Chapter 3: 'Enough with the 'New''
The entire class erupted with questions and exclamations such as:
"What!? Naruto-kun has a younger sister? Unbelievable."
"No way. No resemblance at all!"
"He never told us, did he?"
"Maybe she's a long lost sister."
Dammit! I wanted to stand up and scream to their annoying faces that I've never met this girl in my entire life, that I never heard her ugly name before, and she's not my freakin' sister!
And what's wrong with Jiraiya-sensei, calling her my sister and not to mention how he enjoyed tagging my surname along with her name!? That's so ridiculous.
She's not my sister. Not that one standing in the front of the class, playing dumb and very ugly.
She's not my sister . . . because my sister is already dead.
She's not my sister . . . unless God is playing a trick on me.
----------------------
---Recess Time
Naruto suddenly found recess time quite frustrating that day. Almost half of his school population flocked around him; most of them were males, asking questions about Uzumaki Hinata. His eyes would always flinch when her name was pronounced next to his surname, but no one noticed that.
His phone rang.
'Thank God. I never thought this thing can actually save my life!' He thought.
Excusing himself from the crowd and walking to a corner where no one can hear his voice, he flipped open his phone and answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Naru-chan, you sound weird."
"Oh. Hi Mom. Listen—"
"Why don't—"
"Mom, please. Just for once, listen to me. This morning, a girl here showed up claiming she's my sister. . ." Naruto heard a chuckle from the other end. "If she's the same girl you had been talking about last night, then fine. But I need answers to my questions."
". . ." She was waiting.
"Why is she here? At my school, in my classroom, as my classmate, and posing as my sister?" His voice was in the verge of breaking, but he kept his mouth away from the phone to not let her notice it.
"Simple: to study. Anymore question, Naru-chan?"
". . . ."
"Naru-chan? Hello?" His Mother kept repeating these two words over and over again. Until, at last, she admitted defeat and decided to say what was needed to be said.
"Hinata-chan lost her memories. She can't recall her name, or even her home address. After she regained her consciousness at the hospital, Dad and I didn't have the slightest clue on what to do. That was when she spoke these words 'Take me home'. Naru-chan, I think our family is enough to be called 'home', so I decided to take her as our responsibility." Kurenai explained.
Naruto wanted to stay silent much longer, but he was itching to ask this question, "What if her memories came back?"
"It might happen sooner or later, tomorrow or next month. But who cares anyway? If it did, then good, but if not, then let it be. Let's just cross the bridge when we get there, okay?" His mother said, "By the way Naru-chan."
"Yeah?"
"She doesn't know much about directionsso maybe you can take her home with you after school?"
"Whatever."
"I'll take that as yes. Bye, Naru-chan!"
"Bye, Mom."
----------------------
---Dismissal Time
"Yo, Naruto!" somebody called as he exited the room.
Naruto spun around and saw Shikamaru.
"Escorting that pretty lady today, huh?" his eyes went past Naruto's shoulders, while his lips twitched into a mischievous smirk.
"Yeah. Sort of." Curious of what his friend was seeing behind him, he turned around. He saw the Hinata-chan his Mom was talking about, leaning against the wall parallel to their classroom, both hands in front of her clutching her bag, and her eyes glued to the floor.
"She's just too pretty to be your sister, you know."
"And what's your point there?" Naruto said. "I bet Sakura would be very happy to make your life a living hell if she heard that."
"Time is running out, gotta run some errand for Mom. Bye, Naruto." Shikamaru hurriedly strode away from his smirking friend.
Now what? Let's get this over with.
"You're Hinata?"
"Yes."
He cleared his throat. Just like what he was always doing to get his listener's full attention. But the odd thing was, Hinata didn't bother to move a single muscle to face Naruto.
Again, he cleared his throat.
She looked up at him.
"Y-yes?"
"My name is Naruto. I am your elder brother. And you are my younger sister. Can we go home now?"
"Yes."
Is 'yes' the only word listed in your dictionary?
They started walking home together. No one said a word or made a sound, not until Naruto's cellphone rung. Still, they didn't stop walking when he answered his phone.
Ino's voice echoed from the other line.
A familiar warm sensation flooded inside him. "Oh. Hi, Ino-chan."
Ino was Naruto's girlfriend since last year.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to walk with you this afternoon. An important thing came up so I. . ."
And since last year, too, he would arrive half an hour late home because he would turn left to a certain corner and meet up with Ino to walk her home. That became a daily routine. And that routine wasn't broken before . . . except now, so it wasn't strange if his girlfriend would give him a ring and check if something came up.
"Yeah. Hinata, that's her name." At the corners of his eyes, Naruto saw Hinata's head jolted at his direction when her name was mentioned. "Alright. Tomorrow. Same time. Same place. Hanging up now. Bye. I love you."
Click.
Then, once more, silence came over the two people, walking side by side.
But it wasn't long before someone spoke up.
"Naruto-kun?"
He hoisted the strap of his bag pack on his shoulder suitably. "Don't worry, we are almost there."
"N-Naruto-kun?"
"I know my name sounds weird, but you don't have to say it over and over again. I don't eat people either."
"Naruto-kun." Hinata called out his name. That was when Naruto realized he was at least two yards away from the girl. She had stopped walking.
"Come on. We got to go home before the sun sets." He called out.
" . . ."
He killed the distance between them.
"Hey. Something's wrong Hinata?"
"I wonder if y-you could . . ." She said with low voice, ". . . show me around the place."
Naruto took out his cell phone from his pocket and then punched several numbers.
"I-I mean if you want to . . . but i-if you've got to do s-something else, w-we—"
"Mom? Yeah, it's Naruto. We're going to be late for a while."
"Naruto-kun . . ." Hinata whispered despite herself.
"I'm going to show Hinata around. Ok. Bye." CLICK.
----------------------
They were at the beach. And if you look straight to the horizon, you could see the sun already half-hidden from view.
Naruto glanced around. A couple or two were walking side by side, hand in hand and were walking barefooted on the sand. What a typical sight.
He gave out a sigh, a short one, and lied to his back not minding that the sand would basically ruin his uniform. All that he needed was a long break from walking. Even a short nap would do.
But a whiff of a familiar scent awakened his senses and also made him realize that he was not alone to start with. He cleared his throat.
"Hinata?"
Hinata was beside him. Both arms hugging her legs, and both knees tucked safely to her chest.
"Y-yes?" she—as always—stammered.
"I've got a knock-knock joke. You want to hear?" Naruto said, while staring at the sky.
"Yes."
"Uh . . ." he said. "Knock knock!"
"Who's there?" She was asking herself more than asking him, Naruto noticed.
"Banana. Knock knock!"
"T-that's it?"
"Uh . . . You," Naruto said while scratching his cheeks, "You're supposed to say 'Who's there?' again."
"Sorry!" she said in panic manner. "W-who's there?"
"Banana. Knock knock!"
"Who's t-there?"
"Banana. Knock knock!" Naruto chuckled softly.
"Do I--? Who's there?"
"Banana. Knock knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Orange." He said excitedly.
"Orange? O-orange who?"
"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"
" . . ."
"Hinata? You're supposed to laugh." Naruto sat and looked at the girl next to him.
"Am I? R-really? I-I am so sorry. I didn't. . ." Hinata said.
"It's okay."
"Ha.Ha.Ha.Ha." These sounds came out from her lips that Naruto realized few seconds later was laughter. "I just laughed. I was supposed to, right? Right?"
Now, it was Naruto's turn to laugh, rolling uncontrollably like an idiot on the sand .
"W-what's funny? I should laugh, right? You said I should." Hinata said, a shade of red spread on her cheeks, that only made Naruto laugh louder.