6 - fight-oh!
Hinata peered at Naruto from around the corner of the street, safely hidden from view. It looked like Sakura and Sasuke were both walking back with Naruto from a training session - they each looked a little worse for wear, in that satisfied, relaxed way many ninja looked after a challenging and fulfilling spar with friends. Though she wasn't all that close to their location, she could hear their conversation fairly well. (It helped that they weren't trying to keep their voices down. At all.)
"I definitely had you there, believe it," Naruto grumbled. (And oh, how Hinata adored that verbal tic of hers, even if other people occasionally found it annoying.)
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If you count missing me by an entire foot a victory."
"Hey! You used your Sharingan when we explicitly stated no crazy stuff! If you can use your Sharingan I can totally ask Kurama for help."
"I was born with the Sharingan!"
"And I was basically born with Kurama! And what about Senjutsu, then, huh? I learned that through my own efforts, you—"
"All right, can we just admit that both of you are ridiculously overpowered and move on?" Sakura raised a fist threateningly with a disarming smile. "And that I can beat both of you into a pummel anyway, let's be honest."
The two turned to rebutt that statement, until they saw the frightening raised fist, and the even more frightening smile.
Naruto gulped. "Hehehe, Sakura-chan, you're still super scary sometimes."
Sakura just shrugged. "Hey, whatever works.'
While Hinata listened on (she wasn't really eavesdropping, per se, this was just a side effect of her main purpose. Which, in retrospect, was tantamount to stalking Naruto and maybe that wasn't much better…), she felt her heart sinking a little. It wasn't that she was jealous, exactly—she loved her teammates, and they had a similar bond, but—what she envied was the easy camaraderie between them and Naruto. Because while she no longer stuttered or turned red quite as often, she still couldn't bring herself to approach the other girl or speak as candidly as much as she wanted to.
Damn it, Hinata, where's your courage? She gave herself a mini pep talk, trying to channel her inner Naruto voice as much as possible. You've already defended her from Pein and almost died for her, you can ask her out on a—and here she felt heat rising up to her face, and she was sure her ears were already red—date!
As the group walked closer to Hinata's location, she shook her head to clear her thoughts and stepped out.
"U-um." Great beginning, Hinata. She took a deep breath. No more stuttering! "Naruto-chan!" This time she projected it clearly, gaining a little confidence.
"Hey, Hinata! How are you? I didn't see you at the izakaya last week, did you just get back from a mission?" Naruto split from her teammates to energetically bound closer to Hinata. "It's been too long!"
Hinata smiled at the evidence that Naruto had been thinking about her, if even somewhat. She manages to encourage me even now. Hinata looked at the other girl in the eyes. "I got back just yesterday. Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to get ramen together?"
"Sure! Sakura, Sasuke and I were just about to go grab dinner, of course you're welcome!"
"Idiot," Sakura sighed.
"Dobe," Sasuke muttered under his breath.
Hinata just steeled herself once more, having expected this outcome. (One does not observe someone else for most of one's life without learning about their quirks.) "I meant more as a d-d-date. If you're willing?" Hinata knew that her face was bright red at this point, but she resisted staring at the ground, keeping her gaze on Naruto.
Whose mouth was wide open in surprise.
("Shit," Sakura muttered as she handed over some money to a smugly smirking Sasuke.)
"A date? With me?" Naruto's eyes were wide, and Hinata got a bit lost in their blue depths.
(Sasuke shook his head. "Honestly, how thick can you really be—erk!" Sakura elbowed him in the gut.
Which may or may not have been mostly motivated by the recent dip in her savings.)
"Yes, I would l-love to go on a date with you, Naruto-chan!"
Naruto rubbed the back of her head, feeling a little embarrassed. "I've never been asked out on a date before. But I'm always down for ramen!" Naruto's expression brightened into her usual cheerful grin. "And of course, you're adorable, Hinata! I couldn't turn you down." (At this point Hinata thought she might die from heart failure. Or overheating. Or—) "Let's go!"
Naruto took Hinata's hand in her own (spontaneous combustion commencing in 3..2..) and began walking towards Ichiraku, chatting cheerfully the whole way. Both girls seemed to have forgotten about Sakura and Sasuke, though neither of them minded.
Instead, Sakura looked on fondly. "Our little Naruto's all grown up!"
Sasuke snorted. "Have you ever even been asked out on a date be—" Sasuke flew across the street into the side of a building.
Some people never learn.
prompt: where's your courage?
notes: I count at least five cases of unintentional alliteration in this chapter hahahaha
sorry no Kakashi this time, but I honestly adore everyone in the Naruto!verse in the right circumstances. you won't find any character bashing from me. (although I definitely have hang-ups galore about canon versions of characters. coughsasukecough.)
let me reassure you that I wrote this for kakanaru fluff and that's what you're mostly gonna get, but at the same time I'm trying to write something semi-"realistic" (or as realistic as you can get in the naruto!verse lol) and they're not just gonna fall together (figuratively, though I reserve my right to make them do so literally). at this point kakashi has noticed that naruto is an attractive, adult, female. because she is. but that doesn't mean they're suddenly in love, y'all.
not that I'd know what people are thinking about this story because hardly anyone leaves reviews! please do!
on that note shout out to TheBeauty for having been here since basically day one, and who has left a review on almost every chapter. you're amazing! (and please lemme know if there's a prompt you want me to write a drabble for.)
actually anyone is free to suggest prompts. (pleasereviewcoughcough)
man I must be coming down with a cold or something (coughreview)