Blinding – A HaNaYaMaTa Story
Pairings: NaruNa (Naru and Hana)
Hey everyone! JMarines here with my first one-shot for NaNoWriMo. I just wanted to say before I got started, that I listened to the opening for HaNaYaMaTa on repeat while I was writing this. It was fantastic. I'm not going to say anything else up here, but I hope that you enjoy this story.
Disclaimers: I do not own HaNaYaMaTa, which is good, because I probably would have been too busy to work on it. XP
Sekiya Naru sighed and set aside the book she was reading. It was a great fantasy-romance novel that she had read more than a few times before. It was usually more than enough to whisk her away into a fantastic world of heroes and villains, where the maidens were always rescued by charming knights. It was one of her favorites, and it was strange to her that she wasn't able to focus on reading.
Though, when she thought about it some more, it wasn't that odd that she couldn't give all her attention to the book. Lately, she'd been feeling very strange when she met with the Yosakoi Club. In the last couple of months, every time she met up with the club, she'd felt like her heart was going to burst. To be more specific, it wasn't the whole club, rather it was everytime she was around a certain member of the club: Hana Fountainstand.
Naru's mind drifted back to the time when she'd first meet the tiny blonde. She'd been enchanted by the other girl, so much so that she'd asked if she had been a fairy. Hana was so overwhelmingly beautiful, that it had seemed like the only possible explanation. Naru hadn't been aware of the free-spirited girl's past with parkour, so her ability to jump between the posts at the shrine had also seemed like something straight out of one of her fantasy novels.
It seemed so obvious to the Naru of today that she had fallen in love with Hana that day, but it had taken her almost three years to realize it. Even thinking the word "love" to herself made her blush fiercely. Her cheeks turned as red as a tomato as they flushed with blood. Her legs kicked the air rapidly as she rolled around her bed in embarrassment. Just thinking about her friend was enough to get the brunette's heart pumping.
It was even more exciting that Hana would be coming over to see Naru in just a few minutes. She'd cleaned her room, looking for the smallest thing that might be out of place. After vacuuming for the third time, her father had finally asked her to stop, and had tried to find out why his daughter was so distracted. Naru hadn't been able to get out a coherent answer, and her father had left feeling very confused.
The encounter had finally let her realize that she was far too wound up, and she'd tried to read her novel to calm her nerves. Only it hadn't worked, and the brunette realized she was still worked up. She reminded herself that this wasn't the first time that Hana had ever been over. Over the course of three years, they had been alone together countless times, but this time was going to be different.
Today, Naru was going to confess her feelings to her friend.
It had been a decision that she'd been struggling with ever since she'd realized her feelings. She'd tried to keep her own feelings bottled up inside, but she just couldn't deny her own heart any longer. Everytime the little blonde's face popped up in her minds eye, she could only remember all the countless times that they'd hugged, held hands, and shared secrets.
On the other hand, there was the possibility that she was turned down. Hana could be very mysterious sometimes, and Naru could never figure out what she was thinking. It was clear to everyone that the tumbler held great affection for the brunette; even Naru had finally figured that out. But was it love? The idea of being turned down scared the shy girl so much that it hurt her heart, just as much as the idea of being accepted made it soar.
But then all the stories of how happy people were after entering a relationship would fill her mind. And one other image had occurred to her; one that kept her awake at night. The simple image of her and Hana kissing.
And just as her face was burning up again, what should happen but the little blonde open the door with a giant smile on her face.
"Naru!" She greeted enthusiastically, her blue eyes shining with genuine happiness.
"Ah!" Naru jumped guiltily, forgetting for a moment that the other girl couldn't read her mind. "H-H-Hana! Y-you're e-early."
"Naru?" Hana paused, her and she cocked her head to the side. "Why is your face so red? Are you sick?" The tiny girl ran up to the brunette's side, and she put her forehead against Naru's.
The taller girl fell back at the sudden contact, letting out a little yelp. "H-Hana, you're too close."
"What are you talking about?" The blonde knelt on the floor next to Naru's bed. "I thought you'd gotten over this whole 'too close' thing years ago."
"Ah, y-yes," The brunette stuttered, pulling herself up from where she'd fallen on her bed. "Sorry, I was just…" As she was trying to muster the courage to say why she'd been so embarrassed when the other girl had arrived, but the thought of them kissing made her face heat up all over again, and her tongue glued itself to the top of her mouth.
"Naru! Your face is all red again. Are you okay? Talk to me!" Hana put her hand on Naru's leg in concern, but that innocent touch was just about as much as the overwhelmed girl could take.
Naru took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The brunette laid her hand over the shorter girl's and smiled. "No, thank you though. I'm fine now. I was just a little… Nervous."
"Why were you nervous, silly?" Hana laughed. "It's just going to be us hanging out today, like we've done a million times before."
The sincerity of the little blonde's smile was so blinding, and so familiar, that the taller girl felt her heart constrict. "Uhm, only… Only it's not."
Hana's eyes scrunched up. "Why wouldn't it be just like all the other times?"
"Because…" Naru's throat started to close up as she tried to say those three words that would change everything. "B-because…" She tightened her grip on the blonde's hand.
"O-h." Hana looked at the hand that the brunette was squeezing. "I have something I want to tell you, Naru. And I don't want you to freak out, okay?"
"Why would I freak out?" Naru's eyebrows drew together.
"Because what I have to say is going to change our friendship forever, and that scares me a lot." The shorter girl smiled sadly. "I think that you are trying to tell me not to say it, but I just have to say it first." Hana glanced away and when she looked back, her sapphire eyes were moist with deep emotions. "I love you. I want us to be more than just friends."
"Oh…" Naru's voice came out disappointed, and she deflated a little bit.
"I know, I'm sorry." Tears started to drip out of the blonde's eyes. "I didn't want to say it, but I just couldn't hold myself back anymore. I swear, I'll stop thinking about you that way, just please don't hate me…"
"That's not it!" The taller girl shouted, grabbing Hana by her shoulders. She stepped off the bed and knelt next to the blonde. "That's not it at all." She pulled the tiny girl into her arms. "I feel the same way! I love you so much that it hurts!"
Hana froze in the embrace before she pushed Naru away from her so that they could stare into each other's faces. "Then… Then why did you sound so sad when I said I love you?"
"B-because..." The brunette averted her eyes as she blushed. "Because I wanted to tell you that I loved you first. I was… Blushing when you came in because I was picturing us…"
"What? What were you thinking about us doing?" Hana teased, tickling Naru until they both fell over.
They ended up half-prone on the floor, the blonde on top, and their breath intermingling between them. The taller girl hesitated a moment before she closed the distance and kissed Hana. It was a brief kiss that lasted an eternity. When Naru pulled back, she could see a sparkle in the blonde's deep ocean eyes.
Hana leaned back in, and the space between them was closed.
And that's scene! Whew, a nice little one-shot that didn't turn out to be as long as I was hoping, but was still really fun to write. I've been able wanting to put out this story for a long time, but something else always came up first. I really like basically all of the ships in HaNaYaMaTa, but after Yaya and Naru, I like Hana and Naru together the most. (I have a thing for childhood friend routes, so Yaya just had to win.) Anyway, it's going to be a busy NaNoWriMo!
Oh, and I now have a Twitter account, if you want to follow me, or not. I hope you liked the story, and I would love reviews! Good night everyone!