Naruto : Monsters

"Here's your meal." The waiter set down a bowl of gyudon before me, a dish consisting of rice covered with beef and onions, and I almost felt myself drooling at the sight of it.

"Thank you," I called out but the waiter was already gone, rushing around to serve the other dozen or so waiting customers their orders. So without further ado, I snapped open a pair of chopsticks, I began to dig in.

The first bite was glorious, I could feel my tongue burn slightly as oil from the sizzling hot meat dripped into my palette but I didn't care, the taste was divine, especially on an empty stomach, and I hadn't even finished swallowing before I was already reaching for my second bite.

Then an elbow rammed into my arm, knocking the food out of my chopstick just as it was about to deposit it into my mouth, sending it spilling onto the table. I found myself staring down mournfully at the wasted food, before levelling a glare at the man seated to my right.

The jerk didn't even have the decency to notice what he did. He was a dark-haired man, dressed up in white robes and a black overcoat, and he had his back towards me as he enthusiastically continued to chatter with his friends, who had dragged their stools so that they all gathered around him, and his left arm swinging about as he vividly told some joke involving his wife.

After a few seconds of futile glaring, I looked away and returned to savouring my meal, putting the incident out of my mind. There wasn't a point in telling him off, not when it was painfully obvious that the man was drunk. Even faced away from me, I could smell the alcohol reeking off of him like a perfume and the way he kept swaying on his seat made it clear he was approaching his limit. 

The guy kept speaking far louder than he needed to, devolving into fits of snickers every few seconds as he tried to get through the joke, occasionally slamming his left hand on the counter as he did.

God how I hate drunks, always have. I hated alcohol entirely, the very idea of something affecting my mind was off-putting to say the least. While I didn't care if someone enjoyed a glass or two, I couldn't stand it when they got flat out drunks. It was…disturbing to see normally intelligent and well-mannered people dissolve into mindless clowns whenever they got too into their drinks. It was one of the reasons why I rarely ever touched the stuff.

Putting him out of my mind, I once again focused on my gyudon and began to devour it with gusto. I had barely taken a few more bite when the asshole next to me jabbed me with his elbow again, though this time I managed to keep hold of my bite. 

Grunting, I ignored him in favour of digging into my meal. I didn't know if it was because of how hungry I was or if the chief was having a good day, but whatever it was the food tasted absolutely amazing. It might have been the best meal I could remember having in a long while and I savoured each and every bite and morsel as I scarfed it down. There was no way I was about to let a little bit of bad company ruin a meal this good.

As tempting as it was to simply pick up my dish and find someplace else to sit, I couldn't. The restaurant was jam-packed with people, there simply wasn't any room anywhere else to sit.

I couldn't remember the name of the place, but it was one of those tiny cosy little mom and pop restaurants you'd find in every neighbourhood. Three long tables filling up the middle while a row of tiny booths lined up against one wall. There was a long counter that stretched almost from one end of the store to another with a line of stools set before it, while on the opposite wall from the booths was a small stage, which usually sat abandoned.

The place was as busy as I had ever seen it, so filled to the brim with people that I couldn't find a place to sit when I first stepped in. Crowds of men and women filled the benches that bracketed the long tables in the middle, leaving me with no room to squeeze in, with the booths being equally occupied with couples or even small families. I even spotted a few children mixed in with the crowd at the table, though why would any parent bring their kids out so late at night was beyond me.

I was lucky to find any place to sit at all. After a quick futile glance around the restaurant, I had been about to give up and leave when a customer had stood up his spot at the counter, having finished paying his bill and was getting ready to leave.

Unfortunately, that seat just happened to be next to this obnoxious bastard. Ah well, it was probably for the best, even if a spot did open up I would have probably just ended up next to another drunk. 

There must have been some kind of local celebration going on that I hadn't heard about or something because it looked like most of the people in the room had a drink in their hand and at least two in their bellies. Half the crowd was either already drunk or well on their way to being so.

There definitely must have been some kind of celebration going on for the place to be so busy this late.

While the restaurant was a fairly popular local spot to eat I'd never seen it anywhere near so crowded before, not even during the day. The last couple of times I popped by this late the place was usually deserted, with only a couple of other customers in here with me. But at the moment it was so overflowing with customers that it was obvious that the waiters were barely managing to keep up with the number going by the haggard looks they were sporting.

They even hire a musician to perform on the small stage, something that I can't remember seeing being used before. The stage usually sat empty no matter the time of the day but tonight, a young lady in a dark blue kimono with beautiful black hair that reached down to her feet was on stage, kneeling before a koto, a traditional stringed instrument. 

And it was obvious to all listening that she was remarkably skilled. The way her fingers flowed over the instrument, sending ripples running down the surface whenever she plucked at the strings was memorizing to watch, and more than a few customers had paused in their conversation to stop and listen.

It was a shame that Naruto hadn't tagged along, I'm sure she would have enjoyed the food here had she been anywhere near as hungry as I was, and unlike me, she wouldn't have minded the crowd either. Hell, she would have probably picked the drunkard up and tossed him out of the window had he messed with her food.

On second thought maybe it was a good thing that she wanted to spend some time alone.

Visiting Kushina's grave had become something of an annual tradition for the two of us. And like most traditions, we ended up establishing a certain routine that we went through every year.

Each year we'd start the day by waking up early in the morning and enjoy a nice big breakfast to last us the whole day. Afterwards, we'd get cleaned up and dress in our Sunday best. This year I had to leave early to pick up the flowers, but normally we'd leave the house together and head towards the cemetery. 

Once there we'd spend the entire day in front of her mother's grave, and mean the entire day. Anyone who had ever heard Naruto speak could tell you she had a lot to say even on a normal day and it was almost impossible to get her to stop once she got going.

Most years Naruto would only end up finishing speaking to her mom well after sunset, so late at night that it could have just as easily been described as morning. Then once she was done we'd make our way down the hill together before splitting up and heading our separate ways once we were back in the streets of Konoha.

Yeah, it was the last part that I always had trouble with.

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