My mind had gone completely blank, what had just happened? I was only meant to be buying a stupid dress. Who was that guy anyway?
"Hey, you ok." Minato asked kindly. I hadn't realised he had walked over to me, still holding the dress in his arms. I wasn't sure; I think I was in shock, me in shock.
"What are you doing here anyway, I thought you were training." I questioned, I wasn't really sure what else I was meant to do, it was the first thing I could think of. Wow, I must be in shock.
"Well I was but Lee JR was trying to show off with a new taijustu he learned but instead he hurt himself, when we got him to the hospital I saw mum and she asked me to check up on you two." He finally finished taking in a large breath to regain some of the oxygen he had lost in his long speech. That's when I notice the burning pain in my arm, I placed the bag I was carrying near my feet and pulled the sleeve of my t-shirt up, right around the top of my upper arm lay a purpley/black bruise, it was huge. Minato instantly grabbed my arm and examined the bruise, every second he spent looking at it his face grew angrier. Hamako came over to see what was taking so long but stopped within a few feet, I saw her face wince as she took in the ugly thing on my arm.
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch." Minato cried suddenly, finally letting go on my arm, I swear I saw fume coming out of his ears.
"Minato don't get yourself worked over nothing." I yelled back, sending charka into my arm and began healing the bruise, Kami! It really stings. Hamako and Minato mouth fell open like I had just said all of the sickest words in the world and spat them right into the face of the feudal lord.
"Nothing, you call that thing on your arm nothing." He spat back. My insides turned upside down, that hurt more than the stupid bruise on my arm. Kami! Why was it taken so long to heal anyway? I turned away for Minato and Hamako and continued to heal the bruise, trying to force back the tears that were daring to escape. I recognised the warm touch of Minato as he placed one of his arms around my waist. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." He whispered into my ear, sending goose bumps up my arm. Finally, finish I thought, as the last of the bruise disappeared. I started flexing my arm to make sure there wasn't going to be any stiffness in it. Satisfied, I pulled the sleeve back down. I felt a third pair of eyes watching us, I glanced up at the counter to see the lady at the till with a silly smile on her face, when she notice I was staring at her she quickly looked away but I could still see the silly smile on her face.
"Can we go please?" I asked, not wanting to stay here any longer, Minato nodded in understanding.
"Come on, let's go home." Minato mumbled, grabbing on to my hand and pulling me out of the store.
I was staring at myself in the full length mirror for the hundredth time. I think I looked ok for the family party, the light pink dress just came above my knees, the sleeves stop at the elbow and the material hugged my figure so it showed off my curves. I had put my hair tied into a classic bun, I was thinking I might leave it down for once but I didn't want to get it in the food, there was nothing else I could do since I had no make up to put on. The party didn't begin for another hour leaving me with nothing to do, to past the time I pondered on my own thoughts.
We had just entered the hokage building, Hamako went skipping ahead to hopefully find her father and show him the new stuff she had. I was about to follow her up the stairs when Minato grabbed my arm.
"I need to talk to you." He whispered in my ear, pulling me gently towards the cupboard. Before I could protest he opened the door and dragged me inside. It was completing dark, until I heard a click and the light flashed on above us.
"I'm sorry about this but I needed to talk to you where no one could hear us."He admitted. I couldn't help but wonder why the cupboard was so small; I and Minato were only a few inches apart from each other.
"I want you to stay away from Daitaro" He ordered, I had never heard him use that tone with anyone before, so I was a little taken back by it.
"Who's Daitaro?"I asked dumbly.
"The guy at the dress store." He replied. Oh yeah, that guy, thinking back to the clothes shop. "I mean it Nariko, when you see him walking down the street towards you, you walk the other way." He also added, snapping me out of the memory.
"I can take care of myself Minato." I stated firmly, I knew Minato was only trying to look out for me but I didn't like being talked too like I was a little kid, before I could react to anything Minato placed both of his hands on my shoulders, his grip firm.
"I know you can." He acknowledged, loosening his grip on my shoulders a bit "But that doesn't mean I won't look out for you." He finally let go of my shoulders, giving me one of his smiles.
"Who is Daitaro anyway?" I quickly stuttered out, so my mind was not focused on Minato muscular, soft mouth.
"He's the son of a very wealthy lord and a very powerful ninja who thinks he can get anything he wants if he pays for it."Minato answered. That explains why he was so insistent on buying me that stupid purple dress. I thought. I looked back at Minato to see a kind of pleading look in his eyes that he was trying to keep back.
"Ok Minato. I'll be careful." As soon as I had said it I saw the pleading look disappear to be replaced by a calm one.
I just had to try on the purple dress. I thought. I could have left it on the rack but no it was the only one that catches your eye so you decide to try it on. You could of left five minutes earlier and not have to bother with this nuisance.
Nuisance or not, you looked super hot in that dress.
This isn't the time for whether I look good in a dress or not.
Oh yeah, what is it time to think about?
How I'm going to survive the party in the next hour?
Forty-six minutes actually, you spent fourteen minutes replaying the cupboard scene in your head.
Oh great.
Just think of the food.
I don't think that's going to help me much.
You're just nervous that the rest of Minato's family won't like you.
A little bit.
Look on the bright side; you already have one family member that doesn't like you already.
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Plus there's going to be food.
You're the worse inspirational talker I've ever met.
Hey that's mean.
Two loud knocks came from the door and Hamako and Jiraiyia came walking in. Both of their hair was a mess.
"I thought you two were getting ready for the party." I teased a little bit, waiting for Hamako or Jiraiya to explain what they were doing here.
"We need your help to do our hair." Hamako asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
"Plus, we don't want to bother mum because she's trying to sought out the food." Jiraiya added. I have nothing to do, so I might as well help them. Heck, even if I was busy I would help them anyway. I quickly summon a clone, one me for Hamako and another me for Jiraiya. The work began, Jiraiya hair refused to be brush and stay flat and Hamako was debating with the other me which hair style she should have. It took me almost thirty minutes to fix their hair. I put Hamako curls pinned back so it looked like she had more curls and I managed to brush Jiraiya's hair back with a lot of water and gel. The door flew open again and Naruto walked into the room.
"Nariko, have you seen..." He paused, seeing me finish off Hamako hair and other me fixing Jiraiya shirt. A small smile spread across Naruto face, he opened the door and poked his head outside. "Honey I found the kids." Seconds later Hinata came rushing into the room, she wore a beautiful purple floor length dress that brought out her eyes, Naruto was also dressed quite smartly with black trousers and a light blue shirt, I was actually excepting him to wear a orange shirt since he always seemed to wear orange. I could tell that Hinata had over-worked herself because even though she had done her hair it was falling out in some places.
"I've been looking for you two everywhere, we need to get..." She paused as she finally realised Jiraiya and Hamako were already dressed. "How did you two get yourselves ready?" She asked, very surprised to see her youngest children dressed. Instantly they both pointed at me. Well, Hamako pointed at the real me and Jiraiya pointed at the shadow clone.
"Eerrr, which ones the real Nariko?" asked Hamako, looking back between me and the shadow clone, me and my shadow clone both started giggling, making everyone more confused. I did a quick sign so the shadow clone me disappeared, leaving just me in the room.