5: Two More Tickets Found
The soft clang of a little bell announced the entrance of Hinata and her team into the shop. The shop was lit by the soft, yellowish glow of hanging light bulbs, giving it a very friendly feel to it. The shopkeeper stood behind the counter reading a newspaper (the front page adorned with a grisly photo of Masaru Kawasaki). He looked past his paper to meet Kurenai's red eyes. "Oh, Kurenai-san, what brings you and your students into my lovely shop at this hour? Finished with shinobi missions for the night?" he chuckled. The shopkeeper, a particularly large man, shook as he laughed. Kurenai nodded and gestured towards Hinata.
"Oh? And what can I do for you kunoichi-chan?" the shopkeeper said, looking down at Hinata. Hinata fumbled with her words.
"A-ano…I'd like a W-Wonka bar, kudasai" she said at last.
The shopkeeper's face fell. "You would, would you? Well, so does every kid in the entire village! I've sold more candy bars in the last week alone than I think I've ever sold! I've only got a couple left, which would you like?"
Hinata thought for a moment, trying to recall which bar had tasted the best the last time she bought one. It was difficult to remember, as it had been quite a while since she'd last bought a candy bar.
"O-one Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight, kudasai"
"Ooh, good choice. I think we have one left" the shopkeeper turned around and rummaged through a drawer. Obviously he had been keeping the Wonka bars hidden as of late. He turned around again and handed Hinata the bar. It had a red wrapper that had the "Wonka" logo in large, white letters on the front. It was wrapped in silver foil. "Well, enjoy! Have a good night Kurenai-san, and good luck on finding a ticket little girl" the shopkeeper said as they exited.
"Hinata, let's open it" Kurenai said as they stood outside of the shop. "I want to see if you've won!"
"Kurenai-sensei! Don't get her hopes up! It's next to impossible to find one! You can't expect that she'll be that lucky!" Kiba said angrily. Kurenai thought he could have spoken his thoughts a little more compassionately for Hinata's sake, but understood.
"He's right Hinata. You mustn't be too disappointed…remember, you've still got the bar of candy. That's something special all by itself" Kurenai said, giving her student a smile. Hinata smiled back as she peered down to the bar of chocolate. Still, there still was a chance. However small a chance it was, it was still a chance.
"O-Okay…here goes" Hinata said weakly as she pulled on the silver foil. She tore the wrapper right down the middle and…in her hand there was…a light brown creamy-coloured chocolate candy bar.
There was no sign of a golden ticket anywhere.
"Well…that's that" Shino said, breaking the silence.
Hinata continued to look down at the bar, as if expecting to see more. She finally brought her head up and held the candy bar out to Kurenai. "Here, Kurenai-sensei. We'll share it. Everybody gets a piece".
Kurenai shook her head "Oh no, Hinata. Not your candy bar".
Hinata insisted, "It's my chocolate, and I'll do what I like with it" she said with a small smile. She then broke the bar into pieces and gave one to each of her teammates, including Kurenai. They all took it gratefully. Hinata picked up her piece and nibbled the end. She stared into the distance, then back at her candy, wondering how long it would last.
The following evening, the Konoha newspaper announced not only the finding of the third golden ticket, but the fourth as well. Two Golden Tickets Found Today! The headline screamed. Only one left!
Hinata sat in her apartment on her mattress with a bowl of bok choy soup in her lap and the newspaper in her hands. She'd gotten the copy from a trash bin on the way home from training. Her window was close, as to keep the air out, which had gotten increasingly chilly. She read the newspaper aloud to herself as she ate her supper.
"The third ticket" she read, "was found by a Miss Tomoe Bulnose. There was great excitement in the Bulnose household when our reporter arrived to interview the young lady. The girl was standing on a chair in her living room, waving her golden ticket around for all to see. She was chewing furiously on a piece of chewing gum as she spoke.
" 'I'm a gum chewer normally,' she said as she chewed, 'but when I heard about these ticket things of Wonka-san's I laid off gum and switched to candy bars. Now that I've won, I'm back on gum. I hold a city wide record for gum chewing! This piece of gum I'm chewing has been going for three months! I'm going for the country-wide record!' her mother started to cut her off.
" 'Tomoe-chan, you shouldn't say unladylike things like that!' she fussed.
" 'Oka-san, urusei!' Tomoe shouted. She then continued the interview. 'I can't wait to see Wonka's factory! I bet he's got loads of different kinds of gum to try! Whoopee! Hooray!' she shouted".
Hinata stopped reading. She couldn't go on. She folded the paper and placed it on the floor. Sipping up the rest of her thin soup, she put her bowl away, turned out the light and went to bed.
As she lay down on the mattress, she gazed out her window, seeing the towers of smoke rising from the chocolate factory in the distance. She felt her eyes become heavy as she watched the dark smoke rise into the air. "I wish…I wish I could…" but Hinata couldn't finish her sentence, as she had fallen asleep.
Early the next morning, Hinata found herself with her team once again. Today they were practicing throwing shurikens and kunai at targets. A skill Kurenai thought needed to be improved. As they practiced, Kurenai spoke of the finding of the two golden tickets. "Beastly little girl…chewing gum like that…she'll meet a sticky end one day…and the other one…he's downright evil!" she muttered.
Hinata looked up at her teacher, missing a target as she did. "Sensei, who was the fourth ticket finder? I didn't read all of the article".
Kiba swore as he missed another target. "Kuso! The fourth kid was from the Rice country too…from the Otogakure from the looks of it". Hinata tensed up. All of them had heard rumors about the Hidden Sound village. An S-rank felon named Orochimaru, who was Konoha's number one enemy, supposedly ran it.
"Who was he?" Hinata asked again.
Kurenai paced back and forth behind the three genins as they practiced. "The paper said his name was Souya Ikari. He's your age as well…maybe a bit younger. He seemed downright grisly. He's the only winner so far that's also a ninja. He wore a head protector and some kunai pouches. He and his mother seemed interested only in violence, talking about the battles that were going on, how their village was fairing in its current war. The boy had apparently found the ticket using a kind of ninjutsu…did it on a whim, said he didn't expect much of the visit to the factory. Said he hated chocolate!"
"Well a good load of good that'll do him going to a chocolate factory! Ungrateful little Fing son of a b!" Kiba yelled angrily as he missed another target. He continued to curse and swear for another few minutes.
Kurenai sighed and ceased her pacing, deciding they had practiced long enough. "Do all children outside this village behave like these brutes?" she wondered aloud. Hinata answered her question.
"Not all, I'm sure…these kids are just…well…" she trailed off.
"They're no good fing little crap faced sheads if you ask me!" Kiba yelled again. Akamaru barked a few times to show his agreement.
"There's only one ticket left…" Hinata sighed, "I wonder who will find it…".