(Fic) One-shot: From behind the counter
Dedicated to JB, because she gave me the pairing I never thought I could write... And yeah. One-shot, shounen-ai/yaoi implications.
From Behind the Counter
He was there again. That ninja.
Ayame knew he was a ninja, because Daddy said so. And Daddy said he was a very sad ninja, because of the Big Bad Fox, and that's why a lot of the nice other kids and other ninja kids weren't there to play with her anymore.
Daddy had said, this ninja used to come with his parents, on Sundays, mostly. But now he was alone, and very sad, and Ayame wasn't to bother him, okay?
But Ayame was a naturally curious child, and the fun with working in the Ramen stand with Daddy was being able to talk to the people who came, and get them to tell her stories - because Mother and Daddy were always too busy to tell her stuff like that.
"Hey, are you *really* ninja?" She said, coming around the counter to the other's side, because she was too short to be seen over the counter.
Daddy said when she was older she could help serve from the counter, and boy would *that* be cool! But it'd take *years* to get that tall, which was annoying. Daddy said maybe next year, and laughed.
The other looked down at her, and sort of smiled. It was a kinda sad smile, the type that Kenjii from next door smiled when she asked about where his puppy'd gone. Only now Kenjii and his family are gone now, Mother says, and they aren't gonna come back, not even to school.
Daddy had said something about the Fox, but Mother had shushed him, and said that Kenjii had moved somewhere far away.
That had made her sad, because she'd liked playing with Kenjii, and he always had the *best* ideas about ninja-games, even though they both couldn't go to Ninja school 'cause their parents said so.
"Yeah, I am," the other said.
Ayame looked up at him in awe. Because, this was the *first* grown-up ninja she'd seen, who wasn't as young as she was, and he was *sitting* here, talking to her. None of the big grown-up ninjas would talk to her - they'd come in, order something, and sit outside waiting, and Daddy didn't let her go outside.
"That's so cool," Ayame said excitedly, looking up at him. He had a *scar* on his face! "Did that hurt?"
"This?" He pointed to the dark line across his nose. "Nah. It doesn't, not anymore." Then he smiled again, still that gone-puppy smile.
"Oh. Okay." Ayame looked at him again, believing he *was* a ninja. Normal kids and Daddy's friends didn't have scars on their faces, or funny marks, and they always said it hurt and stuff. *Ninja* didn't hurt, even when they had things on their faces.
"Why're you so sad?" she asked. "Didja lose your puppy too?"
The other's face went funny, like he'd bitten into those too-sour limes that Daddy sometimes put in the ramen.
"No, not a puppy." And he looked very much like Kenjii had, that time she'd asked about the puppy, and she felt really stricken for saying something wrong.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
He smiled the smile that she would always think of as the lime-twisted smile, and said, "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"Okay. Sorry. Um. What's your name?" She burst out, finally, trying to *show* she was sorry,
He reached down to pat her head, even as Daddy glanced around from the stove and yelled, "Ayame! Where - don't bother the customers! Come back here!"
"No, it's okay, Kobayashi-san," the ninja said, taking his hand away. "I'm Iruka. Go on back to your father, Ayame-chan. I've gotta go now," as Mother came out with the packed ramen to go.
"Okay," Ayame said, letting Mother take her hand and tug her back behind the counter so Daddy could watch her. "Will you come back? I wanna know more about ninja."
"Maybe," Iruka-ninja said, taking the bag from Mother with a slight bow. "Maybe."
~ " ~ " ~
Ayame could see over the counter now, and so Daddy said she could help with taking money from the customers. She was very happy that Daddy let her, even though Mother had to help her count the change sometimes, but today, she did it all correctly, and Mother smiled and said she'd get a sweet later.
"Hello, Ayame-chan."
She turned, smiling. "Oh, hello, Iruka-ninja! Miso-ramen again?"
Luckily Mother was out at the back, helping Daddy with the vegetables and getting more of the flour, so she couldn't scold her for addressing a customer like that.
He nodded and smiled at her, and took a seat at the counter, that seat that was lower than the others, just so she could reach easier when he handed her the money.
She liked to think that when he smiled and ate ramen, he didn't smile the lime-twisted smile so much. She liked it better when he smiled like this, when he was handing her the money and just a little more, so she could count out the change for him, the scar would perk at the edges, moving with his smile.
"I'm gonna be twelve next week," Ayame confided in him with a whisper.
"Oh, congratulations," Iruka-ninja said. "You're gonna grow up soon."
"Yeah!" She beamed at him and went around the counter to hand him the change. "One day, I'm gonna be as big as you, then I'm gonna be a ninja too!"
Iruka-ninja laughed, then his face settled into the lime-twist again, only not so. Oh dear, did she say something wrong?
"It's not really fun, Ayame-chan," was all he said, and then he didn't say anything more, even when Daddy brought out his order.
Ayame was quiet the rest of the day, trying to puzzle out what she'd said wrong this time.
~ " ~ " ~
"Hello again, Kitamura-san," Ayame said, smiling and shifting her head a little so her braid fell back down her back, instead of across her shoulder. She never did get around to cutting her hair, as Mother had said she should, and now it was too long to tie in a ponytail, and too short to *stay* as good braids should - behind her shoulder.
"Hey, Ayame-chan," the old man said, levering himself onto the stool in his favourite corner of the stand. "I see you have more chairs around."
"Yes we do," She said, putting a cup of tea in front of him. "Gyuudon, or fried rice, Kitamura-san?"
"Ah... I think, maybe something different today," he smiled back at her, "Do you have something with fish?"
"Mm, we have seafood ramen," Ayame thought through the things she'd bought yesterday - fish, fish... "but... oh, I just bought salmon yesterday. How about teriyaki salmon?"
"Oh, that would be good," he nodded and sipped his tea.
She jotted it down on her notepad - more for Dad than for herself, because she had a good memory, and could remember everything that the customers wanted.
Ah, it was nearly nine, she noted to herself, as she called the order to Dad round the back, and soon they'd be closing the stand for the day.
Only... she hadn't seen him for a month, now, and she was getting worried.
Iruka-san - Mother had finally managed to break her of the habit of calling him so disrespectfully a year ago, and she was horrified now, that she'd called him that, *ever*. Of course, he was very nice - nowhere near as grown-up as she'd first thought he was - he could only be two years older than her at most - and she had the excuse that she'd been young. She was fourteen now, old enough to know better, to know what ninja did in order to protect the village.
It didn't gel with what she'd seen of Iruka-san, but then, what did she know? She was a civilian, after all, she wouldn't be able to see what Iruka-san did. But she'd be willing to bet that Iruka-san was one of the *best* ninja in the village. She knew he was.
So the reason he didn't come around today, when he'd normally come every two weeks at *least*, was that he was on a mission. He had to be. Probably a blazing, glorious mission, hunting down evil missing-nin and criminals.
Dad came out with Kitamura-san's order, and she let him and Kitamura-san chat as she took a break, wandering out of the stand to breathe in the cool night air, and watch the flitting shadows on the roofs.
They chatted till quarter past nine, and Ayame and Dad closed the stand by nine-thirty.
He didn't come.
~ " ~ " ~
The kid was loud, a bright orange ball of blond hair and raucous laughter, and he kept calling Iruka-san Iruka-sensei.
"Oh, ramen, ramen!" the kid said in apparent euphoria. "I want ramen, nee-chan!"
She couldn't help but laugh at the kid. "What kind of ramen? Do you have the money?"
The boy fell silent, and looked at the scuffed, slightly
oily counter. "I..."
"I said I'd pay, Naruto," Iruka-san said, smiling slightly. "Two miso-ramen, for now, Ayame-san."
She nodded, and made the note and passed it through the window. "Sensei now, Iruka-san?" She asked.
It felt slightly odd, still, that Iruka-san was calling her -san, instead of -chan anymore.
"Aah," Iruka-san said, his head tilting, and his eyes crinkled around the edges as his smile widened a bit. It was only when he was not smiling when she remembered that he had a scar. "I made that position last month."
"Then you're very lucky you have Iruka-sensei as your teacher," she told the boy.
"I sure am!" The kid said, bouncing happily. "He buys me ramen!"
Iruka-sensei laughed and ruffled the boy's hair, and Ayame knew that the boy was getting the best education *ever*. He would be as good a ninja as Iruka-sensei one day.
~ " ~ " ~
Dad was now making it more of a restaurant than a stand, and she was learning how to cook oyakodon and tamago-sushi. The oyakodon was going well, she thought - Dad ate her efforts without making *too* many faces - but the egg for the tamago-sushi was difficult to master. She cooked most of the ramen now, so Dad could do the sushi with Mother. Dad was also talking about doing steaks and things, and things were expanding so much so that Ayame could more or less handle the ramen side of the stand by herself, most times, while Dad did the more intensive stuff, like the teriyaki bentos and such.
"Nee-chan!"
She laughed as she turned, putting the bag on the counter. "Tonketsu ramen to go!" she called out, and smiled at the boy as she waited for the silent man to come in and take his order. The dark-clad man nodded as he took the bag, a wisp of his silvery hair escaping from behind the bone-white mask and he disappeared before the boy could do more than say "Oh!" at him.
"Hi, Naruto-kun." She leaned over the counter, balancing on her elbows. "Skipped school again?"
The boy scrunched up his face as he handed over a crumpled note. "Nope! It's lunch-time!" He pointed at the clock behind her.
"Why, so it is," she said, affecting a surprised look at the time. "Miso again?"
"Yup!"
She laughed again - the kid just made her smile, as did his constant stream of chatter of his going to be the *best* ninja *ever*, and that he was gonna be Hokage.
As she put the noodles in to boil, and stirred the broth, she wondered where his sensei was.
He came less and less often now, though she saw more ninja around, it just wasn't the same. More ninja came in, sat in the little booths Dad had managed to find the space for, but Iruka-sensei, and now this student of his, was the only one to come and sit at the counter.
She kept the stool she always thought of as his clean and clear, and since ... well. Since he could always come in.
He looked so tired nowadays. Ayame'd always thought that teaching was the most demanding job *ever*, and with ninja kids? Naruto was his favourite student, and in her experience at school, the teachers' favourites were always the best students.
If Naruto was the *best*, the classroom must be pandonium.
"Here you go, Naruto-kun," she said, pushing the large bowl over. She'd taken to adding more than a handful of extra vegetables to Naruto's bowl, just as she did with Iruka-sensei's. Dad had noticed, but never said anything, so she gathered that he liked Iruka-sensei too.
Ninja needed the vitamins, after all. And at least, Iruka-sensei ordered other stuff, other than ramen, whereas this kid came in almost everyday *only* for miso-ramen.
"Oh, am wam for Iruga-shenshay," Naruto said through a mouthful.
She raised an eyebrow. "What did you say, Naruto-kun? It'd be better if you swallowed first, right?"
Naruto obliged. "Nee-chan makes the *best* ramen," he said happily. "Iruka-sensei gave me money to buy him one too!"
"Oh that's because I add in extra vegetables," she said with a wink, taking the money he was waving about. "Don't tell him I did, okay? Did he say what type?"
"He didn't say, just told me to get anything you'd make." Naruto beamed at her, and proceeded to slurp the rest of his ramen at an alarming rate.
Ayame smiled at that, and went to make tonketsu-ramen to take away. She also added a little side order of gyuudon with a heap more of vegetables than she normally did.
She told herself the heat in her cheeks was from the hot water she had to keep boiling for the noodles.
~ " ~ " ~
This time, Iruka-sensei didn't sit at the stool.
She wasn't all that surprised of course.
The stool had to be taken away - most of the counter-stools had to be, because she'd finally agreed to Mother's proposal that they revamp the place. Of course, not all at once; Mother and Dad had bought a bit more area out the front, and now they'd enlarged and put more booths there, making it more a proper restaurant. Unfortunately, the counter-stools hadn't matched the new furnishings, and they had to go.
So she'd smiled at Iruka-sensei and said, "Take a seat sensei - I'll be right over!"
She *was* surprised that the other person with him wasn't Naruto though. For one, Naruto never wore anything else but blinding orange.
For another, this man was *tall*. Tall, dressed in the same uniform Iruka-sensei was wearing.
And she recognized him as one of the silent ninja who ordered something quick and easy; usually gyuudon or plain ramen, and waited outside, disregarding the little row of chairs they'd put outside, like all ninja did.
Like all ninja did, *except* Iruka-sensei.
"Thank you, Ayame-san," Iruka-sensei said.
The other ninja just nodded, face impassive, eyes hidden behind shades which he didn't take off, even in the dimmer light of the restaurant.
Ayame got the feeling that he was looking around in disdain, sitting like that, stiff and gingerly at the edge of his seat opposite Iruka-sensei.
And he seemed to take special care to avoid looking at Iruka-sensei.
Well, Ayame had nothing against Iruka-sensei's friends, but she wasn't all that disposed to like this one.
~ " ~ " ~
Naruto had graduated from the Academy.
He'd told her, and so had Iruka-sensei let drop when he came by some two months later, when he could sit at the counter. His special stool was gone - they were all of the same height and design. It made her heart ache, just a little, that it was gone, but at least, Iruka-sensei still sat at the same spot where that stool *used* to be, which was nearly enough. When he came alone.
She put a bowl of gyuudon in front of him, with a smaller bowl of miso soup next to it, and she leaned on the counter, face in her hands as she watched him eat.
He looked worn now. So very worn when he came alone.
"How is teaching now, Iruka-sensei?"
"Tiring," Iruka-sensei smiled wanly. "The children are good, active. But I'm getting old."
She laughed. "Old, sensei? You're still young."
He smiled, and it jolted her to realise it was the lime-twist smile. She hadn't seen it since Naruto came on the scene.
"Ninja don't live past thirty, Ayame-chan."
That sent a shiver down her spine - the -chan and the lime-twist. She'd heard that saying before, of course, but it *couldn't* apply to Iruka-sensei.
To steer away from that topic, she said, "Where is jounin-san, anyway?"
Naruto'd told her, once, in between mouthfuls of shio ramen, that the man with Iruka-sensei was the Closet Pervert jounin.
Naruto had a way of exaggerating things.
"Working," Iruka-sensei said, the lime-twist more pronounced. "He's... very busy. I don't want to talk about it, right now."
"Ah."
Another customer came in, and Ayame had to leave Iruka-sensei to tend to her.
When she looked back again, the jounin-san was there, leaning on the counter, nearly looming over Iruka-sensei.
Their voices were quiet, and she couldn't hear what they were saying. Iruka-sensei's head was bowed anyway, eyes shadowed.
The jounin-san said something, and then Iruka-sensei stood, pushing the bowl towards her. "I'm done, Ayame-san," he said, smiling slightly at her as he left, the jounin-san waiting at the entrance. "Thank you - it was very good."
She managed to turn just in time to catch the tail end of a faint smile - more tired, but the lime-twist was gone, and then.
Through the shadows of the flaps at the entrance, she thought she saw the taller of the two hold Iruka-sensei closely, tilting the head.
But then, it could have been a trick of the lighting, because she blinked and the jounin-san was gone, and the shadow she knew to be Iruka-sensei's stood there a moment, before moving away down the street.
~ " ~ " ~
Koichi was a very sweet man, Ayame decided, as the man waved to her as she walked back from the market. Sweet, and kind, and Mother said that he was a very good choice.
She thought so too.
He also was a moderately good cook, and willing to learn - Dad thought he might be worth apprenticing to his restaurant. Personally, Ayame thought that Koichi couldn't learn the more complicated things, like the sushi she was helping Mother do. But ramen, and the rice dishes, he could do pretty well.
The restaurant was doing well, she thought, as she mentally tallied up the month's profits. Well enough that she thought that maybe putting in a small tea section of the restaurant side of things would appeal to the more cultured side of the customers, and bring in yet more profit.
She liked that thought, though, in all reality, when she considered where which part of the population was frequenting more, she noticed the restaurant was mainly patronised by the civilians, and the shinobi came more to the ramen-stand.
Strangely enough, the ramen side of things was still her favourite. Maybe because it was a brisk business - since it was more a fast-food type of thing. The customers came and went, fast as smoke, and she saw lots of people she knew, knew since childhood.
Naruto didn't come by anymore though.
Iruka-sensei said nothing about what had happened to him, but it wasn't the lime-twist smile, nor the lost-puppy look, so that meant Naruto was okay.
He came less frequently too. What she'd heard, from the gossip in the stand, was that even with the new Hokage, there still were not enough shinobi and everyone had to go on missions, even those harder than they were supposed to go on. That meant Iruka-sensei was gone a lot of the time.
Strangely though, the jounin came by pretty often. He would order something, something quick and cheap, to eat here, fast, intent and rigid, and order something to go.
She rarely had to ask what was to go.
It could only be miso-ramen.
With that extra helping of vegetables.
~ " ~ " ~
Little Juro was running around again. He was back from school, and tripping up the customers at the restaurant. Mother didn't mind that, but Koichi got embarressed that his nephew was causing so much trouble to his mother-in-law, so Ayame took him over to the ramen stand. She didn't mind - she was stern with the boy, though he apparently liked it that way - it meant he could sit under the table behind the counter, with just enough space to see the customers in coming in and out of the stand.
Juro knew enough not to bother the customers - especially not the ninja ones.
Though, Juro was going to the ninja Academy - that meant he had as many stories to tell her from school as from the customers.
He spoke often of a Shikamaru-sensei, who was lazy and always sleeping in class, but somehow managed to teach them stuff, enough to be *great* ninja.
He often told those stories to her, at the top of his little lungs, over the hiss and smoke of the stove in the ramen stand, loud enough for any customers to hear.
Sometimes, she wanted to tell Juro, to ask this Shikamaru-sensei whether he knew an Iruka-sensei, or even a Closet-Pervert jounin.
But she didn't, and let his childish chatter wash over her, letting herself substitute Shikamaru for Iruka-sensei. Because he must be doing the same things as this Shikamaru-sensei did, mustn't he? Even when neither of them had come to the stand for nearly a year, Iruka-sensei *must* be teaching still.
She closed her eyes, let herself make up that extra miso-ramen she always did, and forced herself not to add that extra handful.
She would be twenty-nine come next month.
"Hey. Hey, Konohamaru-san!" Juro said happily.
"Oh hi, squirt."
The sound of ruffling hair. "Have I seen you around?"
"I'm Juro, Shikamaru-sensei teaches my class - you came to my class last week, jounin-san!"
Ayame started at that, but recovered quickly.
The jounin laughed, and there was the hair ruffling again. "Eh, Juro-kun. Good that you remember, eh? Oh, nee-chan, miso-ramen please? Naruto-nii-chan always says you do the best ramen."
She laughed, and turned, putting that extra handful of vegetables in. "It's the secret ingredient," she said. "Tell Hokage-sama I said hi."
"Hai, hai, nee-chan."
Juro laughed as the dark-haired jounin ruffled his hair again, and Ayame just wished, his face had that scar, and that bright happy smile on his face was lime-twisted, just so she could make him smile properly again.
It has been years since anyone has called her Ayame-chan.
Guess the pairing! And... Hmm. I wonder what happened in the end. :P
From Behind the Counter
He was there again. That ninja.
Ayame knew he was a ninja, because Daddy said so. And Daddy said he was a very sad ninja, because of the Big Bad Fox, and that's why a lot of the nice other kids and other ninja kids weren't there to play with her anymore.
Daddy had said, this ninja used to come with his parents, on Sundays, mostly. But now he was alone, and very sad, and Ayame wasn't to bother him, okay?
But Ayame was a naturally curious child, and the fun with working in the Ramen stand with Daddy was being able to talk to the people who came, and get them to tell her stories - because Mother and Daddy were always too busy to tell her stuff like that.
"Hey, are you *really* ninja?" She said, coming around the counter to the other's side, because she was too short to be seen over the counter.
Daddy said when she was older she could help serve from the counter, and boy would *that* be cool! But it'd take *years* to get that tall, which was annoying. Daddy said maybe next year, and laughed.
The other looked down at her, and sort of smiled. It was a kinda sad smile, the type that Kenjii from next door smiled when she asked about where his puppy'd gone. Only now Kenjii and his family are gone now, Mother says, and they aren't gonna come back, not even to school.
Daddy had said something about the Fox, but Mother had shushed him, and said that Kenjii had moved somewhere far away.
That had made her sad, because she'd liked playing with Kenjii, and he always had the *best* ideas about ninja-games, even though they both couldn't go to Ninja school 'cause their parents said so.
"Yeah, I am," the other said.
Ayame looked up at him in awe. Because, this was the *first* grown-up ninja she'd seen, who wasn't as young as she was, and he was *sitting* here, talking to her. None of the big grown-up ninjas would talk to her - they'd come in, order something, and sit outside waiting, and Daddy didn't let her go outside.
"That's so cool," Ayame said excitedly, looking up at him. He had a *scar* on his face! "Did that hurt?"
"This?" He pointed to the dark line across his nose. "Nah. It doesn't, not anymore." Then he smiled again, still that gone-puppy smile.
"Oh. Okay." Ayame looked at him again, believing he *was* a ninja. Normal kids and Daddy's friends didn't have scars on their faces, or funny marks, and they always said it hurt and stuff. *Ninja* didn't hurt, even when they had things on their faces.
"Why're you so sad?" she asked. "Didja lose your puppy too?"
The other's face went funny, like he'd bitten into those too-sour limes that Daddy sometimes put in the ramen.
"No, not a puppy." And he looked very much like Kenjii had, that time she'd asked about the puppy, and she felt really stricken for saying something wrong.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
He smiled the smile that she would always think of as the lime-twisted smile, and said, "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"Okay. Sorry. Um. What's your name?" She burst out, finally, trying to *show* she was sorry,
He reached down to pat her head, even as Daddy glanced around from the stove and yelled, "Ayame! Where - don't bother the customers! Come back here!"
"No, it's okay, Kobayashi-san," the ninja said, taking his hand away. "I'm Iruka. Go on back to your father, Ayame-chan. I've gotta go now," as Mother came out with the packed ramen to go.
"Okay," Ayame said, letting Mother take her hand and tug her back behind the counter so Daddy could watch her. "Will you come back? I wanna know more about ninja."
"Maybe," Iruka-ninja said, taking the bag from Mother with a slight bow. "Maybe."
~ " ~ " ~
Ayame could see over the counter now, and so Daddy said she could help with taking money from the customers. She was very happy that Daddy let her, even though Mother had to help her count the change sometimes, but today, she did it all correctly, and Mother smiled and said she'd get a sweet later.
"Hello, Ayame-chan."
She turned, smiling. "Oh, hello, Iruka-ninja! Miso-ramen again?"
Luckily Mother was out at the back, helping Daddy with the vegetables and getting more of the flour, so she couldn't scold her for addressing a customer like that.
He nodded and smiled at her, and took a seat at the counter, that seat that was lower than the others, just so she could reach easier when he handed her the money.
She liked to think that when he smiled and ate ramen, he didn't smile the lime-twisted smile so much. She liked it better when he smiled like this, when he was handing her the money and just a little more, so she could count out the change for him, the scar would perk at the edges, moving with his smile.
"I'm gonna be twelve next week," Ayame confided in him with a whisper.
"Oh, congratulations," Iruka-ninja said. "You're gonna grow up soon."
"Yeah!" She beamed at him and went around the counter to hand him the change. "One day, I'm gonna be as big as you, then I'm gonna be a ninja too!"
Iruka-ninja laughed, then his face settled into the lime-twist again, only not so. Oh dear, did she say something wrong?
"It's not really fun, Ayame-chan," was all he said, and then he didn't say anything more, even when Daddy brought out his order.
Ayame was quiet the rest of the day, trying to puzzle out what she'd said wrong this time.
~ " ~ " ~
"Hello again, Kitamura-san," Ayame said, smiling and shifting her head a little so her braid fell back down her back, instead of across her shoulder. She never did get around to cutting her hair, as Mother had said she should, and now it was too long to tie in a ponytail, and too short to *stay* as good braids should - behind her shoulder.
"Hey, Ayame-chan," the old man said, levering himself onto the stool in his favourite corner of the stand. "I see you have more chairs around."
"Yes we do," She said, putting a cup of tea in front of him. "Gyuudon, or fried rice, Kitamura-san?"
"Ah... I think, maybe something different today," he smiled back at her, "Do you have something with fish?"
"Mm, we have seafood ramen," Ayame thought through the things she'd bought yesterday - fish, fish... "but... oh, I just bought salmon yesterday. How about teriyaki salmon?"
"Oh, that would be good," he nodded and sipped his tea.
She jotted it down on her notepad - more for Dad than for herself, because she had a good memory, and could remember everything that the customers wanted.
Ah, it was nearly nine, she noted to herself, as she called the order to Dad round the back, and soon they'd be closing the stand for the day.
Only... she hadn't seen him for a month, now, and she was getting worried.
Iruka-san - Mother had finally managed to break her of the habit of calling him so disrespectfully a year ago, and she was horrified now, that she'd called him that, *ever*. Of course, he was very nice - nowhere near as grown-up as she'd first thought he was - he could only be two years older than her at most - and she had the excuse that she'd been young. She was fourteen now, old enough to know better, to know what ninja did in order to protect the village.
It didn't gel with what she'd seen of Iruka-san, but then, what did she know? She was a civilian, after all, she wouldn't be able to see what Iruka-san did. But she'd be willing to bet that Iruka-san was one of the *best* ninja in the village. She knew he was.
So the reason he didn't come around today, when he'd normally come every two weeks at *least*, was that he was on a mission. He had to be. Probably a blazing, glorious mission, hunting down evil missing-nin and criminals.
Dad came out with Kitamura-san's order, and she let him and Kitamura-san chat as she took a break, wandering out of the stand to breathe in the cool night air, and watch the flitting shadows on the roofs.
They chatted till quarter past nine, and Ayame and Dad closed the stand by nine-thirty.
He didn't come.
~ " ~ " ~
The kid was loud, a bright orange ball of blond hair and raucous laughter, and he kept calling Iruka-san Iruka-sensei.
"Oh, ramen, ramen!" the kid said in apparent euphoria. "I want ramen, nee-chan!"
She couldn't help but laugh at the kid. "What kind of ramen? Do you have the money?"
The boy fell silent, and looked at the scuffed, slightly
oily counter. "I..."
"I said I'd pay, Naruto," Iruka-san said, smiling slightly. "Two miso-ramen, for now, Ayame-san."
She nodded, and made the note and passed it through the window. "Sensei now, Iruka-san?" She asked.
It felt slightly odd, still, that Iruka-san was calling her -san, instead of -chan anymore.
"Aah," Iruka-san said, his head tilting, and his eyes crinkled around the edges as his smile widened a bit. It was only when he was not smiling when she remembered that he had a scar. "I made that position last month."
"Then you're very lucky you have Iruka-sensei as your teacher," she told the boy.
"I sure am!" The kid said, bouncing happily. "He buys me ramen!"
Iruka-sensei laughed and ruffled the boy's hair, and Ayame knew that the boy was getting the best education *ever*. He would be as good a ninja as Iruka-sensei one day.
~ " ~ " ~
Dad was now making it more of a restaurant than a stand, and she was learning how to cook oyakodon and tamago-sushi. The oyakodon was going well, she thought - Dad ate her efforts without making *too* many faces - but the egg for the tamago-sushi was difficult to master. She cooked most of the ramen now, so Dad could do the sushi with Mother. Dad was also talking about doing steaks and things, and things were expanding so much so that Ayame could more or less handle the ramen side of the stand by herself, most times, while Dad did the more intensive stuff, like the teriyaki bentos and such.
"Nee-chan!"
She laughed as she turned, putting the bag on the counter. "Tonketsu ramen to go!" she called out, and smiled at the boy as she waited for the silent man to come in and take his order. The dark-clad man nodded as he took the bag, a wisp of his silvery hair escaping from behind the bone-white mask and he disappeared before the boy could do more than say "Oh!" at him.
"Hi, Naruto-kun." She leaned over the counter, balancing on her elbows. "Skipped school again?"
The boy scrunched up his face as he handed over a crumpled note. "Nope! It's lunch-time!" He pointed at the clock behind her.
"Why, so it is," she said, affecting a surprised look at the time. "Miso again?"
"Yup!"
She laughed again - the kid just made her smile, as did his constant stream of chatter of his going to be the *best* ninja *ever*, and that he was gonna be Hokage.
As she put the noodles in to boil, and stirred the broth, she wondered where his sensei was.
He came less and less often now, though she saw more ninja around, it just wasn't the same. More ninja came in, sat in the little booths Dad had managed to find the space for, but Iruka-sensei, and now this student of his, was the only one to come and sit at the counter.
She kept the stool she always thought of as his clean and clear, and since ... well. Since he could always come in.
He looked so tired nowadays. Ayame'd always thought that teaching was the most demanding job *ever*, and with ninja kids? Naruto was his favourite student, and in her experience at school, the teachers' favourites were always the best students.
If Naruto was the *best*, the classroom must be pandonium.
"Here you go, Naruto-kun," she said, pushing the large bowl over. She'd taken to adding more than a handful of extra vegetables to Naruto's bowl, just as she did with Iruka-sensei's. Dad had noticed, but never said anything, so she gathered that he liked Iruka-sensei too.
Ninja needed the vitamins, after all. And at least, Iruka-sensei ordered other stuff, other than ramen, whereas this kid came in almost everyday *only* for miso-ramen.
"Oh, am wam for Iruga-shenshay," Naruto said through a mouthful.
She raised an eyebrow. "What did you say, Naruto-kun? It'd be better if you swallowed first, right?"
Naruto obliged. "Nee-chan makes the *best* ramen," he said happily. "Iruka-sensei gave me money to buy him one too!"
"Oh that's because I add in extra vegetables," she said with a wink, taking the money he was waving about. "Don't tell him I did, okay? Did he say what type?"
"He didn't say, just told me to get anything you'd make." Naruto beamed at her, and proceeded to slurp the rest of his ramen at an alarming rate.
Ayame smiled at that, and went to make tonketsu-ramen to take away. She also added a little side order of gyuudon with a heap more of vegetables than she normally did.
She told herself the heat in her cheeks was from the hot water she had to keep boiling for the noodles.
~ " ~ " ~
This time, Iruka-sensei didn't sit at the stool.
She wasn't all that surprised of course.
The stool had to be taken away - most of the counter-stools had to be, because she'd finally agreed to Mother's proposal that they revamp the place. Of course, not all at once; Mother and Dad had bought a bit more area out the front, and now they'd enlarged and put more booths there, making it more a proper restaurant. Unfortunately, the counter-stools hadn't matched the new furnishings, and they had to go.
So she'd smiled at Iruka-sensei and said, "Take a seat sensei - I'll be right over!"
She *was* surprised that the other person with him wasn't Naruto though. For one, Naruto never wore anything else but blinding orange.
For another, this man was *tall*. Tall, dressed in the same uniform Iruka-sensei was wearing.
And she recognized him as one of the silent ninja who ordered something quick and easy; usually gyuudon or plain ramen, and waited outside, disregarding the little row of chairs they'd put outside, like all ninja did.
Like all ninja did, *except* Iruka-sensei.
"Thank you, Ayame-san," Iruka-sensei said.
The other ninja just nodded, face impassive, eyes hidden behind shades which he didn't take off, even in the dimmer light of the restaurant.
Ayame got the feeling that he was looking around in disdain, sitting like that, stiff and gingerly at the edge of his seat opposite Iruka-sensei.
And he seemed to take special care to avoid looking at Iruka-sensei.
Well, Ayame had nothing against Iruka-sensei's friends, but she wasn't all that disposed to like this one.
~ " ~ " ~
Naruto had graduated from the Academy.
He'd told her, and so had Iruka-sensei let drop when he came by some two months later, when he could sit at the counter. His special stool was gone - they were all of the same height and design. It made her heart ache, just a little, that it was gone, but at least, Iruka-sensei still sat at the same spot where that stool *used* to be, which was nearly enough. When he came alone.
She put a bowl of gyuudon in front of him, with a smaller bowl of miso soup next to it, and she leaned on the counter, face in her hands as she watched him eat.
He looked worn now. So very worn when he came alone.
"How is teaching now, Iruka-sensei?"
"Tiring," Iruka-sensei smiled wanly. "The children are good, active. But I'm getting old."
She laughed. "Old, sensei? You're still young."
He smiled, and it jolted her to realise it was the lime-twist smile. She hadn't seen it since Naruto came on the scene.
"Ninja don't live past thirty, Ayame-chan."
That sent a shiver down her spine - the -chan and the lime-twist. She'd heard that saying before, of course, but it *couldn't* apply to Iruka-sensei.
To steer away from that topic, she said, "Where is jounin-san, anyway?"
Naruto'd told her, once, in between mouthfuls of shio ramen, that the man with Iruka-sensei was the Closet Pervert jounin.
Naruto had a way of exaggerating things.
"Working," Iruka-sensei said, the lime-twist more pronounced. "He's... very busy. I don't want to talk about it, right now."
"Ah."
Another customer came in, and Ayame had to leave Iruka-sensei to tend to her.
When she looked back again, the jounin-san was there, leaning on the counter, nearly looming over Iruka-sensei.
Their voices were quiet, and she couldn't hear what they were saying. Iruka-sensei's head was bowed anyway, eyes shadowed.
The jounin-san said something, and then Iruka-sensei stood, pushing the bowl towards her. "I'm done, Ayame-san," he said, smiling slightly at her as he left, the jounin-san waiting at the entrance. "Thank you - it was very good."
She managed to turn just in time to catch the tail end of a faint smile - more tired, but the lime-twist was gone, and then.
Through the shadows of the flaps at the entrance, she thought she saw the taller of the two hold Iruka-sensei closely, tilting the head.
But then, it could have been a trick of the lighting, because she blinked and the jounin-san was gone, and the shadow she knew to be Iruka-sensei's stood there a moment, before moving away down the street.
~ " ~ " ~
Koichi was a very sweet man, Ayame decided, as the man waved to her as she walked back from the market. Sweet, and kind, and Mother said that he was a very good choice.
She thought so too.
He also was a moderately good cook, and willing to learn - Dad thought he might be worth apprenticing to his restaurant. Personally, Ayame thought that Koichi couldn't learn the more complicated things, like the sushi she was helping Mother do. But ramen, and the rice dishes, he could do pretty well.
The restaurant was doing well, she thought, as she mentally tallied up the month's profits. Well enough that she thought that maybe putting in a small tea section of the restaurant side of things would appeal to the more cultured side of the customers, and bring in yet more profit.
She liked that thought, though, in all reality, when she considered where which part of the population was frequenting more, she noticed the restaurant was mainly patronised by the civilians, and the shinobi came more to the ramen-stand.
Strangely enough, the ramen side of things was still her favourite. Maybe because it was a brisk business - since it was more a fast-food type of thing. The customers came and went, fast as smoke, and she saw lots of people she knew, knew since childhood.
Naruto didn't come by anymore though.
Iruka-sensei said nothing about what had happened to him, but it wasn't the lime-twist smile, nor the lost-puppy look, so that meant Naruto was okay.
He came less frequently too. What she'd heard, from the gossip in the stand, was that even with the new Hokage, there still were not enough shinobi and everyone had to go on missions, even those harder than they were supposed to go on. That meant Iruka-sensei was gone a lot of the time.
Strangely though, the jounin came by pretty often. He would order something, something quick and cheap, to eat here, fast, intent and rigid, and order something to go.
She rarely had to ask what was to go.
It could only be miso-ramen.
With that extra helping of vegetables.
~ " ~ " ~
Little Juro was running around again. He was back from school, and tripping up the customers at the restaurant. Mother didn't mind that, but Koichi got embarressed that his nephew was causing so much trouble to his mother-in-law, so Ayame took him over to the ramen stand. She didn't mind - she was stern with the boy, though he apparently liked it that way - it meant he could sit under the table behind the counter, with just enough space to see the customers in coming in and out of the stand.
Juro knew enough not to bother the customers - especially not the ninja ones.
Though, Juro was going to the ninja Academy - that meant he had as many stories to tell her from school as from the customers.
He spoke often of a Shikamaru-sensei, who was lazy and always sleeping in class, but somehow managed to teach them stuff, enough to be *great* ninja.
He often told those stories to her, at the top of his little lungs, over the hiss and smoke of the stove in the ramen stand, loud enough for any customers to hear.
Sometimes, she wanted to tell Juro, to ask this Shikamaru-sensei whether he knew an Iruka-sensei, or even a Closet-Pervert jounin.
But she didn't, and let his childish chatter wash over her, letting herself substitute Shikamaru for Iruka-sensei. Because he must be doing the same things as this Shikamaru-sensei did, mustn't he? Even when neither of them had come to the stand for nearly a year, Iruka-sensei *must* be teaching still.
She closed her eyes, let herself make up that extra miso-ramen she always did, and forced herself not to add that extra handful.
She would be twenty-nine come next month.
"Hey. Hey, Konohamaru-san!" Juro said happily.
"Oh hi, squirt."
The sound of ruffling hair. "Have I seen you around?"
"I'm Juro, Shikamaru-sensei teaches my class - you came to my class last week, jounin-san!"
Ayame started at that, but recovered quickly.
The jounin laughed, and there was the hair ruffling again. "Eh, Juro-kun. Good that you remember, eh? Oh, nee-chan, miso-ramen please? Naruto-nii-chan always says you do the best ramen."
She laughed, and turned, putting that extra handful of vegetables in. "It's the secret ingredient," she said. "Tell Hokage-sama I said hi."
"Hai, hai, nee-chan."
Juro laughed as the dark-haired jounin ruffled his hair again, and Ayame just wished, his face had that scar, and that bright happy smile on his face was lime-twisted, just so she could make him smile properly again.
It has been years since anyone has called her Ayame-chan.
Guess the pairing! And... Hmm. I wonder what happened in the end. :P