Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 14: Inari's Story

Naruto and Sasuke had taken seats across from each other and had begun to wolf down their food like real wolves. I sat down beside Sasuke - which made him choke a little - and began to eat from my own bowl.

Liz watched Naruto eat with disgust, "Ugh, how do I eat with this pig right beside me?" she spat rudely.

Kakashi laughed awkwardly, "Uh... please excuse their manners, Tazuna-san, I guess the training was really grueling for them."

Tazuna chuckled, "It's fine! This is quite fun too! It's been a long time since we ate with so many people!"

Naruto and Sasuke suddenly burst from their seats as if they were on fire, "More!" they both shouted in unison.

They glared at each other and suddenly they spun around, doubled over and barfed. I patted Sasuke on the back while Liz literally whipped her hand down across Naruto's back.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? First, the redness and now the barfing? Maybe you should lay down," I suggested.

Sasuke didn't reply, he looked over at Naruto to see him glaring back at him.

"If you're going to throw up, then stop eating!" Sakura roared angrily.

"No, I must eat," Sasuke persisted.

"Yeah, we have to no matter what because we have to become stronger," Naruto grinned, wiping the bile from his lips.

I looked at him sternly.

"I don't think that barfing makes you stronger or are you a bulimic?" Liz chided sarcastically.

After the plates had been cleared away, we all sat down for some tea. As we sipped at the hot liquid, Sakura stood up and examined a picture on the wall. It looked old and worn and a big chunk had been torn out of it.

"Hey, why do you have a torn picture on the wall?" Sakura asked innocently, "Inari-kun was staring at this during dinner. It seems like someone purposely removed the person that was in the picture," I cursed in my head at Sakura's observation skills.

I felt the room heat up like an oven, silent but crackling with intensity, "It's my husband," Tsunami answered.

"And, the man called the hero of the city," continued Tazuna.

Inari pushed his chair back from the table and walked to the steps silently.

"Inari! Where are you going?" worried Tsunami.

Inari never stopped and only responded by slamming the door behind him.

"Inari!" called Tsunami again, but her efforts were fruitless, "Father, I told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!" blamed Tsunami.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" asked Sakura, not realizing the damage she had done.

"You don't have to tell us," I interrupted quickly.

Tazuna shook his head and began to speak in a slow monotone voice, "Inari had a father, not related by blood. They were very close, like a real father and son and Inari would laugh a lot back then," Tazuna's voice shook and tears began to collect and fall from the rims of his eyes, "But... Inari changed since the incident with his father," he continued bravely.

He stopped to wipe the tears away but fresh ones replaced them faster than he could remove them.

"The word 'courage' has been stolen from the people of this island and from Inari, ever since that day because of that incident," he started dramatically.