As the afternoon wears on, Kimiko is hard at work, cleaning up the dishes from the last client when the phone rings. Teuchi looks at her. "I've got it." He picks up the phone. "Ichiraku's..." His face winces and Kimiko hears shouting over the phone. "Whoa, whoa! Calm down there, would you? You want how many bowls?" He asked in surprise. "Okay, okay, I understand. I'll get them over as quickly as I can." He set the phone back on the hook. "Miho-chan? I'm going to need some help over here - Naruto just ordered 10 bowls of ramen for delivery."
"That's a lot of ramen..." Miho noted as she joined him behind the counter, setting bowls out as fast as Kimiko could wash them."
"Not for Uzumaki." Teuchi responded, putting noodles into the hot water to boil before starting to prepare the meat. "I once served him fifteen or so. Could you fill half of those with the salt soup and the other half with Miso?" He glances around. "Sho? Do you happen to know where Naruto lives? He was so excited that he forgot to give me the address."
Inugami nodded, pulling out two carrying cases. "It's on Nakahito's side, but I have a feeling it would be better for me to make the delivery than Haruno, since he just left and probably won't be back for a while." As Miho and Teuchi finished each order of ramen, he loaded them into the case. "All right." He said as the last one was loaded and he strapped the cases to his back. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Once again, Kimiko now found herself alone with Teuchi and Miho-sensei. The Jonin then stepped out shortly before two men in their entered. One was in his early twenties while the other looked to be about forty. The men wore clothing cut along a different style than any she'd seen before, but it was aesthetically appealing. They were talking softly to each other.
"Welcome to Ichiraku's..." The men turned to look at her. Her voice faded out as she noticed the two staring at her intently. "Is there something wrong, sirs?"
"Not at all young miss..." The older of the two said, making a conscious effort to relax. "I apologize for the rudeness of my companion and myself... We just rarely see such a rare beauty in our travels." He glances at the menu on the wall. "We'll take two of the day's specials."
Kimiko, feeling uncertain whether to be flattered or uncomfortable at the compliment, simply gave them a winning smile for their order. "Two spicy beef noodles coming right up." Teuchi Ichiraku quickly served up the two unusual customers' order, handing the bowls to Kimiko. She set the bowls down before the two gentlemen as Miho walked back in. "Here you are, gentlemen."
"Thank you, Hime-s..." The younger one started to say, before stopping with a cough.
'Weirdoes...' Kimiko thought to herself, still keeping the smile on her face. The two men begin to each as they talk to each other under their breath in a language that Kimiko couldn't understand. Every now and then, they would look over at her appraisingly, but then quickly avert their eyes when Kimiko noticed.
She leaned over to where Miho had taken her seat when she had returned and whispered. "Miho-sensei? Those two are really giving me the creeps..."
Miho glanced at the two men – there was a glint of recognition in her eye at the older one, which he returned with a slightly sad smile – and then back at Kimiko, smiling at her Genin. "Well, you are pretty cute, Kimiko-chan. The younger one isn't much older than you, so it's only natural. I used to have a lot of men chasing after me when I was your age; still do occasionally. You eventually learn to see right through them - although in your case I mean that figuratively." Miho's joke drained the tension out of the air, causing both women to laugh softly.
Eventually, the two rose and walked out, still talking to themselves in the unusual language. As Kimiko walked over to clean up the remains, she stopped suddenly. Sitting atop the bills was a golden metal rectangle stamped with the symbol of the River Country, one of the buffer nations that separated the Land of Fire from the Land of Wind. The rectangle was about half the size of one of the 20 ryou bills it rested atop of and as thick as Itou's pinky finger. "Miho-sensei! Look at this!" Kimiko said, hefting the metal plate and holding it out for her teacher's inspection. It was surprisingly heavy for it's size.
Miho's mouth opened slightly in surprise; she hadn't expected this! "Well, you just officially won 'Hito's competition, Kimiko." She gestured at some of the markings around the symbol for the Land of the River. "Do you see those markings? It's the marker of the Lord Daimyo of the River Country; only those who provide direct service to the Daimyo can get them. That plate is easily worth 500 ryou; it's made of pure gold, one of the primary products of the River Country."
Kimiko's own jaw unhinged. Solid gold? "I can't accept something that valuable! I mean... I means it was just ramen!" She sputtered, feeling her cheeks redden in embarrassment and pleasure. "No offense, Ichiraku-san." The old chef chuckled at her apology and winked.
"I think it's their way of apologizing to you for their behavior." Miho told her, closing Kimiko's hand around the plate. "They are direct servants of the Lord Daimyo – the older of the two is his majordomo, no less. I wonder what they were in Konoha for... They typically rely on the Hidden Valleys or Hidden Sand Villages for missions; Sunagakure is closer to the Daimyo's palace than Tanigakure. Konoha is further than the distance to the other two combined, so it must be something big…" She looked back into Kimiko's eyes. "Keep that somewhere safe. I'm going to make some inquiries; I'll be back in about an hour."
"Hai, Miho-sensei…" Kimiko said, tucking the plate into her equipment pouch.
* * *
Sho Inugami was sweating heavily and breathing hard - ten bowls of ramen don't weigh that much by themselves, but the carrying cases were heavy from the insulation and uncomfortably bulky - by the time the apartment of his...
'Would I really call Naruto a friend?' Sho asked himself as he paused to catch his breath. 'Definitely an acquaintance, someone to hang out with, but I don't put many people in the whole 'friend' category. Only have one entry there and that's Aniki.'
'Ally, then.' He finally settled on as he started up the stairs. 'Someone I can count on to not stab me in the back, but not loan anything important to.' Sho's list of allies wasn't that long either when compared to the list of "useful idiots."
Sho reached the door of Naruto's apartment. There was the sound of people running around and Naruto's voice both shouting orders and yelling responses. 'What on earth..?' A confused Inugami thought as he knocked on the door. "Ichira..."
The door suddenly whipped open, revealing Naruto's small apartment, complete with three additional Narutos running around besides the one that answered the door.
A tick developed around Sho's left eye. 'As if one Naruto wasn't enough for the village...' He thought. 'But why is he practicing the illusion clone technique in his home?'
"Cool it!" The door warder Naruto shouted to the others, not looking out the door. "Ayame-neechan's..." Uzumaki's voice faded out as he looked out the door. "White Hair? What are you doing here?"
Sho sighed - for some reason that probably made sense to him - Naruto had called him that since the day they'd met. The accident in a lab that had left him with his snow white hair had happened a few weeks before he was supposed to enter the Academy. As a result, instead of being in the class that graduated last year, Sho had been in the same one as the blonde in front of him.
It had taken him a while to realize that Naruto wasn't teasing him, but that Uzumaki had a poor memory for names and features were easier for him. Sho had simply learned to respond in kind.
"Well, Whiskers," He answered, referring to the odd whisker-like black lines that permanently marked Naruto's cheeks. "Ayame-neechan pulled a muscle, so Teuchi-san had to hire extra help and turned to the Hokage. The Sandaime assigned my team the mission."
"Ah, man!" Naruto shouted in annoyance. "That would have been a cool mission; no wonder he didn't chew me out like Iruka-sensei did!" A massive grin split his face. "But that's cool… He gave us a C-rank mission instead! It's awesome even if it is this annoying old man we have to escort back to the Land of Waves and guard him while he builds some bridge or something...."
'Hello, Pot, meet Kettle.' Sho thought to himself, smiling despite himself. No, Naruto was definitely closer to a Friend than a mere Ally - Allies were fair game for insults when they did or said something stupid. Shikamaru and Chouji fell into that category as well, come to think of it.
The apprentice medic gestured to his load. "Can I come in? This is getting kind of heavy..."
Naruto nodded, turning to one of the copies. "Oi! Would one of you clear off the table?"
To Sho's utter astonishment, one of the clones began picking up dishes and putting them away. The clones were tangible? And capable of intelligent thought? But that would mean…
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Whiskers! Where on earth did you learn Kage Bushin? That's a Jonin-level technique!" And Naruto had never shown extensive skill with any Bushin-type jutsu, let alone such an advanced one.
Naruto's usually cheerful demeanor took on dour overtone as if he remembered something depressing. "A few weeks ago... It's what let me graduate."
Inugami, even more curious than before, decided to let it slide... He knew a LOT about having something you didn't want to share with others.
He clapped Uzumaki on the shoulder, snapping him out of his dark thoughts. "Hey, man, it's just cool you seem to have finally found your niche, buddy. You'll have to show me sometime; I'll return the favor with one of my techniques, okay?" Naruto grinned and nodded as Sho walked over to the table, setting down his burden. " All right, Naruto-kun, it's Ramen Time!"
"Yosh!" Naruto shouted as the three copies burst into smoke. He grinned at Sho. "This mission's going to be about a month or so while we camp at and guard some bridge the old man is building. They'll probably have ramen down there, but I wanted Ichiraku's before I left and Kakashi-sensei didn't give us a lot of time to gather our stuff." Naruto pulled out his wallet - which looked like a grossly distorted frog - and handed him 30 ryou and 5 "Free Meal" Tickets. "They'll expire before I get back, so I needed to use them up."
Sho shook his head with a rueful grin. Naruto was definitely one of a kind...
That was probably a good thing.
* * *
Sho got within eyeshot of Ichiraku's some twenty minutes later. He'd managed to grill Naruto for another ten minutes about his upcoming C-rank mission before he could no longer justify his delay in returning to the Ramen shop. As he approached the shop, he stopped suddenly as he noticed something out of place… The medic-nin ducked into a nearby side street before he could be spotted.
Ahead of him, reclining against the wall across the street from the ramen shop, sat an old-looking man. He was holding a square box with a flip top lid. All perfectly innocent looking, but Sho's analytical eye told him that there was something out of place in this scene. As he looked closer, he noticed that the old man lacked parallax - his location didn't change when he closed one eye and then the other. That meant the old man was an illusion.
Inugami shook his head… A good ninja would typically use Transformation to disguise oneself - it was 3-dimensional and therefore had parallax. It was the dumb spy used Genjutsu or illusions for stationary disguises - at least when you're dealing with perspectives that can test for parallax. After all, unless you were really good at illusionary techniques, the caster would typically make them 2D screens that you project your image on - like a movie screen. It's easier than trying to craft a 3D form and requires far less chakra, but it's just plain sloppy when viewed by someone who can pierce the illusion.
Inugami started to run chakra through his hands and feet, allowing him to climb up the side of the building as deftly as a monkey up a tree. Once to the top of the building, he worked his way across the rooftops to a spot over the "old man." If the spy was as sloppy as Sho expected... Sho peaked over the eve of the roof and looked down.
Sure enough... The spy had only worried about hiding himself from a ground-level perspective and hadn't bothered to create an illusion to hide him from aerial observation. Hidden behind the "curtain" was a man who looked to be about 26 years older than Sho, dressed in an outfit whose fashion was distinctly different from that of the Land of Fire. He held a camera and was occasionally taking pictures of someone inside the ramen shop.
As Inugami watched from above, Kimiko Itou, still looking like a younger Ayame Ichiraku, stepped out from the restaurant. As she took a moment to stretch, the hiding figure oriented directly on Kimiko and began taking pictures as fast as he could click the button.
Inugami frowned. He typically did not care about people's feelings, given the number of times others had dented his, but invasion of one's privacy was something completely different... The ability to be alone and assured that no one would interrupt you was one of the most priceless treasures in the world in his opinion.
Sho began to evaluate his options. He could shout a warning to Kimiko, but if she didn't pierce the illusion, she'd accuse him of pulling a prank on a poor old man. He could throw a kunai or shuriken to destroy the camera, but his accuracy would have to be dead on - he didn't want to accidentally kill the guy. The third option would be the old-fashioned "death from above" type ambush and grab the spy for interrogation.
The medic evaluated option two for a few minutes before rejecting it… His throwing weapon skills, while good enough to pass at the Academy, weren't all that great; it had been one of the few classes where he HADN'T needed to hold back his prowess. Any other ninja would be embarrassed, but most medics either relied on hand-to-hand or long-distance attacks; not mid-range.
So that just left option #3...
Sho got to his feet, preparing himself to run down the wall and simply grab the spy. He sensed the presence of someone else just in time to have a hand grab his shoulder firmly enough to stop him.
"Let's try to NOT spark an international incident today, shall we, Sho-kun?" Miho Hyuuga whispered in his ear.
Inugami smiled to himself. He definitely needed to give Miho-sensei credit... She had completely masked her approach and leaked just enough of her presence to keep him from potentially taking a swing out of reflex. "If you insist..." He gave her a ribald answer with a too-wide grin to make it clear that he was joking. "I was simply looking to add a bit of job security..."
Miho gave him a long stare, but he gave her an unrepentant grin that finally caused her to laugh. "Oh, Sho... What on earth are we going to do with you?"
"So what do we do about the guy taking pictures of Kimiko?" Sho asked simply.
"Nothing." Miho answered. "That man is the majordomo of the Lord Daimyo of the River Country and therefore a potentially valuable client."
"Eeesh; I'm glad you stopped me, then." Inugami said with a grimace; the spy would have iron clad diplomatic immunity.
Hyuuga nodded. "I'll simply inform the Hokage of what we've noticed about their actions; he'll handle the problem in as diplomatically as possible. Depending on why they're taking pictures of Kimiko - and only Kimiko I might add - it could just be something as simple as being interested in her. I'll admit his methods leave a lot to be desired, but we still have to step cautiously."
Inugami's face screwed up unpleasantly. "Politics! Its stuff like that that makes me hate being a ninja at times. In medicine, if there's a problem, we don't pussyfoot around." He glanced over the edge. The man was in the act of putting his camera away. "Well, he seems to be done and Kimiko appears to be none-the-wiser."
Miho looked over, nodding agreement. "I'll follow our friend and his associate a bit longer to make sure that they're not up to anything devious."
"Associate?" Sho asked, glancing around, but not seeing anyone out of place.
"They were in the shop earlier." Miho explained. "The other one is at their hotel still; he's not a chakra user. Our photographer there, Shao Fukamichu, underwent some training in the ninja arts - probably in Suna. They've had to scale back their training in the last few years thanks to budget cuts, so they have a lot of washouts that just weren't good enough." She shook her head. "And by not good enough, I mean they didn't show talent on par with Sasuke Uchiha - you yourself would have been washed out because you were hiding your true skills."
Inugami shrugged. "In all fairness, Miho-sensei, had I grown up in the Sand Village I probably wouldn't have bothered disguising my prowess. I was running an experiment and most of the village failed. Now that I'm a ninja, however, I can no longer afford to play such games."
'I wonder why he's so serious all the time...' Miho Hyuuga wondered to himself. 'Of course, if I knew that, I'd be able to help him better... But I doubt that it's going to be easy to crack that armor.' Miho glanced in the direction the River Country servant, he was about to leave direct line of sight. Miho looked at Sho. "Get back to the assignment we were given and leave this to me. I'll be back in an hour or so."
Inugami bowed an acknowledgement to his sensei and hopped over the edge.
* * *
Nakahito Haruno sat on one of the seats of Ichiraku's, enjoying a break from all the running around, when Sho walked into the store. Haruno glanced at the medic's load. "Heard you had to deliver 10 bowls to Uzumaki since I was out. That must have sucked..."
Sho merely shrugged in response. "It's our job for the day." He paused, smiling as he decided to roil the pot a bit. "You're going to be an only child for the next month or so."
Nakahito's face screwed up in confusion. Kimiko Itou looked at Sho. "'Hito's always been an only child, Sho. What are you talking about?"
Sho set his burden on the counter. "Team 7 got a C-Rank mission." The jaw-dropping looks that his team members threw him nearly caused him to start laughing. "They'll be going to the Land of Waves to act as bodyguards for a bridge builder who's apparently having problems with people trying to prevent him from finishing his current project. Naruto wanted to get his fill of Ichiraku Ramen before he left."
"How the hell did they get so lucky?!" Nakahito demanded as surprise melted into annoyance.
Sho's grin widened. "Naruto whined about the pathetic missions that the Hokage was offering his team. Since the Sandaime seems to have a soft spot for 'Whiskers,' he decided to give in to Naruto's request for something better." He sobered a bit. "The mission was probably lowest on the C-rank priority list; the Land of Waves doesn't have a lot of money, so the Hokage probably just couldn't justify putting a Chuunin-level team on the job."
Kimiko nodded. "That does sound a lot like Sarutobi-oji..." She flushed as she realized how informal she was talking about the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "I mean Hokage-sama. I mean, look at the time Naruto painted the faces on the Hokage Cliff; he got off with nothing more than having to clean all the paint up. The Sandaime's been like an uncle to me for as long as I can remember, but I doubt he'd let me get away with something like that..."
"I would also expect you to have a bit more pride than to do something like that, too." Sho pointed out. "The whining about the mission part, not the vandalism, I mean." She nodded agreement as Inugami looked at Nakahito raising a warning finger. "And I promise you'll spend no less than a month in the Hospital if you try it."
Haruno gave him a sour look as Kimiko chuckled slightly, envisioning Nakahito whining to the Hokage. "Thanks a lot, Kimi..."
At that moment, a young man about Sho's age stepped into the shop. He wore a Konoha forehead protector attached to a piece of red fabric around his waist like a belt. The ninja wore a body-hugging forest green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers and had both of his hands wrapped up in a ribbon-like white fabric. His hair was trimmed into a bowl cut that had an almost supernatural sheen to it and incredibly thick eyebrows.
"Ah, Lee!" Teuchi Ichiraku spoke up. "How are you?"
"I am feeling very well today, Teuchi-san." He glances at Kimiko briefly and then back to the owner. "Where is Ayame-san at?"
"She kind of overdid it yesterday and needed to take the day off. She's feeling better, though, and will be here tomorrow. Since I knew I would need help," He gestured to Team 13, "I hired some of our village's ninja for the day."
The ninja turned back to Kimiko his body seeming to blink momentarily, giving her a smile with teeth so white they practically glowed as a bouquet of flowers appeared in his hands. "Greetings. I'm the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee. These are for you, their beauty dimmed solely by your own."
Sho Inugami's jaw dropped open slightly, rotating to look outside and then at this Rock Lee fellow. Nakahito Haruno frowned, shifting uncomfortably on his stool. Kimiko blushed at the compliment as she accepted the flowers. "Thank you, Lee-san... They're beautiful. I'm Kimiko..."
"Itou." Rock Lee finished. Noting her surprised confusion, he gestured at the red patch with the split yellow diamond on her shirt. "I recognized your clan symbol from the description Gai-sensei gave us when we were discussing different Taijutsu combat styles. Gai-sensei described the Itou style as divine poetry in motion."
Kimiko's eyes widened in excitement as Nakahito's eyes tightened in irritation, unnoticed by everyone but Inugami. "You know someone that has seen my clan's style?" She asked hopefully. "Do you think that he might be able to tell me more about it? I don't have a lot to go on in my efforts to revive it."
"Gai-sensei is always willing to help teach those that are trying to learn!" Rock Lee said, excitedly. "Especially for my friends, if you would honor me as such..?"
Kimiko took in a deep breath of the flowers Lee had given her. She then gave him a winning smile, which further darkened Nakahito's mood. "Lee-kun, I suspect we're going to be friends for a long time..." Rock Lee smiled again. "Let me introduce you to my team members."
She started to turn to Nakahito, when Sho interrupted. "So, you're really fast, huh?"
The green clad ninja turned to look at him. "You are very rude, sir." He said reprovingly. Kimiko, however, finally noticed the look on Haruno's face. She looked at Sho and mouthed the words 'Thank you.'
Sho's mouth tugged into a half smile of 'You're welcome' for a heartbeat. "Yes, yes, I am, Lee-san. But that still doesn't change the fact that my statement is true."
"You'll have to forgive him, Lee-kun." Kimiko said, "Inugami-san here is not exactly the model of polite behavior." Lee blinked in recognition of the name, but didn't flinch at it. She looked at Sho. "And what are you talking about, Sho?"
The medic gestured at the flowers. "He didn't have those when he walked in here. When Miho-sensei showed you earlier what a master of Body Flicker could do, I was able to see her movements, even though you and Haruno couldn't." He gestured at Rock Lee. "To you, he blinked for an instant when those flowers appeared - to me, I actually saw a rapid blur go out and come back in. That makes him significantly faster than Miho-sensei or myself..."
"Your eyesight is very impressive, Sho-kun." Rock Lee said. "…Even if your manners are sorely lacking." He paused, recognition dawning on his face. "Sho Inugami..?"
"Yeah, 'The Ogre of Konoha'" Sho said with a roll of his eyes. "Medical specialist; qualified to take you apart and put you back together again." He gave a wicked grin. "And if you're lucky, I might even do it right."
"Don't mind him; he's trying to get a rise out of you, Lee-san." Kimiko said, taking back control of the conversation and Rock Lee's attention. "And to your right is..."
"Oh, there you are 'Hito!" A voice said from outside the shop. Sakura Haruno poked her head into the shop.
As Sho watched, the atmosphere of the shop changed: Nakahito perked up at the sound of his cousin's voice, turning around. Lee's face adopted a dumbstruck look - a clear sign that he'd fallen for Sakura's pink-haired charm. Kimiko sighed momentarily in disappointment but quickly buried it.
"What is it, Sakura?" Nakahito asked.
She grinned at him. "Just wanted to say goodbye before I left the village..."
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don't you." He grumped back. "You're headed to the Land of Waves."
Sakura's face creased in surprise. "How… How did you know?"
"Naruto ordered ramen delivery." Nakahito answered. "He told Sho and Sho told us."
"Oh..." Sakura said, looking slightly crestfallen; she'd been looking forward to a typical Nakahito eruption at the news, but had only gotten a fizzle. She then resumed her normally cheerful demeanor. "Well, anyways, I'm off - I'll bring you back a souvenir if I see anything interesting. Later!" She pulled her head out and walked off.
"Who was that..?" Rock Lee finally asked, intrigue clear in his voice.
"My cousin, Sakura Haruno." Nakahito answered, not really paying attention. "She's on Team 7 with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. They're another one of the teams to just graduate, but they're already getting a C-rank mission." He sighed, sinking back into his funk. "Absolute miscarriage of justice."
"Sakura-san..." Lee said, his cheeks starting to blush.
"I wouldn't recommend it, Lee-kun." Kimiko said with a note of distaste in her voice. "Sakura is one of Uchiha's fan club and is positively obsessed with him."
"I am familiar with the claims of how impressive this Uchiha is, but I note that you sound as if you do not care for him." Rock Lee noted.
"That's because she thinks Sasuke Uchiha is a pompous, self-absorbed, pain in the ass that deserves to be buried up to his neck in dirt and left to rot." Sho Inugami spoke up. "She's hated him for the last five years or so since he happened to say the wrong thing to her after coming to her rescue."
Rock Lee's eyes flared as he pointed at Inugami, jumping to Itou's defense. "How dare you say such a vile thing about Kimiko-san?!" He loomed over Inugami, practically stabbing at him with a wrapped finger.
Sho Inugami had only three absolute taboos: 1.) Don't call him a liar, 2.) Don't get in his face, and 3.) Let him enjoy his privacy.
Lee, without realizing it, was violating two of them at the same time.
The hackles on the back of the necks of Itou and Haruno rose up in warning as an aura of intense emotion seemed to emanate from their normally calm teammate.
"I speak nothing but the truth, albeit with my own particular viewpoint." Sho looked at Lee's hand his eyes tightening, giving him a serpent-like appearance. "And you have 30 seconds to move your hand before I start performing elective surgery that makes my infamous boar accident look like a training exercise. I don't care how fast you are…"
Lee remained unfazed by Sho's promise. Kimiko, who had learned to read Inugami's warning signs, however, grabbed Rock Lee's hand, pulling it away for the odd boy's own safety. "That was very sweet of you, Lee-kun, but Inugami is right; that actually is my opinion of Uchiha."
She paused momentarily as she thought about Sho's claim, evaluating everything he'd ever said when she was in earshot. 'That's right... Sho may not be kind about it, but I've never actually heard him lie about anything to anyone.' She looked up into his eyes. "I'm also pretty sure that he wasn't joking when he threatened you and I'd hate to see you get hurt for my sake."
Rock Lee's face clouded up. "Thank you for your concern, Kimiko-san! I'm very touched."
'In the head…' Sho thought to himself with contempt; the rage bleeding away from his mind. 'I'd hate to see the psychiatric bills to deprogram the damage this Gai-sensei must have induced.'
"Oi, Lee!" A man's deep voice said.
'You've got to be kidding me...' Sho groaned as a near duplicate of Rock Lee with an extra decade or two of life entered the ramen shop. He looked up at the ceiling. 'Kami-sama? Why on earth would You make two 'em?'
"Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee said with excitement evident in his voice.
"Come, Lee - we have to meet up with Neji and Tenten." The man gave off a satisfied sigh. "We have to make the most of the Springtime of Our Lives!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee said before the two of them walked out.
"And if Neji and Tenten beat us to the meeting point, we'll add 200 laps around the village carrying Kame-Nin on your back to today's workout!" Rock Lee's Jonin leader's voice carried back into the ramen shop.
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee answered. "And if I cannot do 200 laps with him on my back, I will do 500 one-armed push-ups with him there!" Lee's voice trailed off in the distance.
Silence reigned in the shop for a moment. Kimiko had a look of utter disbelief on her face.
Then Sho Inugami began to laugh. "Oh, man, are those two for real?"
Ichiraku nodded. "Yeah, they are… Might Gai became Lee's sensei a little over a year ago - he was in the previous year's graduating class - and Lee has come to believe heavily in Gai's philosophy of life."
"Well," Kimiko said, taking a deep breath of the flowers Rock Lee had gotten for her. "He might be strange, but at least he's a cultured gentleman, which is more than I can say about most of the men in my life." She said with a wry lift to her eyebrow.
Sho shrugged. "I am what I am..." He then grinned at her. "I'll be cultured, Haruno can be the gentleman." Nakahito merely grunted, looking dourly at the flowers in Kimiko's hands.
Itou gave him an overly-enthusiastic smile. "What's wrong, 'Hito-kun?" She asked both playfully and rhetorically. "Jealous?"
"You're my friend. I'm happy if you're happy." He said; a distinct note of hurt in his voice as he began clenching and releasing his right hand. "Why should I be jealous?"
The room suddenly felt several degrees colder as Kimiko looked away. "No reason, I guess." Hurt was also noticeable in her voice. "No reason at all."
Sho glanced over to Teuchi Ichiraku, who shrugged. Sho gave a barely noticeable nod. 'Idiots...' Inugami thought to himself with a roll of his eyes. He began to open his mouth but paused as he noticed Miho-sensei standing just outside the shop, remembering her previous admonitions to not interfere.
Miho Hyuuga then walked in. He shot her a look that said, 'Must you always ruin my fun?'
An amused smile formed as she responded in kind. 'Maybe...' An almost feral grin flickered in her eyes and face for an instant. 'They're fair game individually, of course.'
She clapped her hands, causing Nakahito and Kimiko, who'd been stewing in their own thoughts and hadn't noticed her return, looked up. "How's everyone doing? The shift's nearly over."
Teuchi Ichiraku looked at his watch. "Actually, we're past the busy time for delivery orders, so why don't you call it a day; I'm more than satisfied with the work you've done today. Ten minutes won't make that much of a difference at this point."
"Are you sure?" Miho asked. "It's not like it would be an inconvenience to stay the 10 minutes."
Ichiraku grinned at her. "I used to run the entire shop on my own before Ayame was old enough to help - I'm not that old yet, Miho-chan." He paused. "But just out of curiosity, how did the tips competition turn out?"
Sho Inugami reached under his chair to remove his Target Tag, tucking it into his shirt. "I've got 100 ryou."
Nakahito grinned for the first time since Rock Lee had shown up. "135 here! How'd you do, Kimi-chan?"
Kimiko Itou paused for a moment, pulling out some money. "I've got... 115 ryou in cash." Miho Hyuuga's eyebrow rose slightly over the girl's omission of the Land of Rivers tip, but said nothing. The girl was letting her friend take the win. "Looks like you win the game, 'Hito."
"And I've got something for each of you for helping this old man out today..." Teuchi said, handing each of the four ninja a small booklet. "10 free meal tickets for each of you."
"Thank you, Ichiraku-san!" Kimiko and Nakahito said simultaneously, while Sho bowed his head slightly.
"All right, Team 13," Miho Hyuuga said. "Mission accomplished. We'll meet on Tuesday at the park for joint training on the wall-walking jutsu. You're dismissed." The three Genin bowed slightly, wandering off in their separate ways.
"Such a hard worker that one..." Ichiraku said with a wistful tone to his voice. "And one concerned for her friends - she reminds me a lot of Ayame at that age. Like how she didn't mention that River Country tip to the others."
Miho nodded. "She and Nakahito have had a lot of misunderstandings as of late; incidents that have cropped up during missions have put a lot of strain on their friendship and they haven't figured out why yet." A slight smile appeared on her face. "It's been driving Inugami crazy, but this pot needs a tactful and sensitive hand to stir it so that everything works out for the best."
"Sho-san has the tact part down, that's for certain." Teuchi agreed. "Sensitivity, not so much - at least not for those not in his inner circle…"
"Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi, you mean."
Teuchi Ichiraku nodded. "Them, his family, and that Yakushi fellow. They come in occasionally for dinner. Sho's a different person when he's with them; even more than how he was when Shikamaru and Chouji were here - surely you noticed the difference when they showed up?" Miho Hyuuga nodded. "When he's with his family it's even more pronounced."
"I haven't gotten a chance to meet his family yet. His parents are always so busy that I haven't been able to meet them; in fact I don't even know what they look like."
"His parents typically wear uwagi shirts and hakama type pants - Kurando prefers the split-leg while Anastasia wears the skirt-like version. Kurando's uwagi is primarily a grayish purple, but the right side is orange and white and has purple flower-like designs. He also typically wears a pair of very thick armored bracers when he's not working - he traveled the world as a yojimbo in his youth and keeps them as a reminder of his past. He also keeps his walnut-colored hair cut just below his jawline." He chuckles. "Sho's long hair drives him crazy at times."
"Anastasia Inugami is a bit more distinctive looking - she's from a distant land that Kurando traveled to while acting as a bodyguard."
Hyuuga nodded, recalling the conversation with her uncle. "I'd heard about that."
"Her skin is almost porcelain white and she has long, coppery-red hair that she usually has in thick, loop-like braids. She is very cultured and - rumor is - that she comes from a line of nobility, but she rarely talks about her past so I don't know much more than that. Her uwagi is an unusual purple - somewhere between purple and indigo - and has a crimson color under layer that extends past the purple layer at the sleeves. There is a white diamond-like line drawing pattern on the left side only and she typically wears an olive green hakama."
Miho nodded. "Those are very distinctive-sounding outfits. Shouldn't be hard to recognize them if I see them. Thanks, Teuchi-osan."
"Glad to help, Miho-chan... Oh, that reminds me, I have something else for you." He ducked down, emerging with a plate that had a large chocolate chip cookie on it and set down a glass of milk beside it. "We have a deal after all."
A glint of child-like joy appeared in Miho's eyes. When she'd been younger, Miho and Ayame would help out at the ramen shop on occasion. At the end of the day, Teuchi would give a cookie and a glass of milk to each of them for a job well done. "Osan! You remembered." Miho took a seat at the table and began to reminisce with her old friend.