Most of the other kids ignored her. Injuries were common amongst children their age. Ninja life was not exactly a kind or gentle sort of life even for the young.
On the other hand there was the pariah who didn't have trouble bending or breaking all those little rules.
"Can I help you out, Hinata? Do you need anything?" It wasn't as if he could demonstrate his kunai skills in this part of the class until after his turn came up.
Hinata couldn't help but duck her head and make a pleased noise. "No, there's nothing you can do. I'd try to speed up the healing but I don't have enough chakra yet to -"
Hinata stopped. Considered who she was talking to. Thought carefully about this. "Yes, Naruto. First, though, we need to work on your chakra control to get you to where you could help me. Have you done the leaf-floating exercise?"
"Waitaminute, my textbook is different! See?"
Hinata nodded, as she had had a suspicion about that. "Naruto, we're ninja, right?"
"Right," said Naruto, not seeing where this was going.
"So ninja have to be sneaky and accomplish things without people knowing about it, right?" asked Hinata, hoping this would work.
"Yeah?" asked Naruto.
"So right now, you need to act like I'm not helping you," said Hinata. Another idea occurred to her. "Think of it as a big prank you'll be pulling on everyone. You act as if you're fooling everyone, and in the last year of the Academy you 'suddenly' improve by a whole lot."
Naruto's eyes widened and he regarded his new friend in a new light. "Whoa."
"You'd be pulling a sneaky, and therefore properly ninja, prank on everyone trying to hold you down," pointed out Hinata.
"Everyone?" asked Naruto, back to frowning.
"Well, just the ones who hate you, like Sakura and some of the teachers," said Hinata.
Naruto stared at the books now side-by-side, pain flitting across his face. "Why?"
"Why what?" asked Hinata.
"Why don't you hate me, Hinata?" asked Naruto. Not that he wanted to distance himself from this girl with the broken leg who DID seem to be intent on helping him.
"We're friends, Naruto," said Hinata, "and - I like you."
Naruto's shock, when Hinata leaned over and gave him a light kiss on one cheek was such that he nearly jumped out of his skin.
That evening, Naruto lay back on his bed and considered the ceiling.
Hinata liked him? Hinata said he had hidden talents. Hinata said she liked that he never gave up and that he never let things get him down for long.
Hinata also hurt, and not just from that leg. He could tell. There were times her calm perfect expression slipped, and she seemed consumed by a sadness so deep that a lump formed in his throat.
Sakura hated him? Well, he HAD asked her out, and she HAD responded by picking up a chair and hitting him over the head with it.
Pull a prank over the entire village? It had a certain appeal.
Then his thoughts went back to the kiss, for what seemed the millionth time. Just a light touch on the cheek. Every time he thought that Hinata might be pulling a prank on HIM, he came back to that.
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(Posted Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:06)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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