Dangerous Waters

Chapter One

It was a beautiful sunny day in Konoha, for which the entire village was thankful for. Following the attack from sand there was a lot of repairs that needed to be down, and bad weather would only make matter worse for everybody.

Along the one the many roads that traveled through the village and going completely unnoticed by the villagers, two figures in long black cloaks slowly made their way deeper into the heart of the village. Their faces where hidden behind straw hats, and any other distinguishing characteristics where hidden under those cloaks of there. The taller of the two sported a large, bandaged wrapped sword on his back.

The taller one smiled under his hat, revealing a row of sharp teeth. Kisame, the monster of the bloody mist had been watching his partner on and off the past couple minutes, curious is the normally stoic Uchiha would show any emotion to being in his old hometown.

"This is a trip down memory lane for you, isn't it?" Kisame asked with a hint of sarcasm. Even if Itachi really didn't care about this place, it was still fun to badger him.

"No," Itachi told him, betraying no emotion. "Any ties I have to this place were severed long ago."

Kisame chuckled, "If you say so, but I…"

A low growling noise interrupted Kisame, and the duo came to an abrupt halt.

"What was that?" Itachi asked,

"Heh," Kisame chuckled nervously, "I'm hungry."

Itachi stared at him, his eyes almost burning a hold through the shark man "You should have eaten before we left."

"Well you're the one who said we needed to be quick about it!" Kisame shot back defensively.

Itachi let out a small, almost nonexistent sigh. They would be caught at a, if somewhat slight, disadvantage if they were forced to fight with Kisame on an empty stomach.

Swallowing his urge to show his partner what it feels like to starve for three days, Itachi made a change in their course.

"I know a place nearby, we'll stop their."

Kisame grinned to himself. It was the little things in life, like annoying Itachi, that made working with Akatsuki worth it.

Ayame hummed to herself as she stirred a batch of noodles around in the cooking pot. Carefully she brought the spoon up to her lips and tasted her latest dish, smiling as the flavor hit her tongue.

"Another pot of Ichiraku Ramen's" Ayame thought, congratulating herself on another job well done. Not like anyone else was going to today.

Business had been slow following the attack from Hidden Sand. Most people were too busy repairing the town to stop at her family's bar stand and order a fresh bowl of Ramen.

To top that off her mother had recently fallen ill and her father needed to stay home and take care of her. This was why Ayame was managing the ramen bar herself at the moment. Not that this bothered her at all, she had been working at the ramen bar since she was twelve, and after four years of working under her father she pretty much had a clear understanding of how to run things. Besides, business was so slow she probably wouldn't be seeing that many customers today anyway.

The only person who had still come around regularly had been Naruto, but apparently he had left with that "perverted hermit" as he called him (and Ayame had to agree, having caught the lecher eyeing her several times) on some mission to find the next Hokage.

Ayame smiled to herself as she thought of Naruto. She hoped he was doing alright (as well as putting that old pervert through hell).

A low grunt from behind caught her attention. Looking over her shoulder she saw two figures, both dressed in black robes with what looked like red clouds on them, as well as large straw hats covering their faces. The taller one carried a really intimidating sword with him, which he leaned against the side of the bar.

Putting on her best customer appreciation smile she turned to face the two, not really put off by their appearance. When you work in a ninja village, you have to get used to all kinds of weird-looking guys carrying weapons.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen Bar!" She announced cheerily. "What can I get for you two?"

"One bowl of whatever you consider to be your best" the taller one told her.

Ayame gave a polite nod and turned to her other customer, waiting for him to order.

The tall one chuckled a bit under his hat "He won't be having anything."

Ayame nodded and turned back to the cooking pot. Carefully she prepared her customers order, finally placing the warm bowl of ramen in front of the tall stranger along with a pair of chopsticks.

"Here you go sir!" She announced cheerily, "One bowl of Ichiraku Ramen's finest!"

The man gave her a small "thanks" and reached out for the chopsticks. Ayame watched with some interest as he broke them apart, noting that his hands were blue and that his nails were painted purple.

What kind of man paints his nails purple?

Shaking the thought out of her head she turned her attention to her other customer while the tall guy silently slurped up his noodles. "Are you sure you won't be having anything sir?"

The tall one paused in his eating to look at her, "I wouldn't try that if I were you. He's more likely to kill you than answer you."

Ayame smiled nervously and backed away, not willing to take the chance to find out if he was kidding or not.

Turning her back to them she went back to stirring the noodles cooking on the stove, taking a moment to look back at the tall one as he ate. She was a bit annoyed that his face was covered by that hat of his. One of the joys of working at her family's stand was the happy looks of her customers as they enjoyed her cooking. Of course, there were also the faces that didn't enjoy her cooking, but she just took those as a challenge to improve.

A sudden belch from the tall stranger caused her to jump out of her thoughts, nearly dropping her spoon in the process.

The blue-skinned and purple nailed (seriously, what was with those nails?) pushed aside the empty bowl.

"That was good." He told her, "another bowl."

Ayame smiled, proud to have satisfied another customer. With a polite nod she prepared another bowl and handed it to the man who dove right in.

Turning back to her cooking, she was surprised to here the sound of another belch. Looking over her shoulder she saw the man pushing another empty bowl aside and tapping his chopsticks expectantly.

Ayame blinked. "No way…"

Seventeen minutes and ten ramen bowls later, Ayame was still watching as the man slurped up yet another bowl of ramen.

"Well?" The man asked her, "Get me another bowl."

"You sure can put it away can't you?" She asked as she watched him eat.

"Hmm," The man grunted in response.

Ayame placed another bowl of ramen in front of the stranger who quickly brought it up to his face and proceeded to scarf them down."I thought the only one who could eat like this was Naruto…" she thought as she picked up another empty bowl from the counter.

Placeing the dirty bowl aside for now, Ayame listened to the sounds of her customer enjoying himself. "I wish I knew what this guy looked liked…" she thought. It had been bugging her for a little while now, and if the guy was anything like Kakashi there would be quite a face under that hat. "Mmm, Kakashi…"

Snapping out of her daydream of sexy copy-nins, Ayame decided to get back to her cooking. Picking up her stirring spoon a brilliant idea suddenly popped into her head, one that caused her to smile wickedly at her brilliance.

With a slip of her fingers she "accidentally" dropped the spoon which hit the floor with a small clink. The man sitting at the bar gave it a moments notice before going back to his meal.

Casually Ayame bent over to reach for the spoon, keeping her eyes on the tall stranger. Her face was now low enough to get a glimpse of the man under the hat, and she could just make out his features under the shadows covering his face. "If he would only move that damn bowl…"

The man stopped eating for a bit, head turning to stare at the girl. "Looking for something?"

Ayame jumped back up, cheeks flushing red in embarrassment when she realized she'd been caught. "N-nothing! Enjoy your meal!"

Kisame watched as the waitress turned her back to them and hurriedly went back to her cooking. Grinning to himself he slurped up another mouthful of noodles and prepared to make another order…

For the fifteenth time, Ayame placed another bowl of noodles in front of her (quickly becoming her second favorite) customer removed his empty bowl. If they had more customers like him around her father could take an early retirement!"

Kisame slurped up the fresh batch of noodles greedily. He had to admit, the food here was a helluv lot better than the crap he'd been eating since he joined Akatsuki. Damn Kakuza and his refusal to go out for more expensive rations…

With another satisfied belch he pushed his empty bowl aside and wordlessly motioned for another bowl. He grinned a bit at the surprise on the young girls face as she turned to prepare his next bowl. If his appetite shocked her, just imagine what she would do he took off his hat…

"Kisame…" Itachi whispered to him, his voice low but still laced with an underlining threat.

Kisame nodded and placed his chopsticks down, at little annoyed that he wouldn't be able to finish his meal. Oh well, maybe they could grab some dessert later.

Ayame finished preparing the next bowl of ramen and with a big smile (a genuine one this time) placed it down on the counter.

"Hope you're enjoying…huh?"

The sound of wind blowing was the only thing to answer her as she faced her now-empty counter.

"That bastard skipped on the bill!"

Ayame's face twisted into a large scowl and she slammed her fist on the table. No one skipped the bill at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

Her eyes scanned the street for any sign of those two, before coming upon an oblivious Kakashi walking down the street, his nose stuck in that perverted book of his.

"Perfect," she thought, "HEY YOU!"

Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha book, looking around for anyone else before pointing to himself. "Me?"

Ayame's knees almost turned to jelly as he looked at her, memories of what he looked like under that mask running through her mind again. Shaking it off she quickly went back to "Ramen Bar manger" mode. "Yeah you!" she shouted, "I have a mission for you!"

"Huh?" Kakashi said, his one eye looking confused.

"There were guys here just a minute ago," she explained, "and one of them skipped on the bill! I need you to hunt them down for me!"

Kakashi went back to reading his book. "I'd love to help Ayame, but I can only accept missions from the Hokage." Seriously, it was his day off. Could he have just a little time to himself to read his book? Sure, he had read this same chapter fifteen times in the past week, but it was a really good chapter. Nice and detailed.

"So you won't help then?" Ayame said, disappointed that a member of her teenage fantasies would let her down.

"Nope, sorry," Kakashi said as he started to walk away.

"Well then," Ayame said with a slight smirk, "I wonder if Asuma and all your other friends would be interested to hear exactly how much you've left them to pay for all these years."

"What?" Kakashi asked, coming to a stop and looking up from his book.

"Got him," Ayame thought with a smile. Reaching under the counter she pulled out a list her father had dubbed the "Tightwad Kakashi List," which kept record of how much Kakashi had gotten his friends to pay for over the years. Her father had started keeping it for just such an occasion.

"Everyone knows you have a habit of leaving others with the bill," she told him, "but I imagine if they had any idea exactly how much you've gotten them to pay for over the years they would probably think twice about…"

"Fine," Kakashi told her, clasping his book shut. "I never had any idea that cute Ayame-chan could play hardball so well."

Ayame blushed a bit before getting back to serious mode. "They're wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them and they have big straw hats that' cover their faces. Oh, and the one who owes the money is wearing purple nail polish."

Kakashi stiffened a bit, carefully eyeing her as he took in her words. "Black with red clouds?" he asked her

Ayame nodded, "Yeah, they…"

She didn't get a chance to finish as Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving her coughing and waving her hands through the air. Looking around to for any sign of him she smiled to herself.

That will show those guys. Bet they'll think twice before skipping out on a bill in the future."

Of course, little did Ayame realize the events that she had inadvertently set in motion.

I dare you to create a more crack pairing than this.

So, there you go. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! You know I love them so much.

I know I have several other stories I should be working on, but I just had to get his down. Don't worry, "NARUTO ZOMBIES" and "A Few Seconds Difference" are still top priority (yes, and Dark Shadows. I haven't given up on that yet either).

So expect slow updates on this one. Better than no updates right?