"…Why did you kiss her?" Hinata asked, nails digging into her skin as her fists clenched tight.
Naruto was ashamed to meet Hinata's gaze. He said nothing.
"Answer me!" Hinata snapped. "…Please."
Naruto glowered daggers at Hanabi's wan, pockmarked, yet impish face. She grinned evilly and stuck her tongue out at him.
He sighed. Trust the Hyuuga clan to be filled with borderline insane girls. Insane girls like Hinata's sister who seemed to take great joy in pressing all of his fiancee's buttons.
He…he didn't know how Hanabi managed to cause trouble when she was sick and confined to a hospital room. He didn't know how he got roped into this mess.
…Maybe, like Sakura-chan said the other day, he was constantly on idiot pills.
And now he had to deal with…this.
"Um…Hinata…listen…I didn't know that whatever Hanabi had was contagious."
Hinata fixed him with an incredulous look. He squirmed in his orange jacket.
"It's chicken pox." Hinata's fists had stopped clenching. Now her voice was calm. Frighteningly calm. "She has chicken pox. Naruto-kun. Chicken pox is contagious. You can get sick, you know, if you kiss someone with chicken pox."
"I…I was just trying to make her feel better!" he protested. "She told me that she never got anyone to tuck her in, or feed her, or take care of her when she got sick as a kid, ya know! So I just thought, that's what big brothers are for!"
"Naruto-kun."
Naruto reluctantly met Hinata's eyes. They were still glistening with tears, though now he wasn't really sure if they were tears of frustration or mirth.
"I have done all those things for Hanabi as a child. As her big sister. She hasn't been deprived of any sibling love, despite whatever she may have told you."
…And there it was. The idiot pill he was on today.
Blood filled Naruto's ears, his face, coursing all the way to the tips of his toes.
Naruto glared some more at Hanabi. She seemed blithely unconcerned at the havoc she had wrought.
Then he turned back to Hinata. Her arms were crossed expectantly. Naruto didn't want to disappoint. So he did what he was best at, and immediately launched into a long, rambling, word-vomity explanation.
"Hinata, listen, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't know what chicken pox was – "
"Naruto-kun – "
"I've NEVER gotten sick as a kid, okay? Because of Kurama. I just didn't know – "
"It's okay, I understand, but – "
"And…and your family has been so nice to me lately. And Hanabi got sick! And I just wanted to help!"
"Which I appreciate, but – "
"So I read her a bedtime story – "
Hanabi snorted. Naruto powered on, undeterred.
"And I gave her ramen! Because it's the best medicine on earth!"
Hinata glanced at the table at the corner of the sick room. True to form, Naruto seemed to have hauled all of Ichiraku to Hanabi's aid.
Her sister gave her an innocent look. Hinata was not fooled.
"And she looked so small and tired and sick with those huge ugly warts on her face – "
Hinata covered her mouth, trying desperately to hold back a traitorous laugh. Hanabi, on the other hand, did not look very happy at this description of her face.
"So I just gave her a good luck kiss! Just like baa-chan once gave to me!" Naruto clasped his hands together, giving Hinata a ridiculously theatric bow. "So, please, please, forgive me!"
"…Naruto-kun."
He looked up. Hinata's eyes were still glistening. He didn't know what that meant, though.
Was she…mad? His stomach sank.
A warm, calloused hand settled soothingly on his cheek. Hinata smiled at him warmly.
Her eyes were still glistening.
Relief flooded into his chest.
"Thank you for your concern. Please go home for now. I'll take it from here."
Then she turned towards her ill sister, an eyebrow arched, her arms crossed again.
Hanabi suddenly did not seem very impish anymore. She drew her covers protectively up to her chin.
"I'm sick!" she said. "You won't do anything to sick children, will you, nee-sama?"
"Of course not." Hinata smiled again far, far too calmly. "I'll deal with you later."
Hanabi looked terrified.
The very next week, Naruto got sick for the first time ever, much to his surprise and horror.
Kurama was not too interested in helping him, finding the whole situation quite amusing, but Hinata did visit him at the hospital, bringing him bowls and bowls of ramen.
She didn't give him a good luck kiss, though. Because chicken pox was contagious.
Poor Naruto.
A/N: Meant for the prompt, "Why did you kiss her?" I guess it was supposed to be an angsty prompt, but I decided to make it humorous. I definitely think Hanabi would prank Naruto just to get him into trouble. And I hope I captured Hinata's growing confidence well. She isn't this insecure, gloomy person in Boruto. We see snatches of this in the Last, too, where she gets annoyed at Hanabi's teasing. Obviously, adulthood matured her. :)
I currently have two prompts left to do before marking this as complete. One is a hypnosis prompt, another is "It's too much." So 16 little drabbles in total. :)