The Swirling Tides

Chapter 24: Overture

Bridge Builder's House | Kitchen | Nami no Kuni

Once Kushina had left them alone, Tazuna moved on to work on the plans for construction of his bridge, and Tsunami had moved on to attend to her duties as well. These duties included making sure her guests had proper living conditions and got enough food to satisfy their hunger. And there came the problem, eatable food wasn't exactly commonly available in Nami no Kuni these days.

What she had right now could barely be described as harmless, and the quantity available wasn't sufficient either. Tsunami frowned as she tried to think of a way to make the… things… she had managed to buy from the 'market' into something that would taste better than raw sewage.

"Tou-san spent most of our money on getting that mission. Even though it was necessary, I can't imagine how we're going to pull through now… Especially with so many people to feed! I could have managed with just four extra people, but eight is too much… and I'm not even counting the little girl!"

Just as she was about to bang her head against the kitchen wall (repeatedly), a pair of arms wrapping around her waist caused her to almost jump right out of her skin. "Kyaaaaaaa!"

"Need help?" A voice huskily whispered in her ear.

It took her a few moments to regain her composure and realize that the person behind her was none other than the blond boy from the team that came to help them. She was about to ask him to let her go before she remembered Kushina's warning. 'I have to be nice to them, especially him, or everything Tou-san did will be gone in an instant…'

"N-no, I'm doing just fine… making dinner for everyone."

The woman shifted slightly in an attempt to hide the raw materials for dinner from the boy's sight. If he saw them before she's done cooking, he'd never eat it.

Naruto hummed in thought as he rested his chin on her shoulder, idly tracing her flat belly with his hand. 'She's got a real good figure, considering she's just a civilian she must be really gifted, or maybe she works really hard for it.'

His gaze travelled then to the preparations Tsunami was making for their dinner and he had to suppress a grimace. "Tsunami-san, do you think you can make something edible out of this? What is this stuff anyway? I only barely recognize the half-dried potatoes, but I've got no idea what the rest of this stuff is."

Tsunami flinched, the blush she had been developing as she felt the blond pressed firmly against her back and his hand tracing her belly disappeared in an instant, and dread crept into her at having potentially upset the blond. "I-I'm sorry… Our market is doing very poorly right now, and our financial condition isn't anything to boast about either. Please forgive me."

The bluenette wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing when the blond detached himself from her and wandered around the kitchen, looking for something.

"I don't suppose you have a kitchen garden or something like that, do you?"

Confused by the question, she just nodded. "We do have it, but it's way back out of the back entrance."

The blond just gave her a nod. "Take me there."

…

The bluenette was still shocked as she chopped the fresh 'vegetables' with unsteady hands. The blond had created the vegetables she needed for the dinner, though she wasn't sure if they could be called vegetables.

"I-I don't know how to thank you enough for this…"

The blond just smirked as he moved towards her like a predator stalking its prey. "Actually, I have a few ideas."