Give me the Words

For once a piece that's a little more humorous. Hope you guys like it!



Shi



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Summary: While other children were afraid, he was curious.



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When Naruto was four, he thought the house was haunted.



There were shadows in the shadows, black flittering at the edges of his vision and sometimes, when his daddy couldn't take him to the office and Kakashi wasn't here yet, he listened really closely and heard them breathing.



He told his big brother about them, but Kakashi said that he must be imagining things, because ghosts weren't real. He pretended to accept that, but later that evening, when Kakashi had left again and his daddy wasn't home yet, Naruto listened again and it was still there. The sound of three people breathing, of hearts beating, one in the black shadow of the wardrobe, one outside on the windowsill, and the last in the hallway, somewhere on the ceiling.



He didn't know what to make of it. He had been told that ghosts were scary, but he couldn't see them and they didn't do anything, so how could they scare him? He decided to wait and see, and if the ghosts turned out to be scary he'd tell his daddy about them and he'd make them go away (Because his daddy was perfect and if the ghosts didn't leave then he'd beat them up!).



He spent the next few weeks figuring out just how many ghosts there were, and came to the conclusion that a whole bunch of them must be camping out in his home, though a few were only there every third day and a few were there almost always. He wondered why that was so, maybe there was a ghost inn in their attic and they came here to rest? But then why would they sleep under the couch? It just didn't make sense.



And Naruto, being who he was, decided that if it didn't make sense, he'd just have to ask one of the ghosts to find out the truth (though he wouldn't ask the one with the red hair--she was just creepy and didn't even breathe). Unfortunately, that was easier said then done, because as soon as he came closer to one of their usual hiding places, they seemed to up and vanish, only to reapper at a whole different place in the house. It was infuriating, really, and Naruto spent almost a whole day uselessly running around the house before he grew smart and came to the conclusion that he'd have to trap one of the ghosts somehow. Nothing else seemed to be working, after all.



Now, it is important to know that though there were keys in the house, Naruto usually wasn't allowed to lock doors. His daddy said that it could be dangerous, he could hurt himself and then no one could get in to help him. Naruto wasn't sure how he could hurt himself in his room, but he complied anyway. If his father said it was so, then he was right.



In this one instance, though, he reluctantly went against his daddy's orders and locked a door. The closet door, to be exact. The closet door behind which one of the ghosts was hiding between Naruto's toys. He knew that the redhaired ghost could walk through walls, but she didn't need to breathe either, so maybe this one would have to stay inside until Naruto opened the door again, and the boy wouldn't do that until the ghost asked for it. Because once it had done that, it knew that Naruto knew it was there, so obviously it wouldn't make much sense anymore to flee!



It was slightly mean, being locked in wasn't very nice, Naruto knew, but he wanted to know why there were ghosts in his house and so he had to do this. He could still hear the breathing inside the closet after he had locked it, and content with his genius master-plan working out, he settled down to wait. It couldn't take forever for the ghost to grow tired, right? At least he hoped so.



In the end, it took six hours and twenty one minutes, and Naruto only knew that because in these six hours and twenty one minutes, he was bored out of his mind. Kakashi had been there and had tried to play with him, but Naruto had stubbornly staid in his place in front of the closet, and soon the young man gave up and instead went into the living room to read. When evening rolled around and the boy still hadn't moved, his big brother grew concerned and asked Naruto why he wouldn't move away from his spot in front of the closet, but the only answer he got was that it was a secret. Bemused, Kakashi had left, his shift up and knowing that Minato would be home soon.



It took another few minutes after Naruto was alone again until something happened, but finally, finally!, the door rattled as something tried to open it from the inside. Elated beyond belief, Naruto jumped up and unlocked the door, throwing it wide open--and found himself face to face to a crouching thing.



The first thing the boy noticed was its face, the snow-white, weirdly smooth features marred by red lines that kind of made it seem like an owl was staring back at Naruto. He was a bit disappointed because it wasn't half as creepy as the boy had expected; weren't ghosts supposed to be bloody, after all? (The other one was.) Still, the rest of it made up for that lack, since it looked like it was crouching in his closet, all black and smooth and with bone for it's arms and upper body, ready to pounce on little Naruto and devour him like a good monster should.



Maybe he should have been afraid, but instead all he felt was satisfaction. Because finally he could ask his question!



"Is there a ghost inn in the attic?"



The thing stared at him for several silent moments and Naruto stared right back, his blue eyes burning with curiosity. He needed to know!



"Ghost inn...? What...?"



Its voice was smooth and low (if a bit confused), and not at all like the blond had imagined a ghost to sound, but he didn't care. It was nice anyway.



"Yes! And if there isn't, why are there so many ghosts hiding out around here?"



"Wait--what? What do you mean, ghosts?"



The child looked at the thing in the closet like it was stupid. "You're a ghost. And you're hiding in my home. And I wanna know why!"



"You think I'm a...?" It pointed at itself and Naruto noticed that it had remarkably human-like hands, though they were black.



"A ghost, yes! And I wanna know why you are here! Do you live in my closet?"



It stared at him for several moments and Naruto was starting to get impatient, but then it started laughing and the boy cocked his head to the side. What was so funny?



"Hey! Why are you laughing?"



"You--you think I'm a--" It continued chuckling, and the blond child blinked in surprise when it reached out and ruffled his hair, the black hand startingly warm and soft, almost like cloth.



"I'm a ninja, Naruto. An anbu." Its voice still thrummed with amusement, seemingly just barely suppressing another bout of laughter. The blond's eyes had grown wide. A real ninja? Like daddy and Kakashi and uncle Jiraiya?



"A ninja?! Wow! Cool! But...", he trailed off, a confused frown on his young face. "If you're ninjas, then why are you hiding in my closet? Or under the bed?" He threw a glance at the black shadow under the piece of furniture that had been laughing almost soundlessly for the last few minutes, but that grew very still the moment the boy voiced his last question.



The owl-face chuckled again. "We're here to make sure nothing bad happens to you, and we're hiding because you're not supposed to know we are here."



Naruto frowned in confusion. "Why am I not supposed to know you are here? And are you really a ninja? You're not very good at hiding."



Even though there was no change in Owl's expression, the boy could swear the man was still grinning. "You're not supposed to know so that we don't disturb your daily life. And usually people think I'm very good at hiding, though obviously I still have a few things to learn. How did you find me?"



"Don't worry, you're not the only one who's bad at hiding," Naruto reassured the ninja in his closet. "The others are just as loud as you."



"Loud? How?" Owl cocked his head to the side, and the blond child crossed his arms, proud that he knew something a ninja didn't.



"Well, you are all breathing very loudly and your hearts are beating and sometimes I can hear steps when you walk around!"



Owl sounded different when he spoke again, like he was thinking very hard. Naruto wondered why. "You can hear us breathe, hm? Can you tell me where the others are hiding?"



"Sure! There's one under the bed, and you were in my closet, obviously, and someone is in the bathroom down the hall and then there's someone on the roof," the boy answered enthusiasticially.



"You... are right. And you can really hear them?"



"Yeah. How else would I know where they are?"



"Hm... Say, would you like to play a game?"



"Sure! What kind of game?" Naruto asked enthusiastically. He had never played with anyone else but his daddy and Kakashi before!



"It's called 'Hide and Seek'. We hide and you come to find us, and once you have us all you hide and we have to try to find you. Okay?"



The boy thought that the game was a bit boring, he knew where the others were, after all, but he would give it a try anyway. "Okay!"



Over the next few days, Naruto met a lot of new people, because all the ninja--anbu, they called themselves--stopped avoiding him. Some even started playing with him! And they knew so many games! Naruto couldn't have been happier.



(Though the house was still haunted.)



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