Dreams are Dreams
Chapter fifteen
By cocoa-latte
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
A hyperactive blonde walked over to the living room, with a little bounce to his stride. The sun had risen just a few hours earlier, and it was currently shining brightly above the grey clouds that hid the yellow rays of sunshine.
To his surprise, a silver-haired man sat cross-legged on the couch, with his perverted orange book propped on his lap. "Hey, Kakashi," Naruto called.
Kakashi looked up from his book. "Hm?" he acknowledged Naruto.
"Since we're leaving for Konoha tomorrow morning—"
Kakashi cut him off. "We're going out for dinner tonight; I'm sorry, but no ramen for you tonight. It'll do you good." Kakashi dropped his voice; "Even I'm starting to feel queasy, eating ramen all the time."
Naruto gave Kakashi a reproaching look. "You don't see me getting sick! I eat ramen all the time!"
The jounin raised his eyebrows. "I was talking about me feeling queasy, not you. I'm pretty sure that I know how you can stomach ramen."
Naruto ignored his comment. "So," he began, "do we all have to go tonight? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that a few of us will be all right not going, and it'll probably will be easier for whomever's treating tonight. Don't you think?"
Reversed psychology never worked well for Naruto.
"I don't think so."
Naruto turned to leave. "Whatever, it's our last meal- well, second last, if you count breakfast tomorrow. I guess I'll come, but when we get back to Konoha, I'll never have to deal with all of you again."
He heard Kakashi say, "True" as he left.
Naruto began walking up the stairs, and headed towards his room. The hallway was eerily silent, for some odd reason. He shuddered at the coldness of the floor, as the chilly heat seeped through his socks, penetrating his toes.
He could see a faint shadow in the dark corner. The tall figured moved sideways, and let some of the light hit his face.
"Hyuuga," Naruto said as Neji gave him a glare.
"Uzumaki." Neji's voice was cold.
Naruto, hearing the tone of Neji's voice, too, hardened his eyes. 'What's up with this guy?' Naruto thought.
"Now, I'm warning you: if you hurt Hinata-san, you'll be sorry."
Neji left abruptly leaving Naruto to fend his overwhelming thoughts himself. He realized that Neji left out the usual "-sama" suffix when he said Hinata's name. For someone who had just newly initiated love, Neji sure was bland to other people's affection for each other. Couldn't he see that he actually loved her? This wasn't just a fling between the two of them; this was truly real.
Naruto could hear murmuring behind Sakura's and Ino's room. He hesitantly knocked a few times.
"Feel free to come in a help us pack!" he heard Ino called, followed by Sakura's laughter.
He pushed open the door. It only moved a crack. "Um, I think you have something blocking the door," he called.
There was more laughter. He could hear the shifting of the large object. "Sorry," Ino began, "it was our suitcases. I almost forgot that I left it there."
Naruto nodded blankly and surveyed the room. Or what was supposed to be a room. Things were strewn across the room everywhere, and to think about it, they were only here less than two weeks. "Oh, I didn't remember you bringing so many clothes along," he said uncertainly.
"Well, if you pack well, you can fit so much more into you luggage. Well, we also went shopping yesterday, so yeah. There might seem to be more clothes than you would have thought."
They were awfully in good moods.
"Have you heard that we're going out for dinner tonight?"
"Um, yeah, I think so. I talked to Shikamaru earlier today, and he told me. I think this is actually the first time that we'll all go out for dinner," Ino answered jovially.
"Yeah, it is," Sakura chimed in.
"It's so much better than eating ramen all the time—"
"--I don't really mind ramen, you know what I mean?" said Naruto, cutting Ino off with a bit of a grin on his face.
"We know," Ino said flatly, sighing at Naruto's attempt at a "joke." They had gone through this many times before. "Are you going to help us pack? Or are you just going to stand around, distracting us. I don't really mind which, but if you choose the latter, than yeah, I'm pretty sure you'll end up packing all our things yourself."
"Oh, yah, okay. I'll help," Naruto muttered, completely forgetting that he somewhat, agreed to help them. He did open the door after all. Or, well, he attempted to. He looked around the disorganized area bitterly; their things were simply all over the place. "Your room is even messier than my house," Naruto said grimly. And he thought his own apartment was messy.
He paused. They didn't exactly expect him to pick up their (who knows if they're clean?) clothes, did they? There were their garments thrown all over the place! Thankfully, they had the sense of not keeping their undergarments in plain view.
"So, do you want me to pick up clothing off the floor? Or dust?"
"Doesn't really matter, as long as you're helping, it's good enough!"
"Okay," he agreed with a slight relief. I'll go get a duster or something."
Naruto left to search for a duster in the closet where the cleaning supplies were kept. He came back shortly with a damp cloth, and duster in his left hand.
"So, Naruto," the pink-hair chuunin began, "where's Hinata-chan?"
"Oh, well," he started off slowly, "I think she's in her room. Neji might have talked to her, because she doesn't seem as outgoing as she did yesterday, or any of the days before that."
Ino put another shirt into her suitcase. "Why do you think Neji talked to her, and not something else? I mean, it would seem pretty reasonable, since they're related and all, but I don't think Neji's really the type to go all the way to badger Hinata about something."
"He came up to me, too," he defended himself.
The other two stopped and looked at him expectantly to continue.
"It was only just before I came here, actually. He said something on the lines of: if I hurt Hinata-chan, I'll be sorry," said Naruto before taking a short albeit deep breath, "Doesn't he see that—" Naruto paused, he was still uncomfortable saying it out loud for the world to hear, "That, well, that I, you know… love her!"
There, he said it aloud. Finally. This time, it wasn't for Hinata's ears to hear, like it usually was, but to Sakura, and Ino. Nevertheless, he was making his point, wasn't he?
"I'm pretty sure he does, in some way or the other."
"I don't know. He doesn't seem to show his emotions very much."
"It's kind of like Sasuke, hmm? Well, of course it's not exactly the same story, but you know what I mean," Sakura said casually.
The way she said it really did hint that she wasn't completely over him. Her tone was far too light, and they could see her gripping the table rather tightly.
Ino blinked. She was surprised how open Sakura just was about Sasuke. More than often, she would have looked close to killing whenever Ino talked about him.
Sakura stared at Naruto and Ino expectantly, waiting for one of them to answer her.
Ino snapped back to reality. "Uh, yeah," she said, she hastily added, "We should get back to packing, you think? Or else we'll never get finished by tonight, and I don't want to have to wake up early tomorrow to finish."
"Yeah," Sakura concurred, "I don't want to have to get up early either. We also have to take a flight back home tomorrow, so I think that it'll be wise to try and get as much sleep as possible."
"I guess," Ino began, "Unless you want to take a nice long nap on the plane."
"That would be nice," Naruto butted in, feeling tired of being left out of the conversation.
The rest of the day and night seemed like a blur, more than anything. Things that were expected, never exactly happened. Surprisingly enough, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto had finished packing and cleaning their rooms far faster than they had imagined. The two rooms looked rather empty, like how it was about two weeks ago, when they had first arrived.
The dinner was actual pleasant, with no unnecessary arguing, impoliteness, or even unexpected surprises. Everything was actually what people would classify as "normal," for once. Well, semi-normal, at least.
Even Kiba didn't mention a word about Naruto and Hinata being together.
Either they were all trying to make an effort of being civil, or it was one of those "once in a blue moon" things.
They had ended the night with an enormous ice cream cake; who knew where Asuma had gotten it? They ate until their bellies were full, and could not stomach anymore.
After reviewing all the things that had happened that night, Naruto turned over on his side, and fell into a deep doze.
Hinata cracked open an eye. The sunlight was trickling into the room; through the windows, and was leaving an accountable amount of light in the room. The petite kunoichi squinted her eyes before pulling off her covers, and hoisted herself off the warm bed. She looked over to the other bed, and found her roommate of two weeks still slumbering away.
She would need to wake Tenten up soon, if they didn't want to be late. She crept over to the sleeping brunette, and gently nudged her. "Tenten-chan," she said in her quiet voice.
"Neji?" Tenten muttered; her eyes still closed. "I don't want to anymore ice cream, I'm still full." Hinata could hear Tenten say.
Hinata stifled a laugh, and nudged her a little harder.
Tenten sat up quickly. "Oh shoot, am I late? If I am, I'm really sor—" she cut off as she saw Hinata still in her pyjamas. Tenten groaned. She must have just made a fool out of herself. "I'm sorry Hinata-chan. I thought you were someone else. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"It's okay, and don't worry, I won't." Hinata promised. "I'll go brush my teeth first, okay?"
"Yah, sure. Thanks."
Hinata walked over to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth, and washed her face quickly, not wanting to hog the bathroom, and not let the others have a chance to get ready.
She flung open the bathroom door, and sure enough, there was Kiba standing there, next in line to the bathroom. "Good morning, Kiba-san," she said politely.
"Mornin'," Kiba said breezily, not taking a second look at Hinata, before he closed the door behind him.
Things were still weird.
Hinata walked back to her closed bedroom. She knocked hesitantly.
"Come in," Tenten called.
Hinata pushed the door open. Tenten had already gotten changed, made her bed, and all her belongings were already all packed up. That was pretty fast of her, considering that Hinata only took a short while for herself to solely brush her teeth, and wash her face.
"T-that was fast," she said truthfully.
"Well, yah. I suppose so. I don't want to be late, if you know what I mean."
Hinata nodded. "I better start soon, too. I don't want to make others wait."
"I hate making other people wait," Tenten said with a small sigh, "Anyways, I better get going."
Sasuke sat in his seat rigidly. They had already been on the plane home for a good eight hours already. The duration time of the flight was fifteen hours. Seven more painful hours, and they would all be through. Sasuke heard Naruto turn over on the seat beside him.
"Sasuke." Naruto's face was pensive.
"What?" Sasuke crossed his arms.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"The clock is by the front of the plane. Go find the time yourself."
Naruto said defiantly, "The person in front of me is blocking the clock. Could you at least please take a look at the time?"
"It's five-thirty."
"Thanks." Naruto turned back over on his side.
Sasuke stayed silent, still staring at Naruto's upturned back. Even the unexpected dunce of Konoha had gotten himself a girlfriend. Sasuke could hear his heart beating abnormally loud. He turned around quickly to see if even Naruto could hear it. Naruto didn't move. He assumed that Naruto must have fallen asleep. Sasuke sighed. He was just being paranoid now.
He was the outcast now.
Sakura took a deep breath as she looked down earnestly at the land far below. They were almost home! Well, not home as in Konoha, but pretty much, it was still home.
"Almost there!" Ino peered over Sakura's shoulder. "I can almost feel the warm air! I'm so glad to be home."
"Well, the trip was pretty good, so don't complain."
Ino was already stuffing a few of her items back into her handbag. "Yeah, it was okay. Still, though! Nothing compares to home! You actually start to miss your parents after a while."
"Yah," Sakura said, agreeing easily, "I even missed training, and waking up early in the morning!"
"I barely trained during the entire two weeks."
"Same," Sakura concurred.
There was a small clicking sound from the sound system above their heads. "We hoped you enjoyed your trip aboard Air-…" a dull monotonous voice flooded the enclosed area.
Sakura closed her eyes. She could feel herself get giddy. They were almost home! A wave of relief washed over her. She had never been so homesick. But then again, she had never been so far away from home either.
"-Please fasten your seatbelts until we have landed," said the same mechanical voice.
There was a flurry of clicks from the numerous seatbelts that were scattered throughout the plane.
Sakura looked around the bright outdoors wondrously. Bright blue clear skies, a hint of white clouds near the east, and best of all-
"I almost forgot how it's like to breath in fresh warm air!" Tenten exclaimed.
Neji gave her a smile. He leaned down so she could hear him as he whispered. "And now it's time for us to go home, then, followed by meeting each other's parents, in a very different perspective than before."
Tenten swatted him lightly on his arm. "Don't remind me! This is supposed to be a happy moment! We're home!"
Ino chimed in abundantly, "Finally."
"Yes, finally," Shikamaru mumbled. This whole ordeal was far too long for his liking. Spending so much time with the former genin teams just plainly gave him a headache when he thoughts about it.
"Alright!" began the cheerful voice of Kakashi. "Let's stop hanging around, talking about going home, and instead, actually get a move on! That way, we'll be home before midnight."
Sakura actually smiled at her former-sensei's tactics. Well, of course they'd obviously be home before midnight. Heck, it was still morning! She mentally reminded herself to change her watch on the ride home. She had almost completely forgotten about the time zone difference.
Tenten walked down the dusty Konoha roads, with her suitcase dragging behind her. She almost regretted that she declined Neji's help. She didn't want to make him do the work for her. That would just be taking advantage of him.
"I better go home now. I'll tell my parents, and then they'll probably want to talk to you about it. So you very well as mind come by my house tomorrow, and then I'll come by yours. Or the other way around, it doesn't really matter."
Neji nodded. "Same," he said.
She brushed her lips on her cheeks, before they separated by the fork in the road. They both said their farewells rather quickly. They were eager to get home to spread the good news.
Neji continued on the sandy road. He doubted that his family would mind much. It wasn't like he was courting with someone with a horrible bad status. Tenten wasn't exactly really well off, nor was she poor. She had an above average home and family, which would make his uncle and mother somewhat satisfied that he found someone suitable. None of those things matter. If love were about status, property, and money, then he would be better off without love.
Neji felt a pang of sympathy for Hinata. He almost felt guilty for telling off Naruto yesterday. His family would not take their relationship very well.
It wasn't like he didn't like Hinata, or anything. I wasn't like he thought she was weak or anything. It was true that her stamina and skill didn't quite reach his or Hanabi's, but she had trained hard over the last few years, and there was definite improvement.
Neji looked up as he could already hear the chortling voice of his mother as he stonily watched rush over to him.
"Okaa-san," Neji greeted warmly, bowing his head slightly out of respect.
"Neji-kun!" she greeted back.
She hadn't said his name with the "kun" suffix for a long time.
"How was your trip?"
"Fine," he said curtly.
She clasped her hands together. "Well, I think we should go back inside before we talk, shall we?"
He hadn't seen his mother so happy in a long while. He picked up his own molasses coloured suitcase with a small grunt and followed his mom back into their home.
Neji looked around wondrously. He had almost forgotten how luxurious his home sweet home was compared to where he was staying for the last fourteen days.
"Turn around!" his mom commanded happily.
Neji put down his luggage awkwardly, and turned around blankly on the spot.
"Have you lost weight? You like thinner than you left. Did they feed you properly?"
"I don't think I lost weight," Neji said with a blink, "and yes, they feed me."
His mom surveyed him. "Well, I suppose so. Maybe you've just been away from home food too long."
There was a maid in the room, already pouring two cups of fresh hot tea into the traditional teacups.
His mom motioned him to sit down on the cushion on the ground beside her. Neji hesitated for a while, but joined his Okaa-san anyways.
He took a small sip of the scalding tea. He could feel his tongue burn.
"So, how was the skiing trip?"
"You knew about the skiing trip?"
The tall regal woman gave him a warm smile. "Of course I knew! Did you really think that I'd let you go on a trip without me knowing where?"
He should have known.
"Why, did you help plan the trip too?" Neji looked at her rather sharply.
His mom offered him a snack before answering. "No, I didn't. That was mainly your ex-teacher's idea."
He always knew that Gai was a bit jumbled up in the brain.
She crossed her hands on her lap. "So, how's Tenten?"
Was it him, or did she sound somewhat eager? 'Shit, did she find out that we're seeing each other? She couldn't have possibly figured that out, could she? Unless someone told her... Should I just say that she's fine or should I just tell her the truth?'
His mom motioned him to go on.
"About Tenten," he began, intending to just tell her. He would have to get over it sooner or later and now seemed to be a good time.
"Are you going to get married?" she asked abundantly, taking another sip of the tea.
"What?" Neji asked, confused. 'Honestly, what type of question is that? All I said was "about Tenten", and the first thing she asks me is "are you getting married?" Wouldn't a more standard question be something on the lines of "what about her?" She couldn't have known, could she? Why else would she ask if we're getting married?'
"Oh, silly me," his mother said, "I forgot to wait for you to answer. What about Tenten?"
Neji almost dropped his teacup. He looked flabbergasted. "How do you know?"
"I already heard from Tenten's mom."
"Already?" He wasn't exactly speaking too politely to his mom, but this wasn't exactly a great time to be thinking about how much he was respecting someone.
"How did you find out so quickly?"
"We used the birds of course! How else did you think that I contact Tenten's mom?"
He didn't even know that they were friends. This couldn't be happening. He was suppose to tell her before she knew. Not find out from Tenten's mom.
"Why did you need to contact her?"
The female Hyuuga straightened her dress. "Various things, really. I've known her for quite a while, don't you know? We actually," she started to redden a bit," Well, we actually kind of always knew that you two would eventually be seeing each other, one day or another, since you guys know each other so well, and you're both really easy to read when it comes to relationships."
Neji could feel the blood drain from his face. Was it really that obvious that they fancied each other?
A/N: Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for reading, and a huge thanks to people who reviewed! I never would have made it this far, if all of you weren't reading and/or reviewing! I know this story is crappy, and it doesn't have a clear plot, and things are random. I'm really sorry! Also, a big thank you to evil-mittens, for being an awesome beta-reader! This chapter took longer than I anticipated. I think it's been over month, I think! I'm really sorry for the long updates. I'll be busy studying for finals, so the next chapter might take a longer than I would like. Yes, ten chapters on Microsoft word! I don't think I ever wrote so long… There's more dialogue in this chapter, maybe that's why…
Thanks to:
Moonlightpath: I know! Four weeks is pretty long for a chapter update, but this chapter took over a month. I'm sorry that I'm taking so long. Thanks for the review!
AnimEvivvErz: Thanks for the review! Aw, it's okay if it's not long. I don't mind. Thanks for making an effort of writing nice long reviews though! I really appreciate it! Good luck on finding your Spanish book! Although, by the time I update, you probably found it weeks ago. I almost lost my socials textbook last year, and that kind of sucked. It turned out someone else in my class had two textbooks, and one of them was mine. Hm, I don't really know much Spanish. I think I only know how to say… ah, never mind. I'm not taking spanish, I'm still stuck with french. I hope you update one of your stories soon! (or after finals… damn, I still have to study!)
Dragon Man 180: Thanks for the review! Well, this chapter was kind of how Neji's mom dealt with his relationship, and the next chapter will be how the Hyuuga clan will deal with Hinata and Naruto.
RedLotusNin and Icehunternin: Thanks for the review! 200IQ flames everyone? That's just plainly rude. There's a thick line between constructive criticizing and flaming people. Thanks so much for sharing the info!
Joann; GirlWaterShaman; Punk Sasuke; Destiny852; Bianca; Springninja; Warprince2000; Paperpenman; Hopeless-girl; WaFFles; CatzpoSt; Waterfox96; Sephynarutocloud; NaruHina133; Snow Wind; Kagome1015; Awreel; Susakuru; SasuSakuforeva-iloveSasuke: Thanks for the review! I'm sorry for the long updates. I promise that Sasuke and Sakura will get together in the coming chapters! (Which is pretty close, since this story is starting to wind down…)
Hinata-hime- Thanks for the review! Yah, I don't think that I'm going to pair Kiba up with an OC. I'm sorry, there's not much of Sasuke in this chapter! I'll try to make sure he's in the next chapter!
HisuiKaze- Thanks for the review! Yes, diaries are stress relievers! Except, I don't really write in my diary. I blog though, does that count? Haha, yah, my beta also overlooked 200IQ's favourite stories. Two Sasu/Saku stories. I really don't get it… Thanks for pointing that out!
Jai0rOku- That's so cool! Hm, I hope you won't have someone looking through your diary, like Ino's! Thanks for the review!
Ayane-Selznick: Thanks for the review! The Sasusaku moments are coming soon! I promise! I keep saying that to everyone, but it will be soon! Maybe two chapters? Haha, I just got an email saying that your story "Someone Screaming" just updated! I think I'll go read that now!