フォックス美
Kitsune Beauty
The blond jerked his head up. What the…? He stood, slowly but surely, and made his way down the street, hands shoved in his pockets as he watched the ground. He raised a single golden brow at the sight before him. Two young boys were picking on a little brunette girl. One was holding her back and the other was mercilessly hacking off her hair. He exhaled. Damn. He stepped into the boy that was holding the girl's view. The girl looked at him in shock, tears shining in her eyes and rolling down her face. She started screaming.
"Yo," the blond said. The boy cutting the girl's hair spun around, dropping the scissors in his hand. He stared at the blond in shock. He grabbed his friend's arm and tugged him.
"C'mon, Orion. I don't think Shii can get any uglier." Orion nodded and ran off. The blond watched them go in disgust. The three could be no older than six or seven. He faced the sobbing girl, Shii or something. He stepped towards her.
"Hey," he spoke. She whirled around and stared at him with wide blue eyes. "Want me… To work my Jutsu on you?" He tilted his hat up so the girl could see his honest blue eyes.
The girl's arms fell to her side as she stared in confusion. "J-Jutsu?"
The blond smiled and held out his arms for her. "Yeah, honey. Jutsu."
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Naruto sighed and shoved one hand into his pocket as he walked down the street, lifting his hand in a half-assed wave to his father, Minato. He sighed and fished around his pockets for his iPod.
"Mornin' Naru-Chan!" Naruto glanced over at the woman.
"Yo, Baba," he replied in his monotone.
"Hi, Naruto-Kun," the other spoke.
"Jiji." Naruto gave a nod of acknowledgement.
"Off to school, are we?" inquired Baba. Naruto gave another curt nod. "Well, have fun! Tell Kankuro-Chan we said hello!"
"Will do…" Naruto walked away, putting in his headphones. Rewrite by Asian Kung Fu Generation blasted in his ears. He sidestepped a pair of first grade girls. The one with longer hair appeared to be gushing over the other's new hair cut, begging to know who'd cut it. The other was laughing. Naruto shot a cold look towards the two boys that were following. They didn't notice due to the blank looks on their faces. He let a small smile adorn his face as he continued on his way to school.
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The girls started squealing. Three sets of ears burst in pain. "AAAAAIEEE! Look, look Maru! It's Neji-Kun!! Look!"
"AAAAH!!! Kiba-Kun! Look at me, me!!"
"Sasuke-Kun! I'm over here! Can you pick me for the Kunai Project? Please?!"
The three boys that were the center of attention merely sighed. Sasuke Uchiha of the prestigious Salon de Uchiha, Neji Hyuuga of Hyuuga Beauty & Co., and Kiba Inuzuka glanced at each other. Kiba rolled his eyes and popped a lollipop into his mouth, mumbling about cherries. Neji spared him a glance and put a hand on his hip as a brunette boy rushed passed, screaming for a food.
"NARUTO!" Neji arched a brow but faced Sasuke.
"Yo, Uchiha. Let's do another K.P soon, alright?"
Kiba nodded, adding his two cents. "Yeah, Sasuke, all the girls are asking for one. Plus, I'm bored." He grinned.
Sasuke glared. "Hn. Knock it off, guys. I'll decide when we do another damn Project!" his voice rose slightly. The Uchiha stalked off angrily, Kiba and Neji following.
"Tch, Sasu-Chan's fussy, no?" Kiba asked while all the girls squealed about how Sasuke got angry and whatnot.
Neji rolled his eyes and continued walking, yanking Kiba after him.
Kankuro sighed and watched wistfully as the three walked off. Naruto looked at him, boredly taking his headphones out while turning off his iPod. He shook up his bottle of chocolate milk and stared at his friend curiously, but only those who knew Naruto would be able to notice the curiosity. Kankuro grinned at his blond friend.
"The Kunai Project, Baka!" Naruto blinked as he sipped his milk. "Hello! Where've you been? The Kunai Project makes girls beautiful!"
Naruto narrowed his blue orbs. "Puppet Boy." His voice had a hard edge to it.
"No, no really!" Naruto yawned and stood, preparing to walk away. He froze mid step when Kankuro began profiling. "Uchiha Sasuke, youngest son and second heir to the Salon de Uchiha." He grinned when he saw he gained the blond's attention. "Yeah, he does the haircuts and stuff." He quickly continued when Naruto showed signs of continuing to walk away. He hated it when Naruto was such a prick like this. "Then there's Inuzuka Kiba. He's not all that, but he paints wicked nails!" Naruto nodded, going to his slouching position while sipping his milk again. "And then… Hyuuga Neji! He's in charge of makeup and over all beauty!!"
Naruto glanced idly over his shoulder at Kankuro. "S'nice an all-"
Kankuro kept going. "And, when a girl is given to those three, she becomes drop dead gorgeous! She confesses her love and there's a one hundred percent success rate!" Dryly, Naruto thought as he walked away, Confession then immediate love? Hn. Probably because the guy wants to glory of having a pretty girl… Rarely there's that already set attraction. Stupid K.P. "But the girl is only-" The brunette stopped when he realized the blond was gone. He gasped. "Naruto? NARUTO!" he screamed.
Neji noted the screeching for food again as he, Sasuke, and Kiba rounded a corner. Kiba sniffed the air and shot the girl hiding in the shadows an encouraging grin. He winked. It clearly said 'wait for lunch, Pup.'
It was lunch time. Lunch found the blond as he leaned against the wall of the school and tipped his head back, draining his milk. His head jerked up at a slightly familiar voice coming from the open window above his head.
"Er… Hyuuga-Sempai?" the voice squeaked. Naruto looked at the window thoughtfully as the heads of the Kunai Project and a girl came into view. Neji looked at the girl thoughtfully.
"You're TenTen, no last name, orphan, first year from class C, right?" spoke the effeminate brunette. Naruto blinked as the name registered. "What can I help with?"
The girl, TenTen, stuttered. Normally, Naruto noted, the brunette girl wasn't that shy. Finally, TenTen all but screamed, "H-here! This is a phone cover! Please use it!" Naruto grinned and stood, walking to the window. All four of the figures had their backs to him. Excellent. He could watch. Neji plucked the cover from her and let his lips curl into a sneer that TenTen didn't notice as her head was bowed.
Neji spoke after chuckling. "What the hell's this? A bribe? It's not really smart to try to bribe the Project into making you pretty…" Sasuke made a light sound and Kiba's face fell from the sappy grin, mouthing the word what.
TenTen adamantly shook her head. "N-no, of course not!"
Neji continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Well, as much as I hate to tell you," He shoved the case back into her hands, "we cannot use you as a model. You just haven't enough natural beauty." Neji examined her as she met his gaze. Naruto watched with narrowed eyes. How dare they?! They had no right to tell her she was ugly. Naruto grit his teeth, forcing himself to remain calm to watch the transaction finish. "You should really polish up before confessing your love."
Sasuke nodded. Naruto nearly growled at his next words. "That animal look is absolutely hideous. I mean really. You obviously have no sense of any feminine beauty whatsoever." Naruto had had enough. Screw it if the confrontation wasn't over! They…
"Oh you idiots," Naruto snapped. All four turned to face him. TenTen's face lit up in recognition. Naruto spared her a nod. "How dare you gang up on a girl like that?" Neji stepped forward but Naruto's glare stopped him. "It's only because you have no confidence in your skills that you can't fix her up… Right, K.P.-San?" Naruto grinned, flashing his fangs at Sasuke who glowered.
"Hn. Who the hell are you?" snarled the raven.
Neji answered. Naruto bit his tongue so as not to say anything despicable in front of the lady. "He's also a first year, Class C… Namikaze Naruto."
Sasuke stepped forward, picking up a strand of Naruto's hair that stuck up in spikes and fell around his head. "Your hair is awful." Naruto mentally scoffed. "Before you start spouting out your nonsense that none of us care about, do something about your awful hair. It's hideous and a disgrace to men everywhere."
Naruto slapped the Uchiha's hand away. "Heh." Sasuke glowered and stepped away as Naruto used his right arm to hoist himself into the air. While still on his arm, he propelled himself inside, tossing his milk bottle out the window.
"You're too disrespectful, first year. Be more polite," Sasuke commented, annoyance clear in his eyes. Naruto ignored him and held out his hand to TenTen. The other three watched in stunned silence.
"Come on, Beautiful. Let's go. Lunch is almost over." TenTen rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder, grinning at him.
Sasuke frowned. "Dobe, don't ignore me!" Annoyance filled his voice. Naruto sighed and turned. He put his thumbs and forefingers together, making a frame of Sasuke's face.
"Thought so…" He shook his head and the right corner of his mouth quirked up in a way that Sasuke found extremely annoying. "The hair on the right side of your chin is two millimeters longer than on your left." He turned away while Sasuke cupped his right cheek, his hair pressed against his palm and face. The first bell for after lunch rang.
"Shit!" Naruto swore. He gripped TenTen's left forearm. "Let's bounce!" With that, the duo took off down the hall. Neji looked at Sasuke whose cheeks were tinted pink.
Kiba laughed and punched the raven's shoulder. "He got ya!"
Sasuke frowned thoughtfully. "What…"
Neji stepped forward. "May I?" he gestured to Sasuke's side bangs. Sasuke nodded dazedly. "Wow," breathed the brunette. "He is amazing… He could tell from a distance… Wow," repeated Neji.
Sasuke came to a decision there. "Tomorrow," he breathed angrily. "Tomorrow, we'll do a Kunai Project!"
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Naruto and TenTen sat on the porch out back of Naruto's house slash beauty salon, the Rasengan Beauty Salon. TenTen absently petted Naruto's pet cat, Haku. They both stared absently at the scenery as people walked by out front. "Haku-Chan has grown…"
Naruto glanced over, swinging his sock clad feet over the flower garden his mother had planted before she'd left. "He's a fat cat. Don't encourage him, Ten-Chi." TenTen laughed lightly. It was a sweet, fluttery sound that Naruto found he missed.
"I was last here in third grade. He was just a baby. I can't believe he's so big now." TenTen laughed at the words that followed her little speech.
Naruto stood. "Yeah, big and fat. I think I spoil him too much…" He rolled his eyes and watched his friend. "Yeah… I'm gonna change… I'll be right back. Don't, and I repeat don't," TenTen tensed, "don't die." TenTen let out a breathy laugh until Naruto was gone. She began talking to Haku once she heard Naruto thumping around upstairs.
The cat blinked up at her as she spoke. "Y'know… I haven't made many friends since Naru-Aniki and I had our fallout… But… Y'know how I'm always super confident and stuff, Haku-Chan?" the cat blinked. "Yeah, well… There's this boy I met… He knocked me over on my way home from archery… He helped me pick up all my books and stuff… I think it was love at first sight…" The cat yawned. TenTen shook her head. "No, no… He said he liked my author… So I figured that we could just be friends and say hi at least…" TenTen shook her head quickly. "No, but apparently I 'lack natural beauty'." She moaned and bowed her head, jumping when Naruto's voice spoke behind her.
She spun around. Naruto wore his traditional baggy blue jeans with his little supply pack hanging out of his left pocket. He had his shirt-on-shirt he only wore when about to do some serious work, black and white striped long sleeves attached to a short sleeved bright orange shirt. There was a blue ball of what could only be described as air in the center of the orange part of the shirt. He reached into the pouch and retrieved a pair of scissors.
A sigh escaped his lips, "Want me… to work my Jutsu on you?" he asked. TenTen stared at him. She'd never seen him like this before. It scared her immensely. "I can…" He tilted his head to the left, some of his eye-length spikes drooping down into his eyes. He finished thoughtfully, "I can give you a little… Sparkle." TenTen bit her lip. Haku rose and scampered from the room.
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A/n: I figured I'd try something a little different. Don't worry, loves, I'm still working on D.E.S., but I wanted to do this since I just got my hands on B.P 10. How good do you think this is? How far will you be willing to go with me? Would you be willing to sit with me through Beauty Pop books 1-10 AND D.E.S.'s Sasuke Retrieval Arc? Review your thoughts, request any Naruto characters. I've pre-typed this, so if a character I haven't used yet isn't here, I'll put him/her or, if s/he is already in the story, I'll say so.
XOXOXO- Mickey