"are you really sure about this?"
"I am… thank you but, I believe there'd be a chance for us, to meet again…"
"Well, we'd surely meet again, but, then… It'll take a very, very long time…"
"Indeed… that's why…"
The boy awakened from his sleep, he widened his closed eyes that's still filled with some dirt. Then, the boy got off from his bed, cleaning the bed and wake other kids up in the room.
"You awake early again? Hotaru-nii… *hoam*"
The kid still dazedly yawned in front of the kid who woke him up. Staring straightly sleepy, he starts to fix his hair and clean his bed, then the 2 of them get out of their room. It's still early in the morning, not even the sun high enough to shine through the village, even so for the orphanage, that's in a dark side of the village.
Still, the mother in the orphanage already preparing the breakfast for them. She smiled at the 2 early birds, and walk to them while holding a ladle. She comes to the 2 and hugs them while whispering "good morning my dear children…" and ask them to help without saying anything that'd depressed them. As she already knows, that they will sometimes wake up from a nightmare.
A kind and good-natured but scary caretaker, caring them in the orphanage, but she somehow cold to a child in the place. A weird kid in with yellow hair and whisker-like thingy in his cheeks.
Working around the kitchen and dinner table, they work in an order, and do the work quickly, preparing the table and wares on it. Waking children after another in their room, calling each one of them, and soon, they rubbed their eyes and nonchalantly pray in the table.
Although most of them ignore the yellow-haired kid, seeing the cold attitude mother gave him. Hotaru still grabs him and tell him many things. He acts like a big brother to all of the orphans in the house, and mother gave him a kind smile at that attitude.
The oldest but the youngest of them all, Hotaru, unlike the children of the orphanage that's being drop there early or even at their baby, he's been there for lesser time than the others, he's being found in the rubble of some village that burned and pillaged by bandits and he alone, survived from the whole ordeal.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Hide under the corpses of others villager, and mimicking the corpse. He is a brave and kind kid, even after the tragedy of his, he still acts with kindness to the orphans in the orphanage, and as their big brother. And acts like a student to them. The ninja that drop him here even cares greatly for him.
For the time he lives there, in the orphans see him as a person they care greatly, a humble, full of smile and patient big brother they can count on.
He sometimes awakened by a nightmare, and hug kids in his room, and at the same time, when something scares him, he'd hug the child beside him.
He's a scaredy cat but kind person…
Of course, not all of them will like him, some even annoyed by him, but they're brothers in the house, they help each other, and even if Hotaru's a scaredy cat. He still cares deeply for each and every one in the orphanage. The first to hold them when they're crying, the first to cared them if they're sick, even the first to save them from the toilet, when the toilet paper run out.
"Hotaru-nii will leave this year, right? Will we meet again?"
"Of course, we will! I'll visit you guys often even after I got my own apartment from the village's accommodation! Then, I'll be a ninja and gave you guys souvenir every time I came here to visit!"
"Can Hotaru even be a ninja? I bet he'll piss his pants on his first mission or something!"
"Hey! I won't do that! I have Naruto with me! We'll take care of each other! Right, Naruto?"
"We will! Dattebayo!"
"Eeh?"
Every child that over 5-7 years old will be given their own apartment, on this occasion, Hotaru's already 7 years old, but, since he's been 2 years in the orphanage, the him that should be given his own apartment didn't get one, because he's not a person of the village. He's a kid that still needs guidance. While Naruto' been out 1 year ago, he's a special occasion that's being taken care by 3rd Hokage.
"Seeing they're leaving like this sure is disheartening…" said mother, while looking at the back of the 2 kids that just left…
"Oh, so the purple swords master can feel sad? That's a shocking truth huh… *cough*" said a ninja that suddenly come out of nowhere
"Oh, so the prodigy, Hayate Gekkou just stalk me huh… that's a news…"
"Hahaha… how can you say something like that? I'm just going to pick up an anbu for a mission the 3rd going to give…"
"it seems, my identity as a good-natured orphanage caretaker will be gone huh…" said mother with a sad expression
"indeed… miss him?"
"I do, since that night, we never saw each other again…"
"I am indebted to that man, but, if he doesn't come back soon, I'll take his girlfriend away…"
"hahaha, you're funny…" chuckle mother, and with *poof*, she changed into the girl with purple hairs in the 20s
"I'm not though… Yugao, even now I still love you…" said the man while watching the departing back of the woman he loves, and the woman the person who cures his sickness' left…