"If you die, I honestly can't be held responsible for my actions." Ryou's mother stated as she stuffed some homemade cookies into a ziplock bag. "I'll probably find a way to reanimate you and bring unsuspecting victims home so you can eat your fair share of brains." The thing was, that this was very sweet of her, because she literally was not joking. "You're our baby. Our precious 'lil water droplet~" She cooked, accidentally whacking him with the spatula. "Isn't he, honey?"

Ryou's father looked up from the floor, where he was playing quite an intense game of chess by himself. "Our precious muddy puddle." He agreed with his wife. He gave Ryou a small smirk before returning to his game. "And, dear, I'm not really sure we could be held accountable for our actions if something happened to our glob of dew. We'd have to kill people and stuff."

Ryou rolled his eyes, accepting the cookies once his mother finally handed them to him. "You'll have to find me the best brains. I don't want to have to eat stupid people~" Because this was Ryou's life and his family. Zombies, plans of homicide, and owning way too many board games to be considered mentally stable. 

"You'll get what you get and you won't throw a fit!" His mother chimed, whacking him again with the spatula for good measure. 

"Dad?" Ryou asked because he could trust his father to feed him good human-mush.

"We own a weapon shop. Of course you'll get the best brains."

Eventually, after saying a few 'see yous' and 'love yous', Ryou escaped before his parents did something completely in character like locking him one of their fish tanks. 

~~~

Ryou walked back to the meeting point last. His hand was stuffed in a ziplock bag, munching on some of the homemade cookies. They actually tasted decent, although Ryou wasn't one-hundred percent sure what was in the cookies. He was never one-hundred percent sure when it came to the food his mother made. He figured as long as it tasted okay, there really wasn't a point to over think it. He held out the bag to his teammates. "Cookie?" 

Kii's question distracted him from the cookies. When were the Chuunin Exams? Would they even be able to attend them? "We might still be in Konoha and they might call them off?" But Ryou wasn't too sure. The Republic could have their own Chuunin Exams without Konoha. The only reason the Republic seemed so concerned with Konoha in the first place was because of the possible jinchuuriki there. Even that was.... suspicious. Ryou loved the Republic; this was his home. But... if there were jinchuuriki in Konoha, what was the Republic going to do? Surely, the jinchuuriki wouldn't leave their homes without a fight and... And... Ryou forced a smile onto his face and waved the bag of cookies in front of his teammates. "Kii, did you think of a plan~?"