Ramen for your soul

Konohagakure No Sato (Village Hidden in the Leaves)

Running along the streets of Konoha in the dead of night lighted only by the moon and battered by the rain was a child. This child had hair of gold and eyes of blue but to any observer this wouldn't be apparent as he frantically ran shielding his head with his arms while his hair matted to his forehead by the fierce winds and torrential rains shadowed his facial features from any would be observers. As this child ran to his yet unknown destination, he was shadowed by unbeknownst to him those very observers. Bodies perched on canopies of houses, shops and buildings lining the sides of the streets, shadows to any that would observe them the ghosts that parents would tell naughty children to behave, these bodies, these shadows the ANBU Black Ops and their charge for this cursed night was one Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuriki of the Nine- Tailed Fox.

It was the sound of banging that awoke Teuchi from his slumber. At first, he thought it was just the wind; the storm had been passing through the Land of Fire for the past couple days having been spotted days before having originated somewhere east; the direction where the land of water and the Hidden Mist Village are located. He had almost ignored it the banging was erratic, a characteristic of nature he mused and all he could hear was the howling of wind, so just as he was about to lay back down in bed he heard it, a voice, a whisper, only they couldn't be whispering for he could her them over the wind, "Teuchi-ojisan, Teuchi-ojisan". Panicked Teuchi shot out of bed for there was only one person who called him 'ojisan' an orphaned child, a five-year-old child that should be at his orphanage in bed not out in this god forsaken rain in the dead of night.

Teuchi missed his first step stubbing his toe on his bed frame, it was excruciating, he was sure it was bleeding just from the level of pain but it would have to wait. "Ayame, wake up!!". He shouted over the crackle of electricity as his subsequent second and third steps were better as lighting visible through his window illuminated his path as he reached his door way. Urgency was all he could think about as the banging almost seemed to grow distant, though he did have a fleeting thought as he took the flight of stairs two at a time in his haste to reach the ground floor, "ramen or tea".

"Ow,ow,ow,ow, Ayame nee-chan it stings", cried a now bundled up young jinchuriki. Naruto watched as his 'nee-chan' a child in her own right being 5 years his senior applied some kind of cream to his knee which was bleeding from when he fell while running to her family's ramen shop 'Iciraku ramen'. The room they were in was the upstairs living area on the second floor above the shop, with electricity gone it was being illuminated by candles set up around the room. It was this light that let Naruto observe Ayame who was still dressed in pajamas, her hair short and brown was chaotic sticking up her and there reminding him of his own when it wasn't pasted to his forehead by water, her eyes almost seemed bottomless in this near darkness they were surrounded by. As he just sat on the chair observing her she too seemed content in the moment to let the silence hang backgrounded by the rain and wind snapping at the window. Thought this half silence was cut short by the squeaking of floor boards behind them, Naruto half turning his torso so he could see behind him spotted as Ayame's father Teuchi crested the stairs a tray held in his hands plated by his own candle and cups, steam wafting off them.

Cradling a cup of Jasmine tea in his hand a child pressed against either side of him on the couch, Teuchi, now 50 years old began to wonder when did his once brown hair start to grey, was it when his daughter came screaming into the world all fire and grit or was it when minutes later her mother departed from it. What about the crow's foot developing next to his eyes, he had been squinting a lot recently maybe it was time to invest in some glasses. He couldn't keep putting it off already Ayame had to be helping in the kitchen as his sight just wasn't what it used to be. Maybe it was time to introduce some help in the kitchen spend some more time simply teaching Ayame some tricks of the trade. A cough interrupted his introspection of as the smaller child attached at his hip was suffering from a coughing fit no doubt brought upon by the rain that had thoroughly soaked the child not 10 minutes earlier. Looking down at the blond cradling his own cup and wrapped up tighter than a roll, he once again wondered when did he get old. Taking a sip from his cup sighing against the rim as the hot beverage slid down his throat warming up his body, a whispered question left his throat, "Naruto my boy what were you doing out in this rain?", one second, another, a third, the rain hitting against his abode was his only answer. Another question flowed before the silence could drag any further, "does anyone know you are out here Naruto?", silence, it was maddening this silence, another question, "Do you want to go back?", Silence, no not Silence he realized a heartbeat later as it had felt like an Icey hand had stopped his heart for a moment, tears, tears splashing into a child's tea cup a silent flow heavier than the rain threating his windows with every thump they let loose on it, heavier than the gaze of the unseen shadows. It was enough. So as the weight disappeared from one side, a child hugged a child, a sister hugged a brother and a father hugged his children.

So as one family embraced in the Village hidden in the leaves watched by unseen shadows and the rain their ever sounding companion, another family was torn apart at the hands of its first son.