Lavender Eyes

Answers and Memories: Part One

It was silent in the car, the only sounds that were heard were that of the engine.

Then than were a soft sound, then it grew in volume.

Hinata was giggling.

Naruto gave her a perplexed look and smiled awkwardly. He then scratched his head in confusion. "Am I missing, something?"

Hinata attempted to hold in her laughter with her hand, but failed miserably. Her giggling then turned into laughter. With tears in her eyes and laughter in her voice she said, "I wasn't expecting you to say that…and then you held my hands ," she took a breath to calm down her laughing, "I mean…it was kinda…cheesy."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "well…I guess I could have said something else-"

"No, Naruto, "she interrupted with a smile on her face, "it was cute…" She tilted her to the side as she thought about what to say. "It's the little…cheesy…and unexpected things you do…that makes you Naruto." She smiled and brushed aside a lock of hair that obscured Naruto's left eye from her view. "That makes you the Naruto I care for…and love," she added.

Naruto grabbed her hand before she could pull it away and kissed her fingers. His eyes admired her pale hand and then looked into the eyes of their owner. "You're beautiful." Hinata smiled bashfully.

Hinata removed her hand from Naruto's grasp, albeit reluctantly, and clasped her hands together. "Naruto…if you don't mind me asking…when did you start having feelings…for me?" she asked with a tremor in her voice. She was beyond nervous…could she really have been so blind as to not notice that Naruto loved her?

"Well…I have to admit that I thought you were strange the first time I met you a year and a half ago…" he began as Hinata remembered their first encounter.

"Shikamaru, can you do me a really big favor?" Ino asked the lazy brunette.

He sighed heavily as he sat up from his relaxed position on the floor in the produce section. He made a move to stand up, but changed his mind at the last minute. He looked up at Ino with a bored expression and asked, "what?"

Ino smiled before rushing out, "I need you to restock the entire Ramen supply while I teach our newest employee," she gestured to the fidgeting small woman behind her, "the tricks of the trade."

Shikamura shook his head slowly before adding, "and why can't you do it after you get done teaching her the tricks of the trade?"

Ino's sweet expression quickly became annoyed. "Because…baka…people are complaining about the lack of Ramen in the shelves now…and if it gets prolonged any longer, we lose are most valuable customers…we lose any more customers, I'll suggest to Ms. Tsunade that our smoking breaks be terminated, " she ended with a smirk.

Shikamaru, unfazed by the threat, looked at his watch. He then glanced in the direction of the new employee. "If you haven't noticed yet, Ino can be a real bitch," he stated to the woman. The woman blushed. "I'm Shikamura, if you haven't figured that out yet," he remarked as he stood up.

"Hinata," she replied though the volume was barely above a whisper. Shikamaru nodded in her direction before walking towards the entrance of the store.

"And where the hell are you going?!" Ino yelled to his retreating form.

He glanced back at her before pulling out a cigarette, "My break just started, thanks for reminding me."

Ino turned red and stomped her foot childishly as she yelled for him to get back here. She huffed loudly before turning around with a fake smile on her face. "So Hinata, change of plans. How bout I teach you how to stock shelves?"

Hinata smiled, liking the idea of not working the cash registers right away."Sure."

"Okey dokey, first things first, we'll head on back to the stock room and-"

"Hey, where's the ramen?" a voice interrupted.

Ino and Hinata turned to the owner of voice who was presently located in the aisle the ramen should have been stocked.

Hinata turned beet red as she saw the owner of the voice. Blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, sweaty chisled chest, washboard abs, and a thin trail of blonde hair that led from his navel to the orange waist band of his exposed boxers. His black sweatpants, though loose, left nothing to the imagination. Hinata choked.

"Damnit Naruto, you know the rules..no shirt, no service," said an irritated Ino.

"Sorry, Ino, training was brutal today…to be honest, I forgot I wasn't even wearing one, " he said with a bashful grin, "all I was thinking about was rewarding myself with hot bowl of ramen."

Ino rubbed her eyes, clearly annoyed by the other blonde's presence, "all the same Naruto-"

"Who is she, she new here," he interrupted as he looked at the blushing girl hiding behind Ino.

Ino, forgetting all recent annoyance, smiled then smoothly moved from in front of Hinata. She placed her arm around her shoulder and introduced her. "This is Hinata Hyuuga, a new Employee."

Naruto smiled and brought his hand out for Hinata to shake, "I'm Naruto Uzamaki."

Hinata stared at his hand before meeting eye level with his chest. Is it even possible for a man to look this…gorgeous? And he's so close. I can even see individual sweat droplets travel down his chest. I would give my entire pressed flower collection to be one of those sweat droplets.

Where is this guy from? Olympus. And the way he smells its so…so…mouthwatering.

Naruto lowered his hand. Is…she sniffing me."Hey are you al-"

Thump.

"HINATA!" Screamed a worried Ino. She kneeled next to her and placed her hand on her forehead. "Just great Naruto, Ms. Tsunade's gonna kill me if she dies or something!"

"I didn't do anything-"

"Of course you did," she interrupted, "you knocked her out from your stench."

He sniffed himself. "I don't smell that bad." He ran his hand through his hair nervously. "W-well what do you want me to do?"

Ino made an attempt to pick her up but failed. "Umm…pick her up and put her on the couch in the break room." Naruto nodded then easily lifted her from the floor.

"Don't drop her," Ino warned him.

"I won't, she's as light as a feather," he commented. "She's kinda cute too," he thought as stared down at her.

Ugh…what happened, and why do I feel like I'm floating on a warm cloud. Hinata's lavender eyes opened to see to very blue ones.

As soon as Ino and naruto entered the break room Hinata opened her eyes. "Hey she's up Ino, guess we won't need that couch after all."

Oh my god, he's carrying me…with…no…shirt. Everything went black.

"Uhh…on second thought…we will," Naruto stated. He placed her gently on the couch.

"Well…what an eventful day."Ino commented as she looked at the sleeping girl.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed.

Ino frowned as if remembering something, then smiled. "Alright Uzamaki, grab yourself a shirt and then meet me back here."

"Why?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well…you just knocked out my employee…you now get the task of restocking the shelf."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows then whined, "But I'm hungry."

"Too bad, should have thought of that before you came in the store without a shirt, "she wrinkled her nose in disgust and added,"…and without a shower."

Ino noticed his lack of enthusiasm and then smiled. "You'll get to restock the Ramen…" she stated temptingly.

Naruto smiled."Deal," he agreed as he shook her hand.

Ino left the room, while Naruto contemplated the unconscious figure on the couch.

"She's really pretty," he thought offhandedly, "I wonder…I wonder if she's…seein' anyone." He walked to where her head rested on the arm of the chair. He slowly kneeled beside the couch as he admired her face. He, then, bit his lip as his hand nervously swept her bang out of her eyes. Immediately after the contact, a light blush rose upon her cheeks. "Strange," he thought amused, "she even blushes when she's sleeping. Naruto turned red at his next thought. "I wonder…if she blushes anywhere else."

"Hey…Naruto, hurry your ass up," Ino yelled as she poked her head into the breakroom.

Naruto stood upright quickly at her entrance.

Ino raised her eyebrow with a knowing glint in her eye, "What's up?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto replied quickly, as he ran his hands through his hair nervously under Ino's penetrating gaze.

Ino tossed him an old shirt that hung over her shoulder, then folded her arms. "You look like you got your hand caught in the cookie jar …" she stated.

"No, I don't," Naruto stated dismissively as he put on the faded black t-shirt. Naruto walked towards to leave, but Ino blocked his path.

"Yeah, you do…and I think I know why that it is," Ino replied as she smirked at the nonchalance Naruto was trying to portray.

"Ms. Yamanaka," Ino and Naruto jumped at the voice of Ms. Tsunade, "Instead of standing there NOT working, how about you go do what WORKING actually implies."

Ino looked at her unamused boss who stood by the intercom at the front of the store. Ino then motioned for Naruto to go to the stockroom as she slowly turned exit the break room.

"Step lively, Ms. Yamanaka," Ms. Tsunade said as she spoke into the intercom. Ino immediately sped up to work at the cash register.

"Wait, Ino….how do…where?" Naruto questioned her as quickly walked away.

"Just ask Choji, he should be back there…ask him," she stated quickly before she left Naruto's sight completely.

Naruto sighed at his current predicament. His stomach growled with anger at its lack of sustenance…preferably, ramen. "Was coming here even worth it?" he thought. As if a response to his thoughts, his body subconsciously shifted him in the direction of the woman with the lavender eyes. He smiled to himself. "I guess…it was…it definitely was," he answered to himself as he walked back to the stockroom with a hopeful expression on his face.

"But then, I thought…I had to get to know you more," he said as he brushed Hinata's much longer bangs out of her eyes. "It ended up, being a lot harder than I thought ,though…seeing how shy you were, and how much you went out of your way to…avoid me. Anytime I would try to…I don't know..try to start a conversation with you…you would either make up an excuse to leave or faint. I mean…I didn't just go to the store for the ramen, Hinata…" he finished as he looked at Hinata.

"I guess it took me waking up in your arms from a fainting spell for us to really have a conversation," she stated.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I guess it did…"

Hina smiled to herself at a thought she had. "You know, when I came to work today…I had intended on quitting," she commented.

"Really!" Naruto replied, surprised by the news.

"Yeah," Hinata giggled as she took in Naruto's surprised expression. "Why," he asked.

"Well," hinata's smile faded slightly as she remembered her reasons, "It's kinda a long story…it'll probably bore you," she stated quietly, hoping he would change his mind.

Naruto laced his hand through hers when he noticed the change in her expression. "It won't…nothing from you can possibly be uninteresting…seeing how sexy, beautiful and amazing you are," he replied fondly.

Hinata looked into Naruto's eyes at those words..Naruto is the only person in this entire world who manages to make me…melt at a single look…a single touch…a single word.

"Really?…" Hinata questioned breathlessly as a sudden impulse to kiss him took over her.

"Believe it," Naruto replied firmly with a grin on his face.

Hinata did.

She quickly climbed over to his side of the car and straddled his waist and kissed him fervently with a passion that shocked even Hinata.

With they finally broke apart for air, Naruto had a lazy grin etched on his face as his arms were held securely around Hinata's hips.

Hinata, not wanting to leave the solice of Naruto's arms, settled in a more comfortable position in his lap.

Naruto laughed to himself softly, "Imagine what we'd be doing if we were in my truck."

Hinata laughed along quietly as she gently ran her fingers through Naruto's hair. "We'd …pr-probably be…talking less…," she looked into his eyes intently and then smiled with a light in her eyes. "And doing more," she ended with a slow circular movement in his lap for emphasis.

Naruto swallowed as his eyes took on a darker hue. He bit his lip, "Hina," he choked out.

"Naruto," she stated firmly, "I'll think I'll tell you why I planned on quitting now…if that's okay with you."

Naruto nodded unable to find words…and thankful for the distraction.

"Well…it all really had to do with you, Naruto…and all the incredibly, sexy, and irresistible things you do," she said while biting her lip causing Naruto to groan as he watched the action.

"If this was any implication of what was to come," Naruto thought to himself, "I'm a goner"