A/N: Alright! Here we go, chapter two! Yes! …Does anyone know where my coffee mug went?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Porcelain Chapter Two

Naruto continued to peer, nervously, into his reflection in a spoon. Currently, he sat at his tiny kitchen table, looming over the papers on which he was documenting his mission and a half-eaten bowl of dry cereal – he was out of ramen and milk.

His teeth looked normal – for now. It had taken an hour to get them back to their original state. He'd found that the more frustrated and nervous he became, they less inclined they were to un-grow. When he'd finally decided to calm down and boil some water for tea, they miraculously decided that he was calm enough to go on without fangs.

The tea had tasted great. When he opened the jar of dried leaves – a present from Iruka, he said these tasted better than the regular tea-bag kind he usually bought – he could smell exactly what was there. He smelled sage, mint and rosemary in the tiny jar. To his surprise, the shriveled, shrunken leaves hadn't grown into full-out blooming plants in his absence, which lead him to believe his better sense of smell was another change, like the teeth and healing oddity.

The aroma had proved to, indeed, come from the tea leaves when he tasted those same herbs in the brew. Soon enough, his stomach began to growl – the tea had, apparently alerted it to the fact that there was food in the near vicinity. Unsurprisingly, his fridge was nearly empty, save for some baking soda. It appeared that he'd cleared out all the shelves in his pantry as well, leaving only some canned fish, unused ketchup and an opened box of cereal.

Sadly, he'd forgotten to seal the dry breakfast food so that moisture could not collect within it and its original crunch had gone away, leaving only a half-assed crumble. He would've preferred it soggy if it was already like this, but the only thing he had to douse it in was water and, perhaps, tea.

That left him with a bowl of less-than-desirable cereal and a spoon that he had to wash before using. Swell. Eating half was a feat in itself.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 'I'll go out for some ramen when I finish this,' he thought. He wrote the rest of the report quickly, looking forward to the ramen that was sure to taste better, now that he could smell all the ingredients as well. Finally, he put his pen down and went to put on a jacket, deciding to first drop off the report and then go out to eat.

-M-

"Hello, Naruto! How'd the mission go?" Ino walked up to him, her long, glossy ponytail swinging behind her.

"Not bad," he grinned back. "How was Konoha while I was gone?" While Ino wasn't necessarily his favorite person to talk to, it couldn't hurt to be polite.

"Same as always." She shrugged. Then, a breeze from behind her had her scent blowing directly in his face.

Ino smelled like a girl. Shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent and, most dominant of all, the smell of perfume. It wasn't a bad smell, but it was certainly overpowering. He was glad they weren't such close friends that it was appropriate to hug her. He might pass out.

"That's good. I'm going to Tsunade's to give her my report. Do you know if - ?"

"Sakura's coming this way." Naruto blinked. He was actually about to ask if the Hokage was in her office, but he supposed that he would've asked where Sakura was, eventually.

"Naruto!" the pink-haired kunoichi jogged up to them, "You were late."

Naruto nearly gagged. Another, lighter breeze had started up – not as strong as the one that had carried Ino's scent, but useful, all the same.

Sakura's scent was nothing like Ino's. It had all the smells of a hospital, including the uncomfortable sanitary smell. The smells of various medicines and gross herbs had sunk deep into her clothes, skin and hair. The only other scent he was able to pick out was her shampoo, which was dislikable all in itself. The smell of artificial cherries had never really done much for him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry; I had better get this to Tsunade. It was great talking to you, though." He choked out. He definitely didn't want to find out what taste accompanied that smell. He swiftly ran towards the Hokage's office, not even glancing back.

Damn. Wasn't his girl supposed to smell great, too? How many times had he imagined burying his nose in her hair? 'Not while she's still a medical-nin,' he thought. But then he realized that was unfair. They needed Sakura as a medical-nin and, besides, she couldn't control how she smelled. 'But Ino can,' he thought, 'Ino wears perfume, why can't she?'

He sighed. Great. All these supposedly helpful changes were making him think his crush was in need of advice from the Vanity Queen. What a mess.

-M-

After he'd turned the report in to Tsunade, he walked at a leisurely pace down to Ichiraku's for his meal. By now, it was evening. The sky was changing into a rich indigo color; lamps were being lit.

An odd feeling of being watched descended upon him as he made his way to the ramen shop. Whoever it was, he could tell that they meant no harm, but it still felt strange to be watched like this.

A mischievous smile formed on his mouth. Silently, he turned and began walking in a straight line towards whoever it was that was observing him. A lock of dark hair moved quickly out of site as he approached the corner of the building in question.

His brow furrowed, "Hinata-chan?"

"Er, hi, N-Naruto." The girl came out from her hiding space.

He tilted his head to stare at her, "What's up?"

'Why have you been following me?' The unsaid question spread out and took over the air.

A large blush formed on the Hyuuga's face, "Well, I, um,"

"Ah! You want to eat too, right?" Naruto tried to find the answer himself. 'Her hair's really shiny; probably because of the lamps…'

"I-I don't know." The girl said miserably, unable to find an excuse for her stalking.

"Well, that's okay. You can come to eat with me and then if you're hungry, you can order." Naruto grinned, "You didn't really have to follow me, y'know. Ya could've just asked. I won't say no to dinner with a friend."

"Okay," she said shyly.

"So, how've you been?" Naruto asked her, starting to walk again.

"I've b-been fine. H-How was your mission?" Her index finger curled over her thumb and moved to rest just under her bottom lip, making it seem fuller than it really was.

"Okay, I guess. So, how - ?" Naruto broke off.

Her scent was different from Ino's and Sakura's. Obviously she smelled better than Sakura; interestingly enough, he ranked her smell a little higher than Ino's. Ino's smell had been quite pleasant, despite the obvious fact that it had all come from plastic or metal bottles.

Hinata's was more natural, fresh. He smelled lilies and lavender – or was it lilac? – and water. Like both rain and waterfalls in one. It reminded him of bathing in clear streams; feeling clean and content; refreshed.

"What is it?" she asked fearfully, bringing her hands up to her face.

"Nothing!" he answered quickly, "Nothing, I just, um, thought I saw…something…" he shook his head and grinned, "How're things going with Kiba and Shino?"

"They're fine." She answered, wishing she had something more interesting to say.

Naruto sighed. If a conversation didn't get started up soon, it was going to be an awkward walk.

-M-

"Here we go. One for you and one for the pretty girl." Hinata blushed when she was addressed as such.

Naruto grinned, "Ichiraku's ramen is the best!"

The man chuckled, "I'm glad you think so."

Naruto was right – eating ramen was truly divine with his new senses. He could smell the good food before he'd even brought it up to his face.

"D-Do you like chocolate?" Hinata asked him almost fearfully.

"What?" he turned to her, not entirely sure he'd heard right.

"I-I mean, I made some, and I thought you'd like some to eat – b-but they're not sweet, because I didn't use too much sugar, since the cook didn't want me to waste her ingredients…" Hinata trailed off, blushing.

"Sure," Naruto grinned, glad that she finally said something, "I don't really like sweet things, anyway, so, yeah, unsweetened chocolate would be great."

"Oh." Hinata twiddled her index fingers nervously in front of her steaming ramen bowl.

In his head, Naruto sighed. Hinata-chan was nice, but she didn't seem to like talking to him that much. "Are you gonna finish that?" he pointed to her noodles.

Wordlessly, she slid them over to him.

-M-

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Hinata-chan."

"Huh?" He wondered if she'd been listening to him at all, or if she'd been daydreaming about being somewhere else.

"The chocolates." Said Naruto, "But that's alright, you don't have to give them to me if you don't want to."

"No, I do! I-I'll bring them by your house. Um, around six?"

He raised his eyebrows, "That early?"

"No, later in the day. I'm busy from morning to f-five." Was she allergic to air, or something? Her face kept getting redder.

"Okay, then. I'll see you then, Hinata-chan. G'night."

"Goodnight."

The two separated easily.

-M-

He had slept in until one PM. 'Was such a thing possible?' he wondered as he hopped around on one leg, trying to put his pants on.

Once again, he'd failed to buy decent food, so he was stuck with the chewy cereal. He considered digging around in his pantry for the fish he'd seen a while ago, but that meant doing the dishes because he'd need a fork, in which case he'd have to buy a sponge – it was easier to finish off what was left in the sticky bowl on the table and toss it into the sink.

There was always one thing he hated doing when these missions were over – cleaning his supplies. Washing them, polishing them. Geez, couldn't he just turn them in to someone who liked doing these things? It was the same with the dishes in his sink, except that ninjas had to keep their weapons clean, so he tended to them. There was nothing in the rulebook about dishes.

Then there was the other thing: bandages. There was very little trouble this time – an injured ankle, a few small cuts for which bandages were used, but even those had to be washed, otherwise there could be infection next time. Sheesh.

Dreading the rank smell of unwashed bloody cloth, he pulled open his sack and yanked the offending things out unceremoniously. If he could smell Sakura from a foot away, he did not want to find out what his dirty bandages smelled like.

Sadly, he couldn't hold his breath forever. Right when he'd gotten them damp to start soaping them, he had to inhale. He did so through his nose.

A tempting aroma floated into his nostrils. An annoying poking sensation told him that his fangs had grown right back, as well. He growled in irritation and – although he wouldn't admit it – pleasure. This scent was better than anything he'd smelled before, ever. It smelled almost…edible.

Naruto's eyes widened. Bandages! Bloody, dirty, two-day-old bandages! Even the idea of them was disgusting! Why did he think they smelled good? If the hospital smell was too much for him, then why didn't this bother his nose?

Never mind that, the smell was starting to fade. Glad that the slight mist that had gathered in his head since he'd first smelled the cloth was going away, Naruto scrubbed hard, using soap to get rid of the stains. When the things were white – well, clean – he hung them up to dry on the door into his shower door and left, shaking his head in confusion.

The stupid mist hadn't disappeared all the way yet. It was making him itch to run around and claw and bite. He paced back into the bathroom to wash his face in cold water; perhaps slap himself a few times to clear his head.

He gathered up two handfuls of cold water and glanced in the mirror – and froze.

His eyes. Instead of their usual – normal – blue, they were now some silvery sort of cerulean. Along with the fangs and the positively feral expression on his face that the fog in his head had brought on, this made him look terrifying. Not human.

Shit, what the hell was going on? Naruto glared around at the rest of the room. A growl escaped him, sounding so satisfying he did it again.

Then he sighed. He was definitely acting like an animal now.

Alright, what did he know?

When he was nervous or stressed, his fangs grew out – he decided to ignore the fact that he'd started calling them 'his.' When he smelled bandages he got a weird fog in his head that made his eyes change color and got him all riled up. He could smell way better than before. And he could heal very fast.

Well, now that he knew what to expect, he could probably control it. Just remember to calm himself when it seemed like his fangs would come out, hold his breath when he was around bandages – and Sakura – and hide any cuts that he got from the others.

'Alright,' he stared evenly at his reflection, 'When is Hinata supposed to come over?'

End of Chapter Two.

A/N: Alright! I did it! This one's longer, too! Well, did'ja get all that? Be sure to leave reviews – I'm just about to wring my hands straight off their wrists from nervous-ness.

But, seriously, review-review-review!