The Fox's Son

Chapter 21 - A Walk Through Tokyo

When Kagome got out of school, Naruto was waiting for her at the front gates of the school yard. After she said bye to her friends, she ran up to Naruto and greeted him. He once again took her school bag for her and they began to make their way off of school grounds. They didn't go straight home, seeing that Naruto reminded her that she was supposed to be giving her a tour, much to Kagome's displeasure. He goaded her into taking him to the city to see its beguiling sights.

The two were currently walking down the busy sidewalks of Tokyo in silence. As they walked, Naruto desperately refrained from taking to the rooftops. Not only would it have been faster, but he imagined the views were probably breathtaking. There were also so many people and far too many smells on the ground level.

Kagome watched Naruto as he took in the sights of the city in fascination and curiosity. He seemed to have taken particular interest in the marketplace, looking at all the crops it had to offer. When they stopped near a flower stand, he purchased a jasmine flower and gave it to her. She blushed as he tucked it behind her ear before they continued to walk through the city.

"So are we almost there?" Naruto asked lazily. Ms. Higurashi had asked him to tell Kagome that she needed to go by the store before they left for school this morning. She needed some things for dinner tonight.

Kagome nodded. "Yes, we are." she answered as they continued to walk. On their journey to the store, something caught her eye. "Hey, what's this?" she said.

Naruto followed her gaze to a large banner that said the words from Kami herself. "A ramen eating contest." he said with a grin.

Kagome caught the strangely over-gleeful expression on his face. Before she could comment on it, he began to quickly make his way over. "Hey, wait a minute!" she yelled as she ran to catch up with him. "Where are you going?!"

"To sign up!" Naruto called over his shoulder as he continued to make his way to his destination.

Kagome's jaw hit the floor. "WAIT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE GOING TO SIGN UP?!" she said as she caught up with him.

Naruto just smiled as he entered into the restaurant with a chiding Kagome behind him. After all the participants signed up, everyone gathered around the bar as the participants sat down. 'Light work' Naruto thought as he looked around at all of his contenders. Yep, he definitively had this competition in the bag. Once the host said go and the cooks started serving, Naruto zoomed past his meal like a madman. By the end of the competition, the host's jaw literally hit the floor at all the stacked bowls next to the blonde.

Said blonde walked away from the bar with a wide grin on his face with a full stomach and a wad of cash. One could only conclude that he had won the contest, if the dropped jaws, saucer eyes, and glares didn't make it obvious. Naruto had created a brand new world record for eating ramen with about 78 bowls. Or was it 88? Bah, the blonde had lost count.

Behind him was a slacked jawed Kagome, staring at him in a state of shock and disbelief. '98 bowls.......' Kagome thought in shock. '98 bowls of ramen and he looked he could eat even more.......where the hell does it all go?!' she said inwardly as she continued to stare at the smug blonde. She also noticed the girls that were staring at him with heart eyes as they left the shop.

As they exited the shop and began to make their way towards the supermarket, Naruto crossed his arms behind his head as they walked. He had his eyes closed and had a content smile on his face. 'Can he even see?' Kagome inwardly asked as the blonde walked with his eyes closed, avoiding whatever obstacle crossed his path as if he had his eyes opened.

"May I help you?" the blonde asked with his eyes still closed.

This snapped Kagome out of her stupor. "W-What?" she responded.

"You've been staring at me since we left the shop." he pointed out. "You must need something."

"Where does it all go?" she asked bluntly.

Naruto opened an eye and looked at her. "Pardon?" he asked.

"You ate a lot of Ramen." Kagome stated. "How are you not as fat as a cow?" she said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Well what can I say. Ramen is the food of the gods." he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Somewhere on the celestial plain........)

Kami just sweat dropped at what she just heard. Amaterasu just laughed at her grandson.

"He most certainly had his mother's taste." she said with a giggle.

"No kidding" Tsukuyomi commented with a light sweat drop of his own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagome ignored that comment. "But, 98 bowls of ramen?" she asked, still not believing he ate that much.

"Yes, and?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow with his open eye.

"It's unhealthy." Kagome deadpanned.

"It's holistic." Naruto said with a grin.

Kagome just sighed as they continued to walk towards the supermarket. 'He's no better than Inuyasha......' she said inwardly as she thought about their ramen addiction. At this point, she wasn't even sure if intervention would help.

As they approached the supermarket, Naruto's facial expressions changed from relaxed to curiosity. He wondered what type of goods the modern supermarket sold. From the signs of the windows, he could see the similarities between the products of his time and the products of the modern times. There were only a few differences in branding. He looked around as they walked inside the market.

"Meet me back at the front counter in 15 minutes." Kagome said to him before walking off, knowing the blonde was going to browse whether she told him not to or not.

Naruto nodded to her before he began to wonder the supermarket. He had to admit, it was much bigger than the supermarket of Konoha. Of course, most goods were sold in outdoor stands of the market district, but he could easily see that this market sold more goods than those of his time. He looked at the shelves and saw the different brands of soda, chips, cookies, candies, and other goods. Yep, he would definitely say that the modern era had a much more variety than Elemental Nations era. He even saw foreign name brands, some of which he could not pronounce or understand.

The blonde continued to wonder around the large store before deciding to head back to the front counter. As he waited for Kagome, he continued to take in his environment as well as filter out the distinctive scents and smells of the city. He nodded to cashier in acknowledgement as he stood in waited.

About 3 minutes later, Kagome arrived at the counter with a basket full of groceries. Of course, Naruto wasn't without anything. He planned on surprising the Higurashi family tonight with his cooking skills. He also wanted to thank Ms. Higurashi for her hospitality. Kagome looked at Naruto curiously when she saw that he had a few vegetables as well.

After she paid for the groceries, Naruto paid for his groceries. As they left the supermarket, Naruto took the grocery bags from her hands and carried them. He fought the urge to pull out a storage seal and store them there. Ignoring Kagome's protests, Naruto continued to walked down the sidewalk with the groceries in his hands with a pouting Kagome close behind.

The duo made little conversation on their journey back to the Higurashi shrine.