Kyoko Hatake

Chapter 36

Kye's POV

-Chapter 36-

"IM STARVING!!!"

I woke with a start and reflexively reached behind my back. Instead of grabbing my, now non-existing sword, I ended up yanking on my hair.

I opened my eyes to see Naruto clutching his stomach.

"Could you say that again? I don't think we could hear you." I stated dryly.

"Settle down Kye..." Dad sighed.

I shrugged and went over to my bag, where I expected to find some of the rice cakes Ms. Tsunami gave me. Unfortunately, they were no where to be found.

"Did anyone take the rice cakes from my bag?" I asked with confusion.

The room collectively agreed that no one had taken them.

"Welp... we're out of food..." I responded

"There should be a small town nearby, we can get some from there." Dad stated

"WELL LETS GET GOING!" Naruto yelled.

-Time skip-

"I-I'm sorry we just closed."

"But-" I was interrupted by the shop owner slamming the door in my face.

We had tried almost every shop and restaurant in the town, but all said they were "closed."

Sasuke was still heavily wounded so he and Sakura and Naruto stayed at the base. At first, Naruto refused, but as soon as Dad suggested that Naruto should stay to protect Sakura, he changed his mind. I left Tai and the others to give double security.

"Well, I guess we'll have to go back to the base and see what we can scrounge from there." Dad shrugged.

"There's only one last place over there." I said while pointing to a run down dumpling shop.

"Alright..." Dad sighed.

"Wait... before we go in, can we take off our headbands and Shinobi gear? The people seem to be reacting to your headband. That or your 'scary' demeanor." I suggested with a hint of sarcasm at the end.

"Oh hush. But good idea. I've been noticing that too. But..." dad started.

"Oh... if you take your headband off... uhh here!" I ripped a piece of my bandage off and wrapped it around both his eyes.

"Wait wha-" He gasped.

"You're now my blind father." I finalized.

"Your gonna have to take the mask off...." I demanded.

"Uhhhh..." Dad hesitated.

"Nobody's gonna recognize you." I crossed my arms.

"Fine...." He answered.

Dad took his headband, mask, vest, and ninja tool bag off and put them in a scroll. Dad kept a couple of kunai hidden in his shirt sleeves.

I put my "tanto" sword, ninja tool bag, and headband in a different scroll. We then put both scrolls in my satchel.

We strolled over to the shop. When I opened the door, the sign above the doorframe fell off.

"What a lovely establishment..." I muttered with a deadpan expression.

We, or I, looked inside to see a teenage girl beating a lump of dough.

Surprisingly, the inside was much cleaner than the outside.

There were traditional Japanese low tables with olive green mats.

"Oh hello welcome!" The girl exclaimed.

"Hello, are you open?" I asked.

"Of course, take a seat." She replied.

I "led" dad over to a table and made a big ceremony of sitting him down. Once I sat down, the girl came over to us with a small jug of water and cups.

"You must be new comers, I don't recognize you. We don't get many travelers in our little town." The girl stated as she poured us water.

"Ah y-yes we are travelers." I stumbled over my words.

"Do you have names?" She asked with a hint of humor.

"Of course! I'm...Akira... and my father is.. Ka...ruto." I answered hesitantly.

I had to think of names for both of us, but I almost gave away Dad's real name, and that would've been bad. Naruto was the first name that came to mind.

Once I said that though, I could feel Dad glaring at me under the blindfold.

"Ah yes, but when Akira was little, she was super sassy, so I like to call her Princess." Dad shot back.

I gave him the stink eye.

"Alright." The girl said.

"We have fresh homemade dumplings if you would like to order those." She suggested.

"Sounds great to me." I answered.

"I agree." Dad said.

"Ok! I'll get your order started." The girl stated cheerfully.

Right as she started walking away, I suddenly asked, "Oh! What is your name?"

"My name is Hana." She smiled.

Hana went back to the counter and began to roll dumplings. As she became more invested in her cooking, I subtly whispered with dad.

"So... I guess it was the ninja attire that frightened people... I wonder why..." I stated quietly.

"Hmm, maybe this town is being 'bullied' by some local shinobi." Dad suggested.

"Maybe... I feel like there is something more to it tho.

A/N Here's a small filler :) The story is original, but there is a short snippet that's from a different fandom. Can you guess what it is?