Friends from another world, black, white, yellow, green, whatever the fuck your complexion is, I come bearing gifts.

I hope you all love it, if not then go write your own. I know I did aftI couldn't find anymore good fiction to read about.

Enjoy your live homies, we are almost at the month where the beautiful masterpiece known as arcane season two will descend upon us mortals.

Stay tuned and don't become a victim of this cruel world.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the effort and time taken in writing this fiction. Oh right. All the fictional characters and plots belong to me in their entirety so keep that in mind.

……..

Inside a well furnished room though a little dusty Naruto lied down on the bed gazing at the small chandelier hanging on the ceiling of the room with an unreadable expression.

He turned his head to his left to see a Whitney, Beatrice and Elena sleeping on the floor beside his bed like babies, uncaring about their appearance or status. Rufus sat at the doorway with his arms folded, but one could conclude from the fact that his eyes were closed that he was also fast asleep.

He sighed before returning his gaze to the chandelier as his mind wandered back to a few minutes ago. After Elena had shown him to his room he had expected her to leave right away but instead she had told that she wanted to know how he defeated the demon and he was happy to indulge her. But half way through the story and she had already fallen asleep.

Not wanting to ruin her sleep he decided to let her be but before he could closed his eyes a loud knock came from the door.

With a grumpy expression he got up from the comfortable bed to open the door. When he opened the door he saw there was Whitney, Beatrice and Rufus standing there. The first two made an excuse that the other rooms in the mansion were in bad conditions and asked if they could share his room for the night while Rufus claimed that he was only here to protect them. Since it was their house he could not refuse them but what surprised him was that they all fell asleep immediately their bodies hit the floor, even Rufus who claimed that he would be protecting them while they slept was the first to pass out.

'What a crap'

'Can you blame them? Their exhaustion must have piled up from all those sleepless nights they had with the demon" A dark voice chuckled at the back of Naruto's mind. Naruto sighed when he heard the voice of the nine tailed fox or kurama as he had come to know him. The being that had been living in his body since he was born. In the past year the two of them had gotten to know each other a lot more better.

If before they had been helping each other out of convenience or benefits, now they were doing it to help out the other. You could even say that they were now something akin to close friends.

"As reasonable as that sounds it still doesn't sit well with me sleeping in the same room with strangers" Naruto complained. Weren't they afraid that he could kill them in their sleeps after they barely know him.

"Well I was a stranger too and I have seen every part of you" Kurama retorted. However, there was something about the way he said it that unnerved Naruto.

"No, you live in a seal inside my body, big difference. It is not the same " Naruto countered with a frown. it was better not to think too much about it. Kurama's wicked laughter boomed deep in Naruto's mind like thunder. Because he resided in Naruto's mind his thoughts were laid bare before him so he knew what Naruto had thought previously.

What a naughty kid

Messing with Naruto had been one of it favorite way to pass time. The kid was just too fun to tease. Naruto and Kurama chatted for some time before Naruto fell asleep.

……….

The sun rose high up in the sky, dominating this part of the world with it brilliance. There was no clouds in the sky so the giant ball of fire was free to shine in it full glory over the world.

Even if it was past midday and vehicles of different varieties went to and fro on the busy roads rushing to their various destinations. Some of which Naruto had never seen before in Redgrave city.

The only obstacles this metallic beasts faced was traffic lights.

A crowd of people walked on the side walk a safe distance away from the metallic beasts. Among this crowd two people stood out the most. One had on a hoodie that was twice their size while the other was dressed in black overalls while carrying a huge keyboard bag on their back.

Elena silently walked down the side walk while sticking closely to Naruto. She avoided making any eye contact with people. The situation about her family was widespread around the entire city, people would immediately recognize her as soon as they saw her face. Fortunately the baggy hoodie she had on help her to achieve this goal as the hood covered half of her face making it difficult for people to see it.

However, this attracted a lot of unwanted attention from the people around them. They looked at her with complex emotions, trying to figure out why she was putting on such clothes in a hot weather. Elena pulled her hood further over her face and even felt like disappearing when she heard them whispering. Although she didn't know if they were actually talking about her or her unusual dressing all her mind was telling her was that it wasn't good.

Naruto sighed as he followed quietly behind Elena. He watched her every moves as if he was trying to solve a mystery. He was probably the only person right now who could perfectly understand Elena's situation right now.

As someone who was once scorned and hated as a child for having a demon sealed in him he had always wished that he could become invisible so as to avoid their looks of hatred and disdain.

Sometimes he just wished that he could go back in time and stop all of it from happening, the pain, the suffering, the negative looks, his entire life, all of it. That was definitely how Elena must be feeling right now.

He was certain that she must have also contemplated suicide just like he did. If he had never met Dante and she had never met him, their lives would have both ended in a disaster.

However, being the daughter of a wealthy politician her life must have been perfect. Enjoying the lifestyle of the upper class while having everything you want at the tip of your finger. He couldn't even begin to imagine.

For someone like that the fall from grace was must have been a very brutal one. It would be a miracle if she could ever go back to being who she once was.

People like them either come back stronger than ever before or lose themselves in the process.

Naruto sighed as his mind flashed back to the events that took place this morning after he woke up.

He had just gotten out of his room with the intention of leaving since his job was done when Whitney had stopped him and offered him another job.

After a goodnight rest without any stress or worries he looked more healthy and the dark rings around his eyes had reduced a little. After sleeping through the night without the demon showing up Whitney was finally convinced that Naruto had one way or the other gotten rid of the demon. Although he was still a little suspicious about him, the way he looked at Naruto had changed significantly, now he only felt respect and admiration for this young man.

Now that the threat of the demon was finally taken care of he and his family could finally go back to the way things were before everything collapsed. Because he and Beatrice would be busy during the day, he needed someone to protect his daughter in case someone tried to harm her.

Elena's bodyguard had quit when things went downhill so she was no left with no one to protect her. And since Rufus was his bodyguard he asked Naruto to protect Elena for him until he could find a suitable protector for both his daughter and wife. He won't be working for free, of course.

Honestly, Naruto wanted to reject the job as he didn't like the thought of babysitting a grown woman but Kurama convinced him to take the job. He said it would be like being paid while on a vacation. From what he could tell that spider demon should be the only note worthy demon in this city. If not, then he could just do a little spring cleaning while he was here.

It wasn't surprising that Elena refused to leave the house after she heard about the arrangement. Although she had told Naruto that she would show him around the city previously, she only said that to keep him from leaving for her own selfish reason. It took a lot of convincing from her parents before she finally decided to leave.

And that was how he ended up in the situation that he was in now.

After walking down three back-streets with no intention of stopping Naruto finally asked. "So where are we going?"

However Elena didn't reply instead she pointed at a shop a few feet away to their right. The shop looked like a Chinese due to it exterior design and decorations.

The sign hanging on the roof reads "Ramen Paradise"

She wanted to eat noodles? He thought that maybe she would want to go see one of her friends or something but not this.

Naruto glanced at Elena from the corner of his eyes but he could hardly make out the expression on her face because of the hood.

Elena ignored the look Naruto was giving her and pulled him along with her towards the restaurant.

…….

Inside the restaurant customers sat in pairs or groups while others sat alone. However, the entire restaurant was bursting with activities. The customers laughed and made small talks as they ate their foods.

Although the restaurant wasn't a really big one, it was famous for it variety of ramen flavors and seasonings. So much so that some big shots even come by from time to time to have their fill.

The restaurant was owned by the Ming family consisting of two old couples and their teenage daughter.

Lin Ming was a teenager who recently got admission into one of the popular colleges in the city. She clocked eighteen today but rather than go out to celebrate with her friends like other teenagers her age she chose to assist her parents with running their family business. Although her parents refused asking her to go out and have fun. They even tried to bribe her off with money but she was persistent.

Her father manned the register while her mother was the chef responsible for making the Ramen. They barely had any time for themselves.

She had told them timelessly to hire some workers but the two old hag refused claiming that they didn't want an outsider as they were afraid of a stranger ruining their business, so the least she could do was assist them by serving as their waiter whenever she had the time.

Her parents had refused her help at first saying that at her age she should be going out, having fun with her friends and meeting new people rather than wasting away at their restaurant but she strongly declined. Before she entered college she would use the little time she had left to assist her parents.

Moreover, she didn't have a large friend group to begin with. Those within her inner circle were her childhood friends, everybody else were just acquaintance.

She had just finished serving another customer and was about to return to the kitchen to place some new orders when she heard the doorbell ring signifying that another customer has just entered the establishment. She turned around to greet the customers as per usual when she stopped dead in her track.

She wasn't the only one, the entire restaurant turned silent as they stared at the two people that had just entered.

Both of them look very suspicious, one was dressed in full black while the other had on a baggy hoodie that was too big for their size with the hood obscuring half of their face.

Mr. Ming who stood behind the register was mere inches away from pressing the alarm button. He would have done so already if not that he felt that the two of them weren't up to something. However, If the two of them tried anything funny he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

After all in this age, day light robbery was a very common thing. Moreover, anyone could get a gun as long as they heard a license. The only reason why he held back was because the man had his face exposed, knowing those criminals they would always put on a facemask to avoid being recognized by their victims.

Naruto who had just entered the restaurant along side Elena frowned when he saw the looks everyone was giving them.

However, he could understand why as his gaze subconsciously wandered off to Elena standing beside him with her hoodie still on. They really do look suspicious with her dressed like that.

Naruto sighed before walking towards a table located at a corner of the restaurant. Elena who was ignorant of the attention she was attracting quietly followed behind him. She sighed in relief when she saw him heading towards the table far away from the other customers.

"You really know how to stand out. Don't you?" Naruto whispered to Elena as soon as she sat down opposite him with her back turned to everyone else.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to" Elena apologized in a low tone. She didn't know that putting on a hoodie to hide her face would put her in the spotlight, she had actually thought that it would help her blend in, since a lot of people loved dressing like this, especially that one female musician.

However, not only had it not work for her but she had even indirectly caused trouble for Naruto as well which caused her to feel bad.

"It's nothing." Naruto shrugged before picking up the menu on the table to check it out. He already knew that she was only talking this much to him because she was comfortable with him.

Elena seeing him brush off the topic also decided to do the same and started checking the menu. However, she already knew what she wanted even without looking at the menu since this wasn't the first time she was coming here to dine.

Because her parents were always busy most of the foods she ate were take-outs. She had stumbled upon this place during one day and decided to try it out, and ever since then she had been coming back for more every chance she got.

She was certain that if she took off her hoodie now the Ming family would immediately recognize her as their number one customer.

Lin Ming hurriedly approached them when she saw the two of them holding the menu in their hands. With a respectful tone she said.

"Good afternoon, and sorry about before. I was completely spaced out."

"It's no biggie, our taste for fashion was just out of place" Naruto joked to lighten up the mood when he saw the girl bowing repeatedly to them.

"Your taste for fashion? The two of you look like thieves!"

Ignoring the giant mass of chakra with a bad sense of humor Naruto pointed at a particular dish on the menu and said. "I will have this if you don't mind"

"Miso ramen?"

Naruto nodded with a big smile on his face. When he first saw this particular dish on the menu he had been assaulted by memories that had been buried deep within his mind from when he was a child.

The last time he heard this name was when that ramen chef back at the village had given him a bowl for free. That was the first real meal that he ever had, he could still remember it heavenly taste.

He had even promised himself that when he had money he would come back for another bowl but unfortunately his life went to hell from there and he never had the chance to.

Now that he finally saw the name again he couldn't help but want to experience that heavenly taste again.

After answering Naruto she turned to the silent and mysterious Elena. She was about to ask what she wanted when Elena turned the menu to face her and pointed at their specialty ramen.

Lin Ming couldn't help but look at Elena strangely as she write down the order.

After writing down both of their orders she turned around and hurriedly headed to the kitchen to deliver the new orders to her mother.

…….

Mrs. Ming who was busy cooking dishes in the kitchen smiled lovingly at her daughter as she walked into the kitchen.

"How are you doing Lin? Hope the customers didn't trouble you?"

"Not at all, ma. Some new customers just came in so I am here to deliver their orders" Lin replied with a beautiful smiled on her face. Even though her mother looked slightly overworked she still has a smile on her face as she was happy doing the thing she loved doing the most.

"Oh" A look of realization flashed across Mrs. Ming's eyes as she received the order from her daughter.

Lin Ming watched as her mother's face went through different expressions as she read the order written on the piece of paper.

After reading the orders Mrs. Ming looked at her daughter with a strange expression.

"I haven't seen an order like this in a while"

"I know right" Lin Ming chuckled. However, her expression turned sad.

Mrs. Ming didn't reply her daughter as she seemed to be reminiscing about something. She thought back to a familiar brunette that used to visit their stall everyday. But for some reason she suddenly stopped coming all of a sudden.

Moreover, after she stopped coming nobody had ever ordered the special ramen until now.

Could it be her? Mrs. Ming thought before dismissing the thought. It might just be a coincidence. The last thing she heard about that girl was that she had her family has been involved in some kind of demonic situation.

I hope she is well.

Mrs. Ming looked at her daughter who was still waiting for her response and said. "It's nothing Lin Lin. I will have the order ready in twenty minutes.

"Okay" Lin Ming nodded not thinking much about it as she left her mother to her own devices.

Mrs. Ming looked at the order again and a familiar face flashed in her mind. Elena?

…….

Chapter was getting too long I had to stop it here.

Well I'll be off on my merry way.

Have a nice day.

Until later.

Peace.