Disclaimer: If I owned anything, would I be writing this?
So much for keeping to a linear timeline… I go right from their Academy years to them dating. Sorry about that.
Remember, I'm taking requests.
The plot bunnies were running away from me for some reason. I'm telling you, those things are evil! EVIL I SAY!!
Yeah, I think that I've gone temporarily insane due to the return of school… and, more importantly, homework. –shudders-
"So…" Kiba cracked his knuckles, baring his uncomfortably pointy eyeteeth in a feral grimace. Despite having beaten the other boy at the Chuunin Exams several years ago, Naruto couldn't help but shudder at the unadulterated killing intent he radiated. "… You think that you're good enough for our Hinata, do you?"
"Wait, nani?" The blonde asked, his determination dissipating to make way for confusion.
"Don't play the fool." Shino said, just loudly enough to be heard over the angry buzzing emanating from beneath his coat. "We know that you asked her out yesterday."
"Well, yeah." Naruto affirmed, still unsure about what was going on. "What's wrong with that?"
"What's wrong with that?" Neji echoed softly, dangerously. The ramen-loving boy yelped as the Hyuuga seized the front of his jacket and started shaking him furiously. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?! EVERYTHING, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT!"
Okay, forget not showing fear. Naruto had his hands full just trying not to wet his pants at that point.
"My sister's fragile, bakamono!" Hanabi growled from behind her cousin. If anyone was scarier than Neji, it would have to be her. She was the most terrifying little kid that he had ever met—and, seeing as he had once managed to get Udon drunk, that was saying something. "If you don't treat her right, you'll break her heart!"
"And if that happens…" Hiashi began, eying Naruto as one might a bug to be squashed. He whimpered, wondering how the gentle Hinata could possibly be related to such frightening people. "…We'll break you."
"Do we make ourselves clear?" Kurenai asked in a deceptively sweet tone, smiling cheerfully at the blonde. He cowered, somehow finding the former academy instructor the most horrifying one of all. At his silence, her gentle façade hardened into a murderous scowl. "I said, do we make ourselves clear?"
"Y-y-y-yes m-m-m-m-ma'a-a-a-a-am!" Naruto stammered, sounding very much like the girl that was the reason that they were all there. "C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cryst-t-t-t-t-t-tal!"
"Good!" She said, her eyes curving and her grin widening. She beamed at him in a manner reminiscent of a certain feline. "Well, if that's everything, I hope that you and Hinata have fun on your date tonight!" Neji, Hiashi, and Kiba visibly twitched at the word 'date.' That was a bad sign, but Kurenai ignored it. "By the way, where are you taking her?"
"A-a-a-ano…" He began, still stuck in his fear-inspired 'Hinata mode.' "I-I-I th-thought th-th-that I-I c-c-c-c-could t-t-take h-her t-t-to I-Ichirak-ku's…"
"I'm afraid that I must have misheard you." Neji interrupted, his voice dangerously quiet. That was a bad sign, a very, very, VERY bad sign. "I could have sworn that I heard you say that you were taking the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan to a ramen stand."
"D-d-d-did I-I-I s-say th-that?" The blonde stuttered hurriedly, and gave a nervous laugh. He was too panicked to even recognize the slight to his favorite restaurant. "I-I-I m-meant t-t-to a…a p-picnic! Y-yeah, a p-p-picnic! O-on t-t-t-top o-of th-the Ho-Hok-kage m-m-monum-ment!"
"Really?" Shino murmered, adjusting his sunglasses. In the back of his mind, Naruto wondered how he could see with them on in the dark room. "How… cheap."
"It's still better than a ramen stand." Hanabi pointed out reluctantly. "Kind of romantic, even."
"It'd better be." The Inuzuka snarled. "For his sake."
"Very true." Neji agreed, glaring at Naruto. He shrank back, cursing the way too tight ropes that they had tied him to the chair with.
"Remember, Naruto: mess this up…" Kiba warned, cracking his knuckles in an all-too gleeful manner. "… And we mess you up."
"Just because you are not creative enough to come up with your own threats, Inuzuka, does not give you the excuse to steal mine." Hiashi grumbled under his breath, only to be ignored.
"It had better be a good picnic." Hanabi informed Naruto in a cold voice, ignoring her father. "If I see even one cup of instant ramen, you'll regret it."
"Hey, wait a moment!" He yelped. "Are you going to be spying on us or something?"
"Of course." Shino replied, raising an eyebrow above his sunglasses. "Team Eight specializes in reconnaissance, after all."
"But…" The blonde struggled to put his shock into words. "But that's not…"
"Shino's just joking, Naruto." Kurenai assured him, shooting the Aburame a pointed look. "Don't worry about it. Just make sure that Hinata has fun, ne?"
"But not too much fun." Kiba added quickly. "She'd better come back a vir—"
He was cut off when Neji's kunai suddenly ended up against his neck. Hanabi glared at him. "Don't give him any ideas, bakamono!"
Kiba nodded as frantically as he could without moving his neck. He sighed in relief when the blade was withdrawn, and went back to watching his jonin-sensei interrogate their victim.
"So, what time are you picking her up at?" Kurenai was asking. Naruto frowned thoughtfully.
"Seven-thirty." He answered. "Why?"
"It's seven-twenty-three right now."
"Nani?!" The blonde cried, his jaw dropping. "I'm going to be late!"
"You'd better not be." Neji muttered, his eyes flashing. "For your sake."
"THEN UNTIE ME ALREADY SO I CAN GO!"
"Do we have to?" Hanabi asked plaintively, glaring down her nose at Naruto.
"Unfortunately." Her cousin replied, cutting the ropes. Their former captive gave an exaggerated sigh of relief, rubbing at where the bindings had been tightest.
"About time!" He shouted. "Those ropes were cutting off my circulation, you know!"
Hiashi would have snorted derisively, but he was a Hyuuga and Hyuuga's didn't snort, be it in derision or anything else. Instead, he listened to the Inuzuka snort. In his opinion, if the brat couldn't handle a bit of restricted blood flow, then there was no way that he could handle Hinata. "A true shinobi could have gotten out of those on his own."
"I could, dattebayo!" Naruto protested. "I just didn't!"
"And why not?" Shino queried.
"I just didn't feel like it!" He yelled defensively. "You're just lucky that I'm in a hurry, or I'd teach you jerks a lesson you'd never forget!"
Hanabi scoffed, Neji 'Hn'ed, Kiba gave a bark of laughter, Shino didn't say anything, and Hiashi glared venomously at him. Kurenai just checked her watch again.
"Well, would you look at that." She commented, her tone that of one who has just found a wonderful, yet unexpected, present on their doorstep. "It's already seven-twenty-eight."
"NANI?!" The blonde screeched again. He bolted, scrambling in the darkness to throw open the door, before shooting the group one last glare. "If I'm late, it's all your fault!"
"No, it's yours." Neji told him. "And we'll make sure that you are… suitably punished for it."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"Well…" The Jonin began, cleaning his kunai in an uncomfortably showy way. "…let's just say that you wouldn't have to worry about being late for a date ever again… or dating at all."
Naruto was torn between trying to beat Neji into the ground or freaking out at the threat, which was all-too likely to end up coming to pass. After a moment, he decided on the first option. If he did the second, he'd have to dwell on what the Hyuuga had implied, and that's not something that any guy wanted to dwell on. Ever.
"Seven-twenty-nine."
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Naruto ran off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, and shouting: "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!"
Once again, Kiba and Neji twitched at the word 'date.' Hiashi muttered something about a lack of creativity and a tendency to steal words being contagious among idiots, before turning to frown at Kurenai. "Were you serious about not spying on them?"
"Heck no." She replied, raising an eyebrow and favoring him with a 'have-you-lost-your-mind' look. "What gave you that idea?"
"So, if he goes too far, then we get to kill him, ne?" Hanabi asked eagerly, before her father could answer. Kurenai nodded, and she squealed gleefully.
"But what if he doesn't?" Shino suddenly wondered, eying his accomplices through the tinted lenses of his sunglasses.
"Then we kill him for not going far enough." Neji answered, a maniac gleam in his eyes.
"No killing." Kurenai told them sternly. The group groaned in unison, looking very much like a group of children who had just been told that that years Christmas/Hanukah/insert-appropriate-holiday-here had been canceled. And next years' too. Maybe even the year afters. "Maiming, however, is allowed."
Cue the cheering and sadistic giggling. Trust me when I say that you don't want to know who was doing what.
"When can we start following him?" Hiashi asked, tapping his foot impatiently. The jonin-sensei leaned out the door, watching Naruto run thoughtfully.
"We can start in about… thirty seconds." She announced after a moment. "Right after he turns that corner—"
"Kurenai-sensei?" Shino interrupted.
"What is it?" She asked, still watching the retreating dust cloud.
"You do realize that they've already left, ne?"
"Na-Naruto-k-kun… i-it's b-b-beautiful…"
The light of the setting sun fell across Konoha, veiling everything in shades of red and yellows not unlike those of flames. The sky was streaked in a myriad of colors, from the dark indigos and violets of the night sky behind them to the pinks and oranges of the sunset before them. Naruto gave a soft smile.
"It is, isn't it?" He agreed, turning to face his companion. The sunset painted her pale eyes in it's colors, and her dark blue hair seemed to have acquired a fiery sheen. "It's the second most beautiful sight in the world, I think."
"W-w-what's th-the f-first?" Hinata asked him, turning to look at him curiously.
"You." The light hid the resulting blush, which Naruto thought made her look even cuter than before.
Silently, he thanked Jiraiya for teaching him corny, but effective, lines like that one. Not that he didn't mean it, or anything like that, but if Jiraiya hadn't told him what a woman liked hearing—of which only his pick-up lines were completely worthless—he'd have probably started talking about ramen.
And becoming Hokage.
And more ramen.
But when Hinata leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder with a slight sigh, Naruto found that he didn't even feel like talking anymore. He nestled his head against her soft, dark hair, and at that moment was content to simply stay there with her, bathed in the faint scent of lilacs and the warmth of a glow that had nothing to do with the setting sun.
That night, Sakura wasn't surprised when Neji shoved an unconscious and badly beaten Naruto into her arms while she was working at the hospital. She merely looked at the blonde, and then at the Hyuuga, before giving a long-suffering sigh.
"Oh, for Pete's sake…" The medic-nin muttered. "This is the third time this week!"
Meh. I'm not really sure about this one. What did you think about it? -pokes the review button-
