Doing this one for fun, just going with what comes to my mind. Naruto characters may be a lil ooc. I love trains so they will be seen often in this story.
I don't own anything, except my character.
The deafening sound of the locomotive whistle screamed through the cab and startled Colby as he fell out of his seat to the black, coal dust covered floor of the cab. His father looked back and laughed as he pulled on the whistle cord again, eased off the throttle and gradually applied the air brakes.
"We are almost at the Leaf Village. Mike, let Colby tend the fire on our way in" Colby's dad said over the rhythm of the clanking driving rods and the roar in the cab as the engine's steel wheels rolled down the twin ribbons of steel. As he took the brakes off the sound of air escaping whistled through the cab.
"Alright Colby, your turn" said Mike the fireman with a grin as he handed Colby the scoop (railroader talk for shovel). Colby smiled back and took his turn tending the fire in the massive firebox. As he opened the firebox doors, a ball of intense heat greeted his face as he looked in to check the fire. It looked good and shut the firebox doors. Glancing out the cab window Colby saw a squad of Leaf ninja running along side the train almost trying to beat it to the Leaf Village. Looking back into the gauges in the cab, and seeing the water level low in the boiler. Colby opened the red spigot underneath the brass handle of the water injector then pulled on the handle. With a thud the handle came back and water flowed into the boiler. Looking at the numerous gauges on his side of the cab, everything looked good. Then he looked up at the big brass steam pressure gauge and frowned.
"Mike! You had to let the pressure drop." Colby yelled, making sure Mike and his father heard. Mike shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, I wasn't the one sleeping for most of ride. You know to get the pressure back up, so do it." Mike yelled back "Just don't pop the safeties"
Colby smiled, he had a habit of popping the steam pressure safety valves as the engine pulled into the station. It annoyed Mike to no end but Mike could never say that there wasn't any steam pressure in the boiler when it was time to pull out and head to the next station. Colby shut off the water injector and and blew down the water glass to make sure it was accurate. A whoosh of steam blasted out of engine which was instantly followed by a yell. Started Colby turned and looked out the cab window. The squad of ninja was still racing the engine. The squad had four ninja in it. Two girls and two guys, Colby didn't take a good look at the girls but looked at the guy that was the closest to the engine. He was wearing a orange and black jump-suit and had short blonde hair and didn't look too happy.
"Hey watch what your doing! You almost too me out with that steam!" he yelled up to Colby. Colby smiled and reached for the knob to blow down the water glass.
"Too bad. Don't run so close to the engine then, you get too close and it wont be a pretty sight when they pick up the pieces." Colby yelled back and blew down the water glass and watched as a cloud of white steam erupted from under the locomotive and enveloped the blonde haired ninja. Again the ninja yelled, the girls and the other guy in the squad laughed.
"Naruto! You should have listened to him!" shouted one of the girls. She had blonde hair like the ninja in the orange but she had hers in a long pony-tail and whore a purple what looked to Colby like a workout t-shirt that stopped just above her waist and had a matching purple mini-skirt.
"Ino, I didn't have time to more before he shot steam at me!" shouted the ninja in orange.
Colby figured the ninja in orange was named Naruto and the other on in purple was named Ino. He smiled and looked down the tracks he could see the station platform coming into view and the rail yard beyond it. He looked back to where the ninja known as Naruto was running and seeing that he had backed off, blew down the water glass. Looking back to the pressure gauge he smiled as he saw the needle at 250psi. The safety valves popped or went off at 260psi. Colby grinned as he shouted over to Mike.
"Hey Mike! Look!" Mike glanced up at the gauge and glared at Colby "What? I didn't do anything to the fire! You can't blame me this time, this one is all you" Colby smiled, he knew that Mike would still be blamed for the safeties popping in the station, because as he figured Colby was the fireman when the train can into the station it was his fault the safeties popped.
"Bell" called out Colby's father as he backed completely off the throttle and started to work the air brakes. Each time he released the brakes a hiss of air escaped from the handle. Colby grabbed hold of the steel cable that hung above his head and rang the large brass bell, as it rang it echoed through the station, the cylinder clocks opened and steam hissed out of the cylinders at the front of the engine each time the piston in them moved back and forth turning the wheels. The station platform was bathed in steam as the engine eased to a stop. When the engine and the train it was pulling had stopped a sharp blast from the whistle echoed through out the village. Up a head on the ready track was a fresh locomotive and crew waiting to take the train over for the next part of it's journey.
Colby was the first to climb down from the cab. His once blue overalls and denim jacket were now black from the coal dust from the cab. In short Colby was covered head to toe in back coal dust, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed the looks people gave him when they looked at him when he was this dirty because he knew that they would most likely never know how much work and fun firing a steam locomotive was. His father climbed down and even though he didn't do the fireman's job he was just as dirty as Colby was. Mike handed each of them a oil can and together they started to oil and lube up the connecting rods, running gear, journal boxes (wheel bearings) and greased the slide rod that connects the piston to the running gear. When they had finished Colby sat on the floor of the cab and let his legs hang out over the ladder heading up to the cab and started eating his lunch, which consisted of leftover pizza from dinner last night heated by the firebox. His dad and Mike sat up in the cab and ate their lunch as well.
"Hey Colby, you know we are moving to this village right?" said his father. Colby looked at him in surprise and disbelief.
"What? Why are we moving to this village?" said Colby, he liked the village he lived in. It was big but not as big at the Leaf Village and it was the main rail town in the whole system.
"The higher-ups are switching my home base to this village. They are going to be expanding the engine terminal here to increase capacity and help relieve the pressure on the current terminal." he explained.
"Oh." replied Colby as he looked down the platform. Colby wasn't that disappointed about the news he had few friends back in the other village but they were all sons of engineers and firemen like he was so he figured that he would probably see them once in a while out on the high iron but other than that he really didn't have any other friends.
Walking down the platform Colby could see the squad of ninja that had been running next to the engine earlier. He could tell Ino and Naruto were arguing and behind them were the other two ninja. As they got closer, the other two ninja were rolling their eyes at Naruto and Ino as they argued. The other girl ninja had cotton candy pink hair which Colby thought was a little bit strange but didn't mind, she wore a red skirt with white marking that came down to about her mid thigh, the other boy ninja had red triangle shaped markings on both of his cheeks and wore a grey-ish sweat shirt with grey pants and had the biggest, white dog he hadn't seen before.
"Hey!" Colby called out to them and the group walked up to the cab. He jumped down and did his best to wipe away the coal dust and grime from his face. Ino laughed.
"Jease kid you get that dirty from just riding in that engine?" Ino smiled.
"Not just riding, I also work in the cab. It's a lot of fun for me." Colby smiled, Ino, Naruto and the other two looked to be about his age which he liked because most kids his age that were not the sons of engineers or firemen just teased him about it but not here. Ino looked surprised too.
"Really? I though they didn't allow kids to work on these things." Ino said. She looked at the engine in wonder.
"My dad is the engineer so, I can ride in the cab with him and help out the fireman." Colby smiled proudly, first time he had meet a girl that seemed impressed that he worked in the cab of the locomotive.
"What about school? Didn't you ever go to school?" asked Ino curiously. Only lame bumbs on the street didn't go to school she thought but this kid seem pretty cool.
"Yeah I did go to school but never finished high school. Chose the life on the rails over finished school after my mom died." Colby looked at the running gear on the locomotive as the thought of his mother crossed his mind.
"Oh, I'm sorry. " said Ino then she glaced over at Naruto and the other two who were sitting on the bench looking at Ino and seemed kinda annoyed. "Say you want to come into town with us and get some lunch and maybe clean up a bit." she giggled. Colby smiled and looked up to the cab and saw Mike and his father leaning out and listening to their conversation. His father smiled.
"Go ahead Colby. Me and Mike can put the engine away today."
"Thanks dad!" said Colby as he took off his black coal dust covered gloves and put them in his back pocket and started to walk with Ino towards Naruto and the other ninja. "Say I never caught your name"
"I'm Ino Yamanaka and that's Naruto in the orange, Sakura in the pink and Kiba with his dog Akamaru." Ino said as she pointed to each one.
"Nice. I'm Colby Miles. I'll be moving to this village pretty soon because the railroad is expanding the engine facility here."
"You are! Nice!" Ino said "C'mon guys let's show our new friend here around town"
"But, Ino..." said Naruto, but Ino cut him off.
"Shut up. You, Sakura and Kiba can go see Tunseda and report our mission to her. If she asks where I am tell her I'm in the bathroom"
Ino said. Colby laughed, he was all too familiar with that excuse. With that the group walked into town together.
Colby, Ino, Naruto Sakura and Kiba walked together towards the Hokage Tower. Colby's head was moving like it was on a swivel looking all around at the buildings and the people walking around. He wasn't so much as admiring the sights as he was making mental notes and establishing land marks he could use to help find his way around the village when he is alone. Ino talked the entire way from the station to the platform telling Colby almost everything about the village. He didn't mind as he listened and took mental notes on buildings he would use for land marks. As they approached Hokage Tower, Colby took a good look at the large building with it's cylinder shaped tower. The group entered and headed up the stairs to Lady Tsunade's office.
Colby looked at himself and smiled, he was still covered head to toe in coal dust and smelled like fire and hot oil. Only his hands and face were kind of clean... They weren't spotless but cleaner than the clothes he had on. He knew he looked like he was lost because rarely did steam crews venture into town without making an attempt to clean themselves up, but what the heck he didn't mind as long as he could find his way back to the station. He also figured that this Tsunade person wasn't going to be greatly impressed at his appearance.
"Hey Ino?" Colby said as they came to the door that he assumed to be the one that lead into the Hokage's office becuase of the ornimental trim that covered the door frame.
"Yeah?" Ino replied as she turned to him.
"You think I should wait out in the hall way until you are done reporting in?" he asked nervously. It wasn't often that Colby got nervous, the last time he got nervous was when he got the chance to meet the owner of the railroad company a few years ago. Ino looked at him with a smile.
"Naw you should come in with us, seeing as how you are new to the village." Ino said as Kiba knocked on the door. A woman's voice replied "ENTER" to Kiba's knock and they enter the room. Colby was the last to enter behind Ino and stood off to the side as the squad reported in.
"Lady Tsunade, our mission was a success." Ino said with a air of pride and confidence. Naruto, Kiba grinned as did Sakura like they knew there was more but decided to keep what they knew to themselves.
"Good. You have any... What's burning?" Tsunade asked as she looked around the room then she spotted Colby quietly standing in the back of the room covered in black coal dust. He knew he had been found and stepped forward. Tsunade looked him over, she wasn't overly impressed with his appearance but had a good feeling about this coal covered kid and noticed the way he was standing.
"That be me, ma'am. I was one of the crew members in the locomotive on the 12 o'clock train that arrived 10 minutes ago. I work with my father on the locomotive and our crew base is being moved to this village. I met Naruto, Ino, Sakura and Kiba on the platform after they had a race with the locomotive on the way into the village." Colby explained truthfully as he stood at military parade rest with his hand behind his back and his feet about shoulder width apart.
"I see, what's your name?" she asked.
"Colby Miles, I come from the Village of the Rails." he replied with a smile. The squad looked at him with surprise as did Tsunade.
"I've heard stories about the Miles clan from that village. They are a clan of railroaders that train to be ninja while they stop in anyone of the Hidden Villages. There are many talented ninja in that clan but not one has ever chosen to follow the life of a ninja but instead they chose to work on the railroad. I don't understand why your clan chooses to railroad over being ninja." Tsunade said. She looked hard at Colby as if she was trying to look into his mind to see what he was thinking.
"My family puts family first followed by working for the railroad, being ninja is more like a hobby to us. When family members move from crew base to crew base, in their spare time they learn the skills of the ninja then pass them on to not only their children but also to other family members. Afew lucky ones got married to ninja and that has also added to the skill set of my family. Though there is one member who chose to be a ninja over a railroader. She is my cousin but nobody has really heard from her in a few months. Suzanna Whittum is her name." explained Colby hoping to shed a little bit light on to any questions Tsunade may have so he didn't have to answer anymore than he had to. Tsunade raised an eye brow questioningly.
"Suzanna Whittum? So she is your cousin then. That explanes it." Tsunade said as she leaned back into her seat. Colby was puzzled and let it show.
"Explain what?" He asked. Ino and the rest of the squad looked at each other then back to Colby.
"Suzanna is a Leaf ninja but never told anyone what clan she came from or what her home village was, but when she heard that the railroad was going to expand the terminal here she would watch the trains go by every day, as if she was looking for someone. She doesn't go on that many missions so when she's not looking at the trains she works at one of the bars in town. I think she works at the Rail Spike Bar."
"Least she is safe and doing well. Though don't think her career choice is going to sit will with the family. We never could make a good margarita" He smiled when Tsunade grinned at the joke. "I got to get back to yard. My dad is probably wondering were I am."
"Very well, you want some help finding your..." Tsunade was cut off by Ino who spoke up.
"I'll show him back to yard Lady Tsunade" Ino said. Naruto and Kiba grinned.
"Looks like someone has a thing for the train boy" said Naruto but his grin disappeared instantly when he looked at Colby and saw him glaring a death glare at him. Colby could brush off almost any name he was called but train boy really ticked him off. He could never actually figured out why but it just did.
"I'd pick my next few words carefully if I were you" Colby said flatly. Kiba took a step back, Sakura and Ino were about ready to smack Naruto when Tsunade spoke up.
"Naruto, Kiba and Sakura. You three are dismissed. Ino you can show Colby the way back to the yard." Tsunade said. With that everyone exited the room. 'This is going to be interesting having members of the Miles clan in this village." she said to herself.
In the hallway Sakura and Ino smacked Naruto, Kiba laughed as Naruto rubbed his head and glared at Ino and Sakura.
"OOUCH! What was that for!" said Naruto as they walked down the hallway and towards the main entrance of the tower. Colby walked just ahead of them and listened.
"For insulting Colby!" said Ino, Colby's ears perked up at the mention of his name but he didn't turn around.
"So? The train boy blew steam at me from that locomotive of his" Naruto said. This time Colby turned around and got right up in Naruto's face.
"Call me that one more time I will make you bounce off this floor and hit the ceiling." He said coldly. Naruto glared back at him.
"I'd like to see you try trai..." Before Naruto could finish, Colby swepted Naruto's feet out from under neath him and slammed Naruto down to the floor while he was still airborne. As Naruto bounced off the floor Colby got one of his legs under Naruto's back and launched him straight up into the ceiling. Ino, Sakura and Kiba looked at him in shock as Naruto fell back down to the floor. He looked down at Naruto then looked at Ino, Kiba and Sakura.
"What? I leanred it from my uncle." Said Colby with a shrug. "Say, I'm hungry let's go get something to eat." Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Colby. His head was spinning and his whole body felt sore. Kiba and Sakura walked over to Naurto and helped him to his feet.
"Come on knucklehead, on your feet." said Kiba as he and Sakura helped him up. Naruto looked at Colby but didn't say anything as he started to walk out the door. 'The hell is his problem?' thought Naruto as walked off on his own. Colby kept an eye on him and watched Naruto walk away.
"He always like that?" asked Colby as he turned back to Kiba, Sakura and Ino.
"Yeah, most of the time but not always. Usually he is just hyper. He is a good friend but can real jerk to people he doesn't like." Kiba said.
"I guess so. Then again so can I." replied Colby, he pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was 12:30pm. Then his stomach growled, Ino, Sakura and Kiba laughed. Colby smiled, "Know any places to eat around here?"
"Yeah there are lots of places. Come on we'll take you to the best ramen in town." said Sakura as she lead the way and headed towards the door, the rest of them followed.
"Never had ramen before, it any good?" Colby asked as they walked down the street towards the ramen shop. Ino, Kiba and Sakura looked at his like he had three heads. "What? I never had ramen before."
"You are missing out my friend. The ramen at this shop is the best around, and why have you never had ramen before?" said Kiba.
"If I can't hold it in my mouth and fire the locomotive at the same time, I don't usually eat it." He said as they approached the ramen shop. Colby could smell it and it smelled good, he just hoped it tasted as good as it smelled. Ino laughed.
"No wonder you are so skinny! You hardly eat anything good." she said as they entered the shop. Colby smiled as he sat down on the stool at the counter.
"Actually. That's not true, I eat more than you think. Back home my family has a policy that no leftovers will go uneaten."
"Is that right? I like that policy, means no food goes to waste." the owner said. "What can I get for ya?" Ino ordered the BBQ ramen and Kiba and Sakura ordered the chicken ramen. "And for you?" he asked as Colby's turn to order came up.
"Umm.. I'll try the BBQ ramen." he said, the owner smiled.
"You are not from around here are you?" he said as he started making the ramen.
"No, I'm new to this village. My dad and I work for the railroad and our crew base got moved to here, and can I have a glass of water please? Firing the engine is like working next to a massive coal stove."
"Is that right? Well, welcome to the Leaf Village and here you go" the owner said as he placed a glass of water in front of Colby.
"Thanks" Colby said. Then a girl walked into the shop and sat down next to Kiba. Colby glanced over to the girl, she was shorter than he was but not by much. She had brown hair that came down to just past her shoulders, she wore green shorts with paw prints on the cargo pockets, and a black t-shirt with green paw prints across the chest. Something looked familiar about her but he couldn't figure it out until she started talking to Kiba.
"Hey Suzanna." Kiba said as he kissed her on the cheek. Colby's eyes nearly popped out of his head as it finally clicked in his mind. 'You gottah be kidding me. That's Suzanna?"Colby thought. Ino noticed his surprise and smiled.
"Yeap, that is Suzanna." Ino said kinda loudly almost as if she wanted to make sure Kiba and Suzanna heard her, which they did, and they looked towards Ino and Colby. Colby pulled his hat down and cupped his glass of water with his hands. He wanted to find Suzanna on his own but this way worked, though he didn't like how Ino had to draw attention to their end of the counter. He sighed and re-adjusted his hat and looked towards Kiba and Suzanna. Suzanna looked at Colby and was shocked. It had been a while since the two of them had last seen each other. They had not talked to each other ever since they had a huge fight the night Colby caught Suzanna trying to sneak out and run away and become a ninja. He was the one who got her in trouble with her mother.. but her father let her move out on her own without her mother knowing and on the one condition that she check in with him every week.
"Hey Suzanna, long time no see." Colby said. Suzanna's expression changed from shocked to annoyed. She stood up to leave but Kiba grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to her seat. He looked at her with a scowl.
"Stay a bit and have lunch with us." Kiba said as the owner gave them their bowls of ramen. Colby tired to use the chopsticks but gave up on trying to use them and pulled out his leatherman multi-tool and used the pliers to eat the noodles, then used the knife blade to eat the chunks of BBQ meat that was left. Everyone watched him as they ate their food. Colby was the last to finish and as he put away his leatherman he looked up and saw everyone looking at him. Suzanna rolled her eyes as she watched him... he NEVER could use chopsticks.. no matter how much she had tried to teach him before she had left.
"Still can't use chopsticks, can you Colby?" Suzanna said with a grin. Colby looked at her and opened his leatherman again and showed off the pliers.
"Why do I need chopsticks when I got a good set of pliers and a knife with me?" he smiled as she rolled her eyes. Ino laughed which made Colby smile a bit more. He was starting to like Ino, but knew he couldn't let he heart take off on him. Last time he did that it didn't end well. He looked to the clock on the wall. It was 1 o'clock, Colby figured he better get going and head back to the yard. Suzanna and Kiba could sense Colby's mood change as he sighed and took out his wallet to pay for his meal.
"Don't worry about it. This one is on the house." the owner said. Colby looked up from his wallet in surprise. Back home none of the restaurants even the small mom and pop shops gave out free meals. They would lower the price for railroad workers and their family and new comers to the village but never give out free meals.
"Really?" Colby said surprised.
"Yes, really." the owner replied with a smile.
"Thank you, sir." Colby said as he put away his wallet. Ino and the rest paid for their meals and they all headed out and started walking towards the station. Ino and Colby talked together on the way, Sakura headed home. Kiba and Suzanna walked behind Colby and Ino. Suzanna was quiet and Kiba could tell something was bothering her.
"What's on your mind?" he asked. Suzanna was quiet a moment as she watched Colby and Ino start to walk a little closer to each other.
"It's Colby. He's my cousin and his dad is my uncle. I left the clan and only my dad knows that I am here. My family has been known to go after rouge family members like the hidden villages go after rouge ninja, and now I think I'll have to go on the run again because I don't want to have the life so many of the female members of my family do. I think he might tell the family because we didn't end things on a good note before I left." She said. Kiba put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Don't worry, I think if you can patch things with Colby he won't sell you out." said Kiba reassuringly. Suzanna smiled and kissed him back.
"I hope you are right." she said as the group walked into the station. Waiting for Colby was his father and Mike. Suzanna froze when she saw Colby's father. Colby turned around and saw Suzanna just standing there. He sighed and walked up to her. She always freaked when ever she saw another family member who was not her father. Before she ran off she usually would run up to them and hug first him then his father but now it's was like she was afraid of anyone who was apart of the family.
"You don't have to freak out cous, and besides you look like a fool standing in the middle of the floor staring at my dad." he said "Come on." With that he put his arm around her and half walked half pushed her up to his dad. Ino and Kiba were already talking to him and Mike. Colby's dad smiled and hugged Suzanna, she hugged him back.
"Don't worry, your father told me what happened. You are safe from the family, for now at least. Just hope your mother doesn't find out other wise we are going to have a mess on our hands to deal with. Most of the family has given up on the search for you but your mother is relentless." he said. Suzanna hugged him again.
"Thanks Uncle Tallus!" she said. As the hug between them ended Kiba, Ino, Mike and Colby started laughing at Suzanna. She glared at them but they kept laughing. Then she looked at herself. A fine shade of black coal dust covered her face and arms. She smiled and laughed too, then Colby walked up to her and using his glove tried to wipe it off on her face but she was able to keep her face from getting touched by his glove. However in the process Colby still managed to get a streak of black to run across her forearm.
"You little brat!" Suzanna said teasingly to Colby. "So I guess this means we are cool with each other now?"
"Yeah we are.." he paused for a moment "Sis." Suzanna's face lit up as she tackled him into a hug. It had been a while since he had called her his sister. Before their fight, Colby and Suzanna were more like brother and sister than cousins and some of their family members swore they were brother and sister sometimes just on the way they acted around each other. They would do almost anything for each other and being only 3 months apart was certainly a factor in them being so close. Colby's father, Tallus, smiled. It made him happy to know that Colby and his older sister were once again friends with each other.
"You guys found a place to stay yet?" Suzanna asked as she let go of Colby.
"Not yet. We just finished putting the engine away and haven't had a chance to go into town, and we haven't changed yet so we are going to change first and meet back up with you guys." said Tallus.
"Why don't we had over to my place. You can change there and you can stay with me until we can find you a place." said Suzanna.
"Yeah, that's sounds good." said Tallus. Colby cheered and took his turn tackling Suzanna into a hug. Ino and Kiba laughed as did Mike. Colby still had his glove on and again tried to get Suzanna's face with is glove. This time he was successful and left a black hand print on her cheek. She tried to wipe it away but only made it worse. She glared at Colby and a evil smile came across her face that he was all too familiar with.
"Let's sparr." she said. Colby, Kiba and Ino looked at her surprised, but Tallus and Mike just laughed.
"Now?" Colby asked staring blankly at her. She nodded and her evil smile grew bigger.
"Yes, when we get over to the training grounds."
"You sure? I still got my steel toe boots on. I don't want to hurt you, that badly." he said.
"You won't be able to touch me and come on I want to see if you have gotten any better" Suzanna started to head for the door. Colby sighed and looked to his dad for any support but he did give any and pointed towards Suzanna. Ino and Kiba laughed, they knew Suzanna was a good fight and thought Colby didn't have a hope in hell at beating her. Colby and the rest followed Suzanna to the training grounds. Colby never liked sparring against Suzanna, he was 0-for something against her and figured this time would be same.
"Come on Colby, I think you can beat her" said Ino. He could tell that Ino had a HIGHLY competitive side to her as they walked to an empty train ground.
"You think so?" he asked.
"Yes I do! She maybe your older cousin and a better fighter but I think you can take her down!" she cheered. Colby laughed, he liked it when girls had a thing for competition. To him it meant less boredom when he hung out with them. Suzanna was waiting in the middle of the training ground with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.
"Come on hurry up Colby!" she shouted.
"Hold on. Let take off my overalls and jacket." Colby shouted back, Ino looked at him in surprise as he took off his boots and his jacket and overalls. He wore a black t-shirt under his denim jacket and a pair of blue jeans under his overalls. He looked at Ino and saw her staring at him. "What? You thought I was going to sparr without any pants on?" he said jokingly.
"Alright, I'm ready. Let's get this over with." Colby said as he walked up to Suzanna. Mike, Tallus, Ino and Kiba watched.
"Good, ready, go!" she shouted as she charged Colby, then disappeared and reappeared behind him. Colby turned around and knelt down and dodged Suzanna's fist, then Colby sprang forward and grabbed hold of her waist and tackled her to the ground and wrapped his legs around her's. As they fell backwards and landed on the ground, Colby got a face full of Suzanna's breasts. Ino covered her mouth and started laughing histericly. Kiba frowned, he and Suzanna had been going out for the past few months and Suzanna hadn't let him get any where's near her breasts without her whacking him on the head. Yet there was Colby, with his face in them.
"Hey sis, got you." Colby smiled as he rested his chin in the middle of her chest and managed to grab on to one of her arms and hold it behind her, but didn't get her other arm. She tried to roll him off of her but his weight held her in place.
"No you don't." she laughed as she used her free hand and went straight for his side and got him between the bottom of his ribs and the top of his hip bone. Colby shifted his weight to try and pin down her other arm. He was tickle-ish there and she knew it. He moved too far over and Suzanna was able to free her arm from his grasp and managed to push him the rest of the way off of her. He rolled once and soon found Suzanna on top of him and she leaned over him and pinned his hands to the ground. He smiled, and knew exactly how to get her off of him. Kiba looked at them as his mouth hung open, his mind raced with dirty thoughts. Ino smacked him, and glared at him.
"What?" he said and realized that both Mike and Tallus were looking at him with stern almost threatening looks.
"Be careful what you think about, and remember you have to get approval from her father, me and Colby before you can make anymore moves on her." Tallus said. Kiba looked at him confused. "Colby would kill and be killed without thinking about it if it meant keeping Suzanna safe. Sometimes it hard to tell who acts like the eldest sibling. You can date her, we don't have a problem with that. Just that is all you can do. Just date, that's it." Kiba looked back to Suzanna and Colby.
"What now lil brother?" Suzanna grinned but her grin quickly dimished when she saw him smiling "What you smiling at?"
"DOLPHIN KICK!" he shouted and all at once thrusted his hips up and Suzanna with them. Launching her up off of him and using his legs he sent Suzanna into a 180 flip over him. She did a face plant into ground and Colby got up and stepped back as he got ready for her next attack. Ino laughed as did Mike at seeing Suzanna being catapulted by Colby like she weighed nothing. Suzanna got up and faced Colby. She smiled and Colby knew that he was in deep water now.
"You and swimming moves." she laughed, Colby shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, they work and that's all that matters. Now what was that about me now being able to touch you?" Colby teased her trying to by himself some time to think up some bull crap move that would completely catch her off guard. He knew the railroad tracks were behind him and hopped a train would come by soon as he started to form a plan. Just as Suzanna started to charge again his wish was granted as the training ground echoed with the wail of an approaching locomotive. He smiled, turned around and bolted towards the tracks. Mike and Tallus covered their faces in disbelief, Kiba laughed and Ino was shocked.
"Colby! What are you doing!" Ino shouted after him. He turned and shouted his reply back. "TRAIN!" Ino stood there in disbelief like his father and Mike. 'He is running away from a fight to go see a train?' she thought. 'Really?'
Colby made it to the tracks before Suzanna caught him. He slid down the embankment and hid in the bushes. Suzanna looked down from the top of the embankment and looked down the tracks and saw a figure running along side the tracks heading towards town. She chased after it and ran right past were Colby was hiding. Suzanna caught up the figure and tackled it. Colby saw his opening and race back up the embankment and walked towards Ino, Kiba, his father and Mike. He grabbed the few tools he had in his overalls and sat in the middle of the training ground and waited for Suzanna.
"I got you now!" she said as she tackled the Colby look-alike but it vanished in a puff of smoke. "Damn, shadow clone. Where are you?" She started walking back towards the embankment and when she got to the top she saw Colby sitting in the middle of the training ground. He started laughing as she sprinted towards him and pulled out her kuni knife. Colby stopped laughing when he saw the white flash of sun light reflecting off of the blade. Colby pulled out one of his wrenches and got ready. Now that he was warmed up he decided it was time to step things up.
"Railroader vs Ninja. Let's do this!" he shouted and got up and used caught the blade of Suzanna's kuni in the jaws of his wrench and ripped it from her hand, but then she kicked his legs out from under neath him and as he fell, she pulled out and another kuni. When Colby opened his eyes he saw Suzanna with her foot on his chest and he was looking at the business end of her kuni.
"Ninja wins." she smiled as she put away her kuni and took her foot off of his chest. Colby knew he was beat and sat up and looked at Ino, Kiba, Mike and his father. Kiba smiled and hugged Suzanna. Ino walked up to him and help him up but he legs were a shaky and he stumbled into Ino. She caught him and then their eyes met. Colby almost lost himself in Ino's big blue eyes and she almost lost herself in his brown eyes but both of them were quickly brought back to reality by a whistle from Kiba. Ino glared at him as she blushed and turned to and started to walk towards him but Colby stopped her.
"Watch this." He said to Ino, then he shout over to Kiba. "Hey Kiba shut up and keep you toungh in your mouth next time me and Suzanna sparr, ok? You have to go through me if you want Suzanna" Colby said. Kiba was taken back and it didn't help that Suzanna laughed at Colby's comment.
"Alright. You two, let's get moving." Colby's father spoke up and ended any chance Kiba had to try and come up with a come back. Suzanna nodded and the group headed towards her place. The Mike spoke up.
"Colby tonight is your turn to watch the engine." Mike said. Colby looked at him and sighed. He didn't mind watching the engine but it wasn't his favorite job. All he had to do was keep the fire going but he figured by now the fire was out and he would have to start a new one after supper. Suzanna looked to Ino and motioned for her to come over to her.
"Tonight we will pay a visit to Colby." Suzanna whispered to Ino. Ino smiled and nodded.
"I like that idea. I'll ask if I can sleep over at your place tonight too." Ino whispered back. Both of them giggled and Colby looked at them, but looked away. Kiba waved goodbye and headed off to his house as did Ino.
Suzanna's house was a small yellow building with blue trim. Inside was a combined living room kitchen area. The kitched had hardwood floors and a small round dinning table. The living room had one large couch that was in the shape of a L and had blue carpet. Down a short hallway was a bathroom, Suzanna's room and a guest bedroom that had two small beds.
They arrived at Suzanna's house and it didn't take Colby long to find his way to the couch and before anyone else knew it he was asleep. Suzanna took out a blanket from her room and put in over Colby. Then layed down on the other part of the couch and had her head near Colby's and she too then fell asleep. Mike and Tallus changed out of their work clothes and were sitting at the table eating the supper they had packed in their lunch boxes. They watched Colby and Suzanna sleep quietly on the couch. Mike laughed quietly to himself.
"It's just like the days when they were little kids. Sleeping together on the couch, keeping each other company and keeping away the 'boogie man' and his creatures of the night" Tallus joked. Mike laughed quietly.
"I hear you. Say what time is it?" He asked. Tallus took out his watch.
"It's 8:30." He said. "I don't think Colby or Suzanna is going to wake up anytime soon." There was a knock at the door and Mike answered it. Ino walked in.
"Oh I didn't think Suzanna would be sleeping already." she said quietly.
"That sparring match took a lot out of them." Mike said. "You going to be staying the night here too?"
"Yeah, I told my folks I was spending the night here. Me and Suzanna were planning to visit Colby when he was tending the engine tonight but I guess not." she looked at Colby and Suzanna sleeping on the couch. "I guess I might as well join them. You know there are two beds in the guest room." Ino unfolded her bedroom and layed on the floor infront of Colby and Suzanna.
"Well, we too should probably get some sleep." said Mike. "Night Ino."
"Night, Mike" Ino replied. Soon she too was asleep.
Tallus watched Colby, Suzanna and Ino sleep. The house was quiet and cool. He got up and smiled to himself as he took one last look at the three of them. "Yeap, just like when they were little kids." he said quietly.
Hope you enjoyed it, review if you want.