At a time

Chapter 15

With a deep sigh Yugao sat down on the seat of the ramen stall. She had only been to this place once before with her mother but that had been ages ago.

The young girl sat next to her not a moment later and ordered two miso ramens. A woman took the order and left to make the food.

Flicking her hair behind her ear the blond smiled gently towards Yugao as she felt a shiver run up her spine almost instinctively. Something was wrong here and she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Miss Yugao, I'm Uzumaki Kazemi. I apologise for not introducing myself immediately. Please forgive me." Kazemi blinked innocently towards the older woman as the name 'Uzumaki' rang in her head like the academy school bells.

"Don't worry about it." Yugao didn't let any emotion slip onto her face. "Do refrain from breaking into ANBU headquarters in the future."

"Of course." The blond agreed easily as she placed money onto the table. "I think the food will be here soon."

As if timed the girl from earlier, who's name she would later find is Ayame, came out with two bowls of ramen and placed them onto the table. She then looked at the money that was placed on the table before smiling.

"Ah, Kazemi, you know you don't have to pay so quickly." She smiled towards the girl who chuckled.

"Oh I know but I like getting money problems out of the way so that I can properly enjoy my meal Miss Ayame." Kazemi remarked as she picked up her chopsticks. "I won't be ordering more anyway."

"That's big sis Ayame to you Kazemi." The girl groaned in disapproval. "There's no need to be so polite."

"Big sis Ayame." Kazemi gave in easily enough. "Thank you for the food." Ayame beamed before taking the money on the counter and left.

The conversation Kazemi wanted to have was quite private considering the topic but leading the ANBU to her old house just wasn't secure on top of being a tad suspicious and taking her to the Uzumaki estate was out of the question given the fact that Kazemi has yet to infer if Yugao is trustworthy or not. Also, Kazemi wanted ramen.

Casually placing down a silencing seal would look out of place to any unwanted eyes so Kazemi had placed the seal on the bottom of the money notes. Since it takes a couple seconds to activate it wouldn't be noticed immediately. The seal automatically blends in to the table so once the money is removed it wouldn't have been seen by anyone.

Since the privacy of the conversation has been dealt with it was time to start the discussion. "Do you like ramen Miss Yugao?" Kazemi inquired while snapping her chopsticks apart.

"Though I'm not awfully fond of it I do have it on occasion." The woman responded curtly. "And you?"

Perfect. "Oh, ramen is like a life line to me. One of my friends had joked that it must be ingrained into my blood to love it so much." It was Chouji, but Yugao didn't know him so she wouldn't mention it.

"Is that so?" It was more of a statement then a question.

"Indeed. I had to agree with them at the time to. Ramen is simply something I could not go without in this lifetime." Kazemi brought some ramen to her lips. "Do you think it is possible to love something so much that it's ingrained into your DNA?"

Yugao took in a deep breath as she picked up her chopsticks. "Maybe. I think that it would depend on the person."

"As do I Miss Yugao. I'm glad we share the same opinion." Kazemi eyed Yugao's still untouched ramen. "Though I suppose while we are on the topic, do you think that it could be ingrained into your DNA? To love something that much, that is."