Team Yumi re-entered the Hidden Leaf Village as the sun began to set over the Hokage Monument. They had just finished a mission, and were on their way to report their success to the Hokage. Despite the time of day, various villagers were running, talking, playing, and laughing through the streets. A few ninja discussed their most recent mission, while vendors tried to sell goods to annoyed customers.

 

"Heh... I really missed being in the village!" Koukon grinned, happy to be back home.

 

"Yeah. We can finally rest." Hikari wasn't as enthusiastic as her friend, but still smiled. "I can't wait to go eat some ramen." She rubbed her stomach, having missed her favorite food.

 

"Of course, that's the first thing you think of. It's always ramen with you." Koukon teased Hikari. "I guess that going to Ichiraku wouldn't hurt, though..." He looked over at his teacher. "Yumi sensei, is it fine if we head off?"

 

"Yeah, I'll go check in with Lord Hokage. You three can go off and get something to eat." The woman smiled back at her students.

 

"Alright!" Koukon shouted, and looked over to his teammates. "Let's go, Hikari! Are you going to come with, Kiniku?" He asked his best friend, hoping that the three of them could go together.

 

"It's been a while since the three of us got to go to Ichiraku together, hasn't it?" Hikari asked. "You should come with us, Kiniku."

"Uh... I'm not really sure if he does..." Hikari sighed. "Th-thanks anyway, though... I needed to get that off my chest." Hikari smiled back at Kiniku.

Kiniku

 

"No problem!" Kiniku said, standing up. "Now then, let's go rejoin the others." Kiniku said, walking back to Koukon, Kiyoshi, and Sabaku.

"Y-yeah." Hikari stood and followed Kiniku to the others.

 

"Huh? When did Kiniku get over with you?" Koukon asked, looking confused. "Is... Something going on between you two?" He gave them a curious look.

 

"N-no, nothing! H-he... Um... He followed us." She glared at Kiniku.

Kiniku

 

Kiniku glanced over at Hikari without moving his head, seemingly nervous after he had been ratted out.

 

"... Yep," Kiniku admitted. "I can't tell a lie. I just wanted to make sure you two were gonna patch things up," Kiniku said earnestly, throwing his hands behind his head.

"Oh... Well, uh... I guess that's not too bad." Koukon grinned.

 

Hikari mouthed the word "sorry" to Kiniku, feeling bad for making him a target.

 

Yumi stood, seemingly content now that her teammates had settled their problem. "If you're all set, I'd say it's time for us to go back to walking." She told the others.

 

"Alright, Yumi sensei!" Koukon exclaimed, excited to get moving.

 

"Alright!" Kiyoshi was just as excited as her brother.

 

"Okay." Sabaku smiled.

 

"Sounds good to me." Juukou said, and Shiro barked.

 

"Very well." Nibai stood.

Kiniku / Fujiri

 

"You got it, Sensei!" Kiniku said, while Fujiri just nodded, as they both followed the others.

Eventually, the shinobi had returned to the Hidden Leaf Village. Upon reaching the gates, Koukon stretched. "Ahh, finally back home! Can't wait to go and-" He was about to say something involving girls, but remembered the promise he'd made to Hikari. "And... Go to Ichiraku!" He exclaimed, quick to fix his mistake.

 

"Yeah..." Hikari sighed, knowing what Koukon was about to say. "Let's go now... Er, after we report in, I guess." She said.

 

"You know, I don't think all of you will need to come with for the report." Yumi smiled at the ninja. "However... I would like Kiniku, Hikari, Sabaku, and Fujiri to all come with me." She told those four. "I think I'll need all of you to help. The rest of you are free to go!"

 

Huh...? Hikari, Kiniku, and Sabaku are all going with? Great... Koukon sighed.

 

"Alright..." Hikari said, accompanying Yumi on her way to the Hokage's mansion.

 

"Got it!" Sabaku also followed the jonin.

 

"If I'm not needed, I guess I'll go train." Nibai said, and left for the training grounds.

 

Geez, all that guy ever seems to do is train... Would it kill him to try and hang out with his teammates for once? Koukon thought, giving the boy a puzzled look.

 

"I think I'll head home. Shiro looks hungry." Juukou noticed his wolf's whining, and the two both left as well.

 

"Well, uh... Guess that leaves you and me, Kiyoshi." Koukon said.

 

"Yeah..." Kiyoshi sighed. "Let's go take a look around the village. It's been a while since we got to just walk around and see everything." She smiled at her brother.

 

"That sounds good." Koukon smiled back. "Let's go!" The two both walked off into the village, unsure of whether or not they'd see anything interesting...

Kiniku / Fujiri

 

"Really? Alright then, Sensei, I don't mind," Kiniku said, following the others to the Hokage Mansion.

 

"Understood," Fujiri said, following as well, although slightly irritated that Yumi didn't allow him to dismiss his own students nor let him formally agree to lead the others back to Lord Hokage.

 

Shinachiku / Daiki / Misaki

 

While Koukon and Kiyoshi were walking around the village, the offspring of Team Kakashi were enjoying their favorite past time with one another: eating at Icharaku Ramen, or at least Daiki and Misaki were eating; Shinachiku more over was inhaling countless bowls of ramen. It was a good thing that he was the Hokage's son, and that like his father, he had a good relationship with the shop owner, or else this type of thing would be both impossible and absolutely ridiculous.

 

"Yo, Miss Ayame! 'Nother round, please!" Shinachiku said, tapping his chopsticks in the air after eating his fifteenth bowl.

 

"Wow, and I thought your sister and dad ate a lot of ramen..." Misaiki said, dumbfounded at Shinachiku's appetite.

 

"His stomach is bigger than his brain..." Daiki said to himself, less astounded by Shinachiku's antics and more annoyed.

Edited December 29, 201410 yr by Firaga Sensei

(I thought Ayame was running the place now?)

 

Koukon and Kiyoshi both passed by Ichiraku as they heard Team Sai talk with each other inside. "You know, I am pretty hungry..." Koukon said.

 

"Same here... I'd rather eat something else, but I wouldn't mind seeing the others." Kiyoshi smiled, and the two entered the stand.

 

"Hey, Miss Ayame!" Koukon grinned, and sat on the nearest empty stool.

 

"Hello, miss." Kiyoshi bowed, sitting down next to her brother.

 

Ayame had just looked up from giving Shinachiku his ramen when she saw the newcomers. "Oh, hey! Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!" She greeted them. Koukon ordered their ramen, which arrived quickly.

 

"Yo." Koukon greeted Team Sai before he began to eat his ramen.

 

"Hi!" Kiyoshi also greeted them. "How have you three been?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.

(Edited)

 

Shinachiku / Daiki / Misaki

 

"Oh, hey guys," Shinachiku said while already digging into his new bowl of ramen.

 

"Hi, Kiyoshi, and... uh, hi Koukon..." Misaki said, greeting Kiyoshi brightly while uneasy around Koukon for obvious reasons. Daiki didn't greet the Yougan pair, but he did start eyeing Koukon, again for obvious reasons.

Koukon was about to make a move on Misaki, but remembered the promise he'd made once again. This is going to be tougher than I thought... How the heck am I ever going to get a girl now?! He thought, becoming slightly frustrated. "S-so, uh... H-how have missions been for you guys lately?" He forced himself to avoid looking at Misaki, instead looking at Shinachiku.

 

Kiyoshi gave her brother a confused look. By now, he'd probably be up in Misaki's face and trying to show off... He's acting weird right now.

Shinachiku / Daiki / Misaki

 

Huh. That's funny. I figured Koukon would try making a move on me by now. That's strange... but at the same time, good news for me, Misaki thought, feeling a lot less uncomfortable with Koukon's presence while at the same time slightly curious as to what he was doing at the moment. This also caused Daiki to become less eyeful of Koukon but also concerned with how he was acting.

 

"Oh you know, same old same old. I wish the Old Man would give us the good missions instead of having us do grunt work most of the time. I mean, you'd think me being his son that he'd give me and my team some really tough and awesome missions any chance he got. I mean, we're Chunin now!" Shinachiku complained, oblivious to everything else that was going on.

Edited December 29, 201410 yr by Firaga Sensei

"I'd like to go on tougher missions, too." Koukon agreed with Shinachiku. "We just got back from a mission, and all we did was look around a village. Of course, Kiniku and Hikari were the only ones who got to have a fight... And fighting was apparently the only reason I was brought along." He sighed, clearly upset by how the mission went.

Shinachiku

 

"Man, that sucks. I wouldn't wanna be strung along on a boring mission like that either," Shinachiku said, shaking his head at the thought. 

"It sucked. On the bright side, we did meet a h- er, a nice girl named Sabaku who's going to help us out." Koukon said, catching himself before he said anything stupid.

Misaki

 

Shinachiku continued to eat his ramen, Daiki as well, and Misaki pricked up her ears at Koukon's statment about Sakabu. Sabaku huh? Knowing him I bet the reason he's nervous is because he's thinking about her now. Misaki thought.

"Yeah, I'm glad we got to meet Sabaku!" Kiyoshi said. "I just wish you'd stop constantly trying to impress her..." She sighed while talking to her brother.

 

"H-hey, don't mention that..." Koukon said nervously. Aw, crap... Misaki seemed like she was almost willing to talk to me, too...

Shinachiku / Misaki

 

"So who's Sabaku anyway?" Shinachiku said, noodles in his mouth.

 

"Yeah, tell us who she is," Misaki said, half curious, half wanting to pine Koukon into revealing his feelings.

Edited December 30, 201410 yr by Firaga Sensei

"She's a girl that we met who's from the Hidden Sand." Koukon said, trying to avoid saying anything stupid. "We were investigating an attack on her village, and she offered to help us. She's really nice." He answered, trying to leave out... some other details.

 

"She's the only person I've met who didn't seem to mind Koukon constantly making moves on her..." Kiyoshi sighed as she ate.

 

"H-hey, don't say that!" Koukon stuttered, now beginning to get nervous. Of course Kiyoshi would tell them that...

Misaki

 

Make the moves on her? Hmm, I wonder how that went down, especially if this girl actually didn't mind Koukon's weird, pervy behavior... 

 

The young kunoichi was questioning why she was being so curious of Koukon at this moment. She came to the conclusion that it was just nice to see Koukon at least try to act decent around a girl he supposedly likes. That, and seeing him struggle a bit with avoiding being perverted was sort of fun to watch.

(Or Misaki realized her true feelings for Koukon. Mission accomplished)

 

"Oh, come on, Koukon. Before we took that break, Sabaku was all that you'd talk about the entire time." Kiyoshi told her brother, not really realizing she was making him look bad. "I'm not sure why you stopped, though..." She seemed to be thinking about what could possibly make Koukon stop what seemed to be his favorite activity.

 

Aw crap... This could end badly. Koukon was becoming even more nervous.

(Not in a million years.)

 

Daiki / Misaki

 

Daiki thought to himself: This conversation is so meaningless...

 

"So wait, is Sabaku still in the village?" Misaki asked, unknowingly adding more to the pile of woe currently weighing down Koukon.

Edited December 30, 201410 yr by Firaga Sensei

"Yeah, she's apparently going to stay until we can finish the investigation." Kiyoshi answered. "We just need to make sure she stays away from Koukon, or at least has someone with her if the two ever go somewhere..."

 

"K-Kiyoshi... M-Misaki..." Koukon stared at his bowl of ramen, no longer interested in the food. He was considering just running off now, but didn't know if he'd manage to get away with leaving his sister like that.

Misaki

 

"Knowing him, that's probably the best option," Misaki joked, now wondering what Sabaku was like considering everything she had been told about her.

"Yeah..." Kiyoshi sighed, not sounding quite as upbeat as Misaki, but more concerned. "We just need someone who's willing to put up with all of that."

 

Koukon tried to think of some sort of comeback, but was drawing a blank. He remained silent, hoping that they'd shut up about him soon if he just didn't talk.