The Ramen Girl
Chapter 2

"So you're taking some time to figure things out, huh?" Naruto asked over his lunch the next day.

"She asked me to give her some time, so I'm giving her some time." Ayame could only be worried though. Hinata would never try to hurt her…but still, fears were fears. "How are you and Sasuke doing?"

The same as always." Naruto said with a soft laugh. "He's annoyed with me right now though." Just because he was sleeping with the man didn't mean their attitudes towards each other suddenly shifted. "I want him to tell Sakura, but he keeps avoiding it."

Ayame let out a bitter sort of laugh. "Sounds like you want to get more serious."

Naruto couldn't stop the small tinge of pink on his cheeks, or the grin that spread across his lips. "I wouldn't have told Hinata if I didn't. Plus, think he and I will last. Sasuke's a hard guy to understand, and I don't get him sometimes. Guess that doesn't really matter though, it's working right now, and I think it'll keep working. I guess I just want to be honest about that."

"And he doesn't."

"He just doesn't like people."

Ayame nodded, she could understand that. Naruto and Sasuke were very similar, and yet different to the core. "Sakura isn't just anyone though. She's a teammate."

"That was my point." Naruto nodded eagerly, as he lifted his bowl to his lips, draining the last of the soup. "I'm going to talk to him about it later today again."

Ayame nodded, filling up a few plastic containers, sealing them, and putting them in a bag for Naruto to take with him. "Try feeding him first. He seems like he's less of a grouch when he has a full belly."

"You really are too good to us." Naruto told her. Then again, her father had always been very giving too. Naruto couldn't count the number of free meals given to him back in his academy days. He was almost sure that all of those free vouchers ended up under his door because they wanted him to have them…and not just because they happened to be folded into the newspaper advertisements.

"I'd be better to you, if you could get Sasuke to come out of hiding." Ayame laughed honestly. "Either way, I hope it all goes well."

"Same for you." Naruto replied, though his face softened then. "Listen though, about Hinata. She's been a comrade of mine for years. I know this might not seem like much coming from me, but I know you love her. I've seen that, but in the ninja world, that's not enough. In the end, that is who and what she is, a kunoichi of this village." Naruto shrugged then. "I think everyone forgets that, but her pride runs deep. Maybe even deeper than mine, and I want you to know that."

It was no small thing for Naruto to say, but Ayame had witnessed hints of that herself, so she could only agree with him.

Satisfied with that, he bid his favorite ramen hostess farewell, meandering back to his small home. There, he unlocked the door and entered quietly, soundlessly closing the door behind him. Sasuke was still tangled in the bed sheets with a pillow shoved onto his face. He seemed to be trying, and failing, at keep the bright day out of his eyes. Naruto decided to let him sleep, putting the meal Ayame gave him into the refrigerator to warm up later.

Sasuke hated early mornings anyway.

Not because he was lazy, but because the sun smacked him in the face at the worst times. Naruto knew it was made worse by the position of the bedroom window, it was just the right angle to catch the first rays of sunlight. He used that sunlight to read by, flicking through the pages of a magazine that had some of the newest shinobi equipment on the market.

Newfangled godets that Kakashi had been complaining about, calling them a waste of forged steel. At first, Naruto blew it off, but then Tenten had complained about the same thing. Now it seemed like every ninja worth their salt involved themselves in the long running debate. Several were for the new advancements, and several other purists were against it, but one fact was true. Times were changing, and warfare was too.

Sasuke woke up after a few more hours. Rolling to his side, he realized the bed was cold. Naruto was laying across the floor sighing every so often, nose still pressed to that god awful magazine.

"You're doing it again…" Sasuke mentioned offhandedly as he flung off the covers and dragged himself out of bed.

"Doing what?"

"Doing that." Sasuke ruffled Naruto's hair as he walked by, clad in a pair of boxers and nothing else. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Nothing actually." Naruto replied despondently, flipping another page in the magazine. "I'm just thinking about what we're going to do. Have you told Sakura yet…about us?"

"No, and I don't plan to." Sasuke told him. "Why is it so important to tell other people our personal stuff?"

"They're my friends." Naruto murmured. "They are yours too."

"Were maybe."

"Still are." Naruto closed the magazine and sat up. "They're good people, Sasuke, and I don't like hiding the truth. Sakura really cares about you. You owe her the truth."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. When Naruto really wanted something, he almost always got his way. He would nag and nag. To his credit, he didn't complain about a lot of things. On this, Naruto had his heart set. He went to the nearly empty refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of beer. "If I tell Sakura, will you lay off?"

Naruto stood up, went over and slung his arms around Sasuke. "I want to do things right, that's all."

"Fine." Sasuke relented as he took another deep swig of his beer. "Now get off me so I can make breakfast. We are going shopping later. I don't know how the hell you survived off of all this packaged shit. Your blood pressure must be through the roof, the sodium levels in that crap are insane."

Naruto didn't want to talk about that. He did eat a lot of packaged foods. Most of that was because before, he didn't have many visitors. More often than not, he lived and ate alone. That's why a small part of him craved missions. Just so that he didn't have to be alone. Quietly he just held on, not letting go. "Sasuke…can you…"

The dark haired man set down his drink and grabbed the blonde man, pinning him to the wall so hard that one of the photo frames fell over. "I told you I'm not going anywhere, didn't I?"

Naruto nodded, but part of him was afraid that Sasuke would start wandering off again. Years of experience told Naruto that it was just how Sasuke was, but Naruto woke up really early every day fearing the worst. "I know you said it."

Fist hitting the drywall, Sasuke cursed as it cracked. He rested his head on Naruto's shoulder a moment later. "I'm not going anywhere. Until you get that through your thick skull, we're going to have problems."

Naruto hugged him, because that was all he could do in this situation. He wanted proof of that, but Sasuke couldn't give him any after years and years of being on the run. History was their worst enemy, and Naruto realized that was another huge issue that Sasuke had to grapple with. Worst thing was, he would have to do it on his own. Naruto couldn't help Sasuke reacquaint himself with the village. There was just too much damage, and too many people thinking the worst.

Even Kakashi was playing things safe, and Naruto was sure he would be one of the first to take their relationship the wrong way. If Kakashi knew the truth, he'd probably get worried. Not because he was judgmental, but because Sasuke had done damage to the team in the past. Damage that had hurt all of them very deeply, damage that was the root cause of Naruto's fear now.

Now that he had Sasuke back, he just couldn't let go.

"Enough of that for now." Sasuke said, smacking Naruto on the ass as he passed by. "Just trust me." The doorbell rang, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes once more. "And answer the damn door."

Naruto did, looking through the small peep-hole. Hinata was outside, and she looked paler than usual. Slipping on some civilian sandals as he opened and closed the door behind him. "Sorry…Sasuke isn't um…" He shrugged then, hands into his pockets as he leaned heavily angst the door. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better." Hinata admitted.

Naruto gestured down the steps. "Wanna go for a walk?"

Hinata fell into step beside him, but she didn't exactly know what to say. She had come over needing someone to talk to, someone who would use discretion. Naruto wasn't normally known for that, but in this case he would fully understand. She could trust him to keep his mouth shut. Still, she didn't really know what to say, so for a while, they just walked silently.

"Ayame told me." Naruto said, stopping at a vending machine. He bought Hinata her favorite soda, and did the same for himself. Handing her the cold can, he popped the top on his, taking a slip sip.

"Did you know about her?" She asked quietly, popping her own can in return.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Well, it's not like she shouts it from the rooftops."

"But you knew." Hinata told him. For some reason, that irked her.

"It was hard not to." Naruto averted his eyes, chuckling a little bit.

She sipped that all too sweet soda. It was a stalling tactic, and they both knew it. "How much do you know?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to stall. "Everything." Thankfully, he didn't hold back for too long. "Her first girlfriend was Hana. I might have went to get lunch at a bad time. Never realized that Hana was so territorial. I thought she was going to rip me in half. After that though, Ayame didn't have to hide it from me anymore, so I guess that was good."

"She dated Kiba's sister?" Now Hinata felt truly lost, and had to sit down on the bench nearby. "I just wish I knew. I feel like I…"

Naruto came to sit down beside her. He knew she was feeling guilty. "Do you think I did anything wrong?"

"What?" She asked looking at him.

"Back when you told me the truth..." Naruto said carefully. He still felt like he was walking on broken glass when he brought that up. "Did you think I did anything wrong when it came to you?"

Hinata shook her head. "Never."

"Then what makes you think you are doing something wrong now?" Naruto asked her. "It was her choice not to say anything, and now the timing is her fault."

Hinata sighed hard. She didn't like how Naruto was thinking about it. He might have been right, but that still didn't squish down how guilty and clueless she felt for not realizing it sooner. Besides that, she still had some form of bond with Naruto, and that ran deep.

"Look, she's your type, right? Dark brown hair and eyes, a bit of a devil may care attitude, smaller in the bust." Naruto asked. Hinata gave him a look of utter terror. He could only laugh. "I know that you and Tenten had a thing for like a second."

"How do you even know about that?" Hinata was a little freaked out. She had no idea how Naruto could have found out. She and Tenten never spoke of the matter…never…not even once. They were drunk and not at all in their right of minds. They were both all too happy to forget about that incident entirely. Hinata pretty much had, until that moment.

"Lee can't drink, and I couldn't because I was still on medication." Naruto told her. "We saw Tenten leave the bar with you. He was worried since it was so late and you two weren't exactly in high spirits. We kind of followed you guys to make sure you made it someplace safe." Naruto never spoke of it, because Tenten and Hinata both had been in a deep depression. The war left scars, and at that point, neither women had fully healed. "We both decided to pretend we never saw anything."

"But you saw something." Hinata could tell that. For the umpteenth time in the last twenty-four hours, Hinata hid her face in her hands. It was starting to become a bad habit. She said something else, but it was muffled.

"Huh?"

She removed her hands from her face, repeating herself but keeping her voice low. "It was different with Tenten." That was already embarrassing enough to say without everyone in the village overhearing her. "This isn't just going to be a one-time thing this time. Ayame wants more than that."

Naruto nodded, leaning forward as he rested on his elbows on his knees. "Maybe that's why it'll work, because you don't plan to make it one."

Hinata thought about that, shrugging her shoulders just a little bit. She never took things half-way, not in anything. Most certainly not in relationships. She made the choice to invest herself fully, or not at all. That came with everything, from friendship to otherwise. "That only makes things harder, not easier."