"Hey Kakashi, I think we should stop for the night!" Kiba yelled to the team leader for their mission, trying to make his voice heard over the strong winds that picked up half an hour ago.
"This weather is going to get a lot worse, we need to find an inn or some form of shelter, the area we're in at the moment will flood when it rains. So we keep going." Kakashi called back to the dog ninja and the other members of his team. Genma sighed and looked ahead, thankful to see what looked like a large building in the far distance. But he knew that they all had a long way to go yet before they reached this building and there was always a chance that it was private property or belonged to someone who didn't want to house a group of ninja for then night. While Kakashi, Genma and Kiba looked ahead to the building, the remaining human of the group was distracted with other thoughts. Naruto thought of his girlfriend, wondering if she was okay. Like him, Hinata had been sent out on a mission of the same rank. He hoped she was back in the safety of Konoha already. While he knew the young Hyuga could look after herself and her team mates would look after her, he still worried. Hinata's happiness and safety along with his dream of becoming Hokage were the only things he was ever serious about.
As the group bounded from branch to branch, trying to reach the only building in sight, thunder suddenly began to rumble as the clouds darkened and drops of rain started to fall. At first they were occasional and ignorable but soon the wind picked up fiercer as the rain pelted down on them painfully and ice cold. All of the soaking wet, frozen ninja mentally thanked God as they reached the end of the forest and hit the wet ground. Now they could see what the thick forest had hidden from them. A large town stood before them. If it wasn't for the raging storm, Kakashi was sure that there would be a surging nightlife. However now the only people about were hurriedly moving from one building to another. The building the leaf ninja had kept their eyes on was the closest.
Warmth and a sense of relief washed over them as they knocked and then entered. The brightly light hall was welcoming, vases of thriving wild flowers were strategically placed to bring a heavenly but not too overpowering scent to the building.
"Welcome!" a male voice greeted, all four of the men looked up to see a man in his mid fifties smile warmly from over part of the banister of the staircase. The smile however did not fully reach his eyes as he spotted the ninja headbands. Caution and slight worry flickered in his pale brown eyes.
"Evening," Kakashi said warmly before scratching the back of his neck. "I was wondering if you could tell us if this is an inn, and if it isn't would you be able to direct us to one?"
At this, the grinned and walked down the stairs and before the desk.
"Best inn in town. I'm Hideo, the owner. How many rooms?" he asked.
"Two should be fine and if possible two beds in each." Genma said.
"No problem. I'll give you fellas numbers thirty and thirty four. They each have two double beds and en suite bathrooms. The lounge and bar are just in there…" Hideo informed them pointing to the large archway to the right of them. "You can dry yourselves and warm up in there and get one of the girls to get you some drinks and warm food." he continued before passing over two sets of keys to Kakashi with a smile.
"Thank you very much, Hideo-san." Genma said gratefully. At the mention of girls, he had a glint in his eye and made his way to the lounge with Kakashi, Kiba, Akamaru(who Hideo hadn't paid any attention to) and Naruto.
The sound of the storm crashed around them, making the ninja all the more thankful that they were inside and getting warmer by the second. "Ahh, this sofa is so comfortable! I hope the beds are this good." Kiba sighed out as he relaxed further.
"Actually they're a lot better…" a voice came from behind the relaxing group, making them jump. Slowly they all turned their heads to see a young woman smiling as she held a tray against her chest. Rather than look at them, she stared at the crackling fire. Genma eyed the woman up and down with a growing smirk.
"And you can give us your word that the beds are beyond compare?" he asked.
"Trust me, everything in this inn is beyond compare. We aim for complete customer satisfaction." the woman smirked. "So, Hideo tells me to get you all anything you want. So what'll it be?" she asked.
"Have you got any ramen?" Naruto asked excitedly. "With extra meat and vegetables?"
"Some salt-broiled saury for me, and some sake for everyone to drink." Kakashi added.
"Chicken curry." Genma said with a smile.
"And how hot do you want it?" the woman asked in a seemingly innocent tone but all of the men could hear the playful undertone of her statement.
"Hot enough for my complete customer satisfaction, if you wouldn't mind."
"Beef sukiyaki for me, thanks." Kiba said, thinking it best to have the food before the worker got too distracted by Genma and his flirting. The woman smiled and gave them a small bow.
"Coming right up." she said before walking towards the kitchen. Genma grinning as she walked away.
"I feel as though I could live in this place forever." he said happily as he watched another young woman walk into the kitchen.
"Don't get too comfortable Genma, we still have a mission to do." Kakashi told his friend, his faithful Icha Icha book in his hand.
"What the hell are you doing with that?" Genma hissed as he spotted their waitress come out of the kitchen and walk over to the bar.
"I thought it would be obvious…what else do people do with books?" The masked ninja asked in his usual calm and laid back manner.
"Yeah but what if that waitress sees you with it. She'll think bad of me for associating myself with a literary pervert like you."
"You're one to talk, Genma." Kiba snorted. "You don't even have that girl's name and you started flirting with her as soon as she appeared."
"Plus we all saw you trying to see behind the tray to see her chest and I bet when she comes to serve the food and drink you'll look down her top and then up her skirt while she's preoccupied." Naruto added. "So in a way you're worse than Kakashi-sensei." the blonde, still unable to stop calling his former teacher 'sensei'.
"How am I worse than him?" Genma asked in shock.
"Not everyone knows what those books are like at a first glance…but everyone knows a leering pervert when they see one." Kiba explained logically.
A second waitress came to the group and smiled "Hey, my name is Ami and I'll be taking over as your waitress. Would you all like to move to the dining room or wait a little longer?" she asked giving them all a wide, bright smile.
"We'll go now." Kiba decided quickly before Genma got a chance to start his nonsense again. Kakashi looked up from his book and sighed before he stood with his group and followed the waitress to the dining room.
"So who was our previous waitress and where did she go?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh! She isn't really a waitress, Sayuri is actually the manager of this place." Ami told them cheerfully.
"She seems too young to be a manager…" Kakashi mused.
"Well she's been here since Hideo-san opened this place so there's no one he trusts more to help him run the place."
"How long has the inn been open?"
"Just passed ten years this spring. Here we go. If you sit down and wait, I'll be back with your sake and food." Ami bowed to them once she stopped at the table and skipped away.
Just as the ninja finished their meal- Akamaru included as Ami appeared with a bowl of water and pet food for the large dog- the sound of an argument came from the lounge. The leaf ninja got to their feet and opened the door to see Hideo and another man shouting.
"Oh no! They're at it again…" Ami whimpered, appearing next to Kiba, biting her lip nervously.
"What's happening?" Naruto asked.
"Oh it's nothing! Kenta just doesn't agree with some of Hideo's actions. It's just a father son thing."
"Would you just listen? We don't know why they are here!" Kenta shouted at his father.
"It's none of our business! They are our customers."
"But HE could have hired them to come here! Just because someone has a headband doesn't make them our allies!"
"For once would you trust me, son? We are protected no matter what happens, you know that." Hideo snapped back at his child.
"If you two are going to argue, I suggest that you do it outside or in a private room." a calm, serene voice sighed from the bar, effectively silencing the two family members. "You don't want to disrupt our sleeping guests or make our awake ones feel uncomfortable or unwelcome." Hideo rubbed the back of his neck while Kenta looked at the floor.
"Sorry Sayuri…"
"It isn't me you need to apologize to and Kenta you should know that Kosuke has too big of an ego to pay for ninja to do a job for him." she added before walking out of the room.
"Come on we should go to our rooms. Kiba, Naruto you two come to our room before hand. We all need to discuss our mission." Kakashi said in a low voice so only his team-mates could hear him. The masked ninja watched silently as Kenta watched his father leave the room before he looked to the Konoha men. Immediately his eyes narrowed at the group, his jaw clenched and hands fisted at his sides before he turned on his heel and away from them.
"So, it looks like we will have to stay here a little longer than one night…" Kakashi told them as he leaned against the wall.
"What made you decide that?" Naruto asked with a frown.
"You heard the name that girl used. Our target is a man called Kosuke and his criminal followers. We have to find their hideout and stop them before they get too powerful. If we investigate around this town we might have an easier time in finding this man. He might even come to this inn if we're lucky." he explained.
"But we'll have to be careful…Hideo's son seems really suspicious of us. Even Hideo seemed suspicious of us when we entered." Genma stated with a small smirk.
"That is true and that is why we have to be extremely careful. We don't know these people and one of them might betray us to Kosuke if we let our mission be known to them." Kakashi said before pushing off of the wall and sat down on one of the beds. "We should all get to sleep now. It'll be a long day tomorrow." he yawned before saying goodnight to Kiba and Naruto as they and Akamaru headed to their room two doors down, all of them unaware that someone had heard their full conversation.