Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ There's Certainly Much Ado about the Lady ❯ Normal Day ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
~~~~~~ = small amount of time passing and/ or scene change
Chapter one
Normal Day

The sun gently dazed through the white curtains that billowed slightly in the morning breeze. On a Victorian brass twin bed, that was to the left of the window, laid a young girl of 16 years, breathing slowly and gently. Her eyes fluttered slightly, as she sleepily began to open them little by little. As she gracefully began to turn to sit up, she yawned and fell on the wood floor, where her beloved blankets and comforter and been haphazardly kicked off in the early hours before her waking.

Wobbling legs led to an unsteady walk. Long, shiny, soft black hair, which had become tangled in her sleep, fell over the girls face as she unconsciously tucked the locks behind her ears. Exiting the small, yet fairly well furnished room, she walked down the short hall, passing a door to where a young boy of 16 still slept, half on his futon, half on the floor, mildly snoring in his peaceful slumber.

His unkempt blond hair, which, until the early hours of the morn, was stuffed into a sleeping cap shaped as a dog; however, during the slumber, it had been let loose of its cage of a hat, and messily framed his unique face. Three lines, which could be mistaken for scar unless looked more closely upon, on either side of his face decorated his cheekbones.

Walking into the smaller than usual living room, (which was just a coach, a hand-me-down TV, an old and worn upright piano and a stumpy coffee table,) she picked up a blue flower vase and carried it into the kitchen that was only 5 feet away. She set it down on the counter, and turned around to sit on one of the chairs until she woke up completely. However, upon reaching for the chair, her pale hand met with nothing but air as she, once again, became acquainted with her good friend, the wood floor. Stumbling up onto the chair, she set her arms on the two-person table, propped up her elbows and wiped off the leftover grains from the sandman. Blurred eyes began to clear, as the light violet orbs began to truly awaken.

About fifteen minutes later, a sleepy headed blond flopped up into a sitting position, rubbing the last specks of sleep from his eyes as well. Putting his feet out into the cool morning air of his room, he set them on the floor and made his way to the kitchen, which was now fragrant with the pair’s breakfast and the flowers, that assorted the vases, that adorned any space the girl could find to put them.

“Smells great, Ki-chan,” greeted the boy as he sat down on one of the two chairs that surrounded the small table.

“Good morning, Na-kun. How did you sleep?” the girl asked as she added bacon, tomatoes, onions and potatoes into the hot pan.

“OK, I guess. I woke up to find my pillow on the floor though… ha-ha,” answered the boy. “Makin’ omelets?”

“Yes, as promised. But tomorrow, Naruto, we’re eating what I wanted for breakfast, OK?” the girl said with a happy gentle smile.

“Fine,” Naruto grumbled. “But I don’t see what’s so good about French food Kirika.”

“Omelets are French, may I remind you,” Kirika said with a small laugh.

“But we eat them Mexican style! And I don’t see what’s so appealing about toast if we eat it the way French people do…” Naruto added simply and honestly. “If we’re gonna eat toast, why just NOT go through the whole cooking process when you can just put it in the toaster?” he added simply.

“Because I want you to try it first, BEFORE you judge it!” Kirika said casually, with another light chuckle as she added the eggs to a second pan.

“OK, OK, OK… I’ll eat it,” Naruto said with a small pout. “Well, you did tell me that I’d love Mexican food if I gave it a try.”

“Even though you refused to believe me until I shoved enchilada down your gullet,” Kirika added, her laugh chiming at the recent memory. “I think it’s important that your diet consists of different types of food, instead of just ramen. A successful ninja eats well, and works off the unneeded stuff.”

“Well, I think part of it is your cooking. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything of yours I didn’t like.” Naruto confessed with a smile.

“Well, cooking’s fun, and now that I work part time in addition to missions, we can afford more expensive stuff that needs to be imported.” Kirika revealed, knowing full well that imported goods were too expensive for their previous budget, which consisted of the little they earned just doing missions and the allowance they got every week for being orphans. Kirika put the two round eggs on plates, added the insides, and added cheese, sour cream and mild salsa.

Seeing that Kirika was finishing up the cooking, Naruto got up from his chair, got two glasses out from a cupboard, and filling one up with milk, and the other with orange juice. As he set the milk in front of his chair and the orange juice in front of his roommate’s, Kirika set down the plates of food and they took their seats.

“How can you drink that gross stuff?” Kirika asked with a look of mild disgust on her pretty face.

“It’s delicious! And it helps you grow tall and stay lean.” Naruto said, playfully putting in his part of the argument.

“It's not my fault I’m right below 5 foot. Any d maybe I like my hourglass figure and my badonkkadonks.” Kirika objected playfully.

Giving into their hunger, they stopped their faux play-argument.

“Itadakimasu!” both teens said at the same time, and then commenced to dig in.

~~~~~~

Kirika, now dressed in a light blue kimono shirt, black high-water sweats, and simple heals, with her hair held back in a loose ponytail, made her way down one of Kohona’s peaceful, but populated, town roads towards a familiar flower shop. As she opened the door to the small, but fairly prosperous store, a bell on the door, the scent of fresh flowers and Ino’s “Heya Kiri-chan!” greeted her.

“Good morning Ino-chan! How are you?” Kirika asked the blue-eyed blond, as she put on her apron that signified that she worked at the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

“I’m doin’ pretty good!” Ino answered cheerfully as she worked on an ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangement.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Kirika said honestly with a smile. She joined Ino behind the store’s main counter and started on her bouquets and arrangements for the day.

After a few hours, right before their lunch break, Ino broke the peaceful happy silence that came every now and then after a large customer rush in the store. Normally, when business was slow, the girls would chat away, gossiping on new music or movies they’ve heard about or seen. However, there was a handful of weddings happening that day in Kohona, and some people, being the last minute kind, had rushed to the store and kept the girls busy for quite a while.

“So… have you… heard any news… about Sasuke-kun?” Ino asked softly, knowing full well Kirika was one that half wanted Sasuke to never step foot in their town again.

“…” Kirika was quiet for a minute. Slowly and softly, she began. “No, I haven’t. I know that Na-kun and Saku-chan got close to finding him, but apparently, he ran away at the last minute, and that Orochimaru has switched hideouts again.” Although her voice was slightly bitter at the mentioning of the man who’d betrayed her, it was completely honest.

“I see… I’m sorry I brought that up… I shouldn’t have, because of the past, but-,”

“But you’re jealous that Saku-chan gets to search for him and you don’t?” Kirika asked lightly, changing the mood, able to see through her friend’s charades.

“How’d you guess?” Ino asked, surprised that her friend could easily detect the ‘one eyed monster’ (reference to Shakespeare) so easily.

“I don’t need the Byukugan to see my friend’s emotions.” Kirika responded with a smile, her bitter and angry emotions seemed to evaporate as she easily forgave Ino for bringing up one of the very few things that pained her heart terribly.

The peaceful silence returned as the girls happily finished up their shifts for the day

~~~~~~

Kirika had spent the rest of the day hanging out with Ino, instead of going on a mission. The village hidden in the leaves had been unusually peaceful the past month, and all the former genin were enjoying every minute of it.

They had gone shopping for accessories for a good hour, running into Shikamaru and Chouji on their way to lunch. So, the four of them ate lunch together at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop. Not surprisingly, Naruto was also there for lunch, but he was finishing up. Naruto actually had a mission with Sai and Sakura that he had to leave for after his meal, and Kirika, knowing that since the village was peaceful and the missions inside the village were given to Konohamaru’s age group, knew it was another mission to try and locate Sasuke… or something to do with Orochimaru. However, having made a promise to herself to live everyday to its fullest, smile often and have as much fun as she could in a post-war and possibly pre-war Kohona.

The four sat down and ordered. Kirika had just wished Naruto well and good luck on his mission, secretly hoping that nothing would turn up.

The lunch was a wonderful one, at least. Kirika and Ino kept making funny remarks on the other two, having a bit of a merry war of wit with Chouji. Shikamaru seemed to join the girls’ side, after quickly learning that they were much too witty, with their comments and seemingly perfectly timed movie quotes, and that it was much easier to make comebacks against Chouji with the help of their folly.

After their delicious bowls of Ichiraku ramen, the girls fondly waved good bye to their friends, final remarks alluding to the now-inside-jokes that they had come up with during their meal.

The girls still didn’t want to go separate ways, since neither of them had anything to do after their luncheon. Deciding to head to Ino’s house, the girls eased on down the road.

Once they arrived, they spoke their greetings to Ino’s parents, and, much like children, scurried up the stairwell as fast as they could as the raced up to Ino’s bedroom. Laughing as they crash landed onto a mountain of pillows on the floor, which Ino had neglected putting on her bed, they stared to blabber more jokes from earlier that fit the scene, until their sides ached. Regaining their breath, Kirika casually made her way to Ino’s CD collection, sorting through them and picking out a CD as if they were her own. As Kirika popped an old Spice Girls CD into the boom-box, Ino began to rummage through her closet, eventually pulling out a medium sized purple plastic case. Both girls grabbed their pillow of their choice and flopped down into the middle of Ino’s floor.

Opening up the case, the girls found at least 50 different colors and types of nail polish, a gaggle of nail shaping tools, and tons of faux glue-ons with a large variety of patterns and colors. Kirika, taking out a small purse from her kimono, opened the tote, and pulled out a small box containing ryne stones, tiny bows, nail glue and other sorts of nail add-ons.

~~~~~~

After her fun day of decorating Ino’s finger and toe nails, and Ino doing the vice versa on her, she easily ambled her way home, a load of left over flowers on her arms. Kirika would switch out and add flowers to the vases when she would get home.

‘Good thing I work at a florist! I always get to take home pretty flowers… tee hee!’ Kirika thought to herself with a smile.

The sun was beginning to set, and she wondered whether Naruto was home training in the workout room, and waiting for her to cook him dinner; or if he was still out on that god-forsaken mission.

Kirika soberly walked up the stairs of the old apartment building. The building itself was falling apart in some regions, but others held as strong as the day they were built. As a result, the building had very few tenants, and all of them lived in different, more sturdy, parts of it. Passing a neighbor in a hallway, she put on a charming smile and politely, but quickly greeted them. As she passed them, a wave of excitement and anticipation to find out whether Naruto hit her like a bag of bricks; adrenaline kicked in as the jogged up another flight of stairs to their apartment. She swiftly went for the door handle; it was open. Somebody was inside. Kirika regained her demeanor and opened the door with a smile.

“Took you long enough! I’m hungry!” Naruto said from the coach, his big goofy smile stretching from ear to ear.

“I’m back!” Kirika, with a relieved smile that showed complete compassion for Naruto, and how she loved to be with him, and hated to be apart. Ever since Kirika first came to Kohona when she was 7 years old, she had shared that same apartment with Naruto; after spending the majority of her life growing up with her best friend, it made her uncomfortable to not know where he was; unbeknownst to her, Naruto felt the same way. He purposely left the mission early, so he could return home to the closest person to him, saying that they should return home and go investigate again the next day.

Kirika had finished switching out the dying flowers with the fresh ones, and threw the old wilted plants into the trashcan. “All done. So, Na-kun, what do you want for dinner?” Kirika asked, clueless-ly, not thinking of the outcome of that particular question.

“Let’s see… I want ramen Ki-chan!” Naruto answered in a peppy voice.

“Of course… I should have guessed.” Kirika sighed with a pure smile of joy.

~~~~~~

End Chapter One.

Sorry for the readers besides Cory-ane-chan who don’t know about Kirika’s and Naruto’s past… Please don’t eat me for messing with the story-line… =^.^=;’’’’’

Much Ado About Nothing quote of the chapter
“Beatrice: I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.
Benedick: What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?
Beatrice: Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.
Benedick: Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none.
Beatrice: A dear happiness to women: they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
Benedick: God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face.
Beatrice: Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were.
Benedick: Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
Beatrice: A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.
Benedick: I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer. But keep your way, i' God's name; I have done.
Beatrice: You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.”

Love,
Beatrice