"Control is overrated. Spontaneity rocks."
When Hinata had first gotten her car, she had felt a lot of things. Pride, joy, disbelief, a sense of purpose, responsibility, fear…
But she hadn't expected to crash it.
Now, as she stared at the debris, her eyes started watering. While Hinata may have been a 20 year old and for all intents and purposes an adult, she had lived a sheltered life and was prone to tears whenever she was afraid she was losing control.
She rubbed the soot off her face and decided to calm down and take a few deep, deep breaths and not panic. Giving herself a once over and determining that she wasn't overly injured, she started walking in the direction she assumed was the direction she had been coming from.
After ten minutes of walking, she not only discovered that her ankle was sprained, she had a cut on her forehead and her pinky finger was burned, but also that she had no idea where she was going.
Tears leaked out from the corner of her eyes and her lips trembled. A sense of hopelessness overtook her and her legs shook underneath her. She collapsed in a heap and softly cried.
She tried taking deep breaths to calm herself down, but sometimes, it was just plain pleasant to let go of all sense of propriety that had been instilled in her since birth and simply bawl her eyes out.
"Hey, 're you okay?" A concerned voice asked from behind her. Needless to say she jumped in surprise. A hand on her heart, tears streaking down her cheeks, soot covering her face, skid marks on her knee, blood on her hands and hair in disarray, she met an angel.
Or as close as you could come to meeting an angel in the middle of having a post-teen crisis. And besides, the man had brilliant blonde hair and sky blue eyes, so Hinata felt justified in her first assumption. Just by looking at him, she suddenly felt silly for crying and acting like a child. It was like his presence filled her with sunshine.
"D'ya need any help?" He asked, his eyebrows scrunched up in concern. She slowly nodded her head and then ducked it with a sheepish smile.
"I'm sorry for acting so…childish. It's just that…I…"
"Hey, calm down. Why don'tcha sit and then you can tell me all about it. I'm Naruto and I'm here to solve all of your problems for today!"
It was a silly thing to say, especially to a stranger, but the way he said it had a ring of sincerity and his eyes sparkled with promise and joy when he said it. Hinata had been told countless times that she was too trusting, but she couldn't help but trust this angel-man explicitly.
He ran into a warehouse-type building and rushed out with a foldable chair. Then he picked her up (and nearly gave her a heart attack doing it) and sat her down on the chair and immediately proceeded to bandaging her up. He did it sloppily and he was really clumsy, but the way he tried so hard and the way how he laughed sheepishly when he was done reminded her of a sweet child.
When he was done, he asked her about what had happened. She shakily nodded and took a breath to steady herself when she smelled the acrid strong smell of petrol. She looked around and saw a gas station.
She was at a gas station.
She began to laugh hysterically.
He looked at her strangely and then laughed nervously.
"Didja hit your head too hard?"
"I…my car, it crashed and I started walking and then I got lost and then I got here, and It's a gas station and…are you an angel?"
He stared at her for a good long while, and then cracked a smile so blinding it could have powered the earth for a whole day.
"I'll go get the tow truck from the garage and then we'll head to your car together okay?"
She nodded. Together sounded good.
As she saw him run into the garage next to the warehouse-thingy, it occurred to her that he hadn't even commented on the angel bit of her speech.
He carried her to the passenger seat and then climbed into the bright orange monstrosity himself. He revved up the engine and drove faster than anyone. Ever.
The number of times he nearly hit something was scary and the number of times she had to cover her eyes so as not to have a panic attack were so numerous that she couldn't have been bothered to count them all.
As the truck screeched to halt, Hinata had to try very hard not to scream. She very nearly succeeded, but the sound she made could have been mistaken for hiccup.
As he got out of the truck, Hinata couldn't be sure of whether or not she trusted Naruto around her brand new car, but then she remembered it had been decimated by her…
He hooked the car to the tow truck and got back in, he seated himself and buckled the belt and looked at her shyly and said very meekly, "I drove like a yakuza. I'm sorry."
She glanced at him, a bit surprised that he had apologized. He was so high above her that she expected him to brush off her discomfort and continue doing whatever so long as it pleased him.
He went at a more sedate pace this time and Hinata sighed in relief. He laughed and she realized it had been pretty audible. She blushed slightly.
He looked at her as if to say that he thought it was cute, and Hinata blushed brighter. She apologized and he said it was fault and that she had been through a car crash just now and that he shouldn't have been so insensitive…and suddenly, he lost control of the steering wheel.
Years later, Hinata would say that what had happened that moment was a complete miracle. Naruto would say that she should trust him more.
But right then, she screamed slightly and Naruto blanched and a truck that was headed straight at them was honking loudly and Hinata grabbed the steering wheel and turned.
Naruto pressed the breaks and they slowly came to a halt. The smashed car attached to theirs was a bit banged up, but they were relatively safe.
Hinata breathed roughly and looked at Naruto. Naruto's breath was ragged and he looked at her.
For some inexplicable reason, they both started laughing then.
"And there ya go!" Naruto smiled triumphantly as he straightened up. He took the greasy cloth and wiped his hands with it. He had just finished fixing Hinata's car.
New car to be precise. The old one's repair would cost more than buying two cars.
Even though she lived a good 10 miles away from this gas station, Hinata always came to this one to get her car repaired. Even though Naruto owned the gas stations all over the region, he only ever worked at this one.
Naruto was glad she came there. If she went anywhere else, well, he just might get jealous.
Hinata looked at him and smiled.