Chapter 3. Drown: A Caring Friend
What woke him up that morning was a terrible, terrible headache. Probably some of us would call that the familiar feeling of a hangover. Naruto groaned and buried his face deep into the pillow, trying to get back to sleep. But it was all in vain, as even after settling himself back as comfortably as he could, he couldn't mentally shut down mental signals of pain. He sighed. And that's when his nose got a whiff of something he wasn't used to.
He didn't know why he was so sure of it, but that pillow had unmistakably the scent of a woman. That was more than enough to make him shoot up in bed in a blind panic. You see, he had gotten so drunk the last night that he couldn't really remember anything that would lead to his present predicament: all he knew was that right now, he wasn't in his room and that it wasn't a good thing. Naruto swallowed hard as several possible scenarios flashed through his mind: in all likeliness, a naughty girl had brought him to her home last night for some cheap fun while he was under influence. Eh, it could happen: that's one of those rare cases where middle-aged men and horny schoolgirls thought alike. In Konoha Village at least.
Yes, it WAS only plain little old Naruto we're talking about here: as the author, I haven't forgotten that. And I agree it might seem very out-of- place for someone like him to get some 'action' of the type. But after browsing a bit around the Naruto fanfics section, take a while just to consider WHAT the apparent straight/gay ratio in Konoha Village was. Not a pretty picture, uh? You can probably get a pretty good idea considering that by process of elimination, Ramen Fox-Boy here could overall STILL be considered a pretty good catch to the average Konoha kunoichi. Yup, Konoha Village was indeed in a pretty sad state of affairs right now, as it was currently faced with both the problems of procreation deficiency and the one of near-future extinction. AND not helping to re-mediate the situation was the fact that certain clans in the village (which we won't name) still placed their young male offspring through a trial of...'prestige' before allowing them to bear their respective clan's name: as you can imagine, that chopped away (literally) a good percentage of potential straight males before they even reached adulthood. Needless to say, the Hidden Leaf now firmly stood undefeated in the top ten list of dumbest, STUPIDEST crisises EVER faced by a country in the history of mankind. Man, they were screwed.
But back to Naruto and his current problems. All in all, he was just a regular young man himself, so he didn't go worrying about worst-cases scenarios like getting infected with AIDS or simply being on the verge of getting killed by some girl's overprotective father. Instead, the first thing that jumped into his mind was what came most naturally to all guys:
"Oh crap! I hope she wasn't an ugly girl!"
But then he suddenly remembered he was in Konoha Village.
"...OH CRAP! And here I am worrying that it was a GIRL?.?"
Naruto quickly scouted his surroundings, and noticed with a certain degree of relief that he was in what seemed like a female's room. He couldn't be sure, actually, but he preferred it THAT way. The decoration probably gave him a good idea about her nature, too: the pink wallpaper, the medical books neatly aligned on their shelves, and all those plush bears laying around...His tension vanished when he suddenly realized he knew exactly where he was: this hadn't been the first time he had woken up in here, after all. Usually, when he trained really hard...The sound of her soft breathing suddenly brought to his attention that she was currently there in the room as well: by the side of the bed, sitting in a straw chair, he could see her petite form huddled up in a blanket. But even as she slept there peacefully, her head gently tilted on the side, the concern on her delicate traits was unmistakable. She almost looked sad whenever he saw her like this. Naruto wondered if she had ever looked serene in her sleep, and decided she did...when he wasn't there.
It had all made sense to him, somehow: first, that splitting headache...and then finding himself at his friend Hinata-chan's house.
"She must have picked me off the streets yesterday night while I was really drunk..."
He didn't really quite understand why the little girl had always been so genuinely concerned about him, but he felt quite grateful to her for bringing him here for shelter. After all, he could have caught cold if he had been left laying outside in the streets like an homeless Arts major. And who the hell knew where else he could have ended up instead if good -intentioned Hyuuga Hinata hadn't found him first? By the way, let's not even GO there: I'm already disgusted enough. Tough luck, girls.
By the way, just to clear certain things up, let us remember Naruto was in that age where alcohol started to become a forbidden yet very accessible attraction. But do you want to know why there were no police officers in Konoha village to bust him up although he was still underage? Simply, there WAS no police system in place at Konoha Village: ninjas fended off for themselves and looked out for each other, see? They were all united together in a touching example of solidarity, trust and belonging. Well, that was the THEORY: a mere...idealism. But in practice, that kind of thinking also turned out to be very impractical for certain things: for instance, it was a real PAIN in the ass to keep any sort of rules running around in the darn place. Who the heck would be enforcing laws anyway if every single person in the Village was a delinquent ninja? Who the hell would keep everyone in line if the Hokage herself was an infamous compulsive gambler and that all Jounins were frankly just as irresponsible as Genins were? Kakashi was just as susceptible as Kiba to pull off immature pranks like setting dog crap on fire in someone's doorway: corruption, just as gayness and idiocy, were ever-present plagues for the Hidden Leaf. Anyway, all this and some more lead to the controversial problem of drinking amongst teenage ninjas, an issue which wasn't addressed very much since it ranked pretty low in the list of the village's priorities.
To give you a bit of background, it's not that Konoha village didn't look down on underage drinking: it did, but by now you'd know it was just completely and utterly powerless to do anything about it. You see, the village Council had tried setting up alcohol prohibition in the past, but as most prohibitions the law backfired so badly that they had to repel it soon afterwards, before things REALLY got out of control. Just to give you an idea, about 2 days after the Council had issued the law, the Ninja Academy switched the standard Taijutsu they taught to the Drunken Fist, since everyone had become too wasted to teach OR learn anything else. The situation was bad enough, but the Council still tried to keep their law going on a bit after that, although ultimately the prohibition lasted for 3 days and a fourth. The last straw was probably when a young and very drunk Itachi drove the family car through the garage door, the village's walls and finally into the neighboring lake, killing both his parents in a freak accident. Itachi himself had somehow survived however, ironically because he didn't click on his safety belt: he had been ejected through the windshield after the initial impact, which saved him from drowning in the car after it exploded for some reason. Yes, even if it went into the lake. To the Japanese, anything can explode for no particular reason, from cars and big bad mobile suits to simple human beings and apple pies. EVERYTHING. Seriously, considering how many mangakas made Tokyo blow up in their stories, you'd think the capital was made of the most flammable substance known to man. It's become like a good running gag to the people of Japan. By the way, if you go to Tokyo, you've NEVER heard that from me.
Anyway, although he survived, the shock gave Itachi massive brain damage, and for some reason after that he felt like killing an insane amount of people. Sasuke survived too, because he hadn't even been in the car to start with: like other kids of his age at that time, he had been plastered in his seat at the Academy, drooling on his desk and too wasted to even think. Even now, Sasuke can't really tell apart reality and alcohol-induced hallucinations when he tries to remember his parent's deaths: but as an Uchiha, he's way too cool to admit to that, right? He had an image to maintain. So he went on believing all his life he walked on Itachi as the older Uchiha towered bitterly over their parents' dead bodies, after cold- bloodedly murdering them for taking away his virility: and that image became Sasuke's truth, and everyone else's since no one bothered to remember what really happened. Well, Kakashi knew, but he calculated that if he kept his mouth shut about it, he could get himself a Sharingan at discount price. Son of a gun, eh? Anyway, the made-up story held together just fine and no one really cared about the truth, so the Council covered it all up and made Sasuke's version the true story: besides, it was also really convenient to explain Itachi's disappearance which followed soon after. But it's all a conspiracy, I tell you! Just like how they faked Hayate's death, whom was actually captured by anal-probing aliens. No, really. Fine, don't believe me.
Well, it was after that incident that the Village Council decided that enough was enough and repelled the prohibition: everything then soon went back to normal. Almost. You see, it had only taken a few seconds but the Uchiha clan had been technically wiped out...Even though there WERE Sasuke and Itachi left and that the clan had been composed of ONLY 4 family members to start with: but "wiped out clan" is SUCH a tearjerker. Well, Itachi was also gone from the village and Sasuke transformed into the uptight little fellow we now knew, but other than that, everything essentially remained the same. The ONLY other thing that came out of this incident was Rock Lee's unexpected mastery of the Suiken: since he had been the only kid around pure and innocent enough not to follow the drinking fad, he was also the only one who could clearly remember what the class had been taught at that time. It paid to be a hardworking student sometimes. Well, sometimes.
But I talk and talk, and we're not progressing with our story. Where the heck were we anyway?
Okay, so Naruto drank, but it's not like he was particularly tolerant to alcohol either: in fact, he wasn't. As far as alcohol went, he was a real wimp and a small bottle of sake was more than enough to knock him out: but still, kids, don't go try and test your own alcohol tolerance with a beer pack right now, okay? This is just a fictional story. Eh, I meant that. Eh eh HEY! GIT BACK 'ERE. Even though this is just a really amoral fic, try to at least learn something from all this! Look at Itachi for instance, and you just KNOW where you'll end up in life unless you're both a rational AND sexy drinker. Geez, kids today...Anyway, the point was that Naruto would never drink a lot unless something very out of the ordinary happened. Except for drinking contests that is: he was too proud and too stubborn to turn any challengers down, after all. Actually, when Naruto thought about what could have happened last night, that was the first possible conclusion that had come to his mind. Most likely, he collapsed somewhere in the streets yesterday night after a wild time at the bar, and Hinata-chan must have picked him up after tripping over his lifeless body as she was walking home. Why make her trip on him, you ask? Because tripping someone is still one of the oldest and funniest gags in the book: seriously, when you see someone slipping and falling down the stairs, do you first consider that to be funny or depressing? Be honest. And frankly, there just weren't any banana peels around to play with.
The headache hit Naruto again, making him cringe in pain: maybe it was simply better if he didn't think too much right now. His own thoughts were in a real blur anyway: the best course of action would be to ask Hinata- chan herself what happened later, when she woke up. With that in mind, Naruto slowly pulled himself up into a more comfortable sitting position...and suddenly grimaced as his right hand made contact with the soft fabric of a blanket. So it wasn't just a hangover: his hand stung like hell too. Bringing it to eye level, he was amazed to see his right hand completely bandaged up in clean white wraps.
"My hand...? Hinata-chan...Did she do this...?"
He took a better look at himself: much of his body actually was bandaged up, from his torso down to his ankle. Then, the top of his head also felt uncomfortable for some reason, and he reached for it: the realization it was also wrapped up acted almost like a trigger to his memories. His mind started racing as yesterday pieced itself back together, and he almost gasped when he saw something very familiar resting on the counter beside him. His hand automatically reached for it, but on the contact of his fingertips the faded rose seemed to come apart by itself. It could only be beautiful for so long, after all. Soon there was nothing left of the plant but a mess of dark, dry crimson petals.
"Tears...of blood." Naruto simply whispered.
She had been quite relieved to find the bed empty when she finally woke up, but she sighed anyway. It was a good sign that Naruto-kun probably felt good enough to walk out of his own, but still, why did he always left like this...? Hinata wished he could say thank you, sometimes. Well, it's not like she particularly enjoyed scares like the one she was given yesterday, but Hinata was always glad to be given a chance to help Naruto-kun out whenever he needed it. But lately, his erratic behavior had really been starting to worry her...You see, it wasn't the first time Naruto had come to her hurt in some way: more and more, she had seen him collapse of exhaustion after stubbornly training deep into the night. His desperation to grow stronger had become greater than even his body could handle. Right now, Hinata- chan's greatest fear was that one day he would push himself to such an irreparable state that even HE wouldn't be able to wake up afterwards. Kiba- kun had tried reassuring her, telling her Naruto was just as stupid as he was resilient, laughing the matter off, but Hinata couldn't laugh. Because she knew Naruto more than anyone.
She knew how he trained incredibly hard, day after day, shrugging off bruises and pain like details and getting back up until his own mind blanked out and his own body collapsed of exhaustion. That much, everyone knew. But she was the only one whom he had actually confessed his own feelings of weakness to: she was the only one who knew even Naruto could sometimes lose confidence. Hinata-chan knew of his growing despair to ever get any stronger, as more and more he kept giving in to the feeling that he had already reached the limits of his potential. She knew how his pride was slowly dying as every single one of his friends eventually surpassed him. And knowing all this broke her heart.
Because if Naruto, her shooting star of dedication and perseverance, eventually burned out, she wouldn't know what to believe in anymore. There wouldn't be anyone left for her to believe in.
Of all people his age, Hinata probably knew best of Naruto's strange healing abilities, having by now witnessed it many times. In fact, she couldn't even flatter herself into thinking that she was taking care of him, most of the time when he was laying unconscious like this: all she did was bring him somewhere safe so he could rest, and he would do practically all the healing by himself. With this kind of power, Naruto could even seem almost immortal to some people, but Hinata knew better: she knew that if he got wounded badly enough in fatal areas, he was just as vulnerable to death as any other ninja in the village. It had never appeared so clear to her as yesterday night, when she opened her door and saw both Kiba-kun and Shino- kun standing there on her porch, carrying an unconscious Naruto with them like a dead weight. That picture had haunted her dreams the whole night: a badly bruised Naruto hanging between life and death, with deep cuts all over his body, an open wound to the head, and practically throwing up blood in his own filth...In a blind panic, she had recalled applying first-aid to him as best she could, but was still worried enough for his life to watch over him as he slept. She cared for him so deeply she only fell asleep herself at around 5 in the morning, when his erratic breathing and pulse had come back to normal...
And still...when she woke up, as usually, he had left before she could even say goodbye to him. And took away with him the brief warmth he brought into her life on each visit. Life wasn't fair and this certainly wasn't... BUT let's not go into some sort of a really depressing scene of Hinata feeling sorry for herself here. She's a nice girl, heck, she doesn't deserve that. Instead, let's break off the mood with a plot device like this one: Hinata suddenly heard a yell coming from the backyard.
"That voice...?" she thought to herself. And we damn knew who it was.
"Rasen...GAAAAN!"
The blond boy finished his own Taijutsu training pattern with his strongest melee technique: his prided A-class Rasengan Jutsu. Stretching out his right arm to its full length in front of himself, he breathed inwardly and focused: soon enough, a ball of chakra gently gathered in between his fingers, quickly building up speed and power until it attained the approximate size of a tennis ball. Well, people didn't play tennis in Konoha: it's simply for the reader's reference. But rejoice, I'm not gonna go into another pointless background information paragraph just for that: more importantly, I don't feel like making any jokes about balls, if you get my drift. Anyway, it was pretty impressive, but the Rasengan only remained in that state for about 10 seconds, before it spun out of control and simply fizzled out into thin air. Breathing heavily, Naruto contemplated his own hand for a while, with a look of dissatisfaction.
"Not long enough. With this kind of amateurish chakra control, I still can't face Sasuke..."
He sighed and sat down. Well, as far as he was concerned, that was enough training for the morning: not that he was particularly tired yet, but more because after taking a while to consider the destructive nature of his training, he decided it was better he stopped now before Hinata's backyard took on the appearance of a warzone. He was regulating his own breathing when he noticed a very surprised Hinata-chan at the window, looking at him.
"Oi, Hinata-chan! Good morning ! So you 're up, uh ?" he made a large and silly arm waving motion in her direction.
"G...Good morning, Naruto-kun! Um, ano...what are you still doing here?"
Even though she was very happy, she was still a bit puzzled about why Naruto hadn't already left, as he usually did. Naruto just gave her a sincere smile, picking up his trademark bright orange jacket and tossing it on his shoulder before taking a step towards her.
Hinata looked even more puzzled as another great question about the Naruto universe popped into her mind: whenever he went on reconnaissance missions, now just how the HECK did Naruto pass unseen with that kind of flashy jacket? Or anyone wearing the Konoha bright green vest for that matter? It just didn't make any sense. Well, the answer to that was that most Konoha ninjas didn't fare too well in the stealth department: in fact, there WAS no such thing as stealth for them. They could be sneaky like Kakashi, squeaky like Gai, nobody like Asuma or plain sucky like Kurenai, but stealthy? HELL NO! Forget that crap about 'a ninja leaves no trace' or 'move like a shadow, bite like the wind'. Even though 'ninja' technically meant 'unseen being,' Konoha's Jounin gang was probably more adept at busting through a house's front door guerrilla-style, armed with blasting grenade launchers and blaring semi-automatics. Technically, these guys had a lot of issues and angst to deal with and just LOVED their stress- relieving action. Like the jackets they wore, Konoha ninjas were indeed loud enough to wake up the dead whenever they worked, and you better believe they left more than a single trace afterwards too: when given a mission, frankly, they simply kept on destroying everything they got their sight on until they ran out of chakra and ammo clips. Enemies, children, pets, plants, houses, the furniture IN the houses, tax collectors, cyborg terminators, firemen, hostages, Jenuvah witnesses, washed-up boys band members...OTHER Konoha ninjas...you name it. And all this was done in the most gruesome, unredeeming and more importantly, random kind of way. We previously mentioned an historical Orochimaru raid on Konoha Village, but at least those guys would use some degree of stealth when the infiltration would take place sometimes in the future . But do you even want to know what happened afterwards when Tsunade would order a very enthusiastic counter-raid on the Hidden Sound Village? Orochimaru would just be talking about the nice weather with Kabuto over a tasty cup of coffee when suddenly the gatedoor to his village would simply EXPLODE and that jeeps armed with mounted machine-guns and packed to the brim with Konoha ninjas would pour in from every direction imaginable. The following scenes of fighting, pyromania and overall insane mass destruction would be enough to put even Rambo, a guy who made his mark by running around with grenades, to shame. And to think that in the future, Konoha ninjas STILL had the nerve to call themselves 'unseen beings' even after leveling Orochimaru's village to the ground. WTF?.?
Anyway, as usual, back to the story. When he had come close enough, Hinata suddenly noticed Naruto had removed all of his bandages.
"Na...Naruto-kun...Your wounds..."
"It's fine, Hinata-chan! Really! I'm all good to go, now!" He flexed his puny muscles to prove his point.
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that! ...But, why are you still here then? You haven't answered my question yet..."
Naruto rose an eyebrow.
"What, you wanted me to leave?"
She clasped her mouth shut, realizing instantly she had said something she shouldn't have.
"N-no no! It's not that! It's just, that...well...you...usually, you...Well, to be honest, I didn't think you'd stay around...You usually just leave in the morning, so..." Hinata looked away.
This created an awkward silence between them. It was Naruto's turn to look away, too.
"You know, Hinata-chan...I never really thanked you for all those times you took care of me, so I wanted to tell you today. Hinata-chan...Arigatou. It means a lot to me."
That completely took her by surprise. Soon enough, she could detect the familiar feeling of warm blood creeping up her face, and her hands shot up to her cheeks in a rather futile attempt to hide it.
"Hinata-chan...your face..."
"It...It's nothing! Na...Naruto-kun...I..."
"Oh yeah, and also...well, I decided to take a day off, today, so...I wanted to ask you if I could treat you out to breakfast this morning."
A dead silence followed and crickets singed. Naruto kicked Jiminy Cricket who happened to be near him and quickly followed-up.
"I'm not forcing you, though! I'm just asking! You're free to refuse if you don't want to!"
Naruto turned his back to her and finished with a nervous laugh, his hand reaching for the back of his head: for a moment, he considered hightailing it out of there and cutting down his own emotional losses. It was something understandable: after all, he didn't think he could bear hearing another girl turning him down right now. No...not after what had happened between him and Sakura-chan yesterday. It really shouldn't matter to him anymore, and the only direction he could look to now was onward. But still...
Imagine Naruto's surprise when he finally looked back at Hinata: somehow, her hands had come down and she wasn't bothering to hide her blushing anymore. And even though she looked somewhat surprised, any other features of her expression simply radiated of happiness. She smiled sweetly at him and Naruto caught himself blinking twice before his mind actually registered her answer.
"I'd be glad to, Naruto-kun."
Now see that! That's how a cute and REFINED manga girl is supposed to act! Not at all like the usual laugh-out-loud "BWAHAHAHA-snort!" you usually get from the tomboyish air-headed chicks animes nowadays tend to favor! Okay, so I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. That positive reply for some reason really made Naruto's day, and he soon felt his past worries melt away. Why be sad, as long as there was someone by his side whom really cared for him? At that moment, he felt strong enough to forget just about anything else...and ready to forgive just about anyone.
"Yosh! It's a date, then! Let's go get some ramen!" He stroke an energetic pose, pointing dramatically towards his favorite ramen shop, which was also the ONLY ramen shop in Konoha Village.
You see, business competition was relatively unexistent in trigger-happy Konoha Village, and trying to make any was simply asking for trouble. No, really: the old man running the ramen shop did look kind most of the time but when it came to ramen business, he definitely wasn't someone you wanted to fuck around with. The last fool who even tried stealing customers still had his entrails decorating the ramen shop's entrance as a warning to others. AND it didn't even bother anyone coming to eat at the place: to the Konoha ninja, it was all in a day's work. Anyway, this would have been a great and enlightening day for Naruto, but as this is primarily a drama fic, he was about to make another unpleasant discovery...
"...Ano, Naruto-kun...I'm sorry, but...I'm allergic to ramen..."
Naruto's expression instantly turned into that of a deer caught into the headlights. Or, since it's in context, that expression of shock Orochimaru would have on his face before he would be run over by Gai's jeep as the Jounin yells out gleefully "Payback time, BEE-YATCH!" . For some odd reason, it's almost certain most readers would prefer the latter mental image.
Naruto, for his part, was just shaking his fist towards the sky.
"DAMN YOU, GOD! WHY MUST YOU PERPETUALLY TORTURE ME?.?"
"Simple. What else can I do?" A voice answered from the heavens. And He went back to whatever it is He was doing.
"Hinata-chan. Tell me everything."
"Huh?" She was taken aback by the question.
Naruto and Hinata were now at the soba stand next door, since by courtesy for his friend Naruto had decided to skip his daily attendance to the ramen shop. By the way, if you looked well enough through the background, you could notice the old guy from the ramen shop sharpening the huge-ass axe he usually kept behind the counter. Don't forget your popcorn because as soon as Naruto and Hinata left, there would be a one heck of a showdown between him and the old guy running the soba stand, over Naruto's clientele...And you didn't want to miss that for ANYTHING. Seriously, like the late Sandaime, all old men in Konoha kicked serious ass: hell was coming to town tonight and it was very, VERY angry.
"Tell me about yesterday. Since this morning, some people have been looking at me strangely, but I can't remember anything about what I did last night. So please, Hinata-chan."
She sighed: she had figured he'd ask sooner or later. But she still didn't really want to talk about this...
"Ano...I don't really know myself...You should ask Kiba-kun or Shino-kun...They..."
Naruto shook his head.
"That's not the point, Hinata-chan. I don't know if I can face anyone, right now. If from anyone at all, I want to hear it from you."
Hinata played around with her noodles for a while, uncertain of how to break the story to him. But then again, she thought, he had every right to know. It was probably better if he knew.
"Yesterday night...It was my teammates who brought you to me. Kiba-kun told me he had simply been walking Amakaru last night when he heard of a violent bar brawl, so he rushed over...Shino-kun happened to be there too...So when they managed to knock...out...the person who had started the trouble, they brought you to me. You were wounded badly, so I..."
"Hinata-chan...the person who started that brawl was me and you know it."
Hinata froze momentarily. She was starting to feel very uncomfortable.
"Tell me what they saw."
"K...Kiba-kun saw you throwing bottles around and randomly fighting with people, so he tackled you from behind...That mark on your ankle's where Akamaru bit you...Even though someone had already broken a bottle on your head, you were still fighting in a blind rage...Shino-kun simply said he had never seen you in such a state...I...I couldn't imagine you doing that sort of stuff either! I..."
"Please, Hinata-chan. Stick to the story."
"...Okay...You were wounded but Kiba-kun till had to wrestle with you for about fifteen minutes...When he finally managed to hold you down, Shino-kun used one of his narcotic bugs to put you to sleep. He said that by then you had already sustained a large amount of injuries, so he had to put you out in order to have you treated. After that...After that, they apologized for your behavior to everyone...and brought you to me. I bandaged you up and took care of you for the rest of the night."
The expression of pain was now obvious on Naruto's face, when he heard that someone had to stoop down and actually apologize for him. Inuzuka Kiba was a loud guy and wasn't exactly the best living example of a thoughtful man: as for Aburame Shino, he was a real enigma but nevertheless a very upstanding ninja. But to even picture them taking that kind of damage to their own pride for Naruto's sake...Naruto thought that scum like him didn't deserve that kind of respect when he wasn't even a Chuunin himself. Why was he so weak? Why did everyone have to look after him? He felt his frustration rising.
"Dammit...DAMMIT!"
Hinata didn't like this: for the first time ever, Naruto-kun was actually...scaring her. She was very, very afraid. This wasn't like him at all and she wanted to get away.
A long and painful silence ensued as neither of them knew what to say. But just as Hinata decided she couldn't take it anymore, Naruto just grinned at her like he usually would, instantly killing off the tension that had been building up.
"So that's what happened, uh? I shouldn't forget to thank them, then! They probably got me out of a real jam! And you too, Hinata-chan, for looking after me and all...You have such a great team! Kurenai-sensei did a good job bringing you guys together!"
Hinata spent several seconds blinking in disbelief: not because of how sudden the change in mood was, but because for the first time EVER, she had heard praise about her teacher. That was bordering on the edges of a miracle. Also, the awkwardness she had felt earlier had somewhat vanished. She managed to smile.
"You're welcome, Naruto-kun."
They both took a sip of their tea as seemingly everything went back to normal. And Hinata really hoped it wasn't only an impression, either.
"By the way, Hinata-chan, there's a favor I've meant to ask you."
"What is it, Naruto-kun? I'd be glad to help in any way I can."
"Can you teach me Taijutsu? You know, YOUR Taijutsu."
With these kinds of conversations, the soba stand owner never got any kind of rest. Sure, it was hilarious seeing people shoot tea out of their noses, and it was even more priceless when the victims were timid little girls you wouldn't usually expect that sort of reaction from. Yet it was SO troublesome to clean up...
But he couldn't worry about that now: he was too busy doing last-minute maintenance on his own deadly-looking spear. Furtively, he glared at the ramen shop owner. The other old man glared back. Yes indeed, crimson would soon rain and some ages-old accounts would be settled once and for all...
"N...Naruto-kun! You can't be serious! My Gentle Fist Taijutsu is a style that can only be passed within the Hyuuga bloodline, I have no right to...And...and more importantly, you can't use it if you don't have a Byakugan! It wouldn't be very effective, and..."
Naruto just looked at her, with a wildly amused look.
"Hinata-chan, you have tea all over your face."
"Oh, gomen!" She quickly wiped her face with a napkin, concealing her embarrassment..
"And that's not what I meant when I asked you to teach me Taijutsu: the Hyuuga's kind of complex Taijutsu, with all its theories about pressure points and the like probably wouldn't fit my style anyway. Look, and I'm not asking you to betray your own clan or anything either: what I was wondering is if you could teach me the basics of chakra-using Taijutsu. To give me a fighting chance against Thick-Eyebrows and Sasuke's Iron Fist styled Taijutsu, you see."
Hinata thought for a while. True, there was nothing in the Hyuuga clan rules forbidding her to do that. And it's not like castration was used as a form of punishment for disobedience in her clan either: nope, that was the guys next door's way of doing things, the Uchihas. But anyway, the chakra control required in the Hyuuga Taijutsu demanded deadly serious training from a very early age: the odds were that Naruto could never master a perfectly balanced Taijutsu if he tried to use the Gentle Fist form. But...seeing his hopeful look as he awaited for an answer, she didn't have the heart to refuse him. She wasn't sure why, but those deep, passionate blue eyes he showed her every time he was resolved to do something just made her melt...Why was she even hesitating? She had made up her mind a long time ago that she'd support him in any way she could...
"I'll do my best, Naruto-kun."
It can be argued that Fate herself is truly a whimsical Mistress. And yet, as this chapter ends, one can't help but ponder if throughout existence, as one connects with many other lives, there are truly some meetings which hold nothing of a coincidence.
As the first drops of rain appeared in the sky, two friends stumbled out from a soba stand and quickly ran for cover.
As a girl clumsily stumbled on her feet, a boy quickly reached out with his arms and caught her in her fall.
And as he helped her regain her footing, their eyes akwardly met for a fleeting moment, trembling of laughter.
In the following brief moment of catharsis, for the first time ever both the boy and girl would feel all their previous sins, worries, and weaknesses dissipate into thin air. Not even the storm, omen of the much darker times that were to come, could drown out that faltering glow of life even as its pouring rain cleansed out forbidden alleys and forced the small village's inhabitants to cower into their shelters...
At the same time, two cloaked men, one armed with an axe and the other with a spear, met in the middle of the street. The first pointed towards the mountains, and the other simply nodded: without even saying a word, they both turned and silently headed for that direction, as a sakura-filled gust of wind conveniently blew by to make their cloaks trail dramatically behind them...
Author's note: I think this was the chapter which got the most response out of readers, and I still don't really understand why. As a matter of fact, I don't know if I should find it rather alarming that people nowadays consider jeep kills completely hilarious. Oh well.
Counting Crows - Round Here