WARNING: slightly AU…forgive me but it bit me and I couldn't make it go away….SUMIMASEN! I'll delete it if I get too much opposition…oh my god I think I'll cry!

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She scrubbed the table top and smiled as she looked up to glance a bundle of blonde and orange – like a sunset – land in one seat that was always reserved for their little troublemaker. Ayame squinted at the little bundle of sunshine she and her father had grown attached to, there was something off…

Ah yes. "Wasn't your genin test today?"

The blonde nodded while slurping up the noodles from the beefy broth just set in front of him. She never understood how he could look so intently focused on something she saw every day. But then it was Naruto and he found pleasure in the oddest of things. He would forever have something to smile about. But the test…

"Is it over already?" There was surprise coloring her voice.

He nodded his head again, not even looking up from his continuous slurping of their special soup- or so he liked to call it. Ayame knew that they served the exact same recipes as every other ramen stand in Fire Country. But Naruto was like that.

"So…did you pass?"

He nodded again, distracted still.

Now her confusion clouded her face. He finished his ramen and had pushed it away with that pleased expression that spoke of his belly being pleasantly full. "What exactly was your test?"

His eyes looked up to her, and once gain she was surprised and amazed at the odd blue color, colored with his own surprise and confusion before they cleared and he refocused on the actual here-and-now and not what-was-in-his-belly. "We had Kakashi-sensei, he gave us a survival test."

Ayame leaned forward in anticipation, catching her father leaning slightly as well in interest. "What kind of survival test?" Naruto always wove the brightest renditions of his day for them.

He grinned; at her attention or some humor in the question she knew not. His reply was casual enough. "He said it had a 66 rate of failure- but my team and me passed!" His eyes went to those happy crescents and Ayame smiled and motioned with her hand for him to continue as she cleaned the counter space around him. His expression grew thoughtful. "Kakashi-sensei even told us to skip breakfast because we would puke it up!" He laughed out long and hard.

Now Ayame grew confused, and shared a look to her old man that he never caught- so enraptured was he in humming out an approving note at the child's laughter. It was rare enough to hear this particular tune from the child. She huffed and turned back to their self proclaimed charge.

But Naruto continued as if he didn't notice her look: which she knew he did, he was always careful to watch them for any sign of ire- he wanted to keep coming here after all.

And still… "But it wasn't so hard! I just had to work with the team to prove that we knew the basics of the Konoha shinobi!"

She gave in, he wouldn't acknowledge her confusion unless she stated it directly, and he didn't really want her to know something. So she avoided the topic for now; "And just what are the basics of Konoha shinobi?" said with a wry smile.

He grinned up at her, that one grin that made her breath catch because it was so sunny despite all the other rude vendors and townspeople and the something she knew he was hiding at the moment. "Why working together of course!" And she watched as he continued to blather on so enthusiastically and charmingly that her father even stopped turning the fires and chopping the ingredients for their ever precious ramen bowls.

It was so nice to see this smile.

Naruto had many different smiles; they had found this after years of simply watching and enjoying his company. He had this certain smile that told you he knew something you didn't, and wasn't above holding it over your head. He had a smile that spoke of uncertainty in the wavering of its brilliance but his pure energy came through in that brilliance none the less. He even had a smile for when he was in pain, that one being forced but blinding to reassure others and may haps distract them from worrying overtly and therein causing him to worry over them.

But this…this smile was one of pure and unadulterated contentment. But as he explained the test and happenings of his day like a happy child greeting his family after work or school…she couldn't help but notice the discrepancies.

"You didn't eat enough." She let her maternal side take over, and stated it because it was true. For him to not have had breakfast and then only shared a lunch with his teammates he surprisingly ate only the usual amount of food he had for one meal…surely he would be far hungrier than he ever had before.

The boy paused with his used chopsticks, resuming tapping them on the counter as he regained his sunny composure; somehow it was missing a vital piece. He stared off at some distant point… "I ate breakfast."

Ayame's jaw fell, Naruto had never been one to disobey a direct order from a higher up- he always wanted to prove himself worthy any way he could even if he had to be sent on the most demeaning jobs.

"You…ate...breakfast."

"I figured that whatever he threw at me could never be worse than my nightmares." And he grinned again, but Ayame found it was that grin that said he was in pain and that he didn't want them to worry…she found that something about their blonde had changed, or something about the way they viewed the blonde had changed.

She shared a glance with her father- one of worry and wonder that was mirrored in his far older face. But his gaze shifted, and the worry that was always there for the child became a soft understanding that her old man shared with her. And then she understood as well.

So she smiled and tried to keep her eyebrows from creasing and gently shooed him away from the stall to home. She shared a veiled but amused glance with her father, and he simply smiled at her and shook his head as his own little message telling her not to worry, never to worry

So she didn't.

After all, Naruto would persevere; his smiles always would be there to light up their little shop. And Ayame could live with that. As long as the blonde child needed them and their shop as his personal little haven they would be there; it was enough for him, so it would be enough for her. She never needed to worry; neither of her men wanted her to worry.

She nodded her head and greeted the next customer. The world moves on, Naruto moves on, so they would as well.

Without worry.

.x.x.x.X.x.x.x.

hmm, I told you it was slightly au, and I think it would have been better in Kakashi's pov but I already did his. Don't hate me! I hit writers block for my baby again, wail! So I had to write another Perspective…I think I should have done it in another pov, I really should. But suggestions (like the situations they should reveal their perspective in….ne? any hints?) are welcome and I will write some more one shots even if I don't have writers block…I'm starting to enjoy this. -