A month ago. A new barbecue joint near the Hyuga compound.
I sat there with my food mostly untouched. It was not that I wasn't hungry. Nor that the food wasn't good. It looked delicious by all accounts. Just with a slight problem. Rina had challenged us to eat food as spicy as hers. She had ordered the spiciest dishes on the menu, then proceeded to manually pour more spices on them.
She was eating them all right. But even we could see the tears forming at the edge of her eyes. We had taken one bite in ignorant courage. Then decided to give up then and there. Now we were just torturing her. "If this is really the kind of food you usually eat. Then finish it."
The waiter came over. "Here's your ice cream, my lords."
Souta grinned widely as he handed me a bowl. "Perfect, just Perfect."
Sensei was wise. He had never bothered to participate.
"Hey, Ren, give me a scoop. I want to try that flavor. You try mine. It's absolutely delicious."
After the drunken night fiasco. Once the awkwardness cleared up. They had become way more playful and flirty with each other. Nobody said anything. But I expected them to date somewhere in the future.
"You've stopped Rina. You should hurry. We're almost done."
Rina was playful. But she also had that pride all clan shinobi have. So we watched as she put another bite in her mouth and flinched. While we put in two and rejoiced.
At the last bite of ice cream, Souta paused. "It's all right, Rina. You don't have to push yourself anymore. We understand." He held the spoon of gooey, melting ice cream towards her mouth. She paused and gratefully opened her mouth to eat. That's when Souta used his taijutsu speed and training to lap the scoop in one swift motion. Her teeth made a snapping sound as they closed.
The table was silent for a second. We burst into laughter as Rina picked the spoon in her hand at Souta who ducked. And then she began crying, muttering something about us being too cruel and mean. I know we should make girls cry and then laugh at them. But I just couldn't stop myself.
The laughter led to one of those out-of-the-world moments where you suddenly feel part of something nice and sweet and then become all philosophical. I did just that. Contemplating the meaning of life, love, and friendships.
We have a thousand different ways to describe love. And even more to define a legendary love. Love at first sight. Love after years of working together. Sweet puppy love from your childhood. Spontaneous love of two adventurers who found each other while taking risks. Fast and intense love of warriors. And many more. But friendships? You don't know how to describe friendships.
Most friendships have no memorable starts. Like your best friend from high school. It probably started with a pen, or a simple game of football, or maybe a simple comment on the teacher's dress. Shared admiration of anime or shared disgust from one of the class clowns' antics.
Nothing special, just like my friendship. It started with a professional arrangement. For two people who needed a teammate. Just like the football team was short a player.
Its seed was planted by the little arrogant jabs and tasteless jokes, and the promise of another mission we chose to take. The hokage's intervention bound us together. But the closeness just accelerated our growth. The triumphs and failures. The bitching of our Sensei's training methods. Our shared liking of Ichirakou.
Slowly, we found each other's hopes and dreams. Right alongside our fears and peeves. The seed grows into a sapling as we face tragedies crying on their shoulder and triumphs sitting on their shoulder.
The sapling got watered by the sake we shared after the Chunin exams. It was nurtured by the fertilizer of life. When we saved each other's lives on the field. And it got its sunlight from our sensei. With him mediating all our troubles, big and small.
But you know what makes the small sapling grow into the Towering tree. It is those little things you do without saying. Saving a seat, buying a drink for them when you go out on instinct. Knowing what the other was going to say or do out of habit. Getting pissed when your friend gets scolded or insulted. Whether you were together or not. So many little things we do that our friend doesn't know about. He doesn't remember them individually, but he feels them anyway. And he trusts and expects you to do right by him without ever saying a word. And that's what makes a friendship strong. That's what makes our friendship strong.
In military conditions. We depend on each other's actions for our lives. The trust finds an accelerated platform, for we all learn to think of each other without a prompt. That is why veterans respect each other. That's why they can trust each other with anything. That's why they'll risk their lives to support their friend. Because they've been doing that for a while now anyway.
In those short years, the man becomes your acquaintance, then a friend, then a close friend, and finally. Brother. He is not your brother. Brothers sometimes have strained relationships filled with hate. But there's no other word to describe what he is to you. So, why risk your life even though there shall be no reward and only pain in the path you have chosen to follow? He is your brother. And that's that.
To the powers that were, to the powers that be, and to those who shall be, I thank you for this day and this life. May your grace stay with me and mine forever.
I could not afford to lose any of them.
I thought unbidden, making me smile. If I ever become Hokage, these two will definitely be my advisors. Then even their clan heads will have to show proper respect. How funny that would be. Especially considering how they were treated before. I knew their drive to prove themselves to their clans quite well now.
I chuckled as we made our way back to our homes.