Date

I sat on the couch anxiously awaiting Haru's arrival. It was kinda funny, for two years I had locked away most of my emotions other than the ones needed to do missions and drag Haru back. But now, with him home and the fear of him ever leaving again gone…well all the 'teenage girl in love' emotions were coming back. It had been about a week since we had all come home, the boys were still deciding on a place to stay. For the moment Shikyo was here, he would fit in with our family fine and Demo wouldn't do badly…But Tysen wouldn't work, he had stayed a day or so and it was really awkward between his crush on me and his rivalry with Nero….yeah…anyway as I was saying I was on the couch. Haru and I hadn't planned anything extravagant, not that he wasn't willing, but I preferred it to be more casual. I always felt odd when I was dressed up, like it wasn't really me. So I was in jeans and my usual shirt along with my boots. We were going to go to Itchiraku's for dinner and then we'd make the rest up as we went, after all we were never really the plan ahead type. Shikyo came in and cocked his head at me.

"Why are you nervous?" He asked sitting down next to me.

I shook my head, "I'm not really nervous."

He looked puzzled, "then what are you?"

"Well…" I tried to think of a way to explain the feelings bubbling up in me. The happiness and excitement and love and so many other feelings. In the end I just sighed, "It's kind of a being in love thing, I'm not sure how else to explain it."

"Oh…" He looked thoughtful a moment. "Do you think I'll ever be in love…or that anyone will ever love me."

I smiled. "You're one of the sweetest guys I know. Of course someone will love you, and when the time is right you'll find them." I stated.

He smiled back and then there was a knock at the door, Nii-san came through and got the door before I could. Nero and Haru spoke in the doorway for a minute and then Haru came in, we smiled at one another and he walked to my side. Mom and Ada went over the rules (don't be out to late, be careful, ect) and then we left. All most instantly after leaving the house our fingers interlocked.

"So Itchiraku's is still the plan right?" I asked looking up at him.

He turned his head and nodded. "Yeah, unless you want to go somewhere else that is."

I shook my head, "Nah, I like Itchiraku's" I stated, we walked several minutes in a comfortable silence. When we got to Itchiraku's I was surprised to find that we were the only people there. We took seats in the middle and the ramen guy was instantly with us.

"Hey kids, what can I get you?" He asked with his friendly smile.

"One Chicken ramen," I stated

"Make it two," Haru added.

The man nodded "coming right up," and with that he began to make our meals. He looked over his shoulder at us. "Where's the rest of your group? It's rare to see you split up."

Haru smiled at him, "Tonight's special," and then he turned to me with the warm smile I loved so much.

"Ah, I get it." He said returning to his work, he called his daughter in and spoke with her a moment. The next thing I knew she had a small vase with roses and she sat them before us smiling.

"A date calls for dinner to be a little more fancy than normal," She stated and then returned to whatever she'd been doing before.

I smiled and mouthed her a thank you, she just smiled in return.

"So what do you want to do after this?" Haru asked cocking his head.

I shrugged, "I don't care."

He sighed and shook his head, "Somehow I knew you'd say that. And because I knew that I came up with an Idea." But before he could tell me our food was placed in front of us. We ate in silence and when we were finished Haru prepared to pay.

"This was on the house," The old man said looking at Haru. We just looked at him confused "You kids are here all the time buying meals, this one's on us." He stated smiling.

"Thank you," Haru and I said in unison.

"Your welcome, now off you go." He said shooing us away and taking our plates.

So Haru and I left, and simply began walking. "So what was your idea?" I asked

He smiled at me, "You'll see." I could tell from the smile on his face that it was a surprise, so I just followed him. We began walking through the forest, it was nice and peaceful…far more date-like than going to some crowded place in my opinion.

As we walked through the woods I began to sing. "This time, this place, miss-used mistakes"

To my surprise he also began to sing. "Too long, too late who was I to make you wait?
Just one chance, just one breath, just in case there's
just one left."

My fingers wrapped a little more tightly around his hand. "Cause you know, you know, you know! I Love you! I Loved you along, and I miss you, been far away for far too long. I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go. Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore."

His grip became slightly tighter around mine, "On my knees I'll ask, last chance for one last dance. Cause with you I'd withstand all of hell to hold your hand. I'd give it all I'd give for us give anything but I won't give up. Cause you know, you know, you know."

Our voices harmonized as we sang together. "I love you! I Loved you all along. And I miss you, been far away for far too long. I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go. Stop
breathing if I don't see you anymore. So far away, So far away, been far away for far too long. So far away, So far away, been far away for far too long. But you know, you know, you know."

I stopped walking and looked at him. "I wanted, I wanted you to stay."

His gaze met mine. "Cause I needed, I need to hear you say."

I smiled, it had been so long since I had gotten to sing with someone like this. "I love you! I loved you all along."

He returned the smile but there was a sadness to it, and I could only guess the lyrics to the song were reminding him of the past. "And I forgive you, for being away for far too long.
So keep breathing cause I'm not leaving you anymore."

I felt a peace and a joy come over me as again I was reminded that this time around I didn't have to fear losing him…just as he didn't have to fear ever losing me. "Believe it, hold on to me never let me go. keep breathing cause I'm not leaving you anymore."

"Believe it, hold on to me never let me go. Keep breathing hold on to me never let me go."

And then we finished together. "Hold on to me never let me go!"

I hugged him and he wrapped his arms around me in return, we stood like that a while. And then as we separated he took my hand and began leading me somewhere. He stopped at one point to pick a small pale blue flower which he stuck in my hair and then we continued to walk. We stopped in a clearing with a lake, and the sun was getting ready to set. We walked over and took our shoes off before dipping our feet in the cool water. We hadn't been sitting more than two minutes and I had a face full of water, I turned to Haru and he had a huge grin on his face.

"Hey!" I exclaimed before scooping up water in my hands and flinging it into his face.

"You wanna play?" He teased.

"You started it." I stated, and with that we both jumped into the crystal clear water and began having a water fight.

I created a wave behind him and absolutely drenched him. "Hey that's cheating!" He exclaimed as he wiped he water off his face. I just smirked and used my hand to fling more at him. We continued our fight until the sun set and it began to get cold. We got out of the lake laughing and dripping wet. I took my shirt off leaving only the tank I wore beneath it and tried to wring out some of the water. I hung my shirt over a tree branch, Haru having been the smarter of the two of us had taken his shirt off before jumping into the lake, so he simply sat shirtless with his feet in the water. The moon was up by now, lighting the clearing with its luminescence. A cool breeze blew over the lake causing my wet body to shiver.

"Are you cold?" Haru asked noticing this.

"No," I stated.

"You are so stubborn…You're shivering!" he stated and he was right, but I wouldn't admit that. "Here," he added offering me his shirt.

I shook my head. "I don't need it," I still wasn't used to being taken care of…

He sighed. "The others will kill me if you end up sick, now put it on."

Another wave of cold air hit me, "alright." I stated taking the shirt and putting it on. It was baggy, but warm and dry.

"Thank you," he said laying down in the grass, I followed suit and lay down with my head on his chest. He looked at me after a minute or so, "hey, have you realized where we are yet?"

I cocked my head at him puzzled, and then sat up taking in my surroundings once more…it didn't look particularly familiar, but at the same time something was…Like a memory from long ago had taken place here.

He whispered in my ear. "Elinor, is it wrong for me to like you?"

Suddenly it all came back to me, the mission, him rescuing me, confessing and running off…And then me finding him by a lake and us sharing our first kiss. I turned to him, "So this was your idea?"

He smiled and nodded. "It seemed appropriate…After all this is where it began, and tonight is kind of like a new beginning for us." His hand found mine and intertwined our fingers once more.

"I love you," I stated

"I love you too, so much more than I could ever say." he replied leaning closer to me, and then we kissed. And just like that first night I felt that if he wasn't holding onto me I could fly away. When we broke apart we returned to lying down. We pointed out constellations and talked about times passed, and then I must have fallen asleep.

When I woke up I was in my bed, but was still wearing Haru's shirt. Feeling another presence in the room I sat up, Haru was sitting at my window with my sketchbook in his hand. "They're crappy drawings I know…"

He turned to me looking a bit startled but quickly gained his composure. "No they're not." He looked back to the pages. "You put a lot of work into these…there are a lot of memories compiled in here."

I smiled, "Yeah, that there are…but generally only my favorite memories get a page in that book."

He brought the book and came to sit on my bed. "I like these," He stated opening the book to the last two pages. They were also my favorites, one was our team picture and the second was of me bandaging him the night he saved me.

"I like those too…" I chuckled slightly. "You remember that day?" I asked pointing to the one of our team picture. "How many times did we have to re-take that picture?"

He chuckled as well. "Oh I don't know, like 15. You and I kept playing pranks on the camera guy…and we never followed his directions."

"That's probably why Uncle stuck his hands on our heads, to keep us from messing up any more of the guy's film." I added….I thought a moment then asked. "Does the family know you're here?"

He smirked. "Nope, after I brought you home I left…and then after everyone at my place fell asleep I came back and snuck through the window."

I shook my head, "You didn't have to sneak over here."

He frowned. "Course I did, I didn't get to tell you goodnight…Plus" He smiled again. "It's fun to watch you sleep."

I looked down as a blush crept over my cheeks. "Did I say anything?" I didn't always sleep talk, but it wasn't that strange for me to do it.

He shrugged, "Nah…well other than my name a few times." His smile was bright as he said that. "Tonight it was actually watching you that was interesting…I didn't know if you were ever going to let my hand go." He added. I blushed again, I hoped I hadn't been too much trouble. He pushed some of my hair behind my ear, "You know, you're cute when your cheeks are pink like that." I'm sure I turned a deeper pink at his comment…but it didn't really matter.

"I enjoyed tonight," I stated looking up at him.

"So did I, this time around I'll try and plan another one sooner than two years from now." He stated looking away and frowning slightly.

"Hey," I said using my hand to turn his face towards me again. "Don't beat yourself up over the past, there's nothing we can do about it now." A gentle smile spread across my lips. "Let's just spend the present to the fullest, and make it so we don't have any more regrets."

He placed his hand over mine and leaned his head against it, and though I could still see he was at least somewhat upset he nodded. "Okay,"

"So…are you going home or staying a while?" I asked.

"That depends, if I stay will you sleep?" he questioned in return.

"Under one condition," I stated.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Yes?"

I grabbed his arm and pulled him down so he was lying on his side next to me, "You sleep too." I stated.

He smiled, "Deal."

With that he shifted so he was lying more comfortably on his side and then I snuggled up against him resting my hands against his chest and laying my head so I could hear the steady sound of his heart. He wrapped his arm around me and then rested his head on top of mine, and we both drifted off to sleep.

~The End~

Authors notes:

Disclaimers: Haru, Shikyo and Nero belong to Aya and Elinor belongs to me and any other Naruto related thing is Kishimoto's. Also the song used was Far away by Nickelback. For anyone who is not familar with the characters in this story (which I'm sure there are alot of because I'm lazy when it comes to writing about them), Elinor and Haru were childhood friends who as young teens became a couple...Then things happened and Haru left, two years later Elinor goes to find him and with some work drags him (and several other new friends) back to the village and they are happily back together. This takes place (as stated at the begining) a week after they get home. That should cover most things, if you have questions just ask. R&R please!