บท 19: Chapter 19

She didn't tell him her name.

It'd taken almost five minutes for him to get more than a 'Go back to sleep Uzumaki-san.'

The conversation was short, clipped, a little awkward, and a little amusing from his perspective.

He supposed he should have expected such, she was probably still reeling at the fact that he had found her at all.

But still...she didn't give him her name...

So he just called her An-chan.

He'd nearly made Kakashi trip out of his tree when he called him Bu-san the next day.

Either the two of them were too embarrassed to say that they'd been caught, or Jiji had decided to take on a wait-and-see- approach regarding this little development.

Kakashi could still hide from him with a little more effort though. He did it the next day. He was good enough. An-chan always had just a little bit of her chakra exposed though. Just enough for him to pick up her signal.

Still, this livened up his days a little. For nearly the last week every day he'd go out to do some training, and now had the full and unbridled capacity to ask Kakashi for advice whenever he found him. Which happened to be whenever Kakashi didn't want to put in the full effort to hide well.

So with the Anbu, having no orders to do the contrary, and not being a big enough ass to ignore him completely (not having his book helped in this last bit) reluctantly gave a little advice and even showed him the basics of an Anbu chakra control exercise when he noticed that such was what Naruto was primarily working on.

Then at night, when he'd get home he'd make dinner for himself and An-chan, something that primarily consisted of ramen. All the while he would talk her ear off, hoping to get a word of response but mostly just talking to her while she just stood there.

She never ate a bite of the food while he was awake but it was always gone by the time he woke up. He hoped she wasn't just throwing it away.

Tonight was the last night before the team assignments and he was practically bouncing off the bloody walls. Just one more day and he'd be a gennin again, step one would be finished with.

He finished off his shower drying himself off before he dressed and stepped out of the bathroom. He was five now so justJust one more year before he wouldn't need to use that thing anymore.

He sensed as Kakashi left and An-chan arrived.

"An-chan!" He called, smiling. The woman didn't even put up the pretense of stealth anymore, marching in through his front door, judging by the sound.

He marched out of his bathroom, stepping out to the hallway where he found, much to his surprise, his dining table overlaid with a number of bags, stuffed with food.

"You cannot keep having Ramen every day?" The flat drawl brought his eyes over to her, standing in a corner halfway across the room, cloaked from head to toe as if she'd never moved. It was impressive considering his whole table was full of stuff.

"Oh come on, I make good ramen!"

"Not anymore you don't." She answered in a, to all senses, completely impassive tone. But Naruto recognized smug satisfaction a mile away and his danger senses were tingling.

He blinked, confused for a second before he paled, bolting out of the room and into the kitchen.

It was a moment later when half the neighborhood was woken up by his anguished cry of despair.

-0-

"I hate you." He hissed, stuffing the last of the groceries into its proper place in his now...empty empty cabinets.

"I'll live." She replied from the other room.

He huffed, staring up at the assortment of foods. "What am I supposed to maaake?"

"Food."

"Everyone's a comedian or something." He muttered to himself. Between Zae, Dan and now An-chan he was getting rather tired of witty retorts and dry sarcasm.

He looked up again, pulling out a bag of rice and then picking out some meats from his freezer.

A little while later he set two plates down on his table, already knowing An-chan wouldn't eat now, but leaving it out for her anyway.

The chicken was a bit saltier than it should be, and the rice a little undercooked but not bad for a first try if he did say so himself.

It was edible at least.

And this time it didn't end with a burnt refrigerator, exploding toaster and an electrical fire in the bathroom...

"Hey An-chan." He called. "Any idea who's gonna turn out to be my sensei tomorrow?"

"None." She answered truthfully. "You'd be better off asking Bu-san."

He was about to ask who the hell that was when he recalled that was the very name he'd placed on Kakashi to keep up appearances.

"I guess. He'd see more of the academy since he's around during the day."

She said nothing to that.

Finally he was done, hopping off his chair, he took his place and marched onto the stool to wash it in the sink before putting it away.

He marched right up to his night time watcher, smiling at her.

"Night An-chan."

She nodded.

He leaned forward and hugged her. Once more he got that feeling of being a mouse beneath the gaze of the hawk. One that was beginning to wonder why its talons hadn't carved their way through soft rodent flesh yet.

He giggled letting her go and heading off to bed.

The next morning the plate was empty.