Blueberries Chapter 1: Running Away, a naruto fanfic

--Standard disclaimer applies

Blueberries

No matter where we go, no matter what we do, we will always look up at the same sky and remember...

"C'mon Hinata!"

Two children giggled as they raced through the park to the big oak tree at the park's edge. One was a little girl with blue-ish black hair and innocent lavender eyes. The other was a boy with blond hair and stunning blue eyes.

"Let's go!"

"I'm coming!"

They plopped down under the tree, both out of breath. Breathing heavily they looked at each other and laughed. After a couple minutes to catch their breath, the girl said,

"Will you be my friend forever?"

"Of course, Hinata," the boy replied. "After all," he continued, "you're the only girl I'll ever love. All the rest of them have cooties." He made a disgusted face and the girl giggled.

"But," said the girl, reverting back to her worrying state, "What if another family comes and takes you away, and you'll get adopted?"

The boy thought about this for a moment until his eyes brightened with an idea. He looked around, picked up a stick, and started carving into the tree-

The girl looked at him puzzled.

He explained, "It's a promise." As if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When she still didn't catch on he continued,

"I promise that if I ever get adopted, I'll be your friend no matter what, and we'll get married someday! Do you?"

The girl finally understood. She nodded her head. "Mmhm. I promise to never forget you."

The boy grinned. "Then it's settled!" He leaned back on the tree. "Wooh! Good thing we won't have to worry about that anymore. And besides, this tree is really big so it will probably be here forever!"

The girl agreed and lied back on the tree as well. It was starting to get dark and the stars were coming out.

"Can you promise me something else?" the girl asked.

"Of course," it came out as a half-whisper.

She waited a little while before asking.

"Will you see the same stars wherever you go?" She looked up at the sky.

The boy looked up as well. "Well…you never know if I'm gonna go anywhere or not." He was talking more to himself than he was to his best friend next to him.

"But…when you look up at the stars…will you remember me?"

He took some time to answer.

"Of course," he whispered.

And that was enough.

Chapter 1: Running Away

"Tenten, what am I supposed to do?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, it's simple. You just go up to your dad and you ask him."

"Tenten, we both know that it's not that simple."

She tried to smile --it didn't help. "Look, Hina, just ask him. Trust me."

"He's going to say no."

She gave her a small push towards the door. "Just do it. And don't worry, I have a back up plan."

"You do?"

"Just go!" And with that, Tenten pushed Hinata out the door and hoped for the best.

For the past week, Hinata had been thinking about the little boy from her past. Since the day he was adopted she has never seen him or heard from him again, and she wondered what had happened to him. She longed to see those bright blue eyes and hear his laugh.

And there was also one more thing. She also made a promise, long ago, that she would go find him. Hinata ALWAYS keeps her promises.

And now 18-year-old Hinata is going to ask permission from her father to go search for the boy because if she didn't, she would lose her friendship, loyalty, and…honor…? This isn't going to be easy.

Hinata walked up to the door of her fathers study and knocked lightly.

"Come in."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly made her way in. "F-father?"

"Yes Hinata?" He turned around in his chair and fixed his eyes on her face.

"Um…" she looked down from the intensity of his gaze and did that finger thing. "W-well I would like to ask for your permission to, um…"

"Yes Hinata?"

She took a deep breath that did not go unnoticed by her father. "To, um, go with Tenten…out of town..for a..while…"

He narrowed his eyes. "Where will you be going?"

Hinata thought about this. She really had no idea where they were going to begin their search, and even if they started close by their search could carry them thousands of miles away. "Um, just over to the next town…or the next…I think," she added quietly.

"And how long will you be away?"

Hinata studied the wall to her right. "W-well I'm not sure." She gulped.

Hinata's father was quick to answer. "No."

She quickly turned her head back to her father. "What!?"

"I said no and that's final."

"B-but-"

"You are dismissed."

Hinata looked back at the ground. "Yes father," she whispered, and quietly walked out the door, making sure to close it behind her. That did not go well.

She sighed and walked back to her room where Tenten was waiting. She opened the door and shook her head. Tenten looked sad for a moment but then smiled and got up from her position on Hinata's bed.

"I told you I had a back up plan, didn't I?"

Hinata looked up at her confused. "Yes, but-"

"Soooo," Tenten began, "I say we run away." She smiled as if it was the most brilliant idea in the world.

Hinata was speechless for a moment at what had Tenten just said. When it finally hit her that she was planning on leaving without permission she said, "But, we can't do that!"

"Come on Hina, it's the only way!"

"No no no no no," Hinata turned away, "I can't do that!" and she looked back at Tenten. "First of all, how am I going to get out. I've got people watching me 24/7! And once they find out that we're gone they're going to send people to look for us, and no, this just won't work!"

"Look Hinata-"

"No! I just-this can't-no!-"

"Just listen-"

"But what if father finds out-"

"Come on Hina-"

"And my father's going to get so mad-"

"If you will just listen and-"

"Then they're going to be worried-"

"SHUT UP!!" Hinata quickly did what she was told. "Thank you! Ok!" She closed her eyes and sighed before continuing. "Just hear me out all right?" Hinata nodded. They both went to sit on Hinata's bed.

"We will run away on-" Hinata opened her mouth but then closed it quickly. "-ON a Saturday, probably next week if you're ok with that." She waited for Hinata to nod before continuing. "Because Saturdays are when your dad holds the family meetings and he usually stays really late. You are going to be sick that day so you can't go. That night we'll sneak out using the back entrance that no one ever uses. We'll walk to the city limits and hitch-hike from there-"

"HITCH-HIKE!" Hinata yelled then quickly covered her mouth with her hands. "We can't do that we might get in trouble," she insisted whispering.

"Would you rather do that or high-jack a car to drive?"Tenten asked.

"Never mind."

"That's what I thought. We'll get off at the next town and start our search there. So…" she thought for a moment. "We'll probably need to bring changes of clothes, money, and oh! Do you have any clues as to who the guy might be?" Hinata shook her head. "No name, appearance…anything?" She sighed. "Ok, this might be a little hard."

Hinata thought. She couldn't remember his name or what he looked like very well. The tree he wrote on was partially cut down and you couldn't see his initials, only hers so…"Well, there might be one thing," Hinata said. Tenten looked up at her. "I don't know if it will help but…well my memory is a little hazy, but there is one thing I remember," she spoke slowly, "He had the most beautiful, amazing…just gorgeous, stunning blue eyes that I've ever seen." She looked into the distance as if she was trying to remember something and smiled.

Tenten looked at her. "That's it?"

Hinata looked back at her friend. "Well, I think he was blond."

Tenten sighed and got up. "Ok, well that's what we're gonna have to work with for now. It's getting late. I should go."

Hinata got up as well. "But there's still the fact that they're going to send people to look for us," said Hinata, transferring back to her state of worry. "We're going to cause so much worry for people. Won't they worry about you?" She quickly regretted her words.

Tenten smiled. "Who? I don't have anybody to worry for me except you, and you'll be coming with me." Hinata smiled as well. It was true. Tenten had no family. She couldn't remember her parents, she was alone for as long as she could remember.

She walked Tenten to the front door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ten."

"All right Hina, and don't worry, everything will be fine."

Hinata looked skeptical, but then gave in. "Ok."

They both smiled and said goodbye. Tenten left for her apartment and Hinata returned to her room. This next week was going to be busy.

"Ok are you ready?" whispered Tenten.

"I think so," replied Hinata. She checked her watch. "They should be well into the meeting by now, and this is around the time when most of the maids are in the kitchen."

"Great."

It was Saturday night. They had spent the whole week planning and it was finally time to put their plan into action. Everything was ready. Now all Hinata and Tenten were waiting for was the perfect time to sneak downstairs and out of the house. The clock was ticking by. Any second now her father would call for all the servants to come into the meeting room and serve the refreshments, including the maid that was watching over Hinata to see if she was ill.

Tick

"Come on."

Tick

"Geez how long is he going to wait!"

Tick

"Just be patient."

Tick

"Bring in the refreshments!" they heard the booming voice of Hinata's father below, and the scurrying feet of the servers.

When it all quieted down again Tenten called, "Let's go!"

They ran down the stairs trying not to make a sound. Tenten ran past the door to the kitchen then, seeing that it was safe, motioned for Hinata to follow. They made their way to the deserted back entrance quickly but quietly. Once outside they ran across the lawn to the front of the house then ran as far as they could toward the city's north gate. Out of breath, they slowed down to a walk.

Tenten laughed loudly, trying to catch her breath. "Well, we made it!" she exclaimed and laughed again. Hinata then joined in the laughter.

Once they calmed down Hinata said, "I can't believe we did it! But now there's still the issue of getting out of the city walls."

"Don't worry! The guards are probably dozing off by now!"

They walked to the gate, and sure enough, the guards were asleep. They just walked right on through and onto the main road. There weren't many cars out at this time so it was hard to catch a ride. Most people just ignored them, but when Tenten stuck her thumb out at an old-fashioned red mustang, the car pulled over in front of them. The person driving was an old man probably in his sixties with his wife. They looked nice enough.

"Where to?" the woman asked, leaning out of the passenger window.

"Just over to the next town." Tenten answered. Hinata preferred to stay quiet.

"Sure hop in!"she said and both her and her husband smiled very big smiles.

Tenten hesitantly opened the door and then she and Hinata slid into the back seat. They surveyed their surroundings: The car was nice, clean, not new but they kept it in good shape. They sat in awkward silence until the woman put on an old country CD. Tenten and Hinata looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

The woman turned around with that same huge smile. "Do you like music?"she asked. "Oh I like music!!" her husband answered, very enthusiastically. They both turned to look at each other. "I think we need to show these kids a righty-ite good time, don't ya say Billy Ding?"the woman said. "Yuppidy-duppidy Hanni Wanni!!"

"Billy Ding?"whispered Tenten in disbelief.

"Hanni Wanni?"said Hinata.

All they could do was stare as the couple burst into song.

When you're down and sad ("Hanni" faked a sad face) There's always someone around (the couple looked at each other and smiled) To brighten your day So never put on a frown Get a smile on your face That's what we saaaaaaaay!! 'Cuz it's a happity-pappity place in the world today!

The couple, out of breath and smiling those annoyingly huge smiles, turned to face the girls to see their reactions. Tenten and Hinata just continued to stare with their mouths wide open.

"Oh look their speechless!" giggled Hanni.

Oh they were speechless, all right. The four continued to stare at each other in silence until Tenten said,

"What is wrong with you people?"

Immediately the couple's faces fell. They looked as though they were on the verge of tears.

Noticing this, Hinata said, "um, w-what she means is, uh…m-maybe you should keep your eyes on the road?"

The two smiled again and Hinata let out a sigh of relief.

"All righty!" agreed Billy, "Wouldn't want to get in an accident!"

'This whole trip was an accident' thought Hinata.

The rest of the way there the two girls had to listen to annoying songs and stories about "When I was your age…" They could only sit and stare and occasionally nod when Hanni turned around or asked them a question. The trip was only 10 minutes but it felt like an eternity of listening to overly optimistic people with big, annoying smiles.

While listening to Hanni tell the story about the time she visited the leopluredon (whatever that was)the car came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Billy.

"What is it!"Said Hanni.

"W-w-w," started Billy, "we're here!"

"Noooooooo! That means we need to say goodbye to our friends! And we were having such a good time!" The two burst into tears.

Taking this as an opportunity, Tenten signaled to Hinata that the doors were unlocked. They both opened the doors as quietly as they could and sneaked out of the car. Seeing as the couple was still weeping uncontrollably, Tenten mouthed the word 'run'.

The two ran as fast as they could into town and away from those haunting smiles. Once they were a good distance away they stopped to catch their breath.

"I…am never…doing that…again!" gasped Tenten with her hands on her knees. She looked up at Hinata who was shaking. "You…ok Hina?"

Hinata just stared straight ahead. "Their smiles…looked as if they would…pop off of their faces."

Tenten burst into laughter. "Hahaha…ok let's go see if we can find a place to spend the night 'cuz I am tired," she yawned. Hinata snapped out of it and giggled, "That was actually kind of fun… in a really weird way."

"Yeah…right."

The two friends laughed and walked around the town. After finding a motel they checked in for the night. Sleep easily overtook them.

How was it? Sorry if it kinda sucks but this is my first actually ongoing fic. Please review and tell me how it is!

--for those of you who don't know the leopluredon is from Charlie the Unicorn...which I don't own!!