Betrothal
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 8 - Scenes.
Birds flew low overhead, their bodies casting shadows upon the ground the pair were walking on.
"Your first goal," Began the first ninja, a female with an odd dress sense and blonde hair. "Is to find out just what is going on. After all, if it is this arranged marriage I've heard rumours about, then it's not exactly Naruto's fault, is it?" Yamanaka Ino nodded to herself as she talked, her voice clear and lecturing.
Beside her the black haired ninja, Hyuuga Hinata just nodded. Her face had been cleaned - washing away those awful tear-stains which had covered it earlier - and Ino had quite nicely given her a little flower to tuck in her hair just behind one ear. This particular flower was a rather large variety of daisy which, according to Ino meant - in the language of flowers - 'Innocence and Purity'.
Not that Hinata was too worried about what it meant, she just thought it looked rather nice. It was this mindset which meant she had to transfer from flower arranging to a different girls subject during her time in the academy. After all, she just didn't mind what flowers meant as long as they looked nice - not the best way to go about formal flower arranging.
"So, do you remember what you're going to do when we get there?" Asked Ino, hoping that Hinata would remember the 'plan' she had concocted just before they had set off.
"Uhm..." whispered Hinata, "Yes?" She blushed slightly and began to outline the, rather simple, plan. Well, simple to anyone but her at least. After all, no-one else would have to work through a lifetime of shyness and embarrassment for it to work. "F-first I knock on the door," she started, and glanced at Ino's nod of approval, "Then I ask to talk with... with N- naruto-kun..."
"In private." Prompted Ino.
"Y-yes, in pr-private..." Hinata blushed again at the mental image of her and Naruto alone in private.
"And then you ask him 'what the hell is going on'" Finished Ino, "You may want to slap him once or twice to get his attention though."
Hinata stared wide-eyed at Ino, "I-I couldn't do that!" She half-whispered, half-exclaimed. "I-it would be... be rude!"
"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you can ask him however you want - as long as you get the answer to the question of 'what is going on'." Amended the taller blonde-haired girl, "And, well... Oh! Hey, we're almost there."
The two girls went quiet, one blushing due to her overactive imagination, the other walking with a confidence that could only stem from a large ego.
And as they turned the corner that led onto the street outside Naruto's home, both of them froze in an identical state of shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aburame Shino stood, his pose that of one who knows they're right, a short distance from a collapsing blonde-haired girl - the ex-sand-nin Sabakuno Temari.
"It is over." Stated Shino, "You have lost."
Temari blinked in shock before further doubling over in pain, clutching at her scratched arm as if it were being burnt beyond all recognition. Suddenly she realized just why Shino claimed that she had lost after she had taken just one measly little scratch.
"Poison." She spat, before falling to her knees in agony.
"Yes." Replied Shino, "My Doudou Sutingu no Jutsu lets me transform my Chakra into a highly potent chakra-poison, much like the kind some insects use to paralyze most smaller predators." He smiled and peered over the top of his sunshades "Unfortunately, I'm not yet skilled enough to pass it on without physical contact yet. This, however, will serve just as well."
"And you think you've won?" Ground out the collapsed girl, her voice hoarse and dry. "Think again."
"Hm?" Shino had a moment to consider Temari's odd statement before a booted foot smashed into his side with enough force to send him flying. As he flew to one side, pain burning into his body, he glanced back to see that it was Naruto who had kicked him.
'But how?' he thought, before noticing what was missing from the scene of his fight with Temari. His eyes widened in shock at the trap he had fallen for. 'The fan!'
For indeed, the fan that one Naruto clone had transformed into was no longer there. Mostly because that clone had dropped the transformation in order to let lose the kick that had hit the bug using ninja.
He was vaguely aware that he had been kicked in the direction of Kiba, who had already been beaten down and out. Unfortunately this left two Narutos who both wore identical expressions of rage upon their faces.
One Naruto darted forwards, then ducked down before delivering a vicious thrusting kick upwards - which slammed into the still airborne Shino and launched him much higher up into the air. Right up, in fact, to where the third Naruto had jumped and was now waiting for him.
Shino's eyes went wide moments before his breath was forced out of his body as the third Naruto spun - in a forwards somersault - and slammed one leg into his gut with an almost perfect somersault kick.
The last thing Shino thought, moments before he slammed into the hard ground below and lost consciousness, was that making Naruto angry was a really stupid thing to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ino and Hinata both stared, mutely, as Shino's body bounced off of the floor not more than a few meters away.
Of the two, it was the Hyuuga girl that was the first to speak. "Wh-what," she began, "Wh-why are... are Shino-kun and Nar-Naruto-kun fighting?"
Her blond haired companion sighed and strode forwards, grabbing Hinata by the arm and gently dragging her along as she did so. "That is just what we're going to find out." She murmured, "And then, we're going to have you talk to Naruto."
Hinata blushed slightly as Ino led her towards the crumpled forms of Shino and Temari, the latter of which was obviously still conscious. At least, she appeared conscious, if her constant muttered cursing was to be any judge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was cold.
Dark too.
Then again, she hadn't opened her eyes yet - which would neatly explain why everything was dark.
'you lost, didn't you?'
The voice was soft, almost ghostly in it's silken sound. She knew it wasn't the voice of anyone she knew and, since she couldn't hear anything else, she was guessing that it came from somewhere inside her own head.
'Again, you failed. As always you tripped up at the last moment.' Taunted the voice, 'Sometimes I wonder, do you even want to win?'
She shied back from the accusation, though she knew it to be true. She'd always been the one to come last, to be the failure, to mess up at the last second.
It wasn't that she was weak, no, she was strong. Strong as anything!
... It was just...
Well...
Everyone else was stronger.
She wasn't weak, nope. Not at all. She was just not quite as strong as everyone else.
Hey, someone had to be at the bottom, right?
'You keep telling yourself that.' Stated the voice, 'Maybe someday you may even believe it.'
The last thing she remembered of the dreamlike conversation, was the ghostly laugh of the voice as it left her to think upon her weakness.
A weakness that she, Sabakuno Temari, wished she didn't have.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We were only doing it for you Hinataaaaa!" Whined the black haired, feral- looking ninja. His dog, perched atop his head, whined alongside his master's voice.
"Do you really think she would have wanted you to try beating Naruto into the dirt!?" Shrieked one of the other occupants of the sparse training-room of Naruto's which everyone had decided to gather in.
Well. No. Actually Ino was the one that had decided that they were going to gather in there and she had, quite happily, dragged a battered Kiba along with her.
By the ears no less.
"Well, uhh..." Kiba reddened slightly and looked down at his feet. "We, uhm... we didn't exactly wait around to find out..."
"So instead," began the blonde-haired kunoichi, "You decided to go beat up a perfectly innocent guy!" She paused and thought over that comment. "... Well, as innocent as he's ever gonna get anyway."
"Why Kiba-san?" Hinata's voice cut into the conversation like a sharpened kunai - quietly and highly effectively. "Why did you w-want to?" Her lip trembled slightly as she looked at her teammate with eyes that saw everything.
In response to Hinata's stare, Kiba flushed red and went back to glaring at his feet. "He made you cry." Mumbled the wild boy, his voice low and his face practically glowing red.
"Awwwwwww..." Ino practically floated between the two, her hands clasped together and held up against one cheek. "That's so cuuuuuuuute!" She squealed, her eyes sparkling with either mischief or amusement. "Little Kiba-kun has a crush on Hinataaaa!"
Almost instantly the wild-haired boy went red in a mix of embarrassment and anger. "I do not!" He yelled, leaning threateningly over the slightly shorter Ino, "She's a friend! That's all!"
With that simple outburst, Inuzuka Kiba stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut hard enough to make both girls jump at the sound.
Shaking her head at the general stupidity of the male species, Ino glanced over at Hinata. The pale girl's eyes had teared up slightly - from both a little fear at Kiba's shouting and the actual content of his shouting. Granted, Hinata didn't like her team-mate in that way, but it still hurt a bit to hear him deny such an accusation so loudly.
"Girl," Whispered the Yamanaka child, "Sometimes you're a little too naive." She sighed and turned to leave and, louder, called over to her 'friend'. "Hey, Hinata-chan! Once we sort this out, why don't you, me and Sakura go show Temari the hot springs, okay?"
Hinata blinked away her tears and nodded. A nice soak in the hot springs nearby would by just the thing she needed to feel a bit better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's a nasty little chakra-created poison really, but he was never aiming to kill her - so it isn't as bad as it could be." Murmured the, rather plain, medical-nin as he bustled around Temari's prone form. Beside him, looking thoroughly worried was the short blond haired Naruto that everyone knew - and disliked.
"She'll be okay, right? Right!?" He demanded, bouncing up and down on the spot to attract the medical-nin's attention. "She's not gonna be sick for long or anything is she?"
The medical specialist glanced at Naruto, causing the boy to flinch back slightly from his glare. Then again, Naruto had been receiving that sort of glare ever since he was you, so it didn't worry him too much. "She will live." He stated, his tone of voice clearly indicating that this was not the result he had hope for.
Naruto practically jumped for joy at that statement, though his joy was somewhat dampened by the medical-nin's obvious dislike for Temari. Still, Temari was going to recover - that was the important thing.
Sometimes, Naruto really didn't know how he felt about Temari.
Although he still didn't quite trust her all that much - mostly because of who she happened to be related to - he had to admit that she wasn't particularly bad. She was pretty, that was a definate, and she was smart too. Smarter than he was easily.
Yet, she also seemed to be, well, somewhat broken. This was only made worse by the fact that the vast majority of the leaf village disliked her or just plain despised her presence in the village.
It was sort of like how the felt about him really.
Odd that.
Then again, if they didn't like him, then most of them wouldn't give a damn about what he did in life - which explained why he was selected to be engaged to Temari. After all, Naruto could just imagine the uproar that would have arisen had someone like Hyuuga or some other ninja that was liked by the village were to have been selected for this 'honor'.
Naruto wasn't aware of it, but the medical-nin had left, along with Kakashi - who had been just generally making sure that nothing else should happen - leaving the blonde haired boy alone with the blonde haired girl.
"So..." He whispered, half to himself, as he sat down on a stool next to the bed in which Temari lay. "What happens now?" He asked at last, staring at Temari's face.
'you know', prodded a little part of the boy's mind, 'she really is quite cute when she's asleep...'
"Wake up soon Temari," Murmured the now somewhat muddled genin who was currently feeling rather confused at what his heart, and mind, were telling him. "I still have to thank you for helping me out back then after all."
Chapter 8 - ended
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Yeah, yeah. short chapter. I know, so don't complain, please? ^^;;
There is a reason, and the reason is this - this may be my last week with actual internet access until december x.x See, i'm heading off to live in a little place near the university i'm going to be attending for the next three years, and the place i'm gonna live in has no internet access.
BUT! I have been discussing with my roomies, the possibility of getting the place hooked up with internet access - but as of yet, we don't know if it'll go ahead or not.
Sooo... I thought i'd better warn you that there won't be any updates until I return home (to my beloved cable) during the school holiday in december.
This does not mean i'll stop writing - if anything, it means i'll write more (as, for some reason, my motivation for writing plummeted during the holidays of my previous year in school as well as this summer x.x odd huh?)
Basically, this chapter is short because i have only a day or two left - and i really wanted to inform you all about this extended lack of updates. *then again, it's not like i update often anyway .;;)
Nyah - expect big things when the next update finally rolls around yah? ^.~
- Lackey H, Preparing to answer the questions of life, the universe and Temari.
Chapter 8 - Scenes.
Birds flew low overhead, their bodies casting shadows upon the ground the pair were walking on.
"Your first goal," Began the first ninja, a female with an odd dress sense and blonde hair. "Is to find out just what is going on. After all, if it is this arranged marriage I've heard rumours about, then it's not exactly Naruto's fault, is it?" Yamanaka Ino nodded to herself as she talked, her voice clear and lecturing.
Beside her the black haired ninja, Hyuuga Hinata just nodded. Her face had been cleaned - washing away those awful tear-stains which had covered it earlier - and Ino had quite nicely given her a little flower to tuck in her hair just behind one ear. This particular flower was a rather large variety of daisy which, according to Ino meant - in the language of flowers - 'Innocence and Purity'.
Not that Hinata was too worried about what it meant, she just thought it looked rather nice. It was this mindset which meant she had to transfer from flower arranging to a different girls subject during her time in the academy. After all, she just didn't mind what flowers meant as long as they looked nice - not the best way to go about formal flower arranging.
"So, do you remember what you're going to do when we get there?" Asked Ino, hoping that Hinata would remember the 'plan' she had concocted just before they had set off.
"Uhm..." whispered Hinata, "Yes?" She blushed slightly and began to outline the, rather simple, plan. Well, simple to anyone but her at least. After all, no-one else would have to work through a lifetime of shyness and embarrassment for it to work. "F-first I knock on the door," she started, and glanced at Ino's nod of approval, "Then I ask to talk with... with N- naruto-kun..."
"In private." Prompted Ino.
"Y-yes, in pr-private..." Hinata blushed again at the mental image of her and Naruto alone in private.
"And then you ask him 'what the hell is going on'" Finished Ino, "You may want to slap him once or twice to get his attention though."
Hinata stared wide-eyed at Ino, "I-I couldn't do that!" She half-whispered, half-exclaimed. "I-it would be... be rude!"
"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you can ask him however you want - as long as you get the answer to the question of 'what is going on'." Amended the taller blonde-haired girl, "And, well... Oh! Hey, we're almost there."
The two girls went quiet, one blushing due to her overactive imagination, the other walking with a confidence that could only stem from a large ego.
And as they turned the corner that led onto the street outside Naruto's home, both of them froze in an identical state of shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aburame Shino stood, his pose that of one who knows they're right, a short distance from a collapsing blonde-haired girl - the ex-sand-nin Sabakuno Temari.
"It is over." Stated Shino, "You have lost."
Temari blinked in shock before further doubling over in pain, clutching at her scratched arm as if it were being burnt beyond all recognition. Suddenly she realized just why Shino claimed that she had lost after she had taken just one measly little scratch.
"Poison." She spat, before falling to her knees in agony.
"Yes." Replied Shino, "My Doudou Sutingu no Jutsu lets me transform my Chakra into a highly potent chakra-poison, much like the kind some insects use to paralyze most smaller predators." He smiled and peered over the top of his sunshades "Unfortunately, I'm not yet skilled enough to pass it on without physical contact yet. This, however, will serve just as well."
"And you think you've won?" Ground out the collapsed girl, her voice hoarse and dry. "Think again."
"Hm?" Shino had a moment to consider Temari's odd statement before a booted foot smashed into his side with enough force to send him flying. As he flew to one side, pain burning into his body, he glanced back to see that it was Naruto who had kicked him.
'But how?' he thought, before noticing what was missing from the scene of his fight with Temari. His eyes widened in shock at the trap he had fallen for. 'The fan!'
For indeed, the fan that one Naruto clone had transformed into was no longer there. Mostly because that clone had dropped the transformation in order to let lose the kick that had hit the bug using ninja.
He was vaguely aware that he had been kicked in the direction of Kiba, who had already been beaten down and out. Unfortunately this left two Narutos who both wore identical expressions of rage upon their faces.
One Naruto darted forwards, then ducked down before delivering a vicious thrusting kick upwards - which slammed into the still airborne Shino and launched him much higher up into the air. Right up, in fact, to where the third Naruto had jumped and was now waiting for him.
Shino's eyes went wide moments before his breath was forced out of his body as the third Naruto spun - in a forwards somersault - and slammed one leg into his gut with an almost perfect somersault kick.
The last thing Shino thought, moments before he slammed into the hard ground below and lost consciousness, was that making Naruto angry was a really stupid thing to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ino and Hinata both stared, mutely, as Shino's body bounced off of the floor not more than a few meters away.
Of the two, it was the Hyuuga girl that was the first to speak. "Wh-what," she began, "Wh-why are... are Shino-kun and Nar-Naruto-kun fighting?"
Her blond haired companion sighed and strode forwards, grabbing Hinata by the arm and gently dragging her along as she did so. "That is just what we're going to find out." She murmured, "And then, we're going to have you talk to Naruto."
Hinata blushed slightly as Ino led her towards the crumpled forms of Shino and Temari, the latter of which was obviously still conscious. At least, she appeared conscious, if her constant muttered cursing was to be any judge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was cold.
Dark too.
Then again, she hadn't opened her eyes yet - which would neatly explain why everything was dark.
'you lost, didn't you?'
The voice was soft, almost ghostly in it's silken sound. She knew it wasn't the voice of anyone she knew and, since she couldn't hear anything else, she was guessing that it came from somewhere inside her own head.
'Again, you failed. As always you tripped up at the last moment.' Taunted the voice, 'Sometimes I wonder, do you even want to win?'
She shied back from the accusation, though she knew it to be true. She'd always been the one to come last, to be the failure, to mess up at the last second.
It wasn't that she was weak, no, she was strong. Strong as anything!
... It was just...
Well...
Everyone else was stronger.
She wasn't weak, nope. Not at all. She was just not quite as strong as everyone else.
Hey, someone had to be at the bottom, right?
'You keep telling yourself that.' Stated the voice, 'Maybe someday you may even believe it.'
The last thing she remembered of the dreamlike conversation, was the ghostly laugh of the voice as it left her to think upon her weakness.
A weakness that she, Sabakuno Temari, wished she didn't have.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We were only doing it for you Hinataaaaa!" Whined the black haired, feral- looking ninja. His dog, perched atop his head, whined alongside his master's voice.
"Do you really think she would have wanted you to try beating Naruto into the dirt!?" Shrieked one of the other occupants of the sparse training-room of Naruto's which everyone had decided to gather in.
Well. No. Actually Ino was the one that had decided that they were going to gather in there and she had, quite happily, dragged a battered Kiba along with her.
By the ears no less.
"Well, uhh..." Kiba reddened slightly and looked down at his feet. "We, uhm... we didn't exactly wait around to find out..."
"So instead," began the blonde-haired kunoichi, "You decided to go beat up a perfectly innocent guy!" She paused and thought over that comment. "... Well, as innocent as he's ever gonna get anyway."
"Why Kiba-san?" Hinata's voice cut into the conversation like a sharpened kunai - quietly and highly effectively. "Why did you w-want to?" Her lip trembled slightly as she looked at her teammate with eyes that saw everything.
In response to Hinata's stare, Kiba flushed red and went back to glaring at his feet. "He made you cry." Mumbled the wild boy, his voice low and his face practically glowing red.
"Awwwwwww..." Ino practically floated between the two, her hands clasped together and held up against one cheek. "That's so cuuuuuuuute!" She squealed, her eyes sparkling with either mischief or amusement. "Little Kiba-kun has a crush on Hinataaaa!"
Almost instantly the wild-haired boy went red in a mix of embarrassment and anger. "I do not!" He yelled, leaning threateningly over the slightly shorter Ino, "She's a friend! That's all!"
With that simple outburst, Inuzuka Kiba stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut hard enough to make both girls jump at the sound.
Shaking her head at the general stupidity of the male species, Ino glanced over at Hinata. The pale girl's eyes had teared up slightly - from both a little fear at Kiba's shouting and the actual content of his shouting. Granted, Hinata didn't like her team-mate in that way, but it still hurt a bit to hear him deny such an accusation so loudly.
"Girl," Whispered the Yamanaka child, "Sometimes you're a little too naive." She sighed and turned to leave and, louder, called over to her 'friend'. "Hey, Hinata-chan! Once we sort this out, why don't you, me and Sakura go show Temari the hot springs, okay?"
Hinata blinked away her tears and nodded. A nice soak in the hot springs nearby would by just the thing she needed to feel a bit better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's a nasty little chakra-created poison really, but he was never aiming to kill her - so it isn't as bad as it could be." Murmured the, rather plain, medical-nin as he bustled around Temari's prone form. Beside him, looking thoroughly worried was the short blond haired Naruto that everyone knew - and disliked.
"She'll be okay, right? Right!?" He demanded, bouncing up and down on the spot to attract the medical-nin's attention. "She's not gonna be sick for long or anything is she?"
The medical specialist glanced at Naruto, causing the boy to flinch back slightly from his glare. Then again, Naruto had been receiving that sort of glare ever since he was you, so it didn't worry him too much. "She will live." He stated, his tone of voice clearly indicating that this was not the result he had hope for.
Naruto practically jumped for joy at that statement, though his joy was somewhat dampened by the medical-nin's obvious dislike for Temari. Still, Temari was going to recover - that was the important thing.
Sometimes, Naruto really didn't know how he felt about Temari.
Although he still didn't quite trust her all that much - mostly because of who she happened to be related to - he had to admit that she wasn't particularly bad. She was pretty, that was a definate, and she was smart too. Smarter than he was easily.
Yet, she also seemed to be, well, somewhat broken. This was only made worse by the fact that the vast majority of the leaf village disliked her or just plain despised her presence in the village.
It was sort of like how the felt about him really.
Odd that.
Then again, if they didn't like him, then most of them wouldn't give a damn about what he did in life - which explained why he was selected to be engaged to Temari. After all, Naruto could just imagine the uproar that would have arisen had someone like Hyuuga or some other ninja that was liked by the village were to have been selected for this 'honor'.
Naruto wasn't aware of it, but the medical-nin had left, along with Kakashi - who had been just generally making sure that nothing else should happen - leaving the blonde haired boy alone with the blonde haired girl.
"So..." He whispered, half to himself, as he sat down on a stool next to the bed in which Temari lay. "What happens now?" He asked at last, staring at Temari's face.
'you know', prodded a little part of the boy's mind, 'she really is quite cute when she's asleep...'
"Wake up soon Temari," Murmured the now somewhat muddled genin who was currently feeling rather confused at what his heart, and mind, were telling him. "I still have to thank you for helping me out back then after all."
Chapter 8 - ended
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Yeah, yeah. short chapter. I know, so don't complain, please? ^^;;
There is a reason, and the reason is this - this may be my last week with actual internet access until december x.x See, i'm heading off to live in a little place near the university i'm going to be attending for the next three years, and the place i'm gonna live in has no internet access.
BUT! I have been discussing with my roomies, the possibility of getting the place hooked up with internet access - but as of yet, we don't know if it'll go ahead or not.
Sooo... I thought i'd better warn you that there won't be any updates until I return home (to my beloved cable) during the school holiday in december.
This does not mean i'll stop writing - if anything, it means i'll write more (as, for some reason, my motivation for writing plummeted during the holidays of my previous year in school as well as this summer x.x odd huh?)
Basically, this chapter is short because i have only a day or two left - and i really wanted to inform you all about this extended lack of updates. *then again, it's not like i update often anyway .;;)
Nyah - expect big things when the next update finally rolls around yah? ^.~
- Lackey H, Preparing to answer the questions of life, the universe and Temari.