Chapter Eighteen: ...Or a Lack Thereof
Author's Note: As always, I'd like to start by thanking all the people who have left a like, follow, and review. I genuinely appreciate it.
I extended the poll I referenced in my earlier chapter because I realized I had failed to make it public. So, the poll for which story I should update next will run until February 7th.
With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this story.
Bold: Technique (English Translation)
Italics: Thoughts
Horizontal Line: Flashback
(Scene Change): Signals a scene change
Page Break: HOUNxHOUNxHOUN
"Where are you, Naruto-kun? You said that your mission should only be about a month. It's been two weeks past that," Ichiraku Ayame thought, biting her plump lower lip in worry as she watched people walk by her family's stand, looking for and not finding Uzumaki Naruto, a handsome blond boy with a brilliant pair of blue eyes and a heart-melting smile that never failed to make her insides turn gooey. "I miss you," she sighed, looking down at the stainless-steel countertop she had just wiped down for the second time, spotting her reflection.
Ayame had fair skin, waist-length chocolate brown hair that was usually contained by her white bandana, dark-brown eyes that could be mistaken for black, and a slender but curvy figure that she knew younger and older men appreciated. However, the young woman only wanted one man to look at her with such desire—Uzumaki Naruto. The boy who had been a daily fixture in her life ever since they first met some seven years ago when he was six and she was eight.
"Ayame," Ichiraku Teuchi called from the kitchen, "can you wipe down the counter for me? I'll come out and put up the stools in a few minutes—barring any last-minute customers."
"Can do, Tou-san!" Ayame answered back before reaching into her apron pocket and procuring a small, white rag. The girl hopped onto a nearby step stool and began doing as she was bid, humming a mindless tune as she wiped down the counter. Occasionally, her eyes were drawn to movement near the stall's entrance, where the young girl could see pedestrians passing by in the darkened street, all slightly illuminated by the lights from her family's shop.
She saw a group of teens rush by, hooting and hollering as they chased one another. Shortly after, a man with a white bottle in his hand stumbled past, belching and hiccuping as he did so. Then, a couple strolled by, their arms linked, and Ayame thought that the man must have whispered something funny into the woman's ear because she began to giggle. Finally, as the girl was almost done cleaning, a boy slowly shuffled into view. The boy's hands were stuffed into the cargo pockets of his shorts as he slowly passed by with his head bowed and shoulders slumped. He looked for all the world like a turtle trying to retreat into its shell.
"He looks sad," Ayame observed, pausing her work as she watched the boy, noting that he looked around her age. "Why are you sad?" Like any child, Ayame experienced the bubbling urge to blurt the question on her mind. Yet, unlike other children, the burgeoning ramen chef stamped down on the desire because that would be rude, and her father wouldn't like it if she was rude to a potential customer.
"Remember, the number one thing we want to greet our customers with is a smile because smiles help make the food taste better!" Ayame recalled her father saying that when he was teaching her how to interact with customers.
Not wanting to disappoint her father, the girl adopted a pretty smile and greeted the boy just before he passed the shop: "Hello! This is Ichiraku's Ramen! My name's Ichiraku Ayame! Would you like something to eat?"
The lad flinched and whipped his head toward Ayame. He stared silently at the girl for a few seconds before lifting a hand from his pocket and pointing a shaking finger at himself. "Me? Are you talking to me?"
"Of course," Ayame confirmed as she slightly tilted her head, "who else would I be talking to? There's no one else but you."
The boy glanced around and saw that, indeed, at that moment, he was the only person in front of the shop. Moreover, he was the only person in the street. "I guess I am," the boy said, sounding confused and a bit scared to Ayame's ears.
"Did I scare him?" Ayame asked herself, biting her lower lip, worried she was scaring off a potential customer. The girl quickly stopped the nervous tick and brought back her grin, asking, "Would you like some ramen? My dad makes the best ramen in town!"
The boy seemed hesitant to respond before appearing to steel himself. He tentatively stepped into the shop's light, revealing his features to Ayame as he asked, "Ramen? What's that?" The boy had peach-colored skin, a rounded face, spiky blond hair, whiskered cheeks, and the prettiest pair of blue eyes that the young girl had ever seen. They were as shiny as sapphires, and Ayame couldn't help but comment.
"Pretty!"
"Huh?" The boy involuntarily stepped back, his heels kissing the shadows' edge. "Wha—"
"—Your eyes! They're super pretty!" Ayame gushed as she leaned over the counter to get a closer look. "They're like little gemstones!"
The boy flushed and looked away, finding an interesting spot on the wall to look at, though that didn't stop him from throwing the occasional glance at the girl from the corner of his eye. "Th-thanks, you're pretty too," the boy softly uttered, scratching his whiskered cheek.
The girl felt heat rush to her face, giggling out thanks as she leaned back. After that, the two settled into an awkward silence. They both wondered what to say to one another when the boy's stomach decided to introduce itself with a loud growl that a grizzly bear would have been proud of.
"Sorry," the boy apologized as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"It's okay," Ayame assured, "that's just your stomach saying that it wants some ramen."
"I guess," the boy said, seeming to relax ever so slightly before he carefully walked into the stand, scrambled up one of the stools, and sat at the counter. "But how much is it—the ramen?"
"It's 60 ryō for our small bowl, 80 for our regular, and 100 for our large, though some of our specialty ramen does cost a bit extra," Ayame proudly announced, grinning at the fact that she had remembered the prices so well.
"Okay," the boy voiced, looking unsure as he dug into his pocket, pulled out a few crumbled notes and some coins, and laid them on the countertop. "Will this be enough for a small?"
Ayame couldn't hide her frown as she peered down and quickly added the currency. "I'm sorry, but it looks like you're nine ryō short."
"Oh," the boy said, his eyes quickly losing their luster as he slowly made to gather his money. "I guess I'll go somewhere else. Thanks for talking to me."
The boy's dejected tone sent Ayame's heart through a strainer. She wanted nothing more than to take what the blond had and give him whatever he wanted from the menu, but rules were rules: no pay, no service.
"Unless they have a tab," Ayame thought as she watched the boy stuff the bills into his pocket before he reached for a loose coin. "But Daddy said that we only give out tabs if someone gives us something as co-lat-ter-al, and I don't think he has anything." The brunette gnawed her lower lip, wondering if there was anything she could do when her eyes locked onto the boy's, and she felt herself move.
"Wait!" Ayame shouted, her hand latching onto the boy's just as he grabbed his coin. "You can open up a tab with your eyes!"
Stunned, the boy responded in the only way someone could to such a random and nonsensical statement; "Huh?"
Ayame felt embarrassment creep up her neck like a hot rash, but she pressed on. "I'll let you open a tab here if you show me your eyes."
"Eyes? Tab? What?" the boy quickly questioned, hesitantly looking into the girl's eyes as if she were some strange, new creature speaking an alien language.
The boy's response made Ayame want to tear out her hair in frustration, and it wasn't because the blond couldn't get her idea, and understandably so, but because, in her excitement, her mind was struggling to form the correct sentences to convey her offer. Yet, she refused to give up. "A tab is—"
"—Something we offer to customers who don't have enough to pay for a meal right now, but we know will be good enough to pay it back later," Teuchi announced, a welcoming smile on his face as he walked up to the counter and stood next to Ayame. "And I can see my daughter was right; you've got a shiny pair of gems in your head. So shiny, in fact, that one glance at them is more than enough to open up a tab, Mr..."
"...Uzumaki. Uzumaki Naruto," the boy introduced himself at the man's unspoken prompt, feeling relaxed at the ramen chef's genial demeanor.
Teuchi nodded. "Nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san. My name's Ichiraku Teuchi. Would you like to open up a tab?" After the question left his lips, the blond's stomach, once again, interjected itself into the conversation. The ramen chef couldn't help but chuckle, "Is that a yes?"
"Yes," the blond said with a sheepish grin. Naruto instinctively went to rub the back of his head with his right hand, only to realize that the girl, Ayame, was still holding it. The blond was about to let go of it when he realized how nice her gentle grasp felt and decided to wait until the girl let go first. Plus, the boy reasoned, it was only fair that she did so, given that she had grabbed it in the first place.
"Great! I'll let my waitress here take your order; just pay her half of a small ramen bowl now, and you can pay back the rest at a later date," Teuchi said before glancing down at the children's joined hands. "Also, Ayame, you'll need to let go of him to write the order down."
"Huh?" Ayame looked up at her father, wondering what he meant, only to see him point down. Confused, she followed his finger with her eyes to her right hand, finding that she was holding Naruto's hand. She then looked back toward her dad. Then back toward the joined hands. Then, once again, returning to her father, who had an amused smirk on his face. It took a moment for the brunette's brain to process that she was still holding Naruto's hand. And when her synapses finally fired off that bit of information, the girl also realized that she had grabbed a stranger's hand.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she swiftly repeated, quickly bowing and apologizing to the blond for suddenly grabbing him. However, her histrionics caused her to miss the slight frown that marred Naruto's face when she let go of his hand.
Teuchi took that opportunity to depart for the kitchen while chuckling at his daughter's embarrassment.
"It's alright," Naruto said, holding his hands up in a vain attempt to stem the flow of the girl's constant apologies. "It was nice," the boy added, unknowingly, further flustering the girl.
"Thanks," Ayame stuttered, her face feeling like she had stuck her head over a boiling pot of ramen for a few hours. She fumbled in her apron pocket for a notepad and a pencil before pulling out the writing tools and asking, "So, what would you like to eat?"
"Um, what do you think I should get? Also, what's ramen again?" Naruto asked, sounding unsure.
Ayame resisted the urge to palm her face at her forgetfulness. "Oh, yeah, you did ask what ramen was before. Sorry about that—ramen is a noodle and soup dish that can have plenty of yummy toppings in it, like our specialty miso tonkotsu ramen!"
"Then I'd like to try that, please," Naruto said.
"Great choice!" Ayame said as she jotted down the order for her father. "That's one of our shop's best dishes. I'll give this to Dad, and he'll get started on your order right away," the girl explained before she ripped off the order, turned around, and made to hop off her stool to head to the kitchen when the blond suddenly stopped her.
"Wait!" Naruto said, drawing the girl's attention.
"Yes?" Ayame asked as she turned, wondering if the boy wanted to add something else to his order, only for her breath to hitch and heart to stop at some unknown emotion shining in those brilliant gem-like eyes of his.
"Thank you," Naruto softly said, with an even softer smile-a smile that, unknowingly, caused the girl's heart to restart with a pleasant flutter.
"You're welcome," Ayame shyly replied, feeling equal parts embarrassed, confused, and strangely honored by the boy's words and actions. She felt as if she had received something special—something she couldn't put a specific word to, but she knew, deep in her soul, that it was precious—sacred.
Ayame excused herself and left for the kitchen, pondering what she had been gifted, and found herself coming up short. It wouldn't be until years later that she learned the word that could describe what she saw in Naruto's eyes.
"Gratitude," Ayame thought as she pulled out her rag and began wiping down the stainless countertop for the third time in the past half an hour. "Naruto-kun was so happy that I just talked to him—noticed him—treated him like he was anyone else, and then he treated me like I was the center of his world. Every day, without fail, come rain or shine, he'd stop by to greet me with a smile, talk about his day, listen to mine, and make me laugh. How could I not fall in love?" The young woman stopped her fruitless cleaning and longingly sighed as his pair of peerless blue eyes and handsome face popped into her mind.
"Naruto-kun, please be safe," Ayame whispered, praying the blond would return from his mission-return to her-safe and whole. The brunette was startled out of her melancholy by a loud thump above her head, followed by the howl of a monkey. Alarmed and bewildered, Ayame's head snapped towards the ceiling, wondering what had just landed on the shop's roof, only for her feelings to be joined by a sense of elation when she heard a familiar voice yell:
"I've got you now, Termite-breath!"
The following events happened in a blur for the civilian chef. As soon as Naruto's shout faded, she heard what she assumed was the monkey jump off the roof—an assumption confirmed a second later when a brown primate carrying a bag of tomatoes landed in front of her shop. Then, she watched the monkey's furry arm blur, throwing something upwards before the creature fled. Finally, she heard a splat followed by Naruto yelling "Ack" and finished with something crashing into the ground at high speed, causing a small crater.
Ayame blinked, her mind trying to register everything that happened when she heard the thing in the crater moan. She peered over the counter to get a closer look at the 'thing' in the crater. The brunette quickly recognized that the 'thing' sported a head of spiky blond hair she had missed for a while now. The girl's feet were moving before she realized, carrying her through the kitchen, out the back door, around the stand, and kneeling at her beloved blond's side—a blond who was face down in the dirt.
"Are you alright?" Ayame frantically asked, scanning the boy for injuries. She was thankful to find none on the back of his body. However, given his current prone position, she doubted the same could be said for his front.
"Afyumai-chamfp?" was Naruto's muffled reply.
"Yes, Naruto-kun, it's me. Give me a sec, and I'll roll you over," Ayame said as she grasped the boy's shoulder. She noticed that her crush was sans his orange jumpsuit jacket and was wearing a red harness with many kanji written on it. The brunette filed that information in a mental cabinet labeled "To ask about later" as she tried to roll Naruto over.
Emphasis on the word "tried."
"Why are you so heavy?" Ayame grunted, her face red with exertion. She felt like she was trying to lift their stand's metal stove.
"Stupf! Don' ert urshelf!" the boy yelled, placing his palms flat on the ground and channeling chakra throughout his protesting muscles.
"Huh? What did you say?" the girl asked as she let go of the blond. She lowered her head and placed her ear closer to the young ninja, though the girl was forced to quickly pull back when she noticed the boy was slowly raising his head.
Naruto's shoulders shook as he slowly pushed off the ground, gritting out, "I said, 'Stop! Don't hurt yourself!"
"Oh!" Ayame gasped, wincing as she saw her crush's bruised, tomato-stained, mud-caked face. She could even see bits of tomato stuck to his spiky, blond hair—well, spiky red hair at the moment. "Um, you've got a little bit of..." Ayame trailed off, gesturing to her face with her pointer finger and drawing a circle.
"I know," Naruto drily stated, slowly rising on trembling legs.
"Oh," the brunette voiced, feeling small as she watched her crush scan up and down the street. Naruto was presumably trying to spot the monkey that had thrown a tomato at him. However, that thought brought a question to the forefront of the ramen chef's mind.
"Naruto-kun, why were you chasing a monkey?"
"Training."
"Training?"
"Yup, training," Naruto confirmed before letting out a frustrated groan. "I've been chasing that damn monkey for the past few days, and now I've got to track him down. Again."
"For the past few days?" Ayame parroted, pulling a dishcloth from her apron pocket and stepping toward the blond.
"Yeah. Jiji sa—oi! What are you doing?"
"Wiping this muck away," Ayame stated as she gently rubbed away the mottled mess of mud and tomato juice from Naruto's cheeks, revealing the deep bags hanging underneath his bright blue eyes. "When's the last time you slept or ate?" she demanded.
"I ate earlier this morning," Naruto supplied, his voice slightly muffled by the towel.
"And slept?" Ayame asked, noticing that her favorite blond avoided answering that part of her question.
The blond nervously chuckled. "Um, what's today?"
"Thursday."
"Then it was Sunday."
"…Sunday?"
"Yeah, that's the last time that I—Ouch! Why the hell did you pinch me?" the blond asked, rubbing his sore cheek.
"Because you haven't slept in four days!" Ayame admonished before pointing her finger at the stand. "Now, you're going to march your butt into the kitchen—"
"—But—"
"—No 'buts' unless it's yours marching into the kitchen so I can clean this gunk out of your hair," Ayame cut him off, her face stern. "Now. Or no ramen from me for the next month."
"What? But you can't do that! You make the best ramen!" Naruto whined as he adopted puppy eyes.
"I'm not seeing any marching," Ayame commented, not hesitating in the slightest at the sight of her crush's adorable pout. However, she made a mental note to squeal about his admission later.
"Fine," Naruto sighed before dragging his feet toward the back of the store. He knew not to argue with one of his oldest friends when she used that tone, especially since she helped to cook his favorite dish. The blond stopped and glanced at where Babrsu had run off to and saw neither hide nor hair of the mischievous monkey, but the blond swore that he could feel the primate's beady black eyes watching him.
"I'll get you yet! And when I do, I'll make a vest out of you!" Naruto swore before he looked away and slowly trudged behind Ayame with his head bowed. His every step felt like his sandals were lead-encased and that there was a boulder on his shoulders, which he supposed was an improvement from when his punishment first started. Yet, he still felt tired. Dead tired. He felt so tired that it was a feat in and of itself to keep his head from crashing into the ground. Naruto's exhaustion was so great that it caused his eyes to fall lower than he was used to, making them land on Ayame's firm backside.
"Was Ayame-chan always so...fit?" the blond thought to himself, mesmerized by the gentle sway of the ramen chef's hips. Naruto would never admit it to anyone, but his first crush wasn't Sakura but Ayame. Yet, that shouldn't be surprising; the waitress was the first girl he ever knew who treated him as a human being.
It certainly didn't hurt that the brunette, back then, was as cute as a button and fed him delicious ramen.
However, because Ayame was one of the few people who treated Naruto as a human being, he refused to act on that crush. One of his greatest fears was that someone he cared for would have to suffer the same level of vitriol that he suffered from the villagers. It would have torn the blond's heart out if the kind-hearted brunette had to deal with people staring daggers at her wherever she went, hearing their venomous remarks hissing in her ears. Even at a young age, Naruto recognized that people, for some reason, didn't like him, and he'd be damned if someone else suffered the same fate. And so, he restrained his feelings, chaining them up tight in the deepest confines of his mind. But exhaustion has a way of bringing the deepest buried secrets to the fore.
"Is he checking me out?" Ayame asked herself, glancing over her shoulder and spotting the blond shinobi admiring her rear end. The very idea made the teen's face flush as her heart trilled. She decided to gain the answer to her question by adding an extra roll to her swaying hips, a roll that caused her derriere to pop out just a bit more than usual. The girl was never more pleased when she spied her crush's beautiful blue eyes darkening with desire.
"He is checking me out!" Ayame internally cheered. The girl had always longed for the blond boy to see her as more than a friend. She'd wanted that ever since she learned what a crush was from her dad—which was, undoubtedly, an uncomfortable conversation for a father to have with his daughter. Still, given that Ayame's father was a widower with no close female relatives, the duty fell onto him.
"Daddy, why does my face turn red when Naruto-kun smiles at me?" a ten-year-old Ayame asked suddenly, breaking the quaint silence in the kitchen.
"What?" Teuchi blurted, dropping the metal ladle into the sink with a splash, sending bits of soapy water into the air. "What did you ask, princess?" the father asked, turning towards his daughter, who was standing on a footstool and drying dishes. He dearly hoped that he had misheard his darling daughter and that she hadn't just asked him about—
"—I asked why my face turns red when Naruto-kun smiles at me?" Ayame repeated, a worried frown on her lips as she noted her father's reaction. "Is it bad that I do that?"
"What? No, Princess, it's not bad that you do that; it's perfectly normal," Teuchi quickly assured as he pulled his hands from the sink and wiped them down on the front of his apron. "It's just that what you asked surprised me."
Ayame tilted her head, causing one of her long, brown bangs to escape from her white bandanna. "If it's normal, then why is it a surprise?" she asked as she curled the loose hair into place.
"Because I didn't expect you to grow up so fast," Teuchi stated, mentally adding, "And I was hoping that you wouldn't."
"Grow up?" Ayame parroted, feeling her confusion grow. "What does my face turning red at Naruto-kun's smiles have to do with growing up?"
Teuchi sighed before gesturing for his daughter to follow him. "Let's go sit down, and I'll explain." The father stepped away from the sink and walked to the corner where a fold-up card table with two folding chairs stood. Teuchi sat and waited for Ayame to settle into hers before he began, "Now, you asked what Naruto's smiles have to do with you growing up, yes?" Teuchi paused, waiting for Ayame's response, and when he received a nod, he continued, "Well, to answer that, let me first ask, how do you feel when he smiles at you?"
"How do I feel?"
"Yes, how do you feel? Do you feel happy when he smiles at you?"
"Yes, I feel happy, but I also feel happy when you smile at me. And my face doesn't turn red when you do it."
"That's because you don't have a crush on me," Teuchi chuckled.
Ayame frowned, feeling even more confused. "A crush? What's a crush? And what does that have to do with growing up? And what does that have to do with Naruto-kun? And—"
"—I'll answer all of your questions, but please let me answer them one at a time," Teuchi requested, cutting off his daughter with a raised hand. Seeing his daughter calm down, he continued, "Now, to answer your first question, a crush is that mix of feelings we get when we see a person we like."
"See a person we like? But I like my friends from school, like Maya-chan and Aoi-chan, but they don't make my face turn red when they smile," Ayame stated, getting even more puzzled.
"Ah, that's because you like them as friends and don't have a crush on them. A crush does involve liking someone, but it's a different kind of like," Teuchi explained. However, from the growing frown on his daughter's face, he could see that he was only further confusing her. Desperate, he searched the kitchen for inspiration when his eyes landed on a set of ramen bowls drying on a rack. The chef's eyes brightened as he exclaimed, "Think of it like ramen sizes!"
"Ramen sizes?" Ayame repeated, wondering if her father had spent too much time making noodles that he now had them for brains.
Teuchi nodded with the surety of a philosopher who had just divined some meaning of life. "Yes, ramen sizes. Just like we serve different amounts of ramen to people, there are different levels to how much we like a person. The 'like' you feel for your friends is about the size of one of our small ramen bowls, while your crush on Naruto is the size of one of our medium ramen bowls."
Ayame looked over her shoulder at the drying bowls of differing sizes and mulled over her father's words. "So, my crush means I like Naruto-kun more than my friends?" The brunette only had to dwell on the question for less than a second to conclude that, yes, she did indeed like Naruto more than her school friends. However, she was still puzzled as to what her crush on Naruto had to do with growing up, and she asked her father as such.
Teuchi sheepishly chuckled and scratched his cheek as he tried to formulate the best, kid-friendly way to explain the concept of crushes to his daughter. "Well, you see, a crush is our bodies' way of saying that we really like a person and would hope to, one day—a day very, very far into the future—be in a relationship with that person, like," the father paused, gulping before he forced out, "like boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Oh," Ayame voiced, nodding slowly before asking, "But isn't Naruto already my boyfriend? I mean, he's a boy, and my frien—Daddy, why did you hit yourself?"
"Because I, obviously, did something wrong in a past life to be subjected to this torture!" Teuchi thought as he slowly dragged his hand down his face and mentally prepared himself to explain the concepts of boyfriends and girlfriends to his daughter. "Here goes nothing," Teuchi thought as he removed his hand from his freshly reddened face and opened his mouth.
Over the next few minutes, Ayame listened with a growing blush and widening eyes as her father informed her of what he meant by 'boyfriend and girlfriend.' Needless to say, the next day that Ayame saw the object of her affection, she looked like she had spent hours in the summer sun—much to the aforementioned crush's confusion. Yet she refused to look away, wanting to feel the same flutter of happiness whenever he smiled at her.
Ayame shook away the memory as she unlocked the backdoor to the kitchen. "Go over to the sink and start rinsing your hair while I nip upstairs to grab a towel and some shampoo," Ayame directed as she flicked on a nearby light switch. She then strode over to the stairs, continuing to enticingly sway her hips as she did so. When she was three steps up, the teen paused and glanced over her shoulder. A pleasant thrill thrummed her spine like a strummed guitar when she saw Naruto's eyes trailing up her body, admiring her form. The brunette waited for those brilliant sapphire orbs to lock onto her own, and when they did, she sent their owner a wink before continuing up the steps and out of sight.
Naruto was stunned stupid. He didn't know whether to feel embarrassed at being caught or elated that his long-time crush seemed to return his feelings. Yet, when the young Uzumaki thought of the brunette, an image of his girlfriend, Haku, popped into his head. Suddenly, whatever embarrassment or happiness he felt was replaced by a mound of guilt that made him rush over to the sink, turn on the cold water, and dunk his head underneath the running water in a vain attempt to wash away his shame.
"What the hell am I doing?" Naruto asked himself as water poured upon his head. "I shouldn't be looking at Ayame-chan like that! I love Haku-chan! I love Haku-chan! I love Haku-chan!" the blond repeatedly thought as he imagined his beautiful girlfriend. He thought of her long, dark, silky hair that fell to her waist. The gentle smile that she always greeted him with. And the way her warm, nearly-black eyes would light up whenever he entered her family's sho—
"—God damn it!" Naruto cursed himself as he vigorously scratched his head, sending loose bits of tomato chunks flying from his hair and into the sink. "Stupid brain! Stupid brain! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! We can't think of her like that!"
"And why not?" Naruto's conscience suddenly asked, causing the blond to halt his furious hair-washing.
"Because we've got a girlfriend, that's why! Plus, she doesn't see me the same way—and even if she did, it's safer if she didn't," Naruto argued.
"Safer for her or for us?"
"What do you mean? Of course, it would be safer for her because then the villagers won't hate her."
"Then why did we keep asking Sakura out? If we were so afraid of the villagers hating anyone who dated us, why ask her out? Would we have wanted her to be glared at?"
Naruto's eyes widened as he vehemently denied, "No! I would never want Sakura hurt! It's just—"
"—Just? Just what? If she had said yes, she would have been hated, right? She would have been glared at, thrown out of stores, overcha—"
"—She never would have said yes," Naruto cut off, admitting that he knew there was no chance that the pink-haired girl would have accepted a date. He knew because the girl had declared, quite vocally and often, that her eyes and heart were set on the dour, duck-butted Uchiha heir. And after the tragedy that had befallen the Uchiha clan, those feelings had seemed to skyrocket, a fact that had privately irked Naruto to the nth degree, given that he had never known the love of a family. Yet when Sasuke suddenly lost his family, all the girls tripped over themselves to help "heal" and "love" the guy.
"The bastard doesn't know how good he has it," Naruto caustically thought. "He's the village darling with an army of girls ready to wait on him hand and foot."
"Yes, but we've got Haku-chan and Jiraiya now, and before that, we had Jiji, Iruka-sensei, Teuchi-ossan, and Ayame-chan. And you know that we wouldn't trade them for anything, even if it were for the royal treatment the Teme gets."
"You're right," Naruto admitted with a sigh as he resumed scrubbing his hair at a less furious pace. "It's just that it's so frustrating to see someone be given everything and not appreciate it."
At that final thought, the image of Ino's crying face popped into the blond's mind. It was there and gone faster than a Shushin (Body Flicker), but its appearance was enough to make the young ninja frown, reminding him of the Uchiha's callous remarks that led to the girl's tearful expression. "Sasuke can be a giant dick."
"True," Naruto's conscience agreed, "and because of that, the Teme needs to be taken down a peg. What do you say to jumping and tying him up like we did before meeting Kakashi-sensei?"
"Will we be needing our pranking gear?"
"Is that even a question? We can't let those glitter markers, glue, and feathers go to waste, can we?"
Naruto snickered, a devious smile on his face as his mischievous mind developed a dastardly prank for his moody teammate. "I think the bastard needs a pair of wings to help him lift his ego."
"Oh, I know that sound," Ayame announced, startling the Uzumaki out of his plans and causing the boy to jolt and clang his head on the faucet. "Are you alright?" Ayame asked, her eyes wide with worry as she swiftly placed the towel and bottles in her arms on a nearby counter before walking over to check on her crush.
Naruto sucked a breath in through clenched teeth, his eyes smarting as he pulled back from the sink. "I'm fi-" Whatever Naruto was going to say died in his throat as he suddenly felt Ayame lean on his right shoulder, press her chest into him, and run her fingers through his hair.
"Hmm, I don't see any blood," Ayame said as she gingerly brushed away Naruto's locks, "but I'll still be careful when washing your hair." She stepped around the blond and put a finger underneath the water, though she quickly jerked her hand back like a scalded cat. "Brr! Why do you have it so cold? Do you want your head to be an ice cube?" She briskly adjusted the temperature to her liking.
Naruto said nothing. His mind was fuzzier than a hairy caterpillar. The only word that went through his mind was a single word: "Soft."
"Hmm? What did you say?" Ayame asked with faux innocence, pretending she didn't hear what was said as she glanced at the blond. "Yes! He liked them!"
"Nothing!" Naruto declared, his face feeling hotter than a stovetop.
"Okay~" Ayame cutely drawled before gesturing to the sink. "The water's warm. So, hop to it, mister."
Despite himself, Naruto couldn't help but smile at Ayame's clear order. "Al-alright," Naruto stuttered, trying and failing to cover his stumbling tongue with an awkward cough as he stepped forward and stuck his head underneath the warm water.
"I don't think I've ever seen Naruto-kun so shy before; it's so cute!" Ayame mentally squealed as she ran her fingers through Naruto's hair to check for any remaining tomato chunks. Finding none, she grabbed the shampoo bottle, squeezed a dollop onto her hand, and began massaging the product into the blond's hair. After washing Naruto's hair for a minute, the brunette asked, "So, how was your mission? Where did you go? What did you do? Or can the big bad, future Hokage not tell lil' ol' me?"
"No, I can tell you. Ero-Senin said that none of what we did is classified," Naruto assured, feeling himself start to lean into Ayame's gentle ministrations.
"Pervy-sage,' huh? Why do I feel like there's a story behind that?" Ayame wondered aloud.
"There is, but he comes later. First, let me tell you about what happened when we were on our way to Nami no Kuni…" the blond announced before regaling his first friend and crush with the story of what happened during his time away. He left nothing out, telling her about the Demon Brothers ambush, the fight with Zabuza, the confrontation with Kushimaru, being saved by Jiraiya, liberating Nami, learning his parentage, fighting Raiga, and about his relationship with Haku.
Ayame stiffened when her crush mentioned his new girlfriend. "So, someone got to him before me," the girl thought, feeling a wave of melancholy soak her being. The brunette had always known it was a possibility-truly, an inevitability; Uzumaki Naruto was a catch for any girl who wasn't blind. He was warm, kind, and loyal, with a rugged handsomeness and the most brilliant pair of blue eyes she had ever seen-eyes she fantasized her future son would have.
"I guess Houseki will always be that; a dream," the brunette thought before she resumed washing the blond's hair with the same tenderness and care as she did before. She hoped that Naruto didn't notice her pause as she forced back her tears. But alas, the ninja did.
"What's wrong with Ayame-chan? She's not jealous, right?" Naruto asked himself. The young genin wouldn't deny that a tiny portion of his heart flipped for joy at the prospect that Ayame was jealous, for it meant that there was a good possibility that the brunette had similar feelings. Yet, the blond immediately felt ashamed the second he acknowledged those feelings.
"I shouldn't think like that! I've got Haku-chan! She's more than I could ever ask for!" Naruto admonished himself as an image of his beautiful girlfriend popped into his head. The blond kept that picture in the front of his mind to ward off any other traitorous thoughts as he continued telling Ayame what had happened.
"Wow! You certainly did a lot while you were away," Ayame commented with more cheer than she felt as she finished rinsing out the conditioner from his hair. She turned off the water before grabbing the towel and drying Naruto's hair. "Fighting missing-nin and freeing a country; I sure hope that's not usual work for a shinobi because I'd hate to lose you," Ayame said before sadly muttering, "More than I already have."
"Ayame-chan," Naruto softly uttered, his heart lurching and eyes widening underneath the towel. "Do you—"
"—Well, you're now good and clean! Go out there and show that monkey who's boss! After that, come back here, and there'll be a big bowl of ramen waiting for you!" Ayame quickly said before grabbing the toiletries and rushing up the stairs. However, halfway up, she missed a step and started to fall. And as she was pitching forward, with her face a second from making painfully intimate contact with one of the steps' lips, followed by a no doubt nasty tumble down the stairs, the girl couldn't help but wonder if she had angered some deity to curse her with such a miserable day. Yet, just before the girl's face planted, she felt a strong, warm, familiar hand grasp her own before she was pulled backward and cradled into a chest. Then her world started to turn upside down as she felt herself falling down the stairs, hearing multiple thunks, thuds, and grunts of pain. Grunts that weren't her own because she was safe and secure in Naruto's arms. And it was that realization that burst the dam of tears that she had held back.
"Ouch!" Naruto reflexively hissed, feeling various bumps and bruises on his back. However, whatever pain he felt was soon forgotten when his ears picked up the sound of quiet sobs, and his neck felt hot tears soaking it. The blond, as dense as he could be, knew why Ayame was crying and felt ashamed. He felt so ashamed that it made the brunette's tears feel like scalding oil. Not knowing what to do, the young ninja reverted to his instincts, gently holding his first crush and soothingly rubbing her back. Sadly, his actions only caused the girl to sob harder and burrow herself deeper into his neck.
For the next while, the two teens lay at the bottom of the stairs. Ayame cried and mourned a lost love, while Naruto kicked himself for making her feel that way and tried her best to console her.
After some time had passed, Ayame's sobs began to soften before she eventually relaxed and simply lay in Naruto's arms. The blond wondered if she had fallen asleep, but he knew from her steady breathing that she was awake. The boy began to ponder what he should say to her, or if he should say anything at all, but before he could make a decision, the girl whispered:
"I'm sorry-for troubling you. Falling like that, you aren't hurt, are you?"
"No, I'm fine," Naruto said, "But what about you? You're alright, right? Not hurt anywhere? 'Cause if you are, then I can run you to the hospital faster than you can—" Naruto's babbling suddenly halted when he felt Ayame's hand cupping his cheek. He lay there, transfixed, as he watched the brunette slowly rise from his chest until she was hovering over him. Her long, chocolate brown hair curtained their faces from sight, as her red-rimmed black eyes looked deep into his blue orbs.
"Say, Naruto-kun," Ayame began, her voice barely above a whisper as she gently stroked his face, "If I had asked you out, would you have said yes?"
Naruto's heart began galloping like a horse at the question. But before his mind could formulate a response, his heart answered for him, "Yes."
"Thank you," Ayame said, a melancholic smile cracking her face before she swooped down and claimed Naruto's lips.
Naruto's eyes widened, and his body stiffened as Ayame's soft, pink lips melded with his own. Alarm bells rang in his head, warning him that what he was doing was wrong, that he had a girlfriend, and that he should push Ayame away. But, just as he was about to do that, he felt the emotion that the brunette was pouring into it; nearly seven years' worth of feelings, and Naruto couldn't help but respond. He wrapped his arms around his first crush, closed his eyes, and lost himself in the kiss.
Ayame's heart swelled when she felt Naruto return her affections. Emboldened, the young woman darted her tongue out and licked Narurto's lips, asking for entrance. The blond responded positively, opening his mouth and allowing Ayame entrance, where he quickly wrapped his tongue around hers, an action which made the ramen waitress' core burn with pleasure and caused her to moan into his mouth. Unconsciously, the brunette began to grind against the blond's thigh, vainly trying to snuff out the fire she was feeling, only to wind up stoking the flames.
Naruto's pants felt like they were growing smaller and smaller, as if someone had suddenly shrunk them in the wash. But the blond knew better. He knew why he felt that way was all the fault of the veritable minx grinding into him. The young man wanted nothing more than to flip Ayame over, pin her down, and grind himself into her to let her know what she was responsible for. However, the young ninja wouldn't do that because he feared that the added weight from his harness could harm her. It was recalling the harness that made Naruto feel like an ice-cold bucket was dropped on him, dousing his passions.
"What the hell am I doing? I'm betraying Haku!" Naruto admonished himself, his eyes popping open in alarm as he suddenly stilled. Something that Ayame felt. His sudden lack of reaction served as her wake-up call from her lustful haze.
"I'm sorry!" Ayame gasped as she forcefully broke the liplock and pushed away from the blond. Her face flushed as she panted for breath. "I'm so, so sorry! I shouldn't have done that! I-" The brunette cut herself off as she shot to her feet and fled upstairs, slamming the door behind her.
Naruto did not know how long he lay there on the kitchen floor, staring after Ayame. His mind was a mottled mess of emotions: joy, guilt, arousal, and chief amongst them, shame. He was ashamed of himself for hurting two of the most important women in his life—for Naruto knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would be telling his girlfriend about this encounter as soon as he saw her because his conscience wouldn't allow him to do anything less. And it was the thought of Haku's heartbroken expression, similar to the one she wore in Nami before Kushimaru's ambush, which magnified the blond's shame to such a degree that he felt the need to flee. And that's what he did.
With a burst of chakra, Naruto rolled over, climbed to his feet, and shot out the door-almost hitting a returning Teuchi's face as he did so.
"Naruto?" Teuchi shouted, sounding bewildered as he watched the blond teen run from his shop's kitchen and jump onto the nearest rooftop before disappearing. "What's got him running like that? He's acting as if the hounds of hell are chasing him?" The ramen chef frowned, his eyes lingering on where the blond vanished before deciding he would ask Ayame if she knew anything. However, all it took for the father to know what happened was hearing his daughter's sobs when he entered their apartment looking for her.
Suffice it to say that Ichiraku's closed early that day as a father helped his daughter deal with her broken heart.