Chapter 4: From Ramon, with Love
Naruto was not a happy man. What was it about human curiosity and the sheer need to know from a female's point of view? Doesn't anyone know about the word privacy any more? He sighed briskly, he was probably the worse person to think he deserved some privacy after all he was the one of the best pranksters around. It entitled to be nosy, to find out the best way for a prank…even if it bit him in the ass in the end.
His stomach grumbled at that moment.
"Sheesh I just fed you" Naruto muttered.
Grunting, he took a quick sniff in the air and followed the scent of his favourite food: ramen. He smiled at the old memory of eating the stuff with his parents. His mom adored it and even though he was her pup she would try to steal it when he wasn't looking but his faster reflexes would stop her. His father would laugh at the smug face he'd pull while his mother would pull a 'resolve' face. He remembered whenever it was bath time she's had to use a titanium net to catch him whenever his father was off hunting with the rest of the pack otherwise she'd simply get his dad to. His dad was fastest of the pack and cleverest too and so Naruto would always be caught.
~Flashback~
"Naruto get back here!" a red headed woman, Kushina, shouted.
A wet naked five year old Naruto, without his whisker marks, skidded across the smooth surface of the polished floor before running down another hallway. He hated bath time. Water and soap upon him never mixed well but his mother always insisted to wash him before they'd go to bed. Another reason why he hated bath time, it meant bed time too and bed time was SO boring.
At an early age he knew if he would shout out, taunting his mother, he'd give away his position in mansion. But it was too tempting to ignore as he was far away from her and he could very well dodge her and other pack members easily. And, well, he was never good keeping his trap shut anyway.
"Can't catch me mummy!" Naruto shouted in glee.
Pack members watched in fascination as the naked five year old pup dodge his mother and other pack members trying to help her. Naruto jumped, dived, faked, twirled and even leaped frog over anyone that made the effort to catch him. He saw his mother up ahead as she smirked, thinking she got him finally. Naruto simply leaned backwards and skid underneath the red head, saluting her along his way and pushed himself up after making quite a distance away from her.
"GET BACK HERE!" his mother hollered.
Naruto laughed and laughed. This was a lot more fun than bath time but it was a real work out for those who were helping his mum. The faster they tried to catch him the faster he was in dodging them. Even when some of them wolfed out they couldn't catch him, he'd just pat them on the head like they were cute doggies just as he evades them and hides. Of course the fun stopped the when the hunting group came back. At the head of the group a blonde male looked in puzzlement. He looked at his wife/mate who was sitting against the wall, panting like the rest of pack who helped that was all over the place.
"Hey, what's going on? I thought you'd all be relaxing" Minato said.
"You're son refuses to bathe." Kushina growled.
The hunting party snickered at the infamous antics of their second in command's son.
"Again?" Minato said.
"No, we're actually just worn out from doing nothing OF COURSE AGAIN YOU BAKA!" She looks up at the ceiling "Sheesh what the heck was I thinking? My mother was right, I was going to end up with an idiot" Kushina said. "Why won't my pup, ever do as I say?"
Minato narrowed his eyes and walked up to his mate with a sexy smile that Naruto would soon adopt. He crouches down in front of her as she pouts.
"Naruto is lucky to have a mother like you and he will come to love bathing like I did, I mean I never like it when I was little now I stay in as long as possible" Minato said.
"That's because you always hop in with me" Kushina mumbled.
Minato shrugged. "Can't help it, I have a beautiful mate."
Kushina looks coyly at him before giving him a small smile.
"If you like, I'll give him his baths while you relax. I've got too much energy anyway" Minato said
"I hope you'd still have energy left over" Kushina said, wiggling her eyebrows.
Minato grinned at her.
"But for your sake, I hope you know where he is. It was like catching Road Runner and Houdini in one" Kushina sighed.
Minato grin deepened as he cocked his head and listened. He smirked and kissed her on the head before standing and winked.
"Naruto, why are you behind the couch?" Minato said.
Naruto immediately stood in disbelief including everyone in the pack. No one heard the little blonde behind there. He was good at hiding as it was required when pranking. Yes even at an early age Naruto was a prankster.
"How did you know?" Naruto shouted.
Minato turned to his son and gives him a foxy grin. One nana second he was beside to his wife, the next he was behind the couch with Naruto securely in his arms. Causing even more disbelief amongst the pack, they knew that father and son were fast but not that fast.
"Cause nobody can ever sneak up on your daddy" Minato said.
"No fair!" Naruto cried.
"That's what they all say" Minato smirked, before ruffling Naruto hair.
"Show off!" Kushina said playfully.
Minato winked at her before strolling to the bathroom with a pouting Naruto in his arms.
~End of Flashback~
Naruto smirked, no one could ever sneak up on his father. He remembered at the stuff he tried to do to sneak up on the man but he always knew he was there. Even when he was his quietest, covered up his scent and even at his most careful his father still knew where he was. When he did this to other pack members he'd always catch them, even the pack leader, but never his father. Never EVER his father would be caught by him or anyone. That was until that fateful day when everything changed for him.
It wasn't fair how the pack viewed him that day then finally throwing him out when he turned eighteen. If hadn't been for human law he would have been thrown out earlier than that. He wanted to growl at the injustice of it but remained quiet, remembering that at least he found Sasuke, even if he had reluctant. Even he had to laugh at craziness of it.
Werewolves and Vampires were a no no! But since his pack no longer viewed him being one of them he couldn't care less at what they thought. Even if it was still painful. Sighing he looked up to see the one building he didn't fancy being in but his nose did point out it was where the best ramen seemed to be cooking. A guy's worst nightmare.
"It had to be a shopping centre" Naruto grumped.
Grumbling, Naruto walked into the busy shopping centre. He winced at the shrieks of people to do with either about a sale, at a clerk or someone hot walking by, which happen to be him at the moment. Naruto loved being sociable, he craved it at times. However, he hated having to be sociable in noisy districts like the mall, especially when all he wanted to do was eat. It sometimes gave him headaches from his hearing. He can put up for at least three hours but then he'd have to find a quiet place for his ears to repair. Something he had inherited from his father. In fact he had inherited a lot of his father's physique and prowess, the only thing he had from his mother was her personality traits. It was pretty ironic that the pack considered that this was only thing that was good about him after the incident.
Shaking his head of the thoughts, he shoved his hands into his pockets in an antisocial fashion and followed his nose to the awaiting ramen. He stomach rumbled in excitement as his mouth watered at the thought of Ramen. Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, egg, turkey, vegetables…just thinking about him made his pace quicken.
He stopped.
Sniff
Sniff
A new scent.
Forrest
Lavender
Home
That scent. That unforgettable scent. That unforgettable lovely scent.
He smirked. The pretty girl from the club was at the shopping centre, but where? He looked around in anticipation. He remembered how the light of the club seem to illuminate her angelic shy features. She must be prettier in the sunlight to even look angelic at club, heck he wasn't stupid when he saw her choice in clothing and she smelled so good, he licked his dry lips in antiscipation.
He sharp hearing picked up the soft donk against something above but further away to the front of him. Curious at the noise, he looked up and narrowed his eyes before they comically widened.
"Oh shit!"
The first thing that greeted Hinata that afternoon were two pairs of grabbing hands and a couple of smiling faces before she could say 'Hello'. The next thing she knew she was at the shopping centre being dragged from shop to shop. She was even hauling a load of stuff for her self, most of which she hadn't picked either.
"R-really girls it's not a p-problem" Hinata said, peering over the mound of clothes to her friends.
"Hey Hinata I found great underwear to match your shoes" Ino said then grabbed her arm.
Hinata looked bewildered as Ino dragged her over to it. Hinata stared at the purple frilly underwear and looked at Ino with wide eyes.
"W-why w-w-w-would I n-need t-t-to wear u-und-underwear that matches m-m-m-my shoes?" Hinata stuttered in shock. "No o-one would see t-that combination"
"You're boyfriend would" Ino grinned "And a girl must always look her best around her man!"
Hinata mouth dropped as Ino simply grabbed the lingerie and stuffed it amongst the pile before dragging her to another section.
"INO! THIS COW WON'T LET GO OF THE BLOUSE I FOUND!!" Sakura shouted.
"SCREW YOU! I NEED IT!" a voice shouted.
"I'M COMING!" Ino shouted in Sakura's direction.
Ino spots another good looking item for Hinata and placed it on top of the pile. The blonde then shot off after the pinkette. Poor Hinata was left with a huge pile of clothing in her arms and the weight wasn't something she was used to. Even her medic training on how to hold an unconscious patient didn't help.
"I…In…Ino!" Hinata cried out pathetically.
Ino didn't hear, she was busy putting a woman in a headlock while Sakura was trying to get the garment out of the woman's hands. The weight made Hinata bend her knees, she tried to straighten only to manage to make herself teeter totter and tried to balance out. This however was proven difficult as she was starting to sway, then move about with clothes.
"Uh oh" Hinata panicked.
The more she moved the more unbalance the pile and the more unbalance the pile became the more she moved about to balance it out. It came to point where she moved out of the shop, dropping the clothes as a few flew up into air, hit the back of a railing and…flipped over it. Plummeting to the bottom of the three storeys high mall and found nothing to stop her.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Hinata shouted as she fell.
Now, when falling to your death you were supposed to see your whole life flash before your very eyes. In Hinata's case she felt pressure in her those very eyes and saw a flash of concerned but confidant foxy blue. The next thing she knew was a thump against her side, a pair of warm arms wrapping around her securely and a thud of boots hitting floor. Hinata clutched the orange shirt in her hands, eyes widen in fright and she was oddly hungry now. What made it funny was that she was in a Ramen cafe.
"Ahem"
Hinata slowly looked up and saw a blonde man with his face covered over by the frilly underwear Ino had selected for her. She blushed and carefully lifted a hand up before grabbing the garment and pulling it off him. The blonde shook his head like dog, messing up his spiky hair even more. He blinked then looked at her with concern.
"Quite a fall you had there beautiful" the blonde said. "Do you feel dizzy? Or hurt yourself?"
"N-n-n-no, j-j-just s-s-s-shocked" Hinata said.
He smiled caringly, rubbing her arm with the hand that was there soothingly.
"It's okay, I got you. But the next time you want to get down here, take the elevator" he said.
Hinata giggled at the strangeness of this. He was a silly, gentle charming guy and he save her life.
"You sure you're okay?" he asked, still very much concern and a little awkward.
"Yes, I'm fine now" Hinata smiled.
He was handsome. Very handsome. A striking contrast of his sharp and soft features blending nicely into one another, barely visible whisker marks on either cheek, a straight nose that seem to be animated the whole time, smooth full lips that started smile but his blue sparkling oval eyes was what got her. They were blue as a mischievous adolescent fox (1). He was that blonde man from the club, she was remembering him now after the initial shock wore off.
"Hey, you're that girl from the elevator from Samurai's Dance" the Blonde said.
Apparently he didn't forget her too.
"Er…yeah, you remembered me?" Hinata said, stunned.
"Cause I did! I never forget a beautiful face. Believe it!" He grinned.
Hinata blushed.
"Err, can I take your order?"
They both looked at the girl at the counter; curious to why he was holding Hinata that way.
"Yeah, can I have three bowls of beef ramen, seafood ramen and chicken with crispy vegetables, easy on soy sauce please" the man said casually.
The girl looked at him for a moment and
"And you?" the man asked Hinata.
The girl head shot up and looked at the man who was waiting patiently for woman to answer. He didn't just order nine bowls of ramen for himself, did he?
"Uh…chicken ramen p-please" Hinata said.
Apparently he did.
"Make it light; she had a bit of a rush down here." He said, covering from happened earlier on. "Practically flew in with her in my arms. We love ramen."
"Uh…yeah" Hinata said.
The girl stared at them for a moment then shrugged while placing the order down for them. Hinata found the whole thing insane. First she was carrying a load of clothes, then fell from the top floor to be caught by a handsome guy and now she was having ramen with him. The girl at the counter wondered why the heck he was carrying her bridal style. Noticing this, the man shrugged with a grin.
"She fell for me big time" he said.
The girl at the counter blushed from his amazing smile as Hinata did but harder with a little chuckle.
"Okay, please take a seat and I'll be back with your order sir" the girl said quickly.
The guy looked down at her again, still looking a bit concern.
"You sure you can handle food right now?" He asked.
"When something dramatic happens I get hungry" Hinata confessed.
"Huh, same thing happens with a friend of mine except he meditates afterwards" he said. "I'm Naruto"
"H-Hinata" Hinata said.
"Pretty name for a pretty face" Naruto said.
"T-thank you" Hinata said.
He grinned infectiously.
"Uh"
"What?"
"Can you put me down now?"
"Oh. Okay" Naruto said, placing her on her feet.
Ino cheered with Sakura as they managed to take the blouse off the now unconscious woman. They high fived each other before turning to where Hinata was or rather where Hinata had been was a pile of clothes.
"Oh crap! Hinata escaped again!" Ino said.
"Gah! Okay, let's pay for this and the stuff she's dropped to make a runner. THEN we find her!" Sakura said.
"Good idea. I think we should make her wear every item of clothing as punishment!" Ino said.
"Agreed" Sakura said.
Hinata shivered in her seat after she and Naruto had been served with their ramen.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"I just had this chilling feeling to my soul" Hinata said
"Ah it's probably nothing. I had plenty of those while I've been here and nothing has happen to me" Naruto said.
He finished off his beef ramen before diving into his seafood one.
"How c-can you be eating all of that?" Hinata asked in wonderment.
"I don't know" Naruto said, shrugging "My dad never had a problem with eating twice the amount".
"Twice?!?!" Hinata blurted.
"Inherited" Naruto shrugged then grinned. "But I guess it's my mum's fault for introducing it to me. She loved it just as much as I do."
Hinata smiled.
"The only thing I inherited from my parents was a knack of cooking. I've been told I'm quite good at it but I don't think so" Hinata said shyly.
"Why doubt yourself Hinata? If you've been told your good then why not believe it? I would" Naruto said.
"I don't know; I'm not exactly the most confident of all people Naruto" Hinata admitted.
Naruto looked at her in disbelief but smiled.
"Tell you what, why don't we meet up at the nearby park here tomorrow say 2pm. Cook whatever comes to mind and I'll be the judge of it." Naruto grinned "Coughramencough" he oh so subtly hinted.
Hinata eyes widened as she blushed. Naruto looked at her in puzzlement.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"I-I-I-I-I j-just m-m-met y-you" Hinata managed to say.
He blinked then slowly realised what she was implying. As in 'Even though you saved me you still could be a psycho killer' sense the way her eyes looked at him. He grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh. Okay, uh, why don't you bring some friends then, would if you feel more comfortable if we did that instead?" Naruto asked tentatively.
"L-like a double d-date?" Hinata asked.
"SURE!" Naruto grinned. "I think a friend of mine is in need of date. Not much of party animal more quiet and calm guy but if you can think of someone to match up with him that'll be our double date set up"
"Okay, let me just write down my number." Hinata said smiling, she pulls out a pen from her pocket.
She looks around for something to write on but Naruto pulled up his selves and gave her his arm. Hinata blushed intensively; his baggy clothes had covered up his well developed muscles in arms and no doubt over his body too. Hand slightly shaking she wrote down her number on his arm as best she could; fixing her eyes on the arm and NOT the bicep.
She breathed out happily once she accomplish the job but then gasped as he held her arm and taken the pen from her. She felt herself flush all over feeling tingles running up down her spine as he wrote his number down. His hands were so warm that everything seemed to prickle in heat at the sensation where they made contact. He looked up and gave her a grin once finished. She blushed harder when she realised at how close they where.
"Meep" Hinata squeaked.
Oh goodness, he's so close. What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?
"You alright? You seem a little…red and flushed" Naruto said.
Stay calm. Just don't do anything stupid.
"I wear purple underwear!" Hinata blurted out then her eyes widened.
Oh no! I just had to ruin it! I was so close! I was so close in having a guy liking me now he'll think I'm some kind of freak!
Naruto stared at her a moment. A moment that Hinata felt the most tortures of all moments before he started cracking up in laughter.
"I wear orange" Naruto laughed.
Hinata smiled in relief before giggling out loud at the silliness. Naruto just took in his stride; he was one very free spirited guy that didn't let anything bother him that much.
"Thank you Naruto-kun" Hinata said.
"For what?" Naruto smiled.
"For saving my life earlier" Hinata said.
"It's not a problem Hinata. If I hadn't I wouldn't be talking to someone who so nice" Naruto chirped.
"Thank you" Hinata said. "But, I'm curious, how did…you save me? I remember the falling and you catching me. Aren't you hurt from the force of it?"
"I'm just lucky I guess; I've had far worse injuries compared to simply catching you." Naruto said.
"Oh but still, are you okay?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry Hinata, it should be you that you should worried about" Naruto said.
"I'm okay, I was just wasn't looking were I was going" Hinata sighed before finishing off her ramen.
"HINATA? HINATA! WHERE ARE YOU?" Ino's voice rang around the shopping centre.
"Huh, I guess someone is calling you." Naruto said, looking towards where a blonde and pinkette was looking around.
Darn it! And I was having such a nice time with him!
"Thank you for meal Naruto-kun. It was so kind of you. I'll pay you back tomorrow." Hinata said.
"No, you don't have to Hinata. It's on me, after all I got to spend time with a pretty girl" Naruto said.
Hinata looked away shyly then back at him beneath her eyelashes bashfully. He smirked then winked at her; she giggled and stood with him.
"I had a nice time. Thank you" Hinata said.
"No prob. Just remember the elevator next time" he said.
"I will" Hinata said.
She waved him goodbye and trotted after her friends. She was so happy that she had found such a nice guy and all she had to do was to fall into him. It was only until she looked up did she pale. If Naruto hadn't saved her she would have been dead but for some odd reason she was calm. She felt safe when she saw that flash of blue. Maybe Naruto was someone she should stay close to.
He was like a safety net, her safety net.
"Hina! There you are; we've been looking all over for you!" Sakura said.
"Sorry, I just had to drop out of there" Hinata said.
"Well, when we get home you going to have do something for us" Ino said.
"Like?" Hinata asked, a little suspicious.
"Wear everything in these bags like those catwalk models" Ino said as she and Sakura lifted said bags up in front of her.
Now Hinata knew where the shiver to soul came from.
Naruto had a spring to his step as he walked home, he was going to have a date with a pretty girl soon and all he had to do was make her feel good about herself. AND there was no sex involved! He grinned at the thoughts of Hinata. She was definitely a rare breed, chaste girls inside and out and very pretty too and he liked her personality more. She was modest and kind. He wished she could stay a little longer, but he understood that she originally gone with her friends to the shopping and they had been looking for her. As he neared the street his home was situated at he stopped at a certain scent and looked up to see Sasuke in a tree watching him.
"Teme, why are you brooding up in that tree for?" Naruto said.
"I'm not brooding" Sasuke said.
Sasuke pushed himself off the branch and falls to his feet gracefully like a cat. He looks bored at Naruto but at the same time curious as to why his friend was in such an upbeat mood.
"You're cheerful, why? Tenten pissed you off earlier on" Sasuke said.
"I got myself a date with a bea-U-tiful lady" Naruto said.
"You have a date with a human?" Sasuke said, guessing from scent on Naruto clothes.
"Yup! She's real pretty! And guess what?" Naruto said.
They begin to walk down the street to their home. Naruto relaxed, placing his arms at the back of his head while Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets. It was a lovely sunny day to as the wind picked up a few blossom petals in there pathway from what spring left over. Something that Sasuke had been taken more notice of lately.
"Not that I care but what?" Sasuke said, looking up at the heavens.
"She's the elevator girl from the club" Naruto said.
Sasuke smirked.
"So, you've resulted to stalking them instead" Sasuke said.
"TEME! I DID NOT STALK HER!" Naruto shouted, frowning at the vampire next to him.
"Hn." Sasuke said.
"She fell into my arms! Literally! She was falling, so I jumped midway and I saved her life!" Naruto said.
Naruto waved his arms about comically as Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him.
"Did anyone see it happen?" Sasuke asked.
"No, I was pretty lucky, we landed into a ramen shop and had some ramen together" Naruto grinned, placing his arms back to there original position.
"How…romantic" Sasuke sarcastically said.
"Isn't it?" Naruto grinned, he didn't catch the irony in Sasuke's voice.
As they neared the house they saw Tenten with Neji, they were talking or more like flirting with one another as hands seemed to be drifting in places both vamp and wolf did not want to see. Grinning at the sudden idea Naruto pulled out the lady underwear (a purple thong) that Hinata left behind and condom packet.
"Dobe, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked
"Ladies underwear: 12 coins." Naruto said placing the straps on forefinger and thumb "Individual condom packet: 2 coins" he places the condom packet against the thong and pulls back the thong till the elastic is straining "The face Neji pulls?" he lets go and condom packet flies true, right into Neji head.
Neji immediately reacts in shock looking around, scared shitless trying, to see what had hit him till he sees the condom packet and Naruto grinning.
"Priceless" Naruto smirked.
Neji and Tenten both growled at him, before started after the werewolf. Naruto looked at Sasuke with a confidant smile.
"By the way it's a double date, so you're coming with me" Naruto said before speeding off.
"WHAT!!!??????" Sasuke shouted, scaring the birds out of the trees around them.
A claw hand brushed down an intricately decorated wooden chair to the red leather. From the shadow the owner of the hand walked around the chair. His scarlet eyes glowed in the dark, flicking over to a quivering minion in robes. Cowering before him. He sits, the fire in the fire place made the room glow eerily, making the endless shadows appear to dance. His dark ginger hair appeared blood red and his eyes look like death was a better option than to peer into them.
"So, you found him. How is he?" The master asked.
"He's grown more powerful than your son, my lord" The minion said.
"As expected. My son had grown lazy un-like him. He had to work three times harder to earn his place" The master chuckled "Poor brat."
"Um"
"What?" the master barked.
"There maybe a slight problem" the minion said.
"How 'slight' is it?" the master growled.
"He has a friend. He's…different. He can run just as fast as he could, maybe even faster" the minion said.
"Hmm, would be expected when you've lost the home you've always known that you'd attach yourself to another" the master sighed. "But his friend, no living creature would keep up with him unless…no they were wiped out. I watched it happen myself and they are 'enemies'."
"But his friend my Lord, what do you wish we should do with him?" the minion asked.
"Hmm…observe him, if he is useful leave him but if a threat kill him"
(1) Yes, young and below foxes have BLUE eyes. It's only when they become adults they change to that yellowish/orange/brown colour.
Sorry for not updating promptly like I wanted to, been trying to balance UNI work, DA, social events, and now a job. Yes, I'm a lifeguard now. Dear lord, I'm so tired from all of this but it's better to be occupied than to do nothing.
Thank you for your kind suggestions. They've also inspired other events for the story so thank you! Remember if you want to leave a suggestion please DON'T place it in the review box, you'd it give away. Yes as hard it is to believe there are people other than the author who read the review box. I happen to be one of those people. Hey, if you've been writing as long as I have you'd be curious to what other people say about a particular story and see if you're the only one thinking it.
Anyway please leave a review on what you thought of the chapter. Remember 5plus, no shorties please. I like to know what you thought, that way I can improve. ;)
