Okay first of all- haven't seen Lucy. I've seen previews.
Second of all- not a one shot.
Here's the update for tonight. Enjoy!
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The moment she slipped into Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi and Ayame both looked up from what they were working on to greet her as she quickly grabbed a seat and tapped the counter twice with her index finger to indicate what she wanted to drink. Then rapped on it again, three times with her knuckles to indicate what she wanted to eat. This was the system of communication she had been using since she met them.
And it was one that both Teuchi and his daughter understood well since it could also be used as a partial indication of her mood and health. Speaking of- Teuchi set her drink down in front of her, a nice glass of milk and another glass of chamomile tea sweetened a bit with honey as she tapped the counter again (five times in two intervals) ten taps in all to indicate both her mood and health.
Teuchi looked at her, his expression somewhat disturbed as he asked, "Is it really that bad?" Sparking the beginning of their usual conversation.
"Yeah. Just got out of the hospital." Naru said as she propped her elbow on the counter and settled her chin in her palm.
"Really?" Ayame asked as she finished putting together her food and brought it over to her and set it down in front of her. Naru nodded her head soberly as she glanced down at her food and frowned a bit. Strange. It was her favorite chicken flavored ramen complete with vegetables and a boiled egg, but for some strange reason she felt like something was missing or off with it. It looked totally unappetizing to her. "Why were you in the hospital?"
"Grandpa thought I had been raped." Naru said bluntly, not bothering to censor her words and got concerned/startled looks from both Teuchi and Ayame.
"D-Did you?" Teuchi asked in an almost shell shocked tone, his eyes wide in his pale face.
"No." Naru said in a growling tone as she continued to stare down at her bowl of ramen. Still confused about why she felt something was wrong with it.
"Then why would he think-" Teuchi started to ask when Naru sort of cut him off.
"I was bleeding and didn't know why. And he just sort of freaked thinking the worst."
"O-Oh." Teuchi said dumbly as Ayame finally noticed that she wasn't eating and smiled as she asked,
"It the ramen okay Naru? You haven't touched it."
Naru looked up for a second, her eyes a brief flicker of red darting up to their faces before she looked back down and frowned a bit. "It looks okay. It smells just like usual- but I have a weird feeling that something is off." Normally Teuchi would become upset by such statements, but knowing Naru wasn't trying to be insulting helped keep him level headed as Naru stuck a finger in the broth and brought it up to her mouth and sucked it off of her finger.
As usual, the chicken flavor of the broth was wonderfully done and soaked into the noodles and vegetable really well. But there also seemed to be a strange tangy taste that had never been present before. Maybe that was what was off with her ramen. Either that or it was her sense of taste going wonky. Doing the finger taste thingy again- Teuchi and his daughter watched her until Ayame quickly seemed to think of something and disappeared into the side of the restaurant and came back a moment later with some cookies and a chocholate squeeze bottle and a bowl of honey mustard.
"Here try this." She said as she set the cookies, chocholate squeeze bottle, and bowl of honey mustard down in front of Naru. Curious to see what the stuff tasted like with her ramen Naru took a moment to try the cookies by dipping them in the broth of her food. Hmm. The sweetness of the cookies mixed with the flavor of chicken wasn't half bad. Naru thought as she then tried a couple of noodles with some chocholate and though it was...weird- in a good way- it just didn't do anything for her.
So next she tried the noodles with some honey mustard. And nearly moaned when the taste hit her tongue. Oh. Oh! Oh that was good. Damned good. Picking up the bowl of honey mustard she dumped the whole thing into her ramen and started to mix it into her ramen. But there was more ramen than honey mustard which left her with only the slight tangy sweetness overshadowing her favorite food when she asked almost awkwardly, "Do you have any more?" As she put the empty bowl on the counter then picked up another cookie and tried it with her ramen.
Oh, that was good too. But she'd probably just eat the cookies separately.
Teuchi looked down at her as she took a few more bites of her food. Alternating between the ramen and cookies without inhaling them like she normally did, and shrugged his shoulders. Whatever. If it was more honey mustard Naru wanted- it was more she'd get.
