Disclaimer: I don't own Star vs the forces of evil or Naruto in any way, shape or form. Curiosity Broke the Scissors belongs to CuriousKitsune654

Reading Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 2-

Taking a brief break to get some snacks and drinks for themselves, the group got back into their spots while a certain princess bounced eagerly in her seat.

"Come on Marco, keep reading! I want to know what happens next!" Star said excitedly, getting the Latino boy to sigh in exasperation as he flipped the page.

"Alright, alright, hold your warnicorns Star."

-Last Time-

…

…

"…Hi."

"…Yo."

"Couldn't have summed it up better myself." Hekapoo said jokingly.

-And Now-

Star was nervous, extremely nervous, the absolutely most nervous she'd ever been in her entire life.

She was sitting on a cold metal chair inside a small room made almost entirely out of dull grey stone, with the only exception being the solid metal door to one side. Her hands were bound to either side of the table in front of her and in a pair of odd gloves that kept her from moving her fingers. To top it all off, there was an odd slip of paper on her forehead with the kanji for 'Suppress' that made her feel weak and sluggish.

"Wow, isn't that a little overkill?" Kelly asked as the projector showed Star's current condition.

"We imprison people in crystal prisons for years, most of the time without even giving them a proper trial." Hekapoo stated bluntly, making Star shiver as she remembered that happening to her briefly when Rhombulus froze her.

"…I retract my previous statement." Kelly muttered nervously.

It had been a few hours since her rather… dramatic entrance at the hot-spring, and the girl was getting increasingly worried for her own wellbeing. Shortly after her appearance, a bunch of scary people wearing animal masks had detained her while she was recovering from the shock of both the explosion and seeing a boy around her age mostly naked.

Both Kelly and Star blushed lightly as they were reminded of that little detail, only made worse when Hekapoo's arm popped out of a portal in front of them with a picture of that scene in hand.

"Eeep!"

Sighing in exasperation, Marco reached behind himself and pulled out… a spray bottle? Pointing it at Hekapoo, he pulled the trigger a few times, spraying a few jets of water into the demonic woman's face, making her recoil slightly. "Bad H-poo, no excessive teasing."

"Fine… spoilsport." Hekapoo grumbled while pulling her hand back through the portal before sticking it through another one and swatting the back of his head, this time actually igniting the back of his hair for a few moments before he put it out with the spray bottle still in hand.

Ever since, she'd been held within this room, undergoing repeated interrogation by different people. The first had been a scarred man with a bandana covering his head called Ibiki, who had asked the princess things like why she was in Konoha and who she was.

"Man, I feel like that guy could freeze water just by staring at it." Tom muttered with a shiver as Ibiki's face popped on screen with his trademark neutral intimidation expression.

Being the honest girl she was, and with the intimidating aura the man gave off, Star told him the full story despite how worried she was that he wouldn't believe her. She still remembered Marco's reaction when she first showed her magic, and unlike then she didn't have her wand to prove anything she was saying.

"Oh yeah… that could be problematic." Star said with a nervous laugh.

"No kidding, unless your other is ridiculously lucky then she's probably gonna be tossed into a loony bin." Kelly said bluntly.

However, despite how incredulous her words sounded, the man's impassive expression didn't waver at all.

Once she'd finished, Ibiki thanked her for cooperating and excused himself. A few minutes later, an energetic woman with light purple hair who waltzed in and said her name was Anko. She seemed like a nice person, constantly making jokes and even feeding Star some tasty food called dango, which the girl was really thankful for since she was really hungry, before asking her some of the same things Ibiki did.

"Well she's a pretty nice person." Star said with a smile.

"Yeah, but isn't she a little bit… underdressed?" Marco asked with a blush as Anko's revealing outfit, before his face turned positively scarlet as he read the next sentence.

However, she also added several seemingly random and personal questions, like what her favourite colour was, if she thought the boy at the hot-springs was cute, what her home life was like, if she'd ever kissed a boy, what she did in her free time, or if she'd ever seen a boy's junk.

"Bwahahaha! Oh man, this is priceless!" Hekapoo laughed boisterously as she saw everyone's blushing faces before turning towards Star with a wide grin. "So Star, have you ever seen a boy's 'junk' before?"

"W-w-wha? No! O-of course n-not!" Star exclaimed, stuttering heavily as her voice cracked and her heart marks glowed bright pink, making Hekapoo laugh even harder, not caring at all as Marco repeatedly sprayed her.

And oddly enough, no matter how much she wanted to not answer some (Read: most) of those questions, Star felt the answers practically fall out of her mouth before she could even think.

"Well, you were never one to keep a secret were you Starship." Tom said as he managed to get his embarrassment under control.

By the time Anko left, Star's face was as red as a tomato and the hearts on her cheeks were literally glowing a bright pink.

'Oh man, it's like looking in a mirror.' Hekapoo thought with one last giggle as she glanced from the 'real' Star and the one on screen.

The last person to see her was a middle-aged blonde man, who didn't say anything other than giving his name, Inoichi, before making a bunch of funny motions with his hands and the princess of Mewni blacked out. When she came too, her head was aching softly, and the man was leaving.

"Uh, okay I do not like the sound of that at all." Marco stated with the rest of the group, even Hekapoo, nodding in agreement.

"Me either," Hekapoo said, already having an inkling to what happened, "But on the plus side, it would appear that the people of that world have some form of magic, so Star's chances of not appearing insane just went up."

"I guess that's a plus." Star mumbled quietly before pointing at the man's headband. "I wonder why they all wear that; do you think it's some kind of fashion statement?"

"Nah, I'd say it's more likely a kind of identification badge, likely to separate the warriors from civilians." Hekapoo said, having seen similar methods in various different dimensions.

And now here she was, all by herself, stranded in an unknown dimension without any way out or her wand, being held prisoner by equally unknown people. As endlessly optimistic as she usually was, Star was having trouble keeping a positive outlook on her current situation as the time stretched on.

'I should have listened to Marco.' She thought with a quiet whimper as the sole light in the room flickered ominously.

"You really should, a lot of our problems would have been so much easier to deal with if you did." Marco said, snapping Star out of her embarrassment as she gave her friend an affronted look.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Star, this whole story is based on the fact you are that bad." The Latino boy stated, making the princess of Mewni pause for a few moment before settling back in her seat with a defeated huff.

Unknown to the out of the world princess though, she wasn't as alone as she thought, as four people stood on the other side of the wall she was facing, which was somehow transparent for them.

"Cool, it's like that one-way mirror from that TV show you showed me, Order of Law." Star said with Marco nodding in agreement.

The first three were the people who'd been interrogating Star, while the fourth was an elderly man wearing traditional with robes with red highlights, who'd just finished reading over several different papers. This was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage of Konoha and renowned genius when it came to politics and the shinobi arts.

"Huh, he seems nice, kind of grandfatherly." Kelly said as they all looked over the aged leader.

"You're certain that she isn't a spy or assassin?"

"Oooh crap… …this could be so much worse than we thought." Marco muttered as he and the rest of the group paled, minus Hekapoo given her skin was already pure white.

"Positive Hokage-sama," Ibiki said without hesitation. "The girl definitely shows signs of fighting skill, but she is no ninja. Her story also stayed completely consistent throughout both mine and Anko's talks with her."

"Yeah, the little gaki didn't even notice the truth serum that was laced her dango with given her. Her reactions to the test questions were priceless." Anko added, unable to hold back a chuckle.

"Wait, she drugged me?!" Star exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I figured as much," Hekapoo said calmly while sipping from her mug. "They pulled a classic scare and care: the first guy frightens the crap out of you to test your resolve, then the next one acts all friendly so's to trick you into lowering your guard."

"She checks outs mentally as well; her memories show none of the fragmentation or degradation that they would from someone suffering from delusions or hallucinations." Inoichi stated while holding up a pair of red scissor handles.

"…I feel violated." Star muttered weakly while clutching her head. Sure it wasn't 'her' her, but the idea that someone had gone through her mind and saw all her thoughts and memories was downright disturbing. Not even Tom's, Kelly's, and Marco's comforting words did little to ease that invasive feeling.

"The scientists did confirm that these had been emitting an odd energy. From what they could tell, it definitely wasn't chakra, but it dispersed before they could get a proper sample, most likely because they're broken."

"So they don't think you're a spy or crazy, that's good." Marco said with a weak smile that Star shared…

"…What about the other item?" The old man asked, getting Inoichi to lower the scissor handles and hold up… Star's wand. Unlike the scissors, it was still intact thankfully, but the magical tool had clearly seen better days as several cracks and scorch marks covered its surface.

…until Marco read the next paragraph.

"So not only was she in prison, but the people holding her were in possession of the royal family wand. That will probably not end well." Hekapoo said while Kelly and Tom grimaced at the sight of the damaged magical relic.

'Oh man I'm doomed, I am so very doomed.' Star thought in despair as she slumped in her seat, her cheek marks turning into crying emojis.

'Wow, we are really getting into this story.' Marco thought as he watched his friends' reactions, not really phased by the damaged wand since he'd already seen it completely destroyed twice now, though he was a bit worried to see someone else other than Star in possession of the magic relic.

"It's also giving off some form of energy and even seems to still be operational, but we haven't been able to get any form of reaction from it or the samples we took so far." The blonde said as he placed both items in the elderly man's hand.

"…Wait what?" The whole group asked in surprise at hearing this paragraph.

"No reaction? But how? Anyone should be able to use the wand if they try, shouldn't they?" Star asked as she looked down at her own wand, which was a sleeker and more detailed looking version of the one on screen.

"Well, Me and Lobster Claws were able to, and Ludo used a piece of it, so yeah I don't see why none of them can't get it to work." Marco said with a shrug. "Maybe it's broken from the explosion as well."

"Not likely, otherwise it would've stopped giving off magical energy like the scissors." Hekapoo said with a shake of her head.

"Good point, guess we'll just have to keep reading then to find out." Marco said before quickly returning his attention to the book in his grasp but not before adding, "Plus, now we don't have to worry about them abusing the wand's power."

Nodding his head in understanding, the old man gazed through the one-way wall at Star as she gradually grew more and more nervous with each passing second with a look of contemplation. After several minutes of silence, he seemed to be satisfied with what he saw and walked off.

Star jumped slightly as the door opened once more and an elderly man walked in with a kind smile on his face. "Hello Star-san, sorry for startling you."

"San?" Star repeated in confusion at the added suffix to her name.

"It's a Japanese term which is basically their version of Mr, Ms, and Mrs," Marco explained to the princess.

"Oh, thanks Marco."

"Hello sir, are you here to ask me more questions?" She asked politely, albeit with nervousness and a tiny amount of exasperation mixed in.

"A few yes, but first," To the girl's surprise, as Hiruzen sat down he suddenly reached forwards and pulled off the gloves and the paper on her head before unlocking the cuffs around her wrists. "I apologize for all the discomfort my people had to put you through, but with your… interesting arrival we had to be sure you weren't here to cause any trouble. I'm sure you can understand."

"Would you look at that Starship, looks like he's gonna let you go after all." Tom said with a grin while everyone else visibly relaxed at the apparent good news.

"Yes sir," Star said with a nod as she rubbed her sore wrists. "Does this mean you're letting me go?"

"Well yes and no,"

"…Or not," Star said with a wince, knowing just enough political wordplay to know what 'Well Yes and No' meant. It was the, as her dad would put it, short way of saying 'Yes but there's a huge catch that will pretty much make it still a No anyway'.

Hiruzen said, getting a confused look in response until he elaborated. "While it may have been an accident, you did do a considerable amount of property damage and had a few people sent to the hospital."

Cringing once more, Star seemed to deflate as she sank further into her seat in defeat. "Right, totally forgot about that part."

Star gasped and started to apologize, only to be cut off when the elderly man raised his hand. "Relax, it was only a few burns and ruptured eardrums. However, you will have to pay the costs for repairs, loss of business, and hospital bills."

"And how much will that be?" Star asked, already dreading the answer. Normally, money wouldn't be an issue for her, what with her parents being royalty and all. But she had no way of contacting them at the moment, and she had a strong feeling these people wouldn't accept an IOU.

"So that's how we avoided getting in trouble whenever we caused mass amounts of property damage?" Marco asked with a raised brow while Star nodded her head with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah… I didn't even know that they did that until shortly after I moved back into the castle. I stumbled into the accounting chamber by accident while they were going over the total cost of my stay." She admitted while rubbing the back of her head.

Sighing in exasperation for the umpteenth time that day, Marco gazed at his friend dully. "I know I'm going to regret asking this, but exactly how much debt are you, and most likely me as well, in with your parents right now?"

"Well…" Smiling sheepishly, Star waved her wand causing a manila folder to appear in front of Marco. "…that's the current tab so far."

Paling a bit at the sheer size of the file, the Latino boy gingerly picked it up and flicked it open to the last page which showed the current total, before immediately snapping it back shut with a blank expression.

"Star, we are so going to have a long, LONG, talk about this when we get back."

"Oh come on Marco it can't be- And I'm shutting up." Tom said, changing what he was saying midsentence with bugged out eyes when Marco flashed the total for him to see.

"Roughly 720,000 ryo (72,000 USD)," Hiruzen said, causing Star to pale rapidly at the large number. "And judging by what you've told us, you don't exactly have that kind of money on hand."

"Uh, for those of us who aren't from earth or haven't been there for very long, how bad is that?" Kelly asked, though she could already tell it was pretty bad based on Star and Marco's horrified faces.

"You could buy a dozen cartloads of goblin-dogs and not even be halfway there." Star stated, earning a low whistle from the greenette.

"…no sir, I don't." The princess said sadly as she sank into her chair.

"Well then, that does leave you in a bit of a pickle, but I'm sure we can come up with a reasonable solution. Does this look familiar?" Hiruzen asked while holding up Star's wand, causing the girl's eyes to widen in surprise.

"My wand!" Star exclaimed in shock. "How did you get that?! What happened to it?!"

"One of my men found it like that floating inside the hot-spring. The damage is most likely being from the explosion you caused." Hiruzen said, getting Star to wince a little. "You claim to be able to cast magic with this, correct?"

'Oh boy, I think I know where this is going.' Marco thought worriedly.

"Uh-huh, I can do all sorts of cool spells with it, although I am still learning how to use it properly." Star admitted with an awkward chuckle as she remembered all the mishaps she'd made when casting new spells.

"Those were some crazy times alright," Marco said with a nostalgic smile as he nudged Star's side. "Remember when you accidentally turned our math teacher into a troll?"

"Hehehe yeah, I wonder how Ms. Skullnick is doing?" Star said, giggling a little as she remembered that particular misadventure.

"Okay then, would you mind giving me a small example?" The elderly man asked while holding the wand out to her.

"Weird, why would he just give you the wand back like that?" Kelly asked with a raised brow.

"Maybe he's giving me the benefit of the doubt." Star suggested optimistically as she perked up a bit.

Quickly swiping it out of his hands, Star looked the magic tool over thoroughly, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she saw that the damage wasn't as bad as it looked before pointing it at the table. "Blooming daisy sparkles."

'Most interesting,' Hiruzen thought as dozens of glitter covered flowers suddenly sprouted from the metal table's surface. "Well then Butterfly-san, I do believe I have just the way for you to pay off your debt."

"Ah crap, I knew it." Marco groaned, earning odd looks from everyone but Hekapoo.

"What's wrong Marco?" Kelly asked with a raised brow.

"You'll see in a moment if I'm right." The Latino boy told the greenette before he started reading again.

-Time skip-

"Kami I hate hospitals." Naruto groaned as he plopped down in a chair by a simple wooden table, a cup of freshly made instant ramen in hand.

"What's ramen?" Star asked, the second part directed towards Marco.

"It's a noodle dish from Japan, the instant version is quick and easy to make but not very good for you nutrition wise." Marco explained.

He was dressed in his usual attire of a bright orange jacket and pants with a fluffy white collar and blue highlights. "Them and their stupid needles."

After that weird incident at the hot-springs, he'd been taken to the hospital to be checked over. However, by the time he'd gotten there, the blonde's injuries were all but gone already thanks to his natural healing factor.

"Wow, that sounds like a watered-down version of Toffee's healing." Marco said with a surprised look.

Unfortunately, it turned out that he was overdue for several different inoculations and had to get several shots.

"Ugh, those are the worst." Star mumbled, shivering as she remembered when she had to go to the hospital on Earth to get vaccinated, just so she could continue going to school with Marco. Thankfully, despite the fact she was Mewman, her immune system was similar enough to humans that the shots didn't have any bad side effects other than her catching an actual cold from the flu shot.

The nurse was nice enough, even giving him a two for one coupon to his favourite food shack, Ichiraku's, afterwards. Though when he tried to see how Sakura was doing, she slapped the hell out of him while calling him a baka for some reason.

"Wow, talk about rude." Kelly said with a frown at hearing that.

"Why would she do that?" Star asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"He probably just caught her in a bad mood, that kinda happens after you've been in an explosion." Hekapoo said.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Naruto froze in the middle of slurping down his food, his head jerking towards the front door when he heard someone knocking on it rapidly. "Fo the heff is fhat?"

"Probably Starship." Tom said with the others nodding in agreement.

Nobody came by his place except for Iruka, his old teacher from the academy and big brother figure, and the Hokage, and both knew they didn't need to knock before entering.

"…Well that wasn't depressing at all." Hekapoo said sarcastically while giving the kid a brief look of pity. To be so used to not having any company that simply having someone knocking at the door being a rare occurrence was pretty sad.

"Why doesn't anyone visit him? He seems like such a nice guy." Star said with a frown.

"We'll probably find out as the story progresses, but if that's to long for you we could check out his profile after we finish the chapter." Marco suggested getting the blonde princess to nod excitedly.

"Okay!"

So, naturally confused and curious, the whiskered blonde quickly swallowed the last few noodles in his mouth before standing up to find out.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Alright! Alright! I'm coming!" Naruto yelled in annoyance as the knocking didn't stop. Pulling the door open, he prepared to voice his irritation further, only to stop cold at the sight before him.

Standing in front of him was Anko, Ibiki, and the girl from the hot-spring, who was rubbing her neck with a grimace with one hand while the other was firmly gripped her wand. A new addition though, was the Hitai-ate around her noggin that looked just like the other three's, a blue headband with a metal plate on the front that was engraved with a stylized leaf.

"So that headband is a form of identification, good guess there Hekapoo." Marco told the demonic looking redhead, making her grin as she sipped her new drink. "But what's wrong with her neck?"

"Most likely an insurance policy to make sure she doesn't try to run out on her debt." Hekapoo said with a shrug.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Ibiki asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Uh yeah, that's me." Naruto said before the intimidating man handed him a scroll held shut with a red binding in the middle with a bold kanji for 'C-rank'.

"By order of the Third Hokage, you are to house and care for one Star Butterfly until the time she finishes working off her debt to Konoha as a probationary genin alongside team seven." Ibiki said, causing Naruto to stare at him with a lost expression.

"I knew it, indentured servitude." Marco said with a sigh while Kelly and Tom groaned in realization.

"Indent-what now?" Star asked in confusion.

"In layman's terms, you're a servant that works for free until you work off the debt that you owe." Hekapoo explained bluntly, making Star nod in understanding with a soft "Oh." "The problem is that while it's a normally fair system to deal with debt, more than a few people have manipulated it into basically enslaving people forever. And given the power you can wield with that wand…"

The demonic woman trailed off, but Star got the idea loud and clear if the paleness of her face said anything.

"…say what now?"

"In layman's terms boy gaki, you're girl gaki's babysitter for the foreseeable future while she does her community service." Anko said while shoving Star right into Naruto, which sent them both tumbling to the floor.

"HAhahaha!"

"What's so funny H-poo?" Marco asked when the scissor-maker broke out in laughter.

"Oh nothing, just imaging Moon's reaction if she found out that her little girl was gonna be living with a boy without any adult supervision." She said with a Cheshire grin, laughing even harder when the rest of the group blushed deeply at what she was implying.

"The full details are in the scroll, if you still have questions then consult Hokage-sama." The impassive man stated bluntly before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

"I late for a date with some dango so… yeah, what he said." Anko said as she turned to leave but stopped mid-step as she seemingly remembered something. "Oh wait, almost forgot." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small brown bag and tossed it on the still downed blondes. "Make sure you use those, wouldn't want any more little gaki's running around too soon."

"Bwahahahaha! Oh my stump I love that woman!" Hekapoo laughed uproariously, falling out of her seat as Star's blush went supernova at the insinuation, Marco and Kelly not far behind her, and Tom looked ready to incinerate someone.

The purplette broke out into laughter after saying this before slamming the door shut, leaving Naruto and Star alone as they slowly untangled themselves.

"…Hello again," Star said with a nervous smile as she quickly got up to feet and held her arm out towards Naruto. "I'm Star… and I guess we're roommates now."

"Heh, Déjà vu anyone?" Marco asked rhetorically with a weak chuckle, trying to change the subject.

Thankfully it worked a bit as Star giggled softly at the reference to how she moved in with him and his family and how he ended up living in the castle with her.

"Looks like it, Naruto Uzumaki at your service-Ttebayo. Make yourself at home." Naruto said with a smile as he shook the princess's hand, much to her surprise.

"…He took that surprisingly well." Tom said with a raised brow.

"Well the book did say he was living alone with almost no visitors, maybe he's just happy to finally have some company." Hekapoo guessed as she finally finished her mug without melting it and swapped it out for a bucket of caramel popcorn.

"You're not upset that I'm being forced to live with you?"

"Shocked? Yeah. Upset? Not really, I'm sure Hokage-Jiji has a good reason for doing this." Naruto said with a shrug as he walked back over to his dining table and quickly downed the rest of his ramen. "Besides he got me this apartment in the first place when I needed a place to live, so I don't mind sharing it with someone else if he wants me too. Though I am gonna give Jiji a piece of my mind later for not giving me a heads up."

"Meh, that's also a fair reason." The demonic woman said while munching on her snacks.

"It's really sweet of him, willing to share his home to a stranger like that." Kelly said, mooching a few bits of caramelised buttery goodness.

"Yeah, especially since said stranger blew him up not even a day ago." Tom added with a chuckle, making Star giggle sheepishly with an awkward smile.

"Oh, then thank you for having me." Star said happily, glad that this boy was so accepting of her, just like Marco's parents when she first moved in with him as an exchange student.

"They are very nice people." Star said happily as she remembered the kindness Angie and Rafael had showed her during and after her stay with them.

However, her happy mood quickly turned to embarrassment as her stomach gave a loud growl in protest to its emptiness. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to eat, would you?"

"Over there in the cupboard, help yourself." Naruto said, pointing to kitchenette as he unrolled the scroll he been given.

"Thanks," Star started to cross the room, but stopped briefly when she felt something squish under her foot. Looking down, she saw the package that Anko had left behind and picked it up with a curious look.

"Huh, I forgot about that, I wonder whats in it." Star thought aloud, with Tom and Kelly sharing her curiosity. Meanwhile, Marco's face was almost melting from how red it was as he had a VERY good idea what was in that bag in the square indents on the paper with circles in the middle meant anything.

Hekapoo on the other hand was busy having a clone give her the Heimlich after inhaling some of her popcorn when she tried to laugh with her mouth full.

However, just as she was about to open it, her stomach rumbled again and she set it down on a nearby table for later as she hurried to where the food was.

'Oh thank god.' Marco thought with a sigh, glad that Star's counterpart didn't embarrass herself further by opening the bag. God only knows the last thing he needed was having to explain to the somewhat naive princess what a condom was.

Pulling the cupboard open, she was greeted with a few boxes of cereal, a couple types of canned soups, fruits, and vegetables, and several Styrofoam cups like the one she'd seen Naruto eating out of. "What are these?" She asked while picking one up, question marks popping up on her cheeks.

"Uh, instant ramen duh, what else would it be?" Naruto said with an incredulous look. What, did this girl not know what ramen was?

"What's ramen?"

…

"Am I the only one that feels like Star just stepped on an active landmine?" Kelly asked after a short pause as the air was suddenly full of tension. Her answer was a unanimous shake of heads, not that she noticed as her gaze was locked firmly on the TV.

"What?" Star asked as Naruto stared at her blankly for several seconds. "Did I say something wro-EEP!"

A yelp escaped the girl's throat as Naruto suddenly scooped her up into a bridal carry and leapt out the open window. By the time Star's brain managed to catch up to what had just happened, they were already several blocks away from Naruto's, and now her, apartment as the whiskered blonde jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Star found herself in awe as she saw the village passing underneath her, the light from the setting sun giving the whole place a soft homely glow. 'Wow, this is way farther than I can jump.' She thought as Naruto effortlessly leapt at least eighty feet in the air to make one jump, a feat she'd need to use her magic to duplicate.

"Boy got some good legs on him." Hekapoo said somewhat breathlessly after she managed to dislodge the popcorn in her throat, coughing it up as a loogy that hit the floor with a soft *splat*.

"Meh, I could beat that." Tom boasted, though if you listened closely you could hear a slight ting of uncertainty in his voice.

"I wouldn't be so sure, that looks like he's moving at a casual pace," Kelly said, her experience with fighting agile opponents allowing her to pick up that small detail. "Makes me wonder how high he could go if he really tried."

"Yeah cool, let's focus on that instead of the part where he just grabbed Star and jumped out of a window for no apparent reason." Marco said sarcastically, before rolling his eyes when he was completely ignored.

Just as fast as it started though, their journey came to a sudden end as Naruto dropped down into the street and darted into a food stand. "Teuchi-Jiji! Two bowls of miso ramen stat! We have a code zero!" He yelled, startling the elderly man who was inside as he set Star down on one of the stools.

"A code zero huh? I'm on it." The old man, which Star assumed was Teuchi, said with a hearty chuckle while quickly getting to cooking. "What's the name of the unlucky soul that's never had ramen before?"

"Wow, this Naruto guy must be some kinda Ramen fanatic or something if he has a special code just for telling the stand manager that someone never had Ramen before." Tom said as a sweat drop dripped down the back of his head.

"Star Butterfly, it's nice to meet you sir." Star said with a cheerful wave.

"Nice to meet you as well Butterfly-san, names Teuchi, but everyone just calls me Jiji." Teuchi said before pointing behind himself where a lovely young woman with long brown hair walked into view with a bag of flour in hand. "And that's my daughter Ayame."

"Hi Naruto, is this a new friend of yours?" Said girl asked after she set the flour down and walked up to the pair.

"Sort of Ayame-neechan," Naruto said before giving a quick overview of the day's events and even showing them the scroll he'd been given, which basically said the same thing Ibiki did, though with a few additional things added. Like the 2,500 ryo (250 USD) he'd get paid every two weeks to help cover costs such as food and clothing.

"That makes sense since he does have to take care of you after all, though hopefully that isn't added into the debt you owe." Tom said to Star, who nodded in agreement to both statements.

It also mentioned the exact amount Star had to work off, which both father and daughter couldn't help but cringe at, and how'd she'd do so by working alongside his team on missions.

The last part explained his job of making sure she stayed in Konoha unless on mission. Though it was a rather redundant task since a tracking seal had been tattooed to the back of Star's neck, hence why she kept rubbing it tenderly.

"Thank the stump mom isn't here, she'd freak at the idea that I'd gotten a tattoo." Star said, shivering as her mind conjured up an image of a giant version of the queen standing over a chibi version of herself.

Speaking of which…

"Here, this should help a little." Ayame said as she set a wrapped icepack around Star's shoulders, getting the princess to sigh in relief as the cold numbed the sensitive skin.

"Thank you Ayame, that feels so much better." Star said as she hugged the brunette in thanks.

"Order up, two miso ramen, on the house for your first visit." Teuchi said while placing the large bowls in front of the two blondes.

"I like them," Star said with a smile. Those two also reminded her a lot of Marco's parents, with the kind and understanding feel the pair had as they spoke with her counterpart and Naruto.

"Oh, it looks delicious." Star said, drooling as the smell reached her nose, before looking at the pair of chopsticks she'd been given with a tilted head.

"Why would someone eat with those?" Star asked with a tilted head as she looked at the pair of chopsticks her other self was clumsily holding.

"That's actually a bit of a historical debate, with some saying it's because they were more aesthetically pleasing than regular silverware, while others claim that it's because they are easier to make with limited materials and ended up catching on." Marco told the princess in the simplest way he could so not to end up with a long drawn out explanation.

Glancing towards Naruto, she watched him break them apart and start ravenously devouring the noodle dish.

Mimicking him as best she could, and with a few tips from Ayame once she saw how much trouble she was having, she slowly lifted a clump of noodles into her mouth…

-Que Hallelujah Sound Effect-

"Okay seriously, where the heck is that coming from?" Marco demanded as that same sound effect played through the room.

"Looks like we got ourselves another regular." Teuchi said with a chuckle as Star's eyes and cheek marks turned into sparkles before she started scarfing down her bowl as fast as Naruto.

-End Chapter-

'Man, I haven't seen Star eat like than since the first time I gave her a plate of my super awesome nachos.' Marco thought while the 'real' Star looked at the now blank screen curiously, wondering if this Ramen was as good as her other was making it seem.

However, the girl was snapped from her thoughts when Marco flipped to the back of the book and set it on her lap. "Here, I did say you could read this after the chapter."

Seeing a familiar whiskered blonde's smiling face on the page, Star's face lit up brightly as she brought the book right up to her face and started reading.