Siderite
Summary: This is my new series. Every chapter is going to be a one shot based on Hinata with someone else and each chapter will stand independantly so I'll make it appear as complete. There's going to be romance, tragedy, friendship, anger and...did I mention romance? I'll rate the whole series as T but I'll put up another rating in each summary for each chapter. So look forward to all the crackety crack crack that is soon to fill your delightful screens.
Also: For every chapter I will add a quote from a book, famous person, poem or song that I've written down in my years of living. I'll draw inspiration from this quote and the story will work with it but don't worry! Though almost all my quotes are western I will not go AU. Maybe one day but that day is not now.
Also Also: This fic was dedicated to Ohioan0897 but because I suck, I wrote an Ino x Hinata friendship fic instead of the Naruto x Hinata I was asked to do. So Naruto x Hinata will come later I promise, for now, here is Ino!
Disclaimer: One day I will write crossovers and AU fics so it's only fair to assume, in my opinion anyway, that one day I will own Naruto as well. Alas that day is not today but do not fret lovely people, one day it will be mine! Mine! Mwahahahaha! *cough cough* Ok ok, I do not own Naruto. Happy?....geez, killjoys...
Start Small
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further..."
– The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here she was, again. It would seem to most that this piece of wood that she stood behind would be her favourite place to stand. She could clearly see without being seen and hear without being heard, also the fact that she always hid behind it would lend some the assumption that this was the place she most wanted to be. At the foot of the post, the dirt had been cleared into the very distinct form of feet and every time she saw him enter that ramen restaurant with his friends and sensei she would always place herself in the space cleared for her, by her. The wood on the post was marked from her scratching in hesitation and annoyance-crude symbols drawn in her long suffering silences while she was watching him.
But though it may look to some that the post was her refuge, friend and confidant, they'd be wrong. She hated that post. She transferred all self recrimination and infuriation into it. In her mind, eager to pass on the blame, it was the post's fault that she couldn't be seen by him. The spaces at the foot of it held her feet and didn't allow her to go to him and the symbols marked gave her mind something to do instead of contemplating the thought of thinking of something to say and gathering the courage needed to approach him. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be there, beside him.
Instead here she stood, behind the wretched thing, watching him again. She watched as his cerulean eyes danced in laughter at something his pink haired teammate had said to their sensei and sighed in abject silence. His attitude was as bright as ever and the dark haired watcher felt justified in her adoration of the blonde haired young man every time she saw him smile. Here was a man you could honour and love and follow.
So caught up in thoughts of the young shinobi, Hinata was not prepared for the loud crash that sounded behind her, making her whirl around and face the noise. The wooden fence near where Hinata was standing now lay in a heap of broken planks. Hearing footsteps, Hinata turned her head back around to the restaurant and was met by the curious gaze of her long time crush.
"Hi Hinata-chan, what are you up to?"
"Ano, good afternoon N-Naruto-kun," she managed to say, her fingers tightening in her jacket and her back pushing against the post in an attempt to pull herself together at the thought of his proximity, "I-I'm not sure what happened."
Thanking the stars that her voice had come out somewhat clear, Hinata watched as Naruto smiled at her and walked over to the pile of wood with a thoughtful expression while his sensei and two teammates came over to join them at a steady pace.
They all started running however when they heard a strangled voice call from underneath the wood.
The young kunoichi paled and quickly activated her bloodline limit to see where the noise had come from underneath all the wood and yelped when Kakashi roughly ran past her, jolting her slightly, when she pointed to where the person lay under the pile.
In a moment, the person was unveiled and helped to their feet by the energetic blonde and his sensei as the others simply watched, ready to go to action if needed. As soon as the person was upright and left to brush off the splinters by themselves without help, Hinata could finally see who it was.
"Ino," The pink haired kunoichi spoke as she moved next to the other girl, "Are you ok?"
Nodding, Ino brushed off her concerned friend's question and looked straight at Hinata as she replied.
"I was going to see Tsunade-sama and jumped on a rotted piece of wood," her eyes brooked no argument as she straightened her back and started to walk towards the heiress, "Hinata-chan, help me walk to the Hokage tower."
The Hyuuga looked almost affronted. Leave her post? But one look at Naruto made her mind up, she couldn't stay where she was, he now knew that she was near and would be aware of her. Sighing and looking to the ground, Hinata nodded her head once and looked up again sharply as she felt her arm being grabbed and pulled along.
"Wait Ino!" Shouted Sakura, "I should check you, make sure you're ok!"
Ino ignored her and Hinata simply gave Sakura a faint apologetic smile as she was dragged away by an obviously irate blonde. Kakashi and Sai simply stood there seemingly disinterested in the goings on around them and Naruto simply waved jovially goodbye to Hinata and Ino with a large smile on his handsome face.
Sakura was obviously angry at being ignored and could be seen waving her fists around as Hinata rounded the corner with Ino.
"Ah, Ino-chan," The heiress was a bit concerned as they were slowly approaching the training grounds, not the Hokage tower, "Tsunade-sama's office is the other way."
"I know."
When no other explanation was given, Hinata tried to understand her situation.
"Then where are we going?"
"I need to talk to you."
Looking around, the long haired young woman spotted a large tree and proceeded to drag her young friend with her. Stopping underneath it she released her hold on the kunoichi and sat down patting the ground next to her.
Hinata, ever obedient, sat down next to her forceful friend. Ino looked at the Hyuuga and decided that being subtle wasn't going to work.
"We all know you like Naruto-kun Hinata-chan."
The words were shot out and a red blush raged across the poor girl's face as she tried to recover from her shock and tried to speak.
"D-d-does h-h-he-"
"No, Naruto-kun doesn't know, idiot that he is."
The heiress breathed a sigh of relief but still felt a fool as she realised how she might have looked to all her comrades and friends.
"Look," Ino turned to face the dark haired woman, "You need to do something about it. Standing and watching from afar isn't going to do anything."
Hinata fought the urge to faint. They all really did know. This could not get any more embarrassing.
While the young woman hid her head in her hands at the implications this realisation gave her, her friend sitting beside her shifted a bit next to her. Looking down at her shy friend, the blonde's irritated expression softened and she smiled slightly as nudged her with her knee.
"It's ok Hinata-chan," She said, trying to make her friend look up, "We've all known for a while. It's actually the reason I want to talk to you."
The young woman looked up into the eyes of her outgoing friend in confusion. Ino waved her hand in the air, stopping any questions that she might ask.
"You need to do something about this Hinata," she shrugged her shoulders, "I'm here to help you."
"Why?"
Ino seemed offended and raised her eyebrow. "Why? Because you're my friend."
A smiled spread all along Hinata's face and she fought the urge to hug the blonde. "Arigatou Ino-chan."
Ino laughed, "You don't thank someone for being your friend Hinata-chan, they just, well, are."
"Anyway," The blonde started talking again, dispelling the silence that fought to take over, "that's not what we need to discuss, we need to talk strategy."
The pale eyed woman shook her head in abjuration, "I can't Ino-chan, you know I can't."
Sighing the heiress went to stand up but was pulled back down by an annoyed kunoichi, "Did I say we were finished? There's such a thing as advice you know and that's what I plan on giving you."
"Ano, but-"
"No 'but's', look, you need to tell him."
Hinata looked at the kunoichi beside her in frustration, "You know I can't do that Ino-chan, everyone should know that I can't do that."
"Then you start small."
The Hyuuga looked confused.
Ino watched her friend's face intently and decided she needed to spell it out for her.
"Hinata-chan, if you're having trouble telling Naruto-kun how you feel than you need to start small. Don't go for the dramatic flourish of admitting that you stalk him-" The girl put her fist under her chin and thought for a moment, "Actually, don't tell him that at all, that wouldn't look too good.
Hinata nodded.
" Instead start with sitting near him when he goes to eat ramen and then the next day, sit beside him and then the next ask for the condiments and then the next, ask how his day is and then BAM!" She clapped her hands forcefully and the young girl beside her jumped in fright, "You're married with five kids with Kakashi and Jiraiya as god parents."
The blonde moved her long hair out of her eye and looked sceptically at her friend, "You sure you want this, I mean, Jiraiya and Kakashi...?"
Hinata looked to the ground and plucked some leaves of grass before answering the kunoichi, "Ino-chan, I love Naruto-kun with everything I have," She looked up with a smile, "There's not much I wouldn't put up with to be with him."
"Ok then, so have you got that? Start small."
"Yeah," The dark haired girl brushed the grass off her pants and stood up, "If I take small steps towards the ever elusive 'tomorrow' then maybe it'll finally come." She looked down at the other girl and smiled brightly, "Thank you Ino-chan, I'll give it a go."
The girl stood up next to her friend and put an arm over her shoulder, "Well I don't know about 'elusive tomorrows' but I do think you need to start today," She gripped Hinata's shoulder and spun her around to face the other direction and pointed down the hill with her other hand, "Especially since I can see him and he seems to be waving to you."
Enjoying the bright blush gracing her friend's face, Ino watched as the young woman said goodbye and walked down and started to talk to the hyperactive shinobi, asking him to ramen for the next day.
When her charge had disappeared from sight with an ever hungry Naruto (firmly convinced that tomorrow could wait and that he was hungry now even though he'd already eaten), Ino turned around to face a smiling Sakura.
"That was really nice Ino-chan, I hope it works out for her," The pink haired girl looked up and down at the slightly dirty kunoichi, "But you didn't have to make such a dramatic entrance."
"How was I supposed to know that the wood was rotten and could so easily cave under my slight weight?"
"Yeah sure," Sakura slyly grinned, "slight weight. Are you sure it wasn't all those Korean barbeque restaurants your team goes to Ino-pig?"
"You are so dead"
"Try and catch me"
And the girls sped off, Sakura laughing and Ino fuming behind her before falling into giggles herself when Sakura fell over into a puddle of mud.
Hinata watched them run past at the ramen stand, Sakura flinging mud at Ino while Ino ran away laughing, and giggled at the sight before turning back to Naruto who was fast finishing his third bowl of ramen. Looking back outside again, she spied the wretched post that had stopped her from coming this far in so many years and felt a deep loathing rise in her.
Maybe, she thought to herself as she quietly ate her own ramen while nodding back at Naruto and his exclamations of joy at having more food, if she asked nicely, she could get Naruto to Rasengan it.
A/N: Next up Izumo and Hinata!
So yes, please lend me your thoughts via lovely reviews and if not lovely at least ones that don't make me cringe?
Oh and don't worry, I had to write heaps at the start to fully explain my intentions but I won't make huge introductions and AN's after this.
Yours,
Jaggarte x