"Nee-chan!" Hanabi cried.
Upon my opening of the apartment door, I was greeted by a teary-eyed Hanabi as she threw her arms around me, taking us both down to the floor. I sat up and rubbed the back of my head. Hanabi cuddled herself against me, burying her face into my stomach.
"It's been so long!" she cried "I never thought I'd get to see you again!"
I gaped at her in shock. "H-Hanabi! What are you doing here?" It was five in the morning, and I'd only woken up due to the rapid knocking at my front door.
She hadn't heard my question, but continued to hold onto me, babbling incoherent words that I could make out to be affection.
"Uncle wanted us to come and check up on you," replied a familiar voice.
I looked up in shock to see my cousin standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame as he studied me with an amused look on his face.
"N...Neji nii-san?"
Once everyone was settled, I brought out a tray of freshly-poured tea to serve them. They both thanked me and took a sip. Hanabi reclined herself into the soft folds of the leather sofa, her legs dangling out as she swung them up and down. I smiled upon seeing this. She hadn't changed too much. She was still the same tomboy. Her hair on the other hand was noticeably longer, but her face retained the same baby fat she had that I found adorable. Her brown hair was straight, completely different from my own in terms of color. Nonetheless, it shouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that we were related. Hyuuga eyes were the dead giveaway.
Hanabi took notice of my staring and grinned in return. I felt my chest warming in affection for her. My ten-year old sister was so cute.
I looked over to Neji nii-san who quietly sipped at his tea, his posture straight but relaxed. In the time I hadn't seen him, he seemed to have only gotten more beautiful (handsome). His brown hair was pulled back and fell over his right shoulder. Soft-looking with that same silky texture his hair held. His alabaster skin was flawless from what I could see. Neji nii-san was in no way feminine when it came to his personality, but his looks alone said something else otherwise. Girls constantly tried flirting with him while boys failed miserably at hitting on him, much to his disgust.
Nii-san noticed my staring and raised an eyebrow in return. I smiled at him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I-It's nothing. I was just thinking about...how happy I am to see you two."
Nii-san blushed at this and coughed into his closed fist. "It hasn't been that long," he muttered, clearly embarrassed. Hanabi took this chance to start teasing him.
Laughing, I stood up to get a few snacks from the kitchen for them to eat. We had a lot of catching up to do.
Sasuke's POV:
I watched as the old hag tucked away her stethoscope, snapping her black bag shut.
"That'll be all for today, Sasuke. You can put your shirt back on now."
Rubbing the small band-aid on my left arm, I winced at the shot she'd given me earlier. I had a feeling she'd done it so that it would purposely hurt me. The needle had been a big one too this time.
"Old hag," I muttered underneath my breath.
She looked up at me, her eyes glinting like a hawk. "Did you say something?"
I didn't answer, but instead slipped my shirt back on, buttoning the front of it up. "Can I go now?"
"Yes," she replied before settling herself into that big-ass, leather chair of hers "but there's one thing I'd like to ask you before you leave."
I sighed, annoyed at her stalling me from getting to class. "What is it now?"
She smiled, folding her hands over each other as she leaned forward, her eyes on me. "In the past few weeks, I've noticed during your regular checkups the drastic changes within your health."
"And?"
She smirked. "You've been eating healthy lately, ne?"
I scoffed. "What's it to you?"
"So tell me," she grinned "is Hyuuga-san's cooking that delicious?" I hated that smug tone in her voice. I. Absolutely. Hated it.
Throwing on my blazer, I left her office, making sure to slam the door shut on my way out with as much force as I possibly could.
As I got ready for school that morning, Neji nii-san offered to drive me there. I agreed, more than eager to arrive on time. It certainly saved me the trouble of having to take the bus. The fare had risen for both adults and children.
Properly knotting the red-ribbon beneath the collar of my sailor fuku, I took care to carefully smooth out the wrinkles of my pleated, gray skirt. I ran a brush quickly through my hair before running into the kitchen. Since I'd woken up earlier than I usually did today, I'd had plenty of time to put together a healthy lunch for everyone at school. Wrapping up the bentos in a large, blue cloth, I smiled, pleased with my creation for the day.
Nii-san instructed for me to hurry up since he didn't know where my school was. The only way for me to get there on time was to show him the directions ahead of time. After Hanabi begged insistently that she come too, nii-san, annoyed, growled a "Fine." Pleased that she didn't have to wait for him at the apartment, my sister skipped her way out the door.
Slipping on my shoes, I gathered my things before following Hanabi and nii-san outside.
During our ride to my school, nii-san kept yelling at Hanabi for bouncing around in the backseat of the car. She decided to rebel and stick her tongue out at him. Nii-san in response purposely made sharp turns, taking delight in the fact that he'd scared her into properly sitting down with her seat-belt on.
"Nii-san, you're so mean!" she cried, pouting angrily at him. He merely shrugged, while eyeing her through the rear-view mirror. I couldn't help but giggle at the comedic, yet affectionate moment they shared. The two were always arguing. With Hanabi defying nii-san and whatnot. But nii-san only did what he did because he cared about her. There was also the fact that when Hanabi played, she liked to roughhouse, much to nii-san's horror.
As soon as we stopped at a red-light, nii-san turned his head to look at me. "How's school?" he asked.
I played with the strands of my hair. "It's fun. S-Sakura and Ino go there too."
"Really?" he seemed a bit surprised at this, but I could tell he was pleased due to the small smile that revealed itself briefly on his lips.
After a few more seconds, the light turned green. "N-Nii-san," I pointed.
He nodded with a "Hn," before pressing down on the gas pedal.
There were ten minutes left on the clock before classes started. Just as I was about to climb out of the car, Hanabi called for me to turn around. I did so without thinking, which resulted in her landing a quick kiss on my cheek. "Have fun," she smiled. I could literally feel my heart melting at her adorableness. Smiling, I kissed her on the cheek in return.
"You too." Turning to nii-san, I kissed him on the cheek as well. He certainly hadn't been expecting it, and from what I could see, was clearly embarrassed, his face red. "Bye nii-san," I smiled.
He muttered a quick "Bye" before stepping down on the gas pedal. I watched as his car dissapeared down the road.
As I approached the school's entrance, slim white arms threw themselves around my waist from behind in a playful manner. "Ne, was that your cousin?" Ino asked, angling her head to look up at me from the side. Her pale-blue eyes reminded me of jewels in the sunlight, her pink lips set into a curious "o" for a mouth. I nodded, which only caused her to squeal in delight. "I knew it!" She clasped her hands together and stared off dreamily into space. "You're so lucky, I wish I could be around someone as handsome as him all the time."
Approaching her from behind, Sakura knocked Ino in the back of her head with her schoolbag, earning a cry from the other girl. Ino turned around to glare at her. "What the hell did you do that for, forehead?!"
Sakura snorted. "I doubt a handsome guy like him would want to be around an ugly girl like you."
From there on, the two went into bickering mode, playing verbal-tennis as they threw insults at each other.
During class that day, I wasn't able to concentrate as much. Hanabi and Neji nii-san had definitely succeeded in distracting me from the thoughts I'd harbored since yesterday. Seeing Uchiha-san, however, had immediately brought those memories back, causing the blood to rush to my face.
Kakashi-sensei went on-and-on in that mechanical-drone of his. It was purely soporific, enough to make me want to lie my head down on the top of my desk.
As soon as the bell rang for lunch, Kakashi-sensei was out the door as usual. I'd taken notice of the eager look in his eyes every time he left. He always seemed happy for some reason.
Pushing our desks together, everyone (minus Uchiha-san) watched in excitement as I unwrapped the blue cloth, revealing today's lunch. I made sure to put in a variety of colors in order to make the bento presentable. Sakura gushed at her favorite rice with black-beans and water chestnuts that I'd taken care into carving so that they resembled a cherry-blossom shape. There were also a few red and blue berries that I'd hand-pick, mixed with grain-sized sweet nuts. Ino's lunch consisted of her favorite octopus-shaped sausages, rolled and neatly-sliced fried eggs, along with a side of white-rice. She stared in awe and too eagerly broke apart her chopsticks. For Naruto-kun I'd packed him stir-fried noodles with a generous side-helping of wholesome vegetables, shrimp-tempura, and his all-time favorite, aside from ramen, the fox-shaped onigiri he claimed to love. Naruto had a strange obsession with foxes. And as for why, I wasn't too sure.
"Itadakimasu!" the three cried before digging in.
Turning to Uchiha-san, I handed him his bento, blushing as I did so. For some reason, I still felt embarrassed about what he'd said yesterday to me in the library. Had I been hearing things, or had his words been spoken in an attempt to comfort me?
"You're not as bad as you make yourself out to be y'know."
Still blushing, I watched as he opened it, hoping to get a somewhat, positive reaction out of him. I'd packed everyone their favorites, along with a side-dish of something healthy. Uchiha-san's bento consisted of bright, cherry-tomatoes, pork cutlet, rolled eggs (with less sugar in them), natto, and a side of white-rice as well. I sat, eagerly waiting for him to say something, anything. Instead, he pulled apart his chopsticks and began to eat.
A bit heartbroken, I decided to look at it on the bright side. His eating it meant, without a doubt, that he approved.
Once everyone was finished, everyone thanked me for the lunch (minus Uchiha-san again). I took no offense to it though. It was his personality.
Naruto-kun glancing over at Uchiha-san's bento pointed out something that I hadn't noticed. "Oi, teme, you didn't eat all of your food."
Uchiha-san merely turned his head away, a slight twitch of a frown etching his features.
"Oi, did you hear what I said?" Naruto-kun questioned.
After a long silence, Uchiha-san replied. "I heard you, dobe."
"Then why didn't you finish your lunch? Hinata spent a lot of time cooking everything for us. The least you could do is eat it all."
Uchiha-san frowned before replying "I...don't like natto."
Sakura and Ino spit out the water they were drinking while Naruto-kun gaped at Uchiha-san with his mouth wide open.
"What are you, a baby?" Naruto cried.
Uchiha-san glared at him, his glare clearly meaning "You'd better shut yourself up before I do it for you." Naruto-kun merely laughed and slapped his knee, placing a hand on Uchiha-san's shoulder, which he shrugged away from and said "Don't touch me, dobe."
"Oh, c'mon, I was kidding Sasuke." He batted his eyelashes at Uchiha-san who in turn twitched, a vein appearing near his temple. "Besides, I can't blame a babyfor not wanting to eat natto like a good boy should," he grinned.
I could see it in Uchiha-san's eyes then as he snapped. I stood up, ready to defend Naruto-kun if necessary, but was met only by shock when Uchiha-san picked up his chopsticks to stuff the handful of natto he'd left untouched into Naruto-kun's mouth. Snapping Naruto-kun's mouth so that it closed, he sat back down in his chair and smirked up at the shocked blond.
"Enjoy moron."
There was a long silence before Naruto-kun finally spoke.
"#%^&*$#$#!!!!!!!!!!!"
