Besides the odd hole in the thick cloud cover where the
sunlight could pierce it, the sky was a hazy shade of dull
grey.

It was a perfect day for training. Admittedly, not many
shared this sentiment, save for one whiskered boy.

Naruto Uzumaki was presently in one of his favorites spots
in Konoha. It wasn't Ichiraku's or the scenic top of the
Hokage Monument, but it was a place he could unofficially
claim as his own. In the dense expanse of the hidden
valley's vast forest was a natural glade that he'd come
across while exploring, perfect for training in private.

Pride was something that came packed with Naruto in spades
and it didn't like taking hits by people around him when he
wasn't good at something. It happened pretty often, sure,
but it didn't mean he liked it.

He wasn't afraid of hard work, but he sure as heck wasn't
going to train in the open and expose himself to a
situation where every mistake and failure on his part could
be used as fuel to ridicule him.

He'd prove them all wrong in the end though. Once he
attained the status of 'greatest ninja in all of Konoha' he
was going to show everyone that Naruto Uzumaki wasn't a
total failure and that "dead last" wasn't a tag that was
going to hold him back.

Naruto wore many hats, or a forehead protector in this
case, that described his character and personality to a
tee. Loudmouth, prankster, and general all-purpose
troublemaker extraordinaire were, but a few. Today he was
"Naruto, industrious builder" and he had work to do.

------------

Not so Ordinary Day

Chapter 1

By Rai-kun

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters and settings belong
to Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, and Viz Communication.

------------

A search of the forest had yielded him four fairly sturdy
logs that he'd dragged into the clearing. With a length of
hemp rope that he'd brought with him on this trip, he
busied himself with the task of lashing them together into
the vague semblance of a human figure. On completion, he
went on to dig a small hole where he could slide the
vertical log into place to keep it steady.

Naruto wiped his sweat-soaked brow with the sleeve of his
orange jacket and let out a tired, satisfied sigh, as he
gazed at his handiwork. It was taller than him by a head
or two, but it was perfect for the purpose it would soon be
serving. He glanced to his left at the two other projects
that'd done him proud.

The first was a single post that jutted out of the ground.
It was about the width of two arms held together, the top
third of which was wrapped in rope well worn with heavy
use. Naruto had built it so he could practice how to
properly strike a target with his fist and feet.

Walking up to it, he punched it squarely with a quick right
jab, sending the log reeling backwards, but it soon came
rocketing back at him and he blocked it with his left palm.
He struck it again, this time on its side, with a right
hook. It swung back in counter once more and he dodged
it this time around.

It was basic in design, but he loved the darned thing.
Naruto had wrapped the bottom half of the log with a series
of rubber inner tubes that would allow it to absorb each
blow before bouncing back, which forced him to either
parry, dodge, or counter strike.

He was actually entertaining the idea of attaching kunai to
random areas to up the ante, but that was going to be a
project for another day.

He moved his gaze next to the last training device. There
wasn't much to it at all - just a series of stationary
wooden targets of varying sizes, shapes, and set distances.

Naruto took off his jacket, which was slick from his
earlier exertions, and took a stance. A quick motion to
the bandolier on his leg produced two shuriken and from a
leg pouch he withdrew what looked like a dagger attached to
a length of wire that he used to twirl it by.

The little instrument was a rope javelin, and it was a
handy little device he used to catch small animals when
he'd have to forage for food, which was why some of the
targets were so small and set low to the ground. The
entire weapon was smooth except for the head, which had a
series of serrated edges to make sure it couldn't be easily
removed. It was attached to a fishing line that led into
an actual spool assembly.

A deft flick of his wrists sent all three flying towards
their intended targets.

The steel bolt flew true with the nearly invisible line
trailing behind it as it punched into the side of a small
target about the size of a rabbit.

One of the four-pronged shuriken viciously imbedded itself
in the human-sized target near the rough equivalent of the
throat.

The second one though...

"Noooo!" Naruto howled in horror as he watched his precious
weapon veer into the dense foliage.

He made a move to go and retrieve his wayward tool, but
stopped. Reaching into a small pouch, where the wire from
the bolt fed into, he removed a fishing spool and set it on
the ground so it wouldn't tangle. Naruto then continued on
his "search and rescue" mission like a dutiful ninja.

Waste not, want not was a prudent proverb for the
financially challenged.

------------

Naruto was unaware that his performance of skill and labor
was not without spectator fanfare.

Hinata Hyuuga was a nice, respectable young lady, among
many things, but much to the vexing frustration of her
father she was also a closet voyeur.

This was a point of fact that, if brought to attention,
would send the poor girl into a profusely crimson fit rife
with weakly sputtered denials and a fainting spell for good
measure.

She rather preferred likening the activity to star gazing
or even bird watching, as these were more wholesome
analogies and closer to the reasoning in her mind than
"lecherously leering in an unsavory manner."

Because that just wasn't the case at all.

Really.

From her spot, obscured behind a wide tree, Hinata was able
to cast her longing gaze across the t-shirt clad back of
her object of affection. A delightful tingle ran up her
spine when she caught sight of the boy's intense blue eyes,
currently scanning hither and thither for his quarry.

It was hard to say definitively whether this activity was
sadly pathetic, cute on a saccharine level, or disturbing
in some fashion, but what it could be classified as was
being typical.

It was merely an element of another ordinary day at the
Hidden Village of the Leaf and it was in keeping to her
typical routine that Hinata Hyuuga bid a silent retreat
without word or gesture.

Like always.

She noticed the ominous rolling of clouds overhead. It was
a murky mixture of grey and dark grey with intermittent
splotches of black, forecasting possibly inclement weather.

In the immortal words of a sagely ninja it could only mean,
signal, and possibly be one thing: troublesome.

------------

Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno had a long and
complex relationship that dated back years.

They were acquaintances that soon became best friends. A
shared target of romantic interest saw them next as
friendly rivals with hints of bitterness, but here they
were, friends once more - even though they retained their
competitiveness, which was born from their contentions.

At heart they were two very kind girls who cared for each
other deeply. Could they be faulted if yelling, the
occasional hair pulling, and fisticuffs conveyed meaning
that casual observer couldn't pick up on? There was
underlying meaning in each gesture that carried shrouded
intent and depth that was beyond simple reckoning.

It had taken Sakura a week to come up with that reasoning.

Ino was currently in a quandary, as she wanted to inflict
grievous bodily harm on her pink-haired companion. That
she didn't was a testament to how long the road they had
traveled in the name of friendship ran, current thoughts
notwithstanding.

It wasn't like Ino hated Sakura - far from it. The girl
was pleasant and they shared a wide range of interests that
made them fast and easy friends. It was, though, rather
annoying that the girl tended to ramble when she got on a
roll and could go on and on and on and on...

"So then, that's when he said 'You need to practice more
responsibility,'" Sakura was animated, speaking in a
falsetto as she recanted the lines. "And I was thinking to
myself 'Oh my God. I can't believe he's trying to lecture
me on this' and I tried not to roll my eyes. But he was
all serious and a little mad, so he was breathing kind of
hard through his nose and this whistling 'fwee' noise came
out of nowhere and I started laughing. So anyway, that's
when he gave me like this twenty page paper to write on the
proper customs of addressing elders and superiors, but I
got that done last night in like an hour and-- is something
wrong?" Sakura finally asked, blinking at Ino.

There was a bit of a pause without reply then, "Who?
What?" Ino was jostled from her mental stupor amid the
sudden and now hanging silence.

"Oh! No, uh, nothing is wrong, really!" She tried to wave
off Sakura's concerns when the girl gave her a worried
frown. "I was just..."

'Dying. Whimpering. Falling asleep. Wondering if killing
you could be justifiable homicide,' her mind provided all
at once.

"Just thinking that a bit of Naruto had rubbed off on you,"
Ino verbally parried with a nervous titter. Proud of that
little comeback, she mentally patted herself on the back.

Sakura wrinkled her nose at the thought, sporting a sour
countenance at her assertion. "I hope not," she shot back
as she rubbed both her cheeks in fear that six prominent
whiskers would soon sprout.

Ino felt a smidge guilty for using the boy as the butt of a
joke like that, but the concern passed as quickly as it had
come. She instead switched mental gears by pointing to a
shop on the left, a few stalls down. "Want to go check out
the fabric shop?"

"Sure," Sakura said, glad for the change in topic. "No
orange though," she told the blonde, sticking her tongue
out, which made Ino chuckle.

------------

Hinata had ducked into the nearest shop overhang when she
caught sight of Sakura and Ino. It wasn't as if she was
afraid of the pair, but they both possessed such strong,
outgoing personalities that set her at unease and made her
feel inadequate - the latter being the biggest issue.

They walked right by her without so much as a glance or
greeting, but that suited Hinata just fine as she caught
the tail end of their discussion regarding Naruto.

There was a slight surge of annoyance at how casually they
referred to him in such a manner, like a joke. It was
slightly depressing that other people didn't quite see him
the way she did. There were times Hinata wished she could
more boldly give voice to her thoughts and opinions like
Naruto could when he wanted himself to be heard by those
around him.

Without care, strong, bold, self-assured, and so...

"...interesting?" an aged woman's voice said from behind
her, startling her.

"I-I'm sorry?" Hinata asked embarrassedly, turning to
regard the speaker.

"I asked if you saw anything interesting - in one of my
fine works, dear," the woman clarified.

She was short - shorter than Hinata herself - but not bent
over with age; straight-backed, she sat on her cushion with
her legs pillowed under her. A stirring of wind sent
rebellious grey-white strands of hair loose and aflutter
from the pinned bun on her head, causing her to tut and
push them back behind her ears.

"Surely one of these must catch your eyes?" she asked
hopefully, sweeping her right arm across a wide assortment
of decorated bamboo umbrellas that were arranged around her
shop as she held in her left the frame of one still
incomplete.

"Ah, um," Hinata managed. She hadn't really paid attention
to what shop she'd entered and it wasn't as if she was
shopping for umbrellas in general.

"I'm just browsing for now," she offered, to which the old
woman nodded, but it wasn't in concession.

"This one here," she pointed out, "would suit you well, I
think."

Hinata couldn't disagree since it did look very nice. It
was a soft array of colors – red, orange, blue, and purple
– all the shades one would catch at twilight.

"Although this one here is a little bigger," the woman
began to say as a mischievous grin split her face, "so you
can fit a special 'friend' underneath, if you wish."

Hinata admired the bright orange color, for rather obvious
reasons, but found herself fascinated by the characters for
the twelve hand seals that decorated it in black.

When what the shopkeeper was suggesting penetrated her
thoughts, she grew flustered as she tried to banish the
notion.

A cackle of amusement that scored victory for the old over
the youthfully innocent rang through the shop, leaving
Hinata to stew in embarrassment.

"Oh, I was blissful and chaste once as well," the old woman
lamented, addressing Hinata, who chose to politely nod at
the remark.

On the inside, the very thought of what was being suggested
sent an odd feeling that churned beneath the surface of her
placid facade. The cold realization of her non-existent
standing with Naruto dampened the feeling; however, left
her feeling cheaply hollow.

Reality tended to suck in that way.

Seeing the rather lackluster turn in her customer's mood,
the woman broke the silence. "I'll give it to you at half
price, dear," she stated. On seeing Hinata's polite
refusal forming, she raised a hand to forestall it.

"You might want to reconsider," she pointed out, indicating
the soft sheet of precipitation that was beginning to fall
outside. "Your man might appreciate it," she added, to
what she hoped was the money shot.

The woman's words inadvertently directed Hinata's thoughts
to Naruto – all alone and quite probably getting drenched
in the rain. She decided to seal the deal quickly before
she lost her nerve.

"I'll take it."

------------

The staccato of flesh striking wood came at a steady and
even beat. It sounded deceptively passive – somewhat
musical and rhythmic - but it was what it was.

A knife hand to the side of the neck was followed by a jab
to the windpipe, which led into a swift punch into the
stomach, and a double-palm strike to the chest.

Destructive.

It was a practiced sequence of attacks directed at just a
handful of the vital points spread across the human body.
The effects of each target varied in degree, but all were
calculated to deliver incapacitation or death.

Such was the Way of the Ninja.

Naruto had been at this for over an hour and his hands were
beginning to show signs of it. Clenching his fist made him
hiss and notice the almost inch-long sliver of wood that
had driven itself into the cleft between his knuckles.

It was luckily large enough that he wouldn't need the aid
of tweezers to work it out, but that it was that big was a
real pain.

"Damn it, that hurts!" he whined, after finally ridding
himself of the wood shard. He squeezed it to make sure
he'd gotten all the pieces, which forced more blood to exit
the wound. A liberal application of spit and a vigorous
shaking of the hand pushed it quickly out of mind though.

The sprinkling of moisture from the sky was still light and
misty, so he figured he could go for a bit longer. 'Just
twenty minutes more,' he promised himself. 'Then I'll call
it quits for the day.'

------------

Ino parted company with Sakura when the rain had started.
Even if bad weather hadn't set in, the relatively shallow
depths of their wallet would've seen a quick end to their
shopping escapade. She was convinced that it was just one
of the glaring shortcomings that would be addressed once
they each snagged themselves a significant other.

The thought of growing old and grey with Sakura,
reminiscing about the "good old days" when they were once
young and beautiful made her shudder. Wasting away as a
lonely bachelorette was not an option in Ino Yamanaka's
social plan.

She'd be satisfied as long as her beau was mildly
attractive and housebroken. Ino was sure she possessed
enough skill to mold everything else about him until he
eventually resembled the ideal boyfriend.

Working at a flower shop, she was used to nurturing flowers
until they finally bloomed. So it was rather natural, in
her mind, to think the same of her future significant
other. Was it ever mentioned that Ino was also a fan of
makeover projects?

Bringing her musings to a brief pause was a droplet of rain
that fell onto her forehead. 'Oh yes, it was raining,
wasn't it?' she mused.

Ino weighed her options. She entertained the notion of
sprinting from overhang to overhang, to dodge the brunt of
the rainfall, until eventually reaching home. Using her
charms and wily ways on a lonely male willing to treat her
to a warm drink and food in payment for her company was
considered as well.

Ino crossed them all off as being a hassle, and chose
instead to look for someone who might be open to sharing
cover under an umbrella. A wide grin settled on her face
as she spied a familiar face approaching with uncanny timing.

"Hey, Hinata, do you think I could-" she cut her request
short as the girl in question whizzed by her in a hurry
without even a pause.

Ino blinked. Where could Hinata be going in such a hurry,
she wondered.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," she said
gleefully, taking off in pursuit. That she was getting
soaked in chasing Hinata became a trivial matter as
quenching the thirst of her curiosity became top priority.

Hinata Hyuuga didn't know it yet, but she was caught in the
deadly crosshairs of an unrepentant gossipmonger and
unabashed meddler.

------------

By the time Hinata had returned to the clearing, the light
rain had escalated to a healthy downpour. 'He can't still
be here,' Hinata thought to herself as she hurried towards
the clearing, wondering why she wasn't back comfortably
under the roof of her own home.

The answer to that was simple enough, and required no real
thought - she HAD to be certain that Naruto wasn't still
practicing in the rain.

'And it's a good thing I did,' she told herself a moment
later as she caught sight of the boy still standing in
front of his wooden opponent.

His shoulders were slumped, he was drenched from head to
toe, but what worried her slightly was that he wasn't
really moving from his spot. He simply stood there in the
pouring rain and swayed unsteadily on his foot.

Concern won a quick, decisive battle over nervousness and
indecision as she found herself already moving and now just
a few steps behind the boy.

"N-Naruto?" she asked the rooted figure. Hinata wondered
for a moment if her soft voice had even carried over the
sound of the falling rain.

She moved to stand in front of him and she could finally
see that he was breathing heavily with soggy hair veiling
most of his features. In an uncharacteristically bold
move, she placed a hand on his shoulder and his eyes
fluttered open, focusing on her.

A detached portion of her mind marveled at how much
prettier they were when up close, but her addled mind spit
out a series of gibberish nonsense that she hoped sounded
like 'Are you okay?'.

Hinata stopped speaking when he flashed a weak smile, but
squawked in shock when his head pitched forward to rest
against her chest.

"Lied. More than twenty minutes..." he mumbled out, which
made no sense whatsoever.

Her umbrella had been dropped in favor of her current
burden and now she was left to ponder what to do.

"Na-Naruto?" she asked again.

No response, beyond Naruto limply rolling his head and
groaning against her--

Hinata turned a shade of red that bordered on burgundy.
"Hyah!" she yelped, as she fought the reflex to fling
Naruto away from her... water soaked...

She couldn't even finish the thought, so great was her
mortification.

"I-I," she stuttered as her legs then chose to wobble under
her and she began to lose her footing beneath Naruto's
weight.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Hinata called out rapidly in panicked
succession as her legs began to slide in the muck, leading
to a slow, meandering collapse that ended with her flat on
her back with the object of her affections atop her. With
her legs framing his body, she was spread out in a lewd and
scandalously wanton manner.

Hinata whimpered piteously.

Naruto snored softly totally unaware of the girl's plight.

------------

From her perch overhead in the treetops, Ino looked down on
the pair with eyes wide in shock as she kept both hands
firmly over her mouth.

This was big, huge - monumental even!

'Hinata and Naruto!' her mind squealed over and over in
delight. If she wasn't trying to keep herself from being
discovered she'd be shaking with excitement at snagging
this juicy piece of news. The feeling of knowing a secret
before anyone else always filled her with a warm and
pleasant satisfaction.

She grumbled in silent disappointment, as she wasn't close
enough to catch what the couple was whispering to each
other. Her eyes eagerly drank deeply of the whole sequence
of events and she had a fairly good idea on how this affair
was playing out.

Hinata approached Naruto and after a brief exchange of
words, he rested his head against her. She hesitantly
wrapped her arms around him in response. He was adamant in
his need for her as he gently guided her to the forest
floor where they became entangled and were leading up to...

The blonde's face took on a scarlet tinge as her mind
continued to progress her thoughts to its inevitable and
natural conclusion. Ino covered her face with her hands,
amazed, and embarrassed, at the forwardness that Naruto
exhibited in showing his feelings for Hinata. It repainted
the mental image she had of him with new and interesting
colors.

There was a short mental argument over whether she should
stay or go now. As much as she wanted to know, she knew it
was wrong to intrude further on a private moment like this.
With that decided, she leapt away to leave the pair to
conclude their business sans prying eyes.

Ino would never have imagined her little adventure was
going to yield something of this magnitude. Her original
course towards home shifted in the direction of Sakura's.
She just HAD to tell someone about this before she exploded
from trying to keep this secret to herself without release.

------------

Hinata bravely fought down the surge of emotions that raged
wildly within her. Craning her neck earned her an
unobstructed view of Naruto's sleeping face, which made the
breath catch in her throat.

Hinata, being the honest girl that she was, admitted quite
guiltily that this wasn't an all-together negative
experience. She had a few memorable dreams like this, she
recalled, though none had played out in this exact manner.

A twinge of indecision flared inside her as she tentatively
brushed Naruto's golden forelocks. Hinata had never deeply
explored her feelings for him, save that she inevitably
found her eyes drawn to him and that simply being nearby
made her pulse quicken in excitement.

Yet with her heart still enshrouded in turmoil, here she
was, caught in a compromising position with the source of
her consternation pillowed on her bosom. So it was no
wonder that she was caught up in playing hostess to the
conflicting thoughts that now took residence within her
mind.

She closed her eyes and struggled with the effort to regain
a measure of calm. Her ragged breathing evened out and
became smoother as she wrestled extraneous thoughts to the
wayside. The why and the how of her heart weren't as
important as the simple fact that it simply felt the way it
did. The crude answer was: just because.

When she tried to imagine spending time with Naruto, gentle
warmth filled her very being. Envisioning a world without
him blew a chill in her chest that formed a cold lump in
her gut. Though thinking of the closeness they shared now
made her...

Well, there went the control.

Naruto muttered in his sleep, too garbled for Hinata to
discern, but the movement set her eyes to focus on his
slightly parted lips. It seemed as if it was intentionally
calling to her like a deadly Siren's song.

Hinata found herself inexplicably mesmerized as she slowly
drew closer, inch-by-inch. She felt the touch of his warm
breath on her cheek and it was then that the butterflies in
the pit of her stomach took flight in full force. They
fluttered about crazily and she could've sworn they were
trying to exit through her navel.

The clouds gave way to sunlight as the rainstorm lost
momentum, releasing the warmth that had been withheld
behind the shield of grey.

------------

Hinata skidded to a halt then bent over wheezing after the
full out sprint that she'd broken into. Her destination
was home, but first she needed time to collect herself lest
her father catch her in such a state and begin asking
pointed questions she didn't want to answer.

She was still swimming in the heady afterglow of her
boldness. It was as if she'd tapped into a veritable
fountain of recklessness that hummed through her system
even now.

Dainty fingers were raised to her pink lips. 'Why did
I...?' she wondered, when a hand suddenly clapped her on
the shoulder from behind.

"Yo!" a familiar male voice called out jovially.

Jolting, she quickly turned with her hands placed over her
chest, to see Kiba Inazuka. Behind him was her other
teammate, Shino Aburame, and her instructor, Kurenai Yuhi.

Her heart skipped a beat on seeing them all assembled like
this. 'Do they know?' her irrational mind whispered.

"Sorry," Kiba offered, not expecting to catch her so
totally unaware.

"N-no, it's okay," she stuttered in assurance.

The nervousness that went beyond casual didn't escape the
notice of Shino and Kurenai, but a quirked brow on the part
of the insect manipulator was the only visible indication
that the group saw anything out of place.

"You seem... flustered," Shino pointed out flatly. His
gaze seemed to pierce through his sunshades, from Hinata's
point of view.

Hinata swallowed as her mouth ran dry. Well, what could
she say to that?

"You seem to be in quite a hurry," Kurenai added.

Hinata laughed uneasily, her voice almost cracking. Yes,
that was true, she granted.

Akamaru barked three times in succession as he sniffed the
air and pawed his master. "And you smell like Naruto?"
Kiba said quizzically, translating the words of the pup
perched on his shoulder.

Hinata choked.

Kiba took his own whiff to be certain. "And you DO," he
confirmed, earning an amused look from Kurenai and another
raised brow from Shino.

Hinata fumbled for an adequate response, but only managed a
distraught squeak.

"You know, I'm always here to talk, if there are things
you're too embarrassed to discuss with your parents,"
Kurenai told her, giving the poor girl what she hoped was a
reassuring smile.

It wasn't. Hinata gibbered madly before deciding that the
better part of valor was running... right into the base of
a street sign.

She wobbled drunkenly on her legs before dropping like a
fallen tree. Three voices called out to her in concern,
but the thought that occupied her mind was why things
weren't playing out like every other ordinary day.

------------

Author's Note: There's certainly enough material here to
make this a multi-chapter work, but that's going to require
some planning on my part. So, for now, this is going to
sit and simmer as a one-shot, but that status could easily
change given time or inspiration.