Paranoia of the Starved |Kankuro|

Chapter 10

I decided to pick up some instant ramen, not the cheap stuff. But the slightly more expensive cheap stuff. A whole 25 cents extra! I didn't have a lot of money. It was near the end of the month, as well as near the end of the school year. 

So my end of the month money was scarce. I decided to give Reena-san 25% of my check each month, even though it would be really helpful, I knew that they needed it. So instead of 100 Ryo a month, I had 75. It let me have pretty decent meals.

 I could buy my groceries for the month with it, along with managing to feed Pako every night. Which my groceries for the month consisted of ham, bread, jerky, potatoes, ramen, rice, beans, and tortillas. Enough to last my month with a little extra to spare, and enough for variety in my diet, which mainly consitsted of carbs which wasn't that bad in all actuality. 

Rule number one of living on your own. Buy things that will last. Milk is a waste of money when you have good ol' tap water that sometimes didn't work!

Bread, can be eaten quickly in every meal, and you can eat it stale! I could go on forever about budget foods, but right at this moment, I was waiting for Kankuro to show up to the training ground. 

Oh man, did I even have extra blankets at my place? I didn't even think to check! I could spare a pillow or something, but blankets..? I only had one massive blanket. Maybe I could pull off my sheets and give him the blanket and just wrap myself up in sheets? 

I perked up as I spotted Kankuro making his way towards me, I could see a bunch of things packed into his bag. He waved to me, "Himoko-jan! There you are!" 

"Hey.." I let out slowly, I still wasn't used to having conversations with people..

"So, are we leaving now? Where do you live?" He asked. 

"Well, I need to do something first before anything," I explained slowly.

 Walking over to my regular chicken stand, "we're getting chicken?" He asked. "Is that for dinner-jan?" 

"No, not for us anyways," I explained, leading the curious boy over to Pako's home in the alleyway. Eating the skin like usual, and staring down at he piece of chicken in contemplation, before splitting it in half and giving a piece to Kankuro.

Kankuro opened his mouth to speak, but slowly closed it as Pako came bounding up to me, rubbing up against my leg. I knelt down to her level, scritching behind her ear, and giving her my piece of chicken. 

"So is this your cat-jan?" He asked, while kneeling down next to me, holding out a piece of chicken in his hand.

I nodded, "her name is Pako," I revealed, nervous. It was a weird name, a completely unheard of word. Would he suspect me of something? 

Kankuro paused for a moment, "I've never heard of a name like that before-jan!" He stated, as Pako cautiously sniffed the chicken. She seemed to be getting a lot healthier since I've been coming around. Less skinny, less dehydrated. 

I then stood up after giving Pako a few more pets. "Why doesn't she live with you-jan?" Kankuro asked suddenly. 

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "Well I'm not sure how much she would like it inside, and I don't know if pets are allowed in the building," I explained.

Kankuro nodded quietly as we made it into my apartment, Kankuro paused to look around before taking off his shoes. 

"So wanna eat now?" I asked, to which Kankuro nodded happily in return.