A New Way of Ninja, (Naruto)

19: Talk and Food

Momo walked up and down the street, not willing to go too far away.

Finally she noticed that Hinata and Ino had kind of followed her, though they'd intended to go home at first.

They were hiding their presence mostly, but their ninja skills weren't good enough to disappear completely yet.

Momo turned finally to look at them questioningly.

"I know you're there," she said.

They came out of hiding, embarrassed.

"Sorry," Hinata said meekly.

"We just thought...uh, you know, someone might notice you're not one of us," Ino said. "That wouldn't be good, after...all that happened."

"No, I know," Momo sighed. "I suppose it's dangerous to wander around. I just needed to think."

"I think you should be mad at them," Ino offered by way of sympathy. "I mean, ditching you two like that, that's not teamwork."

Hinata fiddled with her fingers. "I'm sure it was difficult to see them in danger against someone like Orochimaru."

"It's a miracle we all left with only a few injuries," Momo said. "I'm used to miracles following Shine around, but I didn't realize just how different this was going to be from my home until I saw what they were really capable of...and I'm not even sure I saw all of it."

The girls shook their heads.

"So...uh, are you hungry?" Ino had no idea how to make anyone feel better other than by offering to do something remotely helpful.

Momo was, in fact, getting pretty hungry. She'd used plenty of calories earlier, though she'd been too stressed to eat for a while.

"Yes, I should eat something," she said. "I wouldn't want to grow faint..."

"There's a pretty good restaurant near here, not too pricey," Ino offered.

It really wasn't far at all, just up the street and around a corner.

Hinata said very little while they were frying meat--Momo had actually never been to a restaurant that let you do this, as her mother would have considered it a bit primitive to cook your own food at a restaurant, but she'd seen them on TV.

"If Choji was here you wouldn't get the chance to eat this," Ino said, picking up some of the meat. "But he's still in the hospital, probably eating terrible hospital food. He'll complain about that every day till he's released."

Hinata just nodded silently.

It was kind of awkward. Momo wondered if they ever did things like this just to help someone cheer up. Maybe with their own teams, but probably not with strangers.

"So..." she said, determined to make some decent conversation, "Ino...you're on Shikamaru's team, right?"

"Team 10," Ino supplied. "The Ino-Shika-Cho team. Our parents were on the same team--well, they still are sometimes. Our families are all close. We all learn the same jutsus that support each other. It was kind of a given we'd be on the same team, though I wasn't thrilled about it at first, but I guess the senseis knew our families always work together."

She paused. 

Momo nodded. "We don't have set teams in my class, yet, but many pro heroes are forming teams now to respond to some growing problems with the villains. My friends and I have considered if we'd be on the same team. I think I'd like to be on one with Shoto. I don't know who else we'd ask to be on it. Maybe someone with more stealth. Neither of us are that good at that."