What's Missing in the Ramen?

Shikamaru woke up, cold and stiffen. His eyes were still closed, but he knew he was laying on the bare ground, head facing the sky, somewhere close to a peaceful training ground. It was probably already night, although he guessed that it wasn't late enough for having to worry about robbers or bounty hunters. He realized that he had probably got waken up by the cold, and he was thoughtfully analyzing the pros and the cons of bringing a blanket next time for his afternoon nap. Just when he started feeling sleepy again, two rough fingers managed to pull his left eye's lids open. A blue eye was staring at him.

"Oi, Bushy brows, do you think he's dead?" a very easy to recognize voice asked.

"Naruto, he's resting," the only one, besides Gai-sensei, who could be called by a name having something to do with eyebrows, replied. "In order to be youthful, you need to have your share of sleep."

Finally opening his eyes, Shikamaru looked at both of them, and yawned.

"How troublesome... You guys interrupted my nap."

"Hey, we were going to get some ramen, do you want to come with us Ponytail boy?" Naruto eagerly proposed.

"Yare yare... I'll go, I need to go to the bathroom anyway... Next time don't wake me up though..."

~*~

Ichiraku Ramen Bar looked like a firefly in the dark, the shop sign fully lit, with a mouthwatering smell coming out of the place. Over the years, the owner had decided to expand his small counter – the Ichiraku Ramen was more now a restaurant than a bar, with spacious tables and comfy seats.

"I'll take... Oh, it all looks so good old man, you are truly the god of ramen," Naruto praised Teuchi, the owner of his paradise. "I'll get one shōyu ramen with pork chops, and... miso ramen too, yeah, make that two, with this and that and..."

"How troublesome Naruto, there are other people waiting, ne..." Shikamaru complained. He hadn't move for the past 5 hours a least and now, standing in line waiting for the number one fan of ramen to pass his order was obviously too much. "I'm going to the restroom, Lee, order a shio ramen for me."

After Naruto had finally passed his humongous command and he and Lee finally found a seat, Shikamaru came back and sat with them.

"Hey... You won't believe who I saw." It was unusual to see him surprise or even fully awake. "Thanks, Ayame" he said to the daughter of the ramen shop, taking his bowl. "There, in the corner..." he whispered. Giving a brief nod of the head, he pointed to a direction. "We can't really see him right now, but who does that make you think of?"

Rock Lee stretched his neck to see the person Shikamaru pointed at. "The hair does look familiar, now that you mention it..." He shook his head. "Although, it's impossible to be..."

"What are you guys talking about?" Naruto said, already half way through his second bowl. "Your ramens are getting cold!" Naruto warned them, having sidelong glances toward their untouched meals.

"Naruto... I think Sasuke is in the Ichiraku Ramen Bar," Rock Lee blurted out.

It took a few seconds for Naruto to fully understand what his two comrades were talking about. Drinking the broth from his bowl, he almost spitted everything, but fortunately for everyone present, it was ramen so Naruto managed to control himself.

"WHAT?" he said, looking left and right. "WHEN?" he shouted. "I mean WHERE?" Looking at Shikamaru, he pointed a threatening chop stick towards him. "If this is some kind of lame joke to distract me from my ramen..."

"No Naruto, see for yourself! I think Sasuke-kun's there!" Rock Lee stood up, already walking towards the boy. Shikamaru himself was on the edge of his seat.

"Dattebayo! Wait! No, don't go now!" Both Shikamaru and Rock Lee, from a single lazy/youthful movement, turned their head to face Naruto.

"Why not?" inquired Shikamaru. "Don't be troublesome. Might as well know if it's him, ne?"

"It's not him." Naruto stated, shaking his head slowly. "He would have told us if he had gone back in the village, don't you guys think so?" he added, eyes looking down into his bowl.

"Maybe he just didn't want to cause a big fur." Rock Lee speculated. "Or he just got back and as we all know, even youthful people can get hungry. His long vivacious trip sure gave him appetite," Lee stopped himself there, as the raised eyebrows of his two friends indicated that he got carried away in a youthful frenzy again. "Let's go Naruto, it's no big deal, let's just ask him if he is Sasuke."

"Or if you want us to do it in a more subtle way, we could ask if he happen to have betrayed a whole village and tried to kill, either successfully or not, his only brother," Shikamaru said, grinning. "We could also try to see if he has the Uchiha clan logo. He never goes out without it," he added, more seriously. "And it's not like there's a thousand Uchiha left."

"Good idea Shikamaru! Let's go!" Rock Lee made a move toward their "target".

"We should hide ourselves though," Naruto spoke, his mouth full of the last ramen of his fourth bowl. "You know, to appear less stupid if he's NOT Sasuke." His eyes narrowed. "I don't think it's him... He's more... I mean less..."

"How troublesome, let's just go," Shikamaru interrupted him. He was already beginning to fell the side-effects of his aborted afternoon nap.

The three of them began crawling on the wooden floor, their faces almost touching the ground as they swiftly moved at a turtle pace. Arriving near the restrooms, Shikamaru made a gesture, indicating that they were near. Looking at each other and being perfectly synchronized – hell, they weren't ninjas for nothing – they silently arrived at the dreaded table.

Nobody was there.

Puzzled, Naruto looked at Rock Lee, who looked at Shikamaru, who just stared at the ceiling. He was sure he had seen somebody looking just like Sasuke a while ago. Naruto and Rock Lee both knew Shikamaru wasn't the type to play pranks, especially those who involved himself doing anything. So why nobody – Sasuke or not – was there?

"Mind if I join you for ramen?"

Shikamaru, Naruto and Rock Lee's jaws all dropped at the same time. That voice... No way, it couldn't be...

"SASUKE!" Naruto was the first to react. "You... when... what..."

"Usuratonkachi... I'm tired, I'll tell you the whole story another day." Sasuke shook his hand, as if to push away any matters. Then he noticed something odd. "Why are you three on the floor? Lost something?" the oh-so-famous Uchiha smirked.

"Yeah... but we've just found it," Naruto said, his trademark grin broadening on his face.

About Sasuke... The ending is not really clear about if he was there in the first place in the ramen shop, or if the guy at the table was just a look alike, or whatever... It's really up to you!

Construtive critique is VERY MUCH welcomed :) AND WE ALL LOVE REVIEWS!