People asked for a Halloween-themed story! Here it is! I hope you'll like it!
"And then… BANG! The door of the mausoleum shut close… And no one ever seen them again…"
Kiba laughs at the horrified faces in front of him. They were at the woods outsider the village, on a camping trip. It was the first time they are off duty all at once and they decided to camp just outside the village, to spend a weekend together.
He doesn't even know how he end up telling horror stories with a flashlight under his chin, but this is funny. Especially, the reactions of his friends.
The girls are clinging to their boys like a lifeline. Well, almost all of them. Temari is laughing and teasing a napping Shikamaru, while Tenten seems bored to death while roasting a marshmallow.
Hinata, unsurprisingly, is unfazed by this stories. She already listened to all of them, so they aren't scary anymore.
Actually, Hinata is more scared by her almost-boyfriend than by the story. The Number One Knuclehead Ninja is shaking from head to toe and holding her so tight, that she thinks she got some bruised ribs.
"Naruto-kun… are you okay?" She tentatively asked.
"Y-y-y-yes, Hina-chan… Just f-f-f-fine…" He stuttered back.
"You don't sound fine… Are you scared? They are just silly stories, you know that, right?"
"Y-y-yeah…" She sighs, frustrated by his blunt lie, but decides not to insist anymore. He'll eventually come around and tell her what the problem is. Their relationship is growing every day and they talk for hours and hours. They tell each other almost everything. And she learns so much about his true self, about his hopes and dreams, about his past, about what lies inside him, underneath all that goofiness and bright smiles.
The group starts to disperse, the couples head for the tents, for some alone time, while the single ones went for a walk.
Hinata pulls Naruto to their tent and closes it behind her, before kneeling in front of her shaking boyfriend.
"So, Naru-kun… What's the problem?" She asks with a gentle smile.
"I don't like ghosts… Just that…"
"They are just stories… They don't really exist…"
"Yes, they do! I had seen one!" He gets inside his sleeping bag, pulling the fabric up to his eyes.
"Naru-kun… Come on, you don't have to be scared, okay?" Hinata hesitates for a moment. "Look, what do you think if I get in there with you, ahn? We can cuddle together and keep the ghosts – if they even exist – away. Sounds good?"
The blonde pushes the fabric down to smile to her and let her in. "Yeah… that's good!"
Hinata snuggles next to him, thinking that she'll sweat to death before morning. It was a warm night and he was just hot! Too hot! (Not in THAT way! He is a human-heater, don't be a pervert!).
They are almost asleep when something shook the tent, making the blonde shinobi jump, both scared and alert.
"Who's there?" No one answer but he could see a shadow outside. A dark, tall, human-like shadow with long claws and a fire burning where the feet should be.
"AHHHHHHHHH, Hinata-chan!" He jumps back, almost falling on top of the girl.
"Naruto-kun! Shhhh! You'll wake up everyone!"
"Hinata! There is a ghost outside!" He's screaming in a high pitch voice.
"There is no such thing as ghosts. It's just the shadows of the trees. Come back in here." She opens the sleeping bag, inviting him in.
"But… but.. Kiba… The stories…" He looks back and forward, from her to the shadow outside. Now, it looks like the trees, but a minute before… He was so sure it was a ghost…
"No buts! Get in here and get some sleep! Kiba loves to tell those stories. They are nothing but that: stories. Fiction! There are no ghosts, or spirits, or monsters, or werewolves, or other nonsense like that." Her voice leaves no room for arguing and he lies back next to her.
"But he seems so sure…"
"Oh he was just teasing you and the girls! He used to tell those stories on missions to try to scare me. He got on my nerves a couple of times, but then Kurenai-sensei taught him a lesson… Poor Kiba-kun…" She shakes her head at the memory…
"What happened?"
"She told us a scary story… A really scary one!"
"Just that?"
"Oh trust me, it was enough! He end up sleeping with us for the rest of the trip… And never tried to scare anyone anymore… Until today… I guess he forgot about how awful is to be outside and scared…"
Naruto bursts out in laugh. "So he isn't so brave, dattebayo! I'll tell him tomorrow!"
"No, you won't. Don't make fun of him! It's rude and you are as scared as he was." She curls next to him and holds him in her arms, kissing his cheek. "Just sleep. I'm here and you are fine. Nothing to be scared of."
They try to fall asleep again, just to be awaken a couple of minutes later by a rustling noise, outside their tent. Naruto starts to shake again, clinging to Hinata like she's about to disappear.
"Naru-kun… Naru-kun… You are suffocating me!" She whispers.
"Sorry… b-b-but the shadow is there again!" He points to the wall of the tent, where the human-like shadow can be seen.
Hinata sighs deeply and raises her eyebrow. They will never grow up… She can't believe in what she's seeing. Yes, she knows the love for a good prank that her boyfriend and her teammate share. They are just immature like that. But that fire? No way Kiba could pull that up! That fire is Sasuke's work for sure. And that shadow? Probably, a Kankurou's puppet. To solid to be Shikamaru's shadow jutsu, besides, he'll never team up in such stupid and childish prank. Especially, with Temari there!
"Naru-kun, let go of me for a minute, please." The blonde releases his death grip, long enough for her to perform a hand seal. "BYAKUGAN!"
Now, she can see clearly outside the fabric walls. Three people laughing like crazy, one of the manoeuvring chackra strings, connected to a puppet and some tree branches.
She sighs deeply angain and looks to her man. He is hiding in the sleeping bag, shaking so much that is making her shake too.
"Naruto… It's just a Kiba's prank! He enlisted Sasuke and Kankurou too…"
"HE WHAT?" Naruto bolts up.
"Shhhhh, be quieted, please…"
"They, they, they are making fun of me!"
"Yes, they are! And I'll take care of them! At least, of Kiba, who's the master behind of all of this… You can have the other two… Just, don't lose another limb, please!"
He grins at her. "You'll take care of him? For me?"
"Yes!" She says open her tent.
But before she has time to step outside, a scream shots in the night. "KANKUROU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Temari's voice pierces the silence.
"Kiba-kun…. What are you doing?" Hinata's much more gentle question comes just before another angry scream.
"SASUKE-KUN! WHAT. THE. HELL?" Sakura heads out of her tent, cracking her knuckles.
Shikamaru sighs before letting go of his struggling girlfriend and shares a sympathetic look with Naruto. It'll be a long night…
That night, all of the boys learn that there are one thing much more scary then horror stories: three very angry, sleep-deprived and really skilled kunoichis…