Icha Icha Tactics
Chapter II: An Introduction to the Lonely Loser
A/N: Troublesome chapter, but I suck at introductions. I like Hinata's part though. I recently read "About a Nanny and a Daddy." Good fanfic, go read it. "Cookie" is a bit… OO She kind of scares me and is one of the people that would make me… perturbed to leave my child in the hands of… like Dora the Explorer… but Tenten herself is pretty cool. Neji was so sweet, and Hinata made me love her, even in flashback. She really would be a beautiful, sweet mother. Naruto… is so sweet. He'd be one of the best fathers in the world, but I think his child would take after his persona than Hinata's, and she would prefer it that way.
Disclaimer: Don't own. The characters. That about covers it. Love ya! Haha, that was retarded. Ah well. On with the story…
- x -
"Oh? Naruto, you're back already?" Kiba asked, walking up to the slumped over orange figure on a stool in front of the makeshift ramen stand. Only Naruto would really eat ramen at 8:30 in the morning.
Naruto lazily looked up from his face literally in the bowl of ramen and glanced groggily up at the voice. Kiba stepped back in surprise. Was he still asleep, even after having a steaming hot bowl of ramen on his face? What the hell's wrong with him?
"Ohh? Kiba…?" Naruto drawled lazily before going back to his Ramen. Kiba gave him a weird look. "What're you doing here?" Naruto asked in his weird almost sing-song voice.
"I—uh—was just going to meet up with Shino and Hinata. What are… what's wrong? You don't… look yourself…" Kiba asked, his face wincing at the weird Naruto.
"Kiba!" Naruto somewhat wailed. Kiba was very tempted to step back in case Naruto turned into some weird sort of monster and lashed at him.
"Uh… yes?" he asked, his voice sugary sweet cause he was kind of afraid.
"Am I…" he started drunkenly.
"Are you… ?" Kiba trailed hoping Naruto would finish the rest cause he was taking a rather long dramatic pause.
"Am I… attractive?" he fluttered his eyelashes at Kiba, who had he not known better would have known better… nope, never mind, Kiba stepped back in fear.
"Dude," Kiba said, pushing Naruto off his stool. "Never, and I mean never ask a guy that." Naruto lift his face from off the floor and looked at him with watery eyes. "Whether you're butt ugly or damn gorgeous, you'll always be butt-freaking-ugly to me. All right? Why would you ask such a question!?"
Naruto whimpered as he plopped himself back onto his stool. "Kakashi-sensei and Sakura and even Sai were making fun of how clueless at love I am," he said sadly before stuffing his mouth full of ramen.
"You are," muttered Kiba, thinking of his team mate.
"What?" Naruto said in a voice that Kiba wasn't sure if he really did or didn't hear, considering Naruto was a really oblivious yet his tone implied he had heard it but was going to pretend like he did if Kiba retracted his statement.
"N-nothing," Kiba sweatdropped.
He looked at his watch and figured that considering he had only left ten minutes earlier than he planned to meet his team, he probably didn't have too much time to spare.
"O-oy, I gotta go now…" Kiba trailed off and bean walking away, only to see that Naruto had gotten of his stool and started following him in a drunken manner, walking not in a straight line but zigzagging back and forth, letting his body weight drag him in the right direction. "W-where are you going, Naruto!? Oy!" But Naruto had bypassed Kiba to the tree that Team 8 always went to.
"Hinataaa!" Naruto called out to the pale-everything-but-her-hair girl. She turned around and blinked, her heart in her mouth. "Hinata!" Naruto wailed, falling on to her in his stupor. She caught him and stabilized them, of course, but her cheeks flared the usual cherry red and she froze, realizing her position with her ultimate crush.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata stuttered shyly. Kiba ran in to catch up to Naruto to see what kind of havoc he would unintentionally wreak with his fragile team mate.
Shino was there too, leaning on the tree silently, as always. "… What about me? Naruto?" Naruto never greeted Shino for some odd reason. It was like he just blended in with the scenery as a completely covered mannequin of some sort… it wasn't like he had a face anyways, mannequins at least had one painted or carved on.
"Hinata!" Naruto whimpered, looking up at her with puppy dog eyes. "Do you think I'm attractive? Would you like me?"
Hinata froze even more so, if that was possible, blushing n even deeper red, if that too was more possible. She tried to smile sympathetically to the poor chap, but what with her hammering heart, it looked more awkward than anything else. "I… you…"
Hearing her silence, Naruto bust out of her arms dramatically, placing the back of his hand on his forehead in feint. "It's okay, Hinata! You don't have to tell me! Kiba told me I was ugly too!" As he escaped her arms, she herself felt feint and her knees gave way beneath her. She would have fallen had not Kiba rushed in to catch her.
Kiba furrowed his eyebrows, fanning the losing-consciousness Hinata. "Oy, don't pull me into this, idiot! Excuse me that I wouldn't want to go out with you—"
"Shino!" Naruto switched his target. He was about to fall on him for support as he did to Hinata, but one of Sino's bugs crawled out from beneath his jacket and Naruto immediately jumped back. He gave Shino a weird, disgusted look before going back on topic; however the bug did sober him down a bit. "Shino, do you think I'm pathetic at love? If you were a girl, would you be attracted to me?" he looked at his sunglasses-covered face before giving Shino yet another odd look. "… You… you're not a girl, are you?" he asked, worry and fear evident in his voice as he scrunched up his nose and disgust graced his face.
Shino replied coolly, "Even if I was, I would not be attracted to you in the least. Your traits are very crude and would not make good breeding for a mate of any species." He did not bat an eye (not that anyone'd tell.)
Naruto looked stricken with grief. "Really!?" he pleaded with puppy dog eyes to Shino, who seemed to be unaffected, but who knew for the only visible skin was his cheeks and nose and you couldn't quite show much emotion with that. Kiba and Shino felt really awkward, wondering if they should comfort the sulking boy or… just walk away, which rather seemed the better choice at the moment.
Kiba walked over to the fetal-positioned boy and sort of awkwardly pet his hair in sympathy.. "Um… t-that's just us, Naruto… I-I mean… I happen to like girls, and Shino might too, so you're out of the question for us…" Kiba looked around, and seeing a familiar tail of blonde hair going into a bakery, attempting to drag out a certain somebody… "But maybe… if you ask someone else, who likes boys, they might like you." He was eager to unload this barrier inhibiting not only their training but their man pride. He forcefully turned Naruto's head to face Ino pulled Chouji out of the bakery by the ear. (However, it couldn't be said that Ino had one that fight, since Chouji was carrying two bags worth of baked goods.)
"Chouji! Chouji!" Naruto called out, running towards the chubby man. "You're a man of fine taste and good judgment! You'd know a good man when you see one!" he cried, pushing Ino to the side, who glared at him indignantly.
Chouji looked towards the waving orange ninja and, well, stuffed a meat bun in his mouth. What did you expect, a lovely welcome?
"Chouji, my good buddy, old pal!" Naruto said chummily, putting his arm around his shoulders. "If you were a woman, do you think I'd be a good guy to go out… at a restaurant… and pay the bill gentlemanly-like… and treat you like a queen… with?" Naruto asked innocently, as if that were his true colours and in no way had his words been modified in any state or form to coerce favorability (although if one brought this to court, he'd deny any of it).
Chouji swallowed his meat bun and got out another, only instead of stuffing the entire thing in his mouth, he only took a large chomp out of it, chewing it thoughtfully. "Mmm," he sounded favorably, "that sounds good." Naruto considered himself a success although everyone else knew what a sucker Chouji was for some free food. "However, I cannot entail you as a good man of choice until you answer my questions favourably. Now," he began in a scientific, professional tone, "I know you're a man of Ichiraku ramen, and that is favourable in itself. No one that likes Ichiraku ramen can be bad," they both agreed. "But, just because you're a good man does not mean you would be upon my select choices. Say I have only enough money for three steaks… too bad, that means there won't be enough for mom and dad… anyways, although I would eat all the meat in the butcher's shop, I could only afford to get three, and I don't know if you're a top choice. I need to ask you some very important questions to decide," Chouji said somberly.
"All right!" Naruto called out determinedly, punching the air with his fist (horizontally, like "I'm pumped, I'm ready" as opposed to vertically which means "All right! I did it!").
"Now…" Chouji started, pausing for dramatic effect, "… do you… always…change the toilet paper after you run out, or leave it empty for the next person to refill it?"
Ino looked at Chouji disgusted. "What kind of a stupid question is that?!"
"One of the highest importance!" he said determinedly, believing it with all his gusto. "Sometimes, although rarely, I eat too much, or drink too much, or even eat something bad, as traumatic as that can be, and I have to rush to the bathroom. Usually there's toilet paper, like at home, but when my mom's gone or when I'm at a restaurant that was busy, sometimes there's no toilet paper! And I'm left there waiting for someone to come in and give me some toilet paper! There's no awkward moment than asking the stranger taking a trip to the urination station and exploding the load to take a minute to spare a poor chap some toilet paper!" he mourned sadly. Ino was thoroughly disgusted by the mental image.
Naruto was totally and completely empathetic, even going as far as blowing his nose at how patriotic his speech was due his own personal experiences with expired milk.
"Yes, yes! As I believed, you my friend are a man of sound judgment and good taste! When I explained that to Sai, he told me," Naruto changed his voice into a mock version of Sai, only it sounded nothing like him and more like a scary transvestite girl, "'Yes, I suppose it must suck to have to use twice as much toilet paper as men, what with your vagina and all.'" Ino spluttered and her eyes widened in disgust at such aconversation involving her privates. Chouji, as Naruto did befoe, seemed sympathetic to the cause.
"Yes, yes, I suppose it would suck," Chouji said somberly, nodding his head as Naruto went "Hey!" "Wait… so, am I answering if I would go out with you if I were the girl, or you?" Chouji asked, genuinely confused.
"Um… I guess—"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ino yelled in a huff. "Number one, we're late for practice! Even if Shikamaru won't be joining us until 10 doesn't mean we're going to start later for him to get back from filing his report to the Hokage! Two, I don't know or want to know what kind of sick, semi-homo-transsexual conversation you're having, but please continue it where I don't have to get hot flashes! And three," she pointed dramatically with her three fingers at Naruto, "why are you asking Chouji for advice on women, when the pinnacle of femininity is right in front of you?" she asked, her clean, polished fingers on her waist (she had just bleached them with lemon juice and dyed them with flowers to remove the dirt stains accumulated from both working in the flower shop and doing C and B rank missions).
Naruto and Chouji blinked, completely lost as to what Ino was implying. Naruto put his finger on his chin in contemplation.
"Wait… Ino… you're… a girl too, right?" he asked in sudden revelation.
Ino slipped a bit and felt like slapping the poor twit upside the head.
"What?! Are you saying you're more sexually attracted to Chouji than you are to me!?" she screamed in insult. Good thing Team 8 had inconspicuously slipped away by then. A few customers coming out of the bakery looked at them oddly.
"Sexually attracted?" Naruto asked questioningly. He put up his arms and leaned a bit to one side.
"What are you doing, idiot?" Ino huffed angrily.
Naruto blinked. "Seeing which one of you I'm more attracted to," Naruto said, as if it were obvious, falling on his face.
"You retard, you're not a magnet!"
"Then how will I know who I'm more attracted to?" Naruto asked ignorantly.
Ino ground her teeth, seriously insulted that all her beauty regiments did nothing to make her more attractive than the victim she'd been accusing of being completely unattractive… who's not even the same gender! She huffed. "No wonder Sakura said you were completely hopeless about romance."
Naruto froze. "Am I…" Naruto started dramatically, his face looking down into the shadows. Ino would have though he wee crying but no drips dropped on the dirt ground. Chouji was emotionless, eating. "… really… hopeless in love?" he asked desperately, turning his face to Ino with huge puppy dog eyes. However, he looked more scary than pitiful.
She winced. "Yes," she said, not budging an inch for his pathetic-ness. Damn.
"Gaah!" Naruto wailed, running away hurriedly, leaving Ino a very confused scout.
Unfortunately for Shikamaru, he was returning back to Konoha after traveling somewhere. Also unfortunately for him, the first thing to greet him was not his loving friends, a hot meal, or even his troublesome mother. Nope. What he got as his first welcome back was a hug on the face from Naruto. He was clutched on, arms and legs around Shikamaru's face, and the poor twit didn't smell so good either.
Shikamaru tried o take a few steps whilst maintaining his balance with a dork on his face, but his neck felt like falling off. Shoot. That would be troublesome.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto wailed, although it sounded muffled to Shikamaru himself, what with not only Naruto covering his ears but his soon to be losing consciousness. Aw, shoot. He fell.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto wailed, unaware that they had fallen to the ground for Naruto was still clutching onto Shikamaru's head with full power (although not his hair, for Naruto feared it would stab him). "Do you think I'm hopeless in love?"
Shikamaru didn't answer. He had actually… kind of… either fallen unconscious, hitting his head on the ground, or fallen asleep, having traveled through the night, one wasn't quite sure.
Naruto, however, took that as a sign of an affirmative, and Shikamaru was just being quiet because he didn't want to tell him since he was a kind soul who didn't want to hurt his feelings (Naruto doesn't know him at all, does he?).
"It's okay, Shikamaru! I understand," Naruto told the drooling boy, getting of fhis face to go. "No, no, you don't have to pretend…" Naruto cried dramatically, taking the drool as a sign of lust. When Shikamaru's head turned to the side, Naruto took it as Shikamaru feeling ashamed and wanting to be alone, so Naruto turned to leave him in his peace. When Shikamaru started snoring, Naruto thought it was a bomb, and slowly backed away like he didn't see a thing.
"Oy!" loud, obnoxious voice could be heard, despite the fact they were in an abandoned forest, sparring. "Hey Neji!" the voice called. Neji froze in confusion, his voice never being called. Unfortunately, he and Tenten were sparring, and Tenten, realizing she'd never be close to winning nor helping Neji in training unless she gave it her all, and been summoning just about thousands of flying kunais, senbon needles, and other miscellaneous weapons at Neji, which under normal circumstances, Neji would have blocked with his Hakke Kushou. Poor thing, he was. Got knocked down by a flying mace.
"Neji!" Tenten cried in worried. Immediately, she recalled all her weapons back to her scrolls and jumped down to him.
Completely off guard, he had fallen down, spread eagle on the floor. Tenten had never seen Neji look so discomposed before, and although it kind of worried her… it was rather amusing too. It was one of those things you'll never get to see again, so you might as well enjoy it
Well, anyways, Tenten immediately rushed to his side, cradling his head gently in her arms and into her lap. "Neji," she whispered softly to him, almost cooingly, like to a baby.
Naruto just stood on the side, confused at what happened. He didn't know he had caused the accident, but he wasn't about to go cradling Neji head like Tenten.
Tenten crinkled her eyebrows in worry. I mean, sure, he was knocked down with a mace surrounded by spikes, but… oh… shit. That'll leave a mark. Luckily it had only hit him in the gut and caused him to fall back and hit his head, which explains why he was unconscious.
"Is he… um… okay?" Naruto asked skeptically. He didn't want to feel stupid… nor interrupt if Neji was actually awake and he and Tenten were having some sort of love fest.
Tenten still looked loyally worried. She kept whispering his name softly every few seconds, brushing his bangs off his forehead, claiming to check if he was getting clammy or not. In reality, she was fidgeting like a mother, not knowing what to do. Neji was over a head taller than her an probably almost twice her weight. She was a wispy, small and fast stealth ninja, not a bodybuilder.
After a few minutes, Neji's eyes slowly began to flutter. He woke up, more luckily than Shikamaru, to Tenten's worried face… and then Naruto's interrupting as he shoved himself between them. Ugh… Naruto's face was barely hovering an inch above his own.
Neji reflexively sat up… well, who wouldn't, being scared half to death by Naruto's face? Unfortunately, he didn't have enough room for his reflexive reaction and hit his head on Naruto's. Ow, that's hard.
"Ow, Neji! What'd you do that for?!" Naruto yelled, holding his head in pain. Neji glared evilly at Naruto, as if wishing him death. He too was holding his head, before falling back down on Tenten's lap in pain (he hit his head worse, Naruto's head is harder).
Unable to muster the strength to get up, his head feeling like he had a hangover or something what with his brain jiggling around, he settled comfortably there, oblivious of Tenten's fluttering butterflies. It was different when he was unconscious; it was a motherly sort of action, wanting him to be comfortable and warm… and where she could look at his finally peaceful face. Now, she froze stock still. She had never been this close to him before… without murderous intent, that is.
"What do you want?" Neji seethed to Naruto, who stopped jumping around to look confusedly at Neji.
"What? I—uh…" Naruto looked up, as if at his brain. "I—uh… wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"I… forgot," Naruto ended lamely.
Neji sighed almost angrily. He closed his eyes, either to think or sleep, one didn't know. They looked almost identical until after Neji was asleep and his eyebrows un-furrowed.
"Are you okay, Neji?" Tenten asked kindly. "Does your head hurt?"
Neji opened his eyes and blinked up at Tenten. "I'm fine," he said. His voice was a little softer, kinder, although not by much. One worried how he would talk to a baby. "It didn't hurt that much," he lied, closing his eyes again. If it didn't hurt, why was he still lying on Tenten's lap?
Naruto snapped. "Oh! I remember now!" Naruto exclaimed. "Neji, Neji! Oh… I suppose Tenten could answer too. But, hey, uh, anyways… do you think I'm stupid at love?"
"At love? Only?' Tenten muttered sarcastically under her breath.
"Well?" Naruto asked, pushing his face really close to hers, causing her to shrink back in fear.
She giggled forcefully and awkwardly. "I… um… I'll let Neji answer this," she smiled innocently.
Neji's eyes snapped open, his nose flaring in disgust. Crap. No way out.
"You want the truth?" Neji said unemotionally.
"Which one's the good answer?" Naruto asked.
"Too bad," Neji ignored him. "The answer's no."
Naruto looked at Neji, glaring. Neji sort of glared back, but in a more bored fashion, as if to say, "Ok, so you beat me once in a contest and changed my emo outlook on life into a dandy sunshiny one. But that in no way entails that I must go out with you."
Naruto sighed grumpily, losing the semi-staring contest with Neji. Neji was about to lay back and smirk in his glory, but…
Tenten cleared her throat timidly. "Um… Neji?" She fidgeted a bit and looked awfully shy. Her cheeks were tinted a bit pink, but the shadows on her face hid them easily. He looked at her to continue.
"A-are you sure your head doesn't hurt anymore?" she asked.
He blinked confusedly, wondering why she was doubting him. "Yes… ?"
"Do you want to… get up?" she blushed, looking away. She didn't really know how to word it eloquently without feeling stupid.
Neji, still confused, froze in dawning realization. "Oh," he said simply.
Tenten blushed a bit deeper. "I kind of… need to use the bathroom," she looked away.
Neji immediately jumped up, muttering vehemently, "My sincerest apologies," in that sort of butler-ish way as she scurried off in the jumble for the trees. He suddenly held his head as he felt his brain move or what felt like it anyways. He had moved too fast for his healing injuries. That mace wound on his bruised gut didn't help either. Luckily they had been practicing tirelessly for a week, helping Tenten train for the upcoming Jounin exams and the spikes had dulled with use, after being slammed on the ground when it missed time after time about a hundred times, so his skin wasn't pierced.
"Oy!" Naruto said, rushing to hold Neji stable. "Are you sure you're fine?" Naruto asked.
"Of course… not," Neji said, his voice weakening, until he finally fell on the ground. "I just said that to Tenten… because…"
"You don't want her to worry?" Naruto asked, smiling.
Neji looked at Naruto like he was a dolt. "No, you moron. I can't let her think she hurt me. When a girl hits you and it hurts, you have to act like it doesn't."
"Why?" Naruto asked, as if it were the stupidest thing he's ever heard. It should be, he read it in the Icha Icha Tactics book and already thought it was the stupidest thing he's ever heard. This was just déjà vu.
"Because," Neji said, as if it were obvious. "It's just how it goes. It's one of the unbreakable, unquestionable rules about love."
"Oh…" Naruto asked and trudged off as Tenten returned.
On his way out, a familiar voice met him.
"Naruto!" A flash of green came his way.
"Lee?" Naruto asked… the world. He wasn't really quite sure where his friend was, he was too fast.
"Yes!" he replied, stopping in front of him, finally, after seeming as if he went a hundred laps around him.
Naruto contemplated a second before starting. "Hey, Lee, I have a question…"
"Yes, Naruto?!" he half screamed in his excitement. Exercise may give you endorphins and make you happy and excited and energetic… but there was a limit. "I will try my best to answer it!"
"Do you think… I'm unskilled at love?" Naruto asked. He didn't quite think that Lee was the best person to ask considering… well, Naruto wouldn't even think Lee was skilled at love.
"You!?" Lee exclaimed in outrage. "Unskilled!? At?! Love?!" he repeated the question staccato-ly. "Why no! Of course not! Do not think that you fail at love just because you fail to capture the youthful pink flower of Konoha, my forever proclaimed love, Sakura!"
Naruto would have accepted this answer gratefully compared to the others, until—"
"I too have yet to tame this wild beast of a woman—a beautiful youthful beast, but a beast at that—and I am not unskilled at love! No, no, my friend! She is just a beast of a woman!"
Naruto twitched at the comparison. Him… as skilled as Lee? At taijutsu, sure, but… love?! Damn… that bad?!
Naruto sulkily trudged away through the woods, unbothered as Lee rampaged and raged about how cold and beastly Sakura was to his fiery, passionate expressions of love, yet at the same time, was still the sweet, beautiful goddess that warmed his heart and melted his soul.
Naruto spent the next few hours going all over Konoha, asking people that he didn't even know if they would go out with him, regardless of race, ethnicity or even species (Akamaru bit his nose before Kiba came, giving Naruto an odd look). Tsunade herself and fallen over on her chair in a fit of unadulterated laughter. Shizune tried to be polite and immediately ran away to avoid answering. Gai gave Naruto an almost identical speech as Lee did, slightly altered for the situations. A few random people slammed their doors on him. Naruto didn't know who they were either, but he still found it insulting.
As the sun came down (and Sakura and Kakashi gave up on trying to get some training done), Naruto dragged himself to his favorite ramen stand, Ichiraku Ramen. Back to square one.
He lay his head on the table and slumped in his chair in a position not unlike the one that morning. He lazily drawled out for his regular.
As he waited dejectedly for his food, a dark figure walked up to him timidly.
"Naruto-kun?" a familiar shy voice asked, although she knew it was him. Who could miss him with his blaringly loud clothes?
He opened his half-closed eyes and turned around to see the owner of the voice. "Hinata? What are you doing here?" he asked, his posture inadvertently straightening. "Come to eat ramen with me?" he asked, his voice somewhat back to his normal cheerful self. He loved having company for dinner.
Hinata smiled shyly, blushing a bit before nodding. Naruto patted the chair beside him in notion for her to sit, where she of course, obeyed.
"Another bowl of ramen, Mister!" Naruto called out more loudly than he needed. Hinata felt her heart grow wings. She knew he wasn't happy because of her, per se, and she told herself that over and over again. But she couldn't help but feel happy what he was happy and she in some sort of sense was related to that happiness.
"Where's Kiba and Shino?" Naruto asked casually, fidgeting on his stool.
Hinata's pulse raced. That always happened when he talked to her, no matter what the topic. "Um… practice ended so they went home…" she said, twiddling her thumbs beneath the table. Naruto replied with a simple "oh."
He spun himself in semi-circles with his rotating stool, relishing in the awkward silence. Hinata just sat there, sneaking glances at him. It was true she had just come from practice. What she didn't tell him was that every day after practice she took a detour to the ramen shack to look for a familiar orange jacket with spiky blonde hair. Only today did luck favour her.
"Hinata." Naruto turned to her, his voice somewhat calmer than usual. "Do you know, no one thought I would be a person that someone would love…" His eyes were closed as if smiling, but they were actually hiding his pain. Hinata knew this.
I love you… she wanted to say. But "oh…" is all she said.
"Yeah," Naruto said, nodding, completely unaware of the internal struggle Hinata was fighting and always and forever would fight. "But look at them!" he said loudly, suddenly, his expression turning jokingly. "I couldn't imagine half of them with a girl either! And they were laughing at me?! Psh!" he laughed, a little too loudly.
Hinata smiled in spite of herself. She knew he was putting on an act and didn't want her to be sad for him. He always did that, despite his own pain. That's why she loved him.
An awkward silence took over them once again. She began to twiddle her thumbs again, when suddenly—
"Hey Hinata," Naruto whispered into her ear. When did he get that close to her? Her heart sped up tenfold and her face was so hot, she felt she needed sun block despite the night. She didn't dare look at him, lest he see her blushing face. Despite the years, he never got a clue.
"Want to know a secret?" he asked eagerly.
She smiled encouragingly at him, the way she always did, yet Naruto always took for granted.
Naruto leaned back on his own stool and put his head in his hands, turning to face her. He looked wondrous, magnificent, beautiful, as he always looked in her eyes. He smiled at her, a rare genuine smile that he claimed he only ever gave her, because no one else deserved it. She didn't know whether she loved it or pitied it, as his eyes would always look saddened and pained… it was the smile he'd give whenever he talked about Sasuke and Jiraiya. It was the smile he hid when he thought about his parents. It was the smile he gave to hide his pain.
"I know it doesn't look like it, but… I want to have a family one day. I want to fall in love too… but I don't want to be the only one in love. I want to find the person that was made for me, y'know?" He looked beautiful as he looked at her yet wasn't looking at her at all. He was completely absorbed in his thoughts. "I want to find the person who I'll love more than anyone in the world and who'll love me just as much as I love her… does that sound stupid?" he asked.
How could it? She thought. "I think that's beautiful," she said, her usual smile, just for him. You're beautiful, she thought.
He smiled and swung around his stool. "I guess," he said, flashing a playful grin. There go those wings again.
He swung around playfully on his stool again, his face brightening like effervescent fluorescent light bulbs when his bowl of noodles was placed before him. "But that won't be happening if no one likes me," he said jokingly, only he wasn't joking at all. She smiled for his sake though. "So, I guess... that means I should change myself, huh?" he asked, somewhat jokingly. He had on that forced smile again.
She did too. You're perfect she wanted to say. We all know how well she translates her thoughts though.
"It's not that I want to change," he added, looking at her. "Ero-sennin told me once that I was fine the way I was… he said I reminded him of my dad… well, the next day he told me he retracted the statement though…" Naruto sighed. "It's just… I've never had parents… I didn't have anyone for thirteen years…" his eyes fogged up, "And… it's just… really lonely at home. I don't want to be alone forever, you know Hinata?" he smiled at her in that wondrous smile. He blinked. "Well, I suppose not…" But she did. But she didn't want to talk about herself. She didn't want him to worry.
He slurped down his noodles quickly. He was about to gulp down the soup, when he turned to Hinata. "You've barely touched your noodles. Don't worry about paying, they're on me! I've been saving up," he added, making sure it wasn't anything about money, though mentally reprimanding himself for saying that to the heiress of one of the most renowned clans in Konoha… who live in a mansion. "Is something wrong?"
She shook her head and timidly and delicately ate her noodles. No matter what she did, she never looked messy or loud or not elegant. Was it a Hyuuga trait? Naruto shook his head, shaking those thoughts out of his head with them, turning back to his unfinished noodles.
He finished his bowl, not wasting a drop, and ordered seconds. When he finished with that, Hinata was barely halfway through hers, but she pushed it away from her, claiming she was full.
Naruto took them from her, asking if it were alright if he finished them. "Don't waste," he claimed, and with his paycheck, he really couldn't afford to. "Jeez, Hinata," he said, his mouth full of noodles. "You really have a small stomach! You didn't even eat half!" He swallowed and filled his mouth again. She didn't mind that he talked with his mouth full and looked like he had no manners at all, something that Sakura and Ino gave him a huge lecture on, Ino going as far as leaving the table. "No wonder you're small! You eat like a bird!"
She smiled, not bothering to correct him that birds eat their weight in food every twelve hours. She sat there contentedly, watching him eat. She was always perfectly fine just being with him… she thought.
"So," he began, drinking the soup. A little trickle accidentally escaped his lip and he hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve before it reached his clothing (shh, we'll let him think that). "I've been thinking…" he took one last sip before finishing off the bowl and wiping his mouth, "do you think I should change myself?" he asked, looking at Hinata.
Hinata felt like a deer trapped in headlights. She felt a little feint, but she had grown at least a 1 immunity to her Naruto-syndrome in the past few years, so she didn't actually faint. But she didn't know what to say either.
"Whatever Naruto-kun decides, I'm sure it's the right decision," she said as a loophole. What was she supposed to say? "No, I love you and if you change, some slutty whore might take you away from me…"?
He smiled at her, honestly, before grinning his Naruto grin. "All right then! With Hinata supporting me, I'll find a girl who'll like me! Believe it!"
She smiled at him.
"I promise. It's my ninja way!" he declared, pumping his fist in the air.
Her smile faltered just a bit, but she smiled for him in spite of herself. He said it. So she knew it would come true.
Naruto put the money on the table, closing Hinata's hand over the money in her palm, unwilling to accept it. "It's on me, remember? Besides, not only did I eat half your bowl, but it would be ungentlemanly (he struggled with the word) for me to allow you to pay." She knew he was actually pressed for money. But she didn't want him to know she knew.
"I'll walk you home, okay?" he asked, smiling how he believed to be suave. She smiled at him bravely, savoring the feeling of him acting like he was on a date with her… although she was simply practice for him. The way she always had to remind herself he never thought of her like that always broke her heart, but she learned not to let it show, especially when he was near.
She shook her head, the same nonchalant smile playing on her lips. "That's okay, Naruto-kun. I can get home on my own." He looked at her worriedly, as if he didn't believe her, despite her being an up-and-coming Jounin.
"Are you sure, Hinata? There are a bunch of weirdoes out at night—" he said in a light tone, only to be interrupted by her.
"Besides," she felt her heart wrench. It always did, though, so she learned to ignore it, "you… wouldn't want a potential girlfriend to see you with me, right? It might ruin your chances." She smiled, her eyes closed so she wouldn't be able to see the look Naruto was giving her. He knew she was right… but there was something odd in the way she smiled like she didn't believe her words herself.