Filler Chapter: Hinata of Awakening
As you must be guessing, yes this is a filler chapter. Chapter 8 is in development and halfway done, but it will be running a little late as of now. This is to say sorry. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. This is what the NaruHina fans have been waiting for…
Hinata shivered slightly as she walked down the street to the shopping district of her town. She had been saving up money from all those D-rank missions she and her team had been doing and it was finally going to pay off. Naruto-kun had asked her out to "hang for a while" this weekend! She shivered again. It wasn't really cold, in fact it was still summer, but whenever she thought of that moment it sent shivers down her spine. She stopped and pinched herself again to see if she wasn't just dreaming, but it really happened!
She walked into a clothing shop in the middle of the shopping district. She hadn't been here before. In truth, she hadn't been to any clothing shop at all besides the one that tailored the Hyuuga clan. She heard from the other girls at school that this particular store sold great merchandise; stuff that was really popular amongst the other girls. She wouldn't know about any of that stuff, it just wasn't really her style to worry about such girly things. As such she had no idea what she was looking for when she walked into the shop and saw all manners of clothes she had never seen before. She was at complete loss for words as she saw all of the different shirts and pants. She even started to blush when she came across certain ones.
'I-Is that s-supposed to be a-a skirt or a-a wristband'' she thought as she came across a skirt that was especially short. She held it to her black shorts and found that it barely even came halfway. She threw it back to where she found it and decided to move on. She considered the shorts she was wearing to be too short as is.
'W-what is that even?" she asked as she came across a shirt that showed ample chest. Her blush intensified when she imagined herself in it, and what Naruto would say if he saw her in it. Would he compliment her? Or would he feel ashamed of her? No… Naruto-kun said he'd never be ashamed of her. But still, this would reveal… reveal… She threw it back hastily. She then continued to hide it amongst the other clothes so no one would ever find it. She didn't need any bold girls stealing away Naruto-kun's attention.
As she walked deeper into the store she heard screaming. One sounded a lot like Ino, while the other sounded a lot liked nails on a chalkboard. As she came around the corner she smiled as she saw her two old classmates, Sakura and Ino. While she and Ino were always on pretty good terms, Sakura had personally apologized to her for picking on Naruto, and they became friends, though Sakura was always tense around her.
"Gah Ino-pig! It looks better on me!" Sakura shouted while pulling on the very same shirt Hinata had picked up earlier. Hinata gasped as she saw the threatening thing being pulled back and forth between the two girls.
"How? We both know that I am the bigger one here!" Ino said mockingly," Now let go! It's the last one!" she shouted this time, pulling it back towards her. They started to pull in it harder and harder to the point the fabric started to strain. Hinata saw this and rushed to get the other one. When she found it, she threw it into the fray and the fighting stopped immediately.
"Thanks Hinata-chan" Ino said, rubbing the new shirt to her cheek.
"Yeah… thanks Hinata-san" Sakura said, guilt still evident in her eyes.
"It was n-no problem, I was o-only trying to help…" Hinata responded while trying to back away slowly. She knew of Ino's reputation as a fashionista and a gossip and she didn't want to be a model for her or her new gossip topic. As she was backing up she was met by another female friend of hers.
She turned around to see TenTen, the weapon mistress of Konoha. Her hair was done in its usual double buns, and she was wearing her usual garb. She had the slyest smirk on her face as she walked forward, her hands on her hips.
"Fancy seeing you here, Hinata", she started, her smirk growing larger each passing word, "I thought the Hyuuga only got tailored by their own personal one?"
Hinata gasped and backed away from her as well, only to bump into the two girls behind her.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, it is kinda weird…", Ino replied. Hinata started to become frightened as she noticed the blonde kunoichi go into her "Gossip Mode". Her face started to turn red, and she started to look for another way out of the store… any way out of the store!
She decided to cut through a small opening left in their defenses, only to be blocked by Sakura.
"Really? No wonder you wear the same thing all the time! You're long overdue for some new clothes!" Sakura joyously screamed, her look of guilt replaced by a look of mock insult, "And you never came to me for new clothes? I'm shocked, I am the fashionista of the Rookie Nine…"
Ino scoffed, "You aren't the fashionista, Ms. Pink Hair Forehead, and I'm the only one with any sort of fashion sense. Although…" she trailed off looking apprehensive, "I thought the Hyuuga were really adamant about their dressing style. As far as I can remember your clan has been wearing the exact same clothes your entire lives. Sometimes I heard that the people who break the dress code are punished… Why are you even here Hinata?"
At this Hinata started to blush as her face became red. She started to stutter out some words, but they were nothing more than incomprehensible sounds as she choked on her own words. This caused the rest of the group to laugh. They knew that while Hinata was indeed shy, she only ever blushed that much for one reason…
"Is it about… Naruto?" Ino asked, her Gossip Mode now fully on and blazing. Stars replaced her eyes as she clasped her hands together and bobbed up and down on her heels. Hinata knew about Ino's nature and knew she had to put it down as soon as possible.
"N-n-no!" Hinata managed to answer, a little too quickly. This did not go unnoticed by the rest of the girls, who all elicited a collective squeal now that they had their answer.
"I never knew Hinata to be so bold as to try to catch Naruto's attention on her own… I don't think the idiot would notice a parade if it started right in front of him, but if its Hinata I'm sure he would notice!" Ino teased with a wink, causing Hinata's blush to deepen further. She pulled her head down into her jacket to hide her face, which was now likened to a tomato.
"I-I said t-that it wasn't!" she managed to squeak out, which alerted the other three. They began to feel a little embarrassed until Tenten's smirk came back to her face.
"Really, Hinata-chan? Well, a little birdie told me that a certain Naruto-kun invited our little Hyuuga heiress out on a date" she said, stressing certain words to make her point. It worked perfectly, and soon the other two girls broke out of their stupor and got right back into their old groove.
"I didn't think the baka had it in him!" Sakura practically screamed to the world. She now sported the biggest grin and Hinata could almost see the plans she started to make through her pronounced forehead. She didn't like what she was seeing.
"Isn't that just the cutest thing? Who would've thought? The loudest and the quietest in our class going out! I would say I'm surprised if I didn't think of it already." Ino boasted, her chest swelling with undeniable pride. Hinata could only stare in horror at the sight she was seeing. Now that Ino knew, it was only a matter of time before everyone knew.
"I'm surprised you just heard, the way I hear it, the two lovebirds have been hanging out a lot lately. They've been having a lot of… alone time…" replied Tenten, causing the rest of the girls to lose a collective "ooh". Hinata could tell the situation was getting out of hand. Nothing she could say would work on them now that they were like this. By now they were crowding around each other talking about things she was sure was related to them and had their backs turned. She took this time to make a mad dash for the exit. She almost made it… had a chain not wrapped around her and trapped her. She turned her neck to see the three girls looking at her, a fact made scarier because their eyes were now stars.
"We can't let…" Sakura started, in a voice so shaky and unstable it was almost creepy.
"you go…" Ino picked up, her voice similar to Sakura's.
"without getting you ready for your date… right?" finished Tenten in a voice that seemed creepier than the last two. Her head started to twitch, and Hinata started to regret ever coming into the store! In a deeper and almost demonic voice Tenten screamed, "GET OVER HERE" and Hinata was pulled back into the store by the deathly chain. The store doors closed by themselves, as if by magic, and the fate of Hinata Hyuuga was determined…
XxX
Naruto was jumping across the rooftops the fastest he could go. Behind him were several ninjas of jonin and chuunin rank. Most of them were pissed, while some of them were just plain livid. They were seeing red, and like a mad bull charged through any and all things that stood in their way. They started to gain on him, and Naruto had to undo his last weighting seal in order to keep the distance between him and them at a comfortable one. As he ran, he wondered what he did to deserve this chase this time. When he woke up that morning he certainly didn't provoke anything… so why was he being chased now?
Naruto turned down an alleyway and ran into a dead end. He turned around to run the other way only to find he was blocked by the ninjas, some of which looked familiar.
"How's your day guy? I trust getting the paint off wasn't too hard for you, now was it?" Naruto asked with a jeer. He backed up slowly, eventually reaching the wall. The jonin he was talking to cringed a bit before proceeding forward.
"Don't play stupid, demon brat!" he screamed with hatred dripping off of each word. His face portrayed every bit of emotion he was feeling, and was screwed up on a way that made it impossible to look at without feeling small. "We have been tortured by your presence and pranks long enough! Prepare for divine judgment!" he continued, starting to go through hand signs. Naruto had started to do his own, but pair of ninja handcuffs was thrown by one of the chuunins and bind his hands together midway, locking them in a certain position.
"No little jokes this time, brat. Not like we need any concern from a no talent brat like you."
"No talent huh? That's not what you were screaming when I had dyed your face blue… Tell me; am I the greatest stylist or what?" Naruto continued to joke. His joke apparently hit a nerve, as a vein started to appear on the jonin's forehead and he started to speed up his hand signs. Naruto started to fumble with his bindings, but to little or no avail. His hands could only move a few or so inches in any shape or form. Ninja handcuffs were designed to even bind your fingers from bending…
"Are you ready to fry, brat? I made this jutsu just for you… Have fun with my new special… Fire Style: Demon Killer Jutsu!" A stream of fire sprang from his mouth and formed in the shape of a fox head and hurdled toward the bonded boy. The gathered ninja laughed as the fire loomed closer and closer to Naruto, to which the said boy just yawned. What happened next seemed to go in slow motion for all those who were present; for the ninja because of the fear, for Naruto because of the hilarity.
Naruto stomped his foot on the ground when the fire fox was mere inches from his face. It stopped where it was as a white seal appeared on the ground in the alley. It clearly read the words "Seal of Confinement." The fox turned in its spot and started to fly around the seal, not being able to leave it. The ninjas had to duck and dodge the fox as it flew overhead, coming lower and lower. Some tried to leave, only to find themselves trapped in the seal as well. The boundaries of the seal shrank more and more until it was barely more than a tube, squishing all of the ninjas together. The fox flew up and when it came down engulfed all those present in a searing fire. Naruto waited for a few seconds before releasing the seal and letting the fire disperse. In its wake left charred bodies of several higher ranked ninja, now unconscious. Naruto walked by them and made his way to his destination from before he started being chased.
"Stupid ignorant ninja…" Naruto muttered as he walked through the city districts, to the shopping area.
XxX
Not three seconds passed since he entered the shopping district before he was chased back out. It almost seemed like they were waiting for him. Naruto, while still a genin, was still a ninja. Unless they were sitting there looking for him he couldn't see how they were able to spot him so quickly. They only really looked for him on his birthday, but otherwise couldn't be bothered with him. It wasn't his birthday, so what was the reason now? He looked down at his bright orange jumpsuit, and then picked at it lightly.
"Maybe… Nah" he thought before pushing the thought away and walking on. He would just have to find somewhere else to shop before meeting up with Hinata.
XxX
Hinata walked down the street, absolutely horrified. It had taken hours for the girls to finish picking something out for her. She had originally planned to spend only a couple minutes! She wanted a couple hours to go home and calm her nerves, but that option was gone now that she was late… by half an hour. Now she was going to half to deal with a no doubt pissed Naruto, and the shame of her new outfit, which she felt completely embarrassed in.
The girls managed to shove her into something that she assumed they thought looked good on her. Then they promptly shred her old ones to pieces so she couldn't change back into them. It didn't matter much to her… she had several other outfits like that one at home exactly like it, but that didn't change the fact that it was her favorite… Wait… now that she thought about it… that could be the reason they kept her so late! They didn't want her to be able to go home and change! Hinata cursed their devious planning as she rounded another corner on her way to go meet Naruto-kun. She looked up at the sky to see that the sun was slowly setting. It was almost sun set, and the sky was tinted orange. The clouds were beginning to disperse as a cool nightly breeze blew through the village. Hinata shivered lightly, summer was coming to an end. She saw that she was becoming later and later so she picked up the pace, almost going into a jog. She attracted a lot of attention from the boys around her as she rushed to her destination. Their ages ranged from older to younger than her, and some were even her own age… some were even her old classmates. She blushed at the obvious attention she was getting, was it the new clothes? She felt naked without her jacket…
She turned another corner and was now into an all-out run to her destination. She was only a couple blocks away by now, and she could almost see Naruto and his bright orange jumpsuit as she got closer and closer. She was now only a single block away, and she now only needed to round the corner. She was so excited her nerves felt like exploding… or only they would be if a hand wasn't put over her mouth. Before she could react she felt the familiar pulse of foreign chakra as a genjutsu took its hold and she promptly lost consciousness…
Yes… this is a cliffhanger… yes… I am sorry. But hey, this way I have given you suspense, right? Heheheheh… Yeah… Next Filler Chapter: Romance and chivalry!