"H-Hello, Naruto-kun... Ano... I-I'm your stalker."
A flash of blue lights up the charcoal skies outside the entrance to my apartment, with violent thunderclap following. The girl in front of me flinches, a ghost of breath appearing as she exhales. I stand, stunned, staring into her strange, white-lavender eyes. No irises, or pupils, just... this this murky, entrancing depth. It takes until the next time she whispers my name for me to notice the growing discomfort in my neck, a product of craning my neck down to look at her -she's seriously short- and I have the urge to break the silence.
"Are all stalkers as straightforward as you these days?" I ask, half creeped out and half interested. Her face begins to light up a shade of red so deep that I'm sure she's just broke a world record. She presses her fingers together and apart while looking down to her side, apparently afraid to look into my eyes anymore.
"P-Probably not..." she half-whispers. Surely she's regretting informing me of the stalking, but I suppose it's a consolation at least that she hasn't clubbed me over the head and dragged me to some basement for knowing her secret. "But... I-It's just... I-I..." she's desperately trying to fit together a sentence, but it seems that as I've unconsciously been moving closer to her, she's (impossibly) grown more red, and increasingly more distraught. "I... I seem to have l-lost my handbag while f-following you." she finally lets out sheepishly. "A-and I live p-pretty far from here. N-Naruto-kun is kind-hearted, so I..." she falters, seeming to get even more shy at the mention of my name. "I-I thought I sh-should try my luck..."
"Well, I don't suppose informing me that you've been stalking me was the best way to start." I tell her. She flinches as if I'd struck her, and regret immediately consumes me as I notice her shaking a little.
"I-I'm sorry." she says barely above a whisper. She turns to leave when she sneezes, and I realize that her shivering could as much have been to do with the cold as my poor choice in words. Upon further inspection, she seems a lot more wet than I had originally thought. Her large, cream-colored hooded coat and blue sweatpants won't deter the cold when they're as soaked through as they appear. "S-Sorry!" she says again, slightly bowing when she notices me staring. Before she can run, I grab her arm in a gentle hold.
"How long have you been standing out here?" I ask. She stiffens, and for a moment, I wonder if she's going to try to knock me out after all. Alas, she just frees her hand and resumes pressing her fingers together.
"A-About 5 hours."
I sigh.
This is getting weird. Really. But, she is dedicated... I guess. And looking past her I can definitely see the parking lot starting to flood in the torrential downpour. I risk another look at the girl herself. She's not giving me puppy-dog eyes or anything, but something deep inside is tempting me to give in. I sigh again.
"Fine, come on in." I relinquish, stepping aside and sweeping my arm in that 'gentlemanly' way my perverted uncle Jiraiya uses when leading around his girlfriends. She rushes in before I even have a chance to regret my decision, looking around in awe.
"N-Naruto-kun's house." she whispers to herself, still with that blushing face. She's stuck in place, just looking around, while I'm questioning the sanity of allowing my self-proclaimed stalker into my home. She sneezes again, a few stray drops of water flying from her blue-black hair and into my face. "S-Sorr-"
"Do you want to take a bath?" I ask, cutting off her apology. I don't really mind, it's just a little water, after all. She stiffens, and I wonder if I've said the wrong thing until I see the look in her eyes and the accompanying blush.
"N-Naruto-kun's..."
Something tells me I don't want to know what she's thinking.
"Right... Well, the bath's over that way." I point down the hall in the direction of the bathroom.
"Y-Yes, I know."
She... knows?
"S-Second door on the right. E-Eto... and the towels are in the cabinet beside the sink."
"Do I even want to ask?"
"M-Maybe not."
"Right. Well, take your time, make yourself at home, and such."
"T-Thank you." she says, locating the proper door and stepping inside. She pops out not a moment later with the darkest blush I've seen yet on her cheeks. "N-No peeking!"
"That's my line!" I half-joke as the door closes. The click of the lock tells me that it's finally safe to relax, if only for a little bit.
I really have no clue what I'm doing.
The smell of ramen permeates the air and I feel a little more calm just being able to inhale the familiar scent. It's been a while since I've cooked it homemade -college tends to restrict your availability to make homecooked meals- but I'm sure it'll taste as good as ever. Old man Ichiraku's recipe never failed me before, and as far as going-away gifts, it was one of the best I'd received. Some part of me wonders if she even likes ramen, but the sensible part of me remembers: who doesn't like ramen? I'm cooking ramen for my stalker. The girl who was soaked to the bone waiting outside my door. The girl who is currently using my bath.
Sounds like one of the old pervert's stories.
"N-Naruto-kun." she whispers, much closer than I'm comfortable with. I barely resist the instinct to jump away. She's really good at sneaking up on me. Then again, she is my stalker.
"Do you like ramen?" I ask, not taking my eyes off of the dish. 'Never take your eyes off the ramen!' Ichiraku used to tell me. 'You need to watch for the right moment.' I never really understood what he meant, but the habit was far too ingrained into my brain to break it now.
"Y-Yes." she says. In the back of my mind I can see her playing with her fingers. "I l-love it."
"Great!" I smile. Ramen's my favorite. Nobody who loves ramen can be bad in my book. I remove the dish from heat and prepare two bowls. "Well, it's good to warm you up, in any case. Wouldn't want you catching a cold or anything..." I rattle on as I turn to her. However, when she enters my field of view, my mouth goes dry and suddenly I can't really think of anything to say.
"Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun." she says, smiling and committing exactly the action I had imagined. The red on her cheeks is still present, although now I'm sure it's just from a blush instead of the cold. Her long blue-black hair is still glistening with wetness, and her tiny nose is just a tad red. She's actually really cute, now that I get a look at her, but that's not what's got me tongue-tied. "I-I hope you don't mind me using y-your shirt..."
Sweet Kami.
"Ah... Y-Yeah! N-No problem!" I manage to struggle out. She's wearing one of the tighter shirts I own. It's not so much that it's short -she's short enough that pretty much anything in my wardrobe would look like a dress on her- but simply that she's got far too much of a... figure, to be wearing it. She seems completely unaware, taking both bowls out of my hands and placing them gently on the table.
'Whatever you do, Naruto. Don't. Stare. At. Her. Breasts.'
"N-Naruto-kun, are you going to eat? Ramen's your f-favorite, right?" I snap myself out of it.
"Y-Yeah..." Suddenly I'm blushing and stuttering too. Damn.
"Itadakimasu!" we both say before digging in.
We eat in relative silence. I'm shoveling down ramen fast as always, and she's watching me intently between well-mannered helpings. Her smile is cute, and the face she makes, closing her eyes after every bite to savor the flavor, is doubly so. Having a stalker seems more and more appealing with each minute I spend with this girl, even as her intense knowledge of me creeps me out a little.
Her.
"Right, I haven't asked your name yet!" I exclaim to myself, breaking the silence and shocking her almost into dropping her chopsticks. She got a deer-caught-in-headlights look about her. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. "A-Ano... that is, if you want to share." I say sheepishly, rubbing a hand at the back of my neck.
"H-Hinata." she whispers, so quiet I can barely catch it. Sunny place.
"Pretty name." I say without thinking, causing her face to turn almost completely crimson.
"N-N-N-Naru..." she stutters. I feel heat creeping up my cheeks as well. I hadn't really meant to say that out loud. To cover up my embarrassment, I begin to drain my bowl of broth, attempting to cover up my presumably-pink face.
Thump.
"Hinata-chan?" I lower the bowl back down to the table, looking left and right. "Hinata-chan?" I ask again, right before I notice a pale leg sticking out from the other side of the table. She's laying on the floor with a blissful look on her face, still completely red.
"Naruto-kun~" she whispers. She fainted. Awkward.
"Hinata-chan?" I ask, nudging her shoulder a little. With no reaction, I decide she's out for the count. The cold, wooden flooring of my kitchen really isn't a good place to leave her, is it? I sigh and, blushing, place one arm under her knees and one gently around her shoulders. "Up we go." I whisper, lifting her off the floor. "Wow, you're really light, huh?" I ask, not particularly expecting an answer. When none comes, I continue off towards my room, attempting to ignore Hinata's soft skin rubbing against my own, the plush feeling of her body pressed against my own, and most importantly, the ever so slight bounce of her chest by my movements. I gently place her on my bed, drawing the covers up and over her shoulders to make sure she'd be nice and warm. I turn off the light and begin to close the door, when I have the urge to stick my head back in.
"Goodnight, Hinata-chan."
Now... did I clean the extra sheets for the couch?
"Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun."
A slight pressure on my lips, just a ghost of a touch.
"I love you."
The sun shines in through the windows at the front of my apartment, hitting me directly in the eyes.
"Ugh, five more minutes..." I mutter to mother nature, wishing the blinding beams would vanish. No such luck, even behind my closed eyelids, the bright light is still painful enough to motivate me to get up. As I look, bleary-eyed around the room, I notice a note and a sandwich on the coffee table in front of me. My hunger winning out over curiosity, I happily take a bite of the expertly prepared (and adorably heart-shaped) finger food before reading over the note. The neat, calligraphic handwriting no doubt belongs to Hinata.
Naruto-kun,
Thank you for letting me stay the night, and the ramen.
I went to the police station to check if anyone has found
my handbag. I know you usually skip breakfast, but it's
bad to go to classes on an empty stomach. I left you a
sandwich, and there's another in the fridge for later.
I hope you enjoy them.
-Hinata
P.S:
I love you
"Maybe I should've asked her to stay for the morning..." I wonder aloud. "She was really cute. And nice, if a bit weird."
Hinata hasn't come back, and it's been a few weeks. Inbetween classes, or whenever I had free time, I'd look around to see if I'd spot her following me, but I've had no such luck. I guess... I guess she must've stopped stalking me.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone at the door shakes me from my thoughts. I look over at my digital clock, wondering who could possibly be here at almost nine in the morning. Whoever it is, at least, seems to be waiting patiently, so I get up and make my way to the door opening it with eyes closed and yawning.
"Yes?" I ask, still unwilling to open my eyes, lest the light from the outside give me a headache.
"H-Hi." a meek voice whispers. Immediately, I open my eyes, meeting white-lavender. "I'm Hinata Hyuga, y-your stalker." she continues. I almost want to smile at the familiarity. Same words, same blush on her face. Even that same coat that covers her curvaceous figure. "S-Since you know me already, I-I've decided to just move into the apartment beside yours."
P.S.: I love you.
"Doesn't that not make you a stalker anymore?" I ask, gently teasing her. Her face heats up more, and something tells me if she weren't holding a tray with two bowls on it, she'd be toying with her fingers.
"W-Well... I-It just makes it easier to st-stalk you, I suppose." she whispers, smiling to herself in that same satisfied way she had when eating ramen across from me. What a reason to move.
"I... suppose it does." No matter how much I've found myself wanting to talk to her more, her actually mentioning stalking me in a non-joking manner has me feeling a little awkward. She holds the tray out, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Y-You've skipped breakfast again. I-I've brought Hikkoshi Soba. L-Let's eat it together, Naruto-kun." she states. It's unsurprising at this point that she knows I've skipped breakfast, so I'm more interested in the bowls of soba she holds. She walks past me and over to the kitchen, humming a familiar tune.
"Just walking right in now, are we?" I mumble, following her, unsure of whether I'm pleased or put off. I'm not sure if she's heard me or not, but she stops and turns her head to look back at me, face crimson and an almost-smirk tugging at her lips. Something tells me I'll never be able to escape from her.
"W-Would you like me to use your bath again, Naruto-kun?"
Annnnnnnnd that's a wrap folks! Not bad for my first story in like a year and a half that isn't based off of personal experience. Although I do wonder what it'd be like to have an adorable stalker...
This of course isn't that big project I mentioned. Just something to pass the time.
Fun Facts!:
No lies. The idea (and some dialogue) are based off of an NSFW original doujin. The story fit NaruHina really hard, albeit with a slightly more calm Naruto and a little more forward Hinata, so I wrote it in a relatively SFW fashion, because I don't write smut and plot-bunnies can't be ignored.
Hikkoshi Soba is a dish that you would bring to your neighbors when moving into a new home. It's not exactly a common tradition today, but Hinata can easily use it as an excuse to come see Naruto again.
Originally, at the end, Naruto would've done what the main character had in the doujin and thought to himself 'Calm down, my penis...' (alluding to him being turned on by the thought of Hinata wearing his shirt again) mostly because I couldn't think of a single way you could say that in which it didn't sound hilarious, but I scrapped the idea because Naruto as a character isn't so perverse as to think that. Or so I believe. (I'm only just starting Shippuden here, cut me some slack)
Hinata's got her long-haired Shippuden look going on, although I ended up writing her in with her Genin clothes just because.
I originally wanted Hinata to cook him ramen, but I couldn't think of anything for Naruto to be doing when she was in the bath, so that job fell to him instead.
Hinata's stutter is cute, so I wrote it in. It really just didn't feel much like Hinata when I read it through without that stutter.
Fun Facts! over~
Reviews are greatly appreciated, as feedback only helps me to improve! Also, if anyone'd like me to make another chapter with Hinata's perspective, then that would be where to voice your desires!