[Graded]Finding something to Eat

[Deleted User]

Last year, at the Chuunin exams, Kuma forced himself to drop out. He had run out of his medicine, and considered it a danger to himself and his teammates if he were to continue any further. Several weeks later, he found out from his old captain that both of his teammates had passed, and were now Chuunin. Although happy for his friends, unknown to him, for the next year he would be lacking a team.

And so here Kuma is, in present day, sitting in his room and staring at the ceiling. Kuma especially loved doing nothing, as it was one of the only times when it was truly peaceful for him. But little did he know, he was about to face one of the deadliest foes in all of existence.

Kuma’s stomach began to growl, interrupting his enjoyment of nothing. He frowned, putting his hands on his belly. “Mom! What’s for lunch?” he called out, receiving no answer. “Huh…?”

He left his room, wandering around his household, trying to find his parents. But to no success, he couldn’t find them. As he sat at the table of his house, his stomach growling once again, he let out another casual sigh. “Oh woe is me…” he cried out, putting his head on the table, hitting his head on a piece of paper. “What?” he questioned as he began to read from the note.

“Kuma~! We’ve gone out for the night to celebrate our anniversary! You’re going to have to fend for yourself for the next couple of days, m’kay? All your medicine is where it usually is, and we didn’t really have any food…so we left you a bunch of money to just go out and buy things. Don’t’ waste it on erotic things.

Love,
Your parents.”

“Uhh…” Kuma said blankly, staring at the note as if he had no idea what to do. He quickly got up, looking around the house. And as the note said, there was no food. “Plenty of medicine, but no food.” He said to himself in a low tone, grabbing some of the money his parents had left him, and walking out the door to go find some food in his village.

[Deleted User]

Kuma wandered through the various streets of his village, looking for a good place to eat. Kuma didn’t have much to do aside from train and sleep these days, so his life had become very uneventful. Sighing to himself, he put his hands inside his pockets, pulled out a pill, and popped it into his mouth.

With Kuma’s new jutsu activated at all times, he found it much easier to find information. He was listening into conversations that he didn’t want to, and ended up hearing some of the most ridiculous things he’s ever heard. “I was like, she was all, he was all, and they were like. We were all, like. Oh my god! Like totally!”

“…what?]/b]” Kuma asked himself, making several people near him look at him strangely. “Umm…it was nothing.” He said shyly, putting his hands in his pockets and trying to walk away like nothing happened.

Although Kuma’s new power did lead him to hear some things that were rather strange. It also helped him come into contact with some worthwhile information. Some of the information he received was from two elderly women talking about a new place opening up in the village. If what he heard was correct, it was near the old academy. A sushi place, if Kuma wasn’t mistaken. ‘Sounds good enough.’ He thought to himself, walking over to go and find out if the new place was going to be any good or not.

[Deleted User]

Kuma eventually came to the restaurant he had been looking for. There was a moderately long line waiting out front, everyone excited to try out a new place. He took his place in line, sniffing the air for any wonderful scents to enter his nose. It smelt strange to him, the fact that this was a sushi bar, and it smelt like pork. Maybe it was just something extra they were cooking. Kuma put the strange smell of pork behind him, as he was able to enter the restaurant.

He stepped inside, looking around, and trying to get a feel for the place. It had a very nice and relaxed atmosphere, similar to that of the local teahouse. The restaurant was seating various strangers at tables with each other, which wasn’t that uncommon for Kumogakure.

A young seated Kuma by himself, informing him that they would be bringing some more people to be seated at his table soon. Kuma nodded in approval, signaling that he had no problem being seated with strangers. Kuma thought it would be nice to have someone to dine with. ‘Always nice to have a conversation going at lunch.’ he thought to himself, nodding his head in agreement with his own thoughts.

Kuma proceeded to browse through the menu his waiter had left him, soon realizing that this sushi place was very strange. “They serve not just sushi, but pork.” Kuma said to himself, scrolling through menu once more. “Not only do they sell that, but they sell everything else as well.” He finished, still browsing the menu, trying to find out what he’d like to eat.

“Heh, still talking to yourself, Kuma?” a familiar voice called out to Kuma from not so far away. Kuma’s eyes widened as he looked up from his menu, a smile soon forming on his face. It was one of his old teammates, and he was looking the same as he always did.

[Deleted User]

“Hey Tendou, how are you doing?” Kuma asked in an excited tone, very happy to see his old friend. Tendou returned Kuma’s excitement, giving him a big hug.

“Ahh, nice to see you Kuma. I’m doing good, I was on a big mission, just got home yesterday.” Tendou replied, taking his seat across from Kuma. The waiter quickly came over, holding a notepad with him and asking what Kuma and Tendou would like to drink. “Water.” They both said at the same time, the water scribbling it down and walking away to go fetch some water.

“Ah, so a mission huh?” Kuma said rhetorically, reading through the menu and finally finding what he wanted to order. ‘I guess I’ll get the grilled pork then.’ He thought to himself, looking over towards Tendou again. “What were you doing for oh so long” he finally asked.

Tendou sighed in reply, chuckling as he scratched the back of his head. “A building job in Konoha, they needed a few houses built.” He answered, sighing once more. “Really nothing aside from that, it took a while though.” He finished, the waiter returning to take their orders.

“Grilled pork over rice.” Kuma and Tendou said at the same time, the waiter raising his eyebrow in confusion at such an event. The waiter slowly handed them their glasses of water at the same time, both Kuma and Tendou nodded at this at the same time. “Thank you.” They thanked the waiter in unison once more, freaking the waiter out a bit.

“So, what have you been up to Kuma?” Tendou asked, taking a sip of his water.

“Eh, nothing, haven’t been on any missions in a long while.” Kuma answered, both him and Tendou giving a sigh. Kuma and Tendou had very similar personalities, which is why they made a good team when they were gennin. They sat, sipping their water and continuing to talk awkwardly. Kuma felt different around Tendou ever since he became a Chuunin, like something had changed, he just didn’t know what.

As soon as their grilled pork arrived, both of them thanking the waiter at the same time once more, they continued their awkward state, this time it was an awkward silence. As Kuma was about to dig into his food, Tendou suddenly stood up.

“Huh?” Kuma questioned, raising an eyebrow at Tendou. Tendou simply smiled and nudged his head, signifying to Kuma that they should get out of this place. Kuma looked down at his plate with a sad face, this is what he had been waiting for, and now he had to go. It was utter madness in Kuma’s mind. He left some money on the table, taking the bowl with him as he ran out the door, trying to catch up to Tendou.

[Deleted User]

Kuma was following Tendou throughout the streets, shoving the food down his throat. “Ahh~.” Kuma sighed in relief, his hunger finally satisfied. He threw the bowl to the side, accidentally hitting someone in the head.

“Hey! What the hell?!” the man yelled out, giving Kuma a glare. The man was fairly large, and looked like an elephant in Kuma’s mind. Kuma’s eyes widened as he looked at the man. He bowed quickly, running away soon afterwards, not looking back or giving a second thought.

Kuma was running so fast, he didn’t realize where he was going. And soon enough, he ended up at his old training spot that him and his team had always used to train at. He panted a bit, looking around skittishly. He began to hear things that he shouldn’t have been hearing, seeing things that he shouldn’t of been seeing. His schizophrenia was acting up, meaning his medication had worn off.

Kuma reached into his pouch slowly, reaching for his medication. His eyes widened as he felt nothing in the pouch. He slowly brought his hand up to his face, his vision becoming shaky. He fell to his knees, looking at his hands as he began to pant heavily.

“Hey Kuma, you all right?” a voice came from behind Kuma, Kuma quickly turning around to find that it was Tendou. Kuma didn’t respond to Tendou, but continued to pant heavily. “Kuma…?” Tendou slowly approached Kuma, Kuma still not replying. Tendou finally put his hand on Kuma’s shoulder, which absolutely stopped Kuma’s shaking “You alright?” he asked one last time, Kuma slowly turning his head towards him.

Kuma didn’t see Tendou when he slowly turned his head, but could only see a white wall. He had this experience before, and this was moments after he quit the Chuunin exams. When Kuma lacked proper medication, within moments, he would go berserk. Whatever was in front of him took the image of his worst fear, and he would stop at nothing, to get rid of it.

As he slowly turned his head, Kuma didn’t see Tendou. The white wall in his vision began to blur away, bringing him back to reality. Instead of Tendou, all Kuma could see was a corpse in front of him, touching his shoulder. Kuma let out a blood-curdling scream, bashing his arm against Tendou, catching Tendou by surprise.

Tendou jumped back, rubbing his chest where Kuma had struck him. “Kuma, what the hell?” Tendou was shocked by Kuma’s actions.

Kuma didn’t pay any attention to Tendou’s words, dashing at him with his fists cocked back. Tendou finally figured that Kuma was had run out of medication, and this was his berserk reaction that he talked about. Tendou got into a defensive position, ready to take Kuma’s strike.

As Kuma came within range of Tendou, he jumped at him, tackling Tendou to the ground. Tendou used the momentum to kick Kuma off of him, making Kuma hit a tree nearby. Tendou wasn’t going to stick around and fight Kuma in this state, so he decided to run, not waiting for Kuma to get back up. He ran toward the direction where he knew there would be a crowd, hopefully they could help him stop Kuma.

Kuma quickly got up, giving a chase after Tendou. Tendou was faster than Kuma by leaps and bounds, and he wasn’t able to get any closer. Kuma panted furiously as he gave chase after the corpse that he was seeing, terrified that it might hurt other people. But as they entered a more crowded area, Kuma stopped right in his tracks.

He began to pant heavily as he looked at everyone, who was now staring at him. All Kuma could see were the dead faces of all the people of the village he had come to known, and it truly horrified him. He fell to the ground once more, screaming in terror as everyone around him began to close in upon him, their decaying hands scratching at his skin. He let out another cry of terror, passing out from shock as the corpses surrounded him completely.

[Deleted User]

Kuma woke up, panting heavily. He began to look around skittishly, noticing that he was in a foreign environment. He looked down, seeing that a white sheet covered half of his body, and he was now wearing a light blue hospital gown. “Hospital gown, hospital. It makes sense.” Kuma said to himself, hearing laughter coming from his right.

Several people were standing in Kuma’s hospital room, two being his parents, another being Tendou. “You gave me quite a scare, Kuma, I must admit.” Tendou laughed, making Kuma’s eyes widen.

“Wait, what happened?” he asked, not knowing about anything that had happened.

“You ran out of your medicine, went berserk, all that fun stuff.” Kuma’s dad stated, making Kuma’s jaw drop.

“Oh my god! Are you alright?!” Kuma screamed out, Tendou shrugging a bit.

“I’m not the one in the hospital bed, you are.” Tendou joked around, being hit on the back of the head by Kuma’s mother. Kuma’s mother sat on Kuma’s bedside, giving him a big hug.

“Honey, you need to be sure that you always have your medicine is stocked, we can’t have things like this happening.” She said, stroking Kuma’s hair. Kuma blushed in embarrassment, hugging his mom back.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time.” Kuma said, letting go of his mom and letting out a sigh. Several hours passed, as Kuma continued to talk to his parents and Tendou. It turned out that his parents had returned home early because they forgot to tell Kuma that they in fact did have food in the house, and heard Kuma screaming, so they rushed as quickly over to him as they could.

A doctor came into Kuma’s room, holding several bags of medication. “Eh…the stuff you were using was out dated.” The doctor said, handing the bags to Kuma’s mother and father. “With these ones, you should only have to take one a day, and you should be fine.” The doctor finished, handing Kuma a single pill. Soon after he left the room, Tendou began to laugh.

“Well Kuma, it was nice seeing you again, but, I gotta get going.” He said, walking towards the door.

Kuma looked down, remembering that Tendou was going to take him somewhere before everything had happened.“Wait!” Kuma yelled out, Tendou turning around and looking at Kuma with a raised eyebrow. “Why did we have to leave the restaurant earlier?” Kuma asked, Tendou simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Eh, I was going to take you to the training facility and beat you around a bit, get some training in with you to see if you’ve gotten any better.” Tendou replied, Kuma looking at him with a confused look on his face. “Then you went all crazy, and now we have to reschedule your ass beating…urr, training, to another time.” Tendou smirked at Kuma, who simply smirked at Tendou back.

“Alright then, I’ll see you then, I guess.” Kuma said, making Tendou laugh as he walked out the door.

Kuma’s mother nudged Kuma’s arm a bit, “Kuma, let’s get out of here, I want to try that new restaurant.” She said, Kuma only sighing, which she took as a yes. “Alright, get dressed, me and your father will be waiting outside.” she pushed Kuma’s dad out the door, closing it behind them to give Kuma some privacy.

Kuma just stared at the hand that held the pill the doctor had given him. He simply sighed as he flicked the pill into his mouth, standing up to get dressed to go out with his family for dinner.