Disclaimer: I do not own, I merely borrow; and for that, I am grateful.
Everything makes noise.
If you listen closely, even the passing clouds overhead can make a sound. They exhale.
She'd been blind since birth and so, she knew this quite well. Everything makes noise; so that while she did not have eyes, she could see. But, ah well, what better way to prove it than to show it, right?
See then, the young man beside her. The bowl has been before him for some time now. He's broken his chopsticks. He's given thanks for his food. But he hasn't eaten.
The man behind the ramen bar has already asked: is there anything wrong? And the blind woman can hear him shaking his head. She can see him fidgeting. He's trying to keep calm and failing miserably. Even from the end of the bench, the woman can hear him quivering.
But there boy, can't you hear the blind woman says in her head. The man cooking ramen has begun asking after a man named Iruka, but the young man is only vaguely answering.
Ah, you young fool, can't you hear it?, the blind woman thinks. The light hesitant footsteps a minute ago, the pounding heart, and the deep, measured breaths being taken have all shown the blind woman the girl. The girl who stood in the shadows, her painful excitement making even the blind woman's toes curl. Finally, the blind woman can take it no longer. "You idiot, she's here," she hisses.
Chopsticks clatter to the bar. The woman can see him looking at her, then whipping back and hurriedly getting to his feet. The young fool almost unseats the blind woman in his haste, but her hiss has gone unnoticed.
It has become deathly quiet behind the ramen bar. The air is thick; thick enough that blind woman did not have to draw her katana far to cut the air.
The young man suddenly laughs. A little too loudly, but the blind woman could hear the whisper of his sleeves, the rustling of his hair and she could see him linking his hands behind his head, trying to appear nonchalant. His throat, however, still needs to be cleared. "I almost thought I wasn't going to see you, 'tebayo."
The blind woman hears the girl walking forward, less hesitant now. See the shy smile and the blush that rises to her cheeks, but the smile is true. The heart has slowed and thuds with certainty, with growing certainty. The blind woman almost smiles, herself. She lifts her cup to toast the girl. Young man, prepare yourself.
"I…I'm sorry I was late. Do you just—want to walk me home?"
The young man hastily agrees. He rummages through his pocket; his pants rustling as he pulls out money and puts it down by his untouched ramen. He jams his hands into his pants and walks away with the girl.
The blind woman could hear one of the assistants muttering, "He didn't even eat his ramen. He didn't eat," the voice was rising in disbelief. A loud smack follows, "Mind your business," the old man says. And see—the blind woman certainly could—the old man looking off into the darkness, his mind working in silence.
The blind woman has become intrigued. She pulls out her purse and feels for the wrapped rolls of money. She pulls out a bill from the linen-wrapped roll and gives it to one of the assistants. She walks out without getting her change, eager to see what would happen.
Rooftops did not faze her. Intensified chakra made her feel the minutest vibrations of the ground and see where was what. So the woman rests easy as she listens to the two that has stopped below her.
See the girl bravely cupping the young man's face with her hands. Those hands slide softly to his shoulders when his hands come up to her hips. He rests his forehead against hers, his eyes, so determined, looking into her face. Her eyes are cast down, but she is smiling, letting herself be pulled in by his hands.
"You…almost frighten me," the girl confesses. The blind woman knows she is still smiling by the way she is breathing, by the way her blood flows, but she speaks so softly. "The way you give me your whole attention…it is almost like the way you pursue being Hokage."
See the young man speak, his eyes never wavering, "No, it is exactly like the way I pursue being Hokage. I may be an idiot, but once I know what I need to know, I don't give up. I'm bad at giving up…"
See him press his lips softly to hers, with such quiet intensity that the blind woman stands.
She leaves them under the light of the moon that she cannot see. She leaves, and in the shadows, no one sees her smiling.