Buttercup
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a Naruto fanfiction
by
mkh2
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Hey, if I owned Naruto I wouldn't be spending all my time on writing fanfiction for it on FF.net – I'd be making it reality. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the author, seeing as I am rather bad with names in general, and I probably won't be able to remember his name until a few months from now and never near a computer to correct my forgetfulness.
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Beg pardon! I never meant to be gone so long from updating on FF.net! It's amazing how easily side-tracked I can get… Anyways, right now I'm supposed to be vacuuming, but oh well! I'll do it in a bit.
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All words of Japanese origin used in this piece are listed at the bottom and explained to the best of my abilities.
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" " – indicates speech
' ' – indicates thought
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"Mo, mo! Sasuke, I'm tired," moaned Naruto, flopping back into the mossy green grass in the shade of the large trees.
"I told you you'd wear yourself out, dobe," Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto while sinking into the grass as well, leaning against a tree trunk.
"Shut up, Uchiha!" snapped Naruto, rolling onto his side away from Sasuke.
"Mm," Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to relax a little.
"Hey! Hey, Sasuke, look at these! I've never seen these before!" Naruto called to Sasuke.
Sasuke slowly opened one eye and peered over at Naruto, who looked like he was about to pounce on a clump of small yellow flowers, his whole body quivering with excitement.
"Hmm… smells kinda nice," Naruto's eyes fluttered closed as he half-shoved his rapidly twitching nose into one of the cheerful blossom's petals.
"Baka, they're called buttercups," Sasuke closed his eyes, intent on getting the much needed rest, but Naruto was on intent on something different.
"Oh, how'd you know?" Naruto asked, fingers lightly skimming over the fragile petals.
"We'd learned about them in Shinobi Academy. They're a poisonous plant recently introduced into our country," Sasuke leaned over Naruto's shoulder to look at the blossoms. "They're from the Americas."
"Ah." Naruto blinked thoughtfully at the buttercups. "Do they… have any meaning?"
"What?" Sasuke turned his head to Naruto so quickly he was sure he'd get whiplash. 'Naruto doesn't seem like the type to know about flower meanings or even be interested in flowers in the first place…'
"Oh, you know, meanings! Like… red roses mean love and romance. Camellias are symbols of friendship, though at one time the ancient Samurai believed it symbolized death. Gardenia equals grace and secret love and um… something-ality?" Naruto scratched his head thoughtfully then stuck his tongue out at Sasuke when the dark-haired boy smirked. "Nyeh! Um, anyways, there are also games…! Let's see, ah – there's the one where go "Love me, Love me not" with the daisies' petals and the one where you make a wish if you can blow all the seeds off a dandelion… Hmm… anymore?" Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Dobe, what are you, a girl?" Sasuke teased, pulling away and sitting more in front of Naruto.
"Uchiha! Take that back!" Naruto screeched and pounced on Sasuke, knocking him back into the buttercups.
"Dobe, you are so easily riled up, ne?" Sasuke smirked up at him. Naruto flushed angrily.
"Shut up!"
"Self-centered immaturity of childhood."
"Eh?"
"Buttercups. The meaning. Hello? You did ask," Sasuke rolled his eyes and knocked Naruto off him. Naruto flopped into the buttercups next to Sasuke, yellow petals sticking in his hair.
"Hmph!"
"Hmph."
"Ano sa… I'm bored."
"There's a game you play with buttercups. Some of the old folks used to play it as kids."
"Honto?" Naruto asked eagerly, scooching closer to Sasuke.
"It's over in, like, two seconds, but it's kind of an interesting idea. Actually there's two games, but the second is for sweethearts or something like that," said Sasuke flippantly as he reached behind Naruto to pluck a wholly intact buttercup. "'Let's see if you like butter.'" He held the flower in front of Naruto's face.
"Huh?" Naruto stared dumbly at him. Sasuke sat up and pulled Naruto to a sitting position.
"That's the name of the game. 'Let's see if you like butter.' Here, hold this to your chin and I'll see if the color's reflected. If it is it means you like butter."
"Okay!" Naruto chirped and held it to his chin. "Well?"
"It's official – you don't just like butter, you love butter." Sasuke nodded thoughtfully.
"Yay!" Naruto cheered and crossed his eyes down to his nose to try to see. "Your turn!"
"No, I don't want to," Sasuke turned away to lie down but a firm hand grabbed his shoulder.
"No way! I did it so you have to, too!" Naruto demanded, shoving the slightly wilted flower into Sasuke's hands.
"Fine dobe, but then you best shut up," Sasuke grabbed the flower and held it to his chin. "Well?"
Naruto blinked and stared at Sasuke's chin.
"Ano- ano- ano sa Sasuke – how can you not like butter?" Naruto tilted his head thoughtfully.
"What?" Sasuke glared. "What was that?"
"Iz naw reflected," Naruto mumbled, squinting slightly. "Naw e'en a lil' bit."
"Don't be stupid – my skin is much lighter than yours and it's a sunny day; it has to reflect."
"But… it isn't," Naruto frowned.
Sasuke threw the flower down and flopped back into the tall grass and flowers.
"Well, it was a stupid game anyways," muttered Sasuke.
"Hm, well, you admit you're the girl," declared Naruto, trying to change the subject.
It worked.
"I'm not the girl," growled Sasuke, narrowing his eyes at him.
"But… girl's are supposed to have pale skin, and yours is like snow… Oh!, and their skin is supposed to be soft," here Naruto grabbed Sasuke's cheeks, "and yours is like silk," Naruto teased.
"Lay off!" yelled Sasuke, punching Naruto. "You're the girl! What is it with you and flowers and how you get people to treat you to ramen and are so easily swayed by a bowl of ramen – just like a girl! And… and you're too emotional!" Sasuke nodded his head vehemently, eyes narrowed.
"Take that back!" roared Naruto, jumping to his feet.
"No," Sasuke tossed his head, staring at Naruto.
Eyes narrowed, Naruto tackled Sasuke.
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"Ah! That was some good sparring," yawned Naruto, sprawled out yet again in the buttercups.
"Hn," nodded Sasuke sleepily. He had hoped to turn in early for the night, not that he'd ever admit it.
"Eh, Sasuke, what was that other game?" mumbled Naruto, rubbing his eyes.
"Ehm, what other game?" Sasuke blinked blearily at Naruto.
"Y'know, with the buttercups," Naruto rolled over to Sasuke who seemed half-asleep.
"Oh, it means," Sasuke held in a yawn, "It's… well, you hold a buttercup up to your chin… Um, I mean, lover's use 'em to see if the object of their affection is true in love; and if no yellow is reflected on the chin, it means he or she is jealous or angry."
Sasuke fell asleep.
Naruto blinked thoughtfully at Sasuke and held a buttercup to his chin.
"Still no yellow."
Naruto tilted his head at the sleeping boy before tucking a buttercup into his dark locks.
"But… how do you know when it's about your love of butter or about your love of another?"
Naruto yawned and lay beside Sasuke.
"Mm, warm," Naruto mumbled. "I'll ask Sasuke when I wake up."
And they slept amongst the buttercups.
~Owari~
Hee, one of my more "pointless-yet-kinda-fun-to-write" pieces.
mkh2's brief overview of words:
Mo: also ma; an empathic exclamation.
Dobe: in the English version it is translated to Dead Last; also along the lines of baka.
Baka: moron, idiot, stupid, silly; sometimes, depending on the intonation of the voice and the words used with it, it can be dramatically worse or nicer (like a cutesy way of saying "silly" or a rude way of saying… well, words that I don't say.)
Ano sa: "Hey, hey" – a phrase used often by Naruto [not entirely sure if I actually used this exact phrase in this particular fiction; still, it's good to know.]
Honto: Really(?)
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Yes, I know that "scooching" isn't technically a word – at least, according to my word processor's dictionary it isn't. Still, I do use that word often, and I know other people use it to, so nyeh!
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On the flowers:
Yes, buttercups do mean "self-centered immaturity of childhood." Perfect for Naruto, huh? They certainly look as cheerful as he usually does. As for the two "games" that I mentioned, yes, people really do play them. Incidentally, on sunny days, the color is always reflected, though I never actually played the game, seeing as there aren't any buttercups growing around where I live – too dry, I think, then too hot, then too cold, then too soggy, then too frosty, then so windy it knocks over five strong old trees (but not the students going home against the wind… kinda funny to see) – but I still like butter on my buttermilk pancakes (at least at IHOP.)
The final meaning that Naruto was trying to say for Gardenia's was "Hospitality." Like I often do, I had Naruto ramble on until his tongue couldn't keep up with what his mind was racing about and blanked out. Camellias, in Japan, symbolize friendship, and it is true about the samurai, but in America the different colors mean different things: white is perfection, red signifies passion, and pink is adoration.
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Took me a while to type this up – my writing is horrible to read when it's done at night…