Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

ⲃⳙⲧⲧⲉⲅ⳨ⳑⲩ	By : Sessakag Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Naruto/Hinata Views: 4852 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just the story I write

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter Nine
The Secret Secret Keeper

May 14, 2016
-
She used their after lunch bathroom break to decompress.
Staring at herself in the fingerprint smeared mirror of the girls bathroom, Hinata poured every ounce of energy had in digesting, processing, and making tentative peace with the lingering swell of emotions lodged in her chest. She filled the echoing bathroom with slow, mindful breaths, inhaling through her nose, exhaling through her lips. She held onto the counter with shaky fingers, feeling more than a little overwhelmed now that she was alone with her own thoughts and the repercussions of tactile sensitivity.
Her puffy eyes shifted to that part of her Naruto had touched, peering hard at her flesh as though her eyes could detect a spectrum of light that would reveal the shape and color of the warmth his hand had left on hers.
Nothing but her own pearly skin…
…and yet she couldn’t dispel the notion that her hand was encased in a new phenomena of sensation.
Perhaps that was the reason she wasn’t completely sure how she felt right now.
There were threads of physiological responses she recognized of course.
Tremors of fading anxiety, directly responsible for her shakiness.
The ever present but, currently muted, weight of depression lying draped around her slender shoulders like a royal mantle.
Those increasingly frequent Naruto-tummy-flutters that usually felt like the soft tickle of butterfly wings, though, today had been amplified and more prominent, as though a swarm of thick feathered birds had overtaken the gentle tickles with stronger brushes lower in her belly.
Others were a mystery to her, she put these in the ‘confusing pile’.
A warm, slightly aching feeling in her chest.
An up-tick in her pulse that strangely didn’t feel like the warning signs of an impending panic attack.
One feeling floating around in the dubbed ‘confusing pile’ Hinata was sure she had a better read.
Feeling ‘safe’.
That’s what her guardian called it.
Hinata wondered if maybe…she had experienced that with Naruto today.
Kurenai described it to her once, saying it felt like being surround by your troubles but somehow knowing they couldn’t get to you.
As though there was a shield between her and the things that hurt.
Naruto’s hand in hers had felt a bit like that, like a vibrant force fending off her hurts, though she hadn’t really grasped the sensation until he started to let go of hers. Panic, a desperate need to hold onto what had to be that safety feeling, just a little longer is what curled her fingers around his retreating hand, something she wouldn’t have dared had she not been pushed so close to a mental breakdown yesterday and still toeing the line of one today.
Naruto had pulled her back from the edge for a time by planting himself firmly in her corner, holding her trauma at bay in the process, despite the fact that he’d only been championing her in regards to their physics presentation.
Her mind had taken his words and applied them to the looming overcast of trial, the persistent bogeyman that was her father and everything in this world that scared her.
She hadn’t had the strength or desire to fight that delusion, to leave that place where worry was absent.
Especially when Naruto hadn’t made her, hadn’t let go of her, indulging her instead, letting her drown contently, pathetically in her delusion as he carted her through the mostly empty hall of Ouran High, out into the sunshine where she could moderately decompress among the nonthreatening peace nature had always offered her.
Locked in a strange place of inner stillness as they moved, her eyes had inexplicably been drawn to his back.
Strength…
That was the word her mind whispered as she traced his broad shoulders filling his washed-out orange hoodie. Like he could hold the weight of the world on them and still have room enough for her burdens without bending, without stumbling or yielding.
She couldn’t help but…admire that image, that idea, even if it was only another product of her frantic need to feel safe.
Her state of relative calm lasted only until they stopped at a shady tree and he finally reclaimed his hand from her greedy clutch. Like a swelling tide, waves of involuntary responses rolled in, surging into the empty void their disconnection left behind.
Pinpricks of discomfort, realization of their prolonged contact arrived first, vibrating across her skin, whispering that his touch was an unknown threat waiting to strike. She spared mere seconds unwillingly feeding that familiar monster before the reason it reared its ugly head sank into the tattered space of her psyche.
Her world had narrowed, tuning into the Naruto-unique-warmth still engulfing her hand. Frantic Naruto-flutters made a home in her tummy, their ticklish brushes mirroring the rapid beat inside her chest; overtaking the thorns of panic nipping at her skin.
She hadn’t been able to look at him, half expecting her heart to explode if she did, though she couldn’t put her finger on why.
Or what this feeling even was.
If it was something bad or not.
She felt sick, but not.
Her stomach churning with a hot, melty sensation but she wouldn’t say she was queasy. Her palms were sweaty and her heart racing but she wasn’t in the grips of a panic attack.
There was something wrong with her…she just didn’t know what, and as he asked her where her lunch was, opening her up to burning embarrassment as she realized she’d left it sitting in the fridge, Hinata didn’t have time to try and figure that out.
The first food item he shared with her catapulted her back in time.
It’d taken everything in her not to cry, surprising her because for once, that urge to sob was attached to that happy feeling. Which was strange and a little frightening because she’d never experienced two potent responses, so far from each other on the emotional spectrum, conflicting, a rare positive and common negative occurring in a single moment.
His joke, thankfully righted her emotional ship, and for a while, she sailed on calmer seas.
His mother was an amazing cook.
Hinata liked to think it was so good mostly because it was made with a mother’s love, though, she didn’t have experience to know if such a thing was possible or if it was merely silly wistful thinking on her part.
Probably the latter.
Turbulent tides returned the moment he offered her one of the strawberries from the only brand his father trusted with one of his favorite fruits, he told her.
She’d sat rooted to the spot.
Paranoia screaming that her father was lurking on school grounds watching her contemplate breaking his rules, waiting to knock her teeth down her throat for daring to touch something forbidden to her let alone consume it. His shadow looming at her back as she held it near her lips, every instinct on high alert for his impending smack for daring to step out of line when she thought him absent, to remind her if she had forgotten, that no matter how much she tried hide her misdeeds, father would always know…
…and even if he was wrong, he’d punish her anyway to ensure he would continue to be wrong the next time he gave into his suspicions, imagined or not.
However…
Naruto’s conspiratorial grin burned away the shadows.
Her first strawberry had felt like her first taste of life and she couldn’t deny a craving for another taste, another chance to experience all the little things that made existing worthwhile.
The Naruto-flutters returned as she remembered his offer to show her those things.
Sucking in a final breath, Hinata straightened from the counter, staring at her image in the mirror once more, noting the pink in her cheeks, the hope struggling through the shadows in her eyes.
For once in her life, she had something to look forward to and she could run away from it or…
…run towards it.
-
They were back in the science lab shortly after, diligently working to get each styrofoam sphere painted, Naruto filling the quiet, studious atmosphere with grumbling about the messy paint and idle conversation about nothing. For the last few minutes he’d been quiet though, narrowing her perception to her part of the assignment.
“Holy shit that’s accurate as fuck,” Naruto declared, leaning towards her end of the table to examine her nearly completed styrofoam earth, his eyes snapping to the text book image, then back again, “and it looks 3D somehow. How the hell did you do that? Didn’t know you were an artist, Hinata.”
She blinked, parting the trance-like haze the cathartic repetition of paint strokes had put her in,“I-I’m not an artist…”
“You should be,” he decided, his words sounding official and final, “you’re a natural. I’m not a artsy type guy but any dummy can see you got some serious raw talent, ‘ttebayo.”
An inferno blazed across her face, slender shoulders reaching for her ears.
“Don’t get all shy on me,” he chuckled, blue eyes taking on that warm twinkle she was coming to associate with him joking, “I’m serious, you’re pretty damn good with a paintbrush. You in any clubs yet?”
She shook her head.
“Well there’s an art club that could help you find your artist legs, one my friends is a member, he could help you get started,” his lips quirked in a frowning pout, “Sai uh….takes some getting used to though, he’s one of the few of my friend that doesn’t have a temper, never even seen him mad before, but he’s always puttin’ his foot in his mouth with the stupid shit he say. He’s actually harmless though, annoying as hell but harmless. Anyway, let me know if you’re interested, dattebayo.”
She nodded, knowing she probably wouldn’t have the courage to go, despite the seed of interest newly nestled within her.
Even if she didn’t join the art club, maybe she could find a way to get some paint of her own.
There was something…soothing about paining she’d discovered almost immediately.
Drawing careful, colorful lines with gentle strokes, watching beautiful hues meld or clash, highlighting or dimming their vibrant neighbor; she hadn’t been focused on anxiety or worried about her future, for that span of time she painted planet Earth, her mind had been wrapped up in her craft.
“Good thing I picked Mars,” Naruto complained, examining his own basic faded-red planet dotted with dark splatters with a harshly critical eye, “nobody can really tell how shitty a painter I am.”
“I think it’s n-n-nice, Naruto-kun,” she murmured, pointing to his smooth-ish base wrapped around the sphere and the careful, but slightly runny black blemishes of the planet, “all your lines are s-s-smooth, and this c-c-color is very c-close to the textbook image.”
“You’re full of shit,” he laughed, “it looks like the runny, sloppy, reject finger-painting of a toddler.”
She shook her head in denial, yet felt…a bubbly feeling in her stomach at his self-deprecating description of his work and wondered if this was amusement, wondered how she should respond if it was. Smiling wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t remember doing, laughing was another. Naruto was a well of new experiences for her, and the urge to laugh was one of those newfound, slowly developing experiences he was slowly coaxing from her.
“Maybe you should be in charge of the painting,” he hummed, glancing between their planets, “and I could work on the script or something.”
“We’d all fail if you get anywhere near that script.”
Hinata startled, swinging her gaze in the direction of the propped open door of the science lab, instantly recognizing the pineapple-haired teen standing in the doorway.
Their third physic project partner, Shikamaru Nara.
“Shut the fuck up, I’m like, two ranks away from top ten,” Naruto chuckled, setting his paint brush down, “we’d get a passing grade at least.”
“Doubt it.”
“Whatever. Now that you finally got your ass out of bed, mind putting in some actual work on this thing?”
“Already put in work,” Shikamaru yawned, his spine slightly slouched as he entered, “built the whole orrery frame and mechanics last night.”
Despite her low grade anxiety with this new arrival, Hinata was impressed with his speed.
Something like that probably would have taken her days, maybe even weeks to complete.
She supposed he wasn’t rank one for nothing.
“So why are you here then?” Naruto asked, before pausing as the answer came to him, “oh yeah, you’re in that nerdy Shogi club. I though you guys only met on weekdays.”
“Tournament,” Shikamaru said by way of explanation.
“Not even gonna ask who won,” Naruto shrugged, “unless your dad was in the tournament because he’s the only person that can beat your ass in Shogi.”
Shikamaru shrugged, moving deeper into the room.
Once again, Hinata was silently impressed.
“So what’s the plan?” Shikamaru asked, but strangely, he wasn’t talking to Naruto.
His dark, uninterested eyes shifted to her, tucked behind the blonde like a little shadow.
And then, with all the nonchalance of a friendly stranger discussing the weather, Shikamaru identified himself as a secret third member with knowledge of Hinata’s secret, “gonna guess your stuttering is a non-starter in speaking during oral presentation.”
Hinata felt the world around her still, her ears deaf to everything but the sudden racing of her heart as one of her worst nightmare unfolded.
Naruto was equally shocked, his never ending chattering mouth completely silent.
A pin could drop six miles away and the occupants of the science lab would have been able to hear it.
“How the hell do you know about that?!” Naruto finally burst, piercing the stunned silence, scaring her in the process, though he was too caught up in giving his friend the third degree to notice.
“Heard you talking to her about it on the roof at study hall like a week ago,” Shikamaru yawned, “I usually go up there to take a nap, but since I can’t get any sleep listening your brain flatline over the simplest calc equations, I made the west building roof my new snooze spot.”
Another round of silence, and then…
“What the fuck Shikamaru?! Why the hell didn’t you say anything instead of lurkin’ and listening in on a private conversation?!” Naruto growled.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” the teen dismissed, “you left the roof door open, I walked up, heard less than a full sentence and left. Be glad someone that would’ve sat there snooping didn’t walked in on your conversation. Ino’s known to sneak a cigarette up on the roof sometimes.”
“Thought she quit,” Naruto muttered, abruptly sidetracked.
Shikamaru shrugged, “she always finds an excuse as to why she needs just one last smoke.”
A deep frowning-pout slowly molded the blonde’s lips as he glared at his friend, “fine, whatever, we’ll make sure the door is closed from now on, but you still should’ve announced yourself, or at least told me you knew way before now, dattebayo.”
“Why?” the dark haired genius uttered, blinking sluggishly as though this whole conversation was sapping all his strength, “it’s a speech impediment, Naruto, not international breaking news. It’s not a big deal. Pointless to make something outta nothing.”
Hinata blinked, uncertain if she heard right, but unable to deny the words reverberating in her mind.
Not a big deal…
Naruto told her that the day he found out, telling her his friends would feel the same…
Hinata had been more than a little skeptical.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Naruto when he told her that, rather, she couldn’t help but see the world tinged in the abusive lens her family created for her, his friends included. Thinking…maybe, he was wrong, even if he believed what he was saying.
Maybe not wrong, but overly optimistic.
Hinata and acceptance were mutually exclusive.
What were the odds that she’d be welcomed by other people?
Perhaps…not as low as she thought.
“Did you tell-”
“I said its not a big deal, doesn’t mean it not a big deal to Hinata. Considering she hasn’t said a peep to anybody but you, gonna go out on a limb and say she didn’t want her business spread around. So no, I didn’t tell anybody,” the slothful teen muttered, punctuating his words with a another yawn that seemed to propel his bottom into the nearest science lab chair, “gossiping’s too much work anyway.”
Naruto’s glare deepened for a beat, only to partially melt away with an exasperated sigh, “whatever, make sure you keep it that way, ‘ttebayo.”
Shikamaru snorted, unimpressed by the underlying threat.
In full annoyed tinged pout, Naruto finally turned to the subject in question,“well, this is ass backwards, and not what I had in mind but, Hinata, this is my annoying, pain-in-the-neck, nosy ass friend Shikamaru,” he introduced sarcastically, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the teen now behind him, “he’s one of the most irritating, laziest, stupidly smart dumbasses you’ll ever meet, but he’s mostly a good guy-”
“Gee, thanks, asshole,” the mostly good guy snarked.
“He won’t tell anybody your secret,” Naruto assured her, his eyes confident, sincere, “you see how well he kept it up till now. Mouth locked down so tight even I didn’t know he knew, dattebayo.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about any of this.
On one hand, the second person to find out treated her just like Naruto, like she wasn’t a stammering idiot.
That there’s wasn’t anything wrong with her. That it wasn’t a bid deal…
On other hand, she didn’t know Shikamaru Nara, and him being Naruto’s friend didn’t mean she could trust that he wouldn’t use her secret against her.
That he wasn’t planning to strike the moment she let her guard down because…
…that’s how these things worked when it came to her.
If she wasn’t careful, if she left herself vulnerable something bad would happen-
Naruto turned back to his friend, gesturing to her, “and this, you nosy bastard, is Hinata-”
“We have class together, Naruto, I know who she is.”
“Yeah, but this is like, a formal introduction, ya know? You’ve never actually talked to her before.”
“I realize that.”
“Okay then, quit giving me shit for introducing you guys then, jeez, grouchy jerk, didn’t you get enough sleep? Twenty-fours not enough?”
Hinata watched as the two boys dissolved into a banter that was half friendly and half insulting.
She assumed…this was normal for the two, they seemed to be enjoy the back and forth.
She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to…be apart of the conversation too?
She’d never been in this situation before, but she saw on TV in the hospital that after introductions, people generally all talked to each other…
Unease swept across her skin.
She didn’t…really want to though…
What if she said something stupid? What if Shikamaru got tired of her stammering and it became a big deal for him too…
She swallowed, ringing her hands a bit, feeling the slow creep of nerves grip her stomach.
Unbidden, her eyes found his back again, noting the self-assured set of his shoulders, the ramrod straightness of his spine as he dealt with this unexpected situation with ease and boldness. Naruto’s confidence was something she admired…something she could only ever dream of manifesting…
Or…maybe…
‘Maybe…maybe I can be strong too…’
“N-Nice to meet you, Sh-Shikam-rm-mau…” she whispered at lull in their conversation, already feeling the creeping heat of shame touching her cheeks, cringing inside as she butchered his name.
Regret was a bitter taste in her mouth as she made an absolute fool of herself.
‘S’ was the bane of her stuttering tongue, ‘S’ and ‘H’ together were down right diabolical, but ‘M’s were consistent demons that locked her lips together. Placing the consistent demon at the end of diabolical was a recipe for disaster.
Naruto turned as she sounded out his friend’s name, his smile encouraging.
“Sup,” Shikamaru responded, lazily single-finger saluting in her direction.
Ignoring her stuttering as if it hadn’t even happened.
His casual greeting soothed a measure of her anxiety, but left her feeling horribly exposed as well. Visibility was a dangerous state of being to her, and as harmless as this new visitor in her microscopic social circle appeared, he wasn’t vetted by her standards by any stretch of the imagination.
“He goes by Shika for short,” Naruto offered.
‘Shika’ raised a brow at the blonde, but didn’t refute his claim.
Hinata knew what Naruto was doing.
Essentially applying training wheels to her idiotic stammering by giving his friend a new nickname, one that was easier on her tongue. Hinata tried not to be mortified by the gesture, tried not to feel like a defective, useless waste of space. She couldn’t quite manage it, but…it stung a lot less knowing Naruto’s actions were coming from a place of kindness from a teen that seemed to have it in excess for her.
She played along with the ruse, though her flagging confidence set her eyes drifting to the tile beneath her feet, her clammy palms rubbing together as she repeated, with a small head bow, a second try at a greeting that didn’t leave her feeling lower than dirt, “Sh-Shika…”
“That’s me,” Shikamaru confirmed, just as casual as before, “good ol’ Shika.”
“Since you’re here, Shika,” Naruto cut in, wiping away the slightly awkward scene of pretend, even as he re-affirmed its validity using the new nickname, “why don’t you get off your ass and help us out here. We still got like six more planets left, ya know.”
“Nah, I’m headed home, only stopped in because I sent you a message and you didn’t answer, but I saw you outside eating lunch after my tournament and decided to ask you in person what we’re doing for the oral part of the presentation so I know how to write the script.”
Naruto frowned thoughtfully, “I was gonna write it since you’re building the orrery thing.”
“Like I’d trust you with something like that,” Shikamaru chuckled, standing, “you only just started becoming academically competent two weeks ago, and that’s only because your mom-”
“Weren’t you leavin’ or something?” Naruto butted in, his annoyed glare accompanied with a trademark lip pout, “we’re busy, ya know.”
Amused but apparently done teasing, Shikamaru crossed the short distance between them.
They bumped fists and Shikamaru headed for the door, his parting “later,” aimed at both of them.
“Well, that wasn’t too bad was it?” Naruto joked, grinning down at her the moment they were alone again, “one down, eleven more to go, dattebayo.”
Hinata hoped he was joking about that part too, but somewhere deep down, she knew he wasn’t.
-
They finished most of the planets before calling it quits.
Saturn needed a little more work to affix its rings properly, Naruto volunteered to handle that.
Neptune and Venus still needed to be painting, Hinata volunteered to work on those at home.
With Kurenai set to pick her up in the next five minutes, Hinata headed for the side entrance leading out to the parking lot. At her side, Naruto, carrying the box of their planets and folded background they’d decided Hinata would take home for safe keeping, minus Saturn. It wasn’t a heavy, merely filled with styrofoam, paint and cardboard, but Naruto insisted on carrying, saying his father would give him the ‘Character of A Man’ lecture again and his mother would ‘swat the back of his head’ if they ever found out he let a girl carry something when his own hands were empty.
Every instinct in her body stood on alert when he mentioned a swat to the head by his mother, worried his life wasn’t as picture perfect as she thought, however, her concern had been banished, for the most part, by the chuckle that left his lips as he said it.
Perhaps it was sensitivity to her own abuse ridden past that wouldn’t let her dismiss that line, wouldn't dislodge those words from the emotionally damaged muck inside her mind.
She’d looked him over discreetly after the comment.
Inspecting the minuscule amount of tanned skin his hood didn’t cover, searching for telltale signs that he was covering up hurts beneath the bleached orange fabric.
Father had done that, when she got older, and an unknown relative tipped off the authorities.
Hitting her in places nobody could see—littering her back in bright red welts, slamming his fist into vulnerable stomach, laying into her bottom until she couldn’t bare to sit; he was meticulously careful not to leave bruises in spots easily visible to a social worker he couldn’t pay to play blind.
Naruto didn’t grimace, or hold his body rigid.
His arms capable of full range of motion, his bottom seemingly unbothered when he sat.
Maybe she was being incredibly foolish.
Naruto was a really big teen, the top of her head barely reached the lower part of his shoulder and from the arm bulges of his slightly form fitting hoodie, he could probably bench press her puny body weight even if she held a brick in each hand. Slightly confrontational and more brash courage in one finger than she had in her own petite stature, Hinata couldn’t imagine a powerhouse like Naruto being at the brutal mercy of anybody, even his own parents.
Though, she didn’t know what his father was like.
Maybe father-Uzumaki was even bigger, mean unlike his son.
“Who’s comin to get you, your mom?” he asked, setting the box down on the pavilion covered concrete walkway, grabbing Saturn and it’s unfinished rings from inside the card board square, “or your dad?”
Hinata didn’t have a mother.
She never had.
She didn’t want to admit that…but, when Kurenai-san pulled up, it’d be plainly obvious that wasn’t her mother, and Hinata wouldn’t try to pass her off as her mother. Kurenai-san, whether paid to be or not, was very kind to her too, just like Naruto, and it felt wrong to be ashamed of her, to lie about her as though she were some dirty secret like her stuttering.
“K-Kurenai-san…” she told him, “my guardian.”
His held tilted, blue eyes curious as he dipped into her space to catch her soft words, setting her stomach to fluttering, “your guardian? What’s that mean?”
“My father is…” she searched for a less…abrasive word to describe the horror that was her father.
There really wasn’t a way to sanitize the word abusive, and she certainly didn’t want to say that.
“Incapable of c-c-caring for me p-properly, so I was appointed a guardian by the c-c-courts,” she explained quietly, a bit mortified by her broken home when the boy next to her, as far is she knew, lived in a healthy household, “K-Kurenai-san was a s-s-social worker on my c-c-case, they appointed her as my guardian.”
“Oh…well shit,” he muttered, bottom lip pursing, “here I am giving Shikamaru shit for being nosy only to turn around start stickin’ my nose all in your business. Sorry, I shouldnt’ve -”
Hinata shook her head, “n-n-no, it’s okay, I don’t m-m-mind you asking q-q-questions, Naruto-kun.”
Her burning cheeks and hunching shoulders would call her a liar, but it was true.
Naruto was…different, often passing through her defense with ease as though he knew the secret password to gain entrance beyond the walls she locked everyone out of, cutting through her anxiety and paranoia, and all the corrosive negative physiological responses that kept her from functioning, behaving like a normal teenage girl more effectively than her therapist.
Perhaps it was their first meeting all those years ago that gave him this power, or his easy acceptance of her current tattered self now.
Or maybe he was planting something new, something greater than that taste of happiness in the woods.
Whatever magic was at play, Hinata couldn’t deny he was using it effectively, chipping away at that resistant part of her that tried to keep even him at arms length.
“It’s a unique s-s-situation, but it’s n-not a bad one. I’m better off with K-Kurenai-san,” she told him, finding his eyes though it was no easier than it usually was when her tummy was fluttering, “a-and now I can c-catch up on all the things I h-haven’t been allowed to do.”
His smile was slow to form but radiant and conspiratorial like earlier.
“Well, when you put it like that, havin’ a guardian sounds like the shit, at least you’re out from under your dad’s thumb,” he concluded then frowning as he continued, “because, no offense, your dad sounds like a dick, dattebayo.”
She ducked her head.
Naruto curse like a sailor and as blunt as a baseball bat to the head, she, however, didn’t think she could ever come remotely close to his bravado and plain speaking, and the idea of allowing someone to speak ill of her father, of agreeing tacitly by not speaking up in his defense was something that would have netted her trouble with her father should he ever learn of it.
However…
As Naruto said…she wasn’t under his thumb anymore.
“N-no offense t-taken,” she whispered even lower, feeling equal parts rebellious and horribly exposed.
His grin widened, “good to know.”
The low hum of a car caught their attention, the both turned as one to watch as a white Toyota Yaris pulled into a parking space and idled.
“That’s K-Kurenai-san.”
Spotting the pair almost immediately, Kurenai was up and out of the car in an instant.
Even from a distance, Hinata could see the concern on her face.
Naruto stooped to pick up the box again, and with Hinata leading the way, they made their way to the car.
“You can set it in the back seat,” Kurenai directed the moment they were hearing distance, moving to open the back door.
“Gotcha,” Naruto said, carting his light weight burden to the open door.
Hinata stood by, wondering if she was supposed to do the introduction thing Naruto did earlier.
“I’m Kurenai,” her guardian introduced herself as Naruto shut the door on the box.
“Naruto Uzumaki,” the blonde teen greeted, “I’m Hinata’s classmate.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Hinata told me she’s been tutoring you.”
His amicable grin was infectious as he laughed a bit, admitting, “I’m a tough case, but she puts up with me with somehow, ‘ttebayo. She’s a great teacher, real smart, ya know, saved my bacon the last two pop quizzes, and if she puts up with me a little longer, I might even ace the next test.”
Hinata’s cheeks warmed under the praise, her hands coming up to fiddle with each other as she subtly shrinking into herself like a turtle attempting to hide in its shell.
“That’s wonderful, I’m glad the tutoring sessions are helping,” Kurenai smiled, “you know, your father tutored me when we were in college.”
“Oh wow, you went to college with my dad?”
She nodded, “I was a bit of a slacker, your father saved my bacon too. Seeing you is like looking into the past, its really uncanny, you look just like him.”
“I get that a lot,” Naruto chuckled.
“I can see why,” she laughed before saying, “well it was very nice to meet you, Naruto, please continue to take care of Hinata.”
“No problem,” Naruto returned, “nice to meet you too, Kurenai-san.”
His blue eyes fixed on Hinata, his smile still in place.
The flutters started up again.
“See you around, Hinata.”
She waved at him, murmuring a shy, “okay.”
With a returning wave, Naruto turned and jogged away. Hinata rounded the rear of the car, opened the door and got in as Kurenai slid behind the wheel.
“How are you feeling today?” her guardian asked, shifting the gear to reverse.
“I’m okay,” Hinata replied, clicking her seatbelt, “h-how are you?”
“I’m doing just fine, sweetheart.”
Kurenai usually left her to the peace of silence, but today, the older woman filled it with conversation. Unusual, but, Hinata didn’t really mind.
“He seems really nice,” Kurenai noted as backed the car out of the parking space.
“N-Naruto-kun is very n-n-nice,” she murmured, blushing though she couldn’t say why.
Kurenai blinked in the rear view mirror, her piercing carmine eyes seemingly searching or…assessing.
Disconcerted by the probing look, Hinata dropped her eyes, turning to them to the box in the seat beside her, gripping a part of her shirt’s hem to channel her sudden anxiety through her fidgeting fingers.
“So,” Kurenai broke into the silence, “tell me about Naruto-kun do you like being his tutor?”
Hinata glanced up again at the deep emphasis her guardian placed on -kun, encountering the brightest smile she could ever remember seeing on the older woman’s face.
Confusion bubbled through the knot in her stomach.
The smile and enunciation meant…something, but for the life of her, Hinata couldn’t piece together what.
“Yes,” she replied, bumping her fingers together, and turning her eyes downward to watch them, “he s-s-struggled a lot w-when we s-started but, he works really h-hard, and n-never gives up no matter how h-hard the p-p-problems get. He’s c-come a long w-way. He always tries his best, no m-m-matter what.”
And she really admire that about him.
He was very-
“Sound like you like him a lot,” her guardian said, though the question felt open, leading, as though she expected Hinata to answer in a certain way.
“Yes.”
The answer came to her instantly.
She did like Naruto.
He was kind and patient and helpful.
He made her tummy feel strange but she could live with that.
She lived with far worse involuntary bodily reactions, after all.
“Really?” Kurenai perked up, as though her admission was unexpected, surprising.
Brows furrowing, Hinata murmured, “yes, he’s h-helped me adjust at school m-more than I w-w-would have on my own…and doesn’t m-mind my st-st-stutter.”
“Ah, I see,” she replied, though a small giggle passed her lips, before asking, “Hinata, do you know what it means to have a crush?”
Bewilderment deepened the furrow in her brows.
She didn’t know anything about that.
“Never mind,” Kurenai breezed quickly, “I’m happy you’re making friends, Hinata. That’s wonderful, honey.”
A new word caught her attention, one Hinata knew but had never had before.
A friend…
Was Naruto her friend?
When was a person supposed to know when they were friends? Was she supposed to ask him if he wanted to be her friend first, or did it just…happen?
What was the standard procedure for entering a friendship?
“Did you finish your project?”
“N-no, I s-still have to p-p-paint.”
Which she really enjoyed and wanted to do more often, but, all she had was the school materials, and they most of the red and blue was gone.
Maybe…
Maybe Kurenai-san wouldn’t mind buying some for her to use when the school paint ran out.
She swallowed, mouth dying as her stomach filled with sick.
Asking for things was and immediate slap to the mouth in the past, and while logic told her Kurenai wouldn’t do that, her anxiety was telling her different.
She had never asked her guardian for anything before. Hinata hadn’t even asked for toiletries the first time she ran out, too afraid her request would see her hurt, though Kurenai, thankfully, restocked it all without a word. Hinata had no experience, no indication of how Kurenai would react to her asking for something as unimportant,
Father thought her spoiled to ask for more when she had food, water and shelter.
Kurenai was providing all three of those as well, what right did she have to ask for more?
She should be grateful, not acting like the spoiled brat demanding more than she needed to survived, more than someone like her deserved…
She stewed for a bit.
Rubbing her sweaty hands together.
Time passed, the sound of traffic and wheels against pavement setting her on edge.
“K-Kurenai-s-san,” she managed to force out.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
Her heart was pounding in her ears, trembling fingers clenching her shirt in a concerted effort not to panic.
“U-um…”she swallowed, hands trembling, heat pounding so hard her chest hurt, “c-can I…w-w-would it be p-possible to…”
Kurenai waited, her crimson eyes stead and kind, Hinata knew they were, but…all she could see was irritated white eyes…a raised hand-
“N-n-nothing…” she whispered, feeling sick, feeling like a spineless coward that could never hope to be anything close to brave.
Nothing at all like the sunny haired teen with the shoulders that could carry the worlds burdens.
Thousands of miles away in a jail cell, and still her father held the power to torment and terrorize her, to place his thumbs on the scale of her life and drive it directly into the mud.
She could feel Kurenai’s questioning eyes in the rear view mirror, but could bring herself to look.
She hadn’t lid to Naruto.
She truly was better off with Kurenai-san, but…better didn’t mean perfect, better didn’t mean cured.
Kurenai-san didn’t have the password.
At least, not yet.
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Another chapter!! Hope you enjoyed it!
Laters!
Sessakag~
- 8
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