Day to Day
A Naruto fan-fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
(A/N: The votes came in, and we had Sakura and Sasuke with one, Ino and Shikamaru with three, Neji and Tenten with four (Didn't I just do them, people?), and Naruto and Hinata with eight! Or was it seven? Either way, thanks for voting, and onto the chapter! UP, UP, AND AWAY! …who said that anyway?)
Chapter 22: Blue, Red, and Green
Her name was very soft, but the "t" part seemed to give it that unnoticeable push.
It was interesting, to listen to the way words or sounds formed and how it all fit together, into one larger word; "Hin"-"a"-"ta".
It was such a soft name. You could say it in a whisper, on a whim and never phase. It just fit.
"Hinata."
Of course, Uzumaki Naruto never used words that big.
Never the less, when he leaned back, peeling an orange with a kunai, he thought about it. It was an unusual thought, but as of late, he'd felt like his mind was being invaded. The more days that passed, the weirder the things he came up with. Who the hell remembers the name of a flower? He did. It was stuff like that.
There they were, walking down a street, when she stopped at Yamanako's flower shop to peer in at flowers behind the glass. Her eyes got all big, or wider than they usually were, and one of her shy little smiles came on her face. She bent her knees some, and her hands were clasped loosely against the middle of her legs. Her yellow sundress's creases moved as she did. Naruto stood next to her, hands in his pockets, looking at the flowers with a much more bored expression.
"Th-they're daises, Naruto-kun." She said, "I love daises."
Naruto looked at her and then at the flowers, standing up in their pots in their arrays of colors; purple, blue, yellow, pink. He nodded, and gave her one of his big smiles.
"Come on, Hina-chan! It's hot! Let's get some ice cream!"
"Y-yes!"
And to think he still remembered that.
Daises.
God save him.
There were other things, too. Thoughts like, "Wow, look at that dress. It looks just like Hinata's." "I wonder where Hina-chan is." "I wonder what Hina-chan's doing."
"That bitch Tsunade didn't give her a hard mission, did she? That bitch, if anything happens to Hinata, I swear I'll kill her first…." "That's Hina's favorite color."
Yea. Stuff like that.
And he was here, talking with who he hoped was an expert on it.
Naruto sat next to him, almost done peeling the orange with his kunai, which was, while sitting in the middle of a park, a bit strange looking. For the sake of his need to move, he had one leg on top of his knee and was moving it up and down. He had on his sandals, kaki shorts that came to his knees and an orange shirt. He seemed to be thinking, but his so-called "expert" hoped it wasn't because he needed concentration to peel an orange.
His expert, with his jet-black hair, looked at him, his arms crossed, and the sun glinting off of his headband. His arm weights and legs weights had returned, and he was back to a black shirt and black shorts. It was a warm, beautiful day outside, and the park was filled with laughter and kids running around, occasionally slipping into the puddles from last night's rain. However, these two seemed a bit oblivious to it.
The expert lifted an eyebrow. He had known Naruto a long time, and he was never very quiet. This was almost a bit scary. Unfortunately, it was also time consuming, which lead him to do something he never did: begin the conversation.
"Naruto, why the hell did you want to meet me here?"
Naruto stopped, and ripped off the rest of the peeling with a jerk.
"Sasuke, you can't laugh, and you have to be understanding."
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. This was getting interesting.
"Fine. I won't."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"Look, I called you because I figured you'd know about it and that you would be okay with it, so don't lie."
"I wasn't lying, dunce."
Naruto glared, and Sasuke had to scramble not to loose his composure.
"What? No yelling? This is serious."
In the middle of them were two more oranges, and Sasuke picked one up and began peeling it with his own kunai.
"So spill."
"Argh…don't say it like that! This is serious!"
Naruto looked exasperated!
Then suddenly, he rolled his eyes and put his hands to his head.
"My head is being invaded by aliens." He murmured.
Sasuke scowled. "I thought you said this was serious, idiot."
"It is!"
"So just say it then."
"Fine!" Naruto exclaimed. Then he looked around, and said quietly, "Do you…like…think about Sakura a lot?"
Now Sasuke was really interested.
"What's it to you?"
"Well, I kinda, keep thinking stuff about Hinata."
"Kakashi stuff?"
"No!"
"Then you're fine."
Sasuke took one piece of the newly peeled orange and popped it into his mouth.
Naruto couldn't believe how relaxed he was!
"What do you mean, 'You're fine'? I can't be fine! I've got this girl on my mind all the time, I can't even-"
"Didn't you always say you wanted a family?"
"Yea, so?"
"Well, you sort of do. Now you've just got a girlfriend to add on."
"That doesn't make any sense! I don't think of her like you!"
"If you did, I'd kill you."
"What?"
"I'll kill you."
"No, no, before that!"
"Girlfriend to add on?"
"Yea. What do you mean?"
Sasuke shook his head, and gulped down another piece of orange. "What I mean is, you love her, idiot. It's a part of the package. It's normal."
Naruto looked at the grass, and then at Sasuke, rolling the peeled orange in his hand.
"Well, I knew I loved her, but is this really part of the package?"
Sasuke shrugged.
Naruto scowled. "It'd be nice if you'd reassure me!"
Sasuke looked at him. "Dunce, you love her, and if you're the last one to get that, you really are a dunce."
Then he stood, and ran his fingers through his hair, looking around.
"I've got to go." He then looked at Naruto.
"Don't freak out, okay? I did that, and it freaked her out. Whatever you're going through, she's probably going through too. Don't worry."
He crossed his arms, and looked at him.
"She loves you a lot, and if you haven't realized that either, you're the biggest dunce I've ever met in my life. Bye."
Then he left, just lifting up a hand for a short wave as he walked away.
And Naruto just smirked and waved back, even though he knew Sasuke couldn't see it.
Naruto gathered up the oranges, plopping the unpeeled orange in his pocket and then holding the peeled one. He pulled off a piece and tossed it into his mouth.
Then he stood, and began to walk off down the sidewalk, feeling a bit better.
Maybe he really was a dunce.
Here he was, thinking he was going nuts, when really…it was something totally different. Something he'd wanted.
No, he wasn't nuts….
Life was.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I…can't do…anything…."
She curled up in a ball, her head against her knees, her eyes shrouded in short black hair. Like a scared child, she wrapped her arms around her shins, pulling her legs to her chest, and gripping her legs so tight the tips of her fingers became white. She hadn't done that in such a long time, and a feeling of defeat washed over her. Things had been so good for so long, and here she was, curled up again in her secret spot.
It was so warm now, with summer a bare breath away. She hadn't even put on shoes, but rather walked out barefoot with cropped tan pants and a white shirt, with her headband tied loosely around her waist. And now, here she was, so upset her toes were curled up under her feet. She hated to be shy; she hated it more than anything in the world, but it was just who she was.
The tree bark was rough under her feet, which hadn't been bare since last year, but that hardly bothered her. On the contrary, this tree was her favorite place to be, besides the roof.
It was a tree nearly two hundred years old, and was the largest one in the forest. It twisted within itself so many times, and so many of its branches were feet thick. Once all of its leaves came in, one could climb through it and never be seen. It was such an adventure, to climb higher and higher, all the way to the top, and then look over the entire forest, with the Hyuuga mansion in the distance, and farther than that, the tops of some of the tall buildings amongst even more trees that made up the urban part of Konoha. What made Konoha strange was the fact that no trees were ever cut down, but in stead built around. Even in the most populated areas, those great trees would tower over everything, in between buildings and even holding up buildings.
This tree was special, even though there were so many ones just as large out there. On the fifth level of branches, there was a groove in the trunk, and when she was much smaller, it was just big enough for her to curl up into. Now, she leaned against it, with the groove ending just above her head.
She came here when nothing else in the world made sense, and she couldn't take it anymore.
So, that was why she was there now, her knees against her forehead.
This time, she was just so tired.
So tired of the same thing.
"I…can't do…anything…."
"I bet you can."
Her eyes flew open, and she turned her head in the direction of the voice.
And there he stood, holding a half-eaten, peeled orange. He rolled it in his knarred hands, smiling. Blue eyes caught the light filtering through the thick leaves and branches, and the blonde hair was as unruly as ever, sticking up and uncombed.
"N-N-Naruto…."
"Orange?" he asked, pulling an unpeeled one from his pocket. Then he came, and sat down next to her. "Sorry I haven't peeled it yet. Thought I'd have time, but I asked Hanabi and Neji where you were, and I decided I'd go a bit faster."
Hinata's face burned, and she looked down.
Naruto cocked his head to the side, and then took out a kunai, the same one he had used in the park, and began to peel the orange.
"You know," he said, "I feel like I should say something really suave and smart, but I don't really know what."
Hinata looked at him, a kind of alarm on her face. "Oh, y-you don't need to do that…."
"But isn't it what I'm supposed to do, you know, talk all smart and relaxed like Sasuke?"
"N-no…I, I like you, just the way you are."
Naruto smiled a big, wide smile. "That's right!"
"W-what?"
"Listen," Naruto explained, "I'm never going to be as cool as Sasuke is, but you still like me. And you're not as strong as your cousins, but they still like you."
Hinata blinked.
"And you can't focus on your bad qualities." Naruto added, as he continued to peel the orange, "Just then, I changed the subject to my worries, and you totally forgot about your own to reassure me."
Hinata nodded, mulling over Naruto's words. With one final pull of the kunai, the last of the orange peel fell away, and Naruto stuck the kunai in his pocket. Then he looked at Hinata, holding the orange out for her.
"You're the nicest, most un-selfish person I've ever met in my life." He said, "And that's something much more amazing than fighting."
Hinata, stunned, took the orange and held it, her fingers running over the stringy surface.
"I-I never thought you'd s-say something like that. About fighting."
Naruto shrugged, now going back to his own half-eaten orange.
"Well, I figure, someday, we may not be able to fight, or maybe we won't be able to in some situations. So its really good to know other stuff than fighting."
Hinata nodded, and took one piece of the orange and bit it in half. Juice squirted all across her nose, mouth, cheeks and chin, and her eyes flew open! The red returned to her face, and she sighed. But Naruto laughed!
She bit her lip, and looked down, embarrassed.
"Hina-chan," Naruto said, placing his hand on her shoulder, "look."
She looked up, and watched as Naruto took a piece of his orange, bit it in half, and got splattered in juice as well!
Hinata bit her lip, trying not to giggle. But Naruto was beside himself, laughing.
Then, a smile spread across Hinata's face, and she laughed as well, putting her hand in front of her lips as she was taught to do, the juice still dripping down her face.
And they sat there, laughing, eating oranges, up in the top of her tree.
It didn't matter what had happened, or if she was shy or strong or not.
All she knew was that she was happy, and whenever she needed anything, there he would be, standing in her midst, there for her any time she needed someone.
Who knows, maybe next time, he'll bring strawberries.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hey ya'll!
Ah, another chapter ends. It's amazing how long these take to write and think up and perfect compared to how long it takes you guys to read them. Not to mention how smaller it seems on fan fiction. Good lord. On my Microsoft word, it's eight pages! (FYI: All of my chapters are typically over five pages; side-stepped was about fifteen, I think. And I usually spend two to three hours on each chapter; side-stepped was four or five. See how much I love you guys?)
Anyway, I liked this chapter. I felt so proud when I came up with Naruto's plan! And it was fun to write about Sasuke and Naruto together. I like how they're so different that they almost collide every time they open their mouths. It makes it fun to come up with dialogue and a plot! And it was refreshing to be able to write about Naruto and Hinata; I usually consider them one of the "sweeter" or "purer" couples. After all, the rest, except Shikamaru and Ino, contain a pessimist boy with a bad past.
I GOT TWENTY REVIEWS! YEEE-HAW!
I HAVE THREE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN REVIEWS TOTAL!
I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Thanks to my reviewers:
Pandora the Vampire (Interesting name; is it like Pandora's box? Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed my work! And, to think, that you liked my Ino and Shikamaru chapters! I kind of considered them to be my weak spots. Thank you!)
Krissel Himura (Thank you! Actually, I don't really hear voices, exactly; but I do plan everything in my head, so I guess you could say that I hear the voices of my characters in my head! In truth, my screen name was just something cool I could use that wouldn't divulge anything about me. Anyway, I'm glad you liked so many of my chapters! It sounds like so many! Neji and Tenten have been overwhelmingly popular lately. Anyway, thank you, and feel free to tell me what you think of this chapter!)
Dexo23 (Don't sweat it. I'm just glad you read this and enjoy it. Although, I do love reviews! Glad you liked the last two chapters. I look forward to your next review!)
Danny (Hey stranger! Glad to know that you still enjoyed the last chapter, despite the fact that it was…off. I actually knew a lot about Neji, but I guess I just never found anything about the branch and head houses. I'm considering redoing the chapters, but that will take away their meaning, so I guess I should leave it. Maybe I'll do something for Neji and Tenten on the side, not as apart of Day to Day, instead. It was actually your last paragraph in your review about Hinata that got me the idea of that final scene with Naruto and Hinata! Don't you just fill with pride to know that you were inspiration? Lol. As for the anime…I'm cheap as hell. I'd rather buy the ten bucks a pop comics than shell out thirty for the anime. The only anime I see are on TV, or a friend's. Hope your computer doesn't break down again! Let me know what you think of this chapter too! Thanks!)
Ronkieboy (Thanks! I didn't update very quickly but hey! I at least I did update!)
Bayka (Shii-chan is a cute name, but wouldn't it be Shii-kun, since he's a boy? Okay, anyway! Thanks! Let me know what you think of this chapter in your next review!)
Kanashii-emi (Glad to know I've spread the Something Corporate disease! I love them! Although, I listened to Dashboard Confessional, "The Swiss Army Romance", while writing this chapter. DC is awesome! Anyway, a new angle for Neji and Tenten sounds like a good idea. I'm tired of Neji's family! So, in conclusion, thanks. Tell me your thoughts on this chapter in your review!)
MichSchonken (Truthfully, the only reason that I know what goes on in his head is from studying and thinking A LOT, and I mean A LOT! I research every character and put them in perspective to make it was real as possible. I'm glad you like this story (or, um, sets of stories!) so much! It really means a lot. Thank you!)
Japponness (does onegai mean "thank you"? Lol; they don't teach Japanese at my school! Anyway, thank you SO much! You are SO sweet! It means so much to me that you like my writing THAT much! Anyway, I take things slow because I don't think you go from "hello" to the bed or anything in real life, so why should they? Besides, it so much more fun to write things slowly, without a whole bunch of make out scenes or whatever! Thank you! It means so much! I can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter!)
Forggi3 (Hello! Glad you like how I show Neji. I do put a lot of thought into it, and its nice to read that someone notices that. Thanks, and I hope to see your thoughts on this chapter too! Thank you!)
FireDragonBL (As for Tenten beating the shit out of Kameko and Dai, don't count on it. I think she would enjoy it, but it's not my style to write about flat revenge. Besides, wouldn't that just be sinking down to their level? Anyway, I didn't really factor in Neji's kaiten or Tenten's accuracy when I wrote that scene with them, because I just thought they were having fun. That, and I can't keep all of those attacks and techniques straight! It's hard! But, thanks. I really should study up on techniques and such. Be sure to tell me your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks!)
Rachel (Thanks for the comment "you have a way with Neji and Tenten's."! It means a lot read that! The whole point of that last chapter was to get across the barriers in Tenten's way, and I'm glad it got across. Can't wait to read you comments on this chapter! Thanks!)
Warprince2000 (Ah, darling. I love to be cool, don't you? Lol.)
i-dream-of-blue-eyes (thanks! You're so sweet! I'm just glad to hear that Neji wasn't too OCC. Lol. And, just to remind you, I have one rule: I don't do the same couple twice in a row. So, even if Neji and Tenten won (which they almost did) I wouldn't have written about them. So, don't vote for Naruto and Hinata this time! Thanks!)
Kaeru Soyokaze (You put this on your favorite's list? OMG. I LOVE you! Thank you so much! And, Kameko and Dai's act was a bit messed up, but Tenten shall live, and live to tell the tale! Again, thank you so much!)
Bianca (bows Thank you so much, all of you! (Neji, Tenten, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Bianca…) You guys are the best! Seriously; otherwise, I wouldn't write about you, right? I can't imagine how weird it is to read about yourself, though! And, eh, getting weirder only makes you interesting! It's so not a bad thing! Anyway, can't wait to hear your next sugar-influenced comments in your review!)
Babykitty2070 (Hey! Glad that whole thing didn't bother you, because it sure did bother me! So thank you, thanks a lot!)
Saishenoyama (what does your screen name mean? Anyway, thanks. I'm glad I ROCK to you! Lol!)
Dove-chan (thanks! I guess my stories are goose-down induced!)
Animefreak-shinobi (Wow, into anime and able to work a kunai. I'm impressed! Anyway, thank you!)
Review,
Vote,
Love,
-IHearVoices