Chapter 2: New Digs
Naruto woke up to the blaring of his alarm clock. He put a hand over his eyes to protect from the harsh glaring of the sun's rays as they peeked through the curtains on his windows. He eventually got his hand to the alarm clock and turned it off. Appreciating the silence, he got out of bed, placing his bare feet on the cold floor.
He took off his frog-shaped cap, placing it on the bed and walked to the bathroom. He went in front of the mirror and blearily looked at his reflection before waking himself up by splashing cold water on his face. He grabbed his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. Once he was finished, he dried himself off and walked into his bedroom.
He put on his signature tracksuit, putting on his pants first, before putting on his shirt and jacket soon after. While he could get other clothes, this tracksuit in particular was practical and was orange, his favourite colour. Not only that, it was both an attention-grabber and it was good when he wanted to stay hidden after finishing a prank, since unlike black or white, orange allowed him to blend in with the crowd.
Naruto pulled a loose floorboard up and reached into it so that he could know how much money he had saved up. He considered using the money to buy weapons, but that was unnecessary since he didn't get an opportunity to use his stock of weapons at all, since all he did was do teamwork exercises or D-Rank missions. D-Ranks paid little, however, so he was grateful that he had some savings.
He took out his frog-shaped wallet that he used as a safe. It was filled to bursting with bills with the money he saved. "Only 160,000 ryō. It should be enough for now. Hopefully we get a higher paying mission soon, or else I may be forced to use these savings."
He placed his wallet inside his jacket and went to the kitchen, taking out a carton of fresh milk and a can of red bean soup. After drinking that carton of rotten milk last month, he made sure that he would never, ever buy or drink expired milk ever again.
Shuddering at the thought, he drank the milk and poured the soup into a bowl, downing it quickly. Red bean soup was a decent breakfast meal and one of his favourite foods, other than ramen. It was easy to prepare and cheap too. In case he didn't have ramen in supply, red bean soup was a good replacement.
Naruto, stomach full and in high spirits, ran outside his apartment complex. While he was running to his team's meeting place, he thought about his new friend, Kurenai. When can I see her again? Every time I think about her… I feel better about myself. If one person like her can be my friend, then maybe I can make more friends just like her.
He even ignored the glares he got from the villagers, too occupied with his happy thoughts to spare them a glance. He knew that they hated him because he had the Nine-Tailed Fox stuck inside of him. But if he thought about it, all he could do was show them that he was Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage in the making, not the village's dirty secret or punching bag.
With this thought in mind, he continued his run, his strides increasing in pace and his smile growing larger, genuine this time instead of forced like all the times before.
When Naruto made it to the bridge, he saw his teammates were already there. Kakashi, however, was nowhere to be found. "Morning, Sakura, Sasuke," he said, trying not to shout and be a general nuisance.
"Morning, Naruto," Sakura replied neutrally. Sasuke nodded a greeting. Naruto smiled, glad that what he did worked out well and began to play the waiting game.
He thought of something to do while he waited. Finding a leaf, he tried to make it stick to his forehead after vaguely remembering the exercise from his Academy days.
While Naruto was busy with his chakra exercise, Sakura and Sasuke simply sat there. Sakura passed the time by staring at Sasuke while Sasuke was occupied with his own thoughts. Sakura stopped staring at Sasuke long enough to notice what Naruto was doing.
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked her teammate.
Naruto's concentration was broken and his leaf fell from his forehead. "What does it look like? It's a chakra control exercise." Then he grabbed the leaf and started the exercise from scratch.
Sakura's eye twitched. "I know what it is; I just want to know why you're doing it."
"To increase my control over my chakra," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Sakura scoffed and turned away from him, returning to watching Sasuke.
Naruto concentrated on his chakra and was currently successful in keeping the leaf on his forehead. For close to an hour, Naruto managed to keep the technique going. But he grew impatient and began to think of ways to increase the difficulty of the exercise. He realized, however, if he let his mind wander, the exercise became harder. The easiest alternate exercise he could think of was to 'push' the leaf back and forth to different locations on his body, only using his chakra.
He channeled chakra directly below the leaf and slowly tried to turn off the chakra that was holding the leaf to him, so the leaf would float down and attach itself to the new place he had chakra channeling. Unfortunately, once he 'let go' of the leaf, it flew off and landed across the bridge. He grabbed another leaf and stared at it, trying to figure out how to complete the exercise.
I got it! If he could provide the push with excess chakra, timing it just right so the leaf would be pushed in the direction he wanted, then he could attach it to other places on his body. He got the leaf in position and channeled chakra to a spot just below the area and tried to increase the chakra running to the leaf but not to the other area. The leaf just fell off his forehead and floated to the ground. He clenched his teeth in frustration.
He grabbed the leaf and tried the exercise once again. Each time he failed he grew increasingly frustrated with the technique. He finally reached a point where his frustration clashed with his control, to the point when he put the leaf on his head, it didn't attach at all.
Sakura had watched Naruto try and fail to complete an exercise that she got the hang of on her first try. She shook her head. Pathetic!
Sasuke kept himself busy by meditating, closing his eyes to block out everything. He only opened his eyes once some time after Naruto came to the bridge. He wasn't surprised to see Sakura staring at him – it was fortunate that she liked him because of his skill and not because he was an Uchiha.
He turned to watch the only person he considered decent on his team. Naruto wasn't as dumb as he let on. He was unpredictable and frequently caught him by surprise, both in and out of combat. That unpredictability was quite dangerous, so he never truly underestimated him. But unless he could fully harness that trait of his, he would never be a truly strong shinobi.
Sasuke noticed that Naruto was unable to complete what looked like a variant of the leaf exercise, and it was only because he couldn't release a consistent amount of chakra, judging by how the leaf moved differently each time. "Naruto. Use a consistent amount of chakra when you do the exercise."
"What was that, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, too focused on his exercise to hear him.
Idiot. "I'm not going to repeat myself."
None of the Genin noticed Kakashi staring at them from a distance.
"Yo!" Kakashi said, appearing next to Naruto.
"You're late!" Sakura screeched. Kakashi cast a quick glance at Naruto, worried that something might be bothering him since he hadn't bothered to yell at him as usual, but when he saw him staring intently at a leaf, his worries evaporated.
"Well you see, there was this old lady that needed –" Kakashi began.
What a loser. Sasuke thought. "Save your excuses for someone who cares."
Kakashi eye-smiled, amused at his teammates' antics. "Well, since you want to be like that, I think we can skip a mission today and simply do teamwork exercises to make up for it. Meet me at the training grounds in five minutes." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Sakura looked torn between being happy that they didn't have to do a D-Rank mission and angry that she had to do teamwork exercises. After seeing that Kakashi had left as suddenly as he came, Naruto began to panic.
"What happened? Where'd Kakashi-sensei go?"
Sakura sighed, but clamped down on the urge to scold Naruto. "Just follow us. You can do that, right?"
Naruto looked at her and smiled. "Sure!" He followed Sakura and Sasuke, who had already began to walk.
Naruto walked slightly behind his teammates, taking note of how they were treated by the public while they walked to the training grounds. Sakura was greeted by a few people and she responded kindly. Sasuke was looked at with some form of adulation by a few of the villagers, but glared at them after making eye contact.
He breathed in sharply, aggravated at how Sasuke appeared to just brush off any acknowledgment he gained.
He also noticed some of the villagers glaring at him. He just ignored them, since they were wastes of his time. It was a good thing too, since he didn't want to overreact around his teammates. He knew that they only tolerated him because they were teammates and while he held out hope that he would be friends with them, that hope had begun to diminish.
When Team Seven entered the Third Training Ground, they saw Kakashi perched on one of the training posts.
"Glad you could make it," Kakashi said with a wave.
"Kakashi-sensei! What are we going to do today?" Naruto asked excitedly, his enthusiasm at probably learning something overcoming him.
"Didn't you hear me back at the bridge? We're doing teamwork exercises," he replied cheerfully, hopping off the training post and walking over to them.
It was an exercise, so even though he wouldn't learn any new jutsu, Naruto focused his thoughts on completing the exercise to the best of his ability. Maybe then he could actually be taught something.
Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Alright, guys, get in a triangle." Team Seven did so, forming a triangular formation. Kakashi pulled something out of his pocket, flicking his hand towards Naruto. "Catch."
Naruto's hand shot out and grasped the small white object flying through the air. Once he looked at the object in his hand, he frowned. "Um, why did you give me an egg, Kakashi-sensei?"
"It's part of a new teamwork exercise."
Naruto cocked his head to the side, confused. "How does an egg help our teamwork?"
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Glad you asked. Naruto, you're going to take that egg and toss it to one of your teammates. Thing is, you can't let the egg break when throwing it to your teammate. This requires you to know both your limits and your teammates' limits. I'll stop the exercise when you can throw the egg for one hour, without it breaking. If you can do that, we move on to the next level."
"What are the other levels, Sensei?" Sakura asked hesitantly.
"We do this exercise with more dangerous objects," he said cheerfully, enjoying the expressions of annoyance he received from Sakura and Sasuke. "Go ahead and start, daylight's burning." Kakashi took out his orange Icha Icha novel and began to read it.
Team Seven briefly looked at each other, before Naruto turned his body so that he was facing his teammates. He lobbed the egg to Sasuke, who caught it with his right hand. He clutched the egg and grinned, only for it to disappear when he felt the egg burst in his hand. Sasuke looked at what was left of the egg and glared downwards.
"You idiot! Throw the egg properly!" Sakura howled.
Naruto felt discouraged at the way Sakura immediately blamed him, but he knew he didn't do anything wrong. "If you want to blame anybody, blame Sasuke for trying to look cool when catching the egg." Sakura huffed in indignation.
"Let's just try again," Sasuke muttered. The sooner we're done with this dumb exercise, the sooner we can train for real.
Kakashi sighed and produced another egg, throwing it to Sasuke. "Don't mess up."
Sasuke cradled the egg before throwing it at Naruto. Naruto reached out and caught the egg. When he realized he caught the egg, he raised the hand he was keeping it in, crushing the egg by closing his hand.
We'll never be finished at this rate. "Naruto, you loser. As soon as you get the egg, don't jump for joy. Just throw it back to either Sakura or me," Sasuke growled, more frustrated with the exercise than Naruto.
"Don't call me a loser, asshole!" Naruto replied harshly, infuriated at the way Sasuke was so willing to jump on him, even if he made the same mistake just before.
"Naruto! Don't reprimand Sasuke! He's trying to give you some advice!" Sakura screeched in defense of her crush.
"Fine. Let's just get the damn exercise over with," Naruto said in frustration. Kakashi took out another egg and threw it at Sakura. Sakura threw the egg at Naruto with all her strength.
"What was that for?" Naruto asked after the egg exploded, dirtying his jacket.
"For being a joke," Sakura replied coldly. "Next time, throw the egg properly!"
"Like you did?" Naruto snorted. "I'm not gonna tolerate you throwing the egg at me like that then blaming me for something I didn't do!"
"Guys." Kakashi stepped in to prevent Sakura from punching Naruto. "Sakura, you were wrong. Apologize." Sakura blurted out an apology. Naruto simply nodded in acceptance. As long as it didn't happen again, he could move on.
"Let's just try again. Naruto, here's an egg. Don't try to take revenge on Sakura," Kakashi ordered. Naruto took the egg and was able to perform the exercise properly. In fact, each member of Team Seven was able to throw the egg to the next person without any hiccups. While there were mishaps, Team Seven managed to stick to their guns and not argue with each other. Eventually, they were able to keep the egg from breaking for the whole hour.
"Finally, we're done!" Sakura cheered.
Kakashi nodded, proud of his team's progress. "It seems that when push comes to shove, you can do the exercise properly. Tomorrow, we'll see if you can finish the next level of the exercise. See you then." Kakashi waved, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Naruto smiled brightly as when he finished the exercise. Let's go see if I can get something good from the library. He ran from the training ground quickly, leaving Sasuke and Sakura behind.
Sasuke was slightly surprised to see Naruto not ask Sakura on a date, but was shaken from his thoughts when he heard his irritating teammate's voice.
"Sasuke, would –"
"No." Sakura looked at the ground, disappointed. She was slightly depressed that Sasuke would never accept her requests. She turned and opened her mouth to speak, as if on cue.
"No, Naru–" she said, stopping herself when she saw she was alone. "…to." Looks like the idiot finally got the hint!
Naruto ran home so that he could head to the library without the stench of egg lingering around him. He got home and washed his hands quickly, scrubbing out the egg stains. Once he did so, he took off his jacket and replaced his black shirt with a white one that had an orange spiral on it. He placed his wallet in his pocket and wrapped his forehead protector around his neck, then left his apartment and raced to the library with the intention of finding something that he could use to make him stronger.
Just before he could get to the library, he bumped into a familiar person and fell on his back.
"Naruto?"
Naruto got up and dusted himself off. "Oh sorry, Kurenai!" Naruto put his hand behind his head and rubbed it. "I was in a rush to get to the library, so I didn't focus."
"Why would you want to go to the library?"
"Because!" Naruto said indignantly, mouth pulled into a frown. "Kakashi-sensei isn't acting like a sensei! He only does teamwork exercises instead of teaching us stuff. I wanted to go to the library so that I could learn some new techniques. I don't want to fall behind."
"Is that so?" Kurenai smiled. "Well, Naruto. How about this? I'll get you a jutsu scroll, but first you have to accompany me. Sound good?"
Naruto nodded, a bright smile on his face. "Thanks, Kurenai!" Naruto followed his new friend, but he walked slightly behind for a bit so that he could make a Shadow Clone. He had the clone transform, ordering it to go to the library and remain inconspicuous while searching for information. He returned to his place next to Kurenai.
"Where are we going, Kurenai?" Naruto asked. They had been walking to a more affluent area of the Hidden Leaf Village, which made Naruto nervous. With his – to him – limited budget, he was unable to buy things from the shops here.
"I know this place that would be perfect for you," Kurenai replied. "The shop owner is an old friend of mine."
"Are you sure he'd want me in his shop?" Naruto asked softly.
"He would," Kurenai answered seriously. "If he doesn't, then we'll just have to find another place to shop."
Naruto beamed, happy at how Kurenai was willing to stand by him. "Okay!"
Watching Naruto look so happy just for someone that gave him a hand in life… Kurenai leaked out some killing intent in response, which unnerved Naruto.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked in concern.
"I'm fine, Naruto." Kurenai clamped down on her killing intent. She stretched out her hand to him. "Let me show you a faster way to get to your destination."
Naruto took her hand after calming down. Immediately after he did, they disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto was both shocked and overjoyed after experiencing the Body Flicker and found himself in front of a large shop that was familiar to him for some reason. The name of the shop, 'Dragon's Claw', was painted above the shop's windows in bright gold letters. On display were different weapons and armour of sorts. Naruto was hesitant in entering the shop, something Kurenai noticed.
"What are you waiting for, Naruto?" Kurenai asked, her voice laced with a combination of concern and exasperation.
"Are you sure that the shop owner won't kick me out?" Naruto asked, still nervous that he would be humiliated in front of Kurenai.
Kurenai bent to a knee and looked at Naruto, her eyes reflecting the warmth of her voice. "If he does, I will leave right alongside you. Okay?" She went inside, beckoning him to follow.
Naruto hesitated at first, but steeled his resolve and followed Kurenai inside, confident that his new friend would support him. Once he entered the shop, he was nearly overwhelmed at the huge amount of stock sitting on the shelves. The store was filled to the brim with a diverse range of weaponry, ranging from short swords to the naginata. Every weapon looked awesome, which would make choosing one difficult for Naruto.
He stopped his observation of the shop when a tall, muscular man with black hair and brown eyes left the storage room. His booming voice could be heard from across the shop. "Ah! Kurenai, what brings you here today? The amount of weapons I sold you the last time you were here should be enough to tide over your Genin team." He walked over to Kurenai and Naruto, smiling widely.
Kurenai returned the man's smile with one of hers, placing Naruto in front of her. "I just wanted to show my new friend your shop. He has a... shopping problem, if you could call it that."
Takeshi stared at Naruto intently, taking in his figure. Noticing Naruto's unique facial features, his stare became sharper. Naruto took a step back from Takeshi, but showed his spirit by returning Takeshi's stare with one of his own.
Naruto and Takeshi suddenly both broke out into grins, as Takeshi laughed out loud. "Naruto Uzumaki, the Hidden Leaf Village's number one prankster! You're the only person who managed to prank my store!"
Naruto's usual confidence returned in spades. "I knew that the sign looked familar!"
Kurenai stared at Naruto and Takeshi in a combination of amusement and surprise, not knowing that they had any sort of relationship before now. Takeshi and Naruto shook hands firmly. "Your prank was quite impressive, Naruto. Since you're here, it seems that you want something. How can I help you?"
Kurenai answered for Naruto, who was shocked that Takeshi would want to help him even after he pranked his store. It filled him with joy, in fact. "I wanted to show Naruto a place where he could buy weapons and clothing at a good price."
Takeshi looked down at Naruto with surprise before his face broke into a grin. "In that case, you are always welcome to shop here, Naruto. Since it's the first time you've come here, I'll even throw in a discount. How does that sound?"
Kurenai was surprised, since Takeshi never gave discounts to anyone. When she looked at Naruto, his smile was nearly face-splitting. "I'll direct you to our clothing section first," Takeshi said, smiling back at Naruto. "Do you know your clothing size?"
"I don't know, I never really looked," he replied. "If I wanted to buy a shirt, I would just take it. Even if it was a bit big it didn't matter."
Kurenai looked at Naruto. While she knew he was an orphan, she assumed that someone, anyone would teach him about something so basic. "Take off your shirt."
"What?!" Naruto asked in surprise.
"I want to see your shirt size," Kurenai calmly explained. "Then I can get something good for you, alright?" Naruto nodded, taking off his shirt to reveal his chest. While he was slightly muscular, his torso wasn't as defined as it should be, which confused Kurenai. As a ninja, Naruto should have had some muscle and at the very least, a healthy body.
"Naruto. What do you eat normally?" Kurenai asked slowly, anticipating the worst.
"I eat ramen nearly all the time. The only time I don't is if I don't have it. If that happens, I eat red bean soup," Naruto replied. "They're both easy to prepare and cheap too."
Kurenai looked at Naruto blankly, getting an answer for why Naruto's body wasn't ideal. "It seems that you're not getting the proper nutrition. While your body is not as bad as it could be considering your diet, you need to eat other food besides ramen and red bean soup." Naruto frowned in response. Kurenai looked at Naruto's shirt, handing it back to him once she figured out Naruto's size. "Don't worry about that, Naruto. For now, let's get you some new clothes." Kurenai walked to the clothing section, but when Naruto didn't follow, she looked back, where he had something to say.
"What's wrong with my tracksuit?" Naruto asked. He looked straight at Kurenai, almost looking insulted.
"Don't you want some variety for your wardrobe?" Kurenai asked lightly. "While your choice of clothing is… interesting, what would happen if they became dirty, or were destroyed in battle?"
Naruto's sour mood seemed to evaporate, a small smile placed on his face as he looked at Kurenai with understanding. "I got it. I can wear any new clothes I want, but still wear my tracksuit in case I need it."
Kurenai chuckled. "That sounds like a good plan."
Naruto pumped a fist into the air in excitement. "So what are we waiting for?"
"Stay here." Kurenai smiled, glad that Naruto was so willing to listen, which wasn't something she expected with his... excitable attitude. "I know just what to get you." Naruto watched as Kurenai moved fluidly through the aisles. She returned with a set of clothing, handing them to Naruto.
"Try this on. I think you'll like them quite a bit," she said enthusiastically. Naruto smiled appreciatively and took off to the changing rooms. Once he got out, he was wearing the clothes Kurenai gave him: a dull grey shirt with an orange spiral in the center and dull grey pants with bright orange stripes along the sides. His forehead protector was still wrapped around his neck.
"So what do you think?" Naruto asked expectantly. Kurenai smiled in approval while Takeshi thought Naruto's new look was missing something.
"It needs something to seal the deal," he mused. Takeshi went to take a bright orange sash from the bargain bin, handing it to Naruto. Naruto immediately tied the sash to his waist and was satisfied with his new look. So were Kurenai and Takeshi.
"I see. The sash will act as a distraction for the enemy, won't it?" Kurenai asked, noting the similarity between the sash and her sleeve. Takeshi nodded positively.
Naruto went to the mirror to see how he looked, but noticed something that immediately caught his attention. It was a dull orange sweater with a collar that Naruto found was similar to the collar on Sasuke's shirt. Although with the sweater, the collar didn't funnel out as much and appeared to have a hood tucked in the collar. It instead had six diagonally-placed strings, three on each side of the centre, with two strings hanging loosely from the collar's centre.
Naruto took the sweater and after observing how he currently looked – he looked good, if he said so himself – he placed the sweater over his shirt, which combined well with his new pants.
"Are you sure you want that, Naruto?" Kurenai asked. Naruto gave her a thumbs-up in response. He went back to the changing rooms to change back to his previous clothing, then returned to Takeshi, who was standing next to the sales counter.
Takeshi began to speak. "Okay Naruto. The sweater costs 10 000 ryō, the shirt and pants are 8 000 ryō and the standard weapons set –"
Naruto interrupted Takeshi, since he was confused, having not picked up a weapons set at all. "What weapons set?"
"This one," Kurenai answered. She was holding out a weapons holster filled with a set of kunai, shuriken, explosive tags and ninja wire.
"The standard weapons set is 15 000 ryō, so you must pay 33 000 ryō in total," Takeshi explained, slipping into 'business mode'. "For an added fee of 7 000 ryō, I'll give you three copies of each set of clothing and have them delivered to your apartment."
Naruto was ecstatic to know he didn't have to pay so much money. Pulling out his wallet, he took out 40 000 ryō, which made Kurenai look at Naruto's wallet as if it were alive, noticing the wallet was almost filled entirely. "You have that much money and you worry about food, or a lack of clothing?"
Naruto nodded. "It doesn't feel like a lot of money, and I always pay a lot." Kurenai scowled and leaked killing intent once again, which made Naruto shudder. When she noticed the fear in Naruto's eyes, she let her killing intent dissipate and loosened her fist, having not realized she was clenching it.
"I apologize, Naruto," Kurenai said sweetly. "I'm just surprised at your situation."
"You shouldn't be. This shop is incredible! I'm definitely coming here again," Naruto beamed brightly, bring a warm smile to Kurenai's face, impressed at how quickly he was able to return to a positive mood.
"I'll be glad to have you shop here, Naruto," Takeshi said, putting Naruto's items inside a bag and handing it to him. "Let me get your details and I'll have your extra clothing delivered within three days."
Naruto did so. After he did, he looked outside the store, noticing that it was getting dark. "Thank you, Takeshi." He turned to his new friend. "Kurenai, please let me walk you home. It's the least I can do after what you did for me today."
Takeshi grinned and leaned down, whispering to Naruto. "I never knew you were such a gentleman, Naruto. You may have to wait until you're older if you want to date Kurenai, though."
Naruto blushed in a virulent shade of crimson. "Date? Kurenai's only my friend." He walked outside the shop, where Kurenai was waiting for him.
"Naruto." Kurenai stopped him in his tracks. She then smiled suggestively. "Didn't you say you wanted to take me somewhere? It's what a gentleman would do after all."
Naruto flushed, but he managed to gain control over his rampant emotions, walking with Kurenai to her apartment.
The walk to Kurenai's apartment was spent in companionable silence. When they were outside the complex, Naruto turned to Kurenai and smiled again. "Thank you for helping me shop, Kurenai."
Kurenai returned Naruto's smile with one of her own. Once again, she noticed that she was more positive whenever she was around Naruto. "It was my pleasure, Naruto."
Naruto blinked slowly, grasping the sides of his head. "What was that? I can remember exactly what my clone did earlier!"
"That's the special ability of the Shadow Clone jutsu, if that's what you used. The user gains the memories of the dispelled clone. It's quite a useful ability."
Naruto beamed at Kurenai. "Thanks for explaining that to me, Kurenai. Bye!"
"See you soon," she replied.
Naruto ran off, leaving Kurenai with a glowing expression on his face. His smile couldn't be beat as dashed home with his new clothes in hand. While he was irritated that he couldn't find anything useful in the library to take home and read, he wasn't as worried about it as he might have been. Now I have new clothes, new weapons and a new shop to go to, with a new friend that will help me. Naruto placed his clothes in the closet once he made it to his apartment, changing into his sleepwear and plopping on the bed.
Before he fell asleep, he thought about Kurenai. Although he had only known her for two days, he only had a great time with her. If the warm feeling he got in his chest whenever he thought about her came from being friends, he could only hope that his friendship with his new, pretty, kind friend could continue.
