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Post by uzumakinaruto on Jan 27, 2010 16:20:44 GMT -6
Well, Kiba wasn't actually a jerk, he just had the potential to be one. Naruto's seen him both insult and compliment people and was glad that he seemed to perform the latter with Hinata. Well, at least he has some kind of manners. Insulting a girl would be pretty low Naruto supposed, even for Kiba. Though, Naruto could also picture Kiba pointing out a girl's bad looks and things like that. But the way Hinata had responded, with such certainty, made Naruto feel relieved. "Alright." He simply responded, and didn't seem to want to elaborate. Now that Naruto thought about it, he wondered how Kiba would get along with Shino. They were practically opposites, and Naruto had little doubt they butted heads every once in awhile. It seemed that Hinata had a positive mutual relationship with both, and Naruto figured that was good for her. He'd like to have mutual relationships with his teammates too. Or Sakura, at least.
Naruto knew that Hinata would agree with him about not giving up on chasing after someone, but the way she blushed afterward and twiddled with his fingers made him wonder. She must have liked someone, obviously since she had reacted that way. Naruto took a moment to think, before he came to a realization. Oh no! Hinata must like Kiba! That's why she didn't think he was a jerk. A foxy grin spread across Naruto's face and he chuckled. "Hey Hinata, I know who you like!" Naruto seemed rather amused and also accomplished because he had felt he had correctly put the pieces together and made a legit conclusion. Naruto wondered if he would ask Kiba about it, but decided against that notion. Like he'd thought earlier, Kiba was annoying. There was no doubt he would find a way to twist that up and turn it against Naruto just for the heck of it. Kiba was amongst the rest of the classmates that constantly laughed at him for his screw-ups in the academy. Everyone underestimated him... But Naruto would show them. He didn't know how or when yet, but he knew he would. After that, he would become Hokage and prove himself not only to his classmates, but to the entire village and ninja world.
Naruto seemed to notice that Hinata reacted to the stares from the other villagers. He expected her to be confused or worse, question him why people were staring at him. But instead she stayed quiet and seemed a bit stiff to him. He didn't notice her fists, her sleeves obscured them for the most part unless you really looked. He could tell she wanted to say something, but he was glad she didn't. He didn't want to get into that whole mess again, the thought of it still made him sort of sick.
It took Naruto a few moments to realize he had begun walking alone. He was about to point out a bookstore he often visited for his research on the female figure before he realized she was no longer beside him. "Hinata?" He wondered aloud, turning around. She seemed to be breaking up the fight or whatever the kids were having. He thought about helping her out, but found her talking to them instead of scolding them. If Naruto had done what she did, he probably would have used the same approach at first, but then quickly lose his patience and get angry with them. Hinata seemed to have it under control though, and before Naruto knew it she was next to him again with a polite apology. "Don't worry about it," he told her with a smile. Then they continued walking. Naruto didn't say another word, finding it pointless to start another conversation when they were now so close.
After what Naruto had concluded to be a somewhat of an awkward silence, they arrived at Ichiraku's. He smelled it from a little ways away, so by the time they actually got there Naruto was practically drooling in buckets. He opened the flap eagerly and was delighted to find that it was nearly empty. He turned around to Hinata. "Come on!" He seemed impatient, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to wait for her to take the time to walk over. So Naruto grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the bar. He didn't do this harshly, aware that he could hurt Hinata if he had.
Naruto then picked a stool somewhere in the middle and leaned over the counter to look for Teuchi or Ayame. He saw the old man's back, so Naruto called out to him for his attention. He turned around, and his face lit up when he saw Naruto. The young blonde had been a regular customer for years now, and never seemed to disappoint Ichiraku's owner with his monstrous appetite. He was probably one of the only one's in the village who were happy when they saw him.
"Oh, Naruto! Welcome, welcome." He nodded with 'welcome' and put a rag down that he had been holding. Naruto cocked his head to the side.
"Where's Ayame?" Naruto asked, realizing the old man's daughter was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, she's sick. Caught a bad cold or something." Teuchi then seemed to be rather stressed, and Naruto could tell he was worried about his daughter. He was then about to ask Naruto what he'd like to order when he noticed Hinata. "Ohh, Naruto is that your girlfriend?" He said this matter-of-factly, but with a hint of teasing. Again? Naruto thought, looking over at Hinata. It wasn't worth getting all flustered about it a second time, and Naruto didn't want to go through the embarrassing process all over again, so he decided to end the conversation as quickly as it had started. Now he was almost glad Ayame wasn't here, no doubt she would make a big deal out of this.
"Um, yeah..." Naruto muttered, but then quickly jumped to his next words. "I'll have pork ramen to start!" He exclaimed, and then returned his attention to Hinata. "What do you want, Hinata?" |
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Post by Hinata Hyuuga on Jan 28, 2010 19:58:10 GMT -6
~~~Hinata Hyuuga~~~
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naruto seemed to be rather content with her answer. She kind of wished that he had elaborated more, but left it at that. From her memories the two of them, Naruto and Kiba, sort of gotten along. They at least skipped class together. Still, Kiba’s need to be the ‘big dog’ at times made him a but stubborn and hard to deal with. Shino didn’t talk much, but she could tell when he was upset; those eyebrows had a lot of emotion in them when he wanted them to. Plus, his tone did change at least a little bit of a stretch in it to make room for emotion. Most of the time, however, she played the role of peacemaker. Her presence tended to keep the calm between them, probably out of fear of upsetting her. Hinata hoped that wasn’t the only reason though; it was kind of downgrading that they didn’t fight in front of her to not upset her. It would be like parents not fighting in front of their kids, and Hinata didn’t want to be the ‘kid’ in the team.
When Naruto mentioned that he knew who she liked, Hinata froze up, facing going a deep red. Did all her blushing finally get through to Naruto’s head she liked him! Oh no, oh no, not good at all. She was starting to sweat about it, but tried her best to keep calm. This was Naruto; he made mistakes a lot of times in thinking. Maybe there was a chance he thought she liked someone else. But he was also good at judging people’s personalities, so what if he was right. She really wished that Naruto had expanded upon it; his lack of a follow up really got her worried. Was he trying to think more about it? If he knew she liked him, was he deciding if he liked her back?
”Y-you do Naruto? So wh-what is your thought about it?” she nervously replied, hoping he replied with a name of some sorts. She hated being left in the dark like this. But if he said it was himself, well, she had absolutely no clue what she would do about it. Most likely it would involve her going out like a light very quickly…
As they kept walking along, eventually they ran into the children with the toys. Naruto kept on, but Hinata stopped to break them apart and help them calm down. She hated seeing people fight like that, especially brother and sisters. Sure, she had her own little sister and knew they could be a pain, but ever since her father started training her Hinata hadn’t seen much of Hanabi. And while she called Neji “nii-san”, he wasn’t what one would call an ideal brother. In fact, he basically hated her guts; he was like her father, calling her a failure and all that. So seeing these kids fight like that, she had to intervene. She just hoped Naruto wouldn’t mind, and when she caught up and apologized to him he told her not to worry about it with a smile. That made her feel much more relieved about it all.
”It’s just that I hate seeing family fight like that so I kind of had to intervene.” she replied, letting Naruto in on some of her own reasoning behind it. She left out all the parts about her father and Hanabi and Neji; he didn’t need to worry about her own problems right now.
Soon the shop was in sight, and Naruto was in a rush. Hinata gasped in surprise as Naruto grabbed her wrist and ran off. No time to blush or faint; they were in a race for food. By the time Naruto finally stopped she was tired out from the running; she just got done with training after all. As Naruto chatted with the owner (they seemed to be very good friends), Hinata caught her breath and tried to think about what to eat. She’d just get a simple ramen, nothing special. She wasn’t a ramen conoisseur like Naruto was after all. She couldn’t name off every kind of ramen there was from memory or anything like that.
Sadly, her breath wasn’t caught for long. Another person teased with Naruto about her being his girlfriend, and he muttered “um, yeah”. Hinata froze up mid-breath, and didn’t even hear Naruto ask her about what she wanted. Yes, she knew it was probably just a quick comment to get him to leave her alone, but the shock of being acknowledged as a girlfriend was just as bad. Her mind tried to put her straight, that it was just Naruto trying to avoid all the commotion and awkwardness from earlier. Her heart, on the other hand, was ready to beat out of her chest, and was rushing rather fast. A rather red color appeared on her face, but she resisted the urge to faint. This would be a rather bad time to do so. Naruto already was worried about her from earlier, and another fainting session would probably have her rushed to the hospital by her. She stayed strong, but was slightly shaking from the effort to keep herself up. Eventually her mind processed that Naruto had said something, so she turned around to him, trying to stay normal-looking with a bit of a smile on her face.
”S-sorry Naruto, I was trying to catch my breath. What did you say again?” she asked, ending with a nervous laugh to try and calm herself down. In her mind, the small mantra You’re not his girlfriend kept running through her head to remind her that it wasn’t an actual acknowledgement, just a way out of an embarrassing conversation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~The Heiress of the Hyuuga Clan ~~~ [/font][/color][/center] |
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Post by uzumakinaruto on Jan 31, 2010 0:33:23 GMT -6
Naruto continued with his vagueness as he responded to Hinata's question. He had no idea how much turmoil he was causing, and his clueless personality lead him to most likely cause more of it. "Well, first off you should tell him!" Naruto seemed rather confident in the advice that he was about to give, and spoke a little louder. "Even if he completely rejects you, which I doubt he will," Naruto made a joke to himself about how Hinata was probably the only girl Kiba would ever get and his smile grew. "Then you'll feel better, at least. Besides, it's nice to know that someone cares about you like that." Naruto was in no way an expert on relationships, but his relationships with his teammates gave him even the slightest bit of experience. Kiba didn't like another girl, that Naruto knew of, like Sakura did so it would be less likely for him to just reject her. Sakura, however, had a reason to reject Naruto. Naruto realized that compared to himself, Hinata was better off with this whole relationship thing.
He then nodded at her reasoning for splitting up the two kids from fighting. He didn't really know there was a difference between family fighting and friends fighting, but Hinata seemed to have a rather large family so she would know. It seemed a bit vague though, as if she were avoiding confessing something to him. He wasn't surprised, since they'd just barely started talking to each other today pretty much. It would take awhile to earn Hinata's trust, but Naruto figured it was worth it. He really liked having friends, for obvious reasons and he knew that making a friend wasn't easy all the time. There were no shortcuts to get into people's trust, just how he had told Konohamaru there were none to become Hokage. Even though Naruto wanted people to let Naruto trust them, he would most likely never reveal the fact that he was the Kyuubi's host, or anything way too personal like that.
Despite all that, Naruto was genuinely happy to be in Ichiraku's. He felt like he hadn't been there in ages, though in reality it had only been a couple days. And now that he thought about it, this was probably the first time he had brought anyone to Ichiraku's with him except for the Old Man Hokage or Iruka-sensei. So, in a sense, he guess he wasn't surprised that Teuchi had drawn that conclusion. He just hoped he'd made the right decision in brushing it off, but the look on Hinata's face proved otherwise. She seemed pretty shocked, and Naruto realized he'd probably made the wrong decision. He hoped she knew he didn't mean it literally, but somehow he did so he didn't bother asking. Maybe she was just surprised to hear him say it or something. Either way, she was too distracted to have even heard his question.
"What kind of ramen do you want?" His voice was kind, and displayed that he didn't mind repeating what he'd just asked. Hinata had had a long day, so the least he could do was not cause her anymore grief. Though, unknowingly, he definitely was. Naruto wanted to give her some suggestions about what kind of ramen to order, but he knew he'd end up going through a never ending list that would probably only bore her to death. So, Naruto restrained himself from ranting with a bit of difficulty and was able to keep his mouth shut. For the most part, anyway. "Miso ramen was the first kind I ever tried," He suggested with a smile. "It's really good!"
Naruto crossed his arms over the table and leaned into them slightly, still looking at Hinata. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to freak you out like that..." |
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Post by Hinata Hyuuga on Feb 1, 2010 20:29:05 GMT -6
~~~Hinata Hyuuga~~~
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hinata stood by silently as Naruto began to dispense out his ‘advice’. By this point it was obvious he was way off course, but it wasn’t like she could correct him. Instead she just stood by, trying to hold herself back from fainting or anything like that. Just the usual blushing was occurring. Still, his advice was something she already knew, but she also knew that Naruto also liked Sakura. Knowing his stubborn self, he’d never give up on her anytime soon. Besides, she didn’t want to force Naruto into making a choice; as long as he was happy she was happy. Curiosity was starting to set in though; just who was it that Naruto was talking about if it wasn’t himself? Was it Kiba? That would make some sort of sense since they were talking about him right before Naruto went into this thread of conversation. Should she just string this along to hide the fact that Naruto was the actual target of her crush? That wasn’t fair to Kiba though, and knowing Naruto he might accidentally blab it out, and Kiba would hear of it. If that happened, her team situation would probably get very awkward…
”Thank you Naruto. I’ll try and think about how to tell him…” she replied nervously. At the moment she was tempted to actually just tell him right now, but her nervousness was getting the best of her. The last thing she needed to dump on Naruto was the news she liked him, especially after all that happened today.
After breaking up the kids and her reasoning, Hinata was glad to at least get a nod from Naruto. It then took her a moment to remember that Naruto didn’t have a family, which made her feel a little bad about using that as a reason to break the kids up. Naruto didn’t really know of family bonds, did he? He had been alone as far as she could remember. Why that was the case she didn’t know, but that wasn’t really important. All she knew was that he was alone and considered ‘a screwup’. Yet he didn’t let that stop him; he just kept at it, not letting anyone tell him he couldn’t do something. One day she hoped she could get that kind of strength instead of beating herself up all the time.
When Hinata froze up over Naruto’s response about her, she barely had the recognition that Naruto had seen her. That was part of what knocked her back to reality. He was kind enough to repeat the question this time around. Hinata tried to think about it, but she didn’t know how many kind of ramen there were out there. She usually didn’t eat it; the only person she knew that ate it more than Naruto would have been Choji probably since he ate so much. Naruto, however, stepped in to save the day with a suggestion of his own; miso ramen.
”That sounds perfectly fine Naruto. I guess I’ll have that,” she responded with thanks.
As they waited for the ramen to arrive, Hinata simply sat still and straight. When she saw Naruto relaxing, she loosened up a little. No need to appear all stiff about the place; it was a casual restaurant after all. His question, however, made her feel a little self-conscious about her earlier zoning out about his comment. She was perfectly okay of course; she hadn’t been freaking out because she hated the idea. It was just the shock of being called his ‘girlfriend’, even if wasn’t real, had gotten to her.
”I’m perfectly fine Naruto. I was just a little surprised by it, but I’m guessing you really didn’t mean it,” she replied, looking down a little bit trying to hide a slight smile. Even when pointing out that it wasn’t a real relationship, Hinata still felt a little happy about it. Self-delusional yes, but she deserved a little moment of happiness, right?
Her mind wandered back to Naruto’s words “First off, you should tell him!” Glancing back at Naruto real quick, she opened her mouth for a second, then closed it. Now would be the best chance she had to mention it, since the topic was up in the air after all. Still, she felt rather nervous, and it was only due to the guilt she would have should she faint now that kept her up. Her fingers failed to keep still, and soon were playing around again on her lap. Taking a deep breath, Hinata decided to risk it…sort of.
”Though, hypothetically speaking, would you actually consider me as a possible, sort of, maybe a girlfriend?”
Hinata’s face was redder than a tomato now, and she dared not look Naruto in the face. Her hands were squeezing her legs, hoping that focusing on the pain instead of on what she just said would keep her conscious. Her stomach, however, was about ready to turn in nervousness just waiting for his response to the question. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~The Heiress of the Hyuuga Clan ~~~ [/font][/color][/center] |
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Post by uzumakinaruto on Feb 5, 2010 19:13:54 GMT -6
He smiled at her after she told him that she would make an attempt at it. He never really had to go through anything like that. With Sakura, he wasn't afraid to display and make his feelings for her obvious. So, a formal confession wasn't needed. It took someone who was brave to do something like that, and Naruto believed that Hinata had the courage to do it. He understood that it must be especially hard in her situation, because she was confessing her feelings to a friend and that could very well ruin their relationship. It would just be too awkward to talk to each other. Naruto tried to think of an example in his head, but failed due to the fact that he wasn't close to any of the females in his graduating class. Sure, there was Sakura, but she was an exception since he already liked her. The only other girl he really talked to, obviously, was Hinata. But she'd never confess to him or anything like that. No one seemed to admire Naruto, something that bothered him quite a bit. It should be painfully obvious by now of what he intends to do about that lack of admiration.
Naruto sat up straighter so that he could give Teuchi a more direct order. He asked him for both a miso and pork ramen, and it wasn't long before the old man went to work. If Ayame hadn't been sick, he would have probably teased Naruto further anyway. It was just the way he was. No, wait. Actually he would go into this whole boring spiel about how to treat a girl right and blah blah blah. Though he felt a bit guilty about it, Naruto once again thanked his luck for Ayame being conveniently sick on this day. Though Naruto had intended to reduce Hinata's stress, it didn't seem to have made much of a difference. Maybe the mention of a boyfriend got her flustered unavoidably. Either way, Naruto swore to himself that if anyone else teased him about it today, he'd probably snap. It wasn't anything against Hinata at all, it would just be the persistence that really got to him. Naruto never considered himself a patient person, after all.
Despite her obvious shock just moments ago, Hinata told him that she was fine. He was a bit relieved to find out that Hinata had not taken his statement serious. It wasn't that he thought she was stupid, it was just that people didn't understand him 100% of them time. So when they did, he felt relieved. After she had assured him, she seemed to be a bit distracted. Naruto dismissed her behavior, deciding he shouldn't worry about her too much. If he asked whether she was okay or not every five seconds, then there might be some problems. Besides, both of them had quite the day today, more so her than him. Come to think of it, Naruto could use something to help him relax...
Before he could decide just how exactly he was to go about doing that, Hinata spoke again. He blinked at her question, trying to comprehend exactly what she was saying. At first, he wondered why she would ask something like that, then he quickly reminded himself of the situation he had just gone through with Teuchi. Well, that made sense he supposed. After all, Hinata's been called his girlfriend twice so far today so he guessed it was natural enough to wonder something about something like that. Naruto put a hand to his face in thought, not noticing Hinata's extreme anxiety. First he tried to find out why he wouldn't want to date Hinata. Well, she was quiet, but that didn't necessarily bother him so that wasn't a negative. He continued thinking, but in the end he couldn't find anything that would make Hinata a bad girlfriend. It wasn't as if she was self-centered or mean or anything. With this conclusion, he gave his answer after thinking for what seemed like awhile. "I don't see why not," he admitted with a shrug. From what he had gathered about her during their 'training session', Hinata was strong, independent, and determined. He liked all of those traits, a lot actually. He figured he might as well tell her that too. "I like people like you, Hinata!" His grin was ridiculously large, but displayed his genuineness. What he failed to mention was that he didn't really see Hinata as a girlfriend or anything. He was too infatuated with Sakura at the moment and again, didn't know Hinata that well yet.
"Here you are," Teuchi seemed to appear out of nowhere with two bowls of ramen, and set them each down on the counter. Naruto seemed to completely forget about the conversation as he was overtaken by excitement. He quickly swiped a pair of chopsticks, thanked for the meal rather obnoxiously, and began devouring his lunch. It's so good! he told himself as he shoved two or three mouthfuls in. Then, he seemed to restrain himself enough to speak. "So, Hinata what do you think? It's amazing, isn't it?" |
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Post by inuzukakiba on Feb 10, 2010 16:38:09 GMT -6
"It's all your fault, Akamaru." Kiba grumbled to the puppy trotting alongside him. He was pouting too, but for some reason he wasn't able to pull that off too well. In response, Akamaru whined as if apologizing for his behavior. If it were anyone else, Kiba would just give a 'Hmpf' and walk away. But this was Akamaru, and Akamaru wasn't treated like that. Ever. This morning, they had ventured out into the Leaf Village's surrounding forests to explore and get some exercise. The Inuzuka clan were trackers essentially, so it was important that Kiba know his 'territory' like the back of his hand. After all, if there was an attack on the village and everyone had to evacuate, who would be there to give everyone the safest route. Or, what if you were chasing a shinobi out of the village but needed to take a shortcut so that you could intercept them? Kiba was rather proud of his duty, and took it quite seriously. That's why he was a little uneasy when Akamaru insisted on venturing out just a little farther than usual. If he screwed up, then there was no doubt he'd hear it from his wild mother. But Kiba had complied, and the two had ended up in circles for hours. Not only did the young boy's feet hurt like hell, but he was starving as well. He had gone out on his little 'adventure' before sunrise, and now it was mid-afternoon and he'd barely had anything to eat.
When it came to food, Kiba wasn't a particularly picky eater. Sure, there were certain foods that he would downright refuse to eat, but for the most part he ate pretty much anything. Though he tended to prefer beef jerky and such, and therefore often found himself attending the same BBQ house as Team 10. However, at the moment, he was so hungry he was willing to eat at whatever restaurant that he would first cross on his way through the village. So far, no such luck. He was thinking about just buying something from the ridiculously overpriced vendors when he noticed a ramen stand just a short distance away. Now, ramen wasn't exactly his favorite food, but he didn't necessarily hate it. Shrugging, he decided that he ought to go and get something to eat there. His stomach had been grumbling for the past half hour, and he couldn't wait to finally satiate his hunger. Akamaru, as if sensing his master's decision, barked in approval. Kiba flashed his companion a smirk before taking off towards the stand.
Since it was the middle of the afternoon pretty much, Kiba figured that there wouldn't be anyone there. On top of that, it didn't seem like a particularly popular restaurant, but what did he know? Before stepping in, Kiba noticed the fatigue in Akamaru and picked him up. The dog seemed rather happy about this, and licked Kiba's face. The boy chuckled in delight, then placed Akamaru atop his head. Usually he would just sneak the puppy inside of his coat, but that seemed like a bad idea since he was about to eat. When he entered, he made a rather dramatic entrance that included stretching his arms out and yawning. That way, he'd get the attention of the owner without being forced to speak. Akamaru yawned too, and Kiba couldn't help but burst into laughter. It was only after he slumped himself in a seat that he noticed he wasn't he only one present. Looking over, he saw Naruto and Hinata. Kiba leaned over, confused, as if he didn't quite recognize them. That wasn't the case though, he was just shocked to find them eating lunch together... Since when did Hinata hang out with a guy like Naruto?
Not surprisingly, Kiba's blonde former classmate was stuffing his face full of noodles and pork. "Naruto, if you eat any faster you're gonna make me sick." Akamaru made a sound, half amused and half agreeing. Some people found it odd that Kiba could tell how Akamaru felt just by the sounds the dog made. It seemed natural to Kiba though, as if the puppy had his own language that only Kiba could understand. After his remark towards Naruto, he looked at Hinata. "Hey, Hinata!" He simply greeted her, noticing that she seemed rather uncomfortable at the moment. He gave a look to Naruto, presuming he was the reason for her obvious discomfort. He didn't say anything about it, since he figured he'd find out eventually. |
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Post by Hinata Hyuuga on Feb 11, 2010 20:40:13 GMT -6
~~~Hinata Hyuuga~~~
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- After telling Naruto she would at least attempt to tell her ‘someone’ that she liked them, Hinata saw that he was smiling. He didn’t have a clue that she liked him though, did he? Otherwise he would have probably said something by now. Still, he was expecting her to be brave and to actually confess to the person she liked. Sometime during this meeting she was going to; actually, right now would be a good time to do so, or at least make the attempt. Hinata still wasn’t sure that she had the guts to actually go through with it, but her not wanting to disappoint Naruto was just as bad. She wasn’t that great of a liar, even if Naruto believed her earlier about fainting due to fatigue. So if he tried to ask her if she confessed, she would have to say no. Then he would probably chide her about chickening out, and then encourage her to do so. As long she procrastinated on confessing to him, he would keep encouraging her to confess. It was a rather ironic situation.
What worried Hinata even more, however, was how that could end; her confessing. Hinata knew full well that Naruto liked Sakura, and that Sakura didn’t like him back. He had asked her out about every day or so in the Academy after all, and was rejected every time. In an odd way, it was inspiring how he kept at it; no matter what it was, Naruto always worked his hardest to get what he wanted to accomplish finished. Sure, he didn’t always succeed, but he didn’t let that stop him. So in a way, Hinata felt confessing to Naruto would simply make that situation even more complicated. Sure, she would have loved to date Naruto (without fainting hopefully), but right now he wanted Sakura, so she also hoped Naruto would succeed in getting her. Confessing would make her a ‘rival’, and Naruto would have to suffer the fate of having two loves to choose from…or at least the awkwardness of having a girl going after him while he went after a girl. While she doubted it would actually happen, Hinata feared the awkwardness would cause Naruto to stay away from her or run off whenever she was near. Naruto was too nice to do such a thing, but Hinata couldn’t help but fear it.
Finally, Hinata ‘confessed’…in the most vague, unconvincing way ever that made it sound more like a ‘what if’ situation than an actual confession of love. Still, it took all her courage to just ask that; anything more and she would have ran off filled to the brim of embarrassment. Fighting back the urge to do that anyway, Hinata waited for Naruto to respond. It was probably the longest seconds in her life, but when Naruto finally responded Hinata was glad to have waited.
I like people like you, Hinata!
Naruto actually said he liked people like her. Sadly, the way he worded his answer made it obvious that he didn’t realize she was confessing to him, but just being told that was enough to make her day. On the bright side she had stopped shaking; she was too paralyzed with a joy of sorts to do so. Outside of a slight smile on her face, however, she really didn’t show any signs of it. Hinata was simply too wrapped up in that simple thought that he actually /I] liked people like her. Shy, weak, awkward, her. Well, that was probably not what he liked, but still, that was a part of her. More importantly though, it meant she might actually have a chance, no matter how small it is. Furthermore, Hinata actually was surprised to not find herself fainting from the comment, or running off. Part of that was probably the arrival of the food meaning it would be absolutely rude to do so, but right now she just didn’t want to run off. She did, however, realize that just sitting in that stool saying absolutely nothing was going to make the situation very awkward rather quickly. Hinata dug through her mind trying to find something to say, and just blurted out the first thing that she could think of.
”T-thank you Naruto. That means a lot.” she said, glancing up at him with his giant grin. Still believing it too good to be true, Hinata searched for some kind of sign, some facial twitch that showed it was a fake, an act. She didn’t see anything; it was a full-fledged genuine grin.
Before she could focus anymore on the situation, however, the food finally arrived. Quickly, she began to eat it before she could say anything else to make things awkward. Her mind really wasn’t on the taste, however; it was still on Naruto’s comment. So when she finally heard Naruto asking about the food, Hinata really didn’t have a response right off the back. Knowing exactly what it was Naruto would want to hear, however, she responded as so:
”It’s wonderful Naruto.” she responded, looking up at him. A look of surprise appeared on her face, however, as she saw that Kiba had arrived. When did he get here…and did she hear the entire conversation between her and Naruto?
Before her mind had the chance to think of anything, however, the Inuzuka was talking to Naruto, telling him to eat slower. Well, he had a point; Naruto gobbled up ramen faster than anybody she knew, and that included Choji. Akamaru responded with some barking, which Hinata had only the faintest clue about. Kiba was about the only one who really understood the animal, and had to translate for the rest of the team most of the time. It was kind of sad really; Shino had his bugs, Kiba his dog, and she had nothing. To a degree, she was the team misfit, though her Byakagan provided excellent scouting abilities as well, so she wasn’t a complete outcast at least.
Kiba then noticed her and simply said “Hey”. Well, that was easy enough to respond to, though Hinata strained to hide some of the over-cheeriness her voice sort of had at the moment. He wasn’t used to her actually being cheerful, so she didn’t want to scare him…or getting him asking questions.
”Good afternoon Kiba. What brings you out into town?” she asked to get a conversation started to distract her from Naruto for a bit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~The Heiress of the Hyuuga Clan ~~~ [/font][/color][/center] |
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Post by uzumakinaruto on Feb 23, 2010 11:02:28 GMT -6
Ramen, ramen, ramen!! Ahh, Naruto was completely and utterly in love with this stuff. It was almost if he were born to eat it or something, which probably was the case. Hinata didn't seem to be as eager about this amazing food, but it was impossible for her to be any more excited about it than Naruto was. Actually, it was probably impossible for anyone to upstage Naruto's obsession. For some reason having Hinata here reminded him of the first time he'd come to Ichiraku's. After all, he hadn't exactly had a meal here with someone else in awhile, besides Iruka's treat after he was promoted. The Third Hokage had brought a young scowling Naruto to this restaurant on a whim. Naturally, Teuchi and Ayame were reluctant about have Naruto in their restaurant, but they had no choice when he was with the Third Hokage, the most respected man in the Leaf Village. Naruto had been pretty quiet back then compared to how he was now, so the old man had ordered for him. Naruto also vaguely remembered protesting eating out because he was feeling uncomfortable. The old man reassured him somehow, and that's how Naruto got his first bowl of ramen. He'd imagine his face had lit up with the first bite, something that probably made the old man happy. But once Naruto started inhaling the food like no tomorrow, Sarutobi simply shook his head in disbelief and Teuchi and Ayame looked on in awe. That was one of Naruto's better memories, and maybe that partly contributed to why Ichiraku's was his favorite ramen bar.
Naruto was somehow able to cease his monstrous eating habits for a few moments to respond to Hinata's gratitude. "No problem, Hinata." It was after this that Naruto realized he had been smiling a ridiculously large amount today. Well sure, he was constantly smiling anyway, but half of the time he wasn't... well, how do you say this? Smiling on the inside? Yeah, half the time he was smiling, it wasn't completely honest. But today, most of his smiles had been honest, and he began to wonder why. Was it because he slept in late this morning? Because he was planning to have ramen? Or maybe it was because of Hinata, since he'd just started to get to know her today. She was a nice girl, so it wasn't a surprise he made her happy or that he was happy that she was happy. Maybe he felt that way because he felt like he had something in common with Hinata. Not how you throw a kunai or anything trivial like that, but something on a deeper level. He didn't know what exactly, but he knew something was there. He almost wanted to tell her that she made him happy, but decided that would've been a rather random and awkward statement so he quickly, almost shyly, returned back to his meal.
"I'm glad you like it," Naruto told her, staring at his ramen for merely a second before continuing to eat. You could tell by his voice that he was still quite wrapped up in his thoughts, though he refused to remain that way. He gulped down the rest of his ramen and slammed the empty bowl on the counter. "Another bowl, old man!" Teuchi laughed and retrieved Naruto's empty bowl. Naruto didn't specify what flavor he wanted, but Teuchi knew what Naruto's favorites were and would just fill the bowl with whatever he saw first.
"You're slower than usual today, Naruto." Teuchi told the orange clad ninja with a wink. Naruto thought it was a wink, at least. The man's eyes were so squinted you couldn't even properly tell if he'd blinked or not. He turned his body towards Hinata as he waited.
"You can order another bowl if you'd like, I got plenty!" Naruto whipped out Gama-chan, his little green frog that held all of his money. It was rather plump today, thanks to the Third generously giving him money just yesterday. That was another reason Naruto was excited to hurry up and become a genin. He wouldn't have to rely on the Third for money, he'd be making his own living by completing missions and all that. Sure, genin missions weren't as high paying as the others, but it he did enough of them then he should be okay. Money wasn't his main concern though. He didn't become a shinobi for the cash, after all.
That's when Kiba showed up, with his mangy mutt and annoying attitude. Naruto refused to acknowledge him, until he had criticized Naruto's eating habits. Angered, Naruto faced the dog-boy's direction with his fist raised. "Kiba! Your face makes me sick!" The blonde retorted and opened up his loud mouth again "Just g-" He stopped in mid-sentence, silenced by the knowledge of Hinata behind him. He was gonna basically tell Kiba to fuck off, but that probably wasn't the smartest move after he just found out Hinata liked him, or he think she did anyway. Even if that wasn't the case, they still seemed familiar with one another after they began their conversation. Naruto 'humpfed', defeated, and crossed his arms as he faced forward again. He knew Kiba was going to tease him about it, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He was tempted to glance over at Hinata, but resisted the urge. Instead he just decided to wish his ramen would hurry up and that Kiba would leave soon. |
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