He couldn't understand it. It was impossible. It was unbelievable.

It was scary.

All these sixteen long, long years, he'd been under the impression that only he had the ability to eat more than twenty bowls of ramen in one sitting. An impression that Hinata was in the process of brutally crushing into a million tiny pieces.

He openly stared at her, not understanding what the hell she was doing to eat that much. And how she looked so calm and peaceful as she did it. She was eating more than Chouji! And she didn't have any of the rush that Chouji displayed when he was racing to get the last potato chip or barbeque slice.

She definitely didn't look like she was on bowl thirty-five, a fact that filled him with a wave of admiration. And envy. His own limit was bowl thirty-three before he puked.

His eye started twitching as she slowly and leisurely blew on the broth, giving unsuspecting viewers the idea that she had a case of cat's tongue.

Then she lifted the bowl to her mouth. Naruto held his breath, straining his eyes so that he couldn't blink and miss the moment.

He didn't blink, but somehow he still missed the moment. One second ago, there was an entire bowl of broth. One second ago.

But now it had magically vanished into a black hole. Even the noodles had disappeared into thin air.

She hadn't even used her chopsticks.

What.

"Thanks for the meal, Teuchi-san," she said angelically, stacking the bafflingly empty bowl onto the previous bafflingly empty bowls, which now formed a bafflingly neatly stacked tower that somehow didn't topple.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled, probably not a wise move considering how quick Hinata was to startle.

It was definitely not a wise move.

Hinata whipped around and yelped.

"Naruto-kun?"

The sudden movement caused an ominous tremor to flow through the countertop, making the ramen bowl tower shake precariously.

Good thing that Teuchi had quick thinking. He slowly, carefully laid his hands on the Leaning Tower of Ramen Bowls and pulled the bowls out of harm's way before they could fall and break into a million tiny pieces, just like Naruto's foolish impression that only he could eat more than twenty bowls of ramen.

She put a hand to her chest, whether in relief or trepidation, he didn't know.

"Were you...watching me the whole time, Naruto-kun?" she asked with a nervous chuckle. "You...you could have given me...some warning..."

He disregarded this and leaned far too close to her, grabbing her shoulders.

"How?" he asked in a low voice.

"How...what?" Hinata stared at his hands fixed on her shoulders, holding her breath without even realizing it.

"You have to teach me."

"Teach you...what?"

Naruto took a deep, deep breath and got down on his knees in a bowing position. He'd never done this before, and who knew if he would ever do it again. But he had to learn from the master.

"Hinata, please be my ramen-sensei! Teach me everything you know! Your secrets, your ramen-slurping tips, everything!"

Hinata just stared. And stared. And stared some more.

Naruto was bowing in front of her. He was asking her to be his...

Ramen-sensei.

Because he wanted to know her secret ramen-slurping tips.

What.

Being Naruto's "ramen-sensei" was without a doubt the strangest, but most exhilarating experience of her life.

Naruto was a dutiful student. He always, always showed up early to their...study sessions and he always, always paid for all the ramen, even though she was sure that this must have been quite devastating to his wallet. She tried not to think of these as dates, but that was proving to be spectacularly difficult.

Hinata sincerely had no clue why he wanted to learn "ramen-slurping tips" from her, or what exactly she was supposed to be teaching him, but she wasn't complaining.

She got to spend hours with Naruto. Alone. Staring at him as he ate ramen.

She wasn't complaining.

Naruto paused and glanced at her hesitantly. "Hinata, am I...doing this right?" he asked. "How long do I have to blow on the broth for? Is it like this?"

He demonstrated to her by gently blowing on his hot bowl of miso ramen, surprisingly not getting any on her face. Not that she would have...minded. Accidents happened, after all.

"Yes, exactly like that, Naruto-kun," Hinata responded.

She didn't understand. Why was he asking her how to blow on noodle soup? This was so confusing.

He beamed at her. Oh yes, that was why she wasn't complaining about these confusing...study sessions. He beamed at her a lot during these study sessions, and each time he did that, without fail, she felt as lightheaded as though she had inhaled laughing gas.

"Thank you so much, Hinata. You're the best ramen-sensei a guy could ask for. So I think you should have this bowl. I'll pay, so don't worry, ya know?"

Naruto pushed the bowl towards her expectantly, undoubtedly gearing up to stare at her as she ate so that he could "take notes."

Hinata's heart started hammering away as she stared at the bowl of miso ramen that Naruto had blown on. That she was now about to eat.

It...it was almost like indirect kissing.

She tried not to think of this as a date, but that was getting to be really tough lately.

Being Naruto's ramen-sensei was truly an exhilarating experience.

A/N: Gotta love Hinata the Ramen Champion. :) The other prompt for the day was "I love the feeling of your hand on my back," but I just wasn't able to include it...

Thanks for all the reviews last chapter, Minako K, GBAboy313, and Guest. Although, Guest, I'm...kinda confused by your review. What do you mean by "his back"?

Anyway, please do tell me what you think of this little one-shot! :)