THE SACRIFICE
by Poprice Fields
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Neji, Chouji, Shikamaru, Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Rock Lee, Ebisu, Iruka, Akamaru, and their respective jutsus. The small storyline and some OC are mine.
Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village hosts an Inter-School Summer Training Workshops. Amidst the new friendly atmosphere, the members of Anbu Team of Konoha were suspiciously missing. Now it's up to Naruto and co. to get to the bottom of things. But will they succeed before they, too, become part of the list of missing people?
Author's Note: Please be reminded that Naruto and the rest of his batchmates were 17 years old in this story, while Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee were a year older, and the rest of the teachers had also aged. Their seemingly OOCness in this story may be an effect of their ages, but yeah, I don't intend to change their character totally. Besides, people really do change, right?
Chapter Twelve: THE DATE (Part One)
Sensei Iruka led the teenagers to the family resort of Lady Kristel. When Naruto asked where Ebisu was, Iruka said he's already waiting for them in the resort. And Naruto could only hope the sensei in question was out of trouble...
Along the way, Iruka explained that they wouldn't be guests in the resort; rather, they would be attendants, waiters, cooks, etc. The gang saw this coming, so not a word of complain was heard from them. They arrived at the resort at midday, and found sensei Ebisu, Sasuke, Neji, and Rekka already there, waiting for them at the reception area. The teens wondered how did that happen, but before they could ask, their attention was caught by a group of beautiful women descending the wooden staircase.
These women were Lady Kristel's elder sisters who managed the resort during summer time and let their parents have their vacation somewhere else. There were four of them, all gorgeous and sexy, wearing a low-cleaved kimono up to their knees which reveled the fair complexion of their bodies. The sisters gave them a hearty welcome and ushered them to the dining table where a buffet was set and prepared for them. They followed as if in trance, forgetting all their worries all of a sudden.
The Yin-Yang Paradise, the official name of the resort, was open daily from eight in the morning until eleven in the evening. They would woke up around six am (to Shikamaru's utmost dismay) and stay until midnight or until the bar closes down for the day. Yes, there's a bar in Yin-Yang Paradise where most of the guests hang out before or after taking a bath. It's also the only place in the resort which was somewhat modern-looking for the other places gave an impression that you're living in a paradise, indeed.
While the other teens were busy doing chores, Naruto was tailing behind sensei-Ebisu (if Naruto's sensing Ebisu's up to something perverted), making sure he would stay away from the girl's bathing place. One time, he already saw his sensei peeking through a small hole and blushing like a drunkard so he, Naruto, coughed loudly to interrupt his sensei's version of heaven in earth. Startled, Ebisu took away his sight from the hole, looked around, and saw Naruto frowning at him. Ebisu sheepishly offered Naruto the hole in exchange of not telling on him. After thinking it over, Naruto decided to take the offer. Why? Because it's natural for a teen (esp. like Naruto) with thousands of uncontrollable hormones to do such things... Who can blame him?
Having the same height with Ebisu, Naruto was now standing where his sensei was standing, peeking through the same hole. But instead of seeing naked bodies of women soaked in hot waters, his blue eye came eye-to-eye with another eye, a green one!
Naruto back away instantly. He knew that green eye! He started to run away from it, hoping that Sakura-kun wouldn't realize that she's seen him. Ebisu, on the other hand, wondered what happened to Naruto. So he also peeked through, thinking Naruto's nuts for running away from 'heaven'...
Naruto swore he wouldn't never ever peek through a girls' bathing place again. Still, he's determined to bust sensei-Ebisu with his hentai habit. But he never caught Ebisu again at the place or even near it. It's either Naruto caught him running away from a big, fat woman chasing him lovingly or he's hiding from someone (probably from the same fat woman). Because of this, Naruto stopped stalking Ebisu for he knew his sensei has learned his lesson.
Without doing anything during his breaks, Naruto had time to hang out with Hinata. Of course, Hinata's not alone during the said breaks for everyone was usually there (except for Shikamaru who was taking a nap). These past days, Naruto had been noticing Hinata more and more. He had been secretly staring at her when she's not looking, admiring her simple beauty and charms, and cursing himself for not being aware of it way, way back. He also remembered the times when he had thought Hinata's acting funny whenever he's around and asked himself why hadn't he recognized that she's got a crush on him, back then?
He sighed.
Now, Naruto wasn't entirely sure if Hinata's still feeling the same towards him. Yes, he had managed to steal her from Kiba and dance with her for awhile and he admitted he had a great time, if not the greatest time in his life... But after the dance which was stopped two minutes early, nothing further happened between them that would improve the state of their relationship...
He had seen others' lovelife somehow blossom these past few days that they all have worked together in close proximity. He saw Sakura changed a lot, her behavior mainly, towards Rock Lee, which gave the latter teen a hope all together. He concluded that Sakura had been considering Rock Lee since the pink-haired girl was miraculously talking to Thick Eyebrows without cringing... Then, there's Shikamaru and Tenten, which according to Naruto's senses were getting along pretty well despite the fact that Tenten's actually a year older than Shikamaru. From Naruto's point of view, it was more likely that Shikamaru liked Tenten, than the other way around. Why? Because Naruto noticed Shikamaru only skipped noontime naps when Tenten was hanging out with the rest of the gang in the kitchen. Naruto didn't really thought of it. It was Rekka who have observed it first, and questioned Naruto if the two teens were an item. Since then, he had noticed and, well, he couldn't believe that Shikamaru would ever be in love, or infatuated at least... And there's this hidden desire (as Naruto calls it) happening between Neji, Rekka, and Sasuke. 'Hidden desire' because none among the three were clearly showing their feelings towards the opposite sex. But well, Naruto has great instincts and he guessed something's also building up in them. He wouldn't jump into conclusions but, Naruto thought something happened between Neji and Rekka (when they were out in the sea) because Neji hadn't bragged about anything since they arrived at the resort and Rekka's been unusually quiet whenever Neji's around. As of Sasuke's relation towards Rekka, Naruto firmly believed that his teammate has feelings for the black-haired girl but, it's either he didn't recognize it yet, or he didn't want to show it. Naruto's betting on the second reason, but if Sasuke's too stupid and/or cold to feel anything, Naruto guessed he (Sasuke) would do, sooner than later, since Neji's in the picture... And last but definitely not the least and to Naruto's dismay, there's this Kiba-Hinata-thing in the air. Naruto knew that Hinata's just a nice girl who didn't mind Kiba's and his pet dog Akamaru's presence (since they're teammates for a long time) but it shatters his fragile heart whenever he sees Hinata and Kiba walking together side by side (almost holding hands, Naruto thought grimly), or worse, when she's smiling at Kiba as if Kiba's the boyfriend she's been dreaming of. Naruto could only clench his fists and pray that it was not too late for him to make a move.
So he got a plan: Knowing that they all have a day-off from work this coming Saturday, Naruto thought he would ask Hinata out this Wednesday, just in case Kiba's going to ask her out this Thursday. It was a brilliant idea and Naruto could only grin triumphantly to himself even if the plan was not yet done.
Wednesday night came and Naruto was feeling butterflies inside his stomach. The work for the day was basically over, and Hinata's just inside the bar making sure everything's clean and in place. Naruto's hand ran through his hair first and inhaled deeply before entering.
"Hey Naruto!" Rekka greeted with a wink and Naruto smiled. "Good luck man," she added in a whisper when Naruto passed her.
"Thanks." Naruto stopped because Hinata's nowhere to be found. She didn't go to sleep yet, did she? Or worse, go to have a night walk with Kiba?
Rekka sensed Naruto's worries. "Oh, Hinata-chan!" Rekka sang, "Someone's w--umph!" (Naruto covered her mouth.)
"Nani?" asked a soft voice.
Naruto instantly let go of Rekka, and quickly grabbed a menu lying on the table, pretending to read it.
"Rekka-chan, you said something?" Hinata asked, showing herself up behind the bartender's counters.
Naruto cast a sideway glance at her, and thought she looked really pretty in spite of all the hard work she gone through.
"Uh..." Rekka uttered, thinking of a good excuse. "You can go now. I'll finish this..."
"Huh? You sure?"
Rekka nodded.
"O-kay... Thanks..." Hinata untied her apron, wondering why Naruto was there pretending to read the menu (upside down), or why Rekka's shooing her away tonight (because they usually go together), or if there's any way the two ideas were related (Naruto's showing up there and Rekka's making her go). Oh, they don't want me here so they can have a little moment of they're own, do they? Hinata thought sadly. She felt a pang of jealousy right away for she knew Rekka's close to Naruto and the idea wasn't really farfetched. She let out a sigh as she shoved the apron into the cabinet.
She stood up and walked quickly out of the bar. She didn't return Rekka's "Good night" and she ignored Naruto's call on her.
"Hinata?" Naruto called once again, trailing behind the fleeting Hinata. "Can I... uh... talk to ya?"
Hinata stopped walking.
Naruto grabbed the chance and went in front of Hinata. "Uh, I was just thinking, maybe we could go to the Happy Island this Saturday..."
"Why? Rekka couldn't come with you?" Hinata asked hotly.
Naruto wondered what she meant. "No. Do you want Rekka to be there?" he asked instead.
"Do you want her to be there?" Hinata asked back, emphasizing the words 'you' and 'her'.
Naruto was still clueless. "No. I just want you to be with me, that's all," he said sincerely, looking at Hinata in the eye.
Silence.
Hinata let Naruto's words sank into her. How could she be so slow? How could she not read between the lines? And his actions? Their actions? She's so stupid she wanted to kick herself for being mad at Naruto and Rekka for no reason. Everything made sense now, and the thought of Naruto asking her out on a date made her blush.
"Ummm," Naruto continued, "But if you're busy..." Naruto's voice faltered.
"No," Hinata gushed instantly. "I mean, yes!"
"You're busy?"
"No! Naruto, yes! I'll come with you!"
TBC
Author's Notes: The first sem is almost out of the picture! I could already taste the sweet sem-break! Just one more calculus exam on Wednesday and I'll be free for three weeks! Yahoo! Ahem, ahem And yes, I'll be able to update sooner. Hopefully! Now, let the shout outs begin:
me - here's another installment of this story. thanks for reviewing! really, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. You guys have no idea how I feel every time I receive a review from anyone. As I have said, I'll try harder to update sooner.
Dragon Man 180 - it's amazing to know this story is still getting new readers. well, enjoy reading the rest of the story!
benjem - I'll try dude. God knows how much I tried, but school work just kept piling up.
Wormkaizer - would you say something not nice? lol. you're really nice, thanks for the compliments.
Isiri - don't worry much about the Anbu Team, their story will be revealed later on. don't you just want to read about sweet moments of our beloved characters? I hope you enjoyed reading this. btw, nice gift the teachers gave you
Mike Pan - great to hear from you once again! thanks for everything! I definitely continue this.
Thanks people for reviewing! And for those who reads this, let your fingers have a little exercise by clicking the 'Go' button and typing in your review for today's chapter. You'll definitely receive good karma for doing me that favor. thanks!
Poprice
11 Oct 2004
11:37pm