My Brother's a Jinchūriki!

Chapter Nine- Sister, Guardian

Naruto yawned and stretched, then rubbed his face and blinked. "Huh? I'm on... the floor?"

He opened his eyes fully and jerked to a full sit. Bright sunlight streamed in through the window and he clutched his head with his hands.

"Gah! I slept in!" He rapped himself on the head with his fists and groaned. "And I got left behind!"

The door unlocked and he snapped to attention, standing quickly as he went to the door. Natsumi stepped through, nearly dripping with sweat as she dragged her feet over the threshold.

"Natsumi!"

She cringed and nearly dropped the bag in her hand. "Ah!" She stopped and let out a breath. "Naruto, you scared me!"

He stuck out his bottom lip in an exaggerated pout. "You left without me?"

Natsumi crossed her arms. "I tried to wake you up. I even pushed you off the bed. You wouldn't wake up."

Naruto crossed his arms and groaned. "Aw, man..."

"Don't worry about it. I train in the evenings sometimes, too. You can definitely come with me then."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Can I?"

She gently shoved his shoulder. "Yes, you can. I did try to wake you up, so stop looking at me like that."

She moved to sit at the table and opened the brown bag and smelled inside. "I'm starving!"

Reaching inside she retrieved a steaming take-out box of dumplings and a pair of chopsticks, popping one into her mouth though it was still hot, chewing with her eyes closed happily. "Hmmm... so good."

She brought a second dumpling to her lips and stopped, the treat hovering just a few centimeters from her mouth. She looked at Naruto from the corner of her eye and caught him drooling as he stared at the food.

"Did you... maybe get some for me?" He brought his hands together and widened his eyes in a pout.

Natsumi sighed and retrieved a second, smaller container and held it out to him. "Here. Normally I have to earn my meals with a tough work out, but I knew you'd be jealous."

He dug in quickly and stuffed the dumplings into his mouth. "Wait," he muttered with his cheeks stuffed with food. "You mean that you buy breakfast regularly and don't share?"

Natsumi popped the dumpling into her mouth and shrugged. "I only treat myself if I train hard enough. Today I ran an extra eight kilometers and didn't take breaks when working on my Jutsu, so I'm beat, but in a good way."

Naruto smiled as the hot food slid down his throat. "So, where do you train anyway? What do you do?"

"It depends." Natsumi bit another dumpling. "Sometimes, I go in the forest and practice tracking wild animals. Other times, I do conditioning to make my body tougher. Sometimes, I even make a clone and fight it." She stuffed the rest of the dumpling into her mouth. "It's really hard to beat yourself in a fight, you know. You know everything that the other is going to do, but I think it's worth it. It really makes me more dynamic and creative in a fight."

He blinked and looked at her. "That sounds... really hard core."

Natsumi laughed and waves her hands. "I-It's really not! Training by myself is very limiting, so I'm always trying to find new places to train. I found this really neat place a few years ago that is perfect for everything I need."

Naruto beamed at her, leaning closer. "And... you're planning on showing your brother, right?"

Natsumi rolled her eyes and smiled. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore."