Chapter 11
"This is going to be an amazing day!" Ino Yamanaka cheered loudly in the coffee shop, and every person there turned and stared at the tall, thin ninja. She, of course, didn't care. In fact, she used the opportunity to toss her long white-blonde ponytail over her shoulder, and prop her elbows up on the table. "We're eating breakfast together, and it's at this amazing café!"
"You always eat at this café…" Tenten said with a sigh. As much as Tenten was tom-boyish, and tough, she wouldn't turn down some chow! Plus, she always liked spending time with her girl friends.
They continued eating, or rather, it was more like daintily nibbling on fruit bread, and sipping a light tea (though, it was coffee for Ino). As they were doing so, Hinata couldn't stop her mind from wandering to the Certain Blonde Haired Ninja. (You know, the one that everyone knows who you're talking about, when you mention "certain blonde haired ninja" all in the same sentence.) She imagined him and her eating together at this very café, spending time together, Naruto suddenly becoming captivated by something about Hinata to which he couldn't look away. Of course, Hinata knew that was just a fantasy. Naruto may be talking to her now but he sure wasn't eating with anyone else at any place other than Ichiraku Ramen.
"So, anything interesting happen in the past few days?" Tenten asked, pulling Hinata (reluctantly) out of her thoughts. "Some movie stars came to town…the world exploded…" At first, Hinata hadn't been sure if Tenten was being sarcastic or not, but now she knew…
Ino looked a little disgruntled for a second, and Hinata knew it was because Ino didn't have anything to say about herself. She knew how much Ino hated not having any news.
"Not from me," Hinata said. "What about you, Tenten?"
"Same," Tenten replied. "Everything's been really slow lately."
"Not really," Ino said. "I heard that Lady Hokage has been giving a few missions out."
"To who, the Genins?" Tenten snorted. "We all need some new missions to spice up our lives."
"Do you want to go on a Genin mission?" Ino asked, with an arched eyebrow. "You could do five in your sleep—in one night! Maybe there's just not enough trouble to send out Chunins."
"But it's not bad if there's not trouble," Hinata said. "Ninjas have to be ready if there's trouble, but we don't have to go looking for it."
"But it's fun to, isn't it?" Tenten said, taking on a philosophical look.
"Yeah, that's real good advice," Ino said cynically, then exchanging grins with Tenten. "Besides," Ino added, "who wants to do all that paperwork we get after missions? It's horrible!"
"It's not that bad," Hinata replied with a smile. Then it faded as something crawled its way into her mind, almost as if it was reluctant. "G-girls!" Hinata whispered in fright. Ino and Tenten looks at Hinata in confusion. "Paperwork! Naruto and I still haven't even started anything!" She even remembered picking up the papers after they had reported initially to the Hokage, but she never actually completed them.
"Hinata!" Ino cried in mock dismay, to which Hinata shrunk back in mock fear. "How could you of all people be so irresponsible?"
"Oh, Ino, how ironic this is," Tenten smiled. "Well, maybe the Hokage's too busy with the other paperwork from the other missions she apparently issued."
"True that," Ino said. "Either way, you'd better hurry up. The Hokage isn't going to be distracted forever, and you know what she's like when she's angry…"
Actually Hinata didn't. But she'd rather not know. She heard it was horrifyingly scary. "Do you think Naruto would want to help me?" Hinata asked.
"Why do you need help with that?" Tenten asked. "You could do it all on your own! Asking Naruto to help would just slow you down!"
Ino elbowed Tenten in the side. "Why, Hinata, you are starting to finally learn!" Ino nodded proudly. "Sneaky, sneaky! Who would have thought? Anything to spend more time with that crazy ninja…"
Hinata blushed furiously. Oh, why had she opened her big mouth? Now Ino and Tenten would laugh at her and would never let her live it down…Oh, how horrible…She fumbled with her fingers, and her gaze was glued to the white tile floor.
"I…I…I…"
"Crazy ninja?" Tenten asked, ignoring Hinata's attempts at speech. "He's a lunatic!"
"Only Hinata would be nice enough to make Naruto learn to do paperwork," Ino smiled lovingly at Hinata. Hinata was about to open her mouth to say something else, but of course, couldn't get it out.
"Or maybe Hinata's crazier than Naruto for offering," Tenten suggested with a sly grin. She patted Hinata on the back, and jumped up. "See you later, sister! I'm going to go find a mission to complete!"
"Tata, Tenten!" Ino called. She turned back to Hinata. "Are you ready to leave?"
Hinata nodded. They both stood up, and bid each other farewell.
"If I see Naruto, I'll tell him all about your plans!" Ino said, smiling slyly. Hinata felt her blush surge back, and widened her eyes at Ino. The very mention of his name did this to her. She was mad at herself for it.
"What? You don't want me to?" Ino pulled on an offended look.
"N-no, please, I-Ino, I-I didn't m-mean i-it…" Hinata squeaked.
Ino laughed. "I'm so sadistic. I love you, Hinata, you silly girl. Don't worry about it. You do want me to tell him, don't you?"
Hinata nodded without a word.
"Good," Ino grinned. "Tata!"
Ino and Hinata left the café, and Hinata headed towards the Hokage's building. She had to go there to pick up the Mission Report forms. Hopefully she could get in and sneak out without the Hokage noticing her, and stopping her to ask questions. Hinata should be able to do it, right? She's a ninja for goodness sakes! But the Hokage was… the Hokage. Hinata went through various plans in her mind, seriously and deliberately, trying to figure out what to do, and not thinking about the future which held seeing him very soon. Really, Hinata often times confused herself! She wanted Naruto to notice her yet she was always embarrassed when he was there…Which is what she was trying to fix anyway. So far, she wasn't really sure if she was making progress.
She made it to the Hokage's building….finally…and used her Practically Invisible powers to get inside. She snuck down the hallways, melting into the background. The few people that walked down the hallways didn't notice her. She had seen them around many times, but hadn't actually talked to them, and didn't know them very well at all. She actually saw Kakashi Sensei walking down the hall, but he was so immersed in a book that he hadn't noticed Hinata. His spiky gray hair and navy mask had been just like Hinata remembered. She picked up the packet, and walked extremely quickly (but without running) back outside, only to almost bump into a ninja wearing bright orange sweatpants, which, if thought about, would make it really hard to miss that particular person…
"Oi, Hinata, what's up?" the deep, raspy voice, belonging to that particular person in the orange pants, asked.
Hinata felt a squeak about to escape her. "E-heh, nothing…"
Naruto narrowed one eye. "Really?" he asked. "Ino told me that we were going to finish that paperwork about our mission. Remember that mission we did back during the Ice Age? I completely forgot about the paperwork part too!"
"I-Imagine that," Hinata said. Naruto glanced at her in surprise, but the look passed quickly. It was replaced by the Signature Laughter Look. Hinata felt herself being lifted up in happiness. She had made Naruto smile!
"Aaaaaaand guess what?" Naruto sang. "I brought a pen! I found it." He brought out a fairly normal, small black pen with a long cap, and a gold rim around the top of the cap, and the bottom of them pen.
"Th-thank y-you, N-N-Naruto," Hinata felt her pitch rising to almost nothing. "N-N-Never know w-when we'll n-need one o-of those."
Naruto snorted again. Two points! Hinata imagined Tenten screaming in her head. Not that Tenten would even care about this conversation. She would take one glance over here (if even) and then speed away on some highly important business.
Naruto took a longer glance at Hinata (longer than she was used to), and she wondered if it was possible to blush even more than she was right now. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to find out.
"If you didn't have anything else in mind," Naruto began, in a totally different tone from before, (this one a more serious, nice one, which made Hinata's heart pound like a drum), "I was thinking we could just finish those papers outside somewhere. Don't you like fresh air?"
"Y-Yes," Hinata replied. "Very much."
"Come on, then!" Naruto said, with renewed enthusiasm. "I know a great place! No one will bother us there!" Then he widened his eyes a little, then added quickly, "Let's go!"
He sped away at a fast pace Hinata wasn't expected. She ninja-leaped after him, giddy that Naruto was willing to finish up the papers, and also happy that she was actually finishing the papers. She had given herself quite a scare about forgetting those… Naruto led her to the outskirts of the forest. The trees were all pretty much in a line, but Naruto stopped at one place where a large, short stump was, and a radius of a few feet of clear ground surrounded it.
"Here it is," Naruto said. "Right in the middle of nature."
"Not r-really in the middle," Hinata said, "but it's still good. Th-Thank you, N-Naruto…"
"Don't mention it," he muttered, glancing to the side. He jumped a little, then turned back to Hinata. "Okay, let's start!" he said.
Hinata sat down at the stump, stacked the papers together, making the edges even, and then put the papers on it. "Okay…" she whispered. "The m-m-mission?"
"Investigate raiders in the Village Hidden in the Rice," Naruto replied promptly.
"Y-yes, that's all the Lady Hokage told us to do," Hinata agreed. She wrote Naruto's words down carefully.
Naruto waited patiently for Hinata to finish the word Hidden. "Why can't I write?" Naruto asked. "You are such a slow writer!"
"O-oh….okay…" Hinata said, putting the pen down. Oh. Naruto wanted to write. She thought, a little frightened. How was she supposed to know that? Her byakugan could see chakra, not thoughts. Would he hate her now? She didn't mean to be a slow writer…. She noticed Naruto's inquisitive blue gaze on her, and she felt her breath stop. Why was he looking at her like that? What was he trying to say?
"You can finish now," Naruto grumbled. Oh. Hinata wrote as quickly as she could.
"Was the mission completed?" Naruto read out loud, taking the pen from Hinata's hand. "Yeah, duh!"
"W-w-w-wait!" Hinata squeaked. Naruto looked at her again, which made her almost forget what she was going to say. "Are y-y-y-you s-sure?"
Naruto arched an eyebrow but seemed to think for a minute. "Well…we don't know who the raiders are…"
"W-w-we only f-f-fought them off f-for a while." Hinata whispered. "W-we don't know if they are actually g-gone."
"So….no?" Naruto asked, looking a little sad.
"R-right," Hinata whispered. "D-Don't you think the Lady Hokage should assign a f-follow-up mission?"
"I guess…" Naruto relied noncommittally.
"Y-you want to f-finish what you st-start, r-right?"
"Yeah!" Naruto replied, now with conviction. "A ninja shouldn't just do half the work." He wrote down "No" instead. The next question asked "If no, explain."
"So, what you just said," Naruto said, referring to that question. "I guess you can write…you have better handwriting…."
Hinata looked up and Naruto smiled at her. This caused her to blush of course, but she managed a shy grin back. This seemed to make Naruto happy. "Okay, write!" he encouraged her. She nodded, and penned the answer.
They went through the papers quickly. As they reached the end, both of them felt a pang of regret that their writing time together would soon be over.
"Is that all?" Hinata asked. "We should write more details."
"Huh? Details?" Naruto asked. "Why?"
"It looks good." Hinata replied simply.
"I think we put enough details in….Grandma might get mad if you write too much…It's more work, you know."
Good point, Hinata thought. Okay, then. She signed her name. Hyuuga Hinata, and was about to start Naruto's.
"I can!" Naruto muttered, pulling the pencil out of her hands.
"Okay!" Hinata said, a little louder then she intended (which of course for Hinata was just a normal voice). Naruto glanced at her in almost-surprise and penned his name.
"We're done," Hinata said, feeling satisfying.
"Hm." Was all Naruto said. "Who knew paperwork could be this bearable? Thanks, Hinata."
Hinata blushed furiously again. "W-why are you thanking me…" she whispered under her breath. Naruto appeared to not have heard, because he stretched, and got up. He put his hand back down, and Hinata just stared at it. What…. A few more seconds passed, and Naruto took back his hand jerkily. He looked around the forest, anywhere but Hinata. Suddenly the idea fell into Hinata's head, weighing as much as a tree trunk falling on her head. He was going to help me up…. She went into a frenzy of thoughts whirling around quicker than she could decipher them. She stood up shakily, and didn't look at Naruto.
"Well, I guess we can head ba—" Naruto was saying, before he turned to look at Hinata. "You okay, there?" he asked sounding a little worried. "You look really dizzy…"
"Huh? No…I'm fine…."
Naruto shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say…"
"We should drop the papers off right away," Hinata said, changing the subject to a more decisive one.
"Okay, I'll do it." Naruto said, reaching for the papers.
Hinata held onto them. "We can go together," she whispered.
Naruto arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Kay..."
They walked on, the warm afternoon sun smiling down on them. Hinata wondered whether it was just the sun warming her, or if it was also her happiness.