The Sun & The Moon: Chapter 8 – "Have we met before?"
The last thing she wanted to do was go on a blind date. She hadn't wanted to date since the overdramatic, infamous, and notorious debacle that was her last relationship but, there she was standing in the center of Senju Park waiting for her date to show up. She had been forced to wear a tiered, frilly, black skirt paired with a white blouse and black jacket. She wore a navy-blue belt around her waist that matched with the navy-blue thigh high socks she wore. She wore a pair of black boots that stopped at her knees. Her navy-blue hair was down and hanging over her right shoulder in a fury of curls. She was even wearing earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. The only thing she had picked out for her outfit was the camera that hung off her shoulder.
She wasn't exactly comfortable, but she sucked it up. Her best friend had picked out the outfit and was a beacon of excitement when she wore it for the first time. So, she couldn't take it off and she couldn't turn down the date either.
He wasn't exactly against having a blind date, but he had to admit he wasn't thrilled about it either. His last girlfriend had been the epitome of a drama queen with insecurity issues to boot. The break up had left him with slashed tires and clothes doused in gasoline and serving as kindling for an impromptu bonfire. He wore a pair of stylishly ripped jeans paired with a white v-neck t-shirt and black and orange plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore orange converse with black laces. Hanging around his neck was a blue stone necklace that hung on a black leather strap and his blonde hair was freshly trimmed.
He glanced down at his watch. He was early but that was only because his best friend forced him to show up early. The only problem was that his best friend neglected to tell him what his date looked like. All he had was her number and they had texted one another that they were on their way to the fountain, but his phone died halfway through his train ride and he had left his portable charger at home. And it wasn't exactly easy to pick out a blind date when there were dozens of other guys and girls meeting other guys and girls.
She called him again, his phone going straight to voicemail. She let out a heavy sigh and took a seat on the edge of the fountain, the mist blowing off the water providing some sense of relief for her irritation. They had texted one another earlier but he had suddenly stopped responding after he boarded the train. Her best friend had neglected to tell her what her date looked like so she was stuck scanning the crowd of young people who had also decided to use Senju Park's center as their meeting spot. And it didn't help that it was a beautiful day and that the fountain was crawling with people.
She looked down at her camera. She brought it around to her front and switched it on. She held it up to her eye and peered through the window. She zoomed in on a street performer not too far from her and adjusted the focus before snapping a picture. She calmed down a bit. If she had been stood up, she wasn't going to waste a beautiful day like today. She peered around before finding her next subject and snapping a photo.
He was in the middle of searching his messenger bag when he heard a camera shutter. He looked up and saw her standing across the way with her camera aimed at him. He blinked a few times at the stranger who suddenly took his picture. Her camera shutter went off again. Then one more time when he tilted his head to the side. He decided to give her a smile and the camera shutter went off again.
She brought her camera down and he saw her face. His heart pounded against his chest as he saw his mystery photographer's face. Her navy-blue hair was long and silky and hung gracefully over her shoulder. She had lavender colored eyes with nicely shaped lips. He noticed the slight pink blush on her cheeks. He thought she was cute.
She had spotted him when she brought her camera around to see what else she could snap a picture of. He'd been rummaging through his bag when she took a picture. She hadn't realized she'd done it until he looked at her. That's when she blushed and felt her heart begin beating against her chest. Some part of her told her just to look away and take a picture of something else but she ended up taking a few more pictures of him. His blond hair was neat and his blue eyes seemed to be brighter than that of the day's clear sky. And he was the only one in the park with whisker markings on his cheeks. She thought he was cute.
They looked at one another for a moment before he got up. She wasn't sure what to do and tried to think of all her potential escape routes. She dwelled too long on the idea of escaping.
"Hi," he greeted her.
"Hi," she greeted in return.
He scratched his cheek. "I'm sorry, this is going to sound a bit weird but, have we met before?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so?"
"Oh."
It was awkward.
She looked down at her camera. "Um," she looked back at him, "sorry?"
"Ah, don't be." He scratched the back of his head with a bit of a nervous laugh. "I just came over to see if the pictures were any good. I'm not the most photogenic person in the world if you hadn't already noticed."
"Are you kidding me?" She suddenly perked up. "You're one of the most photogenic people I've met. I actually took that first picture of you without even realizing it."
"You think so?" he asked. "That's a relief to hear then."
"A relief?" she repeated.
"I'm studying to become an actor and model," he told her.
She lit up. "Really? I want to be a photographer and director."
"Really? That's lucky," he admitted. "Are you a student around here?"
She nodded. "I go to Konoha Arts Academy. I'm a freshman."
"I'm a junior," he stated with a grin.
She blushed. He noticed. He blushed too.
"So," he scratched his cheek, "what are you doing out here?"
She opened her mouth but pursed her lips together. She looked down at her camera and then proceeded to be casual. "I figured I might as well come out and take some pictures in the city since it's such a nice day out. What about you?"
He let out a nervous laugh again before clearing his throat. "Well, I figured I would use today to get away from the campus and breathe a bit."
It was awkward again.
"So," he spoke first, "if you're just going around taking photos, do you mind if I tag along?"
"You want to tag along?"
"Well," he shrugged, "yeah. You said so yourself, it's a beautiful day out and I'm photogenic so why don't we take advantage of the day? You could use me in some of your shots and potentially throw them in a portfolio and I get some shots out of it too."
She was beginning to get excited again. "You're okay with that?"
He blushed at the sight of her excited face. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. "Why not?"
She cheered. Then she blushed and cleared her throat.
"Let's go then," she urged before walking ahead of him. She figured that whoever she was supposed to meet would contact her eventually. Things happen and she couldn't be mad because she was going to spend her day taking pictures with the blonde stranger from the park.
He followed her. He figured that whoever he was supposed to meet would give him an earful for being so careless with his phone and letting it die. He was sure she wouldn't hang around the fountain all day and had probably left already.
She took dozens of pictures. Many of them were candid shots of her newfound friend. She admired his ability to strike up conversations with complete strangers. It was a talent she had yet to master and it was the reason she specialized in candid photography. She noticed how he smiled in most of them.
One photo, he had knelt down to tie his shoelace when a dog came up to him and started licking his face. He was caught off guard a bit but laughed and scratched the dog's ears. The owner was flustered and embarrassed but he quickly reassured her and calmed her down.
Another photo was of him playing soccer with a group of kids. Their ball had rolled onto the walkway and he stopped it with his foot. He had rolled the ball onto his foot and started bouncing it; all the kids rushed over at the sight. He performed a trick and they dragged him over to play soccer with them.
She sat on a bench and watched. She laughed as he seemed to switch teams after every goal. He got confused part way through and the game eventually turned into sixteen against one. He surrendered and congratulated his temporary enemies on their win.
"You're really good with people," she muttered as they walked alongside one another.
"You think so?" He looked at her and saw she was scrolling through the photos. He saw that a majority of them were of him. He eyed her for a moment before stepping in front of her. "Can I see that?"
"Ah, mm." She nodded and handed him her camera. She watched as he took a few steps back and aimed the camera at her. "What are you doing?"
"Taking your picture," he answered as he adjusted the lens.
"Huh? You don't have to do that," she whined. She fiddled with her fingers and blushed a brighter pink than she had all afternoon. "I'm really not all that great in front of a camera. I don't even look all that great in a lot of the photos that I take."
He took her photo. He brought up the gallery and smiled at the picture. "Beautiful."
She turned red. He turned pink. He handed her camera back.
"I-I mean," he stumbled. He cleared his throat and wore a nervous grin. "I'm kind of hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?"
She nodded. They went to the nearest diner. They sat together in a booth and as soon as their menus came, they buried their noses in them.
"Are you from Konoha?" he asked after they placed their orders and their waitress took their menus.
She nodded. "I'm from the Third Ward."
"I'm from the Seventh," he answered. "What high school did you go to?"
"Konoha City Academy," she answered.
He whistled. "You went there? They're really strict there, aren't they? And they're really tough too."
She wore a bit of a nervous smile. "Yeah. It was a lot to handle, but I managed to survive somehow."
"Well, congratulations on surviving Konoha City Academy," he congratulated her. "I, on the other hand, went to Konoha High School which is the complete opposite of Konoha City Academy."
"I don't know," she said. "They come in second behind KCA."
"True," he muttered. "I guess we weren't as strict, but they were definitely hard on us. I suppose with the added encouraged extracurriculars and more relax curriculum, we weren't as stressed as you guys were."
She nodded.
They talked about their old high schools. He talked about how he was impossible to deal with and spent a majority of his days in the principal's office. She talked about the long list of activities she was involved in.
"Wait, so let me get this straight." He picked up his milkshake and took a few sips before putting it back down. "You were involved in student council, festival planning committee, film club, photography club, and orchestra. On top of doing figure skating, gymnastics, ballet, competitive ballroom dancing, and competitive violin? Are you even human?"
She let out a nervous laugh. "Yes?"
"That's amazing," he exclaimed. "I can't even begin to imagine how much work you had to put in for all of that. You're like a superhero or something."
She shifted in her seat. She turned red at his compliments. "Thank you."
He grinned. "You're welcome."
When they finished eating, he paid for both of them.
"You don't have to do that," she argued.
"It's fine," he told her as he put his wallet away. "Let's get going. There's still some daylight left so you should be able to get a few more photos in before the day is gone."
She looked outside. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning from blue to hues of orange and red. They left.
As they walked along the street, he hadn't noticed how she stopped walking. He stopped and looked back to see her standing in the window of a pastry shop. He stood beside her and saw she was looking at the cinnamon rolls on display. He looked at her and saw the way her eyes shined.
She hadn't noticed she'd stopped to stare at the cinnamon rolls until someone tapped her shoulder. She blinked a few times before looking next to her. He was standing there with a bit of a smile on his face and a pastry box in his hand.
"Here." He held it out.
"What's this?" She took the box. She opened it and her eyes widen at the sight of three cinnamon rolls inside. She looked up at him. "Um..."
"It looked like you really wanted one," he confessed with a shrug. "It's getting kind of late so let's head towards the station? I'm sure there are plenty of places you can take pictures of there."
She nodded. When they made it to the station, she snapped a few more candid shots of the blond stranger from the park. As they sat next to one another on the train, she scrolled through the photo she'd taken.
"You're really good," he complimented.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"Say, why do you want to be a director? I can see you're passionate about photography but what about directing interest you?"
She thought for a moment. "Well, I've always liked movies and I'm too shy to act so I figured that if I wanted to get involved, I'd become a director."
"Sounds fair," he chuckled.
She smiled. "What about? Why do you want to be an actor and model?"
"Well," he began, "just like you, I've always loved movies. I've always admired what they can do when it comes to enveloping themselves into these characters they're supposed to play and delivering phenomenal performances. I want to be able to do that. And modeling because I'm photogenic."
"Sounds fair," she giggled.
"So, what were you really doing in the park today?" he asked as they heard the announcement for their stop.
She sighed. She looked back at her camera. "I was supposed to go on a date today but I got stood up."
"What a coincidence so did I," he confessed. "I guess the day didn't end in a total disaster."
"What makes you say that?" she asked.
"Well," the train stopped, "I got to hang out with you instead."
She turned red. He turned pinked and grinned. Without saying a word, she got up and forced her way through the crowd and off the train. He blinked a few times confused and quickly hopped off the train before the doors closed.
He looked around and saw her hurrying towards the stairs. He forced his way through the crowd until he reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Wait!"
She stopped but wouldn't look at him.
He smiled. "I realized that we hung out most of the afternoon but I never got your name."
"Hyuuga Hinata." She bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
"Huh?"
She looked at him. "What?"
"Hyuuga Hinata?" he repeated. "Is your roommate Haruno Sakura?"
She blinked a few times. "How did you know that?"
He let out an awkward laugh and introduced himself, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
"Ah, you're the one I was supposed to go on a date with today," she said.
"And I you," he said.
They looked at one another before laughing together. They laughed into they were in tears and it was a few minutes before they began to settle down.
He wiped a tear away and grinned at her. "I guess things worked out in the end."
"Looks like it," she agreed.
"Come on," he nodded towards the stairs, "let me walk you back to your dorm."
"Sure."
They headed down the steps.
"Say, are you sure we hadn't met before?" Naruto asked.
"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling we've met before too," she confessed.
The End
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this short! I had a lot of fun writing it and I'm glad I was able to keep up with the deadlines I set for myself. With the support and love I've received for this story, I'm considering doing a fuller and developed version of this with less time jumps, more chapters, and broader focus to include all the characters. As always, thank you for reading! Happy NaruHina Fluffy Day! Week? Week! Don't forget to check out The Konoha Life, Opposites Attract, Exorcist, and my latest project: Cradle.
P.S.: Also, I apologize for that original post! I don't know how the story got mixed up like that. The editing software I wrote the story in, exported it into the out of order mess that got posted first!