Seeing one familiar face in particular, Naruko considered potential options before moving forward.
Himatsu stiffened as the girl sat next to him.
"Is this seat taken?" asked the girl.
"Uhm, ah, n-no," managed Himatsu Hyuga.
"Cool," said Naruko, sitting down then holding out a hand. "I don't think we've been introduced. Naruko Uzumaki."
"Hi-Himatsu Hyuga," said the nervous boy.
"Why'd you go running off like that, anyway?" asked Naruko, not bothering to specify as it had just happened a couple of days ago.
"M-my clan says I sh-shouldn't associate w-with you," stammered the boy.
"They say why?" asked Naruko.
"N-no," admitted Himatsu.
"We're classmates, gotta associate, kinda, sorta," reasoned Naruko.
"I-I suppose," said Himatsu, tapping his fingers together and looking nervous.
"Cool!" said Naruko, deciding to just drop it for now. Here in the last row and in the corner, she could be unnoticed by those who hated her maybe?
Naruko took a deep breath. These 'old family' types had all sorts of rules, most of which made no sense to her. Still, if she was going to try to win one over - she needed to not buck things too much. That just made them more hostile after all.
"Hey, Hyuga-san, you always eat such boring lunches. Wanna try some of mine?"
"U-uh, I guess..."
Naruko's eyes glittered. She WOULD have a friend. She just had to get Himatsu to open up to her. Since Himatsu's family was like the rest of the village, she'd just have to keep it within school activities.
"Hyuga-san! How did you solve that cryptography problem?"
"Oh, well it was a substitution cipher based on phonetics. You map them out like this..."
"Himatsu-kun, what did you get on your test score?"
"Eh? Na-Naruko-san?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Naruko bowed in apology, which allowed her to hide the smirk that stole onto her face. "It's just we seem to get along fairly well, and you've helped me so much with my classwork..."
"I-It's fine," said Himatsu, studying his hands again. "It's okay."
"Really? Well, you can call me 'Naruko-chan' if you want," said Naruko, still bowing.
There was a moment of silence during which Naruko wondered if she'd pushed too far or too fast.
"I- I'd like that... Naruko-chan."
The smirk was replaced by a victorious grin.
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(Posted Sun, 22 May 2011 16:37)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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