DreamXEscape: Thank you for reviewing narby321 : ) You kicked me back into gear for this chapter.

Again, tell me if I'm getting OOC with Shika or Choji. I can't fix that problem if I don't know about it. There will be some hints of romance in this chapter ;) Finally, I guess.

Onward with the story!

Shikamaru POV

What the Hell is wrong with me? I ask myself for the tenth time while kicking up dust on Grandma Michi's dirt pathway. I could've just let them find a place on their own. I'm sure they would've been fine… I could've led them to an place further away from my actual home for Kami's sake! But no, instead the first things that ooze out of my mouth are the most troublesome things I could get myself into.

I didn't even get a chance to go get ramen. Choji apparently realizes that too because I can feel his eyes boring holes into the back of my head.

"How much further are we going to walk?" The boyish one asks, walls up and obviously suspicious of me and Choji. So far, she's the bigger pain in the ass. The short, chubby one just tags along like a mute puppy.

I grunt and shove my hands in my pockets. "I told you the bed and breakfast was deep in the country. That's why the rooms are so cheap. Most people don't like walking this far to get to town." I actually don't mind it, gives me a chance to squeeze in some peace and quiet into my day.

"Uh huh…" Still on guard, she keeps her distance about two yards away. I feel a bit offended but I guess it's good for her to cautious, a smart move. Still… Do I come off as some sick pervert? "So who's this old lady? What's she like?"

I sigh, this girl is such a pain… Why can't she just shut up? "She's nice but she's not afraid to tell people what's on her mind. Her and her late husband built the place but after he died she started having trouble keeping it up. No one hardly ever comes around to stay." Might as well help Grandma Michi out, to her any money is good money.

She "hmphs" and crosses her arms. She mumbles something under her breath that sounds like, "So that's his ulterior motive…". Either way, whatever she said, she jogs up to walk in stride next to me. "So you're a Leaf shinobi, right?"

I let out a long breath, as if it's painful for me to talk to this girl, "Yeah."

The short, cubby one moves closer to the boyish one, obviously uncomfortable with not being close to her. The boyish one seems to be the alpha of the two. The ways she carries herself and speaks for both herself and her friend…it's obvious that she's the leader and the decision maker.

Her voice jolts me out of my thoughts, "Was is hard to become a shinobi? What did you have to do?"

Her curiosity on the subject of shinobi makes me question the girl's intentions. As a ninja, I'm trained not to judge anyone based on appearances… Even the most weak of people can wind up being the strongest. "That's confidential."

She scoffs and sees through my lie. "Be that way." She slows her pace and goes back to trailing a few yards away.

I decide to gather more information on the two to figure out if they're dangerous or not. "So who are you guys anyway?"

The tomboy eyes me wearily. "Name's Ami, this is my sister Mimo. We're from the Village Hidden in the Mist."

Something doesn't seem to fit and I look at her over my shoulder. "You don't look like Mist villagers, you're both too tan. That and your "sister" looks nothing like you."

She stops dead center in the middle of the road, "Mimo" running into her back. She glares at me with her big brown eyes. Her stare is so steady that I can see the gold flakes around her pupils. "My apologies for being different." She spits out acidly, "I thought that coming to the Leaf Village would make life a bit easier but I guess people around here are just as racist as they are at home." She's practically snarling at me now and I kind of feel like a jerk. "If you really must know my sister was adopted. My family took her in after her mother died during childbirth. We came to the Hidden Leaf Village to find jobs. Our family is desperate for money so they sent us here to find work. Our father is having a rough time supporting us, and my mother is pregnant with another baby. Otousan didn't want us to have to come all this way but we really need to save up as much money as we can before the baby is born." By now her eyes have a shine to them and she bites her lip.

Yup, I'm a jerk.

Guilt wells up in the pit of my stomach. "Sorry, it's my job to be cautious and protect the village from whatever threat there may be." I turn my back to the pair and keep walking. The sooner we get to Grandma Michi's the better.

I hear Ami snort. "So the village needs protection from two teenage girls? What are we going to do? Overrun the town with our hormones? Too much estrogen to handle? Are we going to go on a raid over unsupportive bras and the injustice of a period?"

I can hear the smirk in her voice and I can't help but a feel a grin crawl across my face. Choji blushes at the boldness of her words. More like I need to protect the village from yet another overly sarcastic woman…

Asami POV

Ugh, stupid village filled with stupid boys and stupid ninjas and WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH ALL THE BUGS! If we don't get to that stupid bed and breakfast within the next five minutes I'm going to go on a murderous rampa-

"We're here." Spike says just at the brink of my internal hissy fit.

"Finally!" I cup my hand over my mouth, not meaning to say that out loud, or so loudly for that matter. "Oops."

Spike snorts at my outburst and for some bizarre reason I blush in embarrassment at my actions. Mimo gives me a funny look and I glare at her, daring her to say a word. I can't really hold the glare and in the end I wind up smiling a goofy, lopsided grin at her. Her blue eyes glitter in amusement.

We walk up to a big two story wooden house. It's definitely bigger than I expected and can easily house a family of ten. At the same time I find that it's quaint and homely but something about it makes me smile. The dirt pathway suddenly becomes a stone pathway and I can see the frilly white curtains hanging in the window. "Huh… not bad…" At least it's not as run down as Spike suggested. From the way he spoke he made it sound as if this place was dilapidated.

"Why hi there, boys. Haven't seen you two in along while. Who're your friends?" My attention shoots to my left and I find a wrinkled old woman standing a little ways away, gardening hoe in one hand and a basket of vegetables in the other.

The boy named Choji smiles and waves, "Hey, Gramma Michi."

She smiles that sweet old lady smile that melts your heart a little. "Hi, sweet pea. Are you going to introduce me to these two beautiful young ladies or not?"

Choji blushes and Spike looks bored as always. I, however, grin. I like this woman already. Mimo's cheeks turn pink and she smiles softly.

Spike still has that irritated/constipated look on his face and replies, "They're from the Village Hidden in the Mist and they're looking for a place to stay."

Gramma Michi's grey eyes light up at that. "Good, good. Come on ladies, let's go inside to talk business. You boys can put your good health to use and finish picking the tomatoes and weeding the garden." She pushes the hoe to Spike, who glares at it like a snake. (A/N: I have no idea if people in Japan or Kohona, or wherever this series is based in, raises tomatoes. I'm just BS-ing that part obviously)

I snicker as Gramma Michi takes my hand and leads us towards the house. Spike glowers at me and I can't help but stick my tongue out at him from over my shoulder. "Bye guys, have fun!" I can hear Mimo giggling at my childishness.

Spike grumbles something that sounds like, "Women."

Choji just looks sad and says to Spike, "This wouldn't have happened if we had just gone to get ramen like we were supposed to…"

Gramma Michi hauls us inside and closes the door behind us. "I'm so happy you're interested in staying. I don't get many customers but every little bit helps." She smiles big at us, "Come, I'll make you girls some tea."

I feel a smile tug it's way onto my lips. "I'm glad we heard about the place. I was getting scared for a second there. It's not usually wise to trust two strange men to lead us somewhere deep in the woods." I laugh a bit nervously. Actually, it's downright stupid to trust strangers…

The old woman laughs and leads us into a large kitchen, "Those two boys are hardly any harm. Shikamaru is always bringing potential customers here, it's his way of trying to help an old hag like me." She pulls out two chairs for us and beckons us to sit.

"Shika-who?" I take my seat and lean back, grateful for the rest.

"Shikamaru Nara. The young man who brought you here. Skinny, spiky hair, bored expression imprinted on his face." She pours water in the tea pot.

"Oh!" I laugh even harder. She hit that nail on the head, for sure.

Mimo smiles and walks over to old woman. "M-may I h-help w-with the t-tea?"

Gramma Michi smiles even wider. "Of course you can, Sweetie. I'll leave it to you, the tea bags are in the cabinet above you, just take your pick." The old lady grabs her vegetable basket off the counter and plops down in the seat across from me. "So you're interested in staying a night?"

I nod and lace my fingers together on the table. "Yeah. We need to rest up somewhere tonight so we can start looking for jobs tomorrow." Actually, we need a place to stay for about a week but I only have enough money for one night's stay…

She takes out a small knife from the basket and start cutting away bad spots on the vegetables. "Young girls like you shouldn't out on the work field… May I ask where your family is?"

I decide to stick with the same bullshit story I've already quoted twice. "Mimo is the only family with me in Kohona, she's my adopted sister. We're from the Village Hidden in the Mist and we came here to make some money to take back home. Our mom is pregnant with another baby and Otousan can't seem to afford to support us all. He didn't want us to come here but Mimo and I figured that it was for the best. My name is Ami by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you and your sister, Ami." She smiles again and continues, "From the sounds of it you're in quite a pinch. You're going to need to find somewhere to stay for more than just a night." She's obviously getting at something.

I swallow hard. Telling this woman that we're dirt broke would mean that Mimo will find out that my little get-away scheme hasn't exactly been well thought out… "We… uh… We don't have enough money to afford the rent for an apartment. At least not at the moment, but once we get a job I'm sure we'll be able to manage."

She bites her lip and thinks hard for a moment. "Perhaps I can make a deal with you girls that can benefit us both."

I quirk an eyebrow at her in curiosity and lean my elbows on the table, "Oh really? And what would this deal consist of?"

She grins at me slyly. "Well, my husband passed a few years ago and I haven't been able to take care of this property very well without him. I can't do much because of my age and customers don't want to stay at a ratty bed and breakfast. You girls need a place to stay, right? Perhaps, you two could stay permanently and pay me with your labor."

Her proposal knocks me completely off guard. "What? Why would you do something like that to help strangers like us?"

Her eyes shoot open wide at my statement. "I just said that I would benefit from this just as much as you. All I would need you girls to do is help keep this place clean and fixed up and you could stay in one of the rooms. Now, this is much harder than it sounds. There are 12 rooms here, ten if you minus the room you two would stay in and mine. You'll have to clean, repair, trim the flowers, weed the garden, pick the vegetables, serve the guests, and advertise the business…" She stares at me with wise-owl eyes.

I cross my arms across my chest and ponder for a moment. This deal is a good one… too good almost. "And we can stay here for free if we help you out? No charges, to catches?"

She sets her knife and cucumber down and reaches over the table to take my hand in hers. "Ami… this place means more to me than life… It kills me to see this place break down and fall apart… I have no family to help me, and Shikamaru seems too busy to help anymore… I need help, you need help. We can help each other. If you girls do a good job and get some customers in here I'll even split the earnings with you. I have no use for money, I just want to see Michi's Bed and Breakfast flourish like it used to. This place doesn't need to die along with me."

I sigh, caught up in the sadness of her story, "I accept your offer." I smile wide at the old woman, "And if you need help cooking, Mimo can certainly give you a hand. She's not much of a talker but she can cook one hell of a meal."

This seems to excite Gramma Michi because her eyes shine and she smiles real big, almost proud. "Good! She can help me cook for the guests when they come around." She grips my hand gently and shakes. "We have a deal then."

"T-tea is d-done." Mimo places the tea tray in front of us and pours three cups full.

Gramma Michi takes a long drink and hums in approval. "Very good… Now we just have to wait for those boys and I'll make us all a nice lunch."

Choji POV (Love him to death but I can never seem to find many good OC stories about him. A shame, really… But here's a POV, just for him since I haven't done one in his eyes yet.)

"So many weeds…" I groan and wipe a thin layer of sweat off of my forehead. I jam the hoe into the ground and pull the dirt up, revealing the roots of the weeds. I bend down and pull them from the earth, tossing them into the ever-growing pile at the edge of the garden. This is all Shikamaru's fault…

"I know… How many tomatoes does one lady need?" He grumbles and plucks the last ripe tomato in the whole row. Shikamaru had already filled two baskets, now toping off his third. "Done."

I grab the last weed and toss it aside. "Done." I can feel the sweat adhering my shirt to my body. Not the best impression for the two young ladies inside, that's for sure…

Shikamaru slouches past me, all baskets in hand, grumbling to himself. "Troublesome… troublesome…. troublesome…"

I hear my stomach grumble as I pick up the giant pile of weeds and toss them into Gappa's pin, Gramma Michi's goat. "It's your fault…"

He growls and pushes a basket into my hand. "I know, that's what annoys me the most." He sighs, "Let's just get this stuff inside and get out of here."

I nod, ready to get this day over with as well. We both trudge inside, tired and drained from the labor and sun. However, the second I open the door I feel myself being reawakened by the scent of spices and meat. My stomach howls and I trudge ahead of Shikamaru, following my nose all the way into the kitchen.

As I round the corner, I stop in mid-step at the sight before me. Gramma Michi and Ami sit at the table, grinning and sipping tea like old friends while the young lady, "Mimo", stands attentive at the kitchen stove. Her copper hair is tied high with a bow, stray locks of red framing her face. Her blue eyes seem to glow with excitement as she bobs from pot to pot, tasting and adding spices and other ingredients.

I'm jerked back into reality by Shikamaru elbowing me in the side. I blush when I realize that Gramma Michi and Ami have been staring at me. Shikamaru just quirks an eyebrow at me and sets his two baskets on the counter, making his way over to the table and plopping himself down next to Gramma Michi.

Ami grins. "Hey, Mimo?" I blush even redder and panic rolls through me. She wouldn't tell Mimo that I was staring? Would she? "What's for lunch?"

I sigh in relief and set my basket of tomatoes on the counter as well. I can't help but watch Mimo as she works. She looks at Ami from over her shoulder and stutters, "Ch-chicken, r-rice, sw-sweet bread, stuffed t-tomatoes, a-and a pie."

Ami smiles even wider and leans back in chair, arms behind her head. "Awesome."

I glance at Mimo and decide that I don't want to sit at the table. I really don't feel like dealing with Shikamaru's looks and Ami's knowing grin. "Do you need any help?"

Mimo looks at me with those big blue eyes and smiles wide. "Y-yes. You c-can wash a-and core the t-tomatoes."

I smile at her and nod. "Okay." I can feel Shikamaru staring at my back as I work beside Mimo.

Shika POV

I can't help but stare at Choji's back while he helps the plump girl prepare lunch. What's gotten into him? "So… what's the plan?" I ask Ami, curious about whether or not the pair are going to stay.

She arches an eyebrow at me. "None of your business."

I'm taken aback by her reply. What a pain… She doesn't have to be all bitchy about it. Gramma Michi decides to reply to my question. "These young ladies are going to be staying with me for a while. We made a bit of a bargain that suits both our needs."

Ami smirks and her doe eyes glitter mischievously. "Things are falling together perfectly."

I lay my head down on the table, fighting off the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something was telling me that things weren't right here. I have a bad feeling that these two girls are going to be more trouble than their worth…

DONE! With this chapter at least. I hope you guys liked it : ) Again, if you have any complaints or even any opinions just shoot me a message or review.