A/N: Just a small drabble I wrote while feeling contemplative. Mentions of events in the second season of the manga.
Let me know what you think. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters or plot associated with Naruto. They belong to Kishimoto-sensei.
Naruto, she had realized, had a thousand different smiles. There was the one he wore when he was feeling particularly embarrassed, and he would try to laugh the uncomfortable situation off. That one she didn't see all that often, as Naruto rarely got embarrassed. There was the prideful grin that he sported when he boasted about his ninja skills, and the one that he wore when he was officially freaked, which looked more like a grimace that anything. There was also the one he wore when he was completely lost in a conversation, and yet wanted to appear as though he knew exactly what was going on.
There were two that he had for her alone, she had noticed. There was the leering grin, one that she suspected he had learned from either Kakashi or Jiraiya, when he flirted shamelessly with her, and right before she would smack some sense into him. The second one was the one he wore when he was trying to cheer her up. It was a much toned down version of his boastful grin, one that filled her with a faith that she swore she had lost when she had hit puberty. It was the kind of belief that only children had, and she wondered if Naruto didn't know exactly what that grin could do.
The one he wore around Skikamaru was always relaxed and lazy, like the ninja in company himself. The one he had for Kiba was usually strained, teeth partially clenched. She had heard somewhere that people too similar to each other rarely got along, hence the saying 'opposites attract'. She supposed such was the case here.
The one he reserved for Hinata was genuinely happy, if not with a tinge of confusion lacing it. She had never ceased to find amusement in the interaction of those two particular people. It was adorable, in her opinion.
The smile he bore around Iruka was always teasing and good natured, showing the easy going companionship between the two. That smile was vastly different from the haughty, challenging grin he would throw to Tsunade, or the more respectful, yet slightly more distant ones for Kakashi. The smile saved for Jiraiya was as if he were sharing an inside joke with the old senin, one that never grew old.
A bright smile, radiating warmth was the one Neji would receive when around the hyper blond. It was to make the older teen loosen up, she supposed. It worked too, surprisingly. The one he gave to Gaara was still slightly uncertain, but was mostly veiled with a subtle understanding and gentle kindness.
Then there were the smiles set aside for Itachi and Orochimaru. These smiles made her wonder what her seemingly clumsy, good natured friend was truly capable of. His elongated canines would be bared, lips drawn back in a gruesome parody of a grin. The cruel promises of pain in these made her shy away from the truths it held. She did not like it when he smiled like that.
But the one he retained for Sasuke…these were the smiles that she hated the most. His eyes would grow distant and dim, and his lips would tug into a firm, yet bitter and brittle smile crafted only to hide the anguish he was in; it was a broken smile that remembered the ties that had once been his only lifeline. These were the smiles that would break her heart.
And he would have these smiles, the good and the bad, because they both knew that the one thing he could pull off with a hitch no matter the situation or the person, was a smile.