Private Ramen for Reward

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira sat down in one of the booths and looked at the menu of ramen, it seemed that there were so many choices in front of him, and he really didn't know what the best one would be, He sighed to himself it had finally come to midday, he had found a letter runner and sent one to request Otami to meet him there, at least while he was becoming the post office he could grab lunch, checking out the menu of options for the ramen he pondered for a few moments before selecting the option that took his fancy, the issue always was they were all just as good as the last one.

"Can I please take the house special ramen please, also I believe someone will be joining me for some food, so please make sure that they are made comfortable when they arrive, I know I took a booth on my own but hopefully those I have asked will turn up, after all I have requested them."

Akira grabbed some teas as well from the waitress that had come over, as he waited for the others to join them, he hoped that they didn't take their sweet time but like anything in life, people would take as long as they took, but he had requested another to come to this meeting as well, he reached out a hand to Kiriyomi to see how he had been doing these days and have a catch-up, it had been a while since they had talked and lots of things were different.

[Requested Otami]
[Requested Kiriyomi]

 

[Uzu]

Otami wasn’t expecting much in the week, a message from a fellow Genin least of all. A big part of her wanted to ignore the invite and simply vibe with all the big stuff coming up soon, but curiosity…man, did it ever get to her. The Wildling was out of her home and down the street, padding bare-foot confidently towards the direction of the noodle stand while she was still considering it. When she arrived to the conclusion she should at least see what the invite was about, cuz you know free food is never something Otami turns down, the teen had already arrived. A frown furrowed as her stomach clearly took the wheel again.

With a soft sigh the girl dipped her head under the curtain separating street from restaurant and scanned the booths looking at the general setting. Planning for an ambush had never been something the girl even remotely considered, especially in Konohagakure, but training under the Uzumoreru had opened her eyes. Stranger things had happened to stronger people than her, and it was always wise to have a layout of any building one entered memorized. A hand touched her shoulder causing Otami to squeak and jump a little; still working on the whole being a real ninja thing. She was invited over to a booth where a boy sat - letter and sword nearby.

Curiosity doubled. Was he here to challenge her to a sword fight already? Itten said that her skills would quickly become known, especially with her entering the big tourney, but the blonde was confused trying to believe she could be found out that fast. So what did he want? Nodding to the owner of the eatery, Otami made her way over to the booth to slide in across from Akira, elbows propped up on the table as she leaned in,

“So…free food?”

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira watched as the person arrived, he had a smile on his face and offered his hand out towards the other side of the table, he had summoned someone he had never met to meet him and it was clear that he was with that person now. As he grabbed out a few things, two letters, and a sword, and placed them on the table, he tried to give off a bit more of a friendly attitude but that failed to get rid of the serious look on his face that he always had.

"This letter was delivered by bird and the sword came with it, this second letter was delivered by Nao to you, I am giving you both of them as they belong to you, and figured it would be a nice way to meet each other, the name is Akira, and from what I gather you would be Otami."

He allowed the words to linger in the air for a while, as he smiled before grabbing the menu and cracking it open, as he allowed himself to look towards the menu, he figured that he would try and break the ice with a meal, at least he could get to know who he was talking with.

"So what do you fancy eating, it's on me I guess for dragging you all the way here?"

[Nao Letter Delivered]
[Asuka Letter Delivered]
[Sword Delivered]

 

[Uzu]

Otami’s eyes focused on the boy’s features. Handsome but set with a permanent serious face. It reminded her of Grandpa Sousuke in a way, but even he had moments when the leadership facade could drop and he’d give a smile so genuine it would lift the mood up of the entire room. It seemed Akira, though he was trying, wasn’t quite there yet. The Ryuu smiled warmly in return,
“Thank you,” she said simply. The Wildling wasn’t aware of what “mail” was entirely, but knew enough that it did occur to her that the boy had gone out of his way to make sure she got the letters and sword. The latter was the most confusing, but also the most interesting. She had been practicing in this exact type of weapon so it was alarmingly surreal to see someone gifting it to her. Hand on the hilt, Otami gave it a tug to look at the steel itself before gasping, “Takahashi Steel….”

Takahashi Sousuke had found a way to fold steel that made it 10x’s stronger than any other type of steel. It was the metal of her lands with an entire wall made from the stuff protecting Sunagakure from the armies of would be Sovereigns. Strong as it was, however, the process in making it took years to craft unless Sousuke was doing it himself. The blade she held in her hand didn’t have his trademark symbol on it so she could only assume this was a sword that had taken literally years to form. She could only imagine how much it cost. Returning the blade back to it’s less deadly state, she quickly scooped up the two letters looking over the names. This Nao, she didn’t recognize immediately, but the other had a scent to it that smacked her senses before she could read the name. A sad smile crested her cheeks.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry,” the blond appologized rubbing the back of her head sheepishly once realizing how lost she had been looking at her gifts, “I’ll take a beef ramen with two slices of rare steak, green onions, and a century egg,” she said repeating her favorite bowl without pause.
“Thank you, again,” the girl said staring at the letter from Asuka, “It means a lot to me, really, I, should be paying you.”

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira looked to Otami, so it seemed he had finally met the girl that all this was for, as he leaned back in the chair he allowed himself to watch her admire the sword, it was almost beautiful to see someone who was at home with steel in their hands, she knew what she was looking at, and even Akira found himself not knowing that the sword was so special, he didn't even bother looking at the letters, to be honest, it wasn't his place to look at them and nor was he inclined to at that moment. He watched her face change before the waiter came over to them, as he allowed himself to look to her.

"I think she is having what she said, I will grab the same please, can I also grab some ice tea if you have a peachy one that would be great as well"

Watching the girl that came over nod and go away with the order for the two Shinobi it seemed that they would be getting food out of this as well at least, listening to the last part as she spoke something about paying, though Akira could always use the money, he found himself not wanting to take it for once he just laughed back at her.

"It's fine, it saves you a trip and I was just going for a visit anyway, you can find the most unexpected people by doing the most simple tasks in the world, a letter and some food, I wouldn't call today a bad outcome honestly. So tell me a little bit about yourself if I can inquire?"

He wondered how much Otami would open up about herself, but it was interesting to finally meet another Shinobi, Besides Nao and Kiriyomi he really didn't interact with anyone.

 

[Uzu]

The bowl was set down before she could even get a chance to look at the second letter. She squeaked somewhat surprised at the size of the serving but, didn’t question it. Clearing the blade from the table to her lap, and the letters into a pocket, the Wildling gathered a set of chopsticks and began to dig in when Akira asked about her, personally. Well, that was unusual. Only person she could think of that had actually cared or asked about her past was Asuka and Keiyaku. It threw her off for a second and she had to pause a for a moment to gather her thoughts with a mouthful of ramen hanging out. A quick slurp and swallow,

“Not much to say, at least, I don’t think. I was born in the Wind Country’s desert and raised by my wolfish-human mother and her pack of wolves. We wondered around out there for…a long time, but, eventually a new Alpha took over and didn’t take the sight of us so we left. Then Uncle Michino found us, we went a place called Suna…and I was there for…maybe a year? Mom moved me out here to Konoha to get me away from Dad, but, that’s really about it.”

Within moments the soup was ate, Otami returning to the meal after her short paragraph.

“But hey, thanks for the meal! And the mail! Really it…helps more than I can say!”

Otami gathered her things and quickly made it out of the restaurant. She still had training today.

[Topic Left]

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira sighed to himself as he watched the girl leave, it seemed that he had some information about her but other than that nothing was given away. That was fine he knew full well that they would cross paths in the future, the real question was when that future would be. Akira still needed to expand his knowledge and his education, and he knew full well that nothing would be certain until the truth came out. As he sighed and finished up his meal enjoying the food and the moment, before placing a coin down on the table to pay for the meal for both of them.

Standing up on his own he turned around and headed out of the restaurant, waving them a small good bye before leaving out into the busy hustling, and bustling streets once more. He would be on his way to get back to work at least for a few more hours yet.

[Topic Left]