First, I'd like to give thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter. Thanks for your input and support. Second, Words of Wisdom: "It's impolite to kill people…" Without further ado, I present to you, the second chapter!
The Genin Test!
It Already Happened!
"Shintenshin no jutsu." said a voice, its owner's body going limp.
Sakura managed to catch it before it hit the ground. Ino, you better not mess this up after all the planning I did.
A small ways away was the approaching form of a dark-haired girl with pale lavender eyes. Her eyes were focused on the ground deep in thought as she returned home from training with her team. She had been worrying about her late arrival home, when she felt a strange feeling wash over her body as, unknown to her, another's mind blocked out her own.
Okay, step one, complete. Now I just have to use the right words…
As her clueless target grew closer, she saw an opportunity. Running up to the orange-clad genin, she threw her arms around him in a loving embrace. Arrggh! I'll never get this nightmare out of my mind! This better work…Now how does she talk…
"Huh? Hinata? What are you doing?" asked the blonde-haired boy wearily, shock and confusion evident in his voice.
"Naruto-kun, I wanted to tell you that I've always looked up to you. You give me the strength I need to become strong." Oh yeah, that was good. "But most importantly, I wanted you to know that, Naruto-kun, I l-"
Her dramatic confession was interrupted by a piercing scream that echoed through the street.
Damn it, thought Ino, that was Sakura! I've got to see if she's in trouble. Forming a hand sign behind Naruto's back, she soon awoke back in her own body.
Hinata slowly regained her senses, and began trying to remember where she was. The sun had almost sunk below the horizon, leaving only a faint glow of orange light to shine on the streets of Konoha. It had to be pretty late, and yet, it was warm. Her mind told her she was standing, but it seemed comfortable. As her mind continued to regain focus, she came to realize that she was holding something large, it was soft. It reminded her of her bed, but it wasn't quite so large. After a few more seconds, her mind had returned to normal, and she opened her eyes, the dull glow of the sun she knew was there making it hard to see.
She then turned to see what she was holding…Naruto-kun? She thought, seeing blonde hair and an orange shoulder. It took a second, but her mind caught up with her, and an ocean of thoughts and questions washed through her head. It was too much for her to handle. She fainted, her body fell to the ground and her arms reluctantly released the one she loved so deeply, leaving her blushing face to rival the crimson light of the ever-setting sun.
"What do you mean, 'my fault'!" came an aggravated yell from a now dark alley.
"If you hadn't screamed, I would have completed step two! Crybaby Sakura, scared of a harmless bat." answered Ino mockingly with a hint of anger.
"I didn't ask you to abort the plan to save me; I was just taken by surprise, that's all. And besides, it wasn't just an ordinary bat. I'm almost certain I saw its eyes glowing a shade of light blue, as if they were filled with chakra…" explained Sakura defensively, drifting of into thought as she remembered it taking off from only a few feet away from her into the night sky.
"Well, bats are blind, maybe this one just figured out how to use chakra to see." The blue-eyed girl suggested. "Sometimes we forget that even if they don't use it, all living things have chakra."
"Yeah, I guess so…" The pink-haired kunoichi still wasn't convinced. This definitely wouldn't be the last time that bat tugged at her thoughts, even appearing a few times in her nightmares.
I wonder if Chouji's done with the all-you-can-eat barbeque yet, he can't just keep eating forever. After all, they've got to run out sometime. And this is the second time this week, isn't it? This time he just tells me to leave without him, saying he'll still be a while. What a troublesome guy…
"What do you mean, 'my fault'!" came a loud scream from an alley a few streets away. That sounded like Sakura, which means this one… At that moment, an equally loud reply echoed from the same direction. …is Ino. I wonder what they've been up to this afternoon…
Flashback
"Okay, that will be enough training for today. Shikamaru, we'll have you ready for the finals in no time." said a large bearded man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Yeah," added the blonde-haired girl, "Ever since we started training a few days ago, you've improved at least a little."
"Hey! We trained lots before that! It was just a different kind of training…" retorted the man in an almost child-like manner.
"That wasn't training! You just had me and Chouji eat chips all day while we watched you lose to Shikamaru at a game I barely understand!"
"You two can stay here and argue if you'd like," Shikamaru interjected, "but Chouji and I are going back to that all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant."
"You should come with us!" suggested Chouji, "Just like a few days ago!"
"No thanks, Chouji." Ino replied gratefully, "I've already made plans with a friend for tonight." If only he knew how literal those words were, she thought, running off towards her house.
Asuma, they're sensei, agreed to join them, but had to cancel when he received a summons to speak with the Hokage on an undisclosed matter.
End Flashback
He continued on his way home, the yells soon out of earshot, or maybe they stopped fighting…no, he must be out of earshot. He knew as soon as he got home he would be swamped with a ton of chores from his mother. He just accepted it. It was too troublesome to get out of it.
Naruto looked down at the girl he hardly knew, lying on the ground near his feet. He was too confused to hear the yelling coming from the alley across the street. His heart was still beating quickly, from the surprise, he assumed, and he began to regain control of his thought soon. I hope Sakura-chan didn't see that. I wouldn't want her to get jealous and blame Hinata…No! I mean, I wouldn't want her to get jealous and feel bad, yeah, that's what I meant, believe it!
He corrected the small slip of his mind, attributing it once again to his still present confusion. He then remembered Hinata was still unconscious on the ground, so knelt down to wake her up.
"Hinata, wake up, are you ok?" The question seemed to cause her to wake. "Naruto-kun? W-What happened? W-where…where am I?"
"You were acting strange." answered Naruto, still trying to think of a way to explain what happened. Lie? No. Use puppets? No. I guess I'll just say it… "Well, I was just walking home from training, see? And you, well, you just came out of nowhere and started hugging me. Then you said you needed to tell me something important, but you just stood there hugging me. And after a few seconds you just looked at me and fainted. I didn't do anything though, it was your fault. No wait! That came out wrong, I mean, well, what I mean to say is…" Naruto explained. He got so nervous that he stumbled over his words and had to concentrate hard to even know what he was saying.
I didn't matter though. Hinata had blanked out after hearing the part with her fainting, her memory of awakening to find Naruto in her arms creeping back into her mind. As if that weren't enough, what Naruto just told her was enough to bring the blush full force back to her face, just as Naruto had given up on fixing his failure of an explanation/apology.
Noticing the bright red color on her face, Naruto began to wave his hands frantically. "No, wait Hinata, don't faint again-" but it was too late. She lay back in the same position as she was moments ago, once again showing no signs of consciousness. What could be wrong with her that would make her faint twice in a row? I should get her to the hospital; maybe they'll know what to do…
End of chapter 2
I've cut this chapter off sooner than I would have liked to, but I've beenforgivingly busy lately.Igot done writing this chapter yesterday, but my computer started having problems,preventing me from gettingthis chapter up.By the way, in case you were wondering, the two girls' plan is not the evil plot that I mentioned at the start of the story. Next chapter should have more to it; looking back this one seems to have only covered about five minutes in the story. Hopefully I will have a chance to get the next chapter up sometimesoon (after I decide what will happen in it and write it, of course.), but I'm not making any guarantees. Please leave a review!