Who Is That? (Part 1)

“Well well, if it isn’t my favorite little killer!” Hade said cheerfully. “How are things?”

Kuroku stood quietly, his hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie, at the doorstep of the Kobiru household. Upon seeing the eccentric precious Kobiru jewel open the door and greet him, he raised his eyebrow and gave him a look.

“…do you say that to every assassin that rolls up around here?” the snowy-haired shinobi asked.

Hade laughed. “Only to my favorites!” he replied, opening the door wider so that the Naichingeru could fit through. Kuroku walked forward and entered the Kobiru house, the blue-haired master of the house shutting the door behind him and running off to the kitchen. It had been an uneventful day like any other, and to pass the time Atsuo decided to invite Kuroku over for lunch. Since Kobiru meals were always enormous and the snowy-haired Naichingeru had eaten fairly lightly that day, he couldn’t pass up the invitation. Kuroku rolled up the dark sleeves of his hoodie to accommodate for the warmth of the house, following Hade to the kitchen as he came upon others of the Kobiru clan. The ones that were there were all lined up around the kitchen, ready to pick up their lunch and head off to do their own business. Atsuo was at the end of this line, and the snowy-haired assassin placed himself right beside his floral friend.

“There you are,” Atsuo said. “I thought you wouldn’t make it.”

Kuroku smirked. “How could I pass up food?” he asked.

“Alrighty, everybody!” Hade interrupted, shouting out to the rest of the compound. “Lunch is ready!”

Hade then began serving each Kobiru member in line their bowl of noodles as they walked forward, the other clan members lining up behind Kuroku. Atsuo and Kuroku took their bowls of noodles and headed off to a quieter part of the house, finding a seat on a plush couch in one of the many living areas of the household.

“Itadakimasu…” they both said as they dug into their meal.

Kuroku wrapped a bundle of noodles around his chopsticks and brought it to his mouth, slurping it down almost instantly. Atsuo laughed.

“Did somebody not eat today?” he asked, neatly folding his floral shirt and placing it aside before eating.

“…well…urm…I may hauf eatern sumthin around…*gulp*…maybe seven o’clock…” Kuroku said as he ate his lunch. “And it may have been smaller than my fist.”

The flower boy chuckled. “Are you dieting?” he asked. “Why would you need to diet? Did you meet a girl or something?”

Kuroku sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m not dieting…” he replied. “Just getting back into the habit of eating more than two square meals of rodent each day.”

“That was literally years ago!” Atsuo jibed. “You said yourself that the last time you ate something you killed in the forest was when you were fourteen! You’re like…thirty now!”

“Twenty two…but close enough…” Kuroku muttered, slurping down more noodles, making it a point to try and contain himself.

Atsuo began to chow down on his own bowl, slurping loudly. “Did I miss something?” Atsuo asked. “Did you leave the village for a day and eat rabbit because you missed it soooo much?”

Kuroku chuckled. “No…” he began, stopping himself as a thought occurred to him. “…well, actually, I did once. Recently.”

“Hm?”

“I can’t really say that I killed the rabbit myself though…” Kuroku continued.

“Ooh, is it story time?” Atsuo asked.

The snowy-haired assassin smirked. “I suppose it is,” he muttered, slurping down another bundle of noodles before recalling past events.

“Around maybe…December? I suppose so…I went out on a mission into the surrounding area around the village border.”

“Ooh, exciting. Did you find any killer ninja?”

“…kinda. Just three persons of interest. The first two…”

“Tree dwarfs?”

“…my parents.”

“Oh, that’s a little more pleasant. I think. Is it?”

“Yes, it was. It felt good to finally talk to them again.”

“I’m sure. What about number three?”

“In truth, it was one of the guys in the bingo book. I think his name was Hanzo.”

“Crimson Order?”

“Yes. Well, no.”

“Pardon?”

“He quit. He had his reasons. Even though he was kind of a prick…he had a distortion of ideals. So we sat down around a fire with some cooked rabbit and talked about it.”

“Did you talk about how you were possibly eating one of his former comrades?”

“I think he joined AFTER that whole fiasco…”

“Well, it’d probably still be funny to mention.”

“Yeah…it kinda would.”

The two laughed as they kept eating their noodles. Kuroku looked up after his previous slurp, wiping his mouth with a napkin as a peculiar sight sailed by his cone of vision.

She was of fair complexion, perhaps a few inches shorter than Kuroku. Her chocolate brown hair flowed down just past her neck, swaying gently over her shoulder blades as she walked. Her lavender eyes seemed to sparkle behind her rounded glasses, sitting gently upon the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a simple maroon shirt and black skirt, with dark stockings concealing the legs that carried her to the kitchen to get lunch.

Kuroku paused. He didn’t take much notice of her, but it was enough to warrant a comment. “It’s like I see someone new here every time I poke my head around a corner…” he stated.

Atsuo raised an eyebrow. “Well, maybe…we’re kind of a big family…” he said.

“Of course…I knew that,” Kuroku remarked. “I mean that I have yet to meet everyone.”

The floral boy shrugged. “I guess…” he said. “What makes you think that?”

Kuroku paused. “Hm?” he asked.

“Who did you see?” Atsuo clarified.

The snowy-haired shinobi sighed. “Oh, I dunno…” he muttered. “About yay-tall, brown hair, glasses…”

“Oh, her…” Atsuo said as he recognized who Kuroku was talking about. “That’s Charlie.”

Kuroku stopped. “…what?” he asked.

“Charlie. Charlie Kobiru.”

“But…”

“Hm?”

“…nevermind.”

Atsuo chuckled. “I’m sure it’s short for something…” he commented. “She hasn’t exactly talked to me much, so I wouldn’t know. I just hear Hade call her Charlie all the time. Everybody else does too.”

Kuroku shrugged. “Just remember your mantra with Atsuo…” he thought to himself. “Don’t ask questions.”

“Well, now you’re one percent more informed,” the flower boy said. “Only about ninety more to go.”

“I’d say you’re exaggerating…” Kuroku remarked. “But I can’t exactly say that with certainty.”

Atsuo laughed as the two finished off their lunch.