Scenes Referenced: This is never shown in canon, but during the two year time skip between the original Naruto series and Shippuden Naruto trained with Jiraya. He wanted to find a way for Naruto to control the Kyuubi. This current series of drabble chapters is about that time period she's off training away from Konoha.
Manifest
Old Man Jiraya called it 'meditating'.
Naruto sat on the water with her legs folded and eyes closed. Ripples emanated out from her form at a steady pace. Her chest rose and fell with soft, even breathing. The genin had been shut up in the sewers of her mind space yet again, after her spectacular failure in winning over the demon fox last time. True meditation apparently meant clearing one's mind entirely. The Pervy Sage had doubted she was capable of this, and told her to start with 'introspective thinking time'. What the hell did that even mean? Hmph. She'd show him. She'd be the best goddamn meditator the sage had ever seen!
Don't think…
Don't think…
Dooooon't think.
The genin's stomach rumbled. Jiraiya had the two of them camping out in the wilderness for days now. Naruto shuddered. Screw trail mix. God, she'd kill for some ramen today. Mmm… ramen. Nice, hot, steaming ramen… with slices of pork… and fishcake. She could practically smell it now….
Hold up.
Was she… actually smelling it? Or just going completely insane from hunger? The blonde stiffened, blue eyes flying open. No way. No fucking way.
A prettily painted, blue and white porcelain bowl was right in front of her. Kept above the sewer waters by a small wooden tray. The glass was brimming with broth and curling gold noodles, piled high with meats and cut vegetables. Ramen. Actual, real life ramen!
Err, dream ramen. Did she make this? Just by thinking about it?
The little girl was back.
She rushed up to his cage (far closer than she had ever dared before) with an almost… foxlike grin stretching over her face. Interesting. Kurama tilted his head, clawed hands folded neatly in the sleeves of his robe. The kit had gotten careless in her excitement. He could kill her if he shifted into his beastly form.
Heh. What a nice thought. Perhaps he would humor the child for now.
"I'm so awesome. I'm soooo awesome." Naruto muttered gleefully, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Are you ready for this, fox? You're the only one who I can show this to, yanno. God, this is like, the third greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Okay okay, here it goes!" She squeezed her eyes shut. Her squirming body going completely still.
The stillness, of course, was clearly the challenge here. Was this what she wished to show him? Kurama's mouth twitched. For the kit, this was indeed impressive-...
Two trays, laden with noodle bowls materialized out of the nothingness.
Black rimmed eyes widened. What was this? Kurama immediately knelt before the one at his feet, the second bowl quite obviously being for the kit. The toppings for the noodles were elaborate and multicolored, glistening in the heat of the steam curling up from the broth. The fox's nose twitched. Aromatics laced the air surrounding the dish.
"You included scent," Kurama said, a bit dumbly. He dipped a fingertip in the broth, placing it upon his tongue. Rich. "...and taste." Food items were notoriously difficult to manifest in a mind space, simply due to the extravagant levels of detail required to make them remotely edible.
"Uh-huh," Naruto nodded, hands clasped behind her back. "Uh-huh. Ramen that doesn't taste good isn't ramen, yanno?"
Quite frankly, Kurama was floored. "And this is…" He swallowed. "...for me?"
Her grin was almost blinding. "Well, yeah! Ya gotta eat it! It's ramen, for crying out loud! I don't care if you crawled straight out of Yami, fox, this'll do wonders for your soul." She sat down on top of the water, chanting 'ramen, ramen' under her breath. Naruto suddenly looked up. "Aren't you gonna sit down?"
His numb body folded from his crouch into a cross legged position. It… had been so long, Kurama scarcely remembered his table manners. The chopsticks felt foreign in his clawed hand. He stared at the noodles, chakra fox ears flat against his skull. "...I-I gratefully receive."
Naruto made an unintelligible noise of assent through a mouthful of noodles. She slurped away happily, already on her second manifested bowl. Good. The fact she didn't seem to be paying attention to him soothed Kurama's instinctual paranoia. He… disliked others watching him eat. Human food, in particular, was a rarity for him.
A small, careful bite.
"Is it goooood?" The girl sang, biting into a fishcake. "It's good, isn't it?"
Kurama, despite himself, nodded. He gripped the chopsticks so tightly it was a wonder they had not broken. It was good. It was good. The broth and the hot, heady aroma… her attention to detail was indeed immaculate. He would not deny his kit the truth. Kurama's eyes squeezed shut.
The first thing he had eaten in years, and it was delicious.
Note: Thanks to CMVreud, idea getthe, InnocentlyGuilty, Yojimbra, Vaughn Tyler, Winterlover6 , and the four guests for reviewing. Sorry if there are spelling errors; the previous chapters are too old for me to go back and fix! I don't have a beta but I try to reread and run every chapter through spellcheck. Naru-chan is pretty aggravating, I know, but she has her reasons. A guest pointed it out pretty nicely- she's alone and hated. And young. Don't worry, everyone grows up. She'll get better. :)