A/N:
first rewrite-original chapter - woo!
btw, i'd just like to mention that, after this Academy Arc, chapters will be longer than the ~2.5k words i've been averaging
also: if you have any ideas for interactions with Kiba, please let me know! the next chapter will be a bunch of little snippets of Rei's interactions with him, and while I have a few ideas, I don't have enough for a full chapter
anyway, posted this bc i had an extra day off - hopefully i don't regret it B)
"Welcome!" a warm voice greeted as the banners fluttered behind him, and Rei briefly considered the merits of simply starving to death before - upon remembering one unfortunate incident at the orphanage, involving an annoyed caretakers, a member of ANBU, and a hospital visit - forcing himself to step further inside.
"Hello," Rei muttered, glancing away when he saw a flash of recognition in the stall owner's eyes. He'd steered clear of Ichiraku for a while after his meeting with the Hokage, but it makes sense that he wouldn't be forgotten so quickly.
(Or, considering his status, at all .)
He couldn't stay away for any longer, though. He'd run out of anything edible - while he still had ingredients for cooking, he was hopeless in the kitchen, and considered anything that could simply be heated up without trouble as 'edible' - and Ichiraku was one of the cheapest places he could eat without being bothered by anyone else, or without getting food poisoning the same night.
"What can I get for you?"
Rei's gaze trailed up to the menu that was nailed to the wall. He then realized, with a jolt, that he didn't even recognize half of the characters. In other words, he didn't know anywhere near enough to actually discern what was available to order.
"...Shio?" he eventually tried. He was at least pretty sure he'd heard someone order that before.
"Coming right up," Teuchi replied after a moment, eyes crinkling at the corners. They remained unopened, even as he walked away. Maybe , Rei thought with a surprising flicker of amusement, he really does have the Rinnegan .
"You better eat it this time," a girl said suddenly. His eyes flicked upwards, and he heard the faint sound of a bubble popping just as he met a dark-eyed gaze. "Don't think I don't remember you," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You didn't touch a thing when you were here before!"
"Now, Ayame," her father cut in as he stepped out from the back. "It's fine." His head turned towards Rei, and the man offered a smile that had Rei avoiding his gaze.. Or… where his gaze would have been, had his eyes been open. "Maybe he wasn't feeling well. Or he could've already eaten before."
Ayame pursed her lips and turned a searching gaze back towards Rei before letting out a dramatic sigh. " Fine . But you better actually eat something this time, little mister," she said, giving Rei the stink-eye.
Reluctantly, he gave a tight nod and slipped onto a stool, watching Teuchi head towards the back of the stall.
"...So," Ayame began after a few minutes, looking far less hostile than before, "Your name's Yurei, right?" Rei tensed, and he saw the brunette frown out of the corner of his eye. "Is it not? I could've sworn I heard someone calling you that when you came around the first time…"
"It's Rei," he corrected, looking away and forcing himself to adopt a neutral expression.
Ayame blinked. "Oh… well, that makes more sense. It'd be kinda weird for someone to name their kid 'Ghost.' Though I guess I have heard weirder…" She trailed off, then shook her head. "I wonder why people think that's your name, though. Do you—"
"Ayame!" Teuchi called from the back, "Can you help me over here?"
The girl paused, and after shooting Rei a 'what can you do?' look, she stepped away from the counter and called back to the man. "Coming!"
Rei watched after her for a few seconds, before lowering his gaze towards the counter. After another minute or two, he tapped his finger on the wood before absently tracing the swirling grain.
"Hey!" Ayame greeted cheerfully, causing him to startle. She let out a laugh, placing a steaming bowl on the countertop. "Here ya go. Hope it suits your tastes this time around."
Rei instinctively rolled his eyes, causing Ayame's lip to quirk upwards. He averted his gaze, then, only to freeze upon seeing the chopsticks placed on top of his bowl.
Ah , he realized, suddenly regretting any life decisions that led up to that point, I have no idea how to use these .
After chancing a glance towards Ayame, who had backed off to look through a nearby drawer, he grabbed the chopsticks, fiddling with them until he had them in a hopefully-not-terrible hold. Then, he reached out for a clump of noodles, clamped the chopsticks around them, and—
—winced when they splatted into his lap just moments after lifting them into the air, wetting his pants with the broth.
He heard a snort, and a moment later, Ayame moved towards him, tapping on an oddly-shaped spoon next to the bowl. "Hold this with your other hand," she suggested, looking amused. "If the noodles fall, it'll catch them."
"...Oh," he let out, feeling his face grow hot.
"Hey, don't worry about it - I've seen plenty of people do that before," she said with a light laugh, and as she stepped away, Rei exhaled and made an attempt to actually eat the ramen, rather than feeding the floor.
It was… good; far better than the cup ramen he'd been forcing himself to get down nearly every day. He doubted he could inhale it like certain others, but he figured he could eat it once or twice a week without getting sick of it, at least.
Surprising, since he hadn't been a huge fan of ramen Before. Maybe it had something to do with the Uzumaki genes.
"So?" Ayame asked, giving him a side glance as she washed a previous customer's bowl. "Do you admit you were totally missing out?"
Rei huffed, but gave an affirmative hum, and she cracked a grin.
"Told you so~" she sing-songed, swiftly swapping out the first dish for a dirty one. "Ichiraku's the best ramen place in all the Elemental Nations. And that's not just my bias, by the way - tons of shinobi have said that. If they're not at some bar or at home, they usually hang around here after their missions, I've noticed."
Ayame glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling. "Speaking of ninjas - you're going to the Academy now, right? I heard the Hokage mention something about it when you guys were here."
"Uh," Rei let out. "Yeah."
"Awesome!" she said with a laugh. "You know, I wanted to be a ninja for a while when I was little, but I ended up deciding not to. Some of the kids in my class - at a civilian school, mind you - transferred out to go there, but a lot of them ended up coming back, complaining about how difficult it was. I'm not like, lazy or anything, but I'm also not super athletic, so I realized then and there that I was definitely better off at Ichiraku."
Once she finished talking, Ayame washed her hands off on a dry rag and turned around to face Rei. "My dad probably would've had a heart attack if I'd kept with it," she said with a laugh, leaning against the sink's counter. "I mean, he would've let me, and it'd be pretty cool to learn all that ninja stuff, but I'm over it."
"Plus," she said, leaning forwards and whispering like she was sharing a secret, "I've noticed that most ninjas are really weird." She pulled backwards, and an odd look passed across her face. "There's this one guy who, I kid you not, his outfit is entirely made of green spandex , and he wears these godawful, orange leg warmers. Whenever he's here, he goes on and on about his 'rival,' who's apparently very 'cool and aloof' or something. You'd think he had a thing for this guy with the way he talks about him, but I'm pretty sure he's just really into this rivalry, which might be worse, honestly."
Is there something about me, Rei wondered absently, that makes others inclined to spill their life stories?
"But enough about me and our customers," Ayame began after taking a long breath, "What's up with you? Made any friends yet?"
Rei's face became carefully blank.
Ayame laughed. "Oh, come on. There's gotta be someone you can at least tolerate , right?"
Well, he could be found with Kiba more often than not, but that was more because the boy would not leave him alone , rather than because he was making any attempt at interacting with him.
He'd even tried walking away more than once. Kiba had either followed him, still chattering obliviously, or just dragged him back. He was beginning to think that Kiba really did believe that Rei was a dog.
Ayame slammed her hand on the table, catching Rei off guard. "So there is someone!" she exclaimed triumphantly. When Rei's expression spasmed between disgust and bewilderment, she snorted. "Better keep them around," she advised with a teasing smile, "They'd have to be a saint to handle a grump like you."
Rei's eye twitched, and before he could say something he regretted, he stuffed ramen into his mouth, pointedly ignoring Ayame's laughter as he chewed.
Kiba's face scrunched up, briefly, before he sneezed.
" Jeez , it's cold," he complained, rubbing his red-tinted nose. Then, after looking back at Rei, he huffed. "I shoulda brought something warmer…"
Rei decided not to point out that he'd been complaining about his mother trying to force him to wear a coat earlier that morning.
"Hey, do ya think—" he began, only to cut himself off, head jerking to the left. His brows furrowed, and he pressed his lips together. "You hear that…?"
Rei glanced to the side, breaths frosting over. Through strained ears, he heard obnoxious laughter and the sound of someone crying.
Oh god no , he thought, then suppressed a sigh when he saw the suddenly determined look in Kiba's eye.
"Let's go check that out," Kiba said, and without waiting for a response, started marching off towards the source of the sounds. Rei considered, briefly, staying in place, but after Kiba turned to shoot him an impatient look, he reluctantly followed behind.
"Hey!" Kiba barked out the moment they breached the treeline, "The hell are you doing over here?!"
Rei grimaced as a group of kids - older than them, though he didn't know how much - looked over, sizing them up.
"Who are you ?" a boy with a backwards cap countered, crossing his arms.
Kiba stepped forwards, scowling. "Kiba Inuzuka. And you better stop whatever the hell you're doing before I beat your asses!"
The three boys looked between each other before breaking out into laughter.
"You? Beat us?" the boy with the cap asked.
"You're just a brat!" the tall one with earmuffs chimed in, snickering.
"Oh yeah?" Kiba said with a growl, "Let's see if you still think that when I'm done with you!" Then, as an afterthought, "Rei, stay outta this!"
The boy launched himself forwards immediately afterwards, catching Cap off guard with a fist to a face that had him reeling back, clutching his nose.
"You're gonna pay for that!" he shouted, though it sounded far more nasally, leaving Rei to wonder if Kiba had broken his nose.
"You wish!" Kiba snarled, lowering himself to the ground and tackling him to the ground. Cap yelped, but was saved from being hit again when the largest one grabbed Kiba and pulled , allowing Cap to knock his fist into his lip.
Earmuffs moved towards them, looking like he intended to help gang up on Kiba, and despite himself, Rei stepped forwards, catching him by the elbow.
Kiba, before Earmuffs could do more than turn around, scowled and brutally elbowed the largest boy in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him stumbling backwards.
"You're insane!" Cap shouted, still holding his nose with a blood-speckled hand.
"You started it!" Kiba shot back, wiping his bloodied lip with the back of his hand. "Now get the hell out of here already!"
Cap hesitated, but after his eyes flicked down to the hands cupping his nose, he scowled and backed away. "We'll get you!" he promised. Earmuffs turned to shoot Rei a nasty look, but it turned into something like horrified surprise, and he was quick to jerk away and join his friends in running away.
"You can try!" Kiba shouted after them, only untensing a full minute after they left. "What assholes," he finally muttered, taking in deep breaths. His eyes flicked towards Rei, inspecting him, before drifting towards the girl - Hinata Hyuuga - who'd stood up halfway through the fight. "You okay?"
"I— um…" she let out, staring at Kiba like a deer caught in headlights. "You…"
Kiba frowned, moving towards her. "Hey, they didn't hurt you, did they?"
"Uh… n-no," Hinata replied, guilt washing over your features. "B-but your l-lip's bleeding…"
"Hah?" Kiba let out, running a thumb over his split lip. "It's fine," he said, waving her off. "Barely even hurts. I'll be fine in no time."
Hinata's eyes flicked between him and Rei. "A-are you s-sure?"
"Positive," Kiba replied with a sharp-toothed grin. "So hey, how come they were messin' with you anyway?"
Hinata's face immediately crumpled, and Kiba blinked, taken aback.
"Hey—"
"M-my eyes," Hinata interrupted, then flushed, lowering her gaze. "T-they… they were m-making fun o-of them…"
Kiba's expression twisted. "What the hell kinda reason is that?" he asked with a scoff.
"T-they said that t-they were c-creepy," Hinata mumbled, fidgeting with their hands.
"Well then they're idiots," Kiba declared with certainty. "Your eyes are just fine. They're just jealous because they know you're better than them."
Hinata's head jerked up. "W-what?" she blurted out, then looked mortified. "N-no… I'm n-not better than anyone."
" Anyone's better than a bully," Kiba replied without hesitation. "And while it was pretty lame that you didn't fight back—" Hinata winced, looking disappointed in herself "—at least you didn't run away, either."
Hinata blinked at him. "B-but…"
"No buts," Kiba said, cutting her off. "I'm sick of all this self… uh…"
"Self-deprecating," Rei provided dryly.
"Yeah, that kinda talk," Kiba said, waving his hand. "That's why they were pickin' on you, you know. Because they know you'll take it. Ya can't let them get to you like that."
Rei found himself reluctantly amused by Kiba's bullheaded way of conversation, though equally as annoyed since it was the very reason he was forced into a tenuous friendship with the Inuzuka.
He paused at that thought, thinking of Ayame's words from a week or so ago.
…Goddamn it.
"I…," Hinata let out helplessly, clearly unsure of how to respond.
"Well anyways, it was nice to meet you, uh—" he cut himself off, looking at the girl.
"Oh, um… H-Hinata."
"Hinata," Kiba echoed with a fanged grin, pointing at his lip. "See you later, yeah? I gotta get my sister to heal this."
She remained silent, and Kiba shrugged and moved towards Rei.
"I saw that you grabbed that guy before he could get me," he said, putting his hands behind his neck. "Thanks."
Rei looked away, humming in response.
Kiba, huffed, but before he could say a word, there was a crunch of snow from behind them.
"T-thank you very much!" Hinata called out, bowing.
Kiba turned, blinking, before letting out a laugh. "Ah jeez, don't bow. It was no problem!"
Rei glanced at Kiba's sheepish grin and suppressed a sigh.
So much for staying away from canon characters.
A/N:
i hope this chapter isn't as horribly awkward as i think it is
but yeah, certain interactions and scenes will be totally different both because of Kiba's presence and Naruto's lack of one
since Rei is nothing like the boisterous, ever-friendly Naruto, he's not really inclined to do things like rush in to help others, become instant friends with people, abuse the heck out of talk-no-jutsu, etc.
that isn't to say, though, that he won't be doing any of those things; Rei's a bit of a pessimist, but he's not like, evil or anything. not even morally gray, really. maybe light gray, if that's a thing
anyway!
CH4:
A few weeks after starting at the Academy, Rei visits Ichiraku for the first time since he went with the Hokage because he ran out of easily-made foods and he can't cook to save his life. He and Ayame talk for a while while he eats his surprisingly good ramen. Sometime later (in February; the Academy started in January), Kiba and Rei are walking around when they hear someone crying, and they go check it out. They find Hinata being bullied by a group of boys (this is the scene from 'The Last' movie, btw) and Kiba immediately decides that he needs to teach the boys a lesson. As a clan kid (and from a clan that literally specializes in taijutsu), he doesn't have much trouble, unlike Naruto, and Rei barely has to do anything except keep him from being ganged up on. After the boys run off, Hinata thanks Kiba, and Rei realizes that maybe he's not as distant/uncaring as he likes to imagine.
sooooo, basically...
Rei's still emo, but yikes, now he actually cares about some people (especially Kiba, who he's just been 'following around reluctantly') and is horribly unamused by that fact
anyways
Thanks for reading! 3
