A Woman's Heart and Mind
Chapter 4 - The Sleepover
Naruto sat at a circular table with Hinata on her right and Sakura on her left. Tenten and Ino were across the table on her right and left, respectively. They had all ordered and were currently enjoying their meals.
"So, we need to stop by the outfitter next, right?" Ino asked as she took a bite of her Caesar chicken salad.
"Yep, Naru-chan is going to need a new battle outfit." Sakura said, "After that we need to head to a market or pharmacy for some toiletries. Then when we're finally done with that…"
"We can do our own shopping." Ino finished enthusiastically, "And then you're all coming over to my house."
"I-I'm not sure that I can stay…" Hinata said, "My father…"
"You can call him when we get back to my place." Ino said, "It's just a sleepover with friends."
"Actually, I wasn't planning on doing anything like this tonight, so I'll need to run to the house to pick up some things." Tenten said, "I'm sure it's the same for the others."
"Y-yes, I'll need to go get a change of clothes and such." Hinata said, "I can ask father then."
"Me too." Sakura replied.
"Luckily for you, you got all your stuff right here." Ino smiled over at Naruto.
However, Naruto hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation. Her mind was still stuck on how different everything was when everyone thought she was a normal person.
"Hello… Earth to Naru-chan. Are you listening?" Ino said.
"Huh? What?" Naruto replied, still slightly in a daze.
"We were talking about the sleepover tonight." Ino said, "But you've been off in la-la land. You haven't even touched your food."
Naruto looked down at her chicken BLT, "Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts for a moment. Also, can I get you all to do me a favor?"
"W-what is it Naru-chan?" Hinata asked.
"Please don't call me by my name in public anymore." Naruto said, "Naru-chan is fine, but never Naruto. Also, I'd appreciate it if you could tell the others when you see them. Hopefully, no one talked too much about my situation."
"We can do that, Naru-chan." Tenten agreed, "But, why?"
"Because this is the first time I've ever been treated as a normal person by everyone." Naruto replied.
"We treat you normal all the time…" Ino protested.
Naruto decided to let that slide. Even though Ino and Sakura had said some mean things to him before, overall they did treat him better than some of the villagers, "No, no. I mean everyone everyone. All the villagers and stuff. I've never been able to just walk down the street and not have someone curse under their breath at me or something like that. Until now, anyway."
"We understand, Naru-chan." Sakura said, "We'll do it the way you want to. But, you know, eventually people are going to put two and two together and figure out who you are."
"I'm actually hoping to get Obaachan to help with that." Naruto said, "I hope she'll make me a new registration, so this new me will be separate from the old me. That's something else I need help with, I need a new name."
"Well, we're already calling you Naru-chan, so you should probably use that somehow." Tenten commented.
"How about as a family name." Ino suggested.
"Okay." Sakura agreed, "So Naru can be your family name, now you just need a given name."
"Hitomi." Hinata blurted out. Her face immediately turned scarlet.
"Hitomi?" Sakura asked.
Ino smiled as she looked at Naruto, "I think it fits, Sakura. Naru-chan does have very pretty eyes."
Naruto avoided looking any of the other girls in the eyes, a blush creeping over her face.
"So it's settled then, Hitomi Naru. Do you like it, Naru-chan?" Tenten asked.
"Ah, yes. Thanks for the help, everyone." Naruto said.
"We aren't done yet." Sakura said, "You'll need a background, and a place you came from. You're going to need more than a name if someone decides to really investigate you."
The five of them hammered out the beginnings of a history for Hitomi Naru while enjoying the rest of their meal. As soon as that was over, the shopping spree continued. They stopped at an outfitter and nearby pharmacy to finish picking up the goods that Naruto needed. When they were done with that, Ino had her wish and the group did some personal shopping.
The sun was beginning to set as the group made their way around for Tenten, Sakura, and Hinata to pick up what they needed. At first, they didn't think Hinata was going to come back out of the Hyuuga estate, but eventually she did.
"What took so long?" Ino asked.
"I couldn't find father." Hinata said, "He's apparently out on business of some sort, so I left him a note explaining where I would be. I hope it'll be okay."
Not too long after that, everyone found themselves at Ino's place. Ino opened the door to let everyone in.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home, I've got some friends who are spending the night!" Ino shouted.
"We've made dinner if you're hungry." Ino's mom called back out.
"No thanks, we ate already." Ino returned.
"Where have you been all day." Inoichi asked as he walked down the stairs in front of them. However, he took one look at all the bags that she was carrying and immediately knew his answer, "Nevermind, I hope you didn't blow all your money again."
"Nope." Ino replied, "So it's alright if everyone stays here?"
Inoichi looked at the group of girls, "Sure, just don't stay up all night, okay?"
"Sure, dad." Ino said quickly, leading everyone upstairs.
Soon everyone was piled up in Ino's room and all of the bags everyone had been carrying dropped to the floor as everyone was glad to be rid of their loads.
"Thanks for all the help today." Naruto said to everyone.
"No problem, Naru-chan." Ino said as she clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "Besides your going to be paying us back right now."
"Eh?" Naruto said with mild surprise.
"Time for us to get a good look at everything you bought today." Ino said, "It's time for a fashion show!"
"It's been a long day Ino, can I just rest?" Naruto pleaded.
"No, I've been waiting for this all day." Ino said as she handed Naruto a bag, "You can use my bathroom, now change."
"Ino, please… I…" Naruto was then practically shoved into the bathroom by the other blonde. Looking around the bathroom, she sighed, I just want to go to sleep… It's been a long day. She glanced up at a mirror, looking at her own reflection. She couldn't help but to admire her own beauty, she wondered if this was the same face she had when she used the Oiroke no Jutsu. "Hitomi Naru… This is the new me? Might as well play along with Ino. Faster I get this over with, faster I can get some sleep."
Meanwhile, the other girls were stretched out on Ino's bed, having changed into something more comfortable.
"I-Ino-chan. Naru-can looked awfully tired, maybe we should have just let her sleep." Hinata said.
"She's right." Sakura agreed, "It's been a long day for her."
"Come on, you guys are no fun." Ino replied, "We did all this shopping, we got to see the final results."
Naruto played a good sport through the rest of the night. She did as Ino wanted, and showed off every outfit that the girls had helped her pick that day. Now, finally, she was down to her last bag, which contained her new combat outfit. She actually found herself hoping this one looked really good, as she bought three of them and she would probably be wearing them the most.
She walked out of the bathroom to show off her new working dress. She was wearing a pair of ivory, elbow length, cloth gauntlets that had a ring that slipped on the middle finger of each hand. On the back of gauntlets were metal plates to protect the back of Naruto's hands and her arms. Also, she wore knee high boots, similar to what Sakura wore. Underneath a milk chocolate colored leather jerkin, she wore the lightweight metal mesh that many ninja wore for protection. Along with this, she wore a milk chocolate skirt that went town nearly to her knees.
"Looking good." Ino said as Naruto came out of the bathroom.
"Any man is going to have a hard time concentrating on fighting you." Tenten complimented.
"Thanks…" Naruto replied, "I'm glad it looks good."
"The best thing is that none of your outfits had orange in them." Sakura said.
"But I like orange…" Naruto pouted.
"Yes, but you want to distance yourself from your old self right?" Sakura stated, "Then you need to change how you act too. You don't have to absolutely give up your favorite things, you just can't do them as much anymore. You should only have one or two outfits at most with orange in them. You definitely can't eat ramen all the time either, maybe once a week, but no more."
"No way, come on, Sakura-chan." Naruto begged.
"This is what you wanted, right? You want to try and make this a fresh start? This is the kinda stuff you'll have to do."
"Sh-she's right, Naru-chan." Hinata said, "Otherwise, everyone will figure out who you really are."
Naruto sighed. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew that they were right, "I know, it's going to be so hard though. I really liked Ayame and old man Teuchi."
"You don't have to stop talking to them. If you really trust them, you should tell them what's really happened." Tenten said.
"Tenten's right." Ino said, "You should tell those you trust. They deserve to know so they're not worried."
"Yeah." Naruto agreed, then he changed topic, "Now that I'm done with your fasion show, can I change into some pajamas and go to sleep. It's been a long day, and I want to talk to Obaachan as early as possible tomorrow so I can get that new registration made."
"Okay, Naru-chan." Ino laughed, "We did really well though. All of your outfits are to die for. You'll be turning heads every time you step outside."
"Umm… thanks, I guess." Naruto replied as she stepped back into the bathroom. A few moments later she showed reemerged wearing an orange tank top with orange fleece pants.
"You know we haven't showed you how to apply make-up yet." Ino said, hoping to keep the night going.
"I'm really too tired, Ino." Naruto spoke exhaustedly, "Can we please do it tomorrow or another day?"
"Yeah, Ino, I think it's finally time for us to let the girl get some rest." Tenten said in Naruto's defense. "We can get together and do this again another night."
"You guys are no fun." Ino pouted.
"No, we're just tired." Sakura said, "But, we'll definitely have to do it again sometime."
Each of the girls found a place to bed down in Ino's room. Ino let sakura split the bed with her. Tenten ended up on the sofa. Hinata and Naruto ended up on a futon laid out on the floor.
Hinata could barely breathe. Her mind was racing from the concept of sharing a bed with Naruto. She kept looking over to the long locks of blonde hair beside her in the darkness. She moved her mouth, trying to say words that wouldn't come, Good night, Naru-chan, I love you…
A/N
Another chapter for you wonderful people.
Kyuubi definitely has a plan. If you've read the latest chapters of the manga, you might have a clue at what his game is.
Anyway, I'm glad that you all have enjoyed the story so far. I hope I can keep bringing you all a story that you enjoy.
I hope you have enjoyed Chapter 4. As always, please review, I really do like those.