The Ramen Exception
Disclaimer: Do not own!
"I smell ramen! This way, this way!" Naruto, pointing, vanished around a corner. Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh and followed, scooping up the Hokage's hat.
"Oi!" He tried to keep up with the man and, considering the fact that Naruto was in loose Hokage robes which theoretically hampered his movement and Sasuke was in the comfortable ANBU outfit, it showed how much Naruto could book it when he smelled ramen. Sasuke had told the shops not to set up a stand within a mile of the tower but they refused to listen. The Hokage was excellent for business so there were always the few willing to break the rules and risk the fine to set up shop. All they had to do was start cooking and the Hokage, the leader of ANBU, the head of the hospital, the head of the intelligence network, and the legendary white jounin would show up regular as clockwork. Sakura was already there, the tails of her white medical coat draped over the back of the stool, her short pink hair swinging in front of her face as she shoveled noodles into her mouth. She made an especially loud slurp as she turned around, grinning widely as the Hokage and leader of the ANBU forces sat on either side of her.
"You know, I counted steps to here from the tower, technically, it is just outside the proclamation limit." She tapped Sasuke on the leg with one twitching foot and he kicked her back viciously in return. He had come back to the village expecting her to be the same, only to find her not only able to crunch rocks with her fists, but also to be leader of the Konoha hospital due to her exceptional healing skills. She had made his life as difficult as possible since then, refusing to sign his release papers until he had to practically beg her to. She was also so completely and utterly over him, he had no way to retaliate. He had worked long and hard to become head of the ANBU forces just so he would have the same rank as her, only to despair anytime she had one his soldiers in her clutches, as she would detain them as long as possible to make his life difficult. He also found it annoying that he liked her more than just a little bit.
"You are in my seat, small-"
"Ah-HEM." Sai, standing over Sasuke's shoulder stuttered to a stop at Sakura's cough. He looked wearily at her and shrugged, pulling up a chair between her and Sasuke, the traitor. It wasn't worth using his favorite nickname for the traitor to be beaten viciously again.
"Going to our previous statement, this means that I will have to enlarge the proclamation radius."
"Give it up, Sasuke, I can smell ramen so long as it is cooking in the same country as I am." Naruto, with his mischevious blue eyes and whiskered face nearly broke in half with the force of his grin. At this, Sasuke looked thoughtful, tugging on a lock of his rapidly lengthening hair. He noticed he wasn't the only one with this problem and glared when Sakura looked at him speculatively. Last time she tied the three of them down with the help of their currently late teacher and had used a special jutsu to cut all of their hair to a respectable length. "Nose of a fox, remember?"
A strong hand thrust Sasuke's forehead into the table and leaned heavily onto his flailing body. Kakashi made quite an entrance, always, and was always, always late. Kakashi's voice, muffled by his mask like always was amused as he said, "No, Sasuke, you are not allowed to ban ramen in the whole country."
"You're late." Cue Sakura and Naruto to point out the obvious.
"You see, I have a great story involving a cat, an old lady and an ice cream stand, but you all never believe me and I'm hungry so we'll skip it today." Sasuke huffed and glared as his old teacher slid into the seat next to Naruto. Sai nodded his welcome as Sakura tossed a noodle at Kakashi's head. He evaded the noodle and returned the nod, only to be almost knocked off of his stool by Naruto's elbow. The allowed themselves an hour of companionable chatting before dispersing to their duties. Naruto and Sasuke had left Shikamaru in charge of a meeting and Sai was technically on a vacation. When Sakura left, Sai excused himself, getting bashed into the wall when he proclaimed that the 'hag' needed an escort to the hospital because someone might take exception to her face. They were all rather surprised he had made it that long.
Kakashi pulled out 'Make out Paradise', his personal favorite when the other boys left, in order to finish his food. He never asked them to wait for him, and he always made sure to give them the time to themselves, first. He stared at the graphic scenes for a moment as he smiled, proud at the way that his team had grown up.
AN: This story is actually based after the picture done by The Gwyllion on Deviantart, which is linked through my DA on my profile, that depicts the opening scene.