Chapter 2:
Nervously, he clenches his hands into a fist and puts them to his side to reserve his feelings. Naruto hasn't felt this way in a long time. He can feel the blood rush from his face to his gut with anxiety. He takes a step to draw closer to the girl.
"You see..." the girl continues, "I got lost at this spot. I have no idea where its at! All these roads look the same to me, really." as she finishes saying this she strolls up to Naruto. He takes a step back as a jerk reaction.
Naruto takes a deep breath to release some of the nervousness inside him. He finally utters the strength to say, "Rose view apartments?" that's all he could muster up.
He comes to the realization that he lives in those very apartments. Why didn't he just show her the way from the get go? Honestly, this girl caught him off guard. Not only was he disoriented by the idea of this girl that he just met following him, but also by the fact that he was breath-taken by the girl made him that much more lost in himself.
The young girl smiles and replies, "Yes. Do you know where they're at? Could you show me the way?"
"Uh… of course!" Naruto says. He turns to the direction that he was going in and says again, "Of course!". They both go on, the young girl follows next to him contently as he nervously thinks on and on.
They draw closer as they walk but he remains pretty silent. Trying to break the ice, the young girl says, "So, have you lived in this area for a while?"
Naruto, surprised by the question, turns his head to her and says, "Yeah, pretty much my whole life."
He tries to act nonchalantly but his eagerness leaks through like a vessel, "Do you live in those apartments?" she asks.
"Yup, I do. I've been here for a while." Naruto says, "I even know the owner, so since they know me, they made me the on-site assistant property manager."
"That's pretty cool!" she says.
After some walking, they finally arrive to the apartment building. The girl goes up and down, looking at the building from all sorts of angles. She takes a step up to the front and looks at the bench next to the apartments.
She shakes her head and says, "Wow, this buildings pretty big!"
Naruto is kind of confused by this notion, "It's only three floors." he says.
"Well..." she says, "where I'm from we don't really have buildings. I mean, we barely had a bus route."
Naruto nods and tries to smile at her, but it doesn't come out naturally at all and it hurts his cheek bones. After her thorough inspection of the apartment building, he points towards it and says, "How about we get you settled in?"
She agrees and follows Naruto inside. There he gets the paperwork she had filled out before hand. He looks it over making sure everything is complete. After this he goes into the back, hands her the keys to the apartment. "Follow me, I'll show you where its at." he says.
After they arrive she takes the keys Naruto had just handed her and she opens the door curiously. She gets so animated that she goes all over the apartment and starts giggling with excitement.
"OH MY GOD!" she says, "All this to myself!"
She goes up to Naruto and shakes his hand vigorously. "Thanks so much for everything!" she says.
"Of course." Naruto replies. "I'm just down that hall, if you need anything, just let me know. Take care… Hinata."
This startled her for a second, she never told him her name. She scratches her head and says, "Thanks! Uh… You too Mr…?" she stops and realizes that he never introduced himself.
"Naruto… Just Naruto." He says as he closes the door behind him. He tried to be slick, it seemed cool in his head. Kind of like the whole 'Bond, James Bond' quote, but different. Hinata giggles a bit more and says to herself, "Naruto, huh?"
Naruto goes off to his apartment, throws his bag on the floor next to the entrance and jumps onto the black leather sofa he has. He ponders this whole feeling thing. Naruto thinks about his departure with Hinata. That was a bit hammy, but it seemed cool at the time. Either way, his chest was still pounding, but she was very down to earth. Maybe this feeling means something to him.
"Wait a second..." he says, "Was I being really nice to her? That's very unlike me." After much pondering his stomach begins to grumble.
That means its dinner time.
Next Morning
Naruto already at school, is having a conversation with his loyal companion Sasuke. They're in an empty room that they occasionally go to to have conversations in private. It's no secret that Naruto is a very reluctantly popular kid in school, so they must have the seclusion at times to talk privately.
Naruto says to Sasuke, "And as soon as I saw her, dude… I felt my heart explode with emotions. I've never felt like this before! I didn't know what to do. Like, she really got to me."
"So..." Sasuke says, "A girl finally got your heart to grow three sizes, nice!"
Naruto shakes his head and asks, "Why am I even telling you this?" Sasuke pats his back furiously and nudges Naruto while winking his eyes insistingly. "Cause I'm all you've got" Sasuke says, "and you this means you trust me!"
Sasuke snickers at the idea, but Naruto quickly rebuttals, "Now, I wouldn't go that far."
"Who cares anyways," Sasukes insists, "Do you know her name, did she tell you?"
Naruto replies, "Yeah, Hinata."
"You're a fast worker! How'd you find that out so quickly?"
"Turns out she's renting an apartment where I live. So shes a new tenant. What are the chances, right?" Naruto says.
Sasuke starts to crack up with a mix both laughter and a bit of envy.
"You're a lucky guy, Naruto!" Sasuke says, "I hate how freaking lucky you are!"
As they talk, Naruto hears a whisper from the closet. He pats Sasuke, signaling that someone might be listening in on their conversation. They both shut up and get up to the closet door.
He winks at Sasuke, puts his hand on the doorknob and says, "Yeah… She really caught me... OFF GUARD!" and as he yells this he bursts the door wide open and out comes a closet full of teenage girls.
Naruto steps to the side as the girls keep getting up beside him from the ground and he yells out, "What the heck were you guys doing in there?!"
Sakura, one of the many girls, points her index finger at him and says, "You being in love with another girls is unacceptable! This cannot be! Am I not good enough for you? None of us are good enough for you?" She presses around her body to try to arouse Naruto, but to no avail.
Ino, another girl in the bunch, bumps her body around Naruto willingly, "What about me?" she says while shaking her hips.
Completely stone faced and anger ridden, Naruto opens exit door and holds it open for them. He jabs his hands out and yells, "WHY DON'T YOU GIRLS JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!"
The girls all look to each other and start walking away. Naruto takes a sigh of relief and walks back to Sasuke who was behind him the whole time. Sasuke nervously shakes around and runs behind the girls ahead of him and utters out, "Wait girls! I'm totally free! I'm single and ready to mingle! WAIT!"
None of the girls seem to bat an eye.
