A/N: Hello there again! Here's another one of my oneshots. I promise updates on my other stuff soon, but the holidays are coming up, so you might not be hearing from me until after New Years, so I thought that I should spoil you with some mild fluff, AU Nejiten. Enjoy, and happy holidays in advance. (The song, BTW, is "Always be my baby" by Mariah Carey.)
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NOR AM I MARIAH CAREY.
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Her feet trailed onto the surface of the still water. A sigh escaped her lips, her hands gripping the rope him her hands, the feel of the old tire under her legs comforting.
This was always where she escaped to when she had things to think about. This was her escape. The old tire swing under the big tree over the clean and fresh spring fed by a small waterfall was her place of reflection.
A strand of her hair fell onto the surface of the water. Echoing in her ears were the words of a certain boy.
"You're being a bit childish, don't you think?" The boy smirked, his handsome features twisting into a tiny smirk.
"Shut up! You broke it, you have to fix it!" She yelled back angrily, hair falling out of the single bun on her head, wielding a stick and waving it around as a sword.
He picked up the pieces of the glass flower, gently pressing the pieces in their correct order. "Useless, even if I do fix it," he said quietly.
She stared incredulously into his white eyes. "You-you, ugh!"
Her steps were hard on the wooden cabin floor, and the slam of the door was heard all throughout the camp.
A droplet of water fell into her reflection on the water, and she didn't notice that it was her tears.
She felt pathetic. But how else should she feel? That flower was the last remaining thing from her family that she had. Her mother had owned it, thinking it to be a unique piece of art. Her sniffle rang out through the silent night, and she hastily wiped her tears away.
A family of foxes gathered at the edge of the spring, lapping up the water, and she watched the smallest one get pushed around, and didn't get a chance to drink.
She stared at the outcast, the runt, and was mesmerised by it, how it moved away and started lapping up some water farther from its family. How pathetic it looked as well. It looked up at her, than behind the big tree, then back up to her.
She sighed again. Looking down at her bikini top and shorts, she decided to swing up a little bit more, and dive in.
One. Two. Three.
She was in the water. She kicked until she rose to the top of the water, and took a deep breath before floating on her back. Hair was splattered across her hair in a wet soggy mess, not noticing her now gone hair tie. She sighed, and paddle around in circles for a while before heading to the waterfall.
The waterfall stood at about less than six feet, and let a long curtain of water fall perfectly over the edge. Rinsing her hair out, running her fingers through the chestnut locks, a song rang into her head.
"We were as one, babe, for a moment in time, and it seemed everlasting, that you would always be mine," she sang, all her worries leaving her.
"But you want to be free, so I'll let you fly, but I know in my heart, babe, our love will never die!" Her voice rang through clear in the silence of the night. Two owls flew over her head and into the forest.
"You'll always be a part of me, and I'm part of you indefinitely, and boy, don't you know you can't escape me, ooh darlin', 'cause you'll always my baby!" She continued the chorus, in harmony with the nightjars in the distance.
She stopped when she heard a twig snap in the direction of her big tree. Swimming to the centre of the water reserve, she eyed the shadow of the tree.
She thought up the possibilities. "If it's a land predator, it probably won't come after me in the water, and I know there are no bears in this area. It wouldn't be an aerial predator, because they don't land, so it must be- Neji?"
The long-haired boy emerged from behind the tree, clutching a glittering crystal flower. "I didn't know where I could return this to... I kinda just followed your footsteps here."
"I left no tracks." She said simply. "Unless you were watching me the entire time..."
"I'm sorry." He said, hands out.
Treading, she looked at the pristine amethyst in the centre of the crystal lily. "What.. You fixed it?"
"Made it better."
"Thank you. I'd take it, but I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Alright." He said quietly.
"Would you like to join me?" She said coyly.
Is face grew warm, and he sat at the edge of the water. "Um..."
She swam up to him, and plucked the lily from his hand, and held his pale hands into his own. "Come on."
And she pulled him in.
"Ah!"
"I tried asking you nicely," she reasoned.
"I'm gonna get you for this."
"I know."
You'll always be my baby.