Disclaimer: Me, owning Naruto? I can't even draw a circle, so a manga is out of the question. I'm back to writing some more Naruto content, which means I will be updating my other Naruto stories soon, I can't make any promises for when, but I plan on a mass update for many stories soon! This story was made to be fun, and because I'm bored and snowed in.

She Makes Miso Happy

Chapter 1: A date?

Bright beams of sunlight filtered through the windows of Konoha's general hospital. Naruto shifted under the warm white covers of his hospital bed. His bones ached, and he still had trouble breathing at times, but those were the only lasting injuries he still suffered from after his fight with Sasuke. Thinking about the last Uchiha brought a frown to his face. His best friend, if he could still call Sasuke that, attempted to kill him at the Valley of End. He was left with two visible scars next to his heart and the pain still stung. Kakashi sensei brought him to the hospital nearly lifeless from blood loss, with five broken ribs, two entry wounds in his torso just inches from his heart, and a terrible skull fracture.

Anyone else would have died, but he was a jinchuriki. Jinchuriki were built differently than regular people. After all, he had the strongest Biju of all the Kyuubi inside of him. The same beast that tried to destroy Konoha thirteen years ago on the day he was born. Naruto sighed in his bed and frowned.

It had been three days since his fight with Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto was bored and sad. Bored that the only entertainment he had was hearing the clock's tik-tok every second. Every time he looked at the clock he'd see that time was moving too damned slow. Hell, he was so bored he even read Icha-Icha Paradise two times. Kakashi-sensei left it for him, but he could only reread a book so many times before feeling even more bored. Boredom wasn't as bad as his sadness. He never gave in to his emotions, but Naruto felt once again ignored.

Only Shikamaru and Tsunade came to visit him in the three days since he was brought into intensive care. Sakura was nowhere to be found. He heard from Tsunade that his female comrade was devasted by the news. He had failed. He tried to save Sasuke, his rival, his best friend, and his brother-in-arms. All for nothing.

A loud knock sounded from his door. Naruto shifted upright in his hospital bed full of excitement, a visitor was always welcome. In came someone he never expected to see, but his smile widened into a happy foxy grin. Ayame Ichiraku was wearing a light blue blouse and a matching dark navy blue skirt that went down to her knees. She was wearing high-heeled shoes that showed off her amazing thighs and long legs. Naruto blushed as she sashayed into his room carrying an extra-large delivery bowl of what smelled like Pork and Garlic Ichiraku ramen. His Favorite ramen!

"Naruto, I heard about what happened three days ago. Most of the village has been on edge after the news... I'm sorry for coming by so late. Work has been hectic lately, and I just had to come by. I've been so worried about you knowing you could have died. Daddy wanted me to bring you your favorite bowl of ramen," Ayame said while walking closer to her favorite customer.

"What! You guys shouldn't have gone through all that trouble for me!" Naruto half-protested his face turning deep crimson red as Ayame bent over to place the bowl on his nightstand beside his hospital bed.

"Enough of that! You are our best customer, and my dad loves you. He thinks of you as the son he never had," Ayame happily said her brown doe-eyes meeting his sapphire blue eyes. "I have today off. It's the least we can do after all the years of doing business. And besides, there's no one I'd rather deliver ramen to than you."

"Ayame-chan…" Naruto gasped, his eyes welled with tears and his lower lips quivered. "I-I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything Naruto. Just relax and eat, before the ramen goes cold." Ayame said briskly while bending over Naruto's nightstand.

Naruto gasped again as he noticed Ayame's bent-over butt which strained against her skirt. It was massive and so thick he could bounce a coin off it. Her boobs too looked like more than a handful as her giant bosom was barely contained inside of her bra. How had he never once noticed how beautiful the ramen chef was? She was as stunning as any kunoichi with her stunning brown doe-eyes and long brown hair kept in a ponytail. It made Naruto feel warm in the cheeks and between his legs.

Ayame turned and gave him an amused glance. She grabbed a nearby food tray and placed it over Naruto's lap. His cheeks grew several shades darker as she opened the delivery bowl's plastic cover. Her cleavage was in his face. Her nails were painted a polished shade of red. Ever since he was a little boy he had a secret crush on Teuchi's daughter. He never once expressed it, mostly out of fear of pissing off the only people who cared for him when he was starving on the streets.

A plume of steam escaped over the hot white porcelain bowl of noodles. The smell of garlic, cooked pork, spices, green onions, and fish cakes caused Naruto's stomach to rumble. Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his golden-locked head slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry about that, I haven't eaten any good food since before the mission. Hospital food can never compare to Ichiraku's!"

"I hope not! We'd go bankrupt overnight if you stopped showing up!"

Both teens broke out in laughter. Naruto grabbed a pair of chopsticks handed to him by Ayame and didn't hesitate to dig in. Ayame watched Naruto eat his bowl of ramen in utter fascination. She always marveled at how fast and efficiently he could finish one of their bowls of ramen in record time. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she caught glances coming from Naruto's sapphire eyes.

It made her chuckle as he kept glancing up at her upper body with a mouthful of noodles and pork in his mouth. His eyes glanced from her oval-shaped face a little lower down to her…

Was he checking her out?

He was four years younger than her, but he was always a very cute and upbeat boy. She had served ramen to thousands of people from around the world over the years, but none could make her smile and laugh like Naruto could. She doubted he'd ever reciprocate the feelings and besides, he was only thirteen years old. He had a crush on that pink-haired teammate of his, Sakura.

Naruto finished his bowl of ramen with a loud slurp and placed the empty bowl back on his food tray. He happily smiled with excitement, "That was the best-damned bowl of ramen I have ever had!"

"Really?" Ayame exclaimed in disbelief. That was high praise, especially coming from Naruto!

Naruto looked up and gazed at Ayame's big brown eyes and asked, "Who made that?"

"I did," Ayame said with rosy cheeks as Naruto's eyes widened. He grinned wider and had that boyish foxy grin once again. "Thank you, Naruto, coming from you that's some high praise. I wanted to make something you'd love, and I know pork and garlic ramen are your favorites."

"Ayame-chan, I ugh… I appreciate this. I've been bored and contained in this bed for three days. The only people who have visited besides the nurses have been Shikamaru and Granny Tsunade. I just want to say thank you for everything." Naruto looked down at the empty bowl of ramen and then looked back up at the ramen chef.

"You don't have to be so dramatic. I did this because I love you." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and his cheeks turned from a rosy pink to a dark maroon. Ayame smiled and blushed then quickly said, "I love you for who you are. You might be a knucklehead at times and energetic, but I just want you to know I've always believed in you. Even when you lost you always found a way to get back up. If anyone in this village has the determination and drive to be Hokage, it is you. I've always wished I could have done more. I-uh, I know what it's like to fail."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe some other time… it's not the best of stories." Ayame folded her arms and tapped her foot. She turned her head away to the bright outdoors and then softly said, "What's it like to be a shinobi?"

"What's it like? I thought when I was a kid it would be all fun and games. That I could make a name for myself and be somebody. Everyone always respects and adores the Hokage… but now that I'm hooked to this bed I just," Naruto stopped talking. He saw Ayame covering her mouth with her palm in disbelief and concern. Naruto briskly said, "It's complicated."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"You want to know the truth?" Naruto asked while feeling a tug from his heart.

Ayame nodded.

Naruto rubbed his cheek with the palm of his left hand. He frowned when he felt one of his whisker birthmarks. He hated his six whisker birthmarks. They were evident signs of who he was and what he had in him. "Being a shinobi is fun at times, but out there when you're fighting for your life. At first, I was afraid of dying, then that fear vanished, replaced with this feeling like I had to fight harder."

"Why?" Ayame asked. She leaned closer to Naruto's face, ready for his every word. "You're already so powerful."

"Then why am I here? Whenever I had to fight the enemy, I was more scared of disappointing my teammates. Dying is easy, but when people depend on you. You have to fight harder and harder. This mission, Sasuke was the closest thing I had to a best friend. Having to fight my comrade… my brother. Is it worth it? Day in and day out, I train hard just to fight someone. No matter how much stronger I get there is always someone new to fight…" Naruto looked down at his lap in defeat. He failed the genin exam three times. Even though he defeated Neji Hyuga, Gaara, and Shikaku, and convinced Tsunade to be Hokage. He was still just a genin. "Ayame, I'm still just a genin. I don't even get paid that much compared to other shinobi. All this fighting and I'm still on level one."

"I just want you to know that Teuchi and I saw you during the final round of the Chunin exams. We closed the shop just to be able to see you in person. That Hyuga prodigy was slated to win, four-hundred and fifty to one."

"I get it," said Naruto in annoyance. He huffed and crossed his bandaged arms, which caused Ayame to smile and hug him.

"Knucklehead," Ayame said between laughs. She rocked Naruto back and forth in his hospital bed with her porcelain hands wrapped around his neck and lower back. Naruto blushed harder as he felt her bosom rub against his cheek. Not that he was complaining. "I don't care if you are a genin forever or Hokage tomorrow. I want you to know I'm proud of you. Naruto, whenever I see you succeed like when defeated that Hyuga. It makes me believe I can succeed myself. My dad told me yesterday that the next time you visit Ichiraku's the next meal is on the house."

Naruto would have jumped up and danced with joy at hearing those words. All he could do was hug Ayame back. He didn't notice her blushing even though her hot left cheek rubbed against his right whisker birthmarks. Ayame deepened the hug by sinking her arms tighter around his lower and upper back. Naruto was happy, it was always good to have some company. Nothing was worse than loneliness, and he sure had a lot of loneliness these past three days.

"Ayame, you guys do enough. You could have been out there," Naruto pointed his right arm at the window of his hospital suite. It was a stunning sunny day. The sky was azure with flocks of colorful birds flapping in the sky. "Seeing you is a treat."

"Okay, future Hokage," Ayame said with amusement while stirring her hands and fingers through Naruto's thick locked golden-yellow hair.

"Really? You believe I can be Hokage?"

"Yes!" Ayame exclaimed enthusiastically.

He closed his eyelids and bit his cheek to keep his emotions in check in front of the hot ramen chef. His emotions were in overdrive. Just hearing her words… the fact someone believed in him. It made him feel warm and fuzzy in his belly like a bunch of stomach caterpillars were metamorphosizing into butterflies. The problem was he could never express it. He always had a crush on her, ever since he was a scared little boy starving on the streets. He would have died either from the beatings or starvation, but the Ichirakus came to his rescue. They hid him from the mobs and gave him food when he had nowhere else to go.

Ayame moved closer to Naruto's face her eyes inches from his, "Is something wrong? You've been all red in the face since I entered the room."

"Ayame-chan, everything is alright its just… you have done so much for me today. I never had parents or anyone I could call family. Teuchi is the closest thing I have to a father and without you guys. I'd be lost," Naruto said turning his head directly at Ayame's caring gaze.

"Oh, I thought you had a crush on your old friend Ayame, not my dad," Ayame said in jest causing both to break out into laughter.

Ayame was laughing so hard that she lost her balance and fell forward into Naruto's embrace. Naruto looked at her smooth oval face. Her high cheekbones were beet red, and her mint-scented breath made his heartthrob. He had a problem between his legs now, not that he could control it, but he secretly hoped Ayame didn't notice or feel it as she sunk deeper into his bandaged arms. Naruto felt happier than he had felt since Sasuke's betrayal. He had his childhood crush in his arms, they were laughing, and her arms were once again around his neck.

Naruto leaned closer to Ayame and brushed a strand of honey-wheat brown hair from her gorgeous eyes. Ayame smiled and sultrily said, "What are you plotting?"

"Me, plotting?"

"Of course, you. I still remember that Hokage rock stunt you pulled a year ago or that time you replaced Mizuki's pain medication with laxatives," Ayame reminisced with another laugh.

"He deserved it," Naruto quipped causing them both to laugh harder. She leaned in closer to Naruto who blushed once again a maroon shade of embarrassment.

"I uh, Ayame-chan you make me so happy," Naruto said with a few stutters. He leaned in and gave Ayame's lips a very light peck.

His lips barely touched hers, but it was the best kiss he ever had. Not that his kiss with Sasuke counted as a real kiss. No sooner had he pecked her lips did he retreat into his white pillows. Ayame's cheeks were beet red, and she touched her lips with her index finger. Naruto closed his eyes expecting the ramen chef to bonk him in the head like Sakura.

Instead, Ayame froze. Her arms retreated to her side, and she straightened up. She was still blushing, but Naruto realized the mistake he made. Ayame tapped her right foot on the tiled floor of his hospital room.

"Oh well, I must get going Naruto-kun. Thanks for being my adorable little brother and… uh, bye!" Ayame said with her arms waving around as she gathered her stuff.

Naruto was left in the room confused and ashamed of what he had done. His head fell into his palms. His fingers gripped his hair in absolute horror. He scared Ayame away! He shouldn't have done that.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted into his hands.

"Nice one gaki!" Spoke Jiraiya who appeared in a swirl of leaves. He was next to Naruto's bedside and had a perverted grin and a small trail of blood coming out of his right nostril. "I think she likes you."

"Ero-sensei!" Naruto shouted in both disbelief and horror that his sensei saw what had happened. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out. You are being discharged from this hell hole in about an hour. You seem to be healing quickly." Jiraiya smirked and placed a hand on Naruto's right shoulder. He gave it a tender squeeze and sternly said, "We'll be leaving the leaf village in a week. Right now, you are officially my apprentice. For the next three years, we'll be on the road training. Within three years I'll make you a full-fledged shinobi. My plan is by the end of it, you'll become an official badass!"

Naruto's eyes widened. He got up from his hospital bed and placed his bare feet on the cold tiled floor. Naruto looked in the mirror across from his bed and noticed how he looked like a mummy. Yet his appearance and what happened earlier didn't stop him from giving his new sensei a tight hug.

"Easy there gaki, you can save that for that cute ramen chef," Jiraiya said with a small chuckle. Naruto retreated away from his sensei, but he still smiled a foxy grin.

"You promise I'll become stronger!"

"Of course, you are speaking to the toad sage! I plan on you mastering your control over the Kyuubi. I want you to really focus and work hard. It won't be easy, especially given what happened between you and Sasuke." Jiraiya said solemnly as he observed how beaten up his student was.

"I failed… I promised Sakura-chan I would bring him back, but I failed. Will I always be a failure?"

"Naruto you were up against all odds, yet you still fought a noble fight. I want you to forget about that Uchiha. Sasuke chose to seek out Orochimaru, he did that with his own free will. I've failed many times, and I still fail, but learning from your failures is the best way to secure a victory. I need to explain a few things to you."

A day had passed, and Naruto was drifting through the village with no sure destination of where he wanted to go. His apartment was broken into and trashed, yet again. This was the fifteenth time this had happened to him. Some hooligans graffitied his walls with the words monster and dead last. Naruto was able to clean up the mess, but those words still haunted him. He had six more days until his scheduled adventure with his ero-sensei and the last place he wanted to hole up in was his apartment and stare at those words on his walls. Naruto continued walking through the streets as he passed through the textile district. He saw numerous shops that had nice clothes that he couldn't afford.

Well, he could afford it, but he always received demon taxes instead of the regular prices. The few places that charged him regular prices were Ramen Ichiraku and Tenten's father's weapon shop. Naruto stopped over a bridge that had a running stream running underneath it. Sakura trees in full bloom were sending a sea of pink flowers in the wind.

Naruto placed his elbows on the bridge railing and looked out. His mind was a murky malaise. He hated himself for what he did to Ayame. Ero-sensei told him not to think too much about it, but it still hurt. Why did he kiss her?

"If only I could go back in time," Naruto said to himself.

He was afraid. He wasn't afraid of dying or rushing back into combat. He'd rather face the hellfire of battle than lose a precious person. He was afraid he had forever tarnished his relationship with Ayame. She was one of his precious people. His precious people were his pillars to protect and fight for. Ayame cared for him, she brought him soup and comforted him when no one else wanted to. She had always been there for him and with one stupid kiss he ruined it all.

"Damn it, why am I so stupid," Naruto said to himself.

"Naruto?" Spoke a familiar voice.

Naruto turned and saw Sakura standing across from him with curious green eyes. She looked at him confused, angry, and well nothing that made Naruto feel better about himself. He still straightened up and chuckled nonchalantly. He scratched the back of his head and gave her one of his classic foxy grins.

"Sakura-chan, you're here. It's so good to finally see you! How are you doing?" Naruto asked. He opened his eyelids revealing big sapphire eyes. "I'm back from the hospital. Did you hear the news?"

"What news? I heard that you lost. You couldn't bring Sasuke back," Sakura stated with a frown. Her eyes welled with tears, which made Naruto grimace. "You promised. You promised you'd bring him back home."

"Sakura-chan, I tried… I did. I gave it my everything. I wanted to save him as much as you, but after that Chidori struck near my heart… I guess I was never good enough."

"You were never good enough! You were dead last in our class, you failed the genin exam three times, and your stupid rivalry with Sasuke clouded his judgment! Naruto, we were teammates. I don't want to see or speak with you ever again. Team seven is dead, because of you," Sakura stated venomously before running away in tears.

Naruto stood petrified and heartbroken as he watched Sakura run away. He clenched his fist over his heart and felt his world close in. His hand vibrated and the fierce wind whistled in his ears. It was bad enough losing Ayame, but now he lost Sakura too.

A tear fell from Naruto's eye, but he bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself composed in public. It was going to be alright. Yes, yes, nothing worse could happen now. Naruto knew it could always get worse. It always did, but he needed to hope that it wouldn't. Composing himself and wiping any tears with the sleeves of his orange jumpsuit he continued his journey across Konoha.

Several hours later his stomach grumbled. He had wandered through the city right in front of Ramen Ichiraku. He felt Gama-chan in his back pocket. He had more than enough money to spare for a bowl or two of delicious miso ramen. Brushing aside the white fabric flaps to the ramen stand, Ayame quickly stopped cutting a bundle of scallions.

Naruto smiled at her. He saw Ayame blush, but she quickly went back to cutting up her bundle of scallions like nothing had happened. Naruto slumped into an empty seat in the desolate ramen bar. He pouted and waited for someone to say something to him. No one did.

Teuchi brought down his newspaper and raised an eyebrow at his favorite customer. Normally Naruto always came crashing into his ramen stand with big fanfare of what he wanted to order. Even after Naruto failed the genin exam all three times the young blonde-haired boy never once looked half as defeated as he did now. It made him frown and look at the boy in worry. Naruto was like the son he never had, and watching his favorite customer putting his head into his folded arms with big sad sapphire eyes just made him sad as well.

"Naruto, what is wrong?"

"Nothing, I uh, I'm hungry and I don't know," Naruto said softly. "

"Naruto-kun," Ayame said while placing a soft and smooth porcelain hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up at her, which caused Ayame to flinch. "Naruto if something is wrong you can always tell me. You're my favorite shinobi and my little brother. If something happened to you or is upsetting, you. Just know, you can always trust me with anything."

Naruto wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his orange jumpsuit. He looked up at Ayame causing her to gasp. She peered into his sapphire eyes and saw his pain, the phantoms, the regret, the shame, and the sadness of years of abuse. His normally warm, vibrant, and hopeful sapphire eyes looked colder and almost distant. The real Naruto was before her, and he looked pitiful like a kicked dog.

"Ayame-chan, I don't know what to say."

"Naruto-kun, take your time. I want to know whatever is wrong with you. Just take your time," Ayame said while giving his shoulder a tender squeeze.

"I failed! I couldn't save my best friend from Orochimaru. My other teammate, Sakura-chan, hates me. She told me that she never wanted to see me again. I saved her life on three separate occasions and it's over between us. Am I responsible for destroying my team? Did I destroy Team Seven? I loved her and now she's gone," Naruto admitted to both Teuchi and Ayame.

Naruto didn't break down into tears. He wanted to, but these were the last precious people he had left. He had to be stronger for them.

Ayame frowned at seeing her Naruto in this state of distress. He was the strongest person she knew and one of the kindest individuals in all of Konoha. Naruto was always honest about everything in his life, and it pained her that his teammates were treating him like trash.

"Naruto don't you worry. I'm cooking up two extra large bowls of miso ramen. Ayame, take Naruto into the kitchen while I prepare the bowls. Show him the gift I got for him," Teuchi said with a smile. He looked just as concerned as his daughter, but he wanted to cook the boy something good. Nothing made someone happier than a warm meal made with love. "Come on you two, go, go, go! Let me cook!"

Ayame took Naruto by his left hand and half dragged him into the back kitchen behind the ramen bar. She liked holding Naruto's hand, it was always warm and strong. Naruto squeezed Ayame's right hand just a bit harder as she brought him over to the refrigerators. Ayame let go of Naruto's hand and turned around. Once again, they were both face to face. The only sounds Naruto could hear besides Teuchi cooking in front were the soft humming sounds of the refrigerators and freezers.

Ayame opened the freezer doors and disappeared inside. Naruto rubbed his whiskered marked cheeks unsure what to say or think. He felt awful about his role in ruining Team Seven. He felt awful about his burden, about being reminded of the damned Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-tailed fox). No matter how far he came from the failure, he was still a demon spawn that the village hated and ignored.

Naruto was quickly taken out of these dreadful sad thoughts by Ayame coming out of the freezer carrying a small cardboard box. Ayame laid the box on a long stainless-steel counter. Naruto peered inside and gasped. Inside of the box was an olive-green long-sleeved camouflaged shirt. It looked several sizes too big for him, but it was something he saw himself growing into. There was a matching pair of olive-green camouflaged pants and a red bandana.

Naruto picked up the clothes in his hands and realized how soft and dense they were. There were three matching sets of camouflaged clothing. Naruto placed the clothing back in the box and turned to Ayame. He was at a loss for words.

Before he could say anything, Ayame leaned forward and gave his lips a quick peck. Naruto's eyes widened and he froze. Ayame decided to capitalize on it, by again leaning forward and giving the blonde boy another kiss causing his cheeks to grow red. Naruto stood there shocked and unable to say anything besides, "Wow!"

"Wow is right! I get off early tomorrow, around three in the afternoon. I was thinking we could go see that new Princess Yukie movie that came out," Ayame said with a wink.

Naruto was at a loss for words still that his most precious person kissed him not just once but twice. He got kissed by one of Konoha's most beautiful women on the lips twice! Naruto's eyes beamed with joy, and he took Teuchi's gift in his hand.

Both teens were brought out of their thoughts by Teuchi popping his head into the back. The old man gruffly said, "Come on back you two! I just finished making the bowls and Naruto I have a few things to tell you about what's inside that box if you want to listen."

Naruto rushed back to the front of the stand, but he stopped in the doorway. He looked back at Ayame, smiled, and softly said, "Consider it a date, Ayame-chan!"

Teuchi raised an eyebrow as he watched Ayame come back around. He shook his head and presented one of the two Miso ramen bowls to his favorite customer.