Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Cliche Guide to a Classic Romance ❯ The First Date Part 2- It's Kind of Cute ( Chapter 8 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: IdleFlame 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.24.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 558 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.24.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 558 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto
Step 5 - First Date Part two - It’s Kind of Cute
The town was a little congested as the two teens had to push their way threw the crowed while trying to find somewhere to eat.
“How about here, Naruto?”
Naruto turned his head to look at the building Hinata was pointing at. It was a small modest looking place that made a variety of foods. It had a small sign by the door telling the specialties and prices. It looked nice enough it couldn’t hurt. “Sure, why not!” He said starting to walk toward it. Hinata smiled and followed him to the building.
They had been walking around the village for about three hours and had been almost everywhere in the village. Stores, hang outs, small vending carts on the side of the road, whatever caught their eye.
They had fun walking around and picking up little gifts or knickknacks’ s to take back home with them. They would talk here and there, mostly Naruto ranting about whatever popped up in his head. His short attention span made it hard for Hinata to keep up with the subject but she enjoyed their conversation’s none-the-less.
The inside of the food place reminded them of a house, the kitchen was in the back and if you sat in the right area you could see the cooks doing there job and chatting with the other cooks.
It didn’t take long for them to be seated at one of the tables that were pushed against the walls and all big enough to fit four people. The couple took a quick look around the place taking in its hard wood floors and off-white walls.
Naruto picked up one of the menus the waiter had left for them and skimmed the content. Just as he thought, no Ramen. Sighing he started rereading the menu trying to find something that sounded like it would at least fit his personal food preference. His date however had already decided on her order and was having a slightly amused moment watching him trying to find something that sounded good.
Hinata watched as Naruto concentrated on reading the menu making faces when he read something that sounded disgusting or grumbling to himself about whatever he had read. Finally after about twenty minutes of thinking and having to repeatedly tell the waiter they weren’t ready to order, the blonde finally decide on his order and for that the waiter looked relieved and happily walked back to the kitchen.
The blond heard the girl giggle and looked up at her. Everyone laughed at him at random times and he could usually figure out why, but all he did was order his meal. So what was so funny? He just hoped that he didn’t do anything stupid that would somehow offend Hinata or make her uncomfortable.
Well He already had when he dragged her out of the hotel right after she said yes. It took at least an hour for her to start talking normally, the experience was kind of weird, he would say a few things and she would reply with more stuttering then usual and broken sentences but that was hours ago, so what did he do now.
Hinata saw Naruto’s confused look. “Um . . . so Naruto . . . ” She trailed off watching Naruto tilt his head slightly in curiosity as he leaned forward on the table holding his head in one hand. She then immediately adverted her gaze to the floor feeling herself blush.
Out of all the things her father had taught her over the years about how to start a conversation and how to keep it going she couldn’t remember a single thing. All the things her friends did to help her gain more self confidence, it all seemed to vanish. She felt guilty about it, her friends had spent all that time on her and it was all in vain.
She glanced up at him only to look back down at the floor, her blush intensifying at seeing him looking at her curiously. It was times like these that made her thankful her crush and potential love was extremely dense.
She didn’t know why it mattered. He must have already noticed something, and he did ask her out after all. Though she would have liked to a bath before they went out. Going on a date smelling like dirt, sweat and blood, wasn’t how she imagined their first date.
Then again, this was Naruto. Nothing went as planned.
“Hinata, are you feeling okay?” Naruto said waving a hand in front of her face.
Hinata looked up quickly hearing the blonde talk, her mouth feeling a little drier. “Um . . . Yes?”
Naruto looked at her worriedly. “Are you sure your ok?” he asked again was it him or did she sound like she was questioning herself? Why would she be questioning herself? It’s her health shouldn’t she know if she was okay or not? And why was she zoning out like that?
“Y-yes, I’m fine. I guess I’m just thinking too much.” She said trying to reassure him, remembering the last time she went out to eat with Naruto. Hadn’t he asked her that then too? He did seem to ask her that often. Maybe they were right Maybe she did blush too much.
The blond nodded “If you’re sure that’s all.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I can’t hear a thing their saying. There’s too many people talking in there.” Kiba grumbled plopping down underneath a nearby window.
Sakura gave a frustrated sigh and plopped down as well, shifting a bit on the uncomfortable ground. “You better start hearing. Act like it’s a mission!”
Kiba dead panned. “It’s not my fault people talk at the same time, and if I get any closer one of them will be bound to notice us.”
“You’re so useless!”
“Excuse me, How am I useless?! Exactly what grand technique do you have for this particular ‘mission’? All you know is how to heal and throw some destructive chakra induced punches. Neither of which will help in this situation.”
“I have my genjutsu!” she snapped but turned away in a huff.
“Stop trying to sound smart, you know that won’t help either!” he shouted getting angry at the girl.
The pink haired girl turned her head toward the boy, her face red in anger. “First off, I don’t have to ‘try’ I am, one of the more intelligent Shinobi in our village. Not to mention our hokage, Tsunade, one of the strongest konoichi in existence who is also one of the legendary Sanin personally taught me! What do you have going for you? A good sense of smell and brute force, not much of a good combination, if you ask me.”
Kiba, who for the most part was ignoring the girl and was scratching akamaru’s ears. He looked over at her with a loathe filled glare. “A good thing no one has asked you then. Besides the only thing that I noticed about you was how much of a harpy you’ve grown to be. Now stop screeching in my ear. I’m trying to listen.” With that said Kiba turned his back to the girl and moved to the next window. The girls yelling sounded like a dying cat and she was really starting to irritate him with her bossy attitude.
He chanced a look behind him and found a grumbling, seething pink haired harpy and a Shino who looked like he was stuck between wanting to persuade them to cut out the spy act or keep going out of curiosity which he would later deny it as such and would say the either he was merely observing the courtship or that he was making sure that Kiba didn’t cause any massive damage, leaving Sakura and Kiba to defend for themselves.
Sakura would probably say she was making sure Naruto didn’t screw things up, Kiba would just say he was protecting Hinata and making sure Naruto didn’t hurt her, even though he knew full well Naruto wasn’t capable of hurting women unless they were the enemy ninja. Sakura was living proof that the blonde wouldn’t hurt a girl, as much as she hit him and he never hit her back. Kiba thought it was a miracle the boy could tolerate it.
“Hey, shut up, I can’t hear them.” He said clamping a hand down over the girl’s mouth to silence her, only to cringe in pain as he felt teeth sink into his hand. He gave the girl a disbelieving look. “And you call me a mut?”
The girl lowered herself to the immaturity of sticking out her tongue with a ‘hmph’ and settled her self on the other side of Shino, away from Kiba.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“-but the other girl ducked and then she flew right over her. She smashed her nose into the tree, it was swollen for days, and she was so embarrassed about it she wouldn’t even look at him for two weeks!”
Hinata laughed softly. Naruto had been telling stories about his teammate and the missions they had been on. The one he was currently laughing about was about Sakura getting mad at some random girl for openly hitting on Sasuke.
“Oh then there was this one time Sasuke had to eat this sugary pastry thing, the faces he made were hilarious, sometimes he would scrunch face up like this,” he paused and made a face that would make one think he ate something overly sour. “I had pictures of it, but Sasuke used them for the fire on the way home.”
Hinata once again laughed at the story, but couldn’t for the life of her picture Sasuke with anything other then his usual calm expression or his angry look before a fight.
Naruto soon stopped laughing and started eating again. “So, How do your missions usually go?”
The girl looked up from her meal as well but shook her head. “Other then Kiba and Shino arguing here and there, our missions go pretty well, nothing special really.”
“Well that must be boring, I don’t think I would survive if my team wasn’t the way they were. I’d die of boredom before we even got out of the village.” He stated with a mouth full of food, Swallowing only when he took the time to remember his table manners.
Hinata ignored the lack of etiquette. It didn’t matter, his choice of a topic, his lack of manners or his blunt remarks. She was out on a date with Naruto, not just hanging out but a real date. It made her a little scared though since she didn’t have time to prepare or anything after he asked her. But it was all right so far, other then the occasional nervous stuttering she was doing ok.
“Hey, Hinata, what do Kiba and Shino argue over? I mean other then who gets to be the leader.”
Hinata looked down her plate and pushed her food around with her fork. “Well, they’ll argue over almost anything. They’ll even argue over which way the opening of the tents should go. It’s not that they argue on purpose to fight or anything . . . I think it’s just their way of bonding, Kind of like how Sasuke and you fought all the time.”
“Bonding? How do bond by fighting? Me and Sasuke were always trying to beat each other into a bloody pulp!”
“I know but that’s how you bonded. It’s hard to explain. It’s like Sakura and Ino. Back in the academy Sakura looked up to Ino, but once she matched up to Ino they couldn’t use that to bond anymore and they started fighting to test the other’s strength. Same with you and Sasuke.” She tried to explain but the look on Naruto’s face clearly stated that he wasn’t catching on. She sighed and thought for a minute before speaking again.
“You both were trying to understand the other. You wanted to know why he was so cold, and he wanted to know how you could be so happy with who you were. The fact that you couldn’t understand each other caused you to fight. Those fights brought you closer together and helped you understand the others way of thinking. Sasuke wants to avenge his clan, but has to kill his own blood and it causes him pain. You lived everyday knowing what the people of the village thought of you and you wanted to show people that they were wrong, So you put your life on the line to gain that respect.”
The blonde nodded. He guessed that was a good answer. It made sense somewhat. He used to fight with Sasuke all the time but, they did become friends. He was amazed at how much she knew. Not just about him but the others too. Shino, Kiba Sakura and Ino. Then Sasuke and him. It made him wonder how long exactly Hinata had been watching them. She was always quiet and kept mostly to herself. She was probably observant by nature, while she was on the sidelines she was probably watching everything everyone did.
Come to think about it, he found it a little creepy that he was being watched by the girl, but in a way it was kind of, adorable for the lack of a better word.
Naruto noticed the girl blushing and figured he was staring at her too long. He didn’t notice the smile that snuck its way on his face, but he did notice that the girl was smiling even if she was looking down at her plate with an uncomparable blush. He pushed his half-eaten plate aside. “Hey If your done eating, why don’t we go walk around some more? No point in sitting still longer then you half to right?”
The dark haired girl looked up from her meal, she glanced at Naruto’s unfinished meal unsurely. Naruto followed her look and shrugged. “Eh the food wasn’t that great.” He said as he placed the money on the table and pulled the girl from her chair and dragged her past all the other tables and obstacles, before they left the building behind and made their way threw the crowed streets.
The girl felt herself blushing full blast as she her own hand was once again found in the blondes. She could feel the rough texture where his hands were calloused, the spots that were put threw the most work in training and fighting. She could remember watching him train, over and over and sometime she noticed that his hands would get bloody where the skin was rubbed raw or burned when he used too much chakra.
Her hands weren’t all that different, she was a ninja as well so it was normal for their skin to get a bit calloused from using certain weapons or fighting styles. Although hers weren’t as bad they were still there and she knew that Naruto could probably feel them if he was paying as much attention. Then maybe he would notice how hard she training.
She smiled again as the rushed past the small place they had just came out of. For a second she thought she saw the others out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to get a better look they were gone. Maybe her mind decided it would be funny to play tricks on her.
-=-=-=-=-=
It was a while before they stopped. Both sat on the ground tired from walking so long, it didn’t help that neither of them knew where they were.
The pace was pretty secluded and there were only a few people around who seemed to be either training or just sitting around talking to one or two other people. There were a few buildings that could be seen, the largest one was the structure where Hinata knew the Kazekage was sitting at a large desk hiding his face behind piles of documents, most of which would hold no importance. Maybe they could go there and find their way to their hotel from there.
“Man I think I walked off a week’s worth of food from that walk.” Naruto laughed as he laid back on the ground. “This is nothing like home, at least in leaf we have grass to lay on.”
Hinata nodded in agreement. She had to admit to herself that the hard dirt made the ground back home seem like paradise.
“What do you think the others are up to? I bet Sakura went to the bath house, she hates being dirty.” Naruto said with amusement as he rested his head on his hands.
Hinata looked down at the hyper boy and had to look away as she felt her self starting to blush again. “Well, Shino’s probably preparing for the trip back home, and Kiba could be sleeping. However, they could be training.”
“That sound like a good idea! Hey Hinata why don’t we spar?” He jumped up and turned to her hopefully.
The girl didn’t know what to say. Did he really want to train with her? It could be fun to train with Naruto, but what if he went easy on her or she messed something up. But that’s why they called it training right? “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, the others aren’t around, Sakura wouldn’t even if she was here. SO that leaves you” He said happily grabbing her hand for the third time that day and helping her up.
“I-I don’t know if . . . ”
Naruto pouted and pulled her at her hand a little. “Don’t make me train by myself!” He whined, faking tears.
The Hyuuga laughed at the childish display before giving in and nodding. “Alright.”
“Yeah!” The blonde yelled before backing away from his opponent and getting into his position.
Hinata watched and closed her eyes taking a deep breath to try and focus, finally she nodded and got fell into her stance, listening to Naruto explaining the rules.
The rules were simple, no genjutsu, no weapons, and no dodging.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Crap, we lost them!”
Sakura growled in frustration. “How could you possibly lose them?! Were you not just bragging about your tracking skills?!”
“Hey I don’t see you doing anything. Besides the way Naruto runs their probably half way across town by now.” Kiba sighed. “We should probably just head back.”
“No way! Don’t you want to see what there doing? What if something happens?” The pink haired girl said while thinking out multiple outcomes of the date.
Kiba grumbled to himself about girls and walked away leaving Shino to deal with the currently absentminded female. He wasn’t going to stick around and listen to the girls rants any longer then he had too.
“Kiba where are you going, don’t you want to find out what happens? What if they-“
“The only thing they’ve been doing is talking. And that’s all they will do because Hinata’s to shy to make a move and Naruto’s too dense to read signals.”
Sakura half glared at Shino, placing her hands on her hips in an irritable fashion. “What makes you so sure about that? Naruto has grown up a little.”
“Growing mature and being able to read body language are two different things, Haruno”
Sakura let her arms drop to her sides as her air filled lungs deflated. “I guess you’re right. At least this gives me time to bathe and shop for clothes.” The girl started planning her schedule following behind Shino, who was following Kiba’s earlier direction.
-=-=-=-=-
They had stayed out all day and it was currently time for bed but, Naruto had a giant grin as he opened the door to the hotel. “Wow. I should train with you more often Hinata!” He exclaimed as he plopped down onto the bed that Sakura would later shove him off of. Were where they anyway?
Hinata blushed at the compliment but shook her head. “I’m not th-that great. I’m sure Sakura would have been a more challenging opponent.”
“Are you kidding?” He said sitting up. He stared at the girl for a minute for what seemed to him no reason, before letting himself fall back onto the mattress. “You know what your problem is Hinata?”
The girl’s head shot up like a bullet. “Wh-what?” her voice came out low squeak as she felt her limited self esteem go pouring down the drain.
She had a problem? There was something wrong with her? Did she do something weird on their date? Was it something she said?
These question kept repeating over and over in her head like a broken record as she waited in terror for the boy to answer.
She heard Naruto sigh while he jumped of his bed and right on hers. The sudden action caused her to back into the corner of the bed to lean against the wall. The familiar feel of blood rushing into her cheeks made it self known as the blond’s face got a little too close to her own. It was Right then and there that she wondered if Naruto ever realized the awkwardness he caused due to his childish actions. Then again, she would probably been even more embarrassed if he was thinking on age level.
Naruto gave a playful smirk and placed his index finger on the girl’s cheek. “That right there! Your way too shy. You get embarrassed too easy!” He said laughing as her blush deepened.
He pulled away and watched as the girl looked away from him and to the floor. She looked like she was ready to pass out, but couldn’t because of her current position. He smiled and got off the girls’ bed. He turned around and pulled out his sleeping bag setting it on the ground a little bit away from Sakura’s bed, but only enough so she could walk by without stepping on him.
He heard the girl’s blankets moving around but only spared a second long glance before getting into his own sleeping space. He snuggled into his bag and clung onto his pillow like a stuffed animal. He stared at the wall thinking about his day. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He actually had fun hanging out with her. “Hey Hinata?”
There was a small pause before the girl answered. “Yes, Naruto”
Naruto paused as well, the voice sounded muffled like she was under her blanket. The blond chanced to look over at her and sure enough the only thing he could see of the girl was the top of her head. He smiled at the sight for a few seconds before speaking. “When we get back home, would you like to go out again . . . on a.. date?” he asked slowly, the whole ordeal still being new.
“O-of course!”
The boy smiled at the happy tone in Hinata’s voice making a mental not to ask her when before the went out. He looked back the other way and got comfortable again.
It was a couple minutes later when he was half way asleep before he heard the shy voice.
“Naruto?”
“Yeah, what is it?” He asked trying not to sound tired.
There was that pause again, and for a split second Naruto wanted to look up to see what was taking her, but he was to exhausted to move.
“Do you really . . . do you really think that I’m to shy?”
Naruto let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, but it’s kind of cute . . . good night Hinata. ” He said knowing that the girl was probably blushing and burying herself further into her sheets. Though he wasn’t lying, he did think it was cute. He was starting to like the fact that she would blush so much around him. Besides he couldn’t imagine the girl acting like Sakura or Ino and heavens for bid she act like Temari.
If she wasn’t so timid, then she wasn’t Hinata. If she was Hinata then he wouldn’t find it cute. No wait . . . that didn’t make sense, did it?
Naruto huffed out a breath before pulling his blanket over his now aching head.
Step 5 - First Date Part two - It’s Kind of Cute
The town was a little congested as the two teens had to push their way threw the crowed while trying to find somewhere to eat.
“How about here, Naruto?”
Naruto turned his head to look at the building Hinata was pointing at. It was a small modest looking place that made a variety of foods. It had a small sign by the door telling the specialties and prices. It looked nice enough it couldn’t hurt. “Sure, why not!” He said starting to walk toward it. Hinata smiled and followed him to the building.
They had been walking around the village for about three hours and had been almost everywhere in the village. Stores, hang outs, small vending carts on the side of the road, whatever caught their eye.
They had fun walking around and picking up little gifts or knickknacks’ s to take back home with them. They would talk here and there, mostly Naruto ranting about whatever popped up in his head. His short attention span made it hard for Hinata to keep up with the subject but she enjoyed their conversation’s none-the-less.
The inside of the food place reminded them of a house, the kitchen was in the back and if you sat in the right area you could see the cooks doing there job and chatting with the other cooks.
It didn’t take long for them to be seated at one of the tables that were pushed against the walls and all big enough to fit four people. The couple took a quick look around the place taking in its hard wood floors and off-white walls.
Naruto picked up one of the menus the waiter had left for them and skimmed the content. Just as he thought, no Ramen. Sighing he started rereading the menu trying to find something that sounded like it would at least fit his personal food preference. His date however had already decided on her order and was having a slightly amused moment watching him trying to find something that sounded good.
Hinata watched as Naruto concentrated on reading the menu making faces when he read something that sounded disgusting or grumbling to himself about whatever he had read. Finally after about twenty minutes of thinking and having to repeatedly tell the waiter they weren’t ready to order, the blonde finally decide on his order and for that the waiter looked relieved and happily walked back to the kitchen.
The blond heard the girl giggle and looked up at her. Everyone laughed at him at random times and he could usually figure out why, but all he did was order his meal. So what was so funny? He just hoped that he didn’t do anything stupid that would somehow offend Hinata or make her uncomfortable.
Well He already had when he dragged her out of the hotel right after she said yes. It took at least an hour for her to start talking normally, the experience was kind of weird, he would say a few things and she would reply with more stuttering then usual and broken sentences but that was hours ago, so what did he do now.
Hinata saw Naruto’s confused look. “Um . . . so Naruto . . . ” She trailed off watching Naruto tilt his head slightly in curiosity as he leaned forward on the table holding his head in one hand. She then immediately adverted her gaze to the floor feeling herself blush.
Out of all the things her father had taught her over the years about how to start a conversation and how to keep it going she couldn’t remember a single thing. All the things her friends did to help her gain more self confidence, it all seemed to vanish. She felt guilty about it, her friends had spent all that time on her and it was all in vain.
She glanced up at him only to look back down at the floor, her blush intensifying at seeing him looking at her curiously. It was times like these that made her thankful her crush and potential love was extremely dense.
She didn’t know why it mattered. He must have already noticed something, and he did ask her out after all. Though she would have liked to a bath before they went out. Going on a date smelling like dirt, sweat and blood, wasn’t how she imagined their first date.
Then again, this was Naruto. Nothing went as planned.
“Hinata, are you feeling okay?” Naruto said waving a hand in front of her face.
Hinata looked up quickly hearing the blonde talk, her mouth feeling a little drier. “Um . . . Yes?”
Naruto looked at her worriedly. “Are you sure your ok?” he asked again was it him or did she sound like she was questioning herself? Why would she be questioning herself? It’s her health shouldn’t she know if she was okay or not? And why was she zoning out like that?
“Y-yes, I’m fine. I guess I’m just thinking too much.” She said trying to reassure him, remembering the last time she went out to eat with Naruto. Hadn’t he asked her that then too? He did seem to ask her that often. Maybe they were right Maybe she did blush too much.
The blond nodded “If you’re sure that’s all.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I can’t hear a thing their saying. There’s too many people talking in there.” Kiba grumbled plopping down underneath a nearby window.
Sakura gave a frustrated sigh and plopped down as well, shifting a bit on the uncomfortable ground. “You better start hearing. Act like it’s a mission!”
Kiba dead panned. “It’s not my fault people talk at the same time, and if I get any closer one of them will be bound to notice us.”
“You’re so useless!”
“Excuse me, How am I useless?! Exactly what grand technique do you have for this particular ‘mission’? All you know is how to heal and throw some destructive chakra induced punches. Neither of which will help in this situation.”
“I have my genjutsu!” she snapped but turned away in a huff.
“Stop trying to sound smart, you know that won’t help either!” he shouted getting angry at the girl.
The pink haired girl turned her head toward the boy, her face red in anger. “First off, I don’t have to ‘try’ I am, one of the more intelligent Shinobi in our village. Not to mention our hokage, Tsunade, one of the strongest konoichi in existence who is also one of the legendary Sanin personally taught me! What do you have going for you? A good sense of smell and brute force, not much of a good combination, if you ask me.”
Kiba, who for the most part was ignoring the girl and was scratching akamaru’s ears. He looked over at her with a loathe filled glare. “A good thing no one has asked you then. Besides the only thing that I noticed about you was how much of a harpy you’ve grown to be. Now stop screeching in my ear. I’m trying to listen.” With that said Kiba turned his back to the girl and moved to the next window. The girls yelling sounded like a dying cat and she was really starting to irritate him with her bossy attitude.
He chanced a look behind him and found a grumbling, seething pink haired harpy and a Shino who looked like he was stuck between wanting to persuade them to cut out the spy act or keep going out of curiosity which he would later deny it as such and would say the either he was merely observing the courtship or that he was making sure that Kiba didn’t cause any massive damage, leaving Sakura and Kiba to defend for themselves.
Sakura would probably say she was making sure Naruto didn’t screw things up, Kiba would just say he was protecting Hinata and making sure Naruto didn’t hurt her, even though he knew full well Naruto wasn’t capable of hurting women unless they were the enemy ninja. Sakura was living proof that the blonde wouldn’t hurt a girl, as much as she hit him and he never hit her back. Kiba thought it was a miracle the boy could tolerate it.
“Hey, shut up, I can’t hear them.” He said clamping a hand down over the girl’s mouth to silence her, only to cringe in pain as he felt teeth sink into his hand. He gave the girl a disbelieving look. “And you call me a mut?”
The girl lowered herself to the immaturity of sticking out her tongue with a ‘hmph’ and settled her self on the other side of Shino, away from Kiba.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“-but the other girl ducked and then she flew right over her. She smashed her nose into the tree, it was swollen for days, and she was so embarrassed about it she wouldn’t even look at him for two weeks!”
Hinata laughed softly. Naruto had been telling stories about his teammate and the missions they had been on. The one he was currently laughing about was about Sakura getting mad at some random girl for openly hitting on Sasuke.
“Oh then there was this one time Sasuke had to eat this sugary pastry thing, the faces he made were hilarious, sometimes he would scrunch face up like this,” he paused and made a face that would make one think he ate something overly sour. “I had pictures of it, but Sasuke used them for the fire on the way home.”
Hinata once again laughed at the story, but couldn’t for the life of her picture Sasuke with anything other then his usual calm expression or his angry look before a fight.
Naruto soon stopped laughing and started eating again. “So, How do your missions usually go?”
The girl looked up from her meal as well but shook her head. “Other then Kiba and Shino arguing here and there, our missions go pretty well, nothing special really.”
“Well that must be boring, I don’t think I would survive if my team wasn’t the way they were. I’d die of boredom before we even got out of the village.” He stated with a mouth full of food, Swallowing only when he took the time to remember his table manners.
Hinata ignored the lack of etiquette. It didn’t matter, his choice of a topic, his lack of manners or his blunt remarks. She was out on a date with Naruto, not just hanging out but a real date. It made her a little scared though since she didn’t have time to prepare or anything after he asked her. But it was all right so far, other then the occasional nervous stuttering she was doing ok.
“Hey, Hinata, what do Kiba and Shino argue over? I mean other then who gets to be the leader.”
Hinata looked down her plate and pushed her food around with her fork. “Well, they’ll argue over almost anything. They’ll even argue over which way the opening of the tents should go. It’s not that they argue on purpose to fight or anything . . . I think it’s just their way of bonding, Kind of like how Sasuke and you fought all the time.”
“Bonding? How do bond by fighting? Me and Sasuke were always trying to beat each other into a bloody pulp!”
“I know but that’s how you bonded. It’s hard to explain. It’s like Sakura and Ino. Back in the academy Sakura looked up to Ino, but once she matched up to Ino they couldn’t use that to bond anymore and they started fighting to test the other’s strength. Same with you and Sasuke.” She tried to explain but the look on Naruto’s face clearly stated that he wasn’t catching on. She sighed and thought for a minute before speaking again.
“You both were trying to understand the other. You wanted to know why he was so cold, and he wanted to know how you could be so happy with who you were. The fact that you couldn’t understand each other caused you to fight. Those fights brought you closer together and helped you understand the others way of thinking. Sasuke wants to avenge his clan, but has to kill his own blood and it causes him pain. You lived everyday knowing what the people of the village thought of you and you wanted to show people that they were wrong, So you put your life on the line to gain that respect.”
The blonde nodded. He guessed that was a good answer. It made sense somewhat. He used to fight with Sasuke all the time but, they did become friends. He was amazed at how much she knew. Not just about him but the others too. Shino, Kiba Sakura and Ino. Then Sasuke and him. It made him wonder how long exactly Hinata had been watching them. She was always quiet and kept mostly to herself. She was probably observant by nature, while she was on the sidelines she was probably watching everything everyone did.
Come to think about it, he found it a little creepy that he was being watched by the girl, but in a way it was kind of, adorable for the lack of a better word.
Naruto noticed the girl blushing and figured he was staring at her too long. He didn’t notice the smile that snuck its way on his face, but he did notice that the girl was smiling even if she was looking down at her plate with an uncomparable blush. He pushed his half-eaten plate aside. “Hey If your done eating, why don’t we go walk around some more? No point in sitting still longer then you half to right?”
The dark haired girl looked up from her meal, she glanced at Naruto’s unfinished meal unsurely. Naruto followed her look and shrugged. “Eh the food wasn’t that great.” He said as he placed the money on the table and pulled the girl from her chair and dragged her past all the other tables and obstacles, before they left the building behind and made their way threw the crowed streets.
The girl felt herself blushing full blast as she her own hand was once again found in the blondes. She could feel the rough texture where his hands were calloused, the spots that were put threw the most work in training and fighting. She could remember watching him train, over and over and sometime she noticed that his hands would get bloody where the skin was rubbed raw or burned when he used too much chakra.
Her hands weren’t all that different, she was a ninja as well so it was normal for their skin to get a bit calloused from using certain weapons or fighting styles. Although hers weren’t as bad they were still there and she knew that Naruto could probably feel them if he was paying as much attention. Then maybe he would notice how hard she training.
She smiled again as the rushed past the small place they had just came out of. For a second she thought she saw the others out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to get a better look they were gone. Maybe her mind decided it would be funny to play tricks on her.
-=-=-=-=-=
It was a while before they stopped. Both sat on the ground tired from walking so long, it didn’t help that neither of them knew where they were.
The pace was pretty secluded and there were only a few people around who seemed to be either training or just sitting around talking to one or two other people. There were a few buildings that could be seen, the largest one was the structure where Hinata knew the Kazekage was sitting at a large desk hiding his face behind piles of documents, most of which would hold no importance. Maybe they could go there and find their way to their hotel from there.
“Man I think I walked off a week’s worth of food from that walk.” Naruto laughed as he laid back on the ground. “This is nothing like home, at least in leaf we have grass to lay on.”
Hinata nodded in agreement. She had to admit to herself that the hard dirt made the ground back home seem like paradise.
“What do you think the others are up to? I bet Sakura went to the bath house, she hates being dirty.” Naruto said with amusement as he rested his head on his hands.
Hinata looked down at the hyper boy and had to look away as she felt her self starting to blush again. “Well, Shino’s probably preparing for the trip back home, and Kiba could be sleeping. However, they could be training.”
“That sound like a good idea! Hey Hinata why don’t we spar?” He jumped up and turned to her hopefully.
The girl didn’t know what to say. Did he really want to train with her? It could be fun to train with Naruto, but what if he went easy on her or she messed something up. But that’s why they called it training right? “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, the others aren’t around, Sakura wouldn’t even if she was here. SO that leaves you” He said happily grabbing her hand for the third time that day and helping her up.
“I-I don’t know if . . . ”
Naruto pouted and pulled her at her hand a little. “Don’t make me train by myself!” He whined, faking tears.
The Hyuuga laughed at the childish display before giving in and nodding. “Alright.”
“Yeah!” The blonde yelled before backing away from his opponent and getting into his position.
Hinata watched and closed her eyes taking a deep breath to try and focus, finally she nodded and got fell into her stance, listening to Naruto explaining the rules.
The rules were simple, no genjutsu, no weapons, and no dodging.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Crap, we lost them!”
Sakura growled in frustration. “How could you possibly lose them?! Were you not just bragging about your tracking skills?!”
“Hey I don’t see you doing anything. Besides the way Naruto runs their probably half way across town by now.” Kiba sighed. “We should probably just head back.”
“No way! Don’t you want to see what there doing? What if something happens?” The pink haired girl said while thinking out multiple outcomes of the date.
Kiba grumbled to himself about girls and walked away leaving Shino to deal with the currently absentminded female. He wasn’t going to stick around and listen to the girls rants any longer then he had too.
“Kiba where are you going, don’t you want to find out what happens? What if they-“
“The only thing they’ve been doing is talking. And that’s all they will do because Hinata’s to shy to make a move and Naruto’s too dense to read signals.”
Sakura half glared at Shino, placing her hands on her hips in an irritable fashion. “What makes you so sure about that? Naruto has grown up a little.”
“Growing mature and being able to read body language are two different things, Haruno”
Sakura let her arms drop to her sides as her air filled lungs deflated. “I guess you’re right. At least this gives me time to bathe and shop for clothes.” The girl started planning her schedule following behind Shino, who was following Kiba’s earlier direction.
-=-=-=-=-
They had stayed out all day and it was currently time for bed but, Naruto had a giant grin as he opened the door to the hotel. “Wow. I should train with you more often Hinata!” He exclaimed as he plopped down onto the bed that Sakura would later shove him off of. Were where they anyway?
Hinata blushed at the compliment but shook her head. “I’m not th-that great. I’m sure Sakura would have been a more challenging opponent.”
“Are you kidding?” He said sitting up. He stared at the girl for a minute for what seemed to him no reason, before letting himself fall back onto the mattress. “You know what your problem is Hinata?”
The girl’s head shot up like a bullet. “Wh-what?” her voice came out low squeak as she felt her limited self esteem go pouring down the drain.
She had a problem? There was something wrong with her? Did she do something weird on their date? Was it something she said?
These question kept repeating over and over in her head like a broken record as she waited in terror for the boy to answer.
She heard Naruto sigh while he jumped of his bed and right on hers. The sudden action caused her to back into the corner of the bed to lean against the wall. The familiar feel of blood rushing into her cheeks made it self known as the blond’s face got a little too close to her own. It was Right then and there that she wondered if Naruto ever realized the awkwardness he caused due to his childish actions. Then again, she would probably been even more embarrassed if he was thinking on age level.
Naruto gave a playful smirk and placed his index finger on the girl’s cheek. “That right there! Your way too shy. You get embarrassed too easy!” He said laughing as her blush deepened.
He pulled away and watched as the girl looked away from him and to the floor. She looked like she was ready to pass out, but couldn’t because of her current position. He smiled and got off the girls’ bed. He turned around and pulled out his sleeping bag setting it on the ground a little bit away from Sakura’s bed, but only enough so she could walk by without stepping on him.
He heard the girl’s blankets moving around but only spared a second long glance before getting into his own sleeping space. He snuggled into his bag and clung onto his pillow like a stuffed animal. He stared at the wall thinking about his day. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He actually had fun hanging out with her. “Hey Hinata?”
There was a small pause before the girl answered. “Yes, Naruto”
Naruto paused as well, the voice sounded muffled like she was under her blanket. The blond chanced to look over at her and sure enough the only thing he could see of the girl was the top of her head. He smiled at the sight for a few seconds before speaking. “When we get back home, would you like to go out again . . . on a.. date?” he asked slowly, the whole ordeal still being new.
“O-of course!”
The boy smiled at the happy tone in Hinata’s voice making a mental not to ask her when before the went out. He looked back the other way and got comfortable again.
It was a couple minutes later when he was half way asleep before he heard the shy voice.
“Naruto?”
“Yeah, what is it?” He asked trying not to sound tired.
There was that pause again, and for a split second Naruto wanted to look up to see what was taking her, but he was to exhausted to move.
“Do you really . . . do you really think that I’m to shy?”
Naruto let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, but it’s kind of cute . . . good night Hinata. ” He said knowing that the girl was probably blushing and burying herself further into her sheets. Though he wasn’t lying, he did think it was cute. He was starting to like the fact that she would blush so much around him. Besides he couldn’t imagine the girl acting like Sakura or Ino and heavens for bid she act like Temari.
If she wasn’t so timid, then she wasn’t Hinata. If she was Hinata then he wouldn’t find it cute. No wait . . . that didn’t make sense, did it?
Naruto huffed out a breath before pulling his blanket over his now aching head.