A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 42

Mei sighed as she walked through the village, looking for a place to eat. Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga clan, had been surprisingly kind towards her and had even offered her a place amongst the ranks of the Hyuga. A strange occurrence considering the Kurisuna and the Hyuga considered each other to be mortal enemies.

She, of course, had denied, opting instead to continue living on the Nara estate until she found her own home. She finally came across Ichiraku's Ramen and nodded, walking in and sitting down on a seat, looking up at Teuchi happily.

"Hello Mei-Chan, I see you're beginning to gain some of your father's traits! You better not start turning blue!" Teuchi teased, causing Mei to blush and shush him. "Teuchi-san! What if someone hears you? No one needs to know my father is a missing Nin!" Mei whispered back, remembering the time he had travelled into Amegakure and served her her first bowl of ramen.

It had taken him a while to be convinced to keep quiet and not march up to the Third Hokage and tell him off about abducting a young child and killing her family, but he had agreed to silence, only if Mei promised to visit every so often.

"One order of Large Beef ramen please" she ordered, smiling happily at the older man. Teuchi smiled back happily and began to create her meal. "You know Naruto was in here not too long ago, complaining about your absolutely amazing ability to remain under water for long periods of time. Care to elaborate?" Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, asked looking over and placing a glass of water in front of Mei.

"The gills actually work" Mei replied, pointing to her neck where the gills flexed slightly. "Of course they do" Teuchi mused, placing her order in front of her and patting her head lovingly. He then left her to eat, going to the back to sort something out.

Mei was halfway through her meal, before a person swung into the store and sat next to her, giving a lazy smile.

"Good morning Shikamaru" Mei greeted, smiling happily at the lazy ninja. "Good morning Mei, so what happened?" He asked, ringing the bell to place an order. "They took me to main household to make a formal plague of peace, and offered me a home amongst them" Mei replied, continuing to eat her ramen. "You can't! You're staying with me-y my family" Shikamaru replied quickly, gaining a smirk from Teuchi come around to get his order. "Chicken, large, please" He huffed before looking g at Mei expectedly.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not leaving just yet. I declined his proposition. I could tell he had some underlying plan or something" Mei replied, smiling at the pineapple-head. Shikamaru sighed a little before beaming at the tangerine-head, thanking Teuchi as said man placed his Breakfast in front of him. The two ate in near silence until Kakashi burst in and pulled Mei from her seat.

"Sorry! We gotta go! Teuchi I'll pay you double when we get back!" Kakashi called, leaving Shikamaru sitting in the dust. "Where are we going?" Mei asked, allowing herself to be dragged along. "We have an emergency mission as Team Kakashi, you're required to join" he replied, turning a few corners and gunning it towards the gate where Naruto and Sakura stood waiting.

"Whats the mission? Does it involve the unmentionables?" Mei asked, digging her heels into the ground to slow their movements. "Kazekage has been attacked, yes it involves them" Kakashi replied back to her, attempting to continue to pull her forward. "Go ahead, I'll catch up. Here to prove it's me" Mei told him, dropping g his hand and showing him a tattoo on the back of her neck, a dragon that curled around itself and had a bell hanging off the end of it's tail.

"I think you'd look nice with white hair" Kakashi commented half-heartedly, winking as he turned to his other two team members. Mei scoffed and turned on her heel, creating a hand sign and disappearing into a cloud of smoke. She reappeared in her room at the Nara estate and stripped of her usual ninja gear, including her weapons. She rummaged through her clothes before pulling out what she was looking for and laid it on her bed.

Before she got changed she firmed a hand sign and transformed, disappearing behind a cloud of dust.

She then reappeared and looked in the mirror. Her long orange hair had turned white and was far longer then her liking, reaching and pooling around the floor. She sighed and swept it up into a ponytail, which kept it from dragging behind her. Her skin was no longer pale but a deep chocolate brown and her eyes remained the same as she was rather fond of them.

Mei's shoulders had broadened slightly and her limbs had become wiry and far more flexible. She sighed lightly and pulled on her new set of clothes. Which consisted of a pale brown Romper with a deep blue sash hanging off her hips, pale green gloves a blue undershirt that only hooked over her left shoulder and a paid of boots with blue and black cloth wrapped around her ankles.

She paced three thick belt on her midsection and attached three scrolls to the lowest belt, one thicker then the other two and decorated with blue waves for a patten while the other two where both Maroon in colour. To the middle belt she attached two thin wooden poles that could connect to each other and to the last belt she attached a small pack with food and water on it.

Finally she placed her kunai pouch around her right leg and puffed a bit of her white fringe from her eyes. She left the house and ran to the gate, where Tsunade stood with Tented, Lee, Neji and Gai. Mei pulled her headband off and tied it around her left arm, a notice to Tsunade to who she was. A system worked out by the Hokage herself when centred around missions like the one she was about to go on.

"Mei, Team Gai here will be joining Team Kakashi in this mission, follow Gai's orders unless you know better. Gai, word of warning, with the enemy you will be facing, I'd trust her and her opinions" Tsunade warned, watching as the team all gaped at Meg's new appearance. "It's just temporary, don't worry. But I've had a few running ins with the Akatsuki it's better for everybody if I hide myself" Mei reassured, smiling happily at the team.

"Well, can't keep emailing waiting. They have so little patience" she finished, jumping up into the trees and beckoning for the group to follow behind closely.