Author's Note: And away we go…
Summary: Set a while after Sasuke leaves. Naruto and Sakura stop in at a restaurant, and our favorite Kyuubi is not exactly thrilled about what his companion orders.
Rating: Kplus-ish.
Seaweed and Tea
By Mazzie May
Naruto managed a weak smile to the waiter as he walked away before turning to Sakura, looking queasy. "Oh, yuck…"
She was half leaning over the small table, about to pour his tea. She stopped. "What?"
"You actually… ordered that?"
She raised her brow, placing a hand over the porcelain lid. She carefully, but still quickly filled his cup. After making sure not a drop was spilled, she leaned back, placed the cha-ire at the center of the table and rested her hands in her lap. "Yeah, why?"
He stuck out his tongue. "Ewww!" Several costumers turned and looked their way. Blushing, she reached out and squeezed his hand. Hard. Very hard. He winiced. "Sakura-chan…"
"What?" she growled through a forced smile.
"How can you eat that?"
"What?" She drew her hand back. "Oh, my order?" He nodded, looking disgusted.
"It's good."
He made a face. "Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"No way!" he spat, sticking out his tongue and crossing his arms.
She 'harumphed', mimicking his stance. "Not only does it taste good, but it's good for you, too."
He rolled his eyes. "How could something like that be good for you?"
"I'll have you know…" she began, holding up her hands, "It cleans your liver, clears out your pores, makes your hair shiny…" She counted each point off on her fingers.
"Oh, whatever!" he cried throwing his hands up. Again, they received odd looks.
She glared at him. "You should try it, Naruto."
"I'm not eating seaweed, Sakura-chan." Again, he crossed his arms.
She shifted her legs so she was sitting on them. "But it does so many things for you!"
"I don't care if gives people wings so they can fly! I'm not eating it."
She seemed to think for a moment. And then, "What if I told you it could make you Hokage?"
"I still wouldn't."
"Liar!" she cried out in a laugh.
"No, really! I'm gonna earn Hokage! Believe it!" He slammed his fist on the small table.
She was still giggling, waving him off. "Pssh, right."
He glared. "Whatever."
She took a moment to calm down. She looked down, smoothing the table cloth. "I still say you're lying." She looked back up at him. "You'd eat it if it made you Hokage"
He shook his head once. "Who wants to be a Hokage who only got the position 'cause they ate a icky plant?"
She placed her elbow on the table, resting her chin on the back of her hand. " 'An icky plant', Naruto."
He waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just glad we'll be saving so much money now."
"Huh?" She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, next time we're traveling by the ocean, we won't have to buy you lunch."
She narrowed her eyes, shaking her head a little. "…I'm… not following."
He shrugged, making a hand motion to match his sentence. "Well, you could just stick your hand in the water and grab the seaweed—"
She gasped, horrified, leaning back away from the table, shaking her head. "Oh, shut up! I would not!"
"—It'd save us a ton of money. Believe it!" He looked terribly smug.
She held up her fist. "You better believe I'm gonna deck you!"
He brought his arms up in defense. "Aw, Sakura-chan. I'm just thinking of ways to feed you."
"Na. Ru. Toooh…" She cracked her knuckles with every syllable.
Leaning away, and waving his arms, he apologized. "Okay, okay!"
She sighed, sitting back on her knees, bring her hands up under her hair. "Honestly."
Naruto took his cup filled with winter tea and took a slow, but short sip. "No, you know what's honest?"
"No, tell me." She untied her head protector.
He set the glass down. "No wonder Sasuke never liked you."
"…!" She dropped the cloth and metal that designated her village alliance.
He looked blankly at her. "Who wants to be with someone who eats Seaweed?"
She'd been completely caught off guard. Her makeshift head band was face down on her lap, and she gawked at him. For a moment, Naruto thought of apologizing, wondering if maybe it was too soon to be making such jokes. But her jaw closed, clenched and tightened, her eyes narrowing. "Naruto…"
He was in the green. "And to think—" He tossed his head to the side, melodramatically. "I loved you."
"Oh, past tense," she hissed. "Does that mean you'll leave me alone, now?"
"Mmm." He seemed to think, setting the cup down. He shook his head. "No. My love—" he pounded his chest with his fist, "--is strong enough to forgive the fact that you eat kelp"
She rolled her eyes, a smile slowly making its way back to her face. "S'not kelp!"
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Same thing. It's still what you're eating."
"Ohmigod." She poured herself some tea. "It's only a wrap! I'm not just…" she placed the cha-ire back on the table and took a sip of tea. "…just, shoveling seaweed into my mouth."
Naruto raised a brow, smirking. "Same thing."
She closed her eyes and continued to drink. "Is not."
"Might as well be." He grabbed his cup as well. "What, do they just have a…" he trailed off, thinking for a moment. "A bucket they just pull a piece out of and wrap the rice ball?"
She laughed into the thin liquid. "Of course not!"
"Whatever." Sip. "I just don't know how you could eat something that's been in a toilet."
She looked out him, slowly tilting her head in confusion. "What are you—" then she understood. She went back to her tea. "Naruto, you're stupid."
"What! It's the fish's toilet."
She held the cup with both hands. She brought her arms up, so she was looking at him over the rim of her cup, and all he could see where her eyes. "And what about the water in your ramen?"
"Bah! They boil it first!"
She blinked slowly, teasingly. "Same with the seaweed!"
He'd brought his cup to his lips, but stopped. "Yeah?"
"Yes!" She laid her arms back down, still holding the cup. "They boil it, dry it, salt it, press it—"
He snorted. "Uh-huh." He finished the sip he began. "I bet they do."
She let her cup be, resting her cheek on the back of her hand. "Like your ramen is anymore sanitary."
He took great offense. "My ramen is way better! Believe it!"
"No," she said flatly.
"Gah! Sakura-chan!" He set the cup down, looking at her sourly. "You're mean."
"No," she said, picking up her head protector and folding the material so it fit neatly under the metal. She placed on the side of the table. Matter-of-factly, she said, "I'm ticked about the Sasuke-kun comment."
He scrunched his nose. "S'a truth."
"Is not." She didn't even look up.
"He told me so!"
She turned to him, annoyed. "He did not!"
"Yeah huh!"
"How?" She narrowed her eyes for a moment in irritation. "You just now found out I liked it."
Naruto's face fell. He grasped for words. "Well… that'd be…"
She patted him on the arm with one hand, using her other to sip her tea. "Busted, Naruto."
"Man…"
Author's Note: I think the NaruSaku friendship is awesome. And romantically, they're cool, too. I just have more fun with them as friends. I've actually been working on a lot of Naruto fics, this is the first one I've posted. How'd I do? For little things like this, I tend to drop the detail, but I can add more if needed. This entire thing was written in my Digi Tools Keyboarding class while my teacher wasn't looking. So… lots of hastiness.
R&R please