Chapter 4

Naruto was still looking at the girl that had gotten up on the bed that he was in just moments ago. Something about this girl made him really happy. She was kind, pretty, and she smelt good… kind of like… that food he smelt earlier. "So how do you know my name and who are you?" Naruto finally blurted out to save himself from the silence.

Ayame was transfixed on herself. 'Oh gosh I spent some time at Father's restaurant, and I think I smell like ramen.' She looked up to see Naruto ogling her. She quickly blushed and turned to look back at the bed sheets she was sitting on. 'That boy has the most amazing eyes I've ever seen. I could get lost in his eyes for days. I think I need to ask father if we can keep him.' Lost in her train of thought Ayame was surprised by the sudden burst that came from Naruto. "Oh well my father is the man that brought you here from the restaurant Ichiraku. My father is the man you talked to before you passed out. My name is Ayame Ichiraku, it is nice to finally meet you." The last sentence coming out so fast it almost wasn't audible to the boy but he understood. 'I would extend my hand for greeting but I still smell like ramen and I don't want Naruto to know.' Her thoughts were interrupted by a very loud growl. She looked up to Naruto and was about to speak when he quickly interjected.

"Whoops excuse me… Ayame?" Ayame nodded and Naruto continued on "It's just that you smell like that amazing food I smelt when I met your father before I passed out. It was called ramen right?" Ayame, blushing after being told she smelt good because she smelt like ramen, nodded again. "I wish I had some right now." Naruto said looked up to the ceiling as though sending up a prayer.

"Well when my father comes out of the shower, I'm sure he will fix us up some lunch. It's 2:00pm and I'm starving too. But then after that we have to… we have to…" She looked up at Naruto with a very sad look on her face.

Naruto began to get scared as he remembered all the horrible things that would happen to him at the orphanage. Taking beatings from the workers, thrown around by the workers, along with many other things. Naruto only knowing a life filled with physical and emotional torment thought he was going to have to face more. "I don't want to be hurt anymore… Can I just go one day without being hit? I promise I'm not a demon like everyone says I am; I am a good boy." Naruto was down by Ayame pleading with her to not let him get hurt.

Ayame had never seen a person, especially not a boy her age, so scared in her life. She immediately reacted to the situation that had moved her emotionally and grabbed the boy into a tight hug. "Naruto I would never let anyone hurt you, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you so much. I just meant that we have to take a nap after lunch." She said to Naruto as tears streamed down her face. It was hard to think that the boy she was holding had been used to being hurt by others.

Naruto looked up at her and began to laugh while still having teary eyes. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he got up and said "Is that all? Take a nap? I have no problem getting extra sleep, just as long as I can get some of that tasty food first!" Naruto said ecstatically as he thought about the great food he was going to eat.

"Did I hear someone say tasty food? Naruto you are in for a treat!" Teuchi had gotten out of the shower, dressed, and was walking toward the room when he heard them talk about food. "Well I'm going to be in the kitchen, lunch will be ready in an hour and it will be worth the wait!" Teuchi was excited to make ramen at home with his new ramen making kit. But he had heard what else had been said about Naruto being scared of being hurt. Teuchi knew that people didn't like the Jinchuriki but to hurt a small boy was an outrage; especially after Teuchi had to take off the bloody shirt off the boy earlier today.

While Teuchi was making food, Naruto decided to sit back on the bed and think about how good the time was with the Ichirakus. Even the nap that he knew he'd have to take was no big deal considering that the bed is the softest bed he ever felt. And that wasn't it; next to him was a beautiful girl that had a heart of gold. 'Wait speaking of that girl what is she doing?' Naruto looked up to find the girl staring at him, but she immediately looked down when he saw her. Naruto wanted to do something for the next hour but not just sit there and be weird. 'What do girls like to do? Hmmmm maybe they are just like boys. So what do I want to do? I've got the perfect idea!'

Ayame looked back up to see Naruto smiling a devious smile as he looked up at her. "What are you thinking?" She was curious but also worried because of the smile he was giving her. WHAM! Next thing she knew she was being tackled on the bed. Now Ayame was blushing like never before because the boy she thought was cute had just tackled her out of nowhere. 'What is he doing? I can tell he is playing but what is the objective of this game?' Ayame thought to herself. "Naruto what… (struggle) are you… (struggle) trying to do?" Said an out of breath Ayame.

"We're playing…(struggle) Hokage of the bed. In order to win you have to wrestle the opponent until they surrender. Then you become the Hokage of the bed! It is a very fun game… See!" He said that last statement as he continued to wrestle Ayame.

"But Naruto, I don't want to be Hokage and I want to play a different game." As much as Ayame wanted Naruto to be happy, she still didn't have the ability to wrestle very well. She wanted to play a game that would have Naruto and herself on even grounds.

"What the!? You don't want to be Hokage? But why not?" Naruto asked oblivious to Ayame being upset about the question that the he asked.

"Can we not talk about it and play a new game Naruto?" She saw a sad look come across his face and quickly asked "how about we play a game called hide and go seek?

"Okay Ayame but you are it first!" He yelled as he took off running to hide somewhere in the house. "Make sure you count to 100 and no peeking!" Naruto loved this game because he got to know more about the house he was in and because it made him feel like a ninja. Naruto looked around upstairs but couldn't really find any good places to hide up there. So he went to the main level. After a few seconds he decided against it because his stomach would make too much noise from being able to smell the lunch. So his last choice was to go downstairs into the basement. The basement was big and loaded with ramen stuff. Naruto guessed that this was the main area where the restaurant owner made his new recipes. There were so many tools and machines Naruto could hide behind and he was about to until something caught his eye. The basement was just one single room, or so Naruto thought. He saw one door leading to a new room that was closed. Naruto wasn't sure if he should go in but then he heard "Ready or not here I come!" He decided it was now or never and opened the door. He turned on the light and was surprised by what he saw.