AN:

Thank you DreamingIn2Eternity and Immortalis Cruor Elf for reviewing!

DreamingIn2Eternity: It was the perfect spot, but I don't believe I pulled it off too well. This could have been done with less drama, but it seemed to fit my overall scheme, so yeah. I am saving any sort of big reveal for Return of the King plotlines, which will start next chapter, in a Different story.

Yes, it is sudden, but I feel that Part II has ended, so this is the last chapter of part II.

Thank you everyone for the support!

Kakashi rubbed his arm, conscience of the injury he had received that night. Dawn had finally and fully broke upon them, causing the oni to slow down their work.

"Has no one told them that they can leave?" asked Anko, drinking a cup of coffee. The loud kunoichi was perched on the edge of the ramparts, looking down at the Uruk-hai.

"If we told them to leave, they wouldn't listen," pointed out Kakashi, eyeing the caffinated drink. The chūnin yawned, shaking his head to clear his clouding thoughts. Gimli walked over to the shinobi, also holding a cup of coffee.

"They still haven't arrived yet?" he asked, taking a sip. Kakashi blinked, wondering where the dwarf had gotten the coffee.

"Nope," responded Anko, removing a granola bar from her pocket, peeling off the wrapper. Kakashi nudged her arm.

*"Don't litter,"* he warned. The girl made a face at him, but re-pocketed the wrapper. Legolas joined them, holding a stein in his graceful hands. The Hatake quickly glanced into the mug, seeing that it contained tea.

"What a beautiful morning it is today," he said, cheerful. Several elves walked behind them, carrying muffins and steins filled with tea. Kakashi turned to Legolas, determined to solve this mystery.

"Where did you get the tea?" he asked, his stomach growling. The archer chuckled, giving him a large grin.

"Apparently, Minato convinced several of the women to make some food. Most unfortunately, Lady Eowyn decided to join them,"

Kakashi nodded in thanks and was about to go get some food when a shout rang through the air.

"The reinforcments have arrived!" cried a Rohirric soldier, who was holding a slice of bread in his hand. Sure enough, charging down the hill was a calvery of roughly one thousand men and horses, lead by none other than Gandalf. A cheer rose up from the men and elves in the keep, none louder than Mitarashi Anko.

"WAHOO! Kick their asses!" she just about screamed into Kakashi's ear. Wincing, the masked boy looked down at the battle.

"Should we go help them?" he fretted, directing the question to Gimli.

"No, laddie," he answered, pausing to have a sip of coffee. "Gandalf and the Rohirrim are, as Miss Anko put it, kicking their asses,"

The chūnin stifled a laugh. It was true though, nearly none of the orcs were still alive.

"Looks like Gandalf has returned with the guy who threaten to cut off Gimli's head,"

Kakashi turned to see Obito, who was actually not wearing his goggles.

"I believe the man's name is Eomer," muttered Kakashi. The Uchiha simply rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Yeah," he said, waving off his teammate's correction. "Do you have any soda?"

The Hatake gave his teammate a look before slowly shaking his head. "No. Why?"

Obito gave a huff before leaning against the stone ramparts. "Hoshi has become delusional again," he said casually.

Anko spat out her coffee, clearly evesdropping. "You have got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed.

Kakashi groaned, remembering the last time this occurred. "Go see Minato-sensei. He might have something,"

Obito promptly ran off, darting through the cheering crowd.

"May Kami preserve us," grumbled Anko, downing the dregs of her coffee as the last orcs was beheaded.

Aragorn rarely panicked. As a leader, it was a disastrous because it caused others to panic. The ranger was proud to say the very little made him panic. But having one's ribs crushed by a terrified child who clearly was not in the right state of mind did not do much to prevent his own well hidden panic from raising.

"Will you calm down!" cried Susano'o, who had joined Aragorn and several other elves in attempting to soothe Hoshi. "For the last time, no one is hiding in the bandage basket, see?" the shinobi said, holding up an empty basket.

Aragorn had dozed off by Hoshi's bed, worn out from healing the boy's numerous wounds. He had woken up minutes before Hoshi, his mind still muddled from sleep. The child looked alright at first, but it was when the boy first addressed him as Ada that he knew something was wrong.

"But no one was hiding in the closet, were they?" protested Hoshi between hystarical sobs. "Then Sannor was dead the next morning! Stabbed by someone hiding in the closet!"

Susano'o sighed, a sympathetic look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. One of the elves, named Amras, asked Hoshi a question.

"Who is Sannor, Little One?" he asked kindly.

The boy's grey eyes flooded with tears and he returned to sobbing in Aragorn's shoulder. The ranger was unsure how long the child had attached himself to him. His shoulder had been soaked by Hoshi's previous tears, leaving a stain in the cloth.

"You say you save lives Ada, but who's are you saving now?" he whispered hoarsely. "First Rosso, then Thurin, then Poldo, then Sannor, now Gîl?"

"What in Madara's name is going on here?"

All the elves and Susano'o looked up and Aragorn turned his head to see Rin, Kuro and Obito standing in the threshhold of the hospital.

"About time you showed up," grumbled Susano'o. "He's past Poldo already and we cannot get him to calm down,"

Rin made a quick motion with her hand, and Obito ran off. She walked over to her sobbing teammate, a look of sorrow and concern on her face.

"He is calm," she said, kneeling beside Aragorn. "What we need to do is get him out of the delusion,"

An elf with a sling turned to Rin, a worried look on his face. "Is this normal?" he asked.

The brunette shook her head as Hoshi began to mumble into Aragorn's shoulder.

"Gîl was poisoned this morning. There he was, lying on the floor, mouth all bloody,"

Rin's eyes widened. "This is new," she whispered. "We always stop him before he tells us Gîl died,"

"He drank the milk that was left out for me. My friend will be buried next morning,"

Aragorn was troubled by Hoshi's recounting of all his friend's deaths. They were killed by knives, poison, loosened saddles, and stragulation. He remembered that Hoshi once said that all his friends died. Aragorn was stunned they all died in what sounded like assassination attempts.

"He lasted three years of being my friend, Ada."he whispered into the ranger's ear. "You don't seem to undersand that my friends die. So stop getting me new ones, Ada,"

Kuro's dark eyes sparked with understanding. The young healer bent down and whispered something into Rin's ear. Her eyes widened as well.

"Aragorn," she said softly. "You are going to have to give Hoshi to one of us and leave the room,"

The Dunedain blinked with shock. "Whatever for?" he replied, bewildered. "I don't think I can hand him over to any one of you, even if I tried,"

"I want Naneth, Ada," he whispered, loosening his grip on Aragorn's neck. Amras, being the most healed out of the elves, gently pried Hoshi's hands off the ranger and gathered the delicate-looking boy into his arms. Aragorn slowly got to his feet, his sprained ankle not fully healed yet. Hoshi's grey, glassy eyes widened.

"Ada? Why are you leaving," he whispered. The man gave him a small smile.

"I have to go, Little One," Aragorn responded in Elvish. "I'll be back soon,"

Both Rin and Kuro were giving him looks and motions to hurry out of the room. Sighing through his nose, the ranger limped out of the room. He was halfway down the hallway before he heard a wail. Aragorn was about to turn around when Obito sprinted past him, running into the room. The man shook his head, feeling a small bit of anger towards the shinobi.

"Hoshi lost his senses, didn't he?"

Aragorn turned to see Minato, who was leaning against the stone wall. The ranger could feel irritation flare up within him, but he controlled his emotions.

"You must see it so often that it must be a normal occurance," he said coldly to the indifferent shinobi. A shadow crossed Minato's face, before being replaced by a drained look.

"I understand that children should not fight. Our entire village understands that. No Sensei wants to see their students hurt,"

"Then why?" asked Aragorn, pleading for an answer. The yellow-haired shinobi shrugged.

"Hoshi's mind is different from ours, and he comes from a different culture. This is how he copes with pain and death. I have no other answers for you," he sadly replied.

The ranger sighed, satisfied that Minato did look out for his student's well-being.

"I have one more question for you," he said. The shinobi raised a yellow eyebrow.

"Shoot," he said, gesturing with his hand. "What is it that you'd like to know?"

Slightly taken aback by Minato's language, the ranger paused before asking his question.

"Why does Hoshi call me 'father'?"

The matter had been eating at him for many days. In fact, it had been troubling him since the boy hugged him in the Mines of Moria. Aragorn had passed it off as a reaction of fear, but now he wasn't so sure. Hoshi had taken great pains to avoid him in Lothlorien, spending more time with Boromir. After the man's death, Hoshi had spent more time with him, but the boy always seemed to be holding back a great amount of affection. Aragorn glaced over to the jōnin, who seemed frozen.

"Why does he call you father?" murmured Minato, stroaking his chin. "Hmm. I believe that it is because you remind him of his own father, in appearence and manner,"

"I suppose that makes sense," muttered Aragorn, not totally convinced. As usual, the shinobi were hiding something.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" the teacher pushed off the wall and strode over to the Dunedain. "Gandalf would like to talk to you. He's waiting in the throne room for you,"

Aragorn hid his surprise, as he was completely unaware that Gandalf had arrived. "Thank you," he murmured, before walking off to meet with the White Wizard.

Obito blinked rapidly after Hoshi spat an entire mouthful of soda into his face.

"Of all times, now I choose not to wear my trusty goggles," he thought sardonically. But Hoshi seemed to have come out what Rin figured was a self-inflicted genjutsu.

"It...seems that I slipped away again," Hoshi whispered, looking ashamed. The elves, however, look very relieved.

"We all thought that you might never return!" claimed an elf with a patch over his eye. The others nodded.

His foster brother turned tomato red. "I don't know if I can live this down," he groaned, burying his face in his hands. Susano'o gave him a small grin.

"I do believe that Strider was rather uncomfortable with being called Father,"

Hoshi's face blanched and he looked at Susano'o, horrified.

"I said that?" he whispered. Rin put a hand on his thin shoulder.

*"I don't think he thought much of it,"* she said, before turning to the elves.

"I thank you for your help," the medic said gratefully, bowing slightly.

They stood up and bowed to Rin. "We thank you and your people. If not for them, many of us would have been dining with Mandos,"

The brunette and the other shinobi ducked their heads in modesty. Obito and Kuro both rubbed the back of their heads.

"It was the least we could do," murmured Hoshi shyly, rubbing his pointed ears.

The least injured of the elves, who had been holding Hoshi, stepped forward and put his hand over his heart.

"You all will always be a welcome guest in my home, shinobi,"

Obito couldn't help but give a large grin. He then heard a rapping of knuckles on stone. Minato-sensei was standing in the doorway.

"My students, Kuro and Susano'o need to come with me," he said with a small smile, inclining his head toward the elves, who returned the nod. Obito offered Hoshi his hand, which the lanky boy eagerly took.

"Whoa, there!" said the Uchiha as Hoshi stood up, swaying slightly.

"I'm okay," claimed the boy. Obito raised an eyebrow. He could see bandages under a navy blue shirt, one of Obito's old ones. His foster brother was also wearing an old pair of kakai pants. Hoshi threw a deceptively strong arm across Obito's shoulder.

"Let's go," he said cheerfully. Obito grinned as he and Hoshi stumbled out of the hospital after their teacher.

End of Part II

Part III will be continued in a new story.

Thank you all for the support!