Write it in Pen
by:LilliesCry
A perfect Tuesday morning and not a cloud insight. What a drag. I am stuck at a picnic I don't enjoy. Today all of Konoha was taking a break to celebrate this time of peace and prosperity. We are still young, but we had all been through so much now was the time to be a kid again. That really didn't do anything for me because all I did as a kid was watch the clouds. What else was there to do?
I could leave. It really won't make a difference if I'm here.
Ino's busy trying to get Choji to stick to his diet and that's a handful all in itself. Although knowing Ino, she'll probably just give up and come looking for me. Then if I'm not here everyone will know, including Tsunade and then she won't hesitate to kill me.
Troublesome women.
I grab a slice of watermelon and work my way over to the trees, just narrowly dodging thirty Naruto's as they ran by. He and most of the rookie nine, Gai's team, and the sand siblings were playing tag. To top it all off, Kiba let his dogs join in on the "fun."
"Naruto you can't do that it's cheating!" Still yelling, Sakura tackled three Naruto's that all popped.
"I'm just protecting myself! Everyone, Neji's it!" To me, it looks like an all out war as everyone pushes and shoves to get away.
As I look over the field over all my friends, I can't help but think how much has changed. It's only been a year since Naruto returned and I remember back when he first got here he immediately hit it off with Sakura. I smirk, remembering how jealous Ino had been after finding out that Sakura got a boyfriend first. She would not let it go and ended up asking Choji out before he could. I was rather proud of her that day to see her take the initiative; because I know Chouji would never have the guts to do it himself. Soon enough, the two of them would be celebrating there half-a-year-anniversary.
About two months ago, Naruto and Sakura managed the impossible. They brought Sasuke back. To prove he was really himself, he had to tell us something that only Sasuke would know. He actually told us two that Kiba and Temari as well as Neji and Tenten were dating. It really came to a shock to some of us because we hadn't even had a clue. This excluded Hinata, who said that both claims were true, because duh how could she not know?
"Neji! My eternal rival, come at me and know that you will never defeat me!" Lee's circling Neji, who was making no move to tag him.
"Lee, don't encourage him. Neji's crazy." Tenten laughs. "You never know what he'll do!"
"Don't listen, Lee! Show everyone your amazing speed!" Gai cheers and gives the thumbs up. Lee's distracted by retuning Gai's nice guy pose and is probably gonna start yelling about a sunset when Neji suddenly grabbed his head and threw him ten yards. (A/N: is that even that far?)
"Ah! Everyone Bushy Brows is it!" Naruto immediately runs over to Sakura to protect her from any advances.
When I think about it, everything is pretty much the same, but not. Gaara had become the Kazekage with his brother and sister as his advisors. Naruto still can't even believe he was beat, but he'll become Hokage once he's done with his apprenticeship. Sakura had long ago taken over at the hospital and Sasuke would be taking the chunin exams soon. All of Gai's team was made Anbu and Neji was actually a captain. On Team 8, they all made jonin and were noted as Kohona's finest reconnaissance team; even if they hadn't gone on the actual mission they were the ones that tracked down Sasuke. As for my team, we all decided to stay as chunins except for me, who was made head stagiest for the Hokage.
"Too much happens so fast, I don't like change" I mumble.
"Change is what keeps life interesting; wouldn't you get bored if it was any other way?"
What?
Oh. The source of the voice is Hinata, sitting under a tree. She has books around her, some pens, and a half eaten pie. I stood over her, munching on my watermelon, taking the sight of her in. "Won't you take a seat?"
I sat down besides her turning, my gaze to the books, "What are all these books for? Why aren't you playing tag with everyone else?"
"They're Sudoku books and I can't exactly play tag in this outfit." Unlike the rest of us who were dressed in our usual attire, Hinata really dressed up. She's wearing a mini jean skirt that had zippers on the side that meet to form triangles, which have ruffles in between. It's a little less than the mid-thigh; who knew if she was even wearing shorts? She also has a grey vest over a bright red shirt that goes to her elbows finished off with grey boots.
What a drag. I can't stand to look at her.
"If you knew you were coming to a picnic why would you dress like that?"
"What do you mean like this," she giggles and shrugs. "My father told me when outside of missions I should dress more femine."
"Isn't a bit too femine?"
How does she plan on ever getting up?
"That's the point," she smiles.
"This really is different. No more blushing or stuttering. What brought about the new you? I thought you'd be all depressed and fall more into your shell now that Naruto is dating Sakura."
"Naruto is accomplishing his dreams and one of them has always been Sakura. I've always admired his determination, so I couldn't live with myself if I tried to stand in his way. I've finally come to understand that he will always love her and I'm glad that she's finally starting to return his feelings. He's given me the courage and the confidence now its time for me to move on and take action to my dreams." She pauses then smiles up at me. "So tell me why aren't you playing tag. Too much of an effort?"
Looking at her, I can only wonder what those dreams might be. That's all I'll ever do though…wonder women just changed the topic every time you think your beginning to understand them. Sigh.
"You could say that, I just don't really see the point in it." Pause. "If you've finished all these books why do you carry them all around?" Girls…you can't get anywhere with them because they just can't talk about it. Why, because you're a guy and these are the things they tell their girlfriends.
She laughs. "I wish! For the most part even Sudoku most difficult challenges are easy. The problem is that I can only finish half of the puzzle sometimes. I think it's because I do them in pen." Shrug. "So whenever that happens I just buy new books and go back to the old ones every now and then."
"That must be a pain having to carry so many of them around." I grab one of her books and a pen and start to work.
"What are you doing, that is so pointless. I'll have you know that I'm a master and I can't finish them." She teases and pokes me with her pen.
"Don't you have a big head; hello who's the one with an IQ over 200 here?" I grin and lift the book to show her a page. "Look, I'm already on my third one. It's not that hard haven't you read the instructions?"
"Pft. Do you even realize how much work that is?"
"Do you realize how much more work it is not to?" I put down the, now finished, book and grab another one.
"Hey guys, there about to serve the cake and…" It barely registered in my mind that Kiba and Shino had come over.
"Hey, your gonna finish all of them!"
"Oh come on I'm saving you the trouble here."
"No your not. I'm gonna finish them…eventually."
"That's the key word: eventually."
I'm sure she has some remark-probably not too witty-coming, but I never got to hear it. The next thing I know, I was sitting across from Hinata surrounded by the rest of the gang. Everyone one was really excited especially Kiba who was yelling at everyone to place their bets. I looked over at Hinata but she doesn't seem too fazed and blushed giving me a knowing glance.
"It's the battle of the century, who will win in the ultimate Sudoku battle!? The genius Shikamaru or the true all time master Hinata!"
What a drag how can they make such a big deal over this?
"Hey Shikamaru will you lend me some money so I can bet on you?"
"No Choji"
"Its easy money I'll repay you."
"No"
"I'll put in a good word for you."
"What?"
"You know what I mean," He nods his head across the table. "Or at least I'll ask Ino to do it if you want."
We grab a pen and were both given a "Diabolical" puzzle…just wow. After we got the okay, we both set to work; I really didn't want to bother, but I didn't want to lose to Hinata either. There was no point even thinking about rushing though because about two minutes later I was done and handed it over.
"The winner is Shikamaru! And the crowd goes wild!" Silence. "Come on guys it like in the movies you're supposed to go wild."
When I look over at Hinata I could see that her puzzle only had two empty spaces.
Man she was so close I could have really had my ass handed to me.
Hinata's blushing and I can't really describe it, but she was looking at me like…like if I'd just delivered a baby in a collapsing elevator inside a burning building and come out without a single hair out of place. Do I even want to be looked at like that?
"Aww man! I totally lost!" Sakura whines.
"We told you to bet on Shikamaru!" Naruto high-fives Temari and Ino.
Everyone seems to be having fun, but there's always that one person that hates to lose. The next thing I knew my face had been pushed into the cake and I almost gagged on chocolate.
"Pft. Pft. Gaara…" Naruto burst out laughing followed by just about everyone else. Hinata comes over to help out, or at least that's what I thought she was gonna do at first. Using her fingers, she drew a smiley face and licked them clean.
"You know I really love chocolate," she laughed.
"Whatever vanilla's better."
"No its not."
"Yes it is everything's better than chocolate. Like Shougi, Sudoku, you, the clouds, sleeping…"
"Shut up. You just want to get the last word."
"Jealous?"
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