Title : A Cleansing Rain
Rating : K+ - T (I can't decide)
Pairings : SasuHina, slight NaruSaku
Summary : The rain made Hinata feel clean; like she hadn't made mistakes in training that day; like… like she was worthy of being the Hyuuga clan's heir. Rain made Sasuke miserable – I mean, all that effort on his hair gone to waste! (XD) – but someone's been changing his perspective on the dreary weather lately. He'd go to hell and back, however, before anyone would get him to admit it.
Chapter Title : Sasuke's Birthday (Prologue)
Word Count : 1,101
Author's Notes : Yay for Sasuke x Hinata! coughs Ahem. Anyways, this story is probably only going to be two or three chapters long; and that's only because if I made it one chapter it'd be a VERY long one chapter… So, I hope you like it. Remember to review!
By the way, my summary-writing-ability went poof. ;
Disclaimer : Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. I don't. It's that simple!
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Konohagakure no Soto was blessed by rain on this day, even the great forest that surrounded the village's borders showed the effects from lack of water. And those trees always seemed to be healthy. There was some story behind them… Well, as far as Naruto knew. He never paid attention in class.
He also didn't know why it hadn't rained in, like, forever. Curse the summer; that was probably it.
Naruto, on this dreary day, was curled into a ball on the bridge he was supposed to meet his sensei at… two hours ago. "Damn it! When I get my hands on that perverted, no-good, inconsid-."
"Hi Naruto," a very gloomy kunoichi interrupted. Sakura hated the rain. The all-around grayness clashed with her pink hair and matching red outfit, and put her into a very bad mood. The boy she was speaking to knew this personally (he never went near that place again).
"Sakura-chan! Why are you so late? And have you seen the teme! It's not like him not to show up." Naruto's blonde hair hung in his face, making it annoyingly difficult to see with his bright blue eyes. His orange clothes were soaked, and freezing cold.
The trees may have liked the rain, but the village's inhabitants didn't.
"Sasuke-kun? I'm not surprised…" she responded, apparently not giving Naruto the answer he wanted. He pouted and nearly threw a fit. Springing up from the ground, he opened his mouth to say something when Sakura interrupted, "You don't remember, do you?"
"Remember what?" It was too early for this. Too cold… too wet. Naruto sneezed. It wasn't supposed to be like this in the summer!
"It's his birthday."
"Nani!" Naruto nearly screamed, a shocked expression dominating his features. "Why didn't anyone tell me!" He growled. "I bet Kakashi knew. I'm going to tear him a-"
"Calm down Naruto! You're making a scene! Goodness." Sakura looked exasperated. Her blonde friend sure knew how to drain the energy out of someone. Maybe that's why he was always so hyper…
"Come on; let's go get something to eat." She coughed. "By the way, you do know you're two and a half hours early? Don't you?"
"WHAT!"
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At the Ichiraku Ramen Shop:
"So," Naruto began, but immediately sneezed afterwards. He seemed to have caught a cold. A cold! In the middle of summer! Sniffling, he grabbed the tissue offered by Sakura and blew his nose. "So, why didn't anyone tell me it was his birthday?"
"Well he didn't say anything, but Ino and I have been talking about it for weeks." She grinned, clearly happier now that she was out of the rain. "You just haven't been listening."
Naruto sweat-dropped and immediately opened his mouth to defend himself when the ramen came.
"It's about time you've found a girlfriend to bring here," the shop owner said, smiling politely. Sakura's eyebrow twitched.
"Wha? You really think so?" Naruto blushed deeply and started to grin stupidly… that is, until he caught site of Sakura's face. "S-s-sakura! H-he was just k-kidding? Right?" He turned to the owner of his precious ramen shop. "Right!"
The old man laughed and turned to leave the two ninja alone. Naruto was petrified; Sakura was cracking her knuckles. That meant he was about to be punched. And, having been on the receiving end of that punch more than once before, the blonde jinchuuriki was prepared to do anything and everything to avoid the coming violence. "Ne-- so what else were you saying about the teme's birthday?" He said while grinning ridiculously.
Sakura snapped from her 'Make-Naruto-suffer-as-much-as-possible' mode immediately. "Right! So, Ino and I were going to go over to his house later and give him his presents."
"Demo… wouldn't it have been easier to give the presents to him when he showed up for practice?"
The pink-haired kunoichi stared at her blonde companion as if he had two heads. "You're kidding, right?" Silence. "Sasuke-kun doesn't come out on his birthday."
"Wha-? That makes no sense! I mean, the bastard's fanatical about training and being on-time and all that other crap!"
"I guess he gives himself a day to rest." She shrugged. "I wouldn't be able to give you a better reason than that. You should probably ask him yourself."
Naruto turned to his rapidly cooling ramen. "I suppose." He took a pair of chopsticks from his pocket and started to slurp his ramen thoughtfully when-
"Yo!"
-Kakashi-sensei finally decided to show up, causing Naruto to nearly choke.
"YOU!" Sakura nearly screamed. Naruto, having recovered from his sensei's abrupt entrance, joined her when she spoke again. "YOU'RE LATE!"
Kakashi grinned. Or, at least, they thought he grinned. "You see, a pretty girl was talking to me whe-"
"LIAR!" The two present members of team 7 yelled in unison.
"What?" Their sensei said, feigning hurt. "Pretty girls can't talk to me? I'm insulted." His pupils glared at him. Well, Sakura glared; Naruto was busy sneezing and attempting to blow his nose. Yep, he still has his summer cold. Kakashi coughed. "Where's Sasuke? We have an important mission today."
"A mission!" Naruto's mood instantly soared. "No training then? AWESOME!"
Sakura was slightly more suspicious. "A mission? You told us today was going to be jutsu practice."
"Sakura-chaaan! Don't be like that! Missions are waaay better than jutsu practice, believe it!" (AN: I'm sooo sorry! It just seemed appropriate. I won't make him say that anymore. Just laugh at my lameness for even making him say it once.)
His pink haired-team mate frowned as Kakashi repeated, "Where's Sasuke?"
"Probably at home," Naruto interjected before Sakura would respond. "But why should we care? WE HAVE A MISSION!"
Kakashi's visible eye turned upward in an upside-down 'U' shape. "Well, we're not leaving until you find him."
"NANI!" His blonde student nearly fainted. "But-- ne, we don't need the teme! I'll protect us!"
"Of course you will Naruto. However, we're not leaving until Sasuke shows up." He repeated."It's a B-rank mission. Sasuke's talent would make it much easier."
"D-demo…" Naruto tried to come up with something, anything to try and convince his sensei that he (the next Hokage) was better than Sasuke could ever be. That the conceited bastard didn't need to be with them. All he could do, however, was sneeze. "FINE! I'll find him." Naruto put his hands together and formed a seal. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"
And so, the Kyuubi vessel and his clones set off at record speed to find team seven's absent team mate.
It was only until after they were out of sight that Sakura realized… "THAT JERK FORGOT TO PAY FOR HIS RAMEN!"
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If you find any mistakes, feel free to contact me via e-mail! Any type of review is welcome. (yep, that includes flames! xD They're fun to laugh at)