Author's Notes: Thank you so much to Tektak and catnip689 for the reviews, and everyone who put this story on their story alert or favorites as well! Now, to start off, I can't apologize enough for the wait for this chapter! I knew life was about to get busy, I had no idea it would get this busy. That being said, one chapter a week might be a little difficult to do right now. However, I will promise one thing: I will not stop writing this story until it is finished. I don't care how long it takes, or how many chapters it takes, or anything else, it will be finished. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but the wonderful thing about fanfiction is that it can be changed and redone, so you guys will have to tell me what you think. I'm going to say now that not everything is going to go exactly like the real story. This doesn't mean I'm going to be changing around main plot points, everything is still going to basically be the same, but the very small things might be changed. This is so I can make an interesting story that stays true to the original story, but doesn't feel like I'm just retelling it with Haruka watching. I didn't get to do much characterization with the main characters in this chapter, but I wanted to get them all introduced so some action can start happening. As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. That's enough talking for now, please enjoy!
Chapter 4:
Questions
Much to Haruka's surprise and relief, this "Ichiraku Ramen" place actually was very close to the shop. In fact, you could even see Miyu's father busily tending to a line of customers if you were standing a few feet from the entrance. Miyu took the liberty of ordering for the three of them herself, which was met with no complaints on Haruka's part. If she's gonna pay she can order whatever she wants, I'm willing to eat anything at this point. As if agreeing, a low grumble sounded from Haruka's stomach. She smiled sheepishly when Miyu shot her an amused glance, and looked down in embarrassment. The shop owner gave a short chuckle as he went to start their orders.
I thought we were supposed to be in this together! She sent an accusing glare down at her stomach. Maybe I just wont feed you, huh? That'd show you who's boss. Almost on cue, it growled back at her. She flinched, coughing loudly in an attempt to cover it up. Miyu turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "So what do you guys sell exactly?" Haruka changed the subject, doing her best to hide the embarrassed blush that had made its way to her cheeks. Miyu took pity on her, shrugging as she turned back to the counter.
"A lot of things. We sell anything interesting we find while traveling. We're known for selling some of the finest kunai and shuriken, so we do most of our business in hidden villages." Haruka looked at her curiously. "'Hidden villages'?" Miyu nodded as the owner returned with their order.
Miyu thanked him and payed, reaching out in an attempt to grab everything. "Woah, hey!" Haruka said quickly, putting her questions about these 'hidden villages' on the back burner for the time. "Let me carry some of that!" Miyu gave Haruka a determined look, but the older girl shook her head. "You're going to spill everything like that."
"How far are you two going?" The owner chimed in, the two girls looked at him in surprise. "Oh- um- not very far. Less than a block that way." Miyu pointed in the direction of the store and the man smiled. "Well if it's that close then I could give you two a hand." He suggested, shrugging. Miyu waved a hand in front of her face, shaking her head. "No, no! We'll be fine. Besides, you can't just leave your shop, can you?" The owner laughed, already taking their ramen back. "I'm sure this place can survive without me for a minute or two. Right, Ayame?" A girl of about 17 poked her head out from the kitchen area, nodding. "I think I can manage this place that long." She said, giving a warm smile. "It's been a slow day, anyways."
"Then it's settled! I'll get these packed up, you two just wait out there." Miyu thanked him a few more times before he could disappear into the kitchen. The two moved back outside and waited patiently, both very happy for the help.
The small restaurant owner didn't take long, coming around the back with the ramen packed safely in a case for transporting. "Alright, lead the way!" Miyu and Haruka nodded, turning in the direction of the shop, intent on heading that way.
However, a flash of brown at the edge of her field of vision caught Haruka's attention suddenly, and she turned quickly only to stumble a little when something small and furry rushed towards the three, winding and weaving around their legs, almost causing them all to trip. "What the-?"She looked down, regaining her balance. "A cat?" Miyu asked, watching the feline with an confused expression. Haruka crouched down and the cat stopped in mid-step, its ears pulled back and a distressed look on its face.
Haruka smiled, trying her best to not scare it any further as she offered her hand, palm-up, for it to smell. It hesitated, taking a few steps back. "I wont hurt you." She told it. Not that it has any idea what you're saying, Haruka. It watched her for a few moments before slowly it walked forward, sniffing at her hand. She grinned, petting it slowly.
She examined the cat as she began scratching under its chin. It was a dark brown with lighter brown stripes running from its forehead to its tail, and a small red ribbon was tied in a bow around its right ear. She brought her other hand over and gently lifted the cat up off the ground and into her arms, happy when it didn't protest. "What do you think it's doing here?" She asked, turning to Miyu and the store owner- who had thankfully not spilled the ramen everywhere when they were assaulted by the cat. They both shrugged. "Maybe it's a stray?" Miyu suggested, but the man shook his head. "It looks too clean and well-fed to be a stray, but it does look strangely familia-"
"HOLD ONTO THAT CAT!" A female voice shouted, causing the three to look in the direction the sound was coming from. They were surprised and a little startled to find three strange-looking kids barreling towards them- at least they were strange-looking by Haruka's terms, the other two people standing next to her didn't really seem to share her opinion. Haruka looked down when she felt the cat in her arms start to squirm. The cat twisted itself around to look at the three people approaching and its ears immediately pulled back to lay flat against its head. It jumped, latching onto Haruka's shirt with its claws and climbing up onto her shoulder before she could protest. "Ow!" She flinched as she felt the cat's claws dug into her shoulder. See if I ever pet you again! She thought bitterly, watching out of the corner of her eye as the cat arched its back and hissed, looking straight at the three rushing towards them.
Speaking of, the three people had reached them already, nearly knocking over the poor owner in the process of getting to Haruka. She braced herself, putting her hands up in front of her body protectively just in case they didn't- or couldn't- stop.
A sigh of relief was released when they did stop, just short of crashing into her, all three of them panting heavily. There were two boys and one girl, all looking to be about the same age as Haruka. The one closest to her- the girl- spoke first. "How did you catch her?" Haruka looked at her in confusion. "I-uh... What?" Her hair is pink! "We've been after her for hours! What did you do to catch her?" It's pink! "Oh, you mean the cat?" Pink! She pointed to the cat on her shoulder, who had begun to growl softly, and the pink-haired girl nodded. "I... Picked her up?" She responded, not really knowing what else to say.
The three gave her a long stare, blinking. "You just 'picked her up'?" One of the boys asked with a blank expression. His hair was blond and spiky, and his his outfit was... Interesting. Then again, all their outfits were pretty interesting. "Yes? She wasn't that hard to calm down." Haruka said, shifting uncomfortably when the cat dug its claws deeper into her shoulder. "She got scared when she saw you guys coming, though." She added with a wince. Miyu took note of Haruka's pained expression and she took the cat, gently prying its claws from her skin. The cat's ears still lay flat as Miyu slowly moved to hand it to the pink-haired girl, although it didn't struggle. That is, it didn't struggle until the blond-haired boy jumped in front of the pink-haired girl, arms outstretched and a huge grin on his face as he went to grab the cat.
The cat lost it. It lunged, claws sinking into the poor boys face as it hissed and growled, scratching at him as he cried out in pain. Miyu retreated back until she was standing next to Haruka again, a safe distance away. The pink-haired girl gave an exasperated sigh, using a hand to rub her temple as she shook her head. It's almost like she expected that to happen. After a moment she turned to Haruka, holding up a hand. "My name's Sakura Haruno." Haruka continued to watch as the boy wrestled with the cat. Shouldn't someone do something? "I'm... Haruka Suzuki..." She said, only half paying attention as she took Sakura's hand and shook it. Sakura then turned her attention to Miyu, who took her hand and shook it as well. "Miyu Aragaki." She smiled warmly. Seriously, am I the only one concerned that the cat is going to win this fight?
Haruka cleared her throat and took a step forward, bending down and carefully retrieving the cat from the boy's face. She held it at arms-length, watching as it clawed at the air, trying to get back to him. The blond-haired boy clutched his bleeding face, glaring at the cat. "Owww." Sakura turned her attention to him, scowling. "It was your own fault for scaring it, Naruto!" She scolded, her hands on her hips. The cat had finally given up trying to attack, but was still staring at this "Naruto" boy with a look of pure hatred. Which was an interesting expression to see a cat making.
"Why were you looking for the cat, anyways?" Miyu asked. Sakura turned and smiled as Haruka offered her the feline. She took it slowly, cradling the cat in her arms. "A mission." She said simply. 'A mission'? What are they, secret agents? "Oh, so you're ninja!" Miyu said. Ha! Good one, Miyu. I like that better than secret agents. Haruka looked around, a grin on her face. However, when no one looked nearly as amused by Miyu's comment as she was she quickly wiped the grin off. What the hell?
Sakura nodded, clearly not finding any humor in what Miyu said. "Yep! Like I said, my name's Sakura Haruno. This-" She moved to the side and gestured at the boy who had been standing silently the whole time. "-is Sasuke Uchiha." Haruka could have sworn she started swooning when she said his name. He inclined his head in a halfhearted greeting and made a noise that sounded like a soft "hm". Not much of a talker, huh? Haruka thought to herself. Both her and Miyu smiled and nodded in greeting. "And this-" She moved to the other side and gestured to the boy still sitting on the ground."-as I'm sure you've already figured out by now, is-!" The boy jumped to his feet and struck an interesting pose all in one fluid motion. "Naruto Uzumaki!"He declared, a huge smile that almost reached from ear-to-ear plastered on his face. His energy vaguely reminded Haruka of a certain black-haired girl. Miyu nodded and Haruka smiled, unsure.
"It's nice to meet you all." Naruto leaned forward as she spoke, making Haruka feel uncomfortable as he looked at her with a strange expression. "Um... Do I have something on my face?" She asked when he only continued to stare her down. His eyes squinted and he furrowed his brow. "What's wrong with your voice?"
"Naruto!" Before Haruka could blink, Sakura had already punched the boy in the head hard enough to make both her and Miyu flinch. She still held the cat with one arm, and Haruka noticed that it almost seemed to have a pleased expression on its face when it saw Naruto's pain. "Ow! Sakura-chan, what was that for?" He whined, holding a hand to where she had hit him. "Naruto, you don't just say that to someone! It's rude!" Naruto looked at her as he felt where a giant goose-egg was already starting to form. "It's not like I said it sounded weird, or anything!" Sakura looked like she was going to hit him again if the conversation went on much longer, so Haruka decided it would be best to chime it. "It's fine,really!" They both turned to look at her. "I'm not from around here, I guess the accent is pretty noticeable."
"Really? Where are you from?" Naruto asked, looking interested. Haruka didn't know what to say. When she told Kenta where she was from he didn't seem to have ever heard of it before, and he was a traveling salesman. She highly doubted any of these people knew where it was. "You've probably never heard of it, it's very far away."She told them, not really knowing if it was true, but she was starting to feel like it was a safe assumption. Naruto seemed to want to press the issue, but a stern voice stopped him from doing so. "Naruto, you're lucky I didn't spill anything because of you or that cat, but the ramen is going to get cold if we sit here chatting much longer." The owner of Ichiraku piped up for the first time, startling Naruto.
"Teuchi-san!" Naruto grinned, apparently forgetting all about the pain he had been experiencing from Sakura's punch. "If you've completed your mission shouldn't you be getting back to your sensei?" He asked him, Sakura gasped. "That's right! We forgot to tell Kakashi-sensei!" Quickly moving her hair out of the way, she revealed a small wireless radio that rested in her ear and had a small microphone on it.
"Kakashi-sensei?" She said, speaking into the microphone. "We were able to locate and capture Tora, we'll be bringing her back now." She turned back when she was finished, nodding to Miyu and Haruka. "Thank you for all the help, but we have to be going now." Miyu and Haruka both nodded, waving as the three took off.
"Alright, let's hurry before the ramen gets cold!" Teuchi said when the three were gone and Miyu nodded, both of them turning and resuming the walk towards the shop. Haruka stood there for a moment, staring in the direction that the three had left, not quite able to make sense of everything. What the hell just happened?
When they arrived at the shop the line that had formed earlier had died down. Kenta was helping the last of the costumers, but took a moment to thank Teuchi when the girls explained how he had helped them. Teuchi waved it off, saying it wasn't a big deal, before heading back to his restaurant.
Kenta told the two girls to find something to do for a few minutes while he finished up with the last of the customers. Miyu protested, saying that the ramen was going to get cold, but her father gave her a 'too bad' look and shrugged, returning to his work.
The girls took to looking through what Kenta had put up for sale in order to pass the time. The shop itself was little more than a few crates placed side-by-side with a large sign reading "Aragaki Goods" stuck into the ground next to it, but the sheer amount of things for sale more than made up for what the place lacked. Jewelry, clothes, books, and and other miscellaneous items covered the crates entirely. Haruka noticed piles of kunai and shuriken on one crate and chose to stay at least a few fee away at all times, eying the weapons with distrust. Shouldn't those be in a locked glass case or something? Some kid is going to poke his eye out with one of those things and they're going to be looking at one hell of a lawsuit.
The clothing didn't interest her much either, all of it looking even more strange than what the villagers were wearing- if that was even possible. She paged through a few books, not really taking in any information, then she moved to a small stack of scrolls. She took the top one, carefully unrolling and examining it. She assumed it was some kind of map, but of what she had no idea. It certainly didn't look like any map she had ever seen before. She recognized symbols for fire, earth, wind, water, and lightening, but the rest of the designs that were on it only served to confuse her further. One symbol in particular caught her eye, it looked a little like a whirl with a triangle coming off of it and Haruka couldn't help but feel like she had seen it before.
Kenta finished up with his last customer, having made another successful sale. Haruka glanced up for a moment then back down at the map. Wait. Her eyes shot back up, looking at the man who had just purchased a scroll from the shop. That's... She looked backed down at the map to confirm it, then back up again. The symbol on those forehead protectors?
For a long while she didn't know what to say or think, she just stood there looking dumbstruck. Then- all at once- everything hit her. Kunai, shuriken, hidden villages, ninja, fire, water, earth- everything. It was all impossible. It had to be. And yet here it all was, and no amount of denial could ever hope to help her dismiss it. She slowly turned to Miyu, map still in hand, and attempted to find the words she wanted to say. At first nothing came out, her mouth moving silently as she tried-in vain - to form a coherent sentence. Miyu watched her with concern.
What could she say? How could she say it? Would she be able to accept the answers she got? What if she couldn't? What if-? And then she stopped, letting her mouth say the first thing it wanted it.
"Where the hell am I?"