Chapter 15:

The warm rays of the Japanese sun filled the stand, signalling that day had finally arrived. Neither Yumi nor Yuji were up yet, but Soy Sauce was. He stretched and yawned with a soft nya, and finally got up and about. He saw that his owner and his “Friend” were still sleeping, and decided to jump up. He was right next to Yuji’s face, a regular thing to happen in the morning. He gently laid one of his paws on Yuji’s face, trying to get him to wake up. 

“Mmm…Let me sleep, boy…” 

Yuji said groggly, turning to the other side. Soy sauce got a little stubborn and patted his face again, a little harder this time. 

“Soy Sauce…Please…” 

He said, this time with a little shove. Soy sauce got butt-hurt and started meowing in his face. It took a good 5 minutes until he finally stayed awake. 

“Alright, Alright…I’m up, boy…” 

He said, still slurred from his tired state. He looked to his side. Yumi actually slept next to him for the night. “Should I wake her too?” 

He said, looking at Soy Sauce. He shook his head no, and even crawled to the kitchen. 

“Oh…I got you…”

White trying to stay as quiet as possible, Yuji pulled out all of the ingredients to make the two of them breakfast. “Her mom said that she liked tamagoyaki*, I’m pretty sure I have stuff for it in there…” 

Yuji said, sticking his whole entire head in the cabinet. Little did he know that Soy Sauce had to sit on the eggs to show him where they were. 

“Oh…Sometimes you know better, don’t you…” 

He said with a giggle. Without much more hesitation, he got to work. The sounds of eggs boiling, flames being started, and utensils clinking filled the whole stand. It was a matter of time when Yumi woke up, and immediately saw Yuji cooking. 

“Yuji…why are you already cooking?” 

“Haven’t you heard of breakfast? Don’t worry…I’m making you some tamagoyaki!” 

He said, trying to peak her interest. Her eyes widened at him knowing her favorite morning meal. 

“H-How did you…” 

“Don’t worry, your mom told me. She said to cook you your favorites so you can fight the best!” 

He said with a giggle. She was giggling too, but didn’t care for once. All she did was get up, quickly get changed, and go to the kitchen to watch Yuji cook. 

“Like what you see? Your eggs are almost ready!” 

He exclaimed, still happy with his achievement. 

“Thank you again for making me breakfast…” 

She said quietly, leaning her head on the wall. 

“It’s my pleasure, Yumi! As long as someone wants to eat my food, I’ll never stop!” 

“I should probably start putting up our defenses…Just let me know when my food’s done, if you don’t mind.” 

“Of course!” 

He said waving in between egg flips. 

After around 10 minutes, Yumi’s eggs were done. 

“Yumi! Your tamagoyaki’s done!” 

He exclaimed across the stand. She teleported straight to the kitchen with a jutsu. 

“WOAH! How did you do that?” 

“It’s just teleportation…It’s ninja basics.” 

“Well it’s still cool! H-Here’s your food by the way.” 

He handed her the plate, which was decorated with four steaming hot batches of her eggs. She took it with careful hands, and took a bite. 

“Oh my god…this is too good Yuji…” 

She said, taking in all of the flavors hitting her at once. “I’ve never made this before, and I was worried I was going to mess it up…” 

“Well you didn’t, Yuji…You need to trust your talent…” She said, cupping his face with her hands. Yuji’s first reaction was to break out in blush, but he barely managed to break words. 

“I-I try to be confident…but I feel that the attack messed with that…” 

Yumi looked down at the mention of his family’s attack. “Listen…Since we’re here together for now, we can help each other out. If you ever want to, I can help you with some basic self-defense…” 

Yuji’s eyes perked up at the thought. 

“R-Really?” 

“Really. I want to help you out, Yuji…and I really think that it could benefit you.” 

“And I could always help you learn how to cook!” He said jokingly. “You know what…I could make that deal with you.” 

She stuck out her hand to him. 

“Wanna help each other out these next few days?” 

She said, this time with a genuine smile. 

“I’d…Love it, Yumi…” 

He said, taking her hand. 

“Then it’s official…I’ll teach you what I know…you teach me what you know…” 

“Yay!” 

Yuji said with a giggle, which caused her to giggle again, harder this time. Soy sauce looked at the two of them giggling, and could only rub his head on Yumi’s hand, signalling that he’s happy when they’re happy. “Here…Let me finish the defenses outside…” 

“Use my hoodie again! I can’t have people seeing that you’re a ninja.” 

He said, already going to grab the familiar green hoodie. “Thank you…you’re really spoiled me ever since I moved in for this mission.” 

“It’s what I have to do! You’re my guest, and my guest always gets the best treatment!” 

She took the hoodie and zipped it up all the way. 

“I’ll be done in time for lunch…” 

She said quietly, before heading outside for the stands preparations.

After a few hours of booby trapping the exterior of the stand, and even flipping the open sign to closed, she was all done for the day. She immediately sat down next to Soy sauce, and saw something on the counter. It was a simple note from Yuji. It read: 

Hey Yumi! Out in the market for some more ingredients. I left you a Rice Bowl in the kitchen, I can’t have you defending the stand on an empty stomach! See you tonight! Your friend, Yuji 

A small smile started to form on her face as she read the note. 

“Yuji…I can’t get enough of you…” 

She quietly said, still smiling and holding the note. Soy Sauce saw her smiling and crawled into her lap. “Aww…You aren’t so bad either…” 

She went to go get the Rice Bowl he made her and eat, but she heard something off coming from the window. It sounded like something flapping in the wind. She immediately dropped her rice bowl and rushed over to the window. What was on it was a piece of paper stabbed into the windowsill. 

“Oh no…Not now…” 

She thought to herself. She looked around, and stole the note off of the window. It was…from Jae. 

“How did he get a note to me without them noticing?” She thought, her mind racing with a thousand thoughts at once. She finally unrolled it to reveal what it said: 

Yumi…

You and that Yuji don’t have much time. Master is really planning to go all out on this mission. I’ve never seen him this mad ever since me and Katsuki, and I can’t let that happen to you. Protect yourselves, the clan will do anything to have Yuji dead.

-Jae

Unlike the other note, she was sitting and staring, almost emotionless. 

“What day is it?”

She said to Soy Sauce. He pointed his claws to the calendar, which meant that they only had two more days. “No…we're losing time.” 

She thought, slightly breaking from the note. Looking at the two separate notes from two different people, it allowed her to truly look at her life. On one side, she was with Yuji. It was perfectly normal, no training stress, but still stressful for her friend's life. On the other hand, she had the clan. The clan that she betrayed to be with her friend. The 17 years of her life spent there, all being lost and forgotten. 

“Am I…Really making the right decision?” 

She thought, starting to overthink even more. It wasn't until the jingle of the doorbell went off. It was Yuji. “Yumi! Uh, I don’t know how to work these traps yet…can you let me in?” 

She looked at him first with a glare, then a faint smile, and an even bigger smile. 

“Yeah, I am…I really am…”

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