Operation: Bring home Naruto
XI. Ramen dreams
"Hey, Hinata there're some mushrooms!"
For the last few hours, Naruto's main concern had been dinner. He seemed to have forgotten the seriousness of their mission in his quest for wild edibles. He knew Hinata had brought a collapsible stew pot and dried beef, so he had his mind set on a gyūniku shichū (beef stew) of some sort. He'd never actually learned to cook so to his mind throwing a bunch of ingredients together and heating them up was all that was required of putting together a meal. He was quite experienced at heating food. That's all he ever had to do for his ramen.
Hinata couldn't find it in her heart to fault him for wanting to acquire ingredients for a good meal. He wasn't very good at denying himself a meal—and a decent one at that. He'd just scrunched up his face in a distasteful grimace when she'd suggested simply eating some of the dried beef she'd brought as their sole dinner. It wouldn't have been her chosen menu either, but she'd only been thinking of bare necessities for the journey. They could have managed without eating much at all until they reached Konoha. She'd had missions before where there'd been no place and no time to eat. But Naruto had started thinking about dinner as soon as they'd left the village the second time. So in between using her Byakugen to prevent another ambush, she helped him gather his ingredients.
"When are we making camp?" he asked after they'd picked a number of mushrooms to add to the wild rice, spinach, water chestnuts, carrots, peapods and bean sprouts he'd already found along the way.
"Since you expect a cooked meal, we'll have to stop earlier than I'd planned to gather firewood and so on," she said with a smile. "I hadn't thought to camp until nightfall."
"That's too long to wait until dinner," he protested.
"You just ate a few hours ago, Naruto," she said firmly.
"I know, but I can't wait to try cooking our dinner. Say, Hinata, how do you think our gyūniku shichū will turn out?"
"It will be good," she told him confidently. It might be more like a soup than a stew, but the salted beef would add favoring to the other ingredients. That should make it tasty enough for Naruto used to salty ramen.
"Yeah, a nice cooked meal," he said in anticipation. "Not as good as ramen, though. It would have been great to have ramen. Why can't noodles grow wild in the woods?"
She giggled. "You are so silly, Naruto."
He grinned and swung his arms up behind his head. "Yeah, a ramen bush. That would be so cool. Picking ramen noodles off a bush."
"You'd still have to cook them. I can possibly imagine at plain noodles growing on a bush, but my imagination draws the line at fried or wet noodles growing there."
"Not my imagination. I don't think I've seen them any other way. Say, Hinata, what are ramen noodles made of anyway?"
"Flour, eggs, salt, I think. I've never made noodles from scratch."
"So you can cook?"
"I was taught the basics. I can make tsumire soup, sanshoku onigri, sôki soba and ohagi just to name a few of my favorites."
"Really? Those all sound good. Mostly I just eat ramen."
"For breakfast, too?"
"Yeah. It's great for breakfast. I never get tired of ramen," he told her enthusiastically.
She shook her head and smiled. "You should eat other things, Naruto. It's not healthy to eat only ramen."
"Well, nobody ever taught me to cook. I've always had to do things on my own. Ramen's easy to make and cheap to buy. Good thing I like it so much, right?"
She laughed with him. "Maybe when we get back to the Hidden Leaf Village, I can cook you a meal—something different from ramen," she suggested tentatively.
"Really? Do you mean it?" he asked eagerly. No one had ever offered to cook for him before. He couldn't remember the last time someone had given him something homemade. He was usually treated to ramen whenever someone offered to feed him.
"Of course, I mean it. It will be nice to cook for someone other than myself for a change." And nicest yet to cook for Naruto.
"That'll be great. I'll look forward to it." He contemplated the thought of a pretty girl cooking for him for a few minutes. It was a very pleasant thought he'd like to savor later when he had more time. Right now, he was beginning to feel hungry. "Hey you never answered my question."
"Which question?"
"When are we making camp?"
She closed her eyes briefly to visualize the map.
By her calculations, they hadn't gotten nearly as far as she'd wanted to that day. However, her plan was to spend only a few hours resting that night so they should still be ahead of anyone who hadn't realized they were missing until sometime in the morning.
"We should be able to stop anytime after another hour's travel. If we can find a place near water, that would be best. There should be several streams and a few ponds in this forest that we haven't already passed." One of the reasons for choosing this forest to cross was its plethora of watering spots. If necessary they could have managed several days with just the dried beef she'd brought as long as they had water.
"Okay, but I'm getting hungry." He rubbed his stomach. Maybe he should have eaten again when they'd gone back to the village. He could easily have eaten one more bowl of ramen. Too bad they'd wanted to get away before the villagers could involve them further in their problems.
She gave him a sympathetic glance. "Why don't we look for some fruit you can eat to tide you over until we make camp."
"Yeah, fruit. That should hold me until dinner," he agreed eagerly. He enjoyed foraging for food. There was a time when he was just a genin that he hadn't been very knowledgeable about it. But after going hungry for several days during his first chûnin exam, he'd made a point of learning all he could about how to find and identify edible plants and fruits. He never planned to go that hungry again.
He was able to find plenty of wild berries on their continued journey through the vast forest. There were several raspberry and black berry bushes with plump ripe fruit hanging lushly on every branch. He even managed to pop a few playfully in Hinata's mouth whenever he found a berry bush. She hadn't complained about being hungry, but he wanted to share his plunder with her—and it was entertaining to surprise her with the treat of the lush berries. He enjoyed watching her face light with pleasure and the way the berry juice darkened her lips. He never thought about what his own must look like since he was eating the lion's share. Not only did he have a red tongue, teeth and lips, but his fingers were becoming stained with berry juice as well. He was too busy feeding himself and Hinata to notice.
His little game of feeding berries to Hinata had become more than merely entertaining to him. He had become fascinated with Hinata's mouth remembering the kisses they'd shared far too long ago. It almost seemed as if none of that had ever happened. It had all begun as an act for the enemies she thought were stalking him, but he began to wonder what kissing Hinata for real would be like. It could only be all the sweeter than his memory when it became Hinata Huyga herself kissing Naruto Uzumaki and not some made up girlfriend. That thought became a pleasant fantasy for him as they continued to walk through the forest looking for the best place to camp.
Hinata was using her Byakugan when she finally announced, "There's an abandoned building of some sort ahead. It has a well. Let's check it out. Maybe we can camp there for a few hours."
Naruto's stomach growled beating out his verbal response. "Sorry. I don't know why I'm so hungry. I've eaten enough berries to become a berry bush."
She giggled as she looked back at him. "Or a berry yourself. That's an even prettier shade of lip color you're wearing than the strawberries gave you earlier."
"Don't laugh. You're wearing the same color." He licked his lips still tasting the berries but knew that wouldn't do the trick of removing the stain. The color would wear off soon enough. Probably after he ate dinner. He'd make sure he didn't eat any more berries tomorrow before getting into Konoha. He didn't mind Hinata's teasing but he wouldn't put up with anyone else teasing him if he showed up looking as if he was wearing lipstick.
"Do I look as funny as you do?" He really did look as if someone with a very shaky hand had applied coloring to his mouth—maybe a child who couldn't yet color between the lines.
He stared at her mouth again. Funny? She didn't look in the least bit funny. "No, you look terrific. That color makes your mouth look as ripe and tasty as a berry." He thought he'd gotten tired of berries but he could think of one more almost berry he wouldn't mind tasting.
She blushed and quickly turned her head away. She'd last seen that look in her eyes yesterday when she'd been wearing her sexy red dress. She'd thought all the flirtatiousness he'd shown during their girlfriend play was just that—play for an audience. Since they'd begun their journey he'd been treating her as simply a fellow shinobi. But judging from that look, he was definitely once again seeing her as a girl. It made her heart beat quicken, her face grow warm, and her breathing shallow to find him looking at her in that same way he had when she was pretending to be his girlfriend. And it wasn't pretend now—they had no audience. It's what she'd wished for so long—but not now.
This was no time for romance. They had to concentrate on the seriousness of this mission. She wanted to make him understand that without discouraging him from any future romantic ideas. When they reached Konoha, she'd welcome his interest and flirtatiousness with open arms. But not now. So how was she to let him know that without hurting his feelings? She'd never imagined she'd be in this situation ever—saying no to Naruto. But if he became more obvious she'd have to stop him, but how? What would Sakura do in this situation?
She giggled as she thought of Sakura's remedy for every offense or displeasure, real or imagined—punch him, punch him hard.
"What's so funny?'
She shook her head. She couldn't tell him what was really in her head. The complete explanation was too embarrassing. "Nothing really. I was just—ah—picturing some of the other shinobi wearing berry juice."
He grinned. He could play this game. "Like Shikamaru."
She laughed. "Or Shino."
"Or Kakashi."
"Or Master Guy."
"Or Kiba." He didn't know why he'd brought up Kiba. He didn't want Hinata thinking about the guy even if he did look ridiculous with berry juice smeared over his mouth.
"Or Sakura?" she asked along the same vein.
He was glad that she hadn't said anything like 'Kiba would look cute with berry juice.' Even if he'd never given her the opening, Sakura would have said that very thing about Sasuke in the past. She would have said that Sasuke looked cute even with a bald head. Now he was beginning to wonder if Hinata thought of Kiba that same way. Maybe every girl that interested him was really interested in some other guy. Why did he have to torture himself with those kinds of thoughts?
He shook his head. "Naw, Sakura wouldn't look funny. You don't look funny. Girls aren't funny wearing berry juice. It just looks like lipstick. Only a guy would look funny."
"Like Choji."
He grinned again. "Yeah, or the perverted hermit, Jiraiya. I think he'd look the funniest."
She laughed. "You know, I'm never going to be able to look at any of those guys again without picturing them in lipstick."
He grinned. "Me either. Are you always going to picture me wearing berry juice, too?"
She quickly turned her head away from him. She had many pictures of Naruto in her memories. Berry juiced Naruto would not be one of the prominent ones—but he did look cute and funny. "No. Look, it's an abandoned shrine," she said quickly changing the subject.
They'd finally reached the building she'd seen with her Byakugan. They circled around to get a good look at the spot.
"There's not much left of it. No roof, partial walls, overgrown inside. The arch is the only thing intact." Naruto kicked around the outside. "I bet there're snakes inside."
"Yuck! We'll camp somewhere outside," she announced. "It's the well I'm interested in. From what I can tell, the water looks fine. Let's draw some out and see."
There was a wooden bucket tied to a rope sitting beside the well. "This bucket's in a lot better condition than the shrine. Why's that do you think?." After examining it, he dropped it down in the well. Once it sank into the water at the bottom of the well, he began to draw it back up.
"Maybe someone still uses the well so they replaced the bucket. What's the water look like?"
He peered into the bucket. "I dunno. Water."
She smiled and nudged his arm. "Silly. Does it have a smell?"
Naruto sniffed it. "Nothing different from any other water I've smelled."
"Let's taste it."
He held Hinata off. "Wait! I'll do it."
She put her hands on her hips reminiscent of every other female who'd ever had dealings with him. "Naruto! What if it's poisoned or tainted? I don't want you getting sick."
He stuck out his lower lips stubbornly. "I don't want you getting sick either."
They were at a stand off until Naruto came up with a solution. "I know. I'll summon a toad. Maybe he'll be able to tell if the water's any good."
Naruto drew blood from his thumb and performed his toad summoning jutsu. He'd gotten better and better at this over the years and no longer required the nine-tailed fox's chakra to bring forth a formidable toad if necessary. It was only when summoning Gama Bunta that he needed every bit of chakra he could achieve. On this occasion he only required a larger than normal toad.
"Hey, Gamakichi, long time no see," Naruto greeted him.
"Hey, Naruto, what's up? It isn't my dad you really want—is it?"
"Naw, this is a job I hope you can handle. Can you tell if this water is okay to drink?" He held the bucket out.
"Sure," Gamakichi said and jumped into the bucket. After a few seconds he popped his head up. "Come on in. The water's fine."
"Great. Thank a lot."
"You're welcome. Got time to play?"
"Not just now, Gamakichi. I'll call you when I've got some time. Okay?"
"Okay. Bye, Naruto." The toad popped back to where he came from. Naruto poured the water out on the ground. He'd rather not drink toad bath water. He'd draw some fresh when they needed it.
Hinata was relieved. She wished she had a summoning jutsu. It seemed to be very handy even outside of battle. "I'll look for a good site to make camp nearby. You gather wood for the fire, okay?"
"Sounds good. I can't wait to get that stew started."
There was a nice shady tree near the shrine's well that wasn't as overgrown as most of the area around the area. Hinata collected big stones to surround the shallow hole she dug for their campfire. She gathered some small twigs and sticks to pile in the hole. Then she struck two pieces of flint together to start the fire. By the time Naruto returned to camp with his armful of larger branches she had two forked sticks firmly staked on either side of the fire. When Naruto brought over her cooking pot partially filled with water she hung it on another stick and laid it between the two upright forked sticks to hang over the fire.
Naruto drew all his vegetables out of the backpack and started to dump them all together into the pot when Hinata threw her arm out between him and the fire to stop him.
"What?" he asked impatiently.
"That's not how you cook a proper meal. First wash them all off. Believe me, the stew will taste much better without clumps of earth mixed in."
"Oh, right. That makes sense." He went over to the well and filled the bucket. The rope attached was long enough to reach their campfire so he brought the bucket to the vegetables. He rinsed each one off and laid them on the backpack so they wouldn't pick up any more dirt. When he was finished, he held his hands over the vegetables ready to scoop them up and looked at Hinata. "Now?"
She shook her head and told him firmly, "No. First we wait for the water to boil."
He relaxed his hands, sat back on his heels and stared at the pot.
Hinata laughed. "Haven't you heard the express A watched pot never boils?"
"Unh?"
"It will seem to take forever to boil if you just watch it. Why don't you cut the beef and then the vegetables into smaller pieces while you wait? We're going to put the beef in the pot first. Since it's been dried it will take longer to soften. And we want it to flavor the water before we add the vegetables. Here I washed this flat stone. You can use it as a cutting board."
Naruto started cutting the beef. "Why can't we just put everything in together?"
"Some of those vegetables take longer to cook than others. After we let the beef simmer for awhile we'll add the carrots, water chestnuts and peapods. They take longer to cook than the other vegetables. Then we'll add the rice. Then the mushrooms and the other vegetables. We don't want the spinach and bean sprouts to be too soggy from over cooking or the carrots, water chestnuts and peapods to be too hard from undercooking."
He was impressed. "Wow. You really know what you're doing. This'll be the best gyūniku shichū ever."
"I hope so, but I'm no expert. I'm just using other recipes I've followed in the past as a guide."
"You're my sensei as far as cooking goes. Maybe I should learn to cook. You could teach me."
"I really only know the basics, Naruto. My family has a wonderful cook. Maybe you could find someone more professional to teach you."
"I only need the basics. I'm never home long enough to do that much cooking."
"Are you telling me you plan to give up your ramen for a wider range of dishes?" she teased.
"I'll never give ramen up completely, but I wouldn't mind trying other things on my own. Come on, Hinata, say yes," he coaxed.
She smiled at his wheedling tone. "We'll see when we get back to Konoha. Neither one of us may have the time if the Hokage puts us back to work right away."
"That's a promise. I'll hold you to it. Hey, the water's boiling! Can I put in the beef?"
"Yes, but be careful. Don't splash the water or you'll get burnt," she instructed.
Even at 18, Naruto was sometimes like a big kid. In anyone else she might find that irritating, but in Naruto she found it endearing. It was that mixture of man and boy that, also made him exciting. She'd admired, pitied, and yearned for the boy. Now working so closely with him, she was finding herself falling more hopelessly in love with the man. Would any good come of that or would it just end in heartache? Could Naruto ever feel the same way about her?
She didn't care, she thought recklessly. She would be as close to Naruto as she could for as long as she could and to hell with the consequences. That was in the future. She'd take whatever she could get right here and now. She just wanted to be with Naruto for as long as he wanted her to be in whatever capacity he wanted her—whether friend or girlfriend. She could only hope that their time alone together would lead to a future relationship. He seemed to be leaning a little that way. She just wanted him to hold off on a more complete lean until she had him safely back at Konoha. She couldn't afford a serious distraction of that nature at this time. She had to be vigilant in order to protect him properly.
In the meantime, she told herself to simply enjoy his company, his laughter and his strength without seeking any further claim. She'd been doing that for years already. Surely, she could handle one more day of the same?