Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but as you will find it's way longer than the last one. I've got a lot of ground to cover so I'm sorry to say that the rest of the chapters will be like this one. Which is good if you like long chapters, but bad because it means that it will take longer to come out. Sorry. But I promise to do my best to make it worth the wait!!!
And now, onward to the story…
E-mail: 3
He'd fainted.
That was the big reaction he'd been nervously waiting for.
It was…anticlimactic… But also a little overly dramatic.
Could something be both?
Well, this is Kiba we're talking about…
Shrugging it off, he'd waited until his friend had woken up, drawing a swirly mustache on his face while he was out, before quickly ushering him out the door and back to his house. He'd yelled some, protesting and demanding details, but Naruto really hadn't wanted to get into all that by that time and had locked the door.
He'd rung the doorbell annoyingly until one of the neighbors threw something - a snow globe of a creepy looking elf, he'd discovered the next morning- at him.
Note to self. Send that neighbor a muffin basket.
All that, however, had been yesterday night.
Now, he was sitting sideways on Shikamaru's desk, his legs hanging off the side, in 1st hr. History class, extremely too early on Monday morning.
Seriously…who in their right mind had decided that life should exist before 10 AM?
I need to find them.
And shoot them.
Many, many times…until they died…
And then –
His semi-violent little soliloquy was cut short by the arrival of Kiba, bursting loudly through the doors, yelling, "Uzumaki!" accusingly and waving a pointing finger.
"Great", Shikamaru mumbled from where he sat in his chair, feet behind Naruto on the desk, head lowered with his eyes closed in what Naruto had assumed, until this point, was sleep.
He shot Naruto a meaningful look that clearly screamed "You couldn't have dealt with him somewhere else…without me…?"
No. I couldn't.
"Uzumaki!" he yelled again, waving the finger erratically in his direction before approaching, "You got some 'splanin to do!"
"Alright Ricky, Jeeze…"
Shikamaru raised one eyebrow.
"What? Didn't you ever watch I Love Lucy?"
"No." He replied quickly and deadpan. "And that's not it anyways."
"Then what is?" he asked curiously, Kiba all but forgotten.
Both realizing and accepting his friend's short attention span, Kiba dropped the accusing finger and stared at Shikamaru as well, curious as to where this was going.
"What?" Naruto prodded after several minuets of silence. "Come on, tell me."
"Yeah, you can't just say something and not explain. It's not fair." Kiba added, joining the battle, on Naruto's side despite their earlier conflict.
"It's nothing", He waved his hand lazily through the air in a dismissive gesture before continuing, "We did however just answer a very important question."
"That being?"
"If the two of you ever decide to become gay with each other, we now know who the girl would be, Lucy."
The two of them were silent for a moment, stunned by both the message and the completely calm tone with which he'd delivered it. And then…
"WHAT?!"
"NO WAY!!!"
"- BUT!"
"Even if I was I wouldn't date him!!!"
For a second Naruto actually seemed offended by this. "What's so bad about me?"
"What? Nothing just…do you want me to be sexually attracted to you?"
"Hell no! Just-"
Shikamaru groaned, rubbing him temples. Great. He'd meant to distract them, shut them up…
And now they were yelling.
Right by - or on, in Naruto's case - his desk.
Joy.
Never had he been happier to hear the loud ass, annoying, bell ring.
Kiba, however, was not, seeing as he'd become distracted and failed at yell at Naruto.
Naruto was highly relieved. He hadn't felt like putting up with any of that. Especially this early in the morning.
Maybe by lunch…
Not that he thought he'd make it that far. Unless something drastic happened he'd wind up having to listen to Kiba all through health class, speaking in loud whispers so their topic of conversation couldn't hear.
He sighed in dread. Not that he thought it would result in some big fight or something, no, he knew Kiba better than that. He was probably more angry about being pegged by a snow globe than the e-mail thing.
But he'd want to discuss it; what they'd written about, why he hadn't told him.
Those questions he couldn't answer. Didn't have answers for.
And he knew Kiba well enough to know he'd want real, solid, answers.
Damnit. Why, of all the people for his best friend to love obsessively, did it have to be Hinata?
No, wait…that wasn't the right question.
The question was, once again, why he hadn't wanted to tell him. Why he'd had to force himself to do so? It didn't make sense to him… After all, shouldn't he have wanted to tell him? I mean, he was his best friend, and he'd only been in love with the girl for what, 6 years now?
Yeah, 6. Ever since…
~ Hey, check it out it's a Flashback!!! ~
Naruto sighed, bored. He'd been sitting in this god forsaken auditorium for 20 minutes already. Where the hell was Kiba?!
Releasing another sigh, he shot another glance at his watch. He watched the little red hand twitch rapidly towards the 12.
5...4...3...2...1...
Great. He'd been sitting her for 21 minutes.
Bored, he looked around the room. It was huge, shaped like a movie theater with rows of semi-plush chairs that slanted upwards. There was a stage at the bottom with the curtains drawn and an abandoned microphone sitting in its stand.
And there were tons of people, all 6th graders like him. He recognized some of the faces, others were completely unfamiliar.
He spied Shino way in the back, towards the corner, hood pulled up, sunglasses on. He smirked as his imagination played the other boy up as a spy, undercover in a local Middle School.
Not far from Shino sat Chouji and Shikamaru. Shikamaru was leaning back with his feet on the chair in front of him while Chouji tried to covertly eat a bag of chips. Every now and then, however, you could see him glancing down at the front where two girls sat, chattering away happily.
Naruto knew them too. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. He had, like most of the others, known them since kindergarten. They were both pretty, with long hair. Ino's was longer, almost to her waist while Sakura's was only to the center on her back. He'd heard them fight about it all through both 4th and 5th grade, both thinking long hair made them prettier. That fight had been quickly abandoned, however, when Sakura had started to develop near the end of 5th grade.
They were fighting now, he could tell even from this far away. He couldn't hear what it was about, though he assumed it had something to do with that damn Sasuke, and he really didn't want to get close enough to.
He wasn't on the best of terms with them… to put it lightly.
All through elementary he'd been somewhat of a class clown. If there was a sub, he'd put the eraser on the door, if there wasn't than he'd just do something else. It didn't matter really, as long as he pulled a prank of some sort, and pranks were something Sakura frowned upon. She was a goody-two-shoes if there ever was one and Ino was just the same.
That, among other things, had given Sakura Haruno and automatic excuse to dislike him since the first day of school. And since most of the school had liked Sakura Haruno…well, the outcome was just a little obvious.
Yeah. He wasn't exactly the most popular kid in school.
He was working on that though.
This year would be different.
It wasn't as if he was friendless though. He had Kiba as a friend for as long as Sakura'd hated him. Kiba had thought his pranks were funny. There had been almost instantaneous bonding. Plus there were the people who didn't hate him. Who didn't feel the need to follow Sakura's word like the law. People he could at least talk to, if not hang out with.
People like Shikamaru and Chouji for example.
Damnit, where the hell was Kiba? He searched the room again, twisting back in his chair for a better view. The principal was sure to be here any minute to deliver some little welcome-to-middle-school speech…
He was just beginning to wonder if his friend had been hit by a bus when he heard a loud, high-pitched squeal from below. Redirecting his gaze, he watched both Sakura and Ino leap from their seats (attracting the attention of quite a few people) and dart up the isle towards the entrance. His eyes followed them up, darting hazardously through the crowd as the supervising teachers shouted their disapproval. They promptly ignored all this, however, in their effort to reach the top and tackle another girl in a smothering hug.
He recognized this girl too, he realized once they disengaged enough for him to see her face. She was another one of their little clique, Hinata Hyuuga. Shy and quiet, with short black hair hanging slightly longer in the front and large violet eyes, she was easily recognizable as Neji Hyuuga's cousin and daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, one of the wealthiest men in town.
That was the extent of his knowledge about her, except maybe for the fact that she didn't seem to hate him, or anyone really. She didn't seem nearly as spoiled as her two other friends, or as much as one would assume her to be, given her upbringing.
Sure, Haruno and Yamanaka had money, but nowhere near the amounts that the Hyuuga's possessed.
They didn't hold his attention though. He took a moment to wonder why they were so thrilled about seeing her before remembering hearing something about a trip to France. She'd probably been there this summer.
And just like that he dismissed the girls all together with amazing ease, searching the crowd once more for his friend. This time, he actually found him, his shaggy brown head weaving through the throng of pre-teens.
"Hey!" he called, waving his arm somewhat frantically, "Kiba! Hey!"
It wasn't too hard for Kiba to find him. Taking the empty seat next to him, he shot Naruto a grin.
"What were you doing?" Naruto insisted the second Kiba's butt hit the chair.
"Walking slowly passed the Elementary school and taunting the small children."
Naruto shook his head, fighting back a laugh and choosing not to point out that they weren't that much older then Elementary school students. He knew what his friend meant. They were older, 11 years old and in Middle school. There was a reason that it was also called, in some areas, Junior High.
Naruto had always liked the term Junior High better. It made it sound bigger, more important and more closely related to High school. To graduation. To college…
He looked around once more in semi-amazement. This was really Middle school. Junior high. The place that had seemed so large just a year ago, infinitely larger a few years further back.
And he was here.
The lights dimmed, the room quieting. An old man walked out onto the stage to the microphone, suddenly holding everyone's attention. Principal Sarutobe.
Naruto shot a glance at Kiba, met his friends eyes besides him in the dark. Kiba felt it too. The sense of wonder, slight disbelief and inferiority that came with today.
Today they were no longer elementary school students.
They were one step closer.
Junior high, for all it's new, mysterious, wonder, had one drawback. Class changes. Schedules.
Kiba and he were separated for the first time since they'd met, for 3 of their classes. They were together 1st. Hour, and 2nd, but 3rd, 4th, and 5th, were a different story. Then came lunch, along with the desperate struggle to locate each other, and then the quest for a table. But when at last that task had been completed, they were happily reunited with stories to tell of their first day.
The cafeteria wasn't as crowded today as they knew it would be for the rest of the year. The same went for the hallways. Things would be more difficult tomorrow, but today it was only 6th graders in the school. All the higher classes got to start tomorrow, and then things would be different, but this day was still helpful for adjusting.
The Middle school, unlike the high school, was only two buildings. There was the office in the front, connected to the buildings with all the classrooms, a two story building shaped like a long rectangle, lying horizontal with the office. If you were to continue straight past the office, you would be in the breezeway, a wide, roofed hallway with a wall only on the left side, leaving the right side and the front open to the elements. Naturally, the office was attached to the left side, with the wall. Also to the left, was an opening to another hallway of lockers, and at the end of the breezeway was the second building. The breezeway was really the only thing connecting the two buildings. The second building was large, and also rectangular. On the far left (extending far past the left breezeway wall) was the door to the cafeteria, a large square room. If you were to turn immediately to your right upon entering the room you would find the large band room. If you entered and went straight you were in the gym, and down a hallway to the side of the gym, between the gym and the auditorium on the far wall, there was the auxiliary gym. This was the old gym, before the new bigger one was built and it opened into a door near the back, left side of the auditorium.
This was the space in which 3 grades would be crowded.
Fun.
But for now, the two of them were content to sit at the table closest to the door at the back of the cafeteria.
They were both chattering excitedly, exchanging information about their teachers; who was liked and who was hated. They had been at this for about 5 minutes when Kiba ceased to speak, in the middle of a sentence, and stare at his food with newly discovered interest.
"What's up?" Naruto asked, raising one eyebrow. Kiba didn't respond, but his eyes flickered up for a second against his will. Following this accidental clue, Naruto found himself looking directly at Sakura's group of girls, seated in the middle of the cafeteria talking animatedly and casting flirty looks at Sasuke. Ino had finished her lunch and was doing something with Hinata's hair involving glittery clips.
Naruto looked back at his friend again, then back at the girls.
Then back to his friend.
Then the girls.
Kiba.
Girls.
Kiba…
Kiba. Damn.
'" No" Naruto groaned, resisting the urge to bang his head against the table, "tell me you aren't thinking that."
"Thinking what?" he snapped, a red color slowly tinting his face. Naruto bit back a groan as his suspicions started to be confirmed.
"About, you know," he jerked his head towards the girls, "liking them."
"What's wrong with liking girls?" Kiba asked, his eyes narrowed, tone curious. "Are you?…"
"No!" Naruto denied loudly, causing several people to stare. "No", he repeated again, quieter this time. "No, definitely not. No, I mean, liking them."
He turned his head towards the girls who were giggling outrageously at something while the glitter clips, now in Hinata's hair, caught the light.
"I don't like them…" Kiba muttered. He looked over at their table again continuing. When he did his voice was so low that Naruto barely heard it, and then only because he'd strained to. "…I like her."
"Her who?" Naruto frowned, "Sakura?"
"No!" Kiba denied, " Are you kidding me?". He shook his head. "No… it's…"
"It's who?"
"It's…Hinata."
Naruto paused at this. It was…unexpected, to say the least. Out of the three she definitely wasn't the most…striking. Between their attractive, newly obtained looks, delving into the world of make-up and fashion and such, and their loud, fun, personalities, Hinata all but disappeared besides them.
Even having known all through school, Naruto overlooked her with an ease he wasn't really proud of. For Kiba to have developed a crush on her of all people was somewhat surprising.
But then again, if ever asked to choose from those three, Naruto would have probably picked Hinata too.
But out of everyone in the school?
Even Tenten, with her odd, hemp, clothing would have been more expected.
"Hinata?" Naruto asked with yet another look to the center table. Hinata was shaking her head violently, at something someone had said, her face glowing red. The glittery clips sent rainbows dancing across the ceiling.
"Yeah", Kiba replied, somewhat defensively, in a rare moment of shyness. "Hinata."
Naruto frowned at his friend tone. He didn't like the defensiveness. It wasn't as if he was planning to criticize him for it. He was just curious.
"How long?" he asked, leaning across the table to whisper.
"Since 4th hour." He replied, the defensiveness gone, replaced with a nervous, happiness born from sharing pleasant secrets with friends.
Naruto slanted his eyes in somewhat critical concern, "That's not that long…"
"So what?" Kiba retorted with a frown. "I've known her for years." He waited for Naruto to say something and frowned deeper when he didn't. "You've got something to say about it?"
"Not really." Naruto replied, unsteady with the roller-coaster of Kiba's emotions. "It's just kinda quick and all. I mean, it's the first day of school and everything…" he trailed off as he watched Kiba's face fall slightly, his eyes dim just a little, and reprimanded himself . It wasn't like he was going to propose to the girl. So what if he had a crush, it wasn't going to hurt anything. That's probably all it was anyways, a crush, that would be gone in a week or two.
Determined to bring Kiba's excitement back, he plastered a smile on his face. "I'm happy for you."
It worked. A smile of his own spread and he was soon talking with as much excitement as before. Naruto was once again the good supportive friend. All was right with the world.
What could it hurt? he though with a grin, as he watched Kiba chatter happily, It'll be over before I know it.
~ Hey, the Flashback's over now! Wasn't that cool??? ~
Yeah, so much for that theory.
Looking back on that day he couldn't help but feel just a little dumb. Kiba's crush had most definitely not dissipated as expected, instead escalating to obsessive proportions.
And Naruto had been supportive the whole way. A little confused maybe, but supportive nonetheless.
Until now, for reasons he couldn't seem to figure out.
Ignoring the notes Umino-sensei was busy writing on the board in small, neat, handwriting, he contemplated it. Tried to place the feeling.
It obviously wasn't happiness or glee or any of those other sunshine-filled synonyms.
And it couldn't be jealousy or anything like that, he barely knew her, much less loved her.
He cast a sideways glace at Kiba.
At the risk of sounding like Shikamaru… this was going to be…troublesome.
~*~*~*~
Favorite Lethal Illness.
Seriously.
What was the school coming too?
Then again, it's not as bad as Unhealthy Addiction, or Illegal Substance day… those were weird…
Because this is so completely normal.
Ignoring her sarcastic inner voice, although it had a point, she stared openly at Lee.
It was okay though. It wasn't like she was the only one. No, the majority of the class was staring at him, their faces a mix of concern, humor, or fear.
She didn't blame them in the least.
Lee was obliviously chattering away to Neji, who looked as though he was considering intense psychiatric help for his friend.
Hinata wasn't sure it'd be completely unwelcome…
He was dressed all in black, from his long-sleeved turtleneck to his black, crushed velvet pants. The weird part however, aside from the pants, was the wavy, black, foam he's taped to himself, giving his wavy edges an inch out from his body. It was duct taped just a little sloppily and obviously colored black with a shiny black sharpie.
He was the Black Plague.
Alright, she could deal with that.
It was the Styrofoam balls, which he'd also used the sharpie on, that he'd taped under both armpits and his… well…
She tried not to look there…
She felt the air stir as Sakura came to stand beside her in silence, staring at Lee as well. Finally, after a few minuets, she spoke up, leaning down to whisper out of the side of her mouth. "Am I the only one confused here?"
Silently, Hinata shook her head.
"I get that he's the plague, which is weird in and of itself, but…did he…catch it?"
Hinata shrugged, too confused for words. Apparently, in an effort to go all out with his costume, he'd ended up looking like the virus, but also giving himself symptoms. He looked like virus should it have ever contracted the actual disease…
Can they do that?
"Hey", whispered Ino, approaching them with an odd look towards Lee, "What's -"
Sakura raised a hand to stop her, shaking her head.
"I don't even know."
She looked towards Hinata who shook her head as well.
"Damn", she cursed lightly, plopping her butt down on their large desk. Her seat was at the next table, positioned both right behind Hinata and right besides Sasuke, a fact that irritated Sakura to no end, but she often came the two feet over to their desk to talk before class. Or, in this case stare.
Either worked really.
"Hey", she grinned mischievously, leaning towards Hinata, "what if your pen-pal ends up being Lee?"
"Oh God". Sakura muffled her laughed with her hands, as opposed to Ino who just didn't bother. Hinata tried to be nice, to think of some reason to defend Lee, but at the moment, looking at him, she ran a total blank.
Her two friends roared with laughter.
Kakashi-sensei chose that minuet, right before the bell, to enter the room and wave his hands in that 'take your seat' way. Grumbling, Ino shoved herself off and went to her seat like every other day.
Today was a little different from the rest however, a fact they quickly noticed when he didn't sit down like usual.
He even laid his book down on the desk.
Than never happened.
Sakura sent her a questioning glance over the table to which she shrugged yet again.
Kakashi resisted a smile at their confusion. It was all he could do not to grin at his upcoming news. He wondered how they'd react.
He also wondered about Lee…but that was something completely different. The kid was unusual, true, but really, what could he expect? He was Gai's son after all. He grimaced at the mere thought of the school's…enthusiastic…gym teacher. Was that the right word? Enthusiastic?
Well, if nothing else it was definitely the nicest.
Accurate too.
The guy hadn't changed a bit since college…
His grimace grew deeper at the memory of 20 year old Gai, running across campus on his hands, in revealing green spandex.
A full body suit should not make things that…visible.
That was one image he hadn't needed burned into his retinas.
Too late for that though.
Damn.
He brought up hopeful thoughts of their horrified little expressions to brighten his mood. Yes, yes this would be fun.
There was absolutely no need to think of that horrible incident.
Class", he announced, trying like hell to keep the smile from his voice, "Since it's Homecoming week this week, I thought we'd have a little fun. So I'm only giving you one assignment for the whole week."
He watched their eyes glitter curiously, lips twitch on the verge of a smile, before reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out an egg. He held it up for the class.
"I'd like all of you to say hello to baby."
Their faces fell swiftly, morphing into ones of anxiety and worry. It was the baby project. In all his years of teaching, rarely had anyone looked forwards to it. There'd been a few, mostly girls and one boy of questionable sexuality, but he'd taken care of that quickly enough, pairing them with people with which they were sure to clash.
He planed to do the same thing now.
"I'm fairly sure you all understand the gist of this project: don't break the egg. But there's actually a little more to it. I need a daily log of daily life with baby. When and who fed it, who it was with and when. Also, to get a passing grade, it requires at least one family photo, and one picture of baby at some public place, like a park or Disney world."
He could hear their internal groans at the thought of expending effort.
"Now as I'm sure you know", he continued, "All children have a mother and a father…well…in most cases. Definitely at some point. Anyways, because of that, I'm pairing you up into boy-girl groups. You are to take care of your egg until Friday and then present to me both the unharmed, uncooked, egg and the mandatory log and pictures. I'm going to assign you your groups and then pass out your new little bundles of joy."
Hinata's stomach clenched with nervous shyness. She hated it when the teachers chose the partners. She knew it was supposed to be efficient, balancing out the grade and effort put into the project as well as teaching you to work with people you may or may not know very well, but still…
She really hated this.
Come on, it's not all bad. What if you get paired with Noodlefox?
It's not like I'd know if I was.
You might find out who he is. This might be a good thing.
Broccoli is good for me, it doesn't mean I have to like it.
Well that's different. Nobody liked broccoli. That's just a fact of life.
Other people like broccoli!
Name 5.
Um…well…I don't know them…
And there's a reason for that. Damn, dirty, broccoli lovers. We don't need them.
But-
Her inner argument was cut off as a scream rent the air. Loud and shrill and from the table in the back, almost by the door.
What?!
The things you miss when you argue with yourself…
Ignoring her voice, she looked over towards the sound. It was Temari, apparently, standing and arguing heatedly against something Kakashi had said. Kakashi looked as calm as usual, letting her rant a little.
Sakura and Ino, however, were fuming, little homicidal fires burning in their eyes.
So obviously this involved Sasuke.
Probably a pairing thing.
"All pairings are final", he replied calmly after her rant. "For the next week you and Sasuke are a newly wed couple with your first child. Congratulations!"
He grinned at the horrified look she cast towards her "husband".
"Do we have to be married?!" she asked with obvious disgust.
Kakashi arched a brow, looking from her to Sasuke. "Well you have a child…"
"You don't have to be married to have a kid!" she protested, "I don't even have to see him! Can't I be a single mom or something? Say he ran out on me? He's the type to do that!!!"
"What?" Sasuke exclaimed, giving her a look that obviously questioned her sanity, "Since when?!"
"Well he is a pimp", Sakura whispered to Hinata under her breath.
Hinata groaned laying her forehead on her arms that were folded on the desk. She'd really been hoping that'd been forgotten.
Temari had turned, about to unleash all kinds of verbal hell on Sasuke, but Kakashi beat her to the punch.
"Sasuke, you're not the most…parental guy in this class. Temari, you're not going to becoming a single mother at 18. I don't think your parents would appreciate that and whether it happens or not it won't be on my head."
Then, leaving them both looking sufficiently insulted, he resumed listing the pairings.
"Hey", whispered Ino, leaning back in her chair so that the back of her head was almost touching the back of Hinata's. It would have, actually, if her head wasn't leaning to the side, a little above her friend's shoulder as so to whisper in her ear. "I wonder if you'll get paired up with your pen-pal guy."
"Oh, or maybe your crush-e" Sakura whispered leaning across the table to join in their quietly spoken conversation.
"Crush-e?" Hinata's eyebrows drew together in confusion.
" You know", Sakura replied, " The guy who's doing the crushing."
" On you", Ino smiled.
"I-I don't know…maybe…um…I don't even know..."
Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but shut it when they heard Ino's name called.
"Ino and …"
"It doesn't really matter now," she muttered, looking longingly towards Sasuke.
" … Kiba."
She groaned, dropping her head on the desk.
A look at Kiba confirmed his equally as disappointed expression.
Naruto was smirking.
Against her will, a line from a previous e-mail struck her:
In the mean time, maybe steer Ino towards Kiba?
Weird…
Ignoring their reactions, Kakashi continued on to pair up both Neji and Haku with two of those unimportant girls I didn't bother to mention in the first chapter, while the girls whispered amongst themselves.
"Why?" Ino whispered, leaning back again, "Why Kiba?"
"What's wrong with Kiba?" Hinata wondered.
"Well, he's not so bad…" Sakura started," but…" She cast a look towards his table where he and Shikamaru were huddled together, listening to whatever Naruto was whispering. Shikamaru was hanging off the edge of his chair, which he'd moved to the very end of the table, in his attempt to be as far away from Lee as possible. Lee was looking at Kakashi with rapt attention, oblivious to the side conversations of everyone else.
Maybe this is how he always knows the themes…
"But?"
"But", Sakura nodded her head towards the table.
"But", Ino added, "come on, think about it."
Sakura discreetly gestured towards them again, raising her eyebrows in a way that Hinata knew as supposed to mean something.
But what…
Then she got it.
"Oh!"
The class turned and stared a little, until she waved them off, embarrassed.
"Oh", she repeated, quieter, "You mean…Naruto?"
"Now she gets it", Ino grinned.
Sakura nodded. "Of course."
Hinata cast a glance over her shoulder to where the boys were laughing at something a little too loudly. Loud enough for Kakashi to whack Naruto over the head with his book. There was then some yelling about unfairness while he gripped his head, before being thoroughly owned and sinking down to sulk in his chair.
Of course it's Naruto.
Really she didn't know how she'd forgotten. Sakura'd hated him since the first day of school, and reminded them of it whenever the chance arrived.
Probably because she hasn't mentioned it in a while…
In 12 years, she'd never been able to understand her friend's hatred towards him. He wasn't gross, or disgusting. He wasn't even ugly or anything, and as far as she knew he wasn't involved with drugs or alcohol. Not that those were even factors, really, since this had started entirely too early for either.
Maybe he said something to her. Insulted her hair or something. Lord knows there's enough to say about it.
What? Sakura's got pretty hair.
It's pink…
It's soft and shiny.
And pink…look around. Does anybody else have pink hair?
Well, no, but…
It's the devils hair!
What? No it's not! It's not red, it's pink.
The devil wears pink. You may think he wears Prada, but no. It's pink.
I really don't think –
Maybe pink Prada…
But isn't the devil a man?
Yes. And apparently a gay one.
"Sakura."
"Oh", Sakura squealed, grabbing Hinata's hands across the table. "Please, please, pleeeeeeease let me get someone good. I don't care who, just not Naruto. Please." She gave Hinata's fingers a squeeze, eyes closed in anticipated wishing.
"…and…"
"Pleeeeeease."
"Gaara."
Her hands fell to the table limp.
For a minuet the world was silent, except for the crickets chirping in the background.
Sakura's eyes were wide, mouth hanging open. Leaning her chair back on 2 legs, Ino managed to reach back far enough to close it for her, like any good friend.
Apparently Sakura had found the one person worse than Naruto.
~*~*~*~
There'd been silence. At least for a minuet. And the look on Sakura's face had been priceless… and then…
He burst out laughing.
He couldn't help it.
Sakura and Gaara? It was too great. More amusing even than Ino and Kiba or Temari and Sasuke.
He totally had a new favorite class.
He wrapped an arm around his waist, one hand clamped over his mouth in an unsuccessful attempt to stifle the laughs.
Besides him, he could hear Kiba laughing his ass off as well. When he calmed down enough he cast a look around the room. Tenten was sending concerned glances towards Sakura while Ino and Hinata attempted to sooth their distressed friend.
She really did look horrified, as if her life was in mortal danger.
One look at Gaara made that completely reasonable concern.
He looked….
Damn…
His face was passive and emotionless at first glance, but if you looked a little closer you could see the signs of anger. The slight twitch of his jaw, the tightening of his hand on his pencil, the way his lips were pressed together more firmly than usual. But what really gave it away was his eyes, narrowed and cold as steel.
Sharp, pointy, dangerous steel.
The kind of steel a homicidal maniac plunges into your chest for no reason other than that you cast something resembling a look in his general direction. (Grimm: Like Johnny!)
Yes. He was pissed.
Extremely pissed.
Granted he had good reason to be. I mean, of all the people to be the mother of your egg-child, look who he got stuck with?
The pencil snapped in his grip.
And Naruto burst out laughing all over again.
At one look from Gaara everyone else had shut up and were now staring at Naruto as if he belonged in an asylum. Maybe he did? After all, only a truly insane person would laugh at Gaara.
"Dude" Kiba whispered urgently under his breath. When Naruto didn't respond he repeated it and poked him in the side.
"Dude."
"What?" he asked, forcing down his laughter once more.
"Are you crazy?"
"What do you mean?"
"Let me put this simply. Do. You. Want. To. Die?"
"Not particularly, no. Why?"
Kiba released a ragged sigh, raking his hands through his hair. For years he'd been trying to figure out how it was that Gaara, crazy, homicidal, Gaara who'd set the rumor mill spinning itself into space when he'd transferred here, wasn't a source of fear for his friend.
Nobody at school seemed to know the answer to that one. After a year or two of wondering, Kiba'd finally accepted that Naruto had a death wish, but still. Situations like these really made him wonder.
"Nothing", he sighed, "You don't get it."
"Get wha-"
"Nothing."
"What? It was funny?"
"Not that funny."
"You're just mad because you're stuck with Ino, which by the way was funny too."
"Hmph" he muttered. "We'll see. Just wait 'till you get paired up."
"About that", Kakashi interjected. "If you two are done whispering, I'd like to tell Naruto his pairing." He waited a moment. "Would you mind terribly much?"
"What? Oh, no, go ahead."
"Gee. Thanks." he looked down at the paper, "anyways, Naruto, you're with Hinata."
And once again the room was quiet.
He looked towards Kiba to see his reaction, but he couldn't discern it.
"Hey-" he started, just as the bell rang. By the time it had silenced, Kiba was gone.
~*~*~*~
"Oh my God", Sakura groaned, "I am so close to pitying you I can taste it." She hopped back to sit on the cooking class counter, next to a bowl of flour. Reaching above her head, she grabbed her arm and stretched. "Almost."
"Huh?"
"Health class", Sakura replied, "You, Naruto, your egg-child. What, did you forget already?"
"No, but…"
"But what?" Sakura asked, grabbing the baking soda on her other side and measuring it out over her lap.
"What's so bad about it? Having him as my partner?"
Sakura let out a disgusted sigh, "Well, he's probably not as bad as mine, but still…"
She added the baking soda to the rest of the dry ingredients, while Hinata mixed the butter and eggs in a smaller bowl.
"Your probably going to fail", she decided, matter-of-factly. "Good luck getting him to do anything. You're going to wind up doing the entire project all by yourself and only getting half credit." Her face became suddenly morose. "Then again…so will I…At least you don't have to fear for your life."
"I don't think he'll kill you."
Sakura gave her a startled look," Where have you been for the past 6 years?"
"Well, here, but…"
"Did you somehow miss the half-million rumors?"
No. Most definitely not. It wasn't possible, not with Sakura and Ino seated firmly in the center of the rumor mill. Ino more than Sakura, but still. Missing them was not an option.
She shook her head. "No, but - can you pass me the vanilla please?"
"Sure". She twisted around a little in an effort to locate the bottle before handing it to her friend.
"Thank you."
"Sure. Anyways, I don't usually believe in rumors - although they're fun to pass around - but even I have say they were, still are, believable. I believe them."
Hinata just nodded and let Sakura chatter on while she stirred the batter, but she wasn't listening. She'd allowed her mind to wander. About the rumors, about Naruto, and about her secret pen-pal and the guy who liked her.
~*~*~*~
It was a conspiracy. It had to be.
Nothing could be this evil unintentionally.
And this was nothing if not pure evil. He'd been staring morosely at his calculus notes for the majority of the period as if something would suddenly click.
Nothing had.
Go figure.
Needless to say, 3rd hour wasn't his favorite class. Usually is consisted on Anko-sensei writing a bunch of mathematical jibberish on the board that he supposed she expected him to understand.
He'd stopped understand things a long time ago.
He'd also stopped asking for help, accepting that math was out to kill him and that no amount of explanation could help him.
He'd just ask Gaara later. He was the one who got him in this mess in the first place. Not that it had been intentional, well, the torture aspect of it anyways.
He'd been dangerously close to failing just 3 weeks into 7th grade...which was bad. He really didn't want to fail. It would look horrible on his transcript, which needed to look as good as possible. Colleges looked at that after all.
That, and the fact that Jiraiya, his grandfather and current legal guardian, had threatened to throw his PlayStation2 out the window on the freeway.
That might have had something to do with it.
Either way, he'd wound up in the library after school, desperate, with his game system hidden safely in his backpack, trying to study this odd foreign language some people referred to as math. He'd been two seconds away from chucking the damn textbook through the window, when Gaara walked in.
Everyone else then left.
He didn't know why they were all terrified of the guy, he hadn't done anything. Sure there were thousands of violent rumors - He killed his mother, he's in a gang, his sister's a prostitute and he's her pimp. Weird ass crap like that. - but since he'd transferred he hadn't done anything. He glared at people a lot, but hey, he would too if people were accusing him of pimping out his sister!
They also complained about the fact that he didn't talk. To anyone. Ever. That was something else that confused him. Why was it they had a problem with his silence when they all, at one time, had told Naruto to shut up?
Really. They were so picky.
What, he wondered, is the appropriate amount of verbal communication?
At first he'd dismissed it - Okay, the guy likes to read. Whatever- and continued his futile efforts with the textbook. But then he remembered something.
Isn't Gaara in some freakishly high math class? Advanced Trigonometry or something like that?
So, with his natural screw-it -all abandon, he walked over to the guy the whole school feared, and asked for his help.
At first he didn't say anything, didn't even look up from the book he'd been reading. So Naruto began to ramble, about all kinds of things. The PlayStation, Jiraiya, the evils of math. Anything he could think of until…
"Shut up."
"Huh?"
"I said shut up. You're loud." He looked up, shooting him an annoyed glare obviously meant to scare him away.
So naturally he stayed.
"If I shut up will you help me?" He held out the math book as a visual aid, just incase somehow Gaara'd failed to hear him.
He was quiet a while more before…
"No."
"Huh?"
"No. Ask someone else."
"I can't. No one else gets this stuff…except maybe Shikamaru and he's too lazy to help anyways."
He turned his eyes back to his book in an obvious form of dismissal.
"Pleeeeeease."
No response.
"Please. Come on I really need help."
Nothing.
"The fate of my PlayStation is at stake here. Please."
Still nothing.
"Fine", he grumbled, "be that way."
Turning to leave, he'd walked three steps…
"Tomorrow. Here. After school."
He turned around, his face brightening into this huge smile.
"Thank-"
"And shut up."
Remembering it, Naruto grinned. He'd showed up the next day, despite Kiba's best warnings, and had indeed passed the class.
With flying colors even.
Which had damned him. They put him in a higher math class…and a higher one… He hadn't wanted to go, but Jiraiya hadn't really given him a choice in the matter.
They kept doing this, much to his charign, until finally, this year, he was in Calculus.
Joy.
Freaking joy.
Oh well, he sighed as the bell rang, at least I have Gaara next hour…hopefully he'll understand this stuff…
~*~*~*~
Science class was always…odd.
It probably had something to do with the teacher…
"Professor" Orochimaru.
Yes. They had to call him that. He claimed it was respectful, accurate, classy, and British.
He liked British things. It was a little odd.
He was British with a snake fetish.
It made class….interesting…to say the least.
"Do you get it?" Naruto asked, writing down definitions in his lab book.
They did this a lot, for almost every lab. Naruto was the only one brave enough to be his lab partner, so it always ended up with Gaara looking over Naruto's math work, while Naruto actually did the science project. It was usually simple anyways.
Unfortunately, it was Science 3, Chemistry. Which involved a lot of math.
It was like having two math classes, one after the other.
It kind of sucked…
Gaara ignored him, looking over the work. He was silent for a few more minuets before speaking. "Did you do any of this?"
"No."
"Did you even try?"
"No."
"Then of course you're not going to get it."
"If the notes confused me, why should I think I'd understand the work?"
"Have you ever considered asking the teacher?"
"Nope. That's what I've got you for."
He sighed.
"What about it confused you?"
"Um…all of it… "
Grabbing a red pen he wrote several formulas on the page next to the problems, along with some written out, simply worded instructions before holding the paper up.
"Do you get it now?"
"Um…kind of…"
"Then do your work."
He traded the paper for the lab write-up, finishing what Naruto had begun, and leaving the blonde to his math work.
Just like every other day.
~*~*~*~
"Finally!" he exclaimed as the bell sounded, announcing the end of the class. "Lunch!"
Quickly he shoved his mostly finished math work into his backpack, along with the lab write-up Gaara'd finished. Since both members of the group were required to have their own copy, he'd need to copy it. Zipping his backpack he looked up. Gaara was gone.
This might have been strange if it didn't happen everyday.
They'd been friends for years and he still didn't know where he disappeared to. He just always kind of appeared.
Randomly he stopped and though about Gaara really hard, seeing if it would summon him.
It didn't.
Damn.
He'd wanted superpowers…
Shrugging it off, he was half way to the lunch line, when he remembered about Health class. Since they'd run out of time in class they had to pick up their eggs at lunch.
With a longing glace at the not-yet-long lunch line, he wondered if maybe Hinata had already gotten the egg.
He wanted his food…
He also wanted his PlayStation, and since Jiraiya's threat had since extended towards all his classes, this egg was rather…important.
What if I leave my PlayStation at Kiba's…he did spill Coke all over his…on second thought maybe Shikamaru…
No. No, he needed to do this. With one last, mournful gaze at the growing line, he turned and headed towards the classroom.
Entering the room, he found that he wasn't the only one to sacrifice their spot in the lunch line for this class. Waiting by Kakashi's desk stood Chouji and Tenten, Chouji blissfully munching on a bag of potato chips.
Tenten had her hands on her hips, frustrated.
Kakashi was digging through a drawer, grumbling incoherently to himself.
"Hey Chouji", Naruto greeted with a slight wave before leaning against the wall.
He waved back, his mouth too full to speak.
"Hey, who's your partner anyways?"
He swallowed. "Shikamaru."
"Excuse me?"
"Shikamaru", Kakashi answered for him, finally locating a box of eggs in the bottom drawer and placing them on the desk. "They're the politically correct, homosexual couple. It's not right to discriminate."
"They ran out of girls", Tenten muttered, impatiently reaching into the box.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "What are you so mad about?"
"This project is horrible!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up, the egg firmly clasped in her left. "It's a waste of perfectly good food! There are children in third world countries starving and we're wasting eggs teaching irresponsible children how to deal with unplanned pregnancy!!! Let their parents teach them this shit! Or better yet buy them a freaking condom!!! They're not that hard to come by! Hell, go down to the Planned Parenthood, they're giving them away there!" She waved her arms rapidly, using a vast amount of quickly changing hand motions as if attempting to illustrate her point.
Personally, Naruto feared for her child, who was being drug along for the ride.
I wonder if this is how you make an egg cream… no, you probably need cream. You know, I've always wondered what an egg cream was. I should look that up…
"Yeah!" Tenten ranted, while Naruto pondered this, " Yeah that's what they should do! They should go there! Besides, according to Juno they're boysenberry flavored! I don't know why the hell you need a flavored condom but whatever! So what if his junk tastes like pie! If it's going there you're not going to get pregnant!!! And another thing-"
"That's enough. Now take your egg, keep it safe for a week. After that feel free to send it off to Ethiopia or wherever."
Turning dismissively, he handed the eggs to Chouji and Naruto, freeing them to go and eat.
Quickly, they hurried out, hoping to get the last of the pizza before it was gone, Tenten still muttering in the background.
~*~*~*~
Hinata sighed, flopping back onto her bed, exhausted.
Still, she found herself unable to relax.
After rolling around for several minutes trying to get comfortable, she resigned to the fact that it was impossible. At least while the little box on her computer remained.
The one that displayed her 3 new messages.
Her heart leapt into her throat at the words, and she tried to convince herself it was simply because she enjoyed getting mail. It had absolutely nothing to do with the secret pen-pal who may or may not have contributed to one of the messages.
No. It wasn't that at all.
Trying to convince herself of this, she turned away from the computer to pay unusually close attention to the plant on her windowsill. The small pot of pansy's could only hold her attention for so long though, before she found herself right back at the computer, butt in the chair, staring at the screen.
And the box.
The box that all but screamed about her messages.
Damn alluring box.
Sighing, depressed by her lack of self-restraint, she moved her mouse over to click on the box. Her in-box popped up displaying her 3 messages.
One was a coupon from Barnes & Nobles.
One was from Ino.
And then, last but not least, sat the message from Noodlefox.
Biting her lip, she forced herself to check them in order, leaving Noodlefox's for last.
Apparently there was a sale at the bookstore that weekend, for 2 days only, with everything 30% off.
That was cool.
Next was Ino's.
From: Worldsprettiestflower
To: Violeteyes24
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG CAN YOU BELIEVE KAKASHI?!!!!! PAIRING SASUKE UP WITH TEMARI! REALLY! AND THEN SHE HAD THE NERVE TO COMPLAIN!!!! ABOUT SASUKE OF ALL PEOPLE!
*sigh* why couldn't I have gotten Sasuke. I could have truly appreciated him. I could have been the perfect wife and our child would have grown up to be perfect. I cant see it now. Going to balls, wearing long, silk, gowns. She'd be the most beautiful girl in the world, and now she never will because her mother is a slut!
You remember the rumors, don't you? About Gaara pimping out his sister. I don't know about you, but I believe every word.
She probably will become an unwed, single, mother at 18 like Kakashi said. I can totally see that happening. And she would deserve it.
Skank.
Anyways, can you believe the nerve of Kiba, making me pick up the baby? I think that says something about his parenting style. In fact, that probably outlines the entire relationship!!!! He's probably one of those macho men who're all, "babies are women's work", and "get me a beer babe." God. Divorce court here I come.
Why couldn't Sasuke have been my husband huh? He'd have been a good father. He's so good at everything else I'm sure parenthood would just come naturally to him. Don't you?
And poor Sakura. Getting stuck with Gaara. I'm worried we're going to find her in a ditch somewhere…
I feel bad for you too. Honestly, Naruto. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Did he really pick up the egg though???? Weird… watch it turn up in an omelet or something.
I guess we're all failing this project. I say we load up on the extra credit while we can.
Me and Eliza (my child) will IM u later. 8:00. Sakura will be there too.
XOXO Ino
Hinata leaned back against her chair, the letter leaving her exhausted. Ino's letters usually did. Every time she read one she had the image of Ino typing away furiously at the keyboard, her fingers a blur over the keys in an attempt to write as quickly as the words popped into her head.
Ino wrote like she spoke: quickly and bouncing from topic to topic.
And usually about Sasuke…
She does know it's just a project…right?
And then that one line…
Why couldn't Sasuke have been my husband huh? He'd have been a good father. He's so good at everything else I'm sure parenthood would just come naturally to him. Don't you?
Honestly, how was she supposed to reply to that? There was too much wrong with that statement than should be legal, and yet Ino seemed to believe it wholeheartedly.
Did the whole "pimp" thing mean nothing to her?
Pimpin, not pimp…that was all you…
Grrr….
The only thing worse than an obnoxious voice in your head was one that was right…
But still, his whole reputation denied that little fantasy of Ino's.
Shaking her head in defeat she clicked her way back to her inbox. There was no need to reply, she'd talk to her later, with Sakura.
And apparently Eliza…
I can't believe she named the egg…
Why not? I can.
Ignoring the voice she clicked on Noodlefox's message, ignoring the skitter of excitement that ran down her spine.
From: Noodlefox49
To: Violeteyes24
Hey Hinata,
Thanks for giving me a chance. I promise, nothing bad will happen because of this. You have my word. My word means a lot to me…does that count as a hint?
Anyways, as for why, it's because how often does this kind of opportunity come around? The chance to have someone you can tell anything to without having to worry about what they think? I mean, my friends a great, and I can tell them anything, but…it's not quite the same. If I tell you something about me that makes you hate me, you might still like me if we met in person because you wouldn't know who it was you didn't like.
That was a little confusing but you get it right?
Also, because I don't know you. Not well, and I've known you for a while. That's a clue, I'm someone you've known for a while.
Haha, it's funny that nobody got Monday's theme. Well, nobody except Lee and he always gets it! What was up with his costume anyways? He looked like the disease…only infected…God. It was so hard not to laugh.
So I said screw it and did anyways. Haha.
Later,
Me
Where as Ino's e-mail had been heavily, laden down with gossip, yelling and false (probably) accusations, Noodlefox's was light and made her laugh. It was nice to know that everyone found Lee's costume odd and hilarious.
Because the looks on the class's faces wasn't indication enough?
Well yeah, but he might not be in the class. It might be a completely fresh perspective…coming back to the same conclusion…
Or maybe he is in the class… and speaking of the class, shouldn't you have something to do with the raising of your egg-child?
"Oh!" she exclaimed out loud, leaping up from the chair before realizing that there wasn't really anything she could do. Once over the initial shock, she sat back down, returning to lean against the chair's back. "Ugh! I completely forgot!"
Motherly instincts are wasted on you…
She groaned, pressing her palms to her eyes. Once free of school the project had flown completely from her mind. Even hearing Ino rant about it, it had been as if it was a school thing, created there and left there as well.
Unfortunately, it wasn't. In fact, it was a wholly at-home project and they would probably be doing worksheets or something for the next week of class.
Closing her computer, promising to respond to him later, she walked over to flop face first on her bed, curling around a pillow. What to do? What to do?
I guess first would be finding some way to contact Naruto.
Well he is your baby's daddy.
Yes. Yes, she definitely needed to contact him.
But how.
Prying herself from the bed, she trudged towards her door, headed for the kitchen to unearth a phonebook when the phone rang.
It's probably for Hanabi, she concluded, or a telemarketer.
All of her father's business calls were taken on his cell phone, and her friends didn't call much for fear of her father, so basically all of the calls received on the land-line were for her sister. She pulled open a drawer to search it.
She heard the click of the receiver, the end of the ringing, her sister in the other room answer "hello."
Yes. All calls were for Hanabi.
"Alright. Hinata!" she called, her voice tinged with confusion," The phone's for you!"
She closed the drawer, jerking up in surprise.
"Hinata?!"
"C-coming!" she replied shakily, going to take the receiver from her sister.
"It's a boy", she informed her as she handed it over, looking as confused as Hinata felt. If this were any other time, she might have been offended by her sister's reaction - was is that unexpected for a boy to call for her?- but at the moment she was just as shocked.
"Hello?"
~*~*~*~
Is this the right thing to do?
Funny. That thought seemed to have taken up permanent residency in his mind lately. Ever since he'd first started dealing with Hinata, he'd found himself questioning his moves.
This one, however, seemed harmless enough to execute though. He really did need to call her, start their project.
He was currently sitting at the foot of his bed, the spiral cord of the old, cord phone installed on his wall above the nightstand, was wound around his leg. Hey, it'd been boring waiting for her to pick up. And then for her to get to the phone once her sister had answered.
Did he already know she had a sister? He wasn't sure. Had he heard it before? Maybe…
"Hey", he smiled slightly at her hesitant greeting, "Hey, it's me…um…Naruto. "
"N-Naruto um, hello, I um…I "
He bit his lip to ward off the chuckled building in his throat. It probably wasn't very nice to be amused by her discomfort, and in all honesty he didn't want to make her nervous. It was just…
So cute…
No! Bad Naruto! This your best friend's crush! Totally off limits in all possible ways!
But still, admittedly, cute when she stuttered
She's stuttered all her life, you never noticed before.
Then again, she'd never really spoken to him before.
Yeah, that was it. Stutters were much cuter when you were being stuttered at. That was the only logical explanation for the chuckle and warm feeling slowly emerging in his chest at the thought of her, all flustered on the other end of the line.
But still. Best friend. Off limits.
"I'm just calling about the project."
"Oh! Right, um, yes…that's it…what about it…no, um, wait…"
"I just wanted to know what the plan was. About the child care, the pictures."
"Yes, that um…"
"Are you okay?" he asked, his brows drawing together in unseen concern.
"No um yes um-"
She was cut off by a beeping sound.
"Yes?"
"Um, c-call waiting. Probably for my sister, um..."
He frowned at the phone, subconsciously winding the cord around his leg.
"You have to go?" He guessed again, trying to help her out. Sure she was amusing, but he really didn't want to give her an aneurism from one simple phone conversation.
She'd wind up on life support by the end of the project.
"Y-yes. I'm sorry…Um…"
"Wanna meet up?"
"Huh?" He could hear the shock in her voice, overriding the nerves.
"Yeah, like meet up and discuss the project in person. Maybe around…" he glanced at his watch. It was 4:00. "4:30. Maybe 5:00. At Ichiraku's?"
She was silent for a moment longer. So quiet in fact, that he could hear her sister's voice in the background calling for the phone, something about expecting a call from a boy. Finally she replied with a quick, stammered, "Y-yes, sure. Um…4:30." and a somewhat exasperated goodbye. Then the phone clicked off and left the dial tone in his ear.
He held the phone in front of him, staring at it. Was he really that intimidating? He'd thought he'd been friendly.
Did she dislike him as much as her friends?
For some reason, he really didn't like that thought.
Shaking his head, he brushed the thoughts away before casting a glance towards the head of his bed. His little egg-child sat there on the unused pillow looking suitably adjusted. Moving him would almost make him feel bad.
Almost.
Still, he decided, he could at least get ready to go before disrupting his kid.
Standing, he started towards the bathroom.
And fell face first on the floor, the cord of the phone wrapped tight around his legs.
~*~*~*~
Smooth.
Real smooth.
Yeah, this was why guys didn't call her.
The thought was bitter by itself, made more so by the sound of her 11 year old sister in the other room, speaking flirtatiously with the boy on the other end.
Yeah. She was 11, and was already better at dealing with boys.
It was sad, really. Lately, her sister had been out almost every weekend with some friend or boy, or boyfriend, while Hinata'd been home alone with a book, or on the computer.
Her father spent all his time at work, or holed up in his office, so that even when he was home he might as well not have been.
It didn't usually bother her, being alone. Even not having a boyfriend wasn't so bad. High school boys were shallow and she was sure that she'd find the right man once she was older. One who looked at the inside rather than the outside.
Then she'd get someone.
She was sure of it.
Still…it wouldn't be so bad to at least get asked on a date…
Well, what do you consider meeting up with father of your child?
Crap! She'd gone and distracted herself!
Hurrying up the stairs, past her sister who was laughing attractively at whatever the boy had said, she did her best to make herself somewhat presentable before rushing out the door.
~*~*~*~
"Damnit!" Naruto cursed, trying unsuccessfully to shove his arm into the sleeve of his jacket while running down the street. It made for quite a scene, especially considering the fact that he often wound up off balance and hopping in circles on one foot.
It really was quite comical, and he might have even laughed at himself had he not been 30 minuets late already. Finally succeeding in getting his jacket on, the egg safely zipped away in the pocket, he hurried towards Ichiraku's, leaping over a few fences and cutting through a bookstore.
Damnit!
Finally, arriving he leaned against a stool, hoping he hadn't made her wait long. Especially in the chilly, October…wait, where was she?
He looked around frantically, his arms waving as if he was trying to conjure her up from thin air.
Apparently it worked, because just as he turned back towards the store he saw her emerging from the back, her left hand in her right sleeve and vice' versa. Her jacket was lavender and hanging to her knees, over long, black, pants. Vaguely he wondered what had happened to the bulky blue one she usually wore. Her hair was pitch black and loose to about the center of her back. It had definitely grown since middle school. Had he ever noticed that before?
Her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold, her violet eyes wide in surprise as she saw him.
"Oh!" she squeaked, her hands pulling out from their warm cocoon of sleeves, "Um, hi."
He watched her, shuffling nervously.
Was it him? He didn't think he was particularly frightening…was he?
No, no, she's just really shy…
Smiling warmly, hoping to ease the tension, he reached into his pocket to retrieve their child. "I've got the kid", he grinned, hopping up onto a stool.
He liked Ichiraku's, truly, but sometimes he wished it were a normal restaurant with more between him and the elements that a short curtain. Shivering slightly, he placed the egg carefully on the counter, cupping his hands around it to make sure it wouldn't roll. As soon as he was sure however, he shoved his cold hand back into his pockets.
She sat on a stool too, nibbling almost unnoticeably on her bottom lip.
"So", he began, spinning on the stool to face her, "how do you want to do this?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Well, like, do you want to take the picture today or something? Do you want to take the egg today…? He gestured with his hands in place of the words that he was letting trail off, "What?"
"Um, a-anything's fine", she replied, her eyes still on the ground, darting from left to right. Her hands were straight at her sides gripping the edge of the stool, her fingers white from strain and the cold.
"What do you want?" he pressed, his tone as nice as he could make it.
She mumbled something quickly, her eyes on the ground.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
~*~*~*~
Stupid Hinata, stupid. Speak up…it's no big deal…it's just Naruto…
"I-", she swallowed. "I said, I can take him today and we could, maybe, switch off tomorrow, and then back the next day kind of like that…maybe."
He waited and for a second she was sure she'd said something stupid. Damn, why couldn't she talk to strangers? Hell, he wasn't even a stranger!
How is it that in 11 years, plus kindergarten, you've never managed to have a real conversation with this guy?
Well…I asked him for a pencil once, I think, um…
She sighed, depressed. She knew the answer to that, no matter how disheartening. She'd never spent much time with anyone other than her friends. When you're as shy as her meeting people is a challenge, making friends out of them even harder. Once she'd gone through the agony of making 2 she'd figured she was okay.
How many friend did one person really need?
And it was fine. She loved Sakura and Ino, and had a few other people she'd talk to sometimes; Tenten or Lee for example.
But not Naruto.
A fact that was proving rather problematic at the moment.
It fine, he seems nice enough…I've never known him to be mean I'm sure it will be alright…
But still… He hadn't said anything…
That's 'cause it's only been a few seconds.
Seriously?
Finally, after what seemed like forever he grinned.
"That's cool."
She felt herself release a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.
"Alright."
They sat there in a somewhat awkward silence before…
"Wanna get something to eat?"
"What?"
Naruto shook his thumb towards the back of the restaurant. "Well they do sell food here, these really good noodles. I'm going to order some. You want any?"
"Um, well, I don't really have any money…"
She hadn't know they'd be eating. Then again, he'd asked her to meet at a restaurant so maybe the eating had been implied in the invitation. Or maybe…
God! This was why she didn't go on dates!
"That's ok", he replied spinning his stool around to face the counter, "I've got it."
"No!" she refused, waving her hands in front of her, "No, I can't take your money! I-I'm sorry um…."
"Hey, relax okay. It's cool. After all, you are the mother of my child." He winked reassuringly.
Her cheeks heated almost instantly.
Maybe he'll think it's from the cold she prayed. She cast a glance towards him to see. If he knew the truth he didn't let on.
"No", she refused once more, "No, I really can't. I've um…I've got to get home anyways... Um, well…goodbye."
He raised one eyebrow, but waved, "Well, bye."
Frowning, he watched her hurry away in what he supposed was the direction of her house.
Well…that was weird…
If Kiba wanted to get with her he'd definitely have his work cut out for him.
Then again, everyone seemed to like Kiba. Well, almost everyone. For all he knew she might already.
I wonder if she replied to my e-mail.
He smirked at that. She might be…afraid…of him in person, but what about on the internet. He wondered what she'd be like there. Would she still be scared…nervous…whatever the hell that was just now… She actually has more reason to fear him there…
He sighed at the irony, shaking his head before lifting his gaze to the man behind the counter. He'd been ignoring them, but at Naruto's look he smiled.
"You ready to order?" he asked, "or do you plan to continue scaring away pretty girls?"
"I didn't scare her away", he huffed, the 'pretty' comment flying right over his head, "and yes I'll order. Gimmie my usual! Stat!"
Chuckling, the man turned to get the food for his best customer, wondering when that boy was going to get a clue.
~*~*~*~
[8: 03 P.M]
Sakurablossom133: Hey, wazzup?
Worldsprettiestflower: Hw. U?
Sakurablossom133 : Not much. Just writing out my will. Hinata?
Violeteyes24 : Yes?
Sakurablossom133 : Want my stereo?
Worldsprettiestflower: Hey? Y don't I get anything?
Sakurablossom133: You get all my clothes.
Worldsprettiestflower: Oooh, even the sexy red dress?
Sakurablossom133: No. Sorry. I'm being buried in it.
Worldsprettiestflower: Damn you.
Sakurablossom133: Love you too.
Worldsprettiestflower: Grrr : (
Sakurablossom133: : )
Violeteyes24: Why are you giving away your stuff?
Sakurablossom133: Because Gaara is going to kill me. Especially when I make him take a picture with me.
Worldsprettiestflower: And you're doing this why?
Sakurablossom133: because I'm going to die anyways. I might as well do it with an A.
Violeteyes24: have you talked to Kiba yet?
Worldsprettiestflower: No way. I got Eliza and I'm taking care of her. Why should I call him?
Sakurablossom133: For the picture?
Worldsprettiestflower: I'll deal with that when I get to it.
Violeteyes24: What's wrong with Kiba anyways?
Sakurablossom133: Well, he's not as bad as he could be but…he is friends with Naruto. That's got to say something, even if everyone else does like him…
Worldsprettiestflower: Yeah. I did kinda get the lesser of the evils…
Sakurablossom133: Damn you. : (
Worldsprettiestflower: Love you too : )
Sakurablossom133: Speaking of Naruto *ick* have you talked to him?
…
Worldsprettiestflower: Hinata?
…
Sakurablossom133: Hinata? Heeellooooo…you there?
Violeteyes24: Yes.
Sakurablossom133: Did you?
Violeteyes24: …Yes.
Worldsprettiestflower: WHAT?!
Sakurablossom133: Tell! Tell!
Violeteyes24: Huh?
Worldsprettiestflower: What happened? Did you get your egg back? Did you name it? Did you make it a bed? Feed it? ARE YOU DEMANDING CHILD SUPPORT?!!!
Sakurablossom133: …You do realize this is just a project…with an egg…don't you?
Worldsprettiestflower: …
Sakurablossom133: Okaaaaay…anyways, what happened?
Violeteyes24: Nothing really…he called and then someone called for Hanabi and so we went meet at Ichiraku's and decided what we were going to do and I stammered and stared at my shoes the whole time…
…
Sakurablossom133: Where'd he get your number???
~*~*~*~
Naruto smiled, sitting cross legged in his computer chair. He had one unread message.
From: Violeteyes24
To. Noodlefox49
Dear You,
I hope your word really does mean as much to you as you say it does. I would like to be able to trust you.
I think you're right about having someone to talk to and I hope that even though you know who I am it will be okay. At least I won't know who you are to be awkward in front of you. Then again, I'm awkward in front of most people… Especially today.
We have this project in health and I went meet my partner at this restaurant. I was so nervous the entire time… I know I shouldn't have been, I've known him for years but... I'm too shy for my own good. I hate it!!!
I wish I were better about that sort of thing…
You saw Lee? I'm glad someone else thought the same thing. I mean, my friends did too, but…
I've got to go. I'll need my sleep if I'm going to make a fool of myself again tomorrow.
Best Wishes,
Hinata.
He smiled as he typed his reply. At the moment, he was very glad this whole e-mail mess had occurred.
THE END!!!! AIR!!!! Gah! That took me forever! NO, DON'T WORRY IT'S NOT THE END OF THE STORY, JUST THE CHAPTER!!! Anyways, I've decided that this fanfic will only be 7 chapters long. 1 chapter for each day in the story. That seems like a good idea to me, however, because of this, I need to cram a lot of character development into less space that I'd first anticipated. That results in 30 page chapters and longer waits for you. But still, I'd like to think it's worth it. Anyways, before I go I've got a few announcements to make!!!
This story is not HinaXKiba. I've been asked that and while I considered keeping you in suspense I decided against it. It's HinaXNaru, all the way. Even when it may seem like HinaXKiba, it's really not!!!