Bizarre Encounters
A/N: This is about an OC I've been thinking about lately. :) Presenting Ghoul! She might even pop up in Missing Moments if people are interested. ^^ By the way, I don't own Naruto, but I DO own Ghoul. :D
A slouching figure glided through a throng of terrified villagers. "Excuse me; coming through, yeah, you lot can bugger off. Not you, the guy that's giving me an irritable look. Yeah, you, mind your own business before I become inclined to trash it." As she stepped into the faint light to glare at the irate merchant who had yelled at her a great many people gave cries of shock. "See, Ghoul, this is why you said you were going to avoid villages full of idiots, but no you had to get seen. How fantastic of you..." Her corpse like visage, with the way her white skin clung to her bones and the dark bags under her blank eyes was enough to startle them, but the snide way she was muttering to herself was even more terrifying. The childish voice of a five year old interrupted her vague mutterings and death threats.
"Erm, excuse me… but why are you dressed in rags and why is that merchant wetting himself at the sight of you?" She transferred her blank glare to the blond tugging at her rags who stared back, unafraid. Hmm, well this new. Someone who isn't terrified of me, I need to fix that, it'll ruin my image.
"Well, can you tell me why they're staring at you as though you killed their precious Fourth Hokage and ate half their village in the one go?" The boy inclined his head slightly.
"Because I was born on the same day as the when the Kyuubi attacked?"
"Of course!" She drawled sarcastically. "What a marvellous reason for hating someone, I feel inspired! Maybe I should take a leaf out of their Big Book of Idiocy and hate humanity for looking at me sideways. Stop looking at me so strangely brat, come on, we'll talk about it over lunch where there aren't village idiots to listen in… Speaking of lunch I could go for some ramen right about now." With that she grabbed the boy by the arm, spun around and, with a devastating kick, booted the entire group of enraged villagers out of her way. "What did I tell you lot about buggering off earlier?" She smirked at the sight of them sailing off over the horizon while the young boy she held hostage jaw dropped.
"How… how did you do that?"
"I could say years of practice, but I'll be honest and say my years of not giving a damn about the consequences of my actions."
"But, why would that matter?"
"I got all my practice from booting around everyone and everything that happened to annoy me, which is almost everyone. Ah, here we are, Ichiraku Ramen, I haven't been here in awhile. Strap yourself in for some good grub while I attempt to answers your questions." The ghastly figure dropped herself and her cargo onto seats at the counter and greeted the chef. "Yo, old man, gimme the usual… give the brat a bowl of miso as well, I'm paying." The boy watched, eyes wide as the chef didn't even glare at him as he handed the boy his food with a smile. "See kid? The people who work here happen to be nice… maybe because the idiocy of this dump hasn't rubbed off onto them yet. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and cough some down already!"
She watched amusedly as the slurped the bowl in one and turned to her. "So, what's your name? Mine's Naruto Uzumaki."
"The name is Ghoul and I'm one of the scariest looking bastards you'll ever lay eyes on. As to why they were looking at me like that… well, let's just they don't appreciate how blunt I am and the fact that I don't give a damn about how I look. When you are as blunt about your opinion as I am, you tend to get morons who react badly. It's out of the norm for them and people fear the unknown, especially when it happens to be me."
"People don't like it when you're honest?"
"Not so much that I'm being honest, but more the fact that I don't bother with the little 'white lies' that make people feel better." Naruto nodded slowly.
"You mean they use masks?"
"Everyone uses masks, even me on occasions. Knowing how to hide what you really think is essential to survive in the big bad world. You need to control the mask, don't let it control you." Naruto nodded again. "Well, I'd best head off before the ANBU attempt to murder me for 'corrupting you'. Or they attempt to murder me for blowing their headquarters to kingdom come… one of the two." Ghoul stood and stretched with a sickening cracking of her bones. Reaching into a deep pocket hidden in her rags and pulled out a thick, worn book with a lengthy title: Knowledge is Power, Power Corrupts, Study Hard be Evil by Ghoul and some money that she casually flicked at the chef. "Okay kid, you can have this book, it'll help you in pretty much all areas except one… but I'd advise against looking for stuff on that subject." For a moment the boy was dumbstruck and watched her slouch off into distance with an unseeing gaze.
"THANK YOU!" Naruto screamed at her retreating form. Ghoul's mouth twisted up into a grim smile. Believe me kid, I should be thanking you. You actually managed to make a visit to this miserable dump somewhat enjoyable… Now that you are suitably more infamous from being seen with me, I'll have to check out the mask you picked to deal with the backlash of dealing with a ghoul by name and by nature. Spinning around to face the yelling Naruto she lazily raised and arm in salute and disappeared in a black withering mass of energy that sounded suspiciously like the screams of those trapped in the burning ANBU headquarters. Friday 13th was a black day indeed.