Hello.

i decided to take a break from giving up for a bit. so i decided to take my break by putting an extra chapter for this little oneshot. maybe a few more?

and i will work on another chapter for the story. expect that one soon.

I walked down the busy street, it was rush hour. It was crowded, sweaty, and loud all around me. The oppressive heat beat down on my neck as people yelled orders at one another, or getting directions from somebody across the river of people, and children running around weaving in between adults and bumping into other people like me, playing tag all while screaming at the top of their lungs. I made sure that they didn't pick my pocket which was full of cash…But even with all this noise, it was still to quiet for my taste.

Once upon a time not so long ago, I walked down this same busy street, in the same hour… but that time I was with Naruto. That time, we were on our way to Tsunade-sama's office to receive our orders. And boy did his voice overpower the people's…

If I had known how that mission was going to turn out… I probably would have spent more time with him that day…

-

We bumped in one person after another as we headed towards the office, it was loud, but Naruto was louder.

"Sakura-chan!" lets get some ramen!" Naruto said nearly hopping around in a fit of joy.

"No, no!" I responded sternly, "We need to get to Tsunade-sama right away. Do you have ANY idea how angry she can be?"

"Hmm…" he said folding his arms across his chest, ceasing his fit of joy. "Nope, but it can't be that bad!" he said still in an loud up tone voice.

I brought my hand to my head to rub away a mild headache that was forming near my frontal lobe. I pictured Tsunade-sama angry and irate… it wasn't pretty.

"Come on! It'll be my treat this time…" he said nearly begging.

Hmm, free food… and we do have thirty minutes before we have to meet Tsunade-sama, and I did skip breakfast this morning for a new diet I'm trying out. "Alright then… But if you run short on cash I'm leaving you there to clean dishes."

"Don't worry! I have plenty of cash!" he said patting his back pocket.

We arrived at Ichiraku shortly… Naruto knew a shortcut there, but then again… he knew all of the shortcuts to his favorite restaurant… any other time I would have thought his obsession to Ichiraku strange and weird… but this time, I was actually kind of hungry, and he offered to treat me so I didn't complain this time.

"Hey old man!" said Naruto as he sat in front of the bar.

"Hey Naruto!" I said joining him. "Be more polite to your elders!" I said slapping the back of his head.

"Ah! Naruto!" said the… old man… from behind the bar. "What'll it be for you and your girlfriend today?"

G-girlfriend?

"Oh, Ya know, the usual, Extra large Miso ramen with Tempura, with extra, extra noodles with a raw egg…" he said rubbing the back of his head.

"And…" I started shaking off the old man's comment. "one small diet Ramen please…" I said finally cooling off.

"Diet Ramen?" Naruto said looking over to me with a confused face. "Why are you getting the Diet Ramen Sakura-chan?" he said putting his elbow on the bar.

"Cause… It's healthy, and it tastes good… besides… it's popular with the women in Konoha." I said lying about the taste, in actuality it tasted like a boot to me, but I didn't want him to know that, and I wanted to stick to my low calorie diet.

"Aw come on Sakura-chan! That bowl tastes like an old boot!" he said… reading my mind, while pouting a little.

"Well, then what do you suggest?"

"Hmm… you should get what I got, its great…" he said drooling on the corner of his mouth like a retard.

I thought about it for a brief moment. Miso is good, and the raw egg should bring out its flavor, and I haven't really had a wholesome meal in a while…. I debated a while longer in my head, but then I quickly voted against it, all those calories would eventually catch up to me and go straight to my hips.

"Sakura-chan… are you on a diet?"

"Y-yeah… so?" I responded feeling a little embarrassed of my figure.

"You don't need to go on a diet, you have a great body!" he said giving me one of Lee-san's and Gai-sensei's copyrighted nice guy poses.

I felt a blush come to my cheeks. "Thanks…. Naruto." Maybe I'll just stray from my diet a little bit today…

"No Probl- "

"Ill have the medium Chicken Ramen with Diet Noodles please." I said cutting off Naruto mid-sentence with the back of my hand.

"OW! What the hell was that for?!" he yelled lying on the ground cradling his bloody nose.

"That was for looking at my body that way…" I said calmly feeling proud of what I did for women around the world. "And don't forget, if you run out of money, im leaving you hear to clean dishes…"

He gulped a little as he took one bloody hand to his back pocket patting his rear pocket.

"Naruto…" I said growling at him.

"Er… umm… Don't worry! I have the cash right here…" he said, his voice shaking and trembling.

He got pick pocketed…. Geez… oh well…

"Make that a large Chicken Noodles please!" That'll teach him to get pick pocketed… extra dishes for a more expensive meal…

"Alrighty then… adding the large bowl of chicken ramen which brings the total up to, thirty four dollars and fifty four cents." He said tapping his pencil to his chin. "Oh, and Naruto… I expect you will pay off your tabs today, I heard you got paid for your last mission…"

I looked back over at Naruto who was now tearing over the extra work he was going to have to do. Classic…

-

"Ah, Sakura-chan." Said an elderly voice.

"Huh?" I said looking up to whoever called me.

"Welcome back to Ichiraku…"

In my daydream I had subconsciously walked into Ichiraku.

"Hello sir." I said despondent, and a little confused to where I was. "How are you today?"

"Hm? Me? Oh I'm fine, today is a bit slow, and I'm one hand short without my daughter, but I'm doing alright. Here take a seat." He said pointing to the nearest stool.

"Oh? Where is Ayame-san? Is she ok?" I said as I took the seat.

"Hmm, I don't know really. Two days ago she said she had a really bad feeling for some reason, and ever since she hasn't come to work."

"I see." I said looking at the wooden bar… I think I know why she had a bad feeling that day…

"Where's Naruto? I'm surprised he didn't come with you today." He said looking around to make sure he didn't miss him as I entered.

"He's… gone…"

"Oh, well that's to bad, he loves ramen you know." He said a little disappointed, not getting what I meant.

"Yeah… I know." I said trying to keep tears from forming in my eyes.

"Well, it certainly is strange that Naruto hasn't come in almost three days… anyway what will you have?" he said bringing out a piece of paper and pencil.

"I'll have an extra large Miso ramen with tempura, with extra, extra noodles and a raw egg."

"Alrighty, that'll be… twenty dollars…" he said writing it down.

"Sorry, but could I do some dishes to pay it off?"

"Hmm? you have no money?" asked Tuechi-san, "Cause if you dont, it's my treat today."

"No, no... I feel like doing some dishes today."

well, i like where this story is going so far, postive flames, suggestions, reviews, welcome.