𝘉𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘚 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

four

"Ko-chan, we don't want to make a terrible impression to those of the leaf by beating up their younglings, now do we?" He loosened his grip around my waist, allowing me to step away. I straightened out my jacket with a scoff, before crossing my arms and glaring off to the side. He was right about not wanting to make a bad impression, but it didn't change the fact that the snot nosed punk deserved a sucker punch.

Noticing my everlasting sour mood, his grin only increased in size as he moved his hand to rest on my shoulder. "Besides, with your strength, the little guy wouldn't stand a chance. He'd either be out like a light, or dead."

Ego petting. It wasn't a foreign tactic from the dark haired boy. I familiarized myself with it pretty well over the last few years from how he favored it. And I could tell why he favored it so much too; it worked. Even on me.

I shrugged, unable to fight the smirk that was curling at my lips. I didn't like being the subject of manipulation, but it helped smooth out what could have turned into a sour situation. Beating up children did not look good on its own, but foreign shinobi beating up other villages children? That was a cause for war.

"Hey dumbass!" A little girl rounded the corner, a bag in one hand, the other clenched into a tight fist by her head. A clothes pin was pinched around her nose, and I could tell why as she got closer. At first I thought she was just in desperate need of a shower, but then I realized it wasn't her. It was whatever was inside that bag. "I'm not carrying around your smelly ass food anymore! I don't know why you have something this stinky in the first place. It reeks of fish!"

I raised a brow at her, never having heard a little girl use such foul language. Well, no other little girl than myself of course. I had been using colorful language since I could say 'tousan'.

But it wasn't just the foul language that peaked my interest. The tufts of orange hair that seemed to curl every which way, and the almond colored eyes that seemed to blaze with fire hotter than the pits of hell also tipped me off as well. I didn't seem to be the only one feeling that way though, the corner of Katsu's mouth twitching ever so slightly.

The girl stomped over and shoved the bag into the snot nosed punks chest, her glare only darkening. "Naruto isn't even that cool to begin with! He's not worth all this effort. I don't know how finding that stupid cat is going to make him want to play ninja with you anymore than he does now. All you have to do is ask! I'm sure the orange idiot would give in. Just call him 'boss' a few times and he would get a big head about it."

The little boy took in one breath, probably just to say something in return, but unlucky for him, his face was directly over the contents of the bag. He cried out and threw it away from himself, the bag landing with a chorus of moisture induced sounds. I grimaced, slapping a hand over my nose. Whatever was inside of that bag reeked.

"What is in that thing?!" I looked to the little girl for an explanation, but she didn't have to reply as I could see for myself. At least three dead fish slid out of the white bag, gooey slime reflecting off the scales in the Konoha sun. Flies buzzed around the rotten food, green clouds of stench floating above them.

I cried out as Ryuu walked closer to the stinky food, not even affected by the stench. He bent down into a squat, grabbing a discarded stick. Katsu looked as though he was about to puke, having doubled over with an arm wrapped around his stomach. His skin had began to turn green, droplets of sweat running down the sides of his face.

"No! Don't do that!" My eyes widened as Ryuu inched the stick toward one of the smelly fish, the two children whose names I still did not know cowering behind me. Katsu heaved to my left, and I couldn't tell if he just spit or actually puked.