-chapter 3-
After rain comes sunshine.
"Portishead."
~R.
The next few days he didn't have too much free time, but he did get a present for Kiba; a new soccer-ball.
Friday was a free day for Naruto, so he used the day to train, not at his secret spot this time, but on the training fields.
It was a chilly day, clouds blocked the sun, and there was a cold breeze.
After some practise on the dummies, he started exercising, training his muscles.
After a lot of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and laps around the field he fell to the ground, panting.
'It feels good to train like this.' he thought.
It started raining.
Naruto got up and looked up, he felt the rain hit his face, it gave him a purifying feeling.
He sat down on a rock nearby and let the rain cleanse him, it felt good.
'I wonder if Ero-sennin meant what he said about using the Kyuubi.'
He asked himself this question a lot lately.
'I can't deny it gives great power, but I just don't want to hurt anyone I care about anymore. I need to get strong on my own.'
He sat there thinking until it stopped raining.
He looked at his watch.
'Dinnertime.' he said to himself.
He decided on an easy meal today, so he warmed up some noodles.
'That hit the spot.' he thought while putting away his bowl in the sink.
'Time for some TV.'
As Naruto switched on the TV, he noticed he didn't see the remote anywhere.
After searching for a while he found it under his bed, so he could finally lay down and relax for a bit.
'Argh, nothing on TV, as usual… Garden show… How It's Made… The life of a giraffe… Seriously what the… Fire Country's Best Dance Crew… Ok screw this.'
He switched off the TV, and decided to get ready for the party.
'Hmm bath time'
He put on the tap, and sat on the edge of the bath, feeling when the water would get warmer.
'I wonder who will be at Kiba's party tonight,' he thought while undressing, 'hmm, still about one and a half hours 'till his party starts.'
Slowly stepping in the bath he felt relieved. He needed some fun, although he didn't know what to really expect, so he just thought, 'it's good to have friends,' and he slowly drifted away.
A long hall. Stretching into darkness.
He looked around, and tried to move, but he found himself unable to.
'Where am I?' his voice echoed, 'What is this?'
'Soon.' an unknown voice echoed back.
Everything went pitch-black and he fell, he fell far so far, for what he thought was, down. It felt unpleasant, there was no wind, there was nothing.
He woke up startled. He fell asleep in the bathtub. He jumped out, grabbed a towel and pulled the plug out of the bath. All wrinkly he grabbed his watch and saw it was 09:11.
'Crap! I'm late!' he thought while running to his closet with only a towel around his waist. Hurrying too much he tripped and fell face-forward against his closet door. He could taste the blood in his mouth, 'Ouch, what the hell is happening?'
His lower lip swollen where he hit the closet, he saw all his clothes were dirty or broken. He sweared under his breath. 'Going great, seriously. Think Naruto, think.'
He looked up trying his best to come up with a solution when he noticed an old bag.
He grabbed a chair and grabbed the bag on the left-topside of the closet. There were some clothes in there he got as a gift someday, but they were exceedingly too large when he got them, so he completely forgot about them for years, but he was happy he at least had something to wear now.
Opening the bag he saw a pair of blue jeans, a light-blue T-shirt with a dark-blue print of a beach with waves and dark-blue letters, and some old All-Stars. This not being his style, he felt weird putting the clothes on, but after all the years they fit quite comfortably.
He looked at the shoes, then to his own shoes.
His own shoes were busted up at the side and smelled like mud.
'Well this is just going great isn't it?' and he put on the Chucks.
He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed the clothes looked a bit worn out, and he didn't really recognize himself. He could see his own underarms. He never wore just a T-shirt. It felt weird.
Then he noticed a grey joggings-jacket, so he grabbed it, put it on as well, since he didn't have any coats and it was bound to be cold outside.
He sighed, 'nothing to do about it, I gotta run.'
It didn't rain anymore, but it was a bit chilly outside, so he was grateful that he has the jacket on, he just wanted to get to Kiba's house as quickly as possible now.
As he slammed the door and started running he remembered his gift. He stopped, sweared yet again and ran back to get his soccer-ball.
Avoiding any puddles on the way he knew he was getting close, Kiba's house wasn't in the centre of town, because of the dogs, but he knew it was somewhere near the edge of the forest on the east side of Konoha.
As the path he was walking on turned left he could hear music and saw coloured lights.
He looked at his watch. 09.47. He was really late and felt really ashamed as he knocked on the door.
He saw Kiba coming towards the door through the little glass windows that were fitted in the door.
Kiba opened the door, 'Naruto-kun! Hey man, almost thought you weren't gonna show up!'' he said with a smirk.
'I'm so sorry, I fell asleep whilst taking a bath… Wouldn't wanna miss your party for the world.' Said Naruto while handing over his gift, then taking off his jacket.
Kiba laughed, 'No problemo, wow you really dressed up! Looking smokin'! I didn't know you had those clothes! Everyone's inside, follow me, drinks are on the left table, food, well I think Choiji probably ate everything by now…'
Naruto raised his right eyebrow, 'Is he kidding me? I wish I didn't suck at recognizing sarcasm…'
As he walked through the hall with Kiba he still felt awkward. He was late, and he felt weird in the clothes.
'I hope they don't laugh because I'm dressed like this.'
As they entered the door Kiba shouted, 'Naruto-kun's here!'
Naruto's awkwardness was reaching his limit now, and he expected to hear things like: "Oh my God, what is naruto wearing? Hahaha," and, "And we were laughing at his jumpsuits? Hahaha, guess he can't help but dress bad!" But no one paid attention to the door, and Naruto knew why.
The music was shockingly loud. Kiba noticed it too. He ran to the stereo to put it down a notch.
Naruto was actually kinda glad no one noticed him. He looked around the room. It was decorated nicely, with a big open floor to dance, some couches in the far-right corner with little tabled next to them. On his left he saw the table with all the drinks and in the far-left corner there stood giant speakers and an expensive looking stereo that actually had a turntable on top of it for records.
It was actually really dark inside, with only the coloured spotlights on the dance floor.
He could hear drum & bass play loudly from the speakers and the dance floor was filled up with people wildly dancing.
Naruto had never been to this kind of party, but at least he kinda liked the music, although it was still too loud.
He decided to get a drink, so he poured himself a coke.
He noticed Sakura dancing wildly with some guy he didn't know. He could really see how many people were on the dance floor now. It must've been over 30 people. It was really crowded inside.
After he drank his drink, he thought he saw Hinata leaning against the wall beside the left couch, but he wasn't sure, it was really dark.
He tried to avoid as many people as he could while crossing the room.
On the way he heard his name multiple times. All those people said hi and told him he looked great in his 'new' clothes. They also asked him to come dance with everyone, but he kindly passed. Dancing really wasn't his thing.
When he arrived at the other side he noticed he saw correctly. It was Hinata.
'Hey Hinata-chan, having fun?'
She looked at him and turned radish-red, although no one could see it because of the darkness.
'H-hey Naruto-kun, I-I didn't r-recognize you in t-that outfit!' she said.
'Yeah, all my clothes are either broken or dirty, this was all I had left. I Didn't even know I had these, I look really weird.' he said with an annoyed tone.
'N-no! It l-looks really good!' she said while looking down.
'Everyone seems to like the new clothes, weird.' he thought.
'Anyways, I'm gonna get some air, see ya Hinata-chan!'
He walked along the wall to a pair of sliding doors which were hidden behind a curtain, but Naruto had spotted it when he walked in. He opened them and stepped outside. The cold gave him a slight shiver, but it felt good. It had been really hot inside.
He closed the doors. It was remarkable how well the doors muted the music.
Then he saw someone standing at the end of the porch, leaning on the balustrade and looking out over the open garden.
It was a girl.
Naruto didn't move. He just stood there.
'I don't think she heard me.'
Frozen solid he didn't dare move. It somehow felt good to just stand there land look at her back. But after what seemed to be ages he knew he had to do something. He was so inexperienced when it came to girls. And he was sure the feeling he got from looking at her wasn't normal, but what did he have to do? He ruled out just talking to her, because he knew he would choke.
It's been a long time since he had felt like this. Or anything near this.
Love? No. Implacable.
He looked a little bit better. She wore a pair of blue jeans, and what seemed like a dark-blue joggings-shirt, very similar to his gray one, only this one was clearly made for a girl.
Her hair was dark-brown, and ended in curls. She probably had natural straight hair, but curled it for the party. He also couldn't deny she had a really fit body.
He noticed he was really staring at her.
The silence broke when she suddenly said something.
'If I leave here tomorrow…'
Her voice sounded on the brink of tears, shocky, but still very beautiful.
'I-I'm s-sorry, I-I just wanted s-some fresh-' Naruto stumbled over his words, but the girl apparently didn't pay attention to him.
'Would you still remember me..?' she continued.
'She doesn't hear me? This is strange…'he thought, 'Wait a minute, he knew those lines!'
He tried hard to remember.
'Come on stupid memory. I know this…'
'For I must be travelling on now…' the girl continued.
Then he got it, and the absurdist idea ever crossed his mind.
Ok, before going on, a mid-tale is going to spring through for some background info. D:
So a midsection with a flashback around a year and a half earlier. He just turned 16.