How She Trusts || Naruto Uzumaki X OC

{Chapter Nine}

            When the final bell of the day rang, it was utter mayhem. Everyone burst out of the classrooms, some running straight to their lockers and out the door, or remaining in the halls to group up with their friends. Either way, Naomi had never heard the hallways so noisy. She was among the people who wanted out of the school as quick as possible, and made a beeline for her car.

Usually, she wouldn't need to pick up Momoko because of her photography classes. But since today was Halloween, all afterschool activities were canceled, and Momoko was waiting for Naomi by the school sign. When Naomi pulled up to the school, she honked her horn to catch her sister's attention. Momoko recognized the crappy car and approached it without question. When she slipped inside of the front seat, she buckled her seat belt and Naomi was gone as quickly as she came.

"How was school?" she asked.

"Fine," Momoko answered, which was the stationary response that she always gave her sister.

"Can you elaborate?"

"I don't know, school is school. It wasn't bad, but there's nothing fun about it."

"Yeah, I get it." They drove home without another word said; a comfortable silence. But as soon as Naomi parked her car in the driveway of their house, it was like a switch went off in her sister.

Momoko jumped out of the car and ran up to the front door, waiting impatiently for her sister to catch up with her and unlock the door. When she finally did, Momoko rocketed up the stairs, and Naomi could hear her feet thundering into her bedroom, and the door slam shut. Naomi chuckled to herself, then went into the kitchen.

She set her bag onto one of the barstools, then went to the fridge to look for a snack. She grabbed a bottle of water and washed some strawberries then put them into a bowl. She slipped into the second barstool beside her bag, put her food and drink off to the side, then pulled out her homework. She had a little over two hours until she needed to start getting ready for the party, so she figured that she could finish the little bit of homework that she had to do beforehand.

At 5:47, Naomi put her books back into her backpack, then stood up with her bowl to wash in the sink. As she was rinsing the dish, she heard footsteps running down the stairs and come into the kitchen. Naomi craned her neck to look at the doorway, where Momoko was standing there dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

"Aw, you look cute," she said, then looked back to the sink.

"I'm thirteen, Nao, I don't want to look cute," she said, and sulked into the barstool.

"Oh, I mean you look really... cool," Naomi corrected herself. "Why are you in your costume already? Are you going trick-or-treating right now?"

"No, I'm just really impatient." Momoko twirled the ends of her hair around her finger. "Nao, can you curl my hair for me? Pretty please?" Momoko asked, clasping her hands together and giving her sister puppy-dog eyes.

Naomi smiled and wiped her hands on the dish towel. "Sure. Go sit at my desk, I'll be there in a second," she told her. Momoko squealed out in joy and hopped off of the stool to retrace her steps back upstairs. Naomi grabbed her backpack, tossing it into the armchair next to the front door, then followed up the stairs.

When she got to her room, Momoko was twirling in Naomi's desk chair, humming loudly. Naomi backtracked into the hallway to fetch her curling iron, then went back to her desk where she plugged in the iron, and set it down to wait for it to heat up. While she waited, she grabbed a comb and began brushing through her sister's soft hair. She pulled the chair to the left of her desk so that Momoko could see herself in the mirror. While Naomi was untangling her already smooth hair, Momoko studied her own face, then her sisters.