Day to Day
A Naruto fan-fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any bands mentioned.
Chapter 2: Fireflies
He smiled his wide smile as he wrapped a thick white bandage around and around his arm, not even grimacing as he jerked it tightly and tied it. Red blood seeped into the cloth, but never tainted its color. After inspecting the bandage like Sakura had reminded him to, he smiled and bounded off.
Even though he had a bullet wound through his upper arm, Uzumaki Naruto was in the best mood in his life. He happily sang as he changed clothes, throwing the dirty ones against the wall and trying to hit his Kakashi mannequin with his pants. The crotch hit the mannequin squarely in the face, and Naruto laughed as he imagined that was really Kakashi, with his lazy eye and gross book.
He glanced around his hut, and assessed that it needed picking up, before SHE came over. He blushed and laughed nervously just thinking about it! Taking HER, back to his HOUSE, after a DATE! To him, it seemed ridiculous, but his mind began to dwell on the idea that it would happen, making the strangely happy boy suddenly go into a cleaning frenzy.
He picked up his room (a.k.a. shoving everything into his closet), hid the Kakashi mannequin in the basement along with many other embarrassing little things, took his neighbor's broom and swept the house furiously, cleaned the week-old dishes and scrubbed down the bathroom.
He emerged from the kitchen after everything was cleaned wearing his neighbor's yellow cleaning gloves, carrying his neighbor's mop, and wearing his neighbor's bandana around his forehead.
Well, it wasn't like he really HAD any of that stuff, you know!
After glancing at the old clock, he realized with horror that he had five minutes.
His blue eyes widened with shock and he immediately took off, dumping all of the neighbor's things off on his front porch (the neighbor wasn't too happy about that), and freaking out as he looked at his closet-all he had was three white shirts, and two sets of orange pants and orange jackets.
Grabbing his hair in frustration and desperation, he suddenly remembered that he had a pair of black pants in the bottom of his sock drawer. He scrambled through the sock drawer, produced the black pants, and then pulled on a white shirt.
He looked at himself in the mirror, wondering what she would think of his ensemble. His black pants were too long and he stepped on them with his sandals, and his white shirt was basically an undershirt, even though you couldn't see under it, it was still tight and etched out each of his hard-earned muscles. His hands were gnarled and his fingers were round on the ends, with the nails stopping long before the end of the finger. His blonde hair stuck up everywhere, and he knew from experience that not even the strongest gel could keep it down; his best quality, or so had Sakura told him when he asked, were his bright blue eyes. No one in Konoha had such sky-blue eyes, and he was proud of it when Sakura had told him that she thought his eyes were beautiful (that was after much nagging, though).
A little tacky with sandals, but it would work!
With two minutes left, he hurriedly brushed his teeth for the first time that day, and rushed out the door, slamming it on its creaky hinges behind him.
People stared at him as he ran, and one woman said loudly, "Where's he going? A fire?" While another woman said, "Ninjas are so weird!"
Dirt whipped behind him as he rushed through the streets, yelling apologies and "excuse me!" as he ran though crowds, splitting up gossiping women, and jumping over carts.
Finally arriving at his destination, his feet skidded to a halt, and he ran up to the door. He breathed out slowly, ran his fingers through his hair, and prayed to God that he didn't stink from running from one end of the town to the other. Now standing on the front steps of her apartment building, he crossed his fingers and prayed he wasn't late. He pushed 887 on the panel, and a voice appeared.
"What's up?"
It wasn't her voice! Naruto panicked, thinking it wasn't the right number.
"Uh, is this, uh, Hinata's apart-"
"Oh, is that you, Naruto?" The speaker on the panel's speaker interrupted the hyperventilating boy, and replied, "Naruto, its me, Ino-chan. Sakura and me are just helping Hinata get ready. She'll be down soon. Hey, why don't you come up?
It's the third floor, across from Sakura's."
The three girls, along with Shikamaru, Kiba, and a few others around their age had all taken up residence in the four-story apartment building, since it was built the year they were looking for a place to live, and it was reserved for upper classed ninjas.
As said before, though, Sasuke and Naruto already had homes, and had decided they liked it where they were.
"O-o-okay." Naruto replied, still stuttering a bit. Was he supposed to take her some place fancy? Were they dressing her up, like, in a gown or something? He didn't have a tux, though! He would embarrass her!
Thoughts like that whirled around in the fox boy's head as he gulped and entered the building, and climbed up three flights of stairs until he emerged on the third floor, with doors marked 883, 884, and so on. He finally came to 887, and pushed open the door.
Inside was a bright-colored apartment, with three girls scrambling around inside.
Ino was brewing tea, while Sakura rushed from one room on one side of the apartment to a room on the other.
"Oh! Is Naruto here already?" Sakura yelled from one room to Ino since she had gotten a glance of the vivid blonde hair, and Ino rolled her eyes and replied,
"Yea."
"Hasn't he ever heard of being fashionably late?"
Ino rolled her eyes again, and shouted, "Ha! You're just trying to make up for the fact that you didn't get here early enough!"
Sakura skidded into the kitchen and said, "Shut-up Ino. Hey, is that tea done?"
Ino looked down at the tea, and said, "Oh, yea, should be. Here, wait!"
Ino had been sitting on a stool by the stove, casually stirring the tea, while Sakura rushed back and forth carrying everything from bobby pins to shoes.
Naruto just stood there, dumb founded. Boys just didn't do things like this; he wasn't sure what to say or do.
'This is just a girl thing.' He decided, and stood there.
Ino poured some tea into a coffee mug, and handed it to Sakura. "Thanks. She's totally flipping out!" Then she looked at Naruto and said, "Don't worry; we'll give her a little tea and a little primping, and she'll be ready to go."
Then she rushed off into the room to the left, and shut the door behind her.
Ino rolled her eyes for the third time.
"Hate to break it to you, Naruto, but it's a tradition with us three to primp each other for our dates. They do it for me, and we do it for Sakura. It's like a mandatory step in the dating process, you know?"
Naruto shrugged, and Ino offered a stool to him. He sat down, and Ino looked him up and down.
Naruto had grown so much in these past years. His face was no longer round, but etched and more man-like, his limbs more nimble and etched with muscles, like every male ninja his age (with the exception of Chouji), and he looked more mature, grown up, like a man, not an annoying little boy. Even Ino would rank him a number nine (one being the worst and ten being the best).
"First time I haven't seen YOU in orange."
Naruto perked up. "Oh man! Does it look bad? I knew it did-"
"Naruto! Chill!" Ino put her hands up, and stood. "You, my friend, look like you need some tea." She shook her finger at the boy, and fetched a coffee mug. Then she turned her back on him and poured it into a coffee mug. Dressed in sweat pants, a hooded sweat shirt and slippers, Ino was truly the definition of relaxed. Which was a first for her, since Naruto only saw her all dressed up-it used to be for Sasuke, and then it was for Shikamaru. As of late, Ino had hardly even dressed up for Shikamaru!
Ino pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and handed Naruto the tea. He took it, and warmed his hands with it. It was cold outside, and there he had been, running through the freezing streets in pants, sandals and an undershirt!
Ino looked him up and down again, and said, "Let me go get you a coat from Shikamaru. I don't need Hinata crying when her date turns into an ice cube."
Then she walked off, her slippers dragging on the floor, and shut the door behind her.
"Naruto! You ready?" Sakura shouted from the room, poking her face out of the door. She smiled, and he nodded and stood from the stool. He walked out of the kitchen, which was slightly blocked off from the rest of the room by a bar on the other side, across from the stove.
Sakura stepped out, her face glowing, and pulled the door open behind her. Naruto could almost hear the choir singing as Hinata stepped out, blushing and fiddling with her fingers as usual.
She wore a green dress that came down to her knees with long sleeves that went over her fingers over a worn pair of jeans, and black sneakers. Her nails were a pretty bronze color, and her make-up was very Hinata-like; a little black eyeliner on the top of her eyes, a very neutral eye shadow, a little mascara, and colorless lip-gloss. Her hair was normal, and still curved over her ears, only this time, Sakura had added thin silver hoops in her ears to add flavor. Naruto sighed, happy that she wasn't in some ball gown.
"S-so, what do you think?"
Naruto blushed, zooming back to the present. He was about to take Hinata on a DATE! He fidgeted with the hem of his white shirt, trying to figure out what Sakura had said you should always tell a nervous girl.
"Umm...you look....great." he murmured, and bit his lip as he looked at her, really afraid it was the wrong thing to say, but she smiled, a big smile that filled her face, but never got rid of that innocent shyness about her. He walked up to her, more confident now, and offered his arm with a this look about him that he gets when he's trying to be tough, but also trying not to be obvious about it.
Hinata latched her skinny arm into his, and giggled, blushing furiously.
"Got it!"
Ino bounded into the door, holding up a black jacket, normally worn with tuxes.
"It's perfect; chic, yet not dressy. Casual chic!" she declared as she put the jacket on Naruto. "Of course, I had to fight Shikamaru for it...but hey, his bruises will heal."
Then she stepped back, her hands on her hips, and inspected the couple up and down. She nodded, and said, "But our little Hinata-chan was worth it."
"What, Naruto wasn't, Ino?" Sakura asked slyly, and walked over to where her friend stood to inspect the couple. Ino glared at her friend and smacked her, while Hinata laughed quietly. Naruto was confused, but he figured this was another one of those "girl" things, and decided that he wasn't about to get into it.
"Um, Hinata, we'll be late if we don't go now." Naruto said, his voice quieter than usual. Hinata nodded, and the two other girls tilted their heads at the couple.
'How cute!' Sakura thought, as she and Ino shooed the two out.
"Now go! Have fun!" Ino shouted down the hall at the leaving pair, and then she started laughing. "About damn time Hinata got herself a man."
"A man, huh?" Sakura asked, bumping hips with her friend as they walked out of Hinata's apartment, locking it for her behind them.
"Shut-up, Sakura." Ino glared at her friend, and then said, with a sudden mood change, "So, movie at my place?"
"No," Sakura replied, "Movie at my place. It's clean there." Then Sakura stopped at her door, and got out her key to unlock it.
"Hardy har-har, Sakura-chan."
Sakura then stepped inside and turned to face her friend with a silly face. "I'm glad you thought that was funny, Ino, because I intended it to be an insult."
"Ah!" Ino's mouth fell open, and Sakura dashed off, with Ino not far behind.
"STUPID FOREHEAD GIRL!" Sakura giggled madly as her friend tackled her on the wood floors, and then both girls erupted into laughter.
Shikamaru passed by the open door, peered inside, and rolled his eyes.
"Girls are weird." He walked past the door, and looked from one side of the hall to the other.
"Now where the hell is my coat?"
Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand, pulling her along for the ride. "Come on! We'll be late!"
He was finally over his embarrassment, and getting back to his normal self.
Hinata's eyes grew wide, and she gave a shout of shock. "Naruto! Where are we going?"
He looked behind him at her, and smiled. "It's a surprise!"
Then he continued to pull his date along in the cold night at a speed that Hinata could never pull off under normal circumstances. Hinata could see her breath, and was freezing, even thought she had pulled on a heavy black wool coat, black gloves, a green knit hat, and a black scarf.
The two ran for a few more minutes, until Naruto stopped in front of a bunch of thick bushes.
"You like fireflies, right?" he asked her quietly, and she nodded. He smiled widely again. "Then you'll love this!" He parted two bushes down the middle, held Hinata's gloved hand, and led her through the thick bush.
On the other side was the most beautiful thing Hinata had ever seen in her life.
She gasped as she looked around, and unconsciously leaned on Naruto and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his side.
It was a small lake, with lily pads and white flowers-even frogs and fishes, all illuminated by millions of fireflies.
Hinata giggled as she looked around, and one landed on her nose, blinking its tail.
Naruto looked around, and then down at Hinata as she looked cross-eyed at the firefly and giggled. His smile was warm, not outrageous or huge, just a small, warm smile. Naruto wrapped his arm around her, and just enjoyed the scenery and her.
"How did you find this place?" she asked, breathless at the scene.
"Well," Naruto answered, "I wanted to take you some place special, and I knew that you liked fireflies. So I found this lake, and there it all was.
The most amazing part is, fireflies aren't even supposed to come out at winter! These ones are just used to Konoha's harsh winters, so it doesn't faze them. I mean, its...." He rambled for a bit, and then stopped when he realized what he was doing.
He paused, and then said the line that had been going over in his head to say to her.
"It's like, I-it's like, they waited, just for you to see them."
The whole world seemed to freeze, and Naruto gulped and his mind began to be invaded with horrible thoughts. Was that too cheesy? Would she laugh at him and wonder why she had gone out on a date with such a loser?
He looked down at her, scared to death of her reaction, and she smiled. After a moment, she hugged him tightly. Naruto, surprised, flung up his arms, but once his brain registered what was happening, he hugged her back, and laid his head on top of hers.
"Do you really think they, you know, waited for me?" Hinata whispered, gazing at the fireflies, their lights sparkling in her eyes.
"Yea," Naruto replied, "I do."
Well, that's the end of chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it. I know I enjoy writing it, since I don't have to worry about leaving you hanging.
I'm happy to continue this story, because all four of my reviewers (as listed further on) requested it. I had two of them ask for me to put more Sasuke and Sakura moments, but since I called this a Naruto-Hinata, I wanted to dedicate a chapter to a couple that never seems to pop up on fan lately; that, and I had one of my first reviewers ask for it, and I had already written this for him/her before I got my other two asking for more Sasuke/Sakura. I promise, the next chapter will be full of Sasuke and Sakura, just for ya'll!
Much thanks to my two reviewers, Linda, Mint5, asdf, and Joey! I am much obliged-and I'm sorry if I got your name wrong! I'm pulling it from memory, you know!
I hope you've enjoyed this installment of Day to Day, and that you can't wait for the next one!
Please review!
-IHearVoices