Ayame did not know why she was clothes shopping at the moment, it was half a week away from Naruto leaving for his mission and she figured that she would take him out for a meal in the evening. She did not know what to do about how she had closed up shop to dress up for a boy that she considered a little brother, this might be very weird. As she was about to return a bright orange top to the rack that she got it from, the store's staff entered her bubble. "You seem to be having trouble. Can I help you with anything?"

Ayame froze at the sound of the young girl a bit shorter looking up to her with an inquisitorial smile. "No... I... Was just leaving. Yes, just leaving." Ayame started to make a beeline for the entrance.

She was only stopped by the strong hand of the staff member as she was unable to get any distance. "Now, now. Don't be shy... You have been looking at our selection for a while now." Ayame turned her head to see the girl look at her with a knowing smile. "If I am guessing here, but you have a hot date..." The girl paused to look at the self-imposed Ichiraku uniform, her look being discouraging, not that she ignored that the staff member basically said Her taking Naruto out was a... date. "And you have nothing to wear."

Though the girl was right about her wardrobe being lacking as far as appropriate clothes go, it hit especially hard that she wanted to dress up for Naruto and she was being called out for it. "No you got it wrong, my little brother has been gone for the last couple of years so I thought that I would take him out to catch up and..." Ayame spoke, every word surprisingly sounding like a lie despite her hopes that they were true.

"Right... 'Little brother'." Ayame felt those air quotes like a punch to the stomach, but she tried her hardest to keep a straight face. "Well, I guess that can work too." The girl said excitedly. "Here is the problem, orange may be this boy's favorite but it is not doing you any favors..."

"How did you..."

"How did I know?" The girl chuckled cupping Ayame's hands in hers. "Well, you don't seem the type to go bright and vibrant, you have that warm feel to you. A hard worker who holds down the fort and does not mind getting her hands dirty when she needs to. So... Yeah orange is not your color... Oooh, but you know what is..." The girl paused to pull Ayame behind her. "Are you going to wear that pendant to your 'dinner'?" She asked, smiling at the sight of Ayame clutching at the first's necklace that Naruto lent her, blushing. "That's the definition of a yes. I have just the thing to match it if you would like to try?" The girl couldn't get a nod in return as Ayame was way too embarrassed for anything else.

(...)

That night Ayame stood at the door of Naruto's apartment, feeling a little uncomfortable in her skin, but glad that she had gone and bought her current outfit. She was in a cream-knitted turtle sweater, a beige high-waisted long skirt underneath, and a pale kimono that had a floral print at the rim that matched her necklace. She would also have tied her hair in a ponytail with gold clips at either side of her head, and light makeup that brought out her skin's natural glow when she would avoid makeup altogether. The affair had her feeling self-conscious, she knew that the girls... she felt that the girls around Naruto were much prettier than her, and it did not help matters when she was aware of this world's Naruto's crush on Sakura and recently Ino and Hinata's on him.

Ayame froze when she wrapped a knuckle almost knocking on his door, despite her father's many visits and his gifting Naruto the bare necessities she had never been to the apartment before. "Get over yourself, this is Naruto we are talking about, and it's just dinner before he leaves... Again." She whispered, making it painfully obvious that she did not care for the life he would lead with her being stuck as a civilian. After a couple of seconds, she knocked, against her better judgment. Naruto was a... boy... man of his word and she should be a woman of hers.

The door opened and a girl with dark pink hair that she had met once or twice peered at her with a devilish grin. "Naru, your date's her." The girl, a person who was introduced as Naruto's distant cousin Tayuya of the clan that Naruto belonged to spoke into the ether of the apartment. "If you were going to get all dressed up for this I would have forced Naru to go shopping, Ayame-san."

"No, no, no. This is..." Ayame paused to look at her state of dress. "Nothing, it was just something that I had in the closet... Uhhh I really had no occasion to put it on so I figured... why not?"

"And that did not have anything to do with who you were going out with?" Tayuya teased in good fun, to the all-too-present blush on Ayame.

"What did you mean my date is... Oh, Aya-nee you are here." Naruto walked into the view of the doorway, having Ayame's cheeks grow even more red.

"Y-yeah, Naruto I am... You ready to go?" Ayame said with a nervous appearance. She did not know why but she felt self-conscious about the whole arrangement. Naruto for all his faults has been a gentleman to her the whole time that he has been back, a far cry from the brat from two years ago. If she did not know any better she would have thought he was a different person. Ayame's thoughts came to a screeching halt as Naruto examined her.

"You know..." He paused, scanning Ayame's appearance as if it was something odd and foreign, which it was. "I am going to need to change. I don't want anyone bringing you down because of me, I mean... You look very beautiful, Aya-nee. Tayuya will keep you company while I change... Just don't be too disappointed, I have not bought any clothes since I've come back."

Ayame was stunned and silent, but when she was going to say that he did not need to change he had left her in her embarrassment. "Naru..." She began to call out, only to be met with Tayuya's teasing grin.

(...)

"I can't believe that those people were so rude." Ayame nearly screamed as she entered her apartment flanked by Naruto. Not only did she empty her savings, she went out of her comfort zone to take Naruto out on a welcome home dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in the village, and it was all for nothing. Apparently, Naruto's very existence was going to disturb the place's guests, and getting a private booth was not going to cut it with where they were going to be placed, the pair being basically kicked out.

"It's fine..." Naruto said, more detached than sad. "I am used to it..."

Those words, those words were like a hot knife to Ayame's heart as the pair removed their footwear. In the last two years, she had missed his presents to the point that she had almost forgotten what his status was in the village, what he would do to keep their business from dropping when she was younger, to a lonely little brat who dreamed big just so his dream could gain him the acceptance of this village, to her father sneaking him new clothes claiming that they were hand-me-downs of his, to the times when her father would check on him on days that he did not come to the stand... Especially his birthdays, those days were usually the toughest. "I'm sorry, Naruto." Ayame suddenly said, turning to embrace him.

He was shocked for a second but Naruto quickly returned the embrace. Ayame did not know if her feelings on her apology were being received, or if he was just returning the gesture out of kindness. She did not care which. "Aya-nee..." He broke off the embrace. "It's fine, I learned a long time ago there are some things in this life that can't easily be changed." Holding her at arm's length he looked at the heartbreak in her eyes and her quivering lips on the verge of a breakdown. "I have friends, I have you and Teuchi-san, I have my team and Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama looking after me... What else do I need..." He trailed off with a sadness hidden within his tone.

That sadness, Naruto's past, his present, all of it. It was something that Ayame chose to look away from, and it was something the young woman wouldn't dare to confront within herself. She and her father despite all of what they have done could have... 'No that's just an excuse.' She thought, batting Naruto's hands off her shoulders and returning to the embrace. 'I call him my little brother but he is the one who calls me his sister, he is the one that steps in when I need him.' She smiled, squeezing him. Ayame felt bad that she was the only one between her dad, Naruto, and her that does not take the initiative, she was going to change that. Even if it meant that he would have to leave her... No... Even if it meant that she would have to wait for him here, she wanted to be sure that he had a home with her if he needed it. "When did you get so strong and mature?"

"I am pretty sure that was why I left two years ago, you know... The training."

"I am pretty sure that training does not change you this quickly, Naruto," Ayame spoke, letting go.

"I think everyone underestimates me, nee-chan."

"Everyone but me, Naruto." She spoke, grabbing Naruto's chin, and tilting his head up to be eye level. "I will always believe that Uzumaki Naruto can do anything... You proved it when you became a Shinobi when no one would give you a chance, you proved it when you returned from the land of waves, you proved it when you beat that Hyuga in the Chunin exams..." She paused, frowning at never visiting him after he was placed in the hospital after that incident with his teammate, before flashing a smile at the reason he left the village soon after, that drive to get stronger, she hoped... No, she needed it to not be for nothing. "...and you will prove it when you save the Kazekage of Suna because... That's who you are... I have all the faith in the world you can do anything... So..." Her eyes flickered to the boy's lips. "So don't go deciding that others can decide your worth, because..." She swallowed the excess saliva in her mouth. "Because that goes against the Naruto I believe in..." Giving in to the tension in the room she leaned in.