Disclaimer: I own nothing
also please review! I really want to know what you all think!
The sun was setting on the day, and Naruto was starting to wonder if the Hyuuga girl he was searching for was not in the village. He had literally looked everywhere he could think of for the shy, pale eyed girl with no results. He didn't think she could be on a mission; she had just gotten back from one recently.
That was when it occurred to him that he hadn't checked the bathhouse. He knew she liked to soak after a mission. He made his way toward their bathhouse in the village, with absolutely no intention of peeking for once, to see if the girl was there.
When he arrived at the bathhouse, he walked around toward the fences, to see if he could shout loud enough for someone to answer him if Hinata was there. He didn't really want to get accused of peeping, but he needed to know if she was there so that he could know if he should look somewhere else, or wait.
He was about to the girls' side when a movement caught his eye. A slight squint of the eye told him the movement that had caught his attention had been a person. Someone was leaning casually against the fence of the bathhouse. His arms were crossed, black hair spiky as usual, and obsidian eyes focused intently on Naruto.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked. His confusion bled into the question as he approached his longtime friend.
Sasuke didn't answer right away. He hadn't gotten this far with his plan to distract the blonde. He just knew he didn't want him to ask the Hyuuga girl to be his girlfriend. He shrugged after his few moments of thoughtful silence and kicked at the dirt.
"I like to find quiet places to think," he said lamely. He mentally kicked himself, not liking the answer that came out. Though the blonde was such an idiot sometimes, it wouldn't surprise him at all if he bought it.
"Oh, that's pretty cool. I guess the bathhouse would be a pretty quiet place," he said with an understanding shrug.
"Hn," Sasuke made the sound he always made when he wanted to keep himself from having to talk too much. Sasuke was prone to blurting something he shouldn't say out if he didn't remain stoic and quiet.
Naruto rolled his eyes and walked by his friend. "Well, I won't bother you too much. I am just looking for Hinata," Naruto said with a smile.
Sasuke watched Naruto pass by him, and still hadn't thought of anything to distract him from his task. Without thinking, Sasuke did the only thing that came to his mind that he figured would be sure to pull the blonde's thoughts away from his task.
Sasuke gripped Naruto's wrist and yanked him back toward him. The second he got within range, the raven pushed Naruto's shoulders back against the same wall he'd just been leaning against. He placed his hands on either side of the blonde's head, trapping him there against the wall. His breathing was coming in heavy gasps from the close proximity, and he wondered why he had thought this of all things was a good idea. His onyx eyes stared intently into the beautiful blue eyes of his blonde teammate as they stood there in stunned silence.
Neither of them moved for a few minutes. They just stood there staring into each other's eyes. Finally, Sasuke backed away from Naruto. Without a word he turned on his heel and walked swiftly away from him.
Naruto's mind was spinning. What the hell just happened? He thought as he stepped away from the wall. He looked in the direction the Uchiha had disappeared in with a slight frown across his lips. With a heavy sigh, the blonde turned away from the direction the raven had gone, heading toward his apartment; the task of asking Hinata to be his girlfriend completely forgotten.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Good to be back," Avery said as she stretched her sore limbs. She and Naruto were just returning from their mission after four long days. Naruto hadn't originally been assigned to the mission, but one of the guys that had been assigned ended up getting a stomach flu and Naruto had been called last minute to go with.
"Seriously, but I'm totally starving," he complained as he held his stomach. "We should get some ramen."
"Yeah I could go for some ramen," Avery said smiling.
"Yes! You're always up for ramen! You're like my ramen buddy," Naruto said with a huge cheesy grin on his face. It was the kind of look the blonde got on his face that made Avery roll her eyes and cuff him on the side of the head affectionately.
"Come on you dork," she said with a laugh.
Once they had gotten to Ichiraku and placed their orders, Avery had laid her head down on the counter. She was exhausted from the mission, even though it hadn't been particularly difficult or anything. It was just one of those kinds of missions that was physically exerting and she was feeling it.
"You know Avery, it kind of defeats the purpose of ordering food if you fall asleep before it gets here," Naruto teased as he watched Avery's eyes flutter closed. She reached over and punched him in the side without opening her eyes, earning a loud squawk of surprise from her blonde friend.
"Hush, let me nap," she mumbled at the loud volume. She kept her head down and eyes closed until she heard two bowls get set down in front of them. She picked her head up to see that Naruto was already scarfing down the steaming noodles. She just rolled her eyes at him and picked up her own chopsticks and beginning to eat.
They were just about finished eating when they saw Hinata pass by, talking with Neji. The two Hyuuga were chatting happily about something that seemed to please the both of them, and seeing Hinata made Naruto remember that he had wanted to ask her to be his official girlfriend.
And what had happened the last time he tried.
"What's wrong?" Avery asked, feeling the emotional shift in her friend. She tried not to pry in her friends' emotional lives too much, but it proved to be hard when she just wanted to help them. "Is it Hinata? Didn't you go to ask her to be your girlfriend before we left?" Avery asked.
"I did, but I never got to the part of asking," he said looking down at his bowl.
Avery looked at him in shock, "What do you mean you didn't get to the part of asking?"
"I got a little distracted," he admitted.
"By what?" she asked curiously.
"I'd rather not say," he said.
"Well she's right there, why not ask her now?" Avery said gesturing toward where Neji and Hinata were standing. She figured they must have been waiting for someone to join them like Tenten.
Naruto looked over his shoulder at the two Hyuuga standing just outside the shop across the road from Ichiraku. "I guess you're right, I could go ask now."
"Go on, there's nothing stopping you," Avery said encouragingly.
Naruto nodded a little and stood from his seat at the counter. He began walking toward the Hyuuga cousins, thinking about what he could say to interrupt as politely as possible. He was thinking so hard about the task at hand that he didn't realize he had run head first into Sai.
"Woah, careful! You have to watch where you're going," Sai said teasingly as he caught Naruto's shoulders.
"Oh, Sai hey! How are you?" Naruto asked. He hadn't seen his teammate in a few weeks.
"I'm glad I'm done with the particular string of missions I've been on," Sai said truthfully. Sai had been instructed to go back down into the foundation to see what was happening down there without the war. They still hadn't totally recovered from losing Danzo, but it seemed that a few of the senior members of the operation had created a small leadership team. They were trying to keep up with what kind of missions they needed to be sending people on and trying to interpret Danzo's strange notes and files.
"Yeah, Sakura said you were on a rough set of missions," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm glad you're done though," he said.
"Thank you. You just came back from a mission too right? How was that?" Sai asked.
"It was fine. I'd love to tell you more about it but I have something I was going to go do, so if you'll excuse me," Naruto said.
"Well we should get lunch tomorrow or something then," Sai said. He hooked an arm around Naruto's shoulders.
Sai had never really been much for touch or trying to be buddy-buddy like this and it was confusing Naruto. He smiled and nodded in agreement, but he ducked out from under Sai's arm. They ended up sending a couple of playful punches at each other, and Sai eventually smiled and said goodbye.
However, when Naruto turned back around, Hinata and Neji were gone.
Naruto sighed in slight frustration. He shrugged it off, and turned away from where he had been heading. As he turned, his eyes caught a glimpse of pitch black hair with matching eyes. He noticed Sasuke standing a ways down the road with Sakura. After a moment, they were joined by Sai.
Suddenly Naruto wasn't sure Sai wasn't trying to stall him.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"It's been a long time since we've been in this village," the redhead cloud ninja sighed as she and her mission partner approached the gates of Konoha. The last time she had been in the Leaf had been when Master Bee had been captured by Sasuke. At least that was what they had thought at the time.
The redhead turned to look for her traveling buddy. He had stopped a few paces behind her, his usual lollipop stick between his lips as he looked lost in thought. She sighed and crossed her arms; she knew what that look meant.
"Omoi, come on, we have a message to deliver you know?" Karui snapped at her teammate.
"I know, I know," the white haired man said absently. His eyebrows furrowed together as he walked forward until he was standing with Karui. "Karui, aren't you the least bit nervous about being back here? I mean… what if when we get in there, they remember how tense it was last time. Then what if they say that the war meant nothing! Then they might throw us in jail! We'd be trapped there with no way back to our home! No one would even know where we were!"
"Shut up," she said as she smacked her teammate in the head. "You and your worrying are getting on my last nerve! Besides, we weren't really here with bad intentions last time, just relax." She walked forward toward the gate and met with the two ninja standing guard.
As soon as she explained who they were and why they were there, they let them through. She bowed gratefully to the helpful leaf ninja and led the way toward the Hokage's office. They would be staying overnight in the village before they made their trip back home.
After the meeting with Lady Tsunade, they went in search of something to eat. Karui had begun to ask Omoi what he might want to eat, but she changed her mind, knowing it would end up with him making a big deal out of everything. It was the norm with the strange cloud ninja and she never really understood it.
They ended up at the dumpling shop. Each of them had ordered a cup of tea and a few orders of sweet dumplings to fill their bellies until dinner time. As Karui sat at the table, sipping her tea, she noticed a couple walking into the dumpling place. A woman with her long blonde hair tied in a ponytail wearing purple, and a tall thin man with light brown hair. She recognized the blonde, but she wasn't sure she could place the man.
"Wow, he lost weight," Omoi commented from his seat across from where Karui was sitting.
Karui's attention snapped back to her travel partner at those words. "Lost weight? Do you know who he is?"
"You know him too, Karui…" Omoi said with slight confusion. "Isn't that Choji?"
She looked back to the man in question with a look of extreme confusion and a nastier expression that bordered on mistrust. It wasn't until he turned away from the counter and was facing toward her that she knew it was him. The red swirls on his shallow cheeks gave it away that Omoi was indeed correct about the identity of the thin man with the pretty blonde woman. Karui knew the blonde's name was Ino, and she had never cared much for her.
Choji on the other hand…
"Wonder if they're dating," Omoi said absentmindedly and then balked at the look of death he received from Karui. "What the hell!?"
"Omoi, how could you even suggest such a thing?" Karui hissed in disgust. Him? Date her? She is far too shallow for how caring Choji is.
"Well they walked in here together and sat down… it looks like it to me?" He said in a question. He wasn't sure what had gotten into his teammate, but he knew she was mad.
Karui didn't answer him. She sat there, trying not to stare at the infuriating couple, and thought about the time just before the war she had met Choji. The two had spent a fair amount of time talking and laughing together before they had to go line up in their separate divisions.
After the war had ended, the large boy had sought her out before they had to leave for their villages. He had managed to scrounge up two bags of potato chips and when he found her, he gave her one of them; saying something about how calories were important in chakra regeneration. She had found him so adorable and charming though, and she had only eaten a little less than half the bag before he gave the rest to him. She smiled remembering the smile he had on his face as he munched happily.
This was not the same pleasant man she had met then.
She tried to ignore the pangs of anger she felt seeing the two of them sitting together. She half listened to Omoi's mindless babbling, but didn't really take any of it in because she just didn't care. He was always prattled on about nothing important and she didn't have the patience for it.
Karui's head snapped up again when she heard yelling coming from one of the other tables. She looked over toward the sound and saw that Ino was standing from her seat, shouting at an unimpressed looking Choji. He rolled his eyes and looked away as she let out a frustrated sigh and stormed away toward the bathrooms just outside the back of the small building.
The redhead watched as Ino disappeared. Her gaze wandered back to Choji as he sat back in frustration. Karui ignored Omoi's questioning tone as she stood up and walked over to the table the man was sitting at. She marched right over and sat down in the place Ino had been sitting it, facing the man across from her with a hard expression on her face.
"Karui!" Choji said with an excited smile. "What are you doing here?"
"I was sent to bring a message to the Lady Hokage," she said with a slight smile. He was still so excitable and she could see the happiness in his eyes when he saw her. His small, pretty brown eyes were shining with the same brightness she had seen in his eyes the day he had brought her chips.
He continued to smile at her and he reached across the table to hold her dainty hand in his large one, "It's really good to see you." His words were as genuine as his smile, and it made Karui's heart skip a beat.
"I'm sure your blonde girlfriend will be back any moment," Karui said. Even she could hear the poison in her voice when she said the words. "I'm staying in the village overnight though, if you think you might like to talk."
"I'd like that, actually… how about dinner?" When Karui nodded, he practically clapped with glee. "I'll meet you at the barbecue restaurant at eight then."
She grinned at him and thought for a moment about how to proceed before she acted. She stood up and placed her hands on the table in front of her before leaning forward toward him. "When you show up… don't look like this," she said. As she had been sitting there in the close proximity, she could tell the thin appearance was a jutsu he was holding.
Choji watched as the gorgeous cloud woman walked away from him back toward her teammate. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched her. He could hear her last words echoing in his head and he shook his head. He felt like he couldn't have possibly heard her. Didn't all women like tall, thin, handsome men?
His confusion didn't leave him when Ino returned, still in a wicked mood. He only pretended to listen as his thoughts zoomed around in his mind. When he saw the two cloud ninja stand up to leave out of the corner of his eye, he turned to look fully at Karui. As she turned to leave, she looked at him and flashed him a smile that made his heart flutter and he completely tuned out everything Ino was saying.
Dinner could just not come soon enough.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I am so over this game, Sasuke…
Naruto was sitting in his apartment, thinking about everything that had happened since he had decided he was going to ask Hinata to be official. He had planned it out so carefully so he wouldn't make a fool of himself, and in one day it seemed that everything he had planned as shattered. One encounter outside the hot spring had been all it took for Sasuke to turn everything on its ear and make him rethink every step he took. Now it seemed like every time he got close to Hinata, he was interrupted or distracted by Sasuke, or occasionally Sai and Sakura; though the few times it had been the other two, he had seen them with Sasuke shortly afterward. He didn't understand why, or even how, this was happening. It seemed like somehow Sasuke knew every time Naruto was looking for Hinata and he came and distracted him from his task. It had happened enough times by now that Naruto was sure it couldn't have been coincidence.
He sighed and pushed himself off of his bed. He slipped his shoes on and walked outside and toward Avery's apartment. He wanted to tell her about his thoughts, in case he was just crazy. She would tell him if he was making a big deal out of nothing.
He waited after he knocked on her apartment door for what seemed like an eternity. He tapped his foot a little as he crossed his arms and gave an impatient huff of breath. After about ten minutes he decided she must not be home and set out to search for her.
He walked into the busier section of the village, searching for anywhere she might be. He looked at Ichiraku and the dumpling place in case she had gone there for dinner. He then looked at the barbecue restaurant, but nothing. He continued on, looking toward the market district in case she was out getting groceries or something, but he was still coming up empty.
"Where the hell could she be?" Naruto asked himself aloud as he walked toward the hospital. He decided to check in with Sakura and see if she was doing any short rounds at the hospital. She had done that a few times since the war, but he didn't think she was doing it anymore now that most of the people were out. Even Gai was out of the hospital now, but he still had a cast on his leg and was wheelchair bound.
Once he had gotten to the hospital and found Sakura, he had asked her about if she had seen Avery. Sakura had just smiled and shook her head.
"She's on a mission, she left two days ago," Sakura said with a smile. "I think she's scheduled back tonight though."
"Alright, thanks," Naruto said and sighed as he left. He would have asked Sakura what Sasuke was up to, but he figured he would just get laughed at and decided against it. He knew Sakura and Sasuke had been hanging out a lot and he figured he wouldn't get anywhere by asking her.
He wandered back toward the restaurants in the village deciding he might as well get something to eat while he was out. As he was walking he saw Hinata walking down a side path from where he was. He hadn't been planning on seeing her out, but maybe that was how he would finally get to ask her.
He made a decision and walked down the path toward the girl. He placed his hands in his pockets nervously as he slowly approached the girl. She was walking away from him though so he figured he would need to speed up in order to catch up to her, but right as he sped up in order to try and catch up with her, someone stepped into his way and he ran headfirst into them.
"Ouch, what was that?" he complained and looked up into the slightly ominous onyx eyes of Sasuke.
"You should probably watch where you're going," Sasuke said coolly as he stood there in front of the blonde. He folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head to the side slightly.
Naruto glared at the Uchiha and started to go around him, but right as he went to pass, he felt a pressure on his arm. He turned to see Sasuke had grabbed his arm and made him stop.
"What do you want?" Naruto hissed angrily as he realized Sasuke was once again stopping him from talking to Hinata.
"I have a coupon for ramen, but since I'm not super fond of ramen, I thought you might like to have it," he said pulling the small paper from his pocket.
Naruto always stocked up on ramen cups in his apartment because it was something quick and something he enjoyed eating. So turning it down would be pretty silly. Even though he knew he should take it, he also could practically feel the fact that when he turned around, Hinata would be gone.
"Yeah alright," he said trying to smile, but his irritation was making it hard. He took the paper and Sasuke walked away without another word.
When Naruto turned to look for Hinata, he realized he had no idea which way she went. He could no longer see her, and he was standing in the alley alone.
Of all the fucking chances… he grumbled as he kicked the dirt and turned to make his way over to get some dinner from Ichiraku.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
By the time eight rolled around, Choji couldn't wait to get to the barbeque restaurant to meet Karui.
Ino had something she was doing with her family that night, but she had made him stay until he made an excuse that he was supposed to help Shikamaru do something and that he had to go. He had had to make a dash home to get different clothes and release the jutsu and it was now a quarter past eight and he was running to get to the barbecue restaurant in hopes the cloud girl hadn't given up and left.
It didn't even occur to him he should feel bad for lying to his girlfriend.
The couple had been on the rocks for a few weeks now. The beginning of their relationship had been kept quiet for fear their friends would make a huge deal out of it, but even with the secrecy, Choji had been so happy. He had never thought he would actually feel wanted by his beautiful, blonde teammate and it was a feeling that made him confident. Choji had been so happy about the whole relationship; he didn't realize how irritated Shikamaru would be when he found out.
Shikamaru had always told him through their entire friendship that his size shouldn't ever be something he was ashamed of; that some girls even like a bigger guy. Choji could never bring himself to believe that though, and had figured out how to do a jutsu to make him skinny in order to date Ino. Shikamaru had blown up at both of them when he found out and refused to talk to them for over a week each.
The relationship had continued though, and for a while Choji was still just as happy as he had been when it started. It wasn't until recently that he realized how much harder the relationship was getting, and how much more annoying he thought Ino was.
He burst into the doors of the barbeque restaurant, panting as he looked around for the redhead cloud ninja he was meeting there. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her sitting toward the back of the restaurant. Her back was to him, but he could see her white cloud clothing and red hair from where he was. He ran his hands over his hair, trying to make sure it wasn't too out of control from running, and he adjusted his clothes before he walked toward her.
"Hey," he said as he approached, announcing his arrival so he wouldn't startle her. "I'm so sorry; I had something that ran late."
"Hey, its okay, you're here now," Karui said flashing him a smile. "I wasn't even waiting that long, I got here late too," she lied wanting to make him feel better about being late.
He returned her smile with a warm one of his own. "It's been a while. I haven't seen you since the war," Choji began, "how are you?"
"I'm great; our village is pretty back to normal. We still have some injured and some that won't be able to be ninja anymore, but we are working through it," she said as she took a sip of the water the hostess had brought her after seating her. "What about you?"
"Oh about the same, the village is back to mostly normal," he said nodding absently. "Actually, one of our main sensei's just got released from-"
"Why are you dating Ino?" Karui blurted out. She blushed and covered her mouth as soon as she realized what she had said. She had wanted to wait until they got into their dinner before she asked him about his so-called girlfriend but it had just slipped out.
Choji also blushed and he looked away from her. He felt like he should be mad she was questioning him, but this was Karui. He honestly didn't think she would judge his choices for kicks. If she's asking, it's because she doesn't like it.
"Well… umm… she's been my teammate since we were kids…" Choji tried to find something that sounded like a reason. But the question really made him wonder; why was he with Ino?
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blurted that out…" Karui said as she struggled to sit there and not say more.
"No, it's okay," Choji said.
Karui looked up and him, her hazel eyes met his brown ones and she felt the dam break. "It's just that she's all wrong for someone like you! You're so sweet and caring, and she's more concerned about image than anything else."
"You make her sound so conceited," Choji said.
"She is, Choji! No one should have to change for someone to like them. I, for example, like you the way you are," she said staring right into his eyes. If she was doing this, she was going all the way. There was no halfway for something like this.
Choji just stared back at her as she spoke. She was really adamant about this. "Karui…"
"I don't like what that whiney, squealing pig his done to you. You are amazing the way you are," she said as she crossed her arms and sat back in her chair.
Just then the waitress had come to bring Choji some water and take their orders. Choji looked at Karui and waited for her to order. When she finished, Choji made a motion to say he was not eating when he got a look from Karui. He had already eaten with Ino's family, but she knew this was his favorite restaurant. He sighed and ordered himself one of his usual orders. The waitress smiled and told them she'd get right on it.
He turned back to see she had a pleased smile on her face. "I already ate, I don't really need to eat again," he said sheepishly.
"Under normal circumstances, where you weren't worried about what a certain blonde might think, would you have ordered something?"
"Yes," he said shyly.
"Then you should not feel bad about it," Karui said. "I want you to be who you are around me. Not who you think you need to be to please a woman."
Choji smiled at her as she said that and it finally clicked in his mind. She wanted him to be himself. Not only did she want that, she liked him as himself. She was angry he had been changing for Ino. He took a drink of his water and leaned toward her, intent on talking about everything they had missed in each other's lives since they had seen each other last.
And tomorrow, he was going to do some thinking about his relationship with Ino.
