A/N: Greetings, Fanfictioners! It's been a loooooong time! Sorry for taking so long with this last chapter, as I had no idea how to end it! Well, enjoy this, and review please! I also plan on doing an epilogue for this, but in a long time from now.
Spoiler: if you've never seen Pein/Pain in action.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Iljimae.
Orange and White
Chapter 7
Sakura and I stared at Naruto for a bit longer, and then Sakura started freaking out.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... whoa! Naruto, you idiot, how long have you been there?"
He grinned in that clueless way I love, and replied, "Just got here."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Then how could your dramatic entrance be o well timed?" She muttered in confusion. The she remembered her anger. "What are you doing here anyways?!?!" She delivered one of her jaw-droppingly strong punches, this time in the form of an uppercut aimed at his chin.
It sent Naruto flying straight up in the air.
"Sakura..." I protested as she prepared to kick Naruto when he came back down.
She turned her head and saw my unhappy expression. "Oh. Sorry Hinata."
"It's alri-" I started, but then I noticed Naruto hit the ground behind Sakura. I figured he probably wasn't in the best physical condition right now.
"Oh crap!"
I ran forward and knelt beside a now-unconscious Naruto. I pressed my hands against his chest and started healing him.
"I'll leave you two alone then..." Sakura murmured as she fled the scene.
It took a while and it exhausted me, but I finally managed to recover Naruto to full health. As I relaxed by his side, I realized something strange. Naruto smelled like flowers (The heck?). I hadn't noticed in my panic earlier, but now it seemed obvious. I pondered over why he would smell like flowers, because - to be honest - Naruto usually stank of ramen, or dirty socks - something bad, anyways.
I still hadn't found a rational answer to that, when Naruto came around.
"What... what happened?" Naruto blinked groggily, then suddenly jumped up. "Sakura! I'm gonna kill you!" He turned and looked at me. "Oh... Hi Hinata."
"Hey Naruto." I smiled a little, and I wasn't too sure why.
"Watcha smiling at?" He asked, and he grinned back. Then his face lit up as he remembered something. "Oh yeah! Hinata, I have to give yyou something.
"...Really?" I blushed slightly.
Naruto reached into his orange-and-black jacket and pulled out a perfectly healthy white rose. I instantly recognized it - it was my rose.
I reached out and accepted the flower from him. I guess that explained his scent. "How... Where did...?" I said in awe and wonder.
A guilty and embarassed came across Naruto's face. "I kinda snuck in during the middle of the night and replaced it with a withered flower." His face grew red.
"Oh. Why?"
"Well, I originally came to ask you something -" Naruto's face turned scarlet "- but I decided that I didn't want to ask you then. I saw the rose and I took it... it reminded me of you."
"Really? I always liked to think of myself as a lavender blossom."
"You're more of an plum blossom. 'They're like Cherry Blossoms, but not as loud. They're like Pear Blossoms, but not as temperamental.'" He quoted. Then a far-away look came into his eyes. "But that rose is more like you than anything else. So innocent looking, so delicate... And yet powerful in ways one cannot imagine." Naruto sighed in content.
"I didn't know you were a poet."
He chuckled. "Neither did I."
"You seem a lot more mature right now than you usually are." I noted.
"I guess so. Jiraiya's death matured me a lot. It also kinda looks like he passed some of his wisdom and cleverness down on me, because I feel a heck of a lot smarter too. And then when I fought Pein, after you got knocked out, I got to talk to my dad. I guess I should thank you for that."
"But you still act like your old self too." I said, remembering what happened a few hours ago.
"I like to make people laugh." He beamed. "It's also funny to hear people groan in exasperation sometimes."
"Yeah." I laughed. A moment of silence passed between us, and then something occurred to me. "What did you want to ask me?"
"Huh?"
"What did you want to ask me that night when you snuck in my room?"
"...What would you do if I didn't tell you?"
"I won't ever cook for you again!" I teased.
His eyes widened. "No no no no no no no no! I'll tell you! Uhh... I was going to ask you to run away with me."
I blinked a few times before my mind processed that. "What? Why? I thought you liked Sakura?"
The orange loving boy rolled his eyes. "Of course not! She's so scary!" We laughed. Then he grew serious. "After being rejected by Sasuke so often, Sakura needed something to cheer her up. And what can I say, I still care for her. She's my teammate. I know I make her happier, even if she doesn't. I imagine she thinks of me as a back-up plan, and everyone feels better with a back-up plan. But since I don't really like her, I have to make sure she doesn't ever say yes. So I act obnoxious, which is fun."
I smiled, then nodded. It all fit together. What a perfect plan, and it fooled everybody. How observant he would have to be to figure that all out. But we were getting off topic.
"By the way, Naruto. I say yes."
"Yes to what?" he asked, looking puzzled.
I quickly pecked him on the cheek. "Eloping, silly."
"Oh. Really?"
"Of course." Well, to be honest, I seriously doubted my life was going to come together like that. But I figured if there was a way to be happy just for a bit, I would take it. And who knows? Maybe fate was finally making up for all the suffering I'd been through.
"But before we leave, I need to do something."
I burst through the door to Ino's shop just before it closed.
"Ino!"
"Hey Hinata. What brings you here?"
"I need 6 roses, 3 red, 3 white, 3 pieces of paper, and a pen!" I slammed some coins down on the counter.
"Okay sure. Calm down Hinata, you look so rushed."
"I ran here." I stated simply.
"'Kay then. Here you go!" She handed me a bag filled with what I'd asked for.
"Bye Ino. I'll miss you." I quickly hugged her, then ran out towards my home. I could hear Ino shouting "Wait! Hinata!" But I kept running, with tears in my eyes.
When I got to my room, Naruto was waiting for me.
"Nice room." He commented.
"Thanks." I replied as I took the pen and paper out of the bag. I wrote the same message on each piece of paper:
Sorry.
~Hinata
I took the roses and twisted the red ones with the white ones until I ended up with 3 pairs of red and white roses. Naruto attached to paper to the mini bouquets while I got a sheet of paper. I wrote the same thing on this paper, in my best handwriting.
"Wavy ling thing, Hi-na-ta..." I murmured as I wrote.
Naruto and I walked over to my flower box. I noticed a tiny sapling between the red and white rose - the orange rose.
It was Naruto's idea. I focused my chakra into the plant to accelerate it's growth. It still didn't grow very fast.
"Can I help?" Naruto asked rhetorically, and he put his hands on mine. I felt his chakra flower through, and I used it on the growing flower. The change was immediate. It seemed like it was developing 5 times faster. His chakra was pleasant and comforting like a sunny day, but there was an underlying disturbing darkness, which I instantly knew was the Nine -Tailed -Fox.
In the middle of the process, I realized there was too much of Naruto's chakra. I stored the extra and I knew just what to do with it, but that would some later.
Then, 10 minutes after we started, the rose was fully grown. I could hardly bear to cut it, but I snipped it's stem and twisted it with my rose.
"Ready?" Naruto whispered with anticipation.
"Always." I replied, smiling at him. "Just a few more things." I slung my backpack over my shoulder, took the mini bouquets, the giant paper, and 2 thumbtacks.
We walked into the hallway and silently closed the door. I attached the big paper to the door with one thumbtack and stuck the orange - white bouquet about it with the other. Then I rested my hand on it, and used Naruto's left over chakra and my own to seal it all onto my door. Anyone besides me and Naruto who tried to take it off my door would get quite a shock - a very electrifying shock.
I grinned, imagining Neji attempting to pry the package off. Pay back for interrupting my walks before they even began.
"Let's go." I said, and we took off.
We arrived at Kiba's house first. I used my Byakugan to determine where his room was, then climbed up to where his window was. Naruto pried it open for me, and I slid a bouquet in his room. We did the same thing with Shino's house and then with Gaara's hotel room, except I had to find his hotel first.
After finishing all our exhausting preparationgs, we could finally leave. As we walked away from the village, we discussed our future.
"Are we ever going to come back?" I asked.
"Yeah, when Kakashi's Hokage."
I looked at him with shock.
"You know it's going to happen sooner or later. Kakashi's not as old as he looks, and he has the Sharingan, without the Uchiha's pride and arrogance."
"Yeah, I guess so. I wonder when his hair turned grey."
"Me too." Naruto laughed, but it was a little shaky.
I turned towards him and kissed him. I felt like I was going to melt in his arms. "It's going to be alright."
"I know." He said with more certainty.
And we went, smiling at eachother, wondering where fate would take us.
