Double Trouble!
By: SuperHyuga Yoshi-chan
Chapter 5: Yesterday's tommorow morning(done the right way!)
"AAH!" I exclaimed, jolting awake as I did so. "Huh? What? Oh..." I sighed in relief.
*Phew!* Hello reader! For a second there, I thought it was Saturday. Anyway, I had a terrible nightmare that my girlfriend thought I was cheating on her, I discovered a clone from hell, and I was tied up by him. Then, I had to escape and narrowly avoided having to inch all the way home thanks to Sauske and Naruto. Thank goodness that it was all a dream! Any minute now, Hanabai's annoying butt is going to run in and jump on my bed like she does every morning.
"Ahhhh...now there's nothing less to do but wait." I smirked.
And so I waited...
And waited...
And still, waited...
"Okay...i'm going to go downstairs now." I said to nobody in particular.
I walked down the stairs steadily; while butterflies started to hatch out of their cocoons in my stomach.
"Hey Hanabi," I spoke up as soon as I got in the kitchen. "How come you didn't wake me up?"
"It's Saturday," She replied. "And last time I checked, you asked me not to ever wake you up on Saturdays."
My eyes widened in realization. The butterflies in my stomach exploded into elephants. I walked to the refrigerator door and banged my forehead on it several times.
"No-*ouch!* this-*ouch!* shouldn't- *ouch!* be- *ouch!* happening- *ouch!* to- *ouch!* ME! AUGH! *OWIE!*" I slid down the fridge door.
"So...that means...that everything that happened yesterday was real!" I moaned. "OH-NO!"
"OH-YES!" Hanabi mocked me. "Listen Neji, you don't have to complain about me taking those stupid discount coupons of yours. After hearing you bitch and whine about your pathetic life; I decided to take pity on you. Just don't hide them under your bed next time."
"Why, you little bit-" I was about to cuss her out, but then I thought about it. My girlfriend was about to whisked away by some evil spawn, and here I am arguing with my spoiled baby cousin.
"Never mind, Hanabi. You're not worth cussing out. Not today, and not ever."
"Oh really?" She cocked her head to the side. "Are you scared of Father grounding you?"
"No." I said as I walked out. "I'm just being the bigger man."
{Ichi-Raku ramen shop}
After what happened earlier this morning, I decided to grab breakfast at Ichi-Raku's ramen shop. Now, let me tell you about Ichi-Raku's: it's the biggest joint in the whole of the Konoha Fire district of Japan. A lot of teens stopped by for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Sometimes, they just stopped by for a snack. Other times to chat and ask for advice.
The man who owns the shop is named Teuchi, and his daughter's name is Ayame. Many boys have tried to ask her out, but her father always scares them away. Most of them, anyway. She does have a boyfriend, and last I heard, they're pretty serious. Teuchi's been talking about the day he's going to walk her down the aisle; but in this economy I doubt it'll be anytime soon.
However, I was there just for a not-so-quick bite of their famous 'fish soba' ramen, some sweet tea, and a non-judgmental ear.
"Hey there, Hyuga!" Teuchi smiled at me. "How everything going?"
I sighed. "I wish I could say great, but..."
The elderly man frowned and gave me a cup of sweet tea. "You want the usual right?"
"Yeah. The usual." I sat down on a booth outside the serving window.
"Neji-kun, i've never been one to be nosy on purpose, but i've never seen you so glum before. Why are you so down?" Teuchi started to fix me a bowl a of fish soba ramen.
"Well...it all started yesterday morning..." I began.
So I told him everything that happened; even the details that weren't necessary. When I finished, he nodded his head in understanding.
"You know what, son? Maybe this boy is doing this out of spite or jealousy." He said.
"But why would that be? I've never seen Yoshiro in my entire life until yesterday; and he claims that he moved in two weeks ago. Tenten said that she saw 'me' making out with my own fangirls the day we broke up." I pulled on my hair. "I don't know know, Teuchi-san. It's just all so confusing. And out of all people, why me?"
"You know, maybe I can try to relate to what you're feeling." Teuchi handed me my usual bowl of fish soba ramen. However, it was different. I looked closer, and found that Teuchi-san had added some extra fish soba.
"I had an older brother that was always having a hard time. It's not that he wanted to get into trouble; it's just that trouble had a bad habit of finding him. This dissapointed my mother and father of course. He had different standards and views on success. He believed that you didn't have to be rich or famous to be successful. However, my parents believed in the exact opposite. They wanted him to become a lawyer and take over the Ichi-Raku law firm. He however, wanted to become a famous chef.
My parents breed their goals and dreams into me. They always favored me over him, and that pissed him off terribly. Whenever I told people what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say 'a lawyer.' Every time, he would give me a look of disgust. The looks soon turned into hate. He called me names like Little Puppet, just to try to get a rise out of me. He did everything he could to hurt me; not knowing how much I looked up to him." "Wow." I breathed.
"Yeah. Then, one day in college, I found out that he was cheating on his girlfriend with mine. He whisked her away, and i've neither seen or heard about them ever since. However, as soon as he left, it woke me up. My mom and dad were controlling my future. Afterwards, I changed my major to culinary arts. I've been happy about the decision ever since; but I still miss my brother. I never got to tell him how much I admired his free-spirited nature."
"Teuchi-san..." I whispered.
'Wow...who'd thought that the old man had such an interesting past?' I thought.
"I don't want to...I don't want to take over Hyuga Corp. I want to be a brain surgeon. I want to have Tenten. I want my life. I want to be happy. I want to be...me." I sighed. Then I looked up at Teuchi-san. "But how do I keep everything stable? I mean, it's like my life is unraveling at a million dreams and hopes per second!"
"Then go out there and take charge of your life. Go grab it back." Teuchi said to me. "You just can't sit back and expect a hospital to build itself. You have to build it, and one step at a time."
Everything that Teuchi said made sense to me. I was going to start building my life back up; starting with the foundation: getting Tenten back.
"Thanks Teuchi-san." I smiled for the first time those past two days. "Hey, to you have a to-go plate?"
"I knew you would say that." He pulled out a plastic 'Ichi-Raku's to-go plate' some eco-friendly chopsticks, and some napkins. He poured my tea into a paper cup. He then placed the items into a paper bag. "Here you go."
"Here. It's for last week and today." I handed him some yen.
"It's alright Neji. This one's on the house."
"But you said that last week." I said.
"Neji, in the cruel world that we live in today; the best payment I could ever receive is being able to pass down knowledge to the young people of your generation." He smiled.
"Thanks again." I picked up my bag of food.
Several blocks later, I decided to sit down on a park bench. I pulled out the plastic bowl of ramen and the chopsticks. I saw something that wasn't my tea, and wasn't my napkins. I pulled it out, and saw that it was 300 yen.
"*Heh! Heh!* Good old Teuchi-san. Sometimes, I think the only reason he wants us to bring our troubles to him is so that he can put some extra yen in our pockets. But then again, that's just me." I smirked.
Something about this day was telling me that it got started on the right foot.