Ninja Like Us

Natomi thought the same as Coltan, but she trusted Kusa. "Taco truck? That does sound a bit suspicious but its a done deal now. Should maybe be careful with those though, just in case. Anyway, what have you been doing while tracking me down? If the gems are anything to go by it wasn't boring."

Kusa was surprised they seemed to have bought it; even she knew her improvised story was stupid. Still, never look a gift-horse in the mouth, as they say. "Not much, actually... just having fun when I could. Arcades are amazing. They have this thing called 'Dance Dance Revolution'... so fun!"

'Stop.' Coltan admonished himself before his mind could adequately form any hypothetical images of the event. Arcades weren't very high on his frequent visitation list, but he knew the game in name well enough to know thinking of it would not be very gallant of him.

Natomi had never heard of the game before. "Oh, okay. I know what video games are but I've never heard of Dance Revolution? What do you do, just dance?" She was curious now; maybe she'd have to try it if Kusa thought it was so fun.

Kusa noted Natomi's interest, and began to bounce on her heels excitedly. "Oh, we have to play it together! It's got this pad that you stand on, and you hit the buttons with your feet. These scrolling arrows tell you what to hit, and it can get really fast. It was so fun, you'd love it!"

Coltan still kept quiet. These two were indeed sheltered in the village to be just discovering the game. The two of them playing together... is something he should stop thinking about. Right now....ish. 'At times I would curse the male mind...' Now was not one of those times.

At those words, Natomi got a bit excited herself. "I really want to play now. We'll have to go tomorrow!" She honestly was looking forward to it, and she'd be playing with Kusa too so it was sure to be fun. She turned to look at Coltan who had gotten a bit quite. "Are you okay? You got pretty quite." She really had no idea what was floating around in his head at the moment.

There was something else Natomi wanted to ask, before she forgot that is. "Hm..Kusa? Do you know about any monsters that are humanoid, grey with overly large arms and not sentient?"

Kusa blinked at that. "Big grey stupid's who look really lonely.... nope, doesn't sound familiar at all. Why?"

"I am quite alright. Pay me no mind." Coltan waved Natomi off without turning from his task. His 'male mind' could be controlled. Kusa's answer was not as informative as he'd hoped. Quite colorful, however. Those two seemed like great friends. To be honest, he hadn't expected Kusa to know of the creatures. The legwork was mandatory, it seemed. He could search for clues and get some people on the issue in the morning.

Natomi felt there was something more for Coltan getting oddly quite but let it drop for now as she turned back to her friend. "I fought against a couple of monsters that looked like that earlier before you came on the scene. They were mostly just attacking random people. But..it was really strange. It was almost as if like they were being controlled or something. Maybe who ever made them had a means to control them. And uh..got wounded so Coltan had to heal me.." She said the last part in a small voice.

The instant Natomi had said that, Kusa was on her, seemingly trying to inspect every inch of her body for wounds, and definitely invading her personal space. "Are you sure you're okay!? Where were you wounded? What did those bastards do to you, how bad was it!?"

Coltan turned his head swiftly, surprised by the sudden burst in speed on Kusa's part. It seemed she was only worried for Natomi, so he resumed cooking. It wouldn't be much longer, now. 'She's rather protective...' He smiled at their close-knit relationship, trying to expel the idea that Kusa was essentially frisking Natomi from his thoughts.

She should have expected it but Natomi was still taken off guard by how fast Kusa had rose up and was hovering over her. She flinched slightly from a bit of the touch. Being a Farian meant her sense of touch heightened which got a uninteitonal reaction from Natomi due to Kusa's accidental probing as she went to check her over. "Ah..! K-Kusa, I'm all right." Her face had turned a bright red..but she wasn't actually resisting Kusa or anything however it was noted.

"I'm fine, really! Coltan healed me and the doctors said I was fine." She hoped that would be enough for Kusa to calm down.

Kusa paused, then pulled away, concern clear on her face. "Are you sure, Natomi? Are you really, one-hundred percent sure?" She'd always been very protective of Natomi, but had become even more so as they got older.

Coltan decided to speak up, but turned just in time to catch Natomi's reaction. He calmly returned his gaze forward, his interior wasn't nearly as cool as his expression. 'That was highly...' His imagination was likely playing tricks on him. That was definitely a moment to curse the 'male mind'... "I can vouch for her, Miss Kusa. Her recovery was completely seen to, internal and external alike, before she was discharged from the hospital. You've nothing to fret about."

Natomi nodded rapidly. Then she hopped slightly, not caring or rather not noticing the slight bounce in her step so to speak. "See? I'm perfectly fine and Coltan says so too. I'll make it up to you tomorrow for worrying you, we can go shopping? I need to get some more clothes anyway.."

Kusa hesitated, then smiled brightly, giggling. "Okay! I guess I'll need some new clothes too. If we are going to be laying low here, and I won't be travelling all the time, I don't have to wear the same outfit all the time!"

Coltan subdued a chuckle before it could loose itself. 'How would one go about 'laying low' whilst engaging in high profile areas such as clothing stores and arcades...?' Of course it would take a ninja or two to accomplish such a feat. Speaking of which, these two spoke so casually for shinobi. Well, assassins with character would be no more unfamiliar than aliens. He started setting the table for three.

Kusa's smile was contagious because Natomi was soon sporting one her own. "Great! We'll go sometime tomorrow, clothe shopping and then you can show me that game. Uh..is it far from here or did you find it in another part of town?"

Kusa shook her head excitedly. "Nope, it's just a bit down the street! Ooh, tomorrow is going to be awesome!" She suddenly threw herself at Natomi, hugging her tightly and lifting her off the ground as she spun around, swinging Natomi as she did. "Heee! It's just so good to see you again! I was losing my mind with you gone! I was prepared to just take off and be labeled a traitor as well if your mom hadn't sent me to protect you!"

Coltan finished plating and simply leaned against the kitchen counter, watching the two with a comfortable smile. Dinner was ready, but he didn't care to break them up just yet. It would still be warm for a while longer. It was interesting to see them act as normal persons, close as they were. It sometimes became easy to view persons by their position or occupation. Occasionally, events like this reminded him to stay away from the notion.

Kusa had always been a happy and excitable woman and she had known her for a while; but she still did things that surprised or took her off guard. Right now was such a instance.

"H-hey..!" Natomi protested weakly at first. It seemed like more it was a token effort and she didn't have too much problems. She finally giggled a bit. "I missed you too Kusa." She had noticed the dinner(from being spinned around) but decided it could wait until Kusa was done. She was, happy to see her after all and it was obvious Kusa was. "We'll have to make up for lost time."

Kusa grinned, only for her stomach to growl. She blushed a bit. "Heh... guess it's chow time!" She turned, and immediately sat down at a plate. "Itadakimasu~!" She dug in with gusto.

Coltan took his seat and calmly began eating. His cooking was good. Not great, but good. Better than the average bachelor's. "It is good of you two to keep in such high spirits. I should hope you enjoy your time here."

Natomi dug into her food quickly, but somehow politely. It was a odd contrast but it described how she was doing perfectly. "I think it'll be fine Coltan. This food is really good. It's easy to be in high spirits with my best friend around." Natomi's cooking skills were rather good but she didn't like to brag, always someone better. Besides, food, was food to her. As long as it was edible and didn't taste like a rock, Natomi would make sure it wouldn't go to waste if she was hungry.

She was really enjoying the food though..maybe a bit too much. Her eyes were closed as she happily ate the warm bun, making a pleased sound in the back of her throat then continued eating. Thankfully, Natomi was quite after that, just the buns had been particularly good in her opinion.

A picture on the kitchen side caught her attention. It looked like a younger version of Coltan with someone else. "Is that your sister?"