Chapter 5
March 2, 2001, 7:34 p.m.
Naruto is thirteen.
He doesn't have a sleeping bad, but Ino has an extra that Naruto can use. Naruto sets his plastic grocery bag on the floor by the couch in Ino's living room.
Inside the bag:
A hand-made birthday gift for Ino
Naruto's pajamas
A toothbrush
He's nervous. But Ino is chattering enough for both of them, waiting for Ino's other friend, Sakura Haruno, to show up.
Yes, that Sakura Haruno
Of the Konoha North Side Leafs
Apparently, Sakura Haruno is also the president of the "Make Naruto Uzumaki Miserable" Club. Naruto wipes his sweating hands on his jeans.
It took a lot of convincing for Ino's parents to let him stay the night. One, being he was a boy, and 2, he was a thirteen year old boy. But thanks to a lot of convincing and a 'I swing for the other team' speech. Which he found out a year ago. Her parents finally let him stay.
When Sakura arrives, Ino doesn't fawn over her. Naruto nods hello.
Sakura smirks. Tries to whisper something to Ino but Ino ignores her and says, "Let's do Naruto's hair."
Sakura throws a daggered look at Ino.
Ino smiles brightly at Naruto, asking him with her eyes if it's okay.
Naruto squelches a grin, and Sakura shrugs and pretends like she doesn't mind after all.
Even though Naruto knows it's killing her.
The three girls slowly grow more comfortable, or maybe just resigned, with one another. They put make up on (to Naruto's dismay), and watch Ino's favorite videos of old comedians, some whom Naruto's never heard of before. And then they play truth or dare.
Ino's alternates: truth, dare, truth, dare.
Sakura always picks truth.
And then there's Naruto.
Naruto never picks truth.
He's a dare boy.
That way, nobody gets inside.
They might find out about her secret.
The giggles become hysterics when Sakura's dare for Naruto is to run outside through the snow barefoot, around to the backyard, take his clothes off, and make a naked snow angel.
Naruto doesn't have a problem doing that.
Because, really, what does he have to lose?
He'll take that dare over giving up his secrets any day.
Sakura watches Naruto, arms folded in the cold night air, and a sneer on her face, while Ino giggles and helps Naruto get his sweatshirt and jeans back on his wet body. Ino takes a hand full of snow and throws it at Sakura.
"Ew, gross," Sakura sneers. "Do you even know what's in that?"
Naruto's giggles increase. "I didn't do anything to the snow what about you Ino?"
Ino shakes her head.
Sakura laughs, reluctantly.
They trudge back inside for popcorn.
11:34 p.m.
The noise level in the living groom of Ino's house fades along with the lights after Mr. Yamanaka, Ino's father, stomps to the doorway and hollers at the three girls to shut up and get to sleep.
Naruto zips up the musty-smelling sleeping bag and closes his eyes, but he is to hyper to sleep after that exhilarating naked snow angel. He had a fun evening despite Sakura. He learned what it's like to be a rich kid (sounds nice for about a day, too many stinking lessons), and that Kiba Inuzuka is supposedly the hottest boy in the class (in Ino's mind), and what people like Sakura do four times a year (they take vacations to exotic places). Who knew?
Now the hushed giggles subside around him, and Naruto opens his eyes to stare at the dark ceiling. He is glad to be here, even though Sakura teases him about his clothes. Sakura even had the nerve to ask Naruto why he never wears anything new. But Ino shut her up with a sudden exclamation: "Naruto, you look simply stunning with your hair like that. Doesn't he, Sakura?"
For the first time ever, Naruto's hair is covered in an assortment of hair clips, and know, lying in the sleeping bag, he feels the clips pressing against his scalp through the thin pillow.
He'd keep them in.
They weren't really bothering him.
He had to pee, but he is afraid to get up, in case Ino's father hears him and stars yelling again. (It was harder to convince him) He rests quietly like the other occupants in the room, listening to them breathe as they drift to sleep. Sakura is in the middle, curled on her side facing Ino, her back to Naruto.
12:14 a.m.
The ceiling clouds over and disappears. Naruto blinks and he is at school, in civics class. He looks around and realizes he is not in his normal fourth-period class, but in the class that follows his. He stands at the back of the room. There are no empty seats. Ms. Kurenai, the teacher, drones about the judicial branch of government and what the Supreme Court justices wear under their robes. No one seems surprised that Ms. Kurenai is teaching them this. Some of the kids take notes.
Naruto looks around at the faces in the room. In the third row, seated at the center desk, is Sakura. Sakura has a dreamy look on her face. She is starring at someone on the next row, one seat forward. As the teacher talks, Sakura stands up slowly and approaches the person she's been starring at. From the back of the room, Naruto cannot see who it is.
The teacher doesn't appear to notice. Sakura kneels next to the desk and touches the persons hand. In slow motion, the person next to Sakura, touches her cheek, and then leans forward.
The two kiss. After a moment, they both rise to their feet, still kissing. When they part, Naruto can see the face of Sakura's kissing partner. Sakura leads her partner by the hand to the front of the room and opens the door of the supply closet. The bell rings, and like ants, the students crowd at the door to leave.
The ceiling in Ino Yamanaka's living room reappears as Sakura sighs and flops onto her stomach in the sleeping bag next to Naruto. 'Cripes!' Thinks Naruto. He looks at the clock.
It's 1:23 a.m.
1:24 a.m.
Naruto rolls to her side and he's walking into a forest. It's dark from shade, not night. A few rays of weak sunlight slip through the tree cover. Walking in front of Naruto is Ino. They walk for what seems to be a mile or more, and suddenly a rushing river appears a few steps in front of them. Ino stops and cups her ear, listening for something. She calls out in a desperate voice, "Choji!" Over and over, Ino calls the name, until the forest rings with her voice. Ino walks along the high bank and stumbles over a tree root. Naruto bumps into her, falls, and then Ino helps her up. She gives
Naruto a puzzled look and says, "You've never been here." Ino turns back to her search for Choji, her cries growing louder.
There is a splash in the river, and a little boy appears above the surface, bobbing and moving swiftly in the current. Ino runs along the bank and cries, "Choji! Get out of there! Choji!"
The boy grins and chokes on water. He goes under and resurfaces. Ino is frantic. She reaches out her hand to the boy, but it makes no difference-the bank is to high, the river is too wide for her to come close to reaching him. She is crying now.
Naruto watches, his heart pounding. The boy is still grinning and choking, falling under the water. He is drowning.
"Help him!" screams Ino. "Save him!"
Naruto leaps toward the boy in the water, but she lands on the bank in the same spot she took off from. She tries again as Ino screams, but the results are the same.
They boy's eyes are closed now. His grin has turned eerie. From the water behind the boy, an enormous shark bursts above the surface, mouth open, hundreds of sharp teeth gleaming. It closes its mouth around the boy and disappears.
Ino sits up in her sleeping bag and screams.
Naruto screams too, but it catches in his throat.
His voice is horse.
His fingers are numb.
His body shakes from the nightmare.
The two look at each other in the darkness, while Sakura stirs, groans, and goes back to sleep. "Are you okay?" Naruto whispers, sitting up.
Ino nods, breathing hard. She whisper-laughs, embarrassed. Her voice shakes. "I'm sorry I woke you. Bad dream."
Naruto hesitates. "You want to talk about it?" His mind is racing.
"Nah. Go back to sleep." Ino rolls to her side. Sakura stirs, rolls a few inches closer to Ino, and is quiet again.
Naruto glances at the clock. 3:42 a.m. She is exhausted. She drifts off to sleep...
3:51 a.m.
...he is jolted awake when he falls into a huge, beautiful bedroom. There are framed posters of *NSYNC and Sheryl Crow on the walls. At a desk sits Sakura, doodling on the edge of her notebook. Naruto tries to blink himself out of the room. He feels himself sit up in the sleeping bag, but his motions don't affect what he sees. He lies back down, resigned to watch.
Sakura is drawing hearts. Naruto walks toward her. He says, "Sakura," but no sound comes out. When someone knocks on the bedroom window, Sakura looks over and smiles. "Help me open this window, will you?"
Naruto stares at Sakura. Sakura stares back, then points to the window with a jerk or her head. Naruto, feeling compelled, stumbles over to the window next to Sakura and they open it. Ino climbs in.
She is naked from the waist up
And has breasts the size of watermelons.
The breast sway from side to side when Ino scrambles over the sill.
She walks through Naruto and stands shyly in front of Sakura.
Naruto tries to turn away, but he can't. He waves a hand in front of Ino's face, but Ino doesn't respond. Sakura winks at Naruto and folds Ino into her arms. They embrace and kiss. Naruto rolls his eyes, and suddenly all three are back in Ms. Kurenai's civics classroom. Once again, Sakura is embracing someone in the aisle. It's Ino. She leads Ino to the front of the room. Naruto can see that no one else in the class gives an ounce of notice to the naked Ino and her enormous breasts.
Naruto sits up in his sleeping bag again and shakes his head wildly. He feels the hair pins loosen and some go flying from his head. He is still unable to remove himself from the classroom. He is forced not only to be there, but also to watch.
Sakura glides to the supply closet and leads Ino in there with her. Naruto against his wishes follows. Sakura closes the door once Ino and Naruto are inside and Sakura starts kissing Ino on the lips again.
Naruto lunges in his sleeping bag badly.
Kicks Sakura, hard.
And Naruto is back in Ino's living room.
Sakura sits up, hair disheveled, and scrambles around to look at Naruto. "What the hell did you do that for?"
Sakura is furious.
Feigning sleep, Naruto peers out of one eye. "Sorry," he mumbles. "There was a spider crawling over your sleeping bag. I saved your life."
"What?"
"Never mind, he's gone."
"Oh, great. Like I'm going back to sleep now."
Naruto grins in the darkness. It's 5:51 a.m.
7:45 a.m.
Something nudges Naruto's legs. He opens his eyes, wondering where he is. It's pitch dark. Ino turns the sleeping bag flap off Naruto's head. "Wake up, sleepyhead."
The sunlight is blinding.
"Mmph," Naruto grunts. Slowly he sits up.
Ino balancing on her haunches, eyeing him, one brow raised.
Naruto remembers. Does Ino?
"Did you sleep well?" Ino asks.
Naruto's stomach twists. "Um…yeah." He gauges Ino's reaction. "Did you?"
Ino smiles. "Like a baby. Even on this hard floor."
"Ah, hmm. Well that's great." Naruto scrambles to his feet and untwists from his night shirt. "Where's Sakura?"
"She left about ten minutes ago. She was acting weird. She said she forgot she had a piano lesson at eight." Ino snorts. "Duh."
Naruto laughs weakly. He's starving. They fix breakfast. Ino doesn't appear to remember her nightmare.
Naruto can't forget it.
As they munch on toast, Naruto steals a glance at Ino's chest. Her breast are the size of half an apple, each.
Naruto goes home, falls into bed, thinking about the strange night. Wondering if this ever happens to anyone else. Knowing, deep down, it probably doesn't.
He falls into a hard sleep until late afternoon.
Decides sleepovers are not for him.
They'll never be for him.