"So," started Akiko, "This is our new home. Not exactly what I expected, but it could have been worse." Shaniso looked around judgingly, "This place has nothing compared to Candy Mountain, there's no sugar to be found, there's only..." he wrinkled his nose in repugnance as he observed his surroundings, "dirt..."
"Oh come on," urged Akiko, "there has to be something in this village that interests you."
"I highly doubt..." he stopped abruptly, upon spotting a small but cozy looking stand. "Is that...RAMEN??" His eyes began to gleam with a new sense of comfort. Akiko found herself smiling as well. "I guess we could stop for some ramen, we haven't eaten in quite awhile." The two hungrily started towards the stand with Koshito trudging behind, dragging her fee into the ground and watching puffs of dust ascend from underneath her sandals. "I hate ramen," she mumbled with a scowl. "Come on Koshito," Akiko grabbed the arm of her reluctant friend and dragged her inside. They sat on stools located in front of the counter. A pleasant looking girl walked up to them. "Hello, what can I get for you today?"
"I'll take a miso ramen please," ordered Shaniso, "in the largest bowl you have."
"Make that two," requested Akiko, then after she glanced at the still sullen Koshito, added, "um, could you just make it three?" The girl nodded and left. "Hey hey, Akiko," Shaniso whispered, lightly elbowing his friend on the arm, "that waitress is pretty cute, eh?" She scoffed and lowered her head in disgust. "Shut up, Shaniso."
After a few minutes of awkward silence, large, steaming bowls were set in front of the teenage shinobi. Shaniso seized his chopsticks and promptly began shoveling noodles into his mouth; Akiko was soon emulating similar actions, though in a slightly more dignified manner. Koshito stared at her bowl with revulsion before grasping a peppershaker. She tilted it over and watched as the black spice poured heavily over her ramen. When half of the container was emptied, she set it down, stirred her concoction, and took a tentative bite. The immense amount of pepper tickled her throat and she started to cough copiously.
"Oh my gosh, Koshito, are you okay?" Akiko asked with concern, placing a careful hand on her back. But she only coughed in response. "Koshito, don't die!" shrieked Shaniso as he swiftly began to pound his fist onto his choking friend's back. Akiko quickly withdrew her hand to avoid being hit as well. "Stop it, you're just making it worse," Akiko glowered at Shaniso, trying to pry his fist away from her friend. Koshito reached for a glass of water and gulped it down. Her coughing was reduced to sputtering, and soon she was back to normal.
Such commotion had caused quite a scene and every soul in the shop was staring at them. A chubby shinobi with orangey hair looked at them disdainfully for interrupting his peaceful meal. He was sitting amid a trashy looking blonde kunoichi and a brown haired teenager sporting a rugged ponytail. His eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the suspicious looking symbols that were engraved on their headbands. He stood up and pointed at them. He was not about to let of bunch of strangers act in such a way in his village. "Who the hell let your freaks into Konoha?" he challenged.
"Just ignore him," Akiko whispered.
"Hey scumbags, I'm talking to you," his confrontation assiduous, this time he picked up a fork and sent it hurling towards their direction. The metal utensil struck Koshito in the side of her head. Her anger responded immediately. She rose up, positioning herself standing on the stool. She was the shortest of her group and didn't want her height to make her seem less daunting. She looked straight at the boy, her eyes fierce. "What did you say, fatty?!" she demanded. Her insult triggered his emotions and he charged at her, tipping her stool over, and sending her flying into the corner. Her friends rushed by her side.
When they reached her, both recognized the look on her face instantly. She looked up at them, her eyes pleading.
"Don't do it Koshito, we don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves just yet, we just got accepted," ordered Akiko. "Aw, come on, you know she can take him easily," protested Shaniso, for he did not like seeing his friends being pushed around.
"I know she can," countered Akiko, "and that is exactly why I said what I did. Come on, let's get out of here," she said, while helping Koshito to her feet. But as they left, Koshito could not resist dumping her pepper-enhanced ramen over the head of the fat ninja. Her friends burst into laughter as they ran outside.
After the effects of the previous hilarity had subsided, they noticed three shinobi heading towards them. "Hey look," Shaniso observed, "more Konoha ninja." He pointed at a group of three teenagers. Akiko groaned, "Not more of them."
"No, it's okay," started Koshito, "they seem friendly enough."
The small group of teens eyed the others continuing to come forward. There was only one girl in the group. Her favorite color seemed to be red or pink as the entirety of her wardrobe consisted of those two colors. Even her hair was pink. She was calmly conversing with a blonde boy to her left. The boy's face was whiskered like a cat, and his eyes beamed as he talked to the pink haired girl.
"Sakura, guess what?" he happily exclaimed. "Maybe later, Naruto. I want to see how Kakashi-sensei is doing in the hospital. He should be happy to see us," Sakura smiled as she spotted the three strangers in front of her. She eyed them curiously; in the same way her master had upon first sight of these three. The boy she had called Naruto wasn't paying attention and walked straight into Akiko. Both of them fell in a tangled mess. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Naruto scolded as he tried to untangle himself.
"Me?" Akiko returned crossly, "What about you? You're the one who ran into me, cat boy," she snapped. The blonde looked at the girl who was still struggling to stand. The third member of Naruto and Sakura's company finally spoke up. "Cat boy?" the dark haired boy said, testing out the words. He smiled, seeming to find a certain ring to it. "Why didn't I think of that?" Naruto shot him a glare. "Shut up, Sai. I don't need any more of your freakin nicknames."
"Aww, what's the matter dickless, can't handle another name?" a smile formed on the pale boy's face. Naruto growled angrily. "SAI!" the blonde charged his comrade, only to be stopped as Sakura placed herself in between. "Naruto, calm yourself. This is no way to act in front of visitors," she said, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.
Shaniso, Koshito, and Akiko were by this point just barely restraining themselves from laughing at the Leaf Shinobi before them. "Hey, I like them," Shaniso chirped happily. "They're pretty funny." Akiko, who was still on the ground, sighed, "Well, this is turning out to be quite an interesting place." Koshito was just watching the team with a small grin. "Well, we aren't exactly visitors. This is our new home." Koshito explained. The three shinobi stared intently at the newcomers. "Oh, so this is your first day?" asked the pink haired kunoichi. The strangers nodded in unison. Naruto was first to introduce himself. "Well, um..hi. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Sorry for running you over," he placed an arm behind his head and closed his eyes sheepishly, "I wasn't really paying attention I guess." Akiko sighed again before giving him a smile. "Don't worry about it," she replied, "I'm Kazuyoshi Akiko, this is Ejoti Koshito, and the ramen crazed one over there is Konkuo Shaniso."
"Ramen? Where?!" asked the excited teen, completely oblivious to the introductions. Naruto's eyes immediately brightened. "You like ramen too?" Shaniso giddily nodded. "Hey, we should get some together sometime!" he suggested. Naruto concurred, "Definitely."
Sakura shook her head, "Well, that's it. Now that Naruto has ramen on his mind, he won't talk sense until he gets some. The two boys cheerfully stood next to each other repeating, or rather chanting, one word: ramen.
"No! I refuse to go back to that ramen stand! I HATE RAMEN!" Koshito yelled. The gleeful chanting stopped abruptly as horrified stares overcame the two ramen lovers. "W-what..? You just hurt its feelings!" Naruto whined, personifying ramen, eliminating any mistakes anyone had had of the existence of his sanity. He then directed his attention to Akiko. "Don't tell me you hate ramen too..."
Akiko laughed. "No, I don't hate it."
Naruto breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Hey Shaniso," he began, "how about we go back to my place? I have all kinds of ramen you could try!" Shaniso ecstatically agreed and the two of them took off down the road, leaving a massive cloud of dust behind.
The rest of the group stared, eyes wide and pupil less, sweat drops rolling down the back of their heads from sheer embarrassment. Suddenly a thought came back to Sakura's mind. "I totally forgot, but we still have to go see Kakashi-sensei in the hospital. You guys can come if you want," Sakura offered, "I'm sure he'd like to meet you."
"Nah. We have to go collect the ramen demon and then find ourselves a place to stay. Maybe some other time though." Akiko said sullenly. She would have liked to meet him, but it couldn't be helped. "Alright. Well, when you get to Naruto's house, tell him that he better get down to the hospital pronto." Both Akiko and Koshito nodded and turned in the direction Shaniso and Naruto had gone, Sakura and Sai walked the other way.
"You know, Sai. You really should try to be more sociable," Sakura said raising a finger, "You hardly said a word throughout the whole conversation."
"I'm sorry. I'll try that next time." Sai responded, his usual smile present.
"Well, they were pretty nice." Akiko stated, pleased with the meeting. "Yeah." Koshito agreed monotonously. The two blonde girls made their way down the dirt road, gazing at the buildings from time to time, trying to take in some of what this village had to offer. They never strayed far however, from the indented footprints in the dirt. Following them would surely lead straight to Naruto's house, and thereby Shaniso. After winding a few turns, the tracks stopped a few feet away from a large apartment building. The rooms on top were at present, noisily vacant. Sounds of clanging pots and pans, as well as the scampering of ninja feet were evident within a thirty-meter radius.
"Looks like we found the place," Koshito embarrassedly noted. The blonde pair of kunoichi leapt gracefully to a concrete platform that preceded the doorway to Naruto's apartment. A few feet from the door, a window looked into the kitchen. Curious, they looked inside to see Naruto and Shaniso scrambling in and out of the kitchen, carrying all types of ramen in an assortment of containers and laying them on a table in the next room. Now slightly intrigued, Akiko slowly and silently opened the unlocked door into the apartment. Inside, everything was a mess. Piles of clothing lay everywhere, empty cups of ramen tossed about randomly, and nothing was in proper order.
Carefully making their way through the debris, the sneaking ninja peeked around a corner, taking care to stay in blind spots primarily in the shadows of the room. What could be seen was what appeared to be a contest to see who's stomach would burst first from overeating, but in reality, both Naruto and Shaniso were simply having an afternoon snack. Creepy, yes, but certainly not surprising. Or so thought Shaniso's teammates. Though it was quite a sight to find another individual who could pig out just as much as Shaniso.
"HaHA!" Shaniso exclaimed, "Victory is mine!" He proudly held up his second bowl of finished ramen. Naruto chuckled. Upon seeing Naruto's third bowl already half way done, Shaniso shouted again with just as much enthusiasm. "Curses!" He boisterously began another.
Having seen quite enough, the two spies revealed themselves. "Okay Shaniso, I think you've had enough. Time to go." Koshito declared firmly. Naruto leapt from his chair. "H-How did you get in here?!" he cried. "You left the front door open, Sherlock," was her witty reply.
"Eh?" Naruto mumbled, trying to remember when he arrived. In a poorly animated flashback, Naruto and Shaniso bound through the front door, slamming it behind them, but never taking the time to lock it. The clanging of pots and other metal utensils begins and a few roll into the picture; obnoxious slurping and chewing sounds can be heard in the background. The white thought bubble poofs away as Naruto finally realizes that she was right. "Oh yeah...heh.."
"But I don't wanna go yet," Shaniso complained, "I'm not finished my ramen yet." He turned away from his friends and began eating again. "Too bad, Shaniso. We have to find a place to stay." Akiko told him. Koshito became agitated when Shaniso didn't respond, too engrossed in his meal. She trudged up to his chair and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him towards the door. He hopped on one foot, struggling to keep up while trying to finish off the noodles hanging from his mouth. He cursed her profusely, though nothing more than a muffled, "MMMM!!", came out from behind the unfinished mouthful.
Akiko followed, but turned around briefly to deliver Sakura's message...sort of. "Oh yeah. Naruto?" He raised his head in acknowledgement. "Sakura says that if you don't get down to the hospital ASAP, she's gonna beat your face in." A wide grin never left the girl's face as she said this. "Buh bye now." She didn't see the problem in exaggerating slightly, and she casually walked out after the others, merrily humming to herself.
Moments later, all three saw Naruto jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading in the hospital's direction. He was screaming, "Don't kill me Sakura!"
"What's his problem?" Koshito asked Akiko when she had caught up. "I dunno. In a hurry I guess," she replied, smirking invisibly. "Well, whatever it is, it's not our problem. Our problem right now is figuring out where we're going to live." All three nodded, Shaniso still holding his reddened ear.
An hour passed.
"Goodness, I'm so bored. Can we just pick a place?" Akiko gave Shaniso a cold glance. "Well, maybe if you weren't so stinkin' picky about it, we would've found somewhere by now."
"Hey," Shaniso began in his defense, "the only decent place we found so far was like on the complete opposite side of town as the ramen shop."
"That's what I liked most.." Koshito muttered incoherently. As the group continued to argue, they came up to an apartment complex consisting of a few buildings similar to the one Naruto lived in. In front of one of them was a small information booth with a grumpy looking man sitting inside, fiddling with a pen in his hands, grumbling about something to do with hating his job.
The three cautiously approached. "Um.." Akiko began before being quickly cut off, "Whaddya want??" the man viciously demanded. Startled, Akiko flinched and shied back half a step. "Look, we're just trying to find a place to stay." Shaniso said stepping up, doing his best to refrain from losing his temper to the unpleasant man. "Do you have any money?" he asked, his voice firm and unyielding. "Um..yeah." Shaniso said, digging through his pockets and feeling the money inside. "I've got a few dollars from my last job," he turned to his companions, "you guys have anything on ya?" Both shook their heads.
The man's expression remained constant. "I was just kidding. Sheesh, what's a guy got ta do ta get a good laugh around here? Konoha citizens get to so stay here for free..for a time." The teens stared questioningly. "Specifically, you stay free for two weeks. If you should decide to stay longer, there will be rent. It's not much. Just that few bucks in yer pocket every week. But you're shinobi, so you should be paid enough from missions to keep that up easily."
Shaniso looked back to the other two and used his eyes to say, "Whaddya think of that?" Akiko nodded approvingly and Koshito flicked her head forward, gesturing for him to turn around and ask for a room. And he did just that. "Alright, sounds good. We'll take an apartment. Preferably one with at least two bedrooms."
"Very well." The man said with more enthusiasm than he had had since they had gotten here. Not that that was saying much. He searched momentarily for a key on the rack behind him and picked out one near the bottom-left corner. He handed it to Shaniso, being sure to show him the number engraved on it indicating the room number. Shaniso turned around and was greeted by Koshito's hand. She quickly swiped the key from him. "I'll keep the key. I don't trust you with something this valuable." Shaniso crossed his arms and scowled.
They walked on for a few minutes, checking the numbers above each door as they went, until they finally came to a match. "6-5-3-7." Akiko read aloud. "Looks like this is the one. Home sweet home, I guess."
It was a bottom floor apartment, much to Shaniso's dismay. But he forgot his petty complaint when they walked inside. With the lights off, the room was too dark to see much, but upon switching them on the room burst to life. The group found themselves standing in the living room, complete with two coniferous green couches, both facing a small but impressive television set mounted atop a polished brown stand. The stand had a drawer underneath for small storage. The room was mostly carpeted with a clean, white carpeting, and it ended at a hallway of gleaming hardwood floor.
Down the hallway were four rooms, two on each side. On the left were a pair of bedrooms, and to the right, a bathroom and laundry room. On the side of the living room opposite the hallway was a doorway leading into a brilliantly tiled kitchen. The teenage shinobi stared awestruck at what their luck had given them. Shaniso was the first to speak.
"Home sweet home, indeed. Hells yeah!"
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Chapter notes: 2 Ash and Heather: I know I told you I'd have it posted by last night, but I got caught up with other things [namely WoW, ;D] and I ended up writing way more than I thought I would.
Alright. Chapter updated within a week, as planned. Will hopefully have the next one by this time next week, but as per usual, no guaruntees on that. Read and enjoy! [Or else!] >3