That's right, another Alfons Heidrich and Hyuuga Hinata fic. DON'T BASH THE HALLOWEEN LOVE!
Disclaimer: I don't own full metal alchemist or naruto
"What are you making Hinata?" Alfons looked over the dark haired girl's shoulder, eyeing the origami she was making.
"A fox" She stated, a small sourness flaking in her voice. Alfons was used to this though. After Noah, Ed, and Al had left to try and locate the uranium bomb he and the former Hyuuga heir had been living together.
Hinata was relentlessly quiet, but Alfons was relentlessly friendly, and willing to coax Hinata out, and since they were the only occupants in the apartment, and neither desired for it to be awkward, Hinata had opened up to him in the end. She wasn't by any means loud. The scarring on her lungs from various battles prevented her voice from ever being such. But she talked freely now, and even if sometimes little sour notes crept into her voice, it was still a vast improvement.
"Are you making it for Halloween?"
"H-Halloween?" Hinata blinked, letting the foreign word flow off her tongue. Alfons nodded vigorously.
"Have you never heard of it?" Hinata shook her head. A deep flush was present on her face.
"Really? Then what do you celebrate in October?" she brought a finger to her lips, a thoughtful look on her face.
"W-well, two things"
"There's Jidai Matsuri, it's a historical festival, and people put on a parade and dress in historical costumes" She went back to folding
"And? You said there were two" Hinata sighed.
"It's more a local thing"
"It's the day that we celebrate the defeat of the kyuubi"
"A demon fox with nine tails, which was defeated by the yodaime hokage"
"It's just a basic festival, those who have family who died that day pray for them, and those who didn't get drunk, and the children make little origami foxes like this one" she petted the little paper fox before letting it stand on it's own, and turning back towards Alfons.
"What's Halloween?"
"Well, it used to be a pagan holiday, but now it's a night where children go around in costumes to get treats"
"My parents never let me celebrate it when I was a kid on account of my illness" Hinata smiled.
"My father never let me go to festivals either"
"Why not? You are-were perfectly healthy"
"My father thought that festivals were an idiotic waste of time in which I would disgrace myself or my family in some manner" Her smile remained throughout the entire sentence, and if anything grew even sweeter.
"What a terrible thing to say" Alfons frowned, looking at Hinata, and then the fox, and then back to Hinata, how only shook her head.
"When is Halloween Alfons-kun?" He blinked; Hinata usually didn't have much interest in holidays, since she knew nothing about any of them.
"Um. Today actually" Alfons blushed.
'It's now or never! Just ask her!' The truth be told, Alfons had very much fallen for Hinata.
"I was wondering..." He trailed off. He could talk about rockets or holidays for hours with her, but somehow... his voice wasn't working.
"Y-yes?" She had taken a pencil and was drawing on the back of an old rations coupon. A complicated design full of leaves fires and swings and trees. She had stopped right in the middle of a spiraling snail-like design that Hinata always insisted was a leaf. The same emblem that had been on her headband the day they met.
"Well... Y-you've never celebrated Halloween, so I was wondering..."
"I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of coming out with me tonight!" His request came out rushed and much louder then he had meant it to. Both of their cheeks were bright red.
"I-I'd love to" She giggled a little bit.
"W-what's so funny?"
"N-Nothing! I-it's just I'm usually on your end of the conversation" Alfons blinked.
"My...end?" She nodded.
"Usually I'm the one asking questions like that" Alfons blinked.
"I think I have a black dress somewhere, and I guess I could borrow a hat from Gracia," She murmured.
"You don't have to dress up you know" Alfons stated quietly, not quite wanting to break up her fun.
"Isn't that the point?" Alfons blushed. She smiled.
"I'll be ready soon," She said quietly, a smile tingling against her face. Frau-Gracia was going to be one happy woman tonight. She had been the one to encourage Alfons to take Hinata out in the first place, insisting that they were "a match only god himself could have made" she also insisted that Hinata wouldn't reject him, and she had been right on that matter, so who knew? Maybe, just maybe he had a chance with the former shinobi.
True to her word as always, Hinata was out within fifteen minutes in a black dress and witch hat, with her hair hanging in loose waves around her waist instead of the long braid that Alfons was used to. He guessed it was the braid that gave her normally pin straight hair that unusual bounce. He smiled.
"You look beautiful Hinata" She wasn't like other girls. She was cute and funny, chivalrous and strong. She had saved his life when Hess had shot him, healing him at great cost to her own body.
"Th-thank you" Alfons took her hand. Leading her out into the streets of Munich, where they proceeded to joke around and blush like little kids when Gracia winked at them both, and Gracia's little daughter Eylsia was even kind enough to give them a little piece of candy each from her hoard. No one bothered the soft-spoken couple, even the more prejudice members of the city, since the foreign woman was with a boy of obvious Aryan blood.
Their walking through the city had led them to the river, where the street lamps and moonlight reflected against the dark surface like a mirror. They both lay in the grass by the riverbank, her witch hat was no longer on her head, but in her pale hands, which were sprawled out along with the rest of her on the soft grass.
"It's beautiful isn't it Hinata?" She smiled and nodded.
"It reminds me of home a little bit"
"How so?" Alfons loved the stories she told him of her homeland, they were rarely like Edward's stories of Amesteris, as they were almost never about her. Or about the life she had led as a soldier. They were more likely about her off time, a mission that hadn't involved anything so dangerous.
"Well... I guess a lot of things," she answered vaguely.
"It kinda reminds me of a boy I used to know," She stated sadly.
"I went out on a limb, and I admitted that I had feelings for him since we were children, but..."
"But?" Alfons's heart began to sink.
"He loved someone else, a girl much stronger, and far more beautiful then I could ever hope to be"
"Do you still love him?" She shook her head.
"No, I'm not sure if I love anyone" Alfons's heart sank even more. Did she come out with him tonight out of pity? Because she didn't want him to feel rejected.
"But I'm very sure that I like someone a lot" Alfons blinked.
"He's very kind, loves stray cats, even though he can't really afford to keep them, and is an amazing cook"
"I've been living with him for the last couple of months, and I don't think I've ever been so close with anyone in my life" 'Oh' was the only word that could work itself into Alfons's head, and a steady blush was creeping across his being at the young woman's affectionate description of someone that was obviously him.
"He's the only person who has bothered to ask me about my past, and he loves rockets"
"He asked me to come out with him tonight"
"I was surprised... I thought he only thought of me as a roommate, or a friend at best" Alfons chuckled.
"Well, whoever he is, I'm sure he likes you a lot Hinata" She looked at him. Her lavender eyes sparking with humor.
"Playing dumb doesn't suit you" She sat up, looming over him, her long hair falling like a navy shroud that obscured them from the rest of the world. She still smelled of leaves after all this time in Munich, after all this time she still carried the scent of her home and of her occupation. Leaves and soil, water and blood and sweat and tears. A mix that Alfons was sure was the scent of a shinobi. She was so close, her scent was almost suffocating as her forehead touched his; Her face was warm, perhaps because she was blushing yet again. She pressed her lips against his cheeks.
That's all. Alfons knew that a kiss on the cheek wasn't much of anything, but it was a start.
"U-uh A-Alfons?" She whispered, putting the witch hat back on as they walked back to their apartment. Alfons nodded, noting the music that someone was playing on the radio loud enough for everyone on the street to hear. Many couples were dancing on the street, enjoying the night while they could.
"Would you dance with me?" Alfons blinked. Another first, no girl had ever asked him to dance, and outside of his own mother, no girl had ever kissed him on the cheek.
"I-I'm not very good" She smiled, grabbing his hand pulling him towards an empty space among the dancers.
"I'll teach you" She placed one of his hands on her hip and the held his other hand in her own, softly nudging him along with the beat.
"I think Halloween is my favorite holiday"
"You didn't even know it existed till this morning!" Hinata blushed, turning her head in such a way so that her hair covered it a little bit.
"W-Well I like it because I got to spend time with Alfons-kun" Alfons smiled.
"In that case..."
"I think this is my favorite holiday too"
