The Boy in the Park
Chapter Seventeen
There was a knock at the door. He yawned and stretched, before heading over to open.
"Onii-sama!" and a blur of pink entered his apartment.
He closed the door.
There was another knock.
He opened the door.
"Aniki!" and a blur of orange entered his apartment.
He closed the door once more.
There was yet one more knock. He raised an eyebrow. Both girls were in his apartment now, weren't they?
He went to open the door. Both of his eyebrows rose.
"Hi," Ayame was actually blushing as he let her in. Just to be sure, he looked outside once more. Once he was positive no one else had to enter his apartment, he closed the door.
He turned to look at the 'carnage'. Sakura was already maniacally tidying and…hadn't he left a glass on the counter a moment before?
Naruko was happily reading a book in a corner, while Ayame was instead fidgeting and looking around.
"Is…is something the matter, Ayame?" he asked perplexed.
"Ah…yes! My father's going to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow morning," she said. "It's a Sunday morning, so I understand if you'd rather sleep in, but…could you…perhaps…help me in the shop?"
"I don't know how to cook ramen," he pointed out. "I mean…if you need a hand with—"
"Oh, I'll help Aniki!" Naruko exclaimed. "Teuchi-san said we can have all the ramen that is about to spoil after the lunch rush!"
"And Onii-sama," Sakura remarked. "It's not healthy to remain cooped up in this filth and sleep all morning," Sakura nodded firmly as she swept away…wait a moment, why were her hands in his underwear drawers!?
"Sakura, are you…"
"Yes Onii-sama?" she sweetly smiled at him, becoming the perfect picture of innocence.
"Never mind," he acquiesced. He then turned to Ayame and nodded. "If I can help…"
"Ah, thank you!" Ayame smiled and then hugged him once, before turning a crimson read and excusing herself a moment later.
Naruko looked at him with a perplexed look, her book forgotten. Sakura had a broken plate —which had snapped recently in her effort of washing it— between her hands.
"ANIKI!"
"ONII-SAMA!"
"What!?" he screamed jumping back in fright from the twin gazes that were looking at him quite strongly.
"Aniki, you can't! Ayame-neesan is like a sister!"
"Wait, I can't what? Help her?" he was perplexed.
"Not that! She's asking you to take away your Sunday morning of rest, Onii-sama!" Sakura replied.
"But you said I shouldn't oversleep on Sundays, Sakura," he couldn't understand what was going on, but he just hoped they'd make some sense to him before the end of the day.
Naruko pouted, as Sakura turned slightly red as she stammered. "It doesn't matter, Onii-sama! She…she's got bad intentions, yeah!"
"Who? Ayame? Come on," he rolled his eyes. He walked closer to the pink-haired brat that was his sister and ruffled her hair. "It's Ayame, she wouldn't hurt a fly."
Sakura's nose erupted in a fountain of blood as she fell lifelessly on the ground with a lecherous grin on her face. He removed his hand a moment later and flexed it. "What…"
Naruko blinked, and then sheepishly began to giggle.
He turned to the girl, and raised an eyebrow.
"Aniki, you're going to be all right, right?" Naruko asked then.
"What are you lot worrying about!? Come on! It's Ayame! AYAME!"
"Yeah but Aniki, you know what they say of the quiet ones!" Naruko exclaimed, flailing her hands around.
"Uh? What do they say about them?"
"I don't know! They're quiet for a reason!" Naruko said. "Like, there's this girl who's following me," she shuddered. "It's creepy. I look around a corner and she's there fidgeting. I go and train and she's behind the trees watching me!"
"You should tell your sensei about that…"
"Nah! I'm sure she's just stalking me!"
He raised his right hand as if to say something, but then simply lowered it, nodded to himself, and then grabbed Naruko in a headlock to ruffle with strength her head.
"THAT'S NOT SOMETHING POSITIVE!" he screamed as he ruffled her hair until her scalp turned reddish before releasing her. Naruko winced as she held her head with both hands. He huffed. "Stalking is stalking. It's a bad thing. You should tell the girl to either come out clean or stop. Understood?"
"Muh…yeah," she dropped her shoulders and grabbed the book once more. She sulked for a bit —which meant three to four seconds— and then returned to smile as she chuckled for a passage of the book.
Sakura came to her senses at night. The fact she had been moaning words 'Onii-sama don't' or had giggled while whispering 'it's improper' didn't actually calm down his thoughts…but then again, there probably was a rational explanation.
The moment Sakura's eyes opened, and she realized she had been sleeping on her Onii-sama's bed, she began to breathe really hard.
"Are you all right, Sakura?" he asked worriedly. Maybe she had caught a fever?
"ANF…yeah," Sakura smiled weakly. "Really," she brought the sheets up to her nose. "Onii-sama? Anf…can…I…sniff…"
"Uh?"
"Can I sleep here tonight?"
"Did you tell—"
"She thinks I'm sleeping at a friend's place," she replied instantaneously.
"Neh, Aniki! Sakura can sleep with me in my room!" Naruko said brightly. "It would be like a sleepover!" she frowned then, "What do you do at a sleepover?"
Sakura slowly stood from the bed, and was about to say no when…
"Yeah, you're right," Sakura smiled sweetly. "It's a sweet idea, Naruko-chan!"
There was a bad chill in the back of his spine…
The girls left through the 'hole', the circular passageway created by a mistake in 'training' that Naruko made a few months prior —and which she had never fixed. He used to cover 'the hole' with a strap of cloth, but now he actually felt it was…sort of an undefended entrance.
He sighed and went to cook dinner. There really was no way they'd do anything strange. No pranking in the apartment was a clear set rule.
The next morning, the fabled Sunday Morning, he found himself firmly trapped between two snoring and half-giggling bodies. One was Sakura, who was moaning slightly while firmly holding his arm trapped with both of hers. Naruko on the other hand was biting down on his pyjama while muttering about 'noodle' and 'ramen king'.
Years of sleeping near Naruko made him able to free himself from such a situation.
"Naruko…free ramen to your right," he whispered.
Still asleep, Naruko replied…
"Yeahy," and then she rolled and fell face first on the ground with a dull thud. The fact she kept on sleeping…
That was just Naruko.
Getting free of his other sister instead…Well, he carefully began to pinch her cheek until the girl frowned and moved a hand to 'swat' away the insect. The moment she did that, he grabbed the pillow and pushed it in the place of his arm. He stood up then and mentally chuckled.
He was such a ninja, wasn't he?
Carefully walking trying not to make a sound, he managed to dress up and leave the two sleeping girls behind. He reached Ichiraku just in time to watch Teuchi leave. The cook looked at him with a smile and a half-serious glare.
"You have any impure thoughts about my daughter, and I'll castrate you," Teuchi said with a smile as clasped hands with him.
He swallowed nervously and smiled. "Understood, sir."
"Good!" and then with a laugh, Teuchi was off.
Thankfully, Ayame knew what had to be done, and as he moved pans and pots, filled them with water, and generally did the 'heavy' lifting, the girl proceeded to cook and take orders. It wasn't busy until the actual beginning of the lunch rush.
When the lunch rush ended, with him sweating bullets from the effort, he had a renewed respect for Teuchi: the old man was able to laugh while working behind lit ovens nearly the entire day. He'd be dead by the end of the afternoon if it kept up.
He still hadn't seen Naruko or Sakura, but then again Naruko would probably sleep until noon or beyond, and Sakura…
Why was he imagining her with a pair of his underwear on her head while drunkenly exclaiming 'Onii-sama's stuff is all mine! Mineeee! My treasure! My Precioussss!'
He chuckled to himself and shook his head. Really, Sakura was a good girl: she wasn't going to drink his sake stash…would she?
As the last customers left, he realized Ayame was gently wiping away the sweat from his brows with a handkerchief, a small smile on her face.
"So, you liked it?" she asked with a knowing look.
"It was…exhausting," he admitted. "Not bad but…I'd rather keep up my work at the academy."
Ayame sighed, and then wistfully looked towards the road.
She giggled a moment later. "Neh, you see behind the garbage cans?"
He raised an eyebrow and looked, before nearly face-palming. Sakura, Naruko and a pale white-eyed girl he had never seen before were looking in their direction.
Their combined gazes were supposed to be 'murderous'. The correct gaze they gave off was more of a 'my stomach aches, do you have medicine?'
Finally, Naruko took the cue to advance first and sit, soon followed by the other two.
"Naruko-chan!" Ayame smiled brightly. "What can I get you?"
"I'll have Pork Ramen!" Naruko exclaimed brightly, before Sakura nudged her in the ribs and forced her to wince. "Ah, no, thank you Ayame-neesan but…but I'm…" she was actually fighting down the tears. "I'm here to ask if…if we could have Aniki back for the rest of the day!"
"Muh," Ayame muttered with a thoughtful gaze. "And why should I give him back to you?"
"Eh…Ehm," the white eyed girl murmured meekly, and ended up being completely ignored by the apparent triangle of electric stares the three girls on the other side were currently busy with. He sighed and then turned to her with a small smile.
"Can I help you?" he asked gently, "Hungry?"
Hinata blushed.
The 'Aniki' was someone Naruko aspired to. She…she had talked to her because her Aniki had said so. The reason she was now…she was friends with Naruko now and not simply someone-who-observed-her-from-afar-even-when-she-w as-under-the-shower was that Aniki had said so.
She nodded. She nodded firmly.
If…if she got in Aniki's good graces, then she would get in Naruko's good graces.
"They're a rambunctious bunch, aren't they?" he asked her, with a small smile as he brought her the menu. She smiled timidly, turning slightly red. He had such soft hands…turned raw from working hard in the stall. Naruko had said her Aniki had been taken away by the stall vendor to work but…but he had accepted, so he had a great heart too.
Hinata turned red.
If…if Aniki fell in love with her, then Naruko would fall in love with her.
That…
That was perfect!
She'd have to follow 'Aniki' first however. She needed to know what he liked and what he didn't like.
She'd rummage through his garbage first thing in the morning. Yes, she'd do that.
His spine felt another set of dark chills, as he smiled to the pale skinned Hyuga whose name turned out to be 'Hinata'. He wondered…
Was he ever going to be without chills for one day?