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Of Car Engines and Bad Luck
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Note: Credits and many thanks to xBrokenxDollsx who created the Mechanic AU headcanon that inspired this piece. She seems like a very bright, cheery person, and creates the most wonderful NH/SS headcanons on her blog.
White smoke curled from underneath the car's hood. It started off as a small jet stream of smog, but soon grew larger and larger until ominous plumes of smoke stretched across her windshield.
In the far recesses of her mind, she found herself wishing that she wasn't so humble, and had the gall to accept her father's subtle offers.
It wasn't that she was afraid of her father, no, definitely not. It's just that she happened to carry on perfectly fine with the oldest, most decrepit car in the Hyūga compound. She saw no need to splurge on a more "appropriate mode of transportation," as he liked to put it.
And she would have continued to be perfectly fine…if not for the fact that said car currently sputtered like an old man and quaked like a camel with too many parcels on its back. An old camel, so to speak. The car emitted an alarming clang of metal against metal, causing cold dread to wash through her and pool in her stomach. She couldn't deny her problem any longer.
Pink and orange clouds still dappled the sky, but she knew that she only had about an hour until night fell. It didn't help that she was situated in the middle of nowhere: nothing but rows of trees and a single lane of bumpy asphalt ahead of her. She groaned, the rest of tonight only had so many possible outcomes…and they all lead to bad. Sighing, she slowly pulled her car over to the side, shifted her gear to park, and twisted her keys.
No fanfare, no fireworks: just white smoke continuing to teem out of her overheated engine.
Her head flopped onto the steering wheel, forehead sluggishly slipping lower as the rational side of her reached for the purse on the passenger seat. Her hands fumbled through the bag until she managed to fish out her phone. She sat up just enough to operate the phone in her lap, and opened up her contact book. Her fingers hovered over Neji nii-san…she knew she should tell him, but she also knew that Neji nii-san tended to act…rather excessively and would most likely overreact. She scrolled past his name. Besides, she also knew that despite his manly and competent aura, he didn't have a clue about cars.
Instead, she tapped the call button over a contact photo of a smiling pink-haired girl. After a few long rings, her friend picked up amidst a crackle of static.
"Hinata? What's up?" A breathless voice panted.
"…Sakura-san, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I am, no worries," Sakura cleared her throat, "so what can I do for you?"
"Um…okay. Well, my car is overheating." Hinata sighed as she stared at the dark dashboard in front of her.
"Uh oh, did you pull over?"
"Yes. You used to work at that car repair shop, right? Do you…know what I should do? I really would prefer to not call a towing company, you know how my father can get…" Her father's terse eyes and cutting lectures surfaced to mind. The vision of blankly staring at her feet as his disappointment pierced through her soon followed.
Sakura's voice broke her out of her thoughts, "Hmm, I can't say for sure until I see for myself. Alright, just give me some directions to where you are and I'll be right there−Sasuke-kun!" A short scuffle occurred in the background, accompanied by muffled voices.
"Sasuke-kun, Hinata's in trouble! I've got to go help her. Oh come on, don't turn this into a big deal, we can reschedule," Hinata heard through Sakura's hand covering the phone's receiver. Sasuke spoke softly enough to not be distinguishable beyond low grumbles, but all of Sakura's words retained their clarity.
When Sakura returned to her phone, she continued cheerily, "Sorry about that! Anyways as I was saying, give me an idea of where you are and I'll be on my way."
Hinata stayed quiet, rolling over a decision in her head that she knew had already been made.
"Hinata? Are you there?"
She suppressed the sigh threatening to escape her lips and asked, "Are you with Sasuke-kun?"
"Huh? Oh, well yeah…but it's no big deal−"
"Stay with him, it's okay really."
"No it's fine, Sasuke-kun understands that taking care of you is more important," Sakura insisted.
"I-It's not. I know how hard it is for you and Sasuke-kun to find time in your busy schedules to meet. Even if Sasuke-kun understands, that doesn't mean he's happy with losing his precious time with you," Hinata gently reminded.
A beat of silence, and then with a touch more hesitance, Sakura replied, "I know…but I'll make it up to him somehow."
"Sakura-san, I'll find another way. So stay with him. Please," Hinata implored again.
Sakura didn't respond right away, no doubt exchanging glances with her boyfriend. "Okay," the pink-haired girl inhaled deeply, "okay, at least let me send one of my good friends and past co-worker. To put it shortly, he's an idiot. But he's good at his job and has a heart of gold."
"A stranger? O-Oh I don't know… I don't even have much money with me to pay him."
"Don't even worry about that I've got you," Sakura reassured, "I'll contact him right now and he'll be there before you know it!" Before Hinata could protest further, Sakura promptly hung up.
Hinata blinked at her home screen until it faded to black. Yup, possible outcomes still leading to bad.
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You:
Kiba-kun, I think I win against Shino-kun this week in terms of having the worst luck.
Kiba-kun:
u found a larvae in ur groin too?!
You:
Well…no, I didn't know about that…maybe we're even then.
Actually no, he wins.
My car overheated and I'm stuck here on the side of the road.
Kiba-kun:
o man that sux :(
u want me there to keep u company?
You:
Aren't you still grounded?
Kiba-kun:
yea… but whatever ya know. mom grounds me practically every week
You:
Thank you for the offer, but it's fine. Sakura-san's friend should be arriving soon to help me.
Kiba-kun:
what friend?
You:
No idea…
Kiba-kun:
ain't that kinda suspicious? Tell me where u r in case things go south and i'll be there faster than akamaru can whiz
You:
I passed the Uchiha compound about 5 miles ago, otherwise I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere with nothing but trees and more trees.
Don't worry too much Kiba-kun, I trust Sakura-san's judgment..
When Kiba didn't respond for a solid five minutes, Hinata checked her phone to discover her service down to one bar, occasionally dropping to zero. Great, one less thing to entertain herself with.
With no books and no music, her only option pointed to aimlessly surfing through her phone. As she found herself strangely enraptured in the free demo of Sudoku that came with her phone, she almost didn't notice the bright orange car that pulled up behind her.
Hinata bolted upright, and stepped out of her car to greet Sakura's friend. Suddenly, she wished she had used her idle time more wisely by brushing her hair and cleaning up her eyeliner.
"Uzumaki Naruto! At your service!" A man called brightly, saluting her as he skipped towards her. Brilliant blue eyes, sparkling like a clear ocean, caught her attention first. Next was probably his shock of sunny blond hair, falling in tousled spikes. But most arresting of all was his smile; all huge and enthusiastic as if the sun itself had injected warmth into him.
"H-Hyūga Hinata," she stammered, gulping down the thick saliva that had accumulated in the back of her mouth.
"Pleasure to meet you!" He stuck out his hand and she reciprocated his gesture in a cordial handshake. Pale fingers slipped in between the spaces of his tanned, calloused ones.
His hands are so big and warm, she thought instantly, a blush creeping to her cheeks.
Luckily for her, Naruto took no notice and turned his attention to her car. "Hm…what do we have here?" He moved to step in front of the car and placed his hand an inch above her hood. "Seems like it's cooled down enough."
He popped open her car hood.
Smoke poured out of the confines of her hood−flooding the entire vicinity in a thick white haze− and more importantly, the both of them. Hinata felt something soft being shoved over her head, but thought little of it as she spluttered out coughs and darted out of the smog.
"Sorry about that…I should have known better," Naruto's rugged voice said sheepishly.
Hinata looked up at him then, and she didn't even know that her face could redden so rapidly. Her eyes roved over his toned, muscular body, hovered over his 4-pack abs, and settled at the elastic waistband of his checkered boxers. She didn't dare look lower, but could see in her peripheral vision that his pants hung low and exposed a sizable portion of his underwear.
"Oh uh, your dress looked really nice so I didn't want it to be ruined," he explained quickly. Though if she squinted, she could have made out the faint blush brushing his face.
Hinata tore her gaze away from him and gasped at the orange t-shirt that had been flung over her. She scrambled to pull it off, but Naruto raised his hand, open palm facing forward. "You don't have to give it back to me yet, there's still a lot of smoke around. Besides, it's warm today!" His open palm closed into a thumbs-up and he chuckled casually, like he had given her a piece of gum rather than his shirt.
"T-Thank you," she squeaked out, mentally chastising herself for acting so awkwardly.
She didn't trust her brain to think of more intelligent things to say, nor her mouth to say things normally, so she settled for sitting on the side of the road and hugging her knees to her chest.
Naruto, however, didn't seem to mind or find anything strange, and immersed himself into the task of repairing her car. As she watched him fiddle with various bolts and wires and hunch over the complex machinery, a warm feeling swept through her. It looked like he sincerely enjoyed his job and tackled her car with a surprising fervor. She admired people like him, people who actually could put their heart into things they did.
The fact that his pants slipped lower the more he stretched over her car certainly did not factor into this admiration.
"So…where were you headed towards?" Naruto questioned, breaking the silence that had wafted over them.
"Home," she turned her head towards the long expanse of road ahead of them, "I've still got quite a few miles to go."
"Where's home?"
"The Hyūga compound."
"The Hyūga compound? You mean that huge mansion-castle surrounded by the forest?"
"Yes," she answered plainly.
Naruto let out a low whistle. "Wow, that place is super fancy. You must be a weird one to still be driving an old car like this."
Hinata frowned, his comment hitting home in more ways then one. "I simply choose to live in a more humble manner. Perhaps it may be unbefitting as the Hyūga heiress, but at least allow me this tiny sliver of freedom," she responded stiffly, staring moodily at the asphalt as her father's face popped back into her mind.
"Whoa whoa, hey." Naruto straightened up and craned his neck towards her. "I didn't mean it that way. Sorry, I tend to say really stupid stuff. A lot. Personally, I think it's super cool that you don't mind driving older models."
Her anger waned away. She could never stay mad at anyone for long, especially someone as sincere as Naruto. Smiling shyly, she clarified, "I actually like driving more rustic cars. They have more character, Uzumaki-san."
Naruto laughed, the grin back on his lips. "You know, you're an interesting one. And call me Naruto!"
He returned to tinkering with her car, and Hinata altered between playing the same Sudoku demo over and over on her phone and timidly glancing at him. Naruto absorbed himself in his work, as if everything around him fell away and the world became him, a car, and blank space.
She briefly wondered if he was that focused with people too, maybe with his girlfriend that he most definitely already had.
A loud bang and muttered curses suddenly echoed in the air, and her phone slipped out of her grasp as she jolted upwards.
"Ow….ow ow ow," Naruto murmured, applying pressure to the back of his head.
"Are you okay?" Hinata immediately jumped to her feet, worry lacing her tone.
"Mhmm I'll be fine. Just…smacked my head on the bottom of the hood when I stood up too fast," he admitted, averting his gaze bashfully. "It's just that I suddenly thought of something. You said you were the Hyūga heiress?"
"Yes."
"The Hyūga heiress, as in a modern-day princess of a huge," he waved his arms wide above his head and to the side, "corporation like Hyūga Enterprises?"
"Yes," she repeated, eyes unconsciously following the flexing muscles of his biceps.
"Oh, okay. I guess I wasn't hearing things." He hunched himself under her car hood again, but didn't dip down to work on it. A serious expression, one that didn't quite suit him, overtook his face.
"Don't feel intimidated," Hinata spoke up, taking a guess at his thoughts. "I'm nothing but a failure. The weird one of the Hyūga clan."
Surprise shook off his stony expression, and he looked at her curiously.
"In fact, I've been nothing but a failure since day one," she elaborated.
"Something tells me that you are very far from being a failure." His full attention fell on her, and she blushed from the intense scrutiny. "If you want to hear about failure, I'll tell you my life story some time and we can compare," he continued lightly, quietly hiding the emotions underneath his words.
She wanted to press him to continue, but he had already immersed himself back into her car. Besides, she knew this stranger for all about 15 minutes, and it wasn't her place to pry.
Night began to creep up as the sun sunk below the horizon. The previous pink and oranges splattered on the clouds faded to a muted, dark blue. Crickets chirped somewhere in the background, and fireflies flashed their yellow lights as they floated in the summer night. Hinata steeled her nerves and moved towards her car.
Naruto's pupils pinpointed as a bright flashlight shined over his workspace.
"I-I thought that I should at least try to be useful," Hinata explained, maneuvering her phone's flashlight to be pointed away from his face. Then, she handed him a neatly folded orange t-shirt. "You should probably take this back now, it gets a bit chilly at night."
"Oh thanks!" Naruto beamed, stuffing the shirt over his head. "I think I'm almost done here though, hold on." He squatted down to pull a container out of a duffel bag. "After checking everything out, I found out that your car got a leak and you ran out of coolant fluid. Doesn't help that it's summer and you probably had the air-conditioning on too. I patched up the leak as best as I could, and I'll help refill the coolant for you," Naruto explained.
"Ah, thank you very much," Hinata said, politely bowing to him.
He chuckled, waving her off. "No need to be so formal," he assured.
As Naruto unscrewed the cap to a grey bottle, he started up another conversation, "So Miss Hyūga, where were you coming from?"
"Call me Hinata, please," she mirrored him. But then she bit her lip, hesitating at his question.
"What's wrong?" Blond eyebrows rose inquisitively. "Did you go somewhere that's a secret?"
"No, it's just…" She trailed off. Pushing down the strange pressure ballooning in her chest, she tilted her head away from his searching gaze. He would judge her, she knew. Her hobbies were like an old woman's, in fact, many even referred to her as an old woman in a cute young girl's body.
She would bet good money that he played a team sport in high school, was well-liked and popular, had an attractive girlfriend, and had normal family dinners chock full of fun and laughter. She, on the other hand, shied away from anything that attracted attention−team sports taking the top spot of that list, continued to hang out with the same group of childhood friends, squeaked in embarrassment to any romantic advance, and had family dinners in cold silence, only breaking with systematic questions about her professional progress.
"Okay," Naruto said, shrugging nonchalantly, "Then…I'll have no choice but to take my own guesses! This will be fun." He peeled off his grease-stained gloves and placed two fingers below his chin.
"Okay, you have a double life as an international spy and you're returning home from a mission. But you can't let anyone know! Otherwise your family will be in grave danger," he exclaimed excitedly. He theatrically made a hand motion of a gun and brought it below his eyes, imitating the action of sniping someone.
Hinata giggled, feeling her discomfort spread wings and lift a little higher. "No, good try though."
"Alright, what about you're the villain and an international spy is chasing you. You're planning to capture me as soon as I refill your coolant, so maybe I should take my time instead…" He grinned at her and folded both arms behind his head. "I hope that one isn't true, I was planning to get some ramen later tonight."
Hinata shrugged and cheekily said, "I guess you won't find out until after it is refilled."
"Oh! You can be pretty funny too." If possible, the smile on his lips grew wider. "Okay, something more realistic now: you're coming home after visiting your boyfriend, and you're secretly wishing that he could be as handy with cars as I am." Naruto peered down at her good-naturedly, although a hint of embarrassment and also a flicker of hope danced in his eyes.
Laughter bubbled out of her, more unrestrained than it had been in a long time. "That's the most ridiculous one so far."
"Ridiculous as in visiting your boyfriend? Or ridiculous as in wishing he was like me?"
Hinata shook her head from side to side. "Ridiculous that I could even have one," she answered.
"That is definitely not ridiculous," he countered, more quietly this time and more to himself rather than her ears. Though he, for some reason, appeared pleased.
"Alright last guess! You were coming from an anti-mechanics convention. That's why you really don't want to tell me in fear that I'll get offended and won't refill your coolant," Naruto paused, pursing his lips, "For the record, even if that's true I'll still refill your coolant so don't lie!"
"I didn't even know those existed. Actually I doubt they do," she concluded. With a resigned sigh and an admittedly bemused smile, she asked, "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes," he replied instantly.
"O-Okay…but you'll just think it's weird." She inhaled deeply, allowing the crisp night air to fill her nostrils. "I had gone to a Botanical Garden display. I wanted to get some new ideas for what kind of pressed flowers I wanted to add to my collection."
Naruto said nothing, and Hinata immediately regretted telling him anything.
"I know…it's kind of a weird hobby that only old ladies have."
"So how does it work? You take flowers and squish them in between pages," he questioned, not even hearing her previous statement.
"U-Um kind of…"
"Ah, I see." His face lit up like a sun in the night. "I have no idea why you didn't want to tell me that! That sounds super cool and not weird at all. It's like you found a way to make them live forever, ya know? How's that not awesome?"
A crimson red flushed across her face, and she hoped that the dark ambiance could conceal her blooming embarrassment. Somehow, hearing him utter those few words−someone popular, confident, and kind−cracked a chink in her wall of insecurity and self-hate. Who was this man?
"Looks good!" Naruto's voice piped up, and she abruptly turned to see him turning the grey bottle upside down as the last drops of green coolant trickled down. She had zoned out and missed the entire process.
"To be honest, I would prefer that we still call a towing company. A lot of your parts are worn down and I'm not sure how much longer they'll last. Next time, it may even break down. I know you really like this car but," he shot her a warm glance, "it's more important to me that you stay safe."
It had been a while since she last fainted, but she strangely found herself incredibly light-headed.
"I could um…drive you home. If that's okay with you. If you don't mind someone like me," he added as a casual afterthought.
The words snapped her back to attention and she furrowed her brow. "What do you mean? Why would I mind someone who has the kindness in his heart to help me−a stranger−who you owe nothing to?"
He plastered on a smile and waved her off again. "I didn't do much. Far less than what someone else could do for you."
Before she could respond, Naruto spoke up once more and made a 'phone' gesture with one hand. "So…tow truck? And then giving you a lift back home?"
Hinata hesitated. "I couldn't possibly accept…that's just too many favors to ask of you. I don't…I don't even have much money right now to pay you…"
Shrugging, Naruto scratched his blond hair. "Nah, I don't want any of your money. Besides, I owe Sakura-chan so many favors so this one will be on her!"
"I couldn't possibly accept on her behalf−"
"Your rejection is rejected!" Naruto proclaimed.
Hinata pouted, folding her arms under her chest. "Fine. At least allow me to take you out to some ramen…"
Like pushing the right button, Naruto perked up and stared at her with large, blue eyes. She smiled at his childish antics.
"On second though, I'll cook some homemade ramen for you myself. I'm not an expert chef, but I do have some experience in cooking. O-Of course this is only if you want to…"
Without warning, he materialized in front of her and took her hands in his.
"Are you even real? You haven't called me an idiot or stupid once this whole time and now you're going to feed me only the best food in the entire universe?" He hovered so closely to her that she realized that the whiskers on his cheeks resembled birthmarks rather than scars. Every emotion in his eyes shined like stars in an ocean.
She broke away from him, blushing all the way to the tips of her ears, and took deep breaths to calm her rapid heart rate. But in spite of it all, she felt lighter and more free than she had for a long, long time.
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Kiba-kun:
ok. let me know when u get home!
...
HINATA.
R u back yet? it's getting dark
Me and shino r about to go down there
oh shit neji just called me. he asked where you were and got all up in my ass when i said i didn't really know
HINATA.
Did ur phone die and ur gettin attacked by larvae now?
You:
Kiba-kun! I'm fine. I've just arrived home. I lost service while I was out in my car, sorry to worry you.
I also relayed this information to Neji-nii-san, so you need not worry about him contacting you again.
Kiba-kun:
HNINTA.
HONAETA.
wow that was worse
**HINATA.
You:
Lol, it's okay
Kiba-kun:
Dam that sux though. U were stranded there for so long, ur entire day is gone.
I think u do win against shino in this week's bad luck competition
You:
Haha, you'd think so, but I actually had quite an…interesting day. Please let Shino-kun know that he can keep his title (for this week, at least).
Hinata exited out of her text messages with Kiba, her childhood friend, and switched to the new text that lit up her screen.
Naruto-kun:
hi :) did u get home safely? nothing overheated as u walked past the gates to ur door?
Nothing unless he counted her burning face, she supposed.
A small smile played on her lips. The rest of tonight only had so many possible outcomes…and they didn't all lead to bad anymore.
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Author's Note: This was probably one of the fluffiest things I've ever written! Unfortunately, I can't really promise an update schedule since I'm still working on my other multi-chapter NaruHina fic, Consolation Prize, and am generally perpetually busy with school. I'm open to AU suggestions! But honestly, I also can't promise that I can write all of them and I still have some ideas of my own.
Thank you for reading and stopping by, reviews are much appreciated but I don't want to force anyone, haha.