Of Samurai and Shinobi

Here’s chapter three out of a total of eleven finished chapters.

Notes:
Looooooot's of Japanese words, I really love this language so expect me to use a lot of it XD
I'll give a translation of the Japanese words I use for each chapter, this way you wont get confused.
If you still don't know what they are, you can easily find images on them on google or something.


-Kochi: This way
-Hai: Yes
-To mõshimasu: My name is (polite)
-Desu: I am
-Shoji: Traditional Japanese sliding doors.
-Geta sandals: Traditional Japanese footwear, looks like the Pi sign XD
-Zori tatami sandals: Traditional Japanese footwear, looks a little like slippers.
-Doushiyou: What should I do?
-Tadaima: kind of like I'm home
-Okaeri nasai: kind of like welcome home
-Hahaoya: one of the many ways of saying mother
-Rurouni: kind of like Wanderer, see Rurouni Kenshin
-Moya: A main hall, shinden-zukuri style architecture, Heian period
-Kakemono: Wall scroll
-Fusuma: Traditional Japanese sliding doors, these are usually covered in pretty handpainted pictures
-Ramma: Wooden carvings to fill up the open spaces in the sliding doors, they also function as ventilation
-Tatami: Mats, made of woven rice straw
-Herinumo: The cloth borders on a tatami mat

Chapter 3 Of families and famished fish

Sasuke POV>>>>>>>

Sasuke had no idea what he was doing...
He allowed a stranger- a foreigner even- to enter the village without even knowing his name or his reason for being here.
While pondering over his actions, he hadn't even realized he had been walking towards his home.

'Might be for the best...at least this way I'll be able to keep a close watch on him in case he's an enemy...'
Turning around he looked at the blond, he seemed to be taking in the scenery.

"Kochi..."

The boys blue eyes focused on him.

"H-hai"

Upon finally arriving at his destination, he looked towards the blond.
"This is my home, you're welcome to stay here as my guest for the duration of your visit to our village."

Sasuke bowed gracefully.
"Uchiha Sasuke to mõshimasu."

The blond clumsily returned the bow.
"Uzumaki Naruto desu. Thank you very much for your kindness.
I would love to stay with you, as long as it's not a problem of course."

"It wont be a problem, we have plenty of room"
'Especially after my brother left...'
He mentally added.

He opened the shoji and allowed his guest to enter the moya.

Naruto POV>>>>>>>>

Naruto absolutely hated having to be this polite towards people.
He never had parents to teach him the 'traditional ways'.

He simply preferred shaking a persons hand rather then bowing like a drinky bird...
The people in the orphanage were always cold and distant, they would rather have turned him down the day he was sent there...
Let alone teach him 'etiquette'.

The boy named Sasuke opened the Shoji and stepped aside to let him into his temporary home.
He couldn't believe his eyes!

The main hall of this place could easily fit his entire living room.
He saw Sasuke take of his Geta sandals.
Naruto took of his Zori tatami sandals and placed them next to Sasuke's sandals.

He felt more uncomfortable by the minute, even though he really did want to stay here, Naruto wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his 'origin' a secret.
This was originally meant as a stealth mission he was supposed to 'observe the subject from a safe distance'.
Being found out to be a spy in the middle of a village filled with skillful swordsmen was not exactly an ideal situation.

'Doushiyou...?'

Sasuke POV>>>>>>>

There was something odd about this Naruto-person.
'He seems to be really nervous.'
Sasuke decided to brush the thought off and decided to inform his family of their houseguest.

"Tadaima."
A familiar "Okaeri nasai" greeted him.

He walked towards the kitchen, his guest trailing behind.
His mother was busy preparing something in the kitchen.

She turned around and looked at the young man standing behind Sasuke.

"I hadn't even noticed you left this morning."
Sasuke flinched.
'What a surprise...'
"Who's your friend?"

"Hahaoya, this is Uzumaki Naruto, he will be staying with us for a while."

Naruto POV>>>>>>>

The woman, apparently Sasuke's mother, raised an eyebrow at the sight of his hair and eyes.
He could feel his face heating up from embarrassment, he knew that the people around here pretty much all had dark hair, to them it was a rare trait only foreigners or those of mixed blood possessed.

"Welcome to our home Uzumaki-san. I'm Sen, Uchiha Sen."
She smiled sweetly and bowed as gracefully as Sasuke had done earlier, he once again returned the bow.
'If this keeps up it's gonna cost me my back...'
"Very nice to meet you, I hope it's not a problem for me to stay here."

"Don't be silly dear, it's not a problem at all. Are you a traveler?"
"Yes, something like that."
"Any destination in mind?"
"No, not really, I just felt like seeing the world one day and got up and left."
"Ah, a rurouni! You look very young though, your parents must be so worried about you."
"That's ok, I don't have any parents..."
"Oh my, sorry to hear that..."
"Like I said, it's ok, really, my family died right after I was born, you can't miss what you don't know right?"
"Well then, I'll make sure you'll feel right at home here!"

Sasuke POV>>>>>>>

Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow, he could tell his mother really liked the boy.
She barely knew him...he could feel himself becoming a little jealous.
'I admit he's cute and all but still...Did I just say cute?'

He snapped out of his thoughts as his mother called his name.

"Sasuke, why don't you show Uzumaki-san around the house."
"Hai, hahaoya."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Naruto POV>>>>

It truly was a beautiful house, if one could call it that.
The builder combined several types of styles and periods.

The outer part of the house consisted of black Shoji's, the inside however contained beautifully painted Fusuma's, Ramma's gave the doors an even more spectacular look.
Several kakemonos with a fan like symbol covered the walls of the long hallways,
said hallways had a wooden floor while the rooms mostly had tatami floors.
The herinumo were decorated as well, all sorts of tiny flowers were woven into the cloth.
All in all, the house simply looked like a palace.

The last room they entered was the tea ceremony room.
Just as he expected, it looked over to the equally beautiful garden.

Many different types and colors of flowers could be seen, a sweet scent hit Naruto's senses.
He had always loved nature, never in his short life had he seen such a lovely garden.
He and Sasuke walked over the stone path and over a small wooden bridge that allowed people to cross a tiny pond filled with koi fish of all sizes.

Said fish looked at them curiously from the waters surface.
'Probably think they're gonna get fed..'
Sakura trees, Momo trees, Momiji trees and Mokuren trees were fully in bloom.
The fences surrounding the garden were covered in purple fuji blossoms.

Naruto already knew what his favorite spot in the house would be.

Sasuke POV>>>>>>>>>

Sasuke tried to keep the tour short and simple, he wasn't much of a talker.
He doubted that the blond was really paying attention anyways.
The aforementioned blond was currently looking at the fish.

'Fish.....'
Realization dawned upon him after looking at said fish.
'I...forgot...to feed the fish....again...'
"Would you excuse me for a bit, the fish need to be fed."
"S-sure. I mean go ahead, they look really hungry."
'Rub it in why don't ya....'

He walked towards the small storage near the tea ceremony room and took out a small wooden bucket and filled it with the home made fish food.

He had been in such a bad mood this morning that he must've forgotten all about it.
Speaking of which, his bad mood was almost completely gone.
Things had moved so fast after his little run in with Naruto he simply hadn't been thinking about his problems anymore.

The raven-haired youth walked back towards the pond, his guest and the horde of famished fish.
The blond was crouched down at the edge of the pond.
He seemed to be staring at something...

Ignoring it, he proceeded in feeding the fish.
They looked like a pack of piranhas, fighting and shoving with one another for a bite of food.
He looked around to see if there were any other fish that still needed to be fed.

"Here's one!"
Sasuke turned to face Naruto who was still crouched and looking at something.

It must've been the ugliest fish ever........

A blue...thing with beady little eyes.
It looked more like a chibified shark then a koi fish.
Its spiky fins were a slightly darker blue and it was just staring ahead.
Doing...absolutely...nothing...other then.... staring....

'My brother's pet fish...'

He ungracefully dumped the remainders of the food near the blue fish.
Said fish made no move whatsoever to eat the food.

The other fish however, refused to go anywhere near the blue fish's side of the pond.
No matter how famished they were...

His brother had loved that fish; Itachi could spend hours out here.
He had been jealous of it when he was younger, his brother rarely spend time with him, yet he seemed to be able to spend time with his koi whenever he felt like it.
(No pun intended XD)

Naruto seemed to be mesmerized by it as well, he could feel a tinge of jealousy forming...

TBC