Chapter 2: Training
It took him quite a while to get over that moment he had with Hinata at Ramen Ichiraku.
Quite a while meant a whole week of feeling weird and giddy and hot at random moments whenever his mind wanders to thinking about those events.
It's not even a direct skin contact because of the table napkin, but it still made him feel tingly. And for some reason he can't stop imagining her face while feeding him ramen. It's the first time he felt this weird feeling. Is it just normal? It should be, right? He'll probably consult his peers about it later, he supposed.
Speaking of the girl that lingered his mind the whole week, he hadn't seen her during the same span of time. It seemed that she was about to go out for a mission when they ate together that day. He supposed the will take a few days total to complete and return back home. Now that he thought about it, he started to get worried. Well, she's strong. Her teammates are also strong. Their mission is not going to be a problem, for sure. Still, why can't he stop worrying about them, or to be more specific, about her?
He wasn't aware of the time until he realized his alarm that he forgot to reset blazed off. 5AM, the clock indicated. Damn, sun is about to rise and he's still wide awake!
'Guess I'll just go outside and do something worthwhile.' He thought as he got up the bed and prepared himself to go outside his apartment.
There are not much people outside except for some owners of shops and stalls preparing for opening. Thinking that there's nothing else to do for the meantime, he headed for his apartment rooftop and thought of meditating. Maybe he can finally catch some sleep after a few minutes of meditation.
Several minutes of meditation and still he can't clear his mind. Concentrating some more and he suddenly but accidentally activated his senjutsu. He's still not used without having his right arm and his stay at the hospital doing nothing probably made his control of his techniques wonky. Just as he was trying to deactivate his senjutsu, he sensed a familiar chakra in the direction where the training grounds usually are. A warm and comfortable chakra he knows so well, he remembered back then when he searched for her after he went rampage as the kyuubi. So Hinata was already back after all. Thank God.
He now wondered why she was there at this early hour in the morning. Well, his curiosity won out and without much thinking he started heading toward Hinata's direction. He couldn't help but feel happy and he probably wasn't aware but while getting to the training grounds, he was smiling wide the whole time.
Reaching the training grounds, Naruto saw Hinata in her usual mission gear, just practicing her taijutsu on a wooden post. How long has she been working out there? Silently watching, he can't help but admire her face that looks so focused, her smooth and graceful moves while hitting the wooden post in different angles with her palms and kicks, her long hair swaying smoothly with each of her fierce movement, her beads of sweat flying away, making her sparkle for some reason…
His thoughts are really going in weird directions recently. Better make his presence felt before he starts thinking of more weird stuff.
Once he made loud enough footsteps, Hinata's concentration was suddenly broken and glanced at the new arrival.
"Oi Hinata! Long time no see!"
"Oh Naruto-kun, good morning. Why are you up this early?" He found her surprised look with a dust of red on her cheeks cute.
"I could ask the same thing to you…hehe…" The back of his head felt itchy all of a sudden.
"Well, ummm…I'm just practicing my taijutsu. I do this normally here in the morning. Force of habit, I suppose…"
"Oh I see. Well I couldn't sleep so I'm just randomly going around. Then I noticed you're here, so here I am!"
They chatted for a while, catching up with what's happened during those days they did not see each other. He felt really comfortable and relaxed around her, though he couldn't help but feel the same giddiness that he felt the week prior with her. It's somewhat making him feel embarrassed, and he hoped his face wouldn't show it especially with Hinata possibly seeing it.
Trying to suppress that feeling, an idea popped out of his mind.
"Hey, since we are here and you are working out, do you mind if we spar?"
"Oh, sure thing Naruto-kun. B-but are you sure…?" She said while glancing at my right sleeve swaying with the morning breeze.
"Don't worry Hinata! I can manage to fight! Maybe breaking some sweat will help me get some sleep later!" He's just doing his usual "be cool around Hinata" act.
"Ummm…if it's okay with you Naruto-kun. But let's not overwork ourselves, okay?" She said with her usual soft smile. His giddiness is probably showing right now, and right that moment he's not trying to hide it anymore.
"Alright! You're the best, Hinata!"
They were sparring for quite a few minutes, and Naruto realized he really needs to get back in fighting form. He's a bit out of shape and his endurance is not where it was before. He's struggling to get hits on Hinata, either because he is handicapped with only one hand or because Hinata is just so good at juuken that she easily evades or parries his strikes. His speed and balance is bad, considering he got lightly hit by Hinata's palm strike on different parts of his body. If she was serious at using her clan techniques and used a charka-induced palm strike, he'd be down within a minute. His usual work outs since coming out of the hospital seem to be just to kill time. Maybe he needs to do these sparring sessions more often to really wake up his body from the lull.
Getting distracted by his thoughts, he didn't notice an upward palm strike straight to his jaw. Hinata didn't put much speed into the strike and it was meant to be a feint so that Naruto can easily avoid it. But being distracted in a spar usually results in a world of pain. The impact just straight knocked him down to the ground, and slowly knocked him unconscious.
"Ugh…" With his slowly fading consciousness, his final senses composed of Hinata's worried expression and her panicked cries calling his name.
"I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun…Naruto-kun!"
As he was starting to regain consciousness, he felt something soft behind his head. That felt so nice. He also smelled something sweet. That smelled so comforting. He also felt something slowly caressing his cheek. That felt so tingly. Hmmm…he's probably dreaming of something so good. This is too good to be real…
Slowly, he opened his eyes to see Hinata looking down at him with a worried face. Blinking once, twice, thrice…he realized what was happening…
His head was resting on her soft lap, and the scent he smelled was her scent, and his face was caressed by Hinata's warm, comforting hand. In short, he was getting a lap pillow from Hinata. Holy shit!
His face was beginning to heat up. Not only did he get knocked out cold earlier, but now he's surely blushing hard in front of Hinata. So uncool…
"N-Naruto-kun, thank goodness you are awake. You were out cold for about 3 minutes. I'm sorry! Are you alright now?"
"Y-y-yes, I'm…I'm alright Hinata! Don't worry! No need to apologize…"
"B-but your face is red and your temperature is a bit high…are you still feeling dizzy?" She said while touching his forehead. This new sensation was just too much for him…
He suddenly rose up, and he began to feel woozy…either from the sudden action, or from the sudden rush of blood to his head that's about to explode due to embarrassment.
"No I am fiiiiii…." He's back again to the unconscious world. Did he just faint?
"Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun!"
Well, if he's getting that pillow lap again, it's okay to be uncool once in a while…
-Chapter 2 End-
End notes: Yeah, getting a strong hit to the jaw can sometimes cause dizziness and can easily knock someone out. Be careful.