Day to Day
A Naruto Fan-fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any bands mentioned, with the exception of Star Pirate Ship.
(A/N: I took votes two days after the last chapter was posted, and here were the results: Neji and Tenten with one, Sasuke and Sakura with none, and Ino and Shikamaru with one, and Naruto and Hinata with two! So, for everyone who's been itching for a little bit of Naruto and Hinata, here you go, and Happy New Year!)
Chapter 12: Who's to Say
She sat up straight, her shoulders back, and made sure to smooth out her dress once and a while. She made sure not to touch her face; she might smudge her make-up! Her shoes were uncomfortable, but she stood it. From a young girl, she had learned to be proper, that "beauty hurts". This phrase echoed in her head as she winced from her corset, which her mother had tied tighter than usual. "For all of your training, you just aren't thin enough!" her mother had exclaimed.
"She will never be married to a good man unless she thins out." Her grandmother had commented, smacking her fan against her palm.
"I don't understand it." Her mother had commented, "All of the rest of the women in the family, even your sisters, have the Hyuuga feminine build!"
"Its bad genetics, darling. Must be your husband." Hinata Aunt joked, but her face only had as crack of a smile.
"It's always my husband!" the room full of women laughed, and Hinata had just blushed, looking at all of the tinier waists walking around.
Proper women, she was told, were skinny, tiny, thin, no taller than their husbands, and always held their head high and their shoulders back. Most of the time, Hinata would rather bend over a bit and play with her fingers. She was too shy to appear to be bold!
Hinata rubbed her arm and tried to sigh, but the corset was too tight. Her eyes bugged when her mother smacked her stomach with her fan.
"Sit still!" her mother ordered, and then brushed her loose hair behind her ear. Hinata stared at her mother a moment, clearly upset. Her mother was the most beautiful Hyuuga woman of her age-she had the of an elegance of a dove, the beauty of a super model, and a kind of strong, confidant air around her. Hinata, however, had a larger body structure than her mother, was almost taller than her mother, and often tripped.
She began to fiddle with her fingers, and then she looked forward. In the rows in front of her were the Hyuuga men; among them was Neji, who she could see through the shoulders of the younger boys. Neji was tall and strong, and seemed like an elegant prince in his suit. She wished silently that she could be strong like Neji; her mother hated how shy she was, that she didn't carry the Hyuuga confidence.
The play ended, and everyone stood and clapped. The applause echoed in the large, high-ceiling theater, and all Hinata could think of was going on and taking off her corset.
The night was dark and dotted with stars and covered with clouds in the strangest places. A cold wind whipped through the air, and everything was silent. Normally, the croaking of frogs and chirping of crickets would sound, but it was winter, and all was hushed.
Well, all was quiet, except four ninjas who came through the creaky gates of Konoha.
"Yea! Home at last!"
"Shut-up, Naruto."
"I'm home!"
"You'll wake everyone up!"
"I don't care-I'm home!"
The four boys walked back into their home with the strangest of conversations and actions. Naruto was in a headlock by Sasuke, Shikamaru was stifling a laugh, and Neji was eyeing Naruto, ready to get a piece of the annoying punk himself. Each held their ANBU masks in hand, and was glad to be home. You couldn't tell with Neji and Sasuke, but the rest of them knew that they were just as happy. Shikamaru was trying to keep down a wide smile and Naruto was yelling and jumping. Neji was silently looking around, a kind of thankfulness in his white eyes. Sasuke smirked and stretched, smelling the sharp, frosty smell of winter in Konoha. The trees were still covered in the white, and the streets were newly cleared.
With a smile, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm from around his neck and flipped him over his shoulder. Sasuke gave a shout, and then jumped on Naruto, slamming him to the ground. Before anyone knew it, the two old teammates were romping ad wrestling in the snow. Sasuke yelled how stupid Naruto was, and Naruto yelled that he was just a party-pooper. Neji watched from a distance before walking off, shaking his head, toward the Hyuuga mansion. Shikamaru yelled a goodbye at his friend, and then started off toward his own home.
By then, Sasuke had won by pinning, and he left Naruto to shout about a rematch. Naruto stood there a moment, watching Sasuke disappear into the dark night. His breath made puffs of smoke in the cold night air, and he shivered a moment.
"I should go home." He said aloud, and then began to trudge home in the snow. He ran his fingers through his hair, and stared up at the stars as he walked.
And that's when he saw it.
Green, red and purple stars!
Quickly remembering the article Sasuke had showed him on the mission, he laughed and ran off toward Hinata's.
"I hope she doesn't mind being woken up so late at night!"
She looked so peaceful as she slept. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even and steady, a fistful of a corner of blankets in her hand; like a small child sleeping. When Naruto had finally been able to look through the window of her room, he stopped and felt himself melt. She looked so comfortable, peaceful-not like she usually is. Normally she was uncomfortable, shy, and always blushing. Now, her face was clear, and he watched as she stretched and then curled up with a small smile.
He looked down a moment, wondering if he should even wake her up, but figured this sort of thing only came around once and a while, and he wanted to share it with her. With a wide smirk, he lifted up the tight window. Sadly, he could only open it up about six inches. His face fell a moment, but his determination quickly returned. With an even wider smile, he crawled through the small opening, smacking his head on the floor when his hands slid on the clean wood floors.
"Oof!"
His chin was on the floor, his hand up in the air, his back arched, and his legs up in the air. With a sigh, he relaxed his arms and army-crawled until he legs were flat on the floor. Uzumaki sat up, sighing and rubbing his head.
"Geeze…."
Finally, feeling a bit accomplished, he stood and brushed off some of the snow off of his jacket. Then, taking in a big breath, he walked over to Hinata. He bent over so his face was right next to her sleeping one, and poked her.
"Hinata, wake-up!"
Unfortunately, Hinata didn't budge.
Naruto made a face, scratched his head, and then poked the dreaming girl harder.
"Hinata-chan!"
He poked her over and over, harder each time. Naruto was becoming frustrated-nothing seemed to work! When suddenly, Hinata rolled over, and drew a large breath.
"Neji-kun…don't poke me…it hurts…." She said sleepily, and yawned.
Naruto felt a rather large sweat-drop fall down his forehead. 'She thinks I'm her cousin….' He stood up; leaning back some, placed one hand on his hip and scratched his head with the other. 'I've got to figure out a way to wake up Hinata-chan, but not wake up the rest of the Hyuuga clan!'
"A-ha!"
Naruto snapped, and smiled devilishly. This always embarrassed Hinata-chan!
She would totally wake up if he did that! So, the fox boy leaned down over
Hinata, rolled her over, and planted one big kiss on her.
"AHH!"
Hinata shouted and sat up, her eyes wide and her hands holding her up. Her hair stuck up in strange places, and Naruto had to stifle a laugh.
"Finally!" Naruto said quietly, "Come on; we only have a few hours left."
Hinata ran her finger through her hair, and looked over at her clock. It read one A.M., and she sighed, putting her face in her hands.
"Naruto-kun, can we do this in the morning…?"
"It's only at night." He replied quickly and sat down next to her, "I know its weird that I had to do that to wake you up, but nothing else worked! Now come on!"
She looked at her boyfriend and sighed. He always got her.
"O-o-okay; do we have to go outside?"
"Yep."
"O-o-okay, let me get on some warm clothes on."
Naruto smiled widely, nodded, and the walked over toward the window that was still opened, and stared out at the snow-covered rich neighborhood.
Hinata stared at Naruto a moment, and then got up to get dressed. She went to her closet and put on a long skirt, boots, a sweater, a beanie, gloves, a heavy jacket, and a scarf.
"Okay; y-y-you can turn around."
Naruto turned and then walked over to her.
"Come on-I'll help you!"
Hinata gave him a puzzled look, and let him lead her over to the open window.
The drapes were already blowing around the window, and she wondered just what he was trying to make her do.
"Just follow me." He told her, and then climbed out of the window!
Hinata's eyes bugged.
"N-N-N-Naruto-kun! D-d-don't h-h-hurt your-your-yourself!"
"Don't worry!" he replied, and smiled. "Listen: I'm going to climb down some, and
I want you to climb out and start climbing up. There's a trellis all the way to the roof, so just climb on up. And don't worry-if you fall, I'll catch you!"
Hinata gulped and watched Naruto as he disappeared down out of the view of the window. She took a deep breath, looked once at her ceiling, then focused her clear eyes at the window.
"Come on! Don't be afraid!"
"This is crazy…." She murmured, and then walked toward the window, and swung one leg over. The foot quickly locked onto the trellis hole, and then, with one last deep breath, she swung her other leg over and shoved in into a hole in the trellis.
"That's it! Go!"
She closed her eyes, and then took her first step. Her hands held onto the window ledge, but she knew she'd have to move over in order to make it to the roof. Her body shaking, she moved her first foot over, then her hand, then her next foot and hand. She began to climb the trellis, listening to Naruto step behind her, when suddenly, her foot slipped as she was climbing up. Her eyes flew open and she cried out, but quickly felt Naruto's hand holding her foot, and guiding it to the next hole. For the rest of the climb up the tall mansion, Naruto was always behind, making sure she was steady and okay.
Finally, she reached the top, and ran out of trellis.
"Hold on!"
"AHHH!"
Hinata suddenly felt Naruto grab her feet with both hands and throw her over the ledge and onto the roof. A cement wall about a foot tall bordered the roof, so Naruto simply threw her up over the ledge. She landed on her shoulder, and let out a cry. The roof was a hard stone. She sat up and rubbed her arm, looking worriedly in the direct of where Naruto should've been appearing.
Just before she began to panic, Naruto suddenly appeared, flying up over the ledge. He landed with a thump on his feet in front of her.
"Good thing I had my ninja stuff still!" he exclaimed, "I fell and had to use some kunai and a rope to attack myself to the wall, and then I swung up here!"
Hinata just stared at him, for a moment, and then rubbed her head. Someday, Naruto would kill her.
The fox boy walked over to a corner on the roof, and picked up a blanket, a thermos, and a pirate's telescope. He sat down next to a confused Hinata and said, "Came up here before waking you up and dropped these off. Are you ready to find out why I got you up here?"
She nodded, and let Naruto wrap her and him in a blanket. He set the thermos down next to him, and then picked up the telescope. He pushed it open all of the way, and handed it to her.
"Look that way." He said, and pointed toward the right.
Hinata looked at Naruto, and then looked up in that direction with the telescope.
Her face lit up!
"Naruto…it's beautiful…"
Above them, at that moment, were two planets, and a shooting red star. The red star traveled about an inch a minute, and she watched with amazement as the bright, beautiful star, which was usually a speck and white like the rest, beamed brightly and moved across the sky. The green and purple planets were like sparks, or bright lights in the sky.
Naruto looked at her, cocking his head to the side. She was smiling widely, laughing, and looking up through the telescope with amazement. She hardly paid attention to the fact that he was holding her close, which usually made her blush. Smiling, he leaned his head on hers, and just savored her joy. She seemed to perfect in her skin, and he was so happy for her. He smirked when a romantic comment came to mind.
"They're just as beautiful as you are, you know that?" he whispered in her ear, and she blushed profusely. She lowered the telescope and bit her lip. She heard all of her mother's, her Aunt's, her grandmother's and her older cousin's words echo in her mind. The comments about how wide she was, how shy, how she'd never find a good enough man to marry. Tears brimmed her eyes, and she said,
"Th-th-th-thank you, Naruto."
He smiled, and before she could blush or anything, he planted a light kiss on her cheek and leaned his head against hers.
Hinata blushed and looked down. No matter what her family said, she had already found a boy so much better than all of the other ones; he cared for her even though she wasn't as skinny as the rest of her family, and he did special things for her, and thought of her all the time. He did more than any other boy ever did! With this last thought, she leaned against him and closed her eyes.
The two sat under the stars, wrapped in a blanket, watched a red shooting star fly across the open darkness, dotted with white.
Hey Ya'll!
For once, I LOVE this chapter! It has such a beautiful, sweet elegance, and a good message! Girls, we're all beautiful, and we certainly don't need to be skinny to prove it! (lol) Either way, it was a nice idea over all, and what a sweet thing for Naruto to do and say! How do I come up with this stuff?
Thanks to my reviewers:
Ayane Selznick (Yea, I guess we're some-what alike. I can't say that we totally are since I haven't met you, but to make things more weird-I play piano too. My winter recital was two weeks ago! Happy New Year!), warprince2000 (I love you so much! You always review and even though you say the same thing all the time, it's still nice!), Little Hinata (Well, you got your Naruto and Hinata! I hope you enjoyed it!), Smiling Fox (Me? Amazing? Oh, you flatter me…but I still enjoy it! Lol! Thanks! I'll see about some Ino and Shikamaru later on!), animEvivvErz (I'm glad you liked the last chapter! How was this one?), Fwoggie (Sorry, it seemed too late to do a Christmas Neji and Tenten…how about something else, like a New Year's, if I do it in time? Just get everyone to vote for them!), and sephynarutocloud (you got your Naruto and Hinata! Did you like it?).
So, there you have it!
I updated for you people even though my auditions are in ten days! See how special you people are to me? Lol
Also, um, what happened to Akia bin Zaid? Just wondering…he's one of my regulars! Just wondering…I'm not like demanding anything or something crazy like that...just wondering!
Happy New Year,
Review,
Vote,
IHearVoices