To Heal a Broken Heart (Sequel to Torn Between Two)

Chapter 28

Weeks had passed since Lord Third's funeral. 

I was still saddened by it, but now, I was stressed over the fact that it's up to me to tell Naruto the truth. I wasn't prepared for that day.

I was sitting at Ichiraku, eating some breakfast currently. Ayame was finally cheered up after having her heartbroken and Teuchi still kept threatening Daichi here and there, even though he wasn't even here.

"I'm telling you Ayame, if you just tell me where he lives, I won't actually kill him," Teuchi said to her.

She shook her head. "No Father, Hana already took care of him. You don't need to worry about it," 

Teuchi looked at me. "Did you kill him?"

I shook my head. "No, but he did get his ass kicked,"

Teuchi grinned. "Glad to hear that,"

Ayame just sighed at him and set my drink down. 

Naruto then sat next to me and I had to get my mind off the future immediately. 

"Oh, hey Hana!" He said, sitting down next to me. 

"Hi Naruto," I smiled. "Were you training today?"

He nodded. "Yes I was, but I'm going to go back to training after I have breakfast,"

Teuchi went to take his order, then asked for the payment. 

"Oh, I have a coupon right here!" Naruto said and reached into his pockets. 

Now he looked confused. He then searched in the other pocket, still looking confused.

"This is so weird..." He muttered, rummaging through every pocket he had.

Teuchi looked like he felt bad for him. "Sorry kid no coupon, no ramen. Those are the rules,"

"No, wait!" Naruto exclaimed. "I just had one, I swear!"

I started reaching in my pocket. "Naruto, I can pay for yours if you'd like,"

Naruto shook his head. "No that won't be necessary. I had a coupon, but I can't seem to remember where I put it,"

I glanced at Teuchi and then looked back at Naruto. He adjusted his headband, then a coupon fell right onto his lap.

"Here it is!" Naruto said and handed it over to Teuchi.

Ayame came out from the back with a bowl of ramen and placed it down for him. 

"False alarm, huh?" Teuchi asked, holding onto the coupon.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "What happened back there was that I stuck it behind my headband because I was afraid it might fall out of my pocket during training earlier this morning,"

Teuchi put the coupon in the cash register and Naruto started telling me all about a Sand ninja he fought named Gaara, and about his match. He didn't say much about Sasuke, but I could tell that worried him so he didn't really want to bring that up right now.

"Hey there! C'mon in!" Teuchi greeted.

I turned my head and saw Jiraiya.

"I had to see it with my own eyes," Jiraiya chuckled, causing Naruto to turn around to look at him. "It looks like you do eat nothing but ramen, huh, short stuff?"

Naruto nearly choked on his ramen.

"What're you doing here?!" Naruto shouted.

Jiraiya looked offended. "How cold...is that any way to treat someone who's trained you for the Chunin Exams?"