Can I carry that bowl for you?

"Ow!" Kushina yelped loudly.

Minato kept a firm grip on her left wrist, preventing her from running away. She continued to whine on the couch as he knelt and treated her sprain with an ointment.

"It'll prevent it from swelling." He unyieldingly asserted.

"There's no stopping him, Uzumaki. Once Namikaze gets into his mother mode, he gets more stubborn than anyone else I know." Shikaku said.

"Stop molesting my wrist! It hurts!" Her complaints continued to carry through the lobby of the sports complex, where most of the spectators and players, including Inoichi and Chouza, had already left.

Minato wrapped her wrist, handed her an ice pack, and immediately let go. He was about to defend himself from Kushina's accusation, but a black haired man with gray eyes interrupted them.

"Nice game, Minato."

The blond looked up and saw the young man dressed in a button down sweater with a collared shirt underneath. Accompanying him was an equally well-dressed woman about his age in a deep red turtleneck and a knee-length skirt.

Minato greeted with a smile, "Hi Fugaku. Mikoto-chan."

Observing their wardrobe, Kushina gave them a cautious look. Shikaku noticed this and said to her:

"Don't worry. Uchiha's not one of them. Well, he is a rich little prick who goes to Koshougan, but he's an archer. And he's not as much of a douche."

"I appreciate the compliment, Nara." Fugaku sarcastically thanked.

"I got your back."

"Uzumaki-chan, this is Uchiha Fugaku and Arashi Mikoto-chan. They're my friends from high school." Minato introduced, "Fugaku, Mikoto-chan, this is Uzumaki Kushina-chan."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-san." The woman with straight, jet black hair bowed slightly.

Fugaku stared at the red haired girl for a moment before doing the same, "Nice to meet you."

"Oh, um. Yeah." Kushina unenthusiastically followed their lead, as if discomforted by something, "Same."

"Namikaze-san, you're really quite something on the basketball court." Mikoto complimented as they walked out of the facility in a group.

"It's not a big deal." Minato modestly responded.

"You too, Uzumaki-san." Mikoto turned to her and smiled, "You were on par with all of those guys. Do you play basketball for your school?"

"I'm not in college." Kushina flatly answered.

To save Mikoto from the awkward silence she fell back on, Fugaku said, "Good for you, doing what you did back there to Uzumaki Kaminari, though."

"Fugaku! I'm sure it would've been better if we sorted things out by talking!" Minato insisted.

"He's a notorious jerk at Koshougan. He deserved it, really." Fugaku unsympathetically stated.

"Wow. Look. For once Uchiha and I agree on the same thing." Shikaku said.

Mikoto looked over to Kushina, who was uncharacteristically quiet in the conversation. "Uzumaki-san, I'm really sorry for what happened to your wrist."

Kushina looked up in confusion, "Why? You're not the one who did anything."

"I just hope that you don't have a bad impression of Koshougan. It's really just a few students that are unpleasant. Fugaku-san and I try to avoid them as well. Besides, to tell you the truth," Mikoto covered her lips to hide a tiny laugh, "I was really happy when you hit Uzumaki Kaminari. I've always wondered what it would be like to do that."

"What? You too, Mikoto-chan?" Minato sighed, realizing that he was the sole advocate for peace in his group of friends.

A small grin appeared on Kushina's face at the idea of a proper woman like Mikoto punching a man in the nose.

"You should do it sometime. It's therapeutic." The redheaded girl suggested.

"Please don't teach her, Uzumaki." Shikaku pleaded with a sigh, "I already have my fair share of scary women in my life. Between you and Takemori…I might cry if Arashi goes to the dark side too."

"What was that about me and the dark side?"

Shikaku realized that they were in front of the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant. Through the reflection of the glass window, he could see a brown haired woman with her hands on her hips, dark brown eyes glaring directly at him.

"Nothing."

Yoshino raised an eyebrow in suspicion as she walked towards the entrance, "Is that so, or did I just scare you off?"

In the middle of her conversation with Mikoto, Kushina noticed her coworker and gave a wave, "Yo, Takemori! What's up?"

"Hi Uzumaki-kun. You're on shift with me today, right?"

Minato noticed how the two seemed to be on friendly terms and smiled.

Yoshino noticed the bandaging and curiously asked, "What happened to your wrist?"

"It's nothing," Kushina dismissed casually, "Anyways, see you guys."

"Wait, you're working today?" Minato asked her.

Kushina blinked, "Yeah. I work here on Saturdays."

"Shouldn't you rest for today?"

"Saturdays are the best days for tips. The only way I'm missing that is if I somehow get murdered or if there's a One Piece marathon on TV."

"But-

"I'm fine Namikaze. Look, I'll even use the ice you gave me."

She popped one of the cubes into her mouth, clueless about her mistake.

"Um, Uzumaki-chan, that ice is for putting on your…"

Minato trailed off, since it was clear that she was already too far to hear him. He sighed and let her go, but not without giving her a glance of concern.

She blew on the stray strand of hair in front of her forehead in irritation and took a deep breath; her last ditch attempt to keep her frustration in check.

"…no egg yolks—unless the egg is from a Hokkaido chicken-and no soup…and some shredded goat cheese."

She felt a vein pulse in her temple, along with the strong temptation to chuck her notepad and pen into the customer's face; the request was so specific that it had taken up three pages. What kind of person asked for ramen without soup anyway? If it was noodles she wanted then she should've just gone to the soba or udon shop across the street.

"I'm terribly sorry. We don't have goat cheese in our kitchen." Forcing the smile made her face twitch. But she did it anyway and apologized, as if Japanese ramen restaurants were expected to have cheese in the first place.

"Goat cheese." The oversized woman corrected, and then added on, "You see, I'm about to have a surgery and I'm supposed to lose weight for it. So this is my last indulgence before I start dieting."

Kushina wondered when this surgery was, because this same woman had told her the same thing two days ago, and the day before that, and the day before that as well. But she refrained from suggesting that she spend her money on liposuction instead of nonexistent goat cheese ramen. In a strained falsetto, she said:

"Oh, good for you!"

Squeezing past obese old men with their chairs pushed out too far, feeding chairs for babies who were spilling their soup at two accidents per minute, and generally annoying people who kept sticking their hand out at her (two unintentionally groping her) for orders, she made her way to the order counter. She slapped her pages of orders in front of Yoshino, although the sound of the impact was engulfed by rowdy drunks and the deaf elderly who felt the need to scream louder and louder at one another. The brown haired girl tilted her head and flipped the paper in all different directions.

"Uzumaki-kun, no matter how you look at it, this is hardly legible." Yoshino squinted.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm trying." Kushina rolled her left wrist carefully.

Catching her coworker's eye twitch in pain, Yoshino asked, "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Kushina looked up from her hand, "Oh, yeah! What are you talking about? I'm fine."

"Waitress! I've been waiting for my wine for the past half hour!"

Kushina looked back and flashed him a quick middle finger for her private satisfaction before calling out, "Sorry sir! I'll get it right away!"

"Wine?" Yoshino raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Pee no liar from France."

"Pinot noir?" Yoshino laughed.

"Yeah. That."

"We don't sell anything but sake."

"I know. I'll just mix some sake and water, smash a few grapes into it, and dye it with soy sauce. They're too drunk to notice."

"My wine!"

"Coming!" Kushina hollered back and then muttered before performing a balancing act with the full trays as she walked back into the fray, "Jackass."

Yoshino stifled a laugh at the tomboy's attitude and looked back down one of her orders, incredulous.

"Wait, Uzumaki-kun! Does this say goat cheese?!"

"Took ya long enough!" The man said as she set the drink down.

"Sorry." She replied.

Actually, the only thing she was sorry about was not thinking of putting rat poison into the concoction as well. She turned away and addressed the long line of customers still waiting for tables.

"Hey Uzumaki." Shikaku greeted.

"Yo!" She grinned and seated them at a cleaned table.

"Has it been this busy the whole day?" Fugaku looked around, somewhat unused to the boisterous atmosphere.

"Yeah. It's like this every fucking weekend." She took out her notepad.

"He wouldn't know. It's Uchiha's first time here. He typically only goes to the classy joints." Shikaku said.

"It's not a matter of class." Fugaku closed his eyes in irritation, "I just don't eat out often."

"Just warning you: they don't offer silver chopsticks here."

"The only reason why I'm putting up with you is because Minato never told me that you were coming when he invited me."

She looked over to the blond at the inside of the booth. He gave her a smile, which she chose not to return.

"Weren't you just here last evening?" She asked.

"Um…yeah. I was just um…out of groceries today." He replied.

She squinted in suspicion and could've sworn his eyes were avoiding hers. Finally he asked:

"Um. Your wrist…are you feeling better?"

She clicked her pen after taking their orders and tucked it behind her ear in annoyance, "I'm fucking fine. In fact, Namikaze. I feel perfect today. So if you're coming here just to check up on me everyday like some nurse coming with a pee stick, you can stop."

"She does look okay." Shikaku agreed after she left to serve other tables balancing as many as four bowls at once in her hands.

Minato didn't say anything, but he noticed details that his two other friends could not, and that was that her teal eyes twitched just the slightest bit whenever she wrote quickly to take down orders; that the bowls she carried rattled in tiny micrometers from the trembling of her wrist; that her grins seemed stiffer, as if behind it was a well-hidden grimace.

"Here you go: one seafood ramen, one miso ramen with naruto, one Tokyo-style ramen."

"Takemori, I thought you usually worked behind the counter." Shikaku said as Yoshino placed their bowls on the table.

"I can be a waitress when it's busy, Nara—hey, why does Namikaze-kun look kind of depressed?"

"Uzumaki snapped at him." Shikaku replied and then whispered indiscreetly, "She even swore at him too."

Yoshino laughed and then sympathetically said to the blond, "Don't worry about it, Namikaze-kun. Uzumaki-kun has had a rough day today. She's broken about four bowls today—

Then she noticed the red haired girl's hand wobble right and looked away just as the sound of a crash punctured the noisy atmosphere.

"Make that five." Yoshino corrected.

"Uzumaki-kun! Was that another bowl I heard?" A man's voice called from over the sizzling in the kitchen.

"Sorry Teuchi! Take it off my paycheck!"

Yoshino sighed, "She had gotten better this past week, but for some reason, she's been dropping things back and forth since yesterday. I think it really might be her wrist that's bothering her."

Minato looked over to Kushina, who was preoccupied with picking up the pieces of the bowl she had dropped off the ground.

"Would it be okay with your boss if I helped her?" He asked.

"With her job? Sure, I don't think he would mind at all. But," She shrugged, "you'd have to get Uzumaki-kun to agree first."

A few moments after the brown haired employee left to handle organizing the orders at the front, a baby at a family table nearby dropped his sippy cup and began throwing a tantrum, sending noodles flying into the air.

"Waitress! Waitress!" The mother's voice was overpowered by the impatient yells of other customers.

He looked around. All the other waitresses seemed to have their hands literally full, whether it was with a dish rag to clean tables that were left inconsiderately messy or with piling dishes. To his right, Yoshino was trying to handle a grouchy old woman and to his left, Kushina was still struggling to keep up with an order. Sympathetic towards the struggling woman and the overwhelmed waitresses, he went over to the mother.

"Ma'am, do you need help?" He graciously offered.

"Oh, but you don't work here do you…" She tried calming her child down in between sentences and saw him kneel to clean the mess, "Thank you so much—

"Oi, you've got to be kidding me. You're going to do my job now?"

He looked up and saw Kushina's piercing teal eyes glaring down at him; her red hair seeming more fiery than usual as she had her arms crossed. He laughed nervously and tried to explain:

"You looked like you were really busy—

"Fuck that! I'm not some 90 year old woman that needs help crossing the fucking road, alright?! How weak do you think I am?!" She yelled, "For the last time: I don't need your goddamned help!"

He backed off as she shoved him aside and started to pick the noodles up herself. Before she could finish, an irascible woman waved her hand impatiently;

"Waitress! The egg in my ramen is too runny!"

Kushina left some of the ramen and the child's cup on the ground, in a rush to address the other woman's complaints. Back in his seat, Minato stared at the remains of the mess, struggling with his urge to help her by finishing the cleaning job. He bit his thumb and tried his best to avert his eyes from her, since he decided that would be the best way from worrying. But as she walked over with one oversized bowl filled to the brim with broth, made even heavier by piled toppings, in each hand, he realized that the cup she had left on the ground was in her path. He got up to warn her, but it was too late: she tripped over upon stepping on it and the bowls flipped in the air.

He managed to grab the bowl that threatened to hit her head, but the other shattered on the floor next to her. So the red haired waitress found herself on the ground with beef ramen dripping down her head and a bloody cut in her finger from a shard of ceramic.

"Uzumaki-chan! A-are you alright?!" He stammered in concern and offered her a hand.

She clenched her teeth; just the thought of people staring at her, pitying her for being so weak—it frustrated her so much.

"I'm fine." She said tonelessly, ignoring his hand as she swiped off the chucks of meat in her hair, "I'm going to wash myself off."

Yoshino gave Minato an apologetic look before rushing off to the employees' locker rooms in the back. There, she found that Kushina had already doused off the food in hair. Her loosened, damp hair dripped as she stood in front of the sink, glaring at the running faucet water and then the bright red cut on her finger.

"Alright Kushina…you've got this." The tomboy muttered to herself under the presumption that she was alone, "One. Two. Three!"

She stuck her finger into the water and shamelessly yelped:

"OW! MOTHERFUCKING WATER! DAMN THAT HURTS!"

Yoshino sighed and approached her, "Uzumaki-kun. I have the first-aid kit right here."

Kushina sulked on the bench while her coworker patted her finger using a cotton ball soaked with anesthetic.

"Ow!" She complained.

"Unlike Namikaze-kun, I know nothing about medicine, so this is the best you're going to get from me." Yoshino strictly said, wrapping the cut with a band aid.

"Hey. Do you think old man Teuchi will let me keep my whole paycheck if I superglue all the bowls together?" The redhead asked in a forlorn tone.

Yoshino candidly replied, "Uzumaki-kun, you've broken a total of five bowls, two plates, and six glasses these past two days. That requires a lot of glue."

"I was doing fine." Kushina said sullenly, her face in a stubborn pout, "It was Namikaze's fault in the first place. He ticked me off and then I wasn't paying attention."

"He only tried to help."

"Well I didn't need it! I hate it when people think I can't handle anything." She insisted, "I'm not useless."

"No, you're not. But there comes a point when we're all stronger when we have people helping us."

Kushina wordlessly listened.

"I don't think Namikaze-kun tried to help because he thought you needed it. It think it was because he wanted to himself." Yoshino looked Kushina in the eye, "I mean, he's just that kind of guy. Besides, that's what friends do. It doesn't matter whether you need it or not, they're just always willing to help."

When they left the backroom and re-entered the dining area, Kushina found Minato wiping condiments off the ground. Caught in the act, the blond looked up and nervously laughed.

"Ah ha ha…I can explain—

She tossed a waiter's apron on his head. Averting her eyes away from him, embarrassed from this new concept of directly asking for help, she said:

"You can serve. I'll take orders."

"Really?!"

She snuck a look back down and saw his bright expression. With his head peeking out of the black cloth and those sky blue eyes of his, he reminded her of some sort puppy. It kind of annoyed her in a way. But at the same time, it made her happy too.

"Yeah. You're my friend, aren't you?" She muttered.

He smiled, "Can I carry that bowl in your hands for you?"

They spent the remainder of the night working as a team, and she found out just how impressive her new friend could be when it came to defusing peoples' dissatisfaction or managing generally unpleasant personalities. While collecting dirty dishes, he managed maintain a courteous demeanor that got people smiling instead of tapping their feet.

"I don't know how you do it." She grumbled as they passed by each other.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You actually seem happy talking to some of these jerks."

"You just have to try. They're actually all very nice people—

"Waiter! The chopsticks here look dirty!"

"…some more than others." He smiled helplessly and walked off.

They continued to exchange snippets of conversation in between writing down orders and carrying food. Kushina snorted:

"I just play pranks on people. That's what keeps me through the day."

Minato laughed until he realized that she wasn't kidding. Astonished, he exclaimed, "You can't be serious—

Kushina proudly grinned, "Just the rude ones. Like yesterday, this twiggy high school bitch asked for a vegetarian option and I gave her one with beef broth."

"I think you could actually get sued for that—

"And then I just smashed some grapes with sake and shit and called it wine for those wasted assholes over there—

Just as Minato flinched at her profane language an earsplitting crack sent a ripple of silence throughout the restaurant. Children stopped whining and shut their mouths; conversations paused; even the cooks peeked out of the kitchen room to see what was going on. All eyes were on the booth of drunk men, specifically the one who yelled at Kushina.

"OI YOU DUMB BITCH! THIS AIN'T WINE!"

Kushina stared at the bottle that was halved clean in two from the impact of the man slamming it against the wall.

"HEY YOU! COM'ERE!"

Kushina walked slowly over as the man said quieter in slow, slurred speech.

"Doz thez look like wiiine to you?" He threatened.

The dark liquid dripped from the pieces. Minato had to admit, with the mush and chunks in the substance, it was pretty hard to call it anything close to a drinkable beverage.

She learned that lies were most convincing when told looking directly at the person's eyes, but found it hard not to stare at the zoo of vicious animals tattooed down the man's entire arm, which she guessed was 99% muscle and 1% bone. Typically, with any other person, she would've easily picked a fight and asked them to bring it outside. But she guessed that this man—if he could be called a man—would have no hesitation to snap her in half like a toothpick, especially if he was intoxicated.

"P-pft. Yeah. Of course. What else could it be?" She hoped that her smile wasn't faltering like her voice was.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" He slammed his fist onto the table. Kushina immediately flinched.

Minato rushed in. With a pleasant smile on his face, he asked, "Is anything the matter, sir?"

"Yea, are you guysss tryin' to tell me…that thez shit…iz fuggin pinot nooiir?"

"Um…Yes. It is, sir. Only our best." He nervously smiled, trying to hold back his typical fidgeting that stemmed from guilt.

"I been to mudderfuckin Paris before, man! You dink you cun fool me wid dis horzshit?!"

"Well, sir. Um…this wine, this wine is from, um…Alaska!" Once he thought of this, he started speaking faster, "Yes, Alaska. It is quite unique. They uh, juice the grapes right before serving, which is why you can see some pulp in your wine…"

"You sure about thiz?" The man eyed him dubiously with his beady eyes behind a beefy face.

"Um, yes! Yes, of course! We uh, strive for the unique here at Ichiraku Ramen!"

"Really…" The man drawled before breaking into a boisterous, bellowing laugh, "Well this iz fuggin' great man! Why dinnent you say so earlia?"

Minato nervously laughed along as he and Kushina backed slowly away from the booth and behind the counter. Once they were several earshots away from the large men, he heaved a large sigh of relief and grabbed the table to prevent his knees from giving in.

"This is why I never lie." He breathed out.

"We're lucky they were drunk." Kushina said, looked over at the men, who were now having a bacchanal over the "wine". "Any sober person would've been able to tell that you had no clue what the fuck you were talking about."

"I know, I panicked." Minato sighed as he slid down against the counter and to the tile floor, "I don't even think they can even grow grapes in Alaska."

He looked up and their eyes met. Once he saw the teal in her irises and she saw the sky blue in his, what happened suddenly seemed hilarious. And then all the two of them could do was laugh.

Minato ran through his mental checklist as he walked to the self-checkout aisle at the grocery market. Due to the fact that he had helped Kushina with her job for the rest of the weekend, he had eaten ramen at the restaurant with his friends (who tried to take his temporary job as an excuse to eat for free there) for dinner five days straight. The unhealthiness of it made him buy extra vegetables to cook with.

"Namikaze!"

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a figure waving to him from on the other side of the automatic doors. Although it was ten in the evening, he could still make out the strands of red hair gleaming under the dim street lights. After swiping his card through the machine, he walked outside and greeted her.

"Hi Uzumaki-chan. How are you?"

"Fine." She noticed him looking at her wrist, and then twisted it around freely with a grin, "I'm all better. See?"

Convinced, he gave a smile in return. "I'm glad to hear that."

I was just walking back home from work and saw you through the window as I was walking by. I wanted to give you this. Here."

He blinked at the check in her hand.

"It's your pay."

"Uzumaki-chan…I don't really work there. I was just helping you out."

"But you did do some of my work. So it's only fair if I split my paycheck with you." She insisted.

"I-I can't take it." He tried pushing her hand back.

"Why? I'm offering you money, Namikaze! Just take the goddamned money and buy yourself something nice!" She demanded in frustration.

"It…just doesn't feel right to me." He smiled apologetically, "And I don't really have anything I particularly want right now…"

She sighed. By now, she had figured out that while Minato was generous, he was stubbornly so to an irritating extent.

"So how am I supposed to pay you back for five evenings you've helped me?"

"You don't have to."

"Yeah. But I want to. Otherwise I'll always feel like I owe you something." She stubbornly responded. They walked silently down the sidewalk together, before impatience took over and she ordered, "Find something you need help with!"

He chuckled sheepishly and thought about it for a while, pressured by her urgent glances.

"Um…uh…"

"Oh come on!" She started suggesting things of the top of her head, "I could…bike you to your classes! Oh wait, my bike is broken, that won't work…Well, I could bike you using your bike! But that might be kind of weird…"

He laughed at her tossing and turning of ideas.

"Well if you're not going to come up with anything then I might seriously do it!"

"Okay, okay. Um…how about you carry my grocery bags for me?" He offered, handing out the plastic bags slung in his hands.

She looked at him dubiously, "That's it? Five days of dealing with every single type of asshole in the world and all you want in return is someone to hold your groceries for you?"

He looked away, "Well…I am really tired from all that work at the restaurant. And all these vegetables are pretty heavy…"

She snatched the bags from him, "Fine. Now we're even."

He smiled and then it was her turn to look away in embarrassment. But after a while of watching her carry the bags and walking empty handed, the feeling of guilt started to sink in and he said:

"Uzumaki-chan, I change my mind…watching you carry my stuff for me is feels too wrong after all. Can I have the bags back?"

"No fucking way."

(シ_ _)シ

Please find it in your ever so generous hearts to forgive me. I got caught up with college dorm shopping and decor projects...I'm sorry! (╯︵╰,)

Uploads will probably be less frequent from now on as I transition into college.

But I hope you guys will still follow through with me on this fic! Please review :)