Chapter 10: Catering Business

In which Iruka steps foot into a kitchen.

"Otou-san! Where are the mushrooms?!"

"I brought them inside. There should be a box in the stockroom!"

Ayame balanced a tall stack of bowls on the crowded countertop, wherever she could find room, and hustled to the back. The stockroom was also a mess, what with piles of vegetables precariously stacked and overflowing onto the floor. It was a wonder they weren't attracting pests. She picked up the box of shitake mushrooms and made her way back to the kitchen, once again scrounging around for a place to set them.

"Umm…is everything okay?"

Ayame had to do a double take. Iruka was standing before her, confusion on his face. She had forgotten, today was Thursday. He was here for dinner. At the moment though, cooking for Iruka was the last thing on her mind.

"Oh, Iruka! Thank goodness you're here. Can you give me a hand?" She hurried around the bar and shoved the stack of bowls into his arms. "Take these to the wagon outside. Otou-san will show you where to put them."

After a moment's hesitation and without another word, Iruka slipped out of the restaurant. Ayame picked up her knife and started slicing mushrooms at lightning speed. He came back a moment later.

"Alright Ayame-chan, what's—"

"Can you pack up all those chopsticks and take them out, too?" She pointed to another box on the counter with her knife. "Thanks, Iruka."

This time, his hesitation lasted a few moments longer, but he did as she asked. She grabbed a stock pot and threw the mushrooms in, checking another massive pot on the stove where a giant vat of pork broth was simmering.

"I need more onions…" she muttered to herself.

"Ayame—"

"Iruka, can you grab the box of onions from the back for me? I need to get the vegetable stock ready."

This time, he didn't move. After a moment, she looked at him, a pleading look on her face. "Please, Iruka. We're swamped with preparations for Naruto's wedding, and our assistant is ill. Otou-san and I are doing everything we can just to stay afloat. This is the biggest event of our lifetimes, and everything has to be perfect."

The confusion on Iruka's face disappeared the instant she mentioned Naruto. "Of course." He went to the back. Ayame heard him rummaging around, and a minute later he came back into the restaurant with a box of red onions. His eyes were full of resolve. "What can I do to help? Just…Ayame-chan…"

She blinked at him, waiting for his next words.

"You should know I'm not a good cook."

Ayame laughed, finding this admission strangely endearing. "It's okay. Can you peel those?" she asked. "I know you're good with knives."

He picked up the butcher's knife and twirled it expertly in his hand. "Throwing maybe, but not cutting like that." He was watching her make light work of the mushrooms. She did this task so often that she hardly needed to pay attention. The only times she cut herself were when she was truly distracted, like seeing Kakashi in disguise.

"Here, like this." She picked up an onion. She sliced a notch in the outer skin and peeled it off with ease. "That's how you do it."

Ayame continued slicing mushrooms while Iruka went to work on the onions. She watched him from the corner of her eye. He was slow but methodical. She liked that.

When she was done with the mushrooms, she took the peeled onions from his growing pile and started dicing those, too. They would be deep fried for Ayame's special shoyu wedding ramen. The small fried onions would add an extra layer of umami to the dish, and if it was popular, she planned to add it to the seasonal menu afterwards.

Ayame and her father didn't typically cater, but they couldn't say no to Naruto when he and Hinata had requested a ramen bar for their wedding. Ayame had come up with a special set of toppings for their shoyu ramen. The other dish would be Naruto's favorite, the classic char siu (with naruto as a topping, of course), while the third was a lighter shio broth, Hinata's preferred meal.

Soon, Ayame's eyes started to water from the fumes of the onions. She felt the sensation deep in her sinuses, like she swallowed a spoonful of hot mustard. "This is my least favorite task," she told Iruka.

She heard a sniffle next to her and glanced at the shinobi. To her great bewilderment, tears were already streaming down his face, and he was trying to keep his nose from running, too. He must be particularly sensitive, she thought. But he's only peeling them…

Iruka wiped his nose on his sleeve, trying not to drip snot all over the vegetables. "I'm sorry, Ayame," he apologized. "I don't mean to be so emotional."

"It's okay," she sniffed, moving her attention back to her cutting board. "Onions are the worst."

They continued on in silence for another minute. A few tears fell down Ayame's face. She blinked them away.

Iruka suddenly set his hands down on the counter with a clatter, making her jump. "It's not the onions!" he cried out, his voice cracking. "I just can't believe Naruto is getting married."

She turned back to him, finding his shoulders shaking from choking back sobs. The emotion on Iruka's face was real and raw, and seeing him cry over Naruto was too much for her. Another tear escaped her eye, but this one was spurred by a swelling of empathy in her chest, not from the onions on the cutting board. "Oh, Iruka," she consoled, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"He asked me to take the role of his father, Ayame."

"I know," she said reassuringly. Hinata shared this with her the last time they were in the restaurant together. "I told you that you weren't secondary to him. He thinks so highly of you."

In her years growing up, Ayame's father had always been kind to Naruto, and he taught Ayame to be, as well. When the village spurned him, Naruto was always given a seat at their table. Teuchi had wanted to take the boy in, but for whatever reason, the Sandaime Hokage had forbidden it. Teuchi cared for Naruto as best he could, and Ayame watched over him like a little brother. She watched as he developed from a troublemaker into a leader that the village respected. She watched him fall in love with Hinata over bowls of ramen, watched him mature into an adult, watched him change the world.

But she and her father had only extended moments of kindness, care, and friendship, whereas Iruka offered more. He offered discipline, mentorship, and a deep love that changed the course of Naruto's life. Teuchi often commented on that change. For a long time, Iruka was the only one whom Naruto would listen to, apart from the Sandaime, and the boy's maturity began with Iruka's steady presence in his life.

Now, Naruto's wedding marked the passing of time. Naruto had developed from an immature child into a respectable man. They were no longer children, and the idea of life passing by overwhelmed her, made her nostalgic, and made her yearn for her own future.

Iruka's shoulders were still shaking up and down as he tried to control his tears. She set her knife down and reached towards him, feeling her own eyes respond to the yearning inside of her. He put his arms around her, still holding a knife in one hand and an onion in the other, and he buried his face in her shoulder and cried.

Ayame, too, let her tears flow. She couldn't help herself, moved by the emotion that Iruka displayed. She wished to comfort him, so she held him tighter, rubbing her hands up and down across his back in a calming gesture.

Teuchi came in through the front and nearly dropped the box he was holding. "What in the world is wrong with you two?!" he asked. He was aghast. A few minutes before, Ayame had been happily chopping away. He walked up to the counter, eyes narrowing at the half cut onions before them. He knew Ayame was particularly affected by them, but to see her embracing Iruka, both crying like children…never before had he anticipated a simple vegetable might cause two grown people so much grief. Certainly not enough to require this level of comfort and physical contact.

"Iruka, you know I'm fond of you," he said firmly, "but please take your hands off my daughter. Onions are not an excuse for displays of affection."

"Otou-san!" Ayame protested, pulling away from Iruka in sudden embarrassment. "It's not the onions! It's just that…Naruto is getting married!"

Iruka set down his knife and wiped tears from his own eyes. "I'm sorry sir. It's my fault. I was reflecting on how just yesterday, Naruto was a kid at the Academy. Now, he's becoming a man. If it weren't for Naruto…" Iruka's voice faltered, causing Ayame to choke up again. "I just don't know who I would be without him."

Teuchi's expression softened at the two emotional wrecks in front of him, and he gazed at his own daughter with the same kind of wonder. "I understand what you mean. But watching them grow is a gift."

Ayame smiled at her father, wiping away stray tears. "Iruka," she said, "you say he's impacted you, but your influence on his life can't be understated, either."

Her father blushed, understanding that she was speaking to him through her words to Iruka.

Teuchi cleared his throat, stemming the tide of his own emotion. "That's quite enough sentimentality. It's not like Naruto is leaving the village. Now come on, we've got work to do for the wedding!"

Together, the three of them made light work of the rest of the preparations. When the stock pots were on the stove full of vegetables and meat for the broth, the char siu was slowly roasting in the oven, and the bowls and utensils were loaded into the cart, all that was left to be done was make the noodles.

"Can you two handle this?" Teuchi asked. "I've got to take the cart with all the tableware to the venue. When I'm back, we'll go find something for dinner."

"Yes, Otou-san. As long as you think Iruka can handle the noodles." Ayame gave Iruka a devious look.

Her father let out a loud guffaw. "I can hardly handle the noodles when you're in the kitchen, Ayame." He addressed Iruka. "Good luck to you, son."

"They're not that hard," Ayame admitted once her father left. "Otou-san just thinks I'm too particular about the texture of the dough. But really, it's quite simple. I always find it amazing how simple ingredients like flour and water can become something as special as ramen."

She showed him how to mix the right proportions of water, flour, and salt. Then, she pulled out another liquid and added a small bit of it to the mixture.

"What's that?" he asked.

"This is what makes ramen, ramen," she said with a smile. "It's our kansui. It makes the noodles alkaline and gives them their chewy, springy texture. Don't tell anyone, but this particular kansui is our secret ingredient. We source it from a spring a few miles away that has the right balance of minerals."

Iruka let out a loud sigh. "I wish I knew how to cook."

Ayame glanced up at him, finding this opportunity too tempting to pass up. "I can teach you," she said lightly.

He leaned on the counter, watching her knead. "You would do that?"

She nodded excitedly, glad he took the bait. "It's not that hard. If you know a few basics, you can do most things. I'm sure that big academic brain of yours is capable of cooking gourmet meals."

He laughed. "I think you overestimate me."

"What types of things do you eat?" she asked, adding, "Besides ramen."

"Well, Mondays and Tuesdays are busiest at the school, so I pick up whatever the special at the market is. Wednesday I'll eat leftovers from those two meals. Thursdays I come for ramen, and Fridays I typically go to Yakiniku Q with the other teachers. Weekends depend…sometimes I'll grab a meal with an old student, otherwise it'll be rice and eggs for dinner. Sometimes I'll attempt something else, like fish, but I can never get the cooking time right."

Ayame stopped kneading and stared at him in horror. She had no idea he was relying on pre-made food most of the week. She knew what kind of stuff went into the market specials…it was not the kind of thing that gave her confidence about his nutritional wellbeing.

"What?" he asked, slightly offended by the look she was giving him.

"Iruka…" She gave him a once over. Given his diet, she was actually surprised he looked as good and strong as he did. She wondered what his muscle mass was like, if he was sleeping well, and how often he got sick. There was no way she could let the man continue to live like that. "I'm going to teach you how to cook. And if you don't like cooking, I'm going to start bringing you meals. You can't live on market specials. Do you know how much salt is pumped into that food? That's supposed to be a once in a while thing. Not a three-days-a-week thing."

"Ayame, my diet is fine." He sounded defensive.

"Based on your description, it most certainly is not! You're lucky you're a shinobi. The metabolism of any civilian would get slaughtered with a diet like yours."

"That's…a little harsh…"

"Sometimes the truth is harsh, Iruka. Let me feed you for a month. After that, you tell me if your diet is 'fine.'"

"Ayame, I don't need–"

"No," she told him, more firmly than she intended. He shut up immediately, and she blushed, realizing how forceful she was being. But she cared about his health, and cooking for him selfishly meant that they would get to spend more time together. "I just want you to be healthy," she added more quietly.

Iruka sighed, resigning himself to her care. "Alright. But you're not just cooking for me. You're teaching me."

She flashed a smile. "Deal," she said, shoving a ball of dough toward him. "Now, here's what you're looking for in the consistency of the dough."

They worked until noodles were piled high in containers around the restaurant and Iruka was covered head to toe in flour.

"I don't understand how you can be so clean after all of this," he frowned. They walked outside so that he could dust himself off, sending poofs of flour into the wind.

"You've got more in your hair," she told him, giggling. Only her apron had gotten dirty, and she still didn't understand how Iruka had fared so much worse. He had a harder time handling the noodles than she anticipated. She thought he'd have a little more dexterity, given all his ninja training, but he'd never handled something as delicate as ramen before and he kept breaking the noodles.

He undid his ponytail and shook his hair out. Ayame held back another smile…this was the first time she had ever seen him with his hair down, and she found his brown locks rather attractive. They looked silky, smooth, and clean, despite the flour, and she wondered why he always kept it tied back. It was so beautiful when it was free.

"Let me help you…" she said gently, and she reached up to brush white powder from his head. She moved deftly, but she let her fingers linger near his skin and wondered what it would feel like to run her hands through his hair.

They heard a voice from inside the restaurant. "I'm back! Are you ready for dinner?"

Ayame and Iruka came in through the cotton flaps. "I think both of us worked up an appetite," she told her father as her stomach growled. "What are you thinking?"

"How about barbeque? I'm not sure our hands can do any more cooking today."

Fifteen minutes later, Ayame, Iruka, and Teuchi sat around a warming brazier at Yakiniku Q. Ayame ordered for all of them, asking for a few items that weren't on the menu. This was a perk of being in the restaurant business. She and her father knew the owners well enough to get special treatment. It was reciprocated whenever they came to Ichiraku.

"I didn't know they served noodle dishes here," Iruka observed.

"Secret menu," Ayame told him with a wink. "The glass noodles are divine with grilled beef. I think you'll like it."

Teuchi ordered a bottle of sake, and when it came he toasted their hard work and Naruto and Hinata's health and bright future. "Marriage is a wonderful thing," he told them. "I hope you both get to experience it someday."

Ayame stole a glance at Iruka. She hoped so.

"Teuchi-san," Iruka started, "how did you and your wife meet?"

Teuchi smiled fondly. "It was love at first sight. I was shopping at the market and saw her trying to reach the instant ramen on the top shelf." He chuckled. "I got it for her, but I told her she should forget the instant stuff and come to our restaurant instead. She politely declined, telling me the instant ramen was one of the only things the girl she was caring for liked, but I convinced her to bring the girl and told her that my ramen was kid-approved.

"I was still a chef in training at Ichiraku. My father was the head chef at that time, but I was adamant that I made the ramen that day both for her and the girl. Both of them were new to Konoha, having just emigrated here. The girl was a feisty little red-haired ninja, Uzumaki Kushina, and Asagao had her hands full, let me tell you. But Kushina liked my ramen, and I think that got me in her good graces."

Iruka sat up straighter. "Wait, Teuchi-san…your wife was Uzumaki Kushina's nanny?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded. "Asagao came from Uzushio with Kushina when she was a child. That girl needed some sort of adult supervision, but she was hard to control, kind of like Naruto was. We could always calm the girl down with a bowl of ramen, though.

"Kushina kept Asagao on her toes. I felt a little sorry for her, trying to wrangle a fireball like that. And she was all alone in a new town, too. I made excuses to see her…fixing the gate in front of their house, dropping off snacks I thought Kushina might like. Even a ramen delivery or two."

Teuchi gave Ayame a knowing look, and she blushed.

"Ultimately, it was Kushina who called me out. I brought them dinner one night, and she asked right out in the open when I was going to ask Asagao on a real date."

"You were close then," Iruka asked, "with Kushina and Minato?"

"Yes," Teuchi said, with the smile of some fond memory playing on his lips. "They both came to our restaurant often, even before they were married. Kushina adored Ayame. We named her Ayame's Godmother."

Iruka stared dumbfounded at the old man. "Teuchi-san, did you know…back then…that they were Naruto's parents?"

"Yes. They shared with us what they were going to name the child, so we knew. Ayame's mother was with her during labor. That's how she died."

Ayame turned to Iruka. "Otou-san kept all of that a secret, even from me, until very recently."

"Hmm," Teuchi agreed. "You're not the only secret keeper in the family, Ayame. No one could know who Naruto's parents were. Not even you. It was a matter of great safety. But your mother loved Kushina like a sister, even though she was only a servant to the Uzumaki family."

Ayame remembered Kushina well, idolized her, even. When she was pregnant, Ayame would hold her belly and wait to feel the little baby kick. She grieved over all of them after the attack…Kushina, the baby, and especially her own mother. Recently, when Naruto's parentage finally came to light for Konoha, she wondered how she had not figured it out. But her father knew. And their family history only made her love Naruto even more.

"I never would have guessed, Teuchi-san," Iruka said. "I'm glad you knew. Naruto needed that, growing up. He needed people who cared."

Teuchi frowned. "We didn't do much. I'm often ashamed we didn't do more."

"But you didn't do nothing, like I did," Iruka told him. "I blamed him for the death of my family. But you cared for him instead."

The food came to their table, and Ayame began to cook the meat on the grill.

"He was just a child," Teuchi said, "and everything was outside of his control. In the end, I wouldn't change a thing, even if it meant having my wife back. This life is the only one we have, and I don't plan on living in another one."

"Like your Tsukuyomi?" Ayame asked.

"Exactly!"

Ayame flipped the beef on the grill as multiple other dishes arrived at the table.

Teuchi took a bite of the noodles. "Iruka, I'm glad Naruto asked you to take the role of his father. Minato would be proud."

Iruka blushed at the words. "Thank you, sir. I don't feel very fatherly, though."

"It's good preparation though, for that big family you want," Ayame teased.

Iruka turned even more red as Teuchi gave a great chuckle. "Come now, Ayame. Let the man rest." He addressed Iruka. "The greatest thing you can give as a father is your time and your love. I think you've given both to Naruto, and that makes you as much a father as I am."

Ayame's heart swelled listening to her father's commendation of Iruka. The color that spread across Iruka's face made her happy. Iruka didn't receive that kind of praise often, but he was deserving.

"Iruka," she began, placing grilled meat onto his plate, "what are some of your favorite memories about your parents?"

Iruka frowned. He didn't speak right away, and at first, Ayame thought she might have upset him, but then his face grew reflective.

"Have I ever told you about how my parents became my heroes?"

"No," Ayame said.

"You'll like it." He smiled at the memory. "It was my first experience with genjutsu."

Iruka launched into a story from his early childhood, when he was five, just a few months before he entered the Academy's program.

"Do you remember Mizuki?" he asked.

"Ugh, how could I forget?" Ayame scoffed. "I never liked him." This judgement stemmed from the fact that Mizuki detested ramen, and anyone who didn't like ramen was a psychopath in her mind. The fact that he was in prison only cemented her opinion.

"Well, we were playing ninja together at one of the playgrounds one evening. He told me he'd learned a new jutsu from an older student, that he'd memorized the hand seals, and he wanted to show me. Turns out, he'd been taught a genjutsu, and Mizuki managed to cast that genjutsu over me.

"The problem was, he didn't know how to dispel it. The older kid hadn't taught him that, and I certainly didn't have the skill to do it myself! I wandered from the playground and just kept walking. When my parents came to pick me up, I wasn't anywhere to be seen. Mizuki wouldn't say anything about what he'd done, because he didn't want to get in trouble."

"What a jerk…" Ayame muttered, interrupting the story.

"He was only five, Ayame," Iruka laughed.

"So!" she protested, "He was a five year old jerk!"

"What were you doing while under the genjutsu?" Teuchi asked, getting the two back on track.

"Well," Iruka continued, "I wandered for a long time. All I remember is having the desire to fly, and I climbed all the way up the cliff face and into a big tree. By the time my parents found me, I was standing out on a big branch, just about to jump."

"No!" Ayame gasped.

"Yes," Iruka said, "and I did. My face caught on a broken branch on the way down…" He drew a line across his nose, "and that snapped me out of the jutsu."

Ayame's mouth hung open. "That's how you got your scar?"

Iruka nodded. "It was terrifying. Since then I've had occasional recurring nightmares where I'm falling, but I always wake up right before I hit the ground. Imagine having a pleasant dream and waking up to realize you're falling, but it's real."

Ayame shuddered at the thought.

"But my dad caught me midair. If it weren't for my dad's tracking skills and my mom's interrogation techniques, I wouldn't be here. My mom persuaded Mizuki to tell her what happened, and my dad followed my tracks. My parents saved my life that day, and that's when I knew for certain I wanted to follow in their footsteps to become a shinobi."

"Your parents were good people," Teuchi said. "I remember when Kohari was pregnant with you."

"You do?" Ayame and Iruka asked together, surprised by this admission.

"I'd never seen a man dote on a woman so much as when Ikkaku cared for Kohari when she was pregnant. Maybe Minato came close with Kushina, but Ikkaku changed when he knew he was going to become a father." Teuchi's eyes lighted on Iruka. "They both loved you so much."

"I know…" Iruka said reflectively. He turned to Ayame. "You would have loved my mother. She was a wonderful cook…dad loved her food more than anyone else's in the village. Every time I asked if we could eat out, he told me that my mother's food would give me more strength and stamina and would be tastier than anything we could get elsewhere.

"Every year on my birthday, she would make me my favorite meal."

"Ramen?" Ayame asked.

Iruka laughed. "No…I could eat ramen every single day, so in that way ramen is my favorite food, but my mom made a special occasion dish. Sablefish, with a miso glaze."

"Sablefish?" Ayame frowned. "But we don't live near the ocean."

"That was part of the magic," he said. "My dad's family, the Uminos, lived on the coast before they moved to Konoha. I still have extended family there. Every year, he would take a trip to see them and catch sablefish. He'd bring it home for me. 'A taste of the sea,' he would tell me, 'to give you a strong heart with every passing year.'"

"It seems to have worked then," Ayame told him, admiring the heart he gave to others.

"Perhaps not," Iruka replied. "I haven't eaten sablefish since I was a kid. It's too hard to get here."

"Maybe it's something you could learn to cook," she suggested quietly.

Iruka's eyes settled on her. "I don't know if I could do it justice."

"I'm sure you could," she told him, before realizing, "but it's tied up with your memories of them though, isn't it?"

A couple of seconds ticked by, and she saw the sparkle of tears appear at the corners of his eyes. This favorite memory of his was now bittersweet, and Ayame nearly choked up again. Seeing a man's vulnerability pulled on all of her heartstrings, and her heart went out to Iruka.

"Maybe we'll make that our goal," he said finally.

"What?" She asked, distracted by the emotion swirling inside of her.

"At the end of thirty days. Our goal can be miso glazed sablefish."

"…Really?"

He grinned, his eyes closing as he blinked back his tears. "Really," he said.

Teuchi stared at them, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Did I miss something here?" he asked.

"I'm going to teach Iruka how to cook," Ayame said breathlessly.

Well now, there was an announcement. Teuchi watched the two youngsters in front of him. They were making prolonged eye contact, their attraction to one another palpable. He'd noticed it in the restaurant, but here it was almost overbearing, especially given the fact that the two weren't dating. He cleared his throat loudly, and the pair jumped, their faces flushed.

"At the restaurant, I hope?" Teuchi asked pointedly.

"Y-yes, Otou-san."

Teuchi smiled. "Good. Then Iruka can help us out with prep work. Better master the basics first, before you get to sablefish. It's easy to overcook."

"We might have to go pretty far to find sablefish though," Ayame said thoughtfully.

"They catch it in the Land of Fire's port city," Iruka told her.

Ayame's face brightened. "Maybe we can take a trip!"

"That's a two day journey," Teuchi protested.

"But Otou-san, you've been talking about taking a vacation, haven't you? There are lots of hot springs along the way, and we could spend a little time by the beach."

"The restaurant–" he began, but Ayame cut him off.

"Oh, the restaurant can close for a few days. Especially after all this work for the wedding. And Iruka, aren't classes finished soon? We can all go at the beginning of summer!"

"Ayame," her father continued, "you shouldn't assume that Iruka would want to spend his summer vacation with us. He's probably got plenty of other things he wants to do."

She turned to Iruka, eyes hopeful. "What do you think?"

"Well…I do enjoy a good onsen…and it's been a long time since I've had a proper vacation..."

The smile she gave him then was glorious.

"It's settled then!" she declared, clapping her hands together delightedly.

They finished a jovial dinner and ate until all were satisfied.

"Mmmm…" Ayame said, settling her hand on her content belly, "I need something sweet. I'm going to see if they have any of those honey cakes!" She got up and left the table for the kitchens.

"Another item that's not on the menu?" Iruka asked Teuchi.

"Another item that's not on the menu," Teuchi confirmed. He watched his daughter disappear into the kitchen. He could hear an effusive conversation behind those closed doors. "She's quite drawn to you, Iruka."

Iruka blushed. "Ayame has grown into a fine woman. You have raised her well." He paused, as if he was about to say more.

Teuchi waited for Iruka to continue speaking, to ask the question they both knew was on his mind, but the younger man remained quiet.

"Get to the point, Iruka. You want to date my daughter, is that it?"

Iruka made a grunt of surprise, but when he saw the warmth in Teuchi's eyes and the smile on his face, he grinned from ear to ear and nodded.

"You should know she's stubborn, strong-willed, independent, speaks her mind, and isn't afraid to use force when necessary," Teuchi said. "She's a handful."

Iruka thought about Ayame. Indeed fiery, she was all of those things. "But she's also smart, thoughtful, discreet, and empathetic. She might find herself in trouble from time to time, but her heart is always in the right place."

Teuchi heard the kitchen doors open again, and he heard Ayame's excited chatter as she spoke with Yakiniku Q's owner. Before she got back to the table with a huge plate of honey cake, he made it a point to say, "Well, Iruka, you won't find any opposition from me."

Iruka walked home after his dinner with Ayame and Teuchi, a lopsided grin on his face. He was going to remember that combination of glass noodles and grilled beef, that's for sure. Teuchi even paid for his meal. But that's not why dinner was enjoyable. His heart was full because it was uninterrupted time with the Ichirakus. Iruka and Teuchi had a good relationship, and it was a taste of what life could be, if he ever worked up the courage to ask Ayame out.

His smile faltered, and he shook his head. He was such a coward. He wasn't even dating Ayame, but his mind was prone to wonder about what a romantic relationship with her would be like. Their friendship had grown in the past few months, spurred by her persistence, not his. And now, Ayame was resolved to cook for him for a month. Every night. For thirty days. Starting after the wedding. And then he would be going on vacation with them…to find sablefish, of all things. He sighed and quietly accepted the fact that Ayame cared about him. Even Teuchi acknowledged it. It was impossible to ignore anymore.

He still remembered the smile Ayame had given him when she saw him back in the restaurant the week after she'd climbed through the Academy window…you'd think that he'd died and been brought back to life, the relief on her face was so great. That day started the beginning of a new friendship for them.

Now, whenever he came for dinner, she still asked him lots of questions, but it was no longer small talk. She asked him questions as if she wanted to get to know him. Honestly, it felt like every time he went to Ichiraku, he was on another date with Ayame…except that they weren't dating.

Yet.

He decided he would finally ask her out. After Naruto's wedding. The timing of it all seemed…well…

"Perfect," he whispered into the night.

A/N: This chapter was full of my headcanons...thanks for bearing with them! I always thought there had to be something tying the Ichiraku and Uzumaki families together, and we never get any indication of who was with Kushina when she moved to Konoha (apart from that awfully big estate!). So, Asagao, Ayame's mother :)

And also...Iruka's scar. I tossed around many ideas, but I kept coming back to the idea that it was a childhood accident as opposed to a battle wound.