Fade Away (Naruto)

iii. to connect

Their first mission was happily uneventful.

As was their second. And third. And fourth. And fifth.

It was at the sixth mission that Shiki got fed up. Sayaka had to hand it to him though, he'd really reeled in his impatience and frustration for a long while. She and the other boy weren't really happy with how things were either, but they knew that they didn't have a choice in the matter.

"You need to start small for everything," Nanao reasoned easily, dismissing the redhead's indignant cries. "Look, Shinobi don't just go out into the field with the best jobs from the get-go — you're just Genin, you're stuck with this for now."

Apparently, Team Seven's Uzumaki Naruto had already caused a ruckus about it in front of the Hokage and, much to Shiki's displeasure, had been granted a C-Ranked mission.

Meanwhile, they were still stuck with D-Ranks.

So went on their daily missions, uneventful as ever.

They'd just finished cleaning up a river that the people had changed into a dump yard, and Nanao decided they'd done enough for that day. It was just after noon, since they'd started on the job in the early hours of the morning, and the last day of a tiresome week of stupid jobs.

Sayaka wanted nothing more than to hide in her room for the rest of the day, and maybe visit her mother again.

"Hey, Sayaka!"

The blonde glanced back as she heard one of the boys call her name. She'd been the first to walk away when their Sensei had dismissed them, and would've gone the whole way without looking back even once if he hadn't yelled to her.

"What?" A frown slipped onto her face. Shiki was the one who'd called, oddly enough. He never did seem to bother to talk to her, almost as if he was intentionally ignoring her presence. Not that she minded, of course — he did have a tendency to be astonishingly loud.

Both boys were standing just ahead of her, the last member of their squadron nowhere to be seen. "Well," he started, glancing back at Kazuto for a moment with a smirk playing on his lips, "we're heading down to the ramen place later. You want to come?"

She blinked. Once, twice, thrice.

They were inviting her to join them?

. . . well.

"I don't see why not," she responded with a shrug.

It should prove to be a calming distraction, and she needed something like that. The inner conflict hadn't exactly died down yet, although it had been subdued by their simple missions.

The redhead seemed to grin at that, much to the other boy's annoyance and the girl's confusion. "Great! See you in an hour, then! Ichiraku's Ramen!" With a wave, he turned and tugged Kazuto after him.

She stared after them, unmoving.

What the heck was that?

•

It turned out that Team Seven had had the same idea.

And Uzumaki Naruto could sure give Shiki a run for his money with that impossibly loud voice.

"Like peas in a pod . . ." Sayaka grumbled, fighting off the urge to cover her ears with her hands at their yelling. It was a miracle they hadn't been thrown out.