Naruto does not belong to me.
Warning: swimsuits and an obscure reference to 'The Proposal' awaits. (You know which scene I'm talking about ;D)
Go Team GB!
CHAPTER THREE: TUESDAY
"Naruto-kun, wake up," Hinata whispered.
Naruto opened his eyes slowly as light from the window filtered into the room; he rubbed his eyes, "What time is it?"
"It's 10:30AM, lazy bones," Sakura replied, a hand firmly planted on her hip.
"Huh?" Naruto answered back groggily.
He shifted his body and noticed that Hinata was no longer beside him in bed; she was now stood next to Sakura at the foot of the bed.
Naruto pushed himself up and rested against the headboard, "Why didn't you wake me?"
Hinata blushed slightly, "You looked so peaceful, and I didn't want to wake you."
Sakura started to tap her foot impatiently, "Come on! We've got to get going."
"Oh, yeah, we're going to the beach today," Naruto thought to himself as he got out of bed. Nothing bad could possibly happen to them during their trip to the beach, right?
Naruto walked slowly over to the main Village Gate after returning to his apartment to get some things for their trip: some sun-cream, some instant ramen and a few kunai and shuriken. When he arrived, he discovered that Hinata, Sakura, Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, Ino and Sai were already ready and were waiting for him.
"What took you so long?" Ino asked.
"Sorry—Sorry," Naruto answered back.
"Shall we get going then?" Sakura asked.
The quickest way to the Fire Country coast was to head east, which was also incidentally the same route you would take to reach the Water Country. What lay between the Hidden Village and the glorious white sand coastline of the Fire Country was about 50 miles of dense deciduous forest. Naruto took the lead for the party and was the first to jump up into a nearby tree and begin the long journey to the beach.
In this convoy, the boys stayed a few paces ahead whilst the girls stayed a few paces behind and talked about the latest hearsay in the village. Hinata didn't care much for gossip; she preferred to approach people with an open mind and practised the idea that you should never judge a book by its cover. It appeared though, that Sakura and Ino could not get enough of Konoha gossip.
"What?" Sakura said with somewhat disbelief after Ino had imparted some particularly scandalous gossip.
"I know, but she seemed the right sort…" Ino said as she glanced over at Hinata, who appeared to be on a totally different planet to herself and Sakura.
Ino arched an eyebrow and asked Hinata, "What's the most scandalous gossip you've ever heard before, Hinata-chan?"
"I—I—Um," Hinata stuttered.
"I don't think Hinata cares much for gossip, Ino-pig," Sakura said, almost rolling her eyes.
"I don't either!" Tenten called, who was next to Hinata.
After this disappointing outburst for both Sakura and Ino, they returned to quietly gossiping amongst themselves whilst Hinata and Tenten engaged in more intellectually challenging conversation.
Ahead of the girls were the boys, who were deeply engrossed in a conversation about how many drunk girls they'd gotten off with at some kooky house party. Apparently, Sai held the record.
"I don't know what it is about me," Sai said, almost modestly.
"They must think you look like Sasuke," Naruto said almost spitefully.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Girls are so troublesome."
"Aww! Is someone jealous?" Naruto asked in a mockingly tone.
Shikamaru frowned as if Naruto had deeply insulted him, "Of course not!"
"So who are you taking to Naruto-kun's wedding then?" Lee asked.
Shikamaru paused for a moment as he contemplated his answer, "I was thinking of asking Ino…" Naruto immediately made an "ooooohh" sound.
Shikamaru shot a glare at Naruto, "Only as a friend," he added.
"What about you, Sai-kun?" Lee asked.
Sai looked at Naruto and then back at Lee, "I was thinking of asking Sakura."
"WHAT?!" Naruto and Lee both exclaimed.
Shikamaru punched his arm to remind him that Sakura and his fiancée were only a few metres behind them.
"What?" Naruto asked again, more quietly.
"I am asking Sakura to your wedding," Sai replied, enunciating his words as if he were speaking to an idiot.
Naruto turned his head around to face the girls, waved at them before returning to face Sai, "You better not do anything weird to her."
"So who are you thinking of asking, Bushy Brows?" Naruto asked Lee.
Lee blushed, "Are you asking Tenten?" Naruto asked.
Lee bit his lower lip, "I—Er—I don't know," Lee answered quietly.
"What are you worried about Bushy Brows? I thought you liked her," Naruto added.
"I do! She's a great friend, but I—"
"Go and ask her!"
Buckling under the pressure, Lee said, "Okay, I'll go and ask her now." He slowed down and joined the girls group only to hear a snippet of conversation between Ino and Sakura.
"She didn't!" Sakura exclaimed.
Lee was now in-between Hinata and Tenten, he looked sheepishly at Tenten, "What's wrong, Lee?" Tenten asked.
"Nothing," he replied with a smile.
A little after 12:30PM, the travelling party arrived at the Fire County coast. The smell of the salt water from the ocean overwhelmed Naruto, who powered on ahead of his friends like an over-excited child who was going to the beach for the very first time.
"Naruto! Wait for us!" Sakura called as she watched helplessly as Naruto stripped off into his swimwear and ran off into the water.
Ino rolled her eyes, "I can't believe you're marrying him."
Hinata laughed quietly, "That's what I love about him."
The remaining shinobi (minus Naruto) walked carefully down a sand hill, dodging various large rocks that obstructed the clear path down before reaching the flat, white sand of the beach. The sky was a delightful pale blue, with a few wispy clouds in the distance, but otherwise, it was an extremely pleasant summer's day. The water near the edge of the beach was a clear blue colour, the shades getting deeper as the distance from the beach grew.
After settling on the beach and putting up a couple of beach umbrellas, the girls took off their ninja clothes to reveal their swimsuits beneath. Sakura and Ino had both donned two-pieces, Sakura's in a flirty red colour and Ino's in an ocean blue colour. Hinata felt almost relieved when she saw Tenten had also opted for a one-piece, in a pure white colour and Hinata had chosen a deep violet.
Hinata pulled out several beach towels from her travelling bag, handing one to each of the girls and then Lee asked, "May I have one, Hinata-san?"
After looking around in her bag to if she'd brought a fifth beach towel, she said, "I'm sorry, Lee-kun. I only brought four with me."
"Oh," Lee said as if all this youthful enthusiasm had been zapped out of him.
"Aren't you going out in the water with the rest of the boys, Lee-san?" Sakura asked as she rubbed some sun-tan lotion on her legs.
"I will, thank you Sakura-san," he answered with a smile as he ran off towards the water.
Meanwhile, in the water, the boys had still not gotten over Sai's supposed lechery. As they swam a few metres away from the shallow water, Naruto asked, "What did she say then, Bushy Brows?"
Lee let the waves carry him for a moment before answering, "Tenten said Neji had already asked her."
"Awww! Well that sucks!" Naruto said.
"Yeah," Lee added.
"Plenty of girls out there, eh?" Naruto said, he thought to himself that he was becoming more like Ero-sennin every day.
After several hours of frolicking around in the water and on the sand, the shinobi packed away their stuff and made their way to a nearby Hot Springs resort.
"I've heard that this place is really good," Sakura said to Ino as they rolled up the beach towels.
"Supposedly if you soak in one of the baths, you'll find your true love," Ino added, quickly glancing over at Tenten.
"I do have better things to do than find myself a boyfriend, thank you very much," Tenten said almost angrily.
"Tenten-chan, I don't think she meant it like that," Hinata said to Tenten.
The Hot Springs was just on the outskirts of the beach; it was quite secluded and peaceful with a wonderfully traditional looking interior. As expected, there were two separate baths, one for the boys and one for the girls.
"Hinata! Your back!" Sakura exclaimed as she looked over at her after putting her towel on.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.
Sakura gently touched Hinata's back and winced, "Your back has got sunburnt."
"Ouch," Ino added as she tied up her long blonde hair, "That looks pretty bad."
"I will sit this one out," Hinata said with a hint of sadness as she left the bathing area.
As she walked back to the girls' changing room, she bumped into Naruto. As she fell down onto him, her towel dropped and when she looked down at her fiancé, she saw that he too was completely naked. Her face was hotter than it had ever felt before, and Naruto looked to be in a similar condition.
"S—S—Sorry, N—Naruto-kun," she stuttered as she tried to push herself up.
"N—N—No, I wasn't lookin' where I was going," Naruto said as he tried to look away as she put her towel back on.
When Naruto had regained some composure (and covered himself up) he asked, "Why aren't you with the rest of the girls?"
"I got sunburnt," she said quietly as she moved some of her long hair that tumbled down her back to reveal the patch of red skin.
Naruto winced, "Ouch."
"Do you want me to fetch you some lotion?"
"Yes," Hinata smiled, "I'd really appreciate it, Naruto-kun."
Naruto disappeared off back to the boys' changing rooms, rummaging around in his bag looking for some after-sun, when just as he was about to leave, he saw Lee stood by the panelled sliding door that led to the men's baths.
"Aren't you coming in, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked.
"Nah," Naruto replied, anxious to give the after-sun to his fiancée, "Hinata got sunburnt."
"Oh, well I hope she's okay."
"Me too," Naruto said as she made his way back to Hinata.
Hinata sat on a wooden bench, thinking about all the things that had happened since their engagement, but her thoughts kept coming back to her naked collision with her soon-to-be husband. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't felt something during their naked encounter, but she had always been adamant that she would lose her virginity on her wedding night. Her heart began to beat harder—faster. Where are you Naruto?
"I've found some," Naruto said, stirring Hinata from her somewhat sexual reverie.
Somewhat startled, she replied, "Oh, thank you, Naruto-kun."
They looked at each other for a moment, before Hinata turned around, pushing her hair aside, "Could you do my back please?"
Naruto could feel his face burn up as Hinata undid the tie of her halter top swimsuit, "O—Of course."
Hinata felt the cooling relief as Naruto rubbed the after-sun lotion on her back, after he had finished he backed away quickly, "I better get back to the guys."
"Okay, thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said as re-tied the strings on her swimsuit.
"Four days," Naruto thought to himself, "Four more days and I'll be able to sleep next to and wake up next to Hinata for the rest of my life."
A/N: This is probably a bit late, but I've started thinking about finding a beta-reader for this story. I didn't really think about finding one when I started planning this out, but as the story grows longer, I become more conscious of my mistakes and I really want this story to be well-received. I'm hoping to get this finished before I get my exam results (16th August, absolutely terrified btw), so if anyone out there is interested in being a beta-reader, send me a message! I hope you are all well, my wonderful readers~