The eyes of the river

It was just another afternoon when he – as always – went swimming in the river. And he was the only one swimming, other people just standing there, mocking him because of his childishness. He had become accustomed to the laughter, the deriding laughter, the faces, the judgmental faces. Oh, if only they knew even this negative attention could make his day. This was of course, when his best friend, Kiba, wasn't home. Obviously, because when Kiba wás home, he would always go to the river as soon as possible to meet Naruto there. It was just as if they didn't care about the rest. The two of them against the world. Fun and games as it was, Naruto and Kiba did not seem to notice they had been made out for gay, pretty much since high school. As of then, somebody had for some reason decided they would be too old now to play like old times, and their relationship had to be more than that of two best friends. That was the general idea, any person who'd look closer would have seen that the two of them were buddies for life, and with Akamaru, they formed 'the Three Musketeers'.

Of course, judging them as gay wasn't really unfair, as they were already 16 years old, and still playing in the river as if they were 7. In the end, people had grown accepting to this whole scene, and settled for 'bromance'. Naruto and Kiba could not care less.

Unfortunately, Kiba wasn't there today. Naruto would just have to wait there until Kiba hasn't shown up, for like two to three hours, dense as he was. Sometimes he would make a shadow clone of Kiba, and play like that. He didn't have other friends, persé. He was in Team 7, so he had Sakura left. She had decided to act neutral, and Naruto seemed happy about that. For today, he had decided to leave and go home. He wasn't in the mood for tricking himself anyway, and he had cooled off already. Just when Naruto was finished drying off, after taking his clothes off and replacing them with dry clothes, which looked exactly the same, he noticed two white eyes surrounded by something that looked awfully red: Hinata's face. It took him a while to figure out that she had seen everything, and upon calling her, she just fainted, as always. Eugh… here we go again…, he though while approaching her. He had worked out that every time he tried to greet her, she would either faint or go blood red in the face. "Hey there, Hinata! You okay?"

"Oh.. Naruto.. I'm fine… th-th..anks f-for.. asking; I'm j-j..ust a little lightheaded… I-"

"Easy there, just rest a little. I'll take you home, okay?"

"I-I.. guess.."

Actually, the only reason Naruto was being polite was because of the fact that he got so annoyed by her stuttering voice; he had just learned that interrupting her and trying to get rid of her was the best way to avoid listening to as little as one sentence, which took her like five minutes to pronounce.

"N-naruto? Kiba has asked you t-to come over to h-h..im immediately…"

"Oh, thanks for telling me. I was actually waiting for him at the riverbank, but I guess I'll give him a whooping for that as soon as I see him."

"I-I see.. Anyway… Th-th..anks for bringing me home.."

"Don't mention it, bye!"

Then he walked away, leaving Hinata starstruck with the mental images, imprinted on her retinas. She tried to block the images for her own sake and Naruto's dignity, but unfortunately she had a crush on Naruto so huge, that every thought of him would make her happy.

And so, Naruto wandered off to the Inuzuka Estate – his second home – when Kakashi sneaked up to Naruto and slapping him on the butt so hard Naruto yelled it out for all to hear.

"WHAT THE F*CK IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU F*CKING IDIOT ? I'LL PUNCH YOUR FACE SO FAR AW… Kakashi-sensei!"

"Hehe, oi Naruto. Kiba told me he was looking for you, and to spank you... I don't know what you guys are up to, but please stay safe…"

"… thanks, I guess…"

After rubbing his behind, for Kakashi wasn't exactly the playful spanker, Naruto continued his walk to the estate.

I wonder why Kiba is acting so strange, why hasn't he come to the river? Maybe he's in trouble… Or he didn't want to go swimming?