[Started on June 11, 11:26 PM]
Felt in a NaruHina, ObiAnko, and MinaKushi mood today. XD Aww, come on~ you know they're all cute. ;D Anywho! I'm practicing with three separate pairs of characters, but all are given the same theme (is there a name for that?) So, I hope this works!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me what you think! I'm practicing for English next year. (I'm also trying to have fun whilst doing so! ;D)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Naruto.
-\[=]/-
[Year One – MinaKushi]
Kushina Uzumaki was not a happy camper—not in the slightest. It'd been five and a half months since Minato Namikaze so sweetly risked his life to save her from the Kumogakure shinobi. For three of those months, instead of paying any attention to her, he was quite focused on Mikoto Raikiri. Within the first month of him ignoring her, he and Mikoto went to the Yamanaka flower shop to buy some seeds.
At first, she didn't think it was such a big deal. Minato and Mikoto were only teammates. She didn't believe anything was going on between them. That is, until Kizashi Haruno noticed them spending so much time with each other and began pointing it out to her. Within the second and third months, she decided to play hard-to-get for a bit. However, once she found out that such a strategy wouldn't work on the blonde genin, she called back-up.
"Hitomi!" She called her friend.
Hitomi Hyuga was a good friend of both Mikoto and Kushina. She was one of the kindest shinobi out there. Once she saw Kushina waving ecstatically at her, she smiled and made her way to her fellow genin. Upon arrival, Kushina took her by surprise. She immediately grabbed her by the shoulders and began to question her.
"Hitomi-Chan, I need to know," she began quite seriously, "are Minato and Mikoto dating?"
The young Hyuga blinked her pale orbs a single time. Kushina released her grip on Hitomi's shoulders, and backed away slowly, apologizing as she did so. Hitomi giggled and dismissed it.
"It's ok, Kushina-Chan." Hitomi laughed. "Though, I am sorry. I don't know anything about Minato and Mikoto."
"Oh," Kushina said dejectedly. "Thanks anyway."
"Well, wait a second, Kushina-Chan," Hitomi giggled. "I do remember something."
"Yeah?" she gasped, hoping for something to go on. Her violet-blue eyes widened.
"I did see Minato go to her house for a week about two months back."
Suddenly, Kushina's eye began to twitch, and Hitomi felt as though she may have broken the poor Uzumaki girl. The red-head balled her hands into fists and raised one of them to the level her chin was at. She began cursing Mikoto, deciding she would get even with her. Hitomi sheepishly and gingerly pushed her friend's fist down. Kushina looked up at the Hyuga and exposed her twitching eye.
"Kushina-Chan," Hitomi calmly started, "you need to calm down. Maybe he was seeing if she needed anything; she could have been sick."
Kushina huffed, her eye finally ceasing its twitching, and crossed her arms. "Yeah, maybe."
"Just be calm, Kushina-Chan," she was told. "Everything will turn out fine."
It took a bit more convincing, but Kushina finally pacified. She thanked Hitomi and went home. Upon arriving to her apartment, she kicked off her sandals and stretched out on her bed. She found her stuffed animal, Kyu.* She lifted her legs in the air and settled the stuffed fox on the soles of her feet.
"Hitomi's right," she admitted with a sigh. "I'm probably overreacting. I mean, they are teammates, dattebane."
She looked Kyu in the eyes. His buttons stared straight back at her. She spread her legs apart and caught him mid-descent as she sat up. She stroked his fake, orange fur as she lay on her stomach. She kicked her legs back-and-forth as she touched his small nose. Although he was a mute, inanimate object, she often talked to him as though he were alive and human.
"But what if she's wrong," she nearly gasped. She then shook her head. "No, no, no. Hitomi's rarely ever wrong, dattebane! She and Shikaku graduated top of the class, Kyu!"
His button-eyes bored into her colorful orbs.
"Then again," she doubted, "everyone has their off days."
Kushina jolted up to a sitting position, Kyu still in her hands.
"What if Hitomi is covering for those two?" she gasped. "But, wait, Hitomi's no sneak, dattebane! She's one of the most honest people I know, dattebane!"
She stayed up the entire night, telling Kyu every last one of her thoughts. By morning, she groaned and stood up. She took a nice, warm shower. She expected it to wash away all her worries. She was terribly wrong. Kushina's mind was full of so many different answers to her question. She wasn't sure what to do anymore. Then she remembered another—the one on her team.
"Hizashi's pretty smart," she announced to herself. "I'll ask him during training today."
That was exactly what she did. She dressed herself for the day and strutted toward the training grounds. Hizashi and Kizashi were in the middle of sparring. Kushina waited patiently atop the sparring post. In the end, Hizashi conquered the Haruno with his Juken. Kushina smirked. She and Hizashi always joked about the Juken move. It started off as a half-insult toward Hiashi when he criticized her teammate.
One day, Hiashi and Hizashi were caught in the middle of a question via Shikaku Nara. He only wanted to know about the marking on Hizashi's forehead, but Hiashi made it into a full-blown criticism speech about his brother. Hizashi attempted to explain it without making anybody sound like the bad guy, however, his twin kept interrupting him. At one point, Hiashi went a bit far with his insults and Kushina stepped toward him, stating "Hiashi, if you don't quit insulting my teammate, I swear, I will Juken you in the face, dattebane!"
"Good job, you two!" Kushina exclaimed, kicking her legs out and pumping her arms in the air.
"Arigatou," they thanked her.
"What did you need from us, Kushina?" Kizashi questioned.
"Just need to ask Hizashi something," she stated.
"Go right ahead, Kushina-Chan," Hizashi replied.
She leapt from the post and silently asked her question. Kizashi heard it and began laughing. Kushina growled at him, a small tint of pink covering her cheeks. She stated that it wasn't supposed to be a funny question. He attempted to stifle his laughs, but several snorts escaped. She rolled her eyes, her blush becoming crimson. Hizashi just looked at his teammate with a dumbfounded expression.
"I'm not sure," he stated. "I'm sorry, Kushina-Chan."
"It's alright," she sighed. "Tell sensei I'm skipping training today."
"Uh," they said in unison, "alright."
"Arigatou."
With that, the boys witnessed Kushina Uzumaki walk away. They didn't know, though, that her destination was the park. She found the swing set and settled herself on the wooden plank that served as a seat. She didn't know what to think anymore. Questions still bombarded her mind, demanding answers. She'd angrily tell herself she couldn't find any, though. She sighed and looked down at her knees, swinging back-and-forth as she did so.
"Kushina-Chan," she heard a female voice next to her say, "daijobu?"
She recognized the voice and hurriedly looked to her right. She witnessed Mikoto Raikiri on the swing next to her. She felt an enormous urge to chew her out for spending so much time with Minato, but she bit her tongue. She looked down momentarily. How could she answer her question? Was she ok? No. She'd been freaking out for three months straight because of this girl.
"I guess," Kushina finally answered. "How have you been, Mikoto-Chan? I rarely see you anymore."
"I'm fine," she smiled. "I've been spending time with Yuru* and Minato lately. Fugaku and I are still working around his Uchiha schedule."
Kushina's head jolted straight up at the latter part of the sentence. Fugaku? Did she still talk to Fugaku? Kushina had forgotten all about that weird Uchiha! He was always so stoic and quiet—he was easily overlooked in a group. She leaned toward Mikoto, which made the Raikiri girl back up a bit. It scared her whenever Kushina did things like that. It scared everyone, really. Whenever Kushina leaned in to ask you something, it was usually an awkward question, an angry comment, or a threat.
"So, y-you and Fugaku," she began her question, "you're still dating?"
"Of course, silly!" Mikoto giggled, pleased her question wasn't very awkward at all. "He's just never around because of his weird schedule. Why do you ask?"
"That's fantastic!" Kushina exclaimed.
She leapt from the swing and embraced Mikoto tightly. She told her goodbye and raced off to find Minato. Mikoto sat in her seat, swinging away with a confused expression upon her complexion. Meanwhile, Kushina found a certain blonde-haired genin walking down the street with a shoebox in hand. Kushina beamed brightly and rushed straight toward him.
The moment she stood in front of him, he just looked at her. This made her quite upset. Usually when she walked to him, he'd wave at her or smile. This time, he just stared at her. She stamped her foot and folded her arms across her chest. She was not going to be ignored! She did her very best not to sound desperate for his attention, but the moment she opened her mouth, all of her words just fell out.
"Minato Namikaze, talk to me! I cannot believe you, dattebane! First you rescue me in the most romantic way possible, and then you ignore me for five and a half months? What's that all about? You know, I thought you and Mikoto were dating, dattebane!"
"Kushina-Chan, I can explain—"
"I mean, you two were spending so much time together, why wouldn't I have expected that? Seriously, Minato, I understand she's your teammate, but you two don't have to be so inseparable! And you even left Yuru out of most of your outings, dattebane! I mean, how rude is that?"
"Kushina-Chan…"
"And another thing—"
"Kushina-Chan!"
She blinked, which made Minato smile at her. She pouted in order to get her point across. She wasn't done being angry with him. This only made him snicker and rest his hand on her shoulder.
"Kushina-Chan, we aren't dating at all. We never were," he began his explanation. "I can see how it may have looked that way, though. Mikoto was teaching me about cross-pollination and codominance in plants."
"Why," she inquired.
"Well, I was saving this for your birthday next week"—she had completely forgotten her birthday was the following week; what with trying to figure out why he and Mikoto were so close for the past while—"but here you go."
He opened up the shoebox and handed her a bouquet of roses. They weren't any roses, though. Minato—with Mikoto's help in the biology department—had created a special type of rose. He pointed out that the center petals were a violet-blue, just like her eyes, while the rest of the rose was as red as her hair. A flock of people suddenly stopped in the middle of the road to gush at the two. She had to admit, Minato giving her a specially-created-for-Kushina (literally) bouquet of roses was adorable and very romantic.
"I hope you like them," he stated somewhat sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in the process. "They took five and a half months to make."
"I love them, Minato-Kun," she smiled softly. "Arigatou."
-\[=]/-
[Year Two – ObiAnko]
Anko Mitarashi was quite upset with herself. She accidentally let out one of her secrets. Although it wasn't much of a secret to most people, Obito Uchiha was oblivious to it, and she let it fly in front of him. For quite a while now, he'd been avoiding any contact with her. She didn't understand why he was ignoring her. She understood that it was an awkward situation, but what on earth was he afraid of her for? She wondered if he hated her.
She replayed the memory over and over again in her mind, thinking of how large of an idiot she was. She couldn't leave out the slightest detail, no matter how hard she tried. Obito was walking with her to her training grounds, but Orochimaru approached him. He began licking his lips, which made Obito shudder a bit. Orochimaru always disturbed Obito, but Anko had had enough with it.
"Orochimaru-Sensei," Anko began, "please stop bugging him. He needs to meet his team."
"Obito, why don't you join us for training?" he pressed on, completely ignoring her.
"Arigatou, but I have to go," Obito stated with a slightly nervous tone.
"Stay!" Orochimaru nearly begged. "You and your beautiful body must stay! Kudasai!"
"This is the reason he'll never love me back!" she accidentally burst.
Obito stood there, shocked beyond all belief. Had she really just said that? Anko quickly put her hands over her mouth. She avoided eye contact with him, but it was hard not to look at him. She couldn't bear to see his expression. Instead, she apologized to both her sensei and Obito, but she was mostly sorry to the latter person. After doing so, she rushed off. Rin Nohara visited Anko the next day in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Moshi-Moshi Rin-Chan," Anko greeted her. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Rin gingerly stated. "How are you, Anko-Chan?"
"Ok," she shrugged. "What's your team been up to?"
"Well," Rin began, "Kakashi is working on his new jutsu. He calls it chidori. It's very powerful; could take off a whole head."
"And Obito-Kun?" she inquired softly, avoiding eye contact. Just saying it cut a piece of her heart out.
This took Rin a while. It was a simple question, but anything Obito-related would kill Anko. Her facial expression was eager, yet completely nervous. It was the same face people made when they got test results back. In her mind, Rin recalled having to snap her teammate back into reality several times within the past hour. He sat in the grass, hugging his legs to his knees and looking downward most of the day. However, Rin couldn't tell Anko that. If she heard Obito was acting in such a manner, she would probably feel worse.
"He's been sparring with Kakashi," she stated. That wasn't a complete lie. He'd pitch in every now and again.
"That's nice," she replied half-heartedly.
Once Rin left, Anko laid on her bed and gawked at the ceiling. Every now and again, a tear would leak from her eye, but she would immediately wipe it away and forget about it. However, the memory continued to play over and over again in her mind. She sighed, became angry, punched her pillow, and then hugged it. After several more moments of just thinking, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.
She pulled out the chair at her table and seated herself. She stared at the blank sheet and became frustrated. After a minute or two of mindless ogling, she groaned angrily and shot up from her seat. She paced toward the kitchen area and grabbed her radio. She settled herself at the table once again and clicked the radio on. A song played that reminded her of her predicament. Anko's eyes widened and she picked up her pen.
She hastily wrote down every thought she ever had about the Uchiha. All the way from their Academy days, to meeting his cousins, to the previous day. By the time she finished, she had three pages worth of memoirs. Once she was satisfied with her work, she sighed and sat back in her small chair. She picked up the small stack of paper and shuffled each page through her hands.
"Now if only I could give it to him," she began, "without looking like a giant tool."
And with that, Anko stretched and went to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, she sighed, took a shower, dressed for the day, and decided to go on a walk. As she took her time down the semi-barren street, she noticed her favorite shinobi walking the opposite direction. Anko decided to casually slow down (so casually that she it would go unnoticed). Obito-Kun, she thought somewhat sadly. She looked embarrassed as she made eye-contact with him.
Obito returned her gaze, but seemed quite uncomfortable. Shyly, he approached her. Anko's breath caught in her throat as he lightly shoved a note into her hands. He didn't smile at all; he just waved and walked away. She stood in the middle of the street, watching his figure walk away. Once he went around the corner, she looked at the note in her hands. Anko gulped as she unfolded the small piece of paper.
Meet me at the lake
It was a simple request, but it sort of scared her. He didn't smile at all when he approached her, now he wanted her to meet him somewhere? She thought he might tell her that he wasn't ready to make any sort of commitment to her. That he didn't even want to be friends anymore. That he would never talk to her again. Anko shook so much that the note nearly fell out of her hands. She attempted to think of positive things he might tell her, but the negative captured her mind.
Anko worked her way to the lake, completely frightened. She sat down, hugging her legs to her chest. Once she saw Obito waltz her way and sit next to her, she fell silent. They took their time, just staring at the lake. After several moments of silence, they sighed simultaneously, which made them each chuckle sheepishly. They finally made eye-contact, and Anko's heart stopped.
"Anko-Chan," Obito began, "I'm sorry for ignoring you. You just shocked me is all."
"Oh," was all she could say.
"So," he paused briefly, "you love me?"
She averted her eyes and nodded. After seeing this, Obito planted the palms of his hands behind his back and placed pressure on them. He slowly eased backwards and nodded back.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I loved you the same way you love me," he stated. "But I'd be willing to try the whole thing out. I mean, if you'd want to?"
"The whole thing?" Anko queried. "Like…dating?"
"Hai," he replied with a single nod.
Anko pondered over this for a second. She finally gave him an enormous smile and hugged him. She repetitively thanked him. Each time, he lightly chuckled and told her it was his pleasure. They stood up and walked to Ichiraku together, where they met Kakashi and Rin. Kakashi's eyes went straight to Obito and Anko. Rin noticed the smirk underneath his mask and giggled.
"I see you two are fine now," Rin said. "Am I correct?"
"Hai," they replied in unison.
"Good," Kakashi stated monotonously as he pulled down his mask. "He needed to clear his conscience. I'm surprised he waited two days."
"Urusai," Obito demanded, his ears turning pink, "Bakashi."
-\[=]/-
[Year Three – NaruHina]
Seven-year-old Hinata Hyuga was in the Academy, focusing on the back of a certain Uzumaki's head. He seemed quite bored as he watched Iruka, who was explaining the proper way to use a kunai. She then noticed that she wasn't listening either. Instead, she watched Naruto yawn and shift his weight to the left side of his body. She lightly smiled before returning her eyes to Iruka.
The last time Hinata was caught staring at the blonde, Iruka told her to snap out of dreamland, which completely and utterly embarrassed her. This time, even though her eyes were on Iruka, she continued to think of the boy in her class. She wondered why he never spoke to her. Hinata began to question whether she truly was weird or not. She knew she was terribly shy, but she never thought she was weird.
Her mind flew back to the day he'd rescued her from bullies. Surely someone wouldn't pay mind to a weird girl…would they? She sighed and continued to watch the instructor, hoping she wouldn't be yelled at again. However, within the last three minutes of her listening, the bell rang, which meant recess was up next. She closed her book, walked down the steps, and approached the door. Before she could exit, though, an arm pulled her back. She squeaked lightly as she turned on her heel. She was met by a girl with pink hair and a red ribbon better known as Sakura.
"Hinata-Chan," Sakura began in a whisper, "you like Naruto, right?"
Hinata's face became beet red. She pushed her index fingers together and avoided eye contact with the Haruno. She began stuttering, which made her blush deeper. Sakura giggled lightly and waved her hand dismissively.
"It's alright," she told her with a smile, "I know you do. What if I told you that I could get him to talk to you?"
Hinata gasped and looked up at the girl.
"C-Could you r-really?"
"I can!" she announced proudly. "You just have to do a simple task first."
So Hinata listened to Sakura's plan. It was very simple. She decided she would go through with it. As she walked out of school at the end of the day, she couldn't help but think that Sakura only wanted to help her in order to get closer to Sasuke. With Naruto out of the picture, nothing could stop her from growing a relationship with the Uchiha. However, she was thankful to Sakura. She never would have thought of the plan on her own.
Therefore, as Hinata strode down the street, she had her money ready. She entered Ichiraku and sat on the stool. Teuchi, the elderly man running the ramen stand, looked at her and smiled softly as he chuckled.
"Well, I don't see many members of the Hyuga clan in here," he stated. "What can I do for you?"
"M-May I p-please have some r-ramen to go?" Hinata queried softly.
"Yes ma'am," Teuchi stated.
He made the ramen, put a lid on it, and gave it to the Hyuga girl. She smiled happily, paid him, and thanked him very much. She settled the ramen in her bag and hurried home. The minute she entered the house, she shut the door and smiled. Hinata rushed into the kitchen, removed the ramen bowl from her pack, and settled it in the refrigerator.
"Hinata," she heard a harsh voice behind her.
"Eek!" she yelped before turning to face her father. "G-G-Gomenasai, 'Tou-San. I d-d-didn't see y-you there."
"What were you just doing, Hinata?" Hiashi questioned.
"I w-w-was putting some r-r-ramen in the fridge," she stated.
"Where did you get the ramen?" he inquired.
She looked into his eyes. Her father knew very little about her life at school, but he knew enough about her infatuation with the Uzumaki boy. Hiashi did not approve. He and Kushina had always been polar opposites—and not in the good way, either. They practically hated each other. Although, Hitomi, his wife, and Kushina got along nicely, he still did not like Naruto. And ever since Hitomi passed away, Hinata was afraid of even mentioning Naruto in front of her father. Therefore, she had to lie her way out.
"I w-w-was just eating s-some at Ichiraku R-Ramen," Hinata said, "and I couldn't f-f-finish it, so I br-brought it home t-t-t-to s-s-save it."
He stared at her for a long while. Hinata stood her ground. She didn't shake under his glare, which made him sigh and nod. He finally walked away, choosing to believe her. She sighed in relief once he exited. She walked to her own room and dressed for training. As she stepped into her dorm and closed the door, she thought about the following day. She jumped for joy as she shoved on her black pants and shirt. Giddily, she ran down the stairs and prepared for training. She stretched her legs, arms, and even her toes. That was when Neji noticed her.
"Hinata-Sama," he began, "why are you so energetic today?"
"I-In the m-mood to train," she stated softly. "I s-s-suddenly have a-a-all this energy."
Neji cocked a brow at her. He attempted to read her face, but ultimately gave up. He could have cared less. He took his stance at the other end of the floor as she took her own. Hiashi waved his hand, silently announcing that they may commence.
Thirty minutes went by and Hinata, although losing, had done excellently. Neji bowed to her after defeating her, and she did the same. Hiashi looked at her with a cocked brow. He had no idea what had gotten into her; nobody did. Hiashi told her to go change her clothes and eat dinner. She replied with a very ecstatic "Hai!" as she dashed up the stairs.
"Why was I so energetic?" she questioned herself silently. "Is it because he may finally talk to me tomorrow?"
Hinata shrugged it off and continued smiling. She dressed in a lavender shirt and navy slacks. Quickly, she ran downstairs and entered the kitchen. However, once she entered the room, her smile fell and became a frown. There, at the table, Hanabi Hyuga was sipping ramen broth from a large, white bowl. Hinata squeaked and rushed to the fridge. That could not have been Naruto's ramen! No! It couldn't have been! Alas, it was. She fell to her knees and held back tears.
"Arigatou, Nee-Chan," Hanabi earnestly thanked her sister. She thought the ramen truly was for her. "That was so nice of you!"
With that, Hanabi leapt from her seat and skipped out of the kitchen. Hinata grabbed a carrot out of the fridge and sat at the table, crying as she attempted to eat her dinner. Now what would she do? There was no way she could get Naruto's attention now! She ate half of her carrot and walked to her room slowly. This caught Neji and Hanabi's attention.
"Oi, Nee-Chan!" Hanabi called. "Daijobu?"
"Hai," she answered in a sad tone.
"You don't sound okay," Neji replied.
"I'm f-f-fine," she stated. "J-Just sleepy."
And with that, she went to bed, feeling terrible. Although, in the morning, she found some cup ramen in the bottom cabinet of the kitchen. She sighed, nodded, and stuffed it into her backpack. It would have to do. So while she and Neji walked to school that morning, she looked at the school and gulped. Neji said goodbye and walked into his classroom.
However, Hinata heard a creak behind her. She looked and saw the one and only Naruto Uzumaki on his swing. She tried her hardest not to stutter, but she couldn't help it. She swallowed harshly and spun on her heel. She took the ramen out of her bag and shoved it in front of her. Hinata walked toward Naruto shyly, making no eye contact at all.
"N-Naruto-Kun," she said.
"Hmm?" he queried softly. "What's that in your hands, Hinata-Chan?"
"I-I-I-It's f-f-f-for y-y-y-you, N-Naruto-Kun," she continued to stutter.
"Aw, Hinata-Chan," he beamed, "thank you! I was all out of ramen, dattebayo!"
"R-R-Really?" she queried.
"Really!" Naruto announced, capturing her in a hug. "Arigatou, Hinata-Chan!"
And with that, they waltzed into class together. Hinata was happy that he finally talked to her. It wasn't so hard. She just had to find what he liked.
-\[=]/-
AUGH! I'm so terrible at endings!
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it! 8D Oh, and, if you didn't notice, it was kind of based off of "Talk to Me" by Carly Rae Jepson.
*Kyu: means "nine" in Japanese. Based off of nine tails~ ;D
*Yuru: Everyone thinks the girl in Minato and Jiraiya's team picture is Mikoto, but no one knows what to call the boy. I went with Yuru because it means rock, which sounds like Brock. THE DUDE LOOKS LIKE BROCK. Ha~
Please review! I'm supposed to be practicing writing for English next year, so…yeah. XD
Thank you all! I hope you enjoyed it! 83
