Hinata's Pet

I don't own Naruto. On an unrelated note, I couldn't even begin to explain how this story came into being.

Also, I'm not quitting on my other stories, these are just for fun.

A blue haired seven year old girl was wandering the village, looking for either her relative or someone to take her to him. Her father had made a branch member of their clan take her to purchase a pet, as she had managed to improve quite a bit in her training in her family's style of combat. Unfortunately, she had fallen behind at one point, and her guide was probably too far away to find her quickly.

The little girl, whose name was Hinata, was stopped in her search when she heard some merchants talking rather in an amused tone about a "fox boy" that had gone by followed by people covered in paint. Curious about the male fox that they were talking about and seeing the chance to pick her pet quickly, she headed off in the direction one told the others he had traveled down. When she found him passed out in a chair in the corner of a mostly empty room, she was surprised to see what he looked like.

As Hinata had never seen a fox before in her life, she was surprised to see that foxes looked like humans. Concerned she had made a mistake, she moved around him, inspecting him for any animal features, in case she had made a mistake. Much to her joy, she saw the boy had whiskers, which meant he had to be an animal, since her father told her that people didn't have whiskers on their faces, only kitties and other animals had those. Satisfied, she took the silver collar her father gave her from her pocket and moved to put it on his neck.

She noticed that the collar was too small for his neck, so she picked up his front right paw, as her father told her that animals don't have hands, and clicked it around his wrist. Now all she needed was to find someone to give her papers to take her pet and be on her way. Thinking of the important place her father had taken her too when he had things to do, Hinata decided to go talk to the Ho-Ka-Ge her father told her about.

Fortunately, the chair her fox (who she planned on naming Mr. Fluffles) was in had wheels on the bottom, so she was able to cart him all the way to the building. When she got inside, she was stopped by a lady in a tan coat with purple hair.

"Where are you going with him?" Anko asked, wondering what a little Hyuuga was doing with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"This is Mr. Fluffles," Hinata said cheerfully, "He's my new pet! I just need to get someone to get papers to keep him, and then I'm going to take him home."

Anko looked at the boy in the chair, and, deciding to look further into the matter because she was bored and needed something to amuse herself, even if just for a little while. As such, she asked, "Why are you here, then?"

"My father told me the Ho-Ka-Ge was the most important grown-up," Hinata explained, "So, if he gives me the paper, then no one would be able to take Mr. Fluffles from me."

"I see..." Anko said, finding herself in an interesting situation. On the one hand, the Hokage was in his office, finally catching much needed rest, after having to have work for weeks without any sleep. On the other hand, he would probably be very tired when the girl asked him, so he might actually sign a form like that for the boy, thereby providing Anko amusement later on.

Deciding to act for the greater good, Anko looked the girl in the eye and said, "Let me go pick up the papers, and we can go get him to sign them. Now head upstairs and stand outside the big office. I'll be right back."

Naruto awoke to find the time-out chair he was in was outside the Hokage's office. Trying to figure out how he got there, he looked around to figure out what was going on. Okay, there were no masked shinobi. There were no unmasked shinobi. There was a girl with lavender eyes stroking his hair. He had something cold and metal on one of his wrists. There was a new plant set by the door...

Realizing that there was something wrong with this picture, Naruto lifted his right wrist and looked at the metal bracelet that seemed to be locked onto him. A little metal circle was on his new accessory, and it read "Property of Hinata Hyuuga. If Found, Return to Hyuuga Compound in Konoha."

"Mr. Fluffles!" the girl cheered, noticing his movements, "You're awake!"

"Who are you?" he asked, still trying to puzzle out what was going on.

"You can talk!?" she asked in disbelief, "I have the bestest pet ever!"

"Um, that's nice?" he responded, confused beyond belief.

Before either of the children could figure out what the other was thinking, Anko walked in and said, "Well, come on. We've got to get the Hokage to sign these."

"Yes ma'am," the heiress said, "Come on, Mr. Fluffles."

Not bothering to correct the girl who was clearly referring to him, Naruto got up and followed the pair in, still trying to puzzle out what was going on. While the strange lady was quietly talking to the Hokage, Naruto sat there, still at a loss as to what was going on.

"Now, what exactly do you want, Anko?" the Hokage asked, looking at the tan blur topped with purple.

"Well, the little girl over there wanted to ask you if you could sign these papers to giver her ownership of her new pet fox."

"Ah," the Hokage responded, noticing the grey blur topped with blue with the orange blur topped with yellow (probably the fox) seated beside it, "Just help her fill out the forms, and I'll sign it."

"Okay, kid," Anko smiled, "All you're going to have to do is give me your name and his name, and I'll put down the rest."

"I'm Hinata Hyuuga," the heiress said, smiling brightly, "And his name is Mr. Fluffles."

"No it's not, my name's Naruto!" the oblivious future pet argued.

"Mr. Fluffles!"

"Naruto!"

"Mr. Fluffles!"

"Naruto!"

"Mr. Fluffles!"

"Naruto!"

"Mr. Fluffles!"

"Naruto!"

"I'll just put down Mr. Naruto Fluffles," Anko said, accommodating both in her mind.

With that out of the way, Anko placed the paper in front of the Hokage, who took a stamp with his signature that he had made and marked it signed before returning his head to his desk.

Anko then handed the paper to Hinata and said, "Well, kid, he's all yours."

"What's yours?" Naruto asked, turning to the girl next to him.

"Enjoy your pet fox," Anko added before leaving to observe the chaos she'd sown from outside a window.

After a couple of moments in which the girl explained the situation to the boy, Anko's efforts were rewarded with a boy's voice shouting "WHAT!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi woke up from a strange dream about foxes and blurs to the sound of the boy he thought of as a grandson screaming. Bolting upright, he rose from his seat only to find the boy being hugged by a girl with blue hair, obviously the Hyuuga heiress.

"Jiji! You let her make me a pet?!" Naruto screamed.

"What?" the Third asked, very confused. He didn't remember giving Naruto to anyone.

"It's here, Mr. Ho-Ka-Ge," the girl said, showing him the legally binding contract and the note that was written below it saying that this contract couldn't be annulled. It was a strange thing to see Jinchuuriki filed under the Pet category on the form, and the Professor was less than pleased with the situation, but he had to admit that Naruto being listed as Mr. Fluffles was rather amusing.

Before the Third could even begin to think a way out of this, the door to his office was slammed open by Hiashi Hyuuga, who said, "Hokage-sama! My daughter has gone missing while out in the village with a branch member. I must request that you send several Anbu to... Ah, there you are Hinata. let's go get you that pet now, I suppose."

"Actually, Hiashi, I'm glad you're here," the Third said, thinking that if anyone could help with this, it would be the Hyuuga Head himself, "You see, Hinata has placed me in an interesting position. She has already claimed a pet, and I evidently signed the forms at some point earlier today, though I can't remember when."

"Then what is the problem?" Hiashi asked, "There's no pet that is actually illegal in the village, as long as it can be maintained, and the Hyuuga are very high-maintenance."

"Hiashi, I'd like you to meet your daughter's pet, Naruto," the Hokage said, pointing at Naruto.

Hiashi looked at his daughter, trying to find her pet. Eventually, his eyes locked onto the jinchuuriki by her side. Eyes widening marginally, he turned to the Hokage and asked, "You don't mean that...? Couldn't you just...?"

"I would recommend looking at what the document says," the Hokage said, rubbing his temples.

Hiashi took the document from his daughters hands and read, "Pet Adoption Papers for Mr. Naruto Fluffles: I, Hinata Hyuuga, lay claim to Mr. Naruto Fluffles as my pet Jinchuuriki. Official Release granted by The Third Hokage. This document can not be invalidated under any circumstances."

The part of the letter that filled the Hyuuga Patriarch with dread, however, was that the Third's signature was indeed on the document, directly after the final line. Deciding that his hands were tied in this regard, Hiashi decided to cut his losses and try to think of the advantages: Jinchuuriki were very powerful, so Hinata could use him as an enforcer when she became Clan Head. The boy could be taught ninjutsu and genjutsu, thereby giving Hinata more to work with in combat, as well as giving her someone to complement her use of the clan's Jyuuken, which was essentially taijutsu. Hiashi would actually have a reason to talk to the other clan heads about clan techniques, as the Inuzuka in particular would be able to help with this. Most importantly, if he let Hinata keep the pet she chose, he would be considered the best father ever.

"Well, here's the spray bottle you use if he does something wrong," he said, handing his daughter the container, "Let's go home. Come along you two."

"Bad Mr. Fluffles!" Naruto's new owner said as she squirted him with the water bottle when he tried to sit in the corner for his food at dinner time, "You sit at the pet's table."

Enjoying his return to the human table, Neji smiled. Now that Hinata-sama had a real pet, he wouldn't have to put on the cat ears and pretend for her anymore. He just felt a bit bad for the boy now seated there, since he had absolutely no idea how any of this made sense. Still, whoever this Mr. Fluffles was, Neji was glad it was him getting hit with the water bottle now. Maybe Hinata-sama wasn't so bad as far as the Main Branch went.

Naruto, meanwhile, was adapting to the situation. He was starting to feel a bit better, even if his surrogate grandfather had managed to make him this Hinata girl's pet. He was being allowed to sit at a table, even if he did have to sit with some stuffed animals. Looking around him, Naruto realized he could do worse, and, as such, decided to see where this went.