Lunch with Aki

Where will I get food . Shizuma wondered, as she sat on the dirty street, she never thought she'd be in this situation; She was the daughter of an aristocrat, she grew up having maids. If she were hungry they fed her, when she became bored they entertained her. What was even worse was that her parents were dead .

Shizuma would give anything to see them again, but deep down she knew there was no way she could ever bring them back. All she could do was reminisce about her life before her parents were murdered and how much she despised the man that destroyed it.

Shizuma hated that she couldn't protect her parents ; She longed to see her mother's beautiful smile again and run into her father's arms once more . If only this was a horrible nightmare , Please tell me that was a nightmare. Shizuma pondered only to come to the realization that, it was not a dream when she felt the hunger pains roaring in her tummy .

The good thing was that she was in a lively town with several food vendors at every corner; her mouth watered as she gazed at the variety dishes, the sight of a takoyaki vendor caught her eye. Shizuma loved takoyaki, the maids always made them on special occasions for her, she stared at the vendor waiting to see if he would walk away, so she could swoop in and grab the food. When she saw the man go back inside Shizuma raced to the stall, as her reached out to grab the takoyaki stick, she heard a soft sweet voice call out.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, the last child he caught stealing was beaten with a bamboo stick.''

Shizuma turned around to see a gorgeous, tall, woman holding a red oil painted paper umbrella, she was dressed in an elegant black kimono with gold embroidered cranes on it, that hung slightly low by the collar, revealing the small of her back seductively; her shiny black hair was tied in a tight bun. The woman then motioned the vendor, to come to the front.

"Two bowls please "

she said, taking small purse, from her sleeve giving him a few coins.

"Would you like to stop for ramen, you look like you hadn't eaten in days."

"How could you tell?" Shizuma asked

"Because you tried to steal from the meanest man in town, everyone knows not to steal from Tanaka-san." She giggled

"What happened to the people that stole from him?'' Shizuma inquired

"They have a very hard time sitting down after he catches them. "

While the pair sat down in the ramen shop to eat Shizuma asked the woman what ramen was.

"What, you never had ramen, you don't know what you're missing.'' She said before requesting two bowls from the waiter.

"What's your name?" the woman asked.

"Hanazono Shizuma "

"Yours "

"Miramura Aki "

The waiter returned with two big bowls of ramen, Aki broke her wooden chopsticks apart, then picked up long strands of noodles making a loud slurping noise when she ate them. Shizuma mimicked what Aki had done only to start choking on her food . Aki tapped her back to stop her from choking.

"Don't rush, take your time "

Shizuma nodded and did as she was told

"There you go, much better ", Aki said smiling at Shizuma

"You can come live with me if you like, I will have to ask mother first. By the way may call you Shizu Chan?'' Aki asked

Shizuma nodded giving Aki a big smile.

Later that day, Aki brought a gray kimono. Then they went to a nearest by bath house ,where Aki laddered Shizuma's hair with soap making sure to gently message her scalp, then scrubbed Shizuma's body ; when she was finished she dressed Shizuma into the kimono she had brought earlier making sure to tightly fasten a black obi around her waist.

When Aki had returned home , she instructed Shizuma to wait in the hall way, after they removed their shoes. she went into a small room, where there was an old woman who was smoking a Tobacco pipe.

"Okaa-san I have a favor to ask of you ", said Aki.

"What do you want?. And please don't tell it's another set of kimonos, you always ask for new ones when a new fashion comes out." nagged the old woman as she tapped her Tobacco pipe into a black lacquer ash tray only knocking a few ashes out then placing back into her mouth.

"Well, Okaa-san you see... I found this girl she has no home and I was wondering if we can let her live with us?''

"I don't take strays so send her back ."

"But Okaa-san she is a very cute girl and I am sure with her beauty she will attract many suitors. if you meet her, you will change your mind "

Aki called Shizuma into the room, the old woman glanced at Shizuma when she entered.

"You weren't lying Aki when she you said she was a beauty " the old woman asked Shizuma to open her mouth, so she can have a look inside.

"Alright she can stay, but remember, Aki you will be responsible for her."

The woman asked them to leave as she continued smoking on her pipe.

Aki took two futons out preparing them for sleep she pushed them together to make a huge bed, after she changed into her sleeping robe and let her long black hair flow down to her back. Shizuma also let hair down , her hair was so long it reached down to the floor. They both got comfortable into the bed, Shizuma turned towards Aki who was already fast asleep and rapped her arm around her.

"Thank you so much for saving me Aki neesan. "

*A/N*

Although " Oka-san " meaning mother in Japanese is often spelled without an extra in honorific Japanese when you are calling a woman who is not your mother, mother it is then spelled with another a " Okaa-san " Which Aki calls the owner of the Okiya (Geisha house). In Geisha houses girls are usually sold to the geisha house by their parents this was how poor families made ends meet in Japan.

I hoped you all like this one as I said in chapter 4, I will make it up to you all for being gone for so long. I realized that there were some mistakes in this story, so I re-edited it and I also rushed a bit when I was uploading this, so the other chapter will be corrected as well, this chapter maybe re edited again but not much will change just a few tiny mistakes.

I forgot to add this, but I truly wondered while writing this, if any of you were able to catch the Naruto Uzumaki reference, I just couldn't help but think what Naruto would say if someone told him they never had ramen.