"How does it taste?"

"Great!" The yellow haired boy beamed cheerfully, slurping the long noodles into his mouth, spilling some back into the bowl as he jumped back, enjoying the light but heavenly taste of ramen for the first time.

The man placed the bowl back to the counter, gazing at the happy boy quietly, contemplating, before he finally said, "Naruto, you can't eat this regularly, okay? Eat something more healthier than thi-"

"Now it has been decided!" The sudden exclaim from the boy cut him off. "My favorite food from now on, is ramen! Ji-chan! Gimme one just like this uncle!"

The owner of Ichiraku ramen, Teuchi, frowned as he leant forward to the hungry boy, "And just how will you pay for the ramen? Do you have any money?"

"Of course I do!" The boy pulled out some money from his pocket and placed them on the counter.

Two coins.

Seeing the man heaved a heavy sigh, he darted from the coins back to the owner, "It's not enough?"

"The bill's on me-" The man with the wide hat hiding his face was about to pay for the boy's ramen when the boy added again, "Then keep the bills for now. Put it under Naruto Uzumaki! I promise I'll pay you back once I become a Hokage, ttebayo!"

The very first serving of ramen was placed on the counter in front of the eagerly waiting boy, and he chugged it down one after another, barely noticed the man beside him had long gone, leaving behind the cold ramen with a small envelope written 'Naruto Uzumaki'.


The dream came again.

He walked passed the line of stores to Ichiraku, greeting the passerby with his wide smile, replying the excited 'it's the Hokage' whispers with a brief chattering, before he finally arrived to the ramen store.

"Hey, Ayame. How's it going? I came to pay back the debt."

"What debt?" After greeting him and joking he had many leisure time as a Hokage, she said, "Just so you know I won't let the customer live if he walk out of here unpaid. But your name wasn't in the list, though." She said, checking the name between the small account book.

"What?" He blinked, the mild confusion was carved on his face, "I was under impression I haven't paid all the ramen I had till now. And I promised I will repay them once I become a Hokage, and I did."

"Naruto-kun," the old owner of the store came from the backdoor, coughing slightly. The lines on his face scrunched up as he do.

"I knew it you won't remember about that day." He said, smiling, "But someone had already paid them for you."

The statement had rendered him speechless.

"But...who?"


"...damn that old man. He should've told me about this."

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice threaded with concern sounded from beside him. She then turned to face him on the bed, "Do you have that dream again?"

He chuckled, "Pretty much."

"And what did you see this time?"

The blue eyes wandered into the ceiling as he recalled the dream, "That man... there's a word 'four' written on his fiery cloak," and he gave her a glance, a meaningful glance, "Do you know what that means?"

"It's okay." Like the way she pulled Boruto, or the way she hugged Himawari into her arms when they were having a nightmare, she pulled him close to her, running her fingers in his hair affectionately.

"It's okay now. I'm here."

~End

AN: Hi minna! Hope you enjoy this first piece! This is my first time writing angst so I'm not sure if it came out well. Either way, you may drop a prompt or suggestions of any characters, or any time setting, or any idea related to characters reminiscing their (sweet yet painful) past :)

Adios!

-toshimi-senpai