SENSES

EXCHANGE OF SELVES

By Elysium/Coca-Cola (pick any)

Disclaimers:
Characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

It was a day that Naruto would remember. Well, this moment of waking up.

The second day after the day when Iruka-sensei had told him to close his eyes, and when he opened them, there was a Konoha head protector on his forehead, tied at the back.

The symbol of a genin.

And it was the day of ceremony. The day when he would be fully recognised as a genin of Konoha!

With that, he did the morning rituals, and like Iruka-sensei had told him, drank his daily morning glass of milk (which tasted weird). He'd been told that it had calcium which was necessary for growing bones. Naruto was touchy about his height, and so vigoriously drank milk every morning, afternoon, and evening.

Afterwards, in the midst of adjusting his goggles on his head, his eyes dropped to the head protector resting on the dresser.

Hrm. Loosening the straps, he slipped the goggles down onto his neck and reached for the navy blue cloth and metal.

A minute later, Naruto stepped out of his apartment with his head proudly displaying his status as a new genin.

On the way to the ninja academy, he stopped suddenly.

She was there. The odd little Hyuuga kid, only now, she was wearing a crisp clean black shirt and loose baggy equally black knee-length shorts. Pretty much all of her skin apart from her head and hands were covered in standard netting clothing. She had a satchel, presumably with books and such. He remembered all the textbook knowledge they were meant to learn.

What caught his attention was the white wrapping around her right thigh. It was something most of the kids in the ninja academy did, as a imitation of the ninja in the village. Which probably meant that she did attend said place.

It was early morning, and ceremony was scheduled for later anyway, so he didn't really have to rush at all. This would probably be a good opportunity to thank her or something.

"Hey!"

She turned around, white eyes unblinking. Her shoulders had seemed tense, and he noted that she seemed to relax upon seeing his presence.

"Oh. It's just you."

He didn't know if he should have felt insulted by that. In fact, he did. Who was this brat to dismiss him as a threat?

"What do you mean by that?!"

She shook her head, and waited for him to catch up. As they walked and talked (well, mostly he talked and she either listened or ignored him, he couldn't tell), she inquired about his head protector.

"I guess you passed after all."

"Well, it's a long story," he started off, eager to tell the story, but hesistant due to what he had learnt that night about the truth of why all the adults looked at him so coldly.

"I already know."

"... What?"

Naruto started to panic. What did she mean by that? She learnt that he was the carrier of the Nine-Tails Fox?! Oh CRAP!

"It was the chocolate. 'Kaa-sama was right after all. It made you smile." The girl said all this with a straight face, before frowning slightly. "Didn't work for me..."

Naruto's lipped thinned as he thought a moment.

The answer was right there.

Pulling his old worn goggles from underneath his furry jacket collar, he undid the strap and stripped it over his head. Looking at them fondly, he then made his choice, and grabbed the surprised girl's hand, and plopped them there.

"... What do I do with this?" the girl replied, as she stared at the object in her hands, wondering if she should feel offended or something.

"It's a present, idiot! I'm not good with words, but anyway, these made me smile a lot, so maybe they'll work for you!"

She was still rotating the goggles in her hands, staring mutely at them. He sighed. This had better pay off his existing debt to her. Taking them from her hands, he placed them on her head, and tightened the straps just enough for them to rest on her forehead comfortably.

She looked somewhat indignant as he took his hands off, and he laughed at the face she made. It was better than the eerie blank expression. Looking into a shop window, her face didn't know how to act at the sight of herself wearing the goggles.

"'Tou-sama will not be pleased..."

"So just take 'em off when you get home or something!" Naruto replied, as he bent down to look over her shoulder at the reflection in the window. Her eyes narrowed, as she loosened the straps and let the goggles hang around her neck.

"I saw Hokage-sama's grandson wearing goggles this morning just like you used to. I don't want to look like him. But... I'll wear them anyway. Like my sister was wearing her head protector, I guess."

"Must be nice to have a sister," Naruto murmured, thoughts drifting once more to the concept of something he was denied. Quickly cheering himself up because his present was accepted, he started to run ahead.

"Hey you! Come on, or you'll be late for class! I got a ceremony to go to, and I didn't wake up this early just to miss it completely!"

She almost raised a fist in anger, but opted to run in order to catch up. "My name isn't 'Hey you'! It's Hanabi! Hyuuga Hanabi!"

"Whatever, kid!" he laughed, as he reached a hand out to scruffle her hair in merriment. She frowned back again, but there was a tiny, ever so tiny smile.

Naruto saw it, but declined to admit he did. This really would be a day to remember. He just hoped the rest of the day would follow suit.

Notes: Another Naruto/Hanabi drabble. These are kind of fun. :3 Title doesn't fit... but I was never too good with those...