A/N: Super sorry for the extreme lateness. I could come up with a million excuses but I am pretty sure that we are all on the same page that life sometimes just gets busy. Anyway, here is chapter 3. R&R
Previously on Sake:
"Yeah," he said as he stood in front of her. The two of them just seemed to be staring. Both wearing a blush on their faces. The car honked again and seemed to break their trance. He walked her out and held the door open for her for the car. Once she was in he knocked on the window to get the drivers attention, then he paid him. Probably more than what it would cost but he didn't really seem to care.
He noticed that Hinata had rolled down her window.
"Have a good night Hinata, get home safe," he said.
"Thank you Naruto, you too. See you Saturday." She smiled.
"Saturday," he said returning her smile with his. The car then drove away.
He then heard Teuchi laughing. Naruto blushed furiously because his moment with Hinata, at least he thinks it was a moment, was witnessed by one more person than he had anticipated.
Chapter 3: First Date?
It was Saturday already. Naruto's alarm rang and he practically shot out of bed. Kurama jumped and barred his teeth at him.
"Sorry Kurama," Naruto said while trying to calm down the fox, "I'm just excited, I'm gonna see Hinata today after class."
Kurama sat on the bed as he watched Naruto pace his room while he got ready.
"Thursday night kinda felt like a date. So did the other night. But I don't think the other night counts as a date 'cus we just met. Maybe last night didn't count either. I mean it wasn't planned."
The fox continued to watch and from a certain angle it looked like he was smiling and taking amusement in the scene before him.
"I'll see you later Kurama!" Naruto said as he ran out of his room and down the stairs. He rushed to the kitchen after he realized that his mom had cooked breakfast.
"You're up early," Kushina said as she put food on the table. She then set her full attention on Naruto. "What's the occasion?"
"Occasion? What occasion do I need to get up and go to class?" Naruto said nervously.
"The same kind of occasion that causes you to study," Kushina pressed.
"Perhaps he's seeing the same person today as he did Thursday night," his father, Minato, suggested as he grabbed a piece of toast.
"I wonder if she's pretty, what do you think Minato?" she asked with an evil grin on her face. Naruto's jaw nearly dropped! Was he that obvious!
"Well she must be really something if he's going to class on time by himself," Minato said in between chews.
At a lost for what to say Naruto quickly made an egg sandwich.
"Well I'm gonna be late now so I'm just gonna grab this and go!" he rushed as he grabbed his things and ran out of the house.
Naruto wanted nothing more than for his class to be over. To be quite frank, he had zoned out about ten minutes into the class. He was preoccupied thinking of what to do when he met up with Hinata for lunch. He wasn't quite sure what the daughter of a CEO would want to go to eat. Maybe she ate at fancy restaurants, like the one Sasuke goes to. I don't think I can afford that!
"Furthermore, I require you all to make a business plan. It's due at the end of the semester, but you should start looking into it. Class dismissed," the professor said as he started packing up his stuff. Naruto tossed his notebook into his backpack. It was then that he realized that he didn't have her number. Though he was pretty sure that he could assume she would be in that art building, so he started making his way over. Once he was in he checked his phone again. he still had a few minutes until one. What if she changed her mind?
"Hey Naruto, what brings you here?" a familiar voice asked. It wasn't the one he was expecting to hear.
"Oh, hey Sai! I'm just waiting for a friend."
"What friend could you have that is artistic and not me?"
"It's someone that I met earlier this week."
"If you just met them how could they already be your friend? Unless maybe you had sex then-"
"NO! NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!" Naruto screamed. Sai was silent for a moment.
"I see, would this friend of yours be Hinata Hyuga?" Naruto's face felt really hot all of a sudden. Then Sai smiled.
"She'll be out soon, she is just cleaning up her stuff. Down the hall to your right," Sai said then walked away. Though Naruto wanted to question how he knew he decided to follow the directions to the room. He yelled back thanks and walked down the hall.
He saw a room door open and figured it was her last classroom. He decided to go in and see if she needed any help. However, his attention was caught by a painting set up on an easel. What drew him to the painting was the bright colors. He was in awe of the painting.
"Y-You weren't supposed to see it yet," a nervous voice said. Her voice echoed in the room, even though she had spoken softly. He turned to her; she stood where she was and began blushing. "What…what do you think of it so far?" she asked timidly. He was lost for words. Before he knew what he was doing his feet had him moving towards her. As he got closer her blush seemed to deepen. Then he hugged her. After a moment or two he felt her relax and reciprocate the hug. They stood like that for a while. He felt comfortable holding her.
"N-Naruto?"
"It's amazing Hinata," he managed to say. He reluctantly pulled away from the hug, but he wanted to look at her. "It really is amazing!"
"I'm glad you like it. It's part of a series," she said as she went to her portfolio. She reached into it and pulled out two other canvases. "I had to pick an area and paint different paintings all located in the area. Since I always go to Ichiraku's I thought it would be nice to paint."
Naruto studied the paintings and couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face. One of the paintings was of Teuchi cooking, it looked really good that he swore he could smell the food that the old man was cooking. It was extremely detailed. Another painting was of a small pyramid made up of shot glasses. It was a very well done painting, however part of him was worried that she had drunk all of these herself. He looked back over to her after looking at it.
"I-I didn't drink all of it. It actually was a happier occasion that night. I was going out with my friends that night, we were celebrating that one of them was getting married," Hinata said as if knowing where his train of thought was going. He noticed that she had a very particular smile on her face as she stared at the painting. Though she had spaced out staring at the painting she was still smiling and he couldn't help but want to make her smile like that. He then ended up back at the first painting which was still propped up on the easel. It was a side profile of him, it wasn't finished yet but if you knew Naruto then you knew it was him. In the painting you were able to make out parts of his body, the old man, and a bowl of ramen. There also looked like papers scattered on the counter.
"When?" he asked Hinata, mesmerized by the painting still.
"Must have been about a month or two ago, during midterms. I had to do some sketches for the project."
As he continued to stare at the painting the memory of that night tried it's best to come forth. He had gone there to try to study, Teuchi had given him some ramen on the house to help him. "When I was going through the sketches I saw it and I thought it would be perfect for the series, since you are his number one customer." Naruto laughed at that.
"It really is amazing," he said when he turned to face her. Their eyes were locked and part of him realized that they were fairly close to each other, the other part didn't really care too much because he was stuck looking into her eyes. The moment was ruined by Naruto's stomach making its needs known. Naruto laughed nervously.
"Almost forgot we were supposed to get lunch," he looked at his phone to see a half an hour had passed. "How much time do you have?" he asked while his hand rested on the back of his neck.
"About thirty minutes," she said as she glanced at the clock on the wall. She sounded disappointed. Naruto did feel bad for taking up her time, but he did enjoy looking at the paintings. He also felt a fuzzy feeling knowing that she had painted him. "But I brought some food with me to share with you," she said as she went to her bag. He felt a little embarrassed, he had hoped to take her out to eat but figured that this would be just as nice. She handed him the containers to hold, then she put away the rest of the paintings with extra care.
Naruto found himself smiling as he watched her put away everything. Once done they walked out to the lobby. Hinata, from there, led the way to the art café so she could re-heat the food.
"Sorry I took up so much of your lunch break," he said nervously. He didn't know why he felt nervous but he did. I wish Shikamaru hadn't told me that she was a CEO's daughter, maybe that's why I'm nervous. And maybe if I hadn't known I wouldn't be so nervous now, Naruto reasoned. But as he waited for her to respond he noticed that it wasn't just nervousness that he was feeling, he was feeling a whole mess of emotions. He was happy, anxious, embarrassed and all the while smiling. He couldn't stop smiling.
"It's okay Naruto. I was a bit nervous that you would be upset that I painted you without your permission, but I am very glad that you like it," she said as she brought over the two containers of the now warmed food.
"What will you do with them? The paintings?"
"I'm not too sure, I have a lot at home as it is."
"There's more?"
"Yeah, too many," she said with a giggle. "We better eat before it gets cold again." He simply nodded his head and actually looked at the food before him. He almost didn't want to eat it because it was beautifully assembled. But his stomach growled again, telling him that it needed food soon or else it would start eating him. After one bite he felt like he was in food heaven. He heard Hinata giggle again.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said as she continued to giggle.
"What is it?" he persisted. She laughed some more.
"It's just your face, when you ate the food."
"But it's sooooooo good," he said as he ate another bite of it.
"I'm glad you like it," she said as she started eating her food.
"So, you think that I can see your other paintings?" he asked as he finished his food.
"You - you want to see them?"
"Yeah," he said grinning. He did notice that her face had a growing blush on it.
"Maybe I can take a picture of them and send it to you." Naruto suddenly felt excited. He pulled out a pen and paper then proceeded to write down his phone number and email for her. He wasn't too sure which she would prefer. Then he slid it over to her. She stared at the paper then back to him.
"That way you can send them," he smiled. She nodded her head and smiled back. Just then an alarm went off that startled the two. He watched as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
"I'm sorry, I have to go to class now."
"Already?" Naruto said with a sigh.
"Um, this would be my last class for today. If you want to, that is if you want to wait, we could hang out afterwards," she offered, a blush on her face. "If you have other plans, then I understand."
"No, I can wait!" he said a little too loud causing Hinata to jump. He had also managed to catch the attention of some of the students nearby. "Sorry, I don't mind waiting for you."
"Are you sure?" she asked as she gathered her things.
"Yeah," he said with a smile. She returned his smile and gathered her supplies and headed off to class.
He had decided to stay in the café and try to work on some homework, however every time he started he found himself getting distracted every time he tried starting. He kept thinking back to Hinata, part of him welcomed the distraction while the other was afraid that if this kept up he would fail his classes.
"Earth to Naruto, you there?" he heard someone ask. It was enough to snap him out of his daze and realize who was there.
"Oh, hey Sakura," he said as he looked at his friend who was standing by the table. She was studying him very intensely. He found himself starting to sweat under her scrutiny. "S-Sakura?"
"How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while. I didn't expect you to be in this building," she said as she sat across from him. Naruto felt heat rising to his face at the thought of telling her why he was in the building.
"Just waiting for a friend," he said trying to sound cool, calm, and collected.
"She must be really nice for you to wait for her. Is she an art major?" Sakura asked with a knowing smile.
"Actually she is and- HEY! I DIDN'T TELL YOU SHE WAS A GIRL!" Sakura busted out laughing.
"You just did!"
"Not fair," he said with a pout, "aren't you supposed to be living in the labs?" Sakura had an annoyed expression on her face.
"I actually have a day off today from lab hours. I was just coming from the other building and wanted to grab a bite to eat and this café was closer than the main one. So what's her name?" she pressed.
"Hinata," he said with a sigh.
"Ah, she's really nice and a great person."
"You know her?"
"Yeah, we're friends. I met her last year in class. I had to take a mandatory art class, she is really talented. It's really great that I met her, now I have someone to talk to when I end up going to some functions with Sasuke. You do know she's the daughter of a CEO right?"
"Yes," he said with another sigh, "I know. I wish that I didn't know. I get so nervous about certain things. I swear I must sound dumb."
"Maybe," Sakura said with a laugh.
"Not helping," he groaned.
"How did you meet her?"
"At Ichiraku's," he said with a grin. Sakura simply shook her head and laughed.
"Of all places." Naruto just laughed while having a goofy grin on his face. "So you like her huh?" Sakura further inquired the blonde. The question caught him off guard and a blush, once again, creeped its way up. Sakura simply smiled knowingly at him when he failed to give an answer. "Just be sure to treat her right."
"Of course I would treat her right! What kind of person do you think I am Sakura?! I would ne-"
"It's okay Naruto," Sakura interrupted him, "I was just making sure." Naruto glared at her while she laughed. "I just don't want to see her hurt," she said while sobering up.
"I know, I don't want to hurt her either," Naruto said with a level of seriousness that shocked Sakura. She knew him for years, she also knew how he was about keeping his word.
"Don't sweat it so much, and just be yourself. She really is a sweet girl, and if you have her interest now it's safe to assume that you did something right."
"Sakura?"
"Hm?"
"Does…does she drink a lot?" Naruto asked. A part of him wondered if the amount she drank was normal. This of course had him a bit worried for her health but he felt weird coming out and ask her.
"Sorry, I don't think that's my place to tell you. But I didn't think you were that much of an idiot," she said looking at him with a look he couldn't decipher. He knew that there was an underlying meaning but he couldn't quite out his finger on it.
In that moment Sakura's phone went off indicating she had a message. She glances down at it and sighs.
"Looks like I gotta go. Enjoy your date!" she says as she gets up and makes her way out of the building. Naruto tries to tell her that it wasn't a date but the words wouldn't come out straight. All that did come out were strings of incoherent noises that were excuses for words. Sakura laughed at him being flustered.
She was long gone by the time that he was able to collect himself. His mind still wondering over the same question, is this a date? He checked the time nervously, five thirty. He hadn't gotten a time for when she would be done with class, stupid me! What if she left? What if she changed her mind about going out with me? This was a mistake wasn't it? I mean she is a CEO daughter, I'm sure she ha-
"I'm sorry for keeping you. I had to finish up on my work before I left the studio," a soft voice said. Naruto's thoughts immediately stopped and a big grin was on his face the next minute. It faltered for a second upon seeing her. She had splotches of paint all over her jeans. She had charcoal on her finger tips. A pencil twisted up in her hair. A light chuckle escapes. This causes her cheeks to flush slightly and she began to fidget slightly.
"I'm sorry," he says, noticing her behavior as well as his own, "it just looks like you fought with your classes." She looks down at herself and looks like it is the first time she notices her appearance. Then a small giggle escapes.
"I suppose it does look like that. I'm - I'm gonna go wash up before we leave. If that's okay."
"Yeah it's fine," he said as he smiled.
"No peeking at my work," she said in a jokingly stern voice as she got up to go to the restroom. Naruto laughed at this, he had not expected her to joke like that. It brought a smile to him nonetheless.
"I promise I won't."
