guess who's back, bitches?!

11 - thicker than water

Naruto was enjoying a delicious meal at Ichiraku, as she usually was at this time of day whenever she was in the village. A few years ago, Sakura had given her a lecture on nutrition and how it wasn't healthy to eat only ramen, and that she needed variety for a balanced diet and blah blah blah, Naruto had stopped listening at some point. She was pretty sure ramen was the food of the gods and therefore had all the nutrition someone needed to survive. (Plus, green onions, bean sprouts, and menma were all vegetables, weren't they? Actually, she wasn't super sure about the pickled bamboo, but sometimes she even had spinach in her ramen! That definitely counted.)

In any case, Sakura had basically threatened her to reduce her ramen consumption on pain of death (which seemed somewhat counterproductive if you asked her, but she wasn't going to tell Sakura that), but Naruto still made sure to stop by Ichiraku at least once every other day. The regular habit also made it easier for people to find her, and she was often joined by friends who wanted to see her, or some citizen who wanted to thank her for saving the village once or thrice. Sometimes, they even paid for her ramen, which was pretty damn awesome!

This time, however, Naruto wasn't expecting anyone to show up. She definitely didn't expect Kakashi to appear, especially since she was pretty sure he had been avoiding her for some reason.

She decided to point this out. "What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei? I haven't seen you in ages."

Kakashi ignored her pointed statement, the bastard. Maybe she had been too subtle. "I wanted to give you your birthday present," he stated bluntly, placing a neatly wrapped package next to her bowl of ramen.

"My birthday was a month and a half ago." She stared at him, eyebrows raised.

"Maa, it took a while to put together. I had to beg a part of it off Hokage-sama, and she was being stubborn about it until I told her what it was for."

"What…?" Naruto eyed the box now, her curiosity burning. "Can I open it now?"

"Actually, you should open it when you're by yourself, I think." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, and he looked almost...shy? Self-conscious? It wasn't something Naruto saw often, and her curiosity was growing by the second.

"Okay…" Naruto said slowly. "Did you want to join me for ramen, at least?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I have to head out on a mission, actually. But I do hope you like the present. Happy belated birthday, Naruto."

Kakashi left before Naruto could said anything in response. He's been a little weird, recently, she thought. She shook the thought away, and proceeded to devour her ramen with fervor. She had a present to open!

Alone in her apartment, she unwrapped the box carefully and lifted the lid. She was surprised to see a letter addressed to her on top. Underneath it was some sort of small, thickly-wrapped trident and a few bundles of paper.

Naruto,

I know you don't have much from your parents, and I haven't been as open as I could have been about my time with them, either. I am sorry about that, and I'll try harder.

You told me you've been working on your sealing since a while back, so maybe you could take a crack at the Hiraishin. I got one of the few remaining three-pronged kunai and Minato's notes on it from the archives in the Hokage tower. They were supposed to be yours in the first place.

The second gift is a cookbook. I recorded some recipes based on my memories of Kushina's cooking—my memory's pretty good, so there shouldn't be any mistakes. She was a fantastic cook, and always said cooking was one of the ways she liked to remember Uzushio.

I know this is late in more ways than one. I hope you like it anyway.

— Kakashi

Naruto had started crying sometime in the middle, but she laughed once she got to the end and saw the henohenomoheji accompanying Kakashi's name. She carefully put the letter aside to unwrap the Hiraishin kunai and look through the notes and cookbook.

"Kakashi, you idiot," she whispered. "Of course I love it."

She wished he wasn't out on a mission so that she could track him down and tackle him with a hug, but for now she settled with reading her father's notes. Maybe she'd try one of those recipes tonight. She hadn't felt this close to her family since fighting together with her dad during the war.

It was the best birthday present she'd ever gotten.

notes: I meant bitches in the most affectionate way possibly possible, please don't shoot me.

errrrr yeah I know it's been over a year and a half? it's like you blink and time passes, crazy how nature do that.

I have two more chapters written and waiting so I can actually promise that it won't be long before there's an update, if anyone's still around to read it. with these commitment issues it's no wonder I've been single forever hahahahahahaaa