For Sorceress2000's HOTSPRING ONESHOT CHALLENGE on Deviantart.
Pairings/ implied: NejiTen, NaruHina, ShinoHana, LeeSaku/ InoCho and Kiba x OC mentioned
Category: Humor/ Friendship/ Romance.
Length: 1,641 words
***Naruto is eighteen at this point, so the other's ages go along those lines, making Hama-Tsu nineteen according to my fic's listed age. There are parallels between this one shot and my fanfic trilogy, The Other Daughter, but significant enough differences that there won't be spoilers***
The honorary Konoha Eleven were heading to the hot spring's bathhouse after a group get together. There wouldn't be many chances to spend time with their friends like this now that the war was over, especially with their new statuses in the Five Great Nations. After the training regiments they'd been through on top of the speeches their Sensei's preformed at the awards ceremony, cleansing sounded like a good idea.
Well, it did at first.
The four girls happily got into the tub, and the easy pattern of speech began.
"So Hinata, has Naruto talked to you yet?" Sakura demanded the Heiress, who smiled a little and blushed slightly, putting a hand over her chest.
"Well Sakura, we've all been very busy lately, especially him… he's a hero to the village and the Shinobi world after all…" Her voice was quiet, but her stutter had faded during the long days and short nights of the war. Unbeknownst to them, she was avoiding the question. "Why do you ask?"
"Easy. I may not be in love with the baka, but he's one of my boys." She smiled but you couldn't tell if it was warm or not. The topic of her teammates (including Sasuke, who was under 24/7 watch by ANBU in their HQ) was sensitive. "I know how you feel about him, and I think you should talk to him about the confession you made back then."
"Like you said Hinata," TenTen put in. "He's a hero now, he's bound to want some stability in his life when the fan girls fight over him."
"Uh, I really doubt that he's going to want 'stability'. It's Naruto." Ino stretched. "Hey, if nothing works, go about it the way I do. I mean, I'd never admit it outside this room, but you're hot when you show off a bit of skin."
"Um… Ino, Sakura… I…" The girl colored and sunk slightly into the water, knowing the girls wouldn't hear her. "I have talked to him, and…"
"The same thing applies to TenTen with Neji." Ino smirked, ignoring the girl. "You may hide boobs considerably bigger than Forehead's-"
"Hey!"
"-but the guy knows you better than anyone, and he's male. You've been holding back your sex appeal because you want to hide from your crush."
"What are you talking about?" TenTen managed, a slight blush on her face. "Me, a crush on Neji?"
The other girls noticed the emphasis she seemed to accidentally put on the word.
"TenTen…Do you have very strong feelings for Neji-niisan?"
"…um…"
"Oh-ho, she does!"
"Pig, lay off-"
"Is it one-sided? Are you two secretly together? Wait, did the battles cause you two to fall for each other when the feelings couldn't be repressed in the life-threatening situations?"
"INO."
The blonde paused and gave a slightly hurt look to the brunette. "What?"
She leaned back, an arm on the edge of the tub to support herself, looking completely composed. "Do you want me to tell you, or are you going to talk over me?"
A sweet smile, and Ino stretched her arm out, using her free hand to wash water over it. "Well, get on with it then."
TenTen balanced her free elbow on her knee. "Hinata, do you mind if I talk about your cousin?"
"No…" She said, settling back, smiling at her thoughts of the 'talk' she'd had with Naruto earlier. She'd tell them about it after TenTen was finished.
"Well, there was this one time when me and Neji were training, and he…"
The seven boys all looked at each other and the small tub, towels held in place as they stood, their gazes conflicted.
"We came for a relaxing soak… I'm not going to give that up because of how much a pain in the ass you guys can be…" Shikamaru sighed.
Trying to maintain their dignity, Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru got in first. Lee slipped in next, and Kiba joined the group that would undoubtedly cause the tub to spill out its' water, Akamaru jumping in with his master.
"Whatever, we can all fit. Dattebayo!" Naruto climbed into the in ground tub, causing himself and Kiba to begin a shoving brawl in the water.
Choji sheepishly almost followed Naruto's lead and tried to step in, Shino looking up when he found himself in shadow, but Neji gave him a look of disapproval and held out his arm in a warning motion.
"No."
"But Neji, I want to-"
"No."
"But why?"
"There's too may of us in here already. Maybe you should find another tub to relax in yourself. It would be more comfortable."
Shino sided with Neji. "Even a water beetle would rather go alone than try to brave these waters."
"Come on, please."
Sighing, Shikamaru turned away from his friends and tried to ignore the chaos around him, eyeing Kiba and Naruto's fight with a bored glare.
"You two, allies do not fight!" Lee said, beginning to stand, pressing down on Akamaru's head to balance himself.
"Says you Bushy Brow!" Naruto managed, shoving against Kiba's side hard.
"Punk, lay off!" Kiba retorted, wanting to rub his side. 'Hama-Tsu's going to be pissed to see more bruises on me…'
"Oh, defensive much?" Naruto grinned.
"Look just because Hinata let's you get cozy with her doesn't mean I'm that type!" He snarled, and it seemed he'd had it. He stuck out a leg and pressed it to Naruto's head.
"Nani! Who told you about that?"
"She's my teammate and like a sister to me, of course she talked to me about it!"
"Oh? Did she tell you that Shino's been seeing your sister for years now?"
"Did you think that I wouldn't know?" He became less angry and more irritated.
"… Well…"
"You're an idiot." Shikamaru said.
"So I guess nobody's interested in Neji's romantic life." Naruto grinned.
The teens all turned to their companion, who didn't seem phased.
"Where did you hear that?" He asked casually, still focused on keeping Choji out of the tub.
"Who-do-you-think?" He looked very pleased with himself, so pleased he left an opening and allowed Kiba to hit him. "Ow! Lee and Hinata might've mentioned it…"
"When did you talk to him?"
"Oh, I might have mentioned something while Sakura-chan and I went on a date…" Lee trailed off. Their eyes popped open in surprise.
"Okay… this is even more troublesome than me and Temari getting together…" Shikamaru muttered.
"So, you going to tell us anything?" Naruto sneered. "Come on Neji- you first, then Lee."
Neji sighed. "Fine. While Naruto was off taking care of Sasuke and Madara, myself, the others, and TenTen were left to take on the foot soldiers…"
"So now that I've talked about myself… what about you two? I've heard things about your romantic lives, Sakura and Ino." TenTen said, smiling when they both guiltily jumped. "And you Hinata, I'd expect you to be more vocal about what you've told me."
"What?" Hinata said innocently, looking unsure. "I'm not sure what you're-"
"Oh, don't tell me I was under a Genjutsu when I spotted you and Naruto getting frisky during a 'training session' the other day."
"What?" Sakura turned back to her friends. "You didn't tell me about this!"
"I tried…" Her words were drowned out.
"Forehead, you didn't tell be you had a boyfriend!"
Her jaw dropped, face red. "Well, you didn't either Pig!"
"Who are their boyfriends TenTen?" Hinata asked politely.
"Well, I saw Sakura on a date with Lee…"
"Ew, I thought you had better tastes Forehead!"
"He saved my life during that sneak attack and I had fun on the date he asked me on!"
"- and Ino was cuddling up with Choji in a secluded alley while I was walking to training the other day…" TenTen continued, ignoring the interruption.
"WHAT?" Sakura screeched. "You bashed Lee for Choji!"
"Oh Forehead, your boyfriend is worse!"
"At least I know you've both matured, considering your opinions on your boyfriends…" TenTen said dryly, and Hinata giggled.
"So Hinata, going to talk, or do we have to make you?" Ino said, and the young woman looked worried.
"How about we all go out for drinks together later… the heat's getting to be too much now…" She murmured, and the others nodded, grabbing towels.
"I just remembered… Gaara and the others are in town this week…" Naruto said when the boys were done telling their stories, then asked. "So… we going to surprise all our girls tonight at the bar? Oh wait, Choji-"
"He's got a girlfriend." Shikamaru said, then shrugged. "It'll be troublesome, but sure. I heard girls like troublesome stuff like that."
"Alright then. Let's go get ready, and then go pick up our girls!" Naruto jumped up and climbed out of the water, toweling off. "This is going to be great, dattebayo!"
And the rest is history.