Ichiraku Ramen

It was a warm day which was quickly turning into what would be a nice cool evening, there was a small breeze in the air, gentle and cooling. Tatsu walked though the streets of his great village, passing other ninja and civilians along the way. He traded casual greetings and waves as he walked through the crowd. He had just come from training and had worked up quite the appetite, especially for a guy like him who almost never stopped moving, metaphorically of course.

Tatsu knew he was near his destination because he could smell the sweet aroma or finely made ramen drift through the air and be carried with the breeze. He smiled and licked his lips as his stomach began to growl. "I hope its not to crowded" he thought to himself as he started walking a bit faster.

Kurai walked down the bustling street of konoha with a small smile adoring her bright face. She hummed happily chewed on the piece of milk chocolate in her mouth. She had just finished helping around the village and decided she was ready for a much needed lunch brea. And of course what other better place then Ichiraku ramen? Where she could finally use that coupon she was saving? Kurai's smile grew bigger at the thought of pork ramen causing her mouth to water slightly at the thought.

With that thought encouraging her to get there faster the kunochi increased her speed into a near run. Blonde pigtails flying behind her the young female narrowly missed bumping a another ninja in vaguely familiar white robes. "Whoops! Sorry man." Kurai yelled out behind her with a sheepish grin.

As he was walking a bit faster he was almost knocked over, luckily he had caught himself, he looked up to see blonde pigtail dashing away towards the ramen stand, he chuckled to himself. He continued to walk casually until he reached the stand taking a seat next to where the girl would be sitting. "You know kurai you should slow down you wouldn't want to knock over any civilians you know" he said teasing her a bit. He gave her a warm smile then began to scan over the menu. He had met his girl before but hadn't seen her for a while, he had been busy training and helping out around the village as well, but it was nice to see her again.

Once he finally decided what he was going to have he spoke up to the man in front who was ready to take his order, with a small note pad in hand and a little yellow pencil. "I think ill have a bowl with beef, pork and vegetables, but no shrimp" he asked politely.

When Kurai had finally made it to Ichiraku ramen she had was quickly met with her friend. A Hyunga she had met with some time ago. Kurai's eyebrow twitched slightly when she heard what he said and pouted at his comment. She had long since finished her chocolate by now. "[color=yellow]Well I was watching were I wa going. You were in the wrong lane.[color/]" She whined and still returned the warm smile.

Deciding to shrug it off Kurai didn't even have to look at the menu to know what she wanted. "I want pork ramen and absolutely no vegetables. And I will be using this coupon!" The blonde kunochi said with barely contained excitement as she handed the waiter the 10% off coupon. Turning toward the other ninja the girl decided to start a conversation. "So Tatsu-chan how was your latest mission?" Kurai asked resting her head on her hand to stare at the Hyunga with half-closed eyes.

He smiled when she made her statement about the coupon, and looked back towards her, "It went perfectly fine, those bandits didnt stand a chance!" he said punching his fist into his palm and laughing a bit. As he waited for their orders to be completed he continued to conversation. "Well you know i do have to be on my guard though" he said looking around with shifty eyes, he leaned in close to her and began to whisper. "I wouldnt want to end up getting kidnapped again" he continued, he was teasing her. He had in fact been kidnapped before however it was a friendly kidnapping, in fact he was talking to the one who had kidnapped him, thats right the young kurai had in the passed came and scooped up tatsu in a bag when he was a young genin, but thats a story for another day.

Kurai grinned with a small laugh at his enthusiasm. Now this was what she liked: eating ramen while having an exciting conversation. She gave a small glance to where the men were cooking the ramen growing a bit impatient on waiting for her order to come. But with an barely audible sigh she turned her full attention back to the shinobi next to her. When she heard him speak about being on guard she could understand since they both were ninja. However her face quickly went pale at the mention of kidnapping and a light rosy blush spread across her face.

"Tatsu-chan!" she semi-yelled at him in an half whisper. Kidnapping was an sensitive subject since the day she had kidnapped him a few years ago. Kurai glared at him for bringing back up that memory and resisted the urge to punch him on his head.

He laughed a bit at her reaction, of course there were no hard feelings, its not like she tied him up or anything although the ordeal was strange nobody was hurt. He was about to speak up when the man came back with all four bowls of ramen, he looked at her and grinned. "Hey lets see who could finish first, my three bowls against your one, the loser pays?" he suggested, the smell of the ramen tempted him to dive right in without waiting for a reply from her, but sense it could possibly mean free ramen he decided to wait to see if she would accept his challenge.

Kurai glared at the Hyunga for laughing at her. She would have her revenge later. As images of possible ways of getting back at Tatsu raced through her mind she was however brought back out of her daydream when she smelled the delightful smell of her pork ramen causing the KI she was unleashing to revert back inside of her and be replaced with a sweet aura. However just as she was about to devour her precious food she was stopped as she heard the shinobis' challenge. Without thinking she accepted the challenge in confidence in her chances of getting a free meal and revenge by hurting his ego. "Bring it on Tatsu-chan! I won't lose. Kufufufufu~" she laughed in a slightly crazed way before she began to devour her precious ramen while going as far as to bring the bowl up towards her face.

Tatsu grinned as she accepted his challenge, when she did he quickly got two bowls bringing his face down and the bowls up he began to devour his meal. The others in the stand looked at them quite strangely, some of the cooks had even gotten distracted by this sight. He did not expect to win , he mostly just wanted an excuse to pay so she could save her little coupon, besides it wouldn't be fair for her to pay considering he were eating more. After finishing both his bowls he began to move on to his third bowl, the chicken bowl. He was a bit full but could definitely finish this bowl off.

While the blonde devoured her food she pointedly ignored the gaping people. Slurping through her food as tho it were water Kurai knew that she was to win. While she became temporarily distracted by thoughts of standing on Tatsu with a slightly crazed laughter coming from her she barely noticed when he started on his third bowl while she was nearly done her onwn bowl. Finishing the rest of the pork ramen she slammed the now empty bowl on the table in front of her.

Kurai gave a small hiccup as she raised her arm in the air in victory. "I win! Kufufufufu!" She shouted to the sky as she let a bubbly aura surround her and resisted the urge to do a victory dance.

When she made that strange laugh again he looked at her strangely "Are you okay?! are you choking?! Oh god this was a bad idea!" he said frantically as he began patting her back. After when he saw she was fine he gave a sigh of relief, he looked to his remaining bowl and finished it off quickly before pulling out his wallet. He then took out some ryo and placed it on the counter and thanked the man. "Good job kurai" he said laughing as the man handed the girl back her coupon.

While Kurai was cheering she was however stopped shortly when Tatsu had patted her back causing her to stumble in shock. She glared at him slightly and mumbled under her breath with a pout. If he had patted her more the kunochi was sure she was going to lose her lunch. As she was about to argue at him about her laugh she was interrupted bye the waiter and took back her coupon with a smile. Kurai turned around and grinned back at Tatsu "Thanks for the free food Tatsu-chan. We should do this again." she said rubbing behind her head.

"Well theres still some time left before it gets dark, wanna go hit the tea shop?" He asked getting up from his small stool. He scratched his head and wondered was going through her mind. By now he was use to her strange antics but she often caught him off guard most of the time. He then shuffled his feet a bit exerting the shop and waiting for the girl.

Kurai was stuffing her coupon back into her bright orange jacket when she heard his suggestion. She put her hand on chin in thought. Well she was thirsty and she wasn't exactly ready to go home yet. With a shrug she agreed, "Ok sure! But no racing while drinking tea I like to savour." Kurai said with a small grin and ran outside to catch up with Tatsu.

"Sure no problem" he said laughing a bit, putting his hands in his pockets the two ventured off to the tea shop. As they two walked along the streets tatsu decided to start up some conversation, to avoid a long awkward walk of silence. "So how have things with you been going? Kidnap anyone else lately? " he said jokingly, although he probably would be surprised if she was actually still kidnapping people, old habits die hard.

Kurai had been sipping on her bottle of cold water to hydrate herself when she heard word 'kidnap' and nearly dropped her bottle in surprise. Pushing aside her shock for now the kunoichi snapped towards the other ninjas' direction. "I don't kidnap anymore! You were the only person I kidnapped!" she said feeling a bit flustered.

Mist slowly enters the ramen shop and sighs, sitting down at the counter and looks up at the clerk "a bowl of pork ramen please, extra pork" he says, tiredly

Sera takes a seat and looms up giving the owner an adorable smile, "A Ramen Supreme with everything please. On him." She said restoring to Mist smiling happily.

Mist blinks a bit and mouths what she said then shrugs "but only the first bowl" he says as the bowl slides in front of him, he begins eating slowly. Looking over at Sabiya and smirking a bit and shaking his head "i can't afford more than two bowls of ramen right now".

Sera nods as she eats her bowl of ramen happily, "Thanks. I'm Sera Albion by the way." She said holding her hand bout to him. "I"m waiting for Rai Rai onee sama to return."

Mist smirks and claps hands with her "Mist... i don't exactly know my last name though, heck i don't even know my real first name, i just received the name after waking up after a misty night laying in front of the academy." he stares into his ramen for a moment before taking a bite. then looks up and smiles "so, who is this Rai Rai?" he asked smiling rather cheerily.

Sera grins, "She's my idol and adopted big sister. If you have no last name then I'll give you one. Mist Cloud." She said eating her noodles and ramen.

Mist blinks and looks at Sabiya for a moment then looks up and thinks for a moment before smiling wide "Mist cloud huh? i like it!" he smiles a bit and drains his bowl quickly and lays down the money for his tab "i'm going to go check with the hokage, see if there are any missions for a lone genin to join.

Sera nodded finishing her ramen, "Have fun then Mist Cloud and remember that pranks are important!" She said before leaving to figure out what to do next.

Mist smirks "don't worry i will" he smirks a bit as Sabiya walks away with a 'kick me' sign stealthily placed on her back before paying the bill and heading off to do a mission and get some money for his next meal.