Konoha's Chef (Gaara Love Story)

18: Temari's search

Author's POV

"Bye, Kosuke-san! Good luck on the exams, Akimi!" The patrol guards yelled, waving goodbye. The Maruboshi family of two watched their companions leave for work, then cleaned up the mess.

"Okay then, let me go," Grandpa Kosuke said, getting up. All his gear was strapped back in, and he held his granddaughter's hand as they walked to the Hokage's office. After all, it's not like one can just leave the village and waltz back in without permission or notification. Especially if it was a ninja.

"Let's see if Lord Hokage can let you leave home for a bit," Grandpa Kosuke suggested.

"Yep!"

Meanwhile, Sora found Daikoku Funeno Sensei and trained under his supervision. Sora wanted to hone his physical and ninjutsu stats, and who was better than his team's Sensei? His cousin went to the library, studying fervently as well.

The other participants of the finals, also worked hard at their own craft. Well, maybe except for Shikamaru who decided that training was "too much work," "a drag," and "troublesome" and promptly went to sleep. Well, not like he could do anything right now. That is, until his Sensei Asuma kicked him into gear and had him practice the endurance for his shadow control. Might as well do something.

Back with Akimi, she had received permission to travel to the Walls for training.

"You can leave first thing in the morning," Lord Hokage added, watching the girl slip the village pass into her pocket. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Hai! Thank you, Lord Hokage!"

"Bye bye, Akimi," he said, as Akimi excused herself. "She's grown, Kosuke."

"Yes, indeed," Kosuke said, smiling. "She's my child."

"You've taught her well. Thankfully, you haven't stopped her from becoming Chunin." Lord Third stood up from his desk and looked out the window.

"She has yet to experience the loss, Hokage-sama." The Genin's voice was laced with sorrow and pain.

"Hmm." The Hokage said nothing further.

Yet, in another spot in town, lied a hotel. One that hosted three siblings and a Sensei.

"Get me some vegetable stir-fry!" Kankuro yelled from his room to his sister Temari who was going out. She was in charge of getting late dinner for them all. Trouble is, she didn't know if the shops were still open or not. Mostly like, not.

"I'll murder you, Kankuro," Temari growled as she left the hotel. "You and your stir-fry." Her stomach ached from the lack of food. They didn't have anything since this morning. Thankfully, her match with that Tenten girl wasn't enough to work up an appetite, so she wasn't as hungry if she had fought with everything she had.

Twenty minutes later, Temari glared at the closed shops lined up in the streets. Everything was closed. The convenience stores had sold out their food and wouldn't restock until tomorrow. Also, they closed in five minutes, so Temari had no way of getting enough food for the four of them.

"Fantastic," she scowled. "We're going to starve."

"Huh? Starve? Miss, do you need food?" Temari whirled around to find Akimi standing behind her, looking worried.

"What do you want?"

"I just want to help......Temari-san."

"You're that Akimi girl who beat that Gennai guy," Temari remembered. "Good job, your face was pretty interesting."

"Ah! You saw that? Uh, I didn't mean it, really! I didn't mean to scare him too badly," Akimi sighed. "Anyways, I overheard you saying you don't have food. If you like, I can make you dinner. Um, vegetable stir-fry?"

"No thanks," Temari declined, her body disagreeing with her. "No offense, but I can't trust you. What if you poison my food?"

"You have a point, but unfortunately, I don't make it a habit to carry around poison," Akimi retorted angrily. "Food is too precious to waste. Come on! I'll give you some delicious bento box lunches! But never mind that they're called lunch; just call them dinner!" Without even giving her a choice, Akimi grabbed Temari's hand and dragged her towards the woods.

Thirty minutes later, Temari was on her way back to the hotel carrying four bento boxes. The containers were a nice modern three-layer style. The bottom held soup, the second had rice, and the top contained side dishes. Also, Akimi had told her about the hidden compartment under the top lid.

"It's best to mix it in with a third of the rice, okay?" Akimi said cheerfully.

"That girl.....she gave me food even though I said no and it might be poisoned," Temari sighed. "Ah well. I'll have Kankuro check it over thoroughly."

Temari returned to their room. "Finally, you're back!" Kankuro exclaimed, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Right," Temari glared. "But first, check these over to make sure they have no poison."

"Huh? Eh, okay." The minute Kankuro opened the individual layers of the first bento box, the intense, flavorful smell hit him eagerly. "Woah, where did you get this, Temari? It's looks so good!"

"Check for poison first," she snapped. Kankuro scanned it quickly, his hopes skyrocketing once he had detected no poisons of any sort inside.

"It's safe! Can I eat now?"

"Yeah, I guess," Temari said, rolling her eyes. However, she took one of the bento boxes and looked longingly at the food. It was definitely well-prepared. Without hesitate, she dug in.

"Oh wait, the chef said to mix whatever was in the hidden compartment of the first lid with a third of rice," Temari said hastily.

"Huh? There's more? This can't be any better," Kankuro said, taking the lid. He poured the liquid into the rice and didn't hesitate eating it. "IT'S SO GOOD!!!"

"Shush! Don't wake everybody else up!"

Ten minutes later, the older siblings cleaned up the mess, feeling satisfied. Gaara came in much later, took one glance at them, then walked away.

"Wait, Gaara!" Temari called out, grabbing the third bento box. "I know you haven't eaten yet, so here's food for you too."

Gaara didn't no reply. After what felt like decades, Gaara walked back and took the box, promptly disappearing in a whirlwind of sand. The two older siblings, sighed as both prepared for tomorrow.

As with Akimi, she was tucked in her sleeping bag snugly. Grandpa Kosuke was tending the fire absentmindedly.

"I wonder if she ate my food," Akimi wondered, shutting her eyes as she slept peacefully.