It's two days after Christmas. The worst of the season is over, only a few more days left to suffer in isolation while those around flaunt their picture perfect lives.
Given Naruto's overall exuberance for life and all things festive, his disdain of the Christmas holidays catches many off guard. Those who don't know his childhood history are quick to tease and label him as a mean ole Grinch. Those who know his history, however, understand the origin of his contempt. Navigating the end of the year is not an easy task for an orphan who was robbed of all blood ties.
Naruto arrives at his dorm room after completing his fourth shift since the twenty-fifth. It's been busy at the little sushi restaurant next to Ichiraku's. He's grateful for securing a position as a waiter. The service job together with grants and financial assistance should provide enough funds to help him survive another semester at university.
It wasn't like he had better plans for the holidays, or any plans if he was being honest. His friends were enjoying the holidays with their families, while he was left behind uninvited and with no one but his coworkers to spend the festive season with. He truly felt like the fictional orphan, Harry Potter. Except his life was devoid of magic and dark whimsical adventures. The only adventure he had in these days leading up to the new year was a battle between ice and rubber as he trudged through the wintry landscape to work each evening.
Heated puffs of breath are blown onto his frozen palms to assist the thawing process. Once sensation has returned to his fingers, he unzips his knapsack to retrieve a large bento box. One of the perks for working at a restaurant was the free food you could take home.
The chef, a woman in her forties, had taken a liking to him as he reminded her of her son who was stationed at a military base in South Korea. He didn't mind the teasing pinches she sent his way when he messed up an order or accidentally spilled a bowl of hot miso over the clean tiled floors. His colleagues found her meddlesome, but he enjoyed the feeling of being seen and cared for.
Every night just after closing, she would personally prepare his dinner. In those moments and tonight, he pretends that he's eating a meal carefully prepared by the woman who birthed him. As he bites into sweet potato tempura, he wonders if his mother was a good cook. Did she often cook for his father? He wishes he knew more about the woman whose breath ceased to exist while he inhaled his first.
Other than the brief details of her death, the only information his godfather offered about his mother was that she was a beautiful redhead with a fiery temper. Even less was shared about the man who helped conceive him. All Naruto knew was that he shared the same hair colour as his father, and that the young man perished in a car crash on the way to meet his newborn son.
An ill omen if there was ever one. A blight to mankind. A person with no roots, no one to call family. Just a burden on society.
There were times when he considered ending things. Thankfully though with time, his skin has grown a protective shield, enabling him to be better equipped at dealing with those deadly inclinations. He's made it this far in life on his own, and even if he still hasn't experienced the feeling of belongingness, he hopes to one day bring that happiness to another person's life.
Ever since he laid eyes on Sakura in highschool, he worked hard on granting her that privilege. But all those efforts were in vain. From their last interaction, it is clear where her affections lie. It was time to cut his losses and move on. But habits are hard to break, it's why he's now on a social media app scrolling through the pink head's feed. Bored of mundane photos of her with family and old friends, Naruto's mind wanders to Hinata. He had never looked her up before, because her life was an open book to him. Either she was studying or back at home with her family. From their conversations, he knew she didn't have much of a social life. The recent confrontation with Sasuke, however, made him doubt how much he truly knew about her.
After searching various iterations of her name, he is about to give up when he comes across an account for H. Hyuga. It's just his luck that the female's profile is open. It's not the person he is searching for. The resemblance is uncanny, but this young woman has short brown hair and a slender, tom-boyish figure compared to the voluptuous curves and long black hair he had the personal luxury of caressing.
Just the tiny thumbnail of the most recent shot in her album begins to irk him before the full-sized image is revealed. The spiky jet black hair of his enemy/friend is easily recognizable. Sasuke is seated on a wooden bench in a dimly lit outdoor area with the brown-haired tom-boy sitting shoulder to shoulder next to him. His expression is of boredom, while hers is teasing and spirited. From the caption, he concludes that the relationship is platonic and he should immediately befriend this young woman.
"Never understood what all the fuss was about."
The next picture is of the girl with her hands around Hinata's cousin, Neji. The similarities in features, stance and physical makeup is much stronger between these two. If Hinata were in the shot, she would look like an outsider. His first assumption is that this is Neji's sister and Hinata's cousin. But he knows Neji is an only child like himself. An orphan who was fortunate enough to be taken in by his father's relatives. As he surveys the background of the photo, his eyes zero in on the female he is searching for. Barely discernible and heavily pixelated, Hinata is still a vision in a black, floor length gown. Her hair is pulled back from her face, and it's one of the few instances where her delicate features are visible. He wonders why in God's name she hides her beauty from the world.
Once he is able to pry his eyes off of Hinata, he notices a tall, pale, older male next to Hinata. Naruto brows scrunches in annoyance, but shrugs it off as another pretty boy relative of hers. He instead focues on the caption - "Can you spot the elusive birthday girl? Happy Birthday Nee-san."
The photo was posted only a couple hours ago, which meant today was Hinata's birthday. Naruto is tempted to reach out. His fingers type out a birthday greeting over text, which he promptly deletes. He was never the first to reach out and as much as she seemed to care for him, why wasn't he invited to this fancy party. Was he not good enough to be around her family? Was Hinata just another rich snob like Sasuke? Was he being tossed to the side just as Sakura was?
Naruto wonders if Hinata is now in Sasuke's company. Would they both laugh at his simpering if he reached out? Hinata never gave the impression of a cruel person, but it was becoming more apparent that there was a visible divide between the rich and everyone else.
Tapping the power button to the right of his phone, he switches it off for the night and turns on the TV to drown out his thoughts.
Happy Holidays!
This was a hurried chapter, but it's been so long since I posted and I really wanted to get this one out close to Hinata's birthday. I'll post part two from Sasuke's perspective soon, it might be short but it should be a fun one.
Hope you guys enjoyed this.