Starring:
Itami, Hei
Date: July 17, 2010
Summary:
Since her mother has come to town, Itami hasn't quite been herself. How unlike herself she becomes is still on the rise, but how quickly is the real question.
"Steal Away"
Tsuukai Restaurant
The day appears to be less tense today, but perhaps that's only the outcome of Itami's lack of prowling the streets, or maybe it was spoken too soon. She did happen to be out today, but no prowling was occuring as she was in too much pain to do anything of the sort. Of course, she still seethed, but this was mostly reserved for herself. Still, for those that experienced and or saw her streak of anger for the past few days, they've stayed out of her way for the early morning.
Diyah was out as well. She'd been staying at the Nagahara Estate for those said days in order to keep herself protected from her daughter's wrath. She's not sure what she'll run into today, but she was taking the risk so that she might grab a bite to eat and head back to the haven to relax? Not really. She hasn't been relaxed since she arrived, though the hospitality is greatly appreciated. She only hopes that she doesn't run into Itami and spark something up, but the world seems so small when things like that happen.
During his time here in Suna, Hei has gone to all sorts of different restaurants, keeping an ear out for the best ones around. Being that he doesn't have a permanent home here, he also has no access to cooking facilities, and so it's quite common for him to get someone else to make food for him. He's heard of the Tsuukai Restaurant many times during his stay in Suna, but he's never actually visited. Now that he's planning to leave for another village soon, he's finally come to try the food out. He's sitting by himself at a table out on the patio, sipping idly at his glass of water as he waits for the meal he's just ordered.
Itami's stomach growled softly. Looking down, she places her hand atop it and realizes that she hasn't necessarily eaten within the few days she was on the hunt for her mother. "Suppose this is as good a time as ever to get something to eat…" She remarks to herself and with this in mind, she decides to go to the restaurant that was nearby.
Diyah was also headed to a restaurant nearby. There were plenty to chose from on this street, after all. She wasn't sure of which one to pick, however as they all looked so appealing. "I…don't know which one to go to…" She comments with a sigh. Maybe she'll just go to the one she's most familiar with. They did have good food there, after all and she has yet to try the whole menu.
From the patio, Hei can see out into the street. And, just as his (suspiciously large) meal is arriving, he spots Itami heading for this very restaurant. Not noticing the somewhat scary aura of anger she's giving off, he decides to greet her, unaware of the terrors he might be bringing upon himself. Putting down his glass, he grins and waves to Itami, calling lightly, "Itami-san!" He waves again to make sure he's got her attention, then looks down at his table and digs into his meal, first starting with a spicy lentil dish.
Itami would have passed by if Hei hadn't called out to her in greeting. She first looks around as if trying to locate where the voice is coming from and it takes a bit of time, but she situates her sights on him at his table. "Ah, Hei-san. Greetings." She calls softly, her voice filled with a lack of life and enthusiasm. "Your meal looks good. What did you order?"
It's at this time that Diyah is nearing the restaurant with the anticipation of getting some food herself. Her mind, now one tracked is only focused on what can go into her mouth right now, so other people, despite their light warnings, go mostly unnoticed. Yet, when she does take notice, she does get the feeling that something is off. Whatever it may be…
By the time Itami has spotted his table, Hei has already taken a sip of water. He might like spiciness, but he sure can't take much of it. He puts the glass down, blows a little air in and out of his mouth, then turns to Itami again. "Hi," he says, "It's a few things. I don't really remember there names, but I've got this spicy lentil stuff, and this kohlrabi curry, and some rice. And there's this chicken and tomato dish on the way." He gestures to each dish as he names them. "So, what's up with you, Itami-san?" He pauses. "Hm, you sound kinda tired. Not been getting enough sleep or something?"
"I see… Well, I suppose I'll have to obtain a menu about it when I enter the restaurant. As for how I'm doing? I'm…well enough…" Itami hesitates on her answer a bit. She isn't well at all and is in fact mostly unstable, but functional to a degree. "I haven't received much sleep, no. I've been busy with other things lately…" Searching for her mother has taken up the majority of her time and energy. "I should go and get something to eat. Perhaps I can meet you back out here for lunch." She begins to turn away and wave herself off towards the entrance of the restaurant.
Diyah was passing through at this time, ending up nearly side by side by Itami, if not just a little ways ahead of her. She didn't bother with looking around since she was determined to get something to eat, but there was a persistent feeling of something cold creeping down her spine.
"Oh, too busy with your government stuff?" Hei asks, still blissfully ignorant. "That's too bad. Hopefully things'll calm down for you soon and you can get some rest." He eats a small morsel of the curry, nodding along with Itami's words. "And yeah, sure. Some company for lunch'd be great," he accepts. Seeing Diyah up ahead after Itami's walked away, he smiles to himself a little. Oh, he thinks to himself, looks like she's here with Diyah-san.
"Government…stuff…" Itami repeats almost in a confused fashion before it clicks, "Ah, yes. Government stuff. Always keeping me busy. I hope it calms down too." Nodding at this, she continues into the restaurant after Diyah.
Diyah went and had a seat at a table while a waiter greeted her. She requested if she could have her food to go. The waiter seemed a bit confused, but complied to see what could be done about the request. Itami, seeing that Diyah was now alone, made her move on her. "Stepping out alone… How courageous…" She whispered into her mother's ear, who promptly set her menu down. More like dropped it. "I only wanted something to eat…"
"Yeah," Hei nods. "I mean, Imota-kun is always coming after you, saying you need to fill out some form or go to some meeting. It sounds like you're pretty high up there, so it only makes sense that you have to do a lot of work, right?" He watches Itami enter the restaurant, but can't see inside any further and so he misses the confrontation that quickly takes place inside. Instead, he just continues eating his meal, unaware of what's going on.
"Only wanted something to eat. Of course…" Itami says as she takes a seat at the table across from her mother. The waiter comes back and says that the request has gone through and she'll be able to take something home. "Good…good…" Diyah comments with a glance to Itami. Placing her order, she waits until the waiter comes back to fulfill it and run away. Itami would place her order as well by the same waiter, making it difficult for Diyah to escape her that easily. "Why do you insist on doing this to me?" Her mother asks while Itami smirks, "It makes me happy."
Eating lots of spicy food makes Hei drink lots of water, and drinking lots of water makes him have to… use certain facilities inside the restaurant. Leaving his chopsticks on his plate, he gets up, pushes his chair back in and enters the building. With more pressing matters on his mind, and figuring that Itami's just ordering or something, he doesn't look around for her on his way to the washrooms. But, when he emerges from the men's room a minute or two later, he takes a quick look around the restaurant. A grin crosses his face as he sees Itami and Diyah there at the table. "Oh, Itami-san!" he exclaims, approaching the table, "You didn't tell me you brought Diyah-san too." Diyah herself doesn't receive any actual words, but Hei does give her his usual fancy bow, plus a smile.
Itami was startled a little with Hei's chime and arrival at the table, but she quickly puts up a facade and grins. "Indeed, I did. I brought her here so that we could have a nice lunch together." Diyah felt a bit trapped, but went ahead with the trap just to keep things from looking odd. "Yes, her memory slips from time to time…" She smirks, even though there's a bit of fear hidden behind it. "I was just ordering something. Itami as well. Where are you eating at? I didn't see you when I came in."
"Oh, really?" Hei asks, surprised, "But if you brought Diyah-san with you, it should have been really fresh on your mind, shouldn't it?" He scratches his head, giving a confused little frown. "Man, you must be /really/ tired to do that. Maybe you should take some time off, or talk to a doctor about it, or something." He points out to the pation, answering Diyah's question. "I'm out there," he says simply, "I was just having some lunch when I saw Itami-san walk by, so I said hi to her. I guess you guys came in through different entrances."
"I thought the same thing. Itami is tired and needs her rest. I think we can cancel this outing if you need to catch up. You look as if you haven't slept in days." Diyah states with truth in her words. Itami chuckled softly and shook her head, wagging a finger in the air, "Oh, no. I'm fine… All I need is something to eat. Speaking of which…" The waiter comes and sets both of their orders down. Diyah's prepared to go and Itami's prepared to stay. "I think we should really cancel. I do not want you to suffer for me" Itami bursts into a fit of laughter at that statement. "Suffer for you. How funny. No, I insist that we s-Go. We should go. I will see you when you're better."
Diyah rises up from her seat and begins to leave the restaurant. Itami flickers from her seat to block Diyah's passage. "Where are you going…? No where. Go back and sit." Diyah shakes her head. "I refuse, I won'tGo back…and sit…" Itami's voice grew more serious. Diyah went quiet, but inhaled deeply. "…No…I won't…" Diyah remarked lowly prompting Itami to step forward to force Diyah into step backwards so she could go back to her seat.
"Yeah." Hei nods in agreement with Diyah. "It's good of you to try, but it's about your health, you know?" he says with a friendly nod to Itami. His good disposition quickly disappears during the next little sequence of bizzarre occurences. "Um, wow," he breathes once it's all over. He scratches the back of his head nervously. "I guess you're both familiar with each other and all so you can do that kind of stuff, but that was a little scary just now, you know." He glances around the restaurant, trying to see if any of the other patrons have noticed the little altercation.
Diyah continues to step back until she's backed up into her chair. She nearly trips over it, but manages to recover and sit down. Itami then returns to her seat and picks up her utencils. The patrons at the restaurant were well aware of the altercation, but kept their mouths shut and conversations to themselves. They didn't want to be involved with it and end up across the room from their seats. "We did not mean to scare you, Hei-san, but yes, it is because we're close. Quite close. Isn't that right, Diyah?" Itami asks while Diyah regards her with silence. "Of course." Itami chuckles and utilizes her chopsticks to eat her food.
"Well, still…" Hei begins, looking off to the side apprehensively. "Maybe you shouldn't do it here… like in public places. I mean, for a second there, I thought you were going to actually start fighting. Like, hitting each other, or something." He shrugs. "I dunno, I don't fight with my mom like that. I mean, I guess I'm a guy, but I've never really heard of anyone else doing it either?"
"That would be a start…" Itami muttered under her breath. Diyah still sat in silence that is unil she gathered up the strength to speak. "You are simply not familiar, so I cannot expect you to understand why this is happening." Itami huffs. "There's a reason to it, simple really, but I wish not to share it.
"Oh," Hei says, accepting these explanations at face value, though even /he/ can tell that they're quite vague. "Well, I guess I won't keep bothering you about it then. I should probably get back to my lunch anyway," he grins self-consciously, "It'll be getting cold now." He gives both Itami and Diyah a fancy bow. "I guess I'll see you two later then. Enjoy your lunch!" He walks back outside to the patio and sits down at his table again to eat.
Diyah waves Hei away as he goes back to his lunch outside, a soft grin that wanes the further away he goes. Even his cheery demeanor managed to bring some life to her before she had to deal with Itami once more. "I am not going to stay here. I am going to leave and go back to where I came from." She says with more confidence and less fear causing Itami to wince slightly. Leaning back in her seat she lifts her hand in a lazed manner and says, "Go…" Diyah, taking this as an opportunity, grabs her food and makes off outside the door. Once outside, she offers Hei a nod before running off as fast as she could.
Itami, after finishing off a few more bites of her food placed her money down on the table and walked outside to look down the street. "Greetings, Hei-san…" She remarked before speeding off after her mother. Seems like the hunt was on.
Poor, poor Hei and his naivete and ignorance of Suna customs. He's just eating a bit of curry as Diyah nods to him. He removes his hand from the spoon to wave in response, but then the woman suddenly bolts, carrying her food with her. Hei turns, wide-eyed, to watch Diyah flee. He turns around as he hears Itami greet him, though he doesn't even manage to see much more than a little blur of her as she too dashes off. He's left sitting there, totally still for a few seconds with the spoon sticking out of his mouth.
Diyah was fleeing for her life and had to figure out a way to avoid Itami, but how? She wasn't a ninja. Sure, she had her motherly moments, but she couldn't perform any jutsu and wasn't half as conditioned as her daughter. Seems she'd have to put her wits to use…somehow. Upon reaching an open street she turned and dashed along the storefronts so that she could make sharper turns to keep from being seen. This wouldn't be enough, however, so when an alleyway opened up, she took it and hid within it for a small time.
Itami, having only lost Diyah for the moment, slows her run and decides to walk the rest of the way. She looked around at the area, taking note that some of the items in front of the stores were still moving, all of them at different intervals. Seems she came through here… Walking along the fronts, she paused at an alleyway, but decided to walk past it and continue on. Diyah, taking note of this, began to come out from hiding so that she could find another way to escape. Carefully, she looked all across the area to see where Itami could hide, not suspecting that she could be inside the walls or under the very ground itself.
Having recovered from the initial shock of seeing Itami chase Diyah out of the restaurant, Hei's not exactly sure what to do from here. It doesn't exactly seem like he should get involved in the strange scene, seeing as he doesn't even know the situation. And he's too peaceful, his meagre skill as a ninja used only for self-defense. Still, there's no way he's going to be able to finish his lunch after seeing that, whatever it was. After getting a waiter to doggy-bag the rest of his meal for him, he leaves the restaurant, heading down the street. He's actually just going back to the inn he's staying at, but by coincidence, the street takes him near the area of Itami and Diyah's battleground.
Diyah doesn't see her anywhere, but that doesn't mean she's in the clear. It makes her even more fearful because she doesn't know where Itami is going to come from. She could be anywhere, literally. Yet, she can't waste time trying to figure out where she is, she has to get going. She walks out and tries to keep her cool while entering the street once more. People know she's bothered, but over what they can't tell. "Something wrong, Miss?" a local merchant asks, but Diyah promptly responds with a few headshakes. "No, no, everything is fine. Just…a bit jumpy. All the…erm, wonderful things here…" She chuckles while backing up and startling herself when she bumps into Hei.
"Oh! Hei-san. How nice to see you. You…you haven't seen Itami around, have you?"
Already on edge from back at the restaurant, Hei immediately becomes more nervous as he sees Diyah once more. "Itami-san?" he repeats, "No, I don't think so. Not just along the street or anything, I don't think." He looks around, trying to figure out if Itami is supposed to be somewhere nearby. "What is it that's going on here?" he asks, apparently finally having gotten the nerve to simply come out and ask, "It doesn't make any sense. You two were acting totally crazy in the restaurant, and now you're hiding from each other in the streets?"
Diyah lifts her hand to her lips where she begins to close them softly against the side of her index finger. "Oh…" She looks worried. "I…well, Itami is…" Before she can get her statement out, Itami rises up from the ground slowly and wraps her arms around Diyah to trap her. "Caught you…" She chuckled softly into her mother's ear. "Now that I have you in my grasp, it's time that we finally returned home." Itami smirks at Hei, saying, "Thank you for helping me to catch her. It took me a week, but I finally have her…" They both begin to sink into the ground while Diyah struggles and fights to no avail to break out of Itami's grasp.
She reaches her hands out to anybody hoping that she could be pulled, but without any help the only thing people see is her arm sticking out from the ground as it sinks, still searching for someone to help before she gives up.
