Expose the Vulpine

Something I thought of when having a break from Exams. (Note to everybody; don't take Media Studies! XD) Enjoy!

(Ps: Can anyone find the 'Naruto: Abridged' reference? A cookie to anyone who finds it!)

'Why me?

Why… me?'

He raised and banged his fist down gently against the lamp-post, resting his forehead against it and sighing, a small frown on his forehead. This wasn't one of the usual annoyances he had to deal with- not the fact that Granny-Tsunade didn't have any decent missions for him, not the fact that Akamaru stole his most recent ramen cup, nor the fact that he couldn't get his head round the new genjutsu theory-

Hinata.

Naruto's screwed his eyes shut, muttering out a string of curse words to vent his frustration.

"Why Hinata? Why did she pick me?" he whispered. "She's too nice to have to…" He sighed again, leaning up and running a hand through his tousled yellow hair, looking up at the dawn sky. He really, really hated to do this to her, but... "I've got to find her."

He sprang from tree-limb to tree-limb, aimlessly searching the forest for her. Stopping on a branch, he squatted down, peering around as he caught his breath. "Huh?" He perked his head up as he heard a thumping sound, followed by a few grunts of exertion.

He spotted a flash of blonde down near the forest floor. He grinned, jumping down to her.

"Hey! In-!" He yelled to her, only to be cut off by a shuriken flying at his face. With a yelp, he hastily deflected it with his kunai, landing in a crouch and looking annoyed.

"Naruto!" She snapped angrily at him, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of one hand and several shuriken in the other. "You idiot! Don't distract someone when they're training!"

"Me?!? You should watch where you're throwing them!"

"I was." She pointed to something behind him. He turned around to see a straw training doll impaled with several shuriken, which, with the added whiskers and goofy drawn-on smile, bore a striking resemblance to-

"Hey!" He yelled, pointing a finger at it and glaring back at Ino. "Is that supposed to be me?!?" She shrugged nonchalantly, folding her arms and turning the other way with her nose in the air.

"My training methods are my own." She looked back to him, frowning. "Is there something you wanted, or did you just come here to annoy me?" He spaced for a few seconds as he remembered, then his face became serious.

"Yeah, have you seen Hinata? I've been trying to find her all morning." She perked up at that fact, her surprised look melting into a smug smile.

"So, finally caught on, did you? Took you long enough. Although what she sees in you, I have no idea. I mean, I'd have seen her with Kiba way before she saw anything with you." She didn't notice Naruto's frown slowly deepen as she spoke. "But, you can't choose who you crush on, I guess. Lucky it wasn't Sasuke, though." She clenched her fists and growled at the thought, ignoring Naruto completely. "That's the last thing I need; more competition! Although, I guess forehead-girl doesn't really stand a chance against me in the first place, so it's really-"

"Ino!" He snapped, bringing her back to reality.

"Alright, alright!" She huffed, putting the shuriken back in her waist pouch. "Honestly, you should learn to have a bit of patience. And would it kill you to say plea-? please…?" she fell silent as she saw Naruto's deadly-serious expression. Her frown lessened significantly, and she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry… No, I haven't." His face fell, dejected. "But…" she added, seeing how disappointed he was.

"But?"

"You could try the hot springs. I heard she was getting too stressed out with training."

"Hot springs…?" He wondered aloud, frowning to himself. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "Are you sure? 'Cause if I get run out of there, accused of trying to sneak in the ladies area-!" She snapped her head round angrily, clenching her teeth.

"What?!?" She growled, shaking her fist at him. "How dare you accuse me of-! Don't be disgusting! Where did you get an idea as perverted as-?!" She stopped herself, a puzzled look on her face. "Unless you've…" She narrowed her eyes, sending him an accusing look. He blanched as he realised he'd said too much.

"Well, thanks for the info, Ino! See ya'!" and vanished as fast as an Anbu.

She slipped a shuriken out of her waist pouch, twisting it between her fingers, a pensive look in her face. After a few seconds, she snorted "Pervert…" and flicked it at the dummy, hitting the Naruto-counterpart square between the eyes.

"AND STAY OUT, YOU ROTTEN KID!" The manager yelled, throwing out a semi-naked, whisker-cheeked girl from the hot springs. She landed heavily and sat cross-legged, groaning and rubbing her head. She vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by a grumbling Naruto. He turned on the spot and stuck his tongue out at the owner, who stormed back inside. He got to his feet, brushing his jumpsuit down and muttering to himself.

"How many times is that now?" A voice crunched, and he looked up to see Chouji munching his way through a packet of crisps, looking politely curious.

"…48." He muttered, looking embarrassed.

"Heh. Y'know, you'd be less recognised without the whiskers." He held out the packet, raising his eyebrows.

"Thanks!" He said gratefully, taking a handful. "I'm starving! I didn't get a chance to have breakfast this morning!"

"How come?"

"Mmgph?" He mumbled, mouth full of crisps. He forced it down and said "Oh, I was looking for Hinata. She can be really hard to find, now and again. She's not on a mission, is she?"

"Hinata? No, she's down by the river with Shikamaru and Lee."

"Eh? Fuzzy-brows and the lazy guy?" he frowned, trying to see the logic in that. (Of course, by Naruto's logic, 2 + 2 could equal 5, so that's nothing to go on.)

"I love hard work." Shikamaru commented, led down under the shade of a tree. Hinata, knelt down next to him, almost choked on her drink, thrown by this uncharacteristic comment.

"Gllk-! I-I'm sorry?"

"Hard work. I could watch it all day." He replied, nodding to Lee, who was fully engaged in his activities to notice.

"Alright, new rule!" He announced to them, jumping up from his 50 press-ups. "If… If I can't jump onto the water and onto the far bank without making a ripple, I'll do 100 sit-ups!"

"Can't you do that anyway?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow, but Lee shook his head.

"Ah, but this time, I'll use half the Chakra I normally use!" he corrected. "It'll be difficult to move fast enough, but I can do it!"

"What a pointless exercise…" Shikamaru muttered, looking back up to the clouds.

"Oh, I-I don't know…" Hinata shrugged. "Isn't… Isn't training supposed to suit whoever's doing it?"

"Yeah, and…?"

"W-well, if this works for Lee, y-you shouldn't really say it's pointless, should you?"

"Thank you for you support, Hinata-san!" Lee grinned, giving her the 'nice guy' pose. "That's just the kind of youthful thinking Gai-sensei shares with us! Thank you!" Hinata gave him a warm smile.

"(Whatever…)" Shikamaru muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes before closing them.

Lee crouched down, like a runner about to sprint, facing the water. He almost set off when he perked his head up, glancing behind him. "Oh, Naruto-kun! Have you come to join me?"

Shikamaru's eye opened in annoyance as Hinata choked on her drink again, her cheeks suddenly reddening. Keeping her head stock-still, she looked out of the corner of her eye between the trees at Naruto, who'd just landed next to Lee.

'Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?!?!?!?!' She thought anxiously, lightly clenching her teeth and looking the other way, her hands drawing together to press the tips of her index fingers together. 'Naruto's here?!? What's he doing here? Why's he here?!? Wait- why am I questioning it?!? Naruto's actually here!!' A small, bashful smile spread over her lips as she saw Lee point towards Shikamaru and…

Towards…

She blanched.

"Ah, Hinata!" Naruto said in a cheery voice, jogging over to them.

"Ai-yah… How big is your mouth, moron?" Shikamaru winced, leaning his head away from him.

"Um… (H-Hi, N-Naruto-kun…)" she whispered, looking at her twiddling fingers.

"Hinata… Hi…" He said awkwardly, looking slightly lost. He just realised that he hadn't actually thought of what he wanted to say to her. Classic bonehead moment…

A moment's silence.

Hinata couldn't look Naruto in the face, so settled at smiling shyly whilst looking in completely the opposite direction.

Naruto stood uneasily, one hand in his pocket and the other behind his head as he struggled for what to say, looking the other way as well.

Shikamaru looked between them, waiting. When no-one spoke, he rolled his eyes and bluntly asked "Well, Naruto? Spit it out!" Naruto shot him an annoyed look, growling under his breath, whilst Hinata's blush deepened, feeling embarrassed for Naruto.

"D'you mind?" Naruto snapped at him. "I want to talk to Hinata, not you." Hinata looked round for a split-second, wondering if she'd heard him right.

"Fine." He said nonchalantly, closing his eyes.

"…alone?" He prompted. Hinata's face, which had had a good try at getting back to its usual pale complexion, burned back into crimson at that, and she hastily looked the other way again.

"Look, I'm comfy. I don't move when I'm comfy. Therefore, take it somewhere else." Shikamaru said, eyes still closed, waving him away with random wafts of his hand like he was some pesky fly.

"(Idiot…)" Naruto muttered, glaring at him. His gaze shifted to Hinata and he gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Heh… Guess I'll have to catch you later… If… that's alright, that is…?" He asked, raising his eyebrows to her.

She raised her head slightly, realised he'd asked her a question, and quickly looked round- only to look down again as their eyes met for a split-second, and her face grew red.

"(Um… O-Okay, Naruto-kun…)" She mumbled to her wringing hands, to shy to look him in the face.

"Say… later on tonight?" He ventured.

"(…wh-what?)" She whispered, overcoming her shyness to a degree by turning her head to face him, a look of shock on her face.

"Well, I mean," Naruto added hastily, feeling like he was pressuring her. "If you don't want to… I mean-"

"Yes!" She blurted out loudly, surprising both boys, before clamping her hands over her mouth and blushing as red as a beet, surprised at her own daring. She looked away in embarrassment, slowly peeling her hands away from her mouth. "(I-I mean…)" she squeaked, almost inaudibly. "(Y-yes…)"

Naruto smiled gently, slightly amused at her reaction. He was told she liked him, but not to this extent… "Alright then… So, I guess I'll… I'll see you later, then…" He gave her a small wave, smiling awkwardly. He paused for a second or two, wondering if he should say anything else while Hinata simply blushed lightly, a small smile on her face.

"Question: How can you 'see her later', as you put it," Shikamaru complained, eyebrow raised. "If you don't go away?"

"What?!?" Naruto snapped, shaking a fist at him as a vein bulged on his head. "Say that again!"

"No, since it's obvious you heard me the first time."

"Whatever." He grumbled, sticking a tongue out at him. "See ya' later, Hinata!" he added cheerfully as he departed. 'Hope she doesn't take my offer the wrong way…' He thought sadly, giving out a small sigh.

"I'll have to admit it, he's a nice guy." Shikamaru commented, raising an eyebrow. "An utter simpleton with the cranial capacity of a log and the social skills of a brick wall, but a nice guy nonetheless. Took him long enough to get round to asking you out, anyway. Although what you like about him so much I've no idea…" He commented, unknowingly mimicking the words his team-mate has said before. Perhaps Ino was rubbing off on him…

It didn't matter what Shikamaru said, for there was only one thought going round Hinata's head, and she quivered with barely-suppressed joy every time she thought it, a gleeful smile on her face;

'I'm going on a date with Naruto!'

Stay tuned for Chap. 2!