I Don't Know
Chapter 8: Wicked Comments
Hinata was grateful that Naruto was having a good time as he conversed with the members of the Hyuuga clan. Hinata was also grateful that her family seemed to take really well to Naruto who seemed much more mature around adults than she had recalled him being when they were younger. It was one of those things that she had secretly feared in regards to Naruto and her family. Her family was not one to enjoy pranks and informalities, and it made Hinata wary remembering how he used to do just about anything to get people's attention. Hinata was grateful that Naruto had matured enough to be seen in a good light by her family yet somehow maintained his youthful charm and energy while not losing his persona that screamed 'Naruto.'
However, Hinata was not grateful or appreciative of her younger sister during the conversation at dinner. While Hinata had originally sat on Naruto's right, with Neji to his left, and Hanabi on Neji's left, Hanabi had decided to move seats and sit on Hinata's right. Throughout dinner Hanabi made whispered comments that left Hinata blushing so red that Naruto had stopped his own conversation with Neji and asked if she was burning her tongue on the ramen. He even switched bowls with her at one point when he thought his ramen was cooler than hers.
Hanabi's whispered comments got progressively more suggestive and descriptive, and Hinata finally dropped her chopsticks in surprise and embarrassment when Hanabi had said,
"Look at the way his tongue darts out to lick up the drops of ramen on his mouth. What is wrong with you? You do have hormones, don't you? Why aren't you jumping him? I know you're imagining him doing that to your-"
"Hanabi!" Hinata had squeaked out, her face flaming red.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, his head snapping around to look at Hinata. After failed attempts to bring her into his conversation with the rest of her family, Naruto had let her "talk" with her sister. Now his attention was once again turned back to her. Hinata wished he would go back to his talk so that he wouldn't see her so embarrassed.
"I-"
"Well I think it was a good suggestion," Hanabi interrupted Hinata. "Don't you think so Naruto?" Naruto looked at Hanabi with a blank expression, clearly not having heard what they had been talking about. Hinata hoped to keep it that way.
"Er, sorry. What did you say?" Naruto asked.
"I was just saying to Hina-"
"Hanabi! Shut-up right now!" Hinata exploded.
The noise in the dinner hall ceased. All eyes turned to see Hinata looking torn between total and utter embarrassment, and a wildness about her that no one had ever seen before. Hanabi grinned mischievously at her older sister at having finally gotten her to raise her voice.
"Hinata?" Naruto said, shocked that she had yelled at her sister.
"Hanabi that was very rude. Don't repeat it," Hinata said, turning her head down and wishing that the ground would swallow her whole.
"I'm glad someone has finally taken the time to yell at Hanabi-chan," one of the elder Hyuuga members muttered. "That girl is getting too much like Hiashi when he was that age. He didn't straighten out until after a good scolding," the man finished.
"That's quite enough. Hanabi, apologize to your sister for whatever comment you made and then leave the table. You're dishonoring us in front of a guest," Hiashi said coldly as he glanced disdainfully down at the elder Hyuuga who had spoken and compared himself to Hanabi. Hiashi then glared at his youngest.
"Umm, I'm not really all that bothered," Naruto said, but Hiashi ignored Naruto and glared at his youngest daughter.
"I'm not going to apologize just because you told me to," Hanabi said, her head held high, and any sign of her mischievous behavior gone. She looked quite pristine in Hinata's mind: pristine, defiant, and unyielding. This couldn't go well. Hinata wished she hadn't snapped.
"Hanabi," Hinata whispered, trying to get her sister out of the mess she felt responsible for, seeing out of the corner of her eye her father swelling in rage as his pride and honor were questioned.
"I'm going to apologize to Hinata because I want to," Hanabi said before Hinata or anyone else could say anything more. She turned to Hinata, gave her a wide grin that made her pristine look vanish. "Sorry sis. You really should think about what I said. We'll talk later," she said in a stage whisper that everyone heard anyway as she loudly scraped her chair as she got up and flounced out of the room.
"Whatever she suggested, I suggest you don't do it," Hiashi commanded (not suggested) to Hinata. Hinata didn't say anything. Naruto looked like he wanted to say something in Hanabi's defense, and Hinata quietly put a hand on his wrist. He looked surprised at the contact and looked at her questioningly.
Hinata was very familiar with how Naruto defended those that did not or could not defend themselves. He had done it for her before. However, she felt that now would not be a good time for him to butt in, especially since Hanabi really should have stopped taunting her.
"It's okay. Trust me," she said quietly as a few people began to speak again. Naruto looked at her with widened blue eyes. He looked like he really did want to trust her. His face softened as he smiled gently at her.
"Okay. I trust you," Naruto said. He flashed her another smile before going back to his ramen, but Hinata could tell that he was just dropping the subject for her benefit. It was clear he had a lot of questions as to what was going on.
Beside Naruto, Neji looked behind the back of Naruto's head, catching Hinata's eye. It appeared that he too had thought that Naruto would say something in Hanabi's defense. Hinata nearly groaned. It appeared she would have to at least tell Neji part of what happened. Then again, maybe it would work out to her benefit. If she told Neji, he could be the one to tell her father. She really didn't want to repeat the comments Hanabi had been saying to her father.
"Well, it's been an interesting day," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head. He and Hinata were walking towards the gates of the Hyuuga complex, reflecting on their day. Naruto yawned widely, and Hinata remembered that the original reason he hadn't been able to come over early in the day was due to a mission he had at 4:00 in the morning.
"What was your mission this morning?" Hinata asked.
"Mission?" Naruto repeated. "My mission!" Naruto said in understanding. "Man, that feels like so long ago. I feel like I've been at your house all day. My mission was to escort some baker and her delivery to the outskirts of Konoha for a party or something like that. Just a few rogue ninjas showed up. No big deal. They were trying to upset some sort of tradition that the family had. Nice people. They invited me to stay for the party, but this one older lady kept eyeing me up so I declined," Naruto explained, looking mature and thoughtful as though he didn't understand why an old woman would be eyeing him up.
"I see," Hinata managed to respond, not sure how to react to Naruto's last statement. She felt somehow honored that Naruto had declined another invitation to come and see her. Though, that probably wasn't the case. He was probably just getting away from his awkward situation.
"Plus," Naruto added, "I had already told you I would find you after my mission. I can't go back on my word," Naruto said, smiling widely at her. Hinata's heart fluttered, and she wished she had thought to take another one of those pills that Sakura had given her to help prevent fainting.
"Thank you f-for coming," Hinata said, trying her best not to stutter too badly as her heart fluttered madly inside of her.
"Yep." Naruto yawned again and rubbed at his eyes. "Yo!" Naruto suddenly called, and Hinata was startled at his sudden outburst. She realized that he wasn't speaking to her, and she followed his suddenly intense gaze and large grin as he looked over Hinata's shoulder. Hinata blinked, surprised to see the person walking towards them near the Hyuuga complex.
"Hn," Uchiha Sasuke greeted Naruto as he approached. Something in the back of Hinata's mind clicked on, and she remembered that she had been supposed to try and ask Naruto what Sasuke was up to these days for Sakura and Ino. Perhaps she could just ask Sasuke himself.
"Hello Sasuke-kun," Hinata said. Her voice came out surprisingly stronger than normal. She felt a mixture of shyness around those she didn't feel comfortable talking with, but she was also annoyed at the fact that Sasuke had interrupted her good-bye with Naruto. Her annoyance had probably made her voice louder.
"Hello Hinata-san," Sasuke said, and he smiled at her slightly. Hinata nearly took a step back. She couldn't ever recall Sasuke smiling without it looking like a smirk, and it was a little weird that it was directed at her. Naruto looked back and forth between the two of them and grinned widely. He stepped closer to Sasuke and gave him a knowing look. Sasuke shrugged, and Hinata felt as though an entire conversation had just passed between the two of them silently. She wished she spoke Sasuke-Naruto-silent-ease.
"I'm surprised to see you in this area, Sasuke-kun," Hinata said, seeing if she could maybe either get the promised information out of him, or perhaps he would go away and she and Naruto could talk a bit more. Hinata was feeling just the teeniest bit selfish after having spent most of the afternoon with her beloved.
"Naruto told me he'd be here," Sasuke said, as though that explained everything.
"That's just an excuse," Naruto said, grinning widely. Hinata watched as Sasuke's small smile grew into a strangely pleased smirk. She idly remembered the conversation that she and Ino had had.
"If you and Naruto get a chance to talk, if you think of it, will you ask Naruto what Sasuke's been up to recently, and why he seems to be less, umm sulky than normal? Not that Sasuke being less sulky is a bad thing, but it is unusual. And, well, it's just weird to see him looking so happy without knowing why," Ino said.
Hinata could finally understand why Ino and Sakura had suddenly reverted to their old fangirling ways. Sasuke was happy and smirking so smugly it was a bit creepy. Naruto was also smirking too, so Naruto was clearly aware of what was going on with Sasuke. Perhaps he was part of the reason that Sasuke looked so smug? Sasuke had apparently come to meet Naruto after he was done spending time with her.
"Want to spar?" Naruto asked. Any sign of his earlier sleepiness was gone as he asked Sasuke to train with him. Naruto grinned wickedly at Sasuke as he added, "Or are you too busy?"
"I'm not too busy, but it might not be worth it if you're too tired that I'll beat you in under ten seconds," Sasuke taunted.
"Bastard," Naruto hissed, but Hinata could see that the banter was good natured. Somehow.
"I'll see you there after you say goodnight to Hinata," Sasuke said. He walked by Naruto and stopped right by Naruto's shoulder. Hinata watched in confusion as Sasuke said something quietly in Naruto's ear. Naruto's eyes widened and his face sported a slight blush. Sasuke stepped around Naruto, smirked and left with a one handed wave to Hinata as goodbye.
"Bastard," Naruto said again, this time a bit more furiously as he refused to meet Hinata's gaze and looked instead at his hands.
"Are you okay? What did Sasuke say?" Hinata asked, wondering why Naruto looked so flustered. Naruto scratched the back of his head, but he couldn't even manage to get himself to laugh loudly to ward off the awkwardness.
"You know. Stuff," Naruto said dismissively. Hinata's eyes widened ever so slightly as she realized that Sasuke had purposefully left her and Naruto alone for Naruto to say goodnight. She had a very strong feeling that Sasuke had said something to Naruto like Hanabi had said to her at dinner. Hinata's face blushed red at that thought.
"Are you okay?" Hinata repeated.
"Everyone's putting ideas in my head," Naruto said, smiling a small smile as he looked down at his hands. Hinata was taken with how handsome he looked when his face was relaxed, set in a genuine smile. It was very becoming. "Well, I better get going. I need to hand Sasuke his ass on a silver platter for being such a prick." Hinata giggled slightly and covered her mouth. Naruto grinned at her for reacting to his not so pleasant comment.
"G-goodnight Naruto-kun," Hinata said.
"Night Hinata," Naruto said. The next moment, time seemed to speed up, and everything happened so fast that she wasn't sure if it had happened at all. It felt as though Naruto had leaned in quickly and given her a quick kiss on her cheek. Hinata stood almost motionless as Naruto grinned widely at her, waved, and ran off for his spar.
Reality sunk in as Hinata realized that Naruto had in fact given her a quick goodnight kiss on the cheek.
Hinata pressed her hand to her cheek gently before her eyes rolled backward as she fainted.
Next Chapter: Bedroom Chats
What did you think? - Jelp
