Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Bored. That's how Naruto felt. He didn't understand why they needed to learn the history of why two guys killed each other. So what if the first Hokage was powerful, he would be even better than that guy. He would be a better Hokage than any of the others.
With his head buried on his desk, he snuck a glance at Sasuke. The teme was actually listening to this stuff. He hadn't pegged the guy for a historian though it was justifiable since an Uchiha was involved.
The blonde shifted once more, eyes this time being drawn to Himika. Suddenly, he felt stupid. How had he not noticed her in the same class before? Her hair was easily noticable, that along with her pale skin. It had been a couple days since the late night meal they had shaired.
She was odd for a girl, well at least in terms of what he'd seen from Sakura. The two females were so different from each other. Of course he had known that was the case with Himika in the first place. None of the other kids had the guts to stay up that late without the fear of being caught by their lazy caretakers.
As if feeling his gaze on the back of her head, she turned to look at him with blank eyes and an unreadable expression. He gulped and turned his head. He didn't need to be seen as a stalker. She looked away and focused her attention back to Iruka.
Naruto tried to do the same but found himself drifting off to sleep. Meh, he didn't think the lesson was that important anyway.
Himika stared impassively at the sky as she sat atop the roof of the academy for lunch. She wasn't eating but simply relaxing. Himika closed her eyes in thought. Did she want to be a shinobi? Really, this was something she should have thought through before simply agreeing with the Hokage to attend the academy. The place was kinda drab in all honesty. Still, it was better than spending her days in the orphanage full time.
The very idea of being a ninja was intriguing, she would openly admit to that fact. She couldn't deny that she was curious but she felt she was needed for bigger things. Things she had yet to fully fathom or grasp in her young mind. Being a ninja meant occasionally working with people, trusting them and that didn't come cheap in her opinion. She didn't want to get stabbed in the back while she slept. The Uchiha massacre was a prime example. She felt sorry for Sasuke but she doubted he wanted her pity or anyone's for that matter.
She honestly wondered how that felt. Having a family only to watch as it's ripped away from you. That was why she felt better feeling nothing, no sense of disappointment when one didn't match up to your expectations. She liked to think she was a realist. Of course in that respect, Sasuke would be a pessimist with Naruto being the idealist.
They were interesting. The two boys didn't function in the normal side of society. Naruto, the village pariah, Sasuke, the last loyal Uchiha. She wondered what drove the two. They unknowingly had caught her attention, for however short that would be. Himika analyzed things to make sure she understood their inner workings, hence her fascinated with human emotions. She wondered what it was like to feel love. Emotions drove people, gave them the will to fight. They also tended to cloud your judgement on combat.
In her mind, the two boys would thrive on their emotions rather than fall to them. There was nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose. Was that why others kept the two in the spotlight albeit in different ways. Was it a way to contain. them? She would know one day.
"What's your answer?" Hiruzen asked Naruto as he slurped on some ramen. The day was over and the blonde was being treated by the Hokage to some ramen.
Naruto stopped for a moment. The question was simple. Did he want to leave the orphanage, have his own apartment. He would admit the idea was quite tempting. Having his own home, there was one problem. He didn't want to be alone. An apartment all on this own would make him feel alone. Coming home everyday to find no one waiting for him. It hurt to think that way. At least at the orphanage there were actual people even those who didn't like him.
"Can l...think about it," it sounded so wrong coming from his mouth. The blonde rarely ever thought about most things in his life. He was a leap before you look kinda guy I'm most cases.
Hiruzen nodded and turned to finish his bowl of ramen. He could wait.
Uzumaki clan, extinct to a certain degree. This was the information that Himika came across when she went to the library. Naruto had a clan, a dead one so...yeah.
She didn't know whether to be sorry or not but that was mostly because she didn't know how to.
She shrugged her shoulders and closed the book on Konoha's history. The boy really should have paid attention in class. She had no intention of telling him though. If anything, it was a valuable piece of information she could use in the future. Besides what would he do with what she told him. His clan was dead. Himika didn't even love her own parents because you couldn't love what you never knew.
She walked into the orphanage lazily as she studied her surroundings. While she was infact followed, she was never followed into the orphanage itself. She couldn't say she was in any danger since this had been going on for a good couple of years now. She reached her room and grabbed the door handle tentatively, feeling as though something was wrong.
She was right. Naruto was on her bed, dead asleep. She should have been alarmed but honestly, she was expecting something like this. Naruto was like a lonely dog. He would follow the slightest amount of affection. She was sure she hadn't done much other than...eat with him.
She walked with an apathetic gaze as his chest heaved up and down with each breath he took. Did she look like that when she slept? She figured she would never know, not on her own. She honestly wondered why he was in her room. How had he even gotten in?
Against her will, her breath hitched as he woke with a start. She gave a blank look as he turned to look at her, still half asleep though. She blinked. He blinked. Himika raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well?" she sounded as the blonde seemed to try to figure it out.
"l might be moving out of the orphanage soon," he said unsurely. She wasn't sure we're she fit in with all of this. Why was he telling her that?
"Getting adopted?" she finally asked indifferently. She couldn't say she would miss him. She wasn't sure how to anyway.
"You can get adopted out of this place?!" Naruto sounded genuinely surprised by her words, like he didn't know. If so, he was a lot less intelligent than she thought.
"Yes," her curt reply came. She didn't like speaking a lot of the time. Perhaps this was why she didn't mind the blonde. With his talking, she didn't need to say much, he could do it for both of them.
"Oh well, uh...l no. Jiji offered me an apartment," he said.
"Jiji?" she asked as realization dawned on the blonde boy in question.
"Oh the Hokage, he's pretty awesome," he yelled out at least expecting her to gain curiosity. She didn't, like usual.
"You could at least show some type of excitement," he frowned at her. She really needed to lighten up in his humble opinion. She furrowed her brow in thought but left it at that.
To her it was surprising to hear the blonde knew the Hokage so personally. She didn't know why he wanted her to react to this piece of information but she tried to smile.
It didn't work. Naruto laughed at this while she looked on blankly.
"You're so, so weird," he laughed good naturedly. She looked away with an indifferent expression though he knew she was listening to him.
"Why are you telling me this?" she finally found herself asking. The whole situation was already odd. She could already imagine the caretakers freaking out about such miscellaneous behavior. Why did the boy have to be in her room?
"We're friends, right?" he was unsure but his eyes pleaded with her.
"I'd say more aquientence for now Naruto," Himika drew out quietly. The boy was apparently confused because he asked
"What's an uh...uh aquie...ntence?"
"Not close enough to be friends but still talk some of the time," she tried to explain in the simplest way possible for him.
He kinda looked disappointed before raising his head.
"How long does it take to be friends?"
"Depends?" she shrugged off. He really wanted to be friends.
"So to make you my friend, we need time, and for that we have to see each other?" he scrunched up his face in thought at that. She was actually surprised by what he had said but she hid it well enough, from him at least.
"Yea,"
At that moment, a choice was made as Naruto raised his fist into the air.
"One of these days, I'm gonna get you to smile, really smile!" he declared boldly. She didn't think he could but he was welcome to try. It would pass the time faster anyway. She walked up and sat on the bed just a few spots away.
"Then l suppose you're staying," she deducted as the blonde stood up and joe's out the window. She wondered whether she should lock her window but he would always find some other way in. Himika looked up at the ceiling.
'Naruto Uzumaki, huh?'
