PART 1: Two Weeks in the Life of the Ramen Girl
Love is Like a Bowl of Ramen
Ayame never believed in love at first sight, but that was before last week. That was when she saw Kakashi-sensei's face. She had seen him around before, but she always thought he was a bit strange, yet in a cool mysterious way. He had interesting hair and one nice dark gray eye, but as everything else was covered up, she thought no more about him. Once in a while he would come by and order ramen to take-out, but he never ate at the stand until that day. Since that day, she could not get him out of her mind.
Even her father would comment every so often, "Naruto's sensei sure is something. He's the top Konoha jounin you know. Quite a catch for…anyone." Then his eyes would glaze over and a sigh would pass his lips.
Ayame found herself spacing out at work - over-cooking the ramen, over-seasoning the stock, and breaking the dishes. The only one who didn't notice the deterioration in the quality of their food was their best customer Naruto, who would eat anything no matter how hot or bland.
As she served the steaming hot bowls, with white vapor obscuring the faces of the patrons, she imagined each customer to be Kakashi, and imagined he was the one thanking her for her fine service. She eavesdropped on conversations, hoping someone would mention his name, just so she could glean the smallest particle of information about this mysterious man. It was becoming an obsession.
For the past week, she had been waiting and hoping Kakashi would come back to the stand, but she hadn't seen him since. How could she, a regular civilian girl, get his attention? She was nothing beautiful or classy or mysterious or exciting. Nothing like some of those kunoichi she saw around the village. Maybe she should wear more fishnet - that seemed to be quite popular. She was pretty enough under her plain yellow-stained white robe and kerchief, but no one ever noticed.
Ayame knew nothing about love strategy. She only had her father, whose advice on love was equating everything to ramen. "Love is like a bowl of ramen. Sometimes it's finished in seconds; sometimes it lasts much longer. Sometimes the noodles are short and sometimes they're nice and long. Some bowls of ramen have lots of variety, with roast pork, seaweed, egg, vegetables, tofu…but some are standard and boring with only one position…er, I mean top... er, I mean condiment…"
If only her mother were still around, perhaps she could have given Ayame some real advice about men instead of some half-boiled philosophy based on egg noodles.
Who could she get to be her ally, to help her gain his attention? Forget about Naruto - if he had any idea of her feelings, he would exclaim so loudly that everyone in the village would know in seconds. How could she find out whether Kakashi would be interested? Whether he had someone already? Maybe that girl Naruto liked, the pink haired girl on his team, the one with the funny forehead. What was her name? Something boringly common…Sakura, that was it. Maybe she could enlist her help…
-...-...-...-..-
Naruto noticed that his ramen had not been as good as usual. In fact, his cup ramen was better! What was going on with Ichiraku? For the past week, their ramen had been downright bad. And that's saying a lot coming from he who would eat mint bubblegum flavored ramen. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "What's going on here? I pay good hard-earned money for this ramen! It sucks!" he complained, being his usual tactful self.
But Ayame had her back to him. She was thinking about how luscious Kakashi's lips looked, so she didn't hear him at all.
Her father looked up in surprise from cutting up some daikon. "What's wrong Naruto-kun?" he ventured to ask.
"What's wrong? What's wrong is your ramen! It's been terrible all week!"
"But you ate it all and didn't complain once. In fact, you had several bowls each time. Is this an attempt to get a refund or a free bowl?" He frowned at Naruto suspiciously.
"You try it! I'm not crazy!" Naruto insisted.
The old man tentatively took a pair of chopsticks and tried a few strands of noodles. His brow furrowed; his nose twitched; his mouth grimaced and then he spat out the noodles onto the countertop. He took a small sip of the soup and immediately coughed it out - all over Naruto's bright orange jumpsuit. He then turned to address his daughter, "What the hell is wrong with you? These noodles are sweet! Ugh, you used sugar instead of salt!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry dad. I'll use more sugar next time…" his daughter replied as if in a daze.
"Sigh, I'm sorry Naruto-kun. It seems that my daughter has fallen in love with your sensei. She's had her head in the clouds for days. I'll give her a thorough scolding later. Here's a couple of free coupons…"
Naruto assumed he must have meant Iruka-sensei, since he was a regular customer. And he could see how a girl could fall for Iruka-sensei - he was such a great guy. It never occurred to Naruto that anyone could possibly mean Kakashi-sensei, who was incredibly weird, lazy, perverted - no girl would fall for that.
-...-...-...-
"Ayame, what the hell is wrong with you? Thanks to your incompetence, sales have been down 20 percent this week. Tips have been near nonexistent. Are you trying to ruin us?" her father reprimanded after all the customers had left.
"I'm sorry Dad. It's just been hard to concentrate lately." Ayame apologized, but appeared not to be sorry at all. She still seemed very distracted.
"I know how you feel about Kakashi-sensei. I mean, who can blame you. He's really…sigh…if I were…sigh…but if word gets out that our ramen's no good anymore, do you think he's going to come by here ever again?"
That shocked Ayame back to reality. If Kakashi were to think that she couldn't cook, she would have no advantage over any other girl. If he didn't come by the ramen stand anymore, what chance would she have at all? In fact, she must double her efforts to be the best ramen cook in all of Fire Country!
"Dad, you're absolutely right. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? I'm going to be the best ramen cook ever!"
"Well, maybe second next to me. Just remember that life is like a bowl of ramen - it's served steaming hot, but if it sits around too long, it gets cold."
"Umm, I think I missed the analogy there."
"Well, you know, it means…it means that you can't sit on the shelf too long or you'll be an old maid."
"Gee, thanks dad. I'm not that old yet." Ayame shook her head at the old man's strange sayings.
"Time goes by fast. If you find someone you like, go for it!"
"Dad, you're absolutely right. That's exactly what I'm going to do starting tomorrow!"
-…-…-…-
It was near the end of the day. Classes had already been dismissed and most of the Academy teachers were gone. Iruka had just finished marking the homework and was getting ready to leave the classroom when a tousle of blonde hair appeared by the door.
"Hey, hey, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said with a sly look in his fox-like eyes.
"Hi there Naruto-kun. How's the training going?" Iruka replied as he placed his papers in the briefcase.
"Oh, forget that!" Naruto was so excited, he wanted to burst out the information, but he also wanted to stretch it out, and make Iruka guess. "I know something you don't."
"Hmmf, I somehow doubt that," Iruka said with a good natured laugh.
"Yes I do," Naruto insisted. "I know someone who likes you."
"I'm sure lots of people like me. I'm such a great guy."
"No, I mean, like you like you."
"What do you mean? You know I don't speak tween."
"Grrr, I mean I know someone who wants to date you."
"Oh," Iruka blushed, "umm, guy or girl?"
"A girl of course!"
Iruka sighed in relief, "Well, who is it?"
"Guess."
"Just tell me, I don't have time for guessing games."
"Ask me three questions and take a guess."
"Sigh, fine. Is she of legal age?"
"Huh?"
"At least eighteen."
"Hmm, I'm not sure. I think so."
"Okay, is she a kunoichi?"
"Nope."
`Good,' Iruka thought, `most of them are kind of bitchy. All right one last question.' "Hmm, is it someone I know?"
"Well…what do you mean by know?"
"Do I know her name?"
"I don't know if you know her name."
"Sigh, what's her name?"
"I don't know her name."
"Wait a minute. You're telling me you know a girl who likes me, but you don't know who she is?" Iruka was getting annoyed.
"I know who she is, but I just don't know her name."
"Grrr, just tell me!"
"It's the ramen girl at Ichiraku."
"The ramen girl?" Iruka's eyebrows rose up in surprise.
"Yeah, her dad told me."
"Hmm, well, she is pretty cute. And she's sure a good cook. Well, at least her ramen is good. But…I don't know…"
"What's wrong? Don't you like girls?"
"Sure I do!" Iruka's face turned red. "It's just that…I'm pretty busy. I don't know if I have time right now for a girlfriend..."
"That sounds like a fishy excuse! You have time to spend with me, right? Just go for it!"
"Girls require a lot more time and effort. I'm not sure how to approach this…"
"Just send her some flowers," Naruto suggested.
"Yeah, all girls like flowers, right?" said Iruka thoughtfully.
"Unless she's allergic."
"Allergic? Is she allergic?"
"How would I know? Why are you even taking advice from a twelve-year-old…"
-...-...-...-...-
Sakura was not a frequent Ichiraku customer since she had a mom who cooked her dinner and packed her lunch. So on her day off, Ayame tried to bump into Sakura by loitering around her house. "Hello, Sakura-chan," she said pleasantly when she saw the pink haired genin returning home from training.
Sakura stared at her blankly and managed a weak, "Er, hello…"`Who the hell are you?! Some kind of stalker?!'
Ayame realized she was in her normal street clothes, not her ramen stand waitress uniform, so Sakura did not recognize her. "It's me Ayame."
Sakura continued to stare at her quizzically.
"From Ichiraku," Ayame said patiently.
"Oh! Hello, how are you? I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you," said Sakura in embarrassment.
"That's all right. I get quite a lot of that," Ayame said with a smile, while thinking, `What good is that big forehead of yours? Does it even contain a brain? Why can't you recognize someone out of uniform?' "I was wondering if you could help me…" Ayame said while blushing.
Sakura saw her face turn red and deduced it must be about a guy. She automatically became interested, then suspicious. `It better not involve Sasuke, or I'll help you with a kunai in your gut!' But she said sweetly, "Sure, if I can. What kind of help do you need?"
"I'm afraid that ever since last week…I've had a crush on…" the ramen girl hesitated and blushed several shades darker.
`Last week? It better not be Sasuke! Would Sasuke go for an older woman? She does have a better figure than I do,' thought Sakura in a panic. `I'll kill her first!' But Sakura smiled and said, "Yes? Go on."
"I'm in love with Kakashi-sensei!" Ayame blurted out.
`Hey that's right! She got to see Kakashi-sensei's face. Damn, and we didn't!' "So what does Kakashi-sensei look like? We didn't get to see him without his mask."
Ayame gushed, "He has the most perfect nose. Not too long or short or narrow or broad. It gives him a perfect profile. The tip is slightly pointy, but not sharp. His mouth is perfectly shaped in a slight smile. His lips are sensuous but not too full. His teeth are white and perfectly aligned. His chin is not too strong or weak and gives him such a distinguished air. His whole face has such character. He's absolutely perfect! Sigh…"
`Geez, she's got it bad. It's sickening the way she's gushing over him. Wait, I don't do that, do I? Of course not!' "All right, I'll help you on one condition," Sakura proposed.
"Anything!" replied the desperate young woman.
"You have to help me get a look at his face!"
-...-...-...-
