Author's Notes: Wow, this past month has been busy! Thankfully I was able to find some free time this week to write this chapter. Next chapter is where the action finally starts, so I'll try to get that one written and out as soon as possible. Thank you to esmeralda kitty cat, Eternal Cat Moon, and Quelara for the reviews! Also, thank you to everyone who put this story in their favorites or on story alert. As always, constructive criticism is very much appreciated. Please enjoy!
Chapter 6:
Learning
"Full~!" Haruka exhaled, patting her satisfied stomach lightly as she leaned back. Miyu eyed her with a smug grin. "Well? I told you this place was the best. I was right, wasn't I?" Haruka rolled her eyes at the younger girl's 'told-you-so' attitude. "Yeah, yeah. You were right." Miyu smirked triumphantly, leaning back like Haruka had done. "As long as you admit it." While she didn't like the smug satisfaction it gave the younger girl for her to admit it, Haruka did have to agree that Yakiniku Q had been a wonderful choice for their meal. The food was both delicious and cheap, who could complain? Haruka had definitely eaten more than her fill.
"Do you think we should get a little more?" Miyu asked thoughtfully as she stared down at the empty plates on the table. Haruka shot her an incredulous look. "You want more? You had more than I did!" Miyu smiled sheepishly, shrugging. "I'm a growing girl?" Haruka snorted, crossing her arms. "And I'm not? I guess I forgot that girls stop growing when they turn thirteen." She told her, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Without missing a beat Miyu responded, nodding her head. "That's all right, I understand. You start to forget things when you get old." Haruka laughed. "Touché, my friend."
"What?" Miyu asked, confused by the expression Haruka had chosen to use. "Oh, right. It's just something people say when someone has a good comeback." Miyu looked a little confused, but still nodded. Note to self: Don't use expressions, no one is going to understand you. Just one more of those things that she was going to have to get used to. She wondered for a moment if there were any sayings there that were similar to what she had back home, but before she could ask about it a soft but sharp cry from Miyu brought her back.
"Wha-?" She yelped, startling Haruka. "What's wrong?" Miyu immediately moved back from the table, getting on her hands and knees as she peered under it. Haruka watched her for a moment before glancing around the restaurant, silently praying that Miyu hadn't made a big enough scene to draw attention. "Well, well! Hello~!" Miyu sang as she moved forward and reached out under the table. Haruka cleared her throat and shifted awkwardly. "Uh, Miyu?"
Miyu retracted after a moment, pulling something with her. "Look what I found!" The younger girl grinned broadly as she held up something for Haruka to see. What the hell? Was the only thing she could think as she examined the white ball of fluff that Miyu held up for her. "Is that... A dog?" As if in response the small white dog let out a short bark. Apparently we just attract animals. She thought with a dead-pan expression. Are pets even allowed in here? Haruka leaned forward, inspecting the dog with squinted eyes.
The dog's ears had large brown patches on either one, and its' nose was a dark brown, with the rest of its' body being solid white. She eyed the dog suspiciously and glanced at Miyu, who still had a huge grin plastered to her face. "Why is there a dog in here?" Miyu shrugged and turned the dog to face her, not listening to Haruka anymore. "You're so cute~!" She cooed gently, clearly enamored with the beast.
"Hey, Akamaru!" The sharp shout made both girls jump, turning to find a boy about Haruka's age standing a few feet from their table, hands on his hips. He scowled, narrowing his eyes at the small dog in Miyu's grasp. "What'd I tell you?" The puppy pulled its' ears back, whimpering pitifully as it looked up at the boy. It brought the phrase 'using those puppy-dog eyes' to a whole new level. "That's not going to work on me and you know it. You know the only way they allow you in here is if you promise to keep away from the other customers." The dog let out a yip in response.
He's talking to it like it understands what he's saying. Haruka blinked slowly as she watched the exchange go on in front of her, not really sure what to make of it. She took to examining the boy more closely while he continued to scold the puppy. He had on dark gray pants that reached to his calves, a fur-lined hoodie that nearly covered up the all-too-familiar forehead protector that he wore, and on his cheeks he had red markings that vaguely reminded her of fangs. Haruka made a mental note to ask Miyu about the headband later, curious as to why she had been seeing it on so many people.
"So this is your dog then?" Miyu asked, pulling Haruka back out of her thoughts. The boy blinked as though this was the first time he was actually noticing them. He gave Miyu a lopsided, toothy grin after a moment and nodded his head. "His name's Akamaru." He began, and then gestured to himself with his thumb. "And I'm Kiba Inuzuka." Miyu smiled and held up Akamaru for him to take, having been holding him the whole time. "I'm Miyu Aragaki." She said as he took the small dog. "And this is Haruka Suzuki." She nodded her head to Haruka who gave a polite smile and nod in greeting, which Kiba returned.
Akamaru gladly returned to his master, immediately jumping up and climbing onto Kiba's right shoulder. Kiba glanced at his dog and gave another toothy grin, scratching him lightly behind an ear with his hand. "I hope Akamaru didn't cause any trouble?" It came out as more of a question when he turned back to the two girls. Miyu shook her head, still smiling. "Not at all!" Kiba seemed relieved to hear this, and looked to be about to say something when a voice from behind stopped him. "Kiba, we're leaving!" Kiba spun around and smiled at the woman who had called to him.
Haruka was surprised when she saw the woman, recognizing her as the one they delivered the package to the other day. Two kids stood next to her, one male and the other female. "Sensei!" Kiba responded before turning back to Miyu and Haruka. "Sorry, I gotta go." He told them quickly. "It's fine." Miyu waved it off. "It was nice meeting you." She was always so formal and pleasant when she met someone. Haruka, on the other hand, just sat there in awkward silence, not quite knowing what to say. Kiba was off with a wave, leaving the two to try to make sense of the strange encounter.
"Well..." Haruka cleared her throat when they were alone again. "That was interesting." Miyu shrugged, obviously more used to that sort of thing than Haruka was. "And what's with those forehead protectors?" Miyu stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "Oh, right, I guess you wouldn't know about them. They're called 'hitai-ate'. They give them to ninja once they graduate from the academy, so only genin-level or higher ranked ninja have them." Haruka was almost sorry she asked. Almost half the village has those headbands! She thought to herself, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable staying in a village with so many trained assassins.
"Yeah, geh-neen. Right. Those guys." She said after a moment, causing Miyu to almost face-palm. "You have a lot to learn, onee-san." Haruka laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. I guess I do.
After their meal had been paid for Miyu decided to drag Haruka back to the apartment, promising her that she was going to teach her everything she needed to know. When they arrived there Miyu immediately set to work searching through one of the many sacks that Kenta had left lying around when he unpacked his bag. Haruka took a seat on the couch, waiting patiently for Miyu to get whatever it was that she needed to show her.
"Here it is!" She announced, pulling out a large leather-bound book from a sack. She sat herself down next to Haruka on the couch as she opened it up, scanning through what looked to be the table of contents. "What is it?" Haruka asked, leaning over to get a good look at it. "A book we got a long time ago, haven't been able to sell it yet." Finding the section she wanted she began to thumb through the pages, being careful not to damage anything. "What's it a book about?"
Miyu gave a half-shrug as she concentrated on finding the right page. "A lot of things. It's mostly about the histories of the Five Great Nations, but it also talks a little about the ninja in a few chapters." Haruka nodded as she watched Miyu scan her finger down a page she had settled on. "So it's kinda like a history textbook." Miyu looked up at her and stared blankly for a moment. "I don't... Yes?" Haruka shook her head, looking down at the page. "Never mind."
"Right here." She said when she returned to the book, pointing near the center of the right page. There was a small diagram with arrows pointing to different names. "It's the basic setup of the ninja ranks. You start as an academy student, and then once you graduate you become a genin. Next is chuunin, then jounin, then finally the kage is at the top. Of course, this isn't everything. Every village has its' own system when it comes to its' ninja, but this is at least a good summary of the basics." Miyu seemed to be very interested in the whole subject, and was more than happy to give the older girl a lesson on it all. Haruka made herself comfortable on the couch, having a feeling that she wasn't going to be leaving it for quite some time.
Haruka could barely find the energy to keep her eyes open as she turned another page in the old book, briefly skimming it. Miyu sat in the same position she had been in for hours, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she flipped through the pages of a new book. Haruka watched her out of the corner of her eye, giving up on her reading material. If I move very slowly she might not even realize I've left.
It's not that she wasn't thankful that Miyu was willing to put so much time in to teaching her about the new world she was suddenly forced to live in, she just hadn't expected the whole afternoon to turn into a history class. Miyu had given her the large leather-bound book to look through while she searched the other books she could find for any more information she deemed important for Haruka to learn. The facts were interesting, but Haruka highly doubted she would ever need to know that "fūma shuriken have four blades that can be collapsed for easy storage" in order to get home. Still, she did her best to humor Miyu and continued to glance over the chapters that caught her eye. Who knows, maybe she'd find something useful.
The sound of the front door opening was an all too welcome distraction, causing Haruka's head to shoot up. Kenta made his way inside, setting down his large bag on the floor. He stretched for a moment and looked over at the two girls on the couch. Miyu hadn't even acknowledged his arrival, too lost in her book to care, and Haruka's face held so much desperation on it that Kenta almost broke out laughing right there. "Looks like you two are having fun!" He grinned at the 'this-isn't-funny' expression Haruka threw at him. Miyu glanced up for a moment to smile in greeting at her father before returning to her reading.
"Haruka, I have a few more boxes downstairs that I have to bring up. Would you mind giving me a hand?" Haruka grinned, more than eager to take a break as she tossed the large book onto the table in front of her and jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back." She told Miyu, who only nodded slightly to let her know she had heard her. Haruka followed Kenta out the apartment door and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he shut the door behind him. "I see Miyu's decided to teach you all about your new home." Kenta spoke as they began to walk toward the stairs. "She's been reading those books all afternoon. I now know more about the history of ninja than I ever wanted to." He chuckled.
"She loves her books." Haruka nodded in agreement. "It's not all that surprising, though. We've been traveling around like this since she could walk. She's never really had anyone to talk to, so she spends most of her time reading whatever books we come across." Haruka didn't know what to say. She couldn't help but feel bad for Miyu; spending her whole life on the road had to be hard on the girl, not that you could tell from looking at her. Hell, she was better at handling most social situations than Haruka was. The two lapsed into silence for a while as they descended the stairs.
"You know, she really looks up to you." Kenta finally spoke again when they had reached the bottom. A couple boxes sat stacked on top of one another, Kenta grabbed as many as he could in his arms and left Haruka a few of the smaller ones. "She does?" Haruka carefully picked up the small boxes and stacked them in her arms. "'Course she does!" Kenta laughed, slowly turning back to the staircase so as not to drop anything. "You're like an older sister to her." Again, Haruka was left without anything to say. Sure, Miyu had called her 'onee-san' on a few occasions, but to think she actually thought of her as an older sibling was something Haruka couldn't quite believe. "Oh..." Was all she could manage to mumble out after a short pause.
The two didn't speak again until they reached the top of the stairs and Kenta stopped abruptly, turning to look at Haruka. "I meant what I said before." He told her, his face suddenly serious. "Huh?" Haruka just blinked, feeling thoroughly confused. What had he said? "I want you to keep Miyu out of trouble." Oh, that. Haruka smiled."Does she really get into trouble that often? She hasn't done anything bad yet, as far as I can tell." Kenta shook his head. "She's a good kid, she just doesn't think before she does things. If you're going to be staying with us then I want you to look out for her, as payment."
That's a pretty good price for room and board. She nodded at him. "I'll do my best." Kenta smiled, turning on his heel and continuing back to the apartment. "Good."
After bringing in the boxes Kenta went to get dinner. By the time he returned Haruka had succeeded in pulling Miyu away from the book she was reading. The three sat down to a pleasant meal of warm ramen, and spent most of the time listening to Kenta talk about how well the shop was doing. When dinner was finished and everything was cleaned up Miyu decided to change the subject. "So when are we leaving here?" She asked her father, who was busy rummaging through his bag. "Well, I've got enough goods left to last until the end of the week if business keeps up like this. After that we'll have to head out to get more stock."
"Where are you going?" Haruka asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous. They were leaving so soon? She had just gotten used to this village and now they were talking about hitting the road again! "A village a little ways from here. It's small, but they've got some of the best goods around, and for cheap." Kenta told her with a reassuring smile. "Maybe we'll find someone there who knows how to help you." Miyu said, her smile mirroring her father's. It was a nice thought, but Haruka was doubtful. "And there won't be as many ninja." That got Haruka's attention. Living in a ninja-filled village over the past few days had made her a little jumpy, to say the least. They were trained assassins, after all. The thought of being in a village without them lurking around every corner sounded very nice, indeed.
"When do we leave?"