Bath Time
I wanted to follow poor little Shikamaru and his morning visit to Naruto. Naruto and Co © Masashi Kishimoto.
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In was a delightful morning, delicious smells wafting through warm air, and outside the window of a small two room apartment people could be heard chatting and laughing as they went about their daily routines. A day like this was the hope and dream of many a person, if every day was like this then their lives would be perfect, it pissed Naruto off. He had ran home late last night after dropping Hinata, who he had knocked loopy, off at the hospital, and eventually fallen asleep, only to find his dreams haunted with visions of death, some his, most hers. Once he had woken up the morning was spent in a bathtub, trying to scrub away all the negativity that was left from the night before, before sitting down to his regular breakfast of instant ramen.
He was staring down at the contents of his meal, wondering how Hinata was doing, when he heard knocking on his front door; this wasn't the time for guest, and wasn't going to answer, but it was opened anyway. Coming in without saying anything or looking around, Shikamaru sat down across from him and lit up, sighing sympathetically for Naruto.
"Put some damn pants on!" he finally exclaimed after a few minutes of sitting with the blond boy in silence. He waited patiently while Naruto went and put something on before leaning back in the cheap wooden chair and groaning audibly, "Naruto, I don't care about what happened last night, I don't care who hit Hinata, but I do want you to know that you need to watch your back. I do care about people who were at the academy with me killing each other."
"So what do you think I should do?" Naruto muttered, looking down at his palm as he muttered something incoherent, finally speaking up, "I don't wanna leave, not to mention that I'll look guilty if running the same night I brought her to the hospital."
Your going to get a kunai in the back if you don't go... I hate giving a damn about my friends, what a bother. He sighed audibly again before offering the simple reply of "Okay," with groan and a wave Shikamaru left, taking the window instead of the door.
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"NEJI!!!!!" Hinata screamed, wrapping a curtain around her seemingly frail figure, accidentally knocking down Sakura, who was administering a sponge bath. Unfortunately Hinata had been a little too modest and, when Sakura had started the ordeal, a large amount of soapy water had been equally dispensed between the two, causing what Jiraiya would have labeled as the greatest wet t-shirt/ bare chest contest ever, Neji agreed.
"Let me help you up Sakura," Neji murmured, offering his hand and offering a sincere smile, not for her, but for the gratitude he had for not having to use his Byakugan to see their assets. Yes even he fell victim to his hormones every so often, and now was one of those occurrences.
"T-Thanks, I was just clumsy and I guess I slipped..." Sakura said, suddenly feeling very giddy, while brushing some pink strands from her face. She was smiling like a school girl that 'accidentally' walked into the boy's shower when it dawned on her that he wasn't even listening to what she was saying, "I'm just going to, uh, go get some stuff."
Neither of the Hyugas noticed when she left, or heard her muttering as she held back tears, suddenly feeling very alone; both Neji and Hinata were staring at each other, lost in their thoughts, but they didn't know who should start or what to say.
"I came by..."
"She should be right..."
"...was wondering if..."
"... haven't bathed since..."
"... need some help?"
"... I need a bath."
That was all the jumbled, confused, disjointed conversation that they shared; as soon as they had finished talking Neji started back were Sakura had left off, and continued to go where every perverts mind would take that event.
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She was crying, Hinata was crying alongside all his other friends while they stood over him. It was dark around him, and cold, Naruto couldn't move around; suddenly it dawned on him, he was dead and this was his funeral. He could hear them sobbing, and he could feel the damp fabric against his skin from the tears, but that was all. Nothing else made a sound or smell, except something that was faint, sweet shampoo; the smell caused him to notice other things, the walls kept tightening and loosening and he was starting to get warm. Suddenly everything started going fuzzy and gray, everything except for the crying and the smell; the world around him unraveled to show his room, darkened by the disappearance of the sun under the horizon, and Sakura, who was crying and clinging to him. Experience told him to give up on figuring out how she got in.
"Sakura-chan, what time is it?"
"I-It's 7:45 N-Naruto."
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Duh, duh! Anyone who has had a sponge bath can tell you it generally sucks as an ordeal, but I think it would be more fun with Sakura doing the scrubbing. I was writing this and thought, "Wow, I need some complications..."
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