Melting Spring
x.x.x
p0g0stick
x.x.x
Alright, so I came up with this little ditty early in the morning, and really liked the idea...ah, I have no clue what the plot really is or what will happen, so this is one of those crack stories. I have no clue how it will turn out or even if I will continue it past this one chapter. So, anyway, if you sort of like it, don't be scared to leave a review.(CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS WELCOME).
Just don't use my story(s) to vent out your anger over the pairing. (:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But Kishimoto does. And I can bribe him...or not.
XXX
The streetlights lining Konoha's streets were slowly dying out, one by one.
It wouldn't be long until the young girl would be left in complete darkness.
But she didn't mind. It was strangely comforting—the darkness—it didn't judge her or criticize her, just sat there, thick and damp, listening wisely to her thoughts.
The young girl had been sitting on the bench since the early signs of dusk, and continued watching as people walked by.
People didn't look, let alone notice her—she was used to this and incredibly thankful for it, for at a young eight years old, the young girl didn't need any more criticism than what was already dished out for her.
When she had first sat, the bench had been cold and slippery from the sleet that fallen earlier. It was now late January, and instead of receiving steady snow falls, Konohagakure was receiving wet sleet and on occasion, rather large pebbles of hail.
It hadn't been long until the water lying on the bench's surface had seeped into her pants' fabric, but it didn't bother her much. At first she had squirmed slightly, feeling the cold liquid against her thighs and bottom. But she had gotten used to it, as her body adjusted its temperature back to normal.
A long, moaning wind blew by, barely lifting her chin-length hair, and making her shudder, pulling her large jacket closer.
What time was it now?
Surely it was well past one in the morning, the only people on the streets were the drunk's, shuffling home, too wasted to care what was going on in the town.
A few low street lamps still emitted a soft light, and half of the young girl wanted to actually run as fast as she could back to her home, crawl into her bed and rock into a deep sleep.
But she had come to this bench to escape that home. That was the initial plan. To escape her home life, for a few hours, let the outside world soothe her, and then slowly creep back into the Hyuuga compound.
Of course, she was still just a child, and failed to realize the sheer stupidity of going out and being by one self at such a late hour, especially since she was from a rather wealthy and well-known clan. There were a lot of dangers on the streets at night, even if Konohagakure was known for being relatively safe.
However, it was winter, and Hyuuga Hinata knew that no one sane would be out at this time—bar her, of course, because she was pretty sure something about her wasn't sane—and she also knew even if someone had found her missing, they wouldn't come out looking. It was perfectly normal for Hinata to be sneaking out at all hours—she always came back.
Whenever her father was alerted, he'd just shift in his bed, grumbled and murmur, "You woke me up for this? You fool, she'll be back. She's just like her mother."
Hinata knew this because she had heard him say so one early morning as she was entering the house, and had crept by his room to reach her own.
If it had been any other child, they would have felt their heart shatter and probably cry, knowing that their father didn't care one ounce about them to even send out one person just to check and make sure that the girl was actually in the vicinity of the town.
But this wasn't just any other child, this was Hyuuga Hinata, and she in fact felt a large swell of pride and happiness. Her father had compared her to her late mother.
This was all that mattered. It was if she had just been congratulated for being like her mother, like her father had just pulled her into a tight embrace and spoken to her with a prideful tone, "You did fantastic, just fantastic."
Hinata pulled her legs up from their position; they had been dangling off over the edge of the bench and were numb.
A single light was left; she was now consumed in complete darkness. It was about a block down from where she sat, and she watched it, fascinated by its glow.
Her lips had been quivering sometime now from the cold, and she nearly forgot about it until she licked her bottom lip, it was slowly becoming dry and she didn't have anything to coat them with to protect the thin skin there.
Papers blew across the street; she could see them because of how white they were against the dark tar of the roads.
The moon was but a sliver of pallid pearl, hung high in the sky. If you looked too fast, you could easily miss it.
Hinata began tracing shapes with her petite fingers, connecting the stars with invisible lines.
She was tiny, this she knew. The young girl was the smallest of all of the other children her age in Konohagakure. Ino and Sakura were both equally tall and willowy, there forms already taking a strong, feminine shape even at eight years old. Tenten, an elder girl who occasionally hung around with Hinata's elder cousin, Neji, was even tall—but the tomboy didn't show much of a feminine streak. Still...she was tall. And that's all that mattered.
Hyuuga Hinata was the runt of the litter.
But she rarely hung out with the other children of the town. Besides being kept prisoner the majority of the time inside the Hyuuga compound, her free time was wasted just sitting inside the shadows and watching as the others fought, teased, laughed and played.
She wasn't very extroverted.
"What are you doing?"
The voice was quiet, but was ear-shattering in the night's silence.
Her hand paused, mid-way in connecting eight stars together to create a fish.
She felt a sickly warm feeling coat her insides. It felt like she was coming down with a fever.
Hinata turned, and found a small boy about her age staring back at her. He was covered entirely in damp cobalt, almost blending into the blue and black bruised surroundings.
"N-n-nothing..." She quivered, now feeling extremely cold again.
Not only was she beginning to actually feel extremely cold, but now she was slightly frightened—who was this strange person?
His skin was the color of the moon, and his hair was even darker than the darkness, if that was even possible—a deep obsidian, with two black pinpoints where his almond-shaped eyes rest, sharply contrasting against his skin.
"No, you were doing something with your fingers. What was it?"
The light above her flickered.
"I-I t-t-told you…I wasn't d-d-doing anything!" She whined, clutching her knees tighter against her chest.
Hyuuga Hinata was not only quite shy and timid, but she had a stutter that never seemed to leave her when she encountered something or someone she had never seen before—cold weather or not.
"You're a bad liar," the young boy countered, and he moved closer to her.
The light stopped flickering, and in turn, dimly lit up the bench where the young girl was. She cringed at the light.
When her vision cleared, she saw the boy before her, as placid as ever.
He was older than her, probably by a year or two.
But he looked familiar.
Then it dawned on her.
Ah...
"Can I sit?" He asked, but it was more of a statement, as he sat next to her before she could give an answer.
"Why are you out here so late?" His eyes studied her profile, as she refused to look him in the face.
"Be-because I want t-to." She murmured, chewing on her bottom lip.
"You should be home, you know that right?"
Had she been braver, she would have countered with a snarky remark, like, "You're one to talk," or, "Who are you to judge me? I can go where I want!" But instead…
Hinata nodded dumbly, "Ha-Hai. I-I know."
"So…go home."
How rude.
"N-n-no, I'm fine w-where I a-am." She fiddled with a strand of hair, trying to keep herself preoccupied.
"Aren't your parents looking for you?"
She shook her head.
No.
"I bet that they are. So go home. This is my bench."
The nerve…
"N-no it isn't. I-I don't see y-your name on it."
"It doesn't have to have my name on it to belong to me," He turned away from her and looked at the sky, "and stop stuttering, it's annoying."
She felt tears well in her eyes. Why was he being so rude to her? She hadn't done anything to him! In fact, she was being pretty polite…
Hinata whimpered, trying to hold back the tears.
The young boy sighed, "I know I'm being mean, but if I don't tell you, no one will. Be happy that I'm being honest with you."
He obviously thought that he was twenty years old rather than ten.
"I-I'd p-pre-prefer if you d-didn't even t-talk to me…" Another whimper. The tears were going to spill soon.
"Fine," He coughed, ragged and scratchy, hinting that he was sick or had been, "but I'm not leaving. I've been coming to this bench for two years."
Now Hinata felt like an intruder. A silly, immature intruder into this young boy's space. He was two years older than her, so much more worldly and mature.
He spoke as if he was much older than he really was.
"T-then I'll l-l-leave," the young girl slowly unfolded her legs, and lowered herself off of the bench.
His hand stopped her.
"Are you sure you'll be okay walking home alone at this time?"
She nodded, and tried to tug away.
He let go easily, his grip dissolving, and let her walk away.
XXX
Hyuuga Hinata got home at exactly 3:38 am, and slid in through the back kitchen door. She slowly walked down the hallway, passed the living room, and countless doors leading to countless rooms. She entered a large hallway, and sofly slid down it, tking extra precautions to not be too loud as she walked past her younger sister's room and her father's room.
At the end of the hall rested her own room, and once inside it she feared that she would succumb to a dangerously deep sleep if she didn't get into her bed.
She had pushed it staying out so late, she should really have just come home when the first few lights had gone out. But it was so nice, that solitude. It made her feel like she was the last person on earth, like the whole universe belonged to her.
However, it was only when Hyuuga Hinata was sliding underneath her covers did she begin to think about the young boy. She asked herself—why did Sakura and Ino like Uchiha Sasuke so much?
She didn't see anything good enough to fight about.
He was mean and rude, and wasn't anything special.
But on the other hand, the young girl felt herself blush at how he had grabbed ahold of her elbow, and actually made sure she was okay with walking home at such a late hour.
XXX
NEWSFLASH!
Uh…wow, that kind of sucked. And it was short. Haha, I'm kidding, there's a lot I didn't like and a lot of it I did like—but it WAS short. Anyway, maybe you enjoyed it a lot, if you did, PLEASE drop a review, maybe if I get enough I'll continue it…I'll probably continue it if I don't even get a lot of reviews anyway. :P and for those who have been reading The Denial Twist, don't worry I'm working on it.
In fact, if you did read this and enjoyed it—go and read my other story, the Denial Twist.
Thank-you. (:
-p0g0
P.S. I know, their ages are different, Sasuke's ten and Hinata's eight, and yeah they sound pretty damn mature for their ages, but Hinata's sort of like that, and Sasuke's always been proclaimed as a "genius". Plus Sasuke's just like that. Eh. Sorry for any OOC.