The thick, Kelly green grass still abounded in our park. The old, sturdy trees were still there. And so were we, despite the odds. Naruto held me in our tree, like the first night we met. I had almost forgotten his real name.
"So how are you, Hina-chan? You didn't do something stupid and get in trouble, did you?" Yeah, Naruto was quite the smooth talker. But he was adorable in his own way, and he'd really come through if you needed him.
"No, N-Naruto-kun, I am f-fine." Dang stuttering. Can't have a conversation without it. Let's go for 'cute' and see where it gets me. "Just missing you." Oh God. Nice.
"Oh. Cool! I missed you too. Listen, have you ever heard of ramen? 'Cause I didn't, only then we bought some, and man, that stuff is soooooo great! It's cheap and tastes really good, and all you need is water! It doesn't even have to be hot! And it comes in all these flavors like beef and pork and mushroom and shrimp and creamy chicken and-" And he was off.
I think Naruto has some ADHD issues. He's told me about ramen for the first time about five times. He just rants for a bit, and my only requirement it to seem awed in the face of this "new" information, giving me time to think, which I DIDN'T NEED RIGHT NOW!
So what could I do? I drifted and pondered, paradoxes and riddles. I loved them. They were a chance to test my mind, to feel the gears and wheels in my head pull through until they snap into place. Here's one: Feed me and I live, Give me drink and I die. What am I?
The answer is fire. Easy.
More poetic:
The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end
And the end of every place.
It sounds beautiful, but it's easy too. The letter "e". The whole situation is a paradox. I'm not even pretty. Why are these boys into me? I'm plenty smart, but the only thing they could be into is the DD's. I'm a real-life Mary Sue. And Mary Sues are so annoying. Damn.
But how the hell do you figure out the riddle of human relation? In love, in like, indifferent? The subject of a million songs written and a million books printed. Was everyone this squeamish and confused about it?
So how the hell do you figure this out?
"-And then he said chicken mushroom was the best flavor, so I hit him, 'cause miso is obviously the best, but it's ok 'cause he just doesn't know any better, but I'll teach him. You ok, Hina-chan?" She blinked. "What? Yes, I'm fine, Naruto." Wait, he does call her Hina-chan, that must mean something! Maybe she should observe his reaction to an informal honorific? "I'm doing great, Naru-ku-"
"HINATA, GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT NOW!" Damn. Mom's home. And pissed. And now she'd missed seeing his reaction to the nickname. Double damn.
She got up and jumped to the ground. "See you later, Hinata!" he called. "Bye Naruto!" The moment was past. No nicknames for now.
She trudged across the grass to her trailer, opening the door and slipping in, shutting it silently. She slipped off her shoes by the mat, as was her custom, and walked in to face the dragon, sans armor.
Her mom was sitting in the same golden recliner, watching one of those murder shows, like CSI, or Law and Order, where the criminal is always caught, and death is coolly analyzed and ignored. "Who was that boy?" she asked.
It took Hinata a second to speak. She walked towards the kitchen, picking the mail up off the coffee table, to get out of hitting range. She spoke nonchalantly, in a perfect monotone, "Uzumaki Naruto, mom, from down the street? He just wanted to ask about the math homework." Her mom wouldn't remember that he didn't attend school.
"Hmph." Her mom seemed disinterested enough, but that could change at any moment. Shuffling through the mail, she came upon a school envelope: surely this quarter's grades, and rankings. Shit. Not now. Her mom was already pissed. This would set her off.
Her throat closed. Her pulse thudded. With shaking hands, she opened the letter which held tonight's fate. Oh God. She was in so much trouble….
Hyuuga Hinata: 5.0
Ikameshii Neji: 4.98
blahblahblah: blah
blahblah: blah
Her blood roared in her ears. The first two names were all that mattered. No others meant anything to her. "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
Really? Are you serious? Are you serious?"
Finally. Oh my God. She finally did it. She was the first in her class. The first in the school. She was Number One.
And wait until mom saw! She'd be so happy! And she'd smile, and say she was proud, and she would laugh, and then Hinata would make dinner, and they'd spend a happy night at home, just hanging out together. Hinata could keep it up. She'd be Number One next quarter too. She'd do it. Just wait.
She floated out of the kitchen, on a high, holding the letter. Hovering over her mom's chair, her mom looked up, with a scowl and an arched eyebrow. She didn't know. She hadn't seen. Hinata shoved the Blessed Note into her mom's hands.
Her mother took the note and scanned it slowly, reading the words. Hinata nearly burst with pride. Her mom handed it back, then went back to the T.V. Hinata felt a numb feeling start to creep over her. "Mom?"
She answered, eyes on the screen, "What?" Hinata stared. "Mom, I'm number one in the class. I have a perfect GPA." Her mother turned with a glare, "And you think that makes you something fucking special? You're a smart piece of shit. Nobody cares how high your GPA is."
She knew she was treading on dangerous ground, but she couldn't shut up. Not after this long. She was almost angry. "You cared. You're the one who wanted a perfect GPA. Now I've got one. It's what you wanted. I'm the smartest one in my school."
SMACK. Hinata grabbed her painful cheek. Her mother had jumped up from the recliner. "Bitch, you ain't shit! You've never been shit!" She punched Hinata under her ribs, and over the top of her head when she doubled over grabbing her chest. "You're worthless! Always are! A monkey can do school work, that has nothing to do with smart!"
She grabbed Hinata's hair and threw her to the ground, then started to kick her as Hinata tried to protect her head. "YOU'RE NOT SMART! YOU'RE SHIT! NOBODY FUCKING CARES ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN GPA!"
Hinata rolled away, springing to her feet and sprinting out the door, pounding the ground hard with her bare feet. Everything hurt. Everything hurt. Especially her chest. She thought that mom would love her now. She was wrong. She was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Always wrong. Big mouth. Can't do nuthin' right. Always wrong. Always wrong.
She just kept running. She believed it'd hurt more if she stopped. So she ran, hitting the ground hard with her feet, feeling the scrapes it caused, reveling in the pain she was causing, her pain working out some of the other pain. Each STOMP against the ground felt better, felt angry, felt calmer, felt less like crying, less like dying, less like choking, more like climbing.
Finally she stopped by the side of the road, realizing she didn't know where she was. She was on some kind of forest road, because she didn't see any houses or buildings anywhere, just dark trees on both sides of the road.
She was panting hard, everything sore, but her eyelids were drooping. All she wanted was to pass out. She didn't care anymore. So she walked into the trees, dropping to the ground and crawling to a large Oak, curling herself around the trunk before passing out.
Ok, guys, here's the next chappie, after like six months. I'm trying to commit to writing more, but we all know I've said that before. *sweatdrop* I'll try. But just so you know, reviews DO encourage me. They won't MAKE me update, but they'll speed it. Sorry for the blackmail.
Peace, love, and reviews,
~Broken Wings.