The Ultimate Weapon (Naruto Fanfic)

23-It Takes Time

Before I begin the chapter, thank you for everyone who commented a weird word, which was like, two of you... -.-' So anyways, shout out to Ariel_ulv and TheBlueSheep for their words. Seeing as I didn't get a whole bunch of words as I had planned, I extended the question to Facebook, and got no reaction... Now a list of what to look out for:

Arachibutyrophobia-fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth
Hippopotamus-the longer name for a hippo

Without further ado, I will start the chapter.

 _+_

"Sensei! Aoi-sensei!" Aoi stopped at the shouting, turning to look over his shoulder at the voice that was calling out to him. The unmistakeable orange hair on his head marked him as none other than Jinhai, who was running furiously in an attempt to catch up. When he finally did, he huffed a little, bending down to gather his breath.

Jinhai straightened, smiling broadly straight at Aoi. "Thanks for waiting!" Aoi nodded, and as Aoi began to walk again, Jinhai fell into step beside him. "So sensei, how is the bird doing?" He jumped a little, trying to see into the sling-like pouch that was looped around Aoi's shoulders.

Bending down as far as he could, Aoi pulled back the cloth to show the small figure to the curious boy. It had only been a week since Jinhai had convinced Aoi to care for the bird, and it appeared Aoi was doing a fine job. Here and there light fluff was sprouting out of the skin as the soft down feathers began to cover its body. It was curled into a sleeping position, and didn't stir as Jinhai looked at it curiously.

"It's still really ugly, huh?" Jinhai took on a look of faint disgust, though the curiousity was still there. "How long do you think it will take before it can fly?"

Aoi glanced down at the boy, "The vet has told me that it should be able to fly in two weeks." Excitement shone in Jinhai's eyes at the thought of the bird flying.

There was a faint silence as the two walked down the street, but it only lasted a few minutes until Jinhai spoke again. "Do you think the bird will fly away once it can?" The sad look of pleading showed that Jinhai was hoping that the answer would be no. Aoi simply shook his head, and the boy deflated slightly, his hair covering his eyes with shadow.

Looking down at Jinhai, Aoi grew confused at the sudden change of mood. From what Aoi could gather, a few moments before the boy was happy, but now he could only be described as sad. The confusion only grew as a pleading look took over Jinhai's face, and the boy grabbed Aoi's sleeve. "Can we stop by the candy shop?"

"The candy shop?" Aoi's head tilted to the side. He didn't know of such a place. Jinhai nodded excitedly and raced forward, dancing in the streets and almost running into a few people.

"It is really bright and colorful, and they have every type of candy imaginable! Like pocky, umaibo, caplico, papico, all kinds of tiroru, poifull," Jinhai kept naming candy as far as he could, even though after the first two Aoi was completely lost. "Have you been there Aoi-sensei?" Still with a fog of confusion clouding his mind, Aoi shook his head. Jinhai's eyes widened as if he had just sinned. "You have had candy before though, right?" Another shake of the head.

The duo stopped walking, and Jinhai stared at Aoi with disbelief in his eyes. Aoi met his stare in a stoic manner. "Are you kidding me?" Jinhai's voice was barely above a whisper. Again, Aoi responded by simply shaking his head. "This is an emergency! We need to go to the candy store right now!" Jinhai started to run off, before remembering that Aoi couldn't, and then ran back to Aoi. "Let's go!"

_+_

Bright colors met Aoi's eyes, and he had to blink a little to differentiate between them. Jinhai was already scouting the aisles of the store, running around them like a mad man. The basket Jinhai carried was slowly being filled, and Aoi left the boy alone for a while. The couple at the counter smiled a little at the two. The store was relatively empty, but as Aoi stood near the counter waiting for Jinhai to be finished, he overheard a conversation.