Three Months (A Naruto Fanfic)

Tea, Ramen, and Sympathy

"Ino?"

"No."

"But whyyyy?" Came the whining response from the hyperactive blond.

Kankuro sighed heavily as he sat bleary eyed in the restaurant. "I know you love ramen, but do we have to meet here every day?"

"Ramen's the best food in the world! It's great fuel to think with." Naruto asserted, his blue eyes sparkling with way too much energy for the puppeteer to face right now.

"If that's true." The Sand ninja paused for a jaw cracking yawn. "Then why are we sitting here alone, AGAIN when the Winter Festival is only three days away? As for Ino, I still say 'no'. She's dating my baby brother, they both already know how pathetic we are, why call attention to it by bringing it up?"

Naruto frowned. "You didn't sleep again? Why won't you tell me what you're working on, maybe I could help." He offered, just as two steaming bowls of barbeque ramen were placed before the two men. He thanked Ayame with a quick smile, ignoring how she lingered just a little longer than she should to straighten the area in front of them.

Kankuro ignored her as he picked at his food. "You can't help, idiot. Besides, it's …personal." He said, not wanting to talk about what he was working on into well past dawn each day. "I still say we hunt down Hinata and ask her, she's too nice to laugh at us."

Naruto pursed his lips, shaking his head. "She's no where to be found. She trains and then disappears for hours on end. I tried to catch up with her once, but she went to Chouji's house and stayed for almost forever."

Kankuro paused, his chopsticks half-way to his mouth. "But I thought Chouji was still out on that mission?"

The blond nodded and shrugged as if to say it was all a mystery to him. What he didn't mention was seeing Sasuke also following Hinata. "Trust me, she's too busy right now." Naruto sighed and slurped up the final bits of his ramen as he turned his head to eye Kankuro's half-full bowl. He did it on purpose, partly to get more ramen, and partly to turn the conversation. Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about Sasuke staking out Hinata like that. She was a friend. So was Chouji. Should he warn them? But what about his friendship with Sasuke? Sure, he'd been gone awhile, but still …Naruto sighed.

The puppeteer sighed in return and started to shove his remaining food over toward his companion. "Go ahead." But before Naruto could reach the bowl, a second steaming bowl was placed in front of him.

Both young men looked up just as Ayame made some stammering explanation about how she'd made too much and it shouldn't go to waste.

"Alright!" Naruto crowed, fist pumped in the air seconds before he grinned and gave a cackling laugh. He broke open fresh chopsticks eagerly. "How lucky is that?! Wow!"

Kankuro didn't answer, watching the way Ayame peeked back at them. No, not them, the blond beside him. As he absently finished his own meal, a thought began to form.

o.o.o.o.o

TenTen stood, breath heaving, as she cleaned up her full arsenal. Every piece of thrown or projected weaponry hung from every bulls-eye on the field.

Lee and Matsuri called out a cheerful farewell, which she returned. Neji just watched, giving a small wave, which she also returned though silently.

Kurenai watched alongside Gai, shaking her head. "She won't talk to him?"

Gai shrugged. "I've tried to talk to her, so has Neji. She'll talk just fine, but not about anything personal. Lee's the only one she's not mad at right now, but when I asked him to talk to TenTen about this, he refused."