Cat, Zhen, and I stood before Tsunade-sama, the Godaime. Jiraiya stood in front of us at the center. The Hokage, after the report, asked the one question that we had hoped that she wouldn't. "So, what exactly is the fantasy illusion no jutsu?"
When we all turned green at the question, thankfully, the Lady Fifth decided to drop the question. Zhen-chan was the only one who didn't look like she was about to hurl. "Actually, on second thought," the Slug Princess said with a grimace, "I don't want to know. Anything that can make Jiraiya queasy should be left unheard. Anyway, we now know that Orochimaru is moving around the Five Great Shinobi Nations alone and a few other choice bits of information, thanks to your efforts. I suggest you go out somewhere together and relax for a while." She shooed us out of her office. On the way out, we met Naruto.
Zhen-chan stopped him with a small clearing of her throat. She looked at me expectantly. Naruto looked from her to me to Cat with a puzzled expression on her face. "Remember what you said after our preliminary mission, Chessy?"
I blushed fiercely and glared at her.
"You promised..." she continued, "for the information he gave us, I think it's a fitting reward." Her evil little grin became a smile worthy of Orochimaru himself.
"Um...Naruto..." I trailed off, and the genin looked at me, his face confused by the blush on my cheeks. I looked up at him, suddenly shy and bashful. "When we had to face off against Jiraiya-sensei, I had to go up against Gamabunta to get the bells off of him...so that we could become ANBU. And I promised...well....that when I saw you again..." My eyes blazed for a moment. "Understand that this is a one-time thing, okay?" I stepped closer to him, and he gazed up at me in a mixture of fear and bemusement. I leaned closed to him and kissed him gently on the lips, my eyes closing and my cheeks burning brighter. I straightened quickly, unable to meet his eyes. "Just thanks, okay. You helped us become ANBU, so just thanks." I stepped away shyly.
When I got the nerve up to look at him again, he was gazing at me with a face as red as mine. He was blinking rapidly, as if in shock. Zhen and Cat were literally stuffing their fists into their mouths to try to keep from laughing. Unsuccessfully, of course. "Um...sorry."
Zhen-chan made the mistake of walking up next to me and looping an arm around my shoulders. "Naruto and Chessy sitting in a tree..." That was as far as she got in the song, because I dropped her onto her back like a hot potato. The next thing she knew, she was looking up at me over the blade of one of my many concealed kunai knives.
"One more word, one more letter, and you will regret it." I snarled at her, my embarrassment forgotten. "You were the one who held me to this in the first place."
I shoved her away and sheathed my kunai. "Sorry, Naruto." I added, looking over at the still shell-shocked blond. "I'll buy you some ramen to make up for it, if you want."
I had not noticed that he had been staring at me the whole time. Some ANBU I was. But the word 'ramen' seemed to snap him out of whatever reverie he was in.
"That's okay...wait, did you say RAMEN?" Naruto nearly jumped up in delight.
I sighed. I knew that my career as an ANBU had just become complicated.
"Naruto and Chessy..." came a whisper from behind me.
I threw a kunai at the source.
Damn these teammates of mine, I thought to myself.