7 - dinner date
"Well, what do we have here but my favorite customer!" Teuchi boomed loudly, greeting Naruto and her guest.
"Hi, Teuchi-occhan! Actually, could I grab a booth today?"
"Oh?" Teuchi eyed the joined hands, as well as Hinata's furiously blushing visage. He grinned, a slow, suggestive thing. "Is my favorite customer possibly on a date?"
"Yup!" Naruto puffed her chest out proudly. "Hinata-chan asked me out on a date to Ichiraku, and of course I couldn't say no!"
Hinata, for her part, wasn't sure she could continue taking all this stimulation. Naruto-chan was holding her hand, and was proudly proclaiming about being on a date! With her! She never imagined that this would be possible, but all her childhood dreams were coming true.
"Of course, of course! Right this way!" Teuchi gestured at one of the booths in the corner, darkly and atmospherically lit. After Pein's invasion, Ichiraku had been rebuilt bigger and better than ever before, now boasting far more tables and servers, and even a second floor. Of course Teuchi didn't greet every customer personally, but he always made a point to welcome Naruto.
"Where's Ayame-oneechan?" Naruto asked, noting the cheerful woman's absence as she made her way to her table.
"She's shopping for supplies at the moment. She probably won't be back for a while; I'm not sure you'll get to see her today."
"Well, that's all right! I'll be back in no time, anyway."
Teuchi smiled proudly. "Of course you'll be!"
As Naruto moved to sit down, Hinata had a brief inner struggle over sitting next to her or across from her. She had often seen couples sitting next to each other, cuddling and even f-feeding each other, but she wasn't sure she was ready for that. Decision made, she let go of Naruto's hand, briefly lamenting the loss before gracefully slipping into the seat across from Naruto.
After Teuchi took their orders and left, winking subtly at Naruto, the two lapsed into a comfortable silence.
"Nee, Hinata-chan. I'm super flattered you asked me out, but, uhh. I'm not really sure why?"
Hinata's pale eyes widened in surprise. "Naruto-chan, you have to know that I've had a crush on you since the Academy!"
"What? Really?" This time it was Naruto's turn to blush deeply, even her ears turning into a bright, habanero red. "Wow, Hinata, you've really always been there for me, huh. To be honest, I thought you were a little weird during the Academy"—at that, Hinata hung her head while Naruto continued, oblivious—"but I was obviously completely wrong! And after all, there's nothing wrong with being weird. Everyone knows I'm probably the weirdest of the bunch, but that doesn't stop me from being awesome!" Naruto beamed brightly at Hinata, who smiled shyly back.
"Although—can I confess something? I'm not really sure how this whole date thing works…" Naruto scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I already told you I've never been asked out on a date, and my last romantic-ish anything was with Gaara years ago. To be honest, I'm not even sure if that counts. In hindsight, that was more Ero-sennin pushing us together for 'research' than anything else."
Hinata, in another burst of courage, took Naruto's hands into hers and looked sincerely into Naruto's (stunningly blue, Hinata couldn't help but notice again) eyes. "Naruto-chan, I promise you I have even less experience in this than you do. But you've always encouraged me to try my best, even when I didn't have the power do so myself. Let's take this one day at a time and see where it goes. There's no rush."
Another comfortable silence drifted over the happy pair, just as Teuchi came bustling back with their orders.
"Here you go! One super large speci—oh, am I interrupting something?"
Naruto and Hinata startled, Hinata pulling her hands back faster than Teuchi's eyes could track.
"Mou, Occhan, don't tease." Naruto pouted. "Bring on the ramen!"
Teuchi happily complied, placing one extremely large bowl in front of Naruto and one regular-sized bowl in front of Hinata. "Enjoy!"
Naruto excitedly snapped her chopsticks apart, Hinata soon following in a more demure manner.
"Itadakimasu!"
notes: wow, I'm genuinely sorry I'm such shit at updating when I plan to. At least this time I can say this hasn't just been chilling on google drive, I actually just finished writing it today... (is that even a good thing what.)
I'm so happy about everyone's reception to the femnaruhina going on! I was kind of nervous about it, tbh, especially because this promised to be basically straight kakanaru fluff but it seems like a lot of people are all right with me taking the meandering road there. (and we will get there. if anyone desires more straight up fluff, or is getting tired of non-established kakanaru gimme a future prompt and I'll write it for ya)
wowowow next chapter is the tenth one! honestly wasn't sure I'd ever reach this point but here we are! I promise to update that one by tuesday the 18th, may I be smote where I currently lie on my bed if I don't. (that is the past tense of smite, right?)
it's going to be especially long to celebrate the tenth chapter~ currently over 1000 words and counting, and it features our favorite pair! get hype :D
reviews are highly appreciated as always ;)