Mother Nature's Flower

*** Happy Thanksgiving!!! ***

Everyone in the Hokage’s office was thoroughly confused. Kakashi and Sakura were confused as to why Aiko was not afraid of Shino. Hiruzen -Lord Third-  and Ibiki were wondering who this little girl was. Kurenai, Hinata, and Kiba were looking at Aiko wondering who she was and what she was doing to Shino. Shino himself was wondering who this little girl was and why she was crying.

Aiko wasn’t paying attention to anything besides the comfort she felt with this random boy that had a likeness that so resembled her best friend.

The Hokage cleared his throat, Aiko flinched at the sound, being reminded that he and the scary man were still looking at her. She whimpered and tried to get closer to Shino, who only awkwardly tightened his arms around her. He had no idea what was going on.

“Someone gonna tell us why some chick is hanging off of bug boy over there, or are we gonna let this get even more awkward?” Kiba asked as a pregnant silence filled the room.

The Hokage nodded while turning his gaze away from Aiko and Shino to look at Kakashi and Sakura.

Kakashi sighed, thinking about how long this is going to take and how it was going to seriously cut into his reading time.

“Well, this is Aiko Uzumaki. She’s the one were need to fetch, not that man as we had assumed,” Kakashi started while his hand twitched from wanting to grab his book.

The Hokage chuckled, “You could have asked. I could have told you that this little girl was the one you need to escort.”

Kakashi sweatdropped as he looked the Hokage, wondering why he couldn’t have just told them from the start.

“Anyway,” Kakashi continued, “when we got there, we found out why the man we thought requested the escort, Toshiko Yasu, requested a woman escort. Aiko here has androphobia.”

Everybody stopped and looked at Aiko who was almost asleep on Shino, who looked a little less awkward, not that they could really tell with him.

“I had to run a few yards away from them while we headed here,” Kakashi said as he looked over at Aiko, whose eyes were half-lidded in exhaustion.

Aiko’s eyes closed for a few seconds before lazily opening. Everyone looked at her before Kurenai voiced what they were all thinking.

“How come she’s not scared of Shino?”

Everyone looked around at each other before looking at the strange little girl. They really had no clue as to why Aiko would go near Shino if she had androphobia.

While everyone else was thinking, Aiko had started to get tired. Her eyes finally closed and her body slowly went limp in Shino’s arms. As she drifted off to sleep, Shino didn’t want the girl to fall on the floor, so he lifted her up bridal style and laid her on the couch that was off to the side in the office.

Everyone watched as he gently laid her down and made sure she would be comfortable when she awoke. After getting her situated, Shino looked at Hiruzen.

“Why did she hug me if she’s afraid of men?” He asked, only a hint of confusion in his voice.

The Hokage only shook his head, “I don’t know. All I know is that she is rather fond of you and didn’t look like she was having a panic attack as she hugged you.”

Ibiki, still standing stoically by the Hokage’s desk, looked at Aiko in suspicion.

Ibiki looked at the Hokage, “Lord Hokage, why is this little girl here? I know it was a request, but why come here?”

Hiruzen scanned his desk before picking up a scroll. He unraveled it, “This was the request letter, instructed that only I and the people I trust, see it. It said that she has a baby blanket that is very important. He said that we would recognize it as soon as we saw it.”

Hiruzen looked over at Kakashi and Sakura, “May one of you please had me her bag. I need to get the blanket Toshiko was talking about.”

Kakashi nodded and looked at Sakura, who had been the one Aiko trusted to hold her bag. Sakura took it off and walked over to the desk to give it to him.

Hiruzen took the bag and set it on his lap before carefully rummaging through it to find the special blanket.

After 30 seconds, his hand felt something that felt familiar. His hand closed around it before pulling it out. His jaw fell of open as soon as his eyes laid on the yellow blanket. Of course, he knew what this was. It was a blanket that his wife and Lord Fourth’s wife made together.

He quickly stood up and walked over to a file cabinet. He pulled it away from the wall and reached behind it. Everyone in the room watched curiously what was happening.

When Hiruzen walked away from the cabinet after putting it back in its place, he was carrying a manila envelope. He took his seat at the desk before opening the folder.

In the folder, was a bunch of papers. A picture of a brunette baby. A birth certificate. Hospital records. Letters from someone. A lot of letters. More pictures of a little girl. Some of them included a boy that looked to be a bit older than her. One of the pictures of the girl included words on the back.

Hiruzen started to talk, “Aiko Kimura Uzumaki. The prophecy child of the Kimura clan.”

Kakashi, Kurenai, and Ibiki stiffened at the name “Kimura”. The kids stiffened at the name “Uzumaki”.

Hiruzen ignored them as he looked at the picture in his hand. It was a picture of a yellow blanket. The same yellow blanket that rested on his desk.

“This blanket was the same blanket that my wife and Lord Fourth’s wife worked on together for Lord Fourth’s wife, Kushina Uzumaki, her niece. She asked for my wife to help, who of course said yes.

After Kushina had a baby, she and Lord Fourth died. The Kimura’s didn’t know this though. They had not gotten word. So every year, for five years, Anika sent pictures of Aiko and her older brother Mamoru. Until, one year, it stopped. We hadn’t heard anything from them since. A few years ago though, we found out why.”

Hiruzen stopped talking and looked at Aiko sadly. He then looked up at everyone else, “They were massacred.”

Everyone stood in shock before looking at the innocent little girl. Her breathing was even and there was a small, content smile on her face as she slept. Her legs were curled against her stomach, one of her arms in front of her chest while another was under her head, providing extra cushion. She looked so peaceful. So carefree. So innocent.

Hiruzen continued to speak, “I later found out that Aiko had been kidnapped and used as a personal maid.”

Everyone gasped and Kurenai asked, “How did you find out about this? No one else knew about it. It had been the belief that all of the Kimura’s died that one night.”