Chapter 6

Naruto ran so fast up the stairs he tripped ever other step. His stomach was going nuts with all the aromas he was smelling, on his way up the stairs. Naruto had forgotten about his hunger while he talked to Ayame about her mother. Now he could barely contain his watering mouth as he walked in the kitchen and sat down. He was so excited because he had never smelt anything so good before. He was curious what it was so he decided to ask. "Hey mister what is that really good smell?"

"It's ramen, just like the kind we make at that restaurant you met me at. But this is a very special batch. I only ever make this kind of ramen on very special occasions. Oh and you may call me Teuchi." Teuchi said with a smile. It was the first time he made this meal in a long time…

Naruto immediately knew that his taste buds were in for a treat if this meal was for special occasions. But Naruto was curious about something… "Hey mister Teuchi… what is the special occasion you are talking about?"

Teuchi laughed very hard at the name he was given. "Just Teuchi, Naruto. Well you see there are a lot of special things going on this week. Firstly, you are our first guest in a long time. Secondly, Ayame's birthday is tomorrow. And finally Naruto, I believe your birthday is in one week. And although your birthday correlates with one of the worst disasters in the village's history; you truly did bring happiness to many people's lives." Teuchi had tears coming from his eyes as he remembered all those people: Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya (who was to become the God-father), the third hokage, himself and his wife, along with others.

Ayame face brightened at the thought of her birthday being so close to Naruto's. And now she finally found a way to get what she wanted… 'Yes this is a perfect plan… papa will have to say yes… EEHHHHH!' She yelled in her mind with a look of uncontrollable glee on her face. "Papa you know how I showed you that dress that I really wanted for my birthday?" She waited until he nodded. "Well that's not what I want anymore… You see I found something less expensive and more better!" Teuchi laughed to himself at the grammatical mistake his young daughter made. "What I want… is to keep Naruto! Pleeeeeeeeeease! I will make sure he is always happy in our home and then he will never have to be treated badly. And I'll make sure he is fed well so that he will never go hungry. You'd like that right Naruto?" She looked over at Naruto who had already begun stuffing his face with the food that was set down in front of him. He looked over at Ayame who grimaced when she saw the boy had tons of noodles hanging out from his mouth as though he had been slurping them all up in one fell swoop. He shook his head yes as the noodles hanging out of his mouth sloshed up and down into the bowl. "Oh… MY…GOSH! Naruto where did you learn your manners!? See papa, Naruto needs us to help him as he grows up. Someone needs to be there to teach him manners." Ayame flashed Naruto a disapproving look and then immediately turned to her father to give her best shot at the infamous jutsu…Puppy dog eyes no jutsu.

Teuchi looked from his daughter to Naruto who had a look of pure delight with the new idea; while he was sucking up the rest of his noodles. Teuchi liked the idea but he did find it cute that his daughter was treating the situation like they were getting a new pet. "Ayame Naruto isn't a pet that we just need to feed." Teuchi laughed. "But yes tomorrow I will visit the Hokage and see what we can do with Naruto. I'm not able to make the decision on my own but I will do my best! But for today let's just focus on our plans. I have to head back to the restaurant until close Ayame; Naruto are you feeling better?" Teuchi wanted to make sure Naruto was alright before he left.

Naruto had just finished his third bowl of ramen and was rubbing his full stomach. He had never enjoyed a meal more than the one he had just eaten. After he heard what Teuchi asked he looked over and nodded "Yes I'm feeling great after that food I got!"

"Good Naruto! I want you to watch over Ayame; you will be man of the house while I'm gone." He got a nod from Naruto and he looked over to Ayame. "Honey you are in charge of making sure you both go to bed at 9pm tonight. I won't be home until midnight tonight, but I want you both sound asleep when I get home. Oh yea and Ayame you are also in charge of making sure that Naruto brushes his teeth and takes a bath before bed!" He waited until he got a nod from Ayame and then said: "Well you two I hope you two have fun! Don't rough house too much and try not leaving the house too messy. I will see you both tomorrow!" Teuchi gave a hug both kids and headed out the door in a brisk pace.

Ayame was sad that her father had to leave to go back to work but she was excited to at least not be alone. It was almost 3 pm which meant that they had 6 hours to play and then they'd have to go to bed. They both ran upstairs and then decided to play more hide-and-go seek. They played all sorts of games. Ayame was even nice enough to play the game Naruto wanted to play earlier; Hokage of the bed. Ayame noticed that they both were getting sweaty; after a few hours of games that included wrestling. "Naruto I think it's time we both take baths and get ready for bed. I'm starting to get sweaty and tired. You have way too much energy for me to keep up with you, plus you're starting to smell bad." Ayame said with a smirk. "When was the last time you took a bath?"

Naruto put his head down and smelt himself. He thought he smelt normal. "Bath?... I didn't have baths at my orphanage. They never taught me how to take a bath. I knew other kids did but I didn't. I don't think anyone wanted to teach me how." Naruto said with a sad look on his face.

Ayame couldn't believe it. She took baths every night and was taught how to clean herself by her mother and father. "Naruto I'm sorry. This is why I want you to live with us and have a family. Tonight I will teach you how to take a bath and clean yourself. Do you have a bathing suit?" She asked with a slight blush.

"No I don't have one of those. Can we take one together? I don't like water that much." Naruto said truthfully.

Ayame didn't know anything about the birds and the bees. But she was old enough to know that normally boys and girls didn't take baths together. But this could be an exception because he was both afraid and didn't know how to clean himself. "Well I guess we can Naruto." Ayame said with a blush. "I'll go grab my bathing suit. You go to the bathroom upstairs and start filling up the tub with warm water."

Naruto was nervous about being in a tub filled with water but was happy that Ayame accepted his offer. "Okay!" He said excitedly as he ran up the stairs and into the bathroom. When he got into the bathroom he saw the tub… It was a huge tub. (Similar to a hot tub size) "Wow you could fit 4 of Teuchi in this tub; with room to spare!" He began to fill the water in the tub. 'Warm water…? Psh, no way I want it hot!' He smiled victoriously as the tub water got hotter and hotter. After a few minutes the tub was full and steaming with blistering hot water. Naruto began to take off his clothes. When he was finished he put his hand in the water. When he pulled out his hand, it was red. "Oh yea this is the perfect water temp!" Naruto yelled. As he yelled this the bathroom door opened.

Ayame had gotten dressed up in her matching yellow top and bottom. Teuchi had gotten the swim suit a month ago for Ayame. She loved it so much. She thought it looked beautiful. It had little dazzling pink and purple flowers on it. It had been five minutes since she had told Naruto to go to the bathroom and fill up the tub. But although the bathing suit looked great in her opinion it wasn't enough. She decided to fix her hair. She knew it was funny because her hair was about to get wet in the bath. But she thought Naruto was handsome and she wanted him to think she was pretty too. She finally finished up and headed to the bathroom.

Ayame was daydreaming about how Naruto would react when he saw her. That is when she opened the door and her mouth dropped by what she saw. She saw a fully naked Naruto facing her. "NARUTO! You need to learn your manners! Now get in the bath!" She yelled blushing furiously. She turned around, facing the door, until she heard Naruto get into the bath. "That's better Naruto! Now let's take a bath." She smiled as she got into the bath tub. "Ouch! Naruto why did you make this bath so hot?" She asked as her skin got red.

"I'm sorry Ayame. I didn't think that it was that hot. How about we make a deal, next time you get to fill it up with the water temperature you want." Naruto said with a grin on his face. Then he began splashing Ayame with water. "Water war!"

"NARUTO! Noooo the water is too hot!" She laughed as she splashed him back. After playing games in the tub Ayame decided that it was time to teach Naruto how to clean himself in the tub. "Alright Naruto, are you ready to learn how to take a bath" She said as she laughed thinking how funny it was that he didn't know how.

Naruto shook his head yes, wildly. He was having so much fun in the tub. But he was still confused why Ayame's cheeks continuously got red, when she looked down at him. It seemed as though she was looking under the water at his legs. 'That's weird my legs look the same as hers… Hey Fluffy…(Naruto trying out a new name he made for Kurama) is the water so hot it's making her cheeks red? And why does she keep looking underwater at my legs?'

Kurama wasn't a huge fan of the name but he didn't mind that Naruto called him that. But he thought it was hysterical that Naruto had asked him that question. 'Hahaha. Oh kid if only I could tell you, maybe when you are older. And kid, when a girl's cheeks turn red like that; it normally means they like the boy that they are near or thinking about.'

'But Fluffy… I like her too. She is nice to me and my first friend. And she said that she wants to keep me. That way I can have my own family.' Naruto said to Kurama with a smile.

'Ugh kid… it's like you want to be owned. Never mind about the girl liking you. I will teach you more about that later. But you have a family and for now that is me. I'll watch over you little guy. She would make a nice family though…' Kurama said as he broke out laughing. Naruto was confused as to why the fox was laughing after he said that but decided to let it go.

"Come here Naruto and I will help you." Ayame said with another blush as Naruto stood up and sat down on her lap. 'Oh my gosh, he is so cute. And he is staring at me with those big blue eyes of his.' She tried to calm herself down as she grabbed some soap. "Alright Naruto, it is pretty easy. You just take this soap, pour it in your hand, and then rub it all over your body like this." Ayame dodged rubbing Naruto's privates and his back side. "And then you just plop back in the water and make sure all the suds go in the water. Next you grab the shampoo." She commanded as she grabbed the shampoo. "And you rub it in your hair like this. Now you have to get it out of your hair by dunking your head under water. Then last but not least you use this stuff." She said as she pointed to a different bottle. "It's called conditioner and it makes your hair soft. Remember shampoo then conditioner." Naruto nodded his head in agreement as Ayame put the conditioner in his hair. Naruto then dunked his head one last time to get the conditioner out of his hair.

After another 30 minutes of play and Ayame cleaning herself (as best as she could with a swim suit on) they finally got out of the bath and dried off. Naruto got dressed into some pajamas that he had hidden in a secret compartment of his suit case. They were a matching top and bottom that were orange and had little green dinosaurs on them. They were a gift from the Hokage and they were the softest pajamas you could find. Ayame normally didn't like orange but she thought it fit Naruto well. And she liked the color more because she could tell that it was his favorite.

Ayame quickly got dressed into her yellow pajama shirt that said girlz rule! And put on purple short shorts. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was one more hour until they had to go to bed. "Come Naruto lets watch a movie in my room." She suggested as she grabbed Naruto's hand and led him to her room. Naruto was surprised when he got to her room and saw a big television hanging on the wall. The bed was a big one and it was perfectly set so that she could fall asleep while watching her favorite shows and movies. Naruto jumped on the bed to see that it was just as fluffy and soft as the one he had slept in when he first arrived there. "Wow your room is so nice Ayame!" Naruto looked around the room to find it organized and clean too. "What movie are we going to watch?" Naruto asked the girl as she came up on the bed with a box filled with movies.

"Hmmmm well I like romance movies." She declared with a slight blush.

"Can we watch something with ninjas fighting?" Naruto asked not knowing what romance was.

Ayame looked through her stash of movies and pulled one out. She walked over and put the movie in. "This one is perfect, it has what we both want. It's about a ninja who fights off enemies to protect those he cares about, especially the woman that he loves." She said as she crawled back into bed. She dug her way underneath all the covers and then lifted them up and motioned for Naruto to come. Naruto obliged and slipped under the covers next to his new friend.