Chapter 7:
After some time the day turns into afternoon and the plan begins to unfold. Before long the lunch bell rings and the chaos of the school undertakes itself as students of all shapes and sizes roam the halls. Naruto delays in even getting away from his desk, stuck in a daze. The sudden drop of a book by a random student wakes him up. The first thing he notices is Hinata herself mesmerized in a similar daze, but her head was jammed into her notes. Her eyes we're swerving back and forth between sentences as she took all of the information in.
Naruto brushes across other students as he nervously goes over to Hinata and asks, "Hey Hinata… do you wanna eat with me again today?"
All of her attention goes to Naruto, and the notes in her notebook go ignored.
"Oh hey Naruto! Sorry, I wish I could. But today I've gotta go talk to the teacher so I can make up some assignments since you guys here are way ahead of where we were at in my last school."
He scratches his head out of disappointment.
"That's OK. No worries. I'll be outside sitting by the fountain if you finish early."
She hops out of her desk and bows, "I'm sure we'll meet again" in a mock British accent.
Naruto scratches his head even harder, "Why, yes" he replies in his best British accent.
She goes out the door and straight to her locker. Once she opens the locker door a small slip falls out from the creases. Its pink color and small bow catches Hinatas eye. She unwraps it and reads it internally.
"I wonder who did this..." she mutters to herself, scanning the slip even more intensely, "theirs a note in it."
Hinata stuffs it into her bag then grabs her books for meeting up with her teacher. Naruto is walking towards the courtyard nearby when he sees Hinata from the side of his eyes walk into a classroom.
"Guess I'll just wait" he thinks to himself as he opens up his lunch box. The ticking of his wrist watch catches his attention, "12:30 already".
After about twenty minutes Hinata sneakily creeps up to his side and taps him on the shoulder.
"Sorry I couldn't come any sooner, you guys are more ahead than I thought." Hinata says.
This doesn't bother Naruto, in reality he is just glad she wanted to spend time with him at all. He then hands her one of the sandwiches that he has in his lunch box.
"Trust me, it's no big deal", Naruto says. He pats the seat next to him.
"Don't mind if I do", Hinata takes her seat next to Naruto and nudges close to him.
Narutos brain scrambled as her presence leaked into his heart and soul.
Hinata confesses to Naruto, "You know, before I got to my class, I went to my locker and a letter fell out."
"Really?" Naruto almost chokes on his sandwich. "What kind of letter? Was it from a secret admirer?"
"Yeah, and it had a note. It said to meet the person behind the school building after class was over."
"So" his hands trembled causing his sandwich to lose some lettuce, "Are you going?"
"I don't think I should. For all I know this could be a prank."
"No!" Naruto almost yells out, "I think you should go. It might be a guy who really likes you. If you go and no one is there waiting then at least you tried. But, I mean, otherwise you'll never know."
He had to swallow his pride, he hates the idea of some other guy taking Hinatas heart but he has no ownership over it.
"You're probably right!" she jumps out of her seat, "You've convinced me!"
Naruto covers his mouth as he almost chokes again, "Well… I just hope it's somebody who deserves you."
She turns beet red and covers her face. "Uh yeah… I suppose." she continues turning even redder than before.
Naruto realizes what he just said and sees how embarrassing that is for him. He's normally pretty reserved but Hinata has thrown many of his normal attributes out of wack.
"Sorry. I was just thinking out loud I guess."
"No, no. That's fine." A smile leaks from the cracks of her hand.
They spend the rest of lunch together. Eating, talking and enjoying each others time. Naruto is still new to these sorts of feelings, and he knows that it's not normal for him. Slowly but surely he opened up even more to her.
He thought to himself, "I can't let this happen. I need to follow her to make sure nothing bad happens to her".
After School
Hinata puts all her belongings away and grabs her handbag and book bag. The whole walk to the back of the school building keeps Hinatas heart beating rapidly. She can't stop thinking about who that person could be, why they wanted to be anonymous and what they wanted to tell her.
The back of the school was completely empty. The building obscured the sun casting a large shadow before her. Naruto was hiding behind the bushes near her, keeping a close eye on Hinata, little to her knowledge. A few minutes go by before a person comes up to Hinata from a side door.
"Bet you didn't expect me", the shadowy figure says. Hinata couldn't tell from the shade, but the voice was girly, that's for sure. The figure goes out from the dark shadow to reveal their identity.
"I bet you didn't think it would be me".
Hinata gasps, "Sakura?".
"Yes, no need to panic... yet."
"Sorry, but I'm not into girls." Hinata giggles and continues, "While I definitely respect you and your feelings, sadly I can't reciprocate them."
Sakura blushes and pouts in return, "No! That's not what I meant!" She then points to her side, "Girls come on out!"
On her call, all the members of the Naruto fan club come out from the darkness.
Hinata laughs even louder, "Girls! I don't think I'm open minded enough for an open relationship. The offer is appreciated though."
Throwing her fist in the air Sakura replies, "Save the stupid jokes for another time."
Naruto ducks his head even lower into the bushes to conceal his location. "What the heck are these girls doing?" he thinks to himself.
One of the many girls standing around, surrounding Hinata, makes her way to the front.
"Let's get down to business. Why are you here Hinata?" Ino asks
"Why am I here? I came here expecting a secret admirer and what I got was a harem!"
Sakura laughs at her words.
"That's not what we we're asking. What we mean is why are you even here in our school?"
"You need to leave!" Ino adds.
All the girls that are surrounding her draw even closer to Hinata, encircling and easing in on her.
"What is this? Why are you doing this to me? I haven't done anything to any of your girls!" Hinata yells out in fear of what might happen.
All the girls chuckle and laugh at her cries for help.
Sakuras voice deepens with the weight of the situation, "You have interfered with our Naruto! In these parts that is a sin worth of a brutal beating!"
"We are the Naruto fan club! Our mission is to make sure Naruto is all ours and ours only!" all the girls yell out.
"Interesting motto." Hinata says, "But I guess I'll be leaving. I'm missing the new episode of my favorite TV show 'The place of business'."
She tries to escape but there are no cracks in the barrage of girls, adding to her increasing frustration and fear.
"Listen girl..." Sakura snaps back, "I'm sure you can share some of your free time with us. Beve Tarell isn't going anywhere."
Sakura claps her hands, this signals Tenten to grab a bucket full of water that was behind them. She throws it all over Hinata. Sakura then grabs Hinata by the hand and pulls her body by the edge of her shirt and pushes her into the ground. Blood drips onto the floor from her lip from the impact.
Sakura pulls Hinatas head by her hair and lifts it up.
"Stay away from Naruto and we will leave you alone." Sakura says.
Naruto remains stunned from the events that have taken place. The blood from his veins rush through his body, raising his blood pressure and causing his adrenaline to go wild.
"I cant just sit here and watch this, I need to do something!" he thinks to himself.
He jumps out from the bushes, startling all the girls. Sakura drops Hinatas head right away and gleams onto Naruto.
"What are you girls doing? Are you all crazy? You're taking this way too far, endangering poor Hinata who hasn't done anything to you." He pushes the girls out of his path and jumps into the center of the circle. Hinata pulls her hand out to lift her body from the ground and Naruto helps her up.
One of the many girls says, "Naruto, why have one measly girl when you can have all of us?".
"Do I look like a piece of meat to you guys? I'm not some object you all can share around. I've said it before and I'll say it again." He yells out, "Leave me alone!"
Hinata has her arm wrapped around his shoulder as he gives her support. "That goes for Hinata too!"
The girls all whisper in the silence that Naruto built up.
"Oh come on Naruto..." Sakura says, "We were just having a little fun with her is all."
Naruto, resolved to get Hinata to safety, ignores the crowed and tells Hinata, "Come on, let's go home."