My eyes blinked once, twice. I finally opened my eyes to see Kiba leaning over my face.
"Please don't tell me you were the one licking me…" I said in a tired voice.
Kiba laughed, "No that was Akamaru." He pointed to the little white dog that was on my stomach.
I nodded and pet the small animal then turned and looked at my clock, "Kiba… might I inquire why you came over here at seven in the morning? No one wakes up until nine at the least." I complained as I pulled the covers over my eyes.
Kiba pulled them back down, "Choki, that's not how it works here in Konaha. Get dressed then you, me and Akamaru will go downstairs and raid your Uncle's house for breakfast." He smirked as he left my room and shut the door.
"Weirdo… who gets up at seven in the morning unless they have to? Really…" I rubbed my eyes and sighed.
Rolled my sorry butt out of bed and put on my clothes. Nothing special, purple tank-top under black fishnet and black capris. I brushed my hair and grumbled some more as I walked downstairs to find Kiba and Akamaru at the table already with three bowls of cereal.
"Thanks…" I mumbled as I ate.
"You're not a morning person, huh Choki?" Kiba asked as he eyed me.
I glared at him, "No… not really…"
After Kiba and I were done he led me out of the house to some place just outside the busy part of Konaha where the ramen shop was.
"So no ones here yet, but I invited them all. I think the first two that will be here will be…" Kiba was saying as he sat on a tree branch I sat at the base of the tree half asleep.
"Me and Hinata?" A voice asked. At this new voice I opened my eyes to show myself a boy with dark glasses on and a long cream colored jacket. Next to him a girl with short blue-ish hair and a kind nervous looking smile on her face.
"Yes." Kiba smiled as he jumped out of the tree. "Shino, Hinata this is my cousin Choki." Kiba smiled proudly as he walked over to me and made me stand up.
"Hey…" I smiled and gave a small wave.
Shino nodded his head at me and Hinata gave me a small wave back.
Not long after those two arrived did more people start coming, first was three more girls, Ino who was blonde and seemed a little rude, Sakura who had short pink hair she seemed nice but rude, and Tenten with brown hair in two little buns on her head. After them two more boys named Shikamaru, with his black hair up in a ponytail and Choji with light brown hair sticking up in his headband and a bag of chips.
"That's funny. Both our names have cho." I had pointed out with a smile.
Choji smiled back and nodded, "Yeah, pretty cool."
After them came the boy I had met the night before, Naruto.
"Choki?" He asked surprised.
"Yeah, Naruto, right?" I asked. He nodded.
"You two have already met?" Kiba asked more to me then to Naruto.
"Well the other night I was walking in the dark and I heard a noise in a bush and threw a kunai and he jumped out." I shrugged my shoulders.
"I don't even want to know what you were doing in the bush." Kiba said as he shook his head at Naruto.
"I wasn't doing anything!!" Naruto protested as he held up his fist in Kiba's face.
Everyone turned to look at me when my watch made a loud beeping noise.
"Sorry, time to go to work." I smiled and waved. "Nice meeting you all!" I shouted over my shoulder as I ran off.
"I thought she would stay for longer…" I heard Ino say in a rude tone.
"She had to work it's not her fault!" Was that Choji's voice? No, it was probley Kiba.
"Hey Ayame." I smiled at my cousin as I walked into the ramen shop.
"Hey Choki." She smiled and tied an apron on me.
"So what do you want me to do?" I asked as I looked down at the apron hoping she didn't say cook. All my home cooked meals came from my mom making them and me eating it cold if I was late.
"You'll take orders." Ayame told me with a wide smile.
I nodded back at her and waited for some costumers to come in. A few came in throughout the day and my shift ended, but I stayed at the shop anyway. I found being home alone at night kind of creepy.
"Hi, I'd like a bowl of miso ramen." A voice said as they walked in and sat down.
"You got it." I answered as I scribbled down the order and set it where I put the orders for my uncle to make.
I turned back around to find myself looking at Choji.
"Choki?" He asked with wide eyes.
I nodded and smiled, "Hi Choji."
"You remember my name?"
"Well sure. It's like mine, only a little different." I answered as I grabbed the finished bowl of ramen from off the counter behind me and set it down in front of Choji.
"Eat up; this is Ichiraku's finest ramen." I said with a smile.
After awhile Choji had finished his food and dropped the money to pay on the counter.
He started to leave, but stopped and turned back around, "Hey Choki?"
"Yeah?" I asked as I looked at him.
"Would you like to hang out for a little bit?" He asked with a small shy smile.
"Sure. Hey Ayame, I'll be home later okay?" I asked my cousin. She nodded and I hung my apron up and walked out from behind the counter.
I grabbed Choji's hand and took him out of the ramen shop, "Thanks for saving me. That was getting a little boring." I said with a laugh as I let his hand go.
He gave a short laugh and smiled at me, I smile back.
"I wonder when I'll be assigned to a new team…" I wondered aloud as I looked up at the stars overhead.
The next thing I knew I was on my face in the street, "Sorry…" I mumbled as I tried to get myself up.
"Are you okay, Choki?" Choji asked, when I looked up his face was right in front of mine.
I felt my face flush, "Y-yeah, I'm fine." I answered as I scrambled to my feet. "Just a klutz." I smiled and laughed a little as I dusted myself off.
Choji smile, "It's alright." He said and took my hand again.
I looked at him then down at our clasped hands.
"This way if you trip again I can catch you." He told me with a sweet smile.
My face flushed again, "Alright." I smiled and turned my head away.
Choji led me to the top of the Hokage Mountain over looking the entire village of Konaha.
"Choji, look at this view! It's so beautiful." I smiled.
"I bet its better in the sand village." He said looking out over the view.
"Not really. From the highest point I can find in the sand all I can see is a barren wasteland of endless sand. But sometimes I would stay up late, and talk to the Kazakage because Gaara-san would go to the same place as me." I closed my eyes and remembered back to the talks I had with Gaara-san.
"You've talked with that guy?" Choji asked in surprise as he turned to me.
"Gaara-san?" I questioned back as I looked at Choji. He nodded.
"Well of course, Gaara-san is really nice. He comes off as mean, but he's nice honestly. I guess I shouldn't remember things like that though because I'm a Leaf ninja now and this is my home." I nodded to myself and smiled at the view again.
Choji and I sat down up on the mountains and started talking.
"Choki, if you don't mind me asking what's your story?" He asked me after awhile.
"It's alright, it's only fair really, you told me all about yourself." I said with a smile. "Well…" I looked down; there wasn't a way to cut out the most hurtful parts? Nope, I couldn't think of a way.
"When I was born, my dad named me Choki because he thought it was beautiful and it fit me in a way you would never know. Three years ago, he died. After that my mom was gone a lot more often and she was ignoring me. When I went off on missions she usually didn't notice my absents. So I convinced her to drop me off with my friends, but she had a better idea. So she took me here to live with my dad's brother and his daughter. Moms suppose to come and take me home in ten years, but she'll forget. I think it's best though, she just couldn't handle who I am."
"Who are you?" Choji asked as he looked at the stars overhead.
"Huh?" I asked as I looked up at him.
"Well who are you? Who's this person that your mom can't handle? After you answer that yourself maybe you'll understand more why it's best for you to stay here in Konaha." He said and looked back at me.
"You don't understand… I—there's just part of me that only my dad understood how to deal with but since he's not around, mom doesn't know what to do… and I'm not even done morphing yet." I whispered the last part and Choji didn't hear me, or didn't let on if he did.
My dad and his family had a secret that every hundred years or so a child was born to the family with a certain ability, my dad knew all about it and how to deal with the child, which happened to be me, but after dad pasted away it only left me with a vague knowledge of what was going to happen to me and he left mom clueless.
Choji nodded, "Well it's getting late I should get you home."
I nodded and stood up. Choji took my hand and led me home.
"Thanks Choji, that was really fun." I smiled and hugged him. He held me close to him.
"Yeah, we should do it again sometime." He smiled after we had let go.
I nodded, "It's a date." I smiled and went inside the house and to my room. Once there, I crashed.
