Hope
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Sorry for the long wait! I was kind of busy last week. I would like to tell you now that there won't be a lot of romance in this story for those who are looking for that. But please don't be discouraged to read my story! To prevent confusion, I'm going to make it so that Gaara's personality is much like his after he fights Naruto. Very little swearing by the way (no really; there's only like one word). But anyways, onto the story!
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Ch. 4 Hello New World
I am once again interrupted from my book. "I know that the plane just landed but I really wanted to finish this chapter…" Only it is different from the other times I've been interrupted. There is screaming heard in the first class area. A flight attendant wearing a dark blue outfit stands in front of everyone with a forced smile on her face. "There is nothing to worry about. If you would all please stay-" but before she could finish, another person is heard screaming from the first class area.
"What do you mean it's alright?! MY HUSBAND'S DEAD!" My eyes widen as I hear a women shriek those words. The flight attendant laughs nervously before dismissing herself. "Well this is troublesome…" Shikamaru mutters. I stare at him shocked. "I would say it's a bit more than troublesome," I comment shyly. He looks at me, his gaze bored, then sighs. "I should have figured this would happen…" he confesses.
I raise an eyebrow at what he said. "Why is t-that?" I ask quietly. He smirks at me and states, "You'll know soon enough." Still confuse, I hug myself. I flinch when I hear yet another scream. "What on earth is going on?" I whisper to myself. I can feel panic build up in me. "A man just died, and probably not by accident," Shikamaru says as if it were nothing.
I turn my head towards him; the only emotion on my face is horror. He notices this and sighs. While massaging his temples, he says, "Troublesome woman…Look, don't panic. You're not going to die. The man who died had it coming…damn, I think I said to much."
I stare at him confused. "What does he mean by that?" I question to myself. "Look, you'll most likely find out later. Though I really hope not…It's not really something you would want to get involved with. Just trust me on this, okay?" he asks annoyed. I dumbly nod my head. "Well, I've got to go. See you later," he says as he walks past me and to the exit while giving one last wave.
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As I walk through the automatic doors, it seems like my backpack gained ten pounds. I nervously place one hand on the strap of my backpack and let the other fidget with the hem of my sweatshirt. Glancing around, I look for any sign of my new host family; Sabaku. Though sadly I'm not entirely focused. "Not after what just happened on the plane…I should just forget about that and continue on as if nothing happened."
But so far I've had no luck in finding Temari in the swarm of people. "Or the other two if they end up coming…" I think to myself. Pushing past a mother with five children, I hear a woman's voice ask, "I wonder where Hinata is? You don't think she's lost? A moment of silence…Well you're no help!"
"That's Temari!" I think happily. I weave threw the crowd, finally arriving where I heard Temari speak. A woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back into four ponytails, her teal eyes filled with worry, and is wearing a tight purple t-shirt and a jean skirt, with white flip flops is looking around. "Temari?" I question to her shyly.
She looks at me for a moment before asking, "Hinata?" I nod my head in relief that I found her. She lets out a sigh of relief before smiling brightly. "For a moment there I thought you were lost! But we can talk later in the car. For now let's go get you stuff. Follow me!" she exclaims.
I hear someone sigh from behind her. "She doesn't even bother to introduce us…" I barely hear a male's voice mutter. I peek past Temari to see a guy who looks my age with wild red hair and piercing aquamarine eyes. He is wearing long dark jean shorts with a chain on them and a black Linkin Park t-shirt, black Nikes finishing his dark look. But what really caught my attention was the love tattoo on his forehead. "Screams bad-boy if you ask me," I caution myself.
Though Temari notices that I'm not listening to her anymore and looks behind her too. I'm brought out of my own little world when she slaps her hand on her forehead. "How could I have forgotten!" she mumbles. "Easy; you do that all the time," the red head states.
I giggle at his reply, but stop when he turns his gaze towards me. I blush out of habit as he continues to look at me. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Temari says sweetly. A bit too sweetly.
"Okay, Hinata this is Gaara, Gaara this is Hinata. Now that we all know each other, let's go get your suitcase," Temari concludes. "So this is Gaara…" I think as I sneak another peek at him. Gaara averts his gaze, then shoves his hands in his pockets, then walks off. "Come on Hinata!" Temari chirps as she grabs my hand and drags me in the direction Gaara just went.
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"We're about five minutes away from the house. It's a really nice house; four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, dinning room, library, and a huge basement. We usually have all our parties down there. The outside of the house isn't too shabby either. In fact, we just repainted it a tan color and fixed the roof too a year ago. Though the backyard isn't that big…but we do have a big old oak tree that's great for climbing in the front yard. But anyways, why don't you tells us about what was popular to do in Japan?" Temari asks, finally finished rambling. "Not that I mind…I'm a better listener anyways." I think.
"Um well, right before I ah came here, me and my two best guy friends went to um Fuji Q Highland, which is a amusement park," I finish. Temari seems rather happy about that. "That's great! Now that I know you like that kind of stuff, then we can go to Six Flags! It's going to be so much fun!" Temari says excited. "That explains why she was so happy." "Do you play any sports?" Gaara asks. I turn my head to the left to see his bored expression still on his face. "Y-yeah, soccer and I do a bit of tennis," I answer.
"That's great! Gaara here plays soccer too! Maybe you too could play one on one sometime at the park hey?" Temari says now way too over excited. "Sure," I respond quietly, while Gaara says the all to familiar 'hn' that I'm use to. "He kind of reminds me of Neji now that I think of it." I conclude in my head. As Temari rambles on and on, I take this time to muster up the courage to start a conversation with Gaara.
Getting a bit closer to him, I notice him staring at me questionly, but I ignore that. I whisper in his ear, "Does she always talk this much?" He gives me an annoying look and mouths 'all the time'. I giggle softly, inwardly smiling that I got him to talk to me. "He didn't even say anything though, but it counts right?" I argue with myself.
"Hey what are you two whispering and giggling about back there?" Temari suddenly asks. "Nothing," I say innocently, while Gaara states clearly annoyed, "I don't giggle." "Whatever you say Gaara, whatever you say. Anyways, we're here!" Temari points out.
Temari parks her silver Volvo in the garage. I open the door on my side and step out onto the gray concrete with my backpack at hand. "Don't worry about your suitcase; Gaara will grab that for you, right Gaara?" Temari says as she leads me to a wooden door that leads into the house. In return Gaara lets out a grunt and grabs my suitcase, following closely behind.
We walk through a blue hallway that also is the laundry room and make our way to what looks like the kitchen. In the room, the walls are painted a plum color, the cupboards are wooden and the floor is marble. "Very cozy looking," I trail off.
Next we walk into the dinning room, which has the same color walls but light gray carpeting instead. In the middle of the room stood a wooden table that fitted four people. We continued into the living room where a black couch and chair sat facing the flat screen T.V. that was currently on. The carpeting in the room I noticed was a lot softer, but still the same color as the dinning room. The walls are painted a dark teal color, with pictures scattered across them.
Tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, I glance to the right to see what my guess is the front door and the dark gray carpeted stairs next to it. "Who's the chick?" a low male voice asks.
I jump lightly from surprise, and then look at the couch to see a guy who looks only two or three years older then me. I notice that he is wearing a plain black T-shirt and baggy faded jeans. His brown hair is sticking up in every direction, and he has a black stud earring in his left ear. "Here I thought Gaara was the bad-boy," I joke with myself. He gives me a smirk, as he looks me up and down.
I start to blush feeling uncomfortable. "She's the exchange student," Gaara warns him. I look to my left to see him crossing his arms while glaring at the guy watching T.V. The guy looks disappointed. "Too bad…we'll my name's Kankuro," he says while getting up and extending his arm towards me.
I timidly take it and answer softly, "Hinata." He flashes me another grin then sits back down looking completely relaxed. "I'll show you to your room," Gaara declares before turning around and walking up the stairs. I quickly follow him. Once upstairs, Gaara gives me a quick tour.
"This is the closet. Points at the first door to the left. Kankuro's room. Points to the first door on the right.Temari's. Gestures to the next one on the right. Mine, yours. He points to his, the farthest to the left, then mine, right next to his. Any questions?" He finishes as he looks at me from the corner of his eyes. "N-no," I mumble while fidgeting with the hem of my sleeve.
"I'm going down stairs. You should unpack. Temari went to the grocery store. She said she would be back in 15 minutes," with that said, I'm left to watch his back as he jogs down stairs. I sigh and turn towards my room. Opening the wooden door, I step inside and take in what will be my new bedroom for the rest of the year.
First thing I notice are the walls; pale blue, while the ceiling is white. The carpet, white with gray specks in it, is as soft as the living room's. By the wall facing directly across from the door lays my new single bed, and on the dark blue blankets rests my suitcase. I place my backpack next to it and sit down on my bed, continuing to look at my room.
A large window with white shades is placed to my left with a small wooden desk under it. To the left wall, I notice has another wooden door. "My guess it's the closet." I think. Next to the door, right by the head of my bed, sits a wooden nightstand with a white alarm-clock/radio/CD player. "It's nothing like my old room…but I think I can cope with it." I compromise to myself.
Standing up, I unzip my suitcase and start to unpack my stuff. After twenty minutes, I finally finish, and shove my empty suitcase and backpack under my bed. But not before taking out my stuffed bunny and hiding it under the covers. I open the window to let some fresh air in the room before leaving and going down stairs.
I'm greeted by the smell of food cooking in the oven. Following my nose, I walk into the kitchen to see Temari busy making a salad. "Can I help?" I ask as I stand behind her. She turns around, and smiles at me. "Well if you really want to you could set the table. We're having pizza tonight! So that means we're only going to need forks since I'm also making a salad," Temari chirps.
Shortly after, groans can be heard in the living room. "Try not to poison us please!" Kankuro shouts over the T.V. I notice Temari silently fuming. Deciding to lighten the mood, I say while shaking my head, "Seems like all men are the same; criticizing women at whatever they do…here I was hoping America wouldn't be the same."
Temari laughs at that, and mood immediately brightens. "You're going to need more than hope for that to happen," she states. We both smile at each other before returning to our jobs. After looking in three drawers, I finally find the silverware and bring that to the table, placing them next to the plates.
"Do we um need any drinks?" I ask politely. Temari responds, "Nah, we'll just grab some soda from the fridge, so take what you like from it." I nod, and walk towards the silver fridge, grabbing the black handle and looking inside for a drink that I like. "Let's see…Coke, Mountain Dew, Sprite…I think I'll have Sprite," I conclude.
With that thought, I grab a Sprite and sit down in the chair facing the living room. Shortly after, the two guys come in and grab a soda out of the fridge and sit down, Kankuro next to me and Gaara facing me. Temari then joins us, first placing the salad and Ranch dressing on the table, then grabbing the pizza out of the oven and placing it in the middle of the table.
"Don't be a pig Kankuro," Temari demands while putting her oven mitt away and sitting down. "Okay, dig in!" she chirps. With that said, Kankuro and Temari both charge in for the first piece of pepperoni pizza. Gaara sighs while I anime style sweat drop at how something simple as grabbing a piece of pizza becomes World War III. "This is going to be one interesting year…" I think to myself as I grab a piece of pizza.
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So far this is my longest chapter. Go me. I think I'll reward myself with some brownie mix…by the way, I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes. They seem very common in my work. Okay so about the part with the man who died, the flight attendants think he died from a heart attack so they decided to let everyone off the plane. But Shikamaru knows that it is highly possible that the man died on purpose. The question is why did he know that was going to happen? That will be reveal later on in the story. Please review!