Author's Note: A short little Naruto & Sakura one-shot. Not my most favorite pairing, but they can be cute nonetheless. I'll admit it's not my best work but just a little idea I'd figure I'd write out. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Own nothing but the plotline.

Title: Linking Noodle
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Pairing(s): [NaruSaku]
Summary: Cerulean eyes blinked. There was a long, thin strand of noodle from his ramen broth, hanging in his mouth. Naruto saw this clearly. What he also saw was the very same noodle hanging from Sakura's mouth as well. Oh, dear.

((SFX: Ka-pow!!))

"OWW!" Naruto whined, rubbing his throbbing skull with a wince. "Oi, Sakura-chan, I didn't mean—!"

"You think I can't keep up by sparring with you?!"

"No, Sakura-chan— I mean, I don't want you getting hurt—"

((SFX: Ka-pow!!))

Another punch, hit squarely in his whiskery cheek.

"Kyaa!"

He flew off the railing of the bridge, landing into the cold water of the flowing river.

((SFX: Splash!!))

"You think I can't take it, Naruto-baka? I trained for the past three years, I'm stronger now!"

Shannaro! Inner Sakura added with a vigorous pump of her fist in the air.

Trudging out of the water, hands rubbing up and down the opposite arms as his body shivered, Naruto nodded helplessly. "Yeah, I can see that, but Sakura-chan—"

"And besides, I'm a chuunin, while you're still a genin. I think I can keep up fine, thank-you-very-much!" As she spoke, the pink-haired kunoichi had moved forward, poking Naruto's forehead with her index finger as she stated the last four words.

The Jinchuuriki's shoulders slumped, his face immediately dropping as he sulked, anime-style tears flowing from his eyes. "Mou, Sakura-chan, why do you have to put it like that?"

Sakura's face softened slightly, her hands placing on her hips as she leaned her weight on one leg. Her mouth opened to speak once more, but Kakashi's calm voice intervened.

"Alright, guys," drawled the silver-haired jounin, leaping languidly on the ground. "I think that's enough for today. Sakura, I believe you got the spar you wanted with Naruto, hm?"

The blond's jaw dropped at the comment, and the pink-haired kunoichi merely wiped her hands against each other.

"But-But-But—oi, what about Sai? He didn't do anything! All he got to do was sit in the shade and relax! That's not fair, Kakashi-sensei!"

Said male merely glanced at the black-haired shinobi, observing the boy's blank façade calmly. In response to Naruto's exclaim, the jounin merely shrugged. "Life's not meant to be fair, Naruto."

"EH?" screeched the blonde, his expression dumbfounded. "That's not right, sensei—!"

"Kakashi-san, I'll be taking my leave," spoke Sai, his tone even. "I'd rather not use my time listening to dickless's whines—"

"I don't whine, you ass! And who the hell are you calling dickless—!"

"My point proven," retorted the artist, not bothering to listen as Naruto continued yelling angrily. With a quick respectful bow, Sai turned, taking his leave from the forest.

"You're just going to let him go, sensei?!" cried Naruto. "What the hell?! Are you picking favorites now?!"

"Now, now, calm yourself Naruto," Kakashi intervened. "I'm doing no such thing. Why don't I make it up to you by offering a free bowl at Ichiraku?" He then turned to the pink-haired kunoichi, adding, "You too, Sakura."

Said girl merely raised an eyebrow, arms crossing across her chest as she tilted her head slightly upwards, suspicious. "Wait a second, since when do you offer us—?"

"You'd do that, sensei?!" interrupted her ramen-loving teammate. Upon hearing the offer, Naruto's azure irises doubled in size, mouth opening widely in excitement as his eyes sparked.

Closing both coal eyes in a smile, Kakashi answered, "Of course! For my favorite students!"

Throwing a fist in the air, the Kyuubi vessel screamed, "All right! Free ramen on Kakashi-sensei!"

With a chuckle, the jounin responded, "That's right—" then he raised his arm, feigning a glance at a watch supposedly placed on his arm as he said, "Oh, no! Change of plans."

Upon hearing this, Naruto's shoulders slumped, jaw dropping as Sakura shouted, "I knew it!" She pointed her index finger at the man. "I knew you'd never offer us anything without a catch!"

Raising both hands in front of himself in a surrendering motion, Kakashi replied, "No, no, no catch, Sakura. The new Icha Icha Paradise novel, vol. 7, is coming out today!" Suddenly grasping all volumes of the novel out of nowhere and fanning them out in both hands, the silver-haired man jumped giddily. "I've never missed a volume in my collection!"

"WHAT?" Naruto screeched. "You're missing out on ramen for a pervy book from pervy sage?!"

Gasping dramatically, Kakashi answered, "Naruto, I'm offended. So offended, that I don't want to be around you." Forming a sign with his left hand, he held it in front of his chest, disappearing in a poof!, leaving the echo of merry laughter behind.

Gaping openly, Naruto stood hunched over in utter silence for minutes as Sakura merely stared at the boy, snapping her fingers in front of him to try and wake up from his seemingly trance-like state.

"Naruto? You alright?" she asked, continuing to snap her fingers.

The blonde was gaping before his mouth came to a close in a large frown. "Does that mean no ramen then?" Glancing at Sakura briefly, he sighed. "Damn that Kakashi-sensei and his tricks—getting my damn hopes up…" Then his face instantly brightened as a marvelous idea seemed to occur upon him. "Sakura-chan, will you—"

"No."

Instantly the Jinchuuriki's face dropped. "Aw, but Sakura-chan!" he cried, whining loudly, "I haven't had ramen in two days! Please!"

"Two days?" questioned the pink-haired girl. "I doubt all that sodium is good for you, Naruto—"

Said male's cerulean eyes enlarged, pouting as he donned the "puppy-dog" look. Sakura inwardly winced at the look. It's so adorable! She was only human, not to mention a girl whom happened to adore puppies.

She sighed, eventually relenting as she agreed. "Alright, fine, fine… only because I beat you in the spar today." She smiled playfully as one eye came to a close in a wink.

Ecstatic about the meal, Naruto instantly overlooked the comment Sakura had said as he engulfed the girl into a tight hug. "Yatta! Thank you so much Sakura-chan! You're the BEST!"

"Yes, yes! Ramen time! Ramen time!" cheered the blonde as he skipped to the stool seat of Ichiraku. Sakura merely smiled, shaking her head at Naruto's childish antics as he spun around in his seat.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura," greeted the friendly Ichiraku owner Teuchi. "Having the usual today?"

"Yep! Two ramen broths, please!" exclaimed Naruto as Sakura smiled, reaching into her pouch that rested at her hip to retrieve the money to pay for the meal.

Taking out a small coin purse, the kunoichi opened and peered inside it, a small frown crossing her features. "Actually, Teuchi-san, make that one bowl. I only have enough money for one."

"Oh, put your money away. These are on the house!" Teuchi stated, offering a kind smile to the medic nin.

Sakura immediately returned the smile. "Thank you, Teuchi-san, that's very generous of you."

Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, grinned, "It's the least we could do for our favorite customers."

A few minutes later, two steaming bowls of ramen broth were placed in front of the two shinobi. As expected, Naruto instantaneously dug into the meal, his chopsticks stuffing the ramen noodles into his mouth, seeming to vacuum the food.

The kunoichi smiled at the boy's familiar antics, taking her time as she consumed her meal. "You never change, Naruto," noted Sakura aloud with a soft laugh.

The blonde stopped swallowing the egg noodles, turning to the pink-haired girl with half of the noodles still hanging out of his mouth. "Fmafat?" came his garbled response.

The medic nin giggled behind her hand, taking a napkin as she wiped some of the ramen broth that had splashed against the Jinchuuriki's face whilst he had rapidly consumed the noodles.

"You don't change Naruto," she reiterated. "You're someone I can always count on. Consider this meal a thank you for that." She smiled at him as said male completely swallowed his meal.

Bending his arm behind his head, Naruto scratched his sun-kissed blonde hair, chuckling briefly as he smiled sheepishly. "Gee, thanks Sakura-chan," responded he, feeling a warm blush spread across his cheeks. "That's so nice of you to say!" Cerulean eyes peered down, eyeing the semi-eaten ramen broth that lay before him in front of Sakura. "Not that I mean to ruin this warm fuzzy moment or anything, but uh, are you going to eat that?"

"I give you a compliment like that and all you can think of is if I'm going to finish my ramen?" inquired Sakura in return, raising an eyebrow. "Why am I not surprised?" she muttered to herself as she pushed her bowl slightly to him. "You can take some, all right Naruto? You're not the only one who's hungry." Seeing the growing hunger in her teammate's eyes, Sakura warned, "Eat the whole thing and I will give you a punch that will hit you so hard it will punch you into tomorrow, got it?"

By instinct the blonde flinched, whining a little before saying, "Fine," with a deep sigh. He prodded along the food, finally settling upon a long stringy noodle. Starting on with just noodle (as he didn't want to provoke Sakura's threat by taking too much) the blonde carefully picked up as he sucked the noodle into his mouth.

Following the same procedure, he proceeded to swallow the noodle before realizing that the noodle seemed to be pulling against him. What the hell? Naruto thought to himself, arching a brow.

Then, cerulean eyes blinked. There was a long, thin strand of noodle from the ramen broth hanging in his mouth. As his eyes followed the noodle, he noticed that it was also connected to the noodle Sakura was eating. His eyes seemed to double in size as realization dawned upon him that the two were sharing the same noodle.

Emerald eyes looked back into the wide sapphire ones. She remained motionless, not a clue on how to react to the situation before her. Then, suddenly, she noticed the blonde growing closer. Before she could pull back—or move at all, for that matter—the kunoichi felt a warm mouth cover hers, causing her eyes to draw to a close.

Just as quick as it came, Sakura felt the warmth leave from her lips, her eyelashes fluttering open. Instantly the pink-haired girl felt heat pool into her cheeks as a flush covered her face, staring at her teammate beside her.

Naruto merely donned a wide, cheeky yet foxy grin in return. "You said I could have some noodles, right Sakura-chan?" asked the blonde, his grin seeming to grow.

"Aw, are you two together now?" came Ayame's voice, whom unbeknownst to two had seen the whole scene from afar. "Oh, I always knew you two were meant to be—!"

"No, no, no," Sakura responded, almost stumbling over her words. "We're just good friends, that's all—"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that honey," responded the brunette. "I saw the way you kissed him—"

Instantly Sakura felt her face grow redder. "What! No—I—Naruto, tell her!" The kunoichi looked towards the blonde who was busy downing down the rest of the contents in the ramen bowl. Once finished, he put the bowl down, smacking his lips together as he sighed in content.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Sakura-chan says," responded the blonde. He patted his stomach, saying, "That was some good ramen, Ayame-chan! How about another bowl, ne?"

Another bowl? thought the medic nin before realization dawned her.

"Naruto-baka, did you eat all the ramen I told you not to finish because I wanted it?" asked Sakura, her voice murderously calm.

Instantly the blonde flinched, slowly turning to the pink-haired girl. He could already feel the chakra being pumped into her fist.

"No, wait, wait Sakura-chan—I'm sure we could get another one—!"

((SFX: Ka-pow!!))

"KYAAA!"

Naruto flew into the streets, launching a good thirty feet forward into the air from the force of the powerful punch.

"That's for finishing my ramen!" Sakura called out after him, "and for kissing me just for some stupid noodle! You could have at least given me some type of warning, you insensitive jerk!"

"No, Sakura-chan, that's not why I did it! Well, sort of, but not as much as I wanted to—"

Their arguing faded into the distance as the two grew further and further away from the Ichiraku establishment.

Ayame shook her head, smiling to herself as she turned to face her father. "Dad, you put that noodle in there on purpose knowing Naruto was going to pick at her plate, didn't you?"

Knowing his daughter knew the answer to the question, Teuchi simply smiled, fixing the ramen broths as a new boy and girl pair came by, placing the two bowls in front of them once they arrived.

"Complimentary ramen bowls for the young couple. They're on the house!"