Yes, I'm still alive :) Well, barely. But at least I found some time to write a couple of chapters on the plane.

Toka stared at Izuna in slight surprise.

In the middle of their dining table lay a pot of ramen – the spicy one, also her favourite flavor—and, if her husband was honest about his claims, he made it.

"How did you know?"

"You were mumbling about it in your sleep and since, you know… yesterday it was sort of my fault for pissing you off and driving you into a state of roaring rampage. Figures that this kind of makes us even."

"You know what? I used to think you suck and now I'm not so sure about it." Toka mused, pleasantly surprised at her husband's genuine disposition.

"Well, why don't you give it a try and tell me what you think—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Toka began devouring the noodles rather viciously, in a way that is just so befitting of Toka.

Izuna let out a sigh. He should have expected her reaction. It was so, so predictable. She was now gobbling up the rest, slurping the soup and would soon proceed to finish the meal by licking the edges of the bowl so as to ensure that not even the slightest drop of soup, the slightest fragment of a noodle or the slightest trace of flavor would escape her mouth.

"This is good!" Toka beamed whilst licking her lips. "You know, I used to think that our marriage would perpetually downgrade the quality of my life. But, seeing how – for some inexplicable reason— you make delicious ramen, maybe I was wrong."

"Was that an explicit invitation for me to become your lifelong, personal chef?"

"No that was a subtle indication that cooking ramen for me everyday may very well save our marriage from the depths of despair. What can I say, ramen makes me happy."

"I know that, you feast on it like a pig."

"Excuse me?!"

"Just telling the truth." Izuna smirked, it felt good coming up with insults about Toka here and there. "Besides, I am not making ramen for you everyday – where did you get that idea?"

"Hey remember, you were the one apologizing for your behaviour."

"No I wasn't apologizing. The ramen was merely a gesture of goodwill—"

"Oh quit it!" To his surprise, she started laughing. To his own bewilderment, he found himself laughing with her. "Besides, where did you learn to make this? Your sissy little cooking books?"

He rolled his eyes and, knowing what he was going to say sounded pretty lame, sighed: "No, my mum taught me."

"Your mum?"

"Yeah my mum."

Toka twitched her eyebrows and asked again: "Your mum?"

"… Yes. What about it?"

"Oh, nothing."

Of course it wasn't his mum; she died when he was four. He had been clandestinely attending cooking sessions hosted by the Akimichi clan and he wasn't going to tell Toka that. What? It was simply too uncharacteristic of him.

Izuna wasn't a bad liar, in fact, he considered himself to be pretty adept in the art of concealing reality with fabricated words. Yet at present, he just couldn't come up with a decent cover up—there are these moments in life when things like this happen.

Sensing the dry awkwardness, caused by her husband's comically pathetic remark, permeating the air, Toka decided to switch the topic of conversation.

"Oh by the way, I don't want you to think this bowl of ramen is the only reason why I've decided to stay with you." She stopped, mentally prowling through her mind in search of the right words. "I honestly do think you're a great guy. Much better than your pyscho brother—"

"Don't insult my brother."

"Fine, I digress about that. Put it this way… I think past that irritable, jerk-ish façade of yours, which by the way makes me want to screw your face up over and over again—except your mum already did it for me—"

"Toka, are you sure you're trying to compliment me here?"

"Fine, fine. Basically past everything, you're a very caring person. I mean… I know I tend to get angry a lot and I'm not exactly the most ideal wife on the planet—"

"That's a bit of an understatement," snorted Izuna. "But continue."

"Yet you've never once tried to beat me up like some of the other husbands out there do and you always tried to listen to my views before expressing yours. I mean, our arguments can get out of hand and your insults can get really nasty—"

"Hey! So can you!" Izuna was indignant on the surface; however, beneath all of it, he felt oddly satisfied.

"Yeah. We're both terrible."

"No, just you."

"Oh stop it."

"The truth is the truth."

Toka continued: "You know, I think my parents –if they were still alive— would have approved of you."

"No, I think they would have tried to grill me alive. Or suffocate me. Or drown me. Or bury me. Or electrocute me." Izuna remarked dryly.

"Oh right, I forgot: they hate Uchihas."

"Good to see your brain still has some grip on reality."

"But seriously, if you're from any other clan they would have been very happy to have you."

"Cheerful thought."

Toka found herself smiling. Then realization dawned: she liked him. She liked him. She couldn't quite pinpoint when she started enjoying those infuriating and purposeless arguments, or when she started appreciating his obnoxiously snarky sense of humour, but sometime between the start of her marriage and now, she found her husband's company to be something she couldn't do without. Izuna Uchiha had become an essential component of her life – for better or for worse (though probably for the better.)

I'm not exactly the best person to write romance. I tried to make their interactions somewhat realistic. Leave a review and let me know what you think of the Toka/Izuna relationship development - too fast? Too slow? Too cheesy?