Author's Note: If I have to write one more clothing description...
Disclaimer: Naruto's really not mine. I swear.
"Holy hell!" I shouted as I threw the door to my building open, the living room was empty. "It's colder than a brass toilet on the shady side of an iceberg!" I slammed the door shut and went over to the stove and click it on. I held my hands over the burner as it glowed a soft red. The difference in temperature made my hair stand on end and I shivered. I heard the door open and then close a few times, as well as heavy footsteps going up the stairs. I was rubbing my hands together vigorously when I heard a rhythmic knocking on the door.
"Come in!" I shouted. I'm not leaving this stove, I'm finally beginning to warm up. I heard a creak and looked over my shoulder to see the door open just slightly "You going to come in?"
"It's weird in here..." I heard Sakura whisper through the crack. Here we go.
~Say 'Maybe' To The Dress~
"Come on Miharu! We're going to miss the bus!" Tenten was yanking at my arm as I held up the hair dryer to my now sopping wet hoodie. Thankfully the hand soap managed to get the coffee out.
"I need to dry my sweater! I'll freeze my ass off." I looked at her seriously. "It will literally freeze and fall off. What will I sit on then?" I saw Sakura rub her forehead, trying to alleviate her stress.
"Let's just go, we'll be inside most of them time anyway." I turned off the hair dryer and placed it on the bathroom counter along with my sweatshirt.
"Fine." Tenten and Sakura walked ahead of me. "Where's Hinata?" I looked around for her, she was awfully quiet. Maybe she was just hiding.
"She's waiting down in the living room. She's a bit terrified." I looked on the couch and saw her twiddling her fingers. She looked like she was about to start crying. "Alright, let's go Hinata." She jumped nearly a foot and quickly stood up and walked out the door. She really wants to get out of here. I rubbed at my arms as I was about to walk outside and looked at the couch behind me. Sitting there, all by itself, was Deidara's hoodie. I looked ahead of me and saw Sakura walking further down the path. Ugh. I ran to the couch and grabbed it before anyone would notice. I'll return it as soon as we get back. It'll be like it never happened. I quickly threw it on and ran out the door, leaving my dignity behind.
"Come on Miharu! We're going to be late!" Tenten looked back at me and I had caught up with the rest of them. The sleeves of the sweatshirt reached to my fingertips, and the whole thing kind of sat loosely on me, but not enough that I looked like a little girl in her dad's jacket. I sniffed the sleeve, it's clean. Smells good too, my weakness. I stuffed my cold hands into the pockets of the sweatshirt and felt around. I plucked at something sticky stuck to the fibers of the pocket lining and pulled it out for closer inspection. Is that clay? I squished it between my fingers and it crumbled. Yep, it is. I checked in the other pocket and felt a small foil packet with a zigzagged edge. I pulled my hand back as if I had been stung by something. That better not be what I think it is. I lifted up the pocket to my face and looked inside.
Chicken flavor packet. Really? What a slob.
I stuffed my hands back into the pockets and picked at the little fabric pills on the inside. The four of us signed out waited outside by the bus stop.
"Dude, you were just complaining that you didn't have another sweatshirt, what's up with that?" Tenten looked at me.
"Uh, I'm just borrowing this one." I started to whistle, hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions, my dignity is damaged enough already.
"From who?"
"It's not important." I crossed my arms and turned my head. I saw Sakura whisper something into Tenten's ear out of the corner of my eye. "I'm not hiding anything either." The both giggled and turned away.
The bus pulled in and we hopped on, it was the same happy old man I remember from when I was doing my laundry.
"Hello!" I waved at him happily and turned towards Tenten, "I'm going to sit up here, don't worry about me." I sat up in the front seat. The two of us held a conversation the entire way into town, mostly about the weather. We reached the bus stop by the laundromat, and I was the first one off the bus. I waited patiently for my group of friends to get off the bus. Tenten raised an eyebrow at me.
"Do you know that guy?" She jabbed her thumb in the direction of the bus, which was now driving away. I shrugged.
"Nope, I met him when I was going to do laundry, he seems nice enough."
"Oh, that's cool." I followed Sakura who had just rounded the corner and was walking down the street. After a few minutes we were surrounded by buildings nearing five stories in height. We seemed to be moving closer to the city, the buildings were getting a bit closer together. We stopped in front of a little shop, with a pink awning and dresses in the display case on mannequins. Sakura pushed first through the door and a little dainty bell chimed, signaling our arrival to the store owner. I heard a TV on in the background and looked around for the source of the noise. Behind a counter, a head barely visible, was a little old lady knitting what appeared to be a scarf while watching a Korean drama. She waved to Sakura, who waved back.
"Alright, this is it." Sakura motioned around the room with her arms. I finally took in my surroundings. The walls were painted rose pink, and closet rods suspended beneath white shelving held dresses organized by color, and then by size. It was like a rainbow. On top of the white shelves were vintage purses and shoes on display. In the back left side of the room was a small hall leading to fitting rooms, while in front of the display window to my right was a small dark wood bench with a white pillow running the length of it. The floors were dark wood, scuffed and scratched from the numerous customers. It was homey.
"Tenten, am I a red, or a pink?" Sakura held two dressed and alternated between holding one or the other up to her chin.
"You're a 'what ever costs least', you're only going to wear it once anyway." Tenten brushed her off "I don't even get this whole dress thing anyway." She walked away from Sakura who continued to hold the dresses up to her chest in front of a full length mirror. Tenten walked over towards a small corner where a number of darker dresses were sitting. They contrasted sharply with the mostly bright and pastel colors of the other dresses. Now that looks like my section. I walked over towards Tenten who was browsing casually.
"Dress shopping not your thing either?" She said without pulling away from the dresses. She pulled out a black one and looked at the price tag before quickly putting it back.
"Hardly." I laughed and leafed through the fabric. One in particular caught my eye. It was a deep plum dress with chiffon over a satin lining, very classy. It had a boat neck and a shallow v-cut back. The dress was fitted up until the start of the natural waist, where a black chiffon sash was tied into a loose bow. The skirt was was full and flowing, perfect for impromptu spins and sways. It was beautiful, and I don't often call things beautiful. I nearly yanked the whole rod down when I pulled it off.
It's my size. My jaw dropped, that never happens. I looked at the price tag. That never happens either, I can afford it! Today is my lucky day. I looked at Tenten who was holding out a plain brown taffeta dress with sheer, elbow length sleeves. It had a shallow scoop neck, and was relatively form fitting from what I could tell, and flared out slightly at the very bottom. On the back was a medium sized, key hole opening held closed with a button in lieu of a zipper. It was slightly casual, but suited her personality. I bet it would look good on her. I saw her eye the price tag and ponder for a second.
"It's now or never girly!" I shoved her in the direction of the fitting room while she still held the dress. She started laughing and walked towards the fitting room, I followed behind her with the dress I was interested in. I peaked at Sakura as we walked by, she was still debating between red or pink. Hinata held a up a dress with pale yellow satin layered under floral printed chiffon. It was loosely fitted throughout, and had a cap sleeve illusion neckline.
I went into the fitting room, and tried on my dress. It fit like a dream. Thankfully it had wide straps, I hate strapless dresses. I hate strapless anything, especially strapless bras. Those are the worst. I tried on the dress, and it fell an inch or so below my knees. It was probably made for someone quite a bit taller than me, but I liked the length where it was. I spun around and the skirt flowed just how I imagined it to, I'd have to be careful though, if I spun too hard I would end up showing everyone my 'day of the week' underwear, and I don't do free shows.
"Hey Tenten, what do you think?" I called out as I walked out of the fitting room. Tenten was looking at herself in the mirror. That brown dress looked fabulous on her. It hugged her frame closely, but in a mature, classy way. She turned around to look at me. I grinned and spun around slowly.
"Oh, fancy!" She came over and looked at the price tag, "And affordable, get it." Sakura practically pushed her way through and came over to look at us.
"You both look good. Pink, or red?" I dropped my chin slightly and stared at her.
"Red." Sakura ran to put the pink dress back. She came back to the fitting room with a red dress in hand and rushed inside a stall to try it on.
"Wait for me, I want your opinion!" She shouted, I could hear a zipper undoing and her struggle around to get the dress on quickly. "I'm almost done." She was trying to put this dress on as fast as she could. "Okay, I'm good, someone just needs to zip me up." I walked to the stall and knocked on the door. Sakura opened it and faced her back towards me. I pulled up the zipper, careful not to catch any of the fabric. Sakura turned around and smiled while tucking some hair behind her ear. "I think it looks great! Red is definitely the right color." The dress had a strapless sweetheart neckline, with light, subtle beading along the bust. It was fitted to her waist before flaring out with numerous layers of tulle and glittery chiffon. It fell just an inch or two above her knees.
"Okay, beautiful, let's go, I'm hungry." Tenten pushed Sakura back into the fitting room. "Hinata, are you trying on yours as well?" Tenten looked back at Hinata who nodded quickly. She ran into a fitting room, was silent for a few minutes, and then walked back out with the dress in her hands. "So it fits?" Hinata nodded. Man, she's quiet. We paid for our dresses, and walked out of the little store and walked for a few minutes. Tenten was starting to get cranky. "Are we almost there? I'm starving!"
"You'll know when we get close, you eat here all the time!" Sakura turned back and smacked the back of Tenten's head.
"I know, but I'm just so hungry!" We walked for a few more minutes, and stopped in front of a slightly worn down restaurant. There was a crooked sign that simply read "Suyin's". The letter's were slightly faded, and the lamp illuminating the sign had a burnt light bulb. Tenten ran across the street, narrowly avoiding the slow oncoming traffic, a horn honked and she stuck her tongue out at the passing car. She excitedly ran through the door.
"Is she always that excited for this place?"
"Yeah, it's literally her favorite." I hope it's as good as Tenten makes it out to be. We crossed the street and pushed through the doors. The inside was a vast improvement over the exterior. The wooden floors were worn smooth. The tables were dark and shiny, each with four dark green upholstered chairs. There was a bar with a few businessmen drinking sake and eating bar snacks while discussing kendo. The walls were dark green like the seats and plastered with various nicknacks, everything from modern art reproductions to vintage wall scrolls. Tenten was already sitting down at a table in front of the big picture window several feet to the right of the door. She waved at us using her laminated menu.
"Hurry up, I'm hungry!" We all took a seat at the table. Tenten sat on the outside looking towards the door, while I sat directly across from her, Sakura took the seat next to me, and Hinata sat down next to Tenten. "You're going to love this place Miharu, it's so good." She handed me the menu. "I recommend the sesame dumplings, or the firecracker ramen, be warned though, it's pretty spicy." I'm not much for dumplings, but spicy food? That's my favorite. In the menu there was a a picture of it, listed as a house specialty. There were noodles, mushrooms and various vegetables and a halved boiled egg with some seaweed floating around in an orange-red broth.
"The ramen looks amazing, I haven't had real ramen in years." I handed the menu to Hinata who then passed it on to Sakura.
"Hey Suyin!" Tenten started waving at someone behind me. A lady with wavy chin length black hair came up to our table.
"Hey Tenten, back so soon?" Tenten really must be a regular here. She looked down at me briefly.
"I just can't get enough of that barbeque. This is Miharu, she's new at school." Tenten gestured to me and Suyin smiled at me.
"It's nice to see some new faces from time to time, what will you guys be having? I already know what Tenten's having." She laughed silently. Sakura ordered glazed dumplings, and Hinata got some red bean soup. "And for you?" She looked at me.
"I'll take the firecracker ramen."
"You sure, it's pretty spicy." I handed the menu to her.
"Bring it on. My body is ready." She laughed and walked through some double hinged doors into the kitchen.
"Dude!" Tenten slammed her hands on the table and looked towards Sakura. "I'm so excited for the talent show. Do you think that Ino's going to participate again? I hope not, she does the same thing every year." Whoa, whoa, what?
"Of course she will, she always does. We'd never catch a break not to mention-"
"What are you talking about, talent show?" I switched between looking at either of them. No one told me about this.
"You're kidding right?" Tenten turned towards me. "The talent show right before the dance? You've never heard of it."
"Uh, no."
"Every year before the winter dance, there's a talent show show in the auditorium, and then we have the dance after."
"Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"I thought you already knew."
"Uh, no."
"Are you thinking of participating?"
"I could never do it alone."
"Well, what are you good at, maybe I can do it with you."
"Uh... it's kind of cliché and lame." Tenten raised an eyebrow at me.
"Just tell us."
"Well, I'm kind of okay at singing."
"What do you mean kind of okay?"
"I don't know, I'm just kind of okay."
"I'm sure you're better than okay, show us when we go outside, I doubt there will be anyone nearby."
"I suppose I can do that." I shrugged, I mean I don't think I'm bad, but I'm not super impressive either. My range could be better, and I'm a bit breathy. "So how long should the food take?" I changed the subject.
"Oh not too long, Suyin's pretty fast." We waited in awkward silence for a few more minutes before Suyin walked out with our food trailing up and down both arms, she's an impressive waitress. She gave each of us our plates. When that bowl of ramen sat down in front of me, I'm fairly certain my eyes started watering. It was exactly like the photograph. I sniffed it and my nose burned a bit. Perfect. I broke apart my chopstick and started shoveling the noodles in my mouth.
"Oh my god this is delicious!" I said with my mouth stuffed full. Tenten's smiled, her cheeks stuffed full, and nodded.
"I know right?" Sakura looked at us, a bit off put.
"You guys can't eat any more graceful than that?" Sakura had been taking small bites out of her food, same with Hinata. I leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"But it's so good!" I rubbed my stomach "I just want it all in my belly!" I went back to slurping at the noodles. My mouth burned, but in a pleasant way, if there is such a thing. "Sakura, you need to try it."
"Ew no, I hate spicy food." My jaw dropped and some noodles nearly spilled out.
"What? You're crazy." She laughed and turned back towards her plate. I ate quickly and listened to the girls conversation without responding. Once I had finished all of the solid bits of my soup, I eyed the broth. The small amount that had stuck to the noodles and vegetables was enough to bring some kick, I'm not sure drinking it is the best idea. I looked down at it again. I'm no wimp. I picked up the bowl and hastily slurped down the broth. My throat started to burn, maybe this was a bad idea.
"Uh, you okay?" Tenten looked at me. "You're eyes are watering and your face is red." I slammed down the large bowl and yelled.
"I did it!" I reached for the pitcher of water on the table and drank straight from the spout. "I feel like a god. That was worth every bit of pain." I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my bulging stomach. "Just, right." I closed my eyes. When everyone else had finished eating we sat around for a bit, just talking about random topics.
"We all set?" Tenten looked around, all of the plates were empty, and we were clearly too full for dessert. "I'll take that as a yes. Suyin!" Tenten was waving down the owner, although it seemed like she does everything around here and isn't just the owner.
"You guys all done?" Tenten nodded and Suyin pulled out a note pad. She scribbled in it and in quick succession she tore off our slips and handed them to us. We each grabbed our slips and went up to pay. Suyin was standing at the cash register and took my slip, she punched in the total and handed it back to me, I passed her some small bills and she gave me my change. I went to the table and put what change I had received as a tip. Between all four of us our tip probably came close to half of our total bill. Tenten waved good bye was we walked out of the restaurant. We walked back the way we came, passed by the dress shop, and waited at the bus stop. I check my cell phone, we killed a decent amount of time, it was already quarter to 7:00, the bus should be here in 15 minutes. The bus came right on schedule, and the four of us got on. This time it was a different driver, so I sat with the rest of the group in the very back of the bus. Sakura gushed on about how much she loved her dresses, and Tenten talked about the food. Hinata was agreeable with both of them and occasionally interjected her comments when the conversation died down. We pulled up to the school and hopped off the bus along with a few other students who had been picked up at the laundromat.
"Hey, we got time, and there's no one here, sing something." I looked over at Tenten and looked around before singing a few lines from a song that my mom always listened to. "Hey! You're pretty good."
"Y-yeah, I thought it was really n-nice." Hinata avoided eye contact and played with her fingers.
"Jeez, thanks guys." I wasn't used to compliments, it felt weird.
"Yeah, you're definitely good enough to go on stage, you should be a bit sassier though. You know, add some flair." I raised an eyebrow at her.
"No! I thought it was great the way it was." Sakura and Tenten continued to argue for a few more moments. The four of us then went to sign in and started walking back to our dorms. I waved towards them as we split on our own separate paths. I pulled out my key and began to unlock the door when it swung open violently.
"What the hell, I have been looking everywhere for that!"
"Excuse me, I am a 'her' or a 'you' I am not a 'that'. Manners, god."
"I'm not talking about you, stupid, you took my sweatshirt." I looked down and noticed I was still wearing it.
"Oh yeah, I was cold, and mine wouldn't dry fast enough, I used your hair dryer by the way."
"What? Did I say you could-"
"I'm kidding, I used mine. I don't even know where yours is, or that you even had a hair dryer. Plus, your sweatshirt was on my couch, it therefore became fair game for me." I still stood on the small porch. "You gonna let me in?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Sweatshirt first, yeah." He held out his palm. I put down my paper bag with my dress, and he caught notice of it. "What? You took my sweatshirt just to go shopping?" I started to pull down on the zipper and slipped it off.
"I had to go buy a dress for—wait why am I telling you this? It's none of your business." I forcefully put the sweatshirt in his hands, grabbed my bag, and pushed through him to go inside. I stretched out on the couch and stared at the blank TV. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Deidara sniff his sweatshirt, pause for a moment, shrug, and go up the stairs. I eyed my bag sitting on the floor.
I'm going to need to find a date, aren't I? Fun.
