Asuka reached Ichiraku Ramen and sat down.
"Two orders of your best pork ramen please, I am starving."
"You got it." replied the man behind the counter.
The smell of different types of broth filled Asuka's nose and made her drool like a dog. Finally after what seemed like forever she received her two big bowls of steaming, cooked to perfection, ramen.
"Looks like you and I had the same idea," came Naruto's voice.
Asuka looked at Naruto and suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Whoa are you okay?"
"Can you love and hate someone at the same time?"
"Sure, Sakura is that way with Sasuke," Naruto did a double take over his shoulder to make sure Sakura wasn't around, "just don't tell her I said that."
That made Asuka smile a little.
"Why what's going on?" Naruto asked getting more serious about how Asuka was feeling.
"It's not a big deal, I don't even know why I started crying. I'm probably just over thinking things."
Just then Asuka's food arrived.
"Here, I ordered two but I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat both now." Asuka said sliding one of the bowls over to Naruto.
"Really? Thanks Asuka! You're the best!" Naruto's eyes got big and he started to drool.
"Thanks for the food!" Asuka and Naruto said in unison.
They continued chatting as they ate and then it was time for them to go their separate ways.
As Asuka walked home she realized her muscles ached. Maybe I over did it just a skoosh. I don't think my muscles have been this sore since back when I trained with mom. Once she got home she drew a bath, lit some candles and added salts to the water. She tried to just zone out but every time she kept thinking about Neji. After training with Neji the way she did she wasn't sure if he accepted it or just passed because he didn't want to waste his breath. Asuka let out a big sigh.
After a while she finally pulled herself out of the bath and plopped herself into bed.
The next day when Asuka was on her way to the training field another shinobi approached her and said that the Hokage has requested her. Upon greeting Lady Tsunade, Asuka also saw Neji and Kakashi Sensei.
"Right on time Asuka, now that everyone is here I can brief you on your mission. You three are going to be on a mission to escort one of the Feudal Lords from their home to a safe house. The reason this requires you three is because we have reason to believe that someone may try to kill him to take his position. There have been attempts on his life already but thanks to the shinobi currently guarding him the attempts were thwarted."
Asuka waited for Neji to object to her being there but no such statement was made.
"When do we leave Lady Tsunade?" Asuka asked.
"Immediately, the longer he is at home the more danger he is in."
After that they were dismissed and immediately on their way to the meet the Feudal Lord.
They were only about halfway there when sunset hit.
"We should set up camp for the night." Kakashi Sensei advised.
"Agreed, we'll want to be at our best to protect the Feudal Lord." Neji answered as they stopped in an ideal spot.
Asuka followed suit. Once everything was set up Asuka created an ice dome around them with a small hole at the top to create an igloo effect.
As they sat around the campfire eating Asuka stole a glance at Neji from time to time trying to figure out how he felt but he was harder to read than hieroglyphs. Not long after that they all passed out. Then in the middle of the night Asuka was awoken by Neji. He quietly signaled for her to follow him. They went just outside dome on the other side of a tree.
"Ok now we can talk." Neji said.
"What did you want to talk about?" Asuka asked.
"I saw you staring at me earlier. What was that all about?"
Asuka blushed.
"Are you in love with me or something?" Neji asked rudely curious.
"Honestly, I don't know... I feel like there might be something there but your so flip floppy its hard to tell if you feel the same way." Asuka replied but somehow feeling like Neji was off.
"I do feel the same way about you but you made me feel uncomfortable." Neji said.
Now Asuka knew something was off. Then it clicked.
"Kakashi Sensei what is this all about?"
Kakashi released his transformation jutsu and looked with concern at Asuka.
"I wanted to make sure you were still able to focus even with your feelings for Neji."
"So you know. You saw me looking at him didn't you?" Asuka confessed.
"Yes, I've seen emotions get in the way before so I wanted to see where you were at."
"I appreciate it Kakashi Sensei. I know we are on a mission. I only let my thoughts wonder because my ice dome would have alerted us to any incoming threat so I felt secure enough to let my thoughts do so." Asuka explained.
"Alright then. Lets go back to bed."
Asuka and Kakashi Sensei went back inside the dome and slept till sunrise.