Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and/or its characters… so there
It's been a while since I promised this little epilogue thingie so here's a recap:
Recap: Hinata became blind trying to save her daddy's life. She spent a while in the hospital. Naruto came to visit her lots. He promised they'd go get some ramen when she got out. Meanwhile, the Hyuuga clan tried to get Hinata un-heired cause they thought she couldn't be healed. Her dad wasn't standing for that. Hinata does Nice Guy pose. Hinata's eyes heal. Her family comes to pick her up. She promises herself to change just a little bit more. Now she's going to meet Naruto for that ramen he promised her.
Self Righteous Sacrifice: Epilogue
She was the first one to arrive at the ramen stand. She guessed he was still on his training mission with his cell, but that was okay.
Once he got back, he'd be all hers.
Or at least that's what she hoped for. If he brought Sakura or Sasuke or Kakashi or anyone else with him, she would be upset, but she would deal with it. After all, they weren't girlfriend and boyfriend…yet, she added silently.
Yes, our dear Hinata has not given up on the foxy shinobi.
Hinata was no stranger to ramen. After finding out it was Naruto's favorite food, she became a ramen connoisseur of sorts. She went from ramen bar to ramen bar, trying to get a taste for it.
She heard about the taste of ramen from many a person and how 'low class' it was. People, apparently, looked down on ramen eaters… She didn't get it. Although it isn't too good to eat too much of, it is pretty tasty. Apparently all of those people that look down on it have never actually had any.
"Miss, are you ready to order?" the old man that ran the Ichiraku ramen bar.
She smiled a small, shy smile at him, "I-I'm waiting for someone, sir."
"Oh." He grinned down fondly at the girl. He had seen her here before, but she was much more nervous. She kept playing with her fingers and looking over her shoulder. Once she heard Naruto approach, she would spring up and rush off in a hurry, leaving her half eaten ramen and money to pay for it behind. "That someone wouldn't be our best customer, Naruto, would it?"
He saw the girl blush crimson and grinned more.
"Well feel free to start on your ramen before he gets here. Once he's here, he may eat your ramen along with his."
She shook her head slightly. "I'll wait for Naruto-kun to come..."
The ramen man nodded his head in acknowledgement of her statement. He looked out of the slits between the banner, "But it looks like you won't have to wait long… Cause here he comes at full speed."
Sure enough, the Hyuuga Heiress saw a blue and orange blur rushing towards them. He skidded to a stop right in front of the bar's curtain. He lifted it up and walked inside.
He caught sight of Hinata and plopped down next to her with a cute pout on his face.
"What's wrong, Naruto-kun?"
"I wanted to get here before… damn Kakashi-sensei and his stupid punishments."
She giggled a little. Naruto could be such a little kid, no matter what age he was. "Then maybe you shouldn't have gotten into trouble." She offered softly.
Naruto looked at her, appalled. "You're taking his side too, Hinata!" He scrunched his eyes closed, crossed his arms, and spun around so his back was facing her.
At first she was shocked at the abruptness of his change in attitude. Now she felt miserable. She didn't mean to make Naruto mad at her. It was just a little joke… she didn't mean anything by it.
Her face burned with shame as she stared down at the ground. Slowly, she began to sink into her baggy coat, trying to get away. She knew she couldn't leave… she had been waiting for this for weeks now… but still-
"But I guess you're right…" She heard him say as he turned back towards her. He raised an eyebrow with a confused expression. "What's wrong?"
"Ah…. nothing Naruto-kun." She smiled a shaky smile at him. She didn't know if she could take his constant change in personality just yet.
The ramen man cleared his throat. "Are you two ready to order?"
"Alright! I'll have miso soup ramen today to start off with then…" Naruto began to ramble off all of the different kinds of ramen he wanted from negi to beef to pork.
Hinata's eyes widen slightly.
She didn't know anyone could eat that much… especially with ramen. It wasn't good to each too much ramen. It possesses a lot of carbohydrates, but low food energy. She was so wrapped in wonder she almost didn't hear Naruto ask her what she wanted.
"Umm… I think I'll have the pork ramen with red bean paste, please?" She asked, bowing her head towards the old man.
"Coming right up!" he told them as he headed to his cooking space. The girl that was also working there came over to them and placed water in front of both of them. She smiled at them and then left to attend to other customers.
They were left alone…. With nothing to talk about. So Naruto took it upon himself to get the ball rolling.
"You can see now, right?" she looked at him, a little confused, but nodded. He smiled his foxy grin at her. "That's great! Congratulations!"
"Thank you Naruto-kun…." She trailed off, silently adding a 'for everything.' They fell into a silence again.
Sure, after hanging around Hinata in the hospital for about a month, he should be used to this. She almost always trailed off, awkwardly ending the conversation. But he still wasn't.
He tried again.
"So when do you get back on active duty?"
"Hoka… Tsunade-sama said that I might be able to rejoin my team in two weeks or so. She said that she would determine when I am better."
"Yeah. Tsunade-baachan knows her stuff. You know, she saved my life, right?"
This caught Hinata by surprise. "Really, Naruto-kun?"
He turned on his stool so he could fully face the white-eyed girl. "You mean I didn't tell you?" He could have sworn he told everyone that would listen about his great battle and almost death when trying to bring Tsunade back to Konoha with Ero Sennin.
Hinata shook her head. Hinata was well aware of everything Naruto had ever said to her, so she knew this was something he hadn't shared with her before.
"Well you know that Ero Sennin and I were sent to bring her back to Konoha. It was a really cool and dangerous battle…" And he went on from there.
Hinata was so enthralled by his story (really by him talking to her) that she didn't notice the ramen placed down in front of her. Apparently Naruto hadn't either as he explained in great detail his battle with Kabuto and how he was protecting Tsunade.
"Kabuto-san works for Orochimaru? And you fought him!?" She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Naruto-kun was greater than she could have ever imagined.
"Yeah. I was surprised too, at first. But that guy was a bastard and got what he had coming." Naruto declared, pumping his fist into the air. "However… while I hit him with the Rasengan, he got me too. He used some medical jutsu to mess with body and shut down my body's ability to heal…" So that part was kinda true, Naruto thought.
Hinata noticed he paused and frowned a bit. He wasn't telling her the whole truth, she knew, but she wouldn't force him to. He would tell her when he would tell her.
"So the rest of it, Ero Sennin told me. Tsunade-baachan saved my life and gave me this." He pulled out a necklace from under his jacket, "It was Shodaime's and worth a lot. Obaachan said it was worth about three mountains."
"She gave it to you?"
"Well, I won our bet." The astounded look on her face told him she didn't know what he was talking about. "I didn't tell you about that either!? Well Hinata, it looks like we have a lot of catching up to do. But first….ramen!"
With that, our foxy protagonist gave a hearty "Itadakimasu!" and dug into the first bowl of noodles in front of him. Hinata, sensing that it was safer not to talk to Naruto while he ate his food, turn to face her own bowl.
"Itadakimasu…" she said as she broke her chopsticks and slurped down some noodles.
For about a half an hour, the sound of slurping noodles filled the air as the two ate. Hinata, who had finished her bowl a while ago, slyly watched Naruto finish his meal out of the corner of her eye.
It was so much different being able to see him eat rather than just hear him. Whenever he visited her, he would bring food for both of them. After discovering that Hinata couldn't eat ramen without his help, he stopped bringing it for her, and instead brought onigiri. He would just place one in her hand and she would be able to 'handle' it from there. She heard constant slurping of noodles coming from the boy next to her, but she never knew how much food he was eating. Now she knew and it made her giggle.
So what they said about Naruto's big appetites was true.
The foxy shinobi looked over at her with a confused look on his face. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, Naruto-kun… nothing at all." She told him. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to finishing off his ramen. Soon the slurping came to an end as Naruto gulped down the last bit of broth within his last bowl. He placed it down on the counter and gave a content sign.
"Ah… that was good," he said loudly, grinning from ear to ear. The old man walked back over towards the two of them.
"So I see you two are finished. Well, here's your bill. Have a nice night." The ramen shop owner said as he placed a slip of paper in front of the two.
Hinata reached for her wallet, but Naruto stopped her. "It's my treat, remember."
"Demo, Naruto-kun I can pay for…" she ended up trailing off as Naruto paid the bill right before her eyes.
"It's done now, so don't worry about it." The foxy shinobi told her as they walked down the path to Hinata's house.
"Besides, what kind of date would it be if I let you pay?"
"Da-date?!?"
"Ah… well yeah but I didn't tell you that when I asked you out, did I… crap… well I'd understand if you don't want to call it that." he rambled on scratching his marked cheek nervously and avoiding her eyes. "Sorry I just said that out of no-"
Hinata placed her shaking hand on his shoulder, "I… I don't mind, Na-Naruto-kun…" she managed to get out as she removed her hand from his shoulder, her face very, very red now.
Naruto found himself blushing a little as well. He wanted to jump for joy because it wasn't everyday that the girl you like agrees that you are on a date together… but that would seem a little odd to do that right now… Besides, she might just be saying that so that he doesn't feel so awkward.
They fell into a comfortable silence as their sandals made little noise down the dirt path. Naruto began to see the gates of the Hyuuga compound… so it was now or never…
"Hinata…"
"Hai, Naruto-kun?"
He stayed quiet for a little while. He was having a hard time finding the right words to say, which was a shocker since he normally just said the first thing that came to his mind. However, this wasn't one of those times. Damnit!
Naruto finally gathered his courage and spoke, taking a page out of Hinata's book and looked everywhere but at her. "Umm… It was really….nice going out with you today…. And I was… wonderingifwecoulddoitagainsometime…"
The white-eyed girl stopped for a minute tried to process what Naruto had just said. But seeing as she was the master of messing words together, she got it relatively quickly and blushed. "I…" she took a deep breath and looked Naruto in the eye with a smile, fidgeting all the while, "I would like that a lot."
He looked up at her slowly, a grin spreading across his tan face, "Really?"
She nodded.
"Yes!" as he pumped his fist into the air. Hinata found herself being embraced Naruto like she had been years before when she had helped him find the bug that was supposed to find Sasuke. "Hinata, you're the best!"
Before she could give him a sputtered response, he pecked her on the cheek.
That just killed whatever momentum Hinata was hoping to use to help her continue speaking to Naruto that night.
Naruto realized what he has just did himself and had the decency to blush. "So…uh… Night." And off he ran, leaving poor Hinata bewildered.
After gathering her wits, Hinata found her hand reaching up to her cheek and her lips breaking into a satisfied grin of her own as she watched the blonde ninja disappear from her sight.
"Goodnight, Naruto-kun"
And it's done! Thank you ladies and gentlemen for all of your support! It meant a lot to me. Sorry… this is so late… but I've been kinda busy with life and stuff… I finally got a boyfriend… and been together for a year!!! So it's possible for anyone to! Then there's that going to college thing… so it's possible for everyone to get into college too!
::stretches some:: I guess this means I should finish up YDKMN and write a few more drabbles for NaruHina… along with some Bleach ones...
Reviewers: Love you all. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed and aren't too angry with me for my lack of consistent updating. So this is the end. I'll see the rest of ya when I see ya. Bai bai!