SENSES
TASTE OF HEAVEN
By Elysium/Coca-Cola
(pick one, both are the same person)
Disclaimers:
Characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.
If there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto was good at, it was being by himself.
The day of the graduation, and he was the only one who had failed.
Life sucked. A lot.
It wasn't fair that his worse skill was picked. Bunshin no Jutsu, of all things. Everyone was against him. They always were. Even Iruka-sensei.
"... Well, that's good..."
"... can't have him becoming a shinobi..."
He
could hear the women across the gossiping about him. Stupid adults.
Pulling the goggles on his head to hide his slowly forming tears, he
prepared to make his way home.
Someone was tugging on his
sleeve. Eh? He looked down to see a little girl with long black hair
dressed in a simple dark violet yukata with a black sash. What caught
his attention was her eyes; they were like that girl in his class
(former class, he told himself). The quiet girl with the pale white
eyes, which looked like they were staring at you always. Or at least,
that's what it felt like. A member of the Hyuuga clan. This little kid
must be the younger sister or something of Hyuuga Hinata.
The
girl had zero expression on her face which unnerved him just a little.
He wasn't scared at all. Just staring at him. But not like Hinata. This
staring was more focused. He couldn't tell what she was thinking by
coming here next to him. He sighed, and tried to shoo her away before
as gently as possible before she got him in even more problems with the
adults.
"You'd better not stay around me, whoever you are. I'm bad news. You'd just get yourself in trouble."
"So?"
she replied quietly. Her voice told her age a bit. Naruto would have
estimated her age to be probably around seven or eight years old.
"So? Didn't you hear me? I don't wanna get you in trouble with the adults! They look at me weird enough as it is!"
Tilting
her head in mild confusion, she drew something out of her sash on her
waist and dropped it in his hands. Silvery-paper wrapping with some
kanji on it written in indigo. Heaven. That was what the brand name
said. Naruto had seen this before in town. Quite a expensive piece of
candy. He blinked and looked at the small girl in confusion, eyebrows
furrowing inwards.
"'Kaa-sama says these can make people smile,"
the girl explained, as she reached over and closed his hands around the
candy. Her fingers were slightly cold, but moved with a grace beyond
her years. "She gives them to the servants at home and they smile back.
Aren't you going to smile?"
He didn't quite know what to say. Her mother sounded like a nutjob. "What? How's a piece of chocolate gonna cheer me up?"
The
girl shrugged. "I don't know either. 'Kaa-sama keeps giving me them and
I don't even like chocolate. If it doesn't cheer me up, maybe it will
work for you." With that said, she walked off back into the crowd of
people before he could either berate her or thank her.
Odd kid,
Naruto murmured, as he left his swing, and jumped over the wall into
the near empty street. Opening the wrapper carefully, he gazed at the
chocolate within, before popping it into his mouth, and letting it
dissolve.
It was a small taste of heaven. Just as good as it's reputation said.
Feeling
just a little better, Naruto wandered down the street. Maybe he'd meet
the little strange girl again, and he could buy her something as
thanks. But if she was a Hyuuga girl, what would she have need for?
Rich girls have all they need.
Regardless, the image of the
stern-faced little girl in a yukata with a piece of candy held in her
hands offering it to him stuck in his mind. Someone who didn't care at
all. Hrm.
He put the wrapper into a inside pocket in his jacket,
where it would be safe. It would go into the small tin box under his
bed, under the floorboard, where all his treasures in the world were
stored. His purse Gama-chan (who the hell cared if only girls used
purses?), some marbles, a silver whistle, the original brown leather
strap for his goggles, now broken in two, a strange feather from a
weird bird, several chopsticks from Ichiraku Ramen, a photo of himself
and three other troublemakers of his former class, and now, this simple
silver sweet wrapper, once he got home.
His decision made, he started to head home.
"Naruto?"
He turned back. "Mizuki-sensei...?"
Notes: In case you haven't guessed, girl is Hyuuga Hanabi. Nobody has ever done Naruto/Hanabi interaction... well, kinda, so I figured I would give it a shot. It's not much, so... :3
