Aki's Note: Hola!! This here is a NarutoXKrystal one-shot, a sort of side story to my Sasuke story .:Roses are Red:.! I wrote it like... Well, according to Quizilla, I posted it on there on January 1st, 2008. It was a request by a friend of mine on there who prefers to be called Judy (though technically she jsut asked for a Naruto one-shot and, well, a NarutoXKrystal one-shot was all I could think of XD). Granted, it is inspired by a one-shot written by one of my fave authors on this site; her pen name is LovelyAnime and the name of her story is Naruto's Mission: Making Hinata Smile. I do not believe I stole ideas, however. This one-shot is practically original except for the fact that it's a Naruto fanfic.
Oh, and since this was written awhile ago, the writing may seem a little different as compared to more recent creations of mine.Thank you. I shall now allow you to read les story :D
I Absolutely Love Her When She Smiles
Uuugh . . . I don‛t feel so good, Krystal thought to herself as she hung her head over the edge of the boat, a fine line of white rimming her lips. She was feeling the many joys of seasickness, her stomach churning its delight as she, Naruto, and Jiraiya sailed to their next training destination. Nearly two years had passed since they had left Konoha, and the changes were apparent. Her hair was now to the point of being a nuisance as it constantly hung over her face, and she was in fact taller.
"Darn it, Naruto! Will you sit still already and stop moving the friggin‛ boat!" She managed to yell before fighting another urge to vomit.
"I can‛t help it, I‛m so bored!" the blonde ninja exclaimed as he defied her, not being able to stay still for long as a result of his hyperactive personality. He had changed as well, mostly in strength and appearance, but not much mentally. He looked to be older and slightly more mature, but also still acted like a mischievous little rascal.
"Be bored all you want--" she paused to empty her stomach, "just do it sitting still!"
Naruto pouted but did as told, crossing his arms and legs as he attempted in being quiet and still. He had realized that, sometimes, it was best to do as a girl said. Krystal wouldn‛t normally hit him like Sakura, Ino, or Tenten would, but he still did not feel like taking the chances. He could never know when she decided to react differently.
In fact, now that he thought about it, Krystal was a lot different from who she used to be.
Despite her snapping at him earlier, she would rarely yell at him. Her eyes always seemed to have a far-off look to them, and she never seemed to be "there." Unmotivated, always, her fighting skills were beginning to suffer as well, as if she no longer cared for the ninja way. Not that she ever showed much enthusiasm in the first place, but she would at least put in some effort. Now, it seemed as if she could care less, despite coming along on this trip.
And worst of all, she never smiled, anymore.
A real one, not the sad or fake ones she would use every now and then. She was depressed all of the time and it just wasn‛t the same being with her. He probably wouldn‛t say it out loud, but he was worried about her. Seeing her like that made him think back to when he was depressed himself, especially as a kid.
And she‛s been like that ever since Sasuke left, huh? he realized when observing her. What could Sasuke have done to make her so unhappy? And what could he do to change that now? He liked it when Krystal smiled, it always brought a warm feeling to his heart. It was a pretty smile, one that he treasured to see, even if he never let on that it was so. He would do anything for her to smile again . . .
That‛s it, then, he thought, I‛m gonna make Krystal smile.
His snickering that followed drew the attention of some nearby passengers, a sweat drop or questioning look coming to their expressions; Krystal among them. Her eyebrows furrowed in wonder before she had to empty her stomach again.
I am never going to take the boat again, she shivered. Never.
Later, after the boat found port in the Earth Country, the trio began looking for the nearest hotel. Jiraiya felt that it would be best that they took a day‛s rest (particularly because of Krystal‛s seasickness and that there were many places of adult entertainment he wished to check out). The two rooms he got had a door in-between, connecting them in case of an attack in either one so that the others could access the other room easily and back them up.
As soon as Krystal got into her room, she set her pack in the back corner and set her jacket on top of it, making her black tank top and short-sleeved fishnets visible. Running her hand through her hair, she turned with full intention of going to take a nice and long nap in the futon laying in the center of the room, but instead caught sight of herself in the mirror. She approached her reflection, setting her fingertips against the glass and seeing just how long her hair had gotten, near her hips, now.
Man, I need a haircut . . ., she thought when reaching into her kunai pack and bringing out a kunai. Gathering a section of her hair, the blade of the kunai kissed it, before she stopped. A memory began to form itself in the mirror‛s glass.
"Hey! Guess what I just found out? Sasuke-kun likes girls with long hair!" Little Sakura exclaimed excitedly to her friends.
"No way--Are you serious?! Maybe this means I have a chance!" Another one of the girls with long hair said with sparkling eyes.
"I doubt it," one of the more sensible girls said, putting in her two cents. "It‛s probably just a rumor or Haruno‛s making it up. I don‛t think Sasuke even really likes girls yet."
Little Krystal had listened to the conversation without really joining in, but many thoughts had formed in her head as she stared at her own short hair. None were positive.
". . ." Krystal sighed and she put the kunai away. No one had said she had to cut it . . . Turning just a little too quickly, Krystal brought her hand to her forehead and tried to walk, despite her sudden dizziness, to the futon. I think I‛ll take that nap now . . .
. . . All this thinking‛s making my brain hurt! How do you make a girl smile, anyway? Anything I ever do gets me yelled at, Naruto complained to himself as he tried brainstorming on how to complete his self-appointed mission. Man, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be!
He had already ruled out ramen, since he didn‛t know of any ramen shops in the town and he had taken Krystal to the Ichiraku Ramen a few times after Sasuke left while they were still in Konoha without receiving the desired result. He couldn‛t think of anything else, though. It normally took just one bowl of the delectable treat to bring a smile to his face, but a girl . . .
The blonde groaned, no solutions coming to his mind and he closed his eyes, concentrating hard with an expression that made him look almost constipated. Then, he opened his eyes, a grin coming to his face. Jiraiya had to have had a lot of experience with woman, right? Maybe he could get a non-perverted idea from him."Oi, Ero-sennin," he called, grasping for the old man‛s attention. "How do you make a girl smile?"
"What‛s that?" the Frog Sage questioned as Naruto interrupted him from his attempts at breaking through writer‛s block. "Making a girl smile?"
"Mhm," Naruto nodded.
"It depends on the girl . . . Why?"
"Because I want to make a girl smile--Duh! She's been really depressed lately."
"And how would I benefit from this, exactly?"
Naruto‛s eyes became an angry white and he frowned. "You‛re unbelievable!"
"Yeah, yeah," Jiraiya replied, getting back to his work. Any romance happening between Krystal and Naruto on this trip would only be a distraction to the boy‛s training, and that couldn‛t be good no matter how it was looked at. He hadn‛t been sure about letting the girl along on the trip, anyways, since she couldn‛t help at all with his research. Unless . . .
Perhaps he could benefit from helping Naruto out, after all. A woman with a broken heart had been abandoned by her lover and tries to get away from her home village with one of her male best friends. One things leads to another and he tries to make her smile. It could become a very interesting story indeed and he could even use Naruto as a sort of information-gatherer. Even if they were kids, surely reactions and things of the sort would be relatively the same.
"All right, Naruto," he started as the blonde was giving himself another headache. "I‛ll help you."
"Dattebayo!"
Heheheh . . . This kid . . . "All right, so here‛s what you do."
"Don‛t leave me, Sasuke-kun . . . Please, I love you--I need you, don‛t go . . . Please . . ." Krystal woke up with a start, having yet another dream about him. It was nothing new to her, but it was always the same, the same heartache as he left her behind, every time. Eyes becoming nearly closed, she opened them completely at the sight of a yellow mass in her peripheral vision.
Yellow roses . . .? She reached to the flower and caressed its soft petals, looking at it with wistful eyes. Her lips, however did not twitch. She knew they had to have been from Naruto--Who else would give here yellow roses?--But she still wondered why. Then again, he hardly ever needed a reason for anything, but flowers . . .
And, this has happened before, hasn‛t it . . ., she remembered. It‛s how we met . . .
"Krystal-chan!" called a young boy of the age seven or eight as he ran some ways behind her. He called the name once or twice more, trying to get her attention and catch up to her. After the third call, she finally turned to him. She held onto her notebook with a blush, only half-turned as she saw what was in Naruto‛s hand.
"Um . . . Naruto-san? Wh-what are you doing? Everyone‛s staring . . ." She pointed out. Feeling bashful, she looked at the ground once seeing that her friends and some of the people around were giggling and whispering about her and Naruto.
"Well, I heard that you really like roses and . . . here," he replied, beginning to blush himself as he urged her to take the flower.
"But . . . why? I barely know you and, (don‛t you know that you only give a flower to a girl you like?)" She asked, adding the last part in a whisper so that only he could hear it.
"Oh, don‛t worry ‛bout that, Ino-chan told me that a yellow flower only means friendship! And her family owns that flower shop, right? So . . ." he urged her to take it again.
Reluctant still, Krystal took the flower with thanks, closing her eyes as she brought it to her nose and smelled its sweet fragrance. Smiling, she said to Naruto with a giggle, "It smells so pretty, thank you again."
The young blonde grinned cheesily, scratching the back of his head with slight embarrassment.
Carefully, and trying not to do so to quickly, present Krystal slid from underneath the blankets of her futon and stood, picking the roses up in the process. Though her head swam a little, she was able to do so and make her way to the door without any trouble. It seemed as though the nap helped. When she opened the door, she was welcomed with the sight of Naruto squatting in the hallway, occupying himself with a cat by bobbing his brand new black Konoha headband in front of its face.
"Naruto-kun?" she questioned, trying to capture his attention.
The genin looked up as the cat began pawing at the headband, getting hit a few times. "Hey, Krystal-chan. Feeling any better?"
"Uh, yeah . . . Um," she replied, not sure if she should mention the roses or not. Chances were that she would not receive a straight answer anyway. She decided it would be best to save themselves from a moment of awkwardness.
"Ero-sennin‛s doin‛ some ‛research‛, so we‛re pretty much on our own for dinner. Ya hungry?" he asked, hitting the cat a little more than before as a result of not paying attention, causing it to growl with it‛s ears laying flat against its skull.
"Um, a little . . .," she answered, eyeing the cat as it‛s tail twitched menacingly and it crouched, getting ready to pounce. A low grumble was developing in its chest.
"Me too, let‛s go--OW!"The cat had finally had enough of being toyed with and scratched Naruto‛s hand, screeching in the process. It ran away quickly, but began to walk as though feeling ten feet tall about half way down the hall. At the end, it stopped and turned slightly, beginning to licks its paw and give Naruto a teasing glance. Naruto‛s eyes became an angry white and he started for the cat. "I‛ll kill that cat!"
"Naruto-kun!" Krystal held him back as best she could, locking her arms around his neck while still keeping the roses at hand.
. . . Dang it! Jiraiya was totally wrong! Nothing I‛ve tried has worked! Naruto groaned inwardly awhile after the "cat incident". He had tried flowers, he had tried getting her favorite food (odango), and he had even tripped himself on purpose dozens of times in hopes that he could maybe get a laugh! He had run out of options as provided by Jiraiya, except for a box of chocolates, but Krystal didn‛t really like sweets. I‛m out of ideas . . . This is becoming impossible, believe it!
Krystal sighed on the inside as she wondered what Naruto was up to. He was acting strangely, meaning stranger than usual, in her opinion; it was beginning to weird her out. Flowers . . . Dumplings . . . And she could have sworn that some of his "accidents" on the way back to the hotel weren‛t accidental. She didn‛t like that he was hurting himself . . .
I‛m sure that whatever it is, I‛ll find out soon enough. He has a hard time keeping any of his motives secret for long, she reminded herself. I shouldn‛t worry about it so much.
Frustration was a feeling Naruto was becoming familiar with. What else could he do? What was going to make Krystal smile? Concentrating and thinking had never been his strongest attributes in the first place, but as he sat just outside the room he and Jiraiya shared, underneath the night sky, he found that just about anything distracted him.
Okay . . . So let‛s focus now. How do you make a girl smile . . . ? Oo, is that an ant? Heheh, it‛s got a little bread crumb--FOCUS! Krystal. Smile . . . The stars are pretty tonight . . . Oo! A shooting star! . . . Hey, that stupid cat‛s back! Woah, Naruto let‛s not lose focus . . .
But he couldn‛t focus. The cat had begun to stare at him, eyes angry and unblinking yet still somehow maintaining innocence. It seemed as though it was toying with him, licking itself every now and then until it decided to creep closer. As was in its nature, it approached cautiously, circling around Naruto‛s backpack and slinking when getting closer, as of preparing to pounce. Both it and Naruto‛s eyes narrowed, waiting for the other to strike first.
"BOO!" Naruto yelled, causing the cat‛s eyes to grow wide and nearly have a heart attack as it scrambled to leave, knocking the contents of Naruto‛s backpack out in the process. "Heeheehee, that‛ll teach that stupid cat not to mess with me!" he snickered while picking up the spilled contents, his eyes coming across a headband with a slash running through the leaf symbol.
Sasuke‛s headband . . . he thought when picking it up. He stared at it, many memories coming back to him as his grip on it tightened. His eyes closed. I know how I‛m going to make Krystal smile, now . . .
The sound of two knocks on the door came quick yet loud to Krystal‛s ears and was followed by retreating footsteps. Because the cat had run to her after Naruto scared it, she picked it up when standing and walked to the door. Once she opened it, the cat jumped from her arms to the floor and began to sniff the little folded note on the floor. Krystal looked both ways down the hall, not seeing a soul.
"That‛s strange," she muttered as she bended over to pick up the paper. "Did you . . . see . . . anyone, Kitty?"Her voice slowed as her eyes widened as she read the note. It can‛t be . . . No, it‛s not possible . . .
"Meet me under the Cherry Blossom trees near the Odango shop as soon as possible. --Sasuke"
What was the probability of this being a trap? No one in the Earth country would have any reason to hold a grudge against her or Naruto. Jiraiya, maybe but that was only a slim possibility. But the probability of this being the real Sasuke . . .
Without anymore thought, she grabbed her jacket and pulled on her ninja sandals, leaving her room as fast as her legs would carry her, scaring the cat into nearly another heart attack. Her eyes were beginning to well up at the thought. Sasuke? HERE? It was probably foolish to get so worked up--There‛s no way Sasuke would come here. But something was just telling her to go.
In no time at all Krystal reached where she was to meet Sasuke. Maybe she should have brought Naruto along? Especially if this was a trap . . .
"Ahem," came a familiar voice she had longed to hear for almost two years. She turned to look behind her, seeing his silhouette in the shadows of the trees. His duck-butt hair style, the far to wide circumference of his collar, the calm way he stood as he leaned against the trunk. Just the way she remembered him . . . everything was so vivid, this was way more than a memory, this was really him-- he was really here!
Butterflies multiplied in her stomach as she took one step forward, and then another, as they became rising in number; her pace quickening until she was running and she threw her arms around Sasuke tightly, becoming weak at the knees as she tried not to cry but failed miserably. So many words coming to mind, so many actions but she couldn‛t perform any one of them. She could only cry, stand and breathe, smelling a scent of apples and . . . ramen?
It‛s not possible . . . There‛s no way he would . . ., Her tears stopped abruptly, her hold loosening as she decided to take a closer look at him, hoping that the thought in which had crossed her mind wasn‛t true. "You‛re not the real Sasuke-kun . . ."
Giving in, "Sasuke" gave a sort of smile in which was out-of-character. "I guess ya caught me, believe it," he said while pulling Krystal‛s arms from around him and undid the jutsu, revealing the imposter to be--
"N-naruto-kun?"
Sheepishly, the blonde ninja grinned. "Yeah."
Krystal was speechless as she backed away from him, words coming to her mind but her lips being unable to utter a sound besides those of vowels. Her blood was running cold--she felt so betrayed--How could Naruto have done this to her?! For a moment she had really thought that Sasuke was back . . .
Naruto‛s expression turned quickly to concern as he was realizing that his ingenious idea may have had the adverse effect. He sure wasn‛t getting the reaction he had hoped for. "Krystal-chan?"
"How . . . How could you, Naruto-kun?" she asked, finding her voice. Immediately she rose it. "Do you have any idea how much that hurt? One moment, thinking that he was here only to find out that it‛s not really him? I‛ve dreamt about him coming back so many times, Naruto-kun. What possessed you?!"
Taken aback, Naruto stared at her with wide eyes, getting the exact OPPOSITE of the reaction he had wanted. "I just . . . I only wanted . . . I only wanted to see you smile, again, believe it."
"You . . . what?"
"You‛ve been so sad, lately, and I told you that I hate it when girls cry and stuff . . . All of your smiles are so sad, or fake I just wanted to see you smile a real smile. Maybe even laugh . . ."
Calmer now, Krystal brushed the tears from her eyes with her sleeves, beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle, together. Her eyes were still watering a little, but with a different emotion behind them. "So then . . . the flowers? The dumplings? It was only because you wanted to make me smile?"
"Uh-huh."
Krystal bit her bottom lip, "and you kept hurting yourself in comical ways on purpose? For the same reason?"
"Believe it."
She bowed her head, the tears coming faster than ever before but the corners of her mouth twitched up slightly. Feverishly, she wiped the tears away more and tackled Naruto in the tightest of hugs she had given in her entire life. All of it . . . The flowers, the dumplings, the "accidents" . . . All just for the simple desire to see her smile. It made her oddly . . . giddy. She had an overwhelming urge to giggle--laugh, even. The entire concept seemed so stupid, and so cheesy . . . but sweet.
As she had buried her face into his chest, Naruto could not see her smile as he hugged her back and asked, "Krystal-chan? Are you okay?"
"I think so," she replied. She was finding it harder to contain herself. The way he acted--What he had done for such a simple thing made her feel special for the first time in . . . ever. She was happy. She was happy. "I‛m fine, Naruto-kun . . . Thank you, so much," she said, bringing her watery gaze up to meet with his with the nicest and widest smile she could muster. Her eyes narrowed and seemed gentler. Naruto knew that this one was genuine. "Thank you."
Blushing, he returned the smile and held her a little closer, resting his head against hers. "No problem . . . I love it when you smile, believe it."
Later that night, as both did not feel like sleeping just yet, they managed to get themselves to the roof of the one-story hotel, just above their rooms. They both looked upon the stars, just enjoying the company and talking to one another. Feeling drowsy, Krystal leaned against Naruto as the sleep began to overtake her, still smiling and mentally shaking her head at some of Naruto‛s actions that day.
"By the way, I liked the flowers. Just as pretty as the first time," she said.
"No problem. They were also kinda cheap, too," he joked. "And . . . you know, I‛ve had Sasuke‛s headband since that battle in the Valley of the End between me and him . . . I was thinking that you might want to have it . . . You know, just because you‛ll have something of him. I know you miss ‛im . . ." he said when pulling the object from his pocket and holding it out for her to take.
Accepting the headband, a wistful look came to Krystal‛s eyes as she placed it on her lap, "Thank you, Naruto-kun," and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "You really are the greatest friend anyone could ask for."
End of I Absolutely Love Her When She Smiles
Thanks for reading!! Please, leave a review and if you liked this one-shot and have yet to check out my story .:Roses are Red:., please do!!