Dreams are Dreams
Chapter XII
by cocoa-latte
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Hinata blushed a deep shade of bright pink. "Ano, it's only ramen, Naruto-kun, i-it wasn't difficult to cook or anything," she told him truthfully. Naruto glanced up at her, confusion was in his eye. "Not difficult? Haven't you ever poured too much of that soup powder thingy for the soup, or put too much water, or… or burnt you ramen!"
"N-no, not really," she told him timidly, glancing sideways uncomfortably. She never really had trouble cooking ramen.
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Are you sure that you've never put too much of the spicy powder in your soup?" Naruto shook his head at the memories. "It happens to me all the time! The ramen's so spicy that it's practically impossible to eat, but I eat it anyways. You can't let ramen go to waste, right? Then my mouth feels as if it were on fire…"
"Ano," she began, "they say that milk really helps to quench the spiciness," Hinata commented as she perched her arms contentedly on the clean kitchen counter.
Naruto's face immediately fell. "Well, I usually do have milk at home, but then I forget to drink it and it spoils," he admitted adamantly. "Then," he continued. "I would forget and drink the milk. I don't really look at the due date, like who looks at the due date before drinking milk! So, after I drink it, about twenty-five minutes later, I get a tummy ache." Naruto's face scrunched up as he remembered the pain. "I hate it when that happens," he groaned.
'Who doesn't look at the due date before drinking milk?' thought Hinata, baffled at what Naruto had just said. "Um, l-let's start washing dishes, shall we?" asked Hinata as she glanced over by the sink, the dishes were piled high.
"Okay, let's wash dishes!" Naruto exclaimed as he began rolling up his long sleeves.
Hinata faced and Naruto, she had completely regained her composure. "You sound excited about washing dishes."
Naruto looked up. "Well, I normally hate washing dishes. I can't figure out why they can't just wash by themselves. It's not like anyone really enjoys washing dishes right? It's like those stupid D-rank missions all over again."
Hinata forged a smile, she was happy with him though, she adored his love and he adored hers. Yes, he was slightly weird at times, but he was Naruto. What else would you expect? "Ano... y-yeah, wouldn't that be great?" Hinata commented, 'Isn't that why people invented the dishwasher?'
"It's cold," Naruto stated as he glanced out the kitchen window. The snow had begun to fall again. "I'm starting to get sick of snow. It's just there, white, cold, blinding at times, annoying, needs to be shovelled, and did I mention cold?"
Hinata snapped his attention back to him. "I-i think you mentioned cold."
Naruto drummed his fingers on the sink. "Let's start washing the dishes," he said again.
Hinata nodded nervously. "Sure," she replied back to him as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her small ear. She looked over at Naruto contently; and watched him wash the dishes difficultly.
"Kuso, this stupid stain won't come off!" he gritted his teeth together as he scrubbed the pot harder with the SOS pad. Naruto paused for awhile, letting his arm take a small rest.
Hinata looked over at Naruto cautiously. "Ano, d-do you want me to help you?" she asked him kindly.
"Sure!" he cried happily, and handed her the pot. "So… can I rinse?" he asked hopefully.
"I-if you want." shrugged Hinata. She didn't have any objections of washing anyways. She picked up the pot and filled it with some new soapy hot water and set it aside. "I haven't gone training for a while," she told Naruto.
Naruto shrugged. "I haven't either. Only Sasuke-bastard, Neji, and Tenten are still training, I think. I'm not really sure," he sighed, "we're on vacation. Vacations are suppose to be fun right? So what's the point of training?"
"Ano... well, I guess there's no point then," Hinata answered.
"Exactly! It's nice to have a few days of rest. Well, two weeks, fourteen days, but it's still basically the same." Naruto pondered for a moment. "I should train though, or else I'll lose my touch!"
"Hmm…" mused Hinata as she finished washing the pot that Naruto had trouble with. She drained the dirty water in the sink and watched what was left of the bubbles go down the pipes. "Done!" she exclaimed quietly.
Naruto looked up at her. "Already?" he questioned. "It's so nice to have someone to wash dishes with. It takes me so long just to wash it myself." His face lit up. "Let's go out in the snow!"
"Maybe we should stop sparring and go back…" Neji suggested as he looked down at her wound on her arm; the arm which he was still holding.
Ten Ten followed his eyes down to her wound. She yanked her arm away, "I'm fine, let's keep sparring." Neji looked at her with an unreadable expression, but finally nodded. Neji took a few steps back and got into his fighting stance.
Tenten fingered the shurikens in her pouch, while thinking up a plan. Neji on the other hand already thought of a plan and started to attack. He raced towards her with two shurikens and threw them swiftly at her. Ten Ten saw this coming and quickly ducked; Neji pulled out a kunai and tried to attack her. Ten Ten also saw this coming; she jumped up to avoid Neji and kicked him square on his back. Neji landed face flat on the cold wet snow but quickly recovered.
Neji smirked, "nice move." Ten Ten didn't respond, she took out a kunai and threw it at the Byakugan user. Neji didn't even have to dodge it, 'her aim is so off.' A sudden explosion hit Neji and made him go flying through the trees. 'Shit, how could I miss the explosion note wrapped around her kunai? Okay, maybe her aim isn't off, maybe it's just me.'
Neji quickly got up and absently brushed the snow that
A smirk appeared on Ten Ten's lips. Neji was not doing well in their little sparring game today. Perhaps she had a chance to win, for once. "You should have trained during the past week Neji," Tenten told him, as she watched him get into his fighting stance again.
Neji glanced up, as he watched how the moonlight illuminated Tenten's smooth face; sometimes he didn't understand her. Did she forget that for the entire last week, he was spending time with her?
Neji gave a small sigh. "I'm a little tired now Tenten. Do you want to just go back to the lodge?"
She glanced up at him, surprised that he was ending their sparring game so quickly. "Okay," she agreed easily. 'Sore loser,' laughed the voice in Tenten's head. She bent over and swiftly swapped up a chunk of snow. She could see Neji looking at her, amused, from the corner of her eye.
Tenten ignored him and began to shape the snow round. Again, she glanced up; pleased that Neji too had a snowball in his hand. Tenten looked at him suggestively. She didn't wait for his response, as her arm was already arched far back. Tenten hurled the large snowball at him. It skimmed over his head, catching his hair.
Neji vaguely glanced at his hair, noticing the little speckles of white snow littering on his hair and coat. He momentary looked at Tenten, aware that the stinging cold snowball was still in his hands. Tenten watched Neji as he reached into his coat pockets and took out his brown mittens.
A small smile crept onto his lips. "Snow ball fight?" he asked; the snowball still in his hands.
Tenten, noticing Neji's small smile, grinned widely. 'He's so cute when he smiles…' "I'd love to," Tenten answered back with a nonchalant smile on her face. God, she couldn't wipe that stupid smile off her face. Just being with him made her feel special and… different. Tenten shook her head slightly to clear her dazed head.
"Oh! Let's have a really big snow fight. We can build snow forts too!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Neji smiled softly. "Sure," he told her, amused that she was so excited about the little puffs of snow that lay on the ground.
Neji gave a momentary look at his surroundings. Everything was so surreal. All the snow, this trip, him and Tenten… There were days where he would actually pinch himself to see if it were all real.
Tenten smiled at him, she could feel the rush of adrenalin that ran through her body when he smiled at her. She knelt down on the snowy floor and began forming a large snow fort. Neji bent over and whispered in her ear, "or we could just go back to the lodge and spend some time together."
A glint of excitement was noticeable in Tenten's eyes. "I'd love to," she whispered back to him. She still couldn't rip the stupid smile off her face. She loved spending time with Neji. Every minute, every second was heaven. As long as she was with him, she'd be living in bliss.
Ino looked over at Shikamaru expectantly. "Well, everyone else wants to go somewhere to eat because they're sick of ramen, but I'm not really hungry. How about you?" she asked him, her blue eyes glanced over at him impatiently.
"Aw, that's no fun," Shikamaru sighed, condemned at the thought. He was hungry.
"I'm not hungry," Ino repeated her eyes set hard at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru sighed-again. He wasn't really looking forward to another hit on the head. He had already lost enough brain cells, thank you very much. He hesitated, "Okay, we can just go back to the lodge if you want."
Chouji looked over at them with a hint of a smile on his face. "Have fun," he called as he tucked his cold hands into his pockets. Shikamaru grumbled and ignored Chouji's sarcastic reply. He gave a short wave to the other before following Ino back to the lodge.
The large spacious cabin was close, and they wouldn't have to go very far to reach it. Shikamaru followed Ino dubiously. "I'm actually really hungry," he admitted.
Ino turned around the face him, "I actually wanted to talk to you,"
"Yah, you're talking," grumbled Shikamaru, still mad at the fact that she pulled him away from a ramen-free dinner.
Ino sighed, "Never mind," 'Why does he always have to be so troublesome?'
Shikamaru glanced over at her. "No, you can talk if you want," he muttered.
"You're so stupid Shikamaru," she muttered as she began walking again.
Shikamaru looked at her gobsmacked. What had he done to deserve to be called stupid? "What did I do?" he asked her.
"I said never mind," she said clearly and turned away from her.
Shikamaru sighed and quietly followed her back to the cabin.
Sasuke calmly placed his kunai back into his weapon pouch. He glanced around his surroundings guardedly; it seemed that it was only him who still trained on daily basis. Sasuke stood there, motionlessly. There was nothing to do in this stupid mountain. Sasuke watched as the pure white snow swiftly sprinkled down from the trees.
Sasuke picked up his coat that he left hanging on one of the branches.
The snow seemed to fall with every motion he made, every breath he took. He hated all this, the snow. It was so clean, pure, and innocent. 'Like Sakura,' the voice in his head told him slyly. Sasuke felt his hands clench together, his nails digging into his skin.
'What the hell? Why is this voice always taunting me?' thought Sasuke angrily as he slipped another kunai back into his weapon pouch. Sounds of giggles filled the air. Sasuke grumbled as he started to walk back to the lodge. It was far, but he wanted to be as far away from the love-sick chuunins while he was training. 'Like you were actually training. Couldn't stop thinking about her eh? Admit it, you like her.' "Get-out-of-my head-" he growled. The farther away from the lodge the better it was.
He had always hated the phrase 'love's in the air,' but it seemed that love always was in the air. Everywhere he went, it wouldn't leave him alone. Sasuke gave a small irritated sigh and began heading back to the lodge. This whole trip was a waste. Everything was different, he couldn't train well, and he couldn't eat well (considering ALL that ramen they all consumed everyday.) He couldn't even sleep well, he couldn't go home, he couldn't…
Never mind, he was just stuck here. Sasuke continued to walk down the snow path that lay unmarred except his own footprints that littered the ground. With a jolt of realization, he hated snow. It was too innocent, too perfect, it was too fake.
Sasuke looked up. 'Good,' he thought. He was almost at the lodge now. Sasuke reached into his back pant pocket and took out a dangling keychain with a small silver key attached to it. He stuck it into the keyhole and absently turned to the left and pushed the door. It didn't open. Frustrated, he turned the key to the right and heard a satisfying click. Finally, it was open.
Sasuke walked in, he could feel the warm musty air of the almost empty cabin. He could only sense Naruto's and Hinata's charka in the living room. 'Are they always in here or something?' thought Sasuke incredulously. He kicked off his black boots and placed them down on the wooden shoe rack.
Maybe he would have time to look through her room. Sasuke walked up the creaky stairs quietly. He didn't want to interrupt anything. Sakura and Ino's room was located second left. Sasuke stood in front of the closed door. He knew that the doors didn't have locks; he placed his hand on the cool doorknob and gently turned it.
The room was filled with a mix of Ino's perfume, and Sakura's cherry blossom shampoo. The room was fairly messy; he could see the mounds of clothes that lay strewn across the once clean floor.
Sasuke walked over the clothes, careful to not step over any, he sat down on Sakura's empty bed. He gave a frustrated sigh.
Sasuke couldn't understand his mixed feelings. He was thinking so much about her lately. He didn't even like her. 'Liar!' the voice taunted in his head.
Sasuke blew out a deep breath and abruptly stood up. His eyes landed on a crumpled small white piece of paper on the old wooden desk. He attentively picked it up and began unfolding the mass of wrinkles. He quickly scanned through the paper.
Note:
Sakura- date with Aniro- Wednesday
(123-4567)
Sasuke crumpled the note again. He could feel blood rush through his veins. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. She was going out with the guy. It was the guy from that stupid dance that he was literally dragged along to.
Sasuke's eye's narrowed. That bastard.
Sakura sat down across from Aniro courteously. He was still as handsome as she last saw him. His eyes were colder than she remembered. It instantly reminded her of Sasuke. She nervously placed her hands gently on the table. Aniro looked up, aware of her uncomfortable gaze and nervousness. 'This is so damn awkward,' thought Sakura miserably.
Aniro handed her the cream-coloured menu, "Here, why don't you pick something to eat?"
Sakura gave him a tense smile and crossed her legs underneath the table. "Thanks," she told him quietly as she brought her eyes down to scan over the menu. There wasn't anything that she really had an urge to eat. She wasn't very hungry, she was still pretty full from her big late lunch with Tenten.
Aniro glanced over at her. "Why don't you order the seafood dish? I heard that it's very good here," he motioned to the restaurant.
Sakura gave him a small smile. "Alright, I'll order that," she said politely as she placed the menu back down on the table.
"So," began Aniro, "is this your first time at the mountain?"
"Yes," admitted Sakura, "It is my first time. I'm actually here with some friends, some former genin teams, and our old senseis."
Aniro's eyebrows raised, "you're a kunoichi? You never told me that! You could probably kick my ass then," he laughed coldly.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. There was just something about the way he said 'kunoichi.' He practically spat out the word. "Yah, I'm a kunoichi, and I probably could kick your ass," Sakura informed him. She knew he wasn't a shinobi; his charka was far too low. He didn't seem to be the asshole that he was the last time they met.
Sakura leaned forward, "I actually have to go now, I forgot, I have an appointment to get to." She got up before he could say anything. "Bye!" she called merrily.
She shouldn't have assumed that he was a nice person. Then again, he wasn't such a bastard last time. She'd drive herself insane if she stayed in there him any longer.
Yes, I've finally changed my pen name! As you can see, it's cocoa-latte now. Finally finished this chapter! Again, I'm really sorry for the slow updates. Big thanks to my beta evil-mittens. (same beta, different penname.) Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're all awesome!
Sephynarutocloud, warprince2000, Shikage-Tsaya, Chobit 00, UNKIND, Nobody O.o, redlotusnin and icehunternin, girlwatershamen: Thank you all so much for reviewing! Here's the next chapter, and I'm sorry for the long update.
Sakurablossoms33: You got lost snowboarding again? Good thing you found your way back though! (sorry for the slow update!)
timeshifter: Thanks for the review and pointing my mistakes out! I appreciate it!
animEvivvErz: Thanks for reviewing! The sun's shining and it's winter? Hm... that happens where I live too. It's usually warmer when it's raining than when it's sunny. (but that's if its spring, fall, or winter.) I was so happy that it snowed though. It kept snowing, and the snow wouldn't melt. Then I got sick of the snow. Haha. XD Thanks so much for the super long review!
Als4137, sad4ngel, irukapooka, direwolf1427, Kagome1015: Thank you all for the reviews! Sasuke and Sakura will be coming later. (After Shika and Ino get together. Sasuke and Sakura will likely be the last couple to get together in this story.
Brokenangel,forgivendevil: Haha, yah, Sakura got neglected. She's kinda neglected here too. I can't keep neglecting her anymore though!
sae konoto: Hm… Sasuke didn't take Sakura dating Aniro very well…
millie-chan: Sakura's angst because she has finally broke down after all these years of neglect from Sasuke.
Shikaslacker: I updated, I updated, I updated! I'm sorry. I know I'm a very slow updater. I get writer blocks ALL the time! I usually update when my beta starts to nag me though. I'll try to update sooner. Thanks!