A/N: I like writing, but there some things that I like more like World of Warcraft. Oh well. Here I am, back with hopefully a nice, fluffy, sweet and short story. Glad to be back, I suppose? Meh.

So here is what I hope to be a nice, slow, casual romance between Ayame and Naruto. I like Ayame. She is a side character that I wished was more prevalent in the manga and the anime.

I hope I do not disappoint.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of these characters.

Ramen Stall Romance

By Yangster

Chapter #1: How I Ended Up Making Ramen

He was in a bad mood.

Walking through the packed, commercial district of Konoha with a frown on his face and a slight furrow in his brow, Naruto slowly began drowning out the chitter-chatter and the bustle of the world around him as he reflected quietly on why he was in a bad mood. He was annoyed, pissed off even, but mostly just frustrated.

Frustrated at himself.

Tilting his head up to look at the blue sky, Naruto instinctively squinted as the afternoon sun bore down on his eyes. Despite the irritation, he continued to look up as he ran through what had just happened earlier in his head. It had started off as just a simple training day with his team meeting on the bridge and Kakashi being an hour late. It was right after that, that Kakashi announced that he was going to run them through a refresher on all the survival training that they had done back at the academy.

Kakashi had even brought a little book, with a bunch of cute doodles in it.

Naruto had complained a bit and had even put on a little show on why he did not have to be refreshed on all that old information, but to be honest, he had actually forgotten a big deal of all of that stuff.

He was never going to admit that out loud to his team though. He would have died of shame or embarrassment or both.

He was able to get through most of the review in the beginning, with the list of edible and poisonous plants, along with how to hide ones tracks when in enemy territory, but his little facade was quickly broken when Kakashi had instructed them to make a basic campfire.

Holding back a groan, Naruto looked back down at the street in front of him. Even now, he could feel the slight heat of embarrassment in his cheeks and the annoying, burn of frustration in his chest. To think that a simple campfire was his downfall. He just wanted to slap himself.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, Naruto took a deep breath as he remembered how awkward it was for all of his teammates to stare at him with their finished fires whilst he was still trying to start his own. It had gotten even more awkward when Kakashi had stepped in and guided him through the entire process.

Even if Kakashi's voice was calm and his expression was indifferent, Naruto swore he saw just the slightest disappointed glint in his eye during the ordeal. That was what had sucked the most. While he was alright with Sasuke's disapproving roll of the eyes and Sakura's genuinely surprised snort, it was the lack of a reaction from Kakashi that had made him as frustrated as he was now.

Sighing quietly, Naruto looked back down the street he was walking on. He knew exactly what he needed: a delicious bowl, or bowls, of ramen.

Feeling just a little bit better after having run through all that mess, Naruto hastened his pace and began walking in the direction of his favourite ramen stall. He had not been there in a week and a half and he could just not wait to rant out all the bad things that had happened to him during that time to Teuchi and Ayame.

Already now, as he neared Ichiraku, he could smell the phantom aromas of delicious miso broth and tender stewed pork. His mouth was watering just thinking of all the ramen that he would eat.

As he was just about to round the corner to the stall, he paused briefly to pull out his wallet to check how much money he had. Eyeballing the amount, he smiled a bit at the decent amount of money in his hand before continuing onward.

The smell of ramen was real now as the stand came into view. Bellying up to the counter, Naruto flashed a toothsome smile before waving with his hand.

"Hey Ayame! Hey Teu-"

He paused, one of his brows quirking up as he saw only Ayame, who was busy cutting onions. Her eyes were a bit puffy, and there was tell-tale glint of tears welling in her eyelids as she focused on slicing the onions as thin as possible.

Looking at the other stools, Naruto took note that he was the only one at the stand besides Ayame. Looking back at Ayame, he found himself tilting his head in confusion as she had not turned to greet him back.

"Umm. Ayame?" asked Naruto, his voice a bit awkward and unsteady.

She paused, a quiet gasp escaping through her lips as she turned her head to look at Naruto. For a few seconds, she stared at him blankly, her eyes hazy before she suddenly snapped out of it.

"O-Oh. Hi, Naruto," she responded with a slight stammer as she patted down the wrinkles of her apron and turned to face him.

Naruto opened his mouth to order, his need for comfort food overwhelming him for a split-second before he closed it. Instead of ordering, he asked her a question.

"Where's Teuchi, Ayame?"

Her bottom lip began quivering as she looked down at the floor, her shoulders sagging a bit before she let out a long, heavy, sigh.

"Naruto.." began Ayame, pausing briefly as she swallowed quietly, "Teuchi.."

She cleared her throat.

"Father passed away a few days ago," she answered, as she raised a hand in preparation to wipe away the tears that would soon fall.

Naruto's eyes widened, his lips parting as his jaw went slack.

"He died of a heart attack due to stress," explained Ayame, her words prompting Naruto to cover his mouth solemnly with his hand.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto spoke up.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Ayame..."

She shook her head, her lips curving upward into a sad smile as she walked towards the counter, "There is no need for any of that." She then paused for a second as she briefly put herself back together, "What can I get for you, Naruto?

"Before I answer that, can I ask you a question?"

"Didn't you already just ask one?" retorted Ayame, chuckling awkwardly as she finished saying that.

Naruto mustered up a smile, "Yeah."

"Alright then. What's your question?" asked Ayame as she dragged a stool from inside to stall to the inner side of the counter so that she could sit down in front of Naruto.

"Why am I the only one eating here today?" replied Naruto as he glanced around at the empty stools beside him, "Isn't this usually the time most people leave work?"

Ayame shrugged her shoulders and sighed warily, "They're use to seeing Father here. He was the face of our business. I guess they just don't trust his daughter to be able to make as good a bowl of ramen."

"Why would they think that!?" asked Naruto, throwing his arms up in an exasperated manner before letting them drop back on to the wooden counter with a thud.

"Because it's true," answered Ayame bluntly, her words prompting Naruto's eyes to widen, "Sure, I can follow the family recipe but at this point, Father has made so many mental tweaks to it that it's not even the same recipe anymore."

Naruto exhaled quietly, "Well, why don't I see if that's true or not myself then?"

"Miso ramen as per usual?"

He nodded, "Yes please."

Bowing her head a bit, Ayame got off the stool she was sitting on and got to work. Finishing up the onion that she was dicing, she placed it to the side before she grabbed a serving of noodles and placed them into a pot of boiling water. Waiting a few minutes, Ayame strained the noodles before placing them into a bowl, followed up by miso broth, and the usual toppings.

She then placed the bowl in front of Naruto, "Here."

"Thank you," replied Naruto as he reached for a pair of chopsticks before bowing his head before the bowl respectfully and whispering quietly, "Thanks for the food."

It smelled the same. It even looked the same. Surely there was nothing wrong with the bowl of ramen underneath his nose right? Picking up a few noodles, he began blowing gently on them. It was weird for him not to immediately devour a bowl of ramen instantly but he wanted to take a moment to see if he could actually detect any difference between Ayame's bowl of ramen and Teuchi's bowl of ramen.

Once sufficently cooled, at least to Naruto's standard, he took a bite. More of a slurp, really. The noodles slid into his mouth with ease.

"Hmm.." hummed Naruto, his cheeks tensing up a bit as he looked down at his bowl thoughtfully.

"How is it?" asked Ayame as she wiped her hands with a towel.

"There is a little bit of bitterness there that wasn't there before," answered Naruto as he looked up at Ayame, "The miso flavour has also gotten a little too strong for my tastes and there is also not enough of that onion and ginger taste to it."

Ayame blinked at him, "Well then.. That was actually a lot more than I thought you would say."

"What did you think I would say?" asked Naruto, quirking a brow as he tilted his head a bit to the side.

"I don't know," replied Ayame with a shrug as she smiled coyly at him, "Something less than whatever you just said?"

Naruto snorted softly before returning Ayame's smile with his own, "Ramen's serious stuff, Ayame. It's my favourite food after-all. There's no way that I would just use a few words if I were asked to describe my favourite food."

Ayame chuckled in response, her features brightening up for a second due to Naruto's response, "Of course. I should not have doubted you."

"So what are you gonna do now, now that I've sort of listed out some of the differences?" asked Naruto as picked up a piece of sliced fishcake with his chopsticks.

"I don't know," answered Ayame with a sigh, "Maybe I'll just have to close the stall and get a job as a waitress or a prep cook.

Naruto gasped, "No way! You can't do that, Ayame!"

"Why?" asked Ayame, quirking a brow.

"Because then where else would I get my favourite bowl of ramen from?!"

Ayame shrugged as she sat back down in the stool she had set up earlier and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the counter, "I can't even make your favourite bowl of ramen, Naruto. At least not with the recipe that Father left behind."

"Not with that attitude!" retorted Naruto as he reached forward and grabbed both of Ayame's hands, prompting Ayame to gasp and widen her eyes.

"N-Naruto?"

"Look," began Naruto, pausing awkwardly as he slowly came up with the words to make what he just did less awkward, "Ayame. You can't just close Ichiraku. Not only is it the home to my favourite bowl of ramen, but it is also the only place where I get to see you."

He tried to ignore the fact Ayame had blushed at the last part of his sentence.

"You're one of my only friends and it would suck if I couldn't see you as often anymore," continued and finished Naruto as he nodded assuredly at his own words.

"B-But I can't just run this stall by myself," replied Ayame with a stutter, "It's a two person job and I can't afford to hire someone!"

His mouth moved on its own.

"Well then I'll just have to help you then!"

Ayame gasped, "What?!"

"I said I'll just have to help you then!" replied Naruto, much louder this time, the volume of his voice causing Ayame to flinch.

"Will you really..?" asked Ayame tentatively, her voice drifting off a bit at the end of her question.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yes, I will. I love this place more than my apartment, Ayame. I'd hate to see it go."

He watched as Ayame's bewildered expression gave way to a small, hopeful smile.

"Alright then, Naruto. I'll keep the stall open for as long as I can as long as you come here everyday to help me out."

"You got it," said Naruto in response as he returned the smile, his much more confident than hers.

Letting go of her hands, Naruto stood up from his stool, "I'll make sure to come here after every single day after training!"

"Sounds good, Naruto."

Flashing her another smile, he turned to leave when suddenly..

"Wait!"

He blinked a few times in confusion before turning his head to look at Ayame, "Huh? What?"

"You still got to pay for your bowl!"

"Eh.."

A/N: There it is! Chapter one of what I hope to be a good story! Expect an update every two weeks since my schedule is so much busier now! Please favourite, follow and review! Take care everyone!