out, heading for Sasuke. Before anybody can do anything, you jump in front of the shrewikan. Sasuke's eyes widen in surprise. You cry out as the shrewikan hit you in the ribs.

The force knocks you off the branch. You hit branch after branch as you fall. After what seems like a long time, your body finally reaches the ground. Suddenly, two figures jump out of the bushes. The jump over to you and grab your body.

"Hey! Who are you? Let go of Araile!" Kakashi shouted, now angry. The ninjas just smile and disappear in a bunch of clouds. Kakashi looks around. "Where did they go...?” he said to himself. There is a sudden noise a couple of feet away. Naruto jumps a mile and hides behind Sakura.

"W-What's making that noise?" Naruto said between chattering teeth. Sasuke jumped down from the branch and headed towards the noise.

"S-Sasuke-kun, be careful!" Sakura said. Sasuke pulled back some bushes and smirked.

"Naruto, don't tell me your scared of Araile" Sasuke mocked.

"Grr! What do you mean?!" Naruto said as he glared at Sasuke. Sasuke just stepped aside. You came out of the bushes; face dirty with dried blood and soil.

"Well, what happened here?" Kakashi said as he walked over to you. You just smile and shrug.

"Heh, I knew all along that it was Araile that was over there,” Naruto said with an anime sweat drop. You smile at Naruto and bring out his kunai knife. You walk over to Naruto before he can say anything. You take his hand and put the kunai knife in it. As you close Naruto's hand over the weapon, you suddenly cough up blood and fall on your side, now unconscious.

"Araile!" both Sasuke and Kakashi shout.

You groan and open your eyes as you try to move. You notice that you’re in some sort of tent. Your body twitches as waves of pain race through. You clamp your eyes shut, trying to fight a flow of tears from appearing. Your ear twitches as you hear somebody come in. You try to lie as still as you can, but you are unsuccessful. You reopen your eyes and sit up.

Your vision is a bit blurry so you wipe your eyes with the back of your hands. As your vision clears, you see a guy with grey hair sitting in front of you, reading a book. You smile. "Kakashi!" you cry out as you hug him.

He smiles and returns the hug, while ruffling your hair. "Its about time you woke up" Kakashi said as he stood up. You sat up as well, but Kakashi put you back down. You look up at him questionly. "You should get some sleep, Araile" Kakashi said as he headed out.

"But I'm fine!" you protest, but Kakashi is already gone. Outside, you can hear Naruto shouting, Sakura scolding, and Sasuke cursing Naruto.