Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Tactics ❯ Morning Calls ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hinata woke up first. Her hand was still tightly held by Naruto. She blushed when she looked at it then she tried slightly to pull her hand free. Naruto groaned before releasing her. She pulled away and got up. Her eyes met his face and wouldn’t leave. She bent down and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept. Different from the boisterous person he was normally. He looked a bit gloomy last night. The look retained when he slept. She leaned closer and brushed her lips against his forehead. When she backed away he looked more peaceful.
She smiled to herself and grabbed up her clothes for the day. A long, light blue kimono. Today is going to be beautiful, she thought as she put it on. It was a gift to her from Neji when she became a chuunin. She shook her head slightly. It was obvious now how he picked out a gorgeous one like this: Tenten. Unknown to anyone at the time, but her cousin and Tenten started dating about two years ago. Neji finally told the family a couple of months ago. She smiled thinking of how he had begged her what a girl would like more, weapons or jewelry. Out of the entire Hyuuga clan, Hinata was the first to find out. Neji obviously didn’t have too much luck with the first gift he bought Tenten and he came to Hinata for help.
Hinata started humming while she remembered it. Neji woke her up in the middle of the night. “Hinata-sama, I need to ask you something. Please? Get up. Come on Hinata-sama,” all the while nudging her.
“Neji-kun? It’s the middle of the night!” She yawned.
“Well, I have a favor to ask. Will you uh… help me buy a gift for someone?” His face turned a bit red when he said that.
“… ok. Who is it for?”
“Uh…”
She sighed. “Keep it to yourself then. I promise I will help you. Tomorrow though, I want to sleep some more right now.”
“Arigato. Tomorrow.” With that he slipped out of her room.
She remembered she couldn’t get straight back to sleep. She was curious who Neji wanted to buy a gift for so much that he would wake her up in the middle of the night. The next day he wouldn’t even tell her father where they were going. As far as the rest of the clan knew they were training. It took her the rest of the day being dragged around by Neji while he asked her what she thought of various weapons to finally get him to tell her who they were buying a gift for. She remembered smiling slightly and picking up this gorgeous necklace with a dagger attached and telling Neji that was the gift for Tenten. Practical, yet very pretty.
She shook her head. She wondered if Naruto would ever ask someone to help him go shopping for her. Probably not, she thought but it was still an idea that she wanted to play with. Who would Naruto ask if he wanted to shop for her? Another shake of the head and she started on making breakfast. They couldn’t live off of ramen for every meal, no matter what Naruto said.

Naruto rose drowsily. He heard some music coming from the kitchen and smelled something from the same direction. He followed the sound of singing and came across Hinata. Her voice was quiet but strong. The sound was beautiful. Sweet and flowing with a consistent melody. He leaned against the wall and listened for awhile. Hinata turned and jumped.
“Naruto-kun! You’re up! How long have you been there?”
“Umm… Not too long. What are you doing Hinata-chan? There is a ramen shop next door,” Naruto rubbed his head and smiled.
She shook her head. “Well, you were still sleeping and I thought that maybe.. Uh.. We could have something other than ramen everyday,” her eyes looked down at her feet when she said this. “Not that there is anything wrong with ramen.”
He smiled. “You’re right, it would be good to have something besides ramen.”
She stared. She figured it would take more than that to convince him to have something besides ramen. “Hai.” She set the meal she prepared on the table and sat down opposite him.
Naruto ate everything and when he looked up Hinata had set more down on the table. “Arigato Hinata-chan! How much did you make?” She smiled and shrugged. Naruto didn’t wait for an answer.
“You know Hinata-chan, this is very good. You need to teach me how to make this.” His hand reached out and grabbed her face while she turned her. His eyes met her white ones. “I’m serious Hinata-chan, I want to learn how to cook. And what was that song you were singing? It sounded amazing.”
Her face went red but surprisingly she didn’t pass out. “Hai, and arigato Naruto-kun.”
He smiled and let her go. “What about the mission?”
“Hai, I’m leaving now.”

“Hey Shino,” Kiba’s face was about an inch from Shino’s. He didn’t want to shake Shino awake but he didn’t want to wake his teammate that way. He shivered when he imagined all those bugs covering him again. “Shino come on! GET UP!”
“Kiba, why do you want to get me up so early? Can’t you see that no one else is up?”
“Shino, come on! We need to get a move on! Hinata’s up. Naruto is escorting her out.” Kiba took a breath, “besides, I’m hungry.”
“…” Shino sat up and shook his head, “Kiba, you woke me up because you were hungry?”
“Well, normally Hinata cooks, and since we aren’t with her, I’m hungry and well…”
“So you woke me up because you expect me to cook?”
“Well.. Not really, but still, I’m hungry.”
“… Kiba I’m not following you. You woke me up because you are hungry?”
“Hai, let’s eat somewhere.”
“Kiba, do not wake me up again. Now, where are we eating?”
“uh.. I don’t know. Maybe that ramen shop has something that could be considered breakfast foods.”
“Then let’s go see.” Shino shook his head. “Next time, before you wake me up, find out where we can eat first.”
“HAI! COME ON SHINO! LET’S GO!”

Hinata couldn’t believe Naruto’s determination to walk her down the stairs. “Well, I do need to appear as your boyfriend don’t I?” He smiled and grabbed her hand when they walked out the door. She kept telling herself that it was just the mission. He was just doing a mission. But something about the way he kept smiling and chattering to her, it felt different.
“So Hinata, what exactly are you doing today?”
She blinked, “uh.. Honestly, I’m not sure.”
“Huh? You don’t know? I thought you would?” He turned her quick and looked into her eyes. “You know you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. If there is any problems come find me.”
“Hai.” She nodded her head and let go of his hand quickly. “Are you going to pick me up too?”
“Hai.”
“See you then,” she waved and walked away from him.
“Hai.”

“Shino, wat iz Hinasa’s misson?”
“Kiba, if you want to talk then wait until you are finished chewing.”
“Shino, ust anser me!?!
“Chew first, then we talk.”
Kiba swallowed the food in his mouth before asking again, “What is Hinata’s mission?”
The other boy sighed, “She’s here as a spy. She’s to get details about a powerful ambassador since this country and Fire are having difficulties getting along.”
Kiba looked at him, “well, why Hinata? Why not someone else?”
“Hinata can become invisible. Something about her manner and her posture makes people look past her. Sakura and Ino are too… gregarious. Tenten likes weapons too much. Hinata is the one who can blend into the background. It’s the way it is, we use the traits to their greatest extent, even if they seem undesirable.”
“… but Hinata is never invisible around me…”
“Kiba, Hinata is like a little sister to you. You tease her too much, and dote on her too much for her to become invisible.”
“Well, of course! Has she ever become invisible to you?”
“No, but that’s not the point. Do you ever notice how Hinata can get out of troubling situations? Or how she can find exactly what you are trying to hide?”
“uh.. No, but now that you mention it, I guess you’re right.”
“Of course.”
“I hate it when you do that. You always have an answer to everything.”
Shino shrugged.

“Are you Hyuuga?”
“Hai”
“Good, follow me.” The woman led Hinata into a backroom, “you will be working in here mostly. It’s a bit messy so you might want to change into a uh… less formal kimono. Do you have one?”
“Uh.. Hai, at the hotel room.”
“Hmm… well that is a gorgeous one, we wouldn’t want it to get dirty. May I ask why you are taking this job? You look like a well off girl.”
“Umm.. Well, my uh… fiancé and I wanted to be together and well, my parents didn’t like him. So we ran away. We need to make money so we can be married.” It was the story Naruto and her agreed upon but she wasn’t entirely comfortable repeating it to people yet.
“Awe, that’s sweet! How about I lend you a kimono today and you wear an old one tomorrow?”
“Arigato.”
“Follow me,” The woman lead the way to a closet in the room Hinata was to clean. “I’m not sure how these will fit. Hmm… why not try this one?” The woman held up a black kimono with little red blossoms on them.
“Arigato.” It fit perfectly. Hinata spun around once and the woman laughed.
“Well, and I thought they wouldn’t fit you! Here you are, take whatever ones you like. I was going to have you throw them out anyway.”
“Are you sure? Arigato!”
The woman chuckled as she walked off. Hinata picked through the kimonos rather rapidly trying on a few here and there. She put the ones she liked best in a stack by her bag. There wasn’t many of them but the ones she chose where for their beauty. Then she started to clean the room. She scrubbed the floor, the walls, and the windows. When the room was spotless, Hinata went to find her employer.
“Umm.. Excuse me?”
“Hai, Hyuuga?”
“I’m finished with that room.”
“Good! Let’s go see. If you’re finished then you can help prepare lunch.”
“Hai.”
A moment later the woman stared at the shiny room. “Hyuuga, what…how did you clean this room that fast and to such a great quality?”
Hinata shrugged. “Umm… I just worked hard, is all.” She wouldn’t for the life of her admit that she had used her chakra to help her. She did work hard, but she used it when the work was too hard for her on her own.
“Ok, well, I think you earned those kimonos plus your wages for today. Let’s start on lunch. Can you cook?”
“Hai.”
“Good, let’s go, I’m terrible at cooking myself so I’ll supervise.”
“Hai.”
“Now, my kids are picky, but my husband is worst.”
Hinata nodded waiting to see what other guidelines she had. When her employer didn’t say anything else, Hinata sighed. Of course my first day is going to be hard. They are testing me! Hinata still worked hard and when everyone sat down to eat she waited only a minute before she asked to be dismissed for an hour. The woman nodded.
She ran out the house in the black and red one looking for Naruto. He said he was going to stay close.
“HINATA-CHAN!”
She turned around and immediately received a hug from Naruto. “Uh.. Naruto-kun?”
“Hai?” But when Naruto looked at the girl in his arms, he realized she had passed out. He smiled and held her tight before lifting her up and walking a few feet to where Shino and Kiba were. “Kiba, how can we wake her up fast?”
“Naruto what did you do this time?”
“WHAT!?! I didn’t do anything!”
Kiba laughed and Shino gave the hint that he was amused. Kiba grabbed a glass and filled it with water then dumped it right on Hinata’s head.
She jumped up and squeaked.
“Sorry Hinata. You passed out again.” Kiba said as he chuckled.
“It’s ok Kiba. Arigato.”
“Hinata-chan! Are you ok? You need food! Let’s get some food! Come on! There is another ramen shop around the corner!” Naruto said as he picked the girl up and dragged her.
“Bye,” she called as she was swept away.

“Hey Shino…”
“Hai?”
“You think that Naruto is falling for Hinata?”
“I don’t know Kiba. Does it look like I would know something like that?”
“Well, that’s why I asked what you thought. I think he might be. I don’t think he’d ever attack her like that before. I’ve never seen him doing that with Sakura.”
“… Kiba, do I look like I care? If he does then it’s better for Hinata since she likes him.”
“Hai. Hey Shino, about that girl you are seeing…”
“That is not open for discussion.”
“Well, I want to know, what does she look like?”
“That is not open for discussion.”
“Please, come on Shino, what is she like?”
“… Like a butterfly.”
“… You do realize that’s not what I meant, right?”
“That’s as much an answer as I can give.”
“But Shino! Teammates tell everything, and then set up one another with friends or family members.”
“Is that what this is about? Fine. When we are back, I will ask her about finding someone to date you.”
“Arigato! Hey, wait. What is wrong with me? Girls should be lining up to date me!”
Shino glanced at his teammate and decided not to answer. “Let’s go Kiba. I think Naruto and Hinata are fine on their own at a restaurant.”
“Hai.”