Happy Naruto's birthday, everyone! XD The tenth chapter is here for 10/10! Woo! \o/ I actually hadn't planned to have this ready just for his birthday either; a fun coincidence I must say. ^_^
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I've reached over 100 faves and reviews now! All triple digits on follows, faves, and reviews! Woo! \o/ Thank you all for showing your love for my story! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be pulling his revenge crap yet again, and we'd be moving on to a NaruHina-filled epilogue now. And you know that if I wrote that epilogue, it would be fluffy. XD
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
The next day, Hinata was awakened by her phone receiving a text message instead of her usual alarm. Blearily, she reached for the phone and looked at the screen. The message was from her father.
Hinata, open your door. I would like to speak with you.
Immediately crawling out of bed, the Hyuuga heiress made her way over to the door quickly and opened it to reveal her father standing behind it looking mildly irritated through his usual stoic mask. With a sigh, he nodded at his daughter before stepping into her room and closing the door.
"I knocked at least five times within the last ten minutes before I remembered your room had been soundproofed," Hiashi told his daughter with the ghost of a sheepish smirk on his face. Hinata couldn't help but let out a little giggle at that.
Some years ago, Neji and Hanabi—along with a few other members of the Hyuuga family whose bedrooms shared the same hall as Hinata's—complained about the noise that would often come from the bedroom of the heiress. Whether it was music, video games, or a movie, Hinata liked to have her volume up loud, and with her surround-sound system, it didn't take much for half the mansion to hear whatever she happened to be playing. The fact that Hinata tended to be a night owl only made it worse too. So Hiashi resolved the problem by having Hinata's room soundproofed, which is also the reason why no one heard Naruto's loud voice a couple of nights ago when he visited her as the Kitsune Ninja. It was an unexpected decision from the normally stern Hiashi—pretty much everyone had just expected him to discipline Hinata for having her volume so loud and for staying up so late. But the Hyuuga leader merely decided that having her room soundproofed was easier than punishing his daughter for matters he considered trivial. The level of volume at which his daughter listened to things was inconsequential to him, and her tendency to stay up late had never impeded her ability to wake up on time, nor had it affected her grades. So he went with soundproofing the room, but since he never really went up to his daughters' rooms, especially Hinata's, he had forgotten and had stood there knocking on her door for awhile before realizing she couldn't hear it.
Suddenly mortified when she realized she had laughed at her father, Hinata gave him a contrite bow and said, "I'm s-sorry, Father. I sh-should not have laughed."
Hiashi, who had felt pleased that his comment succeeded in amusing his daughter, winced when she suddenly apologized to him for laughing. With a mental sigh, he thought, "I really have a long way to go for being so stern with her over the years..." Clearing his throat awkwardly, Hiashi said in a quiet voice, "That's all right, Hinata. I am not mad." He winced again at her small sigh of relief, but continued on, "My daughter, I came up here because I wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened last night."
If someone had told Hinata she had fallen into an illusion world where everyone was the exact opposite from how they were in the real world, she would've believed them right at that moment. Her lavender eyes widened in shock as her brain came to a screeching halt—the only thought that pervaded was, "Is this my father?" She couldn't believe that her father—the same one who had always looked at her with disappointed, cold eyes while telling her she should be more like her cousin and sister and had nearly stripped her of her title as heiress numerous times—was now looking at her with concern and made a point of coming to her room to make sure she was all right after being kidnapped the night before.
"Of course, he has been acting strangely before this too," she mused in her head. "Like when he didn't yell at me for losing to those bullies and for hugging me when I came back safely last night..."
"Hinata? Hinata!"
She became vaguely aware of her father's voice calling her name, and it was then that she realized she hadn't said anything for a few minutes. Shaking her head to clear it of her thoughts, she nearly fainted when she felt her father's hand on her shoulders, shaking her gently, and saw his face closer to hers as his silver eyes examined her worriedly.
Taking a deep breath, Hinata managed to answer, "I-I'm sorry, Father. I just...spaced out there for a moment."
Releasing her shoulders and moving back, Hiashi sighed in relief and said, "No need to apologize, Hinata. I'm aware that my behavior this morning is unusual, and coupled with what you went through last night, it's no surprise your nerves are rattled."
"Well, at least he acknowledges that he's acting weird... I wonder what's going on?" Hinata wondered to herself, but to her father, she only nodded.
Repeating his question, he asked, "So, are you all right? If you need to, you may stay home from school today to recover from yesterday's ordeal."
The bluenette opened her mouth to protest, to say that she was fine enough to go to school because honestly, even though the experience had been scary, Hinata was a brave girl deep down, and Naruto coming just in time to save her helped too. A thought, however, occurred to her before she could speak. "I could use the day to keep getting my Gadget Girl stuff ready...I hope Naruto won't mind spending the third day of school without me..."
"Hinata?" her father prodded her out of her thoughts.
"Oh, s-sorry, Father. I was just thinking," she replied quietly. "I would like a day to recuperate, but w-would it really be all right? It is only the third day of school, after all."
A small smile appeared on Hiashi's face as he folded his arms. "It's fine, Hinata. Don't worry about that. And I'm sure Naruto won't mind bringing by your homework after school."
Her cheeks took on a pink shade at the mention of the blonde hero, but she smiled happily at the Hyuuga patriarch. "Thank you, Father." She gave him a small bow. "I appreciate you letting me stay home t-today."
"You're welcome, Daughter," he replied with a hand on her shoulder, which he gave a light squeeze. "Feel free to spend the day as you see fit, but don't leave the house."
"I understand," she answered, nodding.
"Good. I will see you later. Perhaps at dinner." And without another word, Hiashi was out the door, closing it behind him.
Hinata just stared at her door for a few seconds while thinking, "I wonder what happened that made him change..." Brushing the thought aside for the moment, she went over to her nightstand and grabbed her phone to call Naruto.
"Mmyeah...?" the blonde hero sleepily mumbled over the phone when he answered.
"Good morning, Naruto!" singsonged Hinata into the receiver. She couldn't help feel a little bit bubbly after hearing how cute his sleepy voice sounded.
"Nata...? What...what time is it?" he asked, clearly trying to get his brain to function.
"6:45," she informed him with a glance at her clock. "I'm sorry for waking you up so soon, Naruto, but I wanted to tell you that I won't be going to school today."
That woke him up instantly and he shot up in his bed, the worry in his voice evident as he asked, "What? Why not? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Naruto," she quickly reassured him, and she heard him release the breath he was holding when he tensed up in anxiousness. "My father just asked me if I would like to stay home today in case I was s-still shaken up by what happened yesterday, and I said yes."
"Wait. So you're not okay? I thought you were fine last night! Don't worry, I'll be right over, Nata!" Naruto almost shouted into his phone as he struggled to untangle himself from his sheets.
"Naruto,c- calm down! I am okay! I just let my father believe that I wasn't so I could stay home," she explained while pacing over to her window.
The whisker-faced boy stopped his efforts to extract himself from his bed and asked, "But...why? Why don't you want to go to school? I mean, I can understand if you were like me, but you actually like school."
He heard her giggle over the phone before answering, "I j-just thought it would be better if I stayed here and continued getting my stuff ready."
Naruto, being the dense idiot he was at times, didn't quite get what she was referring to. "Stuff? What stuff?"
But Hinata didn't want to answer that directly over the phone. Being an expert with gadgets and such—as well as a tiny bit paranoid—she knew one could never quite be sure who might be listening in on a phone call and didn't want to inadvertently reveal their secret.
Sighing, Hinata said with emphasis, "The stuff, Naruto. I don't want to say it out loud over the phone..."
Like a light bulb clicking on in his head, the boy replied, "Oooh... I see what you mean. Hehe." Then his sheepish look turned into a pout, and Hinata knew what his expression was when he whined, "But, Nataaaa! It's gonna be so boring without you, ya know!"
She giggled at his childishness, but couldn't help feeling regret for not going with him today. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Should I go tell my father I changed my mind?"
There was silence, then a sigh before he answered, "No, that's okay. I'll miss you, but you should use this opportunity to get all your stuff ready for later. I'll be by after school today with your homework, alright?"
"Thank you, Naruto. And you know you can text me all day. Just don't get caught by the teachers," she told him, hoping to make him feel better.
"Heh. You can count on it!" he declared. Then added after a moment's thought, "Texting you I mean. Although getting caught might happen too, ya know. Hehe."
Giggling at his antics, Hinata said, "I'll see you later, Naruto."
"Yeah... See you, Nata."
And they hung up.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
With a sigh, Naruto got out of bed and started dressing for the day since he knew that if he went back to sleep at this point, he'd oversleep and probably end up being later than Kakashi to school. As he put on a pair of clean, black jeans, Kurama yawned from his place on the bed and stood up stretching.
"Is something wrong with your mate, Kit?" the fox asked.
Another sigh escaped the boy's lips, and he replied, "No. Her dad thinks she's freaked out from yesterday, but she's just using that as an excuse to stay home and get her Gadget Girl stuff ready. And she has a name, ya know."
Kurama chuckled. "I'm aware of that, Kit. But it's much more fun to call her your mate." Ignoring the blue-eyed glare sent his way, he asked, "Are you still going to tell her about your abilities today?"
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "As soon as school's out, I'm going to her house. Why do you ask?"
The fox shrugged. "I should be there for part of that conversation since you and I haven't really discussed all your abilities yet, but I'll wait awhile before heading over there so you can have some time alone with your mate," he explained, giving the boy a cheeky grin at the end.
Naruto's face reddened as he growled, "You're such an ass sometimes, Kurama."
Laughing, the fox replied, "Only because it's so easy and so entertaining to make fun of you. Seriously, I don't understand why you and your mate get so embarrassed. You both know of your attraction for each other even if you—for foolish human reasons I don't understand—want to wait to have more of a relationship. Why be ashamed of showing affection for her?"
"I'm not ashamed. It's just...humans don't like to be teased about this kind of stuff. I don't know why it bugs us," Naruto mumbled as he finished getting dressed and tied his headband on. "I gotta go now. See ya later, Kurama!"
He ran out of the bedroom, and Kurama just rolled his eyes at his human friend before going back to sleep.
Naruto took his time to eat breakfast, explaining why he was up so early to his initially shocked grandparents as he ate, and then he slowly trudged his way to school. He wasn't looking forward to being at school all day without his blue-haired, best friend.
Sighing dejectedly, he thought, "Man, I'm so pathetic! It's only eight hours without her... Argh... Eight whole hours... Thinking of it like that definitely doesn't make it any better..." Another sigh escaped his lips. "Geez. Who knew you could get so attached to someone after only knowing them a short while?"
As he neared the school grounds, a shout interrupted him from his thoughts.
"Naruto!"
Looking up, the blonde saw Kiba and Shino standing in the schoolyard waiting for him and Hinata—well, mostly Hinata—just like they had the last two days of school and presumably, every school day since they became friends with the blue-haired heiress. Kiba was waving at him while the ever-stoic Shino just gave him a nod in greeting. Naruto grinned slightly and waved in return.
As the blonde walked up to them, the fang-tattooed boy asked, "Hey, where's Hinata?"
Letting out yet another—and somewhat dramatic—sigh, Naruto answered, "She's staying home today."
"Is it because of what happened to her last night?" Shino inquired, concern leaking through his usually emotionless voice.
"Huh? What happened to her last night?" Kiba questioned his hooded friend.
A dark eyebrow rose above Shino's goggles. "You didn't hear the news?"
"No, I never pay attention to the news in the morning," the dog boy explained, doing his best to keep his exasperation down. "So enlighten me. What happened to Hinata?" The last sentence was said slowly with a bit of emphasis on each word.
"The monster that caused the destruction downtown on Monday night grabbed Hinata last night for whatever reason, and she was saved by the Kitsune Ninja," Shino informed the Inuzuka. "It was said she was unharmed except for a few bruises, but the reporters didn't have any more information since Lord Hiashi was refusing to make a statement or even let them see Hinata. And I have yet to speak to her today so I'm unaware of her emotional state."
"Knowing Hinata, she's probably pretty freaked out," Kiba commented with a small groan and a hand over his face.
Naruto wanted to tell them that Hinata was actually taking it pretty well and that she was a lot braver than they were giving her credit for. But he knew he had to stick to the story or else he might get the bluenette in trouble.
Still not wanting to entirely lie, though, the blonde said, "Yeah, she told me her dad offered to let her stay home today in case she was upset by what happened, but she seemed fine last night. She probably just wanted the day to finish her homework since she kinda couldn't last night."
Kiba gave a tiny shake of his head. "Yeah, but Hinata doesn't like people to worry about her so... Wait, what? 'Last night'? You saw her last night?"
"Uh, yeah. I went out looking for her when I heard she was missing. The Ninja left her with me after he saved her, and I brought her home," Naruto 'explained', hoping that Hinata's friends didn't have an uncanny ability to detect lies like she did.
Shino's eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly, which meant it went completely unnoticed by Naruto, and Kiba just let out a "Hmm..." before shrugging.
"You're sure she's alright, though?" the dog boy asked.
"I think so. I mean, I haven't known her as long as you guys, but I'd like to think Hinata was being honest with me," Naruto replied.
"We should give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is telling us the truth. Why? Because she is our friend, and friends trust each other to tell the truth," the bug enthusiast said logically.
"Yeah, you're right, man," Kiba agreed. Then throwing one arm around Naruto and the other arm around Shino—causing surprise to the former and mild annoyance to the latter—the red-tattooed boy said as he started guiding both his friends toward the school building, "Well, it looks like it's just us guys today! Sucks without our shy little princess here—she's nicer to look at than you two." He laughed while Naruto shot him an unamused glare and Shino just shook his head a little. "But we'll just have to go without her today."
Naruto's shoulders slumped as he thought again of how boring and bland the day would be without Hinata, and Kiba, seeing the blonde's dejected face, removed his arms from his friends' shoulders and gave Naruto a friendly pat on the back.
"Don't look so down, man. We all know how much you like her, but you'll survive a day without her," Kiba said in an attempt to cheer the fox boy.
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled before letting out yet another sigh while slumping his shoulders and facing the floor. "But it's not just the fact that it's boring without her... She's also the only one who can explain stuff in a way that makes sense to me."
It was true. Hinata's infinite patience and ability to explain the lessons to him without being condescending were the only things keeping him from falling behind in class. But since they hadn't had much time for her to really tutor him, the blonde, genetic-mutant hero was quickly—especially so, considering it was only the third day of school—becoming the dead last of his class just like a certain dark-haired Uchiha, who was coincidentally the top of the sophomore class, called him.
Speaking of said Uchiha...
"Dobe."
Naruto looked up to see Sasuke standing in the middle of the hall, arms crossed and surrounded by his fangirls. Naruto, Kiba, and Shino stopped as the blonde returned the greeting.
"Teme."
Sasuke smirked, but his frown returned as he observed the three boys thoughtfully. Refocusing on Naruto, he asked, "Where's your Hyuuga princess today?"
The girls hovering around the Uchiha tensed at hearing their idol ask about another girl, especially the quiet, nerdy Hyuuga heiress, and the whisker-faced hero couldn't help but feel suspicious as well.
Narrowing his blue eyes at the dark-haired boy, Naruto asked, "What's it to you, teme?"
"Yeah, since when do you care?" Kiba chimed in while folding his arms. Shino remained silent, but all his attention was on Sasuke for his answer.
Shrugging nonchalantly, Sasuke replied, "Relax, losers. I just asked 'cause I happened to notice you guys were one weirdo short today."
Kiba opened his mouth to protest, but Naruto's hand appeared in front of him to stop him. Looking at the blonde, he saw a smirk on his face.
Naruto, having dealt with many bullies in the past, knew when someone was trying to bait him into a fight. "You seems to forget this weirdo," he jerked a thumb at his own chest, "kicked your ass just the other day, ya know."
Sasuke's former smirk returned to his face. "Hn. I was just going easy on you. Figured you wouldn't be much of a challenge after the way Neji took you down. I am stronger than him after all."
"Is that so, Uchiha?"
Glancing back over his shoulder, Sasuke saw Neji standing there glaring at him with his arms folded. But the Uchiha's smirk never faltered, and with a nod, he replied, "Hn. Indeed it is, Hyuuga. The Uchiha are elite in everything."
Naruto rolled his blue eyes. "Well, you've at least got everyone beat in arrogance, ya know. Although Neji certainly gives you a run for your money in that area."
Kiba snickered at the blonde's insult while Shino had the faintest smile on his face hidden by the collar of his hoodie. Sasuke's smirk was replaced by a bored look.
Not acknowledging the insult in the slightest, Neji asked, "Where is Lady Hinata, Namikaze?"
The whiskered hero just crossed his own arms and answered with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "She's skipping school today."
"What?" Neji hissed dangerously, his eyes were two silver flames of rage. "How dare she show such blatant disrespect for our family?!" In a quick movement that only the superhuman Naruto could follow, Neji was suddenly in front of the blonde, clutching the front of his shirt and pulling the his whiskered face closer. "It was your influence! She never did such things before meeting you, and you've managed to corrupt her after only a week!"
Cool as ice, Naruto asked, "Why do you even care, Neji? I know you have a duty to watch over her and all, but this is a bit ridiculous, don't you think?"
"My concern is for my family's honor," Neji sneered. "Which is constantly being tarnished by that failure that is our heiress and future leader."
Next thing anyone knew, the Hyuuga prodigy was being slammed up against the lockers with Naruto's left forearm across his chest, holding him in place. Kiba, Shino, Sasuke, and all Sasuke's fangirls looked at the two in shock—no one could remember even seeing the blonde even move. The fact that Neji's body dented the lockers slightly left them even more stunned.
"I told you to never talk that way about her again!" Naruto growled in the Hyuuga's face as he struggled to keep his eyes from changing in his rage. "And I let it go the last time because I had to talk to Hiashi. That's not the case today, ya know." He bared his teeth in a snarl, and Neji—after getting back some of the air that had been knocked out of him—could swear the blonde's canine teeth looked very much like the fangs of a wild animal.
But Neji was too proud and stubborn to back down. "So what're you waiting for then? For me to end the fight first like last time?" he taunted.
With an angry growl, Naruto pulled back his right fist and shot it toward Neji's face in one quick, fluid movement. However, just before it made contact—less than an inch from the Hyuuga's nose—a black-gloved hand grabbed a hold of the blonde's wrist, halting his punch. Tearing his gaze away from Neji to look at the person who dared to stop him, Naruto saw a man who he immediately labeled as one of the scariest people he'd ever seen. Right up there with his mom and Tsunade when they were angry.
The man had eyes as dark as a moonless night, and their gaze was harder than steel. He wore a dark grey shirt and pants as well as a long, black trench coat and a bandana and gloves of the same color. Two scars adorned his face, both extending in the same direction diagonally. One went from beneath his right eye, past his jaw line, and ended on his neck. The other extended from his left temple to his chin without touching his eye.
Naruto hadn't had a chance to meet him before, but he had heard enough from the other students to recognize this man. Ibiki Morino. Konoha High School's principal.
"You must be the new kid. Naruto Namikaze, was it?" the man asked casually while maintaining his hold on the boy's wrist. He could feel the strength in the arm, though, and knew he was only able to hold him back because the boy was allowing it. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on the blonde.
Naruto just nodded in reply, and Neji, who had closed his eyes when he saw the fist coming, had opened them again when the punch never landed and was now looking between Naruto and the principal with interest. Ibiki spared a brief glance at the Hyuuga before giving the blonde a small smirk.
"Mind telling me what you're fighting about?" The principal's tone was still casual, but both boys could sense the underlying message of 'you better have a good reason, kiddies'.
Naruto's hardened glare returned to Neji as he growled out, "He insulted a good friend of mine when I already warned him not to do that. He's an arrogant bastard, and I've had enough of his bullshit."
Ibiki was impressed at the young man's honesty as well as his candid way of speaking, especially since he was sure the boy knew he was speaking to the school's principal. He also had to suppress a laugh at the kid's attitude toward the Hyuuga prodigy—he knew Neji tended to rub people the wrong way.
"Be that as it may, kid, I can't have you go around denting the lockers up by throwing people into them," Ibiki stated patiently while pulling Naruto away from Neji by the wrist he was still holding. Releasing the blonde, he continued, "If the two of you are intent on settling your differences, save it for the lunch period and do it outside. Understood?"
"Hai, Ibiki-sensei," both boys replied while glaring at each other.
"Good," the principal nodded. Then he turned to the rest of the students who were still observing the scene. "All right, all of you, get to class! Now!"
The students gave him a frightened nod before scrambling to their classrooms.
"And no running in the halls!"
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Naruto spent his entire first-hour class dodging Kiba's questioning of how the whisker-faced boy managed to move so inhumanly fast when he attacked Neji, and when he wasn't trying to avoid the Inuzuka's inquiries, he was trying to distance himself from Ino, who, upon hearing of Naruto's encounter with the Hyuuga prodigy, was now even more infatuated with the blonde hero than she was before.
The poor boy couldn't help but miss his blue-haired best friend. He was sure she would know how to make the madness stop.
Naaataaa! Why did you leave me to this fate? T_T Naruto texted the heiress as soon as his class ended and he was on his way to his next class.
What do you mean, Naruto? What's wrong? :( she texted back.
Naruto hesitated when he considered how the bluenette might react to the truth, but replied anyway, Oh ya know. I just sorta...slammed Neji into a locker and then the principal stopped me from punching your cousin in the face. Now Kiba won't stop bugging me and Ino won't stop hanging all over me. DX
There was a long pause before she answered him back, and in that time, the blonde made it to his seat in his history class. He did his best to avoid catching Sasuke's eye, but he could still feel the Uchiha staring at him, wanting to challenge him to another fight.
"There's seriously something odd there," Naruto thought to himself as he watched his phone, waiting for Hinata's reply. "I mean, I like a good spar as much as the next guy, but Sasuke just seems way too eager to fight..."
The phone's screen lit up, and Naruto swiped it to see the new message. Naruto...why did you attack Neji? I know you want a rematch with him, but please don't get in trouble. ...You're not already in trouble, are you?
He immediately answered, No, no! Ibiki-sensei was actually pretty cool about it, although with what I heard about him, I'm not sure that's a good thing... -.-'
... was the initial response, immediately followed by, Please be more careful, Naruto. I don't want you to get in trouble. What did Ibiki-sensei say exactly?
Grinning sheepishly at his phone, Naruto texted back, He said we could settle our issues outside the school building. Like at lunch.
...I see, was all she replied with.
Nata, are you mad at me? :( the blonde hero asked with some concern.
No, Naruto. Don't worry, I'm not mad. :) I would just prefer it if you and Neji-nii-san didn't have your rematch at school. :\
*sigh* Alright, Nata. I'll try to get along. But if he attacks me again, I fully intend to beat him. ≥o≤
As long as it's self-defense, that's all I ask. :)
Their conversation ended as Naruto had to put his phone away before he was caught texting by Iruka. The scarred teacher may consider the blonde his little brother, but the man believed in enforcing the rules and would take Naruto's phone away just as soon as he would to any other student caught texting during class. Without being able to talk to Hinata anymore, though, Naruto's mood quickly went back to bored and not happy.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Three long class periods later, it was finally lunch time, much to Naruto's relief. His brain felt like it was permanently numb with boredom because with Hinata gone, he had no other friends to talk to in his classes—none of the ones he met through Hinata anyway, and all the other kids barely talked to him for one reason or another. Plus, he was hungry. Well actually, 'starving' would perhaps be the more appropriate word. Naruto's superpowers did increase his metabolism exponentially after all.
Ravenous and bored, the whisker-marked boy practically ran to the cafeteria as soon as it was lunch time, and upon receiving his food, he joined his new friends outside again. He saw Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino sitting at their usual table, but he hesitated when he saw Ino and Kiba as well. Not wanting to be hounded by Kiba again—he laughed inwardly at his own pun on the dog boy—or practically molested by Ino, Naruto briefly considered sneaking off somewhere to eat in solitude. However, Sakura saw him before he could make his decision and waved him over. Suppressing a sigh, Naruto walked over to the table and took a seat next to the pinkette when she gestured for him to sit by her.
"Hey, Forehead! How come you get to have Naruto by you?" Ino demanded with a huff. The boy in question was sitting at the corner of the table, so there was no way for the platinum blonde to sit on his other side. Something that the hero was silently thankful for.
"Listen, Oinker, I think Naruto's had just about enough of you hanging all over him today, right Naruto?" Sakura turned to him as she asked.
"Urm..." Naruto muttered through a mouthful of food. Swallowing, he scratched the back of his neck while trying to decide how to respond to the two angry-looking females. "Uh, well...kinda. Yeah." Seeing Ino deflate a little, he added quickly, "I mean, I'm flattered and all, Ino, but I'm just not interested, ya know?"
The blonde girl puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, clearly unhappy with his answer. "Why not? What's Hinata got that I haven't got, huh?"
"You mean besides a better figure than practically every girl at school?" Kiba asked rhetorically, laughing as Ino's rage skyrocketed.
Before the blonde could start screaming, though, Sakura said, "I'm not sure how that's much of a factor with how she hides it all the time. I think what we saw her wearing at the mall last weekend was the most form-fitting outfit I've ever seen her in."
"Yeah. Can't imagine why she wore that either," Kiba replied sarcastically, giving a pointed look at Naruto, who raised his eyebrow in response.
Swallowing another mouthful, Naruto replied, "Ya know, not that it's really anyone's business, but the fact that Hinata's hot is just a bonus. I like who she is regardless of how she looks."
"Okay, so I ask again, what's Hinata got that I haven't got?" Ino shot back, still angry.
Naruto sighed. He didn't exactly enjoy discussing relationship stuff. At least not with people he barely knew, even if they wanted to be his friend. But he knew Ino wouldn't leave him alone one way or another unless he answered her.
Running a hand through his spiky hair, the hero answered, "Well, it's like I told you before, Ino. You're too loud for me. I know how that sounds coming from someone like me who's loud too, but that's just it—I don't think it works out when both people never shut up, ya know?"
There were a few snickers from the others as they pictured Naruto and Ino trying to have a conversation. They couldn't help but imagine an endless shouting match. Ino, however, just nodded reluctantly, her anger fading into a slightly sad acceptance.
"But I would still like to be friends with you, Ino."
The platinum blonde looked back up at Naruto to see him grinning happily at her and offering his hand over the table toward her. She couldn't help but return the smile as she took his hand and shook it.
"I guess that works. You probably would've just ended up being too annoying for me anyway," Ino joked as she withdrew her hand. The boy just chuckled at that.
"But I gotta ask, Naruto," Sakura began after a moment's pause in the conversation. "Isn't Hinata too opposite from you?" Seeing his confused look, she elaborated, "I just mean, she's quiet, you're loud. She's shy, and it seems like it takes a lot to even remotely embarrass you. She's smart, you're already at the bottom of our class... Need I go on?"
The whiskered boy was frowning at her for calling him dumb, but he couldn't deny his place in class. However, he did have some things to say about the rest of what she'd said. "Sakura, what you're saying is true, but there is the whole 'opposites attract' concept."
"Yeah, but when two people are too different, things usually fall apart eventually," the pinkette countered.
Naruto nodded. "That's true, but who said Hinata and I are that much different? She and I share interests in video games, music, TV, movies...a bunch of stuff, really. And she just...I dunno. Works with me. Fits my personality." He shrugged. "I'm sure she could tell you what I mean better. After all, she is smarter than me like you said." He let out a laugh.
"I think I get it," Shikamaru started, deciding for whatever reason to join the conversation he found a bit troublesome. "She compliments your personality."
"Yeah, that's it!" Naruto grinned. "Thanks, Shikamaru!"
"Hmm," Sakura hummed thoughtfully. "I guess that does make sense."
Nodding at her, the hero said, "Good! Now can we stop talkin' about this? I'd rather not discuss relationship stuff, 'specially about me 'n Hinata, ya know?"
Kiba laughed at the blonde's discomfort. "Sorry, Naruto. Ino may have had different reasons for asking, but I think the rest of us just wanted to know more about how you feel about Hinata. We're kind of protective of her."
"I've noticed," Naruto replied with a light chuckle.
"Hinata's had some bad past experiences with guys trying to use her for one thing or another," Choji told him. "And she's been a good friend to all of us, even if some of us don't hang out with her as much as the others. So we just want to make sure you're a good guy, Naruto."
"Yeah, I understand, guys," Naruto replied, looking at each person at the table. "I'm glad Hinata has such good friends, and honestly, if I was to ever do something to hurt her, I know I'd deserve an ass-kicking from each one of you."
"And that's exactly what you'd get too," Kiba said with a feral grin.
The whiskered blonde was about to respond when he heard behind him, "Namikaze. I believe we have some unfinished business."
Naruto sighed.
"Seriously, Neji? What's your deal with Naruto anyway? Can't you just leave the guy alone?" Ino asked the Hyuuga impatiently.
"This is none of your business, Yamanaka," Neji retorted with a cold glare at the platinum blonde. "This is between me and the idiot trying to tarnish the name of my family."
Sighing again, Naruto stood up and moved a few steps away from the table before facing the Hyuuga prodigy. "Ya know, Neji, Hiashi's got no problem with me, so why do you even care? You don't like Hinata, no one's making you to do your duty to protect her—at least not from me—so why the heck do you care?"
Neji sneered at the hero. "I care because Lord Hiashi has changed ever since you first set foot in our home. Practically overnight, he stopped treating his daughter like the failure she is and seems content with keeping her as heiress instead of passing the title to her more worthy sister. Since it is my fate as a Branch Family member to protect the Hyuuga Family and its traditions, I intend to whatever it takes to drive you away before you cause any more damage."
The hero scoffed. "I still don't get it, Neji. You're defending the 'honor' of a family that's practically made you a slave!"
"Watch your tongue, Namikaze! This is my fate, and I would be an even bigger fool than you to fight against it. You have no right to say anything about my family's traditions," Neji shot back angrily.
"Don't give me that 'fate' bullshit! That's just an excuse to not even try to make things better for yourself! There's no such thing as fate!" Naruto shouted.
"How dare you!" Neji clenched his fists. Sliding into his Gentle Fist stance, he said, "Fine! I'll prove it to you by defeating you again!"
Naruto took his own stance. "Bring it on! I'm ready for you this time!"
True to his word, the hero let Neji come at him so it would be self-defense. However, just as Naruto was preparing to take the initial hit, his Instinct suddenly told him to duck, and he complied immediately. He watched as a book sailed over his head and as another one landed squared in Neji's face, knocking the Hyuuga boy on his back mid-charge.
"Whew!" came a female's voice from behind the hero as he stood straight again. "Almost didn't make it in time."
A brunette girl with brown eyes who wore her hair in twin buns walked up next to Naruto and grinned at him, and he recognized her as Tenten from gym class. She grinned at him and extended her hand.
"What's up, Naruto? Sorry about the book, but Hinata asked me to stop you guys if I caught you fighting and the books were the closest thing I had," Tenten said as the blonde shook her hand. "Nice reflexes, by the way."
"Um, thanks," he replied, scratching the back of his head.
Before Naruto could say more, Neji sat up rubbing his face and complaining, "Tenten! Why did you stop me? And why with a book?!"
Scowling at the Hyuuga, Tenten retorted, "I already said why! Hinata doesn't want you guys fighting, and a couple of books were the nearest things I had to throw! Now come on!" She stomped over to Neji and pulled him up roughly by the arm. Practically dragging him away, she continued yelling at him. "Let's get back to Lee and leave Naruto and the others alone!"
Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the Hyuuga prodigy as he was being dragged away by the angry girl. His mood turned sour again, though, when he sat back down at the table.
"Man, Hinata just saved you from having your ass kicked again!" Kiba yelled while laughing at the blonde.
"Shut up, Dog Breath! I would've beat Neji without breaking a sweat!" Naruto declared confidently.
"Sure, sure," the fang-tattooed boy replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, much to the blonde hero's rising ire.
Deciding he was done eating, Naruto stood up from the table and stalked off angrily, leaving the others staring after him.
"Way to go, Mutt," Sakura said with irritation.
"Hey, don't blame me! He can say he'll beat Neji all he wants, but I'm not going to believe it until I see it!" the Inuzuka countered defensively.
"What about what happened this morning?" Shino asked, finally joining the conversation. "Naruto managed to pin Neji without any of us seeing him move."
Kiba scoffed. "As far as we know, that was just a fluke. Until he actually knocks Neji out, I'm not going to buy any of his boasting!"
"Hmm. Well, I believe there is more to Naruto than we've seen so far. Why you ask? Because there is no way someone can move as fast as he did under normal circumstances," Shino replied.
The rest just cast odd glances at each other as they fell into an awkward silence, none of them knowing what to say to that. The silence continued until Ino started chattering away about something pointless for the remainder of their lunch break.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
In only a few short minutes since leaving the table, Naruto had managed to sneak up to the roof of the school building. He had to sneak because students technically weren't allowed up there, but he needed a good place to calm down. Neji's attitude and the fact that Naruto had been denied yet again to pound the Hyuuga's smug face into the dirt was infuriating the mutant boy to no end. But what made it so much worse was that it was Hinata who had stopped him this time. Indirectly, sure, but even still Tenten wouldn't have stepped in had it not been for Hinata asking her to.
"She's only worried about you. She doesn't want you to get in trouble," the logical—or at least more forgiving side—of Naruto's brain pointed out as the boy paced back and forth.
"But she knew Ibiki-sensei said it was okay! I told her that beforehand!" the blonde argued with himself aloud.
"Maybe she had another reason that you should ask her about," the logic side countered.
Sighing, Naruto reluctantly replied, "Yeah...I guess that's true."
Looking at his phone, he saw he had a few minutes left of his lunch break, so he tapped Hinata's name on the screen to call her. As the phone was ringing, he took a deep breath to calm himself—he didn't want to yell at the bluenette or say something he would regret.
"Hello?" came Hinata's voice over the receiver.
"Hey, Nata."
"Naruto? Why're you calling now? Did something happen?" she asked.
"Um...yeah, kinda. Tenten stopped me and Neji from fighting," he began and paused to see if she'd say anything.
"...I see."
"She said she stopped us 'cause you asked her to..."
There was an audible sigh and then Hinata responded, "I'm sorry, Naruto. I just didn't want you two fighting at school."
"But why, Hinata? I told you what Ibiki said! And it was completely self-defense! Why would you stop me from wiping that smug-ass look off his face?! Especially after how much he badmouths you!" Naruto shouted into his phone.
It was quiet for several long seconds, and the hero was starting to think Hinata had hung up on him. Not that he could blame her. As much as he hadn't wanted to start yelling at her, it seems he ended up doing just that, and he was starting to feel terrible for it.
Finally, though, the bluenette's voice was heard again. "I really am sorry, Naruto. I was...just being selfish, really... I just w-wanted to..." she trailed off, mumbling something not even the hero's enhanced hearing could decipher.
So he asked, "What did you say, Nata? I didn't catch that."
There was another sigh and then, "I said I wanted...t-to be able to see your rematch with Neji-nii-san..."
For a moment, Naruto was speechless with disbelief, and then suddenly, he burst out laughing. "Are you serious, Nata? I thought you were against us fighting!"
"I n-never said that," she replied calmly, although he could hear a tiny amount of annoyance in her voice for him laughing at her. "I may love my cousin and wish he were nicer, but that doesn't mean I don't think he deserves a s-superhuman punch to the face to teach him a lesson."
"Hahahahaha! Wow, Nata! I just never expected that from someone as sweet and nice as you," Naruto said through a fit of giggles.
Hinata couldn't help but laugh as well. It was contagious when it came from the whiskered blonde. "W-We all have our limits to what we can take, Naruto, and I've been listening to Neji call me a f-failure and t-tell me that it's my fate to stay a failure since I was three years old. If you're going to defend me to him, I would like to be there to see it."
With one last chuckle, Naruto replied, "You got it, Nata. No beating up Neji until you're here to watch, I promise!" Turning more serious, the blonde added, "And Nata, I'm sorry for yelling at you."
"It's okay, Naruto. I can understand why you were angry."
"No, it's not okay, Nata. I shouldn't have done that. But I'll make it up to you! That's also a promise!" The bell rang then, so before the heiress could respond, he said, "Gotta get to class now, Nata! I'll see you after school!"
"O-Okay!" he heard just as he hung up.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Finally, the school day was over without further incident. Other than Naruto having to dodge Sasuke before the Uchiha could challenge him to another spar, that is. Guy-sensei had chosen some other random student to fight Naruto in gym class, and the blonde could tell that Sasuke had not been happy about that. And while Naruto would enjoy another fight with the Uchiha, he couldn't afford to waste the time today. He had many things to talk to Hinata about and wanted to get to her house as soon as he could.
After dropping off Hinata's homework with George—claiming he had things he had to do at home when the butler asked if he would like to see the heiress—Naruto had pretended to leave the Hyuuga grounds only to sneak around the house to the tree that he used to sneak into Hinata's room as the Kitsune Ninja. Because of the secrecy of the topics they had to discuss, Hinata had suggested they talk in her soundproof room, which she had explained to him was the only reason he hadn't been heard by Neji when he sneaked into her room the first time. But due to her father's rule about keeping the bedroom door open when she was with male friends, Naruto had to sneak back in now.
Hinata squeaked in surprise when Naruto pulled her into a hug as soon as he shut her window. He held her in a gentle, but firm grip to his chest while he buried his nose into her hair and breathed deeply. The girl's face was completely crimson with embarrassment, but found herself snuggling into him anyway. Eventually, Naruto released her with a sheepish grin on his face while rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry, Nata. I just missed you today," he apologized somewhat meekly.
Encouraged by his admission of missing her, Hinata took his hand and led him to the couch. "I-It's okay, Naruto. I...I missed you too." They both sat down, and she looked at him. "So...about what we were going to discuss..."
Naruto gave a light chuckle at her bashful behavior. "What first? You wanna talk about what I am and how I got like this, or do you wanna tell me about your Gadget Girl stuff?"
"W-Well, I'm actually rather curious about you," the bluenette answered shyly.
"Alright. Wha'dya wanna know first, Nata?" he asked with a foxy grin.
Hinata replied, "Well, everything actually. I guess to start, how did you get your abilities?"
Naruto leaned back and stared at the ceiling with a thoughtful chuckle. "Ah... Well, that actually happened right here in Konoha, believe it or not."
"Really? How?"
"My class came to OrochiCorp Laboratories for our end-of-the-year field trip," Naruto explained. "And naturally, about halfway through, I got bored and decided to sneak off."
"Naturally," Hinata repeated with a giggle. She was quite familiar by now with Naruto's attitude toward school as well as his lack of concern when it came to following the rules.
Naruto laughed lightly in return. "Hey, what can I say? It's just who I am, ya know!"
"And I wouldn't change that about you," Hinata said with a gentle smile.
The boy returned the expression with the slightest tinge of pink on his whiskered cheeks. "Thanks, Nata." He cleared his throat. "So anyway, I snuck off into the lab, borrowing a lab coat along the way, and by a stroke of luck, there was a keycard in the pocket of the coat.
"So using that card, I managed to get myself deeper into the lab, and eventually, I came into this huge room that was full of caged animals. But they weren't like the things I've been fighting recently. I mean, the animals in that room were different, yeah, but they didn't look like they were made up of a bunch of different animals sewn together, ya know? They were just...weird looking. Like one of the first ones I saw was this huge, orange and blue toad," he gestured with his hands to try and show Hinata just how big it was," and then there was Kurama. He was in the back of the room, and when I first saw him, he was like he is when he's Kyuubi except the only black fur he had was by his eyes while the rest was orange."
"So basically, how he looks now except bigger and with nine tails," Hinata restated.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded.
"So what happened?" Hinata asked, eager to hear more of the story.
Naruto scratched his cheek. "Well, I've always liked foxes, so I wanted to get a better look. But as soon as he saw me, he got all defensive and started growling at me, and I gotta admit, he managed to scare me a bit despite the fact that he was separated from me by the bars of his cage. Rather than leave, though, I tried to calm him down."
"But why? Didn't you think he would hurt you?"
"It crossed my mind," Naruto admitted ruefully, rubbing the nape of his neck. "I don't really know what made me try to get closer. I just did. And if I remember right, I think he calmed down as soon as I mentioned the fact that I didn't work there. He suddenly got all nice like he wanted me to pet him. Ya know, completely un-Kurama-like." He chuckled and Hinata giggled. "So I reached into the cage—"
"W-Wait, what? Why did you reach into the cage? Naruto, he could've taken your hand off!" Hinata exclaimed in concern and disbelief.
Naruto's face took on a slightly embarrassed expression, and he rubbed the back of his neck again. "What can I say, Nata? You know I don't really think about stuff ahead of time like I should. But he didn't do that, so it's okay, ya know."
Hinata sighed. "I guess that's true. Still, that was rather reckless, Naruto," she chastised softly.
But Naruto just grinned at her. "It's what I do best, ya know!"
Despite herself Hinata giggled at his antics. "So what did Kurama do?"
"Ah well, he let me pet him for a bit, but then suddenly, he bit my arm really hard! When he let me go, it hurt like a bi—er, really, really bad. But even weirder than all the animals in the room was that the wound healed almost instantly," he told her.
"Wait. So you mean the healing ability you have started that quickly?" Hinata questioned.
"Yup!" Naruto grinned for a moment, but it faded to a slight smile as he continued. "At the time, though, I didn't know what the heck Kurama did to me. And when I asked him, I sure as shit didn't expect him to answer me!" He paused and looked at Hinata sheepishly. "Sorry," he apologized for his language.
Hinata smiled at him, used to his tendency to swear every now and then. "It's fine, Naruto. You were saying?"
"Ah yeah, Kurama suddenly told me he 'gave me a gift' or whatever, and as soon as I got over my shock at seeing a talking fox," the blonde let out a laugh, "he told me some of the things this 'gift' was supposed to do to me and the fact that he was pretty sure I'd stay mostly human..." Naruto trailed off for a second then mumbled, "Glad he was right about that."
For a moment, they were silent as they both considered how different things would be now if Naruto had transformed into a half-fox hybrid or into something more closely resembling Kurama. To shake them out of the contemplative mood, Hinata laid a hand on the hero's forearm and gave it a small squeeze.
Catching his attention, she asked, "What happened after that?"
Naruto smiled and put his hand over hers, which was still on his arm. "Well, Kurama told me one more thing before he had me run out of the room before the lab workers found me in there. He told me to only tell those I trust with all my heart about my new abilities."
The bluenette considered those words for a moment before their full meaning dawned on her. "Wait...s-so you mean..."
"That I absolutely trust you? Yeah, Nata. I do," Naruto gave her a soft smile and intertwined his fingers with the hand he was holding. "What you know about me could get me hauled off to a lab somewhere...if not outright killed for pretty much being a mutant. But even though we've only known each other for a little over a couple of weeks, I know I can trust you. Besides the fact that you're probably the nicest person I've ever met, you also didn't tell even me that you knew my secret, and you were even trying to help me. If I can't trust you, then I can't trust anyone, ya know."
Hinata felt her heart swell with happiness to know that he trusted her, and her lips curved upward into a smile as her cheeks reddened. She was both delighted and embarrassed by his compliments and his confidence in her to protect his secret. The feelings faded a bit, however, when a new thought occurred to her, which she voiced aloud. "But, Naruto... What...what would you have done if you couldn't trust me?"
Naruto blinked once in surprise, raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head slightly as he considered her words. Scrunching his eyes up into a thoughtful squint, he answered after several seconds passed, "Um...Well, I dunno. I guess I would've had to find some way of keeping you quiet." At Hinata's wide-eyed expression, he chuckled softly to lighten the mood and said, "Yeah, that sounds kinda dark, huh? I don't know that I would've done anything harmful to you...Kurama might have, but I can't speak for him..." he trailed off for a moment before a mischievous grin took over his face. "However, he began while turning to Hinata and moving closer to her, which caused the bluenette to lean back slightly, confused as to what he was doing. "Hehehe. I suppose I could've bought your silence through other means, ya know..." He wiggled his eyebrows at her to emphasize his implication.
The poor Hyuuga's face heated up immediately. "Na-Naruto!" she shoved him back playfully with a giggle.
Naruto fell back against the arm of the couch, laughing. Gaining control of his mirth, he mock-pouted and whined, "Moh...! Nata...! Are you trying to tell me you wouldn't want me as your personal love slave?"
"W-What?! No! I-I mean, yes! W-Wait... I don't know!" Hinata yelled with her hands on her red cheeks, completely flustered. Seeing Naruto laughing at her, she shoved him a little again. "N-Naruto! D-D-Don't tease me like that!"
"Sorry! Sorry, Nata. Hehehe," Naruto apologized, though obviously still amused.
The heiress put a scowling pout on her face, crossed her arms, and turned away from him with a "Hmph!"
The blonde boy grew a bit worried, thinking he crossed a line with his shy friend, and he tugged at her shoulder while apologizing. "Nata, I'm sorry! I was just playing with you, ya know! Don't be mad! I won't do it again!"
Hearing his tone, Hinata peeked over her shoulder to look at him, and he saw an amused glint in her eye and the sly smirk on her lips. With a giggle, she told him, "Y-You aren't the only one who can tease here."
He blinked once in surprise before the infamous fox grin returned to his face. An idea for revenge occurred to him when he remembered her reaction the other day when he had poked her in the side to get her attention—Hinata was ticklish. Leaning close to her, he said, "Why you sneaky little princess... Pranking a prankster, huh? You know, of course, that this means war!" He jumped up on his knees with hands held his hands up, wiggling his fingers.
Lavender eyes widened. "What're you go—Ah! No! Hahahahaha!" Hinata lost all ability to speak as Naruto started viciously tickling her sides. "N-Naru—! Hahahahaha! St-Stop! Ahahaha!"
He hovered over the poor girl as she lay helplessly laughing on the couch while he continued assaulting her sides with his fingers. Letting out an evil laugh, the blonde asked, "Do you surrender, Hime?"
"Y-Yes! Hahaha! Y-You win!" Hinata cried.
Chuckling at her, Naruto stopped his assault immediately, but didn't move from his position over her. Rather, he just watched as she regained control over her breathing after laughing so hard and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Finally noticing the whisker-faced boy was still leaning over her supporting himself with one arm on either side of her, the classic Hinata blush reappeared on her face.
"You're so cute when you blush," Naruto said in a low voice, which caused Hinata to turn that certain shade that made her resemble a tomato.
That was it—he couldn't take it anymore. After being interrupted three times when they had almost kissed before, the blonde hero decided nothing was going to stop him now.
Halfway closing his blue eyes, Naruto leaned down further toward Hinata, watching her expression as he grew closer. He found himself lost in those lavender pools again and felt that strange pull that only served to encourage him in moving toward the girl beneath him. The bluenette's breath hitched, and her heart was racing—she couldn't believe this was happening but hoped so much that it really was and wasn't just some dream.
Naruto was less than an inch away from her face and whispered, "Hinata..." She could feel his breath on her skin and closed her eyes, waiting to feel his lips against hers...
TAP TAP TAP
The sudden noise caused Naruto to jerk his head at the last second, making his cheek land on Hinata's mouth instead. He immediately lifted himself off of her and gave her an apologetic look for unintentionally ruining the mood, especially when he saw how disappointed and embarrassed she was. Standing up from the couch, the hero looked over at the window and saw Kurama outside on the tree branch, tapping on the window. Letting out a feral growl, he stormed angrily over to the waiting fox while a pouting Hinata sat up on the couch.
Throwing open the window, Naruto growled, –You're about to become a nine-tailed fur coat, ya know!–
–Nice to see you too, Kit– Kurama growled back sarcastically while jumping in through the window. –What's eating you?–
–Nothing. Just get your furry ass over to Hinata,– Naruto snarled as he closed the window.
Shrugging off the boy's mood, Kurama walked over to the bluenette on the couch, who seemed slightly peeved about something as well but was doing a much better job at keeping her feelings in check. Looking from her to his blonde, human partner walking over to him, the fox smirked knowingly.
"Oh, I see now. I ruined a moment it seems," he chuckled at the humans, growing into full-on laughter when the humans' faces turned bright red.
"Sh-Shut up, fox! Go chase your freakin' tail!" Naruto yelled angrily, which only caused Kurama to laugh harder. Picking him up by the scruff of his neck, the blonde glared at the fox, who just continued to snicker at his human friends' expense.
Reining in her embarrassment, Hinata rose from the couch and put a gentle hand on her best friend's shoulder, and when he looked at her, she said, "N-Naruto, let him go please. We still have things to talk about."
"Fine," Naruto replied while dropping Kurama unceremoniously on the floor. The fox landed lightly on his feet, though, and jumped onto the ottoman in front of the couch and sat down. When the two humans retook their seats on the couch, Naruto cleared his throat and looked to Hinata. "So, where were we?"
"Um..." the heiress paused to think for a moment with a delicate finger on her bottom lip, which distracted Naruto to no end. "Ah!" she exclaimed as the memory finally returned. "Y-You had just finished telling me about Kurama's warning to not share your secret with anyone other than those you trust with all your heart."
Naruto nodded. "Oh yeah, that's right. Hmm..." he thought for a moment. "Well, there's really not much else to tell after that. I made it back out of the lab and such without getting caught, and my...transformation? I guess that's what you could call it... It didn't happen until the next day."
"I would like to hear about that—your transformation, I mean," Hinata said. "What exactly changed right away? How did you find out about all your abilities, and what all are they?"
"Yes, I too am curious about just what your abilities are, Kit," Kurama stated while curling his tail around his paws. "What did my gift do to you? You've yet to tell me exactly."
"Well..." Naruto began while scratching his cheek, which caused him to remember the whisker-marks that adorned where he was scratching. "Actually, these marks on my face were one of the first things I noticed."
"Really?" both the heiress and the fox asked, and the blonde nodded.
Hinata raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly in confusion. "I thought you said they were birthmarks."
"No, his grandparents decided that he should call them that so the teachers of his school wouldn't think he was a bad influence or something for having tattoos," Kurama informed the bluenette.
"You didn't know that was a lie?" Naruto asked Hinata, and said girl looked down at the floor unhappily.
"No," she said sadly. "But I'm not as good as my father, Neji, or even my little sister at reading people's expressions, and it's not like you were as obvious about that lie as you were about being the Kitsune Ninja."
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I need to get better about that. Don't be so hard on yourself, though, Nata. I'm sure you'll get better at reading people if you keep practicing. Just don't let other people's expectations get to you. Okay?" He took her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze.
"O-Okay," Hinata replied with a big smile.
The blonde grinned at her briefly, and then said, "Hmm... So this probably means your dad knows the 'whiskers are birthmarks' thing is a lie."
"I'm sure he does, but he has not mentioned it," Hinata told him. "Assuming he does, he most likely just thinks they're tattoos and that you want to hide that fact."
"Well, I guess that works as long as he doesn't straight-up confront me about it," Naruto commented.
Clearing his throat to gain the humans' attention, Kurama asked, "So you were saying about your abilities...?"
"Oh, right! Got off track there, huh?" the boy grinned while rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, when I woke up the next day, I had the whisker-marks, red eyes, and fingernail claws going on. Freaked the living crap outta me, but I'm glad I saw that in the mirror instead of just walking down to the kitchen where my parents were. Probably would've given them heart attacks." He chuckled at the thought of the horrified expressions his parents might have had upon seeing him. "But luckily I figured out right away that I could change back to normal just by concentrating on it."
"Your changes are completely voluntary? Then why did you wake up changed?" Hinata asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto shrugged. "I'm not sure. Might've just been the initial transformation. I also spent the day with my senses suddenly getting a lot stronger and staying that way. I found out I had super speed on the way to school, and then while I was in class, I all of a sudden had a better sense of smell, hearing, sight...everything. Gave me the mother of all headaches too with how freakin' LOUD everything was too, ya know!" He grimaced at the memory. "The next day, though, everything was normal again, and I could make my senses stronger on my own."
"Interesting," Kurama stated with a flick of his tail. "So you've acquired super strength, speed, enhanced senses, claws that can cut through metal, a healing ability that protects you from most mortal wounds, and the ability to talk to animals... Any drawbacks?"
"Hmm..." Naruto hummed in thought while tapping his chin with a finger. "Well, I know I need to eat more now...and sleep a bit more too. And getting injured still hurts like a bitch even if I can survive it. Other than that...I dunno." He shrugged. "I know there's limits to my strength and speed and all that other stuff too. I'm not invincible, ya know."
"And your brain is probably your biggest weakness," the fox commented matter-of-factly.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled indignantly.
"Well, did you or did you not attack that lizard monster with a kunai instead of your claws, which could cut through the weapon?" Kurama questioned.
"Well...yeah, I did, but—"
"And did you not try to burst into that warehouse without thinking to save your mate?"
Hinata blushed at the word 'mate', but looked over at Naruto, who was looking shamefaced. "Okay, I did that too, alright? But—"
"And I know I can't quite read anything yet, but I'm pretty sure all those red marks on your homework aren't good. Correct?"
Gritting his teeth, the hero replied in a strained voice, "I get it, alright? I don't always think ahead, and I suck at school. You happy now?"
Kurama smirked at him, cheekily disregarding his friend's irritation. "Well, at least your mate and I can make up for that."
The blonde stuck his tongue out at him while mentally deciding to get back at the fox later, and Hinata giggled at his expression. Turned to her, Naruto asked, "So, Nata, is there anything else you wanna know, or are you ready to show me your Gadget Girl stuff?"
Smiling, Hinata replied, "I think that's everything I wanted to know." She stood up from the couch. "So now I'll show you Gadget Girl."
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
And that's it for now. I think this chapter could possibly be considered filler, but I wanted to have Naruto interact with more people other than Hinata. Don't want to keep overloading on the fluff. As much as I like it, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. And some of these details will have importance in the future. I was going to show Hinata as Gadget Girl in this chapter, but it got away from me. Seriously, including my author's notes here, we're exceeding 11,000 words here. So she'll have to wait until next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out sooner too, but like I said last chapter, no promises. *sigh* Makes me sad how much my time has been taken away from me because of school. And that's the most used excuse by authors on this site. What is it with all of us and school? Why is it that 99.9% of us seem to be spending all of our lives on school crap? It sucks, ya know? I hate school—always have. And this makes me hate it more. T_T
Hope you guys don't mind the filler, though. But if you thought the chapter sucked...well, I don't know what to tell you. *shrug* Life is full of things that suck. All I can say is I'm trying to reach a point where I can pick up the pace. If things go how I want them (which they never do, but we'll see), then next chapter should be that point. We can only hope.
Lame pun time:
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat minor.
XD
And a quick note about the lame puns/jokes I put up here: If any of you ever don't get them and want to know, PM me. I typically don't like to explain a joke because doing so tends to kill any amusement the joke once had, but since I got a review from a guest who didn't understand the last one, I am willing to explain any puns/jokes privately. I'm mostly continuing with the puns and jokes, though, for my own amusement and possibly anyone else's. I hope they're not bugging anyone, but if they are, they shouldn't be too hard to ignore.
So that's it. Until next time!