"That reminds me of something Hinabi did as a child too..." Hinata giggles at some far away memory as she begins to recount the tale. Naruto listens intently, leaning the palm of his hand against his cheek.
I wonder how often I've seen her this comfortable, he thinks. At times she is shy, nervous, fidgety. Other times, when it's just the two of them, a quiet calm over takes her. A certainty. She reminded him of the ocean against the pale moonlight, soft, calm, certain.
"As a child, she did the funniest things." She adds, talking freely. Occasionally, stuttering on her words and slightly blushing.
"Mm." He murmurs, taking a larger portion of ramen into his mouth. Listening to her talk, is soothing, Naruto thinks. "One more Old Man!" He yells out. Must be her shy voice.
On impromptu occurrences, the two would eat at Ichirakus together. In those brief moments, the pair would eat a bowl of ramen, often in silence or accompanied by Naruto's rambling. More often than not, the pair were joined by their other comrades. Today, it was just the two of them. This realization made Hinata feel a tad flushed and nervous. She enjoyed the way their friendship has flourished since the War.
"Can I have one more too, please?" Hinata says, continuing the conversation. "Poor Father, raising two girls on his own..." This made Hinata frown, "Especially two troublesome girls."
Naruto raises a brow, "You? Troublesome? No way!"
She nods, shyly tucking at the strands of her long black hair. This motion makes Naruto pause, vaguely but suddenly aware of the bizarre perception one of his oldest and dearest friends has of themselves.
His eyes widen, suddenly serious. "Hinata, you couldn't trouble a fly!"
There is a child-like innocence taking over the features of his face that makes Hinata giggle. Naruto looks so much like when he was a boy when he makes that face, she thinks to herself- overcome by the nostalgia of the memory.
"No seriously Hinata!" Naruto insists, determination plastered across his furrowed brow.
He looks at her longer, eyes widening at her laughing. Why is she laughing? Did I say something funny? He is about to ask her when her laughter becomes louder.
Naruto stares, taking in the laughter- in the way her eyes crinkle and her cheeks flush a light pink. Suddenly transfixed on a sound, on a smile and a laughter he rarely sees up close- so bare. Though he has caught glimpses of her laughing like this from far away and on occassions up close. Never like this, never because of him. Almost instinctively, a warm smile forms on his lips as he takes in the rarity.
She really is pretty, huh? Naruto considers, unknowingly mesmerized by her. Her beauty was not a novel idea to him, for he wasn't entirely oblivious to such things. As a master of the sexy jutsu, he often took observations of those around him. Hinata had always been beautiful, even more so now as an adult.
It was a Hyuga thing, Naruto would reason whenever he found himself unreasonably attracted to her. He preferred to not think of her in that light. As such, he hardly ever did. On rare occassions she would catch him by surprise.
-
"Wow." Sai comments, eyes elsewhere. "Looks like Hinata is ready to mate."
"What?" Naruto asks, dumbfounded by the weird suggestion when his gaze follows Sais stare.
Hinata?
Naruto feels himself stiffen at the sight. Hinata is standing beside Kiba and Shino. Except, her clothes are different. Narutos mouth is gaping open, suddenly very dry. Inadvertently, he is staring her up and down, gawking at her long legs, shoulders, arms, figure. It had been a few weeks since he saw her. Weeks of endless parades of missions and paperwork. He, himself, getting new mission clothes that he felt taller in- older. Something about Hinata's mission clothes made him freeze, and also feel lengths of endless warmth. What is she wearing?
