Ramen or me?

He's Not Worth A Bowl Of Ramen!

'I know... I finally know why Naruto is in such a bad condition!', Hinata thought to herself, laughing hysterically under her breath.

Since that nightmare of a day when Sasuke admitted to not care about Naruto, Hinata had dedicated herself to save Uzumaki. She was following him everywhere(, ignoring the weird looks of passersby who managed to spot her hiding behind a bush or looking out from behind the corner).

But she was really left with nothing as Uchiha kept the perfect facade of a very caring and loving now b-boyfriend of Uzumaki as they officially became a couple...

And only after some time did she realize that there was only one thing wrong with Naruto's life other than Sasuke's dark motives.

She was sceptical at first, but she was growing more and more certain with each passing day.

Ramen! Ramen was the reason why all of this was happening! Naruto lacked ramen - his favorite meal! The only thing always present in his life!

And now look at Naruto! The small, dreamy looks sent towards the general direction of Ichiraku! The lack of appetite or how he seemed to always avoid even getting close to shops that sell ramen! That had to be it!

And now, when Hinata knew about it, she decided to take things into her own hands.

***

Hinata stood in front of Naruto's apartment. Now, when Sasuke finally went on a mission alone, she had the best chance to bring her plan to life.

"Comin'!~", she heard from the other side of the door and soon after that, Naruto himself smiled at her from the entrance. "Oh, Hinata! What brings you here?"

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Can I come inside first?", she asked shyly, but with determination showing on her face.

"Yeah, sure", he moved to the side, letting her inside, with curiosity showing in his eyes.

She took her shoes off and followed after Naruto, who went to his kitchen to sit at the table. She laid a bag that she brought with her on the floor, next to her chair.

"Soo~?", encouraged Naruto, still smiling widely.

Hinata cleared her throat, then looked Uzumaki straight in the eyes. "Naruto-kun, are you feeling well?"

It definitely wasn't what Uzumaki had expected. He stared at her confused and chuckled. "Well, of course. It's a little lonely without Sasuke here", (the flash of pain in her eyes made him a little worried, but he decided to wait for her to explain herself.) "But I'll live, it's only for a day or two. Why askin'?"

"A- Are you sure? And I'm asking more generally. Haven't you been feeling more tired for some time now?", she started playing with her fingers, while her eyes darted to the sides and back to Naruto. "Don't you feel like you can't concentrate on things? Or that you're more clumsy than you used to?"

Naruto cocked his head and frowned, looking at her with even bigger confusion on his face.

"Don't you feel like you miss something in your life...?", she finished softly, looking at him expectantly. Her hand moved forward and closed on his. She leaned a little forward with eyes staring at him somewhat hopefully.

"What do you mean...? No, of course not", he swallowed dryly, visibly uneasy with accusations.

"Naruto-kun...", she started, "You don't need to do that to yourself. You are worth so much more than this. This kind of sacrifice... You shouldn't do that."

"What are you talking about?", he asked, distancing himself from her as much as he could with back of the chair behind him. Confusion and some hint of fear were showing on his face.

She took a deep breath and then, "Naruto-kun, I think you should break up with Sasuke. He's no good for you. He's not worthy of you."

Naruto's face blanked completely, clearing of all previous emotions, he cocked his head. "What?"

She clung to his hand, suddenly feeling more confident. "You had to notice how bad you've recently been! And it's all because of him! Stop it, please. Naruto-kun. You can't do that to yourself!", she begged. "I know that it won't be easy for you, but I can help! We can do that together! And look, I've even brought some-... Naruto-kun?", she asked, uncertain now.

Naruto's eyes were closed, jaws tightly clenched, when he made a show of sniffing air around him. His eyelids shot sharply up, focused stare looked somehow wild when it wandered around, visibly looking for something. Then his eyes stopped at the bag that Hinata had brought with her.

"What is this? What is inside of it?", he asked harshly, still concentrated on the bag.

"I just thought that we could start today, you know?", she said somewhat desperate, "Just the two of us. That's why I went to Ichiraku and bought some rame-"

Her quick mumbling stoped, when instantly Naruto took his hand back from her hold like her touch burned him. He stood up rapidly and stared at her furiously. Then he started to slowly get closer to her. Scared, she started talking even faster:

"B-because Sauske doesn't love you, Naruto-kun! He's using you! He told me so himself! An-and I do love you! We could start everything together! And with me you wouldn't have to stop eating ramen-, kyahh!", she screamed in surprise when Naruto grabbed her harshly by her arm and started to drag her to the door.

"Get. Out.", he said in voice so low that she could barely understand what he's saying.

"But Naruto-kun! You don't understand! I love you and you should be with me! Please! Don't do that! You need me! I need you! You can't do that, please!", she begged with tears falling from her eyes when they reached the exit doors of his house.

"Don't ever try to do that again", he snarled, before throwing her to the ground outside.

She rised on her arms quickly and looked back to see with watery stare Naruto's hateful eyes.

"Naruto-ku-", her voice broke on her pleading lament. Her body was trembling from suppressed cries.

Her shoes flew to the floor next to her, accompanied by loud thurd of the door smashed shut.

Sitting pathetically on the floor, she started weeping, not even trying to pick herself up. For her - the world had ended and her life became meaningless. She felt suffocated and each taken breath hurt her. She covered her mouth with hand to muffle the sound of her heart breaking.

***

She didn't know how long it took for her to finally raise to her feet and stagger to her home - barefoot with shoes in limp hand.