Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Red and Blue Makes Purple ❯ Ramen ( Chapter 12 )

A/N: Yay for the new chapter. I would have had up it yesterday, but then it started snowing, so work was really out of the question. But now it’s up, so all is well. Anyway, I’m glad to say that I am now in winter break, meaning no school until January! Yatta! So, hope you like the new chapter. Read and review!

“Red and Blue Makes Purple”

Chapter Twelve

Ramen

Duo resisted the urge to sigh when the woman working at the ramen stand took one glance at him before running around the counter to hug him. This Naruto guy must have had a lot of really touchy-feely friends. Maybe that was why he wore such a bulky coat. Padding.

“You’re going to have to get used to this until a good portion of the village knows or you leave again,” Kakashi said, catching the teen’s look of exasperation.

Feeling pity for the pilot, Sakura pulled Ayame away from him and quietly explained the very basics of the situation. A moment later she was blushing and ushering him to a seat. “I’m so sorry, it’s just that you look so much like him. It’s on the house, for an apology. Otousan, a big bowl of our best miso beef ramen!”

“How’d she know what I was going to order?” Duo asked, blinking as Sasuke and Sakura took seats on either side of him, Iruka and Kakashi sitting on the ends. He had a good idea about what Ayame had hurriedly whispered to her father when the old man had caught sight of him.

“It’s Naruto’s favorite,” Sasuke said, elbows resting on the counter and hands clasped in front of his mouth once the rest had made their orders. He still wasn’t taking his eyes off of the dobe. Did he just nor remember or was there something else?

“So, Duo, tell us about yourself,” Iruka said, leaning slightly past Sakura. “Your likes, dislikes, dreams, that sort of thing.”

“Is this some standard format around here?” Duo asked, tipping his head to the side.

Sakura giggled. “Pretty much. Kakashi-sensei asked us the same set when we became his students.”

“Alright then,” Duo said with a grin. “I like a lot of stuff. The family that I’ve built, sunrises, the ocean, snow. Oh, and pranking.” He didn’t notice the way their eyes flashed at that. “I don’t like people who think they’re better than you just because they had money growing up, and I hate war.”

“Is your home country at war?” Iruka asked, hearing the clear conviction in the blond’s voice.

Duo shook his head. “Not anymore, thank god, but up until two years ago we had been since before I was born. Doesn’t help when you’re a street brat growing up on the streets of a colony that earned the name of ‘Hell in the heavens,’ and that was one of the nicer ones.” He took the time that the ramen arrived in to think. “Dreams next, right. To help keep the United Sphere at peace for as long as I can, so that there will be no more war orphans like me.”

“Noble dreams,” Kakashi said after a moment.

“Ah, no more than any other Preventor members’ goals,” Duo said with a snort. “It’s practically in our mission statement. Course the language is a lot fancier, but that’s bureaucracy for you. They always want it to be in middle English or something.”

“Sounds like our council sometimes,” Sasuke said, the tension broken. “Eat your ramen, dobe.”

“Thought I told you to stop calling me that.”

-

When the sound of chopper blades awoke Quatre from his slumber, he actually growled. “Heero.”

“Sounds like,” Trowa said, rolling over beside him and sitting up. The clock on the bedside table read two in the morning. “Try not to kill him.”

“No promises,” Quatre said as he god up and pulled on his pants and coat in preparation of going outside to maul- er, meet the other pilot.

They waited until the wind from the blades had died down before stepping onto the porch and approaching the helicopter, Heero stepping out at about the same time.

“Where is he?” he asked in place of a greeting.

“In another dimension,” Quatre said flatly. He wasn’t going to be gentle about the news if Heero wasn’t going to let him sleep. “There’s a portal in the woods. Have fun finding it in the dark. I’m going back to bed now.”

With a tiny smile, Trowa clamped a hand on his lover’s shoulder, keeping him in place. “Come inside. We’ll explain over coffee.”

“It’d better be strong,” Quatre muttered as they went inside.

About an hour and two pots of coffee later, Heero was staring at the pair with disbelief. “Impossible.”

“We have proof,” Trowa said, standing from the couch. “Duo rigged up security cameras when he first got here.”

“Why did you leave him alone?” Heero asked Quatre as the clown went to get the camera tape. “If these people are as dangerous as you say, you may have left him to his death.”

“They had the opportunity to kill us and stood down,” Quatre said firmly. “And they seem pretty convinced that Duo is a boy called Naruto Uzumaki, someone who disappeared five years ago. We saw a picture of him, and he looked almost exactly like the form Duo took after the fox. We made arrangements to return to the village later this morning. No need to make them distrust us by coming early.”

When Trowa returned, Heero watched the giant fox appear in bright white and red in the infrared picture, getting a better look at the orange fox when it switched to true-color upon the arrival of daylight. “Only Duo would stumble into something that turns him into a giant, nine-tailed fox.”

-

Sasuke bid the others good night as he led Duo down the street to the Uchiha district. The braided man gave an impressed whistle as they passed through the gates.

“Are you the only one who lives here?” he asked, looking around and not seeing any other signs of life.

“Yes,” Sasuke said simply, not elaborating. Coming up to the his own house, he unlocked the door. “You’ll be using the room across from mine so you can find me if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” Duo said cheerfully, hiding his suspicion. He’d never have made it through the war if he couldn’t tell when someone had an ulterior motive. “I’ll be sure to wake you if there’s a problem.”

So it was that he went to sleep in a village that was unsettlingly familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.