Tekaimaru was uneasy sitting in the present of the three shinobi; her eyes adverted to the rice she was eating, plain and white. She ate every bite with a little bit of silence and nervousness, the three didn't speak, didn't move, just watched her. "I'm not on exhibit here; quit gawking." She snapped quickly.
"A venom-lined tongue, just like Orochimaru." Jiraiya commented, he then turned away, "except his were funny." Jiraiya picked up a scroll and opened it; he pulled a pen out of his pocket. "I have yet to write to the Hokage, asking if she would accept you, I will write that letter if and only if you can prove you don't have any bad intentions."
"I don't I just want someplace safe to live." She commented before eating another bite. "I've been an experiment since I was little, all I want now is to get away from that, not be put up on a cutting slab again."
"Cutting slab?" Gaito asked, "what, were you fired?"
"Fired? I wish, I was hunted down for three days by the Kabuto, only to have him take pity on me and tell me to run. He doesn't fire you, he kills you." She said sourly and finished off the rice. She swallowed a little. "He had to make room for his new body… and threw me away. I was a star experiment, I was excellent… then I was just discarded like the rest, but Kabuto let me live because he knew I didn't want to come back and kill them, or the fact that I couldn't.
"Orochimaru switches bases every two months, I never left that base, and he abandoned it…" She sighed and looked down, "he told me I was special… and he just threw me out."
"That's what Orochimaru does." Jiraiya explained slowly. "Unless it'll make him longer, he doesn't care. Orochimaru is a villain, he uses everyone. Don't feel bad… One day Orochimaru will get what he deserves."
Tekaimaru stood up. "Excuse me…" She said and ran down the hall back to her room. The door slammed.
"Poor creature," Mitsubi said turning to Gaito and Jiraiya, "I don't think she'll ever be suitable for society." Mrs. Mitsubi grabbed her purse and pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in her mouth. She moved her hand quickly lighting her finger tips on fire and moved her thumb to the end and shook off the fire. "What are you going to do with her, Jiraiya."
"I don't know, did you hear the way she spoke about Orochimaru, it sounds like she was just dumped by her boyfriend or something. That type of attachment can be dangerous to Konoha."
"Maybe we can find her someone who can control her?" Gaito suggested, "if we can find someone she listens too then maybe there is some hope for her."
Kimichi was permanently attached to Adji's leg. She refused to let go so Adji had to step carefully when walking around with the babe clinging on her leg. "So, do children normally do this?"
"Well, she does." Nershii said coming out of the kitchen with Naruto who was carrying cookies. "They're still hot, but you can eat them if you want though I'd wait a minute or two. Thanks for watching Kimichi while we baked them, Adji-chan."
"Hai hai, you're welcome." Adji said trying to pull Kimichi off her. Adji quit and sighed, "I guess I'm her favorite new person, eh?"
"Looks like it." Naruto said bending down and staring at Kimichi, "hey, I have an idea." Naruto put his hands together and transformed into a giant teddy bear, "come get mister bear!"
The child looked at him quickly, stuck her tongue out and giggled. Naruto changed back. "It was a try at least…"
There was a knock on the door, Naruto walked over and opened it, "Naruto, Adji, you're welcome back at the inn now." Ms. Hiyate said handing Naruto a piece of candy. Adji made a pout-like face a the child, Kimichi smiled and began slapping her calf.
"Kimi-chan, come see Grandma!" Ms. Hiyate said and the babe left Adji's foot and crawled into the elder's arms. "Hello, Grandma, how goes everything?"
"Could be tons better, but, for now there's peace." Ms. Hiyate set the child back down. "Nershii, you don't need to come into work tomorrow until lunch. That baka Jiraiya has insisted on cooking breakfast."
Nershii looked worried, "all he can cook is ramen…"
"I know, but there's no telling that man otherwise! He's too damn stubborn!" Ms. Hiyate screamed passionately.
Tekaimaru sat on her floor and laid her hand on the wood, letting a thing of scales and teeth slid down. "I'm sorry to have you hidden for so long… I have some food, but not your preferred."
Tekaimaru convulsed quickly and let out a small ball of condensed rice fall from her mouth. The snake looked at it quickly then turned to her, sticking it tongue out. "I'm sorry; it's all I could spare."
The snake, seeming to understand unhinged its jaw and swallowed the ball whole, letting it slide down into its body. It then turned to the girl and let he pick it up, the snake crawling up around her neck circling it and staring her in the eye. "Don't worry, I promise, we will be home soon."
"Tori! There you are!" Ms. Mitsubi yelled grabbing him as he walked in. "Don't go out on your own here, go it? You could end up meeting an opposing shinobi confused by your presence."
"Hai Grandmother." He said quickly and sat down at the table where Naruto, Adji and Ms. Mitsubi were having Nershii's cookies.
"So, Naruto, how is Konoha, I haven't heard anything out of there since the attack by Orochimaru." She said taking up a cookie.
Naruto gulped down the bite of his. "I guess were doing as best as expected. I'm not really sure how we should be doing. The walls are repaired though."
"That's good. I remember when the walls were being built up shortly after the first Ninja war, I was four and my mother told me that Konoha was going to build a dome around it to offer maximum safety, but it figures we were wrong. We copied Konoha, and so did the other villages, we all have walls now, the Wind especially." She said bite a little into it and handed it to Tori, "its sugar."
"Ah," he said and took it eating it in one bite.
Adji looked at him, "hungry much?"
"What?"
"You swallowed it in one bite!" Naruto said staring at him. "That's cookie abuse!"
"Now that's a little extreme…" Adji said, Naruto shrugged and kept eating. "Anyway, abuse only counts towards living things. Oh well, I'm off to bed, see you all tomorrow." She said standing up and walking away with her arms behind her back.
"I guess these old bones need a rest too, Tori, you should get to bed as well." She said walking away. Tori stood up and bowed slightly. "Until our fight tomorrow." Tori left the room; Naruto sat there with the plate of cookies.
He grabbed the plate and shoveled the cookies into his mouth and burped. He laughed a bit and set the plate back down. He stepped out onto the porch, the pot was still burning.
