s: In which Naruto tries to master a new skill in order to impress and fails miserably.

a/n: I'm actually having a blast writing these, like I don't even know. Anywho, enjoy lovelies.

2| Cooking

Naruto Uzumaki took pride in many aspects of his life, for instance, his ability to rile up Sasuke quicker than anyone else or how he had become Hokage at a young age (even younger than his old man). Maybe even how even the toughest fighters seemed to be no match for him whatsoever.

However there was one thing that always hindered that massive pride of his; his inability to cook a proper meal.

Sure, he had learned how to cook something but that something was ramen and not like the kind the old man down at Ichiraku makes, no this ramen was instant. All he had to do was boil water, anyone could do that, and then pour it on to the dry ramen-noodles. So if he was being technical then no, he didn't actually know how to cook despite claiming he did.

And now he'd gone and opened his big, fat mouth like always.

He had been with his girlfriend, that's right Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage of Konoha, had a girlfriend, when she brought up their one-year anniversary. At first he had been slightly confused about the whole deal, deeming it unnecessary to have to celebrate something so simple but after a one hour lecture from Sakura (which was more him being a punching bag while Sakura yelled about everything he did wrong in that one situation) he decided he'd do something special for her.

At first he had planned a simple date at Ichiraku but the idea was thrown out the minute Sakura's face seemed to contort with anger once again. Then he had asked Hinata what she wanted to do, she had smile sweetly and told him to surprise her.

So he had grinned like an idiot and told her he was going to cook her a meal and take her out to a picnic.

The idea was genius, even Sakura had congratulated him on trying to be romantic for his girlfriend. Then Sasuke had to open his mouth and ask him about the one thing that had slipped his mind during the whole praising deal.

"Can you even cook?"

He had frozen on the spot and then proceeded to yell at Sasuke before leaving and claiming that he'd learn. So he had gone out and bought cooking books of all kinds in hopes to find something easy and delicious to make for his most precious person.

Turns out that even the simplest recipe was too hard for him. It was degrading to know that he just couldn't cook anything, no matter how hard he tried. Sakura had offered her help after his six failed attempts but he had shaken her off and told her that he just needed to try something else.

Now twelve recipes and one hell of a messy kitchen later, he sat with flour in his hair and all sorts of spices and other things all over his clothing praying to Kami or whoever was up there to please bless him with magical cooking skills, even if only for tonight. Turns out that didn't work either and it only served to waste time that he didn't really have.

He quickly grasped the last cooking book, the one he hadn't skimmed yet before opening to a random page. He grinned and thus began a thirteenth try at this whole cooking ordeal.

About three hours later it was another failed attempt.

He sighed as he sat in his messy kitchen before there was a soft, almost faint knock at his door. He groaned because there was only one person who knocked that politely, Sakura's knocks were, actually no, she just barged into his home. Sasuke just snuck in through the window like he owned the place, everyone else was too loud or they just said who they were.

Hinata was the one person who knocked quietly and didn't yell, merely waited for him to answer. He headed to the door and opened it up, he watched her lips go from a smile to an 'o' shape.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Hehe, hey, Hinata-chan," he scratched the back of his neck, "you're here."

"W-What happened?" she asked with a startled expression.

"I was cooking," he told her, moving aside so she could walk in, "well trying."

She walked into the kitchen and gasped, her small hand coming up to her mouth at the mess he had created. He watched her place whatever was in her hands, a basket, on to the kitchen table before heading further into his kitchen.

"Y-You've made a b-big mess," she stated.

He nodded before chuckling sheepishly, "I was trying my hardest to make something for our picnic, turns out I found the one thing I'm useless at."

The girl shook her head before reaching over one of the messy countertops for a napkin. He watched her bring it over to the sink before she turned the tap on and let the napkin soak up a bit of the water. Once she was done she came towards him and placed the napkin on his cheek, she was blushing slightly as she wiped away the contents that had managed to get on to his face.

"Y-You didn't h-have to," she told him.

He watched continue to focus on cleaning his face up before he smiled, "eh, it's worth it if it's for you."

She stopped wiping away the contents on his face and he was rewarded with the sight of her face turning a bright scarlet. He chuckled before he leaned down to steal a kiss from her, as he did so she blushed further, if that was possible before she quickly threw the napkin into the trashcan and proceeded to clean everything else.

"N-Naruto-kun," she whispered as she placed the dirty dishes into the sink.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?"

"Y-You're an i-idiot."

ES: bang! All done.